contrary to Right Reason could Men ever be forced to believe it For such is the Constitution of a Rational Soul and such are the Essential Impresses of its Intellectual Nature that no Man can believe what he pleases but is fatally bound up to such Things as are agreeable to those Principles of which his Rational Nature is compounded And if it were in the Power of any Man to believe any thing though never so contradictory and repugnant to the Natural Sentiments and Impressions of his own Mind he might then yield as firm an Assent to Falshood as Truth and repute all the Contradictions and Absurdities in the World to be infallible Oracles And as he cannot arbitrariously fix his Mind to the Reception of a Falshood so neither of that which is irrational for that which is Repugnant to Right Reason is certainly false and all the Difference between them lies only in the Number of Syllables Pag. 18. Right Reason and Divine Wisdom give the same Judgment of things The Foundation of all Knowledge whether Divine or Humane lies in the Apprehension of the Idea's Natures and mutual Respects and Relations of things Now these not being Arbitratious but setled Eternally fixt and Immutable it clearly follows that Right Reason and Divine Wisdom give the same Judgment of Things Forasmuch as not only Right Reason is a Participation of the Divine Understanding but likewise that it is no more in the Power of God to change or alter the Idea's Respects and References of Things then it is in his Power to die or destroy his own Being Hence a Triangle with its three Angles equal to two Right ones and all Idea's with their Immutable Respects and Habitudes appear the same in Humane Understanding as they are Represented and Exhibited in the Divine Intellect because our Understanding is an Abstract or Copy of the Divine Understanding as likewise because the contrary would undermine and destroy the very Foundation of all Knowledge in the World Therefore it was truly asserted by Tully Est igitur quoniam nihil est Ratione melius eáque in homine in Deo prima homini cum Deo Rationis Societas Inter quos autem Ratio inter eosdem etiam Recta Ratio communis est Nor do we by this in a Stoical Arrogance make Man equal with God as some may fondly imagine For the Divine Intellect as our learned Author speaks doth intimately penetrate and behold at one view these Affections with the Idea's of the things themselves and discerns their Order and Reciprocations And this is properly called fixed and Stable Reason whereas Humane Understanding explicates and unfolds things successively and in order and this is Reason in succession or flowing and moveable Reason Pag. 41. As to other Things we ought to yield an Implicit Faith to Divine Revelation c. Christian Religion sufficiently obtains its end in that all those things which pertain to Life and Godliness to the Renovation of Mens Minds into the faultless Image of our Lord Jesus are plain and intelligible even to the meanest Capacity but in such things as are of a more Abstruse Profound and Speculative Nature it is sufficient to have an Implicit Faith i. e. to believe that the sense of all those Things that are delivered and consigned by Divine Testimony though they transcend my Capacity whatever it is which was intended by God is true For he that does not so calls God's Truth in Question But to believe this or that to be the true sense of them or to believe the Modes of such and such Doctrines which are not plainly revealed in the Holy Scriptures are thus to be explicated and all other Explications of them utterly false is not necessary either to Faith or Salvation For if God would have had under Pain of Damnation those Doctrines which are not so plainly laid down as that all should have the same Conceptions of them to be equally believed by all in this Particular and Determinate sense it could not consist with his Wisdom to deliver them in obscure Terms nor with his Justice to require of Men to know certainly the meaning of those Words which he himself has not revealed Pag. 43. That he may be a Pattern and Example to us For as Lactantius speaks excellently well Quomodo poterit amputari excusatio c. i. e. How can all excuse be taken away unless he that teacheth does the same things that he teacheth and conducts and lends his helping hand to him that follows For if he should be subject to no Passion a Man might thus reply upon his Teacher I would not sin but I am overcome being clothed with frail and weak Flesh This is it which is angry which covets which grieves which fears to die Therefore I am led unwillingly and I sin not because I would but because I am forced I am sensible likewise that I sin but the necessity of Humane Frailty compels which I cannot withstand What shall this Teacher of Righteousness answer to these Things How will he refute or convince that Man who lays the blame of his sins upon his Flesh unless he himself be likewise clothed with Flesh and Blood that so