Flesh which is enmity against God as well as against Right Reaâ—…on these are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imaginations that are to be cast down and this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thought which is to be brought into Captivity to the Obedience of Christ namely those Reasonings and Discourses which Minister to the Flesh and the lusts thereof This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natural Man who receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned For this is that Animal Man which is guided only by his sensual Appetite and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as those know well enough who are conversant in the Writings of the Ancients signifies that Faculty of the Soul which is adapted to the Body And he that is such cannot be subject to the Spirit of God nor Obedient to the Gospel forasmuch as the things contained there are mere foolishness to him nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned i. e. they are discerned by an humble Mind composed Affections clear Light and Pure and Internal sense This is that Wisdom puâ—…ed up with Pride and Vain-glory unto which the preaching of the Cross is foolishâ—…ess For the obâ—…ure life and ignominious Death of Christ was always counted ridiculous by a Mind turgid swell'd with higher Notions and conceits Lastly this is that Wisdom of this World and of the Princes of this World who are intoxicated with vile Affections and an Opinionative Knowledge which God and every wise Man looks upon as foolishness Such Wisdom and Ratiocinations as these are not the Off-spring of true Reason but the Fallacies and Paralogisms of a Mind blinded with lusts By Right Reason therefore I understand that innate Faculty of the Soul of Man by which it discerns the Reasons and Mutual Affections of things and argues and concludes one thing from another And now I say that Christian Religion is not contrary to Reason thus understood There are two usual Forms of Speech pertinent to this occasion viz. that something may either be above or contrary to Reason But that we may speak freely and according to the nature of the thing it self whatever is propounded to us as matter of belief ought not to be so much as above Reason unless these words be taken in this Acception namely That a thing is so high and remote from common sense that bare â—…ntellect could not light upon it There are verily some Articles of Faith which may be said to be above Reason as to some Modes of the Thing to be believed that are not clearly revealed Thus for Example it exceeds the strength of Reason to give an exact Account of the manner of our Resurrection Glorification or to make a perfect Description of the Joys and Pleasures of the Future life or to shew how the three Hypostases are one God or the Divine and Humane Nature one Christ But of these things as there is no express Revelation so neither is there an Explicit Faith required And besides This Obscurity is not a lâ—…ttle subservient for the begetting and conciliating Reverence and Esteem to the Christian Doctrine But there is nothing to which an Explicit Faith is required which so far exceeds Reason as that it is not able to form any Conception of it For Faith consists in Assent the Assent follows the Judgment but no Judgment can be made of a thing that is not at all known or understood therefore whatever exceeds all Knowledge must needs likewise exceed all Belief And he that can persuade himself that he believes a thing that he does not understand believes he knows not what and miserably imposes upon himself with a company of words prettily put together and giving a great sound which yet have no Conception answering to them in the mind and while he dreams of believing some unintelligible Mystery he only pursues mere shadows of words from which when the veil is withdrawn all Faith and Sense presently vanishes But that the Christian Religion contains nothing Repugnant to right Reason and that the use of Reason is necessary in the Affair of Religion I shall endeavour to prove by these following Arguments First If God should propound any thing to be believed that were Contradictory to Right Reason one of these four Absurdities nor can I think of a fifth will necessarily follow upon it Either that God can be deceived or may deceive or that the Reasons and Affections of things are not Eternal and Immutable Or lastly that our Faculties are obnoxious to Error when they have the clearest and most distinct Perception of their proper Objects The first and second of these are contrary to that Notion and Idea of God which we have implanted in our Minds As for the third there is indeed a certain Person who asserts the Reasons of things to be contingent and Arbitrarious and that Blasphemy Lying Perjury nay a hatred of the Divine Majesty may be reckoned into the Account of Virtues and become a Worship pleasing and acceptable to God But good God! What rash and abominable Positions do we hear Such as are rather to be buried in Eternal Oblivion or not to be named without Horror and Astonishment Search the Ancient Councils and you shall find no Heresie more deserving an Anathema then this Nay the very Jaws of Hell could not belch out any thing more detestable and blasphemous For this robs God of his Wisdom Immutability Goodness and all those other Perfections we attribute to him It overthrows the Principles and Foundations of all Discourse makes Contradictions become probable destroys all Trust and Confidence in the Divine Promises and banishes all Hope and Expectation of Future Happiness That all these Consequences do naturally flow from this Principle we have proved elsewhere and the same will appear very evident to any that shall attentively consider it The Fourth That God should plant such Faculties in us as may then deceive us when they most clearly and distinctly perceive their Respective Objects is contrary to the Divine Goodness and Veracity Moreover it is impossible that God should reveal any thing as an Object of Faith unless we first suppose that we must give credit to our own Faculties For nothing can be delivered to us from God unless it be conformable to some Faculty or other But and if that Faculty may be deceived when it most clearly and distinctly perâ—…eives its Object how are we assured that this Deception may not happen in the present Case especially whâ—…n Reason the chiefest of our Facultys clearly and evidently finds that to be false which is offered under the specious Pretext of Divine Revelation For this Revelation must be conveyed to us either by the â—…ar or some other External sense or else by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But ought we not much rather to 〈◊〉 that to be an Illusion which is conâ—…rary to the Principles
A DISCOURSE OF THE Use of Reason IN Matters of Religion Shewing That CHRISTIANITY Contains nothing Repugnant to RIGHT REASON Against ENTHUSIASTS and DEISTS Written in Latin by the Reverend Dr. RVST late Lord Bishop of Dromore in Ireland AND Translated into English with Annotations upon it By HEN. HALLYWELL LONDON Printed by Hen. Hills Jun for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1683. TO THE Reverend and profoundly Learned Dr. Henry More Fellow of Christ's-Colledge in Cambridge Honoured Sir THat I presume to intitle this Discourse with it s affixed Annotations to your Great Name proceeds from a real sense that it is but your just due who have merited so much of the Learned World and whose Labours and Pains to advance all useful Knowledge have been so indefatigable more especially in rendring the Christian Doctrine in all its Parts such as it ought to be that is Rational and Unexceptionable bringing the Glories both of Greek and Barbarick and whatever other piece of Ancient Wisdom was ever esteemed to adorn and beautifie the new Jerusalem and partly because you were an intimate Friend of the Reverend Author whose Great Soul could not take up with little and dwindling Conceipts but strove to enlarge his own Mind with noble and important Truths and became a Happy Instrument in promoting the same generous Temper in others And now Sir give me leave among the other Motives which persuaded me to this Address to add this as none of the least that I may testifie to the World to be what I really am An humble Honourer of your Virtues HEN. HALLYWELL The PREFACE to the READER READER THat I may do right to that Great and Excellent Person the Author of this Discourse I have adventured to publish and likewise obviate all Cavils and Mistakes which freakish Wits may make upon the Account of giving a Reason of our Faith it will be needful to suggest somthing by way of Preface as 1. That this Discourse is principally level'd as is intimated by the Reverend Author himself against Enthusiasts and Deists The one pretending to immediate Inspiration and so taking the various Impulses of their own Private Spirits as the sole Criterium to know and discern the Will of God though they be never so extravagant and Contrary to the common Reason of Mankind And the other pleading only for a Natural Religion in opposition to any Particular Mode or Way of Divine Revelation And hence though they profess to