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 it 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 can no 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 Matters 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 Salvation 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 â—â—ids and submit our Faith to their Dictates without any Examination what a needless and impertâ—â—â—nt Imployment would this be for us to search and consult the Scriptures Consult them for what it 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 engaged us and seeing it is our Reason only that renders us capable of Religion what an odd Thing would it be for God to forbid us making use of our Reason in the most important Concerns of Religion that is indistinguishing 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 and had been bred up in its Communion from my Infancy will they allow me when I come to the full use of my Reason fairly to question whether theirs be the only true Church or no and to hear the Reasons and examine the Scriptures and consult the Doctors on both sides No by no means this I am forbid under the Penalty of being deprived of the Benefit of Priestly Absolution So that in short they will allow me to make Use of my Reason if I have been bred an Heretick in order to my Reconciliation to their Church but if I have never been an Heretick I must never use my Reason to examine the Truth either of my Church or Religion that is to say I may use my Reason when there is no other Remedy and I must continue a Heretick if I do not But it were much better that I had never had Occasion to use my Reason at all So that according to these Men the Use of our Reason in Religion is only the least of two Evils
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 Iesus will you rather renounce those Advantages and incur those Calamities than forgoe it Will you follow the Truth wheresoever you find it and whithersoever it shall happen to lead you though it be from Preferment into 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 forgoe 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 hoth Sides with an equal and unbyass'd Iudgment 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 approve 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 ii to a contrary Faith and Persuasion which if it should accomplish you will certainly be found guilty of a wilful 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 conscientiously 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 Iesus 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 prostigate 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 is 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
to him Vpon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost And I saw and bear Record that this was the Son of God Joh. 1. 33 34. where you may observe that though it was revealed to him only that he was the Person that should baptize with the Holy Ghost upon whom the Spirit descended yet he bare Record also that this Person was the Son of God rationally concluding that this visible Glory which was such an infallible Token of the special Presence of the Divinity was never to be communicated to any but the Son of God And it is very observable that at both these Times when our Saviour was arrayed in this glorious Splendor he is declared by a Voice from Heaven to be the Son of God it being the Father's Intention at once to manifest him to be his Son both by Word and Deed and at the same time when he declared him to be his Son to array him in such a Glory as became the Dignity of his Person 2dly The great and stupendous Miracles that he wrought were such as became his only begotten Son 'T is true it cannot be denied but several Miracles have been wrought by meer Men they being authorized by God and assisted by his Almighty Power but so many and so great as our Saviour wrought were never performed by any Mortal For as to the Number of them they were more than ever were wrought by Moses and all the Prophets together for besides those that are recorded which were all performed within the Space of four Years at most St. Iohn tells us that he wrought so many that the World could not contain the Records of them Ioh. 21. 25. which though it be an Hyperbolical Expression yet denotes thus much at least that the Number of them was so great that they were almost innumerable And as to the Greatness of them they did apparently exceed all that ever were wrought before in the World For he did not only raise the Dead but he raised himself also after he had been barbarously murdered by his Enemies He made the Winds and Sea obey him and with the Word of his Mouth vanquished the Devils and drave them from their Habitations and forc'd them against their Wills and their Interest to acknowledge him to be the Son of God And whereas the Miracles of Moses and the Prophets were most of them noxious they being Acts of Divine Vengeance upon the Wicked and Vngodly and consequently more apt to terrify than to oblige those that beheld them the Miracles of our Saviour were all of them Expressions of his unfeigned Love and Good-Will to the World For among all that vast Number of wondrous Works that he wrought there is not one to be found by which any Man was ever prejudiced unless it was his dismissing the Devils into the Swine of the Gadarens which without all doubt he did in Kindness and Good-will to the Owners who being so cruel to themselves as to prefer their Swine before their Saviour it was great Charity and Mercy to deprive them of that which was so apparent a Hindrance to their Enjoyment of a far greater Good So that all his wondrous Works