to the People and that in so doing he not only gave them a Right but also laid on them an Obligation to Read them I have already shewed If therefore the Reading the Scripture by the People be such an unavoidable In let of Error and Heresie as this Objection pretends it was doubtless very unadvisedly done of God to publish such a dangerous Book to the World which those for whom he published and to whom he directed it cannot familiarly converse with without eminent Peril of being infected with Heresie And if the Scripture be such a quarrelsome Knife as these Men say it is that the People can hardly touch it without cutting their Fingers they are certainly more beholding to the Church for taking it from them than they are to God for bestowing it on them 3. This Objection makes as much at least against the Priests Reading the Scripture as the People For most of those Heresies that have been broacht to the People were first brewed by the Priests from whose Lips the People do commonly derive their Errors as well as their Knowledge Witness those famous Heresies with which the Christian World hath been so distracted from one Generation to another such as the Novatian the Donatist the Arian the Pelagian the Eutichian the Eunomian all which Counterfeits and a great many more were first coined by the Clergy and dispersed for current Christianity among the Laity And therefore if this Pretence that the Reading of Scripture opens a Gap to Heresie be a sufficient Reason why the Laity should not Read it it is a much more sufficient Reason why the Clergy should not Read it For it requires Skill and Learning as well to wrest the Scripture into such false Senses as are likely to impose upon the World as to interpret it into its true Sense and I am very sure that it ordinarily requires more Wit and Art to extort from the Scripture probable Errors than it doth to discover by it necessary Truth and if so then if the danger of letting in Heresies is a true Reason why any should not Read it it is much more a true Reason why the Learned should not Read it than the Vnlearned and confequently why the Priests should not Read it than the People seeing the former are more qualified to extract Heresies from it than the later If therefore this Objection signifie any Thing it must be this That it is a very dangerous thing for any Body to Read the Bible that this same Divine Book which God thought fit to publish to the World and which the Primitive Church thought fit to oblige all that were able to Peruse and Study is now become such a dangerous Inlet of Heresie that like Pandora's Box you can no sooner open it but Swarms of Errors and False Doctrines will presently fly abroad into the World so that it would be very well for the World if it were either utterly extinguished or hid in some inaccessible Repository where no Mortal Eye might ever approach it 4 This Objection expresly contradicts our Saviour and the Primitive Fathers For Matt. 22.29 our Saviour tells the Sadducees who were cavilling with him about the Resurrection Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures Had therefore the Sadducees been of the same Mind with our Objectors they would doubtless have told him by your good Leave Sir in this Point you your self are in an Error for in all Probability had we known the Scripture or been intimately acquainted with it we should have err'd much more Either therefore our Saviour was mistaken in charging the Errour of the Sadducees upon their Ignorance of Scripture or our Objectors are mistaken in making it so necessary an Expedient for the Prevention of Error to forbid the People being acquainted with Scripture for 't is plain He and They are of quite Different Opinions in the Case But whatever their Opinion is I am sure the Primitive Fathers were of the same Opinion with our Saviour For Irenaeus writing of the Valentinian Hereticks * Lib. 3. c. 12. All those Errors they fall into because they know not the Scriptures So St. Jerom †In Ep. ad Ephes l. 3. c. 4. We must search the Scriptures with all Diligence that so as being good Exchangers we may know the lawful Coyn from the Copper And elsewhere That infinite Evils arise from Ignorance of the Scriptures and that from this Cause the greatest Part of Heresies have proceeded St. Chrysostom is of Opinion that if Men would be conversant with the Scriptures and attend to them they would not only not fall into Errors themselves but be able to rescue those that are deceived and that the Scriptures would instruct Men both in right Opinions and good Life And to name no more Theophilact tells us that nothing can deceive them who search the Holy Scriptures for that saith he is the Candle whereby the Thief is discovered But it seems according to Modern Experiments this Candle of Scripture rather serves to light the Thief into the House than to discover him when he is there and therefore it is thought necessary for honest Men's security either that it should be wholly extinguished or at least hinder'd from giving Light by being shut up in a dark Lanthorn of an Vnknown Tongue But when they who were once the honest Men are become the Thieves it is no wonder that they should thus change their Note and complain of the Light of this Candle as dangerous to them which heretofore they esteemed their greatest Securith I am sure the Reason assigined by St. Peter why some Men wrested the Scriptures to their own Destruction was not their reading the Scripture but contrary wise their not reading it enough which they that are unlearned saith he wrest to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 Vnlearned in what Why doubtless in the Holy Scripture For as to humane Learning St. Peter himself was as unlearned as they and if it were their being unlearned in Scripture that occasioned them to wrest it into an heretical Sense then it is not Mens reading the Scripture that leads them into Heresy but their not reading it enough To say therefore that the Peoples reading the Scripture is an Inlet of Heresy and to say no it is not their reading it but their not reading it enough is the Inlet of Heresy is an express Contradiction the former our Objectors say the later our Saviour his Apostles and the Primitive Church say and I think it is no hard Matter to determine which of these two Contradictions we ought to believe 5. And lastly According to this Objection the best Way to keep Men from being Hereticks is to deprive them of all Means of arriving at the Knowledge of the Truth And this I confess is a very certain Way though not a very Honest one Let Men know nothing of Religion and to be sure they cannot be Hereticks it being impossible for Men to err in their Conceptions of those Things whereof
344. 2. From our Saviour and his Apostles approbation of this practice of the Jews p 345 346. 3 From the great design and intention of writing the Scriptures p. 347 348. 4. From the Directions of these Holy Writings to the People p. 349. to 352. 5. From the great concernmènt the People have in the Matters contain'd in the Scripture p. 352. to 356. 6. from the universal Sense of the Primitive Church in this Matter p. 355. to 359. An Answer to that Objection of the Church of Rome That a general Permission of the Scriptures to the People must necessarily open a wide door to Errors and Heresies p. 360. to 366. Another Objection That it will prove an unavoidable Occasion of great Corruptions in Manners answered p. 367. to 371. Two Inferences from the whole p. 372. to the end Dis V. A Dissuasive from Apostacy AN Explication of the Words of the Text p. 385. to p. 388. The general Proposition p. 389. Six Instances of the mighty Tendencies there are in a vicious course of Life to Error and Apostacy from true Religion As 1. It corrupts Mens Reason and Understanding p. 390 391. 2. It renders the Principles of true Religion uneasy to their Minds p. 392 393 394. 3. It deprives Men of the greatest encouragements to constancy and steadiness in Religion p. 395. 4. It weakens the natural force of Men's Consciences p. 396. to p. 399. 5. It strengthens and enforces the Temptations to Apostacy p. 400. to 402. 6. It provokes God to give us up to the Power of Delusion p. 403. to p. 406. Two Inferences from the whole p. 406. to the end OF THE Christian Life PART IV. MATTH xvi 26. What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul IN the 24th Verse our Saviour urges his Disciples to that necessary Duty of denying themselves that is of surrendering up their Wills to the conduct of his and renouncing all their Worldly Interest when it comes in Competition with their Duty and of taking up their Cross and following him that is of preparing themselves to endure Persecution for his sake and to persist couragiously in the Profession and Practice of his Religion whatsoever Oppositions they should meet with from the World And to press them hereunto he urges this Argument Ver. 25. For whosoever will save his Life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his Life shall find it Where the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Life may perhaps be better render'd Himself it being familiar both with Hebrews and Syrians to call a man's Life and Soul Himself so the Psalmist thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell that is thou shalt not leave me Perishing in my Grave Psal 16.10 And Levit. 20.25 Ye shall not make your Souls abominable i. e. your selves And that it should be so render'd here is evident because St. Luke so expounds it What is a Man profited if he gain the whole World and lose himself or be cast away Luke 9.25 And indeed the Soul being the Principal Part of a Man and that which advances him into a Species of Being above that of a meer Animal may very well be called himself according to that of Hierecles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy Soul is Thee thy Body thine and thy outward Goods thy Bodies And if instead of Life we render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Himself the Words will be very plain and easy for whosoever will save himself by renouncing me and my Religion shall lose himself for ever and whosoever will be content to lose himself for my sake shall save himself for ever And this he farther inforces in the Text What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul that is what will it avail a Man to gain the whole World if he for ever ruin himself by it and when he hath thus ruined himself what would he give if it were in his Power to save and recover himself again The Words thus explained I shall resolve the sense of them into these five Propositions I. That a Man or the Soul of a Man is a Thing of inestimable Price and Value for our Saviour here weighs it against the whole World that is against all the Pleasures Profits and Honours that this inferiour World can afford and declares that in the just Ballance of his Esteem it out-weighs them all And certainly that must needs be exceeding precious whose Worth the whole World cannot counter-poise II. That this precious Soul may be lost This our Saviour plainly supposes in these Words if he lose his own Soul III. That our renouncing of Christ and his Religion will most certainly infer this Loss For these Words as I have shewed you our Saviour urges as an Argument to dissuade Men from Apostacy but if without losing our Souls we might renounce him and apostatize from him there would be no Force in all this Argument to dissuade us from it IV. That when this Soul is lost 't is lost irrecoverably What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul where the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Exchange is used in the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a price of Redemption denoting that if a Man should or could give never so much to buy his Soul from Perdition yet no Price of Redemption will be taken for it V. That this irrecoverable Loss of a Soul is of such a vast Moment that the Gain of the whole World is not sufficient to compensate it What is a Man profited that is he is not at all profited nay he is so far from that that he is a vast Loser I. That the Soul of a Man is a Thing of an inestimable Price and Value And for the Proof of this Proposition I shall endeavour these two Things First To represent to you of what vast Worth it is in Respect of its own natural Capacities Secondly To shew you of what vast Esteem it is in the Judgment of all those who as we must needs suppose do best understand the Worth of it 1. I shall endeavour to represent to you of what vast Worth it is in Respect of its own natural Capacities particularly in these four 1. In Respect of its Capacity of Vnderstanding 2. Of Moral Perfection 3. Of Pleasure and Delight 4. Of Immortality 1. The Soul of Man is of vast Worth in Respect of its Capacity of Vnderstanding For certainly to understand is the greatest and noblest Operation that a Being is capable of for it is this that gives Beauty and Excellence to all our other Operations whether they be natural or moral 'T is this that proposes the Ends and directs the Course and Prescribes the Measures of all our other Actions and tho we had never so much Force or
