A SEASONABLE DISCOURSE OF THE Right Use and Abuse OF REASON In MATTERS of RELIGION.  
By PHILOLOGUS.  Ratio recta, est Ratio lumine Spiritus Sancti directa. 
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Passenger at the Three Bibles on London-Bridge. 1676.   

To the Right Honourable AND Virtuous LADY, the Lady MARCHIONESS OF WORCESTER.  
MADAM,  
'TIS truly observed, That Worldly Greatness without Virtue and Goodness is nothing else but the vigour of Vice, having both mind and means to be uncontrollably vicious: But Nobility joined with Virtue renders the person truly Honourable; the true stamp of Nobility and Honour being upon the minds of men, who are not so much to be valued by the grandeur of their outward Estates or Titles, as by their inward Goodness.  
Virtue and seriousness in Religion is commendable in all persons and at all times, but more especially in persons of Your rank and quality at this time and in this Nation, wherein alas, Atheism, Scepticism, Drollery, and all manner of Profaneness aboundeth amongst those that would be thought to excel all others in Wit, and Courage, and Gallantry, and who should give a far better Example to their Inferiors.  
This Atheism and Irreligion which now aboundeth hath been partly occasioned by the uncharitable unchristian heats and animosities of men of contrary Opinions and Sentiments in matters of Religion; together with those great Scandals (which we can never sufficiently lament) that have been given by some Professors of the Gospel in these Nations: Hence men of proud spirits and corrupt principles have taken occasion to doubt and question all kind of Religion, and to look on it only as a Political device and invention, which doth no further oblige than the Humane Laws of several Countries do authorise it. But though these common Scandals have been the occasion, yet the true ground at the bottom of such men's prejudice and scepticism is the strictness and purity of the Christian Religion, (which of all Religions is the most holy and spiritual) and which they find lays too great a restraint upon their exorbitant Lusts and carnal Passions.  
To be good in bad times, to be virtuous and pious in an Age wherein Vice and Wickedness is so generally countenanced and practised; This, Madam, adds a great lustre to your Goodness and Virtue; And indeed your greatest Interest and Happiness (which I doubt not but you are sensible of) consists in being truly serious and religious; this is the whole Duty of Man, to fear God and keep His Commandments: Eccles. 12.13. The serious practice of Religion is that which every considerate person after all his other disquisitions will find to be his chief Interest, and that which doth deserve his utmost care and diligence: This is the whole of Man, or as the Septuagint reads it, this is all; this indeed should be the great Design of Man, as being most profitable and advantageous to him.  
Go on, Madam, in the strength of the grace of God, and add Virtue to Virtue, that your last days and last works may be your best days and best works; and that you may practically confute the Atheists of our times, who walk and talk, and live and die as if there were no God in the World, no certainty, no seriousness in Religion: These persons are under a Judicial Blindness, desperately rebelling not only against the Light of Gospel-revelation, but against that Light of Reason which is in them: God has given them Reason and Understanding, Eyes that they might see, Hearts that they might understand; but they wilfully shut their Eyes against that Light of Reason, and so by the just Judgement of God it is taken from them, and they given up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart, and to the greatest Spiritual Plagues and Judgements.  
'Tis to be admired, seeing there are such convincing Reasons and Demonstrations, even from the Light of Nature against Atheism and Infidelity, that there should be any such Creatures upon the face of the Earth as these Atheists and Sceptics; when certainly there are none such in Hell, for the Devils themselves believe and tremble, so that in this respect they are worse than the Devils; And though they pretend to be the Wits of the Times, yet for my part I am of opinion with the Noble Mirandula, That there is no Atheist in the World that is in his wits; the rational Souls of such Monsters being sunk down into mere sensuality and brutishness. Plutarch that grave Moralist, [Lib. de Superstit.] styles Irreligion a kind of stupor, whereby men are as it were deprived of their senses: And that it is an exceeding improper thing to ascribe true Reason to those who do not acknowledge and adore the Deity. And Cicero that wise Philosopher and Orator [De Nat. Deor. lib. 2.] saith he can hardly think that man to be in his right mind who is destitute of Religion. And again, why should any one stile such an one a Man, who by what he sees in the World is not convinced of a Deity and a Providence, and of the Adoration which he owes to that Deity. And the Satirist 
* Juv. Sat. 15.  speaking of Religion and the sense of divine things, saith, 
— Separate hoc nos  
A grege multorum, atque ideo venerabile soli,  
Sortiti ingenium Divinorumque capaces.  'Tis this which doth distinguish us from brute Creatures, that we have Souls capable of divine impressions. So that such persons have no just pretence to Reason who renounce Religion, or turn it into mere Scepticism.  
But however some men for a little time may offer violence to their Reason and Conscience (whilst they prosper in this World) yet when they are once alarmed by a violent Sickness or some other great affliction, which at one time or other they shall be exposed unto, then will the sense of a Deity, and of Eternal Wrath and Punishment seize upon them, with so much the greater force and power, which they shall never be able to shake off: High sunt qui trepidant, & ad omnia fulgura pallent.  
We may truly say of the Atheists of our times as Plato doth of Tyrants, If any person could but see thoroughly into their Souls, he should find them all their lives full of fear, guilt and torments.  Pectus inuste deformant maculae, vitiisque inolevit Imago. 
Doth now (saith an excellent Author) the conquest of Passions, forgiving of Injuries, doing good, self-denial, humility, patience under crosses (which are the real expressions of Piety) speak nothing more noble and generous, than a luxurious, malicious, proud and impatient Spirit? Is there nothing more becoming and agreeable to the Soul of Man in exemplary Piety and a holy wellordered conversation, than in the lightness and vanity (not to say rudeness and debauchery) of those whom the World accounts the greatest Gallants? Is there nothing more graceful and pleasing in the sweetness, candour and ingenuity of a truly Christian temper and disposition, than in the revengeful implacable Spirit of such whose honour is fed by the blood of their Enemies? Is it not more truly honourable and glorious to serve that God who commandeth the whole World, than to be a slave to those Passions and Lusts which put men upon continual hard service and torment them for it, when they have done it? Were there nothing else to commend Religion to the minds of men, besides the tranquillity and calmness of spirit, that serene and peaceable temper which follows a good Conscience wheresover it dwells, it were enough to make men welcome that Guest which brings such good entertainment with it; Whereas the amazements, horrors and anxieties of mind which at one time or other haunt such who prostitute their Consciences to a violation of the Laws of God and the Rules of rectified Reason may be enough to persuade any rational person that Impiety is the greatest folly, and Irreligion the greatest madness.  
The wisest and greatest of men in all Ages, at or not long before their death, when freest from worldly designs and sensual delights, have owned that God and His Truth which they did not embrace and acknowledge as they ought to have done in their lives; and the nearer death did approach to them the more serious were they in Religion, and did disclaim and abandon those Atheistical and irreligious courses wherewith they or some of them had been formerly entangled.  
Nimrod the Founder of the Assyrian Monarchy, when carried away by Spirits at his death (as Annius in his Berosus relates the Story) cried out, Oh one year more, Oh one year more, before I go into the place from whence I shall not return!  
Ninus that great King next from Nimrod save Belus, at his Death left this Testimony; Look on this Tomb, and hear where Ninus is; whether thou art an Assyrian, a Mede, or an Indian, I speak to thee no frivolous nor vain matters: Formerly I was Ninus, and lived as thou dost; I am now no more than a piece of earth: All the Meat that I have like a Glutton devoured, all the Pleasures that I like a Beast enjoyed, all the beautiful Women that I so notoriously abused, all the Riches and Glory that I so proudly possessed, I am now deprived of: And when I went into the invisible state, I had neither Gold, nor Horse, nor Chariot; I that wore the rich Crown of Gold, am now poor Dust.  
Cyrus' the Persian left this Memento behind him to all Mankind, (as Plutarch and others tell us;) Whosoever thou art, O O Man, and whence-soever thou comest, (for I know thou wilt come to the same condition that I am in) I am Cyrus, who brought the Empire to the Persians: Do not, I beseech thee, envy me this little piece of ground which covereth my Body.  
Alexander the Great, who conquered the World, was at last (as we find in Plutarch, Curtius, and others) so possessed with the sense of Religion, that he was under much trouble and anxiety of spirit, and looked upon every little matter as portentous and ominous; so dreadful a thing (saith Plutarch) is the contempt of God, which sooner or later filleth all men's minds with fears and terrors.  
Julius Caesar who Conquered so many Nations, and at last subdued and possessed the Roman Empire; could not Conquer himself and his own Conscience, which troubled him with Dreams and terrified him with Visions, putting him upon Sacrificing and consulting all sorts of Priests and Augurs, though he found comfort from none; in so much as a little before he died he was as heartless as the ominous Sacrifice was that he offered, professing to his most intimate Friends, That since he had made an end of the Wars abroad he had no Peace at home. The like may be said of Tiberius Caesar, Nero, and other Roman Emperors.  
Hadrian the Emperor celebrated his own Funerals, carrying before him his Coffin in triumph when he lived, and when he was a dying cried out lamentably, Animula vagula blandula, quae abibis in loca? Ah poor Soul whither wilt thou go? what will become of thee? Thus the greatest Princes have (especially near their latter end) a deep sense of Religion, of the Souls Immortality, and their Eternal estate in another World. Nor did ever any Prince, Captain or Lawgiver go about any great matter but at length he was glad to take in the assistance of a God, as Numa, Lycurgus, Solon, Scipio and others.  
Titus and Nerva two Roman Emperors, had such serious thoughts, and were so sensible of a Deity in the Government of the World, that neither of them (as the Historian saith) was ever seen to smile or play.  
Septimius Severus that Victorious Roman Emperor, having had experience of the vanity of this World's Riches and Greatness, said at his Death, I have been all things, and it profiteth me nothing.  
Charles the Fifth that Famous Germane Emperor, after twenty three pitched Battles, six Triumphs, four Kingdoms won, and eight Principalities added to his other Dominions, resigned all these in his life time to his Son, and betook himself to a retired life, and to his private Devotions: This great and wise Prince had his own Funeral Celebrated beforre his face, and left this Testimony of the Christian Religion, That the sincere profession of it had in it those sweets and joys which the Courts of Princes were strangers to; grounding his hope and assurance of Salvation upon the sole Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ his Mediator, and not upon his own Works; and to this purpose divers little Papers were written by him and found immediately after his Death, as is Recorded by an Author who wrote the Life of Don Carlos his Grandchild.  
Philip the Third King of Spain, lying on his deathbed the last of March 1621., sent thrice at Midnight for Florentius his Confessor, who gravely exhorting him patiently to submit to the will of God, the King could not choose but weep, saying, Lo now my fatal hour is at hand, but shall I obtain eternal felicity? at which words, great grief and trouble of mind seizing on the King, he said to his Confessor, You have not hit upon the right way of healing; Is there no other Remedy? Which words when the Confessor understood of his Body, the King replied, Ah ah, I am not solicitous for my Body or temporary Disease, but for my Soul.  
Cardinal Wolsey that Great Minister of State, who for some years gave Law to England and to other Nations, poured out his Soul in these sad words; Had I been as diligent to serve my God as I have been to please my Prince, He would not have forsaken me now in my grey Hairs.  
Sir Francis Walsingham that great and wise Statesman, towards the latter end of his Life grew very melancholy, and wrote to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh to this purpose; We have lived enough to our Country, to our Fortunes, and to our Sovereign; it is now high time we begin to live to ourselves, and to our God: In the multitude of Affairs which have passed through our Hands there must needs be great miscarriages, for which a whole Kingdom cannot make our Peace. Hereupon some Courtiers being sent to divert Sir Francis, Ah, said he, while we laugh all things are serious round about us; God is serious, when He preserveth us, and hath patience towards us; Christ is serious when He dieth for us, the Holy Ghost is serious when He striveth with us, the Holy Scripture is serious when it is read before us, Sacraments are serious when they are administered unto us; the whole Creation is serious in serving God and us: They are serious in Heaven and Hell, and shall a man that hath one foot in his Grave jest and laugh?  
Sir Philip Sidney (his Son-in-Law) that brave accomplished Knight whom Queen Elizabeth called her Philip, and the Prince of Aurange, his Master, whose Death was lamented in Verse by the then Kings of France and Scotland, and by the two famous Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, repent at his death of writing his Pembrokes Arcadia, and would have committed it to the flames himself to prevent the kindling of unlawful heats in the youthful Readers of it; leaving this farewell amongst his Friends, Above all things govern your Wills and Affections by the Will and Word of God; In me behold the end of this World and all its vanities.  
Sir John Mason, Privy Counsellor to several Princes, upon his deathbed spoke thus to some of his Friends, I have seen five Princes, and been Privy Counsellor to four of them; I have observed the most remarkable Occurrences in Foreign parts, and been present at most transactions for thirty years together; And I have learned this after so many years' Experience, That Seriousness is the greatest Wisdom, Temperance the best Physic, a good Conscience is the best Estate; and were I to live again, I would change the Court for a Cloister, my Privy Counsellors Employment for an Hermit 's Retirement, and the whole Life I lived in the Palace for one Hours Enjoyment of God in the Chapel; all things else forsake me besides my God and my Duty.  
The Lord Henry Howard that Learned Earl of Northampton being troubled with Atheistical thoughts and suggestions, put them all off with this Consideration, viz. If I could give any account how myself or any thing else had a being without God, how there came so uniform and so constant a consent of Mankind, of all ages, tempers and educations (otherwise differing so much in their apprehensions) about the being of God, the Immortality of the Soul, and Religion, I could then be an Atheist! And when it was urged that Religion was a State-policy to keep men in awe, he replied, That could not be true, for the greatest Politicians have sooner or later felt the power of Religion in the grievous lashes of their Consciences, and the dreadfulness of their apprehensions about that state wherein they must live for ever.  
Cardinal Richlieu that great Politician, after he had governed the Affairs of Europe many years together, confessed to Peter du Moulin, a Learned Minister of the Reformed Church in France, That being forced upon many irregularities in his life time by that which they call Reason of State, he could not tell how to satsifie his conscience for several things, and therefore had many Temptations to doubt and disbelieve a God, another World, and the Immortality of the Soul, and by that distrust to relieve his aching Heart, but in vain; for so strong (said he) were the apprehensions of God in his Soul, so clear the impressions of a Deity upon the frame of the World, so unanimous the consent of Mankind, so powerful the convictions of his Conscience, that he could not but taste the power of the World to come, and so live as one that must die, and so die as one that must live for ever. And being asked one day why he was so sad, he answered, Monsieur Monsieur, the Soul is a serious thing, it must be either sad here for a moment, or be sad for ever.  
Cardinal Mazarine his Successor, who had for several years managed the Crown of France and the greatest Affairs of Christendom, discoursing one day with a Sorbon Doctor concerning the Souls Immortality and Man's Eternal estate, he wept, repeating that Emperor's saying, O my poor Soul, whither wilt thou go? and immediately calling for his Confessor, he vowed ten Hours of the Day for Devotion, seven for Rest, four for Repasts, and but three for Business; saying one day to the Queen Mother, Madam, your favours have undone me, and were I to live again, I would be a Capuchin rather than a Courtier.  
Salmasius that great Scholar, whom the Learned men of his time never mention without some title of praise and commendation, left this World with these words in his mouth, Oh I have lost a world of time, that most precious thing in the World, whereof had I but one year longer to live, it should be spent in David 's Psalms and Paul 's Epistles; Oh Sirs! speaking to his Friends that were about him, Mind the World less, and God more; all the Learning in the World without Piety and the true fear of God, is nothing worth: The fear of the Lord that is wisdom, and to departed from evil that is understanding.  
The Learned Grotius after many Public Embassies and Employments managed and performed by him at home and abroad, and after his many elaborate Writings in Divinity and other Sciences, having taken an exact Survey of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Learning, concluded his life with this Protestation, That he would give all his Learning and Honour for the plain Integrity and harmless Innocency of Jean Vrick, who was a devout poor man that spent eight Hours of his time in Prayer, eight in Labour, and but eight in Sleep and other necessaries. And complaining to one that admired his astonishing Labours and Industry, he uttered these words, Ah vitam perdidi operosè nihil agendo: And to another Friend that desired him (according to his great Wisdom and Learning) to show him briefly what he should do, he gave him only this direction, Be serious.  
Persons of great Estate and Dignity in this World must expect nevertheless to meet with great crosses and disappointments, (of which doubtless your Honour hath had and will have more and more experience in this vale of tears.) Now as the Sacred Scriptures do abundantly furnish us with grounds and motives of Patience and submission to the Will and Providence of God in every condition and under every dispensation; so there are divers Heathen Moralists who have from the Light of Reason and moral Prudence propounded many excellent Arguments and Considerations to persuade us thereunto; Especially Epictetus, who though lame and old, sickly and deformed, poor and under servitude (being a Slave to Epaphroditus one of the Roman Courtiers) yet was he an excellent Philosopher, and a man of a most noble and generous spirit; some of whose excellent Say to this purpose I shall here recite.  
This wise Moralist speaking of the unreasonableness of murmuring at any cross Events whatsoever, hath this passage, [Dissertat. lib. 3. cap. 26.] What reason have I (saith he) to fight against God? Why should I desire things not ? He that gave hath power to take away, and why should I resist? This would not only be great folly in me to oppose one that is much stronger, but great injustice likewise to fight against a Benefactor: We have received all that we have and our very being from Him, and why should we take it so heinously if He be pleased to resume something back again?  
And speaking further of the reasonableness of men's resigning up themselves to God's disposal, he saith, Quis vero es tu? aut unde venisti? aut quare? Do you consider what you are, and whence you came, and upon what business? Did not He give you a being in the World? endue you with such a nature? put you into such a condition wherein you should be subject to His government and disposal? Did not He appoint the time, and place, and part which you are to act upon the Theatre of this World? And this is properly your Business, to apply yourself to the fittest means for performing the part allotted to you; and not to take upon you to murmur or repine against it, for it doth not belong to us to choose our parts, but to act them. Would it not better become us to go off the Stage with adorations and praises of God, for so much as He hath permitted us to hear and see, rather than mutining against Him because we had no more? And in another place he suggests this Consideration, That our condition whilst we are in this World is militant, wherein every one is without reluctancy to submit to the Orders of his great Captain or General in whatever He shall appoint; whether or no it be to dig in the Trenches, or to stand upon the Watch, or to fight: Every man cannot be a Commander, and a Common Soldier is to obey, not to dispute, or offer Counsel; If thou mayst refuse the condition or work assigned thee, why may not another do so too? And according to this, what Order could there be in the World?  
And again; If God would have me (saith Epictetus') to be sick or poor, I will be content to be so; whatever Employment he will design for me, I will not decline it, and whatever He would not have me be or do, I will be against it likewise. And in another place he hath this excellent passage; If I had been made a Nightingale or a Swan (saith he) I should have employed the time of my life in such a way as is suitable to the condition of those Creatures; but being made a Man, capable of serving and worshipping that Deity from whom I had my being, 'tis but reason I should apply myself to this, as being my proper work and business; and therefore hereunto will I devote myself, as to that Employment to which I am chief designed: I am now as to the condition of my Body, lame and old, and under servitude: Yet still he concludes it to be his Duty wholly to devote himself to the praises and worship of that God who was the Author of his being.  
That must needs be much more  (saith this Heathen Moralist Epictetus) which is chosen by the wisdom of God, than that which I choose; A reluctancy against the divine Will is the ground of all irreligion and Atheism in the World. Why may not a man refuse to obey God in what He commands, as well as to submit to Him in what He inflicts? and than what ground can there be for any pretence to Religion? We should all of us (saith he) conform our minds to the Will of Providence, and most willingly follow whithersoever He shall lead us, as knowing it to proceed from the best and wisest contrivance. I do in my Judgement more consent to that which God would have, than to that which mine own inclination doth lead unto; I would desire and will just so and no otherwise than as He doth. And in another place; Use me (saith he) as Thou pleasest, I do fully consent and submit to it, and shall refuse nothing which shall seem good unto Thee: Led me whither-ever Thou wilt, put me into what condition Thou pleasest; Must I be in a private not in a public station, in poverty not in wealth? I will not only consent to it, but make it my business to Apologise for it, to justify and maintain before all men, such Thy dealing with me to be most fitting and advantageous to my condition.  
To the same purpose another Heathen Moralist (to mention no more) Antoninus [Lib. 10. cap. 25.] saith, That man is to be esteemed a Fugitive and an Apostate who runs away from his Master: Now the great Lawgiver who governs the World is our common Master and Ruler, and His Will is the only Law we are to submit unto; And therefore for a man to be angry or grieved because things fall not out according to his desire, what is this but revolting from the supreme Governor of the World, and declaring enmity against Him? And again; If God (saith he) do not take particular notice of, and care for me and my affairs, why do I at any time pray to Him? And if He doth exercise a special Providence towards all Events, no doubt but He doth consult well and wisely about them; nor would He suffer any hurt or prejudice to befall me, unless it were for a greater good upon some other account; and in this I ought to acquiesce. And in another place; (saith the same Author) I refer every thing that befalls me to God, as the Contriver of it, by whom all Events are disposed in a wise Order.  
Now what are these great and excellent Say of these two wise Philosophers and other grave Moralists (that might be mentioned) but the same in effect with those divine Say in the Sacred Scriptures: Psal. 25.10. Job 1. 15, 17. and 2.10. Exod. 34.6. 1 Sam. 3.18. Lam. 3.22, 39 Job 5.7. and 34.31. and 40.4. and 33.12, 13. Psal. 39.9. and 8.4. and 94.12. and 118.18. and 119.75. 2 Sam. 15.26. Isa. 45.9. and 64.8. Heb. 12.5, 8, 10, 11. Prov. 19.3. Rom. 8.28. and 9.20. 1 Cor. 10.13. and 11.32. 2 Cor. 1.5. Rev. 3.19.  
Religion (to use the words of a late Learned Bishop 
* Dr. Wilkins Bishop of Chester. ) hath a firm and deep foundation in the Nature and Reason of Mankind: But yet we must not so exalt Reason or the Principles of natural Religion, as to derogate in the least from the necessity and usefulnss of divine Revelation, or to extenuate the great and unparallelled Blessing and Benefit of the Christian Religion and the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ, which though it transcends, yet it is not contrary to the Dictates and Sentiments of Reason; For it is but reasonable that we should acquiesce in the Testimony and Authority of God the supreme Being, who neither can nor will deceive us.  
We should not despise any of those Advantages (saith the grave Author of The whole Duty of Man 
* Causes of the Decay of Christianity, cap. 9 pag. 255. ) which may improve our Reason, exalt the Man and depress the Beast in us; Yet sure we shall derogate very impiously from Christ's Prophetic Office, if we allow not Divinity to be the supreme and noblest Science, such as is to be served and attended, not regulated and governed by those inferior: But that just order seems now to be inverted, Divine Learning is brought down to Humane, and the simplicity of Christian Doctrine so perplexed and confounded with Philosophical Niceties, that Plato and Aristotle are become the Umpires of our Religion, and we must go ask Heathens how far we shall be Christians. Those deep things of God, (as the Apostle calls them, 1 Cor. 2.10.) and of which he pronounces the Natural man an incompetent Judge, are yet brought before that Tribunal, subjected to be scanned by Rules of Art; but alas our Line is too short to sound those Depths. Thus far he.  
Madam, This Book (which is Dedicated to Your Honour) treats of the Right Use and Abuse of Reason in Divine matters: There are two extremes which men are apt to run into; some ascribe too much to Natural Light and Reason in Religious concernments, and others ascribe too little. As we should give to God the things that are God's, and to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, (according to that saying of our Blessed Saviour, Matth. 22.21.) so we should give to Faith the things that belong to Faith, and to Reason the things that belong to Reason. And herein, Madam, You may meet with some Passages in this Treatise (if You please to peruse it) which may by the Blessing of God minister some Light and Direction to You.   

OF THE RIGHT USE & ABUSE OF REASON IN MATTERS of RELIGION.  

CHAP. I. Of distinguishing between Faith and Reason.  
AS it requires much spiritual skill and judgement rightly to distinguish between the Law and the Gospel, the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace; to give the Law its due and the Gospel its due, whereupon Luther was wont to say, That he who can thus distinguish is the best Divine: So truly it requires much spiritual skill and wisdom rightly to distinguish between the Light of Nature, and the Light of Grace, between Reason and Faith, in matters of Religion; That as Christ bids us render unto God the things that are Gods, and to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; So we should give unto Faith the things that are Faith's, and to Reason the things that are Reason's: To Faith her full scope and latitude, and to Reason also her just bounds and rights. May we not wish, that many great Professors of the Gospel did but equalise in their practice (as to moral Justice and Faithfulness) some Heathens, that were only endued with the Light of Reason and moral Virtues? Did not these go further with their Candle-light, than the other do with their Sunbeams? And will they not rise up in judgement against them that do so grossly abuse the Light of the Gospel, which infinitely transcends the Light of Nature? Perhaps this may be the reason, why some vain Scribblers in our days, place Religion chief in natural Improvements and moral Virtues, because there is so little moral Justice and Honesty amongst Men; yea amongst many forward Professors morality will go very far: But yet though Men be unjust, and exceeding defective in their morals, we should not therefore derogate from the Spirit and Grace of God; we should not confound Nature and Grace, Divinity and Philosophy, Faith and humane Reason, Christ and Socrates, Paul and Plato; Nor the Church of God and the Christian Religion with the School of Aristotle: For this sinful mixture and composition, the Schoolmen are worthily blamed, who by advancing Aristotle in their Writings, and ascribing too much to moral Virtues, have exceedingly darkened the purity of the Gospel, and in a manner quite excluded the righteousness of Christ as Mediator, and the gracious powerful operations of His Spirit. Erasmus himself, speaking of the Arians, saith, 
a Hoc ipso fuere pestilentiores quod Aristotelicis argutiis essent instructi Erasmus.  That they were the more dangerous and pestilent, because they were so much acquainted with the Aristotelian Subtleties. The like may be said of some curious Philosophical Wits and Pens, in this divided Church and Nation, who have in effect transformed the Gospel of Christ into a mere System of Morality. Indeed a true sincere Christian is the most just and moral of any man, but it is not his moral Virtues and Endowments, but his Spiritual union with Christ, that makes him accepted with God, and puts him into a state of Salvation. Let Reason be permitted with the Gibeonites to hue wood and draw water for the Sanctuary, but let it not rush into the Holy of Holies, into the Bosom-secrets of God, into the deep Mysteries of the Gospel: Reason may not come into these Seas, except she strike her topsail; here she must submit and captivate herself to the obedience of Faith. There is reason indeed for that which faith believeth, 
b Dr. Preston on the Attributes of God.  but yet reason must be helped by faith, and raised up to Spiritual Objects by divine revelation: As one that hath dim Eyes can see better by the help of Spectacles; and to choose a right Jewel we use the Skill of a Lapidary; so if we would yield a firm assent to Divine Truths and Principles, we must be helped with light from above, even with divine and supernatural Revelation: Otherwise we shall give but a weak and doubtful assent thereunto, which we call Opinion: The works of Creation, and the light of Natural Reason, enabling us to discern the Characters of God stamped upon the Creatures, will prove, That there is a God, or Supreme Being: But as for those Truths that are merely Supernatural, as the Trinity of Persons, the Hypostatical Union in Christ, and other great Mysteries of the Gospel, these are only known by revelation, and have no prints or footsteps in the Creatures to discern them by; of which we shall speak more fully and particularly in the following part of this Treatise.   

CHAP. II. Showing that Reason (though much weakened) is of good use both in civil and divine things.  
LEt it be granted (which will not be denied by any sober Christian) 1. That the light of Reason is exceedingly darkened and clouded, that the Eye of Reason is weakened and vitiated, that with Leah she is bleareyed; That this daughter of the morning is fallen from her primitive beauty, from her original vigour and perfection: And so fallen, that she cannot savingly apprehend or comprehend the things of God. Yea, 2. Reason as it is now corrupted and perverted in man, doth oppose the Gospel of Christ, and wrangle against the mysteries of Salvation, which it doth not understand. 3. That the foulest and blackest Errors, that ever were broached in the Church of Christ, have shrouded themselves under the fair disguise of Reason, and men of the greatest reason and parts have often fallen into and promoted such Errors, and have ensnared many others by their subtle disputes and reasonings. Let all this be granted, yet still there is a good use of reason, so she keep her place, and go not beyond her due bounds, both in matters civil and religious: What though the light of reason shine not so clearly and brightly as it was wont! shall it therefore be quite extinguished? If the Picture have lost its former gloss and beauty, the oriency of its Colours, the elegancy of its Lineaments, the comeliness of its proportion, must it therefore be totally defaced and broken in pieces? Because men have not so much Reason as they should, will they therefore resolve to have none at all? Our Faith and Love, and all our gracious acts and religious performances are weak and imperfect; Iniquity is mingled with our holy things; what then! Shall we therefore utterly neglect and reject them? Shall we not own and bless God for them? The light of reason is the gift of God, which should be thankfully acknowledged by us: And though it be not so bright and powerful as to enter into the Sanctum Sanctorum, and pierce within the Veil, yet it may lie in the Porch and at the Gate of the Temple, and be as a Doorkeeper in the House of God. Though Reason be not a Jacob's Ladder to climb up to Heaven by, yet doubtless we may use it as a Staff to walk with upon Earth. If any be so malapert and presumptuous, as to set Agar above her Mistress, and make Faith wait like a Servingman at the elbow of corrupt and distorted Reason, if they go about to subject and subordinate the glorious Mysteries of Christ (which are to be adored) to their vain reasonings, and will reject them, because they cannot by their reason comprehend them; let them bear the blame, as they are well worthy of their arrogancy and presumption.   

CHAP. III. How far the light of Reason extendeth, and what kind of light it is.  
THere is a light in man's reason, though far inferior to that of Faith: Both these lights proceed from God, the Fountain of Light, who hath set up the Sun to rule the day, and the Moon to rule the night: Mens hominis lucerna domini, the Reason or Understanding of a man is the Candle of the Lord, Prov. 20.27. This was spoken by Solomon, a man of raised and clear Intellectuals, in whom this Candle of the Lord did shine with far more brightness than in other Princes: And though he was looked upon as a Star of the first magnitude, nay as a Sun shining in the Firmament, in respect of his wisdom and knowledge, yet he calleth it only the Candle of the Lord, using a very humble and modest expression touching the reason and understanding of man, which as we should not go about to extinguish or put out, so neither should we extol and magnify the same above what is written: For, First, this light of Reason (as an ingenious Writer truly observes) is 
(c) Nathan. Culverwell Discourse of the Light of Nature.  lumen derivatum, a derivative light. 'Tis not the fountain of light, but only a few drops derived from the fountain. Light we know is not originally in the Candle, which shines only with a borrowed light, and so doth the light of Reason, and all other created Excellencies: Reason is but scintilla divinae lucis, 'tis but divinae particula aurae: The rational Immortal Soul of man, this Intellectual Lamp, was first lighted and set up by God Himself, and hath its total dependence upon Him, both for its being, and for its perpetual continuation: Nor is this Candle lighted out of the Essence of God Himself, as if it were a part of His Essence. This (as Calvin saith) were to divide and rend in pieces the Divine Essence, which is indivisible and incommunicable, and doubtless it were a far more tolerable error, to make the light of a Candle a piece of the Sun's Essence, than to imagine, that this Intellectual Lamp, the Soul of Man, is a part of the Divine Nature: And therefore Seneca, as wise as he was, did express much folly and ignorance in deifying the Soul of Man, Quid aliud vocas animum (saith he) quam deum in humano corpore hospitantem. That is, what less Title or Dignity can you bestow upon Man's Soul, than that of a God dwelling in a House of Clay. Whereas the Rational Soul and Understanding of Man, is but a weak and faint resemblance of God Himself, who is infinite in Knowledge and Understanding, and who sees and knows all things perfectly in an instant, by His own uncompounded and indivisible Essence: Angels are above Syllogisms and rational discourses, how much more is God Himself, whose Knowledge is not in the least improved, by deducing and collecting one thing out of another, in a way of reasoning, as we do! Cognitio Dei non est raticinativa, non est discursiva. Secondly, The light of Reason in Man, is but lumen tenue & diminutum: 'Tis but a diminutive light. How far distant is the light of a Candle from the light of a Star? how far from the brightness of the Sun? This Candle or light of Reason, when it was first set up, before there was any thief in it, even than it had but a limited and restrained light; God said unto it, Thus far shall thy light go, and no further: Adam, in the state of Innocency, was not to crown himself with his own sparks, much less should we think to save ourselves by the Glimmerings of our depraved Reason: God never intended that the Creature should rest satisfied with its own Candle-light, but that it should have recourse to Him who is the Fountain of Light, that it might see light in His Light. Lucifer, that would needs be an independent light, and shine with his own beams, how is he fallen into perpetual darkness and torment! yea, and Adam's Candle aspiring to be a Sun has burnt the dimmer ever since: This Candle of the Lord in the regenerate Soul, and much more in the unregenerate, knows but little of God and spiritual things, whilst the Soul is imprisoned in the Body, and absent from the Lord: But when it is taken out of this dark Lantern, in statu separato, or in statu consummato, than it shall know infinitely more of God and spiritual things than now it doth. Thirdly, The light of Reason, as far as it goes, is lumen tranquillum, 'tis a quiet and peaceable light: Certainly the more reason and judgement Men have, the more calm and serene they are: And if Men were more regulated by reason, there would be more concord and harmony in the world, yea and in the Church of Christ, than there is. This Candle would shine more clearly and steadily, were it not for the boisterous winds of men's Passions, which disturb and darken it; nor would there be such ruptures, rents, alienations, animosities, supplantings, disorders, and inconsistencies amongst us, if the soft and sober voice of reason were more attended to: Reason would make some differences kiss and be friends; it would quench many a flame, and bind up many a wound; it would end many petty personal quarrels, for the good of the whole and the welfare of the community: The Soul is tossed up and down with passion and groundless suspicion, but anchors upon judgement and reason. This calmness and quietness of reason doth never commend itself more, than in complying with Faith, in not opposing those high and transcendent mysteries, which are above its own reach and capacity; such a modesty and humility our reason should always have and practise, namely, to submit and subordinate itself to all such Divine Revelations as are above its own sphere; though it cannot grasp them or pierce into them, yet it should ever resolve with all humility and gratitude to admire them, to bow its head and adore them. One light should not oppose another; lumen fidei and lumen rationis may shine both together, though in several Orbs, and with far different brightness. This Candle of the Lord should not be impatient of a superior light, of a brighter Sun: The light of reason should no more prejudice the light of Faith, than the light of a Candle doth prejudice the light of a Star or the light of the Sun; why should there be any strife between Faith and Reason, seeing they are brethren, both springing from the same Father of Lights, though the one be much superior to the other? Indeed there are such infinite Treasures of Grace and Glory displayed in the Gospel, as do far transcend Man's Reason, and therefore must be apprehended by Faith, which is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for: Nature and Reason are not sufficiently proportioned to such high and transcendent Objects; here are such depths, such pleonasms, such weights of glory, as do opprimere ingenium humanum. If the Sons of Men could have extracted all the Spirits of Reason, and made them meet in one head, nay if Angels and Men could have united and concentricated all their Reason and Knowledge, yet they would never have been able to find out and discover such profound and mysterious Excellencies, as the Eye of true Evangelical Faith beholdeth in an instant. Revealed Truths shine with their own beams and brightness, and do not borrow their lustre from the dim Candle of our Reason; whatsoever God, who is Truth itself, reveals must needs be true; Reason is so modest, that it will not contradict this, for it doth acknowledge a Deity, and the unquestionable Truth of a Deity. In all believing, there is an assent, a yielding to him that speaks, by virtue of his own authority, though he doth not prove and evince it any other way, than by mere testimony: Reason itself dictates thus much to us, that we are to believe such a one whom we have no reason to distrust; for without some faith, there would be no commerce in the world, there's no trading without some trusting; a general and total incredulity would threaten a present and fatal dissolution to human society: Men may deceive us (for none of them are infallible) but God, being Truth itself, an Eternal, Immutable Truth, and all Revelations flowing from Him being certain and infallible like Himself; hence it is, that His naked Word is a sufficient demonstration; and he that will not believe a God, who is Truth itself, is no better than an Atheist, yea in some respect he is worse than a Devil, for the Devils believe and tremble. Though there be many things in the Sacred Scriptures, which are beyond the comprehension of Reason, yet coming to us in the Name of the God of Truth, and bearing the stamp and signature of Divine Authority, it is not contrary, but agreeable to Reason, that we should believe them and assent to them. Some there are that endeavour to maintain this Opinion, That revealed Truths, though they could not be found out by Reason, yet when they are once revealed, Reason can evince and demonstrate them; but I rather incline to the Judgement of Aquinas, That humane Reason, when it has stretched itself to the uttermost, is not at all proportioned to them, but at the best only can give some weak adumbrations of them. 'Twill be honour enough for Reason to submit unto Divine Revelation, and to captivate itself to the Authority of God in His Word; and withal to make it appear to the Adversaries of the Gospel, that Faith does not oppose Reason; indeed the way of Faith is a far more compendious way, longum iter per rationem, breve per fidem; That which Reason would have been sweeting for these many years, Faith sups up the very quintessence of it in a moment; God hath chosen this way of Faith, that he may slain the pride and glory of Man; that he may confound the wisdom of the flesh, and maintain in Man great apprehensions of Himself, of His Divine Revelations, Truth and Goodness; and keep the Creature in a continual posture of dependency upon Himself, and humble submission to His own Testimony and Authority. Fourthly, The Light of Reason is lumen Ascendens, an Ascendant light: Reason is soon weary with fluttering up and down among the Creatures and perishing things of this life; this Candle doth but waste itself to no purpose, in searching for true happiness here below; after a diligent search, your own Reason will tell you, that the summum bonum, the chiefest good, lies not in the riches, honours, pleasures, of this world, no nor in moral virtues and excellencies; though some Men far above others have snuffed their Candles with more care and exactness, by improving their intellectuals, and refining their morals, yet at length they sadly perceived, that when their Candles were at the brightest they burned but dimly and blewly, and that for all their snuffing they would relapse again into their former dimness and obscurity. The Improvements of Nature and Reason will never make a Man perfectly happy: This Candle of the Lord would flame and ascend upward towards Heaven, but is much weakened and darkened by lusts and passions, so that it cannot mount up to God, and attain that glorious end and reward which is the happiness of Man; Nature's eye cannot see it, Nature's hand cannot reach it, nor is there any natural power or operation proportioned to such a high transcendent Object, as the Blessed Face of God in Glory: And therefore the Nature and Reason of Man must be advanced above itself by a supernaturale Auxilium, before it can be blessed with so great a perfection, as to arrive to the full end of its being; nay God Himself (O wonderful Mystery!) was pleased to assume the Nature of Man, that He might make it more capable of this perfection, and by a strict Love-knot and union make it partaker of the Divine Nature.   

