design'd to signify the plainess of the Gospel as to all matters of obligation upon Mens Consciences in opposition to the obscurity of the Law which was so perplex't with a multitude of Rites and Circumstances of Duty that it was troublesom and tedious to learn and observe them all And therefore it is said in the same Text That they should not then teach every Man his Neighbour saying Know the Lord because all the necessary knowledg of him and his Laws was then to be rendred plain and easy And accordingly this is now the glory of our Religion and its plainess is one great argument of its Excellence and Divinity not but that there are some things reveal'd in the Gospel of which we are not now capable of any clear distinct knowledge So that there is a great deal of difference between these two expressions Christianity not Mysterious and There are no Mysteries in Christianity The first is very true and the last is absolutely false Or a Treatise shewing that there is nothing in the Gospel contrary to Reason Who among us ever said there was but if this had not been added his Book wo'd have been the shorter by Fourteen Pages and were it not for this and many other things in it as little to the purpose it had been only a sticht Pamphlet and cry'd about with Almanacks Nor above reason This likewise is a dubious saying for if it signifies that there are no expressions in the Gospel that it is impossible for us to know the meaning of then it is very true For thô some passages are difficult yet every thing in the Gospel is intelligible and were there any expression in it impossible to be understood so much of it must have been writ to no purpose But if by not being above reason be meant that there is nothing spoke of in it but what we have as compleat and perfect a knowledg of as we have of any object of our Sences it is absolutely false as I hope will sufficiently appear And thus the whole Title Page is nothing else but equivocation and sophism However there is this to be said for it that it suits the-Book very well the main drift of which is to sâ—t up Natural Religion in opposition to all Revelation and these same Equivocations begun in the Title Page run through every thing he says His Introduction wherein he pretends to state the Question requires no Answer for we grant that the notion of a Mystery is to be taken from the Holy Scriptures and not from the opinion of any private Doctor or Council or any infallible Head So there are Six Pages of Impertinence cut off already I shall only take notice how he sets out with a fling at the Divines the Men he 's all along so angry with who gravely tell us That we must adore what we can't comprehend Yes they tell us we must adore God and yet we cannot comprehend him Let him prove we can if he 's able and without giving himself or us any farther trouble we will put the whole Controversy to a short issue and let it lye upon this one point And if he does not make out that we have as full and comprehensive a knowledg of the Nature and Attributes of God as we have of any Proposition in Euclid then what will this Man deserve for that arrogant expression of his That the Divine Being himself cannot with more reason be accounted Mysterious than the most contemptible of his Creatures His business here was to have stated the Question and let us have known what was the true Notion of a Mystery in Scripture But instead of this he goes a great way about to tell us that the true notion of a Mystery is to be taken no where but from thencâ— which no one denies And therefore since he hath not done it I must That both He and I may speak to the purpose and neither of us hereafter trouble the World with impertinence Now the clearest way I can think of for doing of this is to instance in some particular Mystery of the Gospel and in that one for all to let us see what a Christian Mystery is in the sence of Scripture I shall take the first I think of that of the Resurrection of our Bodies Saint Paul speaking of this says Behold I shew you a Mystery we shall all be chang'd in the twinkling of an eye Again St. John speaking of the same matter says It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him From whence we see a Christian Mystery is something which relates to another life which it was impossible for us to know without Divine Revelation and now that it is reveal'd we know it but it in part and cannot fully comprehend it Or shorter It is a Divine Truth reveal'd to us in part As particularly this of our being changed at the last day into the likeness of Christ. It is a truth relating to another life which could never have enter'd into our heads to think of unless it had been reveal'd to us from Heaven And now that it is reveal'd to us that we shall be like him yet we know nothing of the manner of it wherein this likeness will consist So that in a Christian Mystery there is something we do understand and something that we are wholly ignorant of and it is call'd a Mystery in respect of both these 1. It is call'd a Mystery in respect of what we do know of it because it was a thing so hidden from us that it was impossible to discover it by those powers of knowledge which we are now endu'd with As we could never have known from reason that good Christians should be chang'd into the likeness of Christ. Now it is this part of the Mystery which makes it an Article of Faith and obligatory upon our Consciences to believe it Because we understand well what it is for a Body to be rais'd and alter'd for the better and we know perfectly what it is for one thing to be chang'd into the likeness of another 2. It is call'd a Mystery in respect of that part of it which as yet we have no notion of because 't is utterly impossible for us in this life to attain to any knowledg of it by reason assisted with the greatest degree of revelation that is afforded us And thus it is impossible for us in this life to have any notion of the manner of that change into the likeness of Christ for 't is expressly said That it doth not yet appear what we shall be From whence I shall infer only thus much at present that what we do know and what is yet conceal'd from us are in gross call'd the same Mystery And that as we are oblig'd to believe what is reveal'd of it so likewise we are at the same time oblig'd from express words of Scripture to believe that there
As to the meaning of the Words Divine and Human Revelations are upon equal terms They must be both intelligible alike and thus far Evidence or Knowledg is the only ground of Perswasion in each of them 2. As to the substance of the thing reveal'd in many cases they both agree in this too viz. That they are equally intelligible for some of the Revelations of God are concerning things as knowable by us as the ordinary Phaenomena of Nature But in respect of a reveal'd Mystery Divine and Human Revelations are directly opposite for the substance of the thing intended by the revelation in one must be always intelligible but in the other it is totally obscur'd But 3. As to the truth of the Relation it self or the very act of Revelation there is this difference that in all Human Revelations Authority is the only ground of Perswasion because no meer Man can give any proof which shall amount to more than a probability or strong presumption But in Divine Propositions the truth of the Relation is founded both upon Evidence and Authority 1. Upon Evidence as the truth of it is confirmed by Testimonies which are certain and infallible as Prophecy or Miracles c. which can come from none but God and therefore create a degree of Knowledg beyond what is possible to be had of any relation meerly Human. 2dly Upon Authority as this Knowledg is not directly of the thing it self and therefore that we do not know the truth of it by any direct or immediate intuition So that these Testimonies are only to convince us that the Revelation comes from God and then we give our assent to the truth of them purely upon the account of his Veracity A third Principle of his is That 3. Divine and Human Revelations differ not as to Perspicuity i. e. You must understand the meaning of the Words in Divine Propositions as well as Human for as for unintelligible Relations we can no more believe them from the Revelation of God than from that of Man A very subtil piece of Logick indeed if he had design'd no more than he spoke But he hath a farther drift in it he knew it was not every Reader wou'd distinguish between the Sence and Meaning of the Proposition which we grant must be equally clear and perspicuous in both in order to an assent and The reality and existence of the thing and truth of the Revelation in respect of which the Revelations of God always carry a greater degree of Perspicuity because of that Evidence in the Mind occasion'd by such proofs which it is impossible for man to give What I spoke of this before I level'd at his design rather than his words as I am forc'd to do in several other instances But he will say perhaps these proofs may make the Revelation more certain but not more clear I grant they don't explain the words of it But 't is plain the Proofs make the Revelation never the more true or certain in it self But it is in respect of us they make it more certain And to make a Revelation more certain in respect of us is to make it more clear and that is to add a greater degree of Perspicuiry to it 4. We can give our assent to nothing but what we have clear and distinct Idea's of i. e We can believe nothing but what we have the immediate perception of Sense or Demonstration for or know by direct and immediate Intuition Such stuff as this he lays down for Logick and if you will argue with him it must be in his own Method and upon his own Principles and