sheep Ver. 12. Thus our Saviour used arguments of Reason And the APOSTLES did so very frequently St. Paul disproves Idolatry this way Acts 17.29 Forasmuch then as we are the Off-spring of God we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by Art And the same Apostle proves the resurrection of the dead by the mention of seven gross absurdities that would follow the denial of it 1 Cor. 1.15 viz. If the dead rise not Then 1. Christ is not risen And then 2. our Preaching is vain and we false Apostles And if so 3. your Faith is vain And then 4. you are not justified but are in your sins And hence it will follow 5. That those that are departed in the same Faith are perished And then 6. Faith in Christ profits only in this life And if so 7. we are of all men the most miserable Because we suffer all things for this Faith From Ver. 14 to ver 19. And the whole Chapter contains Philosophical Reasoning either to prove or illustrate the Resurrection or to shew the difference of glorified bodies from these And St. Peter in his second Epistle Chap. 2. shews that sinful men must expect to be punished because God spared not the Angels that fell Instances in this case are endless these may suffice And thus of the Second thing also which I proposed to make good viz. That Religion is friendly to reason and that appears in that God himself our Saviour and his Apostles own it and use arguments from it even in affairs of Faith and Religion BUT Scripture the Rule of Faith is pretended against it and other Considerations also These therefore come next to be considered and the dealing with those pretensions was the III. General I proposed to discuss AS for Arguments from Scripture against the use of reason 'T is alledged 1. From 1 Cor. 1. where 't is said That God will destroy the wisdom of the wise ver 19. And the world by wisdom knew not God ver 21. And not many wise men after the flesh are called ver 26. And God chose the foolish things of this World to confound the wise ver 27. By which Expressions of wisdom and wise 't is presumed that Humane Reason and rational men are meant But these Interpreters mistake the matter much and as they are wont to do put arbitrary interpretations upon Scripture without ground For by Wisdom here there is no cause to understand the reason of men but rather the Traditions of the Iews the Philosophy of the disputing Greeks and the worldly Policy of the Romans who were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rulers of that World That the Iewish learning in their Law is meant the Apostle intimates when he asks in a way of Challenge ver 20. Where is the Scribe And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies one that was skill'd in their Laws and Customs And that the Philosophy of the Greeks is to be understood likewise we have ground to believe from the other question in the same verse Where is the Disputer of this World Which though some refer to the Doctors among the Iews also yet I humbly think it may more properly be understood of the Philosophers among the Grecians For the Apostle writes to Greeks and their Philosophy was notoriously contentious And lastly that the worldly Policies of the Romans are included also in this wisdom of this World which the Apostle vilifies there is cause to think from the sixth verse of the second Chapter where he saith He spake not in the wisdom of the Princes of this World And 't is well known that Policy was Their most valued wisdom Tu regere imperio To govern the Nations and promote the grandeur of their Empire was the great Design and Study of those Princes of this World Now all these the Apostle sets at nought in the beginning of this Epistle Because they were very opposite to the simplicity and holiness self-denial and meekness of the Gospel But what is this to the disadvantage of Reason to which indeed those sorts of wisdom are as contrary as they are to Religion And by this I am enabled 2. To meet another Objection urged from 1 Cor. 2.14 But the Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they ate spiritually discerned Hence the Enthusiast argues the Universal inability of Reason in things of Religion and Its Antipathy to them Whereas I can apprehend no more to be meant by the words than this viz. That such kind of natural men as those Scribes and Disputers and Politicians having their minds depraved and prepossess'd with their own wisdom were indisposed to receive this that was so contrary unto it And they could not know those things of God because they were spiritual and so would require a mind that was of a pure and spiritual frame viz. free from that earthly wisdom of all sorts which counts those things foolishness and which by God is counted so it self 1 Cor. 3.19 which place 3. Is used as another Scripture against reason The wisdom of this World is foolishness with God But it can signifie nothing to that purpose to one that understands and considers the Apostles meaning What is meant by the wisdom of this World here I have declared