also have supplied that Want But inasmuch as an Account is extant and therefore not needed that Objection is vain Again it does not follow because every Man has a Measure of Light to Inform and Rule him that therefore he must needs know all which that Light knows or is able to Reveal to him I return that Argument thus upon our Adversaries They say they have the Spirit of God Then they know all that the Spirit of God knows or can reveal to them If the latter be absurd then the former Again say they The Light within did not reveal Christ to the Gentiles and that Christ should be born of a Virgin c. therefore Insufficient I return upon them thus The Spirit of God given to the Children of Israel Neh. 9. 20. did not acquaint them that Christ should be born of a Virgin nor much more of his Life and Bodily Transactions therefore the Spirit of God was Insufficient The like may be concluded against the Spirit in the Prophets For 't is manifest from 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. that the Spirit had not revealed to all the Prophets the Time of Christ's Appearance and Sufferings Was the Spirit therefore an Insufficient Rule to them But that which falls heaviest upon our Opposers is this That the Scriptures by their own Argument are a most Inperfect Account themselves of what was done not relating the hundredth part of things therefore as Insufficient in not relating what is behind as they would weakly render the Light or Spirit in not revealing to every Individual those things which are already past Nay they may as well infer Insufficiency to the Spirit or the Light within in that it does not now shew all that shall be to the End of the World which in their proper Seasons there will be a Necessity to know as to reflect Insufficiency upon it c. because it did not fore-tell things that are now past unto former Ages or needlesly Reveal them over again to us in this Age. Neither is History or can it be the Rule of that Faith and Life we speak of which are so absolutely necessary to Salvation which is the Faith that God and not History gives and that works not by History but by Love and overcomes the World by which Millions of Historical Believers are overcome and wallow in the Spirit and Practice of And the Rule must be answerable to the Nature and Workings of the Faith The same in Point of Practice which is Duty Done Now History though it inform me of others Actions yet it does not follow that it is the Rule of Duty to me since it may relate to âctions not imitable as in the Case of Adam ând Eve in several Respects and Christ's beâng born of a Virgin dying for the Sins of the World c. wherefore this cannot be The Rule of Duty The like may be said of the âewish Story that was the particular Concern ând Transaction of that People Obj. But these things ought to be believed Answ I say so too where the History has ââeached and the Spirit of God hath made ãâã Conviction upon the Conscience which says D. J. Owen as before Cited gives them Authority Verity and Perspicuity But where âhis History has not reached any People or they dye ignorant of it they are not responsible for not believing any such Passages as saith Bishop Sanderson 'T is one thing to say the Scriptures ought to be Read Believed and Fulfilled and another thing to say they are the Evangelical Rule of Faith and Life For when I read believe and witness them fulfilling I must needs have a Rule by which to Read Understand Believe and Witness them Which being the Divine Light and Spirit of Christ it must be That and not themselves that must be my Rule for so Readâing Understanding and Believing Them And further to prove that the Light and Spirit within the Heathens was sufficient to discover these things it is granted on all hands that the Sybills had divine Sights I mean not those made in their Name by some Professors of Christianity as is charged upon them to gain Authority upon the Gentileâ against which Blundel writes But thoââ that are acknowledged who prophesied ãâã a Virgin 's bringing forth a Son and that ãâã should Destroy the Serpent and Replenish thââ Earth with Righteousness as is before ãâã out of Virgil who took it out of the Remains of Cumaea's Verses then among the Romans And for the Practical Part of the Object on viz. How should we have known ãâã had been Unlawful to Swear at all in ãâã Case if Mat. 5. 