OCR Text |
Show *There's not laid down in Scripcureany ~~~~~~r~:r bt:J~rt M~gi· ftura; and toaftinrimu of Su!fcriwgs. John 1·9• TitUS 2.11. Of tbe General Rule VoL. I. Infpiration; for that is dangerous DoC\:rine wirh you: Which w:1y was it then? Not by Traditifln: WJs it by the Scripture? Tha~ were to lay 1har the Scripture te11s you that tbofe Men, thar oollefted a for true, were Right in their Judgment: But we are yet to find any fuch Place, and if it were fo that would but beg the Qpeftion. I CJnnot fee :wy other Ground befides .Your very great lndulg.ence c_o their Choice, whic~1 you c:Jll Popery: and believing a1 the Church bd1roes, mother Folks. But tf thefe Men' were fallible as your Opinion makes them, and their own })eterminations prove them, ~h3.t then? Doubtlefs your Condi.tion will be ~ery uncerrain. Now fure it is that fame of the Scnptures taken m by one Couucil fer Canonic;!, were reje8:ed by another as .Apocryphal; and that which WJs left out by the Former for Apocrypbt~l, ~as taken in by the Lauer for Cano.,ic,I/. Now vifible it is that they contradJ8ed each other, and as true that they both erred, ref peEling the prefent Belief: Fot your CtrAon and Catalog11t ta· ry from theirs, and, let me fay ~ithout Offen~e •. from any Cat:llogue you can produce. Behold the Labyrt'!tb?f InurrazntzCJ you:run your fehrcsin· ~o, who go from ~hat Htavmly. Gift m f611T_ft_Jves! by wh1ch. the Holy Scriptures are truly D1fcerned, ReltChed and Diihnguiibed from the Invention$ and Abufes of Men ! . . 8. Furthermore, If the Scriptures were the Rule of Faith and Life f:fc. then becaufe. they cannot be. the Rule in their TranOations, fuppofing the ancient Coptes were Exaa, 1t cannot be the Rule to far the Greaufl Parr of Mankind; indeed to none but Learmd Men: Which neither aofwers the Promife relating to Gof~l-times, which is univerfal; nor the Neceffity of all Mankind for a Rule of Faith nnd Lifr. y. That the Scriptures are not the Rule of Fairh and Life, is pro\•cd from thofe voluminous Difcourfes of Cafes of Co~tfcience that are extant among us: For had the Scriptures been as fufficienr as the NJture of the Rule of Faith and Life Requireth, there had been no Need of fuch TraEl:s: Every Mln might have read his own Condition loaid down in Scripture wirhout thofe numerous Supplemems. Doth. not your own LanguJge and Pra8:ice prove it's Infufficiency to that End, ar what Time you both exhort to, and go in fecret ro feck the Mind of the Lord in rhis or that important Affair? Why do not you turn to Chapter and Verfe for SatisfJaion if tbe S~ripture be ap_Pointed of God for the Gen~ral Rule?_ Scrange! Thn whu ts fo common m rt1e Mouths of all Sorts, VJZ. God duea you (which implierh Infpiration lnd Revel3.tion, or immedi:ue Council or Guiding· from God) Chould not be known, much lefs acknowledged by you ir. our Writings; but difdained with fuch fearing Epithets, as t.lubttjiafm Fmni· rljm, Fanaticifm, l_ualurifm, &c. In fhorc, there are :t + ThoufanJ Cafe~ and not a few occurring almofi daily. in which the Scripture cannot b~ our plain aAd diflinfl Rule and Guide: Yet has nor Ciod left himfelf rrit/.tout a Wirnrfr in any Bofom; for his Gr1.1ct that brings Sdlvario, bar nppeured unto all Men, reaching them thlt believe in ir, ro de11y C'Atod!intfs and TJJorldly Lufls, and to live Soberly, Rigbteo«fly and Godly in ... rhis prejenr World. And Chrift Jcfus the Eternal Wctd has for that End lighted evcJV M3n corning into the World (viz.) to Difcover, Reprote Jnd lnfirua a·· bout Faith and Praflice. Bur it may be, and is ohjeEled b).. fame;. Obj. If this Law and Light in the Conf(ience bad bun eno11gb, ub:tt ned bad there bun of SCJ·iprure? .Anfu:. The fam7 Argument .Will hold againft Ciod, Chrift, His Spirit and Grace, all wbtch are fuffic1enr, norwithfbnding the Ufe and Benefit o~ Scripture .. _The Cafe w~s this: ~an's Mind. bf:ing cfharged from. the L1ght and Spun, rhrough_Hs wa.ndnngs a fret V1fible :Jnd Perifhing Thmgs; And in :JS much as the Ltghr beca.me thereby vailed Jrom him, the Spi~ rit as it were.quenche.d, and the La~ def~~'d, God in peculi:lC Mercy ro the Jews, accordm$ to hts C~venanr wuh. fatthful .If braham, iUperadded, or repeated (as T.Jrjin term'S u) the Law rnrr:ard, bv a Declaration of it out· · w:udJ~· i I. Of Faith and Practice. wardl.Y; that both Go~ might not be