them that is faulty and which will not endure the light This is the account which our Saviour gives us in a like Case It was because mens deeds were evil that they loved darkness rather than light For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doth the truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God 3. Since Reason and Christianity allow this liberty to private persons to judge for themselves in matters of Religion we should use this privilege with much modesty and humility with great submission and deference to our Spiritual Rulers and Guides whom God hath appointed in his Church And there is very great need of this Caution since by experience we find this liberty so much abused by many to the nourishing of Pride and self-conceit of Division and Faction and those who are least able to judge to be frequently the most forward and confident the most peremptory and perverse and instead of demeaning themselves with the submission of Learners to assume to themselves the authority of Judges even in the most doubtfull and disputable matters The Tyranny of the Roman Church over the Minds and Consciences of men is not to be justified upon any account but nothing puts so plausible a colour upon it as the ill use that is too frequently made of this natural Privilege of mens judging for themselves in a matter of so infinite concernment as that of their eternal happiness But then it is to be consider'd that the proper remedy in this Case is not to deprive men of this Privilege but to use the best means to prevent the abuse of it For though the inconveniences arising from the ill use of it may be very great yet the mischief on the other hand is intolerable Religion it self is liable to be abused to very bad purposes and frequently is so but it is not therefore best that there should be no Religion And yet this Objection if it be of any force and be pursued home is every whit as strong against Religion it self as against mens liberty of judging in matters of Religion Nay I add farther that no man can judiciously embrace the true Religion unless he be permitted to judge whether that which he embraces be the true Religion or not 4. When upon due Trial and Examination we are well-settled and established in our Religion let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering and not be like Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine through the sleight of men and the cunning craftiness of those who lie in wait to deceive And above all let us resolve to live according to the excellent Rules and Precepts of our holy Religion let us heartily obey that Doctrine which we profess to believe We who enjoy the Protestant Religion have all the means and advantages of understanding the Will of God free liberty and full scope of enquiring into it and informing our selves concerning it We have all the opportunities we can wish of coming to the knowledge of our Duty The Oracles of God lie open to us and his Law is continually before our eyes his word is nigh unto us in our mouths and in our hearts that is we may read it and meditate upon it that we may do it The Key of Knowledg is put into our hands so that if we do not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven it is we our selves that shut our selves out And where there is nothing to hinder us from the knowledg of our Duty there certainly nothing can excuse us from the practice of it For the End of all knowledg is to direct men in their duty and effectually to engage them to the performance of it The great business of Religion is to make men truly good and to teach them to live well And if Religion have not this effect it matters not of what Church any man lists and enters himself for most certainly A bad man can be saved in none Though a man know the right way to Heaven never so well and be entered into it yet if he will not walk therein he shall never come thither Nay it will be an aggravation of this man's unhappiness that he was lost in the way to Heaven and perished in the very Road to Salvation But if we will in good earnest apply our selves to the practice of Religion and the obedience of God's holy Laws his Grace will never be wanting to us to so good a purpose I have not time to recommend Religion to you at large with all its advantages I will comprise what I have to say in a few words and mind them at your peril Let that which is our great concernment be our great care To know the Truth and to do it To fear God and keep his Commandments Considering the Reasonableness and the Reward of Piety and Vertue nothing can be wiser and considering the mighty assistance of God's Grace which he is ready to afford to us and the unspeakable satisfaction and delight which is to be had in the doing of our duty nothing can be easier Nothing will give us that pleasure while we live nothing can minister that true and solid comfort to us when we come to die There is probably no such way for a man to be happy in this World to be sure there is no way but this to escape the intolerable and endless miseries of another World Now God grant that we may all know and do in this our day the things that belong to our peace for his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen FINIS ADVERTISEMENT WHereas there is surreptitiously printed from very false and imperfect Notes a Sermon preached Decemb. 3 d. 1678. at the York-shire Feast to the great abuse and injury of the Author and of the Buyers of it It is thought fit to give this notice of it and that it is since publish'd by the Author Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury in Quarto The false Copy being but two sheets and printed in Octavo There is now in the Press a Learned Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy in Quarto By Dr. Isaac Barrow late Master of Trinity Colledg in Cambridg To be sold by Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil
