have not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him he is none of his The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and to them it is given by the father to know the mysteries of the kingdome of God Mat. 13.11 Hereby saith the Apostle we know the things that are freely given us of God even by his Spirit which searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 For a man professing the knowledge of Christ to swallow down without tryal or consideration all that he reads and hears if it comes from a person that he admires which yet is the practice not only of the blind Papists but of many seeming zealous Protestants that are too much addicted to a party Non est opus virilis intelligentiae sed puerilis inscitiae this rather becomes the simplicity and ignorance of a Child then the wisdome and understanding of a serious Christian Luther speaking of the blind implicite faith and obedience too of the Church of Rome tells us that 't is such an opinion and practice as renders a man Brutist and deprives him of Reason and man-hood and for this wicked opinion and practice of theirs namely for exercising an absolute dominion over the Faith and Consciences of men the Roman Prelates deserve to be driven out of the number of the faithful as Wolves and Tyrants But what shall every private Spirit will you say take this upon him Is not this to judge his Judges and to pass Sentence upon his Superior To which we answer that those persons be they never so great and learned judge of divine things by a private Spirit who depend upon their own corrupt Reason and Fancy and accordingly judge and determine and not he though but a private Christian that is taught of God and judgeth of the points of Religion by and according to the word of God Nor do we say that every private man is to judge by way of Authority in foro publico a publick Authoritative disquisition and tryal in matters of Religion is one thing and a private rational Christian examination is another 't is one thing judicare to judge of mine own acts and another thing judicem agere to act as a Judge Indeed the Spiritual man judgeth all things but how not in a juridical Authoritative way but only so far as concerns his calling and capacity if he be a private Christian Rational judgment belongs to him but Magistratica and Ministerial judgment belongs to others that are in a more publick capacity and office And therefore in this case he is to try and judge with much modesty and humility not rashly and headily as being self-conceited and leaning too much to his own understanding Let him walk orderly and keep his place and station giving due respect and reverence to Christian Magistrates and godly Pastors and submitting to them in the Lord Heb. 13.7 17. And this will be a means to preserve the Church of Christ from Anarchy and Confusion Thus we have shewed how the Scriptures may be proved by the light of Reason to be the word of God and that every Christian ought to exercise himself in searching the Scriptures and judging of Doctrines but yet we must distinguish between those external rational Arguments which are brought to prove the divine Authority of the Scriptures and the internal Testimony of the Spirit of God in the Scripture which is the most clear certain infallible publick Testimony and of it self worthy to be believed for it is the Testimony of God himself Hereof we shall treat more particularly in the following Chapter CHAP. XIV Of the Internal Testimony of the Spirit of God witnessing the divine Authority of the Scripture ALthough there are rational arguments which have been already mentioned to prove the Scriptures to be the word of God yet the inward Testimony of the holy Ghost himself is necessary to assure us of the divine Authority thereof which Testimony is better and more certain then all our Reason for as God is a sufficient witness of himself in his own word so the hearts and Consciences of men will never be fully satisfied that the Scriptures are by divine inspiration till the same be sealed and confirmed to them by the inward Testimony of the Holy Ghost till then they will be much in the dark often doubting and wavering notwithstanding all other reasons and proofs (l.) Calv. Instit Lib. 1. Chap. 7. S. 5. We should so believe the Scripture for it self and in regard of the Testimony of the Spirit of God witnessing the same as not to subject the divine Authority thereof to our Reasons and demonstrations When our understandings are once powerfully convinced and enlightned by the Spirit of God which endited the holy Scriptures then do we not believe by our own judgment or Reason or other mens that the Scripture is from God and by divine inspiration but above all humane Reason and Judgment we hold it most certain even as if we beheld the majesty of God himself there present John 4.42 And having attained this we seek not after humane Arguments to rest our faith upon but as a thing that admits of no doubt or dispute we take it for granted and do fully captivate and submit our Judgment and Reason to it such therefore is the perswasion of a true Spiritual Christian of the Authority of God in the Scriptures far different from other mens as requireth no humane Reason such is his knowledge and certainty as hath the best Reason for it even that wherein the mind more assuredly and stedfastly resteth then upon any humane Testimonies or Reasons whatsoever Such is the inward Spiritual experience of the power and wisdome and goodness of God in the holy Scriptures that if all the World should oppose the same yet he is fully resolved to give credit and adhere thereunto By nature every man is blind in Spiritual things and ignorant of the mind and mysteries of God and therefore though the Scripture be a shining light in it self yet unless our understandings be opened and enlightned we cannot behold it no more then a blind man can see the Sun when it shineth The Spirit of God is the Author of supernatural light and faith by the inspiration thereof were the Scriptures first written the secrets and mysteries of God are fully known unto and effectually revealed by this Spirit The same law and word which is written in the Scriptures this Spirit doth also write and impress upon the hearts of them that are endued therewith and therefore the Testimony of this Spirit where it comes in power must needs fully perswade and assure the heart and Conscience of a Christian that the Scripture is the infallible word of God As in other Sciences there are alwayes some principles per se nota indemonstrabilia whence other things are proved and demonstrated so it is in Divinity which is the most excellent Science all conclusions in point of faith and practice
