Employment and you cannot but see that it is of Singular Weight and Consequence and such as is not easily to be performed The Fable goes of Amphion that he did but play on his Lute and the Stones presently came together of their own accord and raised the Walls of Thebes There is more to be done in the Building that I have been Discoursing of in the Erecting of the Walls of the Spiritual Ierusalem It is a Work of great Difficulty and requires exceeding great Skill and Pains It is the Office of the Person whose Character I have been giving you to teach and live well to be acquainted with the True Notions of things and to frame his Words and Practice suitably to them to maintain the Antient Orthodox Faith and to be able by sound Doctrin both to exhort and to convince the Gain-sayers to keep the Old Heresies from reviving and to stifle the Modern Follies and Fancies dexterously to reclaim the Erring World manfully to confront the Disorders of a degenerate Age to confound the Atheist and vanquish all his Absurd Reasonings against his Maker and to Exalt the Best Religion and cause it to Prosper and Flourish in the World finally to bear up the Pillars of Christianity by Pure Doctrin Strict Discipline and Stricter Example and Conversation and to let the People see in him as in a Mirrour what they are to do and how to Order their Lives Who now is not ready to infer that so Weighty a Function requires such Workmen that need not to be ashamed Every Block will not make a Mercury a Messenger of God an Ambassador of Christ. His Character is Great and Worthy and hath an indelible Honour annexed to it and therefore is not to be the Portion of the Meanest and most Abject Souls and the Untowardest Bodies as oftentimes it is contriv'd It is not a Service for the Illiterate and Prâ—phane the Dunce and the Debauch'd for these are wholly unfit for so Sacred and Excellent a Charge as I have describ'd I leave with you the remarkable Words of that Pious Father St. Chrysostom concerning those of his Clergy whom he found to be Vitious Livers and accordingly deprived of the Exercise of their Office and the Priviledges that attended it They ought not saith he to enjoy the Honour of Priests and at the same time not to emulate the Life of True Priests To conclude then let the Greatness and Dignity of our Task be ever in our Thoughts and let them excite us to the utmost Diligence and Care Let our Desires Wishes Prayers Endeavours tend to the effectual Promoting of this Great Work which I have in part set before you Especially let us not forget the most Eminent part of our Office which is to Instruct by a Godly Conversation for this is a sure way to Amend the World and to make it Better That Decay of Trade and Commerce and Consequently of Wealth is the Natural Product and Just Penalty of Vice in a Nation A Sermon Preach'd at the Proclaiming and Opening of a Great Fair. EZEKIEL XXVII 27. Thy Riches and thy Fairs and thy Merchandize thy Mariners and thy Pilots thy Calkers and the Occupiers of thy Merchandize and in all thy Men of War that are in thee and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee shall fall into the midst of the Seas in the day of thy ruin IF some of you upon the reading of these words shall put the same Question to me that the Ethiopian Eunuch did to Philip Of whom speaketh the Prophet this you may soon have this Demand assoiled by consulting the Context and Neighbouring Verses There you will see is foretold the Ruin of Tyre a City in Syrophoenicia one of the three Provinces of Syria There is described the Overthrow of that Great and Famous City so noted for Trading and Merchandizing as being indeed the Great Empory of the World This whole Chapter wherein my Text is is no other than a Passionate Lamentation of the Destruction of that Place You will find this expressed according to the usual Skill and Art of Orators who are wont to comply with that Maxim that Contraries being set one against another are the more advantageously display'd and illustrated The Riches of Tyre inhanse her Ruin and her Ruin discovers her former Riches and Greatness Accordingly this Chapter consists of these two Principal Parts 1st A Description of the former Bravery and Glory of that City from the beginning of the Chapter to the 26th ver 2dly It s unavoidable Ruin and Destruction with the sad Allarm it gives to other Nations and Neighbouring Countries from the 26th ver to the End of the Chapter I begin with the First Division of the Chapter which compriseth in it the Former Splendor and Grandeur of Tyre And there these Five Topicks are remarkable 1st Her Fit and Convenient Situation at once both Lovely and Vseful ver 3 4. She was inviron'd with the Waters and all the Compass of that Great City was but as one Main Port. Like a Promontory it stood into the Sea and so was Commodious for Resort unto from divers Countries But besides the Natural Commodiousness of its Situation here is 2dly Described her Naval Force in the