34. had not been which ãâã of most weight in this Case because it is maâter of Duty and called particularly by some an Evangelical Precept being a Step abovâ the Righteousness of the outward Law among the Jews I have this to say foââ Proof of the Light 's Sufficiency There were among the Jews themselves long before Christ came an entire People that would not Swear to wit the Esseâââ They keep their Promises says Josephus and account every Word they speak ãâã more Force than if they had bound it with ãâã Oath And they shun Oaths worse than Perjury for they esteem him condemned for a Lyar who without it is not believed Philo writes to the same purpose and taught himself that it was best to abstain from Swearing that one's Word might be taken instead of an Oath And Pythagoras in his Oration to the Croââian Senators exhorted them thus Let no Man attest God by Oath though in Courts of Judicature but Use to speak such things that he may be credited without an Oath The Scythians are said to have told Alexander ãâã themselves Think not that Scythians confirm their Friendship by Oath They Swear by keeping their Word And Clinias a Greek and follower of Pythagoras rather chose to suffer the Fine of Three Talents which make 300l English ãâã to lessen his Varacity by taking of an ââath Which Act was greatly commended ãâã Basilius who upbraided the Christians of âs time with it Thereby after our Adversaries Way of drawing Consequences âeferring the Light of the Gentiles before ãâã Light of the Christians Though indeed ãâã Light was and is always One in it self âut the Christian did not live up so closely it as the Heathen did and therefore took greater Liberty and walked in a broader Way I would now know of our Opposers if they can yet think the Light that preach'd his Doctrine in the Mount was the same with that Light that shined in the Consciences of those Gentiles so many Hundred âears before that Sermon was writ or preachââ who so plainly believed practiced and âought it Yea or Nay Perhaps some will ãâã stick out while the more moderate will ââbmit and conclude Ignorance and Folly have made all this Opposition against us ãâã that of a Truth The Voice which cried Prov. 4 6. Unto you O Men I call
A DISCOURSE OF THE General Rule OF Faith and Practice AND Judge of Controversie Greatly importing all those who desire to take Right Measures of Faith and to Determine at least to themselves the numerous Controversies now on foot in the World By W. Penn. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but a NEW Creature And as many as walk according to THIS Rule Peace be on them and Mercy and upon the whole Israel of God Gal. 6. 16. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit For the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God The Things of God knoweth no Man save the Spirit of God He that is Spiritual judgeth all things 1 Cor. 2. 10 11 15. But ye have an Vnction from the Holy One and ye know all things 1 John 2. 20. London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street and at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-Street near the Market 1699. OF THE General Rule OF Faith and Practice SInce there are so many Faiths in the World and perplex Controversies about them and that it greatly behoveth every Man if to Contend for then first to Know the True Faith that overcometh the World it may not be unnecessary to say something of the General Rule of Faith and Life and Judge of Controversie at this time And indeed I am prest from this weighty Consideration that Men perish for want of it and can no more arrive at Truth without it than the distressed Marriner can gain his Port who Sails without either Star or Compass I shall begin with an Explanation of the Terms Rule and Faith of which we shall first treat that we may as well express what we intend by the one as what we mean by the other which will be a proper Introduction to the whole Discourse By General Rule c. we understand that Constant Measure or Standard by which Men in all Ages have been enabled to Judge of the Truth or Error of Doctrines and the Good or Evil of Thoughts Words and Actions By Faith we understand an Assent of the Mind in such manner to the Discoveries made of God thereto as to resign up to God and have Dependence upon him as the Great Creator and Saviour of his People which is inseparable from good Works That Men in all Ages have had a Belief of God and some Knowledge of him tho' not upon equal Discovery must be granted from that account that all Story gives of Mankind in matters of Religion several have fully performed this Of old Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Augustine and others of latter times Du Plessy Grotius Amiraldus L. Herbert and above all Dr. Cudworth And indeed the relicks we have of the most ancient Historians and Authors are a Demonstration in the Point Now the Scripture tells us that no Man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him And as none knows the things of Man save the Spirit of Man so the things of God knows no Man but the Spirit of God Hence we may safely conclude that the Creating Word that was with God and was God in whom was Life and that Life the Light of Men and who is the Quickning Spirit was He by whom God in all Ages hath revealed Himself consequently that Light or Spirit must have been the General Rule of Mens Knowledge Faith and Obedience with respect to God And thus much Pythagoras who liv'd about Six Hundred Years before those Words were spoke or writ laid down for a Maxim viz. That no Man can know what is agreeable to God except a Man hear God himself and that must be within for that was his Doctrine To which the Apostle and Prophet thus agree 1. In that whatever makes manifest is Light 2. That whatever might be known of God was made manifest within for God who is Light 1 John 1. 