by a divine illumination working upon their rational understandings as men For tho there is nothing that is supernatural in all these Arts and Sciences commonly taught in Schools or which surpasseth the common capacity of mens reason to understand them yet the invention or first discovery of them might have had a more immediately divine original as when Christ opened the natural eyes of the blind to see their seeing was natural after their eyes were open'd but the opening of them was supernatural and miraculous It being therefore the gross and hurtful Errors that did abound in the Gentile Philosophy that made Paul give such caution against it And the same Errors continuing among many called Christians at this day that spoil them by hurting yea destroying the Faith of some and hindering the Faith of others which were among the Gentiles in that day I have found a Zeal raised in my heart and a weighty concern upon me to point at divers gross Errors held professed and taught in this day by some called Christians as Doctrines and Principles of true Philosophy most of which were the very Errors of the old Heathen Philosophers and they are such as follow particularly the Platonists and Stoicks taught 1. That the Body is no part of a Man but a Prison and Grave to the Soul Hence they could not but deny the Resurrection of the Body after Death for no man after he is set free out of Prison has any desire to return to it again and also from this Error no doubt came that neglecting of the Body that Paul mentions Col. 2. 23. which makes me the more think strange of some at this day who tho they plainly profess they believe nothing of the Resurrection of this body or any part or parts of it yet they are but overmuch addicted highly to nourish and cloath it and that in a very high degree and have an extraordinary love to it and care of it as if it were their only immortal part But such who are of this Opinion that the Body is as a Prison and Grave to the Soul and consequently expects no Resurrection to it more than to the body of a beast do not understand how the body by sin is changed to be liker to a Prison or Grave than to a Palace such as it was before the Fall even as a most fair and stately Palace and such it will become again at the Resurrection of the Dead Again many of old taught and now teach 2. That Matter or Body has no life or perception sense or feeling of pleasure or pain even when the Soul is in it and united to it but that the Soul or Spirit of a man is the alone subject of all sensation and perception And because some late Philosophers so called do not own Beasts Fishes and Fowls to have any principle in 'em but meer body or matter they deny that they have any sense or perception but say they are moved by springs and Mechanick motions like to Watches or Clocks Hence such cannot but consequentially deny the Resurrection of the body for if the body be wholly without all sense or perception either of pleasure or pain to what purpose should it be raised seeing its insensibility makes it uncapable either of future felicity or misery or any capable subject of reward or punishment But this is plain contrary to Christs Doctrine who said Fear not them that can kill the Body but fear him that can cast both Soul and Body into Hell-Fire Where note these 2 things 1. If the Body can be killed that has a Life 2. That it is capable of future punishment as well as the Soul and consequently the body of a Saint is capable of a future reward together with the Soul and the Scripture teacheth us that not only the Soul of a true believer but the Body is for the Lord and the Lord for it to wit that it may be a Temple for the Lord to dwell in in the future state and world to come and therefore he who raised up Jesus from the dead will also raise us up by Jesus 1 Cor. 6. 13 14. Rom. 8. 11. And it is great ignorance in such and a sinful excuse of their great error and unbelief who so frequently say Let us not be concerned about the manner of the Resurrection of the Body since it is not discovered nor told us in Scripture what manner of body it shall be but let us live well and we need not take thought about the Resurrection of the body For the Scripture doth plainly tell us what manner of body it shall be when raised as well as what manner of body it is that is sown or buried It is sown natural it is raised spiritual c. 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. And men cannot live well unless they have the true Faith of the Resurrection of the body for the unbelief of it leads us to all looseness and Epicurism by the plain testimony of the Scripture in the foremention'd Chap. 1 Cor. 15. 32. If the dead rise not the Greek hath it in the Plural Number if dead men rise not let us eat and drink for to morrow we die And here the Apostle is not discoursing of the New Birth or rising of the soul out of the death of sin as some most grosly and perversly think but of the Resurrection of the body also the Apostle doth most excellently argue That not to believe the Resurrection of the dead is not to believe the Resurrection of Christ and not to believe the Resurrection of Christ maketh faith vain and preaching vain and if faith be vain they arë yet in their sins who profess faith and therefore they cannot live well Lo how the Apostle inseparably linketh all these things together so that to break one Link is to break the whole Chain See v. 13 14. 3. Tho both Platonists and Stoicks taught many true things of God and some did profess to own Gods inbeing in them and his divine teachings comforts and refreshments yet as they taught nothing of that great mystery of our salvation Viz. the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ his coming in the flesh his dying for our sins to reconcile us unto God being that great propitiatory sacrifice for all mankind so much of their Doctrine did contradict it Hence many of the ancient Philosophers not understanding the spiritual signification of the Jews Sacrifices as they were Types of Christ that was to be offered up for the sins of the world in his body of flesh upon the Tree of the Cross as accordingly was fulfilled did deride the Jews for their Sacrifices according to that ancient Latin Distick of Cato Cum tu sis nocens cur moritur Victima prote Stultitia est morte alterius sperare salutem When thou hast sinn'd why should for thee a Sacrifice be slain By another's Death Life to expect it foolish is and vain And therefore it was that Paul said That Christ crucified was
