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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<P>AN Impartial Account Of the Word MYSTERY, As it is taken in the <HI>Holy Scripture.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed in the Year, M.DC.XCI.</P>
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<HEAD>An Impartial Account of the Word <HI>MYSTERY,</HI> as it is taken in the Holy Scripture.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P><HI>MYSTERY</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ecution</HI> are the Tutelar God and Godde&s;s of the new Sy&s;tems, framed by Worldly Chri&s;tians. Upon tho&s;e two Antichri&s;tian Principles they ground all their Arguments: <HI>My&s;tery</HI> makes up the Pre|mi&s;es, and <HI>Per&s;ecution</HI> the Con&s;equence or the Conclu&s;ion. They are indeed the two Characters of the Great Whore, arrayed in Purple and Scarlet Colour, becau&s;e &s;he is tainted with the Blood of the Martyrs: and &s;he has upon her Forehead a Name written, <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> becau&s;e under &s;uch a pretence &s;he di&s;plays her mo&s;t horrid Bla&s;phemies. You tell me, Sir, that there have been in the&s;e la&s;t Ages &s;everal Learned Men, who have writ again&s;t Per&s;ecution, and unan&s;werably confuted &s;o di&s;mal an Opinion, and &s;o con|trary both to the Principles of Rea&s;on and Religion; and you are willing that I &s;hould only communicate my Thoughts to you con|cerning <HI>My&s;tery.</HI> I readily comply with your Wi&s;hes, taking care of not running my &s;elf into too tedious a Di&s;cu&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>The word <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> which &s;ignifies in the general <HI>a Hidden Thing,</HI> is commonly taken for a Divine Secret: and I ob&s;erve, that ac|cording to this Sen&s;e put upon it in Religion, both the Prophane and Sacred Writers afford us a different Notion of it. 1. In the Pa|gan Theology the &s;ecret Wor&s;hip of fal&s;e Gods was thus &s;tyl'd, &s;uch as was revealed only to &s;ome priviledged Men, initiated in|to their Ceremonies, and &s;o much concerned therein, as to conceal the Turpitude and Infamy thereof; but was kept &s;ecret from tho&s;e, who were called prophane, becau&s;e they had Knowledg and Hone&s;ty enough to di&s;cover the Shamefulne&s;s and Ridiculou&s;ne&s;s of it. Such were the My&s;teries of <HI>Ceres,</HI> and the little My&s;teries of her Daughter <HI>Pro&s;erpina.</HI> In <HI>Aegypt</HI> in the Temple of <HI>I&s;is</HI> and <HI>Serapis</HI> &s;tood <HI>Harpocrates,</HI> the God of Silence, placed near the Images of tho&s;e two Gods; with his Fingers upon his Lips, to let devout Men know that it was a kind of Sa|criledg to divulge the Secrets of Religion, and that the Prie&s;ts might learn to keep &s;ecret that <HI>I&s;is</HI> and <HI>Serapis</HI> had been <HI>Men.</HI> So &s;a|cred and dangerous was the Di&s;covery of My&s;teries to Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Men of that time, as well as to ours: and &s;uch is the love of &s;uper&s;titious People, of what Religion &s;o|ever they be, for Cabal and My&s;tery; be|cau&s;e they take delight in admiring what they do not under&s;tand, and in reverencing the very Silence of any thing that goes un|der the Name of My&s;tery. The Heathens carried this Abu&s;e &s;o far, that they be&s;towed the Name of My&s;tery upon the very Pa&s;&s;ions and Lewdne&s;s of their Gods, as it is ob&s;erved by <HI>Athenagoras (Legat. pro Chri&s;t.)</HI> then My|&s;tery was the Cloak of Debauchery, as it is now adays the Vail of Ab&s;urdities.</P>
<P>That Silence was accounted &s;o &s;acred, that <HI>Horace,</HI> tho he was no Bigot, look'd upon the breaking of it as the highe&s;t Crime, <HI>Lib.</HI> 3. <HI>Od.</HI> 2.</P>
<Q><L>E&s;t &amp; fideli tuta Silentio</L>
<L>Merces: vitabo, qui Cereris &s;acrum</L>
<L>Vulgarit Arcanae, &s;ub ii&s;dem</L>
<L>Sit trabibus, fragilemque mecum</L>
