excell'd in humane Knowledge Moses that man of God was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians Acts 7.22 which was an ornament to him and fitted him for his imployment Paul that great Apostle was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel Acts 22.3 and did abound in humane Knowledge and Learning though he counted it loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Phil. 3.8 And the most eminent Instruments for God in his Church since the times of the Apostles have been men of great Reason and Learning as Athanasius Basil Jerome Cyprian Augustine Luther Melancton Pucer Calvin Jewel Reynolds c. Secondly The Penmen of holy Scripture make use of it in that accurate method those figurative Expressions Rhetorical Proprieties of words insinuating Proems and rational Argumentations which we meet with in the Bible The Apostle Paul deduceth an Inference from a common principle of Philosophy Acts 17.28 29. and quotes the sayings of some Heathen Writers Thirdly Secular Learning Reason and Knowledge being sanctified by the Spirit of God helps a man to understand the Grammatical literal sence which is the true sence of the Scriptures We meet with Physicks in Genesis with Ethicks in the Proverbs and with many Allusions in other parts of Scripture to the nature of Beasts and Birds and likewise with Allusions to the Customs of the Babylonians Jews Persians Romans therefore the knowledge of the Histories of those Nations and their Governments are very useful Fourthly The knowledge of the times by the Olympiads and other wayes of computation wherein humane Authors minister much light is necessary in an ordinary way for the right understanding of Scripture Chronology and the Prophesies of Daniel and the Revelation as appears by the Writings of learned Mede and others Fifthly The knowledge of the Original tongues Hebrew and Greek in which the sacred Scriptures were first penned doth greatly help us to understand the right sense of Scripture wherein there are some Texts which cannot be so fully and emphatically rendered in any vulgar Translation And yet we do not say that this knowledge is absolutely necessary in a Preacher of the Gospel for Augustine himself one of the most eminent amongst the Fathers had but little skill in the Greek tongue and none at all in the Hebrew And so it hath been with divers godly painful Ministers from time to time whose faithful labours notwithstanding God hath blessed with great success Sixthly Humane Learning and Reason is profitable and useful for instructing and convincing Pagans and Heathens who do not yet acknowledge the Christian Faith and divine Authority of the Scriptures Thus divers of the Ancient Fathers as Tertullian Origen Lactantius Basil Cyril Augustine c. confuted the learned Heathen Philosophers out of their own Writings as David killed Goliah with his own Sword And in latter times Aquinas Grotius Morney and others have most learnedly and excellently improved the true sayings of the Heathen Philosophers against themselves and have demonstrated the verity and reasonableness of the Christian Religion which is also endeavoured in this Treatise Seventhly Granting the Scripture to be the infallible Word of God as it is generally acknowledged all Christians we ought to exercise our Reason in searching these sacred Books looking into the Grammar of the Scripture or the forms of expression to find out the truth of them and having an eye to the Logick of the Scripture to the scope context and consent thereof comparing Scripture with Scripture and interpreting the more obscure places by the clearer according to the Analogy of Faith that so we may be able to discern and judge of things that differ Ephes 5.17 1 Thes 5.21 Acts 17.11 Heb. 5.14 which is the duty of every true Christian as hath been proved in the twelfth Chapter of this Treatise In which respect we hold that there is a very good use of Reason (w) Haec autem exploratio atque examinatio doctrinarum fieri non potest nisi adhibito rationis judicio quae judicat de veritate consequentiarum per sua principia de veritate rerum non innitendo principiis sibi notis extra verbum Dei sed in Scriptura sacra traditis B. Daven in Coll. 2. 8. so far are we from teaching that men in searching into the meaning of the Scriptures must become either Fools or Mad-men or Enthusiasts Eighthly and lastly We acknowledge that the Light of Nature and Reason is necessary both in religious and moral things as it is seated in man every man that comes into the world being enlightened by the God of Nature John 1.9 And this Light of Nature and Reason is necessary in two respects First As a passive qualification of the subject for Faith and Repentance for there cannot be Faith and Repentance in a Stone or Beast that wants the Principle of Reason this makes man in a passive capacity fit for Grace although he hath no active ability for it And then secondly It is necessary by way of an Instrument for we cannot believe or apprehend Christ unless we have a principle of Reason in us it being without controversie that an act of understanding or knowledge doth alwayes accompany true Faith Through Faith saith the Apostle Heb. 11.3 we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God CHAP. XXII Wherein humane Reason comes far short and is abused in reference to Divine things HAving in the Chapter immediately going before mentioned divers particulars wherein humane Reason and knowledge is serviceable to the interest of Christianity we shall now in the last place tell you particularly and plainly wherein humane Reason and Knowledge comes far short in matters divine and supernatural summing up in a little room what hath been more largely set forth on this subject both in this and other Treatises * The defects that are in