Paul told the Romans This is the Word of Faith which we Preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe with thine Heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved as also St. John For every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God God dwelleth in him and he in God So that such a belief with sincere and hearty endeavours to please God according to the best Notices a man can get will secure a man his Salvation if it will not there is no Salvation to be had at all Now the best Notices we can get and only Rule to direct our Lives and Actions are the Books of the Old and New Testament wherein are transmitted the Transactions of Heaven with the Sons of Men and are of an inestimable value teaching all things fully that relate to God or Men as to the Nature and Worship of the one or the Duty and Salvation of the other Now that men can understand these Books is a thing without all controversie and only disputed by them whose interest it is they should not I mean men of ordinary and mean Capacities for if not to what end were they wrote Or why to them directed And why are all commanded to read and search them if they were not capable to understand them And how can such men who deny it be able to vindicate the Wisdom Goodness or Justice of Almighty God in delivering his Creatures a Rule to walk by and exact a due conformity thereto if they were not capable to understand it No certainly the Good God as he has condescended to give his Creatures a Rule so he has calculated this Rule to all their Capacities and so adapted the one for the other that they have the greatest reason in the World to Adore and Admire his Wisdom and Goodness for the same I will allow that some can better understand them than others and that they are not equally understood of all because of the difference of men's Capacities and Acquirements and because they should have a dependance and be beholding to one another which ministers to Charity but then nothing is more certain than that all men of the meanest Capacities may understand them sufficient and enough for Salvation if they come with a sincere affection of being instructed and of finding out Truth otherwise they would not answer the end for which they were designed Some things indeed the deepest Heads cannot reach and others the weakest Understandings can hardly possibly mistake and those too are all of the greatest importance If only one sort of men were able to understand them as some would have it we should have had notice from Heaven who those should be and how qualified and that in such plain Characters that it should not be possible we should mistake but there is no such thing And if any sort of men claim this Arcanum above others 't is an affront to the Understandings of all the rest and their Words ought not to be taken in their own Case And indeed 't is a thing too great to be trusted with any one sort of men Some indeed will only have Learned Men capable of understanding them but then if this should be what alamentable case the World would be in Truth would then 〈◊〉 a precarious thing and we should have no more of it than these Learned Men please and if they should be byassed corrupted or be dishonest what must the other three parts of the World do Must they lie at their Mercy and their Salvation depend on their Honesty No God forbid And blessed be his Name he has taken care men shall not lie liable to any such Impostures But if these men will needs be in the right above the rest and understand for them let them do their duty for them too for 't is not reasonable they should be charged with a duty that do not understand it But having found their own failings herein and that they are but men like others during not to be so confident as usual they betake themselves to shifts and to countenance their fallibility supply the defects of honesty and salve their imposition of their sence they set up a strange sort of Infallibility which indeed would put an end to all the Disputes and Differences in Chistondom were there any such thing But that which they have invented to put out the Flame serves only to increase it for where the Power of Infallibility is lodged Heaven has given us no notice which it would certainly have done had there been any such thing And 't is certain that those who pretend most to this Infallibility have been most deceived of all Indeed the Romanists for the most part have drove furiously and forced all their People to do the same thing and worship God the same way but this cannot be called an Agreement no more than Sheep are said to agree when they are drove up and Pounded all together by the Shepherd And there is greater Agreement amongst those though the foolish World think to the contrary who worship their Maker under the Administration of several Disciplines and Conduction of several Guides For Force and Violence may make a Congregation of Bodies but no Unity of Minds 'T is only a Hearty Intention Sincerity of Mind and Affections Simpleness and Identity of Address to the same Object which can be called Unity and Agreement and nothing else for other things though they may seem differences and disagreements to men yet really they are none at all for the Circumstances of Time and Place Publick or Private Day or Night the several Instances of Respects Methods and Way of Worship are all one and the same thing to God Almighty He only looks at the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Differences with men are not so with him if they agree in sincerity of Affections and integrity of Spirit that 's the Agreement he looks after 'T is true again That men understand the Scriptures differently and to different Senses but why this difference of Understanding should be Objected as a Crime I know not For 't is impossible it should be otherwise so long as there be such great variety of Humane Understandings and as long as they understand not differently and amiss on a bad end and design they cannot possibly be Criminal for no man is Obliged to understand better than he can Then again Many men may be totally Ignorant of many things in Scripture and yet be very Innocent and certainly if their Total Ignorance be no fault their understanding differently those things which they might have been Innocently ignorant of cannot make them guilty of a Crime if it should it would highly advance Ignorance and very much depress Understanding and Knowledge But further if they understand them differently which I contend for the most part they do in order to promote a Virtue encourage a Grace or
