tendency to make men easy and pleasant and useful to one another All which raise such an Evidence or Knowledg in my mind of the Divinity of his Mission who reveal'd this Proposition to me that I must do violence to my Reason if I do not give my assent to it And thus far it is not so properly and strictly a Mistery But when I think of this Proposition again Jesus the Son of God is God equal with the Father I must own at the same time I give my assent to it I have no knowledg at all of that Eternal Generation which I form an improper Idea of from the Procreation of one Man from another Nor have I any notion of this wonderful Union of the Human nature with the Divinity Nor can I in the least imagine wherein this Equality consists These and all other things relating to the manner of it are wholly out of the reach of all my Capacities and totally obscur'd from me These are the things which make it a Mystery and in respect of this part of it the Authority or Veracity of God is the only ground of my Perswasion and my Christian Faith of this Article consists in thus giving my assent to the existence of things which I have no notion of when he hath taken care to give me undoubted Testimonies of the revelation's coming from him And I trust he will accept of it because 't is no rash inconsiderate assent but that I use those powers of knowledg I have as strictly and impartially in this as I wou'd do in any affair which immediatly concern'd my life And thus I hope it plainly appears how little reason these people have to talk to us of a blind implicite assent or easy credulity since in our Christian Faith we proceed upon the strictest rules of Reason and build our assent upon no foundation but what we know to be firm And now before I proceed to the other part of his Book I shall repeat in short the Principles he lays down â—or himself to go upon in this and the following Books which he threatens the World with The whole summe of his Logick in short then is this 1. Evidence is the only ground of Perswasion i. e. you can never give your assent even to the reallity or existence of any thing but when you know as much of it as you do of any thing in the World and comprehend it as fully and perfectly as that 2 and 3 make 5. which is plainly to say you can never believe any thing but when it is so clearly known to you that you can't help believing it for no man can hinder his assent to a thing he knows perfectly well as no man can help believing that 2 and 2 make 4. A thing may be very true indeed and you not believe it but if this truth be evident to you your assent must necessarily follow So that you can believe nothing but when you can't help it and when you can't avoid it then you must believe it for God hath taken it out of our power to dissent from an evident Proposition and our kind Disposer hath put us under a Law of bowing before the Light and Majesty of Evidence and therefore this Man must make such an Idol of it as totally to exclude all deefrence or assent to the Word of the true God For another Principle of his is 2. That Authority is only a means of Information i. e. you can believe neither God nor Man upon their Word for they can only relate a thing to you but neither of them can influence your Mind to an assent So that to speak plainly 't is all one in respect of your assent whether God or Man or the Devil tells you a thing for thô you are convinc'd that God always tells truth and the Devil is a Liar yet still you believe the thing never the more because it comes from God Alas the veracity of God is not to be regarded in the case no you must bow before the Light and Majesty of Evidence only But suppose God and the Devil speak two contrary Propositions as in the case of Eve In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely Die. And Thou shalt not surely Die. The words of these two Propositions were equally clear to her she understood the substance of them alike and her Idea's of the things spoke of were equally clear and distinct What then was the ground of her assent to the latter it cou'd not be Evidence for according to him both these Propositions had equal pretence to her assent upon this score and therefore nothing remains to be the ground of her assent but the Authority either of God or of the Devil And we find by sad experience it was the Authority of the latter that sway'd her But 't is plain she had a greater degree of Evidence or Knowledg of the truth of the former Proposition because she knâ—w it came from God who cou'd not lie and yet we find she rebell'd against this Evidence Whereas had she been under such a necessity of bowing before the Light and Majesty of Evidence she wou'd not in all likelihood have transgress'd as she did and then he had not now been falling down thus prostrate to Igno rance and Errour That which shews the ridiculousness of these two Principles is that upon them we can never believe any thing that is to come thô it were the next hour For thô we understand the meaning of the Words and that the Prophecie be concerning any of the most familiar Objects of Sense and Reason so that you have the clearest Knowledg of the thing foretold yet unless you will allow Authority to be a ground of Perswasion you can never believe the truth of the Relation for no man can have any knowledg or Evidence of this till the thing comes to pass So that as to the truth of the Relation there is nothing left to be the ground of assent but the Veracity or Authority of some Person or another And thus he utterly destroys the Faith of all Prophecies for thô they may be true yet we can never believe them so till the relation is evident to us and this can never be evident to us till the things actually come to pass So that this is a short way of destroying the credit of every thing in the Gospel which for the most part speaks of things to come I said before that in Divine Propositions Evidence was a ground of Perswasion in respect of the Relation it self or act of Revelation and here I say that in respect of the very same Authority is a ground of Perswasion They are both true and therefore to make this whole Discourse more clear and prevent all mistakes as far as I am able I shall once for all shew the diffe rence between Divine and Human Revelations in respect of those three things which I said were to be consider'd in every Revelation 1.
