way contradicted how shall we be convinc'd of the Infallibility of the other Reason may err in this Point as well as in any thing else and we have no particular Promise it shall not no more than the Papists that their Senses may not deceive them in every thing as well as in Transubstantiation To say it bears witness to it self is equally to establish the Alcoran or the Poran And 't were a notable Argument to tell a Heathen that the Church has declar'd it when all Societies will say as much for themselves if we take their word for it Besides it may be he would ask whence the Church had Authority to decide this Matter And if it should be answer'd from the Scripture a thousand to one but he would divert himself with this Circle You must believe that the Scripture is Divine because the Church has so determin'd it and the Church has this deciding Authority from the Scripture 'T is doubted if this Power of the Church can be prov'd from the Passages alledg'd to that purpose but the Church it self a Party concern'd affirms it Hey-day are not these eternal Rounds very exquisite Inventions to giddy and entangle the Unthinking and the Weak 7. But if we believe the Scripture to be Divine not upon its own bare Assertion but from a real Testimony consisting in the Evidence of the things contain'd therein from undoubted Effects and not from Words and Letters what is this but to prove it by Reason It has in it self I grant the brightest Characters of Divinity But 't is Reason finds them out examines them and by its Principles approves and pronounces them sufficient which orderly begets in us an Acquiescence of Faith or Perswasion Now if Particulars be thus severely sifted if not only the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles be consider'd but also their Lives Predictions Miracles and Deaths surely all this Labour would be in vain might we upon any account dispense with Contradictions O! blessed and commodious System that dischargest at one stroak those troublesome Remarks about History Language figurative and literal Senses Scope of the Writer Circumstances and other Helps of Interpretation We judg of a Man's Wisdom and Learning by his Actions and his Discourses but God who we are assur'd has not left himself without a Witness must have no Privileges above the maddest Enthusiast or the Devil himself at this rate 8. But a Veneration for the very Words of God will be pretended This we are pleas'd with for we know that God is not a Man that he should lie But the Question is not about the Words but their Sense which must be ever worthy of their Author and therefore according to the Genius of all Speech figuratively interpreted when occasion requires it Otherwise under pretence of Faith in the Word of God the highest Follies and Blasphemies may be deduc'd from the Letter of Scripture as that God is subject to Passions is the Author of Sin that Christ is a Rock was actually guilty of and defil'd with our Transgressions that we are Worms or Sheep and no Men. And if a Figure be admitted in these Passages why not I pray in all Expressions of the like Nature when there appears an equal Necessity for it 9. It may be demanded why I have so long insisted upon this Article since that none expresly makes Scripture and Reason contradictory was acknowledg'd before But in the same place mention is made of some who hold that they may seem directly to clash and that tho we cannot reconcile them together yet that we are bound to acquiesce in the Decisions of the former A seeming Contradiction is to us as much as a real one and our Respect for the Scripture does not require us to grant any such in it but rather to conclude that we are ignorant of the right Meaning when a Difficulty occurs and so to suspend our Judgment concerning it till with sutable Helps and Industry we discover the Truth As for acquiescing in what a Man understands not or cannot reconcile to his Reason they know best the fruits of it that practise it For my part I 'm a Stranger to it and cannot reconcile my self to such a Principle On the contrary I am pretty sure he pretends in vain to convince the Judgment who explains not the Nature of the Thing A Man may give his verbal Assent to he knows not what out of Fear Superstition Indifference Interest and the like feeble and unfair Motives but as long as he conceives not what he believes he cannot sincerely acquiesce in it and remains depriv'd of all solid Satisfaction He is constantly perplex'd with Scruples not to be remov'd by his implicite Faith and so is ready to be shaken and carry'd away with every wind of Doctrine I will believe because I will believe that is because I 'm in the Humour so to do is the top of his Apology Such are unreasonable Men walking after the Vanity of their Minds having their Understandings darken'd being Strangers to the Life of God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the Hardness of their Hearts But he that comprehends a thing is as sure of it as if he were himself the Author He can never be brought to suspect his Profession and if he