be born like a wild Asses Colt In the Hebrew there is an elegant Paranomosia Vain man or as the word may be rendered hollow or empty man though he be foolish and ignorant would seem to be wise and rational if he knew how Doubtless God will curse and blast that profane wit and knowledge which despiseth the simplicity of Christs Gospel and will not captivate it self to the obedience of Faith Fourthly When the reasonings or rational argumentations of men are unseasonably and excessively used in divine things the nature of the matter not requiring it then are such reasonings dangerous Hence some of the Fathers are justly censured and the Schoolmen much more for mixing and adulterating the Truths of the Gospel with the Reasons of Philosophers which are no better then Paralogisms and Impostures if mixed with and added to the pure Word of God and the great and glorious Mysteries of Christ Fifthly Then do men abuse their humane Reason and Knowledge when they use needless subtilties quirks and quidditties in debating the great Truths of the Gospel which should rather be humbly believed admired and adored then subtilly disputed Even amongst the Heathens themselves and in all Religions they have had some sacred Mysteries and Secrets that were to be adored and not curiously pried into and disputed by the subtil reasonings of men and whoever did profanely dispute thereof were severely punished Sixthly and Lastly Mans Reason is abused and perverted and proves to be of dangerous consequence when it is made not only an Instrument but a Judge in matters of Faith some there are that seem to depress Reason too much but on the other side the Socinians exalt it too high for they make it not only an Instrument but a Judge and thereupon reject and contemn the greatest mysteries of the Christian Religion because they cannot fathom and comprehend them by their Reason 'T is true there are some that say Religio est summa ratio and there are great learned Men that have endeavoured to prove the truth of the Christian Religion by the Light of Reason and certainly if we can by Reason prove that there is any Religion at all we may by the same reason prove the truth and excellency of the Christian Religion as I have shewed in this Treatise but yet mans Reason is but a weak glimmering uncertain thing in comparison of Faith Ratio recta est ratio lumine Spiritus sancti directa Nor must we confound the Instrument and the Judge Holy Truths Scripture Truths and Mysteries they are divine and supernatural though hammered out and improved by Reason As the Smith that takes Golden plate and beats it into what shape he pleaseth his Hammer doth not make it to be Gold for so it was before but only Gold of such a shape so Reason doth not make a Truth divine or add any thing to the divine authority of it but only holds it forth and declares it in such a way or method It is with Faith and Reason saith a Learned man as with the mould that is at the root of a barren fruitless tree take the mould out and throw in dung or other compost and then put the mould in again and it will much help the tree which hindered it before thus lay aside Reason at first and receive the Truth of God by Faith and afterward improve Faith by Reason and so it will be of excellent use to a Christian Divine Truths are not founded on Reason but on the Authority of God in the Scriptures yet Reason may help to bear them up as you see the Elm or Wall bear up the Vine but the Elm or Wall doth not bring forth the fruit only the Vine doth that As long therefore as the Light of Nature and Reason is not the Rule but ruled and squared by the Word of God as it ought to be there is no danger but when mans Reason is made the Rule and divine Mysteries are vassaliz'd and subjected thereunto this must needs be preposterous and dangerous and therefore to be abhorr'd and avoided by all sober Christians whose Faith should not stand in humane Wisdom and Reason but in the Demonstration and Power of the Spirit of God FINIS Books sold by Thomas Passenger at the three Bibles on London-Bridge A French and English Dictionary composed by Mr. Randolph Cotgrave Folio A Mirror or Looking-glass for Saints and Sinners shewing the justice of God on the one and his mercy towards the other Set forth in some thousand of examples by Sam. 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Duty of Man * Causes of the Decay of Christianity cap. 9. pag. 255. which may improve our Reason exalt the Man and depress the Beast in us Yet sure we shall derogate very impiously from Christ's Prophetick Office if we allow not Divinity to be the supreme and noblest Science such as is to be served and attended not regulated and governed by those inferiour But that just order seems now to be inverted Divine Learning is brought down to Humane and the simplicity of Christian Doctrine so perplexed and confounded with Philosophical Niceties that Plato and Aristotle are become the Umpires of our Religion and we must go ask Heathens how far we shall be Christians Those deep things of God as the Apostle calls them 1 Cor. 2.10 and of which he pronounces the Natural man an incompetent Judge are yet brought before that Tribunal subjected to be scanned by Rules of Art but alas our Line is too short to sound those Depths Thus far he Madam This Book which is Dedicated to Your Honour treats of the Right Use and Abuse of Reason in Divine matters There are two extremes which men are apt to run into some ascribe too much to Natural Light and Reason in Religious concernments and others ascribe too little As we should give to God the things that are God's and to Caesar the things that are Caesar's according to that saying of our Blessed Saviour Matth. 