<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2012-01-10</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Louis Goldberg</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Checklist: xChange DATE, validate xAdd DIV TYPEs, validate xReview structure, use FRONT,BODY, BACK or rarely GROUP xCheck PB placement and completeness, ensure sequence of N= xProof title page(s) xAdd FIGDESC= to any and all likely illustrations. xCheck HEAD TRAILER ARGUMENT EPIGRAPH xCheck OPENER CLOSER SIGNED SALUTE BYLINE DATE xCheck ^, oe, abq, italic I / J, _Initals, tb, space between &amp;c. xCheck hashes at signs -- UNCLEAR LB FIGURE xCheck frac; eogon; deg; BLANK xCheck GAP MISSING DUPLICATE xCheck for &punc; xCheck ABBR, q-semi-colon, start-q end-q to remove them, look for Q that shouldn't be marked as such xCorrect errors from proof sample xCorrect illegibles from proof sample xCheck illegible page, para, line, span, word, dollar signs xSkint if need be xRun Check afterwards Look at html online view if need be Note that in Black Letter, every capital U must be changed to a V Look for lists, illustrations, tables, music, math, end-notes, quasi-tabular arrangments, and marginalia Look for unobtrusive numerations: Do they mark divs? milestones? Examine marginalia. Is it all best tagged as NOTE? If appropriate, check for yoghs If appropriate, check for Latin problems, e.g. oe and ae digraphs If appropriate, check for abbreviation and brevigraph problems (1500s) If appropriate, check for units of measure, symbols (alchemical, astronomical, etc.) and the like xFinal validate Corrected [ ] illegible groups out of [ ]. Converted [ 11 ] illegible groups to GAP DESC="illegible". DONE</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A27589">
<STC T="W">B2131</STC>
<STC T="C">R12817</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">11696639</BIBNO>
<VID>173120</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>CHRISTIANITY <HI REND="blackletterType">The Great My&s;tery.</HI></P>
<P>IN ANSWER to a late Treati&s;e, Chri&s;tianity not My&s;terious: THAT IS Not Above, Not Contrary to Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>In oppo&s;ition to which is A&s;&s;erted, Chri&s;tianity is above Created Rea&s;on, in its pure E&s;tate.</P>
<P>And contrary to Humane Rea&s;on, as Fallen and cor|rupted: and therefore in proper &s;en&s;e, My&s;tery.</P>
<P>Together with a <HI>Po&s;tcript</HI> Letter to the Author, on his Second Edition Enlarg'd.</P>
<P>By <HI>T. B.</HI></P>
<P><HI>DONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>W. Mar&s;hal</HI> at the Bible in <HI>Newgate-Street:</HI> And <HI>John Mar&s;hall</HI> at the Bible in <HI>Grace-Church-&s;treet.</HI> 1696.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE Truly Chri&s;tian Readers.</HEAD>
<P>I Have (I hope through the Grace of God) with a &s;incere <HI>Chri|&s;tian Zeal,</HI> de&s;ired to Argue for the Glory of the Truths of the Go&s;pel, under the Honourable Title of <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> (as they were, <HI>once for All, delivered to the Saints,</HI>) according to the be&s;t Methods of Di&s;cu&s;&s;ion, and Ratiocinative Debate from Scripture Rea&s;on: But behold, I fir&s;t <HI>&s;hew to my &s;elf, and to you,</HI> a more <HI>Excellent,</HI> or <HI>Tran&s;cendent way:</HI> That is, <HI>Receiving the love of Truth,</HI> or <HI>Truth in the Love of it;</HI> and with tho&s;e mighty Energies, and Efficacies of it upon the Heart and Life. <HI>David</HI> ob&s;erving <HI>Men making void the Law,</HI> that is, the whole Doctrine of God in his word, was Holily Enflam'd upon it; <HI>Therefore I love thy Commandments above Gold, yea, above Fine Gold; Therefore I e&s;teem All thy Precepts concerning All Things to be Right; and I hate every fal&s;e way.</HI> The be&s;t Antidote again&s;t the Poy&s;on of an Infecti|ous Air, or Age is the inward Experimental Sen&s;e, that <HI>God hath cho&s;en us to Salvation, through Sanctification of the Spirit,</HI> and <HI>Belief of the Truth.</HI> The mo&s;t di&s;tingui&s;hing Te&s;t of Truth, that it is of God, is &s;elf-Re&s;ignation and Obedience <HI>in doing the Will of God;</HI> The Witne&s;s of the Father, the Word, the Spirit, when we have it in our Selves, can alone enable us to &s;et our Seal to that Truth; The <HI>Con&s;cience purged from dead Works to &s;erve the Liv|ing God, by the Blood Offer'd by the Eternal Spirit; and the Blood of the Everla&s;ting covenant, making perfect in every Good Work to do his Will, and working in us, what is well plea&s;ing in his Sight,</HI> are the mo&s;t A&s;&s;uring Seals of the Eternal Godhead of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t in &s;uch an <HI>Antichri&s;tian</HI> Time; <HI>The Gates of Hell,</HI> All the Rea&s;on, Policy, Wit, Authority of it, cannot prevail again&s;t a Chri&s;tian &s;o founded on that <HI>Rock:</HI> The <HI>Work of Faith with Power,</HI> according to that Hi&s;tory of Believers, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11. does above All, di&s;play the
<PB REF="3"> My&s;terious Efficacy of it, which none <HI>know,</HI> but <HI>they who have it.</HI> That it gives a pre&s;ence of its Objects above all, that Sence can do, of its proper Objects; and a Demon&s;tration of its <HI>Idea</HI>'s, above all that <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is Able for; For it can prevail Above both, when they would carry contrary to its Scope and End, and Impowers to Action far above them, by vertue of that <HI>Hyposta&s;is,</HI> and tho&s;e its <HI>Demon&s;trations:</HI> Let us therefore <HI>Bow our Knees</HI> mutually, that <HI>the Father of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> would grant us, according to the <HI>Riches of his Glory,</HI> to be <HI>&s;trengthen'd by his Spirit in the Inner Man,</HI> that <HI>Chri&s;t may dwell in our Hearts by Faith;</HI> that we may <HI>comprehend with All Saints,</HI> the <HI>Heighths</HI> and <HI>Depths,</HI> the <HI>Breadths</HI> and <HI>Lengths</HI> of what <HI>pa&s;&s;es Knowledg; That we may be filled with All the Fulne&s;s</HI> of Him, who can, to perfect <HI>My&s;tery, do above All we can ask or think;</HI> and yet to &s;hew it no Blind <HI>Chimerick,</HI> or Imaginary thing; <HI>By a Power that Worketh IN us;</HI> To Him be Glo|ry in his <HI>Church</HI> by <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t throughout All Ages,</HI> Amen.</P>
<P>And in Regard of &s;o many <HI>Antichri&s;ts,</HI> Enemies to the Glory of Chri&s;t and of his Go&s;pel in this Age, and in the mid&s;t of us; Let us Hereby know to our Con&s;olation, <HI>It is the very La&s;t of the La&s;t Time, the Time for God to Work for the Con&s;uming the Grand Antichri&s;t,</HI> and all the Le&s;&s;er <HI>Antichri&s;ts,</HI> that come out of his <HI>Smoke</HI> with Him.</P>
<P>The Lord Ha&s;ten it in this his very Time; So Joyn, I be&s;eech you in Supplication with your mo&s;t</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Humble Affectionate Servant In our Lord Je&s;us <HI>T. B.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD>THE PREFACE.</HEAD>
<P>THere hath Lately Appeared in <HI>Print,</HI> A Book Entituled, <HI>Chri&s;tianity not My&s;terious;</HI> And It &V;ndertakes to Shew, <HI>There is nothing in the Go&s;pel, Contrary to Rea&s;on,</HI> or <HI>Above it;</HI> And that no <HI>Chri&s;tian Doctrine</HI> can be call'd, <HI>A My&s;tery.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Writer</HI> Conceals his <HI>Name,</HI> and I do not de|&s;ire to make Enquiry after it; For it is not a <HI>Name,</HI> but <HI>Truth,</HI> and Weight of <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e</HI> I would In&s;i&s;t upon; Nor would I, if I could, make Any <HI>Reflexion</HI> upon Per|&s;ons, Having All Rea&s;ons in my &s;elf for <HI>Humility,</HI> in Re|gard both of Con&s;ciou&s;ne&s;s of my own Weakne&s;s, and al&s;o of &V;nworthine&s;s: I would deal onely with <HI>Things,</HI> and Treat them, as They Require to be Treated; That All may Re&s;t on the Merit of <HI>True Rea&s;on,</HI> according to the <HI>Word of God,</HI> and not on Sallyes of <HI>Wit,</HI> or <HI>Satyre;</HI> And, that All may be Managed with a <HI>Gravity Conde|cent</HI> to the <HI>My&s;teries</HI> of <HI>Chri&s;tianity,</HI> and with <HI>Re|verence</HI>
<PB N="2" REF="4"> of <HI>Scriptures,</HI> as All, who <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e</HI> in their <HI>De|fence,</HI> ought to <HI>Speak</HI> and <HI>Write:</HI> I de&s;ire to ob&s;erve the <HI>Apo&s;tolical Rule,</HI> To give the <HI>Apology</HI> of the <HI>Hope of Chri&s;tianity</HI> to Tho&s;e, who Ask for it, <HI>with Meek|ne&s;s,</HI> and <HI>Fear;</HI> and, <HI>in Meekne&s;s to In&s;truct,</HI> If Any <HI>oppo&s;e Them&s;elves; If God Peradventure will Give them Repentance to the Acknowledging the Truth.</HI></P>
<P>I could Have Heartily wi&s;h'd, that even the <HI>Writer</HI> of the <HI>Treati&s;e,</HI> I De&s;ign to <HI>Review,</HI> had Avoided any thing, that Looks &s;o Like <HI>Ridiculing,</HI> and <HI>Expo&s;ing,</HI> as that <HI>Dialogue</HI> between the <HI>Doctor</HI> and <HI>Pari&s;hioner,</HI> p. <HI>112, &amp;c.</HI> and Left his <HI>Reader</HI> to <HI>Bow</HI> before the <HI>Maje&s;ty of Evidence,</HI> (as He expre&s;&s;es it) wherever he Found it: and had Forborn that, as Lea&s;t <HI>Indecorou&s;ne&s;&s;e</HI> of Expre&s;|&s;ion, towards Per&s;ons of &s;o Great Veneration for their <HI>Ac|compli&s;hments</HI> of <HI>Holine&s;s,</HI> and <HI>Learning;</HI> as al&s;o their <HI>Early Profe&s;&s;ion</HI> of <HI>Chri&s;tianity;</HI> I mean, <HI>The Fathers,</HI> whom He calls, <HI>p. 5. The Herd of the Fa|thers;</HI> as if becau&s;e of Their <HI>Reverence</HI> of the <HI>My&s;teries</HI> of the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> above the <HI>Preten&s;ions</HI> of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> They were to be Look'd upon as <HI>Irrational,</HI> not to &s;ay <HI>Wor&s;e:</HI> A Vein of clear, un&s;ullyed Rea&s;on, e&s;pecially <HI>Bowing</HI> be|fore a <HI>Greater Maje&s;ty,</HI> then what we are too &s;uddenly prone to call <HI>Evidence;</HI> I mean the <HI>Authority of God in his Word;</HI> I value above All <HI>Flouri&s;hes,</HI> tha &s;erve the <HI>Reader</HI>'s Diver&s;ion and Airyne&s;s, rather then his In&s;tructi|on, and Benefit.</P>
<P>I am glad to find &s;o many <HI>Reflexions</HI> on the <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> and the <HI>Depths of Sathan,</HI> as I hope they will
<PB N="3" REF="4"> &s;hortly be &V;niver&s;ally deem'd, and &s;poken of; I mean That of <HI>Popery,</HI> or <HI>Antichri&s;tiani&s;m,</HI> &s;o Great an Eclip&s;e upon the Glory of <HI>True Chri&s;tianity;</HI> becau&s;e <HI>Scrip|ture</HI> hath &s;o often Doomed it to <HI>Impenitency,</HI> and <HI>Per|dition:</HI> But I cannot but look upon it, as mo&s;t Injurious, to Parallel, in any Degree with it, tho&s;e Forms of <HI>Sound Doctrine,</HI> &s;o often Reproached under the Name of <HI>Sy&s;tems,</HI> or <HI>Sy&s;tematic Theology;</HI> wherein any have taken care to keep, e&s;pecially Clo&s;e to Scripture; and tho&s;e <HI>Intel|lectual Exercitations</HI> upon them are &s;uited to Men of <HI>Thought</HI> and <HI>Contemplation,</HI> though not &s;o Familiar to Common <HI>Readers,</HI> or <HI>Hearers;</HI> who may yet have tho&s;e Difficulties Ma&s;ticated, and Prepared for them, by more plain <HI>Di&s;cour&s;es.</HI></P>
<P>I do not yet Plead for Binding Men's <HI>Faith</HI> and <HI>Con|&s;ciences</HI> to any Words, or <HI>Form</HI> of Words, that do not, e&s;|pecially in <HI>Chri&s;tian My&s;teries,</HI> Keep, as clo&s;e as may be, not onely to <HI>Scripture-Sen&s;e,</HI> but to <HI>Scripture-Expre&s;&s;i|ons,</HI> with as little variation as is po&s;&s;ible; <HI>Comparing Spi|ritual things with Spiritual;</HI> and that they who do this, come neare&s;t to the Thing, as the <HI>Author</HI> &s;peaks; though with what De&s;ign, in his Explaining of tho&s;e Words, <HI>p. 5.</HI> I will not undertake to Judge; Let him therein <HI>Stand</HI> or <HI>Fall to his own Ma&s;ter.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Things</HI> that give me <HI>Scandal</HI> in the <HI>Treati&s;e,</HI> are; <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> The Boldne&s;s, and In&s;olency of the <HI>Fronti&s;|piece,</HI> &s;o very Contemptuous, and even Contradictory to the Con&s;tant Language of the <HI>New Te&s;tament,</HI> Styling the Go&s;pel, <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> and its Truths, <HI>My&s;teries;</HI> whil&s;t that openly Bears out, <HI>Chri&s;tianity not My&s;terious;</HI> this
<PB N="4" REF="5"> &s;avours of <HI>Too mean an E&s;teem of the Sacred Stamp, and Super&s;cription,</HI> and the <HI>Images</HI> it gives of <HI>Things,</HI> and Highly Countenances <HI>Antio&s;cripturi&s;m,</HI> which yet the <HI>Writer</HI> would Appear not to have any Favour for.</P>
<P>I look upon it, as a Ju&s;t Occa&s;ion for a <HI>Chri&s;tian Zeal</HI> again&s;t it; That the <HI>Dei&s;ts,</HI> as the <HI>Men of Rea&s;on,</HI> and <HI>Virtuo&s;o</HI>'s, as they would be Thought, in <HI>Religion,</HI> Take the Preten&s;ions of this <HI>Treati&s;e,</HI> as Service to Them&s;elves; Finding &s;o much &s;ettled, in what, They Ac|count Their own Territory, and Deme&s;ne; <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and <HI>Free-Will;</HI> And, in the mean time, they Act the Part of <HI>Ananias,</HI> and <HI>Saphira;</HI> They <HI>Keep Back,</HI> or <HI>With|draw,</HI> &s;ome Noble&s;t Principles of the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> on the&s;e very Intere&s;ts; To which Secret Service, one cannot, but Su&s;|pect, this Di&s;cour&s;e is Devoted.</P>
<P>I cannot but be Troubled; The Ob&s;erving <HI>Athei&s;t,</HI> with whom the <HI>Dei&s;t</HI> is in a Clo&s;e Allyance, Rejoyces to find his Account in this Suppo&s;iting a <HI>Dead Child</HI> of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and <HI>Free-will,</HI> as they now go among&s;t Men, in the Room of that <HI>Living Spirituous Chri&s;tianity</HI> of the <HI>Scriptures;</HI> or at lea&s;t, That it is <HI>Divided</HI> between a Nominal <HI>Faith,</HI> and a <HI>Philo&s;ophy,</HI> that is indeed <HI>Vain,</HI> and <HI>Science, Fal&s;ly &s;o Called.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Beaux-E&s;prits,</HI> The Men of <HI>Ayr,</HI> and <HI>Wit,</HI> are pleas'd with Meeting the Sacred, and Awful <HI>My|&s;teries</HI> of <HI>Chri&s;tian Religion</HI> under <HI>Burle&s;que,</HI> and <HI>Rail|leny:</HI> which ought to Affect the Sincere Lovers of it with Sadne&s;s, and Lamenting &s;uch a Prophane Temper of the Age.</P>
<PB N="5" REF="5">
<P>I will not Deny, That &s;ome, not to be Looked upon with &s;o Ill an Eye, as the Former, who do not Clo&s;ely In|&s;pect, nor Penetrate the Scope, and Tendency of &s;uch a Di&s;|cour&s;e, but &s;uffer Them&s;elves to be Impos'd upon by Palli|ations, and Pretences, think it Innocent: But even this De&s;erves Lamentation, as &s;hewing a Soft, and Tame Sur|rendry of the <HI>Faith of the Go&s;pel,</HI> or a <HI>Gallio</HI>-Like Spi|rit, that does not Generou&s;ly, and Genuinely Care for the&s;e Things.</P>
<P>But All, who more Wi&s;ely and Di&s;cerningly Con&s;ider &s;uch Di&s;&s;ertations in their Spring, and I&s;&s;ue, are Aware, How De&s;tructive to, and Subver&s;ive of the Doctrines, Life, and Power, and even of the Profe&s;&s;ion of the Go&s;pel, they are.</P>
<P>On the Whole, therefore I make this Solemn Pro|fe&s;&s;ion, with <HI>Appeal</HI> to Him, who <HI>Searches Hearts,</HI> That I have no other De&s;ign in this <HI>An&s;wer,</HI> but the Glo|ry of God in the <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> and <HI>Glorious Go&s;pel of his Son;</HI> the Salvation of Souls, That they may <HI>Buy the Truth,</HI> and <HI>not,</HI> on Any Fair Glozes, <HI>Sell it.</HI> And there|fore I can with All Humble Supplications, and A&s;&s;urance, Commend the &V;ndertaking to the <HI>Divine</HI> Acceptance, in, and through the Mediator, and to His Ble&s;&s;ing upon it; to the Approbation of Sincere Chri&s;tians; and to the very Rea&s;on of the Adver&s;aries between God, and their own Con&s;ciences.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="treatise">
<PB N="6" REF="6">
<HEAD><HI>THE SCHEME OF THE</HI> TREATISE, Chri&s;tianity not My&s;terious; and of the <HI>An&s;wer</HI> to it.</HEAD>
<P>THE Faire&s;t, and Cleare&s;t Method for the Attaining Truth in any Debate, is the Plaine&s;t Laying Down the State of it, or Giving a <HI>Scheme</HI> of what is Agreed on Both Parts; of what is mainly in Difference; and of the Prin|cipal Topicks of Argument on each &s;ide. The&s;e therefore I would lay down in one View.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 40, 4, &amp;c.</NOTE>1. There is an Acknowledgment on Both Parts of the Divine Original of the <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> and of its Truths; That They are from God: The Advantage of which in Deciding this Controver|&s;y, is; That whatever is regularly Argued from Scripture, and from the very Stream, and Current of it, is to be Own'd, Re|ceiv'd, and Re&s;ted upon as Truth by each Party; and is un|doubtedly Agreeable to Right Rea&s;on, and Right Rea&s;on to it.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="7" REF="6">2. There are yet Truths of the Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 40, 41, &amp;c.</NOTE> that could never have been Found out by the True&s;t, or even the Highe&s;t Created Rea&s;on, &s;eeing they are the <HI>Deeps of God,</HI> and can be known onely by Revelation from Him&s;elf. The Advantage of this Acknowledgment is; That in Regard of the Original of the Truths of the <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> whatever of Adorablene&s;s, and Exciting Profounde&s;t Reverence is Imported in <HI>Divine My&s;teries,</HI> is for ever due to the Truths of the <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> as in their Un&s;earchable Spring, and Origin: And this certainly ought to have Mode|rated a <HI>Zeal without Knowledge,</HI> or Due Con&s;ideration of All, that do but Acknowledge &s;o much, in <HI>De-My&s;terizing</HI> them (if I may &s;o &s;peak) or Laying them Common; This &s;hould Con|ciliate to them mo&s;t Humble Veneration, and Love, as In|e&s;timable Pledges of the Good-will of the Supreme Being, to &s;uch Unworthy De&s;picable Creatures, as we the Children of Men Are, to whom the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> is Vouch&s;afed; and even of Con|de&s;cen&s;ion to Angels, whom Sacred Writing &s;hews to have an Intere&s;t, at lea&s;t of Beholding with Admiration, and Delight.</P>
<P>And be&s;ides this, there are Rea&s;ons, as will appear, that what is &s;o Originally <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> &s;hould be always &s;o, till &s;uch a State of Perfect Comprehen&s;ion, as wherein <HI>All Mystery</HI> &s;hall be Fi|ni&s;hed.</P>
<P N="3">3. It is Acknowledged, That the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> is prepared,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Sect.</HI> 2, 3. <HI>Chap.</HI> 3d.</NOTE> and even Gloriou&s;ly Accompli&s;h'd to Inform, and to Illuminate; And that it was Attended with an Undoubted Evidence, and Demon|&s;tration of the Power of God in <HI>Miracles,</HI> that might give All A&s;&s;urance, and Satisfaction to the Rea&s;on, and Mind of Man; That it was, and is from God.</P>
<P>The Advantage of this Acknowledgment on Both Parts is, That hereby, <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> There is an Unpa&s;&s;able <HI>Gulph Fix'd</HI> be|tween the Great <HI>My&s;tery of Godline&s;s,</HI> and the <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> which is a <HI>My&s;tery</HI> of <HI>Darkne&s;s,</HI> as <HI>Darkne&s;s it Self;</HI> and its <HI>Miracles Lying Wonders,</HI> that is, Wonders of Darkne&s;s, Like only to the Foul Idolatrous <HI>My&s;teries</HI> of <HI>Pagani&s;m,</HI> and its Fables, as Scripture continually &s;hades the one by the othe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</P>
<P>Let there therefore be no &s;hade of Reproach ca&s;t on the Go&s;|pel Notion, or &s;tyle of <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> from the <HI>my&s;tery of Iniquity;</HI> &s;eeing the One is &s;eparate from the Other, as Light from Darkne&s;s, or
<PB N="8" REF="7"> as Heaven from Hell, and that by Scripture it &s;elf; which, (though it u&s;es the word <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> &s;o continually, as a <HI>Ve&s;&s;el of Honour,</HI> and Proper to its own Divine Truths,) hath yet &s;et <HI>Antichri&s;tiani&s;me,</HI> the Counterfeit of Chri&s;tianity, under the Title of a <HI>Counter-my&s;tery</HI> al&s;o, the <HI>my&s;tery of iniquity.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. It is from hence Agreed on Both parts, that Faith is no Implicit, Sequacious, Blind A&s;&s;ent; but a Grace of Greate&s;t Wi&s;|dom, and Under&s;tanding, Full of Cleare&s;t Light, and Percep|tions of Truth, Able to be the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the very Pre&s;ence, or Solid Argument of <HI>Things not &s;een;</HI> the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Demon|&s;tration of <HI>Things Hoped for.</HI></P>
<P>The Advantage of this Agreement is, that, if notwith|&s;tanding this, There &s;hall be Found &s;ome Intimate, and even E&s;&s;ential Rea&s;on, why <HI>my&s;tery</HI> &s;hould be Acknowledged <HI>my|&s;tery;</HI> and that even becau&s;e Faith is &s;o wi&s;e, and Intelligent a Grace; It will then come home to the Deci&s;ion of the Main Point, whether <HI>Chri&s;tianity</HI> be <HI>mysterious</HI> or not, and it will be Decided for it.</P>