act of Faith as it is distinct from Knowledg is an Assent upon the Authority of another Person But according to him Authority is no ground of Perswasion and Faith is only the understanding what is believ'd Therefore there can be no such thing as any Assent distinct from Knowledg And now have I done this man any Wrong by charging him with endeavouring to destroy the Faith of the Gospel and to overthrow the whole Christian Religion In the face of a Christian Government and in Defiance of all Laws and Power Ecclesiastical and Civil He tells them plainly that Faith is nothing more than understanding what is beliv'd i. e. there is no such thing as Faith distinct from knowledg and consequently the Faith of Christians is nothing but Implicite Assent and blind Credulity And therefore here again I wou'd deliver him into the hands of the Magistrate not mov'd by any heat of passion but by such a Zeal as becomes every Christian to have for his Religion But here he pleads a Toleration but for what I hope there is no Toleration for Blasphemy and Prophaness and thô men are allow'd to believe what they please themselves yet sure they may be restrain'd from industriously spreading such Impious Notions as are destructive of all Religion and from openly reviling the Christian Faith as Imposture and Implicite blind Credulity Again 't is objected against him That his notions of Faith makes Revelation useless Yes it doth for thô we understand the Words of the Proposition reveal'd ever so well and comprehend the thing spoke of as fully as we do a Stock or a Stone yet we can never give our assent to the truth of the Relation because that after all is done we must take this upon the Word of another But much more doth it make all the Revelations of the Gospel useless because we have no clear and distinct Idea's of them and therefore must utterly reject them all upon this score likewise But in opposition to all that can be said this Positive Man asserts here what he hath been Asserting from the beginning of his Book but gives no reason for That Revelation is only of use to inform us whilst the Evidence of it's subject perswades us Then reply we if so you must believe all Relations true or false indifferently when you understand the meaning of the Words and know the nature of the thing spoken of Nay if two contrary Propositions equally intelligible be related he must believe them both And therefore now I hope he won't take it ill of the World if they believe me when I inform them that this Book which goes under his name was the joint Endeavours of a secret Club who set themselves with a great deal of Industry to destroy all Reveal'd Religion And that they have made use of this Man as a Tool only and have pusht him before them to try with what safety such Principles as these may be openly avow'd in opposition to all that is establish't among us that they might follow and openly maintain what they have been forging in secret Cabals Now this is a matter of Fact and whosoever reads this must believe it because they understand the meaning of the Words and know the nature of every thing that is spoke of in them for Faith is nothing else but understanding what is believ'd and if they understand what is spoke of they must bow before the Light and Majesty of this knowledg And therefore I hope he will never contradict me in this or any thing else I relate of him for if he says the contrary then either the World must believe us both when we relate two contrary Propositions or they must be sway'd one way or the other by his Authority or Mine and whether they believe him or me it will sufficiently confute him for it will shew that Authority may be a ground of Perswasion as well as a means of Information If they believe neither of us then it will appear they are not under such a necessity of bowing before the Light and Majesty of that Evidence he contends â—or in all relations The last objection he raises against this Principle of his is that passage 1. Pet. 2 12. Where there is this expression Which things the Angels desire to look into The things spoken oâ— here are the methods of our Salvation by the Incarnation of the Son of God and Descent of the Holy Ghost and 't is said in the time present that the Angels Desire to look into them And I think it a natural inference from hence that these things yet are Mysteries even to them in a great degree which we need not much wonder at when they don't so much as know when the day of Judgment will be and therefore we may the less wonder they are Mysteries to us But we will suppose that this expression is mean't of the time past And then let me ask him these two Quesâ—ions concerning it 1. Whether the Angels did believe those things they are said to enquire into or no if they did believe them then we find 't is very possible to believe things that we can't comprehend for if the Angels understood them fully when they believ'd why shou'd they desire to search into them 2. Whether now these things are come to pass he will assert that we have as full and comprehensive a knowledg of them all as the Angels have If we have not then we may believe things we do not comprehend If we have then there is no difference between ours and the state of the Bâ—est in Heaven at least in respect of knowledge The last Objection he brings against his own Principles is That which is drawn from the consideration of Miracles And this likewise is so strong an objection against him that the very supposition of one true Miracle wrought in confirmation of any point of Doctrine quite overthrows his whole Book For 1. The thing it self is in a great degree Mysterious and therefore if he will allow these things related of our Saviour to be true Miracles he must allow there are Mysteries in Chrisâ—â—â—nity But he endeavours to evade this by the same Quibble he did the Docâ—râ—nes of the Gospel being Mysterious â—â—z by saying the miraculous action muâ—â— be something in it self Intelligible and Possible Who denies it but it is however Mysterious still And to lay open this Fallacy we must distinguish the two things that are to be consider'd in every Miracle And 1. The substance of the thing perform'd we grant must be very Intelligible and Possible for as he says Contradiction is only another word for Impossible or nothing 2. The manner of performing it which is totally obscur'd from us and lies out of the reach of all our Capacities As to instance in that Miracle of our Saviours Fâ—â—ding five thousand People with five Loaves We understand very well what it is for a great number of men to eat and be satisfied