22.21 so we should give to Faith the things that belong to Faith and to Reason the things that belong to Reason And herein Madam You may meet with some Passages in this Treatise if You please to peruse it which may by the Blessing of God minister some Light and Direction to You. OF THE RIGHT USE ABUSE OF REASON IN MATTERS of RELIGION CHAP. I. Of distinguishing between Faith and Reason AS it requires much spiritual skill and judgment rightly to distinguish between the Law and the Gospel the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace to give the Law its due and the Gospel its due whereupon Luther was wont to say That he who can thus distinguish is the best Divine So truly it requires much spiritual skill and wisdom rightly to distinguish between the Light of Nature and the Light of Grace between Reason and Faith in matters of Religion That as Christ bids us render unto God the things that are Gods and to Caesar the things that are Caesars So we should give unto Faith the things that are Faith's and to Reason the things that are Reason's To Faith her full scope and latitude and to Reason also her just bounds and rights May we not wish that many great Professors of the Gospel did but equalize in their practise as to moral Justice and Faithfulness some Heathens that were only endued with the Light of Reason and moral Virtues Did not these go further with their Candle-light than the other do with their Sun-beams And will they not rise up in judgment against them that do so grosly abuse the Light of the Gospel which infinitely transcends the Light of Nature Perhaps this may be the reason why some vain Scriblers in our days place Religion chiefly in natural Improvements and moral Virtues because there is so little moral Justice and Honesty amongst Men yea amongst many forward Professors morality will go very far But yet though Men be unjust and exceeding defective in their morals we should not therefore derogate from the Spirit and Grace of God we should not confound Nature and Grace Divinity and Philosophy Faith and humane Reason Christ and Socrates Paul and Plato Nor the Church of God and the Christian Religion with the School of Aristotle For this sinful mixture and composition the Schoolmen are worthily blamed who by advancing Aristotle in their Writings and ascribing too much to moral Virtues have exceedingly darkned the purity of the Gospel and in a manner quite excluded the righteousness of Christ as Mediator and the gracious powerful operations of His Spirit Erasmus himself speaking of the Arians saith a Hoc ipso fuere pestilentiores quod Aristotelicis argutiis essent instructi Erasmus That they were the more dangerous and pestilent because they were so much acquainted with the Aristotelian Subtilties The like may be said of some curious Philosophical Wits and Pens in this divided Church and Nation who have in effect transformed the Gospel of Christ into a meer System of Morality Indeed a true sincere Christian is the most just and moral of any man but it is not his moral Virtues and Endowments but his Spiritual union with Christ that makes him accepted with God and puts him into a state of Salvation Let Reason be permitted with the Gibeonites to hew wood and draw water for the Sanctuary but let it not rush into the Holy of Holies into the Bosom-secrets of God into the deep Mysteries of the Gospel Reason may not come into these Seas except she strike her top-sail here she must submit and captivate her self to the obedience of Faith There is reason indeed for that which faith believeth b Dr. Preston on the Attributes of God but yet reason must be help'd by faith and rais'd up to Spiritual Objects by divine revelation As one that hath dim Eyes can see better by the help of Spectacles and to chuse a right Jewel we use the Skill of a Lapidary so if we would yield a firm assent to Divine Truths and Principles we must be help'd with light from above even with divine and supernatural Revelation Otherwise we shall give but a weak and doubtful assent thereunto which we call Opinion The works of Creation and the light of Natural Reason enabling us to discern the Characters of God stamped upon the Creatures will prove That there is a God or Supreme Being But as for those Truths that are meerly Supernatural as the Trinity of Persons the Hypostatical Union in Christ and other great Mysteries of the Gospel these are only known by revelation and have no prints or foot-steps in the Creatures to discern them by of which we shall speak more fully and particularly in the following part of this Treatise CHAP. II. Shewing that Reason though much weakned is of good use both in civil and divine things LEt it be granted which will not be denied by any sober Christian 1. That the light of Reason is exceedingly darkned and clouded that the Eye of Reason is weakned and vitiated that with Leah she is blear-eyed That this daughter of the morning is fallen from her primitive beauty from her original vigor and perfection And so fallen that she cannot savingly apprehend or comprehend the things of God Yea 2. Reason as it is now corrupted and perverted in man doth oppose the Gospel of Christ and wrangle against the mysteries of Salvation which it doth not understand 3. That the foulest and blackest Errors that ever were broached in the Church of Christ have shrowded themselves under the fair