mans Reason First then the great Mystery of the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God and Justification of Sinners by his Righteousness cannot be found out by the Light of Nature and Reason it never entered into the heart of a natural man to conceive of them but these things are of meer supernatural revelation 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Though it be true that when through Faith we have believed them Reason will also subscribe to the truth of them as being revealed by the God of truth who cannot lye yet all the Reason of Men and Angels could never have found out nor come to the knowledge of these Mysteries if God himself had not revealed them There are some Articles of our Faith that are both believed and taken up by Reason as namely that there is a God that the World was created by him and that the soul of man is immortal but then there are other Articles of our Faith which are only believed as the mystery of the Trinity the Incarnation of Christ c. which our weak reason cannot take up or apprehend There is a wonderful depth in the mysteries of the
lay aside his Reason and understanding and to be wholly concluded by humane Authority and the names of men in matters of faith As in other points the Church of Rome which is made up of lyes and contradictions would impose upon us as if we had neither Sense nor Reason in us so more especially in the point of Transubstantiation and the corporal carnal presence of Christ in the Sacrament which is against Sense against Reason and against Faith First It is against Sense now of all demonstrations amongst men whereby we prove things of this kind nothing is more firm then that which is taken from Sense 'T is an undoubted truth in Divinity that in all matters of Sense Sense is a compleat Judge understanding it of objects proper and peculiar to Sense otherwise we say the Eye is not able to judge of Sounds nor the Ear of Colours Thus Christ when he would prove that he had a true and real Body he sends his Disciples to their Senses a Spirit hath not flesh and blood as you see me have Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my Side In turning water into wine Sense might easily judge of the change you would think it a strange and incredible thing if Christ should have come to to the Master of the Feast requiring him to believe it was wine though he saw and tasted nothing but water or if God should have said thus to Moses well thou seest nothing but a Rod yet thou must believe notwithstanding that it is changed and is really a Serpent so in this case of the Sacrament when all the Senses tell us it is Bread which we see and touch and taste why should any man be so foolish and vain as to say with the Papists that the Bread ceaseth to be truly Bread and is Transubstantiated into the very Body of Christ Again Secondly As this Doctrine is against Sense so it is against Reason namely that Christ should be in Heaven and have but one Body and yet at the same have Ten Thousand Bodies on Earth that his Body should be a true Body as ours is and yet without Circumscription and other inseparable properties of a true Body that the substance of Bread should be abolished so as it shall remain no longer Bread and yet we find the very quantity taste whiteness substance and nourishing vertue of Bread If you ask them after all this whether it doth nourish the Body or no they will tell you with impudence enough if they be true to their own principles that it doth not nourish quite contrary to Reason and experience This monstruous opinion of theirs is so irrational and absurd that the most learned amongst them are puzled and not satisfied therewith but leave it as a miracle I have taken some pains saith a learned judicious man in his late Sermon against Popery to consider other Religions that have been in the world and I must freely declare that I never yet in any of them met with any Article or Proposition imposed upon the belief of men half so unreasonable and hard to be believed as this point of Transubstantiation is Thirdly As it is against Sense and Reason so it is against Faith which though it be beyond Sense or Reason yet it is not contrary thereunto Sense and Reason are Gods works as well as Grace and Faith Now one work of God doth not destroy another for if so this would argue imperfection in the workman faith feeds on Christ spiritually in the Sacrament being the evidence of things not seen now if Christ be corporally present in the Sacrament what need the receiver feed on him spiritually by faith as being absent what need he do this in rememberance of him till he come let us in this and other things shew our selves men and not Beasts let us make a right use of our Senses and of that Reason which God hath bestowed upon us 'T is we that believe and act in matters of Religion whoever requires the same of us these are our Acts if therefore we will shew our selves to be men endued with Reason and understanding we must examine what is propounded and offered to us that so we may assent or dissent upon judicious grounds we are men and should do things as men we are Christians and should do things as Christians Blind faith and blind obedience should be utterly Banished out of Christian Assemblies nor should we pin our faith upon any man or company of men be they never so Godly and learned for this were to wrong God and to set man in his Throne and attribute that to man which is proper to God alone Hereby also we exceedingly prejudice and wrong our own Souls and are in danger of Apostacie when we adhere to an opinion or way of which we are not rationally and knowingly perswaded that it is the way of God what is this else but to comply with a way or party out of faction and partiality not out of Judgment and Conscience which therefore