<P N="5">5. We are Both One, That we have not <HI>Adequate Ideas</HI> of the Truths of the Go&s;pel, nor Behold the E&s;&s;ences of the things therein, no more, than we have Adequate Conceptions of the Divine Being, or Attributes; or can Behold the Divine E&s;|&s;ence: Nor have we &s;o much, as Adequate Conceptions of Things in Nature, nor can behold their E&s;&s;ences: The Advan|tage of this Acknowledgment lies in this, That one Undenyable Sen&s;e of <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> viz. Some Kind of Concealment, and Re&s;erve is Found in the Truths of <HI>Christianity;</HI> There are &s;uch Secre|&s;yes in them, that we cannot by our &s;elves have Proportionate Apprehen&s;ions, nor Adequate <HI>Ideas</HI> of; and yet, that this can|not be a &s;ufficient Rea&s;on of <HI>my&s;teryzing</HI> them; But if there may be Rea&s;ons given, why their <HI>Hiddenne&s;&s;es</HI> &s;hould be called <HI>my&s;teries,</HI> and the Secrets of Nature not on tho&s;e Rea&s;ons, &s;tyled <HI>my&s;teries;</HI> Yea, if &s;ome Rea&s;on of Great Value may be given, why the Truths of the Go&s;pel may be called <HI>my&s;teries</HI> more particularly, then the Divine Being, and Attributes, which yet cannot be <HI>Found out to Perfection;</HI> This Acknowledg|ment may be very &s;erviceable, and conduce much to the Stating the Principal Point now in hand.</P>
<P N="6"><PB N="9" REF="7">6. It mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity be Agreed by All, that have Rever|ence for the Go&s;pel, and the Revelations of it; That there are no Real Contradictions therein; All &s;uch are to be Remov'd into the <HI>my&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> with All Things, that would come within the Verge of Religion, and are of a Trivial Nature; or which Falling under a Contradiction in the very Judgment of Sen&s;e, can be likened to a Ball, White and Black together; or a Square that's Round; or a Cane without Two Ends. For all the Truths of Chri&s;tianity are not only Free from Contradicti|on, but known to be from God, by the Heavenlyne&s;s, Dignity, Salutarine&s;s of their Nature, Tendency to the Glory of God, and to the Salvation of Souls.</P>
<P>But as to &s;eeming Contradictions, where the Seemingne&s;s is the Effect of the Weakne&s;s, and Darkne&s;s of our Intellectual Powers, and that are Dimm'd with the Vapors of Corruption, and Steams of Lu&s;t; and where the Objects are Pure, Spiritual, Sublime, and we do not in our Gro&s;&s;ne&s;s Comprehend them; Herein a more &s;trict Account is to be taken, than the Author hath given.</P>
<P N="6">6. That to Under&s;tand the Truths of the Go&s;pel, &s;o as to Receive Them; the Prejudices of a Carnal Mind, and all Lu&s;ts are to be Remov'd: Men mu&s;t be Humble, not Proud; Con|&s;iderate, not Ha&s;ty; Diligent in Search after Truth, not Sloth|ful, or Carele&s;s; They mu&s;t u&s;e their Rea&s;on, and Intellectual Faculties aright: The Advantage of this Acknowledgment on both &s;ides is, That it lets us into a Great Rea&s;on, why the <HI>my&s;teries</HI> of the Go&s;pel are to be Allow'd <HI>my&s;teries;</HI> Becau&s;e there is a nece&s;&s;ity of Divine Grace to Enlighten, and Conform the Mind to the Obedience of Faith.</P>
<P N="7">7. There's a Suppo&s;ition in the Treati&s;e of <HI>Supra-Intellectual Truths,</HI> that none can under&s;tand, except their Perceptions be Communicated to them in an Extraordinary Manner, as by New <HI>Powers</HI> and <HI>Organs.</HI> And, by the &s;ame Favour the&s;e Truths are Communicated from One to Another in the Preaching of the Go&s;pel; Now this Suppo&s;ition, I mean, of <HI>Supra-Intellectual Truths,</HI> and a Supernatural Manner of Communication, at a Di|&s;tance, and &s;o Coldly Suppo&s;ed is That, which I would endeav|our to make good to be the Con&s;tant, and Uniform Sen&s;e of the New Te&s;tament; as appears by tho&s;e Expre&s;&s;ions <HI>of the Spirit of Wi&s;dom, and Illumination</HI> (of which the Author him&s;elf
<PB N="10" REF="8"> takes notice) <HI>Regeneration,</HI> and <HI>Renovation of the Spirit of the Mind;</HI> And I &s;ee not what Ab&s;urdity, or Unrea&s;onablene&s;s the Author can charge upon it; &s;ince he owns; There are Men <HI>Taught of God,</HI> and that <HI>God wants not Ability Rightly to Inform them,</HI> as nece&s;&s;ary to &s;uch Communications, <HI>p.</HI> 132.</P>
<P>That he Him&s;elf does not &s;uppo&s;e Ab&s;olutely <HI>New Facul|ties,</HI> or <HI>Organs,</HI> but as by <HI>New Faculties,</HI> or <HI>Organs:</HI> I look upon as a Great Truth of the Go&s;pel: In this Suppo&s;iti|on therefore, the <HI>Word of God,</HI> which is <HI>&s;harp,</HI> as a <HI>Two-Edged-Sword,</HI> &s;eems to me, to have met him, as the <HI>Angel of the Lord</HI> did <HI>Balaam in the way,</HI> with a <HI>Drawn Sword,</HI> Warning him, that his Rea&s;oning is in the Sight of God <HI>Perver&s;e,</HI> and to be cut in pieces by it.</P>
<P><HI>Lastly,</HI> Herein I am of the &s;ame Mind with this <HI>Treati&s;e,</HI> and the <HI>Author</HI> of it, as that on which he Builds his Di&s;cour&s;e throughout, if it be but Explained Aright; and That Aright (as I &s;uppo&s;e) he will allow, <HI>viz.</HI> For any thing to be <HI>mystery,</HI> is to be <HI>Above our Rea&s;on,</HI> Acting according to our Innate <HI>Ideas;</HI> tho&s;e that may be &s;uppo&s;ed to be Concreated with us, or that we have a Natural Power to Form, and to Rea&s;on according to in our pre&s;ent &s;tate. And whatever is not <HI>Above</HI> the&s;e <HI>Ideas,</HI> and our Rea&s;on acting upon them, is not <HI>mystery,</HI> though we have not <HI>Adequate Ideas,</HI> or Perfect Conceptions of Things, or Intuition of their E&s;&s;ences.</P>
<P>Now if Rea&s;on be taken in this Limited Sen&s;e, there may be, and, as things are, there mu&s;t be <HI>mystery;</HI> But if in a Supreme Ab&s;olute &s;en&s;e, it is certain; As there can be no Truth <HI>Above Divine Rea&s;on,</HI> &s;o there can be no <HI>mystery.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Contrary to Rea&s;on</HI> can only be &s;uppo&s;ed of any Truth, as Corrupted <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> can be called <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> Or, as Men will ob|&s;tinately hold their Mea&s;ure of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> to be the Standard; &s;o that whatever is Higher or Deeper, Longer, or Broader then that Mea&s;ure, or Standard, is not <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> but <HI>Contrary</HI> to it: Now either of the&s;e is &s;o Fal&s;ly called <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> that they have very little Intere&s;t in the &s;tricte&s;t Con&s;ideration, I confe&s;s, of <HI>my&s;tery.</HI> But &s;eeing This Corruption of Rea&s;on, or Adherence to any Short Mea&s;ure, of (though True) <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> be now a Depravati|on Immedicinable, but by the Lifting up of the Mind above it &s;elf by a Supernatural Power; The Truths of the Go&s;pel may
<PB N="11" REF="8"> too Truely be &s;aid to be <HI>Contrary to Rea&s;on,</HI> and &s;o <HI>my&s;tery;</HI> even as, and more then if they were <HI>Above Rea&s;on</HI> only.</P>
<P>The Advantage of this Accord in the De&s;cription of <HI>my&s;tery</HI> is, That hereby a clear, and di&s;tinct under&s;tanding of what is principally in Difference, is attained, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P>On the Side of the <HI>Treati&s;e,</HI> it is affirm'd by the Author; There is no Doctrine of Chri&s;tianity, that can be properly &s;tyl|ed a <HI>my&s;tery;</HI> that is; above Rea&s;on, or contrary to it.</P>
<P>In <HI>An&s;wer</HI> to the <HI>Treati&s;e,</HI> I Affirm; There are Greate&s;t Truths of the Go&s;pel <HI>Above Rea&s;on,</HI> though not con&s;ider'd, as Corrupt; and many more; Yea, the whole Tenor, and Frame of the Go&s;pel, as it comprizes the Redemption of Man Fallen, by our Lord <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> is Both <HI>above</HI> and <HI>contrary</HI> to it, as Cor|rupted, and &s;o <HI>my&s;tery.</HI></P>
<P>And according to the Mea&s;ures of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> &s;o are the Powers of <HI>Free-will</HI> to be Arbitrated, and E&s;timated, as &s;hall be &s;een, through the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of God, in the Following Debate.</P>
<P>The <HI>Topicks,</HI> or Seats of Argument, on which the <HI>Author,</HI> and his <HI>Treati&s;e</HI> Rely, are,</P>
<P N="1">1. That when the Truths of the Go&s;pel are once Revealed, the Mind and Rea&s;on of Man is able, by its &s;elf, to Form <HI>Ideas</HI> of Them, according to <HI>Revelation;</HI> &s;o far as is nece&s;&s;ary to our Ad|vantage, however not Adequate; and by Former <HI>Ideas</HI> Implant|ed, to Judge of them, as from God, and according to Truth; El&s;e they could be nothing to us any more, than if never Reveal|ed; nor could we el&s;e di&s;tingui&s;h them from Fal&s;hood, and Delu&s;ion, &s;o proper to the <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity;</HI> And that Man hath a Power of <HI>Free-will</HI> Obedientially to An&s;wer the Ends of &s;uch Revelations, if not wanting to him&s;elf; El&s;e he could not be ju&s;tly Condemned.</P>
<P N="2">2. That the Go&s;pel is prepared and Addre&s;&s;ed to the Minds and Wills of Men, according to the former Hypothe&s;is, or Argu|ment; and not, as if it were <HI>My&s;tery.</HI></P>
<P>On the Contrary Part, to &s;hew, the Go&s;pel is <HI>My&s;terious;</HI> I will endeavour, after the Clo&s;e&s;t Pur&s;uits of the Nature of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and of <HI>Revelation,</HI> according to both Scripture and Rea|&s;on, and the Intimate Sen&s;e of Awaken'd Mind.</P>
<P>From Both the&s;e therefore Compared, we &s;hall Attain the Knowledge; How the very word <HI>My&s;tery</HI> came into the u&s;e
<PB N="12" REF="9"> of the Go&s;pel, and Adju&s;t thereunto the u&s;e of it in the Impure <HI>My&s;teries</HI> of <HI>Pagani&s;m,</HI> and <HI>Antichri&s;tiani&s;m;</HI> and the Common u&s;e of it in ordinary Concernments; and for what Excellent purpo&s;es it is to be Zealou&s;ly Contended for in Divine Things, till All <HI>My&s;tery be Fini&s;h'd.</HI></P>
<P>And to Exemplify Go&s;pel <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> I will do it in Him, who is indeed the Highe&s;t Exemplar of Both; The Eter|nal <HI>Logus,</HI> or <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and the <HI>My&s;tery;</HI> as he is <HI>Chri&s;t in us the Hope of Glory.</HI> And hereby we &s;hall be led into the Supreme <HI>My&s;tery of the Father; The Word; The Spirit.</HI></P>
<P>And all along, in An&s;wer to this <HI>Treati&s;e,</HI> I would remove the <HI>Scandals</HI> and Reproaches ca&s;t upon the Truths of the Go|&s;pel, A&s;&s;erted to be <HI>My&s;terious;</HI> and the <HI>Faithful Stewards</HI> of tho&s;e <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> as if they had any <HI>Symboli&s;m</HI> with <HI>the My&s;tery of Ini|quity;</HI> and &s;hew how they differ as Light and Darkne&s;s.</P>
<P>In the La&s;t Place, Any Objections I can Derive from the <HI>Trea|ti&s;e,</HI> that can be &s;uppo&s;ed to be made again&s;t the <HI>My&s;teriou&s;ne&s;s</HI> of Chri&s;tianity, as it &s;hall be made out in the <HI>An&s;wer,</HI> &s;hall be throughout it, as particularly as may be taken into Ju&s;t, and E|qual Con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>According to this <HI>Scheme</HI> I &s;hall, by the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of God, not only endeavour a Scripture, but a Rational Conviction, that the Doctrines of Chri&s;tianity are, and mu&s;t needs be in True&s;t Sen&s;e <HI>My&s;teries.</HI></P>
<P>I Conclude therefore this &s;hort <HI>Scheme</HI> with Applying that Grave Ob&s;ervation to the whole; It is &s;aid; <HI>A little Knowledge in Nature makes Men Athei&s;ts;</HI> But a Deep, and Well-Balla&s;t|ed Knowledge more &s;trongly Rootes Them in the Acknow|ledgment, and Adoration of the Divine Being; So Superficial Tinctures of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> give Men occa&s;ion to Deny the <HI>My&s;teriou&s;|ne&s;s</HI> of Chri&s;tianity; but the Ju&s;ter Pre&s;ences of it in the Mind give Fulle&s;t A&s;&s;urances; It is in All True Sen&s;es <HI>My&s;terious,</HI> even the Adorable My&s;tery of the Divine Wi&s;dom and Grace.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="discourse">
<PB N="13" REF="9">
<HEAD>A Di&s;cour&s;e of the <HI>My&s;teriou&s;ne&s;s of Chri&s;ti|anity,</HI> in an&s;wer to a treati&s;e, <HI>Chri&s;tianity not My&s;terious.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. I.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Of the clo&s;e and &s;trict con&s;ideration of Rea&s;on.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>IN &s;peaking of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">The Intro|duction to that Head, The clo&s;e pur&s;uit after Rea&s;on.</NOTE> I cannot acquie&s;ce to the &s;ingling out of that compare, and ballancing of the <HI>Idea</HI>'s of the Mind, and Arguing from them, in finding out Truth, a&s;&s;igned in this Trea|ti&s;e, to be a &s;ufficient Repre&s;entation of <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> but that there ought to be as ju&s;t an Animadver&s;ion, on what the Author does indeed Repre&s;ent; which ought to be taken in, <HI>viz.</HI> the <HI>Mind,</HI> the <HI>Idea</HI>'s <HI>of the Mind,</HI> the Evidences the Mind hath of Notions, or Propo&s;itions immediately, and as i&s;&s;uing in Full Demon&s;trati|on: And al&s;o what the Author takes no notice of, <HI>viz.</HI> That Holine&s;s, Purity, Righteou&s;ne&s;s, Univer&s;al Goodne&s;s and Probity, in&s;epa|rate from <HI>True Rea&s;on;</HI> That Inward; and <HI>Prophoric,</HI> or out|ward, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Speech &s;o E&s;&s;ential to <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and that <HI>Energy,</HI> Vi|gor, and Power of Imprinting it &s;elf upon Rational Beings, &s;o immediately re&s;ulting from <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> according to the Excellency of the Rea&s;on, from which it flows: For thus I find Scripture does extend it &s;elf, with Relation to what is to be <HI>Di&s;cour&s;ed</HI> upon,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> as <HI>Rea&s;on, viz. Spirit, Mind, the &V;nder&s;tanding, the Di&s;cur&s;ive Mind, Wi&s;dom, Knowledg, Truth;</HI> The <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> that is the <HI>Fear of the Lord,</HI> the <HI>Knowledg of the Holy,</HI> The <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>the Law
<PB N="14" REF="10"> Written in the Heart.</HI> The <HI>&s;peaking in the Heart,</HI> or <HI>Communing</HI> with it; The <HI>Tongue of the Wi&s;e, of the Learned; a might and pow|er, an Authority of Teaching.</HI> But were it not that in one peculiar ca&s;e of greate&s;t moment (as &s;hall be &s;et out, but deferr'd till what is more univer&s;ally agreeable, have made the way to it.) I &s;hould have no favor for the word <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> on a Religious Account; as be|ing a word taken from the Pride and Supercile of <HI>Philo&s;ophy,</HI> and not from Scripture; but &s;et in oppo&s;ition to the Spirituality of the Go&s;pel: But &s;eeing it hath plea&s;ed the Spirit of God to &s;ingle out that word, that all the Great Men of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> have expre&s;&s;ed it by; <HI>viz.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">; and to apply it to the Son of God, <GAP DESC="foreign">, the <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> as Scripture is, <HI>The Writing;</HI> therein Sanctifying the <HI>Learning of Egypt,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;o Tran&s;cendent a <HI>Revelation,</HI> and &s;o plainly point|ing upon the &s;en&s;e of that word, we are to be upon, in &s;tyling that <GAP DESC="foreign">, the <HI>Light of Men,</HI> as <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> in the General Accep|tation is; and the <HI>Light,</HI> that <HI>Lightneth every man that cometh into the World;</HI> I &s;hall generally adhere to it in the following Di&s;cour&s;e, and have an e&s;pecial Regard to it, as it mu&s;t needs be under&s;tood in this Debate, <HI>viz.</HI> That <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> or <HI>Rea&s;oning &V;nder&s;tanding</HI> planted in the Mind, or intellectual Spirit of Man, con&s;tituting &s;uch an Intellectual, Rational Creation; altho in this Fallen Con|dition of Man, there are only &s;ome Re&s;erves, or &s;ome Mentions and Ruins of it.</P>
<P N="1">&sect;. 1. IT is agreed on both parts, as is acknowledged in the <HI>Scheme</HI> Foregoing; That to be <HI>Above,</HI> or <HI>not above Rea&s;on,</HI> determines <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> or <HI>no My&s;tery;</HI> it is mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary therefore to Examine, wherein the true nature of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> con&s;i&s;ts, a&s;cending up to the Supreme and Eternal Rea|&s;on, and coming down by the &s;everal Scales, and Degrees of Cre|ated <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and in Created <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> to con&s;ider it as Upright and Entire, and as Fallen and Depraved. To make therefore the Exacte&s;t enquiry after the Scripture-notion of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> comparing it with the intimate &s;en&s;e of Man-kind (if that &s;en&s;e be duly Re|flected upon) &s;hall be the fir&s;t part of my undertaking.</P>
<P N="2">&sect;. 2. The very force and weight of the word <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and &s;o of <HI>Wi&s;dom, &V;nder&s;tanding, Truth;</HI> leads to &s;ome &s;upreme <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>rea&s;on;</HI> for every name, and pretence to the&s;e high and ex|cellent
<PB N="15" REF="10"> things, cannot be them&s;elves; And yet one pretence would be as good as another, and the loude&s;t &s;ound, like the &s;tronge&s;t &s;word, would carry it, were there not &s;ome Ab&s;olute <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> by which all the various preten&s;ions are to be Tryed and Determin'd.</P>
<P N="3">&sect;. 3. We find among Men, There are various Degrees and Ele|vations of <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> and <HI>Wi&s;doms</HI> (as we may &s;tile them) or of <HI>&V;nder&s;tandings;</HI> &s;ome Higher, and &s;ome Lower, and we Na|turally Appeal from the Lower, to tho&s;e we judg Higher; till we come to what we e&s;teem Highe&s;t; And if tho&s;e various <HI>&V;nder&s;tandings,</HI> or <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> are at difference among them&s;elves; we cannot but acknowledg our &s;elves obliged, and we do ne|ce&s;&s;arily acquie&s;ce in what we judg the True&s;t, and the mo&s;t ex|cellent Under&s;tanding; If we are &s;incere in our Search after, and de&s;ire of Truth.</P>
<P N="4">&sect;. 4. It is true, this is, becau&s;e we do; if we do, as Intellectu|al Beings Ought; Try and Examine, and reduce all to &s;ome infallible Standard, in which we can acquie&s;ce, and of which we have a Sen&s;e within our &s;elves; And He, Or that which we find comes neare&s;t to that Standard, we mo&s;t defer to, and acquie&s;ce in, and cannot but do &s;o; which Argues, we have all a Sen&s;e, or Con&s;ciou&s;ne&s;s of &s;ome Ab&s;olute perfect Standard of <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> or <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> without Agreement with which, what would be Reputed <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> is In&s;ipience or Folly; what would be re|puted <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is Irrationality, and Ab&s;urdity.</P>
<P N="5">&sect;. 5. This Infallible Standard, if we make a curious and home Reflection upon it in our &s;elves, we cannot conceive of, as One Ab&s;tracted <HI>Norma,</HI> Rule, or Line of Wi&s;dom and Rea&s;on, that doth not know it &s;elf, or doth not it &s;elf know, that it knows, or under&s;tands; That doth not Judg &s;o, as to know, that it Judges, and That cannot pronounce and declare, ac|cording to it &s;elf; and know it does &s;o; For this were &s;uch an Al|lay and Degradation of its excellency, as is mo&s;t intollerable once to &s;uppo&s;e: It mu&s;t be therefore &s;ome Living, Self-know|ing, Self-intelligent Being, <HI>He, or That which teacheth Man Know|ledg, &s;hall not It, or He know?</HI> Even All Perfections of Being,
<PB N="16" REF="11" MS="y"> Omnipotence, Omnipre&s;ence, Eternity, nece&s;&s;arily lead to that Self-knowing, Self-intelligent Living Being, who is all tho&s;e Per|fections: And in Univer&s;al Sen&s;e and Character of Language is the Divine Being, GOD, who is All the&s;e, and knows he is all the&s;e; and who is Able, even by the very Perfection of his own Supreme <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> uncontrollably to know, even by that very <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> that he is that infallible <HI>wi&s;dom, Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> and All who <HI>rea&s;on</HI> cannot but acknowledg he is &s;o; but if there were any &s;uch Ab&s;tracted Dead Law, &s;tiled <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> or <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> God derived the Rule and Mea&s;ure of his Under&s;tand|ing, and Actions from, and referr'd them to; that were not Him&s;elf, and his own Being; He were not then Supreme, but Accountable; and <HI>Apo&s;tate</HI> Spirits might maintain an Everla&s;ting and Undecidable Plea again&s;t God, whether God, or they them|&s;elves came neare&s;t to that Rule; but the Glory, Lu&s;tre and Cla|ritude of his Being declare him that Supreme <HI>wi&s;dom,</HI> and <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> and the Rule of it; <HI>and Devils Believe and Tremble:</HI> Here then is the Fir&s;t, and mo&s;t Fundamental Notion of <HI>rea&s;on</HI> or <HI>wi&s;dom; The Father of Lights, the Father of Spirits, with whom is no varia|tion, nor &s;haddow of Turning,</HI> is the Supreme, Ab&s;olute, Infallible <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> or <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> and to &s;peak of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and not to Ac|knowledg him Supreme, it is not to <HI>know what we &s;peak, nor affirm.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. II.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Of the Excellencies that are to be Attributed to the Infinite <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and that we Know cannot but be &s;o Attributed.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P N="1">&sect;. 1. WIth this Eternal <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> are all <HI>Idea</HI>'s of <HI>Being,</HI> not only Exi&s;ting, but po&s;&s;ible to Exi&s;t in the Pure and mo&s;t Exqui&s;ite Truth of each, who gives a po&s;&s;ibi|lity of Exi&s;tence to them, if Infinite Being pleas'd; For Infinite Under&s;tanding, and Rea&s;on is the <HI>Origin,</HI> and Exemplar of all
