God as was shewn before had our Saviour intended that they should not continue it he would doubtless have repealed that Command by some Countermand which he was so far from doing that he not only every where allows of their reading the Scriptures but also expresly approves and commends it whereby he plainly establishes the Obligation of that ancient Command in Obedience to which they did read them 3. From the great Design and Intention of Writing the Scriptures it is also evident that the People are still obliged to Read them It is plain the great Design of Writing the Scripture was to instruct Men in the Knowledge and persuade them to the Practice of True Religion For thus of the Scriptures of the Old Testament St. Paul tells us That whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning Rom. 15.4 and for our admonition 1 Cor. 10.11 And as for the New Testament we are told That it was written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 And St. Peter tells us That he wrote both his Epistles to stir up the pure Minds of Christians by way of remembrance and to put them in mind of the words which were spoken before by the Holy Prophets and of the Commandment of the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour 2 Pet. 3.1 And St. John gives us this account of his Writing his Epistles These things have I written to you that ye sin not 1 Joh. 2.1 And St. Jude this of his Beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common Salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints v. 3. These are the Ends for which the Scripture was written but how can the Writing of it contribute to these Ends if we are not permitted to Read what is written For the Scripture was written to the People as well as to the Clergy as I shall shew by and by but to what purpose should it be written to the People to instruct and admonish them if the People are not allowed to Read its Instructions and Admonitions What Influence could the Writing it have upon the People's Belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God if they had been debarr'd from acquainting themselves with what is written concerning him How could it stir up their Remembrance if they might not Read what it suggested to their Memory By what other way can it keep the People from Sinning but by Motives and Persuastions But how should its Motives and Persuasions affect their Minds if they are not allowed to consult and understand them Upon what Account can it move the People earnestly to contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints if they are not allowed to learn from it either what that Faith is or what those Reasons are which oblige them to contend for it So that to write to the People on purpose to instruct and reform them and at the same time to purpose to debar them from Reading it is either to suppose that the Writing will operate like a Charm or to purpose a downright Contradiction For how oddly would it have lookt if in the afore-cited Passages the Apostles had exprest themselves thus These thinge are written for your Learning and Admonition but 't is by no means fit you should learn from them what they teach and admonish you These Things are written that ye should believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God but they are not written that you should enquire of them whether Jesus be the Christ or the Son of God These Things are written to put you in Mind of what hath been spoken by the Prophets and Apostles but they were not written that you might acquaint your selves by them what the Prophets and Apostles spake These Things are written that you should not Sin but beware you do not read them lest the bad Examples recorded in them occasion you to Sin In short These Things were written to excite you earnestly to contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints but you are by no means allowed to enquire into them lest you should misunderstand them and and so instead of contending for the Faith you should contend for Heresie and False Doctrine Had the Apostles thus express'd themselves I appeal to any reasonable Man whether these Passages would not have startled his Understanding and tempted him to question whether the Authors of them were well in their Wits and yet this must have been their meaning supposing that they meant that the People should not read what they wrote 4. From the Direction of these Holy Writings to the People it is also evident that the People are still obliged to Read or acquaint themselves with them For so we find the Law of Moses was delivered by God to all the People as well as to him and Aaron and as was shewn before they were all of them commanded to search and enquire into it And so also were the Sermons of the Prophets which are usually prefaced with an Hear O Israel Hear O House of Judah Hear O House of Jacob and Hear all ye of Judah So also our Blessed Saviour Preach'd his Sermons and Parables not only to his Apostles and Seventy Disciples but also to the People and to the Multitudes And so also his Apostles direct their Epistles not only to the Saints to the faithful in Christ Jesus to the Beloved which in the Language of Scripture includes every Christian but also to all that are at Rome to all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord to all the Saints which are in Achaia to all the Saints which are at Philippi to the twelve Tribes which are scattered abroad to the Strangers scattered through Pontus Galatia c. and to them which have obtained like precious Faith with us that is to all the Jewish Christians dispersed over the World Seeing therefore the Scriptures were directed to all as well Laity as Clergy this not only gives a Right to all to Read them but also lays an Obligation upon all to acquaint themselves with them For the very directing such a Writing or Epistle to such or such Persons doth in the Sense of all the World imply that he who writes doth design and intend that they to whom he directs it should Read and Peruse it and therefore since the Scriptures were written to all that is a plain Intimation that it was the Intention of the Writers that all should Read them And for us not to Read what God hath written and directed to us is by implication of Fact a Prophane Neglect and Contempt of his Mercy and looks as if we either thought him such an Insignificant Being or our selves so little concerned in any thing that he can say or write to us as that it
if we could because we are able to do all through Christ who will strengthen us if we will but do what we can so that this methinks should be sufficient to encourage any reasonable Man in the World to undertake his Service to consider that he who is my Master will co-operate with me and proportion my Strength to the Work he enjoyns me that he will not stand still with his Arms in his Bosom and see me struggle in vain under an insupportable But then of Duties but that he will set too his own Shoulders and contribute his own Strength and enable me by degrees to undergo it with Ease and Alacrity so that though thro' the Weakness and Importency which I have voluntarily contracted my Duty is become too heavy for my Shoulders yet I will never be disheartened so long as I am sure it is not too heavy for my Saviour's for if I heartily endeavour I am confident I shall undergo it if it be in the Power of an Almighty Grace to enable me 5. And lastly He was full of Grace to us also in Respect of that glorious Recompence which he hath promised to us and prepared for us I confess were his Service all Work and no Wages there were some Reason to be disheartned but when he hath promised and so amply assured us that after we have spent a few Days or Years in his Service upon Earth he will receive us into the Participation of his own Joys where we shall commence as happy as it is possible for an everlasting Heaven to make us methinks we should kiss his Yoke and court his Service and think we can never do too much for such a bountiful Master who rewards all his Servants with such immortal Preferments For what is the Labour of a few Moments compared with that everlasting Rest and Pleasure wherein it shall shortly terminate And when once we are arrived to the Heavenly Canaan and have tasted those ravishing Delights with which it flows and abounds how light and inconsiderable will all these Difficulties in our Voyage appear to us which now do so startle and affright us How shall we wonder at our own Sloth and Faint-heartedness to think that ever we should be such wretched Cowards as to be afraid of any thing that hath Heaven at the End of it which is a Happiness so vast and unspeakable that the Hope of it is sufficient to turn Torments into Recreations How shall we be astonished at our selves to think that we could ever be such wretched Fools as to deliberate one Moment whether Heaven were preferable before all the Pleasures of Sin or whether it were more eligible to dwell with Harlots and Drunkards for a Moment and wallow in their beastly Pleasures than to enjoy the Society of God and Saints and Angels to all Eternity The Odds will then appear so vast and the Disproportion so unspeakable that we shall wonder how we could ever be so sensless as to make a Comparison between them Sure Sirs we do not believe that Heaven is the Recompence of Christ's