Understanding Be not as was observ'd what we call strictly Reason yet they are the sole Matter and Foundation of all our Reasoning For the Mind does upon occasion compare them together compound them into complex Ideas and enlarge contract or separate them as it discovers their Circumstances capable or not So that all our Knowledg is in effect nothing else but the Perception of the Agreement or Disagreement of our Ideas in a greater or lesser Number whereinsoever this Agreement or Disagreement may consist And because this Perception is immediate or mediate our Knowledg is twofold 7. First When the Mind without the Assistance of any other Idea immediately perceives the Agreement or Disagreement of two or more Ideas as that Two and Two is Four that Red is not Blew it cannot be call'd Reason tho it be the highest Degree of Evidence For here 's no need of Discourse or Probation Self-evidence excluding all manner of Doubt and Darkness Propositions so clear of themselves as to want no Proofs their Terms being once understood are commonly known by the Names of Axioms and Maxims And it is visible that their Number is indefinite and not confin'd only to two or three abstracted Propositions made as all Axioms are from the Observation of particular Instances as that the Whole is greater than any Part that Nothing can have no Properties 8. But Secondly when the Mind cannot immediately perceive the Agreement or Disagreement of any Ideas because they cannot be brought near enough together and so compar'd it applies one or more intermediate Ideas to discover it as when by the successive Application of a Line to two distant Houses I find how far they agree or disagree in Length which I could not effect with my Eye Thus from the Force of the Air and the Room it takes up I know it has Solidity and Extension and that therefore it is as much a Body tho I cannot see it as Wood or Stone with which it agrees in the said Properties Here Solidity and Extension are the Line by which I find Air and Body are equal or that Air is a Body because Solidity and Extension agree to both We prove the least imaginable Particle of Matter divisible by shewing all Bodies to be divisible because every Particle of Matter is likewise a Body and after the like manner is the Mortality of all living Bodies inferr'd from their Divisibility This Method of Knowledg is properly call'd Reason or Demonstration as the former Self-evidence or Intuition and it may be defin'd That Faculty of the Soul which discovers the Certainty of any thing dubious or obscure by comparing it with something evidently known 9. From this Definition it is plain that the intermediate Idea can be no Proof where its Agreement with both the Ideas of the Question is not evident and that if more than one Idea be necessary to make it appear the same Evidence is requir'd in each of them For if the Connection of all the Parts of a Demonstration were not indubitable we could never be certain of the Inference or Conclusion whereby we join the two Extreams So tho Self-evidence excludes Reason yet all Demonstration becomes at length self-evident It is yet plainer that when we have no Notions or Ideas of a thing we cannot reason about it at all and where we have Ideas if intermediate ones to shew their constant and necessary Agreement or Disagreement fail us we can never go beyond Probability Tho we have an Idea of inhabited and an Idea of the Moon yet we have no intermediate Idea to shew such a necessary Connection between them as to make us certainly conclude that this Planet is inhabited however likely it may seem Now since PROBABILITY is not KNOWLEDG I banish all HYPOTHESES from my PHILOSOPHY because if I admit never so many yet my knowledg is not a jot increas'd for no evident Connection appearing between my Ideas I may possibly take the wrong side of the Question to be the right which is equal to knowing nothing of the Matter When I have arriv'd at Knowledg I enjoy all the Satisfaction that attends it where I have only Probability there I suspend my Judgment or if it be worth the Pains I search after Certainty CHAP. III. Of the Means of INFORMATION 10. BUT besides these Properties of Reason which we have explain'd we are yet most carefully to distinguish in it the Means of Information from the Ground of Persivasion for the Neglect of this easy Distinction has thrown Men into infinite Mistakes as I shall prove before I have done The Means of Information I call those Ways whereby any thing comes barely to our Knowledg without necessarily commanding our Assent By the Ground of Perswasion I understand that Rule by which we judg of all Truth and which irresistibly convinces the Mind The Means of Information are EXPERIENCE and AUTHORITY Experience as you may see N o 4. is either external which furnishes us with the Ideas of sensible Objects or internal which helps us to the Ideas of the Operations of our own Minds This is the common Stock of all our Knowledg nor can we possibly have Ideas any other way without new Organs or Faculties 11. Authority abusively so call'd as if all its Informations were to be receiv'd without Examen is either Humane or Divine Humane Authority is call'd also Moral Certitude as when I believe an intelligible Relation made by my Friend because I have no Reason to suspect his Veracity nor he any Interest to