<PB N="17" REF="11"> <HI>Ideas,</HI> the Te&s;t by which they are Tryed, the Beam at which they are weighed; whether Ju&s;t and True, or Counterfeit, Fal&s;e and Light; and the Immen&s;e Repo&s;itory from whence they are Deriv'd; Even as Infinite Being is the Source and Fountain of all Being; and thus this Eternal Spirit, Mind and Rea&s;on Sees by, and in it &s;elf, or in <HI>its own Spirit,</HI> its own Infinite Being; and in that Infinite Being all Beings that have been, are, and ever &s;hall be; or that if he had plea&s;ed, might have been, or may be, if he plea&s;|es to have them be; according to their &s;everal Natures, Di&s;tincti|ons, and the <HI>Ideas</HI> of them. He holds all in him&s;elf, as the Foun|tain of Being, and according to his own will concerning them All the&s;e are Held.</P>
<P N="2">&sect;. 2. Hence ari&s;es that great and excellent word, and notion, <HI>Truth;</HI> which is a Corre&s;pondence between Being or Reality, and an Under&s;tanding, Beholding, and Looking upon it with Judgment; any pretended <HI>Idea's</HI> that are not according to Things, are <HI>Fantoms,</HI> and not <HI>Idea</HI>'s; all other Apprehen&s;ions, Conceptions, No|tions, Conclu&s;ions, that Created Under&s;tandings can Form, are nothings, if taken out of the Under&s;tandings that Formed them; Becau&s;e Created Under&s;tandings cannot touch them into Being, as Increated Can; and not only &s;o, but Reality and Truth Ru&s;h|ing again&s;t them, breaks them to nothing, even within the Un|der&s;tandings that Form'd them, finding things &s;o much other|wi&s;e: And which we ought well to con&s;ider; Truth and Rea|lity take hold of Tho&s;e, who had no <HI>Idea</HI>'s of them; and, to their Full Perfection of tho&s;e, who had only <HI>Inadequate Ideas</HI> of them; as the words of the <HI>Dead Prophets took hold of the Jews,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 1.5.</NOTE> becau&s;e from God, however In&s;en&s;ible of them; of the <HI>Fathers</HI> who heard them, and Believed them not; and of their Children, who were not Born, when they were &s;poken: Now Truth is Infinite, even as the Divine Being and Under&s;tanding is; and of unexpre&s;|&s;ible multiplicity, as the Divine Di&s;playes in the Works of Cre|ation and Providence are; Deep, unfathomable, and un&s;earchable, as the <HI>Coun&s;els of his Will are,</HI> till Revealed.</P>
<P N="3">&sect;. 3. The Relations, A&s;pects upon, mutual Re&s;pects, Pro|portions, Operations between Being, and Being, with their whole &s;tate, from the Infinite, Increated Being, to the Highe&s;t Creat|ed
<PB N="18" REF="12"> Being, and &s;o from one to another to the very lowe&s;t of Be|ings, are next to be Con&s;idered; &s;ome of which are Evident to <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> by Sen&s;e, &s;ome by an immediate, intuitive Act of the Mind, or <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> now herein, even in the&s;e mutual Propo&s;iti|ons, and Re&s;pects Re&s;ides a &s;econd Apprehen&s;ion, or Notion, of what we mean by <HI>Rea&s;on:</HI> And all the <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> we have, will de|fer to the Infinite Rea&s;on to be the infallible Standard of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and Truth herein; For, who, as he can di&s;cern all the &s;trait, and direct, the Branching out, and Tran&s;ver&s;e Lines in Created Be|ings from one to another; and the immediate Influences from him&s;elf to all Created Beings, in whom all Beings <HI>have their Being;</HI> even as they that <HI>Live,</HI> and <HI>Move,</HI> have their <HI>Life</HI> and <HI>Mo|tion</HI> in him; for all the&s;e he holds Originally in Him&s;elf, and con|tinually &s;u&s;tains, and guides by him&s;elf; even as he drew them out with &s;o admirable <HI>Mathematicks,</HI> that the <HI>Secrets of Wi&s;dom</HI> herein are <HI>Double</HI> to all that is known to the wi&s;e&s;t of Angels, much more to the mo&s;t Curious Human Inve&s;tigator, of what we call Nature: And from hence ari&s;es an inexplicable multipli|city of Truth, and &s;o of the activity of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> concerning it.</P>
<P N="4">&sect;. 4. The Trains, Deductions, Connexions and Inferences that may be made from one Branch of Being, and the Truths ari&s;ing from it, to another Branch of Being, and the Truths Ari|&s;ing from That, and &s;o throughout from the &s;everal Connexions and Enterweavings of one with another, come next under Ac|count, and are very particularly to be con&s;iderd; For from the comparing and ballancing the&s;e one with another, and the <HI>Idea's</HI> of them one with another flows, what we properly call <HI>Ratioci|nation,</HI> or Argument of <HI>Rea&s;on.</HI> Now all the&s;e &s;eeth and behold|eth by one Intuitive Act of Seeing, the Eternal Under&s;tanding, or <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> and no under&s;tanding can &s;ee, or behold them, but in his Light, and according to his Infinite, and Infallible Standard of <HI>Ratiocination;</HI> nor can any Ratiocination upon them be Right, but as they agree with, and are according to this Infinite and Infallible Standard of <HI>Ratiocination;</HI> who holds in him&s;elf, and continually derives from him&s;elf tho&s;e Bonds of Union, and Links of Connexion, things have one with another, on which <HI>Ratiocination</HI> and Argument are founded; and therefore cannot but know, to Infiniy of Certainty, and exactne&s;s; for what we
<PB N="19" REF="12"> &s;ee, but one after another, and not with a Ju&s;t Equality, he &s;ees together, and with a ju&s;t Poize of Each; the want of which pre&s;ence of, and regard to all <HI>Idea's,</HI> and the Equipoize of them, was the Ruin of Angels: What tru&s;t then can be to our due Con|gregating, Compare, and Ballance of <HI>Ideas</HI> one with another; when we either leave out altogether, or do not Righteou&s;ly weigh &s;ome principal <HI>Idea;</HI> as mo&s;t certainly <HI>befell Adam</HI> in his De|ception and Fall; and yet herein, even in this <HI>Ratiocination,</HI> or comparing, and librating <HI>Ideas</HI> one with another, The Author of this Treati&s;e places <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> and it is certainly the <HI>Fort-Royal</HI> of it, altho what went before, and what is to follow, ought to have full con&s;ideration in our E&s;timate of Rea&s;on.</P>
<P N="5">&sect;. 5. In tho&s;e Accounts of Rea&s;on before in&s;i&s;ted upon, we may, and I have endeavour'd to Argue from the little of Rea&s;on in our &s;elves, to the Infinity of Rea&s;on in the Infinite Rea&s;on, Wi&s;dom, Under&s;tanding, and Truth; But in the Account I would now give of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> I &s;hall Argue from the Infinite Rea|&s;on to all Finite Rea&s;on; That no Rea&s;on, Wi&s;dom, or Un|der&s;tanding can be according to Truth &s;o, that is not entirely Holy, and Good; and although we want this excellency of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> yet we cannot but acknowledg it the excellency of Rea&s;on, and A&s;cribe it to God the be&s;t of Beings, and Rea&s;ons; That <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> then is not to be acknowledged <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> nor worthy Tru&s;t in any Enquiry after Truth, that can betray its Tru&s;t &s;o Far, as to Re&s;ign up the Will to any &s;in; which according to the Law of Creation, it hath in its Conduct and Power; if there|fore the Under&s;tanding and Rea&s;on did not turn away from good by Darkne&s;s, or not brightning its own Beams, but Re|ceiving an even voluntary Eclip&s;e upon them, no Evil could be Admitted; For it is indeed certainly true, the Will of a Ration|al Being is one with its Rea&s;on, and the Rea&s;on with the Will; when ever one Errs, the other Errs: The wi&s;e&s;t of the Fallen Angels is but a <HI>Prince of Darkne&s;s,</HI> held in <HI>Chains of Darkne&s;s;</HI> and his Fundamental Wickedne&s;s is in an Apo&s;tate, Rebel, Di&s;loyal Rea&s;on, Judging that Holine&s;s, Conformity with, Obedience to the Supreme Being is not Good for him; and &s;o it is in us &s;in|ful Men, and our &s;ins; and yet becau&s;e There is Will in this Rea&s;on, it is under an everla&s;ting righteous Condemnation: But
<PB N="20" REF="13"> The Infinite <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is Infinite Holine&s;s and Goodne&s;s; He <HI>cannot be Tempted of Evil;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.13.</NOTE> neither can he <HI>Tempt any one.</HI> If it were not thus, he could not have <HI>made weights for the Winds,</HI> nor <HI>weigh|ed the Water by Mea&s;ure:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 28.23.</NOTE> He could not have <HI>made a Decree for the Rain,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 3.19.</NOTE> nor a <HI>way for the Lightning of Thunder:</HI> By the <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> of Infinite Holine&s;s <HI>he Founded the Earth;</HI> by an <HI>under&s;tanding of In|finite Purity he Establi&s;hed the Heavens;</HI> by a <HI>Knowledg</HI> of Infi|nite Freedom from, and di&s;tance from &s;in, the <HI>Depths are Broken up, and the Clouds drop down their Dew;</HI> All the Ordinances of the Creation are &s;ettled, and &s;o kept in Order; There are the &s;ame <HI>Mathematicks</HI> in one, as in the other; if the Creator could have Err'd in the one, he had in the other al&s;o; and if he could now &s;o Err, the whole <HI>Cour&s;e</HI> of <HI>Nature</HI> would fly in Peices, as the A|po&s;tle <HI>James</HI> intimates it endanger'd by the Wickedne&s;s of the <HI>Tongue.</HI> And &s;o it is in every Created <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and particularly in Man, if he can &s;o mi&s;-judg, that all Circum&s;tances laid together, it is not be&s;t for him to be <HI>Holy, Righteous, Good;</HI> his Rea&s;on is not to be tru&s;ted for any thing, becau&s;e it is his; Upon his Cre|dit, that two and two make Four, is not to be Received: The <HI>Mathematicks</HI> of the whole Creation are Violated in him: For when God <HI>made weights for the Winds,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 28.28. Rom. 2.14.</NOTE> &amp;c. <HI>He &s;aid to Man, he fix|ed him, as a Being of Rea&s;on in this; The Fear of the Lord, That is Wi&s;dom, To depart from Evil, that is &V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> This is that <GAP DESC="foreign">; that <HI>In-Written Law</HI> in the Heart of Man. If he does not &s;o <HI>Fear,</HI> &s;o <HI>Depart, Rea&s;on,</HI> as it is his <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> is worth nothing.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 3.8.</NOTE> The <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> that <HI>Founded the Earth,</HI> &amp;c. Is to <HI>hate Evil;</HI> It <HI>under&s;tands Righteou&s;ne&s;s, Judgment,</HI> and <HI>every good Path:</HI> The <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> that can entertain Evil, is then of no Value, nor to be tru&s;ted in any thing, as it is &s;uch a Wi&s;dom; For the whole of &s;uch a <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is &s;poiled.</P>
<P N="6">&sect;. 6. I know it will be objected; Are not Evil Men great <HI>Phi|lo&s;phers, Mathematicians, Politicians</HI> and <HI>States-men;</HI> but the An|&s;wer is: The Infinite Rea&s;on Holds in it &s;elf the Truth of all Natural, Prudential, Political Wi&s;dom, and Under&s;tanding; and &s;o far as it appears by the Evidence of things them&s;elves, that there is truth, &s;o far they are to be received: But the Rea&s;on tran&s;po&s;ed, perverted, di&s;torted in the Love of Evil, is in nothing to be confided in for its own &s;ake; nor is a whole Council of &s;in|ful,
<PB N="21" REF="13"> Fallen Men to be confided in, in any one Point; becau&s;e they have Fail'd in &s;o Radical a One, as to have &s;inn'd; they may not attend to &s;ome one great Principle, that bears up &s;uch, or &s;uch a truth; Even as in that Radical One: And though they may Acknowledg and Sub&s;cribe to many Holy Rules, and Live in Obedience to &s;ome; yet this, as &s;hall be further offered, flows from Grace towards &s;ome, and in others from a Righte|ous Judgment of God; who as he holds fa&s;t all Holy Truths in him&s;elf, &s;o Demon&s;trates them by others as he plea&s;es Variou&s;ly; But it &s;till remains, no &s;uch Judg|ment or Under&s;tanding, or Rea&s;on, is to be tru&s;ted on its own Account; And all the Truth and Good that is in the World, is to be A&s;cribed to other Springs, as we &s;hall &s;ee.</P>
<P N="7">&sect;. 7. We know in our &s;elves, as we are Beings of Rea&s;on; Every Intellectual Being hath an Internal Annunciation to it &s;elf, and within it &s;elf, according to its comprehen&s;ions of Rea&s;on, that is even Con&s;ub&s;tantial to it &s;elf; and according to which, it De|clares it &s;elf to other Intellectual Beings, by external Enunciati|on or Elocution: And the&s;e are &s;o much <HI>rea&s;on</HI> that both the in|ward, and the outward are expre&s;&s;ed by Rea&s;on it &s;elf; <GAP DESC="foreign">: They are the great Di&s;tinction of Man, the Creature of <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> from Creatures of no <HI>rea&s;on;</HI> That Angels have within Them|&s;elves &s;uch Internal Notices of their own Comprehen&s;ions, we are mo&s;t a&s;&s;ured by our own Experience; and that they have Enunciation to other Intellectual Beings of their own order, we cannot doubt, in. Allu&s;ion to which, the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of the <HI>Tongue of Angels;</HI> The Excellency of God's Internal and Declarative word, I will Di&s;|cour&s;e on another Head, but to &s;peak of what will not be denyed by any who acknowledg God, and Scripture the word of God; it's this; That if Infinite <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> Wi&s;dom and Truth, hath conde&s;cended to &s;peak, there is no &s;uch &s;peech in the whole Creation, as His Word, and the Records of what he hath &s;poken; to contain in it &s;elf, and to Reveal <HI>My&s;tery;</HI> and no other but his Word can be proper for either. Seeing External Speech is Govern'd by inward Intel|lectual Power of Enunciation; as the one Excells, &s;o does the o|ther; If therefore the under&s;tanding, and <HI>rea&s;on</HI> of God be the only Infallible <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> his Enunciation and Declaration can be only In|fallible; <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> in us was his word, and would be &s;o, if it were the
<PB N="22" REF="14"> &s;ame he gave; But it is now fallen: And this A&s;&s;ures the Excellency of the Word of God &s;poken or written; There is a Declaration or Voice of God in the Creation, declaring his Infinite Wi&s;dom, and Under&s;tanding, to the Intellectual Creation, according to their Fir&s;t Creation; but the word of God declares the Coun&s;els of his Will in Receiving of Fallen,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 12.6. Prov. 30.6.</NOTE> and Lo&s;t Man. <HI>Every word of which is pure as Silver tryed in a Furnace of Earth, purified &s;even times;</HI> and who&s;oever <HI>dares to add to it,</HI> of his own, as if it were the &s;ame, or equal, will be <HI>found a Lyar,</HI> that is, a Forger, and Deceiver; or a Rea&s;on fal&s;ly &s;o call'd.</P>
<P N="8">&sect;. 8 Every <HI>rational</HI> Being, or <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> hath in the motions of <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> a Force, Might, Spirit of <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> or pre&s;ence of it, active in him&s;elf, and impre&s;&s;ive on tho&s;e to whom he declares him&s;elf, according to the Degree and Excellency of his <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> and by which he looks back upon him&s;elf, and is Con&s;cious of the <HI>rea&s;on</HI> that mooves in and from him; and knows that he knows; and this gives Life to the inward Notions, and Notices, or that inward word of <HI>rea&s;on;</HI> and to the Communications, or Enunciations of <HI>rea&s;on</HI> to other Intelligent Beings: This a&s;&s;ures there is in the Di|vine Being, the infinite <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> an Infinite Spirit, and Power of Wi&s;dom, and Under&s;tanding; of which in its highe&s;t Excellen|cy, I will further &s;peak by his own A&s;&s;i&s;tance; But in general Apprehen&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 36.22. Job 32 8.</NOTE> <HI>God Exalteth by his Power, none teacheth like him.</HI> There is a <HI>Spirit in Man,</HI> but the mighty <HI>Breathing of the All|mighty gives him &V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> a mighty <HI>Energy,</HI> or Spirit from God, the Supreme <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> and Under&s;tanding: This we cannot but acknowledg, and A&s;cribe to the Supreme Under&s;tanding: For if we find it in &s;uch <HI>Rea&s;ons,</HI> as we are, one towards ano|ther, a Communication with &s;ome peculiar Efficacy, according to the <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> that does Communicate, or the <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> that Com|municate one with another; How much more is it to be acknow|ledged to the Infinite <HI>Rea&s;on Teaching man Knowledg;</HI> and there|fore how can any Gracious Aproaches, by his Spirit, to the Souls of his Servants, Inlightning, and Teaching them be Denyed?</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="23" REF="14">
<HEAD>CHAP. III.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Of Created <HI>Rea&s;ons,</HI> and their various Orders, and Re|ferences one to another, as <HI>Beings</HI> of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and of their upright and Fallen E&s;tate, and the great difference of their <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> therein.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P N="1">&sect;. 1. I Have thus far con&s;idered the Paramount, and Tran|&s;cendent Infinite Being, Wi&s;dom, Truth, <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> By tho&s;e Tracings of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> as in Us, not only Finite, but Dege|nerate Spirits, or Beings of <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> that whatever true Lines there|of are Di&s;coverable in us may lead us up to the Infinite, and Infinitely Pure Original; and &s;hew us the Immen&s;ene&s;s of his Perfections; For it is certain Intellectual Spirits cannot be made &s;uch, or continue in any Activity, as &s;uch, but that God the In|finite, Intellectual Object, and mo&s;t Intelligible, mu&s;t needs be &s;een by them in his Great Perfection, and Attributes: But I would now con&s;ider Created Intellectual Beings, and &s;uch, as we cannot, but by our <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> Divine, are of a Higher Sphere, and Order, than our &s;elves; and Scripture makes known to us, as <HI>Seraphic, Angelic Beings,</HI> and among them <HI>Thrones, Principali|ties, Dominions, Powers;</HI> and &s;o come down to Human Spirits in Bodies, and ob&s;erve upon the&s;e, and the various Elevations of them (and All in their State of Integrity, and unfallen) what may Direct us in our main pur&s;uit after <HI>Rea&s;on.</HI></P>
<P N="2">&sect;. 2. All Created Spirits, of what Order &s;oever, are Beings, or Spirits Begotten by Creation of the <HI>Father of Lights,</HI> the <HI>Fa|ther of Spirits in his own Image,</HI> and <HI>Likene&s;s;</HI> and &s;o are Intel|lectual Spirits, and Beings of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> by their very Being, and De&s;cent; And in their fir&s;t Creation they bear a Re&s;emblance of the <HI>Eternal Wi&s;dom,</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> in every one of the foremen|tioned particulars; as hath been already &s;ufficiently to the pre&s;ent purpo&s;e Remark'd concerning them: And as there is an Original Begetting, <HI>Breathing,</HI> or Creation at Fir&s;t, &s;o there is a continu|al
<PB N="24" REF="15"> &s;u&s;tentation of Intellectual Beings, &s;o far, as they are in their <HI>First E&s;tate,</HI> or are but pre&s;erved in any Remains of it; and according to the Degrees of their Creation, and Su&s;tentation, or (as I may call it) their Re&s;ervation in an Intellectual State,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude 6.</NOTE> not|with&s;tanding their <HI>Leaving their Fir&s;t E&s;tate, and For&s;aking their own Habitation,</HI> They are in Dependence upon their Supreme, a Standard of Wi&s;dom, <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and Truth to them&s;elves, with|in them&s;elves;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 36.9.</NOTE> yet &s;o that in the Original <HI>Light, Truth, Wi&s;dom, Rea&s;on</HI> they &s;ee this <HI>Light,</HI> and enjoy this Priviledg; that is, they are Intellectually Seeing, Di&s;cerning Spirits, Beings of <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> As the <HI>Spirit of a Man is the Candle of the Lord, a Light &s;hining in his Light;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 20.27. Job 35.11.</NOTE> <HI>who Teacheth Man Knowledg, more than the Beasts of the Field, and the Fowls of the Air:</HI> Thus, as before-&s;aid, <HI>There is a Spirit in Man, and the Breath of the Almighty giveth him &V;nder|standing.</HI></P>
<P N="3">&sect;. 3. But yet, it is always to be Remembred; In their very Original Creation, without the con&s;ideration of any after Abate|ment, or Diminution; they are but Finite, and cannot &s;ee be|yond the Limits and Bounds of their Creation, either to Find out, or Judg of what is Above, and beyond Them: Any more then the Eye of the Body, becau&s;e it is a &s;eeing Organ, and the <HI>Light of the Body,</HI> can &s;ee at too great Di&s;tance, without the help of <HI>Te|le&s;copes;</HI> or when the Object is &s;o Great, as not to be mea&s;ur'd by it, but by the Help of <HI>Mathematic</HI> In&s;truments; or &s;o Minute, as not to be Di&s;cern'd, but by the help of <HI>Micro&s;copes.</HI></P>