cannot have any true Consistence or constancy in it They rather bring their feet then their hearts into a way of Religion that adhere to it without due tryal and examination Herein we should use our own eyes and judgments and not wholly trust to others Herein we should diligently exercise our own Reason if we will judiciously and profitably receive the truths of God not that we should judge of the highest Gospel mysteries according to natural corrupt Reason but yet we should make use of our own understandings and judgments being enlightned by the Spirit and word of God in comparing one thing with another that so our faith and knowledge may not be fluctuating and uncertain but steady and stable It will perhaps be objected that if every man may judge in matters of Religion according to his Reason then so many men so many minds which will breed endless confusion every man pretends to Reason and one man thinks his Reason to be as good or better than another mans and so according to this opinion there shall be no order no settlement in the Church I confess there is much danger on this hand especially where people are running headlong into confusion and will not submit to Ecclesiastical order and government yet this should not make men throw away their Reason and believe with an Implicite faith only as the Church believes In things of this nature there is a twofold judgment a judgment in foro externo or publico and a judgment in foro interno or privato The former of these is an Authoritative judgment belonging to Christian Synods and Counsels duly and lawfully assembled where the Christian Magistrate presides such Counsels debating and determining matters in difference either as to doctrine or practice have been of excellent use from time to time in the Church of God But besides this there is belonging to every Christian a judgment of discretion or discerning a rational self directive judgment in the
far thy inferiour So may our Reason say to the blessed Word of God I am far inferiour to thee and have need to be regulated and reformed by thee and comest thou to me No no it is my greatest honour to submit my self to thee and thy Divine Authority Thirdly Upon this ground also mans Reason is denyed to be the Rule and Judge in matters of Faith because one man cannot prove infallibly to another man that his Reason is the right Reason in such a case He pretends Reason so do I A third man comes and pretends to as much Reason as either of us and experience shews that divers men yea good men have different Reasons and different apprehensions in many points of Religion Nor can a man be certain that this or that is the true meaning of a Text if he have nothing to assure him thereof but the appearance and probability of his own Reason for others that differ from him think they have and may really have as much or more Reason on their side then he Indeed if we compare our own Reason with the Reason and Authority of other men which have decreed thus and thus then must we give the preheminence to our own Reason when a clearer evidence is propounded and presented to our Reason for every one is to judge for himself with a judgment of discretion and discerning as hath been formerly proved and 't is unreasonable and absurd for a man to assent to a lesser evidence when a clearer evidence is propounded to him 'T is true there are not many that are well able to judge for themselves in the Controversies of Religion and therefore God hath provided spiritual Guides and Shepherds to go before them and help them but yet Christians must not resign up their wits and senses to follow them where-ever they go if they would lead us blindfold we should not put out our eyes to follow them but should rationally and impartially weigh and consider the grounds of their doctrine and practice Doth such a godly learned man tell you that this is firm ground you may go safe upon it And do you see it to be so by the eye of your Reason enlightened by the Spirit of God Then you may follow him as a man of judgment and understanding and not like a beast that is led he knows not whither and herein you have the advantage of his Reason and of your own too CHAP. XVI Of the difference between the meer rational and spiritual men and their knowledge and acts about spiritual things THe light of Reason should be made use of and improved by every Christian in searching the Scriptures and trying Spirits and Doctrines yet so as we must not confound the principles knowledge and operations of the natural man or meer rational man with the principles knowledge and operations of the spiritual man There is a twofold knowledge of spiritual things a natural or rational knowledge and a spiritual and supernatural knowledge The former is but Historical as when a man reads of such a Country in a History or sees it only in a Map at a great distance but was never there himself to take a full view of it and report the things that are there of his own certain knowledge The latter kind of knowledge is intuitive or a knowledge of spiritual vision beholding the things themselves in the light of Gods Spirit distinctly and at hand No Creature or created thing can go beyond its sphere or comprehend that which is beyond its capacity The vegetative creature cannot reach so far as the sensitive nor the sensitive so far as the rational nor can the meer rational creature comprehend that which the spiritual man doth Such as are alive to God and have spiritual union and conjunction with Christ the second Adam the quickening Spirit live and act from a higher principle and in another kind then meer natural or rational men do The soul of the natural man acts his body and the more he improves the light of reason the more rational and considerate he is in his actings and operations But the