were nothing but Acts of Kindness and Beneficence for he went about doing Good curing all that were possessed with the Devil and healing all manner of Diseases And whereas none of those that wrought Miracles before him could ever pretend to perform them by any immanent Power of their own but had only a transient Power given them for the present Miracle which they either obtained from God upon their Prayers and Supplications or was given by God for the Execution of his own Will and Command the blessed Iesus had this Power subjected and abiding in him so that he could exert it when and where and as often as he pleased and whether he were absent or present with the Word of his Mouth he could do what he would yea and many times he performed his wondrous Works without any Word or Sign intervening even by a silent Virtue proceeding from that miraculous Power with which he was endued and of all his Miracles there is only one which he performed upon Prayer and Supplication to his Father and that was his raising Lazarus from the Dead the Reason of which he himself gives Ioh. 11. 42. Because of the People which stand by that they may believe that thou hast sent me Intimating that he did not offer up this Prayer to his Father with design to obtain of him any new Power of working Miracles which he was already endued with in an abundant measure but that hereby I might signify to the People how acceptable I am to thee and let them see that I do all my Works in thy Name And that he had this Power is evident in that he did so plentifully communicate it to his Apostles and Followers which neither Moses nor the Prophets were ever able to do For thus Luke 10. 19. he expresly tells his Seventy Disciples Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and so also when he dismissed his Twelve Apostles into Iudea Matth. 10. 8. he bids them Go heal the Sick cleanse the Lepers raise the Dead cast out Devils for freely ye have received saith he and therefore freely give From all which it is apparent how far the miraculous Works of our Saviour did exceed all those that ever were done before him and being so great and excellent so far transcending all that ever was done by any Mortal they plainly demonstrated him to be the Son of God and very well became the Dignity of his Person For how could he have done all these mighty Things by a Power immanent in himself had he not been the Son of an Omnipotent Father And in what more becoming Way could he have expressed that Omnipotent Power which he derived from his Father than in those astonishing Miracles of Love which he wrought in the World 3dly The excellent and divine Doctrine which he taught was such as became the only begotten Son For certainly if we consider the excellent Frame and Contrivance of the Christian Religion we cannot but confess it to be most Divine and Godlike most worthy of that infinite Wisdom and Goodness from whence it was derived For Religion in general is the means of advancing Rational Beings to that Perfection and Happiness for which the great Creator hath designed and intended them and certainly never was there any Religion in the World more adapted to advance this noble Design of God than that which our Saviour hath taught For as for its Agenda what it requires to be done they all consist in acting reasonably and according to the Dignity of our Nature in thinking speaking and practising in loving and hating desiring and delighting hoping and fearing as becomes Reasonable Beings placed in our Condition and Circumstances and do require nothing of us but
that we should regulate our Practice by the Rules of Right Reason and direct all our Faculties and Affections to their proper Ends and Objects and when we come to this Pitch always to think that which is most reasonable and always to practise what we think so then we are advanced to the topmost Round of our Prefection in which is founded the utmost Happiness we are capable of So that in all the Course of our Christian Practice we are in a direct Progression and Tendency towards our Perfection and Happiness And as for the Credenda of Christianity the Doctrines it requires us to believe they are all of them pregnant with the most strong and vehement Motives to engage us to the Practice of what it enjoins Motives that have such a Potent I had almost said Omnipotent Force in them that 't is impossible for any Man heartily to believe and throughly to weigh and consider them and not be effectually perswaded by them Since therefore it was so highly convenient that the Son of God in Person should come down from Heaven among us that so the Dignity of his Person might give Authority to that Religion by which the World was to be governed and since he did come down upon this honourable Errand it was impossible for him to have taught any Doctrine that could more effectually have promoted the great End of Religion or more fully expressed his infinite Wisdom and Goodness and Zeal for the Welfare of the Souls of Men than that which is contained in the Christian Religion which is every way so adapted to make Men good and happy so accommodated to the Nature and Condition of Mankind that there is nothing could better become the only begotten Son to teach in the World or that could be more worthy of all those infinite Perfections that are lodged in his Nature and do speak him to be the most genuine Off-spring of the most High For so excellent was his Doctrine that his very Enemies were astonished at the Wisdom that was given him Mark 6. 2 3. and wondered at the gracious Words that proceeded out of his Mouth Luke 4. 22. Well therefore might he say of himself I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life Ioh. 8. 