rise higher than the proof or evidence we have to support it, nor should our faith run faster than right reason can encourage it.

XXIV. Perhaps it will be objected here, Why then does our Saviour, in the histories of the Gospel, so much commend a strong faith, and lay out both his miraculous benefits and his praises upon some of those poor creatures of little reasoning who professed an assured belief of his commission and power to heal them?

I answer, The God of nature has given every man his own reason to be the judge of evidence to himself in particular, and to direct his assent in all things about which he is called to judge; and even the matters of revelation are to be believed by us because our reason pronounces the revelation to be true. Therefore the great God will not, or cannot, in any instance, require us to assent to any thing without reasonable or sufficient evidence; nor to believe any proposition more strongly than what our evidence for it will support. We have therefore abundant ground to believe, that those persons of whom our Saviour requires such strong faith, or whom he commends for their strong faith, had as strong and certain evidence of his power and commission from the credible and incontestable reports they had heard of his miracles, which were wrought on purpose to give evidence to his commission*. Now in such a case, both this strong faith and the open profession of it were very worthy of public encouragement and praise from our Saviour, because of the great and public opposition which the magistrates_and the priests and the doctors of the age made against Jesus the man of Nazareth, when he appeared as the Messiah. And besides all this it may be reasonably supposed,

• When our Saviour gently reproves Thomas for his unbelief, John xx. 29, he does it in these words, "Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed," i. e. Blessed are they who, though they have not been favoured with the evidence of their senses as thou hast been, yet have been convinced by the reasonable and sufficient moral evidence of the wellgrounded report of others, and have believed in me upon that evidence. Of this moral evidence Mr. Ditton writes exceedingly well in his book of the Resurrection of Christ.

with regard to some of these strong exercises of faith which are required and commended, that these believers had some further hints of inward evidence, and immediate revelation from God himself; as when St. Peter confesses Christ to be the Son of God, Matth. xvi. 16, 17, our blessed Saviour commends him, saying, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona;" but he adds, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven."

And the same may be said concerning the faith of miracles, the exercise whereof was sometimes required of the disciples and others, i. e. when by inward and divine influences God assured them such miracles should be wrought, their obedience to and compliance with these divine illuminations was expected and commended. Now this supernatural inspiration carried sufficient evidence with it to them, as well as to the ancient prophets, though we who never felt it are not so capable to judge and distinguish it.

XXV. What is said before concerning truth or doctrines, may be also affirmed concerning duties; the reason of both is the same; as the one are truths for our speculation, the others are truths for our practice. Duties which are expressly required in the plain language of Scripture, or dictated by the most evident reasoning upon first principles, ought to bind our consciences more than those which are but dubiously inferred, and that only from occasional occurrences, incidents, and circumstances: as for instance, I am certain that I ought to pray to God; my conscience is bound to this, because there are most evident commands for it to be found in Scripture, as well as to be derived from reason. I believe also, that I may pray to God either by a written form or without one, be cause neither reason nor revelation expressly requires either of these modes of prayer at all times, or forbids the other. I cannot therefore bind my conscience to practise the one so as utterly to renounce the other; but I would practise either of them as my reason and other circumstances direct me.

Again, I believe that Christians ought to remember the death of Christ by the symbols of bread and wine; and I

believe there ought to be pastors in a Christian church some way ordained or set apart to lead the worship, and to bless and distribute the elements; but the last of these practices is not so expressly directed, prescribed, and required in Scripture as the former; and therefore I feel my conscience evidently bound to remember the death of Christ with some society of Christians or other, since it is a most plain command, though their methods of ordaining a pastor be very different from other men, or from my own opinion; or whether the person who distributes these elements be only an occasional or a settled administrator; since none of these things are plainly determined in Scripture. I must not omit or neglect an express command because some unnecessary circumstances are dubious. And I trust I shall receive approbation from the God of nature, and from Jesus my judge at the last day, if I have endeavoured in this manner to believe and practise every thing in proportion to the degree of evidence which God has given me about it, or which he has put me into a capacity to seek and obtain in the age and nation wherein I live.