he may shew that Flesh it self is likewise capable of the Exercise of Virtue Ibid. That be should be conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in the Womb of a Virgin without the concurrence of Man is an excellent Provision for a higher esteem and Valuation of his Person That Christ should be Born of a Virgin without the Concurrence of Man could not be looked upon as Incredible by the Pagan World who scarce ever had any famous Hero among them but they presently found out some God for his Father And Plutarch in the Life of Numa relates That the Egyptians supposed it probable enough that the Spirit of the Gods has given Original of Generation to Women and begotten fruit of their Bodies And Lactantius argues the Reasonableness of the Nativity of Jesus of the Virgin Mary from what was commonly believed among the Heathens concerning other Creatures Quod si Animalia quoedam Vento Aurâ concipere solere omnibus notum est cur quisquam mirum putet cùm Spiritu Dei cui est facile quicquid velit gravatam esse Virginem dicimus The belief of which when facilitated will appear an excellent Provision for a higher esteem and valuation of the Person of our Saviour Therefore perhaps it was not only a drunken humour in Alexander when he would be thought the Son of Jupiter Hammon but to make himself appear more August and Venerable by the Reputation of being the Son of a God To this purpose it is related by Huetius that among the Turks there are certain Boys which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 believed of the common People to be Born of Virgins and in great esteem as supposed to do strange things In the Turkish Language they are called Nephes-Ogli i. e. the
Rational there being no other way whereby so effectually and sensibly to convince Atheistical Persons of the Existence of God and his Steady and All-comprehensive Providence in ruling all things And this seems to be expressed by St. Jude v. 15. 16. in reciting the Prophecy of Enoeb where one End of the Appearance of our Saviour with his Holy Myriads is for the Conviction of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those wicked sinners who were not contented to act unrighteously but did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak opprobrious and contempâ—…uous Things of God and all Religion Nor is this only peculiar to the Terrestrial state of life for it is probable that many Spirits may be tainted with the same Atheistical conceits in the Aereal Regions and may resolve all Things there likewise into blind Chance and Fortune Now when our Lord Jesus according to the clear Predictions of Sacred Scripture shall think fit to put an End to the Scene of Affairs in this lower World and to that Purpose shall visibly descend from Heaven with an Innumerable Company of Mighty Angels making all those Regions through which they pass bright before them with the glory and lustre of their Celestial Bodies and in this Posture shall for some time face the Earth and after that dreadful Sentence pronounced upon wicked Men and the Apostate Spirits of the Air by his stupendious Power shall excite all the Principles of Fire both in Earth and Air to perfect a General and Universal Confâ—…agration of this Terrestrial World for the Punishment of the Rebellious Crue this will be such an amazing and surprizing Testimony and irreâ—…ragable Proof of the Immediate Hand of God as must and will convince the most wretched and deplorable notwithstanding the Courseness and Stubbornness of their Natures both of his Being and Providence Pag. 47. He who after an Humble Pious and Attentive weighing of things shall yet fall into Error All Error is not alike hurtful and dangerous For an Error may be purely and simply Involuntary or it may be in respect of the cause of it Voluntary If the Cause of it be some Voluntary and avoiable Fault the Error is it self sinsul and consequently in its own Nature damnable As if by negligence in seeking the Truth by unwillingness to find it by Pride by Obstinacy by desiring that Religion should be true which sutes best with my Ends by fear of Mens ill Opinion or any other worldly Fear or Hope I betray myself to any Error contrary to any Divine revealed Truth that Error may be justly styled a sin and Consequently to such a one of it self damnable But if I be guilty of none of these Faults but be desirous to know the Truth diligent in seeking it and advise not at all with Flesh and Blood about the choice of my Opinions but only with God and that Reason he has given me if I be thus qualified and yet through humane Infirmity fall into Error that Error cannot be damnable Thus far a great and learned Man I may add That a sober and serious Christian who endeavours by all means to know the will and Mind of God and so soon as he can discover it is ready sincerely to believe and practise it and has withal a lively sense of the Honour of God and a hearty Good-will to Mankind this Person through the