every thing every thing but what is sober whatever is wild will be suck'd in like the Air but what is reasonable will be fled like Infection So that if a Man would recommend any Doctrine for his life to those Enemies of Reason it must be some odd non-sense in the clothing of Imagination and he that can be the Author of a new kind of Madness shall lead a Party Thus hath Religion by the disparagement of Reason been made a Medley of Phantastick Trash spiritualized into an heap of Vapours and formed into a Castle of Clouds and exposed to every Wind of Humour and Imagination 3. By the same way great advantage is given to the Church of Rome Which is well known by those that adhere unto it And therefore Perronius Gonterius Arnoldus Veronius and other Jesuites have loudly declaimed against Reason and the last mentioned Veronius presented the World with a Method to overthrow Hereticks meaning those of the Protestant Faith which promised more than ordinary And that was to deny and renounce all Principles of Reason in Affairs of Faith absolutely and roundly and not to vouchsafe an Answer to any Argument against Transubstantiation or the other Articles of their new Faith but point-blank to deny whatever Reason saith in such Matters And he affirms that even these Principles of Reason viz. Non entis non sunt Attributa omne quod est quando est necesse est esse and such like which are the Foundations of all Reasoning are dangerous to the Catholick Faith and therefore not to be heeded This Man speaks out and affirms directly and boldly what the other Enemies of Reason mean but will not own This is a Method to destroy Hereticks in earnest but the mischief is all Christians and all other Religions and all other Reasonings are cut off by the same Sword This Book and Method of Veronius was kindly received by the Pope priviledged by the King of Spain approved by Cardinals Archbishops Bishops and all the Gallick Clergy as solid and for the advantage of Souls and the Sorbone Doctors gave it their approbation and recommended it as the only way to confute us and all the other Adversaries of their corrupted Faith and Religion Did these know what they did And did they think we understand the Interest of the Roman Church If so we kindly serve their ends and promote their Designs in the way which they account best while we vilifie and disparage Reason If this be renounced in Matters of Religion with what face can we use it against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation or any other Points of the Roman Creed Would it not be blameless and irreprovable for us to give up our Understandings implicitly to the Dictates and Declarations of that Church May we not follow blindly whatever the Infallible Man at Rome and his Councils say And would it not be vain self-contradiction to use Arguments against their Decrees though they are never so unreasonable Or to alledge Consequences from Scripture against any of their Articles though never so contrary to the Holy Oracles How easily may they rejoyn when we dispute against them You argue from Reason and by Consequences But Reason is dull and carnal and an enemy to the things of the Spirit and not to be heard in the high Matters of Religion And what can we say next if allow of the Accusation I say by this way we perfectly disable or grosly contradict our selves in most of our Disputes against the Romanists And we are very disingenuous in our dealings while we use Reason against them and deny it when 't is urged against our selves by another sort of Adversaries which implies that when we say Reason is not to be heard we mean 't is not to be heard against us But it must against the Church of Rome or any others we can oppugn by it So that our denying Reason in Religion is either very humoursom and partial or 't is a direct yielding up our Cause to our Enemies and doing that our selves which is the only thing they desire to undo us and to promote their own Interests upon our Ruines And thus I have represented some of the Mischiefs that arise from the disparagement of Reason we see they are great ones big of many others and such as are destructive to all Government and all the Interests of the sober part of Mankind This is properly Fanaticism and all that we call so grows upon it Here the Enemies of our Church and Government began upon this they insisted still and filled their Books and Pulpits and private Corners with these Cantings This was the Engine to overthrow all sober Principles and Establishments with this the People were infutuated and credit was reconciled to Gibberish and Folly Enthusiasms and vain Impulses This is the Food of Conventicles to this day the root of their Matter and the burden of their Preachments Let Reason be heard and tie them to Sense and most of their Holders-forth haue no more to say Their spirituality for which they are admired is besides Reason and against it rather than above it And while this Principle of the enmity between Reason and Religion stands the People will think them the more Spiritual Preachets because they are the less reasonable And while they are abused by such a belief 't will be impossible for sober Men to have any success in their endeavours to convince them AGAINST Modern Sadducism In the Matter of Witches and Apparitions Essay VI. Essay VI. AGAINST MODERN SADDUCISM In the Matter of Witches and Apparitions IF any thing were to be much admired in an Age of Wonders not only of Nature which is a constant Prodigy but of Men and Manners it would be to me matter of astonishment that Men otherwise witty and ingenious are fallen into the Conceit that there 's no such thing as a Witch or Apparition but that these are the Creatures of Melancholly and Superstition foster'd by Ignorance and Design which comparing the confidence of their disbelief with the evidence of the things denied and the weakness of their Grounds would almost suggest that themselves are an Argument of what they deny and that so confident an Opinion could not be held upon such inducements but by some kind of Witchcraft and Fascination in the Fancy And perhaps that evil Spirit whose Influences they will not allow in Actions ascribed to such Causes hath a greater hand and interest in their Proposition than they are aware of For that subtil Enemy of Mankind since Providence will not permit him to mischief us without our own concurrence attempts that by stratagem and artifice which he could never effect by open ways of acting and the success of all wiles depending upon their secrecy and concealment his influence is never more dangerous than when his agency is least suspected In order therefore to the carrying on the dark and hidden Designs he manageth against our Happiness and our Souls he cannot expect to advantage himself more
