properly Studying And certainly this is of singular Use we cannot more effectually fit our selves for our Great and Important Work that we are call'd to than by serious and sober Reflections on our Minds by Sifting and Examining our Notions and observing what Conformity they bear to our Unprejudiced Faculties by being intimately acquainted with our Thoughts and exercising our selves to a familiarity with Rational and Solid Principles and by causing them to bring their utmost Aids to Support and Maintain the Articles of Christianity Our Reading will be of little use without this for it is by Pondering on the things that we have Read and by Comparing them among themselves that we are able to digest our Notions and to arrive to the true Understanding of Matters propounded to us The Royal Psalmist's Experiment concerning himself is worthy of our Observation I have more understanding saith he than all my Teachers for thy Testimonies are my Meditation Psal. cxix 99. I find a mighty Increase and advance in Divine Knowledge because I use my self to a serious Contemplation on those Heavenly and Sublime Truths and thereby I am capable of penetrating into the profound Nature of them and to discern those wonderful things in them which are hid from others We may take notice that after many seasonable Instructions and Precepts given by St. Paul to Timothy his Faithful Assistant in the Work of the Gospel he adjoins this which is of as great use as any of the rest Meditate upon these things 1 Tim. iv 15. And so again after several Pious Admonitions and Exhortations he adds Consider what I say 2 Tim. ii 7. Which Advice reaches all of Timothy's Character and is as much as if he had said Revolve these things often in your Minds and let this Charge which I leave with you be continually in your Thoughts Accustom your selves to Thinking and know that it is the part of a Christian as well as of a Man but especially it is an indispensable Qualification in a Publick Instructer in one that is to Amend and Rectifie the Sentiments of Mankind If therefore we are desirous to attain to any Improvement and Excellency in our Ministry we must not herd with the Crowd but retire from it and hold converse with our own Minds and thereby Teach and Instruct our selves and so we shall be fit to do the same to others Which is the next thing I shall treat of Fourthly Another way whereby we are to Edify the Church and Excel in it is the Office of Preaching or as the Apostle stiles it Prophesying He gives this the Precedence to all the other Gifts which he mentions either in this or the Twelfth Chapter of this Epistle Covet earnestly spiritual Gifts but rather that ye may Prophesy This is that Endowment which according to him makes most for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry and for the Edifying of the Body of Christ. which Character shews it to be this Gift which I'm now to speak of This is a Complicate Office and contains many Excellent things in it as first the Informing of Mens Judgments and setting them into Right Apprehensions concerning things in Religion The Leading Requisite as I conceive in a Preacher is Orthodoxy He is to be one that owns those Principles and Articles of Faith which have been always profess'd by the Universal Church Let us not assume the Title of Protestants and yet reject some of the Great Heads of Divinity which are acknowledg'd by all Sober Persons of the Reformation Let us not say we are of the Church of England and yet deny some of the Chief Doctrines contain'd in her Articles Let us not profess our selves to be Ministers of the Word and yet renounce those Truths which are formally contain'd in it or are according to it For either Express words of Scripture or Natural and Plain Consequences from it are to be the Standards of that Doctrin which we deliver It is required of us not only to Establish Truth but to Detect and Confute Falshood and Heresy therein following the Example of those Great Men Irenaeus Epiphanius Augustin Theodoret. And truly this is become necessary in this Extravagant Age where so many Wild Notions are entertain'd and so many Old Errors revived The Christian Structure cannot but be expos'd to great Hazards and Dangers when its Foundations are Undermined by some and its Superstructure hath continual Batteries made against it by others In such Circumstances how Careful and Watchful should we be How Vigorously and Concernedly should we act Like those Builders at the Restauration of the Iews with a Trowel in one hand and a Sword in the other We must be in a Defensive and Offensive Posture at once securing and maintaining the Apostolical Faith and grappling with the Opposers of it at the same time But yet I must insert this Caution That we ought carefully to avoid all Unnecessary Disputes for nothing is more unbecoming a Preacher of the Gospel and nothing doth more hinder the Success of his Ministry Accordingly we may observe That the Doctrines which minister questions are opposed to Godly edifying â— Tim. l. 4. We shall effect but little in our Employment if we indulge Controversies and delight in Quarrels and promote Intricacies and Perplexities in Religion Our task is to avoid these with all care and to entertain our Hearers with the Necessary Doctrines of Christianity such as depend not on the fallible Deductions of Men but are fixed and unmoveable founded on the Holy Oracles and deliver'd by Christ Jesus and his Apostles Again a Minister and Guide of Souls is not only to rectifie Mens Judgments and to settle them in the Necessary Articles of Religion but further it is required of him that he take care of their Lives and Manners For though True Notions of Religion and Godliness are to lead the way yet to make a Man Absolute and Complete there must be Uprightness of Life Nay indeed unless this latter be look'd after the former will soon decay By Unholiness and Wickedness we see oftentimes that Men Hazard their Principles If the Practice be Debauch'd if the Life be Impure if the Manners be depraved there will be a Corruption in the Judgment Therefore we that are Dispensers of the Word ought to be as concern'd for Practical Religion as for Truth of Doctrin We ought not only to Instruct our Hearers in Right Principles but with all freedom to reprove their Sins and Vices and pathetically to Exhort and Perswade them to all Vertue and Goodness remembring always that a Holy and Exemplary Conversation is the True Edifying of the Church yea 't is the very Top-stone of the Building It is not meer Speculation or bare Discourse that will atchieve this great Work This is as if a Man should undertake to Build a House by Contriving it in his Head or by Talking of it It is the utmost Perfection of a Christian to Live according to his Excellent
of Wealth is the Natural Product and Just Penalty of Vice in a Nation A Sermon Preach'd at the Proclaiming and Opening of a Great Fair. EZEK XXVII 27. Thy Riches and thy Fairs and thy Merchandize thy Mariners and thy Pilots thy Calkers and the Occupiers of thy Merchandize and all thy Men of War that are in thee and in all thy Company which is in the midst of thee shall fall in the midst of the Seas in the Day of thy Ruine P. 133 SERM. VI. The Lawfulness and Necessity of Going to War on Just Occasions A Sermon occasion'd by the Proclaiming of the War against France GEN. XVIII 14. And when Abram heard that his Brother was taken Captive be armed his trained Servants born in his own House Three Hundred and Eighteen and pursued them unto Dan Pag. 160 SERM. VII The true Causes of the Ill Success of War A Sermon Preach'd on a Fast Day appointed by Their Majesties for the Imploring God's Blessing on their Forces by Sea and Land JOSH. VII 12. Therefore the Children of Israel could not stand before their Enemies but turned their Backs before their enemies because they were accursed Neither will I be with you any more except you destroy the Accursed thing from amongst you Pag. 192 SERM. VIII The Extream Danger of Intestine Divisions in a Kingdom A Sermon Preach'd before Sir Iohn Hoâ—blon late Lord Mayor and Alderman at Guild-hall Chappel MARK III. 24. And if a Kingdom be divided against it self that Kingdom cannot stand P. 225 SERM. IX X. The Use and Abuse of Apparel In Two Sermons occasion'd by the present Excess in that kind 1 TIM II. 8 9. I will that Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel with Shamefacedness and Sobriety Not with broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Aray Pag. 257 SERM. XI Christianity Mysterious A Sermon shewing the true Meaning and Acception of the word Mystery in Scripture and why the Christian Religion is called a Mystery occasion'd by some late Socinian Writings which Explode all Christian Mysteries 1 TIM III. 16. And without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness Pag. 328 SERM. XII Christianity Mysterious A Sermon shewing that there are Mysteries properly so called in the Christian Religion With the true Reasons of it and the Natural Consequences from it Preach'd before the University at St. Mary's in Cambridge Iune 29. 1697. and since much Enlarged 1 TIM III. 16. And without Controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness P. 365 ERRATA PAg. 11. l. 14. r Monstrous p. 19. l. 27. r. of Truth p. 92. l. ult dele were p 142. l. 4. r. thence p. 171. l. 20. r. one p. 176. l. 12. after Blood inseâ—t a 〈◊〉 point p. 178. l. 1. for on r. to p. 262. l. 2. r. there for their and their for the. p. 268. l. 1. dele were l. 17. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 269. l. ult r. Muliebri p. 271. l. 12. r. restrained p. 278. l. 5. r. gorgeous p. 279. l. 2. r. exotick p. 289. l. 18. r. supercilious p. 304. l. 7. r. altum p. 322. l. 8. r. Viands p. 345. l. 22. before which insert v. 9. p. 351. l. 5. r. things as the Spirits cleansing and. p. 380. l. 10. r. give it p. 389. l. 7. r. rarities With other Faults in the Greek and Latin which the Reader is desired to correct An Answer to Pilate's Question What is Truth A Sermon Preach'd before King Charles II. at Newmarket JOHN XVIII 38. Pilate saith unto him What is Truth ONE Signal Circumstance of our Saviour's Meritorious Passion was That which we daily rehearse in the Creed That he Suffered under Pontius Pilate And truly from the Character which is given this Person not only by the Evangelists but Other Writers he appears to have been a Fit Man for that Execrable work of Condemning the Lord of Life For who was more so than the Covetous and Greedy Pilate who attempted to Rob the Temple and Sacrilegiously to Rifle the Corban as Iosephus relateth Who could be Fitter than He to receive a Bribe from the Jews and even against his Conscience to deliver up the Messias a Victim to their fury and malice Who than He who had inhumanly mingled the Galileans Blood with their Sacrifices was Fitter to be employ'd when the Great Sacrifice of the World was to be offered and when Iesus of Galilee from whom his followers were called Galileans was to give his Blood for the Redemption of Mankind But though this Man was thus fitly Disposed and Prepared for his Work yet the Bloody Sentence against our Saviour was not to be pronounced by him without the Preamble of a Formal Arraignment and Trial. And accordingly the Innocent Iesus was set to the Bar and this Roman Governour took the Bench where as you will find by the Context this Iudg was full of his Interrogatories and propounded several and those not Inconsiderable Questions But among them all there was none certainly that was in it self more Substantial and Useful than this What is Truth And it was as Pertinent as it was Weighty for it was justly occasioned by our Lord's Plea and Protestation in Court viz. That notwithstanding the malicious Jews had Accused him as an Impostor yet to This end he was born and for â—his cause he came into the world that he might 〈◊〉 â—itness to the Truth v. 37. As if our Saviour had said Whereas Error and Falshood have 〈◊〉 a long time in the World and the 〈◊〉 have miserably perverted the Law of Nature and great numbers of them have been spoiled through their Philosophy and vain Deceit And likewise among you Iews the Meaning of God's Written Law is depraved by the Corrupt Doctrines of the Superstitious Pharisees and Prophane Sadducees the former a sort of Hebrew Stoicks the later a kind of Iewish Epicures and Atheists and you are divided into several Other Disagreeing Sects and Schools and go on daily to corrupt and stifle the True Notions of Morality and Religion and even utterly to take away the Key of Knowledge and Truth Whereas things are Thus The Great Design of my Visiting mankind is of a Contrary nature namely to lead them to Right Apprehensions of things to baffle all Error and Delusion and to direct them most effectually into the way of Truth And every one that is of the Truth heareth my voice v. 37. that is Those who are Competent Judges and Sincere Lovers of Truth will soon descry My Doctrin to be fraught with the Highest and most Important Verities and will imbrace it as the Greatest Blessing that was ever vouchsafed to the World Pilate hearing our Saviour discourse of Truth puts this Question to him in the Text. It is Luther's Conjecture that he did it out of Kindness to our Lord for Pilate saith he being a worldly-wise man and willing to relâ—ase Christ did as much as say to him What wilt thou dispute concerning TRUTH in these Wicked Times of the World TRUTH is
on the very same ground attend to the former because that is from God no less than this Wherefore those who oppose one to the other make â—od contradict himself because he is the Aâ—thor of both And here I cannot but take notice of the Injustice of some late Penmen who represent the Asserters of the Trinity and of such like Points of Faith as persons that are Enemies to Reason and such as will by no â—â—ans admit of a Rational Religion This they craftily urge and aggravate to blacken the Cause which they have set themselves against but there is nothing of Truth in the accusation but as they manage it a great deal of Falshood and Wrong For we give unto Reason the things that are Reason's we assert the use and necessity of it in Religion yea in the Christian Religion and we are able and ready to defend and maintain a considerable part of it by Rational Principles We most freely profess with Iustin the Philosopher and Martyr That whatever was well said by any of the Philosophers Poets and Historians is to be found in the Christian Writings of the Bible We declare that the Christian Institution commends and enforces all the Maxims of Morality and the Natural Religion of mankind and the Common Dictates of Reason Those therefore are very Injurious to us and to Truth itself who labour as we see they do to fill Mens heads with other apprehensions But though it be thus in the general yet there are Particular Doubts and Difficulties relating to this Holy Institution there are some certain Points which are in themselves Mysterious Incomprehensible and Inconceivable and will not submit to the nicer Scrutinies of Humane Reason The â—ery Deity it self which is the very foundation of all Christianity is a 〈◊〉 and the greatest of all Mysteries Whence it was the acknowledgment of 〈◊〉 a very Wise and Good Man God is Great and we know him not Job 36. 26. We cannot fully understand his Nature and Attributes yea we are capable of knowing but very little of them Which is fitly express'd by that of the Apostle He dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6. 