Miracles being works which exceed mere natural power or ordinary course of nature it is furnished with faculties which can discern what is natural and what not but is at a loss in higher mysteries This assertion perhaps may be checkt by an instance in conciliary proceedings in discerning Canonical Books of Holy Scripture from Apocryphal or any falsly so called in which judgment is past by mere rational evidence whilst it distinguisheth the one from the other by their Contents This must not be granted for though the contents of Holy Scriptures are a good argument of their truth yet they are not the only Characteristicks to distinguish them from others which are not Canonical When there is any debate in a Council concerning any part of Scripture to be admitted into Canon appeals are not made to mere Reason to judg of its contents any further than by comparison of them with those of other Books which are received without any controversie It is the Councils business to argue as the Apostolical Canon says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Church of England concludes the definitions of Councils deductions of Reason Artic. 21 which admits of this limitation or rather interpretation that though Reason draws the conclussions yet their truth is not measur'd by a bare congruity to it but the reception of it in the primitive Church or the most free and unbiassed Councils and so much of its as belongs to the Old Testament by the Jewish Catalogue and by several other Rules which are as a Touchstone to discover Gold and distinguish it from baser Mettals To speak all Conciliary Discussions in this case do not inquire how Revelation is agreeable to Reason but what is to be admitted as Revelation and what to be rejected and when that is done compare one Text with another till they agree which consent is the most infallible evidence of truth However it is scarce probable that the Reasoner will be perswaded or argued out of his pretended private infallibility whilst he concludes every individual man may proceed on the same ground which Councils do because each rational man being in some degree more or less able to draw conclusions by Analogy or comparing the several contents of Holy Scriptures Wherefore let it be suppos'd that each reasonable man is naturally qualified to find truth yet seeing the promise of Divine assistance which is the most sure foundation on which infallibility can rest is not to a single person those natural qualifications cannot assure them of finding it I am sensible that the Reasoner may take occasion from what is said of urging a question whether the former assertion doth take the priviledge from every private person so that in any case he cannot interpret Scripture The affirmative of this question may be safely maintain'd as it hath respect to private persons who are known Members of the Church and have opportunity of being acquainted with and to be inform'd what is the interpretation and sense of the Church in general which must be a direction to those who pass judgment in particular cases for they may not appeal from Synods to their own private reason and because truth is certainly to be found in Councils and there are Rules of finding it If it is further demanded whether a private person who hath neither learning or opportunity to understand the sense of the Church may not be a safe interpreter of Scripture in order to his own Satisfaction and Salvation As this proposes an extraordinary case so the answer may be dubiously return'd However it may be said to the first part of the question that it cannot be well supposed that any illiterate person should of necessity be ignorant of the sense of the Church seeing he is a known Member of the same and the pastors are as Mouths to declare it To the other part of the question which supposes a Christian so unfortunately amongst the Infidels plac't that he cannot have access to Pastors of the Church it is enough to propose another question viz. Whether the Thief on the Cross who may be supposed to want time though nothingmore could be wanting whilst Christ was with him did give assent to all fundamentals of Religion by faith as explicit as is required of other Chistians who have the advantage of more time and other circumstances The answer given to this will help the solution of the other doubt The manner of Conciliary proceedings being considered and the unfitness of the mere reasoner for such debates in he next place the necessity of Councils shall be prov'd by which the other part of the Disquisition will be better understood Such Sacred Assemblies are necessary though not at all times for some ages pass't without them for the exigency of the Church requires such supplies To imagin it could always be without them is to conclude it exempt from all possibility of erring and independent as to the Divine conduct which is promis'd to lead it and continue it in the way of truth The former cannot be granted for Heresies must be and then there is as great necessity of their condemnation The latter cannot be allow'd for as it intrenches on the Divine Dominion so it doth equalize the Church Militant with the Triumphant whose greatest Trimuph is ovr Error This necessity of Councils is confirm'd from the consideration of different opinions concerning matters of faith which equally commend themselves to the Christian and render his Will so indifferent that he knows not to which part to incline