far thy inferiour So may our Reason say to the blessed Word of God I am far inferiour to thee and have need to be regulated and reformed by thee and comest thou to me No no it is my greatest honour to submit my self to thee and thy Divine Authority Thirdly Upon this ground also mans Reason is denyed to be the Rule and Judge in matters of Faith because one man cannot prove infallibly to another man that his Reason is the right Reason in such a case He pretends Reason so do I A third man comes and pretends to as much Reason as either of us and experience shews that divers men yea good men have different Reasons and different apprehensions in many points of Religion Nor can a man be certain that this or that is the true meaning of a Text if he have nothing to assure him thereof but the appearance and probability of his own Reason for others that differ from him think they have and may really have as much or more Reason on their side then he Indeed if we compare our own Reason with the Reason and Authority of other men which have decreed thus and thus then must we give the preheminence to our own Reason when a clearer evidence is propounded and presented to our Reason for every one is to judge for himself with a judgment of discretion and discerning as hath been formerly proved and 't is unreasonable and absurd for a man to assent to a lesser evidence when a clearer evidence is propounded to him 'T is true there are not many that are well able to judge for themselves in the Controversies of Religion and therefore God hath provided spiritual Guides and Shepherds to go before them and help them but yet Christians must not resign up their wits and senses to follow them where-ever they go if they would lead us blindfold we should not put out our eyes to follow them but should rationally and impartially weigh and consider the grounds of their doctrine and practice Doth such a godly learned man tell you that this is firm ground you may go safe upon it And do you see it to be so by the eye of your Reason enlightened by the Spirit of God Then you may follow him as a man of judgment and understanding and not like a beast that is led he knows not whither and herein you have the advantage of his Reason and of your own too CHAP. XVI Of the difference between the meer rational and spiritual men and their knowledge and acts about spiritual things THe light of Reason should be made use of and improved by every Christian in searching the Scriptures and trying Spirits and Doctrines yet so as we must not confound the principles knowledge and operations of the natural man or meer rational man with the principles knowledge and operations of the spiritual man There is a twofold knowledge of spiritual things a natural or rational knowledge and a spiritual and supernatural knowledge The former is but Historical as when a man reads of such a Country in a History or sees it only in a Map at a great distance but was never there himself to take a full view of it and report the things that are there of his own certain knowledge The latter kind of knowledge is intuitive or a knowledge of spiritual vision beholding the things themselves in the light of Gods Spirit distinctly and at hand No Creature or created thing can go beyond its sphere or comprehend that which is beyond its capacity The vegetative creature cannot reach so far as the sensitive nor the sensitive so far as the rational nor can the meer rational creature comprehend that which the spiritual man doth Such as are alive to God and have spiritual union and conjunction with Christ the second Adam the quickening Spirit live and act from a higher principle and in another kind then meer natural or rational men do The soul of the natural man acts his body and the more he improves the light of reason the more rational and considerate he is in his actings and operations But the soul of the spiritual man is under the power of Gods Spirit and the glorious operations thereof and as far as Gods Spirit is above the spirit of man so far is the life of Grace or the life of the spiritual man above that of Nature 'T is true saith Luther (o) Luth. Com. on Gal. cap. 2. v. 20. that I live in the flesh but this life whatever it is I esteem as no life for indeed it is no true life but a shadow of life under that which another liveth that is to say Christ who is my true spiritual life which life thou seest not but only hearest and I feel as thou hearest the wind but knowest not from whence it comes or whither it goes even so thou seest me speaking eating walking sleeping and doing other things as other men do and yet thou seest not my true life This spiritual life which far transcends the meer natural or rational life must be discerned spiritually the spiritual man hath a white stone in which his name is written which none can read but himself He is the Son of God an Heir of Heaven therefore the world knows him not even as we know not the Sons of Princes were they amongst us who dwell in Countreys far remote from us but his life which now is hid with Christ in God shall fully appear when Christ appears in glory Col. 3.3 4. First Then the spiritual man hath Christ formed in him by the holy Ghost Christ is in him the hope of glory and he lives the life of Christ which a meer rational man doth not there is a spiritual supernatural principle or ability planted in him which still remains and abides and which differs much from natural habits for these are partly and sometimes wholly acquired by use and frequent practise whereas this spiritual principle is not gotten or acquired but infused nor can it be utterly lost as natural habits may but abides for ever John 14.16 Sometimes 't is called the Seed of God which shall grow up to perfection 1 John 3.9 Sometimes a Fountain yielding continual supplies of Grace John 4.14 sometimes from the Author from whom it is derived 't is called the life of Christ 2 Cor. 4.10 11. and sometimes the new birth or being regenerated and born again John 3.5 7. Doubtless it is a most powerful spiritual principle which raiseth and elevateth the soul far above natural strength and reason Those Creatures that have no higher principles and faculties then sense use them sensually but as for man who enjoyes the fame faculties under the command of a reasonable Soul he useth them rationally but when he is new born and becomes a spiritual man those faculties of the understanding will and affections which when they had no other command but Reason had no more but rational operations being now governed and acted by the Spirit of
will not save him as hath been proved the other is written in the heart of man ratione luminis fidei by the light of faith By the former only natural and moral vertues are imprinted in the heart but by the latter the true knowledge of Christ and the Graces of the Gospel which a meer Moralist can never attain unto by the light of Nature and Reason for these are written and wrought by the finger of the Spirit of God If it be further objected That Cornelius was a Gentile that walked only by the light of Nature yet his Prayers and Alms were accepted of God Acts 10.1 4. This is a mistake for he had more then the bare light of Nature for though he had not at this time a clear explicite distinct knowledge of the Person and Offices of the Mediator yet he had the implicite knowledge and Faith of Christ and had imbraced the Doctrine of the Messiah that was to come which he had learned of the Jews with whom he had long convers'd and which was afterward more fully opened and explained unto him by the Apostle Peter And thus we have proved that no man be he never so rational and moral can be saved by the meer light of Nature and Reason yet nevertheless we cannot deny but that the rational intellectual delights of some Heathen Philosophers ought to be preferred far before all corporeal and sensual pleasures And withal it must be acknowledged that Reason and moral Vertues being improved will help a man to bear affliction yea to dye with more courage and composedness then others that are not so rational and moral And though Reason of it self without true Faith in the Blood of Christ will not bring us to Heaven yet we have great cause to bless God for the comfortable use of our Reason and Intellectuals which is a mercy that many are deprived of But of these particulars we shall speak more fully in the following Chapters CHAP. XVIII Shewing that those delights that are rational and intellectual do far excel all sensitive pleasures ALthough the light of Reason be but as a Candle in comparison of the light of divine and supernatural Revelation which is as the light of the Sun yet it is a pleasant thing to behold this Candle As for that light which is meerly corporeal 't is but a dark shadow of intellectual brightness The more noble and excellent any being is the purer pleasure and delight it hath proportion'd to it Sensitive pleasure hath more of dregs Intellectual pleasure more of quintessence in it If pleasure were to be measured only by the corporal senses truly then the brutes being more exquisite in sense might have a choicer portion of happiness then man can attain to but therefore hath Nature very wisely provided that the pleasure of reason in man should be far above any pleasure of sense There are divers degrees of pleasures such as they be according to every mans genius and disposition As he is more noble and excellent or more vile and abject so is the nature of those things wherein he delighteth and so is his pleasure either more noble or more base either more pure and unmixt or more impure and mixt either of longer or of shorter continuance Of those delights which man taketh in by the bodily senses we say that which is received by the sense of touching is the basest for as it is the most gross and earthy of all the external Senses so are the pleasures that are taken by it The delight that is taken by the Sense of tasting is not altogether so base but yet brutish enough As for the delight which is taken by smelling 't is but little and nothing so pleasant as the contrary is unpleasant for a good smell delighteth not so much as an ill smell offendeth and besides this Sense of smelling is not so quick and sharp in men as in beasts The pleasures that are received by the Sense of hearing in man have more beauty and excellency in them for the more they participate of the nature of the Air they are so much the less earthy and brutish and those delights which we receive by the eyes are yet more excellent then the rest because the eyes are of tne nature of fire which comes nearest to the Coelestial nature Howbeit the best and noblest of those pleasures which man receives by the corporeal Senses are baser and of less excellency then the least and meanest of those pleasures which are received by the powers of the rational Soul for as the Soul is much more worthy and noble then the Body so the pleasures and delights thereof are much more noble and generous then those of the body and such delights as are most proper to the spirit and mind of man are purest and best of all amongst which that delight which consists in the contemplation of God is the chiefest The pleasures of reason and of the mind and spirit of man continue much longer then corporeral delights and pleasures because the rational soul or spirit is not so apt to be weary and tired as the body is but doth recreate and refresh it self with variery of objects No marvel indeed if those that are wholly addicted to corporal and earthly delights deride and contemn such as highly esteem these rational and intellectual delights insomuch that they are willing to forgo the goods and pleasures of this world that they may enjoy the same these persons deride and speak evil of that which they know not of whom it may be truly said that they resemble the Swine that delights more in a dirty Puddle or Sink then in pretious Stones and sweet Odors because they want judgment rightly to discern and esteem the value of those things which they contemn and deride Every being chuseth to it self some kind of pleasure or other and the more excellent any being is the higher and more generous is its delight and pleasure For first If we look up to the chiefest being God himself he takes infinite delight in himself as all other perfections so the perfection of all true and real pleasure is enjoyed by God himself in a most spiritual and transcendent manner That which we call riches and honour is in him his own Excellency and Glory and that which amongst men is accounted pleasure is with him that infinite satisfaction which he takes in his own blessed Essence and the operations and works thereof His glorious Decrees and Contrivances and all his providential Dispensations are full of delight and pleasure to him the creating of all Beings yea the permission of all Irregularities contribute to his glory and pleasure the laughing of his enemies to scorn is a pleasure fit for infinite Justice and the smiling upon his Church and the countenancing and favouring of his people notwithstanding their great weaknesses and behindments is a pleasure fit for his infinite Mercy and Goodness Miracles are the pleasure of his Omnipotency Varieties are the delight
