AN ENQUIRY INTO THE Nature Necessity and Evidence OF Christian Faith In Several ESSAYS PART I. Of Faith in General and of the Belief of a Deity By I. C. D. D. Vigilo Credo Clamo Loquor LONDON Printed for William Keblewhite at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDC XCVI The CONTENTS of this First Part. INtroduction shewing the Occasion and Design of the following Essays p. 1. Essay I. Faith is and hath been the perpetual Standard of Righteousness from the Beginning of the World p. 6. 1. Faith proper to Scripture and required under the Dispensation of both Testaments ibid. 2. What to live by Faith p. 7. 3. All the righteous upwards to Adam lived by Faith p. 8. 4. It is great Insolence to find Fault with the Terms and Phrases by which the Principles of Scripture are set forth p. 9. Essay II. Of Faith as opposed to Doubting p. 11. 1. The Meaning of Faith ought to be enquired after ibid. 2. Common Definitions and Distinctions of Faith not considered nor any new Definition offered ibid. 3. Faith first opposed to Doubting implies a firm Perswasion of Good and Evil which is essential to a just Man p. 13. 4. Of the Influence which this Faith has upon Actions as to the rendring them Good or Evil p. 14. 5. This Faith no light Perswasion but the Effect of serious Enquiry and Deliberation ib. 6. It is the first Principle of a good Life p. 16. Essay III. Of Faith as opposed to Atheism and how a Belief of the Existence of God is necessary to determine the certain Rule of Moral Actions p. 17. 1. Faith is a Belief of God and his Attributes ibid. 2. The Necessity of this Belief for knowing the first and great Rule of Moral Actions ibid. 3. Righteousness according to Scripture is to act with a continual regard to God p. 18. 4. These Divines are very censurable who recommend Morality upon other Principles more and oftner than this p. 19. Essay IV. The Existence of God is most evident p. 21. 1. It doth not require Learning or great Travel to know that there is a God p. 22. 2. Some Truths more obvious than Mathematical Demonstrations and it may be said That the Existence of a Deity is more evident than the Propositions of Euclid p. 23. 3. Whether there be real Atheists The Causes of Atheism considered p. 24. First Cause of Atheism Vitiousness p. 25. A Second Cause of Atheism the being rebuted by Difficulties ibid. A Third Cause of Atheism want of Consideration p. 26. Essay V. Evidences of a Deity in Man p. 27. 1. The Outward Figure of Man's Body considered ibid. 2. The Inward Frame p. 28. 3. Life and Sense with the Organs of them ibid. 4. The Internal and Intellectual Faculties p. 32. 5. The Method of nourishing the Body p. 33. 6. The Manner of its Generation p. 34. 7. Of the useful Dependance of some outward Members upon our Will and how readily they answer our thoughts p. 38. Essay VI. Evidences of a Deity in other Parts of the World p. 37. 1. All other things as well as Man prove that there is a God It is evident That Man and all other things had one Author or Cause ibid. 2. Contrivance and Design in in every thing in the Celestial Orbs p. 38. 3. In Vegetables and Animals p. 39. 4. Locusts and Caterpillars considered p. 40. 5. The Disorders and Irregularities occasioned by Man no Reproach to the Wisdom of God p. 41. 6. It is unreasonable to ask more Evidence for the Existence of God than what we have p. 43. 7. God's Eternity obvious His Omnipotency appears in the Immensity of the World p. 44. 8. His Wisdom and Power in the very Disposal of meer Matter or the several kinds of Earth p. 45. 9. In the Variety and Virtue of Plants p. 46. 10. In the Diversity of Animals p. 50. 11. It is impossible to convince them who resist these Evidences p. 52. Essay VII Of the Absurdity of Atheism p. 53. 1. Two sorts of Demonstration A Deity demonstrable by both of them ibid. 2. The Existence of God proved by the First ibid. 3. The Objections of Atheists do strengthen the Belief of a God The First Objection stated p. 54. 4. The Answer to it p. 55. 5. A Second Objection p. 59. 6. The Answer p. 60. 7 A Third Objection p. 62. 8. The Answer p. 63. 9. A Fourth Objection with the Answer p. 64. 10. A Deity proved by the other kind of Demonstration ex absurdo p. 65. The Conclusion p. 68. AN ENQUIRY INTO THE Nature Necessity and Evidence OF Christian Faith INTRODUCTION Shewing the Occasion and Design of the following Essays AS certainly the Christian Religion has the fairest appearance of any and comes to us with all the marks of Truth being stampt with Characters truly Divine and carrying along with it Authentick Testimonies both from Heaven and Earth so they who had the keeping of it have for near these 1700 Years taught that Faith was a very considerable part of it and absolutely Necessary to the obtaining all those Advantages which are promised by it But now there are a Set of Men who pretend new Discoveries They decry Faith as much as it was formerly