evident to any one that reads it to be sure among these Things are contained all that is necessary for Men to know and understand 2. From the avowed Design of writing the Scripture it is also evident that in all Things necessary it is plain and clear For thus concerning the Old Testament St. Paul tells us that whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 And if they were written for our Learning and Instruction to be sure they were so written as to teach and instruct us that is plainly and clearly especially as to those Things wherein we have most need to be instructed And then as for the New Testament St. Luke tells his Theophilus that the Reason of his writing his Gospel was that he might know the certainty of those things that were surely believed among Christians and wherein he himself had been instructed And if it were to ascertain us of the Principles of Christianity that he wrote his Gospel certainly he would take care to write it after such a Manner as that those that read it might understand it otherwise he must run counter to his own Design Thus also St. John saith that he wrote his Gospel that Men might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God but how could his Gospel induce Men to believe This unless it be so written as that Men may understand it And so also for his Epistles he tells us that he wrote them that they that believed in Jesus might know that they have eternal Life and that they may believe or continue to believe on the name of the Son of God And if this were his End to be sure he would take care to write so as that they might understand otherwise how could they know by his Writing that they had eternal Life or be moved thereby to continue to believe on the name of Jesus For there is nothing can create in Men either Knowledge or Faith but what they understand Seeing therefore the great End of Writing the Scripture was to instruct the World in the great Things of Religion either we must say that both the Writers of the Scripture and the Holy Ghost that inspired them were defective in Skill or in Care so to write as to obtain this End or that their Writings are an effectual Means to obtain it which it is impossible for them to be unless they are plain and clear as to the great Things of Religion In short every wise Agent pursues his End by the most proper and effectual Means and I would fain know whether to write plainly or obscurely be the most proper Means to instruct Men by Writing if to write plainly then either the Apostles wrote so or they were not wise Agents since to instruct was the great End of their Writing The most natural Way of conveying to Mens Minds the Notices of Things is by Words either spoken or written and seeing whatsoever can be spoken in plain and intelligible Words may be written in the same Words there can be no doubt but those Words will be as intelligible when they are written as when they are spoken for why should the same Words be more obscure when conveyed to us by our Eyes than when conveyed to us by our Ears Seeing then the Sense of Scripture may be as plainly conveyed by Words written as by Words spoken and seeing that even those who deny the Plainness of Scripture do yet allow that the Sense of it may be plainly conveyed by Words spoken or which is the same thing Oral Tradition if the Scripture be not plain it can be resolved into no other Reason but this that God would not have it so for there is no Doubt but he could have spoken as plainly as Men and have written as plainly as he spoke and therefore if he hath not done so it was because he would not but to say that he would not write those Things plainly which he thought necessary for all Men to know and which he wrote on purpose that all Men might know is to say that he would and would not at the same time or that he wrote them on purpose that Men might know them and yet that he wrote so as that they might not know them 3. From the frequent Commands God lays upon us to read the Scripture it is also evident that in all necessary Things it is plain and clear That God doth not only allow but will and rquire us to read the Scripture I shall shew at large hereafter when I come to treat of searching the Scripture Supposing therefore at present the Thing to be true I would fain know to what purpose should God require us to read the Scripture if in those things which are necessary for Men to know and believe it be not plain and intelligible Doth God require us to read it for the sake of reading it or for the sake of understanding it If the former reading any other Book might as well have answered God's End as reading the Scripture because reading is reading whatsoever it be that we read if the later then either the Scripture is plain and intelligible as to all those Things which he requires us to understand or he requires us to read it in vain For to what Purpose should we read that we may understand if that which we are to read be not plain enough to be understood by us As for Instance the Bereans Acts 17.11 are highly commended for searching the Scriptures daily now I would fain know was this a Virtue in them or was it not If not why are they commended for it if it were it was certainly their Duty What was the Intendment of it was it only that they might be expert Readers Why are they so commended for reading the Scriptures above any other Book seeing that reading any other Book would have done as well for that Purpose as reading the Scriptures But the Text it self tells us that the Intendment of their reading the Scripture was that they might know whether those things were so or no which St. Paul had preached to them but how should they know this by reading the Scripture if the Scripture which they read were not plain enough to be understood by them Again St. Paul gives this as a great Commendation of his Son Timothy that from a Child he had known the Holy Scriptures whence by the Way we may learn that it is not so great a Reproach to our Church as the Romanists intend it for that we permit Women and Children Tinkers and Coblers to read the Scripture But I pray what was the Meaning of Timothy's knowing the Holy Scripture from a Child Was it that he knew the Words of it only or the Sense of it also If the former a Parrot may be taught as much as Timothy had learned and consequently deserve as high a Commendation as he if the later then it seems the Scripture is
then to be sure our Saviour here mentions it at least with Approbation and what he approves when done that to be sure he would have us do Whether therefore it be delivered in the Form of a Command or of a bare Assertion it is equivalent to a Command it being at least an Assertion of a Thing which he approves and consequently would have all Men to Practise But because there is a numerous Party in the Christian World which doth not only forbid the People to Search the Scriptures but represents it as a Practice of very dangerous Consequence it is hereby become necessary that we should not only assert but prove their Obligation to it which otherwise would be very needless there being nothing more plain and evident in it self Now to prove that the People are obliged to Search and Read the Scriptures I shall as briefly as I can argue the Point from these following Topicks 1. From the Obligations which the Jews were under-to Read and Search the Scriptures of the Old Testament 2. From our Saviour's and his Apostles Approbation of their Practice in pursuance of this their Obligation 3. From the great Design and Intention of Writing the Scriptures 4. From the Direction of these Holy Writings to the People 5. From the great Concernment of the People in the Matters contained in them 6. From the Vniversal Sense of the Primitive Church in this Matter 1. From the general Obligation which the Jews were under the Read and Search their Scriptures For so God requires them to keep the words which he commanded them in their Hearts and to teach them diligently to their Children and to talk of them as they sat in their Houses and as they walked in the way and when they lay down and when they rose up and to bind them as a sign upon their hands Deut. 6.6 7 8. And elsewhere This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shatl meditate therein day and night speaking to the Children of Israel in general Jos 1.8 And again Ye shall lay lip these my words in your heart and in your soul that your days may be multiplied and the days of your Children in the Land which the Lord sware unto your Fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth Deut. 11.18 21. And to meditate on God's Law day and night David makes a Part of the Character of the Blessed Man Psal 1.3 Now if they could not keep God's Laws in their Hearts as most certainly they could not if they could not teach them to their Children if they could not talk of them upon all just and proper Occasions and in a word if they could not meditate on them day and night without being very well acquainted with them by diligent Search and Reading them it is most certain that to Read and Search into them was their indispensible Duty Now if there be the same Reason why we should Read the Scriptures as there was why the Jews should then the Obligation of these Commands must extend to us as well as to them because the Reason of the Law is the Law but 't is evident even beyond Contradiction that there is no good Reason assignable for the one which is not of equal force for the other and whatsoever is objected by our Adversaries in this Point against our Reading the Scriptures is of equal validity against the Jews Reading them It is Objected That our Reading them through our Incapacity to understand them must occasion a great many Errors and Heresies in the Church And why should not their Reading them occasion the same since neither their Understandings were larger than ours nor their Scriptures clearer and more intelligible