This is the Christian Truth Our singular Glory whereby We are distinguished from all those who profess any other Religions whatsoever whether of the Unbelieving Iews or the Idolatrous Gentiles or the Deluded Saracens and Turks or downright Atheists and others of a like Perverse Perswasion These all Err especially the three first Ranks of Men by not knowing or not imbracing the Scriptures which are deservedly stiled The Word of Truth and are the only supreme Rule of Faith and Doctrin We then who imbrace this Christian Rule are Blessed with that Institution which is Pure and Undefiled which is grounded on undoubted Revelation which is backed by a more sure Word of Prophecy which hath a divine Impress stamped upon it So that Our Religion as far surmounts all Others as the Gold which hath passed the Refiners Fire and hath the Royal Stamp upon it outbids the common Ore and shames its Dross and meaner Alloy You see then which are the unalterable Standards of Truth viz. Reason and Revelation the Light of Nature and of Scripture And I dare confidently aver that if our Enquiries and Determinations in Religion were faithfully managed by these two it were impossible to fail of Truth If we would but act thus as Men and Christians and that is as we ought to do we cannot miss of it For it is certainly the Purchase of all those who make a right Use of their Rational Powers and also help and direct those Powers by the Revelation of the Sacred Spirit in the Holy Scriptures By these two we may examine the Truth of the Whole Christian Religion and we shall find that it will abide the Test. By these Standards of Truth we may examine the Doctrins of all Seducers that are abroad in the World and we shall find them to be False and Adulterate If we would sincerely follow these Rules the great Diversity of Opinions and Sentiments amongst us would soon be reconciled If we would faithfully take these Measures i.e. always be Ruled and Conducted by Reason and Scripture we should easily agree upon what is to be believed and asserted in Religion and all our Disputes and Controversies would vanish Now from what hath been hitherto Discoursed we may in some good measure be able not only to return an Answer to Pilates Question What is Truth but to another near a kin to it viz. What is Error and Falshood All Propositions which contradict the common Notices and first Principles in our Minds and which affront right Reason and the plain Deductions made from it are to be looked upon as False And on the same account those Assertions which overthrow the Verdict of our Senses and much more those that imply Contradictions in them and consequently Impossibilities cannot be True And on These Grounds I might shew that the Divinity of some High-flown Enthusiasts and the Doctrin of the Roman Catholicks concerning Transubstantiation are justly to be impeached of Falshood Again whatsoever Assertions in any Religion are repugnant to Divine Revelation to God's Will declared by some Positive Law to such Discoveries as are known to be immediately from Heaven these must necessarily be False And on this Ground the Religion of the Pagans Iews and Mahometans must be voted to be such because they oppose an Infallible Revelation and That confirmed by unparallelled Miracles And semblably in Christianity all those Tenents of several Sects which bid defiance to any part of the Sacred Scripture which is left us by the Holy Ghost as the generality of the Roman Opinions the Doctrins of Pelagians Socinians Anabaptists Antinomians Libertines Quakers Hobbians c. are False and Erroneous Thus far then by vertue of the Premises we have advanced that when there are several Claims and Pretences to Truth and it is enquired What Judge shall decide the Controversy the Answer must be That Right Reason and Inspired Scripture are the only Judges they being the fixed Standards and Measures of Truth But then here will lie the main Difficulty of all that in the Questions and Debates of Religion Scripture is quoted with equal Vigor and Confidence on all Sides as if what the Iewish Rabbies say of Scripture That it hath Seventy-two Faces were the received Opinion of Christians Nay some of these seem to acknowledge by their strange way of Interpreting it That it hath not only different but contrary Aspects When therefore there are Disputes about Scripture-Interpretation What must we do How can we discern what is Truth by Consulting of Scripture when as that is Dubious and Uncertain If contrary Sects and Parties quote it and plead it how can it be a fixed Standard of Truth How is it an unerring Guide It might suffice to say in General That it is no wonder that all Opinionists even the Wildest of them make use of Scripture yea a great Part of the Turks Alcoran is express Words of the Bible It is no wonder I say since Scripture was quoted by Satan himself who when he Tempted our Saviour misapplied it to the vilest Purpose But particularly to satisfie this Great and Affrighting Difficulty we may inform our selves that in Religion there are Five Sorts of Enquiries and Doctrines Now I will briefly shew how Scripture is to be made use of and when it is fit to Apply it to any of these Particulars I. Some Points of our Religion are in themselves Mystical and Profound and the Sacred Writings having not Explained them it cannot be expected that we should