till determined by Authority It is no strange thing to meet with two opinions in other cases which plead for themselves with such equal probability that the most accurate judgment will rather suspend its belief than give assent to either neither let it appear a prodigy if Religion afford such cases as would render its proselytes or professors sceptically puzled without a more infallible guide than their own Reason But it may be said that in other cases the wise men do not give themselves up to a Sect or Council of Philosophers to be Vmpires in dubious matters This is granted for it is unreasonable that they should deliver up their Reason to the most fam'd Sophies but the reason is not the same in Religious debates For a single person may be qualifi'd for finding truth in Philosophy with such certainty as may vie with the numerous Sects but no private member of the Church may pretend to that cretainty which must be allow'd in Councils It is possible that one man may be master of more reason and Philosophy than is to be found in all the World at that time and one walking Library more valuable than a Vatican but Religious knowledg is not design'd to be so Monastical as to live in solitude or a single person Besides if it could be prov'd that the Philosophers had the same assurance of a true conduct in their doubts by reason which the Councils have by Divine supplies he would be unreasonable
posterity upon peril of his own ruine in case some cunning and political inventions be interwoven in them like some of the History which Zenophon wrote which seems more like a Romance than an impartial Relation of Cyrus his Life and Education and those who give precepts to other men sometimes have a reserve of immunity and exemption from them to themselves But holy Councils have no such equivocation which though it may seem pious deceit cannot sit safely in Sacred Assemblies neither may any Members of them as an Arian profess one and carry another Creed in his Bosome were it possible that any Member of a true Council might do this safely and without peril of his own ruine Conciliary Definitions might be rendered more suspicious but the case is otherwise in such Sacred debates the Members of Councils as well as private persons of the Church are like St. Paul and his Company in the Ship which could not be secured from the Tempest If all were not saved or at least in a capacity of being so for as the Apostle might not escape upon a Planck alone neither may the publick representatives of the universal Church promise themselves Salvation it they willingly define any such matters of faith to the people as may indanger the making Shipwrack of a good Conscience relying on their Authority For those who out of design define error as matters of faith are in equal danger if not more with those who put their Definitions in practice Hence appears the certainty of that knowledg which is the effect of faith which as much exceeds that which is purely humane as Science doth Opinion which is such a low and fickle degree of knowledg as seems suited for trifling things below Heavenly objects for God hath disposed of Religious matters in such manner as that a man may know God and be inform'd of his own duty with as great certainty if not greater than he can know the objects of natural Science For the difference which the Schools make between Faith and Science consists not only in the certainty of the one being greater than the other but in the manner of Evidence in the objects which occasions the grand cavil against faith as being an unreasonable peice of service impos'd on man and which is to give assent to that which cannot commend it self to the understanding with sufficient evidence If this is urged it may be retorted upon Science for if nothing must command assent as it is before said but what is clearly and distinctly perceiv'd Euclid's Demonstrations must be less in number and more maim'd and there will be only the name of Science of many things left in the world Besides there is no reason of complaint of want of evidence in the act of faith for it is evidence enough that the mind is inform'd that it cannot comprehend its object however it ought to give assent Let this be made more plain by a supposition Suppose a Terra incognita I do not mean that which Geographers call so for that in future ages may have a new name in the Map or some part of the world was so design'd and contriv'd by the Creator that it is impossible it should be known Or suppose there were Planetary Regions habitable but not intended to be discover'd clearly to man 't is enough in this feigned case that men are inform'd that there are such places and advis'd of the impossibility that they should be known This fiction is applicable to more serious and Religious cases and may stop the mouths of a querulous Generation of seekers who are content with a low degree of knowledg which doth not excell opinion in certainty which kind of knowledg was so little esteem'd amongst some of the Philosophers that it was plac't by them in the imagination rather than the understanding as better suiting with the condition of Brutes than men 'T is true the Schools have been more kind and curteous to Opinion and give it a place in the Vnderstanding but being there according to their account of it sits trembling and in fear it may be deceiv'd and that which it apprehends to be true may be false This consider'd will exalt faith which in a loose description may be call'd Reason Divinely assisted and directed above mere carnal Reasonings and justifie the challenge which St. Paul makes in his Christian Armour where is the Disputer of the World FINIS
