have not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him he is none of his The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and to them it is given by the father to know the mysteries of the kingdome of God Mat. 13.11 Hereby saith the Apostle we know the things that are freely given us of God even by his Spirit which searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 For a man professing the knowledge of Christ to swallow down without tryal or consideration all that he reads and hears if it comes from a person that he admires which yet is the practice not only of the blind Papists but of many seeming zealous Protestants that are too much addicted to a party Non est opus virilis intelligentiae sed puerilis inscitiae this rather becomes the simplicity and ignorance of a Child then the wisdome and understanding of a serious Christian Luther speaking of the blind implicite faith and obedience too of the Church of Rome tells us that 't is such an opinion and practice as renders a man Brutist and deprives him of Reason and man-hood and for this wicked opinion and practice of theirs namely for exercising an absolute dominion over the Faith and Consciences of men the Roman Prelates deserve to be driven out of the number of the faithful as Wolves and Tyrants But what shall every private Spirit will you say take this upon him Is not this to judge his Judges and to pass Sentence upon his Superior To which we answer that those persons be they never so great and learned judge of divine things by a private Spirit who depend upon their own corrupt Reason and Fancy and accordingly judge and determine and not he though but a private Christian that is taught of God and judgeth of the points of Religion by and according to the word of God Nor do we say that every private man is to judge by way of Authority in foro publico a publick Authoritative disquisition and tryal in matters of Religion is one thing and a private rational Christian examination is another 't is one thing judicare to judge of mine own acts and another thing judicem agere to act as a Judge Indeed the Spiritual man judgeth all things but how not in a juridical Authoritative way but only so far as concerns his calling and capacity if he be a private Christian Rational judgment belongs to him but Magistratica and Ministerial judgment belongs to others that are in a more publick capacity and office And therefore in this case he is to try and judge with much modesty and humility not rashly and headily as being self-conceited and leaning too much to his own understanding Let him walk orderly and keep his place and station giving due respect and reverence to Christian Magistrates and godly Pastors and submitting to them in the Lord Heb. 13.7 17. And this will be a means to preserve the Church of Christ from Anarchy and Confusion Thus we have shewed how the Scriptures may be proved by the light of Reason to be the word of God and that every Christian ought to exercise himself in searching the Scriptures and judging of Doctrines but yet we must distinguish between those external rational Arguments which are brought to prove the divine Authority of the Scriptures and the internal Testimony of the Spirit of God in the Scripture which is the most clear certain infallible publick Testimony and of it self worthy to be believed for it is the Testimony of God himself Hereof we shall treat more particularly in the following Chapter CHAP. XIV Of the Internal Testimony of the Spirit of God witnessing the divine Authority of the Scripture ALthough there are rational arguments which have been already mentioned to prove the Scriptures to be the word of God yet the inward Testimony of the holy Ghost himself is necessary to assure us of the divine Authority thereof which Testimony is better and more certain then all our Reason for as God is a sufficient witness of himself in his own word so the hearts and Consciences of men will never be fully satisfied that the Scriptures are by divine inspiration till the same be sealed and confirmed to them by the inward Testimony of the Holy Ghost till then they will be much in the dark often doubting and wavering notwithstanding all other reasons and proofs (l.) Calv. Instit Lib. 1. Chap. 7. S. 5. We should so believe the Scripture for it self and in regard of the Testimony of the Spirit of God witnessing the same as not to subject the divine Authority thereof to our Reasons and demonstrations When our understandings are once powerfully convinced and enlightned by the Spirit of God which endited the holy Scriptures then do we not believe by our own judgment or Reason or other mens that the Scripture is from God and by divine inspiration but above all humane Reason and Judgment we hold it most certain even as if we beheld the majesty of God himself there present John 4.42 And having attained this we seek not after humane Arguments to rest our faith upon but as a thing that admits of no doubt or dispute we take it for granted and do fully captivate and submit our Judgment and Reason to it such therefore is the perswasion of a true Spiritual Christian of the Authority of God in the Scriptures far different from other mens as requireth no humane Reason such is his knowledge and certainty as hath the best Reason for it even that wherein the mind more assuredly and stedfastly resteth then upon any humane Testimonies or Reasons whatsoever Such is the inward Spiritual experience of the power and wisdome and goodness of God in the holy Scriptures that if all the World should oppose the same yet he is fully resolved to give credit and adhere thereunto By nature every man is blind in Spiritual things and ignorant of the mind and mysteries of God and therefore though the Scripture be a shining light in it self yet unless our understandings be opened and enlightned we cannot behold it no more then a blind man can see the Sun when it shineth The Spirit of God is the Author of supernatural light and faith by the inspiration thereof were the Scriptures first written the secrets and mysteries of God are fully known unto and effectually revealed by this Spirit The same law and word which is written in the Scriptures this Spirit doth also write and impress upon the hearts of them that are endued therewith and therefore the Testimony of this Spirit where it comes in power must needs fully perswade and assure the heart and Conscience of a Christian that the Scripture is the infallible word of God As in other Sciences there are alwayes some principles per se nota indemonstrabilia whence other things are proved and demonstrated so it is in Divinity which is the most excellent Science all conclusions in point of faith and practice
are proved by the Scriptures but as for the Scriptures they prove and evidence themselves sufficiently to the judgment of every true Christian by their own light manifesting their divine Original They are primum visibile not like colour that cannot be seen till light make it apparent but like light it self which maketh all other things manifest and it self too by its own proper quality Now then if a true believer should be ask'd why he believes the Articles of the Christian Religion he may truly answer thus because they are revealed in the holy Scriptures If it be further demanded how he can assure himself that the Scriptures are the word of God he may answer that he knows it by the Scriptures themselves the Spirit of God enlightning his understanding to see those lively characters of divine truth which are imprinted upon those sacred Volumes If yet it be further demanded how he knows whether that is the right meaning of such or such a place of Scripture he may likewise truly say that he knows it by the Scriptures which being diligently examined and compared together do plainly discover to the humble teachable Soul their own true sense and meaning in the things which concern everlasting Salvation And thus the faith of a Christian is finally and ultimately resolved into the infallible word of God or a divine Testimony and into nothing less As for the Authority and Testimony of the Church and the judgments and writings of the Godly learned they are good helps to make us see the Truth but no causes why we believe it this we do for its own sake not for their sayings or determinations which if they do not accord with the Scriptures we ought not to assent thereunto Though we should give due Reverence to the Assemblies of Godly judicious men and thoroughly examine and weigh with humility and self-denyal the grounds of our dissent from them yet the bare Authority of men though never so eminent for learning and piety should not command our assent to any Article of Religion that shall be proposed to us For our faith should not stand in the wisdome of men as the Apostle speaks but in the power of God and the Testimony and demonstration of his Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 5. The first and chiefest ground whereon is built the certainty of faith's assent is the infallible truth and Authority of divine Revelation because God hath said it we are to believe it and assent to it for whatsoever God saith is true now this is a principle of Nature and Reason which is deeply ingraven into the heart and Conscience of every Rational man that God himself is so infinitely wise that he can be ignorant of nothing nor can any Creature circumvent and over-reach him and withal he is so infinitely good holy and just that no lye or untruth can proceed from him wisdome it self cannot be deceived truth it self cannot deceive and God is both And therefore wheresoever any Revelation is certainly known or believed to be of God there the reasonable Creature doth fully assent to the truth of things revealed But now the great question will be how we know infallibly that God is the Author of the Scriptures and that what we find written therein is of divine inspiration the very Oracles of God Here lyes the great yea the irreconcileable difference between the Church of Rome and us for whereas we maintain according to the truth that the Scriptures are known to be of God by themselves and by their own light and power they hold that we cannot be certain of their divine Authority but by the Testimony of the Church which as they say doth infalliby propose unto us what is to be believed and what is not to be believed And so by this means our faith shall be resolved either into nothing at all for they differ exceedingly about the Church representative and the supreme Judge of controversies here on Earth or at the furthest it shall be resolved but only into humane Authority and so shall be but a humane faith That Circle which they falsly charge upon us (m.) Mr. W. Pemble nature and properties of grace and faith P. 210 211. they themselves are guilty of and can never be dis-intangled therefrom by their Principles For ask a Romanist why do you believe that the Pope cannot err he will tell you because the Scripture saith so thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and I have prayed that thy faith may not fail and the like Texts of Scripture But how know you that this is the infallible word of God and that your interpretation is the right sence and meaning of these places To this he answers because the Pope and the Councel of Trent say so or as some of them hold because the Pope only saith so or as others of them because a general Councel saith so If we further urge him yea but how know you infallibly that the Pope and Councel do not err in saying so he will answer you because the Scripture affirms they cannot err for thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church c. And thus they run round in a Circle (n.) The Popish Circle described and are so intangled that the wisest and most learned of them know not how to deliver themselves Indeed they accuse us with open mouth as if we were intangled in a Circle running round from the Scriptures to the Spirit and again from the Spirit to the Scriptures as thus how know you the Scriptures to be the word of God by the Spirit revealing the same to my heart and Conscience but how know you this Revelation of the Spirit to be true By the Scriptures which testifie that the secret of the Lord is revealed to them that fear him But then further how know you this and the like places of Scripture to be the word of God we know it by the Spirit which reveals to us the things that are freely given us of God And thus they pretend that they have caught us in a Circle but they greatly mistake us though we do not mistake their Doctrine we teach indeed that we know the Scriptures infallibly to be the word of God by the Spirit of God inwardly revealing and testifying the truth of them to our Consciences But what kind of Revelation or Testimony is this It is not any inward suggestion or immediate inspiration different from those Revelations of Divine truth that are in the Scriptures themselves as if the Spirit of God did by a second private immediate Revelation assure me of the truth of those former Revelations contained in the Scriptures we have no warrant for this in an ordinary way but the Spirit of God reveals and testifies to our Consciences the divine Authority and truth of the Scriptures by removing those impediments that hindred as namely our ignorance and unbelief and by bestowing upon us those graces that make us capable of
wants this clear evidence and demonstration having no further assurance of what it believes then that which Reason suggests which may rather be termed a conviction that such things must be then an evidence what they be whereby it plainly appears which yet may be more largely and fully proved out of Scripture that true justifying Faith and that Faith which is only temporary and historical differ not only gradually in respect of degrees but specifically in nature and kind the grounds of assurance on which they are built being of a far different nature Fourthly This difference will further appear if we consider that the effectual Faith of the spiritual man rests and depends upon and is ultimately and finally resolved into a divine testimony but historical Faith or the Faith of the natural or meer rational man is built upon a humane testimony which our Saviour calls the revelation of flesh and blood Matth. 16.17 As the Apostle calls the other the demonstration of the Spirit and of power and the revelation of things by the Spirit which are understood only of spiritual men 1 Cor. 2.4 10 14 15. to whom they are manifested and who have the Spirit and Mind of Christ in them which enables them spiritually to understand that manifestation or revelation This way of spiritual demonstration to the spiritual mind of the true Believer is far different from and doth far transcend that way of conviction which is only by reason or rational discourse and in this respect is more excellent and divine then historical Faith or the Faith of the meer rational man which is not chiefly grounded upon a divine Testimony or Authority but relyes upon and is ultimately resolved into an humane testimony or the reasonableness of the truth and wayes of God The glorious Mysteries of the Gospel though they could never be found out by all the reason and wit of man 1 Cor. 2.9 yet they are consonant to right Reason and therefore mans reason doth assent thereunto As for example The Creation of the World the Resurrection of the Body the Incarnation of Christ and the like these may be acknowledged by mans Reason to be possible upon suppositinn of Gods Almighty Power and the Riches of his Grace yea and fit to be done by him whose great design is to make known the glory of his Power and Grace in the Ages to come So that howsoever these Truths are mysteries of Faith and to be believed yet seeing Reason which is a humane testimony may approve them it is evident that such an historical Faith believing these things only for the reasonableness of them is but a humane faith and rests upon a humane testimony And so it may be said concerning the Scriptures themselves if a rational man believe them to be the Word of God chiefly upon the Churches testimony of them or upon the reasonableness of the truths therein mentioned or upon the observation of the truth of those Sacred writings in most things which makes him therefore rationally conclude that they are true in all If this be the chiefest ground of his belief by way of rational inference from such premises then truly he believes upon a humane and not a divine testimony which is alwayes accompanied with a clear spiritual demonstration of divine truths made evident by the light of the Spirit of God to the spirit of a true Believer Fifthly and Lastly True justifying Faith or the Faith of the spiritual man differs from historical Faith or the Faith of the meer rational man in the object of it Historical faith though it may assent to the truth of Gods Promises of Reconciliation Pardon and Salvation by Christ yea and may believe the goodness of them in general yet it doth not embrace and apply the goodness of them in particular as true justifying Faith doth which counts all other things loss that it may gain Christ and be found in him Phil. 3.8 9. and which enables a man heartily and really to close with Christ in the Promise and to apply him