to believe what God hath said The first Argument levied from Scripture for this Warfare is drawn from what the Magicians did in their Contest with Moses in Egypt whereof we have an Account in the 7 th and 8 th Chapters of Exodus To which I reply 1. That most yea all saving one or two Interpreters deny any thing done by them to have been truly Miracles 2. The Way Manner and Rites they used in effecting what they attempted do plainly acquit God from any Agency about their Works further than the permitting them For they are said to have done so by their Inchantments Exod. 7.11 and 8.7 I dare not think that God was at the Magicians Beck or that he would conciliate Credit to their Hellish Arts by subserving them or that he would exert his Sacred and Almighty power in Honour of Satans Institutions and Ceremonies 3. The Magicians finding themselves out-done by Moses in the matter of turning Dust into Lice cry out that the Finger of God was there Exod. 8.19 which I take to be no less than an Acknowledgment that whatsoever they had done before they had done it by Magick And that it was through the influence and Agency of the Devil that their Rods had been turned into Serpents and that Frogs had been brought upon the Land 4 ly Though what they did in the two first Instances wherein they confronted Moses seems to bear such a Resemblance to true Miracles that it was not at first easie to distinguish the one from the other yet it were easie to demonstrate that the things which they effected were not without the compass of the Power of Daemons And that it might appear that the Power by which Moses acted was different from that by which they acted God therefore wisely ordered it that his Rod should devour theirs thereby leaving an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 singular Peculiarity in the Miracles of Moses to witness their Divine Original The second Argument mustred from Scripture to fight in this cause is brought from Mat. 24.24 2 Thes. 2.9 Apoc. 13.13 To all which I answer 1. By granting that the Expressions are lofty wherein the Holy Ghost predicts the Signs and wonders which false Christs and false Prophets were to work yet I think we are not to conclude from the Majesty of the Terms in which they are foretold that the Works themselves were real Miracles But that God would intimate to us either that they should be such as would so hugely resemble true Miracles that it would not be easie to detect them or that he would thereby awaken us to examine the Doctrines of Men by their Consonancy to the Scripture which was then given out and established rather than Implicitely to resigne our selves to the Conduct of every Wonder-monger 2. The best Key to judge of the quality of the Signs and Wonders there foretold whether they be true Miracles or not is to take a View of the extraordinary Works Recorded to have been done by the pretended Jewish Messiahs and the Apostatical Roman Church one or both of whom are referred to in the objected places And if we will apply our selves to this Method of Tryal I dare undertake that there is not so much as one Sign or Wonder truly Recorded concerning them which may not be solved either by a Co-incidence of Natural Causes or by the hidden Power of Daemons 3. They are expresly stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying Wonders and that not so much Respectu finis because they were wrought in Confirmation of a Falsity as Respectu Materiae because they only Ap'd true Miracles but in truth were not such Yea as if that were not enough to acquit God from being the Author of them they are expresly ascribed to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agency of the Devil The third and last Argument brought in Relief of their Opinion who think that God may exert a Miracle-Working Power in the Confirmation of a Falsity is taken from Deut. 13.1 2 3. To which I answer 1. That the place doth more especially relate to the fore-telling of Events than to the working of Wonders And therefore if God never lent his Omniscience to the Service of an Impostor we have no reason to think that he should lend his Omnipotency to the Service of one And if all the Predictions of false Prophets may be salved without Recourse to Divine Inspiration as indeed they may I suppose their Wonders may be also salved without Recourse to God's Infinite Power 2. They are the Prophets after the Promulgation and Establishment of the Law of Moses that are there spoken of and therefore the Law being given out as the Test of after-Revelation at least during that Oeconomy God tells his People that they are not to try the Mission of Prophets only by Miracles but especially by the Agreeableness of their Doctrine to that of Moses And this may be a reason why we do not find that other Pen-men of Old-Testament Scripture were honoured with the working of Miracles I know indeed that some Prophets were intrusted with Miraculous Power but so far as I remember there was not one besides Moses who was made use of in giving forth the Revelation of God to the Old-Testament-Church that had this Priviledg conferred on him Having thus made appear that all Miracles are Effects of a Divine Power and that wheresoever God exerts his Miracle-Working Power in Confirmation of any Doctrine he declares it to be of and from himself and to be Unquestionably True I shall not now insist on the proving that the Bible is justified by Innumerable Great and Undeniable Miracles that being largely and beyond all possibility of Reply done by other Hands I shall only say that even those who suppose that God may sometimes put forth his Wonder-working Power in Attestation of an Error do not hereby design to Rob us of the Evidence of Miracles for the Divinity of the Script For as none have gone beyond them in the proof of the Divine Authority of the Bible in general so no one hath improved the Medium of Miracles to better purpose As they have shewed that the Scripture is attested by a greater Number of Miracles and those both more eminent more conspicuous longer continued and oftner repeated than ever any Errour either was or ever could be So they not only prove that God never wrought a Miracle in confirmation of a Falsity for Tryal till he had first incontestably established his own Truth but they also declare that he could not It is not then upon an apprehension of their having disserved the Authority of the Bible in this particular that I have assumed the freedom of discoursing these things but that an opportunity of more light in this matter may be afforded The Cause of the Scripture will suffer nothing in the main on what side soever this Controversy issues And as I know my self in more need of being instructed than of capacity to offer information to any So it
3.6 and the rationalness of his deduction from thence though made by the joyning of a proposition of another Nature to it which they paid a respect to The Multitude were swayed in this case by the meer strength and weight of his argument and are therefore said to have been astonished at his Doctrine Mat. 22.33 They admired his Wonderful Wisdom and profound Sagacity nor were they influenced by any Authority they held him vested with Nor indeed is it any great evidence of a profound Wisedom or of his insight into the Scripture to argue from Media which have no further convincing efficacy or force but what they borrow from his authority that useth them In brief either the Text quoted by our Saviour was sufficient antecedently to Christs using of it and abstracting from his Authority to demonstrate the Resurrection or it was not If it was then it was not meerly from his Authority that they came under an Obligation to a belief of that conclusion If it was not than how comes Christ to lodg their unbelief in reference to the ResurrectioÌ„ upon their ignorance of the Scriptures Marc. 12.24 Mat. 22.31 For if they stood not under the obligation of that consequence but meerly because of his Authority then the best acquaintance imaginable with the sense and meaning of that place could have ministred them no relief in that point yea it had been utterly unlawful to have drawn any such inference from it 5. Exclude Scripture-Consequences and the Papists are not able to impugn one Tenet of the Protestants nor are they in Capacity to prove the first Article of the Roman Faith namely the pretended Infallibility of their Church While they wrest such Weapons out of our hands they at the same time disarm