540 AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURE.
from being saved himself, that he may, as some Papists acknowledge, carry whole cart-loads of souls to hell with him. Yet still he is in- fallible ! — an infallible murderer, an infallible sodomite, an infallible sorcerer ! etc. And you must believe him to be infallible all this while, by himself, or with a council, or you cannot be saved, — among them. The church, to be sure, you must believe and adore, whatever it be, either representative or virtual ; you must not ask a reason for your faith neither, but tamely submit to its tyrannical dictates. And if it should ever come to this, would it not be as hard a chapter as the third of Daniel? — would not Sniithfield be as hot a place as the plain of Dura, if every one that would not fall down and worship this great golden idol — Holy Church — -should be cast into the burning fiery furnace?
Use II. And, therefore, to prevent this, and that your faith may be firm and immovable, as standing not in the authority or wisdom of men, but the power and truth of God ; that your hearts may be full of comfoi't, your lives full of holiness, your deaths full of sweet- ness; and that you may be "more than conquerors" over all those temptations whereby the wicked one may at any time assault your faith, — he sure to see that it have a good foundation,— see that you believe the ScrijJture upon solid and lasting grounds. Trust the authority of no mere man, nor company of men, in the world, in a business on which the everlasting blessedness or misery of your soul doth depend. Hear Moses and the prophets; hear the apostles and evangelists. We are sure God spake by them; and they never err. As for popes and councils, we are sure they have erred, and so may do again. And so may your parents that first instructed you : mas- ters, teachers, churches, all may err. And though, de facto, they do not err in this, when they tell you the Scripture is the Avord of God ; yet, they being but men, and having no ]iromise of absolute infalli- bility, and being liable to mistakes in other things, — when you find that, you may come to question whether they were not mistaken in this too ; and so think you have been deluded all this while, and [have] taken that for the word of God and rule of your lives which is nothing less. And then you will either cast away yoiu- faith, or you must seek a new foimdation for it. And if you come in a Papist's way, and hear talk of Peter's successors, Christ's vicars, catholic churches, general coun- cils, infallibilities, long successions, apostolical traditions, 3'^ou do not know what kind of spirit such conjuring words may raise up in you. You may be apt to think the major part (as you will be told, though falsely, it is) must carry it, and so determine your faith by the votes of men, — that is, not so much change the foundation of it, as enlarge it; and whereas, before, it was built upon the credit of a parent or a pastor, now build it upon the credit of a groat many, or a great one
AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURE. 541
in the name of all tlie rest ; or if it rested before on a particular clnn-cli, now it shall rely on that which you are told is the catholic one. For my part, I shall never wonder to see ill-grounded Protestants easily turn Papists: they are semi-Papists already, and they may soon be wholly such. They have a pope at home; and if they do not like him, they may easily exchange him for another abroad. He that pins his faith upon one man's sleeve may soon do it upon another's: he is already a church-Papist, and may soon be a Mass one.
And therefore, to conclude, whoever thou art, if thou have not formerly done it, search thyself now, ere Satan sift thee ; try thy faith in the Scripture, that it may be approved ; see whose image and super- scription it bears, what foundation it hath, what answer thou canst give to any one that asks thee a reason of it ; nay, what answer thou canst give thyself. Ask thyself, " Why do I believe the Bible to be the word of God? How do I know it was not the invention of man? By what arguments, by what authority, was I induced to give my assent to it? Do I take it merely on the credit of those of whom I was born, among whom I was bred, — with whom I have conversed ? Is this a sufficient foundation for my faith? Dare I venture my soul upon such a bottom? Is this to build my house upon a rock? How near the Papists am I come, ere I was aware of it ! I spit at them, and defy them, and yet act like them, if not below them, and can scarcely say so much for my faith as they can for theirs." If this be thy condition, — to work anew, for shame! and begin quickly too, and get thy faith well settled, and upon its right basis; or, I dare say, thou wilt never keep thy faith at the expense of thy life, but rathei turn ten times than bum once. If thou hast, therefore, any regard to the constancy of thy faith, to the comfort of thy life, the honour of God, or the salvation of thy own soul, labour immediately to get thy belief of the word better founded : read the Scripture constantly, study it seriously, search it diligently, hear it explained and applied by others, meditate on it thyself, and beg of God an understanding of it, and a right faith in it ; that he would give thee " an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear," Deut. xxix. 4; that he would " open thine eyes to behold wondrous things out of his law," Ps. cxix. ] 8 ; that he would give thee his Spirit, that thou mayest "search the deep things of God," 1 Cor. ii. 10;— that he would cause thee to hear his voice in that word which thou hast hitherto taken to be his, and direct thy heart into the surest grounds of believing it.