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
by it is in humane Language a Trade and I see not how they can be angry at the Name that are so passionately in love with the Thing But of this in due place The Poor who are not suppos'd to understand Philosophical Systems soon apprehended the Difference between the plain convincing Instructions of Christ and the intricate ineffectual Declamations of the Scribes For the Jewish Rabbies divided at that time into Stoick Platonick and Pythagorean Sects c. did by a mad Liberty of Allegory accommodate the Scriptures to the wild Speculations of their several Masters They made the People who comprehended nothing of their Cabalistick Observations believe 'em to be all profound Mysteries and so taught 'em Subjection to Heathenish Rites whilst they set the Law of God at nought by their Traditions No wonder then if the disinterested common sort and the more ingenuous among the Rulers did reject these nonsensical Superstitions tho impudently father'd upon Moses for a Religion suted to the Capacities of all delineated and foretold by their own Prophets I wish no Application of this could be made in the following Discourse to the Case of any Christians much less to the purer and better sort Whoever considers with what Eagerness and Rigour some Men press Obedience to their own Constitutions and Discipline conniving in the mean while at all Nonconformity to the Divine Law bow strictly they enjoin the Observation of unreasonable unscriptural Ceremonies and the Belief of those unfathomable Explanations of what they stiffly hold themselves to be incomprehensible I say who considers all this is vehemently tempted to suspect they drive a more selfish Design than that of instructing the Ignorant or converting the Sinner That any should be hated despis'd and molested nay sometimes be charitably burn'd and damn'd for rejecting those Fooleries superadded and in many Cases substituted to the most blessed pure and practicable Religion that Men could wish or enjoy is Matter of Astonishment and Grief to such as prefer the Precepts of God to the Inventions of Men the plain Paths of Reason to the insuperable Labyrinths of the Fathers and true Christian Liberty to Diabolical and Antichristian Tyranny But the common Method of teaching and supporting this Mystery of Inâ—…quity is still more intolerable How many voluminous Systems infinitely more difficult than the Scriptâ—… 〈◊〉 read with great Atteâ—…â—…y 〈◊〉 â—…t would be Master of the present â—…-logy What a prodigious Number of barbarous Words mysterious no doubt what tedious and immethâ—…dical Directions what ridiculous anâ—… discrepant Interpretations must you patiently learn and observe before you can begin to understand a Professor of that Faculty The last and easiest part of your Labour will be to find his Sentiments in the Bible tho the holy Penmen never thought of them and you never read that sacred Book since you were a School-Boy But a Distrust of your own Reason a blind Veneration for those that liv'd before you and a firm Resolution of adhering to all the Expositions of your Party will do any thing Believe only as a sure Foundation for all your Allegories that the Words of Scripture tho never so equivocal and ambiguous without the Context may signify every where whatever they can signify And if this be not enough believe that every Truth is a true Sense of every Passage of Scripture that is that any thing may be made of every thing And you 'll not only find all the New Testament in the Old and all the Old in the New but I promise you there 's no Explication tho never so violent tho never so contradictory or perplex'd but you may as easily establish as admit But I will not repeat what I have expresly written of this Matter in an Epistolary Dissertation now lying by me entitul'd Systems of Divinity exploded In the following Discourse which is the first of three and wherein I prove my Subject in general the Divinity of the New Testament is taken for granted so that it regards only Christians immediately and others but remotely who are pray'd to weigh my Arguments by the said Supposition In the next Discourse equally concerning Christians and others I attempt a particular and rational Explanation of the reputed Mysteries of the Gospel And in the third I demonstrate the Verity of Divine Revelation against Atheists and all Enemies of reveal'd Religion This seems to me to be the best Method for the Order of Nature is in your Systems of Divinity quite inverted They prove the Authority and Perfection before they teach the Contents of Scripture whereas the first is in great measure known by the last How can any be sure that the Scripture contains all things necessary to Salvation till he first reads it over Nay how can he conclude it to be Scripture or the Word of God till he exactly studies it to speak now of no other Means he must use This Confusion then I have carefully avoided for I prove first that the true Religion must necessarily be reasonable and intelligible Next I shew that these requisite Conditions are found in Christianity But seeing a Man of good Parts and Knowledg may easily frame a clear and coherent System I demonstrate Thirdly that the Christian Religion was not form'd after such a manner but was divinely reveal'd from Heaven These three Subjects I handle in as many Books whereof as I said before the following Discourse