required Holiness of life in the Person that pretends a Divine Mission and a Doctrine worthy of God and every way useful to Mankind Hence our Author adds p. 15. That to make up a right Iudgment concerning a Divine Testimony the matter it self which is attested ought to come into consideration which if it contain any thing contrary to the settled Principles of Nature those Miracles are not to be looked upon as Divine but as Diabolicaâ—… Delusions Therefore for the Writers of the Romish Church to pretend Miracles now and to rank them among the Essential Characters to prove the Truth of a Church by as Bellarmine does when all men whose Eyes are open discover the greatest part of those Miracles to be the Frauds and Impostures of cunning Priests or if they were true it being evident that they are wrought by Apostate Spirits for the Confirmation of such Doctrines as are clearly repugnant to the setled Principles of Right Reason it is 1. To hazard and call in Question the Truth of those Miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles for the Confirmation of Christianity And 2. to use the Words of a learned Man of our own If any strange things have been done in that Church they prove nothing but the Truth of Scripture which foretold that God's Providence permitting it and the Wickedness of the World deserving it strange Signs and Wonders should be wrought to confirm false Doctrine that they which love not the Truth should be given over to strong Delusions So that now we have Reason rather to suspect and be afraid of pretended Miracles as signs of false Doctrine then much to regard them as certain Arguments of Truth Neither is it strange that God should permit some true Wonders to be done to delude those who have forged so many Wonders to deceive the World Pag. 15. Here lies the Principal Difference between Mankind and Brutes in their being capable of Religion That the Essential Difference between Mankind and Brutes does not lie solely and purely in Rationality appears from hence in that Brutes are capable of Reason though in a lower Degree And moreover we can frame a very Intelligible Idea of such Creatures as are capable of Reason so as to build Cities and to Form and Institute Common-wealths which yet have no Distinction of moral Good and Evil and consequently are neither capable of rewards nor punishments and perhaps some such Animals may be actually existent in some part or other of the World But that which constitutes the true difference between Men and Brutes is Religion which the Satyrist took notice of Separat hoec nos A grege mutorum atque ideò venerabile soli Sortiti ingenium divinorúmque capaces Pag. 16. If we once forsake the guidance of Reason must not all Religion be owing either to Education Superstition or some Fanatical Impulse To him that forsakes the Conduct of Right Reason all Religions are alike and he may as well be a Mahumetan or Jew as a Christian and indeed that he has any Religion at all is owing chiefly to his Education and the Laws of the Country wherein he lives But Religion being a matter of choice there must be some standing and setled Rule by which to try and judge the Truth or Falshood the Congruity or Incongruity of it And such a Rule as this God has furnished Mankind withal namely Right Reason and he that having means and opportunity to try and examine the Religion that is propounded to him as Matter of his Choice shall yet carelesly content himself with it because he has been educated and trained up in it has his Understanding given him to no purpose and may justly fear as a Punishment of this his careless Oscitancy and slothful Credulity that Providence should permit him to swallow great and dangerous Errors as well as Truth For he that believes without Reason declares himself indifferent to believe any thing right or wrong Socrates gives this Commendation of Cebes that he was careful to inquire into all things and duly weigh them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would not presently believe that which any Body said though otherwise he had sufficient respect unto him I shall subjoin what an excellent Writer speaks to this Purpose We ought not says he to surrender our belief to any thing carelesly nor either out of idleness and sloth or being over-awed by the Confidence which any men assume to themselves content our selves with an Implicit Faith Neglecting to search and try and prove all Things which demand to have no less then our Souls resigned up unto them We ought therefore to suspect those who would have us believe them without putting our selves to the trouble of much search It is a sign they mean to deceive for if God himself does not expect to be believed unless there be Good witness for that to which his Ambassadours demand Assent why should men be so presumptuous as to ask us to believe them blindly Or why should we be such Obedient Fools as to do more for them then God would have us do for himself He has given us Eyes and therefore we