pardon from God for their remisness in others So that we must be careful not to pass a judgment only by some few things but to consider whether this pompous zeal and care extend it self equally to all both sins and duties for if it do not it is far from being that zeal that is according to Godliness for that is a regular thing and hath an equal regard to every thing that is a duty and an equal abhorrence of every thing that is a sin This is a thing of great advantage to be considered by us and by it we may go near to discover almost all differences of men that are It is a thing well worth the notice of men to consider how the Catalogue of sins is lessened and struck up into a very little room by most of the Sects among us at this day who though they be great declaimers against the sins of the times yet they mean commonly no more but swearing and drunkenness and whoredom and murther by those sins while covetousness and pride faction and Schism uncharitableness and censoriousness and false accusing their Brethren disobedience to superiors and blaspheming dignities and such like are connived at not censured as sins or perhaps commended as innocent things I do most heartily acknowledge the former are very hainous vices and can never too much be declaimed against in an age so incident to them But I know as well that the others too are sins as damning as they and it argues but an ill spirit and smells very rankly of hypocrisie to cry out so much against the one and yet hug and cherish and indulge the other And it fares no better with the Catalogue of duties which is lessen'd by some men proportionably to the other and the commandments reduced too at pleasure that do prescribe them It hath been objected to the shame of Papists that they have quite expunged the Second Precept of the First Table out of the Decalogue and divided the Tenth to make up the number And I think all honest men have just cause to condemn them for it But upon the same reason that they are condemnable are those too that expunge all the Six of the Second Table as some do and the Fifth Ninth and Tenth as almost all do especially of those that infest us It hath been long since observed how the Classis and the Conclave have exactly agreed in the violation of the Fifth Commandment And in their doctrines about Government and obedience to it But I think it no great adventure to tell you that not only these men but every other Faction of what denomination soever amongst us do the same too And if the old saying be true that ex ungue leonem then we may perhaps conjecture who hath had a hand in all these doctrines and who doth indeed mostly symbolize with Papists They or the Church of England that they so much cry out against in this matter 6. The Sixth and Last Rule is that we consider holiness not only in its immediate act and exercise but take in also the helps and advantages and encouragements to it For there are many differences about doctrines that particularly respect these And though they do not immediately concern the exercise of holiness yet forasmuch as they relate to those things which relate to that exercise and are great helps to it therefore they are discernible by this Rule Thus for instance a doctrine that more lively represents the advantages of holiness and a good life that more solidly evinceth the necessity of it that adds more excellent and endearing encouragements to pursue it that more fully assures a man of Divine aid and assistance in his endeavours after it I say doctrines that best do all or any of these things have a good signature upon them and bring with them a very great argument of their Divinity and Truth And this is a very good reason upon which to prefer them before others that either wholly fail to do these things or at least come far short of the other for the solidness and clearness of doing so The truth is Sir a very great many of doctrines about which men dispute and differ so eagerly at this day may be decided clearly and safely by this Rule particularly all the controversies stated by the Synod of Dort and those that depend on them It will be no hard matter for a man of a common capacity to discover clearly which side of these questions gives the honourablest account of God Almighty both as to his Attributes and dealings with the sons of men which most magnifie his love and grace and goodness to his Creatures which most clearly assert and reconcile his wisdom and holiness and justice and goodness which most honourably explain and state the Divine Philanthropy in the great acts of redemption performed by the Son of God which most intelligently and consistently explain the three great offices of the holy Jesus and fortifie the hopes of the sons of men in endeavouring after Salvation by all these Again which of the two doth most solidly evince the necessity of holiness and a good life and lay the more firm and assured foundation upon which to superstruct that necessity Which doth add the most pressing Arguments and Motives and most rationally excite the endeavours of men after it And lastly which doth more lively encourage and animate those endeavours with assurance of Divine assistance and aid to help the infirmities and supply the imperfections of them And by this may all the Antinomian Errors which I take to be but the Tenets of the old Gnosticks newly revived and all such wild opinions about Faith and Justification by it c. be clearly discerned and judged too And to conclude whatever doctrine fails in stating any of these things which are so very necessary to encourage and help men in the way of goodness may safely be rejected as an issue from the Spirit of Error I content my self Sir only to give short touches on all these Rules and to say only so much as may make the reasonableness of attending to them to appear After which every thing that might be added would appear tedious and I think it not good manners to be burthensom to any CHAP. X. Some Inferences made from this Collection particularly a Vindication of the Church of England which may challenge any Sect at this day to joyn issue upon this Principle HAving now given all needful assurance to this Truth and prescribed the right and safe management of it I shall proceed to make an inference or two from it before I put a period to this Discourse 1. That it is very possible by attending to this Rule to put a speedy end and issue to all disputes that are in the Christian world And I am perswaded there are no Rules we can proceed by so probable to do this with effect as this is Nor any thing by which private Christians might so successfully secure themselves from
