approve other Reasons of their FAITH But we shall endeavour in its proper place to undeceive them for no Adversary how absurd or trifling soever ought to be superciliously disregarded by an unfeign'd Lover of Men and Truth So far of REVELATION only in making it a Mean of Information I follow Paul himself who tells the Corinthians that he cannot profit them except he speaks to them by Revelation or by Knowledg or by Prophesying or by Doctrine CHAP. III. That by CHRISTIANITY â—…s intended a Rational and Intelligible Religion prov'd from the Miracles Method and Stile of the New Testament 19. WHAT we discours'd of REASON before and REVELATION now being duly weigh'd all the Doctrines and Precepts of the New Testament if it be indeed Divine must consequently agree with Natural Reason and our own ordinary Ideas This every considerate and wel-dispos'd Person will find by the careful perusal of it And whoever undertakes this Task will confess the Gospel not to be hidden from us nor afar off but very nigh us in our Mouths and in our Hearts It asfords the most illustrious Examples of close and perspicuous Ratiocination conceivable which is incumbent on me in the Explication of its MYSTERIES to demonstrate And tho the Evidence of Christ's Doctrine might claim the Approbation of the Gentiles and its Conformity with the Types and Prophecies of the Old Testament with all the Marks of the MESSIAH concurring in his Person might justly challenge the Assent of his Country-men yet to leave no room for doubt he proves his Authority and Gospel by such Works and Miracles as the stiff-neck'd Jews themselves could not deny to be Divine Nicodemus says to him No Man can do these Miracles which thou do'st except God be with him Some of the Pharisees acknowledg'd no Sinner could do such things And others that they exceedeá the Power of the Devil 20. JESUS himself appeals to his very Enemies ready to stone him for pretended Blasphemy saying If I do not the Works of my Father believe me not But if I do believe not me believe the Works that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him That is believe not rashly on me and so give a Testimony to my Works but search the Scriptures which testify of the Messiah consider the Works I do whether they be such as become God and are attributed to him If they be then conclude and believe that I am he c. In effect several of the People said that Christ when he should come could do no greater Wonders and many of the Jews believ'd when they saw the Miracles which he did 21. How shall we escape says the Apostle if we neglect so great a Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirm'd unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own Will Those who heard Christ the Author of our Religion speak and saw the Wonders which he wrought renounce all the hidden things of Dishonesty all Craftiness and deceitful handling of the Word of God And that they manifest nothing but Truth they commend themselves to every Man's Conscience that is they appeal to every Man's Reason in the Sight of God Peter exhorts Christians to be ready always to give an Answer to every one that asks them a Reason of their Hope Now to what purpose serv'd all these Miracles all these Appeals if no Regard was to be had of Mens Understandings if the Doctrines of Christ were incomprehensible contradictory or were we oblig'd to believe reveal'd Non-Jense Now if these Miracles be true Christianity must consequently be intelligible and if false which our Adversaries will not grant they can be then no Arguments against us 22. But to insist no longer upon such Passages all Men will own the Verity I defend if they read the sacred Writings with that Equity and Attention that is due to meer Humane Works Nor is there any different Rule to be follow'd in the Interpretation of Scripture from what is common to all other Books Whatever unprejudic'd Person shall use those Means will find them notorious Deceivers or much deceiv'd themselves who maintain the New Testament is written without any Order or certain Scope but just as Matters came into the Apostles Heads whether transported with Enthusiastick Fits as some will have it or according to others for lack of good Sense and a liberal Education I think I may justly say that they are Strangers to true Method who complain of this Confusion and Disorder But the Proof of the Case depends not upon Generalities Tho whenever it is prov'd I will not promise that every one shall find a Justification of the particular Method he was taught or he has chosen to follow To defend any PARTY is not my business but to discover the TRUTH 23. The Facility of the GOSPEL is not confin'd only to Method for the Stile is also most easy most natural and in the common Dialect of those to whom it was immediately consign'd Should any preach in Xenophon's strain to the present Greeks or in correct English to the Country-People in Scotland 't would cost them much more Time and Pains to learn the very Words than the Knowledg of the Things denoted by them Of old as well as in our time the Jews understood Hebrew worse than the Tongues of those Regions where they dwelt No Pretcnces therefore can be drawn from the Obscurity of the Language in favour of the irrational Hypothesis for all Men are suppos'd to understand the daily Use of their Mother-Tongue whereas the Stile of the Learned is unintelligible to the Vulgar And the plainest Authors that write as they speak without the Disguise of pompous Elegance have ever been accounted the best by all good Judges It is a visible Effect of Providence that we have in our Hands the Monuments of the Old Testament which in the New are always suppos'd quoted or alluded to Nor is that all for the Jewish Service and Customs continue to this day If this had been true of the Greeks and Romans we should be furnish'd with those Helps to understand aright many unknown Particulars of their Religion which make us Rulers and Teachers in Israel Besides we have the Talmud and other Works of the Rabbins which however otherwise useless give us no small Light into the antient Rites and Language And if after all we should be at a loss about the Meaning of any Expression we ought rather to charge it upon Distance of Time and the want of more Books in the same Tongue than to attribute it to the Nature of the thing or the Ignorance of the Author who might be easily understood by his Country-men and Contemporaries But no Truth is to be establish'd nor Falshood confuted from such Passages no more than any can certainly divine his
doting Philosophers into Articles of Faith they raise a loud Clamour against Reason before whose Evidence and Light their empty Shadows must disappear For as in Philosophy so in Religion every Sect has its peculiar Extravagancies and the INCOMPREHENSIBLE MYSTERIES of the latter do perfectly answer the OCCULT QUALITIES of the former They were both calculated at first for the same Ends viz. to stop the Mouths of such as demand a Reason where none can be given and to keep as many in Ignorance as Interest shall think convenient But God forbid that I should impute the like nefarious Designs to all that contend for Mysteries now Thousands whereof I know to be the best meaning Men in the Universe This sophistical or corrupt Philosophy is elsewhere in the New Testament stil'd the Wisdom of this World to which the Greeks were as much bigotted as the Jews were infatuated with a Fancy that nothing could be true but what was miraculously prov'd so The Jews require a Sign and the Greeks seek after Wisdom But this boasted Wisdom was then Foolishness with God and so it is now with considering Men. 49. A Passage out of the Epistle to the Romans is cited likewise to prove Humane Reason not a capable Judg of what is divinely reveal'd The Words are The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be But if these Words be spoken of Reason there can be nothing more false because Reason do's and ought to subject it self to the Divine Law yet this Submission argues no Imperfection in Reason as our Obedience to just Laws cannot be said to destroy our Liberty Reason must first understand the Law of Goâ—… and then comply with it for a Man can no more deserve Punishment for not observing such Laws as are unintelligible than for not performing what was never enjoin'd him The carnal Mind then in this Place is not Reason but the carnal Desires of lewd and wicked Men whose Practices as they are contrary to the reveal'd Law of God so they are to that of sound Reason too 50. What has been discours'd of pretended Wisdom and sensual Minds may be easily appli'd to another Passage where it is said that the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledg of God and oringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ. It is plain from the Words as well as the Scope of the whole that these are the Thoughts and Imaginations of foolish and profane Men and should be captivated or reform'd by Reason as well as Scripture as in effect they often are for such Persons not ordinarily allowing of Argument from Scripture are first perswaded by Reason and after that they receive the Scripture But can Reason cast down or destroy it self No but it reduces those vain and impious Sophisms which borrow its Name to cover or authorize the Disorders they occasion 51. It would be extremely tedious to go one by one over all the Texts which ignorant or perverse Men alledg against that Use of Reason in Religion which I particularly establish Any single Passage to my purpose should one would think give sufficient Satisfaction to all Christian Lovers of Truth for the Word of God must be every where uniform and self-consistent But I have quoted several in the second Chapter of the second Section to speak nothing of what I perform'd in the foregoing Chapter of the present Section Yet because this Reasoning might be retorted and to leave no plausible Pretences to Cavillers or Deceivers I have punctually answer'd the strongest Objections I have observ'd in the most celebrated Pieces of Divinity I say which I have observ'd for I should read the Gospel a Million of Times over before the Vulgar Notion of Mystery could ever enter into my Head or any Passage in that Book could suggest to me that the Sense of it was above Reason or Enquiry Nor do I find my self yet inchn'd to envy those who entertain other Thoughts of it when all the while they openly acknowledg it to be a Divine Revelation But seeing the most material Difficulty made to me by a Friend is that my Opinion destroys the Nature of FAITH I shall with all the Brevity I can deliver my Sentiments concerning this Subject 52. I will spend no time upon the ordinary Divisions of Faith into Historical Temporary or Justifying Lively or Dead Weak or Strong because most of these are not so much Faith it self as different Effects thereof The word imports Belief or Perswasion as when we give Credit to any thing which is told us by God or Man whence Faith is properly divided into Human and Divine Again Divine Faith is either when God speaks to us immediately himself or when we acquiesce in the Words or Writings of those to whom we believe he has spoken All Faith now in the World is of this last sort and by consequence entirely built upon Ratiocination For we must first be convinc'd that those Writings are theirs whose Names they bear we then examine the outward State and Actions of those Persons and lastly understand what is contain'd in their Works otherwise we cannot determine whether they be worthy of God or not much less firmly believe them 53. To be confident of any thing without conceiving it is no real Faith or Perswasion but a rash Presumption and an obstinate Prejudice rather becoming Enthusiasts or Impostors than the taught of God who has no Interest to delude his Creatures nor wants Ability to inform them rightly I prov'd before Sect. 2. Chap. 2. that the Difference between Human and Divine Revelations did not consist in degrees of Perspicuity but in Certitude So many Circumstances frequently concur in History as render it equal to Intuition Thus I can as soon deny my own Being as the Murder of Cicero or the Story of William the Conqueror yet this happens only sometimes But God speaks always Truth and Certainty 54. Now since by Revelation Men are not endu'd with any new Faculties it follows that God should lose his end in speaking to them if what he said did not agree with their common Notions Could that Person justly value himself upon being wiser than his Neighbours who having infallible Assurance that something call'd Blictri had a Being in Nature in the mean time knew not what this Blictri was And seeing the Case stands really thus all Faith or Perswasion must necessarily consist of two Parts Knowledg and Assent 'T is the last indeed that constitutes the formal Act of Faith but not without the Evidence of the first And this is the true Account we have of it all over the New Testament There we read that without Faith it is impossible to please God but he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a