CHAP. IU. Showing that the best Heathen Philosophers were sensible of great defects in Nature and Reason.  
THough the Heathen Philosophers and Moralists generally did ascribe too much to the Light of Nature and Reason, yet the wisest of them (after long experience) were sadly sensible, that this Candle at the best, after all their snuffing, did burn but dim. Socrates (than whom there was not a more prudent virtuous man amongst the Heathens) doth so far complain of the weakness of his Candle-light, i. e. his Intellectuals, as that he tells us his lamp would show him nothing but his own darkness and ignorance: This only he knew, that he was ignorant and knew nothing. Other Philosophers besides him were deeply sensible of, and groaned under these great decays and imperfections of natural light and reason: You may hear them often complaining of a defluvium pennarum, that the wings of the Soul flag, and many of the feathers drop away: One will tell you, that his head his understanding aches; another, that his eye his reason is dimmed; a third, that his Soul trembles with doubts and uncertainties. As you heard Socrates, the Master and the wisest man in Greece, complaining of the languish and faintings of natural light and reason; so you may see Plato, his Scholar, sitting down by the waters of Lethe, and weeping because he could not remember his former notions: You may likewise hear Aristotle, another of his Scholars, bewailing his condition, that his Abrasa tabula hath so few and such imperfect impressions upon it, and that his Intellectuals are at so low an ebb, that the motions of Euripus will pose and nonplus him. And as for Zeno, Epictetus, and other famous Philosophers, they confess ingeniously, that they had not the right apprehension of things, and that they were entangled with a spurious and adulterate kind of reason, instead of that which is called right reason. If you cast your Eye upon the most Eagle eyed Naturalist, you will see him puzzled with an occult quality; if you take a view of the exactest Moralist, you will find him bewildered, and at a great loss in his Morals, not being able to attain to true peace and rest in his Soul by all these Virtues. Shall these moral Heathens complain of their great defects and behindments, and shall Christians pride themselves in their natural or moral improvements, and set up the light and power of Nature and Reason, as much or more than the light and power of Grace and Divine Revelation? How unbecoming! how unsuitable is this to the glorious Gospel of Christ, which clearly sets forth the corruption of Nature, the natural man's subjection to Sin and Satan, and the Curse of the Law; and an absolute necessity of the new birth and regeneration! Let not this Candle therefore, which burns but dim, aspire so high, as to make itself equal with the Sun: Solomon himself, who had made many discoveries with this Candle of the Lord, and had thereby searched into the several veins of Knowledge, into the hid Treasures of Wisdom, into the depths of State Affairs, and into the bowels and mysteries of Nature, yet after much searching, and a diligent improvement of his intellectual lamp, he could not find the chiefest good in any of these, or in all of them put together; but as a man sufficiently wearied and tired out, you may hear him complain, that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, and that there is no true rest in any thing under the Sun.   

CHAP. V Of them that give too little to the light of Reason.  
SOme are so strangely prejudiced against reason without reason, that they would have no use at all made of it in Religious Concerns, but utterly exclude it out of the Church of God: Now this is an extreme which we should avoid, and pray to be delivered from such unreasonable absurd men, as will not in the least hearken to reason, but fill our ears with noise and clamour to no purpose, 2 Thess. 3.2. First, Those are to be blamed that cannot endure the name of reason in Discourses of Religion: If you offer to make a Syllogism, or a rational Discourse, they will presently fall fowl upon you, and cry it down as carnal reasoning: If one man speak or write more reason than another, if it cross some men's humours and interests, he shall be termed a Prudentialist, if not a Conjurer or Magician: He must needs be a dangerous man, if he have better Intellectuals, and more wisdom and understanding than others in matters Civil and Religious. Secondly, Such as wholly rely upon dreams and enthusiasms, are Enemies to Reason, and renounce their Intellectuals and Understandings: Do they pretend to the Spirit of God let them know that this Spirit is a sober wise and serious Spirit, and doth not destroy the use of Reason, but elevateth and raiseth up the rational faculties to a higher pitch, than mere Nature can mount up to, in His service. It hath been truly observed, both by the Ancient Fathers and our Modern Writers, as a characteristical difference between the true prophetical Spirit and the false and counterfeit, that the one leaves men in the free use and exercise of their reason and faculties, but the other fills and distracts them with panic fears, tremble, and consternations, both of body and mind. Epiphanius, and others, discovering the folly and madness of Montanus and his followers, giveth this reason why they could be no true Prophets; because in those that are so, there is a great consistency of sense, reason, and discourse: The true Prophet (say they) had always the free use of his reason and faculties, and spoke from the Spirit of God with consistency and coherence of discourse; whereas it was quite otherwise with the Monatanists, they were always trembling both in body and mind, and used no consequence of reason in discourse; their words had no proper sense, but were all dark, intricate, and obscure. Thirdly, Those also are upon this extreme that hold an Annihilation or destruction of the Faculties of the Soul in the new spiritual Birth and Regeneration, as if there were a new will and understanding, not only for quality but for substance, infused into us, which is to take away our reason and unman us. If there be any so absurd and irrational, as would persuade us wholly to lay aside our reasons, judgements, and understandings, in matters of Religion, and not to make use of, or engage any of these in our Inquiries after things of a spiritual and supernatural concernment: This is in effect to render us Brutish, and to extinguish that Candle which the Lord hath set up in our Souls, wherewith we ought to search and try Spirits and Doctrines, being enabled thereunto by the Spirit of God, which reneweth, strengtheneth and raiseth the Rational faculties of Man's Soul, but doth not destroy them. Fourthly, When Christians are members of a particular Society, and will not be regulated by Reason in thing that are not contrary to the Word of God, but are led more by humour and faction, or by a worldly Interest, than by Judgement and Reason; when young men despise the grave reasons of those that are ancient, and experienced in the ways of God; and when private Christians will not be swayed by the weighty reasons of their Pastors and Church-Officers as to Civil circumstances, order and decency, in reference to the Worship of God; but are fierce and heady, and disorderly in their actions and proceed, and will give no reason thereof, but their own Will and Humour; Truly this is irrational, and tends to confusion; this is not to act like sober understanding Christians, nor will it bring Honour to, but Contempt upon the ways and Worship of God. And as for those persons, whatever they be that will take upon them to determine Religious or Ecclesiastical matters that are in Controversy, and thereby impose upon their Brethren without giving sufficient grounds and Reasons of their Judgement and Opinion; what do they do in effect but blindfold us, and bid us lay aside our Reason and Understanding, that we may yield implicit obedience to their partial dictates and determinations? No man's Opinion in things of this nature should signify any more to us than the Reasons whereby he confirms it, I speak as to wise men (saith the Apostle) Judge ye what I say, 1 Cor. 10.15. Every Party in Religion (however distinguished) when they have gained a considerable Reputation amongst men, either for their Piety, or Learning, or Worldly Interest, are too apt to run into these unbrotherly irrational Impositions, which perhaps they have severely Condemned in others. If it be expected from the Magistrate, that in these matters he should give a Reason of his Commands and Injunctions, how much more should it be expected from them that have not such Authority, nor are they in such a Public Capacity to impose upon others!   

CHAP. VI Of those that ascribe too much to Reason.  
AS there are some that derogate from, so there are others that magnify too much, and even Idolise the light and power of Nature and Reason, and so make shipwreck of Faith and the Gospel; when they will have us believe no more in Divine matters than we can Comprehend by our weak depraved Reason; hereupon the proud Socinians deny and reject many Articles of the Christian Faith, because (as they conceive) they are contrary to Reason: The Doctrine of three Persons in one Essence, of the two Natures in the one Person of Christ; the Satisfaction of Christ, and his meriting Eternal life and glory for us; the doctrine of Original Sin, and of Predestination, especially God's decree touching Reprobation, are all rejected by them as being contrary to reason: What a horrid saying was that of a Socinian in Foreign parts, That if the Eternal Godhead and Satisfaction of Christ were asserted in Scripture (as indeed they are) yet he would not believe them because they are against reason, that is, against his corrupt Reason and vain Imagination: And a late Writer of our own Nation is so bold and daring as to tell us in a voluminous Book of his, That in case any such assurance of the unchangeableness of God's love (as we maintain according to the Scriptures) were to be found or could regularly be deduced from the Scriptures, it were a just ground to any Intelligent and Considering man to question their Authority, and whether they were from God or no. This is plain dealing; the divine Authority of the sacred Scriptures must depend upon their reason or opinion; so far as they can comprehend by their reason the great and glorious Mysteries of the Gospel to be agreeable to Reason, neither above it nor contrary to it, so far they will embrace the Gospel; but if they find it otherwise, they are then in a ready posture to esteem it no better than a Fable, as that wicked Pope said: No marvel indeed if the Heathen Philosophers, especially the Stoics, adore and idolise the supposed power and excellency of Nature and Reason, by their Rhetorical Hyperbolical praises; when as those that live under the sunshine of the Gospel are so apt to fall into the same Error, and to attribute that to Nature, which is only due to the Grace and Spirit of God. What doth Pelagius and his followers (whereof there are too many in our days) but take the Crown from Christ and set it upon Nature's head, and place the Creature in the Throne of God and grace. A Learned man 
(d) Ger. Vossius Histor. Pelag.  gives us this brief Character of Pelagius; That he was Humani Arbitrii decomptor, & divinae Gratiae contemptor; a trimmer of Nature, and a contemner of Grace. All men are born Pelagians, Nature is predominant in them, and will not easily subordinate itself to a principle of Grace or that which is supernatural; and therefore this Doctrine spreads far and near, as Bradwardine complains in his time, Totus penè mundus post Pelagium abiit in errorem: And yet Pelagius though he was such an admirer of the power of Nature and Reason, did not altogether deny the assistance of Grace in the point of Conversion and Salvation no more than others, who yet at this day ascribe too much to Nature and Reason: For first, he acknowledged the Assistance of Grace necessary for enlightening the Understanding; yea secondly, for exciting the Will to determine itself; but thirdly, he would never acknowledge the supernatural efficacy of the Grace of God upon the Will of Man, so as to give it a new and spiritual power and principle, and likewise the Acting of that power towards God, who gives us both to will and to do of his good pleasure, Phil. 2.13. This he always bogled at, as being unwilling to Captivate Nature and Reason to the efficacious Grace of God in the Gospel; and so under a specious presence of the assistance of Grace he advanced the natural power and reason of man, and changed grace into nature; as if there were nothing supernatural in the work of Conversion: Sub laude naturae latent inimici gratiae. If it be by Grace (saith the Apostle Rom. 11.6.) than it is no more of work, otherwise Grace is no more grace: But if it be of works, then is it no more grace; otherwise work is no more work: Nature and Grace, Reason and Faith must not be thus mingled and jumbled together; for it is not grace indeed unless it be every way pure and free Grace. Those that tell us with ignorance and boldness enough, That the Improvement of nature and reason may merit grace and glory, may as well tell us (if they please) That a small Candle by its shining may merit to be a Star, yea to be a Sun: Nor is nature (as much as it is exalted by some men) always constant to its own light and professed rules and principles; which evidently appears by the practice of some darlings of nature, whilst they have run into some unnatural vices that were the very blushes of nature. And if nature cannot tell how to live upon Earth, surely it will never be able by any of its own Improvements to climb up to Heaven.   

CHAP. VII. Of the use of humane Reason in Civil Government and affairs.  
ALthough the wings of Reason be so clipped, that she cannot mount up to Heaven, yet she is of excellent use in Civil matters and the affairs of this life: Those men that are most rational, and abound most in moral wisdom and experience, if withal they are piously and religiously affected, (for 'tis Religion that crowns all Moral virtues) are most fit to be Lawmakers, and to govern and manage affairs under him who is supreme Governor and King of Saints and Nations: Laws are given to rational Creatures, and are founded in Intellectuals; such only as are endued with reason are capable of Laws and Government: What is a Law but a rational restraint and limitation of absolute liberty? The more reason there is in a Law the better it is: Even the law of Nature, that universal Law which commands all Nations and Creatures is built upon reason; yea reason itself is that fixed and unshaken Law which is not written in perishing Paper by the hand or pen of a Creature, nor graven like a dead letter upon decaying Pillars, but written with the point of a Diamond, nay with the finger of God himself in the Heart of Man. First, Then, those persons that have most Reason and Judgement, and excel others in moral virtues are best able to devise and constitute Laws for governing the Community, and for the benefit of the Public; Lex est ordinatio rationis ad bonum commune, etc. Every law ought to be a rational Constitution for advancing the public good. Lawgivers should be men of the most sober rational Judgements and of most Public spirits, that so their laws may be as a staff for the Commonwealth to rest upon, and not like thorns and briers to pierce it through: Laws should be cords of love, not nets and snares; and those are the best laws which come nearest the Law of God himself, and are participations of that Eternal unerring Law. Aristotle speaks well and wisely upon this subject; A Law (saith he, speaking of such as flow from right reason) is a pure Intellect, a Judgement without disordered affections; 'tis impartial, and makes no fractions; it cannot be bribed, though a Judge may: If you be to take Physic, than indeed 'tis ill being determined by a Book, 'tis dangerous taking a printed Recipe; in this case you had better leave it to the breast of the Physician, and to his skill and advice who minds your health and welfare, as being most for his gain and credit: But in point of Justice the case is very different; here you had better depend upon a standing rule than leave it to the arbitrary power of a Judge, who if left to himself is apt to be swayed and biased by several Interests and Engagements which may incline him to one more than another: Nay, now that there are fixed Rules and standing Laws which we may have recourse unto, yet there is too much partiality in the interpretation and application of them; how much more would it be so, if there were no fixed Rule at all? Wise men and not fools, grave ancient discreet persons, and not young green-heads that have little understanding or experience are most fit to make Laws for others: When young men make Laws for old men, and not old men for young men, this is exceeding absurd and preposterous. A wise man ruleth himself according to Reason in all his actions, and therefore is not much moved or discomposed by sudden changes, for reason is always peaceable and quiet; Nulla placidior quies nisi quam ratio composuit, No rest more pleasing than that which reason hath settled: But the fool suffereth himself to be transported and carried to and fro by his own passion and partiality, and is never at rest, but always changing, mending, readvising, fickle and inconstant in his resolutions and actions; and therefore a very unfit man to be a Lawmaker. Secondly As the most rational men, who are guided by reason and not by passion, are most fit to make Laws, so they are of best capacity to exercise and administer the Laws and Government: It cannot sink into my mind after serious consideration, that persons of weak parts, and of little or no experience (if judged to be godly) are more fit to manage matters of Civil government than others that are far more rational and prudent, who yet are not thought to be truly godly, but only morally virtuous and free from open profaneness: I am far from approving of this State-heresie; especially considering how partial even godly men as we look upon them, are in their judgements and affections, and how much they are divided into Factions and Parties, having a great deal of tenderness and charity towards those of their own Opinion, but very little towards others; that will not cry up and cry down those persons and things which are either much admired or contemned by themselves; whereas a just, rational, moral man will be upright and impartial in the administration of Government and in ways of Justice, and will do to others as he would be done unto himself; which as it is agreeable to the Law of God, so it accords with the rule of Reason and the law of Nature; the radical Principles and Maxims of which law are such as these, Bonum est appetendum, malum est fugiendum; Beatitudo est quaerenda; Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris It was observed of Aristides a Heathen, but yet a moral just wise man, that it was as easy to turn the Sun out of its course, as him from doing Justice. And Solon the wise Legislator being asked what City he thought to be best governed, answered, That City where such as receive no wrong, do as earnestly defend others to whom wrong is offered, as if wrong were offered to themselves. Certainly it is a great privilege to be governed by rational wise persons, and not by fools and Children. How much better is wisdom (saith Solomon) than Gold, and understanding than Silver, Prov. 16.16. Wisdom is better than strength or weapons of War: The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools, Eccles. 9.16, 17, 18. Where wisdom is (saith the Philosopher) it measureth all things by the rule of reason, and will do nothing but that which is honest and good; and such a prudent rational person as can rule and govern his own spirit, is much better than he that taketh a City, and is most fit to govern others, Prov. 16.32. This virtue and endowment of Moral prudence is of such weight and necessity, that alone and of itself it can do much, and without it in matters of Government strength and riches signify little or nothing; strength void of counsel falleth to ruin, even of itself: One wise head, and much more many wise heads (as should be in a Senate or Parliament) overcomes the hands of many: And those things that are made crooked by power and force mis-employed, are rectified and made strait by reason and Counsel, rightly weighing the disposition of the People, and what is practicable as to time, place, persons; and other circumstances. Noscenda natura vulgi est (saith Seneca) & quibus modis temperantur habeatur; The nature and disposition of the people is to be prudently observed, and by what means they may be temperately ruled, otherwise there can be no rational consistency of Government. The wisest men that ever treated of Civil Governments, have taught us that a State or City where moral virtue and prudence is banished, and vice and profaneness encouraged, cannot long continue and prosper; and that it is much better, and more rational to gain the love and good will of the People by making wholesome Laws, and by the exercise of wisdom and clemency, which usually confirmeth and assureth the State, than to keep them in awe by rigour and severity: Although in some Cases and at some times there is more need of severity, (whereof the most rational experienced persons are best able to judge) Firmissimum id Imperium, quo obedientes gaudent, (saith the wise Historian 
(e) Tit. Liv. Dec. ) That Empire is most firm where the Subjects so obey, as that they rejoice. Nor must we judge of the reason and wisdom of Counsels, or of the sufficiency and capacity of Persons by Success and Events, which oftentimes fall out alike to wise men and fools, nay, the latter sometimes have more success in their heady unadvised Erterprises, than the former in their discreet and prudent Counsels. (Eccl. 9.2.) And therefore it was a wise Answer that was given to some persons that marvelled and were astonished at the ill success of their Business, considering with how wise and mature deliberation it was undertaken; that they were Masters of their deliberations, but not of the success of their affairs, for that was in the power of the Supreme Cause and Being, which seems to sport itself with all our fairest Designments and Counsels, overthrowing in a moment that which hath been for a long time projected and deliberated, and in outward appearance strongly fortified as to future Events.   

CHAP. VIII. Of the Exercise of Reason and humane Prudence in Church matters.  
LEt it be granted that the Essentials of Worship and Church Government are Jure divino, and may be evinced and demonstrated from Scripture, yet doubtless as to the outward Exercise and Administration thereof, the Light of Reason and Moral Prudence is of excellent use; if we will so manage matters in the Church of God as to honour the Christian Religion, and derive a due Reverence thereunto: And indeed whatever the several Parties pretend, (as they are now distinguished by several names, which is a thing to be much lamented) yet all of them make use of Reason and humane Prudence in one kind or other in their several Church Administrations, though some more and others less, according to their capacities. The Light of Nature and Reason, if attended to and improved by those that are members of Churches and Christian Societies, will teach them to walk orderly, and to maintain Peace and Unity, yea in many respects it will be exceeding helpful unto them. First, Reason itself will suggest unto us, 
(f) Dr. Stilling-fleet his Irenicum.  That there must be a Society and joining together for the visible Worship of God: Gen. 4.26. As the number of Men increased, so they grew into Societies that they might more conveniently worship the Lord; all men generally agreeing in some kind of Worship, though differing as to the manner and object of it. The very Heathens had this from the Light and Law of Nature, that they looked on a peculiar distinct Society as necessary for the Worship and Honour of that Deity which they served: They did not only consider themselves in a private personal relation and capacity, but as members of a Society, engaged to attend on the Worship of God in that Society: And indeed Man is a sociable creature, who loves to join and associate himself with those of his own kind; if he had all other Comforts of life, and wanted Society, he would think himself miserable: This sociableness of Man's nature is much improved by Religion, which is that strong ligament that knits and joins Societies together, and without which no Commonwealth can long subsist. Reason and Experience tells us that Religion hath had and still hath a very great Influence upon all Societies and Governments; and from the Light of Reason we may gather that the more God is worshipped in Societies, the greater honour redounds unto Him, and certainly we should worship God in such a way as makes most for His honour and glory. Secondly, Reason will also tell us, that Societies for the Worship of God should be maintained and governed in the most convenient manner, so as Truth, and Peace, and Order may be preserved: There must be some distinction of persons, and a superiority of Power and Order placed in some persons over others in a Society, or else it cannot long subsist or be maintained in peace. Though the form of Church Government, and the manner of Investing Church Governors in and with their Authority be not determined by the Light of Reason and Law of Nature, yet that there should be a governing Power in a Society for the preservation of it, is a dictate of the Law of Nature; if all be Rulers then every man is sui juris and none will obey, and so there can be no Society, no Order, no Government; forasmuch as there is no subordination, no superiority nor inferiority, all being equals. In all Societies, Civil, Military, Ecclesiastical, yea in Families which are the smallest Societies, there are Governors and governed, Rulers and ruled; where every one is a Governor there can be no Government, and where every one is a Ruler there can be no Order, but Confusion; and therefore in every Society that is regulated by Reason, as there are some to rule, so there are others to obey: And thus it is in Religious Societies, for God is the God of Order, and not of Confusion in his Churches. Are all Apostles, are all Prophets, are all Teachers, are all Governors! If the whole Body were an Eye, where were the hearing! if the whole were hearing, where were the smelling! But God hath set the several members every one in their places in the Body or Society, even as it pleased him. 1 Cor. 12.17, 18, 29. 1 Cor. 14.33. Thirdly, The Light of Reason will also convince us, That the persons employed in the immediate Service and Worship of God (who administer Holy things to us, and are entrusted with the power of Office for governing the Society) should have respect and reverence, yea and maintenance too rendered unto them by the members of the Society answerable to the nature of their Employment: This has been generally practised in all Nations and Countries where there has been any appearance of the face of Religion; and may it not be feared, that even the Turks and Heathens (many of which do exceedingly reverence and honour those that administer their religious Rites and Service) will rise up in judgement against many forward Professors of the Gospel, who do on the other side as much contemn and despise their Ministers, affording them neither countenance nor maintenance; which is quite contrary to the Light of Nature and Reason, whilst they pretend to the Light of the Gospel and supernatural Revelation: The Apostle plainly shows even by Arguments taken from the Light of Nature, 1 Cor. 9.7. that the Ministers of the Gospel who labour in the Lord's Vineyard should have due maintenance and encouragement. As Tyranny in Church Officers is dangerous and destructive on the one hand, swallowing up the liberties of Christian Societies, so a Contemptible mendicant Ministry, such a Ministry as is enslaved to the dictates and humours of the People is as dangerous and destructive (if not more dangerous and destructive) to Religion on the other hand, as our own reason and daily experience will tell us. Fourthly, Societies for the solemn Worship of God, being agreeable to the Light of Nature and Reason, as well as to the Holy Scriptures, we may hence gather that every Christian is under an Obligation to join himself to one Church-society or other where he may solemnly worship God according to his Judgement and Conscience, and not walk at random without rule and order; for as he should worship God in secret, so being a member or part of the Church of God which is a Body politic, he ought to manifest it by being visibly united to other parts of the Body: And although Churches are much divided and corrupted at this day, yet seeing there are many true Churches of Christ, and some of them purer and more agreeable to his own Judgement than others, he is bound by the Ordinance of God (and this the very light of Nature and Reason will also suggest unto him) to join and adhere to that Society which he judgeth to be most pure and most agreeable to the Rule of Scripture and his own professed Principles. All Nations throughout the World that acknowledge a Deity are convinced even by the light of Nature that it is their duty to associate themselves with others for the participation of those Religious Rites and Ordinances that belong to the Worship of that Deity which they acknowledge. Fifthly, It is an irrational absurd thing, and argues an Imposing spirit (as any rational impartial man may easily judge) to make that to be a ground and condition of Church Communion which the most holy wise God hath not required in His Word: What, will men be wiser than God? will they lay Burdens on the Consciences of their Fellow-Christians, where God hath left them free? As this practice of theirs opposeth the Word of God and the Christian moderation of the purest Primitive Church, so it riseth up with a high hand against the Light of Reason, which would have us do no more to others in things of this nature, than we would have them do unto us: What reason can be given why Christians now should not stand upon the same terms and grounds of Church Communion which they did in the times of Christ and His Apostles! Or that they should be bound up to more than Christ hath obliged them unto! Or that any should be excluded from Church Communion who have Communion with Christ, and shall be admitted into His heavenly Kingdom! Surely this is unreasonable: The question is not whether the things commanded and required be lawful or no, nor whether Indifferencies may be determined by the Church, or the Magistrate: But Whether those persons do in a rational way consult the Advancement of the Protestant Cause, the Church's Peace and Unity, and the benefit of Brotherly Communion, who suspend it upon such things as God hath not made the Ground of Church-Communion, and is contrary to the Example and Practice of Christ and His Apostles, for they would lay no other Burden upon the Churches besides the things that were necessary, Acts 15.29. Doubtless the main Inlet of those Divisions and Confusions that have been and are yet in the Christian World, was and is by adding other Conditions of Christian Communion than Christ hath appointed: Hereof none are more guilty (though none more apt to accuse and condemn others) than the Schismatical Church of Rome, who by adding to the Rule of Faith and to the true Grounds of Church Communion, hath caused no small Trouble to the Churches of Christ; which come to be established in Peace, not by rigorous Impositions, but by mutual forbearance and condescension in such Indifferencies as are not determined in Scripture: And this our own reason will tell us, that the Unity and Peace of the Church lies not so much in a bare Uniformity in Opinion and Practice touching these things, as in an unity of Love and Affection, and a prudent forbearance and moderation; for which Christian moderation the Primitive Church is much commended, and herein we should imitate her: She judged it (saith the Ecclesiastical Historian 
(g) Sozom. Hist. Eccles. l. 7. cap. 19  and that very justly, a foolish and frivolous thing, for those that agree in the weighty matters of Religion to separate from one another's Communion for the sake of some petty Customs and Observations: For Churches agreeing in the same Faith often differ in their Rites and Customs: And withal he tells us of many Cities and Villages in Egypt, not only differing from the Customs of the famous Church of Alexandria, but from all other Churches besides in their public Assemblies on the Evenings of the Sabbath, and receiving the Eucharist after Dinner: And thus, they freely allowed liberty unto, and did not rigorously Impose upon dissenters in matters of this nature; carrying themselves towards them with much moderation and sweetness of deportment, without making such observances in Worship (as were disputable and not clearly determined in Scripture) the Indispensable Conditions of Communion with a particular Church: And what reason can be alleged for such Injunctions? Is not the Rule of Church Communion plainly laid down and fixed by Christ himself to the things which he hath Commanded? Matth. 28.19, 20. After this, when some persons would have imposed the Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies (for which there was yet more Ground than for our Impositions) the Apostle bids the Churches stand fast in their liberty, so as not to be the servants of men in these things; yea and after the Apostles days, when Victor Bishop of Rome would have imposed on other Churches in the point of observing Easter, he was worthily condemned by Irenaeus and others. If it be lawful for any persons or Churches to assign unscriptural conditions of their Communion, will it not hence follow, That Christ hath fixed no certain Rule of Communion among Christians, which doubtless he hath done, as appears plainly in the Scriptures? And if such persons or Churches may devise and assign new Rules and Conditions of Church Communion, where shall the bounds and limits be set? Reason itself will tell us, that there will be no end, no bottom of it; some men especially being witty to devise a multitude of Ceremonies and outward Observances, whereof Augustine himself complained in his days, and which sufficiently appears in the Church of Rome in our days. Sixthly, The Light of Nature and Reason will also inform us that such as are admitted into a Church Society, should freely consent to be governed by the Laws and Rules of it: Nor can those be looked upon rationally as stated members of a Society that will not submit to the Rules of the Society as they were constituted at the time of their entrance into it; if they will partake of the Privileges of a Society, 'tis but reasonable that they should submit to the Laws of it, and perform those Duties that are incumbent upon them as members of it; otherwise they do but weaken and not strengthen the Society whereof they are members: Yea it is highly rational that in a well ordered Society every offendor should give an account of his Actions to the Governors of it, and submit to the Censures inflicted upon him by them, that so the Society may be preserved in peace and order, and the Laws and Ordinances of it administered with authority and success: And when a Christian is actually joined in Church Society with others he should not upon slight grounds break off Communion, but should continue still with them till his Communion become sinful; for there is nothing in Scripture or Reason that can justify a total separation from such a Society but the unlawfulness and sinfulness of continuing any longer in it: Though there be many defects in that Society (as there are in all the visible Churches of Christ) yet if there be nothing Imposed upon him that is sinful, but he may partake of the Ordinances of Christ without Sin, he ought not to withdraw from such a Society. A Christian may easily discern by the light of reason, That if Church-members will withdraw upon every slight occasion, and make themselves Judges of the Grounds of their withdrawing, there will be no end of separation; and withal this practice which is so common will at length be ruinous and destructive to the peace and order of every Church Society: Indeed the Case is otherwise where a Church is guilty of great Corruptions both in Doctrine and Practice which it awoweth and professeth, and also requireth the owning them as necessary conditions of Communion with her; in such a case there ought to be a withdrawing from the Communion of that Church in which we cannot continue without Sin; this is no Schism, but rather the Duty of every Christian, who ought to abstain from that Communion by which he will contract guilt upon his own Soul: The departure therefore of a Christian from a Church is either lawful or schismatical, according to the reasons and grounds of it, which ought to be wisely and diligently inquired into before it be undertaken. So long as we may communicate with a true Church of Christ of which we are stated members without Sin (though there be some Corruptions tolerated but not imposed by her) we should not utterly forsake her Communion, but endeavour to preserve the Society, and in a sober rational way to reform those Corruptions and Abuses according to our Places and Callings. Seventhly, The Law of Nature and Reason dictates to us, That all things in a Religious Society should be administered with much seriousness and gravity, and not in a slight superficial manner, which causeth much lightness and vanity of Spirit in the members of it; whereas the Governors and Ministers of such Societies should so manage the Affairs thereof that the Ordinances and ways of God may be rendered awful and majestical, and not vile and contemptible in the Eyes of the People by their means: God will be reverenced in Church Assemblies, where nothing should be done or practised but what becomes the Majesty of God and his Holy Worship: If there be much disorder and confusion (neither Ministers nor People duly keeping their places in a Church Society) this must needs be displeasing unto God, as being very unsuitable to the nature of his Church and Worship, which requires the greatest order and seriousness: Here certainly (if if in any Assembly) all things should be done decently and in order; nor should scandalous vicious persons be admitted to the participation of the Sacred Mysteries of Christ in his Churches; for if these things be promiscuously used and made common to good and bad, they will in a rational way lose their lustre and become contemptible; and so they are at this day in those Church Societies where no Discipline at all is exercised: What's the reason that Religion flourished so much, and that there was so great a veneration of the Mysteries of Christ in the Primitive times, but because they used much strictness and Christian prudence in their admission of Church-members, as is fully described by Origen and others, who tell us that they inquired into the Conversations of the People, to discover their seriousness in the profession of Christianity, and required of them true repentance and reformation of life before they were admitted to the participation of the Sacred Mysteries. And Justin Martyr in his Apology, speaking of the Celebration of the Lords Supper, tells us, That there was required of those persons that were admitted to the Lords Supper, a profession of Faith in the Truths of the Gospel, and a Life answerable thereunto, without which it was not lawful for them to participate at the Lord's Table. This causeth the Mysteries of God to be reverenced; but where there is a promiscuous Admission and Administration, and none excluded that will offer themselves, this will in a short time take away that Majesty and Authority that should accompany such Holy Administrations in Church-Assemblies. Eighthly, The Light of Nature and Reason will tell us that there must be a way or means to determine and decide Controversies and differences arising in such a Society, which immediately tend to the breaking the Peace and Unity thereof, otherwise there would not be sufficient provision made for the maintenance and preservation of the Society: Now this must in reason be supposed in all Societies, That when they are first entered into, it must be upon such terms as may be sufficient to maintain and keep up those Societies in peace and order: The Body of Man is furnished by Nature not only with a receptive and concoctive faculty of what tends to its nourishment, but with an expulsive faculty of what would tend to the ruin of it: Thus it is also with Civil Societies, they have not only ways to strengthen them, but likewise a power to expel those noxious humours and qualities which tend to their dissolution; and doubtless the Church of Christ which is a Religious Society, is also endowed with a power to maintain itself in Peace and Purity, which cannot be without some way or other to decide Controversies and remove Scandals: Now this is agreeable to the light of Nature and Reason, when such differences arise in the Society, either that the lesser number should acquiesce in the determination of the greater, for Parson major jus habet universitatis, The greater part hath the power of the whole; or else (which indeed is founded upon the Law of Nature) there must be a subordination of powers in Congregations, and a right of Appeal granted to an injured person, from the lower and subordinate Power to the higher and superior: And in order to a redress of wrongs and ending Controversies, our Reason will tell us that Appeals must not be infinite, but there must be some Power or other from whence there shall be no appeal: And truly it is against the natural reason and right of every man, for any particular Society (under what denomination soever) so to engross all Ecclesiastical power into their own hands, that no liberty of appeals for redress can be made from them: This is to usurp upon and invade the Civil and Religious Rights of Christians; for it leaves men under a causeless Censure without any Authorative vindication of them from it: And it is not much better in this Case, and more agreeable to Reason, to have matters in controversy (either as to Doctrine or Practice) judiciously debated and determined in a grave pious Assembly or Synod, than by two or three men who perhaps by their parts or Popular interest, without any sufficient ground from Scripture and Reason, can easily sway those Societies or Congregations that are of their particular Opinion, and so be it right or wrong, the supposed Offender must be determined by it? Shall it be thought rational and fit that every particular Society (though consisting but of a few persons) shall have power over its own members to determine Controversies arising between them: But yet if one or many of these particular Societies shall err and go astray there shall be no Authorative power left for deciding what shall be done in this Case! Surely if Christ (who is the wise Governor of His Church) hath made sufficient provision for the Cases of particular persons, he hath also made sufficient provision (in a rational way) for the Cases of particular Societies.  
Thus we have briefly shown what use may be made of the Light of Reason both in Civil and Ecclesiastical Societies; we shall now briefly declare how it may be proved by Reason, That there is a God or supreme Being, That the Soul of Man is Immortal, That the Christian Religion is the only true Religion, and That the Scriptures are the Word of God; which Points you may find proved at large by Reason, in the Learned Books of Lessius, Morney, Grotius, and Sir Charles Woseley, a Gentleman, so well qualified and employed, that I could hearty wish that our English Gentry would Imitate him.   