than ours It is farther objected that because of the many ill Examples recorded in Scripture it is dangerous for the People to read it because of their Aptness to be misled and corrupted by Example But I beseech you are there not more bad Examples in the Old Testament than in the New And were not the Jews as apt to be corrupted by them as we Christians And therefore since these Objections do press as much against their reading the Scriptures as ours it is certain they ought to keep both from it or neither Seeing therefore notwithstanding these Objections God obliged the Jews to read them it 's plain they are not of Force enough to disoblige us from doing the same 2. From our Saviour and his Apostles Approbation of this Practice of the Jews in Pursuance of their Obligation to it it is also evident that we are obliged to the same That the Common People of the Jews did ordinarily read the Scriptures in our Saviou's Time is evident not only from the Text Search the Scriptures which if you take them Indicatively are an express Declaration that they did read them and if you take them Imperatively necessarily imply that they themselves owned that they ought to read them but also from those Questions which our Saviour frequently ask'd them in his Conferences with them such as Have ye not read Have ye never read in the Scripture And hath not the Scripture said so and so Which Question would be very Impertinent if reading the Scripture were not then ordinarily practised by that People And that even their holy Women were then so well instructed in the Scriptures as to be able to instruct their Children Timothy is a signal Instance who though his Father were an Heathen had known the holy Scriptures from a Child 2 Tim. 3.15 which knowledge he must necessarily have derived from his Grand-Mother Lois and his Mother Eunice whose Faith St. Paul celebrates 2 Tim. 1.5 And this Practice of reading the Scriptures which was so common among that People in our Saviour's time is so far from being discontinued either by himself or his Apostles that it is always mentioned by them with Applause and Approbation Thus the Bereans are commended as a People of a nobler Strain than those of Thessalonica because they searched the Scriptures daily whether those Things which St. Paul had preached to them were so or no. And St. Paul is so far from reprehending Timothy for medling with the Scriptures whilst he was a Lay-man that he mentions it to his Honour that he had known the Scriptures from a Child And in all those Passages wherein our Saviour takes it for granted that the Common People of the Jews did read the Scripture we have not the least Intimation of his dislike of their Practice which we should certainly have had had he apprehended it to be either dangerous or unwarrantable Seeing therefore neither our Saviour nor his Apostles do in the least disallow of the Scriptures being read by the Common People but on the contrary do expresly commend it this is a plain Argument that it was their Intention to perpetuate the Practice of it to future Ages For seeing the Jews read the Scriptures in Obedience to an express Command of
end should we read the Scripture seeing the only End of Reading is to learn the Sense of what we read which according to this Principle is not to be learnt from Scripture So that though there be no other wise End of reading the Scripture but only to learn from it what it means yet it seems for Men to read it for this End is a perfect Labour in Vain seeing it is not from the Scripture but from the Church that they are to learn the Meaning of Scripture For as for the Scripture if these Men are to be believed it is nothing but a heap of unsensed Characters so they expresly term it But what do they mean by it Is it that the Scripture consists of a company of Letters and Syllables and Words that carry with them no determinate Sense that God Almighty hath written and published a Book to the World that means nothing If so then when the Church by its infallible Authority pretends to expound the Scripture Her meaning is not to expound the Sense of it but to impose a Sense on it which was never in it for how can She expound the Sense of a Book which hath no Sense in it If the Church is to expound the Sense of Scripture the Scripture must have a certain determinate Sense in it before She expounds it for to expound the Sense of That which hath no Sense is Nonsense And if the Scripture hath a certain Sense in it antcedently to the Church's Exposition of it why do they call it a parcel of Vnsensed Characters If their Meaning be only this that the Sense of Scripture as it is delivered in Scripture is so obscure and ambiguous that without the infallible Exposition of the Church we can never be certain what it is besides that this is notoriously false the Scripture in all necessary Points both of Faith and Manners being so very plain and clear that any Man that reads it with an unprejudiced Mind may be as certain of the Sense of it as he can be of the Sense of any Writing and consequently of the Sense of any written Exposition of the Church besides this I say it is evident that whatever these Men pretend it is not meerly because of the obscurity of Scripture that they oblige Men to ground their Faith upon the Church and not upon the Scripture For they own as well as we that in many Things the Scripture is very plain and clear and yet they will by no Means allow Men to ground their Belief of these things upon the Authority of Seripture but all must be resolved into the Authority of the Church By which it is evident That if all the Scripture were as plain as the plainest Scriptures they would still contend for the Necessity of Mens relying upon the Church and not upon the Scripture and consequently that the true Reason why they contend for it is not because the Scripture is obscure but because they are resolved to advance their Church's Authority We own as well as they that where the Scripture is obscure Men ought to be guided by the Authoty of the Church which we freely allow to be the best Expositor of Scripture But the true State of the Difference between them and us is this That whereas we require plain Men to judge of plain Things with their own Understandings and all Men so far forth as they are capable to judge for themselves in Matters of Religion and not content themselves to see with the Church's Eyes where they are able to see with their own nothing will satisfie these Men but to have all Men as well Wise as Simple surrender up their Faith and Judgment to the Church and wink hard and believe what-ever the Church believes purely because the Church believes it Whatever they pretend therefore the Truth of the Case is this They will by no means allow us to believe upon the Authority of Scripture not because the Scripture is obscure though this they pretend for were it never so plain the Case would be the same but because they are sensible that this will inevitably subvert their usurped Dominion over the Faith and Consciences of Men. But we must believe upon the Authority of the Church and who is this Church I beseech you Why they themselves are this Church So that whereas God hath published a Book called the Bible on purpose to declare his Mind and Will to the World here are started up a Sort of Men that call themselves the Church who very gravely tell us Sirs You must not so much as look into this Book or if you do must not believe any one Word in it upon its own Credit and Authority For though we do confess it is the Word of God yet we are the sole Judges of the Sense of it and therefore whatsoever we decalre is its Sense how unlikely soever it may seem to you you are bound in Conscience to receive and believe it for this very Reason because wedeclare it In short you must resign up your Eyes your Faith your Reason and Vnderstandings to us and see only with our Eyes and believe only with our Faith and judge only with our Judgment and whithersoever we shall think fit to lead you you must tamely follow us without presuming to examine whether we lead you right or wrong But yet after all to induce us thus to inslave our Understandings to them they themselves are fain to appeal to Scripture and allow us in some Things to judge of the Sense of it and to believe those Things upon its Authority For no wise and honest Man will ever believe either that They are the Church or the infallible Judges of the Sense of Scripture without some Proof and Evidence and for this this they are fain to produce several Texts of Scripture such as Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church Now supposing that to be true which is notoriously false viz. that those Texts do necessarily imply that They are the only true Catholick Church and that as such they are constituted by God infallible Judges of Scripture yet before I can believe so I must judge for my self whether this be the Sense of them or no and if I judge it is I must believe that they are the Church and infallible upon the Scripture's Authority and not theirs for their Authority is the Thing in debate and I cannot believe upon it before I believe it So then though we must believe nothing else upon Scripture Authority yet upon this very Authority we must believe that they are the Church and that they are infallible which are the fundamental Principles of their Religion that is to say we must believe as much upon Scripture Authority as will sever their turn and no more But may I be certain of the Truth of these two Fundamental Principles upon Scripture Authority or no If I may why may I not as well be infallibly certain upon the same Authority
That a Company of dead Atoms which cannot move unless they are moved can ever be capable of framing Syllogisms in Mood and Figure and disputing pro and con whether they are Atoms or no That such inert and sluggish Bodies should by their impetuous jostling together awaken one another out of their sensless Passiveness and make each other hear and feel their mutual Knocking 's and Jostlings and then from this sense into which they have thus awakened one another and which they are as incapable of as a Musical Instrument is of hearing its own Sounds or taking pleasure in the harmonious Aires that are played upon it should proceed and consult together to make wise Laws and contrive the best Models of Government to investigate the Natures of Things and deduce from them the several Systems of Arts and Sciences in a word how is it possible that a Company of fluid Motes and Particles of Matter should ever be so artificially complicated and twisted one with another as to form an Vnderstanding that can lift up its Eyes and look beyond all this sensible World into that of immaterial Beings and conceive abstracted Notions of things which can never be Objects to any material Senses such as a pure Point Equality and Proportion Symmetry and Asymmetry of Magnitudes the Rise and Propagation of Dimensions infinite Divisibilty and the like Notions that never were in Matter nor consequently could ever be extracted out of it That can correct the Errors of all our material Perceptions and demonstrate Things to be vastly different from what they apprehend and report them can prove the Sun for instance to be one hundred and sixty times bigger than the Earth when to our Eye and Imagination it appears no bigger than a Bushel that can lodge within it self all that Mass of sensible Things which taketh up so much Room without it and when it hath piled them up upon one another in vast and most prodigious Numbers