16. This inaccessible Splendor admits not of a full view The more we gaze upon this Glorious Sun the more we are dazzled and almost blinded In some case it is unsafe and perillous saith a Pious Father to speak what is True of God â—â—e is best known by a modest 〈◊〉 â—â—ith another We know not whâ—â— he is but only what he is not saith a Third And it is observable that Socinus himself in the first Chapter of his Praeâ—â—ctions stiâ—â—y contâ—nds though upon no solid grounds at all that the Existence of God is not discoverable by the light of Naâ—ure and Reason how then can he and his â—ollowers imagine â—hat the Divine Nature and Essence are to be comprehended by humaâ—e thoughts If we cannot according to him discover that God is how shall we understand what he is There are several unutterable Abstrusities and Difficulties in the notion of an Eternal Self-subsisting Being We cannot penetrate into the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God we have not adequate conceptions of his Immutability his Justice his Faithfulness and none of his Perfections and Excellencies are throughly understood by us So that according to the way of Arguing which some men use viz. that Nothing must be receiv'd in Religion but what is exactly according to plain Reason they may renounce the Deity it self for in the notions we have of the Nature and Attributes of God there are some things above our Reason The Manner how Three real Subsistencies are united in One Essence or Substance of the Godhead is not comprehensible but the Holy Scripture puts it beyond all doubt that it is so There are many Principles and Propositions in Christianity which are far above our weak capacities There are several things in the Conduct of our Redemption and Salvation the exact knowledge of which is hidden from us at least the Modes and Circumstances belonging to them are not to be comprehended though we are sure of the General Truth There are sundry Difficult things occur concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God but we have no reason to disbelieve the Doctrine it self I know saith St. Chrysostom that the Son was begotten of the Father but how I know not I know he was born of a Virgin but I can't tell the Manner of it for we acknowledge the production of Both Natures and yet the Manner of both we are not able to declare So as to the Vnion of the Divine and Humane Natures in Christ's Person we have not an accountable idea of it though the thing it self is agreeable to Reason We cannot answer all the doubts concerning Christ's Satisfaction but upon incontestable grounds we may be convinc'd of the Truth of it The Resurrection of the same Body at the last day is an unquestionable Article of the Christian Faith but if we be ask'd how a dead body crumbled into dust and perhaps dissipated by the winds into several quarters or how a body converted into the substance of other creatures after innumerable introductions of new shapes preserves its proper Identity â—nd Individuation if we be ask'd I say How this can be The Answer in brief can 〈◊〉 no other than this We cannot tell But it will be said This is an unbecoming Answer for any man that pretends to Knowledge and Understanding in the matters of Religion I reply This is no ways unbecoming but to pretend to give Reasons and Accounts when we are not able to do it is very unbecoming and absurd And many other Points of Christianity are hid from our Natural Reason and are Inscrutable Secrets Our Religion hath many Mazes and Labyrinths in it which we cannot extricate our selves out of The Gospel not only was but is a Mystery it is so now and will continue so to the end of the world If we enquire into the Reasons of this so far as we are able to judge there may be this Account given of it 1. That which Solomon suggests to us ought to have the preference to all other Reasons that can be assign'd It is the glory of God saith he to conceal a thing Prov. 25. 2. The Supreme Being is pleas'd to hide the knowledge of several things from men because this redounds to the Honour and Glory of the Divine Majesty Hereby the Sovereignty of the Great Disposer of all things is displayed to mankind hereby his Transcendent Nature which infinitely â—urpasses that of all Created beings is proclaim'd to the world This was the sense of another Wise and Holy man who speaking of the Almighty saith He giveth not account of any of his matters Job 33. 13. Though sometimes yea frequently he vouchsafes to render a Reason of what he saith as well as of what he doth yet in many cases he thinks fit to deal with us otherwise
Heads whilst it hath been cried in their Ears that here is Truth and there is Truth they have grown Perplexed and Distracted and know not how to behave themselves and What Part to take They hear that the Claim to Truth is Universal but then they know This that All the Pretences to it cannot be True and How say they if None of them should be so Hereupon they renounce Religion as a Faction and in plain terms a Cheat and consequently they Live and Act in the World as they Please If Truth be claimed by All the Professors of Religion and those Professors Contradict one another Where shall we find an Answer to This Interrogatory What is Truth In way of Reply it is enough to say at present for I shall answer a great part of these Cavils afterwards in the sequel of this Discourse 1. These Several Divisions and Parties evidently prove a True Religion For it is certain that Rational Men would not Contend for Nothing Unless there were some Reality at the bottom we cannot imagine that Persons of unprejudic'd Minds and sincere Intentions as we must allow a great Part of them to be would thus seriously busie themselves and be so mightily concern'd 2. Some Mens fond and groundless Pretences ought not to be equalled with the Iust Claims of others As long as the World continues in this degenerate posture where it is there will ever be a great number of men who will be pretending to Truth even whilst they are maintaining those Doctrines which are directly opposite to it Therefore we are not to concern our selves for these Pretenders only so far as to slight them as Persons govern'd by Interest or Passion or to pity them as those who are misled by Ignorance or Prejudice 3. As for the generality of Disputes which are at this day on foot Religion and particularly the Christian Religion I mean the Essentials and Vitals of it which give it its denomination are little or not at all concern'd in those Quarrels as will appear from what I shall suggest anon and therefore I shall say no more here But notwithstanding what hath been objected I will go on with my present design which is an Inquest after Truth and I hope the attempt will not prove vain and succesless That we may certainly find it out those Two known but too much neglected Rules or Standards are to be made use of by us viz. Reason and Scripture By Reason I mean the free and impartial use of our Understandings and Judgments which God hath naturally endued us with and which we are obliged to improve and cultivate by the aid of our Bodily Senses by the Testimony of others by serious and steady Observation and well-grounded Experience for these must be assisting to Humane Reason to render it perfect and compleat If thuâ— we would apply our selves to a serious search after Truth we should soon make our selves Masters of it For the Candle of the Lord as Solomon very significantly calls the Reason of Man was set up in our Breasts by God on purpose to discover Truth to us But it must be acknowledged that this Light hath been much impair'd by Man's Degeneracy so that it can scarcely be said to Shine out i.e. perfectly to display it self It hath been Clouded ever since the First Apostacy and obscured daily by the actual Prevalency of Vice An undeniable Evidence whereof were those swarms of monsterous Opinions among the Pagans that gross Superstition and Idolatry of the Gentile World those prodigious Shapes and Models of Religion which were invented by them Oftentimes it happened that the Creature made and framed his Creator they shaped out Deities and the way of Worshipping them according to their own Fancies and Imaginations and a God was even what they thought good to make him Or suppose Natures Light did shine out to the full yet it would not be Clear and Bright enough to give us a Prospect of those Divine and Supernatural Truths which are to bring us to Everlasting Happiness For Nature and Reason cannot Dictate those things which depend wholly on God's Free Grace and Pleasure And such are the Doctrine of a Saviour and Redeemer the Method of Man's Salvation and all the Mysteries of the Christian and Evangelical Dispensation How was Nicodemus a Noted Master in Israel and no mean Possessor of Reason baffled with the Doctrin of Regeneration He might truly be said to go to Iesus by Night who made his Visit only by the dusky and obscure Light of Nature Therefore tho' Reason or rather the Understanding using its reasoning Faculty be a laudable Guide in Religion yet it will not be a safe Conduct to Truth if it be alone There must of necessity be another Guide besides this to lead us to the Discovery of Heavenly Verities and Propositions of Faith There must be Divine Illumination to assist us to find out Divine and Spiritual Truths The Second Standard then of Truth is the Infallible Word of God Divine Truths must be sought for not from Man but from God not from Human Writings but an Unerring Word not from those who are Finite and Ignorant but from Him who is Infinite and knoweth all Things not from the Sons of Men but from Him who is the only-begotten Son of God the Revealer of his Father's Will For No man hath seen God at any time the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him as the beloved Disciple beareth witness Iohn 1. 18. None is able to discover the Divine and Supernatural Mysteries which our Religion is fraught with but the Founder of them We could never have arrived to those Transcendent Notions unless we had been taught them from Heaven We were not skilled to appoint the Manner of Appeasing the incensed Majesty of Heaven and to prescribe the Way of Worship suitable to that Oeconomy This would have been as if it should be left to some silly Country Peasant to assign the Way and Manner of Treating a Mighty King and Monarch Who would not expect in such a case a strange and uncouth a rude and ridiculous Way of Address and Courtship and below the Greatness and Majesty of a Prince But it was requisite there should be a particular Divine Discovery a clearer Light a surer Guide than that of Nature For though God at sundry times and in divers manners had Revealed himself to the past Generations of Men yet to make that Revelation compleat he spoke in the last days by his Son and by the Testimony of the Holy Ghost in the inspired Writings of the Apostles and Evangelists Christ therefore saith and that Emphatically I am the Truth Iohn 14. 6. The Gospel was the last and most corrected Edition of the Doctrin of Truth and we must never look for any other to come forth to the End of the World This is Truth more eminently so called The Truth which came by Iesus Christ as the Blessed Evangelist speaketh
This is the Christian Truth Our singular Glory whereby We are distinguished from all those who profess any other Religions whatsoever whether of the Unbelieving Iews or the Idolatrous Gentiles or the Deluded Saracens and Turks or downright Atheists and others of a like Perverse Perswasion These all Err especially the three first Ranks of Men by not knowing or not imbracing the Scriptures which are deservedly stiled The Word of Truth and are the only supreme Rule of Faith and Doctrin We then who imbrace this Christian Rule are Blessed with that Institution which is Pure and Undefiled which is grounded on undoubted Revelation which is backed by a more sure Word of Prophecy which hath a divine Impress stamped upon it So that Our Religion as far surmounts all Others as the Gold which hath passed the Refiners Fire and hath the Royal Stamp upon it outbids the common Ore and shames its Dross and meaner Alloy You see then which are the unalterable Standards of Truth viz. Reason and Revelation the Light of Nature and of Scripture And I dare confidently aver that if our Enquiries and Determinations in Religion were faithfully managed by these two it were impossible to fail of Truth If we would but act thus as Men and Christians and that is as we ought to do we cannot miss of it For it is certainly the Purchase of all those who make a right Use of their Rational Powers and also help and direct those Powers by the Revelation of the Sacred Spirit in the Holy Scriptures By these two we may examine the Truth of the Whole Christian Religion and we shall find that it will abide the Test. By these Standards of Truth we may examine the Doctrins of all Seducers that are abroad in the World and we shall find them to be False and Adulterate If we would sincerely follow these Rules the great Diversity of Opinions and Sentiments amongst us would soon be reconciled If we would faithfully take these Measures i.e. always be Ruled and Conducted by Reason and Scripture we should easily agree upon what is to be believed and asserted in Religion and all our Disputes and Controversies would vanish Now from what hath been hitherto Discoursed we may in some good measure be able not only to return an Answer to Pilates Question What is Truth but to another near a kin to it viz. What is Error and Falshood All Propositions which contradict the common Notices and first Principles in our Minds and which affront right Reason and the plain Deductions made from it are to be looked upon as False And on the same account those Assertions which overthrow the Verdict of our Senses and much more those that imply Contradictions in them and consequently Impossibilities cannot be True And on These Grounds I might shew that the Divinity of some High-flown Enthusiasts and the Doctrin of the Roman Catholicks concerning Transubstantiation are justly to be impeached of Falshood Again whatsoever Assertions in any Religion are repugnant to Divine Revelation to God's Will declared by some Positive Law to such Discoveries as are known to be immediately from Heaven these must necessarily be False And on this Ground the Religion of the Pagans Iews and Mahometans must be voted to be such because they oppose an Infallible Revelation and That confirmed by unparallelled Miracles And semblably in Christianity all those Tenents of several Sects which bid defiance to any part of the Sacred Scripture which is left us by the Holy Ghost as the generality of the Roman Opinions the Doctrins of Pelagians Socinians Anabaptists Antinomians Libertines Quakers Hobbians c. are False and Erroneous Thus far then by vertue of the Premises we have advanced that when there are several Claims and Pretences to Truth and it is enquired What Judge shall decide the Controversy the Answer must be That Right Reason and Inspired Scripture are the only Judges they being the fixed Standards and Measures of Truth But then here will lie the main Difficulty of all that in the Questions and Debates of Religion Scripture is quoted with equal Vigor and Confidence on all Sides as if what the Iewish Rabbies say of Scripture That it hath Seventy-two Faces were the received Opinion of Christians Nay some of these seem to acknowledge by their strange way of Interpreting it That it hath not only different but contrary Aspects When therefore there are Disputes about Scripture-Interpretation What must we do How can we discern what is Truth by Consulting of Scripture when as that is Dubious and Uncertain If contrary Sects and Parties quote it and plead it how can it be a fixed Standard of Truth How is it an unerring Guide It might suffice to say in General That it is no wonder that all Opinionists even the Wildest of them make use of Scripture yea a great Part of the Turks Alcoran is express Words of the Bible It is no wonder I say since Scripture was quoted by Satan himself who when he Tempted our Saviour misapplied it to the vilest Purpose But particularly to satisfie this Great and Affrighting Difficulty we may inform our selves that in Religion there are Five Sorts of Enquiries and Doctrines Now I will briefly shew how Scripture is to be made use of and when it is fit to Apply it to any of these Particulars I. Some Points of our Religion are in themselves Mystical and Profound and the Sacred Writings having not Explained them it cannot be expected that we should ever do it Such Difficult and Sublime Doctrines as the Mystery of the Sacred Trinity i.e. a Trinity of Divine Persons in the Unity of the Godhead the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in One Person the Manner of the Resurrection and the like are not to be throughly known by us as long as we sojourn on Earth These are like the Book in the Revelation which none is able to open in Heaven or in Earth but the Lamb. And seeing he is not pleased to Unfold them to us we must Admire and Adore them but not be sollicitous to Comprehend them We are to remember this that some Things must be believed on the mere Authority of the Speaker and it argues Infidelity to question the Truth of them or so much as to be Inquisitive about them The Things are spoken by God therefore we ought to give Credit to them The Manner and Circumstances of them are not discovered therefore I 'm obliged not to pry into them This was the Sense and Practice of the Primitive Christians as we may learn from Origen who tells us That the believing some Articles of Faith on the bare Authority of the Scriptures was objected to the Christians by the Heathens Their Complaint against them was That they would neither give nor receive a Reason of their Faith but were wont to cry out Examine not but believe Here likewise I may rank some Insuperable Problems concerning the Divine Decrees and Predestination the Abstruseness of which forbids
