have eyes and sight For he that hath not eyes and eye-sight can see nothing at all so the intellective Soul was not made directly to understand it self and itâ— own intellection but to understand other things and thereby to know that we have an intellectual Soul For he that understandeth doth understand something and thereby he understandeth that he doth understand and so that he hath an intellectual faculty For he that hath not an intellectual Soul can understand nothing at all yet I will not presume to determine the controversie Whether the Intellect do know its own and the Wills elicit acts by direct intuition of the act it self It s as unreasonable a thing then to doubt whether we have such intellectual Souls because they know not themselves directly oâ— fully as long as they know other things as it iâ— to doubt whether we have eyes because they sâ—â— not themselves as long as they see external Objects 2. Moreover this corruption doth often diâ—cover it self in that men will not believe the truâ—â— of the thing revealed because they cannot reaâ—â— to understand the causes of it so many w 〈…〉 question Gods decrees of Predestination and P 〈…〉 terition because they cannot reach the cau 〈…〉 And many will deny the very work of Creatio 〈…〉 because they cannot know the way of Creatio 〈…〉 They will question whether they have immor 〈…〉 Souls because they cannot tell how they â—â—â— caused whether by seminal traduction and p 〈…〉 pagation or by immediate Creation They 〈◊〉 deny the work of Gods differencing effect 〈…〉 Grace because they know not how it is given o 〈…〉 or wrought in the Soul And as well might they deny that they have flesh or bones till they better know how they were caused in the Womb And they may as well deny that they have any blood in their bodies any nutrition or augmentation till they better know the mystery of Sanguification and other nâ—triâ—ive works And as well may they say That the Sun doth not shine or warm us till they know how it is that these are caused by the Sun They know not how the Plants are animated and specified nor how they suck their nutriment from the Earth and yet they know that such things are They know not how the silly Snail doth form her Shell or Nature for her nor how the Feâ—thers of the Peacock are so beautified and the several sorts of Birds Beasts Plants Fruits are so diversified and adorned and yet they know that such things are Or as Christ telleth Nicodemus here The wind bloweth where it listeth and you hear the sound thereof but know not whence it cometh c. And do we therefore say That there is no winâ— because we know not whence it cometh or what is the inferior cause of it Will you say That the Sea doth not ebbe and flow or there are no Earthquake Thunder and Lightning because men do so little know the causes of them Faelix qui potuit c. It is not every mans lot to reach such causes nor any mans on Earth to know the causes of all things which he knoweth to be nor fully the causes of any one 3. Moreover This folly of mans heart doth discover it self thus In that men will not believe the truths revealed by God because they cannot see Gods Ends and Reasons and the use of the things Many an evident Truth is rejected by the proud wit of foolish man because God hath not told them why he hath so determined and ordered the business or if he have told it yet they understand it not So many Infidels and Socinians do deny Christs Satisfaction as a Ransom and Sacrifice for sin because they cannot see any reason for it or necessity of it They cannot see but God may pardon sin without satisfaction And then what need of all this ado or what likelihood that God would lay so much on his Son or make so great a business of this work for our good and his glory if all was needless And thus many deny the Universal extent of his satisfaction as being for all mankinde because they are not able to see the reason and use of it They thrust in their dead quorsum as a sufficient answer to the most express words of God And ask what good will it do men to be ransomed and not saved They fear not to say That this is a thing unbeseeming God and such a weakness as men would not be guilty of So that if we can prove that such a thing there is they will not fear to charge it on God as his unreasonable weakness The like we might shew in many other points And must God unlock to us the Reasons Ends and Uses of his Truths and Works before we will believe that such things are We will alloâ— Parents to conceal the Reasons and Ends of many precepts from their Children and a Prince to conceal the Reasons of many Laws and to keeâ— to himself the Aâ—cana Imperii the mysteries of State and must God open all before he can be believed Is not the Wisdom and the Will of God the most satisfying Reason in the World Must you have proper Reasonings and Intentions in God or will you have a cause of the first