soul of the spiritual man is under the power of Gods Spirit and the glorious operations thereof and as far as Gods Spirit is above the spirit of man so far is the life of Grace or the life of the spiritual man above that of Nature 'T is true saith Luther (o) Luth. Com. on Gal. cap. 2. v. 20. that I live in the flesh but this life whatever it is I esteem as no life for indeed it is no true life but a shadow of life under that which another liveth that is to say Christ who is my true spiritual life which life thou seest not but only hearest and I feel as thou hearest the wind but knowest not from whence it comes or whither it goes even so thou seest me speaking eating walking sleeping and doing other things as other men do and yet thou seest not my true life This spiritual life which far transcends the meer natural or rational life must be discerned spiritually the spiritual man hath a white stone in which his name is written which none can read but himself He is the Son of God an Heir of Heaven therefore the world knows him not even as we know not the Sons of Princes were they amongst us who dwell in Countreys far remote from us but his life which now is hid with Christ in God shall fully appear when Christ appears in glory Col. 3.3 4. First Then the spiritual man hath Christ formed in him by the holy Ghost Christ is in him the hope of glory and he lives the life of Christ which a meer rational man doth not there is a spiritual supernatural principle or ability planted in him which still remains and abides and which differs much from natural habits for these are partly and sometimes wholly acquired by use and frequent practise whereas this spiritual principle is not gotten or acquired but infused nor can it be utterly lost as natural habits may but abides for ever John 14.16 Sometimes 't is called the Seed of God which shall grow up to perfection 1 John 3.9 Sometimes a Fountain yielding continual supplies of Grace John 4.14 sometimes from the Author from whom it is derived 't is called the life of Christ 2 Cor. 4.10 11. and sometimes the new birth or being regenerated and born again John 3.5 7. Doubtless it is a most powerful spiritual principle which raiseth and elevateth the soul far above natural strength and reason Those Creatures that have no higher principles and faculties then sense use them sensually but as for man who enjoyes the fame faculties under the command of a reasonable Soul he useth them rationally but when he is new born and becomes a spiritual man those faculties of the understanding will and affections which when they had no other command but Reason had no more but rational operations being now governed and acted by the Spirit of
will not save him as hath been proved the other is written in the heart of man ratione luminis fidei by the light of faith By the former only natural and moral vertues are imprinted in the heart but by the latter the true knowledge of Christ and the Graces of the Gospel which a meer Moralist can never attain unto by the light of Nature and Reason for these are written and wrought by the finger of the Spirit of God If it be further objected That Cornelius was a Gentile that walked only by the light of Nature yet his Prayers and Alms were accepted of God Acts 10.1 4. This is a mistake for he had more then the bare light of Nature for though he had not at this time a clear explicite distinct knowledge of the Person and Offices of the Mediator yet he had the implicite knowledge and Faith of Christ and had imbraced the Doctrine of the Messiah that was to come which he had learned of the Jews with whom he had long convers'd and which was afterward more fully opened and explained unto him by the Apostle Peter And thus we have proved that no man be he never so rational and moral can be saved by the meer light of Nature and Reason yet nevertheless we cannot deny but that the rational intellectual delights of some Heathen Philosophers ought to be preferred far before all corporeal and sensual pleasures And withal it must be acknowledged that Reason and moral Vertues being improved will help a man to bear affliction yea to dye with more courage and composedness then others that are not so rational and moral And though Reason of it self without true Faith in the Blood of Christ will not bring us to Heaven yet we have great cause to bless God for the comfortable use of our Reason and Intellectuals which is a mercy that many are deprived of But of these particulars we shall speak more fully in the following Chapters CHAP. XVIII Shewing that those delights that are rational and intellectual do far excel all sensitive pleasures ALthough the light of Reason be but as a Candle in comparison of the light of divine and supernatural Revelation which is as the light of the Sun yet it is a pleasant thing to behold this Candle As for that light which is meerly corporeal 't is but a dark shadow of intellectual brightness The more noble and excellent any being is the purer pleasure and delight it hath proportion'd to it Sensitive pleasure hath more of dregs Intellectual pleasure more of quintessence in it If pleasure were to be measured only by the corporal senses truly then the brutes being more exquisite in sense might have a choicer portion of happiness then man can attain to but therefore hath Nature very wisely provided that the pleasure of reason in man should be far above any pleasure of sense There are divers degrees of pleasures such as they be according to every mans genius and disposition As he is more noble and excellent or more vile and abject so is the nature of those things wherein he delighteth and so is his pleasure either more noble or more base either more pure and unmixt or more impure and mixt either of longer or of shorter continuance Of those delights