Service for if we did methinks we should more heartily engage in it For could we stand thus deliberating upon the Shore whether we shall bid adieu to our Lusts take Leave of all their fulsom Pleasures and imbark our selves in the Service of our Saviour Could we stand pausing thus as we do whether we shall venture into those petty Storms that are like to attend us in our spiritual Voyage did we verily believe that a few Leagues Distance lies that blessed Shore where we shall be crowned as soon as we are landed with all the Joys than an everlasting Heaven means Certainly the Belief of this is sufficient to put Life and Courage into the most crest-fallen-Soul in the World and to give her Spirit and Vigour enough to carry her triumphantly through all the weary Stages of her Duty So that considering how in all Respects our blessed Lord abounds in Grace and Goodness to us we have the greatest Encouragement imaginable to engage us to his Service 3dly He was full of Truth From whence I infer that the Christian Religion is a very plain and intelligible thing For this as I have shewed you at large is one of the great Notes of Distinction between Christ's tabernacling among the Jews and among Christians that whereas among the Jews he was full of obscure Types and mystical Representations among us Christians he is full of Truth that is he is plain and open and clear without any dark Reserves or Mysteries now he hath plainly revealed that which before he did so obscurely decypher now he hath unriddled all those mystical Types and turned them as it were inside outwards and given us their hidden Sense and Meaning in plain and naked Propositions and of these our holy Religion is composed So that those Doctrines which before were all Mystery whilst they lay obscurely couched under the Types and Figures of the Law are now brought forth from behind the Curtain into the open View of the World and presented barefac'd to our Understandings in the most plain and easy and familiar Senfe Not but that Christianity hath some Mysteries in it still whose Depths we are not able to fathom but 't is not because Christ hath not revealed them but because our Understandings are incapable of comprehending them such are the Doctrines of the Holy Trinity the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour and the Hypostatical Vnion of the Divine and Humane Nature in him Nor indeed is it much to be wonder'd at that we who with all our Wit and Reason are not able to explicate the Mysteries of a Mite or Flea of a Plant or a Stone or any of those innumerable things that are before us should not be able to understand such incomprehensible to order such infinite or define such ineffable things but though we cannot comprehend the Modes nor understand the strict Philosophy of them yet if we would but strip them out of their false Disguises into their original Plainness and Simplicity we might doubtless easily disintangle them from all Repugnancy and Contradiction which is sufficient to render them rationally credible they being contained in that excellent Religion whose Truth is demonstrated by such abundant Evidence But perhaps as God continued all the Doctrines of Christianity in a Mystery among the Jews and reserved the clear Revelation of them to the coming of the Messias so for the same Reason he hath still reserved the clear Discovery of those Doctrines which are still Mysteries to us Christians for the future State and then it may be we may as fully understand these as the believing Jews after the Coming of Christ did those other Doctrines of the Gospel which before were all Mysteries to them But God be praised whatsoever is necessary to make us good and happy is now so plainly discovered to us that we cannot be ignorant of it unless we wilfully shut our own Eyes We need not dive
of the Old Testament and they are they says he which testify of me And to be sure there were no other Scriptures which could testfy of Christ to the unbelieving Jews but only those of Moses and the Prephets these being the only Scriptures whose Testimony they credited But yet the Reason which our Saviour urges to move them to read the Old Testament doth as much oblige us to read the New as well as the Old as it did them to read the Old for in them ye think ye have eternal life that is in them yet think ye have eternal Life promised and all the Necessaries to be believed and done by you in order to your obtaining it proposed to you And indeed as they thought so it was they had eternal Life proposed to them in Hieroglyphicks for that was the Mystery of their Holy of Holies that was the Interpretation of their Land of Canaan and the spiritual Sense of all their general Promises of good Things to come They had all the Articles of Faith and all the Instances of Duty that were necessary to their Attainment of eternal Life exhibited to them in the Writings of their Prophets and the Types and Figures of their Law For it was by this Rule alone that all the Holy Men of the Jewish Nation did live and believe and either this was sufficient to guide and direct them to eternal Life or they were left under a fatal Necessity of falling short of it It was the Law of the Lord that did enlighten their Eyes and rejoyce their Hearts and convert their Souls and it was in keeping it that they found great Reward Ps 19.7 8 11. And therefore either they fell short of the Reward of eternal Life notwithstanding this their Illumination and Conversion or they found it in keeping that Law by which they were illuminated and converted and if in keeping their Law they found eternal Life then it 's certain that in their Law they had it So that these Words of our Saviour for in them ye think ye have eternal life do not imply that they were mistaken in thinking so or at least they only imply that they were mistaken in thinking to obtain eternal Life by adbering to the prime and literal Sense of their Law without pursuing the Mystery and Spiritual Meaning of it which was indeed the Error of the Pharisees with whom our Saviour is here discoursing For the internal Sense and Mystery of their Law was the Gospel all whose Articles of Faith and Precepts of Duty were though darkly and obscurely expressed and represented in the Types and Figures of the Mosaick Institution And hence the Apostle tells that both the Priests and their Oblations did serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things Heb. 8.5 So that the heavenly Things contained in the Gospel were the substantial Idea's which those Legal Types and Patterns contained and represented and the same Author calls that Law a shadow of good things to come Heb. 10.1 that is it was an obscure Scheme or Prefiguration of the Mercies of the Gospel of which eternal Life is a principal Part. Since therefore the Law was nothing else but only the Gospel in dark and obscure Cyphers if in this we Christians have eternal Life in that the Jews had it also And therefore the Reason which our Saviour here urges to oblige the Jews to search the Scriptures of the Old Testament for in them ye think have eternal life doth at least equally oblige us Christians to search the Scriptures both of the Old and New For if they had just Reason to think they had eternal Life in the Old Testament and were thereupon obliged to search into it we have rather more Reason to think that we have eternal Life in the New since the New Testament is nothing else but only the Old decyphered and unriddled and therefore we must not only have eternal Life in this as they had in that but we must also have it far more expresly than they In the Prosecution of this Argument therefore I shall endeavour these Two Things I. To shew you that in the Holy Scriptures we have eternal Life II. That this is a very forcible Reason to oblige us to search them I. First that in the Holy Scriptures we have eternal Life that is that in them we have eternal Life proposed to us together with all that is necessary to be believed and practised by us in order to our obtaining it or in other words that the Holy Scripture is a sufficient Rule both of Faith and Manners to guide and direct us to eternal Happiness And this is one Article of the Faith of the Church of England which we are required to explain to the People for so in her sixth Article our Church professes that the Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein or may be proved thence is not required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation Now to make the Scripture a sufficient Rule as to all Things necessary to Salvation there are two Things necessary First That it should be full and Secondly That it should be clear both which the Holy Scripture is in an eminent Degree as containing in it all that is necessary to be believed and done in order to eternal Life And this will evidently appear from these three following Propositions 1. That the Holy Spirit inspired the Writers of the Scripture with all that is necessary to eternal Life 2. That they preached to the World all those Necessaries with which the Holy Spirit inspired them 3. That all those necessary Truths which they preached are comprehended in those Sacred Writings of theirs of which the Holy Scripture consists 1. That the Holy Spirit infpired the Writers of the Scripture with all that is necessary to eternal Life For first our Saviour by whom they were originally instructed declares that as the Father loved him and shewed him all things that himself did Joh. 5.20 so he had made known to them all things that he had heard of his Father Job 17.8 And then when he went from them and ceased to instruct them in his own Person he promised that by his Spirit he would teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever he had said unto them Job 14.26 and that by the same Spirit he would guide them into all Truth Job 16.13 If therefore the Spirit did perform this Promise to them as there is no doubt but he did then we are sure that he did teach them over again whatsoever Christ had taught them before and if Christ had taught them whatsoever he had heard of his Father as he declares he had then it is certain either that he taught them all Things necessary to eternal Life or that he himself had not heard from his Father all Things that are necessary thereunto 2. That as
