or of the Mother in Conception It is by Virtue of the Word of God Increase and Multiply that there is any Generation at all and why may not the same Word give a power to the Soul to beget a Soul as well as to the Body to beget a Body The Word is spoken to Man as a Compound of Body and Soul and neither part is excepted Isaac was a compleat Man consisting of Body and Soul if Abraham begat only Isaac's Body he did not truely beget Isaac But you will say perhaps the Body is divisible and part of it may be separated and become another Body but the Soul does not consist of parts and so cannot be thought capable of producing another Soul I answer This is no difficulty for the Soul to be begotten does not consist of Parts has no Quantity or Bulk and so needs not a Bulky thing to spare a part to make it of Why may not the Soul the Immaterial and more Noble Part of Man by the Will of God be as capable of begetting a Soul as the Body the Bulky and more ignoble is for the Production of a Body Why must the Soul be thought capable of less in its kind than the Body in its kind Why may not Cogitation break forth into new Heads of Cogitation as well as Body sprout out into new Organical Bodies tho' we may be ignorant of the precise Manner of both But there is a second Opinion which possibly may be true whether the Soul be propgated or no and that is That every Son and Daughter of Adam is tempted and falls as soon as they are capable of choosing Good or Evil tho' not as their first Father with a forbidden Apple yet with many other forbidden things tho' how soon or precisely when they thus fall is uncertain That Children are for some time Innocent seems to some very probable not only because the Scripture in divers places speaks of them as not having done Good or Evil not knowing the right hand from the left not knowing to choose the Good and refuse the Evil not to have sinn'd after the Similitude of Adam 's Transgression c. but because it is not reasonable that Sin should be reckon'd where there is no Law and there can be no Law where there can be no Knowledge of a Law Had God not told Adam himself he should not eat of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge he could not have transgress'd in so doing And that all transgress and become Sinners is no wonder if Adam a Man in his perfect use of Reason having but one thing forbidden and but one immediate Tempter was so soon tempted and fell much more liable are they to fall who have not such a Capacity of discerning have many things forbidden many Tempters within and without yea and many Examples of Transgression the strongest Temptation and are thereby inured to those Actions before they can judge of them which when they are capable of knowing what they do become Sins and tho' they come to know such Actions are sinful Custom is as it were natural and not presently changed Moreover Children are not only tempted and taught to sin by Example but even by Precept from Parents from Nurses from Servants from Play-fellows c. to be Proud to Revenge to Lye to Covet to Steal c. so wretched a World is every Mother's Child brought forth into that there are none but the Son of the Blessed Virgin who was not only begotten by the special Operation of the Most High but was strong in Spirit and filled with Wisdom by the special Grace of God from his very Infancy I say there are none but he who have not fallen by divers Temptations Yea we are often falling even after Repentance and have every day need to renew our Repentance and come to the Throne of Grace for the Pardon of our Sins Now if every Man's Sin is his own and not anothers and no Man can justly suffer for anothers Sin much less can the Sins of Fallen Men be truely imputed or reckon'd to Jesus Christ As Christ is not really guilty of the Commission of any Sin or the Cause of any Man's Sins so it is impossible God should think he is or reckon him guilty Neither the Will of God nor of Christ can be in such an Untruth and Injustice Neither God nor Christ nor any but Sinners can charge Sin upon the Innocent or punish him for it Tho' Christ be said to bear the Sins of the Sinful it is not the Guilt of them because he is not guilty and God can't reckon him so nor the Punishment of them justly or from God but it is either meant he bears them away that is saves them from them by being an Effectual Means of bringing them to Obedience or that he with Patience and Compassion suffer'd under their sinful Actions and Miseries bore their Affronts Injuries Mockings Scourgings condemning and crucifying of him and was grieved at their Unhappiness in so doing Neither is Christ's Righteousness or any ones else truely imputed or reckon'd to others God cannot reckon or think Christ's being obedient is my obeying because it is not so or reckon any Man obedient till he is so because Christ is obedient If he could he would reckon amiss I cannot but admire at many who reckon themselves special Christians how they dare affirm that God reckons us guilty of Adam's Sin or Christ guilty of ours and punishes the one for the other notwithstanding God has declared the contrary saying The Father shall not bear the Iniquity of the Children nor the Children of the Father and that he will not clear the Guilty nor condemn the Innocent I believe the blind fancy of our Sins being imputed to and punish'd in Christ and Christ's Righteousness being transferred on us has been a means of transferring Righteousness and consequently Salvation from many a Soul 46. Another Fancy common among us and near of kin to this is That we are to be saved by the Merits of Christ and that he meriteth of God Life and Salvation for us c. The notion of Merit is this The Person meriting does something or other more than his Duty whereby he obligeth the Person he merits of to something or other as due and the Meritor so deserves that he ceaseth to be beholden for what is become by his Action due to him but it is a Debt that cannot be withholden without Injustice in the Person he merits of Now that it is a groundless Fancy that God should become indebted to Christ or to us for any thing Christ hath done or suffered will appear if we consider that it is impossible for any Creature to merit any thing of God for it self and if not for it self much less for another It cannot merit for it self because all that the Creature has or is except Sin it has from God and all the Acts of Obedience it can do are naturally due to God God can receive
THE Atheist turn'd Deist AND THE Deist turn'd Christian OR THE REASONABLENESS and UNION OF Natural and the True Christian Religion BY THO. EMES Chirurgo-Medicus LONDON Printed in the Year 1698. Speak every Man Truth with his Neighbour for we are Members of one another Eph. 4.25 AND So speak ye and so do ye as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty Jam. 2.12 ERRATA PAge 3. line 10. for certify read certifie L. 20. for Lier r. Lyar. P. 4. l. 26. for ll read all P. 6. l. last for unbeholding r. un-beholden P. 21. l. 20. for then r. than P. 22. for beholding r. beholden So P. 34. l. 34. P. 43. l. 36. r. Marriage-Constancy P. 45. l. 5. for countervaile r. countervale P. 84. l. 6. for God's r. Gods P. 95. after same add time P. 118. l. 26. blot and after David P. 181. l. 16. for they r. the before Oaths Some of the principal Heads of this Discourse under which divers other things are touched upon Numb 1. WHAT necessary to the End of Man Numb 2. Three Ways whereby we know Truth Numb 3. The nearest Way to prove the Being of God Numb 4. Self what The Necessity of supposing a Divine Being thence proved Numb 5. God knowable by Experience or Sense Numb 6. Self more largely considered and said to be Cogitation or Mind Numb 7. Objections against Cogitation's being the Essence of Self answered Numb 8. God considered more largely and as in himself or essential Attributes Numb 9. The common Notion of Omnipresence false Numb 10. God considered in relation to the Creatures negatively and positively Numb 11. Of the End of God's making things Numb 12. Man's Duty or Religion considered in general Numb 13. The same considered more particularly in Love to God Numb 14. And Love to his Works Numb 15. Love the Foundation of all orderly