manner of Conversion without a revelation in the Word are incomprehensible as our Saviour saith to Nicodemus in point of Regeneration The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof John 3.8 but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the spirit observe the blockishness of a Doctor and Master of Israel in Spiritual things Can a Man enter the second time into his mothers womb and be born v. 4. Where was his reason all this while several such things we read of the Disciples whereof I shall give but one Instance about the Resurrection Mark 9.10 They questioned one with another what the rising from the dead should mean Nay they were in that gross Ignorance till after our Saviour's Resurrection Joh. 20.9 yet they knew not the Scripture that he must rise again from the dead wherefore he upbraided them with their unbelief Mark 16.14 and hardness of heart and indeed they were no better till he opened their understanding Luke 24.45 that they might understand the Scriptures In his Page 81. his Conclusion is false that neither God nor his Attributes nor Eternity are Mysteries to us But certainly the smite cannot know the Infinite but as much and in such a degree as the Infinite is pleased to communicate himself as no Day light but what the Sun doth communicate and that more or less according as 't is done in a dark Room one sees only proportionably to the Light that 's brought in so in a Spiritual Light and Life 't is only as God is pleased to reveal and as Man is capable to receive the word alone is a dead Letter but the Spirit doth quicken it as it was in the Apostles the word they had heard from Christ was quickned by the Holy Ghost when he came upon them which in them caused a wonderful Alteration and made them quire another sort of Men Divine things cannot be comprehended for want of an Adequate Notion there is to be a Proportion between the Knower and the thing known so our Reason without Revelation apply'd by the Inward Teaching of the Spirit can no more know the Nature of God and his Attributes than a little Bottle hold in all the Water of the Sea To know things we must know their Essence and Nature as to God we by the Light of Nature may know there is one but what he is must be reveal'd and 't is usual when we speak of any thing to have a Definition or Description of it What is a Man a rational Animal What is God an infinite Being describ'd by his Attributes Almighty Eternal Independent c. Concerning the Infiniteness and some other Attribute of God's David owneth his Ignorance when he saith Such knowledge is too wonderful for me Psa 139.6 it is high I cannot attain to it And no wonder seeing in the same Psalm he so much admires the formation of his Body in the Womb when he saith he was fearfully and wonderfully made v. 14 15 16. If any one pretends he can know more than the Prophet David let him speak and stretch his Reason further than he could his Son Solomon was of the same Mind both as to Bodily and Spiritual things when he saith As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child Prov. 11.5 even so thou knowest not the works of God who makes all These times of Ignorance are over now say Socinians we have Men more knowing and wiser than David and Solomon But if it be so of the formation of our natural Body how much more of the work of Regeneration within us which our Saviour as said before compared to the blowing of the Wind that such things are we know and feel but understand not the manner Thus we know that Gold Silver and other Metals are form'd under Ground for we draw them out of the Earth's Bowels but the manner and how they are formed we cannot tell so these are hidden secret and mysterious things unto us much more are supernatural He goeth upon a Mistake as if we thought Matters of Religion to be Mysteries after the Revelation which makes them cease to be Mysteries which they were before so 't is in him labour in vain Pag. 91. When a Prophecy is fulfill'd it ceaseth to be a Prophecy and becomes a History The strength of his Argument lays herein that those things once revealed are no longer Mysteries But we must know how some things are wholly revealed and others but in part it is true we must yield an Obedience of Faith that the thing is so as that the Son of God was made Man that there are three Persons in the Godhead God having revealed it we are fully perswaded it is so but the manner and how we are in the dark about it is incomprehensible by and unconceivable to us and beyond the power of our Nature to know it yet as much as is necessary t is revealed here I cannot avoid taking notice how the Man unworthily compares the Mysteries of our holy Religion with the Tricks and Cheats of the Heathens Page 99. and what If what in their false Worship they called Mysteries there were Cheats as we own doth it follow it must be so in our Religion Theirs was Idolatry and Superstition but ours is Holy and Divine then after this Rule because they had false Gods we must have none at all and so must be as bad as they the Devil who is God's Ape and in imitation of God's Church hath set up a Synagogue for himself hath his Drudges and Bondslaves to serve him must not God's People adore him and because there is a false Worship must there be no true one Thus for Men who