THE Doubting Conscience Resolved In Answer to a pretended perplexing QVESTION c. Wherein is evidently proved That the holy Scriptures not the Pope is the Foundation whereupon the Church is built OR That a CHRISTIAN may be infallibly certain of his Faith and Religion by the holy Scriptures By WILLIAM TVVISSE D.D. Prolocutor of the Assembly of DIVINES Written at the desire of Samuel Hartlib Esquire for the satisfaction of his Friends beyond the Seas and now divulged in print for more publick Edification LONDON Printed for Thomas Mathews at the Sign of the Cock in St Pauls Church-yard 1652. SIR I Have read this learned and satisfactory Answer to the Perplexing Question and Doubtfull Case of Conscience in the life time of D. Twisse and if you shall please to give it your Imprimatur I think it may be advantageous in this juncture of time I rest Yours Ja. Cranford May 3. 1652. Imprimatur Edm. Calamy THE APPROBATION OF That Reverend Father of the Church Joseph Hall Bishop of NORWICH In a Letter to his worthily respected friend Mr. W. S. Worthy Sir I Return you many thanks for the favour you have done me in affording me the view of this solid and seasonable piece of Dr. Twisse in full answer to this pretended Questionist who under the colour of a Perplexing Case of Conscience from a Preacher of the Gospell sends forth a foolish kind of challenge to all Protestant Divines Had you not named the Author of the satisfactory Answer and seconded it by anothers attestation I could both have known and avouched him There is a face of a style by which we Scholars know one another no less than our persons by a visible countenance whosoever hath read the witty accute exercitations of this Author upon the writings of Doctor Jackson will easily finde him in this Tractate both for form and matter This sculking and disguised Chalenger could not have met with a meeter Combatant a man so eminent in School-Divinity that the Jesuits have felt and for ought I see shrunk under his strength in their Scientia Media and whom the States of the Netherlands out of the fame of his worth would fain have tempted away with large profers to a Publick Professorship in one of their Universities I onely wish he had met with a more able Adversary For certainly as I intimated to you in my last this Beagle whosoever he be whether out of misprision or craft hunts counter and runs all the while upon a wrong ground vainly supposing that differences in points not fundamentall make a diversity of Religions and weakly conceiving that because there are many false claims to Truth in the world God hath not left us means enough in his revealed Will to distinguish Truth from Error as if because there are store of counterfeit coyns abroad it could not be safe for a man to receive or possible to discern currant money whereas if his wit would have served him he might have considered that all both Agenda and Credenda necessary to salvation which only can difference Religion are clearly laid down in the sacred Oracles of Scripture with which if any refractory soul will unjustly quarrell he may by those helps which God hath left to his Church be either convinced or shamed in the mean while it is no reason that his absurd obstinacy should cast any blemish upon the clear face of truth or be any prejudice to others who are blessed with better apprehensions whose not-forestalled souls out of that judgment of discretion which God hath endowed all wise Christians withall upon due search may by those good means which God hath held forth to us give himself so ful satisfaction in all important Truths as wherein he may securely rest with a resolute defiance of all oppositions Had this Questionist but consulted with learned Bishop Davenant's irrefragable Discourse De judice ac norma fidei he had forborn the blurring of his Paper and spared the labor of this his perplexed and shuffling proposall of his pretend edly-perplexing Question which in very truth is no other than a stale and often exploded Cavill newly furbushed over with a false colour of a tenderly-conscientious irresolution The man will finde himself here over-answer'd and receive too much honour from such an Antagonist in that it may be said of him Aeneae magni dextrâ cadis Now since you are pleased to desire my Opinion of the whole work to speak freely One or two passages I confess to meet with in this learned and weighty Discourse as concerning the name and number of the Apocalypticall Beast 666. which doe not altogether carry my assent That Mysterie must and will lye still close after all the scanning of the sharpest Wits and Judgements But for all the Doctrinall points I cannot but applaud them as worthy of the Authour and satisfactory to the Reader and convictive of the Adversary Farewell from your much devoted Higham April 29. 1652. J.H.B.N. A Perplexing Question OR A doubtfull Case of CONSCIENCE Of a certain Preacher of the GOSPEL OVR Religion is our Faith Faith either saves or condemns justly ought we therefore to be able to understand and prove our Faith But now there ariseth a great doubt to me and other of the simpler sort of Christians Whether it be possible for us to have an infallible certainty of our Faith out of the holy Scriptures and so consequently to rely on and trust to this faith as to an unshaken foundation The reason of our doubting is this Both Papists and Calvinists holding contrary opinions do maintain and prove by the holy Scriptures as they suppose the contrary to that which the Lutherans hold seriously affirming that in the Scriptures the Lutheran Religion is condemned and theirs confirmed Which thing no man will deny to be an evident Argument of the obscurity of the holy Scriptures If there be two Physicians of equall learning and of the same intent in curing the sick that is alike desirous to cure the disease and if these Physicians should out of one and the same Book gather the one that a Fever is cured with wine and the other that wine is as bad as poyson to them that have the Fever how I pray shall we know which of these two to take part withall A man can gather nothing but that the remedy for that disease is obscurely expressed in that Book Some may object The Sects doe not follow the Scriptures onely but they add their traditions the Calvinists add their reason the Anabaptists their dreams I answer They do so in those things which are not cleerly taught in the holy Scriptures but in the controversies between them and Lutherans they proceed not so but by Scriptures they fight against Lutheran Tenents which are confirmed by the Scriptures and indeavour by the help of the Scriptures to sight for and defend their own which the Lutherans by Scriptures doe condemn Nay more there are some viz. the Anabaptists that urge the