must needs be so too for ours is the same with theirs Evangelically considered their Types Sacrifices Prophecies and Ordinances referring to Christ who is the very substance of the Christian Religion The Mosaical Law of the Old Testament what is it else but Evangelium reconditum a veiled Gospel And the Gospel in the New Testament what is it but Lex Revelata the Law of the Old Testament revealed And thus it appears that the Christian Religion is the most Ancient Secondly If we look at the means and way of Atonement and Propitiation held forth in the Christian Religion it must needs appear to be the most Wise and Reasonable of any Religion The Eternal God or Supreme Being as He is full of Love and Mercy so He is Just and Righteous His Justice is infinite as Himself is He will so shew Mercy as that He will appear to be infinitely Just toward the the Offendor and therefore in Reason there must be some way or means of Satisfaction and Atonement found out or else God and Man being separarated by Sin could not be reunited The wiser sort among the Heathens were convinc'd by the Light of Reason That Man being alienated from God and not able of himself to come to God in regard of his darkness and ignorance there is a necessity of some way or means of cleansing and atonement Hence came the multitude of their Sacrifices and Oblations especially when any great Plague or Judgment was upon them But now that Christ the Son of God who is equal with God should be this way or means by giving up himself a Sacrifice for Sin of this they were wholly ignorant Is it so that the Justice of God offended by Sin is infinite Then it is but reasonable that this infinite Justice should have infinite reparation and satisfaction which neither Angels nor Men being but finite Creatures can give to the infinite God And therefore unless the Mediator or Days-man that takes up the difference between God and man be himself the infinite God as well as man such an infinite Satisfaction cannot be given This way or means being contrived and found out only by the wise infinite God and clearly held forth in the Christian Religion and in no other Religion besides it must needs be even by the Light of Reason the best and safest and truest Religion as that which vindicates the Honour of the great God and gives true peace and security to man Thirdly The Glorious Miracles wrought by Christ may convince any man's reason of the Truth of the Christian Religion Not only Josephus and other Jews besides him but also divers Heathen Authors and some of Christ's greatest Adversaries do acknowledge His Miracles Julian the Apostata as great an Enemy as he was confess'd that Jesus cured the Blind and the Lame and delivered some from Devils that were possessed in Bethsaida and Bethany Pilate himself in a Letter of his to the Emperor Tiberius witnesseth That Jesus gave sight to the Blind cleansed the Lepers healed them that were diseased delivered them that were possessed from Devils over-ruled the Waters raised the Dead and rose again Himself from the dead after three days Hereupon Tertullian bids the Senate and People of Rome read their own Commentaries and search their Records where they shall find the Miracles of Jesus which if they had not been sufficiently known to be true and real Tertullian himself in this Case might have been easily convicted of lying and forgery These Miracles of Christ were wrought not in one or two places but in many not in a corner but in the open view of the World and were attended with such Majesty and Power that there are thousands that will rather die on a Rack than deny or gainsay the same Jesus wrought great Miracles saith Josephus and although He was Crucified and put to death yet His Disciples forsook him not but did cleave unto him And as He Himself wrought many Miracles when he was upon Earth so His Disciples after He was gone from them by His power and virtue did likwise effect such Miracles as fill'd the World with the fame of them and were a special means to convert whole Kingdoms to Christ If any be so absurd and impudent as to deny the Miracles of Christ then I would ask of them whether it be not a great and strange Miracle That so many Nations and in them so many Wise and Learned men should follow and adore a poor contemptible man without Miracles and should be willing to die for Him even for Him that died a cursed ignominious Death upon the Cross If His Miracles were not great and far surmounting the Nature and capacity of a meer Man if they were not divine and supernatural can any sober man imagin that so many thousands would be so far convinc'd and perswaded by them as to die joyfully and triumphantly for the Name and Honour of this Jesus Is it a Miracle to work upon a man by touching him and much more without touching him and most of all without seeing him Then what a Miracle is it to work powerfully in the Hearts of whole Nations a far off without once seeing them and to touch them without coming at them and to convert and draw them to Himself without touching them with His Hand Yea but say some very absurdly and irrationally Christ and His Apostles wrought Miracles by the help of Magick Let such vain men resolve us if ever they knew or heard of a Magician that wrought such Miracles and came with such power and efficacy upon the Hearts of all sorts of men after his death as Jesus did And as for His Apostles what gain or advantage could they get by exercising this Magick No considerate man will attempt any great matter but for some end or other Now what Profit what Preferment what Honour in this World got they by it Nay did it not procure them much Hatred Danger Imprisonment Torments and at last Death it self Magicians usually hide themselves and conceal their Art when they are