of an inward complacency Whoever surfeited of rational joy Sensitive pleasures ingratiate themselves by intermission Voluptates commendat rarior usus whereas all intellectuals heighten and advance themselves by frequent and constant operations The pleasures of the body do but emasculate and dispirit the soul they do not at all satisfie it but rational pleasure raiseth and cheers the soul and oyls the very members of the body making them more free and nimble nay speculative delights will compensate the want of sensitive pleasures Hence it was that a Philosopher put out his eyes that he might be the more intent upon his study he shut his windows close that the Candle might shine the more clearly within Amongst all mental operations reflex acts tast pleasure best for without some reflection men cannot tell whether they rejoyce or no Now these acts are the most distant and remote from sense and are the highest advancements of Reason Indeed sensitive pleasures make more noise and crackling like thorns under a pot whereas mental intellectual delights like the touches of a Lute make the sweetest and yet the stillest and softest musick of all Intellectual vexations and troubles have most sting in them for a wounded Conscience who can bear why then should not intellectual delights have most honey and sweetness in them Sensitive pleasures are very costly and chargeable there must be much preparation and attendance much plenty and variety if a man will enjoy them 'T is too dear for every one to be an Epicure or Sensualist but the pleasure of the mind doth freely and equally diffuse it self we need not pay any thing for it if we can but love and imbrace it As for sensitive and corporal pleasures a sick man cannot relish them nor an old man imbrace them a Crown of Rose-buds becomes not a grey head nor a grave Senator but the pleasure of the mind is a delight most fit for a Senator for a Cato 't is an undecaying a growing pleasure 't is the only pleasure upon the bed of sickness and the staff for old age to lean upon when all other pleasures forsake a man the mind of him that has the Gout may delight it self and make musick whilst the body is in pain A moral Philosopher was so affected with the rational intellectual delights of the Soul when out of the body in another World that he breaks out into these expressions There saith he shall I have the pleasure of seeing all my Friends again there I shall have the pleasure of more enobled acts of Reason there shall I tast the so much long'd for sweetness of another world Now if Philosophers and Moralists have been so much affected with meer rational delights how much more should Christians prize and be affected with those spiritual supernatural and heavenly delights and pleasures which are revealed in the Gospel and which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath entred into the heart of a meer rational man With God is fulness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Here are the best and chiefest delights and pleasures which contain the very quintessence of all other delights Seneca could say Hoc habet animus Argumentum divinitatis quod eum divina delectant This is an Argument of the Souls Immortality that it is delighted with divine and spiritual things Indeed the spiritualiz'd Soul of a Saint by the perfect enjoyment of God comes near the pleasure of God himself If that small tast which we have of God and spiritual pleasures here in this life bringeth much joy and satisfaction to the Soul far beyond all meer rational delights and Philosophical pleasures how great will the delights and pleasures of the Saints be in their most happy and glorious vision and contemplation of God in Heaven when they shall behold him face to face and know him as they are known of him whereas here they see him but darkly as in a glass and through a cloud CHAP. XIX Shewing that the light of Reason and much more the light of Faith fortifies men against the excessive fear of death ALthough there be a far more excellent way then that of reason and morality to overcome the fear of death namely by Faith in the death and resurrection and victory of Christ O death I will be thy death O grave I will be thy victory Blessed be God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ Yet we find that the improvement of the light of Reason and moral Vertues in some Heathens have tended much to the composing of their spirits and the allaying of their passions in their greatest sufferings and when their immortal Souls were about to forsake their mortal bodies The wisest and most rational amongst them have dyed with most composedness and serenity of spirit Concerning Death The Reason of a man Arguments drawn from the light of Reason against the fear of death will suggest these and the like Considerations to him First That a wise man should not be like the inconsiderate vulgar sort of people that are of cowardly ignoble spirits and afraid to dye nor should he be led by opinion but by judgment in this matter No man knows what death is that he should fear it and there is no reason that he should fear a thing whereof he is wholly ignorant and therefore Socrates the wisest man amongst the Philosophers when he was about to dye by the sentence of the Magistrates speaks thus to his Friends That to fear death is to make shew of greater understanding and sufficiency then can be in a man by seeming to know that which no man knoweth And being sollicited by his Friends at his death to plead before the Judges for his life and in the justification of himself made this Oration to them If I should plead for my life saith he and desire you that I may not dye I doubt I may speak against my self and desire my own loss and hindrance because I know not what it is to dye nor what good or ill there is in death They that fear to dye presume to know it As for my self I am utterly ignorant what it is or what is done in the other World Perhaps death is a thing indifferent perhaps a good thing and to be desired Those things that I know to be evil as to offend my Neighbour I fly and avoid those that I know not to be evil as death I cannot fear and therefore I commit my self to you and because I cannot know whether it is more expedient for me to dye or not to dye determine you thereof as you shall think good Secondly That a man should continually torment himself with the fear of death argues great weakness and pusillanimity There is scarce a Woman though she be the weaker vessel but in a few dayes she will be pacified and contented with the death of her Husband or Child And why should not Reason and Wisdom in Man effect that in an hour which
miles of Hadley where he was to be martyr'd Now sayes he lack I but two Stiles and I am even at my Fathers house John Ardeley If every hair of my head were a man it should suffer death for the Truth of Christ Alice Driver when the Chain was about her Neck Here is a goodly Hankerchief said she Julius Palmer To them that have the mind linked to the body as a Thieves foot to a pair of Stocks it is hard to dye indeed but if one be able to separate soul and body then by the help of Gods Spirit it is no more mastery for such a one to dye then for me to drink of this Cup. Elizabeth Folkes embracing the Stake Farewel all the World farewel Faith farewel Hope and welcome Love Picus Mirandula Death is welcome to me not as an end of trouble but of sin Martin Luther Thee O Christ have I taught thee have I trusted thee have I loved into thy hands I commend my spirit Phillip Melancton I desire to depart out of this World for two causes one that I may behold the face of Christ in the Church Triumphant the other that I may be freed from the bitter contentions of Brethren Tremelius a Christian Jew Let Christ live and Barrabas perish John Buisson I shall now have a double Gaol-delivery one out of my sinful flesh another from a loathsome dungeon Lewis Marsake Knight seeing his Brethren go to their execution with Halters about their necks which they offered not to him because of his dignity Why I pray you quoth he deny me not the badge and ornament of so excellent an Order is not my Cause the same with theirs Henry Voes If I had ten heads they should all off for Christ God forbid I should rejoyce in any thing save in his Cross CHAP. XX. Shewing that humane Reason and the due exercise of it is a great mercy THat God should make thee a Man and not a Beast a Toad a Serpent that he should bestow upon thee all the internal and external Senses the Reason and Intellectuals of a man and should preserve and continue the same notwithstanding all the foggy mists vapours and distempers which the head and brain of man is subject unto this is no small mercy if we consider withal how many in our dayes are born Ideots blind and lame wanting the use of their Senses and Members yea and others who formerly had the free and comfortable use thereof are now deprived of this mercy without which all the friends riches honours and pleasures of this World are a burthen rather than a blessing Is it not a wonderful thing that mans brain and the exercise of his reason and intellectuals should be preserved by the Power and Goodness of God though many times there are as it were floods of water inclosed within his head and brain when he thinks but little of it which if the great God who sets bounds to the raging Sea did not restrain would presently distract and overwhelm him The flegmatick humour in man which is of the nature of water ascends up to the Brain by reason of vapours arising out of the Stomach like the vapour of a Pot boyling on the fire with liquor in it and like to vapours that ascend up from the Earth into the Air Now when these vapours are come up to the Brain they turn into the nature of those humours of which they were bred as the vapours that ascend up into the Air turn again into the same nature of water of which they were ingendered Thus we carry about us and within us floods of water which if they should be suffered to run with violence would overflow and bear down all before them bodily health and strength and the use of reason and understanding would be quite overwhelmed by them If we had no Examples of other Floods and Inundations of Earthquakes and many other Judgments of God whereby he punisheth this wicked World yet these Water-floods which we carry about us should put us in mind of our sin and misery and should admonish and induce us to bless the Name of the Lord for preserving us and our reason and understanding in the midst of these water-floods whereby many men are destroyed We read of a great King that was driven from the society of men and his dwelling was with the beasts of the field he did eat grass as the Oxen and was wet with the dew of Heaven till he acknowledged that the most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of men and giveth them to whomsoever he will Dan. 4.25 32 33. This was a sore Judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar thus to be deprived of his reason and understanding as a man He was not really transform'd into a Beast as Bowin and others imagine but he was smitten by the Lord with frenzy and madness of mind and deprived for a time of the use of his reason for it is said that his understanding returned to him And besides this his body was much changed and altered in feeding and living among brute Beasts his hairs were grown like Eagles feathers and his nails like Birds claws As we may read in several Authors of some wild brutish Men taken in Forrests that went upon all four as Beasts do they were swifter then a Horse and did howl like a Wolf and were covered all over with hair And thus it was in a great measure with Nebuchadnezzar till the Lord had mercy on him and restored him What are we more then others that God should deal more graciously with us then with them in giving us better intellectuals and more reason and understanding as men and preserving to us the use and exercise thereof In this respect truly God hath put a great excellency upon man and upon us in particular so that we may well say with the Psalmist Lord what is man that thou art thus mindful of him Psal 8.4 Man by the wise contrivance of God is a little World a curious piece of Embroydery an excellent piece of Workmanship wherein the Wisdom and Power and Goodness of God doth wonderfully appear I will praise thee saith David Psal 139.14 15 16. for I am fearfully and wonderfully made Marvellous are thy workes and that my Soul knoweth right well my substance was not hid from thee when I was curiously wrought in the lowest part of the Earth 'T is a speech Borrowed from those that work Opus Phrygionicum the Phrygian or Arras work which is curiously wrought and contrived Man in respect of his frame and constitution is like a piece of curious Tapestry or Embroydery First In respect of his body and the parts and members thereof which are curiously wrought and put together by the wise contrivance of God The forming and composing the body of man of so many bones veins arteries sinews is a curious piece of workmanship God hath with infinite wisdom disposed and placed the several members of mans body some members are called radical members as the Liver