deceive me Thus all possible Matters of Fact duly attested by coevous Persons as known to them and successively related by others of different Times Nations or Interests who could neither be impos'd upon themselves nor be justly suspected of combining together to deceive others ought to be receiv'd by us for as certain and indubitable as if we had seen them with our own Eyes or heard them with our own Ears By this means it is I believe there was such a City as Carthage such a Reformer as Luther and that there is such a Kingdom as Poland When all these Rules concur in any Matter of Fact I take it then for Demonstration which is nothing else but Irresistible Evidence from proper Proofs But where any of these Conditions are wanting the thing is uncertain or at best but probable which with me are not very different 12. The Authority of God or Divine Revelation is the Manifestation of Truth by Truth it self to whom it is impossible to lie Whereof at large in Ch. 2. of the following Section Nothing in Nature can come to our Knowledg but by some of these four means viz. The Experience of the Senses the Experience of the Mind Humane and Divine Revelation CHAP. IV. Of the Ground of PERSWASION 13. NOW as we are extreamly subject to Deception we may without some infallible Rule often take a questionable Proposition for an Axiom Old Wives Fables for Moral Certitude and Humane Impostures
an adequate Notion which is all that we consider in it at present The Difficulties rais'd from its Duration as that Succession seems to make it finite and that all things must exist together if it be instantaneous I despair not of solving very easily and rendring Infinity also which is inseparable from it or rather a different Consideration of the same thing as little mysterious as that three and two make five But this falls naturally into my second Discourse where I give a particular Explication of the Christian Tenets according to the general Principles I am establishing in this 16. As we know not all the Properties of things so we can never conceive the Essence of any Substance in the World To avoid Ambiguity I distinguish after an excellent modern Philosopher the Nominal from the Real Essence of a thing The nominal Essence is a Collection of those Properties or Modes which we principally observe in any thing and to which we give one common Denomination or Name Thus the nominal Essence of the Sun is a bright hot and round Body at a certain Distance from us and that has a constant regular Motion Whoever hears the Word Sun pronounc'd this is the Idea he has of it He may conceive more of its Properties or not all these but it is still a Collection of Modes or Properties that makes his Idea So the Nominal Essence of Honey consists in its Colour Taste and other known Attributes 17. But the real Essence is that intrinsick Constitution of a thing which is the Ground or Support of all its Properties and from which they naturally flow or result Now tho we are perswaded that the Modes of things must have such a Subject to exist in for they cannot subsist alone yet we are absolutely ignorant of what it is We conceive nothing more distinctly than the mention'd Properties of the Sun and those whereby Plants Fruits Metals c. are known to us but we have no manner of Notion of the several Foundations of these Properties tho we are very sure in the mean time that some such thing must necessarily be The observable Qualities therefore of things is all that we understand by their Names for which Reason they are call'd their Nominal Essence 18. It follows now very plainly that nothing can be said to be a Mystery because we are ignorant of its real Essence since it is not more knowable in one thing than in another and is never conceiv'd or included in the Ideas we have of things or the Names we give ' em I had not much insisted upon this Point were it not for the so often repeated Sophistry of some that rather merit the Encomiums of great READERS than great REASONERS When they would have the most palpable 3. Absurdities and Contradictions go down with others or make them place Religion in Words that signify nothing or what they are not able to explain then they wisely tell them that they are ignorant of many things especially the Essence of their own Souls and that therefore they must not always deny what they cannot conceive But this is not all for when they would instead of confuting them make those pass for ridiculcus or arrogant Pretenders who maintain that only intelligible and possible things are the Subject of Belief they industriously represent them as presuming to define the Essence of God with that of created Spirits And after they have sufficiently aggravated this Presumption of their own coining they conclude that if the Contexture of the smallest Pebble is not to be accounted for then they should not insist upon such rigorous Terms of Believing but sometimes be content to submit their Reason to their Teachers and the Determinations of the Church 19. Who perceives not the Weakness and Slight of this Reasoning We certainly know as much of the SOUL as we do of any thing else if not more We form the clearest Conceptions of Thinking Knowing Imagining Willing Hoping Loving and the like Operations of the Mind But we are Straâ—…gers to the Subject wherein these Operations exist So are we to