Behaviour No. 16. The Natural Reason and Sense of the Decâ—logue No. 17. The Goodness and Well-being of the Creaturâ— wherein it consists No. 18. The Ground of Vnhappiness No. 19. The true Notion of Sin and that Sin is a ways an Act and Original Sin as supposâ— distinct from Actual Sin a Mistake the triâ— Notion of it No. 20. The Fall of Man from Innocence naturalâ— known No. 21. The Aggravation or Greatness of Sins Diâ—order No. 22. How the Creature should behave it self on thâ— Conviction of Sin With the Natural Dutâ— of Repentance No. 23. Forgiveness with God apparently discoverabâ—â— by the Light of Nature No. 24. Why God made Creatures capable of Sin No. 25. Free will considered No. 26. What an Arbitrary Command of God and hoâ— reasonable No. 27. All the Commands of God tend to Mans Happiness or Pleasure Disobedience to the contrary neither Obedience nor Disobedience add to or take any thing from God No. 28. That the Creature having once sinn'd is more inclinable to go on sinning than to repent No. 29. Convicted Sinners at first unapt to believe that God will forgive No. 30. The Scope of all God's Dealings with Sinners in order to their Recovery No. 31. Immortality and a future Life discoverable by Reason what Death is and its use since Sin with Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul No. 32. The Resurrection of the Body rationally concluded No. 33. Future Judgment necessary No. 34. Man capable of Repentance and doing his Duty No. 35. The divers Motives and Arguments God has given Men to perswade them to repent and what the compleatest No. 36. Revelation chiefly for enforcing Natural Religion Divers Considerations about Revelation Miracles Faith c. No. 37. Of Christ and his Work No. 38. Of his Person No. 39. All that are saved saved the same way viz. by Christ No. 40. Scripture a Gift of God argued and the need of Revelation No. 41. Some things taught in the World as Doctrines of the Bible not tending to the true End and Scope of Revelation No. 42. As Mistakes about Reconciliation Christ's Death and Sacrifice Propitiation c. No. 43. About Satisfaction No. 44. Mistakes about Punishment God not to be thought the Cause of the Creatures Misery No. 45. Mistakes about Imputation of Sin and Righteousness No. 46. Mistakes about Merit No. 47. About Redemption No. 48. About Intercession No. 49. How the Mediation of Christ becomes â—â—fectual No. 50. Of the Doctrine of Fate or absolute Predestâ—â—nation No. 51. A Reflection on the present State of Christiâ—â—nity 1. THERE are Two Things necessary for Man in order to his attaining the End of his Being To know the Truth And to Will well Or in other words To be Wise and Good As for Knowing the Truth there are two Things wherein this Necessary Wisdom doth chiefly consist The Knowledge of God and the Knowledge of Ones Self And there is one thing wherein Man's Goodness doth consist and that is in the Conformity of his Will to the Will of his Maker to will as God wills The Order of our Knowledge of these two Objects God and Self seems to be this We begin to know our Selves as the Objects of which we are first aware and then we proceed to the Knowledge of God But the Connection of the Knowledg of God and of our Selves is such that we can never know our Selves well tell we arise to the Knowledge of God nor know God as we ought if we know but little of our Selves 2. There are but three Ways I conceive whereby we can have any Knowledge of God our Selves or any thing else 1. By Sense 2. By Reason Or 3. By Revelation By the Knowledge of Sense I do not mean only the Sensation or Perception of Bodies but also and rather the Experience Sense or Conscience we have of our own Thoughts or may have of others All those Notions we have as it were passively received without reasoning and which are as it were the Matter or Ground on which Reason works The second way of Knowledge Reason is the Faculty of arguing or discoursing with our Selves whereby from considering our passive Knowledges or Sensations we arise to get more full Knowledge of things and of what we had no immediate Sensation or Intuition and by getting the Knowledge of some things we proceed by Arguments and get the Knowledge and better Knowledge of others As by considering the Creatures especially our selves we may arise to the knowledge of God and then by considering our Maker we are led back again better to know our selves and from a better knowledge of our selves we get still the clearer knowledge of our Author The third way we may be made acquainted with God our selves or other things viz. Revelation is but as it were a compendious Assistance of the two former An express or particular Instruction from God telling the Creature in short what he would have been either ignorant of or not so soon or easily have known without such an immediate Teaching As for instance What God is and will be found to be what we are ought to
be and shall be hereafter But of this I shall speak more when the Order of my Discourse brings me to it again By the Knowledge of God and our selves which we may have these three ways we are rationally led or perswaded to will well by conforming our Wills to the Will of God The Knowledge of God howsoever attained may be divided into Two Heads First That he is or that there is a God Secondly What he is The Knowledge of our selves likewise will bear the same division The Knowledge of what God is may also be divided in two parts First What he is in himself Secondly What he is in relation to his Creatures 3. Now that we may find out and prove to our selves the Existence of a Divine Being or God let us descend into our selves the nearest step we can make and plainest way we can go and that which I here shall choose to take leaving those other more commonly traced paths and see what Arguments we can find within us for the being of a God yea by what necessity we are compell'd to acknowledge that he is First Every Man hath a Sense or Experience of the Reality of his own Being certain beyond all demonstration so that none can doubt of his own Existence or needs to have it proved and if any could here doubt that very doubting would certifi◠him that he hath a Being or is For if there be a Doubting an Enquiring a Supposing a Will to know c. there is something Actions and Passions cannot be without Being or where there is no Being of nothing nothing can be suppos'd affirm'd or denied So that it would be but time lost to go about to convince a Man of his own Being of which he cannot but be certain and what he cannot deny but he will at the same time affirm himself a wilful Lyer 4. We shall therefore consider in the next place so far as our present business in finding a Divine Being requires what we are And because I have but now made mention of Doubting and Considering and find Men so apt to doubt question and consider what we are as to our Essence or Being as well as of other things I say we are Doubters Questioners Considerers and Supposers But what is Doubting Questioning Supposing and Considering It is Thinking and that an imperfect Thinking Thinking that wants something in which we find an incompleat defective Understanding and a Will or Desire of something we have not Now where-ever is found any thing of Ignorance in the Understanding or any want of Power in the Will it appears that that Being cannot in any wise be thought to be of it self or self-sufficient but must consequentially be acknowledg'd to be dependent having some other Being its cause For he that finds himself insufficient to himself can in no wise be thought to be sufficient of himself He that not only wants something he may have but moreover cannot give himself what he wants is dependent on something else for some addition when a Being that is independant and self-sufficient in its Essence cannot be supposed to need another than its own Understanding and Will on any account We all find in our selves a want of Knowledge we know but a few things and we know but a little of those few things we know and moreover of those things we do know we come to the Knowledge of one after another so that we are sometime ignorant of what we afterwards know yea in all our Thoughts we find a constant succession of one