themselves And by endeavouring to disserve the Cause of the Reformed Churches they utterly undo their own For if our Reasonings of this kind be insignificant against them theirs are also insignificant against us and by the same art that they endeavour to blunt the edge of our Swords they are bound to throw away their own I shall discourse this no farther only shut it up with a saying of Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Philosophy and right Reason there can be no knowledge nor science in the World § 12. The next thing that belongs to Reason in matters of Religion regards those Doctrines which besides the Foundation that they have in Revelation have also Evidence in the light of Nature And as I intimated before § 5. more is allowable to Reason in and about these than about those we are indebted only to the Scripture for the discovery of 'T is not enough that we enquire into the declaration of them as it lyes in the Bible and how they are there expressed c. but we are further to see what Media there are in the light of Nature by which they may be both discerned and confirmed Yet I shall here crave liberty to premise That where the Authority of the Scripture is owned our chief Topicks in all Theological debates ought to be fetcht from the sacred Records Thence we should both frame our Idea's of them and borrow as well the Arguments as the Colours and Ornaments by which we would commend them to the Minds and Consciences of Believers Especially a regard ought to be had to this in popular Discourses and Sermons As humane Authority ought to have very little place if any at all in the Pulpit so we ought not there to serve our selves too much from Maxims of Philosophie and principles of Reason As God hath impressed more of his Authority upon the Scriptures than upon any thing else that he hath made Himself and his Will known by so there is an Efficacy of the Spirit promised to attend the naked Preaching of the Word beyond what we can expect to accompany our Ratiocinations from principles of Reason As Faith prepares the spirits of men to a submission to what they hear immediately out of the Bible so there is something great and elevated which I know not how to express in Truths as nakedly delivered by the Holy Ghost which Argumentations from Natural Maximes doth for the most part obnubilate and darken The Majesty of God whose commands we deliver doth above all things most attract the respect of our Auditors nor do we at any time so effectually persuade as by the meer authority of him in whose Name we speak Yet I do not deny but that Rational proofs are of great use not only to such with whom Scripture-Testimonies signifie nothing but even to those who own and adore its Authority by shewing that as it is highly reasonable to believe whatsoever God hath said so the things themselves are agreeable to and have foundation in Reason and the two lights of Revelation and Nature do excellently harmonise This being premised among other Truths which besides their being plainly revealed in the Scripture have also evidence given to them in the Light of Nature the Immortality of the Soul and the certainty of Providence are especially remarkable 'T is True there are many other Doctrines of this quality viz. the Attributes of God the Creation of the World Moral Good and Evil c. All which as they are revealed in the sacred Scripture so they are demonstrable from undoubted principles of Reason But wavâ—ng these at present I shall only by way of essay and with all imaginable brevity consider what media there are in Nature by which the two former may be evinced and the serviceableness of Reason in the doing of it I shall begin with the Immortality of the Soul and the Unhappiness of the Age wherein we live doth render the inculcation of this Truth not only seasonable but necessary Men having degraded themselves into Beasts by practice they thence take the Measures of their Opinions and allow no difference betwixt themselves and the pâ—ttifullest Brute but that Matter in them is fallen into a more lucky texture and modification To justifie their sensualities they contend that they have nothing but their Animal inclinations to gratifie and indeed the soul of a Brute will very well serve all the Ends that some men propound to themselves Next the Belief of the Beeing of God the persuasion of the souls being Immortal is the hinge upon which all Religion turns 'T is this that leads us both to contemn the gratifications of the Flesh and to be solicitous about a happiness hereafter though it be with the undergoing of present inconveniences rather than here There is no one Truth hath a more powerful influence upon the whole course of our present life than a steddy and vigorous belief that the soul is immortal Now when we assert the Immortality of the Soul we do nâ—t intend that it is Immortal in such a sense as that by no cause it can be annihilated God alone is thus Immortal for as there are no principles of Corruption in his Nature so there is no forraign
to evince it though obstinate persons and such as maintain Tenets in despite of evidence to the contrary may not be convinced by them 'T is the Church in its full latitude and extent that is eminently Christs Body and his Spouse and 't is his Body and Spouse that he is conjoyned and marryed to Now for any one to say that he is united to the Church by the vincula that are between him and Individual Believers is to run himself into the absurdity which we commonly call a circle For if the copula of particular Christians to Christ be their Society and Fellowship with the Christian Church and if the vinculum between Christ and the Church be through the cohesion of particular Believers to Christ there is no remedy but that our Author must be entangled in a circle or else there is no such thing in the World as circular defining and discoursing And to say that Christ is united to the Church by the Churches belief of his Revelations and Obedience to his Laws is but instead of loosing the knot to tye it faster For the Church being an Aggregate Body of Believers she can no other ways embrace the Revelations of the Gospel or yield obedience to its commands but in the virtue of what her particular constituent Members do 2. That our Union with Christ even supposing it a meer Political Relation should be by the means of our Union with the Christian Church is repugnant to that conception and idea which we have of the Church For the Church Catholick-Visible and much more particular instituted Churches being nothing else but the Collective Body of Christians it naturally follows that they must in priority of Nature be Christians before they can any ways belong to the Church Now to suppose them Christians I speak of adult persons without their previous owning the Authority of Jesus Christ through a belief of his Doctrines and a professed subjection to his Laws is an absurd and self-contradictious Imagination 3. If the Apostles were immediately United to Christ without any Antecedent Relation to the Christian Church I see no cause why every Individual Christian ought not to be held united to Him in the same manner that they were For the Apostles being united to Christ under the formal consideration of their being Christians and not under the reduplication of their being Apostles it follows by a short and easie train of ratiocination that all who have a right to the denomination of Christians are united by the same Bond and stand in the same immediateness of conjunction with Christ that they were Yea Paul hath said enough to set this beyond all suspect in that speaking of the Body of Christ he reckons the Apostles in the classis of Members with other Believers 1 Cor. 12.27 28. Now that the Apostles were not united to Christ by the Mediation of any Antecedent Relation to the Christian Church but that their Relation of Oneness with Him was immediate there be unanswerable Arguments at hand to demonstrate But I shall only mention one namely there was no Christian Church pre-existent to them into whose Society and Fellowship they could be admitted I have thus far discoursed these things with Mr. Sherlock taking the church for the universal Catholick Visible Church which is the most favourable acceptation to befriend the Notion of our being united to Christ by the means of Union to the Christian Church that 't is capable of And this acceptation of the Church as our communion with it is the Medium and Bond of our Union with