CHAP. IX. The light of Reason proves that there is a God.  
THere is no Nation so Barbarous (saith the Heathen Orator 
(h) Cicero de Natura Deorum.  no people so savage, in whom there resteth not this persuasion, That there is a God. Even those Nations which in other respects seem very little to differ from bruit Beasts, yet keep up and maintain a kind of Religion and Worship, and have some sense of the Eternal Godhead impressed upon their Hearts: Yea Idolatry itself is a substantial proof of this persuasion, for how willingly doth Man abase himself to honour other Creatures above himself, when he will rather worship a Block, or a Stone, than to have no God at all? Hence it appears that this imprinted persuasion of the Godhead is of great force, and impossible to be quite oblitegated and razed out of the mind of Man. To come to the knowledge of an Eternal Deity there are two ways, namely, by Faith and by Reason; Faith indeed is the much better and nearer way, for our Reason is much weakened and depraved, and God Himself (who is the supreme Being) is infinitely above our Reason. No man can make a perfect demonstration by his Reason in natural things, he cannot fully demonstrate that his Father is his Father, or that he is his Son; so that in these and the like things there is a necessity of some faith or belief: If a man tell you that he hath seen such or such a place, he can make no demonstrative reason of it, for the circumstances are not capable of demonstration. In this Case there must be belief, and much more in Religious and Divine matters. Howbeit the Light of Reason so far as it reacheth, (for it is but an inferior derivative Light, like the light of the Moon and Stars) will prove unto us that there is a God or supreme Being. The Creatures afford Arguments, and our Reason gathers by the force of those Arguments that there is a God. First, It may be clearly proved and made evident to our reason by the Frame of this great Universe, even those things which the Eye seethe and the Ear heareth. Rom. 1.20. Suppose a man forty years old who had never seen the beauty of this World before, should now behold it, would not the sight thereof make him wonder, and inquire after the maker and contriver of it, and force him to conclude, that Man being not able to perform such a great and glorious work, it must needs be effected by one that is infinitely wiser and better, and more able than Man! And who should that be, but God Himself! Who can cause such a consent and agreement amongst the Creatures so different and contrary one to another, hot and cold, moist and dry, but this wise and sovereign Commander! As in a Musical Instrument, on which are twenty dissonant strings, whence comes the Harmony, but from some excellent skilful Musician that had the tuning of it? Whence comes the fitting and composing of one thing to another but from this wise God? As we say he is an Artist that fits the Wheels of a Watch one to another, and 'tis the skill of a Joiner or Smith which makes curious Tools and Works, one fitted to another, the sheath to the knife, and the scabbard to the sword. Whence comes the dependence of the Creatures one upon another, and their mutual help and assistance one of another but from God Beasts nourish Men, the Grass nourisheth them, and the Influence or Dew of Heaven maketh the Grass to grow, and all from God. Hos. 2.21. These things can no more come to pass by accident, than a multitude of Letters cast together by chance can without the Art of man make a Poem or History; and therefore they direct us even by the light of reason to a supreme Providence. Secondly, It is proved by the Original of all things; whence is this Original but of God? As for Man, he must needs be made by God, for the Father that begets knows not the making of him, the Mother that conceives knows it not, nor yet the Formative virtue whereby all is fashioned; whereas there is no work of Art but it is known by the Artificer: And if Man himself have his beginning of God, then much more other things, which are made for Man; nor can they have their being from themselves, for than they should be gods, it being an inseparable property of God to have His being from Himself: Besides, if these things had no beginning, why are there no Monuments of more ancient time concerning them, the ancient'st humane Writers not reaching above four thousand years? Reason as well as Scripture will tell us that the first Creature was made of nothing; for otherwise it could not be subject to change and alteration: All Creatures are finite, compounded, imperfect, unable to make or sustain themselves; no Creature can be the cause of itself, for than it should be both the cause and the effect, both before and after itself; and therefore of necessity there must be a first supreme Cause in power infinite, most perfect in and of itself, which gives being and continuance unto all things. Amongst things created we may observe a series of Causes, and an Order in the things themselves; but order is from one first, and leads us unto one first Cause. We may further add that all things, even things without life, sense and reason, which cannot move voluntarily or intent an end, are directed orderly to an end; and therefore there is one good, wise, chief Director of all things, which is God: And indeed the greatness, perfection, multitude, variety and concord of things existing, the form, and order, and continual sustentation of the World, and the Creatures therein, do plainly show to an Eye of Reason that all things depend upon some one wise and perfect Good, from whom they have their Being and Preservation. Thirdly, The Reason of the Philosophers is manifest to prove that there is a God, a first Mover or first Cause of All; for if this were not so, then there should be before every mover another mover, and so in infinitum: And if the Causes were infinite, they should either have infinite motion, and so infinite time, or else infinite things should move infinite time, both which were absurd: Seeing also the inferior thing moved doth not move without a superior mover, if there were not a supreme and first Mover of all there would not be at all any effect or motion of these inferior things. Pythagoras saith that there must needs be an infinite power, or else our Reason should exceed the Maker thereof; for what finite thing soever there is we can comprehend it; and if the power be infinite, the subject wherein the power is must needs be infinite, and that is God. Fourthly, It appears that there is a God by the distinction of good and evil, which takes place amongst all sorts of men, not only the godly but the wicked; for those that are evil and wicked would seem to be good, and though they be evil and blame-worthy in themselves, yet will they rebuke evil in others: Now this is really to distinguish between good and evil; and there must be some ground of this distinction, which cannot be from man himself, for than it would follow that every thing at man's appointment should be good or evil; and therefore the ground of this distinction must be from a higher nature, and that is God. Fifthly, God hath showed forth His Eternal Power and Deity even in the view of the World, and to an Eye of sense and reason, by Signs and Wonders and by divers Miracles: Now what are Miracles but God's visible works extraordinarily wrought, not only above the ordinary course of Nature, but simply above the power of Nature, either in respect of the work itself or the manner of doing it; which miraculous effects do evince that there is an Infinite glorious Power, that is above all things, and doth overrule all things; for every principal and primary 'Cause is more excellent than the effect thereof. Sixthly, That there is a God and supreme Being is evident to Reason by that gracious, wise and plentiful Provision which is made for all the Creatures in the World. A little Family cannot be well ordered but by a provident Housholder, much less a Town or Commonwealth; and least of all the Universe or whole World, wherein are millions of men and other creatures to be daily fed, sustained and governed, which cannot be done and performed but by an infinite wise God, who in his singular Providence doth so order and govern the Creatures, that the weak ones go in Herds and Flocks together, and the strong go alone, and thereby are the less formidable; hoofs, horns and tusks are for defence, and where these are wanting legs can carry the Creatures away, or dens can hid them. O how wise and excellent is this God in his government over the whole Creation! What shall I say of those impressions of Skill and Workmanship that are upon the Creatures! There is an excellency in Art, but Nature goes far beyond Art, and much more excellent is the God of Nature: If it be a point of skill to set a Dial right that shall tell the Hours of the Day, what skill hath he who made and guides the Heavens and the Earth and all the Creatures therein! That power and skill which shines forth in the Creation doth plainly show that it is of God: And even those wise Naturalists whom Miracles would not move and persuade, have been astonished at the admirable work of God in the least things, and forced to acknowledge a divine and sovereign power: Thus Pliny wonders at the Gnat, so small a creature, yet making so great a buzzing, and so likewise he wonders at the Butterfly; and Galen (as great an Atheist as he was) when he had profanely written of the more excellent parts of Man, and came to one of the least and meanest, stood astonished, and was compelled to acknowledge God the Creator. Seventhly, The testimony of every man's Conscience (which is God's deputy) proves that there is a God. Tell me, thou Atheist, why the wicked should be troubled in Conscience? why Caligula should be terrified and run under the Bed when it thundered, if there be not a God? Let a wicked man do some heinous deed in the solitary Wilderness where none seethe him, yet he cannot be quiet, but his Conscience will whip and torment him, so that he will either reveal the fact himself in his sleep or frenzy, or at least he will be afraid that the Birds of the air (as sometimes it hath happened) will discover it. The Conscience doth register and bear witness of the thoughts, words and actions of all men, either excusing and comforting them in well doing, against the disgraces, flanders and perscutions of the World; or else accusing and terrifying them for Sin committed in secret, which perhaps never did nor ever shall come to the knowledge of men in this World. Now this is a manifest token and proof (as may be easily discerned by the Light of Reason) that there is a supreme Judge who hath given a Law that bindeth the Conscience, and commandeth as well the inward thoughts as the words and actions of all men, and who will call them to a strict account and reckoning. Eighthly, It appears that there is a God or supreme Being by the Soul of man, which is a spiritual immortal substance (as shall be evinced by Reason in the next Chapter) and is endued with power to understand and will: But now the Soul and the power thereof is not of and from itself, but must proceed from a higher Cause, which is Power, Wisdom and Understanding itself, and this is God. In the Understanding of man there are certain principles whereby it discerneth truth and falsehood, good and evil; this gift man hath not of himself nor from himself, but it must needs spring from a supreme and most wise Understanding, as an effect from its principal Cause, which infinitely excels and transcends it: Nor is the Mind of man satisfied with the knowledge, nor his Will with the possession of all things in this Life, but still they seek and earnestly thirst after some higher good. And hence it is evident even to an Eye of Reason, that there is a sovereign Truth and chief Good, which being perfectly known and enjoyed will give full satisfaction to the Soul of man, which seeing it is capable of happiness, or the chief good, this would be altogether in vain if there were not such a chief good to be possessed and enjoyed: In our Immortal Souls there are principles of infallible and demonstrative Truth; as to honour and obey our Parents, to do as we would be done unto, to defend ourselves, to perform our promises, etc. which Principles hold good in all men more or less, unless they be horribly profane and wicked: Amongst which fundamental Principles this is one and the chiefest, That there is a God, and that this God ought to be Worshipped; and though some other of these principles may fail in men, yet this never faileth, but they will Worship one thing or other as God, unless they be downright and desperate Atheists. Ninthly, By the continual suggestions and assaults of the evil Spirit, we conclude that there is a Devil; and hence we may as certainly conclude that there is a God: Doth not Satan by all means endeavour to extinguish the knowledge of God, and the glorious Light of the Gospel, and to lead men on in ways of Error and Profaneness, and turn them out of the path of Truth and Holiness? Now why should the Devil thus war against God, His Word and Saints? Why should he so earnestly seek the dishonour of God and the destruction of Men, if there were not a God, a Gospel, and an Everlasting Life? Why should he and his wicked Instruments with all their hellish power, malice and policy, labour to extirpate and root out all those that faithfully call upon the Name of God, and are zealous for His Glory, if there were not a God or Supreme Being. Tenthly, This great Truth is further made evident (even to an Eye of Reason) by the Lord's miraculous hiding, preserving and defending His Church and People from time to time: How wonderfully hath he frustrated the Plots and Devices of the Enemies of His Church! How hath His Church increased and flourished by the very same means which they designed and made use of to destroy Her! How hath God fought from Heaven against the Persecutors of His Children! Such dreadful Judgements did overtake many of them, and such Horror fell upon some of them that they were forced to forsake their great places and power, and betake themselves to a solitary and private life; which plainly demonstrates that there is a sovereign God, who is higher than the highest and greater than the greatest of them. And as for His poor People (whom they persecuted) the Lord hath armed them with invincible Courage and Fortitude to endure disgrace, contempt, poverty, imprisonment, death, and the most exquisite Torments that Men and Devils could invent: Yea how hath God supported His People under their inward temptations, conflicts, desertions and troubles of Conscience! and wonderfully refreshed them beyond their expectation with sweet Peace and Consolation; and by the power, strength and comforts of the Holy Ghost hath enabled them to sing and rejoice in Prison, and even to exult and triumph in the midst of the flames! Now this divine assistance, this holy courage, strength and consolation is a convincing demonstrative Argument of an Omnipotent Deity, especially if we compare the Heavenly courage and comforts of the People of God in their sufferings, with that fear, faintness, amazement, unquietness, vexation and deadness which seizeth on the wicked when they are under Affliction.  
Well then, if we reflect upon what hath been said with reference to Man himself and other Creatures, in a way of Reason, we may be fully convinced that there is an Eternal God: If we look up to the Firmament, the Spheres, the Planets, the Stars, their greatness, brightness, swiftness, their order, courses, motions, and forcible effects; if we behold the Sea, so bounded with the Sand by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass its bounds, though the Waves thereof rage yet can they not prevail, though they roar never so much yet can they not pass their bounds; if we behold the Earth, so firm, so round, so fruitful, so great, yet hanging like a Ball in the Air, and resting on a very small point: If Man will behold himself a little World, in his Body the several members, with the harmony, sympathy, functions and uses thereof; and in his Mind, the inbred principles and seminaries of all Arts and Sciences, and the difference of good and evil, of honesty and dishonesty, from which all Laws and Government do spring; if we consider the just Punishment which commonly followeth evil doers, and the sting of Conscience which tormenteth the greatest Princes, that are out of danger in respect of the Laws, as Alexander for killing his Friend Clitus, and Nero for the murder of his Mother Agrippina; If we behold the order, progress and end of all Causes, the harmony of the whole Universe, where there are so many contraries, and yet such a harmony amongst them; Omnia ab uno, omnia ad unum; If we consider the Prediction of things future, the strange Signs and Wonders that have fallen out, with their events, do not all these things proclaim aloud unto us, That there is a Supreme Power that wisely Governs and Overrules All! Suppose a gallant well furnished Ship come safe to her Port through all the waves of the Sea, we may well conclude that there was a skilful Pilot or Governor within that guided and directed her to the appointed Haven; so we beholding this fair Universe, this World wherein we live with all its Furniture and Ornaments, and the regular Motions of the several Creatures, we may rationally conclude that there is a supreme Power and Governor thereof which is God. What shall I say further on this subject, (if enough were not already said) methinks this should convince and satisfy the Reason of any man living (if he have but a spark of Reason left in him) that all Nations generally in every Age, time and place of the World have acknowledged that there is a God: The Heathens themselves could not endure them that denied a supreme divine Power; for this cause they put to death that great Philosopher Socrates and others, as supposing them guilty of this horrid Crime: The Nations that have no true knowledge of God do at this day adore Stocks, Stones, brute Beasts and the basest creatures, rather than they will have no Deity, no Religion at all: They are zealous and forward in the Worship of their Idols, which shows, that though they acknowledge not the true God, yet they understand by the Light of Nature and Reason that there is a Supreme Being to whom divine Worship is due. And as for such as have even studied and endeavoured to gratify the Devil to the utmost by becoming mere Atheists, they could never so blot this fundamental Truth and Principle out of their Consciences, but that the Majesty of God hath affrighted them and been a terror to them. So then the universality of this persuasion in all places proveth that there is an Eternal Deity; in as much as there is no History that showeth the Manners and and Customs of any People or Country, but it likewise showeth their Religion, yea all both new and ancient Commonwealths had always something or other which they Worshipped and called in their Language GOD: But as touching Atheism, we can easily show, and would take the pains to show it, but that it is already done in the Writings of others, the very time and place, and persons, when and where, and by whom it was first forged; which is a sufficient Argument against it, such an Argument as may for ever silence the Atheists of our times, which are as so many wild Beasts, fit to be destroyed. 'Tis true, there are some wicked wretches that do desperately harden their own Hearts, and drown themselves over Head and Ears in sensual Delights and Pleasures, but yet if God put His Bridle into their Mouths, which he will do at one time or other, those sparks and notions which God hath implanted in every man's Soul shall break forth and appear, and the darkness shall not always obscure the light. In these three Cases especially this Principle will show itself, even in those Atheistical spirits that have endeavoured to suppress and extinguish it. First, When they are surrounded and compassed about with difficulties and dangers, and must needs fall into the hands of their Enemies, unless they be preserved by a Divine power, then though they were never so wicked and Atheistical before, yet now as the Tragedian observes they will fall down on their Knees and pray to a Deity, they will cry peccavi, and confess there is a God indeed. There was a Controversy betwixt the Stoics and Peripatetics; the Stoics held that Man had no Passions in him, but the Peripatetics were of a contrary opinion: Now it fell out upon a time that when a Stoic and a Peripatetic were sailing together in one Ship, there arose upon a sudden a great Tempest; the Stoic begins to look pale, and the Peripatetic observing it argues thus against him, Thou look'st pale Stoic, and therefore thou art not without Passions; he could not free himself of fear when he was in danger to be cast away: So although the Atheist in his jollity amongst his Companions belch forth sometimes that there is no God, yet in his distress he is enforced to grant a Deity. Secondly, This Principle will manifest itself even in Atheists when they are oppressed with Sickness and bodily distempers; as there was an Atheist called Diogenes, who being much afflicted with the pain of the Strangury, detested his former Opinion. And Thirdly, When Old age comes upon them they grow more wise and sober: So we read of one Shafalus in Plato, who said to Socrates, that whilst he was a young man he never thought that there was any Styx, but now in his old age he came to doubt and question, What if there be one? This indeed may confute all Atheists (as a manifest unanswerable Argument proving that there is a God) because the greatest Atheists that denied him in their lives have acknowledged and approved him in their deaths. Pherecydes an Assyrian being merrily disposed at a Banquet amongst his Friends, bragged how long he had lived and had never done Sacrifice to any God; but his end was miserable, for he was devoured of Lice. Diagoras for his damnable Opinion was the cause of the destruction of the whole Country Meles in revenge of his Atheism: Lucian that scoffing Atheist going to Supper abroad, and having left his Dogs fast bound as he went, when he returned home (having railed against God and His Word) his Dogs broke lose, fell upon him, and tore him in pieces. Machiavelli rotten in the Prison at Florence, as the Italians writ. Appian scoffing at Religion, and chief at Circumcision, had an Ulcer in the same part of his Body, as Josephus reporteth. Julian the Apostata being pierced in the Bowels with an Arrow from Heaven, pulled out the Arrow, and receiving the Blood that came out of the wound, cast it into the air, saying, Vicisti Galilaee, and so died raging. Many others besides these might be mentioned, who though they acted like Atheists in their lives, yet justified God in their deaths.   

CHAP. X. The Immortality of the Soul of Man proved by Reason.  
AS it hath been already demonstrated by the Light of Reason that there is an Eternal God or Supreme Being, so it may be evinced by Reason that Man's Soul is Immortal; and indeed the one of these depends upon and bears witness to the other. The spiritualness and immortality of the Soul of Man, and that it may and doth subsist without the Body, is clearly held forth in the Sacred Scriptures; Gen. 2.7. Eccles. 12.7. Matth. 10.28. Luke 16.22, 23. and 23.43. Rom. 8.10, 11. 2 Cor. 5.6, 7, 8. Phil. 1.21, 23. Heb 12.23. Rev. 6.9, 10, 11. into which the Faith of a Christian must be finally resolved: But besides this Divine Testimony, we have also the Testimony of the Light of Reason.  
First then, Let us consider that the Soul of Man when it understands any thing, it abstracts from that which it understands all quantity, quality, place and time, changing it into a more Immaterial and Intelligible nature: As the Stomach when it receives meat, changeth the outward accidents of the nourishment into its own nature, whereby it becomes Flesh and Blood; so the Soul when it conceives any thing separates it from the gross matter, and conceives it universally in the Mind or Understanding. If a Man looks on a Horse he sees him of such quantity and colour, and in such a place; but if he conceive him in his mind, than it is an universal notion agreeing to all Horses: Now then as the thing conceived in the mind or understanding is not visible because it hath no colours, it is not audible because it hath no sound, nor is big or little because it hath no quantity; so the Soul itself must needs be of this nature, namely without all quantity, quality, time and place: And therefore (according to the Light of Reason) the Soul cannot be Corruptible, but must be Immortal.  
Secondly, If we further consider the manner of the Souls Operation, she must needs be an immortal spiritual substance. There are two undoubted Axioms and Maxims in Philosophy which cannot be gainsayed, namely, That every thing is received according to the quality of the receiver; and, That every thing hath the same manner of Essence as it hath of Operation.  
Now the Soul of Man can easily receive impressions and thoughts of Immortality, and discourse thereupon, and therefore it is in its own nature and essence Immortal.  
Aristotle observes, That the Soul in understanding is made as it were the Object that is understood; because as the Wax after it is stamped is in some sort the very Seal itself that stamped it, namely, representatiuè, so the Soul in receiving the species of any Object is made the Picture or Image of the thing itself.  
Now then, the Understanding of a man being able to apprehend Immortality (yea indeed apprehending every Corporeal substance as if it were Immortal, I mean by refining and purging it from all gross, material and corruptible qualities) must be much more itself of an immaterial and immortal nature.  
The Soul depends not, as do other Forms, either in her Being or Operation upon the Body; For as to the Act of Understanding, she works without the concurrence of any Bodily Organ, and therefore can subsist by her own nature when separated from the Body, without the concurrence of any matter to sustain her.  
The Independence of the Soul in her Being and Operation upon the Body is manifest, because she hath in some measure the knowledge of Truth, of God, of Angels, and of herself; She can assent, discourse, abstract, invent, contrive, and do the like; none of which Acts depend upon any material faculty: And then further this Independence of hers appears in those Raptures and Ecstasies wherein the Soul is raised above and from the Body and bodily Organs, though not from informing the Body, yet certainly from borrowing any assistance or help there from for the producing of its Operation: The truth is, the Soul of Man is such a spiritual substance that it receiveth perfection from all things, for Intellectus omnia intelligit, yea wherein all Contraries are reconciled and lay aside their Opposition; For as a Noble Writer truly observes, 
(i) Morney de verit. Relig. Christian. cap. 14.  Those things which destroy one another in the World, maintain and perfect one another in the Mind, one thing being a means for the clearer apprehension of another.  
Thirdly, This is also evident to Reason, That if the Soul were a mortal perishing thing, than it would undeniably follow, That those natural desires which are planted in every man's Soul should be frustrate and in vain; But such desires being not sinful, cannot be frustrate, for Natura nil facit frustra, Nature doth nothing in vain: Now these natural desires of the Soul should be in vain if there were not something to content and satisfy them, which being not found upon Earth, must be sought for in Heaven, yea in God himself: And this plainly shows that the Soul is divine and immortal.  
Indeed a sinful desire should not be fulfilled (as if a Man should vainly desire to be transformed into an Angel;) But as for mere natural desires in Man, as the desire to live happy, and to be free of misery, these are not sinful; and forasmuch as they cannot be fulfilled in this life, therefore they must be fulfilled in the life to come.  
Naturally every man desires to have a being after his Body is dissolved; Hence is that desire which men have to leave a good Name behind them, and that it may go well with their Posterity, and the like: And from this Natural instinct come those ambitious desires in vain men to erect costly Sepulchers and Monuments after their death, and to call their Houses and Lands after their own Names; yea the poorest Tradesmen hath this desire when he can reach no higher, he will have a Stone laid upon his Grave with his Name upon it: Now this very ambitious desire that is in man is a testimony in his mind of the immortality of his Soul, that it subsisteth after this life, and dieth not with the Body.  
Fourthly, Another reason of the Souls Immortality (which is also obvious to the Light of Nature) may be drawn from the dignity and pre-eminence of Man above other Creatures, which were appointed to be subject and serviceable to him; Now this dignity cannot possibly stand with the Souls mortality: For would not many other Creatures far excel Man in health, strength, swiftness, and in the duration of their being, if Man's Soul were not Immortal?  
Alas how subject is the nature of Man to weakness, faintness, cares, fears, jealousies, discontents and all other miseries of Mind and Body, which other Creatures are not so obnoxious unto? Is there not disturbance in our very peace, and have not our contentments and comfort here their vexation and interruption? And must not their miseseries be exceeding miserable whose very happiness in this Life is unhappy, if there were not a Life to come? Mortality and corruption make the want of Reason a privilege to other Creatures; And in this case the Beasts would be so much the more happy than Man, by how much the less they know their own misery: And therefore there must be some other thing wherein Man far excels the other Creatures, and that is in the Spiritualness and Immortality of his Soul.  
Fifthly, Every corruptible mortal thing is subject to time and motion, but the Soul of Man is neither subject to time nor motion, and consequently she is not corruptible and mortal.  
That the Soul is not subject to motion is cleared thus; Motion hindereth the Soul from attaining its own perfection, when the Soul is free from motion and perturbation than it is most perfect, and most fit to understand spiritual things, suitable to its own nature: As Water when it is clear and not muddy receives the similitude of the Face with most clearness.  
Again, Reason itself will tell us, That the things that are true need not a lie to further them: But now to make use of the Souls Immortality as a means to further and incite us to the Duties which we are bound to do, were to use a lie, if the Soul were not Immortal: For many Religious Duties which we are bound to perform require the contempt of this Life, as the abstaining from the Flesh and forforsaking the good of this World; which a man would not do if he had not the hope of Immortality, in which he findeth the recompense of his losses; yea this very persuasion of the Souls Immortality made some Heathens willingly suffer death for the safety of their Country. If our last End were only in this Life, than all that we do should be for this last End, to aim at it, to procure it, and never to cross it: Doubtless it were great folly and madness in men to undergo so many hard things as they do, if they had not a persuasion in their Hearts of this Immortality, and if their hope were only in this Life of all men they should be most miserable; But they are persuaded that the Soul is Immortal, and they find that this World (wherein they now converse) is too sterile and empty to fill the vastness and limit the desires thereof; It must be the possession of an immortal, infinite, immutable good, that must satisfy their Understandings and Wills, both which faculties aim at the chiefest and highest object: The Understanding is carried ad summam Causam, to the first of Truths, and the Will ad summum Bonum, to the last of Ends; And therefore He only which is the First and the Last can satisfy the vast desires of the Soul.  
Sixthly, Upon this ground the Soul must needs be Immortal, because God is just: A man may as well say that there is no God at all, as to say that God is unjust: Now than God being the just Judge of all it behoves him to punish the Wicked, and to reward the Just; but if God did not this in another life he should never do it, for in this life the Wicked flourish and the Just are oppressed: Therefore as God is just, there remains another Life after this, wherein the Souls of the Just shall be rewarded, and the Souls of the Wicked shall be punished. If the Soul were Mortal, forasmuch as in this World wicked men prosper in their Wickdeness, and good men (as to their outward being) perish in a way of Righteousness, how should the Justice of God who is the Supreme Being, and whose ways are ways of Righteousness, be vindicated?  
Seventhly, It may satisfy the Reason of any man that the Soul is Immortal, since there is an universal consent and agreement of all Nations of the Earth in one or other kind of Religion, and the Worship of some Deity, which is raised out of this hope, That that God whom they worship will reward their Piety, if not here yet in another Life. Nulla gens adeò extra leges est projecta, ut non aliquos Deos credat, saith Seneca: Hence proceeded those Fictions of the Poets touching the Elysian Fields, or places of Happiness for men of honest and well ordered lives, and places of Torment for the wicked and irreligious. It must needs be a visible Character of a a Deity imprinted in the Soul, an irresistible principle in Man's nature, that must constrain it unto those sundry Religious Ceremonies (observed among all Nations) wherein even in places of Idolatry, some were so irksome and repugnant to Nature, and others so void of Reason, as that nothing but a firm and deep persuasion of a Divine Judgement, and of their own Immortality could ever have imposed them upon their Consciences: And besides this consent of men unto Religion in general, we find it also unto this one part thereof, namely the Immortality of the Soul; All the wisest and best reputed Philosophers for Learning and Honesty, and even Barbarians, Infidels and savage people have discerned it by the glimmerings of the Light of Reason.   

CHAP. XI. The verity and excellency of the Christian Religion evinced by Reason.  
THe Light of Reason is of excellent use to convince Heathens and Infidels of the truth of the Christian Religion, there being no Religion at this day professed throughout the World that hath so much reason in it and for it as the Christian Religion hath; if we consider the way of cleansing and expiating Sin by Christ, the dignity and excellency of the Person of the Mediator, the exactness of Divine Justice, which requires Satisfaction, the Rewards and Punishment prescribed and appointed by the Christian Religion, the excellent Doctrine and Instructions thereof, the Exemplary Life of Christ and His Apostles; How many things in our Religion are witnessed to and approved in the Writings of the most Rational and Learned Heathens; and how the greatest Enemies of the Christian Religion, as Julian, Porphyry and others were once Christians, and came to renounce the same merely through Pride and Discontent: If these and other things relating to our Religion be but duly weighed, it will appear even to the Eye of Reason that there is much Truth and Excellency therein, and that other Religions are but fictitious and vain, having no rational Consistence in them. But we will handle this matter more particularly, though with as much Brevity as possibly we can.  
First, The Antiquity of the Christian Religion proveth it to be the true Religion; Prima sunt vera, verum est prius; That is most true which is most ancient: Seeing the true Religion is the way whereby Man must come to God, and have Communion with him, and is copula relationis between God and Man, it must needs be as Ancient as Man is: As for the Writings of most of the Heathens, unless it be those that are forged and suppositious, they are but of yesterday in comparison of Moses the Lawgiver under God to the Jews; even Orpheus the first Heathen Poet was eight hundred years after Moses, as Strabo, Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus testify. The most Ancient Records of the Heathens began in Solon's time, which was in the time of Esdras; the Romans had their Religion from the Grecians, and the Grecians from Caecrop an Egyptian; and the Carthaginians had theirs from Cadmus a Phoenician; Now these two Countries, Egypt and Phoenicia, with the Mediterranean Sea do compass about Judaea, and therefore any man that's rational may easily perceive that all their Religion came from the Jews. This is sufficiently demonstrated by several Writers of ours, and particularly by Mr. Gale in his late Books; so that it would be superfluous for me to enlarge upon this subject.  
When the Wise men of Greece asked their Gods whence the knowledge of Arts and Sciences should come, they received this Answer, Solus utique Chaldaeus sapiens; and Orpheus their ancient Poet tells us that when God was angry He destroyed the World, committed the Truth uni Chaldaeo: And Plato in his Epimenides referreth all, uni Barbaro. If it be demanded who this Chaldean, this Barbarian should be, the Egyptians call him Theut, which signifieth a Stranger, meaning Abraham, for so Origen against Celsus and Josephus against Appian say plainly, that when the Heathen Nations used to Conjure they would make use of Abraham's Name, saying, Per Deum Abraham. Well then, if the Jewish Religion be Ancient, ours must needs be so too; for ours is the same with theirs Evangelically considered; their Types, Sacrifices, Prophecies and Ordinances referring to Christ, who is the very substance of the Christian Religion: The Mosaical Law of the Old Testament, what is it else but Evangelium reconditum, a veiled Gospel? And the Gospel in the New Testament, what is it but Lex Revelata? the Law of the Old Testament revealed: And thus it appears that the Christian Religion is the most Ancient.  
Secondly, If we look at the means and way of Atonement and Propitiation held forth in the Christian Religion, it must needs appear to be the most Wise and Reasonable of any Religion: The Eternal God or Supreme Being as He is full of Love and Mercy, so He is Just and Righteous; His Justice is infinite as Himself is, He will so show Mercy as that He will appear to be infinitely Just toward the the Offender; and therefore in Reason there must be some way or means of Satisfaction and Atonement found out, or else God and Man being separarated by Sin could not be reunited.  
The wiser sort among the Heathens were convinced by the Light of Reason, That Man being alienated from God, and not able of himself to come to God in regard of his darkness and ignorance, there is a necessity of some way or means of cleansing and atonement: Hence came the multitude of their Sacrifices and Oblations, especially when any great Plague or Judgement was upon them: But now that Christ the Son of God, who is equal with God, should be this way or means by giving up himself a Sacrifice for Sin, of this they were wholly ignorant. Is it so that the Justice of God offended by Sin is infinite? Then it is but reasonable, that this infinite Justice should have infinite reparation and satisfaction, which neither Angels nor Men (being but finite Creatures) can give to the infinite God; And therefore unless the Mediator or Days-man that takes up the difference between God and man be himself the infinite God as well as man, such an infinite Satisfaction cannot be given. This way or means being contrived and found out only by the wise infinite God, and clearly held forth in the Christian Religion (and in no other Religion besides) it must needs be even by the Light of Reason the best and safest, and truest Religion, as that which vindicates the Honour of the great God, and gives true peace and security to man.  
Thirdly, The Glorious Miracles wrought by Christ may convince any man's reason of the Truth of the Christian Religion. Not only Josephus and other Jews besides him, but also divers Heathen Authors and some of Christ's greatest Adversaries do acknowledge His Miracles: Julian the Apostata (as great an Enemy as he was) confessed that Jesus cured the Blind, and the Lame, and delivered some from Devils that were possessed in Bethsaida and Bethany; Pilate himself in a Letter of his to the Emperor Tiberius witnesseth, That Jesus gave sight to the Blind, cleansed the Lepers, healed them that were diseased, delivered them that were possessed from Devils, overruled the Waters, raised the Dead, and rose again Himself from the dead after three days: Hereupon Tertullian bids the Senate and People of Rome read their own Commentaries, and search their Records, where they shall find the Miracles of Jesus, which if they had not been sufficiently known to be true and real, Tertullian himself in this Case might have been easily convicted of lying and forgery. These Miracles of Christ were wrought not in one or two places, but in many, not in a corner but in the open view of the World, and were attended with such Majesty and Power, that there are thousands that will rather die on a Rack than deny or gainsay the same. Jesus wrought great Miracles (saith Josephus) and although He was Crucified and put to death, yet His Disciples forsook him not, but did cleave unto him: And as He Himself wrought many Miracles when he was upon Earth, so His Disciples, after He was gone from them, by His power and virtue did likewise effect such Miracles as filled the World with the fame of them, and were a special means to convert whole Kingdoms to Christ.  
If any be so absurd and impudent as to deny the Miracles of Christ, than I would ask of them whether it be not a great and strange Miracle, That so many Nations, and in them so many Wise and Learned men should follow and adore a poor contemptible man without Miracles, and should be willing to die for Him, even for Him that died a cursed ignominious Death upon the Cross! If His Miracles were not great and far surmounting the Nature and capacity of a mere Man, if they were not divine and supernatural, can any sober man imagine that so many thousands would be so far convinced and persuaded by them as to die joyfully and triumphantly for the Name and Honour of this Jesus? Is it a Miracle to work upon a man by touching him, and much more without touching him, and most of all without seeing him? Then what a Miracle is it to work powerfully in the Hearts of whole Nations a far off, without once seeing them, and to touch them without coming at them, and to convert and draw them to Himself without touching them with His Hand? Yea but say some (very absurdly and irrationally) Christ and His Apostles wrought Miracles by the help of Magic; Let such vain men resolve us if ever they knew or heard of a Magician that wrought such Miracles, and came with such power and efficacy upon the Hearts of all sorts of men after his death, as Jesus did? And as for His Apostles, what gain or advantage could they get by exercising this Magic? No considerate man will attempt any great matter but for some end or other; Now what Profit, what Preferment, what Honour in this World got they by it? Nay did it not procure them much Hatred, Danger, Imprisonment, Torments, and at last Death itself? Magicians usually hid themselves and conceal their Art when they are pursued for it; But did the Apostles do so? What a strange kind of Magic is this, that will needs be known and exercised even in despite of the rage of Rulers and People, yea of Death itself? Doubtless 'tis very remarkable, that as in Moses time God so ordered (in His wise Providence) that there should be many great Magicians in Egypt, that He might make His own Power the more evident; So in the times of Christ and His Apostles there was great store of them in Judaea, Rome and other places, that a difference might be put between the Illusions of Satan and the miraculous Works of God. Pliny reports that there were never more Magicians in the World than in the Reign of Nero, which was the time of spreading the Gospel by Christ's Apostles, neither was the vanity of that Art (as he saith) ever more apparently known than at that time: If therefore this Art of Magic did never flourish more in Prince's Courts than in the times of the Apostles, why did not one or other step forth to vanquish or convict them before the Magistrates? Origen (not to mention here other Learned men that were converted to Christ) was himself a great Philosopher, and fellow-Disciple to Plotinus who is highly commended by the Philosophers; can any sober man imagine that he and others of great judgement and abilities would suffer themselves (like so many fools and mad men) to be led with vain Illusions? Or to attribute those things to God's special miraculous Operation which depended wholly upon Natural Causes? Especially seeing that both Origen and also Cyprian before their Conversion to Christ had professed the Art of Magic! If it be further said that the Apostles were influenced by pride and vainglory in doing what they did, how happeneth it then that each of them did not cause himself to be worshipped and adored, as the Idol-gods and Mahomet did? If they were so vainglorious in their works as is pretended, why did they not make use of their own Names, and exalt themselves? but refer all to Jesus, and give him the power and glory of all, who was so much despised by the great men of the World? Surely this must needs be from God and from a divine power, and not from Satan nor from Men.  
Fourthly, Let a man but rationally consider the Life and Doctrine of Jesus, who is the Author and substance of the Christian Religion, and he will be convinced of the verity and excellency of it; What was the Life and Conversation of Jesus upon Earth (even by the confession both of Jews and Gentiles) but the very pattern of Virtue and Piety? What was it but the very Body of the Legal Types and shadows, and the substance of the Predictions and Prophecies concerning the Messiah? How wise, how patiented, how meek and humble, how loving and compassionate to Mankind? How holy and heavenly minded, how diligent, faithful and impartial was he in the Work of God? He did neither flatter the greatest nor discourage the meanest, but delivered the whole Counsel of God without respect of persons: What a public spirit, what self-denial, what excellent Virtues and Graces did Jesus show forth both in His Actions and Sufferings? (His Enemies themselves being Judges) Insomuch that Porphyry acknowledged Him to be a most Excellent Man, though (saith he) the Christians are to blame to Worship Him as God. And Pilat's Wife desired that her Husband might not meddle with that Just man. To His painful Death which He suffered for us He went as a Sheep to the slaughter, not opening His mouth, and prayed most affectionately for His Enemies upon the Cross, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. Never was there such an Example of Virtue and Holiness as Jesus was, and therefore how can any man of reason think that he should be the Author or Founder of a false Religion? As for His Doctrine and Instructions, there cannot be any found out or devised more excellent and precious; Never man spoke as He spoke; What was the continual subject of His Preaching and Discourse but the evil of Sin, the vanity of this World, the goodness and mercy of God in pardoning the Sinner, the excellency of Holiness and Righteousness, the glory and happiness of Heaven: He teacheth not His Disciples how to obtain the Riches, Honours and Pleasures of this World, how to be great amongst men, and to seek the praise and applause of men, how to Conquer Kingdoms and subdue Nations by the material Sword; But he teacheth them how to deny themselves and take up the Cross and follow Him, how to be Crucified to the World and the Flesh, to lay up Treasures in Heaven, to forgive their Enemies, and do good to them that despitefully use them: Was there ever such Heavenly Doctrine, such Excellent Instructions as proceeded out of His mouth? If we look to the Precepts in Man's Laws, (as those amongst the Lacedæmonians, Athenians, Romans) they neither command all good, nor forbidden all evil. The Laws of men are limited according to time, place and persons; As the Wise men of Persia answered the King, who would have married his own Sister, That indeed there was a Law that a man might not marry his own Sister, but yet they found another Law, That the King might do what he would; (and so by this means he shall have more liberty to sin than his Subjects.) But now on the contrary the Laws of the Christian Religion do command all that is good, and forbidden and restrain all that is evil; the Precepts thereof are general and impartial to all persons, to the King as well as the Subject, to the Master as well as the Servant, to the rich as well as the poor, without exception. No other Religion or Doctrine reacheth the Heart and inward man but only this: Where can we find another Law that hath in it Non concupisces, Thou shalt not lust, which striketh at the very root and core of corruption. Other Laws teach men to advance and enlarge their worldly interest and power, and to be in favour with Princes; But the Precepts of the Christian Religion teach us to forsake the world, and not seek great things for ourselves, nor be ambitious of the favour of great men, but to live above it. And as God Himself is a Spirit, and doth chief require the Heart, so that Worship which pleaseth Him must be spiritual, and such a Worship is prescribed and commanded by the Laws of Christ; whereas all other Religions in the World, as they proceed from man, so man himself being Corporeal, the Worship that he chief prescribeth must be Corporeal also, and not Divine and Spiritual, as the Christian Religion chief requires: Other Religions attribute the praise to man either in whole or in part, but the Christian Religion attributeth all to God, as the highest Truth, the chiefest Good, and ultimate End of all.  
Fifthly, The nature and success of Christ's Kingdom may serve to convince any man's reason that the Christian Religion is divine and heavenly; By what weak means, by what contemptible Instruments hath Christ advanced and enlarged his Kingdom? How hath he from time to time confounded things that are by things that are not? Whereas men will have apt Instruments to every action, and the Matter also well disposed to work upon, Christ chooseth weak and unapt Instruments for carrying on His work in the World; not the Wise, and Noble, and Learned of the World, but Poor simple men to be His Apostles and Ambassadors; and then for the Matter which they were to work upon, namely the World, it was altogether unprepared, both Jews and Gentiles hating Christ and His Apostles: Ulpian the chiefest Lawyer, Galen the chiefest Physician, Porphyry and Plotinus the chiefest Philosophers then living, were desperate Enemies to them, and wrote Books against Christ and the Christian Religion: Julian the Emperor forbade Schools of Learning to the Christians in hatred of Christianity, and the other persecuting Emperors devised most exquisite Torments to be inflicted on the poor Christians, and put thousands of them to a cruel death; and yet for all this Christianity prevailed, and the Kingdom of Christ was enlarged; Which is an undoubted Proof and Demonstration (even to the Eye of Reason) of the Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion, and that the Kingdom of Christ is most divine and powerful, and not worldly, weak and carnal. That this Jesus, who was born in the little Country of Judaea subdued by the Romans, of poor Parents in a sorry Village, destitute of Friends and of all Worldly helps and advantages, should give Law to and Conquer the World by His Gospel or the Word of His Kingdom; is not this wonderful! And would ye know what He promiseth His Subjects and Followers? Why, instead of great matters that they might expect in this Life, He tells them plainly what great Afflictions and Tribulations they must endure for His sake, if they will follow Him and be His Disciples indeed; they must expect to be persecuted, reproached, scourged, imprisoned, and put to death: Whereas other Kings and Monarches promise great Dignities and Preferments in the World to their followers, this King on the contrary by the Doctrine of the Cross drew the Nations to Him; other Monarches Conquer by killing their Enemies, this King Conquered by dying for His Enemies; the death other Monarches is the decay and ruin of their Kingdoms and Conquests, but the death of Jesus hath established and enlarged His Kingdom, and is the life and happiness of His Subjects.  
Who seethe not therefore by the Light of Reason, a humane weakness in the greatness of Worldly Empires, and a divine power in the weakness of Christ's Kingdom? When He died and was buried His Kingdom seemed to die and to be buried with Him; a few poor despised Followers He had, and these were at their wits end when their Lord and Master was Crucified and laid in the Grave; Well, but at length they open their mouths and boldly teach men to believe on Jesus who was Crucified and Buried, but is now Risen again, and to suffer for His sake; And if they be forbidden, they will rather die than not Preach and own this Crucified Jesus; hereupon they are accused and brought before Magistrates, where they own their Crime (as their Adversaries termed it) and are not ashamed of it; and is not this admirable? Other Malefactors are tormented to make them confess their fault, and these are tormented to make them conceal it; those hold their peace to save their lives, & these die for speaking; and yet by this strange way and means Christ that was crucified spreads His Kingdom and fills the whole World with it. Out of weakness he brings forth strength, and out of death he brings forth life; And who can thus draw one contrary out of another? Who can thus overcome by yielding, who can thus trample upon and triumph over his Enemies by dying, but Jesus in whom the power of the Eternal God was, and whose Kingdom is not of this World, but Divine and Heavenly? Whilst He lived upon Earth He was despised and rejected, but after His death He is worshipped as God, even to this day, and His true Followers will rather die a thousand deaths than deny His Eternal Godhead and Kingdom. And may not this one Consideration (if there were no more) touching the Kingdom of Christ wherein it far excels the Kingdoms of this World, serve to convince any sober rational man of the verity and efficacy of the Christian Religion?  
Sixthly, What strange Conversions and Changes have been wrought by the Gospel of Christ in the Hearts and Lives of some of the most eminent and famous men for Learning and Parts? How were they wrought upon and converted by the plain Preaching of weak simple men? Even by the foolishness of Preaching (as the World counts it) that so the divine power and excellency of this Jesus and of the Christian Religion might the more appear. Paul  his Conversion was counted a wise and learned man, and was in great reputation, so that Porphyry the famous Philosopher saith of him that it was great pity such a man should be a Christian; yet when Paul had received the greatest Authority, and raged most against the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ, he was wonderfully converted and turned quite another way, and was glad to tread many a weary step and to endure many great difficulties for the Gospel's sake. Origen also a man of great Learning and knowledge in Philosophy and the Arts, being converted by a divine power to the Christian Religion, was content to be a poor Catechist in Alexandria, and was every day in danger of death, when he might have been with his fellow Plotinus in great Authority and Favour, had it not been for his Christian profession. Surely it must needs be some Divine and Heavenly power that did thus prevail upon these men and upon many other Wise and Learned men that might be mentioned: Never was there such wonderful Conversions in any Religion as in this, never such sound Repentance and Reformation, never such true Justice, Fortitude and Constancy in Affliction even to Death and Martyrdom as in this; so that it was commonly said of the Christians, Soli Christiani mortis contemptores.  
Seventhly, 'Tis an Argument of the Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion, That it hath been so much opposed and persecuted from time to time by the rage and cruelty of the Devil and wicked men; As it was commonly said of that Monster Nero a Persecutor of Christians, That it must needs be a good and excellent thing which so wicked a man hated: The more wicked and ungodly men are, the more they hate that which is Divine, and which most resembles the Holy God. Now no Religion or Profession in the World hath been so desperately hated and persecuted by wicked ungodly wretches as the Christian Religion; and yet the more it has been opposed and trampled upon by them, the more it has prevailed and flourished, even in despite of their rage and malice. What a miserable end did befall Herod and other great Persecutors of this Religion? Many of which did vindicate Christ and His Truth at and by their death, (when the Hand of God was heavy upon them,) though they had raged against Him in their life time, and done whatever they could to root out His Kingdom and People. Nay Satan himself the greatest Persecutor of all hath witnessed for the Christian Religion against himself; All the Art Magic which he invented could never Conjure or call up Christ: Plotinus and Apollonius and other great Magicians that raised up the Image of Jupiter and other Heathen Gods, though they assayed with all their skill and power to bring up the Image of Christ, yet could they never effect it; for Christ is not subject to their power, being infinitely above them. 'Tis well known to the Heathens, that at the Birth and Death of this Jesus their Idol-Gods fell down, and their Oracles at Delphos, Dodon and other places were stricken dumb; Insomuch as Porphyry himself confesseth and bewaileth, that since the time that Jesus was Worshipped they have had no benefit at all by any of their Gods: The Voice that was heard in the Air in the Reign of Tiberius Caesar about the time of Christ's death, commanding the Master of the Ship to cry aloud that the Great God Pan is dead, upon which followed great screechings and lamentations in the Air, we find mentioned in divers credible Authors. Lactantius tells us that when the Heathens offered Sacrifice to their Gods the very presence of a Christian would dash and spoil their Mysteries; and thereupon came that speech which we read in Lucian, If there be any Christian here let him departed hence. This Jesus hath made such work amongst the Idol-Gods, that Augustine cries out, Where are your Gods! where are your Prophets! where are your Oracles! where are your Sacrifices! are they not ceased? If Christ the Ark of God comes in place, Dagon the great Idol must needs fall down. Now the Christian Religion hath three great Enemies in the World, Heathens, Jews, and Mahumetans, against whose Religion or rather Superstition we will speak a few words to show the unreasonableness and absurdity thereof. And First 
* I. Reasons against the Heathenish Idolatry.  touching the Heathen Gods, we have this to say against them in a way of Reason (which may be much more enlarged) That they must needs be vain, and even ridiculous; since by the confession of their own Learned Writers, these Gods or rather Devils did command Images to be erected to them, and told the fashion that they were of. And is not this absurd and unbecoming the Majesty of a Deity? seeing the true and infinite God who dwells in the Light inaccessible cannot be resembled by any Shape? What did these Dunghil-Gods of theirs chief command and forbidden but outward corporeal things? Whereas the true God is a Holy Glorious Spirit, who commands the Spirits of men, and chief requires spiritual Worship and Obedience. These Gods of theirs were not of Universal use, nor were they good for all things; One forsooth was good for Medicine, and another for Wisdom, and another for War; whereas the true God is an Universal perfect Good: The Religion of these Heathen Gods consisted only in offering Frankincense and Spices, and outward Oblations, which could never cleanse the Soul of man from its spots and defilements: And therefore when Cyril told Julian the Apostata that Sin defileth the Soul, and that outward and bodily things could never wash away the inward filthiness and corruption of the Spirit, this made Julian stagger, for he could not tell how to answer it. What shall we say further? Are not the Parents, Birth and Manners of these goodly Deities particularly set down by their own Poets and Philosophers, and by divers of the Ancient Fathers and our own Modern Writers; and is it not ridiculous for any man to believe that these were true Gods? Nay truly they were not only Men whom the Heathens Worshipped, but wicked men, the worst and vilest of men, given up to Whoredom and Drunkenness, and Cruelty, and all manner of vice and wickedness; Yea they were Devils and wicked Spirits that appeared in the likeness of Men, and commanded themselves to be worshipped. So absurd and irrational were some of these poor Heathens, that they did not only worship wicked Men and Devils, but even Beasts also; an Ox, a Dog, a Crocodile, yea Onions and Garlic. O monstrous folly and madness! How did the Devil bewitch them? What horrid cruelty did he exercise upon them, commanding them to sacrifice Men and Women to him when he was grievously offended with them, (as he doth at this day in some Heathenish Countries.) But when he was more mild and gentle, then forsooth he must have Stage-Plays, Music, Dancing and the like Pastimes to make him merry: Behold here the Vanity and Brutishness of the Heathenish Idolatry. Secondly, As for the Jews 
* II. Against the Jewish Religion.  they are most unreasonable in their Enmity against Christ and the Christian Religion. The truth of the Old Testament is acknowledged by them as well as by us, though they do not rightly and spiritually understand it, by reason of the veil which is upon their Hearts to this day; So blind and so deluded they are, as to hold that the true Messiah is yet to come; that Jesus is not the Messiah; and that when the Messiah first comes he shall be great in the World, and have a Princely Court and Attendants at Jerusalem; and that he shall subdue all the Enemies of the Jews. Now truly these are but vain dreams and fancies of theirs, and quite contrary to Scripture and Reason. In Jacob's Prophecy concerning the Messiah, Gen. 49.10. we read that the Sceptre was not to departed from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his Feet till Shiloh come; by which Shiloh is meant the true Messiah: But the Sceptre was then newly departed when Jesus came, and therefore He is the true Shiloh or Messiah; The Sceptre, as is well known, was in Judah till the Captivity, and after the Captivity it continued till Aristobulus and Hircanus, who contending for it were both of them dispossessed of it, and Herod an Idumaean and a stranger was invested with the Royal Dignity, and then came Christ as was long before prophesied, after whose coming the Jews were dispersed and scattered throughout the Earth; so that now there is no distinct Tribe of Judah, but they are all mingled one with another; the Roman Emperors still labouring to root out the Jews, and especially the Tribe of Judah, which made them to confound their Genealogies. That the seventy Weeks referring to the coming of the true Messiah, Dan. 9.24. are long since determined, he that runs may read it, and yet the Messiah not come, if we will believe the obstinate Jews. In their Talmud we read that the Disciples of Hillel whom they highly esteem, perceiving the first seven Weeks in Daniel to fall out so justly, they looked for the coming of the Messiah in those days being long before the full time, because they had read in the Prophecy of Isaiah that the Lord would shorten those days; And immediately before the Incarnation of our Saviour we find that there was a general expectation of the coming of the Messiah amongst the Jews, as appears by their continual sending to John Baptist to know whether he himself was the Messiah, or they must expect another; And about this time also (which may be a further proof that the Messiah is already come) there were more false Christ's and deceivers, (such as Judas, Theudas, Gaulonites, Barcosba) as the Scriptures and Josephus with other Writers bear witness, than was ever before or since. How came it to pass that the glory of the second Temple, Hag. 2.10. was greater than the glory of the first? Was it not by the coming and presence of Christ? For outwardly the first Temple was far more glorious than the second, and therefore the second must be made more glorious in some other other respect: Nor could the destruction of the second Temple (which yet we read of Luke 19.44. and likewise in the History of Josephus) fall out before, but must needs be since the coming of the true Messiah. Suidas reports this from one Theodosius a Noble Jew, That before Christ sharply rebuked the Pharises they marveling at His wise Questions and Answers, made Him one of the Priests (without which He being of the Tribe of Judah could not have been suffered to Preach at Nazareth and Capernaum) and registered His Name in these words, Jesus the Son of the Living GOD and of the Virgin Mary; which Register was preserved at the sacking of Jerusalem, and afterward laid up in the City Tiberias. The Jews themselves have been miserably deceived in prefixing the time of the coming of the Messiah, so that in this matter they are become ridiculous one to another; there is now no Bethlehem where the Messiah should be born if He be not already come: The Prophecies are clearly fulfilled, and those dreadful Judgements threatened against the Jews (for rejecting the Messiah) manifestly even in the view of the Word brought upon them. Vespasian at the Siege of Jerusalem offered them Peace, but they would not accept of it; he made his entrance into their City at Cedron where they took Christ, on the same Feast-day that Christ was taken, and whipped them where they whipped Christ, and sold twenty Jews for a penny as they had sold Christ for thirty pence; and thus they were punished in the same kind that they had sinned against God. Are they not Vagabonds at this day throughout the World, hated of all men for crucifying Christ? Having no Temple, no City, no fixed Worship, no settled Government, neither Civil nor Ecclesiastical. And though they attempted by the Assistance of Julian that wicked Emperor to Build again their City and Temple, yet their Attempt came to nothing, but was destroyed by Fire from Heaven: And now, poor Wretches, they abide (and have been so for many hundred years) without a King, and without a Sacrifice, and without an Ephod, and without Teraphim. Hos. 3.4. And whereas they vainly expect that the Messiah at His first coming will be an outward glorious Prince, like the Princes of this World, this is quite contrary to many Texts in the Old Testament, which they pretend to believe, and which assure us that the Messiah shall come in great meekness and lowliness. Zach. 9.9. That He shall be wounded and pierced for the sins of the People, and that their iniquities shall be laid upon Him. Psal. 22.16, 17, 18. Isa. 53.4, 5.6. That He who is the Shepherd and God's fellow shall be smitten by the Sword of the Lord, and that the Messiah shall be cut off and slain. Zach. 13.7. Dan. 9.26. Out of these and the like Texts in the Old Testament the Ancient Rabbins do generally gather that the true Messiah should be such a person, and so dealt with as is described in these places, and that His Kingdom should be Divine and Spiritual, and should not consist in outward worldly pomp and magnificence. By what hath been already said (and much more that might be alleged) any rational sober man may easily perceive how vain and unreasonable, how blind and contumacious the Jews are at this day in denying Jesus to be the true Messiah, and in maligning and opposing the Christian Religion. Thirdly and lastly, Against the Doctrine of Mahomet and the Turkish Religion 
* III. Against the Turkish Superstition.  there is enough, if not more than enough alleged to convince any man of reason that it is but of yesterday, and a mere Fable if compared with the Antiquity and Truth of the Christian Religion; And that Mahomet himself their great Prophet was a vile wicked wretch and Impostor, whom God suffered in His just judgement to delude and even besot the World; because they had abused the precious Gospel of Christ. Mahomet's Doctrine forsooth is so hardy, and so unquestionable that it must not be disputed of; which is a sufficient evidence of the vanity and falseness of it. The Money is good (say they) but you must not bring it to the Touchstone to try it, nor must you weigh it: whereas Truth loveth trial, and fears no colours. Their foolish Koran (which contains the body and substance of their Heresy) is stuffed with vain Fables and false Tales, fit for Fools and Children; so that Andraeas Maurus a Saracen and a Bishop, besides many other Writers, noteth at least nine hundred Untruths in this wicked Koran; whereof two in the Eighth Section are exceeding gross and palpable: One, that Abraham was the Son of Lazarus; the other, that Mary the Mother of Christ was the Sister of Aaron; both which are manifest untruths: And what, shall we think that the God of Truth and Wisdom will regard such false Tales and fopperies in His Worship as are found in this Koran? (Be it far from us to entertain such a thought of God.) How gross and sensual, and foolish are many things mentioned therein? as Sect. 16. where Mahomet said that he felt the Hand of God seventy times colder than Ice. Is this becoming the Holy Majesty of God? And again, that one Angel hath seven thousand Heads; and that the Devil is Circumcised, and such like ridiculous stuff which a Rational discreet man would be ashamed of. If we look to the Promises and Rewards of this Religion, they refer to Pleasures that are merely carnal and sensual, fit for none but Sardanapalus, Heliogabalus, and such like monstrous Epicures, that have lost their Wits and Reason. If we consider the Precepts of this Religion, we shall find that they are indulgent to Perjury, Adultery, and other wickedness. A Turk may have four Wives, and five Concubines; he must not be accused though never so wicked under four Witnesses. This wicked Religion of theirs allows Men to couple themselves with Beasts, and to spoil one another's Goods, and therefore it is false, wicked, and to be abhorred. And as for the Miracles which the Turkish Religion pretends unto, they have no Authentic testimony nor possibility of Truth in them in the judgement of any sober Rational man. Take one Instance for all, which is this; that an Angel when he was a Child opened his Heart and took out that lump of Blood which is the Cause of Sin. And then for the way and means of propagating this Religion; it is not like that of the Christians, Spiritual and Divine, by the efficacy of the Gospel of Peace and Reconciliation; But 'tis Carnal and Wicked, by Cruelty and Compulsion, killing men that are of a different Religion, so that he is the most religious amongst them that can shed most Blood and destroy most Christians: And this shows even to an Eye of Reason that the Mahometan Religion is a mere Imposture, and a most wicked Superstition.   