by such Prâ—ofs to Mens Senses and Reason of it's divinity as shall convince us that it could come from none but God such as Miracles and Prophecies or the agreableness of the thing to our common Notions and I am not to give my assent to it unless I have this Evidence which I allow thus far to be the ground of Perswasion Thus far we are ready to joyn issue with any Adversary of Revelation and Mysteries purely upon the principles of Reason And to require it any farther is no other than to demand a rational account from us of what we grant we have no notion of God never requires our Assent to any Proposition but upon such testimonies and proof as shall cause this Evidence But as to the thing it self which is signified by this analogy as the real state and condition of the blest in Heaven is in this Mystery it is wholly exempted from the enquiry of Reason And herein is my Faith that I give my assent to a proposition which is sufficiently prov'd to come from God thô I have no notion at all of that divine truth which is represented to me under the similitude of some worldly Object And thus you see how Faith is nicely and most exactly defin'd The Evidence or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demonstration of things not seen because Faith is no such precarious implicite assent as these Champions for Reason think but it is the giving our assent to things which thô we have no notion at all of now yet the reality and existence of them are demonstrated to us by such proofs as raise up in our minds the greatest degree of Evidence for the truth of the Relation And it is this that will strike all these Opposers of Faith and Revelation dumb when they appear at the Tribunal of God because they will not then have it to say that God requir'd their assent to any proposition but what they understood as well as they could understand any thing in this World And for the Divine Revelation of which they had sufficient proofs if they did but consider them to raise up in their minds an Evidence as clear and distinct as they can have of any thing in this World And thus he sees how groundless all those Objections are and malicious Insinuations against us and our most holy Faith as if we in any point of it declin'd the strictest examination of Reason We are so far from distrusting our cause or obliging men to walk blindfold that we give their Reason all the helps we can and men are never better dispos'd for the belief of our Christian Mysteries than when they follow the guidance and conduct of it For our whole Christian Faith is grounded upon the strictest Retiocination And therefore having stated the true extent of Reason in the Mysteries of Religion I shall now proceed to consider his Friend's objection against his Book viz. That it destroys the nature of FAITH A shrewd objection it is and that which he never will evade thô he had the wisdom of the old Serpent to help him And that person whosoever he was wou'd have been more his Friend if he had in time opened to him all the other false and impious consequences of his Book before it came abroad to spread infection and blast the credit of the Christian Faith But now alas it is too late for nothing is so vain as a man of some parts where there is not a true sence of Piety to qualify them And therefore he is now to stand by it with his Soul and venture Damnation rather than lessen himselâ— by a publick Recantation in the opinion of a half learned and debauch'd sort of people whose interest it is to run down that Institution which if it be true must rise up in judgment against them at the last day The force of the objection lies in this If we can give our assent to nothing but what we have a clear and distinct Idea of in the Mind so as to believe nothing upon the Worth and Veracity of another person then there can be no Assent distinct from Knowledge and thus there can be no Faith either Divine or Human. For if a man of whose sincerity you are throughly convinc'd shou'd tell you That there are a sort of people in the Indie's who scourge their Idols severely when any thing goes cross to their expectations it is impossible for you to believe this unless you see it For thô you know the meaning of the words and apprehend clearly what an Idol is and what it is to scourge it yet if the relations of ten thousand People and ever so many circumstances concur'd to the truth of it yet you can never give your assent to it upon any other terms than he did who saw it for nothing else can give you this evidence or knowledg of the truth and reality of it which he makes the only ground of our perswasion And then if we can't give our assent even to the Reality and Existence of any thing but when we have clear and distinct Idea's of the real modes and properties of it as it is in it self then we can believe nothing either of God or of any thing relating to another World For I have made it sufficiently appear that it is utterly impossible for us now to have such Idea's of them Therefore now let us see how he endeavours to get over this My Reader thinks I warrant that he is going about to reconcile the Christian Faith with his Principles But instead of this he spends sixteen pages in shewing you there is no such thing as Faith as you will see plainly I shall take him in order and answer every Paragraph because this is the most plausible part of his Sophistry First he tell 's us that to be confident of any thing without conceiving it is no Real Faith or Perswasion but a rash Presumption and an obstinate Prejudice If he means by not conceiving it not understanding the meaning of the Proposition reveal'd he is in the right of it but if he means by conceiving it the having as full and compleat a knowledg of the thing reveal'd as we have of any Phenomena of nature 't is absolutely false for as I have shewn at large we may give our assent to the Existence of things when we can't conceive any thing at all of their real nature And that our Christian Faith is however no rash Presumption or obstinate Prejudice because it is founded upon sufficient testimonies of the truth and reality of the propositions believ'd in things whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's This is the thing he drives at viz. that we have a full and compleat knowledg of the things believ'd and to make it plausible he says that God hath no interest to delude his Creatures nor wants ability to inform them â—rgo he reveals nothing but what he makes them perfectly comprehend Therefore he hath not reveal'd any thing of
