Contemplation of its Goodness and Equity constrains the Mind to assent to it From hence we may infallibly inferr that the radical difference and distinguishing character between a Saint and one in the state of polluted Nature is the affection of Love with respect to its objects and degrees Love to God as our sovereign Happiness is the immediate Cause of our Conversion and Re-union with him Love to vicious Objects or when with an intemperate current it descends to things not deserving its ardent degrees alienates the Heart from God Holiness is the order of Love The excellency of holy Love will appear in the following Considerations 1. Love has the supremacy among all the Graces of the Spirit This in the most proper sense is the Fire our Saviour came to kindle on the Earth The Apostle declares that Charity is greater than Faith and Hope which are Evangelical Graces of eminent usefulness For 1. 'T is the brightest part of the Divine Image in us God is Love 'T is the most adequate Notion of the Deity and more significant of his blessed Nature than any other single Attribute The most proper and honourable Conception we can form of the Deity is Love directed by infinite Wisdom and exercised by infinite Power Faith and Hope cannot be ascribed to God they imply imperfection in their Nature and necessarily respect an absent Object Now all things are present to the Knowledge of God and in his Power and Possession But Love is his Essential Perfection the productive Principle of all Good Love transforms us into his likeness and infuses the divinest temper into the Soul In the acts of other Graces we obey God in the acts of Love we imitate him This may be illustrated by its contrary There are Sins of various kinds and degrees Spiritual and Carnal Spiritual such are Pride malignant Envy irreconcilable Enmity delight in Mischief which are the proper Characters of the Devil and denominate Men his natural Sons Carnal Sins which the Soul immerst in Flesh indulges all riotous Excesses Intemperance Incontinence and the like of which a meer Spirit is not capable denominates Men the Captives and Slaves of Satan Now Spiritual Sins induce a greater guilt and deeper pollution than Carnal The exacter resemblance of the evil one makes sinful Men more odious to God 2. Love is more extensive in its influence than Faith and Hope their operations are confin'd to the Person in whom they are The Just lives by his own Faith and is saved by his own Hope without communicating Life and Salvation to others But 't is the spirit and perfection of Love to be beneficial to all Love comforts the afflicted relieves the indigent directs those who want Counsel 'T is the vital cement of Mankind In the Universe Conversation and reciprocal Kindness is the Blood and Spirits of Society and Love makes the circulation 3. Love gives value and acceptance to all other Gifts and Graces and their operations The Apostle tells us Though I have the gift of Prophestes and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge though I have all Faith and could remove mountains and have not Charity I am nothing And though I bestow all my Goods to feâ—d the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Without Charity Faith is but a dead assent Hope is like a Tympany the bigger it grows the more dangerous it proves The most diffusive Beneficence without Love is but a sacrifice to Vanity 'T is not the richness of the Gift but the love of the giver that makes it accepted and rewarded in Heaven The Widows two Mites cast into the Treasury of the Temple were of more value in our Saviour's account than the rich Offerings of others For she gave her Heart the most precious and comprehensive Gift with them The giving our Bodies to be burned for the truth and glory of the Gospel is the highest expression of Obedience which the Angels are not capable of performing yet without Charity Martyrdom is but a vain-glorious blaze and the sealing the Truth with our Blood is to seal our Shame and Folly Sincere Love when it cannot express it self in suitable effects has this priviledge to be accepted in God's sight as if it were exuberant and evident in outward actions for God accepts the Will for the Deed If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to what a Man hath and not according to that he hath not 4. Love is the perfection of the Law the sum and substance of every Precept All particular Duties though distinguished in the matter are united in Love as their principle and centre St. Austin observes That all other Vertues Piety Prudence Humility Chastity Temperance Fortitude are Love diversified by other names Liberal Love gives supplies to the Poor patient Love forgives Injuries Love is the end and perfection of the Gospel Now the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned Some restrain the word Commandment to the Law thinking that the Gospel is only compounded of Promises But they misunderstand the difference between the two Covenants 'T is not in that the one commands and the other does not command but in the nature of the Duties commanded The Law commands to do for the obtaining of Life the Gospel commands to believe for Salvation This is the command of God that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the Apostle used for the Doctrine of the Gospel As the end of a Science or Art is the perfection of the Understanding in those things which are the proper subject of the Science The end of Philosophy is Knowledge and Moral Vertue the end of Rhetorick is Eloquence Thus the end of the Gospel the Divine