reed or quench the smoking flax ver 8. he was to bring forth judgment to the Gentiles and the Isles were to wait for his Law There is a whole Chapter in the same Prophet Isa. 53. setting forth the Mean Appearance that the Messias was to make the Contempt he was to fall under and the Sufferings he was to bear and that for the Sins of others which were to be laid on him so that his Soul or Life was to be made an Offering for Sin in reward of which he was to be highly exalted In another place his Mission is set forth not in the Strains of War or of Conquest but of Preaching to the Poor Isa. 61. setting the Prisoners free as in a Year of Jubilee and comforting the afflicted and such as mourned In the two last Chapters of that Prophet mention is made more particularly of the Gentiles that were to be called by him and the Isles that were afar off out of whom God was to take some for Priests and Levites Which shewed plainly that a new Dispensation was to be opened by him in which the Gentiles were to be Priests and Levites which could not be done while the Mosaical Law stood that had tied these Functions to the Tribe of Levi and to the House of Aaron Ieremy renewed the Promise to the House of David of a King that should reign and prosper Jer. 23.5 in whose days Iudah and Israel were to dwell safely whose name was to be The Lord our Righteousness It is certain this Promise was never literally accomplished and therefore recourse must be had to a Mystical Sense The same Prophet gives a large Account of a new Covenant that God was to make with the house of Israel Jer. 31.31 not according to the Covenant that he made with their fathers when he brought them out of Egypt We have also Two Characters given of that Covenant one is That God would put his Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts that he would be their God and that they should all be taught of him The other is That he would forgive their iniquities and remember their sin no more One of these is in opposition to their Law that consisted chiefly in Rituals and had no Promises of Inward Assistances and the other is in opposition to the limited Pardon that was offered in that Dispensation on the condition of the many Sacrifices that they were required to offer There is a Prediction to the same purpose in Ezekiel Ioel prophesied of an extraordinary Effusion of the Spirit of God on great Numbers of Persons Old and Young Ezek. 36.25 Joel 2.28 that was to happen before the great and terrible Day of the Lord that is before the Final Destruction of Ierusalem Micah after he had foretold several things of the Dispâ—nsation of the Messiah Miâ—â—h 5.2 says that he was to come out of Bethlehem Ephratah â—ag 2.6 â— 8 9. Haggai encouraged those who were troubled at the meanness of the Temple which they had raised after their return out of the Captivity It had neither the outward Glory in its Fabrick that Solomon's Temple had nor the more real Glory of the Ark with the Tables of the Law of Fire from Heaven on the Altar of a Succession of Prophets of the Urim and Thummin and the Cloud between the Cherubims which last strictly speaking was the Glory all which had been in Solomon's Temple but were wanting in that In opposition to this the Prophet in the Name of God promised That he would in a little while shake the heavens and the earth and shake all Nations words that import some surprizing and great Change upon which the desire of all nations should come and God would fill the house with his Glory and the Glory of this latter house should exceed the Glory of the former for in that place God would give Peace Here is a plain Prophecy That this Templs was to have a Glory not only equal but superior to the Glory of Solomon's Temple These Words are too August to be believed to have been accomplished when Herod rebuilt the Temple with much Magnificence for that was nothing in comparison of the real Glory of the Symbols of the Presence of God that were wanting in it This cannot answer the Words That the desire of all Nations was to come and that God would give Peace in that Place So that either this Prophecy was never fulfilled or somewhat must be assigned during the Second Temple that will answer those solemn Expressions which are plainly applicable to our Saviour who was the Expectation of the Gentiles by whom Peace was made and in whom the Eternal Word dwelt in a manner infinitely more August than in the Cloud of Glory Zechary prophesied That their King by which they understood the Messias Zech. 9.9 was to be meek and lowly and that he was to make his Entrance in a very mean Appearance riding on an Ass but yet under that he was to bring Salvation to them and they were to rejoyce greatly in him Malachi told them That the Lord whom they sought Mal. 3.1 even the Messenger of the Covenant in whom they delighted should suâ—denly come into his Temple and that the Day of his coming was to be dreadful that he was to refine and purify in particular the Sons of Levi and a terrible Destruction is denounced after that One Character of his coming Mâ—l 4.1 was That Elijah the Prophet was to come before that great and dreadful Day who should convert many Old and Young Now it is certain that no other Person came during the Second Temple to whom these Words can be applied so that they were not accomplished unless it was in the Person of our Saviour to whom all these Characters do well agree But to conclude with that Prophecy which of all others is the most particular When Daniel at the End of the Seventy Years Captivity was interceeding for that Nation Dan. 9.24 25 26 27. an Angel was sent to him to tell him That they were to have a new Period of Seventy Weeks that is Seven times Seventy Years 490 Years and that after Sixty two Weeks Messiah the Prince was to come and to be cut off and that then the People of a Prince should destroy the City and the Sanctuary and the end of these was to be as with a Flood or Inundation and Desolations were determined to the end of the War They were to be destroyed by Abominable Armies that is by Idolatrous Armies They were to be made desolate till an utter End or Consummation should be made of them The Pomp with which this Destruction is set forth plainly shews that the Final Ruin of the Iews by the Roman Armies is meant by it From which it is justly inferred not only that if that Vision was really sent from God by an Angel to Daniel and in consequence to that was fulfilled then the
it looks plausiable and is calculated to take in the greatest Numbers They therefore suppose that God in his Infinite Goodness will accept equally the Services that all his Creratures offer to him according to the best of their skill and strength In opposition to all which they are here condemned who think that every Man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth Where a great difference is to be observed between the words saved by the Law and saved in the Law the one is condemned but not the other To be saved by a Law or Sect signifies That by the virtue of that Law or Sect such Men who follow it may be saved Whereas to be saved in a Law or Sect imports only That God may extend his Compassions to Men that are engaged in false Religions The former is only condemned by this Article which affirms nothing concerning the other In sum if we have fully proved that the Christian Religion was delivered to the World in the Name of God and was attested by Miracles so that we believe it's Truth we must believe every part and tittle of it and by consequence those Passages which denounce the Wrath and Judgments of God against Impenitent Sinners and that promise Mercy and Salvation only upon the account of Christ and his Death Rom. 10.9 10. Mark 8.38 We must believe with our hearts and confess it with our mouths We must not be ashamed of Christ or of his words lest he should be ashamed of us when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy Angels This I say being a part of the Gospel must be as true as the Gospel it self is and these Rules must bind all those to whom they are proposed whether they are enacted by Law or not For if we are assured that they are a part of the Law of the King of Kings we are bound to believe and obey them whether Human Laws do favour them or not it being an evident thing that no subordinate Authority can derogate from that which is superior to it So if the Laws of God are clearly revealed and certainly conveyed down to us we are bound by them and no Human Law can dissolve this Obligation If God has declared his Will to us it can never be supposed to be free to us to chuse whether we will obey it or not and serve him under that or under another Form of Religion at our pleasure and choice We are limited by what God has declared to us and we must not fancy our selves to be at liberty after he has revealed his Will to us As to such to whom the Christian Religion is revealed there no question can be made for it is certain they are under an indispensable Obligation to obey and follow that which is so graciously revealed to them They are bound to follow it according to what they are in their Consciences persuaded is its true sense and meaning And if for any Secular Interest they chuse to comply with that which they are convinced is an Important Error and is condemned in the Scripture they do plainly shew that they prefer Lands Houses and Life to the Authority of God in whose Will when revealed to them they are bound to acquiesce The only difficulty remaining is concerning those who never heard of this Religion Whether or How can they be saved St. Paul having divided the World into Iews and Gentiles called by him those who were in the Law and who were without Law he says Those who sinned without Law