way contradicted how shall we be convinc'd of the Infallibility of the other Reason may err in this Point as well as in any thing else and we have no particular Promise it shall not no more than the Papists that their Senses may not deceive them in every thing as well as in Transubstantiation To say it bears witness to it self is equally to establish the Alcoran or the Poran And 't were a notable Argument to tell a Heathen that the Church has declar'd it when all Societies will say as much for themselves if we take their word for it Besides it may be he would ask whence the Church had Authority to decide this Matter And if it should be answer'd from the Scripture a thousand to one but he would divert himself with this Circle You must believe that the Scripture is Divine because the Church has so determin'd it and the Church has this deciding Authority from the Scripture 'T is doubted if this Power of the Church can be prov'd from the Passages alledg'd to that purpose but the Church it self a Party concern'd affirms it Hey-day are not these eternal Rounds very exquisite Inventions to giddy and entangle the Unthinking and the Weak 7. But if we believe the Scripture to be Divine not upon its own bare Assertion but from a real Testimony consisting in the Evidence of the things contain'd therein from undoubted Effects and not from Words and Letters what is this but to prove it by Reason It has in it self I grant the brightest Characters of Divinity But 't is Reason finds them out examines them and by its Principles approves and pronounces them sufficient which orderly begets in us an Acquiescence of Faith or Perswasion Now if Particulars be thus severely sifted if not only the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles be consider'd but also their Lives Predictions Miracles and Deaths surely all this Labour would be in vain might we upon any account dispense with Contradictions O! blessed and commodious System that dischargest at one stroak those troublesome Remarks about History Language figurative and literal Senses Scope of the Writer Circumstances and other Helps of Interpretation We judg of a Man's Wisdom and Learning by his Actions and his Discourses but God who we are assur'd has not left himself without a Witness must have no Privileges above the maddest Enthusiast or the Devil himself at this rate 8. But a Veneration for the very Words of God will be pretended This we are pleas'd with for we know that God is not a Man that he should lie But the Question is not about the Words but their Sense which must be ever worthy of their Author and therefore according to the Genius of all Speech figuratively interpreted when occasion requires it Otherwise under pretence of Faith in the Word of God the highest Follies and Blasphemies may be deduc'd from the Letter of Scripture as that God is subject to Passions is the Author of Sin that Christ is a Rock was actually guilty of and defil'd with our Transgressions that we are Worms or Sheep and no Men. And if a Figure be admitted in these Passages why not I pray in all Expressions of the like Nature when there appears an equal Necessity for it 9. It may be demanded why I have so long insisted upon this Article since that none expresly makes Scripture and Reason contradictory was acknowledg'd before But in the same place mention is made of some who hold that they may seem directly to clash and that tho we cannot reconcile them together yet that we are bound to acquiesce in the Decisions of the former A seeming Contradiction is to us as much as a real one and our Respect for the Scripture does not require us to grant any such in it but rather to conclude that we are ignorant of the right Meaning when a Difficulty occurs and so to suspend our Judgment concerning it till with sutable Helps and Industry we discover the Truth As for acquiescing in what a Man understands not or cannot reconcile to his Reason they know best the fruits of it that practise it For my part I 'm a Stranger to it and cannot reconcile my self to such a Principle On the contrary I am pretty sure he pretends in vain to convince the Judgment who explains not the Nature of the Thing A Man may give his verbal Assent to he knows not what out of Fear Superstition Indifference Interest and the like feeble and unfair Motives but as long as he conceives not what he believes he cannot sincerely acquiesce in it and remains depriv'd of all solid Satisfaction He is constantly perplex'd with Scruples not to be remov'd by his implicite Faith and so is ready to be shaken and carry'd away with every wind of Doctrine I will believe because I will believe that is because I 'm in the Humour so to do is the top of his Apology Such are unreasonable Men walking after the Vanity of their Minds having their Understandings darken'd being Strangers to the Life of God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the Hardness of their Hearts But he that comprehends a thing is as sure of it as if he were himself the Author He can never be brought to suspect his Profession and if he be honest will always render a pertinent account of it to others 10. The natural Result of what has been said is That to believe the Divinity of Scripture or the Sense of any Passage thereof without rational Proofs and an evident Consistency is a blameable Credulity and a temerarious Opinion ordinarily grounded upon an ignorant and wilful Disposition but more generally maintain'd out of a gainful Prospect For we frequently embrace certain Doctrines not from any convincing Evidence in them but because they serve our Designs better than the Truth and because other Contradictions we are not willing to quit are better defended by their means CHAP. II. Of the Authority of REVELATION as it regards this Controversy 11. AGainst all that we have been establishing in this Section the Authority of Revelation will be alledg'd with great shew as if without a Right of silencing or extingu shing REASON it were altogether useless and impertinent But if the Distinction I made in the precedent Section N. 9. be well consider'd the Weakness of the present Objection will quickly appear and this Controversy be better understood hereaster There I said REVELATION was not a necessitating Motive of Assent but a Mean of Information We should not confound the Way whereby we come to the knowledg of a thing with the Grounds we have to believe it A Man may inform me concerning a thousand Matters I never heard of before and of which I should not as much as think if I were not told yet I believe nothing purely upon his word without Evidence in the things themselves Not the bare Authority of him that speaks but the clear Conception I form of what he
says is the Ground of my Perswasion 12. If the sincerest Person on Earth should assure me he saw a Cane without two ends I neither should nor could believe him because this Relation plainly contradicts the Idea of a Cane But if he told me he saw a Staff that being by chance laid in the Earth did after some time put forth Sprigs and Branches I could easily rely upon his Veracity because this no way contradicts the Idea of a Staff nor transcends Possibility 13. I say Possibility for Omnipotency it self can do no more They impose upon themselves and others who require Assent to things contradictory because God say they can do all things and it were limiting of his Power to affirm the contrary Very good we heartily believe God can do all things But that meer NOTHING should be the Object of his Power the very Omnipotency alledg'd will not permit us to conceive And that every Contradiction which is a Synonym for Impossibility is pure nothing we have already sufficiently demonstrated To say for example that a thing is extended and not extended is round and square at once is to say nothing for these Ideas destroy one another and cannot subsist together in the same Subject But when we clearly perceive a perfect Agreement and Connection between the Terms of any Proposition we then conclude it possible because intelligible So I understand God may render immediately solid what has been hitherto fluid make present Beings cease to exist or change their Forms and call those things that are not as tho they were When we say then that nothing is impossible with God or that he can do all things we mean whatever is possible in it self however far above the Power of Creatures to effect 14. Now such is the Nature of a Matter of Fact that tho it may be conceiv'd possible enough yet he only can with Assurance assert its Existence who is himself the Author or by some Means of Information comes first to the certain knowledg of it That there was such an Island as Jamaica no European could ever reasonably deny And yet that it was precisely situated in such a Latitude was water'd with those Rivers cloth'd with these Woods bore this Grain produc'd that Plant no English-man before the Discovery of America could positively affirm 15. Thus God is pleas'd to reveal to us in Scripture several wonderful Matters of Fact as the Creation of the World the last Judgment and many other important Truths which no Man left to himself could ever imagine no more than any of my fellow-Creatures can be sure of my private Thoughts For who knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth none but the Spirit of God But as secret things belong unto the Lord so those things which are reveal'd belong unto us and to our Children Yet as we discours'd before we do not receive them only because they are reveal'd For besides the infallible Testimony of the Revelation from all requisite Circumstances we must see in its Subject the indisputable Characters of DIVINE WISDOM and SOUND REASON which are the only Marks we have to distingâ—…ish the Oracles and Will of God from the Impostures and Traditions of Men. 16. Whoever reveals any thing that is whoever tells us something we did not know before his Words must be intelligible and the Matter possible This RULE holds good let God or Man be the Revealer If we count that Person a Fool who requires our Assent to what is manifestly incredible how dare we blasphemously attribute to the most perfect Being what is an acknowledg'd Defect in one of our selves As for unintelligible Relations we can no more believe them from the Revelation of God than from that of Man for the conceiv'd Ideas of things are the only Subjects of Believing Denying Approving and every other Act of the Understanding Therefore all Matters reveal'd by God or Man must be equally intelligible and possible so far both Revelations agree But in this they differ that tho the Revelation of Man should be thus qualifi'd yet he may impose upon me as to the Truth of the thing whereas what God is pleas'd to discover to me is not only clear to my Reason without which his Revelation could make me no wiser but likewise it is always true A Man for Example acquaints me that he has found a Treasure This is plain and possible but he may easily deceive me God assures me that he has form'd Man of Earth This is not only possible to God and to me very intelligible but the thing is also most certain God not being capable to deceive me as Man is We are then to expect the same degree of Perspicuity from God as from Man tho more of Certitude from the first than the last 17. This Reason perswades and the Scriptures expresly speakit Those Prophets or Dreamers were to be ston'd to Death that should go about to seduce the People from the Worship of One God to Polytheism tho they should confirm their Doctrine by Signs and Wonders And tho a Prophet spoke in the Name of the Lord yet if the thing prophesi'd did not come to pass it was to be a rational Sign he spoke presumptuously of himself and not of God It was reveal'd to the Prophet Jeremy in Prison that his Uncle's Son would sell his Field to him but he did not conclude it to be the Word of the Lord till his Kinsman actually came to strike the Bargain with him The Virgin MARY tho of that Sex that 's least Proof against Flattery and Superstition did not implicitly believe she should bear a Child that was to be call'd the Son of the most High and of whose Kingdom there should be no end till the Angel gave her a satisfactory Answer to the strongest Objection that could be made Nor did she then conclude so unlike was she to her present Worshippers it should unavoidably come to pass but humbly acknowledging the Possibility and her own Unworthiness she quietly wish'd and expected the Event 18. In how many places are we exhorted to beware of false Prophets and Teachers Seducers and Deceivers We are not only to prove or try all things and to hold fast that which is best but also to try the Spirits whether they be of God But how shall we try how shall we discern Not as the Horse and Mule which have no Understanding but as circumspect and wise Men judging what is said In a word it was from clear and weighty Reasons both as to Fact and Matter and not by a blind Obedience that the Men of God of old embrac'd his Revelations which on the like Account we are willing to receive of their hands I am not ignorant how some boast they are strongly perswaded by the illuminating and efficacious Operation of the Holy Spirit and that they neither have nor