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
in maintaining and promoting the doctrine and kingdome of Christ Seventhly That sweet and admirable harmony and consent which is found in the sacred Scriptures cannot be rationally ascribed to any but to the Spirit of God and the divine wisdome each part agreeing so exactly with it self and with the whole which sufficiently appears by comparing the Prophesies of the old Testament touching Christ the calling of the Gentiles the reception of the Jews and other remarkable things with the accomplishment of them as the same is plainly declared and revealed in the new Testament Such exact consent and agreement as is here to be found is impossible to be feigned of men or Angels from whom the things foretold were hid till they were revealed Nor could there be forgery in these writings if we consider in a way of reason the length of time in which these writings have continued and been judg'd Authentick that they were not written in one or two but in many ages that there was a multitude of Books and of writers imployed in this Service and that these writers were distant in place one from another so that they could not confer together and withal if we consider the deep silence of the Adversaries who in all that long time whilst the Scripture was in writing could never detect any thing in those books as false or forged whose silence in this case is of great importance because they were eye witnesses of those things which our Saviour taught did and suffered according as it was prophesied of him so that they knew the prophesies saw the accomplishment of them and were acquainted with that which the Apostles had written Yea many or most of the things relating to Christ and his Apostles and the accomplishment of prophesies are mentioned and recorded in the writings of some heathen Authors that lived and wrote not long after those times If the Prophets and Apostles in their writings seem to dissent one from another for it is but a seeming not a real dissent in any circumstances this derogates nothing from their Authority for in themselves they differ not the fault is in our ignorance and misapprehension for by a right and just interpretation they may be easily reconciled and that dissonancy that seems to be amongst them in small things doth free them from all suspition of fraud and their sweet harmony and consent in all matters of importance may in reason convince us that they wrote by the guidance and direction of one and the same Spirit of truth If they had all written one thing they might seem superfluous if each had written a new History there could not have been such a full harmony and agreement when they relate the same story with the same circumstances they have their use and benefit one sometimes speaking more plainly then the other and when they agree in matter and only seem to dissent in some circumstances the truth is the more confirmed and an argument of fuller credit and certainty may be drawn out of that seeming dissent for as it is truly and wisely observed too exact diligence in every little circumstance is neither approved by all nor doth it want suspition There is in the holy Scripture as a learned man writing in defence of their Authority saith a Majestick kind of security under many seeming contradictions which yet neither the honour of their truth nor that harmony which they have in and with themselves do or shall at all suffer by Nor do the Scriptures stand to excuse and purge themselves as if there were any cause to suspect them of any contrariety or contradiction No they speak from place to place whatever they have a mind to say with that liberty and freedome as if there were nothing said by them elsewhere that either was like to suffer the least prejudice by it or to cast the least prejudice on it To that sweet agreement and consent that is in the holy Scripture with it self we may further add that it agreeth with all other truths whatsoever there is nothing true in Divinity which is false in true Philosophy nothing in Philosophy is repugnant to the truth in Divinity but it may be overthrown by the principles of right and true Philosophy which are and ought to be subject to Divinity Eightly The matter treated of in the Scripture is divine and wonderful which may convince us that it is the word of the eternal God it opens and reveals the greatest and most glorious Mysteries as the nature properties attributes and high acts of God and how he will be worshipped and adored It describes the person natures virtues and excellencies of Christ so fully so clearly that if the mind of man consider it attentively he must of necessity acknowledge that it doth far exceed the reach of a finite understanding and humane capacity it discovers to us the corruption and misery of man by nature the great and unparalled love of God in Jesus Christ towards lost man and the happy agreement of his infinite justice mercy and wisdome in ordaining Christ to be our Mediator and reveals the covenant of grace which God made with man after the fall for restoring him again to Gods favour All which can be derived from no other fountain but the Spirit of wisdome and Revelation 1 Cor. 2.7 8 9 10. Eph. 1.17 18. The Scripture also contains the law of God which teacheth the whole duty of man towards God and towards men in the precepts of Scripture there are divers notes of a divine power and wisdome as First The surpassing excellency of the acts required of us namely that we should deny our selves and conform our hearts and lives to the Image of the word of God Secondly the wonderful equity that doth appear in every Commandment Thirdly The admirable strangeness of some acts and duties as regeneration self-abasement the renouncing of our own righteousness and parting with all we have for Christ which a meer natural man would count foolishness and madness yet prescribed as necessary Fourthly The manner how obedience is required to be performed by us it must proceed from an inward spiritual principle even from a pure heart a good Conscience and faith unfeigned Fifthly The perfection of the holy law of God commanding and allowing all good and forbidding and condemning all sin and wickedness whatsoever in thought word and action not only the filthiness of the flesh but also the filthiness of the Spirit and that with reference to all persons times and places without exception binding the Conscience and reaching the very thoughts and secrets of the hearts of men And do not all these things which would fill a great Volume if I should treat of them at large clearly and convincingly set forth the divine Authority of the Scriptures so as we should acknowledge no other Author of those sacred writings but God himself for who can contrive these things but he who is infinite in power and wisdome who can give eternal life
