he that thinks himself never so Infallible in the Grounds of it That is a true Divine Faith which purifies the Heart and thereby enlightens the mind which works by Love and not by cavilling and wrangling about the Grounds of it which overcomes the World and not that which overcomes the Temptations of it And such a Faith and only such a one will carry us to Heaven when if it were possible for us to have the utmost Infallibility in the Act of believing yet if it did not work effectually on our Hearts and Lives we might go infallibly to Hell. And so I shall conclude this Discourse with the second sense of the Obligation which lies on those who have received Christ Iesus the Lord so to walk in him i. e. to improve their sound Faith into the Practice of a good Life For alas What advantage will it be to us to have the most Primitive and Apostolical Faith if our Works be not answerable to it Why call ye me Lord Lord saith Christ and do not the thing which I say Why do we pretend to receive Christ Iesus the Lord if we do not observe his Commands It is good saith S. Paul to be zealously affected always in a good thing And no doubt our Faith is such but then let us be zealous of good Works too that we may shew our selves to be that peculiar people who are redeemed by Iesus Christ. So that our Obligation arises every way from Christ Iesus the Lord to walk in him if we consider him as our Lord so we are to obey him if as Christ Iesus so he died for us to redeem us from all iniquity We can have no pretence to live in our sins if we have received him who commands us to forsake them for then we receive and reject him at the same time Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity saith St. Paul what should those then do that profess to receive him as their Lord who are thereby bound to yield obedience to his Laws one of the great causes of the Degeneracy of the Heathen World was the separating Religion and Morality when this was left to the Schools of Philosophers to instruct men in whereas their Religion consisted only of some Solemn Rites and Sacrifices Let us have a care of as dangerous a Separation between Faith and Works or which is all one between receiving Christ and doing his Will. For those are the proper Works of the Gospel wherein we own Christ as our Lord and do them because he commands us And the Apostle hath summ'd up the whole Duty of Christians in those comprehensive words Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. To whom c. FINIS ERRATA PAge 8. line 18. for Days read Places p. 25. l. 15. r. Matimâ—â— p. 28. l. 18. for were â— are 2 Cor. 1. 12. Col. 2. 3. Col. 1. 14. John 6. 66. Rom. 1. 8. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 15. 12. 14. Gal. 4. 14. 16. Ch. 1. v. 7. â—â— 12. v. 3. Russia in Symbol Joh 16. 13. Acts 9. 13 21. Gal. 1. 17. 2. 9. Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 25. Iren. l. 3. c. 3. 4. Tertul. de Praescript Haer. 1 John 1 2 3. Euseb. Hist l. 3. c. 39. Luk. 1. 4. Iâ—â—n l. 3. c. 1. Aug. de Con. â—ers Evang. l. 1. c. 54. l. 2. c. 53. Euseb Hist. l. 3. c. 2. 〈…〉 〈…〉 in Mat. in Prâ—â—ogo Euseb. l. 2. c. 15. Euseb. l. 6. c. 25. Epiphan Haer. 51. Athanas. in Synopsi p. 155. Tâ—tâ—l c. Marc. l. 4. c. 5. Hieron de Script Eccles Ambros. in Luc. Luke 1. 1. Epiph. Haer. 51. Theophyl in Luc. Maldonat Com. in Evang prol Joh. 20. 31. Hierom. Proem in Matth. De Script Eccles. Epiph. Hâ— 51. Chrys. hom 1. in Matth. Euseb. l. 3. c. 24. Act. 15. 23. 1 Cor. 15. 2. Gal. 3. 1. 1. 6. 1 Cor. 15. 10. Eph. 4. 14. 6. 17. Phil. 3. 2. 1. 27. 2 Thess. 2. 3. 10. 1 Tim. 4. 2 3. 2 Tim. 3. 1. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. 2 Thess. 2. 15. Bell. de verbo l. 4. c. 5. Aug. de Peccat Meritis l. 1. c. 4. a In Symbolo Fidei Spâ—i nostrae quod ad Apostolis traditum non scribitur in Charta Atramento sid in tabulis cordis carnalibus Hieron ad Pammaclu advers Errores Joh. Hierosol b Nec ut eadem verba Symboli teneatis ullo modo debetis scribere sed audiendo perdisctre nec cum didicâ—ritis scribere sed memoria semper tenere recolere August de Diversis Serm. 75. c Iacirco denique haec non scribi Chartulis membronis sid requiri credentium cordibus tradiderunt ut certum esset haec neminem ex lectione quae interdum 〈…〉 ad infideles solet sed ex Apostolorum traditione didicisse Ruffinus in Symbol d Tetul de Prascrip c. 12 13 14 21. De Virgin. Vâ—l. c. 1. Advâ—s Praâ—â—am c. 2. August Som. 59. 186. 213. 215. Retract l. 2. c. 3. Enâ—iâ—iâ— de Fide n. 15. De Symbol ad Caâ—â—câ— Râ—ffin in â—â—oem c Theod. l. 5. c. 9. d Cyrill 〈◊〉 11. e Theodo l. 1. c. 12. f Cassian de 〈◊〉 l. 6. c. 3 4. g Hiâ—â—on ad Pammach h Ruffin in Symbol p. 191. V. Vsser de Symb. p. 8 9. i Epiph. 〈◊〉 Haeres 72. k Cyrill Catech. 18. l August de Symb. l. 1. Petr. Chrysol Serm. 57 c. m Epiph Ancor at n Augustinâ— de Fide Symbolo Et de Symbolo Serm. 243. o De Symbolo ad Catech. c. 1. Deut. 9. 10. 10. 4. 2 Kings 22. 8. 23. 2 3. John 5. 39. 46. 47. Matt. 15. 3. 9. Heb. 11. 1. Act. 15. 9. Gal. 5. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 4. Luk. 6. 46. Gal. 4. 18. Tit. 2. 14. 2 Tim. 2. 19. Tit. 2. 12. 13.
SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION COMPARED IN A SERMON Preached at Guild-Hall Chapel Novemb. 27. 1687. By EDWARD STILLINGFLEET D. D. and Dean of St. Paul's LONDON Printed for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-yard 1688. Imprimatur Guil. Needham Rmo in Christo ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacris Domest Nov. 28. 1687. THE PREFACE I Intend God willing to publish in a little time a full Answer to J.S. his Catholick Letters so far as I am concerned in them In the mean while I thought it not unfit to Print this Sermon I lately Preached that I might give a General View of Scripture and Tradition as to the Way of conveying Matters of Faith before I come to the particular Debate with J.S. Wherein I do not doubt but I shall be able to shew that we have ry good Grounds for the Certainty of our Faith and that they have none either as to Faith or Tradition as to the main Points in Controversie between us nestly as he doth to them Must we think as some do that he uses these Expressions as gentle Methods of Insinuation and commends them for that which he would perswade them to But this doth not seem agreeable to the Apostles simplicity and godly sincerity which he elsewhere sets such a value upon But it is far more probable that hitherto they had been very orderly and stedfast but Epaphras going to St. Paul had informed him throughly of their condition viz. That they were like a Garrison closely besieged on all sides and although hitherto they had held out with great Courage yet he did not know what earnest Sollicitations and fair Promises and tempting Motives might do with them and therefore the Apostle writes this Epistle to encourage them in their stedfastness and to warn them against Temptations Which he doth in such a manner as shews 2. That he had a more than ordinary Apprehension of the danger they were in And this I say saith he lest any man should beguile you with enticing words v. 4. and beware lest any man spoil you with Philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men after the rudiments of the World and not after Christ v. 8. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels c. v. 18. All which expressions do imply that he had just reason to fear and to give them caution in time that while they did yet think that they stood they should take heed lest they fall And this is that which the Apostle aims at in the words of the Text As ye have therefore received Christ Iesus the Lord so walk ye in him Receiving Christ Iesus the Lord doth not here relate to his Person but to his Authority and to his Doctrine so the Apostle himself explains it in the next verse rooted and built up in him and established in the Faith as ye have been taught Walking in him is an Eastern way of speaking and supposes both an adhering to that Faith they had then received and living according to it looking on Christ and his Doctrine as their only way to Heaven And as ye had received him so walk ye in him implies that the manner of their receiving Christ and his Doctrine at first was different from that which the false Apostles endeavoured to bring in among them and that they were bound to keep close to that pure and Primitive Doctrine which they at first received From hence we may consider a double Obligation lying upon them 1. To keep stedfast to that Faith which they first received without being seduced from it by the Arts of Deceivers who were then busie among them 2. To live according to it by making that Faith the Principle of a Christian Life and so walking in him as they have received him 1. As to the former the Reasonableness of it cannot but appear from the supposition here made viz. that they had received Christ Iesus the Lord. For thereby they declared that they received him as the Christ i. e. as him who was anointed of the Father to Teach and Instruct his Church and therefore they were bound to adhere to his Doctrine there being no other whom the Father hath sealed and appointed to declare his Will and in him were hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge They received him as Christ Iesus that is they hoped for Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins And if their hopes of Heaven depended upon his Mediation they had the greatest Reason to adhere only to him They received him as Christ Iesus the Lord and therefore they ought to submit to his Authority to obey his Commands and to observe his Institutions and in all Circumstances of Life to keep stedfast to the Doctrine which he delivered But here arises the great Difficulty how they should know by any Certain Rule what was the true and genuine Doctrine of Christ which himself delivered For 1. The false Teachers among them pretended to deliver the true Doctrine of Christ as well as the Apostles 2. That which they at first received was no certain Rule For the false Teachers might have been before them And first Possession gives no Title in Religion 3. The Apostle doth not put the whole Tryal meerly upon their Judgments or Memories or Capacities viz. What they thought or remembred was at first taught them for the Doctrine of Christ. For it was very possible for them to have mistaken or to have mis-remembred what was at first delivered Nothing can be more weak than to imagine that the Judgments of People in matters of Faith must be formed according to the skill and excellency of their Teachers For the hearers of Christ himself although he spake as never Man spake yet did very often mistake his meaning Aud at one time so remarkably that although he took care to rectify their misapprehension yet it is said From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him So that the highest infallibility in the Teachers doth not prevent the possibility or the danger of mistaking in the hearers And whatsoever any vainly pretend nothing can do it but Transfusing the Spirit of Infallibility into all If we look over the Apostolical Churches while they were under the Care and Conduct of an Infallible Spirit yet this did not prevent their running into great errours and mistakes as appears by the Account we have of them given by that Spirit which cannot deceive in the Apostolical Writings In the Church of Rome it self even at that time when its Faith was spoken of throughout the World yet there were dissensions and differences there and such as were contrary to the Doctrine which was delivered And St. Paul bids them to mark such which caused them he doth not say it was impossible for them to introduce any thing contrary to the Doctrine which they had learned by Tradition from the Apostles but he
it necessary then that those things which concerned the Life and Doctrine of Christ should be put into Writing that they might be more certainly convey'd and that while they had the Testimony of those who were eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word 2. And so I come to the second Rule of discerning the Primitive Doctrine of Christ viz. The Writings of the Apostles when matters of Doctrine came to be contested were the Infallible Rule whereby they were to judge which was the true and genuine Doctrine of Christ. There are some who pretend that the Apostles Writings were meerly Accidental and Occasional things but that the main design was to lodge the great Assurance of the Doctrine of Christ in Tradition from one to another and what they wrote was not to make any Rule of Faith but only to give some good Advice to those Churches they wrote to But I shall now prove that the Writings of the Apostles were intended by the Holy Ghost to be a standing Rule whereby the Church was to judge which was the true and genuine Doctrine of Christ. 1. From the Reasons and Occasions of writing the Books of the New Testament 1. As to the Gospels we must distinguish the General Reason of writing them from the particular Occasions as to the several Gospels The General Reason is to be drawn from the Divine Wisdom which inspired and guided them the particular Occasions relate to the circumstances of writing them The General Reason is that which Irenaeus gives viz. That the Gospel which they had first preached was by the Will of God put into Writing that it might be a Foundation and Pillar of our Faith. Not meerly to keep up the Remembrance of it which Fevardentius yields and thereby overthrows the Infallibility of Oral Tradition but that so it may be a certain Rule of Faith to all Ages The Evangelists saith St. Augustin were but Christs Hands which himself as the Head directed in writing the Gospels and therefore we are to look on the Gospels as his own Hand-writing The Holy Ghost saith he directed the Minds of the Evangelists