are proved by the Scriptures but as for the Scriptures they prove and evidence themselves sufficiently to the judgment of every true Christian by their own light manifesting their divine Original They are primum visibile not like colour that cannot be seen till light make it apparent but like light it self which maketh all other things manifest and it self too by its own proper quality Now then if a true believer should be ask'd why he believes the Articles of the Christian Religion he may truly answer thus because they are revealed in the holy Scriptures If it be further demanded how he can assure himself that the Scriptures are the word of God he may answer that he knows it by the Scriptures themselves the Spirit of God enlightning his understanding to see those lively characters of divine truth which are imprinted upon those sacred Volumes If yet it be further demanded how he knows whether that is the right meaning of such or such a place of Scripture he may likewise truly say that he knows it by the Scriptures which being diligently examined and compared together do plainly discover to the humble teachable Soul their own true sense and meaning in the things which concern everlasting Salvation And thus the faith of a Christian is finally and ultimately resolved into the infallible word of God or a divine Testimony and into nothing less As for the Authority and Testimony of the Church and the judgments and writings of the Godly learned they are good helps to make us see the Truth but no causes why we believe it this we do for its own sake not for their sayings or determinations which if they do not accord with the Scriptures we ought not to assent thereunto Though we should give due Reverence to the Assemblies of Godly judicious men and thoroughly examine and weigh with humility and self-denyal the grounds of our dissent from them yet the bare Authority of men though never so eminent for learning and piety should not command our assent to any Article of Religion that shall be proposed to us For our faith should not stand in the wisdome of men as the Apostle speaks but in the power of God and the Testimony and demonstration of his Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 5. The first and chiefest ground whereon is built the certainty of faith's assent is the infallible truth and Authority of divine Revelation because God hath said it we are to believe it and assent to it for whatsoever God saith is true now this is a principle of Nature and Reason which is deeply ingraven into the heart and Conscience of every Rational man that God himself is so infinitely wise that he can be ignorant of nothing nor can any Creature circumvent and over-reach him and withal he is so infinitely good holy and just that no lye or untruth can proceed from him wisdome it self cannot be deceived truth it self cannot deceive and God is both And therefore wheresoever any Revelation is certainly known or believed to be of God there the reasonable Creature doth fully assent to the truth of things revealed But now the great question will be how we know infallibly that God is the Author of the Scriptures and that what we find written therein is of divine inspiration the very Oracles of God Here lyes the great yea the irreconcileable difference between the Church of Rome and us for whereas we maintain according to the truth that the Scriptures are known to be of God by themselves and by their own light and power they hold that we cannot be certain of their divine Authority but by the Testimony of the Church which as they say doth infalliby propose unto us what is to be believed and what is not to be believed And so by this means our faith shall be resolved either into nothing at all for they differ exceedingly about the Church representative and the supreme Judge of controversies here on Earth or at the furthest it shall be resolved but only into humane Authority and so shall be but a humane faith That Circle which they falsly charge upon us (m.) Mr. W. Pemble nature and properties of grace and faith P. 210 211. they themselves are guilty of and can never be dis-intangled therefrom by their Principles For ask a Romanist why do you believe that the Pope cannot err he will tell you because the Scripture saith so thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and I have prayed that thy faith may not fail and the like Texts of Scripture But how know you that this is the infallible word of God and that your interpretation is the right sence and meaning of these places To this he answers because the Pope and the Councel of Trent say so or as some of them hold because the Pope only saith so or as others of them because a general Councel saith so If we further urge him yea but how know you infallibly that the Pope and Councel do not err in saying so he will answer you because the Scripture affirms they cannot err for thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. And thus they run round in a Circle (n.) The Popish Circle described and are so intangled that the wisest and most learned of them know not how to deliver themselves Indeed they accuse us with open mouth as if we were intangled in a Circle running round from the Scriptures to the Spirit and again from the Spirit to