acknowledge a God and Providence yet have withal a mean and low esteem of the Scriptures and Christianity as if the Christian Religion were a thing that could not well be Apologized for nor any fair and rational Account given of it Wherefore Theism being so opposite to Christian Religion as Christian and the Natural Current of Enthusiasm falling at last into down-right Atheism it became necessary to Assert a Modest and Discrcet use of Reason in Things of Religion and to shew that the Christian Religion will bear the strictest and severest Tryal of Right and unprejudic'd Reason 2 ly That our Learned Author had no Intent or Design to abet or countenance Capricio's of such pert persons as think themselves obliged to believe and profess nothing more then they can maintain by their own solitary Reason applying it self to the Scriptures Which Presumption what strange work it hath made in the World is evident from the Socinians and other Sectarists who upon this very Ground are really bewildred in their Speculations of Things and under Pretence of Reason have obtruded their own Fancies upon the World and vented such crude and indigested Notions as are not only inconsistent with the clear Current of Scripture but contrary to the sense of the best and purest Antiquity Wherefore 3 ly according to the intention and meaning of the Author in this Discourse the Authority of the Primitive Church before the Times of Apostasie and of Reformed Churches in such Things wherein they generally agree with the Primitive times wherein the Church was Symmetral is to be taken in as one solid Reason of our Faith and Belief For the Spirit of Prophesie which is the Testimony of Jesus having so clearly predicted the Times of the Apostasie of the Church it is manifest that the Authority and Profession of the Ancient Church while it was Symmetral and Apostolical ought to be had in the greatest Esteem and Veneration and stand as a light whereby to steer â—…afe from those dangerous Rocks of Errors upon which they that have neglected this and ventured wholly to their own Reason have split themselves Nor is the Authority of our own Church to be less regarded for the being with the rest of Reformed Christendom so plainly indigitated and pointed at by the Rising of the Witnesses in that Divine Book of the Apocalypse immediately upon which follows that joyful Acclamation in Heaven The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ it cannot be but a mighty Confirmation and strengthning to any Man's Faith to see so clear a Testimony and Approbation of that Church whereof he is a Member given by the Spirit of Prophesie that it is really emerged and risen into the state and condition of the Church when it was Symmetral and Apostolical And this will further appear to be of huge Consequence to private men and of but mean Capacity in the dicussing of Things For they being neither Philosophers nor guiding themselves by that Synosura of the Unapostatized Church nor of our own Church reformed into the Condition of the Church while it continu'd Symmetral if they be pert and confident or follow such pert confident Guides into what Errors may they not run Wherefore here such of the Populacy will find a solid and sure Rule for their safe conduct and guidance in rendring an Account or Reason of their Faith These things I have hinted as well to prevent all sinister Interpretations of the Sense of that Pious and Learned Prelate now with God as to free my self from all Suspicion in my Annotations of setting up Private Reason against the Authority of the Ancient and Unapostatized Church or our own Church so excellently well temper'd and reformed according to the Primitive Pattern H. H. 1 PET. 3. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 NOn me pudet Evangelii Christi dixit ille magnus Apostolus Gamaliele Praeceptore gaudens omni tum Judaicâ tum Graecâ Doctrinâ instructissimus Adeóque Religione Christianâ undique oppressâ despicatui habitâ Judaeis scandalo Graecis ludibrio nihilominus spretâ ignominiâ cruce contemptâ Paratus sum inquit Vobis qui Romae estis apud egregios Urbis istius non Armorum magis quam Artium Magistrae Philosophos Oratores Evangelium praedicare Quippe etiamsi non defuere sibimet de suâ sapientiâ magnificè plaudentes â—…aecitatis interea Ignorantiae tenebris obducti qui Doctrinam Evangelicam stultitiae insimulant deridendam exhibent Veruntamen
obscure but false because it perceives or conceives otherwise then the Thing it self is which is the true and universally acknowledged Notion of what is false in the conceiving of Things Pag. 8. Our Reason would immediately have suggested to us that he was an Impostor and Deceiver That God may permit an Impostor and Deceiver to work Miracles we have the express Testimony of Holy Scripture and the matter of Fact confirmed in the Egyptiâ—… Soâ—…cerers Deut. 13. 1 2. Moses tells the 〈◊〉 that if any Perâ—…on should come in the Name of a Prophet and should do a Miracle iâ—… that Prophet 〈◊〉 attempt by this to seduce them to Idolatry then he was not to be belâ—…eved because God might suffer this in Tentationem to prove their Faith and Belief in the true God But on the other side if a Prophet should come in the Naâ—…e of God and produce Mâ—…acles as the Credentials of Divine Authority and Commission and should exhort them only to the Worship of the True God of Israel than he 〈◊〉 to â—…e believed For this was the Sign or Note by which they should know a true Prophet from a false Deut. 18. 21 22. In like manner We that are Christians having the Law of Right Reason engraven in our Souls ought to be as Cautious and Jealous of admitting Belief though a Person should by Miracles seek to extort it from us if under pretence of Divine Revelation he would introduce any thing contrary to clear and evident Reason Because we may be assured that no such thing can be Authorized of God but that if the Miracles are true and real they are done in Tentationem See Annotat. upon p. 14. Pag. 10. We find most of these to have been actuated with an excess of Joy and transported with a seemingly Divine fervor How far a Natural Enthuâ—…iasm may Prevail upon men is evidently seen in the fresh Examples which every Age produces and 't is observable that those Sects among us which pretend most to Divine Inspiration are most of all inâ—…ected and agitated with Melancholy which arising from the lower Region of the Body and ascending in Copious-steams with the Blood and Spirits into the Brain ferments like new Wine and stains the Imagination with Variety of Phantasms and Impressions And if this happen to a Devotional and Religious Temper whose understanding is not strong enough to discern the Illusions of Phansie from the Dictates of the Spirit of God it presently begets in him a strong and vigorous Conceit that he is Divinely acted and inspired With which Delusion they are the more easily imposed upon for want of a right Understanding of the Nature of the Prophetical Spirit whose impulse and influence upon the Mind though it were strong and vigorous being in the Heart as a burning Fire shut up in the Bones which sensibly afflicted and pained till it received a Vent as is expressed by the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 20. 9. yet it never altered nor clouded the Rational Faculty but the Intellectual Light remained still free and undisturbed nor did ever any Prophet when acted by Divine Inspiration deliver any Thing contrary to the fixed and Eternal Laws of Reason Now the way to distinguish these Enthusiastical Impostures from Divine Influxes and Illuminations is by comparing them with the known and infallible Dictates of Right Reason for no Truth delivered by Divine Revelation is ever contrary or contradictious to the Rational Faculties of Mankind He that would know more of the Effects of this Natural Enthusiasm may consult that Excellent Treatise of Dr. More intituled Enthusiasmus Triumphatus Pag. 12. So long as that brisk and lively rellish of sensual Pleasures draws away the Mind it will not be at leisure to attend to the soft Whispers of that Gentle Monitor within There is in the Soul of Man a double Nature Intellectual and Animal which the Scripture calls by the Name of Flesh and Spirit or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inner and outer Man And according to this double Capacity the Respective Objects are likewise different The Animal Nature or Outer Man dictates the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is pleasant or profitable in the Grossest sense and is only that blind and irrational Appetite which results from the Souls Union and Conjunction with the Body With reference to this the Apostle says 1 Joh. 2. 