upbraided the Christians of their times with whom they conversed in their writings and in their discourses that they received all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an irrational Faith and an hasty assent past without any examination that they could bring no proof or demonstrative argument of what they held so pertinaciously that nothing was required to make a Christian a Believer as they used to speak by way of Scorn but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unjudicious and groundless Faith yes certainly a good life and a sanctified understanding and an humble opinion of a mans self But these are but words and men are not to be laughed and rallied out of their faith and a well-grounded perswasion there is nothing of argument in scorn and passion they only shew the weakness of the cause and want of reason in those who make use of them But now after so many myriads of Converts to the Christian Faith after the attestation and consent of so many ages who have examined severely the principles on which it is founded who would expect that any one should dare now to question the truth of it again that men who have been baptized into it should abjure and renounce it should no longer acknowledg Christ their Saviour should deny him to be God or that he had any commission from Heaven to institute a new Religion should act over the part of the Jews and arraign the Son of God as an impostor and side with the Heathen Philosophers against Christianity as a doctrine not to be endured and embraced and make use of their very arguments for the defence of their infidelity But we know whence the malice and the infidelity of these Theists proceed they have abandoned themselves to a wicked life they are immersed in sensual pleasures which they make the only end of life They are convinced that Christianity which is a Doctrine according to Godliness is not consistent with such practices which yet even nature and right reason utterly condemn The Mysteries of Faith do not so much trouble these men as the severity of its commands These they cannot away with their lusts help them to arguments against the other and they content themselves with little pieces of Sophistry and think to vindicate the ill course of life they have taken up this way Natural conscience and an ordinary reflexion upon the works of nature will not permit them it may be to deny a God though they live as though there were none They will acknowledg him it may be too in a good humour the Creatour of the World but not the Judg and Governour of it they look upon themselves as only born to gratifie their sensual appetite They declare equally for a liberty of living and thinking as they please They will have no restraint laid upon their understanding or their lives Christianity is too strict and therefore too difficult for them They may have the wit perchance but not the morality of the Philosophers whose very lives notwithstanding will condemn them as much as the Christian doctrine Their evil education and custome and prepossession those great hinderances of truth made their refusing Christianity the less inexcusable upon the account of its mysteries while they acknowledged the rules and institutions of it to be according to the highest reason and the exaltation of the humane nature while these men pretend its mysteries to be therefore incredible because the rules of it which thwart their lusts so much are so severe Little or no good I know is to be done upon these men by perswasion or argument of which they are scarce capable who turn all things into Burlesque and ridicule They it seems are too witty for so they call their boldness and want of judgment either to understand or embrace the principles of Christianity but their ill lives shew that were they as clear as the principles of Geometry so long as a strict and holy life is as necessary and essential to the being of a Christian as a right and sound faith they would except and cavil at them and at last reject them and if the Gospel be hid be esteemed after so many clear and undoubted revelations after such evident proofs and convictions an obscure and incredible doctrine it is hid to them that are lost or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in them that are lost it is only so to such desperate and obstinate wretches whom reason it self cannot satisfie in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not least the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. iv 3 4. But these are wild and extravagant persons of debauched understandings and lives and only to be confuted by the severity of laws and of the two the Christian religion has suffered more by the secret underminings of Hereticks than by their bold attaques These are the more dangerous enemies who deny the truths and mysteries of it upon a pretence of wariness and caution and go soberly about to destroy it But all their objections how plausible soever must at last resolve into obstinacy and pride They fancy things must be and are as they would have them or else they cannot be at all They vainly suppose themselves able to search into the depths of all divine and humane knowledg and being once prepossessed with this conceit they grow peevish and angry because the Christian Religion proposes things to their belief which they cannot grasp and are too big for their understanding and rather than forego this beloved Principle they will destroy the Fundamentals of Christianity and to apply that of Tertullian to them nisi homini Deusplacuerit Deus non erit homo jam Deo propitius esse debebit Christ shall not be God nor satisfie the divine justice for the sins of mankind because this seems incongruous to them it is a difficulty that doth puzzle their understanding it is above the strength of their fancy their reason they say tells them this cannot be allowing of no such thing as faith which is the great duty of the Gospel and forgetting that Christianity is as it is undoubtedly the great mystery of Godliness Thus under a pretence of clearing the truth of Religion and making it the more easily intelligible to Turks and Jews they resist it in the true notion of it and corrupt and destroy it to whom fully agrees that character which St. Paul gave of the followers of Simon Magus 2 Tim. iii. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning the faith such whose understandings are wholly vitiated and perverted notwithstanding the great and fierce claims they laid to knowledg as if they were the only men that understood the will and mind of God such who reject the establish'd truths of the Gospel who have no regard to the heavenly doctrine of the Evangelists and Apostles the truth of which they sealed and
