short of the other in this that he hath not attain'd to that Spiritual discerning of Evangelical truths which the Apostle speaks of and without which it is utterly impossible to have such a knowledge of them as will be effectual to Salvation and Happiness I will add only one Text more 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world i.e. Satan hath blinded the minds of them who believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them Here it is implied that the Gospel is hid from some persons yea and we are told from whom viz. such as according to the foregoing stile of the Apostle are Natural men those that live in their sins and suffer their minds to be blinded and perverted to be corrupted and debauch'd by the Diabolick Spirit the Prince and Ruler of this lower world To such the Gospel and the Truths of it are meer Darkness Thus it abundantly appears from the Sacred Writ whence we are to fetch our discoveries concerning these things that the Proposition which I laid down is an impregnable and unshaken Truth viz. that Christianity retains still the nature of a Mystery and that more especially as so some persons The Reason is plain because Natural Strength is not sufficient of it self to discover these Divine Truths Unless the Soul be illuminated by the Holy Spirit these remain unintelligible and wholly ineffectual and useless as to any Saving vertue and efficacy This I take to be the meaning of our Saviour's words Iohn 3. 3. Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Unless as the Apostle speaks he be renewed in the spirit of his mind and that by the power of the Holy Ghost he cannot understand aright the Truths of the Gospel which is call'd frequently the kingdom of God and of heaven he cannot see he cannot enter into as 't is express'd in v. 5. those divine things This is that which our Saviour avers Mat. 11. 27. Neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son and he to whosoever the Son will reveal him viz. by an Inward and Effectual Discovery for they had the Outward Revelation then When the Apostle St. Peter acknowledged Christ to be the Son of the living God our Saviour told him that flesh and blood had not reveal'd this to him but his Father who is in heaven Mat. 16. 17. It was not the work of Nature but of the Spirit of God the Father that had effectually wrought this Knowledge in him This sort of Light is peculiarly from the Father of lights this Singular Wisdom is from above and accordingly as some interpret that place Iohn 3. 13. the knowledge of these Heavenly and Spiritual things is call'd ascending up to heaven From thence is deriv'd that Insight into the things of God which no Natural man hath attain'd to For in this Degenerate State of mankind the Great Points of our Religion are under a Seal and lock'd up from us and are never to be disclosed till a Divine Light opens our eyes We must of necessity remain Blind till that Eye-Salve Rev. 3. 18. be effectually applied And it can be applied only by the Holy Spirit whose proper work it is to dispel that spiritual darkness whereby the mind is indisposed to understand and discern divine matters aright This is variously express'd in the Holy Writings viz. by such terms as these shining in our hearts to give the light of knowledge 2 Cor. 4. 6. giving us an understanding to know 1 John 5. 20. enlightning the eyes of our understanding Eph. 1. 18. an Vnction from the Holy One 1 John 2. 20. Which cannot be better paraphras'd and explain'd than in the words of an Eminent Prelate of our Church The same Spirit which revealeth the Object of Faith generally to the Universal Church doth also illuminate the understanding of such as believe that they may receive the Truth For Faith is the gift of God not only in the Object but also in the Act. And afterwards in the Close he hath these words We affirm not only the Revelation of the Will of God but also the Illumination of the Soul of Man to be part of the office of the Holy Spirit of God against the Old and New Palagians So that Judicious Writer It is this Holy Instructor that disposes the mind to receive the light of Divine Truth by curing it of its Natural Darkness and Ignorance and by preparing the heart to receive its Rays There is required a Special Grace of the Holy Ghost to enlighten the Soul and to make due impressions upon it The â—aculty of the Understanding must be puriâ—ied and so made fit to apprehend Spiritual objects This is part of the Renewed Nature and Regenerate Principle and consequently where this is not the Great Doctrines of Christianity are Hidden Secrets and Unknown Mysteries From what hath been said I will only draw these Two Corollaries 1. It is no wonder that the Followers of Socinus will not acknowledge Christianity to be a Mystery for they hold there is no necessity of â— Supernatural Light no need of Illumination from the Spirit in order to the due apprehending and understanding of the Divine Truths of the Gospel There is they say in all men that natural ability whereby they are capable of discerning all Spiritual and Heavenly matters in a spiritual way They are enabled by virtue of an Inbred Power in their minds abstract from what is Supernatural to perceive and believe as they ought all the Evangelical doctrines propounded to them Wolzogen ridicules the Internal and Supernatural Illumination I have been speaking of Velthusius an Author that is much applauded by some of Socinus's follwers tells us plainly That the knowledge of a regenerate and unregenerate man concerning the things and mysteries of faith differs not from the light of Reason I appeal to the Intelligent whether this be not an approach to an Heresie long since condemned in the Christian Church It is well known that it was the Pelagian Error to assert that men can attain to a perfect knowledge of their duty and an ability to perform it by meer Natural Reason by the bare help of that light which Nature gives them And in this as well as some other Points the Socinians symbolize with those Ancient Hereticks They cry up Reason as the Only thing in Religion this with them like the Archaeus among the Chymists doth all feats produces all operations Though these men seem to be great Abhorrers of those who talk of the Light within them yet it is evident that they allow of the very same Principle and Practise they equal the Light of Reason to the Holy Scripture and say it will serve instead of this and that it is as good as Scripture because all men may be Saved by it Therefore this they urge
vaunt themselves to be Masters of True Reason For then they would see how unreasonable it is that their thoughts and expressions concerning the Infinite God should be according to the nature of Finite beings They would see how absurd it is to undertake to measure the Creator by the Creature and to apply the Properties of Natural things to what is Supernatural as they deal in the doctrine about the Holy Trinity They would find that what is true of the former is not necessarily so of the latter and consequently that they ought not to â—rgue from the nature of a finite and created being to that of God They would be convinced That the Scripture to use the words of a Man of free Thoughts and of a very Philosophical and Rational Genius who professes that the Scripture declares nothing concerning the Divinity of Christ and the Holy Trinity that is impossible contradictious or more unintelligible than things that men ordinarily assent to who are free Philosophers and admit nothing upon force or superstition but upon Reason They would not pretend to such a penetration of mind as to dive into the exact nature of the Deity they would be sensible of the unmeasurable disproportion between their weak capacities and what is Infinite and Immense In sum they would confess that they have not right conceptions concerning the nature of those Sublime Verities which I have been speaking of whilst they contend that there is nothing Mysterious and Hidden in them nay they would acknowledge that they have very wrong and perverse notions of these things and such as are no ways agreeable to their nature And now to shut up this Head of my Discourse we are to remember that the Truth and Reality of Things are firm and unshaken and we can't think to dissettle them but our business is to adjust our notions to the Things He that finds fault with them for their Obscurity and Difficulty cavils at the nature of the Things themselves which is the most irrational act imaginable for the Nature of Beings is stable and settled and we cannot alter it and therefore to require that it should be altered is absurd and ridiculous Lastly I argue not only from the quality of the things themselves but from the present state we are in which is capable of no other than an Imperfect knowledge of these Divine Secrets This Accounr of the matter is suggested to us by the Apostle for he makes a plain distinction between knowing now in part and seeing then i. e. hereafter face to face and knowing even as we are known 1 Cor 13. 