Revelation which I own to be the rule of my Faith is for it I say my Reason is against it Revelation and Reason cannot be contrary to one another This would be a greater contradiction than the first God cannot give me Reason in my Creation to be my guide and unravel at the same time those very Principles which he has made a part of my constitution Tertullian de poenit c. 1. says truly and Elegantly Res Dei Ratio Reason is the business and work of God It is by it that he has made us like him after his own Image And can it be so much as thought that that Divine and essentially Rational Being will contradict himself defeat his own work and reveal that which is contrary to the first impressions of Nature You take a wrong way to convince me You say God has reveal'd it and therefore it can be no contradiction You must first prove that there is no contradiction in the thing it self before you can satisfy me that he has reveal'd it Orthod God then must go out of his own ways and his Thoughts are to be accommodated to yours or else cannot be receiv'd You will prescribe Laws to the Divine Majesty It must be made to bow to your weak conceptions and the all wise Creator must stoop to a poor ignorant Creature Pray is this Reason or obstinacy You would fain struggle with a Principle of that mighty clearness and solidity that it commands an assent from all Men and is really the true and last resolution of all this great Controversy If God has reveal'd it you may cry out contradiction to the end of the World There will still be none and you will only shew your weakness Prove that it is not reveal'd and then and not before the business is done shew that your Reason has that character of Authority and Infalliblity which the Scripture has and then talk of contradictions Had you ever known any part of the Mystery if first it had not been Reveal'd How then can you find out contradictions in that which does so much transcend all your conceptions of which you know so little and which does not lie within the reach of our little Argumentations but rests wholly on the Basis of the Divine Authority I beg of you to tell me whether God cannot propose to us any thing to believe which is above Reason And whether what is above our Reason can be said to be contrary to it In resolving these two Questions you answer your Self The Trinity in Vnity is a discovery made by God which is above our Reason and therefore cannot be contrary to it The contradiction cannot come from the declaration of God For God cannot contradict himself The All-wise God cannot utter a contradictory Proposition It is not seated in the thing it self for there is no such thing as contradiction to be imagin'd in the Divine Nature It comes therefore only from our weak Apprehensions And how we can place a contradiction in an object infinitely above all the power and reach of our Reason be your self judge Socin This is the common Subterfuge of your Writers And this they are so pleas'd with that they have made it a general Answer Let them enjoy it to all intents and purposes But I deny that God can oblige us to believe what is above Reason This appears to me an Imposition unworthy of the thoughts which we have of God To be plain Whatsoever is above my Reason is incomprehensible to me That which is incomprehensible is nothing to me I cannot believe what I cannot understand Orthod 'T is because you cannot understand that you must believe Faith is to over-rule your Reason The way to understand is to believe as Isaias expresses it ch 7.9 according to the Septuagint Faith is so far from being destructive of Reason that of the contrary side it improves and perfects it Socin I wish I could be satisfy'd of the truth of this Orthod If the nature of Faith and Reason were truly establish'd I am apt to think that a very great part of our disputes would be at an end Socin Pray let us endeavour at it with Candor and Sincerity It is late now but you must promise me the honour of your Company at a small Dinner to morrow and after Dinner we shall talk fully to this Orthod I hate afternoon studies and afternoon disputes The Body then oppresses the Mind Nor are the Spirits capable of that intense application which the clearing a difficulty requires I give all the forenoon to my thoughts the middle part of the Day to my self and the Evening to my Friends At that time I will wait on you Perhaps I may bring a Friend along with me Socin If he is your Friend he will have neither Pedantry in his looks nor harshness in his manners Do not fail Orthod I will not The Third DIALOGUE Orthod YOU see I am come according to my Promise Socin Not altogether for you gave me some hopes that you would bring a Friend along with you Orthod I design'd it But he had made an appointment which could not be dispens'd with Besides he being wholly in my sentiments it would have look'd as if I had intended to over-match you and oppose two to one Socin I should not have been afraid of that For I think that the defender of Reason has a mighty advantage All Mankind is of his side It is their Freehold and if they part with it to believe impossibilities they make a very foolish exchange Orthod Christianity proposes no impossibilities and is so far from being an Enemy to Reason that it is the most Rational System in the World Things which actually exist cannot be said to be impossible Whatsoever it proposes is of that kind and though a great part of it transcends our comprehensions yet we ought not to deny it but submit to it with an humble reverence Expecting a blessed Life wherein we shall know what we now believe and clear perceptions lucid and glorious thoughts shall make a part of that blessed state which God has promis'd Socin I am perswaded that there will be such a state and that those magnificent promises which God has made us will be fully perform'd We shall know then infinitely more than we do now And if at this time the finding out any Truth so sensibly affects us how much more will it do so when the glory of God shall be reveal'd in us and Truth shall not appear in scatter'd and divided beams or by intervals but as it is in its ineffable Spring But for all that I cannot be sensible that I must enslave my Reason and un-Man my self in running after incomprehensible objects of which I can neither give nor receive any tolerable account Orthod You are so offended at things incomprehensible Pray are you the happy Man who finds nothing of that nature in the World Is it always day with you Do you never feel the cold and darkness
of the approaching Night Socin No! I should be then an incomprehensible Creature my self I own to my grief that there are abundance of that sort of things I say to my grief For I would if I could know every thing But when I find a bar which stops me from going further then I make a stand and cannot conceive that I am any way concern'd in it In a word as I have said before what is incomprehensible is nothing to me Orthod You put me in mind of a verse in Hesiod wherein the old Mythologist says that Credulity and Incredulity have equally undone Mankind A thought more becoming a Christian than a Heathen From the first have sprung Superstition and Idolatry Men have brought down their Adoration as low as their thoughts They have worship'd Beasts and Plants as irrational as the one and as insensible as the other The second has run them into other extreams From Polytheism to Atheism from believing every thing to the believing nothing at all It has produc'd Deism not such as was the Deism of the first race of the World when Nature taught Men sincerely to serve their Creator but such as loose and profane Persons have embrac'd the better under that venerable Name to destroy Reveal'd Religion Pardon me if I say that Socinianism is another of its branches Credulity has undone others but Incredulity has ruin'd you Socin You do us a double injury First In puting us with Deists and Atheists whom you know we are no favourers of Secondly By charging us with Incredulity when in all our Books and Prints we publickly profess to believe Orthod That is you assent to what comes within the compass of your Reason but no further You believe what you please or how you please What squares with your Thoughts shall be Faith What does not must be rejected You are then Believers at large and such as St. Austin represents the Manichaeans lib. de util creden who would have Faith to be nothing but Reason Socin No we distinguish them The one is not the other We are satisfy'd of the Truth of those things which Reason could never have demonstrated We acknowledge a Reveal'd Religion and think it an infinite mercy of the Creator to have sent the Lord Christ into the World to teach us the way to Heaven But we are perswaded that Revelation contains nothing but what is Possible Consistent with Reason and easily understood You have made Christianity Mysterious That is the plainest Religion in the