are assured of the truth of Lutheranism though others cannot see and believe it For this is not that which I would have I enquire how a man may be sure not of his own opinion but of the truth Now if I believe and determine that such a thing is true this is my opinion yet is it not therefore the truth seeing truth and opinion have nothing in them alike A stedfast perswasion changeth not the essence of the thing whereof a man is perswaded For then might melancholick persons whose opinion is unmovable work miracles and make all their conceits essentiall The nature of true knowledge is this to be demonstrable not to me or some men but to all and to win a consent from any man as two and three makes five A thing controverted and which some understand one way some another can never make me certain and free from doubt whether I have the truth or no and he that knowes no other than what he determines may be excused of malice and hypocrisie But this reasoning I and my follower are sure of this thing therefore it is true is unreasonable reasoning Lastly If we build our Religion onely upon the Scripture the learned shall have a great Prerogative above the unlearned in the matter of Faith and Religion and shall be more ingaged in thankefulness to God than they and so Religion shall favour and cleave to good wits Also many have their senses exercised in the Scripture or are more inventive and ingenious than others therefore if a man could by disputing and reasoning confute some Thesis and as it were take away a mans opinion from him and become Conqueror he should also take away his Religion and the other should be constrained either to take up this Conquerors Religion or against his conscience to keep his own Nor will that Answer serve the turn Our Divines and Pastors can answer you though I cannot for then should I believe with another mans saith but faith must bee mine not another mans else should salvation also be another mans If Religion be the service of God surely it is necessary that I understand that service which I must perform to my Lord. Seeing God will not reckon another mans service for mine and cannot be served by a Substitute it remains that wee conclude Controversies are to be left to learned men and are not so very necessary It may be answered Then also Religion is to be left to learned men for Controversies are our very Religion for saving the consideration of them there is no difference but Papists are Protestants and Protestants are Papists look how much a man knowes of Controversies so much doth he know of his own Religion The state of a mans salvation is such as is his Religion and his Faith Now there is but one salvation nor but one faith But if Controversies belong to the learned onely wherefore have the Lay-men indured so many afflictions distresses nay and death it self for those Controversies sake I know indeed that a Calvinist Doctor one Doctor Bergius a Preacher at Bremen affirms in his late published Sermons that Controvrsies are not meerly necessary to salvation That the Scripture is plain and clear in those things which are necessary to salvation and that there was never any contrariety between the Religions themselves At which also the Leipsich-Collation between the Lutherans and Calvinists seems to aim This I am perswaded is very true that had the Holy Ghost judged those Controverted Questions necessary to salvation it would have expressed and propounded them in the holy Scripture clearly and plainly seeing those Epistles were sent to simple and Lay-men especially Nor doth it seem likely to be true that ever there were so many Articles of Faith drawn out of them as are now to be read in the Catechisms Common-places and Compends of Divines As yet there is no certain number of them determined seeing some Divines have propounded more and some fewer and some Religions have in process of time either added or abated whole Articles and after many miseries indured for the defence of some of them entring a way of moderation they have determined that for tolerable and indifferent which before they thought damnable But howsoever there are so many of them that a man may deservedly call in question the precise necessity of them And this seems the best Solution to disintangle and appease perplexed doubtfull and erring Consciences But could so many thousand Divines of former Ages be ignorant of this Have there not so many Wars been undertaken for this cause Could those learned men suffer so many thousands of men to run headlong both by doing and suffering into the hazard of body and soul for Religions sake and so many unspeable mischiefs to arise whenas it is possible for a man to be saved without the Controversies of Religion But if this be the command of God under pain of temporall and everlasting punishment to fight for those Controversies how can we excuse those shuffling agreements of Faith Religion and Gods Worship A Servant may not abate any thing of his Lords due Let this thing be considered seeing it is so intricate and leads me and many others into disquiet of minde for which perplexities of Conscience none will deny that a remedy is to be sought at the hands of those that have Christian fellow-feeling and might be found if all the Divines of those sides that have left Popery would vouchsafe to afford me a wise milde and solid Answer in writing not savouring of partiality prejudice or passion THE Doubting Conscience Resolved In Answer to a pretended Perplexing Question Consideration IT is an old saying that Vniversus Mundus exercet histrioniam but I think never more verified in any Age than in this There was a time when the Devill plaid his part in the shape of a Dragon with seaven heads and ten horns Rev. 12.3 7 9. But after the war in heaven between Michael and his Angells on the one side and the Dragon and his Angells on the other the Dragon was cast out into the earth and his Angells were cast out with him But he continued to play the part of an old Serpent still which deceiveth the whole world Leo Serm. 6. de Epiphan Adversarius qui in apertis inefficax persecutionibus tecta nocendi arte desaevit and no marvell if intelligent spirits are very subdolous and full of craft Bernard in Quadrag Serm. 5. Eum nimis astutum fecit tam natura subtilis quam longa exercitatio malitiae ejus And afterwards he found as powerfull means to doe mischief to the Church of God Gladio oris by the sword of the mouth as formerly he had done ore Gladii by the mouth or edge of the sword even by another Beast who had two horns like the Lamb Rev. 13.11 13. but spake like the Dragon And this Beast first was operative by deceit For he did great wonders so that he made fire to come down
illumination of the Spirit I can hardly think any Christian to be so simple or wilfull to reason thus I and my follower are sure of this thing therefore it is true if they should I see no reason but they might proceed one step further and say I my self alone think this to be true and therefore it is true but the Spirit of illumination is given onely to satisfie them that have it not to boast of it but to comfort themselves with it rather much less to obtrude it upon others onely light naturall is communicable unto others by rationall discourse light spirituall is not I cannot more communicate that to another than my seeing or hearing or smelling or tasting Disc Lastly If we build our Religion only upon the Scriptures the learned shall have a great prerogative above the unlearned in the matter of Faith and Religion and shall be more ingaged in thankefulness unto God than they and so Religion shall favor and cleave to good wits Also many have their senses exercised in the Scriptures or are more inventive than others therefore if a man could by disputing and reasoning consute some Thesis and as it were take away a mans opinion from him and become conqueror he should also take away his Religion and the other should be constrained either to take up his Conquerors Religion or against his conscience to keep his own Nor will that Answer serve the turn our Divines and Pastors can answer you though I cannot for then should I believe with another mans faith but saith must bee mine not another mans else should