is still as capacious of more as when it was altogether empty in a word that can grasp the Vniverse with a Thought and comprehend the whole Latitude of Heaven and Earth within its own indivisible Center how sensless is it to imagine that such Noble Operations as these can be performed by a meer Complex of dead Atoms and sensless Particles of Matter And if they cannot as doubtless they cannot then from hence it will necessarily follow that the Soul of Man is an immaterial Thing Furthermore we see that tho the Soul takes in Objects of all sizes yet when once they are in they are not as Bodies in a material Place in which the Greater take up more Room than the Less For the Thought of a Mile or ten thousand Miles doth no more fill or stretch a Soul than that of a Foot or an Inch or a Mathematical Point and whereas all Matter hath its Parts and those extended one without another into Length and Breadth and Thickness and so is measurable by Inches Yards or solid Measures there is no such Thing as measurable Extension in any thing belonging to the Soul For in Cogitation which is the Essence of a Soul there is neither Length nor Breadth nor Thickness nor is it possible to have any Conceit of Foot of Thought or a Yard of Reason a Pound of Wisdom or a Quart of Virtue And if what belongs to a Soul be immaterial it will necessarily follow that the Soul it self is immaterial too and as such capable of Immortality For immaterial Natures being pure and simple having neither contrary Qualities nor divisible Parts in them as material Things have can have no Principles of Alteration and Corruption in them and being devoid of these they must needs be capable of living and subsisting for ever What Noble Beings therefore are the Souls of Men which together with those vast capacities of Vnderstanding of Moral Perfection of Joy and Pleasure are naturally capable of Immortality and consequently of improving in Knowledge in Goodness and in Joy and Pleasure unto all Eternity And therefore certainly a Soul must needs be a most precious thing that can thus out-live all sublunary Beings and subsist forever in so sublime a state of Glory and Beatitude Having thus shewn you the invaluable Worth of the Soul in Respect of its own natural Capacities I proceed 2. To shew you of what vast Esteem it is in the Judgment of all those who we must needs suppose to best understand the Worth of it and that is the whole World of Spirits For to be sure Spirits must best understand the Excellency of Spirits because they have a clearer In-sight into each others Natures and a more immediate Prospect of the Virtue Power and Excellency of each others Faculties For as for us whilst we are in this imbodied state and do understand by corporeal Organs we generally judge of the Worth and Excellency of Things by the Impression they make upon our Senses and as these are more or less gratified and affected with them we set a higher or lower Value upon them Since therefore Spirits are a sort of Beings that cannot touch or affect our Bodily Senses it is impossible we should be competent Judges of the true Worth and Value of them and therefore in this matter we ought to be guided by the Judgment of Spirits who must needs be supposed to have a more intimate Acquaintance with one anothers Natures And if we will be guided by these we shall find the whole World of Spirits even from the highest to the lowest unanimously rating the Souls of Men at an inestimable Price and Value And to make this appear I shall shew you the vast Price there is set upon them 1. By God the Father 2. By God the Son 3. By God the Holy Ghost 4. By the Holy Angels 5. By the Devils 1. Let us consider the vast Price which God the Father hath set upon Souls For when he intended to form these Noble Beings and transmit them into terrestrial Bodies that so being compounded with a sensitive Nature they might clasp the Spiritual and Animal Worlds together he being sensible of the vast Hazards and infinite Snares they would be exposed too was so deeply concerned for their Preservation that he thought nothing too dear to save and secure them And fore-seeing their Fall from that terrestrial Happiness which he originally designed them notwithstanding the liberal Care he had taken to preserve them in the State of Innocence he designed to remove the Scene of their Happiness from Earth to Heaven being resolved if possible to repair the Loss of a terrestrial with a calestial Paradise For which end instead of the Covenant of Innocence the Blessings whereof by their Sin they had forever forfeited he introduces the Covenant of Repentance that so by the help of this Plank after their general Ship-wrack they might be preserved and to safe to the Shoar of a happy Eternity And that by this Covenant he might the more effectually recover
of all things and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6 De Somn. p. 466. the Vice-roy of God and also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7 Lib. Cherub p. 100. that is the Instrument of God by whom he made the World As in Christ the Fulness of the Godhead is said to dwell Colos 2.9 so Plotin tells us of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is filled with God 8 Ennead 5. l. 3. c. 12. As Christ is called the great Shepherd of our Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 so Philo tells us that God who is King and Pastor of the World hath appointed the Word his first-begotten Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9 De Agricult p. 152. to undertake the Care of his sacred Flock as his own Vice-roy and Substitute and accordingly in the same place he makes The Word to be that Angel whom God had promis'd to send before the Camp of Israel to conduct them through the Wilderness In short as the Angels are said to be subject unto Christ 1 Pet. 3.22 and as Christ is said to be the Angel or Messenger of God Joh. 9.4 so Philo calls the most ancient Word the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Quaest Rerum divin haer p. 397. that is the Prince of the Angels and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 De Somn. p. 466. the Angel or Messenger of God And to name no more as Christ is called the Mediator of the new Covenant Heb. 12.24 and the Intercessor between God and Man Heb. 7.25 and the Propitiation and Atonement So saith Philo which is highly worthy of our Observation the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 3 Quaest Rerum Divin her p. 397. is the Intercessor for Mortals with the immortal God and also the Embassador of that great King to his Subjects which Office saith he he willingly undertook saying I will stand in the middle between the Lord and you as being neither unborn as God nor born as you but being a Medium between those two Extreams I will be a Pledge for both for his Creatures that they shall not utterly apostatize from him for God that he will not be wanting in his Fatherly Care towards them And in another place he tells us that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4 De Somniis p. 447. that is the Beginning and the End of God's Good-will to the World which is all one with Propitiation And these Authorities of Philo I have the rather insisted upon because he being a Jew and a Platonick Philosopher must needs understand the Theology of Jews and Gentiles and living about the Time of our Saviour he must be supposed to have written in Terms that were then in use and were very well understood both by Jews and Gentiles And if so then it must necessarily follow that this Phrase The Word so common in that Author was very commonly used both by Jews and Gentiles in our Saviour's Time and consequently that it was derived from them and so appropriated to our Saviour by the inspired Writers of the New Testament And indeed it is not to be imagined how those inspired Writers should ever have so exactly agreed with the Jews and Gentiles in the Titles and Characters of the Eternal Word had not either they themselves or the Spirit of God which dictated to them purposely derived it from them 2. That the New Testament giving no distinct Explication of this Phrase The Word it is most safe and reasonable to fetch the Sense of it from that ancient Theology whence it was derived I do not deny but it is usual with all Writers to use Terms and Phrases by way of Accommodation and to illustrate their Sense by alluding to something that is like it and therefore are not always to be understood in the Sense which those Terms and Phrases do most commonly signify but in a Sense that hath some Proportion with it as the Drift and Connection of their Discourse doth plainly intimate But when Writers use Words in a literal Sense without any Note of Allusion and without explaining themselves into any different Sense either they must mean the same Thing which those Words do commonly signify or else they must mean to deceive and impose upon their Readers And thus stands the Case before us our Saviour is here stiled The Word a Term of Art which was very common both in the Jewish and Gentile Philosophy and neither here nor any where else is there the least Intimation that he is called so only by way of Allusion nor is it in all the New Testament explained into any other Sense than that wherein it was commonly used and therefore the Intent of the Sacred Writers in using it must be either to denote the same thing which it signified before or to deceive and impose upon the World But doubtless if the Holy Spirit which inspired those Writers had meant any thing else by it than what it ordinarily fignifies he would have told us of it and not have given us such an unavoidable Occasion to mistake in so great a Doctrine by clothing its Sense in such a Phrase as generally signifies what he never meant For when he called Christ by the same Name and attributed the same Titles and Characters by which the Jews and Gentiles were wont to describe their ΛΟΓΟΣ he could not but foresee that all inquisitive Persons would be apt to conclude that he meant the same thing and therefore if he had not meant so he would doubtless either not have given him that Name and those Titles or else to prevent our being imposed upon by them he would have explained them into some other meaning which since he hath not done we may safely and rationally conclude that he hath meant the same Thing by this Name and those Titles with those from whom he did derive them and consequently that the most certain way for us to understand what is the Sense of Christ's being The Word is to consider what those Jews and Gentiles meant by it from whose Philosophy it was first borrowed and derived 3. That both the Jewish and Gentile Theology used this Phrase The Word to signify a Vital and Divine Subsistence For as for the Jews it 's plain that by The Word they meant the Messias and therefore Ps 110. which they say contains the Mysteries of the Messias the Chaldee Paraphrase instead of the Lord said unto my Lord read the Lord said unto his Word that is consequently to his Messias And Rab. Arama upon Genesis explaining that Passage in the 107 Ps 20. The Lord sent forth his Word and they were healed expresly tells us that by this Word is meant the Messias And Rab. Simeon the Son of Johni expounding those Words of Job 19.26 Yet in my Flesh shall I see God faith that the Mercy which proceeds from the highest Wisdom of God shall be crowned by The Word and take Flesh of a Woman by which
