comprehend But it may be objected here that at this rate if both the Doctrines and Miracles are mysterious Then you prove one Mystery by another I answer that they are not equally mysterious for a misterious Doctrine is totally obscur'd from us both as to the manner and substance of the thing signified as it is in it self But in a Miracle the substance of the thing is obvious and intelligible and the Manner only of the operation is conceal'd And therefore in so doing that which is more mysterious is prov'd by that which is less so But this Blunderer will tell you that the Doctrines themselves are very knowable in all respects but Miracles are wholly obscur'd as to the mâ—nner of them And yet in the sâ—me breath Own that these obscure Miracles are for confirmation of these plain Doctrines This is another piâ—câ— oâ— his Logick to prove Notum per Ignotius He can't say that thô the Doctrines are plain yet that they came from God is not so and therefore Miracles were to assure us of this For if the knowing they come from God makes us give our assent to them then Authority is a ground of Perswasion And besides if they have that Evidence of their truth in themselves which he contends for let them come from whence they will we must give our assent to them And now I am come to his last Chapter wherein he pretends to give an account When Why and by Whom Mysteries were brought into Christianity There is not here so much as a pretence of reasoning but several vile Insinuations against all the Primitive Christians against the Clergy of all Ages and against Christianity it self making it as it is now profest only a sort of Heathenism and the Ministers of it in all respects no better than Pagan Priests By the title of this Chapter he was to have shewn how these Mysteries came into Christianity but instead of this of which he says not a word he talks in general how some Ceremonies were introduc'd and some Doctrines abus'd to superstition The dispute all along was about Mysteries and now it is turn'd to Ceremonies of which he speaks too after a confused manner making no difference between the Orthodox and Heretical Professors but charging all the mistakes and errors of every Sect indifferently upon the whole body of Christians in the general That miscarriages and errors crept in and that the Christian Religion was corrupted and abus'd by many in the Primitive times to superstition is without all doubt it is so now and is like to be so to the end of the World for it must needs be that Offences come But what is all this to those who are not guilty of these things suppose every thing in this Chapter true what is all this to us who in the celebration of Baptism and the Supper have rejected all these numerous Rites and superstitious Ceremonies which he speaks of As for those Ceremonies retain'd by us it is time enough to defend them when he says any thing against them and proves either that the Worship of God and Celebration of the Sacraments can be perform'd without any Ceremonies Or That those which we have retain'd are unlawful All he wou'd insinuate here of them is that they were in use among the Heathens and the force of what he says if it hath any is this Heathens us'd a White Garment in their Idolatrous Worship they had certain Times and Places and Persons and Actions appropriated to the Worship of their Idols therefore 't is unlawful to have any thing of this nature in the Worship of the true God The Heathens us'd washings Ergò Baptism is unlawful The Heathens used Eating and Drinking in honour of their Gâ—ds Ergò the Eating and Drinking in remembrâ—nce of Christ is superstitious And thus by a direct and immediate consequence he destroys the Doctrine of the Sacraments Let him iâ— he can shew whâ—t else can possibly be inferred from all this ridiculous incoherent sâ—uff What he would insinuate here concerning the Sacraments is that by a multitude of Ceremonies we obscure the nature of them we make them Misterious and do not celebrate them wiâ—h that simplicity they were at first instituted But let him in his next Boâ—k shew what it is that we know our selves concerning the Sacraments which we conceal from the People In short let him make out that he hath any other drift in this whole Chapter than to shew that there is no difference between Christianity and Heathenism All this is by way of Amusement to People who do not know when a man speaks to the purpose Ceremonies are not Mysteries nor do they make a thing Mysterious Those things which we call Mysteries are the Nature and Attributes of God the Eternal Generation and Incarnation of the Son and Procession of the Holy Ghost The Union of the Divine and Human Natures in Christ the Resurrection of our Bodies the Operations and Influences of the Holy Spirit of God upon ours the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead the Glory and Felicity of the Saints in Heaven The Solemnity of the last Judgment c. These are the Mysterious Doctrines of our Religion Let him shew us When Why and by Whom these reputed Mysteries as he calls them were brought into Christianity For we affirm that they were brought into Christianity by Christ himself who alone was able to reveal them That they came in at the first publication of the Gospel and with design to make us wise unto Salvation and therefore we own our selves so fond of them that we will hazard any thing Life and all rather than part