12. 4thly And lastly The incomparable Sanctity and Purity of his Life was such as very well became the only begotten Son For as it was highly convenient that he should come down into the World and in his own Person teach us that Religion by which he intended to govern us that thereby he might stamp it with a more awful Authority so to render it more successful it was no less convenient that he should come down in our Natures that therein he might be capable of practising what he taught us and setting us an Example of what he would have us to do that so we might see that he enjoined nothing upon us but what was practicable and what did become the most glorious Person that ever did assume our Natures that thereby we might be encouraged to our Duty and animated with a noble Emulation of treading in his blessed Footsteps Since therefore all this was so highly convenient and the Son of God in Compliance with this Convenience did actually assume our Nature it was impossible for him to lead a Life that better comported with this Design of his Incarnation or better became the Dignity and Excellency of his Person than he did For now that he was become a Man he was obliged to act suitably to his Nature and should he have done any thing that was unsuitable to the State and Circumstances of his Nature he would not have acted becoming himself So that it was highly convenient that he should become a Man and being a Man it was indispensably necessary that he should live like a wise and a good Man in the Condition and Relations wherein he was placed and nothing could be more worthy of or becoming him than so to do though he was still the only begotten Son of the Father For it is the Glory of God himself that he always acts most reasonably according to the State and Relations of a God and therefore when God becomes Man by assuming our Nature to his own it is his Glory to act most reasonably in the State and Relations of a Man And thus did the blessed Iesus do in the whole Course of his Conversation upon Earth for his Life was a most exact Pattern of all humane Virtues in which all that is ornamental to humane Nature was represented in its fairest Colours There you may see a fair Example of the most ardent Love to and constant Dependance upon God of the most profound Humility and perfect Resignation to his Heavenly Will There you may behold the Moderation of Humane Passions and Appetites set forth to the Life and fairly delineated in all its most exquisite Perfections in a word there you will find Loyalty and Submission to Superiors Fidelity and Iustice to Equals Courtesy and Candor and Condescention to Inferiors universal Love and an unbounded Charity to all practised to the Height and Exactness and which way soever you turn your Eyes on this fair Monument of Virtues you can discover nothing but what is lovely and adorable and infinitely becoming the only begotten Son of the Father Having thus explained and demonstrated the Proposition to you I shall conclude with these four Inferences from this four-fold Glory of the Word which they saw 1. They saw the glorious Splendor which invested his Person at his Baptism and Transfiguration From whence I infer his Deputation from the most High God and Father of all Things to be his Representative and Vice-Roy in the Christian Church For this visible Glory with which he was invested was always the peculiar Character of the immediate Representative of God and therefore by way of Appropriation it is called the Glory of God and the Glory of the Lord and wheresoever God as Supream Monarch and Governor is represented as residing and taking up his Royal Habitation there you always find him displaying himself in this visible Glory and Splendor Thus when by the Eternal Word he was represented among the Iews as their supreme Lord and Governor he always manifested his Majestick Presence among them by some bright and shining Appearance the first Instance of which was his Appearance to Moses from out of the burning Bush upon Mount Sinai where he first acted under God the Father as Sovereign King of Israel in commissioning Moses to be their Captain and Leader out of Egypt for here it is said that he appeared in a flame of fire Exod. 3. 2. that is in a visible Glory that resembled the Brightness of a Flame of Fire For this Mountain he had chosen for the Seat and Throne of his Majestical Residence from whence he intended to give Laws to Israel and to exert his Royal Dominion
Sense of it but to impose a Sense on it which was never in it for how can She expound the Sense of a Book which hath no Sense in it If the Church is to expound the Sense of Scripture the Scripture must have a certain determinate Sense in it before she expounds it for to expound the Sense of That which hath no Sense is Nonsense And if the Scripture hath a certain Sense in it antecedently to the Church's Exposition of it why do they call it a Parcel of Vnsensed Characters If their Meaning be only this that the Sense of Scripture as it is delivered in Scripture is so obscure and ambiguous that without the infallible Exposition of the Church we can never be certain what it is besides that this is notoriously false the Scripture in all necessary Points both of Faith and Manners being so very plain and clear that any Man that reads it with an unprejudiced Mind may be as certain of the Sense of it as he can be of the Sense of any Writing and consequently of the Sense of any written Exposition of the Church besides this I say it is evident that whatever these Men pretend it is not meerly because of the obscurity of Scripture that they oblige Men to ground their Faith upon the Church and not