particularly saying This is my Beloved this is my Friend who loved me and gave himself for me And thus we see that there is no small difference betwixt the faith knowledge and operations of the spiritual man and the faith knowledge and operations of the meer rational man in and about Christ and spiritual things And if such a man may have some kind of knowledge and faith in Christ and the mysteries of the Gospel and yet come short of eternal life and salvation then certainly no man that is led only by the light of Reason though he improve it never so much can be saved without the knowledge of Christ as Mediator But of this in the next Chapter CHAP. XVII Shewing that none can be saved by the meer improvement of natural Light and Reason WHat the State and Condition of the best Heathens was and is in order to the everlasting Concernment of their immortal Souls we cannot certainly determine nor dare we confidently pronounce that they are all in Hell Though we say not with the Pelagians that the improvements of Nature and Reason or that light that is in every man as others phrase it can make men everlasting happy Nor yet with the Semipelagians that natural preparations and predispositions do bespeak and procure Grace Nor yet with the Papists that works flowing from Grace do meritoriously contribute to more Grace and glory yet this we may safely say That as God gave the Heathens Natural light and abilities and to some of them the improvement thereof more then to others so he might as freely give them in a way that we know not Supernatural Grace and Strength and reveal his Son to them if it pleased him Far be it from us notwithstanding to hold that a man may get to Heaven by those meer improvements which are built upon Natures foundation for if he should accurately and punctually observe every jot and tittle of Natures Law which the exactest Naturalist or Moralist doth not yet this natural obedience would not at all be commensurate to a supernatural happiness Christ is the only way that new and living way by which God assumeth humane nature to himself and maketh it everlastingly happy by which we have access to God and communion with him This made Augustine say Qui dicit hominem servari posse sine Christo dubito an ipse per Christum servari possit Whether the Gentiles could be saved by the Light of Nature and Reason without faith in Christ is a Question I confess much debated both in the writings of the Antient Fathers and some Modern Authors both Protestants and Papists Divers of the Antients as Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus and Chrysostome were of opinion that the moral Heathens might be saved by a general faith and knowledge of God And Justin Martyr thought they might be saved by the light of Reason (q) Justin Martyr Apol. 2. His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Dictamen rationis
excell'd in humane Knowledge Moses that man of God was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians Acts 7.22 which was an ornament to him and fitted him for his imployment Paul that great Apostle was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel Acts 22.3 and did abound in humane Knowledge and Learning though he counted it loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Phil. 3.8 And the most eminent Instruments for God in his Church since the times of the Apostles have been men of great Reason and Learning as Athanasius Basil Jerome Cyprian Augustine Luther Melancton Pucer Calvin Jewel Reynolds c. Secondly The Penmen of holy Scripture make use of it in that accurate method those figurative Expressions Rhetorical Proprieties of words insinuating Proems and rational Argumentations which we meet with in the Bible The Apostle Paul deduceth an Inference from a common principle of Philosophy Acts 17.28 29. and quotes the sayings of some Heathen Writers Thirdly Secular Learning Reason and Knowledge being sanctified by the Spirit of God helps a man to understand the Grammatical literal sence which is the true sence of the Scriptures We meet with Physicks in Genesis with Ethicks in the Proverbs and with many Allusions in other parts of Scripture to the nature of Beasts and Birds and likewise with Allusions to the Customs of the Babylonians Jews Persians Romans therefore the knowledge of the Histories of those Nations and their Governments are very useful Fourthly The knowledge of the times by the Olympiads and other wayes of computation wherein humane Authors minister much light is necessary in an ordinary way for the right understanding of Scripture Chronology and the Prophesies of Daniel and the Revelation as appears by the Writings of learned Mede and others Fifthly The knowledge of the Original tongues Hebrew and Greek in which the sacred Scriptures were first penned doth greatly help us to understand the right sense of Scripture wherein there are some Texts which cannot be so fully and emphatically rendered in any vulgar Translation And yet we do not say that this knowledge is absolutely necessary in a Preacher of the Gospel for Augustine himself one of the most eminent amongst the Fathers had but little skill in the Greek tongue and none at all in the Hebrew And so it hath been with divers godly painful Ministers from time to time whose faithful labours notwithstanding God hath blessed with great success Sixthly Humane Learning and Reason is profitable and useful for instructing and convincing Pagans and Heathens who do not yet acknowledge the Christian Faith and divine Authority of the Scriptures Thus divers of the Ancient Fathers as Tertullian Origen Lactantius Basil Cyril Augustine c. confuted the learned Heathen Philosophers out of their own Writings as David killed Goliah with his own Sword And in latter times Aquinas Grotius Morney and others have most learnedly and excellently improved the true sayings of the Heathen Philosophers against themselves and have demonstrated the verity and reasonableness of the Christian Religion which is also endeavoured in this Treatise Seventhly Granting the Scripture to be the infallible Word of God as it is generally acknowledged all Christians we ought to exercise our Reason in searching these sacred Books looking into the Grammar of the Scripture or the forms of expression to find out the truth of them and having an eye to the Logick of the Scripture to the scope context and consent thereof comparing Scripture with Scripture and interpreting the more obscure places by the clearer according to the Analogy of Faith that so we may be able to discern and judge of things that differ Ephes 5.17 1 Thes 5.21 Acts 17.11 Heb. 5.14 which is the duty of every true Christian as hath been proved in the twelfth Chapter of this Treatise In which respect we hold that there is a very good use of Reason (w) Haec autem exploratio atque examinatio doctrinarum fieri non potest nisi adhibito rationis judicio quae judicat de veritate consequentiarum per sua principia de veritate rerum non innitendo principiis sibi notis extra verbum Dei sed in Scriptura sacra traditis B. Daven in Coll. 2. 8. so far are we from teaching that men in searching into the meaning of the Scriptures must become either Fools or Mad-men or Enthusiasts Eighthly and lastly We acknowledge that the Light of Nature and Reason is necessary both in religious and moral things as it is seated in man every man that comes into the world being enlightened by the God of Nature John 1.9 And this Light of Nature and Reason is necessary in two respects First As a passive qualification of the subject for Faith and Repentance for there cannot be Faith and Repentance in a Stone or Beast that wants the Principle of Reason this makes man in a passive capacity fit for Grace although he hath no active ability for it And then secondly It is necessary by way of an Instrument for we cannot believe or apprehend Christ unless we have a principle of Reason in us it being without controversie that an act of understanding or knowledge doth alwayes accompany true Faith Through Faith saith the Apostle Heb. 11.3 we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God CHAP. XXII Wherein humane Reason comes far short and is abused in reference to Divine things HAving in the Chapter immediately going before mentioned divers particulars wherein humane Reason and knowledge is serviceable to the interest of Christianity we shall now in the last place tell you particularly and plainly wherein humane Reason and Knowledge comes far short in matters divine and supernatural summing up in a little room what hath been more largely set forth on this subject both in this and other Treatises * The defects that are in mans Reason First then the great Mystery of the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God and Justification of Sinners by his Righteousness cannot be found out by the Light of Nature and Reason it never entered into the heart of a natural man to conceive of them but these things are of meer supernatural revelation 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Though it be true that when through Faith we have believed them Reason will also subscribe to the truth of them as being revealed by the God of truth who cannot lye yet all the Reason of Men and Angels could never have found out nor come to the knowledge of these Mysteries if God himself had not revealed them There are some Articles of our Faith that are both believed and taken up by Reason as namely that there is a God that the World was created by him and that the soul of man is immortal but then there are other Articles of our Faith which are only believed as the mystery of the Trinity the Incarnation of Christ c. which our weak reason cannot take up or apprehend There is a wonderful depth in the mysteries of the
the reasonable service of God which is spiritual and agreeable to his will This is the true meaning of the Text and yet we acknowledge that the Christian worship under the new Testament administration may be truly said to be a more teasonable service whereof a better reason may be rendered then the sacrifices of unreasonable beasts under the Law and withal that those Christians who by good advice and reason do the things that are agreeable to the will and command of God are they that offer up a reasonable service to God Fourthly Those Principles of Nature and Reason that are left in men do not enable them exactly and perfectly to perform natural and civil actions without the general assistance of God in whom we live and move and have our being And then as for actions spiritually and Evangelically good man by the power of Nature and Reason is wholly unable to perform them for without Faith it is impossible to please God This plainly appears by all those places of Scripture which declare and set forth the sinfulness and corruption of every unregenerate mans nature and estate and also by those Texts which speak of Grace and Conversion and Regeneration as the sole work of Gods Almighty power and the effectual operation of his Spirit which is put forth and manifested in all those that truly believe Ephes 1.19 The natural man saith the Apostle receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 By the natural man here as Calvin and others truly observe he meaneth not properly a man addicted to gross and sensual lusts but every man that is endued only with the Light of Nature and Reason and hath not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him yea the most rational improved natural man this is evident because the natural man is opposed to the spiritual man or him that is born of God and acted by the Spirit of God The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly not such a man as is exceeding carnal and gross in sin and sensuality but souly man an improved rational man or a man made up only of Reason one that doth ex colere animam such as Plato Aristotle and Tully were It is meant of every unregenerate man who is ruled by the Spirit of this World and the meer Principles of Nature and Reason and who cannot spiritually discern and receive the great mysteries of the Gospel but is offended therewith Nay the wiser men are in their own imaginations and reasonings the vainer they are and the more opposite to the grace and simplicity of the Gospel of Christ which stands not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God The other day saith Chrysostome I heard a certain Christian discoursing ridiculously with a Greek each of them in their discourse prejudicing his own Cause for the Greek spake that which the Christian should have said and the Christian spake that which the Greek should have said for the Question between them being about Paul and Plato the Greek endeavoured to prove that Paul was rude and unlearned but the Christian through his simplicity would prove that Paul was far more learned and eloquent then Plato and so the Greek would obtain the victory if the Christian's Reasons should prevail for if Paul were more learned then Plato in humane Arts and Sciences then might men object that he overcame not the World through Grace but through humane Eloquence Therefore saith this Father when the Greeks shall object that the Apostles were rude and unlearned simple obscure persons of no great reason nor parts let us freely acknowledge it as the truth for this is not their reproach but their glory that being such they yet overcame the Learned men the Wise men the Philosophers the Rhetoricians the Orators the Princes and all the World for when any thing is done above the power of Nature this doth exceedingly set forth and magnifie the Grace of God Fifthly A Christian should so far deny his natural Reason and Wisdom in things spiritual that his assent to the Truths and Mysteries of the Gospel may be the assent of Faith as to a divine Testimony and not the assent of meer Reason The immediate ground of this assent should not be the self-evidence of the thing testified in the Scripture to mans reason but the divine authority of God testifying That which is the formal object of Faith as the Schools speak is the first truth or God himself revealing his mind to us Suppose a truth taught in the Scripture be likewise demonstrated to my reason by Philosophical Arguments as namely That God created and governs the World and that the Soul of man is immortal my assent to these Truths is so far the assent of divine Faith as it is grounded and bottom'd upon the authority of a divine Testimony As for that assent which is meerly grounded upon Philosophical reason and demonstration it is not divine Faith but only humane Faith and Reason Sixthly Our Reason is so imperfect so defective so apt to mistake in divine and spiritual matters that we must not make our apprehensions though under pretence of Reason the rule of what we will receive for the Word and revealed Will of God and what we will reject but what the Scripture holds forth must be the rule of our apprehensions though we cannot comprehend the same by our weak depraved reason and understanding otherwise we subject the authority of Gods Truth to our own weak shallow apprehensions and believe him not because he hath said it but because we by our reason can comprehend it and this is dangerous and destructive to the faith of a Christian for the Scriptures do reveal those things that are above our reason What reason of Men or Angels could ever have thought of such a thing as the three Divine Persons of the Godhead the personal union of God and Man in the Mediator the imputation of Adam's sin to his Posterity and the imputation of the glorious Righteousness of Christ to poor Sinners for their justification Without all controversie great is the mystery of godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 But what great mystery is there in it if we by our shallow reason can comprehend it We must pray for Grace saith Mr. Fox (y) In his Preface to Luther on the Galatians the Author of the Book of Martyrs that we may rightly understand the Gospel So strange is this Doctrine to carnal Reason so contrary to the World so many enemies it hath that except the Spirit of God from above do powerfully reveal it Learning cannot reach it Wisdom is offended Nature is astonished Devils and Men do oppose and persecute it briefly as there is no way to life so easie so there is none so hard easie to whom it is given from above hard to carnal Sense and Reason not yet inspired And Luther himself in his Commentary on