assumed or taken into The Word both being united into one Person the Natures being preserved entire and distinct without any Mixture or Confusion For as the Fourth General Council hath defined it He was so made Flesh that he ceased not to be the Word never changing that he was but assuming that which he was not And though our Humanity was advanced by it yet his Divinity was not at all diminished and the Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh was no Detriment to the Godhead which is always unchangeably the same And therefore the seeming Harshness of this Expression may be easily molified by comparing it with others of the same import for elsewhere where it is said that he was manifest in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 which only denotes that the Divinity was made known and did appear in the World in a Humane Nature Elsewhere it is said that he took on him the Nature of Man Heb. 2.16 which only denotes that the Divinity did assume the Humane Nature to it and was personally united with it So here The Word was made flesh that is The Word was made one with the Flesh by assuming the Humane Nature into a personal Union with it self Having thus explain'd to you the Sense and Meaning of the Words I shall now conclude this Argument with three or four short Inferences from the whole 1. From hence we may infer the Eternal Divinity of our Blessed Saviour even from this great name The Word that is here attributed to him For since it is so apparent that this Phrase is a Term of Art derived from the Schools of the Jews and Gentiles and since by it they did all so generally understand a Divine Person subsisting from all Eternity it must necessarily follow that the Holy Ghost deriving it from them and applying it to our Blessed Saviour must use it to the same Sense for otherwise He were better never to have used it at all because by discoursing in the same Language with them he will give us just occasion to think that he means the same thing namely that Christ whom he calls The Word is a Divine Person subsisting from all Eternity which if he doth not mean by using that Term he will almost necessarily betray us into a false Belief concerning our Saviour As to instance briefly in a Case of another Nature Our Saviour in his Sermons doth frequently press us to Meekness and Patience Humility and Charity all which are Terms frequently used long before in the Moral Philosophy both of the Jews and Gentiles by which they signify fuch and fuch particular Virtues Since therefore our Saviour doth use the same Terms with them we have just Reason to conclude that he mean the same Virtues by them and should he mean any thing else his very using of these Terms would necessarily impose upon us a false Sense of his meaning for how should we understand his Meaning but by his Words and how should we understand his Words but by the common Import and Signification of them And can we imagine that the Spirit of Truth would have ven described our Saviour by a Term that was so generally used to signify a Divine Person subsisting from all Eternity and used it too as he doth without any Restraint or Limitation nay and so seemingly at least to the same Purpose as he doth in the three first Verses of his Chapter where he describes the Divine Nature and Operations of Christ The Word in the same terms in which the Jews and Gentiles were wont to describe the Divinity of their ΛΟΓΟΣ can we imagine I say that the Holy Spirit would have done thus had he known Christ to be nothing but a meer Man that never was before he was born of his Mother Far be it from us to charge that Blessed Spirit with imposing such a Delusion upon Mankind 2. Hence I infer the astonishing Love of our Blesed Saviour in condescending so low as to be made Flesh for us and assume our Nature For what he was before he took our Nature you have heard already He was no less than the Eternal Word of the Father in whose Bosom he enjoyed the supremest Degree of Bliss and Happiness being crowned with Glory and incircled about with the Essential Rays of the Divinity And yet such was his Love to poor Mortals so infinite was his Zeal and Concern for our Happiness that seeing the Misery we were plunged into he could not rest no not in the blessed Arms of his Father but strip himself of all his Majesty and Bliss and comes down among us and assumes our Nature to save and rescue us and invite and lead us to those Heavenly Mansions from whence he descended to us Lord what a Prodigy of Love was here as doth not only puzzle my Conceit but out-reach my Wonder and Admiration For when I seriously consider it though it be a Blessing beyond all my Hopes and such as I could never have had the Impudence to desire yet it fills my Mind with an awful Horror to think that there was a Time when the great God was here upon the Earth in my Form and Nature and conversed familiarly with such mortal Wights as my self and for my sake and such poor Worms as I patiently under-went the common Infirmities of Men and willingly exposed himself to the Contempt and Scorn of a malevolent World and the Malice and Cruelty of those barbarous Men to whom he gave Being and could with the Breath of his Nostrils have scattered into Atoms and all this in meer Compassion to a Company of apostatized Natures who had so highly deserved to be thrown from his Care and Mercy for ever O my Soul how am I astonished at this Miracle of Love Methinks when I consider it I am looking down from a stupendous Precipice whose Height fills me with a trembling Horror and even over-setting Reason 3. From hence I infer what might Obligations we have for ever to love and serve our Blessed Redeemer If our Hearts are capable of being warmed into any degree of Affection sure 't is impossible but we must be affected at such an unheard of Instance of Love For the Son of God to leave his Father's Bosom where he was infinitely more happy then we can express and think of and disguise himself in mortal Flesh and become a Man of Sorrows that the might make me a Man of endless Joys can my Heart hold when I think of this Is it possible I should reflect upon such a prodigious Instance of Affection without being wrapt into an Extasy of Love Blessed Jesus what barbarous Hearts do we carry about with us that will not melt before the Flames of thy Love Flames that are sufficient to kindle Seraphims and to fill all reasonable Breasts with burning Affections towards thee For how is it Possible that any Man I had almost said that any Devil should be so disingenuous and ill-natured as not to be affected with such stupendous
of the Old Testament and they are they says he which testify of me And to be sure there were no other Scriptures which could testfy of Christ to the unbelieving Jews but only those of Moses and the Prephets these being the only Scriptures whose Testimony they credited But yet the Reason which our Saviour urges to move them to read the Old Testament doth as much oblige us to read the New as well as the Old as it did them to read the Old for in them ye think ye have eternal life that is in them yet think ye have eternal Life promised and all the Necessaries to be believed and done by you in order to your obtaining it proposed to you And indeed as they thought so it was they had eternal Life proposed to them in Hieroglyphicks for that was the Mystery of their Holy of Holies that was the Interpretation of their Land of Canaan and the spiritual Sense of all their general Promises of good Things to come They had all the Articles of Faith and all the Instances of Duty that were necessary to their Attainment of eternal Life exhibited to them in the Writings of their Prophets and the Types and Figures of their Law For it was by this Rule alone that all the Holy Men of the Jewish Nation did live and believe and either this was sufficient to guide and direct them to eternal Life or they were left under a fatal Necessity of falling short of it It was the Law of the Lord that did enlighten their Eyes and rejoyce their Hearts and convert their Souls and it was in keeping it that they found great Reward Ps 19.7 8 11. And therefore either they fell short of the Reward of eternal Life notwithstanding this their Illumination and Conversion or they found it in keeping that Law by which they were illuminated and converted and if in keeping their Law they found eternal Life then it 's certain that in their Law they had it So that these Words of our Saviour for in them ye think ye have eternal life do not imply that they were mistaken in thinking so or at least they only imply that they were mistaken in thinking to obtain eternal Life by adbering to the prime and literal Sense of their Law without pursuing the Mystery and Spiritual Meaning of it which was indeed the Error of the Pharisees with whom our Saviour is here discoursing For the internal Sense and Mystery of their Law was the Gospel all whose Articles of Faith and Precepts of Duty were though darkly and obscurely expressed and represented in the Types and Figures of the Mosaick Institution And hence the Apostle tells that both the Priests and their Oblations did serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things Heb. 8.5 So that the heavenly Things contained in the Gospel were the substantial Idea's which those Legal Types and Patterns contained and represented and the same Author calls that Law a shadow of good things to come Heb. 10.1 that is it was an obscure Scheme or Prefiguration of the Mercies of the Gospel of which eternal Life is a principal Part. Since therefore the Law was nothing else but only the Gospel in dark and obscure Cyphers if in this we Christians have eternal Life in that the Jews had it also And therefore the Reason which our Saviour here urges to oblige the Jews to search the Scriptures of the Old Testament for in them ye think have eternal life doth at least equally oblige us Christians to search the Scriptures both of the Old and New For if they had just Reason to think they had eternal Life in the Old Testament and were thereupon obliged to search into it we have rather more Reason to think that we have eternal Life in the New since the New Testament is nothing else but only the Old decyphered and unriddled and therefore we must not only have eternal Life in this as they had in that but we must also have it far more expresly than they In the Prosecution of this Argument therefore I shall endeavour these Two Things I. To shew you that in the Holy Scriptures we have eternal Life II. That this is a very forcible Reason to oblige us to search them I. First that in the Holy Scriptures we have eternal Life that is that in them we have eternal Life proposed to us together with all that is necessary to be believed and practised by us in order to our obtaining it or in other words that the Holy Scripture is a sufficient Rule both of Faith and Manners to guide and direct us to eternal Happiness And this is one Article of the Faith of the Church of England which we are required to explain to the People for so in her sixth Article our Church professes that the Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein or may be proved thence is not required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation Now to make the Scripture a sufficient Rule as to all Things necessary to Salvation there are two Things necessary First That it should be full and Secondly That it should be clear both which the Holy Scripture is in an eminent Degree as containing in it all that is necessary to be believed and done in order to eternal Life And this will evidently appear from these three following Propositions 1. That the Holy Spirit inspired the Writers of the Scripture with all that is necessary to eternal Life 2. That they preached to the World all those Necessaries with which the Holy Spirit inspired them 3. That all those necessary Truths which they preached are comprehended in those Sacred Writings of theirs of which the Holy Scripture consists 1. That the Holy Spirit infpired the Writers of the Scripture with all that is necessary to eternal Life For first our Saviour by whom they were originally instructed declares that as the Father loved him and shewed him all things that himself did Joh. 5.20 so he had made known to them all things that he had heard of his Father Job 17.8 And then when he went from them and ceased to instruct them in his own Person he promised that by his Spirit he would teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever he had said unto them Job 14.26 and that by the same Spirit he would guide them into all Truth Job 16.13 If therefore the Spirit did perform this Promise to them as there is no doubt but he did then we are sure that he did teach them over again whatsoever Christ had taught them before and if Christ had taught them whatsoever he had heard of his Father as he declares he had then it is certain either that he taught them all Things necessary to eternal Life or that he himself had not heard from his Father all Things that are necessary thereunto 2. That as