write them down in order that he might know the Certainty of those things wherein he had been instructed From whence I infer that supposing St. Luke performed what he promised his Gospel must contain a full Declaration of the Christian Religion For First by promising to give an Account of those Things which were surely believed among Christians he engaged himself to give an entire Account of Christianity unless we will suppose that there were some Parts of Christianity which the Christians of that Time did not surely believe Secondly In promising to give an Account of those Things of which he had a perfect Understanding from the first and in which his Theophilus had been instructed he also engages himself to give a compleat Account of the whole Religion unless we will suppose that there were some Parts of this Religion which St. Luke did not perfectly understand and in which Theophilus had not been before instructed Thus also St. John testifies of his Gospel Chap. 20. 31. These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name And if it be objected that by these Things the Apostle only means the Miracles of Christ which are the Motives of our Belief and not his Doctrines which are to be believed by us this is notoriously false since by these Things St. John means his Gospel in which not only the Miracles but the Doctrines of Christ are contained and therefore in his first Epistle chap. 5. 13. he saith These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe or continue to believe on the name of the Son of God Where by These Things it 's plain he means only that Christian Doctrine which he had been teaching throughout the whole Epistle From which two Places I argue that all Things necessary to eternal Life are written because he expresly tells us that These Things were written to this end that they might beget and nourish in us that Faith by which we may obtain eternal Life but if that Faith which these written Things was designed to beget in us be not sufficient to eternal Life then were these Things written in vain and the End of writing them which was that we might obtain eternal Life by believing them was wholly frustrated but if that Faith were sufficient to eternal Life then these written Things which begot that Faith and were the Object of it must contain in them all Things necessary to eternal Life for how can they beget in us a Faith that is sufficient to eternal Life unless they propose to our Faith all Things that are necessary thereunto And thus I have endeavoured to demonstrate from Scripture it self which all agree is the Word of God and consequently the most concluding Authority in the World that the Holy Scripture is in it self a sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners to direct Men to eternal Life And if this be so I would fain know by what Warrant or Authority any Man or Church can pretend to obtrude upon the Faith of Christians any unwritten Traditions or Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Worship not recorded in Scripture as of equal Authority with those recorded in Scripture and equally necessary to the eternal Happiness of Men. For that there have been such bold Imposers in the Christian World Irenaeus assures us in the 2d Chapter of his 2d Book against Heresies where he tells us of a sort of Hereticks who taught that the Truth could not be found in the Scriptures by those to whom Tradition was unknown for as much as it was not delivered by Writing but by Word of Mouth And these Hereticks 1 De Praescrip Haeret c. 25. as Tertullian observes confessed indeed that the Apostles were ignorant and that they did not at all differ among themselves in their Preaching but said they revealed not all Things unto all Men some Things they taught openly and to all some Things secretly and to a few which secret Things were the unwritten Traditions which they sought to impose upon the Faith of Christians And how far the Church of Rome it self doth in this matter tread in the Footsteps of these ancient Hereticks is but too notorious For thus in the Preface of their Catechism it is expresly affirmed by the Council of Trent that the whole Doctrine to be delivered to the Faithful is contained in the Word of God which Word of God is distributed into Scripture and Tradition And in the Councel it self they declare and define that the Books of Scripture and unwritten Traditions are to be received and honoured with equal pious Affection and Reverence In which Words they expresly own another Word of God besides the Scripture viz. Tradition which they equalize with the Scripture it self And this is almost verbatim the very Assertion which both Irenaeus and Tertullian condemn for Heresy and as they are the same so we find they are grounded on the same Authority For those very Texts of Scripture which those ancient Hereticks urged for their Tradition are urged by Bellarmin for the Tradition of his Church Thus for their Tradition as Irenaeus and Tertullian acquaints us they urged that of St. Paul We speak Wisdom among them that are perfect and also O Timothy keep that which is committed to thy trust and again That good Thing which is committed to thee keep All which Texts are urged by Bellarmin in his 4th and 5th Books de Verbo Dei in behalf of that Tradition which the Church of Rome contends for And 't is something hard that that which was damned for Heresy in the Primitive Church should be made an Article of Faith in the present Roman Not that we do disallow of Traditions universally received in all Churches and Ages for we frankly acknowledge that what is now contained in Scripture was Tradition before it was Scripture as being first delivered by Word of Mouth before it was collected into Writing and therefore whensoever it can be made evident to us that there are any unwritten Doctrines bearing the same Stamp of Divine Authority with those that are written we are ready to recive them with the same Veneration as we do the Scriptures themselves For it is not their being written that doth authorize them but their being from God and our Saviour and his Apostles and therefore when once it 's made appear to us that Christ or his Apostles taught so and so that is sufficient to command our Assent and Submission whether it be made appear from Scripture or Tradition So that the Reason why we embrace some Doctrines and reject others is not merely because the one are written and the other not but because to us who live at so great a distance from Christ and his Apostles it can never be made so evident that what is not written was taught by
evident to any one that reads it to be sure among these Things are contained all that is necessary for Men to know and understand 2. From the avowed Design of writing the Scripture it is also evident that in all Things necessary it is plain and clear For thus concerning the Old Testament St. Paul tells us that whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 And if they were written for our Learning and Instruction to be sure they were so written as to teach and instruct us that is plainly and clearly especially as to those Things wherein we have most need to be instructed And then as for the New Testament St. Luke tells his Theophilus that the Reason of his writing his Gospel was that he might know the certainty of those things that were surely believed among Christians and wherein he himself had been instructed And if it were to ascertain us of the Principles of Christianity that he wrote his Gospel certainly he would take care to write it after such a Manner as that those that read it might understand it otherwise he must run counter to his own Design Thus also St. John saith that he wrote his Gospel that Men might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God but how could his Gospel induce Men to believe This unless it be so written as that Men may understand it And so also for his Epistles he tells us that he wrote them that they that believed in Jesus might know that they have eternal Life and that they may believe or continue to believe on the name of the Son of God And if this were his End to be sure he would take care to write so as that they might understand otherwise how could they know by his Writing that they had eternal Life or be moved thereby to continue to believe on the name of Jesus For there is nothing