16. All that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life is not of the Father but of the World i. e. These are the Gratifications of the Mundane Life or Animal Nature and about such things as these the Corporeal life is perpetually conversant as with its proper Objects But now the Intellectual Nature or Inner Man takes for its Object the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what ought to be done being ruled and guided by the Counsels and Inspirations of Right Reason Now because the Soul cannot attend to two different Faculties or Capacities at the same time in their highest actings and Invigorations it follows that upon the Prevalency and Enlargement of either of them the other is sensibly diminiâ—…hed abated and debilitated For who is there that sees not how crazed and besotted those Persons are in their Intellectuals who let themselves loose to the conduct of their irregular Lusts and Appetites and plunge their Souls without bounds or measures in Corporeal Joys So that were it not for their External shape there would be little difference between them and Bruits And is it possible now to discern the faint and weak glimmerings of Intellectual Light through such profound and clammy darkness Nay it is very easie to conceive that the Rampancy and Luxuriancy of the Animal Life may arise to such a height as to form an Extraordinary and thick Cortex over the Intellectual or Divine Principle that its actings should never be perceptible any more but like the Central Fire in an incrustated Star be totally extinguished at the long run Of so high a Concernment is it to Mankind to mortifie and subdue the irregular Excursions of this Plastick or Animal Life and 〈◊〉 its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 irrational and blind Appetites in the Embryo or first rudimental Efformations For the flush eruption and blazing of the Corporeal life is a sad Presage of the Death and Extinction of the Diviner Faculties And Death it self in a Physical sense is only the Consopition or laying asleep some Powers that others may awake in their stead Hence the Spirit of God affirms that those who live in pleasures i. e. licentiously and delicately omitting no opportunities of gratifying that worser Life to which they have so tender a Regard are dead while they live To this purpose is that of Plotinus Ennead 1. l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A vitious Person dies after that manner the Soul is capable of dying and the Death of the Soul is by a total Immersion and repletion
contrary to Right Reason could Men ever be forced to believe it For such is the Constitution of a Rational Soul and such are the Essential Impresses of its Intellectual Nature that no Man can believe what he pleases but is fatally bound up to such Things as are agreeable to those Principles of which his Rational Nature is compounded And if it were in the Power of any Man to believe any thing though never so contradictory and repugnant to the Natural Sentiments and Impressions of his own Mind he might then yield as firm an Assent to Falshood as Truth and repute all the Contradictions and Absurdities in the World to be infallible Oracles And as he cannot arbitrariously fix his Mind to the Reception of a Falshood so neither of that which is irrational for that which is Repugnant to Right Reason is certainly false and all the Difference between them lies only in the Number of Syllables Pag. 18. Right Reason and Divine Wisdom give the same Judgment of things The Foundation of all Knowledge whether Divine or Humane lies in the Apprehension of the Idea's Natures and mutual Respects and Relations of things Now these not being Arbitratious but setled Eternally fixt and Immutable it clearly follows that Right Reason and Divine Wisdom give the same Judgment of Things Forasmuch as not only Right Reason is a Participation of the Divine Understanding but likewise that it is no more in the Power of God to change or alter the Idea's Respects and References of Things then it is in his Power to die or destroy his own Being Hence a Triangle with its three Angles equal to two Right ones and all Idea's with their Immutable Respects and Habitudes appear the same in Humane Understanding as they are Represented and Exhibited in the Divine Intellect because our Understanding is an Abstract or Copy of the Divine Understanding as likewise because the contrary would undermine and destroy the very Foundation of all Knowledge in the World Therefore it was truly asserted by Tully Est igitur quoniam nihil est Ratione melius eáque in homine in Deo prima homini cum Deo Rationis Societas Inter quos autem Ratio inter eosdem etiam Recta Ratio communis est Nor do we by this in a Stoical Arrogance make Man equal with God as some may fondly imagine For the Divine Intellect as our learned Author speaks doth intimately penetrate and behold at one view these Affections with the Idea's of the things themselves and discerns their Order and Reciprocations And this is properly called fixed and Stable Reason whereas Humane Understanding explicates and unfolds things successively and in order and this is Reason in succession or flowing and moveable Reason Pag. 41. As to other Things we ought to yield an Implicit Faith to Divine Revelation c. Christian Religion sufficiently obtains its end in that all those things which pertain to Life and Godliness to the Renovation of Mens Minds into the faultless Image of our Lord Jesus are plain and intelligible even to the meanest Capacity but in such things as are of a more Abstruse Profound and Speculative Nature it is sufficient to have an Implicit Faith i. e. to believe that the sense of all those Things that are delivered and consigned by Divine Testimony though they transcend my Capacity whatever it is which was intended by God is true For he that does not so calls God's Truth in Question But to believe this or that to be the true sense of them or to believe the Modes of such and such Doctrines which are not plainly revealed in the Holy Scriptures are thus to be explicated and all other Explications of them utterly false is not necessary either to Faith or Salvation For if God would have had under Pain of Damnation those Doctrines which are not so plainly laid down as that all should have the same Conceptions of them to be equally believed by all in this Particular and Determinate sense it could not consist with his Wisdom to deliver them in obscure Terms nor with his Justice to require of Men to know certainly the meaning of those Words which he himself has not revealed Pag. 43. That he may be a Pattern and Example to us For as Lactantius speaks excellently well Quomodo poterit amputari excusatio c. i. e. How can all excuse be taken away unless he that teacheth does the same things that he teacheth and conducts and lends his helping hand to him that follows For if he should be subject to no Passion a Man might thus reply upon his Teacher I would not sin but I am overcome being clothed with frail and weak Flesh This is it which is angry which covets which grieves which fears to die Therefore I am led unwillingly and I sin not because I would but because I am forced I am sensible likewise that I sin but the necessity of Humane Frailty compels which I cannot withstand What shall this Teacher of Righteousness answer to these Things How will he refute or convince that Man who lays the blame of his sins upon his Flesh unless he himself be likewise clothed with Flesh and Blood that so he may shew that Flesh it self is likewise capable of the Exercise of Virtue Ibid. That be should be conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of a Virgin without the concurrence of Man is an excellent Provision for a higher esteem and Valuation of his Person That Christ should be Born of a Virgin without the Concurrence of Man could not be looked upon as Incredible by the Pagan World who scarce ever had any famous Hero among them but they presently found out some God for his Father And Plutarch in the Life of Numa relates That the Egyptians supposed it probable enough that the Spirit of the Gods has given Original of Generation to Women and begotten fruit of their Bodies And Lactantius argues the Reasonableness of the Nativity of Jesus of the Virgin Mary from what was commonly believed among the Heathens concerning other Creatures Quod si Animalia quoedam Vento Aurâ concipere solere omnibus notum est cur quisquam mirum putet cùm Spiritu Dei cui est facile quicquid velit gravatam esse Virginem dicimus The belief of which when facilitated will appear an excellent Provision for a higher esteem and valuation of the Person of our Saviour Therefore perhaps it was not only a drunken humour in Alexander when he would be thought the Son of Jupiter Hammon but to make himself appear more August and Venerable by the Reputation of being the Son of a God To this purpose it is related by Huetius that among the Turks there are certain Boys which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 believed of the common People to be Born of Virgins and in great esteem as supposed to do strange things In the Turkish Language they are called Nephes-Ogli i. e. the
