to make an open Confession of his sins whenever it is necessary for God's Glory or to repair any publick scandal which has been given by him 67. That Almighty God even where he has pardoned a Man's sins upon his true Repentance may yet on the score of those very sins which he has so pardoned lay some sharp and severe temporal Afflictions upon the penitent either to keep him more effectually from sinning for the time to come or that it may be a Terror to others or for many other reasons best known to himself is a thing that cannot be disputed But from hence to infer that these temporal Afflictions if not laid on us in this World are to be undergone in Purgatory and that therefore for the preventing them it is fit and necessary that Penance should be imposed by way of satisfaction or Indulgences granted by way of Remission and all this without any Warrant from the Holy Scripture save only a faint and forced Consequence from some few perverted Texts is a thing so groundless and precarious that it amazes me to think how Men can suffer themselves to be so grossly imposed upon And whosoever shall duly consider upon what weak grounds the Pope and his Prelates do pretend to a Power of dispensing and distributing the Merits of Christ unto the People by way of Indulgence as if they alone had the keeping of that Treasure under Lock and Key and to which tho infinite they have yet added the Merits of the Saints to make their Treasure more abundant will I think very much wonder that their People should be so free to part with their earthly Treasure in purchasing these Indulgences upon no better security 68. That the Apostles of Christ when they were first sent abroad to preach the glad Tidings of the Gospel did anoint many sick persons with Oyl and thereby miraculously heal them we are plainly told by St. Mark c. 6. v 13. And that in this they did no more than what Christ himself had expressly commanded them is most reasonable and probable to suppose Moreover that the anointing with Oyl which is mentioned by St. James c. 5. v. 14. was intended for the very same purpose viz. the raising up the sick person and restoring him to Health is as apparent as any thing can be form the very Context But as we do not find that this anointing of the sick was appointed either by Christ or his Apostles as a standing and perpetual Ordinance for ever to be used in the Church so since Experience shews that the miraculous effect of healing thereby is now wholly ceased I can see no reason why the practice it self should be any longer continued But what just ground the Church of Rome can have from either of these or any other place of Scripture for the divine Institution of their Extreme Unction which they make use of for a far different end namely the preparing thereby of persons who are past hopes of recovery for their passage into the next life is more than I am able to find out 69. As the Body natural would be but a confused and useless Lump if it were not distinguished into the several Members which are necessary for its own Service and preservation And as the Body-politick would be but a disorderly Rabble if there were not Magistrates setled to rule and govern and ministerial Officers appointed to perform all necessary Functions in and about it so the Holy Scripture as well as Reason assures us and the practice of the apostolical Church which is there recorded confirms it that the like Appointment and distinction of Offices are no less necessary in the Church in order to the regular and orderly government of it and the due execution of all its Laws and Constitutions But how far these Offices are limited and appointed by the Law of God or how far left to be setled and determined by the Prudence of the Church according as Circumstances may render it convenient is what I shall not take upon me to pronounce my Sentence in But whatever Polity or ecclesiastical Constitution is setled and acquiesced in either by the whole Church in general or by that of any Nation or Country in particular I think ought quietly to be submitted to by every one who would be a Member of such respective Church except there appears to him to be either something therein which is not only uncommanded but even contrary to the Law of God or else something wanting which God requires and therefore is absolutely necessary to be maintained and kept up in all Churches Nor can I apprehend that any less Warrant can be sufficient for breaking or endangering the Peace or Unity of the Church the preservation of which is so often and so earnestly recommended to us in the Holy Scripture besides the absolute necessity of obeying the Positive Command of God himself And therefore since the Government of the Church by Bishops that is to say by certain persons having in their several Districts a Priority among and in some respects a Superiority over the Presbyters has for so many Ages been universally setled amongst and acquiesced in by all Christians in all parts of the World I cannot find how they can be excused who without any necessity for so doing have so earnestly set themselves not only to retrench the Exceffes and rectifie the Abuses of the episcopal Power but also to pull down and wholly abolish