Sins and Vices attained to a state of blessedness joy and rest with God and did never return to live again in the body Others holding That after some long Tracts of Time Souls might decline from their state of Felicity in the Divine Fruition and so descend into humane bodies again But these Opinions are contrary to the holy Scriptures which plainly inform us That this visible world had a beginning and that mankind had a beginning in Adam and Eve and that the Years of the World from Adam to Christ's coming in the flesh are about 4000 years by Scripiure Chronology And as this visible world had a beginning so it will have an end as the Scripture doth plainly inform us But it is not to be judg'd That the end of this world will be an anmhilation or reducing of it to nothing as some imagin but only a change as the Scripture calleth it Nor can it be proved either from Scripture or Reason That this visible world had its beginning from nothing or of nothing but since about 5000 years and some odd hundreds For it is evident from Scripture that this visible world did not take its rise or beginning from meer nothing but from that which Moses calleth Gen 1. 2. tohu va bohu which the Septuagint Translation rendereth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Invisible and the Epistle to the Hebrews c. 11. calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is things not appearing 8. Divers called ancient Philosophers as well as some now held the Soul or Spirit of man to be a part of God's Essence or that there were but one great soul or spirit acting in the bodies of all men both good and bad And of this gross and vile Error some Ranters and vain Notionists are guilty who yet profess to own the Scriptures but the Scripture is against them in this and all their other gross Errors and Imaginations For the Soul or Spirit of Man is a created being or substance according to Is 57. 16. And it is a most gross and false Opinion contrary both to Scripture and all sound understanding to imagin that the soul of man that sinneth and is defiled with sin can be a part of God For God is holy and perfect Beside it is not proper to say that God hath any Parts it being contrary to the Nature of his infinite Perfection to be compounded of parts or divisible into parts wherefore when the Scripture speaketh of his Face and back parts that is to be understood only by way of Allegory in condescention to the weakness of humane understanding This gross and vile Error viz. That the Soul is a part of God's Essence or that there is but one great Soul or Spirit acting in the bodies of all men both good and bad taketh away all distinction of Vertue and Vice and consequently all future Rewards and Punishments it is lately much revived by them called Hobbists and Deists 9. As many or most of those called Ancient Philosophers held absurd and false Principles and Doctrines both concerning the Body and Soul of Man so many of them did grosly err concerning the glorious Being and Attributes of God some holding him to be Corporeal some denying his Omnipresence and limiting him to some remote place above the visible Heavens and Stars Others denying his Omniscience and universal providence over all his creatures All which gross Errors being so generally condemned by all sound and sincere Christians and being so plainly contradicted by the Testimonies of holy Scripture I shall not at present be at pains to refute it sufficing to my present purpose to have named them as sufficient instances to prove That the Worldly Philosophy is a great hindrance to the Christian Faith and opposite to the Doctrine of the holy Scriptures that have proceeded from the divine Wisdom and Spirit to which the wisdom and spirit of this World is contrary 10. Some of these called Ancient Philosophers did conceit that there were in God passions of grief and anger such as there are in men upon emergent occasions and that God could change his mind or will and purpose concerning men and things as some ignorant Persons do so conceive at this day imagining that not only anger and grief is competible unto God but repentance also too litterally and carnally understanding that Place of Scripture that it repented God that he had made man not well considering that the Scripture speaketh frequently of God in condescension to our weakness by Metaphors Figures and Allegories as when we read of his Eyes Ears Mouth Hands c. And the Scripture saith God is not as man that he can repent and his gifts and calling are without repentance And seeing in God there is no variableness nor shadow of change as both Scripture and good Reason teacheth how can it be conceived that there can be any change of his mind will and purpose concerning either persons or things And as for Anger and Grief they may be said to be in God effectively but not subjectively not as accidents inherent in their subject for no accidents can have place in God who is an infinitely perfect Being God's Anger being his most holy and righteous will to punâ—sh transgressors and his Grief being an utter aversion from sin and hatred of it 11 Some also have imagined as the Manichees and Gnosticks of Old That God could be wounded and bruised or oppressed by mens sins and that his Life or Spirit could be killed and slain in men by their sins misunderstanding and perverting some places of Scripture that if they be understood of God himself cannot be otherwise construed but to be spoken figuratively as when he is said to have repented But if by the Life and Spirit of God be not meant God himself as oft it is but a life and spirit begotten or formed by the living Power of God in the Saints from a Divine Seed sown in them called in Scripture the Seed of God it ought to be granted That this formed Life Birth or Plant may and doth suffer in men by their sins and the tender Seed of God is burthened grieved and so to speak wounded in men by their sins But this Seed is not God himself but somewhat that is emanated and that proceeded from him and doth belong to the Mediatory Spirit of Christ and is a measure thereof the fullness of which dwelleth for ever in the Man Christ Jesus and out of whose fullness to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ as the Scripture declareth 12. The high and mysterious Doctrine of the Election and Predestination of the Saints by the way of grace and holiness to bring them to glory and happiness everlasting and how God hath chosen all the heirs of salvation in Christ Jesus their elect Head Root and Foundation both unto holiness as the means and everlasting happiness and life as the end is a thing that the wisest of the World's
