for mutual Condescension and Sympathy Upon all these grounds it is evident that the Holy Spirit is in the Scripture proposed to us as a Person under whose Oeconomy all the various Gifts Administrations and Operations that are in the Church are put The Second Particular relating to this Article is the Procession of this Spirit from the Father and the Son The Word Procession or as the Schoolmen term it Spiration is only made use of in order to the naming this Relation of the Spirit to the Father and Son in such a manner as may best answer the sense of the word Spirit For it must be confessed that we can frame no explicite Idea of this matter and therefore we must speak of it either strictly in Scripture-Words or in such Words as arise out of them and that have the same Signification with them It is therefore a vain Attempt of the Schoolmen to undertake to give a reason why the Second Person is said to be generated and so is called Son and the Third to proceed and so is called Spirit All these Subtilties can have no Foundation and signify nothing towards the clearing this matter which is rather darkned than cleared by a pretended Illustration In a word as we should never have believed this Mystery if the Scripture had not revealed it to us so we understand nothing concerning it besides what is contained in the Scriptures And therefore if in any thing we must think soberly upon those Subjects The Scriptures call the Second Son and the Third Spirit so Generation and Procession are words that may well be used but they are words concerning which we can form no distinct Conception We only use them because they belong to the words Son and Spirit The Spirit in things that we do understand is somewhat that proceeds and the Son is a Person begotten we therefore believing that the Holy Ghost is a Person apply the word Procession to the manner of his Emanation from the Father though at the same time we must acknowledge that we have no distinct Thought concerning it So much in general concerning Procession It has been much controverted whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only or from the Father and the Son In the first Disputes concerning the Divinity of the Holy Ghost with the Macedonians who denied it there was no other Contest but whether he was truly God or not When that was settled by the Council of Constantinople it was made a part of the Creed but it was only said that he Proceeded from the Father And the Council of Ephesus soon after that fixed on that Creed decreeing that no Additions should be made to it Yet about the end of the Sixth Century in the Western Church an Addition was made to the Article by which the Holy Ghost was affirmed to proceed from the Son as well as from the Father And when the Eastern and Western Churches in the Ninth Century fell into an humour of quarrelling upon the account of Jurisdiction after some time of Anger in which they seem to be searching for matter to reproach one another with they found out this difference The Greeks reproached the Latins for thus adding to the Faith and corrupting the Ancient Symbol and that contrary to the Decree of a General Council The Latins on the other hand charged them for detracting from the Dignity of the Son And this became the chief Point in Controversy between them Here was certainly a very unhappy Dispute inconsiderable in its Original but fatal in its Consequences We of this Church though we abhor the Cruelty of condemning the Eastern Churches for such a difference yet do receive the Creed according to the usage of the Western Churches And therefore though we do not pretend to explain what Procession is we believe according to the Article That the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the Father and the Son Because in that Discourse of our Saviour's that contains the Promise of the Spirit and that long Description of him as a Person Christ not only says That the Father will send the Spirit in his name but adds That he will send the Spirit Joh. 14.26 and though he says next who proceedeth from the Father yet since he sends him Joh. 15.26 and that he was to supply his room and to act in his Name this implies a Relation and a sort of Subordination in the Spirit to the Son This may serve to justify our adhering to the Creeds as they had been for many Ages received in the Western Church But we are far from thinking that this Proof is so full and explicite as to justify our Separating from any Church or condemning it that should stick exactly to the first Creeds and reject this Addition The Third Branch of the Article is That this Holy Ghost or Person thus proceeding is truly God of the same Substance with the Father and the Son That he is God was formerly proved by those Passages in which the whole Trinity in all the Three Persons is affirm'd But besides that the lying to the Holy Ghost by Ananias and Saphira is said to be a lying not unto men Act. 5.34 but to God His being called another Comforter his teaching all things his guiding into all truth his telling things to come his searching all things even the deep things of God his being called the Spirit of the Lord in opposition to the spirit of a man his making intercession for us his changing us into the same image with Christ are all such plain Characters of his being God that those who deny that are well aware of this That if it is once proved that he is a Person it will follow that he must be God therefore all that was said to prove him a Person is here to be remembred as a Proof that he is truly God So that though there is not such a variety of Proofs for this as there was for the Divinity of the Son yet the Proof of it is plain and clear And from what was said upon the First Article concerning the Unity of God it is also certain that if he is God he must be of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son ARTICLE VI. Of the Sufficiency of Holy Scriptures for Salvation Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation So that whatsoevet is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation In the Name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority was never any doubt in the Church Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books Genesis The First Book of Samuel The Book of Hester Exodus The Second Book of Samuel The Book of Iob Leviticus The First Book of Kings The Psalms Numbers The Second Book of Kings The Proverbs