A SERMON Preached at White-Hall April the 4th 1679. By JOHN TILLOTSON D. D. Dean of Canterbury and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty Published by His Majesties special Command LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil And William Rogers at the Maiden-head over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCLXXIX A SERMON Preached at WHITE-HALL April the 4th 1679. i JOHN iv.i. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World THis caution and counsel was given upon occasion of the false Prophets and Teachers that were risen up in the Church who endeavoured to seduce men from the true Doctrine of the Gospel delivered by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour And these teaching contrary things could not both be from God and therefore St. John calls upon Christians to examin the Doctrines and Pretences of those new Teachers whether they were from God or not Believe not every Spirit that is not every one that takes upon him to be inspired and to be a Teacher come from God But try the Spirits that is examine those that make this pretence whether it be real or not and examin the Doctrines which they bring because there are many Impostors abroad in the World This is the plain sence of the Words In which there are contained these four Propositions First That men may and often do falsly pretend to Inspiration And this is the Reason upon which the Apostle grounds this Exhortation Because many false Prophets are gone out into the World therefore we should try who are true and who are false Secondly We are not to believe every one that pretends to be inspired and to teach a Divine Doctrine This follows upon the former because men may falsly pretend to Inspiration therefore we are not to believe every one that makes this pretence For any man that hath but confidence enough and conscience little enough may pretend to come from God And if we admit all pretences of this kind we lie at the mercy of every crafty and confident man to be led by him into what delusions he pleaseth Thirdly Neither are we to reject all that pretend to come from God This is sufficiently implied in the Text for where the Apostle says believe not every Spirit he supposeth we are to believe some and when he saith try the Spirits whether they be of God he supposeth some to be of God and that those which are so are to be believed These three Observations are so plain that I need only to name them to make way for the Fourth Which I principally designed to insist upon from these Words And that is this That there is some way to discern mere pretenders to Inspiration from those who are truly and Divinely inspired And this is necessarily implied in the Apostles bidding us to try the Spirits whether they are of God For it were in vain to make any trial if there be no way to discern between pretended and real Inspirations Now the handling of this will give occasion to two very material Enquiries and useful to be resolved I. How we may discern between true and counterfeit Doctrines those which really are from God and those which only pretend to be so II. To whom this judgment of discerning doth appertain I. How we may discern between true and counterfeit Doctrines and Revelations For the clearing of this I shall lay down these following Propositions 1. That Reason is the faculty whereby Revelations are to be discerned or to use the phrase in the Text it is that whereby we are to judg what Spirits are of God and what not For all Revelation from God supposeth us to be men and to be indued with Reason and therefore it does not create new Faculties in us but propounds new Objects to that Faculty which was in us before Whatever Doctrines God reveals to men are propounded to their Understandings and by this Faculty we are to examin all Doctrines which pretend to be from God and upon examination to judg whether there be reason to receive them as Divine or to reject them as Impostures 2. All supernatural Revelation supposeth the truth of the Principles of Natural Religion We must first be assured that there is a God before we can know that he hath made any Revelation of himself and we must know that all his Words are true otherwise there were no sufficient reason to believe the Revelations which he makes to us and we must believe his Authority over us and that he will reward our obedience to his Laws and punish our breach of them otherwise there would neither be sufficient obligation nor encouragement to Obedience These and many other things are supposed to be true and naturally known to us antecedently to all supernatural Revelation otherwise the Revelations of God would signify nothing to us nor be of any force with us 3. All Reasonings about Divine Revelations must necessarily be governed by the Principles of Natural Religion that is by those apprehensions which men naturally have of the Divine perfections and by the clear Notions of good and evil which are imprinted upon our Natures Because we have no other way to judg what is worthy of God and credible to be believed by him and what not but by the natural notions which we have of God and of his essential perfections which because we know him to be immutable we have reason to believe he will never contradict And by these Principles likewise we are to interpret what God hath revealed and when any doubt ariseth concerning the meaning of any divine Revelation as that of the Holy Scriptures we are to govern our selves in the interpretation of it by what is most agreeable to those natural Notions which we have of God and we have all the reason in the World to reject that sence which is contrary thereto For instance when God is represented in Scripture as having a humane shape eyes ears and hands the Notions which men naturally have of the divine Nature and Perfections do sufficiently direct us to interpret these expressions in a sence worthy of God and agreeable to his perfection And therefore it is reasonable to understand them as rather spoken to our capacity and in a Figure than to be litterally intended And this will proportionably hold in many other cases 4. Nothing ought to be received as a Revelation from God which plainly contradicts the Principles of Natural Religion or overthrows the certainty of them For instance it were in vain to pretend a Revelation from God That there is no God because this is a contradiction in terms So likewise to pretend a command from God That we are to hate and despise him because it is not credible that God should require any thing of Reasonable Creatures so unsuitable to their Natures and to their Obligations to him Besides that such a Law