Goodness of God shall be kept from falling into any dangerous and damnable Error But now when any Man shall carelesly neglect to use that Reason which God has given him to discriminate between Truth and Falshood and shall happen to assent to Truth not upon a due choice and discernment between it and Falshood but blindly and fortuitously this Assent is no way commendable and an Involuntary Error after a clear and well qualified search is to be preferred before it I have now finished my Annotations upon this Excellent Discourse in which I have endeavoured to illustrate and confirm such Things as our Reverend Author has but lightly touched at least could not largely insist upon in that concise way of a Sermon And this I have the more readily performed because I judged a Discourse of this Nature by a Person of so extraordinary Piety such clear Intellectuals and so every way accomplisht as our Author was could not prove unacceptable to any of the Lovers of Truth and Ingenuity and likewise that I might do Honour to his Venerable Name and Memory from whom I had the Happiness of receiving the first Rudiments of Academical Learning This I affirm moreover with an Humble Deference to better and more inlightned Judgments that such an Explication of Religion as our Reverend and Learned Author drives at is the most likely way not only to silence the bold Cavils of Enthusiasts and Atheists but to eradicate all carnal and sensual Doctrines and Opinions and to bring on through the Assistance of the Mighty Spirit of God whose presence is never wanting to the sincerely Conscientious that Blessed and desirable State of the Church the Philadelphian interval which our Lord and Saviour will all along fill with Glorious Manifestations of his Power and Providence FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THe Folios of the Sentences Commented on in the Annotations being most of them not altered from what they were in the Manuscript for prevention of confusion in the Reader they are to be mended thus The first in Pag. 48. has p. 4 5. in stead of p. 26. The rest are to be thus in order as they go on in the Book p. 27. p. 30. p. 33. p. 34. p. 35. p. 36. p. 38. p. 39. p. 40. p. 41. â—… Cor. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 18. Rom. 8. 7. 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. 1 Cor. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 18. 1 Cor. 1. 20. 2. 6. Mat. 12. 24 25. Act. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 5. 39. 1 Thes. 5. 21. 1 Joh. 4. 1. Psal. 25. 14. See Dr. More 's Vol. Philosoph Tom. 2. p. 161. 1 Tim. 5. 6. Mat. 24. 24. 2 Thess. 2. 9. Rev. 13. 13 14. Origen contr Cel l. 6. Iuvenal Sat. 15. L. 1. de leg Lib. 4. c. 24. Loco supradicto Demonstr Evangel P. 385. Contraâ—… Cel. L. 4. P. 163. In 〈◊〉 Platonis Tuâ—…ul Quaest. Lâ—…b 1.
Flesh which is enmity against God as well as against Right Reaâ—…on these are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imaginations that are to be cast down and this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thought which is to be brought into Captivity to the Obedience of Christ namely those Reasonings and Discourses which Minister to the Flesh and the lusts thereof This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natural Man who receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned For this is that Animal Man which is guided only by his sensual Appetite and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as those know well enough who are conversant in the Writings of the Ancients signifies that Faculty of the Soul which is adapted to the Body And he that is such cannot be subject to the Spirit of God nor Obedient to the Gospel forasmuch as the things contained there are mere foolishness to him nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned i. e. they are discerned by an humble Mind composed Affections clear Light and Pure and Internal sense This is that Wisdom puâ—…ed up with Pride and Vain-glory unto which the preaching of the Cross is foolishâ—…ess For the obâ—…ure life and ignominious Death of Christ was always counted ridiculous by a Mind turgid swell'd with higher Notions and conceits Lastly this is that Wisdom of this World and of the Princes of this World who are intoxicated with vile Affections and an Opinionative Knowledge which God and every wise Man looks upon as foolishness Such Wisdom and Ratiocinations as these are not the Off-spring of true Reason but the Fallacies and Paralogisms of a Mind blinded with lusts By Right Reason therefore I understand that innate Faculty of the Soul of Man by which it discerns the Reasons and Mutual Affections of things and argues and concludes one thing from another And now I say that Christian Religion is not contrary to Reason thus understood There are two usual Forms of Speech pertinent to this occasion viz. that something may either be above or contrary to Reason But that we may speak freely and according