magnified and turn the things proposed to be believed into ridicule Some of them run down Faith by exposing the Clergy who require it as ignorant and Foolish a sort of Men who are easily imposed upon or who to keep up their Trade study to impose on others amusing them with mysterious Nonsense Others essay to prove That Faith is impossible where Reason rules and is used and therefore that Believing proceeds from a Defect of Reason and consequently unworthy of those who own themselves to be Men that is reasonable Creatures A Third sort examine the several Points of Faith as they are set forth in Systems and Confessions and do either dwindle them away into nothing or render them very absurd that is impossible or no ways worthy to be believed This Controversie is of the highest Importance all ought to be inquisitive into it and earnest to know on what Side Truth lies not to satisfie an idle Curiosity but to discover the certain and solid foundation if there be any such thing on which they may build their Peace and Comfort with respect to the present life and joyful hopes in reference to that which may be hereafter Upon this account I resolved on this Enquiry and to proceed in it with all the care that becomes a Lover of Truth in matters of so very great moment who ought not to suffer himself to be byass'd by his former Sentiments nor to be carried off by the Censures of the World nor to be possessed with a fondness for Opinions meerly because they are New or Old Singular or Common My first aim was to satisfie my self and now I propose the giving true information to others and for that end shall lay all things candidly before them
also satisfie mens Minds in some measure about the Strange and Wonderful Dispensations of it which not being commonly handled we have the more largely insisted on In the Third and last Part shall be considered that Faith which is founded upon Revelation which also we shall indeavour to set in its true Light Both these Parts shall follow very soon if it please God to assist us and I heartily wish that all of them may prove Useful to the design proposed by helping to clear those Truths which are of the greatest Importance ESSAY I. Faith is and hath been the Perpetual Standard of Righteousness from the beginning of the World 1. AS all Authors whether Historians or Philosophers have their peculiar Phrases and way of Speaking so Faith is a word and term proper to Sacred Scripture It never occurs to us in the reading of any of the Heathen Moralists in that sense in which we meet with it almost in every leaf of the Holy Bible St. Paul as agreeable to the other Apostles he discourses often and very much of Faith so in three several Epistles he asserts that the Iust shall live by Faith and in one of them he Prefaces it with an as it is written testifying by this that it was no New Doctrine of the Gospel but what was taught by the Law and the Prophets And accordingly we find the same very words in the Prophet Habakkuk Chap. 2. 4. whence we may conclude that this is a Scripture Maxim of certain and perpetual Verity under every Dispensation as well the former as the present 2. By the Iust is to be understood the Good Holy and Righteous in opposition to the Wicked and Ungodly And to live comprehends and must be extended to the whole tract and course of their Life and Conversation for to restrain it to any single or individual act which hath not an Universal Influence upon the whole Man and all its Motions is to make the Scripture and Inspirer of it speak very improperly He is not said to Live in a place who Lodgeth there a Night or two but who has his constant Residence and Abode in it Nor can he be said properly to live by any Art or Science who now and then perhaps diverteth himself with it but only he who makes it his profession aim and study who constantly exerciseth it and subsisteth by it So when it is said that the Iust live by Faith the meaning is and must be that they always walk by Faith they order and frame their whole Life and Conversation according to it It is the Principle by which they are actuated and which produceth all that they do As the Soul and Spirit give Life to the Body excite direct and determine the Actions of the whole Man so Faith is the Soul Life and Spirit of a Just or Righteous Man the first and great Principles of his Motions the chief Rule and Director of his Actions that which quickens his Hopes awakens his Fears excites and curbs his Passion and which pusheth him forward to all that is suitable to his Rank Quality and other Circumstances in which he stands In a word to live by Faith must be to think speak and act by it for Life comprehends all this And he who doth thus live by Faith is truly Just Good Holy and Righteous For if it be true that the Iust do live by Faith it is also true that they who live by Faith are Iust. As Knowledge and Wisdom render a Man learned and wise so Faith makes one