a piece of the Fiction of the Parable which cannot enter into any part of the Application of it Col. 1.24 What St. Paul says of his filling up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh for his body's sake which is the Church is as appears by the words that follow whereof I am made a Minister only applicable to the Edification that the Church received from the Sufferings of the Apostles It being a great confirmation to them of the Truth of the Gospel when those who preached it suffered so constantly and so patiently for it by which they both confirmed what they had preached and set an Example to others of adhering firmly to it And since Christ is related to his Church as a Head to the Members it is in some sort his suffering himself when his Members suffer and that Conformity which they ought to express to him as their Head was necessary to make up the due Proportion that ought to be between the Head and the Members So St. Paul rejoyced in his being made conformable to him And this as it is a Sense that the words will well bear so it is certain they are capable of no other sense for if the sufferings of the Apostles were meritorious in behalf of the other Christians some plain account must have been given of this in the New Testament at least to do honour to the Memory of such Apostles as had then died for the Faith If it is suggested that the living Apostles were too modest to claim it to themselves that will not satisfy all runs quite in a contrary Stile The Mercies of God and the blood of Christ being always repeated whereas these are never once named Now to imagine that there can be any thing of such great use to us in which the Scripture should be not only silent but should run in a strain totally different from it is not conceivable For if in any thing the Gospel ought to be full and explicite in all that which concerns our Peace and Reconciliation with God and the means of our escaping his Wrath and obtaining his Favour There is another Doctrine that does also belong to this Head which is Purgatory that is not to be entred on here but is referred to its proper place Thus it appears how ill this Doctrine of Works of Supererogation is founded and upon how many accounts it is evidently false and yet upon it has been built not only a Theory of a Communication of those Merits and a Treasure in the Church but a Practice of so foul a nature that in it the words of our Saviour spoken to the Iews My house is a house of Prayer Mark 11.17 but ye have made it a den of Thieves are accomplished in a high and most scandalous manner It has been pretended that this was of the nature of a Bank of which the Pope was the Keeper and that he could grant such Bills and Assignments upon it as he pleased This was done in so base and so crying a manner that all who had any sense of Probity in their own Church were ashamed of it In the Primitive Church there were very severe Rules made obliging all that had sinned publickly and they were afterwards applied to such as had sinned secretly to continue for many Years in a state of Separation from the Sacrament and of Penance and Discipline But because all such general Rules admit of a great variety of Circumstances taken from Mens Sins their Persons and their Repentance there was a Power given to all Bishops by the Council of Nice to shorten the time and to relax the severity of those Canons and such Favour as they saw cause to grant was called Indulgence This was just and necessary and was a Provision without which no Constitution or Society can be well governed But after the Tenth Century as the Popes came to take this Power in the whole extent of it into their own hands so they found it too feeble to carry on the great Designs that they grafted upon it They gave it high Names and called it a plenary Remission and the pardon of all Sins which the World was taught to look on as a thing of a much higher nature than the bare excusing of Men from Discipline and Penance Purgatory was then got to be firmly believed and all Men were strangely possessed with the terror of it So a deliverance from Purgatory and by consequence an immediate admission into Heaven was believed to be the certain effect of it And to support all this the Doctrine of Counsels of Perfection of Works of Supererogation and of the Communication of those Merits was set up and to that this was added That a Treasure made up of these was at the Pope's disposal and in his keeping The use that this was put to was as bad as the Forgery it self Multitudes were by these means engaged to go to the Holy Land to recover it out of the hands of the Saracens Afterwards they armed vast Numbers against Hereticks to extirpate them They fought also all those Quarrels which their ambitious Pretensions engaged them in with Emperors and other Princes by the same Pay and at last they set it to Sale with the same Impudence and almost with the same Methods that Mountebanks use in the venting of their Secrets This was so gross even in an Ignorant Age and among the ruder sort that it gave the first Rise to the Reformation and as the progress of it was a very signal Work of God so it was in a great measure owing to the Scandals that this shameless Practice had given the World And upon this single reason it is that this matter has been more fully examined than was necessary for the thing is so plain that it has no sort of difficulty in it ARTICLE XV. Of Christ alone without Sin Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things sin only except from which he was clearly void both in his flesh and in spirit He came to be a Lamb without spot who by sacrifice of himself once made should take away the sins of the World and sin as St. John saith was not in him But all we the rest although baptized and born again in Christ yet offend in many things and if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us THis Article relates to the former and is put here as another Foundation against all Works of Supererogation for that Doctrine with the Consequences of it having given the first Occasion to the Reformation it was thought necessary to overthrow it entirely and because the Perfection of the Saints must be supposed before their Supererogation can be thought on that was therefore here opposed That Christ was holy without spot and blemish harmless undefiled and separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 that there was no guile in his mouth that he never did amiss but