Christ Mr. Sherlock finds himself in some cases necessitated to retreat to If says he there be no Visible Society of Christians professing the Faith of â—hrist and living in Communion with each other as it may happen in times of persecution or some great degeneracy of the Church our Union to Christ then consists in an acknowledgment of his Authority and Subjection to his Laws which makes us Members of the Universal Church though there be no particular Church to communicate with Now if the Notion of Union with Christ by the Medium of a previous Interest in the Catholick Visible Church be not defensible much less is it maintainable on the Hypothesis of an Union with a particular Church as the Vinculum and Foundation of it And yet most of our Authors discourse is fram'd in countenance of this namely that Individual Christians are not united to Christ but by means of their Union to some particular Church Hence we are told that we cannot be United to Christ that is cannot own his Authority and Government till we unite our selves to the publick Societies of Christians and submit to the publick Instructions Authority and Discipline of the Church And this is made the motive and ground of our living in the Communion of the Church where Providence hath cast us so long as she submits to the Laws of Christ and acknowledgeth his Authority because as our Author saith this Unites us to Christ. Mr. Sherlock so far as I am able to conjecture was not at leisure to think what was most serviceable to the Hypothesis he had espoused or what was most disserviceable to it All Immediate Union of particular Christians with Christ save by means of their union with the Christian Church he was resolved to deny but in what sense the Church was to be taken by Communion with which we come to be copulated with Jesus Christ he durst not determine At one time 't is by our being Members of the Universal Church at another 't is by our Fellowship with such a Church as is under the conduct of Bishops and Pastors whose Members are in regular subjection to their spiritual Guides and Rulers and live in concord and Unity amongst themselves and in a mutual discharge of all Christian Offices But that Communion with a particular Church cannot be the Medium of a Christians Union with Christ I come under the influence and command of these Reasons to believe 1. There may be some Individual Christians where there is no particular Instituted Church of Christ into which they can be admitted Nor may this only be supposed but there are divers instances in Ecclesiastical story to evince it Yea there can be no particular Church without the pre-existence of Individual Believers seeing it is of such that every particular Church is constituted and formed We may as well build a House without pre-existent Materials as erect a particular Church without Believers to constitute it of There must be living stones of which this Temple of God is built and fram'd The being Saints through the effectual Vocation and renewing of the Holy Ghost is the first ground presupposed by the Apostles in their adscription of the Name and Title of Church to any Nor are the Duties required of those that stand in a particular Church Relation possible to be performed but by such as are sincere Christians 2. Christians in the very
them upon Divine Testimony But it ought further to enquire what Inducements and Media there are in the Light of Nature by which they may be also Known and Demonstrated And as this is to be allowed to Reason in all Matters of Religion which have Foundation in Natural Light so especially in and about such Principles of it as are necessarily pre-supposed to Faith of which kind are the Being of God and the Divinity of the Scripture Though all our Religion be in an eminent Manner built upon the Divinity of the Scriptures and some parts of it know no other Foundation but the Bible and accordingly among such as own that Book for the Word of God We need no other Bottome to Erect our Faith upon nor any other Measure to regulate our Debates and to determine our Controversies by yet when the Divinity of the Scripture it self is contended about it is neither a just nor a rational Way of Procedure barely to affirm that 't is Divine but we are to prove that it is so If we will not believe the Alchoran to proceed by Inspiration from God upon the Testimony of a Mahometan no more is it to be expected that a Mussulman should believe what we call the Bible to be God's Word upon the naked Testimony of a Christian. As upon the one hand we should betray Religion to every Infidel by pretending to build our Faith upon a Book whose sacred Authority we cannot justifie so upon the other hand we oblige our selves to the worst of Drudgeries in being resolved to believe what we can give no Reason for Besides we should not only by such a Method unavoidably expose our selves to the Dictates of every Enthusiast but with all Minister a just Plea to such as dislike Religion because of it's Unfriendliness to their Lusts for the renouncing of it Now our Belief of the Scripture supposeth the Existence of God and therefore our knowledge of his Being must precede our Faith of the Divine Authority of the Bible I readily grant that the Scriptures may be brought not only to such as own their Truth but even to Infidels as a proof of a Deity But then it must not be upon the Score of their naked Testimony but upon the account of their being of such a Frame Nature and Quality that they can proceed from no other Author And thus we Arrive by the Scripture at an Assurance of God's Existence as we do at the Knowledge of a Cause by it's Effect But so far as we assent to any thing upon the Credit of the Scriptures meer Testification we are necessitated to presuppose the Existence of God it being only upon the account of his Veracity in himself and that the Bible is a Divine Revelation that we do without the least guilt of vain Credulity because upon the highest Reason implicitely believe it In discoursing the Serviceableness of Reason in demonstrating the fore-mentioned Articles together with those other Doctrines that have their Foundation not only in Revelation but also in Natural Light and such common Principles which all men assent to I shall confine my self to wonderful Brevity and rather point at Arguments than pursue them And to begin with the Existence of God Were there no Supernatural Revelation in the World there is enough both within us and without us to Convince us of the Being of a Deity Hence though God hath wrought many Miracles to Convince Infidels and Mis-Believers yet he never wrought any to Convince Atheists Nor do the Pen-Men of Scripture attempt to prove it but take it for granted as being evidently manifest both by Sensible and Rational Demonstration I shall not here insist on the Cartesian Argument drawn from an Innate and Ingraft Idea of God For upon a most serious perusal of what is alledged by Cartes himself Claubergius De Bruin Doctor More and others in Vindication of it together with what is produced by Gassendus Ezekius Vogelsangius Derkennis Doctor Parker and others against it I look upon it as little better than a Sophism and to maintain an Article of such Import by a Medium either Weak or Fallacious is to betray the first Fundamental of Religion I know no Idea's formally Innate what we commonly call so are the Results of the Exercise of our Reason The Notion of God is not otherwise inbred then that the Soul is furnished with such a Natural Sagacity that upon the Exercise of her rational Powers she is Infallibly led to the Acknowledgment of a Deity And this is first effected by her looking inwardly upon her self and her own Acts and we are with Facility and by a short way of Argumentation conducted thence to the Existence of God For 1 st We perceive that the Faculty resident in us is not furnished with all perfections and therefore not Self-existent nor indebted to it self for those it hath otherwise it would have cloathed it self with the utmost perfections it can Imagine and by consequence finding it's own Exility and Imperfection it Naturally and with Ease arrives at a perswasion of deriving it's Original from some First Supreme and Free Agent who hath made it what it is and this can be nothing but God 2 dly We perceive that we have such a Faculty that apprehendeth judgeth reasoneth but what it is whence it is and how it performeth those things we know not And therefore there must be some Supreme Being who