their Land of Canaan and the spiritual Sense of all their general Promises of good Things to come They had all the Articles of Faith and all the Instances of Duty that were necessary to their Attainment of eternal Life exhibited to them in the Writings of their Prophets and the Types and Figures of their Law For it was by this Rule alone that all the holy Men of the Iewish Nation did live and believe and either this was sufficient to guide and direct them to eternal Life or they were left under a fatal Necessity of falling short of it It was the Law of the Lord that did enlighten their Eyes and rejoyce their Hearts and convert their Souls and it was in keeping it that they found great Reward Ps. 19. 7 8 11. And therefore either they fell short of the Reward of eternal Life notwithstanding this their Illumination and Conversion or they found it in keeping that Law by which they were illuminated and converted and if in keeping their Law they found eternal Life then it 's certain that in their Law they had it So that these Words of our Saviour for in them ye think ye have eternal life do not imply that they were mistaken in thinking so or at least they only imply that they were mistaken in thinking to obtain eternal Life by adhering to the prime and literal Sense of their Law without pursuing the Mystery and Spiritual Meaning of it which was indeed the Error of the Pharisees with whom our Saviour is here discoursing For the internal Sense and Mystery of their Law was the Gospel all whose Articles of Faith and Precepts of Duty were though darkly and obscurely expressed and represented in the Types and Figures of the Mosaick Institution And hence the Apostle tells us that both the Priests and their Oblations did serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things Heb. 8. 5. So that the heavenly Things contained in the Gospel were the substantial Idea's which those Legal Types and Patterns contained and represented and the same Author calls that Law a shadow of good things to come Heb. 10. 1. that is it was an obscure Scheme or Prefiguration of the Mercies of the Gospel of which eternal Life is a principal Part. Since therefore the Law was nothing else but only the Gospel in dark and obscure Cyphers if in this we Christians have eternal Life in that the Iews had it also And therefore the Reason which our Saviour here urges to oblige the Iews to search the Scriptures of the Old Testament for in them ye think ye have eternal life doth at least equally oblige us Christians to search the Scriptures both of the Old and New For if they had just Reason to think they had eternal Life in the Old Testament and were thereupon obliged to search into it we have rather more Reason to think that we have eternal Life in the New since the New Testament is nothing else but only the Old decyphered and unriddled and therefore we must not only have eternal Life in this as they had in that but we must also have it far more expresly than they In the Prosecution of this Argument therefore I shall endeavour these Two Things I. To shew you that in the Holy Scriptures we have eternal Life II. That this is a very forcible Reason to oblige us to search them I. First that in the Holy Scriptures we have eternal Life that is that in them we have eternal Life proposed to us together with all that is necessary to be believed and practised by us in order to our obtaining it or in other words that the Holy Scripture is a sufficient Rule both of Faith and Manners to guide and direct 〈◊〉 to eternal Happiness And this is one Article of the Faith of the Church of England which we are required to explain to the People for so in her sixth Article our Church professes that the Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein or may be proved thence is not required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation Now to make the Scripture a sufficient Rule as to all Things necessary to Salvation there are two Things necessary First That it should be full and Secondly That it should be clear both which the Holy Scripture is in an eminent Degree as containing in it all that is necessary to be believed and done in order to eternal Life And this will evidently appear from these three following Propositions 1. That the Holy Spirit inspired the Writers of the Scripture with all that is necessary to eternal Life 2. That they preached to the World all those Necessaries with which the Holy Spirit inspired them 3. That all those necessary Truths which they preached are comprehended in those Sacred Writings of theirs of which the Holy Scripture consists 1. That the Holy Spirit inspired the Writers of the Scripture with all that is necessary to eternal Life For first our Saviour by whom they were originally instructed declares that as the Father loved him and shewed him all things that himself did Ioh. 5. 20. so he had made known to them all things that he had heard of his Father Ioh. 17. 8. And then when he went from them and ceased to instruct them in his own Person he promised that by his Spirit he would teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever he had said unto them Ioh. 14. 26. and that by the same Spirit he would guide them into all Truth Ioh. 16. 13. If therefore the Spirit did perform this Promise to them as there is no doubt but he did then we are sure that he did teach them over again whatsoever Christ had taught them before and if Christ had taught them whatsoever he had heard of his Father as he declares he had then it is certain either that he taught them all Things necessary to eternal Life or that he himself had not heard from his Father all Things that are necessary thereunto 2. That as they were taught by the Spirit all Things necessary to eternal Life so what they were taught they preached and delivered to the World For so our Saviour commanded them to go forth into all the World and teach all Nations to observe all those things which he had commanded them Matth. 28. 19 20. Which Injunction of his they strictly observed for so we are told that in Obedience to it they went forth and preached every where Mark 16. 20. And that their preaching extended to all Things necessary to Salvation is evident from their own Testimony For thus St. Paul tells the Ephesians that he had not shunned to declare unto them the whole Counsel of God Acts 20. 27. And to be sure in the whole Counsel of God all that is necessary to Salvation must be included And concerning that Gospel which he
of David was to excite and encourage Men to study and observe the Law But what though the Law makes the simple wise when they understand it what Encouragement is this for the simple to study it if it be so obscure that they cannot understand it And since they must understand it before they can observe it what Encouragement doth this Consideration give them to observe it that it will make them wise when they understand it if it be not plain enough for them to understand it But then that forecited Passage of Moses doth in express Words contradict this Cavil of Bellarmin for he tells the People that the Commandment he gave them was not hidden from them whereas if it had been so obscurely delivered to them by Moses that upon their sincere and diligent Enquiry they could not understand it it is certain that it had been still hidden from them how wise soever it might make them when they did understand it And to say that such a Proposition will make me wise when I do understand it is no Argument at all that it is not hidden from me if it be so obscurely expressed as that upon my sincere Enquiry I am not capable of understanding it But that the Old Testament at least in all necessary Matters was plain enough even to common Capacities is evident from the frequent Appeals our Saviour makes to it in his Contests with the Common People of the Iews Thus in the Text he bids them Search the Scriptures for they are they which testify of me and in other Places What saith the Scripture and doth not the Scripture say so and so Now how impertinent would it have been for our Saviour thus to appeal to it at the Tribunal of the People if he thought it so obscure that the People were not capable of understanding it How trifling would it be for a Man to appeal to Suarez's Metaphysicks in a Controversy with a Plow-man or to refer him to Euclid's Elements for the determining the Bounds and Measures of a Field And as from what hath been said 't is apparent that the Scriptures of the Old Testament were at least in all Necessaries plain and clear to the Iews so it is no less evident that the Scripture of the New Testament are so to Christians since it gives the same Testimony to it self of its own Clearness as the Old Testament doth For thus 2 Cor. 4. 