SERMONS Concerning the DIVINITY and INCARNATION OF OUR Blessed Saviour Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry By JOHN late Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Br. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil and W. Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCV AN Advertisement TO THE READER THE following Sermons were preached several years ago in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry in London and being now revised and enlarged by the Author are here made publick The true Reason whereof was not that which is commonly alledged for Printing Books the importunity of Friends but the importunate clamours and malicious calumnies of Others whom the Author heartily prays God to forgive and to give them better minds And to grant that the ensuing Discourses the publication whereof was in so great a degree necessary may by his Blessing prove in some measure useful SERMON I. Concerning the Divinity of our B. Saviour Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry Decemb. 30th 1679. JOHN I. 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth THESE words contain in them three great Points concerning our B. Saviour the Author and Founder of our Faith and Religion First His Incarnation the Word was made or became flesh Secondly His Life and conversation here among us and dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pitched his Tabernacle amongst us he lived here below in this World and for a time made his residence and abode with us Thirdly That in this state of his humiliation he gave great and clear evidence of his Divinity whilst he appeared as a man and liv'd amongst us there were great and glorious Testimonies given of him that he was the Son of God and that in so peculiar a manner as no Creature can be said to be And we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father c. I shall begin with the First of these his Incarnation as most proper for this Solemn Time which hath for many Ages been set apart for the commemoration of the Nativity and Incarnation of our B. Saviour The Word was made flesh that is he who is personally called the Word and whom the Evangelist St. John had so fully described in the beginning of this Gospel he became flesh that is assumed our Nature and became Man for so the word flesh is frequently used in Scripture for Man or human nature O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come that is to thee shall all men address their Supplications again The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together that is all men shall behold and acknowledge it and then it follows all flesh is grass speaking of the frailty and mortality of man And so likewise in the new Testament our B. Saviour foretelling the misery that was coming upon the Jewish Nation says Except those days should be shortned no flesh should be saved that is no man should escape and survive that great calamity and destruction which was coming upon them By the works of the Law says the Apostle shall no flesh that is no man be justified So that by the Word 's being made or becoming flesh the Evangelist did not intend that he assumed only a human Body without a Soul and was united only to a human Body which was the Heresie of Apollinaris and his Followers but that he became Man that is assumed the whole human Nature Body and Soul And it is likewise very probable that the Evangelist did purposely chuse the word flesh which signifies the frail and mortal part of Man to denote to us that the Son of God did assume our Nature with all its infirmities and became subject to the common frailty and mortality of human Nature The words thus explain'd contain that great Mystery of Godliness as the Apostle calls it or of the Christian Religion viz. the Incarnation of the Son of God which St. Paul expresseth by the appearance or manifestation of God in the flesh And without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God was manifested in the flesh that is he appeared in human Nature he became man or as St. John expresseth it in the Text The Word was made flesh But for the more clear and full explication of these words we will consider these two things First the Person that is here spoken of and who is said to be incarnate or to be made flesh namely the Word Secondly the Mystery it self or the nature of this Incarnation so far as the Scripture hath revealed and declared it to us I. We will consider the Person that is here spoken of and who is said to be incarnate or to be made flesh and who is so frequently in this Chapter called by the Name or Title of the Word namely the eternal and only begotten Son of God for so we find him described in the Text The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father c. that is such as became so great and glorious a Person as deserves the Title of the only begotten Son of God For the explaining of this Name or Title of the Word given by St. John to our B. Saviour we will consider these two things First The reason of this Name or Title of the Word and what probably might be the Occasion why this Evangelist insists so much upon it and makes so frequent mention of it Secondly The Description it self which is given of him under this Name or Title of the Word by this Evangelist in his entrance into his History of the Gospel I. We will enquire into the reason of this Name or Title of the Word which is here given to our B. Saviour by this Evangelist And what might probably be the Occasion why he insists so much upon it and makes so frequent mention of it I shall consider these two things distinctly and severally First The reason of this Name or Title of the Word here given by the Evangelist to our B. Saviour And he seems to have done it in compliance with the common way of speaking among the Jews who frequently call the Messias by the Name of the Word of the Lord of which I might give many instances But there is one very remarkable in the Targum of Jonathan which renders those words of the Psalmist which the Jews acknowledge to be spoken of the Messias viz. The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand c. I say it renders them thus The Lord said unto his Word sit thou on my right hand c. And so likewise Philo the Jew calls him by whom God made the World the Word of God and the Son of God And Plato probably