then to be sure he will be too hard for you But if you put him out of his Biass and keep him to plain undisguis'd Reason and the receiv'd rules of Arguing you spoil him quite Now by this time who so blind as not to see That the design of this Book is To strike at the Root and Foundation of all reveal'd Religion And now I have thus brought this Man out of the Clouds I need not spend much time in striping him of his disguise for the inferences he wou'd have people make from these Principles are so glaring and open that every body may see them If Authority be no ground of Perswasion then we must not believe the truth of any Revelation or Prophecy And if we must give our assent to nothing but what we have clear and distinct Idea's of then farewell all Religion both natural and reveal'd For we know all Religion natural and reveal'd is â—ounded upon the belief of a Deity of the Immortality of the Soul and of Rewards and Punishments in another World but it is impossible for us now to have as clear and distinct Idea's of these as we have of a Stock or a Stone but we infer these truths only from those things whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's and therefore upon his Principles we must utterly reject them all And then since by clear and distinct Idea's he means As exact and clear a notion as we have even of sensible Objects in one sentence he excludes all assent even to the reality and existence of every thing in the Gospel that respects another World and rejects all those Methods of our Salvation which are spoke of in the Bible as so many Dreams and Fictions Thus we must disbelieve the Resurrection and Change of our Bodies the Happiness of the blest in Heaven the Incarnation and Divinity of the Son the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead the Operations of the Holy Ghost c. nay the whole Christian Religion Because as I have sufficiently shewn we have not such clear and distinct Idea's of these things as we have of the ordinary Phaenomena of nature He cou'd not but see this and therefore we may well conclude this was his drift But he did not consider atthe same time that this wou'd cut off all assent to the very Being of God And thô I am fully convinc'd that he is the most inveterate Enemy to reveal'd Religion that hath lately appear'd in Print however I can scarce think he is arriv'd to that height of Atheism yet as to deny the existence of God thô he has not as clear and distinct an Idea of him as he has of a Stock or a Stone As for his second Section 't is all foreign to the matter and all that he says about seeming contradictions is plainly level'd at the Doctrine of the Trinity thô Transubstantiation be the instance he makes use of And he proceeds upon the same fundamental Errour he hath hitherto done That we can believe nothing but what we have a clear and distinct Idea of We say as well as he That there is nothing contrary to Reason in the Gospel That there is no contradiction in any point of Doctrine in it That Christianity is a Rational and Intelligible Religion which are the things he insists upon in this Section and goes a
therefore Authority consider'd in the Revealer is the only grounds of my assent to the substance of this Proposition But to make this plainer we must consider that all natural Truths which do not necessarily require Revelation need no other ground of perswasion but Evidence but those which do have both these grounds of perswasion Evidence and Authority as will appear if we distinguish the three things in every relation 1. The meaning of the words 2. The relation it self or the very act of revelation 3. The substance of the thing intended by the Revelation As to the meaning of the words and truth of the revelation in any proposition Evidence is the ground of perswasion for why do I believe this Proposition When Christ appears we shall be like him Because I know the meaning of the words and because there is an evidence in my Mind of its coming from God from those proofs to my Senses and Reason which argue the Divine Mission of the Person who relates it and consequently the Divinity of the relation it self But as to the Substance of that Proposition Authority is the only ground of Perswasion as indeed it is in all relations whatsoever And therefore 't is now plain how Divine and Human Authority differ as well in degrees of Perspicuity as of Certitude And why because when a meer man relates any thing to me thô I allow the veracity of the man yet it is impossible for him to give such proof to my Sences and my Reason of the reality and substance of what he relates as God can And therefore can't raise so great a degree of Evidence in my Mind Though I suppose this mans relation to be true so that this relation of his and one of God's shall be upon equal Terms as to certitude being both alike true yet this assent of mine to what the man relates is more precarious and worse founded than my faith of any divine proposition because this is more clear and distinct as having a degree of Evidence in the mind which the other wants I shall make this plain by an instance A man tells me that Rome is swallow'd up by an Earthquake I have such an opinion of the veracity of the Man that I give my assent to it and believe it firmly Let us suppose afterwards that God reveals this same to me As yet there is the same degree of perspicuity allowing the ability and veracity of the man for then both God and he tell truth in this But if God confirm the relation by a Miracle this shall raise an Evidence or degree of knowledge in my Mind beyond any thing the man is able to effect and consequently the revelation of the same thing from God makes it clearer and gives it a greater degree of perspicuity than it had before But it will be yet more clear That Authority is a ground of Perswasion if we consider that all Evidence in the Mind proceeds from Evidence in the Thing Now all Truths in themselves are equally evident but in respect of us they are not so for some we are capable of knowing distinctly and some we are not because they are not suited to our present capacities In respect of those divine truths or of that part of them which is suited to our present capacities Evidence is the ground of perswasion but in respect of that part of it which is not suited to our Capacities as we have seen Authority is And thus we see how we may give our assent to many propositions for the substance of which we have no Evidence in the mind Why then says he a man shall believe what he doth not know and that is giving his assent to nothing But this is a quibble and to remove it effectually let us take up the same propositions again The three angles of a Triangle are equal to two right ones 'T is plain a man who knows what a Triangle is and what it is for one Angle to be equal to another may give his assent to this proposition though perhaps it may be utterly impossible ever to beat the demonstration into his head And though he doth not comprehend it yet he can't be said to be ignorant of it And the only ground of his assent is the Authority of some person who is able to demonstrate it And thus it is with a divine proposition When Christ appears we shall be like him Any one who knows what it is for a body to be rais'd and for one thing to be like another may give his assent to this proposition though it be impossible for him to know wherein this likeness will consist or to demonstrate that it will certainly be so And therefore the Authority of God is the only grounds of perswasion in this proposition and no Evidence is necessary any farther than to understand the meaning of the words and the truth of the revelation it self So groundless is that main principle of his that a man can give his assent to nothing but what he comprehends whereas the contrary is as clear as the light from what hath been said But farther from this supposition of his that Authority is only a means of Information and Evidence the only ground of Perswasion these two absurdities will directly follow 1. That a man can never be deceived in any thing for if Evidence in the Mind be the only ground of Perwasion a man can never give his assent but where there is this Evidence for if there be but one only cause the effect can never proceed but from that cause and what is evident i e what is truly known can never deceive He hath no way of evading this but by saying that the cause of error is the giving assent where there is none or not sufficient Evidence in the Mind which destroys every thing he says upon this head for this supposes that there may be some other cause of assent besides Evidence But if we suppose Evidence to be the only cause of assent then it must vary in degrees together with it's cause so that a clear Evidence shall have a firm assent and the least degree of Evidence shall have but the least degree of assent so that still a man can never be deceiv'd in any thing or in any degree And for him to say that we may think we have this Evidence when we have it not is still supposing that there is some other ground of assent Nay worse 't is supposing that a thing may be Evident to us and not Evident at the same time 2. It will follow that no Person either God or Man can be believ'd on their word For what they relate is evident to the Mind or it is not If it be then they give their assent to that Evidence and not to the Person who relates it If it be not evident i e according to him if he doth not know it perfectly he must utterly reject it And thus in a few words he destroys