can create in Men either Knowledge or Faith but what they understand Seeing therefore the great End of Writing the Scripture was to instruct the World in the great Things of Religion either we must say that both the Writers of the Scripture and the Holy Ghost that inspired them were defective in Skill or in Care so to write as to obtain this End or that their Writings are an effectual Means to obtain it which it is impossible for them to be unless they are plain and clear as to the great Things of Religion In short every wise Agent pursues his End by the most proper and effectual Means and I would fain know whether to write plainly or obscurely be the most proper Means to instruct Men by Writing if to write plainly then either the Apostles wrote so or they were not wise Agents since to instruct was the great End of their Writing The most natural Way of conveying to Mens Minds the Notices of Things is by Words either spoken or written and seeing whatsoever can be spoken in plain and intelligible Words may be written in the same Words there can be no doubt but those Words will be as intelligible when they are written as when they are spoken for why should the same Words be more obscure when conveyed to us by our Eyes than when conveyed to us by our Ears Seeing then the Sense of Scripture may be as plainly conveyed by Words written as by Words spoken and seeing that even those who deny the Plainness of Scripture do yet allow that the Sense of it may be plainly conveyed by Words spoken or which is the same thing Oral Tradition if the Scripture be not plain it can be resolved into no other Reason but this that God would not have it so for there is no Doubt but he could have spoken as plainly as Men and have written as plainly as he spoke and therefore if he hath not done so it was because he would not but to say that he would not write those Things plainly which he thought necessary for all Men to know and which he wrote on purpose that all Men might know is to say that he would and would not at the same time or that he wrote them on purpose that Men might know them and yet that he wrote so as that they might not know them 3. From the frequent Commands God lays upon us to read the Scripture it is also evident that in all necessary Things it is plain and clear That God doth not only allow but will and rquire us to read the Scripture I shall shew at large hereafter when I come to treat of searching the Scripture Supposing therefore at present the Thing to be true I would fain know to what purpose should God require us to read the Scripture if in those things which are necessary for Men to know and believe it be not plain and intelligible Doth God require us to read it for the sake of reading it or for the sake of understanding it If the former reading any other Book might as well have answered God's End as reading the Scripture because reading is reading whatsoever it be that we read if the later then either the Scripture is plain and intelligible as to all those Things which he requires us to understand or he requires us to read it in vain For to what Purpose should we read that we may understand if that which we are to read be not plain enough to be understood by us As for Instance the Bereans Acts 17.11 are highly commended for searching the Scriptures daily now I would fain know was this a Virtue in them or was it not If not why are they commended for it if it were it was certainly their Duty What was the Intendment of it was it only that they might be expert Readers Why are they so commended for reading the Scriptures above any other Book seeing that reading any other Book would have done as well for that Purpose as reading the Scriptures But the Text it self tells us that the Intendment of their reading the Scripture was that they might know whether those things were so or no which St. Paul had preached to them but how should they know this by reading the Scripture if the Scripture which they read were not plain enough to be understood by them Again St. Paul gives this as a great Commendation of his Son Timothy that from a Child he had known the Holy Scriptures whence by the Way we may learn that it is not so great a Reproach to our Church as the Romanists intend it for that we permit Women and Children Tinkers and Coblers to read the Scripture But I pray what was the Meaning of Timothy's knowing the Holy Scripture from a Child Was it that he knew the Words of it only or the Sense of it also If the former a Parrot may be taught as much as Timothy had learned and consequently deserve as high a Commendation as he if the later then
that deprives me of all hope of returning For thus will the unhappy Soul torment it self with an outragious Longing for that which it can never hope to enjoy But then besides this Appetite of Sensuality which it will there be vexed with it will also carry along with it all that Envy and Malice that Wrath and Impatience Pride and Insolence which it here contracted which Black and Hellish Passions will prove perpetual Furies in its Bosom For in that wretched State it will not only have Objects always present to excite them but such Objects too as will excite them all at once to the most outragious Excesses For when all at once it shall see others advanced to the greatest Heights of Glory and Happiness and it self not only rejected but abandoned to endless Misery the Sense of this must necessarily irritate all its devilish Passions to the highest Extremities and cause its Pride to swell its Envy to burst and its Wrath to boil into a Diabolical Fury and what a continual Hell must this create in the Soul to be perpetually worried with so many black and rabid Passions to have all its inferiour Parts and Affections like those of the Monster Scylla whom the Poets talk of as so many Dogs continually barking and snarling at one another and yet remain unseparable as being Comparts of the same Substance 6ly The Soul of Man is also liable to the intolerable Anguish of its own guilty Conscience The Spirit of a Man says Solomon can bear his Infirmities but a wounded Spirit who can bear Intimating that of all the Passions which humane Nature is liable to there are none so grievous as that of a Mind awakened with a sense of Guilt And of the Truth of this we have some Experience even in this Life tho now we can make a shift either to divert our selves by our sensual Mirth and Jollities from listening to the Clamours of our guilty Minds or else to deceive our selves into a groundless Peace by indulgent and fallacious Principles but unless we expiate our Guilts here we shall carry them into Eternity with us where all those sensual Pleasures with which we now divert our selves from reflecting on our Actions will be removed and all those fallacious Principles with which we cheat and deceive our selves will be baffled by a woful Experience So that then our Soul will be nakedly exposed to the Lash of its own furious Thoughts and having nothing to guard or defend it self against the cutting Reflections of a guilty Conscience which being roused up and kept awake by the unintermitting sense of our Misery will be always clamouring upon us and continually torturing our wretched Minds with sharp and vexatious Reflections and besides whilst our Soul doth act by bodily Instruments and work in this Mire of Flesh it is impossible it should be so nimble and expedite in its Motions as it will be when it is a naked Spirit For then its Perceptions will be much clearer its Convictions more strong and evident and all its Reflections active as the Lightning and quick as the Wing of an Angel So that whereas now the sharpest Stings of our Conscience have an Intermixture of Fancy and Imagination in them being gross and material Powers do dull and rebate the Edge of them and render them less pungent and sensible when we are stripped out of our Flesh and sent naked into the other World we shall have no Clog about us to break or allay those sharp Reflections with which we shall be forced to lash our selves for ever And then our Conscience will cut to the quick and sting with a corroding Venom then will the Remembrance of those Guilts which brought our Miseries upon us rouze up such a Swarm of Horrors in our Minds as we shall be able neither to avoid nor indure For the Sense of our Misery will be every Moment suggesting those Guilts to our Minds that were the Cause of it and continually upbraiding us with those desperate Follies by which we ran our selves into it the Consideration of which will cause us to hate and curse our selves for ever and to discharge our Fury upon our own Heads which will make our Soul turn Devil to it self and force it to be its own Executioner For it being now conscious to it self that its Miseries are nothing else but the rueful and pitiless Deserts of its own Folly and Madness it will be continually meditating horrible Reflections and singing Satyrs on it self So that while it is wandring among wretched Ghosts through the dismal Shades below it will never cease lashing it self with its own sharp and stinging Thoughts till it hath chafed it self into a Fury and boiled up its self-condemning Rage into everlasting Madness 7ly And lastly The Soul of Man is also liable to endure all these dismal things for ever For that our Souls are naturally immaterial and