so much pretend to Reason 't is a very unreasonable Inference to say that because the Heathens in their Matters of Idolatry had Tricks which they call'd Mysteries therefore the Mysteries of our Holy Religion must be Cheats and Tricks Such comparisons are odious and unworthy to be used by any who call themselves Christians Then if Mystery does relate sometimes to the Matter and sometimes to the Manner certain Points of our Religion as the Trinity Eternal Generation of the Son Procession of the Holy Ghost were a Mystery before they were reveal'd it follows That the Revelation was necessary to make them known unto us and that it was not in the Power of our Reason to know them without Revelation so they were above it and thus tho' the thing be re-reveal'd so that we must believe it yet still there are some things that be unreveal'd and above our Capacity He would have every thing after the Revelation to cease to be a Mystery in Religion but as I said some things are not wholly reveal'd because 〈◊〉 full Revelation is not necessary to our Salvation and within this Limitation is to be
and what John expresses thus the word was made flesh S. Paul calls it †1 Tim. 3.16 God was manifest in the flesh if by the word Flesh human Nature be meaned as certainly it is then this imports that God appeared made himself known and was manifest in assuming our human Nature and that the God that was thus made Flesh and was manifest is Christ Jesus the second Person of the Godhead who being in the Form that is in the Nature of God for the Nature is the being of a thing and the Form gives that Being well Jesus Christ in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God ‖ Phil. 2.6 7. because it was his right 〈◊〉 took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he was God before he was made in that likeness this is plain that a God became man he was made that which he was not yet ceased not to be that which he was That this God that was made Flesh and manifest in the Flesh and found in the likeness of men here is explained what we must understand by Flesh was the Son of God the second Person of the most holy Trinity is declared elsewhere * Rom. 8.3 God sending his own Son in likeness of sinful flesh All these representing Christ as God and as man doth clearly demonstrate him to be both God and man Another place there is much to our purpose 't is this †Rom. 9.5 of whom the Israelites as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever this restriction as concerning the Flesh doth imply that Christ came not from the Jews concerning some other thing this settles two Relations in Christ one according to the Flesh as expressed Acts 2.30 what must the other be Scripture usually doth oppose the Spirit to the Flesh and the Flesh to the Spirit so in Christ there must be a Principle that is spiritual or else this restriction according to the Flesh were frivolous and not pertinent one thing cannot be distinguished of it self a thing is in it self but one thing and Distinctions are between different things for no one thing doth differ from it self Now that as there is in Christ a principle concerning the Flesh and another according to the Spirit anon we shall by the Grace of God have occasion to speak of but now thus far we must say that as by the Flesh his Humanity is meaned so is his divine Nature by the Spirit for * 1 Joh. 4.24 2 Cor. 3.17 God is a Spirit The Text we now are upon is remarkable upon several accounts our blessed Saviour as 't is very well known was a Jew born of the Seed of Abraham of the Tribe of Judah and of the Family of David this is the Apostle's meaning when he saith of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came which doth necessarily imply he came not of them concerning some other thing in him the Pedigree of his Manhood was indeed derived from thence but it had been in vain there to have sought for another Genealogy of this Melchisedec The Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shews how in him besides human Nature there was another for S. Paul who troubleth not his Readers with superfluous Expressions would not have added those words except in Christ had been another Nature or to what purpose say according to the flesh if he had been a meer man and herein chiefly lyes the Prerogative of the Jews that Christ who is God was born amongst them Their Priviledge doth not herein consist that Moses Joâ—huah Elijah John Baptist c. were born amongst them they all were but Men but that Christ was because he is God for this he addeth as the great reason and speaketh of his divine Nature who is over all God blessed for ever he saith not is called but is he is God over all the Fathers of the same stock thaâ— were born of the Jews before him or over all things whatsoever The words blessed for ever are in Scripture attributed to the true eternal God and even in our Saviour's time when the Jews said the blessed they meaned the true God Thus the High Priest asked the Lord Jesus †Mark 14.61 Art thou the Christ the son of the blessed which another Evangelist expresses thus ‖ Luke 20 70. Art thou the son of God In another place the same Apostle affords a convincing Proof of this Truth that in Christ are two Natures where he speaks of them thus * Rom. 1.3 4. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead Wherein S. Paul teaches in what respect Christ is the Son of God not according to the Flesh for thus he is the Son of man of the Seed of David but according to the Spirit of Holiness which is the Spirit of God's Nature and according to that Spirit he hath been declared to be the Son of God with Power Certainly the Opposition used by the Apostle sheweth he cannot be Son of God upon both accounts but only upon one for if he had been according to both Paul would have said declared the Son of God as to the Flesh and as to the Spirit and herein would have made no difference between the Son of God according to the Flesh and according to the Spirit for as it is contrary to * Rom. 9.5 Scripture to call the Lord Jesus God according to the Flesh for God and Flesh are opposite so 't is contrary to say Christ is Son of God according to the Flesh for by the same reason one is said to be Son of God by the same he may be call'd God as we see it both joyned †Psal 82.6 I have said ye are God's and all of you are children of the most high And we read where the Jews upbraided our Saviour ‖ Joh. 10.33 36. that he made himself God that is absolutely he renders the words thus I said I am the son of God Jesus Christ is said * Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. to be in the form of God and made in the likeness of men 't is not said Made in the form of God but being his being is related to God and made to man he was God but made man he was made in the likeness of men and form'd in fashion as a man certainly here are two Natures asserted divine and human whence we say that as by his Incarnation he was really man so as surely his being in the form of God signifies that he was really God before he became man as he was man after his being born of the Virgin Mary These Expressions conclude for both his Deity and Humanity and if
he together with the Father John 5.17 doth work hitherto Thus spiritual creatures are preserved in their Individuum and corporeal in their Species he gives Food raiment and other necessaries unto all disposes of Times and Seasons causes his Sun to shine sends rain c. without which concourse of his the world would soon come to an end and this is a kind of a second Creation The exercising of a miraculous Providence is a kind of work which manifest's Christ to be the true Essential God for such things are beyond and above the power of nature and a property of the true Lord God of Israel who only doth wonderous things and this our Saviour did shew upon some extraordinary occasions in matters of nature Psal 72.18 and also of grace As to the first when he changed water into wine rebuked the wind and the Sea gave the blind sight made the lame to walk Matth. 9.33 John 9. â—2 curing diseases healing distempers virtue daily issuing out of him which made people wonder and admire because such things had never been so seen in Israel nor since the world began and to say that a great Prophet is risen up among us and that God hath visited his people and the Gospels are filled up with such miracles which he did in all kinds and of what nature soever were their infirmities and diseases he cured them all and as Peter said was approved of God by miracles Acts. 2.22 wonders and signs And in this virtue and power of his own he gave others power to do the like But they whom he gave that power to exercised it not in their or any others but in his name Matth. 10 1. Mark 16.17 18. Luke 10.9 to shew how the power of working miracles was only in and from him in my name they shall cast out devils speak with new tongues c. And work miracles by my power and authority Thus the seventy disciples being again returned with joy said Luke 10.17 Lord even the devils are subject unto us thorough thy name Thus Peter having healed the lame man said to the people which ran greatly wondering why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness Acts. 3.12.16 we had made this man to walk men being so apt to look upon and fix on second causes and instruments he first goes about to remove those thoughts out of their heads he directs them to the cause of the miracle Christ's name thorough faith in his name hath made this man strong which in the next Chapter before the high Priest and Councel they solemnly declared Chap. 4 10. be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified by him doth this man stand here before you whole And in another place he said to a certain man Aeneas Chap. 9.34 Jesus Christ maketh thee whole Hereby I shew Christ to have been the spring of miracles which were done in his name as before he wrought them himself in his own name whereby his divinity is evidenced The disciples could not at all times work miracles but Christ could Lord said the man if thou wilt thou canst mare me clean Matth. 