an Eternal God without knowing how any thing is Eternal These are Disputes in Philosophy and such as none but vain Men will dispute about as being acknowledged above our Compreâ—…ension and therefore no reasonable â—…bjection against our Faith Thus as for the Doctrine of the Incarâ—…ation nothing can be plainer in Scripâ—…ure than that the Son of God was made â—…an That the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us That God was manifest in the flesh And all the Disputes about this Article are purely Philosophical Some men reject it because they cannot understand how God and Man can be united in one Person Others confound the Divine and Humane Nature as Eutyches did or divide the Persons as Nestoriâ—…us did both which indeed destroy the Article of the Incarnation for the Word is not made Flesh unless the same Person who is God is Man too and continues perfect God and perfect Man after this Union But all these Disputes concern the Philosophy of the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ and if we would separate between Faith and Philosophy such Disputes might soon be ended Thus most of the difficulties in the Pelagian and Quinquarticular Controversy are ultimately resolved into mere Philosophical Disputes about Fate and Prescience Liberty and Necessity and God's concourse with Creatures or the Powers of Nature and Grace And would time permit it were easy to shew this in most of the Controversies of Religion That it is not what God has revealed and what he requires us to believe but such nice Philosophical Questions as men raise about these matters which occasion all these Disputes It has often been proposed as a means of Union to silence all Disputes To confine our selves to Scripture-Words and Expressions without determining the signification of them But this would make only an Agreement in Words not a Consent in Opinions not could it secure the Peace of the Church while all men knew that under the same form of Words they had very different and contrary Meanings which would still make them as much Hereticks to each other as if their Words did as expresly contradict each other as their Faith But would men reduce all their Disputes to Scripture and make that the only Rule of their Faith without intermixing any Philosophical Disputes with it this would be an infallible means of Union for it is only this vain pretence to Philosophy which raises all â—…ese Disputes and then tempts men to â—…ervert the Scriptures to justify their â—…hilosophy In all these cases we are concerned to â—…quire what the true sense of the Article 〈◊〉 for this the Scripture teaches and â—…o far our Faith is concerned and these â—…re not only justifiable but necessary Disâ—…utes if the true Faith be necessary And â—…uch were the Disputes of the Cathoâ—…k Fathers with the Sabellian Arian and â—…hotinian Hereticks Whether Father â—…on and Holy Ghost were only three Names or three Appearances or Manifestations of the same one single Person or any other Three but three True Proper Coeternal and Coequal Persons Or whether He who is in Scripture called the Son of God be a Creature though the most Excellent Creature or a Son and God by Nature truly begotten of his Father's Substance Or whether Christ be God Incarnate or a meer Man And their ancient Creeds pretended to no more than to teach what the Catholick Faith was not to expound the Philosophy of the Trinity and Incarnation And thus far we must explain the Faith as to know and to let others know what it is we believe and if to assert the ancient Catholick Faith against old and New Heresies should be called new Explications we cannot help it for we must explain what the Scripture teaches about these Articles and how the Catholick Church always understood them But that which we are to beware of is Not to mix Philosophy with our Faith nor to admit of any meer Philosophical Objections against the Faith nor to attempt any Explications of these Mysteries beyond what the Scriptures and the Faith and Practice of the Catholick Church will justify Indeed the Importunity of Hereticks did very often engage the Catholick Fathers in Philosophical Disputes but this they did not to explain the Christian Mysteries by Philosophy but only to shew that as incomprehensible as these Mysteries are the Philosophy of Hereticks and their Objections against these Articles were very absurd And such Disputes as these may somtimes be absolutely necessary and of great use to shame these vain Pretences to Philosophy while we do not put the Trial of our Faith upon this Issue Secondly Let us now consider what â—…eat reason we have to reject all the â—…in Pretences to Reason and Philosophy â—…en opposed to a Divine Revelation â—…r that is all the Apostle intends in this â—…ution not to discourage the use of â—…eason or the study of Philosophy â—…hich are great Improvements and a â—…lightful Entertainment of Humane â—…inds and with a wise and prudent â—…onduct may be very serviceable to Reâ—…gion too but we must not set up any â—…onclusions in Philosophy against the â—…hristian Faith nor corrupt the Faith â—…ith a mixture of Philosophy nor reâ—…ct any revealed Truths for want of â—…atural Ideas to conceive them by To shorten this Discourse as much as 〈◊〉 can I shall at present only shew you â—…hat reason we have to believe those â—…octrines which are thought the most â—…ysterious and inconceivable notwithâ—…tanding any Objections from natural Reason and Philosophy against them And the account of this must be resolved â—…nto the Nature Use and Authority of Revelation that Revelation as to such matters as are knowable only by Revelation must serve instead of Sense Natural Ideas and Natural Reason that is That we must believe things whiâ—… we do not see things which we haâ—… no Natural Notion or Conception of things which are not evident to Naturâ—… Reason for without this there is littlâ—… use of Faith no Authority of pure Revelation It is true the General Corruption oâ—… Mankind made it very necessary for God to revive the Laws of Nature and to reinforce the observation of them by his own Authority and Command but the proper work of Revelation is to discover such things to us as Nature cannot teach of which we have no Natural Notion nor any Natural Evidence At least thus it may be if God knows more than Natural Reason teaches or can comprehend and thinks it fit to reveal such Supernatural Truths to us when he sees it useful for Mankind Now if God ever does reveal such things to us if we believe upon God's Authority which is the strickt Notion of a Divine Faith we must believe without any Natural Evidence meerly because God has revealed it and then we must believe such things as are not evident to Sense and Reason and then it can be no Objection against Revelation nor against the belief of any such â—…pernatural Truths that we have no Natural Notion nor Natural