Rom. 2.12 14 15. that is out of the Mosaical Dispensation shall be judged without Law that is upon another foot For he adds when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature things contained in the Law That is the Moral parts of it these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves that is their Consciences are to them instead of a Written Law which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another This implies that there are either Seeds of Knowledg and Virtue laid in the Nature of Man or that such Notions pass among them as are carried down by Tradition The same S. Paul says How can they call on him in whom they have not believed And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard Rom. 1â— 14 and how can they hear without a Preacher Which seems plainly to intimate that Men cannot be bound to believe and by consequence cannot be punished for not believing unless the Gospel is preached to them St. Peter said to Cornelius Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons Acâ—â— 1â— â—4 35. but in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Those places seem to import that those who make the best use they can of that small measure of Light that is given them shall be judged according to it and that God will not require more of them than he has given them This also agrees so well with â—he Ideas which we have both of Justice and Goodness that this Opinion wants not special colours to make it look well But on the other hand the Pardon of Sin and the Favourof God are so positively limited to the believing in Christ Jesus and it is so expresly said That there is no salvation in any other Acts 4.12 and that there is none other name or Authority under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved that the distinction which can only be made in this matter is this That it is only on the Account and in the Consideration of the Death of Christ that Sin is pardoned and men are saved This is the only Sacrifice in the sight of God so that whosoever are received into mercy have it through Christ as the Channel and Conveyance of it But it is not so plainly said that no Man can be saved unless he has an explicit Knowledge of this together with a belief in it Few in the Old Dispensation could have that Infants and Innocents or Ideots have it not and yet it were a bold thing to say that they may not be saved by it So it does not appear to be clearly Revealed That none shall be saved by the Death of Christ unless they do explicitely both know it and believe in it Since it is certain That God may pardon Sin only upon that score without obliging all Men to believe in it especially when it is not Revealed to them And here another distinction is to be made which will clear this whole matter and all the difficulties that arise out of it A great difference is to be made between a Foederal certainty of Salvation secured by the Promises of God and of this New Covenant in Christ Jesus and the extent to which the Goodness and Mercy of God may go None are in
that he can divert if not all of the sudden resist the present impressions that seem to master him We do also feel that in many Trifles we do Act with an entire liberty and do many things upon no other account and for no other reason but because we will do them and yet more important things depend on these Our Thoughts are much governed by those impressions that are made upon our Brain When an Object proportioned to us appears to us with such advantages as to affect us much it makes such an impression on our Brain that our Animal Spirits move much towards it and those Thoughts that answer it arise oft and strongly upon us till either that Impression is worn out and flatted or new and livelier ones are made on us by other Objects In this depressed state in which we now are the Ideas of what is useful or pleasant to our Bodies are strong they are ever fresh being daily renewed and according to the different Construction of Mens Blood and their Brains there arises a great variety of Inclinations in them Our Animal Spirits that are the immediate Organs of Thought being the subtiler parts of our Blood are differently made and shaped as our Blood happens to be Acid Salt Sweet or Phlegmatick And this gives such a Biass to all our Inclinations that nothing can work us off from it but some great strength of Thought that bears it down So Learning chiefly in Mathematical Sciences can so swallow up and fix ones Thought as to possess it entirely for some time but when that amusement is over Nature will return and be where it was being rather diverted than overcome by such Speculations The Revelation of Religion is the proposing and proving many Truths of great importance to our Understandings by which they are enlightened and our Wills are guided but these Truths are feeble things languid and unable to stem a Tide of Nature especialy when it is much excited and heated So that in fact we feel that when Nature is low these Thoughts may have some force to give an inward Melancholy and to awaken in us Purposes and Resolutions of another kind but when Nature recovers it self and takes fire again these grow less powerful The giving those Truths of Religion such a Force that they may be able to subdue Nature and to govern us is the Design of both Natural and Revealed Religion So the Question comes now according to the Article to be Whether a Man by the Powers of Nature and of Reason without other inward Assistances can so far turn and dispose his own Mind as to believe and to do works pleasant and acceptable to God Pelagius thought that Man was so entire in his liberty that there was no need of any other Grace but that of Pardon and of proposing the Truths of Religion to Mens knowledge but that the use of these was in every Man's power Those who were called Semipelagians thought that an assisting inward Grace was necessary to enable a Man to go through all the harder steps of Religion but with that they thought that the first Turn or Conversion of the Will to God was the effect of a Man 's own free choice In opposition to both which this Article asserts both an Assisting and a preventing Grace That there are inward Assistances given to our Powers besides those outward Blessings of Providence is first to be proved In the Old Testament it is true there were not express Promises made by Moses of such Assistances yet it seems both David and Solomon had a full persuasion about it David's Prayers do every where relate to somewhat that is Internal Psal. 119.13 27 3â— 35. Psalm 51.10 11. He prays God to open and turn his eyes to unite and incline his heart to quicken him to make him to go to guide and lead him to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him Solomon says That God gives wisdom that he directs mens paths and giveth grace to the lowly Jâ—r 31.33 34. In the Promise that Ieremy gives of a New Covenant this is the Character that is given of it I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts They shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest Like to that is what Ezekiel promises Ezek. 36.26 27. A new heart also will I give and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them That these Prophecies relate to the New Dispensation cannot be question'd since Ieremy's words to which the other are equivalent are cited and applied to it in the Epistle to the Hebrews Now the opposition of the one Dispensation to the other as it is here stated consists in this That whereas the Old Dispensation was made up of Laws and Statutes that were given on Tables of Stone and in writing the New Dispensation was to have somewhat in it beside that External Revelation which was to be Internal and which should dispose and inable Men to observe it A great deal of our Saviour's Discourse concerning the Spirit which he was to pour on his Disciples did certainly belong to that extraordinary Effusion at Pentecost and to those wonderful Effects that were to follow upon it Yet as he had formerly given this as an Encouragement to all Men to Pray Luke 11.13 That his heavenly Father would give the Holy Spirit to every one that asked him so there are many parts of that his last Discourse that seem to belong to the constant Necessities of all Christians It is as unreasonable to limit all to that time as the first words of it I go to prepare a place for you and because I live ye shall live also The Prayer which comes after that Discourse Joh. 14.2 being extended beyond them to all that should believe in his Name through their word we have no reason to limit these words I will manifest my self to him My Father and I will make our abode with him In me ye shall have peace to the Apostles only so that the Guidance the Conviction the Comforts of that Spirit seem to be Promises which in a lower order belong to all Christians St. Paul speaks of the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost When he was under Temptation Rom. 5.5 and prayed thrice he had this Answer My grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12 9. my strength is made perfect in weakness He prays often for the Churches in his Epistles to them That God would stablish comfort and perfect them Eph. 3.17 enlighten and strengthen them and this in all that variety of Words and Phrases that import inward Assistances This is also meant by Christ's living