to be solv'd upon the common principles of knowledge that are in us now because we have not capacities suitable to the nature of them So that now we may wonder what ridiculous meaning this man can have when he says that all the things which are spoke of in the Gospel are as consistent with our common notions as Wood and Stone and that we are as properly said to comprehend them and that our Idea's of natural and divine things are equally clear and distinct A strange fallacious inference this because we fully comprehend neither therefore we are equally ignorant of both And to amuse people that can't see this that he might seem to speak something to the purpose he borrows a distinction viz. That between the Nominal and Real Essence of a thing How impertinently he hath made use of it in this matter is very plain from what has been said which thô we grant it to be a good one yet it is nothing to the purpose But it is so far from being a good Distinction that it seems to me not to be good Sence For nothing can be more absurd than to suppose two different Essences in the same thing Nor can any thing be more directly level'd at those glorious Attributes of God his Goodness and Truth than what it supposes viz. That we are thus deceiv'd in every thing and know nothing at all of the true nature of things by those properties that are discernable by us And therefore to use his own words This rather becomes Impostors to think than the tought of God who hath no interest to delude his Creatures nor wants ability to inform them rightly If it had been said in plain language that there is something in natural things we do apprehend and something we do not which means all in that distinction This wou'd have been Philosophy for the Vulgar and therefore to make a Mystery of it it must be call'd the Nominal and Real Essence of a thing thô it carry a flat contradiction in Physicks and a monstrous consequence in Morality and lays a foundation for Eternal Scepticisme But supposing there is a meaning in it both true and innocent yet it must be own'd this was the most unhappy way of expressing themselves that possibly they could have light upon Thus far as to his arguments from Reason Now I come to consider those he brings from Scripture and we are like to have very close reasoning from them when in the very entrance he again confounds these two Propositions Whether or no Christianity is Misterious and whether there are no Misteries in Christianity Whereas even the latter of them is dubious for the word Mystery is us'd to signify several things And therefore to remove all ambiguity and shew the fallacy of his arguing we will lay aside the Word and speak to the thing it self i. e. Whether we have not as clear and distinct Idea's as full and perfect a knowledge of all things reveal'd to us in Scripture since the appearing of Christ in the World as we have of ordinary sensible Objects That we had not before he allows and therefore he grants they were Mysteries then but now since the coming of Christ they are not And the whole substance of his arguing in this long Chapter is this If all those things which were signified by the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies are clearly reveal'd to us then they are no longer hidden from us But all those things signified by the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies are clearly reveal'd to us Therefore They are no longer hidden from us Thus he proves the Minor If the Vail is taken away in Christ then they are clearly reveal'd to us But the Vail is taken away in Christ. Therefore They are clearly reveal'd to us And to make this Minor good he brings all these Texts of Scripture and Quotations out of the Fathers to prove that the Vail is taken away and that they are clearly reveald Now if any amongst us had absolutely deny'd that the Vail was taken away and had affirm'd that they were not plainly reveal'd to us then he might have had an adversary But there is not a sentence in this Chapter that looks like a controversy with any but the Jews If this man wou'd have argu'd instead of Bantring he wou'd have distinguisht and shewn in what sence we deny it and then have prov'd that the Vail was taken away in that sence that we deny And therefore since he hath dealt treacherously I must make him honest and distinguish for him And in order to make this matter very plain we know that there are four things to be reveal'd concerning any thing that is hid from us It 's Existence it 's Essence it's Properties and the Relation it hath to us and every one apprehends at first reading how a thing may be clearly reveal'd as to it's Existence together with the relalation it hath to us and yet remain totally obscur'd as to it's Essence Properties Now therefore what we say is this 1. That as to the internal Essence and real Properties of these divine things reveald to us from Heaven we are wholly ignorant of them and know as little of them in this respect now they are reveal'd in the Gospel as was known before when they were involv'd in Types and Figures 2. That all these things which we call Mysteries and now reveal'd to us in the Gospel while they were vail'd in Types and Figures under the Mosaik oeconomy were very much obscur'd as to their Existence and as to the concernment of mankind in them and therefore the Law is said to have had only a shadow of good things to come i e. Men had but a very dark imperfect knowledg even of the reality and being and signification of those things As of the Eternal generation of the Son his Incarnation Crucifixion Ascention the Trinity of Persons Resurrection and Glorification of the Body the Operations of the Holy Spirit c. They had then no clear and certain knowledg of the reality and existence of any of these things afterwards reveal'd in the Gospel excepting only that of the Being of the true God which was reveal'd to them by Moses under the name I AM which denoted nothing more than his existence 3. We say that these divine things which were hidden and obscur'd before the appearing of Christ were all of them plainly and clearly reveal'd as to their Existence and as to the Relation they have to us i e. as to the reality and being of these truths and our concernment in them And yet they do not cease to be Mysteries still because they are still infinitely more obscur'd as to their Manner and Properties than the common objects of nature So that now it is clearly reveal'd to us that Christ is the Son of God yet it doth not follow that therefore we know as much of the manner of that Eternal Generation of the Son as we doe how one Man is
by such Prâ—ofs to Mens Senses and Reason of it's divinity as shall convince us that it could come from none but God such as Miracles and Prophecies or the agreableness of the thing to our common Notions and I am not to give my assent to it unless I have this Evidence which I allow thus far to be the ground of Perswasion Thus far we are ready to joyn issue with any Adversary of Revelation and Mysteries purely upon the principles of Reason And to require it any farther is no other than to demand a rational account from us of what we grant we have no notion of God never requires our Assent to any Proposition but upon such testimonies and proof as shall cause this Evidence But as to the thing it self which is signified by this analogy as the real state and condition of the blest in Heaven is in this Mystery it is wholly exempted from the enquiry of Reason And herein is my Faith that I give my assent to a proposition which is sufficiently prov'd to come from God thô I have no notion at all of that divine truth which is represented to me under the similitude of some worldly Object And thus you see how Faith is nicely and most exactly defin'd The Evidence or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demonstration of things not seen because Faith is no such precarious implicite assent as these Champions for Reason think but it is the giving our assent to things which thô we have no notion at all of now yet the reality and existence of them are demonstrated to us by such proofs as raise up in our minds the greatest degree of Evidence for the truth of the Relation And it is this that will strike all these Opposers of Faith and Revelation dumb when they appear at the Tribunal of God because they will not then have it to say that God requir'd their assent to any proposition but what they understood as well as they could understand any thing in this World And for the Divine Revelation of which they had sufficient proofs if they did but consider them to raise up in their minds an Evidence as clear and distinct as they can have of any thing in this World And thus he sees how groundless all those Objections are and malicious Insinuations against us and our most holy Faith as if we in any point of it declin'd the strictest examination of Reason We are so far from distrusting our cause or obliging men to walk blindfold that we give their Reason all the helps we can and men are never better dispos'd for the belief of our Christian Mysteries than when they follow the guidance and conduct of it For our whole Christian Faith is grounded upon the strictest Retiocination And therefore having stated the true extent of Reason in the Mysteries of Religion I shall now proceed to consider his Friend's objection against his Book viz. That it destroys the nature of FAITH A shrewd objection it is and that which he never will evade thô he had the wisdom of the old Serpent to help him And that person whosoever he was wou'd have been more his Friend if he had in time opened to him all the other false and impious consequences of his Book before it came abroad to spread infection and blast the credit of the Christian Faith But now alas it is too late for nothing is so vain as a man of some parts where there is not a true sence of Piety to qualify them And therefore he is now to stand by it with his Soul and