<L>Selvat Pha&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lum.</L></Q>
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<P><Q>A &s;trict Silence, &s;ays he, &s;hall certainly be rewarded: for my part, if any Man had revealed the &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cred My&s;teries of <HI>Cires,</HI> I would not venture to conver&s;e familiarly with him, tho we dwelt in the &s;ame Hou&s;e, or &s;ailed in the &s;ame Ship.</Q> There were a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> that time Rewards and Puni&s;hments e&s;ta|bli&s;hed to keep the Prie&s;ts in a Religious Si|lence. And you mu&s;t ob&s;erve, Sir, that indi&s;creet Men were then dealt with, ju&s;t as our Excommunicared Men are now adays, or the pretended Hereticks, who pay no re|&s;pect to My&s;teries. They &s;hunn'd their Company, and were afraid to meet with them under the &s;ame Roof. That Politick My&s;tery does not much differ from a Reli|gious My&s;tery. As tho&s;e who are troubled with an Ulcer do carefully wrap up the affected Member, le&s;t any thing &s;hould hurt it, or its Na&s;tine&s;s &s;hould offend Peoples Eyes: Thus in Religion Men take care to di&s;gui&s;e and adorn the mo&s;t mon&s;trous Opi|nions, which are like the Ulcer, or the Itch thereof, and &s;hew a particular regard to them. They look upon them as the beloved part and the chief of Religion: And le&s;t they &s;hould be attack'd in that weak place, they fence it with the Name of <HI>My&s;tery.</HI> They will allow no body to touch them, nor to ca&s;t their Eyes upon them; and a&s;&s;oon as any Man is ready to bring to light the Shamefulne&s;s of tho&s;e darling Opinions, they cry out p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;ently. He is an Heretick, a Bla&s;|phemer, an Impious Man. He that under|takes to attack an Orthodox that way, is look'd upon as one who de&s;igns the utter ruin of Religion. They are &s;o far in the right &s;eeing they cannot otherways defend their Opinions, than by frighting Children with the Wolf's Skin.</P>
<P>However the Cu&s;tom of hiding My&s;teries &s;prung rather from that Politick Silence, than from <HI>Pythagoras</HI>'s Philo&s;ophy, either among the ancient Hereticks who were a&s;hamed of the My&s;tery of the Cro&s;s, or of <HI>the My&s;tery of the Crucified,</HI> (as the Fathers &s;tyle it, <HI>Vid. Ju&s;tin. Dial. cum Tryph.</HI>) and dur&s;t &s;carce confe&s;s that he was a Man, or among tho&s;e who are &s;tiled the Fathers of the Church, who kept &s;ecret from uninitiated <HI>Cathecumeni</HI> the dreadful My&s;teries, as they call them, being a&s;hamed of the Simplicity wherewith the Sacrament of the Euchari&s;t had been in&s;ti|tuted. The former under the colour of a My|&s;tery, have &s;o far annihilated the Sufferings and the Fle&s;h of Chri&s;t, that they left no|thing to be perceived in him but an Infinite and Eternal Nature, which removed from the Jews the Scandal of his Cro&s;s. Thus St. <HI>Hilary,</HI> the great Defender of the <HI>Nicene Faith,</HI> affirms, that our Ble&s;&s;ed Saviour was free from Fear, Pain and Sorrow, vindicating again&s;t the <HI>Arians</HI> his E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ernal Divinity at the co&s;t of his Humanity, which he thinks to be but a Fanta&s;m: <HI>Putatur,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>dolere, quia patitur; caret vero doloribus ip&s;e, quia Deus e&s;t:</HI> (in <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 138.) <Q>One would think that he feels &s;ome Pain, becau&s;e he &s;uffers; but indeed he is free from Pain, becau&s;e he is God.