cause or an end of the ultimate end of all Alâ—s how little do the wisest men know of the use and ends of many a Creature over their heads and under their feet which their eyes behold yea how little know they of the use and ends of many a part of their own bodies And yet they know that such things there are What abundance of why's hath an Arrogant Infidel upon the reading of Scripture from the beginning of Geneâ—â—s to the end of the Revelation which must all be satisfied before he will believe Of all which God will one day satisfie them but not in the manner as they would have prescribed him 4. Another expression of this Arrogant Ignorance is When men will not believe the several truths of God because they are not able to reconcile them and place each one in its own order and see the Method and Body of Truth in its true Locations and Proportion Nay perhaps they will believe none because they cannot discern the harmony What abundance of seeming contradictions in Scripture do rise up in the eyes of an Ignorant Infidel as strange apparitions do to a distracted man or as many colours do before the inflamed or distempered eye These self-conceited ignorant Sâ—uls do imagine all to be impossible which exceedeth their knowledge and because they cannot sâ—e the sweet consent of Scripture and how those places do suit and fortifie â—â—ch other which to them seemed to contradict each other therefore they think that no one â—lsâ— can see it no not â—od himself They are like an ignorâ—nt fellow in â— Watch-makers shâ—p that thinks no body can â—â—â— all the loose â—eeces together and make a Watâ—h of them because he cannot When
Truth of Gods revelations which they cannot tell how to answer themselves they presently begin to stagger at the whole Truth and question it on every such slight occasion If any new difficulty arise in their way they are in the case of Nicodemus saying How can these things be Though they have heard never so many Arguments to confirm them and have been long receiving them and seen an evidence of Truth in them yet every new cavil or hard Objection doth seem to enervate all this evidence If men were as foolish and incredulous in the matters of the World their folly would easily appear to all men When a man hath studied Physick seven years or twenty years he shall meet with many new difficulties and doubtful câ—ses and many old difficulties will never be ovâ—rcoâ—e And yet he will not therefore throw away all and forsake his study or profession Wâ—â—l a Student in Law give over all his study upon eâ—ery occurring difficulty or seeming contradiction in the Laws If any Students in the Universities should follow this example and doubt of al that they have learned upon every Objection which they are unable to answer they would be bu 〈…〉 Proficieâ—â—s Or if every Apprentice that is learning his trade will forsake it every time that he is staâ—led and at a loss he would be long before he set up shop On this course all men should lose all their time lives and labor by doing all in vâ—iâ— and undoing again by going forward and backward and so know nothing nor resolve of any thing It is most certain that all men are very imperfect in knowledge and especially in the highest mysteries and there is none so high as those in Theology about God and Mans Soul and our Redemption and our Everlasting State And doubtless where men are so defective in knowledge there must still be difficulties in their way and many knots which they cannot untie Can you expect till you are perfect in knowledge to see the whole frame of Truth so clearly as to be able to answer every Objection that is made against it Why do you not lay together the evidences on both sides and consider which of the two is the clearer case What if you cannot answer all that is brought by the Devil and Cavillers against the Truth Can you answer all that Christ and his Servants say for it I dare say you cannot unless you take every impertinent vanity or falshood for an answer God needs not you to be the Defenders of his Truth He is able to vindicate it himself against all the enemies in the World Otherwise if he had called you chiefly to this work he would have furnished you for it But he first calleth you to be Schollars to learn that truth that he may help you over all difficulties in his time and way We are next to shew the Causes of this unhappy distemper why it is or whence it comes to paâ—s that men are so prone to doubt of Gods Truth upon every difficulty or mysterie that is in their way And to question all when they are stalled in any thing and to deny the very things that are certain when they are puzzled and at a loss but about the Manner Cause Reason or Ends of them And among others the Causes of this great Sin are these following 1. Man is naturally desirous of Knowledge and to see things in their own Evidence And therefore he is oft an