2 3 4. the Apostle tells us that they did not handle the Word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the Truth commending themselves to Mens Consciences in the sight of God But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them Supposing then that they wrote with the same Plainness and Clearness with which they spake which there is no shadow of Reason to doubt of then from these Words it is evident First That they did neither in their Preaching nor Writings affect to discourse dubiously or obscurely but that their great Design was so to manifest and make known the Truth as that by their Plainness and Simplicity they might recommend themselves to the Consciences of all that heard or read them Secondly That in Fact they had in their Sermons and Writings so clearly taught the Gospel that if after all it remained hidden or obscure to any it was only to such as were lost and irrecoverable Thirdly That that which render'd the Gospel which they had taught and written hidden or obscure to such was not the Obscurity either of the Matter which they taught or of their Manner of teaching it but their own worldly Affections which blinded their Eyes and hinder'd them from seeing that which in it self was illustriously visible Which is an unanswerable Evidence of the Clearness and Plainness of the Scriptures of the New Testament in all necessary Things for if they are clear to all but such as wilfully shut their Eyes against them they are as clear as they need be to honest and teachable Minds for there is nothing can be clear enough to such as are not willing to understand And accordingly the Gospel which the Apostle calls the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation is said to have appeared or shone forth to all Men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Tit. 2. 11. Now if the Gospel did shine forth unto all Men it must be in the Sermons and Discourses of those that had preached it to the World and if they so preached it as that it shone forth to all Men they must necessarily have preached it very plainly and clearly Either therefore it was wrote as it was preached or it was not if it was not it was not wrote truly and sincerely if it was it was wrote very plainly so as to make it appear and shine forth to all that read it 'T is true there are some Things obscure both in the Old Scriptures and New but then these are such Things as are no Parts of the Necessaries and Essentials of Religion such Things as Men may be safely ignorant of or be mistaken about without any Hazard of their eternal Life For all that the fore-cited Testimonies prove is only this that that true Religion by which God governs the Faith and Manners of Men is so far forth as it is necessary to be believed and practised plainly and clearly revealed to them in the Holy Scriptures But besides this all Men agree there are a great many other Things revealed in Holy Scripture which because they are not necessary for all Men to understand are many of them not so plainly revealed as that all Men may understand them But since the Scripture was written to teach and instruct Men to be sure it teaches them most plainly that which is most necessary for them to know and therefore since there are some Things plainly taught in Scripture as is evident to any one that reads it to be sure among these Things are contained all that is necessary for Men to know and understand 2. From the avowed Design of writing the Scripture it is also evident that in all Things necessary it is plain and clear For thus concerning the Old Testament St. Paul tells us that whatsoever things were writtenafore time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15. 4. And if they were written for our Learning and Instruction to be sure they were so written as to teach and instruct us that is plainly and clearly especially as to those Things wherein we have most need to be instructed And then as for the New Testament St. Luke tells his Theophilus that the Reason of his writing his Gospel was that he might know the certainty of
THE Christian Life Wherein is shew'd I. The Worth and Excellency of the Soul II. The Divinity and Incarnation of our Saviour III. The Authority of the Holy Scripture IV. A Dissuasive from Apostacy VOL. V. and Last By IOHN SCOTT D. D. Late Rector of St. Gile's in the Fields LONDON Printed for Richard Wilkin at the King's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIX To the Honourable SUSANNA NOEL Mother to the Right Honourable Baptist Earl of Gainsborough THis last Volume of the Works of my Dear Deceased Friend the Reverend Dr. Scott is humbly and gratefully Dedicated by Her Honours Most obliged and most Devoted Servant Humphrey Zouch The CONTENTS Discourse I. Of the Worth and Excellency of the Soul THe Connexion and Explication of the Text p. 1 2. The inestimable price and value of the Soul of Man in respect of its own natural Capacities represented under 4 Heads viz. It s Capacity of Vnderstanding p. 5 6. Of Moral Perfection p. 7 8 9. Of Pleasure and Delight p. 10 11 12 13. Of Immortality p. 14. to p. 19. Of what Esteem the Soul is in the Iudgment of those who best know the worth of it viz. the whole world of Spirits p. 20. to p. 32. Four Inferences from hence p. 33. to p. 43. What is meant by losing ones Soul explain'd p. 44. The Soul liable to a sevenfold Damage in the other World p. 45. to p. 65. Seven Causes of the Danger we are in of incurring this Damage p. 66. to p. 89. Men may forsake Christ and thereby lose their Souls 4 ways By a total Apostacy p. 90 91. By renouncing the Profession of his Doctrine p. 92 93. By obstinate Heresie p. 93 94 95. By a wilful Course of Disobedience of which there are three degrees the first proceeds from a wilful Ignorance of Christs Laws the 2d from a wilful Inconsideration of our Obligation to them the 3d from an Obstinacy in Sin against Knowledge and Consideration p. 95. to 103. Four Reasons why our forsaking of Christ infers this fearful loss of our Souls p. 104. to 115. That God if he be so determin'd may without any Injury either to his Iustice or Goodness detain lost Souls in the bondage of Hell for ever prov'd in 6 Propositions p. 117. to 130. That God is actually determin'd so to do demonstrated by 3 Arguments p. 131. to 139. A Comparison between the gain of the World and the loss of a Mans Soul in 6 Particulars whereby is shewn of which side the Advantage lies p. 140. to 164. Discourse II. Of the Divinity and Incarnation of our Saviour A General Explication of this Term. The Word p. 166. A full account of it in 4 Propositions shewing That it was derived from the Theology of the Iews and Gentiles 167. to 174. That we ought to fetch the Sense of it from that antient Theology p. 174 176. That in that Theology it signifies a vital and divine Subsistence p. 176. to 180. And that our Saviour to whom it is applied in the NewTestament is that vital and divine Subsistence p. 180 181 182. To be the Word of God denotes 4 Things To be generated of the Mind of the Father To be the perfect Image of that Mind To be the Interpreter of the Fathers Mind and to be the Executer of it and in these is founded the Reason of our Saviours being called The Word p. 183. to 196. What we are to understand by the Word 's being made Flesh p. 197 198. Five Inferences from this Doctrine p. 199. to 213. What is meant by the Words dwelling among us explain'd p. 215. to 225. His is dwelling among us full of Grace explain'd in five particulars p. 226. to 245. His dwelling among us full of Truth explain'd in general p. 246 to 256. Four Instances of his dwelling among us full of Truth in Contradistinction to that obscure typical way of his Tabernacling among the Iews p. 247. to 270. Four Inferences the first From his dwelling among us p. 270. to 277. The 2d From his dwelling among us full of Grace and that 1. In respect of his own personal Disposition p. 277. to 280. 2. Of his Laws p. 281 282 283. 3 Of the gracious Pardon which he hath procured for us and promis'd to us p. 284 285 286. 4. Of the abundant Assistance he is ready to vouchsafe us p. 287 288. And 5. Of the glorious Recompence he hath promised to and prepared for us p. 289 290. The 3d From his dwelling among us full of Truth p. 291. to 296. The 4th From all these laid together He dwelt among us full of Grace and Truth p. 297. to 305. The Glory of the Word which the Apostles beheld consisted in 4 things 1. A visible splendor and brightness which encompass'd him at his Baptism and Transfiguration p. 307. to 311. 