</Q> As for the ancient Cathechi&s;ts, they have been &s;o careful to prevent their Pro&s;elytes by tho&s;e great words of <HI>Dreadful My&s;teries,</HI> that tho&s;e poor Peo|ple when admitted unto the Lord's-Supper, thought they neither &s;aw Bread nor Wine, nor any thing that might appear vile to the Eyes of wi&s;e Heathens by rea&s;on of its meanne&s;s. From the&s;e two Sources &s;prang up tho&s;e two <HI>My&s;teries</HI> which have the high|e&s;t place in the Chri&s;tian Religion, I mean, <HI>Con&s;ub&s;tantiality</HI> and <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. I come in the &s;econd place to the &s;a|cred Writers. By the word <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> they mean only a Doctrine, or an Event, which is as yet &s;hut up in God's Decree, or does appear to Men only under the covering of a Prophetick Prediction, a Parable, a Symbol, a Type, or &s;uch like Aenigmatick Figures; but is afterwards brought to light either by a clearer Revelation, or the Accompli&s;hment thereof: So that the &s;ame Truth that has been a Secret during a certain time, and in re&s;pect of &s;uch a People, becomes in the time fixed by the Decree, and in re&s;pect of another People, an uncovered Truth. It is therefore ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to di&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ngu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;h. the times, the time of the My&s;tery, and the time of the Revelation; and the Per&s;ons
<PB N="5" REF="3">too; that which is a My&s;tery to &s;ome, being a clear and di&s;tinct Revelation to others. This I defire you to ob&s;erve, that you may perceive at fir&s;t &s;ight, that the Scripture does never call <HI>My&s;tery,</HI> a Thing incomprehen&s;ible in it &s;elf, tho never &s;o much revealed. This Notion of a <HI>My&s;tery</HI> is unknown to all &s;orts of Authors, both Sacred and Profane. A <HI>My&s;tery</HI> is called &s;o by the former, only in re&s;pect of certain Circum&s;tances of Time, Per&s;ons, the manner of the Revelation, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Take your Concordance, and &s;ee all the places of the New Te&s;tament, wherein that word is made u&s;e of, you will be amaz'd to meet with none that excites in the Mind the Idea of a Truth incon&s;i&s;tent with the Natu|ral Lights of Sen&s;e and Rea&s;on. I will con|fine my &s;elf to the New Te&s;tament, becau&s;e, as our Divines do pretend, that Di&s;pen&s;a|tion is mo&s;t fruitful in &s;uch My&s;teries.</P>
<P>To make this the more intelligible, I &s;hall rank all tho&s;e places under three Heads. The fir&s;t contains tho&s;e wherein the Doctrines, the Succe&s;s, or the Events of the Go&s;pel are covered with Parables and Symbolical Terms. The &s;econd contains tho&s;e wherein are men|tioned &s;ome Secrets, wherewith God has intru&s;ted &s;ome priviledged Prophets of his new Covenant. The third &s;ets before us the&s;e, wherein are de&s;cribed God's general Di&s;pen&s;ations concerning Mens Salvation, ad|vancing from a dark and imperfect State, to a clear and perfect Revelation.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Doctrines, the Succe&s;s, or the Events of the Go&s;pel are called <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> becau&s;e they are covered with Parables and Symbo|lical Terms. The fir&s;t place that offers it &s;elf to our Enquiry, is <HI>Matth.</HI> 13.11. where|in our Saviour tells his Di&s;ciples, that <HI>it is given unto them to know the My&s;teries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but unto others all things are done in Parables.</HI> Here the Doctrines of the Kingdom of God are called <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> not becau&s;e they are Incomprehen&s;ible in|them&s;elves and ab&s;olutely incredible to Rea|&s;on, but accidentally. 1. Becau&s;e they are wrapped up in Parables. 2. Becau&s;e they are propounded to incurable Men, and unwor|thy to be taught in the mo&s;t intelligible way. But after all, they are revealed and di&s;covered My&s;teries to tho&s;e who were teachable, and enquired for In&s;truction: Such were the Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t, to whom <HI>it is given to know the My&s;teries,</HI> God <HI>revealing them to tho&s;e who love him,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle &s;aith. We read the &s;ame, <HI>Mar.