hovering about it but that it was translated into the Seats of departed Souls All these Three Senses differ very much from one another and yet they are all Senses that are Literal and Grammatical so that in which of these soever a man conceives the Article he may Subscribe it and he does no way prevaricate in so doing If men would therefore understand all the other Articles in the same largeness and with the same equity there would not be that occasion given for unjust Censure that there has been Where then the Articles are conceived in large and general words and have not more special and restrained terms in them we ought to take that for a sure Indication that the Church does not intend to tie men up too severely to particular Opinions but that she leaves all to such a liberty as is agreeable with the Purity of the Faith And this seems sufficient to explain the Title of the Articles and the Subscriptions that are required of the Clergy to them The last thing to be setled is the true Reading of the Articles for there being some small diversity between the Printed Editions and the Manuscripts that were signed by both Houses of Convocation I have desired the assistance both of Dr. Green the present Worthy Master of Corpus Christi College in Cambridge and of some of the Learned Fellows of that Body That they would give themselves the trouble to collate the Printed Editions and their Manuscripts with such a scrupulous exactness as becomes a Matter of this Importance which they were pleased to do very minutely I will set down Both the Collations as they were transmitted to me beginning with that which I had from the Fellows four Years ago These words said to be left out are found in the Original Articles Sign'd by the Chief Clergy of Both Provinces now extant in the Manuscript Libraries of C.C.C.C. in the Book call'd Synodalia but distinguish'd from the rest with Lines of Minium which Lines plainly appear to have been done afterwards because the Leaves and Lines of the Original are exactly numbred at the end which number without these Lines were manifestly false In the Original these words only are found Testamentum vetus novo contrarium non est quandoquidem c. The Latin of the Original is Et quanquam renatis credentibus nulla propter Christum est condemnatio This Article is not found in this Original This is not found This is not found This Article agrees with the Original but these words The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and Authority in Controversies of Faith suppos'd to begin the Article are not found in any part thereof In the fourteenth Line of this Article immediately after these words But yet have not like nature with Baptism and the Lord's Supper follows quomodo nec penitentia which being mark'd underneath with Minium is left out in the Translation This Article agrees with the Original as far as these words and â—ath given occasion to many Superstitions where follows Christus in coelum ascendens corpori suo immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstulit humanae enim naturae veritatem juxta Scripturas perpetuo retinet quam uno definito loco esse non in multa vel omnia simul loca diffundi oportet quum igitur Christus in coelum sublatus ibi usque ad finem faeculi sit permansurus atque inde non aliunde ut loquitur Augustinus venturus sit ad judicandum vivos mortuos non debet quisquam fidelium carnis ejus sanguinis realem corporalem ut loquuntur praesentiam in Eucharistia vel credere vel profiteri These words are mark'd and scrawl'd over with Minium and the words immediately following Corpus tamen Christi datur accipitur manducatur in coena tantum coelesti spirituali ratione are inserted in a different Hand just before them in a line and half left void which plainly appears to be done afterwards by reason the same Hand has alter'd the first number of Lines and for Viginti quatuor made quatuordecem The Three last Articles Viz. The 39th Of the Resurrection of the Dead the 40th That the Souls of men do neither perish with their Bodies neque otiosi dormiant is added in the Original And the 42d That all shall not be saved at last are found in the Original distinguish'd only with a Marginal Line of Minium But the 41st of the Millenarians is wholly left out The number of Articles does not exactly agree by reason some are inserted which are found only in King Edward's Articles but none are wanting that are found in the Original ARTICLE III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell· AS Christ Died for us and was Buried so also it is to be believ'd That he went down into Hell For his Body lay in the Grave till his Resurrection but his Soul being separate from his Body remain'd with the Spirits which were detainâ—d in Prison that is to say in Hell and there preached unto them ARTICLE VI. The Old Testament is not to be rejected as if it were contrary to the New but to be retained Forasmuch c. ARTICLE IX And although there is no Condemnation to them that believe and are Baptiz'd c. ARTICLE X. Of Grace The Grace of Christ or the Holy Ghost which is given by Him doth c. ARTICLE XVI Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is then committed when c. ARTICLE XIX All men are bound to keep the Precepts of the Moral Law although the Law given from God c. ARTICLE XX. Of the Authority of the Church It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Words written c. ARTICLE XXVI Of the Sacraments Sacraments Ordain'd of Christ c. ARTICLE XXIX Of the Lord's Supper The Supper of the Lord's is not only a Sign of c. Corpus Christi Col. Feb. 4 th 1695 6. UPON Examination we judge these to be all the material differences that are unobserv'd between the Original Manuscripts and the B. of Salisbury's Printed Copy Witness our Hands Io. Iaggard Fellow of the said College Roh Mosse Fellow of the said College Will. Lunn Fellow of the said College After I had procured this I was desirous likewise to have the Printed Editions Collated with the Second Publication of the Articles in the Year 1571. in which the Convocation reviewed those of 1562. and made some small Alterations And these were very lately procured for me by my Reverend Friend Dr. Green which I will set down as he was pleased to communicate them to me Note MS. stands for Manuscript and Pr. for Print Art 1. MS. and true God and he is everlasting without Body  Pr. and true God everlasting without Body Art 2. MS. but also for all actual sins of men  Pr. but also for actual sins of men Art 3. MS. so also it
those Particulars that are mentioned in this Article so it was not possible for any that should have had the wickedness to set about it to have corrupted the New Testament by any Additions or Alterations it being so early spread into so many hands and that in so many different places When all this matter is laid together it appears to have as full an Evidence to support it as any Matter of Fact can possibly have The Narration gave great scope to a variety of Enquiries it raised much Disputing Opposition and Persecution and yet nothing was ever pretended to be proved that could subvert its Credit Great Multitudes received this Doctrine and died for it in the Age in which the Matters of Fact upon which its Credit was built were well attested and in which the Truth or Falshood of them might have been easily known which it is reasonable to believe that all men would carefully examine before they embraced and assented to that which was like to draw on them Sufferings that would probably end in Death Those who did spread this Doctrine as well as those who first received it had no Interest beside that of Trutâ— to engage them to it They could expect neither Wealth nor Greatness from it They were obliged to Travel much and to Labour hard to wrestle through great Difficulties and to endure many Indignities They saw others die on the account of it and had reason to look for the like usage themselves The Doctrine that they preached related either to the Facts concerning the Person of Christ or to the Rules of Life which they delivered These were all pure just and good they tended to settle the World upon the Foundations of Truth and Sincerity and that sublime Pitch of Righteousness of doing as they would be done by they tended to make men Sober and Temperate Chaste and Modest Meek and Humble Merciful and Charitable so that from thence there was no Colour given for suspecting any Fraud or Design in it The Worship of God in this Religion was Pure and Simple free from Cost or Pomp from Theatrical Shews as well as Idolatrous Rites and had in it all possible Characters becoming the Purity of the Supreme Mind When therefore so much concurs to give Credit to a Religion there ought to be evident Proofs brought to the contrary before it can be disbelieved or rejected So many men forsaking the Religion in which they were born and bred which has always a strong Influence even upon the greatest Minds and there being so many particular Prejudices both upon Iews and Gentiles by the Opinions in which they had been bred and the Impressions which had gone deep in them it could be no slight matter that could overcome all that The Iews expected a Conqueror for their Messias who should have raised both the Honour of their Law and their Nation and so were much possessed against one of a mean Appearance and when they saw that their Law was to be superseded and that the Gentiles were to be brought in to equal Privileges with themselves they could not but be deeply prejudiced both against the Person and Doctrine of Christ. The Philosophers despised Divine Inspiration and secret Assistances and had an ill Opinion of Miracles And the Herd among the Gentiles were so accustomed to Pomp and Shew in their Religious Performances that they must have nauseated the Christian Simplicity and the corruption of their Morals must have made them uneasy at a Religion of so much strictness All sorts of men lay under very strong Prejudices against this Religion nor was there any one Article or Branch of it that fâ—attered any of the Interests Appetites Passions or Vanities of Men but