Query, Whether the obstinate deists and the fatalists of Great Britain will find sufficient apology from this principle? But I leave them to venture the awful experiment.

XXVI. We may observe these three rules in judging of probabilities which are to be determined by reason, relating either to things past or things to come.

1. That which agrees most with the constitution of nature carries the greatest probability in it, where no other circumstance appears to counterpoise it; as if I let loose a greyhound within sight of a hare upon a large plain, there is great probability the greyhound will seize her; that a thousand sparrows will fly away at the sight of a hawk among them.

2. That which is most conformable to the constant observations of men, or to experiments frequently repeated, is most likely to be true: as that a winter will not pass away in England without some frost and snow: that if you deal out great quantities of strong liquor to the mob, there will be many drunk; that a large assembly of men

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will be of different opinions in any doubtful point; that a thief will make his escape out of prison if the doors of it are unguarded at midnight.

3. In matters of fact, which are past or present, where neither nature, nor observation, nor custom gives us any sufficient information on either side of the question, there we may derive a probability from the attestation of wise and honest men, by word or writing, or the concurring witnesses of multitudes who have seen and known what they relate, &c. This testimony in many cases will arise to the degree of moral certainty. So we believe that the plant tea grows in China; and that the emperor of the Turks lives at Constantinople; that Julius Cæsar conquered France; and that Jesus our Saviour lived and died in Judea; that thousands were converted to the Christian faith in a century after the death of Christ; and that the books which contain the Christian religion are certain histories and epistles which were written above a thousand years ago. There is an infinite variety of such propositions which can admit of no reasonable doubt, though they are not matters which are directly evident to our own senses or our mere reasoning powers.

XXVII. When a point hath been well examined, and our own judgment settled upon just arguments in our manly age, and after a large survey of the merits of the cause, it would be a weakness for us always to continue fluttering in suspense. We ought therefore to stand firm in such well established principles, and not be tempted to change and alter for the sake of every difficulty, or every occasional objection. We are not to be carried about with every flying doctrine, like children, tossed to and fro, and wavering with the wind. It is a good thing to have the heart established with grace, not with meats: that is, in the great doctrines of the gospel of grace, and in Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; but it is not so necessary in the more minute matters of religion, such as meats and drinks, forms and ceremonies, which are of less importance, and for which Scripture has not given such express directions. This is the advice of the great apostle, Éph. iv. 14. Heb. xiii. 8, 9.

In short, those truths which are the springs of daily

practice should be settled as soon as we can with the exercise of our best powers after the state of manhood: but those things wherein we may possibly mistake should never be so absolutely and finally established and determined as though we were infallible. If the Papists of Great Britain had maintained such a resolute establishment and assurance in the days of King Henry VIII. or Queen Elizabeth, there never had been a reformation: nor would any heathen have been converted, even under the ministry of St. Paul, if their obstinate settlement in their idolatries had kept their eyes shut against all further light. Yet this should not hinder us from settling our most important principles of faith and practice, where reason shines with its clearest evidence, and the word of God plainly determines truth and duty.

XXVIII. But let us remember also, that though the gospel be an infallible revelation, we are but fallible interpreters when we determine the sense even of some important propositions written there; and therefore, though we seem to be established in the belief of any particular sense of Scripture, and though there may be just calls of Providence to profess and subscribe it, yet there is no need that we should resolve or promise, subscribe or swear, never to change our mind, since it is possible, in the nature and course of things we may meet with such a solid and substantial objection as may give us a quite different view of things from what we once imagined, and may lay before us sufficient evidence of the contrary. We may happen to find a fairer light cast over the same Scriptures, and see reason to alter our sentiments even in some points of moment. Sic sentio, sic sentiam, i. e. so I believe, and so I will believe, is the prison of the soul for life-time, and a bar against all the improvements of the mind. To impose such a profession on other men in matters not absolutely necessary, and not absolutely certain, is a criminal usurpation and tyranny over faith and conscience, and which none has power to require but an infallible dictator.