the very Order it self to the no small scandal of those who think that so universal a Constitution every where taking place even in the primitive Church could be grounded on no less than an Apostolick Ordinance of which there seems to be some not obscure Foot-steps in the Scriptures of the New Testament and that most probably in conformity to that Imparity which Christ himself established between the Apostles and the seventy Disciples who were yet both commissioned by him to preach the Gospel 70. How far a case of necessity may upon some occasions excuse or justifie a Man for taking on him an Office which regularly does not belong to him especially if his design therein be truly honest and sincere I know not But no Man certainly ought to intrude into any ecclesi astical Function or exercise any such Office who is not called and admitted thereunto by the lawful Authority and according to the established Constitutions of the Society For if this be not carefully observed the distinction of Offices and Functions in the Church is in effect wholly taken away and a wide Door opened for Confusion and Anarchy But then on the other side good care ought ever to be taken by the Church that no persons be entrusted with any sacred Office but such as are duly qualified for it And that such a Maintainance be provided and setled for every such person as that he may not be necessitated to neglect the publick Service of God and the due exercise of his Function by being constrained to bestow
evincing of which I shall crave leave to make a Relation of a Conference which once I had with a blind Man to whom when I understood that he had been quite blind from his Infancy and never could remember to have seen the least glimmering of Light I had the Curiosity to put several questions I asked him first of all Whether ever he had endeavoured to frame any Notion or Conception of Light or Colours of which I suppose he had often heard mention to be made in common Discourse To which he answered me That he had often endeavoured it with the greatest Application of his Mind that possibly he could And to that end and purpose he had made it his Business to ask all the questions he could think of whereby to get Information but all to no purpose for that he was still altogether as ignorant of the Nature of Light and Colours and as unable to frame any Conception of them as if he had never before heard the Names of them He told me moreover that he was a long time before he would or could believe that other Men had any faculty at all which he wanted For says he I was sensible of no Defect or Imperfection in my self but believed my self to be altogether as perfect as all other Men with whom I conversed and therefore when they told me that I was blind and talked to me of Light and Colours I apprehended for a great while that they did it only to impose upon me But are you now convinced said I that you are blind and that other Men have the faculty of Sight which you want Yes replied he I am fully satisfied and convinced of it How can that be said I. when you can frame no manner of Notion of Light or Colours which are the Objects of Sight Thus answered he I was convinced of it They would put me at a distance from them and yet would tell me every thing that I did as whether I stood or sate or held up my Hand or let it down or the like Whereas I could not not discover any thing which they did except I were close to them and felt them carefully with my Hands Now by this continued he I am fully convinced that other Men have a faculty which I want whereby they can discover and distinguish things at a distance which they call Sight And I am told by all Men that there is something called Light which is diffused through the Air and is the Instrument whereby they are enabled to exercise this faculty and also that the Colour and Shape of things are the Objects upon which the same is employed But although I can by my touch distinguish between the different shapes of some things and so can frame a Notion of Shape Yet what Light is or what Colours are I have not the least Conception although I am as I have told you sufficiently convinced that some such things there are Now this Relation being for the substance of it true to my own Knowledge or at least as every Man will own it to be possible and rational it will evidently follow without any farther proof that this Man had very good and unquestionable grounds to believe some things that were altogether above his Reason for what Sight Light or Colours were he was utterly uncapable of framing or receiving any Idea But yet that there were such things and that all he heard Men discourse about them was not meer Fiction as he for some time apprehended was plainly proved to him by such Arguments as every reasonable Man must allow to have been abundantly sufficient to move his Assent Nor was this Assent of his which he gave unto these things a bare implicit Belief Sect. 11. as if he had been told that something did Exist which was called Blictri but was altogether ignorant of what was signified by that word as Mr. Toland speaks For aithough it was absolutely impossible for him to frame any direct Notion or Conception of the things themselves