salvation also be another mans If Religion be the service of God certainly it is necessary that I should understand that service which I must perform to my Lord. Seeing God will not reckon another mans service for mine and cannot be served by a Substitute it remains that wee conclude Controversies are to be left to learned men and are not so very necessary It may be answered Then also Religion is to be left to learned men for Controversies are our very Religion for saving the consideration of them there is no difference but Papists are Protestants and Protestants are Papists look how much a man knowes of Controversies so much doth he know of his own Religion The state of a mans salvation is such as his Religion and his Faith Now there is but one salvation and but one faith But if Controversies belong to the learned onely wherefore have Lay-men indured so many afflictions distresses nay and death it self for these controversies sake I know indeed that a Calvinist Doctor one Doctor Bergius a Preacher at Breme affirms in his late published Sermons that Controversies are not meerly necessary to salvation that the Scripture is plain and clear about those things which are necessary to salvation and that there was never any contrariety between the Religious themselves At which also the Leipsich Collation between the Lutherans and the Calvinists seems to aim Consid In all professions whether liberall or mechanicall the learned have a prerogative above the unlearned and what inconvenience is there if it be so in Christian Religion also Doth not S. Peter tell us that the unlearned pervert the Scripture to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. yet this prerogative is in learning onely not in holiness the unlearned may be as holy as the learned and have as great an interest both in sanctifying grace and in saving glory What said Austin of himself and such like Scholars in comparison of his mother Monica and such like holy though simple women Mulierculae istae lacrimis suis caelum nobis praeripiunt when we have done all we can with all our learning these women with their tears will get heaven before us And as for holiness so for faith an unlearned man may have faith as wel as the learned nay that faith which is called fides infusa may be found in a man unlearned when the faith of him that is learned is found to be no better than fides acquisita a faith naturall and they that have true faith by the inspiration of the holy Ghost shall not want gracious wits howsoever that Religion which is by faith naturall be accompanied with better naturall wits yet an idle wit be it never so good will hardly prove learned and be it never so learned if it be without grace such a mans Religion will prove but vain and though he be able to worst another in disputation yet shall he never pull true Religion in any childe of God be he never so weak and unlearned out of socket because our Faith and Religion consists not in wisdom of words but in the power of the Spirit as S. Paul speaks saying My word and my preaching stood not in the inticing speech of Mans wisdom but in plain evidence of the Spirit and Power That your Faith should not bee in the wisdom of Men but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2.4 5. Nay were my Faith only naturall and I had good evidence out of the Scripture for it though that knowledge be no other than such as is annexed to the common profession of Christianity yet the Philosopher tells me that I must not be beaten out of my hold in such a case because I am not able to answer every Sophism or Argument that is brought against it Nay the Philosopher in his Ethicks teacheth me that some are as tenacious of their opinions for which they have but weak reasons as others are of their opinions which they hold confirmed with great strength of Argument so that every way it is an inficete fiction that the most learned must always conquer the Faith and the Religion of the unlearned without flying to any such sculking hole as to say Our Divines and Pastors can answer you though I cannot But I wonder much that any sober Christian upon any pretence should dispute against the building of our Religion onely upon Scripture unless with Papists hee would bring in Traditions or rely on the Church or on the decision of the Pope For if we fly from the Word of God we must rest either upon the word of Man or upon naturall reason A Christian I conceive should think the Scripture sufficient to direct us in the Service of God Our Saviour directs the Jews to the searching of Scripture for the discerning of him And if Controversies be left to learned men yet there is no cause why our Religion should but onely the defence of it controversially maintaining it by variety of Arguments and deductions out of holy Scripture and solving contrary Arguments brought against it in any particular point of Faith but the profession of it surely shall belong to him that sits at Gamaliels feet as well as to Gamaliel himself nor onely to such as sit at his feet but to such also as follow the plow-tail yea and to the weaker sex of women and to children too for even to such belongeth the Kingdom of God And were
there no book at all written or Sermon preached in any point of Controversies or difference between us yet Papists should be Papists still and not Protestants and Protestants should be Protestants still and not Papists and the Whore of Babylon should bee the VVhore of Babylon still and no Spouse of Christ and Antichrist a false Prophet still and no true Prophet For the faith and profession of a Papist makes him a Papist whether hee writes Controversies or no the smallest part of them being able to perform the task so the Protestants profession and protestation against the corruptions of the Church of Rome makes him a Protestant tho' he never set pen to paper to contend for the Faith once given to the Saints though this be a duty I confess but no common duty belonging unto all but peculiarly appertaining to the man of God able not only to exhort with wholesome doctrine but also to convince them that say against it For Articles of Faith and their profession of them Lay-men have suffered with great constancy and patience but not for controversies though they have been ready to give a reason of their Faith to all that asked it and witness a good confession of it as our Saviour did before Pilate as the Book of Acts and Monuments recordeth of them and S. Paul of our blessed Saviour Doctor Bergius is acknowledged to say as much confessing the Controversies are not very necessary to salvation which I interpret thus not necessary to the being of the Church but onely to her well-being when the Christian Faith is oppugned by Heretikes Between Lutherans and Calvinists we acknowledge there is no difference in fundamentalls as appeareth sufficiently at the Conference at Leipsich Disc This I am perswaded is very true that had the Holy Ghost judged those Controverted Questions necessary to salvation it would have expressed and propounded them in the holy Scripture clearly and plainly seeing those Epistles were sent to simple and Lay-men especially Nor doth it seem likely to be true that ever there were so many Articles of Faith drawn out of them as are now to be read in the Catechisms Common-places and Compounds of Divines As yet there is no certain number of them determined seeing some Divines have propounded more and some fewer and some Religions have in process of time either added or