World is become in your hands obscure and intricate and when you have nothing to say for your selves you appeal to Faith as to the last remedy Orthod Give me leave to shew you the disingenuity and weakness of this way of reasoning You say that you are satisfy'd of the Truth of those things which Reason could never have demonstrated But at the same time you confine this principally to the matters of Fact related in the Gospel Nay the Learned Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity would unreasonably have confin'd it to the bare belief of CHRIST being the Messias But is there nothing else besides matter of Fact in the sacred Writings Are we not told what that Messias is as well as what he has done his Nature as well as his Actions Does not this matter of Fact depend upon a Series or Concatenation of Divine Verities which the Scripture has carefully attested Does not the whole Oeconomy of the Gospel turn upon Father Son and Holy Spirit Are we not initiated in their Names to our Holy Religion And does not that Religion teach us what they are in themselves and what in relation to us But you have an easy and possible way and that is to maim and mangle Religion When it is thus murder'd and disfigur'd then it is consistent with Reason and easily understood when it has nothing to say Thus Socinianism by pretending to remove Mysteries from our Holy Religion becomes it self a Mystery It takes away the greatest part of the Credenda Let another Socinus arise and take away the Agenda too and then the World will be sitted with a delicate System of Religion Socin Now I see you grow hot Orthod No but would it not amaze any Man to see Christianity thus abus'd by Men who own themselves to be Christians and under a pretence of making Religion plain easy and rational remove out of the way the most substantial parts of it May not I wonder to see you deny your assent to things because you pretend that they are not comprehensible when at the same time you believe things of which you can give no sort of account and which you must at last as well as we resolve into the Authority of the Reâ—ciation Socin Pray prove that Orthod Yâ—â— very easily For instance amongst many things of this sort you believe the Creation of the World that is you believe that the World and all that is in it was made of nothing Now any thing to proceed of nothing every thing to be made of nothing is as great a contradiction 〈…〉 as one and one and 〈…〉 but one Oâ—â— of nothing is made is a 〈…〉 the most sagacious Philosopher On this the Lycaeum built the Eternity of the World Tertullian Apolog. c. 11. attributes it to Pythagoras and Proclus to Plato both I fear falsly Others made matter to be eternally pre-existent Others said that God was the World I maintain that though we can never conceive it yet it is easier to imagine how Three Persons can subsist in one Nature than that any one thing should be made of nothing Socin No I can easily conceive the Creation The notion of an Almighty God producing all things is neither arduous nor difficult I may say with the Ancient of whom Clemens Alexand. speaks Str. 5. That when I contemplate this great Fabrick of the World I think I hear the Voice of God who commands it to Exist That infinite Essence in whose mind are reposited the Essences of all things can give them their several Existences when he pleases None but Moses spoke worthy of God when he brings in the Almighty commanding all things out of nothing with a word of his mouth Orthod I must beg leave to say that this does not reach the difficulty For if you run to the power of God and the relation made of it by 〈…〉 for it But does it 〈…〉 comprehensible Do you know 〈…〉 how something is 〈…〉 the contradiction the 〈…〉 as your Friends exâ—â—◠〈…〉 not in the words only 〈…〉 thing it self How would you 〈…〉 your very principle I should say that the Revelation must be made consistent with Reason that a possible sence is to be inquir'd after that God is said to create because he orders and disposes the eternally pre-existent Matter Should I criticise and as you have done in other places alter particles in the Text of Moses you would think that I am mad and say that when the Text is so plain
above our Reason That we ought to rely upon the Divine Revelation and not pretend to give an account of things Incomprehensible This you have thought to be an evasion of all your pretended contradictions you have derided it and call'd it a Trinity of the Mob of ignorant and lazy Doctors Whereas if you weigh the Principles laid before you it will appear very firm and solid For to state contradictions in an object Reveal'd when that object is above all our Perceptions when all that we know is that it is and that too because it is Reveal'd but are altogether ignorant what it is Reason then soars above its nature and what you call contradictions are only the stumblings of Reason which striving to climb up an inaccessible rock is shamefully flung on its back and overthrown Socin But then you make Faith the obscurest thing in the World and what advantage is it to us if our darkness is remov'd by a greater even a darkness that may be felt If what you say is true I know little by the help of Reason and much less by that of Revelation Orthod I make Faith what God has made it The things which he proposes exist and are certain He is pleas'd to cast a veil over them and we ought not to presume to take it off It is he that has made us and not we our selves and in vain we strive to start out of the limits to which he has confin'd us Nor is the homage and submission of our understandings consistent with clear Perceptions of things It would no more be Faith but Knowledge We should not be in via as the Fathers speak in the way which leads to Heaven which is a state of obscurity labour humility and the fear of God But in Patria in Heaven it self a place of intuition tranquility glory and perfect love But let me tell you that Faith has that mighty advantage that if it is not the clearest evidence it is at least the greatest certainty in the World All our assurance in other things is humane The very Principles of Geometry are no more But Faith has a Divine Foundation and that is the Authority of God St. Chrysostom was so perswaded of the truth of this that Homil 21. in Epist ad Heb. he did not doubt to affirm that he had no Faith who believ'd not more firmly the things reveal'd than those which are daily the object of sense You know the Famous saying of St. Ambrose de sacram l. 1. cap. 5. Tolle argumenta ubi Fides quaeritur Away with all your Reasons where Faith is the question Socin If you get amongst the Fathers we shall have a Sea of Authorities which you know we have no very great esteem for I wish you would lay them all aside But if you will not what think you of Lactantius who Instit l. 2. cap. 7. speaks thus Oportet in ea re maxime c. Every Man is oblig'd particularly in that wherein his own being is concern'd to trust to himself and it is much better to endeavour with the best judgment and sense that we can to find out the truth than to suffer our selves to be deceiv'd by other People's errors as if we were wholly Strangers to Reason God having given all Men such a share of Wisdom as to be able to search into those things which are unknown to us and to examine those that are not The same Principle Minutius Foelix makes use of against Caecilius And this is the very Argument of Theodoret in his first Discourse de curand graec affect It may be said of Lactantius his assertion that nothing can be truer and better It does justice to God who is the Author and Giver of every good and perfect gift and to Man by owning his great and distinguishing Privilege You have spoke of Faith very well and accurately But for all that do you know what it is to blaspheme Reason It is to wound Mankind in the most sensible part and to put us out of a capacity of ever acting like Men. Reason is a light which comes down from the Father of lights As the natural light discovers it self and all other objects so Reason the light of the Soul discovers its native excellency and is the tryal of all other things It s eagerness in the pursuit of Truth is a proof that it is made for it and capable of it It looks much like Priest-craft to desire me to shut my Eyes and trust my self to another guide whilst I can see my way as perfectly as any other I had once a great respect for St. Austin but I have lost it since I read a passage of his wherein he strangely abuses humane nature It is lib. 2. c. 15. de serm dom in monte Hominis anima rationalis lumine veritatis vel tenuiter pro sui capacitate illustratur ut verum aliquid in ratiacinando sentiat The rational Soul of Man receives as â—â—ding to its capacity small illustrations and glances of light that by Reasoning it may feel something of Truth Thus the Doctors of the Church run down Reason and perceive not that they run down Mankind