Iust and Righteous and this Righteousness encreaseth according to the proportion of our Faith for there are degrees of Faith as of Life there are weaker and stronger imperfect and perfect in both 3. Now that it is not peculiar to the state of the Gospel for the Iust to live by Faith but that they did so under the Law and before it doth further appear from what the Apostle writes in the Eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews where by a long enumeration of particular instances he proves that all the Righteous even up to Abel that is ever since the Fall did walk by Faith and that Faith was the source and spring of both their Common and Extraordinary Actions And he might have ascended higher and shewed that even in the state of Innocence Faith was appointed the Life and Soul of Righteousness for that Command which was given to our first Parents about the Tree of Knowledge in the midst of the Garden was to exercise their Faith as their Transgression was a failure of Faith as well as of Obedience St. Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians and in the first Part of that to the Romans pursues the same Truth against the Bigotted Jews and Judaizing Christians For to convince them of their Error in expecting to be Iustified by the Law of Moses He shews clearly that before the Law was in being Men were accounted Iust and Righteous before God by reason of their Faith and therefore that Faith was the permanent and perpetual Standard or Rule both for measuring Mens Righteousness and for obtaining their Iustification Because Abraham was an eminent Example of Faith therefore he was not only reputed Righteous but had the peculiar honour to be called the Friend of God and the Father of the Faithful in all succeeding Generations And all who believe and live by Faith are stiled the Children of Abraham and Heirs of his Honour and Privileges Upon which account they are also named the Children of God the holy Seed the righteous Generation in opposition to the Sons of Belial the Wicked and Reprobate who are branded with the Character of Vnbelievers Children of Vnbelief Persons without Faith as the Original bears which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much more might be said on this Head but it sufficiently appears from what hath been said that according to the peculiar Dialect both of the Old and New Testament Faith and Holiness Believing and to be Iust or to live righteously are used indifferently as reciprocal Phrases which import or inferr one another And the reason of this Dialect is because according to the Philosophy of the Scripture that which goes under the Name of Faith is the first Principle which actuates a a good or just Man and that the Goodness or Righteousness which is acceptable to God is only the Effects or Expressions of that Faith which naturally and inseparably follow it as the Light doth the Sun Now before I proceed further it is fit to make a little Pause and it may be convenient to represent here the Obligation which lieth upon all who own the Authority of Scripture to entertain those Phrases and Expressions with respect and reverence 4. They ought to esteem them not only Sacred but Exact and Just and the fittest to convey true Notions into our Minds A Wise Man can express his own Thoughts best And sure none can be supposed more qualified to know the most apposite words
the Just to live by this Faith as for a Square to have four equal sides both Texts of Scripture and the Nature of the thing require it The true and primitive Character of a Just Man is to be Conscientious to follow the Dictates of his Mind and to order his Life and Actions according to what he knows and believes to be right A Just Man must be Upright and there is no Uprightness if the outward and inward-man do not keep touches if there be no Correspondence betwixt them if the Mouth contradict the Heart and the Life and Actions be disagreeable to the inward Light and Sentiments This Faith is as the Eye by which we see and know how to order our Steps it is as the Light to shew the Way in which we should walk and not to follow it or to go contrary to it is great Perverseness and the Character of a Wicked Man As the Spirit is the Principle of Life and Life of Motion so this Faith is the first Principle of a good Life and Men are to be reckoned good or bad as they walk according to it He is a bad Man who contradicts it and he is no good Man whose Actions do not flow from it The Motions of a Puppet or Engine may be both Regular and Useful but they cannot be reckoned Natural because they proceed not from a Principle of Life but from Artificial Springs So tho' one's Actions be never so plausible fair or useful to others yet they are not good nor is he who doth them Just if they proceed from any other principle than this Faith that is an inward Perswasion of their being just and good lawful and reasonable for whatsoever is not of Faith saith the Apostle is sin Rom. 14. 