12. One he compares to the state of a Child who is of weak understanding and capacity and the other to that of a Man who is of ripe judgment and apprehension The former is our allotment in this world Evangelical and Divine Truths for of these the Apostle speaks in that place are known by us here only in part and no otherwise shall they or can they be known as long as we inhabit in these dark Vehicles of Earth I speak not this to disparage the Christian Knowledge for it must be granted that there are many Plain aud Clear Propositions both as to the matter and manner of the things contain'd in them which the Writings of the New Testament furnish us with and all the Practical Truths of Christianity are easie to be known and are represented to us by Christ and his Apostles in a very intelligible manner And as to the knowledge of those very Doctrines which I have been speaking of all True Christians have such a measure of it as makes them sufficiently capable of understanding their Religion and of discharging their Duty of knowing so much as concerns them to know so much as is requisite to Salvation But that which I assert and am proving is this that these last sort of Truths are mix'd in us whilst we take up our residence on this earthly stage with much Ignorance and Darkness We comprehend not the full meaning of them because this is not suitable to our present condition which we are now placed in Thence it is that there are some Secrets mention'd in the Holy Scriptures which our understandings tremble at and are afraid to approach unto Be the mind of man never so Ambitious and greedy of knowledge it cannot grasp them for they are too Big it cannot reach them they are too High it cannot fathom them they are too deep it cannot discern them they are too Remote in a word they surpass humane abilities at their highest pitch in this state of Mortality But it shall be otherwise afterwards as the Apostle informs us When that which is perfect is come when we shall be translated to Heaven a state of Perfection then that which is in part shall be done away v. 10. Then we shall no longer be in the dark then the imperfection of our understanding shall cease because our natures shall be exalted Then those Amazing Truths which pose us now shall be fully resolved i. e. so far as is fit for us for even in Heaven our Nature will still be but Finite and therefore our knowledge will be so too But by the change of our vile bodies for heavenly ones though still they are the same but otherwise qualified which will no ways impede but promote the operations of our Souls and by being taken into the more Immediate Presence of the Holy Trinity and stated in the Fruiâ—ion of perfect Glory we shall have our minds exalted and our understandings widened to such a degree that we shall exactly and fully know every thing that is to be known by us Though the intrinsick nature of the things that we shall know shall be the same that it is now for there can be no alteration as to that yet our faculties shall not be the same as to the degree of their capacity and the manner of their perception When this gross Veil of flesh shall be drawn aside when the Soul is rid of this Terrestrial Clog and is stript of these Deficient Organs we shall have a more clear and refined apprehension of all Truths and approaching nearer to the Great Objects themselves we shall attain to a more distinct view of them and a fuller insight into them than now at this distance from them we are capable of In that Separate state we shall by reason of an intimate Communion with the Supreme Being and a close Conjunction of the Soul with him be able to comprehend all the Hard Points of Religion to unravel all Difficulties to untie all Knots to assoil all Controversies Then and not before we shall be furnish'd with this ability Wherefore those men make not a due distinction between this life and that to come who talk against Mysteries in our Religion they are forgetful of the Present Scene of things and the Dispensation they are under they discourse as if they thought themselves advanced to the Coelestial Regions already But this very
a curious and close Enquiry But This is most true That Modesty is the most commendable Vertue here Theâ—doret saith well I think it Boldness to pronounce peremptorily concerning those Things of which the Sacred Scripture delivers nothing plainly God was not pleased to deliver all things with equal Evidence and why then should we undertake to make every Thing Plain and Demonstrable Or why are we Angry if others think some things are not so Those Words which I meet with in one of St. Ierom's Epistles are Admirable and are worth the Observation of those especially who are Students of Divinity When we search saith he with too much Nicety and Curiosity into those things which God would not have us know but hath purposely concealed from us we catch only at Shadows we entertain and busy our selves with Trifles we quit the Fountain Truth and run after the fruitless Streams of meer Opinion and Fancy Let us fix this on our Minds That there are some unsearchable Mysteries and it was designed by the All-Wise God that we should not be acquainted with them We may say here as Seneca concerning the Nature of Comets God only whose sole Prerogative is to have a perfect Knowledge of Truth knows these things to be true and the very manner of them tho' it be hid from us When we peremptorily say this or that concerning these obscure Matters we may Err and we cannot tell when we do but when we determine nothing precisely above what is determined in Scripture we are sure we do not Err and we are sure of this too that we are not guilty of Distorting and Misinterpreting the Word of God which is a Fault very frequent in these Cases To conclude this Particular Let not weak Christians be troubled that there are several Passages in the Bible which they cannot clearly understand I assure them that they may be Ignorant of the full meaning and manner of them and yet their Salvation is not endangered thereby And as to our Deportment towards others with respect to these Points seeing we cannot perfectly explain them why should we be Angry at those who embrace a different Perswasion concerning the manner of these things II. Many things in Religion are made difficult merely by Disputes and Quarrels and if the Holy Scriptures were Plainer than they are yea never so Plain yet Wrangling Heads would fall a Disputing and make way for Error by that means And here it is their way commonly to make use of one or two places of Scripture and to oppose them against a whole heap of other Texts The old Hereticks those Interfectores Vâ—ritatis as Tertullian calls them those Murtherers and Assasines of Truth frequently used this way A few Texts yea sometimes a single one shall serve to baffle a great number It might be shewed in particular Instances how Erroneous Doctrines are grounded on some Mens attending to one or a very few Places of Scripture whilâ—t in the mean time they take no notice of several and divers Texts which look another way Nay not only a few Texts but those also which are very dark and obscure difficult and knotty are oftentimes weilded and managed against very plain and direct Places of Scripture This was observed by that Learned Father whom I last mentioned One Chapter saith he in the Bible where some Ambiguous Words are is brought by them to Confront a numerous Company and Host of Texts But this is an Indirect Method for it is most Just and Reasonable that a few Places of Scripture should yield to many obscure ones to the plainer doubtful to the certain that Those should be judged and decided by These not vice versa that so amidst this seeming Discord and Discrepancy our Belief may not be shaken and that the Truth may not be endangered and that the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures may not be thought to be Inconsistent with its self as that Excellent Person saith in another Place It is an useful Rule therefore of St. Austin To explain obscure Places of Scripture let us use the Assistance of those that are plainer and by the Certainty and Clearness of some let the Doubtfulness of others be taken away This may be serviceable to us when we read the Scriptures and when we would be satisfied about some Controversies which arise thence But alas this Holy Book is Ruffled and Intangled by wilful Mistakes and Disputes wherein it is common to Wrest the Words and to Oppose one part of them to another instead of Adjusting the whole Matter by a fair Reconcilement To Instance Nothing is Plainer in the Book of God than this That he hath fully Decreed and Predetermined whatever shall come to pass and Nothing is more Plain in the said Holy Volume than this That Man is a free Agent and is not Constrained and Compelled but what he willeth he willeth freely All sober Persons agree in these and therefore this ought to be a Ground of mutual Concord and Reconciliation But instead of this some raise Disputes still and whereas we are agreed that both these are True and Consistent viz. God's Decree and Man's Freedom they will ask How this can be And if you do not satisfy them as to this which it is utterly Impossible perhaps to