to the nature of the thing it self whatever is propounded to us as matter of belief ought not to be so much as above Reason unless these words be taken in this Acception namely That a thing is so high and remote from common sense that bare â—…ntellect could not light upon it There are verily some Articles of Faith which may be said to be above Reason as to some Modes of the Thing to be believed that are not clearly revealed Thus for Example it exceeds the strength of Reason to give an exact Account of the manner of our Resurrection Glorification or to make a perfect Description of the Joys and Pleasures of the Future life or to shew how the three Hypostases are one God or the Divine and Humane Nature one Christ But of these things as there is no express Revelation so neither is there an Explicit Faith required And besides This Obscurity is not a lâ—…ttle subservient for the begetting and conciliating Reverence and Esteem to the Christian Doctrine But there is nothing to which an Explicit Faith is required which so far exceeds Reason as that it is not able to form any Conception of it For Faith consists in Assent the Assent follows the Judgment but no Judgment can be made of a thing that is not at all known or understood therefore whatever exceeds all Knowledge must needs likewise exceed all Belief And he that can persuade himself that he believes a thing that he does not understand believes he knows not what and miserably imposes upon himself with a company of words prettily put together and giving a great sound which yet have no Conception answering to them in the mind and while he dreams of believing some unintelligible Mystery he only pursues mere shadows of words from which when the veil is withdrawn all Faith and Sense presently vanishes But that the Christian Religion contains nothing Repugnant to right Reason and that the use of Reason is necessary in the Affair of Religion I shall endeavour to prove by these following Arguments First If God should propound any thing to be believed that were Contradictory to Right Reason one of these four Absurdities nor can I think of a fifth will necessarily follow upon it Either that God can be deceived or may deceive or that the Reasons and Affections of things are not Eternal and Immutable Or lastly that our Faculties are obnoxious to Error when they have the clearest and most distinct Perception of their proper Objects The first and second of these are contrary to that Notion and Idea of God which we have implanted in our Minds As for the third there is indeed a certain Person who asserts the Reasons of things to be contingent and Arbitrarious and that Blasphemy Lying Perjury nay a hatred of the Divine Majesty may be reckoned into the Account of Virtues and become a Worship pleasing and acceptable to God But good God! What rash and abominable Positions do we hear Such as are rather to be buried in Eternal Oblivion or not to be named without Horror and Astonishment Search the Ancient Councils and you shall find no Heresie more deserving an Anathema then this Nay the very Jaws of Hell could not belch out any thing more detestable and blasphemous For this robs God of his Wisdom Immutability Goodness and all those other Perfections we attribute to him It overthrows the Principles and Foundations of all Discourse makes Contradictions become probable destroys all Trust and Confidence in the Divine Promises and banishes all Hope and Expectation of Future Happiness That all these Consequences do naturally flow from this Principle we have proved elsewhere and the same will appear very evident to any that shall attentively consider it The Fourth That God should plant such Faculties in us as may then deceive us when they most clearly and distinctly perceive their Respective Objects is contrary to the Divine Goodness and Veracity Moreover it is impossible that God should reveal any thing as an Object of Faith unless we first suppose that we must give credit to our own Faculties For nothing can be delivered to us from God unless it be conformable to some Faculty or other But and if that Faculty may be deceived when it most clearly and distinctly perâ—…eives its Object how are we assured that this Deception may not happen in the present Case especially whâ—…n Reason the chiefest of our Facultys clearly and evidently finds that to be false which is offered under the specious Pretext of Divine Revelation For this Revelation must be conveyed to us either by the â—…ar or some other External sense or else by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But ought we not much rather to 〈◊〉 that to be an Illusion which is conâ—…rary to the Principles