full of what I mean when I thus speak For as the Text speaks both of the Spirit of truth and of error so I shall understand the Proposition both ways with reference to both these 1. Directly and positively The Spirit of truth enclines to holiness and every doctrine that proceeds from this Spirit doth some way or other conduce to that great end And when doctrines upon trial are found to be subservient to make men good and regularly holy then they bear the stamp and impress of truth upon them and this is a safe way by which to judge the truth of them and conclude them Orthodox 2. Oppositely or negatively Whatever Doctrine or Opinion doth tend to the contrary either teaching or encouraging sin and disobedience in all or in any one particular instance of it is certainly false and proceeds from the Spirit of Error and let men be never so zealous for it and confident in recommending and obtruding of it upon others yet this is a sufficient warrant for every private Christian to reject it and condemn it as spurious and dangerous For the Spirit of Error inclines men to disobedience and whatever doctrine doth so doth proceed from it 3. Comparatively Thus where different Doctrines and Opinions offer themselves to us it is a safe way to examine carefully which of them conduceth mostly to make men good and accordingly to make our estimate of them accepting that which is best attended with holiness and a necessity of it and rejecting that which is any way failing herein And now by this you may see my sense of the Proposition how I make obedience and holiness the Shekel of the Sanctuary by which all other measures are to be tried I make Gods Law not only the Rule of what ought to be done but I would have every thing that is to be believed brought unto it examin'd how it comports with it and is subservient to the great design of it and according either to be accepted or rejected But before I come to shew the truth and reasonableness of this Assertion and to prove this to be the safest Rule for all Christians to judge and examine Truth and Error by there are Two things which I shall lay down as Postulata's or things intimated to us from this Text and of great advantage in order to the assuring the truth of the great Proposition 1. That God hath left us some Rule to judge the truth and falshood of Opinions and Doctrines by 2. That this Rule is obvious and plain and intended for the guidance and benefit of all men 1. That God hath not left us without some sure Rule to judge the truth and falshood of Opinions and Doctrines by This is a truth which no man that hath any honourable and becoming Sentiments of the goodness and wisdom of God can in any measure doubt of He whose gracious Providence watcheth over all things certainly is regardful also of man He that hath implanted and put such an instinct into the nature of all other things as enables them to know what is beneficial and hurtful to their respective natures and according to pursue and embrace the one and avoid and arm themselves against the other hath certainly not been wanting to man in this great Instance but enabled him to discern truth from falshood as well as good from evil and to do both these in Morality as well as Nature i. e. to judge for his Soul as well as his Body And the truth is if it were otherwise man were of all things certainly the most miserable and a Religious man were the most miserable and pitiable above all other men And it would reflect great dishonour upon God to provide for the safety and conduct of man in all his little concerns but to leave him wholly unprovided for and exposed to deception in that which is the most sublime and momentous of all And such we know is his Religion it being the way in which he is to serve his God and assure his blissful love and favour and thereby secure the Everlasting welfare and happiness of his Soul I shall only desire Two things further to be considered in this case 1. That God hath plainly told us that there ever will be Errors in the world and that no age shall want Impostors and deceivers to broach them and endeavour to entrap people with them This he hath resolved for wise ends to permit still to be And can it then be supposed that God should not furnish his servants with an Antidote against them Can any think so unworthily of God as to believe that he hath exposed the beloved of his Soul and the objects of his tenderest compassions and regards naked and wholly defenceless without any thing to secure themselves against these plagues This were indeed to overact the savage cruelty of the Hircanian Tiger and transcribe the weakness of the silly Ostrich Job 39.14 which leaveth her Eggs in the Sand exposed to the foot of every Beast or Traveller to be crushed at pleasure Nothing can well be thought of that is really more injurious and reflective upon Divine Providence than this is 2. God hath not only told us of these things but cautioned us against them and strictly commanded us to beware of them as is evident to any that consults the holy Scriptures Now can it enter into the hearts of men to believe that God that commands this should not provide some way by which it might be done I could never yet though educated when such doctrines were much in vogue bring my thoughts quietly to believe that God would command utter impossibilities which were far to exceed the cruelty of the Egyptian Task-masters which himself hath condemned and so tragically declaimed against And I no way doubt but that if he have commanded us to prove all things to try the Spirits to keep our selves