2. Those great and stupendous miracles which he wrought p. 311 312 313. 3. The surpassing Excellency and Divinity of his Doctrine p. 314. to 317. 4. The incomparable Sanctity and Purity of his Life p. 317. to 321. This Expression The Glory as of the Only-begotten Son explain'd p. 321 322. That the glory of Christ in the Tabernacle of our Natures was such as became the Only-Begotten Son of the Father prov'd in the several particulars â—â—herein it consists p. 323. to 336. Four Inferences from this fourfold glory of the Word which the Apostles saw p. 337. to the end Dis. 3. Of the Authority of the Holy Scriptures THe fulness of the Scriptures as a Rules of Faith and Manners prov'd in 3 Propositions 1. That the Holy Spirit inspir'd the Writers of them with all that is necessary 〈◊〉 eternal Life p. 364. 2. That they preached to the World all those necessaries which they were taught p. 365. 3. That all those necessary Truths which they preached are comprehended in the Scriptures p. 366. to 380. The clearness of the Scriptures prov'd 1. From the express Testimony of Scripture p. 381. to 386. 2. From the avowed design of writing it p. 387 388. 3. From the frequent Commands God lays upon us to read it p. 389 390. 4. From the obligation that lies upon us under pain of Damnation to believe and receive all those necessaries to Salvation contained in it p. 391. Four Considerations in answer to those of the Church of Rome who tell us that though all things are not revealed clearly in the Scriptures yet we have sufficient reason to believe them since God has left us to the condact of an infallible Church p. 392. to the end Dis. IV. Of the Obligation of the People to read the Scriptures THat the People are obliged to search and read the Scriptures prov'd 1. From the Obligation the Iews were under to read and search the Scriptures of the Old Test p. 408 409. 2. From our Saviour and his Apostles apprebation of this practice of the Iews p. 410 411. 3. From the great design and intention of writing the Scriptures p. 412 413.
moment So that if in Exchange for our Souls we could purchase a Lease of Life as long as Methuselah's and a Lease of Happiness parallel to that Life yet in the Conclusion we should find it a most woful Bargain because when both these Leases are expired as they must at last though it be long first we must remove into a State of intollerable Misery whose Duration will be always equally because it will be always infinitely distant from a Period and when we are there all that long Train of Happiness that is past will seem but a Minute's Dream in Comparison of that Eternity of Misery that is to come But O good God when for thirty or forty Years Pleasure upon Earth I have suffered a thousand Years Torment in Hell and after that have endless Thousands of Thousands more to suffer how dearly shall I rue my own Folly and Madness that for the sake of a few Moments Pleasure have run my self headlong into such an endless Misery Consider therefore O my Soul within a little while all these outward Goods which I have purchased by my Sin will signify no more to me than if they had never been and all their alluring Relishes will be gone and forgotten for ever but then for Ten thousand Millions of Ages after I shall be feeling the Smart and enduring the Stings of them When all my ill-gotten Wealth is shrunk into a Winding-sheet and my vast Possessions into six foot of Earth and I have none of its Pomps or Pleasures left either to go along with or to follow after me then will the Guilt of all stick close to me and raise a Cry on me as high as the Tribunal of God a Cry that will draw down an everlasting Vengeance on my Head and ring Peals of Thunder in my Conscience for ever Lord what a poor Amends then is the momentary Injoyments of the Goods of this World to me that after a few Years must pass into another and there languish away a long Eternity under the intollerable Anguish of a damned Spirit And thus you see upon a just Survey of the Gains of this World and the Loss of a Soul how infinitely short the Happiness of the one is to make us any tollerable Compensation for the Miseries of the other And if the Gain of all the World be too little to countervail this Loss what miserable Losers are the Generality of Men that forfeit their Souls upon a far less valuable Consideration For no Man was ever yet or is ever like to be so prosperous in his Sin as to gain the whole World by it that is a Scramble in which Millions are ingaged and of which every one will be catching a Share But alas for the Generality the Purchase of Mens Sin is so small and inconsiderable that it is scarce a valuable Consideration for the Soul of a Rat. For what doth the common Swearer get by all his sensless and impertinent Oaths which are capable of serving no other Purpose but only to stop the Gaps of his Speech or to man his Rage and rave and play the Fool with a little more genteely What doth the Drunkard gain by all his Intemperances but only a short Fit of frantick Mirth and extravagant Jollity which after a few Hours ends in a sleepless Night a sick and uneasy Stomach and a sottish Confusion over all his Senses What doth the envious and malicious Man get by all his studied Mischiefs and Revenges When he hath pluck'd out his Enemy's Eye he cannot put it into his own Head nor can he increase the Stock of his own Happiness by diminishing his Adversaries When he hath made another the worse he is never the better for it nor do his Injuries grow less by being retaliated So that he vexes and disquiets himself to no purpose but to make his Enemy bleed he keeps his own Wound green and consequently multiplies Evils in vain and prosecutes Mischief only for Mischief's sake I confess there are some Vices that are not altogether so unprofitable as these in some Vices there is a Prospect of worldly Gain and Greatness in others of sensitive Pleasure and Delight but alas when after a few days Injoyment of those Gains and Pleasures I am called away from them and transported into a woful Eternity there to expiate the Guilts of them with those sharp and everlasting Torments I shall be made to endure how shall I be astonished at my own desperate Folly to think what a mad Bargain I have made what an Happiness I have sold to purchase those Gains what a Misery I have incurred to grasp and injoy those Pleasures O! now what would I give for a Goal-delivery from Hell or but for the least Mitigation of my Agonies and Torments If I had all the Wealth that I purchased by my Sin and ten thousand times more how willingly would I part with it to bribe my Flames and corrupt my Tormentors O! now I shall wish a thousand and a thousand times that I had rather chosen to famish for want of Bread than to injoy those accursed Profits and Pleasures that were the Fruits and Wages of mine Iniquities but now alas it will be too late to Repent As yet we have the Opportunity to retrieve our own Folly and to revoke and cancel this our desperate Bargain and by our serious Repentance and hearty Renunciation of the Temptations of this World we may release our selves from our Covenant with Death and Agreement with Hell But if we out-stay our Opportunity a few Moments longer till Death hath put an end to it the fatal Bargain will be sealed past all Revocation OF THE Divinity Incarnation OF OUR SAVIOUR JOHN 1. 14. And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of his Father full of Grace and Truth THESE Words contain Three distinct Propositions I. The Word was made Flesh II. And dwelt among us full of Grace and Truth III. And we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of his Father Of each of these I intend to discourse in their order I. The first is That the Word was made Flesh. In handling of which I shall do these three Things 1. Shew you what we are here to understand by The Word 2. Why it is called The Word 3. What we are to understand by The Word 's being made Flesh. 1. What is meant by the Word I answer in general That by the Word here we are to understand Christ For in the following Verse you will find that this Word was He of whom Iohn the Baptist was the Forerunner and to whom he bare Witness saying This was he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me And in the other Evangelists you will find that it was Christ whose Forerunner the Baptist was and to whom he gave this Testmiony as you may see at your leisure Matth.