8 2. John 5.21 and he quickneth whom he will so he answereth the man I will be thou clean and immediately he was cleansed One thing more must be observed upon this how Christ did miracles for his own glory which is not lawfull to say of any man beâ—â—ase it belongeth to God alone Prov. 16.4 to make all things for himself Thus of the Lord Jesus after his first miracle 't is said John 2.11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory Thus he said himself that the sickness of Lazarus was yeor the glory of God John 11.4 Chap. 9.3 that the son of God might be glorified thereby And so was the man's being born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in him that is that in giving him his sight he might therein be glorified As amongst miracles raising one from the dead is the most conspicuous so therein at several times the Lord Jesus highly manifested his own divine power but in none so much as when he raised himself for when he by himself had purged our sins Heb. 1.3 John 10.18 he not only rose again from the dead but also sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high No man said he taketh away my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again I see so much of Majesty in those words and they are spoken with so much assurance that therein I perceive the character of his divine Power and Nature I joyn them together for I take them to be inseparable here is the triumph of the Son of God Colos 2.14 15. when not only he hath blotted out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us and nailed it to his Cross but also having spoiled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it for all his euemies and ours received their mortal wound and laid dead under his Cross the works of the devil 1 John 3.8 Hos 13.14 1 Cor. 15.54 55 56 c. that is sin he destroyed and invisibly Satan was crucified with him O death he was thy plagues O grave he was thy destruction he conquered them all and thereby death which is the last enemy is by his resurrection swallowed up in victory After his resurrection Peter asserted it to be impossible it should have been otherwise or that he should be holden of death Whence Paul exalteth the exceeding greatness of the mighty power of God Acts. 2.14 Ephes 1.19 20. Rom. 1.4 which was wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead which same efficacy is elsewhere attributed to the spirit of holiness that is to the divinity in the Son distinguished from his humanity all which agreeth with what our Saviour had foretold of the temple of his body John 2.19.21 destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up again understood of the temple of his body he rose not to be but because he was God thus much as to matters of Nature But Christ doth also works of Grace all understood under the name of redemption which hath two parts impetration or purchase and application through his active and passive obedience he hath fullfilled the Law for us and redeemed us from the Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law having fully satisfied his Justice and reconciled us unto him he hath obtained the pardon of our sins by a sufficient attonement he made for the same through his Death and sufferings He by the mouth of the Prophet shews what he is at the coming out of his
assert the Distinction of Persons but because they are distinct Persons it doth not follow that there is not one and the same Essence of the three Persons and that they are not one only God Father Maker and Preserver of all and out of the Texts they produce they cannot make out what they intend how the Father and the Son are never contain'd together under the Name of God for the Persons are distinguish'd where Scripture speaketh Relatively of God and doth oppose or compare them or describe their Proprieties Further they object they have distinct Essences whose workings are distinct but Father's and Son's workings are distinct therefore their Essences are so But we say the major Preposition is to be understood of Operations ad extra or outward for if whilst one doth work the other ceaseth then the Essences are distinct but as to the inward workings there is no distinction or difference of Essences far from it that the Generation of the Son and the Procession of the Holy Ghost do confirm the unity of Essence for by the Generation one and the same whole Essence of the Father is communicated unto the Son and by this same reason there is but one and the Essence of both Now the Minor Proposition speaketh of inward Operations and this Omonimy or Ambiguity of Terms brings in four Termini in the Argument contrary to Rules but if one and the same kind of Operations be understood then one of the Propositions is false the major is understood of those ad imra the minor of those ad extra and in the case of the Incarnation there are two terms to be consider'd a quo from whom and ad quem to or in whom tho' as thus it be terminatively in the Son yet a quo or originatively it is the work of the whole Trinity Another Argument of theirs is this the Essence unbegotten and begetting is not the same with the Essence begotten and not begetting but the Essence of the Father is unbegotten yet hath begotten the Son but the Son 's is begotten yet nor begetting therefore the Essence of the Father is not the same with that of the Son This Argument is borrow'd from the Arrians whereof the minor Preposition is false namely that the Essence of the Son is begotten the Names begotten or not begotten do not belong to the Essence but shew an Hypostatical or Personal Difference Should the Essence beget it would either beget it self and so should be begotten of it self so it would make many different Essences of the Godhead whence would follow many Gods