For so great and so important a Matter as this is must be supposed to be either expresly declared in the Scriptures or not at all The Article affirming That some General Councils have erred must be understood of Councils that pass for such and that may be called General Councils much better than many others that go by that Name For that at Arimini was both very Numerous and was drawn out of many different Provinces As to the strict Notion of a General Council there is great Reason to believe that there was never any Assembly to which it will be found to agree And for the Four General Councils which this Church declares she receives they are received only because we are persuaded from the Scriptures that their Decisions were made according to them That the Son is truly God of the same Substance with the Father That the Holy Ghost is also truly God That the Divine Nature was truly united to the Human in Christ and that in One Person That both Natures remain distinct and that the Human Nature was not swallowed up of the Divine These Truths we find in the Scriptures and therefore we believe them We reverence those Councils for the sake of their Doctrine but do not believe the Doctrine for the Authority of the Councils There appeared too much of Human Frailty in some of their other Proceedings to give us such an Implicite Submission to them as to believe things only because they so Decided them ARTICLE XXII Of Purgatory The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory Pardons Worshipping and Adoration as well of Images as of Relicks and also Invocation of Saints is a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture but rather repugnant to the Word of God THERE are two small Variations in this Article from that published in King Edward's Reign What is here called the Romish Doctrine is there called the Doctrine of School-men The plain reason of this is that these Errors were not so fully espoused by the Body of the Roman Church when those Articles were first published so that some Writers that softened matters threw them upon the School-men and therefore the Article was cautiously worded in laying them there But before these that we have now were published the Decree and Canons concerning the Mass had passed at Trent in which most of the Heads of this Article are either affirmed or supposed though the formal Decree concerning them was made some Months after these Articles were published This will serve to justifie that diversity The second difference is only the leaving out a severe word Perniciously repugnant to the Word of God was put at first but perniciously being considered to be only a hard word they judged very right in the Second Edition of them that it was enough to say repugnant to the Word of God There are in this Article five Particulars that are all Ingredients in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church of Rome Purgatory Pardons the Worship of Images and of Relicks and the Invocation of Saints that are rejected not only as ill grounded brought in and maintained without good warrants from the Scripture but as contrary to it The first of these is Purgatory concerning which the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is that every Man is liable both to Temporal and to Eternal Punishment for his Sins that God upon the Account of the Death and Intercession of Christ does indeed pardon Sin as to its Eternal Punishment but the Sinner is still liable to Temporal Punishment which he must expiate by Acts of Pennance and Sorrow in this World together with such other Sufferings as God shall think fit to lay upon him but if he does not expiate these in this Life there is a State of Suffering and Misery in the next World where the Soul is to bear the Temporal punishment of its Sins which may continue longer or shorter till the Day of Judgment And in order to the shortening this the Prayers and Supererogations of Men here on Earth or the Intercession of the Saints in Heaven but above all things the Sacrifice of the Mass are of great Efficacy This is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome asserted in the Councils of Florence and Trent What has been taught among them concerning the Nature and the Degrees of those Torments though supported by many pretended Apparitions and Revelations is not to be imputed to the whole Body and is indeed only the Doctrine of Schoolmen though it is generally preached and infused into the Consciences of the People Therefore I shall only examine that which is the established Doctrine of the whole Roman Church And first as to the Foundation of it that Sins are only pardoned as to their Eternal Punishment to those who being justified by faith have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. Rom. 5.1 There is not a colour for it in the Scriptures Remission of Sins is in general that with which the Preaching of the Gospel ought always to begin and this is so often repeated without any such reserve that it is a high assuming upon God and his Attributes of Goodness and Mercy to limit these when he has not limited them but has expresly said that this is a main part of the New Covenant Jer. 31.34 Heb. 8.12 that he will remember our sins and iniquities no more Now it seems to be a Maxim not only of the Law of Nations but of Nature that all offers of Pardon are to be understood in the full extent of the Words without any secret Reserves or Limitations unless they are plainly expressed An Indemnity being offered by a Prince to persuade his Subjects to return to their Obedience in the fullest Words possible without any reserves made in it it would be lookt on as a very perfidious thing if when the Subjects come in upon it trusting to it they should be told that they were to be secured by it against Capital Punishments but that as to all Inferior Punishments they were still at Mercy We do not dispute whether God if he had thought fit so to do might not have made this distinction nor do we deny that the Grace of the Gospel had been infinitely valuable if it had offered us only the Pardon of Sin with relation to its Eternal Punishment and had left the Temporal Punishment on us to be expiated by our selves but then we say this ought to have been expressed The Distinction ought to have been made between Temporal and Eternal and we ought not to have been drawn into a Covenant with God by words that do plainly import an intire Pardon and Oblivion upon which there lay a limited Sense that was not to be told the World till it was once well engaged in the Christian Religion Upon these Reasons it is that we conclude that this Doctrine not being contained in the Scriptures is not only without any warrant in them but that it is contrary to those full offers of