already And by the former part of my Discourse it appears that whatever is to be understood by it our Reason cannot since that either proves or defends all the Articles of Religion 4. And when the same Apostle elsewhere viz. 2 Cor. 1.12 saith that They had not their conversation in fleshly wisdom we cannot think he meant humane reason by that reason directs us to live in simplicity and Godly sincerity which he opposeth to a life in fleshly wisdom By this therefore no doubt he means the reason of our Appetites and Passions which is but sense and imagination for these blind guides are the directors of the Wicked but not the reason of our minds which is one of those lights that illuminate the Consciences of good men and help to guide their actions And whereas 't is objected 5. From Col. 2.8 Beware lest any spoil you through Philosophy I answer there is nothing can be made of that neither for the disgrace of reason for the Philosophy the Apostle cautions against is the same which he warns Timothy of 1 Tim. 1.4 Neither give heed to Fables and endless Genealogies that minister Questions calling these prophane and vain bablings and oppositions of Science falsly so called 2 Tim. 6.20 By all which learned Interpreters understand the pretended knowledge of which the Gnosticks boasted which consisted in the fabulous pedigrees of the Gods under the name of Aeones and it may be the Genealogies of which the Iews were so fond and the disputing Philosophy among the Greeks which was properly Science falsly so called and did minister Questions and endless
Reason befriends Religion by laying its corner stone And the next to this is the other Principle mentioned II. The divine Authority of Scripture This also is to be proved by reason and only by It. The great argument for the truth of Scripture is the Testimony of the Spirit in the miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles Our Saviour himself useth this argument to gain credit to his Doctrines Believe me for the works sake The works that I do bear testistimony of me and if I had not done among them the works that no other man did they had had no sin Joh. 15.24 And the Apostles continually urge that great miracle the Resurrection of Christ from the dead for the conviction both of the Iews and Gentiles That he was the Son of God and his Doctrines true Now Miracles are an Argument to our Reasons and we reason from them thus Miracles are Gods Seal and they are wrought by his Power and He is true and good and would not lend these to Impostours to cheat and abuse mankind Therefore whoever works real miracles for the confirmation of any doctrine it is to be believed that He is taught of God and Commissioned to teach us And that Christ and his Apostles did those things which are recorded of them is matter of Testimony and Reason clears the validity of this by the aggregation of multitudes of Circumstances which shew that the first Relators could not be deceived themselves and would not deceive us nor indeed could in the main matters if they had designed it And the certainty of the conveyance of these things to us is evinced also by numerous convictive Reasons So that the matter of fact is secure and that such doctrines were taught as are ascribed to those divine persons and those persons inspired that penned them are proved the same way And so it follows from the whole that the Gospel is the Word of God and the Old Testament is confirmed by that Thus Reason proves the Divine Authority of Scripture and those other Arguments that use to be produced for it from Its style and Its influence upon the Souls of men from the excellency of its design and the Providence of God in preserving it are of the same sort though not of the same strength Reason then proves the Scriptures and this only For that they are from God is not known immediately by sense and there is no distinct Revelation that is certain and infallible to assure us of it and so Reason only remains to demonstrate this other Fundamental Article These two great Truths The Existence of God and Authority of Scripture are the first in our Religion and they are Conclusions of Reason and Foundations of Faith Thus briefly of those Principles of Religion that are Fundamentally such We have seen how Reason serves them by demonstrating their Truth and certainty I COME now to the SECOND sort of Principles viz. those that are formally so They are of two sorts mixt and pure The mixt are those that are discovered by reason and declared by Revelation also and so are Principles both of Reason and Faith Of this kind are the Attributes of God Moral good and evil and the immortality of humane souls The Principles of pure Faith are such as are known only by Divine Testimony as the Miraculous Conception the Incarnation and the Trinity The first sort Reason proves as well as Scripture this I shew briefly in the alledged instances 1. That the Divine Attributes are revealed in the Holy Oracles 't is clear and they are deduced from Reason also For 't is a general