which man taketh in by the bodily senses we say that which is received by the sense of touching is the basest for as it is the most gross and earthy of all the external Senses so are the pleasures that are taken by it The delight that is taken by the Sense of tasting is not altogether so base but yet brutish enough As for the delight which is taken by smelling 't is but little and nothing so pleasant as the contrary is unpleasant for a good smell delighteth not so much as an ill smell offendeth and besides this Sense of smelling is not so quick and sharp in men as in beasts The pleasures that are received by the Sense of hearing in man have more beauty and excellency in them for the more they participate of the nature of the Air they are so much the less earthy and brutish and those delights which we receive by the eyes are yet more excellent then the rest because the eyes are of tne nature of fire which comes nearest to the Coelestial nature Howbeit the best and noblest of those pleasures which man receives by the corporeal Senses are baser and of less excellency then the least and meanest of those pleasures which are received by the powers of the rational Soul for as the Soul is much more worthy and noble then the Body so the pleasures and delights thereof are much more noble and generous then those of the body and such delights as are most proper to the spirit and mind of man are purest and best of all amongst which that delight which consists in the contemplation of God is the chiefest The pleasures of reason and of the mind and spirit of man continue much longer then corporeral delights and pleasures because the rational soul or spirit is not so apt to be weary and tired as the body is but doth recreate and refresh it self with variery of objects No marvel indeed if those that are wholly addicted to corporal and earthly delights deride and contemn such as highly esteem these rational and intellectual delights insomuch that they are willing to forgo the goods and pleasures of this world that they may enjoy the same these persons deride and speak evil of that which they know not of whom it may be truly said that they resemble the Swine that delights more in a dirty Puddle or Sink then in pretious Stones and sweet Odors because they want judgment rightly to discern and esteem the value of those things which they contemn and deride Every being chuseth to it self some kind of pleasure or other and the more excellent any being is the higher and more generous is its delight and pleasure For first If we look up to the chiefest being God himself he takes infinite delight in himself as all other perfections so the perfection of all true and real pleasure is enjoyed by God himself in a most spiritual and transcendent manner That which we call riches and honour is in him his own Excellency and Glory and that which amongst men is accounted pleasure is with him that infinite satisfaction which he takes in his own blessed Essence and the operations and works thereof His glorious Decrees and Contrivances and all his providential Dispensations are full of delight and pleasure to him the creating of all Beings yea the permission of all Irregularities contribute to his glory and pleasure the laughing of his enemies to scorn is a pleasure fit for infinite Justice and the smiling upon his Church and the countenancing and favouring of his people notwithstanding their great weaknesses and behindments is a pleasure fit for his infinite Mercy and Goodness Miracles are the pleasure of his Omnipotency Varieties are the delight
of Faith You may know that there is a God and that he made the World by the Light of Nature For the things that are invisible are clearly seen and understood by the things that are made whereby we come to know his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 And we must believe this also because God in the Scripture hath revealed it Heb. 11.3 Faith and the Light of Reason go to the knowledge of one and the same thing different wayes Faith doth it because of the divine Testimony Authority and Revelation of God who is Truth and Goodness it self but the Light of Reason doth it because of Arguments drawn from the thing it self by rational discourse However we must hold to this as an undoubted truth that though the Light of Nature and Reason as it is a relict of Gods Image in man be necessary in religious and moral things yet it is not sufficient there being great decayes and languishings in our Reason as the greatest Philosophers themselves have acknowledged V. Consider That if we speak of Nature and Reason as corrupted and depraved by sin as it is in every son of Adam so it is an enemy yea enmity it self against God Rom. 8.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very wisdom of the flesh i. e. the reasonings and discourses of the natural man his best thoughts desires and affections the best inclinations and motions of his mind are not only enemies but enmity against God An enemy may be reconciled but enmity it self can never be reconciled The Apostle 1 Cor. 1.21 useth a strange expression that the World by wisdom knew not God he doth not say that the World through foolishness was ignorant of God but that by wisdom that is by the right use of Reason and discourse it knew not God as Diodate notes upon the Text They became vain in their imaginations saith the same Apostle Rom. 1.21 The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be better rendred thus they became vain in their reasonings or their practical inferences and discourses such as they made out of the principles they had in their understandings So likewise 1 Cor. 3.20 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise not the simple thoughts but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most