the Philistines put the People under a Curse if they should eat any Food till Night and this was thought to be so obligatory that the Violation of it was Capital and Ionathan was put in hazard of his Life upon it Thus the High-Priest put our Saviour under the Oath of Cursing Matth. 26.63 64. when he required him to tell Whether he was the Messias or not Upon which our Saviour was according to that Law upon his Oath and though he had continued silent till then as long as it was free to him to speak or not at his pleasure yet then he was bound to speak and so he did speak and owned himself to be what he truly was This was the Form of that Constitution but if by practice it were found that mens pronouncing the words of the Oath themselves when required by a Person in Authority to do it and that such Actions as their lifting up their Hand to Heaven or their laying it on a Bible as importing their Sense of the Terrors contained in that Book were like to make a deeper Impression on them than barely the Judges charging them with the Oath or Curse it seems to be within the compass of Human Authority to change the Rites and Manner of this Oath and to put it in such a Method as might probably work most on the minds of those who were to take it The Institution in general is plain and the making of such Alterations seems to be clearly in the Power of any State or Society of men In the New Testament we find St. Paul prosecuting a Discourse concerning the Oath which God sware to Abraham Heb. 6.13 14 15. who not having a greater to swear by swore by himself and to enforce the Importance of that it is added An oath for confirmation that is Ver. 16. for the affirming or assuring of any thing is the end of all controversy Which plainly shews us what Notion the Author of that Epistle had of an Oath He did not consider it as an Impiety or Prophanation of the Name of God Rev. 10.6 In St. Iohn's Visions an Angel is represented as lifting up his hand and swearing by him that liveth for ever and ever And the Apostles even in their Epistles Rom. 1.9 Gal. 1.20 that are acknowledged to be writ by Divine Inspiration do frequently appeal to God in these words God is witness which contain the whole Essence of an Oath Once St. Paul carries the Expression to a Form of Imprecation 2 Cor. 1.23 when he calls God to a record upon or against his soul. These seem to be Authorities beyond exception justifying the use of an Oath upon a great occasion or before a competent Authority according to that Prophecy quoted in the Article which is thought to relate to the Times of the Messias And thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in truth in judgment and in righteousness and the nations shall bless themselves in him Jer. 4.2 and in him shall they glory These last words seem evidently to relate to the days of the Messiah So here an Oath religiously taken is represented as a part of that Worship which all Nations shall offer up to God under the New Dispensation Against all this the great Objection is That when Christ is correcting the Glosses that the Pharisees put upon the Law whereas they only taught that men should not forswear themselves but perform their oaths unto the Lord our Saviour says Swear not at all neither by the Heaven nor the earth Matth. 5.34 35 36 37. James 5.12 nor by Ierusalem nor by the head but let your communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil And St. Iames speaking of the enduring Afflictions and of the Patience of Iob adds But above all things my brethren swear not neither by the heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation It must be confessed that these words seem to be so express and positive that great regard is to be had to a Scruple that is founded on an Authority that seems to be so full But according to what was formerly observed of the manner of the Judiciary Oaths among the Iews these words cannot belong to them Those Oaths were bound upon the Party by the Authority of the Judg in which he was passive and so could not help his being put under an Oath Whereas our Saviour's words relate only to those Oaths which a man took voluntarily on himself but not to those under which he was bound according to the Law of God If our Saviour had intended to have forbidden all Judiciary Oaths he must have annulled that part of the Authority of Magistrates and Parents and have forbid them to put others under Oaths The word Communication that comes afterwards seems to be a Key to our Saviour's words to shew that they ought only to be applied to their Communication or Commerce to those Discourses that pass among men in which it is but too customary to give Oaths a very large share Or since the words that went before concerning the performing of Vows seem to limit the Discourse to them the meaning of Swear not at all may be this Be not ready as the Iews were to make Vows on all occasions to devote themselves or others Instead of those he requires them to use a greater Simplicity in their Communication And St. Iames's words may be also very fitly applied to this since men in their Afflictions are apt to make very indiscreet Vows without considering whether they either can or probably will pay them as if they would pretend by such profuse Vows to overcome or corrupt God This Sense will well agree both to our Saviour's words and to St. Iames's and it seems most reasonable to believe that this is their true Sense for it agrees with every thing else whereas if we understand theâ— in that strict Sense of condemning all Oaths we cannot tell what to make of those Oaths which occur in several Passages of St. Paul's Epistles and least of all what to say to our Saviour's own answering upon Oath when adjured Therefore all rash and vain swearing all swearing in the Communication or Intercourse of Mankind is certainly condemned as well as all Imprecatory Vows But since we have so great Authorities from the Scriptures in both Testaments for other Oaths and since that agrees so evidently with the Principles of Natural Religion we may conclude with the Article That a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth it It is added in a Cause of Faith and Charity for certainly in trifling matters such Reverence is due to the Holy Name of God that swearing ought to be avoided But when it is necessary it ought to be set about with those regards that are due to the Great God who is appealed to A Gravity of Deportment and an Exactness of weighing the truth of what we say are highly necessary here Certainly our Words ought to be few and our Hearts full of the Apprehensions of the Majesty of that God with whom we have to do before whom we stand and to whom we appeal who knows all things and will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil FINIS