with them And thus I have gon through his Book and answered every thing that look'd like Reasoning in it If he will shew me where I have overlook'd any thing that hath the appearance of an Argument or where my Answer fails I will promise him not to let it pass And if any are offended with my manner of treating him I doubt not but they will be satisfied if they but consider what St. Paul said to Elymaâ— the Sorcerer upon a like occasion O full of all Subtilty and all Mischief thou Child of the Devil thou Enemy of all Righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord In the next Book he speaks of he has two things to perform 1. To shew that we are not oblig'd by Scripture to believe that there is any thing in any point of the Christian Faith which we do not comprehend as fully and perfectly as we do the common objects of this World 2. To discover to all the World those secrets in Religion which the Clergy have industriously conceal'd from the Laity under the notion of Mysteries and make them so plain that they shall cease to be such so that every one of them shall be as wise as e're a Priest of us all And indeed he is much to blame that defers it all this
is more in it than we are now able to comprehend Nay that there is something in it which we have no notion or Idea at all of This is the notion of a Mystery in the sence of Scripture and therefore now we see the Question is not Whether a man can believe what he knâ—ws nothing of which no man in his wits ever yet affirm'd for there is a flat contradiction in the terms and yet this is the main thing he labours to disprove and by which he endeavours to confound his Readers But the Question is Whether there be not some things in the Gospel concerning which we are bound to believe that there is much more in them than we are now able to comprehend If there be such things as it appears in this instance of the Resurrection then there is something in the Gospel that may properly be call'd a Mystery and in so strict a sence that nothing else can be call'd a Mystery with so great propriety of Speech as will appear more fully hereafter The case would have been the same had I taken any other Mystery for an instance either the eternal Generation of the Son or the Procession of the Holy Ghost or the Union of the Divine and Human Nature or the Operations of the Holy Spirit in the act of Grace or the Felicity and Joys of Heaven c. and if it be requir'd I am ready to quit this and take any other for an instance which he shall pitch upon Now this is the thing that lay upon him to disprove but he durst not go about proving or disproving any thing till he has perplex't the matter in hand and amus'd his Reader with fantastical terms and distinctions If he had mean't honestly and thought himself able to go through with what he undertook he would have spoke plain undisguis'd Reason and proceeded immediately to the proof of the Question But instead of this he finds it necessary to spend above one third of his Book in loosing of it wherefore I must take my leave of it for some time as he doth to rescue the subject from obscurity and force this Man to speak plainly and intelligibly And first he tells us That reason is not the man that hath it nor the things to be reason'd about nor is it our appetites and desires nor is it authority What trifling this is he should have added that it was not the Head that forms the Thoughts nor the Fingers that write them nor is it the Brain it self No! nor is my Reason the reason of another Man Our Readers are like to be much the wiser for this After this he proceedeth to shew what it is in his second Chapter the whole substance of which in other words is only this that it is not Simplex Apprehensio nor Judicium but that it is Discursus that is properly call'd Reason Which last he will not express by Syllogism the word for it that is commonly receiv'd but he must call it The application of intermediate Idea's to other Idea's that are distant from one another and ly too far asunder in the mind And this he explains by the measuring of two Houses with a line because you can't take one House in one hand and the other in another and so clap them together to find out which is highest What is this but making a Syllogism by applying the Medius Terminus to the parts of the Question and to what purpose is all this unless he thinks that his Readers have not learned Logick Yes he hath a drift in it which is very observable in all our modern Writers against reveal'd Religion for unless he first lays down false rules of reasoning the consequences he wo'd make will not appear to be true Thô he 's in the right of it thus far and it is no more than what is in every common Logick Yet what follows is his own and is both trifling and false For first his four ways of coming to the knowledge of any thing are very ill put together and the distinction frivolous The Experience of the Sences the Experience of the Mind i. e. in usual speaking Sence and Reason Human and Divine Revelation Now at first sight who does not see that any revelation by God or Man must enter into the mind by one of these two ways either by our Sences or our Reason so that there are but these two ways still And then as to his making Authority a means only of Information and Evidence the only ground of Perswasion which is the fundamental Error of his Book and indeed of all these modern Writers who make such