venture Damnation rather than lessen himselâ— by a publick Recantation in the opinion of a half learned and debauch'd sort of people whose interest it is to run down that Institution which if it be true must rise up in judgment against them at the last day The force of the objection lies in this If we can give our assent to nothing but what we have a clear and distinct Idea of in the Mind so as to believe nothing upon the Worth and Veracity of another person then there can be no Assent distinct from Knowledge and thus there can be no Faith either Divine or Human. For if a man of whose sincerity you are throughly convinc'd shou'd tell you That there are a sort of people in the Indie's who scourge their Idols severely when any thing goes cross to their expectations it is impossible for you to believe this unless you see it For thô you know the meaning of the words and apprehend clearly what an Idol is and what it is to scourge it yet if the relations of ten thousand People and ever so many circumstances concur'd to the truth of it yet you can never give your assent to it upon any other terms than he did who saw it for nothing else can give you this evidence or knowledg of the truth and reality of it which he makes the only ground of our perswasion And then if we can't give our assent even to the Reality and Existence of any thing but when we have clear and distinct Idea's of the real modes and properties of it as it is in it self then we can believe nothing either of God or of any thing relating to another World For I have made it sufficiently appear that it is utterly impossible for us now to have such Idea's of them Therefore now let us see how he endeavours to get over this My Reader thinks I warrant that he is going about to reconcile the Christian Faith with his Principles But instead of this he spends sixteen pages in shewing you there is no such thing as Faith as you will see plainly I shall take him in order and answer every Paragraph because this is the most plausible part of his Sophistry First he tell 's us that to be confident of any thing without conceiving it is no Real Faith or Perswasion but a rash Presumption and an obstinate Prejudice If he means by not conceiving it not understanding the meaning of the Proposition reveal'd he is in the right of it but if he means by conceiving it the having as full and compleat a knowledg of the thing reveal'd as we have of any Phenomena of nature 't is absolutely false for as I have shewn at large we may give our assent to the Existence of things when we can't conceive any thing at all of their real nature And that our Christian Faith is however no rash Presumption or obstinate Prejudice because it is founded upon sufficient testimonies of the truth and reality of the propositions believ'd in things whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's This is the thing he drives at viz. that we have a full and compleat knowledg of the things believ'd and to make it plausible he says that God hath no interest to delude his Creatures nor wants ability to inform them â—rgo he reveals nothing but what he makes them perfectly comprehend Therefore he hath not reveal'd any thing of
all Faith both Human and Divine For thus he proceeds a man can believe nothing but what he knows and he knows nothing but what he comprehends and then he is said to comprehend a thing when he hath a clear and distinct Idea of it i e when it is as clear as a Mathematical Demonstration or as evident as what he sees with his Eyes for you know seeing's believing all the World over Having thus made it plain that Evidence is not the only ground of Perswasion I come now to consider his clear and distinct Idea's which he lays down as the ground of this Evidence This opinion carries a face of fairness and probability and insinuates it self by the common inclinations of men who are naturally averse to all restraint in thinking as well as acting and are as uneasy at any fetters upon their Mind as upon their Body They wou'd not willingly be oblig'd to give their assent to any thing but what they have clear distinct Idea's of and if it be not thus in the Christian Religion even well meaning people are apt to wish it were so Now because I design this Letter in answer not only to this Book but to all the opposers of Revelation and Mysteries upon the like principles of setting up for Reason and Evidence and clear and distinct notions of every thing they give their assent to I shall be very particular in the consideration of this point And I hope to make out plainly to them the deep deceit that lies at the bottom of all this and to convince them that God by requiring their assent to his Revelations doth as little violence to their mind as to their body and that he leaves their Reason as full a scope and as great a liberty in matters of Religion as in any thing else So that they will find us as great Sticklers for clear Idea's strict Reason and Evidence as they can be for their hearts These men speak much truth but make false inferences never considering the difference between these two propositions but confounding them in all their discourses Clear and distinct Idea's are the foundation of all our knowledge and assent which consider'd in a right sence is undoubtedly true But for that other which they make a consequence of it it is absolutely false viz. That we can believe nothing but what we have a clear and distinct Idea of For the clear conceptions we have of some things give us a confus'd and imperfect knowledge of others and it is upon the account of those things whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's that we give a firm assent to the existence of things whereof we have no Idea at all So that these two sayings widely differ as much as truth from falshood I can give no assent without clear and distinct Idea's And I must have a clear and distinct Idea of every thing I give my assent to Now because this is the fundamental error of all our quaint Reasoners agâ—inst Revelation and the fallacy wâ—â—â—â—by they impose upon others I shall express my self as distinctly and pâ—â—â—nly in this matter as I can But by the way we must observe thâ—â— since it appears undâ—niably from wâ—â—â— hath been said that Evidence is â—oâ—â—â—e only ground of Perswasion it is a direct and immediate consequence from thence that there is no necessity of having a clear and distinct Idea of what I give my assent to Not but that I allow there is a necessity of clear and distinct Idea's of some things to make us give our assent to others And therefore though Authority be a ground of Perswasion yet what this man wou'd insinuate doth not follow viz That therefore all it's Relations or any of them are to be receiv'd without Examen For all the Revelations of God admit of the strictest enquiry and severest search of our reason and it is this that enables us to distinguish them from the wild extravagancies of Enthusiast's and the delusions of the Devil It is by the help of this that I now shew the difference between his fallacies and the truth of God And in order to set them both in a clear light I shall six the signification of this most ambiguous word which he hath compell'd me to make so much use of for otherwise we shall but grope for truth in the dark What is meant by an Adaequate Idea is sure and fixt i e a full and comprehensive knowledg of any thing so as to know all that is knowable in it But how far short what men call a clear and distinct Idea comes of that adaequate conception of a thing is impossible to determine because our knowledge of things is varied almost in infinite degrees insomuch that perhaps we have not Idea's of any two things in nature that are equally clear and distinct And therefore to cut of all Metaphysical nicities and infist upon nothing but genuine Reason by a clear and distinct Idea as it relates to this controversy is signified as clear and distinct a conception as we ordinarily have of the things of this World For these are the two main things he contends for in his whole Book 1. That we have as clear and distinct Idea's of all things reveal'd to us in the Gospel as we have of the ordinary Phaenomena of Nature And 2. That we are oblig'd to give our assent to them no farther than we have clear and distinct Idea's of them In direct opposition to which I shall lay down these two propositions 1. That we are so far from having clear and distinct Idea's of those things of another World which are revealed to us that we have no proper or immediate Idea at all of them And 2. That though we have no proper or immediate Idea of those things yet we are bound to believe them and that our assent to them according to his own principle is founded upon clear and distinct Idea's 1. As to the first by a proper and immediate Idea I mean a conception or notion of the thing as it is in it self By a mediate or improper Idea I mean a notion we form of any thing in our Minds by Analogy or Similitude Whether this distinction hath been made use of or no I know not but sure I am 't is a very necessary one and of excellent use to set the bounds and measures of our knowledge and to lay open the true nature of our Christian Faith that we may clearly apprehend where Knowledge ends and Faith proceeds alone And I am perswaded a due observation of this distinction wo'd effectually put an end to all this controversie about mysteries Now what I say is this that we have no proper Idea's of the things of another World but frame to our selves conceptions of them from those things in this World whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's And to make this appear let us consider that there are but two ways of Gods revealing any thing to us either by giving