</HI> 4.11. wherein about the &s;ame matter relating to Parables, Chri&s;t calls <HI>My&s;teries</HI> the admirable ways of the Divine Wi&s;dom in order to the di&s;covering of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is Will, and the various Succe&s;s which &s;hall at|tend his Revelation, both in re&s;pect of the Jews and the Gentiles. The third place is to be found <HI>Luke</HI> 8.10&punc; and is the &s;ame with the two fore going. <HI>&V;nto you it is given,</HI> &s;ays Chri&s;t to his Di&s;ciples, <HI>to know the My&s;te|ries,</HI> &amp;c. whereby you may further &s;ee that they are My&s;teries <HI>to be known</HI> by tho&s;e, who already made a right u&s;e not only of tho&s;e clear and ea&s;y Precepts, which are the fir&s;t Elements of Piety, but of the mo&s;t impor|tant and nece&s;&s;ary Truths in order to Salva|tion.</P>
<P>We may place here all the Doctrines and all the Events, covered either with Types and Figures, or with Prophetick Vi&s;ions and Enigms, or with &s;ome weak Beginnings, which are like a Seed, wherein they are not yet perceptible. Such is that great <HI>My&s;tery</HI> concerning <HI>Chri&s;t and his Church,</HI> of which the Union of the Husband and his Wife is a Type and a Figure, becau&s;e it is an Emblem of the mo&s;t intimate and indi&s;&s;oluble Union, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 6.32. Such is <HI>the My&s;tery of the &s;even Stars,</HI> whereby are meant the &s;even Angels, or the &s;even Bi&s;hops of the Churches, of whom the Stars were a Type and an Em|blem, <HI>Apoc.</HI> 1.20. Such is <HI>the My&s;tery of God</HI> concerning the future State of his Church, repre&s;ented in the Vi&s;ions of St. <HI>John,</HI> but which is to have its Accompli&s;hment in the time e&s;tabli&s;hed by his Decree, <HI>Apoc.</HI> 10.7. Such is <HI>the My&s;tery of the Woman</HI> and <HI>of the Bea&s;t,</HI> Apoc. 17.7. and <HI>the My&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> 2 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 2.7. The one hidden in Prophetick Characters, whereby it is drawn out beforehand but after an ob&s;cure way. The other, which is but beginning, working &s;ecretly by
<PB N="6" REF="4">My&s;tical Arts, till he may act openly by his Tyranny and his Per&s;ecution. <HI>He comes in like a Fox, be will reign like a Lion,</HI> as it is reported of one of his mo&s;t profligate Children.</P>
<P N="2">II. The <HI>My&s;teries</HI> wherewith God has in|tru&s;ted &s;ome priviledged Prophets of the new Covenant, are called <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> becau&s;e they are particular Prerogatives, wherewith God was plea&s;ed to favour their Mini&s;try. Such are tho&s;e Gifts of the Prophets to know &s;ome future things, which St. <HI>Paul</HI> calls <HI>My|&s;teries,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.1. Such are tho&s;e peculiar Di&s;pen&s;ations, wherewith God intru&s;ted St <HI>John</HI> in the Vi&s;ions of the <HI>Apocalyp&s;e,</HI> &s;e|veral of which he calls <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> as I have &s;hewed before. It may be al&s;o that this is a Rea&s;on why St. <HI>Paul</HI> calls &s;o often the Voca|tion of the Gentiles, <HI>a My&s;tery which was re|vealed to him,</HI> Eph. 3.7, 8. meaning thereby that he had a more intimate and full In&s;tructi|on concerning that a&s;toni&s;hing Di&s;pen&s;ation, than any of the other Apo&s;tles, becau&s;e he was the Apo&s;tle of the Gentiles. However we may reckon among the &s;ecret things which God has imparted to him by a parti|cular favour, what he &s;ays <HI>Rom.</HI> 11.25. <HI>I would not, Brethren, that ye &s;hould be ignorant of this My&s;tery, that Blindne&s;s in part is happen'd to</HI> I&s;rael, <HI>until the Fulne&s;s of the Gentiles be come in, and &s;o all</HI> I&s;rael <HI>&s;hall be &s;aved.</HI> Here you &s;ee that what was before a Secret of God, being revealed to the Apo&s;tle by the Holy Gho&s;t, has been declared to the Romans by the &s;ame Apo&s;tle, and thereby cea&s;ed to be a My&s;tery. The Apo&s;tle will have them to know it, to apprehend it, and to make u&s;e of it to their benefit and advantage. <HI>I would not,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>that ye &s;hould be ignorant of it,</HI> le&s;t <HI>you &s;hould be wi&s;e in your own Conceits.