Principle of all Mankind That God is a Being absolutely perfect And hence Reason concludes all the particular Attributes of his being since Wisdom Goodness Power and the rest are perfections and imply nothing of imperfection or defect and therefore ought to be ascribed to the infinitely perfect Essence 2. That there is moral good and evil s discoverable by Reason as well as Scripture For these are Reasons Maxims That every thing is made for an end and every thing is directed to its end by certain Rules these Rules in Creatures of understanding and choise are Laws and the transgressing these is Vice and Sin 3. The immortality of our Souls is plain in Scripture and Reason proves it by shewing the Spirituality of our natures and that it doth from the nature of Sense and our perception of spiritual Beings and Universals Of Logical Metaphysical and Mathematical Notions From our compounding Propositions and drawing Conclusions from them From the vastness and quickness of our Imaginations and Liberty of our Wills all which are beyond the powers of matter and therefore argue a Being that is spiritual and consequently immortal which inference the Philosophy of Spirits proves Also the Moral Arguments of Reason from the goodness of God and his Iustice in distributing rewards and punishments the nature of virtue and tendencies of religious appetites conclude I think strongly That there is a life after this Thus in short of the Principles I called mixt which Reason demonstrates BUT for the others viz. II. Those of pure Revelation Reason cannot prove them immediately nor is it to be expected that it should For They are matters of Testimony and we are no more to look for immediate proof from Reason of those things than we are to expect that abstracted reason should demonstrate That there is such a place as China or that there was such a man as Iulius Caesar. All that it can do here is to assert and make good the credibility and truth of the Testimonies that relate such matters and that it doth in the present case proving the Authority of Scripture and thereby in a remoter way It demonstrates all the Mysteries of Faith which the divine Oracles immediately discover And it is no more disparagement to our Reasons that they cannot evince those Sacred Articles by their own unaided force than it is a disgrace unto them that they cannot know that there are such things as Colours without the help of our eyes or that there are Sounds without the faculty of hearing And if Reason must be called blind upon this account because it cannot know of it self such things as belong to Testimony to discover the best eyes in the world may be so accounted also because they are not sagacious enough to see sounds and the best Palate dull and dead because it cannot taste the Sun-beams But though I have said that Reason cannot of it self immediately prove the truths of pure Revelation Yet 1. it demonstrates the divine Authority of the Testimony that declares them and that way proves even these Articles If this be not enough I add the second Assertion II. That Reason defends all the Mysteries of Faith and Religion and for this I must desire you to take notice that there are two ways whereby any thing may be defended viz. Either 1. By shewing the manner how the thing is or if that cannot
strife I say 't is very probable these might be comprehended also But Reason is no otherwise concerned in all this but as condemning and reproving these dangerous follies THUS we see the pretensions from Scripture against Reason are vain But there are other Considerations by which it useth to be impugned as 1. OUR Reason is corrupted and therefore is not fit to meddle in spiritual matters To this I say That Reason as it is taken for the faculty of understanding is very much weakened and impaired It sees but little and that very dully through a glass darkly as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 13. And It is very liable to be mislead by our senses and affections and interests and imaginations so that we many times mingle errors and false conceits with the genuine dictates of our minds and appeal to them as the Principles of Truth and Reason when they are but the vain Images of our Phancies or the false conclusions of ignorance and mistake If this be meant by the corruption of Reason I grant it and all that can be inferred from it will be That we ought not to be too bold and peremptory in defining speculative and difficult matters especially not those that relate to Religion nor set our Reasonings against the Doctrines of Faith and Revelation But this is nothing to the disreputation of Reason in the object viz. Those Principles of truth which are written upon our Souls or any Conclusions that are deduced from them These are the same that they ever were though we discern them not so clearly as the Innocent state did They may be mistaken but cannot be corrupted And as our understandings by reason of their weakness and liableness to error may take falshoods for some of