can extend their Vertue as by Rays and Beams to the Saints upon Earth and no doubt but his Mediatory Spirit and Life doth extend it self into our souls But this is no proof that Christ's Body is every where where God is for so to affirm is a grosser error than that of the Popish Transubstantiation for the Popish Doctrine only teacheth a Transubstantiation of one body into another viz. of the body and substance of bread into Christ's Body but this teacheth the Transubstantiation of Christ's body into the Godhead which is most unreasonable as well as most contrary to Scripture and is a reviving of the Old Eutychian Heresie condemned and that most justly by ancient Christians many Hundred Years ago V. A 5th gross error held in common both by Papists and many call'd Protestants is That in the daily generation and corruption of bodies as when flesh or wood is consumed with fire the body of flesh or wood is substantially changed the former substantial form so called by them ceasing to be that was formerly in the flesh or wood and a new substantial form in the Fire or smoak and ashes being newly produced And accordingly they most falsly teach That the elements of fire air water and earth differ substantially in their substantial and essential forms and that a gross body cannot be changed into a spiritual and subtile body but that there must be a change of the substance Whence it is that Papists generally and too many call'd Protestants have such gross and carnal conceptions of the Resurrection-bodies of the Saints that shall be raised at the last day imagining they must be raised with gross flesh blood and bones as they now have otherwise they should not be the same bodies in substance as now they are Whereas the plain truth is that bodies can undergo great changes even the greatest that are possible from gross to be exceeding spiritual and subtile without any substantial change being only changed in accidental forms and modes but remaining the same in substance as when the Water was miraculously changed by Christ into Wine here was no Transubstantiation or change of the bodily substance but only a Transformation or change of the accidental forms and modes of the Water into new accidental forms and modes of Wine VI. A 6th gross error common generally both to Papists and many called Protestants in that called by them Philosophy is that many things which are real substances they hold them to be but accidents or accidental qualities as the light or influence of the Sun or of common fire they hold to be nothing but accidental qualities also the Emanations that commonly flow from Stones Minerals Metals Herbs and Animals causing sympathy and antipathy some whereof are more manifest that affect our gross senses of smelling tasting and feeling others more hidden and occult as that of the Loadstone that draweth Iron to it they hold them to be accidental qualities having no real substance Whereas the more true and sincere Philosophy teacheth that these things are real substances being either the Emission or Outflowings commonly called effluvia of the more subtile and spiritual parts of these bodies whence they come forth and proceed from or the Rays and Beams of some Spirits that may be lodged in them And on this error they build divers absurd errors in that called their Divinity both in relation to the bodies and souls of men as first in relation to the body The vertue that went forth from our blessed Lord's Person that healed the woman of her bloody Issue they hold not to be any substance but only an accident or quality And next in relation to the souls of men that divine vertue of grace light and life that cometh from Christ into the souls of men the Schoolmen commonly both among Papists and Protestants some excepted of Protestants who are more understanding hold That it is no substance but an accident or quality which otherways they call Habit and they commonly define the Grace of God in the souls of the Saints to be no substance but an infused supernatural habit and the vertues and fruits of the Spirit as Faith Hope Love c. they call supernatural and infused habits and qualities that are in themselves of a perishing Nature And the seed of God in the Saints they do not hold to be any substance but a quality or infused habit And the great occasion of this their Error That Grace is no substance but an accident viz. habit or quality which Aristotle placeth among the Predicaments of Accidents proceedeth from this That whereas they observe the Scripture distinguisheth betwixt Christ and the Grace of Christ as also betwixt God and the Grace of God and betwixt the Holy Ghost and that Divine influence that cometh from him into mens souls from thence they infer That seeing that seed or influence of God's Grace is not the Godhead it must be some accident habit or quality infused in the soul by God there being as they suppose no middle being of a middle Nature betwixt God and the souls of men but in this they are greatly mistaken for there is a middle being betwixt the Godhead and the souls of men which is that Mediatory Spirit and Divine Nature of Christ as he was the Heavenly Man Mediator Head and High Priest and Husband of his Church from the beginning of the World the which Mediatory Spirit of Christ dwells in all fulness in the Person of our blessed Lord that was born of the Virgin Mary who suffered death for our sins and rose again and is ascended into Heaven and still dwelleth in him and of his fulness we all receive our several measures as John hath declared John 1. and as Paul likewise hath said Eph. 4. 7. To every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ And tho the various measures of this Mediatory Spirit of Christ are not dividable nor separable one from another but most inseparably united yet a real distinction may and ought to be allowed as betwixt the Rays and beams of the Sun that are inseparably united one with another and all with the Body of the Sun yet one Ray is not another but have a real distinction so the particular measure of the Gift of Christ called by several Names and Denominations as Grace Truth Light and Life c. that is in one of the Saints is not the same particular and numerical measure that is in another And as we are taught not only by express words of Scripture but by the Saints experience that there are greater and lesser higher and lower measures of this Divine Mediatory Spirit Life and Nature and Divine Light this doth sufficiently prove that it is not the Godhead or Supream Infinite Being called in Hebrew Ensoph for there is nothing in the Supreme Being that can be called greater or lesser higher or lower seeing every thing in God is most infinitely and supreamly High and Great