ought to look about-us especially when Men bid us wink and take any thing upon trust He has endued us with Reason and therefore we ought to sift and try and examine that which is propounded to us And if any Body say Do not try nor examine you are not able to discern the Differences of things Believe as we teach for we cannot deceive you Mark that Man or Company of Men as the greatest Deceivers who intend to impose something upon you which will not abide the Test. Pag. 17. Religion is a free and ingenuous Thing that forceth none but Captivates the Understanding with its own solitary Beauty and Pulchritude The Soul of Man being the Workmanship of the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wisdom of God and coming into the World furnished with the Seeds and Principles of all true Wisdom and Knowledge however its Lapse and Degeneracy have clouded and darkned its Intellectual Faculties yet there still remaining such a Cognation and Harmony between it and Truth she cannot but embrace it whenever duly and advantageously proposed Now Christian Religion being likewise the Genuine Offspring of that Wisdom which has left such visible Characters and Signatures of it self upon the whole Frame of Heaven and Earth the Soul of Man presently discovers all the Beautiful Emanations of it to be Congenerous and Homogeneal to its own Intellectual Light and as all like is attractive of its like is gently and willingly captivated and sweetly drawn as with some hidden strings to a closer and nearer union with it And this is the Reason why Christianity neither needs nor uses Violence or Force to beget Belief and Entertainment in Humane Minds because it is made up only of such Things as intimately Correspond with the Intellectual Frame and Furniture of the Soul Nor indeed supposing Religion to contain any thing
of Evident and sound Reason then to â—…ancy that our Reason which is given us of God for a Guide should be deceived in its clearest and most distinct conception of things For if we throw a way Reason there is no other Directive Faculty but External sense and its Inclinations and blind and uncertain Phansie which is obnoxious to innumerable Deceptions Wherefore bidding adieu to Reason do we not evidently expose our selves to the Illusion of every Jugling Spirit who by crafty Tricks shall counterfeit a Divine Power and Assistance If therefore Moses ordain'd his Law as a Touchstone to try the Truth of a Prophet advising his People not to hearken to any who should do Signs and Miracles if he taught aâ—…y thing contrary to that Law which he himself had delivered to them from God Ought not we in like manner to examine all those that pretend Divine Authority by the Law of Nature and Right Reason as by an inâ—…allible and unerring Rule By the way it is to be noted that I here speak of incorrupted Reason freed from all evil Affections and inlightned by the Spirit of God For without the help of this Guide our Minds perhaps may be filled with a Great Measure of Confidence and Obstinate Persuasion but can never attain any settled Assurance that they are in the right way Neither is it any thing to the Purpose to say that Reason may indeed judge of Humane but not of Divine Things For though this be true of Reason darkned with evil Passions and indubitable in such things as are rather Objects of Taste and Internal sense than Reason yet it is quite otherwise where the Assent of the Understanding alone is required For whatever is proposed as matter of Explicit Belief there must in the first place be a Conception formed of it but now whatever we can frame a Conception of there Reason either discovers the Harmony of the Terms of which it consists and its Agreement with some common Notion and so pronounces the Thing to be true or eâ—…se it finds the Terms to be contradictory and Repugnant and that the Thing is Diametrically opposite to some iâ—…ate Principle and consequently judges it to be false Or else it perceives the Terms to be partly agreeing and partly diâ—…onant or to have no Relation at all to one another and from hence affirms and allows the Thing to be either Probable or Possible And now if any Part either of the Probability or Poâ—…bility shall be confirmed by some Illustrious Miracle then Reason adds its Suffrage that it ought to be believed As for Example let us imagine what is already done a certain Person compassing Sea and Land and wâ—…olly intent upon this very Thing to teach and instruct Mankind in their Duty to God and to one another promising Eternal Blessedness upon Condition of Obedience he himself in the mean time leading a most innocent and inoffensive life and withal declaring himself to be a Law-giver sent from God and to have all Power both in Heaven and Earth committed into his hands and that Prayers and Praises are all to be offered to God through his Mediation Here is nothing in this that implies a Contradicâ—…on or is repugnant with the Principles of Nature though Reason may be apt to suspect