pursued for it But did the Apostles do so What a strange kind of Magick is this that will needs be known and exercised even in despite of the rage of Rulers and People yea of Death it self Doubtless 't is very remarkable that as in Moses time God so ordered in His wise Providence that there should be many great Magicians in Egypt that He might make His own Power the more evident So in the times of Christ and His Apostles there was great store of them in Judaea Rome and other places that a difference might be put between the Illusions of Satan and the miraculous Works of God Pliny reports that there were never more Magicians in the World than in the Reign of Nero which was the time of spreading the Gospel by Christ's Apostles neither was the vanity of that Art as he saith ever more apparently known than at that time If therefore this Art of Magick did never
other persecuting Emperours devised most exquisite Torments to be inflicted on the poor Christians and put thousands of them to a cruel death and yet for all this Christianity prevailed and the Kingdom of Christ was enlarged Which is an undoubted Proof and Demonstration even to the Eye of Reason of the Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion and that the Kingdom of Christ is most divine and powerful and not worldly weak and carnal That this Jesus who was born in the little Countrey of Judaea subdued by the Romans of poor Parents in a sorry Village destitute of Friends and of all Worldly helps and advantages should give Law to and Conquer the World by His Gospel or the Word of His Kingdom is not this wonderful And would ye know what He promiseth His Subjects and Followers Why instead of great matters that they might expect in this Life He tells them plainly what great Afflictions and Tribulations they must endure for His sake if they will follow Him and be His Disciples indeed they must expect to be persecuted reproached scourged imprisoned and put to death Whereas other Kings and Monarchs promise great Dignities and Preferments in the World to their followers this King on the contrary by the Doctrine of the Cross drew the Nations to Him other Monarchs Conquer by killing their Enemies this King Conquered by dying for His Enemies the death other Monarchs is the decay and ruine of their Kingdoms and Conquests but the death of Jesus hath established and enlarged His Kingdom and is the life and happiness of His Subjects Who seeth not therefore by the Light of Reason a humane weakness in the greatness of Worldly Empires and a divine power in the weakness of Christ's Kingdom When He died and was buried His Kingdom seem'd to die and to be buried with Him a few poor despised Followers He had and these were at their wits end when their Lord and Master was Crucified and laid in the Grave Well but at length they open their mouths and boldly teach men to believe on Jesus who was Crucified and Buried but is now Risen again and to suffer for His sake And if they be forbidden they will rather die than not Preach and own this Crucified Jesus hereupon they are accused and brought before Magistrates where they own their Crime as their Adversaries term'd it and are not asham'd of it and is not this admirable Other Malefactors are tormented to make them confess their fault and these are tormented to make them conceal it those hold their peace to save their lives these die for speaking and yet by this strange way and means Christ that was crucified spreads His Kingdom and fills the whole World with it Out of weakness he brings forth strength and out of death he brings forth life And who can thus draw one contrary out of another Who can thus overcome by yielding who can thus trample upon and triumph over his Enemies by dying but Jesus in whom the power of the Eternal God was and whose Kingdom is not of this World but Divine and Heavenly Whilst He lived upon Earth He was despised and rejected but after His death He is worshipped as God even to this day and His true Followers will rather die a thousand deaths than deny His Eternal Godhead and Kingdom And may not this one Consideration if there were no more touching the Kingdom of Christ wherein it far excels the Kingdoms of this World serve to convince any sober rational man of the verity and efficacy of the Christian Religion Sixthly What strange Conversions and Changes have been wrought by the Gospel of Christ in the Hearts and Lives of some of the most eminent and famous men for Learning and Parts How were they wrought upon and converted by the plain Preaching of weak simple men Even by the foolishness of Preaching as the World counts it that so the divine power and excellency of this Jesus and of the Christian Religion might the more appear Paul befor his Conversion was counted a wise and learned man and was in great reputation so that Porphyry the famous Philosopher saith of him that it was great pity such a man should be a Christian yet when Paul had received the greatest Authority and raged most against the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ he was wonderfully converted and turned quite another way and was glad to tread many a weary step and to endure many great difficulties for the Gospels sake Origen also a man of great Learning and knowledge in Philosophy and the Arts being converted by a divine power to the Christian Religion was content to be a poor Catechist in Alexandria and was every day in danger of death when he might have been with his fellow Plotinus in great Authority and Favour had it not been for his Christian profession Surely it must needs be some Divine and Heavenly power that did