most Translations When an able Linguist meets with a difficult Passage he presently takes it for a Mystery and concludes it is to no purpose to be at more Pains about what is in it self inexplicable But an uncapable Translator lays his own blundring Nonsense and all the mysterious Fruits of his Ignorance to God Almighty's Charge These are the Wretches who plentifully furnish the Atheistical and Profane with all the Matter of their Objections against Scripture But I hope in Time we may see a Remedy to these Disorders 62. The fourth Observation is That except Faith signifies an intelligible Perswasion we cannot give others a Reason of our Hope as Peter directs us To say that what we believe is the Word of God will be to no end except we prove it to be so by Reason and I need not add that if we may not examine and understand our Faith every Man will be oblig'd implicitely to continue of that Religion whereâ—…n he is first educated Suppose a Siamese Talapoin should tell a Christian Preacher that Sommonocodom forbad the Goodness of his Religion to be tri'd by the Light of Reason how could the Christian confute him if he likewise should maintain that certain Points of Christianity were above Reason The Question would not be â—…hen whether Mysteries might be allow'd in the true Religion but who had more Right to institute them Christ or Sommonocodom 63. My last Observation shall be That either the Apostles could not write more intelligibly of the reputed Mysteries or they would not If they would not then 't is no longer our Fault if we neither understand nor believe them for nothing cannot be the Object of Belief And if they could not write more clearly themselves which our Adversaries will not suppose they were so much the less to expect Credit from others 64. But 't is affirm'd that GOD has a Right to require the Assent of his Creatures to what they cannot comprehend and questionless he may command whatever is just and reasonable for to act Tyrannically do's only become the Devil But I demand to what end should God require us to believe what we cannot understand To exercise some say our Diligence But this at first sight looks ridiculous as if the plain Duties of the Gospel and our necessary Occupations were not sufficient to employ all our time But how exercise our Diligence Is it possible for us to understand those Mysteries at last or not If it be then all I contend for is gain'd for I never pretended that the Gospel could be understood without due Pains and Application no more than any other Book But if it be impossible after all to understand them this is such a piece of Folly and Iâ—…pertinence as no sober Man would be guilty of to puzzle Peoples Heads with what they could never conceive to exhort to and command the Study of them and all this to keep 'em from Idleness when they can scarce find leisure enough for what is on all hands granted to be intelligible 65. Others say that GOD has enjoin'd the Belief of MYSTERIES to make us more humble But how By letting us see the small Extent of our Knowledg But this extraordinary Method is quite needless for Experience acquaints us with that every day and I have spent a whole Chapter in the second Section of this Book to prove that we have not an adequate Idea of all the Properties and no Idea of the real Essence of any Substance in the World It had been a much better Answer that God would thus abridg our Speculations to gain us the more time for the practice of what we understand But many cover a Multitude of Sins by their Noise and Heat on the behalf of such foolish and unprofitable Speculations 66. From all these Observations and what went before it evidently follows that Faith is so far from being an implicite Assent to any thing above Reason that this Notion directly contradicts the Ends of Religion the Nature of Man and the Goodness and Wisdom of God But at this rate some will be apt to say Faith is no longer Faith but Knowledg I answer that if Knowledg be taken for a present and immediate View of things I have no where affirm'd any thing like it but the contrary in many Places But if by Knowledg be meant understanding what is believ'd then I stand by it that Faith is Knowledg I have all along maintain'd it and the very Words are promiscuously us'd for one another in the Gospel We know i. e. we believe that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of it self You know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. 67. Others will say that this Notion of Faith makes Revelation useless But pray how so for the Question not whether we could discover all the Objects of our Faith by Ratiocination I have prov'd on the contrary that no Matter of Fact can be known without Revelation But I assert that what is once reveal'd we must as well understand as any other Matter in the World Revelation being only of use to inform us whilst the Evidence of its Subject perswades us Then reply they Reason is of more Digâ—…ity than Revelation I answer Just as much as a Greek Grammar is superiour to the New Testament for we make use of Grammar to understand the Language and of Reason to comprehend the Sense of that Book But in a word I see no need of Comparisons in this Case for Reason is not less from God than Revelation 't is the Candle the Guide the Judg he has lodg'd within every Man that cometh into this World 68. Lastly It may be objected That the Poor and Illiterate cannot have such a Faith as I maintain Truly if this can be made out it may pass for a greater Mystery than any System of Divinity in Christendom can afford for what can seem more strange and wonderful than that the common People will sooner believe what is unintelligible incomprehensible and above their Reasons than what is easy plain and suted to their Capacities But the Vulgar are more oblig'd to Christ who had a better Opinion of them than these Men for he preach'd his Gospel to them in a special manner and they on the other hand heard him gladly because no doubt they understood his Instructions better than the mysterious Lectures of their Priests and Scribes The uncorrupted Doctrines of Christianity are not above their Reach or Comprehension but the Gibberish of your Divinity Schools they understand not It is to them the Language of the Beast and is inconsistent with their Condition in this World when their very Teachers must serve above an Apprenticeship to master it before they begin the Study of the Bible How slowly must the Gospel have mov'd at the Beginning if such as were call'd to preach it had been oblig'd
Christianity not Mysterious OR A TREATISE Shewing That there is nothing in the GOSPEL Contrary to REASON Nor ABOVE it And that no Christian Doctrine can be properly call'd A MYSTERY By JOHN TOLAND The Second Edition Enlarg'd We need not desire a better Evidence that any Man is in the wrong than to hear him declare against Reason and thereby to acknowledg that Reason is against him Archbishop Tillotson LONDON Printed for Sam. Buckley at the Dolphin over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCVI THE PREFACE I Believe all Men will readily allow that none should speak with more Freedom and Assurance than he that defends or illustrates the Truth But if we credit the History of former Time or duly consider what passes in the present we shall find none more backward to speak their Minds in publick than such as have Right on their side Indeed the Goodness of their Cause and Design should fortify 'em one would think against all the Attacks of their Enemies Nor are there wanting frequent Examples of Persons who with unshaken Constancy suffer'd the most disgraceful and violent things for love of the Truth Yet if we make a just Computation and take in the Primitive Martyrs with the Prophets and Apostles themselves the profess'd Defenders of Truth only for Truth 's sake will be found to be a small handful with respect to the numerous Partizans of Error And such is the deplorable Condition of our Age that a Man dares not openly and directly own what he thinks of Divine Matters tho it be never so true and beneficial if it but very slightly differs from what is receiv'd by any Party or that is establish'd by Law but he is either forc'd to keep perpetual Silence or to propose his Sentiments to the World by way of Paradox under a borrow'd or fictitious Name To mention the least part of the Inconveniences they expose themselves to who have the Courage to act more above-board is too melancholy a Theme and visible enough to be lamented by all that are truly generous and vertuous The Pravity of most Mens Dispositions and the Ambition of particular Persons makes this Matter seem less strange in Politick and Secular Affairs and yet a Man may not only make new Discoveries and Improvements in Law or Physick and in the other Arts and Sciences impunibly but also for so doing be deservedly encourag'd and rewarded But wonderful That the sacred Name of Religion which sounds nothing but Sanctity Peace and Integrity should be so universally abus'd to patronize Ambition Impiety and Contention And that what is our bighest Interest perfectly to understand should for Reasons afterwards to be laid open both be maintain'd to be obscure and very industriously made so Nay it is come to this that Truth meets no where with stronger Opposition than from many of those that raise the loudest Cry about it and would be taken for no less than the only Dispensers of the Favours and Oracles of Heaven If any has the Firmness to touch the minutest thing that brings them Gain or Credit he 's presently pursu'd with the Hue and Cry of Heresy And if he values their Censures compell'd to make honourable Amends or if he proves contumacious he falls a Sacrifice at least in his Reputation to their implacable Hatred Nor is he like we may be sure to receive fairer Quarter from the declar'd Antagonists of Religion whose Principles as they trample upon all Equity and Truth so they oblige 'em to hate and molest the strenuous Assertors of these and all other Vertues But of such depressing Considerations enough Notwithstanding which I have ventur'd to publish this Discourse designing thereby to rectify as much as I 'm able the narrow bigotted Tenets of the One and the most impious Maxims of the Other No Atheist or Infidel of any kind can justly be angry with me for measuring Swords with them and attacking them only with the Weapons they prescribe me The true Christian can no more be offended when he finds me imploy Reason not to enervate or perplex but to confirm and elucidate Revelation unless he is apprehensive I should render it too clear to my self or too familiar to others which are Absurdities no Body will own I hope to make it appear that the Use of Reason is not so dangerous in Religion as it is commonly represented and that too by such as mightily extol it when it seems to favour 'em yet vouchsafe it not a hearing when it makes against them but oppose its own Authority to it self These are high Privileges indeed and the surest Means of having always the better of the