</HI> Why does he call it a My&s;tery? Becau&s;e it was a &s;ecret In&s;truction wherewith his Apo&s;tle&s;hip had been adorned. To this we may add another Revelation of the &s;ame kind, which is called a My&s;tery, becau&s;e it is a Secret im|parted to the Apo&s;tle, concerning the change of tho&s;e who &s;hall be alive in the day of the Re&s;urrection. <HI>Behold</HI> (&s;ays he 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15.51.) <HI>I &s;hew you</HI> (or I teach you) <HI>a My&s;tery, We &s;hall not all &s;leep, but we &s;hall all be changed.</HI> It does clearly appear from this place, that to teach, or to tell a My&s;tery, does not &s;ignify, as our Divines pretend, to teach unintelligi|ble Doctrines, full of Difficulties and Contra|dictions: For what will it avail to teach them as &s;uch? But on the contrary, to teach or to tell a My&s;tery, according to St. <HI>Paul</HI> in this place, is as much as to reveal &s;ome De|crees of God, which will not be fulfilled till the end of the World; it is to &s;et them be|fore us, as if we did &s;ee the Execution thereof; it is to re&s;olve Difficulties, in&s;tead of rai&s;ing them; it is to free the Mind of his Reader from a Doubt that naturally ari&s;es concerning tho&s;e, who &s;hall be found alive at the Coming of Chri&s;t. Mu&s;t they dy to put off by Death Fle&s;h and Blood, and to put on a Cele&s;tial Body by the Power of the Re|&s;urrection? No, &s;ays the Apo&s;tle, I will teach you a My&s;tery, which will re&s;olve all your Difficulties, and an&s;wer all your Doubts upon this Point, <HI>viz.</HI> That tho&s;e who &s;hall then be found alive, &s;hall not need to dy, <HI>but they &s;hall be changed,</HI> which is another way of putting off Corruption. You may &s;ee thereby, Sir, that when the Apo&s;tles tell My&s;teries, they do in&s;truct, re&s;olve Difficul|ties, di&s;cover Secrets, and enlighten our Minds: But when our Divines teach us My|&s;teries, they ca&s;t us into a Labyrinth of Diffi|culties, which confound our Idea's, and out of which one cannot e&s;cape but by putting out his own Eyes.</P>
<P N="3">III. The Scripture calls <HI>My&s;teries</HI> God's general Di&s;pen&s;ations, when they proceed from an ob&s;cure and typical State, to a full and perfect Revelation, and from the Pro|mi&s;e to its Accompli&s;hment. Under this Head are contained ten or twelve parallel Places, wherein the word <HI>My&s;tery</HI> is taken in the &s;ame &s;en&s;e, <HI>viz. Rom.</HI> 16.25, 26. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.7, 10. &amp; 4. 1. <HI>Eph.</HI> 1.9, 10. &amp; 3.3, 4, 5, 9, 10. &amp; 6.19. <HI>Col.</HI> 1.26, 27. &amp; 2.2. &amp; 4.3, 4. 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.9, 16. Some of tho&s;e places are explained, and &s;hew us, that what was a My&s;tery in the precedent Ages, as the Voca|tion
<PB N="7" REF="4">of the Gentiles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> is clearly re|vealed under the Go&s;pel: The Doctrines of Salvation, which were before hidden either in God's Decree, or in the Promi&s;es made to the Fathers, or in the Types of the Law, or in the Predictions of the Prophets, as in their Seed, are now delivered in a mo&s;t evident manner by the Apo&s;tles and the Prophets of the Lord, to whom they have been fully re|vealed by the Spirit of the Lord. Any that can but read, will &s;oon perceive in the&s;e places &s;o clear and &s;o palpable a Truth. The other are more generally expre&s;&s;ed, wherein that <HI>My&s;tery</HI> is called only, <HI>the My&s;tery of God, the My&s;tery of Chri&s;t, the My&s;tery of the Go&s;pel, the My&s;tery of Faith, the My&s;tery of Godline&s;s.</HI> But be&s;ides the words of <HI>deliver|ing</HI> and <HI>manife&s;ting,</HI> which are often joyned in tho&s;e general Expre&s;&s;ions, every body may plainly &s;ee, that tho&s;e great Titles are Enco|miums and Honourable Names, wherewith the Apo&s;tles adorn the Evangelical Di&s;pen&s;a|tion, and that being put together, the mean|ing of them is only, that the Go&s;pel is the Secret of God's Will, which has been re|vealed by Chri&s;t, and propounded to our Faith to be the Rule of our Piety and Obe|dience.</P>