prudent reasonings and discourses of the men of the world that they are vain You have the same word 1 Tim. 2.8 which is translated without doubting but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without reasoning or dispute In the exercise of Faith and Prayer we must not argue against the Promise by our Reason In this sense the more humane Reason Learning and Wisdom men have the more opposition there is in them against God and the great Mysteries of the Gospel 1 Cor. 1.20 26. and Chap. 2.9 10 11. and Ch. 3.18 19. And therefore Augustine wrote thus to a man of great learning and parts Ornari abs te Diabolus quaerit But now if we speak of Nature and Reason as enlightned and rectified by the Spirit and Word of God so it is an excellent help in matters of Religion let the Word of God let the Testimony of the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures first lay the foundation and then Reason may build upon it Reason should not take the first place or have the preheminence but should be subject and subordinate to Faith as Agar the Bond-woman was to be to her Mistriss Sarah the Free-woman We must not first consult with Reason nor ask a Reason of our believing when we should believe beyond Reason A meer rational considering of means and second causes is a great enemy to Faith If you would believe saith Luther you must crucifie that Question Why God would not have us so full of Wherefores Abraham against hope believed in hope Rom. 4.18 19. Contra spem nempe carnis rationis totius naturae as some of the best Interpreters comment upon it He believed against Sense and natural Reason in hope against hope i. e. in hope supernatural against all the appearances of natural hope nothing doubting saith the Apostle speaking of Abraham's Faith 't is the same word which you find 1 Cor. 11.29 Nothing discerning as when a man looks on things with an eye of Sense and Reason he passeth a judgment of discerning or dijudication upon them as thus some things are easie some things are hard Abraham did not so reason or consider of things when he believed Faith when it is lively and strong will subscribe to a Blank and will rest on the Power and Goodness of God when all things seem contrary in outward appearance and to an eye of Reason Faith can see love in anger light in darkness life in death as we have the Woman of Canaan for an instance besides many others Faith will tell a man that the lower he is cast down and abased the higher he shall be raised and the more he shall be comforted and this is further then Reason can go Faith as a late godly Writer truly observes hath a great and large prospect it can look over all the World yea and into the other World too it beholds God who is invisible and is the evidence of things not seen but now as for Reason it gets upon some little Mole-hill of Creature ability and if it can see over two or three hedges this is much and therefore it is a great trouble to Faith to be tyed to Reason If a man be able to go a journey of two or three hundred miles on foot you will say he is a good Footman yet if you constrain him to carry a little Child with him this will be a great luggage to him for though the Child may run along in his hand half a mile yet he must carry him on his back or in his arms the rest of the way especially when he goes over waters and steep hills which will be no small burthen and trouble Thus it is between Faith and Reason Reason at the best is but a Child to Faith Faith can foot it over Mountains of difficulties and wade through the waters of affliction though great and many but when Reason comes to wade through an affliction or to go over some great difficulty it cryes out and sayes Oh Faith let us go back again and proceed no further No sayes Faith but I le take thee upon my back Reason and so it doth But yet Reason is a great luggage and burden to Faith which never works better then when it works most alone for then it has recourse to Gods Alsufficiency and Omnipotency and finds enough there to quiet and satisfie the Soul But now having premised these five Considerations touching Faith and Reason we shall shew the Christian Reader in some particulars what use he should make of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to divine and religious matters and that it ought not to be rejected but to have its due respect and commendation First We find that many famous godly men have
this Divine knowledge and assurance illuminating our understanding renewing our wills and sanctifying our hearts and affections In which sence the Spirit of God in the Scripture is to us a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation opening the eyes of our understandings that we may see by a spiritual light the excellency of those divine Mysteries that are in the Word of God Ephes 1.17 18. Now this Doctrine of ours is no such Circle as the Papists pretend it to be but a plain and strait way for a sober Christian to walk in Thus How know you that the Scriptures are Gods Word We answer By the Scriptures themselves by that wonderful light and excellency of truth and holiness that shineth in them here we would rest and go no further But yet if we be asked How we come to see this light We answer It is by the only work of the Spirit of God giving us eyes to see and hearts to embrace and love the light If we be further urged for some are thus importunate But how know you that you do indeed perceive such a heavenly light as you speak of Or how can you make it appear to others that you are not deceived Now truly this is but a vain question it being an absurd thing to demand a reason of sense which is as if one should ask him that gazeth on the Sun How know you that you see the light Why he is certain that he sees it and knows that he is not deceived though he