Dispute that could possibly be devis'd That the mistaken Unbeliever may not say I serve a Hypothesis in the Defence of my Faith like some who first imagine or receive an Opinion and then study Proofs to establish it I solemnly declare the thing is much otherwise and that I hold nothing as an Article of my Religion but what the highest Evidence forc'd me to embrace For being educated from my Cradle in the grossest Superstition and Idolatry God was pleas'd to make my own Reason and such as made use of theirs the happy Instruments of my Conversion Thus I have been very early accustom'd to Examination and Enquiry and taught not to captivate my Understanding no more than my Senses to any Man or Society whatsoever Now the best Method I think of communicating to others the Truth is that by which a Man has learnt it himself That the well-meaning Christian may not suspect as it falls out very ordinarily that I aim at more than I declare and cunningly disguise some bad Principles under the fair Pretence of defending the true Religion I assure him that I write with all the Sincerity and Simplicity imaginable being as throughly convinc'd of what I maintain as I can be of any thing If any good Man should after this Protestation persist to think hard of me it must needs proceed from violent Prepossessions for very few can be found that are not deeply engag'd in some of one sort or another for which a due Allowance must be made How fond are we all apt to be of what we learn'd in our Youth as the Sight or Remembrance of the Places where we past that agreeable Time does strangely affect us A Mother is more charm'd with the lisping half-form'd Words of her pratling Infant than with the best Language and most solid Discourses That any Upstart but of Yesterday should pretend to overthrow what cost the Antients so much Time and Breath to establish and themselves so great Pains and Charges to learn is of hard Digestion to some And when others are but pray'd to explain their Terms which commonly signify nothing or what they must be asham'd to own that would never be thought in an Error they are uneasy as an extravagant Merchant to examine his Accompts and 't is well if they can restrain their Passions Not only a few Men
in answer to the Malice or Mistake of some who will needs have it that I 'm a declar'd Enemy to all Church-men and consequently say they to all Religion because I make 'em the sole Contrivers of those inconceivable or mysterious Doctrines which I also maintain are as advantageous to themselves as they are prejudicial to the Laity Indeed there are those who easily overlooking all Contempt of the true Religion are very ready to treat'em as pernicious Hereticks or unsufferable Atheists that shew the least Dislike of what are acknowledg'd Additions to Christianity whatever Convenience or Necessity may be pretended for their Establishment If any such understand by Religion the mysterious Part of it then truly it will be no hard matter to prove me as little favourable to this Religion as I 'm far from making any Apologies for my self to the Professors of it As for charging Church-men with being the Authors and Introducers of the Christian Mysteries they must be my Enemies for telling the Truth who are displeas'd at it for there is no matter of Fact more evident from every Page both of the Civil and Ecclesiastick Histories Nor had the Laity ever any hand in that Business otherwise than as confirming by Legal Sanctions what they were first perswaded to by the preaching of their Priests as they do now sometimes at their Sollicitation imprison excommunicated and prosecute erroneous Persons after the Excommunication is first pronounc'd and the Heresy decreed or declar'd by the Clergy Now as all Church-men are not in their Opinions for these Practices so I see no better Reason they have to be angry with any Body for writing against them that are than a good Prince can pretend for punishing the Historian of a Tyrant's Vices only because the Tyrant had been likewise a Prince To all corrupt Clergy-men therefore who make a meer Trade of Religion and build an unjust Authority upon the abus'd Consciences of the Laity I 'm a profest Adversary as I hope every good and wise Man already is or will be But as I shall always remain a hearty Friend to pure and genuine Religion so I shall preserve the highest Veneration for the sincere Teachers thereof than whom there is not a more useful Order of Men and without whom there could not be any happy Society or well constituted Government in this World to speak nothing of their Relation to the World to come nor of the double Esteem which they deserve for keeping Proof against the general Infection of their Profession But I have no Apprehensions from the sincere and if the designing Party discover their Concern by their Displeasure it may well serve for a Mark to distinguish them but will not be thought an Injury by me ERRATA PAg. 20. l. antepen f. any r. an P. 122. l. 9. r. last Chapter P. 156. l. ult r. puris P. 166. l. 22. r. Decrees The CONTENTS  Page THE State of the Question 1 Sect. I. Of Reason 7 Ch. 1. What Reason is not 8 2. Wherein Reason consists 11 3. Of the Means of Information 16 4. Of the Ground of Perswasion 18 Sect. II. That the Doctrines of the Gospel are not contrary to Reason 25 Ch. 1. The Absurdities and Effects of admitting any real or seeming Contradictions in Religion 26 2. Of the Authority of Revelation as it râ—…gards this Controversy 38 3. That by Christianity was intended a Rational and Intelligible Religion prov'd from thâ—… Miracles Method and Stile of the New Testament 46 4. Objections answer'd drawn from the Pravity of Humane Reason 56 Sect. III. That there is nothing Mysterious or above Reason in the Gospel 66 Ch. 1. The History and Signification of Mystery in the Writings of the Gentiles 67 2. That nothing ought to be call'd a Mystery because we have not an adequate Idea of all its Properties nor any at all of its Essence 74 3. The Signification of the word Mystery in the New Testament and the Writings of the most antient Christians 88 4. Objections brought from particular Texts of Scripture and from the Nature of Faitâ—… answer'd 120 5. Objections drawn from the Consideration of MIRACLES answer'd 144 6. When why and by whom were Mysteries brought into Christianity 151 The CONCLUSION 170 CHRISTIANITY not Mysterious c. The State of the Question N o 1. THERE is nothing that Men make a greater Noise about in our Time especially than what they generally profess least of all to understand It may be easily concluded I mean the Mysteries of the Christian Religion The Divines whose peculiar Province it is to explain them to others almost unanimously own their Ignorance concerning them They gravely tell us we must adore what we cannot comprehend And yet some of 'em press their dubious Comments upon the rest of Mankind with more Assurance and Heat than could be tolerably justify'd tho we should grant them to be absolutely infallible The worst on 't is they are not all of a Mind If you be Orthodox to those you are a Heretick to these He that sides with a Party is adjudg'd to Hell by the Rest and if he declares for none he receives no milder Sentence from all 2. Some of 'em say the Mysteries of the Gospel are to be understood only in the Sense of the Antient Fathers But that is so multifarious and inconsistent with it self as to make it impossible for any Body to believe so many Contradictions at once They themselves did caution their Readers from leaning upon their Authority without the Evidence of Reason And thought as little of becoming a Rule of Faith to their Posterity as we do to ours Moreover as all the Fathers were not Authors so we cannot properly be said to have their genuine Sense The Works of those that have written are wonderfully corrupted and adulterated or not entirely extant And if they were their Meaning is much more obscure and subject to Controversy than that of the Scripture 3. Others tell us we must be of the Mind of some particular Doctors pronounc'd Orthodox by the Authority of the Church But as we are not a whit satisfy'd with any Authority of that Nature so we see these same particular Doctors could no more agree than the whole Herd of the Fathers but tragically declaim'd against one another's Practices and Errors That they were as injudicious violent and factious as other Men That they were for the greatest part very credulous and superstitious in Religion as well as pitifully ignorant and superficial in the minutest Punctilios of Literature In a word that they were of the same Nature and Make with our selves and that we know of no Privilege above us bestow'd upon them by Heaven except Priority of Birth if that be one as it 's likely few will allow 4. Some give a decisive Voice in the Unravelling of Mysteries and the Interpretation of Scripture to a General Council and others to one Man whom they hold to be the Head of the Church Universal upon Earth
Understanding Be not as was observ'd what we call strictly Reason yet they are the sole Matter and Foundation of all our Reasoning For the Mind does upon occasion compare them together compound them into complex Ideas and enlarge contract or separate them as it discovers their Circumstances capable or not So that all our Knowledg is in effect nothing else but the Perception of the Agreement or Disagreement of our Ideas in a greater or lesser Number whereinsoever this Agreement or Disagreement may consist And because this Perception is immediate or mediate our Knowledg is twofold 7. First When the Mind without the Assistance of any other Idea immediately perceives the Agreement or Disagreement of two or more Ideas as that Two and Two is Four that Red is not Blew it cannot be call'd Reason tho it be the highest Degree of Evidence For here 's no need of Discourse or Probation Self-evidence excluding all manner of Doubt and Darkness Propositions so clear of themselves as to want no Proofs their Terms being once understood are commonly known by the Names of Axioms and Maxims And it is visible that their Number is indefinite and not confin'd only to two or three abstracted Propositions made as all Axioms are from the Observation of particular Instances as that the Whole is greater than any Part that Nothing can have no Properties 8. But Secondly when the Mind cannot immediately perceive the Agreement or Disagreement of any Ideas because they cannot be brought near enough together and so compar'd it applies one or more intermediate Ideas to discover it as when by the successive Application of a Line to two distant Houses I find how far they agree or disagree in Length which I could not effect with my Eye Thus from the Force of the Air and the Room it takes up I know it has Solidity and Extension and that therefore it is as much a Body tho I cannot see it as Wood or Stone with which it agrees in the said Properties Here Solidity and Extension are the Line by which I find Air and Body are equal or that Air is a Body because Solidity and Extension agree to both We prove the least imaginable Particle of Matter divisible by shewing all Bodies to be divisible because every Particle of Matter is likewise a Body and after the like manner is the Mortality of all living Bodies inferr'd from their Divisibility This Method of Knowledg is properly call'd Reason or Demonstration as the former Self-evidence or Intuition and it may be defin'd That Faculty of the Soul which discovers the Certainty of any thing dubious or obscure by comparing it with something evidently known 9. From this Definition it is plain that the intermediate Idea can be no Proof where its Agreement with both the Ideas of the Question is not evident and that if more than one Idea be necessary to make it appear the same Evidence is requir'd in each of them For if the Connection of all the Parts of a Demonstration were not indubitable we could never be certain of the Inference or Conclusion whereby we join the two Extreams So tho Self-evidence excludes Reason yet all Demonstration becomes at length self-evident It is yet plainer that when we have no Notions or Ideas of a thing we cannot reason about it at all and where we have Ideas if intermediate ones to shew their constant and necessary Agreement or Disagreement fail us we can never go beyond Probability Tho we have an Idea of inhabited and an Idea of the Moon yet we have no intermediate Idea to shew such a necessary Connection