Thought after another we cannot think of all we think together but we forget one thing while we consider another and we do not see it possible that it should ever be otherwise with us which Imperfection of the succession of Thoughts one after another in spiritual Natures or Minds is the notion of Time and that for which they are said to be in Time or Timous Beings and would be so if there were no motion of Bodies or Body at'll and while there is any Mind having this succession of Thoughts afore and after Time is and will be and that Mind in Time or Timous Notwithstanding the Fancy of those who talk of Souls going into Eternity or being eternal à parte post on the after half half eternal which is a whole Contradiction Now where there is a succession of Thoughts one after another there was a precedure of them one before another till we come to a first or beginning Thought which with us is past and what is past was present and future and what was future was not then in actual being the same must be said of Men or other things that are before one another as well as of Thoughts there must be a first and where a thing was not but only might be if it be or begin it must be begun and what is begun must have a Cause or be begun by another it cannot be its own efficient for so it would be suppos'd to be before it is which is a Contradiction Now if there be something that began to be as we must conclude of our selves there must be a Cause of our beginning which Cause did not begin to be for if it had it had been alike insufficient and it-self wanted a Cause and so must be caused and so we must run on tell we come to a first Cause which is sufficient and necessary of it-self always the same and this first Cause is God And as we find our selves from our imperfect Understandings and successive Thoughts necessitated to grant our selves caused and that the Cause of our Being must be sufficient of it-self or perfect if we come to the particular Consideration of our Wills we shall find two things there denoteing Imperfection and Insufficiency First Variableness Secondly Impotence As to the Variableness of Will we all find our Wills changeable sometimes willing one thing then another yea sometimes one thing then the contrary in which Variableness of Will is also seen a farther Imperfection of our Understanding For we will the thing which at the present appears best to us but what at one time seems good or best at another is not so in our Judgment but bad Now at one of these times the Judgment fails and errs Secondly We find the Impotence of our Wills in that we will things we cannot effect This every one is sensible of he that affects to be an Atheist himself We see a Defect in our Knowledge often we would know somethings we don't know and what we cannot cause our selves to know when we would likewise we would sometimes do the things we find we cannot do so we still find our selves insufficient so that there may be something added to our Knowledge nay we find there daily is which we at our pleasure cannot add and that there may be some increase of our power which we of our selves cannot cause How will this prove a God may the Atheist say I answer most evidently For
if we want something which we see we may possibly have and cannot at our pleasure have it we could much less have Being of our selves if we cannot know or do without being beholden to some other even things we may so come to know or do Want some other cause than our own Wills for a small addition to our Perfection we could much less have Being itself unbeholden to any other Again he that wants something he that knows but some things and can do but some things but may know and do more has but so much Knowledge and so much Power and may have more might have had less and less and consequently the least yea none at all and so no Being and where Being might have been wanting there cannot be Self-existence Moreover whoever is not the cause of all other Beings is not necessary to the Being of other things we are certain that there are other Beings besides our selves and we may be as sure that we are not the cause of their Being For we do not know our selves to be so nor experience our Production of them but whatever is the Cause of the other Beings cannot be suppos'd to be ignorant of its being so or to have produced them at unawares an act of Will being necessary to the effecting of a thing of which none can be ignorant Now if we are not necessary in order to the Being of other things but that they may be and are and that unbeholdâ—â—â— to us we are not absolutely necessary and if not necessary we might have wanted Being but we have Being we know by Experience or Conscience tho' we are such imperfect Beings such unnecessary Beings Now if we are and are not of our selves we must have Being from another and that other Being must be perfect necessary self-sufficient or it would be in-sufficient to give Being to me or any other and this perfect necessary self-sufficient Being is God 5. Again Besides the Consideration of our selves as in-sufficient Beings that of necessity must have a sufficient Cause which by Reason proves the Being of God There is another way whereby we may be certain of the same Truth which for some reason I omitted as Order requir'd to speak of first and that is a certain Sense or Experience of God which we may find in our selves if we will attend unto our own Thoughts Thus we find several things done in us which we do not nor can do we have Thoughts wherein we are merely passive as in Sensible Perceptions or Thoughts we have by the Occasion or Means of Body if we are not the cause of them as we may well conclude when we find we cannot alter them if we cannot but see and hear c. while the Organs are rightly dispos'd and that so and so and the Bodies that we have the Perceptions or Thoughts of cannot be the cause of those Thoughts being more imperfect and impotent than our own Minds having not so much as Wills or any power to effect Reality or cause Being but are caus'd themselves and cannot create Perceptions as we find our selves affected or sensible of those Thoughts we shall if we consider find our selves forced to acknowledge our Sensibility of the Cause of them If I see or hear and so suffer a Thought and am not the Cause of this Sensation nor can the Objects of these Sensations cause them in me there must be some Agent or Gause of this Passion and that can be none but God And as we believe God and he only is able to create or cause Thoughts or Perception in us by the means of other our fellow-Creatures and Thoughts or Perceptions of them so it is not less reasonable to think that he can cause Thoughts in us and apply an Object to our Understanding without the use of those means even by an immediate Act of his Will and present himself as the Object of our Understanding We may farther suppose God could have created one only Mind then that Mind must have had an Object besides it-self it being not self-sufficient and there being nothing else but God it must have thought on God and without any means God's immediate Will being sufficient which would have been a a Sense of God And that there are other Minds and other things besides Minds does not hinder but that God may cause a Sensation in the Mind immediately And some Persons perhaps of considerate Judgments will not think me far out of the way if I say I have known such immediate Sensations and think others have or may have the like Experience if they attend to their own Thoughts especially in divers Passions tending to the rectifying the disorderly Will where perhaps they cannot be said to be more sensible of any thing than of God's acting strongly upon them and that not barely in making Impressions on their Understandings and no more where they merely suffer the Objects but by those Impressions giving the clearest and mightiest Arguments to perswade and change their Volitions and better determine the Acts of their Wills their own proper Actions Again Every Man if he considers will find he has a Will as it were disproportionable to any thing in himself or in other Creatures a mighty Desire feeling as it were after something that can satisfie and fill it with a kind of