This is the Christian Truth Our singular Glory whereby We are distinguished from all those who profess any other Religions whatsoever whether of the Unbelieving Iews or the Idolatrous Gentiles or the Deluded Saracens and Turks or downright Atheists and others of a like Perverse Perswasion These all Err especially the three first Ranks of Men by not knowing or not imbracing the Scriptures which are deservedly stiled The Word of Truth and are the only supreme Rule of Faith and Doctrin We then who imbrace this Christian Rule are Blessed with that Institution which is Pure and Undefiled which is grounded on undoubted Revelation which is backed by a more sure Word of Prophecy which hath a divine Impress stamped upon it So that Our Religion as far surmounts all Others as the Gold which hath passed the Refiners Fire and hath the Royal Stamp upon it outbids the common Ore and shames its Dross and meaner Alloy You see then which are the unalterable Standards of Truth viz. Reason and Revelation the Light of Nature and of Scripture And I dare confidently aver that if our Enquiries and Determinations in Religion were faithfully managed by these two it were impossible to fail of Truth If we would but act thus as Men and Christians and that is as we ought to do we cannot miss of it For it is certainly the Purchase of all those who make a right Use of their Rational Powers and also help and direct those Powers by the Revelation of the Sacred Spirit in the Holy Scriptures By these two we may examine the Truth of the Whole Christian Religion and we shall find that it will abide the Test. By these Standards of Truth we may examine the Doctrins of all Seducers that are abroad in the World and we shall find them to be False and Adulterate If we would sincerely follow these Rules the great Diversity of Opinions and Sentiments amongst us would soon be reconciled If we would faithfully take these Measures i.e. always be Ruled and Conducted by Reason and Scripture we should easily agree upon what is to be believed and asserted in Religion and all our Disputes and Controversies would vanish Now from what hath been hitherto Discoursed we may in some good measure be able not only to return an Answer to Pilates Question What is Truth but to another near a kin to it viz. What is Error and Falshood All Propositions which contradict the common Notices and first Principles in our Minds and which affront right Reason and the plain Deductions made from it are to be looked upon as False And on the same account those Assertions which overthrow the Verdict of our Senses and much more those that imply Contradictions in them and consequently Impossibilities cannot be True And on These Grounds I might shew that the Divinity of some High-flown Enthusiasts and the Doctrin of the Roman Catholicks concerning Transubstantiation are justly to be impeached of Falshood Again whatsoever Assertions in any Religion are repugnant to Divine Revelation to God's Will declared by some Positive Law to such Discoveries as are known to be immediately from Heaven these must necessarily be False And on this Ground the Religion of the Pagans Iews and Mahometans must be voted to be such because they oppose an Infallible Revelation and That confirmed by unparallelled Miracles And semblably in Christianity all those Tenents of several Sects which bid defiance to any part of the Sacred Scripture which is left us by the Holy Ghost as the generality of the Roman Opinions the Doctrins of Pelagians Socinians Anabaptists Antinomians Libertines Quakers Hobbians c. are False and Erroneous Thus far then by vertue of the Premises we have advanced that when there are several Claims and Pretences to Truth and it is enquired What Judge shall decide the Controversy the Answer must be That Right Reason and Inspired Scripture are the only Judges they being the fixed Standards and Measures of Truth But then here will lie the main Difficulty of all that in the Questions and Debates of Religion Scripture is quoted with equal Vigor and Confidence on all Sides as if what the Iewish Rabbies say of Scripture That it hath Seventy-two Faces were the received Opinion of Christians Nay some of these seem to acknowledge by their strange way of Interpreting it That it hath not only different but contrary Aspects When therefore there are Disputes about Scripture-Interpretation What must we do How can we discern what is Truth by Consulting of Scripture when as that is Dubious and Uncertain If contrary Sects and Parties quote it and plead it how can it be a fixed Standard of Truth How is it an unerring Guide It might suffice to say in General That it is no wonder that all Opinionists even the Wildest of them make use of Scripture yea a great Part of the Turks Alcoran is express Words of the Bible It is no wonder I say since Scripture was quoted by Satan himself who when he Tempted our Saviour misapplied it to the vilest Purpose But particularly to satisfie this Great and Affrighting Difficulty we may inform our selves that in Religion there are Five Sorts of Enquiries and Doctrines Now I will briefly shew how Scripture is to be made use of and when it is fit to Apply it to any of these Particulars I. Some Points of our Religion are in themselves Mystical and Profound and the Sacred Writings having not Explained them it cannot be expected that we should ever do it Such Difficult and Sublime Doctrines as the Mystery of the Sacred Trinity i.e. a Trinity of Divine Persons in the Unity of the Godhead the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in One Person the Manner of the Resurrection and the like are not to be throughly known by us as long as we sojourn on Earth These are like the Book in the Revelation which none is able to open in Heaven or in Earth but the Lamb. And seeing he is not pleased to Unfold them to us we must Admire and Adore them but not be sollicitous to Comprehend them We are to remember this that some Things must be believed on the mere Authority of the Speaker and it argues Infidelity to question the Truth of them or so much as to be Inquisitive about them The Things are spoken by God therefore we ought to give Credit to them The Manner and Circumstances of them are not discovered therefore I 'm obliged not to pry into them This was the Sense and Practice of the Primitive Christians as we may learn from Origen who tells us That the believing some Articles of Faith on the bare Authority of the Scriptures was objected to the Christians by the Heathens Their Complaint against them was That they would neither give nor receive a Reason of their Faith but were wont to cry out Examine not but believe Here likewise I may rank some Insuperable Problems concerning the Divine Decrees and Predestination the Abstruseness of which forbids