that upon which the Roundness Softness Colour aâ—… Taste of a Grape depend There is nothing more evident than the Modes or Properties of BODY as to be extended solid divisible smooth rough soft hard c. But we know as â—…tle of the internal Constitution which is the Support of these sensible Qualities as we do of that wherein the Operations of the SOUL reside And as the great Man I just now mention'd observes we may as well deâ—…y the Existence of Body because we have not an Idea of its real Essence as call the Being of the Soul in question for the same Reason The Idea of the Soul then is every whit as clear and distinct as that of the Body and had there been as there is not any Difference the Soul must have carri'd the Advantage because its Properties are more immediately known to us and are the Light whereby we discover all things besides 20. As for GOD we comprehend nothing better than his Attributes We know not it 's true the Nature of that eternal Subject or Essence wherein Infinite Goodness Love Knowledg Power and Wisdom co-exist but we are not better acquainted with the real Essence of any of his Creatures As by the Idea and Name of GOD we understand his known Atâ—…ributes and Properties so we understand those of all things else by theirs and we conceive the one as clearly as we do the other I remark'd in the Beginning of this Chapter that we knew nothing of things but such of their Properties as were necessary and useful We may say the same of God for every Act of our Religion is directed by the Consideration of some of his Attributes without ever thinking of his Essence Our Love to him is kindled by his Goodness and our Thankfulness by his Mercy our Obedience is regulated by his Justice and our Hopes are confirm'd by his Wisdom and Power 21. I think I may now warrantably conclude that nothing is a Mystery because we know not its Essence since it appears that it is neither knowable in it self nor ever thought of by us So that the Divine Being himself cannot with more Reason be accounted mysterious in this Respect than the most contemptible of his Creatures Nor am I very much concern'd that these Essences escape my Knowledg for I am fix'd in the Opinion that what Insinite Goodness has not been pleas'd to reveal to us we are either sufficiently capable to discover our selves or need not understand it at all I hope now it is very manifest that Mysteries in Religion are but ill argu'd from the pretended Mâ—…steries of Nature and that such as endeavour to support the sormer by the latter have either a Design to impose upon others or that they have never themselves duely consider'd of this Matter CHAP. III. The Signification of the Word MYSTERY in the New Testament and the Writings of the most
and the infallible Judg of all Controversies But we do not think such Councils possible nor if they were to be of more Weight than the Fathers for they consist of such and others as obnoxious altogether to Mistakes and Passions And besides we cannot have Recourse as to a standing Rule for the Solution of our Difficulties to a wonder by God's Mercy now more rarely seen than the secular Games of old As for the one Judg of all Controversies we suppose none but such as are strongly prepossess'd by Interest or Educatâ—…on can in good earnest digest those chimerical supreme Headships and Monsters of Infallibility We read no where in the Bible of such delegate Judges appointed by Christ to supply his Office And Reason manifestly proclaims them frontless Usurpers Nor is their Power finally distinguish'd from that of Councils to this Hour by the miserable Admirers of both 5. They come nearest the thing who affirm that we are to keep to what the Scriptures determine about these Matters and there is nothing more true if rightly understood But ordinarily 't is an equivocal Way of speaking and nothing less than the proper Meaning of it is intended by many of those that use it For they make the Scriptures speak either according to some spurious Philosophy or they conform them right or wrong to the bulky Systems and Formularies of their several Communions 6. Some will have us always believé what the literal Sense imports with little or no Consideration for Reason which they reject as not fit to be employ'd about the reveal'd Part of Religion Others assert that we may use Reason as the Instrument but not the Rule of our Belief The first contend some Mysteries may be or at least seem to be contrary to Reason and yet be receiv'd by Faith The second that no Mystery is contrary to Reason but that all are above it Both of 'em from different Principles agree that several Doctrines of the New Testament belong no farther to the Enquiries of Reason than to prove 'em divinely reveal'd and that they are properly Mysteries still 7. On the contrary we hold that Reason is the only Foundation of all Certitude and that nothing reveal'd whether as to its Manner or Existence is more exempted from its Disquisitions than the ordinary Phenomena of Nature Wherefore we likewise maintain according to the Title of this Discourse that there is nothing in the Gospel contrary to Reason nor above it and that no Christian Doctrine can be properly call'd a Mystery SECTION I. Of REASON 1. THE State of the Question being thus fairly laid our next business is to proceed to the Proof thereof But as the