do they will shew themselves very much displeas'd Which argues that they are of a quarrelsom Temper and delight in Wrangling and make use of Scripture for that purpose in the most serious and weighty Doctrines III. It happens by the Luxuriancy of busy Brains that many Enquiries in Religion are Nice and Subtle Over-curious and Trifling and as for these they are below the Verdict of Holy Scripture It began to be a matter of Wit to be a Christian as One observes about the days of Constantine the Great So soon had they learned to be Quaint in their Divinity and that about the highest Points of it And other subtile Heads since that time such were most of the Schoolmen have troubled the World with their Fruitless Speculations their Foolish and Unlearned Questions their Fond and Sapless Notions And these and others added to them are called Truths by some Persons but indeed they are not worthy of that great Name A Man may be Ignorant of a thousand of them and yet not Impair his Knowledge To make use of Holy Scripture here is to be serious in the midst of Trifles and which is worse to Prophane that Holy Book The same Judgment may be made of many not to say most of the Questions propounded and handled by the Roman Casuists which are of no moment or use at all nay they are very hurtful and pernicious because they distract Mens Minds instead of directing them and yet they are very warmly controverted as if they were the most serious and important Truths IV. There are some Propositions in our Religion which are Disputable and Probable on both Sides And in these doubtful Cases to
as the Fable tells us Iupiter appointed a Log to be their King and Governour To be dull and heavy in an Employment that calls for Activity is Inexcusable and very Reproachful Bibulus who was I. Cesar's Fellow-Consul but did nothing in his Office was left out in the Roman Dates which otherwise always made mention of both the Consuls An Idle and Useless Magistrate renders himself Ridiculous and Contemptible he is of no Value and therefore is reckoned as a meer Cypher in the Publick Accounts Matters of great moment call for his Care and Inspection how then can he be Unconcerned and Unactive His Affairs are Great and Weighty and he hath no leisure to Trifle after the rate of that Loitering Emperor who spent his time in Catching and Killing of Flies He is made for the Safety and Welfare of the People and therefore it is not enough that he â—its quiet and doth no harm but it is required that he do Good Seeing Rulers are allied to Divinity they must be Vigorous and moving they are to Live and Act as Gods they are engaged to shew forth the God-like Vertues which are supposed to be in them They must Resemble the Deity in Holiness and Purity unless they would approve themselves to be such Gods as Homer and other Poets are wont to make that is Drunken Adulterous Contentious and Debauched Gods Which indeed is no more than could be expected from that sort of Writers for it is no wonder that they who advanced Men and Mortal Creatures to the Quality of Gods thrust down these Latter to the Condition of the Worst Sort of the Former But these Things become not those Persons who are stiled Gods in the Holy Scripture and are to Represent the God of all Purity They should be reminded of this That they are to Walk worthy of a Name that is so Sacred of a Title that is so Honourable And so much for the First Remark on the Words viz. The Dignity and Eminency of the Magistrates Calling Ye are Gods Proceed we in the next Place to the 〈◊〉 of this Eminency to the Fountain of this Honour and Dignity I have said viz. That ye are Gods Had they been called so by Men it might have been construed as Flattery As we read that it was the Proud and Insolent Humour of Great Ones not only to give this Title to themseves but to be Ambitious to have it Attributed to them by Others and to be told by their Parasites as our First Parents by the Serpent That they shall be as Gods But here Magistrates are called Gods by God Himself Behold then the Divine Institution the Sacred Appointment of Magistracy The Tenure they hold by is the Highest and Best viz. in Chief from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Earthly Governours are Invested with their Authority from the God of Heaven I even I have said Ye are Gods First Nature saith it whereof God is the Author Secondly The Sacred Writ saith as much whereof God the Holy Ghost is the Inditer Thirdly The Strange Events and Occurrences in the World whereof God is the Cause and Procurer say and proclaim aloud that Magistrates and Governours are God's Ordinance First Nature saith it whereof God is the Author and Founder Magistracy bears an Antient Date and had the same Horoscope with the Creation It began Primo Adami it commenced on the Calends of the World The Light of Nature with which we were born dictates Superiority and Inferiority And it may be observed that the Man who is Rebellious against this Sentiment at the same time acknowledges the Truth of it for he Claims a Preeminence to Brutes and a Power over them and this Right was Founded in the Primitive Laws of his Creation He hath likewise Power and Sovereignty over himself and that Part of him which is Brutish his Lower Faculties and Sensual Appetites And this Empire is wholly Managed by the Laws of Reason and Rectified Understanding It is confessed by all Mankind that there is yet a farther Dominion for they have and acknowledge a Power over one another as Masters over their Servants and Fathers over their Children For all Children as soon as they are Born are under a Paternal Sovereignty so that to be Subject is as Natural as to be a Man And now since the World is encreased the same Law of Reason and Nature dictates Subjection and Obedience to the Civil Parent the Father of our Country and to all those that are Deputed by him For the Power of a King over his People and so of Lower Magistrates over their peculiar Charge is every way as Rational and Accountable as the foresaid Authority of Fathers over their Children Whilst the World was yet in its Minority it had these Guardians and Tutors and even to this Day when it is above Five Thousand Years old it stands still in need of them For certainly the very Necessities of Mankind are sufficient to vouch the Constitution of Magistracy We came into the World under a State of Government and we cannot subsist without it Our Natural Condition and Frame require such a Dispensation as this To this there is the United Suffrage and Consent of all Nations which shews it to be a Law of Nature I might add that God hath Condescended to the Weakness and Complied with the Infirmities of our Nature in appointing such Vicegerents as are of a resembling Temper with us Men of like Passions with our selves The Gods are come down to us but in the likeness of Men. The Lustre of the Divine Majesty would have dazzled and confounded our weak Sight That Glorious Sun could have no sooner been seen but we should have been blinded But when we cannot bear that Sun it self we may behold its derivative Beauty in God's Deputies the Magistrates In their Purple and Bright Robes we may safely view the Reflections of the Heavenly Majesty and Brightness And thus by a Necessary Constitution of Heaven fitted to our Natures and by the Suggestions of Natural Instinct and Right Reason we are brought to acknowledge the Reasonableness and Necessity of a Government in the World Accordingly we find the Beginning and Rise of it referred to This very Principle by the Great Masters of the Imperial Laws in their Books of Digests Nor are we to Imagine as some have fondly done That Grace banishes Nature that Reason and the Conduct of it are not Obligatory under the Gospel This is a groundless Surmise because 't is certain that he who swerves from the Dictates of Nature declines God's Law this being a Divine Law and we may rationally gather any thing to be from God if it be Evident by and Consonant to the Light of Nature which is the â—andle of the Lord. In a word Natural Reason is so far from being abolished by the Laws of Iesus Christ that it is Confirmed and Authorized by them they being the Upshot of all Good Laws and the Consummation of the Best