to defame libel and blaspheme Christianity and all the Mysteries of it and they make use of their Reason to make void their Faith But now all this may be prevented and hindred by a humble and Christian submission to the Sacred Oracles by a free resigning our selves to the Faith of the Gospel and by giving credit to it Articles because they are deliver'd and attested by God himself in the Infallible Writings which even Reason it self dictates to be the best Method we can take to establish and confirm us in our Religion and to assure us of the Truth of all its doctrines be they never so perplexed and mysterious Nor doth this introduce a Blind Credulity and such an Implicit Faith as some of the Romanists defend for when we resign up our judgments to Divine Revelation we are not debarr'd from examining and searching into and satisfying our selves about the Truth of the things we speak of but only of the Mode of them Which makes it a quite different thing from the practice of the Roman Proselytes who are bid to swallow down whatever is dictated to them and that upon the bare Authority and Warrant of the Church But here is no such crude Method prescribed we are to search the Scriptures whether these things be so and we are to make use of Reason to shew and convince us how fitting it is that we should believe what is reveal'd by the Spirit of God For seeing since the Revolt and Original Depravation of Man we stand in need of Revelation to direct us right Reason tells us that it is unsafe to rely on the bare suggestions of our own minds in the great matters of Religion This acquaints us that though we are not capable of answering all difficulties in those Points yet we are oblig'd to give credit to the doctrines themselves because they are founded on Scripture which was divinely inspired This Principle in us assures us that though we can't fully explain these things by Reason yet we have reason to believe the Holy Writ which is the Rule and Measure of our Faith yea notwithstanding those Points seem to thwart the natural principles of Reason Thus far we have Reason on our side And then for Scripture that is wholly and entirely ours Those Grand Articles which our Antagonists renounce are found there Particularly to instance in that Great and Celebrated Doctrine which I have so often mention'd one would think it might suffice that this is so directly so plainly so frequently asserted in the New Testament where we find Three expresly named Father Son and Holy Ghost to whom the Divinity is ascribed and therefore we believe these Three to be One God But how these three distinct Hypostases are one Entire Indivisible Essence is an ineffable and incomprehensible Mystery Yet though we can't conceive the Manner of this yet the Thing it self is clearly and plainly reveal'd in Scripture and consequently the Socinians have no cause to brag that theirs is an Accountable and Reasonable Faith when it absolutely opposes and contradicts the Holy Oracles of the Bible This is the true state of the matter and so it was thought to be by that Learned Writer whom I before quoted who hath the repute even among these men of a Person of Great Reason and Sense speaking of them he thus expresses himself Their Opinion I look upon as fundamentally repugnant to Christianity it self if the New Testament be the foundation of Christianity for I know nothing more express than That viz. the Trinity in those Writings And therefore the denying of the Trinity is the denying of the Authority of the New Testament Or if they will pretend they can interpret things there so as to evade this doctrine by the same reason I think they may evade any and so still the Sacred Writ shall stand for a Cypher and signifie nothing which tends mainly to the enervating of our Faith These are very Weighty words and the more to be consider'd by our Adversaries because they come from One of a Large Compass of Mind and a great Asserter of Reason in Religion which is a thing that these Gentlemen pretend much to The sum of what he saith is this that if the Scripture be true the doctrine of the Trinity is so too if Divine Revelation in the books of the New Testament is to be believ'd then this also must be embraced And on this very account it hath been embraced by all religious and pious minds that have had a reverence for the Holy Scriptures As it was the Faith once delivered to the Saints so it hath ever since been the steady belief of all the Martyrs and Confessors of Iesus and all the True Professors of Christianity and it hath with invincible force in all ages of the Church born down all opposition that hath been made against it And I question not but those violent Efforts and Insults which have been and are made against it in this present Age will prove vain and successless Though we have seen the rain descend and the flouds come and the winds blow and beat upon it yet it shall never fall because it is founded upon a rock the same Rock on which the Church of Christ is built viz. the Confession and Testimony of the Inspired Apostles the Truth and Authority of the Scriptures the Veracity of God and the Certainty of Divine Revelation And all the other Sacred Mysteries of our Religion have the very same stable foundation and therefore are Impregnable Let this then satisfie us that these Doctrines are sufficiently reveal'd though they are not fully known I say they are sufficiently revealed because the Book of God assure us that these things are so but they are not fully known because we are not able to discover the Arguments on which they are founded we discern not the foot on which they stand God hath been pleas'd to hide this from us But then this is to be said It is not reasonable to renounce our belief of that which is plain and evident because it is mix'd with something which is dark and intricate It was an Excellent Caution and Rule of the Great St. Augustine Nunquid ideo negandum quod apertum est quia comprehendi non potest quod occultum est The Truth of a Doctrine may be evident and perspicuous and that is sufficient to command our Assent tho' the Nature of it is not The Modes and Circumstances appertaining to Divine things are not to be accounted for at least if we cannot clear them up we have no reason to quit the Grand Truths themselves These are not to be abandon'd because they are not according to our ordinary level because we are not able to render a punctual account of them because we cannot perfectly Gauge them and sound them to the very bottom in a word because they are not subject to the Tribunal of Reason But if we have any regard to the Sacred and Infallible Volume