Authority of the sacred Scriptures proved by Reason Page 97 1. Because no other or better Revelation of Gods Will can be produced 2. The Old Testament hath been throughout all Ages witnessed to and wonderfully preserved by the Jews 3. The whole universal Church of Christ have all along witnessed the Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament even to the death 4. God hath confirmed the Authority thereof by great and strange Miracles from Heaven 5. The Scriptures are the most antient and authentical of any writing 6. The stile order contexture and frame of the Scripture shew the Divine Authority thereof 7. Another Reason is taken from the wonderful powerful effects of the Doctrine of the Scriptures 8. From the admirable harmony and consent thereof 9. The matter treated of therein is divine and wonderful Here are mentioned five notes of a Divine Power 10. The end which the Scriptures aim at is divine and heavenly CHAP. XIII Of the use of Reason in the interpreting of Scripture and judging of Controversies Page 110 1. Here is a discovery of the unreasonableness of the Popish implicite Faith and blind Obedience 2. Their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is made apppear 1. To be against Sense 2. Against Reason 3. Against Faith 3. 'T is also shewed that there is a twofold Judgment in matters of Religion one in foro publico another in foro privato 4. That every private Christian ought to make use of his Reason and to exercise a Judgment of discretion in trying Spirits and Doctrines This is proved by six cogent Arguments Objections against this tenet and practise answered CHAP. XIV Of the Internal testimony of the Holy Ghost proving the Divine Authority of the Scriptures Page 123 1. It is here shewed that this Testimony is more satisfactory to the Conscience then all other proofs 2. That a Christians Faith should be ultimately and finally resolved into the Testimony of the Holy Ghost and not into the Testimony of the Church which is but humane 3. The Popish Circle is described and the Protestant Doctrine herein vindicated 4. Some Rules and Cautions concerning the Testimony of the Spirit are here propounded to prevent mistakes CHAP. XV. Shewing when Reason is rightly used and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits Testimony in the Scriptures Page 133 1. Reason is the Organ which lets into the Soul the Light of Faith 2. It being overpowered by the Spirit of God sees the greatest reasonableness in the Truths and Wayes of Christ 3. Reason is exceeding useful in maintaining the Doctrine of Christ 4. Nevertheless we should not make Reason the Judge in Divine matters nor subject the Authority of the Scriptures to our Reason as Socinians do Three Arguments against it CHAP. XVI Of the difference betwixt the meer rational and spiritual man and their Acts about spiritual things Here is shewed Page 142 1. That the Spiritual man hath Christ formed in him and lives the life of Christ which the meer rational man doth not 2. That the divine Principle which acts the Spiritual man is more then the improvement of the most excellent natural and rational abilities 3. That man is passive in the new spiritual Birth and cannot by all his Reason discern how this spiritual life is wrought 4. How and wherein the spiritual Mans Acts and Operations do far transcend the meer rational Mans. 5. They differ in the nature and effects of their Faith in reference to Christ and the Promises in five Particulars CHAP. XVII Proving that none can be saved by the meer improvement of the Light of Reason Page 152 1. Divers of the Fathers and some modern Writers have err'd in this Point 2. Four things are laid down for the better opening of it God might reveal his Son if he so pleased in an extraordinary way to some Heathens 3. It is proved by nine Arguments that no rational moral Heathen can be saved without faith in Christ as Mediator One or two material Objections answered CHAP. XVIII Of rational and intellectual delights Here is shewed Page 16â— 1. That every being chuseth to it self some kind of pleasure As 1. God who is the chiefest Being 2. The Angels 3. Men that have rational Souls 4. The sensitive Creatures 2. In what particulars the delights of Reason and of the Mind do far excel the pleasures of the Body CHAP. XIX Shewing that Reason and much more Faith doth fortifie a man against the excessive fear of death Page 172 1. Here are eight Considerations drawn from Reason against the slavish fear of death 2. Seven Arguments are also drawn from Faith in the Word of God against the fear of death 3. The famous sayings of some dying Christians are mentioned CHAP. XX. That humane Reason and the due exercise thereof is a great mercy Page 187 1. This is opened in some particulars 2. It is here shewed that man who hath a reasonable Soul is wonderfully made like a curious piece of Embroydery 1. In respect of his Body and the members thereof 2. In respect of his rational Soul wherein Man far excels other Creatures Five things mentioned relating to the excellency of the reasonable Soul 3. In respect of his new spiritual Birth and participation of the Divine nature CHAP. XXI A Recapitulation of particulars touching the use of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to the Christian Religion Page 195 1. Here are five Considerations premised 2. The excellency and use of humane Reason and Knowledge is particularly held forth As 1. Some that have been famous Instruments in the Church of God have abounded therein 2. The Penmen of the holy Scriptures make use of it 3. It helps us to understand the Grammatical literal sense and the Chronology and Prophesies of Scripture 4. It 's useful for convincing Heathens and Infidels 5. In trying Spirits and Doctrines comparing Scripture with Scripture 6. As a passive qualification of the subject for Faith and Repentance in which case there must be a Principle of Reason CHAP. XXII How and in what respects Reason comes short and is abused in Divine things Page 206 1. Reason cannot discover the mystery of the Trinity Incarnation of Christ c. 2. Nor the sinfulness and corruption of mans heart and nature 3. It cannot prescribe the true worship of God 4. Nor enable us perfectly to perform natural and civil Actions without the general assistance of God 5. Our assent to the Gospel should be the assent of Faith and not of meer Reason 6. The Scripture and not Reason is the Rule for a Christian to walk by in spiritual matters he must be crucified to his Reason Here is also shewed in six particulars when and wherein humane Reason and Knowledge is abused and so becomes dangerous to the Christian Religion
most wicked Superstition CHAP. XII The divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures proved by Reason THe Laws of God as we have heard differ much from the Laws of men these command only the outward man but the divine Laws reach the Spirit and command the inward man which Laws are Recorded in the Sacred Scriptures now that these Holy Writings are the word of God and do contain the Laws of God and the Rule of our Faith and practice may be proved by Reason so far as may convince a Heathen or Infidel that there is such a divine Authority and Efficacy in these Writings as are not to be found in any other First then let it be granted as it hath been clearly demonstrated that there is one living and true God and that this God is to be honoured and adored by his reasonable Creatures with that service and worship which becomes him Then it will undeniably follow That there must be some Revelation made by God himself touching that way of worship wherein he will have us obey him this is practic'd by all wise Princes and States who govern their Subjects in a way of Reason and of Prudence for who can know what pleaseth God but he himself and they to whom he makes known his will and pleasure Now then supposing some Revelation of Gods will in order to that service which he will accept if the Scripture be not this Revelation where then shall we find it Let any man if he can shew some other or better manifestation concerning the will and worship of the great and Holy God then what he hath made known in his Written word Nothing can be the standing unerring Rule of our Faith but what God himself hath made so That which is the Rule must be the law of our Beleif and who can make a Law of this nature but God himself 'T is unreasonable to imagine that any men or Creatures can prescribe to us what we are to beleive concerning God unless God himself make known his will and publish his Laws Secondly As for the Scriptures of the Old Testament which are received and imbraced as the word of God both by Jews and Christians let us rationally consider how the Church of the Jews who were the peculiar People of God to whom were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 have witnessed these Books to be divine and Supernatural Have they not from time to time for many Ages together in their greatest misery and affliction constantly acknowledged and contended for the divine Authority thereof whenas by only denying the same they might have had not only liberty but great preferments in the World And is it not very observable that though the Princes high Preists and others amongst the Jewes persecuted the Prophets and despised their words whilst they lived yet they received their Writings as Prophetical and Divine when they where dead and since blindness and obstinacy came upon the Jewes notwithstanding their great enmity and hatred to the Christian Religion and the Professors thereof yet the Scriptures of the Old Testament yea those very Texts that do evidently confirm the truth of the Christian Religion are kept pure and uncorrupt amongst them Thirdly The Christian Church which embraceth both the Books of the Old and New Testament have witnessed and do still witness to the divine Authority thereof even to the Death the whole Vniversal Church of God even from the first Penning of the Scriptures till this very day have all along professed that these Books are divine and Thousands of them have Sealed the same with their blood this Testimony is of great weight and force though it be not so infallible and effectual to perswade and satisfie the Conscience as the Testimony of the Holy Ghost himself Of all humane Testimonies whereby the Author of any Book that hath is or ever shall be extant can be proved or evinced so as to satisfie mans Reason the Testimony of the Universal Church of God concerning this Book is the greatest and most satisfactory both in respect of the multitude wisdom honesty and faithfulness of the witnesses and the likelyhood constancy and uninterrupted continuance of the Testimony it self Is it probable in a way of Reason that so good and wise a God should suffer so many honest well meaning People to be so long abused and deceived by a false or feigned Book fathered upon himself such a horrid Imposture the God of truth will not endure to lye hid and undiscovered for so many hundred years Christians of all sorts and conditions Noble and Ignoble Rich and Poor Learned and unlearned Married and unmarried Old and Young throughout the World for a long time together have endured the most grievous and exquisite torments that the Devils could invent or the malice of men find out for the defence of this truth and that with great constancy and alacrity with an undaunted heart and merry countenance And can any sober man think that so many thousand persons and some of them of great quality learning and prudence that might have lived bravely and carried a great part in this World should suffer so many and so great things out of meer weakness pride vaine glory discontent or that they should suffer for a fable that hath no Truth nor reality in it This Testimony which is taken from the great sufferings Christian patience joy and courage of the Martyrs is not meerly humane for that courage and cheerfulness which they shewed in the midst of their Torments was not from the strength of humane Nature and reason but it was from above and supernatural Fourthly God hath confirmed the divine Authority of the Scriptures in the view of the World by many great wonders and Miracles from Heaven such as Satan himself cannot imitate such as exceed the power of any yea of all the Creatures in the World such as the most malitious subtil Enemies of God's truth could not deny to be divine These Miracles hath the Lord openly wrought by the hands of Moses the Prophets and Apostles which as they were sufficient to confirm the divine Authority of the Scriptures to them who were eye-witnesses thereof so the undoubted and clear Narration of them is to us an invincible Argument that the Word and Gospel of Christ is from Heaven and not from men the Lord witnessing thereunto both by Signs and wonders and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Heb. 2.4 What shall I say of the Antiquity of the Scriptures and the Doctrine contain'd therein which of all Writings and Doctrines that have been taught and published is the most Ancient In all other Writings and Records the Doctrine of the Creation and fall of man is omitted which yet is particularly and plainly set down in the Scriptures And truly it is admirable to Consider how the power and wisdom and goodness of God have appeared in preserving his written Word and Laws to this day notwithstanding the rage and
subtilty of Antiochus Nero Dioclesian Julian the Apostate and other cruel and subtil Persecutors and notwithstanding that Egyptian darkness of Popery Error and Ignorance which overspread the World for some hundred years since Christ and his Apostles during which time these sacred Writings were laid aside and contemned and blind Ignorance extolled as the Mother of Devotion Fifthly The very Stile of the Scripture argues the divine Authority thereof By the Stile we do not understand the external superficies of words and phrases but the whole order contexture and frame thereof which fitly agreeth to the dignity of the speaker and the nature of the Argument treated of and is excellently and wisely tempered according to the capacity and condition of them for whose sake it was written Indeed every Prophet and Apostle almost had a peculiar Stile God making use of their several faculties and abilities Isaiah is Eloquent and sweet David affectionate Solomon Accurate Jeremiah vehement and more rough and so it may be said of the several Apostles and Evangelists that their Stile is somewhat different but all of them divine and Heavenly The Majesty and excellency of the Stile appears in that Majestick Title and dignity which the Author of the Holy Scriptures doth justly challenge to himself the which imports Independency of nature and essence Supereminency of power and soveraignty and excellency both of properties and works and is further displayed in the manner of teaching which is used in the Holy Scriptures commanding promising and threatning things above sense and reason In this Book there are hidden Mysteries divine and supernatural Truths such as exceed all humane capacity revealed unfolded without Argumentation or Rhetorical motives of perswasion and we are required to understand and beleive them relying only upon the Truth and credit of the Revealer God the great and absolute Soveraign requires in his word such and such things to be done such and such duties to be performed by the Sons of men with great strictness and severity and yet brings no argument to perswade or confirm the equity of these commands but only the will of the Commander which though it becomes not man to do yet it well becomes the Majesty of God In this Book also promises are made of good things to come whereof there is no humane probability nor reason given to assure us of the performance thereof but I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it In the manner of threatning also the like majesty and Soveraign Authority may be observed throughout the Scriptures which you shall not meet with in meer humane writings God commands and threatens without respect of persons be they what they will be 't is all one to him he prescribes his Laws to all men Magistrates and Rulers Schollers and Soldiers to whole Kingdoms and States commanding and requiring what is distastful to their fleshly nature and interest and forbidding what they approve and commend promising them not Earthly Honours and Riches but Life Eternal if they be obedient to the Gospel and threatning them not with Rack or Gibbet but with eternal Death and Torments if they disobey Neither let any man be offended with the low and humble manner of speech used in holy Scripture for it was penned for the use and benefit of the unlearned as well as the learned for those of weak parts as well as for those of strong parts and abilities And though the phrase or manner of speech be plain yet the matter is high and excellent profound and unutterable Plainness and perspicuity doth best become the truth A Pearl needs no painting True beauty needs not a whorish dress to set it forth nor needs the truth of God to be supported or underpropt with forraign aids for it is of it self sufficient to uphold and sustain it self It becomes not the Majesty of a Prince to play the Orator this would be more pedantick in him then in a person more inferior Though the Scripture seems to be plain in word and phrase yet it is great in power No writings of men be they never so well set forth with Wit Learning and Ornaments of Rhetorick can so enlighten the mind move the will pierce the heart and stir up the affections as the word of God doth Nor do the Scriptures want Eloquence if the matter be well weighed no other writing can equalize them The Song of Moses the beginning of the Prophesie of Isaiah and other portions of Scripture in variety and force of divine Eloquence do far exceed and transcendall other Authors Greek or Latine that are extant though never so excellently indited and penned yet it may be easily discerned that the one was written by a Divine the other by a humane Spirit Sixthly the wonderful powerful effects of this doctrine more then any other do clearly demonstrate even to an eye of reason the divine Authority thereof for it inlighteneth the understanding discovereth clearly the evil of sin and the vanity of the Creature converteth the Soul convinceth the gainsayer terrifieth the Conscience of a sinner quickeneth and reviveth the wounded Spirit manifesteth the thoughts of the heart man casteth down strong holds and the power of Satan and remains invincible notwithstanding all the opposition of men and devils for though the nature thereof be contrary to the will and wisdome of the flesh and world yet still it hath prevailed and overcome The enemies that have opposed this doctrine were many and mighty and subtil the Devil the Roman Emperor the learned Philosophers the zealous Jews and the common people being stirred up by them have with incredible fury and falshood and vigilancy endeavoured the utter abolition of it but could never do it This doctrine conquers where it comes either it converts or destroys its Adversaries And what manner of persons are they whom God chuseth as his Heralds and Embassadors to publish this doctrine are they great and many are they learned and wise are they potent and mighty in the world No no they are in number but few in outward appearance simple rude poor and weak despised of men things that are not in the judgment of men by these God hath confounded things that are and through their preaching the Cross of Christ hath subdued many Nations to himself in a little time a great part of this habitable world was converted and brought to the obedience of faith so that Paul filled all places from Jerusalem to Illyricum with the sound of the Gospel Nor is it to be forgotten that the Jews though wasted with many and great Slaughters and though they had and still have a desperate Enmity against Christ and the Christian Religion yet the Scriptures of the old Testament have alwayes remain'd safe and entire in their custodie even when the Hebrew language did lye almost unknown and had perished altogether had not God provided for the true Religion by the care of those Jews so that will they nill they they shall be instrumental