Evidence â—…f them that they are what we cannot â—…onceive and comprehend To believe no farther than Natural â—…eason can conceive and comprehend is â—…o reject the Divine Authority of Reveâ—…tion and to destroy the distinction beâ—…ween Reason and Faith He who will â—…elieve no farther than Natural Reason â—…pproves believes his Reason not the Revelation and is in truth a Natural Philosopher not a Believer He believes â—…he Scriptures as he would believe Plato â—…nd Tully not as inspired Writings but â—…s agreeable to Reason and the result of wise and deep Thoughts and this puts an end to all the Disputes about Faith and Revelation at once For what use is there of Faith What matter whether the Scriptures be divinely inspired or not when we are no farther concerned with them than with other Humane Writings to believe what they teach agreeable to our own Reason Let these Men then either reject Faith and Scripture or confess that Revelation as to all supernatural Truths must serve us instead of Sense and Reason I would gladly know of them whether they would not believe such Supernatural Truths as are not evident to Reason were they sure that God had revealed them I guess they will not be so hardy as to say That they would not believe God himself should he reveal such things as their Reason cannot comprehend and if they would believe God in such matters why will they not believe a Revelation which they themselves acknowledge to be Divine in such matters For is there any difference between believing God and believing a Divine Revelation If God does know and can reveal such Mysteries and is to be believed when he does reveal them and such Doctrines are contained in an undoubted Revelation then the unconceivableness of them can be no Argument against the Truth of the Revelation or that sense of the words which contains such Mysteries Let us then consider the natural consequence of this which is of great moment in this dispute viz. That we must allow of no Objections against Revealed Mysteries which we will not allow to be good Objections against Sense and Reason which is a necessary and unavoidable consequence if Revelation with respect to supernatural Truths stand in the place of Sense and Reason Now no man questions the Truth of what he sees and feels or what he can prove to be true by plain and undeniable Reason meerly because there are unconceivable difficulties in it as there are in every thing even the most certain and familiar things in Nature And if Revealed Truths are not more unconceivable than many natural objects of Sense and Reason why should their being unconceivable be a greater objection against believing a Revelation than it is against believing our Sense and Reason in matters equally unconceivable When God has revealed to us That he has an Eternal and only begotten Son though we cannot comprehend the Mystery of the Eternal Generation why should we not as firmly believe it as we do that Man begets a Son in his own likeness the Philosophy of which we as little understand Nor can we any more conceive the Union of the Soul and Body than we do the Incarnation of the Son of God or the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in one Person And if we own the Authority of Revelation why should we not as well believe what Revelation teaches how unconceivable soever it be as we do what Sense and Reason teaches though it be alike unconceivable All men are sensible that it is very absurd and foolish to deny the Being of any thing which they have certain evidence of because they cannot comprehend the Nature and Reasons of it The Man who rose up and walked before the Philosopher who was disputing subtilly against the possibility of Motion put a scorn upon all his Arguments by shewing him that he could move And therefore we see that all men believe their Senses and Reason against all the difficulties in Nature and will never be perswaded by the subtillest Disputant that that is not which they certainly see and know to be Now for the same reason if Men will allow the Authority of Revelation they must believe what is revealed how unconceivable and incomprehensible soever its nature be for when we know what a thing is and this may be known by Revelation as well as by Sense as those Men must confess who acknowledge a Divine Revelation no difficulties in conceiving it must perswade us to deny that it is This is very plain in it self though few men consider it That to disbelieve what is Revealed for the sake of any difficulties in understanding or conceiving it is to reject the certainty of Revelation For what other account can be given of that difference men make between the Evidence of Sense and Reason and of Revelation but that they allow Sense and Reason to be good and certain proofs of the Being of such things as are evident to Sense and Reason how Mysterious soever their natures are but that mere Revelation is no certain proof of the Being of any thing which is not evident also to Sense and Reason how plainly soever it be revealed that is that Revelation alone can prove nothing for if Revelation it self could prove the certainty of what is revealed the difficulties in Nature and Philosophy could no more disprove a Revelation than confute our Senses Now let any man judge whether this be not unequal usage to expect more from Revelation than they do from Sense and Reason and not to believe Revelation upon the same terms that they believe their Senses Should Men resolve to believe nothing which they see till they could give a Philosophical account of the Reasons and Causes and Natures of all they see as they refuse to believe a Revelation any farther than they can conceive and comprehend the thing revealed they must of necessity be as great-Scepticks as they are Infidels For as for Contradictions it is an easy matter to make or find seeming Contradictions in what we do not understand for when we know not the Philosophical Natures of things nor how they act and yet will be reasoning and guessing at them all our false guesses may be full of Contradictions and Impossibilities because we know not the true Mystery of Nature It is this vain humour of Criticizing upon Nature which makes so many Atheists They go upon the same Principle with Infidels and Hereticks To believe nothing which natural Reason cannot conceive and comprehend now they cannot comprehend the Notion and Idea of a God which they say is made up of Contradictions and Impossibilities and therefore they reject the Being of a God They cannot conceive a Creating Power which can give Being to that which had no Being before which they think a plain Contradiction to make Something of Nothing and therefore they reject the Creation of the World and either assert the Eternity of the World or at least the Eternity of Matter They can
are nothing else but the Disputes of Philosophy and therefore according to the Apostolical Command to be wholly flung out of Religion and not suffered to affect our Faith one way or other To be a Philosopher and a Christian to Dispute and to Believe are two very different things and yet it is very evident that most of the Arguments against Revelation in general and most of the Disputes about the particular Doctrines of Christianity are no better than this vain deceit of Philosophy that were the Matters of Faith and the Disputes of Philosophy truly distinguished this alone would be sufficient to settle the Faith of Christians and restore Peace and Unity at least in the great Fundamentals of Religion to the Christian World 1. As to begin with Revelation in general The Books of Moses are the most Ancient and that considered the best attested History in the World the whole Nation of the Iews whose History he writes pay the greatest veneration to him and if we believe the Matters of Fact which he relates he was certainly an Inspired Man who could neither deceive nor be deceived And it is impossible to have greater Evidence for the Truth and Authenticalness of any Writings at such a distance of time than we have for the Writings of the New