a curious and close Enquiry But This is most true That Modesty is the most commendable Vertue here Theâ—doret saith well I think it Boldness to pronounce peremptorily concerning those Things of which the Sacred Scripture delivers nothing plainly God was not pleased to deliver all things with equal Evidence and why then should we undertake to make every Thing Plain and Demonstrable Or why are we Angry if others think some things are not so Those Words which I meet with in one of St. Ierom's Epistles are Admirable and are worth the Observation of those especially who are Students of Divinity When we search saith he with too much Nicety and Curiosity into those things which God would not have us know but hath purposely concealed from us we catch only at Shadows we entertain and busy our selves with Trifles we quit the Fountain Truth and run after the fruitless Streams of meer Opinion and Fancy Let us fix this on our Minds That there are some unsearchable Mysteries and it was designed by the All-Wise God that we should not be acquainted with them We may say here as Seneca concerning the Nature of Comets God only whose sole Prerogative is to have a perfect Knowledge of Truth knows these things to be true and the very manner of them tho' it be hid from us When we peremptorily say this or that concerning these obscure Matters we may Err and we cannot tell when we do but when we determine nothing precisely above what is determined in Scripture we are sure we do not Err and we are sure of this too that we are not guilty of Distorting and Misinterpreting the Word of God which is a Fault very frequent in these Cases To conclude this Particular Let not weak Christians be troubled that there are several Passages in the Bible which they cannot clearly understand I assure them that they may be Ignorant of the full meaning and manner of them and yet their Salvation is not endangered thereby And as to our Deportment towards others with respect to these Points seeing we cannot perfectly explain them why should we be Angry at those who embrace a different Perswasion concerning the manner of these things II. Many things in Religion are made difficult merely by Disputes and Quarrels and if the Holy Scriptures were Plainer than they are yea never so Plain yet Wrangling Heads would fall a Disputing and make way for Error by that means And here it is their way commonly to make use of one or two places of Scripture and to oppose them against a whole heap of other Texts The old Hereticks those Interfectores Vâ—ritatis as Tertullian calls them those Murtherers and Assasines of Truth frequently used this way A few Texts yea sometimes a single one shall serve to baffle a great number It might be shewed in particular Instances how Erroneous Doctrines are grounded on some Mens attending to one or a very few Places of Scripture whilâ—t in the mean time they take no notice of several and divers Texts which look another way Nay not only a few Texts but those also which are very dark and obscure difficult and knotty are oftentimes weilded and managed against very plain and direct Places of Scripture This was observed by that Learned Father whom I last mentioned One Chapter saith he in the Bible where some Ambiguous Words are is brought by them to Confront a numerous Company and Host of Texts But this is an Indirect Method for it is most Just and Reasonable that a few Places of Scripture should yield to many obscure ones to the plainer doubtful to the certain that Those should be judged and decided by These not vice versa that so amidst this seeming Discord and Discrepancy our Belief may not be shaken and that the Truth may not be endangered and that the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures may not be thought to be Inconsistent with its self as that Excellent Person saith in another Place It is an useful Rule therefore of St. Austin To explain obscure Places of Scripture let us use the Assistance of those that are plainer and by the Certainty and Clearness of some let the Doubtfulness of others be taken away This may be serviceable to us when we read the Scriptures and when we would be satisfied about some Controversies which arise thence But alas this Holy Book is Ruffled and Intangled by wilful Mistakes and Disputes wherein it is common to Wrest the Words and to Oppose one part of them to another instead of Adjusting the whole Matter by a fair Reconcilement To Instance Nothing is Plainer in the Book of God than this That he hath fully Decreed and Predetermined whatever shall come to pass and Nothing is more Plain in the said Holy Volume than this That Man is a free Agent and is not Constrained and Compelled but what he willeth he willeth freely All sober Persons agree in these and therefore this ought to be a Ground of mutual Concord and Reconciliation But instead of this some raise Disputes still and whereas we are agreed that both these are True and Consistent viz. God's Decree and Man's Freedom they will ask How this can be And if you do not satisfy them as to this which it is utterly Impossible perhaps to do they will shew themselves very much displeas'd Which argues that they are of a quarrelsom Temper and delight in Wrangling and make use of Scripture for that purpose in the most serious and weighty Doctrines III. It happens by the Luxuriancy of busy Brains that many Enquiries in Religion are Nice and Subtle Over-curious and Trifling and as for these they are below the Verdict of Holy Scripture It began to be a matter of Wit to be a Christian as One observes about the days of Constantine the Great So soon had they learned to be Quaint in their Divinity and that about the highest Points of it And other subtile Heads since that time such were most of the Schoolmen have troubled the World with their Fruitless Speculations their Foolish and Unlearned Questions their Fond and Sapless Notions And these and others added to them are called Truths by some Persons but indeed they are not worthy of that great Name A Man may be Ignorant of a thousand of them and yet not Impair his Knowledge To make use of Holy Scripture here is to be serious in the midst of Trifles and which is worse to Prophane that Holy Book The same Judgment may be made of many not to say most of the Questions propounded and handled by the Roman Casuists which are of no moment or use at all nay they are very hurtful and pernicious because they distract Mens Minds instead of directing them and yet they are very warmly controverted as if they were the most serious and important Truths IV. There are some Propositions in our Religion which are Disputable and Probable on both Sides And in these doubtful Cases to
and Capacious a Sphere is some mean Resemblance of the Divine Dominion The vast Influence which Rulers have over the People and the Great Circumference they describe may entitle them to a kind of Deity Secondly More Particularly The God of Heaven and Those whom he hath appointed to Rule on Earth Resemble one another in their Actions and Imployments viz. in Ruling and Governing All for the Good of the Community in making and appointing Laws to That End in distributing of Punishments and Rewards and in executing of Justice and Judgment in the World Therefore saith Theoderet Iudges are called Gods because they imitate God as they are entrusted with the Office of Iudging And Iustin Martyr before him had Words to the same purpose The Pagan Iove was Celebrated for his Thunder But it is a Truth without any Fiction That a Magistrate is an Earthly God as to his Severity in Punishing obstinate Offenders And he is a God in Mercifulness and Compassion when there is occasion for it for God himself is Love One of the Antiochus's Successors of Alexander the Great had the Title of Theos given him because of his singular Acts of Kindness to several People especially to the Meletians whom he relieved and rescued from the Tyranny they were under It is God-like to shew Mercy to help defend and deliver Men in their Distresses In this therefore Rulers are concerned to make the nearest Approach to Divinity that they can God himself is frequently termed a Shield and Magistrates in their Proportion are to be such and accordingly are stiled the Shields of the Earth Thus Earthly Rulers Imitate God and are deservedly stiled Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the Eminency of their Vertue as the Antient Philosopher said well Thus Good Magistrates have the Character of Divinity upon them They have the Signature and Mark of Heaven They are called in my Text The Children of the most High This Resemblance and Likeness to their Father gives them most deservedly That Denomination Now they are truly God's Image and bear his Superscription They are the Admirable Words of Plutarch A Ruler saith he is the Image of God who Governs all things A Magistrate needs no Statuary to make an Image of God for by no other Workmanship and Art than that of Vertue and Goodness he can make Himself Such a Piece of so much Worth and Excellency that it shall be most Acceptable to God and Worthy of Him This Doctrin Thus Illustrated may be Applied both to Magistrates and People First To the People who by Vertue of what hath been said are obliged to Consider and Weigh well the Dignity of the Persons who are Set over them and to Behave themselves Accordingly i.e. willingly to Acknowledge their Authority and Superiority to Respect and Reverence them to pay them that Civil Worship which is due to them and chearfully to Obey their Lawful Commands Governours are Gods therefore to Speak Evil of them is a kind of Blasphemy They are the Images of God and so he that Disrespects and Despises them Abuseth God in Effigie To do Violence to Them is to Assault the Deity to Combate against Heaven and Fight against God himself Here then is a Solid Basis for Obedience God hath Deputed Magistrates and made them his Representatives and Communicated his Authority and Power to them and by being Good they do more signally Resemble Him Whence it is Rational to Infer That the wilful Contempt of Human Authority is Affronting of God and despising even the Majesty of Heaven It is the Peoples Duty then to Study and Practise Obedience and more especially to Thank God for Good Magistrates who are sent from Heaven and are the peculiar Gift of God Magistracy deserves a Double Veneration when it is in Conjunction with Holiness Secondly The Magistrate no less than the People is concerned in This Text and in This Discourse He may see here at once his Eminency and his Duty what God hath made him and what He expects of him Let the Masters of Heraldry range all their Titles of Honour it is certain there cannot be a greater and more Honourable one than This of Gods But as it carries Honour with it so it bespeaks a Behaviour becoming That Honour If any Magistrate should be so Vain as to Rely on the Title of God and Vaunt of That and yet in the mean time Neglect his Duty he may remember that Heathen Idols are called Gods Psal. xcvi 5. and Satan is called the God of this World 2 Cor. iv 4. Rulers must Deport themselves like Gods else they fondly lay Claim to that Name They must remember that the Name they bear puts them in mind whose Deputies they are It is a high Compliment which Pliny passes upon Trajan in the Close of his Panegyrick viz. That nothing Greater or Better could be wished to the Commonwealth than that the Gods would Imitate the Emperour It is a Truth without any strain of Rhetorick that no greater Felicity can be wished to Kingdoms and Commonwealths than that the Gods so stiled in my Text would endeavour to Imitate the King of Kings It will be a Shame and a great Solecism if Those who are in God's Stead discover Nothing of God or Divinity in their Lives and Actions if Those who bear the Name of God partake not of the God-like Nature but rather of that which is Diabolick Remember that as you are Deputed by God so you must Resemble Him You are the Children of the most High you are his Off-spring more Signally be mindful of your Heavenly Extraction and commit nothing Unworthy of it You that are Governours must use your Power for God for it is reasonable that He who is the Original of your Power should also be the End of it Think not that the Title given you here is an Idle and Empty Thing The Gods which the Psalmist speaks of must not be like the Heathen Gods and Idols who as he saith Have eyes but see not ears but hear not hands but handle not We have too many of such Gods as These in This Nation How many Magistrates sit with their Arms across and Study to do Nothing How many Gallio's are there of this Age which Care for none of those Things which are the Proper Work of their Place The Hebrew word which signifies a Statue and a Tomb signifies also a President a Governour How many are there that bear this Latter Chacter who are too near of Kin to the Former Though they are appointed to be Publick Dispencers of Justice yet they are not Sollicitous to Discharge that Office but rather give the Neighbourhood to understand that they are meer Senseless Statues and Empty Sepulchres But certainly it is very unbecoming a Christain Magistrate to be Idle and Unactive in his Place to be Careless and Unconcerned and sleep away his time as if the People of his Province were as Inconsiderable as the Frogs over whom
Kings will not suffer his Vicegerents to be exposed to Contempt and Injuries As they are Approved of and Countenanced by him so their Opposers shall be Baffled and Punished And thus when Nature and Necessity and the Holy Writ and Providence all join in one Sound it is the Voice of God This Doctrin thus Established concerns both the Magistrate and the People First the Peoâ—le for as before they were invited to Obedience from the Consideration of the Dignity and Eminency of their Superiors so here they are called to the same Duty by this Thought That Magistracy is of Divine Institution Rulers are Constituted by God God Himself hath said of them They are Gods Both their Name and Office are Reverend and Honourable and therefore you are bound to pay them your utmost Regards and Respects You are lead to this Duty by the Light of Nature as I have shew'd And therefore he that despises Authority at the same time acts against Reason and abandons his Understanding And you are conducted to it also by a Divine Warrant as you have heard and therefore you cannot be excused from the Performance of it In the next place this Doctrin doth more nearly concern the Persons who are in Place and Dignity They should be Instructed from what I have tender'd First To acknowledge their Original and Founder the God of Gods the Absolute Lord and Sovereign Controller of the World Let not their Title though it be Great and Honourable make them forget that there is a GOD who Ruleth in the Earth and that all Earthly Gods must do Obeisance and Homage to him He is to be feared above all Gods Psal. xcvi 4. The contrary Temper and Practice have prevailed too much in the World of which we have abundant Instances The first Gods among the Heathens were Kings and Princes and Great Men. Nimrod the first Monarch and Sovereign was the first that was Deified among them Idolatry commenced in Monarchy The Greatness and Power of their Kings extorted Worship from their Subjects who admired and feared them Lordship and Dominion entailed Divinity upon them It is well known that most of the Pagan Kings of old to make themselves more Venerable to their Subjects used to derive their Pedigree from some God and at last some of them would needs be taken for Real Gods Thus Alexander the Great and some of the Roman â—mperors would have Altars and Images Consecrated to them Iulius Cesar began it and after him the Worst and Vilest Emperors affected Divine Honour as Nero Caligula Domitian and others and would publickly be stiled Gods The Iewish Rabble applauding King Herod cried out The voice of God So Tacitus tell us of Nero and Suetonius of Claudiâ—s that their Voices were said to be Celestial and Divine Iulian joined the Effigies of the Heathen Gods with his own Statues that they might pay Reverence to the Gods and Him together Our Lord God the Pope hath been a Compliment sometimes to the Bishop of Rome And you may read in the Second Councel of Lateran that he is stiled another God on Earth But this Language is unsufferable Though the Higher Powers are Gods yet they are to remember that they must not Prophanely Usurp that Title They are to consider that there is a God above them a Great and Mighty God who regardeth