this Divine knowledge and assurance illuminating our understanding renewing our wills and sanctifying our hearts and affections In which sence the Spirit of God in the Scripture is to us a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation opening the eyes of our understandings that we may see by a spiritual light the excellency of those divine Mysteries that are in the Word of God Ephes 1.17 18. Now this Doctrine of ours is no such Circle as the Papists pretend it to be but a plain and strait way for a sober Christian to walk in Thus How know you that the Scriptures are Gods Word We answer By the Scriptures themselves by that wonderful light and excellency of truth and holiness that shineth in them here we would rest and go no further But yet if we be asked How we come to see this light We answer It is by the only work of the Spirit of God giving us eyes to see and hearts to embrace and love the light If we be further urged for some are thus importunate But how know you that you do indeed perceive such a heavenly light as you speak of Or how can you make it appear to others that you are not deceived Now truly this is but a vain question it being an absurd thing to demand a reason of sense which is as if one should ask him that gazeth on the Sun How know you that you see the light Why he is certain that he sees it and knows that he is not deceived though he cannot convince a blind man of it and if in case he that is blind requires him that sees to prove unto him by sound argument that he beholds such an object he demands an impossible thing of him unless he could give him eyes to see it Some of the most learned Papists after all their disputing and wrangling are driven at last to acknowledge this inward illumination and testimony of the Spirit of God Stapleton himself even in that Book where he defends the Authority of the Church saith That the godly are brought to faith by the voice of the Church but being once brought and enlightened with the light of divine Inspiration then they believe no more for the Churches voice but because of the heavenly light And again in the last Book that ever he wrote against learned Whitaker he tells us plainly That the inward perswasion of the holy Ghost is so necessary and effectual for the believing of every object of faith that without it neither can any thing by any man be believed though the Church testified with it a thousand times and by it alone any matter may be believed though the Church held her peace or were never heard Hereby it appears that we may be infallibly assured of the divine Authority of the Scriptures though the Authority and testimony of the Church be not so regarded by us as the Papists would have it But yet when we have to do with Infidels and Atheists that scoff at this divine light and inward testimony of the Spirit we have more Reason on our side as hath been shewed at large to convince them and to prove that the Christian Religion is the true Religion and that the Scriptures do contain the Word and Laws of the most high God then any other Religion nay then all other Religions in the world As for the inward testimony of the Spirit witnessing the divine authority of the Scripture and how it is to be considered take these following Rules * Rules concerning the Spirits testimony for preventing mistakes First That the Spirit of God doth assuredly perswade the Conscience of a Christian that the Scriptures are the Word of God not by an immediate Vision or Revelation under which pretence Satan transforming himself into an Angel of light hath deluded and ensnared many poor souls but by enlightening the eyes of our understanding to behold the light writing the Law in our hearts and inward parts as God hath promised in the new Covenant sealing up the Promises to our souls and causing us experimentally to feel the powerful effects thereof Secondly This divine supernatural perswasion wrought in Believers by the Spirit of God is more certain and more satisfactory then can be proved by our weak imperfect Reason or expressed in words for things doubtful may be proved but as for things that are in themselves most clear and certain we say they need no rational proof or demonstration as the shining of the Sun which discovers it self by its own light needs not be confirmed by any rational Arguments to him that hath his eyes open to see the light thereof Thirdly It is such a testimony and demonstration of the divine Authority of the Scriptures as is certain and manifest to him that hath the Spirit for it makes it self evident where it comes but this is private and particular not publick and common testifying only to him who is endued therewith but not convincing others nor confirming doctrines to them In this case men must have recourse to the visible standing Rule to the written Law and Testimony if any man speak not according to this let him pretend never so much to the inward testimony and revelation of the Spirit it is because the light and truth of God is not in him Fourthly This testimony of the Spirit therefore is not to be severed from the Word which is the Instrument of the holy Ghost and his publick authentick testimony Nor is it injurious to the Spirit of God to be tried by the Word seeing there is a mutual relation and correspondence between the truth of the party witnessing and the truth of the thing witnessed And this holy Spirit the Author of the Scriptures is every where like unto and doth every where agree with himself as it is in a pair of Indentures there is no difference at all between them but the very same things that are mentioned in the one are also mentioned in the other so it is between the Spirit revealing and the truths of God revealed in the Scriptures Fifthly The testimony of the Spirit doth not teach or assure all and every one of the letters syllables and words of the Scriptures which are only as a vessel to carry and convey the heavenly light unto us but it doth seal in our hearts the saving truth contained in those sacred Writings into what language soever they be translated Hence it is that the Apostle tells the Corinthians that they are the Epistle of Christ written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables of stone but in the fleshly Tables of the heart 2 Cor. 3.3 Sixthly and lastly The Spirit of God doth not lead them in whom he dwelleth and witnesseth absolutely and at once into every truth of God so as utterly to dispel all ignorance and darkness out of the soul but he leadeth them into all truth necessary to salvation and by degrees John 16.12 13. Being a free voluntary Agent he worketh when and
where and in what measure he pleaseth so that holy men partakers of the same Spirit in several degrees may err and mistake in some things and dissent one from another in matters that are not fundamental And thus we have given you some Rules to prevent mistakes touching the inward testimony and revelation of the Spirit of God It will not be amiss now to reflect a little yet without any rankor or bitterness against the persons of men upon their opinion that derogate from the Spirit of God and divine revelation and set up Reason as a Judge in matters of Religion and so resolve their Faith finally into Reason CHAP. XV. Briefly shewing when Reason is rightly used and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits Testimony in the Scripture NO discreet rational man will deny the use of Reason in judging matters Civil and Religious in the sence formerly declared and proved If you will shew your self a man and not a beast a judicious understanding Christian and not a Child in knowledge and judgment then you must make use of your Reason in examining those matters that are propounded to you whether Civil or Religious but yet if you admit Reason to be the only Rule or Standard to measure the Mysteries of Faith by and to judge of and comprehend the most divine supernatural Doctrines and Truths of Christ then you ascribe too much to Reason and too little to the Spirit of God and Faith Eye hath not seen nor ear heard saith the Apostle neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him And as none know the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.9 11. The rational Creature is a competent Judge of things meerly rational but the spiritual man only in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth can rightly and spiritually discern and judge of things that are meerly spiritual and supernatural and therefore we must take heed that we confound not the Spirit and Faith of the Gospel with our natural Reason nor prejudice the divine Authority of the Scriptures by ascribing too much to Reason as we ought not to take from Reason that which is due to her in reference to divine matters First Then we acknowledge that Reason is the eye of mans Soul or that Organ which lets into his Soul that divine light and testimony of God which begets Faith and upon which Faith doth rest it self and into which it is finally resolved Reason is not the object on which our Faith resteth but that faculty which being sanctified takes in the light of Faith which leads us to Christ and the things that are heavenly and supernatural The judgment and determination of the Word of God inspired by the Spirit of God is that wherein we finally rest as the rule of our Faith and the light of divine Understanding and Reason sanctified is that whereby a Christian judgeth of spiritual things God in his Word speaks to reasonable Creatures not to brute beasts who by way of discourse weighing what goes before and what follows the Text and comparing Scripture with Scripture do come to a right understanding of the will and mind of God therefore we are commanded as men that have reason in us to search the Scriptures to try the Spirits and to judge what the Apostles say These are acts of Reason and Judgment by the help whereof we are enabled to give a sober rational account of our own Faith and to convince the Adversaries and gain-sayers If you be to deal with an Adversary that hates the Christian Religion how can you think to perswade him to Christianity unless you shew him a reason as indeed the Christian Religion is the wisest and most rational Religion If you say your Church is the true Church you must give a reason for it or else no discreet man will believe you seeing many pretend to the true Church that do not belong to it If you urge a Scripture for your opinion sober men will rationally judge whether it be agreeable to your sence and interpretation or not and accordingly will embrace or reject your opinion It concerns every man as he tenders the peace and salvation of his own soul to be certain of the truth of his Religion And seeing there are so many opinions and such variety of perswasions in the world touching matters of Religion we ought to consider which perswasion hath the best and surest grounds for it that we may with peace and safety venture our souls upon it Now this we cannot well do unless we make use of our Reason in comparing one thing with another that we may embrace the truth and reject error Secondly Though there are mysteries of Faith which Reason cannot comprehend yea in their proper nature they are contrary to the dictates of natural Reason Ex nihilo nihil fit saith Reason and Ex nihilo omnia fiunt saith Faith The dead cannot return again to life saith Reason Thy dead bones shall live again and this mortality shall put on immortality saith Faith yet the rational Soul of man being overpower'd and acted by a higher principle even by the Spirit of God sees the greatest reason in the world to believe these and all other divine supernatural mysteries and truths because the Scripture revealeth them to be of God and from God Is it not meet and reasonable and well becoming us that are rational Creatures to believe the God of Truth speaking to us in his Word though what he speaks seem never so unreasonable never so contrary to flesh and blood Yet Reason will tell us this That all that God speaks for from this pure Fountain can proceed nothing but pure streams is true and good divine and heavenly whatever our corruption saith to the contrary So then our Faith must be resolved into the divine truth and authority of Gods Word and our Reason captivated and subjected unto this higher principle to believe what we find revealed in the Scriptures because it is revealed and comes from the God of truth that cannot lye Thirdly As I have reason to believe all that God speaks in general as being the God of truth so I have reason also to believe in particular that the doctrine of Scripture is Gods revealed Mind and Will Nor is it sufficient to a well-grounded Faith for a man to say he believes all that God reveals to be true but he must also believe that the mysteries contained in the holy Scriptures are the things which God hath revealed for his salvation 'T is true according to the Judgment of our Divines that Faith may rightly be said to be a firm assent without evidence of many things in themselves which we do believe but yet the medium by force whereof we are drawn to believe must be evident unto us As now if I be asked by an enemy