yet by those analogous Representations which were made to him of them he well might be and was accordingly not only fully convinced that what was spoken concerning them was not insignificant Nonsense but also enabled to frame some sort of representative Conception of them which is more than a Man can do of Blictri of which he hears only the sound but knows not the Signification For supposing a Man at the very time of his Birth to be utterly deprived of his Organs of Sight yet by the use of his other four Senses he may well conceive what a faculty of Sensation is and how a sensible quality or the small Particles of Matter flowing or rebounding from a Body and striking upon the proper Organ of Sense do make such a peculiar Impression upon it as to affect our Understanding with some particular Knowledge of the Body it self whereby we are enabled to distinguish it from other Bodies And as he can directly apply all this to the Senses of Hearing Smelling Tasting and Touching of which he may be as good or a better Master than other Men So by way of Analogy from these Senses he will be able to make some imperfect sort of Representation to himself what sort of thing Sight is and what Light and Colours are though directly and particularly he knows no more of them than if he had never heard of them Sir Kenelm Digby in his Treatise of Bodies Chap. 28. tells us of a Spanish Noble Man who was born so absolutely deaf that if a Gun were shot off close by his Ear he could not hear it and yet was taught to speak very distinctly and by the motion of any Mans Mouth so perfectly to understand what he said as that he would not lose a word in a whole days Conversation Now the Doctrine of Sounds and Musick must of Necessity have been as much above this Mans Reason as that of Light and Colours was above the blind Mans of whom I but now spoke and yet there might very good Assurance have been given to the one that there was such a Sense as Hearing and such a thing as a Sound as well as there was unto the other in the case of Light and Colours 15. And now to apply what has been said to the Controversie concerning the Trinity and Incarnation of our Saviour And here the Issue which I am now trying presupposes these three things First That the Texts of Scripture which are brought to prove the Truth of these Doctrines are sufficient for the purpose for which they are alledged if we interpret them according to the natural Order and usual signification of the Words and Expressions of them Secondly That the Doctrines themselves are not contrary to Reason as not implying any Contradiction see Part 2. Sect. 22. But Thirdly That they are altogether above our Reason because we cannot frame any Notion or Idea of that particular Union and Distinction which is between the Three Persons of the
Blessed Trinity or between the two Natures which are in our Lord Jesus Christ Which three things being taken for granted the question that is to be determined is Whether or no it be a sufficient ground for a Man to deny his Assent to the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation of Christ because they are above his Reason 16. And here in the first place it is very plain That although we cannot by any means comprehend the things themselves yet we do so far understand the meaning of the Terms in which these Doctrines are expressed as clearly to perceive that they are not a company of insignificant Words put together to make a sound and signifie nothing What a Person is we know though we cannot tell what sort of Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are and how their Personal Distinction between themselves particularly and fully differs from that of Men one from another What it is to be One we well understand although we cannot frame an Idea of that special Union which is between those Divine Persons What it is for one being to generate another and what to proceed from another we are not ignorant although the peculiar manner of the Generation of the Son of God and the Procession of the Holy Ghost be beyond our Capacity to conceive And Lastly What it is for two Beings to be Vnited together we can very well apprehend although we pretend not to know the manner of That Union which is between the two Natures in the Person of Jesus Christ From whence it plainly follows That these Doctrines though above our Reason do yet so far stand upon equal Terms with those Doctrines which I have termed reconcilable to Reason Sect. 8. That as our Reason may be plainly and positive convinced from its own Principles alone of the possibility of the one so is there no Principle of our Reason which can reach so far as to prove or demonstrate any impossibility in the other And where there is no Contradiction or Impossibility in a Doctrine it will undeniably follow that that same Doctrine may possibly be true And where ever a Man is convinced of the possibility of a Doctrine if the Truth of that same Doctrine appears to him to be restified by any Person of whose Veracity he cannot entertain any manner of doubt he cannot refuse to give his Assent to it as I have said Sect. 13. Since then the Veracity of God admits of no manner of doubt and the Holy Scriptures are by both Parties