not persons Deut. x. 17. He is Independent and Uncontrollable and none else is They abuse their Reason and mistake their Office if they imagine themselves to be Gods in that sense It was a very Notable Saying of King Henry VIII who at Sir Thomas More 's first coming to his Service at Court gave him this Godly Lesson First look unto God and then after that unto me An Advice well becoming a Prince and which shews that he had some Sense of that Great Truth which I am now pressing That the Great God of Heaven is above all the Gods and Kings of the Earth That there is a Greater King whom all Kings are under Therefore they are to stand in Awe of him and be affraid of Offending him and Rebelling against him for there are Rebellious Rulers as well as Subjects Isai. i. 23. Thy Princes are rebellious viz. against the King of Kings Secondly They may be reminded from the Premises not only to acknowledge God's Sovereignty but to expect his Blessing and Protection If by Devout Prayers they Address themselves to him he will assuredly Inspire them with that Understanding and Wisdom which are proportionable to the Greatness of their Employment he will vouchsafe them his Aid and Assistance he will be their Guardian and Defender and those that rudely touch them shall not do it with Impunity Be encouraged hence against all Hardships and Oppositions but rather let the Consideration of Difficulties excite and inflame you and let your Magnanimity be as great as your Danger If whilst you act for God and Religion you suffer from the Tongues of Men remember that it is a Princely thing to do well and hear ill and resolve to bear Reproach with as much Content as some Men their Praises and Applause Moving in so great a Sphere and with such a Lustre and Influence it is no wonder that you raise many Envious Exhalations which cast a Cloud upon you and labour to Obscure your Name David had his Shimei Governors have their Railers and Detractors Some observe Failings and Declensions in the Heavenly Bodies The Fixed Stars twinkle and nod sometimes or the Silly People think they do so and will not be perswaded to the contrary Necessity is laid upon me saith St. Paul and woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel and yet â—oe unto us if we do for it is certain that some will mistake us and censure us You may as easily and as truly apply it to the Civil Magistrates discharge of their Office That they govern well is necessary and indispensable but whilst they do so they must look for Reproaches and Affronts they must provide to suffer for they know not how Unkind the World may be to them and what Outrages they will commit upon them We read that the Roman Commonwealth prov'd Ungrateful to the Friends and Patriots of their Country the very Restorers and Preservers of their Welfare as Camillus Publius Cornelius Scipio and others We are told how Unhandsomly the Athenian Republick dealt with Themistocles and Aristides Pericles and Phocion and others Merit was a way to Ruin and Banishment and the Ostracism let them understand that a Publick Person must not Deserve too well But this may encourage and animate all great Rulers and Governours who discharge a good Conscience that Heaven hath a special Regard and Eye to them and will certainly Recompence them for the hard Usage and ill Returns they meet with Thirdly Since they are Gods and appointed by the Almighty they ought to think themselves charg'd with a great Necessity of Living and Acting well They are set in an Eminent
Principles And consequently it is the chief Business of a Preacher to beat down all Immorality Wickedness and Prophaneness and to set up and promote whatever is Vertuous and Laudable and especially to advance the Evangelical Vertues and Graces and such Duties as are more especially commanded by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament And this very thing shews the Excellency of our Office when it is rightly discharg'd for the Worthiness and Esteem of Employments are according to the Usefulness of them Thus to instance in other Faculties he is the Best Laâ—yer that most successfully directs Men to the Securing of their Estates and Properties and he is the Best Physician that saves Mens Lives So it is here he is the Best Divine he is the Best Preacher that reforms Meâ—s Manners and effectually shews them how to save their Souls The True Preaching is to answer to Prophesying in the Primitive Church which is the thing more particularly design'd in the Text by Excelling to Edification and this you find was esteemed by the Apostle as the Best and most Valuable Gift because it was most Advantageous to the Church He that Prophesieth saith he speaks to men to Edification and Exhortation and Comfort 1 Cor. xiv 3. This is the proper Task of the Evangelical Preacher viz. not only to Build Men up by Instructing them in their Holy Faith but by Powerful Exhortations to the Practice of all Christian Vertues to make them Better and to enable them to feel the Comfort and Satisfaction of a Religious Life In Order to this his Instructions and Exhortations must be Plain and Intelligible and easy to be comprehended We read of some Hereticks of old that were wont to use a great deal of Hebrew in their Religious Worship and in their Discourses to the People thereby to Astonish and Amaze the Vulgar But he that would Preach so as to Edify must not use any such Arts he must not soar above the Capacities of those that hear him Or if any one will needs call this Building it is like that of Babel where they understood not one another We justly Condemn the Papists for Praying in an unknown Tongue but let me be so free as to say that to Preach in a Stile which is not understood by the People is every whit as unlawful and as absurd Therefore thou O Man of God flee these things and let the Great Apostle be thy Example Who would rather speak five words to be understood and to Edify others than utter ten thousand which could not have that effect upon them The Prophet shrunk himself into the proportion of the Child he meant to revive And so must Spiritual Instructers and Publick Exhorters to Vertue deal with those they intend to recover out of their Sins wherein they are dead they must adapt themselves to their Measures they must suit themselves to their mean Understandings and condescend to their Weaknesses and often Inculcate the same Divine Lessons therein having regard to the Forgetfulness as well as the Ignorance and Shallowness of their Common Hearers And as for the Mode of delivering our Doctrines whether by Book or without that is of the meanest Consideration and no Intelligent Person will be very solicitous about it so it be Grave and Proper Certainly it is not Necessary we should commit every Sermon to our Memories Such perpetual Conning is too like a School-Boy's Task methinks as if our Auditors were Pedagogues and we stood in continual Fear of the Ferula if we should not have all our Lesson by Heart Much less is Preaching a needless Mustering up of Authors an unmerciful haling of the Fathers out of their Graves to no purpose a rude claiming Acquaintance with Greek and Latin Writers for the sake of a Sentence or two out of them It is not pleasing the People with Little and Trifling things or astonishing them with too Great and High ones Nor is it yet any thing made up of an Affected Tone or Gesture or any thing of that sort But as I represented it it is a sober informing of Mens Judgments and establishing them in the Grand Points of Religion it is a plain and bold rebuking of Vice and a warm Exhortation to Vertue it is an affectionate Application of Truth to the Hearts and Lives of the Hearers This is Preaching and thus the Church of Christ is built up thus this Great Pile is raised and reaches with its utmost Top even to Heaven where it is Triumphant Fifthly In the next place I must not forget to add that we are to mind those things also which respect the Discipline and Order the Vnity and Peace of the Church To this purpose its Solemn Censures were Instituted by Christ and his Apostles that if there should happen any Dilapidations in the Building of the Church it might by these be speedily Repair'd that Persons of Unholy and Disorder'd Lives might be debar'd Communion with so Holy a Society And the Laws of Decency were prudently design'd to extirpate all Confusion and Distraction and to render the Church and all its Services Beautiful and Venerable The Apostle concerning his Converts of Colosse professes that he rejoiced in beholding their Order Col. ii 5. A Military word and signifies the orderly disposal of Soldiers in an Army Such should be the Regular Marshalling of the Church Militant It is requisite for its Security and Welfare that all keep their proper Ranks and Stations and that a Decorum be every where observ'd We find that Circumstances as well as Substantials are to be look'd after the Apostle in the Eleventh Chapter of this Epistle controuls the Solecisms of their External Behaviour in the Service of God He checks their Rudeness and Irreverence and gives Rules for the outward Deportment and Carriage in Praying and Prophesying It is fit that some care should be taken of Religion's Outside that she have a comely Equipage Decent and Fitting Circumstances are the Wall about the Spiritual Building they are the Hedge about the Field of the Church which contributes much to her Preservation and Welfare It is such a Fence to her as the Bark is to the Tree which when it is utterly neglected the Fruit and sometimes the Tree it self is endangered Even those things which are but Accessary and Accidental to Devotion are of great use and the Devotion and Worship themselves would not be long kept up without these But let us remember that they are but Circumstances and Appendages and that the things which we are chiefly to be concern'd for in Religion are of an higher Nature and that the Mind is principally to be employ'd here The main care in God's Worship must be that it be Spiritual and Sincere that the Heart be rightly disposed for this is the Sacrifice which he chiefly requires and regards All must be so done in his Service that the Simplicity of Christianity be not abated that Real and Internal Religion be not diminish'd and that the
of Time and are known to be great wasters of your precious Hours are an unsufferable impediment to Religion I am satisfied that there is none here of a sober and stayed mind but will relish what I have said and therefore I need not enlarge on this Particular Moreover there is nothing takes the mind off from Serious Thoughts so much as the Vanity of Attire Those that are addicted to this trouble not their heads with the Concerns of an higher nature The Great Work of Dressing is their Main Employment To be Gay Modish and Trim to be Fine Brave and Splendid is that which engrosses all their Care and Solicitude and thereby they are rendred unfit for the Service of God and all Religious Exercise They banish the thoughts of their present Duty and of Death and Judgment to come of another World after this Thus you see on what accounts the Habit which persons wear may be a hindrance to Religion and Piety And when it is so we are sure that it becomes Sinful and Unlawful Though it may seem to adorn the body it is the blemish of the Soul and the deformity of the whole man And now having more generally display'd the nature of that Excess which I undertook to give you an account of and having shew'd the Unlawfulness of it I now desire you to make some Reflections upon what I have said For it is certain that we live in an Age that is egregiously Criminal as to this very thing Most of the Ornamental part of men and womens Apparel is at this day unlawful i. e. either as it proceeds from Vain Curiosity and Affectation of Novelty or as it is a Badge of Pride and Vain-glory or as it administers to Lust and Wantonness or as it exceeds the Condition and Quality of those that wear it As to this last especially the Disorder among us is unsufferable and utterly disagreeable to the laws of Reason Prudence and Religion These things I plainly and impartially set before you and let me not be accounted your Enemy because I tell you the truth and that with great freedom and sincerity And herein I follow the example of the Greatest Lights in the Christian Church The two Chief Apostles thought it part of their Ministerial Office to rebuke their female Converts for the Immodesty and Vanity of their Head-Attire in my Text and in 1 Pet. 3. 3. And we shall find that the Pious Fathers and Bishops of the Christian Church afterwards esteem'd it their indispensable duty to take notice of the like disorder and to reprimand it with great severity Clement of Alexandria with much ardency inveighs against the Gaiety and Vain Adorning used by the women in his time Tertullian in two of his Treatises pursues the same subject in the former disswading the women from Rich and Gorgeous Apparel in the latter declaming against False Hair and Painting and such like wanton usages which shew as he saith that they were displeas'd with God's Workmanship and endeavour'd to mend it but it was in a very ill way for they made use of the Arts and Inventions of the Evil Spirit From St. Cyprian's Discourse of the Discipline and Habits of Virgins it appears that some of the Christian women were very immodest and profuse in their Attire in those days but that Holy Bishop reprehends them with a Gravity and austerity which became his Sacred Function St. Chrysostom was a sharp Reprover of the extravagant Garb and antick Dresses of that Sex And those Religious Fathers Basil the Great and St. Austin remonstrated against the same Excess The like did St. Ierom who particularly animadverts on the High Toppings of their Head-Attire For it seems they were then guilty of the rampant folly of this Age they did as he words it Turritum verticem struere Build and rear up their heads in the shape of High Turrets and Pinnacles It was the fashion to erect here a stately Pile of Ornaments to which that of Iuvenal refers Tot adhuc compagibus altem Aedificat caput for he speaks it of the Women of those days These are call'd Turrita capita by Festus and Varro This Mounting Head-gear is call'd by Lucan Turrita corona because of its Soaring-Altitude and the ground it is built upon is stiled by him Turrita frons This is the Daring Pride which reigns among our very ordinary Women at this day All their Rigging is nothing worth without this wagging Top-Mast They think themselves highly advanc'd by this Climbing Fore-top and in defiance of our Saviour's words endeavour as it were to add a cubit to their stature With their Exalted Heads they do as 't were attempt a Superiority over Mankind Nay these Babel-builders seem with their Lofty Towers to threaten the Skies and even to defie Heaven itself But we must not suffer them to go uncontroul'd if we will imitate the Religious Writers and Preachers of the first Christian Ages some of whom were Martyrs and Confessors yea if we will follow the example of our own Pious Reformers in this Nation who with great plainness and freedom rebuked this Vice in their time as the Homilies on this subject testifie and particularly that passage in one of them The proud and haughty Stomachs of the daughters of England are so maintain'd with divers disguised sorts of costly apparel that there is left no difference between an honest Matron and a common Strumpet If this was truly and honestly spoken and commanded to be publish'd in those times surely it may with as much truth honesty and faithfulness be proclaim'd in ours Nay indeed I do not see how a Preacher can be faithful unless he discharges this part He must openly declare his dislike of this Indecent Garb he must give a check to this Ranting and Gaudy Attire And it would be well for England if the Magistrates would give it another check if the Civil as well as the Spiritual Powers would shew their abhorrence of it And herein truly they would imitate the practise of the Ancientest Law-givers and Wisest Governours We are inform'd that there were Officers appointed heretofore at Athens to oversee the Apparel of the people that it might be modest grave and comely and where they found a default to punish the offenders and more especially they had a sort of Overseers who took care of the Attire of Women There was a Sumptuary Law made by Numa Pompilius to reform the Excess in Garments which was among the Old Romans And among these people afterwards it was order'd that all persons and their qualities should be distinguish'd by their Habits Our Ancestors likewise did not forget to retrench the Vanity and Disorder which they observ'd in Cloathing thus in King Edward the Third's time an Act was made to appoint every degree of persons the Vesture they should wear and Great and Eminent persons only were permitted to wear Gold Silver Silk Furs c. King Edward the Fourth
