A51839:602
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing…
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostasy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostacy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...
London: printed by J.D. for J. Robinson, 1679
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
III. Prop. The Means of standing fast, is, by holding the Traditions which were taught by the Holy Apostles. Here I will prove;
1. That the Doctrine of Christianity taught by the Apostles is a Tradition. 2. That holding this Tradition by strong hand, when others wrest it from us, is the means of our Perseverance.
1. That the Doctrine of Christianity is a Tradition, I prove it by two Arguments; First, Matters not evident by the Light of Nature, nor immediately revealed to us by God, must be either an Invention or a Tradition; an Invention is something in Religion not evident by natural Light, nor agreeable to sound Reason, but is some cunningly devised Fable, invented by one or more, and obtruded by various Artifices upon the belief ⟨p. 322⟩of the World. Inventions in this kind were Man's Disease, not his Remedy; Eccles. 7.29. God made Man upright, but they sought out many Inventions. As when the Philosophers sat abroad upon Religion, a goodly Chimaera it was they hatched and brought forth! Rom. 1.21, 22. They became vain in their Imaginations, and their foolish Heart was darkened; and professing themselves to be wise, they became Fools. The Inventions little became the Nature of God; nor were they profitable to Man, for still the great Sore of Nature was unhealed, which is a fear of Death, and the righteous Wrath of God, Rom. 1.32. So that neither Man's Comfort nor Duty was well provided for. Surely the Gospel is none of this fort, not an Invention of Men, but a Revelation of God; and a Revelation not made to us in Person, but brought out of the Bosom of God, by Jesus Christ, and by him manifested to chosen Witnesses, who might publish this Mystery and Secret to others. Well then, since the Gospel is not an Invention, it is a Tradition, or a delivery of the Truth upon the Testimony of one hat came from God, to instruct the World, or reduce it to him: not an Invention of Man, but a Secret brought out of the Bosom of God, by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore 'tis said,