some Pride and Affectation of Divine Glory and Worship to lie underneath But now when that which is barely looked upon as Possible shall be effected and accomplished by Divine Power and the Author of this Doctrine inabled to work such stupendious Miracles as never Man before saw Reason will presently conclude that the Thing it self is very credible Yet not withstanding if this Perâ—…on should have taught any thing contrary to the Dictates of Right Reason and introduced either a Proâ—…ane and imâ—…ious Doctrine or countenanced a licentious and disorderly way of living and that he might the better persuade us to these things should have gone about to confirm his Divine Mission by Miracles our Reason would immediately have suggested to us that he was an Impostor and Deceiver because nothing can be 〈◊〉 by God or by any Person commissionated by him which is contrary to the Law of Nature or Right Reason And though it may be urged that it is contrary to the Divine Veracity to bear Witness to a lie and therefore whatever is grounded upon the Credit of Miracles since these are the only visible signs of the Divine will must of necessity be supposed to derive from God yet because I cannot be assured whether these things may not be permitted for a Tryal or for some other end unknown to me yet agreeâ—…ble to Divine Wisdom I should rather dâ—…strust this way of Reasoning then admit any thing from the Authority of this Argument as Divine which contradicted the clear Principles of Nature 2. A Second Argument The Nature of Man is so framed that it cannot yield Assent to any thing without the Conduct of Reason Which that it may more clearly appear we shall borrow some few things hugely suitable to our present Purpose from the Famous Lord Herbert in his Book of Truth According to his Opinion therefore there are four Faculties by which we come to the Knowledge of things Natural Instinct or that Faculty which diâ—…cerneth Common Notions Internal Sense External Sense and Discourse From whence may be collected this great Truth more valuable then whole Volumes written concerning the Souâ—… and its Faculâ—…es That which 〈◊〉 be known neither by Natural Instinct Internal Sense External Sense nor by Discourse cannot any way be proved properly true Now since these are Faculties and that whatever is propounded to be believed must necessarily correspond and be conformable to some one of these Reason affirms that to each of them being rightly dâ—…posed creâ—…t is to be given viz. to Natural Instâ—…t to Inteâ—…nal and Exâ—…nal Sense Moreover Reason it self according to its proper Office making use of the 〈◊〉 of the aforesaid Faculties and relying upon first and self-evident Principles summons Discourse and deduces Conclusions Natural Instinct is always to be believed but sense as well External as Internal may sometimes be deceived and therefore sometimes deserves Credit and at other times not to discriminate and discern the Differences of which is in the Power of Reason alone there being no other Faculty to preside in this Case From whence it follows First That the Mind cannot assent to any thing where Right Reason or at least some shadow of it does not give a preceding light And then That Christian Religion requiring Faith cannot force or compel assent against the Dictates of Right Reason But against these Clear and Natural Sentiments the Enthusiasts importunately urge the Spirit and indeed every man will pretend the Testimony of the Spirit tâ—…at he may not seem to be less favour'd of God then others If we demand how they know the Testimony of the Spirit they Answer After the same manner as we discern the splendor of the Sun by its own
now reprinted with another useful Discourse of an Ingenious Person with Annotations upon them both To which for full satisfaction and Prosecution of the Heads here mentioned I refer And shall only transcribe what I find concerning this Subject in a Philosophical Poem If God do all things simply at his Pleasure Because he will and not because it 's Good So that his Actions will have no set measure Is 't possible it should be understood What he intends I feel that he is lov'd Of my dear Soul and know that I have born Much for his sake yet is it not hence prov'd That I shall live though I do sigh and mourn To find his Face his Creatures wish he 'll slight scorn When I breath out my utmost Vital Breath And my dear Spirit to my God commend Yet some foul Fiend close lurking underneath My serious humble Soul from me may rend So to the lower shades down we shall wend. Though I in Hearts simplicity expected A Better doom sith I my steps did bend Towards the Will of God and had detected Strong Hope of lasting Life but now I am rejected Nor of well Being nor Subsistency Of our poor Souls when they do hence depart Can any be assured if liberty We give to such odd thoughts that thus pervert The Laws of God and rashly do assert That Will rules God but Good rules not Gods will What e're from Right Love Equity doth