Testament and indeed the Infidels of our Age have very little to say purely against the Credibility of the History and then one would think that all their other Objections should come too late unless they will justifie Pharaoh in disbelieving Moses and the Scribes and Pharisees in disbelieving our Saviour after all the Miracles they did For if they will disbelieve Moses and Christ though they have nothing material to object against the Truth of these Histories nothing which they would allow to be good Objections against any other History they must by the same reason have disbelieved them though they had seen them do all those great Works which are reported of them in such Credible Histories But whatever the Authority of these Books are they think they may securely reject them if they contain any thing which contradicts their Reason and Philosophy and they find a great many such things to quarrel with They think Moses's History of the Creation very unphilosophical That the Story of Eve and the Serpent is an incredible Fiction That the Universal Deluge is absolutely impossible and irreconcileable with the Principles of Philosophy and it does not become Philosophers to have recourse to Miracles That what we call Miracles are not the effects of a Divine Power but may be resolved into Natural Causes That Inspiration and Prophesy is nothing but natural Enthusiasm and all the Pretences to Revelation a Cheat and Imposture That Nature teaches us all that we need to know That there is no other certain knowledge but this That we are not bound to believe any thing which our own reason cannot grasp and comprehend and therefore Revelation is perfectly useless and God himself cannot oblige us to believe any thing which does not agree with the Reason of our own Minds and the Philosophy of Nature Those who understand the Mystery of Modern Infidelity know that these and such like are the wise Reasons for which they reject and ridicule all Revealed Religion and endeavour to rob and spoil men of one of the greatest Blessings in the World a Divine Revelation So that Infidelity is resolved into these vain Pretences to Philosophy that Men will understand how to make destroy and govern the World better than God 2. As these Men oppose Reason and Philosophy to Revelation so others either deny the fundamental Articles of Christianity for the sake of some Philosophical Difficulties or corrupt the Doctrines of Christianity by a mixture of Philosophy The Gospel of our Saviour is the plainest Revelation of the Will of God that ever was made to the World all its Doctrines are easily understood without Art and Subtilty and yet there is not a more nice intricate perplext thing in the World than what some Men have made the Christian Faith All the Subtil Disputes of Philosophy are brought into the Church and Plato and Aristotle are become as great Apostles as St. Peter or St. Paul As to give some few Instances of it for time will not permit me to discourse it at large What are the Arian Socinian Pelagian Controversies but meer Philosophical Disputes with which these Hereticks corrupted the Catholick Faith There is nothing more plain and express in Scripture than the Faith of Father Son and Holy Ghost or the Doctrine of the Trinity in Unity and that great Art and Subtilty which has been used and to so little purpose to pervert those Texts of Scripture wherein this Doctrine is contained is an evident proof That this is the plain natural obvious sense of those Texts since it requires so much Art and Criticism to put any other sense on them and that will not do neither till men are resolved rather to make any thing of Scripture than to find a real Trinity there If then this Faith be so plainly contained in Scripture what makes all this dispute about it What makes those who profess to believe the Scripture so obstinate against this Faith Truly that which makes some men Infidels makes others Hereticks that is a vain Pretence to Philosophy The first Philosophical Dispute is about the Divine Unity We all own with the Scripture that there is but one God but we say further as the Scripture teaches us That there are Three Father Son and Holy Ghost each of which is true and perfect God This they say is a Contradiction and if it be so there is an end of this Faith for both parts of a Contradiction can't be true But to be Three and One upon different accounts and in different senses is no Contradiction for thus three may be One and One Three and this is all the Scripture teaches or that we profess to believe whatever the Mystery of this Distinction and Unity be But this will not satisfie these Philosophical Wits unless they can comprehend how Father Son and Holy Ghost are really and distinctly Three and essentially One the manner of which the Scripture gives no account of and therefore this is no dispute in Faith but only in Philosophy Another objection concerns the Divine Generation how God can beget a Son of his own Substance which the Arians thought inferred a Division of the Divine Substance And a Third Objection concerns an Eternal Generation how it is possible that the Father should beget an Eternal Son that the Son should be begotten without any beginning of Being and that the Father should not be at least some few moments before the Son and consequently the Son not Eternal Now we all grant that we can give no Philosophical account of this no more than we can of the simple Divine Essence or of Eternity it self but we may believe that God has an Eternal Son as we do that there is
conceive no Substance but Matter and Body and therefore reject the Notion of a Spirit as Nonsense and Contradiction They will allow nothing to be wisely made which they understand not the reason and uses of and therefore they fancy a great many botches and blunders in Nature which cannot be the designs and contrivance of Wisdom but the effects of Chance and then the consequence is plain That the World was made by Chance not by a Wise Author Now I confess if this way of Reasoning be allowed it will be impossible to defend either Sense or Reason or Revelation against the Cavils of Atheists and Infidels for there are unconceivable and incomprehensible Secrets and Mysteries in them all and if to conceive and comprehend the Natures of things must be made the measure and standard of true and false we must deny our Senses and Reason as well as our Faith and if we do and must believe our Sense and Reason beyond our Comprehension why must we believe nothing that is Revealed any farther than we can conceive and comprehend the Nature and Reasons of it The Sum is this Humane Knowledge whatever the means of knowing be whether Sense or Reason or Revelation does not reach to the Philosophical Causes and Natures of things but only to their Being and Natural Vertues and Powers and as a Wise man who knows the Measure of his understanding expects no more from Sense and Reason than to know what things there are in the World and what they are as far as they fall under the notice of Sense and Natural Reason so we must expect no more from Revelation than the knowledge of such things as Sense and Natural Reason cannot discover But we must no more expect the Philosophy of Supernatural Truths from Revelation than we do the Mysteries of Nature from Sense and Reason Now since Humane Knowledge is not a knowledge of the Mysterious Natures of things but only to know what things there are and what they are there can be no contradiction between