this whole passage in the beginning of St. John's Gospel quite to another sense never mention'd nor I believe thought of by any Christian Writer whatsoever before Socinus And it is not easie to imagin how any Opinion can be loaded with a greater and heavier prejudice than this is And this I should now take into consideration and shew besides the novelty of this interpretation and the great violence and unreasonableness of it the utter inconsistency of it with other plain Texts of New Testament But this is wholly matter of Controversy and will require a large Discourse by it self I shall therefore wave the further prosecution of it at present and apply my self to that which is more practical and proper for the Occasion of this Season So that at present I have done with the first thing contain'd in the First part of the Text viz. The Person here spoken of who is said to be incarnate namely the Word it was He that was made flesh I should then have proceeded to the Second thing which I proposed to consider viz. The Mystery it self or the nature of this Incarnation so far as the Scripture hath revealed and declared it to us namely by assuming our Nature in such a manner as that the Divinity became united to a human Soul and Body But this I have already endeavoured in some measure to explain and shall do it more fully in some of the following Discourses upon this Text. I shall now only make a short and useful reflection upon it with relation to the Solemnity of this Time And it shall be to stir us up to a thankful acknowledgment of the great love of God to Mankind in the Mystery of our Redemption by the Incarnation of the Word the only begotten Son of God That he should deign to have such a regard to us in our low condition and to take our Case so much to heart as to think of redeeming and saving Mankind from that depth of misery into which we had plunged our selves and to do this in so wonderful and astonishing a manner That God should employ his eternal and only begotten Son who had been with him from all Eternity partaker of his Happiness and Glory and was God of God to save the Sons of men by so infinite and amazing a condescention That God should vouchsafe to become man to reconcile man to God That he should come down from Heaven to Earth to raise us from Earth to Heaven That he should assume our vile and frail and mortal nature that he might cloath us with glory and honour and immortality That he should suffer Death to save us from Hell and shed his blood to purchase eternal Redemption for us For certainly the greater the Person is that was employed in this merciful Design so much the greater is the condescention and the love and goodness expressed in it so much the more admirable That the Son of God should stoop from the height of Glory and Happiness to the lowest degree of abasement and to the very depth of misery for our sakes who were so mean and inconsiderable so guilty and obnoxious to the severity of his Justice so altogether unworthy of his grace and favour and so very unwilling to receive it when it was so freely offer'd to us for as the Evangelist here tells us He came to his own and his own received him not To his own Creatures and they did not own and acknowledg their Maker to his own Nation and Kindred and they despised him and esteemed him not Lord what is man that God should be so mindful of him or the Son of man that the Son of God should come down from Heaven to visit him in so much humility and condescention and with so much kindness and compassion Blessed God and Saviour of Mankind What shall we render to thee for such mighty love for such inestimable benefits as thou hast purchas'd for us and art ready to confer upon us What shall we say to thee O thou preserver and lover of Souls so often as we approach thy H. Table there to commemorate this mighty love of thine to us and to partake of those invaluable blessings which by thy precious bloodshedding thou hast obtained for us So often as we there remember that thou wast pleased to assume our mortal Nature on purpose to live amongst us for our instruction and for our example and to lay down thy life for the redemption of our Souls and for the expiation of our Sins and to take part of flesh and blood that thou mightst shed it for our sakes What affections should these thoughts raise in us What Vows and resolutions should they engage us in of perpetual love and gratitude and obedience to thee the most gracious and most glorious Redeemer of Mankind And with what Religious Solemnity should we more especially at this Time celebrate the Incarnation and Birth of the Son of God by giving praise and glory to God in the highest and by all possible demonstration of charity and good-will to men And as he was pleased to assume our Nature so should we especially at this Season put on the Lord Jesus Christ that is sincerely embrace and practice his Religion making no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lUsts thereof And now that the Sun of Righteousness is risen upon the World we should walk as Children of the light and demean our selves decently as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envy And should be very careful not to abuse our selves by Sin and Sensuality upon this very consideration that the Son hath put such an honour and dignity upon us We should reverence that Nature which God did not disdain to assume and to inhabit here on Earth and in which he now gloriously reigns in Heaven at the right hand of his Father to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON II. Concerning the Divinity of CHRIST Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry January 6. 