the Canon of the Scripture; to wit, that there are so many Books precisely, neither more nor less, cannot be proved by Scripture:
Therefore, it is no necessary Article of Faith.
Obj. 2.If they should allege; That the admitting of any other Books to be now written by the same Spirit might infer the Admission of new Doctrines:
I deny that Consequence; for the Principal or Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion are contained in the tenth Part of the Scripture; but it will not follow thence that the Rest are impertinent, or useless. Books lost.If it should please God to bring to us any of those Books, which by the Injury of Time are lost, which are mentioned in the Scripture; as, The Prophecy of Enoch, the Book of Nathan, &c. or, the Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians; I see no Reason why we ought not to receive them, and place them with the Rest. That which displeaseth me is, that Men should first affirm that the Scripture is the only and principal Rule, and yet make that a great Article of Faith into which the Scripture can give us no Light.
As for Instance: How shall a Protestant prove by Scripture, to such as deny the Epistle of James to be authentick, that it ought to be received?
First, If he would say, Because it contradicts not the Rest, (besides that there is no Mention of it in any of the Rest) perhaps these Men think it doth contradict Paul in Relation to Faith and Works. But, if that should be granted, it would as well follow, that every Writer that contradicts not the Scripture, should be put into the Canon; and by this Means these Men fall into a greater Absurdity than they fix upon us: For thus they would equal every one the Writings of their own Sect with the Scriptures; for I suppose they judge their own Confession of Faith doth not contradict the Scriptures: Will it therefore follow that it should be bound up with the Bible? And yet it seems impossible, according to their Principles, to bring any better Argument to prove the Epistle of James to be Authentick. Whether the Epistle of James be authentick, and how to know it?There is then this unavoidable Necessity to say, We know it by the same Spirit from which it was written; or otherwise to step back to Rome, and say, We know by Tradition that the Church hath declared it to be Canonical; and the Church is Infallible. Let them find a Mean, if they can. So that out of this Objection we shall draw an unanswerable Argument ad Hominem, to our Purpose.
That which cannot assure me concerning an Article of Faith necessary to be believed, is not the primary, adequate, only Rule of Faith, &c.
Therefore, &c.
I prove the Assumption thus:
That which cannot assure me concerning the Canon of the Scripture, to wit, that such Books are only to be admitted, and the Apocrypha excluded, cannot assure me of this:
Therefore, &c.
Obj. 3.And Lastly, As to these Words, Rev. xxii. 18. That if any Man shall add unto these Things, God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book; Answ.I desire they will shew me how it relates to any Thing else than to that particular Prophecy. It saith not, Now the Canon of the Scripture is filled up, no Man is to write more from the Spirit; yea, do not all confess that there have been Prophecies and true Prophets since? The Papists deny it not. And do not the Protestants affirm, that John Hus prophesied of the Reformation? Was he therefore cursed? Or did he therein Evil? I could give many other Examples, confessed by themselves. What it means to add to the Scriptures.But, moreover, the same was in Effect commanded long before, Prov. xxx. 6. Add thou not unto his Words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a Liar: Yet how many Books of the Prophets were written after? And the same was said by Moses, Deut. iv. 2. Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you; neither shall ye diminish aught from it. So that, though we should extend that of the Revelation beyond the particular Prophecy of that Book, it cannot be understood but of a new Gospel, or new Doctrines, or of restraining Man’s Spirit, that he mix not his Human Words with the Divine; and not of a new Revelation of the Old, as we have said before.
PROPOSITION IV.
Concerning the Condition of Man in the Fall.
All Adam’s Posterity, or Mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, as to the first Adam, or Earthly Man, is fallen, degenerated, and dead; deprived of the Sensation or Feeling of this Inward Testimonyor Seed of God; [49]and is subject unto the Power, Nature, and Seed of the Serpent, which he soweth in Men’s Hearts, while they abide in this natural and corrupted Estate: From whence it comes, that not only their Words and Deeds, but all their Imaginations, are Evil perpetually in the Sight of God, as proceeding from this depraved and wicked Seed. Man therefore, as he is in this State, can know Nothing aright; yea, his Thoughts and Conceptions concerning God and Things Spiritual, until he be disjoined from this Evil Seed, and united to the Divine Light, are unprofitable both to himself and others. Hence are rejected the Socinianand Pelagian Errors, in exalting a Natural Light; as also of the Papists, and most Protestants, who affirm, That Man, without the true Grace of God, may be a true Minister of the Gospel. Nevertheless, this Seed is not imputed to Infants, until by Transgression they actually join themselves therewith; [50]for they are by Nature the Children of Wrath, who walk according to the Power of the Prince of the Air, the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience, having their Conversation in the Lusts of the Flesh, fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh, and of the Mind.
[49] Rom. 5. 12, 15.
[50] Ephes. 2.
§. I.
Hitherto we have discoursed how the True Knowledge of God is attained and preserved; also of what Use and Service the Holy Scripture is to the Saints.
We come now to examine the State and Condition of Man as he stands in the Fall; what his Capacity and Power is; and how far he is able, as of himself, to advance in Relation to the Things of God. Of this we touched a little in the Beginning of the second Proposition; but the full, right, and thorough Understanding of it is of great Use and Service; because from the Ignorance and Altercations that have been about it, there have arisen great and dangerous Errors, both on the one Hand and on the other. While some do so far exalt the Light of Nature, or the Faculty of the Natural Man, as capable of himself, by Virtue of the inward Will, Faculty, Light and Power, that pertains to his Nature, to follow that which is good, and make real Progress towards Heaven. And of these are the Pelagians, and Semi-Pelagians of Old; and of late the Socinians, and divers others among the Papists. Others again will needs run into another Extreme, Augustine’s Zeal against Pelagius.(to whom Augustine, among the Ancients, first made Way in his declining Age, through the Heat of his Zeal against Pelagius) not only confessing Man uncapable of himself to do Good, and prone to Evil; but that in his very Mother’s Womb, and before he commits any actual Transgression, he is contaminate with a real Guilt, whereby he deserves eternal Death: In which Respect they are not afraid to affirm, That many poor Infants are Eternally Damned, and for ever endure the Torments of Hell. Therefore the God of Truth, having now again revealed his Truth (that good and even Way) by his own Spirit, hath taught us to avoid both these Extremes.
That then which our Proposition leads to treat of is,
I.First, What