Court of his own Conscience and in reference to his own faith and practice he should so examine and judge of the things that relate thereunto as to be fully perswaded in his own mind Rom. 14.5 He should so prove all things as to hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 Thus Christ in his infinite wisdome goodness and faithfulness hath given two sorts of judgment to his Church and people One publick belonging to an Assembly of Godly Pastors and Elders for of that which the Prophets teach let the Prophets judge and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets The other is a more private personal judgment which concerns all the faithful who are to judge of what is taught and to try the Spirits in both these judgments we should remember that Christ hath committed nothing to the Church but the ministry of giving judgment for as touching the Soveraignty of Judgment and Authority it belongs only to him Councels may expound and declare the doctrine of the Scriptures but they have no power from Christ to make any new Doctrines or Articles of faith And every Christian ought in a rational way to judge of their determinations according to the word of God and not yeild blind obedience thereunto for this were to unchristian yea to unman himself Of this opinion are all the Protestant Churches in general and particularly the Church of England (k.) See Rogers on 39. Articles P. 103. who maintains that every sound member of the Church hath Authority from Christ to judge in controversies of faith and so to imbrace truth and avoid error The Church as a faithful witness should give Testimony of the Doctrine of Christ but ought not to judge the word nor to judge otherwise then Gods word judgeth General Councels consisting of men that are not infallible may err The things therefore that are ordained by general Councels do so far bind as they are Consonant to the word of God and no further for we are not to ground our faith upon them but only upon the Authority of Gods word Now that such a rational judgment or a judgment in foro interno as hath been asserted belongs to every Christian so as he may and ought to make use of his Reason in judging of the Doctrines of Religion and of Ecclesiastical Laws and determinations is thus proved and demonstrated First From those plain Texts of Scripture Take heed that no man deceive you Mat. 24.4 Prove all things and hold that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God 1 Joh. 4.1 He that is Spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man 1 Cor. 2.15 Which Texts together with many other that might be alledged do not only concern publick Ministers but also private Christians yea chiefly them as being most in danger to be seduced Secondly This hath been also the approved practice of the faithful thus to search the Scriptures and try the Spirits and exercise their Spiritual Senses that they might discern things that differ Heb. 5.14 The Bereans are counted more noble then others because they searched the Scriptures and tryed Pauls Doctrine by the Scriptures though he spake from an infallible Spirit Acts 17.11 The Church at Ephesus is commended for trying them that said they were Apostles and were not and finding them lyers and deceivers after tryal Rev. 2.2 And Christ tells us that his true Sheep will follow him for they know his voice but a stranger they will not follow but will flee from him Joh. 10.4 5. Now this they could not do unless they did exercise a rational judgment in matters of faith Thirdly Every Christian is to give an account of his faith and practice to God yea he should be alwayes ready to give an Answer to every man that asketh him a Reason of the hope which is in him 1 Pet. 3.15 But how can he do this rationally and understandingly without tryal and examination If he be found to embrace whatever his superiors shall impose upon him truly then the blind implicite faith of the Collier will serve well enough Is this according to the Scripture which tells us that we cannot truly believe unless we have knowledge That every man should be perswaded in his own mind concerning the things which he doth believe and practice and that whatsoever is not of faith is sin Fourthly How shall a Christian cleanse his heart and wayes but by taking heed thereto according to the word of God Psal 119.9 How shall he walk as a Child of light unless the word be a Lamp to his feet and a light to his paths Psal 119.105 How can he walk wisely and Circumspectly as he ought to do understanding what the will of God is as the Apostle speaks Ephes 5.17 if we do not allow him a judgment of discretion and discerning in matters of this nature that so he may try Spirits and Doctrines Fifthly were it the duty of a private Christian to receive all Doctrines that are proposed to him by his Superiors without tryal and examination then could not he be justly charged with sin and guilt who receiveth error in stead of truth from those that are above him in dignity and Authority but we find that this will not excuse him If the Blind lead the Blind both shall fall into the pit Luk. 6.39 and we are to fly from Strangers and not hearken to the words of those Prophets that speak the visions of their own hearts and not out of the mouth of the Lord Jer. 23.16 We must not believe every Spirit but beware of false Prophets and Seducers which no Christian can avoid upon good grounds unless he pass a rational judgment upon them and their Doctrines Why was Ephraim oppressed and broken in judgment but because he willingly walked after the Commandment of his Ruler and Governor corrupting the worship of God and did not impartially examine and judge of the same by the rule of Gods word Hos 5.11 Sixthly God hath furnished a Christian with abilities for this end with Reason as man he hath a reflexive faculty which Beasts have not he hath a rational understanding Soul which is the Candle of the Lord that enableth him to compare one thing with another and to deduce genuine inferences and conclusions from such premises as are laid down and propounded And then further God hath not only given his people the light of humane Reason and understanding as rational men but hath also infus'd into them a principle of divine light and knowledge as Christians to search and try the Doctrines of Religion whether they be true or false God hath given them a Spiritual unction or understanding as the Apostle speaks 1 John 2.27 Chap. 5.20 that they may know him who is truth it self and they need not that any man teach them but as this anointing teacheth them which is truth and is no lye If any man