foolishness to the Greeks that sought after wisdom To wit The Worldly Philosophy as well as a stumbling block to the Jews 4. Both Platonists and Stoicks placed all their happiness in an inward principle lodged within themselves which tho some owned to be God yet they greatly erred in not understanding in acknowledging That all divine influences and communications flow from God into men through the Man Christ Jesus our alone Mediator and therefore any Religion they had was mixt with great ignorance and error or not understanding the necessity of the One Mediator in whom God has placed all fullness of the divine influences and communications of Grace and Truth Light and Life out of whom we are to receive our several measures as our Faith is exercised on him and as our dependance is upon him even as the Members depend upon the Head and the Branches on the Root for life and nourishment But they placing all within themselves even of what they did or could enjoy of God were in a great error even as much as who should say The Branch has all within it that makes it fruitful or the members of the body have all within them that makes them live and move so no dependance upon the Head Christ the Mediator betwixt God and men yea this error is so great that whoever holds it as too many do at this day as well as formerly they make themselves as God or equal to him for it is the alone perfection and dignity of God to have all within himself and needing nothing without himself for even the Man Christ had not all from within himself but hath God to be his Head as God hath given him to be our Head as he taught concerning himself My Father is greater than I and as the Father hath Life in himself so he hath given to the Son to have Life in himself that he may quicken whomsoever he will therefore we read that in his prayer to the Father he lifted up his eyes to Heaven Joh. 17. 1. expecting to be heard from thence yea in his comparing his Disciples to the Branches and himself to the Vine and his Father to the Husbandman this great mystery is held forth how as our dependance is on the Man Christ so his dependance is on the Father for as the Vine giveth sap and nourishment to the Branches so the Husbandman giveth earth and soil to the Vine it being a great part of the Husbandmans work to put fat or good earth to the root of the Tree as well as to prune and dress the Branches of it And he did receive of the Father these Divine Gifts that he gave and still giveth to his Church 5. None of all the Philosophers taught remission of sin and justificasion by the blood of Christ and Faith in it or understood that Evangelical mystery how Christ was wounded for our Transgressions and was bruised for our Iniquities and that by his stripes we are healed and how he did bear our sins in his body on the Tree and made peace for us by the blood of his Cross But they placed their whole Acceptance upon their Vertues and good Works tho divers of them professed Platonists and Stoicks as well as Peripateticks and particularly Aristotle in his Ethicks That what Vertues and good Works they did bring forth was from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Divine Thing or Principle within them But that this was a great Error in them Paul doth abundantly prove both out of his Epistle to the Romans and Galatians That as the Jews were not justified before God by any Works of the Law so neither were the Gentiles but all were guilty before God For whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law that every mouth may be stopt and the whole world become guilty before God Now this that makes the whole world guilty and stops every mouth is the Law within which is from the divine principle seeing the greatest part of the world have no Law without And therefore he concludes That no man is justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Christ All are justified who have that Faith which Faith is the gift of God and is wrought in every one that has it by the mighty power of God which Faith is a Living Faith and is always accompanied with good works 6. Tho many of the ancient Philosophers profess'd to believe the Immortality of Souls and future Rewards and Punishments to mens souls yet they had no belief of the Resurrection of the Body as is clear not only no from their own books but also from the Testimony of the Holy Scripture For when Paul preached to them at Athens Jesus and the Resurrection certain Philosophers of the Epicureans and Stoicks mocked him and called him Babler Now as this their Denial of the Resurrection of the Dead did proceed from the two aforementioned Errors held by many both then and at this day viz. that the body of man was no part of him but the soul's prison and grave and that the body has no Life or perception when united to the soul so it did proceed from a 3d gross error as absurd as any of the 2 former viz. That the substance or first matter of earthly bodies differ in kind from heavenly bodies and consequently that no earthly body is convertible into an heavenly body and no animal body is convertible into a spiritual body And from such a great Error the ignorance and unbelier of those floweth that do not believe that Christ's Animal and visible body of flesh and blood is converted and changed to be now in Heaven a spiritual and heavenly body And as they do not believe this change of Christ's body the substance remaining the same so nor do they believe that the bodies of the Saints shall be changed from animal to spiritual and from Terrestrial to Coelestial and Heavenly tho the Scripture-testimony is plain and express for such a change the substance of the body remaining the same For if the substance did not remain the same the change would not be a conversion or transmutation but an exchange or permutation as when one changeth Copper for Gold by selling Copper for Gold this is quite another thing than when Copper is transmuted and converted into Gold 7. The ancient Philosophers did not believe any general Day of Judgment or end of this world but mostly they did conceit That as it was from Eternity in the manner and condition as it is now in rouling and revolving in a continual sphere of generation and corruption even Vegetables and Animals as well as Men so it would continue to Eternity in the like manner and condition as it is now in still running round in a continual sphere of generation and corruption and of Living and Dying and Dying and Living again but as to this they were divided in Opinions some holding That the Souls of Men that were throughly purged from all