Ministry of the Gospel in the immediately foregoing verse These saith the Apostle are a Mystery because the things which are now preach'd and proposed in the Gospel were hid from those that lived in the former ages And though it is added that God hath made known to his Saints the riches of the glory of this mystery yet this is spoken Comparatively and not Absolutely for these riches are the unsearchable riches of Christ as we heard before that is they still remain in a great measure hidden and unknown to us Thus in these three places it is evident that the Evangelical Doctrine is call'd a Mystery chiefly in respect of the Iews and Gentiles of former ages It was conceal'd from the one under Types and Shadows and Mystical Rites it was kept secret from the other by their adhering only to Natural and Philosophical Principles In short the first knew little of it the second knew nothing therefore it is deservedly call'd a Mystery And there are no other Texts but these can be produc'd where the word mystery is mention'd with relation to what Christianity was heretofore It is true when our Saviour arriv'd it was reveal'd and in some manner laid open but yet not so as that it ceases to be a Mystery Which is the next thing I propounded viz. that Christianity is still a Mystery In this respect and not with reference to what it was before it hath this denomination in these Texts of the New Testament which I shall now produce and briefly glance upon First our Saviour himself calls the Grand Doctrines of the Gospel the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven Mat. 13. 11. where not the Parables as some fancy in which those Evangelical Truths were couch'd but the Truths themselves are meant for if it were otherwise Christ would have call'd them Parables and not Mysteries but we find that he calls them by this latter name and that in plain contradistinction to Parables as may be observ'd not only in this v. 11. but in 10 and 13. And this is more plain from the Parallel places in Mark 4. 11. and Luk. 8. 10. Those therefore that confound Parables and Mysteries here have not learn'd to distinguish of things aright they make no difference between Comparisons or Dark Representations of Spiritual things and the Things that are Compared and Represented Parables are the former but the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are the latter And the reason why many of the Substantial Truths of the Gospel or the kingdom of heaven for in the stile of the New Testament these are the same are thus denominated is because of the great Obscurity and Difficulty which attend them Again not only our Saviour but the Great Apostle uses this language when he speaks of the Great Matters of Religion these are said by him to be the wisdom of God in a Mystery 1 Cor. 2. 7. not only because they were hidden from former ages and from the Princes of this world v. 8. both Iewish and Pagan Rulers but because they are in themselves Mysterious and Obscure as the Apostle explains himself in v. 9. by applying that passage Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him It is no wonder saith he that they are ignorant of these Great things viz. the Method of Redemption and Salvation by Christ's Undertaking for us and all the Benefits and Priviledges that attend these for these are the things which God hath prepared and provided in the Gospel it is no wonder that these are not fully known and perceived because they are Mysteries they surpass all humane understanding they are not to be comprehended by our weak and shalâ—ow intellects though it is true the knowledge of these Great Articles of the Christian Faith so far as it is conducible to Salvation is imparted to all true Believers as it follows God hath reveal'd them unto us by his Spirit v. 10. And these things are said in several other places of the New Testament to be revealed which is not to be understood as if they were so reveal'd that we can fully comprehend them and see throughly into the nature of them but they are so reveal'd and discovered that we have some knowledge of them and as much as is requisite and no Wise man would desire more but more is unknown than is known Hence we may understand that Paradox of the Apostle to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Eph. 3. 19. The Undertakings of Christ wherein he shew'd his transcendent Love to us may be known and yet they pass knowledge they far exceed the utmost conceptions we can form of them Next I might add that the Apostles are call'd the stewards of the mysteries of God 1. Cor. 4. 1. where all Commentators of Note understand by the Mysteries of God the Dispensation of the Word as well as of the Sacraments and other things belonging to the Evangelical Ministry Indeed the whole Administration of Christianity is meant here this is a Mystery yea even now it is so for the Apostle actually applies this Appellation of Stewards of the Mysteries of God to himself and the Ministers of Christ. Christianity then is a Mystery there are several things in it of that exalted and elevated nature that humane understandings cannot possibly comprehend them some doctrines lie under perpetual Obscurity they will by no means undergo a scrupulous examination they will not bear a strict and severe scrutiny manag'd by mere Reason Again the Apostle makes mention of the mystery of his i. e. Gods will Eph. 1. which as the Context plainly shews is meant of the Wise but Mysterious Method of Man's Salvation contain'd in the Gospel as it is now preach'd for there is not any one word or syllable in the foregoing or following verses that seems to restrain it to what it was before viz. before Christ's Coming And again in chap. 6. of this Epistle v. 19. we read of the mystery of the Gospel where it is simply and irrespectively spoken that is without any regard to former Times and Ages of Christianity or the Gospel it self and the true nature of it And that the Apostle refers not to what was past but speaks of the Gospel as it was at that time when he preach'd it is plain from this that he immediately adds that for this very Mystery of the Gospel he was then an Embassador in bonds v. 20. But it may be Objected how could the Gospel be Mysterious and Abstruse in it self when the Apostle in the same place would have the Ephesians pray for him that he might make it known The Answer is plain from what we observ'd before upon Eph. 3. 19. Though it be Mysterious and Dark and may be said to surpass knowledge yet it is in some degree to be known and consequently may be made known i.e. so far as the things are capable of it The Truth and
Certainty of all the doctrines of the Gospel may be discover'd yea and demonstrated to the minds of those who are fitted and prepared for it but still the Efficacy of sundry Evangelical Truths is kept secret from some persons for a time and some of them are of that quality that they will ever surmount and baffle the utmost efforrs of our Intellectual Powers In another place Col. 2. 2. the Apostle mentions the mystery of God and of the Father or rather it should be rendred even of the Father and of Christ that is the Gospel or the Christian Religion wherein God the First Person in the Glorious Trinity is declar'd to be the Father of Christ and Christ the Second Person is declared to be the Eternal Son of God and God himself These and the like Fundamental Principles of Christianity are Dark and Mysterious and because of these Sublime Truths Christianity it self hath the name of Mystery given to it If there were no other place in the New Testament but this where the word mystery is found it could not create wonder that the Socinians even for the sake of this alone contend that Christianity is not simply and absolutely call'd a Mystery in Scripture for here the Godhead of Christ as well as of the Father is asserted for the word God is attributed to both Persons God even the Father and Christ being the same with God who is both Father and Christ and consequently if they deny Christ to be very God as they do they must deny the Father to be so too I proceed to another Text in the same Epistle Col. 4. 3. whence it is manifest that in the stile and idiom of the New Testament the Gospel or Christianity hath the name of a Mystery for the Apostle expresly calls it the mystery of Christ the same with the mystery of the Gospel in the place before mention'd and he requests the Prayers of the Colossians for him that God would open unto him a door of utterance to speak this Mystery of Christ i.e. freely and openly to preach the Gospel as appears further from what follows next for which I am in bonds that is a Sufferer a Prisoner for my preaching the Truâ—hs of the Gospel So that it is impoâ—sible whatever is suggested to the contrary to understand the word here any otherwise than of the doâ—trine of the Gospel as it was then preach'd by this Apostle this is Mysterious and Hidden and in many things Inexplicable So again in 1 Tim. 3. 9. by the mystery of the faith which the Ministers and Officers of the Church are exhorted to hold i.e. to defend and maintain must needs be meant the Evangelical Truths and Doctrines The holding the mystery of the faith is the same here with holding fast the form of sound words 2 Tim. 1. 13. that is the Articles of the Christian Faith the doctrines of the Gospel And lastly in that Text on which I found the present Discourse Religion is call'd the Mystery of Godliness for immediately after the Apostle had made mention of the Truth which is held forth as on a Pillar in the Christian Church he assigns some of the greatest and fairest branches of it and in order to that acquaints us that we may the better know the true nature of them that they are a Mystery and that not with relation to the ages and generations before the Gospel but to the present Mysteriousness of this Sacred Institution for by consulting the Context you will find that the words are spoken Absolutely and Entirely without any respect to the past times of the world under Iudaism or Gentilism They represent to us the condition of Christianity as it is at this day and as it is in it self consider'd And so this and all the other Texts that I last mention'd are a baffle to what some late Advocates of Socinianism pretend to prove viz. that in the New Testament the word Mystery is always used to signifie something that is intelligible and clear in it self and in its own nature but clouded with figurative and mystical words but never to denote a thing that is dark and unconceivable in it self The contrary is plain and evident from the fore-cited Texts and every unprejudiced man that duly scans them must needs acknowledge that Christianity is there call'd a Mystery not in regard of what it was but what it is It is true there are some other Texts in the New Testament where the word Mystery is mention'd but it hath there no relation at all to the present Matter viz. the Gospel or Christianity in it self consider'd Thus in Rom. 11. 25. the General and Final Conversion of the Iews in the last ages of the world is call'd a Mystery In 1 Cor. 13. 2. mysteries is a general word for all matters of knowledge that are abstruse and dark and it refers more particularly to the knowledge of future things for to know all mysteries seems to be explicatory of the foregoing phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have a gift of Prophesying that is foretelling and declaring things to come as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in the preceding chapter v. 10. In 1 Cor. 14. 2. mysteries is a large and extensive term and used by the Apostle to signifie those divine doctrines which are mysterious and difficult but it is not particularly applied by him and therefore I have not made use of it In 1 Cor. 15. 51. it is restrain'd to a particular Truth which was unknown to the Corinthians at that time but St. Paul reveals it to them behold saith he I shew you a mystery viz. this that we shall not all sleep those that are alive at at Christ's Coming shall not die after the manner of all other men but we shall all be changed they shall undergo such an alteration that their corruptible state shall be chang'd into that which is incorruptible and immortal The Conjugal State is said to be a mystery â—ph 5. 32. because it shadows forth the Union of Christ and the Church as the Sacraments were stiled Mysteries by the Ancient Writers of the Church because they were a Representation of so great a thing as Christ's Body Mystery is applied in the Revelation chap. 1. v. 20. and chap. 17. v. 7. to particular Visions and Revelations which had a mystical and spiritual meaning in them In Rev. 10. 7. the mystery of God is said to be finish'd or fulfilled for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is meant of the Glorious and Flourishing state of the Christian Church in the last times of the world which hath been kept as a Mystery from the generality of men but when the Seventh Angel sounds his Trumpet then as we are there assur'd that Mystery shall actually be accomplish'd and fulfill'd But none of these Texts refer to our present Matter as any Understanding Reader may perceive only I thought fit to produce them that they might
not be misinterpreted And now I have produced every individual place of Scripture where the word Mystery occurs and I have faithfully and impartially set them before the Considerate in their true and proper light that they may have a view of the right and genuine meaning of them and not misunderstand and misapply the word as some have done to the great prejudice of Truth but that more especially they may be convinc'd of this that Mystery as it is applied in the Sacred Writ to the Christian Doctrines expresses the Nature of them and lets us know that Christianity hath this Title given it because it is a Real Mystery in it self Wherefore after I have thus clear'd the way I will offer this Proposition and make it good that the Sublime Truths of the Christian Religion still retain and ever shall the nature of a Mystery This in general is evident from that idea and notion which we have of a Mystery which we learn from the Original denotation of the word whether we borrow it from the Hebrew or Greek viz. that it is some Hidden Secret thing some thing Shut up for such are the Chief Doctrines and Truths of the Gospel they are in a great measure hid and as it were lock'd up from us Many of the Articles of our Christian Faith are cover'd with great Darkness a Veil is cast over them and we are not able to penetrate into them Thus Christianity is a Mystery But particularly and distinctly to demonstrate this I will insist upon these two Heads 1 Christianity is an incomprehensible Mystery in a special manner to some 2. In a more extensive way of speaking it is so to all I begin with the first Christianity is in a special and singular way a Mystery to some persons and ever will be Those whom I here mean are all such as according to the Apostle's Emphatick stile lie in their wickedness continue in their state of Degeneracy and Corruption and have felt nothing of the Divine Birth and Renovation which are the sole gift of the Holy Spirit These as long as they remain in this wretched state are in darkness as the same Inspired Writer speaks that is they have no Effectual and Saving Knowledge of the divine Truths of the Gospel they understand nothing of them to any purpose for these cannot be thus known but by Divine Illumination by a Supernatural discovery from above which they wilfully debar themselves of Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast reveal'd them unto babes saith our Blessed Lord Mat. 11. 33. Therefore to the former of these the Fundamental doctrines of the Gospel concerning the Redemption of mankind by the Blood of Iesus and much more the doctrines of Regeneration Faith Self-denial Mortification c. are no other than Mysteries yea insignificant Iargon to them We hear the same Infallible Master speaking at another time thus It is given it is a Particular Donation a Special Grant unto you my Disciples to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven but to them i.e. the whole Multitude who are not Enlightned it is not given Mat. 13. 11. There are such representations of those Heavenly and Divine things made by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the Regenerate as are not to be found in others Which is according to those other Sayings of our Saviour The Spirit of Truth the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him i.e. in a Saving way but ye know him Joh. 14. 