<P>But perhaps you are willing, Sir, that I &s;hould explain tho&s;e places&punc; one after ano|ther. This will be no hard matter after the two general Reflections which I made already. I begin with tho&s;e wherein the Vocation of the Gentiles is more expre&s;ly contained.</P>
<P>Rom. 16.25, 26. <HI>Now to him that is of Power to &s;tabli&s;h us according to my Go&s;p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l, and the preaching of Je&s;us Chri&s;t (according to the Revelation of the My&s;tery, which was kept &s;ecret &s;ince the World began; but now is made manife&s;t, and by the Scriptures of the Prophets, according to the Commandment of the Everla&s;ting God, made known to all Nations for the Obedience of Faith.) &amp;c.</HI> St. <HI>Paul</HI> calls in this place the Go&s;pel <HI>the Revelation of a My&s;tery, a My|&s;tery hidden</HI> both to Men and Angels <HI>in all the precedent Ages,</HI> but at that time <HI>a My&s;tery ma|nife&s;ted by his preaching,</HI> which has unfolded the ancient Prophecies, and brought to light the Secret of the Vocation of the Gentiles, which had been but ob&s;curely foretold by the Prophets.</P>
<P N="1">1 Cor. 2.7, 10. <HI>But we &s;peak the Wi&s;dom of God in a My&s;tery, even the hidden Wi&s;dom which God ordained before the World unto our Glory.</HI> Ver. 10. <HI>But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit &s;earcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.</HI> The Apo&s;tle &s;peaks &s;till in the place of the Go&s;pel's Di&s;pen&s;ation, which he calls <HI>the Wi&s;dom of God in a My&s;tery,</HI> which God kept to him|&s;elf in the Secret of his Coun&s;el before there were either Men or Angels, to whom he might communicate it, but which he pre|pared neverthele&s;s from that very time, for the Glory and Happine&s;s of his Children, and which at la&s;t <HI>he has revealed by his Spirit,</HI> that we may have a clear and efficacious knowledg of it, and be thereby led to the wor&s;hipping of him.</P>
<P>Eph. 1.9, 10. <HI>Having made known unto us the My&s;tery of his Will, according to his good plea&s;ure, which be purpo&s;ed in him&s;elf: That in the Di&s;pen&s;ation of the fulne&s;s of Times, be might gather together in one all things in Chri&s;t, both which are in Heaven, and which are on Earth, even in him.</HI> The My&s;tery &s;poken of in this place is <HI>a My&s;tery of God's Will.</HI> This Will con&s;i&s;ts in &s;aving the Gentiles, by calling them to the Faith of Chri&s;t, and <HI>in reducing al&s;o all the Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth</HI> into one Family, and <HI>under one Head,</HI> viz. <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> God, who from all Eternity de&s;igned this great Work with him&s;elf, has di&s;pen&s;ed it by his own Son in <HI>the fulne&s;s of Times,</HI> as the Apo|&s;tle &s;peaks here; or <HI>when the fulne&s;s of Time was come,</HI> as he &s;ays <HI>Gal.</HI> 4.4. That is to &s;ay, in the Time fixed by God's Decree, which is a time of Revelation and of Light, as the foregoing Times were Times of My|&s;tery.</P>
<P>Eph. 3.3, 4, 5, 9, 10. <HI>How that by Reve|lation he made known unto me the My&s;tery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when ye read ye may under&s;tand my Knowledg in the My&s;tery of God) which in other Ages was not made known unto the Sons of Men, as it is now revealed unto his holy Apo&s;tles and Prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles &s;hould be fellow-heirs,