the Heart and the Brain and in these God hath placed the natural vital and animal spirits These spirits are carried by the veins arteries and Nerves the veins carry the vital spirits from the Liver the arteries carry the natural spirits from the Heart and the nerves carry the animal spirits from the Brain The several members of the body are helpful and serviceable one to another the superiour rule the inferiour as the Eyes guide and direct the whole Body and the inferiour support and uphold the superiour as the Feet Legs and Thighs support the whole Body and as for the middle members they defend the Body and provide things necessary for it as we see in the Hands and Arms. This variety of the members of the body sheweth the excellent Wisdom of God for if all were an Eye where would the seeing be 1 Cor. 12.15 So excellent is the body of man that there are sundry members thereof which God ascribes to himself as the Head the Heart the Eyes the Ears the Feet to express his Attributes to us yea God hath made the body of man a Temple for himself to dwell in and the Son of God hath assumed the body of man in one person to his Godhead a dignity which the Angels are not called unto After the making of man he left nothing unmade but to make himself man Secondly Man is curiously wrought and contrived in respect of his rational immortal Soul and those two noble faculties the Understandtng and the Will wherein man far excels all the sensitive Creatures The rational Soul is the better part of man more worth then all the World besides Mark 8.36 37. What is the body of man without the soul but a dead Trunk an empty Case 'T is the soul that is the pearl or precious jewel the creation infusion and operations whereof are like a curious piece of Embroydery well becoming the Creator and Contriver thereof who is a simple immaterial immortal Spirit the Spirit of spirits the Supream and Soveraign Spirit the God and Father of Spirits Numb 16.22 Bless God O man that hath given thee a reasonable Soul and inspired thee with an immortal Spirit wherein thou far excellest other Creatures For First The reasonable Soul of man can conceive of things by the light of understanding as well as by sense yea it can conceive of things that never were in the Senses as things absent which the Senses never saw nor apprehended it can conceive of things spiritual and immaterial as Angels and Spirits yea of the divine Attributes of God and that which is invisible by the things that are visible we come to the knowledge of God who is invisible Rom. 1.20 Secondly The rational Soul is able to reflect upon its self and its own acts and operations which no meer sensitive Creature can do it understands that it doth understand and knows that it doth know And this understanding and knowledge of the rational Soul is large and extensive for it can in a moment go over almost the whole World and view it all as it were at once whereas the Senses are limited and confined to a very narrow compass Thirdly The rational Soul can invent things that were never before in being What strange things for number and skill and variety are daily invented and contrived by mans wit and reason by which also many great matters both Civil Military and Ecclesiastical are ordered and regulated This is that Candle of the Lord which searcheth all the inward parts of the Belly Prov. 20.27 And God hath set the World in mans heart in regard of that reason and understanding that is in him Eccles 3.11 Fourthly The excellency of the reasonable Soul of man appears in this that his understanding after a sort is made one with and becomes the things that are understood in that it conceives a true Image and Idea of the things to be understood and herein the rational Soul doth somewhat resemble God himself who hath the perfect Idea of all other things in himself so the Soul of man doth as it were form Worlds of things within it self Fifthly The excellency of the rational Soul appears in that divine thing called Conscience which is more then a thousand Witnesses yet subordinate to a higher Tribunal beings Gods Deputy for God is greater then Conscience 1 John 3.20 No man be he never so great and potent can alwayes bribe Conscience but it will give an impartial verdict at one time or other either accusing or excusing him In these and other particulars men may contemplate the excellency of Reason and praise God for the exercise of it Thirdly and lastly The rational Soul of man becomes much more excellent and is like a curious piece of Embroydery by a new Creation being made partaker of the Divine Nature whereas by sin the Soul of man was corrupted and alienated from the Life of God yet now being born again of the Spirit of God and Christ being spiritually formed therein it recovers the Image of God and is restored to a holy fellowship and communion with him and will be a curious excellent Piece indeed when she is perfectly transformed as she shall be into the divine Image and cloathed with Glory and Immortality Psal 45.14 2 Cor. 5.2 Let us now briefly recapitulate the Heads of this Discourse * A Recapitulation of the several Heads touching Faith and Reason so far as we have proceeded It requires much spiritual Skill as hath been said rightly to distinguish between them and give to each its due though mans Reason be much weakened and obscured yet a good use may be made thereof both in Civil and Divine things There is a light in Reason though far inferiour to that of Faith How far this Light of Reason extendeth we have shewed The best Heathen Philosophers were sensible of great defects and languishings in their natural Reason and Abilities though they ascribed too much thereunto Some there are amongst Christians that give too little to Reason in Religious and Ecclesiastical concerns but others more generally offend in giving too much and therefore we have here declared how and in what respects Reason and moral Prudence should be exercised by us both in Civil and Church affairs The Light of Reason proves that there is a God or Supreme being and that the Soul of man is immortal and also the truth of the Christian Religion and the divine Authority of the Scriptures and is of excellent use in comparing and interpreting the Scriptures and judging of Controversies But though Reason be useful in these respects yet the internal testimony of the holy Ghost doth principally witness the divine Authority of the Scriptures and satisfie Conscience touching the same Here is shewed when it is that Reason is rightly used and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits testimony in the Scripture and likewise the difference betwixt the meer rational and spiritual man and their knowledge faith and operations in and about
Gospel this Well is so deep as the Woman told Christ in another case John 4.11 that unless we have the Bucket of the Spirit of God to draw with we shall never be able by the improvement of our Reason to bring up this living Water unless we have the Spirit of Light and Power to dig with we shall never find this spiritual Treasure Nature indeed will go far and the improved natural man may do much by his Skill and Industry in finding out and discovering the mysteries of Nature things that are excellent in their kind Such a man as Job speaks Chap. 28.7 11 12 13 21 23 can dig out of the Earth Gold Iron Brass Brimstone and all sorts of Metals nay he can see further then the Birds of prey which though they be quick-sighted yet can they not behold these Metals which he by his Skill can discover and dig out of the earth There is a path which no Fowl knoweth and which the Vultures eye hath not seen yet Man traceth it by his Skill yea the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light but yet he cannot by all his natural Reason and Skill though never so much improved spiritually and savingly discern the excellency of Christ and the mysteries of the Gospel But where shall Wisdom be found namely Christ who is the essential Wisdom of God and who is made of God Wisdom to us And where is the place of understanding Go over the whole Creation and every part of it and it will say It is not in me man knoweth not the price thereof neither is it found in the Land of the living it is not within the reach or sphere of the wisest natural men in the World they cannot dig this Mine or find out this Treasure they cannot comprehend this divine and supernatural mystery for it is hid from the eyes of all that are living and kept close from the Fowls of the Air Whence then cometh this divine Wisdom Where is it to be had and how shall we attain to it He tells you ver 23. that this Wisdom is in the Bosom of God and must be revealed by him or else we shall never savingly apprehend it God understandeth the way and knoweth the place thereof for Wisdom was with him from eternity when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder then did he prepare it yea and searched it out Or as it is Prov. 8.29 30. a place parallel with this of Job When he gave to the Sea his decree that the waters thereof should not pass his Command when he appointed the foundations of the earth then was I by him saith Christ as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight rejoycing alwayes before him Secondly The Light of Reason cannot truly discover the sinfulness of mans nature and the deep deceits of his heart which are only made known by Scripture light and revelation Jer. 17.9 darkness cannot discover darkness nor can corruption discover it self Indeed by the Light of Nature improved by education and the knowledge of humane Arts and Sciences men may discover a great languishment and infirmity that is come upon them Divers learned Writers have shewed that many of the ancient Platonists agree in this That mans Soul is now vassalized to the senses and affections and that her wings are cut so that she cannot mount upward by divine Contemplation but as for the nature and kind of original corruption and how it was brought upon us together with the woful concomitants and effects thereof these can only be known by Scripture light And therefore the Apostle saith He had not known lust to be sin had not the Law said Thou shalt not lust The Light of Nature and Reason is altogether insufficient to prescribe or set down the true worship of God Hence it is that God doth so often forbid us to walk after our own imaginations in the matters of his House and Worship and the Apostle calls it will-worship Col. 2.23 when a man 's own will or invention is the framer of it If men be taught only by the Light of Nature (x) Vide Calvin Instit lib. 1. cap. 5. sect 12. they can know nothing certainly and soundly touching the worship of the true God but their thoughts and apprehensions will be confused and carnal and exceeding unsuitable to God who is a holy Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and truth And though there were a few amongst the Heathens that were not altogether so mad as the common people yet the most excellent of them did exceedingly wander and go astray devising