17. O righteous Father the world hath not known thee Joh. 17. 25. They are in the dark and all thy Sacred Truths are Riddles to them And this is the Apostolical doctrine The Natural man receives not discerns not entertains not the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. The Natural or Animal man here meant saith an Ancient Father of the Church is he that lives according to the flesh and hath not his mind yet enlightned by the Spirit But he adds this to the Character That he is one that hath only that inbred and humane knowledge which the Creator furnishes all mens minds with And so other Ancient Writers interpret the words as we shall hear afterwards According to the Learned Grotius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one that is govern'd by the affections of his fleshly part but he that is lead only by the light of Humane Reason he that hath no other light but that of Nature This Interpretation of this Learned Writer is the more considerable because the persons I 'm concern'd with at present have so great an esteem and veneration and that not unjustly for him and boast that he is theirs It appears they are mistaken for now he is ours whilst he directly and expresly avows the Apostle's Natural or Animal Man to be one that is wholly conducted by the light of Natural Reason and Humane Wisdom Such a one having no Supernatural guidance and direction cannot as long as he is such attain to a Right Knowledge of the things of God because they are foolishness unto him as the Apostle here subjoyns Nay he adds further he cannot know them there is no Possibility of the thing That the Natural man should rightly perceive the things of the Spirit of God implies as evident a Contradiction as to say a Blind man should be able to see things visible So a Judicious Divine of our Church expresses himself concerning this matter The ground of the Apostle's Assertion follows which is very remarkable These things saith he of the Spirit of God can't be known by a Natural man because they are Spiritually discerned Spiritual things are discover'd and known in a peculiar way and such as is proper to Good and Holy men only These persons have an inward sense and conviction of the Reality of the things and they know the true Value and Worth of them They know them so as to make them their own proper Concern they know them so as to feel an influence from them on their hearts affections and lives Thus a Religious person knows and discovers these things in an other manner than Natural and Vnregenerate men do It is true the knowledge of both these is alike as to some sort of discoveries relating to Holy things Thus not only the Grammatical Critical Rhetorical Historical and Philosophical part of the Bible may be understood by the one as well as the other for the Worst men may have as great an insight into these as the Best but even the Theological part of this Inspired Book so far as is meant by it the meer Speculative and Notional discovery of Divine Truths may be equally known by both But to know the Truths contain'd in this Sacred Volume so as to be better'd by them is from Supernatural Light alone and this is it which distinguishes the Spiritual from the Natural man This latter falls
we are and which part of the World is our Situation It is another proof of our Ignorance yea of the defectibility of our Senses that we dispute whether the Earth moves or no. A great many Learned and Wise Men of late and some profess'd Mathematicians not the worst Judges in the case hold it doth and yet ten thousand of Considerate heads before this never thought of it And our Senses tell us no such thing but the contrary viz. that the Earth stands Still and is Immoveable This is certain that the Sense and Feeling of all men in the world are mistaken and about their Proper Object and that Continually which is somewhat hard to digest or else the Earth is not moved is not a Planet hath no diurnal Revolution That the doctrine of the Earth is Obscure and Difficult we have a Remarkable Proof in the late Theorists and others that have appear'd on the stage They have been pleas'd to thrust very Harsh and Incredible things upon us and to speak freely there are some of them that are so far from explaining and giving a rational account of the Phâ—nomena of the Earth that they have rendred this doctrine more obscure and perplexed than ever it was besides that they have entrench'd upon the Mosaick Verity and have abandon'd that Account of the Creation and particularly of the Earth which the Inspired Writer hath delivered This is certain that seeing they run a tilt against one another they cannot all of them be in the right about their notions of the Earth and it is a question whether any of them have light upon the Truth excepting what One of them hath deliver'd as matter of Fact and built upon Clear Experiment and Observation which we owe to his Indefatigable Industry and Great Sagacity In brief it must be acknowledg'd that they are very Ingenious and Learned Conjectures but some of their respective Hypothesis and Solutions are loaded with such Difficulties for on that account it is that I mention these things they are loaded I say and oppress'd with such Difficulties as are able to stifle and choak not only the restif and hide-bound Faith of a Socinian but the ordinary belief and assent of a Plain Philosopher be he never so Credulous Then if we come to Particulars belonging to this Terrestrial Globe with what Perplexities are we beset Are not only the Old but the New Opinions concerning them every day quarrell'd with and their Celebrated Authors and Founders turn'd out of the Schools And what is the Reason Because of the Uncertainty Difficulty and Mystery in every thing How unsearchable are the most common and obvious Operations of Nature Who can by any Material Cause solve the Cohesion of parts in bodies Who can assign the True Principle of Gravity or the Cause of the Flowing and Ebbing of the Sea or of the Attraction of the Load-stone or of several other things of that nature To instance more particularly in a Plant tell me if you can the Pedegree of this poor Vegetable blazon the Coat of its Seminal Form Say wherein consists the Life and Death of this sort of beings Shew me exactly how a few Seeds buried in the Earth and entomb'd with clods have so flourishing a Resurrection Give an account of the whole series and progress of their Motion the gradual and successive process of Vegetation in the root fibres pith stalks branches blossoms flowers leaves fruit and by what Rules they direct their course so methodically How is it that they stop at such a Stature and just Proportion What causes the Diversity of their Shape and Figure of their Colour and Smell what produces the excellent variety of their Qualities and Vertues There is no man upon earth whatever pretences he may make is able throughly to resolve himself or others about all or any of these Queries If I should pass to the Mineral Regions there a Celebrated Vertuoso tell us 't is acknowledg'd by a Great Naturalist That it is impossible for one man to understand throughly the nature of Antimony and how then shall he know all the rest of the Subterraneous World And then in the Animal Kingdom there are yet more Puzzling Enquiries the Remarkable Rarieties in the contexture of a despicable Insect are enough to entertain a Man's study all his days if he had nothing else to do and at last he would have cause to complain that he hath found out but little For as a Judicious Enquirer tells us Never was the man yet in the world that could give an accurate account of the nature of a Flie or a Worm in its full comprehension It hath pass'd for current doctrine that Insects are frequently begot of Putrified matter as well as by Univocal Generation but several late Vertuoso's of the First Rate pour in upon us abundance of Experiments to prove that there is not the most Minute Animal that is by Equivocal Production Cochenile hath been thought to belong to Plants but an Inquisitive Author of late hath discarded that Vulgar Notion and tells us it is not a Plant but a Living Creature it is not a Grain but a kind of Insect for thus his Microscope hath taught him to determine In many other Instances it might be proved that most of our late Learning in Natural Philosophy hath been to shew that what hath been formerly said is false And as for Our selves who are Perfecter Creatures we are Walking Problems we are Talking Wonders we carry about with us even in our Bodies a Complication of Mysteries But if we speak of the Incorporeal part of us then we are environ'd with much greater Darkness and Wonders It is an undeniable demonstration of our Ignorance and Weak Conceptions that we know so little of our Souls the things by which we know all that we know A mans Mind is the Inmost thing he hath nothing is so Near to him and Intimate with him and yet the many disputes and contests of Learned Writers about its Nature and Functions and the manner and method of its Operations acquaint us how obscure and uncertain mens notions are concerning it Especially we are yet to seek how a being that is wholly Bodiless is able to lay hold on Matter to actuate and inform it No man can tell how the Soul causes Motion by Thought or how by the same way it is able to put a stop to bodily motion We experience this to be true but it will puzzle us to give an account of the Manner of it It is no more to be explain'd and apprehended how the Humane Mind can think or will the Animal Spirits into Action than that a man should by his Thoughts or Will command the Winds to blow or the Flames to burn for the Spirits of the body being Material are no more capable in themselves of being thus actuated by the Soul than the others are And lastly though we know we have a Soul and are as certain of it as any
thing in nature yet it hath been long controverted where it is in what part of the body it is placed Though it be sufficiently demonstrated that there is such a being as the Rational Soul and that it is really distinct from Matter and that this latter is uncapable of Cogitation as was never more nervously proved than of late by a Great and Eminent Person of our Church against one that shews himself inclined to believe that Matter can Think though I say it is evident that there is such a Distinct Being as is the Sovereign Empress of all our Functions and actions yet it is not certainly known where her Throne is For some give her the whole body for her seat others believe she circulates in the Blood and others assign her the Heart as her particular Chair of State And though it is true the most Piercing Philosophers of late have confined her to the Brain yet they are not agreed in what part of it her Residence is Many other Instances indeed almost as many as there are Phaenomâ—na in the world of the Uncertainty of Natural Speculations might be produced A great part of that which passes for Knowledge is ingenious Guessing and Surmise And yet notwithstanding the Scruples and Difficulties which attend all these things which I have mention'd the Things themselves are readily own'd and assented to So that these several Particulars which I have named are clear demonstrations of these two things First That Propositions may be True and consequently that we may give our Assent to them though the matter of them surpasses our Reason yea tho' it is not only hard but impossible to explain it and to give an account of the Manner of it Secondly The foresaid Examples plainly shew that some things even in Nature may be above Reason and yet not â—ontrary to it for if they were the latter no man would yield assent to them but wholly reject them as inconsistent and impossible But even the very persons with whom our business is at present profess their ready assent to the truth and reality of all these things though they know not how to explain them and solve the right manner of them Hence it follows that we ought not to disbelieve a thing meerly because it surmounts our Reason and that we are not to infer from a thing 's being above Reason that it is contrary to it for after this rate we must discard all Natural Philosophy and believe nothing of the most ordinary Occurrences in Nature And what hinders now that we should not make the like Deductions with reference to those Higher matters which I before mention'd May we not on much better grounds make these two Inferences viz. that we ought not to disbelieve those things because they exceed our Reason and that though they do so yet it follows not thence that they are repugnant to Reason Such Inferences as these are very good and valid because of the difficult and recondite nature of these Spiritual and Divine matters which far outdoeth that of Bodily and Sensible things And we shall find that this is the way of Reasoning which one of the Ancientest and Learnedest of the Primitive Writers of the Christian Church made use of against the Hereticks and Seducers of his and the immediately foregoing times He argues from the Obscurity in matters of Sense to those that are Spiritual and of a Sublime Nature Thus then in imitation of that Great Man we may solidly argue with relation to the foregoing disquisitions in Philosophy If in things of an inferior nature there be such Obscurities and Difficulties which yet are no impediments to our Assent how much more then in Higher things may we expect there should be Great Difficulties and amazing Obscurities If Natural Knowledge be so Cloudy is there not reason to believe the Divine and Heavenly to be much more so If we are not able to find out the True System of the Material World how can we apprehend the unspeakable nature of the Spiritual one If there be Mysteries in Philosophy surely there are Greater ones in the Gospel If the nature of a Groveling Plant confounds us how shall we be able to solve all the difficult Problems in Christianity If a man can't attain all his life time to the knowledge of a single Mineral is it probable that he can in a much less time know fully the Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven If he can't give an account of a sorry Insect how shall he be able to unravel the Mysteries of our Faith If we can't tell with all our reason and argumentation how the Soul is united to and acts upon the Body how is iâ— possible to tell the manner of the Son of God's being joyn'd to the Humane nature or how could it be expected we should give an account of the Unity of the Three Persons in the Godhead or of other the like surprizing doctrines in our Religion If we have so mean a discovery of what is within us and so near to us and is the Best part of us yea is Our selves it is no wonder that we can't arrive to a full knowledge of the things that are without us and are remote from us and which are not of the same Limited nature with Our selves but are Boundless and Infinite If it was the Opinion of a Great Philosophick Wit that the Material World is indefinitely extended that the Compass of the Universe is beyond all that we can imagine that it is impossible to frame a conception of the limits and bounds of it then may we not with more reason hold the Intellectual World to be a boundless Expanse such as we cannot possibly reach to the Extremity of an endless unlimited and as it were infinite System Especially if we speak of the Divine and Supernatural things belonging to it we must be forced to own this Truth and to confess that what we know of them is the least part of what is kept from our knowledge and that we cannot possibly with the greatest art and wit attain to a greater insight For if there be Apocrypha in Nature as hath been shew'd it is not strange that there are Mysteries in Divinity which it is impossible whatever some pretend to solve by reason of their Profound and Immense nature These will not admit of an accurate Inquisition and therefore all our knowledge concerning them is defective and must needs be so We are presently beyond our depth we are soon plung'd when we venture into this Fathomless Ocean The Reason is because the Mind of man can have no perfect knowledge of what is of so Transcendent a nature especially it can't attain to a compleat notion and perception of what is Infinite This alone were sufficient to decide the Dispute between the Anti-Trinitarians and us If they would put the whole Controversie upon this issue it would soon have a period I wish they would well consider of it and shew themselves what they so