those Particulars that are mentioned in this Article so it was not possible for any that should have had the wickedness to set about it to have corrupted the New Testament by any Additions or Alterations it being so early spread into so many hands and that in so many different places When all this matter is laid together it appears to have as full an Evidence to support it as any Matter of Fact can possibly have The Narration gave great scope to a variety of Enquiries it raised much Disputing Opposition and Persecution and yet nothing was ever pretended to be proved that could subvert its Credit Great Multitudes received this Doctrine and died for it in the Age in which the Matters of Fact upon which its Credit was built were well attested and in which the Truth or Falshood of them might have been easily known which it is reasonable to believe that all men would carefully examine before they embraced and assented to that which was like to draw on them Sufferings that would probably end in Death Those who did spread this Doctrine as well as those who first received it had no Interest beside that of Trutâ— to engage them to it They could expect neither Wealth nor Greatness from it They were obliged to Travel much and to Labour hard to wrestle through great Difficulties and to endure many Indignities They saw others die on the account of it and had reason to look for the like usage themselves The Doctrine that they preached related either to the Facts concerning the Person of Christ or to the Rules of Life which they delivered These were all pure just and good they tended to settle the World upon the Foundations of Truth and Sincerity and that sublime Pitch of Righteousness of doing as they would be done by they tended to make men Sober and Temperate Chaste and Modest Meek and Humble Merciful and Charitable so that from thence there was no Colour given for suspecting any Fraud or Design in it The Worship of God in this Religion was Pure and Simple free from Cost or Pomp from Theatrical Shews as well as Idolatrous Rites and had in it all possible Characters becoming the Purity of the Supreme Mind When therefore so much concurs to give Credit to a Religion there ought to be evident Proofs brought to the contrary before it can be disbelieved or rejected So many men forsaking the Religion in which they were born and bred which has always a strong Influence even upon the greatest Minds and there being so many particular Prejudices both upon Iews and Gentiles by the Opinions in which they had been bred and the Impressions which had gone deep in them it could be no slight matter that could overcome all that The Iews expected a Conqueror for their Messias who should have raised both the Honour of their Law and their Nation and so were much possessed against one of a mean Appearance and when they saw that their Law was to be superseded and that the Gentiles were to be brought in to equal Privileges with themselves they could not but be deeply prejudiced both against the Person and Doctrine of Christ. The Philosophers despised Divine Inspiration and secret Assistances and had an ill Opinion of Miracles And the Herd among the Gentiles were so accustomed to Pomp and Shew in their Religious Performances that they must have nauseated the Christian Simplicity and the corruption of their Morals must have made them uneasy at a Religion of so much strictness All sorts of men lay under very strong Prejudices against this Religion nor was there any one Article or Branch of it that fâ—attered any of the Interests Appetites Passions or Vanities of Men but all was very much to the contrary They were warned to prepare for Trials and Crosses and in particular for a severe and fiery Trial that was speedily to come upon them There was nothing of the way or manner of Impostors that appeared in the Methods in which the Gospel was propagated When the Apostles saw that some were endeavouring to lessen them and their Authority they took no fawning ways They neither flattered nor spared those Churches that were under their care They charged them home with their faults and asserted their own Character in a strain that shewed they were afraid of no discoveries They appeal'd to the Miracles that they had wrought and to those Gifts and Divine Virtues of which they were not only possessed themselves but which were by their Ministry conferred on others The demonstration of the Spirit or Inspiration that was in them appeared in the power that is 1 Cor. 2.4 in the Miracles which accompanied it and those they wrought openly in the sight of many Witnesses An uncontested Miracle is the fullest Evidence that can be given of a Divine Commission A Miracle is a Work that exceeds all the known Powers of Nature and that carries in it plain Characters of a Power Superior to any Human power We cannot indeed fix the bounds of the Powers of Nature but yet we can plainly apprehend what must be beyond them For Instance We do not know what secret Virtues there may be in Plants and Minerals But we do know that bare words can have no Natural Virtue in them to cure Diseases much less to raise the Dead We know not what force Imagination or Credulity may have in Critical Diseases but we know that a Dead man has no Imagination We know also That Blindness Deafness and an Inveterate Palsey cannot be cured by Conceit Therefore such Miracles as the giving Sight to a Man born Blind Speech to the Deaf and Dumb and Strength to the Paralytick but most of all the giving Life to the Dead and that not only to Persons laid out as Dead but to one that was carried out to be Buried and to another that had been four days Dead and in his Grave all this was done with a bare Word without any sort of External Application This I say as it is clearly above the Force of Imagination so it is beyond the Powers of Nature These things were not done in the dark nor in the presence of a few in whom a particular confidence was put but in full day-light and in the sight of great Numbers Enemies as well as Friends and some of those Enemies were both the most enraged and the most capable of making all possible Exceptions to what was done Such were the Rulers of the Synagogues and the Pharisees in our Saviour's Time And yet they could neither deny the Facts nor pretend that there was any Deceit or Juglary in them We have in this all possible reason to conclude That both the things wâ—re truly done as they are related and that no just Exception was or could be made to them If it is pretended That those wonderful things were done by the Power of an Evil Spirit That does both acknowledge the Truth of the Relation and also its being Supernatural This Answer