another yea and every Man from himself and yet every one is assured of his own Schemes of conjecture though he cannot hold that Assurance but by this proud Absurdity That he alone is in the right and all the rest of the World mistaken I say then there being so much to be produced both from the natural and moral World to the shame of boasting Ignorance I cannot reckon of what I have said but as an imperfect Offer at a Subject to which I could not do right without discoursing all Things On which account I had resolv'd once to suffer this Trifle to pass out of Print and Memory But then considering that the Instances I had given of humane Ignorance were not only clear ones but such also as are not ordinarily suspected from whence to our shortness in other things 't is an easie Inference I was thence induced to think it might be useful to promote that temper of Mind that is necessary to true Philosophy and right Knowledg OF SCEPTICISM AND CERTAINTY Essay II. Essay II. OF SCEPTICISM and CERTAINTY In a short Reply To the Learned Mr. Thomas White To a Friend SIR I Here send you a Supplement to the former Essay About two years after my Vanity of Dogmatizing was first printed there appeared a Book written in Latin against it which had this Title SCIRI sive scepties scepticorum a jure Disputationis exclusio The Author was that Learned Man who hath publisht so many Writings and is so highly celebrated by Sir Kenelm Digby especially famous for his Tract de Mundo He calls himself sometimes Thomas ex Albiis East Saxonum in other Writings and particularly in this Thomas Albius His English Name is Thomas White a Roman Catholick and famed Writer for that Church though censured for some of his Doctrines at Rome I writ a civil Answer to his Book which was annext to the Vanity of Dogmatizing reprinted 1665. That Answer was in English because the Discourse it defended was so and I did not think the Matter worth the Universal Language Besides I was induced to reply in that Tongue by the Example of a Noble Philosopher one of the great Ornaments of his Age and Nation who had then newly answer'd a Latin Book written by one Linus against him in English About the same time that my Reply was printed his SCIRI came forth again in our Language whether translated by himself or any Disciple of his I do not know The Title was An Exclusion of Scepticks from all title to Dispute being an Answer to the Vanity of Dogmatizing by Tho. VVhite Now because there was nothing of Reply in that new Edition of his Book I thought to have concerned my self no more about it but having made you a promise of some Notes concerning Scepticism and Certainty I have thought fit to treat of those Matters by way of further Answer to that Learned Man He principally insists on three things 1. The Charge of Scepticism 2. The Accountableness of those Philosophical Difficulties I have mention'd as things not yet resolv'd And 3. The Defence of Aristotle The first is the Subject for which I stand ingag'd to you and the second belongs to it and will be a very seasonable if not necessary Supplement to the Essay against Confidence in Philosophy But for the third I shall refer you to what I have said in my other Answer and in my Letter concerning Aristotle being not willing to meddle any further in Affairs of that nature I. The charge of Scepticism seems to be the main thing For besides that it makes up the Title the Author hath been pleas'd to write a solemn Warning to the Youth of the Universities on the occasion of my Book which he calls Vleus Glanvillanum in the first page of his Preface and declares this pretended Scepticism of mine to be the occasion of his ingagement in the first paragraph of his Discourse Now because a great and celebrated Philosopher with whom I am not fit to be nam'd is brought in as the Reviver of this deadly Scepticism which I am supposed to endeavour to advance after him I shall repeat the whole Passage that I may the better vindicate both him and my self against this Objection and treat a little of this so common Imputation which is almost every where alledg'd against all Free Philosophers who dare think or say any thing that Aristotle hath not taught The Learned Man Objects thus p. 1. Scepticism born of old by an unlucky miscarriage of Nature for her own credit carried off the Tongues of the Elequent where it had long been foster'd and buried by the steadiness of Christian Faith this Monster snatcht from the Teeth of Worms and Insects Peter Gassendus a Man of a most piercing Sagacity of neat and copious Eloquence of most pleasing behaviour and wonderful diligence by a kind of Magick hath endeavour'd to restore again to Life He a Person which is the strangest of all most tenacious of Catholick Faith and never suspected guilty of mischievous Tenents whereas yet this scepticism is the Mother of infinite Errors and all Heresies and that very seducing Philosophy and vain Fallacy which the Saints warned by the Apostles have taught us to beware of Her this Man otherwise eminent in his paradoxical Exercitations against the Aristotelians hath dared to expose not vailed as before and wandring like a Quean in the dark but bold-fac'd and painted to the Multitude and Market place