abated whole Articles and after many miseries indured for the defence of some of them entring a way of moderation they have determined that for tolerable and indifferent which before they thought damnable But howsoever there are so many of them that a man may deservedly call in question the precise necessity of them and this seems the best Solution to disintangle and appease perplexed doubtfull and erring Consciences Consid It is a very uncouth speech proceeding from a wilde conceit to say that God would have expressed and appointed Controverted Questions plainly and clearly if they had been necessary It is not the proposition of Controverted Questions though never so plainly and clearly delivered that sets an end to Controversies but the clear and substantiall solution of them for herein that which hath any shew of being necessary is not the proposing of them but the deciding of them and it were a very preposterous course to talk of deciding Controversies before there were any Controversies moved right as if a Physitians wisdom and goodness shoud move him to heal a man before he is wounded rather hee should take care to preserve a mans health that he might not fall into sickness And so Gods wisdom and goodness hath sufficiently provided for the health of his Church through the integrity of Doctrine delivered in his VVord and that in a manner sufficiently intelligible and plain to them that come with honest hearts and studious desires to seek after truth and to imbrace it But S. Paul tells us of oppositions to the truth made by men of corrupt mindes plainly giving us to understand that they came with corrupt mindes to the reading of Gods Word and so pervert it as Peter speaks and thereby pervert themselves first and afterwards they speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wrested things to the corrupting of others and hinder them from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be found in the faith Tit. 1.13 S. Peter exhorts us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 And S. Paul would not have us stand at a stay but grow forward unto perfection There is a plerophory and fulness of faith that we should strive unto and of knowledge as well as of holiness For this life is our way to heaven and still we must draw neerer thitherwards by knowing all that we can know by the Word Deut. 29.29 It is revealed to that purpose and it is able to make the man of God perfect to every good work 2 Tim. 3. last Add unto vertue knowledge saith Peter 2 Pet. 1.5 and Paul prayes on the behalf of the Colossians that they might be fulfilled with the knowledge of Gods Will in all wisdom and spirituall understanding Col. 19. that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing fruitfull in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God v. 10. Why then should we take offence at the multiplying of Articles In all professions men that delight in knowledge are never satisfied nothing is more congruous to our intelligent natures than light of knowledge while we live here on earth we shall never come to ripeness of age in Christ therefore we must be growing still and edifying our selves and one another in our most holy faith the body of Christ must be edified till we come to fulness of age and as we must increase in knowledge so being obnoxious to error it behoves us to labour for the discovery of it more and more That error in taking the number of the Beast 666. to denote onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath indured ever since the dayes of Ireneus that is from the next age after the Apostles and it is now lately discovered and the true meaning substituted in the place thereof as never the like before and it is commendable for men to see their former errors much more to confess them Of all Austins works there are none more tending to his honour and renown than his Retractations wherein he retracts the errors of his Faith and his Confestions where hee acknowledgeth the errors of his life and this is most Christian ingenuity and I think never was any man more renowned in this kinde than he It is necessary for every Christian to strive forwards unto perfection necessitate Praecepti by necessitie of Commandment but if he fail through negligence this is a very pardonable sin upon our confession of it As for things necessary to salvation they are but few but the knowledge of God and the things of God is so sweet to a regenerate tast having already tasted how bountifull the Lord is that he
from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and deceived them that dwelt on earth by the means of his miracles This is that Man of Sin St. Paul speaks of whose comming was in the effectuall power of Satan in signs and lying wonders and in all deceivableness of unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.9 10. and by his cunning practices got at length as many heads to his body and horns to his head as the Dragon had and got him a mistress too like himself the Whore of Babylon whom John saw Rev. 17.6 drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus Witness the slaughters made and barbarous outrages committed upon the Waldenses who first proclamed to the world that Rome was the Whore of Babylon and the Pope Antichrist But in these later days the Lord hath blasted that Man of Sin with the breath of his mouth and broken off many horns of the Beast which hath provoked those Antichristian Generations in a very high degree Rev. 12. and the Devill undoubtedly hath now greater wrath than ever because he knoweth that he hath but a short time Now of late yeers his greatest Proctors the Jesuits have not spared to profess despair of prevailing in their cause by disputation as appears by Westons Preface to his Book De triplici hominis statu The Gordian knot of Controversies in Religion must be cut assunder by some Alexanders sword Belike this sect was privy to some intentions on foot for the raising of such Meteors as at length have broken forth into those storms which since have exercised all Germany if not all Christendom in the West And I have read a discourse written by one who was sometimes Secretary to the Pope discovering the practices of those times and relating a counsell for the propagating of Religion erected and instituted by Clemens Octavus that whining Pope thereby concealing the bloody and barbarous intention of his heart some say that for all his whining he was as impure as bloody Now these courses wherewith they travelled many years being now brought forth unto the light I wonder not a little that they persist in their motive learning which of all others is of the basest allay and hath more of the nature of a charm than of a medicine to cure Error in a rationall way For I cannot be perswaded otherwise but that some vile Jesuite hath an hand in this Argument to style himself a Preacher of the Gospell for though he holds the Pope to be Judge of Controversies yet I presume when he preacheth he doth not take his Text out of the Popes Canons but out of the Word of God and we know there are Dutch Jesuits as well as Spanish Jesuits and I have heard that when the Arminian quarrells were rife in the Netherlands some Jesuits have insinuated themselves amongst them and preached in their Congregations to promote the Arminian cause though not known to be any other than their own Ministers This Preacher of the Gospell shapes his discourse at pleasure calling it a Perplexing Question or a Doubtfull Case of Conscience