a stir about Reason and Evidence we shall see the falsity of it if we consider Authority in respect of the Person who is inform'd and of him who gives the Information 1. In respect of the Person who is inform'd I grant it is a means of Information for how comes any one to the knowledge of a thing he was wholly ignorant of before and which he could not attain of himself why by an others revealing it to him 2. When considered in the Informer it is a ground of Perswasion for why do I give my assent to any Proposition related to me from another because of the veracity and ability of the Person that makes the Information But this cuning man will ask how can that which is inseparable from another be the ground of any assent in my mind I Answer It is the opinion that is in me of his ability and veracity is the cause of my assent The ground of this opinion indeed is Evidence But then this Evidence is a ground of perswasion in respect of the worth of the Person only and that Worth or Authority of his is the only ground of perswasion in respect of the substance of what he relates to me From whence it is plain that though we grant that Evidence in the Mind is a ground of perswasion yet it is not the only ground And therefore to make this very clear and undeniable let us take an instance of two Propositions wherein these two grounds may be consider'd separately The three angles of a Triangle are equal to two right ones In a Person who is able to demonstrate this Proposition the only ground of his perswasion or assent is the evidence of it in the Mind For the reason why he gives his assent to it is because he finds out the agreement of the extreams by intermediate Idea's and thus as he speaks the demonstration at last becomes self evident But as to the substance of this Proposition When Christ appears we shall be like him The authority of the Person relating it is the only ground of perswasion For as I should never have known this if it had not been reveal'd and therefore in this respect Authority is a means of information so I should never have believed it if I had not known that this Revelation had come from God And
above our Reason signifies A thing which in it's own nature exceeds our present Capacities and is no proper object of those faculties of knowledg which we are now endu'd withall And in this Sense the nature of God is more properly above our Reason than a Stock or a Stone Eternity than Time a Spirit than a Body the Joys of Heaven than Sensual Pleasures the eternal Generation of the Son than the ordinary Procreation of Man the operations of the Holy Spirit than the nourishment of our Bodies c. There is as yet no proportion between these Objects and our Faculties of Knowledg our intellectual powers are not yet form'd and so adapted for them as they are for those things in Nature which are the proper objects of our Sense and Reason now So that it is a more improper way of speaking to say that these things should be clearly reveal'd to us now as they are in themselves than to say that a nice point in Divinity or Philosophy shou'd be clearly explain'd to an Infant They are indeed plainly reveal'd to us as to their reality and existence but not clearly as to the true nature of the things Nothing in the World is more evident than that such things are reveal'd to us but what or how they are in themselves is impossible for us to comprehend And this is what the Apostle means by that saying That Eye has not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the heart of Man the things which God hath laid up for them that love him Which Words thô by the context they are more immediately spoke of things past and then reveal'd in part yet they have a farther reference to the full completion of all these things in another World I shall make this whole matter plain by an Instance A Person who was born blind knows as little of the Sun as he does of the real nature of God he feels the heat and warmth of it he is cherish'd by it and lives and thrives by the secret influences of it but he neither knows where nor what it is and if he had been ever told that all this was the immediate act of God he wou'd have thought so for he knows nothing of the Sun besides the name Now upon this Authors Principles the nature of the Sun and the nature of God are both equally a Mystery to this Blind Man That he is equally ignorant of the true nature of both I grant however they are not equally a Mystery to him And that this may appear let us suppose this Mans Eyes were opened then he wou'd see clearly that the Sun is a large round lucid Body in the Firmament but he wou'd be hereby enabled to know nothing more of the true nature of God than he did before And why because this is beyond the reach of all his natural powers of Knowledg and if all his Senses were improv'd to be a thousand times nice◠than they are thô he wou'd see much deeper into the nature of all things here yet the nature of God and the things relating to another Life wou'd ly as much out of his reach as ever he wou'd even then know as little of the Glory of God as that Man did of the Sun before his Eyes were opened for Light it self is but a Metaphor adapted to our gross Capacities to signify the Glory of God which we are told in the Revelations is to be instead of light in Heaven But because this is an Instance only of a sensible Object let us take another of Reason Let us suppose an illiterate