By his example the Author of the Vanity of Dogmatizing hath produc'd her amongst us beauteously trickt up in English He too a great Master of Wit and Eloquence nor indeed are vast Mischiefs to be dreaded from vulgar Heads This is the occasion of my undertaking This is the Charge but the severe imputation is sweetned by many very kind words of commendation which are most justly due to the renowned Gassendus but given gratis and undeservedly to the Author of the Vanity of Dogmatizing In answer to this charge I shall set down my Thoughts of Scepticism and Certainty Subjects well worth considering The word Scepticism is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to speculate to lâ—… about to deliberate An ancient Sect of Philosophers â—…nce call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scepticks as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doubters and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pyrrhonians froâ—… â—…rho the first noted Author of this Sect. This Pyrrho lived about the time of Alexander the Great and was born at Elis He was at first a Painter some say an ill one and yet he had better have so continued for his Philosophy was worse than his Painting He seems to me according to the account we have of him to have been a gross and humoursome Fanatick especially if that be true that is related by Laertius That he shun'd and heeded nothing and would not step aside out of the way for Waggons Precipices or Dogs so that he was follow'd and look'd after like an
his Nature The belief of these is necessary to all the parts of Religion He that comes unto God in any way of Worship or Address must know that he is and in some measure what Namely he must know and own the commonly acknowledg'd Attributes of his Being 2. A second necessary Principle is The Providenee of God viz. the Knowledge That he made us and not we our selves that he preserves us and daily provides for us the good things we enjoy This is necessary to the Duties of Prayer Praise and Adoration And if there be no Providence Prayer and Thanksgiving and other Acts of Worship are in vain 3. A third Fundamental is Moral Good and Evil. Without this there can be no confession of Sin no respect to Charity Humility Justice Purity or the rest that we call Vertues These will be confes'd to be Fundamentals of Religion And I shall not dispute how many more may be admitted into the number These we are sure are such in the strictest sense for all Religion supposeth and stands upon them And they have been acknowledg'd by Mankind in all Ages and Places of the World But besides these there are other Principles of Religion which are not in the same degree of absolute necessity with the former but yet are highly serviceable by way of incouragement and assistance I reckon four viz. 1 That God will pardon us if we repent 2. That he will assist us if we endeavour 3. That he will accept of Services that are imperfect if they are sincere 4. That he will righteously reward and punish in another World These contain the Matter and Substance of the Gospel more clearly and explicitly reveal'd to the Christian Church but in some measure owned also by the Gentiles So that I may reckon that the Principles I have mention'd are the sum of the Religion of Mankind I mean as to the Doctrinal Part of it and the Duties recited before are the Substance of the Practical which primarily and most essentially is Religion And Christianity takes in all these Duties and all these Principles advancing the Duties to higher degrees of Excellency and Perfection incouraging them by new Motives and Assistances and superadding two other Instances Baptism and the Lord's Supper And for the Principles it confirms those of Natural Religion it explains them further and discovers some few new ones And all these both of the former and the latter sort are contain'd in the Creed Here are all the Fundamentals of Religion and the main Assisting Principles also And though our Church require our assent to more Propositions yet those are only Articles of Communion not Doctrines absolutely necessary to Salvation And if we go beyond the Creed for the Essentials of Faith who can tell where we shall stop The sum is Religion primarily is Duty And Duty is All that which God hath commanded to be done by his Word or our Reasons and we have the substance of these in the Commandments Religion also in a secondary sense consists in some Principles relating to the Worship of God and of his Son in the ways of devout and vertuous living and these are comprised in that Summary of Belief called the Apostles Creed This I take to be Religion and this Religion I shall prove to be reasonable But I cannot undertake for all the Opinions some Men are pleased to call Orthodox nor for all those that by many private Persons and some Churches are accounted essential Articles of Faith and Salvation Thus I have stated what I mean by Religion The OTHER thing to be determined and fixt is the proper Notion of Reason For this we may consider that Reason is sometimes taken for Reason in the Faculty which is the Vnderstanding and at other times for Reason in the Object which consists in those Principles and Conclusions by which the Understanding is informed This latter is meant in the Dispute concerning the Agreement or Disagreement of Reason and Religion And Reason in this sense is the same with natural Truth which I said is made up of Principles and Conclusions By the Principles of Reason we are not to understand the Grounds of any Man's Philosophy nor the Critical Rules of Syllogism but those imbred Fundamental Notices that God hath implanted in our Souls such as arise not from external Objects nor particular Humours or Imaginations but are immediately lodged in our Minds independent upon other Principles or Deductions commanding a sudden assent and acknowledged by all sober Mankind Of this sort are these That God is a Being of all Perfection That nothing hath no Attributes That a Thing cannot