as to the order and manner of their Writing Which varied according to the particular Occasions but yet were all subservient to the General Reason St. Matthew wrote the first Gospel saith Eusebius to the Jews to whom he had preached because going into other parts he would supply the want of his Presence among them by his Writing What need this if Tradition were a certain and infallible way of conveying the Doctrine of Christ St. Chrysostom saith the Jewish Christians desired him to put into Writing what they had heard him Preach Did not they understand the force of Tradition better Or why should St. Matthew put them out of an Infallible Way The Authority of the Imperfect Work on St. Matthew saith they desired him to write his Gospel that where ever they went they might carry an Account of their Faith with them Clemens Alexandrinus saith the occasion of writing St. Marks Gospel was that the people were not satisfied with an unwritten delivery of the Holy Doctrine and therefore importuned Mark who was the Disciple of St. Peter that he would leave a Monument of his Doctrine in Writing which St. Peter understanding by Revelation approved and confirmed his Gospel for the use of the Churches Origen saith he wrote it according to St. Peters directions Epiphanius saith by his Authority Athanasius saith it was dictated by him at Rome It seems that Peter himself did not think fit to leave the Doctrine of Christ to an Oral Tradition even at Rome but Irenaeus thinks it was written after St. Peters decease who therein differs from the rest and shews how uncertain meer Tradition is Tertullian saith St. Marks Gospel was attributed to St. Peter and St. Lukes to St. Paul. St. Ierom mentions the Opinion of some that when St. Paul saith according to my Gospel he means that of St. Luke But St. Luke himself plainly gives an Account of the occasion of his Writing St. Ambrose thinks by those who had taken in hand to write of those things which were firmly believed among us he means the Authors of the counterfeit Gospels as that of the Twelve Apostles and St. Matthias But we have no evidence that these were older than St. Luke his meaning is that in those parts where he was there were some who did undertake to give an Account of the Life and Actions of Christ who wanted the Advantages which he had having had great opportunities of knowing circumstances from the Eye-witnesses and therefore he set himself to give an exact Relation of them that not only Theophilus but every one that answers his name might know the certainty of those things wherein they had been instructed But did not they know the certainty of these things by the Apostles Preaching Yes but the things they heard might slip out of their Memories and to prevent this saith Theophylact St. Luke wrote his Gospel that they might retain these things with greater certainty And words that are only spoken are more easily misunderstood which Maldonat assigns as one great Reason of the Evangelists writing their several Gospels St. Iohn likewise gives an account himself of the Reason of his Writing and that the greatest imaginable But these are written that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name Why written that ye might believe Did the Apostle in his old Age mistrust the understandings or the Memories of Christians Was not the Apostles Teaching sufficient to keep up the Principles of the Christian Faith in the hearts of the people no not while St. Iohn himself was yet living He had certainly a very mean Opinion of Tradition that thought it necessary for him to write that they might believe that Iesus is the Son of God. For there was no point of Faith more necessary than this which was required of all Persons to be owned before Baptism Yet for all this and whatever else can be said St. Iohn thought it necessary that these things be written that they might believe He lived the longest of any of the Apostles and therefore saw how little Tradition was to be trusted for it was already corrupted in so weighty a point as the Divinity of Christ. Cerinthus and his Followers allow'd the general Tradition of the Church that Iesus was the Son of God but then they gave their own sense of it by extraordinary Favour and Adoption And from hence the Fathers agree that St. Iohn took occasion to write his Divine Gospel to clear this Fundamental point of the Christian Faith. And withal observing that the other Evangelists insisted chiefly on the Actions of Christ for one year viz. after Johns Imprisonment he resumes the whole matter and adds those things which were omitted by the rest that so