it seems most of all to make use of Reason But it were Impious to imagine that God who is most wise can be deceived or being most Veracious can deceive It is confest that nothing could be spoken truer for no Man is so incredulous or self-conceited but he will presently give credit to Divine Attestation But the Question is how we shall know when a thing is confirmed by Divine Testimony Will it appear from Miracles alone We shall find Pythagoras Apollonius Tyanoeus who endeavoured by Magick to keep up the Crediâ—… of decaying and sinking Idolatry was famous for these whose Contemporaries durst oppose him to Christ as may appear from the Books of Hierocles and Philostratus written of this subject I might likewise introduce the Magicians of both Worlds all which have acted diverse things exceeding the Powers of Nature only by Demoniacal Assistance If any one therefore shall pretend a Divine Commission there are Three things which he ought to prove his Authority by Miracles Holiness of Life and a Doctrine worthy of God and every way useful to Mankind If he bring all these things he is to be believed as sent from God But it no way comports with Divine Goodness and Veracity to bear witness to a Falsehood or to expose men in things of the Greatest moment to an Everlasting and inevitable Delusion Wherefore we are not only to look at Miracles but at the Life and Doctrine of the Person who pretends them to gain to himself the Belief of Divine Authority To this purpose our Saviour made use of an invincible Argument against the Pharisees who objected to him that he cast out Devils by the help of the Prince of Devils viz. That a Kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation Therefore since he both by his Doctrine and the mighty works that he did set himself wholly to pull down and overthrow the Kingdom of Satan it could not be that he should cast out Devils by the Assistance of Satan Therefore to make up a Right Judgment concerning a Divine Testimony the matter it self which is attested ought to come into Consideration which if it contain any thing contrary to the setled Principles of Nature those Miracles are not to be looked upon as Divine but as Diabolical Delusions The Beroeans were commended by the Spirit of God to be more Noble then those in Thessalonica i. e. of a more ingenuous and pliable Temper in that they searched the Scriptures whether those things spoken by Paul and Silas were so Why should not the same Commendation belong likewise to us if we put to a severe Scrutiny Trial whatever is deliver'd to us by any Person for a Divine Law 3. A third Argument may be drawn from the Nature of Religion which ought to be matter of Choice and Delight But now it is impossible that any one should please himself in that which is contrary to the Principles of his very Nature And indeed to know Conclusions themselves unless we likewise are ascertain'd from what Principles they flow yields but a slender Delight to the Understanding As the Pleasure of a Mathematical Genius results not from having Geometrical Problems as undoubted Axioms by Heart but â—…rom the being able to comprehend their Demonstrations deduced by a long Series of Propositions Wherefore it is most agreeable to the Divine Goodness so â—…ar to indulge and have regard to the Nature of Man under the Gospel that he may find the Harmony and Agreement of those things with Reason which are propounded to him as Objects of Faith For here lies the Principal Difference between Mankind and Bruits in their being capable of Religion And it is a thing abhorrent from all Reason that that which is most Natural and the sole Propriety of Man should yet be contradictory to his own Faculties Can it be imagined that God intended to perplex Humane Intellect with inexplicable subtleties Or is any thing the more excellent and Venerable because it exceeds all Understanding Is he to be deemed the fittest subject for Religion who is most Bigotical and carelesly credulous Are we to put off Humane Nature that we may become Religious Surely to entertain the least suspicion of such a thing were the very Reproach of all Religion Such ought to be every Man's Judgment of his Religion that it contain nothing in it absurd unbecoming or Repugnant to Right Reason for what a shame were it for Religion to be afraid of the Tribunal of Reason I have always looked upon that Religion most worthy of my choice which comes off Victorious when called to the Bar of strictest Reason Wherefore should a Gracious God bestow upon us the Faculty of Reason if we must not suffer it to do its Office when our concern is most in Question Or what other Faculty is there left by whoâ—…e conduct we can search into the Truth of Religion If we once forsake the Guidance of Reason must not all Religion be owing either to Education Superstition or some Fanatical Impulse But you will say our Reason since the Fall is too much darkned and therefore we are not competent Judges of Divine things But are the faint and more languishing Rays of the declining Sun therefore contemptible and to be reputed Darkness because we are deprived of his Meridian and more Exalted Light Must he whose Eyes are somewhat dull be therefore accounted stark blind Or must we quite shut our Eyes because