have misled them Fourthly We should not easily believe those men in matters of Religion who would keep us from examining their Doctrines by fair ways of tryal and would affright us into an implicit Faith by pronouncing damnation against all that are not of their own way If men use violence or subtlety to hinder us from judging for ourselves there is great reason to suspect that they are conscious to themselves of a bad Cause which will not bear the tryal I need not say how this reaches the Roman Church which forbids the Laity to read the Scriptures unless some one Lay-man has that special favour granted him of leave so to do from his Ordinary who commonly is wise enough not to give this license but where he is sure the party is fast enough to the Cause of that Church Those of the separate Congregations best know what Arts are used to keep the people that go that way from informing themselves by reading our Books or discoursing with our Ministers about the matters in controversie between them and us But we are not ignorant of all of them some of their Leaders teach them to pity our ignorance and want of illumination Alas poor wretches that we are we know not the things of the Spirit of God! we are strangers to the life and power of Godliness Thus they use to represent us They take all the good names and promises of the Scripture to themselves and leave the threatnings of God and the punishments inflicted upon his enemies to us Now this is but a cunning and indirect way to keep the People from hearkning to any thing we can say to 'em and to teach them how to conclude against us without thinking it to any purpose to examine what is offered on both sides They that have a good Cause need not use those disingenuous Arts they will not fright men from considering what their adversaries say by denouncing damnation against them nor forbid them to read their Books but rather encourage them to do so that they may see the difference between Truth and Errour between Reason and Sophistry with their own eyes This is the effect of a well-grounded confidence in the Truth and there is this signe of a good Cause apparently discernable in the Application of the Clergy of this Church both to their friends and enemies They desire both the one and the other to consider impartially what is said for us and against us And whatever Guides of a Party do otherwise they give just cause to those that follow them to examine their Doctrines so much the more by how much they are unwilling to have them examined It is a bad signe when men are loath to have their Opinions seen in the day but love darkness rather than light Thus I have shewn in what cases we are most concerned to examine the Doctrines of those that undertake to inftruct and guide us § 5. II. Because the duty of proving all things supposes certain Rules and Tests by which Doctrines are to be examined and tryed I proceed to shew what they are Now it is very certain that the Rules by which we are to try Doctrines for our own satisfaction about them are no other than those want of Argument by which a wise man would prove the truth of his Perswasion to others for their satisfaction And therefore it is plain that those Rules must be common to me and to other men whom I would also guide so into the knowledge of that Truth to which I have attained And they are these three 1. Reason which is a common Rule to all men 2. Scripture which is a common Rule to all Christians 3. Antiquity or the uniform Judgment and Practice of the Church in the first Ages of Christianity which is a common Rule to those who are verst in the Histories of the Primitive Church and in the Writings of the Fathers The two former Rules are the principal and most necessary and we are safe if our Perswasions in Religion will bear the Test of Reason and Scripture and withal those Rules are near at hand for every mans use amongst us But the last Rule is also of good use to those that can use it for their own confirmation in the truth and stopping the mouths of gain-sayers But more particularly 1. By Reason I do not understand that Faculty by which we are men and can compare one thing with another and argue and conclude c. for this is that Natural Power by which we use any kind of Rule whereby to judge of the truth or falshood of Opinions in Religion but I understand by it those common Truths which are natural to the minds of men and to which we give a ready assent without any need of having them proved by any thing else For by these fundamental Truths we are to prove all things else and if there were none such we could prove nothing And they are such as these That nothing can make it self That the same thing cannot be and not be at the same time That common sence is to be trusted That God is a being absolutely perfect That the Good is to be chosen and the Evil to be refused and that Contradictions cannot be true and the like Now whatever is by true consequence deduced from such Principles is thereby proved to be true and whatsoever is repugnant to them or can be disproved by them is false They are the forementioned Propositions with others as self-evident as they which make up that which we call the Light of Nature or of Reason And I mention this Rule in the first place because it must be presupposed to all other ways and means of enquiring after Truth and without which nothing could be done in it insomuch that the belief of that Truth which is not to be deduced from mere natural Reason but depends upon a divine Testimony is at last resolved