even from this great name The Word that is here attributed to him For since it is so apparent that this Phrase is a Term of Art derived from the Schools of the Iews and Gentiles and since by it they did all so generally understand a Divine Person subsisting from all Eternity it must necessarily follow that the Holy Ghost deriving it from them and applying it to our Blessed Saviour must use it to the same Sense for otherwise He were better never to have used it at all because by discoursing in the same Language with them he will give us just occasion to think that he means the same thing namely that Christ whom he calls The Word is a Divine Person subsisting from all Eternity which if he doth not mean by using that Term he will almost necessarily betray us into a false Belief concerning our Saviour As to instance briefly in a Case of anothâ—r Nature Our Saviour in his Sermons dâ—â—h frequently press us to Meekness and Patience Humilty and Charity all which are Terms frequently used long before in the Moral Philosophy both of the Iews and Gentiles by which they signify such and such particular Virtues Since therefore our Saviour doth use the same Terms with them we have just Reason to conclude that he means the same Virtues by them and should he mean any thing else his very using of these Terms would necessarily impose upon us a false Sense of his meaning for how should we understand his Meaning but by his Words and how should we understand his Words but by the common Import and Signification of them And can we imagine that the Spirit of Truth would have ever described our Saviour by a Term that was so generally used to signify a Divine Person subsisting from all Eternity and used it too as he doth without any Restraint or Limitation nay and so seemingly at least to the same Purpose as he doth in the three first Verses of this Chapter where he describes the Divine Nature and Operations of Christ The Word in the same terms in which the Iews and Gentiles were wont to describe the Divinity of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can we imagine I say that the Holy Spirit would have done thus had he known Christ to be nothing but a meer Man that never was before he was born of his Mother Far be it from us to charge that Blessed Spirit with imposing such a Delusion upon Mankind 2. Hence I infer the astonishing Love of our Blessed Saviour in condescending so low as to be made Flesh for us and assume our Nature For what he was before he took our Nature you have heard already He was no less than the Eternal Word of the Father in whose Bosom he enjoyed the supremest Degree of Bliss and Happiness being crowned with Glory and incircled about with the Essential Rays of the Divinity And yet such was his Love to poor Mortals so infinite was his Zeal and Concern for our Happiness that seeing the Misery we were plunged into he could not rest no not in the blessed Arms of his Father but stript himself of all his Majesty and Bliss and comes down among us and assumes our Nature to save and rescue us and invite and lead us to those Heavenly Mansions from whence he descended to us Lord what a Prodigy of Love was here as doth not only puzzle my Conceit but out-reach my Wonder and Admiration For when I seriously consider it though it be a Blessing beyond all my Hopes and such as I could never have had the Impudence to desire yet it fills my Mind with an awful Horror to think that there was a Time when the great God was here upon the Earth in my Form and Nature and conversed familiarly with such mortal Wights as my self and for my sake and such poor Worms as I patiently under-went the common Infirmities of Men and willingly exposed himself to the Contempt and Scorn of a malevolent World and the Malice and Cruelty of those barbarous Men to whom he gave Being and could with the Breath of his Nostrils have scattered into Atoms and all this in meer Compassion to a Company of apostatized Natures who had so highly deserved to be thrown from his Care and Mercy for ever O my Soul how am I astonished at this Miracle of Love Methinks when I consider it I am looking down from a stupendous Precipice whose Height â—ills me with a trembling Horror and even over-setting Reason 3. From hence I infer what mighty Obligations we have for ever to love and serve our Blessed Redeemer If our Hearts are capable of being warmed into any degree of Affection sure 't is impossible but we must be affected at such an unheard of Instance of Love For the Son of God to leave his Father's Bosom where he was infinitely more happy than we can express and think of and disguise himself in mortal Flesh and become a Man of Sorrows that he might make me a Man of endless Joys can my Heart hold when I think of this Is it possible I should reflect upon such a prodigious Instance of Affection without being wrapt into an Extasy of Love Blessed Iesus what barbarous Hearts do we carry about with us that will not melt before the Flames of thy Love Flames that are sufficient to kindle Seraphims and to fill all reasonable Breasts with burning Affections towards thee For how is it possible that any Man I had almost said that any Devil should be so disingenuous and ill-natured as not to be affected with such stupendous Kindness When we see a Child slight his careful and indulgent Parents we are ready to account him an unnatural Monster when we see a Man neglect his Friend or disregard his Benefactor we presently call him base and ungrateful nay when we see one abuse a poor brute Creature that fawns upon him and expresses its Kindness to him we look upon it as an undoubted Sign of a very hard Heart and an ill Nature What Term then can we find in all the World of Words that is odious enough to express our Disaffection to our Blessed Redeemer to whom we are so infinitely obliged Base Disingenuous Ill-natured and Vngrateful are all too soft 't is something beyond Barbarous and Devilish For one would think that neither the most inhumane Canibal on Earth nor the blackest Devil in Hell could ever be guilty of so foul a Crime which hath something in it too monstrous for any Words to express Well therefore may the Heavens be astonished and the Earth tremble and all the Creation of God stand amazed at us to see how insensible we are of this most ravishing and endearing Love Well may we be amazed at our selves and wonder at our own Stupidity to think that the Son of God should be so kind as to come down from Heaven to visit us to leave the Habitation of his Glory and shâ—oud his Divinity in mortal Flesh and make himself a miserable Wight
altogether consists in serving your selves but to disobey so dear a Friend to whom we are obliged by such stupendous Favours when he enjoins us nothing but the Means of our own Happiness is such a Piece of monstrous and unnatural Baseness as the Devil himself can hardly parallel O unkind that we are that we will not be good to our selves for our Saviour's sake and that when he conjures us to it as he doth even by all the Love that we owe him For so Iohn 14. 