be and not be That the Whole is greater than any of its Parts These and such-like are unto Vs what Instincts are to other Creatures And these I call the Principles of Reason The Conclusions are those other Notices that are inferred rightly from these and by their help from the Observations of Sense And the remotest of them that can be conceived if it be duly inferred from the Principles of Reason or rightly circumstantiated Sense is as well to be reckoned a Part and Branch of Reason as the more immediate Conclusions that are Principles in respect of those distant Truths And thus I have given an account also of the proper Notion and Nature of Reason I AM to shew next 2. That Religion is reasonable and this implies two things viz. That Reason is a Friend to Religion and that Religion is so to Reason I begin with the FIRST and here I might easily shew the great congruity that there is between that Light and those Laws that God hath placed in our Souls and the Duties of Religion that by the expressness of his written Word he requires from us and demonstrate that Reason teacheth All those excepting only the two Positives Baptism and the Holy Eucharist But there is not so much need of turning my Discourse that way and therefore I shall confine it to the Principles of Religion which are called Faith and prove that Reason exceedingly befriends these It doth this I. By proving some of those Principles And II. By defending all For the clearing both let us consider That the Principles of Religion are of two sorts Either 1. Such as are presupposed to Faith or such as 2. are formal Articles of it Of the first are The Being of a God and the Authority of the Scripture And of the second such as are expresly declared by Divine Testimony as the Attributes of God the Incarnation of his Son and such like I. For the former they are proved by Reason and by Reason only The others we shall consider after 1. That the Being of a God the Foundation of all is proved by Reason the Apostle acknowledgeth when he saith That what was to be known of God was manifest and to the Heathen Rom. 1. 19. and he adds vers 20. That the invisible Things from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the Things that are
But these things were common to them All hated the former Constitutions All cried up their own Clan as the only Saints and People of God All vilified Reason as Carnal and Incompetent and an Enemy to the things of the Spirit All had confident false and perverse Notions of the Divine Attributes and Counsels All decry'd Vertue and Morality as a dull thing that was nothing in the account of God All fill'd their Discourses with the words of Light Faith Grace the Spirit and all talk'd in set Phrases phancifully and ignorantly about them All pretended to great Heights in Knowledge though that consisted in nothing but an ability to repeat those Phrases of their Sect like Parrots All talk'd of their extraordinary communion with God their special Experiences Illuminations and Discoveries and accordingly all demean'd themselves with much sawciness and irreverence towards God and contempt of those that were not of the same phantastical Fashion All were zealous in their proper set of Doctrines and Opinions and all bitterly oppos'd and vilified every different Judgment These are some of the main things that made up the common Nature of the Parties In particulars as I have said they were infinitely at variance While things were in this condition some of our Missionaries in Forreign Parts returned and among the other Books and Rarities from the World they brought the Works of some of your Episcopal Divines and other Learned Men particularly those of Hammondus Taylorus Grotius c. Such of them that were written in English they translated into Latin the rather because they judg'd those Discourses very seasonable and proper to obviate the Evil Genius of the unhappy Age. As soon as they came abroad in the general Language they were read by the sober sort of our Divines with great approbation and acceptance and from them they had Light and Advantage for the detecting the Follies and Extravagancies of the Times For my part I was then a Student in the University and therefore shall chuse to relate what effect those Writings had there and particularly upon divers of my mine own Acquaintance who are now very considerable in this Church and have done great Service in it It was one Advantage that the Young Academians had from that unhappy Season that they were stirr'd up by the general Fermentation that was then in Mens Thoughts and the vast variety that was in their Opinions to a great activity in the search of sober Principles and Rules of Life I shall not undertake to describe the Spirit and Temper of all the Theologues and Students of those Times but shall give you an account of some that I knew who have been very useful to the Church in confuting and exposing the Fanatical Principles and Genius and who derived much of their Spirit and Doctrines from those excellent Authors of your Country Here I told the Governor that things had been lately also in our parts much after the manner he had described the Condition of theirs and that therefore I was very desirous to know by what Ways and Doctrines the People were reduced to a better temper I said also that I had relation to one of our Universities and on that account likewise was sollicitous to understand how those Academical Divines were formed and what they did when they came abroad He answer'd that he was ready to gratifie my desires but then said he I would not have you think that I magnifie the Persons I shall describe to you or their Learning and Performances above all our other Clergy No thanks be to God we have numbers of Excellent Men famous for their Piety Learning and Usefulness in the Church of whom by reason of my distance and constant Imployments in this place I have no personal knowledge and therefore I choose to speak only of those that were bred in the University about mine