distinct and brief Explanation of the Terms is of indispensable use in discussing all Controversies so an easy and natural Method is not less pleasing than profitable It happily falls out that the Terms of the present Question are dispos'd according to the Order I design to observe which is First to shew what is meant by Reason and its Properties Then to prove there 's no Doctrine of the Gospel contrary to Reason After that to evince that neither is there any of them above Reason and by consequence that none is a Mystery CHAP. I. What REASON is not 2. TO begin with the first viz. Reason It appears to me very odd that Men should need Definitions and Explanations of that whereby they define and explain all other things Or that they cannot agree about what they all pretend in some measure at least to possess and is the only Privilege they claim over Brutes and Inanimates But we find by Experience that the word Reason is become as equivocal and ambiguous as any other though all that are not tickl'd with the Vanity of Singularity or Itch of Dispute are at bottom agreed about the Thing I 'll handle it here with what Brevity I can 3. They are mistaken who take the Soul abstractedly consider'd for Reason For as the general Idea of Gold is not a Guinea but a piece determin'd to a particular Stamp and Value so not the Soul it self but the Soul actiâ—…g in a certain and peculiar Manner is Reason They err likewise who affirm Reason to be that Order Report or Relation which is naturally between all things For not this but the Thoughts which the Soul forms of things according to it may properly claim that Title They speed no better who call their own Inclinations or the Authority of others by that Name But it will better appear what it is from the following Considerations 4. Every one experiences in himself a Power or Faculty of forming various Ideas or Perceptions of Things Of affirming or denying according as he sees them to agree or disagree And so of loving and desiring what seems good unto him and of hating and avoiding what he thinks evil The right Use of all these Faculties is what we call Common Sense or Reason in general But the bare Act of receiving Ideas into the Mind whether by the Intromission of the Senses as Colours Figures Sounds Smells c. or whether those Ideas be the simple Operations of the Soul about what it thus gets from without as meer Consciousness for Example Knowing Affirming or Denying without any farther Considerations This bare Act I say of receiving such Ideas into the Mâ—…nd is not strictly Reason because the Soul herein is purely passive When a proper Object is conveniently presented to the Eye Ear or any other Sense rightly dispos'd it necessarily makes those Impressions which the Mind at the samâ—… time cannot refuse to lodg And we find it can as little forbear being conscious of its own Thoughts or Operationâ—… concerning this Object Thus when my Eyes are sound and open as at this time I have not only an Idea of the Picture that is before me but I likewise know I perceive and affirm that I see it I consider it it pleases me I wish it were mine And thus I form or rather after this manner I have first formâ—…d the Ideas of Knowing Perceiving Affirming Denying Considering Willing Desiring and the Ideas of all the other Operations of the Mind which are thus occasion'd by the Antecedent Impressions of sensible Objects 5. By the word IDEA which I make so much use of here and shall more frequently in the following Discourse I understand the immediate Object of the Mind when it thinks or any Thought that the Mind imploys about any thing whether such a Thought be the Image or Representation of a Body as is the Idea of a Tree or whether it be some Sensation occasion'd by any Body such as are the Ideas of Cold and Heat of Smells and Tastes or whether lastly it be a meerly intellectual or abstracted Thought such as are the Ideas of God and created Spirits of Arguing of Suspension of Thinking in general or the like CHAP. II. Wherein REASON consists 6. BUT altho these simple and distinct Ideas thus laid up in the great Repository of the
no Man therefore say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for as God cannot be tempted to Evil so neither tempteth he any Man But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away and entic'd of his own Lust. 31. Supposing a natural Impotency to reason well we could no more be liable to Condemnation for not keeping the Commands of God than those to whom the Gospel was never revealed for not believing on Christ For how shall they call on him in whom they have not believ'd and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard Were our reasoning Faculties imperfect or we not capable to employ them rightly there could be no Possibility of our understanding one another in Millions of things where the stock of our Ideas should prove unavoidably unequal or our Capacities different But 't is the Perfection of our Reason and Liberty that makes us deserve Rewards and Punishments We are perswaded that all our Thoughts are entirely free we can expend the Force of Words compare Ideas distinguish clear from obscure Conceptions suspend our Judgments about Uncertainties and yield only to Evidence In a word the Deliberations we use about our Designs and the Choice to which we determine our selves at