unmannerly impatient suiter to be presently admitted into the presence Chamber of Truth and to see her naked without delay Nature will hardly be satisfied with believing which is a receiving of Truth upon trust from another no though he give us the most convincing Arguments of his Veracity no though it be God himself Nothing will satisfie Nature but seâ—ing Iâ— the wisest men in the World tell them that they see it or know it if the workers of miracles Christ and his Apostles tell them that they see it if God himself tells them that he sees it yet all this doth not satisfie them unless they may see it themselves They think this is but to be kept at a distance without door and what may be within they cannot tell Every man hath an understanding of his own and therefore would have a sight of the evidence himself and so have a neeâ—er knowledge of the thing and not onely a knowledge of the Truth of the thing by the Testimony of another how infallible soever And therefore we are all prone when difficulties seem great to say with Thomas Except I see I will not believe John 20. 25. Buâ— blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed v. 29. How far this desire of knowledge is in nature as from God and how far it is in Nature as corrupted I will not stand to debate but that it is in us we feel And this is a preparative Reason of our doubting and dis-satisfaction if not a proper cause 2. This nature of man is yet so much more desirous to know that though it do see things in their own proper evidence yet is it not satisfied unless it also see the whole and comprehend all things with all their Reasons Causes and Modes Man affecteth a certain infiniteness in knowledge he would know all that is knowable and so would be as God in knowing And if he be ignorant of any part he remaineth unsatisfied and so is ready to quarrel with all and like froward children that throw away their meat or cloaths or what else they have because they cannot have what more they would have Every little childe will be asking you not onely what is this or what is that but also why is this so or so and to what use is it And so do men in the matters of God And if you satisfie them not in all they will scarce be satisfied in any thing Thirdly Besides this there is indeed a great dependance of one truth upon another and they are in Morality as a well framed Building or as a Clock or Watch or the like Engine where no one part can be missing without gâ—eâ—t wrong to the whole Now when these men cannot see all they do indeed want those helps that are necessary to the perfect seeing of any part and then they have not the skill of making use of an imperfect knowledge but are ready to take it for none till they conceit it full and perfect and thus are still detained in unbelief and quarrelling with that which they did or might know because of that which they did not or could not know Fourthly Moreover it is most certain that when God calls us at first to the knowledge of his truth he findeth us in darkness and though he bring us thence into a marvellous light Acts 26. 18. 1 Pet. 2. 9. yet he doth this by degrees and not into the fullest light or measure of knowledge at the first so that we are at the beginning but Babes
not begin with a particular proof of each part It seems you would argue thus This and that text of Scripture are true therefore they are Gods word but reason telleth you you should argue thus This is Gods word therfore it is true If you set a boy at school to learn his Grammar will you allow him to be so foolish as to stay till he can reconcile every seeming contradiction in it before he believe it to be a Grammar or submit to learn and use its Rules Or will you not â—pect that he first know it to be a Grammar â—â— then make it his business to learn to understaâ—â— it and therein to learn to reconcile all sâ—em 〈…〉 contradictions And should he not in modesâ— and reason think that his Master can reconâ—â— that which may seem unreconcileable to him aâ— such unlearned Novices as he is For my part I am fully resolved That if 〈…〉 Reason could reach to none of the matters â—â—vealed in Scriptures so as to see them in the evâ—dence of the thing yet if I once see the evidenâ—â— of Divine Revelation I may well be assured thâ—â— it iâ— wholly true how far soever it mâ—y transcenâ—â— my Reason For I have Reason to believe all the God revealeth and assertâ—th and I have reâ—soâ— to acknowledge the imbeâ—illity of my Reasoâ— and its incompetency to censure the Wisdom oâ— God And thus I abhor both the doctrine of then that say We have no Reason to be Christians and that the truth of Scripture is an indemonstrable principle that must be believed without Reasons and not proved by them And also the Arrogant infidelity of them that will believe nothing to be a Divine Revelation unless their Reason can comprehend the thing it self or at least