they want the sharpness and Perspicacity of Eagles Is not Religion of such a Nature as requires our greatest Care and Diligence as of a thing of the highest moment and in which to have erred were our greatest Infelicity And to what Purpose were our Faculties given if they be of no use in those things wherein we most need them Shall another Judge for us Or shall the Understanding of another direct my will Shall I fee with other mens Eyes Or walk only by the light that another carries before me Shall I mortifie my irregular Affections with Arguments that I do not understand Or govern my life by the meaâ—…ure of another Man's Principles Are not all these things to be done by a Man 's own proper Judgment Intellect and Light And can this be effected without the use of Reason Nay further is there need of any other Faculty in the choice of Religion and such Principles as tend to the Regulation of Life but only of Reason Religion is a free and ingenuous thing that forceth none but Captivates the Understanding with its own solitary Beauty Pulchritude And he that thinks otherwise falsly accuses Religion introduces Superstition into its Place 4. A Fourth Argument I take from the Nature of Right Reason from whence arises a clear Demonstration that no Divine Revelation can be contrary to it For the Souls of Men are derived from the Dâ—…vine Mind and Right Reason is of a Celestial Original framed after the Image of Uncreated Wisdom and Knowledge It is a certain Beam
Body without which the Happiness of Man cannot be Compleat And how ready God is to Pardon Sinners upon a true Faith and Repentance for this we are apt to doubt of when we consider the Malignity of Sin our own proneness to Revenge and how rare a thing it is to find forgiveness of a fault amongst men In like manner that he should establish the Belief of Rewards and Punishments after this life that by looking up to those we may be allured to Obedience and out of fear of these may be deterred from sin And that he should gain credit to all these things both by his Miracles and by his Death For Miracles are the greatest Testimony of Divine Presence And in that he yielded himself up to Death it is a Great sign of the Truth and Sincerity of his dealing with us Besides It is a clear Demonstration of the Divine Goodness towards us who spared not his own Son that he might do us good Nor can there be a stronger Argument to move us to Crucifie our Lusts and to lay down our lives for the Brethren But that our Lord by his Death became a Sacrifice for sins by which God declared his Placableness it was a design of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness to relieve and succour the Soul under the Arguments of Despondency and Distrust which it fetcht against it self from the Holiness and Justice of God the Death of Christ for that very End propitiating Divine Justice His Resurrection from the Dead is likewise very Consonant to Reason being an Ample Confirmation of his past Actions and also a Demonstration of the Possibility of our Resurrection and Return to Life after Death But that after his Resurrection he was exalted at the Right hand of God and that all Prayers and Praises should be offered to God by his Mediation and that he always makes Intercession for us this is likewise very agreeable to Reason For hence God not only makes known to us his kindness and Good-will but has placed our Brother at his Right hand a Person most dear to him and most tenderly affected towards us through whom we may with cheerfulness and full trust make our approach to God Christ in the mean while deprecating God in our behalf that we should acknowledge whatever Good befals us to proceed wholly and purely from the love of God And then in that all Power both in Heaven and Earth is committed into his hands and that he is Gods Vice-gerent and the Head of Saints and Angels it is a great Comfort to us because it is he that so dearly loves us who is possest of such mighty Power Moreover since there is without Dispute a certain Polity and Government among the Blessed Saints and Angels whom can we imagine to have better and greater Right to this Principality than Jesus Christ who is God clothed with Humane Nature And that both Devils and Men are sometime to be summon'd before the dreadful Tribunal of God is very Consentaneous for this very thought will strike Terror into the most daring Sinner and the Solemnity of the Judgment will vindicate God from all Suspicion of Malignity and Injustice because every Man's Conscience will testifie to him that his Misery proceeds from his own wretched Folly Nor can any thing be imagined more proper then that Christ should be appointed Judge for since God cannot execute this solemn Judgment but under a visible shape what fitter Instrument can there be for this Purpose then that very Nature in which long ago he has taken up his dwelling And lastly 't is no way discrepant from Reason that having subdued all his Enemies he