The Natural FANATICK OR Reason Consider'd In its Extravagancy in RELIGION and in some late Treatises Usurping the Authority of the Church and Councils By JOHN WARLY B.D. late Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridg Sic si homines rationem bono consilio a Diis immortalibus datam in fraud m malitiamque Convertunt non dari illam quam dari humano generi melius fuit Cicer. de nat Deor. lib. 3. Satius fuerit nullam omnino nobis a Dijs immortalibus datam esse rationem quam tantam cum pernicie datam ibidem London Printed and are to be sold by Thomas Basset at the George in Fleet-street 1676. IMPRIMATUR 2. Novemb. 1675. Geo. Hooper R mo D no. Arch. Cant. Ã Sacr. Domesticis TO THE Right Honourable HENEAGE Lord FINCH Baron of DAVENTRY AND Lord High Chancellor of England May it please your Lordship THough Dedications as much as Prefaces may seem formal impertinencies yet they cease to be such when the Patronage it as the Broad Seal of England to Authorize and licence the Examination of the Libertine though in such method as may seem unkind and unnatural to Humanity in the discovery of Reasons defect and exposing it to the publick vieu naked and intoxicated This way of arguing is so far justifiable as it is more necessary at some times to declare that men are mad sools and bewitch'd in their search for Religion than to flatter them with soft compellations of men of sober minds dispos'd for reasonable service and critically wise to Salvation This method is also commended by Christ's practise who disputing with the Pharisees and Opinionative formalists of the Jewish Church answers their questions with questions and at the same time confounded them whilst he inform'd them by retorting their folly and turning the edge of their own troublesom queries on themselves which was the most proper way to silence a Pragmatical Jew The present state of Religion as it is to be found in factions minds makes this method seasonable for this age which is ful of Rea soning Zelots the secular Fanaticks who must be Catechiz'd in the first Elements of their natural Religion though in a stile as rough as that by which Arnobius discovered the folly of the Gentiles These considerations I hope may render this bold address more pardonable and the Tract less liable to censure which being presum'd I cannot but think it necessary that I declare which were the first motives which conmended the task to my thoughts and what directed it to your most Honourable Patronage Libertinism exalting it self above Sacred Authority and Vsurping its power pleading Reasons claim and right to the spiritual Judicature and it being seasonably checkt by that Oration which made England in its Representatives its Auditor when it captivated both ear and mind with sweetness and vigour and as it is the property of Eloquence commanded whilst it perswaded I thought it would not appear an impertinent peice of curiosity in a private person to inquire into and examin the composition of that Leaven with which Faction swells and turbulently serments I was also more confident in this address to your Lordship whilst I consider'd that some of the matter of these papers when spoken as duty call'd me as well as written found encouragement from the Right Honourable Heneage Earl of Winchilsea my very good Lord presuming they might find the same favourable entertainment whilst they apply themselves to the same name which is now famous both for Forreign and Domestick administration of the affairs of the Kingdom For it is no contradiction in my hopes to conclude that Souls may be allied as well as bodies and that there may be Affinity of Opinions as well as Persons and the same singular Candour and Humanity may run in the same blood as Hereditary to the Family This Task was also encouraged as necessary whilst I considerd that several interested persons cloakt their practise under the thin film of a pretended Religion which might exempt them from the imputation of being Atheists which is a name so odious as would effectually stifle their designs and make their practise nauseous and seem'd careless whether Christian Religion as it is said of Astraea return'd again to heaven so that the world was possessed with a belief that they acknowledged the Deity which they would have prov'd and worshipped by their rational Method Now that such might not impose upon credulous minds by perswading them they are truly Religious I thought it proper to unmask them by shewing that they are so far from being so that by that method they cannot intitle themselves to the names of Theists These men also pleas'd themselves or at least others with an empty name of a new kind of faith which they did no more understand than the Exorcist doth the Sacred words abus'd in his Charm making it natural Reason with an object brought nigher by Revelation and to supply its defect have impudently medled with the object God himself representing him as a Proteus to be ador'd in several shapes or as a Picture to be seen and worshipped in divers forms according to the various situation of the Spectators by which arbitrary Transsiguration of Christ in each mans brain he will be as much abus'd in mens phancies as the Deity was in the Heathens