and contriving the worship of God according to their own vain opinion and imagination Socrates the wisest Philosopher in Zenophon praised the Answer of Apollo wherein he willed that every man should worship the Gods after the manner and custom of his Country or City But oh what folly and madness is this How came mortal men by this power that of their own authority they should determine that which far surmounteth the wisdom of the World Natural Reason would have the worship of God sensible and pleasing to the eye and is apt to appoint other Mediators between God and Man besides Christ and to perform all duties of worship in its own strength and by way of compensation and satisfaction to God and therefore in this case Reason comes far short and is no competent Judge how and after what manner God will be worshipped though we deny not but the Light of Reason and moral Prudence when God hath appointed his own worship may be very useful and instrumental in ordering some civil circumstances relating thereunto and in the exercise of Church affairs Nor doth that Text Rom. 12.1 argue that mans reason can devise or find out that worship and service which is acceptable to the most wise and holy God this is more then the greatest Rationalists and Moralists amongst the Heathen Philosophers could ever attain to but whereas the Apostle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Your reasonable serving of God he understands that service which is not only or chiefly with the body but with the mind and spirit for so will God be worshipped John 4.23 And so Chrysostome and others call this reasonable service Spiritualem cultum spiritual worship or service when the mind and Spirit is offered up to God This interpretation is further confirmed out of 1 Pet. 2.2 where the Apostle Peter calls the Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The reasonable that is spiritual milk and ver 5. The service or sacrifice of a Christian is spiritual and so it is acceptable unto God And 't is well observed by divers learned Interpreters on Rom. 12.1 that there is a secret opposition between this reasonable service and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or will worship as it is called Col. 2.23 when men invent a religious worship suitable to their own carnal humours and interests whereas that is
A SEASONABLE DISCOURSE OF THE Right Vse and Abuse OF REASON In MATTERS of RELIGION By PHILOLOGUS Ratio recta est Ratio lumine Spiritus Sancti directa LONDON Printed for Thomas Passinger at the Three Bibles on London-Bridge 1676. To the Right Honorable AND Virtuous LADY the Lady MARCHIONESS OF WORCESTER MADAM 'T IS truly observed That Worldly Greatness without Virtue and Goodness is nothing else but the vigour of Vice having both mind and means to be uncontrollably vicious But Nobility joyned with Virtue renders the person truly Honorable the true stamp of Nobility and Honour being upon the minds of men who are not so much to be valued by the grandeur of their outward Estates or Titles as by their inward Goodness Virtue and seriousness in Religion is commendable in all persons and at all times but more especially in persons of Your rank and quality at this time and in this Nation wherein alas Atheism Scepticism Drollery and all manner of Prophaneness aboundeth amongst those that would be thought to excel all others in Wit and Courage and Gallantry and who should give a far better Example to their Inferiors This Atheism and Irreligion which now aboundeth hath been partly occasioned by the uncharitable unchristian heats and animosities of men of contrary Opinions and Sentiments in matters of Religion together with those great Scandals which we can never sufficiently lament that have been given by some Professors of the Gospel in these Nations Hence men of proud spirits and corrupt principles have taken occasion to doubt and question all kind of Religion and to look on it only as a Political device and invention which doth no further oblige than the Humane Laws of several Countries do authorize it But though these common Scandals have been the occasion yet the true ground at the bottom of such mens prejudice and scepticism is the strictness and purity of the Christian Religion which of all Religions is the most holy and spiritual and which they find lays too great a restraint upon their exorbitant Lusts and carnal Passions To be good in bad times to be virtuous and pious in an Age wherein Vice and Wickedness is so generally countenanced and practised This Madam adds a great lustre to your Goodness and Virtue And indeed your greatest Interest and Happiness which I doubt not but you are sensible of consists in being truly serious and religious this is the whole Duty of Man to fear God and keep His Commandments Eccles 12.13 The serious practice of Religion is that which every considerate person after all his other disquisitions will find to be his chief Interest and that which doth deserve his utmost care and diligence This is the whole of Man or as the Septuagint reads it this is all this indeed should be the great Design of Man as being most profitable and advantageous to him Go on Madam in the strength of the grace of God and add Virtue to Virtue that your last days and last works may be your best days and best works and that you may practically confute the Atheists of our times who walk and talk and live and die as if there were no God in the World no certainty no seriousness in Religion These persons are under a Judicial Blindness desperately rebelling not only against the Light of Gospel-revelation but against that Light of Reason which is in them God has given them Reason and Understanding Eyes that they might see Hearts that they might understand but they wilfully shut their Eyes against that Light of Reason and so by the just Judgment of God it is taken from them and they given up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart and to the greatest Spiritual Plagues and Judgments 'T is to be admired seeing there are such convincing Reasons and Demonstrations even from the Light of Nature against Atheism and Infidelity that there should be any such Creatures upon the face of the Earth as these Atheists and Scepticks when certainly there are none such in Hell for the Devils themselves believe and tremble so that in this respect they are worse than the Devils And though they pretend to be the Wits of the Times yet for my part I am of opinion with the Noble Mirandula That there is no Atheist in the World that is in his wits the rational Souls of such Monsters being sunk down into meer sensuality and brutishness Plutarch that grave Moralist Lib. de Superstit stiles Irreligion a kind of stupor whereby men are as it were deprived of their senses And that it is an exceeding improper thing to ascribe true Reason to those who do not acknowledge and adore the Deity And Cicero that wise Philosopher and Orator De Nat. Deor. lib. 2. saith he can hardly think that man to be in his right mind who is destitute of Religion And again why should any one stile such an one a Man who by what he sees in the World is not convinced of a Deity and a Providence and of the Adoration which he owes to that Deity And the Satyrist * Juv. Sat. 15. speaking of Religion and the sense of divine things saith Separat hoc nos A grege multorum atque ideo venerabile soli Sortiti ingenium Divinorumque capaces 'T is this which doth distinguish us from brute Creatures that we have Souls capable of divine impressions So that such persons have no just pretence to Reason who renounce Religion or turn it into meer Scepticism But however some men for a little time may offer violence to their Reason and Conscience whilst they prosper in this World yet when they are once alarm'd by a violent Sickness or some other great affliction which at one time or other they shall be expos'd unto then will the sense of a Deity and of Eternal Wrath and Punishment seize upon them with so much the greater force and power which they shall never be able to shake off Hi sunt qui trepidant ad omnia fulgura pallent We may truly say of the Atheists of our times as Plato doth of Tyrants If any person could but see thorowly into their Souls he should find them all their lives full of fear guilt and torments Pectus inuste deformant maculae vitiisque inolevit Imago Doth now saith an excellent Author the conquest of Passions forgiving of Injuries doing good self-denial humility patience under crosses which are the real expressions of Piety speak nothing more noble and generous than a luxurious malicious proud and impatient Spirit Is there nothing more becoming and agreeable to the Soul of Man in exemplary Piety and a holy well-ordered conversation than in the lightness and vanity not to say rudeness and debauchery of those whom the World accounts the greatest Gallants Is there nothing more graceful and pleasing in the sweetness candor and ingenuity of a truly Christian temper and disposition than in the revengeful implacable Spirit of such whose honour is fed by the blood of
their Enemies Is it not more truly honourable and glorious to serve that God who commandeth the whole World than to be a slave to those Passions and Lusts which put men upon continual hard service and torment them for it when they have done it Were there nothing else to commend Religion to the minds of men besides the tranquility and calmness of spirit that serene and peaceable temper which follows a good Conscience wheresover it dwells it were enough to make men welcom that Guest which brings such good entertainment with it Whereas the amazements horrors and anxieties of mind which at one time or other haunt such who prostitute their Consciences to a violation of the Laws of God and the Rules of rectified Reason may be enough to perswade any rational person that Impiety is the greatest folly and Irreligion the greatest madness The wisest and greatest of men in all Ages at or not long before their death when freest from worldly designs and sensual delights have owned that God and His Truth which they did not embrace and acknowledge as they ought to have done in their lives and the nearer death did approach to them the more serious were they in Religion and did disclaim and abandon those Atheistical and irreligious courses wherewith they or some of them had been formerly entangled Nimrod the Founder of the Assyrian Monarchy when carried away by Spirits at his death as Annius in his Berosus relates the Story cryed out Oh one year more Oh one year more before I go into the place from whence I shall not return Ninus that great King next from Nimrod save Belus at his Death left this Testimony Look on this Tomb and hear where Ninus is whether thou art an Assyrian a Mede or an Indian I speak to thee no frivolous nor vain matters Formerly I was Ninus and lived as thou doest I am now no more than a piece of earth All the Meat that I have like a Glutton devoured all the Pleasures that I like a Beast enjoyed all the beautiful Women that I so notoriously abused all the Riches and Glory that I so proudly possessed I am now deprived of And when I went into the invisible state I had neither Gold nor Horse nor Chariot I that wore the rich Crown of Gold am now poor Dust Cyrus the Persian left this Memento behind him to all Mankind as Plutarch and others tell us Whosoever thou art O O Man and whence-soever thou comest for I know thou wilt come to the same condition that I am in I am Cyrus who brought the Empire to the Persians Do not I beseech thee envy me this little piece of ground which covereth my Body Alexander the Great who conquered the World was at last as we find in Plutarch Curtius and others so possessed with the sense of Religion that he was under much trouble and anxiety of spirit and look'd upon every little matter as portentous and ominous so dreadful a thing saith Plutarch is the contempt of God which sooner or later filleth all mens minds with fears and terrors Julius Caesar who Conquered so many Nations and at last subdued and possessed the Roman Empire could not Conquer himself and his own Conscience which troubled him with Dreams and terrified him with Visions putting him upon Sacrificing and consulting all sorts of Priests and Augures though he found comfort from none in so much as a little before he died he was as heartless as the ominous Sacrifice was that he offered professing to his most intimate Friends That since he had made an end of the Wars abroad he had no Peace