Reason Hence it appears that what is said by Right Reason is said by God for that is the Voice of God I have said Ye are Gods Secondly The Sacred Scripture saith it whereof God the Holy Ghost is the Inditer The Law strictly charges Men not to Revile the Gods nor speak Evil of the Ruler of the People Exod. xxii 28. Besides that the Judges or Rulers of the Sanedrim are call'd Gods by the Psalmist in the Person of God the Divine Approbation is farther evidenced from the first Verse of this Psalm where we are told That God standeth in the Congregation of the Gods the Great God presides over them and Authorizes their Office and Employment so far as they discharge it lawfully This Divine Authority of our Superiors is for ever Established by that Royal Patent Prov. viii 15 16. By me i.e. by the Eternal and Essential Wisdom Kings reign and Princes decree Iustice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Iudges of earth This unexceptionably makes them to be the Ordinance and Institution of God himself And the New Testament abets and confirms the Old for in Iohn x. 34. our Saviour refers to the very Words of the Psalmist saying Is it not written in your Law I have said Ye are Gods The known Practice of Christ and his exemplary Subjection to the Powers then in being may be concluded to be Authentick in this case and to prove the Divine Commission both of Superior and Subordinate Magistrates But to wave that at present if you peruse the Epistles of those Great Apostles St. Paul and St. Peter you will find the Regal and Magistratical Office fully Asserted and set up to its utmost heighth Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers for there is no Power but of God The Powers that be are ordained of God Rom. xiii 1. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto those that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well 1 Pet. ii 13. Thus whether they be Dii Majorum or Minorum Gentium the Gods of an higher or an inferior Rank whether they be those that have the Supreme Authority or whether they be Deputed Officers and Rulers they are All to be Reverenced Honoured and Obey'd and there is the Command of God for it But a severe Enquirer into these forementioned Texts will arrest me it may be with with this Objection The Apostles seem to Clash and to Contradict one another for the former asserts That the Powers which be are Ordained of God but the latter tells us plainly That they are the Ordinance of Man These are two different Things yea Repugnant to be the Ordinance of God and to be the Ordinance of Man I have no time now to offer to you the several Glosses of the Learned on that Passage of St. Peter nor am I at leisure to acquaint you with the sundry Criticisms upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to tell you how variously it is rendred But adhering at present to our own Translation I will in few words dispatch the Difficulty and shew you that Magistracy may be the Ordinance of Men as well as of God and these are not Repugnant to one another It is not unfitly stiled an Humane Ordinance 1. In respect of the Object and Matter about which it is conversant viz. Humane Society the Affairs of Mankind The Higher Powers are set over Men and Transact those things which are Civil and Humane 2. In regard of the Subject in which it is seated it may have this Denomination These Gods are really of the same Nature and Make with our selves 3. In respect of the End it is justly called an Humane Ordinance for it is appointed for the Good and Preservation of Mankind for the well ordering and governing the Societies of Men in the World Now all this is consistent with what St. Paul saith viz. That Magistracy is the Ordinance of God for though the Particular Form and Manner of Government be not fixed by God or Nature by a Divine or Natural Law but by a Positive One otherwise there would be but One Lawful Form of Government yet this is certain that Government in the General is the Direct and Express Appointment of God himself Thus it is evident that the Powers are the Ordinance of Man and yet it is as true that they are Ordained of God they are Constituted and Authorized by Him and they are ratified by his Written and Revealed Will. Thence we are assured that Divinity is Incircled in the compass of a Crown and that Rulers are Invested with their Authority from the Supreme Sovereign of the World Among Pythagoras's Scholars if their Master said it it was enough it was Authentick and Unquestionable Much more surely with the Disciples of Christ Iesus must that be held Indisputable which God hath said in his Holy Word I have said Ye are Gods We have not only the Suffrage of Reason of which I spoke before but the Infallible Dictates of the Heavenly Oracles The Reason of the Thing it self and the Will of the Supreme Majesty of Heaven concur here And what Proof more Convincing can be desired and expected than Divine Testimony superadded to Natural Light But Thirdly As these so likewise the Strange Events and Occurrences in the World whereof God is the Cause and Procurer proclaim aloud this Truth That Magistrates and Governors are God's Ordinance There have not been wanting Wonderful Signs to confirm this Government and Order have had a Blessing entail'd upon them by Providence When Magistrates have faithfully discharged their Duties some signal and open Manifestations of God's Favour have acquinted us that he is pleased with them When Phineas whom we must look upon as a Publick Minister of Justice stood up and Executed Judgment upon that Pair of Infamous Sinners whose Contagion else might have spread it self through the whole Land the Plague presently ceased and the Divine Vengeance was appeased But when bold and hardned Sinners have openly affronted Magistracy and Mutinied against their Governors they have but ill succeeded in such Expeditions Thus when those three Notorious Conspirators opened their Mouths against Moses and Aaron the Earth in a resembling sort open'd its mouth and swallowed them up and all that appertain'd to them Num. xvi 30 32. These Rebels found their Punishment in their Sin and their Destruction in their Disobedience Opposing of Government as it is a Curse in it self so Judicially it is followed with one from Heaven Not only Reason and Nature detest it but the Divine Nemesis It is the Inscription on the Scottish Coin as the Emblem I suppose of their Thistle Nemo me impune lacesset None shall provoke me and be unpunished It may justly indeed be the Magistrates Motto for none ever Affronted them but received the Reward of their Folly for the King of
Good and there stints and determines all our Passions and Desires We at once become Lovers of God and of his Church the one absolutely Influencing upon the other the Glory of the Almighty and the Good of Souls being so twisted together that it will be found a thing wholly impossible to divide them For the Church being that Society of Holy Men wherein God is more peculiarly acknowledged and glorified it must needs be that whilst we tender the Welfare of that Society we likewise more signally advance God's Glory Our Love if it be true and real will reflect from God to his Church and through the Church it will ascend to God again The Edifying or Building of the Church which is the thing here design'd principally belongs to Christ Iesus himself It looks like a Paradox but is certainly true that the Foundation and Chief Corner-stone in the Building are the Chief Architect also On this Rock saith he to St. Peter I will build my Church This Glorious Fabrick is rais'd by Christ's own hand Yet this Work in some measure belongs to all Holy and Exemplary Christians they are useful and necessary for the promoting of this Structure But more especially the Guides and Rulers of the Church the Ministers of the Gospel the Dispensers of God's Holy Word are employ'd in this Work they are in a peculiar manner appointed and set apart on purpose to be Artificers and Builders in the Erecting of the Christian Church they are particularly design'd for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ i.e. his Church Eph. iv 12. First Our great Care must be to lay the Foundation and what that is our Apostle tells us 1. Cor. iii. 11. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Iesus Christ i.e. the Meritorious Undertaking of the Son of God Christ Jesus the Blessed There is no Salvation but by a lively and effectual Faith in the Blood of this Lamb of God This is the same with the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. ii 20. which St. Paul tells the Ephesians they are built upon viz. the Doctrin of the Redemption and Salvation by Christ delivered by these Inspired Men and which they received from Christ himself who in the same place is called the Chief Corner-stone This is the Great Fundamental Point of the Christian Institution this is the main Truth on which all Christianity is founded and therefore we must be very Faithful in the Asserting and Vindicating of this The whole Fabrick of our Religion sinks and that irrecoverably without this firm and steady Basis. And all the other Principles and Rudiments of Christianity which are also justly stiled the Foundation Heb. vi 1. are our proper Concern We are indispensably obliged to instruct our Charge in all those Divine Truths of the Gospel which the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles furnish us with And having laid the Foundation with singular Care and Skill as knowing that it is this which Supports the Fabrick we must proceed to erect our Superstructure to build upwards as well as downwards And accordingly all the Holy Doctrines and Rules conducing to Christian Knowledge and Practice are to be produced and made use of We must remember the Apostle's Advice to build upon the Foundation nothing but Gold Silver and precious Stones 1 Cor. iii. 12. Such Sound and Orthodox Conclusions as are of real Worth and Value and not Wood Hay and Stubble i.e. unnecessary and useless Doctrins or Inferences muchless such as