15. If ye love me saith he keep my Commandments Consider what mighty things I have done for you how I left my Throne in Heaven for your sakes and became a miserable mortal Man And now that I am going from you and am offering up my Life to redeem you if ever I have merited any Love at your hands express it in keeping my Commandments 'T is no great matter that I require of you 't is only that you would be kind to your selves that you would let Misery alone and endeavour to be as happy as Heaven can make you This is all the Requital that I expect at your hands that you would be as good and happy as I would have you and this which is the sum of all my Commands I conjure you strictly to observe even by all the Love that you owe me O blessed Iesus one would have thought thou hadst been requiring some mighty Trial of our Love to thee that we should do some great Thing for thee to which nothing could prompt us but only our Gratitude and Kindness But when thou only requirest us to express our Love to thee in doing that which is the highest Expression of our Love to our selves can we be so disingenuous as not to do that for thy sake to whom we are so infinitely obliged which we are bound to do for our own sakes as well as thine 5. And lastly Hence I infer what a glorious Thing it is to do Good since the Son of God having so great an Opportunity of doing Good to the World thought it worth his While to come down from Heaven and assume our Natures and undergo our Miseries as if he esteemed it more glorious and becoming the Majesty and Divinity of his Person to dwell upon Earth with poor miserable Mortals among whom he might do the greatest Good than to sit above upon the Throne of Heaven and receive the most humble Adorations of Angels for 't was only for an Opportunity of doing the greatest Good that he exchanged the Glory and Happiness of Heaven chusing rather to become a miserable Man to make others good and happy than to continue among those infinite Delights with which the Heavenly State abounds What a most glorious Thing then is it to do Good when our most wise Redeemer chose it before Heaven it self when he thought it more eligible to come down upon Earth and make us happy than to dwell in the Bosom of his Father and shine in Heaven with the Brightness and Glory of his Divinity And if there be nothing in Heaven so glorious as doing Good what is there upon Earth that may be compared unto it What dim what sullied Things are all the Pomps and Splendors of this World compared with the Glory of doing Good to others when God preferred it before Heaven it self To conquer Kingdoms to lead the World in Triumph after us how mean and inconsiderable are they compared with that Glory which the Son of God forsook meerly to do Good to the World A Thing which he esteemed so great and illustrious that he did not only leave Heaven for it but scorned and despised the Kingdoms of the Earth finding nothing below that was worthy of him but only to go about doing Good For this was his constant Imployment as you may see Acts 10. 21. And now is it possible that after this great Example we should think Beneficence a cheap or vulgar Thing Can we think it a Dishonour to stoop to the meanest Offices whereby we may serve the Souls or Bodies of our Brethren when the Son of God came down from Heaven and vailed his Glory in mortal Flesh for no other End but to do Good O foolish Creatures that we are did we but understand and consider what a magnificent Thing it is to supply the Necessities of Men and contribute to their Happiness we should doubtless embrace it as our greatest Preferment and think our selves bound to bless God for ever for furnishing us with Occasions of doing Good that he doth deem us worthy of such an illustrious Imployment to have some share with himself in the Glory of it that he will vouchsafe to us an Opportunity to honour and magnify our selves by acting this Divine this Godlike Part in the World Never then let us think that we dishonour our selves though we stoop never so low when it is to do Good no though it be to visit a Beggar to dress the Sores of a poor Lazar to instruct or comfort the meanest Wretch in all thy Neighbourhood For now thou actest the Part of God in doing the most glorious Thing in all the World a Thing for which the greatest Princes may envy thee and the blessed God for ever applaud thee Now thou art doing that which the Son of God came down from Heaven to do and which he thought more worthy of his Choice than to reign over Angels in Heaven So that either we must say that He was unwise for preferring it before Heaven or else we must acknowledge that we are infinitely foolish in preferring any Thing in the World before it II. I now proceed to the Second Proposition And dwelt among us full of Grace and Truth For that these later Words full of Grace and Truth belong to the former And dwelt among us you may plainly see by the Parenthesis in your Bible by which they are interrupted and broken off from one another In the Explication of these Words I shall do these Two Things 1. Enquire what is here meant by the Word 's dwelling among us 2. What we are to understand by his being full of Grace and Truth 1. What is here meant by the Word 's dwelling among us In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he pitched his Tabernacle among us which seems plainly to refer to God's dwelling in the Tabernacle under the Mosaic Law For the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes immediately from the Hebrew Shacan and differs from it only by the Greek Termination and from Shacan comes the word Shechinah by which the Hebrews were wont to express God's glorious Presence upon Earth and especially his Habitation in the holy Tabernacle between the two Cherubims where he is said to dwell 1 Sam. 4. 4. and 2 Sam. 6. 2. because from thence God was wont to speak and discover himself by a visible Brightness and Glory And accordingly this Presence or Habitation of God is called in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Moses The Law saith he was given by Moses but Grace and Truth by Iesus Christ v. 17. God the Eternal Word gave the Law to Moses and Moses gave it to the People of Israel but Iesus Christ that is the Eternal Word incarnate gave not the Law but Grace and Truth So in the Text The Word incarnate or tabernacled in our Flesh did Shechanize or perform the Part of his Father's supreme Representative among us full of Grace and Truth which implies something beyond what he did when he dwelt in the Tabernacle of Moses and there as the Vice-Roy of God reigned over the House of Iacob That I may therefore more fully explain this Matter to you I will briefly consider these two Phrases apart and shew you in what Particulars they each of them distinguish his dwelling among us from his dwelling in the Mosaick Tabernacle 1. He dwelt among us full of Grace which distinguishes his dwelling among us from that more severe and rigorous manner in the former Tabernacle and that in these following Particulars 1st He dwelt among us full of Grace in respect of the Sweetness and Obligingness of his Behaviour in Contradistinction to that more dreadful and terrible manner of his conversing with the Iews when he tabernacled among them The Iews being a most stubborn and stif-necked Generation as they are often called in the Old Testament the Eternal Word thought fit to converse among them in such a way as was most suitable to their Genius and Temper to break their Stubbornness with the Dread of his Power and awe them with the Terror of his Majesty And accordingly you find that when he came down first upon Mount Sinai he was attended with a loud sounding Trumpet with Thunders and Lightnings with Fire and Smoak and all the Equipage of a most dreadful Majesty such as caused the Mountain and the People to tremble Exod. 19. 16 20. And afterwards it is said that the Glory in which he appeared when the People saw him upon the Mount was like a devouring Fire in which glorious Appearance he afterwards removed into the Tabernacle and there abode between the Cherubims Exod. 40. 34 35. And when in all this dreadful Majesty he appeared unto them they are kept at a great Distance from him and were severely forbid to approach him lest he should break forth upon them and destroy them Exod. 19. 