five next Verses The sum of all that is said there is This That she was famed for Excellent Shipping that the Vessels she sent Abroad for Trafick were bravely Adorned that their Tackle was Rich and Costly their Sails being not of plain Canvas but of fine Linnen Embroider'd as if with that Finery and Gayety they would seem to Court the Winds and make them pliable and favourable to the Passengers 3dly You read in the two next Verses of the Military Glory of Tyre her Strength and Ability to grapple with a considerable Enemy The Strongest and Stoutest Nations came thither and hung up their Arms as in a Garison They were Trained and Tutored here and were in Pay under these Noble Tyrians The Persians Lydians and Moors were all glad to be Listed and Entertained Soldiers under them The Gammadims or according to the Vulgar Latin the Pygmeys were in their Towers The meaning of which probably is this that the Tallest of these Foreign Soldiers or of the Martial Tyrians and Phoenicians themselves seem'd to be of a very Low Stature when they were beheld out of those High Towers Or they might be called Gammadim Elbow-Men because they were Strong and Robust in those Joints their Arms and other Limbs were well set 4thly Their Negotiation Merchandize and Trafick with other Nations and consequently their Wealth and Riches are most excellently deciphered from the 11th Verse even to the 25th So large is the Description of that Admirable Mart that Catholick Fair to which all Countries resorted and kept up a General Trade and Commerce As their Soldiers so their Chapmen came from far Countries All People whether of the Isles or the Continent flock'd hither to vend or exchange the Wares which
Certainty of all the doctrines of the Gospel may be discover'd yea and demonstrated to the minds of those who are fitted and prepared for it but still the Efficacy of sundry Evangelical Truths is kept secret from some persons for a time and some of them are of that quality that they will ever surmount and baffle the utmost efforrs of our Intellectual Powers In another place Col. 2. 2. the Apostle mentions the mystery of God and of the Father or rather it should be rendred even of the Father and of Christ that is the Gospel or the Christian Religion wherein God the First Person in the Glorious Trinity is declar'd to be the Father of Christ and Christ the Second Person is declared to be the Eternal Son of God and God himself These and the like Fundamental Principles of Christianity are Dark and Mysterious and because of these Sublime Truths Christianity it self hath the name of Mystery given to it If there were no other place in the New Testament but this where the word mystery is found it could not create wonder that the Socinians even for the sake of this alone contend that Christianity is not simply and absolutely call'd a Mystery in Scripture for here the Godhead of Christ as well as of the Father is asserted for the word God is attributed to both Persons God even the Father and Christ being the same with God who is both Father and Christ and consequently if they deny Christ to be very God as they do they must deny the Father to be so too I proceed to another Text in the same Epistle Col. 4. 3. whence it is manifest that in the stile and idiom of the New Testament the Gospel or Christianity hath the name of a Mystery for the Apostle expresly calls it the mystery of Christ the same with the mystery of the Gospel in the place before mention'd and he requests the Prayers of the Colossians for him that God would open unto him a door of utterance to speak this Mystery of Christ i.e. freely and openly to preach the Gospel as appears further from what follows next for which I am in bonds that is a Sufferer a Prisoner for my preaching the Truâ—hs of the Gospel So that it is impoâ—sible whatever is suggested to the contrary to understand the word here any otherwise than of the doâ—trine of the Gospel as it was then preach'd by this Apostle this is Mysterious and Hidden and in many things Inexplicable So again in 1 Tim. 3. 9. by the mystery of the faith which the Ministers and Officers of the Church are exhorted to hold i.e. to defend and maintain must needs be meant the Evangelical Truths and Doctrines The holding the mystery of the faith is the same here with holding fast the form of sound words 2 Tim. 1. 