person who never heard of Christianity or the Mathematicks is equally ignorant of these two Propositions The three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two Right ones And this We shall be rais'd in the likeness of Christ. These two Propositions this Derinder of all reveal'd truths will say are alike mysterious to this Man Whereas the contrary will evidently appear if we but take this Man and teach him Mathematicks then he shall perfectly apprehend all that is to be known of that demonstration and how it is impossible it shou'd be otherwise But teach him the Gospel and make him as learned as he is capable in the Christian Religion he shall know nothing more of that Proposition thô he shall be better convinc'd of the Truth of it than he did at first hearing And why because the one was a truth in nature within the sphere of his intellectual powers the other is supernatural and he can never have any notion of the manner of it till he has new Faculties or those he already hath are greatly enlarg'd But this matter will clear up farther if we compare some of the Mysteries of our Religion with those things in Nature which bear the greatest Analogy with them and by which they are represented to us in the Scriptures If we say a Son is like his Father we immediately conceive in our Minds the same Stature Countenance Lineaments and Complection or the same Humour Disposition natural parts and Inclinations c. so that we very well apprehend wherein the likeness consists But when we say we shall rise in the likeness of Christ here we stop and our Thoughts can reach no farther Again when we say one Man is the Son of another we apprehend very well the manner of natural procreation and how it is he came to be his Father But when we say Christ is the Son of God by an Eternal Generation we know nothing of the manner of one Spirits producing another nor can we tell how he came to be born of a Virgin without the concurrence of a Man When we say the Spirit of God hath a real influence upon ours in the operation of Grace we know much less of the manner of it than we do of one Bodies moving another by contact and we know the Food we eat nourisheth us by undergoing several alterations and then being converted into the substance of our Bodies but we can't know thus much of the manner how Grace administers strength and comfort to our Souls Again we know of time that it is finite and successive and we can measure it in certain proportions by the motions of the heavenly Bodies But as for Eternity for want of a clear Idea we frame a notion of it from time and thus by a limited thought we do little less then destroy it's Being For as for saying it is a perpetual Now thô it be the prettiest thought we have of it yet if we attend to this we shall find we say nothing more than that the same Instant shall remain for ever and thus attribute that succession to one Instant of time abstractedly considered which we us'd to attribute to things which exist in it And therefore it is as gross a description of Eternity as a flying Boy is of an Angel And yet it is very pleasant to hear how this man talks of it It is no more above our Reason because
to be solv'd upon the common principles of knowledge that are in us now because we have not capacities suitable to the nature of them So that now we may wonder what ridiculous meaning this man can have when he says that all the things which are spoke of in the Gospel are as consistent with our common notions as Wood and Stone and that we are as properly said to comprehend them and that our Idea's of natural and divine things are equally clear and distinct A strange fallacious inference this because we fully comprehend neither therefore we are equally ignorant of both And to amuse people that can't see this that he might seem to speak something to the purpose he borrows a distinction viz. That between the Nominal and Real Essence of a thing How impertinently he hath made use of it in this matter is very plain from what has been said which thô we grant it to be a good one yet it is nothing to the purpose But it is so far from being a good Distinction that it seems to me not to be good Sence For nothing can be more absurd than to suppose two different Essences in the same thing Nor can any thing be more directly level'd at those glorious Attributes of God his Goodness and Truth than what it supposes viz. That we are thus deceiv'd in every thing and know nothing at all of the true nature of things by those properties that are discernable by us And therefore to use his own words This rather becomes Impostors to think than the tought of God who hath no interest to delude his Creatures nor wants ability to inform them rightly If it had been said in plain language that there is something in natural things we do apprehend and something we do not which means all in that distinction This wou'd have been Philosophy for the Vulgar and therefore to make a Mystery of it it must be call'd the Nominal and Real Essence of a thing thô it carry a flat contradiction in Physicks and a monstrous consequence in Morality and lays a foundation for Eternal Scepticisme But supposing there is a meaning in it both true and innocent yet it must be own'd this was the most unhappy way of expressing themselves that possibly they could have light upon Thus far as to his arguments from Reason Now I come to consider those he brings from