hath given us this Faculty and understands both the Nature of it and how it knoweth which we our selves do not 3 dly Our Natures are such that assoon as we come to have the use of our Intellectual Faculties we are forced to acknowledge some things Good and other things Evil. There is an Unalterable Congruity betwixt some Acts and our reasonable Souls and an Unchangeable Incongruity betwixt them and others Now this plainly sways to the belief of a God For all distinctions of Good and Evil relate to a Law under the Sanction of which we are and all Law supposeth a Superiour who hath Right to command us and there can be no Universal Independent Supreme but God 4 ly We find our selves possessed of a Faculty necessarily reflecting on it's own Acts and passing a Judgment upon it self in all it does Which is a further Conviction of the Existence of God for it implies a Supreme Judge to whom we are accountable 5 ly We find that we are furnished with Faculties of vast Appetite and Desires and that there is nothing in the World that can satisfie our Cravings and by consequence there must be some Supreme Good adequate and proportionate to the Longings of our Souls which can be nothing but God This is his Meaning who said of the Heathen that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the Light of Nature they nodded after a Summum Bonum It were to put a Slur upon Nature to suppose that she hath put those Propensions and Inclinations into us only to delude and abuse us 6 ly We find the
of the Bible The ancient Heathens reproaching the Primitive Christians that they grounded all their Doâ—â—rine upon meer Belief that their Religion consisted In sola ratione credendi and that their simple Faith was all they had to trust to The Christians complained of the Charge as a gross and impudent Calumny appealed to Reason for Proof of their Belief and offered to joyn Issue with them upon that Title And as they that owe their Belief of the Bibles being the Word of God to Report Principles of Education or the Felicity of their Birth and the Clime where they were born receive the Scripture upon no better Motives than the Turks do the Alcoran So if pretended Inspiration may pass for a Demonstration of the Truth of what every bold Pretender will obtrude upon us We expose our selves not only to the Belief of every Groundless Imagination but of innumerable Contradictions For not only the grossest Follies but Doctrines palpably repugnant both to Reason and one another have been delivered by Enthusiasts and pretended Inspirato's I readily grant that the Testimony of the Holy Ghost in the Souls and Consciences of men to the Truth of the Scripture is the most convincing Evidence that such Persons can have of it's Divinity But 1 st The Holy Ghost convinceth no man as to the Belief of the Scripture without Enlightning his mind in the Grounds and Reasons upon which it's proceeding from God is evidenced and established There is no Conviction begot by the Holy Ghost in the Hearts of men otherwise than by rational Evidence satisfying our Understandings through a discovery of the Motives and Inducements that ascertain the Truth of what he would convince us of 2. No mans particular Assurance obtained thus in way of Illumination by the Holy Ghost is to be otherwise urged as an Argument of Conviction to another than by proposing the Reasons which our Faith is erected on The way of such Mens Evidence is communicable to none unless they could kindle the same Rayes in the Breasts of others that have Irradiated their own and therefore they must deal with others by producing the grounds of their Conviction not pleading the manner of it And that an other is convinced or persuaded by them depends wholly upon the weight and Momentousness of the Reasons themselves not on the manner that such a person came to discover them For should he have arrived at the discerning them by any other Mean they had been of the same Significancy to the Conviction of an Adversary 3. The Holy Ghost as a distinct Person in the Deity is not a Principle demonstrable by Reason Seeing then it is by the Scripture alone that we are assured of the Existence of the Divine Spirit as a distinct Person in the Godhead therefore his Testimony in the Hearts and Consciences of men to the Scripture cannot be allowed as a previous Evidence of it's Divinity To prove the Divine Authority of the Scripture by the Testimony of the Holy Ghost when we cannot otherwise prove that there is a Holy Ghost but by the Testimony of the Scripture is to argue Circularly and absurdly I know the Papists to be even with the Protestants for the Circle we charge on them in their proving the Church by the Scriptures and the Scripture by the Church do pretend to fasten the same way of Circular Argumentation upon us in that we prove the Spirit by the Scripture and the Scripture by the Spirit Whereas even those Protestants who contend that the Spirit and Scripture do mutually prove one another may easily acquit themselves from a Circle Seeing whatever Proof the Scripture and Spirit mutually Minister to one another it is in Diverso genere The Scripture proves the Spirit either in way of Witness by plainly testifying that there is such a Being as the Divine Spirit or Objectively and by way of Argument bringing into Light such Truths as can be conceived to proceed from none other save 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the Holy Ghost But then the Spirit proves the Scripture not in way of a naked Witness nor in way of Argument but under the notion of an Efficient Cause Elevating and preparing our Understandings to discern the Lineaments Characters and Signatures of Divinity which God hath impressed upon the Scriptures which through that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is upon our Minds we many times do not at all discern much less do we at any time discern 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without it Or else by giving Efficacy to Scripture Truths in and upon our Hearts and Consciences so that the Word arriving with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Demonstration of the Spirit and Power we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the effectual Working of his Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual Sense and Taste of the things themselves And this Spiritual Gust that I may use Origen's Phrase is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Diviner thing and more Convincing than any Demonstration For the Word of God as well as God himself is best known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an Intellectual Touch as the Philosopher sayes But as I have said already this is no convincing Proof to an Adversary nor doth the evidence of it reach further than the party immediately concerned And therefore our Recourse must be to Arguments of another Nature In brief when we have to do with such as either Question or Deny the Divine Authority of the Scripture we are to prove it by Ratiocination from common Principles received amongst Mankind and by Topicks that lye even and proportionated to Intellectual Nature And here Reason is justly magnified as hugely Subservient to Religion in that it demonstrates the Divine Authority of the Scripture upon which our Faith as to all particular Articles and Duties of Religion is grounded Not do I doubt but that Reason can acquit it self in this Undertaking to the Conviction of all that are not wilfully obstinate and for such I know no means either sufficient or intended by God to satisfie them Many great Men both Ancient and Modern as well at Home as Abroad have already laboured and to good purpose in this Theme Nor can there be much added by any to what is already said much less am I likely to do it Neither is it my Intention to treat this Subject at large but rather to touch at the Heads of Arguments than handle them And I suppose this will sufficiently answer my Designe which is to vindicate the Non-Conformists from the Aspersions lately cast upon them as if they were Defamers of Reason disclayming it from all Concern in Religion and deserving to be charged with the Reproach which Julian slanderously fastned upon the Primitive Christians that they had no Ground for their Faith but that their Wisdom was only to Believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Method I shall here confine my self to shall be First To justifie the Necessity of some Supernatural Revelation in order to