into a rational Act and relies upon this natural Principle that God cannot lye Wherefore they that cry down Reason as if it were at no hand to be trusted in matters of Religion and call it carnal blind and foolish Reason and such-like vile names if they are in good earnest they are incapable of searching after Truth themselves and of receiving any satisfaction from others While they are in this humour I may as well take a Beast to dispute with as go about to convince them And if all men were thus senseless it were impossible that men should be serviceable to instruct one another in the things of God But to abandon the use of Reason in matters of Religion and to scorn a man when he speaks consistently and argues clearly from common Principles of Truth is such a wretched sort of unmanliness that I cannot but think it is for the most part taken up in designe by those men that have brought Nonsence and Contradictions and absurd Opinions into Religion which no man can admit without doing violence to his own
Scripture that belongeth to a Discourse be agreeable to the designe and scope of that Discourse to which it belongeth This Rule as it is necessary for all to observe so it is especially to be urged upon men that are apt to interpret places that are not of themselves plain by those Opinions that they are already possessed with a belief of but for which they have little ground besides the mere sound of some Texts which at first hearing seem to be of their side but which if they were compared with the designe of the holy Writer in that Chapter or Book would be found to mean quite another thing All that I shall say besides of this Rule is that the difficulty of many places that are not of themselves plain will be removed by observing it For instance by this way we shall easily be satisfied that that forementioned place of St. Paul Who maketh thee to differ from another was chiefly meant of those extraordinary gifts which were distributed amongst believers in the first Ages of the Church and therefore though in a qualified sence this is true of all saving Graces it is very consistent with all those Scriptures that suppose the difference between the righteous and the wicked to depend upon something which is in the power of the righteous If we mangle coherent Discourses and take a shred or a phrase of Scripture by it self without regard to the main scope of the place and this to prove what what we would have we do not try our Opinions by Scripture but we interpret Scripture by our own Opinions Thus I have shewn what Cautions are to be observed in judging by Scripture I doubt not but all will acknowledge them to be very reasonable and equal and if all men had observed them who have a just veneration for the Scriptures the Word of God had been better understood and less wrested unsound Divinity had not easily passed for Scriptural Truth and all occasion of those unjust Reproaches had been taken away which the Church of Rome throws upon us for allowing to all Christians the free use of Gods Holy Book And thus much for the Rules of Reason and Scripture 3. The third I mentioned was Antiquity and Catholick Tradition Now if this Rule as I said at first be of excellent use then they are in the best way to find out what is the true Christian Religion by it who stick to the Holy Scriptures though they are not capable of using it otherwise For if that be true which was most anciently taught and believed in the Church and which was received all along in the best Ages of the Church then he that can prove his Faith by Scripture has the Argument of Antiquity and Catholick Tradition unquestionably on his side because the Scriptures are the most ancient Records of our Religion and they have been delivered down to us as such from the beginning through all Ages to our present times But we acknowledge also the testimony of Antiquity of something of a later date that is of the antient Fathers of the Church to be of very good use for the clearing of some places in Scripture for shewing what Order and Discipline was left in the Church by the Apostles for confirming us in points of Faith grounded upon the Scriptures but which have been disputed and opposed by Hereticks and likewise for confuting those gross errours in Belief or Practice which of later days have been brought in amongst Christians especially those of the Church of Rome But how things are to be examined by this Rule I shall not here direct because this is the subject of an excellent Discourse already published And thus much concerning Rules whereby to try Opinions in Religion § 7. III. The Dispositions wherewith we are to search for the Truth by these means are also of necessary consideration for whatever other advantages we have if we be greatly defective in these we shall very often lose our labour and fall into mistakes of dangerous consequence To qualifie a man for receiving Truth when propounded with sufficient evidence or to find it out by his own search there must be these three things 1. A prepared mind 2. Competent Diligence 3. Prayer to God for his blessing upon that Diligence 1. A prepared mind which our Saviour calls a good and honest heart Now this consists in Humility Ingenuity and Sincerity Humility is necessary because overweening and self-concit makes a man apt to despise what those of a different Perswasion can say for themselves before their Arguments are considered and in general to neglect that help which may be had by the advice and reasoning of others So likewise vain-glory