Upon this the Enemies of this Doctrine triumph and boldly pretend that it was inserted by the Catholicks Thus to mention only one for all Socinus himself in his Commentary on these words Satis constat illa esse Adulterina ab hominibus qui suum dogma de trino uno Deo quâcunque ratione defendere propagare volebant in hunc locum infarcta But let the appeal lye to any indifferent Person which is most likely that those who professed their belief of this Doctrine which was grounded too upon several other Texts of Scripture and was derived down to them from the first Ages of the Church and which they contended for with so much earnestness should without any necessity dare commit such a Forgerie which could not but be taken notice of by their watchful Enemies or that this should be done by the Opposers of this Doctrine who were arraigned in general by all the Catholick Writers who had to do with them as falsifiers of the sacred Records and were so much concern'd to do it in defence of their private tenets and fancies and especially to raze this Text with which they were so oppressed out of several Copies from which by Transcripts it might easily be propagated into others And consequently it is not to be admired that several of the Fathers no not Athanasius himself nor Cyril of Alexandria not St. Hilary who defended with so much learning the truth of this great Mystery did not make use of this Testimony they lighting upon some of these Transcripts which is to be said also for St. Austin in his Book 3. Chap. 22. against Maximinus an Arian Bishop for St. Leo in his Epistle to Flavian Bishop of Constantinople against the Heresie of Eutyches Ep. 10. Cap. 5. for Eucherius de questionibus N. Testamenti and for Oecumenius in his Commentary on this Epistle and several others The same reason holds for the omission of it in the Syriack Arabick and Aethiopick Translations the two former of which as they are now extant as is most probable were made long since the times of Arius notwithstanding the pretensions of some to a far greater Antiquity the last is confessedly of a later Date The scarcity of Copies in those days and the malitious industry and cunning of the Hereticks render the conjecture sufficiently probable if no Copy were to be found with this Verse entire and that we had only the authority of some of the Antients who cite it as authentick as having met with it in their Books The Divines of Lovain in collating the N. T. with a great number of Latin Copies found it only wanting in five R. Stephanus in his Edition of the N. T. had the use of fifteen or sixteen old Greek MSS. above half of which retain'd it So the Edition of the N. T. at Complutum compared with antient MSS. printed in the beginning of the Restauration of Polite Literature in Christendome at the expences of the great Cardinal Ximenes only with this variation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus Erasmus confesses he met with a Manuscript in England which he calls by the name of Codex Britanicus which had the whole seventh Verse as we now read it and the eight Verse the latter part thus altered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall lay no stress upon two Writings which pass under the name of Athanasius where this Verse is cited because it is not to be met with in those larger works of his which are acknowledged genuine the one is an account of a disputation according to the title had with Arius in the Council of Nice but the title is faulty as appears from the Discourse it self nor was Arius the Person disputed with there but one of his followers and the reason of the mistake of the title may be ascrib'd to an ignorant Librarius putting down Arius for Arianus and the Dialogue not real but supposed as was usual amongst the Fathers introducing the Hereticks pleading their Cause and the Orthodox refuting their Cavils and defending the Truth And if this may pass for likely there can be no great reason to suspect the Authenticalness of it the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The other is in a Book extant only in Latine lib. 1. de unitâ Deitate Trinitatis ad Theophilum dicente Joanne Evangelistâ in Epistolà sua tres sunt qui testimonium dicunt in Coelo Pater Verbum Spiritus But this piece I confess is very justly rejected as none of his though perchance wrote not many years after his time St. Cyprian who suffered Martyrdome about the year of Ch. 258. Galienus and his Son Valerianus being then Emperours about sixty years before the calling of the Council of Nice in his book de unitate Ecclesiae Catholicae cites this Text expresly as found in the Copies of his time Dicit Dominus Ego Pater unum sumus iterum de Patre Filio Spiritu Sancto hi Tres unum sunt It is not any way material to the design and purpose of this Scholion to inquire in what sense St. Cyprian understood these words but only to vindicate the antiquity of the Copies that retained this reading though it might easily be proved that it was a thing usual with the Fathers as no one can be ignorant who has turn'd over their Writings to interpret places of Scriptures sometimes not according to their primary intent but by way of accomodation Which testimony is so clear and convincing that Sandius in his Appendix quaestionum Paradoxarum uses all his art and skill to avoid the force of it by pretending that several things have been changed added taken away and some other way varied in the Epistle as appears by the observation of Possevinus who took the pains to compare the printed Copies with four MSS. and the acknowledgment of others Perkins James and Rivet from which premises he concludes very boldly upon a meer possibility that this place was never cited by that blessed Martyr but put in by some body else Quam facile itaque etiam hic locus interseri potuit ab his qui non exhorruerunt sacras literas corrumpere propter metum Hereticorum But first this is barely said without the least proof and without the authority of any MS. Secondly neither Pamelius nor Rigaltius nor any other as I know of who put forth St. Cyprian make mention of any various reading in this place all agreeing in it Now that this Epistle is St. Cyprians is undoubted St Cyprian himself referring to it and that the reading is the same now as it was in the old Copies written above eleven hundred and forty years ago appears from Fulgentius who not only cites this seventh verse in his book de fide Catholicâ adversus Pintam Episcopum Arianum in his testimonies del rinitate and in his book de Trinitate ad Felicem Notarium c. 4. which thus begins En habes in brevi