apparently Confront the Faith of the Gospel and Foster Lewd and Wicked Practices The Pope as Luther expresses it is for Building up the Church ex Accidentibus of Outward things of little value but we saith he Build it ex Substantia we urge those Doctrines which are Substantial we press those Practices which are of Moment which are Essential to Religion and have real Worth and Excellency in them Thus we should behave our selves remembring that the Superstructure ought to be suitable to the Foundation this being Solid and Substantial that must be so too Briefly this Excellent Metaphor of Edifying or Building which our Apostle seems much to delight in as we may gather from his frequent using of it imports no less than an Impartial delivering and teaching the whole Mystery of Godliness whether it consists in Fundamentals or in such Important and Necessary Matters as are to be grounded on them all that our Hearers are to know and all that they are to do the Whole Will of God and the Whole Duty of Man In a word to enlighten Mens Minds to reform their Lives to convert Sinners from the Errors of their Ways to confirm and strengthen Converts in the ways of Truth and Righteousness by any Holy Arts and Methods to further the real Good of Christ's Flock by any good Means to promote the Churches Welfare is to Build it up This is the Divine Architecture this is the Art of Spiritual Building So that if we hearken to this Proposal we shall assuredly advance the Good of the World and at the same time promote our own Bliss and Happiness In seeking the Churches Good we shall not fail of a Blessing and that Charity which raiseth our Hearts to endeavour the Welfare of the Church Militant will at last Exalt us to the Glories and Consummation of the Church Triumphant when they that be wise shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever I proceed now to the next thing propounded viz. the Means in order to this Noble End which I have been speaking of and that is expressed in those words Seek that ye may excel Take care to fit your selves for this Grand Employment of building up the Church which is the House of God 1 Tim. iii. 15. 1 Pet. iv 17. Passionately desire and endeavour that you may be eminently and abundantly Capacitated for this mighty Work This is the Import of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used which signifies both to Excel and to Abound Be ambitious of the Choicest Gifts and strive to possess them in the highest degree We of the Sacred Function are not to content our selves with mean and low Attainments in Religion but to aspire to the Greatest and Noblest Improvements to a great Plenty and Abundance of Gifts and Graces as a Learned and Pious Father Paraphrases on this Place We must strive to be Masters of all those Excellent Qualifications which tend to Edification and to arrive to what Perfection we can in them In short seeing the Edifying of the Church is the proper Office of an Evangelical Minister he must make it his great Business to pursue this effectually and to Excel in it by such Means and Methods as these First Prayer Which seems to be here suggested in the word Seek This Excelling and this Edifying
Principles And consequently it is the chief Business of a Preacher to beat down all Immorality Wickedness and Prophaneness and to set up and promote whatever is Vertuous and Laudable and especially to advance the Evangelical Vertues and Graces and such Duties as are more especially commanded by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament And this very thing shews the Excellency of our Office when it is rightly discharg'd for the Worthiness and Esteem of Employments are according to the Usefulness of them Thus to instance in other Faculties he is the Best Laâ—yer that most successfully directs Men to the Securing of their Estates and Properties and he is the Best Physician that saves Mens Lives So it is here he is the Best Divine he is the Best Preacher that reforms Meâ—s Manners and effectually shews them how to save their Souls The True Preaching is to answer to Prophesying in the Primitive Church which is the thing more particularly design'd in the Text by Excelling to Edification and this you find was esteemed by the Apostle as the Best and most Valuable Gift because it was most Advantageous to the Church He that Prophesieth saith he speaks to men to Edification and Exhortation and Comfort 1 Cor. xiv 3. This is the proper Task of the Evangelical Preacher viz. not only to Build Men up by Instructing them in their Holy Faith but by Powerful Exhortations to the Practice of all Christian Vertues to make them Better and to enable them to feel the Comfort and Satisfaction of a Religious Life In Order to this his Instructions and Exhortations must be Plain and Intelligible and easy to be comprehended We read of some Hereticks of old that were wont to use a great deal of Hebrew in their Religious Worship and in their Discourses to the People thereby to Astonish and Amaze the Vulgar But he that would Preach so as to Edify must not use any such Arts he must not soar above the Capacities of those that hear him Or if any one will needs call this Building it is like that of Babel where they understood not one another We justly Condemn the Papists for Praying in an unknown Tongue but let me be so free as to say that to Preach in a Stile which is not understood by the People is every whit as unlawful and as absurd Therefore thou O Man of God flee these things and let the Great Apostle be thy Example Who would rather speak five words to be understood and to Edify others than utter ten thousand which could not have that effect upon them The Prophet shrunk himself into the proportion of the Child he meant to revive And so must Spiritual Instructers and Publick Exhorters to Vertue deal with those they intend to recover out of their Sins wherein they are dead they must adapt themselves to their Measures they must suit themselves to their mean Understandings and condescend to their Weaknesses and often Inculcate the same Divine Lessons therein having regard to the Forgetfulness as well as the Ignorance and Shallowness of their Common Hearers And as for the Mode of delivering our Doctrines whether by Book or without that is of the meanest Consideration and no Intelligent Person will be very solicitous about it so it be Grave and Proper Certainly it is not Necessary we should commit every Sermon to our Memories Such perpetual Conning is too like a School-Boy's Task methinks as if our Auditors were Pedagogues and we stood in continual Fear of the Ferula if we should not have all our Lesson by Heart Much less is Preaching a needless Mustering up of Authors an unmerciful haling of the Fathers out of their Graves to no purpose a rude claiming Acquaintance with Greek and Latin Writers for the sake of a Sentence or two out of them It is not pleasing the People with Little and Trifling things or astonishing them with too Great and High ones Nor is it yet any thing made up of an Affected Tone or Gesture or any thing of that sort But as I represented it it is a sober informing of Mens Judgments and establishing them in the Grand Points of Religion it is a plain and bold rebuking of Vice and a warm Exhortation to Vertue it is an affectionate Application of Truth to the Hearts and Lives of the Hearers This is Preaching and thus the Church of Christ is built up thus this Great Pile is raised and reaches with its utmost Top even to Heaven where it is Triumphant Fifthly In the next place I must not forget to add that we are to mind those things also which respect the Discipline and Order the Vnity and Peace of the Church To this purpose its Solemn Censures were Instituted by Christ and his Apostles that if there should happen any Dilapidations in the Building of the Church it might by these be speedily Repair'd that Persons of Unholy and Disorder'd Lives might be debar'd Communion with so Holy a Society And the Laws of Decency were prudently design'd to extirpate all Confusion and Distraction and to render the Church and all its Services Beautiful and Venerable The Apostle concerning his Converts of Colosse professes that he rejoiced in beholding their Order Col. ii 5. A Military word and signifies the orderly disposal of Soldiers in an Army Such should be the Regular Marshalling of the Church Militant It is requisite for its Security and Welfare that all keep their proper Ranks and Stations and that a Decorum be every where observ'd We find that Circumstances as well as Substantials are to be look'd after the Apostle in the Eleventh Chapter of this Epistle controuls the Solecisms of their External Behaviour in the Service of God He checks their Rudeness and Irreverence and gives Rules for the outward Deportment and Carriage in Praying and Prophesying It is fit that some care should be taken of Religion's Outside that she have a comely Equipage Decent and Fitting Circumstances are the Wall about the Spiritual Building they are the Hedge about the Field of the Church which contributes much to her Preservation and Welfare It is such a Fence to her as the Bark is to the Tree which when it is utterly neglected the Fruit and sometimes the Tree it self is endangered Even those things which are but Accessary and Accidental to Devotion are of great use and the Devotion and Worship themselves would not be long kept up without these But let us remember that they are but Circumstances and Appendages and that the things which we are chiefly to be concern'd for in Religion are of an higher Nature and that the Mind is principally to be employ'd here The main care in God's Worship must be that it be Spiritual and Sincere that the Heart be rightly disposed for this is the Sacrifice which he chiefly requires and regards All must be so done in his Service that the Simplicity of Christianity be not abated that Real and Internal Religion be not diminish'd and that the