be honest will always render a pertinent account of it to others 10. The natural Result of what has been said is That to believe the Divinity of Scripture or the Sense of any Passage thereof without rational Proofs and an evident Consistency is a blameable Credulity and a temerarious Opinion ordinarily grounded upon an ignorant and wilful Disposition but more generally maintain'd out of a gainful Prospect For we frequently embrace certain Doctrines not from any convincing Evidence in them but because they serve our Designs better than the Truth and because other Contradictions we are not willing to quit are better defended by their means CHAP. II. Of the Authority of REVELATION as it regards this Controversy 11. AGainst all that we have been establishing in this Section the Authority of Revelation will be alledg'd with great shew as if without a Right of silencing or extingu shing REASON it were altogether useless and impertinent But if the Distinction I made in the precedent Section N. 9. be well consider'd the Weakness of the present Objection will quickly appear and this Controversy be better understood hereaster There I said REVELATION was not a necessitating Motive of Assent but a Mean of Information We should not confound the Way whereby we come to the knowledg of a thing with the Grounds we have to believe it A Man may inform me concerning a thousand Matters I never heard of before and of which I should not as much as think if I were not told yet I believe nothing purely upon his word without Evidence in the things themselves Not the bare Authority of him that speaks but the clear Conception I form of what he
in answer to the Malice or Mistake of some who will needs have it that I 'm a declar'd Enemy to all Church-men and consequently say they to all Religion because I make 'em the sole Contrivers of those inconceivable or mysterious Doctrines which I also maintain are as advantageous to themselves as they are prejudicial to the Laity Indeed there are those who easily overlooking all Contempt of the true Religion are very ready to treat'em as pernicious Hereticks or unsufferable Atheists that shew the least Dislike of what are acknowledg'd Additions to Christianity whatever Convenience or Necessity may be pretended for their Establishment If any such understand by Religion the mysterious Part of it then truly it will be no hard matter to prove me as little favourable to this Religion as I 'm far from making any Apologies for my self to the Professors of it As for charging Church-men with being the Authors and Introducers of the Christian Mysteries they must be my Enemies for telling the Truth who are displeas'd at it for there is no matter of Fact more evident from every Page both of the Civil and Ecclesiastick Histories Nor had the Laity ever any hand in that Business otherwise than as confirming by Legal Sanctions what they were first perswaded to by the preaching of their Priests as they do now sometimes at their Sollicitation imprison excommunicated and prosecute erroneous Persons after the Excommunication is first pronounc'd and the Heresy decreed or declar'd by the Clergy Now as all Church-men are not in their Opinions for these Practices so I see no better Reason they have to be angry with any Body for writing against them that are than a good Prince can pretend for punishing the Historian of a Tyrant's Vices only because the Tyrant had been likewise a Prince To all corrupt Clergy-men therefore who make a meer Trade of Religion and build an unjust Authority upon the abus'd Consciences of the Laity I 'm a profest Adversary as I hope every good and wise Man already is or will be But as I shall always remain a hearty Friend to pure and genuine Religion so I shall preserve the highest Veneration for the sincere Teachers thereof than whom there is not a more useful Order of Men and without whom there could not be any happy Society or well constituted Government in this World to speak nothing of their Relation to the World to come nor of the double Esteem which they deserve for keeping Proof against the general Infection of their Profession But I have no Apprehensions from the sincere and if the designing Party discover their Concern by their Displeasure it may well serve for a Mark to distinguish them but will not be thought an Injury by me ERRATA PAg. 20. l. antepen f. any r. an P. 122. l. 9. r. last Chapter P. 156. l. ult r. puris P. 166. l. 22. r. Decrees The CONTENTS  Page THE State of the Question 1 Sect. I. Of Reason 7 Ch. 1. What Reason is not 8 2. Wherein Reason consists 11 3. Of the Means of Information 16 4. Of the Ground of Perswasion 18 Sect. II. That the Doctrines of the Gospel are not contrary to Reason 25 Ch. 1. The Absurdities and Effects of admitting any real or seeming Contradictions in Religion 26 2. Of the Authority of Revelation as it râ—…gards this Controversy 38 3. That by Christianity was intended a Rational and Intelligible Religion prov'd from thâ—… Miracles Method and Stile of the New Testament 46 4. Objections answer'd drawn from the Pravity