<PB N="8" REF="5">heirs, and of the &s;ame Body, and Partakers toge|ther of his Promi&s;e in Chri&s;t, by the Go&s;pel.</HI> Ver. 9. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd to make all Men &s;ee, what is the Fellow&s;hip of the My&s;tery, which from the be|ginning of the World has been hid in God, who created all things by Je&s;us Chri&s;t: To the in|tent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly Places, might be known by the Church the manifold Wi&s;dom of God.</HI> This place may &s;erve for a Commentary upon all the other, &s;o clearly the Apo&s;tle explains his Mind in it. The My&s;tery &s;poken of by him is a Secret concerning <HI>the Salvation of the Gentiles, fellow-Heirs of the Divine Promi&s;es with the Jews,</HI> and Partakers of the &s;ame Graces, and Members <HI>of the &s;ame Body,</HI> in the Fellow&s;hip of the &s;ame Spirit. This was <HI>a Secret unknown</HI> to Men and Angels, but throughly made known to the Apo&s;tles by God's Revelation, to the Prophets of the New Te&s;tament by the Holy Gho&s;t, and even to Angels by the means of the Church. In|deed <HI>St. Paul</HI> calls this My&s;tery <HI>the Incompre|hen&s;ible Riches of Chri&s;t.</HI> But does he mean thereby, that they are &s;uch Doctrines as Rea&s;on cannot attain to, &s;o ob&s;cure and &s;o contrary to its Light? God forbid we &s;hould a&s;cribe to him &s;o unrea&s;onable a Sen&s;e! In his Sen&s;e, and according to the Genius of all his Epi&s;tles, they are Graces and Ble&s;&s;ings of Chri&s;t &s;o rich and &s;o plentiful, that they are extended even to the Nations, which had been hitherto accounted the mo&s;t pro|fane and unworthy of God's Mercy. They are Ble&s;&s;ings &s;o much above our Admiration and our Prai&s;es, that our Minds are con|founded with the Excellency, the Extent, and the number of them. In &s;uch a Sen&s;e we grant that there are &s;ome My&s;teries in the Chri&s;tian Religion, &s;ome incomprehen&s;ible Secrets; Secrets of Salvation, and My&s;teries of Love, which may be compared to a bot|tomle&s;s Sea.</P>
<P>Col. 1.26, 27. <HI>Even the My&s;tery which has been hid from Ages, and from Generations, but now is made manife&s;t to his Saints: To whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this My&s;tery among the Gentiles, which is Chri&s;t in you the hope of Glory.</HI> This Text needs no Paraphra&s;e. The Apo|&s;tle calls here a My&s;tery the Will of God, whereby he is willing to &s;ave all Nations in|differently, which he will make a proper and peculiar People to him&s;elf, not by Circum|ci&s;ion and other Ceremonies of the Law, but by the putifying of them only through the Faith of Chri&s;t. He makes here the &s;ame Di&s;tinction as in all the other places which we have examin'd and which puts an end to our Que&s;tion, <HI>viz.</HI> That what was <HI>a My&s;tery,</HI> or a Doctrine <HI>hidden in all the Ages which preceded the Go&s;pel,</HI> is now <HI>di&s;covered to the Saints,</HI> to the Apo&s;tles and to the Prophets of the Lord, to whom God has been plea&s;ed to make known the glorious Riches of his Mercy, which he be&s;tows upon <HI>the Gentiles.</HI> And he adds in expre&s;s words, that this My&s;tery is nothing but <HI>Chri&s;t him&s;elf,</HI> whom they have received, and who has brought to them by his magnificent Promi&s;es <HI>the certain hopes of Glory.</HI></P>
<P>I come now to tho&s;e Texts wherein the My&s;tery of the Go&s;pel is mentioned in a more general manner.</P>
<P N="1">1 Cor. 4.1. <HI>Let a Man &s;o account of us, as of the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, and Stewards of the My&s;teries of God.</HI> Who does not perceive at fir&s;t &s;ight, that the Title which the Apo&s;tles a&s;cribe to them&s;elves, of being <HI>the Stewards of the My&s;teries of God,</HI> is the &s;ame with the immediately foregoing of being <HI>the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t?</HI> As if they &s;hould &s;ay, We are the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, who di&s;pen&s;e the Trea&s;ures of his Knowledg, and the Pur|po&s;es of God concerning the Salvation of Mankind: Purpo&s;es hitherto kept &s;ecret, but we have been intru&s;ted with the Revelation of them. God had as it were made a rich Store of Graces, which he kept in his own Bo&s;om, out of which the Apo&s;tles his faithful Stewards di&s;pen&s;e them to tho&s;e for whom they were de&s;igned. And God by their preaching lays his Bowels of Mercy open to us, and di&s;plays to our Eyes the va&s;t Riches of his Grace, and of his Salvation.</P>