immortal I have already proved so that if God in his infinite Justice shall think fit to sentence wicked Souls irrecoverably to all these above named Miseries they must by the Constitution of their own Natures live in and undergo them for ever And that he doth think to pronounce and execute such a Sentence upon them he himself hath assured us for so in Scripture he hath plainly declared that their Punishment shall be everlasting Mat. 25.7 These saith he speaking of the Wicked shall go away into everlasting Punishment and accordingly the Fire in and with which they are to be punished is called everlasting fire Mat. 25.41 and that that they shall subsist for ever in this Fire and be co-eternal with it is evident by those Passions and Actions that are attributed to them in it for Rev. 14.11 they are said to have no rest day nor night in it but to be in a continual unintermitting Fever that will necessary burn and scorch them and not allow them the least Intervals of Ease or Comfort And in Mat. 13.42 the bitter Anguish which they shall endure in this Fire is described by their weeping and wailing and gnashing their Teeth which Actions are plain Indications not only of their subsisting in this everlasting Fire but of the extream Horror and Anguish that they shall therein endure And indeed when God sentences any immortal Being to Misery its Misery must be supposed to continue as long as it lives and consequently to continue for ever since it is to subsist and live for ever And what a fearful Accession is this to all those above named Miseries If we were to endure the softest and most gentle Pain without any Interval for thirty forty or a hundred Years the Prospect of that which is to come would render that which is present so intolerable that we should quickly grow weary of our Lives and wish our selves in our Graves Lord what shall we then do when we come to languish out a long Eternity in the tormenting Agonies of damned Ghosts How will it imbitter every present Torment to us to
Recompences which he hath so plainly and clearly promised to his Subjects For this he also obscurely typified to the Jews for as I have already hinted by that Canaan which he bestowed upon them after their tedious Travel through the Wilderness he did darkly represent to them that Canaan above flowing with infinite Delights which he hath promised to bestow upon his faithful Servants after they have pass'd through the Wilderness of this World So also by their Sabbaoths and especially their Year of Jubilee wherein they were to rest from all their Labours and keep a perpetual Festivity He did obscurely decypher to them that Sabbaoth of Rest and Jubilee of endless Pleasure which vertuous Souls shall enjoy in Heaven after they have finished their Labours here on Earth as you may see at large Heb. 4. Now by these and such like Shadows of their Law which possibly the Prophets by Divine Inspiration might expound to them those who were wise and good among them it is very probable were instructed in the Article of eternal Life Hence it may be might arise that famous Controversy among the Jews concerning the Written and Oral Law which they call the Cabala or the Law by Tradition not that this traditional contained any thing that was not in the written Law but because those things which were obscurely contained in the Types of the written Law were explained and interpreted in this their Traditional Law But it is apparent that the Types of eternal Life were not fully explained in this traditional Law till after the Babylonish Captivity after which the Prophet Daniel and after him Ezekiel began to speak more plainly of the Resurrection of the Dead and from that Time forwards the Doctrine of the Resurrection and eternal Life began to be more openly taught among the Common People till about the Time of the Maccabees when it was brought forth into the Light from under those Types in which it was so obscurely represented and became a Principle even of the Popular Religion and an Article of the Jewish Faith as plainly appears from the Records of those Times particularly 2 Macc. 7.23 26. compared with Heb. 11.35 And indeed it was very necessary that then this Article should be more clearly revealed to fortify the Jews against those many Persecutions whereunto they were exposed for the sake of their Religion that they might not be terrified to apostatize from it by those cruel Martyrdoms which in the Time of the Maccabees they many of them endured and besides now the Time of the Gospel was approaching and consequently its Mysteries like the Light of the rising Sun began to break forth clearer and clearer from under that Cloud of Types wherein it was wrapt and involved till at last the Sun of Righteousness himself arose and dispersed those Clouds and brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel But as for the Sadducees who give no heed to the Cabala or Traditional Law in which this Doctrine was first discovered and adhered only to the written Law of Moses they still continued Infidels in this Point and believed neither Angels nor Spirits nor the Life to come So very obscurely was it represented in the Types and Shadows of the Written Law But when once the Eternal Word came to tabernacle in our Flesh he revealed this great Article so plainly and clearly to the World that 't is impossible for any one not to believe it that believes him to be the Messias or Incarnate Word And thus you see by all these Instances what a vast Difference there was in respect of Truth between Christ's tabernacling in our Nature and in the Tabernacle of Moses And now I shall conclude this Argument with two or three practical Inferences 1st He dwelt or tabernacled among us From hence I infer the high Authority of Christ and that holy Religion which he hath revealed to us For to tabernacle among us as I have already shewed you signifies to dwell in the midst of as the Shechinah Presence or Representative of the most High God as one that acted in his Father's Person and was vested with his Authority and consequently as one who hath as great a Right to exact our Obedience as the Eternal Father himself should he have come down from Heaven in his own Person to give Laws to Mankind For so when the Eternal Word went before the Camp of Israel as the Shechinah or Angel of God's Presence God requires them that they should obey him as himself Beware of him and obey his Voice saith God provoke him not for he will not pardon your Transgression for my Name is in him Exod. 23.21 and v. 22. To obey the Voice of this Angel is interpreted to be the same thing as to obey the Voice of the most High God himself But if thou shalt indeed obey his Voice saith God and do all that I speak then I will be an Enemy to thy Enemies c. So that for the Israelites to disobey this Angel who as I have proved to you was the Eternal Word or Representative of the most High God to them was to all Intents and Purposes the same Thing as if they had disobeyed the most High himself And accordingly our Saviour tells the Jews He that believeth on me believeth not on me but on the Father that sent me that is he doth not meerly believe on me but on the Father too whose Authority I have and whose Person I reprefent for so he explains himself in the following Verse He that seeth me seeth him that sent me that is I being my Father 's Shechinah or Representative Joh. 12.44 45. And therefore as every Contempt of the Deputy or Vice-Governor is an Affront to the Sovereign Prince whose Person he bears and by whose Authority he acts so every Rebellion against Christ is an open Defiance to the Sovereign God whose Person he represents and by whose Authority he reigns Hence our Saviour tells the Jews Job 5. 23. that He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him which plainly intimates that God the Father resents those Indignities which we offer to Christ and his Laws as if they were done to his own Person and that if himself should speak to us from the Battlements of Heaven or proclaim his Law to us in a Voice of Thunder he would not be more displeased to hear us openly declarethat we will not obey him than he is to see us trample upon the Laws of his Son which he hath stamp'd with his own Sovereign Authority So that if we were not infinitely fool-hardy methinks we should never dare to violate our Religion in which the Authority of the most High God is so immediately concerned For whatsoever our Religion requires of us it requires in his Name who hath an undoubted Right and Authority to command us for from all Eternity he was invested with an absolute and unlimited Power of doing any thing that is not unbecoming his Divine Perfections