at the same time Orthod You are in the right to lay the Fathers aside for they are all against you I should be glad to be rid of a witness who I am sure will swear home against me The Author of Christianity not Mysterious has invalidated their evidence to some purpose He will not allow above five or six to have been Men of sence and to shew how contemptible they are he flatters himself that some ages hence he will be look'd on as a Father I hope he is no Prophet and does not see so much extravagance in the succeeding times Lactantius every way an admirable Author argues against Idolatry He says very well that no Religion is to be taken upon trust and that in so great a concern every one ought to judge for himself Idolatry is so unreasonable a thing that whosoever admits it must be a stranger to Reason God having given every Man such a measure of Wisdom as to reject that which is so openly bad and look for somewhat better But he never pretended that amongst Christians who so unanimously submit to the Revelation which God has made of himself in the Holy Scriptures Man was to dispute against God and Reason to struggle with Faith Read the first Chapter of the first and the greatest part of the third Book and you will see that from the contradictions of Philosophers he proves Reason to be insufficient to find out the truth and that it is only to be met with in that Religion where it is divinely Reveal'd Minutius Foelix argues after the same manner Caecilius pleaded a Tradition of Idolatry in which he thought himself secure Minutius answers that he ought to appeal to his own Reason which will evidently shew him the folly and impiety of Polytheism And all that Theodoret insists on is that the
incredible eagerness will search what they are as well as what they appear This is the ground of Philosophical inquiries But Man is not contented with this For besides that the way is painful tedious and yielding very often neither profit nor pleasure he can fix no where He finds in himself a desire of happiness which no created being can procure Supposing that he can measure the Heavens understand luminous Bodies be acquainted with the laws of Motion and Matter this is still far from answering the vast capacity of a Soul which distasted with inferior objects aspires at the Knowledge of God's Nature of his own Immortality and of a future State after this Life There is somewhat which he is sensible is wanting to the perfection of his own Being He sees at a mighty distance great and venerable objects but cannot draw near to them being kept back by his inaccessible light of one side and the obscurity and weakness of his Reason of the other The merciful God will not discover himself plainly to him If he did he could not bear the Splendor For no Man shall see God and live But he has ordain'd Faith as a Medium between the darkness of this Life and the Glory of the next He has commanded Man to believe fixing thereby all the uncertainties and rectifying all the mistakes of Reason And has given him the greatest encouragement that can be by assuring him that he shall know hereafter what he now believes Supposing that one should argue for Sense against Reason as you do for Reason against Faith you would say to him that Sense in a Matter which depends from Sense is the best judge but that in a Matter about which Reason alone is conversant it has nothing to do because the object is much above its reach Should Sense reply God has fitted me for some end and that end is the apprehending of Truth and consequently attainable or else it is no end and by this I am fitted to judge of such and such objects you would say to him Sense is one thing and Reason is another Sense is to be so far from pretending to be the judge of Reason that is has nothing to do with it Pray be just and say the same of Reason It will strive to inquire into the business of Faith Faith will own that concerning things within the compass of Reason there can be no fitter judge Reason will tell Faith that it contradicts it self that it proposes impossibilities that it is every way incomprehensible Faith will laugh at this and ask how Reason can talk of contradictions and impossibilities and incomprehensibilities where it has nothing to do and has no sort of aptitude to see whether it is so or no. I am sure this is their Sence who ever pretended to understand those matters St. Austin in his Book de morib Eccl. Cathol In the third Book contra Acad. c. 19 ..... Socin I have declar'd my self already against citations of the Fathers Favour me so far as to bring in no more 'T is not what they say but what you say which I am willing to hear What St. Austin tells Adimantus Volusianus Honoratus is nothing to me He was a Man of Sence but I build no part of my Faith upon his or the Fathers sayings I like your way of speaking very well Pray go on Orthod What you require of me is highly unjust For though I build my Faith no more than your self upon the Fathers but only upon the reveal'd word of God yet I think their Authority to be great and considerable As our Holy Faith is the same now as in the beginning of Christianity because a part of its Character is to have been once deliver'd so I conceive that it is now best defended by the same methods which the Christian Doctors us'd at first When our Mysteries were propos'd to the Heathens they were as quick as you can be at objecting contradictions They magnify'd Reason as much as any of you have done since The Fathers did strenuously apply themselves to shew its weakness and insufficiency and by asserting the necessity of Faith over-rul'd all their objections When you have done all that you can you must at last come to this only with a far greater disadvantage of your side because the Heathens rejected that very principle which you admit and that is the Divine Revelation You cannot oppose the Authority of the Fathers without doing the Christian Church a vast injury and robbing it of one of its greatest Ornaments This very thing must be a prejudice against you that you have renew'd the old objections of the Heathens against this Sacred Doctrine and despis'd those very ways which were us'd by the Fathers in the confutation of their errors Socin You perpetually cry up the Fathers and yet would not be bound in this very point to make good their Reasonings Are there not three Faculties of the Soul and yet but one Soul the Root Bark and Branches of a Tree and yet the same Tree Peter James and John three Men and yet the same humane Nature are not these and twenty more such instances delicate proofs of a Trinity in Vnity Orthod They are no proofs nor ever were intended to be such What can be made of them is that they are Illustrations faint Adumbrations or Resemblances of the inexplicable Mystery The Fathers requir'd believing and not reasoning They affirm'd Reason incapable of judging of Mysteries and resolv'd all into Faith that firm assent to what God has Reveal'd You may see this Elegantly treated by Arnobius who calls Reason blind uncertain weak and owing to the Mercy of God that himself has spoken to inform it Lactantius is positive lib. 3. c. 1. that the knowledge and worship of God cannot be attain'd by Reason or Sense and therefore that laying aside all these Masters of an earthly Philosophy who have so contradicted one another and have left nothing certain we should look up to God who Tradidit Sacramentum verae Religionis ut revelatae divinitùs veritatis cognitionem consequamur Has given us the Sacred Institution of the true Religion that we may attain the Knowledge of that Truth which is Divinely Reveal'd And in the same place Divina tradita sunt breviter nude Nec decebat aliter ut cum Deus ad hominem loqueretur argumentis assereret suas voces tanquam fides ei non haberetur sed ut oportuit est locutus quasi rerum omnium supremus Judex cujus non est argumentari sed pronunciare verum Divine things are deliver'd in a short and plain manner Nor was it fit that it should be otherwise As if God was not to be believ'd except he gives Reasons for what he says He has spoke as the supreme Judge of all things whose part is not to dispute but simply to pronounce what is true Tertullian de anim Cui enim veritas comperta sine Deo Cui Deus cognitus sine Christo Cui