start For ought we know then God may act that ill Only to shew his Might and his free Mind fulfil Pag. 5 6. That God should plant such Faculties in us as may then deceive us when they most clearly and distinctly perceive their respective Objects is contrary to the Divine Goodness and Veracity 'T is trâ—…e if God were such an Arbitrary Being whose sole Will were the Rule and Measure of Goodness and Justice as the forecited Author contends he is it is uttâ—…rly impossible we should have any certainty of the clearest Truth not so much as that Three and Three make Six because we can never be assured that this Arbitrary Omnipotent Deity did not purposely make the Frame of our Souls so as that they should then be deceived when they have the clearest and most evident Perception of things Therefore that Acute Philosopher Des-Cartes committed a great over-sight when he would have us doubt of the Truth of those Things whereof we have the clearest Evidence and Demonstration becauâ—…e till we come to the Knowledge of a God we cannot be certain that our Faculties are not false and imposturous for we have no way to come to the knowledge of God but by our Faculties And therefore this were 1. To condemn us to an Eternal Scepticism from which there is no possibility of ever extricating our selves 2. It is a Ridiculous way of Argumentation to prove the Truth of God's Existence â—…rom our Faculties of Reason and Understanding and then to prove the Truth of those Faculties from the Existence of God 3. There being nothing more Immediate to us nor any thing whereby we can conclude more certainly a thing to be true then by our own Faculties if the Truth of our Faculties is to be proved by any thing it is evident it is to be proved by our Faculties themselves but this were also a ridiculous circular Demonstration to prove the Truth of our Faculties by the Truth of our Faculties Whence it necessarily follows that we are only to suppose our Faculties to be true it being Impossible for us to prove them to be so But to be above this Pitch is the Priviledge only of the Eternal Mind or of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only wise God as our Faculties if rightly cultivated suggest unto us the Apostle does admonish us That therefore was the main slip in Des-Cartes that he was not content to suppose our Faculties to be true but he would prove them to be so when he was destitute of all Argument for it but the Truth of the Faculties themselves But some Philosophers bring the business to a closer pinch as they conceive by supposing the very Essence of Truth to be clear and distinct Perceptibility insomuch that not Omnipoteuce it self much less Casualty can bring to pass that what is false should be clearly perceived to be But these otherwise witty and learned Contemplators do not consider That Truth is a Thing antecedent to Perceptibility which respects the Perceptive Intellect and is in it self nothing else I mean Eternal Truths but the necessary Coherence or Incoherence of the Terms of which the Truth it self doth consist And therefore Perceptibility cannot be the Essence of Truth I speak here of Truth in the Object not in the Subject as our Author has distinguished in his Ingenious Discourse of Truth which no Intellect Perceptive or Conceptine makes but finds in the Intellect Exhibitive as his Annotator has also observed Insomuch that the Divine Intellect it self quatenus Perceptive or Conceptive is not the Aâ—…thor of Archetipal Truth but quatenus Exhibitive Moreover though clear and distinct Perceptibility were the very Essence of Truth whenas indeed it is only a Relative Mode thereof what is this to our Perceptive Faculty till it come to a clear actual Perception and what is this but a strong Cogitation that I clearly and distinctly perceive a thing But that many have been mistaken when they have had such a strong Cogitation is indeed the known Disgrace of Speculation and Philosophy Whence it is manifest when they say that Omnipotence it self cannot bring to pass that what is false should be clearly perceived to be that the Word perceived is fallaciously abused to a sense beyond the Capacity of the present Circumstanâ—…es as if it signified really to find whenas it only signifies strongly to think we clearly perceive a Thing to be Which many have and yet have been in a mistake and this by Casualty What then cannot Omnipotence do in this kind if it would But supposing our â—…aculties to be true when all Moral diligence has been employed to fit them for use and none but a Humorist will then call into Question their Verdict when they clearly discern a thing to be the Existence of God and his Attributes being plain to us we have a further Assurance we having such an Author of our Being that he gave not our Faculties to abuse us but to inform us faithfully of all Truth necessary and useful for us so that what is clear to them is really true Which is the Assertion of this our Learned and Pious Writer without any Cartesian Fetches and Ambages And lastly we may note by way of Overplus That clearness and distinctness of Perception in the Intellect Perceptive or Conceptive is not the Right notion of Truth but the Conformity of the Perception or Conception with the Thing conceived which is Truth in the Object and that therefore in false Opinions the Perception of the Intellect is not only