a curious and close Enquiry But This is most true That Modesty is the most commendable Vertue here Theâ—doret saith well I think it Boldness to pronounce peremptorily concerning those Things of which the Sacred Scripture delivers nothing plainly God was not pleased to deliver all things with equal Evidence and why then should we undertake to make every Thing Plain and Demonstrable Or why are we Angry if others think some things are not so Those Words which I meet with in one of St. Ierom's Epistles are Admirable and are worth the Observation of those especially who are Students of Divinity When we search saith he with too much Nicety and Curiosity into those things which God would not have us know but hath purposely concealed from us we catch only at Shadows we entertain and busy our selves with Trifles we quit the Fountain Truth and run after the fruitless Streams of meer Opinion and Fancy Let us fix this on our Minds That there are some unsearchable Mysteries and it was designed by the All-Wise God that we should not be acquainted with them We may say here as Seneca concerning the Nature of Comets God only whose sole Prerogative is to have a perfect Knowledge of Truth knows these things to be true and the very manner of them tho' it be hid from us When we peremptorily say this or that concerning these obscure Matters we may Err and we cannot tell when we do but when we determine nothing precisely above what is determined in Scripture we are sure we do not Err and we are sure of this too that we are not guilty of Distorting and Misinterpreting the Word of God which is a Fault very frequent in these Cases To conclude this Particular Let not weak Christians be troubled that there are several Passages in the Bible which they cannot clearly understand I assure them that they may be Ignorant of the full meaning and manner of them and yet their Salvation is not endangered thereby And as to our Deportment towards others with respect to these Points seeing we cannot perfectly explain them why should we be Angry at those who embrace a different Perswasion concerning the manner of these things II. Many things in Religion are made difficult merely by Disputes and Quarrels and if the Holy Scriptures were Plainer than they are yea never so Plain yet Wrangling Heads would fall a Disputing and make way for Error by that means And here it is their way commonly to make use of one or two places of Scripture and to oppose them against a whole heap of other Texts The old Hereticks those Interfectores Vâ—ritatis as Tertullian calls them those Murtherers and Assasines of Truth frequently used this way A few Texts yea sometimes a single one shall serve to baffle a great number It might be shewed in particular Instances how Erroneous Doctrines are grounded on some Mens attending to one or a very few Places of Scripture whilâ—t in the mean time they take no notice of several and divers Texts which look another way Nay not only a few Texts but those also which are very dark and obscure difficult and knotty are oftentimes weilded and managed against very plain and direct Places of Scripture This was observed by that Learned Father whom I last mentioned One Chapter saith he in the Bible where some Ambiguous Words are is brought by them to Confront a numerous Company and Host of Texts But this is an Indirect Method for it is most Just and Reasonable that a few Places of Scripture should yield to many obscure ones to the plainer doubtful to the certain that Those should be judged and decided by These not vice versa that so amidst this seeming Discord and Discrepancy our Belief may not be shaken and that the Truth may not be endangered and that the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures may not be thought to be Inconsistent with its self as that Excellent Person saith in another Place It is an useful Rule therefore of St. Austin To explain obscure Places of Scripture let us use the Assistance of those that are plainer and by the Certainty and Clearness of some let the Doubtfulness of others be taken away This may be serviceable to us when we read the Scriptures and when we would be satisfied about some Controversies which arise thence But alas this Holy Book is Ruffled and Intangled by wilful Mistakes and Disputes wherein it is common to Wrest the Words and to Oppose one part of them to another instead of Adjusting the whole Matter by a fair Reconcilement To Instance Nothing is Plainer in the Book of God than this That he hath fully Decreed and Predetermined whatever shall come to pass and Nothing is more Plain in the said Holy Volume than this That Man is a free Agent and is not Constrained and Compelled but what he willeth he willeth freely All sober Persons agree in these and therefore this ought to be a Ground of mutual Concord and Reconciliation But instead of this some raise Disputes still and whereas we are agreed that both these are True and Consistent viz. God's Decree and Man's Freedom they will ask How this can be And if you do not satisfy them as to this which it is utterly Impossible perhaps to do they will shew themselves very much displeas'd Which argues that they are of a quarrelsom Temper and delight in Wrangling and make use of Scripture for that purpose in the most serious and weighty Doctrines III. It happens by the Luxuriancy of busy Brains that many Enquiries in Religion are Nice and Subtle Over-curious and Trifling and as for these they are below the Verdict of Holy Scripture It began to be a matter of Wit to be a Christian as One observes about the days of Constantine the Great So soon had they learned to be Quaint in their Divinity and that about the highest Points of it And other subtile Heads since that time such were most of the Schoolmen have troubled the World with their Fruitless Speculations their Foolish and Unlearned Questions their Fond and Sapless Notions And these and others added to them are called Truths by some Persons but indeed they are not worthy of that great Name A Man may be Ignorant of a thousand of them and yet not Impair his Knowledge To make use of Holy Scripture here is to be serious in the midst of Trifles and which is worse to Prophane that Holy Book The same Judgment may be made of many not to say most of the Questions propounded and handled by the Roman Casuists which are of no moment or use at all nay they are very hurtful and pernicious because they distract Mens Minds instead of directing them and yet they are very warmly controverted as if they were the most serious and important Truths IV. There are some Propositions in our Religion which are Disputable and Probable on both Sides And in these doubtful Cases to