unlearned part of the World is as capable of this as the learned Nay much more For besides the plainness of the Revelation their perceptions in what they understand are more direct and not clogg'd with subtilties as ours are They have I am afraid a more sincere respect for the Divine Revelation than we Take an honest Country-Man and ask him who is he that is blessed over all for ever He will answer immediately GOD. Shew him in the Scripture that this is said of Christ He will immediately conclude that Christ is GOD. Object to him that if Christ is God and the Father God then there are two Gods He will immediately reply No They are but one For God is but ONE You may puzle him with your Ratiocinations He may be at a stand and hear you cry till you are hoarse that two cannot be one and that he does his Reason an injury He will tell you that it is so indeed when he takes an account of his sheep and horses but in what concerns his Religion his Bible in his Reason It says so and he believes it The Learned will not wrangle to the end of the World except by the Learned you mean only the Socinians I am sure and you cannot but be so too that for many Ages and now in this very Age the Learned of all Societies agree in this And though the Socinians are infinitely fond of their objections against our Mysteries yet I despair not to see them come over to the Faith They are Rational and at one time or other will be equitable Men. But now let us see the Province of Reason when it is satisfy'd that such or such a truth is reveal'd Socin I know what you are going to say and it is this That Reason having once satisfy'd it self of the certainty of the Revelation it has no more to do but its duty is to submit to what God has reveal'd Let a proposition contain never such a gross or palpable contradiction it must be swallow'd contentedly But in good truth can this be done If this is Faith and believing who can believe Orthod God can reveal neither contradiction nor error There is a great difference between understanding the truth of a proposition and the Nature of the thing propos'd God was manifest in the Flesh and the Word was made Flesh are propositions so vastly plain that no other sence can be made of them but this God has appear'd in our Nature There is no error no contradiction in this In a word we understand it But the Nature of the thing propos'd is so unknown to us and so much above us that it is rash and bold for us to inquire into it or imagine error or contradiction in it I say then that the Truth once propos'd we ought to acquiesce in it That Reason is to be silent and give no way to further inquiries Socin But can Reason be silent when you impose on me the belief of that of which I have no kind of Notion Orthod If by Notion you mean an insight into the thing Reveal'd you are unjust We have discours'd already that the Nature of Faith is to be obscure or else it is no Faith This can be no difficulty at all It is enough for us that we understand that God has propos'd such a thing though we understand not at all the thing propos'd I cannot apprehend how God assumes our Nature and is manifest in the Flesh But I apprehend that God tells it me in clear and express terms and therefore I believe and think not my poor ignorant Brain a competent Judge of God's Veracity Socin But pray hold a little Will you be satisfy'd of the deficiency of your method if I shew you that after you have attain'd the certainty of the Revelation you must believe propositions which are inconsistent with and destroy one another You believe God to be one and yet Father Son and Holy Spirit to be every one God Does not the first proposition destroy the second and the second the first How can he be one and three three and one Orthod This is still begging of the question God can propose nothing Contradictory or Inconsistent I confess I cannot understand how this is but it is reveal'd therefore certainly true and on that account I believe it Socin You believe that Christ is God and Man Infinite and Finite Immortal and Mortal The Supreme most High God and yet suffering and Dying He is God and he is sent He is God and yet prays to God He is God over all and yet subject to him who put all things under him If this is not inconsistent I do not know what inconsistency is Orthod If Plato Aristotle or any of the Sons of Men should tell me this I would speak as you do But God is true and he says all this I adore the Divine Oeconomy though I understand it not To be God and Man is no Contradiction The Scripture represents Christ as God blessed over all for ever It represents him also as a Man Nothing can be more express than the declarations of his Divinity Nothing more clear than those of his Humanity Which part of the Revelation shall Reason overthrow Convinc'd by the proofs of his Humanity you will say that he is no God Another convinc'd by the proofs of his Divinity will deny that he is a Man Thus Reason more inconsistent with it self than you fansie Revelation to be will reject every part and destroy the whole Socin No. Reason will reconcile all and by an easy explication will make him an inferior or a deputed God and also the greatest of Men. Orthod A Socinian Explication But the misery is that our Texts are not capable of any God Blessed over all for ever The word was with God The word was God and twenty more such places admit of no explication A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief in the Form of a Servant humbling himself to the Death of the Cross becoming Sin for us and dying for Sinners contradicts all your explications Away with this obstinacy which really debases Reason Take the Revelation as a Rational Man as it lies in all its parts as it comes from God who in the fullness of time has sent his Eternal Son to assume our Nature and become a Sacrifice for us Socin But you can never perswade me that Reason has not as much right to examine the truth of the thing propos'd as the proposition it self and to reject it if it is not agreeable to its Principles Orthod But you can never prove that Reason is capable of examining that which is above Reason and such are things reveal'd Their truth indeed depend from the conformity which they have with the Supreme Reason which is God But in respect to us their Truth consists not in their agreeableness to yours or my Reason But wholly in the Authority of the Revelation They are true because they are reveal'd Socin But is not my
ever profess'd a Reveal'd Religion none but the Socinians have oppos'd it The very Jews themselves were not without it The Author of the ancient Book Cosri par 4. c. 27. says that Abraham came first to the knowledge of God by Reason but that after God had Reveal'd himself to him he gave over all his Arguments to stick to the Revelation And that the old Rabbins understood the 12. of Genesis v. 1. Get thee out of thy Country and Gen. 15.5 And he brought him forth abroad in an Allegorical sence as if God by these Words had commanded him to go from himself his humane way of apprehensions his weak ratiocinations and leave himself wholly to his conduct I confess the Allegory is more pious than solid It has a tincture of Rabbinism all over But still it is home to the point which I was to prove that the Jews in this had the same notion with the Christians that when Reason is satisfy'd that the Almighty speaks it ought to submit and stifle all its pretended contradictions Socin If the Ancient Jews were so much for believing how come the Modern to be so incredulous They are as mighty sticklers as we for the Unity of the Great God They deny CHRIST to be God Yet to them were committed the Oracles of God How comes it then that they are not affected with that Revelation of a Trinity which you pretend to be so plain and express Orthod It will carry us too far out of our subject to lay down the Causes of their Incredulity But yet it must be said that in their disputes with us they have been more sincere than you as to the main point on which this Controversy turns For they have not pretended to Reason about this or build their denial upon imaginary Contradictions the weak efforts of a Reason at a stand but they have rejected all the new Dispensation and disown'd CHRIST to be the MESSIAS In a word they have disputed the Revelation A Topick which you cannot pretend to because you admit the Sacred Writings of the New Testament I shall say no more to this but dispatch the third consideration and see the use of Reason after Faith is admitted and put your patience to a new trial Socin You command my attention Orthod I say then that Reason thus resign'd ceases not to act The noble Faculty has still a large Field to exercise it self in For though it supposes the Axiomata the first Principles of Christianity the Divine Mysteries to be so certain as not to be capable of the least doubt but to be admitted with the most humble adoration and sincere and firm assent that can be yet there are some Universal and some Particular dependent inferior Truths which it has the liberty to consider There are things which we know by Faith alone others by Reason alone and others by Faith and Reason together Of the first sort are the Mysteries of the Holy Trinity Incarnation Resurrection c. It is of these that St. Ambrose de vocat Gent. says excellently Magna est fortitudo consensionis cui ad sequendum veritatem Auctoritas sufficit etiam latente ratione That assent has a great force which though we cannot see the Reason of things yet makes us to embrace the Truth on the bare account of Authority A doctrine so known so