their profound Speculations For to theologize according to them is not only to speak of God and his Attributes but of Angels too of Aeons of Ideas of Emanations and in a word of every thing that belongs to the intelligible World of the Platonists Theology being a Term affected by all the contemplative Gentlemen whether Orthodox or Gnosticks These sort of Folks did not regard the Facts of the Gospel which prove its Divine Authority any otherwise than as grosser Proofs proper for vulgar weaker Minds But for Contemplation the Case was quite otherwise this they thought a noble and powerful Medium by which Souls of the first Rank elevated themselves to the Knowledg of the noblest Truths Yet the Gospel is not founded upon any thing but Facts and the chief Objects of our Faith are certain Facts contained in the Apostles Creed Is it not therefore a putting the Gospel upon another Foot if we carry on our Contemplations to Abstractions and the Ideas of a crude chimerical Metaphysicks 'T is an extravagant System if instead of Facts well proved and rightly circumstanced there be nothing left but a mere Operation of the Understanding and an Ens Rationis which these Gentlemen are pleas'd to call the Word or the Son theologized That great Man Mons Jurieu whom God was pleased to favour with the knowledg of every thing did not fail to set aside this false Theology of the Fathers 7 Ler. Past de la 3. Année Besides the Faith of the Vulgar says he which was immediately founded upon the Sacred Writings the Doctors fram'd a Theology that is they undertook to expound the Mysteries in a sense beyond that wherein the Holy Scriptures themselves have delivered them And 't is in that they have disagreed and one must not wonder at it because the things they went about to explain were profound and it may be inexplicable and because they made use of a false Philosophy which they brought into their Theology And by so doing they have ruined Theology and at last Religion in all Ages The Faith of the Antients therefore must not be condemned as if it were changed altho they disagreed in their Theology And it must be noted that this Theology should not be admitted into the Faith that is Articles of Faith should not be formed out of Theological Expositions Is not this much for the Honour of the Theology of the Antients According to Mons Jurieu these good Doctors could not theologize the Son without hazarding the Faith and consequently one ought not to receive amongst the Articles of Faith their theological Explications concerning a Son begotten and not made an Internal Word and a Word brought forth c. Nevertheless it 's well known that the Fathers consider'd the theological Sense not only as true but as that which the Spirit of God had chiefly in its view So that they who would impose the Faith of the theological Sense of the Word because the Fathers urg'd it are themselves obliged to receive all the other theological Senses which the same Fathers have given to so many other Terms in Scripture and which they believe to be no less the Purport and Design of the Holy Ghost which yet is not done but they are looked upon even as ridiculous Why therefore is it not acknowledged bona Fide also that the Exposition of the Logos or Word is one of those wretched Allegories so much declaimed against at that day and an Article of that false Theology which is incompatible with the Christian Faith But let us pay as much respect to the Fathers as we can let us preserve their Theology be it so provided that the theological Sense be not said to be designed for any other than contemplative and seraphic Minds and that no more than the Faith or Belief of the plain natural sense be requir'd of Men as Men Origen was too fair to desire more than this he acquaints his Readers at the beginning of his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Sacred Writers did not concern themselves with abstruse Matters and speculative Subjects which few of them whom they called to the Christian Religion were capable of understanding but confined themselves to those few clear Articles which were necessary for the Reformation of the World to bring them into a State of Righteousness and give them hopes of Immortality Leaving the more refined Contemplations which were not contrary to prime Truths to the commendable Curiosity of those whom Nature and Education had qualify'd for such Enquiries Dr. Rust in his Discourse of Origen and the chief of his Opinions has observed also That there were necessary Truths which the Apostles had clearly taught and the Church received the contrary whereto cannot be received without retrenching an essential part of Religion But that there were besides some Contemplations about which the Scriptures had not determin'd any thing and that the Truth as to these matters was purposely concealed by the Holy Ghost as Origen thought to excite their Study and Industry who were Lovers of the Truth that the Discovery of so great a Treasure might be a Recompence for their pious Enquiries Without doubt all the other Fathers agreed in this very Principle with Origen that the contemplative Subjects were not necessary nor essential to Religion that they did not oblige ordinary Christians and that they were left to the commendable Enquiries of the Curious Servetus who constantly imitates the Fathers agrees in this tho he was in other respects a great Admirer of Platonism and Contemplation The Apostles says he de Trinit lib. 2. p. 50. did not rashly publish this great Mystery of the Incarnation of the Word 't was after several Essays and having fasted and prayed that St. John pronounced these Words In the beginning was the Word c. 