know very well that the Roman Church is at best but a Part of the Church universal and we know no Right that any Part hath to impose upon the Whole and to oblige it to believe whatsoever she proposes meerly because she proposes it Secondly Because in Fact we are very well assured that the Roman Church is so far from being a sincere Preserver of Tradition that there is no Church in the World hath more studiously attempted to counterfeit and deprave it of which innumerable Instances are given by our Authors many of which are now acknowledged even by their Authors to be true For even their Vulgar Latin Edition of the Bible it self which they prefer before the Originals is confessed by themselves to abound with manifest Errors and Corruptions and even to the very Canon of the Bible they have added sundry Apocryphal Books which we certainly know the Primitive Tradition never admitted as Parts of the sacred Scripture and it is notorious to all the World how many Books and Writings they have forged and how many of the Writings of the Ancients they have gelded and interpolated to defend and support those pretended Traditions which they have imposed upon the World as Articles of Faith And after she hath been guilty of so many apparent Falsifications we cannot but think it a very hard Case that we should still be obliged to believe her upon her own bare Word For in the third Place at this rate of Proceeding we must in many Instances condemn the Traditions of the Primitive Church in Complement to those of the present Roman which if we believe our own Eyes and the most authentick Histories and Records of those Times do expresly thwart and contradict one another and since if we would never so fain we can never believe both Parts of a Contradiction we must in believing the one give the Lye to the other Nay Fourthly and lastly though we should be perswaded as we think we have Reason to be that many of the Traditions of the present Church of Rome are not only not mentioned in Scripture but directly contrary to it as for Instance their performing Divine Service in an unknown Tongue which we think is as contrary to 1 Cor. 14. as one Proposition can be to another yet if that Churches Definitions do by their own Authority oblige our Faith we must believe her against Scripture it self And this we think intollerable that any Church or Christian should be obliged to believe the unwritten Word of the Church of Rome in a Matter wherein upon the most diligent and impartial Search they are verily perswaded it contradicts the written Word of God and if the Sentence of the one or t'other must be made void we think it is very reasonable that the Voice of her pretended unwritten Word should be silenced by that more certain one of the lively Oracles of God But after all if what I have endeavoured to prove be proved viz. that the Holy Scriptures are a sufficient Rule of Faith and Manners to conduct us to eternal Life this will be enough to evacuate all that is pretended for this unwritten Word of God For God and Nature we know do nothing in vain and therefore if one Word of God be sufficient viz. that which is written what need have we of this other which is unwritten And so I have done with the first necessary Property of a Rule of Faith viz. that it be full and shewn at large that the Holy Scripture is so as to all Things necessary to Salvation and therefore shall now proceed to II. The Second viz. That it be clear and intelligible to those whose Faith and Manners are to be regulated by it I do not mean when I say that the Scripture is clear and plain and intelligible to all those to whom it is a Rule of Faith and Manners that it is throughout so in all its Proposals For it cannot be denied but there are many Things not only in St. Paul's Epistles but also in other Parts of Scripture hard to be understood and such as do not only exceed the Apprehension of common Capacities but also puzzle the Understandings of the most acute and profound Enquirers But that which I assert is this That all those Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Manners which are necessary for Men to believe and practise in order to their Attainment of eternal Life are so plainly and clearly revealed in Scripture that there is no honest teachable Mind that is capable of understanding common Sense but may from thence received full Information of them upon faithful and diligent Enquiry And though in some Texts these Necessaries are not so plainly proposed as in others yet in some Text or other they are all of them so plainly proposed that no Man can read the Scripture and still be ignorant of them without being wilfully blind for which there is no Remedy either in the Scripture or out of it And this I shall endeavour to prove 1. From the express Testimony of Scripture 2. From the avowed Design of writing the Scripture 3. From the frequent Commands God lays upon us to read the Scripture 4. From the Obligation that lies upon us under Pain of Damnation to believe and receive all those Necessaries to Salvation contained in it 1. From the express Testimony of Scripture it is evident that in all Things necessary to Salvation at least the Scripture is clear and plain For to be sure if in any thing the Scripture be plain it is in those Things that are most necessary to be believed and known and therefore if it be obscure in these Things we may reasonable presume it is plain in nothing But that it is in many Things plain and easy to be understood is evident from its own Testimony For thus of the Mosaick Law it is expresly affirmed by Moses This Commandment which I command thee this day it is not hidden from thee neither is it far off Deut. 30.11 Where Moses speaks not only of the Ten Commandments which consisting for the most part of Laws of Nature are upon that Account more easy to be understood but of all the Commandments of Moses in general whether Ceremonial Judicial or Natural For so v. 16. This Commandment we find contains as well the Statutes and Judgments as the Commandments of the Law all which must take in the whole Mosaick Institution And accordingly Ps 119.105 David calls this Word of God a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path which how could it be if it did not burn clear enough to guide and direct him and if it did then to be sure it burnt clear enough to direct him in those Things wherein it was most necessary for him to be directed Again in the 19th Ps v. 7 8 we are told that the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple and that the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes But how can any Law make
would not be worth our while to receive and peruse the Contents of those Sacred Epistles which by the Hands of his Holy Penmen he hath vouchsafed to direct to us Nor is it a sufficient Excuse for our Contempt to say that in Consideration of our own Proneness to Err and Mistake we ought to content our selves with this that our Spiritual Guides should Read God's Writings for us and deliver the Sense and Contents of them to us For to be sure had God intended that the Priests only should read them he would have directed them only to the Priests and ordered them only to deliver the Sense of them to the the People and therefore since he hath directed them to both this necessarily implies that it was his Intention that both should read them For if God had not directed them to Men neither Priests nor People were obliged to read them and therefore seeing the great Reason why any Men ought to Read them is because they are directed to Men this Reason obliges all Men to Read them because they are directed to all Men. For not to be highly concerned to know and understand what it is that God writes to us is an Argument that we have a very mean Regard both of his Majesty and his Mind and Will But to be sure whosoever is highly concerned to know what such a Writing contains will if he can be very curious to peruse it with his own Eyes at least supposing that it is not unlawful for him so to do because there is nothing gives that Satisfaction to a Man's Mind as the Information of his own Sense So that for Men wilfully to neglect reading the Scripture which God hath so expresly directed to them and thereby not only licensed but obliged them to read it argues a very prophane Disregard both of the Author of it and of the Matter it contains and for any Man or Society of Men to forbid the People to read what God hath written and directed to them is not only to deprive them of a Right which God hath given them but also to acquit them of a Duty which he hath laid upon them For St. Paul in those Epistles which he wrote to the Christian People in general of such and such Churches still takes it for granted that they would read them as being not only warranted but obliged thereunto by his writing them for so Ephes 3.3 4. speaking of that great Mystery of the calling the Gentiles which God had revealed to him concerning which saith he I wrote afore in few words whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ So also 2 Cor. 1.13 We write no other things unto you than what you read that is than what you may at least and are obliged to read by vertue of our writing them to you And as for his Epistle to the Thessalonians which he wrote to that whole Church he gives charge that it should be read to all the Holy Brethren 1 Thes 5.27 So also for that of the Colossians When this Epistle is or hath been read amongst you cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans and that ye likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea Where you see he all along either supposes or requires that what he wrote to all should be read by all and to all If therefore this Authority of St. Paul be sufficient to over rule the Authority of any pretended Successor of St. Peter then it 's certain that reading the Scripture is still the Duty of Lay-men notwithstanding any Papal Prohibition to the contrary 5. From the