the Scriptures as thus how know you the Scriptures to be the word of God by the Spirit revealing the same to my heart and Conscience but how know you this Revelation of the Spirit to be true By the Scriptures which testifie that the secret of the Lord is revealed to them that fear him But then further how know you this and the like places of Scripture to be the word of God we know it by the Spirit which reveals to us the things that are freely given us of God And thus they pretend that they have caught us in a Circle but they greatly mistake us though we do not mistake their Doctrine we teach indeed that we know the Scriptures infallibly to be the word of God by the Spirit of God inwardly revealing and testifying the truth of them to our Consciences But what kind of Revelation or Testimony is this It is not any inward suggestion or immediate inspiration different from those Revelations of Divine truth that are in the Scriptures themselves as if the Spirit of God did by a second private immediate Revelation assure me of the truth of those former Revelations contained in the Scriptures we have no warrant for this in an ordinary way but the Spirit of God reveals and testifies to our Consciences the divine Authority and truth of the Scriptures by removing those impediments that hindred as namely our ignorance and unbelief and by bestowing upon us those graces that make us capable of
the reasonable service of God which is spiritual and agreeable to his will This is the true meaning of the Text and yet we acknowledge that the Christian worship under the new Testament administration may be truly said to be a more teasonable service whereof a better reason may be rendered then the sacrifices of unreasonable beasts under the Law and withal that those Christians who by good advice and reason do the things that are agreeable to the will and command of God are they that offer up a reasonable service to God Fourthly Those Principles of Nature and Reason that are left in men do not enable them exactly and perfectly to perform natural and civil actions without the general assistance of God in whom we live and move and have our being And then as for actions spiritually and Evangelically good man by the power of Nature and Reason is wholly unable to perform them for without Faith it is impossible to please God This plainly appears by all those places of Scripture which declare and set forth the sinfulness and corruption of every unregenerate mans nature and estate and also by those Texts which speak of Grace and Conversion and Regeneration as the sole work of Gods Almighty power and the effectual operation of his Spirit which is put forth and manifested in all those that truly believe Ephes 1.19 The natural man saith the Apostle receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 By the natural man here as Calvin and others truly observe he meaneth not properly a man addicted to gross and sensual lusts but every man that is endued only with the Light of Nature and Reason and hath not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him yea the most rational improved natural man this is evident because the natural man is opposed to the spiritual man or him that is born of God and acted by the Spirit of God The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly not such a man as is exceeding carnal and gross in sin and sensuality but souly man an improved rational man or a man made up only of Reason one that doth ex colere animam such as Plato Aristotle and Tully were It is meant of every unregenerate man who is ruled by the Spirit of this World and the meer Principles of Nature and Reason and who cannot spiritually discern and receive the great mysteries of the Gospel but is offended therewith Nay the wiser men are in their own imaginations and reasonings the vainer they are and the more opposite to the grace and simplicity of the Gospel of Christ which stands not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God The other day saith Chrysostome I heard a certain Christian discoursing ridiculously with a Greek each of them in their discourse prejudicing his own Cause for the Greek spake that which the Christian should have said and the Christian spake that which the Greek should have said for the Question between them being about Paul and Plato the Greek endeavoured to prove that Paul was rude and unlearned but the Christian through his simplicity would prove that Paul was far more learned and eloquent then Plato and so the Greek would obtain the victory if the Christian's Reasons should prevail for if Paul were more learned then Plato in humane Arts and Sciences then might men object that he overcame not the World through Grace but through humane Eloquence Therefore saith this Father when the Greeks shall object that the Apostles were rude and unlearned simple obscure persons of no great reason nor parts let us freely acknowledge it as the truth for this is not their reproach but their glory that being such they yet overcame the Learned men the Wise men the Philosophers the Rhetoricians the Orators the Princes and all the World for when any thing is done above the power of Nature this doth exceedingly set forth and magnifie the Grace of God Fifthly A Christian should