13. that is the Articles of the Christian Faith the doctrines of the Gospel And lastly in that Text on which I found the present Discourse Religion is call'd the Mystery of Godliness for immediately after the Apostle had made mention of the Truth which is held forth as on a Pillar in the Christian Church he assigns some of the greatest and fairest branches of it and in order to that acquaints us that we may the better know the true nature of them that they are a Mystery and that not with relation to the ages and generations before the Gospel but to the present Mysteriousness of this Sacred Institution for by consulting the Context you will find that the words are spoken Absolutely and Entirely without any respect to the past times of the world under Iudaism or Gentilism They represent to us the condition of Christianity as it is at this day and as it is in it self consider'd And so this and all the other Texts that I last mention'd are a baffle to what some late Advocates of Socinianism pretend to prove viz. that in the New Testament the word Mystery is always used to signifie something that is intelligible and clear in it self and in its own nature but clouded with figurative and mystical words but never to denote a thing that is dark and unconceivable in it self The contrary is plain and evident from the fore-cited Texts and every unprejudiced man that duly scans them must needs acknowledge that Christianity is there call'd a Mystery not in regard of what it was but what it is It is true there are some other Texts in the New Testament where the word Mystery is mention'd but it hath there no relation at all to the present Matter viz. the Gospel or Christianity in it self consider'd Thus in Rom. 11. 25. the General and Final Conversion of the Iews in the last ages of the world is call'd a Mystery In 1 Cor. 13. 2. mysteries is a general word for all matters of knowledge that are abstruse and dark and it refers more particularly to the knowledge of future things for to know all mysteries seems to be explicatory of the foregoing phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have a gift of Prophesying that is foretelling and declaring things to come as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in the preceding chapter v. 10. In 1 Cor. 14. 2. mysteries is a large and extensive term and used by the Apostle to signifie those divine doctrines which are mysterious and difficult but it is not particularly applied by him and therefore I have not made use of it In 1 Cor. 15. 51. it is restrain'd to a particular Truth which was unknown to the Corinthians at that time but St. Paul reveals it to them behold saith he I shew you a mystery viz. this that we shall not all sleep those that are alive at at Christ's Coming shall not die after the manner of all other men but we shall all be changed they shall undergo such an alteration that their corruptible state shall be chang'd into that which is incorruptible and immortal The Conjugal State is said to be a mystery â—ph 5. 32. because it shadows forth the Union of Christ and the Church as the Sacraments were stiled Mysteries by the Ancient Writers of the Church because they were a Representation of so great a thing as Christ's Body Mystery is applied in the Revelation chap. 1. v. 20. and chap. 17. v. 7. to particular Visions and Revelations which had a mystical and spiritual meaning in them In Rev. 10. 7. the mystery of God is said to be finish'd or fulfilled for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is meant of the Glorious and Flourishing state of the Christian Church in the last times of the world which hath been kept as a Mystery from the generality of men but when the Seventh Angel sounds his Trumpet then as we are there assur'd that Mystery shall actually be accomplish'd and fulfill'd But none of these Texts refer to our present Matter as any Understanding Reader may perceive only I thought fit to produce them that they might
Principles And consequently it is the chief Business of a Preacher to beat down all Immorality Wickedness and Prophaneness and to set up and promote whatever is Vertuous and Laudable and especially to advance the Evangelical Vertues and Graces and such Duties as are more especially commanded by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament And this very thing shews the Excellency of our Office when it is rightly discharg'd for the Worthiness and Esteem of Employments are according to the Usefulness of them Thus to instance in other Faculties he is the Best Laâ—yer that most successfully directs Men to the Securing of their Estates and Properties and he is the Best Physician that saves Mens Lives So it is here he is the Best Divine he is the Best Preacher that reforms Meâ—s Manners and effectually shews them how to save their Souls The True Preaching is to answer to Prophesying in the Primitive Church which is the thing more particularly design'd in the Text by Excelling to Edification and this you find was esteemed by the Apostle as the Best and most Valuable Gift because it was most Advantageous to the Church He that Prophesieth saith he speaks to men to Edification and Exhortation and Comfort 1 Cor. xiv 3. This is the proper Task of the Evangelical Preacher viz. not only to Build Men up by Instructing them in their Holy Faith but by Powerful Exhortations to the Practice of all Christian Vertues to make them Better and to enable them to feel the Comfort and Satisfaction of a Religious Life In Order to this his Instructions and Exhortations must be Plain and Intelligible and easy to be comprehended We read of some