is the first Before I finish I must take notice of those Gentlemen who love to call Names in Religion for what are all Party-Distinctions but according to them so many sorts of Hereticks or Schismaticks or worse But I assure them that I am neither of Paul nor of Cephas nor of Apollos but of the Lord Jesus Christ alone who is the Author and Finisher of my Faith I have as much Right to have others cal'd after my Name as they to give me a Denomination and that is no Right at all I say not this to prevent being invidiously represented according to a very common Artifice under the Notion of any Sect in the World that is justly or unjustly hated by others This would be a poor Consideration indeed but it is my settl'd Judgment that the thing is unlawful in it self to a good Christian. Leaving others nevertheless their Liberty in this Point it must at least be granted inconvenient for if you go under the Name of a Lutheran for instance tho you agree with those of your Communion but in the main Articles yet their Adversaries will not fail upon occasion to charge you with those other Matters wherein you dissent And should you then declare your Judgment the rest of the Lutherans will not only be much offended but be apt also to call your Sincerity in question about every thing besides which is the known Temper of most Sects The only religious Title therefore that I shall ever own for my part is that most glorious one of being a Christian. A Word or two more I must add
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
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
Kindred with the scarlet Whore The only remaining Text is in chap. 10. 5 6 7. And the Angel which I saw stand upon the Sea and upon the Earth lifted up his Hand to Heaven and swore by him that liveth for ever and ever who created Heaven and the things that therein are and the Earth and the things that therein are and the Sea and the things which are therein that there should be Time no longer but that in the Days of the Voice of the seventh Angel when he shall begin to sound the MYSTERY of God should be finish'd that is that all the things figuratively deliver'd in this Prophecy concerning the Gospel which was shewn above to signify the same with the Mystery of God should have their final Accomplishment and so end with this Globe and all therein contain'd 35. I appeal now to all equitable Persons whether it be not evident to any that can read that Mystery in the whole New Testament is never put for any thing inconceivable in it self or not to be judg'd of by our ordinary Notions and Faculties however clearly reveal'd And whether on the contrary it do's not always signify some things naturally intelligible enough but either so vail'd by figurative Words and Rites or so lodg'd in God's sole Knowledg and Decree that they could not be discover'd without special Revelation Whoever retains any real Veneration for the Scripture and sincerely believes it to be the Word of God must be ever concluded by its Authority and render himself in spight of all Prejudices to its Evidence He that says the Gospel is his only Rule of Faith and yet believes any thing not warranted by it he is an arrant Hypocrite and do's but slily banter all the World 36. Nor can a more favourable Opinion be harbour'd of those who instead of Submission to the Dictates of Scripture and Reason straight have Recourse to such Persons as they specially follow or admire and are ready to receive or refuse an Opinion as these shall please to direct them Pray Doctor says one of his Parishioners what think you of such a Book it seems to make things plain Ah! dear Sir answers the Doctor it is a very bad Book he 's a dangerous Man that wrote it he 's for believing nothing but what agrees with his own purblind proud and carnal Reason P. Say you so Doctor then I 'm resolv'd to read no more of it for I heard you often preach against Humane Reason I 'm sorry truly it should unhappily fall into my Hands but I 'll take care that none of our Family set their Eyes upon 't D. You 'll do very well Sir besides this Book is still worse than I told you for it destroys a great many Points which we teach and should this Doctrine take which God forbid most of the good Books you have at home and which cost you no less Pains to read than Money to purchase would signify not a Straw and serve only for Waste-Paper to put under Pies or for other mean Uses P. Bless me good Doctor I pray God forgive me reading such a vile Treatise he 's an abominable Man that could write it but what my Books worth nothing say you Dr. H's Sermons and Mr. C's Discourses Waste-Paper I 'll never believe it let who will say the contrary Lord why don't you excommunicate the Author and seize upon his Books D. Ay Sir Time was but now it seems a Man may believe according to his own Sense and not as the Church directs there 's a Toleration establish'd you know P. That Toleration Doctor will D. Whist Sir say no more of it I am as much concern'd as you can be but it is not safe nor expedient at this time of day to find Faults 37. There are others far from this Simplicity but as firmly resolv'd to stand fast by their old Systems When they tell us of Mysteries we must believe them and there 's no Remedy for it It is not the Force of Reasoning that makes these for Mysteries but some by-Interest and they 'll be sure to applaud and defend any Author that