so far deny his natural Reason and Wisdom in things spiritual that his assent to the Truths and Mysteries of the Gospel may be the assent of Faith as to a divine Testimony and not the assent of meer Reason The immediate ground of this assent should not be the self-evidence of the thing testified in the Scripture to mans reason but the divine authority of God testifying That which is the formal object of Faith as the Schools speak is the first truth or God himself revealing his mind to us Suppose a truth taught in the Scripture be likewise demonstrated to my reason by Philosophical Arguments as namely That God created and governs the World and that the Soul of man is immortal my assent to these Truths is so far the assent of divine Faith as it is grounded and bottom'd upon the authority of a divine Testimony As for that assent which is meerly grounded upon Philosophical reason and demonstration it is not divine Faith but only humane Faith and Reason Sixthly Our Reason is so imperfect so defective so apt to mistake in divine and spiritual matters that we must not make our apprehensions though under pretence of Reason the rule of what we will receive for the Word and revealed Will of God and what we will reject but what the Scripture holds forth must be the rule of our apprehensions though we cannot comprehend the same by our weak depraved reason and understanding otherwise we subject the authority of Gods Truth to our own weak shallow apprehensions and believe him not because he hath said it but because we by our reason can comprehend it and this is dangerous and destructive to the faith of a Christian for the Scriptures do reveal those things that are above our reason What reason of Men or Angels could ever have thought of such a thing as the three Divine Persons of the Godhead the personal union of God and Man in the Mediator the imputation of Adam's sin to his Posterity and the imputation of the glorious Righteousness of Christ to poor Sinners for their justification Without all controversie great is the mystery of godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 But what great mystery is there in it if we by our shallow reason can comprehend it We must pray for Grace saith Mr. Fox (y) In his Preface to Luther on the Galatians the Author of the Book of Martyrs that we may rightly understand the Gospel So strange is this Doctrine to carnal Reason so contrary to the World so many enemies it hath that except the Spirit of God from above do powerfully reveal it Learning cannot reach it Wisdom is offended Nature is astonished Devils and Men do oppose and persecute it briefly as there is no way to life so easie so there is none so hard easie to whom it is given from above hard to carnal Sense and Reason not yet inspired And Luther himself in his Commentary on
cap. 26. What reason have I saith he to fight against God Why should I desire things not desireable He that gave hath power to take away and why should I resist This would not only be great folly in me to oppose one that is much stronger but great injustice likewise to fight against a Benefactor We have received all that we have and our very being from Him and why should we take it so heinously if He be pleased to resume something back again And speaking further of the reasonableness of mens resigning up themselves to God's disposal he saith Quis vero es tu aut unde venisti aut quare Do you consider what you are and whence you came and upon what business Did not He give you a being in the World endue you with such a nature put you into such a condition wherein you should be subject to His government and disposal Did not He appoint the time and place and part which you are to act upon the Theatre of this World And this is properly your Business to apply your self to the fittest means for performing the part allotted to you and not to take upon you to murmur or repine against it for it doth not belong to us to choose our parts but to act them Would it not better become us to go off the Stage with adorations and praises of God for so much as He hath permitted us to hear and see rather than mutining against Him because we had no more And in another place he suggests this Consideration That our condition whilst we are in this World is militant wherein every one is without reluctancy to submit to the Orders of his great Captain or General in whatever He shall appoint whether or no it be to dig in the Trenches or to stand upon the Watch or to fight Every man cannot be a Commander and a Common Souldier is to obey not to dispute or offer Counsel If thou maist refuse the condition or work assigned thee why may not another do so too And according to this what Order could there be in the World And again If God would have me saith Epictetus to be sick or poor I will be content to be so whatever Employment he will design for me I will not decline it and whatever He would not have me be or do I will be against it likewise And in another place he hath this excellent passage If I had been made a Nightingale or a Swan saith he I should have employed the time of my life in such a way as is sutable to the condition of those Creatures but being made a Man capable of serving and worshipping that Deity from whom I had my being 't