are proved by the Scriptures but as for the Scriptures they prove and evidence themselves sufficiently to the judgment of every true Christian by their own light manifesting their divine Original They are primum visibile not like colour that cannot be seen till light make it apparent but like light it self which maketh all other things manifest and it self too by its own proper quality Now then if a true believer should be ask'd why he believes the Articles of the Christian Religion he may truly answer thus because they are revealed in the holy Scriptures If it be further demanded how he can assure himself that the Scriptures are the word of God he may answer that he knows it by the Scriptures themselves the Spirit of God enlightning his understanding to see those lively characters of divine truth which are imprinted upon those sacred Volumes If yet it be further demanded how he knows whether that is the right meaning of such or such a place of Scripture he may likewise truly say that he knows it by the Scriptures which being diligently examined and compared together do plainly discover to the humble teachable Soul their own true sense and meaning in the things which concern everlasting Salvation And thus the faith of a Christian is finally and ultimately resolved into the infallible word of God or a divine Testimony and into nothing less As for the Authority and Testimony of the Church and the judgments and writings of the Godly learned they are good helps to make us see the Truth but no causes why we believe it this we do for its own sake not for their sayings or determinations which if they do not accord with the Scriptures we ought not to assent thereunto Though we should give due Reverence to the Assemblies of Godly judicious men and thoroughly examine and weigh with humility and self-denyal the grounds of our dissent from them yet the bare Authority of men though never so eminent for learning and piety should not command our assent to any Article of Religion that shall be proposed to us For our faith should not stand in the wisdome of men as the Apostle speaks but in the power of God and the Testimony and demonstration of his Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 5. The first and chiefest ground whereon is built the certainty of faith's assent is the infallible truth and Authority of divine Revelation because God hath said it we are to believe it and assent to it for whatsoever God saith is true now this is a principle of Nature and Reason which is deeply ingraven into the heart and Conscience of every Rational man that God himself is so infinitely wise that he can be ignorant of nothing nor can any Creature circumvent and over-reach him and withal he is so infinitely good holy and just that no lye or untruth can proceed from him wisdome it self cannot be deceived truth it self cannot deceive and God is both And therefore wheresoever any Revelation is certainly known or believed to be of God there the reasonable Creature doth fully assent to the truth of things revealed But now the great question will be how we know infallibly that God is the Author of the Scriptures and that what we find written therein is of divine inspiration the very Oracles of God Here lyes the great yea the irreconcileable difference between the Church of Rome and us for whereas we maintain according to the truth that the Scriptures are known to be of God by themselves and by their own light and power they hold that we cannot be certain of their divine Authority but by the Testimony of the Church which as they say doth infalliby propose unto us what is to be believed and what is not to be believed And so by this means our faith shall be resolved either into nothing at all for they differ exceedingly about the Church representative and the supreme Judge of controversies here on Earth or at the furthest it shall be resolved but only into humane Authority and so shall be but a humane faith That Circle which they falsly charge upon us (m.) Mr. W. Pemble nature and properties of grace and faith P. 210 211. they themselves are guilty of and can never be dis-intangled therefrom by their Principles For ask a Romanist why do you believe that the Pope cannot err he will tell you because the Scripture saith so thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and I have prayed that thy faith may not fail and the like Texts of Scripture But how know you that this is the infallible word of God and that your interpretation is the right sence and meaning of these places To this he answers because the Pope and the Councel of Trent say so or as some of them hold because the Pope only saith so or as others of them because a general Councel saith so If we further urge him yea but how know you infallibly that the Pope and Councel do not err in saying so he will answer you because the Scripture affirms they cannot err for thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. And thus they run round in a Circle (n.) The Popish Circle described and are so intangled that the wisest and most learned of them know not how to deliver themselves Indeed they accuse us with open mouth as if we were intangled in a Circle running round from the Scriptures to the Spirit and again from the Spirit to the Scriptures as thus how know you the Scriptures to be the word of God by the Spirit revealing the same to my heart and Conscience but how know you this Revelation of the Spirit to be true By the Scriptures which testifie that the secret of the Lord is revealed to them that fear him But then further how know you this and the like places of Scripture to be the word of God we know it by the Spirit which reveals to us the things that are freely given us of God And thus they pretend that they have caught us in a Circle but they greatly mistake us though we do not mistake their Doctrine we teach indeed that we know the Scriptures infallibly to be the word of God by the Spirit of God inwardly revealing and testifying the truth of them to our Consciences But what kind of Revelation or Testimony is this It is not any inward suggestion or immediate inspiration different from those Revelations of Divine truth that are in the Scriptures themselves as if the Spirit of God did by a second private immediate Revelation assure me of the truth of those former Revelations contained in the Scriptures we have no warrant for this in an ordinary way but the Spirit of God reveals and testifies to our Consciences the divine Authority and truth of the Scriptures by removing those impediments that hindred as namely our ignorance and unbelief and by bestowing upon us those graces that make us capable of