reverenc'd in the Primitive Church that St. Austin is so far from pretending that we can dispute about them that when the Philosophers would argue against them who had embrac'd Christianity he makes them answer thus Serm. 189. de temp Accepto Baptismo hoc dicimus Fidelis factus sum Credo quod Nescio Having receiv'd Baptism we say this I am become a Christian I believe what I cannot understand In this Reason has nothing to do I am altogether determin'd by Faith It is from thence that the School-men have laid this as a Principle in their barbarous way of speaking that Habitus Fidei non est discursious sed animus unico actu fertur in objectum materiale propter formale Which in plain English is this that Faith depends not from Reason and Discourse but that the Soul of Man by the same act embraces the truth propos'd a secondary sort of an object upon the account of the first which is God revealing it to us Of the second sort is whatsoever is not of Faith but only serves to illustrate and confirm to defend and propagate it All our Arguments are the product of Reason There is a Divine Oeconomy and Coherence in the Sacred Writings which it perceives and from which it draws inferences An Analogy of Faith which by the concord and relation of the several parts make up the whole body of Divinity It is a judicious observation of St. Austin de Trin. lib. 14. c. 1. that as there are things which can never be understood except they are believ'd so there are things which can never be believ'd except they are understood And such are Prophecies of which it is said 2 Pet. 1.19 We have also a more sure word of Prophecy whereunto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn and the day Star arise in your Hearts A Prophecy cannot be believ'd except Reason has made way to Faith by being convinc'd of its accomplishment Thus CHRIST argu'd Luk. 24.44 These are the words which I spoke to you whilst I was with you that all things must be fulfill'd which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me For though Prophecy has the Sanction of the Divine Authority and is to be assented unto even as to its future accomplishment because none of the Words of God can fall to the ground yet when you tell me that it is accomplish'd it is altogether the work of my Reason to examine whether it is so or no God by his Prophets and indeed by the two first Dispensations that of Nature and that of the Law has promis'd that a MESSIAS should come for the Redemption of Mankind The Prophecies concerning him are many and express Some describe his Nature others his Person Some his miraculous Works others his Heavenly Doctrine Some the time and place of his coming others his Life Death Resurrection Ascension c. All this is true and Antecedently commands our belief because God has spoke it But whether this or that Person is the MESSIAS must depend from an examination in whom all these things are fullfill'd Whether in this or that Man And this is certainly the Work of Reason The same must be said of Miracles There is not a more forcible Argument that the Author of Nature has Reveal'd a Doctrine than when he alters or suspends its ordinary course to confirm it But still I have a Liberty to try whether the Spirits are of God Whether it is a real Miracle and not an Illusion Whether the Matter of Fact is true Thus Act.
13.12 Sergius Paulus who before is call'd a Prudent Man seeing Elymas by the bare speaking of St. Paul struck with blindness believ'd being astonish'd at the Doctrine of the Lord. The Miracle was certainly the ground of his Faith But he had not deserv'd the name of a Prudent Man if he had not satisfy'd himself of the Truth of the Miracle And in this Christianity appears Venerable to me beyond any thing that Men ever call'd Religion that it is so far from restraining Reason where it ought to act that it gives it the greatest scope imaginable I am astonish'd at or much better as the Latin Interpreter reads it I admire that Doctrine of the Lord which though resolv'd into the Authority of him that reveals it yet is embrac'd upon the most Rational Motives that can be I am sure you will be pleas'd when I tell you that Criticizing is also the Work of Reason I mean by Criticizing that acute judgment by which we reject what is spurious and take up what is genuine and certain holding to the Purity and Sincerity of Ancient Copies establishing true Readings and making Translations as exact and as agreeable as can be to the Original All that which facilitates the understanding of the difficult places of Scripture must be put in the number This has made Interpreters Commentators Annotators and a world of Polemick Writers who have deserv'd well of Religion in general and have been in particular the Glory of the Reformation The Church of Rome is oblig'd to us for that sort of Learning and indeed for all manner of Knowledge there being no part of it but what has been reviv'd by Protestants and most of all by English Writers Though of these last the Learned World has just cause to complain that so many incomparable Books have been confin'd to their own natural Language I confess also and that to my grief that our great love and study of the Eastern Languages seems to forsake us and go over to our Adversaries Socin I am sorry for it too But now you commend Criticks what do you think of Us as to that particular Orthod I wish you would not oblige me to run out of my Subject But since you will have me give you my sence of this I beg of you to forgive me if I say that you are the most lamentable Criticks in the World Your out-landish Authors I mean them who are openly Socinians except some tolerable good Latin interlarded now and then with a Greek Phrase are not worth reading Those that keep behind the Curtain are much better But when they come to the points in dispute they are as weak and as insufferable as the other Your English Writers are Men of much more digested thoughts and a purer way of expression As long as they keep within their pretended difficulties they are like to impose But when they are brought to the Test that is to the Sacred Writings their Criticisms are so mean so strange so unsincere their evasions are so many so visible so unnatural what they have to say is so unsatisfactory and so foreign to the thing that of all Men I would not have you set up for Criticks But to return There are things which we know both by Faith and Reason Such is the existence of God Rom. 1.19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest to them For God has shew'd it to them For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead That Reason must strangely act against it self which denies the Being of God But though this is so plain as to come within every Man's capacity yet the Existence of God is also the object of our Faith We may say the same of his Unity Immensity Omnipresence Almighty Power and his other Divine Attributes particularly that Providence by which he governs us and the World Heb. 11.6 He that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him I am also apt to think that though Faith teaches us that in Adam all die that we have all sinned and come short of the Glory of God and that our Conversion to God is a new Creation being Created in Jesus Christ unto good Works yet Reason in a great measure may be acquainted with the corruption of our Nature We cannot come out of the hands of God with that darkness of Mind that World of evil Inclinations and that tendency to Sin which we have There is that in Man which of one side convinces him of his Greatness and Excellency and of the other of his Baseness and Misery We have an incredible desire of Happiness and yet pursue those things which end in our ruine So great a Contradiction cannot come from the All-wise and Merciful Creatour Answer me not that we Sin by Imitation It is a poor and silly Notion which leaves the Difficulty whole and unresolv'd Reason also as well as Faith acquaints us with the Immortality of the Soul and the certainty of a State of Rewards and Punishments after this Life In this the generality of the Wise Heathens agreed Cum de animorum aeternitate disserimus says Seneca Epist 117. non leve momentum apud nos habet consensus hominum aut timentium inferos aut colentium When we dispute of the Eternity of the Soul the Vniversal consent of Men who either fear or adore the Powers below is of no small importance I make use of that publick Perswasion And Macrobius de Som. Scip. l. 1. c. 14. Obtinuit non minus de incorporalitate animae quam de immortalitate sententiae The opinion of the Souls Immateriality has been as generally receiv'd as that of its Immortality But not to multiply any more instances let us conclude with the Divinity of the Sacred Writings They are receiv'd by us not only with the homage of an humble Faith but also by strong convictions of Reason I take it to be granted by all Christian Societies that the Holy Scriptures are divinely inspir'd This is a point of their Faith and indeed the foundation of all the rest The Socinians themselves who have deny'd so many things never controverted before agree with them in this But yet I am perswaded that Reason does not want several noble and substantial Arguments to prove it That which Origen contr Cels Theodoret Praesat in Ps St. Austin and the generality of the Fathers have us'd seems to me Irrefragable And that is the vast number of Prophecies which we find to have receiv'd their accomplishment For all Mankind assert Prophecy to be the Gift and Work of God and only in his Power Isa 41.23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that you are Gods And Pacuvius in Gell. lib. 14. c. 1. Nam si qui quae eventura sunt provideant aequiparent Jovi An Argument truly