whereas it contains nothing but a threed-bare and old worn-out Argument he was ashamed to say that it proceeds concerning the Scripture lest the conscience of every sober Christian should rise against it therefore he balks that and shapes it to proceed Concerning the foundation of the Religion of the Protestants and others which have made a separation from the Pope Now this foundation is no other than the Scripture of the Prophets and Apostles which S. Paul calls the foundation whereupon the Church is built And the Perplexing Question and Doubtfull Case of Conscience comes to this Whether the Scripture or the Pope be the foundation whereupon the Church is built I do not well understand what he means by distinguishing those who have made a separation from the Pope into Protestants and others for none separate from the Pope but by reason of the corruptions they finde in the Church of Rome in the way of Error and Heresie Superstition and Idolatry and their bloody and barbarous disposition against all those that cannot brook her abominations and Protestants have their name from their protestation against these their courses As for the Question Whether any Christian bee altogether and infallibly certain of his Faith and Religion by the holy Scriptures and safely rely upon it against all tentations and objections Is this the Perplexing Question Is this the Doubtfull Case of Conscience It is now above 1600. years since Christs Resurrection and the comming down of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost who ever was known to make question of this in the Church of God untill this last hundred years wherein so great and generall a separation hath been made not from the Church of God but from communion with the Church of Rome After Christs practice in incountring Satan and that after a manner competent to every simple Christian not discovering the Devills adulterating the Text Psal 91. He shall give his Angells charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes which last clause in all thy ways the Devill omitted but replying Mat. 4. It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God and reprehending the Sadduces for not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God imputing their error to this their ignorance and shewing how little need there is that any man should rise from the dead to tell men of that place of torment in case they have Moses and the Prophets and that who so will not believe Moses and the Prophets neither will they believe though a man rise from the dead Luk. 16. and counselling the Jews to search the Scriptures Joh. 5. and justifying them in their opinion thinking them to be sufficient to direct them unto everlasting life Afterwards the Apostles submitted their Doctrine to be examined by the Word of God The Bereans being commended for this Act. 7. and professing that the Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Tim. 3.15 After the antient Fathers have called the triall of Controversies to the Word of God and Constantine at the Councill of Nice referred all the Bishops there assembled to proceed according to this and both Chrysostome and Austin have professed that all things necessary to salvation are clearly set down in Scripture and in the Controversie between Hierome and Austin about Pauls reproving Peter whether it were done seriously or in pretence onely Hierome pleading variety of Fathers for his way and Austin opposing the clear evidence of the Text against them all And Papists themselves many of the more ingenious sort of them having been found to confess that the last resolution of our faith ought to be made into the Word of God and the contradictory nature of the Popish Tenet in proving the true Church by the Scriptures and the Scriptures by the Church having been made manifest to
the world by Divines After all this I say that a Preacher of the Gospell should be brought upon the Stage to propose such a Question as Whether any Christian can bee certain of his faith by the holy Scriptures nor propose it onely but to call it A Perplexed Question and a Doubtfull Case of Conscience is so unshamefast a course as in my judgment it becometh none but such an one as hath a mores forehead and cannot be ashamed Yet I consider the condition of these present times in Germany where the Antichristian Congregations have confederated themselves and taken counsell against Gods Secretaries and as Pharaoh pursued the Israelites thinking to overtake them and that their lust should be satisfied upon them so these have not onely thought so but done so it is not impossible but that some weak Preacher of the Gospell may fall into their hands and be so charmed with fears or hopes or both as to be drawn unto their lure and brought to do them this piece of service as to propose such a Question and name the child after this manner For these times are the very hour and power of darkness and Satan is not yet bound though we trust his binding is not far off And it is not strange that men should be given over to believe lies and to become some Jesuits Proctor calling men to relieve a scrupulous and perplexed conscience and to intreat all Christians especially the Calvinists Divines and Preachers with all due respect to give a Solution to this proposed Question and this in Dutch whereas I had thought that this Question had neither being life or motion in any other part of the Christian world but onely in this our England Well let us consider wherein the perplexity of this Question consists or what it is that makes it Disc Our Religion is our Faith Faith either saves or condemus justly ought we therefore to be able to understand and prove our Faith Cansid The first proposition That our Religion is our Faith is brought in to no purpose the Argument here used subsists well enough without it such as it is The faith that saves is an act in man but that which is to be proved is no act in man but the object of that act the thing believed what conscience the Author of this discourse had I know not but I doubt he will appear to be but of little wit Disc But now there ariseth a great doubt to me and others of the simpler sort of Christians Whether it be possible for us to have an infallible certainty of our Faith out of the holy Scriptures and so consequently to rely and trust to this faith as to an unshaken foundation Consideration Let my Faith be never so certain and my Repentance and good works never so sincere I trust neither to the one nor to the other Christ is the Rock and foundation whereupon Gods Church is built upon which we are built by the knowledge of Christ and faith in Christ and in him alone I trust both for the keeping of me in this knowledge and faith of Christ and for the bringing of me thereby unto salvation as Paul saith 1 Cor. 1.20 I know whom I have trusted and I know that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him And 1 Cor. 1.30 God hath made him unto us wisdom and righteousness sanctification and redemption Who so doubts whether it be possible to have any certainty of faith out of the holy Scriptures I demand of him whether he doubts of the possibility for a man to have any certain faith at all or no if he doubts whether this be possible who seeth not that it is more fit this Question should be proposed in the first place and upon the solution thereof and not afore to proceed to inquire by what this certainty may be had if he doubts not but that this is possible let him shew us how or by