all was very much to the contrary They were warned to prepare for Trials and Crosses and in particular for a severe and fiery Trial that was speedily to come upon them There was nothing of the way or manner of Impostors that appeared in the Methods in which the Gospel was propagated When the Apostles saw that some were endeavouring to lessen them and their Authority they took no fawning ways They neither flattered nor spared those Churches that were under their care They charged them home with their faults and asserted their own Character in a strain that shewed they were afraid of no discoveries They appeal'd to the Miracles that they had wrought and to those Gifts and Divine Virtues of which they were not only possessed themselves but which were by their Ministry conferred on others The demonstration of the Spirit or Inspiration that was in them appeared in the power that is 1 Cor. 2.4 in the Miracles which accompanied it and those they wrought openly in the sight of many Witnesses An uncontested Miracle is the fullest Evidence that can be given of a Divine Commission A Miracle is a Work that exceeds all the known Powers of Nature and that carries in it plain Characters of a Power Superior to any Human power We cannot indeed fix the bounds of the Powers of Nature but yet we can plainly apprehend what must be beyond them For Instance We do not know what secret Virtues there may be in Plants and Minerals But we do know that bare words can have no Natural Virtue in them to cure Diseases much less to raise the Dead We know not what force Imagination or Credulity may have in Critical Diseases but we know that a Dead man has no Imagination We know also That Blindness Deafness and an Inveterate Palsey cannot be cured by Conceit Therefore such Miracles as the giving Sight to a Man born Blind Speech to the Deaf and Dumb and Strength to the Paralytick but most of all the giving Life to the Dead and that not only to Persons laid out as Dead but to one that was carried out to be Buried and to another that had been four days Dead and in his Grave all this was done with a bare Word without any sort of External Application This I say as it is clearly above the Force of Imagination so it is beyond the Powers of Nature These things were not done in the dark nor in the presence of a few in whom a particular confidence was put but in full day-light and in the sight of great Numbers Enemies as well as Friends and some of those Enemies were both the most enraged and the most capable of making all possible Exceptions to what was done Such were the Rulers of the Synagogues and the Pharisees in our Saviour's Time And yet they could neither deny the Facts nor pretend that there was any Deceit or Juglary in them We have in this all possible reason to conclude That both the things wâ—re truly done as they are related and that no just Exception was or could be made to them If it is pretended That those wonderful things were done by the Power of an Evil Spirit That does both acknowledge the Truth of the Relation and also its being Supernatural This Answer
above all the Presence of God which appeared in the Cloud of Glory and in those Answers that were given by the Urim and Thummim all which must be confessed to be advantages on the side of Tradition vastly beyond any that can be pretended to have been in the Christian Church Yet notwithstanding all these God commanded Moses to write all their Law as the Ten Commandments were by the Immediate Power or Finger of God writ on Tables of Stone When all this is laid together and well considered it will appear That God by a particular Oeconomy intended then to secure Revealed Religion from the doubtfulness and uncertainties of Oral Tradition It is much more reasonable to believe That the Christian Religion which was to be spread to many remote Regions among whom there could be little Communication should have been fixed in its first beginnings by putting it in Writing and not left to the looseness of Reports and Stories We do plainly see That though the methods of knowing and communicating Truth are now furer and better fixed than they have been in most of the Ages which have passed since the beginnings of this Religion yet in every Matter of Fact such additions are daily made as it happens to be Reported and every Point of Doctrine is so variously stated that if Religion had not a more assured bottom than Tradition it could not have that Credit paid to it that it ought to have If we had no greater certainty for Religion than Report we could not believe it very firmly nor venture upon it So in order to the giving this Doctrine such Authority as is necessary for attaining the great ends proposed in it the conveyance of it must be clear and unquestionable otherwise as it would grow to be much mixed with Fable so it would come to be looked on as all a Fable Since then Oral Tradition when it had the utmost Advantages possible of its side failed so much in the conveyance both of Natural Religion and of the Mosaical we see that it cannot be relied on as a certain method of preserving the Truths of Revealed Religion In our Saviour's Time Tradition was set up on many occasions against him but he never submitted to it On the contrary he reproached the Iews with this That they had made the Laws of God of no effect by their Traditions Mat. 15.3 6 9. Joh. 5.39 and he told them That they worshipped God in vain when they taught for Doctrines the Commandments of men In all his Disputes with the Pharisees he appealed to Moses and the Prophets he bade them search the scriptures for in them said he ye think ye have eternal life and they testify of me Ye think is by the Phraseology of that time a word that does not refer to any particular Conceit of theirs but imports That as they thought so in them they had Eternal Life Our Saviour justifies himself and his Doctrine often by words of Scripture but never once by Tradition We see plainly That in our Saviour's Time the Tradition of the Resurrection was so doubtful among the Iews that the Sadducees a formed Party among them did openly deny it The Authority of Tradition had likewise imposed two very mischievous Errors upon the strictest Sect of the Iews that adhered the most firmly to it The one was That they understood the Prophecies concerning the Messias sitting on the Throne of David literally They thought that in imitation of David he was not only to free his own Country from a Foreign Yoke but that he was to subdue as David had done all the Neighbouring Nations This was to them a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offence so their adhering to their Traditions proved their ruin in all Respects The other Error to which the Authority of Tradition led them was their preferring the Rituals of their Religion to the Moral Precepts that it contained This not only corrupted their own Manners while they thought that an Exactness of Performing and a Zeal in Asserting not only the Ritual Precepts that Moses gave their Fathers but those Additions to them which they had from Tradition that were accounted hedges about the Law That this I say might well excuse or atone for the most heinous Violations of the Rules of Justice and Mercy But this had yet another worse effect upon them while it possessed them with such prejudices against our Saviour and his Apostles when they came to see that they set no value on those practices that were recommended by Tradition and that they preferred pure and sublime Morals even to Mosaical Ceremonies themselves and set the Gentiles at liberty from those observances So that the ruin of the Iews their rejecting the Messias and their persecuting his followers arose chiefly from this Principle that had got in among them of believing Tradition and of being guided by it The Apostles in all their Disputes with the Iews make their Appeals constantly to the Scriptures they set a high Character on those of Berea for examining them and comparing the Doctrine that they preached Act. 17.11 with them In the Epistles to the Romans Galatians and Hebrews in which they pursue a thread of Argument with relation to the Prejudices that the Iews had taken up against Christianity they never once argue â—rom Tradition but always from the Scriptures They do not pretend only to disparage Modern Tradition and to set up that which was more Ancient They make no such distinction but hold close to the Scriptures When St. Paul sets out the Advantages that Timothy had by a Religious Education he mentions this That of a Child he had known the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3 15 16. which were able to make him wise unto Salvation through Faith which was in Christ Iesus That is the Belief of the Christian Religion was a Key to give him a right understanding of the Old Testament and upon this occasion St. Paul adds All Scripture that is the whole Old Testament is given by Divine Inspiration or as others render the words All the divinely Inspired Scripture 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 The New Testament was writ on the same design with the Old that as St. Luke expresses it We might know the certainty of those things wherein we have been instructed â—uk 1.4 John 20 31. These things were written saith St. Iohn that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name When St. Peter knew by a special Revelation that he was near his End he writ his Second Epistle 2 Pet. 1 15. that they might have that as a mean of keeping those things always in remembrance after his death Nor do the Apostles give us any hints of their having left any thing with the Church to be conveyed down by