from being infected with the error of the wicked that he hath also furnished us with power and provided a means how we may do all these things God certainly never commands things in vain nor will he tantalize the endeavours of his people nor make himself sport to illude the hopes and endeavours of poor mortals by putting them upon Acquists whose glories though they may excite yet their impossibilities do discourage and frustrate the most vigorous endeavours And that man would have a strange notion of God that would fancy his commanding us to take heed of being deceived and yet not direct us to means by which we might do so 2. That this Rule is obvious and plain and intended for the guidance and benefit of all men Hereby know we c. And certainly he intends not hereby only himself or Apostles like himself but all those whom in verse 1. he had exhorted to try the Spirits and not presently to believe every pretence of it which is equally the interest and duty of all men It is true the Priests lips should preserve knowledge and 't
proceed from the Spirit of Error Now if you think that I am injurious in referring thus the trial of Spirits and doctrines only to this one Rule while I have told you before that S. John layeth down Two more in this Chapter to the same purpose I shall readily confess the charge but without any Imputation of injustice yea shall take advantage from hence the more to strengthen this Assertion and to lay down this as the chief and principal Rule forasmuch as both the others do relate to it and are instances of it For a free undaunted confessing of Christ in times of danger and loving cordially our Brethren are both of them chief branches of Christian vertue and holiness and indeed as they are almost above all other things commanded by our Saviour so they have the choicest and most endearing encouragements annexed to them So then the Argument from this place will be very clear and concluding for in that very place where S. John enjoyns the trial of Spirits and Doctrines he layeth down this as the great Rule for that trial and though he add Two other Rules also yet they are but particulars and branches of this great one And then the whole of the Apostles directions in this case amounts to thus much Whatever doctrine doth conduce to make men truly holy especially encourageth to the right taking up the Cross of Christ and a cordial constant love to our Brethren that doctrine issueth from the Spirit of Truth and whatever doctrine is contrary either to these Two single Christian vertues or to it in general doth certainly proceed from the Spirit of Error and this I take to be the natural and true purport of S. John in this Text. But I would not have you think that he is singular in this or without good authority for what he saith we shall find he had sufficient warrant from his great Master Christ Jesus as we may clearly see if we consider that speech of Christ Mat. 7.16 20. By their fruits ye shall know them In the preceding Verses our Saviour is forewarning his Disciples of the coming of false Prophets into the world and of the very specious pretences that they should make to deceive people by Having done this and caution'd against them he layeth down in this place a Rule to know and discover them by which Rule is very positive and plain and twice repeated that we should not doubt of it or forget it By their fruits ye shall know them i. e. by the natural consequences and fruits of their doctrines by such conclusions as do naturally and by right arguing follow from them So that the trial of Prophets is to be made by trial of their doctrines and these are to be tried by the natural consequences and effects of them not by what a man can discover in the professors or venters of such doctrines for these many times are very close and subtil Hypocrites and lead their lives with very great heed and wariness wearing the Sheeps skin to conceal the Wolfs heart and always putting on the form of godliness to cover their malicious and rotten designs and no wonder for Satan can transform himself into an Angel of light but by the natural consequences and effects of the doctrines For otherwise it were almost utterly impossible to make a discovery of doctrines by this Rule since all men do not live up exactly to the consequences of their own Tenets One man may have a right faith and yet lead a wicked life and another may have a rotten false belief in some particulars and yet be tolerably well in his life And there is no doubt but many a well-meaning man may embrace an Error in simplicity without understanding rightly what the mischievous consequences of it are yea perhaps without ever practising those consequences Men may be honest and yet careless and be imposed upon and so on the contrary too but I shall say more to this hereafter In the mean time we may rest satisfied that our Saviour means by fruits such things as are the natural consequences and proper products of such doctrines and this he clears and assures the truth and reasonableness of by an excellent and well known comparison and indeed it holds true both ways men do not gather Grapes from Thorns nor Figs from Thistles nor do Vines yield the Berries of Thorns nor doth the Doune of Thistles grow upon Fig-trees For though it be possible and God knows too common too for a man to detain the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 yet the unrighteousness issues from the man not from the truth And though a Heretick may possibly be eminent in some good things yet his heart is to be praised for it not his head i. e. his goodness is not the effect of his Error nor upon any account at all ascribable to it So then if we keep us to our Saviours sense the Rule is true and will never deceive us Those doctrines that design nothing but to make men pure and holy and conscientious and strictly regardful of our Christian duty cannot but issue from the Spirit of Truth and Satan can never be contributive to a doctrine that tends so much to the overthrow of his design and great Interest in the world But whatever doctrines or broachers of