would not be worth our while to receive and peruse the Contents of those Sacred Epistles which by the Hands of his Holy Penmen he hath vouchsafed to direct to us Nor is it a sufficient Excuse for our Contempt to say that in Consideration of our own Proneness to Err and Mistake we ought to content our selves with this that our Spiritual Guides should Read God's Writings for us and deliver the Sense and Contents of them to us For to be sure had God intended that the Priests only should read them he would have directed them only to the Priests and ordered them only to deliver the Sense of them to the the People and therefore since he hath directed them to both this necessarily implies that it was his Intention that both should read them For if God had not directed them to Men neither Priests nor People were obliged to read them and therefore seeing the great Reason why any Men ought to Read them is because they are directed to Men this Reason obliges all Men to Read them because they are directed to all Men. For not to be highly concerned to know and understand what it is that God writes to us is an Argument that we have a very mean Regard both of his Majesty and his Mind and Will But to be sure whosoever is highly concerned to know what such a Writing contains will if he can be very curious to peruse it with his own Eyes at least supposing that it is not unlawful for him so to do because there is nothing gives that Satisfaction to a Man's Mind as the Information of his own Sense So that for Men wilfully to neglect reading the Scripture which God hath so expresly directed to them and thereby not only licensed but obliged them to read it argues a very prophane Disregard both of the Author of it and of the Matter it contains and for any Man or Society of Men to forbid the People to read what God hath written and directed to them is not only to deprive them of a Right which God hath given them but also to acquit them of a Duty which he hath laid upon them For St. Paul in those Epistles which he wrote to the Christian People in general of such and such Churches still takes it for granted that they would read them as being not only warranted but obliged thereunto by his writing them for so Ephes 3.3 4. speaking of that great Mystery of the calling the Gentiles which God had revealed to him concerning which saith he I wrote afore in few words whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ So also 2 Cor. 1.13 We write no other things unto you than what you read that is than what you may at least and are obliged to read by vertue of our writing them to you And as for his Epistle to the Thessalonians which he wrote to that whole Church he gives charge that it should be read to all the Holy Brethren 1 Thes 5.27 So also for that of the Colossians When this Epistle is or hath been read amongst you cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans and that ye likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea Where you see he all along either supposes or requires that what he wrote to all should be read by all and to all If therefore this Authority of St. Paul be sufficient to over rule the Authority of any pretended Successor of St. Peter then it 's certain that reading the Scripture is still the Duty of Lay-men notwithstanding any Papal Prohibition to the contrary 5. From the great Concernment the People have in the Matters contained in Scripture it is also evident that they are obliged if they are able to read it and acquaint themselves with it For as for the Matters which the Scriptures contain they are such as are of everlasting Moment to the People as well as to the Clergy The Articles of Faith which the Scripture proposes are as necessary to be believed by the People as by the Clergy The Precepts of Life which the Scripture prescribes are as necessary to be practised by the People as by the Clergy The Promises and Threats with which the Scripture inforces those Precepts are as necessary to be considered by the People as by the Clergy And seeing both are equally concerned in the great Matters which the Scriptures contain what Reason can be assigned why both should not be obliged to acquaint themselves with them I know 't is pretended that it is the proper Office of the Clergy to study the Scriptures for the People as well as for themselves and that therefore the People are obliged to receive the Sense of the Scriptures upon Trust from their Teachers without making any farther Enquiry But I beseech you are you sure that your Teachers are infallible That they are not so is most certain it being notorious that most of the prevailing Heresies of Christendom were first set on broach by the Teachers of the Church and it is impossible they should be infallible who have so often actually erred even in Matters of the highest Moment Suppose then what is fairly supposable that your Teachers should mislead you and not only into dangerous but damnable Errors are you sure that they shall be damned for you and that you shall escape If so then Heresy in the Laity can never be damnable if they receive it upon Trust from their Teachers and consequently their Souls are as safe under the Conduct of false Teachers as true provided always that right or wrong they believe what is taught them But if your selves must give an Account to God as well for your Faith as for your Manners and are liable in your own Persons to eternal Damnation as most certainly you are as well for Heresy as Immorality then it is the most unreasonable Thing in the World that you should in all Things be obliged to believe your Teachers upon Trust for at this rate a Man may be eternally damned meerly for believing what he is obliged to believe If it be said that the People are not bound to believe what their particular Pastor teaches but what the Church teaches them and the Church cannot err though their particular Pastor may I would fain know how shall the People be otherwise informed what the Church teaches them than by the Expositions of their particular Pastors they being at least as incapable of informing themselves what the Doctrine of the Church is as what the Doctrine of the Scripture is and therefore if their Pastor should err damnably in expounding to them what the Church teaches as it is supposable he may if he be not infallible there is no Remedy but they must err damnably in believing whatsoever their Pastor teaches But we are farther told that it is sufficient for the People that they believe in the gross that whatsoever the Church teaches is true and that as for the particulars there
is no Necessity that they should be informed about them because he who believes that all that the Church teaches is true implicitly believes all that is necessary seeing the Church teaches all that is necessary But the mischief of it is that this compendious Way of Belief is utterly insignificant and doth no way comport with the Design and Intention of a Christian's Faith For God doth not require our Faith meerly for its own sake but in order to a farther End that it may purify our Hearts and Influence our Lives and Manners that is that the Matters which we believe might by being believed by us affect our Wills and continually move and persuade us to abstain from all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World and if our Faith hath not this Effect upon us St. James assures us that it is a dead Faith and will profit us nothing But how is it possible that our believing such and such Propositions should move and persuade us if we do not know what those Propositions are and what is the true Sense and Meaning of them What Man can be persuaded by such Proposals as he doth not understand and of which he hath no Manner of explicite Knowledge An Heathen that believes that whatsoever God teaches is true doth implicitly believe that Jesus Christ came from God to reveal his Will to Mankind because it is certain that God teaches this but what is he the better for this his implicite Belief What Influence can it have upon his Heard and Manners who perhaps never heard of Jesus Christ nor of any one Proposition which he revealed to the World And so he who believes that whatsoever the Church teaches is true doth implicitly believe that there shall be a future Judgment a Resurrection of the Dead and an everlasting State of Happiness or Misery after Death because all these Things the Church teaches but if he never hear of them or hath no explicite Knowledge and Belief of them how is it possible they should operate on his Will and Affections or ever persuade him to be the better Man or the better Christian And the same is to be said of all the other articles of Christianity So that either we must believe to no Purpose and content our selves with an insignificant Faith that will not at all avail us or take up our Faith upon Trust from fallible Teachers who may mislead us into damnable Errors and if they should we must be liable to answer for it in our Persons and at our own eternal peril or which is the Truth of the Case we must be allowed to enquire and judge for our selves at least in all Things necessary to our eternal Salvation Seeing therefore there are many Things in Scripture which the Scripture it self obliges me upon Pain of Damnation to believe it hence necessarily follows that so far forth as the Scripture obliges me to believe what it teaches it obliges me to understand what it teaches otherwise I must believe I know not what which is impossible and so far as the Scripture obliges me to understand what it teaches it must oblige me to search enquire and judge what it teaches because I cannot understand without enquiring and judging But how can I enquire what the Scripture teaches if I cannot be admitted to read and consult the Scripture And so again there are many Duties in Scripture which the Scripture it self obliges me to practise upon pain of eternal Damnation but how can it oblige me to Practise what it doth not oblige me to Understand or how can it oblige me to Understand what it doth not oblige me to enquire after But how can I enquire what it is that the Scripture obliges