Visible Face of it be never without the Vitals and Spirit of it Let Religion outwardly appear as comely and beautiful as the Rules of Christian Edification will allow but by no means let her exceed in Ornament and Bravery for she will soon vanish when she grows Pompous and runs into External Shew and Pageantry With Decency and Comeliness are generally coupled Vnity and Concord and these we are to be concern'd for likewise It is the Harmony and Uniformity of the Parts of a Building that makes it both Beautiful and Useful Without this it would not be a well-ordered Edifice but a confused Heap And 't is certain that by our love of Peace and Unity we shall successfully contribute towards the Building of the Church For there is History enough to convince us that the Antient Hereticks and Schismaticks betray'd the Faith when they destroy'd the Vnity of the Church At the same time that they made a Breach in her Walls they undermined her Foundations It behoves us of the Clergy then to maintain mutual Amity and Agreement both among our selves and others It is high time to banish all Dissention to put a Period to all our Animosities and Vain Janglings to doat no longer on Fruitless Disputes but to pursue the One thing Necessary and to imbrace our Religion with an Entire Affection and to commend it to the World by our Practising of it And so I pass to the last thing which I intended to Name Seek that ye may Excel in a Holy Life St. Paul in his Visitation Sermon to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus enjoins them to take heed to themselves as well as to all the Flock Acts xxviii 28. And he commands Timothy to be an Example of the Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity 1 Tim. iv 12. And more briefly ver 16. Take heed unto thy self and to thy Doctrin i.e. to thy Life as well as to thy Preaching And he charges Titus That in all things he shew himself a Pattern of good Works Tit. ii 7. As there is a Special Designation to the Office of the Ministry so there must be a Special Holiness accompanying it There must be a Consecration of their Lives as well as of their Persons As their Function Exalts them above others in Dignity so they should surpass them in all Laudable Actions according to those words used by our Church in her Canons They must have always in mind that they ought to Excel others in Purity of Life and should be Examples to the People to live well and Christianly Let not that which was part of the Pharisees Character be fastned on them They say but do not they Preach well but Live not accordingly Let not that which the Apostle saith of Seducers and False Teachers be applied to them They profess that they know God but in works they deny him If they be Guilty of this latter they pull all down that they have Built they render all their Instructions Admonitions Reproofs and Exhortations ineffectual they obstruct the Truth in or by their Vnrighteousness for so Rom. i. 18. may be read according to the sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hinder the Force and Vertue of the Truth on themselves and the Propagation of it to others by an Impious Life yea they take a course to Ruin Religion it self Thence it was the usual Speech and Maxim of the Learned and Pious Dr. Hammond The Exemplary Vertue of the Clergy must restore this Church It is that must commend us to the Hearts and Consciences of Men it is that must powerfully Influence upon them and teach them to be Religious in good Earnest A Minister cannot chuse a more efficacious way of prevailing with others to be God than by letting them see that he is so himself But on the contrary 't is no marvel that the Sheep wander if the Shepherd strays Every ones Eyes are upon their Guides all Men are looking up to these Stars these Torches of the World If they burn dim it will be observ'd and which is worse it will be Imitated It is observ'd by a Traveller of good Repute that Atheism thrives in Italy because they see so much of the Cheats and Juggles of many of the Priests and that Interest is all their Religion Wherefore let it be known by our Exemplary Lives that we are not enclined to gratifie Atheists and to promote Irreligion in the World Especially let it be seen that we act not out of Worldly Designs that we make not the Ministry a Secular Calling but that our Principles are Sincere and that we do all for the Glory of our Great Master In brief one of our Character should like Iohn the Baptist be a Burning and a Shining Light Burning in his own Breast with entire Flames of Goodness and Devotion with pure Intentions of Honouring God and Promoting Religion and Shining in his Life and Actions by an Uniform Practice of Piety by an Holiness that is conspicuous and resplendent Indeed some of us are apt to entertain this False Apprehension That the things before-mention'd viz. Right Opinions Preaching of True Doctrin Conformity to the Church's Order and Discipline are sufficient though they be abstracted from Holiness Thence some labour to be accounted Orthodox and yet mind not their Lives They teach others what they are to do but are regardless of their own Actions They are hot for Ceremonies but cool and indifferent in the Practice of Religion But nothing can be more unreasonable and absurd for the things before-named are in order to a Holy Life The proper tendency of the Articles of Faith is to Obedience The Exercise of Discipline and the keeping up of Decency and Order were originally designed to beget and nourish Religion and Vertue Let us therefore Correct our Conceptions concerning these Matters and perswade our selves that a Vitious Life is as contrary to God and Religion as Erroneous Doctrines that to break one of the Commandments is as bad or worse than to deny an Article of the Creed that Drunkenness Swearing Uncleanness are as black Crimes as Schism Yea let us be convinced that by Prophaness and Wickedness the Comliness of our Worship is rendred Deformed our most Decent Rites become Sordid our White Garments are Stain'd and Polluted Let us fix upon our Minds that of the Devout Abbot of Claraval What will our Canonical Ordination profit us if we live Vncanonically To be sound in the Faith to Preach it to others to be Peaceable and Orderly and to observe the Ecclesiastical Rules and Laws are of no worth and value if our Lives be Impure and Irregular Wherefore to sum up all in a few words let him that earnestly contends for the Faith for the Order and Discipline of the Antient Christians think himself obliged also to live the Life of a Primitive Saint You see your Calling Brethren you see what is your Office your Work your
not to addict your selves to the Sins of those Persons whom you Fight against How absurd and unaccountable is it think you that when we have Proclaimed War against a Neighbouring Nation and even whilst we are Fighting them and hope to get the better of them yet we are in the mean time Conquer'd by their Vices We treat them as Loathed Enemies and yet are in love with their Follies and doat upon their Vanities and Excesses Let me tell you we must take another course before we can look for Success and Victory If we would have This declare it self on our side and even fling it self into our Arms we must make sure of the Conquest over the Disorders and Vices of those we take up Arms against Briefly we must examin our Lives and Manners and whatever we discern to be amiss in us must be forsaken We must first vanquish all our Lusts and then we may with some confidence engage the Adversary We may hope for Success against our Bodily Enemies when we have subdued our Spiritual ones What you read of Ionas may be a good Emblem to us in this present Affair He was in Rebellion against God and was become a Great Sinner in his sight and for his sake as himself saith a Great Tempest arose at Sea and exceedingly endangered the Ship wherein he was There was no way to allay this Tempest and save the Ship but by taking up Ionas and casting him forth into the Sea then the Sea ceased from her raging It is Sin that raises the Tempests of War among us They are Sinners especially such as lie fast asleep as Ionas did that endanger the Common Vessel wherein we are Embark'd We shall all sink and be cast away unless the Troublesom Ionas be thrown over-board unless Sin be cast out But 3. It is not