upon the Scripture For they own as well as we that in many Things the Scripture is very plain and clear and yet they will by no Means allow Men to ground their Belief of these things upon the Authority of Scripture but all must be resolved into the Authority of the Church By which it is evident That if all the Scripture were as plain as the plainest Scriptures they would still contend for the Necessity of Mens relying upon the Church and not upon the Scripture and consequently that the true Reason why they contend for it is not because the Scripture is obscure but because they are resolved to advance their Church's Authority We own as well as they that where the Scripture is obscure Men ought to be guided by the Authority of the Church which we freely allow to be the best Expositor of Scripture But the true State of the Difference between them and us is this That whereas we require plain Men to judge of plain Things with their own Understandings and all Men so far forth as they are capable to judge for themselves in Matters of Religion and not content themselves to see with the Church's Eyes where they are able to see with their own nothing will satisfie these Men but to have all Men as well Wise as Simple surrender up their Faith and Judgment to the Church and wink hard and believe what-ever the Church believes purely because the Church believes it Whatever they pretend therefore the Truth of the Case is this They will by no means allow us to believe upon the Authority of Scripture not because the Scripture is obscure though this they pretend for were it never so plain the Case would be the same but because they are sensible that this will inevitably subvert their usurped Dominion over the Faith and Consciences of Men. But we must believe upon the Authority of the Church and who is this Church I beseech you Why they themselves are this Church So that whereas God hath published a Book called the Bible on purpose to declare his Mind and Will to the World here are started up a Sort of Men that call themselves the Church who very gravely tell us Sirs You must not so much as look into this Book or if you do must not believe any one Word in it upon its own Credit and Authority For though we do confess it is the Word of God yet we are the sole Iudges of the Sense of it and therefore whatsoever we declare is its Sense how unlikely soever it may seem to you you are bound in Conscience to receive and believe it for this very Reason because we declare it In short you must resign up your Eyes your Faith your Reason and Vnderstandings to us and see only with our Eyes and believe only with our Faith and judge only with our Iudgment and whithersoever we shall think fit to lead you you must tamely follow us without presuming to examin whether we lead you right or wrong But yet after all to induce us thus to inslave our Understandings to them they themselves are fain to appeal to Scripture and allow us in some Things to judge of the Sense of it and to believe those Things upon its Authority For no wise and honest Man will ever believe either that They are the Church or the infallible Judges of the Sense of Scripture without some Proof and Evidence and for this they are fain to produce several Texts of Scripture such as Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church Now supposing that to be true which is notoriously false viz. that those Texts do necessarily imply that They are the only true Catholick Church and that as such they are constituted by God infallible Judges of Scripture yet before I can believe so I must judge for my self whether this be the Sense of them or no and if I judge it is I must believe that they are the Church and infallible upon the Scripture's Authority and not theirs for their Authority is the Thing in debate and I cannot believe upon it before I believe it So then though we must believe nothing else upon Scripture Authority yet upon this very Authority we must believe that they are the Church and that they are infallible which are the fundamental Principles of their Religion that is to say we must believe as much upon Scripture Authority as will serve their turn and no more But may I be certain of the Truth of these two Fundamental Principles upon Scripture Authority or no If I may why may I not as well be infallibly certain upon the same Authority of other Principles of Christianity as well as those seeing there are no common Principles of Christian Religion but what are at least as plainly revealed 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
it is not so bad as to continue a Heretick but if I had never been one it would be very bad and a certain Way to make me one which methinks looks very odd that the Use of my Reason should be necessary to reduce me from Heresy and the Disuse of it as necessary when I am reduced to preserve me from relapsing into Heresy 'T is a memorable Passage of the Bishop of St. Mark in the Council of Trent that Seculars are obliged humbly to obey that Doctrine of Faith which is given them by the Church without disputing or thinking farther of it Where by the Church he means the Clergy assembled in that Council So that according to this Manâ—s Doctrine the Faith of the People is a meer Beast of Burthen that right or wrong must bear all the Load that the Priests shall agree to lay upon it and though it should feel it self oppressed by them with never such gross Contradictions or Absurdities it must think no farther of it but tamely trudg on without starting or bogling At this Rate what Tricks may not the Priests play with the Faith of the People Let them invent what Doctrins they please to serve the Interest of their own