'T was sufficient to Salvation to believe that Jesus was the Christ or the Messias the Son of God the Saviour of the World The common People were justified by this Faith alone altho they did not exactly know his Divinity You therefore pious Readers who are not able to comprehend the manner of his Generation nor the whole Fulness of his Divinity always believe that he is the Messias begotten of God and thy Saviour This is the only thing you should believe that you may live by him But let us hear Origen speak for himself 't is in his Preface to St. John that one shall find the famous distinction he makes between the intelligible and the sensible Gospel and how he there divides Christians into two Classes the one of those who are Children in the Faith and are led by the Rudiments of the Gospel and the other of those intelligent and elevated Minds who are capable of understanding the Divinity of the glorified God That Doctor or Teacher says he who is willing to profit all Persons cannot however make the secret and sublime Christianity known to such who can only understand the plain and the revealed Christianity Wherefore
in such and such a manner since nothing is absolutely immutable but God himself he alone being that Father of Lights in whom there is no shadow of turning This is plain The Idea of a Triangle is nothing else but the very Essence of God modify'd in such a manner Again the Idea of an Owl is only this Divine Essence so modify'd the Idea of a Lobster is still but a Modification of this Divine Essence in a word the Idea of all Beings is nothing else than the very Essence of God modify'd in such or such a manner Jupiter est quodcunque vides quocunque moveris What do you call that It 's however on such fine Discoveries that these Gentlemen value themselves confidently and triumphingly saying So true it is that true Platonism is a good Preservative against Socinianism Yes say I but under a pretence of preserving us from Socinianism we are rudely robb'd of Christianity Let 's once more venture to speak as we think Athenagoras Tatian Theophilus of Antioch with many others of venerable Rank and Antiquity whom out of respect I do not name these Fathers whom our Moderns imitate with so much affectation consider'd the Christian Religion only as a new Sect of Philosophy which under low and popular Similitudes contain'd the most hidden Sense and profoundest Mysteries of all sorts of natural and divine Sciences whereon they gave themselves free scope and explain'd the Scriptures not as Interpreters but as sophistical Speculative Philosophers pretending to find Plato's Mysteries in certain Terms much as our Chymists pretend they find their Art in Genesis or in the History of the Creation Cabala every where I shall be exclaim'd against as abusing those Great Men but wrongfully All our Criticks say worse of them than that For not to mention Daille Huetius and Petavius who are not thought their Friends Dr. Bull will suffice as he is indisputably one of their greatest Admirers and if we may say it their pension'd Apologist his Testimony will be worth ten thousand others * Peruse his Defence of the Council of Nice He says of Origen That he sometimes spake too freely and like a Sceptick Of Tertullian That he little car'd how he spake of God provided he did but contradict his Adversary and that an Egg 's not more like an Egg than the Expressions of that Father resemble the extravagant Conceits of Valentin Of Lactantius That he was but a Rhetor ignorant in Theology Of St. Jerom That he was but a Joster and a Sophist Indeed there are scarce any of em whom he has not a fling at when he 's not pleased with their Theology Their Arian or Gnostical Expressions give him so much trouble that it puts him almost always out of humour What might we not say of their poor Interpretations of Scripture They went strangely to work on it if we may believe St. Jerom. Mons Le Clerc recites two Passages of him which will come in very properly here one of them is in Tom. X. p. 492. where that Father says in Apol. pro lib. cont Jovin p. 106. seq Ed. Gryph 'T is one thing to write in order to dispute and another to write for Instruction In the former Method Dispute is very extensive and the endeavour is only to answer the Adversary Now this is propos'd then that we speak in one manner and act in another c. In the latter an open and ingenuous Behaviour is necessary c. Origen Methodius Eusebius and Apollinarius have written much