and seeing also according to Scripture the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are this One only most High and Supream Infinite Being or Godhead It must needs be confessed That this Divine Spirit in the Saints that hath its measures higher and lower is not the Godhead of either the Father the Son or the Holy Spirit but the Mediatory Spirit of the Son as above-mentioned in which the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit dwelleth as in a most glorious Temple or place of Habitation called in Hebrew Schechina i. e. Tabernacle And because the Godhead of Christ and the Holy Ghost dwelleth in the same whose Godhead is the same with the Godhead of the Father most immediately therefore it is that it receiveth and beareth frequently the Name of the Son and also of Holy Ghost and is called the Spirit of the Father and also the Spirit of the Son But it is not to be supposed or thought that this Middle Being is more immediately near to us than the Godhead as with respect to God's Essence or Being for that doth most intimately or immediately penetrate all things and is most immediately present in all things but with respect of Manifestation and Revelation that infinite Being of the Godhead is such that no created understanding or mind of Men or Angels can see or behold his glory therefore He is said to be such in Scripture whom no eye hath seen or can see and dwelling in the Light which none can approach unto for no man hath seen God at any time to wit as He is in Himself but the only begotten Son of God who dwelleth in his bosome hath declared him who is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and the express Image or Character of his Substance And seeing both the Scriptures Testimony and the Saints experience doth prove that somewhat really divine by way of influence and emanation doth come into the Souls and Hearts of the Saints from above even from the glorified Man Christ Jesus that is glorified in Heaven called in Scripture Grace Life Light Spirit Power Vertue and is compared to Rain Dew Water Wine Oyl Milk Honey and is called Metaphorically by these Names It is certain this Divine Being and Substance that doth so descend from Christ in Heaven into the souls of men here on earth must needs be some Middle Nature betwixt God and us for the Godhead of Christ and of the Holy Ghost which is one and the same Godhead with the Father filleth all places and is in all places and so cannot ascend or descend or move from one place to another therefore that divine vertue and influence of Light Life and Grace that descendeth and floweth down from above out of the fullness that dwelleth in the glorified Man Christ Jesus is not the Godhead but some Middle Being called by some Vehiculum Dei i. e. the Vehicle or Chariot of God that is a real substance and no accident or bare quality seeing according to the best and truest Rules of Philosophy Accidens non migrat de subjecto in subjectum Accidents do not move from one subject to another And if Grace were a spiritual Accident or Quality it could not be taken from one and given to another as the slothful Servant's Talent was taken from him and given to him that had ten Talents VII There is another great error held by many called Professors of Philosophy both among Papists and Protestants viz. That the Souls of pious and holy men have no higher Faculties or Powers but such as are Rational or discursive whereby the Reason or rational Faculty of man's Soul draweth conclusions from certain Premisses the which Premisses are either the conclusions of other Premisses hanging together like the Links of a Chain or some Maxims or first Principles of the Humane Understanding But many such Maxims called first Principles are false and unsound Notions from which must needs proceed false and unsound Conclusions and with such that called Natural Philosophy doth abound But some of the Antient Philosophers as the Platonists and particularly Plotinus did hold That there was in the soul of man a power or faculty above that which is discursive whereby being assisted by the Divine Light it could erect or elevate it self into God and be joyned to him he appearing to the Soul having neither Form nor any Idea or similitude as Porphirius relateth of Plotinus that so it happened frequently to him and once so to Porphirius himself the which high attainment and experience they declared came to be witnessed by the Souls passing through certain degrees of purification illumination and abstraction from all worldly things and fleshly desires and affections yea and by the Souls being raised above all its natural powers and faculties of Imagination or Ratiocination and the actings thereof to contemplate God alone and be joyned to him by this one higher power of the Soul which Plotinus the Platonick Philosopher doth so distinguish from Reason that he calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. greater than Reason and before Reason Ennead 6. lib 9. cap. 10. The which divine enjoyment he calleth a silent touch of the Soul whereby it toucheth God cap 9. and whereby the Soul retiring it self from all multiplicity as if a large circle did contract its Rays and Circumference to a small Point or center into unity becometh one and joyneth Center to Center viz. the Soul's Center to God its Center and this he calleth the fleet or flight of the one to the one cap. 11. By which it appeareth how much more dark and ignorant the late Schoolmen and Professors of Philosophy are than these ancient Plaronick Philosophers were who professed such a divine attainment fruition and enjoyment of God not only without all Words and external Objects but even without all internal Form Idea or Image of any worldly thing which so high attainment of divine knowledge must needs be granted by all intelligent men to have proceeded from some real degree of internal divine revelation and inspiration a thing so much generally now opposed and by none more than by them that are reputed great Scholars and Philosophers But whether these above mentioned Platonick Philosophers who did soar more aloft in an High Profession of divine knowledge than all other Sects of them called Philosophers did really experience and enjoy what they did profess I think it not propor in this place much to dispute I shall only at present freely declare my Judgment That I think it is very probable that at times when it was best with them they might have had some divine touch taste and relish of a real divine enjoyment But it was not permanent nor abiding with them for had it been so it would no doubt have brought them further than they arrived and would have cleared and freed their Minds of those gross errors that generally they were clouded and entangled with even the best of them for the best of them