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
where and in what measure he pleaseth so that holy men partakers of the same Spirit in several degrees may err and mistake in some things and dissent one from another in matters that are not fundamental And thus we have given you some Rules to prevent mistakes touching the inward testimony and revelation of the Spirit of God It will not be amiss now to reflect a little yet without any rankor or bitterness against the persons of men upon their opinion that derogate from the Spirit of God and divine revelation and set up Reason as a Judge in matters of Religion and so resolve their Faith finally into Reason CHAP. XV. Briefly shewing when Reason is rightly used and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits Testimony in the Scripture NO discreet rational man will deny the use of Reason in judging matters Civil and Religious in the sence formerly declared and proved If you will shew your self a man and not a beast a judicious understanding Christian and not a Child in knowledge and judgment then you must make use of your Reason in examining those matters that are propounded to you whether Civil or Religious but yet if you admit Reason to be the only Rule or Standard to measure the Mysteries of Faith by and to judge of and comprehend the most divine supernatural Doctrines and Truths of Christ then you ascribe too much to Reason and too little to the Spirit of God and Faith Eye hath not seen nor ear heard saith the Apostle neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him And as none know the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.9 11. The rational Creature is a competent Judge of things meerly rational but the spiritual man only in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth can rightly and spiritually discern and judge of things that are meerly spiritual and supernatural and therefore we must take heed that we confound not the Spirit and Faith of the Gospel with our natural Reason nor prejudice the divine Authority of the Scriptures by ascribing too much to Reason as we ought not to take from Reason that which is due to her in reference to divine matters First Then we acknowledge that Reason is the eye of mans Soul or that Organ which lets into his Soul that divine light and testimony of God which begets Faith and upon which Faith doth rest it self and into which it is finally resolved Reason is not the object on which our Faith resteth but that faculty which being sanctified takes in the light of Faith which leads us to Christ and the things that are heavenly and supernatural The judgment and determination of the Word of God inspired by the Spirit of God is that wherein we finally rest as the rule of our Faith and the light of divine Understanding and Reason sanctified is that whereby a Christian judgeth of spiritual things God in his Word speaks to reasonable Creatures not to brute beasts who by way of discourse weighing what goes before and what follows the Text and comparing Scripture with Scripture do come to a right understanding of the will and mind of God therefore we are commanded as men that have reason in us to search the Scriptures to try the Spirits and to judge what the Apostles say These are acts of Reason and Judgment by the help whereof we are enabled to give a sober rational account of our own Faith and to convince the Adversaries and gain-sayers If you be to deal with an Adversary that hates the Christian Religion how can you think to perswade him to Christianity unless you shew him a reason as indeed the Christian Religion is the wisest and most rational Religion If you say your Church is the true Church you must give a reason for it or else no discreet man will believe you seeing many pretend to the true Church that do not belong to it If you urge a Scripture for your opinion sober men will rationally judge whether it be agreeable to your sence and interpretation or not and accordingly will embrace or reject your opinion It concerns every man as he tenders the peace and salvation of his own soul to be certain of the truth of his Religion And seeing there are so many opinions and such variety of perswasions in the world touching matters of Religion we ought to consider which perswasion hath the best and surest grounds for it that we may with peace and safety venture our souls upon it Now this we cannot well do unless we make use of our Reason in comparing one thing with another that we may embrace the truth and reject error Secondly Though there are mysteries of Faith which Reason cannot comprehend yea in their proper nature they are contrary to the dictates of natural Reason Ex nihilo nihil fit saith Reason and Ex nihilo omnia fiunt saith Faith The dead cannot return again to life saith Reason Thy dead bones shall live again and this mortality shall put on immortality saith Faith yet the rational Soul of man being overpower'd and acted by a higher principle even by the Spirit of God sees the greatest reason in the world to believe these and all other divine supernatural mysteries and truths because the Scripture revealeth them to be of God and from God Is it not meet and reasonable and well becoming us that are rational Creatures to believe the God of Truth speaking to us in his Word though what he speaks seem never so unreasonable never so contrary to flesh and blood Yet Reason will tell us this That all that God speaks for from this pure Fountain can proceed nothing but pure streams is true and good divine and heavenly whatever our corruption saith to the contrary So then our Faith must be resolved into the divine truth and authority of Gods Word and our Reason captivated and subjected unto this higher principle to believe what we find revealed in the Scriptures because it is revealed and comes from the God of truth that cannot lye Thirdly As I have reason to believe all that God speaks in general as being the God of truth so I have reason also to believe in particular that the doctrine of Scripture is Gods revealed Mind and Will Nor is it sufficient to a well-grounded Faith for a man to say he believes all that God reveals to be true but he must also believe that the mysteries contained in the holy Scriptures are the things which God hath revealed for his salvation 'T is true according to the Judgment of our Divines that Faith may rightly be said to be a firm assent without evidence of many things in themselves which we do believe but yet the medium by force whereof we are drawn to believe must be evident unto us As now if I be asked by an enemy
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