of the Christian Religion Why I believe the Incarnation Death and Resurrection of Christ I answer Because Gods Word testifieth of them as things most certain and true If he ask me further How know you that God hath revealed these things I answer By infallible signs and testimonies from Heaven beyond all humane power as hath been shewed Chap. 12. of this Treatise by which mans reason may be convinced that those writings are of God and so I can prove that a Christian hath more reason for his Religion then any other whether Jew or Turk or Heathen Fourthly Though in these respects that have been mentioned our Reason may be of very good use in reference to spiritual and divine things yet we must not make our Reason the rule and measure of our Faith in matters that are beyond our Reason As for example there is a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead as the Scripture assures us Matth. 28.19 1 John 5.7 Shall I now reject this great Mystery because it corresponds not with the dictates of my Reason and Understanding and say with those self-will'd Socinians that because it is impossible to Reason that three should be one God therefore I will not believe this great Truth But only interpret it thus that these three agree in one and are one by consent of minds and wills for so a thousand men may be one And again If because I cannot conceive or comprehend by my Reason how Christ and his Father can be one in substance and essence therefore I will find out another interpretation which may agree with my Reason though it be contrary to the mind of God in the Scriptures and to the Articles of the Christian Faith Truly this is to set Reason in the Chair or Throne above the Spirit of God in the Scriptures and so the sacred Scripture or Divine testimony shall vail Bonnet to our Sense and Reason and not we to the Authority of God in his Word Now this is the practice of curious proud Wits who will not believe any thing be it never so sublime and mysterious unless forsooth it be made evident to their shallow understandings Hence it is that they consult with the dictates of Reason about the chiefest Articles of Faith and accordingly expound them or rather pervert them denying and rejecting the Person and Offices of Christ the Doctrine of satisfaction and propitiation by Christ the Resurrection of the same Individual body the absolute Decrees of God and other Mysteries of the like nature and so at length God leaving them to their own vain reasonings and the wicked imaginations of their own hearts they become meer Atheists Indeed every Christian as hath been said ought to give a Reason of the Faith and Hope that is in him but we must put a difference between giving a reason of our believing and a reason of the thing believed I believe the Doctrine of the Trinity That Christ is consubstantial and coessential with the Father that he was incarnate and born of a Virgin that Jacob was loved and Esau rejected before they had done either good or evil and the reason and ground of my belief is because the same is written in the infallible Word of God But now to demonstrate and evidence these high Truths and Mysteries to humane Reason from the nature of things or otherwise to disbelieve them this is a course destructive to the Christian Faith and Religion There are some things that are evident in themselves as the Principles of Geometry that every whole and entire thing is bigger then a part of it and the like But then there are other things that are not evident in themselves but are revealed and made known to us both that they are and what they are by a forreign medium without the compass of the things themselves Of this sort are all those things which we are perswaded of by the report of others and this is that certainty of knowledge which we have of things that are believed the truth of which in themselves appeareth not to us nor is seen of us And in this respect Faith is truly said to be an assent without evidence upon the credit of the Revealer In these things our Reason reacheth but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that such things are the Truth of God but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is hid from us we cannot shew a reason how such things should be Thus to tye our Faith to Reason and form our belief by the dictates of reason so as to refuse to believe any thing without evidence from the nature of the thing it self demonstrated and made known to our Reason argues much pride and self-confidence setting up our Reason above the Will of God * Against subjecting the Scripture to Reason revealed and arraigning the sacred Scriptures at the Bar of our Reason Now this is not to be admitted but to be rejected by all Christians and that upon these Grounds and Considerations First Because our Reason and Understandings are but weak and shallow in the knowledge of the Mysteries of Nature and we are much more ignorant and blind in the mysteries of Grace and in things that are divine and supernatural John 1.5 1 Cor. 1.19 20. 1 Cor. 2.11.14 1 Cor. 13.12 When the world by all its wisdom and reason knew not God in Christ It pleased God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.21 by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe Yea not only in the men of the world but in the most eminent Saints there is still much blindness in their understandings and much perverseness in their wills and in the reasonings of their hearts against the Truths of God Now these vain and carnal and foolish reasonings of ours should be regulated and corrected by the Word of God Mans Reason should not presume to regulate the Word but the Word of God should regulate and correct mans Reason The Word is the rule and not our Reason for that which is to be regulated cannot be the rule to regulate Secondly To bring Scripture to the Bar of our Reason and so make Reason the Judge in divine mysteries is exceeding preposterous for this were to subordinate and make subject that which is much superiour to that which is far inferiour that which is perfect and without error to that which is imperfect and erroneous Now certainly that which is weak and corrupt is not fit to judge that which is holy and perfect nor is that which is subject to errors and mistakes as mans Reason is fit to regulate and judge the Word of God which is all light and all truth and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. 3.16 17. As John the Baptist said to Christ (n) Mr. Lyford on Heb. 5.13 14. cap. 1. pag. 28. I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me that am
of Faith You may know that there is a God and that he made the World by the Light of Nature For the things that are invisible are clearly seen and understood by the things that are made whereby we come to know his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 And we must believe this also because God in the Scripture hath revealed it Heb. 11.3 Faith and the Light of Reason go to the knowledge of one and the same thing different wayes Faith doth it because of the divine Testimony Authority and Revelation of God who is Truth and Goodness it self but the Light of Reason doth it because of Arguments drawn from the thing it self by rational discourse However we must hold to this as an undoubted truth that though the Light of Nature and Reason as it is a relict of Gods Image in man be necessary in religious and moral things yet it is not sufficient there being great decayes and languishings in our Reason as the greatest Philosophers themselves have acknowledged V. Consider That if we speak of Nature and Reason as corrupted and depraved by sin as it is in every son of Adam so it is an enemy yea enmity it self against God Rom. 8.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very wisdom of the flesh i. e. the reasonings and discourses of the natural man his best thoughts desires and affections the best inclinations and motions of his mind are not only enemies but enmity against God An enemy may be reconciled but enmity it self can never be reconciled The Apostle 1 Cor. 1.21 useth a strange expression that the World by wisdom knew not God he doth not say that the World through foolishness was ignorant of God but that by wisdom that is by the right use of Reason and discourse it knew not God as Diodate notes upon the Text They became vain in their imaginations saith the same Apostle Rom. 1.21 The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be better rendred thus they became vain in their reasonings or their practical inferences and discourses such as they made out of the principles they had in their understandings So likewise 1 Cor. 3.20 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise not the simple thoughts but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most prudent reasonings and discourses of the men of the world that they are vain You have the same word 1 Tim. 2.8 which is translated without doubting but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without reasoning or dispute In the exercise of Faith and Prayer we must not argue against the Promise by our Reason In this sense the more humane Reason Learning and Wisdom men have the more opposition there is in them against God and the great Mysteries of the Gospel 1 Cor. 1.20 26. and Chap. 2.9 10 11. and Ch. 3.18 19. And therefore Augustine wrote thus to a man of great learning and parts Ornari abs te Diabolus quaerit But now if we speak of Nature and Reason as enlightned and rectified by the Spirit and Word of God so it is an excellent help in matters of Religion let the Word of God let the Testimony of the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures first lay the foundation and then Reason may build upon it Reason should not take the first place or have the preheminence but should be subject and subordinate to Faith as Agar the Bond-woman was to be to her Mistriss Sarah the Free-woman We must not first consult with Reason nor ask a Reason of our believing when we should believe beyond Reason A meer rational considering of means and second causes is a great enemy to Faith If you would believe saith Luther you must crucifie that Question Why God would not have us so full of Wherefores Abraham against hope believed in hope Rom. 4.18 19. Contra spem nempe carnis rationis totius naturae as some of the best Interpreters comment upon it He believed against Sense and natural Reason in hope against hope i. e. in hope supernatural against all the appearances of natural hope nothing doubting saith the Apostle speaking of Abraham's Faith 't is the same word which you find 1 Cor. 11.29 Nothing discerning as when a man looks on things with an eye of Sense and Reason he passeth a judgment of discerning or dijudication upon them as thus some things are easie some things are hard Abraham did not so reason or consider of things when he believed Faith when it is lively and strong will subscribe to a Blank and will rest on the Power and Goodness of God when all things seem contrary in outward appearance and to an eye of Reason Faith can see love in anger light in darkness life in death as we have the Woman of Canaan for an instance besides many others Faith will tell a man that the lower he is cast down and abased the higher he shall be raised and the more he shall be comforted and this is further then Reason can go Faith as a late godly Writer truly observes hath a great and large prospect it can look over all the World yea and into the other World too it beholds God who is invisible and is the evidence of things not seen but now as for Reason it gets upon some little Mole-hill of Creature ability and if it can see over two or three hedges this is much and therefore it is a great trouble to Faith to be tyed to Reason If a man be able to go a journey of two or three hundred miles on foot you will say he is a good Footman yet if you constrain him to carry a little Child with him this will be a great luggage to him for though the Child may run along in his hand half a mile yet he must carry him on his back or in his arms the rest of the way especially when he goes over waters and steep hills which will be no small burthen and trouble Thus it is between Faith and Reason Reason at the best is but a Child to Faith Faith can foot it over Mountains of difficulties and wade through the waters of affliction though great and many but when Reason comes to wade through an affliction or to go over some great difficulty it cryes out and sayes Oh Faith let us go back again and proceed no further No sayes Faith but I le take thee upon my back Reason and so it doth But yet Reason is a great luggage and burden to Faith which never works better then when it works most alone for then it has recourse to Gods Alsufficiency and Omnipotency and finds enough there to quiet and satisfie the Soul But now having premised these five Considerations touching Faith and Reason we shall shew the Christian Reader in some particulars what use he should make of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to divine and religious matters and that it ought not to be rejected but to have its due respect and commendation First We find that many famous godly men have
be born like a wild Asses Colt In the Hebrew there is an elegant Paranomosia Vain man or as the word may be rendered hollow or empty man though he be foolish and ignorant would seem to be wise and rational if he knew how Doubtless God will curse and blast that profane wit and knowledge which despiseth the simplicity of Christs Gospel and will not captivate it self to the obedience of Faith Fourthly When the reasonings or rational argumentations of men are unseasonably and excessively used in divine things the nature of the matter not requiring it then are such reasonings dangerous Hence some of the Fathers are justly censured and the Schoolmen much more for mixing and adulterating the Truths of the Gospel with the Reasons of Philosophers which are no better then Paralogisms and Impostures if mixed with and added to the pure Word of God and the great and glorious Mysteries of Christ Fifthly Then do men abuse their humane Reason and Knowledge when they use needless subtilties quirks and quidditties in debating the great Truths of the Gospel which should rather be humbly believed admired and adored then subtilly disputed Even amongst the Heathens themselves and in all Religions they have had some sacred Mysteries and Secrets that were to be adored and not curiously pried into and disputed by the subtil reasonings of men and whoever did profanely dispute thereof were severely punished Sixthly and Lastly Mans Reason is abused and perverted and proves to be of dangerous consequence when it is made not only an Instrument but a Judge in matters of Faith some there are that seem to depress Reason too much but on the other side the Socinians exalt it too high for they make it not only an Instrument but a Judge and thereupon reject and contemn the greatest mysteries of the Christian Religion because they cannot fathom and comprehend them by their Reason 'T is true there are some that say Religio est summa ratio and there are great learned Men that have endeavoured to prove the truth of the Christian Religion by the Light of Reason and certainly if we can by Reason prove that there is any Religion at all we may by the same reason prove the truth and excellency of the Christian Religion as I have shewed in this Treatise but yet mans Reason is but a weak glimmering uncertain thing in comparison of Faith Ratio recta est ratio lumine Spiritus sancti directa Nor must we confound the Instrument and the Judge Holy Truths Scripture Truths and Mysteries they are divine and supernatural though hammered out and improved by Reason As the Smith that takes Golden plate and beats it into what shape he pleaseth his Hammer doth not make it to be Gold for so it was before but only Gold of such a shape so Reason doth not make a Truth divine or add any thing to the divine authority of it but only holds it forth and declares it in such a way or method It is with Faith and Reason saith a Learned man as with the mould that is at the root of a barren fruitless tree take the mould out and throw in dung or other compost and then put the mould in again and it will much help the tree which hindered it before thus lay aside Reason at first and receive the Truth of God by Faith and afterward improve Faith by Reason and so it will be of excellent use to a Christian Divine Truths are not founded on Reason but on the Authority of God in the Scriptures yet Reason may help to bear them up as you see the Elm or Wall bear up the Vine but the Elm or Wall doth not bring forth the fruit only the Vine doth that As long therefore as the Light of Nature and Reason is not the Rule but ruled and squared by the Word of God as it ought to be there is no danger but when mans Reason is made the Rule and divine Mysteries are vassaliz'd and subjected thereunto this must needs be preposterous and dangerous and therefore to be abhorr'd and avoided by all sober Christians whose Faith should not stand in humane Wisdom and Reason but in the Demonstration and Power of the Spirit of God FINIS Books sold by Thomas Passenger at the three Bibles on London-Bridge A French and English Dictionary composed by Mr. Randolph Cotgrave Folio A Mirror or Looking-glass for Saints and Sinners shewing the justice of God on the one and his mercy towards the other Set forth in some thousand of examples by Sam. 