of Evident and sound Reason then to â—…ancy that our Reason which is given us of God for a Guide should be deceived in its clearest and most distinct conception of things For if we throw a way Reason there is no other Directive Faculty but External sense and its Inclinations and blind and uncertain Phansie which is obnoxious to innumerable Deceptions Wherefore bidding adieu to Reason do we not evidently expose our selves to the Illusion of every Jugling Spirit who by crafty Tricks shall counterfeit a Divine Power and Assistance If therefore Moses ordain'd his Law as a Touchstone to try the Truth of a Prophet advising his People not to hearken to any who should do Signs and Miracles if he taught aâ—…y thing contrary to that Law which he himself had delivered to them from God Ought not we in like manner to examine all those that pretend Divine Authority by the Law of Nature and Right Reason as by an inâ—…allible and unerring Rule By the way it is to be noted that I here speak of incorrupted Reason freed from all evil Affections and inlightned by the Spirit of God For without the help of this Guide our Minds perhaps may be filled with a Great Measure of Confidence and Obstinate Persuasion but can never attain any settled Assurance that they are in the right way Neither is it any thing to the Purpose to say that Reason may indeed judge of Humane but not of Divine Things For though this be true of Reason darkned with evil Passions and indubitable in such things as are rather Objects of Taste and Internal sense than Reason yet it is quite otherwise where the Assent of the Understanding alone is required For whatever is proposed as matter of Explicit Belief there must in the first place be a Conception formed of it but now whatever we can frame a Conception of there Reason either discovers the Harmony of the Terms of which it consists and its Agreement with some common Notion and so pronounces the Thing to be true or eâ—…se it finds the Terms to be contradictory and Repugnant and that the Thing is Diametrically opposite to some iâ—…ate Principle and consequently judges it to be false Or else it perceives the Terms to be partly agreeing and partly diâ—…onant or to have no Relation at all to one another and from hence affirms and allows the Thing to be either Probable or Possible And now if any Part either of the Probability or Poâ—…bility shall be confirmed by some Illustrious Miracle then Reason adds its Suffrage that it ought to be believed As for Example let us imagine what is already done a certain Person compassing Sea and Land and wâ—…olly intent upon this very Thing to teach and instruct Mankind in their Duty to God and to one another promising Eternal Blessedness upon Condition of Obedience he himself in the mean time leading a most innocent and inoffensive life and withal declaring himself to be a Law-giver sent from God and to have all Power both in Heaven and Earth committed into his hands and that Prayers and Praises are all to be offered to God through his Mediation Here is nothing in this that implies a Contradicâ—…on or is repugnant with the Principles of Nature though Reason may be apt to suspect some Pride and Affectation of Divine Glory and Worship to lie underneath But now when that which is barely looked upon as Possible shall be effected and accomplished by Divine Power and the Author of this Doctrine inabled to work such stupendious Miracles as never Man before saw Reason will presently conclude that the Thing it self is very credible Yet not withstanding if this Perâ—…on should have taught any thing contrary to the Dictates of Right Reason and introduced either a Proâ—…ane and imâ—…ious Doctrine or countenanced a licentious and disorderly way of living and that he might the better persuade us to these things should have gone about to confirm his Divine Mission by Miracles our Reason would immediately have suggested to us that he was an Impostor and Deceiver because nothing can be 〈◊〉 by God or by any Person commissionated by him which is contrary to the Law of Nature or Right Reason And though it may be urged that it is contrary to the Divine Veracity to bear Witness to a lie and therefore whatever is grounded upon the Credit of Miracles since these are the only visible signs of the Divine will must of necessity be supposed to derive from God yet because I cannot be assured whether these things may not be permitted for a Tryal or for some other end unknown to me yet agreeâ—…ble to Divine Wisdom I should rather dâ—…strust this way of Reasoning then admit any thing from the Authority of this Argument as Divine which contradicted the clear Principles of Nature 2. A Second Argument The Nature of Man is so framed that it cannot yield Assent to any thing without the Conduct of Reason Which that it may more clearly appear we shall borrow some few things hugely suitable to our present Purpose from the Famous Lord Herbert in his Book of Truth According to his Opinion therefore there are four Faculties by which we come to the Knowledge of things Natural Instinct or that Faculty which diâ—…cerneth Common Notions Internal Sense External Sense and Discourse From whence may be collected this great Truth more valuable then whole Volumes written concerning the Souâ—… and its Faculâ—…es That which 〈◊〉 be known neither by Natural Instinct Internal Sense External Sense nor by Discourse cannot any way be proved properly true Now since these are Faculties and that whatever is propounded to be believed must necessarily correspond and be conformable to some one of these Reason affirms that to each of them being rightly dâ—…posed creâ—…t is to be given viz. to Natural Instâ—…t to Inteâ—…nal and Exâ—…nal Sense Moreover Reason it self according to its proper Office making use of the 〈◊〉 of the aforesaid Faculties and relying upon first and self-evident Principles summons Discourse and deduces Conclusions Natural Instinct is always to be believed but sense as well External as Internal may sometimes be deceived and therefore sometimes deserves Credit and at other times not to discriminate and discern the Differences of which is in the Power of Reason alone there being no other Faculty to preside in this Case From whence it follows First That the Mind cannot assent to any thing where Right Reason or at least some shadow of it does not give a preceding light And then That Christian Religion requiring Faith cannot force or compel assent against the Dictates of Right Reason But against these Clear and Natural Sentiments the Enthusiasts importunately urge the Spirit and indeed every man will pretend the Testimony of the Spirit tâ—…at he may not seem to be less favour'd of God then others If we demand how they know the Testimony of the Spirit they Answer After the same manner as we discern the splendor of the Sun by its own
proper light But we insist further That witness which the Spirit bears to it self is it a strong and obstinate Persuasion or an Ecstatical Joy or a kind of Zeal and Fervor of Mind or Lastly a clear and savoury Persuasion of the Dignity and Excellency of those things that are revealed If this last it is very consentaneous and agreeable to what we have already spoken But as for the other particulars it is very well known what an Innumerable company of Men there have been who upon such like grounds have very pertinaciously affirmed themselves to be compounded oâ—… Glass or Butter to be Dogs Cats Kings Emperors Popes the Paraclete the Messiah the last and greatest Prophet the Judge of Quâ—…ck and Dead nay even God himself And we find most of these to have been actuated with an Excess of Joy and transported with a seemingly Divine Fervor All which Effects are so far from the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit that they are no better then Frenzies and Symptoms of Melancholy and derive their Original from no higher Principle then the undue Fermentation of the Blood and Spirits and chiefly from that Melancholy which above all other disposes the Minds of Men to fancy Divine Influxes and Illuminations For this as Aristotle affirms is wont to produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore to be too easie and credulous in believing an obstinate Persuasion or strong Imagination whether there be a mixture of exultancy or zeal with it would argue a great want of Caution and Circumspection But we are to note especially where our Internal Sense is so obnoxious to Error That the Suffrages of other Faculties are first to be obtained upon whose refusal it behooves us at least to suspend our Assent But that we may not seem to derogate from the Holy Spirit we may â—…itly here suggest what mere Nothings we are and how little it is we can do without his help so that there is no Man whatever that can come to Christ without the supervenient Assistance of Divine Grace And as this is clearly attested in the Sacred Scripture so it is no less Consentaneous to Reason forasmuch as this is a most certain Truth that 't is a great Vanity to dispute against Sense and Experience And though some one as 't is reported of Zeno should go about to prove there is no such thing as Motion and should endeavour by subtilty of Argumentation to banish Quantity Matter and Time out of the Nature of Things yet he could never induce any sober Person wholly to distrust his Eyes and Hands By the same Reason since every Man finds his Senses highly gratified with that Pleasure flowing from External and Mundane Objects and yet not to be alike affected with things of a higher and nobler Nature how much resistence soever he may make by Virtue of the Counsels of severer Reason and strive to alienate his Mind from those as things less comporting with the Dignity of his Nature yet he will be no more able to reclaim himself then the Arguments of Zeno