writes in favour of their Cause whether he supports it with Reason or not But I 'm not half so angry with these Men as with a sort of People that will not be at the Pains of examining any thing lest they should become more clear-sighted or betterinform'd and so be tempted to take up a new Road. Such Persons must needs be very indifferent indeed or they make Religion come into their Scutcheons 38. The mention of Scutcheons naturally puts me in mind of those who are little mov'd with any Reasons when the Judgment of the Primitive Church comes in competition The Fathers as they love to speak are to them the best Interpreters of the Words of Scripture And what those honest Men says a very ingenious Person could not make good themselves by sufficient Reasons is now prov'd by their sole Authority If the Fathers foresaw this adds the same Author they were not to be blam'd for sparing themselves the Labour of reasoning more exactly than we find they commonly did That Truth and Falshood should be determin'd by a Majority of Voices or certain Periods of Time seems to me to be the most ridiculous of all Follies 39. But if Antiquity can in good earnest add any worth to an Opinion I think I need not fear to stand to its Decision For if we consider the Duration of the World says another celebrated Writer as we do that of Man's Life consisting of Infancy Youth Manhood and old Age then certainly such as liv'd before us were the Children or the Youth and we are the true Antients of the World And if Experience continues he be the most considerable Advantage which grown Persons have over the younger sort then questionless the Experience of such as come last into the World must be incomparably greater than of those that were born long before them for the last Comers enjoy not only all the Stock of their Predecessors but to it have likewise added their own Observations These Thoughts are no less ingenious than they are just and solid But if Antiquity be understood in the vulgar Sense I have no Reason to despair however for my Assertion too will become antient to Posterity and so be in a Condition to support it self by this commodious Privilege of Prescription 40. Yet seeing I am not likely to live till that time it cannot be amiss to make it appear that these same Fathers who have the good luck to be at once both the Young and the Old of the World are on my side 'T is not out of any Deference to their Judgments I confess that I take these Pains I have freely declar'd what Value I set upon their Authority in the Beginning of this Book but my Design is to shew the Disingenuity of those who pretending the highest Veneration for the Writings of the Fathers never fail to decline
Rewarder of them that diligently seek him So the firm Perswasion of a pious Man that his Requests will be granted is grounded upon his knowledg of the Being Goodness and Power of God It was reckon'd no Crime not to believe in Christ before he was reveal'd for how could they believe in him of whom they had not heard But with what better Reason could any be condemn'd for not believing what he said if they might not understand it for as far as I can see these Cases are parallel Faith is likewise said to come by hearing but without Understanding 't is plain this Hearing would signify nothing Words and their Ideas being reciprocal in all Languages 55. The Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews do's not define FAITH a Prejudice Opinion or Conjecture but Conviction or Demonstration Faith says he is the confident Expectation of things hop'd for and the Demonstration of things not seen These last Words things not seen signify not as some would have it things incomprehensible or unintelligible but past or future Matters of Fact as the Creation of the World and the Resurrection of the Dead or the Belief of some things invisible to our corporeal Eyes tho intelligible enough to the Eyes of our Understanding This appears by all the Examples subjoin'd to that Definition Besides there can be properly no Faith of things seen or present for then 't is Self-evidence and not Ratiocination Hope that is seen is not Hope for what a Man sees why doth he yet hope for But if we hope for what we see not then do we with Patience wait for it So the Patriarchs receiv'd not the Promises but saw them afar off and were perswaded of them 56. Without conceiving Faith after this manner how could Christ be term'd the Light of the World the Light of the Gentiles How could Believers be said to have the Spirit of Wisdom and to have the Eyes of their Hearts enlightn'd For the Light of the Heart or Understanding is the Knowledg of things and as this Knowledg is more or less so the Mind is proportionably illuminated Be not unwise says the Apostle but understanding what the Will of the Lord is And in another place he exhorts Men never to act in dubious Matters till they are fully perswaded in their own Minds 57. But to all this will be objected that remarkable Instance of Abraham's Faith who was ready to sacrifice his only Son notwithstanding God had promis'd that Kings should descend of him and his Seed be numerous as the Stars of Heaven or the Sand upon the Sea-shore Did Abraham blindly obey then without reconciling the apparent Contradiction between God's present Command and his former Promises Far from it for 't is expresly recorded that he that had receiv'd the Promises offer'd up