thus prevail upon these men and upon many other Wise and Learned men that might be mentioned Never was there such wonderful Conversions in any Religion as in this never such sound Repentance and Reformation never such true Justice Fortitude and Constancy in Affliction even to Death and Martyrdom as in this so that it was commonly said of the Christians Soli Christiani mortis contemptores Seventhly 'T is an Argument of the Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion That it hath been so much opposed and persecuted from time to time by the rage and cruelty of the Devil and wicked men As it was commonly said of that Monster Nero a Persecutor of Christians That it must needs be a good and excellent thing which so wicked a man hated The more wicked and ungodly men are the more they hate that which is Divine and which most resembles the Holy God Now no Religion or Profession in the World hath been so desperately hated and persecuted by wicked ungodly wretches as the Christian Religion and yet the more it has been opposed and trampled upon by them the more it has prevailed and flourished even in despight of their rage and malice What a miserable end did befal Herod and other great Persecutors of this Religion Many of which did vindicate Christ and His Truth at and by their death when the Hand of God was heavy upon them though they had raged against Him in their life time and done whatever they could to root out His Kingdom and People Nay Satan himself the greatest Persecutor of all hath witnessed for the Christian Religion against himself All the Art Magick which he invented could never Conjure or call up Christ Plotinus and Apollonius and other great Magicians that rais'd up the Image of Jupiter and other Heathen Gods though they assayed with all their skill and power to bring up the Image of Christ yet could they never effect it for Christ is not subject to their power being infinitely above them 'T is well known to the Heathens that at the Birth and Death of
presence of Christ For outwardly the first Temple was far more glorious than the second and therefore the second must be made more glorious in some other other respect Nor could the destruction of the second Temple which yet we read of Luke 19.44 and likewise in the History of Josephus fall out before but must needs be since the coming of the true Messias Suidas reports this from one Theodosius a Noble Jew That before Christ sharply rebuked the Pharises they marvelling at His wise Questions and Answers made Him one of the Priests without which He being of the Tribe of Judah could not have been suffered to Preach at Nazareth and Capernaum and registred His Name in these words Jesus the Son of the Living GOD and of the Virgin Mary which Register was preserved at the sacking of Jerusalem and afterward laid up in the City Tiberias The Jews themselves have been miserably deceived in prefixing the time of the coming of the Messias so that in this matter they are become ridiculous one to another there is now no Bethlehem where the Messias should be born if He be not already come The Prophecies are clearly fulfilled and those dreadful Judgments threatned against the Jews for rejecting the Messias manifestly even in the view of the Word brought upon them Vespasian at the Siege of Jerusalem offered them Peace but they would not accept of it he made his entrance into their City at Cedron where they took Christ on the same Feast-day that Christ was taken and whipped them where they whipped Christ and sold twenty Jews for a penny as they had sold Christ for thirty pence and thus they were punished in the same kind that they had sinned against God Are they not Vagabonds at this day throughout the World hated of all men for crucifying Christ Having no Temple no City no fixed Worship no setled Government neither Civil nor Ecclesiastical And though they attempted by the Assistance of Julian that wicked Emperor to Build again their City and Temple yet their Attempt came to nothing but was destroyed by Fire from Heaven And now poor Wretches they abide and have been so for many hundred years without a King and without a Sacrifice and without an Ephod and without Teraphim Hos 3.4 And whereas they vainly expect that the Messias at His first coming will be an outward glorious Prince like the Princes of this World this is quite contrary to many Texts in the Old Testament which they pretend to believe and which assure us that the Messias shall come in great meekness and lowliness Zach. 9.9 That He shall be wounded and pierced for the sins of the People and that their iniquities shall be laid upon Him Psal 22.16 17 18. Isa 53.4 5.6 That He who is the Shepherd and God's fellow shall be smitten by the Sword of the Lord and that the Messias shall be cut off and slain Zach. 13.7 Dan. 9.26 Out of these and the like Texts in the Old Testament the Ancient Rabbins do generally gather that the true Messias should be such a person and so dealt with as is described in these places and that His Kingdom should be Divine and Spiritual and should not consist in outward worldly pomp and magnificence By what hath been already said and much more that might be alledged any rational sober man may easily perceive how vain and unreasonable how blind and contumacious the Jews are at this day in denying Jesus to be the true Messias and in maligning and opposing the Christian Religion Thirdly and lastly Against the Doctrine of Mahomet and the Turkish Religion * III. Against the Turkish Superstition there is enough if not more than enough alledged to convince any man of reason that it is but of yesterday