between them as to make us certainly conclude that this Planet is inhabited however likely it may seem Now since PROBABILITY is not KNOWLEDG I banish all HYPOTHESES from my PHILOSOPHY because if I admit never so many yet my knowledg is not a jot increas'd for no evident Connection appearing between my Ideas I may possibly take the wrong side of the Question to be the right which is equal to knowing nothing of the Matter When I have arriv'd at Knowledg I enjoy all the Satisfaction that attends it where I have only Probability there I suspend my Judgment or if it be worth the Pains I search after Certainty CHAP. III. Of the Means of INFORMATION 10. BUT besides these Properties of Reason which we have explain'd we are yet most carefully to distinguish in it the Means of Information from the Ground of Persivasion for the Neglect of this easy Distinction has thrown Men into infinite Mistakes as I shall prove before I have done The Means of Information I call those Ways whereby any thing comes barely to our Knowledg without necessarily commanding our Assent By the Ground of Perswasion I understand that Rule by which we judg of all Truth and which irresistibly convinces the Mind The Means of Information are EXPERIENCE and AUTHORITY Experience as you may see N o 4. is either external which furnishes us with the Ideas of sensible Objects or internal which helps us to the Ideas of the Operations of our own Minds This is the common Stock of all our Knowledg nor can we possibly have Ideas any other way without new Organs or Faculties 11. Authority abusively so call'd as if all its Informations were to be receiv'd without Examen is either Humane or Divine Humane Authority is call'd also Moral Certitude as when I believe an intelligible Relation made by my Friend because I have no Reason to suspect his Veracity nor he any Interest to deceive me Thus all possible Matters of Fact duly attested by coevous Persons as known to them and successively related by others of different Times Nations or Interests who could neither be impos'd upon themselves nor be justly suspected of combining together to deceive others ought to be receiv'd by us for as certain and indubitable as if we had seen them with our own Eyes or heard them with our own Ears By this means it is I believe there was such a City as Carthage such a Reformer as Luther and that there is such a Kingdom as Poland When all these Rules concur in any Matter of Fact I take it then for Demonstration which is nothing else but Irresistible Evidence from proper Proofs But where any of these Conditions are wanting the thing is uncertain or at best but probable which with me are not very different 12. The Authority of God or Divine Revelation is the Manifestation of Truth by Truth it self to whom it is impossible to lie Whereof at large in Ch. 2. of the following Section Nothing in Nature can come to our Knowledg but by some of these four means viz. The Experience of the Senses the Experience of the Mind Humane and Divine Revelation CHAP. IV. Of the Ground of PERSWASION 13. NOW as we are extreamly subject to Deception we may without some infallible Rule often take a questionable Proposition for an Axiom Old Wives Fables for Moral Certitude and Humane Impostures
now for we shall not disturb the Ashes of the Dead expresly says Reason and the Gospel are contrary to one another But which returns to the same very many affirm that tho the Doctrines of the latter cannot in themselves be contradictory to the Principles of the former as proceeding both from God yet that according to our Conceptions of them they may seem directly to clash And that tho we cannot reconcile them by reason of our corrupt and limited Understandings yet that from the Authority of Divine Revelation we are bound to believe and acquiesce in them oâ—… as the Fathers taught 'em to speak to adore what we cannot comprehend CHAP. I. The Absurdity and Effects of admitting any real or seeming Contradictions in RELIGION 2. THIS famous and admirable Doctrine is the undoubted Source of all the Absurdities that ever were seriously vented among Christiens Without the Pretence of it we should never hear of the Transubstantiation and other ridiculous Fables of the Church of Rome nor of any of the Eastern Ordures almost all receiv'd into this Western Sink Nor should we be ever banter'd with the Lutheran Impanation or the Ubiquity it has produc'd as one Monster ordinarily begets another And tho the Socinians disown this Practice I am mistaken if either they or the Arians can make their Notions of a dignifi'd and Creature-God capable of Divine Worship appear more reasonable than the Extravagancies of other Sects touching the Article of the Trinity 3. In short this Doctrine is the known Refuge of some Men when they are at a loss in explaining any Passage of the Word of God Lest they should appear to others less knowing than they would be thought they make nothing of fathering that upon the secret Counsels of the Almighty or the Nature of the Thing which is it may be the Effect of Inaccurate Reasoning Unskilfulness in the Tongues or Ignorance of History But more commonly it is the Consequence of early Impressions which they dare seldom afterwards correct by more free and riper Thoughts So desiring to be Teachers of the Law and understanâ—…ing neither what they say nor those things which they affirm they obtrude upon us for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. And truly well they may for if we once admit this Principle I know not what we can deny that is toâ—…d us in the Name of the Lord. This Doctrine I must remark it too does highly concern us of the Laity for however it came to be first establish'd the Clergy always excepting such as deserve it have not been since wanting to themselves but improv'd it so far as not only to make the plainest but the most trifling things in the World mysterious that we might constantly depend upon them for the Explication And nevertheless they must not if they could explain them to us without ruining their own Design let them never so fairly pretend it But overlooking all Observations proper for this Place let us enter upon the immediate Examen of the Opinion it self 4. The first thing I shall insist upon is that if any Doctrine of the New Testament be contrary to Reason we have no manner of Idea of it To say for instance that a Ball is white and black at once is to say just nothing for these Colours are so incompatible in the same Subject as to exclude all Possibility of a real positive Idea or Conception So to say as the Papists that Children dying before Baptism are damn'd without Pain signifies nothing at all For if they be intelligent Creatures in the other World to be eternally excluded God's Presence and the Society of the Blessed must prove ineffable Torment to them But if they think they have no Understanding then they are not capable of Damnation in their Sense and so they should not say they are in Limbo-Dungeon but that either they had no Souls or were annihilated which had it been true as they can never shew would be reasonable enough and easily conceiv'd Now if we have no Ideas of a thing it is certainly but lost Labour for us to trouble our selves about it For what I don't conceive can no more give me right Notions of God or influence my Actions than a Prayer deliver'd in an unknown Tongue can excite my Devotion If the Trumpet gives an uncertain Sound who shall prepare himself to the Battel And except Words easy to be understood be utter'd how shall it be known what is spokâ—… Syllables tho never so well put together if they have not Ideas fix'd to them are but Words spoken in the Air and cannot be the Ground of a reasonable Service or Worship 5. If any should think to evade the Difficulty by saying that the Ideas of certain Doctrines may be contrary indeed to common Notions yet consistent with themselves and I know not what supra-intellectual Truths he 's but just where he was But supposing a little that the thing were so it still follows that none can understand these Doctrines except their Perceptions be communicated to him in an extraordinary manner as by new Powers and Organs And then too others cannot be edifi'd by what is discours'd of 'em unless they enjoy the same Favour So that if I would go preach the Gospel to the Wild Indians I must expect the Ideas of my Words should be I know not how infus'd into their Souls in order to apprehend me and according to this Hypothesis they could no more without a Miracle understand my Speech than the chirping of Birds and if they knew not the Meaning of my Voice I should even to them be a Bâ—…rbarian notwithstanding I spoke Mysteries in the Spirit But what do they mean by consisting with themselves yet not with our common Notions Four may be call'd Five in Heaven but so the Name only is chang'd the Thing remains still the same And since we cannot in this World know any thing but by our common Notions how shall we be sure of this pretended Consistency between our present seeming Contradictions and the Theology of the World to come For as 't is by Reason we arrive at the Certainty of God's own Existence so we cannot otherwise discern his Revelations but by their Conformity with our natural Notices of him which is in so many words to agree with our common Notions 6. The next thing I shall remark is That those who stick not to say they could believe a downright Contradiction to Reason did they find it contain'd in the Scripture do justify all Absurdities whatsoever and by opposing one Light to another undeniably make God the Author of all Incertitude The very Supposition that Reason might authorize one thing and the Spirit of God another throws us into inevitable Scepticism for we shall be at a perpetual Uncertainty which to obey Nay we can never be sure which is which For the Proof of the Divinity of Scripture depending upon Reason if the clear Light of the one might be any
Fortune from the Sound of Bow-bell 24. If any object that the Gospel is penn'd with little or no Ornament that there are no choice of Words nor studi'd Expressions in it the Accusation is true and the Apostles themselves acknowledg it nor is there a more palpable Demonstration of their having design'd to be understood by all I came not to you says Paul with Excellency of Speech or Wisdom declaring unto you the Testimony of God My Speech and my Preaching was not with enticing Words of Humane Wisdom but in Demonstration or Conviction of the Spirit or Mind and in Power or Efficacy This he speaks in reference to the Philosophers and Orators of those Times whose Elocution 't is confess'd was curious and Periods elaborate apt to excite the Admiration of the Hearers but not to satisfy their Reasons charming indeed their Senses whilst in the Theatre or the Temple but making them neither the better at home nor the wiser abroad 25. These Men as well as many of their modern Successors were fond enough of their own ridiculous Systems to count the things of God Foolishness because they did not agree with their precarious and sensual Notions because every Sentence was not wrapp'd up in Mystery and garnish'd with a Figure not considering that only false or trivial Matters need the Assistance of alluring Harangues to perplex or amuse But they were Enemies and Strangers to the Simplicity of Truth All their Study as we took notice lay in tickling the Passions of the People at their Pleasure with bombast Eloquence and apish Gesticulations They boasted their Talent of perswading for or against any thing And as he was esteem'd the best Orator that made the worst Cause appear the most equitable before the Judges so he was the best Philosopher that could get the wildest Paradox to pass for Demonstration They were only concern'd about their own Glory and Gain which they could not otherwise support but according to an Artifice that never fails and therefore ever practis'd by imposing upon the People with their Authority and Sophistry and under pretence of instructing dexterously detaining them in the grossest Ignorance 26. But the Scope of the Apostles was very different Piety towards God and the Peace of Mankind was their Gain and Christ and his Gospel their Glory they came not magnifying nor exalting themselves not imposing but declaring their Doctrine they did not confound and mislead but convince the Mind they were employ'd to dispel Ignorance to eradicate Superstition to propagate Truth and