Scripture and we are like to have very close reasoning from them when in the very entrance he again confounds these two Propositions Whether or no Christianity is Misterious and whether there are no Misteries in Christianity Whereas even the latter of them is dubious for the word Mystery is us'd to signify several things And therefore to remove all ambiguity and shew the fallacy of his arguing we will lay aside the Word and speak to the thing it self i. e. Whether we have not as clear and distinct Idea's as full and perfect a knowledge of all things reveal'd to us in Scripture since the appearing of Christ in the World as we have of ordinary sensible Objects That we had not before he allows and therefore he grants they were Mysteries then but now since the coming of Christ they are not And the whole substance of his arguing in this long Chapter is this If all those things which were signified by the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies are clearly reveal'd to us then they are no longer hidden from us But all those things signified by the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies are clearly reveal'd to us Therefore They are no longer hidden from us Thus he proves the Minor If the Vail is taken away in Christ then they are clearly reveal'd to us But the Vail is taken away in Christ. Therefore They are clearly reveal'd to us And to make this Minor good he brings all these Texts of Scripture and Quotations out of the Fathers to prove that the Vail is taken away and that they are clearly reveald Now if any amongst us had absolutely deny'd that the Vail was taken away and had affirm'd that they were not plainly reveal'd to us then he might have had an adversary But there is not a sentence in this Chapter that looks like a controversy with any but the Jews If this man wou'd have argu'd instead of Bantring he wou'd have distinguisht and shewn in what sence we deny it and then have prov'd that the Vail was taken away in that sence that we deny And therefore since he hath dealt treacherously I must make him honest and distinguish for him And in order to make this matter very plain we know that there are four things to be reveal'd concerning any thing that is hid from us It 's Existence it 's Essence it's Properties and the Relation it hath to us and every one apprehends at first reading how a thing may be clearly reveal'd as to it's Existence together with the relalation it hath to us and yet remain totally obscur'd as to it's Essence Properties Now therefore what we say is this 1. That as to the internal Essence and real Properties of these divine things reveald to us from Heaven we are wholly ignorant of them and know as little of them in this respect now they are reveal'd in the Gospel as was known before when they were involv'd in Types and Figures 2. That all these things which we call Mysteries and now reveal'd to us in the Gospel while they were vail'd in Types and Figures under the Mosaik oeconomy were very much obscur'd as to their Existence and as to the concernment of mankind in them and therefore the Law is said to have had only a shadow of good things to come i e. Men had but a very dark imperfect knowledg even of the reality and being and signification of those things As of the Eternal generation of the Son his Incarnation Crucifixion Ascention the Trinity of Persons Resurrection and Glorification of the Body the Operations of the Holy Spirit c. They had then no clear and certain knowledg of the reality and existence of any of these things afterwards reveal'd in the Gospel excepting only that of the Being of the true God which was reveal'd to them by Moses under the name I AM which denoted nothing more than his existence 3. We say that these divine things which were hidden and obscur'd before the appearing of Christ were all of them plainly and clearly reveal'd as to their Existence and as to the Relation they have to us i e. as to the reality and being of these truths and our concernment in them And yet they do not cease to be Mysteries still because they are still infinitely more obscur'd as to their Manner and Properties than the common objects of nature So that now it is clearly reveal'd to us that Christ is the Son of God yet it doth not follow that therefore we know as much of the manner of that Eternal Generation of the Son as we doe how one Man is
much oâ— what they have no Idea of it must always end in darkness and confusion That part of a Christian Mystery which is intelligible and plain was ever so and that part which is mysterious notwithstanding all their vain endeavours will ever be so till we coâ—â— to another World Therefore our way to deal with these men is to fix the right sence and meaning of those Propositions wherein the Mysteries of the Gospel are reveal'd to us and then to insist upon the Proofs we have for the truth of the Revelation and shew that they are such as ought to convince any reasonable unprejudic'd man insomuch that if they do not give their assent to them they shall be without excuse when they come to be try'd for their Infidelity Thus we shou'd turn the course of our Thoughts into a right Chanel and confound all these Enemies of our excellent Religion For by freely owning as becomes us that we have no notion at all of these mysterious things as they are in themselves we cut off a multitude of frivolous and impertinent Objections And shew these men