Sense and Reason and Revelation unless one denies what the other affirms not that one teaches more than the other teaches or that one cannot comprehend what the other teaches Reason teaches more than Sense teaches or can comprehend and Revelation teaches more than either Sense or Natural Reason teaches or can comprehend but this is no contradiction but only a subordination between these different kinds and degrees of Knowledge but as for Unconceivableness and Incomprehensibility that is no argument against any thing for Sense and Natural Reason can no more comprehend their own Objects than they do what is revealed And it is manifest perverseness to make that an objection against Revelation which we will not allow to be an objection against Sense and Reason This is sufficient as to the reason of the thing but as far as it is possible to remove mens Prejudices also against believing Mysteries I shall briefly answer two very popular Objections 1. It is thought very unnatural that when God has made us reasonable Creatures and therefore made Natural Reason to us the measure of Truth and Falshood he should require us to believe without Reason as we must do if he reveals such things to us as we know not and cannot possibly know the reasons of If we must believe with our Understanding how can we believe things which we cannot understand This were a reasonable Objection were it true for we cannot believe what we have no knowledge nor understanding of for Faith is Knowledge though not Natural Knowledge But do we not understand what it is we believe Do we not know what we mean when we say we believe in Father Son and Holy Ghost Nay do not our Adversaries understand what we mean by it How then come they to charge us with believing Contradictions and Impossibilities For if they know not what we believe they cannot know whether we believe Contradictions or not And if we do understand what it is we believe then we do not believe without understanding which is absolutely impossible if we know what it is we believe And we know also why we believe Our Faith is founded in Sense and Reason and resolved into the Authority of God which is the highest and most infallible Reason The Miracles which Christ and his Apostles wrought were evident to Sense and owned by Reason to be the effects of a Divine Power and the Answer the Blind man gave to the Pharisees when Christ had opened his eyes speaks the true Sense of Nature Herein is a marvellous thing that ye know not from whence he is and yet he hath opened mine Eyes Now we know that God heareth not Sinners but if any man be a Worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth Since the World began was it not heard that any man opened the Eyes of one that was born blind If this man were not of God he could do nothing 9 John 30 31 32 33. And all Mankind own that the most absolute Faith is due to God and to those who speake from God and this as I take it is to believe with Reason But still we believe such things whose Natures we do not understand and cannot account for by Natural Reason and this is to believe without Reason We believe that God the Father hath an Eternal Son and an Eternal Spirit and that Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one Eternal God but this is what Natural Reason cannot comprehend nor give us any notion or conception of how God can have an Eternal Son and an Eternal Spirit really distinct from himself and yet with himself One Eternal and Infinite God Reason can give no account of the Eternal Generation of the Son nor of the Eternal Procession of the Holy Spirit and is not this to believe without Reason which a reasonable Creature ought not to do and which we ought not to think that God who made us reasonable Creatures expects from us And this I grant would be a material Objection were Reason the Judge of the Nature and Philosophy of things and did Reason require us to believe nothing but what we understand and comprehend But then we must no more believe Sense and Reason than Revelation for we do not comprehend the Nature of any one thing in the World how evident soever it is to Sense and Reason that there are such things Nature is as great a Mystery as Revelation and it is no greater affront to our Understandings no more against Reason for God to reveal such things to us as our Reason cannot comprehend than 〈◊〉 is to make a whole World which â—…eason cannot comprehend When we make it an Objection against â—…ny thing that it is without Reason or â—…s we apprehend against Reason and contrary to Reason we must first conâ—…ider whether it be the proper object of Reason otherwise it is no Objection as it is no Objection against Sounds that we cannot see them nor against Colours
spell out from the visible Creation And on the other hand though we must not urge the Authority of Revelation to prove a God which would â—…e to beg the Question yet the being of a Revelation we may for whatever proves a Divine Revelation proves a God The wisest and acutest Philosophers among the Heathens thought this the best and most sensible Proof of a God Balbus the Stoick having begun his Cicero de natura Deorum Proof of the Being of a God from â—…his visible Creation and the univerâ—…al Consent of Mankind in this Belief â—…e resolves the Firmness and Stability of this Perswasion into those visible Signs which their Gods oftentimes gave of their own Power and Presence Quòd presentiam soepe Divi suam declarant And the Argument is certainly a very good one though the Particular Instances he gives of it may be vain and fictitious and want sufficient attestation to gain belief But had Balbus instead of the Apparitions of Castor and Pollux and their ridiculous Rites of Divination seen the Miracles of Moses and of Christ the familiar Conversation of God with Abraham and Moses the terrible Appearance of Mount Sinai when God delivered the Law in an audible Voice and the infallible Accomplishment of Prophesies that is had his Proofs of a Divine Power and Presence been as undeniable as his reasoning from such Divine Appearances to the Being of a God is unanswerable all the Wit and Sophistry in the World could never have evaded this Argument for it would be impossible to perswade Men there is no God when they do little less than see him in such present and sensible Effects as can have no other Cause but a God However thus much we learn from this dispute that according to the Sense of the wisest Men such visible Effects of a Divine Power and Presence are the most irresistible Argument for the Being of God that the wisest Men did believe that if there is a God he would give some undeniable Proofs of his own Being in the Acts of Government and Providence as well as of Creation And that if there never had been any such sensible Appearances of such a Divine Power and Presence it would at least have rendred the Being of God very doubtfull This should make all those who heartily believe a God to think and speak more honourably of Revelation for the Belief of a God and of Revelation will stand and fall together that a Deist who ridicules all Revelation takes a very ill Course to perswade the World that he believes a God Secondly The unreasonableness of Deism will further appear if we consider that to acknowledge the Being of a God makes it highly reasonable to believe a Revelation I do not say that to believe a God obliges us to believe every pretended Revelation for the truth of any particular Revelation depends on