in this Dispute allowed of as most Authentick Records of the Doctrines of Faith and Rules of Life which God has made known and revealed to the World And lastly since we here suppose that the Doctrine of the Trinity and that of the Incarnation of Christ do neither of them contain or imply any Impossibility or Contradiction although they are both of them above our Reason it will follow that if all or any of the Texts of Scripture which are brought to prove these Doctrines being expounded according to the common way of interpreting all Books of which see Part 1. Sect. 25. do fairly and without being wrested contain either in themselves or their evident Consequences those same Doctrines which they are alledged to establish there can be no just Cause why any Man should deny his Assent to them But if notwithstanding all this it be still urged that it is not possible for a Man explicitly to believe a thing of which he can frame no Conception or Idea I must refer him to the Story of the blind Man Sect. 14. which seems to me abundantly to evince the contrary And why we should not believe the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation upon the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures as well as the blind Man did the Existence of Light and Colours upon the Testimony of other Men joyned with that collateral Experiment which I have mentioned I profess I can see no manner of Reason 17. And as in my Book Part 3. Sect. 71. I have advertised my Reader that I have purposely avoided the use of certain Words and Terms for the Reason there given So must I desire him to take notice that for the like Reason I have both in my Book and in this Appendix omitted so much as to mention the word Mystery about which so great a Noise has of late been made Whether this same Term Mystery be always used in the New Testament in the very same and no other Signification as it is understood by Heathen Authors Or Whether other sorts of things by a very allowable Analogy are not also there called Mysteries upon account of their Obscurity because we know them but in part and see them but as in a Glass darkly Or Lastly Whether there be any thing in Christianity which may properly be called a Mystery according to the genuine meaning of that Term to me seems to be no more but a Contention about a word which the Apostle expresly forbids 2 Tim. 2. 14. But whatever may be determined concerning the propriety of the Word the thing if self seems to me to be very evident that there are some Doctrines in Christianity which are above our Reason and yet that this is no sufficient ground for the denial of our Assent to them 18. And if I am told that after all this there is no greater obscurity in any of the Doctrines of Christianity than what there is in all natural Beings with which we most familiarly converse whose real Essence we cannot penetrate but must content our selves with a sort of Superficial Knowledge of them which is caused by those Impressions which they make upon our outward Organs which at most can be termed but a nominal Essence so that even a spire of Grass a Stick a Stone or any other natural Being may upon this account as truly be termed Mystericus as the most sublime Doctrines of Religion I shall only answer that it mightily raises my wonder to hear Men so freely acknowledge that in every other thing whatsoever there is something which is above their Reason and to which their Understanding cannot reach and yet that they will not allow the same in Religion 19. But I know it will be objected that the first of those three Suppositions which I have laid down Sect. 15. will by no means be granted by the Unitarians for they are so far from allowing the Texts of Scripture which are brought to prove the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation to be any way sufficient to that purpose that on the contrary they do with the greatest Assurance undertake to bring other and contrary Interpetations of those very Passages which they pretend to be far more Rational and Natural To which I shall only Answer that this is all that I aim at in this Appendix that the Issue of these Controversies may be placed upon that which is the only true Foundation for it I mean the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and that blind Men would not take upon them by the strength of their Reason to discuss Problems and frame Conclusions concerning Light and Colours of which they can have no true or sufficient Idea I am very sensible that learned Men who have their Minds strongly prepossessed with any Opinion may by their Criticisms and Paraphrases and such like Engines torture and screw almost any Text of Scripture till they make it look with another Aspect from what is truly its own and seem to confess what really it never thought or meant But if we would always take those Interpretations which flow of themselves and not those which are violently pressed from the Scripture which I think is the fairest way of expounding all Speeches and Discourses whatsoever I cannot for my part see how we can otherwise conclude concerning the Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation than as I have done Part 2. Sect. 22. 37. FINIS