no Ideas If I cannot walk in a smooth and open Path I am resolv'd to stay at Home Orthod I am my self of your Mind I take then Reason to be a Faculty of the Soul by which we endeavour to find out the Truth either by way of Inference or by a plain and simple Perception What have you to Except against this Socin Nothing at all For I think that all our Knowledge comes these two ways Yet if the word Endeavour falls upon the last as well as upon the first part of the definition it seems somewhat incongruous For simple Perceptions offer themselves to us and are almost the only things of which the Certainty is not disputed But yet as it is by comparing the least Known with the most Known Principles that we do Reason and that every thing which we call a simple Perception is not such I willingly agree in it Then go on and tell me what is Faith Orthod Faith is the Gift of God by which he Inlightens our Mind and inclines our Heart to assent to what he proposes to us to believe Socin This I do not like so well as the other Though I know it comes from St. Austin and is commonly receiv'd by the admirers of that Father Faith is the Gift of God as all things are in a general sense But if by it you suppose an immediate Act of his Grace by which we believe then Faith is no more our choice or a favour offer'd to all Men but confin'd only to few How can it be said that God inlightens our Mind when what you call Mysteries are as obscure and unknown after as before we believe And for that expression of inclining our Will it is not sufferable it borders so much upon the Doctrine of Calvin which you know the Church of England is not fond of It shews an impossibility of believing in them whose Hearts are not inclin'd and consequently it makes unbelief to be no Sin Orthod The Definition is I confess of St. Austin But I maintain that it is both Christian and Catholick The Scripture has taught and the Church embrac'd it Joh. 6.4 No Man can come unto me except the Father which has sent me draw him Ibid. v. 65. No Man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father Phil. 1.29 To you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Rom. 12.3 We are commanded to think soberly according as God has dealt to every Man the measure of Faith Hence the Church has express'd her self in these words Can. 7. of the Council of Aurange If any thinks that by the strength of Nature he can think or do any good thing relating to Salvation or assent to the Truth reveal'd without the illumination or inspiration of the Holy Spirit HERAETICO FALLITUR SPIRITU HE IS DECEIV'D BY AN HERETICAL SPIRIT not understanding this place of the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to do any thing as of our selves But our sufficiency is of God This does not hinder Faith from being our choice any more than it does Vertue the assistance of God helping but not altering our Nature The obscurity of Mysteries even when we believe is no objection against the inlightning of the Mind For this supposes not a clear insight into the Nature of the thing but only a conviction that there is such a thing reveal'd 1 Cor. 13.12 For now we see through a Glass darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in aenigmate as in a riddle ... Now. I know in part but then shall I know even as I am also known But how can you give to the inclining of the will the name of insufferable and bordering upon Calvinianism when you cannot but know that it is the Work of God and the Prayer of Man to him Psal 119.27 Make me to understand the way of thy Precepts v. 35. Make me to go in the Path of thy Commandments v. 36. Incline my Heart to thy Testimonies Prov. 16.1 The preparation of the Heart is from the Lord. The Church you say is not fond of Calvin's Principles True but our abhorrency from Clavinianism must not drive us to Pelagianism I may detest an opinion inconsistent with the goodness of God without throwing my self into an excess injurious to the Grace of CHRIST The Definition then is good and safe but because I am willing if possible to remove all your prejudices I will put it in fewer words Faith then is a Firm assent to what God has reveal'd to us Socin I cannot quarrel with this It is well that once at least you will be plain Orthod It is well that there is something which you will not deny This Definition though not so exact as it ought to be is enough to shew you the insufficiency of Reason For if Reason can embrace all that is necessary for a Man to know there can be no necessity of Revelation This of it self supposes and is a convincing proof of our ignorance For if there are objects which Reason cannot reach but must owe their discovery to a higher and more infallible Principle then Reason is palpably weak and imperfect There cannot be a more sensible Argument of its Deficiency But there is another inconvenience as discernible as this Reason not only cannot reach the object which Revelation presents but also the object once presented it cannot be conversant about it nor examine the several parts or prospects of it It cannot come to a view near enough to employ its Faculties in it The account of which is very plain and it is this That as Reason with all its sagacity and penetration could never find out such an object and knows only that there is such a thing because God presents it and must rely for the truth of it upon God's veracity so the nature of the object propos'd must still remain obscure because there is as great an impossibility in finding out the nature of the object as the object it self In natural things Reason meets with an object fit for its inquiry and not only finds out the object but even penetrates what can be known of it because both are commensurate Or to avoid hard words which neither you nor I love because there is a fair proportion between the object and the powers and faculties of Reason But in things supernatural which word is enough to decide the difference if you would but consider of it there is so infinite a distance between the object propos'd and the weak perceptions of Reason that if we are just to our selves and have any respect for the order which the All-wise God has establish'd we cannot so much as pretend to an inquiry into the Nature of the thing offer'd This highly vindicates the wise and sober Answer of abundance of Learned Men amongst us who in the disputes about the Blessed Trinity and Incarnation have told you that these are Mysteries
Reason a part of that Supreme Reason Truth is but one either in the Creator or in the Creature Revelation cannot make that true which appears to me unreasonable Orthod You will never be weary of urging the same things over and over again Whatsoever God reveals is true But you say it does not square with my apprehensions Nay it contradicts them Therefore it is not true What a strange way of Reasoning is this Truth in God is truth in Man Granted But is it in the same extent or degree Do we know as much as God A spark will pretend to be as Luminous as the Body of the Sun I see as through a glass darkly and I will judge of him who inhabits a fulness of light which no Mortal can come near unto Job 10.4 He must have Eyes of Flesh and see as a Man sees or else I will not believe what he says This is monstrous and not worth insisting upon Let us therefore proceed Reason then being satisfy'd in the truth of the Revelation cannot act like it self except it receives with the humblest and firmest submission what God has reveal'd and as St. Paul expresses it 2 Cor. 10.5 casts down imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 REASONINGS and every high thing that exalts it self against the Knowledge of God And brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ It is a great part of a Christian's duty to correct the extravagances of Reason For it is stubborn restless and impatient of Government It must be cast down and chain'd up as one which if let alone will be outrageously mad It will never want pretences to rise against its Soveraign and in them it will obstinately persist This is the ground of those frequent exhortations in Scripture