against Celsus and Porphyry Observe what Arguments and what doubtful Problems they make use of to overthrow the Writings compos'd by the Spirit of the Devil And that because they are necessitated to say not what they think but what the Dispute requires non quod sentiunt sed quod necesse est they contradict the Gentiles The other Passage may be found in the XII Tom. of the Bib. Vniv p. 146. and is taken out of St. Jerom's Letter to Nepotian p. 14. I was says he once desiring Gregory Nazianzen who was formerly my Master to explain to me what was meant by the * The English Testament hath it the Second Sabbath after the First Second-first Sabbath in St. Luke he pleasantly answered me I 'll inform you concerning that in the Church where when all the People are giving me their Acclamations you 'l be constrain'd to know what you do not know or if you alone are silent you 'l be accounted a Fool. To have yet more convincing Proofs of the pitiful manner of the Fathers explaining the Scriptures one need but see their Puerile Interpretations of these Words regnavit a ligno Deus which they apply to the Cross of Jesus Christ and on many other Texts whence they subtlely draw Plato's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are no more than a Train of flat and forc'd Explications as that which they give of these Words ex utero te genui c. Again see how Tertullian makes what David said of the Palm-Tree sute to a Phaenix The Hebrew Word is not equivocal and it 's likely that Tertullian was deceiv'd by the double sense of the Greek Word No 't was designedly that he played upon it not seeking so much the sense of the Scripture as an opportunity of finding in the Scriptures one of the greatest Wonders Paganism ever spake of Neither were the Fathers so ignorant in the Scriptures but that a little good Judgment would have shewn them the natural Signification of these Words eructavit cor meum c. It is not God the Father but David who there speaks however they were willing upon occasion to find the sublimest Doctrine of Plato's School in this ordinary expression of Scripture or make the Heathens believe that there was nothing so great in their Philosophy which was not hidden in those Scripture-Expressions which to us seem plainest and least mysterious But Dr. Bull finds admirable Expedients to save the Reputation of the Fathers He distinguishes between the Witness of the Faith and the Interpreter of the Scriptures and always taking for granted that they are good Witnesses of the Faith he grants that they are sometimes bad Interpreters of Scripture which is respectfully stabbing them with a Dagger So in pag. 140. alledging for Proof of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost a Passage out of Irenaeus where that Father mistakenly quotes the Prophet Isaiah We do not trouble our selves says he with Irenaeus's bad Interpretation for we are not consulting that Father as an Interpreter always happy in explaining the Scripture but as an irreproachable Witness of Apostolical Tradition I confess bad Interpreters may be good Witnesses of the Faith of their Age. But it must at the same time be granted me that the Faith whereof they testify is a too much suspected Faith when it depends on the Evidence of so bad Interpreters I say bad for it is not only one or two Passages mistaken by these Doctors which we are speaking of but
Platonism Unveil'd OR AN ESSAY Concerning the Notions and Opinions OF PLATO And some Antient and Modern Divines his Followers In relation to the LOGOS or WORD in particular and the Doctrine of the Trinity in general In TWO PARTS Anno Dom. 1700. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER THE Author of this Piece as I may say was stopped in the very middle of his Course he intended to have added a third Part to the two others which were publish'd and in it to have examin'd what Divinity the Holy Scriptures attribute to Jesus Christ He would have confin'd himself to what the four Evangelists acquaint us concerning it and made it appear to the meanest Capacity that the Ideas those Sacred Writers have given us are very wide from such as the Antients put upon 'em and the Moderns have espoused But Death prevented the Execution of this Design and hindered the Publick from reaping the Benefit of it However if this Essay meet with the Approbation it merits the World may be oblig'd with a Dissertation the Author has left upon the Gospel of St. John It may be said of this excellent Man that he was a Person of very great Penetration as well as Piety and that he made the Study of the Holy Scriptures his greatest Entertainment He had nothing in view but a Search after Truth which when he had found he embrac'd it with all his Heart for he was incapable of betraying or disguising it for any secular Interest whatever This plain dealing drew upon him many Enemies but his Patience in a manner overcame all and the firm hopes he had of a better Life after this did always support him under all the Tryals thro which the Calumnies and Malice of his Enemies had forc'd him His Friends