Doctrine of our Salvation is Love a Coelestial Perfection Faith in the redeeming Mercy of God is the product of the Gospel not of the Law and Love is the end of Faith Now the end is more excellent than the means to obtain it In this respect Love is greater than Faith Briefly Love is stil'd the Bond of Perfection as it unites and consummates other Graces comprehends and fastens them Love to God draws forth all the active powers of the Soul in Obedience He that with a full and fervent Will applyes himself to his Duty will more easily pleasantly and exactly perform it The Love of God will form the Soul into a more entire conformity to his Nature and obedience to his Law and raise it to a greater eminency of Holiness than the clearest knowledge of all Precepts and Rules can do 4. Love never fails The Gifts and Graces of the Spirit are dispensed and continued according to our different states Some are necessary in the present state of the Church with respect to our Sins and Troubles from which there is no perfect freedom here Repentance is
our judgment for that which has least Now 't is certainly much more suitable to the reasonable Mind to acknowledge that things may be true which we are not able to conceive and comprehend than to deny the natural and proper sense of many clear and express texts of Scripture that declare those things And by this we may judge of the Glosses of Socinus and his followers who without reverence of the Majesty of God and the sincerity of his Word rack the Scriptures to make them speak what they do not and use all Arts to silence them in what they do reveal Unhappy men 〈◊〉 that affect to be esteem'd Ingenious and Subtil to the extreme hazard of their own Salvation How much safer and more easie is it to believe the plain sense of the Scriptures than the turns and shifts that are invented to elude it and extricate Heretical Persons out of the difficulties that attend their Opinions I shall add the Doctrine of the Trinity is so expressly set down in the Gospel of Christ that 't is impossible the Son of God who is Infinite and Eternal Love who gave himself for our Redemption should have declar'd it and engag'd his Disciples in all Ages and Places in an Error of such dreadful Consequence as the Worshipping those who are not God 2. 'T is alledged that if a Person sincerely searches into the Scripture and cannot be convinc'd that the supernatural Doctrines of the Trinity and others depending upon it are contain'd in them he shall not be Condemn'd by the Righteous Judge of the World for involuntary and speculative Errors To this I answer 1. This pretence has deceiv'd many who were guilty of damnable Heresies and there is great reason to fear deceives men still The heart is deceitful above all things and most deceitful to it self Who can say that neither Interest nor Passion neither Hope nor Fear neither Anger nor Ambition have interven'd in his Inquiry after Truth but he has preferr'd the knowledge of Divine Truths before all Temporal Respects and yet he cannot believe what the Scripture reveals of the Nature of God and the oeconomy of our Salvation let this Imaginary Man produce his Plea for I believe there was never any such There are many that make reason the Soveraign Rule of Faith and determine such things cannot be true because they cannot understand how they can be true Prodigious Inference the most absurd of all Errors that makes the narrow Mind of Man the measure of all things This is the proper Principle of that horrible Compofition of Heresies and execrable Impieties which so many that are Christians in Profession but Antichristians in Belief boldly Publish They will choose to Err in matters of Infinite Importance rather than Confess their Ignorance And which is astonishing they will readily acknowledge the defectiveness of Reason with respect to the understanding of themselves but insolently arrogate a right to determine things in the Nature of God 'T is true Ignorance the more invincible is the more excusable but when the Error of the Mind is from a vicious Will both the Error and the Cause of it are sinful and inexcusable When the corrupt Will has an Influence upon the Understanding and the Mind is stain'd with some Carnal Lust when a Temptation diverts it from a serious and sincere considering the Reasons that should induce us to believe Divine Doctrines their Unbelief will be justly punish'd The Scripture declares That an evil heart is the cause of unbelief Pride and obstinacy of Mind and Carnal Lusts are the Cause that so many renounce those Eternal Truths by which they should be saved 2. 'T is alleged That speculative Errors cannot be Damnable To this I answer 1. The Understanding of Man in his Original State was Light in the Lord and regular in its directions now 't is dark and disorder'd and in the points of Religion that are reveal'd any Error induces guilt and if obstinately defended exposes to Judgment Some Truths are written because necessary to be believed others are to be believed because written 2. According to the quality of the Truths reveal'd in Scripture such is the hurtfulness of the Errors that are opposite to them Some Truths are necessary others profitable some Errors are directly opposite to the Saving Truths of the Gospel others by Consequence undermine them Those who deny the Lord that bought them are guilty of damnable Heresies capital Errors not holding the head 3. The Doctrine of the Trinity is not a mere speculative Truth nor the denial of it a speculative Error the Trinity is not only an Object of Faith but