contrary to Right Reason could Men ever be forced to believe it For such is the Constitution of a Rational Soul and such are the Essential Impresses of its Intellectual Nature that no Man can believe what he pleases but is fatally bound up to such Things as are agreeable to those Principles of which his Rational Nature is compounded And if it were in the Power of any Man to believe any thing though never so contradictory and repugnant to the Natural Sentiments and Impressions of his own Mind he might then yield as firm an Assent to Falshood as Truth and repute all the Contradictions and Absurdities in the World to be infallible Oracles And as he cannot arbitrariously fix his Mind to the Reception of a Falshood so neither of that which is irrational for that which is Repugnant to Right Reason is certainly false and all the Difference between them lies only in the Number of Syllables Pag. 18. Right Reason and Divine Wisdom give the same Judgment of things The Foundation of all Knowledge whether Divine or Humane lies in the Apprehension of the Idea's Natures and mutual Respects and Relations of things Now these not being Arbitratious but setled Eternally fixt and Immutable it clearly follows that Right Reason and Divine Wisdom give the same Judgment of Things Forasmuch as not only Right Reason is a Participation of the Divine Understanding but likewise that it is no more in the Power of God to change or alter the Idea's Respects and References of Things then it is in his Power to die or destroy his own Being Hence a Triangle with its three Angles equal to two Right ones and all Idea's with their Immutable Respects and Habitudes appear the same in Humane Understanding as they are Represented and Exhibited in the Divine Intellect because our Understanding is an Abstract or Copy of the Divine Understanding as likewise because the contrary would undermine and destroy the very Foundation of all Knowledge in the World Therefore it was truly asserted by Tully Est igitur quoniam nihil est Ratione melius eáque in homine in Deo prima homini cum Deo Rationis Societas Inter quos autem Ratio inter eosdem etiam Recta Ratio communis est Nor do we by this in a Stoical Arrogance make Man equal with God as some may fondly imagine For the Divine Intellect as our learned Author speaks doth intimately penetrate and behold at one view these Affections with the Idea's of the things themselves and discerns their Order and Reciprocations And this is properly called fixed and Stable Reason whereas Humane Understanding explicates and unfolds things successively and in order and this is Reason in succession or flowing and moveable Reason Pag. 41. As to other Things we ought to yield an Implicit Faith to Divine Revelation c. Christian Religion sufficiently obtains its end in that all those things which pertain to Life and Godliness to the Renovation of Mens Minds into the faultless Image of our Lord Jesus are plain and intelligible even to the meanest Capacity but in such things as are of a more Abstruse Profound and Speculative Nature it is sufficient to have an Implicit Faith i. e. to believe that the sense of all those Things that are delivered and consigned by Divine Testimony though they transcend my Capacity whatever it is which was intended by God is true For he that does not so calls God's Truth in Question But to believe this or that to be the true sense of them or to believe the Modes of such and such Doctrines which are not plainly revealed in the Holy Scriptures are thus to be explicated and all other Explications of them utterly false is not necessary either to Faith or Salvation For if God would have had under Pain of Damnation those Doctrines which are not so plainly laid down as that all should have the same Conceptions of them to be equally believed by all in this Particular and Determinate sense it could not consist with his Wisdom to deliver them in obscure Terms nor with his Justice to require of Men to know certainly the meaning of those Words which he himself has not revealed Pag. 43. That he may be a Pattern and Example to us For as Lactantius speaks excellently well Quomodo poterit amputari excusatio c. i. e. How can all excuse be taken away unless he that teacheth does the same things that he teacheth and conducts and lends his helping hand to him that follows For if he should be subject to no Passion a Man might thus reply upon his Teacher I would not sin but I am overcome being clothed with frail and weak Flesh This is it which is angry which covets which grieves which fears to die Therefore I am led unwillingly and I sin not because I would