should deliver up the Kingdom to his Father For his Mediatory Office being designed to this Purpose that lapsed Man may be recovered to the Life of God and invested with endless Happiness upon the perfecting this work the Determination of his Kingdom ought to follow Which yet is to be understood after this manner viz. That Jesus Christ God-Man shall from thence and for ever continue the Prince and Head of Saints and Angels Thus we have briefly run through the several Heads of Christian Religion and shall not further trespass upon your Patience What remains I shall dispatch in a Word From what hath been already said it appears clearly indecorous and unworthy of a Christian to draw in his Religion with his Mothers Milk and to attribute his receiving it not to the Ingenuous Disquisition of Reason but to the Laws of his Country his Education to the Dictates of some learned Man in whom he has an Implicit Faith and such like Prejudices as these And in Conclusion makes it his whole business pertinaciously to defend it not upon a due choice and difcernment between Truth and Falshood but upon some preconceived and prejudicate Opinion Whereas that is scarce worthy the Name of Faith nor grateful to God which owes its Original rather to some dull chance then either to the Evidence of the thing it self or the weight of the Arguments for it Nay certain it is that he who after an humble pious and attentive weighing of Things shall yet fall into Error is upon better grounds to be judged if not worthy of Praise yet at least of Pardon then he that shall blindly and fortuitously assent though to Truth it self To which the Holy Writings bear witness by commanding us to search the Scriptures to prove all things and to examine and try the Spirits And as our Apostle exhorts us to be ready always to give an answer to every Man that asks us a Reason of the â—…ope that is in us The End ANNOTATIONS Upon the forogoing DISCOURSE THe Pious and Excellently learned Author of this Discourse being himself so Great a Master of Reason made it his whole Business to imploy his Great Parts for the Honour and Advantage of Religion He was a well instructed Scribe for the Kingdom of Heaven and as a Faithful Steward of the Mysteries of God brought forth out of his Treasures things New and Old And finding Christianity attackt and assaulted by Deists and Enthusiasts he resolutely came in to her Aid and Assistance and by invincible Arguments hath made Good both the use of Reason in Matters of Religion and that Christianity contains nothing in it contrary to the Laws and Inscriptions of Right Reason Upon this Foundation the whole Discourse is setled and grounded on which I here offer such Annotations as may best serve to illustrate and confirm that high Sense and great Reason our Ingenious Author hath curiously and with most accurate Judgment drawn together Pag. 3 4. What ever is propounded to us as matter of Belief ought not so much as to be above Reason There are some who out of stupidity rather then a due Veneration of Religion make the choicest of its Articles so incomprehensible as to be elevated above Reason that is in their sense such as of which Humane Intellect can have no Conception Then which
Sons of Soul However these Things be yet this is certain that among all Nations those Persons have been always had in the greatest esteem and Veneration who have been taken to be the immediate Offspring of God And this was it which put Pilate into such a great Fear when the Jews told him that our Saviour asserted himself to be the Son of God Joh. 19. 8. imagining according to the Opinion of the Gentiles that he might be the Son of Jupiter or Apollo or some other of their Deities and consequently that he ought rather to be reverenced then given up to be Crucified Ibid. Adds the greater Majesty to what he should deliver From hence it was that most of the Legislators among the Heathen that they might obtain the greater Credit and Veneration to their Laws were wont to tell the People they received them from some God or other As Mynias persuaded the Egyptians that he was taught his Laws by Mercury Minos intituled his to Ju piter and Zamolxis among the Getes to the Goddess Vesta Now albeit these were but Fictions yet from the Dictates of common Reason they all concluded thus much that there was no Law so binding or that carried greater Majesty and Authority then that which had Divinity stamped upon it Ibid. Nor could God signifie his will more agreeable to the Nature of Man Admirably to 〈◊〉 Purpose the forecited Lactantius discourses where shewing how highly Reasonable it was that Christ should take upon him our Flesh he adds Si verò sit Immortalis exemplum proponere homini nullo modo potest i. e. If he had been wholly Immortal he could not have offered himself as an Example to Mankind for some grave Person would be very apt thus to bespeak him you indeed do not sin because you are free from this Body you covet not because an