CHAP. XII. The divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures proved by Reason.  
THe Laws of God (as we have heard) differ much from the Laws of men: these command only the outward man: but the divine Laws reach the Spirit, and command the inward man, which Laws are Recorded in the Sacred Scriptures: now that these Holy Writings are the word of God, and do contain the Laws of God and the Rule of our Faith and practice, may be proved by Reason so far as may convince a Heathen or Infidel, that there is such a divine Authority and Efficacy in these Writings as are not to be found in any other. First, then let it be granted, as it hath been clearly demonstrated, that there is one living and true God, and that this God is to be honoured and adored by his reasonable Creatures with that service and worship which becomes him: Then it will undeniably follow, That there must be some Revelation made by God himself, touching that way of worship, wherein he will have us obey him (this is practised by all wise Princes and States who govern their Subjects in a way of Reason and of Prudence) for who can know what pleaseth God but he himself, and they to whom he makes known his will and pleasure. Now then, supposing some Revelation of Gods will in order to that service which he will accept, if the Scripture be not this Revelation, where then shall we find it? Let any man, if he can, show some other or better manifestation concerning the will and worship of the great and Holy God, than what he hath made known in his Written word. Nothing can be the standing unerring Rule of our Faith, but what God himself hath made so; That which is the Rule must be the law of our Beleif, and who can make a Law of this nature but God himself? 'Tis unreasonable to imagine that any men or Creatures can prescribe to us what we are to believe concerning God, unless God himself make known his will and publish his Laws. Secondly, As for the Scriptures of the Old Testament (which are received and embraced as the word of God both by Jews and Christians) let us rationally consider how the Church of the Jews, who were the peculiar People of God, to whom were committed the Oracles of God, Rom. 3.2. have witnessed these Books to be divine and Supernatural. Have they not from time to time, for many Ages together, in their greatest misery and affliction, constantly acknowledged and contended for the divine Authority thereof, whenas by only denying the same, they might have had not only liberty but great preferments in the World? And is it not very observable, that though the Princes, high Priests and others amongst the Jews persecuted the Prophets, and despised their words whilst they lived, yet they received their Writings as Prophetical and Divine, when they where dead? and since blindness and obstinacy came upon the Jews, notwithstanding their great enmity and hatred to the Christian Religion, and the Professors thereof, yet the Scriptures of the Old Testament, yea those very Texts that do evidently confirm the truth of the Christian Religion, are kept pure and uncorrupt amongst them. Thirdly, The Christian Church which embraceth both the Books of the Old and New Testament have witnessed, and do still witness to the divine Authority thereof, even to the Death; the whole Universal Church of God, even from the first Penning of the Scriptures, till this very day, have all along professed that these Books are divine, and Thousands of them have Sealed the same with their blood: this Testimony is of great weight and force, though it be not so infallible and effectual to persuade and satisfy the Conscience, as the Testimony of the Holy Ghost himself. Of all humane Testimonies whereby the Author of any Book that hath, is, or ever shall be extant can be proved or evinced so as to satisfy man's Reason, the Testimony of the Universal Church of God concerning this Book is the greatest and most satisfactory, both in respect of the multitude, wisdom, honesty and faithfulness of the witnesses and the likelihood, constancy and uninterrupted continuance of the Testimony itself. Is it probable in a way of Reason, that so good and wise a God should suffer so many honest well meaning People to be so long abused and deceived by a false or feigned Book fathered upon himself: such a horrid Imposture, the God of truth will not endure to lie hid and undiscovered for so many hundred years. Christians of all sorts and conditions, Noble and Ignoble, Rich and Poor, Learned and unlearned, Married and unmarried, Old and Young, throughout the World for a long time together, have endured the most grievous and exquisite torments that the Devils could invent, or the malice of men find out, for the defence of this truth, and that with great constancy and alacrity, with an undaunted heart and merry countenance. And can any sober man think that so many thousand persons, and some of them of great quality, learning, and prudence, that might have lived bravely and carried a great part in this World, should suffer so many and so great things out of mere weakness, pride, vain glory, discontent; or that they should suffer for a fable, that hath no Truth, nor reality in it? This Testimony (which is taken from the great sufferings, Christian patience, joy and courage of the Martyrs) is not merely humane; for that courage and cheerfulness which they shown in the midst of their Torments, was not from the strength of humane Nature and reason, but it was from above, and supernatural. Fourthly, God hath confirmed the divine Authority of the Scriptures in the view of the World, by many great wonders and Miracles from Heaven; such as Satan himself cannot imitate; such as exceed the power of any, yea of all the Creatures in the World; such as the most malicious subtle Enemies of God's truth could not deny to be divine. These Miracles hath the Lord openly wrought by the hands of Moses, the Prophets, and Apostles, which as they were sufficient to confirm the divine Authority of the Scriptures to them who were eye-witnesses thereof, so the undoubted and clear Narration of them is to us an invincible Argument that the Word and Gospel of Christ is from Heaven and not from men; the Lord witnessing thereunto both by Signs and wonders, and with divers Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will, Heb. 2.4. What shall I say of the Antiquity of the Scriptures and the Doctrine contained therein, which of all Writings and Doctrines that have been taught and published, is the most Ancient. In all other Writings and Records the Doctrine of the Creation, and fall of man, is omitted, which yet is particularly and plainly set down in the Scriptures. And truly it is admirable to Consider how the power and wisdom and goodness of God have appeared in preserving his written. Word and Laws to this day, notwithstanding the rage and subtlety of Antiochus, Nero, Dioclesian, Julian the Apostate, and other cruel and subtle Persecutors; and notwithstanding that Egyptian darkness of Popery, Error, and Ignorance, which overspread the World for some hundred years since Christ, and his Apostles; during which time these sacred Writings were laid aside and contemned, and blind Ignorance extolled as the Mother of Devotion. Fifthly, The very Style of the Scripture argues the divine Authority thereof. By the Style we do not understand the external superficies of words and phrases, but the whole order, contexture and frame thereof, which fitly agreeth to the dignity of the speaker, and the nature of the Argument treated of; and is excellently and wisely tempered according to the capacity and condition of them for whose sake it was written. Indeed every Prophet and Apostle almost had a peculiar Style, God making use of their several faculties and abilities: Isaiah is Eloquent and sweet, David affectionate, Solomon Accurate, Jeremiah vehement and more rough, and so it may be said of the several Apostles and Evangelists, that their Style is somewhat different, but all of them divine and Heavenly. The Majesty and excellency of the Style appears in that Majestic Title and dignity which the Author of the Holy Scriptures; doth justly challenge to himself; the which imports Independency of nature and essence, Supereminency of power and sovereignty, and excellency both of properties and works, and is further displayed in the manner of teaching which is used in the Holy Scriptures, commanding, promising, and threatening things above sense and reason. In this Book there are hidden Mysteries, divine, and supernatural Truths such as exceed all humane capacity, revealed & unfolded without Argumentation or Rhetorical motives of persuasion, and we are required to understand and believe them relying only upon the Truth and credit of the Revealer. God the great and absolute Sovereign requires in his word such and such things to be done, such and such duties to be performed by the Sons of men, with great strictness and severity; and yet brings no argument to persuade or confirm the equity of these commands, but only the will of the Commander, which though it becomes not man to do, yet it well becomes the Majesty of God. In this Book also promises are made of good things to come, whereof there is no humane probability nor reason given to assure us of the performance thereof, but I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. In the manner of threatening also the like majesty and Sovereign Authority may be observed throughout the Scriptures, which you shall not meet with in mere humane writings. God commands and threatens without respect of persons; be they what they will be, 'tis all one to him: he prescribes his Laws to all men, Magistrates and Rulers, Scholars and Soldiers, to whole Kingdoms and States, commanding and requiring what is distasteful to their fleshly nature and interest, and forbidding what they approve and commend; promising them not Earthly Honours and Riches, but Life Eternal, if they be obedient to the Gospel; and threatening them not with Rack or Gibbet, but with eternal Death and Torments if they disobey. Neither let any man be offended with the low and humble manner of speech used in holy Scripture, for it was penned for the use and benefit of the unlearned, as well as the learned, for those of weak parts, as well as for those of strong parts and abilities: And though the phrase or manner of speech be plain, yet the matter is high and excellent, profound and unutterable. Plainness and perspicuity doth best become the truth. A Pearl needs no painting. True beauty needs not a whorish dress to set it forth; nor needs the truth of God to be supported or underpropt with foreign aids, for it is of itself sufficient to uphold and sustain itself. It becomes not the Majesty of a Prince to play the Orator, this would be more pedantic in him, then in a person more inferior. Though the Scripture seems to be plain in word and phrase, yet it is great in power: No writings of men (be they never so well set forth with Wit, Learning, and Ornaments of Rhetoric) can so enlighten the mind, move the will, pierce the heart, and stir up the affections, as the word of God doth. Nor do the Scriptures want Eloquence; if the matter be well weighed, no other writing can equalise them. The Song of Moses, the beginning of the Prophecy of Isaiah, and other portions of Scripture, in variety and force of divine Eloquence, do far exceed and transcendall other Authors, Greek or Latin, that are extant, though never so excellently indicted and penned; yet it may be easily discerned, that the one was written by a Divine, the other by a humane Spirit. Sixthly, the wonderful powerful effects of this doctrine (more than any other) do clearly demonstrate, even to an eye of reason, the divine Authority thereof, for it enlighteneth the understanding, discovereth clearly the evil of sin, and the vanity of the Creature, converteth the Soul, convinceth the gainsayer, terrifieth the Conscience of a sinner, quickeneth and reviveth the wounded Spirit, manifesteth the thoughts of the heart man, casteth down strong holds and the power of Satan, and remains invincible notwithstanding all the opposition of men and devils; for though the nature thereof be contrary to the will and wisdom of the flesh and world, yet still it hath prevailed and overcome. The enemies that have opposed this doctrine, were many and mighty and subtle: the Devil, the Roman Emperor, the learned Philosophers, the zealous Jews, and the common people being stirred up by them, have with incredible fury and falsehood and vigilancy, endeavoured the utter abolition of it, but could never do it. This doctrine conquers where it comes, either it converts or destroys its Adversaries. And what manner of persons are they whom God chooseth as his Heralds and Ambassadors to publish this doctrine! are they great and many? are they learned and wise? are they potent and mighty in the world? No no, they are in number but few, in outward appearance simple, rude, poor and weak, despised of men; things that are not in the judgement of men; by these God hath confounded things that are; and through their preaching the Cross of Christ, hath subdued many Nations to himself; in a little time a great part of this habitable world was converted and brought to the obedience of faith, so that Paul filled all places from Jerusalem to Illyricum with the sound of the Gospel: Nor is it to be forgotten that the Jews, though wasted with many and great Slaughters, and though they had and still have a desperate Enmity against Christ and the Christian Religion, yet the Scriptures of the old Testament have always remained safe and entire in their custody, even when the Hebrew language did lie almost unknown, and had perished altogether, had not God provided for the true Religion by the care of those Jews; so that (will they, nill they) they shall be instrumental in maintaining and promoting the doctrine and kingdom of Christ. Seventhly, That sweet and admirable harmony and consent, which is found in the sacred Scriptures, cannot be rationally ascribed to any but to the Spirit of God and the divine wisdom, each part agreeing so exactly with itself, and with the whole; which sufficiently appears, by comparing the Prophecies of the old Testament touching Christ, the calling of the Gentiles, the reception of the Jews, and other remarkable things, with the accomplishment of them, as the same is plainly declared and revealed in the new Testament: Such exact consent and agreement as is here to be found, is impossible to be feigned of men or Angels, from whom the things foretold were hid till they were revealed. Nor could there be forgery in these writings, if we consider in a way of reason the length of time in which these writings have continued and been judged Authentic; that they were not written in one or two, but in many ages; that there was a multitude of Books and of writers employed in this Service, and that these writers were distant in place one from another, so that they could not confer together: and withal if we consider the deep silence of the Adversaries, who in all that long time (whilst the Scripture was in writing) could never detect any thing in those books as false or forged, whose silence in this case is of great importance because they were eye witnesses of those things which our Saviour taught, did and suffered, according as it was prophesied of him; so that they knew the prophecies, saw the accomplishment of them, and were acquainted with that which the Apostles had written: Yea, many or most of the things relating to Christ and his Apostles, and the accomplishment of prophecies, are mentioned and recorded in the writings of some heathen Authors that lived and wrote not long after those times. If the Prophets and Apostles in their writings seem to descent one from another (for it is but a seeming, not a real dissent) in any circumstances, this derogates nothing from their Authority, for in themselves they differ not, the fault is in our ignorance and misapprehension; for by a right and just interpretation they may be easily reconciled; and that dissonancy that seems to be amongst them in small things, doth free them from all suspicion of fraud; and their sweet harmony and consent in all matters of importance, may in reason convince us that they wrote by the guidance and direction of one and the same Spirit of truth. If they had all written one thing, they might seem superfluous; if each had written a new History, there could not have been such a full harmony and agreement: when they relate the same story with the same circumstances, they have their use and benefit, one sometimes speaking more plainly than the other; and when they agree in matter, and only seem to descent in some circumstances, the truth is the more confirmed, and an argument of fuller credit and certainty may be drawn out of that seeming dissent: for as it is truly and wisely observed, too exact diligence in every little circumstance is neither approved by all, nor doth it want suspicion. There is in the holy Scripture (as a learned man writing in defence of their Authority saith) a Majestic kind of security, under many seeming contradictions, which yet neither the honour of their truth, nor that harmony which they have in and with themselves, do or shall at all suffer by: Nor do the Scriptures stand to excuse and purge themselves, as if there were any cause to suspect them of any contrariety or contradiction; No, they speak from place to place, whatever they have a mind to say, with that liberty and freedom as if there were nothing said by them elsewhere, that either was like to suffer the least prejudice by it, or to cast the least prejudice on it: To that sweet agreement and consent that is in the holy Scripture with itself, we may further add, that it agreeth with all other truths whatsoever; there is nothing true in Divinity, which is false in true Philosophy; nothing in Philosophy is repugnant to the truth in Divinity, but it may be overthrown by the principles of right and true Philosophy, which are and aught to be subject to Divinity. Eightly, The matter treated of in the Scripture is divine and wonderful, which may convince us that it is the word of the eternal God; it opens and reveals the greatest and most glorious Mysteries, as the nature, properties, attributes and high acts of God, and how he will be worshipped and adored: It describes the person, natures, virtues and excellencies of Christ, so fully, so clearly, that if the mind of man consider it attentively, he must of necessity acknowledge, that it doth far exceed the reach of a finite understanding and humane capacity; it discovers to us the corruption and misery of man by nature, the great and unparalled love of God in Jesus Christ towards lost man, and the happy agreement of his infinite justice mercy and wisdom in ordaining Christ to be our Mediator; and reveals the covenant of grace which God made with man after the fall, for restoring him again to God's favour: All which can be derived from no other fountain but the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation, 1 Cor. 2.7, 8, 9, 10. Eph. 1.17, 18. The Scripture also contains the law of God, which teacheth the whole duty of man towards God and towards men: in the precepts of Scripture there are divers notes of a divine power and wisdom, as First, The surpassing excellency of the acts required of us, namely, that we should deny ourselves, and conform our hearts and lives to the Image of the word of God. Secondly, the wonderful equity that doth appear in every Commandment. Thirdly, The admirable strangeness of some acts and duties, as regeneration, self-abasement, the renouncing of our own righteousness, and parting with all we have for Christ, which a mere natural man would count foolishness and madness, yet prescribed as necessary. Fourthly, The manner how obedience is required to be performed by us; it must proceed from an inward spiritual principle, even from a pure heart; a good Conscience, and faith unfeigned. Fifthly, The perfection of the holy law of God, commanding and allowing all good, and forbidding and condemning all sin and wickedness whatsoever, in thought, word, and action, not only the filthiness of the flesh, but also the filthiness of the Spirit, and that with reference to all persons, times and places without exception, binding the Conscience, and reaching the very thoughts and secrets of the hearts of men. And do not all these things (which would fill a great Volume, if I should treat of them at large) clearly and convincingly set forth the divine Authority of the Scriptures, so as we should acknowledge no other Author of those sacred writings but God himself? for who can contrive these things but he who is infinite in power and wisdom? who can give eternal life, or inflict eternal death and condemnation by the word of his power, but the eternal God? Ninthly, The end of the Scriptures is divine, namely, the Glory of God and the Salvation of man, not so much Corporal and Temporal, as Spiritual and Eternal. The Doctrines, precepts, promises, prohibitions, narrations, threaten, punishments and rewards thereof, are all referred finally and ultimately to the praise and glory of God, the supreme being and chiefest good, which shows plainly that they are divine and from above. And to speak truth and reason, what is more equal and just then that all things should return thither from whence they had their first rise and Original? for of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom everlasting glory is due from all Creatures, Rom. 11.36. The Scripture plainly points out to man what true blessedness is, wherein it consists, and where and how it is to be had and enjoyed, namely, in the everlasting vision and fruition of God in Heaven, which men may attain unto by the true knowledge of Christ, in whom God is reconciled and well pleased: And this is a firm and clear demonstration of the divine Authority and excellency of the Scriptures; for what is more agreeable to the wisdom, bounty, mercy, goodness and power of God, then to restore man fallen, and to make him partaker of eternal bliss and happiness? and who can show to man how he may be restored and admitted into the favour of God, having offended his glorious majesty, who can direct and lead him in the way to true bliss and happiness, but God who is wisdom and goodness itself, and who hath effectually done it in and by his Son, the essential Word, and by the Scriptures which are the written word of God? These Arguments and demonstrations, whether they be severally or jointly considered by us, do as strongly prove and evince that the Christian Religion is the only true Religion, and that the Scriptures are the word of God; as any reason can prove, that there was, is, and aught to be, any true Religion or Rule to walk by, in matters that concern Religion and the worship of the Deity; and therefore may serve to convince and satisfy the reason of any sober man, touching the divine Authority of the Religion and Laws of Christ.   