at home The like may be said of Tiberius Caesar Nero and other Roman Emperours Hadrian the Emperour celebrated his own Funerals carrying before him his Coffin in triumph when he lived and when he was a dying cried out lamentably Animula vagula blandula quae abibis in loca Ah poor Soul whither wilt thou go what will become of thee Thus the greatest Princes have especially near their latter end a deep sense of Religion of the Souls Immortality and their Eternal estate in another World Nor did ever any Prince Captain or Law-giver go about any great matter but at length he was glad to take in the assistance of a God as Numa Lycurgus Solon Scipio and others Titus and Nerva two Roman Emperours had such serious thoughts and were so sensible of a Deity in the Government of the World that neither of them as the Historian saith was ever seen to smile or play Septimius Severus that Victorious Roman Emperour having had experience of the vanity of this Worlds Riches and Greatness said at his Death I have been all things and it profiteth me nothing Charles the Fifth that Famous German Emperour after twenty three pitch'd Battels six Triumphs four Kingdoms won and eight Principalities added to his other Dominions resigned all these in his life time to his Son and betook himself to a retired life and to his private Devotions This great and wise Prince had his own Funeral Celebrated beforre his face and left this Testimony of the Christian Religion That the sincere profession of it had in it those sweets and joys which the Courts of Princes were strangers to grounding his hope and assurance of Salvation upon the sole Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ his Mediator and not upon his own Works and to this purpose divers little Papers were written by him and found immediately after his Death as is Recorded by an Author who wrote the Life of Don Carlos his Grand-child Philip the Third King of Spain lying on his death-bed the last of March 1621 sent thrice at Midnight for Florentius his Confessor who gravely exhorting him patiently to submit to the will of God the King could not choose but weep saying Lo now my fatal hour is at hand but shall I obtain eternal felicity at which words great grief and trouble of mind seising on the King he said to his Confessor You have not hit upon the right way of healing Is there no other Remedy Which words when the Confessor understood of his Body the King replied Ah ah I am not solicitous for my Body or temporary Disease but for my Soul Cardinal Wolsey that Great Minister of State who for some years gave Law to England and to other Nations poured out his Soul in these sad words Had I been as diligent to serve my God as I have been to please my Prince He would not have forsaken me now in my gray Hairs Sir Francis Walsingham that great and wise Statesman towards the latter end of his Life grew very melancholy and wrote to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh to this purpose We have lived enough to our Countrey to our Fortunes and to our Sovereign it is now high time we begin to live to our selves and to our God In the multitude of Affairs which have passed through our Hands there must needs be great miscarriages for which a whole Kingdom cannot
sensible of great defects in Nature and Reason THough the Heathen Philosophers and Moralists generally did ascribe too much to the Light of Nature and Reason yet the wisest of them after long experience were sadly sensible that this Candle at the best after all their snuffing did burn but dim Socrates than whom there was not a more prudent virtuous man amongst the Heathens doth so far complain of the weakness of his Candle-light i. e. his Intellectuals as that he tells us his lamp would shew him nothing but his own darkness and ignorance This only he knew that he was ignorant and knew nothing Other Philosophers besides him were deeply sensible of and groaned under these great decays and imperfections of natural light and reason You may hear them often complaining of a defluvium pennarum that the wings of the Soul flag and many of the feathers drop away One will tell you that his head his understanding akes another that his eye his reason is dimm'd a third that his Soul trembles with doubts and uncertainties As you heard Socrates the Master and the wisest man in Greece complaining of the languishings and faintings of natural light and reason so you may see Plato his Scholar sitting down by the waters of Lethe and weeping because he could not remember his former notions You may likewise hear Aristotle another of his Scholars bewailing his condition that his Abrasa tabula hath so few and such imperfect impressions upon it and that his Intellectuals are at so low an ebb that the motions of Euripus will pose and nonplus him And as for Zeno Epictetus and other famous Philosophers they confess ingeniously that they had not the right apprehension of things and that they were intangled with a spurious and adulterate kind of reason instead of that which is called right reason If you cast your Eye upon the most Eagle eyed Naturalist you will see him puzzled with an occult quality if you take a view of the exactest Moralist you will find him bewildred and at a great loss in his Morals not being able to attain to true peace and rest in his Soul by all these Virtues Shall these moral Heathens complain of their great defects and behindments and shall Christians pride themselves in their natural or moral improvements and set up the light and power of Nature and Reason as much or more than the light and power of Grace and Divine Revelation How unbecoming how unsutable is this to the glorious Gospel of Christ which clearly sets forth the corruption of Nature the natural man's subjection to Sin and Satan and the Curse of the Law and an absolute necessity of the new birth and regeneration Let not this Candle therefore which burns but dim aspire so high as to make it self equal with the Sun Salomon himself who had made many discoveries with this Candle of the Lord and had thereby search'd into the several veins of Knowledge into the hid Treasures of Wisdom into the depths of State Affairs and into the bowels and mysteries of Nature yet after much searching and a diligent improvement of his intellectual lamp he could not find the chiefest good in any of these or in all of them put together but as a man sufficiently wearied and tired out you may hear him complain that all is vanity and vexation of spirit and that there is no true rest in any thing under the Sun CHAP. V. Of them that give too little to the light of Reason SOme are so strangely prejudic'd against reason without reason that they would have no use at all made of it in Religious Concerns but utterly exclude it out of the Church of God Now this is an extreme which we should avoid and pray to be delivered from such unreasonable absurd men as will not in the least hearken to reason but fill our ears with noise and clamour to no purpose 2 Thess 3.2 First Those are to be blamed that cannot endure the name of reason in Discourses of Religion If you offer to make a Syllogism or a rational Discourse they will presently fall fowl upon you and cry it down as carnal reasoning If one man speak or write more reason than another if it cross some mens humours and interests he shall be term'd a Prudentialist if not a Conjurer or Magician He must needs be a dangerous man if he have better Intellectuals and more wisdom and understanding than others in matters Civil and Religious Secondly Such as wholly relye upon dreams and enthusiasms are Enemies to Reason and renounce their Intellectuals and Understandings Do they pretend to the Spirit of God! let them know that this Spirit is a sober wise and serious Spirit and doth not destroy the use of Reason but elevateth and raiseth up the rational faculties to a higher pitch than meer Nature can mount up to in His service It hath been truly observed both by the Ancient Fathers and our Modern Writers as a characteristical difference between the true prophetical Spirit and the false and counterfeit that the one leaves men in the free use and exercise of their reason and faculties but the other fills and distracts them with pannick fears tremblings and consternations both of body and mind Epiphanius and others discovering the folly and madness of Montanus and his followers gives this reason why they could be no true Prophets because in those that are so there is a great consistency of sense reason and discourse The true Prophet say they had always the free use of his reason and faculties and spake from the Spirit of God with consistency and coherence of discourse whereas it was quite otherwise with the Monatanists they were always trembling both in body and mind and used no consequence of reason in discourse their words had no proper sense but were all dark intricate and obscure Thirdly Those also are upon this extreme that hold an Annihilation or destruction of the Faculties of the Soul in the new spiritual Birth and Regeneration as if there were a new will and understanding not only for quality but for substance infused into us which is to take away our reason and unman us If there be any so absurd and irrational as would perswade us wholly to lay aside our reasons judgments and understandings in matters of Religion and not to make use of or ingage any of these in our Inquiries after things of a spiritual and supernatural concernment This is in effect to render us Bruitish and to extinguish that Candle which the Lord hath set up in our Souls wherewith we ought to search and try Spirits and Doctrines being enabled thereunto by the Spirit of God which reneweth strengthneth and raiseth the Rational faculties of Man's Soul but doth not destroy them Fourthly When Christians are members of a particular Society and will not be regulated by Reason in thing that are not contrary to the Word of God but are led more by humour and faction or by a worldly Interest than
subtilty of Antiochus Nero Dioclesian Julian the Apostate and other cruel and subtil Persecutors and notwithstanding that Egyptian darkness of Popery Error and Ignorance which overspread the World for some hundred years since Christ and his Apostles during which time these sacred Writings were laid aside and contemned and blind Ignorance extolled as the Mother of Devotion Fifthly The very Stile of the Scripture argues the divine Authority thereof By the Stile we do not understand the external superficies of words and phrases but the whole order contexture and frame thereof which fitly agreeth to the dignity of the speaker and the nature of the Argument treated of and is excellently and wisely tempered according to the capacity and condition of them for whose sake it was written Indeed every Prophet and Apostle almost had a peculiar Stile God making use of their several faculties and abilities Isaiah is Eloquent and sweet David affectionate Solomon Accurate Jeremiah vehement and more rough and so it may be said of the several Apostles and Evangelists that their Stile is somewhat different but all of them divine and Heavenly The Majesty and excellency of the Stile appears in that Majestick Title and dignity which the Author of the Holy Scriptures doth justly challenge to himself the which imports Independency of nature and essence Supereminency of power and soveraignty and excellency both of properties and works and is further displayed in the manner of teaching which is used in the Holy Scriptures commanding promising and threatning things above sense and reason In this Book there are hidden Mysteries divine and supernatural Truths such as exceed all humane capacity revealed unfolded without Argumentation or Rhetorical motives of perswasion and we are required to understand and beleive them relying only upon the Truth and credit of the Revealer God the great and absolute Soveraign requires in his word such and such things to be done such and such duties to be performed by the Sons of men with great strictness and severity and yet brings no argument to perswade or confirm the equity of these commands but only the will of the Commander which though it becomes not man to do yet it well becomes the Majesty of God In this Book also promises are made of good things to come whereof there is no humane probability nor reason given to assure us of the performance thereof but I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it In the manner of threatning also the like majesty