Reformation of Manners to preach Deliverance to Captives i. e. the Enjoyment of Christian Liberty to the Slaves of the Levitical and Pagan Priesthoods and to declare Salvation to repenting Sinners 27. I shall add here some of the Characters which David gives of the Law and Word of God that we may admit nothing as the Will of Heaven but what is agreeable to them The Law of the Lord says he is perfect converting the Soul The Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the Heart The Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes The Fear of the Lord is clean endâ—…ring for ever The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether I have more Understanding than all my Teachers for thy Testimonies are my Meditation I understand more than the Antients because I keep thy Precepts Thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Path. The New Testament is so full of this Language and the Contents of it are every where so conformable to it that I shall refer the Reader to the particular Discussion of the Whole in the second Discourse But I must remark in the mean time that not a Syllable of this Language is true if any Contradictions seeming or real be admitted in Scripture As much may be said of Mysteries but we shall talk of that by and by CHAP. IV. Objections answer'd drawn from the Pravity of Humane REASON 28. THere remains one Obâ—…ection yet upon which some lay a mighty Stress tho it 's like to do them little Service Granting say they the GOSPEL to be as reasonable as you pretend yet corrupt and deprav'd Reason can neither discern nor receive Divine Verities Ay but that proves not Divine Verities to be contrary to sound Reason But they maintain that no Man's Reason is sound Wherefore I hope so to state this Question as to cut off all Occasion of Dispute from judicious and peaceable Men. Reason taken for the Principle of Discourse in us or more particularly for that Faculty every one has of judging of his Ideas according to their Agreement or Disagreement and so of loving what seems good unto him and hating what he thinks evil Reason I say in this Sense is whole and entire in every one whose Organs are not accidentally indispos'd 'T is from it that we are accounted Men and we could neither inform others nor receive Improvement our selves any more than Brutes without it 29. But if by Reason be understood a constant right Use of these Faculties viz. If a Man never judges but according to clear Perceptions desires nothing but what is truly good for him nor avoids but what is certainly evil Then I confess it is extreamly corrupt We are too prone to frame wrong Conceptions and as erroneous Judgments of things We generally covet what flatters our Senses without distinguishing noxious from innocent Pleasures and our Hatred is as partial We gratify our Bodies so much as to meditate little and think very grosly of spiritual or abstracted Matters We are apt to indulge our Inclinations which we term to follow Nature so that the natural Man that is he that gives the swing to his Appetites counts Divine Things mere Folly calls Religion a feverish Dream of superstitious Heads or a politick Trick invented by States-men to aw the credulous Vulgar For as they that walk after the Flesh mind the things thereof so their carnal Wisdom is Enmity against God Sin easily besets us There is a Law in our Members or Body warring against the Law of our Minds or Reason And when we would do Good Evil is present with us If thus we become stupid and unfit for earthly Speculations how shall we believe when we are told of heavenly things 30. But these Disorders are so far from being Reason that nothing can be more directly contrary to it We lie under no necessary Fate of sinning There is no Defect in our Unâ—…erstandings but those of our own Creation that is to say vicious Habits easily contracted but difficultly reform'd 'T is just with us as with the Drunkard whose I cannot give over Drinking is a deliberate I will not For upon a Wager or for a Reward he can forbear his Cups a Day a Month a Year according as the Consideration of the Value or Certainty of the expected Gain do's influence him Let
no Man therefore say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for as God cannot be tempted to Evil so neither tempteth he any Man But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away and entic'd of his own Lust. 31. Supposing a natural Impotency to reason well we could no more be liable to Condemnation for not keeping the Commands of God than those to whom the Gospel was never revealed for not believing on Christ For how shall they call on him in whom they have not believ'd and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard Were our reasoning Faculties imperfect or we not capable to employ them rightly there could be no Possibility of our understanding one another in Millions of things where the stock of our Ideas should prove unavoidably unequal or our Capacities different But 't is the Perfection of our Reason and Liberty that makes us deserve Rewards and Punishments We are perswaded that all our Thoughts are entirely free we can expend the Force of Words compare Ideas distinguish clear from obscure Conceptions suspend our Judgments about Uncertainties and yield only to Evidence In a word the Deliberations we use about our Designs and the Choice to which we determine our selves at last do prove us the free Disposers of all our Actions Now what is sound Reason except this be it Doubtless it is And no Evangelical or other knowable Truth can prove insuperable or monstrous to him that uses it after this manner But when we abuse it against it self and enslave it to our debauch'd Imaginations it is averse from all Good We are so habituated I confess to precarious and hasty Conclusions that without great Constancy and Exercise we cannot recover our innate Freedom nor do well having accustom'd our selves so much to Evil. But tho 't is said in Scripture that we will neither know nor understand 't is there also said that we may amend our Ways turn from our Iniquity and choose Life Encouragements are propos'd to such as do so We can upon serious Reflection see our Faults and find that what we held most unreasonable did only appear so from superficial Disquisitions or want of necessary Helps from Deference to Authority and Principles taken upon Trust from irregular Inclinations and Self-interest or the Hatred of a Party 32. But notwithstanding all this some are at a world of Pains to rob themselves if they could of their Liberty or Freewill the noblest and most useful of all our Faculties the only thing we can properly call ours and the only thing that neither Power nor Fortune can take from us Under whatever Vail these Men endeavour to hide their Folly yet they are engag'd in it by extreme Pride and Self-love For not willing to own their Ignorance and Miscarriages which proceed from Passion Sloth or Inconsideration they would remove all the Blame from their Will and charge it upon a natural Impotency not in their Power to cure Thus they ingeniously cheat themselves and chuse rather to be rank'd in the same Condition with Brutes or Machines than be oblig'd to acknowledg their humane Frailties and to mend 33. Since therefore the Perfection or Soundness of our Reason is so evident to our selves and so plainly contain'd in Scripture however wrested by some ignorant Persons we should labour to acquire Knowledg with more confident Hopes of Success Why should we entertain such mean and unbecoming Thoughts as if Truth like the Almighty dwelt in Light inaccessible and not to be discover'd by the Sons of Men Things are always the same how different soever the Conceptions of Men about them may be and what another did not I may happily find out That nothing escap'd the Sight of former Ages is a Tale to be told where one Person only speaks and no Body present must contradict him The Slips and Errors which are taken notice of in the World every Day serve only to put us in mind that many able Men did not examine the Truth with that Order and Application they should or might have done There are a thousand things in our Power to know of which through Prejudice or Neglect we may be and frequently remain ignorant all our Lives and innumerable Difficulties may be made by imagining MYSTERIES where there are none or by conceiving too discouraging and unjust an Opinion of our own Abilities whereas by a Parity of Reason we may hope to outdo all that outdid others before us as Posterity may exceed both 'T is no Presumption therefore for us to endeavour setting things in a better Light as to know what we are able to perform is not Pride but foolishly to presume none else can equal us when we are all upon the same Level For who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not receiv'd it Have we not all the same sure and certain Promises of Light and Assistance from above as well as the Privilege of Reason in common If any lack Wisdom let him ask it of God who gives to all Men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him 34. To conclude let no Body think to be excus'd by this imaginary Corruption but learn from the Scripture our infallible Oracle that the Gospel if it be the Word of God is only contrary to the Opinions and Wishes of lewd Men that love to walk after their own Lusts of those that speak Evil of the things which they understand not and debauch themselves in what they know in common with Brutes It is hid to them whose Minds are blinded by the God of this World and to those who live by the Ignorance and simple Credulity of their Brethren To be brief It is contrary to the false Reasoning of all that will not know what it is to reflect or consider but it is not above the Possibility of their Reajon when they shall better improve their Faculties The Creation of the World was against the System of Aristotle the Immortality of the Soul against the Hypothesis of Epicurus and the Liberty of the Will was impugn'd by many antient Philsophers But is this to be contrary to Reason Have not these Men been quite baffl'd by as very Heathens as themselves And are not their other Errors since detected and exploded by most of the Learned Besides they wanted a principal mean of Information viz. REVELATION SECT III That there is nothing MYSTERIOVS or ABOVE Reason in the GOSPEL 1. WE come at length to enquire whether any Doctrine of the GOSPEL be ABOVE tho not contrary to REASON This Expression is taken in a twofold Signification First It denotes a thing intelligible of it self but so cover'd by figurative Words Types and Ceremonies that Reason cannot penetrate the Vail nor see what is under it till it be remov'd Secondly It is made to signify a thing