Moreover as in natural things not the Essence but the compositum doth beget so in divine things the Person begets and is begotten which yet is not a vain Relation seeing it is not constituted without the Essence Now if it were true that the Divine Essence doth beget one could say either the Son doth beget or deny the Son to have the Divine Essence Again They say Two or three distinct Persons have so many distinct Essences for the distinction of Essences doth follow that of Persons so then Father Son and Holy Ghost being three distinct Persons they have three distinct Essences but the first Preposition is true only in natural not in Divine things besides they are in a mistake when they think there is no real Distinction except the things do differ in an Essential Number when there are several things that differ in the thing and definition which yet in Essence and Number are but one Here by the by I say the words like and likeness when a Comparison is made between the Persons is not convenient to be used but equal and equality which indeed containeth a likeness but something above Another thing I shall add here how some things are properly spoken of the Essence which also are properly spoken of the Persons for 't is properly said of the Essence and of the Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost that they are Spirit and Holy for the word Spirit is spoken of as common and essential John 4.24 God is a Spirit properly and personally of the Son Christ declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness Rom. 1.4 Heb. 9.14 â—Pet 3 18. and who thorough the Eternal Spirit offereth himself and elsewhere Christ was put to death in the flesh but quickned in the spirit So of the Father and Holy Ghost also to be holy is an Attribute of the Essence yet in particular and properly in Scripture attributed to the Father to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Upon this Matter one thing more I shall take notice of how Adjectives in the Plural may be attributed to God by reason of the Number of Persons and Substantives in the Singular only upon account of the Essence Further they object Christ hath a Father who is the God of Christ but the Father hath no God call'd his therefore Father and Son are distinguished in Essence the major they prove out of our Saviour's Word I ascend unto my Father and to your Father unto my God and to your God and my God my God why hast thou forsaken me I answer Christ hath a common Father and God with us in as much as the word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and in as much as the Man Jesus Christ is Mediator between God and Man yet so as in his Mediatorship he is true Man so he is true God This Discourse being intended for his Brethren he begins with the Profession he makes to own them as his Brothers Go to my Brethren all which to be understood of the Nature which the Brotherhood doth relate to and tho' the Father continueth such in relation to what the Son was when the Word was with God yet in the Birth and Incarnation the Father remaineth what he was God is the Father of all Flesh but not in the same manner and sense as he is the Father of the word in Scripture 't is declared in what sense and on what side they are Brethren to the only begotten Son of God Colos 1.18 I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren but he said before I am a Worm and no Man Psal 22.6 Christ is by the Apostle call'd the First-born amongst many Brethren also because the First-born from the Dead Furthermore they say if Christ when he speaketh of God stould mean also himself he would include himself in the mention he makes of God but he doth not but maketh a difference between himself and God whom he calls the true God so in the Apostolical Writings God and Christ are spoken of asunder which places I quote in the Margin c. John 3.16 and 17.3 d. Rom. 16.23 1 Tim. 6.13 14 15 16. 1 Cor. 15.24 Col. 1.3 Eph. 4.5 1 Thes 1.2 3 9 10. to shew we omit none of them So say they he not joyning himself with God sheweth he is not the same with God thus the name God absolutely taken belongeth only
that Certainty is not grounded upon the clearness of our perceiving as upon the mainness of the Evidence confirmed by a continual Experience Now natural Reason is fitted for natural Things but for supernatural it must be supernaturally endowed And besides Ideas a due temper and application of the Mind are required But about divine things besides what is in us there ought to be a Rule in them which is Revelation this is the medium or middle between Eye and Object without which in spiritual things we can see nothing till the Lord openeth our Eyes When an Army of Syrians had compassed Dothan to take Elisha his Servant seeing so many Horses and Chariots was afraid till at the Prayer of the Prophet the Lord opened the Eyes of the young man 2 Kings 6.15 16 17. then and not before he saw the mountain full of Lorses and chariots of fire round about Elisha These Heavenly Armies cannot be seen by a meer natural Eye it must be enlightned from above As we cannot know a thing of which we have no Idea so we must have a true one to make a right Judgment of it or else we go upon a wrong bottom and it still remains a Mystery to us The true Notion we ought to have of a Mystery is this