sense and the Mystical that they do both together make up one entire compleat sense of the place Yea it may be said that in all propositions which admit a Literal and a Mystical sense though there be but one Explicite Enunciation yet there are two implicitely And if any have a mind upon this account to distinguish betwixt the Literal sense and the Mystical they may for me nor will I quarrel with them But to assign a plurality of coordinate or Ambiguous senses to one and the same text is the height of Madness invented only to reproach the Scripture and to make way for the Authority of the Church in the expounding of it and is indeed repugnant not only to the perspicuity of the Scripture but to the unity of Truth and the end of Gods revealing the Word which is to instruct us in Faith and Obedience for wheresoever there is a Multiplicity of Disparate Senses we can never be sure that we have attained to the true meaning of any one proposition Now when we enquire into the Sense of Scripture and asseâ—t its being Intelligible we always distinguish betwixt the perspicuity of the Object and the capacity of the Subject actually to understand it The easiness of the Scripture to be understood in respect of it self and our disposedness to understand it right are things vastly distant The Sense of the Word may be in it self facile and plain though in the mean time it remain dark and obscure to those who have shut their eyes or that have their understanding defiled tinctur'd and darkned by fuliginous vapours The Bible is only plain to such who apply themselves to the study of it without prepossessions prejudice and forestalled judgments are withall humble and diligent in the use of means to find out the meaning of it Though the Ethereal Regions be replenished with rayes of light emitted from the great Luminary yet it is both necessary that men have eyes and that they open them in order to their discovering and receiving the benefit of it If our understandings either from that darkness and ignorance which they are enveloped and muffled with through the Fall or from malignant Habits occasioned either by unhappy education or sensual lusts do not discern the sense and meaning of Scripture it is no impeachment of its perspicuity but a manifestation of our weakness corruption and folly Besides when we speak of the plainness of the Scripture its easiness to be understood we always put a difference betwixt Scripture Texts relating to Doctrines of Faith manners which are absolutely necessary to be known and such of whose Sense we may be safely ignorant the Doctrines they refer to having no indispensable connexion with Salvation The whole Will and Mind of God as to all that is needfull to be known in order to our duty and Happiness is revealed in the Scripture without any such ambiguity or obscurity as should hinder it from being understood though God in his Soveraign Wisdome hath in many things whose simple Ignorance doth not interpose with Salvation left many hard and difficult Texts partly to make us sensible of the weakness of our Understandings partly to imploy our minds unto diligence partly to induce us to implore Divine instruction and to make us depend upon God for illumination and partly to exercise our Souls unto reverence But in Fundamental Truths the Case is otherwise for the end giving measure and fixing bounds unto means it is not consistent with the Wisdom and Goodness yea nor Justice of God to leave that hard to be understood which upon no less peril than the hazard of Salvation he hath required the indispensable knowledg of As first principles of Reason need no proof of their Truth being self-evident to every one that understands the Import of Terms So Fundamental Doctrines of Religion carry an Evidence in the plainness and perspicuity of their Revelation that every one who reads the Bible without prejudice and a perverse mind may be satisfied that such Doctrines are there proposed Nor is it any Argument that those Texts of Scripture where such Articles are revealed are not easy to be understood because some out of prejudice or perversness have wrested them to a Corrupt sence seeing God did not endite the Bible for the froward and Captious but for such who will read it with a free and unprejudiced mind and are willing to come to the knowledge of the Truth For as Aristotle says in the Case of the first principles of Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A self Evident Principle is not Evident to all men but only to such who have found and undepraved Understandings Topic. 6. Cap. 4. So it is no impeachment of the perspicuity of the Revelation of Fundamental Truths of Religion that men who have their minds defiled and darkned by Lusts infected with evil Opinions and filled with prejudices do not believe and acknowledg them And by the way while all Truths absolutely necessary to be known are easy and plain and while we are indispensably obliged to believe and receive whatsoever is so an Enumeration of Fundamental Truths is neither necessary nor useful and possibly not safe Now as all Doctrines necessary to be Understood are so revealed in the scripture that they are easy enough to be so so being understood they are as well the Standard and Measure by which dark and obscure Texts are to be interpreted as the Key to the opening of them As Curve lines are best discerned when applied to straight so are Heterodox senses imposed on Obscure Texts of Scripture best perceived when examined by their Habitudes to necessary and plain Truths Whatsoever bears not a Symmetry with the Foundation can be no Superstruction of God And whatsoever Notion either Formally or Virtually directly or consequentially interfere's with a fundamental Truth though never so many Texts be pressed in the proof of it we maybe sure both of its falsity and that they are all wrested and mistaken But though the Scripture be most plain in points necessary to Salvation yet no one Text of the Bible is in it self unintelligible for as Dr. More say's to affirm that the Holy Writ is in it elf unintelligible is aequivalent to the pronouncing it nonsense or to averr that such and such Books or Passages of it were never to be understood by men is to insinuate as if the Wisedome of God did not only play with the Children of men but even fool with them Mons. Wolzogen therefore in his late Book de Interprete Scripturarum hath not only in this matter shamefully betrayed the Protestant cause but reflected reproach upon the Spirit of God There are somthings says he in the Scripture which we cannot understand not through any defect or fault of our Minds or through the Sublimity Majesty of the Doctrines themselves but through the Frame of the Scripture it self and the manner in which they are revealed If there be but one
present only observe that many Scriptural expressions abstracting from any corrupt Gloss put upon them meerly upon the account of their being Rhetorical Tropes have been traduced as Fulsom Metaphors Were they only the paraphrases which the Non-Conformists affix to them which they make the subject of their scorn the business were more tollerable Nor should we be offended with their mockeries and derisions till we had justified the expositions fathered upon them but when the very words which the Holy Ghost in his care and wisdom condescendeth to use are also opprobriously reflected on they must pardon us if we know not how to digest such blasphemous and prophane boldness Instances of this Nature I shall afterwards give and hope to make it appear that many of the Rampant and Luscious Metaphors we are charged with are no other but the declaring Gospel-Mysteries in words which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual 3. Though there be many Rhetorical Tropes and Figurative expressions in the Scripture yet it cannot be denyed but that some either out of ignorance or wantonness have made many more than there ever were There have been and yet are a sort of men in the World who affect to turn every thing into an Allegory and to transform the plainest expressions into Metaphors Besides the Jewish Rabbies who are monstrously guilty in this particular the miscarriage of the Ancients in this matter is both too evident to be denyed and too gross to be justified Their Expositions of Scripture are often light and ridiculous and somtimes perverse and dangerous Origen especially seems to have made it his business to find out Mystical and Cabalistical Senses in the