those peculiar Marks of Divinity and Credibility which it bears on it but whoever beleives that there is a God cannot think it incredible that God should reveal himself and his Will to Mankind nay will see great reason to believe that he has done so as the State of the World in the different Ages and Dispensations of it did require and would admit For First No Man who believes that there is a God can question whether God can if he so pleases make a more perfect manifestation of himself and his Will to Mankind than he has done by the Works of Nature for what can't he do who made the World and is infinite in Wisdom and Power as to consider particularly some of those ways whereby God is supposed to reveal himself to Mankind God is a pure and infinite Mind who cannot be seen by Mortal Eyes and yet will any Man say that God cannot by some visible Appearances convince Men of his immediate Presence beyond all possibility of Doubt that he cannot either with or without such visible Appearances speak to them and talk as familiarly with them as one Man converses with another And then whatever Truth there be in the Story which is another Enquiry there is nothing in its own Nature incredible in those Relations we have of God's appearing to Adam and conversing with him in Paradise of his appearing to Abraham and Iacob who saw God face to face Gen. 32. 30. Of his speaking to Moses face to face as a Man talketh with his Friend Exod. 33. 11. Cannot God who formed our Minds and knows all the Springs of Thoughts draw such clear and bright Scenes and Pictures of things on our Fancy and Imagination whether sleeping or waking as shall need no other proof of their Divinity but themselves As Light is known by it self and the first Principles and Maxims of Reason by their own Evidence Cannot the Son of God who made the World and made Man if he so pleases cloath himself with Humane Nature and appear and converse in the World as a Man and familiarly instruct Mankind in the Will of God and the Way to Heaven There is no question then but God can if he pleases inspire Men with the Knowledge of his Will either by Dreams and Visions or by an audible Voice and a familiar Conversation oâ—… by an immediate Impression upon the higher Faculties of Reason and Understanding so that if there be a God there may be Prophets inspired by God to reveal his Will to Men And therefore the Pretences to Prophesie must not be laugh'd out of the World but examined The thing is not incredible because it is what God can do but the Prophet must be tried because there may be Cheats and Impostures Now the trial of a Prophet whether he come from God is by such Works as no Man can do except God be with him that is in short by what we call Miracles and foretelling things to come And here again he who believes that there is a God cannot think either Miracles or a Prediction of future Events impossible For what cannot that God do and know whose Power and Knowledge are infinite What cannot that God do who made the World Is it such a Difficulty to him who framed our Bodies out of the â—…ust to give Health to the Sick or Sight to the Blind to make the Deaf to Hear and the Lame to Walk and to â—…aise the Dead We all know this is above Humane Power and therefore if â—…uch things be done they must be done by the Power of God and we know â—…hat God can do them and therefore Miracles are not impossible or incredible to him who believes a God Thus far the Deist must agree with me unless he have a very mean Opinion of his God For a God who cannot reveal his Will to Mankind who cannot inspire Prophets nor work Miracles nor foretel things to come is no God has not the Wisdom and the Power of a God Now this is a great Point gained for if God can do all this then there is no Objection against the Nature of
bear this when so dear an Interest is concerned as the Salvation of their Souls And the truth is that Forbearance St. Paul so often mentions was to preserve Men of different attainments and different apprehensions in the Unity of the Church not to countenance their Schisms and Separations But yet since we are fallen into such unhappy Circumstances that a great many Men whom we have reason to hope are in other respects very good Christians and such as our common Saviour will receive with all their Infirmities are involved in a Schism let us still treat them as Christian Brethren pay all that Kindness and Respect to them which is due to the Members of Christ to the Children of the same Father and the Heirs of the same Promises The good Order and Government and the wholesome Laws and Constitutions of a Church must not be presently Sacrificed to the Scruples of every good but it may be ignorant and indiscreet Christian but yet in our Treatment of them we must consider whether we have not reason to think that Christ will own them with all their Faults and if we have reason to believe that Christ will own them we ought also to own them and pay such Kindness to them as is due to all sincere Christians tho under some Mistakes Now I am very confident after all the Heats that have been between the Church of England and Dissenters neither of them will Damn each other upon account of such Differences as are between them no Church of England-man will say that to Pray Extempore to Baptize without the Sign of the Cross to Officiate without a Surplice to Receive the Sacrament Sitting are damning Sins and I believe there are very few if any of our Dissenters that will say That the contrary Practise is Damning and then there may be good Christians on both sides and those who are so ought to love one another as Members of the same Body of CHRIST though divided in their external Communion by some unhappy Differences Schism indeed we do say is a damning Sin but there may be Divisions where there is not always the guilt and formality of Schism and we hope this is the Case of all good Men who separate from the Church through some invincible Prejudices and Prepossessions This shews what great reason we have to love one another notwithstanding such dividing Disputes but if we would practise this true Christian Charity we must take care that these Differences do not grow up into personal Hatreds and Animosities Mens Opinions and Practices may differ and while they dispute fairly they may be Friends still but when Self-love Honour Reputation and Interest is engaged in the Quarrel this makes the Enmity mortal and they must Ruin one another though they both fall together This I am sure is not the Zeal which descends from above which is pure and peaceable gentle and easy to been treated 2. The Peace of the Church signifies its Preservation from the Oppression and Persecution of its Enemies For the Church never wants Enemies though their Power be not always equal and this I presume I need not perswade you to Pray for for you are all sensible what an advantage this is There is none of you would choose Racks and Tortures a Gibbet or a Stake these are grievous things to Flesh and Blood the very thoughts of which make us tremble though immortal Life and the Joys and Pleasures of GOD's Presence are an abundant Recompence for the loss of this present Life and all the Sufferings of this World yet it is a very difficult Tryal even to the best Men who when they see it a coming cannot but Pray with the Importunity of an Agony as our SAVIOUR did Lord let this Cup pass from me Though good Men prefer their future Hopes before all present Things yet their Life