is but reason I should apply my self to this as being my proper work and business and therefore hereunto will I devote my self as to that Employment to which I am chiefly designed I am now as to the condition of my Body lame and old and under servitude Yet still he concludes it to be his Duty wholly to devote himself to the praises and worship of that God who was the Author of his being That must needs be much more desireable saith this Heathen Moralist Epictetus which is chosen by the wisdom of God than that which I choose A reluctancy against the divine Will is the ground of all irreligion and Atheism in the World Why may not a man refuse to obey God in what He commands as well as to submit to Him in what He inflicts and then what ground can there be for any pretence to Religion We should all of us saith he conform our minds to the Will of Providence and most willingly follow whithersoever He shall lead us as knowing it to proceed from the best and wisest contrivance I do in my Judgment more consent to that which God would have than to that which mine own inclination doth lead unto I would desire and will just so and no otherwise than as He doth And in another place Use me saith he as Thou pleasest I do fully consent and submit to it and shall refuse nothing which shall seem good unto Thee Lead me whither-ever Thou wilt put me into what condition Thou pleasest Must I be in a private not in a publick station in poverty not in wealth I will not only consent to it but make it my business to Apologize for it to justifie and maintain before all men such Thy dealing with me to be most fitting and advantageous to my condition To the same purpose another Heathen Moralist to mention no more Antoninus Lib. 10. cap. 25. saith That man is to be esteemed a Fugitive and an Apostate who runs away from his Master Now the great Law-giver who governs the World is our common Master and Ruler and His Will is the only Law we are to submit unto And therefore for a man to be angry or grieved because things fall not out according to his desire what is this but revolting from the supreme Governour of the World and declaring enmity against Him And again If God saith he do not take particular notice of and care for me and my affairs why do I at any time pray to Him And if He doth exercise a special Providence towards all Events no doubt but He doth consult well and wisely about them nor would He suffer any hurt or prejudice to befal me unless it were for a greater good upon some other account and in this I ought to acquiesce And in another place saith the same Author I refer every thing that befals me to God as the Contriver of it by whom all Events are disposed in a wise Order Now what are these great and excellent Sayings of these two wise Philosophers and other grave Moralists that might be mentioned but the same in effect with those divine Sayings in the Sacred Scriptures Psal 25.10 Job 1. 15 17. and 2.10 Exod. 34.6 1 Sam. 3.18 Lam. 3.22 39. Job 5.7 and 34.31 and 40.4 and 33.12 13. Psal 39.9 and 8.4 and 94.12 and 118.18 and 119.75 2 Sam. 15.26 Isa 45.9 and 64.8 Heb. 12.5 8 10 11. Prov. 19.3 Rom. 8.28 and 9.20 1 Cor. 10.13 and 11.32 2 Cor. 1.5 Rev. 3.19 Religion to use the words of a late Learned Bishop * Dr. Wilkins Bishop of Chester hath a firm and deep foundation in the Nature and Reason of Mankind But yet we must not so exalt Reason or the Principles of natural Religion as to derogate in the least from the necessity and usefulnss of divine Revelation or to extenuate the great and unparallel'd Blessing and Benefit of the Christian Religion and the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ which though it transcends yet it is not contrary to the Dictates and Sentiments of Reason For it is but reasonable that we should acquiesce in the Testimony and Authority of God the supreme Being who neither can nor will deceive us We should not despise any of those Advantages saith the grave Author of The whole
far thy inferiour So may our Reason say to the blessed Word of God I am far inferiour to thee and have need to be regulated and reformed by thee and comest thou to me No no it is my greatest honour to submit my self to thee and thy Divine Authority Thirdly Upon this ground also mans Reason is denyed to be the Rule and Judge in matters of Faith because one man cannot prove infallibly to another man that his Reason is the right Reason in such a case He pretends Reason so do I A third man comes and pretends to as much Reason as either of us and experience shews that divers men yea good men have different Reasons and different apprehensions in many points of Religion Nor can a man be certain that this or that is the true meaning of a Text if he have nothing to assure him thereof but the appearance and probability of his own Reason for others that differ from him think they have and may really have as much or more Reason on their side then he Indeed if we compare our own Reason with the Reason and Authority of other men which have decreed thus and thus then must we give the preheminence to our own Reason when a clearer evidence is propounded and presented to our Reason for every one is to judge for himself with a judgment of discretion and discerning as hath been formerly proved and 't