own Time and the rather that you may observe the Providence of God in raising Men so serviceable to his Church in the very worst of Days Having premis'd which he fell immediately to an account of their Preparations in the University and thence to a Relation of their Performances after Of the former he spoke thus THose Divines of whom I have undertaken to say something went through the usual course of Studies in the University with much applause and success But did not think themselves perfect as soon as they were acquainted with the knowledge contain'd in Systems No they past from those Institutions to converse with the most Ancient and Original Authors in all sorts of profitable Learning They begun at the top with the Philosophers of the Eldest Times that were before the days of Aristotle They perused the Histories of their Lives and Doctrines and then read all the remains of them that are extant They consider'd their Principles only as Hypotheseis with Minds free and untainted They studied them to know the several Scheams of their Opinions without passing Judgments yet upon their Truth or Falshood They read Plato and convers'd much with that Divine Philosopher They acquainted themselves with Aristotle his great Scholar and by his Original Writings they found how much he had been misrepresented and abused by his Commentators especially by those of later Times and saw how different a thing Aristotelian Philosophy was in his own Works from that which they had met in compendiums and the Disputing Books that pretended to it They made themselves intimate with Plutarch and Cicero And dealt much with the other chief Writers both Greeks and Romans By which means they were well instructed in the History of Philosophy and the various Thoughts and Opinions of the greatest Men among the Ancients But yet notwithstanding this Conversation with those Sages They were not so pedantically and superstitiously fond of Antiquity as to sit down there in contempt of all later Helps and Advancements They were sensible That Knowledge was still imperfect and capable of further growth and therefore they looked forward into the Moderns also who about their time had imployed themselves in discovering the Defects of the Ancients in reviving some of their neglected Doctrines and advancing them by new Thoughts and Conceptions They read and consider'd all sorts of late Improvements in Anatomy Mathematicks Natural History and Mechanicks and acquainted themselves with the Experimental Philosophy of Solomon's House and the other Promoters of it So that there was not any valuable Discovery made or Notion started in any part of Real Learning but they got considerable knowledge of it And by this Vniversal way of proceeding They furnish'd their Minds with great variety of Conceptions and rendred themselves more capable of judging of the Truth or likelyhood of any propos'd Hypothesis Nor did they content themselves with Reading and the knowledge of Books but join'd Contemplation and much thoughtfulness with it They exercised their Minds upon what they read They consider'd compar'd and inferr'd They had the felicity of clear and distinct thinking and had large compass
in their Thoughts By reading they rendred their Understandings full and by Meditation they kept that fulness from being disorderly and confus'd Being thus prepared They addrest themselves to the more close particular and thorow study of Divinity They thought it not enough to read a few Systems and bundles of Novel Opinions to understand the current Orthodoxy of the Times or to gain the faculty of speaking to the People in the taking Tâ—… and Phrase â—…hings that made up the Divines of that Age But enquired into the state of Religion in former days They read the Histories of the Church and applyed themselves to a careful perusal of the Fathers of the three first Centuries In them they looked for the Doctrine and Practices that were in the beginning They consider'd that Religion was most pure in those Primitive Times of Holiness and Matyrdom and that by knowing what was the belief and use then they might be enabled to judge better of the more Modern Ways and Opinions That though other Knowledge grew and was much advanced by Time yet Divinity was in its perfectoon in the days of the Apostles and nearest Ages to them and had still been degenerating more or less in following Times That it was therefore best to enquire after the old Ways and to take the Measures of Faith and Practice from Primitive Doctrine and Vsage and accordingly they endeavoured to form theirs They convers'd with the Works of your Excellent Writers whom I mention'd and other Learned Men whom Providence raised about that Season to direct the World to those eldest best Patterns They read also the Histories and observ'd the growth of Sects They examin'd the Books of the chief reputed Hereticks and consider'd the Arguments where-with they endeavour'd to establish their Opinions They descended even to the Wild Scribbles and Contentions of the several Parties in our distracted Land They acquainted themselves thoroughly with their Spirit Principles Phrases and ways of Reasoning as judging that none could deal effectually in the exposing and confuting any Sect but those who well understood it Besides all this They directed their Studies many of them to the Jewish Learning That they might be instructed in the Rites Opinions and Usages of that People for the better understanding of many things in the Scripture that relate unto them They enquired into the Reasonableness of the great Principles of Religion and particularly of the Christian and provided themselves thereby to deal with Atheists Infidels and Enthusiasts with which that Age abounded I could say much more but this is enough to shew that these Men were qualified to do something in the World Here I interrupted the Relation a little and said That it seem'd to me that such Preparations should have taken up the better part of their Lives and not have left