CHAP. XIII. Of the Use of Reason in the interpretation of Scripture, and judging of Controversies.  
EVery Christian should so far improve his Reason, as not to be imposed upon in matters of faith by the mere dictates of men; be they Princes, be they Popes, be they Counsels, be they never so learned or pious, he ought not in aliorum sententias pedibus potius quam cordibus ire: Reason and Judgement in these matters should go before and make way for his practice. As there are some that vainly magnify and lift up the Reason of man above the Spirit of God, in judging of the Authority and mind of God in the Scriptures, so there are others (and more especially that Bestial Antichristian Kingdom of the Papacy) that would transform reasonable men and Christians into sensitive and irrational Creatures, by the deceit and Legerdemain of a Popish Implicit credulity, which commands men to put out their Lamps, to pluck out their eyes, and in a manner to renounce their Senses, Reason and understandings; and so to follow their leaders blindfold wheresoever they go. And I could wish there were not too much of this Implicit faith and blind devotion amongst Protestants, yea and amongst some that seem more forward and zealous, than others, at least for a party. The Ranting Romanists tells us (with noise and clamour enough) of a visible supreme Tribunal, and an infallible head of the Church here upon Earth, who is to regulate all persons, and determine all controversies, though never so much against the rules of Scripture and Reason: others of them more prudent and moderate, resolve the final Judgement of Controversies into the determination of a general Council; and all of them generally make the Authority of the Scriptures to depend wholly upon the judgement of their Church: Hence was that impudent saying of Bayly the Jesuit, that without the Authority of the Church he would believe St. Matthew no more than Titus Livius, a Heathen Author. And Stapleton is so much for a blind Implicit obedience, in contempt of Reason, that he tells us plainly, the people are so subjected to the Sentences of their Pastors, that if their Pastors err in any thing, the people may and aught to err in obedience to them. And again, as the Jews were to believe Christ (saith he) so are we simply and in every thing to believe the Church of Rome, whether it teacheth Truth or Error. O monstrous! Is not this a base Tyranny, a Brutish unreasonable act of theirs, when they go about to make us believe that to be white, which we know to be black, that to be true which we know to be false? there are some indeed amongst them more rational and sober, who would not have private Christians put out their eyes, but make use of their Reason and Judgement in reading the Scriptures, and judging of Controversies. The examination and trial of Doctrines concerning faith (saith Gerson) belongeth not only to the Pope and Councils, but to every Christian also, that is grounded in the knowledge of the Scripture, because every Christian is a fit Judge of that which he knoweth. And the saying of Panormitan, another of their Doctors, is well known, that one faithful man, though he be but a private man, is more to be believed then the Pope or a whole Council, if he have better Reason and Scripture Authority on his side. Chrisostome in answer to this Objection, that there are so many and so great dissensions amongst Christians, that we know not of what opinion to be of, nor whom to believe, hath these remarkable words: Tell me, hast thou any Reason or Judgement? for it is not the part of a man barely to receive whatsoever he heareth; but if thou diligently mark the meaning, thou mayst throughly know that which is good; when thou Buyest a Garment, though thou hast no skill in weaving, yet thou sayest not, I cannot buy it, they deceive me, but thou dost what thou canst to come to the true knowledge of it; say not then I am no Scholar, and will be no Judge, I can condemn no opinion; for this is but a shift and a cavil, and therefore let us not use it, for these things are easy to them that endeavour after true knowledge. Hath not every Christian a reasonable Soul, an understanding faculty which God hath endued him with, that thereby he might search and try and discern the things that differ? To what end hath God set up this light in man's Soul, if he must not use it in searching the Scriptures and trying Doctrines, but must give way to Sloth and Ignorance? Is not this to transform man into a Beast and is it not Brutishness and folly in him thus to lay aside his Reason and understanding, and to be wholly concluded by humane Authority and the names of men in matters of faith? As in other points the Church of Rome (which is made up of lies and contradictions) would impose upon us, as if we had neither Sense nor Reason in us, so more especially in the point of Transubstantiation, and the corporal carnal presence of Christ in the Sacrament, which is against Sense, against Reason, and against Faith. First, It is against Sense; now of all demonstrations amongst men, whereby we prove things of this kind, nothing is more firm, then that which is taken from Sense. 'Tis an undoubted truth in Divinity, that in all matters of Sense, Sense is a complete Judge, understanding it of objects proper and peculiar to Sense; otherwise we say the Eye is not able to judge of Sounds, nor the Ear of Colours: Thus Christ when he would prove that he had a true and real Body, he sends his Disciples to their Senses; a Spirit hath not flesh and blood as you see me have. Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my Side. In turning water into wine, Sense might easily judge of the change; you would think it a strange and incredible thing, if Christ should have come to to the Master of the Feast, requiring him to believe it was wine, though he saw and tasted nothing but water; or if God should have said thus to Moses, well, thou seest nothing but a Rod, yet thou must believe notwithstanding that it is changed, and is really a Serpent: so in this case of the Sacrament, when all the Senses tell us, it is Bread which we see, and touch, and taste; why should any man be so foolish and vain, as to say with the Papists that the Bread ceaseth to be truly Bread, and is Transubstantiated into the very Body of Christ? Again Secondly, As this Doctrine is against Sense, so it is against Reason, namely, that Christ should be in Heaven, and have but one Body, and yet at the same have Ten Thousand Bodies on Earth; that his Body should be a true Body as ours is, and yet without Circumscription, and other inseparable properties of a true Body; that the substance of Bread should be abolished, so as it shall remain no longer Bread, and yet we find the very quantity, taste, whiteness, substance and nourishing virtue of Bread. If you ask them after all this, whether it doth nourish the Body or no, they will tell you (with impudence enough) if they be true to their own principles, that it doth not nourish, quite contrary to Reason and experience: This monstruous opinion of theirs, is so irrational and absurd, that the most learned amongst them are puzzled and not satisfied therewith, but leave it as a miracle. I have taken some pains (saith a learned judicious man in his late Sermon against Popery) to consider other Religions that have been in the world, and I must freely declare that I never yet in any of them, met with any Article or Proposition imposed upon the belief of men, half so unreasonable and hard to be believed, as this point of Transubstantiation is. Thirdly, As it is against Sense and Reason, so it is against Faith, which though it be beyond Sense or Reason, yet it is not contrary thereunto. Sense and Reason are God's works, as well as Grace and Faith: Now one work of God doth not destroy another, for if so, this would argue imperfection in the workman; faith feeds on Christ spiritually in the Sacrament, being the evidence of things not seen; now if Christ be corporally present in the Sacrament, what need the receiver feed on him spiritually by faith, as being absent; what need he do this in remembrance of him, till he come? let us in this and other things, show ourselves men, and not Beasts; let us make a right use of our Senses, and of that Reason which God hath bestowed upon us. 'Tis we that believe and act in matters of Religion (whoever requires the same of us) these are our Acts; if therefore we will show ourselves to be men endued with Reason and understanding, we must examine what is propounded and offered to us, that so we may assent or descent upon judicious grounds; we are men, and should do things as men; we are Christians, and should do things as Christians. Blind faith and blind obedience should be utterly Banished out of Christian Assemblies; nor should we pin our faith upon any man or company of men (be they never so Godly and learned) for this were to wrong God, and to set man in his Throne, and attribute that to man, which is proper to God alone. Hereby also we exceedingly prejudice and wrong our own Souls, and are in danger of Apostasy, when we adhere to an opinion or way, of which we are not rationally and knowingly persuaded that it is the way of God; what is this else but to comply with a way or party out of faction and partiality, not out of Judgement and Conscience, which therefore cannot have any true Consistence or constancy in it. They rather bring their feet then their hearts into a way of Religion, that adhere to it without due trial and examination. Herein we should use our own eyes and judgements, and not wholly trust to others; Herein we should diligently exercise our own Reason if we will judiciously and profitably receive the truths of God; not that we should judge of the highest Gospel mysteries according to natural corrupt Reason, but yet we should make use of our own understandings and judgements, being enlightened by the Spirit and word of God, in comparing one thing with another, that so our faith and knowledge may not be fluctuating and uncertain, but steady and stable. It will perhaps be objected, that if every man may judge in matters of Religion according to his Reason, than so many men, so many minds, which will breed endless confusion; every man pretends to Reason, and one man thinks his Reason to be as good or better than another man's, and so according to this opinion there shall be no order, no settlement in the Church. I confess there is much danger on this hand, especially where people are running headlong into confusion, and will not submit to Ecclesiastical order and government, yet this should not make men throw away their Reason, and believe with an Implicit faith only as the Church believes. In things of this nature there is a twofold judgement, a judgement in foro externo or publico, and a judgement in foro interno or privato: The former of these is an Authoritative judgement belonging to Christian Synods and Counsels, duly and lawfully assembled, where the Christian Magistrate presides; such Counsels debating and determining matters in difference, either as to doctrine or practice, have been of excellent use from time to time in the Church of God: But besides this, there is belonging to every Christian a judgement of discretion or discerning, a rational self- directive judgement in the Court of his own Conscience, and in reference to his own faith and practice; he should so examine and judge of the things that relate thereunto, as to be fully persuaded in his own mind, Rom. 14.5, He should so prove all things, as to hold fast that which is good, 1 Thes. 5.21. Thus Christ in his infinite wisdom, goodness and faithfulness, hath given two sorts of judgement to his Church and people: One public belonging to an Assembly of Godly Pastors and Elders; for of that which the Prophets teach, let the Prophet's judge, and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets. The other is a more private personal judgement, which concerns all the faithful who are to judge of what is taught, and to try the Spirits; in both these judgements we should remember that Christ hath committed nothing to the Church but the ministry of giving judgement; for as touching the Sovereignty of Judgement and Authority, it belongs only to him. Counsels may expound and declare the doctrine of the Scriptures, but they have no power from Christ to make any new Doctrines or Articles of faith. And every Christian ought in a rational way to judge of their determinations according to the word of God, and not yield blind obedience thereunto; for this were to unchristian, yea to unman himself. Of this opinion are all the Protestant Churches in general, and particularly the Church of England 
(k.) See Rogers on 39 Articles P. 103.  who maintains that every sound member of the Church, hath Authority from Christ to judge in controversies of faith, and so to embrace truth, and avoid error. The Church as a faithful witness, should give Testimony of the Doctrine of Christ, but ought not to judge the word, nor to judge otherwise then God's word judgeth. General Counsels consisting of men that are not infallible may err. The things therefore that are ordained by general Counsels, do so far bind, as they are Consonant to the word of God, and no further; for we are not to ground our faith upon them, but only upon the Authority of God's word. Now that such a rational judgement, or a judgement in foro interno (as hath been asserted) belongs to every Christian, so as he may and aught to make use of his Reason in judging of the Doctrines of Religion, and of Ecclesiastical Laws and determinations, is thus proved and demonstrated. First, From those plain Texts of Scripture, Take heed that no man deceive you, Mat. 24.4. Prove all things, and hold that which is good, 1 Thes. 5.21. Beloved, believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God, 1 Joh. 4.1. He that is Spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man, 1 Cor. 2.15. Which Texts, together with many other that might be alleged, do not only concern public Ministers, but also private Christians, yea chief them, as being most in danger to be seduced. Secondly, This hath been also the approved practice of the faithful thus to search the Scriptures, and try the Spirits, and exercise their Spiritual Senses, that they might discern things that differ, Heb. 5.14. The Bereans are counted more noble than others, because they searched the Scriptures, and tried Paul's Doctrine by the Scriptures, though he spoke from an infallible Spirit, Acts 17.11. The Church at Ephesus is commended for trying them that said they were Apostles, and were not, and finding them liars and deceivers after trial, Rev. 2.2. And Christ tells us, that his true Sheep will follow him, for they know his voice, but a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, Joh. 10.4, 5. Now this they could not do, unless they did exercise a rational judgement in matters of faith. Thirdly, Every Christian is to give an account of his faith and practice to God, yea he should be always ready to give an Answer to every man that asketh him a Reason of the hope which is in him, 1 Pet. 3.15. But how can he do this rationally and understandingly, without trial and examination? If he be found to embrace whatever his superiors shall impose upon him, truly then the blind implicit faith of the Collier, will serve well enough. Is this according to the Scripture which tells us that we cannot truly believe, unless we have knowledge? That every man should be persuaded in his own mind concerning the things which he doth believe and practice, and that whatsoever is not of faith is sin? Fourthly, How shall a Christian cleanse his heart and ways, but by taking heed thereto, according to the word of God, Psal. 119.9. How shall he walk as a Child of light, unless the word be a Lamp to his feet, and a light to his paths? Psal. 119.105. How can he walk wisely and Circumspectly (as he ought to do) understanding what the will of God is, as the Apostle speaks, Ephes. 5.17. if we do not allow him a judgement of discretion, and discerning in matters of this nature, that so he may try Spirits and Doctrines. Fifthly, were it the duty of a private Christian to receive all Doctrines that are proposed to him by his Superiors, without trial and examination; then could not he be justly charged with sin and guilt, who receiveth error in stead of truth, from those that are above him in dignity and Authority; but we find that this will not excuse him: If the Blind lead the Blind, both shall fall into the pit, Luk. 6.39. and we are to fly from Strangers, and not hearken to the words of those Prophets that speak the visions of their own hearts, and not out of the mouth of the Lord, Jer. 23.16. We must not believe every Spirit, but beware of false Prophets and Seducers, which no Christian can avoid upon good grounds, unless he pass a rational judgement upon them and their Doctrines. Why was Ephraim oppressed and broken in judgement, but because he willingly walked after the Commandment of his Ruler and Governor, corrupting the worship of God, and did not impartially examine and judge of the same, by the rule of God's word, Hos. 5.11. Sixthly, God hath furnished a Christian with abilities for this end; with Reason, as man, he hath a reflexive faculty which Beasts have not; he hath a rational understanding Soul which is the Candle of the Lord that enableth him to compare one thing with another, and to deduce genuine inferences and conclusions from such premises as are laid down and propounded. And then further, God hath not only given his people the light of humane Reason and understanding as rational men, but hath also infused into them a principle of divine light and knowledge, as Christians, to search and try the Doctrines of Religion, whether they be true or false: God hath given them a Spiritual unction or understanding (as the Apostle speaks 1 John 2.27. & Chap. 5.20.) that they may know him who is truth itself; and they need not that any man teach them, but as this anointing teacheth them, which is truth, and is no lie. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him he is none of his. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and to them it is given by the father to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, Mat. 13.11. Hereby (saith the Apostle) we know the things that are freely given us of God, even by his Spirit which searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God, 1 Cor. 2.10. For a man professing the knowledge of Christ, to swallow down without trial or consideration all that he reads and hears (if it comes from a person that he admires) which yet is the practice not only of the blind Papists, but of many seeming zealous Protestants that are too much addicted to a party, Non est opus virilis intelligentiae, sed puerilis inscitiae, this rather becomes the simplicity and ignorance of a Child, than the wisdom and understanding of a serious Christian. Luther speaking of the blind implicit faith and obedience too of the Church of Rome, tells us that 'tis such an opinion and practice as renders a man Brutist, and deprives him of Reason and manhood; and for this wicked opinion and practice of theirs, namely, for exercising an absolute dominion over the Faith and Consciences of men; the Roman Prelates deserve to be driven out of the number of the faithful, as Wolves and Tyrants. But what? shall every private Spirit (will you say) take this upon him? Is not this to judge his Judges, and to pass Sentence upon his Superior? To which we answer, that those persons (be they never so great and learned) judge of divine things by a private Spirit, who depend upon their own corrupt Reason and Fancy, and accordingly judge and determine; and not he, though but a private Christian, that is taught of God, and judgeth of the points of Religion, by, and according to the word of God. Nor do we say that every private man is to judge by way of Authority, in foro publico; a public Authoritative disquisition and trial in matters of Religion, is one thing, and a private rational Christian examination is another; 'tis one thing judicare, to judge of mine own acts, and another thing judicem agere to act as a Judge: Indeed the Spiritual man judgeth all things, but how? not in a juridical Authoritative way, but only so far as concerns his calling and capacity, if he be a private Christian. Rational judgement belongs to him, but Magistratica and Ministerial judgement belongs to others that are in a more public capacity and office. And therefore in this case he is to try and judge with much modesty and humility, not rashly and headily, as being selfconceited, and leaning too much to his own understanding. Let him walk orderly, and keep his place and station, giving due respect and reverence to Christian Magistrates, and godly Pastors, and submitting to them in the Lord, Heb. 13.7, 17. And this will be a means to preserve the Church of Christ from Anarchy and Confusion.  
Thus we have showed how the Scriptures may be proved by the light of Reason to be the word of God; and that every Christian ought to exercise himself in searching the Scriptures, and judging of Doctrines; but yet we must distinguish between those external rational Arguments which are brought to prove the divine Authority of the Scriptures, and the internal Testimony of the Spirit of God in the Scripture, which is the most clear, certain, infallible, public Testimony, and of itself worthy to be believed, for it is the Testimony of God himself. Hereof we shall treat more particularly in the following Chapter.   

CHAP. XIV. Of the Internal Testimony of the Spirit of God, witnessing the divine Authority of the Scripture.  
ALthough there are rational arguments (which have been already mentioned) to prove the Scriptures to be the word of God, yet the inward Testimony of the holy Ghost himself is necessary to assure us of the divine Authority thereof; which Testimony is better and more certain than all our Reason; for as God is a sufficient witness of himself in his own word, so the hearts and Consciences of men will never be fully satisfied that the Scriptures are by divine inspiration, till the same be sealed and confirmed to them by the inward Testimony of the Holy Ghost; till than they will be much in the dark, often doubting and wavering, notwithstanding all other reasons and proofs. 
(l.) Calv. Instit. Lib. 1. Chap. 7. S. 5.  We should so believe the Scripture for itself, and in regard of the Testimony of the Spirit of God witnessing the same, as not to subject the divine Authority thereof, to our Reasons and demonstrations. When our understandings are once powerfully convinced and enlightened by the Spirit of God (which indicted the holy Scriptures) then do we not believe by our own judgement or Reason, or other men's, that the Scripture is from God, and by divine inspiration, but above all humane Reason and Judgement, we hold it most certain, even as if we beheld the majesty of God himself there present, John 4.42. And having attained this, we seek not after humane Arguments to rest our faith upon, but as a thing that admits of no doubt or dispute, we take it for granted, and do fully captivate and submit our Judgement and Reason to it; such therefore is the persuasion of a true Spiritual Christian of the Authority of God in the Scriptures (far different from other mens) as requireth no humane Reason; such is his knowledge and certainty as hath the best Reason for it, even that wherein the mind more assuredly and steadfastly resteth, then upon any humane Testimonies or Reasons whatsoever. Such is the inward Spiritual experience of the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God in the holy Scriptures, that if all the World should oppose the same, yet he is fully resolved to give credit and adhere thereunto. By nature every man is blind in Spiritual things, and ignorant of the mind and mysteries of God; and therefore though the Scripture be a shining light in itself, yet unless our understandings be opened and enlightened we cannot behold it, no more than a blind man can see the Sun when it shineth. The Spirit of God is the Author of supernatural light and faith; by the inspiration thereof, were the Scriptures first written; the secrets and mysteries of God are fully known unto, and effectually revealed by this Spirit. The same law and word which is written in the Scriptures, this Spirit doth also write and impress upon the hearts of them that are endued therewith; and therefore the Testimony of this Spirit, where it comes in power, must needs fully persuade and assure the heart and Conscience of a Christian, that the Scripture is the infallible word of God. As in other Sciences, there are always some principles, per se nota & indemonstrabilia, whence other things are proved and demonstrated; so it is in Divinity, which is the most excellent Science, all conclusions in point of faith and practice are proved by the Scriptures; but as for the Scriptures they prove and evidence themselves sufficiently to the judgement of every true Christian, by their own light manifesting their divine Original. They are primum visibile, not like colour that cannot be seen till light make it apparent; but like light itself, which maketh all other things manifest, and itself too, by its own proper quality. Now than if a true believer should be asked, why he believes the Articles of the Christian Religion, he may truly answer thus, because they are revealed in the holy Scriptures: If it be further demanded, how he can assure himself that the Scriptures are the word of God, he may answer that he knows it by the Scriptures themselves; the Spirit of God enlightening his understanding to see those lively characters of divine truth which are imprinted upon those sacred Volumes: If yet it be further demanded how he knows whether that is the right meaning of such or such a place of Scripture, he may likewise truly say that he knows it by the Scriptures, which being diligently examined and compared together, do plainly discover to the humble teachable Soul their own true sense and meaning in the things which concern everlasting Salvation. And thus the faith of a Christian is finally and ultimately resolved into the infallible word of God, or a divine Testimony, and into nothing less. As for the Authority and Testimony of the Church, and the judgements and writings of the Godly learned, they are good helps to make us see the Truth, but no causes why we believe it; this we do for its own sake, not for their say or determinations, which if they do not accord with the Scriptures, we ought not to assent thereunto: Though we should give due Reverence to the Assemblies of Godly judicious men, and thoroughly examine and weigh with humility and self-denial, the grounds of our dissent from them, yet the bare Authority of men, though never so eminent for learning and piety, should not command our assent to any Article of Religion that shall be proposed to us: For our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men (as the Apostle speaks) but in the power of God, and the Testimony and demonstration of his Spirit, 1 Cor. 2.4, 5. The first and chiefest ground whereon is built the certainty of faith's assent, is the infallible truth and Authority of divine Revelation; because God hath said it, we are to believe it, and assent to it, for whatsoever God saith is true; now this is a principle of Nature and Reason, which is deeply engraven into the heart and Conscience of every Rational man; that God himself is so infinitely wise, that he can be ignorant of nothing, nor can any Creature circumvent and overreach him; and withal he is so infinitely good, holy, and just, that no lie or untruth can proceed from him; wisdom itself cannot be deceived, truth itself cannot deceive, and God is both: And therefore wheresoever any Revelation is certainly known or believed to be of God, there the reasonable Creature doth fully assent to the truth of things revealed. But now the great question will be, how we know infallibly that God is the Author of the Scriptures, and that what we find written therein is of divine inspiration, the very Oracles of God? Here lies the great, yea the irreconcilable difference between the Church of Rome and us; for whereas we maintain (according to the truth) that the Scriptures are known to be of God, by themselves, and by their own light and power; they hold that we cannot be certain of their divine Authority, but by the Testimony of the Church, which as they say, doth infallibly propose unto us what is to be believed, and what is not to be believed: And so by this means our faith shall be resolved, either into nothing at all (for they differ exceedingly about the Church representative, and the supreme Judge of controversies here on Earth) or at the furthest it shall be resolved but only into humane Authority, and so shall be but a humane faith. That Circle which they falsely charge upon us 
(m.) Mr. W. Pemble nature and properties of grace and faith, P. 210, 211.  they themselves are guilty of, and can never be disintangled therefrom, by their Principles: For ask a Romanist, why do you believe that the Pope cannot err, he will tell you because the Scripture saith so, thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my Church; and I have prayed that thy faith may not fail: and the like Texts of Scripture: But how know you that this is the infallible word of God, and that your interpretation is the right sense and meaning of these places? To this he answers, because the Pope and the Council of Trent say so; or as some of them hold, because the Pope only saith so; or as others of them, because a general Council saith so. If we further urge him, yea, but how know you infallibly that the Pope and Council do not err in saying so? he will answer you, because the Scripture affirms they cannot err, for thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my Church, etc. And thus they run round in a Circle 
(n.) The Popish Circle described.  and are so entangled that the wisest and most learned of them know not how to deliver themselves. Indeed they accuse us with open mouth, as if we were entangled in a Circle running round, from the Scriptures to the Spirit, and again from the Spirit to the Scriptures; as thus, how know you the Scriptures to be the word of God? by the Spirit revealing the same to my heart and Conscience: but how know you this Revelation of the Spirit to be true? By the Scriptures, which testify, that the secret of the Lord is revealed to them that fear him: But then further, how know you this and the like places of Scripture to be the word of God? we know it by the Spirit, which reveals to us the things that are freely given us of God. And thus they pretend that they have caught us in a Circle; but they greatly mistake us (though we do not mistake their Doctrine) we teach indeed that we know the Scriptures infallibly to be the word of God, by the Spirit of God, inwardly revealing and testifying the truth of them to our Consciences: But what kind of Revelation or Testimony is this? It is not any inward suggestion or immediate inspiration, different from those Revelations of Divine truth, that are in the Scriptures themselves, as if the Spirit of God did by a second private immediate Revelation, assure me of the truth of those former Revelations contained in the Scriptures; we have no warrant for this in an ordinary way; but the Spirit of God reveals and testifies to our Consciences, the divine Authority and truth of the Scriptures, by removing those impediments that hindered, as namely, our ignorance and unbelief, and by bestowing upon us those graces that make us capable of this Divine knowledge and assurance, illuminating our understanding, renewing our wills, and sanctifying our hearts and affections: In which sense the Spirit of God in the Scripture is to us a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, opening the eyes of our understandings, that we may see by a spiritual light the excellency of those divine Mysteries that are in the Word of God, Ephes. 1.17, 18. Now this Doctrine of ours is no such Circle as the Papists pretend it to be, but a plain and straight way for a sober Christian to walk in: Thus, How know you that the Scriptures are God's Word? We answer, By the Scriptures themselves; by that wonderful light and excellency of truth and holiness that shineth in them; here we would rest, and go no further. But yet if we be asked, How we come to see this light? We answer, It is by the only work of the Spirit of God, giving us eyes to see, and hearts to embrace and love the light. If we be further urged (for some are thus importunate) But how know you that you do indeed perceive such a heavenly light as you speak of? Or how can you make it appear to others, that you are not deceived? Now truly this is but a vain question, it being an absurd thing to demand a reason of sense; which is as if one should ask him that gazeth on the Sun, How know you that you see the light? Why, he is certain that he sees it, and knows that he is not deceived, though he cannot convince a blind man of it; and if in case he that is blind requires him that sees to prove unto him by sound argument, that he beholds such an object, he demands an impossible thing of him, unless he could give him eyes to see it. Some of the most learned Papists, after all their disputing and wrangling, are driven at last to acknowledge this inward illumination and testimony of the Spirit of God: Stapleton himself, even in that Book where he defends the Authority of the Church, saith, That the godly are brought to faith by the voice of the Church, but being once brought and enlightened with the light of divine Inspiration, than they believe no more for the Church's voice, but because of the heavenly light. And again, in the last Book that ever he wrote against learned Whitaker, he tells us plainly, That the inward persuasion of the holy Ghost is so necessary and effectual for the believing of every object of faith, that without it, neither can any thing by any man be believed, though the Church testified with it a thousand times, and by it alone any matter may be believed though the Church held her peace or were never heard. Hereby it appears, that we may be infallibly assured of the divine Authority of the Scriptures, though the Authority and testimony of the Church be not so regarded by us as the Papists would have it. But yet when we have to do with Infidels and Atheists, that scoff at this divine light and inward testimony of the Spirit, we have more Reason on our side (as hath been showed at large) to convince them, and to prove that the Christian Religion is the true Religion, and that the Scriptures do contain the Word and Laws of the most high God, than any other Religion, nay then all other Religions in the world. As for the inward testimony of the Spirit witnessing the divine authority of the Scripture, and how it is to be considered, take these following Rules 
* Rules concerning the Spirits testimony.  for preventing mistakes.  
First, That the Spirit of God doth assuredly persuade the Conscience of a Christian, that the Scriptures are the Word of God, not by an immediate Vision or Revelation, under which pretence Satan (transforming himself into an Angel of light) hath deluded and ensnared many poor souls, but by enlightening the eyes of our understanding to behold the light, writing the Law in our hearts and inward parts (as God hath promised in the new Covenant) sealing up the Promises to our souls, and causing us experimentally to feel the powerful effects thereof.  
Secondly, This divine supernatural persuasion wrought in Believers by the Spirit of God, is more certain and more satisfactory than can be proved by our weak imperfect Reason, or expressed in words; for things doubtful may be proved; but as for things that are in themselves most clear and certain, we say, they need no rational proof or demonstration; as the shining of the Sun (which discovers itself by its own light) needs not be confirmed by any rational Arguments to him that hath his eyes open to see the light thereof.  
Thirdly, It is such a testimony and demonstration of the divine Authority of the Scriptures, as is certain and manifest to him that hath the Spirit, for it makes itself evident where it comes; but this is private and particular (not public and common) testifying only to him who is endued therewith, but not convincing others, nor confirming doctrines to them: In this case men must have recourse to the visible standing Rule, to the written Law and Testimony, if any man speak not according to this (let him pretend never so much to the inward testimony and revelation of the Spirit) it is because the light and truth of God is not in him.  
Fourthly, This testimony of the Spirit therefore is not to be severed from the Word, which is the Instrument of the holy Ghost, and his public authentic testimony: Nor is it injurious to the Spirit of God to be tried by the Word, seeing there is a mutual relation and correspondence between the truth of the party witnessing, and the truth of the thing witnessed: And this holy Spirit, the Author of the Scriptures, is every where like unto, and doth every where agree with himself: as it is in a pair of Indentures, there is no difference at all between them, but the very same things that are mentioned in the one, are also mentioned in the other; so it is between the Spirit revealing, and the truths of God revealed in the Scriptures.  
Fifthly, The testimony of the Spirit doth not teach or assure all and every one of the letters, syllables, and words of the Scriptures (which are only as a vessel to carry and convey the heavenly light unto us) but it doth seal in our hearts the saving truth contained in those sacred Writings, into what language soever they be translated: Hence it is that the Apostle tells the Corinthians, that they are the Epistle of Christ, written not with Ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in Tables of stone, but in the fleshly Tables of the heart, 2 Cor. 3.3.  
Sixthly and lastly, The Spirit of God doth not lead them, in whom he dwelleth and witnesseth, absolutely, and at once, into every truth of God, so as utterly to dispel all ignorance and darkness out of the soul; but he leadeth them into all truth necessary to salvation, and by degrees, John 16.12, 13. Being a free voluntary Agent, he worketh when, and where, and in what measure he pleaseth; so that holy men, partakers of the same Spirit in several degrees, may err and mistake in some things, and descent one from another in matters that are not fundamental.  
And thus we have given you some Rules to prevent mistakes touching the inward testimony and revelation of the Spirit of God. It will not be amiss now to reflect a little (yet without any rancour or bitterness against the persons of men) upon their opinion that derogate from the Spirit of God and divine revelation, and set up Reason as a Judge in matters of Religion, and so resolve their Faith finally into Reason.   

CHAP. XV. Briefly showing when Reason is rightly used, and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits Testimony in the Scripture.  
NO discreet rational man will deny the use of Reason, in judging matters Civil and Religious, in the sense formerly declared and proved: If you will show yourself a man and not a beast, a judicious understanding Christian, and not a Child in knowledge and judgement, than you must make use of your Reason in examining those matters that are propounded to you, whether Civil or Religious; but yet if you admit Reason to be the only Rule or Standard to measure the Mysteries of Faith by, and to judge of and comprehend the most divine supernatural Doctrines and Truths of Christ, than you ascribe too much to Reason, and too little to the Spirit of God and Faith: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, (saith the Apostle) neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him: And as none know the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him; even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God, 1 Cor. 2.9; 11. The rational Creature is a competent Judge of things merely rational; but the spiritual man only (in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth) can rightly and spiritually discern and judge of things that are merely spiritual and supernatural; and therefore we must take heed that we confound not the Spirit and Faith of the Gospel with our natural Reason, nor prejudice the divine Authority of the Scriptures, by ascribing too much to Reason, as we ought not to take from Reason that which is due to her in reference to divine matters.  
First, Then we acknowledge that Reason is the eye of man's Soul, or that Organ which lets into his Soul that divine light and testimony of God which begets Faith, and upon which Faith doth rest itself, and into which it is finally resolved: Reason is not the object on which our Faith resteth, but that faculty which being sanctified takes in the light of Faith, which leads us to Christ, and the things that are heavenly and supernatural. The judgement and determination of the Word of God, inspired by the Spirit of God, is that wherein we finally rest, as the rule of our Faith; and the light of divine Understanding and Reason sanctified, is that whereby a Christian judgeth of spiritual things. God in his Word speaks to reasonable Creatures (not to brute beasts) who by way of discourse weighing what goes before, and what follows the Text, and comparing Scripture with Scripture, do come to a right understanding of the will and mind of God; therefore we are commanded as men that have reason in us to search the Scriptures, to try the Spirits, and to judge what the Apostles say: These are acts of Reason and Judgement, by the help whereof we are enabled to give a sober rational account of our own Faith, and to convince the Adversaries and gainsayers. If you be to deal with an Adversary that hates the Christian Religion, how can you think to persuade him to Christianity, unless you show him a reason (as indeed the Christian Religion is the wisest and most rational Religion) If you say, your Church is the true Church, you must give a reason for it, or else no discreet man will believe you, seeing many pretend to the true Church that do not belong to it. If you urge a Scripture for your opinion, sober men will rationally judge, whether it be agreeable to your sense and interpretation, or not; and accordingly will embrace or reject your opinion. It concerns every man, as he tenders the peace and salvation of his own soul, to be certain of the truth of his Religion; And seeing there are so many opinions, and such variety of persuasions in the world touching matters of Religion, we ought to consider which persuasion hath the best and surest grounds for it, that we may with peace and safety venture our souls upon it: Now this we cannot well do unless we make use of our Reason, in comparing one thing with another, that we may embrace the truth and reject error.  
Secondly, Though there are mysteries of Faith which Reason cannot comprehend, yea, in their proper nature they are contrary to the dictates of natural Reason: Ex nihilo nihil fit, saith Reason, and Ex nihilo omnia fiunt, saith Faith: The dead cannot return again to life, saith Reason; Thy dead bones shall live again, and this mortality shall put on immortality, saith Faith: yet the rational Soul of man being overpowered and acted by a higher principle, even by the Spirit of God, sees the greatest reason in the world to believe these and all other divine supernatural mysteries and truths, because the Scripture revealeth them to be of God, and from God: Is it not meet, and reasonable, and well becoming us that are rational Creatures, to believe the God of Truth speaking to us in his Word, though what he speaks seem never so unreasonable, never so contrary to flesh and blood? Yet Reason will tell us this, That all that God speaks (for from this pure Fountain can proceed nothing but pure streams) is true and good, divine and heavenly, whatever our corruption saith to the contrary: So then, our Faith must be resolved into the divine truth and authority of God's Word, and our Reason captivated and subjected unto this higher principle, to believe what we find revealed in the Scriptures, because it is revealed, and comes from the God of truth that cannot lie.  
Thirdly, As I have reason to believe all that God speaks in general, as being the God of truth; so I have reason also to believe in particular, that the doctrine of Scripture is Gods revealed Mind and Will: Nor is it sufficient to a well-grounded Faith for a man to say he believes all that God reveals to be true; but he must also believe, that the mysteries contained in the holy Scriptures are the things which God hath revealed for his salvation: 'Tis true (according to the Judgement of our Divines) that Faith may rightly be said to be a firm assent, without evidence of many things in themselves which we do believe; but yet the medium, by force whereof we are drawn to believe, must be evident unto us: As now if I be asked by an enemy of the Christian Religion, Why I believe the Incarnation, Death and Resurrection of Christ? I answer, Because God's Word testifieth of them as things most certain and true. If he ask me further, How know you that God hath revealed these things? I answer, By infallible signs and testimonies from Heaven, beyond all humane power, as hath been showed Chap. 12. of this Treatise; by which man's reason may be convinced that those writings are of God; and so I can prove that a Christian hath more reason for his Religion then any other, whether Jew, or Turk, or Heathen.  
Fourthly, Though in these respects that have been mentioned our Reason may be of very good use in reference to spiritual and divine things, yet we must not make our Reason the rule and measure of our Faith in matters that are beyond our Reason: As for example, there is a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, as the Scripture assures us, Matth. 28.19. 1 John 5.7. Shall I now reject this great Mystery, because it corresponds not with the dictates of my Reason and Understanding, and say with those self-willed Socinians, that because it is impossible to Reason that three should be one God, therefore I will not believe this great Truth: But only interpret it thus, that these three agree in one, and are one by consent of minds and wills, for so a thousand men may be one? And again, If because I cannot conceive or comprehend by my Reason, how Christ and his Father can be one in substance and essence, therefore I will find out another interpretation which may agree with my Reason, though it be contrary to the mind of God in the Scriptures, and to the Articles of the Christian Faith: Truly this is to set Reason in the Chair, or Throne, above the Spirit of God in the Scriptures; and so the sacred Scripture, or Divine testimony, shall veil Bonnet to our Sense and Reason, and not we to the Authority of God in his Word. Now this is the practice of curious proud Wits, who will not believe any thing, be it never so sublime and mysterious, unless forsooth it be made evident to their shallow understandings. Hence it is, that they consult with the dictates of Reason about the chiefest Articles of Faith, and accordingly expound them, or rather pervert them, denying and rejecting the Person and Offices of Christ, the Doctrine of satisfaction and propitiation by Christ, the Resurrection of the same Individual body, the absolute Decrees of God, and other Mysteries of the like nature; and so at length God leaving them to their own vain reasonings, and the wicked imaginations of their own hearts, they become mere Atheists. Indeed every Christian, as hath been said, aught to give a Reason of the Faith and Hope that is in him; but we must put a difference between giving a reason of our believing, and a reason of the thing believed. I believe the Doctrine of the Trinity, That Christ is consubstantial and coessential with the Father, that he was incarnate, and born of a Virgin, that Jacob was loved and Esau rejected, before they had done either good or evil; and the reason and ground of my belief is, because the same is written in the infallible Word of God. But now to demonstrate and evidence these high Truths and Mysteries to humane Reason, from the nature of things, or otherwise to disbelieve them, this is a course destructive to the Christian Faith and Religion. There are some things that are evident in themselves, as the Principles of Geometry, that every whole and entire thing is bigger than a part of it, and the like: But then there are other things that are not evident in themselves, but are revealed and made known to us, both that they are, and what they are by a foreign medium, without the compass of the things themselves: Of this sort are all those things which we are persuaded of by the report of others; and this is that certainty of knowledge which we have of things that are believed, the truth of which in themselves appeareth not to us, nor is seen of us: And in this respect Faith is truly said to be an assent without evidence upon the credit of the Revealer: In these things our Reason reacheth but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that such things are the Truth of God, but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is hid from us, we cannot show a reason how such things should be. Thus to tie our Faith to Reason, and form our belief by the dictates of reason, so as to refuse to believe any thing without evidence from the nature of the thing itself demonstrated and made known to our Reason, argues much pride and selfconfidence, setting up our Reason above the Will of God 
* Against subjecting the Scripture to Reason.  revealed, and arraigning the sacred Scriptures at the Bar of our Reason. Now this is not to be admitted, but to be rejected by all Christians, and that upon these Grounds and Considerations.  
First, Because our Reason and Understandings are but weak and shallow in the knowledge of the Mysteries of Nature, and we are much more ignorant and blind in the mysteries of Grace, and in things that are divine and supernatural, John 1.5. 1 Cor. 1.19, 20. 1 Cor. 2.11.14. 1 Cor. 13.12. When the world by all its wisdom and reason knew not God in Christ, It pleased God (saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 1.21.) by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe: Yea, not only in the men of the world, but in the most eminent Saints, there is still much blindness in their understandings, and much perverseness in their wills, and in the reasonings of their hearts against the Truths of God: Now these vain, and carnal, and foolish reasonings of ours should be regulated and corrected by the Word of God. Man's Reason should not presume to regulate the Word, but the Word of God should regulate and correct man's Reason. The Word is the rule, and not our Reason; for that which is to be regulated, cannot be the rule to regulate.  
Secondly, To bring Scripture to the Bar of our Reason, and so make Reason the Judge in divine mysteries, is exceeding preposterous, for this were to subordinate and make subject that which is much superior to that which is far inferior; that which is perfect and without error, to that which is imperfect and erroneous. Now certainly that which is weak and corrupt is not fit to judge that which is holy and perfect; nor is that which is subject to errors and mistakes (as man's Reason is) fit to regulate and judge the Word of God, which is all light, and all truth, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works, 2 Tim. 3.16, 17. As John the Baptist said to Christ, 
(n) Mr. Lyford on Heb. 5.13, 14. cap. 1. pag. 28.  I have need to be baptised of thee; and comest thou to me, that am far thy inferior? So may our Reason say to the blessed Word of God, I am far inferior to thee, and have need to be regulated and reform by thee, and comest thou to me? No, no, it is my greatest honour to submit myself to thee and thy Divine Authority.  
Thirdly, Upon this ground also man's Reason is denied to be the Rule and Judge in matters of Faith, because one man cannot prove infallibly to another man, that his Reason is the right Reason in such a case: He pretends Reason, so do I: A third man comes and pretends to as much Reason as either of us; and experience shows, that divers men, yea; good men, have different Reasons, and different apprehensions in many points of Religion: Nor can a man be certain, that this or that is the true meaning of a Text, if he have nothing to assure him thereof, but the appearance and probability of his own Reason, for others that differ from him think they have, and may really have, as much or more Reason on their side then he: Indeed if we compare our own Reason with the Reason and Authority of other men which have decreed thus and thus, then must we give the pre-eminence to our own Reason, when a clearer evidence is propounded and presented to our Reason; for every one is to judge for himself with a judgement of discretion and discerning (as hath been formerly proved) and 'tis unreasonable and absurd for a man to assent to a lesser evidence, when a clearer evidence is propounded to him. 'Tis true there are not many that are well able to judge for themselves in the Controversies of Religion, and therefore God hath provided spiritual Guides and Shepherds to go before them and help them; but yet Christians must not resign up their wits and senses to follow them wherever they go; if they would lead us blindfold, we should not put out our eyes to follow them, but should rationally and impartially weigh and consider the grounds of their doctrine and practice. Doth such a godly learned man tell you that this is firm ground, you may go safe upon it? And do you see it to be so by the eye of your Reason, enlightened by the Spirit of God? Then you may follow him as a man of judgement and understanding, and not like a beast, that is led he knows not whither; and herein you have the advantage of his Reason and of your own too.   