of Worship In Baptism we are dedicated to the Sacred Trinity in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which clearly proves they are of the same Authority and Power and consequently of the same Nature for 't is impossible to Conceive of three Infinite Beings for by necessity one would limit another The Apostle declares without Controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh The Nature and End of this Divine Mystery is to form the spirits of Man to believe and love and obey God For in it there is the clearest Revelation of God's admirable Love to Men of his unspotted Holiness his incorruptible Justice the great Motives of Religion In that Divine Doctrine we have the most ravishing Image of Piety and Vertue the most becoming the Nature of God to give and of Man to receive Briefly God Commands us to believe in his Son without Faith in him we are uncapable of Redemption by him When Christ perform'd Miraculous Cures he requir'd of the Persons whether they did believe in his Divine Power and what he declar'd himself to be Electing Mercy ordains the Means and the End The Apostle gives thanks to God because he has chosen the Thessalonians to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the Truth Holiness and Faith in the Doctrine of the Gospel are indispensable qualifications in the Learn'd and Ignorant that would be saved by the Son of God 'T is a high Contempt of the Truth and Goodness of God not to yield a firm Assent to what he has reveal'd concerning our Salvation by his Incarnate Son He that believes not the Record that God hath given of his Son makes God a Liar This infinitely provokes him and inflames his Indignation To dis-believe the Testimony that Jesus Christ has given of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine is to despise him it robs him of his Essential and his acquir'd Glory by the work of our Redemption There can be no true Love of God without the true knowledge of him as he is reveal'd not onely in his Works but in his Word Our Saviour who is the Way the Truth and the Life has declar'd when he gave Commission to his Apostles to preach the Gospel to the World whoever believes and is baptised shall be saved whoever believes not shall
universal Providence in the regular disposal of Natural Causes superiour middle and lowest in such a union that from the insuperable Discord of Natures the insuperable Concord of Operations proceeds for the preserving of the World The Afflictions of the Saints are medicinal to prevent or recover them from Sin And what Man of Understanding does not esteem his Physician that prescribes bitter Remedies for his Health before a Cook that prepares things pleasant to his Taste Faith sees the Love of a Father through a Cloud of Tears and that he is as gracious when he corrects us for our Transgressions as when he incourages us in his Service In the Sufferings of his People from the wickedness and wills of their Enemies his Wisdom and Power appear in ordering them for excellent Effects For the same things that increase the Guilt and Punishment of their Enemies increase the Graces and Reward of the Saints These light Afflictions that are but for a moment work out for them an exceeding eternal weight of Glory When all the Folds of Providence shall be opened we shall clearly understand every Dispensation was as it ought to be and for the best The belief of this is the reason of those Commands Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God And the Peace of God that passes understanding shall keep your Hearts and Minds through Jesus Christ. An unbelieving Heart anticipates future Evils exasperates present Evils and makes sharp reflections on past Evils It makes Men dead with Fear drunk with Sorrow mad with Oppression Faith in the gracious Providence of God frees us from vain fears sad prognosticks and the miserable perplexities that torment the Minds of Men. Musing on our Miseries is like chewing a bitter Pill that is readily swallowed by resignation to the blessed Will of God the Rule of Goodness Faith inlightens us to consider things with a rectified Judgment and not with the partiality of the Passions In the Churches extremity when the conspiring Enemies are great in numbers and power Faith raises the drooping Spirits If God be for us who can be against us When Antigonus was ready to ingage in a Sea-fight with Piâ—lomy's Armada and the Pilot cryed out How many are they more than we The couragious King replyed 'T is true if you count their numbers but for how many do you value me One God is All-sufficient against all the combin'd Forces of Earth and Hell We are therefore commanded to cast all our care on him for he cares for us 'T is very dishonourable to God to distrust him in doing our Duty For it proceeds either from a jealousie of his Goodness or low thoughts of his Power as if he were unable and unwilling to save us A prudent use of Means is requisite otherwise we do not trust but tempt his Providence There is a vicious Carelesness and a vertuous Care but diffident and anxious Cares as if all things run at random without the ordering of our Heavenly Father is not only fruitless but pernicious The Apostle tells the believing Hebrews Ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the Will of God ye may inherit the Promise Some Evils would admit of no Consolation without the Promise But the just shall live by Faith of God's presence with them to support and relieve them in their Sorrows and of a perfect and gracious deliverance out of them God will shortly put an end to