1679. JOHN I. 14. The Word was made flesh I Proceed now to prosecute the third Corollary or Conclusion which does necessarily follow from the description which St. John in the beginning of his Gospel gives of the Word and which I have so largely explain'd in the foregoing Discourse And it was this That the Word here described by the Evangelist had an existence before his Incarnation and his being born of the B. Virgin This Assertion I told you is levelled directly against the Socinians who affirm our B. Saviour to be a mere man and deny that he had any existence before he was born of the Virgin Mary his Mother Which Position of theirs does perfectly contradict all the former Conclusions which have been so evidently drawn from the Description here given of the Word And not only so but hath forc'd them to interpret this whole passage in the beginning of St. John's Gospel in a very different sense from
have since made it a lawful way of lying which their Father of whom they learn'd it had not credit and authority enough to do And it deserves likewise to be very well considered by us that nothing hath given a greater force to the Exceptions of the Church of Rome against the H. Scripture's being a sufficient and certain Rule of Faith than the uncertainty into which they have brought the plainest Texts imaginable for the establishing of Doctrines of greatest moment in the Christian Religion by their remote and wrested interpretation of them Which way of dealing with them seems to be really more contumelious to those H. Oracles than the downright rejecting of their Authority Because this is a fair and open way of attacquing them whereas the other is an insiduous and therefore more dangerous way of undermining them But as for us who do in good earnest believe the Divine Authority of the H. Scriptures let us take all our Doctrines and Opinions from those clear Fountains of Truth not disturb'd and darkned by searching anxiously into all the possible Senses that the several words and expressions of Scripture can bear and by forcing that sense upon them which is most remote and unnatural and in the mean time wilfully overlooking and passing by that sense which is most obvious and easie to the common apprehension of any unbyass'd and impartial Reader This is to use the H. Scriptures as the Church of Rome have done many Holy and good men whom they are pleased to brand with the odious Name of Hereticks to torture them till they speak the mind of their Tormentors though never so contrary to their own I will now conclude this whole Discourse with a Saying which I heard from a great and judicious Man Non amo nimis argutam Theologiam I love no Doctrines in Divinity which stand so very much upon quirk and subtilty And I cannot upon this occasion forbear to say that those Doctrines of Religion and those Interpretations of Scripture have ever been to me the most suspected which need abundance of Wit and a great many Criticisms to make them out And considering the Wisdom and Goodness of Almighty God I cannot possibly believe but that all things necessary to be believ'd and practis'd by Christians in order to their eternal Salvation are plainly contain'd in the H. Scriptures God surely hath not dealt so hardly with Mankind as to make any thing necessary to be believ'd or practis'd by us which he hath not made sufficiently plain to the capacity of the unlearned as well as of the learned God forbid that it should be impossible for any man to be saved and to get to Heaven without a great deal of learning to direct and carry him thither when the far greatest part of Mankind have no learning at all It was well said by Erasmus That it was never well with the Christian World since it began to be a matter of so much Subtilty and Wit for a man to be a true Christian SERMON III. Concerning the Incarnation of CHRIST Preached in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry December 21. 1680. JOHN I. 14. The Word was made flesh THE last Year about this Time and upon the same Occasion of the Annual Commemoration of the Incarnation and Nativity of our B. Lord and Saviour I began to discourse to you upon these Words In which I told you were contained three great Points concerning our Saviour the Author and Founder of our Religion First His Incarnation the Word was made or became flesh Secondly His Life and conversation here amongst us and dwelt among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he pitched his Tabernacle among us he lived here below in this World and for some time made his residence and abode with us Thirdly That in this state of his Humiliation he gave great and clear evidence of his Divinity Whilst he appear'd as a Man and lived amongst us there were great and glorious Testimonies given of Him that he was the