Perfection of Satisfaction This boundless and unwearied Desire that cannot fill it-self with any imperfect thing must have another manner of Object and must have a Cause and none but that Cause can be the Object sufficient to satisfie it Whence could there be such a Desire if there were no Object suitable and if the Cause of this Desire had not made it to be satisfied or capable to be satisfied he had made it in vain but he is suppos'd perfect and so can do nothing in vain or to no purpose for so to do is an Imperfection Now if this Desire be to be satisfied when ever it is so it cannot be insensible or want Experience of its Satisfaction for so to suppose would be to suppose it not satisfied and none can satisfie it but its sufficient Cause that is God therefore there is possible yea sometimes actually in those who have been convinced of the Insufficiency of imperfect Beings a Perception or Thought and that a sensible one of God if Sensibility be not unduely confin'd to the Reception of those Thoughts we have by Occasion and Means of Body That all Bodily Nature is insufficient and must have a Cause or Beginning I need not urge when we our selves what-ever we are find our selves imperfect and so that we cannot be without one 6. We are come so far as by considering our selves as Imperfect or Insufficient Beings to find that we cannot be of our selves Uncaused but must of necessity have a Sufficient Cause which is all one as to say that there is a God our Author and in doing this we have also found in some measure what we are and
what He is I shall now go on to consider a little more largely both our selves and God as to what kind of Beings we are and what God may and must rationally be thought to be And as I say I shall consider and consider our selves first I say First We are Considerers What is Considering It is Thinking and he that considers or thinks seriously will find nothing which he can properly call Himself but Thinking or his Mind That Organick Frame or Body of a Man is not the Possessor of a Mind or the self-using a Mind but a thing the Mind or Cogitation uses that which saith I Me Mine is the Mind and nothing else And tho' Thinking is call'd by divers Names as Soul Mind Understanding Will Memory Conscience c. yet it is all the while but one thing Thinking The principal Diversity of which we can possibly make is but according to its divers Applications to its Objects which if well consider'd can be but two 1st Understanding 2d Will Or in other words Knowledge and Desire Under these two Heads or Divisions come all the Modes of Thinking The threefold Division of our Mind into Understanding Conscience and Will which some make and call the Threefoldness of a Creature is not Good but a Mistake for Conscience differs not from Understanding but in respect of the Objects Other things or Self for whether I know my own Thoughts or know any other thing it is Knowledge still the Understanding is understanding as much when apply'd to one Object as when apply'd to another Conscience is but another name for Understanding when apply'd to one's own Thoughts So Memory is but the Thinking again that we thought before of such or such a thing I need name no more any one may find who considers the matter that our Knowledge of things and the Acts of our Wills or our Desires about them are the two essential Parts or rather Modes or Properties we can make in any Mind and yet Knowing and Desiring or if you like better the words Understanding and Will what-ever the Object of either may be or the manner of their Application is still but one Thinking and my Thinking is one and the same Being whatever Mode or Object it hath and what I call my Mind or Soul my Self or Person So that Understanding and Will are essential to a Person or Intelligent Being this Duality and nothing else or but what is reduceable to these Where there is these there is a Person and what-ever is more or other than these is not of the Essence of a Person or Intelligent Being Those that make Understanding and Conscience two things in God consider'd in himself calling them two Modes or Relations or the like as some witty Men have done have not consider'd the matter closely For where there is nothing but God and nothing else is necessary and eternal his knowing himself or Conscience is the only necessary or essential Understanding there being no other Object So that to consider God as having necessarily or essentially an Understanding other and distinct from Reflection or Knowing himself is but to give him so no Understanding and comes to no Distinction at all That original Mind or Wisdom which some Wise Men of late talk of as something other than what they call Reflex Wisdom or God's Knowing himself considering God solitary and in himself is just no Wisdom his self being the only Object unless they perswade themselves that his thinking on Creatures is his Original Wisdom which I suppose they will hardly dare to do but this by the way Against this Notion That Thinking is the very Essence of the Mind or Soul the very Person or Self I find two principal Objections First That Thinking is not that which is real substantial or constant enough to be the Soul or Mind Secondly That it is but an Act and requires an Agent or an Attribute requiring a Subject which Agent or Subject is more likely to be the Soul or Mind To which first I answer That Thinking of any thing we can imagine is most real and constant for we may suppose Bodies not really existent but only in imagination and there is no notion we have of any thing but Body and Thinking wherefore we cannot honestly suppose any thing else but we cannot suppose Thinking to have no Being because while we suppose or think we are sure it is actually present we may suppose we might have been without the Ideas or Figure-thoughts of Bodies or any Thoughts that come by occasion of them as we find sometimes we are We may also suppose Bodies not to have been and yet we be they being not necessary Beings and if they had not been we must have always been without the Ideas of them For if we try we shall find it as hard as if we consider unreasonable to suppose that we can frame or stir up in our selves Thoughts of things that are not as that we can bring things into actual Being or Create the Creating of Perceptions of things I will call it being to be done by the same Power as the Creating of things themselves And we may suppose God himself being an Almighty Mind might have created Minds without Bodies the Notion of a Mind or Cogitation not necessarily including Body or quantity But to return As we find Thinking so real or truly existent that we experience its Existence when ever we consider it and cannot suppose any thing to be without supposing Self-existent Cogitation or Almighty Mind so as to the continual or perpetual Existence even of our Thinking I do not mean as apply'd to any one Object for it is variable and inconstant in that respect and as it is a Creature cannot be apply'd to many or all its Objects at once and yet it is still Thinking what-ever it is apply'd to As to its Continuation I say we know of no time since we began to think or have a Being wherein we did not think for what-ever we remember we remember we thought on Memory being but thinking over the same Thought with reflection on it and tho' we do not remember what we thought on at such or such a day or hour yet we are sure we then thought or were thinking To be short we are sure we continually think except in sleep say some which seems to be the chief Objection against continual Thinking To which I say we think always one Thought still following another Sleeping and Waking but we soon forget all those Thoughts that make no considerable Impression on our Wills or whereby we are very little affected In the continual Succession of Thoughts we experience when we are awake great numbers go as fast as they come without being dwelt on or repeated of those Objects that very little affect us and so are presently forgot and are as if they had not been or as if the Objects had not been in our Mind Besides as a great if not the greatest number of our Thoughts