CHAP. XVI. Of the difference between the mere rational and spiritual men, and their knowledge and acts about spiritual things.  
THe light of Reason should be made use of and improved by every Christian in searching the Scriptures, and trying Spirits and Doctrines, yet so, as we must not confound the principles, knowledge, and operations of the natural man, or mere rational man, with the principles, knowledge, and operations of the spiritual man. There is a twofold knowledge of spiritual things, a natural or rational knowledge, and a spiritual and supernatural knowledge. The former is but Historical, as when a man reads of such a Country in a History, or sees it only in a Map at a great distance, but was never there himself to take a full view of it, and report the things that are there of his own certain knowledge. The latter kind of knowledge is intuitive, or a knowledge of spiritual vision, beholding the things themselves in the light of God's Spirit distinctly and at hand. No Creature or created thing can go beyond its sphere, or comprehend that which is beyond its capacity: The vegetative creature cannot reach so far as the sensitive, nor the sensitive so far as the rational; nor can the mere rational creature comprehend that which the spiritual man doth. Such as are alive to God, and have spiritual union and conjunction with Christ the second Adam, the quickening Spirit, live and act from a higher principle, and in another kind then mere natural or rational men do. The soul of the natural man acts his body; and the more he improves the light of reason, the more rational and considerate he is in his actings and operations: But the soul of the spiritual man is under the power of God's Spirit, and the glorious operations thereof; and as far as God's Spirit is above the spirit of man, so far is the life of Grace, or the life of the spiritual man, above that of Nature. 'Tis true (saith Luther) 
(o) Luth. Com. on Gal. cap. 2. v. 20.  that I live in the flesh, but this life, whatever it is, I esteem as no life, for indeed it is no true life, but a shadow of life under that which another liveth, that is to say, Christ, who is my true spiritual life, which life thou seest not, but only hearest, and I feel; as thou hearest the wind, but knowest not from whence it comes, or whither it goes, even so thou seest me speaking, eating, walking, sleeping, and doing other things as other men do, and yet thou seest not my true life. This spiritual life, which far transcends the mere natural or rational life, must be discerned spiritually; the spiritual man hath a white stone, in which his name is written, which none can read but himself: He is the Son of God, an Heir of Heaven, therefore the world knows him not, even as we know not the Sons of Princes (were they amongst us) who dwell in countries' far remote from us; but his life, which now is hid with Christ in God, shall fully appear when Christ appears in glory, Col. 3.3, 4.  
First, Then the spiritual man hath Christ form in him by the holy Ghost, Christ is in him the hope of glory, and he lives the life of Christ (which a mere rational man doth not) there is a spiritual supernatural principle or ability planted in him, which still remains and abides, and which differs much from natural habits, for these are partly and sometimes wholly acquired by use and frequent practice; whereas this spiritual principle is not gotten or acquired, but infused; nor can it be utterly lost, as natural habits may, but abides for ever, John 14.16. Sometimes 'tis called the Seed of God, which shall grow up to perfection, 1 John 3.9. Sometimes a Fountain, yielding continual supplies of Grace, John 4.14. sometimes from the Author (from whom it is derived) 'tis called the life of Christ, 2 Cor. 4.10, 11. and sometimes the new birth, or being regenerated and born again, John 3.5, 7. Doubtless it is a most powerful spiritual principle, which raiseth and elevateth the soul far above natural strength and reason. Those Creatures that have no higher principles and faculties than sense, use them sensually; but as for man, who enjoys the fame faculties under the command of a reasonable Soul, he useth them rationally; but when he is new born, and becomes a spiritual man, those faculties of the understanding, will, and affections (which when they had no other command but Reason, had no more but rational operations) being now governed and acted by the Spirit of Christ, they work spiritually: Hence he is said to be led by the Spirit, and to walk in the Spirit, and after the Spirit, Gal. 5.18, 25. Rom. 8.1.  
Secondly, This divine Principle, this new spiritual Birth and Regeneration, is more than the improvement of the most excellent, natural, or rational abilities; for it being infused and wrought in the soul of man by the mighty Power of God, and the invincible operation of the holy Ghost, this argues that man, or the reasonable Creature, is merely passive in his first receiving this spiritual supernatural life; and thus much the very phrases of Scripture import, that as we are passive in our first Creation, or Generation, so we are passive in our Renovation or regeneration, Ephes. 2.1, 5, 10. 1 Pet. 1.3, 23. John 3.3, 5. Gal. 6.15. Indeed if it were no more but the improving of something which we had in us before, or the strengthening only of that which was weak in us, than man himself might co-opperate with the Spirit of Christ in producing this new Birth; but seeing it is the infusing or planting of a divine Principle, which was not at all before in the rational Creature, man must needs be passive in the first work of regeneration: Nature being corrupted can do nothing, unless it be to hinder and oppose this work, for it is enmity against God, Rom. 8.7. At the best, Nature is but the matter which is renewed or new form; and matter, as we all know, can have no operation at all; and therefore it is rightly termed, a supernatural work, or a work beyond Nature. 
(p) See Mr. White on the Scriptures, cap. 7. of the Spiritual Man's Acts.   
Thirdly, Man being thus passive in his spiritual renovation, or new Creation, 'tis impossible for him with all his Reason, to discover how and after what manner it is first wrought in him, as it is impossible for one to know how he receives his own life: though he may discern some terrors of Conscience and consternation of spirit in himself as preparatories thereunto, and may also understand the motions and operations that are performed by him after his regeneration, for then his spirit, or the principle of his reason and understanding being renewed and sanctified, works together with the Spirit of Christ; yet as to the first act of ingenerating and receiving Grace, the same being wrought in him, not by him, yea, and that in an instant, and not by degrees, it cannot be discerned how and in what manner it is wrought, either by natural Reason, for that cannot spiritually understand spiritual things; or by spiritual sense and experience, for that flows from spiritual life already received, and therefore cannot discern what was done before it had any being at all: The giving of spiritual life, and the giving of the sense of it to Christians, are two distinct acts of the Spirit of God, which seldom or never go together in an ordinary way. This heavenly mystery of regeneration is beyond the understanding and capacity of a mere rational man, as Christ's words to Nicodemus, and his words to Christ again, do import, John 3.3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12.  
Fourthly, The spiritual man's acts and operations do far transcend the acts and operations of the natural or mere rational man, both in reference to things natural, or the things of this life, which the one apprehendeth and useth in a mere natural or rational manner, the other after a holy and spiritual manner, and for a spiritual end; and more especially in reference to things spiritual, as the unsearchable Treasures and Riches of Christ, and the glorious Mysteries of the Gospel; such spiritual things are apprehended and used by the natural man carnally (for he knows Christ only after the flesh) as on the contrary, outward and carnal things are apprehended and used by the spiritual man spiritually, but much more those things that are spiritual in their own nature, 1 Cor. 2.15. which he may be said to apprehend and receive spiritually, in respect of the object, or that which is spiritual in the object, by a spiritual light and judgement (beyond the natural light of Reason) and in a spiritual supernatural way: Now this is more than any natural or mere rational man, though never so much improved, can attain unto by the Principles of Reason.  
Fifthly, The mere rational man, and the spiritual man (both living under the means of Grace, and both of them believing) differ much in the nature and effects of their Faith, as they do in their knowledge of spiritual things: The Faith of the spiritual man is a true justifying Faith, grounded and built upon a divine testimony; but the Faith of the mere rational man is but temporary, or historical.  
First, They proceed from different causes and principles, the one being infused by the Spirit of Christ dwelling and abiding in the spiritual man; the other being the effect only of natural Reason, further enlightened and improved (at the most) by some common operations and assistances of the Spirit of God in the Ministry and Ordinances of the Gospel, which a Reprobate may partake of, Heb. 6.4, 5, 1.  
Secondly, They are found in divers subjects. Ttrue effectual Faith is only found in persons that are truly regenerate, born of God, and partakers of the divine nature, John 5.24. and 3.5. 1 John 5.1. But historical or temporary Faith may be in such as have no root, no seed of God abiding in them, such as are not born of God; for these are both one in Scripture, Luke 8.13. 1 John 3.9.  
Thirdly, There is that spiritual evidence and certainty in the faith of the one which is not in the faith of the other: True divine Faith so apprehends spiritual and heavenly things, as having a real being in the Promise of God, though they have no subsistence as yet in themselves, Heb. 11.1. Rom. 4.17. John 8.56. Heb. 11.27. Now this Faith, which is the evidence and demonstration of things that are invisible to the outward Senses, makes no use in its spiritual sight or apprehension either of Sense or Reason; not of Sense, for things invisible cannot be the object of Sense; nor of Reason, which in this case can help but little more than Sense, seeing it receives information by Sense, from whence it gathers things by way of discourse; which indeed may convince a man that things are, but can give him no evidence or demonstration of the things themselves, what they are in their own nature: Hence it is, that when a man comprehends things by Reason, he may be able by discourse of Reason to inform another man of that which he knows, and by that means may cause him to understand it as well as himself; but he that apprehends spiritual things themselves, as the true Believer or Spiritual man doth, cannot by discourse of Reason make another man, that is a stranger to what he enjoys, understand what he himself seethe, feeleth, and tasteth. But as for historical Faith, or that Faith which is in the mere rational man, it wants this clear evidence and demonstration, having no further assurance of what it believes then that which Reason suggests, which may rather be termed a conviction, that such things must be, than an evidence what they be; whereby it plainly appears (which yet may be more largely and fully proved out of Scripture) that true justifying Faith, and that Faith which is only temporary and historical, differ not only gradually, in respect of degrees, but specifically in nature and kind; the grounds of assurance on which they are built being of a far different nature.  
Fourthly, This difference will further appear, if we consider that the effectual Faith of the spiritual man rests and depends upon, and is ultimately and finally resolved into a divine testimony; but historical Faith, or the Faith of the natural or mere rational man, is built upon a humane testimony, which our Saviour calls the revelation of flesh and blood, Matth. 16.17. As the Apostle calls the other the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, and the revelation of things by the Spirit, which are understood only of spiritual men, 1 Cor. 2.4, 10, 14, 15. to whom they are manifested, and who have the Spirit and Mind of Christ in them, which enables them spiritually to understand that manifestation or revelation. This way of spiritual demonstration to the spiritual mind of the true Believer, is far different from, and doth far transcend that way of conviction which is only by reason or rational discourse; and in this respect is more excellent and divine then historical Faith, or the Faith of the mere rational man, which is not chief grounded upon a divine Testimony or Authority, but relies upon, and is ultimately resolved into an humane testimony, or the reasonableness of the truth and ways of God: The glorious Mysteries of the Gospel, though they could never be found out by all the reason and wit of man, 1 Cor. 2.9. yet they are consonant to right Reason; and therefore man's reason doth assent thereunto: As for example, The Creation of the World, the Resurrection of the Body, the Incarnation of Christ, and the like, these may be acknowledged by man's Reason to be possible, upon suppositinn of Gods Almighty Power, and the Riches of his Grace, yea, and fit to be done by him, whose great design is to make known the glory of his Power and Grace in the Ages to come: So that howsoever these Truths are mysteries of Faith, and to be believed, yet seeing Reason, which is a humane testimony, may approve them, it is evident that such an historical Faith, believing these things only for the reasonableness of them, is but a humane faith, and rests upon a humane testimony: And so it may be said concerning the Scriptures themselves, if a rational man believe them to be the Word of God, chief upon the Church's testimony of them, or upon the reasonableness of the truths therein mentioned, or upon the observation of the truth of those Sacred writings in most things, which makes him therefore rationally conclude, that they are true in all. If this be the chiefest ground of his belief, by way of rational inference from such premises, then truly he believes upon a humane and not a divine testimony, which is always accompanied with a clear spiritual demonstration of divine truths, made evident by the light of the Spirit of God to the spirit of a true Believer.  
Fifthly and Lastly, True justifying Faith, or the Faith of the spiritual man, differs from historical Faith, or the Faith of the mere rational man in the object of it: Historical faith, though it may assent to the truth of Gods Promises of Reconciliation, Pardon, and Salvation by Christ, yea, and may believe the goodness of them in general, yet it doth not embrace and apply the goodness of them in particular as true justifying Faith doth, which counts all other things loss, that it may gain Christ, and be found in him, Phil. 3.8, 9 and which enables a man hearty and really to close with Christ in the Promise, and to apply him particularly, saying, This is my Beloved, this is my Friend, who loved me, and gave himself for me. And thus we see that there is no small difference betwixt the faith, knowledge, and operations of the spiritual man, and the faith, knowledge, and operations of the mere rational man, in and about Christ and spiritual things: And if such a man may have some kind of knowledge and faith in Christ, and the mysteries of the Gospel, and yet come short of eternal life and salvation, then certainly no man that is led only by the light of Reason, though he improve it never so much, can be saved without the knowledge of Christ as Mediator.  
But of this in the next Chapter.   

CHAP. XVII. Showing that none can be saved by the mere improvement of natural Light and Reason.  
WHat the State and Condition of the best Heathens was and is in order to the everlasting Concernment of their immortal Souls, we cannot certainly determine, nor dare we confidently pronounce that they are all in Hell: Though we say not with the Pelagians, that the improvements of Nature and Reason, or that light that is in every man (as others phrase it) can make men everlasting happy: Nor yet with the Semipelagians, that natural preparations and predispositions do bespeak and procure Grace: Nor yet with the Papists, that works flowing from Grace do meritoriously contribute to more Grace and glory: yet this we may safely say, That as God gave the Heathens Natural light and abilities, and to some of them the improvement thereof more than to others, so he might as freely give them (in a way that we know not) Supernatural Grace and Strength, and reveal his Son to them, if it pleased him. Far be it from us notwithstanding, to hold that a man may get to Heaven by those mere improvements which are built upon Nature's foundation; for if he should accurately and punctually observe every jot and tittle of Nature's Law (which the exactest Naturalist or Moralist doth not) yet this natural obedience would not at all be commensurate to a supernatural happiness. Christ is the only way, that new and living way, by which God assumeth humane nature to himself, and maketh it everlastingly happy; by which we have access to God, and communion with him. This made Augustine say, Qui dicit hominem servari posse sine Christo, dubito an ipse per Christum servari possit. Whether the Gentiles could be saved by the Light of Nature and Reason without faith in Christ, is a Question (I confess) much debated, both in the writings of the Ancient Fathers, and some Modern Authors, both Protestants and Papists. Divers of the Ancients, as Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, and chrysostom, were of opinion, that the moral Heathens might be saved by a general faith and knowledge of God. And Justin Martyr thought they might be saved by the light of Reason. 
(q) Justin Martyr. Apol. 2.  His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Dictamen rationis, applied to the Heathens before the coming of Christ, you may read of in his Apology. The Church of Rome, represented in the Council of Trent, hath not yet determined, nor doth she think fit to determine this Question, Whether the moral Heathens might be saved by the improvement of the Light of Nature. Amongst those of the Reformed Religion Zuinglius was of this opinion, that the best of the Heathens were actually saved, and that Christ did communicate himself to them in an extraordinary way. But this is more than can be proved by him or any other: And herein not only Gualther and Bullinger, but all our Divines generally, do dissent from him. Aquinas mentions an inscription, found in the Sepulchre of a Heathen, in the time of Constantine the Greek Emperor, and Irene his Mother, with these words, Christus nascitur ex Virgin, & ego credo in eum. O sol sub Irenae & Constantini temporibus iterum me videbit; whence he infers, that some of the Heathens were not altogether without the knowledge of Christ the Mediator. That saying of Erasmus, whether in jest or in earnest I know not, Vix possum me continere quin dicam sancte Socrates ora pro nobis, may be seen and read in his Preface to one of Cicero's Books. Nego hanc Propositionem (saith a fierce Arminian) nemo potest salvus fieri qui Christo per veram fidem non sit insitus: I deny this Proposition, that none can be saved but such as are ingraffed into Christ by true faith. And there are some that have coined a vain and groundless distinction of a threefold Piety, Judaica, Christiana, & Ethnica, boldly affirming, that what Moses was to the Jews, Christ to the Christians, the same is Philosophy, or the knowledge of God by Nature to the Heathens: But this is to frustrate the Grace of God in Christ the Mediator.  
'Tis not denied, but granted by us, First, That some persons have a more clear, explicit, distinct knowledge of Christ the Mediator 
(r) Vid. Dr. Prid. Lect. 8. de Salute Ethnicorum.  than others, according to the means of Grace which they are under, and yet both may be saved.  
Secondly, That there were some of all sorts amongst the Gentiles, noble and ignoble, learned and unlearned, for whom Christ died, and who did reap some benefit by his death.  
Thirdly, God may and sometimes doth in an extraordinary manner, unknown to us, reveal his Grace to, and work Faith in the hearts of some persons: This he may do in those that are born deaf and dumb among Christians; and this he may also do in some Heathens. If God will work whether in an ordinary or extraordinary way, whether by means or without means, who can hinder him? Yea.  
Fourthly, God may if he please reveal his saving Grace in Christ to a poor Heathen even at the last gasp, by the secret inspiration of his Spirit, as he shown mercy to the Thief upon the Cross. But that any Heathen, though never so rational and moral, can be eternally saved by the improvement of his natural abilities or moral virtues, without being implanted into Christ, and united to him as the Head and Mediator of the Church, which is his body, this we utterly deny, and that upon these following Grounds and considerations.  
First, In regard of that corruption and wickedness which is in every man's heart and nature. God saw that the whole imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil, and that continually; the Hebrew word signifieth, not only the imagination, but also the purposes and desires of man's heart, Gen. 6.5. The heart of every natural man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, Jer. 17.9. It is not only an enemy, but enmity against God, Rom. 8.7. By nature men are dead in trespasses and sins, and under the power of Satan, Ephes. 2.1, 2, 3. and taken captive by Satan at his will and pleasure, 2 Tim. 2.26. and therefore they cannot be saved by the light and power of nature without true faith in Christ as Mediator.  
Secondly, The best works and highest attainments of the unregenerate (who still remain in the state of nature, and are not implanted into Christ) are sinful and unprofitable; the very prayers and ploughing of the wicked are an abomination to the lord No man (saith our Saviour, speaking of the unregenerate, Matth. 7.16, 17, 18.) can gather Grapes of Thorns, or Figs of Thistles; nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. The Church herself confesseth, Isai. 64.6. that all her righteousnesses, even her best works and righteousness are as filthy rags. And the Apostle Paul, who, if any man, might have confidence in the flesh, he much more, yet counts all his own righteousness and best works but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Phil. 3.4, 8. And if it was thus with Paul and with the Church of God in respect of their righteousness and works, then what shall we think of the works and performances of the most rational and moral Heathens! Surely they must needs be much more vain and unprofitable. Hence it is that Augustine saith of the greatest virtues of the moral Heathens, that they were but splendida peccata.  
Thirdly, Faith in Christ, true Gospel faith, is indispensably required (at least in all adult persons) as necessary to salvation. Without Faith it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11.6. Neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but Faith which worketh by love, Gal. 5.6. He that believeth on Christ shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned: The Believer hath everlasting life, but the wrath of God abideth on the unbeliever, John 3.18, 36. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life, 1 John 5.12. Nor is it a general Faith in God, as a Creator or Rewarder, thrt will save a man, but there must be Faith in Christ as Redeemer and Mediator; for no man cometh to the Father but by him, John 14.6. And this is life eternal to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, John 17.3.  
Fourthly, God will have his dearly beloved Son honoured and exalted in the salvation of sinners; whether they be moral or profane, they need a Saviour, a Sacrifice to appease the wrath, and satisfy the Justice of God for them; He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him, John 5.23. There is no salvation in any other besides Christ, neither is there any other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we can be saved, Acts 4.12. Other foundation can no man lay then what is laid, which is Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 3.11. Unless the Moralist with all his virtues and endowments be built upon this Rock and Foundation he must needs perish everlastingly. Christ is the way, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that way by which only man can enter into eternal blessedness: He is the life, the Author and Giver of eternal life, John 14.6. John 11.25.  
Fifthly, God hath in his infinite Wisdom concatenated and knit together the means and the end in the links of that Golden chain of salvation. Rom. 8.30. so that none shall be saved and glorified, but such as are predestinated to be conformable to the Image of Christ; such as are effectually called, justified, and sanctified through Christ. And again, whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved; How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard! And how shall they hear without a Preacher! And how shall men preach except they be sent! Rom. 10.13, 14. So then, those moral Heathens to whom the Gospel is not sent, who are not effectually called and converted by the Spirit of Christ, so as to be made conformable to his Image, cannot be saved by all their moral virtues and improvements.  
Sixthly, The Lord is a holy and righteous God, of purer eyes then to behold the least iniquity with approbation; he loveth righteousness, and hateth sin; nor will he justify any person at his Tribunal but such an one as either hath a perfect righteousness of his own (which no man hath) or is found in Christ, clothed with his righteousness, who was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5.21. Now this way of Justification is divine and supernatural, far transcending the capacity of the most moral Heathens. Adam himself in the state of Innocency looked for Justification by works, and by his own personal righteousness, and not by the righteousness of another; so that indeed this Gospel-way of Justification is not only opposite to man fallen, but to man before the fall: It was never in man's Nature or Reason to seek for Justification by a righteousness without him; and therefore if God had not revealed this way of Justification in and by his Gospel, we, nor the wisest men in the world, should never have thought of it. That the most virtuous men that are (if ever they be truly justified and accepted) as well as the most vicious persons, must be justified before God, not by working, but by believing; not by the improvement of their moral virtues, but by faith in a cruc fied Christ, resting wholly upon him in the sense of their sin and misery for pardon and salvation. The true Gospel righteousness, as it is wholly of Gods procuring, so it is also of his revealing. And as other mysteries of the Christian Religion are far above the reason and capacity of a natural or moral man, so is this also. All the Aristotle's and Plato's, all the learned rational Philosophers in the world, could never have thought of such a way as this for the justification of sinners: And therefore this righteousness of God is said to look down from Heaven, and to be revealed from faith to faith, Rom. 1.17.  
Seventhly, No mere rational or moral man can be saved, unless he be reconciled and reunited to God, from whom he is separated by sin: Now this reconciliation and reunion must be by and through Christ, or not at all; for he is the only Mediator between God and man, who took on him the nature of man, and so joined it to God by the indissolvable tye of the Hypostatical union: And whoever will be saved must be united to God through him by the mystical bond of his Spirit, which Christ received for, and communicates to all the Elect that shall be saved; so that unless a man, be he Jew or Gentile, have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him, and be quickened by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the grave, he is none of his, Rom. 8.9, 11. unless he be transplanted out of the old stock, the first Adam, and made one spirit with the Lord Jesus, the second Adam, it is not all his moral virtues and endowments (if he were a thousand times more virtuous than he is) that will bring him to Heaven.  
Eighthly, To hold that a Heathen may be saved by the improvement of his moral virtues without faith in Christ the Mediator, is such an opinion as is attended with many absurdities; for if this were so, then should the true Church of God partly consist of such Members as have no faith nor knowledge of Christ at all; or else such shall be saved as do not belong to the Catholic Church of Christ, but are strangers to it; whereas the Scripture assures us, that the Lord adds unto his Church such as shall be saved, Acts 2.47. It will also follow from this absurd opinion, that Christ died in vain, and that the preaching of the Gospel, or Doctrine of Reconciliation by Christ is in vain, as to a number of persons that shall be saved, if they may attain salvation by the improvement of the light of Nature and Reason, without the knowledge of Christ as Mediator, which certainly is not revealed in and by the moral virtues and writings of the Heathen Philosophers, much less by the Sun, Moon and Stars, but by the preaching of the Gospel. According to this Opinion another way, and much easier, and more agreeable to flesh and blood then true faith in Christ, self-denial, and resignation of the Soul to him, would be found out for man's salvation; and then we need no longer admire the riches of God's Grace and Wisdom in the Redemption and Salvation of Sinners by Faith in Christ (which yet is the great mystery of the Gospel.) Hence it is that some vain men in our days are so affected and transported with the moral virtues of the Heathen Philosophers, that they make little or no difference in their Books and Sermons between these and the Graces of God's Spirit which are wrought in the Saints; as if to preach the Gospel of Christ, and exhort Christians to the exercise of Evangelical Faith, Repentance, Love, and other Graces, were only to read unto them a Lecture of moral Philosophy. Morality is one thing, and Christianity is another; whoever they be that go about by their moral virtues and works to appease the just and holy God, or to comprehend him out of Christ the Mediator, will be dazzled with the brightness of his Glory, and overwhelmed with the greatness of his Power; For no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the Bosom of the Father, he hath revealed him, John 1.18.  
But perhaps it will be said, 
(*) Objections answered.  That the Gentiles which had not the Law did by Nature the things contained in the Law, it being written in their hearts, Rom. 2.14. And therefore they might be saved.  
If we apply these words of the Apostle to the unconverted Gentiles (for there are those that expound the Text of the converted Gentiles) than we answer, That there is a natural and a supernatural inscription or writing in the hearts of men; the one is ratione luminis naturalis, by means of that natural light and Reason that is in man, which will not save him, as hath been proved; the other is written in the heart of man, ratione luminis fidei, by the light of faith: By the former only natural and moral virtues are imprinted in the heart; but by the latter the true knowledge of Christ, and the Graces of the Gospel, which a mere Moralist can never attain unto by the light of Nature and Reason, for these are written and wrought by the finger of the Spirit of God.  
If it be further objected, That Cornelius was a Gentile, that walked only by the light of Nature, yet his Prayers and Alms were accepted of God, Acts 10.1, 4.  
This is a mistake, for he had more than the bare light of Nature; for though he had not at this time a clear explicit distinct knowledge of the Person and Offices of the Mediator, yet he had the implicit knowledge and Faith of Christ, and had embraced the Doctrine of the Messiah that was to come, which he had learned of the Jews, with whom he had long conversed, and which was afterward more fully opened and explained unto him by the Apostle Peter.  
And thus we have proved that no man (be he never so rational and moral) can be saved by the mere light of Nature and Reason; yet nevertheless we cannot deny, but that the rational intellectual delights of some Heathen Philosophers ought to be preferred far before all corporeal and sensual pleasures: And withal it must be acknowledged, that Reason and moral Virtues being improved will help a man to bear affliction, yea, to die with more courage and composedness than others that are not so rational and moral: And though Reason of itself, without true Faith in the Blood of Christ, will not bring us to Heaven, yet we have great cause to bless God for the comfortable use of our Reason and Intellectuals, which is a mercy that many are deprived of. But of these particulars we shall speak more fully in the following Chapters.   

CHAP. XVIII. Showing, that those delights that are rational and intellectual do far excel all sensitive pleasures.  
ALthough the light of Reason be but as a Candle in comparison of the light of divine and supernatural Revelation, which is as the light of the Sun; yet it is a pleasant thing to behold this Candle. As for that light which is merely corporeal, 'tis but a dark shadow of intellectual brightness: The more noble and excellent any being is, the purer pleasure and delight it hath proportioned to it: Sensitive pleasure hath more of dregs; Intellectual pleasure more of quintessence in it. If pleasure were to be measured only by the corporal senses, truly then the brutes (being more exquisite in sense) might have a choicer portion of happiness than man can attain to; but therefore hath Nature very wisely provided, that the pleasure of reason in man should be far above any pleasure of sense. There are divers degrees of pleasures, such as they be, according to every man's genius and disposition: As he is more noble and excellent, or more vile and abject, so is the nature of those things wherein he delighteth; and so is his pleasure either more noble, or more base; either more pure and unmixed, or more impure and mixed; either of longer or of shorter continuance: Of those delights which man taketh in by the bodily senses (we say) that which is received by the sense of touching is the basest; for as it is the most gross and earthy of all the external Senses, so are the pleasures that are taken by it. The delight that is taken by the Sense of tasting is not altogether so base, but yet brutish enough. As for the delight which is taken by smelling, 'tis but little, and nothing so pleasant as the contrary is unpleasant; for a good smell delighteth not so much as an ill smell offendeth; and besides, this Sense of smelling is not so quick and sharp in men as in beasts. The pleasures that are received by the Sense of hearing in man, have more beauty and excellency in them, for the more they participate of the nature of the Air, they are so much the less earthy and brutish; and those delights which we receive by the eyes, are yet more excellent than the rest, because the eyes are of tne nature of fire which comes nearest to the Celestial nature. Howbeit the best and noblest of those pleasures, which man receives by the corporeal Senses, are base and of less excellency than the least and meanest of those pleasures which are received by the powers of the rational Soul; for as the Soul is much more worthy and noble than the Body, so the pleasures and delights thereof are much more noble and generous than those of the body; and such delights as are most proper to the spirit and mind of man, are purest and best of all; amongst which that delight which consists in the contemplation of God is the chiefest. The pleasures of reason and of the mind and spirit of man continue much longer than corporeral delights and pleasures, because the rational soul or spirit is not so apt to be weary and tired as the body is, but doth recreate and refresh itself with variery of objects. No marvel indeed if those that are wholly addicted to corporal and earthly delights deride and contemn such as highly esteem these rational and intellectual delights (insomuch that they are willing to forgo the goods and pleasures of this world, that they may enjoy the same) these persons deride and speak evil of that which they know not, of whom it may be truly said, that they resemble the Swine, that delights more in a dirty Puddle or Sink, then in precious Stones and sweet Odours, because they want judgement rightly to discern and esteem the value of those things which they contemn and deride. Every being chooseth to itself some kind of pleasure or other, and the more excellent any being is, the higher and more generous is its delight and pleasure.  
For, first, If we look up to the chiefest being, God himself, he takes infinite delight in himself; as all other perfections, so the perfection of all true and real pleasure is enjoyed by God himself in a most spiritual and transcendent manner: That which we call riches and honour is in him his own Excellency and Glory; and that which amongst men is accounted pleasure, is with him that infinite satisfaction which he takes in his own blessed Essence, and the operations and works thereof. His glorious Decrees and Contrivances, and all his providential Dispensations are full of delight and pleasure to him; the creating of all Being's, yea, the permission of all Irregularities contribute to his glory and pleasure; the laughing of his enemies to scorn is a pleasure fit for infinite Justice; and the smiling upon his Church, and the countenancing and favouring of his people, notwithstanding their great weaknesses and behindments, is a pleasure fit for his infinite Mercy and Goodness: Miracles are the pleasure of his Omnipotency; Varieties are the delight of his Wisdom; Creation was an act of his Pleasure: And it must needs delight him to behold so much of his own workmanship, so many pictures of his own drawing; Redemption by the death of Christ was also a clear expression and manifestation of that singular delight and pleasure which he took in the Sons of men, for He rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and his delights were with the Sons of men, Prov. 8.30. Plutarch that grave Moralist, speaking of an Epicure, or Atheist, saith, That if such an one should grant a God in his full perfections, he must presently change his opinion and his life, he must be a Swine no longer, but must uncrown his rosy head, and yield practical obedience to this Deity, who is infinitely perfect and glorious in himself; where as now the wretched Epicure looks upon this as his fairest Rosebud, as the most beautiful Flower in his Garden of Pleasure, that there is no Providence to check or bridle him, that he is not so subject or subordinate as to stand in awe of a Deity: But grant, O Epicure (saith he) that thou carest not for a Deity in a Calm, yet what wilt thou do in a Storm? Thou earest not for him in the Spring or in Summer, but wouldst thou not be glad of him in Winter? Will it be a pleasure then that thou hast none to help thee, none to guide thee, none to protect thee!  
Secondly, The blessed Angels of God, those Courtiers of Heaven, excel in spiritual intellectual delights and pleasures, wherewith they are continually taken up and ravished, so that they trample upon all carnal sensual inferior Objects, they neither eat, nor drink, nor come near, nor desire to come near any carnal pleasures. The painted and feigned Heaven of a voluptuous Mahomet would prove a real Hell to an Angel, or glorified Saint; nay, it would prove a Hell to a moral virtuous Philosopher here upon Earth. These Angelical Spirits resemble God himself in their divine and spiritual delights and pleasures, sunning themselves (as I may express it) in the continual uninterrupted vision and contemplation of God, in whose light they see light; in which beatifical vision and contemplation of the divine Essence, the Angels behold all things that conduce to their happiness in the twinkling of an eye, by a perfect intuitive knowledge, without any syllogistical or rational discourse, and this fills them with unspeakable unconceivable delight and pleasure.  
Thirdly, If we look to Inferior beings here below, every Creature hath some kind of delight and pleasure: How does the Inanimate Being clasp and embrace its Centre, and rest there as in the bosom of delight! How flourishing is the pleasure of Vegetatives and Plants! And as for sensitive Creatures their delights and pleasures are greater and higher than the other, being propagated and maintained by acts of pleasure: How does the Fish play and make sport in its Element, and the Bird sing for joy? But these sensitive corporeal delights (wherein most men resemble the Beasts and brutish Creatures by abounding in them, so much are they degenerated and debauched) are vain and fading, like so many sparks they make a crack and presently vanish; they are but outward pictures of pleasures, as Plato calls them, which perish with the using nay, they leave a sore tormenting sting behind them. Remember this ye Wantoness of the times, who crown your heads with Rosebuds, and wholly addict yourselves to sensual and carnal pleasures; though they be sweet in the mouth, yet they will be poison in the belly, and the end will be bitterness and unspeakable torment. How do we see men and women given over to, and even drowned in the pleasures of the flesh, like so many Epicures, or rather like so many Beasts, not only in eating and drinking inordinately, but in all manner of whoredom and unclean lusts, which are base and more vile than the other! Eating and drinking belongs to the Sense of Tasting, which is brutish enough; but these other carnal pleasures belong to the Sense of Touching, which is far more brutish: Experience may tell them that these Senses are sooner wearied and tired with their pleasures then any other; and that such delights as they bathe themselves in do commonly bring with them more irksomeness and loathing then joy and pleasure, leaving many times behind them a long and shameful repentance for pollutions contracted by them; yea, the base and more vile the pleasures of the flesh are, the sooner is a man surfeited with them, and immediately after the act they become loathsome; as it is in those that are given over to bodily whoredom, for how unsatiable soever they be, yet they cannot choose but be glutted therewith, as that wicked Strumpet Messalina was, and others of the like brutishness. And a for the pains that men take in the obtaining and using of these pleasures, the more earthy and brutish the delight is, the greater labour is to be used about it; and the more excessively any bodily carnal pleasure is used, the greater hurt comes thereby, as we see daily in Gluttons, Drunkards, and wanton lascivious persons, who contract to themselves by their excess the worst and most loathsome diseases, pains, and aches.  
Fourthly, If we therefore consider the delights and pleasures of Reason, and of the Mind of man (who is but morally virtuous) we shall find that they far excel and transcend the pleasures of the body and outward senses, even as those things that are natural do far excel the things that are only artificial. Such as are addicted to corporal pleasures are least able to judge of those pleasures that are rational and intellectual; and so on the contrary, they that delight themselves in rational and intellectual pleasures abstain most from those pleasures that are corporal and carnal, for these two kinds of delights are opposite, and in continual combat one against another. What pleasure did the moral Philosophers take at their Banquet, though it was but a dish of green Herbs, being seasoned with rational Philosophical discourses? These delights of Reason and of the mind were so sweet and acceptable to many Philosophers, that they esteemed them more than the greatest worldly Kingdoms and riches, which these men despised and set light by in comparison of the study and knowledge of Philosophy, and those pleasures that are intellectual. Men and Women, unless they be grown impudent and shameless in ways of sin (which indeed is the highest pitch of wickedness they can mount up to) will blush and be ashamed of some corporeal pleasures: This Crown of Roses is but a blushing Crown: But who need blush at or be ashamed of those delights that are rational and intellectual, which need not fear the light or the Sunshine, as the other do. Men faint and languish with sensitive delights and pleasures, as experience shows; nay, such is the state and temper of the body, that it will better endure extreme grief then excessive pleasure: But whoever was tired with intellectual pleasures! Whoever was weary of an inward complacency! Whoever surfeited of rational joy! Sensitive pleasures ingratiate themselves by intermission, Voluptates commendat rarior usus, whereas all intellectuals heighten and advance themselves by frequent and constant operations. The pleasures of the body do but emasculate and dispirit the soul, they do not at all satisfy it; but rational pleasure raiseth and cheers the soul, and oils the very members of the body, making them more free and nimble; nay speculative delights will compensate the want of sensitive pleasures: Hence it was that a Philosopher put out his eyes that he might be the more intent upon his study; he shut his windows close that the Candle might shine the more clearly within. Amongst all mental operations reflex acts taste pleasure best, for without some reflection men cannot tell whether they rejoice or no: Now these acts are the most distant and remote from sense, and are the highest advancements of Reason: Indeed sensitive pleasures make more noise and crackling like thorns under a pot; whereas mental intellectual delights, like the touches of a Lute, make the sweetest and yet the stillest and softest music of all. Intellectual vexations and troubles have most sting in them (for a wounded Conscience who can bear) why then should not intellectual delights have most honey and sweetness in them? Sensitive pleasures are very costly and chargeable, there must be much preparation and attendance, much plenty and variety if a man will enjoy them: 'Tis too dear for every one to be an Epicure or Sensualist; but the pleasure of the mind doth freely and equally diffuse itself; we need not pay any thing for it if we can but love and embrace it: As for sensitive and corporal pleasures, a sick man cannot relish them, nor an old man embrace them; a Crown of Rosebuds becomes not a grey head, nor a grave Senator, but the pleasure of the mind is a delight most fit for a Senator, for a Cato; 'tis an undecaying, a growing pleasure, 'tis the only pleasure upon the bed of sickness, and the staff for old age to lean upon, when all other pleasures forsake a man; the mind of him that has the Gout may delight itself and make music, whilst the body is in pain. A moral Philosopher was so affected with the rational intellectual delights of the Soul, when out of the body in another World, that he breaks out into these expressions, There (saith he) shall I have the pleasure of seeing all my Friends again; there I shall have the pleasure of more ennobled acts of Reason; there shall I taste the so much longed for sweetness of another world. Now if Philosophers and Moralists have been so much affected with mere rational delights, how much more should Christians prise and be affected with those spiritual, supernatural, and heavenly delights and pleasures which are revealed in the Gospel, and which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of a mere rational man: With God is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore. Here are the best and chiefest delights and pleasures which contain the very quintessence of all other delights. Seneca could say, Hoc habet animus Argumentum divinitatis quod eum divina delectant; This is an Argument of the Souls Immortality, that it is delighted with divine and spiritual things. Indeed the spiritualised Soul of a Saint, by the perfect enjoyment of God, comes near the pleasure of God himself. If that small taste which we have of God and spiritual pleasures here in this life, bringeth much joy and satisfaction to the Soul, far beyond all mere rational delights, and Philosophical pleasures, how great will the delights and pleasures of the Saints be in their most happy and glorious vision and contemplation of God in Heaven, when they shall behold him face to face, and know him as they are known of him; whereas here they see him but darkly as in a glass and through a cloud.   