Bishop treating of the Office of a Clergy-Man Concerning Basil and Gregory Nazianzen we are told by Rufinus that for Thirteen Years together they laid aside all Books that treated of Secular Matters and applied themselves wholly to the Reading of the Volumes of the Sacred Scripture This most truly may be said that though we are not to neglect other Writings yet these are indispensably Necessary and we must lay aside all other Books rather than not find time to read These And the Reason is plain because no Man can pretend to Theological Studies who hath not acquainted himself with the Sacred Text. For see how it is in Other Arts and Faculties there are Books proper and peculiar to them and without which there is an utter despair of attaining any Skill in them Thus to offer one Example only the Civil Law is gain'd by Reading the Digests or Pandects of which the Institutions are an Abstract compiled out of the Immense Volumes of the Roman Lawyers some of which were Writ before our Saviour's Time and others afterwards and they are no other than the Sayings Responses and Decisions of the Chief of the Learned in the Law by reading the Code which is made up of the Rescripts Decrees and Constitutions of the Roman Emperors and their Wise Councel from Adrian to Iustinian So that this Volume differs from the Pandects as among us the Statute-Law or Acts of Parliament differ from the Common-Law i. e. the Judgment of Lawyers call'd Reports Wherefore the Pandects must give way to the Code this being more Valid than they as the Commands of Princes are of greater Force than the Dictates of Lawyers Moreover by reading the Authenticks or Novels called so because they were New Laws added to the other Lastly by looking into the Feuds i.e. the Customs and Services for the Lands held by Vassals of their Lords which last Volume of the Imperial Laws was not added till about the Year 1150. under the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa There is an utter Despair I say of gaining any competent Knowledge in this Excellent sort of Learning unless a Man peruses these Books and the Commentators on them And so in the Study of Physick no Man can arrive to any Perfection in it unless he be conversant with the Particular Authors whether Antient or Modern that are Famous in the Faculty And the same may be said of all other Arts and Sciences But this is in a special manner true in Divinity the Knowledge of which no Man can possibly reach without a diligent and constant Perusal of the Books which Constitute the Holy Canon the Writings of the Old and New Testament for both are necessary as we see plainly in the Quotations out of the former which we meet with in the latter There are Four and twenty Books of the one cited or referr'd to in the other and out of some of them there are above Forty out of others above Sixty Passages alledged and made use of The Bible then is a Volume of absolute Necessity and cannot be out of the Hands of one that is devoted to the Ministry For this cause it was heretofore ordered that this Sacred Book should be read at Bishops and Priests Tables even at Dinner and still there is a perpetual Obligation on those of the Sacred Function to give themselves daily to the Study of the Scriptures the Divine Writings of Moses and the Prophets and the Books of the Evangelists and Apostles And there is good reason for it because they must Build which is the thing we are now speaking of by a Rule and the Scripture is that Rule But it is impossible we should make use of it to this Purpose unless we be very well acquainted with it We cannot Regulate our own or other Mens Actions by this Canon we cannot Skilfully apply this Rule this Square if we be not very conversant with it and have a knowledge of its Excellent Doctrines and Precepts These are the Writings that have this Peculiar and Matchless Character That they are able to make us wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. iii. 15. for as it follows All Scripture i.e. all Holy Scripture which he had mentioned in the Verse before is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrin for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God the Minister of the Gospel may be perfect throughly furnish'd unto all good Works may be enabled to perform all the Parts of his Duty more especially those which appertain to his Sacred Calling Besides on other accounts the Scriptures are to be admir'd and to have the preference to all other Books whatsoever The Great Admirers of Homer tell us That they find all things in his Poems what is Excellent in any Art or Profession is to be met with there But upon better grounds I could make it appear that the Writings I am speaking of deserve that Character and Testimony There is no Man of clear Reason but is fully perswaded that there is more Undoubted Antiquity more Excellent History more profound Reason more delightful Eloquence more Choice Learning of all sorts in the Bible than in any other Writings extant in the whole World There need then no Elaborate Perswasives to read this Sacred Volume which is the best under Heaven not only in respect of Divine but Humane Literature and that of all kinds contained in it Even as to this latter there is none can be said to be an Accomplish'd Scholar if he be not acquainted with this Book Next to the Infallible Records of both Testaments the First and Antientest Fathers of the Church call for our Esteem and Enquiry Antiquity in Monuments is Venerable in Religion it should be much more so Prescription corroborates the Civil Rights and Tenures I see not why it should not fortify the Ecclesiastical Luther and Calvin are Great Names and will ever be so in the True Christian Church but yet they ought in some respects to Veil to those Greater and Earlier Lights of the Church Ignatius Iustin Martyr Irenâ—â—us Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Cyprian and others of the Antients from whom we learn what Defections there were from the Truth what were the Errors and Heresies and Corrupt Practices of the First Ages of Christianity and how the Virgin Purity and Simplicity of the Church were almost defac'd by them Especially from those that were the Learn'd Apologists in those Times and afterwards who Asserted Christianity against the Iews on one hand and the Pagans on the other we may in a great measure discover what is Orthodox and Authentick and what is of a different Nature And it is reasonable to infer hence that the Church at this day should for the most part be Defended and Vindicated by the Writings of those who were its First Defenders they being so Great Judges of the Primitive Doctrine and Practice Thirdly To Reading I must necessarily adjoin Meditation both which perform'd by due Turns is