it consequently follows he is sufficient for himself or self-existent tho' I were not And as I must necessarily suppose him because I could not be without him so he must necessarily be self-sufficient or existent tho' I should cease to be From the Consideration of God's being Self-sufficient it appears he is but one for if he be Sufficient another is not necessary and that which is not absolutely necessary or may be suppos'd not to be is not God If one be sufficient of himself another is to no purpose or not necessary one such Being must be suppos'd but there is no need to suppose another If God is one Self-sufficient Self-existent Being he is but one Self or Mind He cannot properly say I Thou and He of himself or of any thing in his Essence but always I nor can we say Thou and Thou or He and He of him if we speak properly and truly Again if he is necessarily Self sufficient he must consequently know himself and will or love himself desire himself be pleas'd and satisfied with himself with the Knowledge and Love of himself and so be a Thinking Being Mind or Person Other either Persons or Things therefore are not necessary to him who is satisfied with himself no not so much as in Imagination Notion or Thought nor needed he produce any of them From God's Knowing and Loving himself ariseth the Notion of the highest Wisdom and Goodness or that he is most Wise and most Good He that is necessarily Self-sufficient and so has more Reality or Being than all other Beings supposing them made must needs in knowing himself have the greatest as well as the only necessary Knowledge and in loving himself have the highest and only necessary Goodness For he that has most of Being most Perfection and Reality is the greatest Object of Knowledge and most desireable most to be loved and while he does not create the only Object of Knowledge and Desire And here ariseth the Notion of God's Essential Justice That he love himself and approve himself because he is most worthy it is most right and just that he love himself chiefly and only necessarily he is not so obliged to love his Creatures when he hath made them he cannot love them as himself because he knows they are not so good nor does he necessarily love them because they are not necessary to be From God's Self-sufficiency is seen also the Notion of his absolute Felicity or perfect Happiness or absolute Perfection admitting no increase or decrease for he that is enough to himself that needs seek nothing out of himself must needs be most happy Again He that is Self-sufficient necessarily so can suffer no Alteration nor can he cause any in himself and hence ariseth the Notion of Eternity an Attribute only belonging and essential to God the consideration of the manner of God's Being as having no Succession or Alteration but being still the same he does not think one thing now another thing anonforgeting one thing while he thinks another as Creatures do who are insufficient to be all they are at once but he is always compleat or sufficient has not something ceasing and another thing succeeding in his Essential Perfections From the Unity or Simplicity of God we are inform'd he is immaterial a Spiritual Being or Mind All the former Considerations imply God to be intelligent and voluntary that is Thinking Now Thinking and Body being two things wholly different the Notions of them being not at all the same God cannot be both if he is one simple or single Being Those that fancy Thinking and Body is the same or that Thinking is or may be some Mode of Body as some certain degree of Rarifaction or Motion would do excellently to certifie us just at how much distance the Particles of a Congeries of Matter must be or how fast they must be stir'd to the Production of Thought One Particle cannot be suppos'd to be rarified or less sollid than another and consequently cannot by Rarifaction attain Thought and how many of them must dance together to that end or what Jigg he would be a curious Master that should discover Till which is done we shall be confident that Knowing Perceiving Desiring or Loving are not Quantity Figure or Motion it being Nonsense to say a Pound or an Ell of Knowledge or Love but different names of the one thing Thinking And Quantity Figure and Motion are not Thinking but essential or belonging to Body so that Thinking and Body are two things Now as has been said God cannot be both these because they are two wholly different things and God is but one God cannot be Body because he knows himself and has no Ignorance in him Body knows not it self to speak improperly in calling it self If Body did know there is no reason why all Body should not know and we have the greatest reason to affirm some Body to be ignorant If God did not know himself he could not be happy wise or so much as intelligent Knowing is Thinking not Body or Quantity therefore God is a Mind and not a Body Father he is not a Mind and a Body for so he would be a Compound or Congeries of divers things or parts Again whatever consists of Body and Mind has some Imperfection and consequently is but a Creature God is all Perfect or Self-sufficient Body is not so much as a Person or Self God cannot be something besides himself or besides his Person Body is but a Thing Mind only and alone is a Person If God's Person Self or Mind is sufficient he is not Body also for Body is not necessary to the Consideration of Mind especially of Self-sufficient Mind nor is it necessary at all being imperfect therefore God neither is nor has a Body Besides God cannot be a Body or a Compound forwhat ever is so may have more or less Body may be more or less or otherwise in Figure or Motion God cannot be more or less or otherwise than he is The greatest or all Body may be suppos'd to receive an Addition and the least to cease to be But God as has been said can have no Alteration or Imperfection or unnecessary thing in his Being therefore Body can be nothing of his Being Finally Body is visible God is invisible Body is finite or so much and no more God is infinite or unbounded not in Extension but which is a better Notion of Infinity he is all Perfection to us incomprehensible for Quantity does not belong to God's Infinity So that to sum up all God consider'd in himself is the Self-sufficient or Self-existent necessary Mind knowing himself loving himself satisfied with himself the only necessary Being in whom is no Diversity or Composition or any thing but what may be supposed in mere Cogitation viz. all Perfect Understanding and Will 9. But if God be an all Perfect Being a meer Mind and not a Body or not so much as partly Body as I think is evident that
had a first and may have a last Nor can Fatherhood or Creatorship be thought an essential Attribute in God because whatever is in God's Nature is a necessary Perfection and he cannot be suppos'd to receive any such Perfection from the Effects he hath produced which he had not before which would be in effect to deny him to be a Self-sufficient Being Nor can we with any consideration say God might have made things sooner or later for when he did make then began the first moment there being no fore and after in God from which time could be named Now tho' the Attributes of Creator Cause or Father began with Time resulting from things related to God as Products and Effects there cannot be said to be any alteration in God or increase of his Perfections the things that are made are but the Images Pictures or Characters of his Perfections and he is not any thing more since he has painted out some of his Excellencies than he was before Nor can God be suppos'd ignorant for not knowing what is not mere not being is no Object of Knowledge God knowing himself only knew all when there was nothing else to know and knowing all that now is he can't be said to be ignorant for not knowing more than all yet we dare not say he cannot produce more Creatures when he alone was he knew himself the Original and Fountain of all Perfection and knew himself able to paint out or make Pictures of his Perfections and when he will'd them they were but before he will'd them to be they can't well be thought Objects of his Understanding Now tho' God may be suppos'd solitary or singlely in himself without any real relation without so much as the Thoughts of Creatures in