taken from the Power of Evil Spirits is sometimes to be made use of when extraordinary things are well attested and urged in proof of that which upon other Reasons we are assured is false It is certain That as we have a great power over vast quantities of gross and heavy Matter which by the motion of a very subtile Body our Animal Spirits we can master and manage So Angels Good or Bad may by virtue of subtile Bodies in which they may dwell or which upon occasion they may assume do many things vastly above either our Force to do or our Imagination to apprehend how it is done by them Therefore an Action that exceeds all the known Powers in Nature may yet be done by an Evil Spirit that is in Rebellion against its Maker and that designs to impose upon us by such a mighty performance But then the measure by which we must judge of this is by considering what is the End or Design driven at in such a wonderful Work If it is a good one if it tends to reform the Manners of Men to bring them off from Magick Idolatry and Superstition to the Worship of one Pure and Eternal Mind And if it tends to Reform their Actions as well as their Speculations and their Worship to turn them from Immorality Falsehood and Malice to a Pure a Sincere and a Mild Temper if it tends to Regulate Society as well as to Perfect the Nature and Faculties of every single man Then we may well conclude That no evil Spirit can so far depart from its own Nature as to join its Forces and co-operate in such a Design Mat. 12 25 26. For then the Kingdom of Satan could not stand if he were thus divided against himself according to what our Saviour said when this was Objected against the Miracles that he wrought These are all the General Considerations that concur to prove the Truth of the History of the Gospel of which the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are the Two main Articles for they being well proved give Authority to all the rest As to the Resurrection in particular it is certain the Apostles could not be deceived in that matter They saw Christ frequently after he Rose from the Dead they met him once with a great Company of Five hundred with them They heard him Talk and Argue with them he opened the Scriptures to them with so peculiar an Energy that they felt their Hearts set on fire even when they did not yet perceive that it was He himself They did not at first either look for his Resurrection nor believe those who reported him risen They made all due Enquiry and some of them went beyond all reasonable bounds in their doubting So far were they from an easy and scon-imposed-on Credulity His Sufferings and their own Fears had so amazed them that they were contriving how to separate and disperse themselves when he at first appeared to them Men so full of Fear and so far from all Hope are not apt to be easy in believing So it must be concluded That either the account which the Apostles gave the World of Christ's Resurrection is true or they were gross Impostors since it is clear That the Circumstances and Numbers mentioned in that History shew there could be no deception in it And it is as little possible to conceive that there could be any Imposture in it For not to repeat again what has been already said That they were under no Temptations to set about any such Deceit but very much to the contrary and that there is no reason to think they were either bad enough to enter upon such a design or capable and skilful enough to manage it they being many of 'em illiterate Fishermen of Galilee who had no Acquaintance at Ierusalem to furnish them with that which might be necessary for executing such a contrivance The Circumstanâ—es of that Transaction are to be well examined and then it will appear that no Number of bold and dextrous men furnished with all Advantages whatsoever could have effected this matter Great Numbers had been engaged in the procuring our Saviour to be Crucified The whole Sanhedrim besides Multitudes of the People who upon all occasions are easily drawn in to engage in Tumultuary Commotions All these were concerned to examine the Event of this matter He was Buried in a New Sepulchre lately hewed out of a Rock so that there was no coming at it by any secret ways A Watch was set and all this at a time in which the Full-Moon gave a great Light all the Night long And Ierusalem being very full of People who were then there in great Numbers to keep the Passover that being the second Night of so vast a Rendevouz it is reasonable to think That great Numbers were walking in the Fields or at least might be so some later and some earlier Now if an Imposture was to be set about the Guard was to be frighted or mastered which could not be done without giving the Alarm and that must have quickly brought a Multitude upon them Christ's Body must have been disposed of Some other Tomb was to be lookt for to lodge it in The Wounds that were in it would have made it to be soon known if found Here a bold Attempt was to be undertaken by a company of poor irresolute Men who must trust one another intirely otherways they knew all might be soon discovered One of their Number had betrayed Christ a few days before Another had forsworn him and all had forsaken him And yet these men are supposed all of the sudden so firm in themselves and so sure of one another as to venture on the most daring thing that was ever undertaken by men when not a Circumstance could ever be found out to fix upon them the least suspicion The Priests and the Pharisees must be thought a strange stupid fort of Creatures if they did not examine where the Apostles were all that Night Besides many other particulars which might have been a thread to lead them into strict Inquiries unless it was because they believed the Report that the Watch had brought them of Christ's Rising again When they had this certain reason to believe it and yet resolved to oppose it the only thing they could do was to seem to neglect the Matter and only to decry it in general as an Imposture without going into Particulars which certainly they would not have done if they themselves had not been but too sure of the Truth of it When all this is laid together it is the most unreasonable thing imaginable to think that there was an Imposture in this Matter when no Colour nor shadow of it ever appeared and when all the Circumstances and not only probabilities but even Moral possibilities are so full to the contrary The Ascension of Christ has not indeed so full a proof Nor is it capable of it neither does it need it for the Resurrection well proved makes