the eternal Generation of the Son the change of our Bodies the Joys of Heaven of the operations of the Spirit c. because if God had reveal'd them he wou'd have made you conceive the manner of all these perfectly and if he did not it was certainly want of sincerity or ability in him But let this Blasphemer know that it is neither want of Veracity nor Ability in God that is the reason why we don't conceive these things but the Weakness and Imperfection of our present state who have no capacities for them as yet And therefore as we now give our assent to the Reality and Existence of what we can't conceive upon that veracity of God which he hath thus endeavour'd to rob of all it's Authority and Influence upon our assent so God will one day manifest his Power in bringing all those things to pass which we can't now conceive and will so enlarge our Souls that we shall clearly apprehend them and all the Objects of another World He proceeds and says that God wou'd loose his end if what he said did not agree with our common notions i. e. Iâ— God shou'd speak Nonsence to you in his Revelations you wou'd be never the wiser for if he should reveal to you that a thing call'd BLICTRI had a being in nature and not inform you what this Blictri was you could not believe it Now this very Instance which he intends by way of Ridicule of all the Objects of our holy Faith doth happily shew the true difference between a rational Assent and a blind Credulity and is a sufficient confutation of his whole Book Let us therefore compare these two words BLICTRI and GLORY Of the first I know nothing more than that it is made up of seven Letters and therefore he that speaks it is a Barbarian to me And as I know nothing of it so I can believe nothing concerning it but the uncertain found it makes to my â—â—t and that seven Letters makes two Syllables in writing As to the other word Glory I grant I know as little of the real nature of the Glory of God and of the Saints in Heaven as I do what that Blictri means and yet God doth not speak Nonsence when he reveals to mâ— that there is such a thing in Heaven as Glory For 1st Thô I have no notion of the thing as it is in it self yet it is represented to me by the brightness of the Sun and Glory of a Kingdom the greatest Images I now am able to frame of it 2. I am made acquainted with the Relation this Glory hath to me viz. That it expects me in the Heavens that I shall enjoy it and be made partaker of it and that it will render me happy beyond all imagination But I am no more able to conceive that Happiness than that Glory of God which shall be the cause of it And 3. It is reveal'd by God with this design that it shou'd be a prevailing motive of my Obedience and an incitement to the practice of Vertue and Holiness 4. I have not capacities at present to apprehend the real nature of it as perfectly as I can apprehend any thing in nature if it were discovered to me And thus we see how God in all his Revelations doth not speak Nonsence to us thô we have not clear and distinct Idea's of the things which are reveal'd Nay thô we have no more Idea of them as they are in themselves than we have of what Blictri is Besides the Text he brings to back this Sophism of his explains the matter farther and lays open the Fallacy Heb. 11 6. He that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him By which we see all that is knowable of God by us now is his Existence and the Relation he hath to us viz That he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him For I hope he will own that we are bound to believe all we know of God thô he flatly denies that we are bound to believe any thing more in him than what we know as well at least as we do any thing else He goes on and asks without conceiving Faith after this manner i. e. without making it nothing else but knowledg How could Christ be term'd the light of the World and how could we be said to have the Spirit of Wisdom i. e unless he gives you as clear and distinct Idea's of every thing he reveals as you have of a Stock or a Stone I answer by giving us a clear and distinct Revelation of their Existence of which we should have been wholly ignorant but for him for thus he hath made us wise unto Salvation since he hath given us a clear knowledg of our Duty and back't his Precepts with the promise of future rewards which we have no notion of and the best thought we can frame of them is That they exceed all that we can think or speak But says he That remarkable instance of Abraham's Faith will be objected Yes 't is objected and the way he answers it is by saying as we do and leaving his own Opinion to shift for it self God promised Abraham to give him a numerous Progeny in Isaac after this before Isaac hath a Child God commands him to sacrifice his only Son He obeys upon this consideration that God was able to raise him up again by the same power that he at first rais'd him out of the deadness of Sarah's Womb. Now the question between him and me is not Whether this Faith was a firm Perswasion built upon substantial Reasons which we allow and contend for and therefore he says nothing to the purpose But the question is Whether Abraham gave his Assent to what he was not able to comprehend which he must own unless he proves that Abraham knew as perfectly the whole manner of God's raising a Body from the dead or from a Womb past Child bearing as he did the procreation of it in the ordinary way of Nature Had Abraham been able to demonstrate that God wou'd raise his Son to conceive exactly the manner how this was to be brought to pass then indeed it were no Faith but Knowledg but instead of this he had only the promise of God for it and knew no more how God wou'd raise him than he knew how he made the World After this he lays down several Observations to prove there can be no such thing as Faith i. e. an assent distinct from Knowledg 1. If Faith were not a Perswasion resulting from a comprehension of the thing believ'd there could be no degrees in it I answer this is false like all the rest for thô I know nothing more of a thing than it's Existence and the Relation it hath to me and therefore am fat from comprehending it Yet my assent to the truth of it shall vary in degrees either according to the Proofs