CHAP. XIX. Showing that the light of Reason, and much more the light of Faith, fortifies men against the excessive fear of death.  
ALthough there be a far more excellent way than that of reason and morality to overcome the fear of death, namely, by Faith in the death, and resurrection, and victory of Christ, O death I will be thy death, O grave I will be thy victory! Blessed be God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ: Yet we find that the improvement of the light of Reason, and moral Virtues, in some Heathens have tended much to the composing of their spirits, and the allaying of their passions in their greatest sufferings, and when their immortal Souls were about to forsake their mortal bodies: The wisest and most rational amongst them have died with most composedness and serenity of spirit.  
Concerning Death, The Reason of a man 
Arguments drawn from the light of Reason against the fear of death.  will suggest these and the like Considerations to him.  
First, That a wise man should not be like the inconsiderate vulgar sort of people, that are of cowardly ignoble spirits, and afraid to die; nor should he be led by opinion, but by judgement in this matter. No man knows what death is that he should fear it; and there is no reason that he should fear a thing whereof he is wholly ignorant; and therefore Socrates. the wisest man amongst the Philosophers, when he was about to die by the sentence of the Magistrates, speaks thus to his Friends, That to fear death is to make show of greater understanding and sufficiency than can be in a man, by seeming to know that which no man knoweth: And being solicited by his Friends at his death, to plead before the Judges for his life, and in the justification of himself, made this Oration to them, If I should plead for my life (saith he) and desire you that I may not die, I doubt I may speak against myself, and desire my own loss and hindrance, because I know not what it is to die, nor what good or ill there is in death: They that fear to die presume to know it: As for myself I am utterly ignorant what it is, or what is done in the other World: Perhaps death is a thing indifferent, perhaps a good thing, and to be desired: Those things that I know to be evil, as to offend my Neighbour, I fly and avoid; those that I know not to be evil, as death, I cannot fear and therefore I commit myself to you; and because I cannot know whether it is more expedient for me to die or not to die, determine you thereof as you shall think good.  
Secondly, That a man should continually torment himself with the fear of death, argues great weakness and pusillanimity. There is scarce a Woman (though she be the weaker vessel) but in a few days she will be pacified and contented with the death of her Husband or Child; And why should not Reason and Wisdom in Man effect that in an hour which Time performeth in one of the weaker Sex, who is more subject to grief and passion? Shall not Wisdom and Reason enable us to do more in this matter then ignorance and folly? Perhaps we account our death a great matter, as if all things here below did depend upon us, and must suffer with us: This is but a wild conceit and vain imagination, for which there is no reason.  
Thirdly, By this cowardly slavish fear of death man shows himself unjust and irrational; for if death be a good thing (as the best and wisest Men conceive it is) why then doth he fear it? If it be an evil thing, why doth he make it worse, by adding one evil to another?  
Fourthly, For a man to fear death is to be an enemy to himself and to his own life; for he can never live at ease and contentedly that feareth to die: That man only may be said to be a Freeman which feareth not death; and truly life would be but a slavery if it were not made free by death; for death is the only stay of our liberty, and the common and ready receptacle of all evils; 'Tis then a misery and bondage (and miserable are all they that do it) to trouble our life with the fear of death, and our death with the care of life: What murmuring and repining would there be against Nature if death were not at all? If we should still have continued here, though never so much against our own wills and liking? Would not a durable life, accompanied with trouble and affliction, be much more insupportable and painful than life with a condition to leave it? If death were quite removed out of the World, we should desire it more than now we fear it, yea, perhaps thirst after it more than life itself, as being a remedy against many evils, and a means to obtain much good; and were not some bitterness mingled with death, men would run unto it with exceeding great desire and indiscretion: To keep therefore a moderation, so that men may neither love life too much, nor fly from it, that they may neither fear death, nor run after it, both sweetness and bitterness are therein tempered together.  
Fifthly, The light of Reason will tell a man, that death is a thing natural, a part of the order of the whole Universe, and very profitable for the succession and continuance of the works of Nature; and wouldst thou have the order of Nature changed, yea, ruinated for thee? Nay death is part of thy essence, it being no less essential to thee to die then to be born and to live; in flying death thou fliest from thyself; thy essence is equally parted into these two life and death; this is the condition of thy creation; this is the frame and constitution of thy nature; if it grieve thee to die, why wast thou born? Men come not into the world upon any other design, but to go forth again, after they have acted their part upon this Stage: To be unwilling to die is against nature; 'tis as if thou wert unwilling to be a man; for all men are mortal, and therefore a wise Heathen, when news was brought him of the death of his Son, said without passion, I knew I begot a mortal man: Children and Beasts fear not death, yea, many times they suffer it cheerfully: It is not then the light of Nature and Reason that teacheth us to fear death, but rather to attend and receive it as being serviceable to Nature.  
Sixthly, Death is certain and inevitable, and therefore a rational discreet man will not torment himself with the fear of it. That which cannot be avoided should be endured with patience and magnanimity; What is there more inevitable, more inexorable than death? And to what purpose should we importune or parley with him that will not be entreated? In things uncertain we may fear, and in things that are not past remedy, we may do our endeavour to help and restore them; but for that which is certain and inevitable, as death is, we must resolve courageously to attend and endure it. Here we should make of necessity a virtue, and welcome and receive this Guest kindly, for it is much better for us to go to death willingly and freely, than that death should come to us and surprise us suddenly, and unawares.  
Seventhly, To die is a thing but reasonable and just, for why shouldst not thou give place to others as others have given place to thee? Why should not they as well succeed thee in this life, as thou didst succeed others that went before thee? If thou hast made thy advantage of this life, 'tis but reason that thou shouldst be satisfied with thy lot, and be willing to go hence, that others may come in thy stead and take thy place. Death is a debt that must be paid, whensoever it is demanded; and it is against reason that thou shouldst refuse to die, and so to discharge that debt which lies upon thee. 'Tis a thing general and common to all to die, and wilt thou stand alone by thyself, and expect a privilege and exemption, which is granted to no other man in the World? Wilt thou be shut out from the common lot of mankind, which all others partake of? Millions of men are already gone before us, and millions of men will follow us when we are gone; one generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; and as great a noise as we make in the World amongst our Neighbours, there will be little notice taken of us when we are removed out of this life: And why should we make so great account of ourselves, when others take so little notice of us? Why should we think that the whole World is concerned in us, when so few that live near us do not at all remember us, or speak a word of us?  
Eighthly, Such men as are led by Judgement and Reason should be so far from this slavish fear and pusilanimity, that they should put on a generous undaunted Resolution to die, and even contemn death, especially being required to die in a good Cause, for Truth and Righteousness, and for the good and benefit of their Country, which should be dearer to them then a thousand lives. He that knows not how to contemn death, shall never be able to perform any worthy Acts for God and his Country; for whilst he goes about in a base cowardly manner to secure his life, he exposeth himself to many dangers, and hazardeth his Conscience, Honour, Virtue, and Honesty: The contempt of death is that which produceth the most valiant Acts, and the most honourable Exploits. He that fears not to die needs not fear the face of any man, be he never so great and potent in this World. Elvidias Priscus, a noble Roman, being commanded by the Emperor not to come to the Senate, or if he came, then to speak as the Prince would have him, and no otherwise, made this gallant and noble Answer, That as he was a Senator, so it was fit he should come to the Senate; and if being there it should be required of him to give his advice, he would speak freely that which his Conscience commanded him. Being further threatened by the Emperor, that if he spoke his mind so freely, he should die for it: Did I ever tell you (said he to the Emperor) that I was immortal? Do you what you will, and I will do what I ought to do: It is in your power unjustly to put me to death, and in me to die constantly. The noble Lacedæmonians being threatened with hard and cruel usage, if they did not presently yield themselves and their Country to King Philip, who came against them with a great power, one in the name of the rest answered thus, What hard dealing can they suffer that fear not to die? And being told that King Philip would break and hinder all their designs, What, say they, will he likewise hinder us from dying? And after this, when Antipater cruelly threatened them what he would do unto them, if they did not comply with his demands, answered, If thou threaten us with any thing that is worse than death, death shall be welcome to us. These were men guided and acted only by the light of Reason and moral Virtues, which raised them above the threaten of their greatest enemies, and the fear of death: And should not Christianity, the best and most excellent Religion (as hath been sufficiently proved in this Treatise) much more ennoble our spirits, and raise our hearts above all slavish fears? If we be Christians and Believers, we may then argue and reason spiritually from Faith in the Word and Blood of Christ (which the most moral Heathens could never attain unto) against the slavish fear of death, in this manner.  

[Two Arguments from Scripture against the fear of death.]  
First, Did not our blessed Saviour die and rise again for this end, to deliver us not only from the cursed effects of death, and from the Devil, as the Executioner thereof, but also from the fear of death, that thereby he might cure us of this fear, and raise us above it, Heb. 2.14, 15. Yea, and this was long since foretold and prophesied, that Christians applying the victory of Christ over death, should be so far from fearing death, that they should tread upon this Enemy, and insult over him, Isai. 25.8. Hos 13.14. compared with 1 Cor. 15.54, 55.  
Secondly, Hath not God wrought us for the selfsame thing, that we being made new creatures, by the gracious operation of the holy Ghost, might aspire unto glory and immortality, which we cannot fully enjoy till we die, for we must be absent from the body, that we may be present with the Lord, 2 Cor. 5.5, 8.  
Thirdly, 'Tis a condition which our Lord and Master puts us into when he first admits us to be his Disciples, That we must deny our own lives for his sake, and not only be content to take up the Cross in other respects, but our lives should not be dear to us when he calls for them, Luke 14.26. We pray that God's Kingdom may come, namely, the Kingdom of Glory as well as that of Grace; and by death we must enter into this Glory; We are born again (saith the Apostle) to a lively hope of this glorious Inheritance, 1 Pet. 1.3, 4. Now if we be afraid of the time and means of our translation thither, how then do we hope for it after a lively manner?  
Fourthly, Have we not the examples of the godly before us, even a Cloud of Witnesses, who have desired to die, and were above the fear of death? Gen. 49.18. Phil. 1.21, 23. Luke 2.29. Psal. 14.7. 2 Cor. 5.2, 7. Yea, the whole Church of Christ, and general Assembly of the Saints, love his appearing, and earnestly desire that he would come quickly, 2 Tim. 4.8. Rev. 22.17, 20. How unbecoming is it for a Christian to fear death with a slavish fear? For hereby he dishonours God, and disgraceth his Religion, as if it did not afford sufficient encouragements and supports against this fear. Some Heathens (as we have heard) that had not the true knowledge of Christ, have died courageously and undauntedly; And shall a Christian, whose life is hid with Christ in God, and who is risen with Christ, and sits together with him in heavenly places, be afraid to die? 'Tis the property of wicked men to die unwillingly, their death is compelled, and not voluntary; And shall ours be so too? Shall we be afraid of a shadow, we that are passed from death to life, and shall live for ever, because Christ ever lives? The separation of the Soul from God is death indeed, but the separation of the Soul from the Body to a ttue Believer is but the shadow of death. If we be in love with life, why do we not effect that life which is eternal, and desire to be dissolved that we may be possessed of it?  
Fifthly, Shall we in this case be worse than Children or mad Men, neither of which fear death? Shall not Reason and Religion prevail more with us, than Ignorance and Madness with them? Do we that are the peculiar People of God, rather desire to remain in Egypt, or in the doleful irksome Wilderness (for this World is no better) then to enter into Canaan, yea, into the heavenly Canaan, where we shall be at perfect rest? Is not death ordinary and common amongst Christians? Do not some of our Friends and Neighbours die daily? Adam had more reason to fear death than we, for he never saw man die an ordinary death before him; but for us to be afraid to die, who see thousands die before us, is the more intolerable. The whole Creation groans, waiting for the liberty of the Sons of God, and earnestly longing for this change, Rom. 8.21, 22. And shall we be worse than the brute Beasts and other Creatures, and afraid of that Porter that opens the door to our own everlasting happiness? Hath not this Enemy (which seems terrible to us) been often foiled and vanquished? Hath he not been beaten by Christ and thousands of his Saints? And shall it be terrible to us to encounter a vanquished disarmed Enemy, whose strength and power is destroyed? 'Tis in vain (if we think) to shun that which cannot be avoided; for it is appointed unto all men once to die; death is the way of all flesh, and there is no discharge from this War: What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? Heb. 9.27. Psal. 89.48. Eccles. 8.8. And therefore we must resolve courageously to meet and encounter this Enemy, for we cannot avoid him; if we go not to him he, will come to us, so that we shall be unavoidably engaged in this conflict sooner or later.  
Sixthly, Why should a Christian fear or be troubled, considering what a gain and advantage death will be to him? For it puts a period to all those tempests and storms, those boisterous temptations, passions, and afflictions, with which his life was continually tossed and encumbered, and brings him to a safe harbour; it is to him a sweet sleep, a bed of rest after all his toil and labour in a vain and troublesome world, Isai. 57.2. 1 Thes. 4.14. Rev. 14.13. There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest, and hear not the voice of the Oppressor, Job 3.17, 18. It is the day of a Christians reward and of receiving wages; Then is the servant set free, and the Heir at full age; then shall the banished and strangers from a far Country, shall enter into their Father's house, and shall be received into everlasting habitations, Heb. 11.13. John 14.2. Luke 16.9. Death is the Birthday of a Christian, the funeral of all his vices and corruptions, and the resurrection of his Graces. Death was the daughter of Sin, and in death shall that be fulfilled, The Daughter shall destroy the Mother; 'Tis the dissolution of the Body, but the absolution of the Soul. Then is the immortal Soul delivered out of a dark prison, and then doth she throw off her old ragged, clothes and foul garments, that she may be decked and adorned with the glorious Robes of Salvation, Isa. 52.1. 2 Cor. 5.2, 3. Then doth a Christian remove from an old rotten house, ready to fall about his ears, to a sumptuous Palace. Doth that Landlord (think you) wrong his Tenant, or offer him hard measure, that would have him remove out of a base Cottage into his own Mansion-house, which he hath freely given him? Shall the Believer be unwilling to come to the end of his race and receive the prize, even an incorruptible Crown of glory? 1 Cor. 9.24. This is the day of his Coronation; for though now he be an Heir of the heavenly Kingdom, yet he shall not be crowned till death with that Glory which is unutterable, 2 Tim. 4.8.  
Seventhly, The good man is taken away by death from much evil to come; and hath he any cause to quarrel with such a freedom? Truly the consideration hereof should make us love this life the less, because the Clouds gather thick about us, and we know not what fearful alterations may shortly befall us, either in our outward estate, or in matters of Religion, either by domestic broils, or by foreign invasion. Should not a Christian rejoice exceedingly to be delivered from the continual malicious suggestions and stratagems of the evil Angels, and from a vile wicked World, that hates and persecutes the Image of Christ wherever it is? A World whose seeming felicities, as Honours, Riches, Pleasures, Trade, Beauty, Friends, Children, Relations, and Acquaintance, are but vanities, full of labour and toil, accompanied with much vexation, and affording no true rest or contentment to that man that enjoys them; neither can they help him in the least when death seizeth upon him. All these things will be forgotten, and there will be no remembrance of them with those that shall come after, Eccles. 1.11. What a privilege is it therefore to be delivered from these vanities? Yea (which is more) from that body of sin and corruption which a Christian groans under as his greatest burden, and is the more grievous and intolerable because it infects and spreads over the whole man, soul and body, and is an inseparable companion of this life, causing a troublesome, yea, an irreconcilable war in the Soul, and swarms of evil thoughts, affections, desires, and actions, besides innumerable diseases and distempers which attend the Body; And should not death be welcome to us to set us free from all these evils and miseries? Thus may a Christian reason and argue against the fear of death upon far higher and more spiritual Grounds and Considerations than a moral Heathen can, and therefore he should not be afraid to die.  
Eighthly, and Lastly, That we may be the better fortified against the fear of death, let us call to mind and improve the living speeches of dying Christians, some of which shall be here mentioned.   

The famous say of some dying Christians.  
Good old Simeon, Lord, let thy Servant departed in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.  
Stephen the first Martyr, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit, and lay not this sin to their charge.  
Polycarpus to the Proconsul urging him to deny Christ, I have served him eightysix years (saith he) and he hath not once hurt me, and shall I now deny him?  
Ignatius, I am the Wheat or Grain to be ground with the teeth of Beasts, that I may be pure bread for my Master's tooth; let Fire, Racks, Pulleys, yea, and all the torments of Hell come on me, so I may win Christ.  
Cyprian, God Almighty be blessed for this Gaol-delivery.  
Theodosius, I thank God more for that I have been a Member of Christ then an Emperor of the World.  
Hillarion, Soul get thee out, thou hast served Christ these seventy years; and art thou now afraid of death and loath to die?  
Vincentius, Rage and do the worst that the spirit of malignity can set thee on work to do: Thou shalt see God's Spirit strengthen the tormented, more than the Devil can do the Tormentor.  
Gorgius to the Tyrant offering him promotion, Have you any thing equal (saith he) or more worthy than the Kingdom of Heaven?  
King Edward the Sixth, Lord bring me into thy Kingdom, free this Kingdom from Antichrist, and keep thine Elect in it.  
Bishop Latimer to Bishop Ridley going before him to the Stake, Have after as fast as I can follow; we shall light such a Candle by God's Grace in England this day, as I trust shall never be put out again.  
Bishop Hooper, to one that prayed him to consider that life is sweet, and death is bitter, True (saith he) but the death to come is more bitter, and the life to come is more sweet: Oh Lord Christ, I am Hell, but thou art Heaven; draw me to thyself with the cords of thy mercy.  
Thomas Bilney, I know by Sense and Philosophy that fire is hot, and burning painful; but by Faith I know it shall only waste the stubble of my Body, and purge my Spirit of its corruption.  
Glover to his Friend; He is come, oh he is come, meaning the Comforter, God's Spirit.  
John Bradford to his fellow Martyr, Be of good comfort Brother, for we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord this night. If there be any way to Heaven on Horseback or in fiery Chariots, this is it.  
Laurence Sanders, I was in prison till I got into prison; and now, says he, kissing the Stake, welcome the Cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life: My Saviour began to me in a bitter Cup, and shall I not pledge him?  
John Lambert, None but Christ, none but Christ.  
Baynam, I feel no more pain in the fire, then if I were on a Bed of Down; it is as sweet to me as a Bed of Roses.  
Priest's Wife, to one that offered her money; I am now going (saith she) to a Country where money bears no mastery. And when the Sentence was read, Now have I gotten that which many a day I have sought for.  
Doctor Taylor, when he came within two miles of Hadley, where he was to be martyred, Now (says he) lack I but two Styles, and I am even at my Father's house.  
John Ardeley, If every hair of my head were a man, it should suffer death for the Truth of Christ.  
Alice Driver, when the Chain was about her Neck, Here is a goodly Handkerchief (said she.)  
Julius' Palmer, To them that have the mind linked to the body, as a Thiefs foot to a pair of Stocks, it is hard to die indeed; but if one be able to separate soul and body, then by the help of God's Spirit it is no more mastery for such a one to die, then for me to drink of this Cup.  
Elizabeth Folkes, embracing the Stake, Farewell all the World, farewel Faith, farewell Hope, and welcome Love.  
Picus Mirandula, Death is welcome to me, not as an end of trouble, but of sin.  
Martin Luther, Thee, O Christ, have I taught, thee have I trusted, thee have I loved, into thy hands I commend my spirit.  
Philip Melancton, I desire to departed out of this World for two causes, one that I may behold the face of Christ in the Church Triumphant; the other, that I may be freed from the bitter contentions of Brethren.  
Tremelius, a Christian Jew, Let Christ live, and Barrabas perish.  
John Buisson, I shall now have a double Gaol-delivery; one out of my sinful flesh, another from a loathsome dungeon.  
Lewis Marsake Knight, seeing his Brethren go to their execution with Halters about their necks, which they offered not to him because of his dignity, Why, I pray you (quoth he) deny me not the badge and ornament of so excellent an Order, is not my Cause the same with theirs?  
Henry Voes, If I had ten heads, they should all off for Christ. God forbidden I should rejoice in any thing save in his Cross.    

CHAP. XX. Showing that humane Reason, and the due exercise of it, is a great mercy.  
THat God should make thee a Man, and not a Beast, a Toad, a Serpent; that he should bestow upon thee all the internal and external Senses, the Reason and Intellectuals of a man, and should preserve and continue the same, notwithstanding all the foggy mists, vapours, and distempers, which the head and brain of man is subject unto; this is no small mercy, if we consider withal how many in our days are born Idiots, blind, and lame, wanting the use of their Senses and Members; yea, and others who formerly had the free and comfortable use thereof, are now deprived of this mercy, without which all the friends, riches, honours, and pleasures of this World are a burden rather than a blessing. Is it not a wonderful thing, that man's brain, and the exercise of his reason and intellectuals should be preserved by the Power and Goodness of God, though many times there are, as it were, floods of water enclosed within his head and brain (when he thinks but little of it) which if the great God, who sets bounds to the raging Sea, did not restrain, would presently distract and overwhelm him: The phlegmatic humour in man, which is of the nature of water, ascends up to the Brain, by reason of vapours arising out of the Stomach like the vapour of a Pot boiling on the fire with liquor in it, and like to vapours that ascend up from the Earth into the Air: Now when these vapours are come up to the Brain, they turn into the nature of those humours of which they were bred, as the vapours that ascend up into the Air turn again into the same nature of water of which they were engendered. Thus we carry about us and within us floods of water, which if they should be suffered to run with violence would overflow and bear down all before them; bodily health and strength, and the use of reason and understanding would be quite overwhelmed by them. If we had no Examples of other Floods and Inundations, of Earthquakes and many other Judgements of God, whereby he punisheth this wicked World, yet these Water-floods which we carry about us should put us in mind of our sin and misery, and should admonish and induce us to bless the Name of the Lord, for preserving us and our reason and understanding in the midst of these water-floods, whereby many men are destroyed. We read of a great King that was driven from the society of men, and his dwelling was with the beasts of the field; he did eat grass as the Oxen, and was wet with the dew of Heaven, till he acknowledged that the most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of men, and giveth them to whomsoever he will, Dan. 4.25, 32, 33. This was a sore Judgement upon Nabuchadnezzar, thus to be deprived of his reason and understanding as a man; He was not really transformed into a Beast, as Bowin and others imagine, but he was smitten by the Lord with frenzy and madness of mind, and deprived for a time of the use of his reason; for it is said, that his understanding returned to him: And besides this, his body was much changed and altered in feeding and living among brute Beasts, his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like Birds claws: As we may read in several Authors of some wild brutish Men taken in Forests, that went upon all four as Beasts do; they were swifter than a Horse, and did howl like a Wolf, and were covered all over with hair: And thus it was in a great measure with Nabuchadnezzar till the Lord had mercy on him, and restored him. What are we more than others, that God should deal more graciously with us then with them, in giving us better intellectuals, and more reason and understanding as men, and preserving to us the use and exercise thereof? In this respect truly God hath put a great excellency upon man, and upon us in particular, so that we may well say with the Psalmist, Lord, what is man that thou art thus mindful of him? Psal. 8.4. Man by the wise contrivance of God is a little World, a curious piece of Embroidery, an excellent piece of Workmanship, wherein the Wisdom, and Power, and Goodness of God doth wonderfully appear. I will praise thee (saith David, Psal. 139.14, 15, 16.) for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works, and that my Soul knoweth right well, my substance was not hid from thee, when I was curiously wrought in the lowest part of the Earth. 'Tis a speech Borrowed from those that work Opus Phrygionicum, the Phrygian or Arras work, which is curiously wrought and contrived. Man in respect of his frame and constitution is like a piece of curious Tapestry or Embroidery.  
First, In respect of his body, and the parts and members thereof, which are curiously wrought and put together, by the wise contrivance of God. The forming and composing the body of man of so many bones, veins, arteries, sinews is a curious piece of workmanship: God hath with infinite wisdom disposed and placed the several members of man's body; some members are called radical members, as the Liver, the Heart, and the Brain; and in these God hath placed the natural, vital, and animal spirits: These spirits are carried by the veins, arteries, and Nerves; the veins carry the vital spirits from the Liver, the arteries carry the natural spirits from the Heart, and the nerves carry the animal spirits from the Brain. The several members of the body are helpful and serviceable one to another; the superior rule the inferior, as the Eyes guide and direct the whole Body; and the inferior support and uphold the superior, as the Feet, Legs and Thighs support the whole Body; and as for the middle members they defend the Body, and provide things necessary for it, as we see in the Hands and Arms. This variety of the members of the body showeth the excellent Wisdom of God; for if all were an Eye where would the seeing be? 1 Cor. 12.15. So excellent is the body of man, that there are sundry members thereof which God ascribes to himself, as the Head, the Heart, the Eyes, the Ears, the Feet, to express his Attributes to us; yea, God hath made the body of man a Temple for himself to dwell in; and the Son of God hath assumed the body of man in one person to his Godhead, a dignity which the Angels are not called unto. After the making of man he left nothing unmade but to make himself man.  
Secondly, Man is curiously wrought and contrived in respect of his rational immortal Soul, and those two noble faculties, the Understandtng and the Will, wherein man far excels all the sensitive Creatures: The rational Soul is the better part of man, more worth than all the World besides, Mark 8.36, 37. What is the body of man without the soul, but a dead Trunk, an empty Case? 'Tis the soul that is the pearl or precious jewel, the creation, infusion, and operations whereof are like a curious piece of Embroidery, well becoming the Creator and Contriver thereof, who is a simple immaterial immortal Spirit, the Spirit of spirits, the Supreme and Sovereign Spirit, the God and Father of Spirits, Numb. 16.22, Bless God, O man, that hath given thee a reasonable Soul, and inspired thee with an immortal Spirit, wherein thou far excellest other Creatures. For,  
First, The reasonable Soul of man can conceive of things by the light of understanding as well as by sense, yea, it can conceive of things that never were in the Senses, as things absent which the Senses never saw nor apprehended; it can conceive of things spiritual and immaterial, as Angels and Spirits, yea, of the divine Attributes of God, and that which is invisible; by the things that are visible we come to the knowledge of God who is invisible, Rom. 1.20.  
Secondly, The rational Soul is able to reflect upon its self, and its own acts and operations, which no mere sensitive Creature can do; it understands that it doth understand, and knows that it doth know: And this understanding and knowledge of the rational Soul is large and extensive, for it can in a moment go over almost the whole World, and view it all as it were at once; whereas the Senses are limited and confined to a very narrow compass.  
Thirdly, The rational Soul can invent things that were never before in being: What strange things for number, and skill, and variety are daily invented and contrived by man's wit and reason, by which also many great matters, both Civil, Military, and Ecclesiastical, are ordered and regulated? This is that Candle of the Lord which searcheth all the inward parts of the Belly, Prov. 20.27. And God hath set the World in man's heart in regard of that reason and understanding that is in him Eccles. 3.11.  
Fourthly, The excellency of the reasonable Soul of man appears in this, that his understanding after a sort is made one with, and becomes the things that are understood, in that it conceives a true Image and Idea of the things to be understood; and herein the rational Soul doth somewhat resemble God himself, who hath the perfect Idea of all other things in himself; so the Soul of man doth, as it were, form Worlds of things within itself.  
Fifthly, The excellency of the rational Soul appears in that divine thing called Conscience, which is more than a thousand Witnesses, yet subordinate to a higher Tribunal (beings Gods Deputy) for God is greater than Conscience, 1 John 3.20. No man, be he never so great and potent can always bribe Conscience, but it will give an impartial verdict at one time or other, either accusing or excusing him. In these and other particulars men may contemplate the excellency of Reason, and praise God for the exercise of it.  
Thirdly, and lastly, The rational Soul of man becomes much more excellent, and is like a curious piece of Embroidery, by a new Creation, being made partaker of the Divine Nature; whereas by sin the Soul of man was corrupted and alienated from the Life of God, yet now being born again of the Spirit of God, and Christ being spiritually form therein, it recovers the Image of God, and is restored to a holy fellowship and communion with him, and will be a curious excellent Piece indeed, when she is perfectly transformed, as she shall be, into the divine Image, and clothed with Glory and Immortality, Psal. 45.14. 2 Cor. 5.2.  
Let us now briefly recapitulate the Heads of this Discourse, 
* A Recapitulation of the several Heads.  touching Faith and Reason, so far as we have proceeded. It requires much spiritual Skill, as hath been said, rightly to distinguish between them, and give to each its due; though man's Reason be much weakened and obscured, yet a good use may be made thereof both in Civil and Divine things. There is a light in Reason, though far inferior to that of Faith. How far this Light of Reason extendeth we have showed. The best Heathen Philosophers were sensible of great defects and languish in their natural Reason and Abilities, though they ascribed too much thereunto. Some there are amongst Christians that give too little to Reason in Religious and Ecclesiastical concerns; but others more generally offend in giving too much; and therefore we have here declared how and in what respects Reason and moral Prudence should be exercised by us both in Civil and Church affairs. The Light of Reason proves that there is a God or Supreme being, and that the Soul of man is immortal, and also the truth of the Christian Religion, and the divine Authority of the Scriptures, and is of excellent use in comparing and interpreting the Scriptures, and judging of Controversies. But though Reason be useful in these respects, yet the internal testimony of the holy Ghost doth principally witness the divine Authority of the Scriptures, and satisfy Conscience touching the same. Here is showed when it is that Reason is rightly used, and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits testimony in the Scripture; and likewise the difference betwixt the mere rational and spiritual man, and their knowledge, faith, and operations in and about spiritual things; that none can be saved by the mere improvement of natural Light and Reason; and yet notwithstanding the rational intellectual delights of Philosophers and Scholars do far excel all earthly and sensitive pleasures; yea, the Light of Reason (but especially the Light of Faith) enables a man to bear affliction, and arms him against the excessive fear of death. And lastly, That Man's Reason, and the due exercise of it is a great mercy, which should be thankfully acknowledged by us.  
Having gone thus far, we shall now (by the Lord's assistance) briefly sum up and comprehend in these two last Chapters the substance of what we intended to say concerning Faith and humane Reason.   

CHAP. XXI. Showing distinctly in some particulars the use of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to the Christian Religion.  
FOr the better opening and clearing of this great Point, to the satisfaction of the Christian Reader, we shall first premise a few Considerations, and then afterward show particularly what good use may be made of humane Reason and Knowledge in divine matters.  
I. Consider. That the Light of Nature and Reason is not near so clear and bright in us since the Fall, as it was in Adam before the Fall, but is much darkened, Eclipsed, and depraved, even in those that are most rational and moral; whereas it was perfectly implanted in Adam's heart and nature, we have but only some fragments of it remaining in us. This is so evident in Scripture and Experience, that it is generally acknowledged by all Christians. When Sense is deceived 
(s) Weems Portrait. of the Image of God.  Reason corrects Sense; but when Reason errs, as she often doth in divine and religious matters, she cannot cure herself, but her Mistress Divinity must come in and teach her. Sarah being old, God promised her a Son; this she laughed at, as being contrary to her Reason; in which respect she thought it impossible that a Woman so stricken in years should have a Child; but Faith corrected her corrupt Reason; she believed by Faith that which her Reason could not take up and comprehend. Thus also Nicodemus failed in his reasoning against the mystery of Spiritual regeneration.  
II. Consider. That the Light of Nature, or natural Reason, the Light of Faith or Grace, and the light of Glory, should be carefully distinguished by us, and put in their several places and spheres: Reason is but as the light of a Candle, a glimmering, diminutive, derivative light; Faith is as the light of a Star, which is a far clearer and brighter light; but the light of Glory is most perfect as the light of the Sun, wherein we shall see God as he is, and behold him face to face. Lumen naturae 
(t) Vid. Rob. Baron. excercitat. de triplici Lumine.  est quo ea cognoscimus quae solis naturae viribus sine auxilio Dei speciali intelligi a nobis & dijudicari possunt; lumen fidei est quo ea cognoscimus & intelligimus quae Deus in verbo suo nobis patefecit; lumen gloriae est quo beati spiritus in Coelis clare & perspicue vident gloriosissimam Dei essentiam.  
III. Consider. That although some Truths and Mysteries do far transcend the Light of Nature and Reason, yet there is nothing true in Divinity that crosseth the truth of Reason, as it is the remnant of God's Image in us: Indeed when by Reason we take up a Truth, and by Faith we believe the same Truth, if in this case Reason claim the first place, she is to be blamed as being not a dutiful Handmaid to Faith. As for the Doctrine of the Trinity, the Incarnation and hypostatical Union in Christ, the great mystery of Predestination, etc. though these may be said to be above the Light of Reason, yet they are not contrary or contradictory thereunto; 'tis the greatest Reason in the World, that the Creature should believe and rest in the divine infallible testimony and revelation of his Creator. There are some things in Divinity mixedly divine; other things are merely divine: In those things that are mixedly divine Reason may be of use, yet only in the second place, Primo creduntur & postea intelliguntur, as a man first believes the Soul's immortality, and then he gins to take up the same by Reason; here Reason must not go before, but follow Faith, for that which I believe I believe it ex authoritate dicentis, relying upon the truth of him that saith it; and all the evidence I get by Reason is nothing to this certitude. If Reason should go before as an Usher to make way to Faith, we should never believe; and hereupon the Schoolmen say well, Rationes praecedentes minuunt fidem, sed rationes subsequentes augent fidem. Reason going before Faith weakens Faith, but coming after it strengthens Faith. Reason makes not the matter more sure Ex parte veritatis dictantis, sed ex parte inlectus assentientis; In respect of God the Speaker, but in respect of the weakness of our understanding; for by this access of further knowledge it is more confirmed. But now in things that are merely and purely divine and supernatural, Quae cadunt directe sub fide, which fall directly under Faith, as those high mysteries of the Trinity, and Incarnation of Christ, what can Reason or Philosophy do here, but admire these depths which she can never reach unto? Hence it is that God is pleased sometimes to work effectually upon some learned Infidels, not by the eloquence and subtle reasonings of learned Divines, but by the plain downright discourses of Christians of meaner Parts. To this purpose that Story is remarkable which we read of; Divers Learned men having long endeavoured by strength of Reason and Argument to persuade an Infidel to be baptised into the Faith of Christ; he being learned also, did evade all their Arguments; at length a grave pious Man amongst them, of no repute for Philosophical learning stands up, and bespeaks him with some downright affectionate expressions, which wrought so effectually upon him, that he presently submitted to the Truth in these words, 
(v) Donec audiebam rationes humanas, humanis rationibus repugnabam; caeterum simul atque audivi Spiritum loquentem cessi Spiritui.  Whilst I heard only humane Reasons, I opposed the same with humane Reasons; but when I heard the voice of the Spirit of God speaking powerfully, I presently yielded to that powerful voice. 'Tis also reported of learned Junius, that before his Conversion (whilst as yet he was no better than an Atheist) meeting a plain Countryman, and discoursing with him about Religion, he observed him to speak so experimentally, and with so much affection, as made him conclude, that certainly there was something more in the Christian Religion than his humane Learning and Reason had yet discovered, and this was a special means of his Conversion.  
iv Consider. That the same Object may be and is known both by the Light of Nature and Reason, and also by the Light of Faith. You may know that there is a God, and that he made the World by the Light of Nature; For the things that are invisible are clearly seen and understood by the things that are made, whereby we come to know his eternal Power and Godhead, Rom. 1.20. And we must believe this also, because God in the Scripture hath revealed it, Heb. 11.3. Faith and the Light of Reason go to the knowledge of one and the same thing different ways; Faith doth it because of the divine Testimony, Authority and Revelation of God (who is Truth and Goodness itself) but the Light of Reason doth it, because of Arguments drawn from the thing itself, by rational discourse. However we must hold to this as an undoubted truth, that though the Light of Nature and Reason, as it is a relict of God's Image in man, be necessary in religious and moral things, yet it is not sufficient, there being great decays and languish in our Reason, as the greatest Philosophers themselves have acknowledged.  
V Consider. That if we speak of Nature and Reason as corrupted and depraved by sin (as it is in every son of Adam) so it is an enemy, yea, enmity itself against God, Rom. 8.7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very wisdom of the flesh, i. e. the reasonings and discourses of the natural man, his best thoughts, desires and affections, the best inclinations and motions of his mind, are not only enemies, but enmity against God. An enemy may be reconciled, but enmity itself can never be reconciled. The Apostle, 1 Cor. 1.21. useth a strange expression, that the World by wisdom knew not God; he doth not say, that the World through foolishness was ignorant of God, but that by wisdom, that is, by the right use of Reason and discourse it knew not God (as Diodate notes upon the Text) They became vain in their imaginations (saith the same Apostle, Rom. 1.21.) The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which may be better rendered thus, they became vain in their reasonings, or their practical inferences and discourses, such as they made out of the principles they had in their understandings. So likewise, 1 Cor. 3.20. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, not the simple thoughts, but, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the most prudent reasonings and discourses of the men of the world that they are vain. You have the same word, 1 Tim. 2.8. which is translated, without doubting; but it is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, without reasoning or dispute: In the exercise of Faith and Prayer we must not argue against the Promise by our Reason. In this sense the more humane Reason, Learning, and Wisdom men have, the more opposition there is in them against God, and the great Mysteries of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 1.20, 26. and Chap. 2.9, 10, 11. and Ch. 3.18, 19 And therefore Augustine wrote thus to a man of great learning and parts, Ornari abs te Diabolus quaerit. But now if we speak of Nature and Reason as enlightened and rectified by the Spirit and Word of God, so it is an excellent help in matters of Religion; let the Word of God, let the Testimony of the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures first lay the foundation, and then Reason may build upon it. Reason should not take the first place, or have the pre-eminence, but should be subject and subordinate to Faith, as Agar the Bondwoman was to be to her Mistress Sarah the Freewoman. We must not first consult with Reason, nor ask a Reason of our believing, when we should believe beyond Reason. A mere rational considering of means and second causes is a great enemy to Faith. If you would believe, saith Luther, you must crucify that Question, Why God would not have us so full of Wherefores. Abraham against hope believed in hope, Rom. 4.18, 19 Contra spem, nempe carnis rationis & totius naturae, as some of the best Interpreters comment upon it; He believed against Sense and natural Reason; in hope against hope, i. e. in hope supernatural against all the appearances of natural hope [nothing doubting] saith the Apostle, speaking of Abraham's Faith; 'tis the same word which you find, 1 Cor. 11.29. Nothing discerning; as when a man looks on things with an eye of Sense and Reason, he passeth a judgement of discerning, or dijudication upon them; as thus some things are easy, some things are hard. Abraham did not so reason or consider of things when he believed: Faith when it is lively and strong will subscribe to a Blank, and will rest on the Power and Goodness of God; when all things seem contrary in outward appearance, and to an eye of Reason; Faith can see love in anger, light in darkness, life in death (as we have the Woman of Canaan for an instance, besides many others) Faith will tell a man, that the lower he is cast down and abased, the higher he shall be raised, and the more he shall be comforted; and this is further than Reason can go. Faith (as a late godly Writer truly observes) hath a great and large prospect, it can look over all the World, yea, and into the other World too; it beholds God who is invisible, and is the evidence of things not seen: but now as for Reason it gets upon some little Molehill of Creature ability, and if it can see over two or three hedges, this is much; and therefore it is a great trouble to Faith to be tied to Reason. If a man be able to go a journey of two or three hundred miles on foot, you will say he is a good Footman; yet if you constrain him to carry a little Child with him, this will be a great luggage to him; for though the Child may run along in his hand half a mile, yet he must carry him on his back, or in his arms, the rest of the way, especially when he goes over waters and steep hills, which will be no small burden and trouble. Thus it is between Faith and Reason, Reason at the best is but a Child to Faith, Faith can foot it over Mountains of difficulties, and wade through the waters of affliction (though great and many) but when Reason comes to wade through an affliction, or to go over some great difficulty, it cries out, and says, Oh Faith, let us go back again and proceed no further: No, says Faith, but I'll take thee upon my back Reason; and so it doth: But yet Reason is a great luggage and burden to Faith, which never works better than when it works most alone, for than it has recourse to God's Alsufficiency and Omnipotency, and finds enough there to quiet and satisfy the Soul.  
But now having premised these five Considerations touching Faith and Reason, we shall show the Christian Reader in some particulars what use he should make of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to divine and religious matters; and that it ought not to be rejected, but to have its due respect and commendation.  
First, We find that many famous godly men have excelled in humane Knowledge: Moses that man of God was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians, Acts 7.22. which was an ornament to him, and fitted him for his employment. Paul that great Apostle was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, Acts 22.3. and did abound in humane Knowledge and Learning, though he counted it loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ, Phil. 3.8. And the most eminent Instruments for God in his Church since the times of the Apostles have been men of great Reason and Learning, as Athanasius, Basil, Jerome, Cyprian, Augustine, Luther, Melancton, Pucer, Calvin, Jewel, Reynolds, etc.  
Secondly, The Penmen of holy Scripture make use of it in that accurate method, those figurative Expressions, Rhetorical Proprieties of words, insinuating Proems, and rational Argumentations, which we meet with in the Bible. The Apostle Paul deduceth an Inference from a common principle of Philosophy, Acts 17.28, 29. and quotes the say of some Heathen Writers.  
Thirdly, Secular Learning, Reason and Knowledge, being sanctified by the Spirit of God, helps a man to understand the Grammatical literal sense (which is the true sense) of the Scriptures. We meet with Physics in Genesis, with Ethics in the Proverbs, and with many Allusions in other parts of Scripture to the nature of Beasts and Birds; and likewise with Allusions to the Customs of the Babylonians, Jews, Persians, Romans; therefore the knowledge of the Histories of those Nations, and their Governments, are very useful.  
Fourthly, The knowledge of the times by the Olympiads, and other ways of computation (wherein humane Authors minister much light) is necessary in an ordinary way for the right understanding of Scripture Chronology, and the Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, as appears by the Writings of learned Mede and others.  
Fifthly, The knowledge of the Original tongues, Hebrew and Greek, in which the sacred Scriptures were first penned, doth greatly help us to understand the right sense of Scripture, wherein there are some Texts which cannot be so fully and emphatically rendered in any vulgar Translation. And yet we do not say, that this knowledge is absolutely necessary in a Preacher of the Gospel; for Augustine himself, one of the most eminent amongst the Fathers, had but little skill in the Greek tongue, and none at all in the Hebrew: And so it hath been with divers godly painful Ministers from time to time, whose faithful labours notwithstanding God hath blessed with great success.  
Sixthly, Humane Learning and Reason is profitable and useful for instructing and convincing Pagans and Heathens, who do not yet acknowledge the Christian Faith, and divine Authority of the Scriptures. Thus divers of the Ancient Fathers, as Tertullian, Origen, Lactantius, Basil, Cyril, Augustine, etc. confuted the learned Heathen Philosophers out of their own Writings, as David killed Goliath with his own Sword. And in latter times Aquinas, Grotius, Morney, and others, have most learnedly and excellently improved the true say of the Heathen Philosophers against themselves, and have demonstrated the verity and reasonableness of the Christian Religion, which is also endeavoured in this Treatise.  
Seventhly, Granting the Scripture to be the infallible Word of God (as it is generally acknowledged all Christians) we ought to exercise our Reason in searching these sacred Books, looking into the Grammar of the Scripture, or the forms of expression, to find out the truth of them; and having an eye to the Logic of the Scripture, to the scope, context, and consent thereof, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and interpreting the more obscure places by the clearer, according to the Analogy of Faith, that so we may be able to discern and judge of things that differ, Ephes. 5.17. 1 Thes. 5.21. Acts 17.11. Heb. 5.14. which is the duty of every true Christian, as hath been proved in the twelfth Chapter of this Treatise. In which respect we hold that there is a very good use of Reason, 
(w) Haec autem exploratio atque examinatio doctrinarum fieri non potest nisi adhibito rationis judicio quae judicat de veritate consequentiarum per sua principia de veritate rerum; non innitendo principiis sibi notis extra verbum Dei, sed in Scriptura sacra traditis. B. Daven. in Coll. 2. 8.  so far are we from teaching, that men in searching into the meaning of the Scriptures must become either Fools, or Madmen, or Enthusiasts.  
Eighthly and lastly, We acknowledge that the Light of Nature and Reason is necessary both in religious and moral things, as it is seated in man; every man that comes into the world being enlightened by the God of Nature, John 1.9. And this Light of Nature and Reason is necessary in two respects.  
First, As a passive qualification of the subject for Faith and Repentance; for there cannot be Faith and Repentance in a Stone or Beast that wants the Principle of Reason; this makes man in a passive capacity fit for Grace, although he hath no active ability for it.  
And then secondly, It is necessary by way of an Instrument, for we cannot believe or apprehend Christ unless we have a principle of Reason in us; it being without controversy that an act of understanding or knowledge doth always accompany true Faith; Through Faith (saith the Apostle, Heb. 11.3.) we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God.   