have this Comfort however That those very Persecutors could not refuse him when alive nor since his Death the Elogies that his Vertues drew from 'em and according to the Custom of this present Age they took care in his behalf to distinguish the Morals from the Doctrine The Publick will see by what is bere represented to 'em what Judgment ought to be made of the latter THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER THERE are several Passages in the ensuing Discourse that are very uncommon and extraordinary which if they should happen to be true will be much surprizing to the World And if they are not the Author has to appearance supported them with such Authorities from Antiquity that besides the Importance of the things themselves it will deserve the Pains of some Learned Pen to confute this Discourse to reclaim some who have and others who may imbibe this Author's Opinions ERRATA PAG. 4. Col. 2. Lin. 26. for Love r. Power P. 13. c. 2. l. last save one r. in Isaiah according to the Hebrew P. 21. c. 1. l. 22. r. acquir'd P. 36. c. 1. l. 5. dele of P. 39. c. 1. l. 37. r. dwelt in him P. 42. c. 2. l. 29. r. it was P. 45. c. 1. l. 4. r. World P. 49. c. 2. l. 40. r. contained P. 64. c. 2. l. penult r. however P. 81. c. 1. l. 20. r. herself Platonism Unveil'd c. The FIRST PART CHAP. I. The true Idea of the Logos GOD dwelling in an inaccessible Light where no one can either find or comprehend him was yet willing to reveal himself to his Creatures either by the way of a Manifestation without or by the way of Communication within To manifest himself 1. He environs himself with a supernatural Light whence he causeth his Voice to be heard and declares his Will 'T is thence that he speaks to Angels For being invisible by his Nature even in reference to Angels it is necessary that whenever he is pleas'd to declare his Orders to these Ministring Spirits he should give them some marks of his Presence in some certain Place in the Heavens and make his Will known This Manifestation is so lively and luminous that the Eyes of Men cannot bear the Splendor of it in this mortal Life None but the glorified Spirits may enjoy this Privilege in common with the Angels and which St. Paul calls the seeing of God face to face It is thus without doubt that Jesus Christ beheld him Mr. Le Clerc hath very well observ'd on Exod. 34.18 that Moses who had such frequent Testimonies of the Divine Favour desir'd this as a singular advantage that God who us'd to shew himself in a Cloud would vouchsafe at last to discover to him his Glory in the same manner as he doth in Heaven But this is too much for a Mortal this Glorious Presence is an advantage reserv'd for the Angels as I said before And without doubt it was in such like Splendor that he presented himself before them when he design'd to create the World and pronounc'd these words Let there be Light At least this is the Sentiment of Basil of Seleucia in his first Oration upon these words In the beginning God created c. God said Let there be Light The Voice was heard and the World produc'd But could not he have perform'd what he design'd in silence and without uttering a word Would not the Work have obey'd the least token of his Will Certainly the Heaven and the Earth with the Waters were already produc'd without any preceding Voice But it was not so with the Light the Voice preceded the Production What sort of a Voice is this and what was the cause of it Let us learn to hearken to Scripture even when it is silent and instruct our selves when it speaks Behold here you have it The infinite Companies of Angels that were created saw indeed the things that were a doing but could not perceive their Author nor discover the Cause for the Divine Essence is really even above the Contemplation of Angels 'T is not then without reason that God usher'd in his Voice to make himself sensible to those Celestial Spirits and to stir up their admiration that seeing the Effect follow'd immediately the Word and Command they being astonish'd at the Prodigy should turn themselves wholly to the knowledg of their Creator and celebrate his Praises saying Is there any greater than this God himself teacheth us this Truth in his Discourse with his Servant Job Job 28.7 apud LXX When I made the Stars all the Angels prais'd me with a loud Voice For by reason of their astonishment proceeding from the Greatness of that Spectacle they repeated their Acclamations and redoubled their Applauses at every Work that God was a doing 2. God makes use of the Person of an Angel that bears his Name and speaks by his Authority 'T is thus that he appear'd and spoke to the Patriarchs and this is the reason why Philo calls Angels Words so often The Author of Questions and Answers to the Orthodox speaks thus of this Manifestation All the Angels saith he which appeared unto Men instead and in the Person of God have born the Name of God Men likewise have been call'd