I have for it or according as I weigh and consider them 2. The Subject of Faith must be intelligible to all since the belief thereof is commanded under no less a penalty than Damnation Who doubts it let him if he can produce one proposition we believe which is not intelligible But because we don't fully comprehend the thing spoke of are we therefore wholly ignorant of any thing relating to it must we reject it all as Fallacy Imposture If it be said He that believeth not shall be damn'd Mark 16 16. then what will become of him that takes all this pains to shew there is no such thing as Faith especially since the Belief there mean't is something plainly distinct from Knowledg For sure he doth not think the meaning of that text is this He that hath not as full and comprehensive a knowledg of God and the things reveal'd as he hath of any thing in Nature shall be Damn'd which is all his notion of Faith Again 3. If any part of Scripture were unintelligible it could never be rightly translated A very wise observation who ever question'd it But as I have shewn there is a great deal of difference between understanding the meaning of the words and having a comprehensive knowledg of the thing intended by them As I understand very well the meaning of these words When Christ appears we shall be like him thô I am wholly ignorant wherein this likeness will consist â—o that I can however translate the sence of that Proposition exactly and perfectly And therefore 't is such Wretches as He who affirm the contrary that plentifully furnish the Atheistical and Prophane with all the matter of their objections against Scripture But I hope in time God will put it into the hearts of our Governours to remedy these disorders 4. Except Faith signifies an intelligible Perswasion we cannot give others a reason of our Hope 'T is very true it is an Intelligible Perswasion and grounded upon the strictest Reason But he with a hardy confidence openly pretends that we deny people are to examine and understand their Faith and so runs into a comparison between Christ and the Idol of the Siameses upon our Principles Now he is past all Reason and Modesty and therefore I have no more to do here but deliver him up into the hands of our Governours We may confute his Errors but 't is They only can suppress his Insolence We only can endeavour to heal those who are already Infected 't is They alone can hinder the Infection from spreading farther 5. That either the Apostles cou'd not write more intelligibly of the reputed Mysteries or they would not I answer that all that we are able to understand of these Real Mysteries they have made so plain that they could not neither need they have made them more plain and intelligible As for the other part of them they knew as little of it as we do and therefore we don't Rail at them as he doth at all the Clergy as if they had industriously conceal'd any thing from us which they knew themselves He goes on ' T is affirm'd that God hath a right to require the assent of his Creatures to what they can't comprehend Yes he has and accordingly doth require it And again I say 't is Blasphemy to affirm that in this he is guilty of such a Tyranny as only becomes the Devil He requires our assent to the Eternal generation of the Son the Trinity of Persons and Divinity of Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies and change of them into the likeness of Christ c. thô we can't comprehend them And yet he is so far from acting like a Tyrant in this that he acts like a merciful God and a tender Father For he herein condescends to our capacities and Reveals the methods of our Salvation and the future state of Heaven to us after such a manner as we are able to understand them and promiseth that if they have that influence upon us which he designs i. e to excite our Gratitude and make us Vertuous and Holy he will at the resurrection of our bodies give us capacities to see them clearly as they are in themselves So that these Mysteries are to be understood at last but not till we come to another World And therefore God doth not reveal them only to puzzle our heads but for wise and excellent ends viz. to bring mankind to salvation by such Methods as are consistent with the Freedom of his nature From all these Observations he con cludes That to give our Assent to any thing above Reason in his sence is contradictory 1. To the ends of Religion whereas I have shewn at large that upon this supposition there can be no Religion at all either natural or reveal'd 2. To the nature of man i. e. because no man can believe what he knows nothing of but this Quibble I have sufficiently remov'd And 3. To the goodness and wisdom of God who as he intimated before is as much a Tyrant as the Devil for requiring us to believe any thing we can't comprehend If God had requir'd us to give our assâ—nt to what we knew nothing at all of he would have requir'd Impossibilities if he had requir'd us to give our assâ—nt to what we had no Proof or Evidence for he wou'd have requir'd what was Unreasonable but when he adapts the Revelation of things which we cannot comprehend to our capacities under the notions of things which we do apprehend clearly and fully it is the greatest argument of his wisdom And when he requires no assent from us without sufficient Arguments of Conviction to any consiâ—â—â—ing unprejudic'd person It is a great instance of his Goodness And these revelations of things above our Reason to comprehend as they are most powerâ—ul incitements to Gratitude here so they will be the subject of our Praise and Thanksgiving hereafter when the Vail is perfectly remov'd and that we are enabled to apprehend them clearly Now after all this pains to shew that there is no such thing as Faith distinct from Knowledg He says this will be objected against him He is in the right of it this will be ever objâ—cted against him till he recants his Error publickly But how doth he endeavour to evade it Why. That knowledg which is the present immediate view oâ— a thing is not Faith He says well But what is Faith is only the understanding what is believ'd He will stand by it with Soul and Body that Faith is nothing else That the understanding what is believ'd is necessary in order to Faith no one denies but any man of common Sence may see that this and the other definition are the same for pray what is understanding what is believ'd but having a present immediate knowledg of it unless he will say a man can't believe a thing till he hath forgot he knew it That which constitutes the formal