CHAP. XXII. Wherein humane Reason comes far short, and is abused in reference to Divine things.  
HAving in the Chapter immediately going before mentioned divers particulars, wherein humane Reason and knowledge is serviceable to the interest of Christianity, we shall now in the last place tell you particularly and plainly, wherein humane Reason and Knowledge comes far short in matters divine and supernatural, summing up in a little room what hath been more largely set forth on this subject both in this and other Treatises.  

* The defects that are in man's Reason.  First then the great Mystery of the Trinity, the Incarnation of the Son of God, and Justification of Sinners by his Righteousness cannot be found out by the Light of Nature and Reason; it never entered into the heart of a natural man to conceive of them; but these things are of mere supernatural revelation, 1 Cor. 2.9, 10. Though it be true, that when through Faith we have believed them, Reason will also subscribe to the truth of them, as being revealed by the God of truth, who cannot lie; yet all the Reason of Men and Angels could never have found out nor come to the knowledge of these Mysteries if God himself had not revealed them: There are some Articles of our Faith that are both believed and taken up by Reason, as namely, that there is a God, that the World was created by him, and that the soul of man is immortal; but then there are other Articles of our Faith which are only believed, as the mystery of the Trinity, the Incarnation of Christ, etc. which our weak reason cannot take up or apprehend. There is a wonderful depth in the mysteries of the Gospel; this Well is so deep (as the Woman told Christ in another case, John 4.11.) that unless we have the Bucket of the Spirit of God to draw with, we shall never be able, by the improvement of our Reason, to bring up this living Water; unless we have the Spirit of Light and Power to dig with, we shall never find this spiritual Treasure. Nature indeed will go far, and the improved natural man may do much by his Skill and Industry in finding out and discovering the mysteries of Nature, things that are excellent in their kind: Such a man (as Job speaks, Chap. 28.7, 11, 12, 13, 21, 23) can dig out of the Earth Gold, Iron, Brass, Brimstone, and all sorts of Metals; nay, he can see further than the Birds of prey, which though they be quick-sighted, yet can they not behold these Metals which he by his Skill can discover and dig out of the earth. There is a path which no Fowl knoweth, and which the Vulture's eye hath not seen, yet Man traceth it by his Skill, yea, the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light; but yet he cannot by all his natural Reason and Skill (though never so much improved) spiritually and savingly discern the excellency of Christ, and the mysteries of the Gospel. But where shall Wisdom be found, namely, Christ, who is the essential Wisdom of God, and who is made of God Wisdom to us? And where is the place of understanding? Go over the whole Creation, and every part of it, and it will say, It is not in me; man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the Land of the living; it is not within the reach or sphere of the wisest natural men in the World, they cannot dig this Mine, or find out this Treasure; they cannot comprehend this divine and supernatural mystery, for it is hid from the eyes of all that are living, and kept close from the Fowls of the Air: Whence then cometh this divine Wisdom? Where is it to be had, and how shall we attain to it? He tells you, ver. 23. that this Wisdom is in the Bosom of God, and must be revealed by him, or else we shall never savingly apprehend it; God understandeth the way, and knoweth the place thereof; for Wisdom was with him from eternity, when he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder; then did he prepare it, yea, and searched it out: Or as it is, Prov. 8.29, 30. a place parallel with this of Job, When he gave to the Sea his decree, that the waters thereof should not pass his Command; when he appointed the foundations of the earth, than was I by him (saith Christ) as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.  
Secondly, The Light of Reason cannot truly discover the sinfulness of man's nature, and the deep deceits of his heart, which are only made known by Scripture light and revelation, Jer. 17.9. darkness cannot discover darkness, nor can corruption discover itself. Indeed by the Light of Nature (improved by education and the knowledge of humane Arts and Sciences) men may discover a great languishment and infirmity that is come upon them. Divers learned Writers have showed, that many of the ancient Platonists agree in this, That man's Soul is now vassalized to the senses and affections, and that her wings are cut, so that she cannot mount upward by divine Contemplation; but as for the nature and kind of original corruption, and how it was brought upon us, together with the woeful concomitants and effects thereof, these can only be known by Scripture light: And therefore the Apostle saith, He had not known lust to be sin, had not the Law said, Thou shalt not lust.  
The Light of Nature and Reason is altogether insufficient to prescribe or set down the true worship of God: Hence it is that God doth so often forbidden us to walk after our own imaginations in the matters of his House and Worship; and the Apostle calls it will-worship, Col. 2.23. when a mans own will or invention is the framer of it. If men be taught only by the Light of Nature 
(x) Vide Calvin. Instit. lib. 1. cap. 5. sect. 12.  they can know nothing certainly and sound touching the worship of the true God, but their thoughts and apprehensions will be confused and carnal, and exceeding unsuitable to God, who is a holy Spirit, and will be worshipped in spirit and truth: And though there were a few amongst the Heathens, that were not altogether so mad as the common people, yet the most excellent of them did exceedingly wander and go astray, devising and contriving the worship of God according to their own vain opinion and imagination. Socrates the wisest Philosopher; in Zenophon, praised the Answer of Apollo, wherein he willed that every man should worship the Gods after the manner and custom of his Country or City. But oh what folly and madness is this! How came mortal men by this power, that of their own authority they should determine that which far surmounteth the wisdom of the World! Natural Reason would have the worship of God sensible and pleasing to the eye, and is apt to appoint other Mediators between God and Man besides Christ, and to perform all duties of worship in its own strength, and by way of compensation and satisfaction to God; and therefore in this case Reason comes far short, and is no competent Judge how and after what manner God will be worshipped; though we deny not, but the Light of Reason and moral Prudence (when God hath appointed his own worship) may be very useful and instrumental in ordering some civil circumstances relating thereunto, and in the exercise of Church affairs. Nor doth that Text, Rom. 12.1. argue, that man's reason can devise or find out that worship and service which is acceptable to the most wise and holy God; this is more than the greatest Rationalists and Moralists amongst the Heathen Philosophers could ever attain to; but whereas the Apostle calls it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Your reasonable serving of God, he understands that service which is not only or chief with the body, but with the mind and spirit, for so will God be worshipped, John 4.23. And so chrysostom and others call this reasonable service, Spiritualem cultum, spiritual worship or service, when the mind and Spirit is offered up to God. This interpretation is further confirmed out of 1 Pet. 2.2. where the Apostle Peter calls the Word of God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The reasonable, that is, spiritual milk; and ver. 5. The service or sacrifice of a Christian is spiritual, and so it is acceptable unto God: And 'tis well observed by divers learned Interpreters on Rom. 12.1. that there is a secret opposition between this reasonable service and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or will worship, as it is called, Col. 2.23. when men invent a religious worship suitable to their own carnal humours and interests; whereas that is the reasonable service of God; which is spiritual and agreeable to his will: This is the true meaning of the Text, and yet we acknowledge that the Christian worship (under the new Testament administration) may be truly said to be a more teasonable service, whereof a better reason may be rendered then the sacrifices of unreasonable beasts under the Law, and withal that those Christians (who by good advice and reason) do the things that are agreeable to the will and command of God are they that offer up a reasonable service to God.  
Fourthly, Those Principles of Nature and Reason that are left in men, do not enable them exactly and perfectly to perform natural and civil actions, without the general assistance of God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being: And then as for actions spiritually and Evangelically good, man by the power of Nature and Reason is wholly unable to perform them, for without Faith it is impossible to please God. This plainly appears by all those places of Scripture which declare and set forth the sinfulness and corruption of every unregenerate man's nature and estate, and also by those Texts which speak of Grace, and Conversion, and Regeneration, as the sole work of God's Almighty power, and the effectual operation of his Spirit, which is put forth and manifested in all those that truly believe, Ephes. 1.19. The natural man (saith the Apostle) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. 2.14. By the natural man here (as Calvin and others truly observe) he meaneth not properly a man addicted to gross and sensual lusts, but every man that is endued only with the Light of Nature and Reason, and hath not the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him, yea, the most rational improved natural man; this is evident, because the natural man is opposed to the spiritual man, or him that is born of God, and acted by the Spirit of God. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly not such a man as is exceeding carnal and gross in sin and sensuality, but souly man, an improved rational man, or a man made up only of Reason; one that doth ex colere animam, such as Plato, Aristotle, and Tully were: It is meant of every unregenerate man, who is ruled by the Spirit of this World, and the mere Principles of Nature and Reason, and who cannot spiritually discern and receive the great mysteries of the Gospel, but is offended therewith: Nay, the wiser men are in their own imaginations and reasonings, the vainer they are, and the more opposite to the grace and simplicity of the Gospel of Christ, which stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The other day, saith chrysostom, I heard a certain Christian discoursing ridiculously with a Greek, each of them in their discourse prejudicing his own Cause, for the Greek spoke that which the Christian should have said, and the Christian spoke that which the Greek should have said, for the Question between them being about Paul and Plato; the Greek endeavoured to prove, that Paul was rude and unlearned; but the Christian, through his simplicity, would prove, that Paul was far more learned and eloquent than Plato; and so the Greek would obtain the victory, if the Christian's Reasons should prevail; for if Paul were more learned than Plato in humane Arts and Sciences, than might men object, that he overcame not the World through Grace, but through humane Eloquence: Therefore, saith this Father, when the Greeks shall object▪ that the Apostles were rude and unlearned, simple obscure persons, of no great reason nor parts, let us freely acknowledge it as the truth, for this is not their reproach, but their glory, that being such they yet overcame the Learned men, the Wise men, the Philosophers, the Rhetoricians, the Orators, the Princes, and all the World; for when any thing is done above the power of Nature, this doth exceedingly set forth and magnify the Grace of God.  
Fifthly, A Christian should so far deny his natural Reason and Wisdom in things spiritual, that his assent to the Truths and Mysteries of the Gospel may be the assent of Faith, as to a divine Testimony, and not the assent of mere Reason: The immediate ground of this assent should not be the self-evidence of the thing testified in the Scripture to man's reason, but the divine authority of God testifying. That which is the formal object of Faith, as the Schools speak, is the first truth, or God himself revealing his mind to us. Suppose a truth taught in the Scripture be likewise demonstrated to my reason by Philosophical Arguments, as namely, That God created and governs the World, and that the Soul of man is immortal, my assent to these Truths is so far the assent of divine Faith, as it is grounded and bottomed upon the authority of a divine Testimony. As for that assent which is merely grounded upon Philosophical reason and demonstration, it is not divine Faith, but only humane Faith and Reason.  
Sixthly, Our Reason is so imperfect, so defective, so apt to mistake in divine and spiritual matters, that we must not make our apprehensions (though under pretence of Reason) the rule of what we will receive for the Word and revealed Will of God, and what we will reject; but what the Scripture holds forth must be the rule of our apprehensions, though we cannot comprehend the same by our weak depraved reason and understanding: otherwise we subject the authority of God's Truth to our own weak shallow apprehensions, and believe him not because he hath said it, but because we by our reason can comprehend it, and this is dangerous and destructive to the faith of a Christian, for the Scriptures do reveal those things that are above our reason. What reason of Men or Angels could ever have thought of such a thing as the three Divine Persons of the Godhead, the personal union of God and Man in the Mediator, the imputation of Adam's sin to his Posterity, and the imputation of the glorious Righteousness of Christ to poor Sinners for their justification? Without all controversy great is the mystery of godliness, 1 Tim. 3.16. But what great mystery is there in it, if we by our shallow reason can comprehend it? We must pray for Grace, saith Mr. Fox 
(y) In his Preface to Luther on the Galatians.  the Author of the Book of Martyrs, that we may rightly understand the Gospel: So strange is this Doctrine to carnal Reason, so contrary to the World, so many enemies it hath, that except the Spirit of God from above do powerfully reveal it, Learning cannot reach it, Wisdom is offended, Nature is astonished, Devils and Men do oppose and persecute it; briefly, as there is no way to life so easy, so there is none so hard; easy to whom it is given from above, hard to carnal Sense and Reason not yet inspired. And Luther himself in his Commentary on the Galatians hath many notable say touching Faith and Reason; In this case of believing the Gospel (saith he) we must silence Reason which is an enemy to Faith, which also in temptations of sin and death leaneth not to the righteousness of Faith, for thereof it is utterly ignorant, but to her own righteousness. Now as soon as the Law and Reason join together, Faith loseth her Virginity, for nothing fighteth more strongly against Faith then the Law and Reason: The Gospel leadeth us beyond and above the light of the Law and Reason into the deep secrets of Faith, where the Law and Reason have nothing to do. Again, If ye will believe Reason, Reason will tell you, that such things as God hath promised are impossible, foolish, weak, absurd things: What more absurd, foolish, and impossible, then that Abraham should have a Son in his old age of the barren and dead Body of Sarah? But now Faith killeth Reason, and slayeth that Beast which the whole World and all Creatures cannot kill. Thus Abraham killed it by Faith in the Word of God, which promised him a Son: To this word Reason yielded not straightway, but fought against Faith in him, judging it to be an absurd impossible thing; but Faith wrestled with Reason, and at length got the victory: Abraham killed and sacrificed Reason, that most pestilent enemy of God, and so must all the godly do. There are many things in Scripture that are quite cross and contrary to the apprehensions of corrupt Reason, and 'tis the great work of the Spirit of God to subdue and captivate our Reason to the authority of the Word of God, and the obedience of Faith. The weapons of our warfare (saith the Apostle, 2 Cor. 10.4, 5.) are mighty through God for the pulling down of strong holds, casting down reasonings, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ: Those strong holds that stand out against the Gospel are especially two, namely, the greatness and power of worldly Princes and Rulers; and also the reasonings and argumentations of the learned Orators and Philosophers; both these must be subdued and captivated to the obedience of Faith. Men must be led away like Captives (saith Judicious Calvin on the Text) from their own Reason and Will: The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, reasonings, is very emphatical. Quo vocabulo 
(z) Estius in 2 Cor. 10.4, 5.  significantur non qualescunque cogitationes sed quae fiunt ratiocinando & disceptando dum adhibito judicio rationis animus examinat aliquid & de eo pronuntiat, sit ne verum an falsum, bonum an malum. Here we may see plainly, that our Reason must be conquered and captivated to the obedience of the Gospel, or else there can be no true Faith: Indeed Reason and Faith may well walk together, provided that Reason give Faith the upperhand. We must not say (they are the words of a noble Writer, who makes great use of Reason to prove the truth of the Christian Religion) 
(a) Morney de veritat. Christi. Religio.  That because Reason doth not comprehend this or that point of Religion, therefore we we should not believe it, for this were a measuring of Faith by Reason, whereas we ought to believe the Mysteries of God that are beyond our Reason. To believe on God through Christ, what is it else but to submit our reason and understanding to God? And thus our Reason must be a servant to Faith, and must stoop to the power of Faith; Faith must not be abased and stoop to the measure of Reason. Now when and wherein humane Reason and Knowledge is perverted and abused, and so comes to be prejudicial and dangerous, shall be here briefly represented in a ewe particulars, and so we will shut up this discourse of the right use and abuse of Reason.  

* How and wherein humane Reason is abused and perverted.  First, It is then dangerous and destructive to the divine Purity of the Christian Religion, when the Opinions and Sentiments of some Learned Philosophers and Rationalists, that are contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel, are imposed upon us as true, as namely, the World's Eternity, the Stoical Fate, Purgatory after this life, the denial of the Resurrection of the Body, worshipping of Angels, and the like, having a show of Reason, Wisdom, and Humility, Col. 2 18, 23.  
Secondly, When those Principles of Nature and Philosophy, which are true in an ordinary way, are perverted and abused to the rejecting of those Gospel-truths that are above Nature: These Maxims and Positions of Philosophers, That of nothing nothing can be made: That of privation to a habit there is no regression: That a Virgin cannot conceive; though they are naturally and Physically true, yet in Divinity and Christianity they ought not to be admitted: God created the World of nothing; our blessed Saviour without the help of Man was born of a Virgin (as the Scripture assures us) God calleth the things that are not, as if they were, Rom. 4.17. These bodies of ours, after they are resolved into dust, shall be raised up again and made like to the glorious Body of Christ, according to the working of God, whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself, Phil. 3.21. Here Faith in God's Omnipotency must be exercised, and Reason must give way to Faith. Indeed man's Reason, as now it stands, is so far from taking the just measure of Faith (which transcendeth natural Strength and Reason) that it cannot so much as take the just and full measure of Nature, nor of the least of God's Creatures, in regard of that ignorance and darkness that is in every one of us; and therefore it is a great error to believe no further than Reason can measure and comprehend: For what a great way doth the truth of spiritual and divine things extend beyond our Reason? And even Reason itself will lead us to this Point, namely, That we should believe beyond Reason, I mean, those things which no mere natural understanding or capacity can reach or attain to; and that when these things are revealed by God to men, which Reason could never have comprehended (no not even when it was at the best) the same Reason which could never have found them out, makes us to allow of them; it being reasonable and fit for us to believe whatsoever God hath revealed to be true: And herein Reason teacheth us that which she herself neither knew nor believed, namely, by leading us to the most infallible Teacher, whom we ought to hear and believe.  
Thirdly, It is then dangerous when a Christian boasts of his humane Reason and Knowledge, and is elated and puffed up therewith, undervaluing and slighting all others, as if their Reason and Knowledge were not comparable to his; and so it becomes a vain windy thing. Knowledge (saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 8.1.) puffeth up, but love edifieth. Vain man would be wise (as it is in Job 11.12.) though he be born like a wild Asses Colt. In the Hebrew there is an elegant Paranomosia, Vain man, or as the word may be rendered, hollow or empty man, though he be foolish and ignorant, would seem to be wise and rational if he knew how. Doubtless God will curse and blast that profane wit and knowledge which despiseth the simplicity of Christ's Gospel, and will not captivate itself to the obedience of Faith.  
Fourthly, When the reasonings or rational argumentations of men are unseasonably and excessively used in divine things (the nature of the matter not requiring it) then are such reasonings dangerous. Hence some of the Fathers are justly censured (and the Schoolmen much more) for mixing and adulterating the Truths of the Gospel with the Reasons of Philosophers, which are no better than Paralogisms and Impostures, if mixed with and added to the pure Word of God, and the great and glorious Mysteries of Christ.  
Fifthly, Then do men abuse their humane Reason and Knowledge, when they use needless subtleties, quirks, and quidditties in debating the great Truths of the Gospel, which should rather be humbly believed, admired, and adored, then subtly disputed. Even amongst the Heathens themselves, and in all Religions, they have had some sacred Mysteries and Secrets that were to be adored, and not curiously pried into, and disputed by the subtle reasonings of men; and whoever did profanely dispute thereof were severely punished.  
Sixthly, and Lastly, Man's Reason is abused and perverted, and proves to be of dangerous consequence when it is made, not only an Instrument, but a Judge, in matters of Faith; some there are that seem to depress Reason too much; but on the other side the Socinians exalt it too high, for they make it not only an Instrument, but a Judge, and thereupon reject and contemn the greatest mysteries of the Christian Religion, because they cannot fathom and comprehend them by their Reason. 'Tis true there are some that say, Religio est summa ratio, and there are great learned Men that have endeavoured to prove the truth of the Christian Religion by the Light of Reason; and certainly if we can by Reason prove that there is any Religion at all, we may by the same reason prove the truth and excellency of the Christian Religion (as I have showed in this Treatise) but yet man's Reason is but a weak, glimmering, uncertain thing in comparison of Faith. Ratio recta est ratio lumine Spiritus sancti directa. Nor must we confound the Instrument and the Judge. Holy Truths, Scripture Truths and Mysteries they are divine and supernatural, though hammered out and improved by Reason: As the Smith that takes Golden plate and beats it into what shape he pleaseth, his Hammer doth not make it to be Gold, for so it was before, but only Gold of such a shape; so Reason doth not make a Truth divine, or add any thing to the divine authority of it, but only holds it forth and declares it in such a way or method. It is with Faith and Reason (saith a Learned man) as with the mould that is at the root of a barren fruitless tree, take the mould out and throw in dung or other compost, and then put the mould in again, and it will much help the tree which hindered it before; thus lay aside Reason at first, and receive the Truth of God by Faith, and afterward improve Faith by Reason, and so it will be of excellent use to a Christian. Divine Truths are not founded on Reason, but on the Authority of God in the Scriptures; yet Reason may help to bear them up, as you see the Elm or Wall bear up the Vine, but the Elm or Wall doth not bring forth the fruit, only the Vine doth that. As long therefore as the Light of Nature and Reason is not the Rule, but ruled and squared by the Word of God (as it ought to be) there is no danger; but when man's Reason is made the Rule, and divine Mysteries are vassalized and subjected thereunto, this must needs be preposterous and dangerous; and therefore to be abhorred and avoided by all sober Christians, whose Faith should not stand in humane Wisdom and Reason, but in the Demonstration and Power of the Spirit of God.   
FINIS.   

Books sold by Thomas Passenger at the three Bibles on London-Bridge.  

A French and English Dictionary, composed by Mr. Randolph Cotgrave, Folio.  
A Mirror or Looking-glass for Saints and Sinners, showing the justice of God on the one, and his mercy towards the other. Set forth in some thousand of examples, by Sam. Clark late Minister of Bennet-Finck, London, in two Volumes in folio.  
Royal and Practical Chemistry, by Oswaldus Crollius, and John Hartman, faithfully rendered into English, folio, price 10. s.  
God's Revenge against Murder, by John Reynolds, containing thirty Tragical Stories, digested into six Books, newly reprinted, folio, price 10 s.  
Lord Bacon's Natural History, folio, price 8 s.  
Sandy's Travels, containing a Description of the Turkish Empire, of Egypt, and the Holy Land, of the remote parts of Italy, and Islands adjoining, folio, price 8 s.  
Markham's Masterpiece.  
Roman Antiquities, by Tho. Godwin, quarto, price 2 s. 6 d.  
The famous History of the Destruction of Troy, in three Books, quarto, price 3 s.  
Valentine and Orson, price 18 d.  
Etymologicum parvum, by Francis Gregory, octavo, price 3 s.  
Chemical Essays, by John Begumis, price 1 s. 8 d.  
Spiritual Antidotes against sinful contagion, by Tho. Doolittle, price 18 d.  
Pool's Dialogue betwixt a Papist and a Protestant, twelve, price bound 1 s.  
Monasticon Favershamiense; Or a Description of the Abbey of Faversham, octavo, price bound 18 d.  
The Christians Crown of glory; or Holiness the way to Happiness, octavo, price bound 18 d.  
The Path way to Health, price bound 18 d.  
The Complete Academy, or Nursery of Compliments, bound 1 s.  
The Book of Knowledge in three parts, price 10 d.  
The Book of Palmistry in octavo, price bound 18 d.  
The Wise Virgin, being a Narrative of Gods dealing with Martha Hatfield, price bound 18 d.  
The Pilgrim's Port, or the weary Man's rest in the Grave, in twelves, price bound 1 s.  
The famous History of the five wise Philosophers, containing the Life of Jehosaphat, Son of Avenerio, Emperor of Corma, and his wonderful conversion to the Christian Faith.  
The great Assize, by Sam. Smith.  
The Delectable History of Amadis de Gaul.  
The pleasant History of Paladine of England.  
The Bear-baiting of Women.  
The History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungy.  
New conceited Letters.  
The Jovial Garland, containing all the newest Songs that are now used.  
The Penitent Prodigal, or a gracious Reproof for Pharisaical Saints, by J. H.  
The Christians best Exercise in the worst of times, by J. H.  
Scarborough Spa, being a description of the nature and virtues of the Spa of Scarborough in Yorkshire, by Doctor Witty.  
The French Schoolmaster.  
Farnabies' Epigrams.  
Newtons' Art of Logic.  
Newtons' Art of Rhetoric.  
The famous History of Don Bellianis of Greece, in three parts, being now complete.  
The famous History of Montelion, Knight of the Oracle.  
Hodders Arithmetic in twelves.  
Ovid de tristibus in English.  
Bishop Hall's Soliloquies, in twelves.  
The Poems of Ben. Johnson Junior.  
A plain and familiar Exposition of the ten Commandments, by John Dod.    

A TABLE of the chief Heads of this TREATISE.  
CHAP. I. 
Of distinguishing betwixt Faith and Reason. Page 1 

1. HEre is showed, that it requires much spiritual Skill rightly to distinguish them.  
2. That Morality is one thing, and Christianity another.    CHAP. II. 
Showing that Reason is useful both in Civil and Divine things. Yet withal 'tis presupposed. Page 4 

1. That the Light of Reason in us is much darkened.  
2. That it wrangles against the greatest Mysteries of the Gospel.  
3. That men of great Reason and parts have promoted the greatest errors.    CHAP. III. 
How far the Light of Reason extendeth. Here is showed. Page 6 

1. That this light is but a derivative light, like the light of a Candle, and not like the light of the Sun.  
2. 'Tis but a diminutive light.  
3. 'Tis notwithstanding a quiet and peaceable light so far as it goes.  
4. 'Tis an ascendant light, and cannot find the chiefest good in things below.    CHAP. IU. 
How the Heathen Philosophers themselves have complained of great defects in Nature and Reason. Page 13 

1. Here are several Instances given.  
2. Solomon himself was sensible of much darkness, though his intellectual Lamp burned far brighter than others.  
3. Christian's should not magnify the light and power of Nature, the defects whereof are acknowledged by moral Heathens.    CHAP. V. 
Of them that give too little to the Light of Reason. As Page 15 

1. Such as will not admit of a rational discourse in matters of Religion.  
2. Such as rely on Enthusiasms.  
3. Such as hold an annihilation of the faculties of the Soul in Regeneration.  
4. Such as will not be regulated by Reason in civil Circumstances relating to worship, but cause disorder and confusion in Church-Assemblies.    CHAP. VI 
Of those that ascribe too much to Reason. As Page 18 

1. The Socinians, who reject the greatest mysteries of the Gospel, because they cannot comprehend them by their corrupt Reason.  
2. Pellagius and his followers (whereof there are many in our times) who derogate from the Grace of God and extol the power of Nature.    CHAP. VII. 
Of the use of humane Reason in civil matters. Here is showed. Page 21 

1. That it is the most rational and prudent way to be governed by known Laws.  
2. That such Laws are best as are most agreeable to Reason, and tend most to the public good.  
3. That the most rational Men are fittest to be Lawmakers.  
4. That such are also of best ability and capacity to administer the Laws and Government.    CHAP VIII. 
Of the exercise of Reason in Church affairs. Page 27 

1. Reason suggests that men should join together in Societies for the visible worship of God,  
2. That there should be order and Government in these Societies, and that all should not be Rulers, but some should obey.  
3. That such as administer the worship of God in Religious Societies should have due reverence and maintenance.  
4. That every Christian ought to join himself to a Chureh-society, that he may visibly worship God with others.  
5. That men ought not to assign any other Conditions of Church-communion then what Christ hath prescribed in his Word.  
6. That such as are admitted into a Church-society should freely consent to be governed by the Laws and Rules thereof.  
7. That they should remain in such a Society, and not break off communion on slight grounds.  
8. That all things in Church▪ assemblies should be administered with much seriousness and gravity, that so the Ordinances of God may be rendered majestical.  
9 That there must be some way or other for determining differences arising in such Societies, 

Here is showed.  
1. That Appeals are founded upon the Law of Nature and Reason.  
2. That it is a more rational and prudent way to have Controversies determined by a grave Assembly of godly learned Pastors, then by a few engaged persons in a particular Society.      CHAP. IX. 
The Light of Reason proves that there is a God. Page 40 

1. By the frame of this World.  
2. By the Original of all things; here it is demonstrated that the Creatures cannot have their being or beginning from themselves.  
3. That there must be a first Cause or Mover of all, else there would be before every Mover another Mover, and so in infinitum.  
4. It appears to the eye of Reason that there is a God, by the distinction of good and evil.  
5. By the great and glorious Miracles that have been wrought in the World.  
6. By the wise governing and ordering of the several Creatures, and the plentiful provision that is made for them.  
7. By the testimony of man's Conscience, which showeth that there is a supreme Judge, that commandeth the inward thoughts, and bindeth the Conscience.  
8. By the vast desires and capacity of man's Soul, which will not be satisfied without the enjoyment of the chiefest good.  
9 By the continual assaults of Satan, who would utterly extinguish the knowledge of God in men.  
10. By the wonderful preservation of the Church of God, which though it hath been as a burning Bush yet it is not consumed. 

This Principle, That there is a God, hath showed itself even in Atheists, especially in three Cases.  
1. When they have been surrounded with difficulties.  
2. In the time of bodily sickness.  
3. When old age comes, and multitude of years teach them experience,      CHAP. X. 
The immortality of the Soul of man proved by Reason Page 54 

1. Because it abstracts from that which it understands, all quantity, quality, time, place, etc.  
2. Because the Soul receives impressions of Immortality, and is spiritual in its operations.  
3. No mortal corruptible thing can satisfy the desires of the Soul.  
4. If Man's Soul were not immortal than the sensitive Creatures would excel Man.  
5. The Soul is not subject to motion, being most perfect when most free from motion, therefore she is not corruptible.  
6. Another Reason is taken from the Justice of God.  
7. From the universal consent of all Nations in one kind of Religion or other.    CHAP. XI. 
The truth of the Christian Religion proved by Reason. Page 62 

1. From the Antiquity of it  
2. From the excellent way and means of atonement and propitiation held forth therein.  
3. From the glorious divine Miracles and Works of Christ and his Apostles. Objections against the same answered.  
4. From the precious excellent Doctrine and Life of Jesus.  
5. From the nature and success of Christ's Kingdom.  
6. From the strange Conversions that have been wrought by the Christian Religion.  
7. From the desperate opposition of Satan and his Instruments against it, notwithstanding which it hath still prevailed. 

Here is discovered the unreasonableness and absurdity  
1. Of the heathenish Idolatry.  
2. Of the Jews Enmity against Christ and the Christian Religion.  
3. Of the Mahometan Superstition.      CHAP. XII. 
The Divine Authority of the sacred Scriptures proved by Reason. Page 97 

1. Because no other or better Revelation of God's Will can be produced.  
2. The Old Testament hath been throughout all Ages witnessed to, and wonderfully preserved by the Jews.  
3. The whole universal Church of Christ have all along witnessed the Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament, even to the death.  
4. God hath confirmed the Authority thereof by great and strange Miracles from Heaven.  
5. The Scriptures are the most ancient and authentical of any writing.  
6. The stile, order, contexture, and frame of the Scripture, show the Divine Authority thereof.  
7. Another Reason is taken from the wonderful powerful effects of the Doctrine of the Scriptures.  
8. From the admirable harmony and consent thereof.  
9 The matter treated of therein is divine and wonderful. Here are mentioned five notes of a Divine Power.  
10. The end which the Scriptures aim at is divine and heavenly.    CHAP. XIII. 
Of the use of Reason in the interpreting of Scripture, and judging of Controversies. Page 110 

1. Here is a discovery of the unreasonableness of the Popish implicit Faith, and blind Obedience.  
2. Their Doctrine of Transubstantiation is made appear. 

1. To be against Sense.  
2. Against Reason.  
3. Against Faith.    
3. 'Tis also showed, that there is a twofold Judgement in matters of Religion, one in foro publico, another in foro privato.  
4. That every private Christian ought to make use of his Reason, and to exercise a Judgement of discretion in trying Spirits and Doctrines, This is proved by six cogent Arguments. Objections against this tenet and practise answered.    CHAP. XIV. 
Of the Internal testimony of the Holy Ghost, proving the Divine Authority of the Scriptures. Page 123 

1. It is here showed, that this Testimony is more satisfactory to the Conscience than all other proofs.  
2. That a Christians Faith should be ultimately and finally resolved into the Testimony of the Holy Ghost, and not into the Testimony of the Church which is but humane.  
3. The Popish Circle is described, and the Protestant Doctrine herein vindicated,  
4. Some Rules and Cautions concerning the Testimony of the Spirit are here propounded to prevent mistakes.    CHAP. XV. 
Showing when Reason is rightly used, and when abused to the prejudice of the Spirits Testimony in the Scriptures. Page 133 

1. Reason is the Organ which lets into the Soul the Light of Faith.  
2. It being overpowered by the Spirit of God, sees the greatest reasonableness in the Truths and Ways of Christ.  
3. Reason is exceeding useful in maintaining the Doctrine of Christ.  
4. Nevertheless we should not make Reason the Judge in Divine matters, nor subject the Authority of the Scriptures to our Reason, as Socinians do. Three Arguments against it.    CHAP. XVI. 
Of the difference betwixt the mere rational and spiritual man, and their Acts about spiritual things. Here is showed. Page 142 

1. That the Spiritual man hath Christ form in him, and lives the life of Christ, which the mere rational man doth not.  
2. That the divine Principle which acts the Spiritual man, is more than the improvement of the most excellent, natural, and rational abilities.  
3. That man is passive in the new spiritual Birth, and cannot by all his Reason discern, how this spiritual life is wrought.  
4. How and wherein the spiritual Man's Acts and Operations do far transcend the mere rational Mans.  
5. They differ in the nature and effects of their Faith in reference to Christ and the Promises, in five Particulars.    CHAP. XVII. 
Proving that none can be saved by the mere improvement of the Light of Reason. Page 152 

1. Divers of the Fathers, and some modern Writers have erred in this Point.  
2. Four things are laid down for the better opening of it: God might reveal his Son (if he so pleased) in an extraordinary way to some Heathens.  
3. It is proved by nine Arguments, that no rational moral Heathen can be saved without faith in Christ as Mediator. One or two material Objections answered.    CHAP. XVIII. 
Of rational and intellectual delights. Here is showed. Page 16● 

1. That every being chooseth to itself some kind of pleasure. As 

1. God, who is the chiefest Being.  
2. The Angels.  
3. Men that have rational Souls.  
4. The sensitive Creatures.    
2. In what particulars the delights of Reason, and of the Mind do far excel the pleasures of the Body.    CHAP. XIX. 
Showing that Reason, and much more Faith, doth fortify a man against the excessive fear of death. Page 172 

1. Here are eight Considerations drawn from Reason against the slavish fear of death.  
2. Seven Arguments are also drawn from Faith in the Word of God against the fear of death.  
3. The famous say of some dying Christians are mentioned.    CHAP. XX. 
That humane Reason, and the due exercise thereof is a great mercy. Page 187 

1. This is opened in some particulars.  
2. It is here showed, that man who hath a reasonable Soul is wonderfully made, like a curious piece of Embroidery. 

1. In respect of his Body, and the members thereof.  
2. In respect of his rational Soul, wherein Man far excels other Creatures.  
Five things mentioned relating to the excellency of the reasonable Soul.    
3. In respect of his new spiritual Birth, and participation of the Divine nature.    CHAP. XXI. 
A Recapitulation of particulars touching the use of humane Reason and Knowledge in reference to the Christian Religion. Page 195 

1. Here are five Considerations premised,  
2. The excellency and use of humane Reason and Knowledge is particularly held forth. As 

1. Some that have been famous Instruments in the Church of God have abounded therein.  
2. The Penmen of the holy Scriptures make use of it.  
3. It helps us to understand the Grammatical literal sense, and the Chronology and Prophecies of Scripture.  
4. It's useful for convincing Heathens and Infidels.  
5. In trying Spirits and Doctrines, comparing Scripture with Scripture.  
6. As a passive qualification of the subject for Faith and Repentance, in which case there must be a Principle of Reason.      CHAP. XXII. 
How and in what respects Reason comes short, and is abused in Divine things. Page 206 

1. Reason cannot discover the mystery of the Trinity, Incarnation of Christ, etc.  
2. Nor the sinfulness and corruption of man's heart and nature.  
3. It cannot prescribe the true worship of God.  
4. Nor enable us perfectly to perform natural and civil Actions without the general assistance of God.  
5. Our assent to the Gospel should be the assent of Faith, and not of mere Reason.  
6. The Scripture and not Reason is the Rule for a Christian to walk by in spiritual matters; he must be crucified to his Reason. Here is also showed in six particulars, when and wherein humane Reason and Knowledge is abused, and so becomes dangerous to the Christian Religion.