THE ARRAIGNMENT OF Worldly Philosophy OR The False Wisdom It s being a great hinderance to the Christian Faith And a great Enemy to the True Divine Wisdom By GEORGE KEITH 1 COR. 1. 19 20 21. For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Where is the wise where is the Scribe where is the Disputer of this World Hath not God made foolish the Wisdom of this World For after that in the Wisdom of God the World by Wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe LONDON Printed for R. Levis MDCXCIV The Preface to the Reader Friendly Reader I Thought fit by this Prefaceto prevent thy Offence at the Title of this small Treatise which I call the Arraignment of Worldly Philosophy as if thereby thou might suppose I did intend any true and real knowledge of things either Divine or Natural that any of these call'd Ancient Philosophers had or the real and sincere study enquiry and search into them that any of the children of men have had whether in former Ages from the beginning of the World or now have in this present Age so as to condemn the same But this is far from my Intention for on the contrary I do judge that the sincere study enquiry and search after Truth and the true knowledge of God and of his Creatures is most commendable and praise worthy and they are the most Noble Souls who in all Ages of the world have given and applied themselves unto the same for true Knowledg is of more value than all worldly Treasure being that which truly adorns the Mind and Soul of Man and is a perfection to it yea what eyes and sight is to the Body that true Knowledg is to the Soul and as we cannot love an outward and visible Object unless we see it or have some knowledg of it by some of our outward senses so we cannot love God our Creator unless we have the true knowledge of him And tho the highest and most excellent degree of the knowledg of God is to know him in a nearor and more immediate way than by the contemplation of the Creatures yet God hath set his Creatures and the glorious Fabrick of the visible Creation before us as a book in a large Volume whereby we may read and understand not only that God is but also whereby we may know in some sort his manifold divine perfections even his exceeding great Power Wisdom Goodness Purity Mercy and Justice But as no man can read a book that is blind or if he have eyes without light so none can truly and rightly read and understand the great book of God's Creation but as the eyes of his understanding are opened and as his eyes when opened are enlightned with a divine Light that cometh from God himself for let it be granted that mens rational faculties are as the eyes of their minds yet they can never see into the great wonders of the Creation of God without he the great Creator doth enlighten them as our natural and bodily eyes cannot see bodily Objects without a natural and bodily light for seeing God made all the Creatures by his eternal Wisdom nothing can give to man the true knowledge of them but the same Wisdom by which he made them and this is man's dignity and excellency above the Beasts of the field that he is capable to receive of this eternal divine Wisdom and be taught by it and as the Rivers that come from the Sea lead to the Sea so the Creatures in a secondary and subordinate way lead the Mind and Soul of Man to God that made them as the divine Light of the eternal VVisdom that shines in his heart is eyed and regarded that shews him how and after what manner this Current and Stream of the Creatures that come from God lead to him that so man may rest in him and not in them But if a man think by the bare search of his natural understanding and meer human Reason to know either God or the Creation without the divine Light he greatly erreth and this hath been the great Error of most of them called Philosophers that by the bare search of the natural understanding and meer human Reason without the divine Light they were busied to make their search into the wonderful works of God in his Creatures which they not being able to do they fell into many Errors which do contradict the true Christian Faith and Doctrine delivered by the Prophets and by Christ and the Evangelists and Apostles as the design of the following Treatise is to shew and therefore this is to inform the Reader in the entrance it is not any good thing or any matter of Truth or any true discovery of knowledge in things either divine or natural that this small Treatise points at and blames but the gross Errors in those called Philosophers which I have found too many at this to day be deeply tinctured and leavened with and these not only some that profess to be Students of Philosophy and Proficients in the same but many other persons either wholly or in great part illiterate and who neither esteem themselves nor are esteemed by others studious in Philosophy I have found deeply so tinctured and most tenariously adhering to these gross and pernicious Errors and when I have warn'd them of these Errors telling them that they were the noted Errors of them call'd Heathen Philosophers who did long ago in Ages past oppugn and gainsay the True Christian Faith and Doctrine in many things and the Errors of the Jesuits Philosophy and of some other Schoolmen in the Church of Rome stiffly maintained by them to defend the false Antichristian Doctrine that that Papal Society is guilty of They have reply'd to me They know neither the Philosophy of the Old Heathens nor of the late Schoolmen and Jesuits being simple unletter'd men But to this I have answer'd them That tho they know not that such Errors held by them are the Errors of the Old Heathens and of the late Schoolmen such as Jesuits and others yet they are these very Errors for even as in another case a man may have in his House some things that he may not know to whom they do properly belong so in this case men may hold erronious Opinions invented by others long ago and yet not know the Authors of them and they might have come by them without any curious search study or enquiry into the Writings or Books of the first Authors or Inventers of them either by having them occasionally mention'd to them or finding them by some accident in some one or other late VVriter that writ in their Mothers Tongue and the mind of man while it is more sway'd with Darkness than Light and with the spirit of Error than with the spirit of Truth beside the many disadvantages it hath by wrong Education and
