John Owen · 81 of 157

Sermon XIV. Luke xvi. 29. · Part 5

2. How much better a religion is ours than that of the Papists! We are the veriest fools upon earth, if ever we change our own for theirs.

(1.) We have more certainty in our way than they have, or ever can have, in their way. Our faith is built upon no worse a bottom than the infinite veracity of Him who is the truth itself, revealing himself to us in the Scripture of truth, and not on the sandy foundation of any human testimony:— it leans upon God, not upon men; upon “Thus saith the Lord,” not, “Thus saith the church.” Though we despise not the true church, but pay reverence to all that authority wherewith God hath vested it, yet we dare not set it up in God’s place. We are willing it should be a help to our faith, but not the foundation of it; and so should do its own office, but not invade God’s seat, nor take his work out of his hands: that would neither be for his glory nor our own security. Our faith is a better than such an one would be: we receive it not from churches, from popes, from councils; but from God himself, that cannot lie to us, and will not deceive us. If we are beholden to men, parents, ministers, etc., for putting the Bible into our hands, and directing us to the Scripture; yet when we read it, hear it opened, and are enlightened by it, and see what a spirit there is in it; when the word enters into us, as the sunbeams into a dark room, and gives us light, Ps. cxix. 130; when we see its excellency, are ravished with its beauty, taste its sweetness, feel its power, admire its majesty; when we find it to be such a word as searcheth our hearts, judgeth our thoughts, tells us all that is within us, all that ever we did in our lives, John iv. 29, awakens our consciences, commands the most inward spiritual obedience, sets before us the noblest ends, and offers us the most glorious reward, — an unseen one, — an eternal one; — then we come to acknowledge that of a truth God is in it, — no mere creature could be the author of it. And so we believe it, not because men have ministerially led us to the knowledge of it, or have persuaded or commanded us to receive it, or told us it is of God; but because we ourselves have heard and felt him speaking in it. The Spirit shines into our minds by the light of this word, and speaks loudly to our hearts by the power of it, and plainly tells whose word it is; and so makes us yield to God’s authority. Take a Christian whose faith is thus bottomed, and overturn it, if you can:— you must first beat him out of his senses, — persuade him he hath no eyes, no taste, no feeling, no understanding, no affections, no reflection upon himself, no knowledge of what is done in his own soul, and so, indeed, that he is not a man, but a brute or a stock, — ere ever you can persuade him that the Scripture is not the word of God. Whereas, on the other side, the Papists’ religion is built merely on men, and their faith hath no more certainty than those men have infallibility. Ask them what is the great, nay, the only convincing reason why they believe the Scripture to be the word of God, and they will tell you, “The church’s testimony concerning it.” They believe it, because the church commands it; that is, the pope doth so, or a general council, or somebody, — they know not who.

And here they are at a loss already; for as much as they fill our ears with a great noise and din of “the church!” and can scarcely talk of any thing but “the church! the church!” yet they are not so much agreed among themselves what this very church is, upon whose authority they build their faith, and would have us build ours. In several countries they have several churches, several supremacies, several infallibleships: a council is the church, and supreme and infallible, in France; and the pope is the same in Italy. And so (amongst the Papists), if you do but change your climate, you must change your faith too; — if you but cross the Alps, you must translate your faith, and shift it from a council’s shoulders to the pope’s. A strange, variable thing you will find it, which must be calculated according to the meridian you are in, and will not serve indifferently for all places; so that you must be sure to fix your habitation, ere you can settle your belief. And yet, if this were agreed upon, you would still be at an uncertainty, as to the infallibility of whatsoever they call “the church:” — for you are likely to have nothing but their own word for it; and if you will take it so, you may; or if they prove it by the Scripture, they desert their cause, and own the Scripture as above them, and authentic without them; and so, while they would establish their infallibility, they lose their authority.

And so, to conclude, there is nothing certain, nothing solid, among them, nothing able to bear the weight of an immortal soul, — nothing upon which a man can venture his everlasting salvation. I see no such thing as a truly divine faith among them, unless it be therefore divine, because built upon the authority of their lord god, the pope. They call the pope ecclesiæ catholicæ principem et sponsum. In the mass at the election of him, they apply that to him which is said of the Holy Ghost: “I will pray the Father, and he will send you another Comforter,” John xiv. 16. And in the time of Leo X. it was disputed in their schools, among other blasphemies, whether the pope were a mere man, or quasi deus, “as it were a god;” and whether he did not partake of both the natures of Christ, Mornæi Myster. Iniquit., p. 636.

(2.) Our religion is more comfortable, as well as more certain. Our faith being built upon the truth of God himself, and our comfort upon our faith, so long as our foundation remains immovable, we need not fear our superstructure. If our faith have good footing, our hopes and comforts will keep their standing. Faith in the promises is that from whence all the comfort of our hearts, and our “rejoicing in hope of the glory of God,” doth proceed, Rom. v. 2. A Christian’s joy, “is joy in believing;” and his peace, “the peace of God,” Phil. iv. 7; and his comforts, the comforts of the Holy Ghost: but this can never be, if our faith be founded immediately on the testimony of men, and not of God; or if we believe the promises of the word to be made by God, because men tell us he made them. So long as we hold to the “sure word,” 2 Pet. i. 19, we have sure hopes and sure comforts, and no longer; and therefore a Papist can never have any “strong consolation” by his faith, Heb. vi. 18, when his faith itself hath so weak a foundation. How can they ever rejoice in hopes of heaven, when they believe there is a heaven with no better a faith than they believe a pope or council to be infallible? It is to little purpose to say they believe there is a heaven (say the like of other articles), because God in the Scripture tells them so, when they would not have believed one tittle of that very Scripture, if a pope or a council had not bid them believe it: for then their hopes and comforts are all resolved into the authority of this church (whatever it be), as well as their faith is; and both the one and the other rest not on the real infallibility of the God of truth, but on the pretended infallibility of one single prelate at Rome, or a convention of them at Trent. From such a foundation for our faith, and such comforters of our consciences, the Lord deliver us!