confirmed with their blood but do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the words of St. Polycarp in his Epistle to the Philippians that is by their fraudulent devices model the oracles of God according to their own fancies and lusts who set up a new Religion which the Catholick Church of Christ never knew or was acquainted with and endeavour to destroy the faith of Christianity and think in the mean while they have reason on their side for so doing and how far by their arts and subtilties and plausible insinuations by this their slight and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive for it is nothing else however blancht over and disguised with shews of sober reason they have prevail'd upon this Age is too sad to consider so that now it chiefly concerns us to secure the ground-work the principles of the doctrine of Christ and to oppose this growing evil to watch and stand fast in the faith and quit our selves like men and not to be like children carried away with every blast and wind of doctrine and especially of the vain doctrine of Socinus as it will appear when the varnish and false colours are washt of but to be establisht in the truth of the holy Gospel as the Church hath taught us to pray in the Collect of this anniversary of St. Mark To evince therefore the unreasonableness of their pretensions I shall endeavour in the following discourse to make out these two particulars 1. That the great mysteries of Religion cannot and ought not to be any way prejudicial to the truth of it 2. That the Christian Religion requires us to believe these mysteries upon such grounds as we cannot reject without doing violence to our faculties and consequently that the rejecting and disbelieving them must be unreasonable 1. The great mysteries of Religion cannot and ought not to be any way prejudicial to its truth They who find fault with Christianity for proposing such great mysteries to our beliefs and would have all things so plain and obvious that they should command and force assent should first trie their reason in solving the difficulties of nature and if notwithstanding all their labour and toil after the most accurate researches into the nature of sensible beings of things that we daily see and handle of things that seem to lie level with our understanding and are no way disproportionable to it they cannot pretend to a perfect knowledg of them if the ordinary operations of nature be so abstruse and unintelligible and these depths are not to be fathomed if her secrets are beyond the discovery of the most piercing judgment and reason Religion with greater reason must be allowed to have its mysteries there being such a vast disproportion between things relating to God and his nature and the things of the world The contemplation of nature is curious and useful it is a part of the service and worship we owe to God the Creatour to admire his wisdom and power in the beautiful frame and order of things which is best done by enquiring into their natures and properties into their powers and operations and qualities by examining the curious contexture and the fitness and usefulness of their parts and there is nothing in the whole universe but deserves to be considered and very much conduces to this end This is the business of Philosophy and what contemplative minds labour in the search of to discover and make out how things were at first made and are still continued in their being and to find out their peculiar virtues whereby they produce such a variety of effects and how they may be altered or improved for the farther use and benefit of mankind Nothing of which can be effected at least but very imperfectly and in a way scarce tolerable by acquiescing in general observations derived from weak and slight notices without descending to severe trials and experiments or by relying upon the principles of ordinary Philosophy that are confessedly unintelligible and which instead of explaining nature do but perplex and confound the understanding and which have nothing to maintain and keep up their credit but the authority of a name and the immoderate love of antiquity But whatever hypothesis we fix upon they who have the deepest insight into nature will be forced to confess they see but a little way and all that they can pretend to is but conjecture and probability that when they may seem to arrive at some satisfaction in the order and connexion of things it is very possible and likely that things may be made and exert their causalities otherwise than they suppose be their fancy never so ingenuous and their reason never so profound and strong for who will be so presumptuous as to limit either the wisdom or power of God that he can do no more or must do what they fancy that there are thousands of things that they cannot give any satisfactory account of and that the more they seek to comprehend the reason of things the more they are at a loss the more they are dissatisfied and the effect of their study is nothing but disorder and trouble of mind Now if we are convinced of the weakness and insufficiency of our reason in our ordinary speculations if it fails us when we attempt to give an account of our selves and the operation of our minds and when we have to do with plain matters of sense how unfit and unable must it be to comprehend and make out things that stand at that infinite distance from it to which it bears no proportion They may as well pretend that all these great difficulties and perplexities we meet with in the conceptions of things should be taken away that all men ought to be born compleat Philosophers and be inspir'd with the perfect knowledg of things which they cannot attain to after several years spent in labour and study that nothing should exist but what we can conceive and that the truth and possibility of things should not derive from the will and pleasure of God and from that Idea he has in his divine understanding but only take their measures and be judged by those narrow conceptions we borrow from sense Men are not to be disputed out of the belief of their senses that there is no such thing as motion or continuity of parts in extended matter because of the great difficulties that attend the conception of them and things are daily produced and by degrees arrive at the perfection of their being and perform actions suitable to their respective natures though Philosophers disagree in their opinions and are dissatisfied one with another and cannot tell how or in what manner they do all this 2. Thus Nature has its Mysteries and who will undertake to explain Secondly the Mysteries of Providence and account for all those extraordinary events which have hapned in all ages of the world O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and