Hereticks of old that were wont to use a great deal of Hebrew in their Religious Worship and in their Discourses to the People thereby to Astonish and Amaze the Vulgar But he that would Preach so as to Edify must not use any such Arts he must not soar above the Capacities of those that hear him Or if any one will needs call this Building it is like that of Babel where they understood not one another We justly Condemn the Papists for Praying in an unknown Tongue but let me be so free as to say that to Preach in a Stile which is not understood by the People is every whit as unlawful and as absurd Therefore thou O Man of God flee these things and let the Great Apostle be thy Example Who would rather speak five words to be understood and to Edify others than utter ten thousand which could not have that effect upon them The Prophet shrunk himself into the proportion of the Child he meant to revive And so must Spiritual Instructers and Publick Exhorters to Vertue deal with those they intend to recover out of their Sins wherein they are dead they must adapt themselves to their Measures they must suit themselves to their mean Understandings and condescend to their Weaknesses and often Inculcate the same Divine Lessons therein having regard to the Forgetfulness as well as the Ignorance and Shallowness of their Common Hearers And as for the Mode of delivering our Doctrines whether by Book or without that is of the meanest Consideration and no Intelligent Person will be very solicitous about it so it be Grave and Proper Certainly it is not Necessary we should commit every Sermon to our Memories Such perpetual Conning is too like a School-Boy's Task methinks as if our Auditors were Pedagogues and we stood in continual Fear of the Ferula if we should not have all our Lesson by Heart Much less is Preaching a needless Mustering up of Authors an unmerciful haling of the Fathers out of their Graves to no purpose a rude claiming Acquaintance with Greek and Latin Writers for the sake of a Sentence or two out of them It is not pleasing the People with Little and Trifling things or astonishing them with too Great and High ones Nor is it yet any thing made up of an Affected Tone or Gesture or any thing of that sort But as I represented it it is a sober informing of Mens Judgments and establishing them in the Grand Points of Religion it is a plain and bold rebuking of Vice and a warm Exhortation to Vertue it is an affectionate Application of Truth to the Hearts and Lives of the Hearers This is Preaching and thus the Church of Christ is built up thus this Great Pile is raised and reaches with its utmost Top even to Heaven where it is Triumphant Fifthly In the next place I must not forget to add that we are to mind those things also which respect the Discipline and Order the Vnity and Peace of the Church To this purpose its Solemn Censures were Instituted by Christ and his Apostles that if there should happen any Dilapidations in the Building of the Church it might by these be speedily Repair'd that Persons of Unholy and Disorder'd Lives might be debar'd Communion with so Holy a Society And the Laws of Decency were prudently design'd to extirpate all Confusion and Distraction and to render the Church and all its Services Beautiful and Venerable The Apostle concerning his Converts of Colosse professes that he rejoiced in beholding their Order Col. ii 5. A Military word and signifies the orderly disposal of Soldiers in an Army Such should be the Regular Marshalling of the Church Militant It is requisite for its Security and Welfare that all keep their proper Ranks and Stations and that a Decorum be every where observ'd We find that Circumstances as well as Substantials are to be look'd after the Apostle in the Eleventh Chapter of this Epistle controuls the Solecisms of their External Behaviour in the Service of God He checks their Rudeness and Irreverence and gives Rules for the outward Deportment and Carriage in Praying and Prophesying It is fit that some care should be taken of Religion's Outside that she have a comely Equipage Decent and Fitting Circumstances are the Wall about the Spiritual Building they are the Hedge about the Field of the Church which contributes much to her Preservation and Welfare It is such a Fence to her as the Bark is to the Tree which when it is utterly neglected the Fruit and sometimes the Tree it self is endangered Even those things which are but Accessary and Accidental to Devotion are of great use and the Devotion and Worship themselves would not be long kept up without these But let us remember that they are but Circumstances and Appendages and that the things which we are chiefly to be concern'd for in Religion are of an higher Nature and that the Mind is principally to be employ'd here The main care in God's Worship must be that it be Spiritual and Sincere that the Heart be rightly disposed for this is the Sacrifice which he chiefly requires and regards All must be so done in his Service that the Simplicity of Christianity be not abated that Real and Internal Religion be not diminish'd and that the