of Prescience as it is in God who sees them actually and ex parte rei Nor can we conceive how this Prescience of his is reconcileable with the contingency of things thô we are sure it is so from those Prophecies of very minute circumstances many hundreds of years before they came to pass I might thus run through all the Attributes of God and shew in every one of them how we make to our selves some representations of them by compounding and enlarging those Idea's we have either of sensible Objects or of the operations of our own Minds And thus we represent the Wisdom and Power and Justice and Holyness and Mercy c. of God from the scanty notions we have of these things in our selves thô they exhibit to us no more of the real nature of these things as they are in God than continu'd extension doth of his Omnipresence or a great number doth of his Infinity or many ages of his Eternity So that in all our thoughts of that divine Being we don't proceed thus The nature of God is such therefore these things follow But these things are the greatest perfections we are able to conceive and therefore by help of these we form the best and most honourable Idea of God that is possible for us in this condition of infirmity and blindness that we are now in Not but that after we have fram'd the biggest Idea of God our Minds are capable of by the greatest enlargement of these perfections after all 't is as gross a representation of him as Darkness is of Light and expresseth nothing of the reall nature of that incomprehensible Being to us nor do they give us the least glimps of him as he is in himself 2. But 2dly As we can have no such proper and immediate Idea of God himself so neither have we such Idea's of any thing relating to another World And therefore it is that the Glory of Heaven is reveal'd to us under the notion of Light the greatness and splendour of that place by that of a Kingdom and the joys of Heaven by sensual pleasures such as Eating and Drinking the operation of Grace by the nourishment of our Bodies c. and when God himself is spoke of 't is always by analogy with the Members of a Human Body and the operations of our Minds Thus he is mention'd as having Hands and Feet as Seeing and Hearing and as being affected with all the passions of a Human Soul because he hath no other way to speak of himself to us now since we have neither Words nor Idea's to think or speak of him after any other manner or indeed of any other Objects of another World And therefore it is that the Spirit of God in all his Revelations hath made use not only of the Words and Phrases commonly receiv'd and understood but likewise of those common notions in the minds of Men of things in this World to represent Truths which are in respect of us now unconceivable and for which there are as yet no capacities in our nature So that in truth all the Idea's we at present have of the things of another World are no other than a sort of Types and Figures of things the real nature of which is totally obscur'd from us And this is the literal meaning of those words of St. Paul That now we see through a Glass darkly i. e. by analogy only with the things of this World But then Face to Face i. e. we shall have as immediate a view of those heavenly Objects as we have now of these things which only represent them to us So that when we are said to have these divine Truths reveal'd to us in part the meaning is not that any real part of the thing as it is in it self is exhibited to our view and the rest obscur'd or that we have any indistinct view of the thing it self as we see an Object at a great distance But the meaning is that the whole is reveal'd to us under the resemblance of some things in this World whereof we have clear and distinct Idea's And thus it is plain that thô we may be said to have Idea's of God and Divine things yet they are not immediate or proper ones but a sort of composition we make up from our Idea's of Wordly Objects which at the utmost amounts to no more than a Type or Figure by which something in another World is signified of which we have no more notion than a Blind-man hath of Light And now that I am fallen into this Metaphor which seems well to explain the nature of the thing let us pursue it a little and suppose that to a Man who had never seen or heard any thing of it it were to be reveal'd that there was such a thing as Light This man as yet hath neither a name nor a notion for it nor any capacity of conceiving what it is in it self 'T is plain therefore God wo'd not reveal this to him by the name of Light a word wholly unknown to him nor by stamping on his Mind any immediate Idea of the thing it self for then it were utterly impossible for him to communicate this Revelation to others as blind as himself for nothing but the same Almighty impression cou'd do that So that this Revelation must be made by Words and Notions which are already in him And accordingly when he is told that it is a thing which can diffuse it self in an instant many thousands of miles round and enable him to know in a moment what order all things lay at a great distance from him and what proportion they bore one to another nay that it cou'd make him know where the Heavens lay and by the help of this he shou'd there discern at once a vast and almost infinite number of very pleasant Bodies and in short that without the help of his Stick or his Hand he shou'd know every thing that lay before him After all 't is plain this Man wou'd form to himself an Idea of Light from his Touch he wou'd think it very like feeling and perhaps call it by that name because this was the best way he had of distinguishing one thing from another and therefore wou'd conclude that those Bodies he heard of must needs be wondrous soft and smooth Just thus do we conceive the things of another World so that we may rack our invention and turn and wind all those Idea's we have into ten Thousand different shapes and yet never make up any likeness or similitude of the real Nature of those Objects of another World And now I hope he will grant it a thing possible for God to make such a Revelation as this to a Blind man And yet by this concession he destroys his whole Book For upon his Principles it were a thing utterly impossible for any man that was born Blind to believe there is such a thing as Light upon the testimony either of God or Man
much oâ— what they have no Idea of it must always end in darkness and confusion That part of a Christian Mystery which is intelligible and plain was ever so and that part which is mysterious notwithstanding all their vain endeavours will ever be so till we coâ—â— to another World Therefore our way to deal with these men is to fix the right sence and meaning of those Propositions wherein the Mysteries of the Gospel are reveal'd to us and then to insist upon the Proofs we have for the truth of the Revelation and shew that they are such as ought to convince any reasonable unprejudic'd man insomuch that if they do not give their assent to them they shall be without excuse when they come to be try'd for their Infidelity Thus we shou'd turn the course of our Thoughts into a right Chanel and confound all these Enemies of our excellent Religion For by freely owning as becomes us that we have no notion at all of these mysterious things as they are in themselves we cut off a multitude of frivolous and impertinent Objections And shew these men that our Christian Faith however is no lazy credulity or blind implicite assent since it is built upon a better foundation than is possible for any man to lay without the concurrence of the Almighty Power of God insomuch that we are ready to join issue with them upon the Principles of Reason in every point of our Christian Faith as far as the things reveal'd fall within the compass of it And therefore were I to give a reason of my belief of the TRINITY laying aside all affectation of hard words and abstruse Metaphysical Notions I wou'd do it thus I am fully perswaded of the necessity of Revelation in general in order to all the purposes of Vertue and Piety in this life and I am convinc'd that those Revelations of the things of another World which are made in the Gospel have better proofs of their Divinity than any other whatsoever They have such testimonies of their coming from God from Prophecies and Miracles and the agreeableness of the Doctrines therein contain'd to our common Notions that if I use my Reason with the same impartiality in these that I do in other things I must give my assent to them In those writings I find this Proposition There are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are one From whence and from many other passages in the Scriptures I find that there is a Distinction made in the Godhead under these three names of Father Son and Holy-Ghost which the Church hath exprest altogether by the word Trinity and singly by the word Person And I think these terms proper enough to express all that we know of this Mystery Now I find no account of the Manner and Nature of this Distinction in the holy Scriptures any otherwise than that the Son was begotten and that the Holy Ghost comes from the Father and the Son I conclude there is something more than a meer Nominal Distinction because we are said to be Baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy-Ghost Which must needs import something more than if that Commission had run thus Go Baptize all Nations in the name of Jehovah and of Elohim and of Adonai And if there were not something more intended than barely that they shou'd do it in the name of God this were a needless tautology Again I conclude that they are not three distinct different Spirits for then there must be three Gods contrary to Reason and Scripture