of its own Nature inconceivable and not to be judg'd of by our ordinary Faculties and Ideas tho it be never so clearly reveal'd In both these Senses to be above Reason is the same thing with MYSTERY and in effect they are convertible Terms in Divinity CHAP. I. The History and Signification of MYSTERY in the Writings of the GENTILES 2. WHAT is meant by REASON we have already largely discours'd but to understand aright what the word MYSTERY imports we must trace the Original of it as far back as the Theology of the antient Gentiles whereof it was a considerable Term. Those Nations who as Paul elegantly describes them professing themselves wise became Fools who chang'd the Glory of the incorruptible God into the Image and Likeness of corruptible Man of Birds of Beasts and creeping things who turn'd the Truth of God into a Lie and worship'd the Creature as well as and sometimes more than the Creator Those Nations I say asham'd or afraid to exhibit their Religion naked to the view of all indifferently disguis'd it with various Ceremonies Sacrifices Plays c. making the superstitious People believe that admirable things were adumbrated by these Externals The Priests but very rarely and then obscurely taught in publick pretending the Injunctions of their Divinities to the contrary lest their Secrets forsooth should be expos'd to the Profanation of the Ignorant or Violation of the Impious They perform'd the highest Acts of their Worship consisting of ridiculous obscene or inhumane Rites in the inmost Recesses of Temples or Groves consecrated for that purpose And it was inexpiable Sacrilege for any to enter these but such as had a special Mark and Privilege or as much as to ask Questions about what pass'd in them All the Excluded were for that Reason stil'd the PROFANE as those not in Orders with us the LAITY 3. But the cunning Priests who knew how to turn every thing to their own Advantage thought fit to initiate or instruct certain Persons in the Meaning of their Rites They gave out that such as died uninitiated wallow'd in infernal Mire whilst the Purifi'd and Initiated dwelt with the Gods which as well increas'd their Veneration for as a Desire of enjoying so great a Happiness The Initiated after some Years Preparation to make them value what cost so much Time and Patience were devoutly sworn never to discover what they saw or heard under Pain of Death tho they might discourse of them amongst themselves lest too 3. great a Constraint should tempt them to blab the Secret And so religiously they kept this Oath that some of them after their Conversion to Christianity could hardly be brought to declare what pass'd at their Initiation in Gentilism The Athenians thought no Torments exquisite enough to punish Diagoras the Philosopher for divulging their Mysteries and not content to brand him with Atheism for laughing at their Weakness they promis'd a Talent as a Reward to any that should kill him 'T was Death to say Adonis was a Man some suffer'd upon that account And many were torn in pieces at the Mysteries of Ceres and the Orgies of Bacchus for their unadvis'd Curiosity 4. Credible Authors report that the Priests confess'd to the Initiated how these Mystick Representations were instituted at first in Commemoration of some remarkable Accidents or to the Honour of some great Persons that oblig'd the World by their Vertues and useful Inventions to pay them such Acknowledgments But let this be as it will Myein in their Systems signify'd to initiate Myesis Initiation Mystes a Name afterwards given the Priests denoted the Person to be initiated who was call'd an Epopt when admitted and Mystery the Doctrine in which he was initiated As there were several Degrees so there were different sorts of Mysteries The most famous were the Samothracian the Eleusinian the Egyptian and those of Bacchus commonly known by the name of Orgies tho the word is sometimes put for any of the former 5. From what has been said it is clear that they understood by Mystery in those Days a thing intelligible of it self but so vail'd by others that it could not be known without special Revelation I need not add that in all the Greek and Roman Authors it is constantly put as a very vulgar Expression for any thing sacred or profane that is design'dly kept secret or accidentally obscure And this is the common Acceptation of it still for when we cannot see clearly into a Business we say it is a Mystery to us and that an obscure or perplex'd Discourse is very mysterious Mysteries of State Sciences and Trades run all in the same Notion 6. But many not denying what is so plain yet being strongly inclin'd out of Ignorance or Passion to maintain what was first introduc'd by the Craft or Superstition of their Fore-fathers will have some Christian Doctrines to be still mysterious in the second Sense of the Word that is inconceivable in themselves however clearly reveal'd They think a long Prescription will argue it Folly in any to appear against them and indeed Custom has made it dangerous But slighting so mean Considerations if I can demonstrate that in the New Testament Mystery is always us'd in the first Sense of the Word or that of the Gentiles viz. for things naturally very intelligible but so cover'd by figurative Words or Rites that Reason could not discover them without special Revelation and that the Vail is actually taken away then it will manifestly follow that the Doctrines so reveal'd cannot now be properly call'd Mysteries 7. This is what I hope to perform in the Sequel of this Section to the entire Satisfaction of those sincere Christians more concern'd for the Truth than the old or gainful Opinion Yet I must first remove out of my way certain common places of cavilling with which not only the raw Beginners of the most implicite Constitution raise a great Dust upon all Occasions tho not able to speak of any thing pertinently when jostl'd out of the beaten Road but truly their venerable Teachers are not asham'd sometimes to play at this small Game which they know rather amuses the Prejudic'd of their own side than edifies the Adversaries of any sort I wish there were more even of a well-meaning Zeal without Knowledg than of Art or Cunning in this Conduct CHAP. II. That nothing ought to be call'd a MYSTERY because we have not an adequate Idea of all its Properties nor any at all of its Essence 8. I Shall discuss this Point with all the Perspicuity I am able And first I affirm That nothing can be said to be a Mystery because we have not an adequate Idea of it or a distinct View of all its Properties at once for then every thing would be a Mystery The Knowledg of finite Creatures is gradually progressive as Obâ—…ects are presented to the Understanding Adam did not know so much
an adequate Notion which is all that we consider in it at present The Difficulties rais'd from its Duration as that Succession seems to make it finite and that all things must exist together if it be instantaneous I despair not of solving very easily and rendring Infinity also which is inseparable from it or rather a different Consideration of the same thing as little mysterious as that three and two make five But this falls naturally into my second Discourse where I give a particular Explication of the Christian Tenets according to the general Principles I am establishing in this 16. As we know not all the Properties of things so we can never conceive the Essence of any Substance in the World To avoid Ambiguity I distinguish after an excellent modern Philosopher the Nominal from the Real Essence of a thing The nominal Essence is a Collection of those Properties or Modes which we principally observe in any thing and to which we give one common Denomination or Name Thus the nominal Essence of the Sun is a bright hot and round Body at a certain Distance from us and that has a constant regular Motion Whoever hears the Word Sun pronounc'd this is the Idea he has of it He may conceive more of its Properties or not all these but it is still a Collection of Modes or Properties that makes his Idea So the Nominal Essence of Honey consists in its Colour Taste and other known Attributes 17. But the real Essence is that intrinsick Constitution of a thing which is the Ground or Support of all its Properties and from which they naturally flow or result Now tho we are perswaded that the Modes of things must have such a Subject to exist in for they cannot subsist alone yet we are absolutely ignorant of what it is We conceive nothing more distinctly than the mention'd Properties of the Sun and those whereby Plants Fruits Metals c. are known to us but we have no manner of Notion of the several Foundations of these Properties tho we are very sure in the mean time that some such thing must necessarily be The observable Qualities therefore of things is all that we understand by their Names for which Reason they are call'd their Nominal Essence 18. It follows now very plainly that nothing can be said to be a Mystery because we are ignorant of its real Essence since it is not more knowable in one thing than in another and is never conceiv'd or included in the Ideas we have of things or the Names we give ' em I had not much insisted upon this Point were it not for the so often repeated Sophistry of some that rather merit the Encomiums of great READERS than great REASONERS When they would have the most palpable 3. Absurdities and Contradictions go down with others or make them place Religion in Words that signify nothing or what they are not able to explain then they wisely tell them that they are ignorant of many things especially the Essence of their own Souls and that therefore they must not always deny what they cannot conceive But this is not all for when they would instead of confuting them make those pass for ridiculcus or arrogant Pretenders who maintain that only intelligible and possible things are the Subject of Belief they industriously represent them as presuming to define the Essence of God with that of created Spirits And after they have sufficiently aggravated this Presumption of their own coining they conclude that if the Contexture of the smallest Pebble is not to be accounted for then they should not insist upon such rigorous Terms of Believing but sometimes be content to submit their Reason to their Teachers and the Determinations of the Church 19. Who perceives not the Weakness and Slight of this Reasoning We certainly know as much of the SOUL as we do of any thing else if not more We form the clearest Conceptions of Thinking Knowing Imagining Willing Hoping Loving and the like Operations of the Mind But we are Straâ—…gers to the Subject wherein these Operations exist So are we to that upon which the Roundness Softness Colour aâ—… Taste of a Grape depend There is nothing more evident than the Modes or Properties of BODY as to be extended solid divisible smooth rough soft hard c. But we know as â—…tle of the internal Constitution which is the Support of these sensible Qualities as we do of that wherein the Operations of the SOUL reside And as the great Man I just now mention'd observes we may as well deâ—…y the Existence of Body because we have not an Idea of its real Essence as call the Being of the Soul in question for the same Reason The Idea of the Soul then is every whit as clear and distinct as that of the Body and had there been as there is not any Difference the Soul must have carri'd the Advantage because its Properties are more immediately known to us and are the Light whereby we discover all things besides 20. As for GOD we comprehend nothing better than his Attributes We know not it 's true the Nature of that eternal Subject or Essence wherein Infinite Goodness Love Knowledg Power and Wisdom co-exist but we are not better acquainted with the real Essence of any of his Creatures As by the Idea and Name of GOD we understand his known Atâ—…ributes and Properties so we understand those of all things else by theirs and we conceive the one as clearly as we do the other I remark'd in the Beginning of this Chapter that we knew nothing of things but such of their Properties as were necessary and useful We may say the same of God for every Act of our Religion is directed by the Consideration of some of his Attributes without ever thinking of his Essence Our Love to him is kindled by his Goodness and our Thankfulness by his Mercy our Obedience is regulated by his Justice and our Hopes are confirm'd by his Wisdom and Power 21. I think I may now warrantably conclude that nothing is a Mystery because we know not its Essence since it appears that it is neither knowable in it self nor ever thought of by us So that the Divine Being himself cannot with more Reason be accounted mysterious in this Respect than the most contemptible of his Creatures Nor am I very much concern'd that these Essences escape my Knowledg for I am fix'd in the Opinion that what Insinite Goodness has not been pleas'd to reveal to us we are either sufficiently capable to discover our selves or need not understand it at all I hope now it is very manifest that Mysteries in Religion are but ill argu'd from the pretended Mâ—…steries of Nature and that such as endeavour to support the sormer by the latter have either a Design to impose upon others or that they have never themselves duely consider'd of this Matter CHAP. III. The Signification of the Word MYSTERY in the New Testament and the Writings of the most
