things thou hast learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou haft learned them; and that from a child thou haft known the Holy Scriptures. Let us Efteem it, as it ought to be Efteem'd, an Inestimable Blessing, that we have been carefully inftructed in the Scriptures, as soon as ever we became Capable of Instruction; And let us Testify our Gratitude, for having fo Early Imbibed those Sacred Doctrines, by our Firm Adherence to them. Let no Vainglorious and Arrogant, no Bold and Daring, no Artful and Infinuating, no Defigning and Fallacious men, who wreft the Scriptures to their own Deftruction Deceive and draw us into the fame Destruction with Them.

And because our Danger is moft Apt to arife from the Various Interpretations, which have been, or may be given of the Holy Scriptures; the moft Dangerous Errors and Herefies being Introduced under the Colour of Sacred Authority; Let us therefore provide for our Safety, by Depending, as it is our Duty to Depend, upon the General and Uninterrupted

interrupted Senfe of the Christian Church, concerning those paffages of Scripture, which are hard to be understood, Concluding, That the Church, which is faid to be* the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, and upon the Authority of which the Canon of the Holy Scripture depends, must be a competent Witness, if not a Judge of the Faith which was once deliver'd to the Saints, and the long Prescription + for truth, fupported by her Written Testimony, must be better grounds for a private Christian to rest upon, than any Modern Conjectures; That the Determination of no Single person, is Equal to the Determinations of Multitudes, which have Excell'd in Judgment and Learning and Piety: That, befides the Other Evil and Perilous confequences of Rejecting the Authority of the Christian Church, Those must needs be thought to run into manifest Danger of Error, who, in Opposition to that Authority, do Depend upon the Judgment of One, or a Few particular perfons,

1 Tim. iii. 15. fcript. adv. Hæret.

† Vide Tertullian. de Præ

because

because 'tis fo Commonly found, both amongst the Ancients and Moderns, that a man hath been at One time fully perfuaded, that thofe things are Falfe, which at Another time he verily thought to be True; For, though the Owning and Retracting of Errors be Neceffary, and highly Commendable alfo, when it proceeds from no Interested Views, but from a pure Ingenuous Temper, and regard to Truth; yet when a man hath given This proof of his Ingenuous Temper, neither He himself, nor any Other Confiderate perfon would for the future Depend upon his Judgment in Difficult points, at least, in Oppofition to the Church; because he can never be more firmly persuaded, that he is in the Right, than he hath been already, when he proved to be in the Wrong, and therefore may as well hereafter Deny what he now Affirms, as he now Denies what he Affirm'd before: That it will be Difficult for any Particular perfon, to reconcile that profound Humility which the Gofpel requires, with the Oppofition of his Own Judgment, to the Judgment of

the

the Chriftian Church, or, to prove, that he is fo far guided and governd by the Holy Spirit, as not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think: That if Any Particular Perfon may take the liberty of Interpreting by his Own Judgment, in Oppofition to the Chriftian Church; Every other particular person, in the like circumftances, may take the fame Liberty, for the fame Reason: That if All Particular perfons may take that Liberty, they may Poffibly fix the Objects of Faith in a Direct Contradiction to one another: That if it be Lawful and Sufficient to fuch Particular persons, to Affent to the Objects of Faith, fo fixed by their feveral Judgments, it may become Lawful and Sufficient, to Af fent unto Things which are False; for fome of the Objects thus Affigned must be fo, if they are Contradictory to one another: And, That if it can become Lawful and Sufficient to Any one to Believe a Falfhood, 'tis Neceffary for None to believe the Truth.

*Rom. xii. 3.

It

It may also deserve our Confideration, That fince the Doctrines of the Trinity, and of a General Resurrection, and all the Other Objects of our Faith Neceffary unto Salvation, are in Some Texts of Scripture fo Plainly Revealed, that every man of Common Understanding, with an Honeft mind, may easily perceive the Certainty of them; 'tis therefore incumbent upon Every man, who would be saved, to adhere to the Truth fo Plainly Reveal'd, notwithstanding that he cannot fo clearly apprehend the Full meaning of fome Other Difficult Texts, and notwithstanding the most Plaufible Fallacies which are built upon fuch Texts, by those who Pervert them. For Plain Texts are not to be Interpreted by those which are more Obfcure: When therefore the Obfcure ones do feem any way Repugnant to those which are Eafy and Plain, 'tis highly Reasonable and Juft, as well as Modeft, in any man, to Imagine, that the Obfcure ones are not Truely and Perfectly Understood by him. And when the Truth of the Gospel Plainly and Clearly appears, let all Gloffes

and