if there be any thing in it that seems contradictory to their Reason and so will begin at the wrong end and examine the particular matters by the test of their blinde Reason when they should first examine the attestations of the whole where the evidences are more fitted for the Reason even of the yonger Christians to discern I easily confess that no man should groundâ—esly believe any thing to be a Divine Testimony or believe any man that saith he speaks from God But when God hath given them sufficient Reason to believe that the Testimony and Revelation is indeed from himself if after that men will still be doubting because their Reason is stalled about the Manner and the Causes and Ends and will believe no more then is within the reach of their Reason in these respects nor confess that it is Gods Word unless they can vindicate it from all Objections and know why and how it is as well as that it is this is a meer unreasonable unbelief It is ordinary with Princes and other Law-givers in wisdom to conceal the Reason of their Laws Shall Subjects therefore presume to censure them as defective in Wisdom or Justice because that they know not the Reason of them I say again If there were nothing in Scripture but what the Reason of man could comprehend it were not so like to be the product of the infinite Wisdom of God Let Reason therefore stoop to the Wisdom of our Maker and when he hath let us know that it is he that speaketh let us humbly learn and not proudly expostulate with him about the rest Though I shall not undertake to set upon the resolution of all the Questions of incredulous men which they commonly raise against the Word of God for that would take up many large Volumns of it self yet as I have disswaded them from this Arrogancy of wit so I sh 〈…〉 make tryal of a few of their commonest a 〈…〉 greatest Objections to shew them that their Iâ—fidelity is capable of a Confutation as well 〈…〉 of a Dehortation Object 1. You tell us out of Scripture that therâ— are Devils most wicked malicious spirits addict 〈…〉 to do evil Who made these Devils or how can they to be so bad Certainly God is good and therefore made nothing but what was good and everâ— thing must have a first cause If they made themselves evil then they were the first cause of theiâ— own evil And then you deifie the will of the Devil in making it to be absolutely a first cause â—â— you say as some That sin is but a privation and therefore hath no efficient cause but a deficient 〈…〉 then either that deficiency must be first from Goâ— and then he should be the first cause of all sin or from the will of the Devil and then either he waâ— before bound non-deficere or not If not it was no sin if he were then first he could primo deficere though God did all that belonged to him to prevent it secondly and he could have stood without any more help then he had when he fell and so quoad determinationem propriae voluntatis should have been the first determining cause of his own perseverance or non-deficiency For if he could not stand it was no sin to fall being before innocent Moreover their sin was not a meer privation but materially an act whether velle or nolle and formally a relation of disconformity to the Law Answ. 1 The Devil himself was the first cause of his own pravity God made him not evil but he made himself so God gave him free-wil to be a self-determining principle by this he was enabled to stand or fall and left in the hands of his own counsel By a sinful act he averted himself from the chiefest good and became disposed to a further aversion which might quickly habituate him to all evil Nor is it any deifying of the Creatures will to say it is such a self-determining principle and so far a first cause while it had the power of self-determination from God and so absolutely is no first cause It was the excellency of the Creature as being to be governed to have freewil or a self-determining power to good or evil Though it be a higher perfection to be determined or determinable onely to good which in Patriâ may be enjoyed yet in viâ for one under Government in the use of means in order to the end it is most suitable to their condition to have a liberty of self-determination And therefore this was part of the beauty of the frame of Nature and therefore not derogatory from the workman As God intended sapientially or per potentiam sapientiae to govern the rational Creature by Laws and Objects So did he sapientially frame him in a capacity for such a Sapiential Government and that was by giving â—im a free that is a self-determining will Indeed the Angelical Nature and Soul of Man is so exquisit and subtile and sublime a â—hing that no man can exactly perceive and comâ—rehend the manner of its self-determination â—ut the thing it self is not to be doubted of though the manner of it be yet past our reach We may certainly concluâ—e therefore That