enough to cast away your Sins to abstain from those Vices which you formerly committed but you must betake your selves to the serious Practice of all Holiness The first thing you are to do is to give your selves unto Prayer This is a proper Duty at this time and is commended to us by the Examples of Moses Samuel King Asa Iehosaphat and Hezekiah whose Prayers on this occasion are recorded Let God arise and let his Enemies be scattered was the usual Form of Prayer or Collect which the Israelites used in their Marches against their Enemies And we read that there were Priests among them that waited on the War Persons set apart on purpose to go forth with their Armies and Pray with them upon any Expedition Yea that you may see that this is a part even of Natural Religion the Pagans invoked their Gods in a special manner when they went forth to Battel Thus it is particularly recorded of Cyrus that he very earnestly implored their help in his Wars But the Greeks and Romans were the most noted for this and therefore both Tertullian and Lactantius make mention of the special Addresses made to the Gods by those People in time of War Scipio that Great Thunderbolt of War was an Example of this among the Romans as Livy testifies He endeavoured to render the Gods favourable and propitious to him in Battel by his importunate Supplications to them and there are other Notable Instances not only in this Historian but in Others They generally acknowledg'd that their Help was in the Divine Power and that it was necessary to have the Gods on their side if they hoped for Success in Battel The very Proclaiming of War among the Old Romans was in a Religious and Devout manner It was accompanied with a solemn invoking of their Gods and with Ceremonies of Divine Worship The Herauld was a kind of Priest It might be observ'd that the Prince of Poets throughout his whole Iliads makes his Commanders invoke Iupiter before they undertook any Warlike Enterprize yea there is not any single Person but craves his Aid immediately before he ingages his particular Adversary Hereby this Antient Sage would give the World to understand that Praying and Fighting were not to be separated Shall the Christian World then fall short of Pagans in this Religious Practice Shall we not with most ardent zeal beseech the Almighty to bless our Arms with Success Do the Turks begin their March and make their Onset in Battel with a loud Cry of Allah Allah Allah i.e. they thrice repeat the Name of God And shall not Christians devoutly Supplicate their Iehovah Sabaoth their Lord of Hosts their Sacred and Undivided Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost Yes this we find to have been the constant Course and Practice of the Servants of God in all Ages Nobiscum was the Word used among the Christians of old in their Military Clamour When they were to engage the Enemy they all out of a sense of the Necessity of God's Presence with them according to that of the Apostle If God be for us who can be against us unanimously cried out God with us and for us for that is the meaning of Nobiscum as you will find it Interpreted There were solemn Prayers on the occasion of War in all the Antient Churches of the Christians and so it should be now The Gates of our Temples like those of Ianus's must stand open in these times of War Whilst so many among us are belching out Oaths and Curses do you strive to call down a Blessing by your devout Petitions and Addresses at the Throne of Grace Drown the Noise of their Prophane Swearing and Blasphemy by your Louder and Sacred Cries in the Ears of God Let your Supplications be as prevalent and successful as those of the Christians of old who were stiled the Thundering Legion who procured Relief to themselves and a Defeat to their Enemies by their Urgent and Incessant Cries to Heaven See then that you be very warm in your Addresses urge and solicite the Divine Goodness by your continued Applications God may be pleas'd to give that to our Prayers which he denies to our Courage we may prevail more by our Humble Petitions than by our Valorous Enterprizes And with Prayer join all other Acts of Religious Worship devote your selves wholly to the Service of God and never think your selves Safe whilst you abandon that Plutarch tells us in the Life of Numa that when Word was brought him that the Enemy was near at hand his answer was I fear them not Let them come at their perill for I am Sacrificing unto the God's He thought himself Safe in that Religious Employment and reckon'd it his best Protection against his Enemies Shall not we who are to offer Spiritual Sacrifices by Iesus Christ esteem those as our greatest Safety and Security in time of War and Slaughter And let us be daily employed not only in all Holy Exercises of Devotion but let us live in the constant Practice of those Religious Duties which respect our Selves and our Brethren as well as God We must think it to
thing shews their mistake and that they are on this side of that place for they betray the weakness and uncertainty of their Knowledge These persons indiscreetly antedate the Last day anticipate the Future World and confront the revealed Purpose of Heaven for it was not design'd by the Supreme Being that we should here below have a full insight into those Divine Recesses this is reserved for another State Thus much of the Reasons so far as we can apprehend why Christianity is a Mystery that is why some of the most weighty and momentous doctrines of it are in some part hid from all mens understandings What I have said administers to us this double Reflection 1. From the premises we may discover the vanity and falsity of the Socinian Notion that there are no Mysteries in the Christian Religion 2. We may gather what is our Proper Duty and Concern in the Case before us First I say this discovers and detects and at the same baffles the false apprehension of those men who cry down all Mysteries in Christianity and tell us that all is levell'd to the meanest capacities Notwithstanding those Remarkable Attestations to the Contrary Truth from the plain words of our Saviour and his Apostles yet they perversly oppose and deny it and magnifie Reason as the only Measure of Truth and Rule of Faith whatever their late Pretences are and nothing will serve them in Religion but Logick and downright Demonstration I have observ'd it in the Modern Writings of this sort of men and of one also that is a late Friend of theirs that they seldom or never finish a Discourse though it be about Religion without bringing in of Geometrical terms especially Angles and Triangles These Gentlemen under a pretext of Mathematicks would subvert Christianity and demonstrate us out of the Articles of our Faith and make a Triangle baffle the Trinity This is the grand Source of their present Delusion and of that disturbance which they make in the World viz. their labouring to exclude all Mysteries from Christianity It arises wholly from this that they will not give credit to any thing in Religion but what is entirely Clear and Evident and commensurate to exact Reason This is perfectly according to that Description which one of the Fathers of the Primitive Church gives of St. Paul's Natural man He is one saith he that attributes all to the Reasonings of his Soul and thinks not that he stands in need of help from Above neither will be receive any thing by Faith but counts all foolishness which cannot be made out by Demonstration And an Ancient Critick defines him thus He is one who turns all over to Humane Reason and admits not of the operation of the Spirit i. e. any thing that is Supernatural in Religion This is the brief but full Character of a Disciple of Socinus so far as we are concern'd in him upon the present occasion but certainly it ill becomes a Christian man for I have proved already that such a spirit and genius are against the plain determination of Christ and his Apostles against the very nature of the things themselves and unsuitable to the present state we are in Such a one forgets to distinguish between Philosophy and Christianity The Professors of the former act not amiss in squaring all their opinions and sentiments by Strict Reason but the Adherers to the latter who are eminently stiled Believers must yield their assent to things which they cannot by Reason comprehend Otherwise they confound the natures of things and take away the Distinction between Reason and Faith which is much more absurd and unaccountable than what Scenkius in his Medical Observations fancies that it is possible for a man to receive the Visible Species through his Nostrils or in plainer terms that a man may See with his Nose for here is only a substituting of one Bodily Sense for another but in the other case there is a mistaking of one Mental Operation for another viz. Reason for Faith This is the Absurdity of those of the Racovian way and we ought carefully to avoid it We are to believe Christianity to be a Reasonable Service as the Apostle deservedly stiles it but it may be truly said of those men that they make Christianity more reasonable than it is that is they make it submit