is unreasonable and absurd for a man to assent to a lesser evidence when a clearer evidence is propounded to him 'T is true there are not many that are well able to judge for themselves in the Controversies of Religion and therefore God hath provided spiritual Guides and Shepherds to go before them and help them but yet Christians must not resign up their wits and senses to follow them where-ever they go if they would lead us blindfold we should not put out our eyes to follow them but should rationally and impartially weigh and consider the grounds of their doctrine and practice Doth such a godly learned man tell you that this is firm ground you may go safe upon it And do you see it to be so by the eye of your Reason enlightened by the Spirit of God Then you may follow him as a man of judgment and understanding and not like a beast that is led he knows not whither and herein you have the advantage of his Reason and of your own too CHAP. XVI Of the difference between the meer rational and spiritual men and their knowledge and acts about spiritual things THe light of Reason should be made use of and improved by every Christian in searching the Scriptures and trying Spirits and Doctrines yet so as we must not confound the principles knowledge and operations of the natural man or meer rational man with the principles knowledge and operations of the spiritual man There is a twofold knowledge of spiritual things a natural or rational knowledge and a spiritual and supernatural knowledge The former is but Historical as when a man reads of such a Country in a History or sees it only in a Map at a great distance but was never there himself to take a full view of it and report the things that are there of his own certain knowledge The latter kind of knowledge is intuitive or a knowledge of spiritual vision beholding the things themselves in the light of Gods Spirit distinctly and at hand No Creature or created thing can go beyond its sphere or comprehend that which is beyond its capacity The vegetative creature cannot reach so far as the sensitive nor the sensitive so far as the rational nor can the meer rational creature comprehend that which the spiritual man doth Such as are alive to God and have spiritual union and conjunction with Christ the second Adam the quickening Spirit live and act from a higher principle and in another kind then meer natural or rational men do The soul of the natural man acts his body and the more he improves the light of reason the more rational and considerate he is in his actings and operations But the soul of the spiritual man is under the power of Gods Spirit and the glorious operations thereof and as far as Gods Spirit is above the spirit of man so far is the life of Grace or the life of the spiritual man above that of Nature 'T is true saith Luther (o) Luth. Com. on Gal. cap. 2. v. 20. that I live in the flesh but this life whatever it is I esteem as no life for indeed it is no true life but a shadow of life under that which another liveth that is to say Christ who is my true spiritual life which life thou seest not but only hearest and I feel as thou hearest the wind but knowest not from whence it comes or whither it goes even so thou seest me speaking eating walking sleeping and doing other things as other men do and yet thou seest not my true life This spiritual life which far transcends the meer natural or rational life must be discerned spiritually the spiritual man hath a white stone in which his name is written which none can read but himself He is the Son of God an Heir of Heaven therefore the world knows him not even as we know not the Sons of Princes were they amongst us who dwell in Countreys far remote from us but his life which now is hid with Christ in God shall fully appear when Christ appears in glory Col. 3.3 4. First Then the spiritual man hath Christ formed in him by the holy Ghost Christ is in him the hope of glory and he lives the life of Christ which a meer rational man doth not there is a spiritual supernatural principle or ability planted in him which still remains and abides and which differs much from natural habits for these are partly and sometimes wholly acquired by use and frequent practise whereas this spiritual principle is not gotten or acquired but infused nor can it be utterly lost as natural habits may but abides for ever John 14.16 Sometimes 't is called the Seed of God which shall grow up to perfection 1 John 3.9 Sometimes a Fountain yielding continual supplies of Grace John 4.14 sometimes from the Author from whom it is derived 't is called the life of Christ 2 Cor. 4.10 11. and sometimes the new birth or being regenerated and born again John 3.5 7. Doubtless it is a most powerful spiritual principle which raiseth and elevateth the soul far above natural strength and reason Those Creatures that have no higher principles and faculties then sense use them sensually but as for man who enjoyes the fame faculties under the command of a reasonable Soul he useth them rationally but when he is new born and becomes a spiritual man those faculties of the understanding will and affections which when they had no other command but Reason had no more but rational operations being now governed and acted by the Spirit of