a Million Dr. Bull himself owns some of them concerning the Holy Ghost how many would there be if we should collect those which they have misapply'd concerning the Word But what do I say That bad Interpreters may nevertheless be good Witnesses of the Faith of their Age Mons le Vassor in his Traité de l'Examen ch 1. p. 10. is not so ready to grant it he denys and I believe he 's in the right That any Advantage can be had from the Testimony of the Antients towards the Decision of the Points now controverted because of the Confusion which arose from their Philosophy Origen and St. Augustin says he have so perplex'd Theology one in the Eastern and the other in the Western Churches where they both had their Disciples and Admirers by endeavouring to adjust Christianity to Philosophy that we meet with a thousand Difficulties in determining what those two Authors and those who have follow'd their Steps really thought on several important points of Religion They give nothing but Allegorical Senses to the Texts of the Holy Scripture their Explications appear so very far distant from what the Sacred Writers meant that one knows not where to begin to disintangle the true Doctrine of the Apostles from the particular Speculations of the greatest part of those to whom we are sent as to irreproachable Witnesses of what was believ'd in their time If it be so I don't see that Justin and Irenaeus can be better Interpreters of the Scripture than Origen and St. Augustin they were not less corrupted by Philosophy nor less confus'd and perplex'd and consequently they cannot be good Witnesses of what was believ'd in their Time For how is it possible to distinguish the sound Doctrine of the Apostles in their Writings from their Platonick Speculations Let us therefore without hesitation rank all these fine contemplative Men as well Antient as Modern in the order of the Gnosticks and return to treat of them Lastly Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. l. 5. p. 587. Edit Lutet 1629. explaining that Text of St. John The only Son who is in the Bosom of the Father gives us plainly to understand what was the Language of the Valentinians St. John says he having called the invisible and unspeakable Excellencies of the Godhead the Bosom of the Father some have thence taken occasion to name him the Profound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as containing all things in his Bosom and being impenetrable and infinite Novatian reciting the same Text de Trinit c. 26. quotes it twice in the same Chapter thus The Son hath revealed the Bosom of the Father to us Tertullian adv Prax. c. 8. did the same that is in the Valentinian manner That the Son hath revealed to us the impenetrable Depths of the Father Read the 51st Heresy of Epiphanius in the 22d and 28th Chapters where may be distinctly seen that Valentin's Fable of the thirty Aeons was allegorically taken from the Scriptures Some may perhaps wonder that they so dispos'd their Deitys by Couples They therein imitated the Heathens who attributed both Sexes to each of their false Gods Rep. des Lett. Tom. 1. p. 84. But however that be it ought not to seem strange to those who know that they allegoriz'd Sinesius tho a Christian and a Bishop made no scruple to call God Male and Female Hymno 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tu Mas tu Femina an Opinion so much blam'd by Lactantius in Orpheus l. 4. c. 8. He calls him also That which brings forth and which is brought forth the Father of himself Son of himself and to conclude Father of the Aeons Valentin himself would not have said more His fourth Hymn is diverting He there sets the whole Trinity to work on the Begetting of the Son particularly the Holy Ghost whom he brings in as a mediating Power to be assistant to the Father and the Son For after having said to the latter I praise you with the Father and with you I praise that other Fruit which the Father could not hinder himself from putting forth when he intended to produce you He speaks to the Holy Ghost thus It is of you I speak secund Wisdom mediating Principal holy Respiration Center of the Father and also Center of the Son you may be called altogether Mother Sister and Daughter you came to the assistance of the Father who could not beget his Son without you obstetricata es abditam radicem For the Father designing to pour himself into the Son that pouring was the Bud of a Third who was a Medium between the Father and the Son You see Poets are not very scrupulous neither were their Imitators the Valentinians any more so than they Synesius was not without Company in expressing himself like the Valentinians If his Hymns are full of these Cabalistick Terms the Profound the Silence the Ineffable c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we find also the same Cant in many other Platonick Fathers Do they speak of the incomprehensible Nature of God you presently see the Profundity and the Silence Are they to say how God passed from that State of Silence to a State of Revelation You shall there see every where this inseparable Pair of Aeons the Internal Word and the Vttered-Word Clemens and Origen expresly distinguish the Word-God from another Word which was made