Idolatrous way of worship It need not be call'd to your Lordships mind that such extravagant liberty will exceed all former Her esie and schism which seem more modest for they were never contracted into a more narrow compass than an Assembly or congregation but this makes in its Ecclesiastical Anarchy each Zelot an independent-independent-Church But I was not only led to this Task by the wild projects of Extravagant brains but by the practice of men of more sober minds who perhaps observing the predominant humour and prevailing prejudices of some against Ecclesiastical Authority as Tyrannical over Consciences out of their great zeal for the Church and Christian resolution like Commanders disarm'd in sight snatch a Sword from their Enemies hand when ill success deprived them of their own dispute with the Atheist upon his own principles and fight against him with his arguments which way hath been little succesful And it is no great wonder for Divine Authority which is excluded in such disputes sets the edge on the spiritual sword is the strength of that arm which weilds it All natural arguments so managed are as some vitious Syllogisms which have all the propositions but concluded nothing But this being not so easily believ'd as said in This Treatise Reason and Religion dispute their rights to be judg in spiritual matters This method is altogether necessary for the Reasoner will never believe he is lawfully condemn'd if he have not liberty to bring in all natural evidence in the Trial which large concession will make him know the vanity of liberty falsly so call'd and subjugate his unruly mind playing like a fish which is wearied with the line of his
of a visible Church at any time since it was founded if not the being of any truly so called For that principle which obligeth a man to believe that all Councils have been fallible will never put him out of doubt whether the profession of the Church at any time was agreeable to the truth of Religion For seeing the Reasoners rule admits of nothing as certain further than it is knowable by some faculty of the Soul independent form Divine assistance it is impossible that he can have any more than conjectural knowledg Reason being not able to inform him of a Criterion of a true Church by its own evidence but by Revelation which says the true faith shall not fail Now that this true faith is in a doubtful case must be determin'd by those who have power from God to make a certain discovery of it That which is said is so agreeable to the Apostolical rule no Scripture is of private interpretation which must be confest by the Reasoner though there was no Sacred Authority to confirm that Canon that it is only necessary that objections are remov'd The first of which may be this that by the delivery of Reason in private persons to be determin'd by that which prevails in a multitude is to make or set up a Rational Papacy For as each Member of the Roman Church is no further esteem'd Orthodox than he delivers up his private reason either to the Pope alone or as he is in juncto with a general Council which is said to have such power to determine infallibly though the interpretation make Scripture to be no Scripture So every Christian is to be esteem'd Orthodox or Haeretical according to the sense of the Council which hath power to interpret and make his reason to be no reason No such conclusion can follow and if it did it would not break the force of the arguments which confirm the former positions For suppose the Definitions of Councils as conclusions which Reason draws from the premises nor as none can be so rash as to say Reason makes the conclusion true which was so before only it could not commend it to the will and understanding as an object of natural faith till the two propositions were brought as witnesses of the truth of the conclusion or that Logick creates truth but only assists the invention in its search for it so by the same reason none may say that Councils make Articles of true Religion though they are the means of their discovery But let this objection be consider'd as it relates to Papal Decretals The name Pope will never affright the sober man out of that reverence which is due to just Authority Councils and holy Synods or if it be found to be so in a single person For if it could be prov'd as some have affirm'd that the Pope was and is the Church Virtual it would be beyond dispute that infallibility did at some time since Christian Religion was in the World sit in the Chair or at least may do when fundamental controversies arise which threaten the Churches ruine without the imputation of making Scripture to be no Scripture by his Authority It may be safely said by any Christian that he would not give assent to several Doctrines which are urg'd as matters of faith necessarily to be believ'd for the attaining Salvation did not the Church declare them to be so yet the same person on the same principle is not oblig'd to think that which is so defin'd by the Church is made true by its definition Hitherto I have us'd this comparison which makes the determinations of Councils as conclusions of a Syllogism made by the Heads of the World to illustrate the answer to an objection but it being so apposit to another design it shall be us'd to shew that the Reasoner in a Council is not capable of making a Syllogism from mere natural Topicks to demonstrate the truth of that which is debated This will appear to be true