great Concernment the People have in the Matters contained in Scripture it is also evident that they are obliged if they are able to read it and acquaint themselves with it For as for the Matters which the Scriptures contain they are such as are of everlasting Moment to the People as well as to the Clergy The Articles of Faith which the Scripture proposes are as necessary to be believed by the People as by the Clergy The Precepts of Life which the Scripture prescribes are as necessary to be practised by the People as by the Clergy The Promises and Threats with which the Scripture inforces those Precepts are as necessary to be considered by the People as by the Clergy And seeing both are equally concerned in the great Matters which the Scriptures contain what Reason can be assigned why both should not be obliged to acquaint themselves with them I know 't is pretended that it is the proper Office of the Clergy to study the Scriptures for the People as well as for themselves and that therefore the People are obliged to receive the Sense of the Scriptures upon Trust from their Teachers without making any farther Enquiry But I beseech you are you sure that your Teachers are infallible That they are not so is most certain it being notorious that most of the prevailing Heresies of Christendom were first set on broach by the Teachers of the Church and it is impossible they should be infallible who have so often actually erred even in Matters of the highest Moment Suppose then what is fairly supposable that your Teachers should mislead you and not only into dangerous but damnable Errors are you sure that they shall be damned for you and that you shall escape If so then Heresy in the Laity can never be damnable if they receive it upon Trust from their Teachers and consequently their Souls are as safe under the Conduct of false Teachers as true provided always that right or wrong they believe what is taught them But if your selves must give an Account to God as well for your Faith as for your Manners and are liable in your own Persons to eternal Damnation as most certainly you are as well for Heresy as Immorality then it is the most unreasonable Thing in the World that you should in all Things be obliged to believe your Teachers upon Trust for at this rate a Man may be eternally damned meerly for believing what he is obliged to believe If it be said that the People are not bound to believe what their particular Pastor teaches but what the Church teaches them and the Church cannot err though their particular Pastor may I would fain know how shall the People be otherwise informed what the Church teaches them than by the Expositions of their particular Pastors they being at least as incapable of informing themselves what the Doctrine of the Church is as what the Doctrine of the Scripture is and therefore if their Pastor should err damnably in expounding to them what the Church teaches as it is supposable he may if he be not infallible there is no Remedy but they must err damnably in believing whatsoever their Pastor teaches But we are farther told that it is sufficient for the People that they believe in the gross that whatsoever the Church teaches is true and that as for the particulars there
of other Principles of Christianity as well as those seeing there are no common Principles of Chrstian Religion but what are at least as plainly reealed in Scripture as these But this will spoil all for if Men may be infallibly certain of the Principles of Religion upon Scripture Authority what will become of the Necessity of Mens relying upon the Church which is founded upon this Principle that Men can arrive at no infallible Certainty in Religion by relying upon the Authority of Scripture or indeed any other Authority but the Church's But if I cannot be infallibly certain of those two Principles viz. that they are the Church and Infallible by those Authorities of Scripture which they urge to prove them how can I be infallibly certain of any Thing that they declare and define For if I am not certain that they are the Church for all I know the Church may be infallible and yet they may be mistaken and if I am not certain that they are infallible for all I know they may be the Church and yet still be mistaken In short no Authority can render me infallibly certain but that which is infallible no Infallibility can render me infallibly certain but that of which I have an infallible Certainty Either therefore the Scripture can render me infallibly certain of the Infallibility of their Church and if it cannot I am sure nothing can or it cannot if it can why may it not as well render me infallibly certain of other Principles of Christianity which are at least as plainly revealed in it as that If I cannot how can I be infallibly certain that any Thing she defines and declares to me is true If then the Authority of Scripture can give us an infallible Certainty we have as just a Pretence to it as They it being upon this Authority that we ground our Faith if it cannot neither they nor we can justly pretend to it because they cannot otherwise be infallibly certain of their own Infallibility but by Scripture But the Truth of it is God never intended either that they or we should be infallibly certain in the Mtters of our Religion for after all the Means of Certainty that he hath given us he still supposes that we may err and plainly tells us that there must be Heresies and that even from among the Members of the true Church where infallible Certainty is if it be any where there should arise false Teachers who should bring in damnable Doctrines which could never have happened if he had left any such Means to his Church as should render her Children infallibly certain All that he designed was to leave us such sufficient Means of Certainty in Religion as that we might not err either dangerously or damnably without our own Fault He hath left us his Word and in that hath plainly discovered to us all that is necessary for us to believe in order to eternal Life He hath left us a standing Ministry in his Church to explain his Word to us and to guide us in the Paths of Righteousness and Truth but still he requires us to search the one and attend to the other with honest humble and teachable Minds and if we do not we may err not only dangerously but damnably and it is but fit and just we should But if we diligently search the Scripture and faithfully rely upon its Authority without doing of which we search it in vain if we sincerely attend to the publick Ministry with Minds prepared to receive the Truth in the Love of it though we may possibly err in Matters of less Moment yet as to all Things necessary to our eternal Salvaion our Faith shall be inviolably secured and this is as much as any honest Man needs or as any honest Church can promise 2. From hence also I infer that in the Matters of our Faith and Religion God doth expect that we should make use of our own Reason and Judgment For to what end should he put us upon searching the Scriptures but that thereby we may inform our selves what those Things are which he hath required us to believe and practise But if it were his Mind that we should wholly rely upon the Authority of our Church or of our Spiritual Guides and submit our Faith to their Dictates without any Examination what a needless and impertinent Imployment would this be for us to search and consult the Scriptures Consult them for what if we are not to follow their Guidance and Direction and to take the Measures of our Faith and Manners from them And if for this End God hath obliged us to consult them as to be sure it can be for no other End then he hath obliged us to imploy our own Reason and Judgment to consider what they say and enquire what they mean otherwise he hath obliged us to consult them to no Purpose It is as evident therefore that God will have us use our own Reason and Judgment in discerning what we are to believe and what not in Religion and not lazily rely upon others to see and discern and believe for us as it is that he would have us search and consult the Scriptures and that I think is evident enough from what hath been said to any one that is not resolved to admit of a Conviction And indeed seeing our Reason is the noblest Faculty we have it would be very strange if God should not allow it to intermeddle in the highest and most important Affair wherein he hath ingaged us and seeing it is our Reason only that renders us capable of Religion what an odd Thing would it be for God to for bid us making use of our Reason in the most important Concerns of Religion that is in distinguishing what is true Religion from what is false and what we ought to believe from what we ought to reject I know it is pretended by those who urge the absolute Necessity of submitting our Reason to the Church that they allow Men to make Use of their own Reason and Judgment in discovering which the true Church is and that all they contend for is only this that when once Men have found the true Church they ought to enquire no farther but immediately to deliver up their Reason and Understanding to it and believe every Thing it believes without any farther Examination So that before Men come into their Church it seems they are allowed to see for themselves but after they are in they must wink and follow their Guides and depute them to see and understand for them which to such Men as are not quite sick of their own Reason and Understandings should methinks be a great Temptation to keep them out of their Church for ever For if I may judge for my self while I am out of it but must not while I am in it I must be very fond of parting with my own Eyes and Reason if ever I come into it at all But suppose I was always in it