From all which I infer there is in the Godhead something more than a meer nominal Distinction and something less than that of three different Spirits And because I find each Person seperatly as well as jointly mention'd as God and Divine Worship allow'd and paid to them Therefore as that excellent Creed expresseth it I worship the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance Now at the same time I make this profession of my Faith I allow I have not the least knowledg how strict this Union is nor how great the Distinction It is as much beyond my Reason as the Glory of God is beyond my Sight and any man who strives to conceive it himself or takes pains to explain it to others is guilty of such a folly that I can't think of any action in nature extravagant enough to match it If we saw a Man stretching up his hand with a great deal of Vehemence to pull down a Star we shou'd certainly conclude him distracted because 't is utterly impossible for him to reach it or grasp it if he cou'd 'T is the very case of those men who go about to account for the manner of that Unity and Distinction for which they have neither Words nor Idea's And therefore I say it again in opposition to this Insolent Man that I thus adore what I cannot comprehend This is one of those Mysteries reveal'd in the Gospel and it is never the less a Mystery for any thing he hath yet said or ever will say for the Union is inexplicable and will be so to the end of the World However my assent to this is not precarious and implicite or any easie blind Credulity but is â—ounded upon clear and distinct Idea's For there are three things to be done by every reasonable thinking man concerning any Proposition wherein a Mystery is reveal'd 1. To be sure that he understand well the meaning of the Words 2. That he discern no Contradiction in them 3. That he hath sufficient evidence of the Revelations coming from God 1. As to the first of these in respect of the Mystery I am now upon I understand very well the meaning of the Words wherein it is reveal'd and they themselves who oppose this Doctrine understand them as well as I for if they did not know what was meant by the Words they wou'd never set themselves to argue against it for there is no other way of conâ—uting Nonsence but saying it is such So that thus far if it prove to be true these Propositions wherein the Trinity is reveal'd will hold good against them at the day of Judgment and render them without Excuse 2. As to the second thing I see no Contradiction in it and if there were I would utterly reject it For to say that Three are One is so far from being a contradiction that there is nothing more common in ordinary discourse than for any one to say that Three or any other greater number of things are but one and if every man who spoke such seeming contradictions were catch't up immediately and forc'd to explain himself upon all such occasions it wou'd make conversation very troublesome As if one shou'd say that there are three distinct things in a Man a Body the Animal Spirits and an Immaterial Substance and yet
of us These are not all the absurdities in this sentence and yet it is the very Monster this Knight Errant sets up for himself to engage with It is the spurious off spring of his own brain and yet he fathers it upon us by introducing it with this expression It is made to signify c. But it was never made to signify this by any besides himself I shou'd read the Gospel a million of times over before this definition of a Mistery wou'd have come into my head Here he hath made his own words good That Contradiction and Mystery are two emphatical ways of saying nothing He lays down this absurd definition of a Mystery and then sets himself with a great deal of Solemnity to encounter it which is in truth no other than for a man to put himself into a ridiculous antick posture and then quarrel with his shadow for it It is hard to tell how to proceed with this man he has been running away from the Question ever since he began and now that he put us in hopes of coming to it again you see how grossly we are disappointed I wou'd with all my heart stick by the first definition of a Mystery which with a little addition I allow to be very good A Christian Mystery is a Divine Truth intelligible of it self but so cover'd and obscur'd from us now in this life that Reason can't penetrate the Vail to see what is under it till this Vail be remov'd in another life by the glorification of our Bodies Let him confute this definition if he can for I will never fall out with him about the other he shall have it all to himself 't is his own Creature let him be as severe upon it as he pleases But because he has so blindly mistook the matter I must tell him once more what it is he is to prove if he has any controversy with us in this point He is to prove these two things 1. That there is nothing reveal'd to us in the Gospel but what we have clear and distinct Idea's of i. e. either a full comprehensive knowledg of or as clear and distinct notions as we have of any ordinary Object in nature And 2. That we are not oblig'd by Scripture to believe that there is any thing intended in some points reveal'd beyond what we are now able thus to comprehend These are the things which lay upon him to prove if he wou'd have spoke to the purpose It is impossible that any man shou'd argue closely who mistakes the Question as he does however I shall consider what there is in the rest of his Book that looks like reasoning He does not proceed to proof yet but runs upon another Digression to tell us the signification of the word Mystery and particularly what it signify'd among the Gentiles But what is this to us it signifies quite another thing among the Christians But he says not for in the New Testament Mystery is always us'd in the first sence of the word or that of the Gentiles viz. For things naturally very intelligible but so covered by figurative Words or Rites that Reason cou'd not discover them without special Revelation This is the description which he gives both of the Gentile and Christian Mysteries in common But taking a Christian Mystery even in his own sence i. e. As it was involv'd in Jewish Types and Ceremonies yet they differ very much from those mysteries of the Gentiles For 1. The Christian Mysteries were not discoverable but by the special revelation of God whereas those of the Gentiles were discoverable by the revelation of a man 2. Besides 't is absolutely false that the things involv'd in the Jewish Types were in their own Nature very intelligible For they were all of such a Nature that men cou'd never have arriv'd to the least degree of knowledge concerning them by strength of Reason whereas there was nothing in the Heathen Mysteries but what was in it self very obvious to Reason 3. The matters contain'd in the Jewish Mysteries and the things intened by them were such as concern'd the Eternal salvation of Mens Souls whereas the things contain'd in those of the Heathen were to a quite contrary purpose in order to Idolatry and many other gross sins And it is not without very good reason I take notice of this difference here for thô it doth not hit this discription of his immediately because he may perhaps say those were thought to be the concernment of Souls too yet it is level'd at the main design of his Book which by this time no man can be ignorant of 4. The things contain'd in the Jewish Mysteries the Priests themselves were ignorant of whereas the Heathen Priests for the most part knew the bottom of theirs and conceal'd them industriously from the People And this is what he wou'd insinuate of all Christian Priests viz. That we fully comprehend the meaning of all these things our selves and palm them upon the People for Mysteries Which is the occasion of those virulent expressions of his in this Chapter That through ignorance or passion we maintain what was introduc'd by the craft or superstition of our fore fathers And calls it a Gainful Opinion as if the only design of Christian Mysteries were to bring in Money to the Priests he calls Christianity as it is now receiv'd an Implicite Constitution and says the Venerable Teachers play at this small game to amuse the People But he like a sharp inquisitive man it seems has found out our Mysteries and is resolv'd in his next Book to discover them all and lay us open to the World like Heathen Priests as he makes us And now I come to his second Chapter of the third Section where there is the first appearance of any thing like a reason there is but one argument in all that Chapter and indeed in all the Book and because he delivers it confus'dly I will reduce it to form and then we shall see clearly what force there is in it And if he thinks I don't do him justice let him manage it better for himself if he can The whole strength of his arguing is this If we have as clear and distinct Idea's of every thing reveal'd in the Gospel as we have of any thing in Nature then there are no Mysteries in it But we have as clear and distinct Idea's of every thing reveal'd in the Gospel as we have of any thing in Nature Therefore There are no Mysteries in the Gospel The Minor he proves thus If we have as clear and distinct Idea's of God and Eternity as we have of any thing in nature then we have as clear and distinct Idea's of every thing reveal'd in the Gospel as we have of any thing in Nature But we have as clear and distinct Idea's of God and Eternity as we have of any thing in Nature Ergò Now do but deny this Minor and he puts you off