much time for Action He answer'd That Diligence Meditation and a right Method of Studies would go very far and do mighty Matters in an indifferent Time and that he who knew the shortest cut and went constantly on would pass over a considerable Desart in a few days while another that loyter'd or was ignorant of the way might wander all his Life in it to little purpose That those Men took the direct Course and had the best Guides the choice Books of all sorts one anothers excellent Company and improving Converse That they spent no unprofitable time among the Voluminous Triflers and in the confused Rubbish of Learning That they went straight on towards their end without diverting to bie and impertinent Matters They that made even their most common Conversations to serve them in their study of Humane Nature the Inclinations and Passions of Men And even the wildness and humours of Sects afforded them instruction in the nature of Enthusiasm and Superstitions of all kinds So that their Understandings and Observations were advanced far while their years were not many and they had the happy Conjunction of the Judgment of Ripe Age with the vigour of Youth I bowed to declare my satisfaction and He went on IT will be time now after the Discourse of their Preparations to let you know what they did and what were the Effects of these promising beginnings This I shall do By representing 1. Some things that were more general 2. Their particular Endeavours in the Affairs of Religion 3. A more full account of their Genius and Thoughts in some main Parts of Learning I BEGIN with their more General Actions and Declarations of their Thoughts ONe of the first things they did was to deliver their own Minds and to endeavour the same for others from the Prepossessions and Prejudices of Complexion Education and implicit Authority Asserting the Liberty of Enquiry and thereby freeing their Reasons from a base and dishonourable Servitude and vindicating this just Right of Humane Nature For though they knew That Green Youth and Vulgar Inquirers ought not pragmatically to call their Teachers to account for their Doctrines or to venture upon deep Speculations without assistance Yet they thought that Men who were bred in the way of Study had first submisly heard the Opinions of their Instructors and been well acquainted with their Dictates who were arriv'd to maturity of Understanding and a good capacity to seek after Truth might at length be permitted to judge for themselves that so they might choose like reasonable Creatures and not have their Principles brutishly obtruded on them This they saw was a natural Right and that the Tyrannical Custom of over-ruling and suppressing it had held the greatest part of Mankind in fatal Chains of Ignorance and Error Here I say They begun and taught That all lovers of Truth whose Judgements were competently matur'd ought to free their Minds from the Prejudices of Education and usurping Authorities that is so far as not to conclude any thing certainly true or false meerly on the account of those Impressions But to try all things as Scripture and Reason require and incourage us and to suspend the giving up our full and resolv'd assent to the Doctrines we have been taught till we have impartially consider'd and examin'd them our selves That in our Researches we ought to retain a Reverence for Antiquity and venerable Names but not blindly to give up our Understandings to them against clear Evidence of the Divine Oracles or Impartial Reason That when other Considerations on both sides were equal the Inducements of old Belief and reverend Authorities ought to determine us to a probable assent on that side But when God's Word or our Faculties stood on the other we ought not to be enclin'd Thus they modestly asserted the Liberty of Judgment and bounded it with so much Caution that no Prejudice could arise to Legal Establishments from that freedom For they allow'd it not to immature Youth or to illiterate or injudicious Men who are not to be trusted to conclude for themselves in things of difficult Theory But advised such to submit to their Instructors and so practise
Religion different from that of other Catholick Christians but were faithful adherers to the old acknowledg'd Christianity as it was taught by the Church of Bensalem To this Church they conform'd heartily though they were distinguishable from some others of her Sons by the application of their Genius and Endeavours I have told you They grew up among the Sects They were Born and Bred in that Age which they could not help But as they order'd the Matter it was no hurt to the Church or them that they were educated in bad times They had the occasion thence of understanding the Genius Humour and Principles of the Parties which those that stood always at distance from them could not so thorowly and inwardly know By that means they had great advantage for providing and applying the Remedies and Confutations that were proper and effectual And by daily Converse and near Observation they setled in their Minds a dislike of those ways that was greater and juster than the Antipathy of some others who saw only their out-sides that in many things were specious and plausible They studied in the Places where some of the chief of the Sects govern'd and those that were ripe for the Service preach'd publickly as other Academical Divines did This they scrupled not because they were young and had been under no explicit ingagements to those Laws that were then unhappily over-ruled But in those and in their other Vniversity-Exercises they much serv'd the Interest of the Church of Bensalem by undermining the Ataxites so the Sectaries are here call'd and propagating the Anti-fanatical Doctrines which they had entertain'd and improved So that I cannot look upon that Spirit otherwise than as an Antidote that Providence then seasonably provided against the deadly Infection of those days On which account they were by some call'd the Anti-fanites because of their