and a meer Fable if compared with the Antiquity and Truth of the Christian Religion And that Mahomet himself their great Prophet was a vile wicked wretch and Impostor whom God suffered in His just judgment to delude and even besot the World because they had abused the precious Gospel of Christ Mahomet's Doctrine forsooth is so hardy and so unquestionable that it must not be disputed of which is a sufficient evidence of the vanity and falseness of it The Money is good say they but you must not bring it to the Touchstone to try it nor must you weigh it whereas Truth loveth trial and fears no colours Their foolish Alchoran which contains the body and substance of their Heresie is stuffed with vain Fables and false Tales fit for Fools and Children so that Andraeas Maurus a Saracen and a Bishop besides many other Writers noteth at least nine hundred Untruths in this wicked Alchoran whereof two in the Eighth Section are exceeding gross and palpable One that Abraham was the Son of Lazarus the other that Mary the Mother of Christ was the Sister of Aaron both which are manifest untruths And what shall we think that the God of Truth and Wisdom will regard such false Tales and fopperies in His Worship as are found in this Alchoran Be it far from us to entertain such a thought of God How gross and sensual and foolish are many things mentioned therein as Sect. 16. where Mahomet said that he felt the Hand of God seventy times colder than Ice Is this becoming the Holy Majesty of God And again that one Angel hath seven thousand Heads and that the Devil is Circumcised and such like ridiculous stuff which a Rational discreet man would be asham'd of If we look to the Promises and Rewards of this Religion they refer to Pleasures that are meerly carnal and sensual fit for none but Sardanapalus Heliogabalus and such like monstrous Epicures that have lost their Wits and Reason If we consider the Precepts of this Religion we shall find that they are indulgent to Perjury Adultery and other wickedness A Turk may have four Wives and five Concubines he must not be accused though never so wicked under four Witnesses This wicked Religion of theirs allows Men to couple themselves with Beasts and to spoil one anothers Goods and therefore it is false wicked and to be abhorred And as for the Miracles which the Turkish Religion pretends unto they have no Authentick testimony nor possibility of Truth in them in the judgment of any sober Rational man Take one Instance for all which is this that an Angel when he was a Child opened his Heart and took out that lump of Blood which is the Cause of Sin And then for the way and means of propagating this Religion it is not like that of the Christians Spiritual and Divine by the efficacy of the Gospel of Peace and Reconciliation But 't is Carnal and Wicked by Cruelty and Compulsion killing men that are of a different Religion so that he is the most religious amongst them that can shed most Blood and destroy most Christians And this shews even to an Eye of Reason that the Mahumetan Religion is a meer Imposture and a
most wicked Superstition CHAP. XII The divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures proved by Reason THe Laws of God as we have heard differ much from the Laws of men these command only the outward man but the divine Laws reach the Spirit and command the inward man which Laws are Recorded in the Sacred Scriptures now that these Holy Writings are the word of God and do contain the Laws of God and the Rule of our Faith and practice may be proved by Reason so far as may convince a Heathen or Infidel that there is such a divine Authority and Efficacy in these Writings as are not to be found in any other First then let it be granted as it hath been clearly demonstrated that there is one living and true God and that this God is to be honoured and adored by his reasonable Creatures with that service and worship which becomes him Then it will undeniably follow That there must be some Revelation made by God himself touching that way of worship wherein he will have us obey him this is practic'd by all wise Princes and States who govern their Subjects in a way of Reason and of Prudence for who can know what pleaseth God but he himself and they to whom he makes known his will and pleasure Now then supposing some Revelation of Gods will in order to that service which he will accept if the Scripture be not this Revelation where then shall we find it Let any man if he can shew some other or better manifestation concerning the will and worship of the great and Holy God then what he hath made known in his Written word Nothing can be the standing unerring Rule of our Faith but what God himself hath made so That which is the Rule must be the law of our Beleif and who can make a Law of this nature but God himself 'T is unreasonable to imagine that any men or Creatures can prescribe to us what we are to beleive concerning God unless God himself make known his will and publish his Laws Secondly As for the Scriptures of the Old Testament which are received and imbraced as the word of God both by Jews and Christians let us rationally consider how the Church of the Jews who were the peculiar People of God to whom were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 have witnessed these Books to be divine and Supernatural Have they not from time to time for many Ages together in their greatest misery and affliction constantly acknowledged and contended for the divine Authority thereof whenas by only denying the same they might have had not only liberty but great preferments in the World And is it not very