them do any way infuse into men or encourage and prompt them to any Impiety any Sin let their shews be never so specious their pretences never so fair yet those Prophets are false Prophets and those doctrines fumes from Hell whose great design it is to corrupt mens manners debauch their lives and keep them from the love and practice of piety This is all that I have to offer from these Two places of the New Testament and truly I think what hath been offered enough to confirm the Collection and to gain the assent of every good Christian to the truth of it CHAP. IV. The old Testament cited also for the proof of this and two great considerations added to give more Evidence to it This the rule to try Prophets by of old and the best Criterion of a true Divine Miracle THE former Chapter having acquainted you with some proofs for this out of the New Testament I shall proceed to add some to them also out of the Old For this is no new thing nor unknown to the Jews in time of old but it was deliver'd to them also as the great Rule to judge by in this case of which I take that place of the Prophet to be clear evidence To the Law and to the Testimony Isaiah 8.20 and if they speak not according to this Rule it is because there is no light in them In the preceding Verses the Prophet is inveighing against and condemning the attending to any extraordinary pretenders to knowledge or revelations such as Wizards and Necromancers and those that consulted familiar Spirits And in this Verse he layeth down a Rule by which to try all revelations and
Omniscient and Active and can never fail either to know what doctrines will best comport with its great design among men or to pursue and reveal those doctrines to men when it hath pitched on them And he that will consider how very subtil a Spirit the Devil is and how unweariedly restless in managing his own designs in the world can neither think him ignorant and unable to pitch upon such doctrines as are conducive to that design nor slow and backward to obtrude the belief of them upon men He that thinks otherwise of the Spirit of truth thinks very unbecomingly of God and as much as in him lies precludes the way to his own welfare and safety and deprives himself of that comfort which would issue from the hearty belief of the Omniscience and Providence and Watchfulness of the Spirit of truth for his good And he that thinks otherwise of the Spirit of Error and looks upon the Devil either as a dull and unactive or a silly and ignorant Spirit is imprudent and injurious to himself in undervaluing that Enemy against whose subtilty and strength his utmost endeavours will be little enough He is called a Lion for his strength and an old Serpent for his subtilty and his restlesness to execute the effects of both render him justly formidable 3. Thirdly the great ends of these two Spirits in the world are only these to make men really and truly holy and to make them really impure and vicious The first is the great design of the Spirit of Truth this latter of the Spirit of Error The first the Spirit of Truth intends as the only way to make men happy The second the Devil mainly intends as the sure way to render them Eternally miserable There needs not much be said on this branch of our Argument the Scriptures are copious in attesting the truth of it on both hands The great work of the Spirit in the O.T. was to strive with man as is intimated by Moses Gen. 6.3 i. e. to withdraw him from sin and to induce him to the love and practice of vertue And the same is the end he is sent for in the New to convince men of the evil of sin of the gain of righteousness and as a means to both to assure them of the certainty of Judgment John 16.18 and for this reason is called the Spirit of holiness often not only because he is essentially and eminently so himself but likewise because his main business is to teach and encourage men to be so too and to assist them in being faithful to those encouragements and teachings And then on the other hand as it assures us that the first sin of man owed it self to the temptation and suggestion of the Devil so it assures us that all his endeavour ever since hath been to heighten that sin and to promote the love and practice of wickedness among men For this reason he is frequently called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one not only upon the account of his own wickedness but for his striving perpetually to propagate that wickedness by drawing men into all the sad instances of it And for the same reason he is called The Enemy and the effects of his Enmity chiefly discover themselves in this the endeavouring to make men wicked like himself and so to bring on them a portion of those torments that are reserved for himself and for all those mad Sons of men that are wicked as he is And whosoever observes his actings as they are recorded in the Scripture or will but consult the stories of his dealing with the Heathen world examine but the doctrines which he taught them and the rites and modes of Religion that he instituted among them will clearly see how all those doctrines tended to sin and how the whole body of the Heathen worship was indeed what the Apostle calls it a mystery of wickedness Now from these things the strength of the argument will discover it self For since all the design of the Spirit of truth is to make men holy to guide them into all truth that it may thereby lead them to all goodness And since the Spirit of error designs directly the contrary And since all the doctrines that issue from these are directed only to these great ends It must needs follow that whatever doctrine tends to holiness must needs issue from the Spirit of Truth And whatever tends to the contrary must needs proceed from the Spirit of Error And that this is a sure and safe way to judge whence they proceed by For these two Spirits will ever be true to their own purposes and interests and will always have an eye to the promoting of them in all the doctrines that they propose to the Faith of men 2. Another Argument may be drawn from the great end and design of