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life_n believe_v faith_n live_v 11,586 5 6.0639 4 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A42447 Some considerations concerning the Trinity and the ways of managing that controversie Gastrell, Francis, 1662-1725. 1696 (1696) Wing G303; ESTC R14599 33,473 64

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conceiving a Trinity 't is no Mystery and consequently no Oppression of our Faith And so far as it cannot be comprehended it does not bind us to any Explicit Act of Faith As is plain from what has been said before concerning the Nature of Faith and the Persons obliged to believe this Article For all things necessary to Salvation are to be believed by all sorts of Men and nothing can be believed any farther than the terms in which it is proposed are understood But a Mystery cannot be brought down to the lowest Capacities and be delivered in Terms that are plainly and distinctly understood for then it would be no longer a Mystery So far therefore as we are obliged to believe is no Mystery For whatever Terms I am bid to believe a thing in I cannot comprehend I can mean no more but that I believe it to be in some manner I cannot comprehend And I am sure there 's no difficulty or danger in believing that there are some things which we are not able to find out or comprehend These are the Reflections which offered themselves upon a careful and impartial Consideration of this Subject But here I fore-see it may be asked What do we understand more of the Trinity now than we did before What new Hypothesis is here advanced to solve all the Difficulties of that Doctrine by In Answer to which Objection I have this further to add for the Justification of the foregoing Discourse First That the Principal Design of my Enquiries was to know what God required us all to believe in order to our Salvation not how far the Soul of Man was capable of discovering the deep things of God For I am fully perswaded that there may be things necessary to be believed and yet we not obliged to believe them in that distinct particular sense in which some Learned Men have explained them Though their Hypothesis should be very Rational and Consistent and perhaps really true And therefore could there be any new way found out of making the Trinity conceivable by Human. Understanding I do not think we should be under any Obligation of believing that particular Exposition of it For besides the difficulty of such abstracted Notions even in their plainest dress with respect to mean Capacities which are all equally concerned in necessary Articles of Faith it cannot be imagined that we should be obliged to believe more than the Christians who lived before us were that more should be necessary to our Salvation than was to theirs And 't is certain their Faith was sufficient and effectual for obtaining Eternal Life who could not possibly believe what we suppose to be but lately discovered But 2dly Considering that we were permitted with Humility and Reverence to Exercise our Souls in the search of Divine Knowledge And moreover that we ought as Christians as well as Men to give a Reason of the Faith we profess and defend it against all false and unjust Imputations I have also made it my business to enquire how far we were capable of forming distinct Conceptions of a Trinity And upon Enquiry found that after a Faithful Tryal of our Faculties and a strict Examination of all the simple Notions which make up the Proposition to believed we cannot arrive at greater Knowledge in this Point than our fore-fathers have done And that so much of the Doctrine of the Trinity as was a Mystery to them is like to be so to the end of the World Which if I have as fully and sufficiently proved to others as I am convinced of it my self I shall not think my Time or Labour lost upon this Subject For next to understanding a thing throughly is to know we cannot understand it next to resolving a Problem in Mathematicks is to demonstrate it cannot be done Our Souls are as much at rest our Desires as quiet and all our Designs and Pursuits as much at an end when we despair of Victory as when we actually Conquer And therefore if these be the true and proper Limits of our Faith and Knowledge which I have assigned If I have given a Just Account of what we are required to believe concerning the Trinity How much 't is possible for us to believe of it and how far we are capable of having distinct Conceptions about it 't is in vain to search for new Notions and Hypotheses which may probably puzzle or deceive our Understandings but can never lead us farther into the Knowledge of the Trinity But I will not pretend to measure the Abilities of other Men by my own I shall only say this more which I am sure I can truly affirm that I have taken all the care imaginable to deliver my Judgment impartially and sincerely and have not dared to impose any thing upon others which I do not believe my self or is any ways inconsistent with the Principles of right Reason POST-SCRIPT These Papers were in the Press and every Word in the Book and Preface as they stand now was Written before His Majesty's Injunctions came forth The Author is glad to find that he has not transgress'd 'em the Authority and Reasonableness of which he pays such a Submission to that if he had not prescribed to himself the same Rules in Writing that be now sees enjoyned by his Superiours he wou'd have shewed his Obedience to 'em by Suppressing what he had written FINIS Acts 14. ver 15.