5. had shewn it unto them And God hath shewn unto thee O Man what is good and what God requireth of thee c. which could not be without the Light of his Son shines in Man's Conscience Therefore the Light of Christ in the Conscience must needs have been the General Rule c. It was by this Law that Encch Noah Abraham Melchizedeck Abimilech Job Jethro c. walked and were accepted as saith Irenaeus and Tertullian They were Just by the Law written in their Hearts Then was it their Rule to and in that just State Obj. It seems then you deny the Scripture to be the General Rule c. Answ How can they be the General Rule that have not been General That which was both before and since they were in being must needs be More General than they But that was this Light in the Conscience the Law and Guide of those Patriarchs for the Scriptures began long after in the time of Moses consequently that must be the General Rule c. Obj. But granting that the Light within were so before Scripture was extant yet since the Writings of holy Scripture the Scripture and not the Light hath been the General Rule Answ That cannot be unless Palestina or Canaan a little Province of Asia was the whole World and that the Jews a particular People were All Mankind For at what time those Writings were among the Jews other Nations were only left to the Law and Light within this the Apostle confirmeth in that Passage For the Gentiles which have not the Law that is the outward Law or Law written upon Stone do by Nature the things contained in the Law which sheweth the Work of the Law written in their Hearts And the Gentiles themselves called it the Immutable Law the Everlasting Foundation of Vertue no Liveless Precepts but Immortal a Sacred Good God the Overseer the Living Rule the Root of the Soul that which makes the Good Man Thus Thales Pythagoras Socrates Plato Plotin Hieron Philo Plutarch as cited And saith Sophocles God grant that I may always observe that venerable Sanctity in my Words and Deeds which these Noble Precepts writ in Man's Heart reuire God is their Father neither shall they ever be Abrogated for there is in them a Great God that never waxeth Old More reverent Epithetes than our Opposers can afford as their Books but too openly witness yet would go for Christian-Men tho' manifestly short of Heathens Thus is it evident that the Scripture was ãâã the General Rule after it was given forth Obj. But hath it not been since and is it not ãâã the General Rule c Answ There hath been since and is now ãâã same Impediment for before Christ's âââing in the Flesh and since where the ââââptures never reach'd there hath been the ãâã Light And though Nations by not ââârifying God as God when they have ââwn him have been given up to all manââââ of Impieties insomuch as their Underââââdings have been greatly vail'd yet did ãâã the Light within so entirely
lose its Ruââââ Exercise among them as that they lived âââhout any Sense of such a thing Therefore ãâã the Scriptures have not been neither are ãâã General Rule no not so much as of any ãâã since in no Age can it be prov'd that ãâã whole or greatest part of the World ãâã them But had they been so for some ãâã or two Ages as they never were yet ãâã granting it will not reach our Question ââere the Word General implieth the Naâââe of the Thing it self respecting Manââd from the Beginning of the World to ãâã Day and so to the End Obj. But is not the Scripture the Rule c. our Day Answ If The Rule then The General Rule ãâã whatsoever is The Rule of ãâã and Life excludeth all other from being General ãâã being but particular in respect of it ãâã Therefore not The though A Rule of Faith and Life But besides their not being General I ãâã several Reasons to offer why they cannot The Rule of Faith and Life c. 1. If now the Rule then ever the Ruââ But they were not ever the Rule and thâââfore they cannot ãâã be the Rule That ãâã were not ever the ãâã is granted But ãâã they are not thereâââ now the Rule may ãâã by some denied ãâã I shall prove thus the Faith of ãâã People in all Ages of One Nature ãâã the Rule but of ãâã Nature But cleâââ is Heb. 11. The ãâã has been but of ãâã Nature Consequeâââ the Rule but of ãâã Nature In short the holy Ancients ãâã Faith before they ãâã or wrote Scriptuââ they had a Rule ââââfore they had or ãâã Scripture for ãâã Faith is there is ãâã for that Faith ãâã if the Faith be One Nature the ãâã is of One Nature ãâã And