and Soveraign Authority may be observed throughout the Scriptures which you shall not meet with in meer humane writings God commands and threatens without respect of persons be they what they will be 't is all one to him he prescribes his Laws to all men Magistrates and Rulers Schollers and Soldiers to whole Kingdoms and States commanding and requiring what is distastful to their fleshly nature and interest and forbidding what they approve and commend promising them not Earthly Honours and Riches but Life Eternal if they be obedient to the Gospel and threatning them not with Rack or Gibbet but with eternal Death and Torments if they disobey Neither let any man be offended with the low and humble manner of speech used in holy Scripture for it was penned for the use and benefit of the unlearned as well as the learned for those of weak parts as well as for those of strong parts and abilities And though the phrase or manner of speech be plain yet the matter is high and excellent profound and unutterable Plainness and perspicuity doth best become the truth A Pearl needs no painting True beauty needs not a whorish dress to set it forth nor needs the truth of God to be supported or underpropt with forraign aids for it is of it self sufficient to uphold and sustain it self It becomes not the Majesty of a Prince to play the Orator this would be more pedantick in him then in a person more inferior Though the Scripture seems to be plain in word and phrase yet it is great in power No writings of men be they never so well set forth with Wit Learning and Ornaments of Rhetorick can so enlighten the mind move the will pierce the heart and stir up the affections as the word of God doth Nor do the Scriptures want Eloquence if the matter be well weighed no other writing can equalize them The Song of Moses the beginning of the Prophesie of Isaiah and other portions of Scripture in variety and force of divine Eloquence do far exceed and transcendall other Authors Greek or Latine that are extant though never so excellently indited and penned yet it may be easily discerned that the one was written by a Divine the other by a humane Spirit Sixthly the wonderful powerful effects of this doctrine more then any other do clearly demonstrate even to an eye of reason the divine Authority thereof for it inlighteneth the understanding discovereth clearly the evil of sin and the vanity of the Creature converteth the Soul convinceth the gainsayer terrifieth the Conscience of a sinner quickeneth and reviveth the wounded Spirit manifesteth the thoughts of the heart man casteth down strong holds and the power of Satan and remains invincible notwithstanding all the opposition of men and devils for though the nature thereof be contrary to the will and wisdome of the flesh and world yet still it hath prevailed and overcome The enemies that have opposed this doctrine were many and mighty and subtil the Devil the Roman Emperor the learned Philosophers the zealous Jews and the common people being stirred up by them have with incredible fury and falshood and vigilancy endeavoured the utter abolition of it but could never do it This doctrine conquers where it comes either it converts or destroys its Adversaries And what manner of persons are they whom God chuseth as his Heralds and Embassadors to publish this doctrine are they great and many are they learned and wise are they potent and mighty in the world No no they are in number but few in outward appearance simple rude poor and weak despised of men things that are not in the judgment of men by these God hath confounded things that are and through their preaching the Cross of Christ hath subdued many Nations to himself in a little time a great part of this habitable world was converted and brought to the obedience of faith so that Paul filled all places from Jerusalem to Illyricum with the sound of the Gospel Nor is it to be forgotten that the Jews though wasted with many and great Slaughters and though they had and still have a desperate Enmity against Christ and the Christian Religion yet the Scriptures of the old Testament have alwayes remain'd safe and entire in their custodie even when the Hebrew language did lye almost unknown and had perished altogether had not God provided for the true Religion by the care of those Jews so that will they nill they they shall be instrumental
lay aside his Reason and understanding and to be wholly concluded by humane Authority and the names of men in matters of faith As in other points the Church of Rome which is made up of lyes and contradictions would impose upon us as if we had neither Sense nor Reason in us so more especially in the point of Transubstantiation and the corporal carnal presence of Christ in the Sacrament which is against Sense against Reason and against Faith First It is against Sense now of all demonstrations amongst men whereby we prove things of this kind nothing is more firm then that which is taken from Sense 'T is an undoubted truth in Divinity that in all matters of Sense Sense is a compleat Judge understanding it of objects proper and peculiar to Sense otherwise we say the Eye is not able to judge of Sounds nor the Ear of Colours Thus Christ when he would prove that he had a true and real Body he sends his Disciples to their Senses a Spirit hath not flesh and blood as you see me have Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my Side In turning water into wine Sense might easily judge of the change you would think it a strange and incredible thing if Christ should have come to to the Master of the Feast requiring him to believe it was wine though he saw and tasted nothing but water or if God should have said thus to Moses well thou seest nothing but a Rod yet thou must believe notwithstanding that it is changed and is really a Serpent so in this case of the Sacrament when all the Senses tell us it is Bread which we see and touch and taste why should any man be so foolish and vain as to say with the Papists that the Bread ceaseth to be truly Bread and is Transubstantiated into the very Body of Christ Again Secondly As this Doctrine is against Sense so it is against Reason namely that Christ should be in Heaven and have but one Body and yet at the same have Ten Thousand Bodies on Earth that his Body should be a true Body as ours is and yet without Circumscription and other inseparable properties of a true Body that the substance of Bread should be abolished so as it shall remain no longer Bread and yet we find the very quantity taste whiteness substance and nourishing vertue of Bread If you ask them after all this whether it doth nourish the Body or no they will tell you with impudence enough if they be true to their own principles that it doth not nourish quite contrary to Reason and experience This monstruous opinion of theirs is so irrational and absurd that the most learned amongst them are puzled and not satisfied therewith but leave it as a miracle I have taken some pains saith a learned judicious man in his late Sermon against Popery to consider other Religions that have been in the world and I must freely declare that I never yet in any of them met with any Article or Proposition imposed upon the belief of men half so unreasonable and hard to be believed as this point of Transubstantiation is Thirdly As it is against Sense and Reason so it is against Faith which though it be beyond Sense or Reason yet it is not contrary thereunto Sense and Reason are Gods works as well as Grace and Faith Now one work of God doth not destroy another for if so this would argue imperfection in the workman faith feeds on Christ spiritually in the Sacrament being the evidence of things not seen now if Christ be corporally present in the Sacrament what need the receiver feed on him spiritually by faith as being absent what need he do this in rememberance of him till he come let us in this and other things shew our selves men and not Beasts let us make a right use of our Senses and of that Reason which God hath bestowed upon us 'T is we that believe and act in matters of Religion whoever requires the same of us these are our Acts if therefore we will shew our selves to be men endued with Reason and understanding we must examine what is propounded and offered to us that so we may assent or dissent upon judicious grounds we are men and should do things as men we are Christians and should do things as Christians Blind faith and blind obedience should be utterly Banished out of Christian Assemblies nor should we pin our faith upon any man or company of men be they never so Godly and learned for this were to wrong God and to set man in his Throne and attribute that to man which is proper to God alone Hereby also we exceedingly prejudice and wrong our own Souls and are in danger of Apostacie when we adhere to an opinion or way of which we are not rationally and knowingly perswaded that it is the way of God what is this else but to comply with a way or party out of faction and partiality not out of Judgment and Conscience which therefore cannot have any true Consistence or constancy in it They rather bring their feet then their hearts into a way of Religion that adhere to it without due tryal and examination Herein we should use our own eyes and judgments and not wholly trust to others Herein we should diligently exercise our own Reason if we will judiciously and profitably receive the truths of God not that we should judge of the highest Gospel mysteries according to natural corrupt Reason but yet we should make use of our own understandings and judgments being enlightned by the Spirit and word of God in comparing one thing with another that so our faith and knowledge may not be fluctuating and uncertain but steady and stable It will perhaps be objected that if every man may judge in matters of Religion according to his Reason then so many men so many minds which will breed endless confusion every man pretends to Reason and one man thinks his Reason to be as good or better than another mans and so according to this opinion there shall be no order no settlement in the Church I confess there is much danger on this hand especially where people are running headlong into confusion and will not submit to Ecclesiastical order and government yet this should not make men throw away their Reason and believe with an Implicite faith only as the Church believes In things of this nature there is a twofold judgment a judgment in foro externo or publico and a judgment in foro interno or privato The former of these is an Authoritative judgment belonging to Christian Synods and Counsels duly and lawfully assembled where the Christian Magistrate presides such Counsels debating and determining matters in difference either as to doctrine or practice have been of excellent use from time to time in the Church of God But besides this there is belonging to every Christian a judgment of discretion or discerning a rational self directive judgment in the