himself the Creatures cannot possibly be suppos'd to be without supposing their relation to God as their Creator or Father As it is our experience that we are and that we find by consideration that God must be or we could not be it presently appears what he is to us viz. our Cause our Maker Producer or Father and consequently that he is our Owner Sovereign Lord and Ruler He that knows us perfectly both as to what he hath made us and what his Ends are in making us He cannot be suppos'd to make any thing of which he is ignorant in either of these respects he must also be suppos'd to have Will and Power yet Will and Power in God are properly but two words for the same thing and his Power or Will to make must be agreeable to his Wisdom or Knowledge how or what would best become him He could make nothing but what would be an agreeable Representation of himself fit for such a Being to make such as would represent him as he is and that must needs be good He could make nothing ill there could be no disorder in his Works It cannot be said that any thing might have been done better than he did it either as to the manner or end of being 11. The final Cause or End for which God made things if it be not Presumption to enquire seems to be no other than the Manifestation of his Wisdom and Power and the Communication of his Goodness to his Creatures for in respect to God there can be no final Cause God being all perfect and happy in himself that is Self sufficient there can no good or end come to him from any thing but we would rather say he acted as became him when he pleas'd to make Creatures and some of them such as were capable by considering themselves and other things they find to be made by the same power to acknowledge and admire him and to move one another to acknowledge and admire his Wisdom Goodness and Power so conspicuous in the curious and mighty System of the Creation and in so doing to be pleas'd or happy God being in himself absolute Goodness and so perfectly happy or pleas'd with himself was pleas'd to make Creatures capable of Happiness or Pleasure by the Communication of his Goodness who is not only good or perfect enough in himself to be altogether happy or pleas'd but his Goodness is also enough to make a world of Creatures happy or pleas'd also by having Him the Object of their Understanding and Will The Creature experiencing God's Wisdom Power and Goodness being duly affected with it and endeavouring to affect its Fellows is said to glorifie God not to make him glorious that is shewing forth Perfections but to see him such and be an Instrument to cause him to be seen such God being essentially Wise Good and Powerful that is Knowing and Loving himself and able to make Representations of his Excellencies if he please to make any things cannot but make them such as become him viz. good and for good that is such as are capable of being pleas'd with being what and how he hath made them and wills them to be that is Knowers and Lovers of him So that there appears in God as considered in relation to us chiefly Power in producing us Wisdom and Goodness as to the what and to what end he hath made us What God is and will be found to be to us considered as otherwise than he wills us may come to be considered better hereafter in another place nor shall we here enlarge these Considerations having laid them but as Foundations or Principles 12. We shall now come to consider what we ought to be or how we should behave our selves to God and for God's sake to one another And this Obligation is that which is properly call'd Religion Man having by considering himself found God or his own Cause having found what God is and does in himself and in relation to us what he has caus'd us to be who are nothing of our selves the great Question that concerns us is What we ought or what it becomes us to do And that is in short to exercise our Wills aright that is suitable to or becoming the Relation we stand in to God and one another so as becomes such Creatures of such a Creator We are sure he cannot be or act towards us but as becomes him that is best And that we may do this our Duty aright we ought first to seek God that is study to know him more and more that the regular Acts of our Wills may be stronger and stronger for the more truely and clearly we behold him the Object the more orderly and the more strongly will the Acts of our Wills be about him Now God being an absolutely perfect Being and consequently one who can have no Acts of Will but such as become himself or are pefectly good in relation to himself and his Works our willing suitably or orderly is determin'd and made such by the Conformity of our Wills to the Will of God willing as he wills we should Now to will what God wills us to will is the Essence Sum and Substance of all Religion I do not say
a more particular and express more clear and convincing Manifestation of God's Will a second Witness of the same Truths confirming what is testified by the natural Light of Reason which alone were enough to leave all without excuse who do not hearken to its Dictates and sufficient to lead all to the way of Obedience were it hearkened unto But Revelation being added dictating and enforcing in a manner plain and clear enough for any Capacity whatever is absolutely necessary for Man to believe and do in order to Happiness is enough to inform and convince any of their Duty that do not strongly resist For the clearing of which matter let us take these Considerations As God is the Fountain and Cause of all Truths so he is the Giver or Discoverer of all Truths that come within the reach of Created Understandings But he doth not make known things to his Creatures always the same way He hath given us Sense and Reason by which with his general and common Assistance we most commonly come to know things for some time unknown to us But whensoever it pleaseth God to discover some Truth in an express particular or extraordinary manner then there is that which we call Divine Revelation Now this Revelation may be considered two ways In relation to the thing made known And in relation to the Manner or Measure of the Manifestation But before we come to consider it these ways let it be noted that as we have said Revelation is some Truth discover'd or made known to the Creatures so we at the same must necessarily suppose it a Truth knowable to the created Understanding For to suppose a thing that is above our Understanding to be revealed to us is to suppose a Revelation and yet no Revelation whatever is made known to us we know and what we know is not above our Knowledge The Capacity of Man's Understanding we readily believe may be enlarged so that he may hereafter know what at present he is not capable of but till he is capable of knowing such or such a Truth or at least seeing it knowable it can be no Revelation to him As for instance None can pretend that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is revealed while it is that which is inconceivable That all the Properties wherein the Nature and Essence of Bread consists should remain and yet the Bread be changed into Flesh is that which is unintelligible and not a Revelation Nor can they well say that tho' the manner how this unseen Change can be is not revealed yet that it is indeed changed into Flesh and yet more strange the Flesh of Christ is revealed For how this Change can be conceived to be made and that it can be conceived to be made is the very same thing or at least as unintelligible Nay such a supposed Change is a Contradiction and a Contradiction can with the least reason of all be suppos'd a Revelation For Man is not only unable to know how it can be but is able to know yea clearly sees it is impossible to be With as good a pretence might a Man say that tho' to any Man's Understanding two and one make three yet God has revealed to him that in God's Understanding two and one is but one or is nine or what you please But as to Divine Revelation it may be as I said considered either as to the Thing revealed or the Manner of the Revelation As to the Thing revealed it may be either that which is or can be known no other way viz. a Truth God has reserved to such his Peculiar Teaching or that