them one against another And some when they would go a shorter way to work call but their Adversary by the name of his Sect that serves for Evidence Conviction and Condemnation and then secure him Goaler But it will be asked and ought to be enquired into How they came by such false Notions of things Then I say That Custom Chance Prejudice and Constitution give most men their way of Religion and creates their Consciences too they think this or that to be sinful not which is really and naturally so but what they see some men abhor and detest and what they have been taught is so and Youth generally take their Parents word and swallow all infinitely and implicitly and if one be mistaken 't is hardly possible but that the other will be mistaken too And 't is certain that the undutifulness of disobeying Parents injunctions and the reproach and shame of being singular and doing things contrary to their Country Customs and Usages are great Obstacles to Truth and Peace Some of the Indians did eat their dead Friends and Relations and thought it a great piece of Piety and the most honourable way of Sepulture but the Greeks they burned them all Alexander asked each of them what he should give them to exchange their Method They both answered with the greatest abhorrence imaginable and declaimed against each others Usages as the most barbarous and undecent way in the World. Custom makes good things to seem evil and evil things to seem good And I have read of a Shepherd on the Mountains of Naples who in the holy time of Lent came with Tears in his Eyes to his Confessor and earnestly desired Absolution in that he had swallowed by chance a little Whey which leaped into his Mouth from the Cheese-Press The Father asked him Whether he knew himself guilty of no other Sins He answered Not any as he knew of He again asked him Whether he was not accessary to any of the Robberies and Murders committed on their Mountains Yes indeed Quoth he that I am but this we never esteem a Crime 't is a thing daily practised by all of us and there needs no confession for such things By this may be seen what Custom can do But Education Prejudice and Custom have still further strange Operations For They strangely dispose men to be resolute and tenacious of their first-taught-Principles and make them Deaf to the most Weighty Sober and Convincing Reasons and when a man is linked to a Party there is no unchaining of him he delights in his Slavery and Chains and reckons him an Enemy that would free him He will be of the Religion he was bred to whether Turk Jew or Pagan and thinks that always the best Come to undeceive him and he looks on you as an Impostor and all the Arguments you shall bring signifie no more than Arrows against a Wall of Brass he is resolved say what you will you shall not move him he will not consider any thing that is alledged against him will laugh at your Reasons shift them off and do any thing rather than be Convinced nay he comes with a Resolution to a Discourse not to be overcome and to say something for his Side rather than the Truth and what is worst of all 't is impossible some should be prevailed upon who esteem all Arguments to be Temptations and therefore look upon themselves obliged by all means to shun them So that this sort of Obstinacy and Perversness this Partiality this respect to Persons and Sides and want of Sincerity and Indifferency to Truth keeps a foot our Differences obstructs mutual Compliances and Toleration every one calling his Fancy his Faith his Opinion his Religion and entitles God to all and when God is concerned then they think their Zeal cannot be too much and out of an hatred to Lukewarmness endeavour to make it as Hot as they can so Hot that it destroys Charity and Burns and Preys upon their innocent Neighbours But a further Accessary and Aggravation too of Christian Differences is the Method and Administration of their Government For First They suppose God Almighty has appointed a particular Discipline and Regiment for his Church and then fall out about it every one maintaining that their own particular Scheme is the same Then again they suppose that Discipline and Regiment is absolutely necessary both which are false I or God neither hath appointed any particular Way neither is any necessary any further than for the necessary Regulating such Assemblies as shall meet together to worship their God or to Excommunicate a man out of such their Assemblies for his evil Life which are things very easie to be done and need no great Wit or Learning to perform And any man may be Honest Just True Sincere Charitable Humble and Exercise any Christian Graces or Vertues without the help of Ecclesiastical Policy he may Pray to or Praise his God in Spirit and Truth which is all the Way that ever Christ appointed without the help of Church-Policy Christ's Kingdom is of another World and requires none of the Policy of this to manage it it ought to be kept pure and unmix'd being clear of another Nature We see Oyl in a Vessel of Water will not mix but keep its Body intire to it self no more ought Spirituals to be mix'd with Temporals But these Spiritual Politicians have mix'd Heaven and Earth together confounded the World with their Policy and so jumbled things together that Christianity is almost lost in the Composition so that men know not where to find it I should think that the ill success and bad effects such Policy hath hitherto had in the World should make them ashamed and endeavour by all means to leave such methods which did always rather Disturb than any way Beautifie the Church of God. And let them further give me leave to tell them That if all the Hedges and Enclosures in England were pulled down and levelled that it would be England-still 'T is True Property might suffer by such a Communication but to Heaven and Religion every one has an equal Title and Property And if God Almighty had design'd a particular Way or Method of Worship he would have taken care that none should miss it and prevented all Differences about it But he has appointed none at all as I know of but that of in Spirit and in Truth And had any particular Way been absolutely necessary our Saviour would have told the Woman of Samaria when she did as good as ask him the Question How or where they should worship God Whether at Jerusalem or Samaria For there was a great contest about it amongst the Inhabitants of each But he told her That the time was come that they should neither Worship him at Jerusalem nor Samaria that is not at either of those places in particular exclusive of others but in Spirit and in Truth As if he had said The Times of limitation of God's Worship is now over