to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think but to think soberly have other thoughts and apprehensions and are most willing to acknowledge the shallowness of their own Judgments and the depth of Divine Truth We have Instances on Record of those Humble Souls who though of singular sagacity and improvements proclaim'd the Unsearchableness of the Divine Wisdom and the Exalted Truths that belong to it The Ancient Inspired Arabian expresses it thus Man knoweth not the price of it i. e. as I apprehend he cannot come up fully to the Purchase or which is the same the Attainment of it for we purchase things by price neither is it found in the land of the living the depth saith it is not in me and the sea saith it is not in me Whence then cometh Wisdom and where is the place of Vnderstanding Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living and kept close from the fowls of the air i. e. those that are most quick-sighted for Naturalists observe that the eyes of Birds generally excel those of other Animals But he concludes God understands the ways thereof and he knoweth the place thereof that is he hath reserved the perfect knowledge of these Divine and Supernatural things to Himself This was the humble sense of another Great and Wise Man the Royal Psalmist concerning whom it is worth our observing that after he had asserted and maintain'd the doctrine of God's Omniscience and All-seeing Providence he adds Such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain unto it which is as much as if he had said though it is impossible for me to apprehend the infinite and boundless knowledge of the Eternal God the Sovereign Disposer of all things though I can't tell how he sees and foresees all things whatsoever yet I heartily own this Universal Sight and Prescience of his and I verily believe it to be a certain and unshaken Truth It is Humility which furnishes a man with such perswasion and language as this and it is this which causes him to believe and assert that there are Mysteries in his Holy Faith which far transcend his thoughts and conceptions This is that Wisdom which according to another Divine and Inspired Sage is far off and exceeding deep and therefore as it follows who can find it out To which irrefragable Testimonies permit me to adjoyn that of an Apocryphal Writer and the rather because I will take occasion thence to offer a Conjecture on that dark place Wisdom is according to her Name and she is not manifest unto many What is the meaning of that according to her Name What Title hath Wisdom that imports any such matter viz. that she is not manifest Some Criticks think it refers to the Hebrew word for Wisdom Chocmah others to the Arabick Algnalam but what they propound seems to be very much strain'd and doth not reach the purpose And how can it seeing they forget that this Book was writ in Greek and that the Title of it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must therefore repair to the Greek for a solution but we must first confer with the Hebrew where we meet with the Verb Saphah or Tsaphah which signifies to hide or cover and thence it is probable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived and this it is likely is the Name that is here meant because though the language in which this book was originally drawn up was Hebrew as appears from the Prologue of it yet it was soon translated into Greek because the Iews at that time spoke Greek generally and had their Bible and Service in Greek and accordingly this place hath reference to the name of Wisdom in that tongue wherein there are many words deriv'd from the Hebrew and hence it is that the denomination of Wisdom imports something hid and mysterious and therefore she is according to her Name The Iewish Doctors had a sense of this as appears from their Proverbial Saying When Elias comes he will untie all knots i. e. solve all Difficult and Abstruse Points of which there are not a few in Religion There are sundry things hid from our understandings here which shall not be clear'd till the last day Now if the Wisest persons spoke thus concerning the things of Religion which is the Wisdom of God under those Dispensations of old is there not much more reason to say the like of the Divine Wisdom under the Oeconomy of the Gospel when doctrines of an higher nature are published to the world such as far surpass all humane comprehension But there is a generation of men among us that will not stoop to this they will not own themselves to be in a state of Weakness Childhood and Minority in this life though the Great Apostle as we have heard expresly did when he so far own'd the deficiency of his Understanding as to say he knew in part and spake and understood and thought as a Child And all the Great and all the Wise men in the world have been ready to say the same yea even with reference to matters of a lower nature The Learned in the Law confess they have their Perplexed and Knotty Cases Statesmen their Arcana Physicians their Opprobious Maladies Anatomists their Unknown Ductus's Astronomers their Eccentrical Motions which they can't reduce into regular and exact Order Mathematicians their Insoluble Problems And in brief most Professions and Sciences labour under some insuperable Difficulties and Intricacies and this is freely acknowledg'd by the most Skilful in those Arts. But here is a sort of men that will not own any such thing in Divinity although it be conversant about Objects that are infinitely Higher and Greater Notwithstanding this they think it is below a man of Parts to own any thing to be Inexplicable they profess that it becomes not a man of Sense and Reason to admit of this yea that it is an unsufferable affront to Humane Nature to believe such a thing They think it a sufficient ground to cashier a doctrine in Religion because it is attended with Obscurity In short they think it unreasonable to yield assent to a Proposition on the account of its being reveal'd in Scripture meerly because they are not able to conceive the Manner of it Thus their Pride makes them Infidels and they bid adieu to Modesty and the Faith together Secondly Another Great Disparagement and Inexcusable Blemish of these mens Perswasion is that it argues wilful Prejudice and Partiality I will make this evident from these two Considerations First Tho' they deny not that there are Mysteries in the Divine Providence yet they altogether renounce them in the Articles before mention'd Secondly Though they grant there may and ought to be a Government and Restraint on the Imaginations Will and Affections of men yet at the same time they perversly disapprove of the like restraint on the Vnderstanding and Reasoning Faculty Both these are Instances of their egregrious Prepossession