plainest parts of Scripture which made one of the Ancients themselves say of him Ingenii lusus pro Dei Mysteriis venditat he obtrudes the sportings of his fancy for Religious and Sacred Mysteries And as another expresseth it Ingenii sui acumina putat esse Ecclesiae Sacramenta This practice of some Primitive Writers in and about the Scripture influenced Porphyrius to deride the Gospel as containing nothing certain in it How well or rather how unhappily many of the Popish Fryers have imitated them in this I need not tell I shall rather observe that the Socinians who though they impose a proper sense on some Texts of Scripture where it is both absurd and blasphemous to admit it yet they disguise and transform into Metaphors other Texts that have a plain and proper meaning But at the rate of making the Priesthood of Christ his Sacrifice Redemption through his death Metaphorical as they do the whole Gospel both in the Doctrines and precepts of it may be turned into an Allegory Shall I add that these very Authors who of late among our selves have assumed a liberty of censuring their Brethren for Undermining the Gospel by trifling it into Metaphors are themselves so unhappy in paraphrasing Scripture as to make Tropes where few else in the world do In proof of this I shall produce an instance or two out of Mr. Sherlock Whereas other Expositors of Scripture have expounded Christs being called the Brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of his person Heb. 1.3 in a plain and proper sense and have accordingly argued from it for the Deity of Christ against the Socinians Mr. Sherlock by Christs being stiled the Brightness of his Fathers Glory c. Understands no more but those discoveries which Christ hath made of God being a true representation of the Divine Nature and Will as any picture is of the person it represents Which as he hath borrowed word for word from the Socinians who hereby understand only his revealing and declaring the will of God unto us fully and plainly which was done before only darkly in shadows so he declares himself guilty of abusing the Scripture to a Metaphorical sense where the words according to all Rules of Exposition will admit a proper one and therefore both Grotius and Hammond persons to whom I suppose he pay's a respect do vouchsafe us a much better paraphrase And according to Mr. Sherlocks exposition of the words I see not but what is here predicated of Christ may be predicated of the Prophets at lest of the Apostles A second instance shall be that of the 2 Cor. 4.4 where Christ is stiled the Image of God Where Nonconformists see no necessity of admitting a Metonymie no more than a Metaphore but that he who was absolutely and antecedently to his Incarnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the form of God Phil. 2.6 is in a proper sense in his person Incarnate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Image of God in which exposition of the words they are countenanced by Col. 1.15 where Christ in a proper sense is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the image of the invisible God The places seem parallel the one to the other especially if as all Copies have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the last we admit the reading of those Copies which have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also in the first But now Mr. Sherlock is pleased to tell us that Christs being the Image of God comes in very abruptly unless we understand it in this sense that he is the Image of God with respect to the glorious Revelations of the Gospel which contain a true and faithful account of Gods Nature Will Which is plainly to fancy a Trope where there is not the least reason of imagining any the deriving upon himself the guilt which he so liberally chargeth others with And whereas he alledgeth that without allowing a Metonâ—mie in the words Christs being the Image of God comes very abruptly in I see not how the Apostle could better shew how the Father expresseth and declareth himself unto us by his Son in the Gospel than by manifesting what the Son is in himself and with reference to the Father And whereas all Interpreters Ancient as well as Modern except the Socinians alone expound Joh. 1.16 Of his Fulness we have all received Grace for Grace of a participation of renewing Sanctifying Grace by Jesus Christ according to the plain and proper import of the Words Mr. Sherlock groundlesly imagines a Trope in them and accordingly paraphraseth the Fulness which we receive from Christ to signifie no more than a perfect Revelation of the Divine Will concerning the Salvation of Man-kind which Exposition as I have told him else-where whence he hath transcribed it so I shall only say at this time that it is a turning plain Scripture-Testimonies into Tropes Figures where there is not the least reason of supposing any More examples of his Paraphrasing the Scripture by substituting Tropes where other men in whom this humour is supposed to be predominant do see no cause for allowing any shall afterwards be assigned I shall only further observe at present that in several Scripture Passages where other Expositors can see no more but an easie and elegant Metonymie at the most he frames
THE INTEREST OF REASON in RELIGION WITH THE IMPORT USE OF Scripture-Metaphors AND The Nature of the Union Betwixt CHRIST BELIEVERS With Reflections on several Late Writings especially Mr. Sherlocks Discourse concerning the Knowledg of Jesus Christ c. Modestly enquired into and stated By Robert Ferguson Nisi homini Deus placuerit Deus non erit homo jam Deo propitius esse debebit Tertull. Apol. cap. 5. London Printed for Dorman Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultrey and at the Ship and Anchor at the Bridg-foot on Southwark-side 1675. TO THOMAS PAPILLON Esquire SIR IT cost me no long deliberation to whom I should direct these Discourses the Obligations I am under to you and your Family rendring them yours by the Title of a just debt The Interest you have in me by an Entail of peculiar kindnesses gives you a right to my Studies the Fruits of them The declining the Imputation of Ingratitude is my plea for prefixing your Name to these Papers And though the concerning you in their behalf may seem an Injury yet not to have done it my condition in the world allowing me to make no better returns would have been a Crime You must either be more wary and have a greater fore-sight in dispensing your Favours or else you must be content to forgive such offences as your self have made the results and effects of Duty So that were there any indecency in this Address yet the Laws of Gratitude do supersede those of Congruity But indeed this Dedication is as much yours by the Rules of Proportion as by the Measures of Justice For as you have few Rivals with respect of the Qualifications required in an active Life which I forbear to make any discovery of being that which every one observes and which all your Modesty cannot conceal so you are endowed with a capacity adapted to the highest contemplations Nor is the knowledg of Aristotle's Moods and Figures together with such Technical Terms as Affectation Design rather than necessity and usefulness have introduced needful to render a person a fit judge of what is solid and Rational I more dread being arraigned at the Tribunal of brisk Reason assisted by Faith and the Spirit of Life in the New Birth than being combated even by your Philosophick Hero's with their Artificial Premises and formal Ergo's Your accomplishments are not the less commendable because you owe them entirely to your self the Idea's of your Mind and the Exercise of your own Faculties and not to the Drs. Chair and an Apprenticeship under University Readers Though I pay as high a veneration to Academick Learning as any man doth and judg Philosophy instead of being Prejudicial to Religion to be very useful both to promote Faith and Obedience in our selves and to defend the Mysteries of Christianity against the rude assaults of petulant Adversaries yet as things are commonly managed I must needs say that it hath often proved a very great Nuisance 'T is through the encumbring our Minds with insignificant Terms and idle Phantasms the deflouring our Virgin Intellects by absurd Dogm's that too many instead of commencing either solid Scholars or being prepared to be good and humble Christians come abroad into the World either Disputations Whiflers or sworn Enemies to Evangelical Grace