Flesh In short nothing so much resembles the Gnoslick Heresy as Tertullian's two Gods the Rationalis and the Sermonalis the Rational God and the senerous and speaking God One may also range in the same Category the Verbum silens and the Verbum sonans of Marius Victorinus And many other chimerical Ideas of the Antients which tho they would be tolerable in a figurative and allegorical Stile yet become insupportable and worse than Valentine's Aeons by being personaliz'd and made Spirits distinct from the supreme God This is the Case Some Philosophers in endeavouring to avoid the Opinions of the Ebionites thereby fell into so ridiculous an extreme as to reject the God and the Messiah of the Jews They spake ill of the God who had given the Law and pretended Irenaeus l. 1. c. 25. that the Christ was the Son of another superiour God and therefore apply'd themselves to sublime Generations of the Substance of the most High God and to other such extravagant Conceits which the Orthodox greedily embracing out of hatred of the Jews and of Judaizing Hereticks at first they were only mystical senses to set off the Glory of Jesus Christ but afterwards these metaphorical Generations degenerated to real Generations and what had at first been conceiv'd only as Operations and Powers was converted into Hypostases and Personal Substances To conclude as I make no difference between the Jewish Cabals and the Valentinian Pleroma these two Systems are either equally ridiculous if examined according to the strict literal sense or equally rational if you seek in them the concealed sense which lies under the Bark of Allegory For 't was indeed
in the 33d and 45th Psalms which they made use of to prove that the term Word had no other Signification than that of Prolation properly so called For he supposes that these Words My Heart hath utter'd a good Word do not signify such a Prolation a proper and literal Generation but a metaphorical Prolation and that from this reason that the word Heart in this Text being figurative the term Word must also be figurative And that we may the better apprehend how far Origen carrys the Figure of this Word the other Text which he quotes from the Psalms so fully clears the matter as to leave no room for cavilling The Valentinians says he believe that these Words The Heavens were created by the Word of God and by the Spirit of his Mouth were said of our Saviour and of the Holy Ghost tho it be certain that one may give them this other Sense That the Heavens were establish'd by Divine Reason and Wisdom ratione Dei as we say that a House was built by that Skill which is the Art of building Houses I leave the Reader to judg whether an Vnitarian could more plainly remove all the Idea of Hypostasis from our Minds Therefore when the same Origen does elsewhere argue concerning the Word as if he himself believ'd it an Hypostasis his so speaking was according to the Principles of the Greek Philosophy For as Porphyry rightly observes Origen having continually apply'd himself to reading the Writings of the Platonists and the Pythagoreans and having therein learnt the allegorical way of those Philosophers expounding the Mysteries of the Greeks made use of it himself in his Interpretation of the Scriptures apud Euseb l. 6. c. 19. See likewise Bibl. univ T. 6. p. 50. That declared Enemy of the Christian Religion is not the only Person who has given that judgment of Origen Mr. Huet does not treat him more favourably in his Origeniana l. 2. c. 2. Origen says he was one of Plato's greatest Admirers insomuch that instead of suting the Platonick Tenents to the Christian Doctrine he regulated the Doctrine of Christianity by the Dogma of the Platonists And a little lower he adds That Origen had been carry'd to those Excesses by the example of his Preceptor Clemens Alexand. who us'd to embelish the Religion of Jesus Christ with the Academick Paint Can any one think that Justin did not discourse by the Principles of this Allegorical Philosophy when in his second Apology he calls the Reason which is in Man a Part and Seed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Divine Word The Divine Word is in his sense only that universal Reason that Source and Fulness of Wisdom-which resides in the Divine Understanding whereof ours is a Stream and a part Is our Reason an Hypostasis distinct from Man How shall we then imagine that this Father ever intended to say that Divine Reason is an Hypostasis distinct from God I may very well say that my Reason has taught me such a thing and that I consulted my Reason without supposing my Reason to be any other Person than my self Then why may we not say God made use of his Reason to create this Universe that his Reason was his Counsellor and his Minister without making a second Person of his Reason Certainly my Reason cannot be personalized any otherwise than by the Power of Allegory neither can that of God be any otherwise Nay it may be that Justin strain'd his Allegory yet farther and that he intended to say that Reason or the universal Seed is no other than the Gospel