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animosities supplantings disorders and inconsistencies amongst us if the soft and sober voice of reason were more attended to Reason would make some differences kiss and be friends it would quench many a flame and bind up many a wound it would end many petty personal quarrels for the good of the whole and the welfare of the community The Soul is toss'd up and down with passion and groundless suspition but anchors upon judgment and reason This calmness and quietness of reason doth never commend it self more than in complying with Faith in not opposing those high and transcendent mysteries which are above its own reach and capacity such a modesty and humility our reason should always have and practise namely to submit and subordinate it self to all such Divine Revelations as are above its own sphere though it cannot grasp them or pierce into them yet it should ever resolve with all humility and gratitude to admire them to bow its head and adore them One light should not oppose another lumen fidei and lumen rationis may shine both together though in several Orbs and with far different brightness This Candle of the Lord should not be impatient of a superiour light of a brighter Sun The light of reason should no more prejudice the light of Faith than the light of a Candle doth prejudice the light of a Star or the light of the Sun why should there be any strife between Faith and Reason seeing they are brethren both springing from the same Father of Lights though the one be much superiour to the other Indeed there are such infinite Treasures of Grace and Glory displayed in the Gospel as do far transcend Mans Reason and therefore must be apprehended by Faith which is the evidence of things not seen the substance of things hoped for Nature and Reason are not sufficiently proportioned to such high and transcendent Objects here are such depths such pleonasms such weights of glory as do opprimere ingenium humanum If the Sons of Men could have extracted all the Spirits of Reason and made them meet in one head nay if Angels and Men could have united and concentricated all their Reason and Knowledge yet they would never have been able to find out and discover such profound and mysterious Excellencies as the Eye of true Evangelical Faith beholdeth in an instant Revealed Truths shine with their own beams and brightness and do not borrow their lustre from the dim Candle of our Reason whatsoever God who is Truth it self reveals must needs be true Reason is so modest that it will not contradict this for it doth acknowledge a Deity and the unquestionable Truth of a Deity In all believing there is an assent a yielding to him that speaks by virtue of his own authority though he doth not prove and evince it any other way than by meer testimony Reason it self dictates thus much to us that we are to believe such a one whom we have no reason to distrust for without some faith there would be no commerce in the world there 's no trading without some trusting a general and total incredulity would threaten a present and fatal dissolution to human society Men may deceive us for none of them are infallible but God being Truth it self an Eternal Immutable Truth and all Revelations flowing from Him being certain and infallible like Himself hence it is that His naked Word is a sufficient demonstration and he that will not believe a God who is Truth it self is no better than an Atheist yea in some respect he is worse than a Devil for the Devils believe and tremble Though there be many things in the Sacred Scriptures which are beyond the comprehension of Reason yet coming to us in the Name of the God of Truth and bearing the stamp and signature of Divine Authority it is not contrary but agreeable to Reason that we should believe them and assent to them Some there are that endeavour to maintain this Opinion That revealed Truths though they could not be found out by Reason yet when they are once revealed Reason can evince and demonstrate them but I rather incline to the Judgment of Aquinas That humane Reason when it has stretch'd it self to the uttermost is not at all proportioned to them but at the best only can give some weak adumbrations of them 'T will be honour enough for Reason to submit unto Divine Revelation and to captivate it self to the Authority of God in His Word and withall to make it appear to the Adversaries of the Gospel that Faith does not oppose Reason indeed the way of Faith is a far more compendious way longum iter per rationem breve per fidem That which Reason would have been sweating for these many years Faith sups up the very quintessence of it in a moment God hath chosen this way of Faith that he may stain the pride and glory of Man that he may confound the wisdom of the flesh and maintain in Man great apprehensions of Himself of His Divine Revelations Truth and Goodness and keep the Creature in a continual posture of dependency upon Himself and humble submission to His own Testimony and Authority Fourthly The Light of Reason is lumen Ascendens an Ascendant light Reason is soon weary with fluttering up and down among the Creatures and perishing things of this life this Candle doth but waste it self to no purpose in searching for true happiness here below after a diligent search your own Reason will tell you that the summum bonum the chiefest good lies not in the riches honours pleasures of this world no nor in moral virtues and excellencies though some Men far above others have snuffed their Candles with more care and exactness by improving their intellectuals and refining their morals yet at length they sadly perceiv'd that when their Candles were at the brightest they burnt but dimly and blewly and that for all their snuffing they would relapse again into their former dimness and obscurity The Improvements of Nature and Reason will never make a Man perfectly happy This Candle of the Lord would flame and ascend upward towards Heaven but is much weakened and darkned by lusts and passions so that it cannot mount up to God and attain that glorious end and reward which is the happiness of Man Natures eye cannot see it Natures hand cannot reach it nor is there any natural power or operation proportioned to such a high transcendent Object as the Blessed Face of God in Glory And therefore the Nature and Reason of Man must be advanc'd above it self by a supernaturale Auxilium before it can be bless'd with so great a perfection as to arrive to the full end of its being nay God Himself O wonderful Mystery was pleased to assume the Nature of Man that He might make it more capable of this perfection and by a strict Love-knot and union make it partaker of the Divine Nature CHAP. IV. Shewing that the best Heathen Philosophers were
by Judgment and Reason when young men despise the grave reasons of those that are antient and experienced in the ways of God and when private Christians will not be swayed by the weighty reasons of their Pastors and Church-Officers as to Civil circumstances order and decency in reference to the Worship of God but are fierce and heady and disorderly in their actions and proceedings and will give no reason thereof but their own Will and Humor Truly this is irrational and tends to confusion this is not to act like sober understanding Christians nor will it bring Honour to but Contempt upon the ways and Worship of God And as for those persons whatever they be that will take upon them to determine Religious or Ecclesiastical matters that are in Controversie and thereby impose upon their Brethren without giving sufficient grounds and Reasons of their Judgment and Opinion what do they do in effect but blindfold us and bid us lay aside our Reason and Understanding that we may yield implicit obedience to their partial dictates and determinations No man's Opinion in things of this nature should signifie any more to us than the Reasons whereby he confirms it I speak as to wise men saith the Apostle Judge ye what I say 1 Cor. 10.15 Every Party in Religion however distinguish'd when they have gain'd a considerable Reputation amongst men either for their Piety or Learning or Worldly Interest are too apt to run into these unbrotherly irrational Impositions which perhaps they have severely Condemned in others If it be expected from the Magistrate that in these matters he should give a Reason of his Commands and Injunctions how much more should it be expected from them that have not such Authority nor are they in such a Publick Capacity to impose upon others CHAP. VI. Of those that ascribe too much to Reason AS there are some that derogate from so there are others that magnifie too much and even Idolize the light and power of Nature and Reason and so make shipwrack of Faith and the Gospel when they will have us believe no more in Divine matters than we can Comprehend by our weak depraved Reason hereupon the proud Socinians deny and reject many Articles of the Christian Faith because as they conceive they are contrary to Reason The Doctrine of three Persons in one Essence of the two Natures in the one Person of Christ the Satisfaction of Christ and his meriting Eternal life and glory for us the doctrine of Original Sin and of Predestination especially God's decree touching Reprobation are all rejected by them as being contrary to reason What a horrid saying was that of a Socinian in Forein parts That if the Eternal Godhead and Satisfaction of Christ were asserted in Scripture as indeed they are yet he would not believe them because they are against reason that is against his corrupt Reason and vain Imagination And a late Writer of our own Nation is so bold and daring as to tell us in a voluminous Book of his That in case any such assurance of the unchangeableness of God's love as we maintain according to the Scriptures were to be found or could regularly be deduced from the Scriptures it were a just ground to any Intelligent and Considering man to question their Authority and whether they were from God or no. This is plain dealing the divine Authority of the sacred Scriptures must depend upon their reason or opinion so far as they can comprehend by their reason the great and glorious Mysteries of the Gospel to be agreeable to Reason neither above it nor contrary to it so far they will embrace the Gospel but if they find it otherwise they are then in a ready posture to esteem it no better than a Fable as that wicked Pope said No marvel indeed if the Heathen Philosophers especially the Stoicks adore and idolize the supposed power and excellency of Nature and Reason by their Rhetorical Hyperbolical praises when as those that live under the sun-shine of the Gospel are so apt to fall into the same Errour and to attribute that to Nature which is only due to the Grace and Spirit of God What doth Pelagius and his followers whereof there are too many in our days but take the Crown from Christ and set it upon Natures head and place the Creature in the Throne of God and grace A Learned man (d) Ger. Vossius Histor Pelag. gives us this brief Character of Pelagius That he was Humani Arbitrii decomptor divinae Gratiae contemptor a trimmer of Nature and a contemner of Grace All men are born Pelagians Nature is predominant in them and will not easily subordinate it self to a principle of Grace or that which is supernatural and therefore this Doctrine spreads far and near as Bradwardine complains in his time Totus penè mundus post Pelagium abiit in errorem And yet Pelagius though he was such an admirer of the power of Nature and Reason did not altogether deny the assistance of Grace in the point of Conversion and Salvation no more than others who yet at this day ascribe too much to Nature and Reason For first he acknowledged the Assistance of Grace necessary for enlightning the Understanding yea secondly for exciting the Will to determine it self but thirdly he would never acknowledge the supernatural efficacy of the Grace of God upon the Will of Man so as to give it a new and spiritual power and principle and likewise the Acting of that power towards God who gives us both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 This he always bogled at as being unwilling to Captivate Nature and Reason to the efficacious Grace of God in the Gospel and so under a specious presence of the assistance of Grace he advanc'd the natural power and reason of man and changed grace into nature as if there were nothing supernatural in the work of Conversion Sub laude naturae latent inimici gratiae If it be by Grace saith the Apostle Rom. 11.6 then it is no more of work otherwise Grace is no more grace But if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work Nature and Grace Reason and Faith must not be thus mingled and jumbled together for it is not grace indeed unless it be every way pure and free Grace Those that tell us with ignorance and boldness enough That the Improvement of nature and reason may merit grace and glory may as well tell us if they please That a small Candle by its shining may merit to be a Star yea to be a Sun Nor is nature as much as it is exalted by some men always constant to its own light and professed rules and principles which evidently appears by the practice of some darlings of nature whilst they have run into some unnatural vices that were the very blushes of nature And if nature cannot tell how to live upon Earth surely it will never be able
other persecuting Emperours devised most exquisite Torments to be inflicted on the poor Christians and put thousands of them to a cruel death and yet for all this Christianity prevailed and the Kingdom of Christ was enlarged Which is an undoubted Proof and Demonstration even to the Eye of Reason of the Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion and that the Kingdom of Christ is most divine and powerful and not worldly weak and carnal That this Jesus who was born in the little Countrey of Judaea subdued by the Romans of poor Parents in a sorry Village destitute of Friends and of all Worldly helps and advantages should give Law to and Conquer the World by His Gospel or the Word of His Kingdom is not this wonderful And would ye know what He promiseth His Subjects and Followers Why instead of great matters that they might expect in this Life He tells them plainly what great Afflictions and Tribulations they must endure for His sake if they will follow Him and be His Disciples indeed they must expect to be persecuted reproached scourged imprisoned and put to death Whereas other Kings and Monarchs promise great Dignities and Preferments in the World to their followers this King on the contrary by the Doctrine of the Cross drew the Nations to Him other Monarchs Conquer by killing their Enemies this King Conquered by dying for His Enemies the death other Monarchs is the decay and ruine of their Kingdoms and Conquests but the death of Jesus hath established and enlarged His Kingdom and is the life and happiness of His Subjects Who seeth not therefore by the Light of Reason a humane weakness in the greatness of Worldly Empires and a divine power in the weakness of Christ's Kingdom When He died and was buried His Kingdom seem'd to die and to be buried with Him a few poor despised Followers He had and these were at their wits end when their Lord and Master was Crucified and laid in the Grave Well but at length they open their mouths and boldly teach men to believe on Jesus who was Crucified and Buried but is now Risen again and to suffer for His sake And if they be forbidden they will rather die than not Preach and own this Crucified Jesus hereupon they are accused and brought before Magistrates where they own their Crime as their Adversaries term'd it and are not asham'd of it and is not this admirable Other Malefactors are tormented to make them confess their fault and these are tormented to make them conceal it those hold their peace to save their lives these die for speaking and yet by this strange way and means Christ that was crucified spreads His Kingdom and fills the whole World with it Out of weakness he brings forth strength and out of death he brings forth life And who can thus draw one contrary out of another Who can thus overcome by yielding who can thus trample upon and triumph over his Enemies by dying but Jesus in whom the power of the Eternal God was and whose Kingdom is not of this World but Divine and Heavenly Whilst He lived upon Earth He was despised and rejected but after His death He is worshipped as God even to this day and His true Followers will rather die a thousand deaths than deny His Eternal Godhead and Kingdom And may not this one Consideration if there were no more touching the Kingdom of Christ wherein it far excels the Kingdoms of this World serve to convince any sober rational man of the verity and efficacy of the Christian Religion Sixthly What strange Conversions and Changes have been wrought by the Gospel of Christ in the Hearts and Lives of some of the most eminent and famous men for Learning and Parts How were they wrought upon and converted by the plain Preaching of weak simple men Even by the foolishness of Preaching as the World counts it that so the divine power and excellency of this Jesus and of the Christian Religion might the more appear Paul befor his Conversion was counted a wise and learned man and was in great reputation so that Porphyry the famous Philosopher saith of him that it was great pity such a man should be a Christian yet when Paul had received the greatest Authority and raged most against the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ he was wonderfully converted and turned quite another way and was glad to tread many a weary step and to endure many great difficulties for the Gospels sake Origen also a man of great Learning and knowledge in Philosophy and the Arts being converted by a divine power to the Christian Religion was content to be a poor Catechist in Alexandria and was every day in danger of death when he might have been with his fellow Plotinus in great Authority and Favour had it not been for his Christian profession Surely it must needs be some Divine and Heavenly power that did thus prevail upon these men and upon many other Wise and Learned men that might be mentioned Never was there such wonderful Conversions in any Religion as in this never such sound Repentance and Reformation never such true Justice Fortitude and Constancy in Affliction even to Death and Martyrdom as in this so that it was commonly said of the Christians Soli Christiani mortis contemptores Seventhly 'T is an Argument of the Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion That it hath been so much opposed and persecuted from time to time by the rage and cruelty of the Devil and wicked men As it was commonly said of that Monster Nero a Persecutor of Christians That it must needs be a good and excellent thing which so wicked a man hated The more wicked and ungodly men are the more they hate that which is Divine and which most resembles the Holy God Now no Religion or Profession in the World hath been so desperately hated and persecuted by wicked ungodly wretches as the Christian Religion and yet the more it has been opposed and trampled upon by them the more it has prevailed and flourished even in despight of their rage and malice What a miserable end did befal Herod and other great Persecutors of this Religion Many of which did vindicate Christ and His Truth at and by their death when the Hand of God was heavy upon them though they had raged against Him in their life time and done whatever they could to root out His Kingdom and People Nay Satan himself the greatest Persecutor of all hath witnessed for the Christian Religion against himself All the Art Magick which he invented could never Conjure or call up Christ Plotinus and Apollonius and other great Magicians that rais'd up the Image of Jupiter and other Heathen Gods though they assayed with all their skill and power to bring up the Image of Christ yet could they never effect it for Christ is not subject to their power being infinitely above them 'T is well known to the Heathens that at the Birth and Death of