peculiar opposition of the Fans or Fanites as the Ataxites were sometimes named And though some Persons thought fit to judge and spoke of Them as a new Sort of Divines Yet they were not to be so accounted in any sense of disparagement since the new Things they taught were but contradictions of the new Things that were introduced and new Errors and Pretences will occasion new ways of Opposition and Defence I have now I doubt said the Governor almost tired you with prefacing but these things were fit to be premised I exprest my self well-pleased both with the Matters he related and the order which he thought convenient to declare them in and so he proceeded to the second main Head Their particular Principles and Practices I MUST tell you then said He first That they took notice of the loud Out-cries and Declamations that were among all the Sects against Reason and observ'd how by that means all Vanities and Phanatick Devices were brought into Religion They saw There was no likelyhood any stop should be put to those Extravagancies of Fansie that were impudently obtruding themselves upon the World but by vindicating and asserting the use of Reason in Religion and therefore their private Discourses and publick Exercises ran much this way to maintain the sober use of our Faculties and to expose and shame all vain Enthusiasms And as Socrates of old first began the Reformation of his Age and reduced Men from the wildness of Fansie and Enthusiastick Fegaries with which they were overgrown by pleading for Reason and shewing the necessity and Religion that there is in hearkning to its Dictates So They in order to the cure of the madness of their Age were zealous to make Men sensible That Reason is a Branch and Beam of the Divine Wisdom That Light which he hath put into our Minds and that Law which he hath writ upon our Hearts That the Revelations of God in Scripture do not contradict what he hath engraven upon our Natures That Faith it self is an Act of Reason and is built upon these two Reasonable Principles That there is a God and That what he saith is true That our Erroneous Deductions are not to be call'd Reason but Sophistry Ignorance and Mistake That nothing can follow from Reason but Reason and that what so follows is as true and certain as Revelation That God never disparageth Reason in Scripture but that the vain Philosophy and Wisdom of this World there spoken against were Worldly Policies Jewish Genealogies Traditions and the Notional Philosophy of some Gentiles That Carnal Reason is the Reason of Appetite and Passion and not the Dictates of our Minds That Reason proves some Main and Fundamental Articles of Faith and defends all by proving the Authority of Holy Scripture That we have no cause to take any thing for an Article of Faith till we see Reason to believe that God said it and in the sense wherein we receive such a Doctrine That to decry and disgrace Reason is to strike up Religion by the Roots and to prepare the World for Atheism According to such Principles as these They managed their Discourses about this Subject They stated the Notions of Faith and Reason clearly and endeavour'd to deliver the Minds of Men from that confusedness in those Matters which blind Zeal had brought upon them that so they might not call Vain Sophistry by the name of Humane Reason and rail at this for the sake of Fallacy and the Impostures of Ignorance and Fancy Hereby they made some amends for the dangerous rashness of those inconsiderate Men who having heard others defame Reason as an Enemy to Faith set up the same Cry and fill'd their Oratories with the terrible noise of Carnal Reason Vain Philosophy and such other misapplyed words of reproach without having ever clearly or distinctly consider'd what they said or whereof they affirm'd And this they did too at a time when the World was posting a-pace into all kinds of madness as if they were afraid the half-distracted Religionists would not run fast enough out of their Wits without their Encouragement and Assistance And as if their Design had been to credit Phrensie and Enthusiasm and to disable all proof that could be brought against them This I believe many of those well-meaning Canters against Reason did not think of though what they did had a direct tendency that way And accordingly it succeeded For the conceited People hearing much of Incomes Illuminations Communions Lights Discoveries Sealings Manifestations and Impressions as the Heights of Religion and then being told that Reason is a low Carnal Thing and not to judge in these Spiritual Matters That it is a Stranger to them and at enmity with the Things of God I say the People that were so taught could not chuse but be taken with the wild Exstatical Enthusiasts who made the greatest boasts of these glorious Priviledges nor could they easily avoid looking upon the glarings of their own Imaginations and the warmths and impulses of their Melancholy as Divine Revelations and Illapses To this dangerous pass thousands were brought by such Preachments and had so
of his affirmations and the strange effects of his distemper others are perswaded into the same vain opinion of him that he hath of himself to the great disparagement of Religion and deception of the simple This whole mystery of vanity and delusion They lay'd open to the World and shew'd that all was but a natural disease and far enough from being sacred or supernatural That very evil Men and even the Heathen Priests have felt all those effects and pretended to the same wonderâ—… and were as much inspired and divinely acted as those exstatical Dreamers 5. And whereas those high flown Enthusiasts talk'd much of mysteries and the Sects generally contending which should out-do the other here made up their schemes of divinity of absurdities and strange unintelligible fancies and then counted their groundless belief of those wild freaks a great sign and exercise of Faith and spirituality The Divines of whom I am speaking imploy'd themselves worthily to