without an outward Witnefs, as we.ll as an mward (the~ hav1ng fo. much loft the Feeling thereof) And likewife 167l· more deeply ro fiuke theu Mmds, by rheir Senfes (into which their Miods ~ were gone) and to meet them abroad, where they were roving a d d · from the Law and Ligbr within. n wan nng As ic is grearyanityand WeaknelS to infer llljNfficienq to the Li ht · from t~e Imbe~tOuyand DarRnefr that are in Men, fo is it from God'sgSu~ peraddiU~ Scr~prure, ~nd other external Affiftances to Men in that State ~nee th~tr .Bhndnefs ts occafioned through their Rebellion tc the Law and Ltght Withm. What! would fuch have God, h_is Light and Spirit ap e~r to an~. too converf6 with People's OlltWard Senfes? That can't be: Th~ one~ ~pmtu~l, and the other roo Carnal for any fuch Thing. Or are the tnf~fficient,. becaufe they converfe with Men, through thefe exterio~ Thmgs, fut~ed to that weak Stare ? Or tell me if rhe confiderableft Par_t of Scnpture be any more than the declared Knowledge and Ex~ penence of f~ch as were. c_ome to. a f?OJ'e improved State in rhe Tc::u:h· 1ngs of that ~tght a~d Spirit·' wh1ch ts therefore given fonh, that others loyrermg behmd, might be fi~-tred up and the more prevailed with to fol~ low them, as rhey had followed rhe Lord in the Light of his Spirit? Cer• ramly It can never be that ~cnpt~re fhonld impe:~ch the Light of Infuffici .. e~cy, .when. that very Scnpture ts but the Mind ::~nd Teachings of the Dj .. · vme Ltght, 10 others, declared or recorded. Does the Declaration jarr or make ~eak th3t from when~e it came? Or becaufe of God's Condefcenfion for a Ttme to external Medmms, lhl~1 .they turn the Light and Spirit out of the. Office of Rule and Judge ? Or ts It to ltJy down ln/liruud Religion, as fome Ignorantl_y talk, to prefs after th3t which was before, and -ends thofe Temporary Thtngs? The Law ~Ntward,. a1 a R11le, was bur as .Mofu t ill the Son ca!ll,e· 711e &rv~ttl abzderh not m rhe Houfe for ever. The written.. . Law held n_s Place but ull the inward arofe in more Glory 1md Brigbmifs; or. rather,. u~l People became mo~e capable ofheing turned to ir, and living wuh and In It? In tboft Days, fauh the Lord, I will writt my Law in tbtir !feartr, &c. ~hey' ~ho fay otherwife of S~ripture, do pervert and abufe John 18. 3~ It; fot there IS nothing mo~e clearly laid down in it, from Beginuing to I fa. S4o 13 End, tha.n the Rule an_d Rt1gn ~~the Spirit. illy Kingdom faid Chrift, i.r 1fOI ofrbu World. Aga1n, The King_Jom of. God ir within: I wiU wriit my Law toet2. 2s. zntbe1rHtarrr, andplacemyFearm rbe1r Jnu•ard Parrr. A.IJ ti:JCbildren Tt.2. tr.1;; jhnU be tnugbt of the L.rd, and in Righre,uJnifr jhn/1 they be ejlnblijhed. I tJ)IU pour out of my Spmt on aU f!lejh. the Grau of God tbar bringr Salvarion bath ~ppure~ to aU J11en, teachmg, &c. ' ObJ. B111 if rbe Law engraven ~nd delivered to Mofes, war a Rule to the Jews, why fhauld not the_ Law debvrred by Chrift, and written by the ilpa.ftlu, be the Rule lo Chriflzanr? · An f. Chrifi le~t ~othing in writing for the RNle of Faitb and Praflice that we hear of; and tt lS not to be thought that he was lcfs faithful in his Houfe than Moju' And doubtle&, bad be intended the Rule of his Followers taha.ve bee~ a wntun Rule, he would have left it upon Record with all p,mflualuy, .tbu. muft be believed, and that dont, on Pain of Eternal Death .. Nor d1d h.1s Followers write in thr Met bod of a Rule, as the Law was wm~en; nordtd theyfo call or recommend what they writ. But thts leads m~ to my eighth Reafon why the Scriptures cannot be the Rule under the new Covenant, t!Jc •. For admitting the Law written by .Jfo~ fer were .the RN!e (A Rule I ~rant 11 wta) ro the Jew outwa-rd, yet Chriff, the jp1rifual Leader of 11 jp1ritual /frat!, wireth his jpirilN.1/ Laru ;, the Heart, as.".·1ofer tbeoutuinrd lfrael's Leader writ tbt Lato upon Tnblu of Stone. T hlS was God's Promife, and rhe Priviledge aod Bleffing of the New·Covcna'!t, that as the OlltfiJnrd Jew, had an o11tward Law, for a Di .. reflor;•, the znword Jew fhould have J~ inward Lc1w for hi.s DiuOory : And as the outward Jew had an outward Priefl, at whofe Mouth he ought to feek the Law, fo the ]trl) ;nward, and Circumcifion in Spirit, has an inw11rd MaL a- 1· andSpirit11al higb Pritjl, wbofc Lips prefene Knowledge; :Jt whofe- Moul!h He-b. ;. ~·~ he ~s:. 2Ci~ ~,.. |