him to deliver his Will to the Iewish Nation The Relation given of those Miracles represents them to be such in themselves and to have been acted so publickly that it cannot be pretended they were Tricks or that some bold Asserters gained a Credit to them by affirming them They were so publickly transacted that the Relations given of them are either downright Fables or they were clear and uncontested Characters of a Prophet authorized of God Nor is the Relation of them made with any of those Arts that are almost necessary to Impostors The Iewish Nation is all along represented as froward and disobedient apt to murmur and rebel The Laws it contains as to the Political part are calculated to advance both Justice and Compassion to awaken Industry and yet to repress Avarice Liberty and Authority are duly tempered the moral part is pure and suitable to Human Nature though with some Imperfections and Tolerances which were connived at but yet regulated And for the Religious part Idolatry Magick and all Human Sacrifices were put away by it When we consider what remains are left us of the Idolatry of the Egyptians and what was afterward among the Greeks and Romans who were Polite and well constituted as to their Civil Laws and Rules and may be esteem'd the most refin'd Pieces of Heathenism we do find a Simplicity and Purity a Majesty and Gravity a Modesty with a Decencyin the Iewish Rituals to which the others can in no sort be compar'd In the Books of Moses no design for himself appears his Posterity were but in the Crowd Levites without any Character of Distinction and he spares neither himself nor his Brother when there was occasion to mention their Faults no more than he does the rest of his Countrymen It is to be further considered that the Laws and Policy appointed by Moses settled many Rules and Rites that must have perpetuated the Rememâ—rance of them The Land was to be divided by Lot and every Shaâ—e was to descend in an Inheritance The frequent Assemblies at Ierusalem on the Three great Festivals the Sabbaths the New Moons the Sabbatical Year and the great Jubilee the Law of the double Tythe the Sacrifices of so many different kinds the distinctions of Meats the Prohibition of eating Blood together with many other Particulars were all founded upon it Now let it be a little considered whether the Foundation of all this I mean the Five Books of Moses could be a Forgery or not If the Pentateuch was delivered by Moses himself to the Iews and received by them as the Rule both of their Religion and Policy then it is not possible to conceive but that the Recital of all that is contained from the Book of Exodus to the End of Deuteronomy was known by them to be true and this establishes the Credit of the whole But if this is not admitted then let it be considered in what time it can possibly be supposed that this Imposture could have appeared There is a continued Series of Books of their History that goes down to the Babylonish Captivity so if there was an Imposture of this sort set on foot in that time all that History must have been made upon it and an account must have been given of the discovery of those Books otherwise the Imposture must have been too weak to have gain'dCredit Whereas on the contrary thewholeThread of their History represents these Books to have been always amongst them The discovery made in the Reign of Iosias cannot be supposed to be of this sort since how much disorder soever the long and wicked Reign of Manasses might have brought them under and what havock soever might have been made of the Writings that were held Sacred among them yet it was impossible that a Series of Forged Laws and Histories could have been put upon them of which there was still a contiâ—ued Memory preserved among them and that they could be brought to believe that a Book and a Law full of so much History and of so many various and unusual Rites founded upon it had been held Sacred among them for many Ages if it was but a new Invention Therefore this is an extravagant Conceit So that the Book that was then found in the Temple was either the Original of the Law written by Moses's own hand 2 Chron. 34.14 for so the Words may be rendred or it may be understood of some of the last Chapters of Deuteronomy Ch. 26.16 to the End of Deut. which seem by the Tenor of them to have been at first a Book by themselves tho afterwards joined to the rest of Deuteronomy and in the Collection that Iosias was making these might be wanting at first and in these there are such severe Threatnings that it was no wonder if aHeart so tender as Iosias's Dâ—ut 18. 〈◊〉 36. to 〈◊〉 End was verymuch affected at the readingthem Upon the whole matter there is no Period in the whole History of the Iews to which any suspicion of such an Imposture can be fasten'd before the Babylonish Captivity So it must be laid either upon the timâ—s of Captivity or soon after their Return out of it Now not to observe that men in such Circumstances are seldom capable of things of that nature Can it be imagined that a Series of Books that run through many Ages could have been framed so particularly and yet so exactly that nothing in any concurrent History could ever be brought to disprove any part of it That such a thing could pass in so short a time upon a whole Nation while so many men remembred or might well remember what they had been before the Captivity if they had not all known that it was true is a most inconceivable thing These Books were so far from being disputed though we see their Neighbours the Samaritans were inclined enough to contest every thing with them that all acquiesced in them and in that second beginning of their being a State as it is opened in the Books of Esdras and Nehemiah and in Daniel and theThree Prophets of the second Temple all the other Books were received among them without dispute And their Law was in such high esteem that about Two hundredYears after that theKing of Egypt did with much Entreaty and at a vast Charge procure a Translation of it to be made in Greek The Iewish Nation as they live much within themselves where it is safe for them to profess their Religion so they have had the Divine Authority of their Books so deeply infused into them from Age to Age that now above Sixteen hundred Years though it is not possâ—ble for them to practise the main parts of their Religion and though they suffer much for professing it yet they do still adhere to it and practise as much of it as they can by the Law it self which ties the chief Performances of that Religion to one determinate Place This is a Firmness which has never yet appeared in any
weak and brag continually of the Spirit by which they do pretend that all whatsoever they Preach is suggested to them though manifestly contrary to the Holy Scriptures This whole Article relates to the Antinomians as these last words were added by reason of the Extravagance of some Enthusiasts at that time but that Madness having ceased in Queen Elizabeth's time it seems it was thought that there was no more occasion for those words There are Four heads that do belong to this Article First That the Old Testament is not contrary to the New Secondly That Christ was the Mediator in both Dispensations so that Salvation was offered in both by him Thirdly That the Ceremonial and the Judiciary Precepts in the Law of Moses do not bind Christians Fourthly That the Moral Law does still bind all Christians To the first of these The Manichees of old who fancied that there was a Bad as well as a Good God thought that these Two Great Principles were in a perpetual struggle and they believed the Old Dispensation was under the Bad One which was taken away by the New that is the work of the Good God But they who held such monstrous Tenets must needs reject the whole New Testament or very much corrupt it since there is nothing plainer than that the Prophets of the Old foretold the New with approbation and the Writers of the New prove both their Commission and their Doctrine from Passages of the Old Testament This therefore could not be affirmed without rejecting many of the Books that we own and corrupting the rest So this deserves no more to be considered Upon this occasion it will be no improper Digression to consider what Revelation those under the Mosaical Law or that lived before it had of the Messias This is an Important Matter It is a great Confirmation of the Truth of the Christian Religion as it will furnish us with proper Arguments against the Iews It is certain they have long had and still have an Expectation of a Messias Now the Characters and Predictions concerning this Person must have been fulfilled long ago or the Prophecies will be found to be false and if they do meet and were accomplish'd in our Saviour's Person and if no other Person could ever pretend to this then that which is undertaken to be proved will be fully performed The first Promise to Adam after his Sin speaks of an Enmity between the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15 It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel The one might hurt the other in some lesser Instances but the other was to have an entire Victory at last which is plainly signified by the Figures of bruising the Heel and bruising the Head which was to be performed by one who was to bear this Character of being the Woman's Seed The next Promise was made to Abraham In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed Gen. 12.3 Gen. 22.18 Gen. 26.24 Gen. 28.14 Gen. 49.10 This was lodged in his Seed or Posterity upon his being ready to offer up his Son Isaac That Promise was renewed to Isaac and after him to Iacob When he was dying it was lodged by him in the Tribe of Iudah when he prophesied That the Scepter should not depart from Iudah nor the Law-giver from between his feet till Shiloh