23. Hence it is that we see some in Scripture branded with the Character of ill Men and others denied the Approbation of being good whose Actions were outwardly good and commendable because they did what they did for other Reasons and upon another account than the intrinsick goodness of those things or their own Perswasion of it 4. All the Actions of every one are to be Approved or Condemned with a regard to this Faith and by vertue of it things in themselves good and lawful become evil and what is evil loseth a part of its malignity Thus the Eating of Flesh which in it self is a lawful and innocent Action is a damnable Sin to him who has the least doubt whether it be lawful and what is clean turns unclean to him who thinks it so as is excellently discoursed in that fore-cited Chapter So on the other hand we find God himself excusing Abimelech for taking Sarah into his House because he did it in the integrity of his heart that is he was ignorant of her being another Man's Wife And St. Paul's Perfection of the Saints was the more pardonable because he verily thought he ought to do many things against the Name of Jesus I was before saith he a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief that is without Faith or the perswasion of the evil of it 1 Tim. 1. 13. But then it is to be remembred That this Faith which hath such Influence upon our Actions and which is so Essential to a Just Man is not Fancy or Imagination nor a light or hasty Perswasion Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind saith the Apostle ver 5. and therefore our Faith and Perswasion ought to be well-grounded the effect of serious Enquiry and Deliberation that it may give true and certain Direction otherwise it may be still said that we are regardless of Right and Wrong Truth or Falshood Good and Evil which is inconsistent with the Character of a perfectly Just Man A wise Architect doth not work at random but by Plumb and Rule but then he is first careful that his Plumb and Rule be right and exact for without this he cannot sincerely intend to have his work perfect So a Just man carefully studieth both a Conformity betwixt his Actions and his inward Sentiments and betwixt these and truth and the stable Rule of Right and wrong Good and Evil. To act contrary to inward Conviction is to offend wilfully and the height of Wickedness but it is the next degree to it to be careless whether we offend or not whether we do Good or Evil which we are guilty of when we are not at any pains to adjust our Perswasion to Truth to know the right or to inform our selves of what is good lawful and fit to be done The same reason which makes it Just and our Duty to act according to our Knowledge and inward Perswasion or to do the Good we know obligeth us to search out the real Good that is that there may be no Errour in our Perswasion nor Crookedness in our Practice and then only our Thoughts can justifie our Actions when by Diligence and due Care we have endeavoured to make our Thoughts just and true conform to the Nature of things for without this we cannot be fully perswaded in our Minds as the Apostle enjoineth the assurance of Faith is wanting which is necessary to dispel all doubts and to establish our goings Happy is he saith St. Paul that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14. 22. by which he gives us to understand that our Heart must approve our Actions our Minds must Judge that the ways we take are right otherwise we stand Self-condemned Now the Judgment is not Just which is not certain which is rashly or hastily pronounced before a strict Examination or a due Attention to all the Proofs and Evidences which can be brought for clearing the Cause There is still place for Doubting when necessary Caution and the proper Means have not been used for right and sufficient Information And as Doubting defileth the Man and polluteth all his Actions so it is uneasie to the Mind As Darkness in which when one walketh it maketh him Apprehensive full of Fears and Jealousies going forwards and backwards to the right and left without any steady course because he has no certainty of his way What is translated a Double-minded Man ought to be a Doubtful Man one that has not the assurance of Faith and such an one saith St. Iames is unstable in all his ways he wavereth like a wave of the Sea which is driven with the wind and tossed Jam. 1. 6 8. Fleeting and Inconstancy change of Opinions and Practices regarding Events and outward Advantages is at least a sure sign and evidence that the Person has not attained to a true Faith or full Perswasion of his Duty of what is good lawful or necessary for Faith gives a chearful confidence it makes one constant and to be always the same because Truth and the Nature of things change not To conclude this Matter By Faith here we are to understand a true Knowledge of the Nature of