<P N="4">&sect;. 4. Of Intellectual Spirits, There are by the very &s;upreme Di&s;po&s;e, and Arbitration of the Infinite Under&s;tanding, and <HI>Rea|&s;on,</HI> various, Spheres, and Orbs Higher, and more Ample; Low|er, and more Narrow; <HI>One Star differs from another Star in Glory:</HI> There are Intelligences <HI>Angelic,</HI> and <HI>Human.</HI> In the <HI>Angelic,</HI> the before ob&s;erv'd <HI>Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers,</HI> which Eminencies Ari&s;e from different Glories of Under&s;tanding; and &s;o we know, there are different Elevations of Human Under|&s;tanding, whether by the Immediate Hand of the <HI>Father of Lights,</HI> and <HI>Spirits,</HI> or the Di&s;po&s;es of Providence in the Fabric of the Body; or the Opportunities of Education, State and Condi|tion in the World;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">v. 18.1.</NOTE> <HI>Separation to Intermeddle with Wi&s;dom through
<PB N="25" REF="15"> earne&s;t De&s;ire;</HI> But no Intellectual Created Spirit can, by vertue of its being Intellectual, Tran&s;cend its own Sphere. The highe&s;t Created Spirit cannot Approach within any di&s;tance of the In|created; or be &s;uppo&s;ed Infinite in its Rea&s;on, becau&s;e a Spirit; For God is, <HI>The only Wi&s;e, and his &V;nder&s;tanding is alone Infinite.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 147.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> That therefore which is clearly known, and within the compa&s;s of the <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> of Intellectual Beings of a <HI>Fir&s;t Magnitude,</HI> may be above the <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> of tho&s;e <HI>Below Them,</HI> and &s;o &s;ucce&s;&s;ively and Subalternately, till we come to the Lowe&s;t; but to the longhty|e&s;t <HI>Seraphic</HI> Under&s;tanding, There are in the Divine Under|&s;tanding, Truths, and Deeps of Coun&s;els, that are above the Rea|&s;on of it; &s;o that it can be only &s;aid of the <HI>Infinite &V;nder&s;tand|ing,</HI> There is nothing <HI>above Rea&s;on,</HI> that is, above it &s;elf, nor contrary to it, that is <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>Truth.</HI></P>
<P N="5">&sect;. 5. But how much more mu&s;t many, and tho&s;e very great Truths of God be above <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> to Fallen Lo&s;t Man, &s;o depre&s;&s;ed and aba&s;ed by &s;in, that he cannot lift up him&s;elf, but with great Difficulty in any Act of Under&s;tanding? and who&s;e <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> as hath been before more fully Argued, can be of no Reputation; becau&s;e it can, upon all circum&s;tances con&s;ider'd, give its ulti|mate Vote, or Dictate for Sin: For now the Intellectual Spirit being under an Aver&s;ion from the <HI>Father of Lights,</HI> di&s;torted by Lu&s;t, and Love of Evil, is ea&s;y of Acce&s;s to the <HI>Father of Lyes,</HI> Blinding and Bemi&s;ting it, to whom it is now Turn'd; How then can it form <HI>Idea's</HI> of Divine Things? Behold the Proportions, and true Re&s;pects of Things one to another? Judg of Good and Evil, of true Plea&s;ure, or Grief, and Pain, in a Moral Sen&s;e, of Happine&s;s or Mi&s;ery? How can it make true Inferences, or Conclu&s;ions? Ri&s;e up to the Holine&s;s of the Law of God, or receive his Manife&s;tations of him&s;elf, or &s;ubmit to the <HI>Energies</HI> of his Grace it &s;elf, &s;o corrupted? What was not <HI>Above</HI> it be|fore Corrupted, is now become <HI>Above</HI> it; How much more Su|pernatural Revelations! Nay, They are contrary to <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> &s;o Corrupted, and <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> Corrupted to the&s;e Truths of God; a|gain&s;t which it moves in Array, as Black Clouds and Va|pors again&s;t the Sun, and its Light: So do Intellectual Spi|rits (Angelic become Diabolic) <HI>Rulers of the Darkne&s;s of this
<PB N="26" REF="16"> World,</HI> and Degenerate Human Spirits again&s;t the Light, and Truths of God, and of his Word.</P>
<P N="6">&sect;. 6. If it be &s;aid, The Lu&s;ts of Men are not <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> It is True; but as the Enquiry is in <HI>Job; Where is wi&s;dom to be found, and where is the Place of &V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> viz. in its Purity? <HI>&s;eeing it is hid from the Eyes of all Living: Even as it is kept clo&s;e from the Fowles of the Air: Death and De&s;truction have heard the Fame of it with their Ears: God alone under&s;tandeth the way thereof:</HI> And if Man hath lo&s;t, what God &s;aid to Him concerning it, (and is un|der Conviction, how much it is Lo&s;t) by Creation; <HI>The Fear of the Lord, that is Wi&s;dom, and to depart from Evil, is &V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> Wherein can his <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> be Now Accounted of? All mu&s;t be Re&s;olv'd, into what <HI>Solomon only found, Counting Men one by one; God made Man upright;</HI> He made him him an entire <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> but he hath <HI>&s;ought out many Inventions,</HI> carrying a &s;hew of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> but <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is lo&s;t: A Di&s;torted <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is not to be confided in: Such is that of All men; <HI>In one Man</HI> only, <HI>viz.</HI> The <HI>Second</HI> Adam, <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is found, <HI>Eccle&s;.</HI> 7.27.</P>
<P N="7">&sect;. 7. If it be further &s;aid, Shall we Allow no <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> nor Truth in the World? Is It no Te&s;t to Try True, and Fal&s;e, Good and Evil by? And if it be, why may not <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> be Tru&s;ted in every thing? And if it be not, How &s;hall we &s;ecure our &s;elves from being impo&s;ed upon? The An&s;wer &s;hall be given in its proper place, unde<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Head of Revelation to each of the&s;e Enquiries by way of An&s;wer to them as Objections.</P>
<P N="8">&sect;. 8. But &s;eeing this Treati&s;e makes acknowledgment of Scripture by &s;o many References to it, I think to &s;um up this head, <HI>viz.</HI> The Pur&s;uit after the true Notion of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> according to Scripture, and our Inward Sen&s;e, and Experience, by giving the general Sen&s;e of Scripture upon the pre&s;ent State of Human <HI>Rea|&s;on,</HI> Wi&s;dom, and Under&s;tanding in our Fallen Condition; that we may &s;ee how far, in the Judgment of That, it can be thought of Value to Decide Truth by, <HI>viz.</HI> This <HI>Above,</HI> or contrary to <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> that is, to Human <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> yea, we might A&s;cend higher, even to highe&s;t Created <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> the <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> of Unfallen Angels; in <HI>whom God puts no Tru&s;t,</HI> tho his <HI>Servants Fulfilling his
<PB N="27" REF="16"> Will,</HI> and the <HI>Ministers</HI> of his <HI>Plea&s;ure, but charges with Folly,</HI> comparing them with his own <HI>Holyne&s;s,</HI> and <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> which is <HI>Infinite;</HI> and therefore they cover not only their <HI>Feet,</HI> but their <HI>Faces,</HI> their highe&s;t Perfections before him: For the&s;e <HI>Stars are not pure in his &s;ight;</HI> but as to the pre&s;ent purpo&s;e of Human <HI>Rea&s;on, Zophar,</HI> &s;o near the beginning of the VVorld, takes notice;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 11.12.</NOTE> <HI>That vain man would be wi&s;e;</HI> He A&s;pires to the Reputation of being &s;o; tho <HI>he be Born like the wild A&s;s Colt,</HI> the mo&s;t Undi&s;ciplinable of all Animals, &s;o &s;illy and &s;o wild, and yet the Emblem of Human VVi&s;dom: Notwith&s;tanding this, every Age hath Ri&s;en up in this pre&s;umption upon their own <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> This is that <HI>Gno&s;tici&s;m</HI> of every Age: The Apo&s;tle &s;ays, <HI>we know that we all have Knowledg?</HI> that is, we take upon us to have &s;o;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 8.2.</NOTE> But he adds, <HI>If any man think he knows any thing, he knows nothing yet, as he ought to Know;</HI> and therefore he prefers the <HI>Love of God,</HI> and being <HI>known of him</HI> to our <HI>Airy Knowledge</HI> or <HI>Rea&s;on.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 4.2.</NOTE> He looks upon them, as Men of no <HI>Topicks?</HI> that is, of no <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> who <HI>have not Faith;</HI> who are not in&s;tructed of God by his Spirit in his Word: Yet we Dwarfs of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> of a Span long, and Hand Breadth, dare to mea&s;ure <HI>Rea&s;ons</HI> with the <HI>Almighty,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.18.</NOTE> <HI>vainly pufft up in our minds,</HI> which are but <HI>Carnal,</HI> while we think them &s;o &s;ublime as to mea&s;ure Divine Things; <HI>In the wi&s;dom of God, the World by wi&s;dom knew not God: The Lord knoweth the Thoughts of the wi&s;e,</HI> that <HI>they are vain,</HI> even the Di&s;cur&s;ive <HI>rea&s;onings of the wi&s;e.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.20, 21. c. 3.18, 19, 20.</NOTE> <HI>The wi&s;dom of this world is Fooli&s;hne&s;s with God.</HI> Let a man <HI>become a Fool, that he may be wi&s;e:</HI> With innumerable &s;uch Scriptures that would put an humble Chri&s;tian quite out of conceit with his own <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> and make him rather cry out with <HI>Solomon, All this have I proved by wi&s;dom, I &s;aid, I will be wi&s;e, but it was far from me: That which is far off and exceeding Deep, who can find it out?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 7.23. Prov. 30.1.</NOTE> <HI>Surely I am more bruiti&s;h than any man; I have not the under&s;tanding of man; viz.</HI> In his fir&s;t Creation. <HI>I neither learned wi&s;dom, nor know the knowledg of the Holy.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12.3.</NOTE> The Great Wi&s;dom is not to be wi&s;e <HI>above what is writ|ten;</HI> but to be <HI>wi&s;e to Sobriety:</HI> So little in all this, and much more, that might be Collected of the &s;ame Sen&s;e, doth Scripture &s;et by <HI>above,</HI> or <HI>contrary</HI> to Human <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> as now current among Men: For what the <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> of Man condemns as the <HI>Fooli&s;hne&s;s</HI> of God, or <HI>Fooli&s;hne&s;s in Divine Things,</HI> that do not commend them&s;elves
<PB N="28" REF="17"> to <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> or the Wi&s;dom of Men, is yet <HI>wi&s;er</HI> than that Imagi|nary <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> or <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> of Men.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. IV.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Of the Second Head propo&s;ed in this Di&s;cour&s;e, An En|quiry after the Nature of <HI>Revelation,</HI> with an An&s;wer upon it to Former Objections.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THere needs no Introduction concerning the word, or &s;en&s;e of the word <HI>Revelation;</HI> For it plainly &s;ignifies the unco|vering and making plain, vi&s;ible, and open, what was before Covered, Vailed, Hidden, and Concealed: And this is the <HI>Apocalyp&s;is</HI> every where &s;poken of in Scripture from God and his Spirit; and herein the Di&s;cour&s;e, <HI>Chri&s;tianity not My&s;te|rious,</HI> agrees, and acknowledges <HI>My&s;teries</HI> before <HI>Revelation,</HI> as being of the <HI>Deeps of God,</HI> which <HI>no Man</HI> can know, &s;eeing not the <HI>Deeps of a man:</HI> But it is &s;uppo&s;ed that <HI>Revelation</HI> is re|commended to Rea&s;on, and is no more than Information, or Te&s;timony from any other Hand; the certitude only of Divine Excells; For in Human Information <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> Judges of the Cre|dibility, and if it finds cau&s;e, di&s;allow the Veracity of the Te|&s;timony, and rejects the Things; but in Divine Information, it allows the Te&s;timony; but if it cannot receive the things as cre|dible in &s;uch an appearance, <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> changes them by Interpretati|on, into other appearances, wherein it can allow them; altho it be never &s;o plain by compare of Scripture, and <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> guided by it, Scripture intends what <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> Rejects; but I &s;hall endeavour to make plain by Scripture, and true <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> according to it, and the con&s;ent of Experience; that this is a wholly mi&s;taken Expe|dient, as I go on thus to Remon&s;trate.</P>
<P N="1">&sect;. 1. <HI>REvelation</HI> is a Manife&s;tation of God to his Intellectual Creatures from the Secret of his own <HI>Purpo&s;e,</HI> and the <HI>Deeps</HI> of his <HI>Coun&s;el</HI> towards them, or any of them, above what
<PB N="29" REF="17"> was made known to them, or might be found out by them ac|cording to their Fir&s;t Creation, or E&s;tabli&s;hment; but they be|ing from an Holy, Wi&s;e, and Infinitely Gracious Being, They are and cannot but be in every one of the&s;e Regards like to him|&s;elf; and as they are &s;uper-induced to Creation, they are of Fur|ther and higher Grace; for what-ever was nece&s;&s;ary to the Fir&s;t Creation, was given, and made known by the Infinitely wi&s;e and good Creator; who yet being Infinite, and Infinitely Free, had more to give than he gave at fir&s;t, but was not obliged to Give all at once: Now the&s;e things could not be known but by <HI>Revelation, For what man knows the things of a man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.11.</NOTE> <HI>but the Spirit of a man, that is within him: Even &s;o the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God:</HI> The Go&s;pel on this Account is &s;o of|ten Stiled, <HI>The My&s;tery hid in God, kept &s;ecret &s;ince the World be|gan; hidden Wi&s;dom, the wi&s;dom of God in a mi&s;tery;</HI> Angels there|fore, <HI>Principalities</HI> and <HI>Powers</HI> could not by their Higher Light, than that of the human Creation, find it out; <HI>but learn it by the Church:</HI> This is indeed Agreed, but yet ought to be &s;et in its clear|e&s;t, and fulle&s;t Light.</P>
<P N="2">&sect;. 2. The Intellectual Eye was in Creation enabled to &s;ee, and behold only the Objects proper to &s;uch a Creation, as it was Created; even as the <HI>Beasts of the Field,</HI> and <HI>Fowls of the Heavens</HI> have no higher a Light, than that of &s;en&s;e, as proper to their Creation: So have the Higher Creations, each in their Cla&s;&s;e, a Light Proportionable to &s;uch, or &s;uch an Elevation of Creation; For el&s;e &s;uch higher Light mu&s;t be &s;uppo&s;ed to have lain Superfluous, or might have <HI>known the mind of the Lord,</HI> and been his <HI>Coun&s;eller</HI> before Revelation, or could, at lea&s;t, have im|mediately comprehended the &s;ecret Coun&s;els of God, whenever <HI>Revealed;</HI> But <HI>Angels Learn,</HI> and <HI>De&s;ire</HI> to <HI>Look</HI> into them Further and Further; and undoubtedly partake of that grand Priviledg of the <HI>Church, the Spirit of Revelation to Enable them;</HI> That which puts the matter out of all doubt, is; that the Apo&s;tle joyns, and &s;o Scripture throughout, the <HI>Spirit of God Given,</HI> and <HI>Receiv'd;</HI> that we might know and Di&s;cern: Now the Spirit is not an out|ward, but an inward Revealer, and Elevator of the Spirit of a Man; as <HI>Elihu</HI> &s;peaks in <HI>Job,</HI> God <HI>Exalts,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 32.26.</NOTE> <HI>lifts up by his Power</HI> the Spirit of his Creatures whom he <HI>Teaches; who,</HI> therefore
<PB N="30" REF="18"> <HI>Teaches,</HI> like him: The Spirituality of this Higher New Creation, is as much above <HI>Rationality,</HI> as <HI>Rationality</HI> above <HI>Sen&s;e;</HI> herein therefore differs Divine <HI>Teaching</HI> from all Created <HI>Teaching:</HI> If any of the <HI>Angels</HI> be &s;uppo&s;ed, the Higher to <HI>Reveal</HI> to the Low|er, or to men, what they Know by the much Larger Sphere of their Creation, and what is <HI>Mi&s;tery</HI> to tho&s;e, that are of a more confined compa&s;s, and below them; they may Congregate, and &s;tir up by Rea&s;oning, and In&s;truction all the Light, &s;uch had before, and extend it as far as it can be extended under the Ma|nutemency of the Eternal Light, and <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> &s;u&s;taining and act|ing, both the higher and lower Intellects; but they can give no Inward Supernatural Light, when what they find is not &s;ufficient; That is the Glory of the <HI>Father of Glory,</HI> and <HI>of Lights;</HI> The Exalting Spirits by his Spirit is his Prerogative alone; and what hath been &s;aid of Light, may be much more affirmed of Grace, Love, Holy Conformity of the whole Spirit to <HI>Revealed</HI> Truth; That is from the <HI>God</HI> of <HI>all Grace by his Spirit;</HI> &s;o that the Author of the Treati&s;e <HI>Saw,</HI> and yet would not, or did not <HI>&s;ee in &s;eeing</HI> the Renewing the Faculties by the Spirit of God, Given now; and of the very Organs in the <HI>Spiritual Body,</HI> a Body fitted by the <HI>Quickning Spirit,</HI> at the Re&s;urrection, and the <HI>Fini&s;hing All My&s;tery,</HI> to &s;ee things above <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> (as was before ob&s;erv'd in the Scheme) which Scripture every where Teaches, is done by the Spirit of <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Revelation.</HI> And yet the Dignity of the Fir&s;t Creation is herein &s;till affirm'd, That <HI>the Father of Spirits</HI> hath given the Immortal Spirit of Man <HI>in his own Image;</HI> &s;o that it is capable of the <HI>Inhabitation</HI> of his own <HI>Spirit,</HI> as an Higher Spirit in it; and hath al&s;o Engrafted, and notwith&s;tanding, &s;in Re&s;erved, &s;uch Principles of Truth, that are of Great Service, and U&s;e in the Renovation, as &s;hall be more &s;hewn.</P>
<P N="3">&sect;. 3. If now the Light of Creation be &s;o unable, without an higher Illumination, and Grace; tho con&s;idered without any Lo&s;s, or Abatement of it &s;elf; not only to find out, but to re|ceive <HI>Revelation;</HI> much le&s;s can it be a Standard to it, when it is but a Partial Light, and not Adequate to Truths above its Sphere; what &s;hall we think then of a Broken, Shatter'd, Ship|wrack'd <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> who&s;e <HI>Light</HI> is <HI>Darken'd in its very Heavens:</HI> For that it is &s;o, is Evident, not only by all the Difficulties of
<PB N="31" REF="18"> attaining <HI>Wi&s;dom, a far off</HI> and <HI>Exceeding Deep</HI> in all kind of Knowledg; but the Imperfections, many Mi&s;takes, and Pre|&s;umptions, not born up by Truth; &s;o that when we &s;ay, <HI>we will be wi&s;e, it is far from us.</HI> All the&s;e plainly &s;hew a Degraded Rea|&s;on. But that which I look upon, as the mo&s;t Pungent Demon|&s;tration to every Mans Con&s;cience, is, that however we may be, or are convinc'd of <HI>Godline&s;s, Righteou&s;ne&s;s, Soberne&s;s;</HI> yet <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is not Able to give its la&s;t Po&s;itive, Peremptory, and Con|clu&s;ive Dictate; That the&s;e are be&s;t for us in all our Actions: This &s;hews &s;ome <HI>Vertical</HI> Point in all Probity, <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> in this State it is now in, does not &s;ee: Now this is the principal Point of <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> and of <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> And it was given in Creation, when to Man, he &s;aid equally with making <HI>weights for the Wind, The Fear of the Lord, That is wi&s;dom;</HI> and not only to know, we ought to do it, but Actually, to <HI>Depart from Evil,</HI> is <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> And Any <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> that does it not, is <HI>Lae&s;um Principi|um,</HI> a Rea&s;on Broken, and out of Joint; For if it were not, it would Operate true to the very utmo&s;t Point of All Goodne&s;s; even as all other Laws of Creation are ob&s;erv'd, &s;o had that Law fir&s;t Given of the <HI>Fear of the Lord,</HI> and <HI>Departure from Evil in Man.</HI> The Rea&s;on of Man is now like the Failure of an In&s;trument, or an Engine of the <HI>Virtuo&s;oes</HI> in <HI>Experimental Philo|&s;ophy,</HI> All &s;eems to be &s;et Fair, and True, and Right; But it mi&s;&s;es in the la&s;t point of Effect: And therefore notwith&s;tanding all Probabilties, and hand&s;ome Appearances, it is not to be tru&s;ted Thus the pre&s;ent <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> of Man Judges for Piety, Ju&s;tice, and: Temperance, and &s;o &s;eems Right for its Purpo&s;e, and End, but it mi&s;carries in the Doing; It is not Ble&s;&s;ed in the Deed, and &s;o is not for its own &s;ake in any thing, to be Tru&s;ted: The Rea&s;on of the Fir&s;t Man did not thus <HI>&s;tart a&s;ide as a broken Bow</HI> ju&s;t at the Mark, before his Sin and Fall: If you &s;ay then, How did <HI>Sin Enter?</HI> The An&s;wer is plain; <HI>Adam</HI> Luxated, and &s;train'd his <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> in Judging by it, of what was above it; matter of <HI>Revelation;</HI> of becoming <HI>Like God</HI> more than he was by Creation, not Acquie&s;cing by Faith in the Will of and Grace of the Creator, and obedience to his Command in <HI>not Eating;</HI> and &s;o was <HI>Deceived,</HI> and Di&s;obey'd, and Ruin'd Him&s;elf and His Po&s;terity by the Righteous Judgment of the All-mighty, who&s;e <HI>ways are pa&s;t finding out by Rea&s;on;</HI> for they are above it.