last do prove us the free Disposers of all our Actions Now what is sound Reason except this be it Doubtless it is And no Evangelical or other knowable Truth can prove insuperable or monstrous to him that uses it after this manner But when we abuse it against it self and enslave it to our debauch'd Imaginations it is averse from all Good We are so habituated I confess to precarious and hasty Conclusions that without great Constancy and Exercise we cannot recover our innate Freedom nor do well having accustom'd our selves so much to Evil. But tho 't is said in Scripture that we will neither know nor understand 't is there also said that we may amend our Ways turn from our Iniquity and choose Life Encouragements are propos'd to such as do so We can upon serious Reflection see our Faults and find that what we held most unreasonable did only appear so from superficial Disquisitions or want of necessary Helps from Deference to Authority and Principles taken upon Trust from irregular Inclinations and Self-interest or the Hatred of a Party 32. But notwithstanding all this some are at a world of Pains to rob themselves if they could of their Liberty or Freewill the noblest and most useful of all our Faculties the only thing we can properly call ours and the only thing that neither Power nor Fortune can take from us Under whatever Vail these Men endeavour to hide their Folly yet they are engag'd in it by extreme Pride and Self-love For not willing to own their Ignorance and Miscarriages which proceed from Passion Sloth or Inconsideration they would remove all the Blame from their Will and charge it upon a natural Impotency not in their Power to cure Thus they ingeniously cheat themselves and chuse rather to be rank'd in the same Condition with Brutes or Machines than be oblig'd to acknowledg their humane Frailties and to mend 33. Since therefore the Perfection or Soundness of our Reason is so evident to our selves and so plainly contain'd in Scripture however wrested by some ignorant Persons we should labour to acquire Knowledg with more confident Hopes of Success Why should we entertain such mean and unbecoming Thoughts as if Truth like the Almighty dwelt in Light inaccessible and not to be discover'd by the Sons of Men Things are always the same how different soever the Conceptions of Men about them may be and what another did not I may happily find out That nothing escap'd the Sight of former Ages is a Tale to be told where one Person only speaks and no Body present must contradict him The Slips and Errors which are taken notice of in the World every Day serve only to put us in mind that many able Men did not examine the Truth with that Order and Application they should or might have done There are a thousand things in our Power to know of which through Prejudice or Neglect we may be and frequently remain ignorant all our Lives and innumerable Difficulties may be made by imagining MYSTERIES where there are none or by conceiving too discouraging and unjust an Opinion of our own Abilities whereas by a Parity of Reason we may hope to outdo all that outdid others before us as Posterity may exceed both 'T is no Presumption therefore for us to endeavour setting things in a better Light as to know what we are able to perform is not Pride but foolishly to presume none else can equal us when we are all upon the same Level For who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not receiv'd it Have we not all the same sure and certain Promises of Light and Assistance from above as well as the Privilege of Reason in common If any lack Wisdom let him ask it of God who gives to all Men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him 34. To conclude let no Body think to be excus'd by this imaginary Corruption but learn from the Scripture our infallible Oracle that the Gospel if it be the Word of God is only contrary to the Opinions and Wishes of lewd Men that love to walk after their own Lusts of those that speak Evil of the things which they understand not and debauch themselves in what they know in common with Brutes It is hid to them whose Minds are blinded by the God of this World and to those who live by the Ignorance and simple Credulity of their Brethren To be brief It is contrary to the false Reasoning of all that will not know what it is to reflect or consider but it is not above the Possibility of their Reajon when they shall better improve their Faculties The Creation of the World was against the System of Aristotle the Immortality of the Soul against the Hypothesis of Epicurus and the Liberty of the Will was impugn'd by many antient Philsophers But is this to be contrary to Reason Have not these Men been quite baffl'd by as very Heathens as themselves And are not their other Errors since detected and exploded by most of the Learned Besides they wanted a principal mean of Information viz. REVELATION SECT III That there is nothing MYSTERIOVS or ABOVE Reason in the GOSPEL 1. WE come at length to enquire whether any Doctrine of the GOSPEL be ABOVE tho not contrary to REASON This Expression is taken in a twofold Signification First It denotes a thing intelligible of it self but so cover'd by figurative Words Types and Ceremonies that Reason cannot penetrate the Vail nor see what is under it till it be remov'd Secondly It is made to signify a thing