wholly to Humane and Natural Reason and this is the ground of their exploding all Mysteries Secondly Seeing a great part of the Christian Religion is a Mystery and design'd to be such we are concern'd to Behave our selves accordingly that is never to be so bold and rash as to demand a Positive and Punctual Account of things of this high and abstruse nature It is required in a Good Grammarian said One who was as skilful in that Art as any man that he be ignorant of some things The same may be said of a Good Divine to be ignorant of some Mysteries and not to search too earnestly into them is a good qualification in one of that Profession and indeed in all persons that study Christianity This is a Learned kind of Ignorance and we are not to be ashamed of it It is not necessary we should have a clear understanding of Theological Secrets because the Holy Writ is silent about them but yet we ought to hold and believe the things themselves because the same Infallible Word asserts them Those that go any further shew indeed that they are very Prying and Inquisitive but let them beware of handling the Word of God deceitfully and making Truth uphold Falshood As that Egyptian in Plutarch answer'd the men who ask'd him What it was that he carried so close Covered Therefore it is cover'd said he that you should not know what it is and therefore your asking was in vain So it is here these Divine things are purposely hid from us and wrapt up in Obscurity that we may not with too eager a Curiosity search into them and busie our heads about them Let every one of us think that spoken to us which the Good Christian said to the Philosopher at the Council of Nice Ask not How Be not inquisitive concerning the Manner of Sacred and Heavenly things for this is hid from us A Learned and Pious Writer of the Primitive Church tells us That it is enough for us to know that in Christ's Person the Divine Nature was so joyn'd by an ineffable kind of Tye with the Humane Nature that the same Hypostasis contains in it two distinct Natures but how that Union is made it is not necessary to know nor is it fit to search only let us believe and hold what is written And the same Excellent Person in another place and indeed in several places of his Writings exceedingly blames the rashness and curiosity of those that prie into Divine Mysteries and dispute and wrangle and raise vain questions about them and ask why and how such things are It
enjoyn'd us but we are to satisfie our selves with this that God's Will ought to be the Standard of ours and therefore we ought to resign our selves to the Divine Conduct And these men allow of this as just and rational and advise that our Natural desires and propensions should give way to our Saviour's Commands he being our Great Law-giver and Master And why then do they shew themselves Partial in denying it reasonable to submit the Intellectual part of the Mind to the doctrines and dictates of the Gospel Is there not as much reason to take care of this Faculty to look to the management of it to keep it within its due bounds as there is to deal thus with the Elective Power of the Soul If they are content to surrender this to the Divine Will why are they against subjecting the other to the Divine Lighâ— and Discoveries If it be commendâ—ble to curb and moderate the Concupiscible or â—rascible part why not also to regulate and govern the Perceptive If the Will must be check'd why must the Intellect be left uncontroulable If they measure the Goodness of the former Power in them by the Laws and Rules of Christ what is the reason that they measure not the Rectitude of the latter by the discoveries of Divine Truth made by the same Author in the Writings of the New Testament Seeing they deem it proper and necessary for humane minds to vail the first to the express Injunctions of the Gospel why do they not think it as requisite to submit the second to the infallible dictates of the Holy Spirit in Scripture why do they not abandon their own weak sentiments about the highest Concerns of Christianity why do they not renounce their private surmises their shallow arguings their sophistical ratiocinations and give them up to be corrected by the light of Divine Revelation why are they not sensible of the deficiency and indigence of their Minds of the narrowness and contractedness of their understandings and why do they not at the same time adore the Divine Perfection why do they not inure their understandings to the dictates of Inspiration and believe what is Unintelligible Particularly in the doctrine of the Trinity why do they lean to their own understandings why do they prescribe to Heaven and set up their own weak Conceptions as the Standard of Divine Truth In a word why do they not make their meer Natural Notions and Principles truckle to Reveal'd Truth and bring their Reason into subjection to the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they come here with their old cry and cavils that the Article of the Trinity and some others that appertain to it are contrary to Reason and are a perfect Contradiction and are Impossibilities as their language is we may for ever silence them with this that they can't with any shew of Reason talk after this rate because they can't pronounce that to be Contrary to Reason the Nature of which they are ignorant of what they can't reach with their Reason they can't say is Repugnant to it Nor can they doom this or that to be Contradictory when they know nothing of the Manner of it And so for the Impossibility of a thing it is rash folly to determine it cannot be when they are unacquainted with the Transcendent Nature of it when the Mode of its existence is hid from them This I think is very plain and it is as pertinent to the matter in hand I having proved that the doctrine of the Trinity and such like Articles of Christianity are hidden Mysteries Therefore let not these men think to amuse and banter us as they would needs do with â—alking of Contradictions Impossibilities c. which are Terms that are nothing to the purpose But this I request of them that they would be Serious and vouchsafe to reflect on what I have suggested under this Head for the Article of the Trinity would be a very clear and bright Truth to them if they would but entertain this one thing in their thoughts that they are oblig'd as much to keep a discipline over their Understandings as over their Wills that the Intellectual Powers as well as the other Faculties of the mind are to be in subjection It is mention'd as part of Man's Depravity and alienation from his first Make that he seeks out many Inventions i. e. as the Hebrew word signifies curious Excogitations quaint Arguings fanciful Reasonings These especially in matters of Religion are greedily sought out and pursued by Vain men but where the true force and vertue of Religion prevail there they cast down imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reasonings and every high thing every proud Conceit that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought i. e. every corrupt notion and conception which usurps upon Faith This is the Conduct of our Minds which the Apostles teaches us we must quit our false Argumentations and Debates about the the Great Mysteries of our Religion we must not dare to be wise above what is written above or beyond what Divine Revelation hath taught us but we must resolve all our doubts and scruples by appealing to Divine Authority and the Veracity of God It may be the Sagacious Gentlemen we have to do with at present will grant that some Vulgar heads among whom perhaps they will reckon the foresaid Apostle have favour'd the restraining and limiting of the Intellectual Powers as well as the other Faculties of the mind but will this pass current they may say with those that are voted for Men of Sense and Wit will it be admitted by Men of Keen Apprehensions men of Judgment and Philosophy Yes most surely if they will be pleas'd to take the Learned Lord Verulam and the Great Des Cartes into that number The former of whom hath left these remarkable words Gods Sovereignty reaches to the whole man extending it self no less to his Reason than his Will so that it well becomes man to deny himself universally and yield up all to God Wherefore as we are bound to obey the Law of God notwithstanding the reluctancy of our Will so are we also to believe his Word though against the reluctancy of our Reason The latter expresses himself thus and though some may think it is spoken in Politick Compliance yet it is more than they can prove and it is certain that they are in themselves words of truth and soberness and worthy of so Great a Man We must saith he always and chiefly remember this that God the Author of things is Infinite and we altogether finite so that when God reveals any thing concerning himself or other things which surpasses the natural strength of our wit such as the Mysteries of the Incarnation or Trinity we are not to refuse to give our Assent to them though we do not clearly understand them And again in the Close of this First Part of his Philosophical Principles he hath left