of the Fathers to the last to be consider'd by themselves because many Persons who will read the rational part don't care for troubling themselves with the examination of these And indeed because I design'd to dwell much longer upon them than I find the length of this Letter already will permit The very Quoting of the Fathers is a confutation of himself for if there be no other ground of Perswasion but Evidence what can the Authority of the Fathers signify to encline Mens Assent either one way or the other and indeed of Scripture it self All Quotations Divine or Human are useless impertinent upon his Principles For what he wou'd perswade by them is evident in it self or it is not If it be evident we shall certainly believe it let who will say it but if the truth of it be not evident from the nature of the thing it self all the Pompous Citations in the World signify nothing He was sensible of this and that is the true reason why he gives the Fathers as foul language as he doth the modern Clergy not considering that the same objection holds against the Bible it self For if the Authority of God be not a ground of Perswasion then a Text out of the Bible will be of as little â—orce as a Quotation out of any fabulous Heathen Author to influenceo ur Assent to any Proposition He introduces them after the most scornful manner he could contrive and says that the mentioning of Schutcheons puts him in mind of the Judgment of the Primitive Church And in another place he hath this expression by way of ridicule The Fathers The admir'd Fathers their Opinions he calls Whymsies And their Works insuperable Labyrinths And calls the just Esteem we have for them A Blind Veneration for those who liv'd before us He never mentions them without the greatest contemt and says He is not to be put out of countenance by Venerable names and Pompous Citations that have no value but such as an ugly Rust and Colour give antient Coins But this similitude that he designs by way of derision doth very well express the worth and usefulness of the Fathers For as antient Coins are now of no greater intrinsick value than the bare weight of the Metal they are made of yet they are of excellent use to give us light into the times and customs of Antiquity and upon that score are of vasily greater value than any modern Coins So it is with the Fathers they were Men and wrote like such and thô we should grant that some of their works are not in themselves more excellent than what hath been written in after ages yet these Writings of theirs are much more to be valu'd because they liv'd nearer the times of Christ and his Apostles and therefore had greater advantages of coming to right apprehensions of all things relating to Christianity than it is possible for any after them to have Not but that some of them seem to have wrote by a more peculiar influence of the Spirit And therefore this Mans arrogant treatment of the Fathers puts me in mind of that passage of the ignorant Childrens reviling the Prophet and calling him Baldpate who saw nothing of him beyond those common infirmities that are incident to Human Nature and did not discern any thing of the Divine Spirit that was in him We do not blindly and implicitely acquiesce in any thing they say but we have a just Veneration for them and deserence to their Authority And if he could have produced any thing from them which had made against us we would have own'd he had gaind a great point But all the Citations he produces are only to prove that the things reveal'd under the Gospel were call'd Mysteries under the Law and That the Vail is taken away both which we allow Let him bring one Text out of the Bible or one Quotation out of the Fathers to prove that the Vail is taken away in the sence that we deny i. e. in respect of the true Nature and real Properties of those things which we call Mysteries For that it is taken away as to the Existence of those things and as to the Relation they have to us as to the intent and design of them we allow And this is a sufficient answer to all his Quotations if he brought a thousand more to the same purpose he hath don these However I shall consider them in particular And 1. He says Clemens Alexandrinus hath the same notion of Mysteries with him For he says the Christian Discipline was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Illumination because it brought hidden things to light Very true But not because it brought them so to light as to discover the real Nature and Properties of every thing reveal'd and give us as clear and distinct notions of all divine things as they are in themselves as we have even of sensible Objects Which this Man ridiculously contends for And this he would have seen if he had read but Ten Lines farther where he has this Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. By which he affirms the nature of God to be above all we can conceive or speak of him So that 't is plain the Father in direct opposition to this Scribler is of opinion that God is still Mysterious notwithstanding all the Revelations we have of him The whole drift of the former part of that 5th Book is to shew that the true nature of FAITH consists in giving our assent to the truth of things which we cannot know upon the Authority of God and to this he applies that Text of the Apostle 1. Cor. 2. 5 where he adviseth us that our Faith should not be founded on the Wisdom of Men who as he explains it pretend to make us know every thing we believe But on the Veracity of God who saves us by pure Faith without that Evidence of the thing it self which some Men require The Father 's own words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore he elegantly calls Faith the Ears of the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because by this we are dispos'd to listen to Discourses of those things which we cannot comprehend Not that he supposes we are ignorant of the meaning of any Proposition we believe and therefore he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no Knowledg without Faith noâ— Faith without Knowledg And he here makes a manifest difference between that Assent which is the immediate effect of Knowledg and that which is properly Faith And then asketh this Question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is so estranged from God so much an Infidell as not to believe him upon his word but require the same Evidence and clear Knowledg of the things reveal'd from God as he requires from men I answer This Man of unparallel'd Impudence who hath quoted this same 5th Book of his against himself and us to prove the quite contrary to what he thus positively asserts The next Father