Philosophers understood nothing of for it is a great part of that wisdom that Paul said he spoke among them that were perfect Eph. 1. 4 5 6 7 8. and Eph. 3. 10 11. And there is scarce any Doctrine of the Christian Faith that the carnal and fleshly wisdom of man doth more contradict and oppose and argue and contend against than this high and mysterious and yet most comfortable Doctrine of the Christian Faith plainly and amply testified of in the holy Scriptures 13. And lastly The worldly Philosophy and fleshly Wisdom hath invented many Words Terms and Phrases that do rather darken and obscure the Truth than tend to discover it so that what God said unto Joh might well be said concerning them called Philosophers both ancient and late Who is this that darkneth Counsel with words without knowledge And multitudes of dark and obscure Words hath bred a multitude of dark obscure and fallacious distinctions and these have be got endless disputes and controversies in that called Natural Philosophy and as that called the Natural Philosophy is greatly corrupted with fallacious Terms Phrases Distinctions and Maxims or Axioms so called so the mixing or mingling that called Philosophy with Matters of Religion which is not for the most part true but false this hath done great hurt and hath occasioned a great corruption in the Doctrine relating to the Faith of Christ and the Christian Religion commonly called Divinity and Theology especially that taught in Universities commonly called School Divinity being stuffed with the Words Terms Phrases vain and fallacious distinctions definitions and Maxims of the World's Philosophy which has not a true Foundation in the truth of things but is only grounded on mens imaginations and traditional glosses that have but guess'd at things that hath led the minds of Men into a Labyrinth and Wilderness of Confusion and unprofitable jangling and disputing deservedly called by the Apostle Paul the Opposition of Science falsly so called for well may that be Science falsly so called that is only a sophistical Art of wrangling contending and opposing what another man saith whatever it be and so dispute things endlesly pro and contra insomuch that there is scarce any conclusion or assertion in that called Natural Philosophy but both the Affirmative and Negative by point-blank contradiction is defended by multitudes of Authors and what one builds another destroys what one proveth to be truth another as he thinketh proveth to be error and both pretend to Reason and Philosophy Beside that the Worldly Philosophy for the most part is rather a skill to talk of things with a multitude of words without any true knowledg than a real solid knowledg of them Hence it is that Paul defineth it to be the wisdom of words and the enticing words of man's wisdom also the wisdom of man which God will destroy 1 Cor. 1 and 2 Chapters And as many of them called Old Philosophers held many false and absurd Opinions directly contrary to the Christian Faith so do many of late pretending greatly to Philosophy among those called Christians especially the Masters and Professors so called of Philosophy in Universities and publick Schools of Learning in the Church of Rome tom whom too many Protestant Professors have borrowed some of their corrupt Leaven of false Philosophy which they have mingled with that they call Divinity or Theology but is not pure Divinity or Theology not being the Truth as it is in Jesus which is free from all mixtures of Error and Falshood whatsoever And of such Errors held by Popish Professors of Philosophy I shall first instance some concerning body or bodily substance and matter I. One gross Error held by them is That the quantity and other accidents of a Body can subsist or remain without the substance And on this absurd Error in that called Philosophy they build their false Faith that after the words of Consecration the quantity of the Bread and Wine and other accidents of Colour Smell Taste and Feeling in that called the Eucharist remain in the consecrated Wafer or Cake while the substance of the Bread and Wine is gone and ceaseth any more to be II. A second gross Error in their Philosophy is That there can be a penetration of bodies and bodily parts so that one whole body remaing a body still can be in the same place with another body of the same quantity occupying the same room and space at one and the same time and consequently that the whole substance of a man's body may occupy no more room or space than the least grain or atome of bread and on this absurd Error they build their false Faith That the same Body of Christ that was crucified and raised again and ascended into Heaven is in every grain or atome of the Eucharistical Bread III. A third gross error concerning bodies they teach is That one and the same body in all its parts undivided one from another can be in many places at once And on this absurd error they build their false faith That the visible Body of Christ is in many thousand places at once to wit not only in every consecrated Cake or Wafer but in every grain thereof IV. A fourth gross error they teach is That one body can be transubstantiated into another body which is to say That the substance or essence of the body is changed into another substance or essence And on this absurd error they build their absurd Doctrine of Transubstantiation affirming That the substance of the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist or Supper after Consecration is transubstantiated that is changed into the substance of Christ's Body But as the Popish error of Transubstantiation is exceeding gross and hurtful so is the error of some no less gross but rather much more both gross and hurtful who feign That the glorified Body of Christ is Omnipresent so not only attributing to it above what a Body is capable of in its highest exaltation but what is a proper and peculiar Attribute of God Almighty and essential to him Into which gross error having fallen by their great ignorance they seek to defend it by grosly pervetting that place of Scripture Eph. 4 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things But it is not said here nor any where else in Scripture That his Body that was raised from the dead filleth all things but it is expresly said Acts 3. 21. That the heavens must receive him until the time of the restitution of all things which must needs be understood of his Body or bodily presence concerning which Christ said himself The poor you have always with you but me ye have not always viz. bodily though spiritually present But I would not have any to think that I deny that Christ's glorified Body can extend its Vertue to men here on earth as he pleaseth for that I readily grant and believe that both his Soul and Body