Ambition and Covetousness the People must believe them without asking why or if they should ask why they must expect no other Answer but this because we have thought to define and declare them For it is by no means allowable that the People should exercise any private Judgment of their own about Matters of Faith no I confess it is not where the Matters proposed to their Faith are false and erroneus because it is a thousand to one but one time or other the People will discover the Frauds and Impostures of the Priests and this would spoil all But if the Matters of Faith are true in all Probability the farther the People enquire into them the better they will be satisfied about them and if in the Exercise of their private Judgments they should in some particulars err that is far more tollerable than that they should be utterly deprived of the Means of being able to give an Answer to every one that asks them a Reason of the Hope that is in them But when God hath given the People reasonable Faculties on purpose that by them they may be able to distinguish what is true from what is false for any Party of Men to forbid them the Use of these Faculties in distinguishing what is true from what is false in Religion in which above all Things they are most highly concerned it is a most injurious Usurpation upon the common Rights of humane Nature For by this Means our best Faculty is rendred useless to us in our greatest Concerns and whereas God gave it to us on purpose to guide and direct us we are utterly deprived of it's Guidance where we have most need of it and where it will prove most fatal to us if we should happen to err and go astray A DISSUASIVE FROM APOSTACY 1 TIMOTHY I. 19. Holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack THese Words are a part of St. Paul's Charge to his Son Timothy wherein he Pathetically Exhorts him as a Valiant Bishop to take all possible Care to preserve the Purity of the Christian Doctrine in his Diocess of Ephesus which at that time abounded with false Teachers whose Business it was to sow the Tares of Heresie and false Doctrine in that large and fruitful Field the Cultivation whereof St. Paul had committed to his Charge And that he might discharge this Office the more effectually the Apostle warns him in the first Place to take Care of himself that he did not suffer his own Faith and Manners to be depraved and corrupted by those leud and irreligious Principles which those Antichristian Seminaries were then scattering among his People that so he might be an Example to his Flock as well as a Teacher of pure and undefiled Religion And this v. 18. he presses upon him from the Consideration of what had been foretold of him by Divine Inspiration before ever he entred upon his Ministry viz. That he should war a good warfare that is prove a constant and couragious Champion of the Christian Faith which Prophesies he exhorts him to use his utmost endeavour to verifie both in his Profession and Practice by holding or as it is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having or keeping faith and a good conscience which later viz. a good conscience some having put away concerning the former viz. Faith have made shipwrack Before we proceed to the Design of these Words it will be necessary briefly to explain some Terms in them as 1. What is meant by Faith 2. What by a good Conscience 3. What by putting away a good Conscience And 4. What by making shipwrack of the Faith 1. As for the fiâ—st What is here meant by keeping the Faith I answer By this Phrase Faith we are to understand the Christian Creed or summary of those necessary and essential Doctrines whereof the Christian Religion is composed For at that time there was little else professed and taught in the Christian Churches but only the fundamental Principles of Christianity together with the nearest and most immediate Inferences from them so that few then mis-believed but such as mis-believed in Fundamentals and every Error in Doctrine was generally a Heresie The Christian Faith in those Days lay within a narrow compass and so it continued till the Wantonness and Curiosity of succeeding Ages started disputable Opinions and as they prevailed adopted them into the Family of Faith insomuch that in process of Time sundry Opinions were received that were never so much as heard of in the Apostolical Age and as soon as they were received they were presently declared necessary Articles And as for the contradictory Opinions though Christianity was little or nothing concerned whether they were true or false yet they seldom underwent any milder Name than Heresie or gentler Doom than Damnation which hath been one of the grand Occasions of all the Ruptures and Divisions that have happened in the Christian World But as for the Faith which the Apostle here speaks of it was of a much less Bulk than what it is now arrived to by rolling through the wild Opiniatry of Sixteen Disputation Ages which by degrees have swelled it from a short script into a large Volume For if we look into the New Testament and into the Writings of the most Primitive Fathers we shall find the Sums of Christian Faith therein contained consisting of very few Articles and those such only as are essential to Christian Religion and such as wherein almost all the differing Persuasions of Christians do to this Day concenter To hold the Faith therefore is to persevere immovably in the Profession of the true Christian Doctrine so far as in us lies and not to be prevailed upon to desert or forsake it