were able to move Diogenes Moreover so long as that brisk and lively rellish of sensual Pleasures draws away the Mind it will not be at leisure to attend to the soâ—…t Whispers of that gentle Monitor within Or perhaps it will easily slop its mouth or at least allure it to its own side For we are led by Sense either External or Internal not by dry and insipid Reason which gives much what the same Account of the Delights of a Spiritual life as a blind Man would do of colours And doubtless it would be but lost labour to teach a blind Man how pleasant a thing it is to behold the Sun and to enjoy the benefit of the Light and recreate himself with the Variety of Objects It is only the Eye that is sufficient to make such a Demonstration of these things as may affect the Mind You can never persuade a Man that is a perfect Slave to his Pleasures that there is any greater Delight and Satisfaction in Understanding the Reason of a Mathematical Demonstration then there is in Wine or the Caresses of a Mistress For if they were not bashful in declaring the Sentiments of their own Minds it would soon appear that the Reason of all Mankind is subjugated to the Imperious Dictates of present sense And unless God so affect our Minds as that on the one hand they may find some allay uneasiness in these Terrestrial Pleasures and on the other give them some Prelibations of the sweetness of things Celestial it can hardly be that we should either be weaned from those or very much desirous of these I add moreover that to render our selves obedient to the will of our heaâ—…enly Father is the only plain and easie way to the attaining a true Knowledge and Vital Sense of Divine Revelations For heavenly things are not otherwise to be known but by such an in ward rellish and affecting light as Divine Grace usually imparts to defecate humble Minds And further to admonish them that are going astray to illuminate the Eyes of the Mind to strengthen the Faith and to fix and impress the Arguments of Godliness upon the Soul which otherwise would be driven away with the least Wind of a Temptation these and such like things we owe to the Beâ—…ign Influence of the Holy Spirit All which we readily acknowledge to descend from Heaven by that Congruity they retain with that Divine Principle the only remain of God in us But if we discharge this Criterium of Truth and subject our Reason to the Conduct and Guidance of prevailing Phansis we must bid adieu to all Religion but that which under pretence of Divine Inspâ—…ration is nothing but the Result of 〈◊〉 and the feculent steams of the Blood Thus all Religions will be alike For by what Argument shall the Excellency of Christianity appear above 〈◊〉 or Gentilism when the use of Reason is laid aside But that we may not spend time in Ambiguity of Words we must know Tâ—…at nothing is perceived by us but the Operations 〈◊〉 our 〈◊〉 and thereâ—…re the Spirit as 't is a Principle of Knowledge in us is either Internal Sense or Reason for these are the only Faculties unless we will add Natural Instinct capable of being inlightned with the Beams of Divine Light To return therefore from whence we have digressed since our Internal Sense is so slippery and fallacious that Man that shall hearken to its Testimony against the Voice of all his other Faculties must be a Person of a very Imprudent and Temerarious Belief But you will say We grant indeed that it appears from this Argument that nothing can be believed without Reason but it does not follow froâ—… hence that the thing to be believed is not contrary to Reason because we ought to credit a Divine Attestation though the matter attested be never so much Contrary to Reason For it may happen that Humane Understanding may thenErr when
it seems most of all to make use of Reason But it were Impious to imagine that God who is most wise can be deceived or being most Veracious can deceive It is confest that nothing could be spoken truer for no Man is so incredulous or self-conceited but he will presently give credit to Divine Attestation But the Question is how we shall know when a thing is confirmed by Divine Testimony Will it appear from Miracles alone We shall find Pythagoras Apollonius Tyanoeus who endeavoured by Magick to keep up the Crediâ—… of decaying and sinking Idolatry was famous for these whose Contemporaries durst oppose him to Christ as may appear from the Books of Hierocles and Philostratus written of this subject I might likewise introduce the Magicians of both Worlds all which have acted diverse things exceeding the Powers of Nature only by Demoniacal Assistance If any one therefore shall pretend a Divine Commission there are Three things which he ought to prove his Authority by Miracles Holiness of Life and a Doctrine worthy of God and every way useful to Mankind If he bring all these things he is to be believed as sent from God But it no way comports with Divine Goodness and Veracity to bear witness to a Falsehood or to expose men in things of the Greatest moment to an Everlasting and inevitable Delusion Wherefore we are not only to look at Miracles but at the Life and Doctrine of the Person who pretends them to gain to himself the Belief of Divine Authority To this purpose our Saviour made use of an invincible Argument against the Pharisees who objected to him that he cast out Devils by the help of the Prince of Devils viz. That a Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation Therefore since he both by his Doctrine and the mighty works that he did set himself wholly to pull down and overthrow the Kingdom of Satan it could not be that he should cast out Devils by the Assistance of Satan Therefore to make up a Right Judgment concerning a Divine Testimony the matter it self which is attested ought to come into Consideration which if it contain any thing contrary to the setled Principles of Nature those Miracles are not to be looked upon as Divine but as Diabolical Delusions The Beroeans were commended by the Spirit of God to be more Noble then those in Thessalonica i. e. of a more ingenuous and pliable Temper in that they searched the Scriptures whether those things spoken by Paul and Silas were so Why should not the same Commendation belong likewise to us if we put to a severe Scrutiny Trial whatever is deliver'd to us by any Person for a Divine Law 3. A third Argument may be drawn from the Nature of Religion which ought to be matter of Choice and Delight But now it is impossible that any one should please himself in that which is contrary to the Principles of his very Nature And indeed to know Conclusions themselves unless we likewise are ascertain'd from what Principles they flow yields but a slender Delight to the Understanding As the Pleasure of a Mathematical Genius results not from having Geometrical Problems as undoubted Axioms by Heart but â—…rom the being able to comprehend their Demonstrations deduced by a long Series of Propositions Wherefore it is most agreeable to the Divine Goodness so â—…ar to indulge and have regard to the Nature of Man under the Gospel that he may find the Harmony and Agreement of those things with Reason which are propounded to him as Objects of Faith For here lies the Principal Difference between Mankind and Bruits in their being capable of Religion And it is a thing abhorrent from all Reason that that which is most Natural and the sole Propriety of Man should yet be contradictory to his own Faculties Can it be imagined that God intended to perplex Humane Intellect with inexplicable subtleties Or is any thing the more excellent and Venerable because it exceeds all Understanding Is he to be deemed the fittest subject for Religion who is most Bigotical and carelesly credulous Are we to put off Humane Nature that we may become Religious Surely to entertain the least suspicion of such a thing were the very Reproach of all Religion Such ought to be every Man's Judgment of his Religion that it contain nothing in it absurd unbecoming or Repugnant to Right Reason for what a shame were it for Religion to be afraid of the Tribunal of Reason I have always looked upon that Religion most worthy of my choice which comes off Victorious when called to the Bar of strictest Reason Wherefore should a Gracious God bestow upon us the Faculty of Reason if we must not suffer it to do its Office when our concern is most in Question Or what other Faculty is there left by whoâ—…e conduct we can search into the Truth of Religion If we once forsake the Guidance of Reason must not all Religion be owing either to Education Superstition or some Fanatical Impulse But you will say our Reason since the Fall is too much darkned and therefore we are not competent Judges of Divine things But are the faint and more languishing Rays of the declining Sun therefore contemptible and to be reputed Darkness because we are deprived of his Meridian and more Exalted Light Must he whose Eyes are somewhat dull be therefore accounted stark blind Or must we quite shut our Eyes because they want the sharpness and Perspicacity of Eagles Is not Religion of such a Nature as requires our greatest Care and Diligence as of a thing of the highest moment and in which to have erred were our greatest Infelicity And to what Purpose were our Faculties given if they be of no use in those things wherein we most need them Shall another Judge for us Or shall the Understanding of another direct my will Shall I fee with other mens Eyes Or walk only by the light that another carries before me Shall I mortifie my irregular Affections with Arguments that I do not understand Or govern my life by the meaâ—…ure of another Man's Principles Are not all these things to be done by a Man 's own proper Judgment Intellect and Light And can this be effected without the use of Reason Nay further is there need of any other Faculty in the choice of Religion and such Principles as tend to the Regulation of Life but only of Reason Religion is a free and ingenuous thing that forceth none but Captivates the Understanding with its own solitary Beauty Pulchritude And he that thinks otherwise falsly accuses Religion introduces Superstition into its Place 4. A Fourth Argument I take from the Nature of Right Reason from whence arises a clear Demonstration that no Divine Revelation can be contrary to it For the Souls of Men are derived from the Dâ—…vine Mind and Right Reason is of a Celestial Original framed after the Image of Uncreated Wisdom and Knowledge It is a certain Beam