but because I am forced I am sensible likewise that I sin but the necessity of Humane Frailty compels which I cannot withstand What shall this Teacher of Righteousness answer to these Things How will he refute or convince that Man who lays the blame of his sins upon his Flesh unless he himself be likewise clothed with Flesh and Blood that so he may shew that Flesh it self is likewise capable of the Exercise of Virtue Ibid. That be should be conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of a Virgin without the concurrence of Man is an excellent Provision for a higher esteem and Valuation of his Person That Christ should be Born of a Virgin without the Concurrence of Man could not be looked upon as Incredible by the Pagan World who scarce ever had any famous Hero among them but they presently found out some God for his Father And Plutarch in the Life of Numa relates That the Egyptians supposed it probable enough that the Spirit of the Gods has given Original of Generation to Women and begotten fruit of their Bodies And Lactantius argues the Reasonableness of the Nativity of Jesus of the Virgin Mary from what was commonly believed among the Heathens concerning other Creatures Quod si Animalia quoedam Vento Aurâ concipere solere omnibus notum est cur quisquam mirum putet cùm Spiritu Dei cui est facile quicquid velit gravatam esse Virginem dicimus The belief of which when facilitated will appear an excellent Provision for a higher esteem and valuation of the Person of our Saviour Therefore perhaps it was not only a drunken humour in Alexander when he would be thought the Son of Jupiter Hammon but to make himself appear more August and Venerable by the Reputation of being the Son of a God To this purpose it is related by Huetius that among the Turks there are certain Boys which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 believed of the common People to be Born of Virgins and in great esteem as supposed to do strange things In the Turkish Language they are called Nephes-Ogli i. e. the
Rational there being no other way whereby so effectually and sensibly to convince Atheistical Persons of the Existence of God and his Steady and All-comprehensive Providence in ruling all things And this seems to be expressed by St. Jude v. 15. 16. in reciting the Prophecy of Enoeb where one End of the Appearance of our Saviour with his Holy Myriads is for the Conviction of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those wicked sinners who were not contented to act unrighteously but did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak opprobrious and contempâ—…uous Things of God and all Religion Nor is this only peculiar to the Terrestrial state of life for it is probable that many Spirits may be tainted with the same Atheistical conceits in the Aereal Regions and may resolve all Things there likewise into blind Chance and Fortune Now when our Lord Jesus according to the clear Predictions of Sacred Scripture shall think fit to put an End to the Scene of Affairs in this lower World and to that Purpose shall visibly descend from Heaven with an Innumerable Company of Mighty Angels making all those Regions through which they pass bright before them with the glory and lustre of their Celestial Bodies and in this Posture shall for some time face the Earth and after that dreadful Sentence pronounced upon wicked Men and the Apostate Spirits of the Air by his stupendious Power shall excite all the Principles of Fire both in Earth and Air to perfect a General and Universal Confâ—…agration of this Terrestrial World for the Punishment of the Rebellious Crue this will be such an amazing and surprizing Testimony and irreâ—…ragable Proof of the Immediate Hand of God as must and will convince the most wretched and deplorable notwithstanding the Courseness and Stubbornness of their Natures both of his Being and Providence Pag. 47. He who after an Humble Pious and Attentive weighing of things shall yet fall into Error All Error is not alike hurtful and dangerous For an Error may be purely and simply Involuntary or it may be in respect of the cause of it Voluntary If the Cause of it be some Voluntary and avoiable Fault the Error is it self sinsul and consequently in its own Nature damnable As if by negligence in seeking the Truth by unwillingness to find it by Pride by Obstinacy by desiring that Religion should be true which sutes best with my Ends by fear of Mens ill Opinion or any other worldly Fear or Hope I betray myself to any Error contrary to any Divine revealed Truth that Error may be justly styled a sin and Consequently to such a one of it self damnable But if I be guilty of none of these Faults but be desirous to know the Truth diligent in seeking it and advise not at all with Flesh and Blood about the choice of my Opinions but only with God and that Reason he has given me if I be thus qualified and yet through humane Infirmity fall into Error that Error cannot be damnable Thus far a great and learned