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 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
frame of those things which are material 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Cyrill says that our manner of conceiving Divine things is by Examples or Similitudes after the same gross manner we represent the heavenly Orbs upon a piece of Paper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gregory Nazianzen discourses fully how nothing is more evident than that there is a God thô at the same time we are not able to conceive or express what he is and hath these remarkable words concerning our manner of conceiving the things of another world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which he plainly supposes it as impossible for us whilst we are immers'd in these gross Bodies to frame any conceptions of Spiritual things without the help of worldly Objects as it is for us to overtake our shadow or to see in the dark It is ordinary with the Fathers speaking of God to say That when we conceive him as being a Substance as being Wise and Holy nay as having Life c. they are all but Figurative Representations of something in God which transcends all that we can imagin Dionysius or whoever was Author of those Books which go under his Name says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And accordingly in his Mystical Theology speaking of the nature of our present knowledg of God and spiritual things says very aptly that this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore God in the writings of the Fathers is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Existence without Substance without a Mind without Life Not by way of Privation as Marius Victorinus in his 4th Book against Arius observes but by way of Excellence Because the notions affixt to these words express nothing of the true nature of the things when refer'd to God Very agreeable to what the Apostle says Acts 17 27. Where he expresseth the Knowledg we have of God by Feeling after him The Original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very expressive for it signifies the greping for a thing in the dark Clemens Alexandrinus speaking of the method we have of coming to know the nature of God says That the utmost we can arrive to is to know what he is not and not what he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus we see how little reason this man had to quote those Fathers who he tells us have the good luck to be both the New and the Old of the World But His Heresy is as old as Eunomius and now reviv'd by this UPSTART as he very aptly calls himself And I think we may well call this New Old Sect of his the Genesticks of our Age since they are a profound sort of people who set up for Knowing every thing and Believing nothing He hopes in time to plead Prescription and that His Book too shall in after ages be valued as the Fathers are in this But alas thô he wants no qualification of Error and Impiety for this Ambition of his yet he hath not Wit and Learning enough to be a Heretick upon Record Such Books as these seldom live any longer than till their Fallacies are laid open and then they perish and Rott with the Memory of their Authors Whereas the Fathers who are now in Heaven for defending that Truth which he hath labour'd to corrupt will have their just Authority among all Pious and Learned Men to the end of the World And now that I have done I must confess the Man was not worth my trouble but the Cause is richly so and it is our misfortune that we think no thing can gain upon the World but sound Reasoning and Argument Whereas there have been many instances of the most odd and ridiculous Enthusiasts having in a short time Proselytes enough to bring Church and Staâ—e into confusion He hath as little of true Reasoning or Argument as any of them but his Pretence is plausible and those are the Books which do mischief in the World And therefore I was not to consider the strength only of the Poyson but the constitution of the Age which seems strangely dispos'd for Infidelity and a Contemt of all Divine Revelation Besides I have contriv'd this Letter so as to be an answer not only to him but to all the Opposers of Revelation and Mysteries And I hope I may say I have done something towards the right stateing this whose Controversy which hath been hitherto so much mistaken on both Sides For whilst Men on one hand expect a rational account and clear and distinct Idea's of what is wholly Unaccountable by â—â— and of which we can have no Conceptions at all And on the other hand men go about with endless labour to explain what is Inexplicable there can be no end of these Controversies which multiply upon us every day But if we all agree to leave off speaking of what we know nothing of and freely own what we must confess whether we will or no That we can have no Ideas at all of the things of another World as they are in themselves and that our manner of conceiving them at present is by Intervention of the common Objects of this Life then the whole controversy will be reduced to a very short â—â—â—â—â— And all the Revelations and Mysteries of Christianity establisht upon those foundations which Christ hath laid Not in the Wisdom of Men but in the Power of God Trin Coll. Dub. May 1. 1697. ERRATA PAge 10. line 13. for Sences r. Senses And so wherever the word is distinguish'd from Reason p. 24. l. 1. r. ground p. 25. l. 3. r. evidence p. 30. l. 3. r. perswasion p. 63. l. 3. r. of p. 85. ult r. deference p 134. l. 20 r. taught Ibid 27. r. which is all that 's meant p. 143. l. 7. r cant p. 156. l. 8. r. Ratiocination p. 185. l. 11. r. after p. 186. l. 7. r. Magicians p. 187. l. 1. r. and p. 199. l. 2. r. abstruse p. 206. l. 1. r. Arians p 219. l. 18. r. fides p. 222. l. 23. r. Hymn P 87 Last Edition 1 Cor 15 51 52. 1 Joh 3 2. P. 8 9 10 P. 11. P. 13. P. 18. P. 16. * To make what is to be said upon this head more intelligible the Reader may take notice that by Evidence he means nothing more than the knowledge of a thing in the Mind So that these two Expressions are the same Evidence is the only ground of Perswasion and You can give your assent to nothing but what you know All the difference is that one is plain and the other affectedly obscure But I must use his own Cant otherwise thô I speak ever so much to the purpose he will not think himself answer'd * To prevent all ambiguity I do not take the word Substance here strictly as it is oppos'd to the modes and accidents of the thing but as it includes them P. 43. 128. * That which may make this Paragraph obscure is the mistaking Evidence in the Mind or Knowledge for those proofs which are only