his only begotten of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy Seed be blessed Reasoning that God was able to raise him again from the Dead from whence also he had receiv'd him in a Figure He rightly concluded that God was able to revive Isaac by a Miracle as he was miraculously born according to another Promise after his Parents were past having Children and so as good as dead therefore it is elsewhere written of Abraham that being not weak in Faith he consider'd not his own Body now dead when he was about an hundred Years old neither yet the Deadness of Sarah's Womb nor stagger'd at God's Promise through Unbelief but being strong in Faith he gave Glory to God and was fully perswaded that what he had promis'd he was able also to perform 58. Now what is there in all this but very strict Reasoning from Experience from the Possibility of the thing and from the Power Justice and Immutability of him that promis'd it Nor can any Man stew me in all the New Testament another Signification of Faith but a most firm Perswasion built upon substantial Reasons In this Sense all Christianity is not seldom stil'd the Faith as now we usually say that we are of this or that PERSWASION meaning the Profession of some Religion But surely nothing can better root and establish our Perswasion than a thorow Examination and Trial of what we believe whereas the Weakness and Instability of our Faith proceed from want of sufficient Reasons for it whereupon Incredulity always follows then fails Obedience which is the constant Sign and Fruit of genuine Faith and hence spring all the Irregularities of Mens Lives He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a Liar For he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk as he walk'd Nor can it possibly fall out otherwise but that he who believes without Understanding must be tost and carri'd about with every Wind of Doctrine by the Slight and Cunning of Men ready to deceive 59. Tho the Authority of the New Testament be so clear in this Matter yet I shall further confirm it by the following Observations First if Faith were not a Perswasion resulting from the previous Knowledg and Comprehension of the thing believ'd there could be no Degrees nor Differences in it for these are evident Tokens that Men know more or less of a thing as they have Desires or Opportunities to learn it But that there are such Degrees appears by the Scripture where those that have only an imperfect and perfunctory Knowledg of Religion are compar'd to Infants who feed only upon Milk but they who arrive at a more full and accurate Certainty are liken'd to grown Men that can digest stronger Food 60. My next Observation is That the Subject of Faith must be intelligible to all since the Belief thereof is commanded under no less a Penalty than Damnation He that believetâ—… not shall be damn'd But shall any be damn'd for the Non-performance of Impossibilities Obligations to â—…elieve do therefore suppose a Possibility to understand I shew'd before that Contradiction and Nothing were convertible Terms and I may now say as much of Mystery in the Theological Sense for to speak freely Contradiction and Mystery are but two emphatick ways of saying Nothing Contradiction expresses Nothing by a couple of Ideas that destroy one another and Mystery expresses Nothing by Words that have no Ideas at all 61. The third Observation shall be That if any part of Scripture were unintelligible it could never be rightly translated except the Sound of the Words and not their Sense be look'd upon as the Revelation of God Terms can by no means be understood unless the things they denote be understood also I may well understand Things without their Names but never Names without knowing their Subjects And in good earnest to what sort of Assurance can any Man pretend that he has made a right Version of what he openly professes not to conceive It cannot be imagin'd how much the Notion of Mystery contributes to the Obscurity of Scripture in
hand but the Priest's with the like Ceremonies they had no colour of Authority from the Scriptures but only from Custom and Tradition 93. Now their own Advantage being the Motive that put the Primitive Clergy upon reviving Mystery they quickly erected themselves by its Assistance into a separate and politick Body tho not so soon into their various Orders and Degrees For in the two first Centuries we meet with no Sub-Deacons Readers or the like much less with the Names or Dignities of Popes Cardinals Patriarchs Metropolitans Archbishops Primates Suffragans Archdeacons Deans Chancellors Vicars or their numerous Dependants and Retinue But in small time Mystery made way for those and several other Usurpations upon Mankind under pretence of Labourers in the Lord's Vineyard 94. The Degrees or Constitutions concerning Ceremonies and Discipline to encrease the Splendor of this new State did strangely affect stupify and amaze the Minds of the ignorant People and made them believe they were in good earnest Mediators between God and Men that could fix Sanctity to certain Times Places Persons or Actions They seem'd almost a different and more divine Species of Creatures distinguishing themselves from other Men in their Garb in their manner of living by Tithes and Donations in their separate Places at Church and several other ways By this means the Clergy were able to do any thing they engross'd at length