<PB N="32" REF="19"> And yet by Tru&s;ting in our Bankrupt Rea&s;on, we daily more Entangle our Selves. Can we think the Fallen <HI>Adam</HI> was to be Tru&s;ted, for not the Finding out (that may be Allowed in the Negative) but for the Judging of, or Receiving a Revelation of the way of his Recovery by a <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> that had &s;o fouly mi&s;|carryed in Reaching beyond it &s;elf: And how much le&s;s is ours to be confided in, as to what is above it, which does &s;o daily fall &s;hort of what was at fir&s;t placed in a Ju&s;t Level to that <HI>Rea&s;on.</HI></P>
<P N="3">&sect;. 3. The grand <HI>Revelation</HI> of God in his Word, and Go&s;|pel is the Recovery of Lo&s;t Man by his own <HI>Begotten Son;</HI> who <HI>came from Heaven</HI> into that very Lo&s;t Nature, and Redeemed from Death, Hell, the Cur&s;e, the Wrath, and Ju&s;tice of God by his own Death, and by the Sacrifice of Him&s;elf, and by His Mediation, and Interce&s;&s;ion <HI>at the Right Hand of God;</HI> and ap|pearing at la&s;t in the Re&s;urrection of the Dead Bodies of his Saints, and the Glorification of the whole Man, is <HI>become the Au|thor of Eternal Salvation to All that Obey Him,</HI> Heb. 5.9. Here|with Fall in All tho&s;e Truths of the Go&s;pel, attendant here|upon, and that concenter with them: Even the <HI>Godline&s;s, Righte|ou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> and <HI>Soberne&s;s,</HI> that the True <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> hath Lo&s;t, are here|by Re&s;tor'd, and Brought to Light in a much Higher Lu&s;tre, and Spirituality, with a greater Efficacy, and more Indefeizable certainty, That they &s;hall not be Lo&s;t, when the Spirits of tho&s;e Redeemed by Chri&s;t are Redintegrated in them.</P>
<P N="9">&sect;. 9. This is now &s;uch a <HI>New Heaven</HI> and <HI>Earth</HI> of Things, that the Rea&s;on of Man, if it were whole, and entire, as in the Fir&s;t Creation, could not, by it &s;elf Judg of, nor Try in its own Beams, the Supreme Excellencies and Splendors of, but would be Oppre&s;&s;ed with the Glory, and Dazl'd with the Bright|nefs; however in &s;ome, as it were <HI>Back-Parts,</HI> it would &s;ee a Divinity in them; As to tho&s;e Glories, that may be &s;tiled the <HI>Face</HI> of them, it mu&s;t, even as <HI>Angels,</HI> &s;ubmit it &s;elf to the Paramount and Infinite Rea&s;on, and <HI>&s;hut</HI> its <HI>Mouth</HI> at, as at that, which <HI>Had not not been Told</HI> it, and that <HI>It had not Heard,</HI> in fir&s;t Cre|ation; How much le&s;s then can the Decayed <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> tho&s;e Poor Relicks, Fragments, and Broken Peices of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> judg of them! But through that Sin and Impurity, that hath United it &s;elf there|with,
<PB N="33" REF="19"> the more it endeavours to Rally, and Re-unite it &s;elf (be|cau&s;e of that Corruption wherewith it is &s;o Tainted, and De|filed, that even the <HI>Mind</HI> and <HI>Con&s;cience</HI> of the <HI>&V;nbelieving</HI> are <HI>Defiled</HI>) Not only the greater Ignorance, and want of Skill, but the greater Enmity and Hatred to &s;uch a Superior Light, &s;tirr'd up, as well as blinded by <HI>Sathan,</HI> It Di&s;covers and Detects it &s;elf of; And all Directions, Advices, or Commands to Sepa|rate it &s;elf from that Corruption, are but Pre&s;cribings to the <HI>Blackamore to change his Skin, and the Leopard his Spots.</HI> For this Corrupted <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> it &s;elf Teaches &s;o (and can do no otherwi&s;e) to Refu&s;e Divine Truth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jerem. 13.23.</NOTE> Hence have &s;prung all tho&s;e Bold and Daring Efforts of pretended &s;hrewdne&s;s of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and Argu|ment; In&s;olencies of it in Scorn and Raylery again&s;t the Purity of the Doctrine of Chri&s;t; That Arch-Fallen <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> the Devil, Turnes him&s;elf into all &s;hapes, &s;ometimes as a &s;evere Rationali&s;t, &s;ometimes as a <HI>Sarca&s;tic</HI> Scoffer, and &s;ometimes is <HI>Transform'd into an Angel of Light,</HI> and as a Zelot for the Honour of Chri&s;tianity; and therefore it is no wonder,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.13. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> if his Mini&s;ters are Transform'd &s;o al&s;o, and even, <HI>as the Mini&s;ters of Righteou&s;ne&s;s:</HI> And all the&s;e very Shapes hath The Treati&s;e, we have to do with, put on.</P>
<P N="5">&sect;. 5. It will be &s;aid, If <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> be not in a Capacity to Receive <HI>Revelation,</HI> what &s;hall Receive it? Is it to be &s;wallowed in Ignorance, and Blind Obedience, or by an Implicit Faith? the An&s;wer is: The Infinitely, <HI>Only Wi&s;e God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 16.27.</NOTE> (as the Apo&s;tle Adores him upon the very Account of the <HI>Go&s;pel, the My&s;tery, kept hid, and Revealed after for the Obediente of Faith) hath prepared a New Creation, a Regeneration, a Renovation of the Spirit of the Mind, viz.</HI> Faith, a New Under&s;tanding, and Light; a Grace of great <HI>Wi&s;|dom</HI> and Intelligence; and were it not for Confounding it with the Exploded Fallen <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> as men are &s;o inclin'd to do, who are &s;o <HI>De&s;irous</HI> to be <HI>Teachers</HI> of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> but not <HI>Rationally,</HI> as the <HI>Jews</HI> were of the <HI>Law,</HI> but not <HI>Lawfully;</HI> not <HI>Knowing what they &s;ay,</HI> nor whereof <HI>they affirm;</HI> It might be call'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 17.8.</NOTE> a New <HI>Rea|&s;on,</HI> that &s;ees in, and by, and is wholly guided by <HI>Revelation,</HI> in, and from the word of God, <HI>Dwelling richly in it,</HI> in <HI>All Wi&s;dom,</HI> and <HI>Spiritual &V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> And in this Light it <HI>Proves</HI> and Ex|amines <HI>all Things, and holds fa&s;t that which is good;</HI> And that which is Above All, In this <HI>New Creation,</HI> and <HI>Faith</HI> the Light
<PB N="34" REF="20"> of it; The great Redeemer by his Spirit, Unites him&s;elf to the <HI>Renewed Spirit,</HI> and <HI>Dwells</HI> in it; which is a Spirit of <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Revelation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1.17. 1 Cor. 2.12.</NOTE> and &s;o <HI>Reveals the Deeps of God, that we might know the My&s;teries of the Kingdom of God, and the Things, that are freely given us of God.</HI></P>
<P N="6">&sect;. 6. If it be further Demanded, Is the Fir&s;t Creation, and the Rea&s;on of it wholly Antiquated, and Removed in the <HI>New Creati|on?</HI> The An&s;wer is, All the unchangeable and unmovable Parts of it are comprehended, and taken into the <HI>New Creation,</HI> and much Exalted; And even, as to men Unrenewed, and before <HI>Renovation,</HI> The Great Redeemer hath laid hold upon, and made a Re&s;erve of &s;ome great Principles of Truth, and <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> or Re-imprinted them in the Minds of Men in General; and the <HI>Law is Written in the Heart,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 2.14.15</NOTE> even of the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> for many Great and Wi&s;e Ends of the Government of the World; And that The&s;e may give Te&s;timony to the Holine&s;s, Purity, Divine&s;s and Wi&s;dom of the Truths of <HI>Revelation;</HI> They are a kind of Rude Draught, or Indentings, which the New Creation takes hold of in the Minds of Men, that they may know by them; The Light of the Go&s;pel is from Heaven, and of God: And on the Ac|count of this, They are Righteou&s;ly <HI>Condemn'd,</HI> who do not Re|ceive the Truths of it, &s;o far, as the&s;e Impre&s;&s;ions of Natural Light Lead; and it is certain here is the Condemnation of men, that <HI>They have not Believed in the Name of the Son of God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joho 3.18.</NOTE> <HI>becau&s;e they loved Darkne&s;s, rather than Light;</HI> and that becau&s;e, <HI>Their Deeds are Evil:</HI> And on this Account al&s;o, even in Devils, and Lo&s;t Spitits, tho&s;e Principles of &s;o Great Light given in the fir&s;t Creation are Pre&s;erv'd by God in Highe&s;t Actuation, that do, what they can, They may Glorify His Ju&s;tice in their Condem|nation; Thus is his <HI>way in the Sea, and his Path in the great Wa|ters,</HI> and <HI>his Foot-&s;teps cannot be Traced as yet,</HI> or in the way of his pre&s;ent Government of the World; <HI>He, who is Light,</HI> and in <HI>whom is no Darkne&s;s</HI> at All, Cau&s;es Light to prevail to Condem|nation, where it hath not, and does not prevail to Conformity, and Obedience to it; But in the <HI>New Creation; Behold, all things become New.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.17.</NOTE> There is Inward, Supernatural Illumination, and the Power of Grace, and Holine&s;s Conforming the whole Intellectu|al Spirit to it; and Comprizing al&s;o within it &s;elf the Fir&s;t Illu|mination;
<PB N="35" REF="20"> &s;o that it is known to be that Fir&s;t Illumination, that <HI>Revelation</HI> hath yet taken wholly into it &s;elf, that there may be no mi&s;-judging by a Partial Light, and yet the Te&s;timony of that Light pre&s;erved, Steered, but Exalted Far, above it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="7">&sect;. 7. It may be largely Remon&s;trated upon, how great Affiance there is due to the Light, and conduct of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> in the Govern|ment of States, of Families, of Human Affairs; in all Sciences and Arts, <HI>A&s;tronomy, Phy&s;ick, Mathematicks, Mu&s;ick, Agriculture, Architecture, Navigation, Manufacture;</HI> and how certain, and evident the conclu&s;ions, that are made according to it are; and what Tru&s;t therefore may be given to it in Religion? But on the other &s;ide, we ought to con&s;ider, How much Darkne&s;s and Ig|norance there is; How difficult and &s;low the Attainments of Knowledg are; How many things yet unknown; How many Errors, and Mi&s;takes, hardly found out, and more hardly Cor|rected; what great Differences, and Di&s;agreements of Judg|ments in mo&s;t things pretended to be known; And we &s;hall have great cau&s;e to Re&s;olve all the Honour and Glory, we think &s;o due to Human <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> into the Glory and Prai&s;e of the Infinite <HI>Rea&s;on, Wi&s;dom, &V;nder&s;tanding, Truth</HI> and <HI>Goodne&s;s;</HI> who holds All Be|ings and Truths together in his own Under&s;tanding, even as in his own Uochangeable, and Immen&s;e Being; el&s;e all had been &s;oon Di&s;&s;olved; and who, for his own Glory, and Government of the whole Creation, gives &s;uch, and &s;uch Degrees of A&s;&s;ur|ance to the Under&s;tanding of Man in &s;o many Things; and yet Humbles it under &s;o many, and &s;o great Failures; That it may not pre&s;ume upon it &s;elf, e&s;pecially in things relating to him|&s;elf, being convinced of its own &s;hortne&s;s, in what, it is more ea&s;ily &s;en&s;ible of: Of all which Tho&s;e la&s;t Chapters of God's Ex|po&s;tulation with <HI>Job,</HI> are &s;o great an Admonition, I need enlarge no further upon it.</P>
<P><HI>S.</HI> 8. It may, in the la&s;t place be urg'd, what &s;ecurity have we again&s;t all the Impo&s;tures of <HI>Pagani&s;m, Antichristiani&s;m, Maho|meti&s;m,</HI> and other Portentous, and Mon&s;trous Opinions, that may be impo&s;ed upon us under the Sacred Name of <HI>Revelation,</HI> and things <HI>above Rea&s;on;</HI> and not to be Examined by it? If we have not &s;uch a Faithful Te&s;t, as our own <HI>Rea&s;an</HI> always pre|&s;ent
<PB N="36" REF="21"> to us, and that may guide us out of All the&s;e Mazes and <HI>Labirinths;</HI> But on the other &s;ide, It is a very great di&s;reputation to Human Rea&s;on, that &s;o great Parts of Mankind have been Involved in the&s;e &s;o Horrible Delu&s;ions; and that it hath not guided them betterr; and it leads us to the Profounde&s;t Humili|ation under the Sen&s;e of the Righteous Judgment of God upon his Intellectual, Lower Creation, fallen from him by Sin, and &s;o abu&s;ed and deceived by That higher, <HI>Angelis Apo&s;tate</HI> Nature, called <HI>Sathan;</HI> and to earne&s;t Supplication to him through the Redeemer, That, that Ble&s;&s;ed Time may come quickly, when the <HI>Knowledg of the Glory of the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay. 11. Hab. 2.14.</NOTE> <HI>and the Knowledg of the Lord &s;hall fill the Earth, as the waters cover the Sea;</HI> and al&s;o to Adore him, that we have the Light of his Go&s;pel a much &s;ur|er Guide, than our own <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> as it is now; and a much higher Light, than it was before its &s;o great deba&s;ement by Sin; in which we find all the true, pure <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> that we have Lo&s;t, or that we have any Sentiments, Foot-&s;teps, or Remains of in us; or that we can find in our &s;elves; that may a&s;&s;ure us, as far as <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> can a&s;&s;ure us, It is of God; and in which, the things that are mo&s;t above our <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> &s;hed yet &s;uch Beams of Light upon our Un|der&s;tanding, and true&s;t <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> as A&s;&s;ures; They are from the <HI>Father</HI> of <HI>Truth,</HI> and not of <HI>Lyes,</HI> awakening and Enlightning <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> while it rai&s;es us far above our <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> and wherein we have a|bove all, that Highe&s;t, mo&s;t A&s;&s;uring, <HI>Sealing, Holy</HI> and <HI>Comforting Spirit,</HI> the <HI>Spirit of God;</HI> the only <HI>Paraclet,</HI> the Advocate of truth within us, promi&s;ed to us; for which we &s;hould al|ways Pray with an <HI>Importunity</HI> that will not be <HI>a&s;hamed,</HI> that it may be given given to us; and in which it is much better to <HI>Trust,</HI> with <HI>all our Hearts,</HI> then to <HI>Lean to our own &V;nder&s;tanding;</HI> Tho they were as the Under&s;tandings of Angels,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 1.5. Prov. 3.5.</NOTE> in which &s;o great a Number of them tru&s;ting, and not in that Higher <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding</HI> and <HI>Spirit</HI> Fell, and are in <HI>Chains</HI> of <HI>Darkne&s;s</HI> to the <HI>Judgment of the Great Day:</HI> So little Encouragement have we to tru&s;t in Created <HI>rea&s;on.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="37" REF="21">
<HEAD>CHAP. V.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Of the third Head Propo&s;ed, <HI>viz.</HI> The Nature of My|&s;tery.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THE two main Hinges of this Debate, <HI>viz</HI> Concerning <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and concerning <HI>Revelation,</HI> as <HI>Above,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">The Intro|duction of the 2d Head con|cerning <HI>My&s;te|ry.</HI></NOTE> or <HI>Contrary</HI> to <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> having been &s;o far Treated of; The further Di&s;cour&s;e of <HI>My&s;tery</HI> may &s;eem unnece&s;&s;ary, &s;eeing it is on both Parts agreed; <HI>Above,</HI> or <HI>contrary to Rea&s;on,</HI> demtermines <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> or not <HI>My&s;tery:</HI> But becau&s;e <HI>My&s;tery, or not My&s;tery</HI> bears the Face of the whole matter in Di&s;pute, and e&s;pecially, becau&s;e Reverence of the word of God, and of the Truths of it (as an <HI>Ark</HI> or <HI>Sanctu|ary</HI> of, and for which, the Spirit of God hath <HI>Separated,</HI> and <HI>Sanctified</HI> the Word, <HI>My&s;tery</HI>) It calls for a particular Re&s;earch, how, and to what Truths, and for what Ends It hath &s;o Con|&s;ecrated it: The Sen&s;e or Significaaion of the word it &s;elf may be derived from the <HI>Old Testament,</HI> where we meet with the plain notion of <HI>my&s;tery;</HI> the <HI>Mo&s;aic</HI> Types are pre&s;ented, as <HI>my&s;te|rious</HI> by the <HI>Veil</HI> thrown over <HI>Mo&s;es's Face,</HI> even as the Apo&s;tle calls them <HI>Figures;</HI> &s;o we read of <HI>Secret Things, Things kept &s;ecret; The &s;ecrets of Wi&s;dom; Proverbs,</HI> and the <HI>Interpretation</HI> of them; <HI>Parables; Dark Sayings of the Wi&s;e; Prophetic Vi&s;ions;</HI> All in Figures; &s;ome of them Interpreted, others left under their Veils: This O|riginal of <HI>mi&s;tery</HI> is worthy to be preferrd as mo&s;t Pure, and Di|vine; And there is a <HI>Hebrew</HI> word of very near found, comport|ing with the Sen&s;e; though never &s;o applied by the Sacred Text; <HI>viz.</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, which ea&s;ily pa&s;&s;es into the Greek, <GAP DESC="foreign">: And yet it might fall in herewith; The word <HI>my&s;tery</HI> was a word known to the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> to &s;ignify the Secre&s;ies of <HI>Pagan</HI> Devotions, Com|municated only to their <HI>my&s;tae,</HI> peculiar Devoted Per&s;ons; How|ever, tho&s;e Rites were fowl, and Idolatrous; The Spirit of God was plea&s;ed to take it from tho&s;e impure u&s;es, as the Merchan|di&s;e and Hire of <HI>Tyrus,</HI> to be <HI>Holine&s;s</HI> to the <HI>Lord;</HI> to convey the Apprehen&s;ion of the Secrecy of the Truths of the Go&s;pel, as <HI>Reveal|ed</HI> in it by him&s;elf at that Time, that had been hidden before,
<PB N="38" REF="22"> and at that very time, from tho&s;e who <HI>Believed not; the hidden Wi&s;dom of God</HI> &s;poken to them, who were the <HI>Perfect,</HI> or the Con&s;ecrated <HI>My&s;tae</HI> of it; Thus as God was plea&s;ed to <HI>&s;eparate</HI> the <HI>Gentiles,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 15.16.</NOTE> and Sanctify them, as an <HI>Offering</HI> to <HI>Him&s;elf</HI> by the <HI>Holy Spirit,</HI> through the Preaching of the Apo&s;tles, who were before as <HI>&V;nclean;</HI> &s;o he plea&s;ed al&s;o to Hallow this word <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> how|ever impure in its former u&s;e, and to appoint it a <HI>Ve&s;&s;el</HI> of <HI>Honour</HI> to him&s;elf. Let us now con&s;ider the importance of it in the Sacred Writings of the <HI>New Te&s;tament</HI> with the Rea&s;on of things that &s;hall be Di&s;cour&s;ed out of it, and Univer&s;al con|&s;ent of Language in it.</P>
<P N="1">&sect;. 1. The Spirit of God makes u&s;e of the word <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> in &s;peaking of the whole Frame, and Complex of the Go&s;pel; the Preaching of which is &s;aid to be the <HI>Revelation of the my&s;tery,</HI> which had been <HI>hid in God;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 16.27. 1 Cor. 29. c. 4. 1. Colo&s;. 1.26.27.</NOTE> <HI>The Preachers of the Go&s;pel are called Stewards of the mysteries of God;</HI> It is &s;tiled <HI>the mi&s;tery of Chri&s;t, the my&s;tery of Faith, the hidden Wi&s;dom of God in my&s;tery, Ordain'd to the glory of Saints, to whom it is given to know the my&s;teries of the Kingdom of God. This my&s;tery:</HI> Now this &s;o often Repeated Denomination of the Go&s;pel by <HI>my&s;tery;</HI> not only, as before, but &s;ince the <HI>Rrvelation</HI> of it; and without any mention of <HI>Revela|tion,</HI> together with the calling it <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> &s;hews. It is an Appellati|on the Spirit of God much Delights in, and hath made (as one may &s;ay) the very <HI>Title</HI> of the Go&s;pel; It is therefore very a|mazing; Any one who profe&s;&s;es a Veneration of its Records, &s;hould be &s;o Indu&s;trious and Bui&s;y to tear it off, and pull away this Seale: It is mo&s;t true; <HI>Revelation</HI> hath much chang'd the State of <HI>my&s;teriou&s;ne&s;s</HI> in the Go&s;pel, but hath not &s;o Removed <HI>my&s;tery</HI> from it; but that there is principal Rea&s;on, that even &s;urmounts the Clearer <HI>Revelation</HI> of it in the New Te&s;tament; why the Title is &s;till continued: For it is plain, <HI>my&s;tery</HI> may be in &s;ome &s;en&s;e <HI>Revealed,</HI> and yet be <HI>my&s;tery</HI> &s;till, notwith&s;tand|ing that <HI>Revelation; Nebuchadnezzar</HI>'s <HI>Dream</HI> was in it &s;elf a <HI>Revelation</HI> from God to that Proud Monarch;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 2.12.</NOTE> and yet was <HI>my|stery,</HI> till Expounded by <HI>Daniel,</HI> becau&s;e not under&s;tood: So <HI>Daniel</HI>'s Vi&s;ions, when he him&s;elf <HI>under&s;tood not;</HI> The Pro|phets Re&s;earched upon the things <HI>Revealed</HI> by God to them, what the <HI>Spirit of Chri&s;t in them did &s;ignify,</HI> and did not think
<PB N="39" REF="22"> it concern'd them not, becau&s;e they wanted <HI>Idea</HI>'s of what they under&s;tood not; Chri&s;t Taught by <HI>Parables,</HI> which were yet <HI>my&s;teries,</HI> till opened by him, and to all but tho&s;e to whom he opened them. The Book we call the <HI>Revelation;</HI> is &s;till <HI>my|&s;terous.</HI> This I urge, that the joyning the <HI>my&s;tery</HI> of the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> with <HI>Revelation,</HI> may not be looked upon as proof &s;ufficient, it is no longer <HI>Mi&s;tery.</HI></P>