to mistrust Men's inquiries and give glory to the veracity of God Rom. 3.4 Let God be true but every Man a lyar Rom. 4.20 Abraham is commended for not following the insinuations of Reason but giving himself wholly to the conduct of Faith He stagger'd not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving Glory to God St. Paul would have us Rom. 11.20 to stand by Faith the Principles of Reason being too weak but this standing unmoveable Rom. 16.26 He tells us plainly and forcibly that Faith requires the obedience of our minds According to the revelation of the Mystery which was kept secret since the World began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the commandment of the Everlasting God made known to all Nations for the obedience of Faith Socin But I must interrupt you and tell you plainly and forcibly that what colour soever the places which you have cited to prove Faith above Reason this has none at all You have found Mystery and Obedience of Faith together and it has deceiv'd you Read page 7. of that Print of ours call'd an impartial account of the word Mystery The Author tells you that whatsoever is revealed is no more a Mystery Orthod I wish it were not out of our way to give you some remarks on this same Print of yours A perpetual Equivocation runs through the whole Work and a willful misunderstanding of the words Knowing Delivering Revealing Making Manifest which imply indeed a discovery but not at all an explication of the Truth reveal'd Never did I see a greater unsincerity in any Writing This very particular Text he has confin'd to the Vocation of the Gentiles which extends to all Christian Mysteries which are indeed Reveal'd as to their existence the quod sint as Divines speak but not the quid sint what they are in themselves He has not given one single instance of a Mystery made known but after the Revelation is still a Mystery The Creation Resurrection Incarnation Trinity though clearly reveal'd are still Mysteries The very Attributes of God though not only made manifest in the Scriptures but also in a great measure obvious to Reason as Eternity Immensity c. are still Mysterious and Incomprehensible Let me beg of you then not to interrupt me with objections of that nature which really make against you But suffer me to go on in shewing you how God in his word has establish'd the dominion of Faith over Reason and the submission and obedience of Reason to Faith Socin I will not on condition that you cite no Texts capable of being contested Orthod I have not yet and will not for the future What can be plainer than 2 Cor. 5.7 We walk by Faith not by sight We trust not to our little Reasonings which we are so weak as to call sight and demonstration but rely upon a higher nobler and more infallible Principle Faith in God 1 Cor. 2.4 5. St. Paul declares that his preaching has not been drawn from Mens Arguments or adorn'd with a vain ostentation of Eloquence But in demonstration of the Spirit and power of God that is by the Writings of the Prophets inspir'd by the Holy Spirit by the voice of the Spirit it self by the Miracles of CHRIST and his Apostles as Origen expresses it l. 5. contr Cels That your Faith should not stand in the Wisdom of Men but of God That your Faith should not rest upon Men's Arguments but the Authority of God Colos 1.23 He would have the Colossians to crush and suppress the suggestions of Reason and sence and continue in the Faith settled and grounded and not be mov'd away from the hope of the Gospel The same is urg'd 1 Pet. 1.7 8. and indeed in very many other places which it would be too tedious to cite But what has the Saviour of the World said himself in the case Joh. 20.29 Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believ'd Socin Here I must interrupt you This relates to the particular Fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ It does not infer at all the belief of a doctrine contrary to my Reason You offer no violence to the mind when upon a solid Testimony I am perswaded that such a thing or Person is or has been I never was at Rome But I believe as firmly as the Romans themselves that there is such a place I never was bless'd with the sight of my Saviour or acquainted with the Glory of his Resurrection yet I believe as firmly as any one that he was in the World and rose from the dead But what is all this to your Doctrines Orthod Be not so injurious to a Noble Passage which though occasion'd by a particular matter of Fact the Resurrection of Jesus Christ yet is a General maxim and of a vast influence on Religion It holds not only as to the Resurrection but also as to all Reveal'd Truths Blessed are those who believe what they have not seen with the Eyes of the Body and they also are Blessed who believe what they cannot see with the Eyes of the Mind Happy in both that they come to God with an absolute resignation of their
a light which God has given us to know him and our selves But that light suffers frequent Eclipses It shines dim and is often put out We are not wise all the hours of the day Sometimes our thoughts rise as the Sea when it overflows the neighbouring Shoars and sometimes again they sink into a small and contemptible Channel We own and disown admit and reject are pleas'd this minute with a conclusion and the next lay it aside look upon those things as Errors which we formerly embrac'd as Truths and take those for Truths which we once rejected as Errors Secondly You must grant me that Reason is not the same in all Men I mean as to its vigor and efficacy In some a happy Nature with the addition of a careful Education Reading Conversation and Experience makes it quick and active It is admirable to see how some Men will like lightning run through a mass of propositions and understand a thing as soon as it is offer'd But in others it is heavy and dull oppress'd by the matter in which it is inclos'd almost sunk and as the Physicians say of Blood incapable of circulating through the abundance of viscous humours by which it is detain'd The far greater part of Mankind is of this sort Of the common Saylors Souldiers Labourers Women it may be said that the Body is truly the gaol of the Soul from which it seldom breaks out to exert any acts answerable to the dignity of its nature Thirdly I beg also that you would not deny that though there is so visible a difference in the exercise of Reason and some Men do almost as far exceed others as these exceed irrational Creatures yet there is some universal Principle fitted to every one's capacity and in which all Mankind agree Such is the search after Happiness The grossest and most illiterate of the Sons of ADAM are as much convinc'd of this as your self whose erudition is certainly great This is not learned from Books or taken up upon the credit of Authors but is an invincible inclination which every one finds in his own Heart Socin I grant all this but your compliment to me Orthod All this granted I proceed and presume to be positive that Reason can never shew to Man the way to Happiness For though it concludes very well from the Works of Creation that there is a God who is the Author and giver of that happiness and that the service of God is the way to obtain it yet what we ought to believe of that God how he is willing to be serv'd and which way we can appease his anger and secure his favour to us is altogether above the reach of Reason Rom. 11.13 His ways are past finding out The Doctrine of a Covenant of Grace of a Redeemer in whom we are pardon'd and accepted and who by the Sacrifice of himself should reconcile us to God are Mysterious depths to which Reason the most clear sighted Reason has not the least access It was necessary then that Authority should supply that want and God reveal what it was impossible Man should acquaint himself with Revelation is that which informs our understandings cures our ignorance rectifies our mistakes and by a short and infallible way leads us to happiness This the Philosophers aim'd at by the strength of Natural Reason but very unsuccessfully You know what Socrates and Plato what the School of Epicurus what Zeno and the Porticus said to it Their Systems were vain foolish flat and unpracticable This important discovery was to be the work of him who had the words of Eternal Life And the wisest and best Definition that ever was given of it is Joh. 17.3 And this is Life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I call this a short and an infallible way It is infallible because propos'd by him who can neither deceive nor be deceiv'd It is short because it cuts off all the Ambages and uncertainties which Reason is intangl'd in and rests upon a rock and that is the Authority of God You make Faith so difficult a thing and exclaim loud when we endeavour to bring you over to it But for my part when I take a view of those Principles which Mankind rely upon I find it much easier to believe than to