Son of God and that in so peculiar a manner as no Creature can be said to be And we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth I began with the first of these namely his Incarnation the Word was made flesh For the full and clear explication of which words I proposed to consider these two things I. The Person here spoken of and who it is that is here said to be incarnate or made flesh namely the Word And this I have handled at large in my two former Discourses upon this Text. I shall now proceed in the II. Second place to give some account of the nature and manner of this Incarnation so far as the Scripture hath thought fit to reveal and declare this Mystery to us The Word was made flesh that is He who is personally called the Word and whom the Evangelist hath so fully and clearly described in the beginning of his Gospel he became flesh that is assumed our Nature and became man for so the word flesh is frequently used in Scripture for Man or Human Nature So that by the Word 's becoming flesh that is Man the Evangelist did not only intend to express to us that he assumed a human Body without a Soul but that he became a perfect Man consisting of Soul and Body united It is very probable indeed that the Evangelist did purposely chuse the word flesh which signifies the frail and mortal part of Humanity to denote to us the great condescension of the Son of God in assuming our Nature with all its infirmities and becoming subject to frailty and mortality for our sake Having thus explain'd the meaning of this Proposition the Word was made flesh I shall in a further prosecution of this Argument take into consideration these three things First I shall consider more distinctly what may reasonably be suppos'd to be implied in this expression of the Word 's being made flesh Secondly I shall consider the Objections which are commonly brought against this Incarnation of the Son of God from the seeming impossibility or incongruity of the thing Thirdly And because after all that can be said in answer to those Objections it may still appear to us very strange that God who could without all this circumstance and condescension even almost beneath the Majesty of the Great God at least as we are apt to think have given Laws to Mankind and have offer'd forgiveness of Sins and eternal life upon their Repentance for sins past and sincere tho imperfect obedience for the future I say it may seem strange that notwithstanding this God should yet make choice of this way and method of our Salvation I shall therefore in the last place endeavour to give some probable account of this strange and wonderful Dispensation and shew that it was done in great condescension to the weakness and common prejudices of Mankind and that when it is throughly consider'd it will appear to be much
Word and only begotten Son of God was changed into a Man which is not only impossible to be but impious to imagin Or else that the Son of God did assume our Nature and became Man by his Divinity being united to human Nature as the Soul is vitally united to the Body without either being changed into it or confounded with it or swallowed up by it as the Eutychian Hereticks fancied the human Nature of Christ to be swallowed up of his Divinity Which had it been so St. John had expressed himself very untowardly when he says The Word became flesh for it had been quite contrary and flesh had become the Word being changed into it and swallowed up by it and lost in it The only thing then that we can reasonably imagine to be the meaning of this expression is this that the Son of God assumed our Nature and united himself with it as our Souls are united with our Bodies And as the Soul and Body united make one Person and yet retain their distinct Natures and Properties so may we conceive the Divine and human Natures in Christ to be united into one Person And this without any change or confusion of the two Natures I say the Divinity united it self with human Nature For though flesh be only mentioned in the Text yet he did not only assume a human Body which was the Heresie of Apollinaris and his Followers upon a mistake of this and some other Texts of Scripture But he assumed the whole human Nature that is a human Soul united to a real and natural Body for so I have shewn the word flesh to be frequently used in Scripture not only for the Body but for the whole Man by an usual Figure of speech As on the other hand Soul is frequently used for the whole Man or Person So many Souls are said to have gone down with Jacob into Egypt that is so many Persons But this I need not insist longer upon our Saviour being so frequently in Scripture and so expresly said to be a Man which could with no propriety of speech have been said had he only assumed a human Body Nor could he have been said to have been made in all things like unto us sin only excepted had he only had a human Body but not a Soul For then the meaning must have been that he had been made in all things like unto us that is like to a Man that only excepted which chiefly makes the Man that is the Soul And the addition of those words Sin only excepted had been no less strange because a human Body without a Soul is neither capable of being said to have Sin or to be without it And this may suffice to have been spoken in general concerning that great Mystery of the Hypostatical as they that love hard words love to call it or Personal Union of the Divine and human Natures in the Person of our B. Saviour In the more particular explication whereof it is not safe for our shallow understandings to wade further than the