held some gross errors and had very dark and Obscure Notions and Conceptions about God and Divine Things and spoke not very certainly and clearly of the Felicity of souls of Good Men after Death altho they did generally profess to believe the souls immortality and future rewards and punishments but not one of them believed the Resurrection of the Body as the Scriptures hold it forth for they generally believed the body was the soul's prison or grave and so it would be no Felicity to the soul to be re-united to it not understanding how the body at the Resurrection is so refined and dignified yea glorified that it shall be no Prison nor Grave to the Soul but a most beautiful Palace and Throne such as it was to Adam's Soul before he sinned and which at the Resurrection shall be enriched with greater Beauty and Glory than it then had Also both Plotinus and Porphirius were great Enemies to the Christians and wrote against them which plainly enough shews they were but dark men and had at best at that time but little acquaintance with the divine illumination in their experience notwithstanding their high profession of it as it is with too many at this day who profess the divine Light and talk much more of it than they walk in it for if either Plotinus or Porphirius had been faithful to that divine illumination given to them in common with all mankind it would have led them to befriend and not to oppose the Christians in that time when Christianity did flourish a great deal more in the Purity and true life and power of it than it did in after-ages And thus I have in 20 divers instances discovered the great hurt of the Worldly Philosophy its being a great hinderance to the Christian Faith and a great enemy to the Divine Wisdom and true divine Philosophy by which Worldly Philosophy I understand not only that taught by these called ancient Philosophers but even that lately and at present taught by many called Christians that containeth more hurtful errors than any thing which may happen to be taught by them of truth do profit So that to pass a free and impartial Judgment upon all that called commonly Philosophy both ancient and modern of all the sorts and sects of them called Philosophers it consisteth of a great mixture of error and falshood containing many dangerous and hurtful Opinions but mingled with some true Notions of things that lie so obscure and veiled under the clouds of their many great and dangerous errors that until it be better resined reformed and purged from the great dross filth and poyson of these many hurtful errors wherewithal it doth abound it seemeth to me as well as to many more that are impartial Judges in the case that the study of it in this state of so great mixture is rather hurtful than really profitable And to spend time in turning over the many Volumes of that called Philosophy to find the pure Truth either of Things Natural or Divine is not only to lose time but to expose the mind to the great danger of being leavened and corrupted with gross and hurtful errors tending to overthrow the Christian Faith and to beget in the mind of him that is studious in it a deep prejudice and enmity against the True Divine Philosophy and the Truth as it is in Jesus But the pious endeavour of some late Writers is greatly to be commended who have attempted to correct and reform the vulgar errors in that called Philosophy as the Author of the book called Enchiridion Physicae restitutae and the lately deceased and worthily esteemed Esq Boyl and others And here before I come to a conclusion of my intended matter I think to answer 2 weighty questions and that very briefly The first is What is the chief cause or reason that men generally professing to seek after the True Philosophy Wisdom or Knowledge of Things both Divine and Natural have so greatly miss'd it and instead of the pure Truth have embraced Error for the greatest part Ans The chief cause or reason is their too much relying upon their Humane Understanding and the bare exercise of Human Reason which they generally made the Rule and measuring Line to find out all Truth or True Knowledg in natural things even as Christians so called too generally do the same at this day and I wish they did not so do in the search of Divine Truth also and in the enquiry after the Knowledg of Divine Things Hence it is that some derive the Etymology of the word mens in Latin that signifieth the Mind in English from the Latin word metiri to measure as if the bare mind or humane understanding of man were the measure of all truth at least in the knowledg of natural things And because they did either wholly or for most part rely upon their humane understanding and bare exercise of humane Reason thence it came to pass that the divine gift of God even that divine principle of Light wherewithal Christ the eternal word had enlightned them was neglected and like the unfaithful and slothful servant this divine Talent wherewithal they ought to have occupied and traded they buried in the earth and thus professing themselves wise they became Fools And tho what was to be known of God had been in some measure made manifest in them God having shewed it unto them by the divine illumination of the eternal word yet as Paul declareth when they knew God they glorified him not as God nor were they thankful And because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge but held the Truth in unrighteousness therefore their foolish hearts were darkened and they were given up to vile affections and this was the more general state of them call'd Heathen or Gentile Philosophers yet I will not judg so hardly or uncharitably of them universally because the more sober and humble minded Gentiles did not profess so much but practised more and better and might be and I believe were in a better state and condition towards God And tho I shall be far from concluding that they are perished yet whoever of them are saved with eternal salvation it is not by any works of Righteousness which they had done in their meer Gentile state or by any Obedience to any Law or Light whatsoever without Faith in Christ Jesus but by Faith in Christ Jesus all who ever have been or shall be saved from the beginning of the world to the end of it have and shall obtain eternal Life and Salvation as Paul hath largely declared and proved in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians and in his Epistle to the Ephesians he telleth them That by grace they were saved through faith and not by any works they had performed before faith was given them and wrought in them But how the true Faith of Christ was wrought in them in those days when it was not outwardly preached to them by the Ministry