reason Can I be safer than when God himself is my Guide Shall I find more truth any where than in what God proposes Or are the Mazes or Labyrinths of humane Argumentations easier to run through than the Asseverations of Scriptures This has made St. Austin to say de Trin. l. 14. c. 1. that many of the Faithful have Faith in a very high degree though they have little or no Learning Socin That is it is easier to swallow any thing than to inquire whether it is true or no Orthod No For if you Consider this Principle of the Authority of the Divine Revelation you will find that it prevents all sorts of mistakes and makes us give over reasoning and disputing not because we design to avoid the labour and trouble of it but because we are satisfy'd that here lies the Truth and that it is impossible to find it any where else That whatsoever God is pleas'd to reveal is true is a proposition to which all Mortals in any capacity whatever give a most ready assent There is none of us but what has in some measure or other Notions of God agreeable to that Divine Being In some they are more ripe and refin'd than in others in Christians most of all But all agree that as he is Wise and Holy so he is True and that what he delivers to us has an indelible Character of Truth This has not only been taught by us but by the Heathens themselves Homer and Hesiod have acknowledg'd it Euripides owns in Helen v. 1164. seq that he has found nothing certain amongst Men but this that the words of the Gods are true And I think it is Porphyrius a Man of mighty prejudice against Christianity who comparing the ways of the Greeks and of the Jews towards the attainment of the Truth says that the latter who sought after it by Faith that is by the means of a Divine Revelation were much more in the right than the former who made use only of Reason to attain it This once admitted which indeed cannot be deny'd I hope to let you see that I am not unjust to Reason You will give me leave to consider it before in and after the admitting of the Revelation Socin Consider it which way you will Orthod Faith then pre-supposes Reason They must be Rational Creatures whom it is infus'd into and without the one we are not capable of the other Though the Almighty has an absolute power over us yet he is pleas'd not to force our assent but proposes the Faith and perswades us to it It comes by hearing says St. Paul Rom. 10.17 that is it is
Reason Seeing must not be restrain'd to sense but extended to whatsoever God proposes Doctrines as well as Matters of Fact rely upon the Divine Authority But let us see how CHRIST the Light of the World has done in the delivery of his Heavenly Doctrine Has he courted our Minds to an assent by explaining the Nature of the Mysteries which he offers Or after the manner of the then Philosophers by disputing and endeavouring to remove the prejudices of Reason Not at all but first he establishes his own Authority and then commands our belief This grand point once settled He tells us Mark 16.16 He that believes shall be sav'd he that believes not shall be damn'd Once more CHRIST gives the Jews no liberty of examining his doctrine or as you Gentlemen of the Socinian perswasion are us'd to do to admit or reject it as you think it agreeable or disagreeable to your Reason He proves what he is by two undeniable Principles The First is the Prophecies accomplish'd in him Act. 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness The Second is the Miracles which he does Joh. 10.37 38. If I do not the works of my Father believe me not but if I do though you believe not me believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him And before v. 25. the works that I do in my Father's name they bear witness of me He had reveal'd to them a great Mystery viz. his Unity with the Father an Unity of Nature and Essence v. 30. I and my Father are one The Reason of the Jews stumbles at this and even to that degree that they take up stones to stone him He uses no other Arguments but will have them to obey and submit and this upon the account of the greatest and most convincing demonstration that can be even the miraculous works of God To deal sincerely can any thing be objected against this Socin Yes truly You know that we deny this to be an Unity of Nature and appeal to v. 36. But not to insist on this which we have often objected and you pretend to have as often answer'd and not start from the main question I say that he proves nothing who proves too much You strain the point too high You not only debase but totally extinguish Reason You leave it bare naked destitute and like the Idols Psam 115.5 Which have Eyes and see not Mouths and speak not Have a care of v. 8. They that make them are like unto them Is it to be imagin'd that we can renounce Reason The will indeed is free and may embrace and reject But the Mind is not capable of choice It must necessarily assent or dissent It can never be brought to believe a contradiction For my part I openly declare that against what part soever of my self I practise self denial it shall never be against my Reason Orthod How often have we said and how often must we say it again That nothing in Religion is contrary to the Principles of true Reason That what you call Contradictions are not real because God can reveal no contradiction and that Reason over-rules all its reluctancies by that most Rational Principle that we owe our assent to what God has reveal'd This is not then to renounce your Reason but only its irregularities and excesses to divest it of its pride and folly and bring it to all the purity and strength of which it is capable on this side the grave But how can one hear without horror that you will not practise self denial against your Reason that is you are resolv'd not to be a Christian For he that is so must as we have said already bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ There is a poverty of Spirit to which CHRIST has annex'd a blessing The living contentedly under the hard circumstances of want and a willingness to part with our riches to become poor for CHRIST's sake is but one part of it The other consists in robbing the mind of oppositions of science falsly so call'd which puffs us up and through the vain additions of Philosophy gives us a high opinion of our selves The various notions which we have of things are the riches of our mind which we must be ready to part with when ever CHRIST commands it Learning without Piety looks upon this as an injury to Reason unwilling to stoop and be overcome But Piety with Learning puts the Servant of God in that humble frame of submission to what he reveals Socin This is perfect Enthusiasm and Fanaticism all over This the Priest perswades the people to that he may command their Faith That point gain'd he will quickly dispose of the rest Orthod If this is Enthusiasm and Fanaticism then all the World but the Socinians have been Enthusiasts and Fanaticks The first Men of the World liv'd altogether by Faith The Apostle gives the same Character to the Patriarchs and Prophets Whatsoever they did was the Work of Faith Reason then was in subjection to it But when Man substracted himself from the Service of God and suffer'd himself to be guided by his own notions then Reason grew proud shook off the easy yoak and gave birth to the opinions of Philosophers whom Tertullian calls elegantly Haereticorum Patriarchas the Patriarchs of Hereticks Some of the wise Heathens themselves were not insensible how many errors this pretence of Reason threw them into Tully lib. 3. de nat Deor. makes Cotta to speak smartly to this purpose against Balbus the Stoick I omit Socrates and Plato Philostratus de vit Apollon lib. 5. c. 14. asserts that Philosophy is good to lead us into the Knowledge of Natural but not at all of Divine Truths And Jamblichus is positive that Man by the strength of Reason cannot understand Sacred and Religious matters To increase the number of those Enthusiasts I dare to say that this has been the Unanimous sence of the Fathers Hence that saying of St. Austin Epist 3. so highly Reverenc'd by the succeeding Ages Tota Ratio facti est potentia facientis All the Reason which we can give of any thing that is done is his power who does it And the great Arch-Bishop of Milan in Epist ad Rom. Magni meriti est apud Deum qui contra scientiam suam Deo credidit non dubitans posse illum utpote Deum quod secundum mundi rationem fieri non possit He is very dear to God who believes God against all the Principles of his Reason not doubting but that he can as God do that which cannot be done according to the Course and Reason of the World You stare at this as very strange and unaccountable But yet this is the Language of the Masters of the Church Thus spoke these Primitive Bishops and if we have any Zeal for Primitive Truths and Primitive Manners we ought to speak so too Nay this Notion is so Universal that of all them who