he Qâ—otes against us is Justin Martyr Who says Moses with his hands stretcht out at the Battle with the Amalakstes was a Type of Christ Crucified And He useth these words Tipe Simbol Mystery c. to signify things once hid but now reveal'd So do we all to this day use these words to express those things which were once hid and now reveal'd and yet there are Mysteries in the Christian Religion for all that And if he will look into his Tract of a True Confession of Faith He will never again cite this Father against us at least in this Controversy but call him all to nought as he hath done us When he had been speaking of the Union of the Divine and Human Nature in the Person of Christ and propos'd many intricate and insuperable difficulties concerning this Article of our Faith Perhaps says he these unconceivable difficulties may perplex your mind and stagger your Faith As for me when I am in any perplexity about these CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES I cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That those things of our Religion are above our faculties of Knowledg above REASON above the capacities of created Nature And it follows That there is no other Solution to be given of these things but that of a READY FAITH He argues moreover the impossibility of coming to the true knowledg of these Divine Objects from the disproportion there is between them and our present capacities And ask's this Question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With what Confidence can ye go about to give an exact Solution of Divine things I leave this man who is concern'd to give him an answer The next Quotation is out of Tertullian who hath this expression in his Apology Cum vel ex Formâ omnibus Mysteriis silentij fiides habeatur c. He is in that place defending the Christians from those crimes of Incest Adultery and murdering of Children which the Heathen charged them as being guilty of in there meetings That they were groundless Rumours and nothing more He argues thus These things must be first discovered either by our selves or others not by others because they have no way to know them but by such as are privy to them not by our selves for none who are guilty of such horrid Crimes would discover things which must expose them to the immediate punishment of the Laws tho the vengeance of God were deser'd And the force of the comparison with the Heathen Mysteries lies in this If the Samothracian and Elusinian Mysteries are kept so secret which are not of such dangerous consequence to discover How much more must you think such Herrid and dangerous Mysteries as you suppose ours to be will be kept secret And his Inâ—erence is very natural viz That these things must needs be meer Rumour since if they were true they would not be discover'd or if they were discover'd must expect no mercy from the Heathen who would be sure not to spare them And therfore he says Dicimur sceleratissimi dicimur tamen semper nec vos quod tam diù Dicimur eruere cuâ—atis Ergò aut cruite si creditis aut nolite credere qui non eruisâ—is This is the whole scope of the place and how this man will wrest his Inference out of it Ergò There are no Mysteries in Christianity I can't imagine The last He cites is Origen Who says That the Doctrines of our Religion do all agree with our COMMON NOTIONS i. e. as far as we are able to know of them But this doth not prove That there is nothing more intended by them than what we Know as well as we do the ordinary Objects of our Senses Again He says The Land of Promise was a Type of Heaven This Mans Inference is Ergò Now this is known the state and condition of the blest in Heaven can be no Mystery to us That whole sixth Book of his against Celsus is to shew the direct contrary to what this man infists upon in his last Chap. viz. To prove against that Heretick That the Mysteries of the Christian Religion were not originally deriv'd from the Idolatrous and Superstitious Customs of the Heathen Let him answer that Book before he sets about answering Mine These are all his Pompous Citations from the Fathers to prove what no one denies That the Vail is removed and that therefore nothing in Christianity no not the Nature of God is Mysterious Now after all I find this is no new Heresy but an old one of Eunomius reviv'd who affirmed The Real true Nature of God to be intelligible by us which was long agoe conâ—ured in all the branches of it by St. Basil. It is to no purpose to heap up Quotations here to prove that the opinion of the Fathers was That we know nothing of the true Nature of God there is not any thing which occurs more frequently in them and that they are more express in Greg Nazianzen calls God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the same Hym to God he hath this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How can the mind frame any Notion of thee who art incomprehensible Having thus shewn to how little purpose his Citations out of the Fathers are and how the Nature of God is truely Mysterious Because what I have spoke concerning our manner of forming Idea's of God and the things of another World may look a little odd at first sight as if I turned all Religion into Allegory and by that means destroy the Reality and Substance of it I shall shew that this is no new Doctrine of mine but the opinion of the Fathers way of intercourse with Men but by taking on him our Senses and Affections by which he accommodates the insupportable Majesty of his Nature to our â—rail and imperfect state Deus non potuit humanos congressus inire nisi humanos sensus affectus suscepisset per quos vim Majestatis suae intolerabilem utique humanae mediocritati humilitate temperaret Gregory Nyssen discoursing at large how the sacred Style was accommodated to our Capacity by expressing the nature of God and divine things under the notion of such things as are familiar to us adds these words For how says he could that Immensity be contain'd in a little were it not that those things are brought down to our shallow Capacities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionysius speaking of this Symbolical and Figurative way of conceiving and expressing the things of another World call's those things by which they are represented to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signa figmenta which is better render'd by the english word Substitutes And he adds that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the Substitutes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those things which have Form and Figure are the Representatives of those Divine Things which have none Again Dionysius says it is impossible for us to contemplate the nature of immaterial Objects any other way than by help of those notions we