in maintaining and promoting the doctrine and kingdome of Christ Seventhly That sweet and admirable harmony and consent which is found in the sacred Scriptures cannot be rationally ascribed to any but to the Spirit of God and the divine wisdome each part agreeing so exactly with it self and with the whole which sufficiently appears by comparing the Prophesies of the old Testament touching Christ the calling of the Gentiles the reception of the Jews and other remarkable things with the accomplishment of them as the same is plainly declared and revealed in the new Testament Such exact consent and agreement as is here to be found is impossible to be feigned of men or Angels from whom the things foretold were hid till they were revealed Nor could there be forgery in these writings if we consider in a way of reason the length of time in which these writings have continued and been judg'd Authentick that they were not written in one or two but in many ages that there was a multitude of Books and of writers imployed in this Service and that these writers were distant in place one from another so that they could not confer together and withal if we consider the deep silence of the Adversaries who in all that long time whilst the Scripture was in writing could never detect any thing in those books as false or forged whose silence in this case is of great importance because they were eye witnesses of those things which our Saviour taught did and suffered according as it was prophesied of him so that they knew the prophesies saw the accomplishment of them and were acquainted with that which the Apostles had written Yea many or most of the things relating to Christ and his Apostles and the accomplishment of prophesies are mentioned and recorded in the writings of some heathen Authors that lived and wrote not long after those times If the Prophets and Apostles in their writings seem to dissent one from another for it is but a seeming not a real dissent in any circumstances this derogates nothing from their Authority for in themselves they differ not the fault is in our ignorance and misapprehension for by a right and just interpretation they may be easily reconciled and that dissonancy that seems to be amongst them in small things doth free them from all suspition of fraud and their sweet harmony and consent in all matters of importance may in reason convince us that they wrote by the guidance and direction of one and the same Spirit of truth If they had all written one thing they might seem superfluous if each had written a new History there could not have been such a full harmony and agreement when they relate the same story with the same circumstances they have their use and benefit one sometimes speaking more plainly then the other and when they agree in matter and only seem to dissent in some circumstances the truth is the more confirmed and an argument of fuller credit and certainty may be drawn out of that seeming dissent for as it is truly and wisely observed too exact diligence in every little circumstance is neither approved by all nor doth it want suspition There is in the holy Scripture as a learned man writing in defence of their Authority saith a Majestick kind of security under many seeming contradictions which yet neither the honour of their truth nor that harmony which they have in and with themselves do or shall at all suffer by Nor do the Scriptures stand to excuse and purge themselves as if there were any cause to suspect them of any contrariety or contradiction No they speak from place to place whatever they have a mind to say with that liberty and freedome as if there were nothing said by them elsewhere that either was like to suffer the least prejudice by it or to cast the least prejudice on it To that sweet agreement and consent that is in the holy Scripture with it self we may further add that it agreeth with all other truths whatsoever there is nothing true in Divinity which is false in true Philosophy nothing in Philosophy is repugnant to the truth in Divinity but it may be overthrown by the principles of right and true Philosophy which are and ought to be subject to Divinity Eightly The matter treated of in the Scripture is divine and wonderful which may convince us that it is the word of the eternal God it opens and reveals the greatest and most glorious Mysteries as the nature properties attributes and high acts of God and how he will be worshipped and adored It describes the person natures virtues and excellencies of Christ so fully so clearly that if the mind of man consider it attentively he must of necessity acknowledge that it doth far exceed the reach of a finite understanding and humane capacity it discovers to us the corruption and misery of man by nature the great and unparalled love of God in Jesus Christ towards lost man and the happy agreement of his infinite justice mercy and wisdome in ordaining Christ to be our Mediator and reveals the covenant of grace which God made with man after the fall for restoring him again to Gods favour All which can be derived from no other fountain but the Spirit of wisdome and Revelation 1 Cor. 2.7 8 9 10. Eph. 1.17 18. The Scripture also contains the law of God which teacheth the whole duty of man towards God and towards men in the precepts of Scripture there are divers notes of a divine power and wisdome as First The surpassing excellency of the acts required of us namely that we should deny our selves and conform our hearts and lives to the Image of the word of God Secondly the wonderful equity that doth appear in every Commandment Thirdly The admirable strangeness of some acts and duties as regeneration self-abasement the renouncing of our own righteousness and parting with all we have for Christ which a meer natural man would count foolishness and madness yet prescribed as necessary Fourthly The manner how obedience is required to be performed by us it must proceed from an inward spiritual principle even from a pure heart a good Conscience and faith unfeigned Fifthly The perfection of the holy law of God commanding and allowing all good and forbidding and condemning all sin and wickedness whatsoever in thought word and action not only the filthiness of the flesh but also the filthiness of the Spirit and that with reference to all persons times and places without exception binding the Conscience and reaching the very thoughts and secrets of the hearts of men And do not all these things which would fill a great Volume if I should treat of them at large clearly and convincingly set forth the divine Authority of the Scriptures so as we should acknowledge no other Author of those sacred writings but God himself for who can contrive these things but he who is infinite in power and wisdome who can give eternal life
or inflict eternal death and condemnation by the word of his power but the eternal God Ninthly The end of the Scriptures is divine namely the Glory of God and the Salvation of man not so much Corporal and Temporal as Spiritual and Eternal The Doctrines precepts promises prohibitions narrations threatnings punishments and rewards thereof are all referred finally and ultimately to the praise and glory of God the supreme being and chiefest good which shews plainly that they are divine and from above And to speak truth and reason what is more equal and just then that all things should return thither from whence they had their first rise and Original for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom everlasting glory is due from all Creatures Rom. 11.36 The Scripture plainly points out to man what true blessedness is wherein it consists and where and how it is to be had and enjoyed namely in the everlasting vision and fruition of God in Heaven which men may attain unto by the true knowledge of Christ in whom God is reconciled and well pleased And this is a firm and clear demonstration of the divine Authority and excellencie of the Scriptures for what is more agreeable to the wisdome bounty mercy goodness and power of God then to restore man fallen and to make him partaker of eternal bliss and happiness and who can shew to man how he may be restored and admitted into the favour of God having offended his glorious majesty who can direct and lead him in the way to true bliss and happiness but God who is wisdome and goodness it self and who hath effectually done it in and by his Son the essential Word and by the Scriptures which are the written word of God These Arguments and demonstrations whether they be severally or joyntly considered by us do as strongly prove and evince that the Christian Religion is the only true Religion and that the Scriptures are the word of God as any reason can prove that there was is and ought to be any true Religion or Rule to walk by in matters that concern Religion and the worship of the Deity and therefore may serve to convince and satisfie the reason of any sober man touching the divine Authority of the Religion and Laws of Christ CHAP. XIII Of the Use of Reason in the interpretation of Scripture and judging of Controversies EVery Christian should so far improve his Reason as not to be impos'd upon in matters of faith by the meer dictates of men be they Princes be they Popes be they Councels be they never so learned or pious he ought not in aliorum sententias pedibus potius quam cordibus ire Reason and Judgment in these matters should go before and make way for his practice As there are some that vainly magnifie and lift up the Reason of man above the Spirit of God in judging of the Authority and mind of God in the Scriptures so there are others and more especially that Bestial Antichristian Kingdome of the Papacy that would transform reasonable men and Christians into sensitive and irrational Creatures by the deceit and Legerdemain of a Popish Implicit credulity which commands men to put out their Lamps to pluck out their eyes and in a manner to renounce their Senses Reason and understandings and so to follow their leaders blindfold wheresoever they go And I could wish there were not too much of this Implicit faith and blind devotion amongst Protestants yea and amongst some that seem more forward and zealous then others at least for a party The Ranting Romanists tells us with noise and clamour enough of a visible supreme Tribunal and an infallible head of the Church here upon Earth who is to regulate all persons and determine all controversies though never so much against the rules of Scripture and Reason others of them more prudent and moderate resolve the final Judgment of Controversies into the determination of a general Council and all of them generally make the Authority of the Scriptures to depend wholly upon the judgment of their Church Hence was that impudent saying of Bayly the Jesuite that without the Authority of the Church he would believe St. Mathew no more then Titus Livius a Heathen Author And Stapleton is so much for a blind Implicit obedience in contempt of Reason that he tells us plainly the people are so subjected to the Sentences of their Pastors that if their Pastors err in any thing the people may and ought to err in obedience to them And again as the Jews were to believe Christ saith he so are we simply and in every thing to believe the Church of Rome whether it teacheth Truth or Error O monstrous Is not this a base Tyranny a Brutish unreasonable act of theirs when they go about to make us believe that to be white which we know to be black that to be true which we know to be false there are some indeed amongst them more rational and sober who would not have private Christians put out their eyes but make use of their Reason and Judgment in reading the Scriptures and judging of Controversies The examination and trial of Doctrines concerning faith saith Gerson belongeth not only to the Pope and Councils but to every Christian also that is grounded in the knowledge of the Scripture because every Christian is a fit Judge of that which he knoweth And the saying of Panormitan another of their Doctors is well known that one faithful man though he be but a private man is more to be believed then the Pope or a whole Council if he have better Reason and Scripture Authority on his side Chrisostome in answer to this Objection that there are so many and so great dissentions amongst Christians that we know not of what opinion to be of nor whom to believe hath these remarkable words Tell me hast thou any Reason or Judgment for it is not the part of a man barely to receive whatsoever he heareth but if thou diligently mark the meaning thou mayst throughly know that which is good when thou Buyest a Garment though thou hast no skill in weaving yet thou sayest not I cannot buy it they deceive me but thou dost what thou canst to come to the true knowledge of it say not then I am no Scholler and will be no Judge I can condemn no opinion for this is but a shift and a cavil and therefore let us not use it for these things are easie to them that endeavour after true knowledge Hath not every Christian a reasonable Soul an understanding faculty which God hath endued him with that thereby he might search and try and discern the things that differ To what end hath God set up this light in mans Soul if he must not use it in searching the Scriptures and trying Doctrines but must give way to Sloth and Ignorance Is not this to transform man into a Beast and is it not Brutish ness and folly in him thus to
far thy inferiour So may our Reason say to the blessed Word of God I am far inferiour to thee and have need to be regulated and reformed by thee and comest thou to me No no it is my greatest honour to submit my self to thee and thy Divine Authority Thirdly Upon this ground also mans Reason is denyed to be the Rule and Judge in matters of Faith because one man cannot prove infallibly to another man that his Reason is the right Reason in such a case He pretends Reason so do I A third man comes and pretends to as much Reason as either of us and experience shews that divers men yea good men have different Reasons and different apprehensions in many points of Religion Nor can a man be certain that this or that is the true meaning of a Text if he have nothing to assure him thereof but the appearance and probability of his own Reason for others that differ from him think they have and may really have as much or more Reason on their side then he Indeed if we compare our own Reason with the Reason and Authority of other men which have decreed thus and thus then must we give the preheminence to our own Reason when a clearer evidence is propounded and presented to our Reason for every one is to judge for himself with a judgment of discretion and discerning as hath been formerly proved and 't is unreasonable and absurd for a man to assent to a lesser evidence when a clearer evidence is propounded to him 'T is true there are not many that are well able to judge for themselves in the Controversies of Religion and therefore God hath provided spiritual Guides and Shepherds to go before them and help them but yet Christians must not resign up their wits and senses to follow them where-ever they go if they would lead us blindfold we should not put out our eyes to follow them but should rationally and impartially weigh and consider the grounds of their doctrine and practice Doth such a godly learned man tell you that this is firm ground you may go safe upon it And do you see it to be so by the eye of your Reason enlightened by the Spirit of God Then you may follow him as a man of judgment and understanding and not like a beast that is led he knows not whither and herein you have the advantage of his Reason and of your own too CHAP. XVI Of the difference between the meer rational and spiritual men and their knowledge and acts about spiritual things THe light of Reason should be made use of and improved by every Christian in searching the Scriptures and trying Spirits and Doctrines yet so as we must not confound the principles knowledge and operations of the natural man or meer rational man with the principles knowledge and operations of the spiritual man There is a twofold knowledge of spiritual things a natural