Scripture goes before us for fear we go out of our depth and lose our selves in the profound inquiry into the deep things of God which he has not thought fit in this present state of darkness and imperfection to reveal more plainly and fully to us It ought to be thought sufficient that the Scripture speaking of the same Person Jesus Christ our B. Saviour doth frequently and expresly call him both God and Man Which how it can be so easily conceived upon any other Supposition than that of the Union of the Divine and human Natures in one Person I must confess that I am not able to comprehend Fifthly and lastly All this which I have shewn to be implyed in this Proposition the Word was made flesh does signifie to us the wonderful and amazing condescension and love of God to Mankind in sending his Son into the World and submitting him to this way and method for our Salvation and recovery The Word was made flesh What a step is here made in order to the reconciling of Men to God From Heaven to Earth from the top of Glory and Majesty to the lowest gulf of meanness and misery The Evangelist seems here to use the word flesh which signifies the meanest and vilest part of Humanity to express to us how low the Son of God was contented to stoop for the Redemption of Man The Word was made flesh Two terms at the greatest distance from one another are here brought together The Son of God is here expressed to us by one of his highest and most glorious Titles the Word which imports both Power and Wisdom Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God as the Apostle calls him And human Nature is here described by its vilest part flesh which imports frailty and infirmity The Word became flesh that is submitted to that from which it was at the greatest distance He who was the Power of God and the Wisdom of God submitted not only to be called but really to become a frail and miserable Man not only to assume our Nature but to put on all the infirmities and which is the greatest of all the Mortality of it And this is the great Mystery of godliness that is of the Christian Religion that God should be manifested in the flesh and become man with a most gracious and merciful design to bring man back again to God That he should become a miserable and a mortal man to save us from eternal death and to make us partakers of everlasting life That the Son of God should condescend to inhabit our vile Nature to wear Rags and to become a beggar for our sakes and all this not only to repair those dismal Ruins which Sin had made in it and to restore us to our former estate but to better and advance our condition and by degrees to bring us to a state of much greater perfection and happiness than that from which we fell And that he should become man on purpose that he might dwell among us and converse with us and thoroughly instruct us in our Duty and shew us the way to eternal life by his heavenly Doctrine and as it were take us by the hand and lead us in that way by the perfect and familiar Example of a most blameless and holy life shewing us how God himself thought fit to live in this World when he was pleased to become man That by conversing with us in the likeness and nature of man he might become a human and in some sort an equal and familiar an imitable and encouraging Example of innocency and goodness of meekness and humility of patience and submission to the Will of God under the forest afflictions and sufferings and in a word a most perfect Pattern of a Divine and Heavenly conversation upon Earth And that by this means we might for our greater encouragement in holiness and vertue see all that which the Law of God
requires of us exemplified in our Nature and really performed and practised by a Man like our selves And that likewise in our nature he might conquer and triumph over the two great Enemies of our Salvation the World and the Devil And by first suffering Death and then overcoming it and by rescuing our nature from the power of it by his Resurrection from the dead he might deliver us from the fear of Death and give us the glorious hopes of a blessed Immortality For by assuming our frail and mortal Nature he became capable of suffering and of shedding his precious Blood for us and by that means of purchasing forgiveness of sins and eternal Redemption for us And further yet that by being subject to the miseries and infirmities of Humanity he might from his own Experience the surest and most sensible sort of knowledge and instruction learn to have a more compassionate sense of our infirmities and be more apt to commiserate us in all our sufferings and temptations and more ready to succour us labouring under them And finally that as a Reward of his Obedience and sufferings in our Nature he might in the same Nature be exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high there to continue for ever to make intercession for us II. I shall in the next place consider the Objections against the Incarnation of the Son of God from the supposed impossibility and incongruity of the thing I shall mention three and endeavour in as few words as I can to give a clear and satisfactory Answer to them First It is objected that the Incarnation of the Son of God as I have explained it neccessarily supposing an Union of the Divinity with human Nature is if not altogether impossible yet a very unintelligible thing Now that there is no impossibility in the thing seems to be very evident from the Instance whereby I have endeavoured to illustrate it of the Union between the Soul and the Body of man which we must acknowledge to be a thing possible