the Malice of the Wicked and the Patience of the Saints In the next State when he has clear'd our sight we shall justifie his Wisdom and discover that all Events were divinely ordered and are beautiful to admiration Now in the Churches distress we are apt to say with Gideon If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us But then we shall turn the current of our wonder upon our Ignorance and Infidelity that notwithstanding the Evidence of the Word and the Experience of the Saints prove that God turns all Temporal Evils to their Spiritual Good yet we are unbelieving CHAP. VIII Love the leading Affection Men are distinguish'd by their Wills rather than by their Understandings Holy Love has the supremacy among other Graces The excellencies of Love specified Love to God the first Command in order and dignity The Causes and Properties of it considered The absolute and relative Perfections of God the motives of our Love The Benefits received from God in the order of Nature Creation and Preservation The Love of God appears in its full force in our Redemption We must learn of Christ how to love him Love must descend from God to our Neighbour 'T is commended in Scripture The extent and qualifications of it It must be sincere pure and fervent The forgiving Injuries an excellent effect of Love THE second particular Grace that we should strive to increase is Love 'T is the Apostle's Prayer for the Philippians That their Love may abound more and more in knowledge and all understanding Love is the affection of Union Of this we have an illustrious Instance recorded in Scripture That the Soul of Jonathan was knit with the Soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own Soul Love is to be directed to a double Object God and our Neighbour I will consider the excellency of this sanctified Affection and its exercise and reference to the supreme and subordinate Objects of it 'T is requisite to premise that Love is the leading Affection that draws the whole train with it not only Desire and Joy that are of near alliance with it but Anger and Hatred between which Affections and Love there is a repugnance and entire opposition are inseparable from it For aversion and flight from Evil proceeds from the love of some Good that the Evil deprives us of From hence it follows that 't is a matter of the highest Consequence by Wisdom discreet and severe to direct our Love to worthy Objects Love is the principle of all the Passions and either sanctifies and refines them from the reliques of carnal infection or seduces and corrupts them The Mind is so clouded by Carnal Love and over-rul'd by pleasant Error that it prefers sensual Happiness before spiritual that is suitable to the nature and dignity of the Soul If the Light that is in thee be Darkness how great is that Darkness The Angels of Light are distinguish'd from the Angels of Darkness not so much by Knowledge and Power as by Love and Holiness The Devils are immortal Spirits but under the tyrannous power of Hatred and Revenge of Envy and Malice which are their Sins and Torment Men are not distinguish'd so much by their Understandings as their Wills not meerly by Knowledge but Love the first act of the Will the Faculty that rules in Man and obeys God There may be knowledge of the Divine Law and an approving it by those who do not practise it For the
why to Believe and what things are reveal'd as objects of Faith To believe and not to understand the reason of our belief is to turn Faith into Folly and Extravagance The Men of Samaria were first induced to believe in Christ for the testimony of the woman that told them Come and see the man that has told me all that ever I did but when they heard Christ speak they said Now we believe not for thy words for we have heard and know that he is the true Saviour of the World The Understanding is convinc'd by reason of the Divinity of the Scriptures and as a pole supports a Vine but does not give Life and Vertue to its Root so Reason assists Faith in directing it to the Scriptures the Rule of it but Faith in the Mysteries of the Gospel derives its Life from God the Author of them By Reason we discover the relation order distinction and dependence of Reveal'd Truths and reject the vain opinions of Men when propos'd as Divine Oracles and the fruits of Fancy that are propos'd as Mysteries of Faith 4. God reveals himself to us in Scripture by Humane Expressions according to our Capacity of receiving the Knowledge of Divine things and we are to understand them in their apparent sense unless the precise litteral sense contains an evident Contradiction to what is certainly known by Reason and disparaging the Divine Perfections The sure Rule of interpreting them is to separate whatever is defective in them and apply them to God in the highest degree of Perfection We read of the Hands and Eyes of God in Scripture which signifie the perfection of God's Knowledge and Power they are the Organs by which Men do and know things but 't is Infinitely unworthy of God to think that the Divine Operation has need of such Instruments Thus the Communicating of the divine Nature from the Father to the Son is express'd by Generation which is the most Noble Production of one Living Creature from another especially of an Intelligent Creature with all its properties but who can declare his generation We must not conceive it with the Imperfection of Humane Generation wherein the Effect is separate from the Cause and successive to it For 't is a contradiction that God should beget a Son in his most perfect Image