from the consideration of the Structure of a Syllogism which leads us to the knowledg of a proposition which was less known by others which are more evident and easie to be understood For the medium which is an ingredient of both propositions is as clear and as certain as a common notion and the truth of the conclusion depends on it which if mistaken makes the Syllogism a fallacy Suppose therefore the Members of a Council as so many Scholasticks arguing they have no such common notions as Philosophers have by which as media they can draw conclusions Although it must be confest that the understanding by its own evidence can judg of the truth of some propositions viz. It is impossible God can do any act which implyes a contradiction c. Yet Divine Revelation is the medium by which truth in propositions which are more obscure is determined Hence it sollows that the Sanctions and Definitions of Councils must be said to be Hypothetically pronounc'd true as this saying is viz. If the Moon is Eclipsed the Earth interposeth it self between it and the Sun Not unlike this is the way of arguing in a Council which proves Christ's humanity from his Passion for if he suffereth humane nature did interpose it self else he could not suffer Now as none will say there is and always was anecessity not in the nature of the Moon but in the manner of its motion that it must be Eclipsed at some times for to say so is to confine the Almighty's wisdom to one System and to take away the possibility of the Worlds being in such a frame in which neither Sun or Moon might be Eclipsed but when it is seen to be so it is evident that the Earths interposition is the cause of that seeming defect So a Council cannot conclude the necessity of Christs being Man but Hypothetically For the Divine decrees which reason cannot know but by Revelation are as the condition or antecedent which makes Christ's humanity necessary Let not this assertion seem strange since it is impossible but that reason must be defective as it appears from the former instance as also from this consideration that the mere Reasoner cannot conclude the necessity of Christs incarnation and will be more at a loss in other mysterious matters of faith The definitions and conclusions of Councils thus hypothetically drawn are not less certain because they are such seeing the Antecedents of their propositions are matters of fact contain'd in holy Scriptures and those who discourse have Divine assistance in discerning the connexion and inferring the consequences Now the connexion and sequel is true because of the Divine direction as is already prov'd and the Antecedent viz. matters of fact is so as it appears from the miracles which confirm'd their truth which were such as reason might discern to be Divine for Reason may be allow'd a Judg in this case though not in all doubts which come under debate in a Council The reason of which is this
state is like one intoxicated whose we kness multiplies a single object wherefore it was necessary that Israel even to improvement of Knowledg as well as Religion should know there was but one God Let this also be consider'd that in Pagan Divinity we find no such distinguishing worship or character given to Jupiter to shew that he was God Are the other Deities but Deputies as some learned men say or so reputed for they were all ador'd now in Scripture there is not the least favour or disspensation granted to adore any Being but God no not so much as his Representators Prophets and Apostles working wonders This is enough to justifie the expression of God by a plural number in Scripture though not in Pagan writings besides the Grammatical help of a singular number with a plural without false Syntax or false sense The Heathens did apprehend God in such a manner as a plural number best suited with their thoughts seeing the Universe was their God as appeared by their Deifi'd Pan of whom there is this account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orpheus in Hymn This may be further proved by a Testimony of lactantius lib. 9. De false Religione who when he brings in Trismegist speaking most Divinely concerning the Unity of the Godhead saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he translates or paraphrases on it Ignitur Deo nomen non est nec opus est proprio vocabulo nisi cum discrimen exigit multitudo Whence it is plain that the multitude sometimes apprehended God as the general power reigning in the World though at other times they were more accurate in asking his name But not to check inventions or methods by which men frame the notion of one God let the Metaphysician think of infinite power wisdom justice c. And according to art or rule put them together he will make such an Aggregate or Sum of perfections which man cannot naturally know or by what one name to call it beside that of infinite now how properly Infinity in the natural mans sense can be said to be one hath been said before it being like Eternity of which we can speak so little properly that we can rather say what it is not than what it is Add to this that the Reasoner who frames a notion of a God by summing up perfections and knowing not how one Attribute poises another how power wisdom justice and mercy bound one another he seems as much a Polytheist as he who own'd power in Jupiter and wisdom in Apollo c. And can no more be said to be a Theist than one whose education hath advanced him no further than the