this Divine knowledge and assurance illuminating our understanding renewing our wills and sanctifying our hearts and affections In which sence the Spirit of God in the Scripture is to us a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation opening the eyes of our understandings that we may see by a spiritual light the excellency of those divine Mysteries that are in the Word of God Ephes 1.17 18. Now this Doctrine of ours is no such Circle as the Papists pretend it to be but a plain and strait way for a sober Christian to walk in Thus How know you that the Scriptures are Gods Word We answer By the Scriptures themselves by that wonderful light and excellency of truth and holiness that shineth in them here we would rest and go no further But yet if we be asked How we come to see this light We answer It is by the only work of the Spirit of God giving us eyes to see and hearts to embrace and love the light If we be further urged for some are thus importunate But how know you that you do indeed perceive such a heavenly light as you speak of Or how can you make it appear to others that you are not deceived Now truly this is but a vain question it being an absurd thing to demand a reason of sense which is as if one should ask him that gazeth on the Sun How know you that you see the light Why he is certain that he sees it and knows that he is not deceived though he cannot convince a blind man of it and if in case he that is blind requires him that sees to prove unto him by sound argument that he beholds such an object he demands an impossible thing of him unless he could give him eyes to see it Some of the most learned Papists after all their disputing and wrangling are driven at last to acknowledge this inward illumination and testimony of the Spirit of God Stapleton himself even in that Book where he defends the Authority of the Church saith That the godly are brought to faith by the voice of the Church but being once brought and enlightened with the light of divine Inspiration then they believe no more for the Churches voice but because of the heavenly light And again in the last Book that ever he wrote against learned Whitaker he tells us plainly That the inward perswasion of the holy Ghost is so necessary and effectual for the believing of every object of faith that without it neither can any thing by any man be believed though the Church testified with it a thousand times and by it alone any matter may be believed though the Church held her peace or were never heard Hereby it appears that we may be infallibly assured of the divine Authority of the Scriptures though the Authority and testimony of the Church be not so regarded by us as the Papists would have it But yet when we have to do with Infidels and Atheists that scoff at this divine light and inward testimony of the Spirit we have more Reason on our side as hath been shewed at large to convince them and to prove that the Christian Religion is the true Religion and that the Scriptures do contain the Word and Laws of the most high God then any other Religion nay then all other Religions in the world As for the inward testimony of the Spirit witnessing the divine authority of the Scripture and how it is to be considered take these following Rules * Rules concerning the Spirits testimony for preventing mistakes First That the Spirit of God doth assuredly perswade the Conscience of a Christian that the Scriptures are the Word of God not by an immediate Vision or Revelation under which pretence Satan transforming himself into an Angel of light hath deluded and ensnared many poor souls but by enlightening the eyes of our understanding to behold the light writing the Law in our hearts and inward parts as God hath promised in the new Covenant sealing up the Promises to our souls and causing us experimentally to feel the powerful effects thereof Secondly This divine supernatural perswasion wrought in Believers by the Spirit of God is more certain and more satisfactory then can be proved by our weak imperfect Reason or expressed in words for things doubtful may be proved but as for things that are in themselves most clear and certain we say they need no rational proof or demonstration as the shining of the Sun which discovers it self by its own light needs not be confirmed by any rational Arguments to him that hath his eyes open to see the light thereof Thirdly It is such a testimony and demonstration of the divine Authority of the Scriptures as is certain and manifest to him that hath the Spirit for it makes it self evident where it comes but this is private and particular not publick and common testifying only to him who is endued therewith but not convincing others nor confirming doctrines to them In this case men must have recourse to the visible standing Rule to the written Law and Testimony if any man speak not according to this let him pretend never so much to the inward testimony and revelation of the Spirit it is because the light and truth of God is not in him Fourthly This testimony of the Spirit therefore is not to be severed from the Word which is the Instrument of the holy Ghost and his publick authentick testimony Nor is it injurious to the Spirit of God to be tried by the Word seeing there is a mutual relation and correspondence between the truth of the party witnessing and the truth of the thing witnessed And this holy Spirit the Author of the Scriptures is every where like unto and doth every where agree with himself as it is in a pair of Indentures there is no difference at all between them but the very same things that are mentioned in the one are also mentioned in the other so it is between the Spirit revealing and the truths of God revealed in the Scriptures Fifthly The testimony of the Spirit doth not teach or assure all and every one of the letters syllables and words of the Scriptures which are only as a vessel to carry and convey the heavenly light unto us but it doth seal in our hearts the saving truth contained in those sacred Writings into what language soever they be translated Hence it is that the Apostle tells the Corinthians that they are the Epistle of Christ written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables of stone but in the fleshly Tables of the heart 2 Cor. 3.3 Sixthly and lastly The Spirit of God doth not lead them in whom he dwelleth and witnesseth absolutely and at once into every truth of God so as utterly to dispel all ignorance and darkness out of the soul but he leadeth them into all truth necessary to salvation and by degrees John 16.12 13. Being a free voluntary Agent he worketh when and
Christ they work spiritually Hence he is said to be led by the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit and after the Spirit Gal. 5.18 25. Rom. 8.1 Secondly This divine Principle this new spiritual Birth and Regeneration is more then the improvement of the most excellent natural or rational abilities for it being infused and wrought in the soul of man by the mighty Power of God and the invincible operation of the holy Ghost this argues that man or the reasonable Creature is meerly passive in his first receiving this spiritual supernatural life and thus much the very phrases of Scripture import that as we are passive in our first Creation or Generation so we are passive in our Renovation or regeneration Ephes 2.1 5 10. 1 Pet. 1.3 23. John 3.3 5. Gal. 6.15 Indeed if it were no more but the improving of something which we had in us before or the strengthening only of that which was weak in us then man himself might co-opperate with the Spirit of Christ in producing this new Birth but seeing it is the infusing or planting of a divine Principle which was not at all before in the rational Creature man must needs be passive in the first work of regeneration Nature being corrupted can do nothing unless it be to hinder and oppose this work for it is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 At the best Nature is but the matter which is renewed or new formed and matter as we all know can have no operation at all and therefore it is rightly termed a supernatural work or a work beyond Nature (p) See Mr. White on the Scriptures cap. 7. of the Spiritual Mans Acts. Thirdly Man being thus passive in his spiritual renovation or new Creation 't is impossible for him with all his Reason to discover how and after what manner it is first wrought in him as it is impossible for one to know how he receives his own life though he may discern some terrors of Conscience and consternation of spirit in himself as preparatories thereunto and may also understand the motions and operations that are performed by him after his regeneration for then his spirit or the principle of his reason and understanding being renewed and sanctified works together with the Spirit of Christ yet as to the first act of ingenerating and receiving Grace the same being wrought in him not by him yea and that in an instant and not by degrees it cannot be discerned how and in what manner it is wrought either by natural Reason for that cannot spiritually understand spiritual things or by spiritual sense and experience for that flows from spiritual life already received and therefore cannot discern what was done before it had any being at all The giving of spiritual life and the giving of the sense of it to Christians are two distinct acts of the Spirit of God which seldom or never go together in an ordinary way This heavenly mystery of regeneration is beyond the understanding and capacity of a meer rational man as Christs words to Nicodemus and his words to Christ again do import John 3.3 4 5 6 9 10 11 12. Fourthly The spiritual mans acts and operations do far transcend the acts and operations of the natural or meer rational man both in reference to things natural or the things of this life which the one apprehendeth and useth in a meer natural or rational manner the other after a holy and spiritual manner and for a spiritual end and more especially in reference to things spiritual as the unsearchable Treasures and Riches of Christ and the glorious Mysteries of the Gospel such spiritual things are apprehended and used by the natural man carnally for he knows Christ only after the flesh as on the contrary outward and carnal things are apprehended and used by the spiritual man spiritually but much more those things that are spiritual in their own nature 1 Cor. 2.15 which he may be said to apprehend and receive spiritually in respect of the object or that which is spiritual in the object by a spiritual light and judgment beyond the natural light of Reason and in a spiritual supernatural way Now this is more then any natural or meer rational man though never so much improved can attain unto by the Principles of Reason Fifthly The meer rational man and the spiritual man both living under the means of Grace and both of them believing differ much in the nature and effects of their Faith as they do in their knowledge of spiritual things The Faith of the spiritual man is a true justifying Faith grounded and built upon a divine testimony but the Faith of the meer rational man is but temporary or historical First They proceed from different causes and principles the one being infused by the Spirit of Christ dwelling and abiding in the spiritual man the other being the effect only of natural Reason further enlightned and improved at the most by some common operations and assistances of the Spirit of God in the Ministry and Ordinances of the Gospel which a Reprobate may partake of Heb. 6.4 5 1. Secondly They are found in divers subjects Ttrue effectual Faith is only found in persons that are truly regenerate born of God and partakers of the divine nature John 5.24 and 3.5 1 John 5.1 But historical or temporary Faith may be in such as have no root no seed of God abiding in them such as are not born of God for these are both one in Scripture Luke 8.13 1 John 3.9 Thirdly There is that spiritual evidence and certainty in the faith of the one which is not in the faith of the other True divine Faith so apprehends spiritual and heavenly things as having a real being in the Promise of God though they have no subsistence as yet in themselves Heb. 11.1 Rom. 4.17 John 8.56 Heb. 11.27 Now this Faith which is the evidence and demonstration of things that are invisible to the outward Senses makes no use in its spiritual sight or apprehension either of Sense or Reason not of Sense for things invisible cannot be the object of Sense nor of Reason which in this case can help but little more then Sense seeing it receives information by Sense from whence it gathers things by way of discourse which indeed may convince a man that things are but can give him no evidence or demonstration of the things themselves what they are in their own nature Hence it is that when a man comprehends things by Reason he may be able by discourse of Reason to inform another man of that which he knows and by that means may cause him to understand it as well as himself but he that apprehends spiritual things themselves as the true Believer or Spiritual man doth cannot by discourse of Reason make another man that is a stranger to what he enjoyes understand what he himself seeth feeleth and tasteth But as for historical Faith or that Faith which is in the meer rational man it