or rational knowledge and a spiritual and supernatural knowledge The former is but Historical as when a man reads of such a Country in a History or sees it only in a Map at a great distance but was never there himself to take a full view of it and report the things that are there of his own certain knowledge The latter kind of knowledge is intuitive or a knowledge of spiritual vision beholding the things themselves in the light of Gods Spirit distinctly and at hand No Creature or created thing can go beyond its sphere or comprehend that which is beyond its capacity The vegetative creature cannot reach so far as the sensitive nor the sensitive so far as the rational nor can the meer rational creature comprehend that which the spiritual man doth Such as are alive to God and have spiritual union and conjunction with Christ the second Adam the quickening Spirit live and act from a higher principle and in another kind then meer natural or rational men do The soul of the natural man acts his body and the more he improves the light of reason the more rational and considerate he is in his actings and operations But the soul of the spiritual man is under the power of Gods Spirit and the glorious operations thereof and as far as Gods Spirit is above the spirit of man so far is the life of Grace or the life of the spiritual man above that of Nature 'T is true saith Luther (o) Luth. Com. on Gal. cap. 2. v. 20. that I live in the flesh but this life whatever it is I esteem as no life for indeed it is no true life but a shadow of life under that which another liveth that is to say Christ who is my true spiritual life which life thou seest not but only hearest and I feel as thou hearest the wind but knowest not from whence it comes or whither it goes even so thou seest me speaking eating walking sleeping and doing other things as other men do and yet thou seest not my true life This spiritual life which far transcends the meer natural or rational life must be discerned spiritually the spiritual man hath a white stone in which his name is written which none can read but himself He is the Son of God an Heir of Heaven therefore the world knows him not even as we know not the Sons of Princes were they amongst us who dwell in Countreys far remote from us but his life which now is hid with Christ in God shall fully appear when Christ appears in glory Col. 3.3 4. First Then the spiritual man hath Christ formed in him by the holy Ghost Christ is in him the hope of glory and he lives the life of Christ which a meer rational man doth not there is a spiritual supernatural principle or ability planted in him which still remains and abides and which differs much from natural habits for these are partly and sometimes wholly acquired by use and frequent practise whereas this spiritual principle is not gotten or acquired but infused nor can it be utterly lost as natural habits may but abides for ever John 14.16 Sometimes 't is called the Seed of God which shall grow up to perfection 1 John 3.9 Sometimes a Fountain yielding continual supplies of Grace John 4.14 sometimes from the Author from whom it is derived 't is called the life of Christ 2 Cor. 4.10 11. and sometimes the new birth or being regenerated and born again John 3.5 7. Doubtless it is a most powerful spiritual principle which raiseth and elevateth the soul far above natural strength and reason Those Creatures that have no higher principles and faculties then sense use them sensually but as for man who enjoyes the fame faculties under the command of a reasonable Soul he useth them rationally but when he is new born and becomes a spiritual man those faculties of the understanding will and affections which when they had no other command but Reason had no more but rational operations being now governed and acted by the Spirit of
the Heart and the Brain and in these God hath placed the natural vital and animal spirits These spirits are carried by the veins arteries and Nerves the veins carry the vital spirits from the Liver the arteries carry the natural spirits from the Heart and the nerves carry the animal spirits from the Brain The several members of the body are helpful and serviceable one to another the superiour rule the inferiour as the Eyes guide and direct the whole Body and the inferiour support and uphold the superiour as the Feet Legs and Thighs support the whole Body and as for the middle members they defend the Body and provide things necessary for it as we see in the Hands and Arms. This variety of the members of the body sheweth the excellent Wisdom of God for if all were an Eye where would the seeing be 1 Cor. 12.15 So excellent is the body of man that there are sundry members thereof which God ascribes to himself as the Head the Heart the Eyes the Ears the Feet to express his Attributes to us yea God hath made the body of man a Temple for himself to dwell in and the Son of God hath assumed the body of man in one person to his Godhead a dignity which the Angels are not called unto After the making of man he left nothing unmade but to make himself man Secondly Man is curiously wrought and contrived in respect of his rational immortal Soul and those two noble faculties the Understandtng and the Will wherein man far excels all the sensitive Creatures The rational Soul is the better part of man more worth then all the World besides Mark 8.36 37. What is the body of man without the soul but a dead Trunk an empty Case 'T is the soul that is the pearl or precious jewel the creation infusion and operations whereof are like a curious piece of Embroydery well becoming the Creator and Contriver thereof who is a simple immaterial immortal Spirit the Spirit of spirits the Supream and Soveraign Spirit the God and Father of Spirits Numb 16.22 Bless God O man that hath given thee a reasonable Soul and inspired thee with an immortal Spirit wherein thou far excellest other Creatures For First The reasonable Soul of man can conceive of things by the light of understanding as well as by sense yea it can conceive of things that never were in the Senses as things absent which the Senses never saw nor apprehended it can conceive of things spiritual and immaterial as Angels and Spirits yea of the divine Attributes of God and that which is invisible by the things that are visible we come to the knowledge of God who is invisible Rom. 1.20 Secondly The rational Soul is able to reflect upon its self and its own acts and operations which no meer sensitive Creature can do it understands that it doth understand and knows that it doth know And this understanding and knowledge of the rational Soul is large and extensive for it can in a moment go over almost the whole World and view it all as it were at once whereas the Senses are limited and confined to a very narrow compass Thirdly The rational Soul can invent things that were never before in being What strange things for number and skill and variety are daily invented and contrived by mans wit and reason by which also many great matters both Civil Military and Ecclesiastical are ordered and regulated This is that Candle of the Lord which searcheth all the inward parts of the Belly Prov. 20.27 And God hath set the World in mans heart in regard of that reason and understanding that is in him Eccles 3.11 Fourthly The excellency of the reasonable Soul of man appears in this that his understanding after a sort is made one with and becomes the things that are understood in that it conceives a true Image and Idea of the things to be understood and herein the rational Soul doth somewhat resemble God himself who hath the perfect Idea of all other things in himself so the Soul of man doth as it were form Worlds of things within it self Fifthly The excellency of the rational Soul appears in that divine thing called Conscience which is more then a thousand Witnesses yet subordinate to a higher Tribunal beings Gods Deputy for God is greater then Conscience 1 John 3.20 No man be he never so great and potent can alwayes bribe Conscience but it will give an impartial verdict at one time or other either accusing or excusing him In these and other particulars men may contemplate the excellency of Reason and praise God for the exercise of it Thirdly and lastly The rational Soul of man becomes much more excellent and is like a curious piece of Embroydery by a new Creation being made partaker of the Divine Nature whereas by sin the Soul of man was corrupted and alienated from the Life of God yet now being born again of the Spirit of God and Christ being spiritually formed therein it recovers the Image of God and is restored to a holy fellowship and communion with him and will be a curious excellent Piece indeed when she is perfectly transformed as she shall be into the divine Image and cloathed with Glory and Immortality Psal 45.14 2 Cor. 5.2 Let us now briefly recapitulate the Heads of this Discourse * A Recapitulation of the several Heads touching Faith and Reason so far as we have proceeded It requires much spiritual Skill as hath been said rightly to distinguish between them and give to each its due though mans Reason be much weakened and obscured yet a good use may be made thereof both in Civil and Divine things There is a light in Reason though far inferiour to that of Faith How far this Light of Reason extendeth we have shewed The best Heathen Philosophers were sensible of great defects and languishings in their natural Reason and Abilities though they ascribed too much thereunto Some there are amongst Christians that give too little to Reason in Religious and Ecclesiastical concerns but others more generally offend in giving too much and therefore we have here declared how and in what respects Reason and moral Prudence should be exercised by us both in Civil and Church affairs The Light of Reason proves that there is a God or Supreme being and that the Soul of man is immortal and also the truth of the Christian Religion and the divine Authority of the Scriptures and is of excellent use in comparing and interpreting the Scriptures and judging of Controversies But though Reason be useful in these respects yet the internal testimony of the holy Ghost doth principally witness the divine Authority of the Scriptures and satisfie Conscience touching the same Here is shewed when it is that Reason is rightly used and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits testimony in the Scripture and likewise the difference betwixt the meer rational and spiritual man and their knowledge faith and operations in and about
Montelion Knight of the Oracle Hodders Arithmetick in twelves Ovid de tristibus in English Bishop Hall's Soliloquies in twelves The Poems of Ben. Johnson Junior A plain and familiar Exposition of the ten Commandments by John Dod. A TABLE of the chief Heads of this TREATISE CHAP. I. Of distinguishing betwixt Faith and Reason Page 1 1. HEre is shewed that it requires much spiritual Skill rightly to distinguish them 2. That Morality is one thing and Christianity another CHAP. II. Shewing that Reason is useful both in Civil and Divine things Yet withal 't is presupposed Page 4 1. That the Light of Reason in us is much darkened 2. That it wrangles against the greatest Mysteries of the Gospel 3. That men of great Reason and parts have promoted the greatest errors CHAP. III. How far the Light of Reason extendeth Here is shewed Page 6 1. That this light is but a derivative light like the light of a Candle and not like the light of the Sun 2. 'T is but a diminutive light 3. 'T is notwithstanding a quiet and peaceable light so far as it goes 4. 'T is an ascendant light and cannot find the chiefest good in things below CHAP. IV. How the Heathen Philosophers themselves have complain'd of great defects in Nature and Reason Page 13 1. Here are several Instances given 2. Solomon himself was sensible of much darkness though his intellectual Lamp burnt far brighter then others 3. Christians should not magnifie the light and power of Nature the defects whereof are acknowledged by moral Heathens CHAP. V. Of them that give too little to the Light of Reason As Page 15 1. Such as will not admit of a rational discourse in matters of Religion 2. Such as rely on Enthusiasms 3. Such as hold an annihilation of the faculties of the Soul in Regeneration 4. Such as will not be regulated by Reason in civil Circumstances relating to worship but cause disorder and confusion in Church-Assemblies CHAP. VI. Of those that ascribe too much to Reason As Page 18 1. The Socinians who reject the greatest mysteries of the Gospel because they cannot comprehend them by their corrupt Reason 2. Pellagius and his followers whereof there are many in our times who derogate from the Grace of God and extol the power of Nature CHAP. VII Of the use of humane Reason in civil matters Here is shewed Page 21 1. That it is the most rational and prudent way to be governed by known Laws 2. That such Laws are best as are most agreeable to Reason and tend most to the publick good 3. That the most rational Men are fittest to be Law-makers 4. That such are also of best ability and capacity to administer the Laws and Government CHAP VIII Of the exercise of Reason in Church affairs Page 27 1. Reason suggests that men should joyn together in Societies for the visible worship of God 2. That there should be order and Government in these Societies and that all should not be Rulers but some should obey 3. That such as administer the worship of God in Religious Societies should have due reverence and maintenance 4. That every Christian ought to joyn himself to a Chureh-society that he may visibly worship God with others 5. That men ought not to assign any other Conditions of Church-communion then what Christ hath prescribed in his Word 6. That such as are admitted into a Church-society should freely consent to be governed by the Laws and Rules thereof 7. That they should remain in such a Society and not break off communion on slight grounds 8. That all things in Church assemblies should be administred with much seriousness and gravity that so the Ordinances of God may be rendred majestical 9. That there must be some way or other for determining differences arising in such Societies Here is shewed 1. That Appeals are founded upon the Law of Nature and Reason 2. That it is a more rational and prudent way to have Controversies determin'd by a grave Assembly of godly learned Pastors then by a few ingaged persons in a particular Society CHAP. IX The Light of Reason proves that there is a God Page 40 1. By the frame of this World 2. By the Original of all things here it is demonstrated that the Creatures cannot have their being or beginning from themselves 3. That there must be a first Cause or Mover of all else there would be before every Mover another Mover and so in infinitum 4. It appears to the eye of Reason that there is a God by the distinction of good and evil 5. By the great and glorious Miracles that have been wrought in the World 6. By the wise governing and ordering of the several Creatures and the plentiful provision that is made for them 7. By the testimony of mans Conscience which sheweth that there is a supreme Judge that commandeth the inward thoughts and bindeth the Conscience 8. By the vast desires and capacity of mans Soul which will not be satisfied without the enjoyment of the chiefest good 9. By the continual assaults of Satan who would utterly extinguish the knowledge of God in men 10. By the wonderful preservation of the Church of God which though it hath been as a burning Bush yet it is not consumed This Principle That there is a God hath shewed it self even in Atheists especially in three Cases 1. When they have been surrounded with difficulties 2. In the time of bodily sickness 3. When old age comes and multitude of years teach them experience CHAP. X. The immortality of the Soul of man proved by Reason Page 54 1. Because it abstracts from that which it understands all quantity quality time place c. 2. Because the Soul receives impressions of Immortality and is spiritual in its operations 3. No mortal corruptible thing can satisfie the desires of the Soul 4. If Mans Soul were not immortal then the sensitive Creatures would excel Man 5. The Soul is not subject to motion being most perfect when most free from motion therefore she is not corruptible 6. Another Reason is taken from the Justice of God 7. From the universal consent of all Nations in one kind of Religion or other CHAP. XI The truth of the Christian Religion proved by Reason Page 62 1. From the Antiquity of it 2. From the excellent way and means of atonement and propitiation held forth therein 3. From the glorious divine Miracles and Works of Christ and his Apostles Objections against the same answered 4. From the precious excellent Doctrine and Life of Jesus 5. From the nature and success of Christs Kingdom 6. From the strange Conversions that have been wrought by the Christian Religion 7. From the desperate opposition of Satan and his Instruments against it notwithstanding which it hath still prevailed Here is discovered the unreasonableness and absurdity 1. Of the heathenish Idolatry 2. Of the Jews Enmity against Christ and the Christian Religion 3. Of the Mahumetan Superstition CHAP. XII The Divine