Alphabet can be said to be a Philologer or he who only knows Letters an Interpreter of words before they have taken their places to form them This instance if it seem not so apposite yet I hope pardonable seeing Christ himself disdains not to be called the Word which without his own exposition would but imperfectly express his nature and Amelius a Platonist admir'd by Eusebius lib. 11. de prepar Evang. cap. 19. And call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because he so much approved the compellation Suppose a Novice who hath been only in the Porch of a Geometrical School and learnt all kind of Lines in their several varieties of which the most accurat draught must consist shall he be thought worthy of the name of a Painter who knows no proportions of the single lines this instance I presume is so apposite that it will need no comment on it and it giving me occasion of a digression from the Metaphysical method of framing a notion of one God to one more suited to all apprehension by similitude as Vives Grotius Morney and others who have illustrated the Unity of the Godhead by Analogy viz. The Heavens one Sun one Primum mobile and other instances of Monarchy as it appears in the World How little impression such instances are like to make on some who in their Philosophical certainty conclude that there is no such primum mobile in the same Authors sense neither dare affirm there are no more lights of like nature and influences may be guest at by the reception and entertainment which later Hypotheses have found So he who endeavours to demonstrate the Unity and Trinity in the Godhead by the three powers which are in one Soul may expect his argument should be as little prevalent for that method which obligeth a Peripatetick to the belief of a Trinity may perswade the Platonick to believe a Quaternion for he as zealously contends for that as accommodated to its several degrees of knowledg as the other was for his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or three powers in the rational Soul and surely the Platonicks did admire the number 4. else it had not been so solemnly used in their Oaths Let it be urged that God may be known by similitude although there be but imperfect and small footsteps of his Being to be traced by the Reasoner yet according to proportion by one Attribute there may be discovery of all as the proverbiall speech of an Herculean draught from a foot and if I may stretch the letter of the Proverb a little finger If such objections appear to the Readers thoughts I only desire him to re-collect or look back to the former part of the Disquisitions in which it was never granted that man by reasoning can have any such knowledg of any Attribute so as it shall be a Rule to him infallibly to judg of the nature of God without Revelation and the last appeals made to it I am not ignorant that the primitive Fathers to instance in one Minutius Foelix made use of similitude to convince the World of the Unity of the Godhead Dux unus Apibus Dux unus in Gregibus yet this was intended rather for illustration than strict proof neither is there violence done to the Divine example whilst the Reasoner disowns similitudes in case that demonstration is justly expected for although God is pleased to discover himself by similitudes he expects not that his Being should be proved by that method The Reconciler who supposes the Being of God and Providence Page 4. of his Preface cautions us to beware of similitudes whilst we would have a true conception of him page 12. Attributes which we cannot possibly know except he tell us and then says we should not conclude or guess about them by Analogies to things of a nature infinitely distant from his or by maxims fram'd according to the nature of inferiour being Let not this argument which seem to have its foundation in practice prejudice the Reasoner for I shall no further make use of it than reason must allow and the authority cited shall have another ratification of its strength by an appeal to the Reasoner who helps his thoughts by art and impartial and unbyass'd industry who by the conduct of his own reason will scarce find out that narrow path which will lead him to the
infallible knowledg of one God for after the utmost perusal of his own arguments concerning him he will be oblig'd to describe himself by a name suitable to his thoughts which if he do he will be in suspence whether he ought to be called Theist or Polytheist this bold presumption is founded on the former position Viz. That the Reasoner hath only a general knowledg of power undistinguished in the World That a gross and imperfect knowledg in a loose and common way of speech is enough to justifie the Language which calls a Being one which in strictness is not so As a late Author instances in Rome which retains its name although the City is not the same which first took that name and there are Protean bodies which each moment change yet retain the same name Such comparisons or such expressions may serve to express things finite words being as Coin or rather the Stamp upon it which oftentimes is so far from representing the person of a King that there is much necessity of a Motto to tell whose Image it is as Painters in the infancy of their Art were forced to supply the defect of their Pencil by their Pens and make men Readers not Spectators of Pictures But the strict Reasoner as he is careful in frameing notions of things so he will