<P N="2">&sect;. 2. There are particular Branches of Evangelical Truth, to which the Spirit of God is plea&s;ed peculiarly to apply <HI>my&s;tery;</HI> the fir&s;t Scripture of the <HI>New Te&s;tament,</HI> in which we find it u&s;ed, <HI>Matth.</HI> 13.11. I re&s;erve for after con&s;ideration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> <HI>viz. The my&s;teries of the Kingdom of Heaven;</HI> &s;o of the <HI>my&s;tery of God and of the Father, and of Christ;</HI> Of which I will give a further Account in the clo&s;e of the Di&s;cour&s;e. The Mediator&s;hip of Chri&s;t in the various Progre&s;&s;es of it to highe&s;t Glory, &s;hall re|main <HI>without Controver&s;y, the great my&s;tery of Godline&s;s,</HI> till his Re|turn in Glory; wherein It is mo&s;t manife&s;t, as there are &s;ome Points very Indi&s;putably, deeply <HI>my&s;terious,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3.16.</NOTE> as <HI>God mani|fe&s;ted in Fle&s;h, Ju&s;tified in Spirit,</HI> So others more plain, <HI>as Preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the World,</HI> that, as to their out &s;ide, were plain matters of Fact. Yet the&s;e, as well as the others make up the <HI>great my&s;tery of Godline&s;s;</HI> which &s;hews there is &s;ome deep Rea&s;on in the Eye of the Divine Spirit, why the Notion, and Word, <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> &s;hould be applied to each truth of the Go&s;yel, though &s;ome of tho&s;e truths are more plain,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5.26.32.</NOTE> than others: the Union betwixt Chri&s;t and his Church; and &s;o with every Believing Soul is, what will be <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> till he <HI>pre&s;ent it to him&s;elf</HI> in every particular Member of it, <HI>&agrave; glorious Church, not having &s;pot, or wrinckle;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 19.7.</NOTE> which The <HI>Revelation</HI> &s;tiles the <HI>Nuptials</HI> of the <HI>Lambs Wife,</HI> and the Marriage Supper of the <HI>Lamb;</HI> For who can declare this Union, rather inwardly perceived, than po&s;|&s;ible to be Expre&s;&s;ed yet? The Final <HI>Recapitulation</HI> of all things in <HI>Heaven,</HI> and <HI>Earth</HI> in Chri&s;t, that &s;hall be Happy and Ble&s;&s;ed, is &s;tiled the <HI>my&s;tery of the Divine Will,</HI> and it is to be done in the grand <HI>Oeconomy</HI> of the <HI>Fullne&s;s of Times,</HI> or of all Time, when <HI>my&s;tery</HI> &s;hall be <HI>Fini&s;hed;</HI> and before which, it &s;hall not be <HI>Fini&s;h|ed,</HI> but Remain <HI>mi&s;tery</HI> till then, according to the Sen&s;e of all Scripture. There are &s;ome great <HI>Propheticks</HI> of Scripture, as the
<PB N="40" REF="23"> Fulne&s;s of the <HI>Gentile</HI> Churches, or their coming to a fuller Light after the Eclip&s;e of the <HI>Apo&s;ta&s;y</HI> by <HI>Antichri&s;t,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11.25. Ephe&s;. 3.3. 1 Cor. 15.51. Rev. 1.30. c. 10.7. 1 Cor. 13.1.2.</NOTE> together with their whole number coming in, and making one Body with the <HI>I&s;ra|elites,</HI> or rather a <HI>Joynt Body;</HI> The <HI>my&s;tery</HI> &s;poken of the <HI>Chang|ing of the Living Saints</HI> at the coming of Chri&s;t; the <HI>my&s;tery</HI> of the <HI>&s;even Stars, and &s;even Candle&s;ticks,</HI> and the <HI>my&s;tery</HI> of <HI>God Fi|ni&s;hed;</HI> of which, I fear, there are yet &s;o low <HI>Idea</HI>'s in the general Profe&s;&s;ors of Chri&s;tianity, that if ever they were <HI>my&s;teries,</HI> they are &s;o &s;till; as particularly, to In&s;tance in that of the Living Saints Changed; which we generally look upon, as if it meant no more, than the &s;uddenne&s;s of a change equivalent to Death up|on tho&s;e Saints, who &s;hall be Found Alive at the <HI>Coming of Chri&s;t;</HI> which is &s;o far from a <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> that it cannot be otherwiie; the Coming of Chri&s;t being &s;o In&s;tantaneous, as Scripture every where declares it; which A&s;&s;ures, there lies a much deeper &s;en&s;e under tho&s;e words; as comparing them with <HI>The Living, The Remaining,</HI> or rather, <HI>Re&s;erv'd,</HI> twice u&s;ed, 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 4.15, 17. will a&s;&s;ure them, who clo&s;ely con&s;ider it; But I think it un&s;ea|&s;onable any further to engage herein; only to ob&s;erve the Im|portance of the word <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> in Scripture, to be That what it Reveals, as in the Sum and main Sub&s;tance, hath yet unconceivable Rece&s;&s;es, and Retirements of <HI>Truth;</HI> which we connot yet comprehend, or find <HI>Ideas</HI> of, and yet what it doth <HI>Reveal,</HI> is of great moment to us; and ought to fill us with a de&s;ire of Fuller Comprehen&s;ions of; as perfective of, not only of our Under&s;tandings, but makeing ble&s;&s;ed our whole Man.</P>
<P N="3">&sect;. 3. There is yet remaining one u&s;e more the Scripture makes of the word, <HI>mi&s;tery,</HI> in what, it doth not own, as <HI>my&s;tery</HI> of, or from it &s;elf; but Blazons, as <HI>Counter-my&s;tery,</HI> to it &s;elf; and &s;o far as we &s;uppo&s;e, the Holy Spirit transferr'd the u&s;e of the word <HI>my&s;tery</HI> from <HI>Pagan Idolatrous</HI> Impurity; it does in this one In&s;tance Refund it, and place it on its own Ba&s;e; And this is the <HI>my&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> of which the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks, 2 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 2.7. And after leads us to the <HI>Land of Shinar,</HI> as the Ba&s;e of it, <HI>Ba|bylon the Great,</HI> on who&s;e <HI>Forehead was written great my&s;tery,</HI> Rev. 17.7. And herein Scripture on one &s;ide teaches us the Sen&s;e of <HI>my|&s;tery;</HI> that it &s;ignifies Coverture, and Concealment; For tho the&s;e two <HI>my&s;teries</HI> differ, as Heaven and Hell; for in one we
<PB N="41" REF="23"> have the <HI>Deeps of God;</HI> In the other are hid the deeps of <HI>Satan,</HI> though under the Name of a <HI>Catholick Church; Antichri&s;tiani&s;m</HI> under the Name of Chri&s;tianity; It teaches us therefore to Ab|hor, to A&s;cribe to Go&s;pel <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> any of its Cheates, or Lyes; But in that this <HI>Mystery</HI> of <HI>Iniquity</HI> is not Con&s;um'd but by the <HI>Breath</HI> of <HI>Chri&s;t's Mouth,</HI> and the <HI>Glory</HI> of his <HI>Appearance;</HI> It &s;hews the Go&s;pel &s;hall continue <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> while this <HI>Counter-my|&s;tery</HI> is &s;ufferr'd to Endure.</P>
<P>&sect;. But while we thus according to the Go&s;pel it &s;elf &s;peake of it, as <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> and that the <HI>my&s;tery of Iniquity</HI> is a <HI>counter-my&s;tery</HI> to it; we Exalt the Wi&s;dom of it, as the <HI>Glorious Go&s;pel</HI> of the <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed God, only Wi&s;e, Ju&s;t, and Right,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 8.6 <HI>&amp;c.</HI> 1 Sam. 2.3. 2 Pet. 1.16. c. 1.4. 1 Tim. 5 4. c. 4.7. c. 6.20.</NOTE> <HI>the words of who&s;e Lips are All in Righteou&s;ne&s;s, and there is nothing Froward, nor Perver&s;e in them; His mouth &s;peaketh Truth, Wickedne&s;s is an abomination to his Lips.</HI> He is a <HI>God of Judgment; and by him All things are weighed:</HI> Nothing of <HI>Jargon,</HI> or <HI>Chymere;</HI> The Go&s;pel abhors <HI>Fa|bles,</HI> either <HI>tho&s;e cunningly devi&s;ed, or Old Wives Fables, Endle&s;s gene|alogies, oppo&s;itions of Science fal&s;ly &s;o call'd.</HI> All the&s;e are peculiar to the <HI>my&s;tery of Iniquity, its Lyes and Delu&s;ions</HI> after the <HI>manner of Satan, the Lyar from the beginning, and the Father of Lyes, the Baalzebul,</HI> and <HI>Baalzebub,</HI> the <HI>God</HI> of <HI>Dung,</HI> and of <HI>a Fly;</HI> but the <HI>my&s;teries</HI> of the Go&s;pel are all of greate&s;t weight, <HI>&s;ub&s;tance,</HI> of Wi&s;dom and <HI>Truth;</HI> and hereof it gives a&s;&s;urance to all Be|lievers, who are not Blind Devotioni&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 2.2.</NOTE> but have <HI>All Riches of the Full A&s;&s;urance of &V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> even in the <HI>my&s;teries</HI> of the Go&s;pel, that are <HI>mo&s;t &s;ablime;</HI> altho it be an Under&s;tanding of Faith, as hath been already, and &s;hall be further &s;hewn; yea, even tho&s;e, who by the A&s;&s;i&s;tances of its General Grace, apply them&s;elves with Humility, and &s;incere de&s;ires of its Truth to the Word of God, find great Sweetne&s;s, and Satisfaction, and an unu&s;ual Light ari&s;eth in Oppo&s;ition to Darkne&s;s; <HI>The Entrance of thy Word giveth Light, it giveth &V;nder&s;tanding</HI> to the <HI>Simple;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119.13. Eccle&s;. 5.1. 2 Tim. 3.7.</NOTE> no|thing is more Abhor'd by it, <HI>than Super&s;tition, the Sacrifice of Fools, the &s;illyne&s;s of even Women, ever Learning, never able to come to the Knowledg of the Truth.</HI> All the&s;e things are to be remanded to <HI>Pagani&s;m,</HI> and <HI>Antichri&s;tiani&s;m,</HI> and are the Characters of the <HI>my&s;tery of Iniquity.</HI> Nor do the <HI>my&s;teries</HI> of Chri&s;tianity con&s;i&s;t in dark and cloudy Speculations, or thorny <HI>Schola&s;tic</HI> Di&s;putes,
<PB N="42" REF="24"> tho&s;e oppo&s;itions of <HI>Science Fal&s;ely &s;o call'd.</HI> They are rather the Bold|ne&s;&s;es of Rea&s;on, that would bring down the <HI>my&s;teries</HI> of the Go&s;|pel under it &s;elf, and the Artifice of Sathan &s;o to entangle them: whereas in their own pure Fountain, the Word of God, They are all <HI>profitable for Doctrine Reproof,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.16.17. Rom. 15.4.</NOTE> <HI>In&s;truction in the ways of Righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> and that through <HI>the Patience</HI> and <HI>Comfort of the Scripture,</HI> we might <HI>have hope;</HI> and they make often an outward Reformation, where they have not the full &s;aving Effect; <HI>Go&s;pel my&s;teries</HI> are not therefore the <HI>Monopoly,</HI> or the Engro&s;&s;ment of a Profe&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5.12. 1 Cor. 4.1.</NOTE> or a <HI>Prie&s;t-craft;</HI> every Chri&s;tian ought to A&s;pire to be a <HI>Teacher;</HI> and the <HI>Faithful Stewards</HI> of the&s;e <HI>my&s;teries,</HI> to u&s;e utmo&s;t Diligence, they may be &s;o, as the greate&s;t <HI>Seale</HI> of their own Mini&s;try:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.26.27. Col. 1.18. Jud. 12.13.</NOTE> And <HI>woe to them,</HI> if they &s;hun to that end, to <HI>declare</HI> fully the <HI>Coun&s;el of God, Teaching every man, and Warning every man; that they may pre&s;ent every man perfect in Chri&s;t Je&s;us; Not Wells without Water, or Clouds without Rain.</HI> It is only for Order and Government &s;ake, and in Tru&s;t that this grand Office may be certainly Di&s;charged, that there is a di&s;tinct <HI>Presbytery</HI> who are only worthy of <HI>double,</HI> or of any Honour at all, but up|on their <HI>Labour in the Word,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.17. v. 13.15.16.</NOTE> <HI>and Doctrine, and watching Night and Day, to &s;ave them&s;elves, and tho&s;e that hear them:</HI> who might <HI>at|tend on this very thing, and give them&s;elves wholly to Reading and Me|ditation</HI> for general Profit. A <HI>Guild for my&s;tery</HI> is only proper to the <HI>Craft&s;men</HI> of <HI>Diana,</HI> the <HI>Merchants of Babylon, the Prie&s;ts of Antichri&s;t; Fal&s;e Apo&s;tles,</HI> who&s;e Reproach thrown upon the Go&s;pel, <HI>Their Lord will Return</HI> upon them, and the Blood of Souls lo&s;t by their Unfaithfulne&s;s in the di&s;charge of their Du|ty; and to conclude this Branch, <HI>Go&s;pel My&s;teries</HI> &s;hall not be <HI>my|&s;teries</HI> for ever, but the perfect Comprehen&s;ion of them is <HI>Ordain|ed</HI> for the <HI>Glory of Saints;</HI> and the Knowledg of them, tho not perfect here, yet &s;hall end in the <HI>brightne&s;s of the Firmament</HI> to all the Wi&s;e in them; and They who <HI>Instruct</HI> in them <HI>&s;hall &s;hine as the Stars;</HI> whereas the <HI>my&s;tery of Iniquity</HI> &s;hall be <HI>con&s;umed by the Brightne&s;s of the appearance of Chri&s;t, and the Mini&s;ters of it go in|to Perdition;</HI> tho&s;e <HI>Planetory Stars</HI> are They, for whom is <HI>re&s;erved the Blackne&s;s of Darkne&s;s for ever,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 12.3. 2 The&s;. 2.8.</NOTE> Jud. 13.</P>
<P N="5">&sect;. 5. The Rea&s;on therefore of &s;o clo&s;e adhering to the word, and notion of <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> is that high Reverence due to the very
<PB N="43" REF="24"> word, the <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> of the <HI>Divine Spirit</HI> hath cho&s;en,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.13. c. 1.10.</NOTE> who <HI>compares Spiritual things with Spiritual;</HI> if Chri&s;tians &s;hould <HI>&s;peak the &s;ame thing,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle Admoni&s;hes, who would not de&s;ire to &s;peak the &s;ame word, the Spirit of God hath &s;o often u&s;ed! This is an Honour due to Scripture, and to the Holy Spirit the Author; but beyond this, the Go&s;pel Notion of <HI>my&s;tery</HI> Keeps up the Rever|ence due to the&s;e great Truths, for the &s;ake of that <HI>Aby&s;&s;e</HI> of Wi&s;dom, Love and Grace, from whence they Flow, and puts us in mind always of their Original, and that Riches of Compa&s;&s;i|on, making known what had el&s;e for ever lay hid; The &s;en&s;e hereof keeps always low all proud Reflexions on our own <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and Holds in a con&s;tant dependence upon the Enlightning Grace of God; This keeps the Divine Life at the due Elevation, be|ing laid up in Divine <HI>my&s;teries,</HI> and I&s;&s;uing from them by the En|livening Spirit of God, not Pro&s;trated to Fallen <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and its Power of Free Will, as at the Highe&s;t, but a more exalted <HI>Ethics,</HI> or <HI>Moral Philo&s;ophy.</HI> Hereby the Truths Revealed in the word are kept &s;afe from Sacrilegious Violation, or being Condemn'd at the Tribunal of corrupt <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> but Enthron'd in <HI>my&s;tery</HI> far a|bove <HI>rea&s;on;</HI> this Gives the Adequate Account of <HI>miracles,</HI> not on|ly to a&s;&s;ure, the <HI>Revelations</HI> they Sealed, were from God; but to &s;hew a Supernatural Power, like them&s;elves, nece&s;&s;ary to En|lighten the Under&s;tanding, and to Sanctify the whole Spirit in conformity to them: This gives Rea&s;on to an Earne&s;t De&s;ire of that Eternal Life and Happine&s;s, <HI>the Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory,</HI> &s;hewn to be Incomprehen&s;ible, as the Truths in which they are contain'd, and that lead thereunto, and which cannot be comprehended, till that <HI>fini&s;hing</HI> of <HI>my&s;teries</HI> in that <HI>Everla&s;ting Kingdom.</HI> Now all the&s;e Rea&s;ons of Holding Fa&s;t the <HI>Evange|lick</HI> word, and Notion of <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> are as &s;o many Countermines to the Artifices of Sathan, and his In&s;truments, to Deprive us of the Real Benefits of it, and therefore we ought to be Jealous over them for our own, and others &s;ake; lea&s;t, as the great Engineer of fal&s;e <HI>Rea&s;on beguiled Eve</HI> with it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.1.</NOTE> &s;o <HI>our minds</HI> &s;hould be <HI>Cor|rupted</HI> from the Purity of Divine Truth, <HI>as It is in Chri&s;t.</HI> For thus <HI>Anti&s;cripturi&s;m</HI> and <HI>Super&s;tition</HI> mutually circulating one into ano|ther, by the Help of Human Rea&s;on and Imagination have pro|duced <HI>Pagani&s;m, Antichri&s;tiani&s;m,</HI> and <HI>Mahometi&s;m,</HI> of which In|timation was before made.</P>
<P N="6"><PB N="44" REF="25">&sect;. 6. To conclude then the whole concerning <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> as <HI>above Rea&s;on;</HI> that is, above our Fallen, Cor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">upted <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> That great Oracle of our Lord, of which intimation was before made, gives us the &s;um of the matter;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13.11.12. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> he &s;peaking to his Di&s;ciples, &s;ayth to them; <HI>&V;nto you it is given to know the my&s;teryes of the Kingdom of Heaven; To others it is not given:</HI> This is the Fir&s;t occa&s;ion, the Spirit of God was plea&s;ed to take, to make u&s;e of the word, <HI>my|&s;tery,</HI> in the New Te&s;tament: and it was before the calling of the <HI>Gentiles;</HI> which gives a more Heauenly, and Divine De&s;cent to the u&s;e of the word <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> than the taking it from the Familia|rity the <HI>Gentiles</HI> had with it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 49.4. P&s;al. 78.2.</NOTE> and accommodating the Language of the Go&s;pel to them; For it alludes to that of the <HI>P&s;alm; I will open my mouth in a Parable, I will utter dark &s;ayings of Old.</HI> And it is ap|plied by Chri&s;t to the di&s;tingui&s;hing Grace of God, giving to &s;ome to know the&s;e <HI>my&s;teries,</HI> and hiding them from others; <HI>To them it is not given;</HI> which is the mo&s;t proper notion of <HI>my&s;tery</HI> in all Lan|guages; the word <HI>my&s;tery</HI> Importing in univer&s;al u&s;e, a Know|ledg in any thing peculiar to &s;ome, and not to others; and &s;o this u&s;e of it by our Lord gives a principal Rea&s;on why Scripture choo&s;es this word; <HI>viz.</HI> to Magnify this very Grace; For if the&s;e Truths were in our Power, under our Command, or under our <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> what nece&s;&s;ity were there of <HI>giving</HI> to know, and how to &s;ome, and not to others? Who have yet the &s;ame things laid before 'em, but in <HI>&s;eeing, &s;ee not;</HI> even as the <HI>Parable of the Sower</HI> which our Lord makes a Figure and Type of this di&s;tingui&s;hing Grace: It was equally Offered, but <HI>Expounded Apart</HI> to the <HI>Di&s;ciples:</HI> To tho&s;e to whom It was not Expounded, it was <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> becau&s;e they had the out&s;ide, but <HI>&s;eeing</HI> and <HI>hearing, &s;aw not, heard not, to them It was not given;</HI> To the <HI>Di&s;ciples,</HI> to whom it was Expounded, it was &s;till <HI>my&s;terious</HI> in one great &s;en&s;e, becau&s;e they held it by the Te|nure of Grace; they did not attain by their <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> but <HI>to them it was given.</HI> The <HI>Ideas</HI> were kept for them in the <HI>word of the King|dom,</HI> and from thence &s;till <HI>given</HI> them afre&s;h: <HI>to him that hath &s;hall be given, and he &s;hall have more abundance:</HI> The Spirit of God, as a higher mind, as that <HI>Spirit</HI> of <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Revelation,</HI> upholds the <HI>Spirit</HI> of the <HI>Mind,</HI> Sanctifyed and Renewed in the Under&s;tand|ing; Ballancing, Applying, Arguing, Inferring and Producing into holy Action; declaring within them&s;elves and to others in words, and giving them an <HI>&V;tterance,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.1.</NOTE> an Elocution proper to tho&s;e <HI>Spiritu|al
<PB N="41" REF="25"> things,</HI> tho&s;e Truths; as he is called the <HI>Spirit giving utterance;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 2.3.</NOTE> And thus in highe&s;t Sen&s;e, tho&s;e Truths are <HI>my&s;terious,</HI> even ac|cording to the Sen&s;e of the Treati&s;e, as being above <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> For all tho&s;e, that attempt this Circuit by their own <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and Judg and Condemn by it, and will have the whole within the Cogni&s;ance of their <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> are &s;o Dazled and amaz'd, that even the Advantages of the <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> re&s;erved by general Grace, are taken from them; and they become de&s;pi&s;ers, deniers, profe&s;&s;ed Enemies to tho&s;e Truths, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>men of</HI> of <HI>Soul, Rea&s;on,</HI> that is, not having the Spirit; and &s;o according to that &s;evere Doom, That is <HI>Taken from them, even which they had;</HI> and what was <HI>above their Rea&s;on,</HI> thus becomes contrary to their <HI>Rea&s;on.</HI> And this is the conclu&s;ive Rea&s;on, why the Under&s;tanding, humble, Chri&s;tian can never part with <HI>my&s;tery, Go&s;pel-my&s;tery;</HI> what is held in <HI>my&s;tery</HI> is held by <HI>Grace,</HI> and not by <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> and <HI>Grace</HI> is their Title; how then &s;hould they part with <HI>my&s;tery!</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. VI.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P><HI>Of</HI> Rea&s;on <HI>and</HI> My&s;tery <HI>united in their highe&s;t Elevation, in the</HI> Eternal Son of the Father; The Rea&s;on, The My&s;tery.</P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>I Have intimated before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Intro|duction into this chapter.</NOTE> I &s;hould have abandon'd in Sacred Di&s;|cour&s;es, the &s;o much abu&s;ed word, <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> were it not not for one tran&s;cendent Scripture; in which I am &s;ully per&s;waded, the Divine Spirit hath on purpo&s;e &s;ingled out that word, the <HI>Philo&s;ophers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1.1. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> the Reputed <HI>Princes of the wi&s;dom of the world,</HI> among the <HI>Greeks</HI> (whom the Apo&s;tle Remarks for <HI>&s;eeking after wi&s;dom</HI>) have unver|&s;ally Expre&s;&s;ed it by; that is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, now of this the <HI>Evangeli&s;t John</HI> in Spirit makes choice to Expre&s;s the <HI>only begotten Son of God,</HI> by; and I &s;hall endeavour to make plain, by this word, he intends <HI>E|ternal Wi&s;dom,</HI> or <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> in the fir&s;t place: and becau&s;e this Son&s;hip of the <HI>Eternal Wi&s;dom</HI> or <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is highe&s;t <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> the &s;ame Apo&s;tle <HI>Rev.</HI> 19.12, 13. is In&s;pir'd to joyn the <HI>Name, he hath written, which no man knoweth, but He him&s;elf, with the Name whereby He is called, The Rea|&s;on of God.</HI> So uniting <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>My&s;tery</HI> in him; as <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ays, what is the Name of God, and <HI>what is his Sons Name, if thou can&s;t tell?</HI> the <HI>Father</HI> and the <HI>Son dwell</HI> alike in the <HI>Light, to which none can
<PB N="42" REF="26"> Approach.</HI> To &s;hew therefore how in the highe&s;t <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> the highe&s;t <HI>my&s;tery</HI> concenters, &s;hall be the undertaking of this chapter; that I may bring <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>My&s;tery</HI> to the happie&s;t Con&s;piration, and no more di&s;pute between them; I know the undertaking is high, and difficult, but by the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of <HI>The Wi&s;dom, The Rea&s;on,</HI> of whom I am to &s;peak, I will proceed.</P>