what means he is assured hereof as namely whether by naturall reason or by the word of the Pope or by the word of an Angell And indeed if the Question were proposed indifferently and fairly with distinction we should soon perceive how little cause there is to call this a Perplexed Question or a Doubtfull case of Conscience though these forms savour of no learning nor judgement for the perplexity that is found in this Argument is not in the Question if it be it is the meer fault of the propounder exhibiting it in perplexed terms the meaning whereof cannot be easily unfolded but rather in finding out the truth thereof and that is onely in case the reasons be of equall moment on both sides wherewith the truth is incombred so that the light and convincing evidence thereof cannot easily break forth and appear Then as for a case of Conscience that is a very alien notion and ill applied in this place for cases of Conscience are onely touching what we ought to doe in a certain case but this is onely touching possibility of assurance as Whether we can have any certain faith by the holy Scriptures But let us proceed distinctly And 1. Let us inquire Whether a man can have any certain faith at all I answer 1. They may for many have had it as it is defined by S. Paul Heb. 11. to be the evidence of things not seen the ground of things hoped for and there the Apostle reckons up a Catalogue of many that had such a faith I presume the propounder of this if he be a Christian makes no question hereof And that Abraham the Father of the faithfull Rom. 4.18 19 20. was such a one who against hope believed in hope and being not weak in faith he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God and that all the true children of Abraham have the like faith as Abraham had 2. But then let us distinguish when we treat of possibility this may be understood either in reference to the power of Nature or in respect of the power of God and according to this distinction I answer That it is utterly impossible to believe this by power of Nature Mat. 16. Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in heaven and 1 Cor. 2.14 The naturall man perceives not the things of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And Esa 53.1 Who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of God been revealed And Joh. 12.39 Therefore they could not believe because Esaias saith again he hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them And Rom. 8.8 They that are in the flesh cannot please God and consequently they cannot have faith for surely by faith we please God But then on the other side it is most
who are in the right and charity will forbid us rashly to pass this censure upon them who are in the wrong And as I finde defect of love in them who pass such censures hand over head upon their opposites so I finde wnat of judgment in this Author who puts it upon a mans Oath to clear himself of going against his conscience in the Tenets he maintaineth for he that saith a thing against his conscience is next door by to the swearing of it But these are such idle and addle conceits that it causeth no small indignation in me to wast precious time in them which might be better spent on worthier subjects Disc Obj. 3. It may be objected Perhaps they may be forestalled with preconceived opinions Ans I answer How You will say they accustome themselves from their cradles to their own Religion forsaking the Bible and other Books I answer This is true in Popery but not in Calvinists and others which urge the Bible more than we do These have more freedom than we have to trie other Religions Do not the children of the Lutherans also inure themselves to trie Religion from their childhood Do they learn a Popish or Calvinisticall Catechism before they have learned a Lutheran one Is not that a mans Religion to which he accustoms himself How doth a child or a Lay-man that hath been taught no Religion know what is Lutheranism or Calvinism Doth he not take that Religion which is first offered to him Besides no fore-conceited Opinion is so fast rooted but that it will give place to clear demonstrations which is confessed among all Therefore we shall never be able to confute any Religion with the Objection of fore-conceived opinions What shall I say more Doe other Religions want civill learning There are found amongst them sufficiently learned and ingenious men and oftentimes they have much better and fitter means for the advancement of Learning than the Lutherans have especially the Papists who make choice of the best wits whom they imploy in a manner from their cradles to their full age in nothing else but study meditation and continuall exercises and do abundantly supply them with all things which serve or seem to serve for their furthering and forwarding and with all care and diligence do remove and take away whatsoever causeth or seems to cause any hindrance of their course They study the Scriptures and Fathers night and day and refuse no labour in learning the foundation of their own Religion and in knowing and understanding the Errors of others Nay the method and manner of learning of comparing the Scriptures of interpreting according to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Faith of bringing in sense to the Scriptures and such other rules cannot be unknown to them Consid Who is not forestalled with preconceived opinions Is not every one brought up in the Religion of his Parents which yet breeds but a naturall complying with it be it the best Religion untill God by his Spirit of Regeneration opens their eyes to apprehend the power of God and the wisdom of God therein without which in their most zealous profession of it for their fathers sake and their education sake they will prove no better than hypocrites and factious rather than conscionable in the maintenance of it which yet may be done with as great strength of learning as a naturall man is capable of And though it be a false way wherein they have been brought up and bred and they as zealous and factious in maintaining it as ever Saul was who made havock of the Church and entred into every house and drew out both men and women and put them in prison yet the Lord in the middest of his persecutions met with him in the way and confounded him and struck him with blindness naturall to minde him thereby of his blindness spirituall but afterwards opened his eyes and brought him out of darkness unto light and made him not onely a Professor of that way of the Gospell which before he persecuted but a famous Preacher of it also even the great Doctor of the Gentiles So saith Peter of the Jewes to whom hee wrote that they were redeemed from their vain consersation received by Tradition of their Fathers And as this was true of the Jewes so of the Gentiles also as Jeremiah prophesied Jer. 16.19 The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the world and shall say surely our fore-fathers have inherited lies and vanity wherein there was no profit And Isaiah also I have been sought of them that asked not I was found of them that sought me not I said Behold me behold me to a Nation that was not called by my Name Some while the Apostles and Evangelists abstained from preaching to the Gentles and Peter was called in question for going in and preaching Christ unto the Gentiles Act. 11.19 And they that were scattered abroad because of the persecution that arose about Stephen went throughout till they came unto Phenice