spiritual things that none can be saved by the meer improvement of natural Light and Reason and yet notwithstanding the rational intellectual delights of Philosophers and Scholars do far excel all earthly and sensitive pleasures yea the Light of Reason but especially the Light of Faith enables a man to bear affliction and arms him against the excessive fear of death And lastly That Mans Reason and the due exercise of it is a great mercy which should be thankfully acknowledged by us Having gone thus far we shall now by the Lords assistance briefly sum up and comprehend in these two last Chapters the substance of what we intended to say concerning Faith and humane Reason CHAP. XXI Shewing distinctly in some particulars the use of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to the Christian Religion FOr the better opening and clearing of this great Point to the satisfaction of the Christian Reader we shall first premise a few Considerations and then afterward shew particularly what good use may be made of humane Reason and Knowledge in divine matters I. Consider That the Light of Nature and Reason is not near so clear and bright in us since the Fall as it was in Adam before the Fall but is much darkned Eclipsed and depraved even in those that are most rational and moral whereas it was perfectly implanted in Adam's heart and nature we have but only some fragments of it remaining in us This is so evident in Scripture and Experience that it is generally acknowledged by all Christians When Sense is deceived (Å¿) Weems Portrait of the Image of God Reason corrects Sense but when Reason errs as she often doth in divine and religious matters she cannot cure her self but her Mistriss Divinity must come in and teach her Sarah being old God promised her a Son this she laughed at as being contrary to her Reason in which respect she thought it impossible that a Woman so stricken in years should have a Child but Faith corrected her corrupt Reason she believed by Faith that which her Reason could not take up and comprehend Thus also Nicodemus failed in his reasoning against the mystery of Spiritual regeneration II. Consider That the Light of Nature or natural Reason the Light of Faith or Grace and the light of Glory should be carefully distinguished by us and put in their several places and spheres Reason is but as the light of a Candle a glimmering diminutive derivative light Faith is as the light of a Star which is a far clearer and brighter light but the light of Glory is most perfect as the light of the Sun wherein we shall see God as he is and behold him face to face Lumen naturae (t) Vid. Rob. Baron excercitat de triplici Lumine est quo ea cognoscimus quae solis naturae viribus sine auxilio Dei speciali intelligi a nobis dijudicari possunt lumen fidei est quo ea cognoscimus intelligimus quae Deus in verbo suo nobis patefecit lumen gloriae est quo beati spiritus in Coelis clare perspicue vident gloriosissimam Dei essentiam III. Consider That although some Truths and Mysteries do far transcend the Light of Nature and Reason yet there is nothing true in Divinity that crosseth the truth of Reason as it is the remnant of Gods Image in us Indeed when by Reason we take up a Truth and by Faith we believe the same Truth if in this case Reason claim the first place she is to be blamed as being not a dutiful Handmaid to Faith As for the Doctrine of the Trinity the Incarnation and hypostatical Union in Christ the great mystery of Predestination c. though these may be said to be above the Light of Reason yet they are not contrary or contradictory thereunto 't is the greatest Reason in the World that the Creature should believe and rest in the divine infallible testimony and revelation of his Creator There are some things in Divinity mixtly divine other things are meerly divine In those things that are mixtly divine Reason may be of use yet only in the second place Primo creduntur postea intelliguntur as a man first believes the Souls immortality and then he begins to take up the same by Reason here Reason must not go before but follow Faith for that which I believe I believe it ex authoritate dicentis relying upon the truth of him that saith it and all the evidence I get by Reason is nothing to this certitude If Reason should go before as an Usher to make way to Faith we should never believe and hereupon the Schoolmen say well Rationes praecedentes minuunt fidem sed rationes subsequentes augent fidem Reason going before Faith weakens Faith but coming after it strengthens Faith Reason makes not the matter more sure Ex parte veritatis dictantis sed ex parte inlectus assentientis In respect of God the Speaker but in respect of the weakness of our understanding for by this access of further knowledge it is more confirmed But now in things that are meerly and purely divine and supernatural Quae cadunt directe sub fide which fall directly under Faith as those high mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation of Christ what can Reason or Philosophy do here but admire these depths which she can never reach unto Hence it is that God is pleased sometimes to work effectually upon some learned Infidels not by the eloquence and subtil reasonings of learned Divines but by the plain downright discourses of Christians of meaner Parts To this purpose that Story is remarkable which we read of Divers Learned men having long endeavoured by strength of Reason and Argument to perswade an Infidel to be baptized into the Faith of Christ he being learned also did evade all their Arguments at length a grave pious Man amongst them of no repute for Philosophical learning stands up and bespeaks him with some downright affectionate expressions which wrought so effectually upon him that he presently submitted to the Truth in these words (v) Donec audiebam rationes humanas humanis rationibus repugnabam caeterum simul atque audivi Spiritum loquentem cessi Spiritui Whilst I heard only humane Reasons I opposed the same with humane Reasons but when I heard the voice of the Spirit of God speaking powerfully I presently yielded to that powerful voice 'T is also reported of learned Junius that before his Conversion whilst as yet he was no better then an Atheist meeting a plain Countryman and discoursing with him about Religion he observed him to speak so experimentally and with so much affection as made him conclude that certainly there was something more in the Christian Religion then his humane Learning and Reason had yet discovered and this was a special means of his Conversion IV. Consider That the same Object may be and is known both by the Light of Nature and Reason and also by the Light