or Ray of the Intellectual Sun bearing the Resemblance of Primigenial light For Divine Wisdom is nothing else but a steady Comprehension of the Idea's of Things together with those Reasons Aâ—…ections and Mutual Relations whether of Concord or Discord which Immediately slow from the Nature of Things themselves as Relations poâ—…ito fundamento termino And the Divine Intellect does intimately penetrate and behold at one view these Affections together with the Idea's of the Things themselves and discerns their Order and Reciprocations Now what is this but fixed and stable Reason looking upon the Reasons and Connections of all things at once and as it were with an Unmoved Eye Whose express and accurate Resemblance is Right Reason engraven on Humane Minds which though it cannot know and lay open all things and their respective Reasons by one single Act yet it explicates and unfolds them successively and in order Moreover we have a clear and distinct Perception of the Consent or Discrepancy of so many of these Idea's and Reasons as we have an Entire and Comprehensive view of and accordingly undertake either the Probation or Refutation of one from another Wherefore Humane Reason does truly imitate and express Divine Wisdom with this only Difference that what she comprehends at once with one single Act Reason deduces by many and operose Consequences That God should therefore reveal any thing contrary to Right Reason is alike impious as to suppose him to be a Liar and to contradict the internal Conceptions of his own Wisdom For Right Reason and Divine Wisdom give the same Judgment of things and if Humane Understanding shall at any time determine otherwise that must not be looked upon as the Fault of Reason but of Ignorance Therefore if any thing propounded under the Plausible Name of Divine Revelation shall seem to contradict Reason I ought to suspect that I do not fully conprehend the meaning of it and therefore must insist upon a further search and resolve that God intended that to be believed which should be most consonant to the Principles of Nature Nevertheless I would not have Humane Understanding arrogate too much to it self nor rashly attempt to condemn presently that which exceeds its Capacity For if the chiefest Part of those things which are delivered and consigned by Divine Testimony be worthy of God and Consonant to ouâ—… Faculties as to other things we ought to yield an implicit Faith to Divine Revelations though they seem otherwise to clash with Reason yet to give our Assent to them at least according to the sense of the Spirit of God although what that is we cannot yet so fully understand 5. A Fifth and last Argument shall be drawn from the Nature of the Christian Religion it self And first of all as to its Precepts their Purity sanctity and usefulness both as to particular Persons and also the Publick are so clear to every attentive and considerative Man that it would be altogether superâ—…luous to go about to evince their Agreement with Reason More especially when the thing it self is so fully made good already by the learned Dr. Hammond From hence it likewise follows That the Promises and Comminations in Religion are extreamly agreeable to Reason forasmuch as they are a kind of Hedge and Security for the Precepts contain'd in it And though these three Parts of Christianity do far excel yet they are not wholly different from other Religions that have taken place in the World especially among the wiser and more Philosophical Pagans who set the Precepts of Morality at a high Pitch and also held the Doctrine of Rewards and Punishments after this life So that whatever may be said in Vindication of the Ancient Piety and Wisdom may with greater Reason be spoken in behalf of Christian Religion For even the most profané and Atheistical Wits upon reading the Holy Scriptures have confessed that they contain in them the most excellent Precepts of Piety and Virtue Therefore I shall choose rather to discourse briefly of Christianity under the Notion of a Determiâ—…ate Religion different from all other that its Conformity with Right Reason may from hence likewise be made apparent First therefore What can be thought more agreeable to Reason then that God should intrust some certain Person with the Office of teaching and instructing Mankind in the Discharge of their Duty to him and to one another For the Degenerate Offspring of Adam are hugely ignorant of their Duty whence so many ridiculous Rites of Superstition have been observable throughout all Ages and very much need a Teacher And besides they are obstinately and wilfully bent upon the Lusts of the Flesh and for this Reason want such a Law-giver as may Cause a Veneration and Fear in them And that this Legislator should be a Person of an unspotted and blameless life is very congruous both that he may be a Pattern and Example to us and likewise beget a Reverence and Esteem of his Doctrine That he should be conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of a Virgin without the concurrence of Man is an excellent provision for a higher Esteem and Valuation of his Person being separated from Humane Defilements and the Ordinary Course of Nature That he should be intimately united to the Divine Nature and so truly and properly God adds the greater Majesty to what he should deliver Nor could God signifie his will in a way more agreeable to the Nature of Man for he cannot appear to us but under some Corporeal Veil and what more fitting Mansion or Covering then our Flesh Why may not God make use of some one of us as the Soul doth of the Body as an Instrument by whose Intervention he may discover his Mind to us Here is nothing either Contrary to Reason or hard to be understood For why should the Conjunction of the Deity with the Nature of Christ more trouble the Understanding then the Union of the Soul with the Body For the higher and more exalted Nature any thing is of with the greater Facility may it insinuate and derive it self But though this Person be so illustrious yet it seems Reasonable that in reference to this Bodily life he should be of mean Quality and obscure Condition obnoxious to the same Evils and Infirmities to which we our selves are exposed For so we shall have mighty Incentives to the Love of God and Patient bearing of Afflictions when we see the most Innocent Captain of our Salvation suffer fo much upon our Account Besides that it is an Argument of the greatest Trust and Confidence in our Lord and Saviour who being himself made perfect through sufferings knows how to succour and relieve those that are oppressed under them Moreover we may reasonably expect that God should give us some greater certainty of Eternal and Immortal life then what was found among the Heathen who spake very doubtfully of it as likewise that we should be more fully assured of the Resurrection of the