antient Christians 22. HAving so dispatch'd these adequate Ideas and I know not what real Essences we come now to the main Point upon which the whole Controversy chiefly depends For the Question being whether or no Christianity is mysterious it ought to be naturally decided by the New Testament wherein the Christian Faith is originally contain'd I heartiâ—…y desire to put the Case upon this Issue I appeal to this Tribunal For did I not infinitely prefer the Truth I learn from these sacred Records to all other Considerations I should never assert that there are no Mysteries in Christianity The Scriptures have engag'd me in this Error if it be one and I will sooner be reputed Heterodox with these only on my side than to pass for Orthodox with the whole World and have them against me 23. Now by searching the Scriptures I find some of the Evangelick Doctrines call'd Mysteries in a more general or in a more particular Sense They are more generally so call'd with respect to all Mankind for being certain Matters of Fact only known to God and lodg'd in his Decree or such Events as were quite lost and forgot in the World it was impossible for any Person tho never so wise or learned to discover them for the things of God knoweth none but the Spirit of God as none can find out the secret Thoughts of Man till he tells them himself Such Revelations then of God in the New Testament are call'd Mysteries not from any present Inconceivableness or Obscurity but with respect to what they were before this Revelation as that is call'd our Task which we long since perform'd 24. If any should question this let him hear the Apostle Paul declare for himself and his Fellow-Labourers in the Gospel We speak says he the Wisdom of God hid in a MYSTERY which God ordain'd before the World for our Glory which none of the Princes of the World knew c. And to shew that this Divine Wisdom was a Mystery for want of revealing Information he presently subjoins Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepar'd for them that love him but God hath reveal'd them to us by his Spirit The most perspicacious Philosophers were not able to foretel the Coming of Christ to discover the Resurrection of the Body nor any other Matter of Fact that is deliver'd in the Gospel And if they happen'd now and then to say something like the Truth they did but divine at best and could never be certain of their Opinion It is a most delightful thing to consider what Pains the enquiring Heathens were often at to give a Reason for what depended not in the least upon any Principles in their Philosophy but was an historical Fact communicable by God alone or such as had undoubted Memoirs concerning it Of this I think it not amiss to add the following Example 25. The same Experience that taught the Gentiles their mortal Condition acquainted them also with the Frailty of their Natures and the numberless Calamities constantly attending them They could not perswade themselves that the Species of Man came in such deplorable Circumstances out of the Hands of an infinitely good and merciful Deity and so were inclin'd to impute all to the Wickedness of adult Persons till they perceiv'd that Death and Misfortune did not spare innocent Children more than Robbers and Pirates At last they imagin'd a pre-existent State wherein the Soul acting separately like Angels might have contracted some extraordinary Guilt and so for Punishment be thrust into the Body which they sometimes compar'd to a Prison but oftner to a Grave This was likewise the Origin of Transmigration tho in process of Time the Sins of this World became as much concern'd in that Opinion as those of the other But nothing is more ingenious than the Account which Cebes the Theban gives us of the Matter in his most excellent Portraiture of humane Life He feigns Imposture sitting in a Throne at the Gate of Life in the Shape of a most beautiful Lady holding a Cup in her Hand She obligingly presents it to all that are on their Journey to this World and these as civilly accept it but the Draught proves Ignorance and Error whence proceed all the Disorders and Misery of their Lives 26. This Point was a great Mystery to these honest Philosophers who had only Fancy to guide them and could not pretend to Instructions from the Mind of God but the thing is now no Mystery to us that have the Mind of Christ. We know that Adam the first Man became also the first Sinner and Mortal and that so the whole Race propagated from him could be naturally no better than he was By one Man Sin enter'd into the World and Death by Sin 27. But some Doctrines of the Gospel are more particularly call'd Mysteries because they were hid from God's peculiar People under the Mosaick Oeconomy not that they knew nothing concerning them for the Law had a Shadow of good things to come but they were not clearly and fully reveal'd till the New Testament Times being vail'd before by various Typical Representations Ceremonies and figurative Expressions Christ tells his Disciples Many Prophets and Kings have desir'd to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them Paul says we use great PLAINNESS of Speech and not as Moses who put a VAIL over his Face And then expresly adds that this VAIL is taken away in Christ which could not be truly affirm'd were the things reveal'd still inconceivable for I know no Difference between not hearing of a thing at all and not comprehending it when you do In another Place Paul has these remarkable Words The Preaching of Jesus Christ according to the REVELATION of the MYSTERY which was kept secret since the World began but now is made MANIFEST and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God MADE KNOWN to all Nations for the Obedience of Faith 28. These Passages alone sufficiently prove the Assertions contain'd in N o 6 and 7 of this Section viz. First that the Mysteries of the Gospel were certain things in their own Nature intelligible enough but call'd Mysteries by reason of the Vail under which they were formerly hid Secondly that under the Gospel this Vail is wholly remov'd From which Thirdly follows the promis'd Conclusion that such Doctrines cannot now properly deserve the Name of Mysteries 29. It is observable that the hottest Sticklers for the Fathers do cite their Authority only where they think it makes for them and slight or suppress it when not favourable to their Cause Lest it should be maliciously insinuated that I serve the holy Scriptures after the same manner I shall here transcribe all the Passages of the New Testament where the
to qualify themselves after this manner And no wonder that it has such little Effects now upon Mens Lives after it is so iniserably deform'd and almost ruin'd by those unintelligible and extravagant Terms Notions and Rites of Pagan or Jewish Original 69. Thus I have distinctly answer'd the several Objections made to me and I shall add no more on this Subject of Faith when I have consider'd a Passage in the first Epistle to Peter where it is written that the Angels desire to see into certain things yet those things are not inconceivable Mysteries but the Coming of Christ and the Gospel-state of Salvation which were divinely foretold to the Jews and concerning which they carefully reason'd then tho now those things are fulfill'd we are not permitted that Liberty Receiving the end of your Faith says Peter the Salvation of your Souls of which Salvation the Prophets have enquir'd and diligently search'd who prophesi'd of the Grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testify'd before-hand the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow Unto whom it was reveal'd that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preach'd unto you by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into Now here 's no great Mystery in all this that the Angels who being finite Creatures can know nothing but by Experience Ratiocination or Revelation should be as curious as the Jews to penetrate into those future Events of such Importance and so very obscurely reveal'd CHAP. V. Objections drawn from the Consideration of MIRACLES answer'd 70. WHen all other shifts prove ineffectual the Partizans of MYSTERY fly to MIRACLES as their last Refuge but this is too weak a Place to make any long Resistance and we doubt not of beating 'em quickly thence with Ease and Safety But seeing for the most part the State of this Controversy is never distinctly laid I shall first endeavour to give a clear Notion of the Nature of Miracles and then leave it to be consider'd whether I have much Reason to apprehend any Danger from this Objection A MIRACLE then is some Action exceeding all humane Power and which the Laws of NATURE cannot perform by their ordinary Operations 71. Now whatever is contrary to Reason can be no Miracle for it has been sufficiently prov'd already that Contradiction is only another word for Impossible or Nothing The miraculous Action therefore must be something in it self intelligible and possible tho the manner of doing it be extraordinary So for a Man to walk safe in the midst of Fire is conceivable and possible too should any thing capable of repelling the Heat and Flames surround him but when such a Security is not provided by Art or Chance but is the immediate Effect of supernatural Power then it makes a Miracle An able Physician do's sometimes restore Sight to the Blind and a Hand or Foot must dry up when the Circulation of the Blood and Humours is too much excluded from it but if without the ordinary Time and Applications those Members be cur'd in an Instant at the Command or Desire of any Person such an Action is truly miraculous as well as the sudden Restoration of a sick Body to Health which Art or Nature must spend a great deal of Time and Pains upon 72. No Miracle then is contrary to Reason for the Action must be intelligible and the Performance of it appear most easy to the Author of Nature who may command all its Principles at his Pleasure Therefore all those Miracles are fictitious wherein there occur any Contradictions as that Christ was born without opening any Passage out of the Virgin 's Body that a Head spoke some Days after it was sever'd from the Body and the Tongue cut out with Multitudes of this kind that may be met with among the Papists the Jews the Bramins the Mahometans and in all Places where the Credulity of the People makes 'em a Merchandize to their Priests 73. Let us next consider that God is not so prodigal of Miracles as to work any at random The Order of Nature is not alter'd stopp'd or forwarded unless for some weighty Design becoming the Divine Wisdom and Majesty And indeed we learn from Scripture and Reason that no Miracle is ever wrought without some special and important End which is either appointed by those for whom the Miracle is made or intended and declar'd by him that works it If the Apostles had barely cur'd the blind the deaf the lame the diseas'd this would certainly procure 'em an extraordinary Esteem and in some Places too Divine VVorship as it happen'd to Paul and Baâ—…nabas at Lystra when they had cur'd a born Cripple without any farther Circumstance but this was only a Means to gain the Attention of these Idolaters to the Doctrine they were about to preach in their City Nor is there any Miracle mention'd in the New Testament but what serv'd to confirm the Authority of those that wrought it to procure Attention to the Doctrines of the Gospel or for the like wise and reasonable Purposes 74. By this Rule the celebrated Feats of Goblins and Fairies of Witches of Conjurers and all the Heathen Prodigies must be accounted fictitious idle and superstitious Fables for in all these there appears no End deserving a Change in Nature Besides they evidently contradict our Idea of God and quite subvert his Providence Diabolical Delusions would hereby receive equal Confirmation with Divine Revelation Miracles being perform'd in favour of both Nay the VVonders of the Devil and his Agents would infinitely exceed in Number and Quality those of God and his Servants which Affertion must hold true were no Stories believ'd but the best aâ—…tested in every Country of England to speak nothing of more credulous Nations for it is very observable that the more ignorant and barbarous any People remain you shall find 'em most abound with Tales of this nature and stand in far greater Aw of Satan thaâ—… Jehovah In a word the Heathens after this rate would be rivetted in their Idolatry and the ugliest Hag or most beggarly Astrologer equalize the Prophets and Apostles But why should good Reasons be spent in Confutation of mere Fictions for I challenge any Person whatsoever to produce one Instance of these lying VVonders that contains all the true Characters of Historical Evidence and withal I dare engage as soon to prove the Goodness of the Alcoran as of the Gospel if the Belief of any Miracles except Divine â—…nes be grantedme But they must draw some Advantage from the superstitious Fear of the People who so industriously cherish it 75. After what has been already observ'd I need not add that all Miracles secretly perform'd or among that Party only to whose Profit and Advantage the Belief of them turns