<P N="1">&sect;. 1. The Wi&s;e of the <HI>Pagan</HI> Nations had not two greater Noti|ons, or words, than <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>Mystery;</HI> the one expre&s;&s;ing <HI>Natu|ral Wi&s;dom,</HI> or Religion; and the other as Communicated to their peculiar Followers, or Di&s;ciples, and wrapp'd up in &s;ecret Figures, or <HI>Cabalas; Supernatural Wi&s;dom,</HI> and manife&s;tation from their Gods; In both they were extreamly Fooli&s;h, and Deceiv'd; as al|&s;o dreadfully Corrupted, and Defiled: The&s;e two, yet the <HI>wi&s;|dom</HI> of God and his <HI>Grace</HI> in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, hath laid hold upon in the Go&s;pel, according to &s;ome former delineations in the Old Te&s;t|ament; yet taking in tho&s;e <HI>Gentile</HI> Notions, and words al&s;o as &s;uited to them, when Grace broke out upon them in their <HI>Calling;</HI> as hath been already &s;hown in <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> and now &s;hall be in <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> and then both Applyed to our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="2">&sect;. 2. That the word, <GAP DESC="foreign">, is in our <HI>Tran&s;lation</HI> given, and Received, and by long u&s;e &s;ettled <HI>[The word]</HI> is &s;o known, it may &s;eem a Boldne&s;s to offer at &s;uch a change as to Interpret it, <HI>[The Rea&s;on]</HI> but be&s;ides, that Grave, and Learned Interpreters have not differ'd much, as &s;hall be after &s;hewn; and that, there &s;hall al&s;o be due Reverence in the Progre&s;s, given to that <HI>Tran|&s;lation [The Word]</HI> I do with greater Authority &s;o Expound, &s;u&s;tain'd therein by a paralel of the <HI>Beloved Di&s;ciple</HI> with <HI>Solomon</HI> the <HI>Jedidiah,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 8.22. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> or <HI>Beloved of God;</HI> the Expre&s;&s;ions are Uniform, as from the &s;ame Spirit intending the &s;ame Truth; yet making more Full, and plain by the Latter, what was not &s;o fully made known by the Former; as the <HI>New Te&s;tament</HI> in its <HI>Parrhe&s;ia, Plainne&s;s,</HI> or openne&s;s of Speech, as in clearne&s;s of Light, excells <HI>The Old Te&s;tament.</HI></P>
<P N="3">&sect;. 3. That <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> differ only in &s;ound, or &s;ome very thin Di&s;tinction one from another, I think none will deny; who will not allow, the wi&s;e&s;t Man hath, and is the greate&s;t <HI>Rea&s;on?</HI> or that he who hath the mo&s;t, or be&s;t <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> hath the mo&s;t wi&s;|dom, and is the wi&s;e&s;t man? The &s;ame things then, that <HI>Solomon,</HI> a&s;cribeth to <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> The <HI>Evangeli&s;t John</HI> by the &s;ame Spirit, at|tributes to the <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> The <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> &s;peaks of it &s;elf, as di&s;tinct from God,
<PB N="43" REF="26"> and yet, as hath been &s;hewn, Supreme, Ab&s;tract, Infinite <HI>wi&s;dom,</HI> cannot be divided from God; It mu&s;t be on with him: The <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is &s;poken of by the <HI>Evangelist John,</HI> as di&s;tinct from God, and yet <HI>was God;</HI> The <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> &s;peaks of it &s;elf, as <HI>in the Beginning, from Everlasting,</HI> before the Creation; The <HI>Evangeli&s;t John</HI> &s;peaks of The <HI>Rea&s;on in the Beginning;</HI> and nece&s;&s;arily before the Creati|on, becau&s;e <HI>All things were made by him, and without him was not any Thing made, that was made. The wi&s;dom</HI> &s;peaks of it &s;elf, <HI>po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by God, clo&s;e by him, with him; The Rea&s;on was with God, The &s;ame was with God; The wi&s;dom</HI> &s;peaks of it &s;elf, as <HI>brought up with God,</HI> a word of highe&s;t Sen&s;e, expre&s;&s;ing the <HI>&s;ame Life; The Rea&s;on,</HI> as before, <HI>was with God, was God; In him was Life; The Wi&s;dom</HI> &s;peaks of it &s;elf, as <HI>&V;nited with God in the Creation, The Lord by wi&s;dom Founded the Earth; By under&s;tanding he E&s;tabli&s;hed the Heavens;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 3.19.</NOTE> <HI>The wi&s;dom was there, when he &s;et a compa&s;s on the Face of the Deep;</HI> Of the Rea&s;on it is &s;aid as before, <HI>All Things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made, that was made: The VVi&s;dom</HI> &s;peaks it &s;elf, <HI>as brought forth, &s;et up; Of the Rea&s;on</HI> It is &s;aid; <HI>we Be|held his Glory, as the Glory of the only Begotten of the Father, full of Truth,</HI> that is, <HI>wi&s;dom,</HI> as before Explained; The <HI>wi&s;dom</HI> &s;aith of it &s;elf, <HI>I was daily his delight, rejoycing always before him:</HI> The Go&s;pel &s;aith &s;everal <HI>Times</HI> of the <HI>Rea&s;on; This is my Beloved Son, In whom I am well plea&s;ed. The VVi&s;dom</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Rejoycing in the Ha|bitable Parts of his Earth, and my Delights were with the Sons of Men.</HI> Of the <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> it is &s;aid, <HI>He was made Fle&s;h, and came, and dwelt a|mong us;</HI> all the&s;e Paralelli&s;ms plainly &s;hew; <HI>this Wi&s;dom,</HI> and <HI>this Rea&s;on</HI> are the &s;ame; And He is <HI>That Word,</HI> who is &s;aid to be <HI>Living, Powerful, &s;harper than a two edged Sword,</HI> &amp;c.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.12. Rev. 1.16.</NOTE> And that awful Per&s;on, That <HI>He, with whom we have to do,</HI> as he hath it, and it <HI>cometh out of his Mouth,</HI> &s;o it is the <HI>Sword</HI> with <HI>two Edges,</HI> &s;o <HI>&s;harp</HI> as to <HI>divide between the Sen&s;e</HI> and <HI>Spirit;</HI> and all things are immediately <HI>open</HI> and <HI>manife&s;t</HI> and <HI>naked in its &s;ight,</HI> becau&s;e in <HI>his &s;ight,</HI> who&s;e word it is, and who is him&s;elf, the &s;upreme <HI>word</HI> and <HI>wi&s;dom.</HI></P>
<P N="4">&sect;. 4. The word of God, as &s;poken, and written, and given out from <HI>Eternal Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> gives together with tho&s;e truths, that are above the Illumination of the Fir&s;t Creation, and there|fore <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> All tho&s;e Truths, that are &s;o ju&s;t, and level to the Intellectual Nature of Man, as he was made in <HI>Knowledg, Righte|ou&s;ne&s;s</HI> and <HI>True Holine&s;s;</HI> that tho they are much ob&s;cur'd, and
<PB N="44" REF="27"> effac'd, and many of them lo&s;t, and the Ability to Form <HI>Idea</HI>'s and Apprehen&s;ions of them in &s;ome almo&s;t, and in &s;ome alto|gether extingui&s;hed; Yet partly by the Re&s;erve, Je&s;us Chri&s;t, as the <HI>Eternal VVi&s;dom,</HI> and the <HI>Son of the Father in Love and Grace,</HI> as well, as <HI>Truth,</HI> and as the Redeemer hath made; and partly by the Enforcing, and Invigorating that Light, Tho&s;e Truths cannot, but be acknowledged by the Mind, and Con&s;cience of Man; &s;o far as to condemn the Violation of them by Evil Practi&s;es, and to Re&s;train tho&s;e Evil Practi&s;es, and to make better Human Conver|&s;ation, and Manners: Therefore they appear ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary for Human Society, and to pa&s;s into Laws; but that excellent and Illu&s;trious Light in which they at fir&s;t &s;hone out, &s;o as that the Mind and Spirit &s;hould ta&s;t the full &s;weetne&s;s, and perfectly re&s;ign to them, is not Re&s;tored, but by a Supernatural Re-Illu|mination, and Renovation; in which regard even tho&s;e Truths, who&s;e Implantation, and the Power of Forming Ideas of them, were at the fir&s;t Natural, are now become Supernatural and <HI>my&s;te|rious,</HI> and require a new Writing in the Heart, as to the fir&s;t Ex|cellency and Spirituality of them.</P>
<P N="5">&sect;. 5. The Eternal <HI>Wi&s;dom, Rea&s;on</HI> and Word by the Light, and Spirit, with which they are given, gives Te&s;timony to tho&s;e truths of the Fir&s;t Creation in the Heart of Man, &s;o far as they are re|&s;erved, &s;u&s;tained, enforced, according to the Fir&s;t Implantation or Writing in the Heart; and then it receives Te&s;timony from them to tho&s;e &s;upernatural Truths, that it delivers together with them; As he it is that <HI>Finds out the Knowledg of witty Inventions;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">As Letters, writing, Print|ing, the Com|pa&s;s, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> All that we admire &s;o much, and that have obtained general Appro|bation, and U&s;e; and make &s;o honourable the memory of the fir&s;t Inventors in what Science, or Art &s;oever, are from him, as the Supreme Original: In all the&s;e we hold our <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> by Him, who is above our <HI>Rea&s;on, even him, who hath that Name, which none knows but he him&s;elf;</HI> who is therefore &s;upreme <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> we hold all by Grace from him, how unthankful then is it to hold up our <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> again&s;t the Grace, again&s;t him by whom we hold it? or again&s;t the <HI>My&s;tery</HI> of Him, and His Grace? For there is not an <HI>Idea</HI> rightly Formed, nor one true Ratiocination, not one witty Invention for good u&s;e; not one Righteous Law, or wi&s;e Decree; but it is, (as things are now,) by Grace through the Mediator, and from him, as the <HI>Saviour</HI> thus far of <HI>All Men,</HI>
<PB N="45" REF="27"> and in the&s;e Regards, <HI>Ta&s;ting Death for every Man;</HI> but though the <HI>World</HI> was at <HI>fir&s;t made by him,</HI> and is yet upheld; yet this <HI>great Light Shineth by his word in Darkne&s;s, and the Darkne&s;s comprehends it not,</HI> knows not him from whom it comes: No, not altho the Fir&s;t Engravings of the Law on our Hearts are &s;o far, as they are, Re|&s;erv'd, or Re-enlightened by him; and tho with &s;uch a variety, and free Di&s;po&s;e to &s;ome, and not to others; Yet They to whom greate&s;t mea&s;ures are given, except a higher Grace be given al&s;o, thro' the great Degeneracies of Human Nature, lift up tho&s;e high|er mea&s;ures of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> highe&s;t again&s;t him; which plainly &s;hews how little <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> can effect by it &s;elf in things above &s;uch an Illu|mination, as is given to it.</P>
<P N="6">&sect;. 6. As our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, the <HI>Eternal Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> of the Father is, as in all Intellectual Beings, <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> is, an E&s;&s;en|tial word within the mind it &s;elf; and as he Declares the <HI>Father</HI> by In&s;pirations of Creation, and Mediatory Su&s;tentations of all In|tellectual Beings in their Intellectual Irradiations, and Motions; &s;o he in a Supreme Government, and Conduct by his Spirit, hath I&s;&s;ued out into all tho&s;e Declarations by his <HI>Prophets, Apo&s;tles</HI> and other Servants of his, peculiarly Employed by him, which when &s;poken, and as now Collected into Scripture, we call <HI>the word of God;</HI> the &s;ub&s;i&s;tence to which the Eternal <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Word</HI> of the <HI>Father</HI> gives; <HI>Chri&s;t ye&s;terday, to day, the &s;ame for ever.</HI> And as he is in that word, the &s;upreme Self-&s;ub&s;i&s;tent <HI>Word,</HI> &s;o he hath made known all Supernatural Truths, Truths of the <HI>New Crea|tion,</HI> and flowing from Redemption by his Declarative Word in the Scriptures, the &s;ame word that gives the fir&s;t, gives the other al&s;o; and the very Truths them&s;elves of that Supernatural Eleva|tion and Excellency have bright Beams of tho&s;e fir&s;t truths, e&s;&s;enti|ally united to them, throughout &s;hining within them, Spark|ling out of Them, and round about Them; by which they may be known to be of God, and are by their Weight, by their Purity, by their Heavenlyne&s;s, by their entire Excellency Di&s;tingui&s;hable from the <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity:</HI> Thus we find the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, as full of Supernatural Truths,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.8.</NOTE> &s;o full of what ever is <HI>Lovely, True, Hone&s;t, Vertuous, of Good Report, worthy of Prai&s;e;</HI> even whole, univer&s;al mo&s;t un&s;potted Morality; and the Supernatural Truths them&s;elves are Orient with the &s;ame, far eve|ry way above the Faded, Bla&s;ted, Wither'd <HI>Ideas,</HI> or glozed Sem|blances of tho&s;e, who have &s;poken mo&s;t Excellingly of them with|out
<PB N="46" REF="28"> that Light: And herein is the <HI>Condemnation,</HI> that men receive not &s;upernatural Truths; They Recoile, not from the Supernaturalne&s;s, but from the very Holine&s;s, Strictne&s;s, Purity, they are dazled with; even that, which was Implanted in Fir&s;t Creation; They <HI>Love Darkne&s;s,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3.19.</NOTE> <HI>rather than Light,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>their Deeds are Evil;</HI> and make a pretence of Prejudice again&s;t the Supernaturalne&s;s, and that they have not A&s;&s;urance &s;uch Truths are from God, to &s;helter the <HI>Evil Works,</HI> to which they adhere, and upon which the&s;e Truths Shine &s;o <HI>warm</HI> and <HI>bright,</HI> and &s;o &s;harply Reproove; And thus the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t fir&s;t gives Te&s;timony to all Implanted Truth, &s;hewing to Man all that was <HI>written</HI> in his <HI>Heart;</HI> fills up the Vacuities, and Empty Spaces; gives new Light, and Beauty to the Defaced, and lo&s;t Characters; &s;o that men may know in their own Con&s;ciences, It is that Fir&s;t writing Re&s;tor'd, and they find it &s;o undeniably within them&s;elves to be &s;o, that they cannot deny it: And then Supernatural Truths &s;o e&s;&s;entially united to Implanted, and Both &s;o Circulating one within another, Superna|tural Truths Receive Te&s;timony from tho&s;e Implanted Truths, that if the one are &s;o undoubtedly from God, the other mu&s;t be al&s;o; and no one can reject revealed Truth, but he mu&s;t fir&s;t di&s;|obey, and Rebel again&s;t Natural, and therein is Ju&s;tly and Righ|teou&s;ly Condemn'd.</P>
<P N="7">&sect;. 7. Upon the whole then, we may from Je&s;us Chri&s;t the Su|p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eme <HI>Rea&s;on, Wi&s;dom,</HI> and <HI>Word of God,</HI> and the Supreme <HI>My&s;tery</HI> derive this T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ain, and connexion of Truths. 1. That <HI>Godline&s;s, Righteou&s;ne&s;s</HI> and <HI>Soberne&s;s,</HI> being in the mo&s;t inward Sen&s;e of Mans mind, the principal Points of true <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> where ever they are found at fulle&s;t Dimen&s;ions and &s;tronge&s;t Excellency, Thre is highe&s;t <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> now, in the cleare&s;t Light, and Harmony, and the proper Language of it; The&s;e are &s;o found in the word of God, above the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Natural Implanted Knowledg of God, now &s;o ob&s;cur'd, and ecclip&s;ed by mans &s;in, and Fall; and above that excellent Light Creation Gives, as <HI>David, P&s;al.</HI> 19. upon the compare gives the preference to the word of God above the Knowledg given from the <HI>Speech</HI> of <HI>Heaven</HI> and <HI>Earth.</HI> 2. Who ever therefore is the Author of that Word is the Supreme Wi&s;|dom, <HI>Rea&s;on and Word of God;</HI> and that is <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t the Son of the Father in Truth, Full of Truth; the Living Word of God, who&s;e Name is called, The word of God.</HI> 3. That he, who is the Su|preme <HI>Rea&s;on, Wi&s;dom, Truth and word of God,</HI> as He is He by whom
<PB N="47" REF="28"> <HI>All was made,</HI> &s;o He is He, by whom all is Con&s;erved, and Re&s;tor|ed; <HI>The Son of the Father in Love, as well as Truth, and full of Grace, as well as Truth.</HI> 4. He therefore,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.23.</NOTE> as he is him&s;elf Supreme <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> and is therefore called <HI>Faith,</HI> which is the <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> Superna|turalized for <HI>My&s;tery;</HI> &s;o he Reveals the <HI>My&s;tery</HI> of the <HI>Coun&s;el</HI> of the Independent Will and Grace of the Father. 5. He Re&s;erves and Continues all the Light of the Fir&s;t Illumination by Cre|ation, that is found, even where there is no Knowledg of Him; All the Learning in Arts, Sciences, and <HI>witty Inventions;</HI> He Di&s;|pen&s;es All that Light, and Knowledg, <HI>Receiving</HI> for, and <HI>giving Gifts even to the Rebellious,</HI> under the Profe&s;&s;ion of his Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 68.18.</NOTE> <HI>that the Lord God may have a Tabernacle among them.</HI> 6. But E&s;pe|cially, He as the <HI>Truth,</HI> and <HI>My&s;tery</HI> In&s;tructs Savingly all his own Servants, and by <HI>inward Light,</HI> and <HI>Truth</HI> communicated to them, Transfers, by his Spirit, from his word Supernatural with all Natural Truths into their Hearts; &s;o that they are at once, The only true Men of <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and the <HI>My&s;tae,</HI> the <GAP DESC="foreign">, the <HI>In&s;tructed in the My|steries of the Kingdom of Heaven:</HI> So that as in Chri&s;t him&s;elf Supreme Wi&s;dom, <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> Truth, and Supreme <HI>Mystery,</HI> (whom <HI>none Knoweth but the Father, and they to whom the Father Reveals Him) Rea&s;on, and Mystery are &V;nited;</HI> &s;o in All true Chri&s;tians <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and <HI>Mystery</HI> dwell together; All Natural and Supernatu|ral Truth according to Godline&s;s, but Supernaturally given, and Communicated by an Illumination after the manner of the Com|munication of <HI>My&s;tery.</HI> 7. Through the Delu&s;ion of Sathan un|der the Vizor of Chri&s;tianity hath &s;prung up by falling from the Supreme <HI>Word of God,</HI> and the True <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> the <HI>my&s;tery of Ini|quity, and Antichri&s;t the Son of Perdition;</HI> as the <HI>Pagans</HI> of old, Fell from Natural <HI>Truth,</HI> into <HI>Idolatry.</HI></P>
<P N="8">&sect;. 8. But becau&s;e He, who is the <HI>Supreme Wi&s;dom, Rea&s;on, Truth,</HI> and by whom all things were made, and who&s;e Name is the <HI>word of God,</HI> hath a <HI>Title written on his ve&s;ture, and on his Thigh; King of Kings, and Lord of Lords;</HI> There &s;hall be a Kingdom of Highe&s;t Illumination, and <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> the <HI>Inheritance of the Saints in Light,</HI> a Kingdom of <HI>Redemption, the World to come of the &s;econd</HI> Adam, wherein all <HI>my&s;tery,</HI> Natural and Supernatural &s;hall be <HI>Fini&s;hed,</HI> or fully laid Open, and Under&s;tood; and then the <HI>my|&s;tery of Iniquity</HI> &s;hall be wholly <HI>De&s;troyed;</HI> when not only the Faculties of the Mind &s;hall be Perfectly Re&s;tored by Renovation but the Organs of the <HI>Spiritual Body,</HI> fitted to the Action of the
<PB N="48" REF="29"> Spirit; and the Divine Being &s;hall be &s;een in the <HI>Eternal Son, Em|manuel,</HI> in our Nature, &s;o far as it is po&s;&s;ible for a Finite Being to comprehend an Infinite;<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 17.21.23.</NOTE> to which al&s;o in and by him Saints &s;hall be United.</P>
<P N="9">&sect;. 9. Thus all Wi&s;dom, <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and Truth circulates with it &s;elf in the Eternal <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and all his Oeconomy in his making the World; in the Government of it; in the Re&s;erves of Truth and Rea&s;on in the mind of Man in any Degree now; in the perfect Purity of the Word of God; and in the <HI>World to come,</HI> or Kingdom of the Eternal <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>word of God;</HI> &s;o that we may Argue from the one to the other with great A&s;&s;urance: If there be Wi&s;dom in the Laws of Creation, and Providence there are certainly Laws of Holine&s;s, Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Soberne&s;s, every way corre&s;pond|ing them; the Fear of the Lord in man; Departure from Evil cannot but an&s;wer the <HI>Ballancing the Clouds,</HI> and the <HI>weights for the wind,</HI> &amp;c. If we have any &s;uch Laws of Wi&s;dom, and Equity in ei|ther Kind, there is an entire Sy&s;tem and Complex of Each, if an Infraction had not been made by Sin. On the other part if there be a Renovation of the Laws of inward and outward Holine&s;s, in and by the Redemption of Chri&s;t, and the <HI>New Crea|tion</HI> in <HI>his Redeemed;</HI> The <HI>Re&s;titution</HI> of the <HI>Creation,</HI> wherein &s;o|ever it <HI>Grones,</HI> and Travels in Pain until now, and the Admi|ni&s;tration of its Government &s;hall be as Glorious; when it &s;hall be <HI>Delivered from the Bondage of vanity and corruption,</HI> whereunto it was,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 8.20.</NOTE> and yet is Subject, by Rea&s;on of him who &s;o Subjected it in Hope, into the <HI>Glorious Liberty of the Children of God.</HI></P>
<P N="10">&sect;. 10. As every <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> together with the Speech and Expre&s;&s;ion, it hath, and makes of it &s;elf, hath a certain <HI>E|nergy</HI> and Force, or Spirit, that it powerfully &s;ends forth and works on others by; &s;o it is Attributed to the <HI>Eternal wi&s;dom, Rea|&s;on</HI> and <HI>word of God to Powre out his Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 1.23. c. 14. Joh. c. 15.16.</NOTE> to &s;end the <HI>Paraclet,</HI> or <HI>Comforter, the Holy Spirit,</HI> whom the Father &s;ends in the <HI>Sons Name,</HI> who is called the <HI>Spirit of that Word,</HI> by whom the <HI>world was made,</HI> the Spirit of <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> of <HI>Revelation, The Spirit of the Son, The Spirit of Chri&s;t;</HI> and which was given upon the <HI>Glo|rification</HI> of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iohn 7.30.</NOTE> the Spirit of Chri&s;t in the Prophets, and whom Scripture Introduces on all Accounts, as the Spirit Breathing in, and with the Declared <HI>Word of God;</HI> and <HI>Revealing the My&s;teries