of Faith You may know that there is a God and that he made the World by the Light of Nature For the things that are invisible are clearly seen and understood by the things that are made whereby we come to know his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 And we must believe this also because God in the Scripture hath revealed it Heb. 11.3 Faith and the Light of Reason go to the knowledge of one and the same thing different wayes Faith doth it because of the divine Testimony Authority and Revelation of God who is Truth and Goodness it self but the Light of Reason doth it because of Arguments drawn from the thing it self by rational discourse However we must hold to this as an undoubted truth that though the Light of Nature and Reason as it is a relict of Gods Image in man be necessary in religious and moral things yet it is not sufficient there being great decayes and languishings in our Reason as the greatest Philosophers themselves have acknowledged V. Consider That if we speak of Nature and Reason as corrupted and depraved by sin as it is in every son of Adam so it is an enemy yea enmity it self against God Rom. 8.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very wisdom of the flesh i. e. the reasonings and discourses of the natural man his best thoughts desires and affections the best inclinations and motions of his mind are not only enemies but enmity against God An enemy may be reconciled but enmity it self can never be reconciled The Apostle 1 Cor. 1.21 useth a strange expression that the World by wisdom knew not God he doth not say that the World through foolishness was ignorant of God but that by wisdom that is by the right use of Reason and discourse it knew not God as Diodate notes upon the Text They became vain in their imaginations saith the same Apostle Rom. 1.21 The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be better rendred thus they became vain in their reasonings or their practical inferences and discourses such as they made out of the principles they had in their understandings So likewise 1 Cor. 3.20 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise not the simple thoughts but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most prudent reasonings and discourses of the men of the world that they are vain You have the same word 1 Tim. 2.8 which is translated without doubting but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without reasoning or dispute In the exercise of Faith and Prayer we must not argue against the Promise by our Reason In this sense the more humane Reason Learning and Wisdom men have the more opposition there is in them against God and the great Mysteries of the Gospel 1 Cor. 1.20 26. and Chap. 2.9 10 11. and Ch. 3.18 19. And therefore Augustine wrote thus to a man of great learning and parts Ornari abs te Diabolus quaerit But now if we speak of Nature and Reason as enlightned and rectified by the Spirit and Word of God so it is an excellent help in matters of Religion let the Word of God let the Testimony of the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures first lay the foundation and then Reason may build upon it Reason should not take the first place or have the preheminence but should be subject and subordinate to Faith as Agar the Bond-woman was to be to her Mistriss Sarah the Free-woman We must not first consult with Reason nor ask a Reason of our believing when we should believe beyond Reason A meer rational considering of means and second causes is a great enemy to Faith If you would believe saith Luther you must crucifie that Question Why God would not have us so full of Wherefores Abraham against hope believed in hope Rom. 4.18 19. Contra spem nempe carnis rationis totius naturae as some of the best Interpreters comment upon it He believed against Sense and natural Reason in hope against hope i. e. in hope supernatural against all the appearances of natural hope nothing doubting saith the Apostle speaking of Abraham's Faith 't is the same word which you find 1 Cor. 11.29 Nothing discerning as when a man looks on things with an eye of Sense and Reason he passeth a judgment of discerning or dijudication upon them as thus some things are easie some things are hard Abraham did not so reason or consider of things when he believed Faith when it is lively and strong will subscribe to a Blank and will rest on the Power and Goodness of God when all things seem contrary in outward appearance and to an eye of Reason Faith can see love in anger light in darkness life in death as we have the Woman of Canaan for an instance besides many others Faith will tell a man that the lower he is cast down and abased the higher he shall be raised and the more he shall be comforted and this is further then Reason can go Faith as a late godly Writer truly observes hath a great and large prospect it can look over all the World yea and into the other World too it beholds God who is invisible and is the evidence of things not seen but now as for Reason it gets upon some little Mole-hill of Creature ability and if it can see over two or three hedges this is much and therefore it is a great trouble to Faith to be tyed to Reason If a man be able to go a journey of two or three hundred miles on foot you will say he is a good Footman yet if you constrain him to carry a little Child with him this will be a great luggage to him for though the Child may run along in his hand half a mile yet he must carry him on his back or in his arms the rest of the way especially when he goes over waters and steep hills which will be no small burthen and trouble Thus it is between Faith and Reason Reason at the best is but a Child to Faith Faith can foot it over Mountains of difficulties and wade through the waters of affliction though great and many but when Reason comes to wade through an affliction or to go over some great difficulty it cryes out and sayes Oh Faith let us go back again and proceed no further No sayes Faith but I le take thee upon my back Reason and so it doth But yet Reason is a great luggage and burden to Faith which never works better then when it works most alone for then it has recourse to Gods Alsufficiency and Omnipotency and finds enough there to quiet and satisfie the Soul But now having premised these five Considerations touching Faith and Reason we shall shew the Christian Reader in some particulars what use he should make of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to divine and religious matters and that it ought not to be rejected but to have its due respect and commendation First We find that many famous godly men have