safe harbour it is to him a sweet sleep a bed of rest after all his toyl and labour in a vain and troublesome world Isai 57.2 1 Thes 4.14 Rev. 14.13 There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest and hear not the voice of the Oppressor Job 3.17 18. It is the day of a Christians reward and of receiving wages Then is the servant set free and the Heir at full age then shall the banished and strangers from a far Countrey shall enter into their Fathers house and shall be received into everlasting habitations Heb. 11.13 John 14.2 Luke 16.9 Death is the Birth-day of a Christian the funeral of all his vices and corruptions and the resurrection of his Graces Death was the daughter of Sin and in death shall that be fulfilled The Daughter shall destroy the Mother 'T is the dissolution of the Body but the absolution of the Soul Then is the immortal Soul delivered out of a dark prison and then doth she throw off her old ragged clothes and foul garments that she may be deck'd and adorn'd with the glorious Robes of Salvation Isa 52.1 2 Cor. 5.2 3. Then doth a Christian remove from an old rotten house ready to fall about his ears to a sumptuous Pallace Doth that Landlord think you wrong his Tennant or offer him hard measure that would have him remove out of a base Cottage into his own Mansion-house which he hath freely given him Shall the Believer be unwilling to come to the end of his race and receive the prize even an incorruptible Crown of glory 1 Cor. 9.24 This is the day of his Coronation for though now he be an Heir of the heavenly Kingdom yet he shall not be crowned till death with that Glory which is unutterable 2 Tim. 4.8 Seventhly The good man is taken away by death from much evil to come and hath he any cause to quarrel with such a freedom Truly the consideration hereof should make us love this life the less because the Clouds gather thick about us and we know not what fearful alterations may shortly befal us either in our outward estate or in matters of Religion either by domestick broyls or by forreign invasion Should not a Christian rejoyce exceedingly to be delivered from the continual malicious suggestions and stratagems of the evil Angels and from a vile wicked World that hates and persecutes the Image of Christ where-ever it is A World whose seeming felicities as Honours Riches Pleasures Trade Beauty Friends Children Relations and Acquaintance are but vanities full of labour and toyl accompanied with much vexation and affording no true rest or contentment to that man that enjoyes them neither can they help him in the least when death seizeth upon him All these things will be forgotten and there will be no remembrance of them with those that shall come after Eccles 1.11 What a priviledge is it therefore to be delivered from these vanities Yea which is more from that body of sin and corruption which a Christian groans under as his greatest burthen and is the more grievous and intollerable because it infects and spreads over the whole man soul and body and is an inseparable companion of this life causing a troublesome yea an irreconcilable war in the Soul and swarms of evil thoughts affections desires and actions besides innumerable diseases and distempers which attend the Body And should not death be welcome to us to set us free from all these evils and miseries Thus may a Christian reason and argue against the fear of death upon far higher and more spiritual Grounds and Considerations then a moral Heathen can and therefore he should not be afraid to dye Eighthly and Lastly That we may be the better fortified against the fear of death let us call to mind and improve the living speeches of dying Christians some of which shall be here mentioned The famous sayings of some dying Christians Good old Simeon Lord let thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Stephen the first Martyr Lord Jesus receive my Spirit and lay not this sin to their charge Polycarpus to the Proconsul urging him to deny Christ I have served him eighty-six years saith he and he hath not once hurt me and shall I now deny him Ignatius I am the Wheat or Grain to be ground with the teeth of Beasts that I may be pure bread for my Masters tooth let Fire Racks Pullies yea and all the torments of Hell come on me so I may win Christ Cyprian God Almighty be blessed for this Gaol-delivery Theodosius I thank God more for that I have been a Member of Christ then an Emperor of the World Hillarion Soul get thee out thou hast served Christ these seventy years and art thou now afraid of death and loth to dye Vincentius Rage and do the worst that the spirit of malignity can set thee on work to do Thou shalt see Gods Spirit strengthen the tormented more then the Devil can do the Tormentor Gorgius to the Tyrant offering him promotion Have you any thing equal saith he or more worthy then the Kingdom of Heaven King Edward the Sixth Lord bring me into thy Kingdom free this Kingdom from Antichrist and keep thine Elect in it Bishop Latimer to Bishop Ridley going before him to the Stake Have after as fast as I can follow we shall light such a Candle by Gods Grace in England this day as I trust shall never be put out again Bishop Hooper to one that prayed him to consider that life is sweet and death is bitter True saith he but the death to come is more bitter and the life to come is more sweet Oh Lord Christ I am Hell but thou art Heaven draw me to thy self with the cords of thy mercy Thomas Bilney I know by Sense and Philosophy that fire is hot and burning painful but by Faith I know it shall only waste the stubble of my Body and purge my Spirit of its corruption Glover to his Friend He is come oh he is come meaning the Comforter Gods Spirit John Bradford to his fellow Martyr Be of good comfort Brother for we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord this night If there be any way to Heaven on Horseback or in fiery Chariots this is it Lawrence Sanders I was in prison till I got into prison and now sayes he kissing the Stake welcome the Cross of Christ welcome everlasting life My Saviour began to me in a bitter Cup and shall I not pledge him John Lambert None but Christ none but Christ Baynam I feel no more pain in the fire then if I were on a Bed of Down it is as sweet to me as a Bed of Roses Priest's Wife to one that offered her money I am now going saith she to a Countrey where money bears no mastery And when the Sentence was read Now have I gotten that which many a day I have sought for Doctor Taylor when he came within two
Authority of the sacred Scriptures proved by Reason Page 97 1. Because no other or better Revelation of Gods Will can be produced 2. The Old Testament hath been throughout all Ages witnessed to and wonderfully preserved by the Jews 3. The whole universal Church of Christ have all along witnessed the Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament even to the death 4. God hath confirmed the Authority thereof by great and strange Miracles from Heaven 5. The Scriptures are the most antient and authentical of any writing 6. The stile order contexture and frame of the Scripture shew the Divine Authority thereof 7. Another Reason is taken from the wonderful powerful effects of the Doctrine of the Scriptures 8. From the admirable harmony and consent thereof 9. The matter treated of therein is divine and wonderful Here are mentioned five notes of a Divine Power 10. The end which the Scriptures aim at is divine and heavenly CHAP. XIII Of the use of Reason in the interpreting of Scripture and judging of Controversies Page 110 1. Here is a discovery of the unreasonableness of the Popish implicite Faith and blind Obedience 2. Their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is made apppear 1. To be against Sense 2. Against Reason 3. Against Faith 3. 'T is also shewed that there is a twofold Judgment in matters of Religion one in foro publico another in foro privato 4. That every private Christian ought to make use of his Reason and to exercise a Judgment of discretion in trying Spirits and Doctrines This is proved by six cogent Arguments Objections against this tenet and practise answered CHAP. XIV Of the Internal testimony of the Holy Ghost proving the Divine Authority of the Scriptures Page 123 1. It is here shewed that this Testimony is more satisfactory to the Conscience then all other proofs 2. That a Christians Faith should be ultimately and finally resolved into the Testimony of the Holy Ghost and not into the Testimony of the Church which is but humane 3. The Popish Circle is described and the Protestant Doctrine herein vindicated 4. Some Rules and Cautions concerning the Testimony of the Spirit are here propounded to prevent mistakes CHAP. XV. Shewing when Reason is rightly used and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits Testimony in the Scriptures Page 133 1. Reason is the Organ which lets into the Soul the Light of Faith 2. It being overpowered by the Spirit of God sees the greatest reasonableness in the Truths and Wayes of Christ 3. Reason is exceeding useful in maintaining the Doctrine of Christ 4. Nevertheless we should not make Reason the Judge in Divine matters nor subject the Authority of the Scriptures to our Reason as Socinians do Three Arguments against it CHAP. XVI Of the difference betwixt the meer rational and spiritual man and their Acts about spiritual things Here is shewed Page 142 1. That the Spiritual man hath Christ formed in him and lives the life of Christ which the meer rational man doth not 2. That the divine Principle which acts the Spiritual man is more then the improvement of the most excellent natural and rational abilities 3. That man is passive in the new spiritual Birth and cannot by all his Reason discern how this spiritual life is wrought 4. How and wherein the spiritual Mans Acts and Operations do far transcend the meer rational Mans. 5. They differ in the nature and effects of their Faith in reference to Christ and the Promises in five Particulars CHAP. XVII Proving that none can be saved by the meer improvement of the Light of Reason Page 152 1. Divers of the Fathers and some modern Writers have err'd in this Point 2. Four things are laid down for the better opening of it God might reveal his Son if he so pleased in an extraordinary way to some Heathens 3. It is proved by nine Arguments that no rational moral Heathen can be saved without faith in Christ as Mediator One or two material Objections answered CHAP. XVIII Of rational and intellectual delights Here is shewed Page 16â— 1. That every being chuseth to it self some kind of pleasure As 1. God who is the chiefest Being 2. The Angels 3. Men that have rational Souls 4. The sensitive Creatures 2. In what particulars the delights of Reason and of the Mind do far excel the pleasures of the Body CHAP. XIX Shewing that Reason and much more Faith doth fortifie a man against the excessive fear of death Page 172 1. Here are eight Considerations drawn from Reason against the slavish fear of death 2. Seven Arguments are also drawn from Faith in the Word of God against the fear of death 3. The famous sayings of some dying Christians are mentioned CHAP. XX. That humane Reason and the due exercise thereof is a great mercy Page 187 1. This is opened in some particulars 2. It is here shewed that man who hath a reasonable Soul is wonderfully made like a curious piece of Embroydery 1. In respect of his Body and the members thereof 2. In respect of his rational Soul wherein Man far excels other Creatures Five things mentioned relating to the excellency of the reasonable Soul 3. In respect of his new spiritual Birth and participation of the Divine nature CHAP. XXI A Recapitulation of particulars touching the use of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to the Christian Religion Page 195 1. Here are five Considerations premised 2. The excellency and use of humane Reason and Knowledge is particularly held forth As 1. Some that have been famous Instruments in the Church of God have abounded therein 2. The Penmen of the holy Scriptures make use of it 3. It helps us to understand the Grammatical literal sense and the Chronology and Prophesies of Scripture 4. It 's useful for convincing Heathens and Infidels 5. In trying Spirits and Doctrines comparing Scripture with Scripture 6. As a passive qualification of the subject for Faith and Repentance in which case there must be a Principle of Reason CHAP. XXII How and in what respects Reason comes short and is abused in Divine things Page 206 1. Reason cannot discover the mystery of the Trinity Incarnation of Christ c. 2. Nor the sinfulness and corruption of mans heart and nature 3. It cannot prescribe the true worship of God 4. Nor enable us perfectly to perform natural and civil Actions without the general assistance of God 5. Our assent to the Gospel should be the assent of Faith and not of meer Reason 6. The Scripture and not Reason is the Rule for a Christian to walk by in spiritual matters he must be crucified to his Reason Here is also shewed in six particulars when and wherein humane Reason and Knowledge is abused and so becomes dangerous to the Christian Religion