we cannot but entertain these Divine Doctrines and firmly believe them and heartily approve of them for when we find any thing though 't is impossible to explain and unfold it vouch'd by Scripture we need desire no more Whence we may judge of Socinus aud Smalcius the former of whom declares concerning the Satisfaction of Christ and the latter concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God that they would not believe these doctrines though the Scripture should expresly assert them These are strange passages in Writers that bear the Name of Christians and seem to own the New Testament as well as the Old where every thing is Authentick and worthy of all acceptation and depends not on the arbitrement of our shallow Reasons Here to doubt is Inâ—idelity to be scrupulous is an affront to Heaven to dispute is an injury to the Deity To conclude It appears from the whole that the Disciples of Socinus are the most foolish and sensless pretenders to Reason in the whole world because they make it their business to argue against the God of Reason and the Spirit of Truth But if they will call their Anti-Scriptural Notions by the name of Reason who can help it Only this we are sure of and it is all I will add at present no truly Rational and Sober man will be pleas'd with that Reason which rejects what God hath reveal'd which vilifies the Discoveries that come from Heaven which contradicts the Bible and gives the Lye to Him who is the Original Truth the Eternal Reason the Source of all Understanding and Light and Knowledge it self FINIS BOOKS written by the Reverend Mr. John Edwards and printed for Jonathan Robinson and John Wyat. AN Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some Difficulty in them with a Probable Resolution of them In Two Vol. 8 o A Discourse concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament with a continued Illustration of several difficult Texts throughout the whole Work In Three Vol. 8 o Some Thoughts concerning the several Causes and Occasions of Atheism especially in the present Age with some brief Reflections on Socinianism and on a late Book Entituled The Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scriptures 8 o Price 1s 6 d. A Demonstration of the Existence and Providence of God from the Contemplation of the visible Structure of the Greater and the Lesser World In Two Parts The first shewing the Excellent Contrivance of the Heavens Earth Sea c. The Second the wonderful Formation of the Body of Man 8 o Price 4 s. Socinianism Vnmask'd A Discourse shewing the Unreasonableness of a late Writer's Opinion concerning the Necessity of only One Article of Christian Faith and of his other Assertions in his late Book Entituled The Reasonableness of Christianity as deliver'd in the Scriptures and in his Vindication of it with a brief Reply to another Professed Socinian Writer 8 o Pr. 1s 6d The Socinian Creed Or a brief Account of the professed Tenents and Doctrines of the Foreign and English Socinians wherein is shewed the Tendency of them to Irreligion and Atheism With proper Antidotes against them 8 o Price 3 s. A brief Vindication of the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith as also of the Clergy Vniversities and Publick Schools from Mr. Lock 's Reflections upon them With some Animadversions on two other late Pamphlets viz. of Mr. Bold and a Nameless Socinian Writer 8 o Price 1s 6d Brief Remarks upon Mr. Whiston's New Theory of the Earth and upon another Gentleman's Objections against some Passages in a Discourse of the Existence and Providence of God relating to the Copernican Hypothesis 8 o Price 6 d. Several Sermons Preached on Special Occasions Price 5 s. BOOKS printed for Jonathan Robinson and John Wyat. A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer In Two Vol. In 4 o The Vanity of the World with other Sermons In 8 o Sermons or Discourses on several Scriptures In Four Vol. In 8 o The Almost Christian discovered in some Sermons on Acts 26. 28. All these written by the Right Reverend Father in God Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of Londonderry Bishop Vsher's Life and Letters By Dr. Parr In Fol. 's Body of Divinity Or the Sum and Substance of the Christian Religion Fol. 's 22 Sermons on several Subjects Fol. Iosephus's History of the Iews Fol. Dr. Bates's Harmony of the Divine Attributes 8 o Fourth Edition 1697. Charron of Wisdom In Three Books All Dr. Anthony Walker 's Works viz. The Sinfulness and Danger of delaying Repentance The Vertuous Woman Or the Life of the Countess of Warwick The Vertuous Wife Or the Life of Mrs. Eliz. Walker His Sermons of Water-drinking Preached at Tunbridge-wells c. The worthy Communicant A Treatise shewing the due Order of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Seventeenth Edition By Ieremiah Dyke Newly reprinted 1697. The Poor Doubting Christian drawn unto Christ. By Thomas Hooker Ovid's Metamorphosis in English Verse By George Sandys Aesop's Fables in Prose with Cuts Solitude improved by Divine Meditation By Nathaniel Ranew late Rector of Felsted in Essex Practical Discourses concerning Death and Heaven By Nathaniel Ranew Correction Instruction Or a Treatise of Afflictions By Tho. Case The Principles of Christian Religion with a brief Method of the Doctrine thereof By Bishop Vsher. The Sinfulness of Sin and the Fulness of Christ. In 2 Sermons By W. Bridge Brinsley's Posing of the Parts reprinted 1697. Sir Simon D'ew's Journal of all Queen Elizabeth's Parliaments Fol. Bacon's Historical and Political Account of the Government of England Fol. BOOKS lately Printed and Sold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard A Fourth Volume of the Works of Dr. Thomas Goodwin In Fol. Mr. Clark's Survey of the Bible Or an Analytical Account of the H. Scriptures 4 o Ten Sermons Preached on several Occasions By William Bates D. D. A Discourse concerning Natural and Reveal'd Religion Evidencing the Truth and Certainty of both By the Considerations for the most part not yet touched by Any By S. N. The Altogether Christian his Duty Explained and Enforced in some Sermons on Acts 26. v. 28 29. Together with the Causes why there are so few who are Altogether Christians By Iohn Foxcroft M. A. formerly of Clare-Hall in Cambridge now Rector of Wifordby in Leicestershire The Character and Blessings of a Prudent and Vertuous Wife with other Particulars relating to the Marriage State practically considered in a Discourse on Prov. 19. 14. The Beauty of Magistracy with other Observations concerning Government Represented in an Assize Sermon Preached in St. Mary's Church in Leicester Mar. 26. 1697. Both by the same Author BOOKS Printed for and Sold by John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard FAmily Devotions for Sunday Evenings throughout the Year In Four Volumes each containing Thirteen Practical Discourses with suitable