fixeth a man in an errour he hath once defended and while he is unwilling to acknowledge a mistake he strains all his Wit to delude himself into a stronger belief of it and of his ability to defend it In Controversies he is desirous of victory and would fain be thought some-body and therefore he studies more to expose an adversary than to inform himself And if he be yet to chuse his side of a Question he takes the wrong one if it be more fashionable than the right Therefore says our Saviour Whosoever doth not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child i. e. with a meek and pliable spirit shall not enter therein Again says he My sheep hear my voice intimating that they would be easily convinced who were of tractable and humble minds And therefore he adds concerning the Pharisees that they rejected him because they were not of his Sheep i. e. because of their haughty and inflexible dispositions Prejudice is apt to bar the mind against conviction as well as Pride and therefore to Humility we must adde Ingenuity and Sincerity by which a man is qualified to distinguish between the suggestions of Prejudice on the one side and the force of good Reasons on the other Ingenuity is opposed to those Prejudices that are either unavoidably contracted or taken up through weakness of understanding Of the former sort are the Prejudices of Education or conversing altogether with our own Party Men are generally prepossess'd with great favour to those Opinions in which they have been all along trained up and which have been instilled into them by all that they have conversed with And therefore we cannot be meet Inquirers after Truth if we want the ingenuity of suspecting our selves on this side and trying those Perswasions in which we have been bred up with the greater impartiality and severity Some men are prejudiced by an unaccountable inclination toward an Opinion or an antipathy against it and these ought the more carefully to distinguish between the warmth of their imaginations on the one side and the force of Arguments on the other and not to take a passionate fondness for a conclusion or an aversion from it to be a Reason one way or other It is very incident to weak minds to prejudg in favour of
their Opinions whose persons they admire and mostly to that degree as not to hear with any patience an Argument against them Such a Precious man said this or that and therefore no body must say otherwise But it is at once disingenuous and silly to entertain such an opinion of any man as to take all that he says for Gospel for the best men are fallible and 't is easie for an Hypocrite to make himself pass for a Saint in the opinion of ordinary people and therefore men may be led into great errours whose judgments are captivated in this manner To this we may adde that Prejudice which arises from conceiving hard things of mens persons which an ingenuous man will by no means yield to but will consider what another says though he does not fancy the man It is reason enough with some people to reject all that their Minister says to convince them of their mistakes if he be called a High Church-man or goes for an Arminian and all this while they stand in their own light and will not suffer themselves to be instructed in many profitable Truths which they might learn Thus the Jews though they were astonished at our Saviour's Doctrine and Works yet believed not and this because they were offended at him for the meanness of his Parentage Some are so weak as to be prejudiced against Opinions and Practices meerly because they have heard them often abused nicknamed and inveighed against in a rude and reproachful manner And this goes a great way with some Dissenters to make them deaf to all our Reasons that when they are got together they hear the Rites and Prayers of our Church scoffed at and called by vile names But it stands not with the least ingenuity to run away with prejudice against things that are abused and laugh'd at without examining whether there be reason for it Sincerity is opposed to those Prejudices that arise from vicious affections and worldly interests and it consists in a firm resolution to do the Will of God and a vehement desire to know it for that end And this is a most necessary preparation to know the Truth because nothing is more common than the perverting of mens judgments by the inordinacy of their lusts and the serving of a corrupt interest The love of any Vice makes a man partial and insincere in examining the truth of that Doctrine by which he stands condemned The belief of it is uneasie to him it is not for his interest that it should be true This is the reason why the fool saith in his heart There is no God The worldly interests of men do strangely byass and fashion their Judgments It were a thing never enough to be admired that so many men of Parts and Learning should not be ashamed of those pitiful grounds upon which they maintain the Supremacy of the Pope the Doctrine of Purgatory the Half Communion the Sacrifice of the Mass the Invocation of Saints and the like but that those things do notoriously serve the Wealth and Grandeur of the Roman Church If it be needful to go to a Conventicle for the getting of a rich Fortune or the bettering of a mans Trade a little enquiry will for the most part serve his turn and satisfie him that the Separation is lawful and the Causes of it are just A man ought to set aside all consideration of his worldly interest and to propound eternal life to himself as the end of his inquiry