that our Christian Faith however is no lazy credulity or blind implicite assent since it is built upon a better foundation than is possible for any man to lay without the concurrence of the Almighty Power of God insomuch that we are ready to join issue with them upon the Principles of Reason in every point of our Christian Faith as far as the things reveal'd fall within the compass of it And therefore were I to give a reason of my belief of the TRINITY laying aside all affectation of hard words and abstruse Metaphysical Notions I wou'd do it thus I am fully perswaded of the necessity of Revelation in general in order to all the purposes of Vertue and Piety in this life and I am convinc'd that those Revelations of the things of another World which are made in the Gospel have better proofs of their Divinity than any other whatsoever They have such testimonies of their coming from God from Prophecies and Miracles and the agreeableness of the Doctrines therein contain'd to our common Notions that if I use my Reason with the same impartiality in these that I do in other things I must give my assent to them In those writings I find this Proposition There are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are one From whence and from many other passages in the Scriptures I find that there is a Distinction made in the Godhead under these three names of Father Son and Holy-Ghost which the Church hath exprest altogether by the word Trinity and singly by the word Person And I think these terms proper enough to express all that we know of this Mystery Now I find no account of the Manner and Nature of this Distinction in the holy Scriptures any otherwise than that the Son was begotten and that the Holy Ghost comes from the Father and the Son I conclude there is something more than a meer Nominal Distinction because we are said to be Baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy-Ghost Which must needs import something more than if that Commission had run thus Go Baptize all Nations in the name of Jehovah and of Elohim and of Adonai And if there were not something more intended than barely that they shou'd do it in the name of God this were a needless tautology Again I conclude that they are not three distinct different Spirits for then there must be three Gods contrary to Reason and Scripture From all which I infer there is in the Godhead something more than a meer nominal Distinction and something less than that of three different Spirits And because I find each Person seperatly as well as jointly mention'd as God and Divine Worship allow'd and paid to them Therefore as that excellent Creed expresseth it I worship the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance Now at the same time I make this profession of my Faith I allow I have not the least knowledg how strict this Union is nor how great the Distinction It is as much beyond my Reason as the Glory of God is beyond my Sight and any man who strives to conceive it himself or takes pains to explain it to others is guilty of such a folly that I can't think of any action in nature extravagant enough to match it If we saw a Man stretching up his hand with a great deal of Vehemence to pull down a Star we shou'd certainly conclude him distracted because 't is utterly impossible for him to reach it or grasp it if he cou'd 'T is the very case of those men who go about to account for the manner of that Unity and Distinction for which they have neither Words nor Idea's And therefore I say it again in opposition to this Insolent Man that I thus adore what I cannot comprehend This is one of those Mysteries reveal'd in the Gospel and it is never the less a Mystery for any thing he hath yet said or ever will say for the Union is inexplicable and will be so to the end of the World However my assent to this is not precarious and implicite or any easie blind Credulity but is â—ounded upon clear and distinct Idea's For there are three things to be done by every reasonable thinking man concerning any Proposition wherein a Mystery is reveal'd 1. To be sure that he understand well the meaning of the Words 2. That he discern no Contradiction in them 3. That he hath sufficient evidence of the Revelations coming from God 1. As to the first of these in respect of the Mystery I am now upon I understand very well the meaning of the Words wherein it is reveal'd and they themselves who oppose this Doctrine understand them as well as I for if they did not know what was meant by the Words they wou'd never set themselves to argue against it for there is no other way of conâ—uting Nonsence but saying it is such So that thus far if it prove to be true these Propositions wherein the Trinity is reveal'd will hold good against them at the day of Judgment and render them without Excuse 2. As to the second thing I see no Contradiction in it and if there were I would utterly reject it For to say that Three are One is so far from being a contradiction that there is nothing more common in ordinary discourse than for any one to say that Three or any other greater number of things are but one and if every man who spoke such seeming contradictions were catch't up immediately and forc'd to explain himself upon all such occasions it wou'd make conversation very troublesome As if one shou'd say that there are three distinct things in a Man a Body the Animal Spirits and an Immaterial Substance and yet