24. And whenever they provoked him by their Murmurings and Rebellions his Wrath broke forth like Lightning upon them and consumed the ring-leading Rebels that by their Example the rest might be warned to do no more wickedly Thus in all his Converses with them he clothed himself in a formidable Majesty to break and awe their sturdy Spirits and force their stiff Necks to yield to the Yoke of his Sovereign Authority But when he assumed our Nature and tabernacled among us in our Flesh he laid by that astonishing Majesty that was wont to render him so dreadful to the Israelites and put on all the Condescentions and Sweetnesses of a most familiar and endearing Conversation and conversed among Men in such a generous friendly and courteous Manner as was most apt to charm and inamour the World He was free without being vain or trifling serious without being four or morose his Humour always chearful and uniform and his Gravity was equally distant from Moroseness and Vanity and in a word his Deportment was made up of all the Accomplishments that can command either Love or Honour And though now and then he falls into high Expressions of Indignation yet 't was only against those base Fellows the Pharisees who under a Pretence of being Saints and the Godly Party were bloted up with Pride and Arrogance and canker'd with Malice and ill Nature for which they were so abominable in his Eyes whose Temper was altogether so loving and divine that he could not mention them without calling them Hypocrites and the Children of the Devil And if to all this you add his profound Humility and Condescention his Meekness under Reproaches and his Constancy and Patience under the greatest Sufferings how much more sweet grateful and charming was this than when he appeared in such a dreadful and astonishing Majesty upon Mount Sinai and in the Tabernacle of Moses 'T is true the Innocency and Purity of his Life the Divinity of his Doctrine and the many mighty Miracles that he wrought could not but imprint an awful Majesty upon his Person but yet 't was a graceful Majesty a Majesty full of Grace and Sweetness and such as was much more apt to endear than to affright Men For as for the Virtue of his Life and the Divinity of his Doctrine it could not but attract all those who had any Love and Esteem for Virtue and Goodness And as for his Miracles they were vastly different from those which he wrought in the Wilderness which had little else in them but Matter of Terror and Astonishment but these were all such as did express his Kindness to the World and so were much more apt to oblige than to terrify those that beheld them For he went about doing good aâ—d healing all that were oppress'd with the Devil Acts 10. 38. and healing all manner of Sickness and all manner of Diseases among the People Matth. 4. 23. So that in respect of the Sweetness and Obligingness of his Conversation he tabernacled among us full of Grace in Contradistinction to that terrible Majesty in which he tabernacled among the Iews 2dly He tabernacled among us full of Grace in regard of the Sweetness and Gentleness of his Laws in Contradistinction to those many burthensom Precepts which he gave when he tabernacled among the Iews It 's apparent by the History of that People that they were obstinately addicted to the Customs of Egypt from whence they were brought and of the Neighbouring Nations round about them and thence it was that notwithstanding those manifest Discoveries that God had made of himself to them and of his being the only true God such as one would have thought had been sufficient to have convinced the most obstinate Gainsayers yet ever and anon we find them starting aside to the Idolatrous Customs of the Gentiles and revolting from that God who had so gloriously manifested himself among them The Eternal Word therefore when he came to tabernacle among them he gave them abundance of Laws the Matter of which was in its own Nature perfectly indifferent that by those as by so many Bounds and Fences he might keep them from breaking out of God's Inclosure into the wild Common of Gentilism and such were the greatest Part of their Ceremonial Laws some of which were instituted in Compliance with the more innocent Rites of the Heathen and others in opposition to those which were purely magical and idolatrous And hence it is that in the Law of their Ceremonies there are so many things enjoined them of which we can give no tolerable Account they being either innocent
Law which they call the Cabala or the Law by Tradition not that this traditional contained any thing that was not in the written Law but because those things which were obscurely contained in the Types of the written Law were explained and interpreted in this their Traditional Law But it is apparent that the Types of eternal Life were not fully explained in this traditional Law till after the Babylonish Captivity after which the Prophet Daniel and after him Ezekiel began to speak more plainly of the Resurrection of the Dead and from that Time forwards the Doctrine of the Resurrection and eternal Life began to be more openly taught among the Common People till about the Time of the Maccabees when it was brought forth in the Light from under those Types in which it was so obscurely represented and became a Principle even of the Popular Religion and an Article of the Iewish Faith as plainly appears from the Records of those Times particularly 2. Macc. 7. 23 26. Comp. with Heb. 11. â—5 And indeed it was very necessary that then this Article should be more clearly revealed to fortify the Iews against those many Persecutions whereunto they were exposed for the sake of their Religion that they might not be terrified to apostatize from it by those cruel Martyrdoms which in the Time of the Maccabees they many of them endured and besides now the Time of the Gospel was approaching and consequently its Mysteries like the Light of the rising Sun began to break forth clearer and clearer from under that Cloud of Types wherein it was wrapt and involved till at last the Sun of Righteousness himself arose and dispersed those Clouds and brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel But as for the Sadducees who give no heed to the Cabala or Traditional Law in which this Doctrine was first discovered and adhered only to the written Law of Moses they still continued Infidels in this Point and believed neither Angels nor Spirits nor the Life to come So very obscurely was it represented in the Types and Shadows of the Written Law But when once the Eternal Word came to tabernacle in our Flesh he revealed this great Article so plainly and clearly to the World that 't is impossible for any one not to believe it that believes him to be the Messias or Incarnate Word And thus you see by all these Instances what a vast Difference there was in respect of Truth between Christ's tabernacling in our Nature and in the Tabernacle of Moses And now I shall conclude this Argument with two or three practical Inferences 1st He dwelt or tabernacled among us From hence I infer the high Authority of Christ and that holy Religion which he hath revealed to us For to tabernacle among us as I have already shewed you signifies to dwell in the midst of as the Shechinah Presence or Representative of the most High God as one that acted in his Father's Person and was vested with his Authority and consequently as one who hath as great a Right to exact our Obedience as the Eternal Father himself should he have come down from Heaven in his own Person to give Laws to Mankind For so when the Eternal Word went before the Camp of Israel as the Shechinah or Angel of God's Presence God requires them that they should obey him as himself Beware of him and obey his Voice saith God provoke him not for he will not pardon your Transgression for my Name is in him Exod. 23. 21. and v. 22. To obey the Voice of this Angel is interpreted to be the same thing as to obey the Voice of the most High God himself But if thou shalt indeed obey his Voice saith God and do all that I speak then I will be an Enemy to thy Enemies c. So that for the Israelites to disobey this Angel who as I have proved to you was the Eternal Word or Representative of the most High God to them was to all Intents and Purposes the same Thing as if they had disobeyed the most High himself And accordingly our Saviour tells the Iews He that believeth on me believeth not on me but on the Father that sent me that is he doth not meerly believe on me but on the Father too whose Authority I have and whose Person I represent for so he explains himself in the following Verse He that seeth me seeth him that sent me that is I being my Father 's Shechinah or Representative Ioh. 12. 