me to Practise when I am forbid all access to it and it is lockt up from me in an unknown Tongue In short therefore seeing the Things contained in Scripture are of the highest Moment to the People and it is as much as their Souls are worth not to Believe and Practise what it Teaches and seeing they can neither Believe nor Practise what they do not understand it is of infinite concern to them so far at least to Read Consult and Understand the Scripture as they stand obliged to Believe and Practise its Doctrines and Precepts 6. And lastly From the Vniversal Sense of the Primitive Church in this matter it is also evident that the People are obliged to read or acquaint themselves with the Holy Scripture For the Primitive Church for above six hundred years were so far from debarring the People the use of the Scripture that it continually urged and press'd it upon them as a matter of indispensable Obligation For so Origen wishes That all would do as it is written viz. Search the Scriptures So also Clemens Alexandrinus Hearken ye that are afar off hearken ye that be near the Word of God is hid from no man it is a Light common to all men and there is no Darkness in it So also St. Austin * In Orat. adhort ad Gent. Think it not sufficient that ye hear the Scriptures in the Church but do you also read the Scriptures your selves in your own Houses or get some other to read them to you So also St. Jerom †In Psal 86. The Lord hath spoken to us by his Gospel not that a few but all should understand And elsewhere speaking of the Women that were at Bethlehem with Paula It was not lawful saith he for any one of all the Sisters to be ignorant of the Psalms nor to pass over any day without learning some part of the Scriptures And elsewhere * Ep. ad Coloss c. 3. We are taught saith he That the Lay-People ought to have the Word of God not only sufficiently but also with abundance that so they may be able to teach and counsel others So also St. Chrysostome †Ep. ad Colos Hom. 9. Hear me O Laity get ye the Bible the most wholsom remedy for the Soul and if ye will no more at least get the New Testament St. Pauls Epistles and the Acts that they may be your continual and earnest Teachers And elsewhere he affirms * In Matth. Hom. 3. That it is more necessary for the Lay-People to read the Scriptures than either for the Monks or Priests or any others And to cite no more of the infinite Authorities of the Fathers to this purpose St. Basil observes * In Psal 1. The Scripture of God is like an Apothecarys Shop full of Medicines of sundry sorts that so every Man may there choose a convenient Remedy for his Disease And that the People as well as the Priests were then allowed the Use of the Bible is evident from a notorious matter of Face for when the Roman Emperors endeavoured to force the Christians by Persecution and Torments to deliver up thier Bibles to be burnt that so by extinguishing those Sacred Records they might
were true or false yet they seldom underwent any milder Name than Heresie or gentler Doom than Damnation which hath been one of the grand Occasions of all the Ruptures and Divisions that have happened in the Christian World But as for the Faith which the Apostle here speaks of it was of a much less Bulk than what it is now arrived to by rolling through the wild Opiniatry of Sixteen Disputation Ages which by degrees have swelled it from a short script into a large Volume For if we look into the New Testament and into the Writings of the most Primitive Fathers we shall find the Sums of Christian Faith therein contained consisting of very few Articles and those such only as are essential to Christian Religion and such as wherein almost all the differing Persuasions of Christians do to this Day concenter To hold the Faith therefore is to persevere immovably in the Profession of the true Christian Doctrine so far as in us lies and not to be prevailed upon to desert or forsake it either through Fear of Persecution or Hope of Temporal Advantage or the Knavish Arts and Sly Insinuations of false Teachers 2. The second Term here to be explained is What is meant by keeping a good Conscience Conscience in general is nothing but our practical Judgment directing us what we ought to do and what to avoid and approving or reproving according as we follow its Directions or run counter to them The Conscience therefore is good or bad according as the Directions are which it gives for the Government of our Lives and Actions If our Judgment be false and erroneous and directs us to do what we ought to avoid or to avoid what we ought to do it is a bad Conscience that instead of being a Light to guide our Steps in the Paths of Righteousness is only a wandring Night-fire that leads us into Bogs and Quagmires As on the contrary A good Conscience is our practical Judgment well informed and truly directing us in the Course of our Actions what we ought to do and what to avoid For a good Conscience is the true Eccho of God within us that faithfully resounds his Voice and upon all Opportunities of Action repeats after him to our Wills and Affections To keep a good Conscience therefore implies two Things First To maintain in our Minds a true Sense of Good and Evil and so far forth as in us lies to preserve our practical Judgment pure from all false Principles of Action and not to suffer either our vicious Inclinations or worldly Interest to warp and seduce it and cause it to mistake Evil for Good and Good for Evil. Secondly It implies our following the Dictates and Directions of a good Conscience our doing what it bids and abstaining from what it forbids and faithfully resigning our selves to its Conduct and Government and not to be prevailed upon by any Temptation whatsoever to act counter to its Sense and Persuasion In short To keep a good Conscience is to live in a strict Conformity to the Dictates of a well-informed Judgment and not to allow our selves in any Course of Action which this Vice-God within us forbids or disapproves 3. The Third Term to be explained in the Text is What is meant by putting away a good Conscience which being directly opposed here to keeping a good Conscience must denote the Contraries to it To put away a good Conscience therefore is either first to corrupt our own Judgment of Things and Actions out of vicious Affection or worldly Interest and impose upon our selves false Notions of Good and Evil or secondly to act directly contrary to our Sense and Persuasion to leave undone those Things which our own Conscience tells us we ought to do and to do those things which it tells us we ought not to do In short to put away a good Conscience is to live in any known Course of Sin either of Omission or Commission to practise Contradictions to our own Judgments and to follow the Inclinations of our Wills against the Light and Conviction of our Consciences 4. The last Enquiry is What is here meant by making shipwrack of the Faith which being here set in Opposition to holding or keeping the Faith must signifie oppositely and consequently must denote not holding and keeping it or which is the same thing losing and abandoning it For in this Allegory the true Christian Faith is represented as a Ship and a good Conscience or a pure and holy Life as the Pilot that steers and governs it And indeed in that State of Things there was no other Pilot but Purity of Conscience and Holiness of Life was able to conduct and preserve this Ship and carry it safe through those incessant Storms of Persecution wherein at that time it was toss'd and agitated For when Christians have once thrown off the Obligations of a good Conscience by abandoning themselves to a wicked and dissolute Life what is there left to restrain them from abandoning their Faith when it stands in Competition with their Worldly Ease and Interest And though there should be no Competition between their Faith and Interest but they might freely enjoy them both without any disturbance yet their wicked Lives will naturally tempt them to corrupt their Faith with wicked Principles of which later in the next Verse he gives an eminent instance in Hymenaeus who had not wholly deserted Christianity but only renounced one Fundamental Article of it viz. The Resurrection of the Dead As of the former he gives another Instance in Alexander who as it seems probable had through the Fear of Persecution deserted Christianity it self The Words thus explained may be resolved into this Sense That Mens living wickedly against the Convictions and Obligations of their Conscience doth very much expose them to Apostacy from true Religion into gross and impious Errors Thus to the love of money which is the root of all evil the Apostle attributes Mens Erring from the Faith 1 Tim. 6.10 And that which exposed those silly women 2 Tim. 3.6 to the Seduction of false Teachers was their being laden with sins and led away with divers lusts And the same Apostle ascribes Demas's Apostacy to his Covetousness or inordinate love of this present World 2 Tim. 4.10 But that I may evince this Truth more fully I shall give you some particular Instances of the mighty Tendencies there are in every vicious Course of Life to Error and Apostacy from true Religion 1. It corrupts and debauches Men's Reason and Understanding 2. It renders the Principles of true Religion uneasie to ther Minds 3. It deprives Men of the highest Encouragements to Constancy and Stedfastness in Religion 4. It weakens the natural Force of their Consciences which is the greatest Restraint from Apostacy 5. It strengthens the Temptations to Apostacy 6. It provokes God to give us up to the Power of Delusion 1. Living in any known and willful Course of Sin corrupts and debauches Men's Reason and
Understandings So long as a Man lives in any known Sin he doth not only live without but against his Reason which instead of being the Guide of his Actions hath nothing at all to do with them but like an idle Spectator doth only behold the brutish Scene without any Part or Concern in it And whilst a Man thus abandons himself to the Government of his own blind Will and lives not only in the perpetual Neglect but Contempt of his Reason it is impossible for him not to wast and impair it For as our rational Faculties are improved and perfected by Exercise so they naturally languish and decay through Disuse and inactivity and consequently the less Use we make of them in the Government of our Lives and Actions which is their proper Office and Employment like standing Waters they must corrupt and putrifie And indeed there is no impure Lust but doth by its own natural Efficacy disable Mens Reason and Understanding For while we are in these Bodies our Mind is fain to work by bodily Instruments and to make Use of Brains and Blood and Spirits in all its Operations and according as their Temper is good or bad its Operations will be more or less perfect But while a Man indulges himself in any impure Affection that will naturally distemper these Organs of his Mind and indispose them for the Use of his Reason For so Madness which is such a Distemperature of the Brain and Blood and Spirits doth wholly alienate them from the Use of Reason and Discourse is usually found to be the Effect of some wild and extravagant Affection such as Pride or Covetousness Anger or Fearfulness Jealousie or Lust and if these Passions being once arrived to their utmost Rage and Excess do so often run into down-right Madness and Distraction to be sure every inordinate Degree of them must be a Tendency towards it a great Disturbance of Mind though