Sir as I know but few that owe their Religion more to a Rational choyce than you do so there are also few that have distincter Notions of the Reasons why we are not able adequately to conceive the Mysteries of it and of the Reasons why we are nevertheless to believe them And if true Eloquence be to speak pertinently and to proportion words to things 't is natural to you nor need you address to the most esteemed Masters of it to learn either how to arrange a Discourse in the best Method or to adapt the Sentiments and Words by which you express them to the Subject of which you Treat And as you are furnished with more than an ordinary prudence of knowing when to be silent and with a Faculty to be so when it is better to hold ones peace than to speak so by obliging your self to say nothing but what you think there is a Grace as well as commandingness accompanies what you say and you find others favourable to what you aim at through their being possest that you are byassed by no design but meerly influenced by Love to Truth and Justice Sir there is one thing more which I must not omit as having mainly contributed to the Inscription of these sheets to you namely that while such as pretend to be more sagacious than others or who have a mind to put in a claim to no vulgar discretion pitch upon this as the Medium to support their title to both that they dare deride the Mysteries of Faith or profess themselves Scepticks in the Essential Doctrines of the Gospel or which is as bad as any of the former betray their profession by an unsuitable Life you have learned to unite Obedience to Orthodoxie to espouse the precepts of the Gospel with the same zeal that you do the Articles of the Creed The Opinions here arraigned lye as cross to your belief as they do to mine nor do I impose upon you the patronage of any thing that thwarts your perswasion only I submit to your Judgment whether I have duely encountred them and how well I have defended the Truths which they undermine Nor shall I subjoyn any more save that I am as much as I can though not so much as I ought SIR Your most faithful and Humble Servant Robert Ferguson TO THE READER HE that hath enrolled himself under the Banner of Truth needs not make any Apology for his coming into the Field when the Cause in whose defence and service he is listed calls for his appearance Whosoever consuâ—ts either his Name or his Ease when an assault is made upon the Christian Faith deserves the punishment either of a Coward in his Profession or of a Traitor to it 'T is not any Personal provocation nor any pleasure I take in controversie but meerly a regard to the Truths of the Gospel and the Interest of the Souls of men that hath engaged me in this Vndertaking If there be not strength to be encountered in the Oppositiâ—â—s of our Adversaries yet there is petulancy that ought to be rebuk'd Though I cannot bring my self to believe that Mr. Sherlock deserves a Reply yet I am very well satisfied that the Doctrines which he undermines deserve to be explain'd confirmed And as I have made this my Principal Task so I have only employ'd my self about those Truths which seem to require some further Irradiations of Light than are every where reflected upon them I have espoused the Quarrel of no Man unless you will say that by defending the common Cause of Christians I have vindicated those whose chief Crime is their adherence to the Gospel and their declaring the Mysteries of it in
words which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual And as I have endeavoured to regulate all my Conceptions by Scripture and Reason so whatever Proposition shall be made appear to lye in a Repugnancy to these I am ready openly to retract it If any shall attaque these Discourses with Reviling Reproachful Language I do declare before-hand that I reckon my self superseded from Replying I will combat no man at these weapons nor do I think it a reputation 〈◊〉 any to Rail how much in Fashion soever it is though he should be able to do it in fine Language How often Mr. Sherlock hath contradicted himself and by what falsifications he hath imposed Principles on the Non-conformists which they never held how he treats the Sacred Writers with as much contempt as he doth T. W. and Burlesques the Scripture no less than others have done Virgils Poems how he hath renounced the Doctrine of the Church of England and borrowed his Glosses on the Bible as well as his Dogmatical Notions from the Socinians how Illogical he is in all his deductions and slandereth his Adversaries by undue Inferences should have been the Theme and Argument of this Preface and accordingly I had digested Materials for it but the Book being swell'd to too great a bulk already and there being others engaged against the same Author within whose Province these things must needs lye as having undertaken the arraignment of his whole Discourse I do wave the prosecution of them all at this time And shall detain the Reader no longer than to tell him that since the Printing off the first Chapter which treats of the Interest of Reason in Religion there is come to my hands a Treatise of Humane Reason in which there are many iâ—l things though as it often happens they be well said I know not an Opinion more pernicious in its Consequences than that Men may be as safe in the Event by embracing Turcism as Christianity and as secure of happiness in their Errours as others are in the Truths which they do espouse Should Persons conspire to overthrow all Revelation they could not fall upon a Method more likely to effect it than by endeavouring to persuade the World that there are things equally as strange in the Bible as in the Alcoran 'T is enough that our Reason may serve us if duely attended to and pursued to discern that this or that Religion is false nor are we therefore to be judged Innocent because we neglect the Exercise of it in making the Discovery No man can embrace a false Religion but by a Criminal Deviation from Reason and who will admit one Transgression to take Sanctuary in another That whole Treatise proceeds upon a false Hypothesis namely that as mens belief of the Scripture is owing to the conduct of Reason so they may disbelieve it by the same Guidance Corrupt Ratiocinations are recommended by the Name of Humane Reason and being once cloathed with this Livery every Foolery as well as Abomination appeals to them if not for its justification at least for its being but a Venial offence No man ceaseth to be an Offender in Morals nor doth he therefore deserve pardon because he hath the concurrence of his judgment in what he does Though no man can chuse or prosecute what his understanding continues to represent to him as Evil yet its failâ—ur in point of duty neither alters the Essential Nature of things nor makes his condition more safe for acting under the conduct of it Some men would have no restraint laid upon their Vnderstandings because they will submit to none in their lives and they would have their corrupt Ratiocinations in Doctrinals as Venial as they seem in reference to Manners to presume the gratifying of their Lusts to be 'T is to be hop'd that for the undeceiving such as are already imbu'd with the principles of it and for the preventing others from being â—ainâ—ed and inveigled some one or other will bring the whole under an Examen In the interim I shall adventure to say that 't is as weak in regard of the Reasonings which occur in it as it is pernicious in its tendency Farewell THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. Of the Interest and Use of Reason in Religion INtroduction 1. Motives influencing to the handling of this subject 2. The Import of Reason 3. What 's meant by Religion 4. The serviceableness of Reason in demonstrating the Existence of a Deity with an account of the Topicks on which it proceeds 5. It s usefulness in proving the Divinity of the Scripture with the several Media which it makes use of to this purpose 6.7 Of the Authority of the Scripture as emerging from its Divine Original 8. Our Belief of the Bibles being the Word of God Divine and Infallible seeing built upon Media that are so 9. The serviceableness of Reason in our attaining the sense and meaning of the Word with an account of the Measures which we are herein to be guided by 10. Of Scripture-Consequences and the usefulness of Reason in making the Deductions 11. What appertains to Reason in reference to Doctrines which besides the Foundation they have in Revelation