Man I may add That a sober and serious Christian who endeavours by all means to know the will and Mind of God and so soon as he can discover it is ready sincerely to believe and practise it and has withal a lively sense of the Honour of God and a hearty Good-will to Mankind this Person through the Goodness of God shall be kept from falling into any dangerous and damnable Error But now when any Man shall carelesly neglect to use that Reason which God has given him to discriminate between Truth and Falshood and shall happen to assent to Truth not upon a due choice and discernment between it and Falshood but blindly and fortuitously this Assent is no way commendable and an Involuntary Error after a clear and well qualified search is to be preferred before it I have now finished my Annotations upon this Excellent Discourse in which I have endeavoured to illustrate and confirm such Things as our Reverend Author has but lightly touched at least could not largely insist upon in that concise way of a Sermon And this I have the more readily performed because I judged a Discourse of this Nature by a Person of so extraordinary Piety such clear Intellectuals and so every way accomplisht as our Author was could not prove unacceptable to any of the Lovers of Truth and Ingenuity and likewise that I might do Honour to his Venerable Name and Memory from whom I had the Happiness of receiving the first Rudiments of Academical Learning This I affirm moreover with an Humble Deference to better and more inlightned Judgments that such an Explication of Religion as our Reverend and Learned Author drives at is the most likely way not only to silence the bold Cavils of Enthusiasts and Atheists but to eradicate all carnal and sensual Doctrines and Opinions and to bring on through the Assistance of the Mighty Spirit of God whose presence is never wanting to the sincerely Conscientious that Blessed and desirable State of the Church the Philadelphian interval which our Lord and Saviour will all along fill with Glorious Manifestations of his Power and Providence FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THe Folios of the Sentences Commented on in the Annotations being most of them not altered from what they were in the Manuscript for prevention of confusion in the Reader they are to be mended thus The first in Pag. 48. has p. 4 5. in stead of p. 26. The rest are to be thus in order as they go on in the Book p. 27. p. 30. p. 33. p. 34. p. 35. p. 36. p. 38. p. 39. p. 40. p. 41. â—… Cor. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 18. Rom. 8. 7. 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. 1 Cor. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 18. 1 Cor. 1. 20. 2. 6. Mat. 12. 24 25. Act. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 5. 39. 1 Thes. 5. 21. 1 Joh. 4. 1. Psal. 25. 14. See Dr. More 's Vol. Philosoph Tom. 2. p. 161. 1 Tim. 5. 6. Mat. 24. 24. 2 Thess. 2. 9. Rev. 13. 13 14. Origen contr Cel l. 6. Iuvenal Sat. 15. L. 1. de leg Lib. 4. c. 24. Loco supradicto Demonstr Evangel P. 385. Contraâ—… Cel. L. 4. P. 163. In 〈◊〉 Platonis Tuâ—…ul Quaest. Lâ—…b 1.
obscure but false because it perceives or conceives otherwise then the Thing it self is which is the true and universally acknowledged Notion of what is false in the conceiving of Things Pag. 8. Our Reason would immediately have suggested to us that he was an Impostor and Deceiver That God may permit an Impostor and Deceiver to work Miracles we have the express Testimony of Holy Scripture and the matter of Fact confirmed in the Egyptiâ—… Soâ—…cerers Deut. 13. 1 2. Moses tells the 〈◊〉 that if any Perâ—…on should come in the Name of a Prophet and should do a Miracle iâ—… that Prophet 〈◊〉 attempt by this to seduce them to Idolatry then he was not to be belâ—…eved because God might suffer this in Tentationem to prove their Faith and Belief in the true God But on the other side if a Prophet should come in the Naâ—…e of God and produce Mâ—…acles as the Credentials of Divine Authority and Commission and should exhort them only to the Worship of the True God of Israel than he 〈◊〉 to â—…e believed For this was the Sign or Note by which they should know a true Prophet from a false Deut. 18. 21 22. In like manner We that are Christians having the Law of Right Reason engraven in our Souls ought to be as Cautious and Jealous of admitting Belief though a Person should by Miracles seek to extort it from us if under pretence of Divine Revelation he would introduce any thing contrary to clear and evident Reason Because we may be assured that no such thing can be Authorized of God but that if the Miracles are true and real they are done in Tentationem See Annotat. upon p. 14. Pag. 10. We find most of these to have been actuated with an excess of Joy and transported with a seemingly Divine fervor How far a Natural Enthuâ—…iasm may Prevail upon men is evidently seen in the fresh Examples which every Age produces and 't is observable that those Sects among