when he labours to know the Truth The affectation of Popularity and the love of Praise and Flattery cannot consist with a sincere love of the Truth and does very often hinder the attainment of it It is hard to convince men of those things that check their vainglorious ends and purposes And therefore says our Saviour How can ye believe in me that receive honour one of another and seek not that honour which cometh of God onely The wise man exhorts us to buy the truth intimating thereby that we must quit all our sinful lusts and affections and our carnal interests in prosecuting of it In a word we must be in mind prepared to believe all truth by being resolved to do whatsoever appears to be the Will of God let what will come of it in this World having our hearts evermore fixed upon the great concernment of eternal life And this is more necessary for the best knowledge than vastness of Parts and Learning Where the mind is thus prepared there will be little need to press the two remaining Dispositions whereof the former is 2. Competent diligence Errour is sometimes made to look so like the Truth that a superficial examination will not serve to distinguish one from the other Sometimes the Truth must be had by laying a great many things together and the proof does not lie in one but in many Arguments pointing the same way Sometimes also a conclusion is offered with the shew of many Motives of credibility which neither singly nor joyntly prove what is intended And here patience and industry commonly helpeth more than quickness of judgement Our Saviour bad the Jews search the Scriptures those very men who in all probability had read them but as it seemeth not with diligence enough It were very well if those that begin to study Divinity would not presume upon the diligence and honesty of others whose Books they see full of Citations of Scripture but take some pains to judge whether that be the true sence in which they are quoted For want of this several have miscarried in their first entrance upon this work and the errours of men of name and authority have been propagated It would also be very happy for this Church and for themselves too if the dissenting people would not presently conclude that what they read in the Books of their own way is all agreeable to Gods Word because they see abundance of Scripture in them but would use some diligence to judge whether that be the true meaning in which the Scripture is there understood It was doubtless with designe to catch such slothful people that the Catechism of H. T. was published in our Language wherein he pretends to prove all the lewd Doctrines of the Romish Religion by Texts of Scripture But if any man will take the pains to examine his pr̄oofs he shall find such miserable wresting and perverting of the Scripture that he will never trust a Book more merely for store of Scripture-Phrases and Citations but go to the Fountain of Truth it self the pure Word of God to see whether the interpretations of men are indeed the unpolluted streams of that Spring from whence they are said to come We must be willing to sift things to the bottom if we would not be imposed upon A very little pains will serve to make a man confident but 't is not a little that will make him confident upon safe grounds 3. To Diligence we must adde Prayer for the divine Illumination
wrong way while they never use that liberty of examining the grounds of their Perswasion to which the Church so vehemently perswades them by her Ministers If it be urged that when a man sets himself with honesty and diligence to examine the Case of Communion with the Chnrch and doth all that he can to inform himself aright in this matter but cannot be satisfied that he may lawfully conform and this through mere weakness of understanding it is not reasonable that he should suffer any thing for that It may be said on the other side that there are many more who fail of understanding their duty in this kind for want of examination and inquiry and through the prevalency of Prejudice and passion than there are of those who continue erroneously perswaded through mere weakness of understanding But as for those who in perfect weakness remain unconvinced if I may suppose any such I wish the Laws could distinguish them from the rest and that they could be known by some visible characters that they might be exempted from undergoing any penalties But since this cannot be it must be endured that a few or none in comparison come to have hard measure by means of that which is necessary for the common and publick good § 4. Having premised thus much concerning this subject I shall proceed in this method following I. To consider in what cases we are to enquire most of all into the Truth II. To shew how or by what Rules or Tests we are to try and examine Opinions in Religion III. How we ought to be disposed and qualified that our Inquiries may be profitable and successful IV. To lay down some Motives whereby to perswade men to such Inquiry and examination V. To consider what becomes us and is our duty after the discovery and knowledge of the Truth I. I shall consider in what cases we ought to be most careful in making inquiries after the Truth lest we be imposed upon or mistaken All inquiries about Religion are either concerning the truth of Religion in the general or supposing the existence and providence of God which is the true Religion whether the Pagan or the Jewish or the Mahometan or the Christian or the truth of the Christian Religion being granted what