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He that believes, shall be saved: Thence I draw the Assumption.
But I, Robert, believe:
Therefore, I shall be saved.
The Minor is of my own making, not expressed in the Scripture; and so a human Conclusion, not a divine Position; so that my Faith and Assurance here is not built upon a Scripture Proposition, but upon an human Principle; which, unless I be sure of elsewhere, the Scripture gives me no Certainty in the Matter.
Again, If I should pursue the Argument further, and seek a new Medium out of the Scripture, the same Difficulty would occur: Thus,
He that hath the true and certain Marks of true Faith, hath true Faith:
But I have those Marks:
Therefore I have true Faith.
For the Assumption is still here of my own making, and is not found in the Scriptures; and by Consequence the Conclusion can be no better, since it still followeth the weaker Proposition. The inward Testimony of the Spirit the Seal of Scripture-Promises.This is indeed so pungent, that the best of Protestants, who plead for this Assurance, ascribe it to the inward Testimony of the Spirit, as Calvin, in that large Citation, quoted in the Former Proposition. So that, not to seek farther into the Writings of the primitive Protestants, which are full of such Expressions, even the Westminster Confession of Faith affirmeth, Chap. 18. Sect. 12. “This Certainty is not a bare Conjecture and probable Persuasion, grounded upon fallible Hope, but an infallible Assurance of Faith, founded upon the Divine Truth of the Promise of Salvation; the inward Evidences of these Graces, unto which these Promises are made; the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption, witnessing to our Spirits that we are the Children of God; which Spirit is the Earnest of our Inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the Day of Redemption.”
Moreover, the Scripture itself, wherein we are so earnestly pressed to seek after this Assurance, doth not at all affirm itself a Rule sufficient to give it, but wholly ascribeth it to the Spirit, as Rom. viii. 16. The Spirit itself beareth Witness with our Spirit, that we are the Children of God. 1 John iv. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit; and Chap. v. 6. And it is the Spirit that beareth Witness, because the Spirit is Truth.
§. IV.
That the Scriptures are not the chief Rule.Lastly, That cannot be the only, principal, nor chief Rule, which doth not universally reach every Individual that needeth it to produce the necessary Effect; and from the Use of which, either by some innocent and sinless Defect, or natural, yet harmless and blameless Imperfection, many who are within the Compass of the visible Church, and may, without Absurdity, yea, with great Probability, be accounted of the Elect, are necessarily excluded, and that either wholly, or at least from the immediate Use thereof. 1. Deaf People Children, and Idiots instanced.But it so falls out frequently concerning the Scriptures, in the Case of deaf People, Children, and Idiots, who can by no Means have the Benefit of the Scriptures. Shall we then affirm, that they are without any Rule to God-ward, or that they are all damned? As such an Opinion is in itself very absurd, and inconsistent both with the Justice and Mercy of God, so I know no sound Reason can be alledged for it. Now if we may suppose any such to be under the New Covenant Dispensation, as I know none will deny but that we may suppose it without any Absurdity, we cannot suppose them without some Rule and Means of Knowledge; seeing it is expresly affirmed, They shall all be taught of God, John vi. 45. And they shall all know me from the least to the greatest, Heb. viii. 11.
But Secondly, Though we were rid of this Difficulty, how many illiterate and yet good Men are there in the Church of God, who cannot read a Letter in their own Mother Tongue? Which Imperfection, though it be inconvenient, I cannot tell whether we may safely affirm it to be sinful. These can have no immediate Knowledge of the Rule of their Faith; so their Faith must needs depend upon the Credit of other Men’s Reading or Relating it unto them; where either the altering, adding, or omitting of a little Word may be a Foundation in the poor Hearer of a very dangerous Mistake, whereby he may either continue in some Iniquity ignorantly, or believe a Lie confidently. 2. Papists conceal the Second Commandment from the People.As for Example, The Papists in all their Catechisms, and publick Exercises of Examinations towards the People, have boldly cut away the Second Command, because it seems so expresly to strike against their Adoration and Use of Images; whereas many of these People, in whom by this Omission this false Opinion is fostered, are under a simple Impossibility, or at least a very great Difficulty, to be outwardly informed of this Abuse. But further; suppose all could read the Scriptures in their own Language; where is there one of a Thousand that hath that thorough Knowledge of the Original Languages, in which they are written, so as in that Respect immediately to receive the Benefit of them? 3. The Uncertainty of the Interpreters of the Scripture, and their Adulterating it.Must not all these here depend upon the Honesty and Faithfulness of the Interpreter? Which how uncertain it is for a Man to build his Faith upon, the many Corrections, Amendments, and various Essays, which even among Protestants have been used (whereof the latter have constantly blamed and corrected the former, as Guilty of Defects and Errors) doth sufficiently declare. And that even the last Translators in the vulgar Languages need to be corrected (as I could prove at large, were it proper in this Place) learned Men do confess.
But last of all, there is no less Difficulty occurs even to those skilled in the Original Languages, who cannot so immediately receive the Mind of the Authors in these Writings, as that their Faith doth not at least obliquely depend upon the Honesty and Credit of the Transcribers, since the Original Copies are granted by all not to be now extant. Jerome Epist. 28. ad Lucin. p. 247.Of which Transcribers Jerome in his Time complained, saying, That they wrote not what they found, but what they understood. Epiph. in Anachor. Tom. Oper.And Epiphanius saith, That in the good and correct Copies of Luke it was written, that Christ Wept, and that Irenæus doth cite it; but that the Catholicks blotted it out, fearing lest Hereticks should have abused it. Other Fathers also declare, That whole Verses were taken out of Mark, because of the Manichees.
The various Readings of the Hebrew Character, &c.But further, the various Readings of the Hebrew Character by Reason of the Points, which some plead for, as coæval with the first Writings, which others, with no less Probability, alledge to be a later Invention; the Disagreement of divers Citations of Christ and the Apostles with those Passages in the Old Testament they appeal to; the great Controversy among the Fathers, whereof some highly approve the Greek Septuagint, decrying and rendering very doubtful the Hebrew Copy, as in many Places vitiated, and altered by the Jews; other some, and particularly Jerome, exalting the Certainty of the Hebrew, and rejecting, yea, even deriding the History of the Septuagint, which the Primitive Church chiefly made use of; and some Fathers that lived Centuries before him, affirmed to be a most certain Thing; and the many various Readings in divers Copies of the Greek, and the great Altercations among the Fathers of the first three Centuries, who had greater Opportunity to be better informed than we can now lay claim to, concerning the Books to be admitted or rejected, as is above observed; I say, all these and much more which might be alledged, puts the Minds even of the Learned into infinite Doubts, Scruples, and inextricable Difficulties: СКАЧАТЬ