cannot convince a blind man of it and if in case he that is blind requires him that sees to prove unto him by sound argument that he beholds such an object he demands an impossible thing of him unless he could give him eyes to see it Some of the most learned Papists after all their disputing and wrangling are driven at last to acknowledge this inward illumination and testimony of the Spirit of God Stapleton himself even in that Book where he defends the Authority of the Church saith That the godly are brought to faith by the voice of the Church but being once brought and enlightened with the light of divine Inspiration then they believe no more for the Churches voice but because of the heavenly light And again in the last Book that ever he wrote against learned Whitaker he tells us plainly That the inward perswasion of the holy Ghost is so necessary and effectual for the believing of every object of faith that without it neither can any thing by any man be believed though the Church testified with it a thousand times and by it alone any matter may be believed though the Church held her peace or were never heard Hereby it appears that we may be infallibly assured of the divine Authority of the Scriptures though the Authority and testimony of the Church be not so regarded by us as the Papists would have it But yet when we have to do with Infidels and Atheists that scoff at this divine light and inward testimony of the Spirit we have more Reason on our side as hath been shewed at large to convince them and to prove that the Christian Religion is the true Religion and that the Scriptures do contain the Word and Laws of the most high God then any other Religion nay then all other Religions in the world As for the inward testimony of the Spirit witnessing the divine authority of the Scripture and how it is to be considered take these following Rules * Rules concerning the Spirits testimony for preventing mistakes First That the Spirit of God doth assuredly perswade the Conscience of a Christian that the Scriptures are the Word of God not by an immediate Vision or Revelation under which pretence Satan transforming himself into an Angel of light hath deluded and ensnared many poor souls but by enlightening the eyes of our understanding to behold the light writing the Law in our hearts and inward parts as God hath promised in the new Covenant sealing up the Promises to our souls and causing us experimentally to feel the powerful effects thereof Secondly This divine supernatural perswasion wrought in Believers by the Spirit of God is more certain and more satisfactory then can be proved by our weak imperfect Reason or expressed in words for things doubtful may be proved but as for things that are in themselves most clear and certain we say they need no rational proof or demonstration as the shining of the Sun which discovers it self by its own light needs not be confirmed by any rational Arguments to him that hath his eyes open to see the light thereof Thirdly It is such a testimony and demonstration of the divine Authority of the Scriptures as is certain and manifest to him that hath the Spirit for it makes it self evident where it comes but this is private and particular not publick and common testifying only to him who is endued therewith but not convincing others nor confirming doctrines to them In this case men must have recourse to the visible standing Rule to the written Law and Testimony if any man speak not according to this let him pretend never so much to the inward testimony and revelation of the Spirit it is because the light and truth of God is not in him Fourthly This testimony of the Spirit therefore is not to be severed from the Word which is the Instrument of the holy Ghost and his publick authentick testimony Nor is it injurious to the Spirit of God to be tried by the Word seeing there is a mutual relation and correspondence between the truth of the party witnessing and the truth of the thing witnessed And this holy Spirit the Author of the Scriptures is every where like unto and doth every where agree with himself as it is in a pair of Indentures there is no difference at all between them but the very same things that are mentioned in the one are also mentioned in the other so it is between the Spirit revealing and the truths of God revealed in the Scriptures Fifthly The testimony of the Spirit doth not teach or assure all and every one of the letters syllables and words of the Scriptures which are only as a vessel to carry and convey the heavenly light unto us but it doth seal in our hearts the saving truth contained in those sacred Writings into what language soever they be translated Hence it is that the Apostle tells the Corinthians that they are the Epistle of Christ written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables of stone but in the fleshly Tables of the heart 2 Cor. 3.3 Sixthly and lastly The Spirit of God doth not lead them in whom he dwelleth and witnesseth absolutely and at once into every truth of God so as utterly to dispel all ignorance and darkness out of the soul but he leadeth them into all truth necessary to salvation and by degrees John 16.12 13. Being a free voluntary Agent he worketh when and