detect this taking imposture also They gave the true senses in in which the Gospel is a mystery viz. A secret hid in the councils of God and not discoverable by reason or humane enquiries till he was pleased in the fulness of time to unfold it clearly and explicitly by his Son and by his Spirit who revealed the mystery that had been hid from ages That Religion may yet be call'd a mystery as it is an Art that hath difficulty in the practice of it And though all it 's main necessary Articles are asserted so clearly that they may be known by every sincere Inquirer and in that respect have no darkness or obscurity upon them Yet They asserted that some of those propositions may be styled mysterious being inconceiveable as to the manner of them Thus the Immaculate Conception of our Saviour for instance is very plain as to the thing being reveal'd clearly That it was Though unexplicable and unreveal'd as to the mode How They said That our Faith is not concern'd in the manner which way this or that is except where it is expressly and plainly taught in Scripture but that the belief of the simple Article is sufficient So that we are not to puzzle our selves with contradictions and knots of subtilty and fancy and then call them by the name of mysteries That to affect these is dangerous vanity and to believe them is silliness and credulity That by and on the occasion of such pretended mysteries The simplicity of the Gospel hath been destroy'd the minds of Men infatuated sober Christians despis'd the peace of the Church disturb'd the honour of Religion expos'd the practice of holiness and vertue neglected and the World dispos'd to Infidelity and Atheism it self 6. And since the being Orthodox in Doctrine and sound in their new concâ—…ed Faith was in those times a great matter and one mark of Saint-ship as errour on the other hand was of unregeneracy and Reprobation They shew'd That bare knowledge of points of Doctrine was nothing worth in comparison of Charity Humility and Meckness That it did not signify in the divine esteem without these and such other concomitant Graces That a man was never the better for being in the right opinion if he were proud contentious and ungovernable with it That ignorance and mistake in lesser things when joyn'd with modesty and submission to God and our Governours was much to be prefer'd before empty turbulent and conceited Orthodoxy That errors of judgment are truly infirmities that will not be imputed if there be no corrupt and vicious mixture with them That they are not hurt to him whom they do not seduce and mislead nor do they make any alteration in our state That God pardons them in us and we ought to overlook and pass them by in one another By such ways and representations as these They disabl'd the main works wherby the fond Ataxites concluded themselves to be the Godly and destroy'd the chief grounds on which they built their proudest pretences So that their wings being clipt they came down to the ordinary level with other mortals leaving the title of Godliness and Saint-ship to be made out by quiet devotion and self-government by Meekness and Charity Justice and Patience Modesty and Humility Vniversal Obedience to Gods Commands Reverence to Superiours and Submission to Governours and not by the other fantastical and cheap things consisting but of imaginations and phrases and mystical nothings ANd for as much as each Sect confin'd the Church Saintship and Godliness to it self and entail'd the Promises and Priviledges of the Gospel upon it's own People Therefore here They stood up and reprov'd the Anti-christian pride and vanity of that cruel and unjust humour Shewing That the Church consists of all those that agree in the profession and acknowledgment of the Scripture and the first comprehensive plain Creeds however scatter'd through the World and distinguish'd by names of Nations and Parties under various degrees of light and divers particular models and forms of Worship as to circumstance and order That every lover of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity who lives according to the few great acknowledg'd Doctrines and Rules of a vertuous and holy life is a true Christian and will be happy though he be ignorant of many points that some reckon for Articles of Faith and err in some which others account sacred and fundamental By which Catholick principle foundation is lay'd for universal Charity and Union and would Christian men be perswaded to govern themselves according to it all unnecessary Schisms and Separations would be prevented and those Hatreds and Animosities cur'd that arise from lesser disagreements AGain whereas as the Ataxites had made Religion a fantastick and unintelligible thing as I have told you and drest it up in an odd mumming and ridiculous disguise Those Divines labour'd much to reduce it to it 's native plainness and simplicity purging it from sensless phrases conceited mysteries and unnecessary words of Art Laying down the genuine notions of Theology and all things relating to Faith or Practice with all possible perspicuity and plainness By which means many scandals were remov'd and vain disputes discredited divisions stop'd Religious practice promoted and the peace of the Church at last establish'd They told the Ataxites that though they talk'd much of closing with Christ getting in to Christ rolling upon Christ relying upon Christ and having an interest in Christ and made silly people believe that there was something of Divine Mystery or extraordinary spirituality under the sound of these words That yet in good earnest either they understood not what they said and mean'd nothing at all by them or else the sense of them was but believing Christ's Doctrines obeying his Laws and depending upon his Promises plain and known things They shew'd that all the other singular phrases which they us'd and which the people were so taken with were either non-sense and falsehood or but some very common and ordinary matter at the bottom That