us which pretend most to Divine Inspiration are most of all inâ—…ected and agitated with Melancholy which arising from the lower Region of the Body and ascending in Copious-steams with the Blood and Spirits into the Brain ferments like new Wine and stains the Imagination with Variety of Phantasms and Impressions And if this happen to a Devotional and Religious Temper whose understanding is not strong enough to discern the Illusions of Phansie from the Dictates of the Spirit of God it presently begets in him a strong and vigorous Conceit that he is Divinely acted and inspired With which Delusion they are the more easily imposed upon for want of a right Understanding of the Nature of the Prophetical Spirit whose impulse and influence upon the Mind though it were strong and vigorous being in the Heart as a burning Fire shut up in the Bones which sensibly afflicted and pained till it received a Vent as is expressed by the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 20. 9. yet it never altered nor clouded the Rational Faculty but the Intellectual Light remained still free and undisturbed nor did ever any Prophet when acted by Divine Inspiration deliver any Thing contrary to the fixed and Eternal Laws of Reason Now the way to distinguish these Enthusiastical Impostures from Divine Influxes and Illuminations is by comparing them with the known and infallible Dictates of Right Reason for no Truth delivered by Divine Revelation is ever contrary or contradictious to the Rational Faculties of Mankind He that would know more of the Effects of this Natural Enthusiasm may consult that Excellent Treatise of Dr. More intituled Enthusiasmus Triumphatus Pag. 12. So long as that brisk and lively rellish of sensual Pleasures draws away the Mind it will not be at leisure to attend to the soft Whispers of that Gentle Monitor within There is in the Soul of Man a double Nature Intellectual and Animal which the Scripture calls by the Name of Flesh and Spirit or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inner and outer Man And according to this double Capacity the Respective Objects are likewise different The Animal Nature or Outer Man dictates the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is pleasant or profitable in the Grossest sense and is only that blind and irrational Appetite which results from the Souls Union and Conjunction with the Body With reference to this the Apostle says 1 Joh. 2. 16. All that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life is not of the Father but of the World i. e. These are the Gratifications of the Mundane Life or Animal Nature and about such things as these the Corporeal life is perpetually conversant as with its proper Objects But now the Intellectual Nature or Inner Man takes for its Object the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what ought to be done being ruled and guided by the Counsels and Inspirations of Right Reason Now because the Soul cannot attend to two different Faculties or Capacities at the same time in their highest actings and Invigorations it follows that upon the Prevalency and Enlargement of either of them the other is sensibly diminiâ—…hed abated and debilitated For who is there that sees not how crazed and besotted those Persons are in their Intellectuals who let themselves loose to the conduct of their irregular Lusts and Appetites and plunge their Souls without bounds or measures in Corporeal Joys So that were it not for their External shape there would be little difference between them and Bruits And is it possible now to discern the faint and weak glimmerings of Intellectual Light through such profound and clammy darkness Nay it is very easie to conceive that the Rampancy and Luxuriancy of the Animal Life may arise to such a height as to form an Extraordinary and thick Cortex over the Intellectual or Divine Principle that its actings should never be perceptible any more but like the Central Fire in an incrustated Star be totally extinguished at the long run Of so high a Concernment is it to Mankind to mortifie and subdue the irregular Excursions of this Plastick or Animal Life and 〈◊〉 its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 irrational and blind Appetites in the Embryo or first rudimental Efformations For the flush eruption and blazing of the Corporeal life is a sad Presage of the Death and Extinction of the Diviner Faculties And Death it self in a Physical sense is only the Consopition or laying asleep some Powers that others may awake in their stead Hence the Spirit of God affirms that those who live in pleasures i. e. licentiously and delicately omitting no opportunities of gratifying that worser Life to which they have so tender a Regard are dead while they live To this purpose is that of Plotinus Ennead 1. l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A vitious Person dies after that manner the Soul is capable of dying and the Death of the Soul is by a total Immersion and repletion