44 45. And therefore as every Contempt of the Deputy or Vice-Governor is an Affront to the Sovereign Prince whose Person he bears and by whose Authority he acts so every Rebellion against Christ is an open Defiance to the Sovereign God whose Person he represents and by whose Authority he reigns Hence our Saviour tells the Iews Ioh. 5. 23. that He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him which plainly intimates that God the Father resents those Indignities which we offer to Christ and his Laws as if they were done to his own Person and that if himself should speak to us from the Battlements of Heaven or proclaim his Law to us in a Voice of Thunder he would not be more displeased to hear us openly declare that we will not obey him than he is to see us trample upon the Laws of his Son which he hath stamp'd with his own Sovereign Authority So that if we were not infinitely fool-hardy methinks we should never dare to violate our Religion in which the Authority of the most High God is so immediately concerned For whatsoever our Religion requires of us it requires in his Name who hath an undoubted Right and Authority to command us for from all Eternity he was invested with an absolute and unlimited Power of doing any thing that is not unbecoming his Divine Perfections and in this the Right of his Dominion over us is originally founded For he that hath Power must needs have a Right to exercise it so far as it is just and becoming his Nature otherwise his Power would be altogether in vain and therefore since God from all Eternity hath a Power of doing whatsoever he pleases so far as is consistent with his Holiness and Goodness there is nothing can be pretended against the Right of his Dominion and Authority over us For God cannot but have an eternal Right to exercise his own Power and he cannot but have an immutable Right to exercise it over his own Creatures And as from all Eternity he had Power to do whatsoever was just and becoming him so from his creating of us it became most just and becoming that he should rule and govern us for we became his as soon as we were created by him all our Powers of Action were from him and by that he hath acquired an unalienable Right in whatsoever we are able to do We have nothing but what is his Gift and therefore can do nothing but what is his
had preached to the Corinthians he thus pronounces By which also ye are saved if ye keep in Memory what I preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain 1 Cor. 15. 1 2. But how could they be saved by that Gospel he preached to them unless it contained in it all Things necessary to Salvation And this very Gospel which the Apostles in their constant Ministry proposed to the World St. Iames calls the ingrafted Word which is able to save our Souls Iam. 1. 21. And for the same Reason it is also called the Word of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. The Word of Salvation Acts 13. 26. And the Word of Life Acts 5. 20. And the Savour of Life unto Life 2 Cor. 2. 16. And also the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believes Rom. 1. 17. Neither of which it could be justly stiled supposing it to be defective in any Things necessary to the eternal Happiness of Men. 3. And lastly That all those necessary Truths which they preached are comprehended in those Writings of theirs of which the Holy Scripture consists It is true before the Christian Doctrine was collected into those Scriptures of which the New Testament now consists it was all conveyed by Oral Tradition from the Mouths of the Teachers to the Ears of the Disciples but in a little Time those holy Men who first preached it found an absolute Necessity of committing it to Writing as a much surer Way of preserving it uncorrupted and transmitting it down to all succeeding Generations for thus Eusebius tells us That the Romans not being satisfied with St. Peter ' s preaching of Christianity to them earnestly desired St. Mark his Companion that he would leave them in Writing a standing Monument of that Doctrine which St. Peter had delivered to them by Word of Mouth which was the Occasion says he of the writing of St. Mark ' s Gospel Which thing St. Peter understanding by a Revelation of the Spirit being highly pleased with their earnest Desire he confirmed it by his own Authority that it might afterwards be read in the Churches It seems in those Days the Romans did not think oral or unwritten Traditions a sufficient Conservatory of divine Truths nor did their Bishop then forbid the reading of the Scriptures to the Laity in their own Language After which he tells us that St. Matthew and St. John were the only Disciples of our Lord who had left written Commentaries of the Things which they had preached behind them and it was says he Necessity that impelled them to write For Matthew having preached the Faith to the Hebrews and intending to go from them to other Nations wrote his Gospel in his own Country-Language that thereby he might supply the Want of his Presence to those whom he left behind him And afterwards when Mark and Luke had published their Gospels John who had hitherto only preached the Gospel by Word of Mouth being at length moved by the same Reason betook himself to write And the Three former Gospels says he arriving to the Knowledge of all Men and particularly of St. John he approved them and with his own Testimony confirmed the Truth of them From which Relation it 's evident that that which moved those holy Men to commit their Gospels to Writing was this that they judged it necessary for the Conservation of the Christian Doctrine that so these in their Absence might be standing Monuments of the Faith to preach that Gospel to Mens Eyes which they had preached to their Ears And if they wrote to preserve the Faith to be sure they would leave no necessary or essential Part of it unwritten There are several Propositions in these Gospels which though very useful are far from being essential Parts of Christianity and can we imagine that those holy Men who wrote on purpose to conserve Chrictianity should take so much Care to write many Things which are not necessary Parts and in the mean time omit any Things that are Eusebius tells us of St. Mark in particular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. he took great Care of this more especially not to pretermit any of those Things which he had heard even from St. Peter nor to affix any thing to them that was false And if he were so careful not to omit any Thing to be sure he would be particularly careful not to omit any Thing which he judged necessary to the eternal Happiness of Men. But what need we depend upon humane Authority when as if we consult those Sacred Writings themselves which so far as they go all Christians allow to be the Word of God we shall find they give this Testimony of themselves that they comprehend in them all Things necessary to eternal Life For thus the Writers of the New Testament testify of the Old That they are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Iesus Christ 2 Tim. 3. 15. And if the Old Testament alone was able to do this then much more the Old and New together but how could they make Men wise to Salvation if they were defective in any Article that is necessary to Salvation And then the same Author goes on and tells us that all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works v. 16. 