all Faith both Human and Divine For thus he proceeds a man can believe nothing but what he knows and he knows nothing but what he comprehends and then he is said to comprehend a thing when he hath a clear and distinct Idea of it i e when it is as clear as a Mathematical Demonstration or as evident as what he sees with his Eyes for you know seeing's believing all the World over Having thus made it plain that Evidence is not the only ground of Perswasion I come now to consider his clear and distinct Idea's which he lays down as the ground of this Evidence This opinion carries a face of fairness and probability and insinuates it self by the common inclinations of men who are naturally averse to all restraint in thinking as well as acting and are as uneasy at any fetters upon their Mind as upon their Body They wou'd not willingly be oblig'd to give their assent to any thing but what they have clear distinct Idea's of and if it be not thus in the Christian Religion even well meaning people are apt to wish it were so Now because I design this Letter in answer not only to this Book but to all the opposers of Revelation and Mysteries upon the like principles of setting up for Reason and Evidence and clear and distinct notions of every thing they give their assent to I shall be very particular in the consideration of this point And I hope to make out plainly to them the deep deceit that lies at the bottom of all this and to convince them that God by requiring their assent to his Revelations doth as little violence to their mind as to their body and that he leaves their Reason as full a scope and as great a liberty in matters of Religion as in any thing else So that they will find us as great Sticklers for clear Idea's strict Reason and Evidence as they can be for their hearts These men speak much truth but make false inferences never considering the difference between these two propositions but confounding them in all their discourses Clear and distinct Idea's are the foundation of all our knowledge and assent which consider'd in a right sence is undoubtedly true But for that other which they make a consequence of it it is absolutely false viz. That we can believe nothing but what we have a clear and distinct Idea of For the clear conceptions we have of some things give us a confus'd and imperfect knowledge of others and it is upon the account of those things whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's that we give a firm assent to the existence of things whereof we have no Idea at all So that these two sayings widely differ as much as truth from falshood I can give no assent without clear and distinct Idea's And I must have a clear and distinct Idea of every thing I give my assent to Now because this is the fundamental error of all our quaint Reasoners agâ—inst Revelation and the fallacy wâ—â—â—â—by they impose upon others I shall express my self as distinctly and pâ—â—â—nly in this matter as I can But by the way we must observe thâ—â— since it appears undâ—niably from wâ—â—â— hath been said that Evidence is â—oâ—â—â—e only ground of Perswasion it is a direct and immediate consequence from thence that there is no necessity of having a clear and distinct Idea of what I give my assent to Not but that I allow there is a necessity of clear and distinct Idea's of some things to make us give our assent to others And therefore though Authority be a ground of Perswasion yet what this man wou'd insinuate doth not follow viz That therefore all it's Relations or any of them are to be receiv'd without Examen For all the Revelations of God admit of the strictest enquiry and severest search of our reason and it is this that enables us to distinguish them from the wild extravagancies of Enthusiast's and the delusions of the Devil It is by the help of this that I now shew the difference between his fallacies and the truth of God And in order to set them both in a clear light I shall six the signification of this most ambiguous word which he hath compell'd me to make so much use of for otherwise we shall but grope for truth in the dark What is meant by an Adaequate Idea is sure and fixt i e a full and comprehensive knowledg of any thing so as to know all that is knowable in it But how far short what men call a clear and distinct Idea comes of that adaequate conception of a thing is impossible to determine because our knowledge of things is varied almost in infinite degrees insomuch that perhaps we have not Idea's of any two things in nature that are equally clear and distinct And therefore to cut of all Metaphysical nicities and infist upon nothing but genuine Reason by a clear and distinct Idea as it relates to this controversy is signified as clear and distinct a conception as we ordinarily have of the things of this World For these are the two main things he contends for in his whole Book 1. That we have as clear and distinct Idea's of all things reveal'd to us in the Gospel as we have of the ordinary Phaenomena of Nature And 2. That we are oblig'd to give our assent to them no farther than we have clear and distinct Idea's of them In direct opposition to which I shall lay down these two propositions 1. That we are so far from having clear and distinct Idea's of those things of another World which are revealed to us that we have no proper or immediate Idea at all of them And 2. That though we have no proper or immediate Idea of those things yet we are bound to believe them and that our assent to them according to his own principle is founded upon clear and distinct Idea's 1. As to the first by a proper and immediate Idea I mean a conception or notion of the thing as it is in it self By a mediate or improper Idea I mean a notion we form of any thing in our Minds by Analogy or Similitude Whether this distinction hath been made use of or no I know not but sure I am 't is a very necessary one and of excellent use to set the bounds and measures of our knowledge and to lay open the true nature of our Christian Faith that we may clearly apprehend where Knowledge ends and Faith proceeds alone And I am perswaded a due observation of this distinction wo'd effectually put an end to all this controversie about mysteries Now what I say is this that we have no proper Idea's of the things of another World but frame to our selves conceptions of them from those things in this World whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's And to make this appear let us consider that there are but two ways of Gods revealing any thing to us either by giving