SERMONS On SPECIAL Occasions and Subjects VIZ An Answer to Pilate's Question What is Truth Why Rulers and Judges are called Gods That Magistrates should be Exemplary in their Lives How Ministers of the Gospel are to Excel That Decay of Trade is the Product of Vice War Lawful and Necessary on just Occasions The Danger of Intestine Divisions The Use and Abuse of Apparel That there are Mysteries in Christianity c. By IOHN EDWARDS B. D. Sometime Fellow of St. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion and Iohn Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard 1698. To the Right Honourable EDWARD Earl of ORFORD Viscount BARFLEUR Baron of SHINGEY One of His MAJESTY'S most Honourable PRIVY-COUNCIL My LORD ALL true English men have their Eyes upon Your Lordship as their Faithful Patriot and Protector as a Firm Lover of their Religion and Country and they all pay a profound Respect to that Illustrious Name in which the Welfare of the Nation is so much involv'd We are every one of us sensible of those large and manifest demonstrations which You have given us of Your Concern for the Publick Good in the late Happy Revolution Your Heroick Enterprizes Your constant Fatigues Difficulties and Perils undergone for the Service of Your Country are the continual matter of our Admiration We celebrate and applaud Your never to be forgotten Engaging the French Navy when their Admiral felt the destructive force of your Martial Thunder which You poured out so fast upon him and which produced a a Glorious Victory over the Insulting but Flying Foe the remembrance of which Great and Noble Atchievement Your Lordship bears in Your Honourable Title Which way so ever we look whether at Sea or Land we find Your Lordship meriting in a most sigâ—al manner both of Church and State And Your near relation to â—his Grace the Duke of Bedford whose Family hath been the Nursery of Patriots and Worthies yea and of Sufferers for the Publick Interest and Welfare renders You a Person yet more Conspicuous in the world And lastly That High Degree of Honour which Your Prince hath advanced You to and that Eminent and Honourable Post Your Lordship is now in make You capable of being what is so much desired by You Beneficial not only to the County You have a more particular Concern in but to the whole Kingdom But I know Your Transcendent Modesty will scarcely suffer these things to be said and therefore I dare add no more The design of this present Address to Your Lordship is to express my Thankful and Dutiful Resentments of the undeserved Favours cast upon me by Your Lordship and to offer my sincere Wishes and Prayers to Heaven for Your Health and Long Life that You may live in the favour of the Most High and be bless'd with His Divine Assistance that Success may crown all Your Worthy Undertakings that You may continue to be Happy in the Embraces of so Excellent and Accomplish'd a Lady as Heaven hath bless'd You with that You may be as instrumental in Preserving the Church and State as You were in Restoring them that You may long enjoy the Honour which Your Merits have advanc'd You to and the Happiness You have of possessing His Majesty's Favour and in â— word that You may still be admired honour'd and loved by all his Subjects that are Wise and Religious And now My Lord permit me to beg an Extraordinary favour of You but such as I know Your Generosity will not disdain to grant viz. that I may have the honour to dedicate the following Papers to Your Lordship's Name which as it will give a Glory to them so it will remain a Testimony which is the thing I design of that Entire Service and Duty which I owe and shall ever be owing to Your Lordship I have had Your Lordship in my eye ever since I have begun to be a Writer but I could not prevail with my self to make my Approaches of a sudden to so Great a Personage nor was I furnish'd with a Subject which was suitable to Your Lordship's Genius I forbore to trouble You with Criticisms and Controversies though of an important nature but now when the Matters I treat of are agreeable to so Noble and Exalted a Mind I take the confidence to make an Oblation of my Discourses to Your Lordship And though You have sometimes intimated Your averseness to see Your Name in Print yet I presume to prefix it to these Papers which have the Sacred Writings for which Your Lordship hath so great an Esteem for their ground-work On this account I hope they will not be unacceptable notwithstanding their Meanness and Faultiness otherwise Finally begging Your Lordship's Pardon for this Prolix Trouble I lay this Offering with my self at Your Lordship's Feet and crave the honour to be esteemed My LORD Your Lordship 's most Humble Entire and Devoted Servant JOHN EDWARDS THE PREFACE SEveral Years ago I was solicited by some of my Brethren of the Clergy and other Worthy Friends who were pleas'd to entertain no ill opinion of some of my Discourses which were deliver'd from the Pulpit to make them more Publick and to expose them to the General View but I was at that time furnish'd with such Reasons as would not permit me to give way to their importunity But about half a Year ago being solicited afresh I began to relent and to comply with such a Motion For a Friend extorted these Papers from me by an Argument which I was not able to resist he assuring me that Printed Sermons or Practical Discourses were call'd for by the generallity of Readers and were in great Esteem with them which I look'd upon as a Good Sign I wish it were an Infallible one that they were intent upon Practice I was heartily glad to hear that the World is in so good a temper and thereupon I laid aside my former Resolution for I had prepared Discourses of another nature for the Press and betook my self to the accommodating them with a Volume of Sermons whilst they were in so good a Vein and relish'd matters of a Religious and Practical nature And I did this the rather because having lately been employ'd in asserting some of the Chief Articles of the Christian Faith and in animadverting on the Errors which are contrary to them I was forc'd on that account to be ingaged in Contâ—oversies and Debates and therefore I take the first Opportunity to let the world see that I take no pleasure in Contests that I delight not in Insults and Philippicks and that I prefer the Practical part of our Holy Religion to the Disputes of it Having thus assigned the Occasion of my publishing these following Discourses I will in the next place give you a brief Account of them In the first I have endeavour'd to fix the Standards of Truth and to shew how they are to be Applied especially how the Scriptures which are the Chief Standard