vaunt themselves to be Masters of True Reason For then they would see how unreasonable it is that their thoughts and expressions concerning the Infinite God should be according to the nature of Finite beings They would see how absurd it is to undertake to measure the Creator by the Creature and to apply the Properties of Natural things to what is Supernatural as they deal in the doctrine about the Holy Trinity They would find that what is true of the former is not necessarily so of the latter and consequently that they ought not to â—rgue from the nature of a finite and created being to that of God They would be convinced That the Scripture to use the words of a Man of free Thoughts and of a very Philosophical and Rational Genius who professes that the Scripture declares nothing concerning the Divinity of Christ and the Holy Trinity that is impossible contradictious or more unintelligible than things that men ordinarily assent to who are free Philosophers and admit nothing upon force or superstition but upon Reason They would not pretend to such a penetration of mind as to dive into the exact nature of the Deity they would be sensible of the unmeasurable disproportion between their weak capacities and what is Infinite and Immense In sum they would confess that they have not right conceptions concerning the nature of those Sublime Verities which I have been speaking of whilst they contend that there is nothing Mysterious and Hidden in them nay they would acknowledge that they have very wrong and perverse notions of these things and such as are no ways agreeable to their nature And now to shut up this Head of my Discourse we are to remember that the Truth and Reality of Things are firm and unshaken and we can't think to dissettle them but our business is to adjust our notions to the Things He that finds fault with them for their Obscurity and Difficulty cavils at the nature of the Things themselves which is the most irrational act imaginable for the Nature of Beings is stable and settled and we cannot alter it and therefore to require that it should be altered is absurd and ridiculous Lastly I argue not only from the quality of the things themselves but from the present state we are in which is capable of no other than an Imperfect knowledge of these Divine Secrets This Accounr of the matter is suggested to us by the Apostle for he makes a plain distinction between knowing now in part and seeing then i. e. hereafter face to face and knowing even as we are known 1 Cor 13. 12. One he compares to the state of a Child who is of weak understanding and capacity and the other to that of a Man who is of ripe judgment and apprehension The former is our allotment in this world Evangelical and Divine Truths for of these the Apostle speaks in that place are known by us here only in part and no otherwise shall they or can they be known as long as we inhabit in these dark Vehicles of Earth I speak not this to disparage the Christian Knowledge for it must be granted that there are many Plain aud Clear Propositions both as to the matter and manner of the things contain'd in them which the Writings of the New Testament furnish us with and all the Practical Truths of Christianity are easie to be known and are represented to us by Christ and his Apostles in a very intelligible manner And as to the knowledge of those very Doctrines which I have been speaking of all True Christians have such a measure of it as makes them sufficiently capable of understanding their Religion and of discharging their Duty of knowing so much as concerns them to know so much as is requisite to Salvation But that which I assert and am proving is this that these last sort of Truths are mix'd in us whilst we take up our residence on this earthly stage with much Ignorance and Darkness We comprehend not the full meaning of them because this is not suitable to our present condition which we are now placed in Thence it is that there are some Secrets mention'd in the Holy Scriptures which our understandings tremble at and are afraid to approach unto Be the mind of man never so Ambitious and greedy of knowledge it cannot grasp them for they are too Big it cannot reach them they are too High it cannot fathom them they are too deep it cannot discern them they are too Remote in a word they surpass humane abilities at their highest pitch in this state of Mortality But it shall be otherwise afterwards as the Apostle informs us When that which is perfect is come when we shall be translated to Heaven a state of Perfection then that which is in part shall be done away v. 10. Then we shall no longer be in the dark then the imperfection of our understanding shall cease because our natures shall be exalted Then those Amazing Truths which pose us now shall be fully resolved i. e. so far as is fit for us for even in Heaven our Nature will still be but Finite and therefore our knowledge will be so too But by the change of our vile bodies for heavenly ones though still they are the same but otherwise qualified which will no ways impede but promote the operations of our Souls and by being taken into the more Immediate Presence of the Holy Trinity and stated in the Fruiâ—ion of perfect Glory we shall have our minds exalted and our understandings widened to such a degree that we shall exactly and fully know every thing that is to be known by us Though the intrinsick nature of the things that we shall know shall be the same that it is now for there can be no alteration as to that yet our faculties shall not be the same as to the degree of their capacity and the manner of their perception When this gross Veil of flesh shall be drawn aside when the Soul is rid of this Terrestrial Clog and is stript of these Deficient Organs we shall have a more clear and refined apprehension of all Truths and approaching nearer to the Great Objects themselves we shall attain to a more distinct view of them and a fuller insight into them than now at this distance from them we are capable of In that Separate state we shall by reason of an intimate Communion with the Supreme Being and a close Conjunction of the Soul with him be able to comprehend all the Hard Points of Religion to unravel all Difficulties to untie all Knots to assoil all Controversies Then and not before we shall be furnish'd with this ability Wherefore those men make not a due distinction between this life and that to come who talk against Mysteries in our Religion they are forgetful of the Present Scene of things and the Dispensation they are under they discourse as if they thought themselves advanced to the Coelestial Regions already But this very
thing shews their mistake and that they are on this side of that place for they betray the weakness and uncertainty of their Knowledge These persons indiscreetly antedate the Last day anticipate the Future World and confront the revealed Purpose of Heaven for it was not design'd by the Supreme Being that we should here below have a full insight into those Divine Recesses this is reserved for another State Thus much of the Reasons so far as we can apprehend why Christianity is a Mystery that is why some of the most weighty and momentous doctrines of it are in some part hid from all mens understandings What I have said administers to us this double Reflection 1. From the premises we may discover the vanity and falsity of the Socinian Notion that there are no Mysteries in the Christian Religion 2. We may gather what is our Proper Duty and Concern in the Case before us First I say this discovers and detects and at the same baffles the false apprehension of those men who cry down all Mysteries in Christianity and tell us that all is levell'd to the meanest capacities Notwithstanding those Remarkable Attestations to the Contrary Truth from the plain words of our Saviour and his Apostles yet they perversly oppose and deny it and magnifie Reason as the only Measure of Truth and Rule of Faith whatever their late Pretences are and nothing will serve them in Religion but Logick and downright Demonstration I have observ'd it in the Modern Writings of this sort of men and of one also that is a late Friend of theirs that they seldom or never finish a Discourse though it be about Religion without bringing in of Geometrical terms especially Angles and Triangles These Gentlemen under a pretext of Mathematicks would subvert Christianity and demonstrate us out of the Articles of our Faith and make a Triangle baffle the Trinity This is the grand Source of their present Delusion and of that disturbance which they make in the World viz. their labouring to exclude all Mysteries from Christianity It arises wholly from this that they will not give credit to any thing in Religion but what is entirely Clear and Evident and commensurate to exact Reason This is perfectly according to that Description which one of the Fathers of the Primitive Church gives of St. Paul's Natural man He is one saith he that attributes all to the Reasonings of his Soul and thinks not that he stands in need of help from Above neither will be receive any thing by Faith but counts all foolishness which cannot be made out by Demonstration And an Ancient Critick defines him thus He is one who turns all over to Humane Reason and admits not of the operation of the Spirit i. e. any thing that is Supernatural in Religion This is the brief but full Character of a Disciple of Socinus so far as we are concern'd in him upon the present occasion but certainly it ill becomes a Christian man for I have proved already that such a spirit and genius are against the plain determination of Christ and his Apostles against the very nature of the things themselves and unsuitable to the present state we are in Such a one forgets to distinguish between Philosophy and Christianity The Professors of the former act not amiss in squaring all their opinions and sentiments by Strict Reason but the Adherers to the latter who are eminently stiled Believers must yield their assent to things which they cannot by Reason comprehend Otherwise they confound the natures of things and take away the Distinction between Reason and Faith which is much more absurd and unaccountable than what Scenkius in his Medical Observations fancies that it is possible for a man to receive the Visible Species through his Nostrils or in plainer terms that a man may See with his Nose for here is only a substituting of one Bodily Sense for another but in the other case there is a mistaking of one Mental Operation for another viz. Reason for Faith This is the Absurdity of those of the Racovian way and we ought carefully to avoid it We are to believe Christianity to be a Reasonable Service as the Apostle deservedly stiles it but it may be truly said of those men that they make Christianity more reasonable than it is that is they make it submit wholly to Humane and Natural Reason and this is the ground of their exploding all Mysteries Secondly Seeing a great part of the Christian Religion is a Mystery and design'd to be such we are concern'd to Behave our selves accordingly that is never to be so bold and rash as to demand a Positive and Punctual Account of things of this high and abstruse nature It is required in a Good Grammarian said One who was as skilful in that Art as any man that he be ignorant of some things The same may be said of a Good Divine to be ignorant of some Mysteries and not to search too earnestly into them is a good qualification in one of that Profession and indeed in all persons that study Christianity This is a Learned kind of Ignorance and we are not to be ashamed of it It is not necessary we should have a clear understanding of Theological Secrets because the Holy Writ is silent about them but yet we ought to hold and believe the things themselves because the same Infallible Word asserts them Those that go any further shew indeed that they are very Prying and Inquisitive but let them beware of handling the Word of God deceitfully and making Truth uphold Falshood As that Egyptian in Plutarch answer'd the men who ask'd him What it was that he carried so close Covered Therefore it is cover'd said he that you should not know what it is and therefore your asking was in vain So it is here these Divine things are purposely hid from us and wrapt up in Obscurity that we may not with too eager a Curiosity search into them and busie our heads about them Let every one of us think that spoken to us which the Good Christian said to the Philosopher at the Council of Nice Ask not How Be not inquisitive concerning the Manner of Sacred and Heavenly things for this is hid from us A Learned and Pious Writer of the Primitive Church tells us That it is enough for us to know that in Christ's Person the Divine Nature was so joyn'd by an ineffable kind of Tye with the Humane Nature that the same Hypostasis contains in it two distinct Natures but how that Union is made it is not necessary to know nor is it fit to search only let us believe and hold what is written And the same Excellent Person in another place and indeed in several places of his Writings exceedingly blames the rashness and curiosity of those that prie into Divine Mysteries and dispute and wrangle and raise vain questions about them and ask why and how such things are It
was excellently said by another Brave Man of a true primitive temper This question How can have no place in the things of God whose only Will is sufficient and is to be greatly admired of all And with these Ancient Writers agrees the Great Modern Reformer This word Why saith he hath misled and destroy'd many souls it is too high for us to search into When we come to insist too busily on these demands Why or How God saith or doth this or that we shew that we are loth to submit our Reason to Faith and to give assent to God's Word though we cannot clearly conceive it Which argues a very Unchristian temper for the Gospel hath propounded many things to us which are Mystical which neither our thoughts can fully apprehend nor our words express But this should not hinder us from believing and embracing them for though they are Mysterious yet it is plain and manifest that they are asserted in the Sacred Writings It was prudently and Christianly advised and determin'd by St. Augustine in such Points as these which I have been of speaking and especially the Trinity which that Pious Father particularly mentions Let us saith he by that previous Faith which helps the eye-sight of the mind clearly imbrace what we understand and firmly believe what we understand not The Reason of which Advice and Resolution is this that some things that are above the reach of our Understandings may be and ought to be the matter of our Belief Which is founded on this that the object of Faith is of a much larger Extent than that of Reason and therefore we may give assent to some Propositions which we cannot explain and clear up by the light of Reason And besides every Thinking Man ought to revolve this in his mind that Faith is of an higher nature than Reason and accordingly was designed to bear Sway over it and to controul it To this purpose it is to be consider'd that there are these Three Faculties or Operations in Men Sense and Reason and Faith and they gradually rise one higher than the other Sense is common to us with Brutes and takes notice only of Corporeal and External Objects but Reason is proper to us as we are Men and is bestow'd upon us to correct the mistakes of Sense thus by Sense we can't perceive the Motion of the Sun and Stars they so couzen our sight that we can't apprehend when they move yea they seem to stand immoveable wherefore we must consult with something else than Sense and that is Reason which tells us that either those Heavenly Bodies or the Ground we stand upon move very swiftly our Reason not our Eyes must give us an account of this Thus it is plain that Reason controuls Sense and consequently is a higher and superior faculty But then comes Faith and claims a Superiority over them both for as Reason was given by God to correct Sense so this Function was added to give a check to Reason as being Higher and Nobler than that This is the Order of these Operations in Man and it is by Divine appointment and therefore no man of sober thoughts can find fault with it If we are free to acknowledge that Reason is a Curb to Sense and we cannot deny it then we should be as forward to own that Faith is the same to Reason and that we ought to make use of the one to check and bridle the other when Sacred and Supernatural things are under our consideration Here then as is fitting let us strenuously exert our Faith and not judge of the Divine Being and the Truths revealed by him according to humane measures according to what we find and perceive in one another still remembring that they are Mysteries As for the Contrary Sentiment there are these three Great things that disparage it 1. It argues Pride and Arrogant Stiffness 2. It is an undeniable proof of gross Prejudice and Partiality 3. It unavoidably introduces Indifferency in Religion I will distinctly insist upon this Triple Charge and then leave the Judicious to judge of my performance First It is a great argument of a Proud and Haughty Spirit For it must needs proceed from this Principle that the men of that perswasion will by no means acknowledge their Short-sightedness and the Shallowness of their Intellectuals They cannot brook such Condescention as this and therefore they scorn to own any Mysteries If any Difficult Truths are propounded to them they have learnt of a Great Conqueror to cut the knot instead of untying it they violently null the proposition and so make it no Mystery as we see they do in the Articles of the Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God and the like For they pretend to manage all by meer force of Reason and reject all propositions and doctrines which they think come not up to this heighth They take it very ill if you allow them not a Catholick and Unbounded Knowledge of every thing whether finite or infinite and of the particular Manner and minutest Circumstances that appertain to them They disdain that there should be any thing in nature which they are not able to comprehend they deem it an unsufferable disgrace to their understandings that any thing should be above the reach of them that there should be any Point of Speculation so deep and abstruse that they cannot penetrate to the very bottom of it they scorn to have it said that there are any Mysteries and Darknesses in Religion when their minds are so bright and their intellects are so shining What is this but Pride What is this but being over-conceited of their natural Faculties and having too great an opinion of their own Rational Capacities what is this but an immodest and extravagant magnifying of these Powers Yea what is it but a kind of aspiring to Divinity and attributing to themselves an Infinite and Immense nature an extraordinary and more than humane Wisdom Zophar gives us the true Character and Pedigree of this sort of persons Iob 11. 