ever do it Such Difficult and Sublime Doctrines as the Mystery of the Sacred Trinity i.e. a Trinity of Divine Persons in the Unity of the Godhead the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in One Person the Manner of the Resurrection and the like are not to be throughly known by us as long as we sojourn on Earth These are like the Book in the Revelation which none is able to open in Heaven or in Earth but the Lamb. And seeing he is not pleased to Unfold them to us we must Admire and Adore them but not be sollicitous to Comprehend them We are to remember this that some Things must be believed on the mere Authority of the Speaker and it argues Infidelity to question the Truth of them or so much as to be Inquisitive about them The Things are spoken by God therefore we ought to give Credit to them The Manner and Circumstances of them are not discovered therefore I 'm obliged not to pry into them This was the Sense and Practice of the Primitive Christians as we may learn from Origen who tells us That the believing some Articles of Faith on the bare Authority of the Scriptures was objected to the Christians by the Heathens Their Complaint against them was That they would neither give nor receive a Reason of their Faith but were wont to cry out Examine not but believe Here likewise I may rank some Insuperable Problems concerning the Divine Decrees and Predestination the Abstruseness of which forbids
on the very same ground attend to the former because that is from God no less than this Wherefore those who oppose one to the other make â—od contradict himself because he is the Aâ—thor of both And here I cannot but take notice of the Injustice of some late Penmen who represent the Asserters of the Trinity and of such like Points of Faith as persons that are Enemies to Reason and such as will by no â—â—ans admit of a Rational Religion This they craftily urge and aggravate to blacken the Cause which they have set themselves against but there is nothing of Truth in the accusation but as they manage it a great deal of Falshood and Wrong For we give unto Reason the things that are Reason's we assert the use and necessity of it in Religion yea in the Christian Religion and we are able and ready to defend and maintain a considerable part of it by Rational Principles We most freely profess with Iustin the Philosopher and Martyr That whatever was well said by any of the Philosophers Poets and Historians is to be found in the Christian Writings of the Bible We declare that the Christian Institution commends and enforces all the Maxims of Morality and the Natural Religion of mankind and the Common Dictates of Reason Those therefore are very Injurious to us and to Truth itself who labour as we see they do to fill Mens heads with other apprehensions But though it be thus in the general yet there are Particular Doubts and Difficulties relating to this Holy Institution there are some certain Points which are in themselves Mysterious Incomprehensible and Inconceivable and will not submit to the nicer Scrutinies of Humane Reason The â—ery Deity it self which is the very foundation of all Christianity is a 〈◊〉 and the greatest of all Mysteries Whence it was the acknowledgment of 〈◊〉 a very Wise and Good Man God is Great and we know him not Job 36. 26. We cannot fully understand his Nature and Attributes yea we are capable of knowing but very little of them Which is fitly express'd by that of the Apostle He dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6. 16. This inaccessible Splendor admits not of a full view The more we gaze upon this Glorious Sun the more we are dazzled and almost blinded In some case it is unsafe and perillous saith a Pious Father to speak what is True of God â—â—e is best known by a modest 〈◊〉 â—â—ith another We know not whâ—â— he is but only what he is not saith a Third And it is observable that Socinus himself in the first Chapter of his Praeâ—â—ctions stiâ—â—y contâ—nds though upon no solid grounds at all that the Existence of God is not discoverable by the light of Naâ—ure and Reason how then can he and his â—ollowers imagine â—hat the Divine Nature and Essence are to be comprehended by humaâ—e thoughts If we cannot according to him discover that God is how shall we understand what he is There are several unutterable Abstrusities and Difficulties in the notion of an Eternal Self-subsisting Being We cannot penetrate into the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God we have not adequate conceptions of his Immutability his Justice his Faithfulness and none of his Perfections and Excellencies are throughly understood by us So that according to the way of Arguing which some men use viz. that Nothing must be receiv'd in Religion but what is exactly according to plain Reason they may renounce the Deity it self for in the notions we have of the Nature and Attributes of God there are some things above our Reason The Manner how Three real Subsistencies are united in One Essence or Substance of the Godhead is not comprehensible but the Holy Scripture puts it beyond all doubt that it is so There are many Principles and Propositions in Christianity which are far above our weak capacities There are several things in the Conduct of our Redemption and Salvation the exact knowledge of which is hidden from us at least the Modes and Circumstances