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
word Mystery occurs that a Man running may read with Conviction what I defend The whole may be commodiously reduc'd to these Heads First Mystery is read for the Gospel or the Christian Religion in general as it was a future Dispensation totally hid from the Gentiles and but very imperfectly known to the Jews Secondly Some particular Doctrines occasionally reveal'd by the Apostles are said to be manifested Mysteries that is unfolded Secrets And Thirdly Mystery is put for any thing vail'd under Parables or Enigmatical Forms of Speech Of all these in Order 30. Mystery is read for the Gospel or Christianity in general in the following Passages Rom. 16. 25 26. The Preaching of Jesus Christ according to the Revelation of the MYSTERY which was kept secret since the World began but now is made manifest and by the Writings of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God made known to all Nations for the Obedience of Faith Now in what Sense could this Mystery be said to be reveal'd this Secret to be made manifest to be made known to all Nations by the Preaching of the Apostles if it remain'd still incomprehensible A mighty Favour indeed to bless the World with a parcel of uninâ—…elligible Notions or Expressions when it was already overstock'd with the Acroatick Discourses of Aristotle with the Esoterick Doctrines of Pythagoras and the Mysterious Jargon of the other Sects of Philosophers for they all made high Pretences to some rare and wonderful Secrets not communicable to every one of the Learned and never to any of the Vulgar By this means the obsequious Disciples apologiz'd for all that was found contradictory incoherent dubious or incomprehensible in the Works of their several Masters To any that complain'd of Inconsistency or Obscurity they presently answer'd O Sir the Philosopher said it and you ought therefore to believe it He knew his own Meaning well enough tho he car'd not it may be that all others should do it too So the Occasions of your Scruples Sir are only seeming and not real But the Christian Religion has no need of such miserable Shifts and Artifices there being nothing in it above or contrary to the strictest Reason And such as are of another Mind may as well justify the idle Dreams of the Philosophers the Impieties and Fables of the Alcoran or any thing as well as Christià nity The second Passage is in 1 Cor. 2. 7. the Words were but just now read and need not here be repeated The third Passage is in 1 Cor. 4. 1. Let a Man so account of us as the Ministers of Christ and the Stewards or Dispensers of the MYSTERIES of God that is the Preachers of those Doctrines which God was pleas'd to reveal The fourth Passage is in Ephes. 6. 9. Praying for me that Utterance may be given unto me that I may open my Mouth boldly to make known the MYSTERY of the Gospel Parallel to this is the fifth Passage in Col. 4. 3 4. Praying also for us that God would open unto us a Door of Utterance to speak the MYSTERY of Christ that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak The Clearness of these Words admits of no Comment The sixth Passage is in Col. 2. 2. That their Hearts might be comforted being knit together in Love and unto all the Riches of the full Assurance of Understanding to the Knowledg of the MYSTERY of God and of the Father and of Christ. Here is evidently meant the Revelation of the Gospel-State for whatever right Conceptions the Jews might have of the Father they had not that full Knowledg of Christ and his Doctrines which are the inestimable Privileges we now enjoy The seventh Passage is in 1 Tim. 3. 8 9. Likewise must the Deacons be grave not double-tongu'd not given to much Wine nor greedy of filthy Lucre holding the MYSTERY of the Faith in a pure Conscience that is living to what they believe The eighth and last Passage relating to this Head is in 1 Tim. 3. 16. And without Controversy great is the MYSTERY of Godliness God was manifest in the Flesh justify'd in the Spirit seen of Angels preach'd unto the Gentiles believ'd on in the World receiv'd up into Glory I will not now insist upon the various Readings of these Words nor critically determine which is spurious or genuine All Parties how much soever they differ about their Sense agree that the Gradations of the Verse are Gospel-Revelations so that the Mystery of Godliness cannot be restrain'd to any one but is common to them all It refers not to the Nature of any of them in particular but to the Revelation of 'em all in general And it must be granted without any Dispute that the gracious Manifestation of Christ and his Gospel is not only to us wonderfully stupendous and surprizing but that it was likewise a very great Mystery to all preceding the New Testament Dispensation From these Passages it appears that the Gospel and the following Expressions are synonymous viz. The Mystery of the Faith the Mystery of God and Christ the Mystery of Godliness and the Mystery of the Gospel No Doctrine then of the Gospel is still a Mystery for the Apostles conceal'd nothing from us that was useful and have acquainted us with the whole Counsel of God but 't is the Gospel it self that was heretofore indeed a Mystery and cannot now after it is fully reveal'd properly deserve that Appellation 31. We design in the second place to shew that certain Matters occasionally reveal'd by the Apostles were only Mysterious before that Revelation The Jews who scarce allow'd other Nations to be Men thought of nothing less than that the time should ever come wherein those Nations might be reconcil'd to God and be made Coheirs and Partakers with them of the same Privileges This was never theless resolv'd upon in the Divine Decree and to the Jews was a Mystery but ceases so to continue after the Revelation of it to Paul who in his Epistles has openly declar'd it to ail the World The first Passage we shall alledg to that purpose is in Eph. 3. 1 6 9. If you have heard of the Dispensation of the Grace of God which is given me to you-ward how that by Revelation he made known unto me the MYSTERY as I wrote before in few Words whereby when you read you may understand my Knowledg in the MYSTERY of Christ which in other Ages was not made known unto the Sons of Men as it is now reveai'd unto us his holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit that the Gentiles should be Fellow-heirs and of the same Body and Partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel and to make all Men see what is the Fellowship of the MYSTERY which from the Beginning of the World hath been hid in God The second Passage is in Rom. 11. 25. For I would not Brethren that you should be ignorant of this MYSTERY that Blindness in part is happen'd
