ther Reformed Churches have in the moft Authentic manner declar'd their Concurrence in the fame Principle.

In Confequence of This the Proteftant believes, that there ought to be allow'd a fair and impartial Examination, whether the Cuftoms and Opinions which prevail in the Church are agreeable to the Sacred Records; and they fhould be retain'd or rejected, as they are found to be fo or not: That in fuch an Enquiry, long Prefcription, quiet Poffeffion, Authority of Fethers or any other great Names, Determina tions of Councils, or Strength of Numbers, are not Sufficient for retaining any Article or Practice in Religion, unless they can be juftify'd by the Authority of Scripture. Without Tuch a Liberty of Search there never can be a Reformation of any Prefent State of the Church: Upon this Principle the Protefters gave this reafon for the Change they had made of the Mafs for the Lord's Supper, that the Mafs had been dif prov'd by undertable Arguments of Scripture, and the Lord's Supper agreed with Chrift's Inftitution and the Practice of the Apostles No other Pleas for the Mafs could affright them either from enquiring into its Scriptural Authority, or from abolishing it when they found it had no Support there. And upon the fame Foundation the other Churches of the Reformation went, in rejecting old Errors and Corruptions, or reviving Primitive Truths, and the Purity of Christian Inftitutions, which had been long out of Fafhion, according to their beft Ap prehenfions of the Senfe of Scripture.

Nor do Proteftants affert only the Right of Churches or of larger Bodies of Men, to bring B 2

any

any Opinions or Usages in Vogue to the Standard of the Law and the Testimony: But they allow and encourage every parti cular Perfon to make a free Judgment of the Rule. As every Man is to answer for himself in the Future Account, and has the holy Scriptures put into his Hands by Divine Appointment for his Guidance: fo he is bound to judge for himself according to the Light he has, and upon ufing the beft Methods he can think of, for understanding the Word of God; fuch as that, for inftance, mention'd in the Proteft, of comparing the Paffages which feem more obfcure with the plainer Places of Scripture: And that of having a juft Regard to the Rules of Interpretation us'd in other Writings, and to the Reafon of Things, without offering any Arbitrary or Unreafonable Sence, or conftruing them into any Thing Impoffible or Abfurd. And if upon this Examination he can not agree with the Generality of his Neigh bours, in the Apprehenfions be forms of the Sence of his Bible; he ought as an honeft Man and a good Chriftian to diffent from the Ma jority. 'Tis neither Arrogance nor affected Singularity to fuppofe himself in the Right, the he fhould have Numbers against him. The Minority by an upright and diligent Enquiry into the Meaning of the Sacred Writings, may under ftand them better than a Croud of People who ufe not the fame Sincerity or Application. And certainly to a Proteftant this ought to be no ftrange Suppofition: For as fuch, he is a Protefter against a Majority in the wrong. The Reformation could never have been begun, if a Luther or the like muft be debar'd from judg

ing, till a Number came to be of the fame Sentiments. And the very Proteft itself was måde by a lefs Number of Princes and of Imperial Cities, who had been out-voted in the Diet. And by the fame Reafon, that a leffer Part of the Chriftian Church may differ from a far greater which ftill adheres to the Papacy, or a Smaller Number of the States of the fame Empire diflent from the Prevailing Part; It muft undeniably follow, that every Private Man is a competent Judge of the Rule for Himfelf, and bound to abide by that which he thinks to be the Truth and Will of God, whoever are of another Mind.

To this it must be added as another ProteAtant Principle, that People are oblig'd to make a frank and honeft Profeffion of their Sentiments. I mean not, that it is necessary to pub dish to the World every private and particular Thought I may have in Matters of Religion. But a true Proteftant will not be afraid or afham'd to own any Thing which he judges to be an important Truth. At least he cannot reckon himself at Liberty to make a Profeffion contrary to his Judgment, or to go into any Practices in Religion different from the Appre henfions he has receiv'd. He accounts himselfty'd up to govern his publick A&tions, as well as his private Judgment by that which he has taken for his Rule. If the firft Proteftants could have fatisfy'd themselves with being right only in their private Opinion, there would have been no occafion to separate from the Corruptions of Rome; to proteft against them; or to fuffer for their Confciences. But when they had dif cover'd the Truth, they could not forbear be

ing so just to God, the World, and Themfelves, as to avow it openly.

And what must be the Confequence of This, but that a Proteftant(if he will be confiftent with Himself) must be ready to allow to another that Liberty, which, as a Proteftant, he claims for himfelf? That is, to reform as he can beft understand the Scriptures: Not be angry with Another for differing from him; but believe his Neighbour to have as much Right to the Liberty of his Confcience, as He has to his own. Honeft Men with fuch Proteftant Charity would foon agree in all Things neceffary: And the fmall Differences which might remain among Them, would do little Harm to Themfelves, no Hurt at all to the general Intereft of the Proteftant Caufe, and be every way confi ftent with the Well-being both of Church and State. This cannot be exprefs'd better than by reciting that glorious Paffage in his Majefty's firft Declaration in Council, Sept. 22. 1714. 1

I take this Occafion to exprefs to you My firm Purpose to do All that is in My Power for the fupporting and maintaining the Churches of England and Scotland, as they are feverally by Law eftablish'd: Which I am of Opinion may be effectually done * without the leaft Impairing the Toleration "allow'd by Law to Proteftant Diffenters, fo sagreeable to Chriftian Charity, and fo necef fary to the Trade and Riches of This Kingdom."

Thefe I take to be the Effential Principles of a Proteftant. He makes his Bible the only Rule of his Religion. Whatever are therefore or have been for many Ages the current Opi

nions and Ufages among Chriftians, they ought to be examin'd by this Teft, and either continu'd or alter'd as they agree or difagree with it. He must make the beft Ufe he can of his own Faculties, and of all the Helps which he can come at to understand the Scripture, and then govern his Profeffion and Practice by the Judgment he makes: Allowing all other People the fame Liberty.

But left any fhould imagin that I advance a new Notion of a Proteftant, I think fit to fet before the Reader's Eye, the masterly Strokes of a Hand juftly and univerfally celebrated in This Church, I mean Chillingworth in his learned Discourse against Knot the Jefuit. *" When, "I fay, The Religion of Proteftants - As "on the one fide I do not understand by your "Religion the Doctrine of Bellarmin or Baro"nius, or any other private Man among you,

nor the Doctrine of the Sorbon, or of the Je fuits, or of the Dominicans, or of any other particular Company among you; but that "wherein you all agree, or profess to agree, the Doctrine of the Council of Trent: So ac "cordingly on the other fide, by the Religion of Proteftants, I do not underftand the Do"arine of Luther, or Calvin, or Melanthon ; "nor the Confeffion of Augufta, or Geneva, "nor the Catechifm of Heidelberg, nor the Ar"ticles of the Church of England, no nor the

Harmony of Proteftant Confeffions; but that "wherein they all agree, and which they all "fubfcribe with a greater Harmony, as a per

* Chilling. Safe Way, Chap. 6. §. 56.

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