have also evidence in the Light of Nature this exemplified with respect to the Immortality of the Soul and the certainty of Providence 12. The concernment of Reason in defending the whole of Religion from the Clamors and Objections of Gainsayers 13. Nothing contradictious to Right Reason to be admitted as a Mystery of Faith Many things obtruded for Principles of Reason which are not so The prejudice done Religion by mistaken Philosophy pursued and declared in various instances 14. CHAP. II. Of the Import and Use of Scripture Metaphors THe Inducements upon which some men endeavour to discharge all Disputes in and about Religion The Grounds of their Quarrelling at Metaphors with an account of the reasons of my discoursing this Theme 1. No Forms of speech used by the Holy Ghost but what are proportioned to the end for which they are made use of The Bible adorned with all sorts of Figurative Expressions Some fancy more Tropes in the Bible than there are Mr. Sherlock among others guilty of this 2. The Nature of a Metaphor what Tropes it hath affinity with the Rules and Lines by which it is distinguished from them 3. The Reason why God who doth all things according to infinite sapience hath so often adopted Metaphorical Terms to declare himself and the Things of his Kingdom in and by 4. When an Expression is to be accounted Metaphorical 5. How to attain the true conceptions that are lock't up under Metaphors 6. An Enquiry into the use of other common Metaphors with an account of their usefulness and the Measures that are to be attended to in the Vsurpation of them 7. The Non-conformists injuriously charged for their Vsage of Metaphors the Contempt thrown upon them falls often with the same weight upon the Holy Ghost None so Guilty of turning Religion into
may immediately work Miracles in behalf of following Errors what assurance we have that he could not do so in reference to such as preceeded I know no argument that can be brought in proof of the Negative in the latter Case but what will equally conclude in favour of the Negative in the former For if we resolve it into the Nature of God that he could not do so in the last Circumstances the same Essential Perfections in God which lead us to judg so of him in them will persuade us to have the like thoughts of him in all Circumstances that we can imagine Thirdly It is expresly against the Evidence of Scripture-Testimony that God should work a Miracle to confirm either the Mission or the Error of a false pretender See Joh. 9.16.29 30 31. Christ having restored Sight to one that was born blind the Pharisees do notwithstanding question whether he was an Embassador from God yea expresly affirm him to be an Impostor as for this Fellow we know not whence he is Now let us observe after what manner that miraculous Work is urged in Justification that Christ could be no Deceiver p. 16. How can a man that is a Sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. one that falsly avoucheth himself to be sent of God do such Miracles and 30 31 The man answered and said unto them why herein is a marvellous thing that ye know not from whence he is and yet he hath opened mine Eyes now we know that God heareth not sinners i. e. doth not by miraculous Works bear witness to them that come in their own Name I know that we are to distinguish between what the Scripture it self saith and what is only â—aid in the Scripture And that the Scripture it self is true though there be many false sayings Historically recited in it because though the expressions themselves be false yet it is true that these Untruths which it reports were spoken But he that looks into the Chapter will plainly perceive that the Holy Ghost doth not only Register these Sayings but Adopt them And that he doth not barely affirm that such Pleas were made but that the Pleas themselves were true and solid The Exceptions why Miracles are not in themselves an Incontestable Evidence of the Doctrine they are wrought in Confirmation of and of the Divine Mission of the persons that work them may easily I think be taken off The 1 st is That Miracles have been wrought by Hereticks Pagans and others whose Persons were neither Authorized by God nor their Doctrine true And here the Wonders reported in History to have been done by Aesculapius Vespasian and especially Apollonius Tyaneus whom Hierocles durst in point of Miraculous Works compare with Jesus Christ are alledged To which I return these Five Things 1. We may justly question the matter of Fact as to many of them nor are the Reporters such as that we are bound to yield them an Implicite Faith Piaefraudes have found Entertainment not only among Heathens but Christians Nor do I doubt but that most of the Ethnick and Popish Miracles are meerly Romantick and that it is enough to discharge our selves from them by putting the Patrons of them on the proof that ever any such things were wrought 2. Many of these seeming Miracles may be salved by Natural Causes We use to Baptize the extraordinary Phaenomena of Nature with the Name of Wonders because of our Ignorance of the Ability of Natural Agents How many things were look't upon by the Pagan World as the immediate Effects of a Supernatural power that we can now give a distinct and Philosophical account of 3. Many of them are to be ascribed to the Power and Operation of the Devil who can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make a Lye as well as tell one Next to Oracles Satan hath served his Ends on the World by counterfeit Miracles and in both he hath set himself to Ape God And though we cannot so readily in every one of them detect the Imposture yet in most of them we meet with some Circumstance or other which may induce us to give the Devil the Honour and Reputation of them 4. Some of them and those such as descend to us with the greatest certainty seem to have been wrought to prepare the World for some strange and new Providence that God was to bring upon the Stage or to give reputation to some person that God designed for some solemn undertaking and not in the least to confirm any erroneous Doctrine or false Religion and as to such miraculous Works I know nothing hinders why they may not be ascribed to God Thus would I resolve the Cures wrought by Vespasian on the blind and lame Men to have been done for the better introducing and establishing him in the Romane Empire God haveing intended him for the Minister of his Wrath against the Jewish Nation But that from some Circumstances of the Story as it is related by Suetonius and Tacitus I am apt to think that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enemy not easily discovered or the Agency of the Devil was in the whole For I find the infirm Persons alledging their being advised by Serapis to make their Address to Vespasian for Relief against their Maladies Now it is not likely that God should employ the Daemon for the Herald of what himself would accomplish or that he should encourage Idolatry by Communion with Votaries at the Devil's Temple 2 dly The Method of restoring the blind Man to his Sight by spitting upon his Eyes seems plainly to have been done in Imitation of Christ and that Satan was the principal Agent in the whole intending hereby either to disparage some of the Miracles of our Saviour or to maintain his own Kingdom in the way that He had erected his 5. Some of the wonderful Works urged in the proof of what we are contending against might be wrought in Confirmation of the Truth of God and yet without any respect to the justifying the Mission of the Publisher of it And with reference to such works I know no danger in entitling God to be the Author of them An instance to this purpose we have Mark 9.38 Where the Person casting out Devils was neither Commissioned by Christ nor did so much as directly own and embrace Him and yet God lent him his Power to accomplish these Effects And supposing a Truth in the Matters of Fact as reported of the Romish Missionaries in the Indies I should think this Key sufficient to unlock them The second and great Exception why Miracles are not always a sufficient Proof of the Doctrine in whose behalf they are wrought is fetch 't from Scripture And truly if the Texts pressed in this Service be not found either mistaken or urged beyond their true Intendment we will readily resign both our selves and the Cause we have been pleading Nor shall any Shew or Appearance of Reason in favour of it weigh with us there being no Reason so great as