12. Vain man would be wise this Empty Hollow Creature would fain be thought to be full of Knowledge though he be born like a wild asses colt though he be by nature ignorant and rude he hath such an opinion and esteem of his Parts and Acquirements he is of such Arrogancy and Elation of Mind that he thinks it below him to acknowledge any Abstrusities in Religion He takes part with the Conceited Sect of the Stoicks among whom it was a Maxim That it became not a Wise man to wonder at any of those things which to others seem to be Paradoxes Nay he is so much of this Vaunting humour that he will not be perswaded that there is any thing Wonderful and Amazing even in Religion it self St. Paul stiles Christianity a Mystery but he being intoxicated with Pride and Self-conceit directly contradicts him and saith it is not mysterious But those who attend to the Apostle's Advice Not
and Partiality 1. They profess themselves to be satisfied about the Divine Conduct in the Governing of the Vniverse though many Difficulties and those very Great and Insuperable accompany it They acquiesce in the unerring Wisdom of the Supreme Ruler of all things and they pretend not to judge of his actions but most willingly grant them to be just and wise and good notwithstanding they cannot give an Account of them notwithstanding they acknowledge them to be Unsearchable and Incomprehensible None of them have ever ventured to question God's Wisdom because there are some Events and Occurrences in the world which no man can possibly give a Reason of We do not hear them say that these are contrary to Reason and that they are Contradictory although at the same time they yield that they have no knowledge of them they are out of their sight and they can render no particular account of them Nor do we hear them cry out to have these Intricate Events made out by Reason they don't peremtorily demand to have the Causes of them laid open or else they will throw up the doctrine of Providence No they very patiently and contentedly resolve all into the Infinite and Unsearchable Wisdom of the Absolute Governour of the World and into the Ignorance and Weakness of humane understandings God hath not thought fit to reveal those Secrets and therefore they are content to be ignorant of them yea they submissively admire revere and adore that Infinite Wisdom which they vote to be Mysterious and Unaccountble And why then do they not act thus with with reference to the Mysterious Articles of the Christian Faith and the Great but Abstruse Verities of the Gospel Seeing they deny not the Providence of God because of some harsh and difficult passages in it why should they reject those Doctrines because there are some things in them hard to be understood Seeing they quarrel not with the Divine Government though many things in it are mysterious and dark and far above their understandings why do they find fault with those Points of the Christian Belief which were deliver'd to us by the same All-wise Governour of the world because there are certain Mysteries in them If the Infinite Wisdom and the Absolute Power and Sovereignty of the Supreme Being render his Actions unaccountable why should not these make his Words his Sayings his Dictates about divine things to be of the same nature If the methods of God's ruling the world be Inscrutable why should we undertake to fathom the depths and secrets of those Truths which he hath declared to the world If God doth great things past finding out why may not he be allow'd to speak such If the Iudgments of God are unsearchable and his ways past finding out is there not cause to believe that God's Nature and Essence are so too If the Socinians are not concern'd to answer the Difficulties about the former what is the reason that they startle at the latter If they acknowledge that God acts many things which are above their understandings why should they not own him to be what they cannot comprehend If they can't know what he doth why should they expect to know what he is Are the Works of God's Providence unsearchable and is not He himself so Are there several things done above their apprehensions and shall they deny the Author of them to be above them Is God to be trusted and relied upon beyond their knowledge and understanding and is he not barely to be believ'd though he delivers some things which are above their capacities Is the doctrine of Providence though in sundry things Unaccountable imbrac'd and profess'd by them and is not the doctrine of the Holy Trinity to be entertain'd though it contains in it such things of which we are not able to give an account Is it an unquestionable Truth that there is a Divine Management of all mundane affairs though the particular administrations of it are inexplicable and is it not as reasonable to assert that there are Three Persons in the Deity though we cannot explain and unfold the Manner of it I challenge those that make the boldest pretences to Reason and Good Sense to shew the Difference between these All unprejudiced and impartial minds must grant the Case to be the same for surely God's Essence is as infinite and incomprehensible as his Providence and therefore if it be a rational and sufficient Answer to all the Objections and Scruples against Providence to say that they believe God is Wise and Good and Just though they are not able to comprehend the secret methods of his Wisdom Justice and Goodness then it ought to be as good and satisfactory an Answer to all Difficulties of the Trinity to say they firmly assent to that doctrine though they cannot understand the Manner of it But the persons I am speaking of will not submit to this and therefore they demonstrate how Partial they are when they quarrel with the foresaid Article and other doctrines of the Gospel for no other reason but this that they are Mysterious and Vnaccountable they are rais'd above the reach of their understandings I appeal now to the severest Judges of Reason whether these men can justly lay claim to any such thing whilst they thus behave themselves whilst they declare that even in Religious and Divine Matters for such certainly is that of Providence it is reasonable to believe and embrace more than we can understand and comprehend and yet renounce the doctrine of the Trinity and some other substantial Points of Christianity for their being in some measure Incomprehensible What can this be but Perverseness and Crosness What is it but acting contrary to themselves And then who will give heed to men of this cross-grain'd temper Who will regard such vain people that are inconsistent with themselves and clash with their own Concessions They frankly subscribe to Divine Providence though it hath many Mysteries Obscurities Difficulties Intrigues in it which no mortal man can unfold and yet they discard some of the chief Evangelical Truths because they can't explain them by Reason Thus they run counter to their own Principles and Practice and are Self-condemned persons and proclaim to all mankind that they are corrupted with Prejudice and Partiality 2. They give open and undeniable proofs of this by granting that it is convenient yea necessary to regulate and limit the tendencies of the Will and Affections and yet with the same breath they pronounce it unfitting and unreasonable to use any restraint or set any bounds or prescribe any rules to the Intellectual faculty They own it to be the indispensable Character of a Good and Religious Man to exercise a discipline on his Imagination and his Passions they hold it to be a main part of Christian Philosophy to be severe and rigorous here For some things which seem reasonable and plausible are forbidden us by the Evangelical Laws and many harsh and difficult things are
enjoyn'd us but we are to satisfie our selves with this that God's Will ought to be the Standard of ours and therefore we ought to resign our selves to the Divine Conduct And these men allow of this as just and rational and advise that our Natural desires and propensions should give way to our Saviour's Commands he being our Great Law-giver and Master And why then do they shew themselves Partial in denying it reasonable to submit the Intellectual part of the Mind to the doctrines and dictates of the Gospel Is there not as much reason to take care of this Faculty to look to the management of it to keep it within its due bounds as there is to deal thus with the Elective Power of the Soul If they are content to surrender this to the Divine Will why are they against subjecting the other to the Divine Lighâ— and Discoveries If it be commendâ—ble to curb and moderate the Concupiscible or â—rascible part why not also to regulate and govern the Perceptive If the Will must be check'd why must the Intellect be left uncontroulable If they measure the Goodness of the former Power in them by the Laws and Rules of Christ what is the reason that they measure not the Rectitude of the latter by the discoveries of Divine Truth made by the same Author in the Writings of the New Testament Seeing they deem it proper and necessary for humane minds to vail the first to the express Injunctions of the Gospel why do they not think it as requisite to submit the second to the infallible dictates of the Holy Spirit in Scripture why do they not abandon their own weak sentiments about the highest Concerns of Christianity why do they not renounce their private surmises their shallow arguings their sophistical ratiocinations and give them up to be corrected by the light of Divine Revelation why are they not sensible of the deficiency and indigence of their Minds of the narrowness and contractedness of their understandings and why do they not at the same time adore the Divine Perfection why do they not inure their understandings to the dictates of Inspiration and believe what is Unintelligible Particularly in the doctrine of the Trinity why do they lean to their own understandings why do they prescribe to Heaven and set up their own weak Conceptions as the Standard of Divine Truth In a word why do they not make their meer Natural Notions and Principles truckle to Reveal'd Truth and bring their Reason into subjection to the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they come here with their old cry and cavils that the Article of the Trinity and some others that appertain to it are contrary to Reason and are a perfect Contradiction and are Impossibilities as their language is we may for ever silence them with this that they can't with any shew of Reason talk after this rate because they can't pronounce that to be Contrary to Reason the Nature of which they are ignorant of what they can't reach with their Reason they can't say is Repugnant to it Nor can they doom this or that to be Contradictory when they know nothing of the Manner of it And so for the Impossibility of a thing it is rash folly to determine it cannot be when they are unacquainted with the Transcendent Nature of it when the Mode of its existence is hid from them This I think is very plain and it is as pertinent to the matter in hand I having proved that the doctrine of the Trinity and such like Articles of Christianity are hidden Mysteries Therefore let not these men think to amuse and banter us as they would needs do with â—alking of Contradictions Impossibilities c. which are Terms that are nothing to the purpose But this I request of them that they would be Serious and vouchsafe to reflect on what I have suggested under this Head for the Article of the Trinity would be a very clear and bright Truth to them if they would but entertain this one thing in their thoughts that they are oblig'd as much to keep a discipline over their Understandings as over their Wills that the Intellectual Powers as well as the other Faculties of the mind are to be in subjection It is mention'd as part of Man's Depravity and alienation from his first Make that he seeks out many Inventions i. e. as the Hebrew word signifies curious Excogitations quaint Arguings fanciful Reasonings These especially in matters of Religion are greedily sought out and pursued by Vain men but where the true force and vertue of Religion prevail there they cast down imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reasonings and every high thing every proud Conceit that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought i. e. every corrupt notion and conception which usurps upon Faith This is the Conduct of our Minds which the Apostles teaches us we must quit our false Argumentations and Debates about the the Great Mysteries of our Religion we must not dare to be wise above what is written above or beyond what Divine Revelation hath taught us but we must resolve all our doubts and scruples by appealing to Divine Authority and the Veracity of God It may be the Sagacious Gentlemen we have to do with at present will grant that some Vulgar heads among whom perhaps they will reckon the foresaid Apostle have favour'd the restraining and limiting of the Intellectual Powers as well as the other Faculties of the mind but will this pass current they may say with those that are voted for Men of Sense and Wit will it be admitted by Men of Keen Apprehensions men of Judgment and Philosophy Yes most surely if they will be pleas'd to take the Learned Lord Verulam and the Great Des Cartes into that number The former of whom hath left these remarkable words Gods Sovereignty reaches to the whole man extending it self no less to his Reason than his Will so that it well becomes man to deny himself universally and yield up all to God Wherefore as we are bound to obey the Law of God notwithstanding the reluctancy of our Will so are we also to believe his Word though against the reluctancy of our Reason The latter expresses himself thus and though some may think it is spoken in Politick Compliance yet it is more than they can prove and it is certain that they are in themselves words of truth and soberness and worthy of so Great a Man We must saith he always and chiefly remember this that God the Author of things is Infinite and we altogether finite so that when God reveals any thing concerning himself or other things which surpasses the natural strength of our wit such as the Mysteries of the Incarnation or Trinity we are not to refuse to give our Assent to them though we do not clearly understand them And again in the Close of this First Part of his Philosophical Principles he hath left