Visible Face of it be never without the Vitals and Spirit of it Let Religion outwardly appear as comely and beautiful as the Rules of Christian Edification will allow but by no means let her exceed in Ornament and Bravery for she will soon vanish when she grows Pompous and runs into External Shew and Pageantry With Decency and Comeliness are generally coupled Vnity and Concord and these we are to be concern'd for likewise It is the Harmony and Uniformity of the Parts of a Building that makes it both Beautiful and Useful Without this it would not be a well-ordered Edifice but a confused Heap And 't is certain that by our love of Peace and Unity we shall successfully contribute towards the Building of the Church For there is History enough to convince us that the Antient Hereticks and Schismaticks betray'd the Faith when they destroy'd the Vnity of the Church At the same time that they made a Breach in her Walls they undermined her Foundations It behoves us of the Clergy then to maintain mutual Amity and Agreement both among our selves and others It is high time to banish all Dissention to put a Period to all our Animosities and Vain Janglings to doat no longer on Fruitless Disputes but to pursue the One thing Necessary and to imbrace our Religion with an Entire Affection and to commend it to the World by our Practising of it And so I pass to the last thing which I intended to Name Seek that ye may Excel in a Holy Life St. Paul in his Visitation Sermon to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus enjoins them to take heed to themselves as well as to all the Flock Acts xxviii 28. And he commands Timothy to be an Example of the Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity 1 Tim. iv 12. And more briefly ver 16. Take heed unto thy self and to thy Doctrin i.e. to thy Life as well as to thy Preaching And he charges Titus That in all things he shew himself a Pattern of good Works Tit. ii 7. As there is a Special Designation to the Office of the Ministry so there must be a Special Holiness accompanying it There must be a Consecration of their Lives as well as of their Persons As their Function Exalts them above others in Dignity so they should surpass them in all Laudable Actions according to those words used by our Church in her Canons They must have always in mind that they ought to Excel others in Purity of Life and should be Examples to the People to live well and Christianly Let not that which was part of the Pharisees Character be fastned on them They say but do not they Preach well but Live not accordingly Let not that which the Apostle saith of Seducers and False Teachers be applied to them They profess that they know God but in works they deny him If they be Guilty of this latter they pull all down that they have Built they render all their Instructions Admonitions Reproofs and Exhortations ineffectual they obstruct the Truth in or by their Vnrighteousness for so Rom. i. 18. may be read according to the sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hinder the Force and Vertue of the Truth on themselves and the Propagation of it to others by an Impious Life yea they take a course to Ruin Religion it self Thence it was the usual Speech and Maxim of the Learned and Pious Dr. Hammond The Exemplary Vertue of the Clergy must restore this Church It is that must commend us to the Hearts and Consciences of Men it is that must powerfully Influence upon them and teach them to be Religious in good Earnest A Minister cannot chuse a more efficacious way of prevailing with others to be God than by letting them see that he is so himself But on the contrary 't is no marvel that the Sheep wander if the Shepherd strays Every ones Eyes are upon their Guides all Men are looking up to these Stars these Torches of the World If they burn dim it will be observ'd and which is worse it will be Imitated It is observ'd by a Traveller of good Repute that Atheism thrives in Italy because they see so much of the Cheats and Juggles of many of the Priests and that Interest is all their Religion Wherefore let it be known by our Exemplary Lives that we are not enclined to gratifie Atheists and to promote Irreligion in the World Especially let it be seen that we act not out of Worldly Designs that we make not the Ministry a Secular Calling but that our Principles are Sincere and that we do all for the Glory of our Great Master In brief one of our Character should like Iohn the Baptist be a Burning and a Shining Light Burning in his own Breast with entire Flames of Goodness and Devotion with pure Intentions of Honouring God and Promoting Religion and Shining in his Life and Actions by an Uniform Practice of Piety by an Holiness that is conspicuous and resplendent Indeed some of us are apt to entertain this False Apprehension That the things before-mention'd viz. Right Opinions Preaching