their Ease their Liberties their Estates are valuable things too and all Men would be glad to get to Heaven without meeting with such a Storm by the way Especially if it be such a Storm as threatens the very Ruin of the Church and of the true Religion to subvert the Faith of many professed Christians to entail Ignorance Infidelity or monstrous Errors on our Posterity in such a case the love of our Religion of our Country of our Posterity will make us raise our Hearts and our Voices to Heaven in our fervent and passionate Prayers for the peace of Ierusalem And if we do heartily Pray for the peace of Ierusalem methinks we should not Sacrifice our Religion to private Animosities GOD forbid were it in my power and had I never so little kindness for Dissenters that I should ever embrace any Proposals which would Ruin all the Dissenters in England and the Protestant Religion into the bargain and I doubt they are no Protestant Dissenters who would be contented to Ruin the CHURCH of ENGLAND though they introduce Popery and set up the Church of Rome in its stead Thus I have shewn you what that Peace is which we must Pray for and I need not add many words in the second place to shew you how necessary Prayer is to obtain these Blessings for not to insist now on those common Topicks of the necessity of Prayer in general and its Power and Efficacy to obtain our Requests of GOD I shall desire you only to consider that this Peace is such a Blessing as none but GOD can bestow and therefore we ought to pray for it 1. As for Unity and Peace among our selves this Saint Paul expresly prays for 15 Rom. 5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ for it is God that maketh men to be of a mind Whoever considers the unruly passions of men their different capacities and understandings and different interests will not wonder that the best Arguments and the most obliging Arts do not always prevail but God can still our passions enlighten our minds over-rule our interests remove our prejudices and unite and reconcile the most distant persons and not to take notice now of that power he has over our Wills and his immediate applications to our Minds and Spirits he many times effects this by some external and visible Providences The Gaol and the Stake presently reconciled the Differences between those two excellent Bishops and Martyrs RIDLEY and HOOPER who before disputed fiercely about some Ceremonies as we have done and I pray God grant us so much Christian prudence and temper that we may not need such means to reconcile us and we have great reason to hope this since the Divine Providence has in a great measure already removed the Prejudices on both sides and convinc'd us that we are not at such a distance from each other as our Enemies would have us and as it may be we thought
Brutes who love Money only to look on or to count their Bags and Securities without suffering themselves or any body else to use it they are not fit to be named For I can hardly reckon them among reasonable Creatures But men's Care of themselves and of their Wives and Children not to descend at present to other Relations which may come within the compass of Charity though of a nearer and more sacred Obligation is thought a very Prudent and Reasonable Consideration in this Case and indeed is so for there is a great deal of Truth and Reason in that common Saying rightly understood That Charity begins at Home The great Controversy then is between our Love to our Selves our Wives and Children and Charity to the Poor Now there is no Dispute but the First must have the Preference but yet Charity to the Poor must have its Place also And then the only Question is In what Proportion this must be And that is a very hard Question if you put it in Arithmetick for I can name no Proportion nor has our Saviour thought fit to name any But as I observed to you before True Charity will assign a just Proportion to it self For a true Charitable Mind will spare what it reasonably can and never below the Proportion of Charity and will spare more or less according to the Degrees of its Charity I must be forced to represent this in short to you that I may not be tedious That Love we have for our selves and for our Natural Dependents will generally secure us against exceeding the Proportions of Charity that there is seldom any Danger on that side On the other hand if we have a true Charitable Mind and a sincere Compassion for the Sufferings of others we shall certainly do what we our selves considering our Circumstances and what all Charitable men who know our Circumstances will call Charity But then the more Intense and Fervent our Charity is this will still increase the Proportion and sometimes to such Heights as can hardly escape the â—…ensure of Affectation and Folly And â—…ere it not for the Interposition of the â—…ivine Providence might sometimes â—…rove very fatal to themselves and their â—…amilies As to give you the Account â—…f this in short There are Two things â—…bsolutely necessary to dispose men to â—…ive Liberally A just Sense of the Miseries of others and a true Judgment of our own Abilities As for the First A Charitable Mind is very easy to receive the Impressions of Charity and the more charitably it is disposed still the more easy Every pitiable Object moves and affects such men and they are no more able to resist the Silent Oratory of meager Looks naked Backs and hungry Bellies were they not sometimes harden'd by Cheats and Vagabonds than to deny themselves what is Necessary to Life Much less can they deny any known and unquestioned Charity for since Charitable they are and Acts of Charity they will do they are very glad to know how to dispose of their Charity to do that Good which they intend by it A soft and tender Mind which feels the Sufferings of others and suffers with them is the true Temper and Spirit of Charity and Nature prompts us to ease those Sufferings which we feel This makes us so ready to supply our own Wants because we have a quick and smart Sense of them and the Christian Sympathy and fellow-feeling of Charity will proportionably incline us to relieve our Suffering Brethren when we feel in our selves what it is they suffer An inward Principle is more powerful than all external Arguments and Sense and Feeling is this Principle and Charity is this Sense Thus as for Proportions a Charitable Mind sets no other Bounds to its Charity but only Ability that the only Question is Whether we can spare any thing from our selves and Families and what we can spare Now when Charity is the judge of this it is always a favourable Judge on the side of the Poor and Miserable and always the more favourable Judge the greater the Charity is It will teach us to think That we want less and consequently can spare more when we consider how much others want At least it will teach us to abate of what we do not want of all Idle and Superfluous Expences of all needless Pomp and Ceremony which is more than our Station and Character requires and it is incredible to think what an inexhausted Fund this would be for Charity Did we truly estimate our own Wants rectify our Expences and set just Bounds to our Desires many of us would soon find that we have a great deal to spare And nothing will so effectually do this as Charity and therefore Charity is the best Rule and Measure to it self So that there is no great occasion to dispute Proportions let us learn to be Charitable and Charity will teach us what to give