which is not a part of the Seed as the Precepts of Reason which enlighten'd the Philosophers are but the fulness of that incorruptible Seed which regenerates the Heart I will produce another Example of this allegorical way of interpreting the Scripture St. Cyprian explaining that famous Passage of St. John 1 Ep. 5.8 concerning the three Witnesses on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood has spoken of them as of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which are the three Witnesses in Heaven now found in our Bibles but were not there in the days of that Father Some as Fulgentius having confounded St. Cyprian's Discourse with the Sacred Text did not doubt but that Holy Martyr had spoken literally and as words of the Scripture what he said only in Allegory not observing that what he asserted of the Father Son and Holy Ghost is a spiritual Sense which he had drawn from the Three Witnesses on Earth as if the Spirit were the Father the Blood the Son and the Water the Holy Ghost But Facundus did not suffer himself to be at all deceiv'd by it for he informs us Defens Trinit Capit. l. 1. c. 3. That St. Cyprian will have that to be understood of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which St. John said of the Spirit Water and Blood which can be only an allegorical Interpretation And that Allegory was followed by St. Augustin contra Maxim lib. 3. c. 12. where he expresly says That the Spirit the Water and the Blood are the Sacrament of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost What 's the meaning of the Sacrament if it be not the Mystery and Allegory Now I pray who can warrant me that the Fathers who so strained the Allegory on the three Witnesses on Earth to find the Trinity therein have not also strained it on the Word of St. John to find in it their Favourite Doctrine Plato's second God If they misapplyed these Words My Heart hath uttered a Good Word and these I have begotten thee in my Bosom before Aurora how can I be assur'd that they have not deceived me or that their Infatuation for Plato has not deceived themselves when they Platonically interpret those other Places where it is said That the Word was God and that the Word was made Flesh However that be it must be granted me That the Fathers made no difficulty of seeking sublime senses in the Scriptures and of raising themselves up very high above its plain and natural meaning That appears by the use St. Cyprian and St. Augustin made of the Epistle General of St. John Now the same Fathers having expressed their Allegories in too absolute Terms without characterizing them by some Mark whereby they might be distinguished from a proper and literal sense it has in succeeding time happened that the literal sense of what they said has been followed We have seen it in the Example of St. Cyprian that Father expressing himself absolutely It is written says he of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And these three are one Now that was written only of the Spirit the Water and the Blood Then the Allegorical Exposition has been taken for an express Text of Scripture I strongly suspect that the same thing has happen'd to that noted Text of St. Paul 1 Tim. c. 3. v. 16. The Mystery of Godliness is great God manifested in the Flesh
to the Learned and the Philosophers with whom they convers'd 'T is this mischievous Policy that has brought so much confusion into the Christian Religion that there can be no appealing to pretended Antiquity the testimony whereof is become altogether useless and liable to great illusion One may think of having recourse to the Antients as to very good Witnesses but instead of that we meet with Oracles ambiguous and unintelligible A Person of good Abilitys in the last Age complains of this as well as I. Michael le Vassor Traite de l' Examen ch 1. p. 10. Since Philosophy says he was brought into Christianity the latter has so visibly degenerated from its primitive Simplicity that the Pagans themselves have taken notice of it The Men of thought believ'd it would be a great Service done to Religion to render it agreeable to the taste of the Philosophers they had a mind to reconcile our Mysteries with Plato's Principles which were extremely in fashion when the Gospel first went abroad into the World Origen and St. Austin afterwards have so embarass'd Theology the former in the East and the latter in the Western Churches where both had their Admirers and Disciples by endeavouring to adjust Christianity to that Philosophy that 't will cost one a world of pains to distinguish that which they and their Followers have said with any exactness of thought upon divers important points of Religion They give us none but allegorical Senses to divers Passages in the Holy Scriptures Their Expositions appear so wide from the Sense of the Sacred Authors that one knows not how to understand it so as to discern the true Doctrine of the Apostles from the particular Speculations of the major part of those Fathers to whom we are refer'd as to faithful Witnesses of the Faith of