required Holiness of life in the Person that pretends a Divine Mission and a Doctrine worthy of God and every way useful to Mankind Hence our Author adds p. 15. That to make up a right Iudgment concerning a Divine Testimony the matter it self which is attested ought to come into consideration which if it contain any thing contrary to the settled Principles of Nature those Miracles are not to be looked upon as Divine but as Diabolicaâ—… Delusions Therefore for the Writers of the Romish Church to pretend Miracles now and to rank them among the Essential Characters to prove the Truth of a Church by as Bellarmine does when all men whose Eyes are open discover the greatest part of those Miracles to be the Frauds and Impostures of cunning Priests or if they were true it being evident that they are wrought by Apostate Spirits for the Confirmation of such Doctrines as are clearly repugnant to the setled Principles of Right Reason it is 1. To hazard and call in Question the Truth of those Miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles for the Confirmation of Christianity And 2. to use the Words of a learned Man of our own If any strange things have been done in that Church they prove nothing but the Truth of Scripture which foretold that God's Providence permitting it and the Wickedness of the World deserving it strange Signs and Wonders should be wrought to confirm false Doctrine that they which love not the Truth should be given over to strong Delusions So that now we have Reason rather to suspect and be afraid of pretended Miracles as signs of false Doctrine then much to regard them as certain Arguments of Truth Neither is it strange that God should permit some true Wonders to be done to delude those who have forged so many Wonders to deceive the World Pag. 15. Here lies the Principal Difference between Mankind and Brutes in their being capable of Religion That the Essential Difference between Mankind and Brutes does not lie solely and purely in Rationality appears from hence in that Brutes are capable of Reason though in a lower Degree And moreover we can frame a very Intelligible Idea of such Creatures as are capable of Reason so as to build Cities and to Form and Institute Common-wealths which yet have no Distinction of moral Good and Evil and consequently are neither capable of rewards nor punishments and perhaps some such Animals may be actually existent in some part or other of the World But that which constitutes the true difference between Men and Brutes is Religion which the Satyrist took notice of Separat hoec nos A grege mutorum atque ideò venerabile soli Sortiti ingenium divinorúmque capaces Pag. 16. If we once forsake the guidance of Reason must not all Religion be owing either to Education Superstition or some Fanatical Impulse To him that forsakes the Conduct of Right Reason all Religions are alike and he may as well be a Mahumetan or Jew as a Christian and indeed that he has any Religion at all is owing chiefly to his Education and the Laws of the Country wherein he lives But Religion being a matter of choice there must be some standing and setled Rule by which to try and judge the Truth or Falshood the Congruity or Incongruity of it And such a Rule as this God has furnished Mankind withal namely Right Reason and he that having means and opportunity to try and examine the Religion that is propounded to him as Matter of his Choice shall yet carelesly content himself with it because he has been educated and trained up in it has his Understanding given him to no purpose and may justly fear as a Punishment of this his careless Oscitancy and slothful Credulity that Providence should permit him to swallow great and dangerous Errors as well as Truth For he that believes without Reason declares himself indifferent to believe any thing right or wrong Socrates gives this Commendation of Cebes that he was careful to inquire into all things and duly weigh them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would not presently believe that which any Body said though otherwise he had sufficient respect unto him I shall subjoin what an excellent Writer speaks to this Purpose We ought not says he to surrender our belief to any thing carelesly nor either out of idleness and sloth or being over-awed by the Confidence which any men assume to themselves content our selves with an Implicit Faith Neglecting to search and try and prove all Things which demand to have no less then our Souls resigned up unto them We ought therefore to suspect those who would have us believe them without putting our selves to the trouble of much search It is a sign they mean to deceive for if God himself does not expect to be believed unless there be Good witness for that to which his Ambassadours demand Assent why should men be so presumptuous as to ask us to believe them blindly Or why should we be such Obedient Fools as to do more for them then God would have us do for himself He has given us Eyes and therefore we ought to look about-us especially when Men bid us wink and take any thing upon trust He has endued us with Reason and therefore we ought to sift and try and examine that which is propounded to us And if any Body say Do not try nor examine you are not able to discern the Differences of things Believe as we teach for we cannot deceive you Mark that Man or Company of Men as the greatest Deceivers who intend to impose something upon you which will not abide the Test. Pag. 17. Religion is a free and ingenuous Thing that forceth none but Captivates the Understanding with its own solitary Beauty and Pulchritude The Soul of Man being the Workmanship of the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wisdom of God and coming into the World furnished with the Seeds and Principles of all true Wisdom and Knowledge however its Lapse and Degeneracy have clouded and darkned its Intellectual Faculties yet there still remaining such a Cognation and Harmony between it and Truth she cannot but embrace it whenever duly and advantageously proposed Now Christian Religion being likewise the Genuine Offspring of that Wisdom which has left such visible Characters and Signatures of it self upon the whole Frame of Heaven and Earth the Soul of Man presently discovers all the Beautiful Emanations of it to be Congenerous and Homogeneal to its own Intellectual Light and as all like is attractive of its like is gently and willingly captivated and sweetly drawn as with some hidden strings to a closer and nearer union with it And this is the Reason why Christianity neither needs nor uses Violence or Force to beget Belief and Entertainment in Humane Minds because it is made up only of such Things as intimately Correspond with the Intellectual Frame and Furniture of the Soul Nor indeed supposing Religion to contain any thing
Sons of Soul However these Things be yet this is certain that among all Nations those Persons have been always had in the greatest esteem and Veneration who have been taken to be the immediate Offspring of God And this was it which put Pilate into such a great Fear when the Jews told him that our Saviour asserted himself to be the Son of God Joh. 19. 8. imagining according to the Opinion of the Gentiles that he might be the Son of Jupiter or Apollo or some other of their Deities and consequently that he ought rather to be reverenced then given up to be Crucified Ibid. Adds the greater Majesty to what he should deliver From hence it was that most of the Legislators among the Heathen that they might obtain the greater Credit and Veneration to their Laws were wont to tell the People they received them from some God or other As Mynias persuaded the Egyptians that he was taught his Laws by Mercury Minos intituled his to Ju piter and Zamolxis among the Getes to the Goddess Vesta Now albeit these were but Fictions yet from the Dictates of common Reason they all concluded thus much that there was no Law so binding or that carried greater Majesty and Authority then that which had Divinity stamped upon it Ibid. Nor could God signifie his will more agreeable to the Nature of Man Admirably to 〈◊〉 Purpose the forecited Lactantius discourses where shewing how highly Reasonable it was that Christ should take upon him our Flesh he adds Si verò sit Immortalis exemplum proponere homini nullo modo potest i. e. If he had been wholly Immortal he could not have offered himself as an Example to Mankind for some grave Person would be very apt thus to bespeak him you indeed do not sin because you are free from this Body you covet not because an Immortal Being wants nothing But I have need of many Things to maintain this life of mine You are not afraid of Death because it can have no Dominion over you You despise Pain because you are Impassible But I poor Mortal have reason to fear both because they bring upon me such grievous Torments as weak and infirm Flesh is not able to endure Therefore he that is a Teacher of 〈◊〉 ought to take away this excuse from men 〈◊〉 none may ascribe his sins rather to Necessity then his ownfault And that he may be every way compleat nothing ought to be objected against him by him that is to be taught As if any one should say you command Impossibilities he may readily answer Behold I do the same things I am clothed with Flesh whose Property is to sin yet I bear about a Mortal Body without sin I cannot for Righteousness sake either suffer Pain or Death because I am frail Behold Pain and Death hath Power on me and I overcome those things which thou fearest that I may make thee a Conqueror over Pain and Death I go first through those things which thou pretendest thou canst not bear if thou canst not follow me in what I command yet surely thou mayst follow me going before thee Thus all manner of excuse is taken away and every Man must confess that 't is his own fault that he is Vitious in neglecting to follow not only the Teacher of all Virtue but the Guide and Conductor to it And if any shall Object with that Impious Epicurean and ask Why could not God appear and at once take away all wickedness and sin out of the Soul and plant Virtue there To this Origen replies 1. That it may well be doubted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether such a thing be naturally possible or not 2. Supposing it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where will be the Liberty of our will