which might be known without Revelation but not so clearly easily or soon and in both it may be of a Truth past present or to come As to the Manner of Revelation a Truth may be communicated either immediately to the Understanding supposing only that it is God's special Will that I or he thus immediately know such or such a Truth we knew not before or yet to the Understanding mediately by the Ministry of some superiour Intelligent Creature that God first made know the thing or yet still more mediately a Truth may be made known in way of Revelation even by our very Senses by means of some Bodily Object as a Voice Vision or the like Again as to the Manner of Revelation it may be more general or particular more partial or full or in other words fewer or more Truths may be thus made known at the same time Now that God can and may in a particular and express manner make a Truth known to his Creature or to one and another and yet not to the third or to every one that he may give a Revelation to some immediately and command them to tell it others none but those that disbelieve the Power Goodness and Sovereignty of God can deny It cannot rationally be suppos'd but that the Author of Truths can make a Truth known He who has made Creatures sensible and capable of Reasoning and finding out Truths by way of Induction and Argument may if he please sometimes give Men the Knowledge of some Truths a nearer and easier way or cause them to understand Truths not knowable by Sense and Reason alone and this immediately to whom he pleaseth and to others by them Creatures that can come to the Knowledge of many things by their own Industry or Application of Thought may either know the same things or things they would never have found out so by a special Instruction As a Man unassisted by a Master may find out many things in Arts but by the Instruction of a skilful Artist he may come to know the same and more and in far less time than he could have known without such a Teacher Now it cannot be thought unbecoming the Wisdom and Goodness of God or unsuitable or unnecessary for the present Condition of Mankind if we consider it that God should have had some special Scholars of his own particular instructing and have commanded them to teach other Men in things most profitable and necessary to them or that he should have sent some particular Messengers to the rest of Mankind to teach his Will to those that through their own Negligence or others Hinderance knew it not or to teach it more clearly and fully to those that knew it but in part and to urge it upon all that were negligent to do it That God may do thus I think is now undoubted That he has done so seems to me the only thing needs farther to be proved to any rational Man And that we may rationally be perswaded that God has thus instructed or sent some particular Men either to teach others or urge them to do their known Duty let us take these Considerations It is most evident to all those who have took notice of the Actions of Mankind conveighed by the most unquestionable Tradition from Generation to Generation that now and then in the Ages of this World there have been some
Men teaching and perswading others things which when duly considered will be found Truths tending to their Good and some of these have declar'd themselves sent of God and commanded to teach and perswade the things they have taught and perswaded Now suppose some of them have not had the things they taught in this Special Manner immediately from God yet they are Revelations to those to whom they were before unknown tho' not properly Divine Ones as to the manner of their Discovery But yet if the Persons were really sent by God's express and special Command to teach Men even what they might have found out themselves nevertheless that such a Person was thus sent of God is a Divine Revelation and a high Argument to perswade Compliance with the things taught But if they have received the Truths from God in this extraordinary special and particular Manner and been expresly sent and commanded to teach and enforce them there is all that can be desired to a Divine Revelation We have two things here principally to be satisfied in First Whether the Person teaching Men was thus particularly taught of God Secondly Whether he was expresly commanded of God to teach either this his expresly received Divine Doctrine or what he otherwise knew That the things are of God we cannot doubt if they appear when declar'd with Evidence and Demonstration God being the Author and Fountain of all Truths That the things are Revelations we cannot doubt if they are such as were not knowable or could not then be known any other way As for instance If the Person tells us or brings to remembrance some things past and forgotten that were never committed either to written or unwritten Tradition or if he gives us the Knowledge of things present done at a distance which he could not know any ordinary way or such things to come which can be fore-known to none but God who is incomprehensible in Knowledge and to whom he is pleas'd to reveal them That the Person was sent of God we may be perswaded partly by the things he declares appearing thus to be Revelations partly by their being such as were good very necessary and beneficial to be known or done by the Persons to whom he declares himself sent But fully and sufficiently if some extraordinary Effect is also produced by means of the Person such as never is done or at least could be done by him without the special and uncommon Operation of the Divine Power or the Finger of God such as we call a Miracle When such Effects accompany Persons asserting themselves sent of God to teach and exhort Men things in themselves shewing no Repugnancy to Truth there can be no more rational Doubt of them or of the Authority and Divine Mission of the Persons God cannot be suppos'd to alter the common order of things in his Creatures in Concurrence to perswade a Lye or to give his Special Testimony to any Deceiver But yet here we had need use our Reason and have some skill to judge of and distinguish a True Miracle from a False one that we may be certain of the Matter of Fact For there have perhaps been more Pretences to Miracles or False and Lying Wonders than True ones Now that I may a little help those who have not so well consider'd this Matter I shall lay down a few more Considerations of the nature of a Miracle before I come to consider how these things may be apply'd particularly to the Book commonly call'd the Holy Scripture A Miracle negatively is not a Contradiction in nature or any thing that implyeth a Contradiction Absurdity or absolute Impossibility as that a thing should be made to be and not to be so and so and not so and so at the same time That which the Understanding of Man can no ways apprehend but as absurd or impossible can neither be pretended as a Miracle nor could it so be would it ever have the end of a Miracle As for instance That a certain Saint beheaded should afterwards carry his Head in his Mouth for some miles or that the Body of Christ should be in divers places at the same time Nor can the Almighty Power of God be any pretence for the Belief of such Absurdies for Things or Truths are the Products and Subjects of Divine Power and not Contradictions Again A Miracle is not a Fallacy or Deception of Mens Senses or Understanding for a Deceit hath the nature of a Lye and is not likely to come from the God of Truth Nor is a Miracle a thing done by the Power or Art of the Man howsoever great or strange any Man's Power or Art may be to others that are weak or ignorant Nor is a Miracle any more in the Will of Man than in his Power or Skill the Time or Subject for a Miracle is not determin'd by Man's vain Will to satisfie Curiosity or unnecessary Desires but is generally wrought upon serious and weighty Occasions nor is God's Will so properly said to concur with Man's Will when Man would work a Miracle as Man's Will to concur with God's Will when God pleases and sees fit to work one But a Miracle is an extraordinary Effect or Alteration in Nature wrought by the Will of God above the Power and Art of Man at least of him who is the Instrument of effecting it in the way