Communion of men professing Christianity is to be chosen for instance whether the Church of Rome or the Church of England or the Communion of the Dissenters who separate from this Church But now all things are not alike needful to be proved or are equally proper matters of inqniry For 1. Every man is not bound to know all the false ways of Religion that are in the World and therefore not to try and examine every one of them It is sufficient for most men that they well consider the Faith and Profession to which they have been educated that if it be the Truth they may be well-grounded in it if it be false that they may upon good reason depart from it 2. Things that are self-evident need not to be examined for no Argument can make them plainer to us than they are already We may without any hesitation assent to such Principles as these That God cannot lie That men ought to observe fidelity and justice to one another and the like If there were not some Principles that needed no proving it were impossible to prove any thing and the more plain any thing is in it self the less need there is to examine it If I am told that white is black I shall not go about to disprove it because the thing is evidently false of it self and I can use no Argument that can make the matter plainer than it was at first In like manner if any man pretends that there is no difference between Vice and Virtue but in name and that all things are equally lawful this shall not put me to the trouble of examining the thing because 't is contrary to the common sense of mankind And for this reason any man is to be excused that dismisses the Doctrine of Transubstantiation without taking much pains about it because upon a very little consideration there appears so many gross contradictions and inconsistencies in it that I can have no greater reason to believe any thing is true than I have to believe that is false 3. Some things are hardly worth the examining and it signifies little or nothing to understand the right side of the Question If the Doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary were true yet it were not worth a quarter of the pains they have taken about it in the Church of Rome It is by no means true that an infallible living Judge is necessary upon Earth and that for the deciding of all Controversies in Religion since all such Controversies are not necessary to be decided some of them being of so little concern to us that it is no great matter if they remain Controversies to the Worlds end But we ought to use our Reason as well as we can to find out the truth in all those cases wherein it will be dangerous to be deceived and therefore in these four First When any man or company of men would gain us over to their way by lofty and extraordinary Pretences Secondly When Doctrines are propounded to us with considerable Authority which seem to encourage licentiousness and to render all care of living well needless Thirdly When we are tempted to separate from the Communion of the establish'd Church where we live or if we are in a state of Separation from it Fourthly When Opinions in Religion are propounded to us by those that would get us to yield up our Judgments wholly unto them and do what they can to keep us from examining them A prudent man would examine in all these cases First When men make extraordinary Pretences The reasonableness of which I have already shewn with reference to that Pretence of the Church of Rome to Infallibility And the like is to be said of those that pretend to work Miracles or that talk of immediate Revelations of knowing the Truth by Inspiration and of more than ordinary Illuminations For it is not onely a childish thing to be frighted with big words from looking what is under them but a very dangerous sort of cowardize to be afraid of calling those things into question which are set off with such highflown Pretences For from hence it has come to pass that Superstition and Idolatry Enthusiasms and Impostures have prevailed so much in the World It is somewhat strange that we should believe men the more for that very reason upon which we should believe them less that is for magnifying themselves And yet if this had not been common Mahomet had not imposed upon so great a part of the World nor the Church of Rome upon so great a part of Christendom nor our Enthusiasts upon so many People in England as they have I would not be backward to give that man a hearing that
In searching for Truth we must implore his help who is the God of Truth whose Word is the Word of Truth and whose Spirit is the Guide into Truth that he would free our minds from all prejudices and corrupt affections and from every thing which obstructs a right understanding If we lack wisdom we must ask it of God who giveth his holy Spirit to them that ask him And now I dare appeal to all that read these Papers if it had not been to the unspeakable advantage of Gods Church and the Souls of men if all that profess Christianity had inquired into the Controversies of Religion so far as they are concerned in them with these Dispositions that I have recommended And therefore I do the more earnestly desire them to lay their hands upon their breasts and in good earnest to ask themselves if they have in this manner sought the knowledge of the Truth with a mind thus prepared with impartiality and diligence and constant Prayer for Gods blessing and direction § 8. IV. My next business is to offer some Considerations to perswade our people to an honest and impartial tryal of Opinions