excell'd in humane Knowledge Moses that man of God was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians Acts 7.22 which was an ornament to him and fitted him for his imployment Paul that great Apostle was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel Acts 22.3 and did abound in humane Knowledge and Learning though he counted it loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Phil. 3.8 And the most eminent Instruments for God in his Church since the times of the Apostles have been men of great Reason and Learning as Athanasius Basil Jerome Cyprian Augustine Luther Melancton Pucer Calvin Jewel Reynolds c. Secondly The Penmen of holy Scripture make use of it in that accurate method those figurative Expressions Rhetorical Proprieties of words insinuating Proems and rational Argumentations which we meet with in the Bible The Apostle Paul deduceth an Inference from a common principle of Philosophy Acts 17.28 29. and quotes the sayings of some Heathen Writers Thirdly Secular Learning Reason and Knowledge being sanctified by the Spirit of God helps a man to understand the Grammatical literal sence which is the true sence of the Scriptures We meet with Physicks in Genesis with Ethicks in the Proverbs and with many Allusions in other parts of Scripture to the nature of Beasts and Birds and likewise with Allusions to the Customs of the Babylonians Jews Persians Romans therefore the knowledge of the Histories of those Nations and their Governments are very useful Fourthly The knowledge of the times by the Olympiads and other wayes of computation wherein humane Authors minister much light is necessary in an ordinary way for the right understanding of Scripture Chronology and the Prophesies of Daniel and the Revelation as appears by the Writings of learned Mede and others Fifthly The knowledge of the Original tongues Hebrew and Greek in which the sacred Scriptures were first penned doth greatly help us to understand the right sense of Scripture wherein there are some Texts which cannot be so fully and emphatically rendered in any vulgar Translation And yet we do not say that this knowledge is absolutely necessary in a Preacher of the Gospel for Augustine himself one of the most eminent amongst the Fathers had but little skill in the Greek tongue and none at all in the Hebrew And so it hath been with divers godly painful Ministers from time to time whose faithful labours notwithstanding God hath blessed with great success Sixthly Humane Learning and Reason is profitable and useful for instructing and convincing Pagans and Heathens who do not yet acknowledge the Christian Faith and divine Authority of the Scriptures Thus divers of the Ancient Fathers as Tertullian Origen Lactantius Basil Cyril Augustine c. confuted the learned Heathen Philosophers out of their own Writings as David killed Goliah with his own Sword And in latter times Aquinas Grotius Morney and others have most learnedly and excellently improved the true sayings of the Heathen Philosophers against themselves and have demonstrated the verity and reasonableness of the Christian Religion which is also endeavoured in this Treatise Seventhly Granting the Scripture to be the infallible Word of God as it is generally acknowledged all Christians we ought to exercise our Reason in searching these sacred Books looking into the Grammar of the Scripture or the forms of expression to find out the truth of them and having an eye to the Logick of the Scripture to the scope context and consent thereof comparing Scripture with Scripture and interpreting the more obscure places by the clearer according to the Analogy of Faith that so we may be able to discern and judge of things that differ Ephes 5.17 1 Thes 5.21 Acts 17.11 Heb. 5.14 which is the duty of every true Christian as hath been proved in the twelfth Chapter of this Treatise In which respect we hold that there is a very good use of Reason (w) Haec autem exploratio atque examinatio doctrinarum fieri non potest nisi adhibito rationis judicio quae judicat de veritate consequentiarum per sua principia de veritate rerum non innitendo principiis sibi notis extra verbum Dei sed in Scriptura sacra traditis B. Daven in Coll. 2. 8. so far are we from teaching that men in searching into the meaning of the Scriptures must become either Fools or Mad-men or Enthusiasts Eighthly and lastly We acknowledge that the Light of Nature and Reason is necessary both in religious and moral things as it is seated in man every man that comes into the world being enlightened by the God of Nature John 1.9 And this Light of Nature and Reason is necessary in two respects First As a passive qualification of the subject for Faith and Repentance for there cannot be Faith and Repentance in a Stone or Beast that wants the Principle of Reason this makes man in a passive capacity fit for Grace although he hath no active ability for it And then secondly It is necessary by way of an Instrument for we cannot believe or apprehend Christ unless we have a principle of Reason in us it being without controversie that an act of understanding or knowledge doth alwayes accompany true Faith Through Faith saith the Apostle Heb. 11.3 we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God CHAP. XXII Wherein humane Reason comes far short and is abused in reference to Divine things HAving in the Chapter immediately going before mentioned divers particulars wherein humane Reason and knowledge is serviceable to the interest of Christianity we shall now in the last place tell you particularly and plainly wherein humane Reason and Knowledge comes far short in matters divine and supernatural summing up in a little room what hath been more largely set forth on this subject both in this and other Treatises * The defects that are in mans Reason First then the great Mystery of the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God and Justification of Sinners by his Righteousness cannot be found out by the Light of Nature and Reason it never entered into the heart of a natural man to conceive of them but these things are of meer supernatural revelation 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Though it be true that when through Faith we have believed them Reason will also subscribe to the truth of them as being revealed by the God of truth who cannot lye yet all the Reason of Men and Angels could never have found out nor come to the knowledge of these Mysteries if God himself had not revealed them There are some Articles of our Faith that are both believed and taken up by Reason as namely that there is a God that the World was created by him and that the soul of man is immortal but then there are other Articles of our Faith which are only believed as the mystery of the Trinity the Incarnation of Christ c. which our weak reason cannot take up or apprehend There is a wonderful depth in the mysteries of the