belonging to them are not to be comprehended though we are sure of the General Truth There are sundry Difficult things occur concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God but we have no reason to disbelieve the Doctrine it self I know saith St. Chrysostom that the Son was begotten of the Father but how I know not I know he was born of a Virgin but I can't tell the Manner of it for we acknowledge the production of Both Natures and yet the Manner of both we are not able to declare So as to the Vnion of the Divine and Humane Natures in Christ's Person we have not an accountable idea of it though the thing it self is agreeable to Reason We cannot answer all the doubts concerning Christ's Satisfaction but upon incontestable grounds we may be convinc'd of the Truth of it The Resurrection of the same Body at the last day is an unquestionable Article of the Christian Faith but if we be ask'd how a dead body crumbled into dust and perhaps dissipated by the winds into several quarters or how a body converted into the substance of other creatures after innumerable introductions of new shapes preserves its proper Identity â—nd Individuation if we be ask'd I say How this can be The Answer in brief can 〈◊〉 no other than this We cannot tell But it will be said This is an unbecoming Answer for any man that pretends to Knowledge and Understanding in the matters of Religion I reply This is no ways unbecoming but to pretend to give Reasons and Accounts when we are not able to do it is very unbecoming and absurd And many other Points of Christianity are hid from our Natural Reason and are Inscrutable Secrets Our Religion hath many Mazes and Labyrinths in it which we cannot extricate our selves out of The Gospel not only was but is a Mystery it is so now and will continue so to the end of the world If we enquire into the Reasons of this so far as we are able to judge there may be this Account given of it 1. That which Solomon suggests to us ought to have the preference to all other Reasons that can be assign'd It is the glory of God saith he to conceal a thing Prov. 25. 2. The Supreme Being is pleas'd to hide the knowledge of several things from men because this redounds to the Honour and Glory of the Divine Majesty Hereby the Sovereignty of the Great Disposer of all things is displayed to mankind hereby his Transcendent Nature which infinitely â—urpasses that of all Created beings is proclaim'd to the world This was the sense of another Wise and Holy man who speaking of the Almighty saith He giveth not account of any of his matters Job 33. 13. Though sometimes yea frequently he vouchsafes to render a Reason of what he saith as well as of what he doth yet in many cases he thinks fit to deal with us otherwise
thing shews their mistake and that they are on this side of that place for they betray the weakness and uncertainty of their Knowledge These persons indiscreetly antedate the Last day anticipate the Future World and confront the revealed Purpose of Heaven for it was not design'd by the Supreme Being that we should here below have a full insight into those Divine Recesses this is reserved for another State Thus much of the Reasons so far as we can apprehend why Christianity is a Mystery that is why some of the most weighty and momentous doctrines of it are in some part hid from all mens understandings What I have said administers to us this double Reflection 1. From the premises we may discover the vanity and falsity of the Socinian Notion that there are no Mysteries in the Christian Religion 2. We may gather what is our Proper Duty and Concern in the Case before us First I say this discovers and detects and at the same baffles the false apprehension of those men who cry down all Mysteries in Christianity and tell us that all is levell'd to the meanest capacities Notwithstanding those Remarkable Attestations to the Contrary Truth from the plain words of our Saviour and his Apostles yet they perversly oppose and deny it and magnifie Reason as the only Measure of Truth and Rule of Faith whatever their late Pretences are and nothing will serve them in Religion but Logick and downright Demonstration I have observ'd it in the Modern Writings of this sort of men and of one also that is a late Friend of theirs that they seldom or never finish a Discourse though it be about Religion without bringing in of Geometrical terms especially Angles and Triangles These Gentlemen under a pretext of Mathematicks would subvert Christianity and demonstrate us out of the Articles of our Faith and make a Triangle baffle the Trinity This is the grand Source of their present Delusion and of that disturbance which they make in the World viz. their labouring to exclude all Mysteries from Christianity It arises wholly from this that they will not give credit to any thing in Religion but what is entirely Clear and Evident and commensurate to exact Reason This is perfectly according to that Description which one of the Fathers of the Primitive Church gives of St. Paul's Natural man He is one saith he that attributes all to the Reasonings of his Soul and thinks not that he stands in need of help from Above neither will be receive any thing by Faith but counts all foolishness which cannot be made out by Demonstration And an Ancient Critick defines him thus He is one who turns all over to Humane