of Humane Reason 56 Sect. III. That there is nothing Mysterious or above Reason in the Gospel 66 Ch. 1. The History and Signification of Mystery in the Writings of the Gentiles 67 2. That nothing ought to be call'd a Mystery because we have not an adequate Idea of all its Properties nor any at all of its Essence 74 3. The Signification of the word Mystery in the New Testament and the Writings of the most antient Christians 88 4. Objections brought from particular Texts of Scripture and from the Nature of Faitâ—… answer'd 120 5. Objections drawn from the Consideration of MIRACLES answer'd 144 6. When why and by whom were Mysteries brought into Christianity 151 The CONCLUSION 170 CHRISTIANITY not Mysterious c. The State of the Question N o 1. THERE is nothing that Men make a greater Noise about in our Time especially than what they generally profess least of all to understand It may be easily concluded I mean the Mysteries of the Christian Religion The Divines whose peculiar Province it is to explain them to others almost unanimously own their Ignorance concerning them They gravely tell us we must adore what we cannot comprehend And yet some of 'em press their dubious Comments upon the rest of Mankind with more Assurance and Heat than could be tolerably justify'd tho we should grant them to be absolutely infallible The worst on 't is they are not all of a Mind If you be Orthodox to those you are a Heretick to these He that sides with a Party is adjudg'd to Hell by the Rest and if he declares for none he receives no milder Sentence from all 2. Some of 'em say the Mysteries of the Gospel are to be understood only in the Sense of the Antient Fathers But that is so multifarious and inconsistent with it self as to make it impossible for any Body to believe so many Contradictions at once They themselves did caution their Readers from leaning upon their Authority without the Evidence of Reason And thought as little of becoming a Rule of Faith to their Posterity as we do to ours Moreover as all the Fathers were not Authors so we cannot properly be said to have their genuine Sense The Works of those that have written are wonderfully corrupted and adulterated or not entirely extant And if they were their Meaning is much more obscure and subject to Controversy than that of the Scripture 3. Others tell us we must be of the Mind of some particular Doctors pronounc'd Orthodox by the Authority of the Church But as we are not a whit satisfy'd with any Authority of that Nature so we see these same particular Doctors could no more agree than the whole Herd of the Fathers but tragically declaim'd against one another's Practices and Errors That they were as injudicious violent and factious as other Men That they were for the greatest part very credulous and superstitious in Religion as well as pitifully ignorant and superficial in the minutest Punctilios of Literature In a word that they were of the same Nature and Make with our selves and that we know of no Privilege above us bestow'd upon them by Heaven except Priority of Birth if that be one as it 's likely few will allow 4. Some give a decisive Voice in the Unravelling of Mysteries and the Interpretation of Scripture to a General Council and others to one Man whom they hold to be the Head of the Church Universal upon Earth
hand but the Priest's with the like Ceremonies they had no colour of Authority from the Scriptures but only from Custom and Tradition 93. Now their own Advantage being the Motive that put the Primitive Clergy upon reviving Mystery they quickly erected themselves by its Assistance into a separate and politick Body tho not so soon into their various Orders and Degrees For in the two first Centuries we meet with no Sub-Deacons Readers or the like much less with the Names or Dignities of Popes Cardinals Patriarchs Metropolitans Archbishops Primates Suffragans Archdeacons Deans Chancellors Vicars or their numerous Dependants and Retinue But in small time Mystery made way for those and several other Usurpations upon Mankind under pretence of Labourers in the Lord's Vineyard 94. The Degrees or Constitutions concerning Ceremonies and Discipline to encrease the Splendor of this new State did strangely affect stupify and amaze the Minds of the ignorant People and made them believe they were in good earnest Mediators between God and Men that could fix Sanctity to certain Times Places Persons or Actions They seem'd almost a different and more divine Species of Creatures distinguishing themselves from other Men in their Garb in their manner of living by Tithes and Donations in their separate Places at Church and several other ways By this means the Clergy were able to do any thing they engross'd at length the sole Right of interpreting Scripture and with it claim'd Infallibility to their Body 95. This is the true Origin and Progress of the Christian Mysteries and we may observe how great a share of their Establishment is owing to Ceremonies These never fail to take off the Mind from the Substance of Religion and lead Men into dangerous