of True Doctrin Conformity to the Church's Order and Discipline are sufficient though they be abstracted from Holiness Thence some labour to be accounted Orthodox and yet mind not their Lives They teach others what they are to do but are regardless of their own Actions They are hot for Ceremonies but cool and indifferent in the Practice of Religion But nothing can be more unreasonable and absurd for the things before-named are in order to a Holy Life The proper tendency of the Articles of Faith is to Obedience The Exercise of Discipline and the keeping up of Decency and Order were originally designed to beget and nourish Religion and Vertue Let us therefore Correct our Conceptions concerning these Matters and perswade our selves that a Vitious Life is as contrary to God and Religion as Erroneous Doctrines that to break one of the Commandments is as bad or worse than to deny an Article of the Creed that Drunkenness Swearing Uncleanness are as black Crimes as Schism Yea let us be convinced that by Prophaness and Wickedness the Comliness of our Worship is rendred Deformed our most Decent Rites become Sordid our White Garments are Stain'd and Polluted Let us fix upon our Minds that of the Devout Abbot of Claraval What will our Canonical Ordination profit us if we live Vncanonically To be sound in the Faith to Preach it to others to be Peaceable and Orderly and to observe the Ecclesiastical Rules and Laws are of no worth and value if our Lives be Impure and Irregular Wherefore to sum up all in a few words let him that earnestly contends for the Faith for the Order and Discipline of the Antient Christians think himself obliged also to live the Life of a Primitive Saint You see your Calling Brethren you see what is your Office your Work your
short of the other in this that he hath not attain'd to that Spiritual discerning of Evangelical truths which the Apostle speaks of and without which it is utterly impossible to have such a knowledge of them as will be effectual to Salvation and Happiness I will add only one Text more 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world i.e. Satan hath blinded the minds of them who believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them Here it is implied that the Gospel is hid from some persons yea and we are told from whom viz. such as according to the foregoing stile of the Apostle are Natural men those that live in their sins and suffer their minds to be blinded and perverted to be corrupted and debauch'd by the Diabolick Spirit the Prince and Ruler of this lower world To such the Gospel and the Truths of it are meer Darkness Thus it abundantly appears from the Sacred Writ whence we are to fetch our discoveries concerning these things that the Proposition which I laid down is an impregnable and unshaken Truth viz. that Christianity retains still the nature of a Mystery and that more especially as so some persons The Reason is plain because Natural Strength is not sufficient of it self to discover these Divine Truths Unless the Soul be illuminated by the Holy Spirit these remain unintelligible and wholly ineffectual and useless as to any Saving vertue and efficacy This I take to be the meaning of our Saviour's words Iohn 3. 3. Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Unless as the Apostle speaks he be renewed in the spirit of his mind and that by the power of the Holy Ghost he cannot understand aright the Truths of the Gospel which is call'd frequently the kingdom of God and of heaven he cannot see he cannot enter into as 't is express'd in v. 5. those divine things This is that which our Saviour avers Mat. 11. 27. Neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son and he to whosoever the Son will reveal him viz. by an Inward and Effectual Discovery for they had the Outward Revelation then When the Apostle St. Peter acknowledged Christ to be the Son of the living God our Saviour told him that flesh and blood had not reveal'd this to him but his Father who is in heaven Mat. 16. 17. It was not the work of Nature but of the Spirit of God the Father that had effectually wrought this Knowledge in him This sort of Light is peculiarly from the Father of lights this Singular Wisdom is from above and accordingly as some interpret that place Iohn 3. 13. the knowledge of these Heavenly and Spiritual things is call'd ascending up to heaven From thence is deriv'd that Insight into the things of God which no Natural man hath attain'd to For in this Degenerate State of mankind the Great Points of our Religion are under a Seal and lock'd up from us and are never to be disclosed till a Divine Light opens our eyes We must of necessity remain Blind till that Eye-Salve Rev. 3. 18. be effectually applied And it can be applied only by the Holy Spirit whose proper work it is to dispel that spiritual darkness whereby the mind is indisposed to understand and discern divine matters aright This is variously express'd in the Holy Writings viz. by such terms as these shining in our hearts to give the light of knowledge 2 Cor. 4. 