it was effected A thing done by the Special and Uncommon Operation of the Divine Power The end of a Miracle is the Confirmation of some Revelation or Truth as from God to promote some considerable Good no less than to perswade Sinners to repent or will as God wills or to confirm them that so do in their well-willing And where-ever there is said to be a Miracle that tends not to this end it ought to be suspected and will be found upon serious Examination to be but a Pretence and no real Miracle But now to come a little nearer to Matters of Fact that we may be perswaded that there have indeed been Divine Revelations and some Persons sent to declare the Will of God to others and the Truth of their Mission and of the things declared confirm'd by Miracles we need no more but seriously read and consider the Books of Moses and the Prophets and especially the Writings of the Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ In the Reading and Consideration of which Books if these two things appear I think there is enough to satisfie any rational Man in this matter First That the things related as taught perswaded and done agree with the most rational and crittical Account of Divine Revelations and Miracles Secondly That the History it self be undoubtedly true Let us consider both these as briefly as we can In the first place there is to be considered in the Scripture the Doctrinal or Instructive Part which teacheth for a foundation That there is one Most high Sufficient Being or God And that he is the Author and Continuer and consequently Sovereign
Lord of all other Beings That at his Word the Heavens and the Earth and all things in them were made and are upheld That he is Good Wise Just True Benign or Merciful c. Besides this Instruction what God is it teacheth us what we are viz. Sinful wretched Fallen Creatures that can have no Good or Happiness in our selves It informs us how we should behave our selves towards God viz. as Dependent things and that we should love him obey him fear to do any thing contrary to his Will trust him or believe him c. and how we should carry it to one another viz. to do as we would be done by that is every one to confer as he is capable towards another's Happiness Having propos'd things to the Understanding Secondly It addeth the Perswasive Part to the Will moving us to behave our selves suitably in the Actings of our Wills to such Truths known by setting before us Good or Evil Profit or Disprofit Pleasure or Displeasure Seemliness or Unseemliness accompanying or consequent on our orderly or disorderly Behaviour Now these things propos'd and urged in these Books as the main Scope and Design of them appear to be of God as they come with evidence of Truth and Goodness such as are agreeable to the Reason of a considerate Man and are seen proper and convenient for the Creatures Will to comply with things beseeming the all-perfect Being to teach and command convenient and profitable for the Creature to learn and obey Which if we consider with our selves and compare with what has been said in the former part of this Book will appear to be the very same Principles and Practice of that we call Natural or Rational Religion which is knowable by the Light of Nature to all Mankind But that these same things may and how far they may be call'd Revelations will appear by considering the Times and Circumstances and Manners of their Delivery Thus if when Men had given up themselves chiefly to the Consideration of sensual Objects and bent their Wills to the disorderly Satisfaction of their Bodily Appetites neglected the due Consideration of their Author and the End of their Being Began to fancy God too much like themselves Had low mean gross Conceptions of him and too high Conceits of Creatures Confounded the Properties of God with those of his Works Gave Divine Honour to Men or any thing they fancied excellent or useful Made Bodily Representations of God and as some represented him by one thing some by another their various and disagreeing Images could not be reconciled so as to be taken all so different for Images of one and the same Being but they began to fancy as many Gods as their differing Conceits had made Images So that Divine Nature was mistaken even as to number uncertain without end And even those who by long Instructions had been brought again to the Belief and Worship of but One God had so far mistaken his Will as to fancy their good Behaviour to him consisted in external Ceremonies supposing that he would be affected with the Slaying of Beasts and pleas'd with a Custom of little Observances as wearing of odd fashion'd Garments keeping of certain Days using divers Gestures c. when at the same time they neglected Justice Judgment Mercy Truth Goodness c. grew corrupt and unreasonable in their Actions even to one another had brought themselves into divers present Miseries and laid a foundation for future Unhappiness to themselves after this Life and to their Posterity yea lived as if they believed there was no future Life If then in such times of Ignorance and Corruption God sent or particularly instructed and sent some one or more to the rest expresly to teach the Truth and command his Will here was a Revelation and a time for the Goodness of God to shew it self in supplying the necessity of blind miserable Sinners when nothing could be more profitable for Man or becoming God than such gracious Discoveries But if these Men also declar'd some things that could not be otherwise known to them than by Divine Inspiration as certain future Events If there accompanied them a Supernatural Power effecting things could no otherwise at least by them be effected here is enough to be call'd Divine Revelation and Miracles And there can no more Scruple remain if we can but be perswaded to believe that the History of the Bible it self is true which is the Second thing to be consisidered And in order to which I think it not unnecessary to lay down some general Considerations about Faith as following Faith is an Assent to a thing as a Truth on the Word of another which we our selves don 't know or see according to that compleat Diffinition thereof Heb. 11.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence of things not seen or known for Knowledge leaves no room for Faith any more than it does for Hope which is the Desire of what we only believe will be Faith being its only Basis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the foundation or ground of things hoped for for where we have no Faith of the real Futurity of a thing there Hope has no ground But Faith if it hath its due Circumstances it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Convictive Argument And tho' Faith and Knowledge are so different that we can no longer properly say we believe a thing when once we can say we know it yet Faith if right is as near to Knowledge as that which is not Knowledge can be and far from that doubtful Supposition call'd Opinion That which is to be believed or assented to as a Truth on anothers Word is either First an Assertion or Affirmation that such or such a thing was is or will be Or Secondly a Promise when the Person on whose Word we rely for the real Futurity of the thing makes us expect it from him as the Cause Now that Faith may be as it ought an Assent indeed to a Truth tho' we don't know it and not the believing a Lye these things we ought to be certain in First that the Person that hath asserted or promised the thing we are to take for a Truth could know it or were not lyable himself to be deceived or can or will be able to do it it being in his power Secondly that he be Trusty or one that will not deceive us As to the Knowledge and Power of the Person that we may be sure he could or might know the thing or can or will be able to do it we must see that the thing is in it self knowable or that it may possibly be a Truth for that which I see absurd contradictory or absolutely impossible to be suppos'd I can never well believe on any one's Word nor could I do so would it be of any use to me Whatever I am to believe must at least seem possible to be a Truth for nothing else can challenge my Faith or be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