should come and the gathering of the people that is of the Gentiles was to be to him It is certain the Ten Tribes were lost in their Captivity whereas the Tribe of Iudah was brought back and continued to be a political Body under their own Laws until a Breach was made upon that by the Romans first reducing them to the Form of a Province and soon after that destroying them utterly So that either that Prediction was not accomplished or the Shiloh the Sent to whom the Gentiles were to be gathered came before they lost their Scepter and Laws Moses told the People of Israel That God was to raise up among them a Prophet like unto him Deut. 18.15 to whom they ought to hearken otherwise God would require it of them The Character of Moses was That he was a Lawgiver and the Author of an entire Body of Instituted Religion so they were to look for such a one Numb 24. â—â— Balaam prophesied darkly of one whom he saw as at a great distance from his own time and he spoke of a Star that should come out of Iacob and a Scepter out of Israel Some Memorial of which was probably preserved among the Arabians In the Book of Psalms there are many things said of David which seem capable of a much Auguster Sense than can be pretended to be answered by any thing that befel himself What is said in the 2 d the 16 th the 22 d the 45 th the 102 d and the 110 th Psalms afford us copious Instances of this Passages in these Psalms must be stretched by Figures that go very high to think they were all fulfilled in David or Solomon But in their Literal and largest Sense they were accomplished in Christ to whom God said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee In him that was verified Thou wilt not leave my Soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption His hands and his feet were pierced and lots were cast upon his vesture Of him it may be strictly said Thy throne O God is for ever and ever To him that belonged The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my Right-hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool And The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The Prophets gave yet more express Predictions concerning the Messias Isaiah did quiet the Fears of Ahaz and of the House of David by saying The Lord himself shall give you a sign Behold Isa. 8 1â— a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son It was certainly no Sign for one that was a Virgin to conceive afterwards and bear a Son therefore the Sign or extroardinary thing here promised as a signal Pledge of God's Care of the House of David must lie in this That one still remaining a Virgin should conceive and bear a Son not to insist upon the strict signification of the Word in the Original The same Prophet did also foretell That as this Messiah or the Branch Isa. 11.1 2. should spring from the Stem of Iesse so also he was to be full of the Spirit of the Lord and that the Gentiles should seek to him ver 10. In another place he enumerates many of the Miracles that should be done by him He was to give sight to the Blind make the Deaf to hear and the Lame to walk Isa. 35. â— 6. He does further set forth his Character not that of a Warrior or Conqueror on the contrary He was not to cry nor strive Isa. 42.1 nor break the bruised
went about always doing good and was as a lamb without spot is so oft affirmed in the New Testament 1 Pet. 1.19 that it can admit of no Debate This was not only true in his Rational Powers the superior part called the Spirit in opposition to the lower part but also in those Appetites and Affections that arise from our Bodies and from the Union of our Souls to them called the Flesh. For tho' in these Christ having the Human Nature truly in him had the Appetites of Hunger in him yet the Devil could not tempt him by that to distrust God or to desire a miraculous supply sooner than was fitting He overcame even that necessary Appetite whensoever there was an occasion given him to do the will of his heavenly Father Joh. 4.34 He had also in him the aversions to pain and suffering and the horror at a violent and ignominious Death which was planted in our Natures and in this it was natural to him to wish and to pray that the Cup might pass from him But in this his Purity appeared the most eminently That tho' he felt the weight of his Nature to a vast degree he did notwithstanding that limit and conquer it so entirely that he resigned himself absolutely to his Father's Will Not my will but thy will be done Besides all that has been already said upon the former Articles to prove that some taint and degree of the Original Corruption remains in all Men the peculiar Character of Christ's Holiness so oft repeated looks plainly to be a distinction proper to him and to him only We are called upon to follow him to learn of him and to imitate him without restriction whereas we are required to follow the Apostles only as they were the followers of Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 1 Pet. 1.15 Mat. 5.48 And though we are commanded to be holy as he was holy in all manner of conversation that does no more prove that any man can arrive at that pitch than our being commanded to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect will prove that we may become perfect as God is The Importance of these words being only this That we ought in all things to make God and Christ our patterns and that we ought to endeavour to imitate and resemble them all we can There seems to be a particular design in the Contexture and Writing of the Scriptures to represent to us some of the Failings of the best Men For though Zacharias and Elizabeth are said to have been blameless that must only be meant of the Exterior and Visible part of their Conversation that it was free from blame Luk. 1.6 and of their being accepted of God but that is not to be carried to import a sinless Purity before God For we find the same Zachary guilty of misbelieving the Message of the Angel to him to such a degree Ver. 20. that he was punished for it with a Dumbness of above Nine Months continuance Perhaps the Virgin 's Question to the Angel had nothing blame-worthy in it Luk. 2.49 Joh. 2.4 but our Saviour's Answers to her both when she came to him in the Temple when he was Twelve Years old and more particularly when she moved him at the Marriage in Cana to furnish them with Wine look like a Reprimand The Contentions among the Apostles about the Preheminence and in particular the Ambition of Iames and Iohn cannot be excused St. Peter's Dissimulation at Antioch in the Judaizing Controversy Matth. 20.20 24. Gal. 2.11 12 13 14. Act. 15.39 and the sharp Contention that happened between Paul and Barnabas are recorded in Scripture and they are both Characters of the Sincerity of those who Penned them and likewise Marks of the Frailties of Human Nature even in its greatest Elevation and with its highest Advantages So that all the high Characters that are given of the best Men are to be understood either comparatively to others whom they exceeded or with relation to their outward Actions and the visible parts of their Life Or they are to be meant of their Zeal and Sincerity which is valued and accepted of God and as it was to Abraham is imputed to them for Righteousness Yet this is not to be abused by any to be an encouragement to live in Sin for we may carry this Purity and Perfection certainly very far by the Grace of God In every Sin that we commit we do plainly perceive that we do it with so much freedom that we might not have done it here is still just Matter for Humiliation and Repentance By this Doctrine our Church intends only to repress the Pride of vain-glorious and hypocritical Men and to strike at the Root of that filthy Merchandise that has been brought into the House of God under the pretence of the Perfection and even the over-doing or supererogating of the Saints ARTICLE XVI Of Sin after Baptism Note very deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is the sin against the Holy Ghost and unpardonable Wherefore the grant of Repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism After we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from grace given and fall into sin and by the grace of God we may arise again and amend our Lives And therefore they are to be condemned which say they can no more sin as long as they live here or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent THis Article as it relates to the Sect of the Novatians of old so it is probable it was made a part of our Doctrine upon the Account of some of the Enthusiasts who at that time as well as some do in our Days might boast their Perfection and join with that part of the Character of a Pharisee this other of an unreasonable rigour of Censure and Punishment against Offenders By deadly Sin in the Article we are not to understand such Sins as in the Church of Rome are called mortal in opposition to others that are venial As if some Sins though Offences against God and Violations of his Law could be of their own nature such slight things that they deserved only Temporal Punishment and were to be expiated by some piece of Pennance or Devotion or the Communication of the Merits of others The Scripture no where teaches us to think so slightly of the Majesty of God or of his Law There is a curse upon every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 And the same Curse must have been on us all if Christ had not redeemed us from it The wages of Sin is death And St. Iames asserts that there is such a Complication of all the Precepts of the Law of God both with one another and with the Authority of the Lawgiver that he who offends in one point Jam. 2.10 11. is guilty of all So since God has in his Word given
