Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n
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A41550
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Serious advice to a preservative against the blasphemous heresie of Socinianism by J.G.G.
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Gailhard, J. (Jean)
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1695
(1695)
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Wing G128; ESTC R25093
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29,852
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44
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19. David saith and ‖ Rom. 10.18 Paul after him takes notice of day unto day uttereth Speech and night unto night sheweth Knowledge But our Religion and Faith in Christ is not a Doctrine of Nature or else Salvation thorough his Name had been known to every Man but Experience convinces us of the contrary And St. Paul doth positively and plainly declare upon the Matter in the case of those who wanted no Natural Reason when by the Rules thereof they would measure true Religion * Rom. 1.21 22 Became vain in their Imagination and their foolish Heart was darkened Professing themselves to be Wise they became Fools All and the best Natural Reason in the World nay the greatest Gifts of Nature in Knowledge Wisdom Parts whither innate or acquired by the Philosopher Orator c. come very short of Faith which in us is the Soul of our Religion for * 1 Cor. 2.14 The Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are Foolishness unto him neither can he know them for they are Spiritually discerned So that with St. Paul we may upon this account ask * 1 Cor. 1.20 Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this World Where is the Rational Man Hath not God made Foolish the Wisdom of this World The Reason that is meerly Natural he hath infatuated and to shew that Reason alone cannot bring us to true Religion that is to the Gospel it is called a Mystery * Eph. 3.4 the Mystery of Christ and ‖ 1 Tim. 3.9 the Mystery of the Faith and a great one too * 1 Tim. 3.16 for without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the Flesh then Christ is God for none but he was manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up in Glory all these are appliable to Christ and to none but him to God made Flesh The Knowledge of this is so far above Reason that to make it known 't was necessary it should be revealed * Eph. 3.3 How that by Revelation he God made known to me the Mystery yea such a Mystery as Natural Reason could not attain unto for 't is * Col. 1.26 the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and from Generations Surely during these Ages and Generations there were those Men who wanted not good Natural Reason but now is made manifest to his Saints not to every Man for * Matt. 13.11 unto you it is given to know the Mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given Then it comes not by Natural Reason but 't is a Gift of God Now the Gospel and the Preaching of Jesus Christ is the Doctrine of Christian Religion and this * Rom. 16.25 According to the Revelation of the Mystery which was kept secret since the World began If we want another Apostle's Evidence we have it in St. Peter in the case of the Prophets under the Old Testament who * 1 Pet. 1.10 11 12. enquired and searched diligently of the Grace that should come unto you all which had been in vain but they got it by Revelation unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did Minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you no need of Revelation where Natural Reason can attain unto yet without Revelation the Prophets which wanted no Natural Reason could not I go further and say Angels who are clear sighted far above Men * 2 Pet. 2.11 greater in Power and Might and have a greater depth of Reason What of them Which things says the same Apostle in the same place that is the Mysteries of the Gospel the Angels desire to look into not to dive but to look into to see and adore that Incomprehensible Mystery they cannot look into or else they would not desire it for none desires to have that which he hath Angelical Nature cannot fathom those Depths and do we think the shallow Brain of the most Rational Man can Hereupon I think I may follow our Blessed Saviour's way of arguing in the case of the Day of Judgment only he doth from the lesser to the greater and I from the greater to the lesser * Mark 13.32 Of that Day and that Hour knoweth no Man no not the Angels which are in Heaven Thus the Mystery of the Salvation of Mankind knoweth no Angel much less any Man be he never so Rational only as much as God hath been pleased to reveal in the Gospel that Knowledge comes not by Reason or any thing else of Nature but by Grace I think this sufficiently sheweth how deficient Natural Reason is to lead us to True Christian Religion without Revelation which God effected by means of Angels Prophets Apostles and Evangelists and this not with a bare outward Declaration but an inward effectual Working and Revelation of his Holy Spirit But I must not exceed the narrow Bounds I prescribed my self So then in Opposition to Socinians as we believe the Perfection and Infallibility of Holy Scripture we also must own there are in our Holy Religion several things above Reason Indeed Matters of Fact do fall under our Senses but those of Faith go far beyond them Material things such as our Senses hold no Proportion with Spiritual such is Faith highly elevated also beyond Reason Certainly this Generation of Men come under the Curse pronounced by St. Paul * 1 Cor. 16.22 If any Man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha 'T is to Hate and not to Love him as to go about to derogate from his Right and as much as in them lies to deprive him of his Due and dishonour him as he told the Jews * John 8.49 Verse 12 18 24 28 29 40 42. I honour my Father and ye dishonour me Wherein It is set down in several places of the same Chapter as namely they would not believe him to be the Light of the World nor the Witness which he and the Father did bare of him and that he was he that is the Messiah the Christ the Son of God who had told them the Truth he had heard of God whom he there calls often his Father for I proceeded forth and came from God Yet 't is as true as strange that notwithstanding so many clear Proofs of his Divinity in Scripture Socinians deny him to be God without which he had not been qualified to be Mediator between God and us for a Mediator must have the Nature of both Parties nor gotten the Victory over all the Enemies of our Salvation Though to avoid Prolixity I must not insist upon the Proofs of our Lord's Divinity which is the Life of our Faith Hope and Comfort yet something I must now say to it If we had no other