but he must be Eternal as the Father otherwise he would be defective in the resemblance of the first perfection of the Deity All resemblances of God in Scripture have their disparity and defects which must be separated from him But excepting such Cases the Word of God is to be understood in its proper sense For we must suppose that God speaks to us with an intention that we should understand him otherwise it were not Just to require us to believe it Our Minds could not firmly Assent to his Word but would be floating between Faith and Doubts And if God intends we should understand his Meaning how can we reconcile his Wisdom with his Will if he does not speak to us in the same sense as Men do to one another 5. We are obliged to believe supernatural Doctrines no farther than they are reveal'd God does not require our Assent to an Object beyond the Merit of it that is the degrees of its Revelation We cannot see an Object more fully than 't is visible The truth of Evangelical Mysteries is clearly reveal'd the manner of them is not discover'd To attempt the Comprehensive knowledge of them is perfectly vain for 't is Impossible Impertinent and of Dangerous Consequence 1. 'T is Impossible Supernatural Truths cannot be primarily and immediately discover'd by Reason but are only known to the Divine Mind and communicated to Created Understandings according to the pleasure of God No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declar'd him The Gospel is called the Mystery of Christ the mystery of God the Father and of Christ. Because God and Christ is the Author and Revealer of it God Contrived in the secret of his Eternal Wisdom the design of our Redemption and reveal'd it in his own time 'T is therefore call'd the Mystery of his will 'T is call'd the Mystery of Faith that is 't is received by Faith 'T is call'd the Mystery of the Kingdom of God conceal'd from the World and only known in the Church The sublime Doctrines of the Gospel it is impossible for the clearest spirits of Men to discover without special Revelation were they as pure as they are corrupt and as sincere as they are perverse This Word Mystery is never applied to the Revelation that God has made of his Wisdom in the Framing the World and in the Effects of his Providence because since the Creation it has been expos'd to the sight of all Reasonable Creatures Men were not commanded to believe in order to Salvation till by Experience they were Convinced of the Insufficiency of Reason to direct them how to be restored to the Favour of God The Apostle declares for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe The Doctrine of the Trinity is purely supernatual for the internal distinction of the Persons in the Divine Nature by their incommunicable Characters is only proper to God The Counsels of the Divine Will are above any Created Understanding Who knows the things of a man but the spirit of a man so none knows the things of God but the Spirit of God The Angels are superior Spirits to us and excel us in sublimity and perspicacity of Understanding but they could never know the Decrees of God though in his immediate Presence but as gradually reveal'd 't is said of the Mysteries of his Counsels they desire to look into them We cannot form a Conception in our Minds but what takes its rise from sensible things 2. The attempt is Impertinent for God has reveal'd those great Mysteries sufficiently for saving Faith though not to satisfie rash Curiosity There is a knowledge of curiosity and discourse and a knowledge of doing and performance The art of Navigation requires a knowledge how to govern a Ship and what Seas are safe what are dangerous by Rocks and Sands and terrible Tempests that often surprise those who Sail in them but the knowledge of the Causes of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea is not necessary To believe savingly in Christ we must know that he is the Living and True God and True Man that dyed for our Redemption but 't is not necessary that we should know the manner of the Union of his two Natures 'T is prudent to Confine our inquiries to things which are possible and profitable to be known The discovery of the manner of Divine Mysteries is not suitable to the nature of Faith for 't is the evidence of things not seen the obscurity of the Object is
consistent with the certainty of the Assent to it and 't is contrary to the end of Revelation which is to humble us in the modest Ignorance of Divine Mysteries which we cannot Comprehend and to enlighten us in those things which are requisite to be known 'T is the Glory of God to conceal a matter He saveth us by the submission of Faith and not by the penetration of Reason The meanest Understanding as well as the most raised are equally capable of Salvation The light of Faith is as much below the light of Glory as 't is above the light of Nature 3. 'T is of dangerous Consequence There is an Hydropic Curiosity that swells the Mind with Pride and is thirsty after the Knowledge of things unsearchable This Curiosity has often been fatal to Faith 'T is like a man's endeavour to climb up to the inaccessible point of a Rock that is very hazardous to see the Sun in its brightness which may safely be seen from the plain Ground The searching into the unsearchable things of God's Nature and Decrees has been the occasion of many pernicious Errors 'T is like the silly Moths fluttering about the burning Light till its Wings are sing'd Beside the affecting to be Wise above what is written and the attempt to make supernatural Doctrines more receivable to Reason by insufficient Arguments weakens the Authority and Credit of Revelation the endeavour to make them more easily known makes them more hard to be believed To venture to explicate them beyond the Revelation of them in Scripture is like a man's going out of a Fortress wherein he is safe into an open Field and expose himself to the assaults of his Enemies 2. I will now consider the Objections against supernatural Doctrines 1. 