Christian Religion For if we suppose the author thereof prudent and wise every doctrine therein will be so contrived as to comport with and promote the great aim of the whole otherwise he would in effect pull down with one hand what he endeavoured to build with the other Now he that will consider and examine this Religion with that seriousness and impartiality that things of this nature may justly expect and challenge from all men will soon find that it is indeed what S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.16 a mystery of godliness The Author of it the ever blessed Jesus was indeed the Lamb of God for his spotless innocency as well as other reasons A perfect pattern of all holiness and vertue A divine person whose life was never sullied with the least of those crimes which so horribly stained the lives of the Heathen Deities Whose innocency approved it self so clearly to his very Judge as to extort from him this confession that he was a just person Mat. 27.24 Yea that most Envious and Critical observer as well as Virulent accuser of good men could find nothing whereof to accuse the blessed Jesus The Prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me And if you look into the Religion that he instituted in the world you will soon find how exactly it resembles and bears the lineaments of its holy Author in all the parts of it All its precepts and commands are so many injunctions of all the instances of holiness or prohibitions of the contrary instances of wickedness and vice All its promises are great encouragements to induce men to comply with the purpose of those commands And its threatnings are added only to deter and affright them from all neglect and contempt of the same And should we survey the Articles of its Faith and the doctrines that it proposeth to the belief of men we should soon find how mighty wisely they are all contrived to promote the same great end Even those that seem mostly speculative and irrelative to duty yet upon a closer view will be found to be excellently conducive to it For
this is one honour justly due to Christian Religion that it doth not propose any useless Theorems nor any dry and unprofitable speculations to its votaries but only require of them the faith and knowledge of things which are mighty useful and greatly conducive to the real advantages of life and godliness And this Sir may perhaps be made appear hereafter in a distinct consideration of all those Articles of Faith and particulars of Christian doctrine that have been mostly excepted against in this matter At present I content my self only in generals and to add that this Truth is so very plain and so fully illustrated and substantially proved by many Learned men not only those Ancient Heroes and worthy Apologists for Christianity but even some later writers and good men of our own Communion that I think it needless to insist further upon it but only to intimate that you may boldly defie any objections against it and challenge the whole world either to instance in any one particular of it that tolerates or encourageth any manner of vice or to produce any other way of Religion that so strictly and universally enjoyns and promotes holiness And if this be so we may very safely from hence also draw an Argument for the proof of our present Assertion For if the Christian Religion be designed only to this great end then whatever doctrine is truly and genuinely Christian doth certainly comply with it and some way or other promote the same And whatever doctrine fails to do this and is in any degree or instance repugnant hereunto is certainly Antichristian and we have warrant enough to reject it as dictated by that Spirit of Error which is certainly contrary to the Spirit of Christianity and Truth For as I said before supposing the blessed Author of this Religion to be wise and prudent as God and to have intended hereby only to make men holy it cannot reasonably be supposed that any doctrine which he hath delivered therein should not be conducive to that great design for otherwise he would frustrate that by some doctrines which he did endeavour to promote by others which were a thing so very unbecoming a wise man that it would be blasphemy to affirm it of the Son of God CHAP. VII The third and fourth Arguments proposed The Inconvenience of substituting any other rule but this and the manifest advantage of this above any other that can be so substituted THE last Chapter hath acquainted us with two Arguments upon the strength of which I think we may safely conclude that this is one sure and certain rule to judge doctrines that pretend to be Christian by I shall now proceed to two other Arguments whose design it is to make this rule appear the best and safest to judge by 3. And the form of them is taken from the manifest inconvenience of substituting any other rule to judge by in this case I shall name those that are most plausibly contended for and shew you the inconveniences that all of them are subject unto 1. I begin with that which is the best and likeliest of all the holy Scriptures And I do not intend by any thing I shall say in this discourse to derogate in the least either from the authority or perfection of them And I readily and thankfully grant these two things which will sufficiently secure me from such an imputation First if men were honest and sincere as they should be this rule would sufficiently supersede all need of any other because it is a perfect revelation of God's will in which all things that are absolutely needful to be believed are fully contained and intelligibly delivered and expressed and nothing but perverseness and design can perplex them Secondly if men desire to know what holiness and vertue is and to be directed in the instances of their duty then the holy Scripture will fully satisfie them And if men honestly consult these none but the obstinate and such as design to cheat themselves can mistake their directions But still after all this I say we I are so unhappy as to see that holy Scripture doth not put an end to all controversies We live in a Church that