Reason and admits not of the operation of the Spirit i. e. any thing that is Supernatural in Religion This is the brief but full Character of a Disciple of Socinus so far as we are concern'd in him upon the present occasion but certainly it ill becomes a Christian man for I have proved already that such a spirit and genius are against the plain determination of Christ and his Apostles against the very nature of the things themselves and unsuitable to the present state we are in Such a one forgets to distinguish between Philosophy and Christianity The Professors of the former act not amiss in squaring all their opinions and sentiments by Strict Reason but the Adherers to the latter who are eminently stiled Believers must yield their assent to things which they cannot by Reason comprehend Otherwise they confound the natures of things and take away the Distinction between Reason and Faith which is much more absurd and unaccountable than what Scenkius in his Medical Observations fancies that it is possible for a man to receive the Visible Species through his Nostrils or in plainer terms that a man may See with his Nose for here is only a substituting of one Bodily Sense for another but in the other case there is a mistaking of one Mental Operation for another viz. Reason for Faith This is the Absurdity of those of the Racovian way and we ought carefully to avoid it We are to believe Christianity to be a Reasonable Service as the Apostle deservedly stiles it but it may be truly said of those men that they make Christianity more reasonable than it is that is they make it submit wholly to Humane and Natural Reason and this is the ground of their exploding all Mysteries Secondly Seeing a great part of the Christian Religion is a Mystery and design'd to be such we are concern'd to Behave our selves accordingly that is never to be so bold and rash as to demand a Positive and Punctual Account of things of this high and abstruse nature It is required in a Good Grammarian said One who was as skilful in that Art as any man that he be ignorant of some things The same may be said of a Good Divine to be ignorant of some Mysteries and not to search too earnestly into them is a good qualification in one of that Profession and indeed in all persons that study Christianity This is a Learned kind of Ignorance and we are not to be ashamed of it It is not necessary we should have a clear understanding of Theological Secrets because the Holy Writ is silent about them but yet we ought to hold and believe the things themselves because the same Infallible Word asserts them Those that go any further shew indeed that they are very Prying and Inquisitive but let them beware of handling the Word of God deceitfully and making Truth uphold Falshood As that Egyptian in Plutarch answer'd the men who ask'd him What it was that he carried so close Covered Therefore it is cover'd said he that you should not know what it is and therefore your asking was in vain So it is here these Divine things are purposely hid from us and wrapt up in Obscurity that we may not with too eager a Curiosity search into them and busie our heads about them Let every one of us think that spoken to us which the Good Christian said to the Philosopher at the Council of Nice Ask not How Be not inquisitive concerning the Manner of Sacred and Heavenly things for this is hid from us A Learned and Pious Writer of the Primitive Church tells us That it is enough for us to know that in Christ's Person the Divine Nature was so joyn'd by an ineffable kind of Tye with the Humane Nature that the same Hypostasis contains in it two distinct Natures but how that Union is made it is not necessary to know nor is it fit to search only let us believe and hold what is written And the same Excellent Person in another place and indeed in several places of his Writings exceedingly blames the rashness and curiosity of those that prie into Divine Mysteries and dispute and wrangle and raise vain questions about them and ask why and how such things are It
pitch could not but render him a very Accomplish'd Person such as was able to discern and judge of things in the best manner and to know and comprehend whatever was to be known and comprehended of them But we are to remember this further that his knowledge in Divine and Sacred things was as eminent for even as to these he had those Helps which other Christians had not yea which the rest of the Apostles were not honoured with for he tells Gal. 1. 11 12. That the Gospel which was preached of him was not after man for he neither received it of man neither was he taught it but by the revelation of Iesus Christ. He was in an Extraordinary and unparalell'd manner call'd to the Office by Christ himself then in heaven he had Immedâ—ate declarations of God's will by Visions and Revelations 2 Cor. 12. 