sacred and good as no Man can be guilty of who is not utterly abandoned of all his natural Sense of Religion and Relish of Good and Evil But yet perhaps you may be tempted to change with the Prospect of such Advantages on the one side and Calamities on the other which though it doth not obtain of you that base and wicked Resolution yet doth so far prevail as to engage you upon a fresh Enquiry to try whether upon second Thoughts and better Consideration you can satisfie your own Minds of the Truth of that Religion you are invited to turn to that so you may if possible comply with a good Conscience and secure your Interest in doing your Duty And thus far you are safe enough but before you proceed any farther it concerns you as you tender your everlasting Interest to look into your own Souls and consider seriously whether you are unfeignedly resolved whatsoever the Consequence of Things may be to cleave fast to the Truth of God on which side soever you shall find it Put the Question to your selves over and over O my Soul here are such Advantages and such Calamities before you importuning you to change your present discountenanced Religion for a more thriving and prosperous One Are you now resolved fairly and impartially to examine the Merit of the Cause And if thereupon you still find Reason to believe that your present Religion is the very Truth of Jesus will you rather renounce those Advantages and incur those Calamities than for go it Will you follow the Truth wheresoever you find it and whithersoever it shall happen to lead you though it be from Preferment to Persecution Are you resolved by the Grace of God to prostrate all your temporal Hopes and Fears before it and rather to lose any Good or suffer any Evil than desert it For let me tell you if you find your heart shrink at this Proposal or that you have any reserved Intention if the worst come to the worst rather to part with your Religion right or wrong than to shake hands with your temporal Interest you are in a very unfitting Temper to examine on which side the Truth lies For it is a plain Case your Mind is under a prevailing Byass of temporal Hopes and Fears which will be sure to incline it to favour that side of the Question which is most for your Interest and 't will be impossible for you to examine fairly and judge impartially whilst your Judgment is thus bribed and corrupted by your Interest For your Will hath already determined upon the Matter before ever your Understanding hath heard the Cause and it is your secret Intention right or wrong to forgo your Religion rather than your Interest if ever they come in Competition So that now you will be obliged in your own Defence to use your utmost Art to set the fairest Colours upon the Evidences against your Religion and to stifle and enervate those that assert and maintain it lest they should so confirm you in the Belief of it as that when Occasion requires you will not be able to surrender it up without committing an horrible Outrage and Violence upon your selves Wherefore before you suffer your worldly Hopes and Fears to summon your Religion upon a new Tryal be sure you fix this Resolution in your Souls By the Grace of God I will now lay aside all Interest and Affection and strictly examin the Evidence on both Sides with an equal and unbiass'd Judgment I will attend to nothing but the Reasons of Things and the pure Merits of the Cause and where-ever I find the Truth lies whether on the side of my Interest or against it I will be sure to follow it whatsoever shall be the Event and Issue For if upon the Temptation of any worldly Interest you bring your Religion to a new Tryal with this secret Intention that though it should still aprove it self to your Judgment yet you will rather part with it than abandon that Interest this very Intention will be apt to blind and mislead your Judgment to arm your Wit and Reason against your Religion and to set all your Faculties at work to argue you out of it and pervert you from it to a contrary Faith and Persuasion which if it should accomplish you will certainly be found guilty of a willful Apostacy when you come to be tryed before the Tribunal of God to whose all-seeing Eye the most secret Motions of your Souls are as visible as if they were written on your Foreheads with a Sun-beam who sees your treacherous Heart and false Intention rather to forsake his Truth than your Interest and knows very well that it is this that seduces you and gives Force to those false Reasons and Convictions that impose upon your Judgment and betray your Faith 6. And lastly When you fall under any Temptation to change your Religion consider whether before you were inclined to change you did conscitiously comply with the Obligations of it We have too many Men that pretend to be mighty inquisitive after the true Church and the true Religion and yet live as if there were no such thing as true Religion in the World and quietly allow themselves in such impious Courses as do openly affront the common Principles of all Religions There is nothing they dread so much as Heresy and if you will believe them are monstrously concerned to examine whether the Church with which they now communicate be Catholick or Heretical and yet all this while they persist without any Concern or Remorse in the most damnable Heresy in the World and that is a wicked and immoral Life So that upon comparing their Atheistical Lives with the loud Cry they make about the true Catholick Faith and Church one would be tempted to think that their Christianity began at the wrong End of their Creed and that they believed in the Holy Catholick Church before they believe in God the Father Almighty or in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord Which is such a gross and fulsom Piece of Hypocrisy as one would think any modest Man should be ashamed of For in the name of God Sirs What have you to do to wrangle and make a Noise about Religion whose profligate Manners are a Shame and Scandal to common Humanity It is a Reproach to any Religion for you to name it and Shame to any Church for you to pretend to it and therefore when such as you raise a Cry after the true Church and true Religion it is a plain Case that whatever Pretence you bring upon the Stage you are prompted by some base Interest behind the Curtain And is it not a pleasant Thing to hear such Profligates as these pretend to be Converts who only turn from one Opinion to another but still continue as wicked and unreformed in their Manners under the Opinion they turn to as they were under that they turned from These are such Converts as there is no Church in the World that advances true Piety above worldly Interest but would glory to lose and blush to gain And what Diogenes said of a wicked Fellow that praised him that the Religion may say which those Men turn to What Hurt have I done what wicked Principles am I guilty of that such vile Wretches as these should commend and embrace me For for God's sake what is it that they are converted to Is it to any Thing that renders them wiser or better Men No The contrary is too notorious through the whole Course of their Actions Well then it seems they are converted to something that doth them no manner of Good that serves them to no true End of Religion that is to a meer empty Notion that only gingles about their Understandings but hath no good Influence on their Hearts and Manners Had their Conversion proceeded-upon pure Principles of Conscience that would have obliged them to change their Manners as well as their Opinions there being very few Opinions in Religion so contradictory to the natural Sentiments of Conscience as a vicious and immoral Life Supposing that the Papal Supremacy Purgatory and Transubstantiation were true yet that the contrary Doctrins to these are Errors can never be so evident to any Man's Conscience as that Drunkenness Adultery Fraud and Oppression are Sins and therefore for any Man to pretend that he forsook those Errors out of Conscience who yet makes no Conscience of continuing in these Sins is such a transparent Hypocrisy as hath not Vizor and Disguize enough to abuse either the most Candid or Credulous If therefore before you are resolved to forsake your Sins you are tempted to forsake your Religion it is a plain Case that it is not your Conscience or Conviction that tempts you but your Lust or Interest Had it been Conscience it would have been far more importunate with you to reform your Manners than your Faith and to become good Men than Catholick Believers and therefore under your present Circumstances you ought to be very careful what you do and how you comply with the Temptation lest to all the Rest of your Sins you add that foul and fatal one of Apostacy and thereby fill up the Measure of your Iniquities and finally provoke Almighty God to abandon you as you have abandoned him and give you up for lost and desperate FINIS