and where that laudable Assent to the Truth and Aversation from Lies and Falshood For if we take away Liberty and Spontaneity we destroy the very Essence of Virtue So that no Course could have been taken more agreeable and suitable to the Nature of Man then what is made choice of in the Christian Religion Ibid. God cannot appear to us but under some corporeal Veil The Essences of all Things and so of Spirits are invisible and nothing can be the Object of our Senses but under some Corporeal Modification therefore the Evangelical Oeconomy requiring not only that the Person who should come from God to instruct the World should be intimately and Hypostatically united with the Divine Nature to conciliate the Greater Majesty to what he should deliver but likewise that he should appear to Men in some visible form and shape Divine Wisdom thought nothing a more sitting Mansion or Covering then a humane Body partly because an Angelical Body had been impassible and then that we might not lose that Natural encouragement and Provocation to Virtue flowing from the Example of one made after our own likeness who by those many endearing Circumstances he might make use of in the Flesh would more Powerfully captivate and attract Humane Souls to the Love and Obedience of him And therefore Ignatius in his Epistle to the Ephesians does justly condemn some Hereticks in his Time who said that our Saviour Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was only a putative Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that he did not take unto himself a true and real Body Pag. 44. Who spake very doubtfully of it When Socrates had brought as good Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul as he could yet Simmias thought he had Reason to say that to know any thing clearly of it in this life was either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impossible or a thing extremely difficult But says he a Man must choose the best Reasons he can find which are least liable to Exception and he must venture to embark himself in these and Sail by them through this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i e. unless he can be so happy as to be carried safer with less danger in a surer stedfast Chariot of some Divine Word i. e. Revelation which is not only a clear acknowledgment that meer natural Reason is at a loss but a kind of Vaticination of an indubitable certainty and perfect security of Immortal life to be expected from some Divine Revelation And accordingly is now put out of all doubt by our Lord and Saviour who has brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel Nor could that excellent Philosopher Cicero speak with greater Confidence for when he had weighed all things on both Parts he knew not what to say but this Harum igitur Sententiarum quâ—… vera sit Deus aliquis viderit i. e. Which of these Opinions is true God only knows Pag. 46. Since God cannot execute this Solemn Judgment but under a visible shape That our Lord Jesus should appear at the End of the World in some visible shape and form and in that pass a Final doom upon all Refractory and Impenitent Sinners seems highly
Rational there being no other way whereby so effectually and sensibly to convince Atheistical Persons of the Existence of God and his Steady and All-comprehensive Providence in ruling all things And this seems to be expressed by St. Jude v. 15. 16. in reciting the Prophecy of Enoeb where one End of the Appearance of our Saviour with his Holy Myriads is for the Conviction of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those wicked sinners who were not contented to act unrighteously but did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak opprobrious and contempâ—…uous Things of God and all Religion Nor is this only peculiar to the Terrestrial state of life for it is probable that many Spirits may be tainted with the same Atheistical conceits in the Aereal Regions and may resolve all Things there likewise into blind Chance and Fortune Now when our Lord Jesus according to the clear Predictions of Sacred Scripture shall think fit to put an End to the Scene of Affairs in this lower World and to that Purpose shall visibly descend from Heaven with an Innumerable Company of Mighty Angels making all those Regions through which they pass bright before them with the glory and lustre of their Celestial Bodies and in this Posture shall for some time face the Earth and after that dreadful Sentence pronounced upon wicked Men and the Apostate Spirits of the Air by his stupendious Power shall excite all the Principles of Fire both in Earth and Air to perfect a General and Universal Confâ—…agration of this Terrestrial World for the Punishment of the Rebellious Crue this will be such an amazing and surprizing Testimony and irreâ—…ragable Proof of the Immediate Hand of God as must and will convince the most wretched and deplorable notwithstanding the Courseness and Stubbornness of their Natures both of his Being and Providence Pag. 47. He who after an Humble Pious and Attentive weighing of things shall yet fall into Error All Error is not alike hurtful and dangerous For an Error may be purely and simply Involuntary or it may be in respect of the cause of it Voluntary If the Cause of it be some Voluntary and avoiable Fault the Error is it self sinsul and consequently in its own Nature damnable As if by negligence in seeking the Truth by unwillingness to find it by Pride by Obstinacy by desiring that Religion should be true which sutes best with my Ends by fear of Mens ill Opinion or any other worldly Fear or Hope I betray myself to any Error contrary to any Divine revealed Truth that Error may be justly styled a sin and Consequently to such a one of it self damnable But if I be guilty of none of these Faults but be desirous to know the Truth diligent in seeking it and advise not at all with Flesh and Blood about the choice of my Opinions but only with God and that Reason he has given me if I be thus qualified and yet through humane Infirmity fall into Error that Error cannot be damnable Thus far a great and learned Man I may add That a sober and serious Christian who endeavours by all means to know the will and Mind of God and so soon as he can discover it is ready sincerely to believe and practise it and has withal a lively sense of the Honour of God and a hearty Good-will to Mankind this Person through the Goodness of God shall be kept from falling into any dangerous and damnable Error But now when any Man shall carelesly neglect to use that Reason which God has given him to discriminate between Truth and Falshood and shall happen to assent to Truth not upon a due choice and discernment between it and Falshood but blindly and fortuitously this Assent is no way commendable and an Involuntary Error after a clear and well qualified search is to be preferred before it I have now finished my Annotations upon this Excellent Discourse in which I have endeavoured to illustrate and confirm such Things as our Reverend Author has but lightly touched at least could not largely insist upon in that concise way of a Sermon And this I have the more readily performed because I judged a Discourse of this Nature by a Person of so extraordinary Piety such clear Intellectuals and so every way accomplisht as our Author was could not prove unacceptable to any of the Lovers of Truth and Ingenuity and likewise that I might do Honour to his Venerable Name and Memory from whom I had the Happiness of receiving the first Rudiments of Academical Learning This I affirm moreover with an Humble Deference to better and more inlightned Judgments that such an Explication of Religion as our Reverend and Learned Author drives at is the most likely way not only to silence the bold Cavils of Enthusiasts and Atheists but to eradicate all carnal and sensual Doctrines and Opinions and to bring on through the Assistance of the Mighty Spirit of God whose presence is never wanting to the sincerely Conscientious that Blessed and desirable State of the Church the Philadelphian interval which our Lord and Saviour will all along fill with Glorious Manifestations of his Power and Providence FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THe Folios of the Sentences Commented on in the Annotations being most of them not altered from what they were in the Manuscript for prevention of confusion in the Reader they are to be mended thus The first in Pag. 48. has p. 4 5. in stead of p. 26. The rest are to be thus in order as they go on in the Book p. 27. p. 30. p. 33. p. 34. p. 35. p. 36. p. 38. p. 39. p. 40. p. 41. â—… Cor. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 18. Rom. 8. 7. 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. 1 Cor. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 18. 1 Cor. 1. 20. 2. 6. Mat. 12. 24 25. Act. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 5. 39. 1 Thes. 5. 21. 1 Joh. 4. 1. Psal. 25. 14. See Dr. More 's Vol. Philosoph Tom. 2. p. 161. 1 Tim. 5. 6. Mat. 24. 24. 2 Thess. 2. 9. Rev. 13. 13 14. Origen contr Cel l. 6. Iuvenal Sat. 15. L. 1. de leg Lib. 4. c. 24. Loco supradicto Demonstr Evangel P. 385. Contraâ—… Cel. L. 4. P. 163. In 〈◊〉 Platonis Tuâ—…ul Quaest. Lâ—…b 1.