some good warm Place or the Hope of gaining some important Station or Preferment And if this be found the Truth of his Case when he comes to appear before the Tribunal of God it had been a thousand times better for him that he had never been born for then he will be found a base Deserter of his God a treacherous Iudas to his Saviour and a perfidious Renegado from his Religion and according to the Quality of his Sin and Guilt receive his Portion of Damnation 4. Consider whether before you entertained any Intention to change you were fully resolved impartially to consult both sides of the Question I doubt there are too many among us that first resolve to change their Religion and then begin to enquire after Reasons and Arguments against it and that their Resolution to change is so far from being the Effect of sincere Conviction that their Conviction is the Effect of their Resolution First Some vile Affection or some temporal Interest recommends another Religion to them that either gives them leave to be wicked without Remorse or Disturbance or promises them Gain and Advancement upon which they resolve right or wrong to entertain and embrace it and then to excuse themselves to their own Consciences or to vindicate their Reputation to the World from the Scandal of being down-right Apostates they fall a hunting after Reasons and Arguments to convince themselves of the Truth of it or at least to make the World believe that it was not their Interest but their Conviction that turned them And when Men thus resolve first and enquire afterwards to be sure their Enquiry will be very partial for being fully resolved to change their Religion upon some vicious or secular Motive it is become their Intâ—rest to pick Holes in it and to reason or cavil themselves out of the Belief of it And this makes them shy of bringing the Matter under a fair and impartial Examination lest while they are seeking Reasons to overthrow their Faith they should find Reasons to establish and confirm it So that they begin their Enquiry with these secret Intentions We will listen only to one side of the Cause and leave the other to shift for it self and seek for as many Arguments as we can against our Religion but none for it We will read the Books and consult the Teachers of one side only viz. the opposite side to our present Belief and Persuasion and if among them we can but find Arguments enough to render the contrary Persuasion any way probable we will submit our Faith to it without any farther Enquiry and not trouble our selves to examine the Evidence on the other side for Fear we should be convinc'd in spight of our Teeth that the Truth lies there and then our Conscience will never let us be quiet but be perpetually clamouring against us for base and impious Apostates That this is the foul and hypocritical Intention of too many among us is notorious enough by their Practice they leap from Church to Church and from one Communion to another without any Pause or Consideration they are with us to Day and gone from us to Morrow and are such Mushroom extemporary Converts that before ever we hear they doubted of their own they are confirmed in a contrary Religion In short they steal out of their Religion so softly and with so little Noise that they are commonly gone before ever we hear they are going as if they were afraid we should stop and detain them by better Reasons and fuller Convictions Whereas had these Men any Conscience or Honesty in them they would consider that Religion is a Thing too sacred and serious to be thus dallied and trifled with and that to change ones Religion is a matter of such vast Importance as requires a long and through Consideration and a very clear and full Conviction of Mind that there is too much depends upon it to part with it upon slight Pretences and that it concerns them as much as an Eternity of Bliss amounts to not to desert it upon any other Inducement but that of a through well-weighed Persuasion of Conscience And if they had had any such honest Thoughts about them while they were under the Temptation to change they would never have admitted any Doubt of their Religion but upon great and palpable Evidence and then they would have doubted long before they would have concluded against it and not have precipitated their Judgment hand over head into a contrary Persuasion till they had first applied themselves for Resolution again and again to their old Guides and Pastors and with all due Deference to their Authority had strictly examined all their Reasons and Answers till they had throughly inspected their Arguments pro and con and equally heard both sides of the Cause till they had read advised and consulted on both sides and weighed the whole matter over and over with the greatest Care and Exactness But when Men run away from their Religion in an Instant without ever observing this regular Process of sincere Enquiries it is a plain Case that their Wills were resolved before their Understandings and that they were converted before ever they were convinced and consequently that it was not Reason and Conviction that turned them but Lust or Interest For though when they are turned they may perhaps be very diligent to seek Conviction yet this is only an After-game which they are fain to play to save their Conscience or their Reputation 5. Consider before you entertain any Intention to change Whether it be your unfained Intention whatever shall happen to you to adhere to that side which shall appear most reasonable Perhaps you are not yet arrived to that Height of Impiety as to resolve right or wrong to change your Religion whether you find it true or false upon a just and fair Examination for this is such an horrible defiance of God such an express and absolute Renunciation of all that is 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