be careful in giving names or saying any thing concerning number or nature of that Being which he cannot comprehend Infinite as infinite is beyond the reach of our understanding whence it is apparent that when any thing is affirm'd of an object as infinite so far the affirmation will be doubted of as uncertain that assent which passes apprehension must pass for ignorance and can only be adjusted by an implicit faith Infinite would not be infinite could it be apprehended as an adaequate object of humane knowledg though it were as nigh as possible The French Philosopher modestly took the liberty to make a term of Art a gives the old World a name more suitable to mans apprehension than that which it had been known by in several ages for finite calling it indefinite which is something in its own nature which hath bounds therefore its dimensions possible to be known but no man can determine any thing concerning infinity either as to number or quality seeing the object he judges of is beyond his reach He who attributes any property to a Subject is supposed to understand the nature or form of it otherwise he like the man in the gospel who having not fully his sight recovered may call men Trees or fasten impossibilities on the Subject least qualifie it by the notion he frames of it with a power to make impossibilities not to be so as the Reconciler of Reason and Religion instances in the French Virtuoso who concludes the possibility of a Hill without a Valley not considering that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alex. Aphrodis de fato p. 135. To make such assertions appear plausible all that can be said is that impossibilities cease to be such when they have relation to God as the vast bulk of the Earth appears as a point or as nothing when considered in respect to the motion of some Stars This assertion shews the Authors ingenuity and modesty but gives little satisfaction to the Reasoner for to conclude God can do impossibilities because he is infinite is to prove a proposition by a medium equally obscure It is a difficult task to find truth in general and he who is nice will be cautious how he attributes any propertie to a Being which he doth not understand but more especially when he is to speak of one whose attributes are so nearly united to his being that they cannot be distinguished from it This difficulty of frameing the notion of God made some Heathens look on the Deity as an universal power or an aggregat of all perfections in the World for though they seem to speak Divinely of God as one I am apt to think they speak in the Language of Jewellers who call one kind of Margarites unions because first they were found single when daily experience shews many are hatcht in the same shell Here I might make a stop and pity the Ethnic and the secular Reasoner who like Apodes Birds on the wing hover in contemplation without feet to rest on for whose support though nature hath made provision yet with greater difficulty and danger than for other familiar works of nature for though it must be confest as a father eminent both for Christian and Pagan Oratory says in his Octavia that the Heathens did always own one God and providence but knew not how to point it out This confest helps the Heathen or Reasoner very little for as it was said in the beginning of this Disquisition that he who hath such a Roving phancy as not to distinguish God from other beings deserv'd not the name of a Theist If it be again objected that the unity of the God-head hath been known to those who had no opportunity or abilities to read holy Scripture yet spake sentences which are matter of Christian faith To instance in one famous verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This cannot help the Reasoner in this Article of belief for it being the saying of a Sibyl it cannot be called the dictate of pure reason for though we know not how yet it must be acknowledged that so much as they spake truly of God and Christ came from Revelation in such a Way as none can determine Thus far I have endeavoured to shew Reasons defect in its first and chiefest discoveries when it puts it self on the rack stretching only to a Sceptical uncertainty It now remains that I meet with another objection which may seem so considerable that I may not pass it by without taking notice that it may be retorted from the former part of the Disquisition that I conclude the Gentiles or Ethnicks had not the true knowledg of a Deity neither could properly be called Theists which assertion seems too cruel and unreasonable for some eminent in learning allow that the Heathens in their Theory and practice if not sav'd in some sense may be exempt from Damnation because they had a Law from God and by that Law were to be judged Add to this that the Heathens are allow'd to be Judges of actions morally good and evil just and unjust and justice in man is the same with that which is in God though in an inferiour degree Let this be granted It will not help the Reasoner in setting out his guide for although the rules of Justice are the same in the Ethnick and the Christian and some of the Commandments being Reasons dictates promulg'd and made Law by another Legislation yet they shall not be judged in the same way and manner suppose the Heathen exactly observe his Legem Talionis and demands an Eye for an Eye or a Tooth for a Tooth as the holy Scripture expresses it or to speak in the poetical saying which