the sole Right of interpreting Scripture and with it claim'd Infallibility to their Body 95. This is the true Origin and Progress of the Christian Mysteries and we may observe how great a share of their Establishment is owing to Ceremonies These never fail to take off the Mind from the Substance of Religion and lead Men into dangerous Mistakes for Ceremonies being easily observ'd every one thinks himself religious enough that exactly performs them But there is nothing so naturally opposite as CEREMONY and CHRISTIANITY The latter discovers Religion naked to all the World and the former delivers it under mystical Representations of a meerly arbitrary Signification 96. It is visible then that Ceremonies perplex instead of explaining but supposing they made things easier then that would be the best Religion which had most of them for they are generally and may all be made equally significative A Candle put â—…nto the Hands of the Baptiz'd to denote the Light of the Gospel is every whit as good a Ceremony as to make the Sign of the Cross upon their Fore-heads in token of owning Christ for their Master and Saviour Wine Milk and Honey signify spiritual Nourishment Strength and Gladness as well as standing at the Gospel betokens our Readiness to hear or profess it 97. In short there 's no degree of Enthusiasm higher than placing Religion in such Fooleries nor any thing so base as by these fraudulent Arts to make the Gospel of no effect unles as sar as it serves a Party But I shall have a better Occasion of exhausting the Subject of Ceremonies elsewhere I treat of 'em here only as they made up the Gentile Mysteries and were afterwards brought in to constitute those of the Christians But as the vastmultitudes of the latter quickly render'd all secret Rites almost impossible so to preserve the Mystery things were purposely made downright unintelligible or very perplex'd In this Poiâ—… our pretended Christians outdid all the Mysteries of the Heathens for the Honour of these might be destroy'd by Discovery or the babling Tongue of any initiated Person But the new Mysteries were thus securely plac'd above the Reach of all Sense and Reason Nay so jealous were the CLERGY of their own Order lest any of 'em should irreligiously unfold those sublime Mysteries to the profanely inquisitive LAITY that they thought fit to put it as much out of the Power of the Holy Tribe it self as out of ours to understand them and so it continues in a great measure to this day The CONCLUSION THUS I have endeavour'd to shew others what I'm fully convinc'd of my self that there is no MYSTERY in CHRISTIANITY or the most perfect Religion and that by Consequence nothing contradictory or inconceivable however made an Article of Faith can be contain'd in the Gospel if it be really the Word of God for I have hitherto argu'd only upon this Supposition for the Reasons to be seen towards the end of the Preface Notwithstanding all Pretences that may be made to the contrary it is evident that no particular Instances or Doctrines of any sort can serve for a proper Answer to this DISCOURSE for as long as the Reasons of it hold good whatever Instance can be alledg'd must either be found not mysterious or if it prove a MYSTERY not divinely reveal'd There is no middle way that I can see When those Passages of Scripture I have cited for my Assertion are either reconcil'd to such as any would bring against me or prov'd not to be understood by me when my Arguments against all inconceivable Mysteries and the Absurdity of God's revealing any such Mysteries are confuted 't is time enough then for others to produce Examples or for me to consider ' em And tho by convincing People that all the Parts of their RELIGION must not only be in themselves but to them also must appear sound and intelligible I might justly leave every one to discover to himself the Reasonableness or Unreasonableness of his Religion which is no difficult Business when once Men are perswaded that they have a right to do it yet the Duties I ow GOD and the World oblige me to proceed further according as I enjoy Health or Leisure without limiting my self as to any time that being a thing in no Man's Power to command at his Pleasure My next Task therefore is God willing to prove the Doctrines of the New Testament perspicuous possible and most worthy of God as well as all calculated for the highest Benefits of Man Some will not thank me it 's probable for so useful an Undertaking and others will make me a Heretick in grain for what I have perform'd already But as it is Duty and no Body's Appláuse which is the Rule of my Actions so God knows I no more value this cheap and ridiculous Nick-name of a Heretick than Paul did besore me for I acknowledg no ORTHODOXY but the TRVTH and I 'm sure where-ever the TRVTH is there must be also the CHVRCH of God I mean and not any Human Faction or Policy Besides the Imputation of Heterodoxy being now as liberal upon the slightest Occasions out of Ignorance Passion or Malice as in the Days of Ireneus and Epiphanius it is many times instead of a Reproach the greatest Honour imaginable Some good Men may be apt to say that supposing my Opinion never so true it may notwithstanding occasion much harm because when People find themselves impos'd upon in any part of Religion they are ready to call the whole in question This Offence is plainly taken not given and my Design is nothing