Mistakes for Ceremonies being easily observ'd every one thinks himself religious enough that exactly performs them But there is nothing so naturally opposite as CEREMONY and CHRISTIANITY The latter discovers Religion naked to all the World and the former delivers it under mystical Representations of a meerly arbitrary Signification 96. It is visible then that Ceremonies perplex instead of explaining but supposing they made things easier then that would be the best Religion which had most of them for they are generally and may all be made equally significative A Candle put â—…nto the Hands of the Baptiz'd to denote the Light of the Gospel is every whit as good a Ceremony as to make the Sign of the Cross upon their Fore-heads in token of owning Christ for their Master and Saviour Wine Milk and Honey signify spiritual Nourishment Strength and Gladness as well as standing at the Gospel betokens our Readiness to hear or profess it 97. In short there 's no degree of Enthusiasm higher than placing Religion in such Fooleries nor any thing so base as by these fraudulent Arts to make the Gospel of no effect unles as sar as it serves a Party But I shall have a better Occasion of exhausting the Subject of Ceremonies elsewhere I treat of 'em here only as they made up the Gentile Mysteries and were afterwards brought in to constitute those of the Christians But as the vastmultitudes of the latter quickly render'd all secret Rites almost impossible so to preserve the Mystery things were purposely made downright unintelligible or very perplex'd In this Poiâ—… our pretended Christians outdid all the Mysteries of the Heathens for the Honour of these might be destroy'd by Discovery or the babling Tongue of any initiated Person But the new Mysteries were thus securely plac'd above the Reach of all Sense and Reason Nay so jealous were the CLERGY of their own Order lest any of 'em should irreligiously unfold those sublime Mysteries to the profanely inquisitive LAITY that they thought fit to put it as much out of the Power of the Holy Tribe it self as out of ours to understand them and so it continues in a great measure to this day The CONCLUSION THUS I have endeavour'd to shew others what I'm fully convinc'd of my self that there is no MYSTERY in CHRISTIANITY or the most perfect Religion and that by Consequence nothing contradictory or inconceivable however made an Article of Faith can be contain'd in the Gospel if it be really the Word of God for I have hitherto argu'd only upon this Supposition for the Reasons to be seen towards the end of the Preface Notwithstanding all Pretences that may be made to the contrary it is evident that no particular Instances or Doctrines of any sort can serve for a proper Answer to this DISCOURSE for as long as the Reasons of it hold good whatever Instance can be alledg'd must either be found not mysterious or if it prove a MYSTERY not divinely reveal'd There is no middle way that I can see When those Passages of Scripture I have cited for my Assertion are either reconcil'd to such as any would bring against me or prov'd not to be understood by me when my Arguments against all inconceivable Mysteries and the Absurdity of God's revealing any such Mysteries are confuted 't is time enough then for others to produce Examples or for me to consider ' em And tho by convincing People that all the Parts of their RELIGION must not only be in themselves but to them also must appear sound and intelligible I might justly leave every one to discover to himself the Reasonableness or Unreasonableness of his Religion which is no difficult Business when once Men are perswaded that they have a right to do it yet the Duties I ow GOD and the World oblige me to proceed further according as I enjoy Health or Leisure without limiting my self as to any time that being a thing in no Man's Power to command at his Pleasure My next Task therefore is God willing to prove the Doctrines of the New Testament perspicuous possible and most worthy of God as well as all calculated for the highest Benefits of Man Some will not thank me it 's probable for so useful an Undertaking and others will make me a Heretick in grain for what I have perform'd already But as it is Duty and no Body's Appláuse which is the Rule of my Actions so God knows I no more value this cheap and ridiculous Nick-name of a Heretick than Paul did besore me for I acknowledg no ORTHODOXY but the TRVTH and I 'm sure where-ever the TRVTH is there must be also the CHVRCH of God I mean and not any Human Faction or Policy Besides the Imputation of Heterodoxy being now as liberal upon the slightest Occasions out of Ignorance Passion or Malice as in the Days of Ireneus and Epiphanius it is many times instead of a Reproach the greatest Honour imaginable Some good Men may be apt to say that supposing my Opinion never so true it may notwithstanding occasion much harm because when People find themselves impos'd upon in any part of Religion they are ready to call the whole in question This Offence is plainly taken not given and my Design is nothing