the Times they liv'd in But the Fathers were not content to accommodate their Doctrines to the Platonick Word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but enquir'd further after another Pre-existence of Jesus Christ for the satisfaction of the Jews and they found it in the Angel that spoke to Moses and the other Patriarchs Tertullian in his Dispute against Marcion lib. 3. speaking of the State of Christ before the Revelation of the Gospel says that he was in that allegorical State of spiritual Grace c. These few Words seem to discover the whole Mystery of the Oeconomy of the Antients For they signify that Christ was not only represented in the Figures of the Law but as Origen speaks that he was substantially present in Moses and the Prophets Tract 26. in Mat. meaning thereby that Moses and the Prophets were if one may so speak substantial and personal Types of Christ to come or rather that Christ was then present in the Person of Moses and the Prophets who were his Types On the like ground may we not say that he was allegorically present in all the Angels who spoke from God to Men and that he was also allegorically present in that Word of God which created the World that powerful Word which said Let there be Light being a Type of this powerful Word which said by Jesus Christ Let the Light shine in the Hearts of Men. This allegorical Pre-existence of Christ is very agreeable with the Scriptures which say that of him which cannot belong to any thing but these Types as the Reproach of Christ the Spirit of Christ prophesying tempted of Christ and other Expressions of that kind which represent to us Jesus Christ in his allegorical State Those particular Commissions of Angels and Prophets being in some sort the Preludia of this universal and extraordinary Commission of Jesus Christ with regard to the whole World I ought not to pass over the Remark of Father Simon upon this Occonomy of the Antients Hist Crit. du N. T. Tom. 1. chap. 2. The mingling says he of the Platonick Philosophy with the Christian Religion was not intended to ruin the Orthodox Faith but the more easily to persuade the Greeks to embrace the Christian Religion The Fathers were in this for imitating the Apostles especially St. Paul who sometimes did stoop to the Infirmitys of the Weak becoming all things to all men Father Simon observes further that Clemens of Alexandria does sometimes carry this Occonomy too far that he applies himself intirely to Allegory it being fashionable in his time amongst the Christians especially with the Gnosticks who thought thereby to raise the Credit of the Scriptures that he is no ways behind 'em in point of Invention and Subtilty That this was the more excusable in him because he liv'd in a great City where 't is likely they affected those kind of Subtilties and that he believ'd 'em of use to establish the Christian Religion it being a prudent part in an able Master to adapt things to the capacity of them he is to instruct That his Paedagogus wherein he was to lay down nothing but plain Instructions was drawn up with this design and that in it he explains the Scriptures in the sublime and allegorical Sense He observes also Chap. 4. That those who had not these sublime Notions pass'd for plain weak Christians who knew not the design of Religion that the Gnosticks imagin'd themselves outdid all others in this kind of Knowledg and that it had been better if the Orthodox had not imitated them therein but had contented themselves with the literal Expositions of the Scriptures He goes forward to say that the Jews had mingled in their Religion divers Platonick Notions whereof one finds at this day not a few in their Cabalistick Writings This made some impression on the Minds of some of the first Christians who read with pleasure Books that treated of Angels and their Converse with Men. The same Author makes it appear That not only those who rejected the allegorical way were accounted illiterate but even pass'd for Hereticks too ibid. chap. 31. and that Theodorus of Mopsues who followed the literal Sense of the Bible according to the Method of his Master Diodorus and avoided the spiritual and allegorical Sense was reckoned for a Person who favour'd Judaism by his too literal Expositions For my part I make no doubt but 't was of that Set of Divines who imitated Theodorus that Pamphilus is speaking when he complains Apol. pro Orig. That they who charg'd Origen with so many Absurdities would not admit Allegory to be us'd in expounding the Holy Scriptures It may be conjectur'd from these words that the great reason why the Ebionites and Nazarenes were accounted plain simple People and poor in the Faith was this that they rejected the allegorical Theology of the Platonizing and Gnostick Christians The Word Ebionite which signifies poor and the other Word Gnostick which signifies knowing being directly oppos'd 'T is certain Origen calls the Ebionites poor in Spirit Philoc. c. 1. because they adher'd too much to the Poverty of the Letter or literal Sense and despis'd the rich and the sublime