and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the Word to no man but the Jews only v. 20. Now some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene which when they were come to Antioch spoke unto the Grecians and preached the Lord Jesus v. 21. And the hand of the Lord was with them so that a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. See how suddenly they turned from Idolls to serve the living God quite contrary to the Traditions received of their fore-fathers So true is that of Leo Vbi Deus Magister est quam citò dissitur quod docetur So that these were as little trained up in the Bible and other Books of Christian Religion as the Papists yea and far less Any man hath freedom to try other Religions have not we Christians freedom to try the Religion of the Jews and of the Turks and God abandons some to turn Turks and Papists have liberty to try our Protestant Religion Vergerius did so a Popish Bishop with a purpose to refute it but the hand of God was with him to open his eyes as with Saul and he turned Protestant By these words Calvinists and others urge the Bible more than we doe it appears this Author is no Calvinist so by the words following Do not the children of the Lutherans also inure themselves to their Religion from their childhood also do argue that this Author is no Lutheran so that what to make of him I know not for he would not seem to be a Papist it seems he is yet to choose his Religion And yet if this course of his be serious it is considerable but he needs not go far for an Answer to so superficiary a Discourse as this It is true naturally every one is apt to be of the Religion he received of his Fathers but without illumination divine though he be in the right way yet shall he have no comfortable apprehension of it and by illumination divine Saul of a Persecutor shall become a Preacher
and the Gentiles shall have their eyes opened and be brought out of darkness into light and from the power of Satan unto God though blindness come upon Israel as they have been held under it now for 1600. years A very absurd thing it is to say we shall never be able to confute any Religion with the objection of fore-conceived opinions For this may be objected to them that are in the right way as well as to them that are in a wrong way and undoubtedly the true way may be imbrac'd in a wrong manner For they are not all Israel that are of Israel Rom. 9. God threatens sometimes to visit the circumcised with the uncircumcised and the reason why the Lord gave the Christian world over to illusions to believe lies was because they received not the love of the truth As for civill learning surely there wanted not both civill and naturall knowledge among the Gentiles more than enough for this made them esteem the Cross of Christ foolishness which yet to them that are saved is the power of God For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will cast away the understanding of the prudent Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this world Hath not God made the wisdom of this world foolishness For seeing the world by wisdom knew not God in the wisdom of God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.18 18 19 20 21. And shall we now think that civill learning and naturall ingenuity prefers men to the grace of God or makes them the more fit to receive the Gospell Of Princes who more famous for naturall parts learning wisdom ingenuity than Trajan and Mareus Antonius of inferiour condition than Plinie the second the Officer of Trajan who speaks in commendations of the innocency of Christians yet neither of these became a Christian nay both these Princes were persecutors of the Church of God and at Athens for all their learning which made them renowned throughout the world who were converted by Pauls preaching there but Dionysius and Damaris and some other Act. 17. last Papists are great Scholars undoubtedly not in Logick and Philosophie onely and that in all kindes but in Divinity also and that in the most learned way Aquinas a great Divine his Sums I have heard Doctor Reynolds call it that absolute Body of Divinitie but his wit served him to serve that Churches turn in those days and in maintaining Idolatry he is the most shamefull Writer that ever was for he will have the Image worshipped with the same honour that is due to the thing represented by it and that by an Argument drawn out of Aristoile Dememoria reminiscentia opposed herein by Durand and Picus Mirandula and others I remember what Cicero said of the Grecians Do illis eruditionem do Doctrinam filem Religionem nunquam Coluerunt yet I will not say so of the Church of Rome though one sometimes did I know it was renowned for faith all the world over in the dayes of S. Paul but a degenerate time came and as at the first preaching of the Gospell men turned from Idolls to to serve the living God so in after Ages even Christians and Roman Christians as much as any if not more turned from the living God to serve Idolls and the Whore of Babylon who made all Nations drunken with the blood of Gods Saints is clearly the Church of Rome as it is at this day and hath been for many generations whatsoever their learning be the greater advantage they have for the countenancing of their Errors Heresies Superstitions and Idolatries which yet we nothing fear The Apostle hath taught us to esteem no knowledge but this even of Christ and him crucified Si Christum descis nihil est si caetera nescis si Christum nescis nihil est si caetera discis And if we fear not their learning much less have we cause to fear their wit or wisdom either or whatsoever projects of theirs likewise none of these should in common reason commend their Religion God usually infatuating the wisdom of the wise They have all furtherance I confess beyond us yet God hath not tied himself to annex his truth to these furtherances least of all if they be imployed not indifferently to the investigation of truth but prejudicately to support their own cause the madness whereof hath been in these later dayes made known to the world more than ever The triall whereof we make by the Touch-stone of Gods Word according to the counsel of God himself To the Law and to the Testimonies if they speak not according to this it is because there is no light in them Esai 8. Yet we study Scriptures and Fathers too as well as they and we have them amongst us that yeeld to them not a jot nay do we not study their writings too much more than our own I willingly profess I have done so all along that I might come acquainted with their best strength and fastness in all which I find nothing but illusions in the maintenance of those Tenets wherein we differ from them As for interpreting of Scriptures it is well known they have been brought unto it per force so was Cajetan in his old years after he had tasted of Luthers course who would admit of no other Authority in dispute but the Word of God And their Commentaries for the most part are but a Mass of Collections out of others yet I despise them not I am content to use them as soon as any of our own not so much to learn by them as to observe how they strain their wits to quench that light of truth which in most places breaks forth to the discovering of their Errors Well they may talk of bringing no sense to the Scriptures but their practice is nothing answerable Discourse But perhaps God hath not granted them his Spirit and his grace I answer God being sought unto and solicited to by prayers denies to no man his Grace and Spirit of Truth Now men of other Religions crave of God the enlightning of their minde and direction in a right way no less than our selves nay as far as we can discern perhaps with a greater fervency and zeal neither are we to think that they ask it out of hypocrisie and with dissimulation and that so they would mock God therefore it is to be taken for granted that the Spirit is where the fruits of the Spirit are found of which none ought to boast above others Nay more the knowledge of understanding the Scriptures is a peculiar gift of the Spirit which is granted no less to others than to us It is true indeed that he onely understands the Scriptures which hath the Spirit that dictated them and as it is in worldly laws no Doctors interpretation or deciding doth justifie till the Law-giver approve that deciding Yet he that boasteth of such approbation