in Religion This indeed cannot be done by all with equal advantage because of the difference of mens abilities but something is to be done by all and every one is to do what he can and God expects no more If we chuse a way of Religion at random or without honest care to know the Truth we are in great danger of falling into delusion because there are false Religions and damnable Errours in the World Saith St. John Try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world There was danger of running into grievous errour in the best and purest Age of the Church if Christians were not careful to examine things And surely the danger is greater in this corrupt Age and this extremely-divided State of Christendom It often happens also I doubt for the most part that Seducers are more diligent and wise to propagate Errour than good men are to gain Proselytes to the Truth The former are evermore too hard for the latter in confidence peremptoriness threatning of damnation magnificent and lofty pretences and where the case calls for it in artificial addresses and insinuations And this makes our danger the greater if we are not resolved to try before we trust Nay if we were secure from Impostors yet because no man is infallible we should not surrender up our Belief wholly to the Authority of any man but judge of his Doctrine as well as we can Because there cannot be a stronger ground for our assent to any thing than that God has said it we are to be very careful how we receive an Opinion for which Texts of Scripture are multiplied one upon another i. e. we must see whether they do indeed prove the thing in question for otherwise we may by the pretence of so great Authority be the more fastned in some dangerous errour We are exposed to manifest hazard if we are apt to admire a man for bringing much Scripture to serve his purpose but not to think it needful to see whether those passages of Holy Writ be pertinently applied or not To this I must adde that the errours we may fall into for want of enquiry and examination may for ought we know be of dangerous consequence to our own Souls Some there are that wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction and if we are in their way they may wrest them to ours too We may inconsiderately take up Principles that will by degrees debauch our Consciences and reconcile us to wicked practices and in many instances eat out the sense of good and evil sin and duty On the other hand by considering things as impartially and judiciously as we can we shall not onely be secure from running into great errours but the Doctrines of true Religion will become more plain to us and we shall have a more clear and distinct apprehension of them which will reward our endeavours with great pleasure and satisfaction For next to the delight of a good Conscience gained by doing what we know to be our duty there is no pleasure more pure and agreeable to the best part of our nature than that which arises from an improved knowledge in the things of God And having well weighed and considered the grounds of our Perswasion we shall adhere more stedfastly to that truth which we have learn'd and not be easily unsetled by the Sophistry or the Confidence of ill men being prepared to shew that there is no sound Reason in the former and no just Cause for the latter And when Seducers perceive that we have inquired too far into things to be born down with peremptoriness or to be deluded with colours they will be discouraged from attempting to draw us into their Net Moreover it will be no little satisfaction to us when we are going out of the world that we have all along taken due pains to inform our selves in things of the greatest concernment to us viz. those which regard our everlasting salvation and that the errours into which we may have fallen were not to be imputed to want of honest diligence in inquiring after the Truth but onely to humane infirmity In the mean time we cannot have the conscience of sincerity upon good grounds if we do not with diligence apply our selves to know all our duty and consequently all that divine Truth which is the Rule of it or which leads to the performance of it One character of that good and honest heart which our Saviour compares to the good Ground is to understand the Word And the reason why the Pharisees did not understand was because they were not of God but of their Father the Devil whose lusts they did One reason why God in his wisdom permits Impostures and Errours to go up and down in the World is because this serves to make a more evident difference between those that are sincere and honest and those that are not so For in these circumstances good men will take the more pains to distinguish between Truth and Errour while the insincere either take up that Profession which serves best for their worldly ends or take occasion by the differences that are in the World about Religion to throw off all pretence to Religion it self There must be herefies among you saith St. Paul that they which are approved may be made manifest To which we may adde that by honest endeavours to be rightly informed in matters of Religion we do in some measure qualifie our selves for the happiness of another life and shew that we are disposed heavenwards and desirous of that infinitely-better state of things where Darkness and Errour shall be done away For one great part of the Reward promised in a better life is that we shall know divine things more perfectly there than we can do in this World But this can be