observable that though the Princes high Preists and others amongst the Jewes persecuted the Prophets and despised their words whilst they lived yet they received their Writings as Prophetical and Divine when they where dead and since blindness and obstinacy came upon the Jewes notwithstanding their great enmity and hatred to the Christian Religion and the Professors thereof yet the Scriptures of the Old Testament yea those very Texts that do evidently confirm the truth of the Christian Religion are kept pure and uncorrupt amongst them Thirdly The Christian Church which embraceth both the Books of the Old and New Testament have witnessed and do still witness to the divine Authority thereof even to the Death the whole Vniversal Church of God even from the first Penning of the Scriptures till this very day have all along professed that these Books are divine and Thousands of them have Sealed the same with their blood this Testimony is of great weight and force though it be not so infallible and effectual to perswade and satisfie the Conscience as the Testimony of the Holy Ghost himself Of all humane Testimonies whereby the Author of any Book that hath is or ever shall be extant can be proved or evinced so as to satisfie mans Reason the Testimony of the Universal Church of God concerning this Book is the greatest and most satisfactory both in respect of the multitude wisdom honesty and faithfulness of the witnesses and the likelyhood constancy and uninterrupted continuance of the Testimony it self Is it probable in a way of Reason that so good and wise a God should suffer so many honest well meaning People to be so long abused and deceived by a false or feigned Book fathered upon himself such a horrid Imposture the God of truth will not endure to lye hid and undiscovered for so many hundred years Christians of all sorts and conditions Noble and Ignoble Rich and Poor Learned and unlearned Married and unmarried Old and Young throughout the World for a long time together have endured the most grievous and exquisite torments that the Devils could invent or the malice of men find out for the defence of this truth and that with great constancy and alacrity with an undaunted heart and merry countenance And can any sober man think that so many thousand persons and some of them of great quality learning and prudence that might have lived bravely and carried a great part in this World should suffer so many and so great things out of meer weakness pride vaine glory discontent or that they should suffer for a fable that hath no Truth nor reality in it This Testimony which is taken from the great sufferings Christian patience joy and courage of the Martyrs is not meerly humane for that courage and cheerfulness which they shewed in the midst of their Torments was not from the strength of humane Nature and reason but it was from above and supernatural Fourthly God hath confirmed the divine Authority of the Scriptures in the view of the World by many great wonders and Miracles from Heaven such as Satan himself cannot imitate such as exceed the power of any yea of all the Creatures in the World such as the most malitious subtil Enemies of God's truth could not deny to be divine These Miracles hath the Lord openly wrought by the hands of Moses the Prophets and Apostles which as they were sufficient to confirm the divine Authority of the Scriptures to them who were eye-witnesses thereof so the undoubted and clear Narration of them is to us an invincible Argument that the Word and Gospel of Christ is from Heaven and not from men the Lord witnessing thereunto both by Signs and wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Heb. 2.4 What shall I say of the Antiquity of the Scriptures and the Doctrine contain'd therein which of all Writings and Doctrines that have been taught and published is the most Ancient In all other Writings and Records the Doctrine of the Creation and fall of man is omitted which yet is particularly and plainly set down in the Scriptures And truly it is admirable to Consider how the power and wisdom and goodness of God have appeared in preserving his written Word and Laws to this day notwithstanding the rage and
subtilty of Antiochus Nero Dioclesian Julian the Apostate and other cruel and subtil Persecutors and notwithstanding that Egyptian darkness of Popery Error and Ignorance which overspread the World for some hundred years since Christ and his Apostles during which time these sacred Writings were laid aside and contemned and blind Ignorance extolled as the Mother of Devotion Fifthly The very Stile of the Scripture argues the divine Authority thereof By the Stile we do not understand the external superficies of words and phrases but the whole order contexture and frame thereof which fitly agreeth to the dignity of the speaker and the nature of the Argument treated of and is excellently and wisely tempered according to the capacity and condition of them for whose sake it was written Indeed every Prophet and Apostle almost had a peculiar Stile God making use of their several faculties and abilities Isaiah is Eloquent and sweet David affectionate Solomon Accurate Jeremiah vehement and more rough and so it may be said of the several Apostles and Evangelists that their Stile is somewhat different but all of them divine and Heavenly The Majesty and excellency of the Stile appears in that Majestick Title and dignity which the Author of the Holy Scriptures doth justly challenge to himself the which imports Independency of nature and essence Supereminency of power and soveraignty and excellency both of properties