there must be a living speaking Judge always ready to guide the Church and to decide Controversies they say this cannot be in the diffusive Body of Christians for these cannot meet to judge Nor can it â—e in a General Council the meeting of which depends upon so many accidents and on the consent of so many Princes that the Infallibility will lie dormant for some Ages if the General Council is the Seat of it Therefore they conclude That since it is certainly in the Church and can be no where else but in the Pope therefore it is lodged in the See of Rome Whereas we on the other hand think this is a strong Argument against the Infallibility in general That it does not appear in whom it is vested And we think that every side does so effectually Confute the other that we believe them all as to that and think they argue much stronger when they prove where it cannot be than when they pretend to prove where it must be This in the Point now in hand concerning the Pope seems as evident 〈◊〉 thing can possibly be It not appearing That after the words of Christ 〈…〉 the other Apostles thought the Point was thereby decided Who 〈…〉 should be the greatest For that Debâ—â—e was still on foot and was 〈◊〉 among them in the very Night in which our Saviour was betrayâ—d Nor does it appear That after the Effusion of the Holy Ghost which certainly Inspired them with the full understanding of Christ's words that thâ—y thought there was any thing peculiarly given to S. Peter beyond the â—â—st He was questioned upon his Baptizing Cornelius He was not singly appealed to in the great Question of Subjecting the Gentiles to the Yoke of the Mosaical Law he delivered his Opinion as one of the Apostles After which St. Iames summed up the Matter and setled the Decision of it He was charged by St. Paul as guilty of dissimulation in that matter for which St. Paul withstood him to his Face And he justifies that in an Epistle confessed to be writ by Divine Inspiration St. Paul does also in the same Epistle plainly assert the equality of his own Authority with his And that he received no Authority from him and owed him no Dependance Nor was he ever Appealed to in any of the Points that appear to have been Disputed in the times that the Epistles were written So that we see no Characters of any special Infallibility that was in him besides that which was the effect of the Inspiration that was in the other Apostles as well as in him Nor is there a Tittle in the Scripture not so much as by a remote Intimation that he was to derive that Authority whatsoever it was to any Successor or to lodge it in any particular City or See The Silence of the Scripture in this Point seems to be a full proof that no such thing was intended by God Otherwise we have all reason to believe that it would have been clearly expressed St. Peter himself ought to have declared this And since both Alexandria and Antioch as well as Rome pretend to derive from him and that the Succession to those Sees began in him this makes a decision in this Point so much the more necessary When St. Peter writ his 2d Epistle in which he mentions a Revelation that he had from Christ of his approaching dissolution though that was a very proper occasion for declaring such an important Matter 2 Pet. 1 1â— he says nothing that relates to it but gives only a new Attestation of the truth of Christ's Divine Mission and of what he himself had been a witness to in the Mount when he saw the excellent glory and heard the voice out of it He leaves a Provision in Writing for the following Ages but says nothing of any Succession or See So that here the greatest of all Privileges is pretâ—nded to be lodged in a Succession of Bishops without any one Passage in Scripture importing it Another set of difficulties arise concerning the Persons who have a right to chuse these Popes in whom this Right is Vested and what number is necessary for a Canonical Election How far Simony voids it and who is the competent Judge of that or who shall judge in the Case of two different Elections which has often happened We must also have a certain Rule to know when the Popes judge as private Persons and when they judge Infallibly With whom they must consult and what Solemnities are necessary to make them speak ex Cathedra or Infallibly For if this Infallibility comes as a Privilege from a Grant made by Christ we ought to expect that all those necessary Circumstances to direct us in order to the receiving and submitting to it should be fixed by the same Authority that made the Grant Here then are very great difficulties Let us now see what is offered to make out this great and important Claim The chief Proof is brought from these Words of our Saviour when upon St. Peter's confessing That he was the Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16. 16 17 18 19. He said to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven This begins with an Allusion to his Name and Discourses built upon such Allusions are not to be understood strictly or Grammatically By the Rock upon which Christ promises to build his Church many of the Fathers have understood the Person of Christ others have understood the Confession of him or Faith in him which indeed is but a different way of expressing the same thing And it is certain that strictly speaking the Church can only be said to be founded upon Christ and upon his Doctrine But in a Secondary sense it may be said to be founded upon the Apostles and upon St. Peter as the first in order which is not to be Disputed Now though this is a Sense which was not put on these Words for many Ages yet when it should be allowed to be their true sense it will not prove any thing to have been granted to St. Peter but what was common to the other Apostles who are all called the Foundations upon which the Church is built That which follows of the gates of hell not being able to prevail against the Church may be either understood of Death Eph. 2.20 Rev. 21.2 14. which is often called the gate to the grave Which is the sense of the Word that is rendred Hell And then the meaning of these Words will be That the Church which Christ was to raise should never be extinguished nor die or come to a period as the Iewish Religion then did Or according to the Custom of the Iews of holding their
The justest abatement that we can offer for thisCorruption which is too manifest to be either denied or justified is this They were then engaged with the Heathens and were much set on bringing them over to the Christian Religion In order to that it was very natural for them to think of all methods possible to accommodate Christianity to their taste It was perhaps observed how far the Apostles complied with the Iews that they might gain them St. Paul had said that to the Iews he became a Iew and to them that were without law 1 Cor. 9.19 20. that is the Gentiles as one without law that by all means he might gain some They might think that if the Iews who had abused the light of a Revealed Religion who had rejected and crucified the Messias and persecuted his Followers and had in all respects corrupted both their Doctrine and their Morals were waited on and complied with in the observance of that very Law which was abrogated by the Death of Christ but was still insisted on by them as of perpetual Obligation and yet that after the Apostles had made a solemn decision in the matter they continued to conform themselves to that Law all this might be applied with some advantages to this matter The Gentiles had nothing but the Light of Nature to Govern them they might seem willing to become Christians but they still despised the nakedness and simplicity of that Religion And it is reasonable enough to think that the Emperors and other great Men might in a Political view considering the vast strength of Heathenism press the Bishops of those times to use all imaginable ways to adorn Christianity with such an exteriorForm ofWorship as might be most acceptable to them and might most probably bring them over to it The Christians had long felt the weight of Persecution from them and were no doubt much frighted with the danger of a Relapse in Iulian's time It is natural to all Men to desire to be safe and to weaken the numbers of their implacable Enemies In that state of things we do plainly see they began to comply in lesser Matters For whereas in the First Ages the Christians were often reproached with this that they had no Temples Altars Sacrifices nor Priests they changed their dialect in all those Points so we have reason to believe that this was carried further The Vulgar are more easily wrought upon in greater Points of Speculation than in some small Ritual Matters Because they do not understand the one and so are not much concerned about it But the other is more sensible and lies within their compass We find some in Palestine kept Images in their Houses as Eusebius tells us others began in Spain to light Candles by Day-light and to paint the Walls of their Churches And though these things were condemned by the Council of Elliberis yet we see by what St. Ierom has cited out of Vigilantius that the Spirit of Superstition did work strongly among them We hear of none that writ against those abuses besides Vigilantius yet Ierom tells us that many Bishops were of the same Mind with him with whom he is so angry as to doubt whether they deserved to be called Bishops Most of these abuses had also specious beginnings and went on insensibly Where they made greater steps we find an opposition to them Epipli Heres 79 Epiphanius is very severe upon the Collyridians for their Worshipping the Blessed Virgin And though they did it by Offering up a Cake to her yet if any will read all that he says against that