17. And if the Old Scriptures were sufficient to make the Man of God perfect and to furnish him throughly unto all good Works one would think that the New and Old together should not be defective For that the Scriptures of the New Testament as well as of the Old contain in them all Things necessary to eternal Life they themselves do plainly testify of themselves For thus St. Luke in the Beginning of his Gospel tells his Theophilus to whom he writes that forasmuch as many had set forth a Declaration of those things that were surely believed among Christians it seemed good unto him also having had a perfect understanding of all things from the first to write them down in order that he might know the Certainty of those things wherein he had been instructed From whence I infer that supposing St. Luke performed what he promised his Gospel must contain a full Declaration of the Christian Religion For First by promising to give an Account of those Things which were surely believed among Christians he engaged himself to give an entire Account of Christianity unless we will suppose that there were some Parts of Christianity which the Christians of that Time did not surely believe Secondly In promising to give an Account of those Things of which he had a perfect Understanding from the first and in which his Theophilus had been instructed he also engages himself to give a compleat Account of the whole Religion unless we will suppose that there were some Parts of this Religion which St. Luke did
be the Church and yet still be mistaken In short no Authority can render me infallibly certain but that which is infallible no Infallibility can render me infallibly certain but that of which I have an infallible Certainty Either therefore the Scripture can render me infallibly certain of the Infallibility of their Church and if it cannot I am sure nothing can or it cannot if it can why may it not as well render me infallibly certain of other Principles of Christianity which are at least as plainly revealed in it as that If it cannot how can I be infallibly certain that any Thing she defines and declares to me is true If then the Authority of Scripture can give us an infallible Certainty we have as just a Pretence to it as They it being upon this Authority that we ground our Faith if it cannot neither they nor we can justly pretend to it because they can no otherwise be infallibly certain of their own Infallibility but by Scripture But the Truth of it is God never intended either that they or we should be infallibly certain in the Matters of our Religion for after all the Means of Certainty that he hath given us he still supposes that we may err and plainly tells us that there must be Heresies and that even from among the Members of the true Church where infallible Certainty is if it be any where there should arise false Teachers who should bring in damnable Doctrines which could never have happened if he had left any such Means to his Church as should render her Children infallibly certain All that he designed was to leave us such sufficient Means of Certainty in Religion as that we might not err either dangerously or damnably without our own Fault He hath left us his Word and in that hath plainly discovered to us all that is necessary for us to believe in order to eternal Life He hath left us a standing Ministry in his Church to explain his Word to us and to guide us in the Paths of Righteousness and Truth but still he requires us to search the one and attend to the other with honest humble and teachable Minds and if we do not we may err not only dangerously but damnably and it is but fit and just we should But if we diligently search the Scripture and faithfully rely upon its Authority without doing of which we search it in vain if we sincerely attend to the publick Ministry with Minds prepared to receive the Truth in the Love of it though we may possibly err in Matters of less Moment yet as to all Things necessary to our eternal Salvation our Faith shall be inviolably secured and this is as much as any honest Man needs or as any honest Church can promise 2. From hence also I infer that in the Matters of our Faith and Religion God doth expect that we should make use of our own Reason and Judgment For to what End should he put us upon searching the Scriptures but that thereby we may inform our selves what those Things are which he hath required us to believe and practise But if it were his Mind that we should wholly rely upon the Authority of our Church or of our Spiritual â—â—ids and submit our Faith to their Dictates without any Examination what a needless and impertâ—â—â—nt Imployment would this be for us to search and consult the Scriptures Consult them for what it we are not to follow their Guidance and Direction and to take the Measures of our Faith and Manners from them And if for this End God hath obliged us to consult them as to be sure it can be for no other End then he hath obliged us to imploy our own Reason and Judgment to consider what they say and enquire what they mean otherwise he hath obliged us to consult them to no Purpose It is as evident therefore that God will have us use our own Reason and Judgment in discerning what we are to believe and what not in Religion and not lazily rely upon others to see and discern and believe for us as it is that he would have us search and consult the Scriptures and that I think is evident enough from what hath been said to any one that is not resolved to admit of a Conviction And indeed seeing our Reason is the noblest Faculty we have it would be very strange if God should not allow it to intermeddle in the highest and most important Affair wherein he hath engaged us and seeing it is our Reason only that renders us capable of Religion what an odd Thing would it be for God to forbid us making use of our Reason in the most important Concerns of Religion that is indistinguishing what is true Religion from what is false and what we ought to believe from what we ought to reject I know it is pretended by those who urge the absolute Necessity of submitting our Reason to the Church that they allow Men to make Use of their own Reason and Judgment in discovering which the true Church is and that all they contend for is only this that when once Men have found the true Church they ought to enquire no farther but immediately to deliver up their Reason and Understanding to it and believe every Thing it believes without any farther Examination So that before Men come into their Church it seems they are allowed to see for themselves but after they are in they must wink and follow their Guides and depute them to see and understand for them which to such Men as are not quite sick of their own Reason and Understandings should methinks be a great Temptation to keep them out of their Church for ever For if I may judge for my self while I am out of it but must not while I am in it I must be very fond of parting with my own Eyes and Reason if ever I come into it at all But suppose I was always in it and had been bred up in its Communion from my Infancy will they allow me when I come to the full use of my Reason fairly to question whether theirs be the only true Church or no and to hear the Reasons and examine the Scriptures and consult the Doctors on both sides No by no means this I am forbid under the Penalty of being deprived of the Benefit of Priestly Absolution So that in short they will allow me to make Use of my Reason if I have been bred an Heretick in order to my Reconciliation to their Church but if I have never been an Heretick I must never use my Reason to examine the Truth either of my Church or Religion that is to say I may use my Reason when there is no other Remedy and I must continue a Heretick if I do not But it were much better that I had never had Occasion to use my Reason at all So that according to these Men the Use of our Reason in Religion is only the least of two Evils