not a total Distraction and how much they exceed their due Bounds and Measures by so much they must taint and vitiate these necessary Instruments of our Mind and Reason Thus every inordinate Lust doth by a natural Influence disturb Mens Reason and sully the clearness of their discerning Faculties So that what Clearness is to the Eye of the Body that Purity from vicious Affection is to the Eye of the Mind it brightens its Apprehensions and renders its Conceptions of Things more quick distinct and vigorous Whereas on the contrary all disorderly Affection doth more or less cloud and disturb the Brain chill or inflame the Spirits hurry them into tumultuous Motions or render them listless and unactive by which continual Disorders our discerning Faculties must by Degrees be extreamly weakened and confounded And whilst the Mind is thus lost in the Fogs of inordinate Affection it is an easie Matter to seduce and mislead it it being through the Dimness of its sight apt to be imposed upon by false Colours and tinctured with Prejudice and undue Apprehensions of Things Weak Minds are easily abused especially in Matters of Religion which being placed beyond the Prospect of Sense require a severer Attention in order to the forming of right Apprehensions concerning them and therefore the more Men weaken their Understandings by their Lusts the more they must be exposed to Errors and Delusions But them 2. Living in any known Course of Sin renders the Principles of true Religion uneasie to Mens Minds Whilst a Man leads a wicked Life his Religious Principles if they are pure and true will perpetually reproach and upbraid him For there are no Contraries in Nature more irreconcilable to one another than true Faith and bad Manners the great Design of all true Faith being to move and persuade Men to abstain from all Ungodliness and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World If therefore a Man's Faith be true and genuine he cannot live wickedly without acting against the full Persuasion of his own Mind which must necessarily render him very uneasie for in this State of Things he acts with a self-condemning Judgment and every Compliance with his Inclination sets him at odds with his Reason all the while he is meditating any wicked Design he struggles with his Conscience and confronts and outrages his own Convictions and when he hath acted it every Reflection he makes on it is a bitter Invective against himself Thus so long as the Principles of true Religion possess his Mind he finds himself continually hagg'd and oppressed by them they sit as an uneasie Load upon his Soul and will not suffer him to Sin in quiet but perpetually cause his sinful Delights to go off with an ungrateful Farewel and recoil upon him in many a sickly Qualm and Convulsion In which State of Things he hath no other Remedy but either to forsake his Principles or his Lusts or to live in perpetual Variance with himself and therefore if he still resolve to Sin on in all probability he will soon grow quite weary of true Religion and quit his Mind as soon as possibly he can of those stern and inflexible Principles which create these Discords in his Breast And whilst he is in this Temper it will be an easie matter to pervert him to any Religion that will give Ease to his straitlaced Conscience and cast a more favourably Aspect on his Lust for being resolved to follow his vicious Inclinations he now sees through them and understands by them and whilst his Mind runs upon the false Biass of his Lusts that Religion which is most grateful to them will seem most reasonable to him Shew him a way how he may worship God acceptably without the Expence of a strict Attention and the inward Devotion of a pure Heart and heavenly Affections meerly by numbring so many Prayers on a String of Beads by seeing a Priest act over such a Set of Ceremonies and hearing him in varied Tones sometimes pronounce and sometimes murmur a Form of Words in an Vnknown Language and though at first view it may seem very absurd to him yet the very Loosness and Carnality will be apt to engage his Affections to it and then they by degrees will go near to wheedle his Understanding into a more favourable Opinion of it Propose to him an Expedient how he may go to heaven at last without undergoing the Severities of a sincere Repentance and Amendment tell him there is a certain Church in the World whose Priests if he confess his Sins to them with any Degree of Sorrow and Remorse have full Power to Pardon and Absolve him so that if he do but take Care not to die without Confession however he lives he cannot miscarry for ever He may indeed go into a very hot Place called Purgatory and there suffer a while very grievous Things before he get to Heaven but if instead of parting with his Lusts while he lives he will part with his Mony when he dies he may at easy Rates purchase of that Church such a
ill Daughter of a bad Mother a debauched and a dissolute Conscience and consequently partaking of all its natural Bane and Malignity even as all other bad Effects do of the malignant Nature of their bad Causes But the Truth of this will more fully appear by considering the particular Evils which Mens Inconstancy to and Proneness to revolt from the true Religion implies of which I shall give you these five Instances 1. The great Impiety of it 2. The desperate Folly of it 3. The foul Dishonesty of it 4. The shameful Cowardize of it 5. The vast Hazard and Insecurity of it 1. Consider the great Impiety of it He who can part with his Religion or any Principle of it upon any other Terms than a full Conviction of the Falshood of it is either a down-right Atheist who believing no Religion to be true governs himself by this Principle That the wisest Course is to profess none but that which is uppermost and most for his Interest or a prophane and impious Wretch who though he believes his own Religion true exchanges it for another which he believes to be false upon no other Consideration but so much temporal Advantage to boot By which he plainly declares that in the Ballance of his Estimation the Odds between Truth and Falshood the Declarations of God and the Impostures of the Devil is so inconsiderable that the least Addition of the transitory Goods of this World to the later renders it of sufficient Weight to turn the Scale against the former and that for his part he is not much concerned whether the Almighty be his Friend or Foe and provided he may but enjoy his Ease and Pleasure a few Years longer here he is very well contented to part with all his Hopes and Interest in God for ever For this is the natural Construction of Mens Apostacy from the true Religion in Consideration of their worldly Interest that that Interest is in their Esteem far more eligible than God with all his Power and Goodness that it is better to be without God in the World than without Preferment and that that Man makes a very good Bargain who gets a good place in Exchange for his Maker and with the treacherous Judas fells his Saviour though it be but for thirty pieces of Silver Which is such a monstrous Degree of Impiety as one would think should be sufficient to scare and affright the most couragious Sinner that hath but the least Apprehension of God or Sense of Good and Evil. But then 2. Consider the desperate Folly of Mens abandoning their Religion in Complyance with their vicious Affections For he who without through Conviction abandons the Profession of his Religion whether it be true or false doth together with that most certainly abandon all the blessed Rewards and incur all the dreadful Penalties that true Religion promises and denounces because though his Religion perhaps may be false yet in renouncing it whilst he believes it true his Will doth as maliciously renounce the true Religion as if it really were so He thought it true and yet renounc'd it by which he plainly declares that if it had been true he would have renounced it so that whether it be true or false it 's all one to him his Will is the same his Crime and Guilt the same it is true Religion he intentionally renounces and therefore in so doing he doth intentionally renounce all his Concern and Interest in true Religion Now what a desperate piece of Folly is this for a Man to part with all his Stock in the Common Bank of Religion which if it be not a down right Sham and Imposture is of everlasting Moment and Concern to him only for a present Gratification of some vain and unreasonable Lust to divorce himself for ever from the Love of God to quit all Title and Interest in the precious Blood of the Saviour of the World only to curry a short-lived Favour with Men with Men whose Breath is in their Nostrils and who within a few Days or Years must go off the Stage and leave us here perhaps forlorn and destitute To part with all my glorious Hopes of Heaven which are my best Heaven upon Earth and which is worse with Heaven it self where I have Treasures of Bliss sufficient to maintain me in a most happy Port to eternal Ages only to gain or secure a transitory Estate or Preferment which while I have it cannot make me happy and from which erelong I shall be torn and divided and not be a Farthing the better for forever to expose ones self as a publick Spectacle of Scorn and Contempt to God and Angels and all the wise and good Part of the rational World for a short extemporary Blaze of pompous Splendor and Greatness which lies at the Mercy of every Counter-blast of Fortune and in all Probability will e'er long expire in Smoak and Stink Wretchedness and Infamy to plunge ones self head-long into all the Agonies and Torments the Horrors and Desperations of a woful Eternity only to escape a short Persecution and a glorious Martyrdom when a little after perhaps I shall suffer a great deal more and longer under the Gout or Stone or Strangury without the Comfort of dying in a brave Cause and being assured of an immortal Recompence than I could have done under the Hand of the Executioner with it And yet all these mad Pranks that Man plays at once who abandons his Religion in Complyance with his Lusts 3. Consider the soul Dishonesty of it For besides that our Religion being the most sacred Pledg committed to us by God for our own Use and the Use of our latest Posterity we cannot vicously desert and abandon it without betraying of God and falsifying our Trust to him and which is worse without squandering away the most inestimable Good that ever he committed to Men upon our own base Lusts and his most execrable Enemies which is Dishonesty blackned with the foulest Ingratitude Besides this I say by forsaking our Religion in Complyance with any lewd Affection we not only do a dishonest Thing at present but also totally discard the Obligations to Honesty for the future For there is nothing can rationally oblige a Man to be throughly honest but only his Religion or inward Sense that it is his indispensable Duty towards God before whose righteous Tribunal he must one Day give an Account of all his Actions The two great Motives of humane Action are Religion and worldly Interest Now as for Religion that consists of fix'd and unalterable Principles which will by no Means ply or bend to the Alterations of outward Affairs and Circumstances but do in all Conditions move and oblige us with equal Force and vigour whereas Worldly Interest is a fickle and mutable Thing that varies and alters with every outward Turn and Revolution So that that which is my Interest to Day may prove my Damage to Morrow and if it should whatever Part I act to