Every man can tell when another is Charitable and a Charitable man can tell when he himself is so and as our Charity increases so we shall abound in the Fruits of Charity for the more we love the more liberally we shall give This is not to leave what we will give to Charitable Uses to our own free Choice as a Trial of our Ingenuity as some represent it For had this been the Case there should have been some Proportion fixt less than which we should not give though we might give as much more as we pleased for otherwise nothing is matter of strict Duty but all is left to Ingenuity which is so far from being true that there is not a more necessary Duty in all Religion than Charity and even the greatest Degrees and Heights of Charity are all Duty For we are commanded to be Charitable and to aim at the highest Degrees of Charity and the Proportion of giving is referred to the Principle and included in the Degrees of Charity such a Proportion as such a Degree of Charity will give is as much a strict Duty as such a Degree of Charity is The very nature of Charity proves that thus it is and that it can't be otherwise For meerly to give or not to give to give more or less is no certain proof of a charitable or uncharitable Man how liberally soever we give we are not charitable unless we give from a Principle of Charity and our Charity be as great as our Gift So that had God prescribed how much every Man must give to the Poor they might have observed this proportion of Giving without any Charity and then such Gifts as these had been no acts of Charity when the Gift and the Charity was parted But a Charitable Man will give and will give in proportion to the degrees of his Charity and therefore Charity and the encrease of Charity is the only proper object of Command for he will give liberally who loves much and the proportion of giving is commanded in the degrees of Charity which alone can prescribe and
Bitter what gratifies their bodily Senses that is their Pleasure and Happiness without any regard to Vertue Modesty or Honour what lays Restraints upon their sensual Inclinations that is bitter uneasy and grievous and no wonder that there is a Woe denounced against these Men. 4ly Woe be to them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight Where the Prophâ—…t speaks of the same Men still those who call evil good and good evil who put darkness for light and light for darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter and yet think themselves the only wise Men in the World though they contradict the Sense of all Mankind the natural uncorrupted Sense of their own Minds the Light of Nature and the Word of God This is the just Character of Atheists and Infidels who think themselves the only Wits the only Philosophers and laugh at all the rest of the World as easy credulous unthinking Fools who are under the Tyranny of Custom and popular Opinions which exposes them to all other Cheats They think it an Argument of Wit and profound Thought to contradict all Mankind for there are but few wise Men they say in the World and the most are usually in the wrong which may be allowed as to improved Knowledge which is gained by laborious study and observation but the Folly lies on the other side when Men advance Paradoxes which contradict the universal Sense of Nature for in such Cases the most are likely to be in the right because Natural Productions are more common than Monsters that a wise Man will rather think and judge with the Multitude when they think on Natures side than with the most famed Philosophers against Nature But those who affect to contradict the rest of the World must think themselves the only wise Men if they think at all that we have no more reason to wonder at their Pride and Insolence than at their Atheism and Infidelity 2dly Let us now inquire how these Men come to sink into so degenerate a State as one would think impossible to a reasonable Nature and that is intimated in that order which is observed in my Text that they first call Evil Good and then Good Evil first put Darkness for Light and then Light for Darkness c. As to consider this particularly 1st They begin with calling Evil Good for no Man can begin with calling Good Evil Nature will have the first word and pass the first Judgment on Things and Nature as corrupt as it is till it be depraved and vitiated by evil Customs will call Good good and Evil evil Atheists and Infidels must confess that as wise as they think themselves now there was a time when they were as very fools as the rest of the World that is when they had the same Opinions about Good and Evil which the rest of Mankind still have when they did own a moral difference between Good and Evil and called Good and Evil by their right Names and it is as certain that the only Reason for altering their Opinions and changing the Names of Good and Evil was changing their Manners that they grew very fond of what they themselves as well as the foolish Multitude thought and called Evil and then they began to think and to call it Good and the necessary Consequence of this is to call Good Evil and as unwilling as they are to own this it is demonstrable there can be no other Reason for it Though these Men could prove which they will never be able to do that there is no moral essential immutable difference between Good and Evil between Vertue and Vice yet this is no reason to call Evil Good or Good Evil for though they were neither Sins nor Vertues neither forbid nor commanded by a Divine Law yet they themselves confess as I observed before that what we call Vertues have so much Good in them that they are the best and wisest Rules of Society and Conversation necessary to secure every Mans private Interest and the Peace and good Government of the World and therefore fit to be encouraged and to be made Laws in all civiliz'd Nations and that what we call Sins have so much Evil in them that they are very destructive to Human Societies and deserve to be restrained and punished and then it is certain there never can be any reason to call Evil Good and Good Evil which by their own Confession is a direct contradiction to the Nature of Things it is to call that Evil which they themselves own to be a great and publick Good and that Good which they own to be a publick Mischief which there never can be any reason for So that the Case is plain it is not Reason but Lust which calls Evil Good and Good Evil till Lust prevails above Reason Vertue and Vice Good and Evil keep those Names which God and Nature has given them and such Men offer as much Force and Violence to their Natural Understanding when they call Evil Good and Good Evil as they do to Natural Conscience when they chuse the Evil and refuse the Good This is Answer enough to such Men who would reason or laugh away the distinction between Good and Evil and ought to be a Warning to us all how we engage in a Course of Wickedness for how much soever we despise and abhor these wicked Principles we shall soon think as these Men do if we grow as wicked as they are 2dly These Men first put Darkness for Light and then Light for Darkness Men are not born stark blind but have the Light of Reason to discern the natural differences of Things and to direct their Lives and as weak and defective as meer natural Reason is especially in Matters of Religion and another World it directs us to a safer Guide For Reason it self teaches us to believe God who cannot deceive us and can it self judge of the external and visible Marks of a Revelation that is can judge when God speaks and what we must receive as taught by God This is the Light of Mankind the Light of Reason or Revelation what Nature teaches or what God reveals And all Mankind at first both see and own this Light for no Man is born an Atheist or an Infidel But bad Men who have corrupted their Manners and cannot justifie their Vices nor quiet their Consciences if they attend either to the Light of Nature or Revelation must seek for other Remedies and this makes them espouse the Principles of Atheism and Infidelity and these they call Light which in Truth is a meer Aegyptian Darkness and then they must call Light Darkness reject and scorn both the natural Dictates of Reason and the supernatural Revelation of the Divine Will as Ignorance and Darkness Now whatever Opinion Men have of their Philosophy yet how they should learn what neither Nature nor God teaches them or how they should discover that what all the rest of the