<PB N="49" REF="29"> of the Kingdom of Heaven,</HI> that cannot otherwi&s;e be knwon; and yet this Spirit none can know but they who have it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.17</NOTE> Thus in all things appears the Happy Union of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>My&s;tery</HI> in the <HI>Supreme Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>My&s;tery</HI> and <HI>Word,</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. VII.</HEAD>
<ARGUMENT>
<P>Of the <HI>My&s;tery</HI> of the <HI>Father, The Word, The Spirit,</HI> In whom the Go&s;pel gives the mo&s;t Explicate, and Con|&s;ummate Manife&s;tation of <HI>Eternal Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea|&s;on.</HI></P>
</ARGUMENT>
<P>THE former Parts of this Di&s;cour&s;e concerning <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and <HI>My&s;tery</HI> hath nece&s;&s;arily led to the di&s;tinct con&s;ideration of God; <HI>The Father of Lights</HI> and of Spirits;<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Intro|duction.</NOTE> All Beings of <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> de|&s;cending from Him. Of The Son of the Father in Truth, <HI>viz.</HI> The <HI>Eternal wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on;</HI> and <HI>in Love; The Word</HI> declaring the <HI>Father; Full of Grace, Full of Truth;</HI> Of The <HI>Spirit</HI> of <HI>wi&s;dom,</HI> of <HI>Holine&s;s,</HI> of <HI>Power;</HI> The <HI>Spirit</HI> giving <HI>&V;tterance;</HI> The <HI>Father,</HI> the <HI>VVord,</HI> (who is the <HI>Son,</HI>) and the <HI>Spirit</HI> are plainly A&s;&s;ured to us in Scripture to be <HI>ONE:</HI> Herein is highe&s;t <HI>Mystery;</HI> as a con|clu&s;ion therefore of this Di&s;cour&s;e, Let us in very Brief con&s;i|der them &s;o; and the rather, becau&s;e One cannot but &s;u&s;pect, This <HI>Jannes</HI> and <HI>Jambres Treati&s;e, Chri&s;tianity not my&s;terious,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.8.</NOTE> was de&s;igned to <HI>Re&s;i&s;t</HI> this great Truth; The Di&s;cour&s;es of which, however keeping clo&s;e to Scripture, it Stiles <HI>p.</HI> 25. <Q>Extra|vagancies about the Trinity; and that Period, <HI>pag.</HI> 29. Savors &s;trongly of the fame <HI>Leven:</HI> But what do they mean by Con&s;i&s;ting with them&s;elves, yet not with our common No|tions? Four may be called Five in Heaven, but &s;o only the Name is chang'd; the thing remains the &s;ame: And &s;ince in this World, we cannot know any thing, but by our com|mon Notions; How &s;hall we be &s;ure of this Pretended con|&s;i&s;tency between our pre&s;ent &s;eeming Contradictions, and the
<PB N="50" REF="30"> Theology of the World to come?</Q> In An&s;wer hereunto in this great point, let us con&s;ider.</P>
<P N="1">&sect;. 1. It is certain, an intellectual Spirit cannot be made &s;uch, but that the Infinite, Intellectual Object, and mo&s;t Intelli|gible; GOD; mu&s;t needs be &s;een in his great Glory, and Attri|butes of Perfection by it: But he cannot yet be <HI>found out to Per|fection,</HI> but &s;till <HI>dwells in that Light,</HI> to which <HI>no one can Approach,</HI> both in regard of Infinity, and Infinite Holine&s;s and Spirituali|ty;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 4.3.</NOTE> &s;o as to <HI>Charge</HI> pure&s;t Created Beings with <HI>Folly;</HI> to <HI>put no Tru&s;t</HI> in the <HI>Holye&s;t</HI> of his <HI>Servants;</HI> and the <HI>Stars</HI> are not <HI>pure in his &s;ight:</HI> The mo&s;t Ble&s;&s;ed of Created Spirits <HI>cover</HI> not only their <HI>Feet,</HI> but their <HI>Faces,</HI> and <HI>cast their Crowns before him:</HI> Even tho&s;e who are not <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 6.2. 2 Pet. 3.17. Jud. v. 13.</NOTE> <HI>Defirmamented;</HI> nor <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>wan|dring Stars.</HI> Who have not <HI>Left their fir&s;t E&s;tate, nor for&s;aken their own Habitation;</HI> They dare not &s;tand on their Intellectual, or Moral Accompli&s;hments: <HI>How much le&s;s they who dwell in Hou&s;es of Clay, who&s;e Foundation is in the Du&s;t,</HI> who are but <HI>worms.</HI> The <HI>Author of the Treati&s;e</HI> we are upon, acknowledges, we have not <HI>Adequate conceptions of the Divine Being,</HI> and yet de|nies <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> becau&s;e not above Rea&s;on; not con&s;idering, That we mu&s;t now by Faith, that Intellectual Grace of the <HI>New Creation,</HI> and of Divine Illumination, and therefore nece&s;&s;arily above the <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> of the Fir&s;t Creation, if entire; much more, as fallen, come to <HI>God; Believing, He is, and is a Rewarder of them,</HI> who <HI>Diligently &s;eek him:</HI> That is; To know him in the Mediator, and in the Light of his Divine Spirit, according to the Revelation of his Word.</P>
<P N="2">&sect;. 2. This Revelation of Scripture is &s;o clear and full through|out, e&s;pecially the <HI>New Te&s;tament,</HI> that it cannot be Denied: There are &s;o many, and &s;o di&s;tinct Namings of them, both a|part, and together: <HI>The Father, The Word</HI> (who is the <HI>Son) The Spirit;</HI> They are &s;o Di&s;tingui&s;hed One from the Other, and yet their Union one to another, is mo&s;t Illu&s;triou&s;ly made known; as in this one In&s;tance; the Spirit is Stiled, <HI>The Spirit, who proceeds from the Father,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14. c. 15. c. 16.</NOTE> <HI>whom the Father &s;ends in the Sons Name;</HI> Now the <HI>Father,</HI> as he is the <HI>Father,</HI> cannot be the <HI>Son;</HI> SO the <HI>Spirit</HI> is &s;tiled, <HI>The Spirit, whom the Son &s;ends from the Father; The Spi|rit
<PB N="51" REF="30"> who Glorifies Chri&s;t; The Spirit of the Son, The Spirit of Chri&s;t;</HI> And we know, <HI>The Son</HI> cannot be <HI>The Father,</HI> as he is the <HI>Son;</HI> when therefore, as the Apo&s;tle Expre&s;ly Affirms, The <HI>Spirit</HI> is the <HI>One</HI> and the <HI>Self Same Spirit;</HI> and he is continually &s;tiled, the <HI>Spirit of God,</HI> whom mo&s;t of the Adver&s;aries acknowledg <HI>one with God,</HI> as the Spirit of a man is one with him&s;elf; and that yet the <HI>Spirit is the Spirit of the Father,</HI> and <HI>of the Son,</HI> It is ab&s;olute Scripture De|mon&s;tration, that <HI>the Father, the Son, the Spirit</HI> are both mo&s;t di|&s;tinct, and yet mo&s;t truly, <HI>The One true God;</HI> Their Attributes are Di&s;tinct to Each, and yet the &s;ame Divine Perfections &s;hine out alike in All; Their Acts of Love and Grace in the Salvation of man, are &s;o di&s;tinct, and yet proper only to the <HI>One Eternal Being,</HI> as the Fountain of them; That they, from whom tho&s;e Emanations are, cannot but be under&s;tood, as Di&s;tinct, and yet but One. The ac|knowledgments, and Returns, that are called for from, and made by Redeemed Saints, unto the <HI>Father, the Son, the Spirit,</HI> are &s;uch as can only be Required by the mo&s;t High God to him&s;elf, nor without Horrible, and Abominable Idolatry yeilded to any other: The Go&s;pel is &s;o Abundant in all the&s;e, and makes this manife&s;ta|tion of God &s;o principal an end, and &s;cope of all its Di&s;cour&s;es, and places &s;o much its Glory in it, as in what it mo&s;t de&s;igns to declare; That if we own it to be a <HI>Revelation</HI> from God, it is as great an In|jury either to reject or to interpret it contrary to it &s;elf herein; (be|cau&s;e our &s;hort and corrupt Rea&s;on cannot allow it) as to impute any mon&s;trous Thing to it: For it mu&s;t be &s;uppo&s;ed either to Re|veal &s;ome &s;uch Portent as cannot be Believed; or that it knows &s;o little how to expre&s;s it &s;elf, that wherein it &s;peaks, as fully as plain|ly, without a Figure, as con&s;tantly as may be, it mu&s;t yet be over|rul'd by Interpretation, and Taught to Speak; or el&s;e it would &s;peak &s;o, as to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">un men into Idolatry, and Bla&s;phemy again&s;t the <HI>One true God.</HI></P>
<P N="3">&sect;. 3. If then, <HI>the Father, the Word, the Spirit</HI> be a Revelation of the Divine Being to us from it &s;elf; we dare not but Acknowledg it Infinite <HI>Wi&s;dom</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> becau&s;e we acknowledg the Divine Being to be &s;o; and becau&s;e the very Titles, and E&s;&s;ential Attri|butes of each <HI>are &s;o; the Father of Lights is he, with whom is no variation or &s;hadow of turning; the Eternal Wi&s;dom, Rea&s;on, and Word the Son is he, in whom is Light, the true Light, the Truth: The Spirit is the Spi|rit of Truth,</HI> of <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> of <HI>Holine&s;s;</HI> and becau&s;e from them is the Manuduction into All Wi&s;dom, and Truth; Every <HI>Good</HI> and
<PB N="52" REF="31"> <HI>Perfect Gift</HI> comes from <HI>the Father;</HI> The Son is, the <HI>true Light,</HI> the <HI>Light of Men; the Spirit leads into all Truth.</HI></P>
<P N="4">&sect;. 4. Yet is this great Truth of the Ineffable Union, and Com|munion, and yet Di&s;tinction, Profounde&s;t <HI>My&s;tery;</HI> in Regard of the Revelation of &s;uch a <HI>Deep of God;</HI> the Imperfect Knowledg we have of it; and the nece&s;&s;ity of Divine Illumination, and Sancti|fication unto Adoration, Love, Service, Obedience <HI>of Faith,</HI> &s;uit|able to it.</P>
<P N="5">&sect;. 5. Yet it is not to be Reproached, as <HI>Jargon,</HI> or the <HI>Chymera</HI> of <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> or other <HI>Antichri&s;tian</HI> Fal&s;hoods; For the Saints and Servants of this great Truth have a <HI>full a&s;&s;urance</HI> in it, tho a <HI>My&s;tery;</HI> and whereas it &s;eems to encounter the Unity of the Divine Being, or the Notion we have of <HI>One</HI> and <HI>Three;</HI> Faith Enlightned by the Divine Spirit &s;ees &s;o many more great Principles of Truth and Holyne&s;s Centring in it, that it con&s;iders we are no more able to Judg of Unity in Him, (who is All, and not a poor, &s;ingle Unite,) than a Child is able to know, an Unite is the Beginning and Foun|tain of Number; nor according to our Low <HI>Arithmetic,</HI> to judg of the Application of <HI>Three</HI> to the <HI>Father,</HI> the <HI>Son,</HI> and the <HI>Spirit</HI> the <HI>One God;</HI> &s;o Supreme, Glorious, Remoov'd from All Approach of Created Being; than a Child can <HI>work by the Rule of Three;</HI> Only we know in him, it mu&s;t be Perfection of Being, and Operation. And as <HI>Abraham,</HI> in the <HI>Sacrificing I&s;aac,</HI> was taught to over|ballance that Natural Principle of Parental Affection, and even of Oracle;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.17.18.</NOTE> <HI>In</HI> I&s;aac <HI>&s;hall thy &s;eed be Called;</HI> by that therein more Para|mount Light of Faith; <HI>God was able to rai&s;e him from the Dead, from whence he Received him in a Figure:</HI> So are true Believers by that great Light of Faith enabled in tho&s;e &s;o Re&s;plendent Beams of Revelation before mention'd, to Adore the One God in the <HI>Fa|ther,</HI> the <HI>Son</HI> and the <HI>Spirit; tho they under&s;tand and &s;peak but as Children, and &s;ee through a Gla&s;s Darkly, till they come to &s;ee Face to Face; and to know, as they are known,</HI> or &s;hall be then <HI>made to know;</HI> and if there are tho&s;e <HI>Sons</HI> of <HI>Anak</HI> in Rea&s;on, as they &s;eem to them&s;elves, that cannot receive it, we Adore with the <HI>Son of the Father</HI> in our Nature; <HI>I thank thee, Oh Father, Lord of Heaven, and Earth; that thou ha&s;t hid the&s;e Things from the Wi&s;e, and Pru|dent,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.12.</NOTE> <HI>and ha&s;t Revealed them to Babes; even &s;o Father, for &s;o it &s;eemed good in thy &s;ight. Lord open thou our Eyes, that we may behold the Wonders of the My&s;teries of the Truth.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 110.18. 1 Tim. 1.17.</NOTE> Now to the King, <HI>Immor|tal, Invi&s;ible, the only wi&s;e God, be Glory for Ever.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<PB N="53" REF="31">
<HEAD>A LETTER In <HI>POSTSCRIPT</HI> TO THE Author of the Treati&s;e on his Second Edition, with Enlargements, and the Addition of His Name.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>JUST, as the very la&s;t of the preceding Di&s;cour&s;e was Print|ing off, your Second Edition came to my Hand with your Name prefixed; which to me, makes no Alteration; it be|ing the Name of a Per&s;on wholly unknown to me; nor do I de|&s;ire (as I &s;aid at fir&s;t) to make any Enquiry; For, be it never &s;o Great, it can add no weight to the main importance of the De|bate, which is a pur&s;uit after Truth; nor can any &s;uppo&s;able Diminution (tho I &s;uppo&s;e none) Abate the Intrin&s;ic value of Any Argument: I leave that therefore to its Ju&s;t value with any, that know it; The Regard, and Deference, The Book may &s;eem to h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ve Right to, on the Account of a Second Edition, in my Judgment, depends wholly on the <HI>Sterlyn</HI> worth of the Di&s;|cour&s;e it &s;elf; For if that be Ma&s;&s;y, and of the Alloy of Truth; it is an Honour to tho&s;e, who have &s;o great a Gu&s;t of it, as well as to the Di&s;cour&s;e, that &s;o well De&s;erves; If That, being on &s;o High a Point, have not ju&s;t Merit, it is only a Character of the Degeneracy, and Irreligion, as well, as the In&s;ipience of the Many of the Age: Leaving therefore tho&s;e things that have no Intere&s;t in the pre&s;ent concern, I come to what is more material.</P>
<P>And in the fir&s;t place, I would, with all due mode&s;ty Remon|&s;trate to you the method, I have ob&s;erv'd in order to the An&s;wer of your Treati&s;e; which hath not been I confe&s;s, to Follow you, as they &s;ay, <GAP DESC="foreign">, or <HI>Paragraph</HI> by <HI>Paragraph;</HI> that I might avoid any &s;mall in&s;ignificant Remarks, and the Tediou&s;|ne&s;s Con&s;equent thereupon; as al&s;o, becau&s;e there are many Ten|dencies
<PB N="54" REF="32"> of your Di&s;&s;ertation, that I exceedingly concur with you in; As the Dete&s;tation of what ever comes near, or hath any Allyance with the <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> or what you call <HI>Pr &s;t Craft,</HI> and Secular Intere&s;t in the Mini&s;try of the Go&s;pel; what|ever &s;helters Ignorance, or Sloth, or Covers Implicit Faith and Blind Obedience in the Profe&s;&s;ors of Chri&s;tianity: All that &s;peaks Humble&s;t Adorations of the Divine Maje&s;ty, and gives Glory to the Go&s;pel of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and to the Supreme Light of it; and the True Rea&s;on Flowing from Him, the So|vereign <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> in and throughout, I mo&s;t Humbly Joyn in; Tho I acknowledg there is great Rea&s;on of Caution when the De&s;ignation of Go&s;pel-Truth is not Univer&s;al, and Uniform; Lea&s;t there be an <HI>Advantage</HI> given to the Prince of Darkne&s;s or any of his Artifices, becau&s;e of &s;ome Fla&s;hes of an <HI>Angel of Light</HI> from Him: Or a bidding good Speed to tho&s;e, who Bring not <HI>this Doctrine; viz.</HI> of <HI>The Son of God,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle &s;tiles it. 2 <HI>John</HI> 10. La&s;tly, I have not been Minute in the Pro|&s;ecutions of your Periods, becau&s;e there are many things, that fly off from the Principal Matter; And it is of no concernment to what is Principal in my Eye, whether they are one way, or other.</P>
<P>I have therefore made it my Aim, and I hope, it hath been my Bu&s;ine&s;s to Di&s;cover (as I may &s;ay) the <HI>Foundation to the very Neck.</HI> And in the&s;e Things I have E&s;pecially placed my main intention, and my <HI>Argumentation.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. To uphold the Honour, Glory and Authority of the Stile of the <HI>New Te&s;tament</HI> in the word, <HI>Mystery:</HI> Fitted by it &s;elf to its own Revelations; and that it may not be waved or re|moved from upon any Forreign Sugge&s;tions; nor particularly on that very weak one, pardon me, in &s;o plainly Expre&s;&s;ing it; that becau&s;e it Names the <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity;</HI> and that on the <HI>Fore|head of Babylon,</HI> there was <HI>written, My&s;tery;</HI> <Q>Note, that <HI>My|&s;tery</HI> is made the Di&s;tingui&s;hing mark of the Fal&s;e or <HI>Anti|chri&s;tian Church;</HI> and therefore; that as Far, as any Church allows of <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> &s;o far it is <HI>Antichri&s;tian,</HI> and may with a great deal of Ju&s;tice, tho little Honour, claim Kindred with the <HI>Scarlet Whore:</HI></Q> If this be not the Argument of one Driven to Shifts I know not what is! Who mu&s;t not of nece&s;&s;ity infer, if the once mentioning the <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> and once more, <HI>My&s;tery on the Forehead of</HI> Babylon, can be &s;o &s;uppo&s;ed to the Di&s;|advantage, and Di&s;honour of <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> the &s;o often Recording it
<PB N="55" REF="32"> for the Honour of the Go&s;pel, and of the Doctrines of it mu&s;t not be much more to the <HI>Glory of the Word and Thing, My&s;tery?</HI> and that the other Naming of it, was not indeed to the di&s;honour of it, but of that <HI>Iniquity</HI> only, to which it is Joyned: And further, Is it not plain? That the <HI>My&s;tery</HI> of <HI>Iniquity,</HI> is a <HI>Counter My&s;tery to the My&s;tery of Godline&s;s?</HI> And that the <HI>Counter Mystery</HI> were nothing, if the Grand <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> did not &s;uper-Exi&s;t to it; <HI>Even as Antichri&s;t is to Chri&s;t, and Antichri&s;tiani&s;m is to Chri&s;tiani&s;m;</HI> &s;o is the <HI>Mystery of Iniquity,</HI> to the <HI>My&s;tery of Godline&s;s; Antichri|&s;tiani&s;m</HI> hath not &s;o much as a &s;haddow of Appearance without that great Sub&s;tance, <HI>Chri&s;tianity;</HI> nor <HI>Antichri&s;t without, The Chri&s;t;</HI> the Former infers the Latter; and it might be as well &s;aid, <HI>Chri|&s;tianity</HI> is a Note of a <HI>Fal&s;e Church,</HI> becau&s;e Antichri&s;tiani&s;m hath any Allyance of <HI>Sound,</HI> or &s;o much, as that &s;ound implies of Re|lation to it; or that it were the Note of a Fal&s;e <HI>Chri&s;t;</HI> That <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI> hath the la&s;t Syllable of his Name from <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> as that the <HI>mystery of Godline&s;s</HI> is &s;o, becau&s;e the <HI>my&s;tery of Iniquity</HI> is out of all doubt the mark of the <HI>Fal&s;e Church.</HI> Whereas indeed, the dark &s;ide of the Pillar in Each, is a demon&s;tration of the other &s;ide full of Light, and Glory: This therefore could no way de|&s;erve to be among the Enlargements of the Second Edition which ought to be upon Refinement of Thoughts; and yet it is found, p. 107. of the Second Edition.</P>
<P N="2">2. I have been &s;o zealous of <HI>mystery,</HI> lea&s;t any of the Great Doctrines of the Go&s;pel &s;hould be Clande&s;tinely withdrawn un|der the Preten&s;ion of <HI>Chri&s;tianity not my&s;terious;</HI> that is, If <HI>Rea|&s;on,</HI> as it is now &s;o Fallen, Co rupted, and even Detruncated (but as Re&s;tor'd by the Supreme Rea&s;on) cannot plea&s;e it &s;elf in any of the great Truths of the Go&s;pel, It &s;hould be Rejected; and herein I have e&s;pecial Regard to that great Doctrine of the <HI>Fa|ther, the Word,</HI> (who is the only <HI>Begotten Son of the Father</HI>) the <HI>Spirit, Who are One, The One God;</HI> and to the Redemption of Je&s;us Chri&s;t by the Sacrifice Offered by the <HI>Eternal Spirit.</HI> As I have at more full debated in the An&s;wer.</P>
<P N="3">3. I have e&s;pecially de&s;ired, that the Scripture Word, and No|tion of <HI>My&s;tery</HI> may be Con&s;idered, as it &s;hews the nece&s;&s;ity of Dependence upon the Divine Grace, upon the con&s;tant Super|intendency of the <HI>Spirit of Wi&s;dom and Revelation;</HI> For that be|ing always in the Hearts of his Servants a <HI>Spirit of Wi&s;dom and Revelation,</HI> Enlightning them into the great Truths of the Go&s;|pel;
<PB N="56" REF="33"> they mu&s;t according, even to the Acknowledgment of the Author be <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> becau&s;e a continual Internal Revelation is ne|ce&s;&s;ary not only to the Fir&s;t Reception, but to the Progre&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;tians; their <HI>growing in Grace,</HI> and in the <HI>Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI> Which great con&s;ideration I would mo&s;t Humbly, and yet mo&s;i Affectionately Recommend to the Author, with All his Favourers; That &s;eeing they &s;eem to Re-due &s;o much to <HI>Sacred Oracles,</HI> They would with all &s;eriou&s;ne&s;s con&s;ider the&s;e great Words, <HI>Grace, Free-Grace, Gifts from above, Wi&s;dom from the Father of Lights,</HI> and Exchange that &s;o Admired Word, <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> as it is now, or as Human, for that Adorable word, <HI>Grace;</HI> that they would Attently Contemplate the Cen&s;ure of the Holy Spi|rit in his Word upon all Human Intellectuals, till there be a <HI>Re|novation in the Spirit of the mind;</HI> and this would mo&s;t ea&s;ily Conciliate to Them the True Scripture-Notion of <HI>My&s;tery:</HI> And &s;eeing the Author hath Promi&s;ed an Undeceiving of tho&s;e whom he &s;uppo&s;es Deceived, concerning the Illumination, and Efficaci|ous Operation of the Divine Spirit; I de&s;ire of Him to have a Particular Regard herein to my &s;elf, how Triflng or Ab&s;ur'd an Adver&s;ary &s;oever I may appear to him; And that he would do it in the meekne&s;s of the Spirit of Chri&s;tianity, re&s;pecting only the Sub&s;tance, and Merits of the Point, and of what I have &s;aid; I find nothing further in the Enlargements of the <HI>Second Edition,</HI> that I have not con&s;idered in the <HI>An&s;wer</HI> to the Fir&s;t; and there|fore be&s;eeching the conducts of the Spirit of Truth into All Truth; and that the Greater Proportions of Rea&s;on, or Intellectuals, and Elocution, the Author, or any of his Friends have; the more they may a&s;cribe, and dedicate them&s;elves to the Supreme <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> and his <HI>Grace,</HI> This &s;hall be the Prayer of,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE>
<SIGNED>In All Truly Chri&s;tian Offices, Your Friend and Servant, <HI>T.B.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<P>Pardon &s;ome &s;maller mi&s;takes, particularly, P. 1. Margin, read <GAP DESC="foreign">, l. ult. <GAP DESC="foreign">, p. 14. after <HI>Egypt,</HI> put in <HI>to.</HI> P. 16. l. 23. before <HI>Affirm,</HI> put in <HI>whereof they.</HI> P. 46. r. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<PB REF="33">
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