as this does tacitely involve a contradiction because upon such a supposition to despise God would be to obey him and yet to obey him is certainly to honour him So that in this case to honour God and to despise him would be the same thing and equal contempts of him In like manner it would be vain to pretend any Revelation from God That there is no life after this nor rewards and punishments in another World because this is contrary to those natural apprehensions which have generally possest mankind and would take away the main force and sanction of the divine Laws The like may be said concerning any pretended Revelation from God which evidently contradicts those natural Notions which men have of good and evil as That God should command or allow Sedition and Rebellion Perfidiousness and Perjury because the practise of these would be apparently destructive of the peace and happiness of Mankind and would naturally bring confusion into the World But God is not the God of Confusion but of Order which St. Paul appeals to as a Principle naturally known Upon the same account nothing ought to be entertained as a Divine Revelation which overthrows the Principles of natural Religion because that would take away the certainty of Divine Revelation it self which supposeth the truth of those Principles For instance whoever pretends any Revelation that brings the Providence of God into question does by that very thing make such a Revelation questionable For if God take no care of the World have no concernment for humane affairs why should we believe that he makes any Revelation of his Will to men And by this Principle Moses will have false Prophets to be tried Deut. 13.1 If there arise among you a Prophet and giveth thee a sign or wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other Gods and let us serve them thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet And he gives the reason of this ver 5. because he hath spoken unto you to turn you away from the Lord your God which brought you out of the Land of Egypt Here is a case wherein a false Prophet is supposed to work a true Miracle to give credit to his Doctrine which in other cases the Scripture makes the sign of a true Prophet but yet in this case he is to be rejected as an Impostor Because the Doctrine he teacheth would draw men off from the worship of the true God who is naturally known and had manifested himself to the people of Israel in so miraculous a manner by bringing them out of the Land of Egypt So that a Miracle is not enough to give credit to a Prophet who teacheth any thing contrary to that natural Notion which men have That there is but one God who only ought to be worshipped 5. Nothing ought to be received as a Divine Doctrine and Revelation without good evidence that it is so that is without some Argument sufficient to satisfy a prudent and considerate man Now supposing there be nothing in the matter of the Revelation that is evidently contrary to the Principles of Natural Religion nor to any former Revelation which hath already received a greater and more solemn attestation from God Miracles are owned by all Mankind to be a sufficient Testimony to any Person or Doctrine that they are from God This was the Testimony which God gave to Moses to satisfy the people of Israel that he had sent him Exod. 4.1 2. Moses said They will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice for they will say The Lord hath not appeared unto thee Upon this God endues him with a power of Miracles to be an evidence to them that they may believe that the God of their Fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob hath appeared unto thee And all along in the Old Testament when God sent his Prophets to make a new Revelation or upon any strange and extraordinary message he always gave credit to them by some Sign or Wonder which they foretold or wrought And when he sent his Son into the World he gave Testimony to him by innumerable great and unquestionable Miracles more and greater than Moses and all the Prophets had wrought And there was great Reason for this because our Saviour came not only to publish a new Religion to the World but to put an end to that Religion which God had instituted before And now that the Gospel hath had the confirmation of such Miracles as never were wrought upon any other occasion no Evidence inferior to this can in reason controul this Revelation or give credit to any thing contrary to it And therefore though the false Prophets and Antichrists foretold by our Saviour did really work Miracles yet they were so inconsiderable in comparison of our Saviours that they deserve no credit in opposition to that Revelation which had so clear a Testimony given to it from Heaven by Miracles besides all other concurring Arguments to confirm it 6. And Lastly No Argument is sufficient to prove a Doctrine or Revelation to be from God which is not clearer and stronger than the Difficulties and Objections against it Because all Assent is grounded upon Evidence and the strongest and clearest evidence always carries it But where the evidence is equal on both sides that can produce nothing but a suspence and doubt in the mind whether the thing be true or not If Moses had not confuted Pharaoh's Magicians by working Miracles which they could not work they might reasonably have disputed it with him who had been the true Prophet But when he did works plainly above the power of their Magick and the Devil to do then they submitted and acknowledged that there was the Finger of God So likewise though a person work a Miracle which ordinarily is a good evidence that he is sent by God yet if the Doctrine he brings be plainly contrary to those natural Notions which we have of God this is a better objection aginst the truth of his Doctrine than the other is a proof of it as is plain in the case which Moses puts Deut. 13. which I mentioned before Upon the same account no man can reasonably believe the Doctrine of Transubstantiation to be revealed by God because every man hath as great evidence that Transubstantiation is false as any man can pretend to have that God hath revealed any such thing Suppose Transubstantiation to be part of the Christian Doctrine it must have the same confirmation with the whole and that is Miracles But of all Doctrines in the world it is peculiarly incapable of being proved by a Miracle For if a Miracle were wrought for the proof of it the very same assurance which a man hath of the truth of the Miracle he hath of the falshood of the Doctrine that is the clear evidence of his senses for both For that there is a Miracle wrought to prove that what he sees in