allows us these in the fairest translations and plainest expositions and not only allows but enjoyns us the perusal of them and thinks it hath Divine warrant to recommend to men the searching of the Scriptures John 5.39 And therefore commits men to their plain duty against which it will permit no prudential Motives as they of Rome call them to interpose And yet even amongst us there are many sharp and eager contentions and disputes to which Scripture perhaps if men were honest would but we see it doth not put an issue and it may be never can for these two Reasons 1. Because all parties plead it and pretend to it yea that very Novel Sect among us that at first so greatly disparaged and contended against it It is notoriously known what men had a hand in forming this Sect and indeed there are many clear signatures upon the foetus to enable us to judge who was the Parent and amongst the rest this is one and the design and policy in it plain which was to disparage the holy Scriptures and bring them into disesteem and contempt as they have always done and then the process was very easie for the private Spirit they could easily when they pleased take them off by shewing it liable to a thousand inconveniences and when the Scripture was undervalued too then the Catholick Church and him that they pretended to be the Infallible Head of it was the next refuge But these men soon saw that such things would not long take in England where all men generally have a great veneration for the Scriptures and whom it is not easie to debauch into a total disesteem of them and therefore now the scene is changed and these men are permitted to pretend to Scripture as strongly as others and all imaginable art used that they may do it as plausibly And indeed it may too truly be said that this hath been the common refuge of almost all Hereticks who by pleading and perverting of it have endeavoured to gain reputation to their several Heresies 2. For secondly cunning men can make a shift to wrest and pervert it The truth is the Originals in which it was written are so very copious that they are capable easily of various and different Interpretations Sometimes a small point and a Comma makes a difference even to contrary Expositions It was so of old among the Jews and it was so long since among Christians as S. Peter tells us and we our selves sadly see it to be so to this day 2 Pet. 3.16 Now in these cases I ask what men shall do Two men equally pretend Scripture and Two men give different Expositions of the same Scripture in this case what were a private Christian best to do I know well enough what remedy the Learned might
done if you require it hereafter In the mean time this will render it mighty necessary and wise not to consider erroneous doctrines only in their fair appearances but to examine carefully what the consequences and effects of them are And so on the other side likewise there are many doctrines in the Christian Religion Orthodox and Divine that perhaps at first sight may appear very irrelative to practice or at least of no great moment to the purposes of life Yea which to some men may appear unreasonable and purely speculative which yet when a man hath examined closely and consider well of may be found very important and greatly concerning and very conducive to many real purposes of goodness And it will not be easie to instance in any which I cannot shew to be conducive to some great instances of holiness and whose truth and divinity I dare not undertake to make good by the same 3. The third Rule is that we be sincere and honest in our considering doctrines before we bring them to this standard I mean that we bring with us no other design in the world but really to know what such doctrines are and tend unto For if any other thing be had in aim any other design or prejudice be permitted to mingle with our searches into these things there is no doubt but we shall deflect and warp from the truth in judgment A very little skill if there be not a great deal of honesty will enable a man to expose any doctrine and those men that can so easily wrest the holy Scriptures doubtless can as easily pervert any doctrine though never so holy Facile est invenire baculum said the old adage and it holds true both ways he that comes either with a prejudice against or a prepossession for any doctrine will easily find faults against the one though never so rationally and something to justifie his kindness to the other though never so weakly asserted And when men will permit interest or passion or humour or prejudice or any such thing to sit upon the Tribunal and have a hand in judging doctrines it is not to be expected that they should be judged according to the real merits and truth of them A gift saith Solomon blindeth the eye Eccles 7.7 or destroyeth the heart and a receiver of them is seldom upright And it is equally true of any other by-respect or sinister inclination Nothing but a fixed resolution and purpose to be honest and just and truly to inform our selves can enable us to be true to our discoveries and pronounce aright concerning doctrines in this case It was no very unreasonable project in the Platonists of old to institute some previous purgations of mind to be submitted unto by those that were in quest of truth well knowing that till the mind of man was unprejudiced and free it was not capable of Divine irradiations nor in a capacity to understand truth And upon the same reason Aristotle prohibited young men the study of Moral Philosophy till they had in some competent measure subdued the vigour and tamed the hurry of their animal passions and sensual inclinations And it were very well if men would do something like this free themselves from all manner of partial anticipations when they are going to consider and judge for their Souls And let me add Sir there was never any age wherein the observation of this Rule was more necessary never a time certainly wherein the effects of partiality and prejudice more discovered themselves to the warping of mens judgments and clapping false biasses upon them so that they