namely something that is hidden from our Knowledge and above our Reason see what a false Idea a learned and rational man a Master of Israel Nicodemus had of Regeneration as we shall see somewhat lower it was a very necessary and truly rational thing to believe in Christ Joh. 7.48 yet Have any of the Rubers and Pharisees believed on him Those men in their way wanted not Reason God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.27 hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise The greatest commendation of Mans Reason is to call it Wisdom yet it is confounded about spiritual things for this very thing our Saviour rejoyced in spirit and gave his Father Thanks for revealing the Mysteries of salvation unto Babes which the wise and prudent of the World could not understand for want of this Revelation Luke 10.21 Wherefore when God will have his People to know him he saith not their Reason and Mind shall know me but I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord Jer. 15.7 This Knowledge is not an effect of their Reason but the Gift of God The right Judgment of a thing doth sometimes depend upon so many different circumstances that a mistake in one of them doth much alter the thing and so pervert the Judgment besides that our Understanding being often disturbed through Passion and Prejudice it thereby lyeth under great mistakes If so in natural and temporal things how much more in spiritual and eternal wherein the disproportion between the Understanding and Object is infinitely greater Yet that sort of People make no difference in reasoning about the Word of God and human Writings with them it is all one to judge of God or of Men and their Reason they make the Judge of both This is to set up a Tribunal which God will never allow of to inquire after and examine his ways and works Job 33.13 when he giveth no account of any of his Matters that is he is not bound tho' sometimes out of his gracious Condescension he be pleased to do 't But once for all I must warn those Men who so much dote upon their own reason to have a care lest that very same thorough a just Judgment of God doth to them as to others prove fatal for they glory too much in it Absalom's Hair was his Pride and it became his Halter Jezebel delighted in painting her Face which as she thought made her full of Charms but a while after it was washed off with her own Blood Herod's Robes were glorious when he sat upon his Throne to make a Speech to the People but very soon after they were full of Worms whereby he was eaten up They who trust to and glory in their Reason have cause to fear some such end or other will befall them But we rely on the word of God and depend upon the Gospel as it is a promise of Grace and must endeavour to conform to it as it is the rule of Life All he saith Sect. 2. and Chap 1. doth not concern us who hold the Doctrines of the Gospel not to be contrary to true and sound Reason in his Philosophical Notions he consounds himself that is in the whole first-Section and 4th Chapter thereof As to his Ideas or Evidences Experience which is a good reason though not always for it falls sometimes sheweth how every Man hath not the same Idea or Notion of this or that thing and that which is Evidence to one is not to another then he goeth upon a false Supposition as if the Devil thorough his Suggeitions and the Corruptions of our Heare did not sometimes darken our Light deceive our Mind pervert our Judgment and over-rule our Affections 't is so in worldly things much more in Spiritual thus thorough their vain Sophistry they would set up this Reason as an independant and infallible Judge in Man and so overthrow whatsoever Scripture in so many places declareth of the Blindness Darkness and Ignorance of our Understanding and of the Perverseness Corruption and Stubbornness of our Heart The Texts he quoteth Pag. 47 48. are true and good but he should go further and own Christ to be true God not only in his Works but also in his Nature he sometimes hath some good and true things like Grains to make Chaff Currant thus Pag. 49 50. he condemns those that say the New-Testament to be written without any Order or Scope but only as Matters came into the Heads of the Apostles which is a Socinian Tenet yet he there seems to be against it The Physical Impotency to understand the Mysteries of Religion is not absolute but 't is all one as if it was so without the Help of Grace as a blind Man cannot see a dumb speak a dead Man perform any Vital Action as of himself but if God pleases he shall be restored to his Sight Speech and Life There is a moral Impotency to understand Matters and Mysteries of Religion we have a Mind but dark blind and ignorant can a blind Man see tho he hath Eyes a deaf hear tho he hath Ears a dumb speak tho he hath a Tongue a dead Man act tho he hath Organs as Hands and Feet no if he had but a Dead-Palsie Men by Revelations are not endued with new Faculties but these old Faculties are enabled to act which they could not before God gives a new Heart a new Spirit new Thoughts new Affections His Discourse of Sect. 3. Chap. 2. is all out of the Purpose the things he speaks of are Natural and unnecessary as how Rain is formed in the Air but Matters of Religion are Spiritual and necessary Matters of Election