because we are sure that it is and yet no man can explain either to himself or to any one else the manner how it is or can be conceived to be but for all that we are certain as we can be of any thing that it is so And is it not every whit as possible for God if he so please to unite himself to human Nature as it is for the Soul to be united to the Body And that we are not able to conceive the manner how this is or can be done ought not in reason to be any prejudice against the truth and certainty of the thing This indeed may make it seem strange to us but by no means incredible Because we do most firmly believe a great many things to be the manner of whose Being we do not at all comprehend And therefore I take it for an undoubted Principle which no Man can gainsay That to assure us that a thing really is it is not necessary for us to know the manner how it is or can be It is sufficient for us to know that the thing is not impossible and of that we have the very best Demonstration that can be if we be sure that it is Secondly supposing this thing to be possible and capable in any measure to be understood which yet I have shewn not to be necessary to our firm belief of it it is further objected that it seems to be a thing very incongruous and much beneath the Dignity of the Son of God to be united to human Nature and to submit to so near an Allyance with that which is so very mean and despicable Yea to be infinitely more below Him than for the greatest Prince in this World to match with the poorest and most contemptible Beggar But herein surely we measure God too much by our selves and because we who are evil have seldom so much goodness as to stoop beneath our selves for the benefit and good of others we are apt to think that God hath not so much goodness neither And because our ill nature and pride and folly as indeed all pride is folly will not suffer us to do it we presently conclude that it does not become God But what Pliny said to the Emperour Trajan concerning earthly Kings and Potentates is much more true of the Lord of Glory the great King of Heaven and Earth Cui nihil ad augendum fastigium supereft hoc uno modo crescere potest si se ipse submittat securus magnitudinis suae He that is at the top and can rise no higher hath yet this one way left to become greater by stooping beneath himself which he may very safely do being secure of his own Greatness The lower any Being be he never so high condescends to do good the glory of his Goodness shines so much the brighter Men are many times too proud and stiff to bend too perverse and ill natur'd to stoop beneath their own little Greatness for the good of others But God whose ways are not as our ways and whose thoughts are as much above our low and narrow thoughts as the Heavens are high above the earth did not disdain nor think it below him to become Man for the good of Mankind and as much as the Divinity is capable of being so to become miserable to make us happy We may be afraid that if we humble our selves we shall be despis'd that if we stoop others will get above us and trample upon us But God though he condescend never so low is still secure of his own Greatness and that none can take it from him So that in truth and according to right Reason it was no real diminution or disparagement to the Son of God to become Man for the Salvation of Mankind But on the contrary it was a most glorious Humility and the greatest Instance of the truest Goodness that ever was And therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews when he says that Christ glorifyed not himself to be made an High-Priest but was appointed of God to this Office as was Aaronâ— does hereby seem to intimate that it was a glory to the Son of God to be made an High-Priest for the Sons of Men For though it was a strange condescention yet was it likewise a most wonderful Argument of his Goodness which is the highest Glory of the Divine Nature In short if God for our sakes did submit himself to a condition which we may think did less become him here is great cause of thankfulness but none surely of cavil and exception We have infinite reason to acknowledge and admire his goodness but none at all to upbraid him with his kindness and to quarrel with him for having descended so much beneath himself to testifie his love to us and his tender concernment for our happiness Besides that when we have said all we can about this matter I hope we will allow God himself to be the best and most competent Judge what
plainly see this every year There are many things likewise in our Selves which no man is able in any measure to comprehend as to the manner how they are done and performed As the vital union of Soul and Body Who can imagine by what device or means a Spirit comes to be so closely united and so firmly link'd to a material Body that they are not to be parted without great force and violence offer'd to Nature The like may be said of the operations of our several Faculties of Sense and Imagination of Memory and Reason and especially of the Liberty of our Wills And yet we certainly find all these Faculties in our selves though we cannot either comprehend or explain the particular manner in which the several Operations of them are performed And if we cannot comprehend the manner of those Operations which we plainly perceive and feel to be in our Selves much less can we expect to comprehend things without us and least of all can we pretend to comprehend the infinite Nature and Perfections of God and every thing belonging to Him For God himself is certainly the greatest Mystery of all other