Superstition they will clearly see that no Prayers were then Offered up to her by the Orthodox And that he rejects the thought of it with Indignation But the respect paid the Martyrs and the opinion that they were still hovering about their Tombs might make the calling to them for their Prayers seem to be like one Mans desiring the Prayers of other Good Men and when a thing of this kind is once begun it naturally goes on Of all this we see a particular Account in a Discourse writ on purpose on this Argument of curing the Affections and Inclinations of the Greeks by Theodoret Theod. de cur Gr. affect l. 8. de Martyr who may be justly reckoned among the greatest Men of Antiquity and in it he insists upon this particular of proposing to them the Saints and Martyrs instead of their Gods And there is no doubt to be made but that they found the effects of this compliance many Heathens were every day coming over to the Christian Religion And it might then perhaps be intended to lay all those aside when the Heathens were once brought over To all which this must be added that the good Men of that time had not the Spirit of Prophesy and could not foresee what Progress this might make and to what an Excess it might grow they had nothing of that kind in their View So that between Charity and Policy between a desire to bring over Multitudes to their Faith and an Inclination to secure themselves it is not at all to be wondred at by any who considers all the Circumstances of those Ages that these Corruptions should have got into the Church and much less having once got in they should have gone on so fast and be carried so far Thus I have offered all the Considerations that arise from the State of Things at that time to shew how far we do still preserve the Respect due to the Fathers of those Ages even when we confess that they were Men and that something of human Nature appeared in this Piece of their Conduct This can be made no Argument for later Ages who having no Heathens among them are under no Temptations to comply with any of the Parts of Heathenism to gain them And now that the abuse of these Matters is become so scandalous and has spread it self so far how much soever we may excuse those Ages in which we discern the first beginnings and as it were the small Heads of that which has since overflow'd Christendom Yet we can by no means bear even with those beginnings which have had such dismal Effects and therefore we have reduced the Worship of God to the Simplicity of the Scripture Times and of the First Three Centuries And for the Fourth we reverence it so much on other Accounts that for the Sake of these we are unwilling to Reflect too much on this Another Consideration urged for the Invocation of Saints is that they seeing God we have reason to believe that they see in him if not all things yet at least all the Concerns of the Church of which they are still Parts and they being in a most perfect State of Charity they must certainly love the Souls of their Brethren here below So that if Saints on Earth whose Charity is not yet perfect do pray for one another here on Earth they in that State of Perfection do certainly
doing that may draw others who have not such clear Notions to do it after his Example they being still in doubt as to the Lawfulness of it then he gives Scandal that is he lays a stumbling-block in their way if he does it unless he lies under an Obligation from some of the Laws of God or of the Society to which he belongs to do it In that case he is bound to obey and he must not then consider the Consequences of his Actions of which he is only bound to take care when he is left to himself and is at full liberty to do or not to do as he pleases This explains the Notion of Scandal as it is used in the Epistles For there being several doubts raised at that time concerning the Lawfulness or Obligation of observing the Mosaical Law and concerning the Lawfulness of eating Meats offered to Idols no general Decision was made that went through that matter the Apostles having only decreed that the Mosaical Law was not to be imposed on the Gentiles but not having condemned such as might of their own accord have observed some parts of that Law Scruples arose about this and so here they gave great Caution against the laying a Stumbling-block in the way of their Brethren Ver. 13. But it is visible from this that the fear of giving Scandal does only take place where matters are free and may be done or not done But when Laws are made and an Order is settled the fear of giving Scandal lies all on the side of Obedience For a man of weight and Authority when he does not obey gives Scruples and Jealousies to others who will be apt to collect from his Practice that the thing is unlawful He who does not conform himself to settled Orders gives occasion to others who see and observe him to imitate him in it and thus he lays a Scandal or Stumbling-block in their way and all the sins which they commit through their excessive Respect to him and imitation of him are in a very high degree to be put to his account who gave them such occasion of falling The Second Branch of this Article is against the Unalterableness of Laws made in matters indifferent and it asserts the Right of every National Church to take care of it self That the Laws of any one Age of the Church cannot bind another is very evident from this That all Legislature is still entire in the hands of those who have it The Laws of God do bind all men at all times but the Laws of the Church as well as the Laws of every State are only Provisions made upon the present state of things from the fitness or unfitness that appears to be in them for the great Ends of Religion or for the Good of Mankind All these things are subject to alteration therefore the Power of the Church is in every Age entire and is as great as it was in any one Age since the days in which she was under the Conduct of men immediately Inspired So there can be no unalterable Laws in matters indifferent In this there neither is nor can be any Controversy An obstinate adhering to things only because they are antient when all the ends for which they were at first introduced do cease is the limiting the Church in a point in which she ought still to preserve her Liberty She ought still to pursue those great Rules in all her Orders of doing all things to Edification with Decency and for Peace The only question that can be made in this matter is Whether such general Laws as have been made by greater Bodies by General Councils for instance or by those Synods whose Canons were received into the Body of the Canons of the Catholick Church whether these I say may be altered by National Churches Or whether the Body of Christians is so to be reckoned one Body that all the Parts of it are bound to submit in matters indifferent to the Decrees of the Body in general It is certain that all the Parts of the Catholick Church ought to hold a Communion one with another and mutual Commerce and Correspondence together but this difference is to be observed between the Christian and the Iewish Religion that the one was tied to one Nation and to one place whereas the Christian Religion is universal to be spread to all Nations among People of different Climates and Languages and of different Customs and Tempers and therefore since the Power in indifferent matters is given the Church only in order to Edification every Nation must be the proper Judg of that within it self The Roman Empire though a great Body yet was all under one Government and therefore all the Councils that were held while that Empire stood are to be considered only as National Synods under one Civil Policy The Christians of Persia India or Ethiopia were not subject to the Canons made by them but were at full liberty to make Rules and Canons for themselves And in the Primitive Times we see a vast diversity in their Rules and Rituals They were so far from imposing general Rules on all that they left the Churches at full liberty Even the Council of Nice made very few Rules That of Constantinople and Ephesus made fewer And though the Abuses that were growing in the Fifth Century gave occasion to the Council of Calcedon to make more Canons yet the number of these is but small so that the Tyranny of subjecting particular Churches to Laws that might be inconvenient for them was not then brought into the Church The Corruptions that did afterwards overspread the Church together with the Papal Usurpations and the New Canon Law that the Popes brought in which was totally different from the old one had worn out the remembrance of all the Antient Canons so it is not to be wondred at if they were not much regarded at the Reformation They were quite out of practice and were then scarce known And as for the Subordination of Churches and Sees together with the Privileges and Exemptions of them these did all flow from the Divisions of the Roman Empire into Dioceses and Provinces out of which the Dignity and the Dependances of their Cities did arise But now that the Roman Empire is gone and that all the Laws which they made are at an end with the Authority that made them it is a vain thing to pretend to keep up the Antient Dignities of Sees since the Foundation upon which that was built is sunk and gone Every Empire Kingdom or State is an entire Body within it self The Magistrate has that Authority over all his Subjects that he may keep them all at home and hinder them from entring into any Consultations or Combinations but such as shall be under his Direction He may require the Pastors of the Church under him to consult together about the best methods for carrying on the Ends of Religion but neither he nor they can be bound to stay for