is St. Paul used great plainess of Speech Ergò they had as full and perfect a knowledge of every thing he spoke as they had of a Stock or a Stone Nay when he spoke to them of the depths of the Wisdom of God and discours'd to them how he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words without doubt they that heard him had as lively an impression of this whole vision on their imaginations as he that saw it nay as they had of the Man that spoke to them and we may expect no less from this profound Revealer of Mysteries than that he will quote us all these unspeakable words in his next Book And so by the following quotations he thinks he hath knock'd us down when any mention is made of the Mystery being made manifest or known to all Nations Ergò the very Manner and Properties of those things are laid open to us And therefore this Man I warrant you knows as much of the secret Councils of God now whose Judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out as he doth of the dark contrivances of that Caball against all reveal'd Religion where the design of this Book was first laid and the rest are now a forging For 't is well known this Mystery of Iniquity doth already work but he who hath hitherto hindred we trust will hinder till they be taken out of the way and their wickedness be reveal'd And here if I were dispos'd to be merry I cou'd make better sport with the History of this Man's life than he has done with the Doctor and his Parishioner for I have trac'd him in this too from the time he first gave out he wou'd be Head of a Sect before he was thirty years of Age till he became an Author and from thence to his coming into this Kingdom to spread his Heresies and put his Designs in Execution But I am now upon a Subject in Divinity and not making a Farce and perhaps I may have another opportunity of giving the World a clear and distinct Idea of this man who thinks himself so formidable and swells with the fancy of having run down three Kingdoms only with one cross Question which is the foundation of all his Book viz. How can a Man believe what he doth not know I come now to consider how he answers those Objections which are made against this new Hypothesis of his in Religion The first sort of Objections he brings are three or four Texts of Scripture which make nothing against either what he or we say in this matter but such as Enthusiasts bring against the use of Reason in Religion So that they are wholly impertinent unless he disputes against the Quakers and therefore I have no more to do here but to take notice of the base disingenuity of the man who by this wou'd make unthinking or prejudiced people believe that we are those ignorant perverse Men he speaks of and put us upon the same level with the rankest Enthusiasts Whereas he can't but know that we are as vigorous defenders of the use of Reason in Religion as he can be 'T is by this that the truths of all reveal'd Religion are establish'd and remain unshaken and the same for ever in spight of all the opposition of their subtilest enemies 'T is by this we confute his Errors 't is before the Evidence and Light of Reason that all his Operose and laborious Sophisms disappear like empty shadows and vanish into nothing When we thus contend for the use of Reason in Religion then on one side we are charg'd as if we deni'd all Revelation and when we defend the truth of Revelation then on the other side we are charg'd with laying aside our Reason as if we must needs cease to be Men before we can be Christians And therefore I shall state a right notion of this matter as clear as I can in short and that by these degrees 1. We allow that Sense and Reason are the only faculties we have of knowing or judging of any thing either in Nature or Religion and we allow that God in all his Revelations applies himself to us by these faculties and doth not either create any new ones or make any essential alteration in these we have for then a Stock or a Stone wou'd be as capable of a Divine Revelation as a Rational Creature And therefore 2. We allow that what is not agreable to these Powers of knowledg we are already endued with is not to be receiv'd or entertain'd by us for otherwise God who plac'd these in us wou'd not be consistent with himself nor wou'd he have us so 3. These Powers of knowledg are better suited to the present objects of this life than they are to those of another for otherwise we argue God of want of Wisdom and Contrivance and if they were now as well fitted for the Objects of another life there wou'd be no occasion for a change at the last day 4. We affirm that all the things of another World even after they are reveal'd are totally obscur'd both from our Senses and our Reason as to the real Nature and Properties of them as they are in themselves And this I hope I have sufficiently made out so that if People will believe any thing at all of another life they must do so without clear and distinct Idea's of them 5. That since we have not capacities for them there is no other way of revealing any thing to us relating to another life but by Analogy with the things of this World Thus the Glory and Intellectual Light of Heaven is reveal'd under the notion of that we have from the Sun the Generation of the Son of God under the notion of one Man's proceeding from the Lions of another c. Now therefore let me again distinguish these two things in every Revelation or Mystery 1. That Analogous object of this life under the notion of which God doth reveal any thing of another life to us And 2. The Thing it self that is signified by it As to the first of these it falls in all respects under the severest censure and trial of our Reason as to the latter it is wholly exempted from it As for instance in this Proposition The Saints shall reign for ever In this Mystery the thing reveal'd is the happy and glorious state of the Saints in Heaven The Analogous object made use of by God for this is that of the Splendour and Grandure of a Kingdom In respect of this latter our Reason hath full scope and 't is not only lawful but commendable nay our duty to be very punctual and exact in our Scrutiny And therefore we must know the meaning of the words and understand the matter of the Proposition we must be satisfied that it hath no impossibility or contradiction in it Nay more our Reason must be convinc'd and we must have a clear evidence in our mind of it's coming from God
act of Faith as it is distinct from Knowledg is an Assent upon the Authority of another Person But according to him Authority is no ground of Perswasion and Faith is only the understanding what is believ'd Therefore there can be no such thing as any Assent distinct from Knowledg And now have I done this man any Wrong by charging him with endeavouring to destroy the Faith of the Gospel and to overthrow the whole Christian Religion In the face of a Christian Government and in Defiance of all Laws and Power Ecclesiastical and Civil He tells them plainly that Faith is nothing more than understanding what is beliv'd i. e. there is no such thing as Faith distinct from knowledg and consequently the Faith of Christians is nothing but Implicite Assent and blind Credulity And therefore here again I wou'd deliver him into the hands of the Magistrate not mov'd by any heat of passion but by such a Zeal as becomes every Christian to have for his Religion But here he pleads a Toleration but for what I hope there is no Toleration for Blasphemy and Prophaness and thô men are allow'd to believe what they please themselves yet sure they may be restrain'd from industriously spreading such Impious Notions as are destructive of all Religion and from openly reviling the Christian Faith as Imposture and Implicite blind Credulity Again 't is objected against him That his notions of Faith makes Revelation useless Yes it doth for thô we understand the Words of the Proposition reveal'd ever so well and comprehend the thing spoke of as fully as we do a Stock or a Stone yet we can never give our assent to the truth of the Relation because that after all is done we must take this upon the Word of another But much more doth it make all the Revelations of the Gospel useless because we have no clear and distinct Idea's of them and therefore must utterly reject them all upon this score likewise But in opposition to all that can be said this Positive Man asserts here what he hath been Asserting from the beginning of his Book but gives no reason for That Revelation is only of use to inform us whilst the Evidence of it's subject perswades us Then reply we if so you must believe all Relations true or false indifferently when you understand the meaning of the Words and know the nature of the thing spoken of Nay if two contrary Propositions equally intelligible be related he must believe them both And therefore now I hope he won't take it ill of the World if they believe me when I inform them that this Book which goes under his name was the joint Endeavours of a secret Club who set themselves with a great deal of Industry to destroy all Reveal'd Religion And that they have made use of this Man as a Tool only and have pusht him before them to try with what safety such Principles as these may be openly avow'd in opposition to all that is establish't among us that they might follow and openly maintain what they have been forging in secret Cabals Now this is a matter of Fact and whosoever reads this must believe it because they understand the meaning of the Words and know the nature of every thing that is spoke of in them for Faith is nothing else but understanding what is believ'd and if they understand what is spoke of they must bow before the Light and Majesty of this knowledg And therefore I hope he will never contradict me in this or any thing else I relate of him for if he says the contrary then either the World must believe us both when we relate two contrary Propositions or they must be sway'd