either cannot or will not impartially and truly weigh things or deal with any degree of candor by them wherein unjustly to pervert and misrepresent Books is to answer them and the fastening on them a design which the Author never thought of a sufficient confutation of them When men read Books on purpose to misunderstand and traduce them and think the most effectual way to baffle and defeat them is to buffoon and turn them into Ridicule Let me give you a few specimens of this though I doubt not you have already observed them your self Can you think we should ever have heard of a Rehearsal Transprosed or an Ill Play thought a good answer to a serious Book had not this perverse humour possessed some men that were proud of their great wits and too fanciful to be able truly to consider things Could any honest-hearted man that sincerely read over an excellent Book called The Design of Christianity ever have traduced it as a plain undermining the purpose of the Gospel Had we ever heard of an Antisozzo or a Melius Inquirendum if that Author had had as much honesty as he thinks he hath wit or considered the doctrines in those Books he would expose with half as much integrity as he hath taken pains unworthily to misrepresent them Can you imagine Satan would ever have been brought upon the stage complementing Sherlock if the Devil had not mightily assisted one Danson to misunderstand and pervert the design of that Book Could that perfidious doating Exil'd Frenchman have ever espied and reported such advances of the Church of England to Popery had not himself made greater advances first towards Frenzy or Knavery Or the late furious Collector of the Invidious Parallels made such a clamor with them and seek so basely to disturb the Ashes and deface the Monuments of those that rest in honour but that something made a noise in his own head and hindred him from hearing or attending to the checks of his own Conscience for such a piece of injustice I pray God Sir deliver you and me and bless us from falling into the hands of such men who read Books on purpose to misunderstand them and consider doctrines only to expose them who react the cruelty and injustice of Ancient Persecutors that cloathed the poor Christians in skins of Beasts and then glutted their malice and envy in worrying of them And deal with Books as Procrustes did with men rack them till they come up to their own humour or cut them in pieces for not doing so Who first tincture their own eye and then apprehend every thing to be of the same colour or having their own palates vitiated reproach as unsavoury and bitter every thing that comports not with the ill affections of it If it be my hard fate to fall into the hands of such men and be treated by them as some of my Brethren have been I will yet have this to comfort and support me that it is not truth or honesty but spleen and malice only that persecute me I should be concerned indeed should I offend the first but if men acted by the other speak evil of me I know who hath bade me rejoyce and be glad CHAP. IX The Fourth Fifth and Sixth Rules are mentioned and insisted on 4. THE fourth Rule is that doctrines and Modes of Religion formed by them be not considered only
all mortal Errors as by attending to this And if the disputing men of the Age proceeded by this measure and studied as much to expose the wickedness as to display the falshood of Opinions their labour would be less and their success more Men may sooner discern good from evil than true from false A little measure of knowledge and honesty will enable men to do the first but it requires a quick judgment sometimes to do the second for falshood wears the mantle of truth and many times it is no easie thing to discover the Impostor And supposing men honest they are more effectually convinced by the wickedness of an Opinion than by any arguments of its untruth For they do not know but men may impose upon them in these but they can judge themselves in the other And I should think these two things were enough to recommend this way of determining controversies to the Scribes and the Disputers of this world Since it would reduce the controversies to a narrow compass and men would more effectually be concluded by a solid determination upon that issue and consequently by this means they would sooner be ended 1. For first there are few people so impudent and past shame as to plead openly for Baal and contend for doctrines that every one sees to be introductive of wickedness Impostors generally take another course and gild their Pills and wrap their poisons in sweet and gay appearances and let the Opinions they would promote be never so pernicious yet they are always managed with mighty pretences of zeal and piety and by this they hope to prevail more than by all their subtil Arguments and fine Disputings and indeed they do so and simple honest people are easily entrapped by them who have not time or skill or both to search into the bottom of all their doctrines So that to encounter with them upon this were to rob them of that in which their strength mostly lieth it were to suit the Antidote to the Poison and to disarm Heresie of that weapon by which it doth the most mischief it were to uncase the Wolf and shew what really he is which would more affect men with horror and hatred of him than ten thousand fine discourses about him would be able to do 2. For secondly blessed be God men especially that pretend Religion are not so far debauched but that they retain a veneration for piety and goodness and a secret abhorrence of sin and profaneness Many that live in the one yet condemn themselves in it and most men though far from being good themselves yet have a secret esteem and love for those that are And therefore when Errors are truly discovered and the impiety of them made known then the Net is spread in the sight of the Bird and men are arm'd against the fine pleas and the enchanting pretences for them and are hardly proselyted into a belief of them 3. And thirdly when the disputes are brought to this issue and the contest is upon it and nothing left