they find more reason to believe the truth of those things reveal'd in the Gospel than it is possible for them to have for what any Man says then I will allow them to be the only Men of Sence and that we are only soft and credulous fools 'T is every mans native Right and Priviledge to judg and examine every thing before he gives his assent to it and 't is this alone which distinguisheth our Christian Faith from blind Credulity because it admits of such enquiry For thô we have no notion of the things themselves yet we are sufficiently assur'd of the truth of them from those things we fully understand And the constant method of arguing in divine things is this from the things whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's we infer the existence of those things whereof we have no Idea at all As for instance in this Proposition This Corruptible shall put on Incorruption I have a clear and distinct Idea of what it is for a Body to corrupt and rot and likewise I know what an athletick habit of body is and for a person to have a firm constitution and to remain always in the utmost beauty and vigour of a blooming Youth which is the best Idea of Incorruption that I can frame to myself now And the reason I give my assent to this Proposition is not because I have any the least notion of that immutable state of perfection which a Body shall be rais'd to and which is here represented under the notion of Incorruption But because I have sufficient proof for the truth of it in this Type or Figure by which it is represented to me that it is possible for me to have i. e. the concurring testimonies of Prophecies Miracles and the Excellency of that Doctrine which they preach't who were made the instruments of revealing this to me And thus likewise thô we have no Idea of God as he is in himself yet we infer his Existence from those clear and distinct Ideas we have of the things of Nature which is the very meaning of the Apostle when he says All that was to be known of God was manifested in them for the invisible things of him from the creation of the World are cleerly seen being understood by the things that are made It was for want of some Idea of him as he is that made the Heathen World run into Idolatry and represent him under the similitude of some of the meanest of his Creatures And now by Revelation what we come to know more of him is that we can have no Idea at all of him as he is in himself and as it follows it is this will one day render all Infidels without excuse because thô they had no clear and distinct Ideas of the things of another World yet God did not leave them without sufficient proof of their existence nay greater than it was possible for them to have for any thing else From whence we see that there is an essential difference between Human and Divine Faith because the proof on which one is grounded is fallible and that of the other infallible and consequently a greater degree of knowledg in the one than in the other This is one reason of using these two words Faith and Knowledg so promiscuously in some places of the New Testament because our belief of a meer man is but a precarious assent but the Christian Faith may be called Knowledg in a more peculiar sence because we are obliged to believe nothing but what we have infallible prooffor Which again shews the falsity of that saying of his which he lays such a stress upon That Divine and Human Revelations do not differ in degrees oâ— perspicuity For where there is a greater degree of Knowledg there is a greater degree of Perspecuity but in the Christian Faith there is a greater degree of Knowledg Ergò And now we see plainly the error of those men who out of a mistaken zeal for the Mysteries of Christianity have set themselves to defend them by bringing them down to the level of a man and endeavour by thin spun notions to solve the greatest difficulties in them upon the Principles of Reason These are very rash and inconsiderate attempts and when all is done their failing in what they aim at is the best defence of our Christian Mysteries If we had not a determinate sence for the words wherein they are reveal'd they could be no Articles of Faith And if they cou'd be fully solv'd and explain'd they wou'd cease to be Mysteries This hath given the Enemies of our Religion a great advantage for when they find they are not to be throughly accounted for as indeed they are not upon the strength of Reason together with the assistance of that degree of Revelation we now have they utterly reject them as inconsistent with those powers of knowledge which God hath given us Never distinguishing between that part of a Mystery which we understand clearly and distinctly and will admit of the strictest enquiry of the morâ—sest Reasoner and the substance of the thing signified by it whereof we have no Idea at all and therefore nothing can be more absur'd than to raise any Disputes about it It wou'd certainly be very pleasant to hear two such quicksighted blind men as I spoke of dispute warmly concerning the nature of Light and how many seeming contradictions they wou'd start concerning it as How any thing cou'd be in every point of such a vast space in the same instant How it was possible for them to touch so many millions of Objects at once Since this was their chief way of distinguishing one thing from another c. and fall out about these imaginary difficulties irreconcilably Whereas upon supposition that it was reveal'd to them that there was such a thing which shou'd make them very happy some time or other when God shou'd open their eyes Their business was not to consider whether they were able clearly and distinctly to comprehend the nature of this thing but whether it were really reveal'd to them under the notion of such things whereof they had clear and Distinct Idea's If it were divinely reveal'd and they had sufficient testimonies for the reality and existence of it then they wou'd have sufficient reason to believe it without any clear and distinct Idea of the thing it self So that we take a wrong method against all the Opposers of Revelation and Mysteries when we go about to explain to them what is really inexplicable by us now many such prophane and impious Books as these have been the consequence of it We are neither able to apprehend any thing of these Mysteries nor if we knew them cou'd we explain them so as to make other people understand us 'T is the greatest Folly because it is impossible and the greatest Boldness because it is searching into what is hidden from us and all these elaborate Intricacies are but mischievous â—rifling And when Men talk so