will be carried as naturally to desire the sincere milk of the Word that he may grow thereby as new born babes do desire the milk of their mothers breasts 1 Pet. 2.1 As for perplexed and doubting and erring Consciences men may perplex themselves and raise doubts causlesly and erre in this and this error will be the greater when after all this they pretend perplexity and doubts made unto them when they are onely the mists which themselves have raised to blear their own eyes and such a work I think is never more inauspiciously performed than when they set their wits on work to dispute themselves out of the Lords verge and circle within the compass whereof alone he useth to charm all his Elect after they have run their wilde race and compass and bring them home like the prodigal child to his father so them to their heavenly father and therewithall to the sobriety of their wits and integrity of their senses that they may say Oh what love have I to thy Law all the day long is my study in it the Law of thy mouth is deerer to me than thousands of gold and silver by this I have more understanding than my Teachers Indeed the Law of the Lord is a perfect Law converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom to the simple yea and such wisdom as maketh wise unto salvation and what should we desire more Disc But could so many Divines of former Ages be ignorant of this Have there not so many Wars been undertaken for this cause Could those learned men suffer so many thousands of men to run headlong hoth by doing and suffering into the hazard of body and soul for Religions sake and so many unspeable mischiefs to arise whenas it is possible for a man to be saved without the Controversies of Religion But if this be the command of God under the pain of temporall and everlasting punishment to fight for those Controversies how can we excuse those shuffling arguments of Faith Religion and Gods Worship A Servant may not abate any thing of his Lords due Consid Be ignorant of this of what That Controversies are not necessary to salvation how doth that appear they deserved any such censure but let 's not please our selves in confusion of things that deserve to be distinguished A man yea an whole Nation may live in peace without war but if they are not suffered to live in peace but some enemy or other invades them as Aram before and the Philistins behinde ready to devour us with open mouth shall we sit still with our hands in our bosome till these monsters devour us one after another as Polyphemus intended to deal with Vlysses and his souldiers though he shewed him this favour that he should be the last that should go to pot This is the condition of Gods Church and hath been from the very dayes of the Apostles inclusively the mysteries of godliness being now revealed in Gods word Many there be that cannot digest these mysteries and submit unto them by faith but though they imbrace the truths of the Gospell in som particulars yet they resist it in others or pretending to imbrace it they pervert wrest it by corrupt interpretation In this case are not the Orthodox driven to hold their own and as S. Jude exhorts them to contend earnestly for the faith once given to the Saints and to indeavour to kill error rather than to suffer errour to strangle the holy truth of God open the truth of God which is according unto godliness rather to root out weeds than to suffer them to over-grow the good corn Thus we are cast upon Controversies whether wee will or no yet this is not a dutie that belongs to all many yea most shall be saved without it like as when an enemy invades us we gather an Army against them to oppose them and drive them out the rest pray for their fellow-brethren but do not fight yet by this war they may have as great an interest in the desired peace as those that fight for it Thus Chamayar of the French Church hath written his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bella Domini the Wars of the Lord against the Philistines the Antichristian Philistines of the Church of Rome scarce one hath done the like yet many sons of that honourable Church have done valiantly but Chamayer hath surmounted them all every one doth not gird himself with the sword upon the thigh at all but onely those who are the Lords Naunchan his instructed ones for these who are overseers and keepers of the Tower of David built for defence a thousand shields hung therein and all the Targets of the strong men Cant. 4.4 and these are well acquainted with them and know how to use them yea and to handle the sword too as expert in war and in this holy war they will be content to hazard their life as S. Paul professeth saying and now I go bound to Jerusalem in the Spirit not knowing what things shall come unto me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every like saying that bonds and afflictions abide me but I pass not for these things neither is my life deer unto me so I may fulfill my course with joy and the Ministration which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospell of the grace of God As for the shuffling Arguments here spoken of when I know them I shall upon due consideration pass my judgement on them as I see cause A man may sophisticate I confess in making Arguments but shuffling courses commonly have place in shifting them off by an undue solution Wee know what Pauls course was he fought with Beasts at Ephesus and Stephens fortunes too when certain of the Synagogue which were called Libertines and Cyrenians disputed with Stephen did not he also dispute with them The Text saith expresly they were not able to resist the wisdom of the Spirit by which he spake If Lam offered up saith Paul upon the sacrifice and service of your faith I rejoyce therein and will joy Dis Let this thing be considered seeing it is so intricate and lead me and many others into disquiet of minde for which perplexities of Conscience none will deny that a remedy is to be sought at the hands of those that have Christian fellow-feeling and might be found if all the Divines of those sides that have left Popery would vouchsafe to afford me a wise milde and solid Answer in writing not savouring of partiality prejudice or passion Consid When Boste was taken by the States there was seen in the wall a Bishop sometimes of that town painted with Christ and his blood on the one side and the Virgin Mary and her breasts sprouting milk on the other side and the devout Bishop was represented there in the gesture of a man in great perplexity and ambiguity not knowing well which to prefer whether Christs blood before Maries milk or Maries