Fifthly God hath in his infinite Wisdom concatenated and knit together the means and the end in the links of that Golden chain of salvation Rom. 8.30 so that none shall be saved and glorified but such as are predestinated to be conformable to the Image of Christ such as are effectually called justified and sanctified through Christ And again whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher And how shall men preach except they be sent Rom. 10.13 14. So then those moral Heathens to whom the Gospel is not sent who are not effectually called and converted by the Spirit of Christ so as to be made conformable to his Image cannot be saved by all their moral vertues and improvements Sixthly The Lord is a holy and righteous God of purer eyes then to behold the least iniquity with approbation he loveth righteousness and hateth sin nor will he justifie any person at his Tribunal but such an one as either hath a perfect righteousness of his own which no man hath or is found in Christ cloathed with his righteousness who was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Now this way of Justification is divine and supernatural far transcending the capacity of the most moral Heathens Adam himself in the state of Innocency looked for Justification by works and by his own personal righteousness and not by the righteousness of another so that indeed this Gospel-way of Justification is not only opposite to man fallen but to man before the fall It was never in mans Nature or Reason to seek for Justification by a righteousness without him and therefore if God had not revealed this way of Justification in and by his Gospel we nor the wisest men in the world should never have thought of it That the most virtuous men that are if ever they be truly justified and accepted as well as the most vitious persons must be justified before God not by working but by believing not by the improvement of their moral vertues but by faith in a cruc fied Christ resting wholly upon him in the sense of their sin and misery for pardon and salvation The true Gospel righteousness as it is wholly of Gods procuring so it is also of his revealing And as other mysteries of the Christian Religion are far above the reason and capacity of a natural or moral man so is this also All the Aristotles and Plato's all the learned rational Philosophers in the world could never have thought of such a way as this for the justification of sinners And therefore this righteousness of God is said to look down from Heaven and to be revealed from faith to faith Rom. 1.17 Seventhly No meer rational or moral man can be saved unless he be reconciled and reunited to God from whom he is seperated by sin Now this reconciliation and reunion must be by and through Christ or not at all for he is the only Mediator between God and man who took on him the nature of man and so joyn'd it to God by the indissolvable tye of the Hypostatical union And whoever will be saved must be united to God through him by the mystical bond of his Spirit which Christ received for and communicates to all the Elect that shall be saved so that unless a man be he Jew or Gentile have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him and be quickened by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the grave he is none of his Rom. 8.9 11. unless he be transplanted out of the old stock the first Adam and made one spirit with the Lord Jesus the second Adam it is not all his moral vertues and endowments if he were a thousand times more vertuous then he is that will bring him to Heaven Eighthly To hold that a Heathen may be saved by the improvement of his moral vertues without faith in Christ the Mediator is such an opinion as is attended with many absurdities for if this were so then should the true Church of God partly consist of such Members as have no faith nor knowledge of Christ at all or else such shall be saved as do not belong to the Catholick Church of Christ but are strangers to it whereas the Scripture assures us that the Lord adds unto his Church such as shall be saved Acts 2.47 It will also follow from this absurd opinion that Christ dyed in vain and that the preaching of the Gospel or Doctrine of Reconciliation by Christ is in vain as to a number of persons that shall be saved if they may attain salvation by the improvement of the light of Nature and Reason without the knowledge of Christ as Mediator which certainly is not revealed in and by the moral vertues and writings of the Heathen Philosophers much less by the Sun Moon and Stars but by the preaching of the Gospel According to this Opinion another way and much easier and more agreeable to flesh and blood then true faith in Christ self-denyal and resignation of the Soul to him would be found out for mans salvation and then we need no longer admire the riches of Gods Grace and Wisdom in the Redemption and Salvation of Sinners by Faith in Christ which yet is the great mystery of the Gospel Hence it is that some vain men in our dayes are so affected and transported with the moral vertues of the Heathen Philosophers that they make little or no difference in their Books and Sermons between these and the Graces of Gods Spirit which are wrought in the Saints as if to preach the Gospel of Christ and exhort Christians to the exercise of Evangelical Faith Repentance Love and other Graces were only to read unto them a Lecture of moral Philosophy Morality is one thing and Christianity is another whoever they be that go about by their moral vertues and works to appease the just and holy God or to comprehend him out of Christ the Mediator will be dazled with the brightness of his Glory and overwhelmed with the greatness of his Power For no man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father he hath revealed him John 1.18 But perhaps it will be said (*) Objections answered That the Gentiles which had not the Law did by Nature the things contained in the Law it being written in their hearts Rom. 2.14 And therefore they might be saved If we apply these words of the Apostle to the unconverted Gentiles for there are those that expound the Text of the converted Gentiles then we answer That there is a natural and a supernatural inscription or writing in the hearts of men the one is ratione luminis naturalis by means of that natural light and Reason that is in man which