those or infer falsly from those that are truly such so we know they do the same by the Scriptures themselves viz. they very often misinterpret and very often draw perverse conclusions from them And yet we say not That the Word of God is corrupted nor is the use of Scripture decried because of those abuses But here advantage will be taken to object again 2. That since our natural understandings are so weak and so liable to mistake they ought not to be used in the affairs of Religion and 't will signifie little to us that there are certain Principles of eternal Reason if we either perceive them not or cannot use them To this I answer That if on this account we must renounce the use of our natural understandings Scripture will be useless to us also For how can we know the meaning of the words that express Gods mind unto us How can we compare one Scripture with another How can we draw any Consequence from it How apply General Propositions to our own particular cases How tell what is to be taken in the Letter what in the mystery what plainly what in a Figure What according to strict and rigorous truth What by way of accommodation to our apprehensions I say without the exercise of our understandings using the Principles of Reason none of these can be done and without them Scripture will signifie either nothing at all or very little to us And what can Religion get this way This inference therefore is absurd and impious All that can justly be concluded from the weakness of our understandings will be what I intimated before that we ought to use them with modesty and caution not that we should renounce them He is a mad-man who because his eyes are dim will therefore put them out But it may be objected further 3. That which men call Reason is infinitely various and that is reasonable to one which is very irrational to another Therefore Reason is not to be heard And I say Interpretations of Scripture are infinitely various and one calls that Scriptural which another calls heretical Shall we conclude therefore That Scripture is not to be heard Reason in itself is the same all the world over though mens apprehensions of it are various as the light of the Sun is one though colours Its reflexes are infinite And where this is it ought not to be denied because follies and falshoods pretend relation to it or call themselves by that name If so farewell Religion too But 4. 'T is Socinianism to plead for Reason in the affairs of Faith and Religion And I answer 'T is gross Phanaticism to plead against it This name is properly applicable to the enemies of Reason But the other of Socinianism is groundlesly applied to those that undertake for it and it absurdly supposeth that Socinians are the only rational men when as divers of their Doctrines such as The Sleep and natural mortality of the soul and utter extinction and annihilation of the wicked after the day of judgment are very obnoxious to Philosophy and Reason And the Socinians can never be confuted in their other opinions without using Reason to maintain the sense and interpretation of those Scriptures that are alledged against them 'T is an easie thing we know to give an ugly name to any thing we dislike and by this way the most excellent and sacred things have been made contemptible and vile I wish such hasty Censurers would consider before they call names No truth is the worse because rash ignorance hath thrown dirt upon it I need say no more to these frivolous objections Those that alledge Atheism and tendency to Infidelity against the reverence and use of Reason are disproved by my whole discourse Which shews that the enemies of Reason most usually serve the ends of the Infidel and the Atheist when as a due use of It destroys the pretensions of both I COME now IV. to the Inferences that may be raised from the whole 1. Reason is certain and infallible This follows from the state I gave of the nature and notion of Reason in the beginning It consists in First Principles and the Conclusions that are raised from them and the observations of sense Now first Principles are certain or nothing can be so for every possible Conclusion must be drawn from those or by their help and every Article of Faith supposeth them And for the Propositions that arise from those certain Principles they are certain likewise For nothing can follow from truth but truth in the longest series of deduction If error creep in there is ill consequence in the case And the sort of Conclusions that arise from the observations of sense if the sense be rightly circumstantiated and the inference rightly made are certain also For if our senses in all their due circumstances deceive us All is a delusion and we are sure of nothing But we know that first Principles are certain and that our senses do not deceive us because God that bestowed them upon us is true and good And we are as much assured that whatever we duly conclude from either of them is as certain because whatever is drawn from any principle was vertually contained in it 2. I