Jerusalem indeed was the place appointed and particular Rites and Ceremonies were enjoyned and made obligatory but now those times are past all Rites Types and Ceremonies are abolished and other Times are come that God must be Worshipped after another manner I observe you mind Times and Places and particular Methods too much and have foolish and unprofitable Contentions for the same and mind Sincerity too little therefore I assign and appoint you no particular Place Method or Time But be sure when ever you Worship God let it be sincerely and heartily let it be in Spirit and in Truth and you shall then be accepted Now men have strange Contentions about the Truth of the Way of God's Worship but do but grope in the dark since no way is appointed I do not say they do amiss if they mean well but the Truth of the Action I reckon is the principal thing by how much more easie it is to be performed and more earnestly of God required for he saith Son give me thy Heart And 't is an easie thing for any man to know whether he is in Earnest whether he is Sincere Hearty and Real in what he doth whether he Loves or Fears or truly Worships God or no whether the Affections of the Soul accompany his Actions and that he is no Hypocrite This I say is easie for any man of the meanest Capacity to tell But then whether the Circumstantials of our Worship be in a true Way is not so easily found out for the Reasons aforementioned and the great Difficulties therein And if after Diligence used since no particular way is appointed we mistake in choosing instances of Respect to our Maker our mistakes are Invincible and we shall never be answerable for them But if we be 't is only to him Our Lord and not to One Another And therefore 't is the most unreasonable thing imaginable for men to judge one another in these points much more to impose their respective Fancies and Models with insufferable Penalties one upon another when they can have so little Assurance they are in the Right But while I am endeavouring to Cool and Qualifie the Mad World by Reasons and Arguments detecting theiir Mistakes and exposing to View the Unnecessary Occasions of their Differences and Unreasonableness of their Destructive Contentions I am presently Mr. Wakes Text at St. Laurence and Mercers Chappel Interrupted with a Text of Scripture lakely Preached in the City and that is Contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints What says some would you not have us contend for the Faith Would you not have us earnest for our Religion and for the Truth I reply Yes by any means And this Text doth encourage you to contend not only for the True Faith and True Religion but also for That Faith and That Religion which you believe to be so for that is the same to you as the True and no difference can or ought to be made And then this Text if not duly tempered and moderated is sufficient to set all Christendom together by the Ears for every Party and Sect think their own way of Religion and Faith to be Primitive Apostolical and True and by consequence have a Commission from this Text to contend earnestly for it And some have acted so earnestly and depend so much on the goodness of their Cause and trueness of their Faith that they have Plundered Imprisoned nay Killed and Murdered their fellow Christians to testifie to the World their Earnestness and that they were in Earnest but in my Opinion they had much better been in Jest than so Extravagantly Earnest Therefore this Earnestness must be limited so that it be not Prejudicial to our selves or Destructive to others It ought to be managed with the greatest Cautiousness Prudence and Discretion and by no other Instruments but those of Perswasion and Ratiocination Now lest People should be so much in earnest again as formerly the Wise Judicious and Loving Father of our Countrey would put Bounds to such destructive Earnestness which hath made such Devastations among his People he would take their Weapons out of their Hands with which they have done so much Mischief But they like foolish Children are Peevish and Froward exert their Passions grow Angry are Sullen and Discontented run and make their Moan to their Mother whose too Indulgent Nature and Tender Heart is but too much Grieved to see her Children out of Humour and is almost ready to Sacrifice their future Happiness and Prosperity to their present Quiet and Contentment But what should be done in this Case is an Impertinent Question For the Discretion and Authority of the Father ought to prevail against the Over-fondness of the Indulgent Mother and the Peevishness of the Humoursome Children if they cry for Knives to cut them Candles to burn them or Food that is unwholesome for them they must be silenced and no notice taken of their Childish Demands So that after what has been said and proved Methinks 't is the most Unreasonable Undutiful and Shameful Opposition imaginable which some go about to make against his Majesty that when he endeavours to make an Establishment of a Toleration and offers to put it out of the Power of any one Party to Hurt or Disturb another and that by as good Humane Security as possibly can be contriv'd they should so Obstinately and Childishly reject it That when it has been made so plainly appear that Penal Laws and Tests have been the Ruine and do Ruine the Nation and will Ruine any Nation that maintain them That they are most Unreasonable Unjust and Uncharitable and yet Maintained and Continued Good God that men should be so Stupid What can this Argue but that Heaven has no kindness for such men But seeing their Obstinateness and Perverseness gives them over to Court their own Ruine and Destruction and say I May the Rods be continued on such Fools Backs since they are so fond of them For my part I think to be clapped up in a Goal to be Fined Plundred Wounded or Killed on the Score of meer Religion and for having different Thoughts and Apprehensions from other men is a Reproach to the Christian World and the most Brutish Irrational and Shamefullest thing imaginable and I think it every mans Duty to endeavour to Extirpate such a Wicked Principle For me to be punished for being a Man for belieing when there is Reason given or an Argument which seems to me to be Reason which is the same thing is a thing I can scarce think of with Patience I know to Countenance such Unjustifiable Actions there is a Black Charge advanced and that is Heretick Schismatick Turbulency of Spirit Unruly Enemies to Government Plotters Seditious Obstinate Ungrateful c. These are the common Topicks of Scandal which one Party charges the other with when they have got them under or have abused them They think to charge others with Faults is to make themselves Innocent