'T is alledged they are irreconcilable with Reason and 't is not possible for the Understanding to believe against its own Light and Judgment In answer to this specious Objection the following particulars are to be consider'd 1. Sense Reason and Faith are the Instruments of our obtaining Knowledge Sense is previous to Reason and Reason prepares the way to Faith By our Senses we come to understand natural things by our Understandings we come to believe divine things Reason corrects the Errors of Sense Faith reforms the Judgment of Reason The Stars seem but glittering Points but Reason convinces us they are vast Bodies by measuring the distance that lessens their greatness to our sight We cannot imagine that there are Men whose Feet are directly opposite to ours and are in no danger of falling but Reason demonstrates there are Antipodes 'T is as absurd for Reason to reject divine testimony and violate the sacred respect of Faith as for Sense to contradict the clearest Principles of Reason To deny supernatural Truths because they are above our Conception and Capacity is not only against Faith but against Reason that acknowledges its own imperfection 'T is true Reason and Faith are emanations from the Father of Lights and consequently there cannot be a real repugnance between them for God cannot deny himself Errors are often contrary but Truth is always harmonious with Truth If there seem to be an opposition it proceeds not from the Light of the reasonable Mind but from the Darkness that encompasses it 'T is certain that a Proposition that contradicts right Reason the general Light of Nations that have nothing common between them but the Humane Nature cannot be true As the Doctrine of Epicurus That God was not to be worship'd because he had no need of our Service and the Popish Doctrine of Transubstantiation that imputes Contradictions to God We must distinguish between things that cannot be discovered by Reason nor comprehensively known when they are revealed and those that are contrary to Reason In Paradise Reason was an inferiour and imperfect Light Adam could not perfectly know God He dwells in Light inaccessible not only to mortal Eyes but to the immortal Angels They cannot penetrate to the centre of his Perfections The Propositions that involve a Contradiction have the plain characters of falsity but the Doctrines of the Gospel that are incomprehensible have the characters of sublimity Reason cannot measure the extent nor reach the heighth of the love of Christ that passes knowledge That supernatural Doctrines are incomprehensible now they are reveal'd is one Argument to prove they could never be invented and discovered by Men For that which naturally cannot enter into the Mind of Man cannot naturally proceed out of it 2. Since the Fall Reason is weaken'd and its Light is clouded In the narrow and low sphere of natural things how often is Reason mistaken and lost in a Labyrinth There is not a Flower a Fly a Stone but is a Mystery We cannot fully understand the vegetation of the one nor the sensation of the other nor the motion of the other Let us make a tryal of the Light of Reason upon our selves and we shall discover its defects Who can discern the vital bands wherewith the Soul and Body are combin'd By what power does the Soul represent absent Objects Sounds without Noise Colours without Tinctures Light without Clearness Darkness without Obscurity What account can be given of the admirable operations of the Soul in Dreams when the Senses are suspended from working and the Body seems to be a warm Carcass 'T is one of those Secrets that Humane Wits labours in vain to explain how it composes Discourses so just and regular as to the invention and stile which by their impression in the Memory we know were not the effects of wild Fancy but of sober Judgment and that awake and intent we could not so speedily and orderly frame 'T is as strange as that an Artificer should work more exactly with his Eyes cover'd than seeing that a Painter should draw a Face better in the dark than in open day-light That Man were totally deserted of Reason who not being able to see things that are but a just distance from his Eyes would not acknowledge that things distant from him the extent of the Horizon are beyond his sight We are finite Beings there is some proportion between our Minds and our Natures If we cannot understand our selves what folly is it to presume that we know God Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty unto Perfection It is high as Heaven what canst thou do Deeper than Hell what canst thou know The measure is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea Who can unfold the Divine Attributes They are not confused in their unity nor divided in number they are not separable qualities but his Essence He is not only wise but Wisdom not only lives but is Life We cannot speak of some Attributes without distinction Wisdom and Power nor of others without a seeming opposition Justice and Mercy yet they are the same Divine Nature and cannot be separate but in our thoughts He is Eternal without succession with him there