LECTURE II. HE fecond thing promised by your Godfathers and Godmothers at your being received into the Church by Baptifm, was, as you obferved, That you should believe all the Articles of the Chriftian Faith; and I come now briefly to obferve to you. the Grounds or Reafons for which you are obliged to believe them; and to fhew the Meaning of the Articles themselves. The Grounds or Reafons for which you are obliged to believe all the Articles of your Chriftian Faith are these.-You are obliged to believe that these Articles are true, because they are affirmed and taught in the Holy Scriptures of the New Teftament, which is the Word of God, who cannot lie.-You are obliged to believe that these Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, because they were written by the Perfons whofe Names they bear, and who were infpired by God the Holy Ghoft, who was with them, and who guided them into all Truth. You are obliged to believe these Books were written by St. Matthew, St. John, and the reft whofe Names they bear, because this is a Matter of Fact, which has been almoft univerfally univerfally agreed on by the Church in all Ages, and allowed by others from the Time in which these holy Perfons lived to this Day. -And you are obliged to believe that these Perfons were infpired by God the Holy Ghost, because they themselves affirmed this, and did fuch wonderful Works in proof of it, by healing the Sick, raising the Dead, and other Miracles, as no Man could poffibly do, except God were with him.So that you are not, ftrictly speaking, obliged to believe all this because your Sureties promifed it for you; but because God himself tells you that all this is true, and requires that you should believe it.Your Faith is built upon the Apostles and Prophets, Jefus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone; and that for these few plain Reasons, which fhew, that it would have been your Duty to have believed all these Articles, if it had never been promised that you fhould; and which Reasons are never to be fairly and justly answered, either by Infidels on one hand, or Papists on the other.-And therefore these Reasons should be well ftudied and confidered by every one who would fecure himself against Infidelity or Popery.-For the greatest and most dangerous Tenet of the Church of Rome (because it virtually includes all the other Errors and Corruptions which the either does or ever fhall teach) is this; that the Faith of Believers is all founded on the Authority of the Church, and that whatever she teaches - teaches must be implicitly fubmitted to and received.—And to fupport this, an Infallibility has been invented as neceffary (which indeed it would be) to fupport this Submiffion.-But tho' fuch an Obedience may be expedient to prevent Men's Enquiry into things which will not bear an open Infpection; it will appear, if impartially confidered, to be highly abfurd in itself, and exceeding dangerous to the Souls of Men. For what more abfurd and ridiculous in itself, than to found our Belief in the Holy Scriptures on the Authority of the Church, when the fureft Grounds we have or can have that our bleffed Lord founded any Church, and gave it any Authority, are to be taken from those Scriptures? And what can more strongly tend to hazard Men's Souls, by drawing them into wicked and deftructive Principles and Practices, than their fubmitting to believe and do whatever they shall be taught, how dangerous or how wicked foever?-And therefore one of the firft Principles of this Church, and of all Proteftants, is, that the Holy Scriptures do contain all things neceffary to Salvation, and are to be the Rule whereby we measure or judge of all Chriftian Truths; fo that nothing is to be required or received as an Article of Faith, which is not read therein, or may be proved thereby.-And therefore thofe Holy Books are laid open before us, that every competent Judge may determine for himself; and that every Doctrine and Practice may may be examined by them, and received or rejected according to their Agreement or Difagreement with thofe Divine Oracles. Indeed, in this and other Proteftant Countries, the Papists are sometimes allowed to have the Bible in their Hands tranflated into their Mother Tongue; but this Practice is really nothing better than an Artifice to answer Objections, and enfnare the Weak. For that Church reserves to herself the Power to judge of the Sense of the Scriptures, and all of her Communion are under an Anathema, if they pretend to understand it otherwife than fhe does, tho' the Words are ever fo clear and express against her.-So that they are really of no more Ufe to them in the Discovery and Knowledge of the Truth, than if they had them not. For it is not the Letters, but the Senfe of Words, which muft convey Inftruction; and if Men are not at Liberty to underftand them according to the natural Force of them, it is the fame thing, with regard to Knowledge, as if they had them not.-And therefore the Rule our Church directs us to follow is, to fearch the Scriptures, to fee whether things are as they are reprefented, and that most especially with regard to the Articles of our Christian Belief, which are only fo far to be deemed neceffary to all Chriftians, as they are built upon the Authority of the Word of God. The |