since the ãâã is Inward Spiriââââ begotten of the âââortal Word in ãâã is Life and that the Light of Men that this Word of ãâã and Light was the ãâã then no Book âââing or ingraving visible and perishâââ Matter can be the ãâã now âgain such as the ãâã is such must the ãâã be But the Faith ãâã before Inward ãâã Spiritual thereââââ the Rule must be ãâã and Spiritual ãâã no Meer Book ãâã be If the Scriptures were the General Rule ãâã must have always been a Perfect Rule ãâã since they were a Rule But this is âossible since they were many Hundred Years Writing and are now Imperfect also as Number How then are they the Perfect ãâã That they were not the Perfect Rule ââfore they were written must be granteâ and that they were many Hundred Yeâ writing must also be allowed and that ãâã are Imperfect now as to Number I proveââ First Enoch's Prophecy is mentioned ãâã Jude but not extant in the Bible The Boââ of the Wars of the Lord Numb 21. 14. ãâã Book of Jasher Josh 10. 13. 2 Sam. 1. ãâã The Book of Nathan 2 Chron. 9. 29. ãâã Book of Shemaiah 2 Chron. 12. 15. ãâã Book of Jehu The Epistle of the Apâââ Paul to the Laodiceans Collos 4. 16. ãâã several others mentioned in the Scriptâââ not now extant And lastly Luke says ãâã many took in hand to relate from Eye-Witââ the things most surely believed c. Now 't is taken for granted that ãâã wrote many Years after Luke Some ãâã Luke wrote before Mark However Mââthew and Mark were not many and to ãâã day we see no more than those Four in ãâã Bibles and therefore many such Writiââ are lost And if lost then the Scriptures aforesaid not Perfect and if Imperfect ãâã can they be the Rule of Faith since the ãâã of Faith must be Perfect 3. My Third Reason is this The Scâââtures however Useful to Edification ãâã Comfort seem not in their own Nature ãâã Frame to have been compil'd and deliverâ as the General Rule and Intire Body of Faâââ but rather written upon particular Occasiââ and Emergencies The Doctrines are ãâã ââered throughout the Scriptures insomuch âhat those Societies who have given forth Verbal Confessions of their Faith have been necessitated to toss them to and fro search âere and search there to lay down this or âhe other Principle and then as like the original Text as their Apprehensions can render ât Whereas were it as plain and distinct as âhe Nature of a Rule requires they needed only to have given their Subscription for a Confession Besides here They are Proper âhere Metaphorical In one place Literally in ânother Mystically to be accepted Most times Points are to be prov'd by comparing and weighing Places coherent where to allude Aptly and not wrong the Sense is Difficult ând requires a clear and certain Discerning notwithstanding the Clamours upon us about infallibility Now from all this with abundance more that might be said plain it is âhat the Scriptures are not plain but to the Spiritual Man Thus Peter said of Paul's Writings that in many things they were hard to be understood Therefore not such a Rule which ought to be Plain Proper and Intelligible 4. Again the Scripture cannot be the Rule of Faith because it cannot give Faith for Faith is the Gift of God which overcomes the World Neither of Practice because it cannot distinguish of it self in all Cases what ought to be practised and what not since ât contains as well what ought not to be practised as what ought This was the Case of Christ's Disciples who had no particular Rule in the Old Testament Writings for the abolishing of some part of the Old Testament Religion On the contrary they might have pleaded for the Perpetuity of it because Christ said unto them Do as they say that sit in Moses 's Chair more reasonably than many who make that a Plea now a-days for their invented Worships What then guided them in their declaring void and relinquishing those things For Instance God gave Circumcision as ãâã Sign for ever And Paul tells the Galatians That if they be circumcised Christ should proâââ them nothing Was not this the Spirit of Truth that leads into all Truth that the Apostle made the Judge and Rule of their Doctrineâ and Practices So said James and the Assembly of the Apostles when they told the Believers It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us c. 5. These very Men that say it is the Rule of Faith and Life diviate in their Proof from their Assertion for the Scriptures no where say so of themselves Here they fly to Meanings and Interpretations The Question arises not about the Truth of the Text for that is agreed on all hands but the Exposition of it If then I yield to that Man do I bow to the Letter of the Text or to his Interpretation If the Latter as manifestly I do is the Scripture oâ that Man's Sense of it my Rule Nay the Person so interpreting makes not the Scripture his Rule but his own Apprehension whatever he may say to gain Credit to his Conceptions with others