to determine but which doctrine tends to make men holy and which doth not so then the judgment and the determination is more easily made For as I hinted before the lines of duty are plain and not so subject to those varieties of mistakes that other things are Almost all practical things are plain and easily understood unless it be in some rare cases And for the most part disputes and questions about them do more perplex and intangle than they do unfold and explain them About these every honest man is in a good measure able to instruct himself supposing him to have any competent knowledge and better able to judge than he is of questions that are curiously managed with great skill and art on both sides 4. And fourthly for Controversies and Disputes that no way concerned holiness or related to it men would soon perceive them to be impertinent and needless and the pursuing of them to minister only to Faction and Vanity and so would concern themselves neither one way or other about them but let them fall to the ground with as little notice taken of them as there was reason to start them 2. But the great design of these Papers and therefore the chief Inference I intend from this Subject is for the Vindication of the Church of England and of the Reformed Religion professed by it To this Rule it may most safely appeal and not fear to be tried by it And as Bishop Sanderson saith The God that answereth by Fire let him be God If amongst all competitions and contending Sects among us there be any to be found that doth exceed or equal her for conformity to this Rule they shall readily have the right hand of fellowship and due precedence yielded to them And I challenge any of them all to joyn issue with her upon this principle And certainly this is a very fair offer since all the Separations amongst us have been commenced upon this pretence They have first separated from her and then from each other upon pretences of impurity in her Communion and in quest of greater purity still If a man therefore offer to make good these two things 1. That there is no reason at all for Separation upon this account nor just cause to object unholiness and impurity against her Let her Articles and Homilies be examin'd her Liturgy as closely considered as may be and if there be any thing in either contrary to holiness then condemn her and spare not she will I am sure acknowledge her error and patiently endure a reproof for it But I defie any man living to do this provided he exercise but any measure of charity and honesty in expounding things and do not imitate the severity of that Heathen Momus who rather than find no fault in the Picture of Venus would quarrel with her slip-shooe and whose Motto in hunting for faults is Aut inveniam aut faciam 2. That all and every of those ways and forms of Religion that these men have deflected unto are much inferior to her in this matter and may clearly be detected to be false by this Rule since every one of them espouseth doctrines which either immediately or in their just consequences are introductive of wickedness and contrary to holiness in some instance or other He I say that offers to make good both these things as he will do a good service to the Church so he will do that which may justly shame and reproach the several contending Factions that have so unjustly and unreasonably separated from her Now these are truths which no man need fear undertaking to make good and perhaps a specimen of them may ere long appear In the mean time I think it mine own and intimate it as the duty of others too to bless God and give him our heartiest praise that hath caused us to be brought up in such a Church whose Faith is truly Christian and Primitive and that Faith which is according to Godliness whose Worship is truly Pious and Grave and Serious as such should be All whose Doctrines and Articles whose Offices and Ceremonies are truly adapted to promote the same amongst all her Votaries And if Salvation be to be had in Communion with any Church in the World I am sure it is in such an One. And to this to add a serious resolution to adhere stedfastly to the same and not permit our selves like fools and children to be turned to and fro with every slight of doctrine by cunning and designing men whose Interest or whose Passion and some pitiful low design oblige them to defame and destroy her and to make Factions and Rents in her as the most certain methods unto both And to conclude this Inference when we are importuned and solicited by any of these and take upon us to judge of the Doctrines offer'd to us let us not so much consider the fine pleas that subtil men make for them but bring them to this touchstone and try them honestly and carefully by it and we shall soon satisfie our selves and find enough to preserve us against the infection of them and as S. John saith Hereby know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error The Conclusion AND now Sir I have finished that trouble which I intend to give you at this time I am very sensible that besides the imperfections attending what I have done there are two or three things greatly wanting to complete this design and worthy of a larger consideration being but only lightly touched in these Papers 1. To Vindicate all the Articles in the Christian Faith by this Rule and shew the conduciveness of each to the great purpose of Holiness 2. Secondly To joyn issue with all Heresies and the considerable Sects and Opinions that disturb the peace of the Church at present upon this question and try if the Principles of them all be not condemnable by this Rule But Sir these are things which will take up more time than at present I can spare to them And I am willing to see how you resent this that I have done before I burthen you with more But to let you see how wholly I am at your command provided you remit me to my own time us I am sure you will I promise to do in these what you think fit to require of me Being extremely desirous in every thing so to acquit my self as may secure me the reputation and honour of being Your most humble Servant FINIS