one way or the other by his Authority or Mine and whether they believe him or me it will sufficiently confute him for it will shew that Authority may be a ground of Perswasion as well as a means of Information If they believe neither of us then it will appear they are not under such a necessity of bowing before the Light and Majesty of that Evidence he contends â—or in all relations The last objection he raises against this Principle of his is that passage 1. Pet. 2 12. Where there is this expression Which things the Angels desire to look into The things spoken oâ— here are the methods of our Salvation by the Incarnation of the Son of God and Descent of the Holy Ghost and 't is said in the time present that the Angels Desire to look into them And I think it a natural inference from hence that these things yet are Mysteries even to them in a great degree which we need not much wonder at when they don't so much as know when the day of Judgment will be and therefore we may the less wonder they are Mysteries to us But we will suppose that this expression is mean't of the time past And then let me ask him these two Quesâ—ions concerning it 1. Whether the Angels did believe those things they are said to enquire into or no if they did believe them then we find 't is very possible to believe things that we can't comprehend for if the Angels understood them fully when they believ'd why shou'd they desire to search into them 2. Whether now these things are come to pass he will assert that we have as full and comprehensive a knowledg of them all as the Angels have If we have not then we may believe things we do not comprehend If we have then there is no difference between ours and the state of the Bâ—est in Heaven at least in respect of knowledge The last Objection he brings against his own Principles is That which is drawn from the consideration of Miracles And this likewise is so strong an objection against him that the very supposition of one true Miracle wrought in confirmation of any point of Doctrine quite overthrows his whole Book For 1. The thing it self is in a great degree Mysterious and therefore if he will allow these things related of our Saviour to be true Miracles he must allow there are Mysteries in Chrisâ—â—â—nity But he endeavours to evade this by the same Quibble he did the Docâ—râ—nes of the Gospel being Mysterious â—â—z by saying the miraculous action muâ—â— be something in it self Intelligible and Possible Who denies it but it is however Mysterious still And to lay open this Fallacy we must distinguish the two things that are to be consider'd in every Miracle And 1. The substance of the thing perform'd we grant must be very Intelligible and Possible for as he says Contradiction is only another word for Impossible or nothing 2. The manner of performing it which is totally obscur'd from us and lies out of the reach of all our Capacities As to instance in that Miracle of our Saviours Fâ—â—ding five thousand People with five Loaves We understand very well what it is for a great number of men to eat and be satisfied
of the Fathers to the last to be consider'd by themselves because many Persons who will read the rational part don't care for troubling themselves with the examination of these And indeed because I design'd to dwell much longer upon them than I find the length of this Letter already will permit The very Quoting of the Fathers is a confutation of himself for if there be no other ground of Perswasion but Evidence what can the Authority of the Fathers signify to encline Mens Assent either one way or the other and indeed of Scripture it self All Quotations Divine or Human are useless impertinent upon his Principles For what he wou'd perswade by them is evident in it self or it is not If it be evident we shall certainly believe it let who will say it but if the truth of it be not evident from the nature of the thing it self all the Pompous Citations in the World signify nothing He was sensible of this and that is the true reason why he gives the Fathers as foul language as he doth the modern Clergy not considering that the same objection holds against the Bible it self For if the Authority of God be not a ground of Perswasion then a Text out of the Bible will be of as little â—orce as a Quotation out of any fabulous Heathen Author to influenceo ur Assent to any Proposition He introduces them after the most scornful manner he could contrive and says that the mentioning of Schutcheons puts him in mind of the Judgment of the Primitive Church And in another place he hath this expression by way of ridicule The Fathers The admir'd Fathers their Opinions he calls Whymsies And their Works insuperable Labyrinths And calls the just Esteem we have for them A Blind Veneration for those who liv'd before us He never mentions them without the greatest contemt and says He is not to be put out of countenance by Venerable names and Pompous Citations that have no value but such as an ugly Rust and Colour give antient Coins But this similitude that he designs by way of derision doth very well express the worth and usefulness of the Fathers For as antient Coins are now of no greater intrinsick value than the bare weight of the Metal they are made of yet they are of excellent use to give us light into the times and customs of Antiquity and upon that score are of vasily greater value than any modern Coins So it is with the Fathers they were Men and wrote like such and thô we should grant that some of their works are not in themselves more excellent than what hath been written in after ages yet these Writings of theirs are much more to be valu'd because they liv'd nearer the times of Christ and his Apostles and therefore had greater advantages of coming to right apprehensions of all things relating to Christianity than it is possible for any after them to have Not but that some of them seem to have wrote by a more peculiar influence of the Spirit And therefore this Mans arrogant treatment of the Fathers puts me in mind of that passage of the ignorant Childrens reviling the Prophet and calling him Baldpate who saw nothing of him beyond those common infirmities that are incident to Human Nature and did not discern any thing of the Divine Spirit that was in him We do not blindly and implicitely acquiesce in any thing they say but we have a just Veneration for them and deserence to their Authority And if he could have produced any thing from them which had made against us we would have own'd he had gaind a great point But all the Citations he produces are only to prove that the things reveal'd under the Gospel were call'd Mysteries under the Law and That the Vail is taken away both which we allow Let him bring one Text out of the Bible or one Quotation out of the Fathers to prove that the Vail is taken away in the sence that we deny i. e. in respect of the true Nature and real Properties of those things which we call Mysteries For that it is taken away as to the Existence of those things and as to the Relation they have to us as to the intent and design of them we allow And this is a sufficient answer to all his Quotations if he brought a thousand more to the same purpose he hath don these However I shall consider them in particular And 1. He says Clemens Alexandrinus hath the same notion of Mysteries with him For he says the Christian Discipline was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Illumination because it brought hidden things to light Very true But not because it brought them so to light as to discover the real Nature and Properties of every thing reveal'd and give us as clear and distinct notions of all divine things as they are in themselves as we have even of sensible Objects Which this Man ridiculously contends for And this he would have seen if he had read but Ten Lines farther where he has this Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. By which he affirms the nature of God to be above all we can conceive or speak of him So that 't is plain the Father in direct opposition to this Scribler is of opinion that God is still Mysterious notwithstanding all the Revelations we have of him The whole drift of the former part of that 5th Book is to shew that the true nature of FAITH consists in giving our assent to the truth of things which we cannot know upon the Authority of God and to this he applies that Text of the Apostle 1. Cor. 2. 5 where he adviseth us that our Faith should not be founded on the Wisdom of Men who as he explains it pretend to make us know every thing we believe But on the Veracity of God who saves us by pure Faith without that Evidence of the thing it self which some Men require The Father 's own words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore he elegantly calls Faith the Ears of the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because by this we are dispos'd to listen to Discourses of those things which we cannot comprehend Not that he supposes we are ignorant of the meaning of any Proposition we believe and therefore he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no Knowledg without Faith noâ— Faith without Knowledg And he here makes a manifest difference between that Assent which is the immediate effect of Knowledg and that which is properly Faith And then asketh this Question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is so estranged from God so much an Infidell as not to believe him upon his word but require the same Evidence and clear Knowledg of the things reveal'd from God as he requires from men I answer This Man of unparallel'd Impudence who hath quoted this same 5th Book of his against himself and us to prove the quite contrary to what he thus positively asserts The next Father