ought to maintain the Unity of the Body and the Decency and Order that is necessary for Peace and mutual Edification Therefore since there is not any one thing that Christ has enjoined more solemnly and more frequently than Love and Charity Union and Agreement amongst his Disciples since we are also required to assemble our selves together Heb 10.25 to constitute our selves in a Body both for worshipping God jointly and for maintaining of Order and Love among the Society of Christians we ought to acquiesce in such Rules as have been agreed on by common Consent and which are recommended to us by long Practice and that are established by those who have the lawful Authority over us Nor can we assign any other Bounds to our Submission in this Case than those that the Gospel has limited We must obey God rather than Man Acts 5.29 Matth. 22.21 and we must in the first place render to God the things that are God's and then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's So that if either Church or State have power to make Rules and Laws in such matters they must have this Extent given them That till they break in upon the Laws of God and the Gospel we must be bound to obey them A Mean cannot be put here either they have no Power at all or they have a Power that must go to every thing that is not forbid by any Law of God This is the only measure that can be given in this matter But a great difference is here to be made between those Rules that both Church and State ought to set to themselves in their enacting of such matters and the Measures of the Obedience of Subjects The only question in the point of Obedience must be Lawful or Unlawful For Expedient or Inexpedient ought never to be brought into question as to the point of Obedience since no Inexpediency whatsoever can balance the breaking of Order and the dissolving the Constitution and Society This is a Consideration that arises out of a Man's apprehensions of the fitness or usefulness of things in which though he might be in the right as to the antecedent fitness of them and yet even there he may be in the wrong and in common modesty every Man ought to think that it is more likely that he should be in the wrong than the Governors and Rulers of the Society yet I say allowing all this it is certain that Order and Obedience are both in their own nature and in their Consequences to be preferred to all the particular considerations of Expediency or Inexpediency Yet still those in whose Hands the making of those Rules is put ought to carry their Thoughts much further They ought to consider well the Genius of the Christian Religion and therefore they are to avoid every thing that may lead to Idolatry or feed Superstition every thing that is apt to be abused to give false Ideas of God or to make the World think that such Instituted Practices may balance the Violation of the Laws of God They ought not to overcharge the Worship of God with too great a Number of them The Rites ought to be grave simple and naturally expressive of that which is intended by them Vain Pomp and indecent Levity ought to be guarded against and next to the Honour of God and Religion the Peace and Edification of the Society ought to be chiefly considered Due regard ought to be had to what Men can bear and what may be most suitable to the present State of the whole and finally a great Respect is due to Ancient and Established Practices Antiquity does generally beget Veneration and the very changing of what has been long in use does naturally startle many and discompose a great part of the Body So all Changes unless the Expediency of making them is upon other Accounts very visible labour under a great prejudice with the more staid Sort of Men for this very Reason because they are Changes But in this matter no certain or Mathematical Rules can be given Every one of these that has been named is capable of that Variety by the diversity of Times and other Circumstances that since Prudence and Discretion must Rule the use that is to be made of them that must be left to the Conscience and Prudence of every Person who may be concerned in the Management of this Authority He must Act as he will Answer it to God and to the Church for he must be at liberty in applying those general Rules to particular Times and Cases And a Temper must be observed We must avoid a sullen adhering to things because they were once settled as if Points of Honour were to be maintained here and that it look'd like a reproaching a Constitution or the Wisdom of a former Age to alter what they did since it is certain that what was wisely ordered in one Time may be as wisely chang'd in another As on the other hand all Men ought to avoid the Imputations of a desultory Levity as if they loved Changes for Changes sake This might give occasion to our Adversaries to triumph over us and might also fill the Minds of the weaker among our selves with Apprehensions and Scruples The next particular Asserted in this Article is That the Church hath Authority in Matters of Faith Here a Distinction is to be made between an Authority that is absolute and founded on Infallibility and an Authority of Order The former is very formally disclaimed by our Church but the second may be well maintained tho' we Assert no Unerring Authority Every single Man has a Right to search the Scriptures and to take his Faith from them yet it is certain that he may be mistaken in it It is therefore a much surer way for Numbers of Men to Meet together and to Examine such Differences as happen to arise To consider the Arguments of all Hands with the Importance of such Passages of Scripture as are brought into the Controversy and thus to enquire into the whole Matter in which as it is very natural to think that a great Company of Men should see further than a less Number so there is all Reason to expect a good Issue of such Deliberations if Men proceed in them with due Sincerity and Diligence If Pride Faction and Interest do not sway their Councils and if they seek for Truth more than for Victory But what abuses soever may have crept since into the publick Consultations of the Clergy the Apostles at first met and consulted together upon that Controversy which was then moved concerning the Imposing the Mosaical Law upon the Gentiles They ordered the Pastors of the Church to be able to convince Gainsayers Titus 1.9 3.10 and not to reject a Man as an Heretick till after a first and a second Admonition The most likely method both to find out the Truth and to bring such as are in Error over to it is to consult of these Matters in