By this you may gather what you must do, if you would be Papists. You must renounce your reason and faith too, if you would embrace their religion; you must enslave your consciences to the authority of men, and so put out your own eyes that you may see with other men’s. You must not be “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” Eph. ii. 20, but of popes and councils, — it may be, of a single pope; and so hazard your eternal peace and welfare on the credit of a man who may be himself a murderer, an adulterer, a sodomite, a necromancer, a blasphemer, a heretic; and may be so far 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 infallible! — 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 Smithfield 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 comfort, your lives full of holiness, your deaths full of sweetness; and that you may be “more than conquerors” over all those temptations whereby the wicked one may at any time assault your faith, — be sure to see that it have a good foundation, — see that you believe the Scripture 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: masters, teachers, churches, all may err. And though, de facto, they do not err in this, when they tell you the Scripture is the word of God; yet, they being but men, and having no promise of absolute infallibility, 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 your faith, or you must seek a new foundation for it. And if you come in a Papist’s way, and hear talk of Peter’s successors, Christ’s vicars, catholic churches, general councils, infallibilities, long successions, apostolical traditions, you 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 great many, or a great one in the name of all the rest; or if it rested before on a particular church, 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 superscription 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 rather turn ten times than burn 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. 18; 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.

And, be sure hold on in such a way of painful endeavours for the getting thy faith settled till it be done, and what thou hast hitherto received on the account of man thou now believest for the sake of God himself. I deny thee not the testimony of the universal church of Christ in all ages, so far as thou art capable of knowing it, as well as of the present church, or any particular one to which thou art any way related, as a help to thee: make the best thou canst of it, only rest not on it. But especially take notice, if thou see not the stamp of God upon the word, characters of divinity imprinted on it, as well as external notes accompanying it, consider the antiquity of it, the continuance of it, the miracles that confirmed it, the condition of the men that penned it, — their aims, their carriage and conversation, — God’s providence in keeping it and handing it down to thee through so many successive generations, when so many in all ages would have bereaved the world of it. And, farther, consider the majesty and gravity, and yet plainness and simplicity, of its style; the depth of the mysteries it discovers, the truth and divineness of the doctrine it teacheth, the spirituality of the duties its enjoins, the power and force of the arguments with which it persuades, the eternity of the rewards it promises and the punishments it threatens; the end and scope of the whole, — to reform the world, to discountenance and extirpate wickedness, and promote holiness and righteousness, and thereby advance God’s glory, and lead man on to everlasting blessedness, etc.

And, be sure, leave not off till thou find thy faith raised from so low a bottom as the authority of men, and fixed on God’s own testimony; till thou canst safely and boldly say, “I believe the Scripture now to be the word of God, not because I have heard men say so, but because I hear God himself in this very Scripture bearing witness to it: his Spirit hath given me new eyes, and enabled me to see the divineness of it. I know, and am sure, that this is the word of God: never mere man spake at such a rate; never did the word of man work such effects. The entrance of it hath given light to my soul, which was before in darkness, not knowing whither it went. How many glorious mysteries do I see in it! what purity, what spirituality, what holiness! etc. — all which speak the wisdom, and power, and goodness, and holiness, and truth of the Author of it. What sweetness have I tasted in it! It hath been as the ‘honey and honeycomb” to me, Ps. xix. 10. What power, what life, what strange energy have I experienced in it! What a change hath it wrought in me! What lusts hath it discovered and mortified! What duties hath it convinced me of, and engaged me in! What strength hath it furnished me with! How hath it quickened me when I was dead in sin, revived my comforts when they were dying, actuated my graces when they were languishing, roused me up when I was sluggish, awaked me when I was dreaming, refreshed me when I was sorrowful, supported me when I was sinking, answered my doubts, conquered my temptations, scattered my fears, enlarged me with desires, and filled me “with joy unspeakable and full of glory!” 1 Pet. i. 8. And what word could ever have wrought such effects, but that of the eternal, all-wise, all-powerful God? And therefore upon his alone authority I receive it; him alone I adore in it, whose power I have so often found working by it. I durst venture a hundred souls, if I had them, and a hundred heavens, if there were so many, upon the truth and divine authority of this word; and should not stick, not only to give the lie to the ‘most profound,’ and ‘most resolute,’ and ‘invincible,’ and ‘irrefragable,’ and ‘angelical,’ and ‘seraphical’ doctors, nay, and ‘infallible’ popes and councils too, but even to say ‘Anathema’ to angels themselves, and seraphims, if they should tell me the Scripture were not the word of God.”

Christian! get but such a faith of the word as this into thy heart, and then thou mayest defy scoffers, atheists, Papists, and all their works. If they deride thee, let them mock on; thou wilt not easily be laughed out of thy senses, nor overcome by men’s jeers to disbelieve what thou hast seen and felt. If they will not believe as thou dost, yet thou shalt never be brought to play the infidel as they do; no more than cease to behold and admire the glory of the sun, because birds of the night, owls and bats, care not for looking on it: thou wilt never deny what thou plainly seest, because others do not who have no eyes. Sure I am, if they see not what thou dost, it is either because they wink against the light, or look off from it; or God hath not yet in mercy opened their eyes, or hath in judgment closed them up: “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,” 2 Cor. iv. 3.