and works and is further displayed in the manner of teaching which is used in the Holy Scriptures commanding promising and threatning things above sense and reason In this Book there are hidden Mysteries divine and supernatural Truths such as exceed all humane capacity revealed unfolded without Argumentation or Rhetorical motives of perswasion and we are required to understand and beleive them relying only upon the Truth and credit of the Revealer God the great and absolute Soveraign requires in his word such and such things to be done such and such duties to be performed by the Sons of men with great strictness and severity and yet brings no argument to perswade or confirm the equity of these commands but only the will of the Commander which though it becomes not man to do yet it well becomes the Majesty of God In this Book also promises are made of good things to come whereof there is no humane probability nor reason given to assure us of the performance thereof but I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it In the manner of threatning also the like majesty and Soveraign Authority may be observed throughout the Scriptures which you shall not meet with in meer humane writings God commands and threatens without respect of persons be they what they will be 't is all one to him he prescribes his Laws to all men Magistrates and Rulers Schollers and Soldiers to whole Kingdoms and States commanding and requiring what is distastful to their fleshly nature and interest and forbidding what they approve and commend promising them not Earthly Honours and Riches but Life Eternal if they be obedient to the Gospel and threatning them not with Rack or Gibbet but with eternal Death and Torments if they disobey Neither let any man be offended with the low and humble manner of speech used in holy Scripture for it was penned for the use and benefit of the unlearned as well as the learned for those of weak parts as well as for those of strong parts and abilities And though the phrase or manner of speech be plain yet the matter is high and excellent profound and unutterable Plainness and perspicuity doth best become the truth A Pearl needs no painting True beauty needs not a whorish dress to set it forth nor needs the truth of God to be supported or underpropt with forraign aids for it is of it self sufficient to uphold and sustain it self It becomes not the Majesty of a Prince to play the Orator this would be more pedantick in him then in a person more inferior Though the Scripture seems to be plain in word and phrase yet it is great in power No writings of men be they never so well set forth with Wit Learning and Ornaments of Rhetorick can so enlighten the mind move the will pierce the heart and stir up the affections as the word of God doth Nor do the Scriptures want Eloquence if the matter be well weighed no other writing can equalize them The Song of Moses the beginning of the Prophesie of Isaiah and other portions of Scripture in variety and force of divine Eloquence do far exceed and transcendall other Authors Greek or Latine that are extant though never so excellently indited and penned yet it may be easily discerned that the one was written by a Divine the other by a humane Spirit Sixthly the wonderful powerful effects of this doctrine more then any other do clearly demonstrate even to an eye of reason the divine Authority thereof for it inlighteneth the understanding discovereth clearly the evil of sin and the vanity of the Creature converteth the Soul convinceth the gainsayer terrifieth the Conscience of a sinner quickeneth and reviveth the wounded Spirit manifesteth the thoughts of the heart man casteth down strong holds and the power of Satan and remains invincible notwithstanding all the opposition of men and devils for though the nature thereof be contrary to the will and wisdome of the flesh and world yet still it hath prevailed and overcome The enemies that have opposed this doctrine were many and mighty and subtil the Devil the Roman Emperor the learned Philosophers the zealous Jews and the common people being stirred up by them have with incredible fury and falshood and vigilancy endeavoured the utter abolition of it but could never do it This doctrine conquers where it comes either it converts or destroys its Adversaries And what manner of persons are they whom God chuseth as his Heralds and Embassadors to publish this doctrine are they great and many are they learned and wise are they potent and mighty in the world No no they are in number but few in outward appearance simple rude poor and weak despised of men things that are not in the judgment of men by these God hath confounded things that are and through their preaching the Cross of Christ hath subdued many Nations to himself in a little time a great part of this habitable world was converted and brought to the obedience of faith so that Paul filled all places from Jerusalem to Illyricum with the sound of the Gospel Nor is it to be forgotten that the Jews though wasted with many and great Slaughters and though they had and still have a desperate Enmity against Christ and the Christian Religion yet the Scriptures of the old Testament have alwayes remain'd safe and entire in their custodie even when the Hebrew language did lye almost unknown and had perished altogether had not God provided for the true Religion by the care of those Jews so that will they nill they they shall be instrumental
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
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
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