6. giving us an understanding to know 1 John 5. 20. enlightning the eyes of our understanding Eph. 1. 18. an Vnction from the Holy One 1 John 2. 20. Which cannot be better paraphras'd and explain'd than in the words of an Eminent Prelate of our Church The same Spirit which revealeth the Object of Faith generally to the Universal Church doth also illuminate the understanding of such as believe that they may receive the Truth For Faith is the gift of God not only in the Object but also in the Act. And afterwards in the Close he hath these words We affirm not only the Revelation of the Will of God but also the Illumination of the Soul of Man to be part of the office of the Holy Spirit of God against the Old and New Palagians So that Judicious Writer It is this Holy Instructor that disposes the mind to receive the light of Divine Truth by curing it of its Natural Darkness and Ignorance and by preparing the heart to receive its Rays There is required a Special Grace of the Holy Ghost to enlighten the Soul and to make due impressions upon it The â—aculty of the Understanding must be puriâ—ied and so made fit to apprehend Spiritual objects This is part of the Renewed Nature and Regenerate Principle and consequently where this is not the Great Doctrines of Christianity are Hidden Secrets and Unknown Mysteries From what hath been said I will only draw these Two Corollaries 1. It is no wonder that the Followers of Socinus will not acknowledge Christianity to be a Mystery for they hold there is no necessity of â— Supernatural Light no need of Illumination from the Spirit in order to the due apprehending and understanding of the Divine Truths of the Gospel There is they say in all men that natural ability whereby they are capable of discerning all Spiritual and Heavenly matters in a spiritual way They are enabled by virtue of an Inbred Power in their minds abstract from what is Supernatural to perceive and believe as they ought all the Evangelical doctrines propounded to them Wolzogen ridicules the Internal and Supernatural Illumination I have been speaking of Velthusius an Author that is much applauded by some of Socinus's follwers tells us plainly That the knowledge of a regenerate and unregenerate man concerning the things and mysteries of faith differs not from the light of Reason I appeal to the Intelligent whether this be not an approach to an Heresie long since condemned in the Christian Church It is well known that it was the Pelagian Error to assert that men can attain to a perfect knowledge of their duty and an ability to perform it by meer Natural Reason by the bare help of that light which Nature gives them And in this as well as some other Points the Socinians symbolize with those Ancient Hereticks They cry up Reason as the Only thing in Religion this with them like the Archaeus among the Chymists doth all feats produces all operations Though these men seem to be great Abhorrers of those who talk of the Light within them yet it is evident that they allow of the very same Principle and Practise they equal the Light of Reason to the Holy Scripture and say it will serve instead of this and that it is as good as Scripture because all men may be Saved by it Therefore this they urge
thing shews their mistake and that they are on this side of that place for they betray the weakness and uncertainty of their Knowledge These persons indiscreetly antedate the Last day anticipate the Future World and confront the revealed Purpose of Heaven for it was not design'd by the Supreme Being that we should here below have a full insight into those Divine Recesses this is reserved for another State Thus much of the Reasons so far as we can apprehend why Christianity is a Mystery that is why some of the most weighty and momentous doctrines of it are in some part hid from all mens understandings What I have said administers to us this double Reflection 1. From the premises we may discover the vanity and falsity of the Socinian Notion that there are no Mysteries in the Christian Religion 2. We may gather what is our Proper Duty and Concern in the Case before us First I say this discovers and detects and at the same baffles the false apprehension of those men who cry down all Mysteries in Christianity and tell us that all is levell'd to the meanest capacities Notwithstanding those Remarkable Attestations to the Contrary Truth from the plain words of our Saviour and his Apostles yet they perversly oppose and deny it and magnifie Reason as the only Measure of Truth and Rule of Faith whatever their late Pretences are and nothing will serve them in Religion but Logick and downright Demonstration I have observ'd it in the Modern Writings of this sort of men and of one also that is a late Friend of theirs that they seldom or never finish a Discourse though it be about Religion without bringing in of Geometrical terms especially Angles and