Immortal Being wants nothing But I have need of many Things to maintain this life of mine You are not afraid of Death because it can have no Dominion over you You despise Pain because you are Impassible But I poor Mortal have reason to fear both because they bring upon me such grievous Torments as weak and infirm Flesh is not able to endure Therefore he that is a Teacher of 〈◊〉 ought to take away this excuse from men 〈◊〉 none may ascribe his sins rather to Necessity then his ownfault And that he may be every way compleat nothing ought to be objected against him by him that is to be taught As if any one should say you command Impossibilities he may readily answer Behold I do the same things I am clothed with Flesh whose Property is to sin yet I bear about a Mortal Body without sin I cannot for Righteousness sake either suffer Pain or Death because I am frail Behold Pain and Death hath Power on me and I overcome those things which thou fearest that I may make thee a Conqueror over Pain and Death I go first through those things which thou pretendest thou canst not bear if thou canst not follow me in what I command yet surely thou mayst follow me going before thee Thus all manner of excuse is taken away and every Man must confess that 't is his own fault that he is Vitious in neglecting to follow not only the Teacher of all Virtue but the Guide and Conductor to it And if any shall Object with that Impious Epicurean and ask Why could not God appear and at once take away all wickedness and sin out of the Soul and plant Virtue there To this Origen replies 1. That it may well be doubted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether such a thing be naturally possible or not 2. Supposing it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where will be the Liberty of our will and where that laudable Assent to the Truth and Aversation from Lies and Falshood For if we take away Liberty and Spontaneity we destroy the very Essence of Virtue So that no Course could have been taken more agreeable and suitable to the Nature of Man then what is made choice of in the Christian Religion Ibid. God cannot appear to us but under some corporeal Veil The Essences of all Things and so of Spirits are invisible and nothing can be the Object of our Senses but under some Corporeal Modification therefore the Evangelical Oeconomy requiring not only that the Person who should come from God to instruct the World should be intimately and Hypostatically united with the Divine Nature to conciliate the Greater Majesty to what he should deliver but likewise that he should appear to Men in some visible form and shape Divine Wisdom thought nothing a more sitting Mansion or Covering then a humane Body partly because an Angelical Body had been impassible and then that we might not lose that Natural encouragement and Provocation to Virtue flowing from the Example of one made after our own likeness who by those many endearing Circumstances he might make use of in the Flesh would more Powerfully captivate and attract Humane Souls to the Love and Obedience of him And therefore Ignatius in his Epistle to the Ephesians does justly condemn some Hereticks in his Time who said that our Saviour Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was only a putative Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that he did not take unto himself a true and real Body Pag. 44. Who spake very doubtfully of it When Socrates had brought as good Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul as he could yet Simmias thought he had Reason to say that to know any thing clearly of it in this life was either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impossible or a thing extremely difficult But says he a Man must choose the best Reasons he can find which are least liable to Exception and he must venture to embark himself in these and Sail by them through this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i e. unless he can be so happy as to be carried safer with less danger in a surer stedfast Chariot of some Divine Word i. e. Revelation which is not only a clear acknowledgment that meer natural Reason is at a loss but a kind of Vaticination of an indubitable certainty and perfect security of Immortal life to be expected from some Divine Revelation And accordingly is now put out of all doubt by our Lord and Saviour who has brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel Nor could that excellent Philosopher Cicero speak with greater Confidence for when he had weighed all things on both Parts he knew not what to say but this Harum igitur Sententiarum quâ—… vera sit Deus aliquis viderit i. e. Which of these Opinions is true God only knows Pag. 46. Since God cannot execute this Solemn Judgment but under a visible shape That our Lord Jesus should appear at the End of the World in some visible shape and form and in that pass a Final doom upon all Refractory and Impenitent Sinners seems highly