common and that openly and fairly For if every good Man that prays earnestly to God for the Assistance and Direction of his Spirit has reason to look for it much more may a Body of Pastors brought together to seek out the Truth in any point under debate look for it if they bring with them sincere and unprejudiced Minds and do pray earnestly to God In that case they may expect to be directed and assisted of Him But this depends upon the Purity of their Hearts and the Earnestness of their Endeavours and Prayers When any Synod of the Clergy has so far examined a Point as to settle their Opinions about it they may certainly decree that such is their Doctrine And as they judge it to be more or less important they may either restrain any other Opinion or may require positive Declarations about it either of all in their Communion or at least of all whom they admit to minister in Holy Things This is only an Authority of Order for the maintaining of Union and Edification And in this a Body does no more as it is a Body than what every single Individual has a right to do for himself He examines a Doctrine that is laid before him he forms his own Opinion upon it and pursuant to that he must judge with whom he can hold Communion and from whom he must separate When such Definitions are made by the Body of the Pastors of any Church all Persons within that Church do owe great respect to their Decision Modesty must be observed in descanting upon it and in disputing about it Every Man that finds his own thoughts differ from it ought to examine the Matter over again with much attention and care freeing himself all he can from Prejudice and Obstinacy with a just distrust of his own Understanding and an humble respect to the Judgment of his Superiors This is due to the considerations of Peace and Union and to that Authority which the Church has to maintain it But if after all possible methods of Enquiry a Man cannot master his Thoughts or make them agree with the Publick Decisions his Conscience is not under Bonds Since this Authority is not absolute nor grounded upon a promise of Infallibility This is a Tenet that with Relation to National Churches and their Decisions is held by the Church of Rome as well as by us For they place Infallibility either in the Pope or in the Universal Church But no Man ever dreamt of Infallibility in a particular or National Church And the Point in this Article is only concerning particular Churches for the Head of General Councils comes in upon the next That no Church can add any thing as necessary to Salvation has been already considered upon the Sixth Article It is certain that as we owe our hopes of Salvation only to Christ and to what he has done for us so also it can belong only to him who procured it to us to fix the Terms upon which we may look for it Nor can any Power on Earth clog the offers that he makes us in the Gospel with new or other Terms than those which we find made there to us There can be no dispute about this For unless we believe that there is an Infallible Authority lodged in the Church to explain the Scripture and to declare Tradition and unless we believe that the Scriptures are both obscure and defective and that the one must be helped by an Infallible Commentary and the other supplied by an Authentical Declarer of Tradition we cannot ascribe an Authority to the Church either to contradict the Scripture or to add necessary conditions of Salvation to it We own after all That the Church is the Dispositary of the whole Scriptures as the Iews were of the Old Testament But in that Instance of the Iews we may see that a Body of Men may be faithful in the Copying of a Book exactly and in the handing it down without corrupting it and yet they may be mistaken in the true meaning of that which they preserve so faithfully They are expresly called the keepers of the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 And are no where reproved for having attempted upon this Depositum And yet for all that Fidelity they fell into great Errors about some of the most Important parts of their Religion which exposed them to the rejecting the Messias and to their utter ruin The Church's being called the Witness of Holy Writ is not to be resolved into any Judgment that they pass upon it as a Body of Men that have Authority to Judge and give Sentence so that the Canonicalness or the Uncanonicalness of any Book shall depend upon their Testimony But is resolv'd into this that such Successions and Numbers of Men whether of the Laity or Clergy have in a course of many Ages had these Books preserved and read among them so that it was not possible to corrupt that upon which so many Men had their Eyes in all the Corners and Ages of Christendom And thus we believe the Scripture to be a Book written by inspired Men and delivered by them to the Church upon the Testimony of the Church that at first received it knowing that those great Matters of Fact contained and appealed to in it were true And also upon the like Testimony of the succeeding Ages who Preserved Read Copied and Translated that Book as they had received it from the first The Church of Rome is guilty of a manifest Circle in this Matter For they say they believe the Scriptures upon the Authority of the Church And they do again believe the Authority of the Church because of the Testimony of the Scripture concerning it This is as false reasoning as can be imagined For nothing can be proved by another Authority till that Authority is first fixed and proved And therefore if the Testimony of the Church is believed to be sacred by virtue of a Divine Grant to it and that from thence the Scriptures have their Credit and Authority then the Credit due to the Church's Testimony is Antecedent to the Credit of the Scripture And so must not be proved by any passages brought from it otherwise that is a manifest Circle But no Circle is committed in our way who do not prove the Scriptures from any supposed Authority in the Church that has handed them down to us But only as they are vast Companies of Men who cannot be presumed to have been guilty of any Fraud in this matter it appeared further to be morally impossible for any that should have attempted a Fraud in it to have executed it When therefore the Scripture it self is proved by Moral Arguments of this kind we may according to the strictest Rules of Reasoning examine What Authority the Scripture gives to the Pastors of the Church met in lesser or greater Councils ARTICLE XXI Of the Authority of General Councils General Councils may not be gathered together without the Commandment and Will of