Triangles These Gentlemen under a pretext of Mathematicks would subvert Christianity and demonstrate us out of the Articles of our Faith and make a Triangle baffle the Trinity This is the grand Source of their present Delusion and of that disturbance which they make in the World viz. their labouring to exclude all Mysteries from Christianity It arises wholly from this that they will not give credit to any thing in Religion but what is entirely Clear and Evident and commensurate to exact Reason This is perfectly according to that Description which one of the Fathers of the Primitive Church gives of St. Paul's Natural man He is one saith he that attributes all to the Reasonings of his Soul and thinks not that he stands in need of help from Above neither will be receive any thing by Faith but counts all foolishness which cannot be made out by Demonstration And an Ancient Critick defines him thus He is one who turns all over to Humane Reason and admits not of the operation of the Spirit i. e. any thing that is Supernatural in Religion This is the brief but full Character of a Disciple of Socinus so far as we are concern'd in him upon the present occasion but certainly it ill becomes a Christian man for I have proved already that such a spirit and genius are against the plain determination of Christ and his Apostles against the very nature of the things themselves and unsuitable to the present state we are in Such a one forgets to distinguish between Philosophy and Christianity The Professors of the former act not amiss in squaring all their opinions and sentiments by Strict Reason but the Adherers to the latter who are eminently stiled Believers must yield their assent to things which they cannot by Reason comprehend Otherwise they confound the natures of things and take away the Distinction between Reason and Faith which is much more absurd and unaccountable than what Scenkius in his Medical Observations fancies that it is possible for a man to receive the Visible Species through his Nostrils or in plainer terms that a man may See with his Nose for here is only a substituting of one Bodily Sense for another but in the other case there is a mistaking of one Mental Operation for another viz. Reason for Faith This is the Absurdity of those of the Racovian way and we ought carefully to avoid it We are to believe Christianity to be a Reasonable Service as the Apostle deservedly stiles it but it may be truly said of those men that they make Christianity more reasonable than it is that is they make it submit wholly to Humane and Natural Reason and this is the ground of their exploding all Mysteries Secondly Seeing a great part of the Christian Religion is a Mystery and design'd to be such we are concern'd to Behave our selves accordingly that is never to be so bold and rash as to demand a Positive and Punctual Account of things of this high and abstruse nature It is required in a Good Grammarian said One who was as skilful in that Art as any man that he be ignorant of some things The same may be said of a Good Divine to be ignorant of some Mysteries and not to search too earnestly into them is a good qualification in one of that Profession and indeed in all persons that study Christianity This is a Learned kind of Ignorance and we are not to be ashamed of it It is not necessary we should have a clear understanding of Theological Secrets because the Holy Writ is silent about them but yet we ought to hold and believe the things themselves because the same Infallible Word asserts them Those that go any further shew indeed that they are very Prying and Inquisitive but let them beware of handling the Word of God deceitfully and making Truth uphold Falshood As that Egyptian in Plutarch answer'd the men who ask'd him What it was that he carried so close Covered Therefore it is cover'd said he that you should not know what it is and therefore your asking was in vain So it is here these Divine things are purposely hid from us and wrapt up in Obscurity that we may not with too eager a Curiosity search into them and busie our heads about them Let every one of us think that spoken to us which the Good Christian said to the Philosopher at the Council of Nice Ask not How Be not inquisitive concerning the Manner of Sacred and Heavenly things for this is hid from us A Learned and Pious Writer of the Primitive Church tells us That it is enough for us to know that in Christ's Person the Divine Nature was so joyn'd by an ineffable kind of Tye with the Humane Nature that the same Hypostasis contains in it two distinct Natures but how that Union is made it is not necessary to know nor is it fit to search only let us believe and hold what is written And the same Excellent Person in another place and indeed in several places of his Writings exceedingly blames the rashness and curiosity of those that prie into Divine Mysteries and dispute and wrangle and raise vain questions about them and ask why and how such things are It