and Rule are to be made use of in the searches and enquiries about Divine Truths This Discourse lays the Foundation for those which follow for even the Sacred Verities and Principles of our Religion have a tendency to Practise The second is of the Divine Authority of Rulers and Judges wherein I have endeavonr'd to Establish the Right and Iurisdiction of Civil Governours upon the sure basis of Reason and Scripture and thereon have grounded our Obedience to them which is an indispensable Law and Duty of the Christian Institution But as we are to obey Magistrates so they are to do Homage to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and to give proof of this Reverence and Submission by their Religious and Holy Demeanour Wherefore in the third place I have shew'd the absolute Necessity of their being Exemplary in their lives and of their surpassing others in all Moral and Religious Actions Next I undertake to display thâ— Office of the Guides and Rulers of the Church the Ministers of the Gospel the Publick Instructors of Souls and to shew what Excellencies and Perfections they ought to be Masters of in order to their Edifying the Church of Christ. Then I descend to the more Particular Cases and Conditions of persons and shew how necessary Religion and Vertue are to men of Traffick and Business in the world and that the Decay of Riches and Plenty in a Nation is to be attributed to their Vicious Practices Afterwards I represent to the Reader that Extravagant Pride and Vanity of Apparel which are so conspicuous in this Age and with that Freedom which becomes a Dispenser of the Divine Oracles I set before the offenders the Sinfulness and Mischief of this Excess Again I took occasion from the commencing of the late War to satisfie the Scrupulous about the Lawfulness yea and Necessity in some cases of going to War And soon after there was ground for another Discourse viz. concerning the Causes of Ill Success in Martial Affairs And because it was requisite that whilst we were engaging the Enemy abroad there should be Peace at home I impartially represented the Mischievous and Pernicious Consequences of Intestine Broils and Divisions in a Kingdom and warmly Exhorted to Vnity and Concord This is a brief View of Ten of the Sermons in this Volume which are so mixed that there is no Degree or Quality of persons but will find themselves concern'd in the Subjects here treated of Princes and Monarchs Inferiour Rulers and Magistrates Ecclesiaâ—tical persons and all others whether publick or private Civil or Military Wealthy or Indigent of the Manly or of the Softer Sex have their share in these Papers As for the two last Sermons they had their birth from the two much prevailing Opinion of those men who deny that there are Mysteries in the Christian Religion I strike only at that General Doctrine and wave all Set Reflections on Particular Persons or their Attempts The sum of my Vndertaking here is this I give a particular account of the word Mystery as it is mention'd and understood in the New Testament more especially I settle the true notion of that Term as it peculiarly respects the present Case and hath reference to Christianity I shew upon what Reasons and Grounds this doctrine of Mysteries is founded I represent the notorious Blemishes of the Contrary Opinion and lastly I intersperse such proper Inferences as are the natural result of the respective Particulars Thus though others have handled this Subject I make it a Peculiar Province by the particular way of my undertaking and managing it which whether it be done aright and to the satisfaction of the Learned and Pious I leave to the Reader to judge But this only I am able to say and that most sincerely that I design'd what I have here written for the Vindication of the Cause of Christianity and for the Glory and Honour of its Divine Author And this is the Design of all my Writings of what Subject soever I have already treated or shall hereafter treat Some perhaps may think I pour them in too fast upon the Reader and don 't keep a due distance such as they would have between one book and another I am so Vncivil a Writer that I will scarcely give the Reader time to breath And besides it is a blemish to my Reputation that I hereby give occasion to some to censure me for being too Forward a man and one that affects to appear often in publick view and therefore they prudently advise to observe a Moderation and according to the Rule of Husbandry to lie Fallow some time I thank these Gentlemen for the care they pretend to have of the Reader and me but I must tell them this good Advice of theirs belongs to those Novices who want Materials for a Scrible though it be but a four-penny Cut or those poor starv'd souls that write for Bread and clap all their Book and sometimes more than is in it into the Title Page Here the Counsel would be seasonable especially for the Readers Good to be Temperate Writers But if they will be so Civil as not to rank me in the number of those fore-mention'd persons I think I have enough to plead in behalf of the Frequency of my Writing I could support my self herein by very Good and Vnexceptionable Examples half a douzen of the Best Penmen we have at this day among us two of the Learnedest Prelates of our Church who fail not every year to present the Learned with an Offering and their Teeming Thoughts are still designing to oblige the world in the same manner But waving Precedents especially those which are too High for me I will justifie my practise from the Reason and Equity of the Thing it self I hold it proper to offer sâ—meâ— Truths to the world now whilst I am able to defend them against the Objections which some may think fit to make against them as I have in some part found it necessary to be done already and I know not why Truth may not be as Sharp as Error Besides some things are proper for this Peculiar Age and if they should be deferr'd would prove Vnseasonable I conceive our Sceptical Times require some such sort of Writings as I have had occasion to publish more than any that were before or perhaps ever will be Again what I do is pursuant to my Character and Function which exact a Publick Appearance and an Open doing of good to mankind For a Clergyman should give an account of his Time to the World as well as to God Wherefore being not engaged at present in the Employment of the Pulpit I think my self obliged in Conscience to â—â—eak to the world from the Press and to let my Pen do the Office of my Tongue And truly why one should be a Crime and not the other is unaccountable Or rather it is not much to be doubted that those men whom I have to do with at present look upon both equally