and acknowledged by Mankind to be in his Nature and in the particular manner of his Existence incomprehensible by Human Understanding And the reason of this is very evident because God is infinite and our knowledge and understanding is but finite And yet no sober man ever thought this a good reason to call the Being of God in question The same may be said of God's certain knowledge of future Contingencies which depend upon the uncertain Wills of free Agents It being utterly inconceivable how any Understanding how large and perfect soever can certainly know beforehand that which depends upon the free Will of another which is an arbitrary and uncertain Cause And yet the Scripture doth not only attribute this Foreknowledge to God but gives us also plain Instances of God's foretelling such things many Ages before it happened as could not come to pass but by the Sins of Men in which we are sure that God can have no hand though nothing can happen without his permission Such was that most memorable Event of the Death of Christ who as the Scripture tells us was by wicked hands crucified and stain and yet even this is said to have happened according to the determinate foreknowledge of God and was punctually foretold by Him some hundreds of years before Nay the Scripture doth not only ascribe this power and perfection to the Divine Knowledge but natural Reason hath been forced to acknowledge it as we may see in some of the wisest of the Philosophers And yet it would puzzle the greatest Philosopher that ever was to give any tolerable account how any Knowledge whatsoever can certainly and infallibly foresee an Event through uncertain and contingent Causes All the reasonable satisfaction that can be had in this matter is this that it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that infinite Knowledg may have ways of knowing things which our finite Understandings can by no means comprehend how they can possibly be known Again There is hardly any thing more inconceivable than how a thing should be of it self and without any Cause of its Being and yet our Reason compels us to acknowledge this Because we certainly see that something is which must either have been of it self and without a Cause or else something that we do not see must have been of it self and have made all other things And by this reasoning we are forced to acknowledge a Deity the mind of Man being able to find no rest but in the acknowledgment of one eternal and wise Mind as the Principle and first Cause of all other things and this Principle is that which Mankind do by general consent call God So that God hath laid a sure foundation of our acknowledgment of his Being in the Reason of our own Minds And though it be one of the hardest things in the world to conceive how any thing can be of it self yet necessity drives us to acknowledge it whether we will or no And this being once granted our Reason being tired in trying all other ways will for its own quiet and ease force us at last to fall in with the general apprehension and belief of Mankind concerning a Deity To give but one Instance more There is the like Difficulty in conceiving how any thing can be made out of nothing and yet our Reason doth oblige us to believe it Because Matter which is a very imperfect Being and merely passive must either always have been of it self or else by the infinite Power of a most perfect and active Being must have been made out of nothing Which is much more credible than that any thing so imperfect as Matter is should be of it self Because that which is of it self cannot be conceived to have any bounds and limits of its Being and Perfection for by the same reason that it necessarily is and of it self it must necessarily have all perfection which it is certain Matter hath not and yet necessary Existence is so great a Perfection that we cannot reasonably suppose any thing that hath this Perfection to want any other Thus you see by these Instances that it is not repugnant to Reason to believe a great many things to be of the manner of whose Existence we are not able to give a particular and distinct account And much less is it repugnant to Reason to believe those things concerning God which we are very well assured he hath declared concerning Himself though these things by our Reason should be incomprehensible And this is truly the Case as to the matter now under debate We are sufficiently assured that the Scriptures are a Divine Revelation and that this Mystery of the Trinity is therein declared to us Now that we cannot comprehend it is no sufficient Reason not to believe it For if this were a good Reason for not believing it then no man ought to believe that there is a God because his Nature is most certainly incomprehensible But we are assured by many Arguments that there is a God and the same natural Reason which assures us that He is doth likewise assure us that He is incomprehensible and therefore our believing Him to be so doth by no means overthrow our belief of His Being In like manner we are assured by Divine Revelation of the truth of this Doctrine of the Trinity and being once assured of that our not being able fully to comprehend it is not reason enough to stagger our belief of it A man cannot deny what he sees though the necessary consequence of admitting it may be something which he cannot comprehend One cannot deny the Frame of this World which he sees with his eyes though from thence it will necessarily follow that either that or something else must be of itself which yet as I said before is a thing which no man can comprehend how it can be