says is the Ground of my Perswasion 12. If the sincerest Person on Earth should assure me he saw a Cane without two ends I neither should nor could believe him because this Relation plainly contradicts the Idea of a Cane But if he told me he saw a Staff that being by chance laid in the Earth did after some time put forth Sprigs and Branches I could easily rely upon his Veracity because this no way contradicts the Idea of a Staff nor transcends Possibility 13. I say Possibility for Omnipotency it self can do no more They impose upon themselves and others who require Assent to things contradictory because God say they can do all things and it were limiting of his Power to affirm the contrary Very good we heartily believe God can do all things But that meer NOTHING should be the Object of his Power the very Omnipotency alledg'd will not permit us to conceive And that every Contradiction which is a Synonym for Impossibility is pure nothing we have already sufficiently demonstrated To say for example that a thing is extended and not extended is round and square at once is to say nothing for these Ideas destroy one another and cannot subsist together in the same Subject But when we clearly perceive a perfect Agreement and Connection between the Terms of any Proposition we then conclude it possible because intelligible So I understand God may render immediately solid what has been hitherto fluid make present Beings cease to exist or change their Forms and call those things that are not as tho they were When we say then that nothing is impossible with God or that he can do all things we mean whatever is possible in it self however far above the Power of Creatures to effect 14. Now such is the Nature of a Matter of Fact that tho it may be conceiv'd possible enough yet he only can with Assurance assert its Existence who is himself the Author or by some Means of Information comes first to the certain knowledg of it That there was such an Island as Jamaica no European could ever reasonably deny And yet that it was precisely situated in such a Latitude was water'd with those Rivers cloth'd with these Woods bore this Grain produc'd that Plant no English-man before the Discovery of America could positively affirm 15. Thus God is pleas'd to reveal to us in Scripture several wonderful Matters of Fact as the Creation of the World the last Judgment and many other important Truths which no Man left to himself could ever imagine no more than any of my fellow-Creatures can be sure of my private Thoughts For who knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth none but the Spirit of God But as secret things belong unto the Lord so those things which are reveal'd belong unto us and to our Children Yet as we discours'd before we do not receive them only because they are reveal'd For besides the infallible Testimony of the Revelation from all requisite Circumstances we must see in its Subject the indisputable Characters of DIVINE WISDOM and SOUND REASON which are the only Marks we have to distingâ—…ish the Oracles and Will of God from the Impostures and Traditions of Men. 16. Whoever reveals any thing that is whoever tells us something we did not know before his Words must be intelligible and the Matter possible This RULE holds good let God or Man be the Revealer If we count that Person a Fool who requires our Assent to what is manifestly incredible how dare we blasphemously attribute to the most perfect Being what is an acknowledg'd Defect in one of our selves As for unintelligible Relations we can no more believe them from the Revelation of God than from that of Man for the conceiv'd Ideas of things are the only Subjects of Believing Denying Approving and every other Act of the Understanding Therefore all Matters reveal'd by God or Man must be equally intelligible and possible so far both Revelations agree But in this they differ that tho the Revelation of Man should be thus qualifi'd yet he may impose upon me as to the Truth of the thing whereas what God is pleas'd to discover to me is not only clear to my Reason without which his Revelation could make me no wiser but likewise it is always true A Man for Example acquaints me that he has found a Treasure This is plain and possible but he may easily deceive me God assures me that he has form'd Man of Earth This is not only possible to God and to me very intelligible but the thing is also most certain God not being capable to deceive me as Man is We are then to expect the same degree of Perspicuity from God as from Man tho more of Certitude from the first than the last 17. This Reason perswades and the Scriptures expresly speakit Those Prophets or Dreamers were to be ston'd to Death that should go about to seduce the People from the Worship of One God to Polytheism tho they should confirm their Doctrine by Signs and Wonders And tho a Prophet spoke in the Name of the Lord yet if the thing prophesi'd did not come to pass it was to be a rational Sign he spoke presumptuously of himself and not of God It was reveal'd to the Prophet Jeremy in Prison that his Uncle's Son would sell his Field to him but he did not conclude it to be the Word of the Lord till his Kinsman actually came to strike the Bargain with him The Virgin MARY tho of that Sex that 's least Proof against Flattery and Superstition did not implicitly believe she should bear a Child that was to be call'd the Son of the most High and of whose Kingdom there should be no end till the Angel gave her a satisfactory Answer to the strongest Objection that could be made Nor did she then conclude so unlike was she to her present Worshippers it should unavoidably come to pass but humbly acknowledging the Possibility and her own Unworthiness she quietly wish'd and expected the Event 18. In how many places are we exhorted to beware of false Prophets and Teachers Seducers and Deceivers We are not only to prove or try all things and to hold fast that which is best but also to try the Spirits whether they be of God But how shall we try how shall we discern Not as the Horse and Mule which have no Understanding but as circumspect and wise Men judging what is said In a word it was from clear and weighty Reasons both as to Fact and Matter and not by a blind Obedience that the Men of God of old embrac'd his Revelations which on the like Account we are willing to receive of their hands I am not ignorant how some boast they are strongly perswaded by the illuminating and efficacious Operation of the Holy Spirit and that they neither have nor