1. yea by abundance of Revelations v. 7. for he had the matchless dignity and priviledge to be caught up to the third heaven into paradice as he otherwise expresses it the Seat of the Divine Majesty and the place of the Blessed and there he heard those unspeakable words those Doctrines and Truths which it is not possible for a man to utter i. e. fully v. 4. Then were display'd before him those Mysteries and Profound Doctrines which his Writings every where abound with several of which are not so much as mention'd in the Writings of the other Apostles which plainly shews that he far excell'd them in Spiritual Knowledge and in the understanding of some of the Main Heads of the Christian Religion And yet behold this Apostle who was thus bless'd with all manner of Intellectual Accomplishments and was possessor of all the Knowledge that Nature or Art and his own happy Genius could furnish him with and which is unspeakably much more all that Knowledge that God himself vouchsafed to infuse into him and inspire him with Behold this very Apostle is the man who uses here this humble and mean language We know in part we see through a glass darkly When he saith we he means himself as well as other Christians nay it appears that he chiefly and principally intends himself for he changes the plural into the singular v. 12. Now I know in part as much as to say notwithstanding all my advantages of Knowing much more than others I acknowledge my self to be but a Smatterer a Novice I own my self to have but a mean and imperfect insight into the High and Mystical Points of the Gospel and if they were not such I should not have so short and partial a knowledge of them This is an unanswerable place of Scripture to prove that there are Mysteries in Christianity such Divine Truths which no quickness of thoughts no sharpness and sagacity of mind can wholly reach And therefore if St. Paul be in the right we know who have taken the wrong part If Plato could say of the Rites of Sacrificing and Divine Worship It is impossible for our mortal nature to have any knowledge of these things surely then our conceptions concerning the Sublime Points of Christianity which is the Noblest and Highest Dispensation of Religion must needs be weak and shallow Divine matters are not clear and manifest of themselves to men said one of the Greek Sages quoted by Iustin Martyr To the same purpose Clement of Alexandria cites that eminent passage of Plato in his Timaeus The only way to learn Truth is to be taught it of God himself or of those that are from God Those are notable words of Iamblicus a Platonick Philosopher It is not easie to know what things God is pleas'd with unless we have convers'd with those who have heard them from God or we have heard God himself or we have attain'd to that knowledge by some Divine Art These are the apprehensions of Improved Heathens concerning Religious matters and shall not those who have attain'd to clearer notions believe the same with a more special relation to the doctrines of the Gospel As these things were not at first found out by Man so they cannot be comprehended by him As they were not discover'd by humane skill and art so they can never be fully known and explain'd by them Thus they are universally a Mystery It is true and I am very forward to grant it that the Christian Religion is stock'd even with Natural Principles such as are in themselves manifest Even that Model of Religion which is made up wholly of the Law of Nature and therefore is call'd Natural Religion is here entirely receiv'd All Rational and Moral dictates are incorporated into this Institution Here are Admirable Notions which carry with them an Intrinsick Evidence as an undeniable demonstration of their Worth and Excellency here are Reason and Morality at their Heighth It was excellently said of an Ancient Writer of the Church Far â—e it that God should hate in us that very thing wherein he hath created us more excellent than other creatures So we may say Far be it that Christianity should disallow that very thing in us which distinguishes our nature from that of Brutes and gives us a Preference to them Some of the Mahometans have a conceit that Idiots and Mad-men are Inspired persons that those who have so little of Man have the more of God But this is an idle fancy and unworthy of our Humane Nature as well as of the Supreame Being it self who was the Author of it The Best Brains are fittest for Religion and even for the Best Religion Christianity It is admirably shew'd by a Worthy Person that the Christian Religion suits even with a Philosophick Genius I question not but it may be made evident from Strict Reason that the Main System of the Christian Theology is uniform and harmonious in it self and conformable to all the Divine Attributes and Perfections that the Coming of Christ in the flesh was requisite in order to the Redemption of lost Man that his Undertatakings were the most Rational Expedient for the restoring of mankind that they were the most Proper and Suitable Method to reduce lapsed creatures and raise them up again after their fall and that Christ's Divinity was no more impair'd by being joyned to the Humane Nature than the Soul of Man is by its Union with the Body These and several things of this kind I could make clear and evident and thereby shew that Christianity is consonant to the most sober Reflections we can make on things that it is agreeable to the most solid and natural Reasonings we can form For we are not to imagine as some Enthusiastick Spirits do that Divine Revelation contradicts the principles of Reason this being a certain Truth that it is impossible to know that any Revelation i. e. any Reveal'd doctrine is from God unless we be first Reasonably satisfied that it is from him Besides Reason is from God as well as Revelation and therefore if we receive the latter we must