World believe that God and Nature has taught them is false is a Mystery to me And the only Account that can be given of it is what our Saviour gives That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil And when they love Darkness it is no wonder that they call it Light but they must first call Darkness Light before they can put out the Light and turn it into Darkness Now if this be the Truth of the Case as our own Experience and our Observations of other Men assure us it is this is a sufficient Reason to reject all the Principles of Atheism and Infidelity without disputing for they were not born and bred with us as what is natural is and therefore must be owing to the Lusts and Vices of Men which are the Works of Darkness and hate the Light and nothing seems stranger to me than that of all the Men in the World these Men should pretend to Reason who have the least Right oâ—… Pretence to it For what Principles can they reason on who reject the Light of Nature and of Revelation What is Natural Reason but the Reason of Humane Nature And how shall we know what this is but by those common Principles of Reason which Nature has implanted in all Mankind and which Art and Wit and Vice it self have much ado to silence and can never perfectly root out and certainly that is not Natural Reason which contradicts all the Principles of Humane Nature and what is that Reason which is not the Reason of Humane Nature Or how is Mankind concerned in such Reasons as can be no Rule to them unless they put off Humane Nature And indeed this is the Case of these very Men they have put off Humane Nature are degenerated into Bruits and have the Reason and Understanding of Bruits espouse such Principles as serve no other End but to justifie the brutal Nature and therefore laugh at the common Sentiments and Faith of Mankind and pretend to Reason only to reason Humane Nature as well as Revelation out of the World How subtilly soever these Men may dispute it sufficeth me that this is not the Original Belief of Mankind and therefore is not owing to God or Nature but to Lust. No Man can call Light Darkness till he is in love with Darkness for the sake of the Works of Darkness 3dly The same may be said of putting Bitter for Sweet and Sweet for Bitter Men must first reconcile themselves to Wickedness which is naturally very bitter uneasie and grievous and shake off all sense of Shame and Modesty and Fear before they can in good earnest reproach Vertue For till Men are very wicked Vertue is the great Pleasure the truest and sweetest Pleasure of Humane Nature Thirdly Let us now consider the Woe that is denounced against these Men and how unavoidable it is Woe be to them that call Evil Good and Good Evil c. What this Woe is is not here express'd but an indefinite Woe is very terrible for it includes all the Woes that God has any where in Scripture threatned against Sinners the Vengeance of God in this World and the eternal Miseries of the next A Woe signifies a State of extream Misery wherein Men shall bewail and lament themselves without Hope or Redress all the Miseries that such Sinners deserve and therefore the greatest that Humane Nature can suffer because this is the greatest Degeneracy of Humane Nature And therefore to warn you all of falling into this State I shall briefly shew you how unavoidable this Woe is When Men are so in love with their Sins that they resolve never to part with them they vainly think that the only way to secure themselves is to banish God out of the World and to destroy all the differences of Good and Evil and then they may please themselves and live as they list without Fear or Shame or any Danger of a future Account Now so far they are in the right that if they could banish God out of the World their Work were done and they might bid defiance to all the Pulpit-thunder and laugh at all the superstitious fears of Sinners But to perswade themselves contrary to the Sense of Nature and the universal Belief of Mankind that there is no God will not banish God out of the World And if they should find a God after they have perswaded themselves there is none as they certainly will they will find this God a provoked and terrible Judge For what greater Contempt and Despite can be offered to God than to perswade themselves that there is no God This is a State of open Enmity They hate God and would destroy his Being if they could for the Reason why they perswade themselves there is no God is because they would have none and those who hate God are hated by him and must suffer his eternal Vengeance Thus if there were no essential difference between Good and Evil they might chuse for themselves and call things by what Names they pleased Evil Good and Good Evil but if there be such a difference however they havâ—… made shift to conquer this Sense at present if they refuse the Good and chuse the Evil they must lose all that Happiness which they might expect from what is a natural Good that is all the true Happiness of Humane Nature and suffer all those Miseries which those Evils which are contrary to the Happiness of Humane Nature and destructive of it will expose them too For Good and Evil are not empty Names but Good signifies the Happiness of that Nature whose Good it is and Evil its Misery And if after all their Philosophy there be such a distinction of Good and Evil with respect to Humane Nature and that is a strange Nature which has no Good or Evil belonging to it to reject the Good must deprive them of Happiness and to chuse the Evil must make them miserable And if there be a moral as well as natural difference between Good and Evil that one deserves to be rewarded and the other punished we must expect that the Righteous Judge of the World will reward and punish us according to our Works If Men shut their Eyes or put out the Light and then call Darkness Light and Light Darkness how secure soever this may make them at present all that they gain by it is to go to Hell blindfold not to see their Danger before they feel themselves irrecoverably miserable If there be a distinction between Light and Darkness in the Moral and Spiritual as well as in the Natural World as there must be if there be any difference between true Knowledge and Wisdom and Ignorance and Folly If the Office of Light be to direct us in the way to Heaven those blessed Regions of eternal Light which those who wander in Darkness can never find If the necessary Effect of putting Darkness for Light be to lose the sight