<P>Eph. <HI>6.19. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my Mouth boldly, to make known the My&s;tery of the Go&s;pel.</HI>
<PB N="9" REF="5">The preaching of <HI>St. Paul</HI> is here called in expre&s;s words <HI>the My&s;tery</HI> of the Go&s;pel, that is, the Revelation of Salvation. The Apo|&s;tle &s;ays, that tho he be loaded with Chains, for having declared to the Gentiles the Se|cret of Mercy, yet he goes on in the per|formance of his Mini&s;try with freedom and boldne&s;s, laying open to all Men the ble&s;&s;ed Immortality attainable by the Faith of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Col. 2.2. <HI>That their Hearts might be com|forted, being knit together in Love, and unto all the Riches of the full a&s;&s;urance of under&s;tanding, to the acknowledgment of the My&s;tery of God, and of the Father, and of Chri&s;t.</HI> It cannot be doubted but that this <HI>My&s;tery of God the Father, and of Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> &s;poken of in this place, is al&s;o the Go&s;pel-Di&s;pen&s;ation con|cerning the Salvation of all Mankind, which the Father has revealed to us by the Mini&s;try of his Son. For be&s;ides, that this is the ordinary Style of the Apo&s;tle, as often as he is di&s;cour&s;ing of this Divine Will, and that it is the Sen&s;e, which he has fixed upon the words <HI>[My&s;tery of God and of Je&s;us Chri&s;t]</HI> as we have &s;een in the places before explained. Be&s;ides that, I &s;ay, this does appear from the very words of the Text, which offers to us an Object that may be known to us, and which we may have not only the knowledg of, but <HI>a firm and certain Knowledg,</HI> not only &s;ome Knowledg, but <HI>Riches of Knowledg,</HI> that is, a full Knowledg, which takes off all Ob&s;curity and Doubts.</P>
<P>Col. 4.3. <HI>Withal, praying al&s;o for us, that God would open unto us a Door of &V;tterance, to &s;peak the My&s;tery of Chri&s;t, for which I am al&s;o in Bonds.</HI> This place is parallel to <HI>Eph.</HI> 6.19. which we have explained. You &s;ee in both places the Apo&s;tle in Bonds, he intreats his Brethren to pray for him, that God would be plea&s;ed to unloo&s;e his Tongue, to open a Door to him, and to grant him an opportunity of freely preaching <HI>the My&s;tery of Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> or of the Go&s;pel; that is to &s;ay, the Doctrine of Salvation by the Faith of Chri&s;t. And he mentions, <HI>ver.</HI> 4. not only the preaching of it, but al&s;o the di&s;co|vering of it to Men, as a Secret which he ought to make them Partakers of.</P>
<P N="1">1 Tim. 3.9. <HI>Holding the My&s;tery of the Faith in a pure Con&s;cience.</HI> Ver. 16. <HI>And with|out controver&s;y, great is the My&s;tery of Godli|ne&s;s: God was manife&s;t in the Fle&s;h, ju&s;tified in the Spirit, &s;een of Angels, preached unto the Gen|tiles, believed on in the World, received up into Glory. The My&s;tery of Faith</HI> and <HI>the My&s;tery of Godline&s;s</HI> &s;ignifies here <HI>the My&s;tery of the Chri&s;ti|an Faith and Godline&s;s</HI> in the &s;ame Sen&s;e (the rea&s;on of Contraries being ob&s;erved) as <HI>the My&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> 2 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 2.7. The Chri&s;tian Faith was in preceding Ages a hidden Secret, and kept under the ob&s;curity of the Prophe|cies, and &s;hadows of the Law: and the Apo|&s;tle will have it in this place, by a fine and elegant Allu&s;ion, to be held and kept in a good Con&s;cience as in a precious Ve&s;&s;el; that is to &s;ay, that Faith and Righteou&s;ne&s;s be indi&s;&s;olubly united, otherwi&s;e Faith will &s;oon become &s;hipwrack'd, unle&s;s it be made &s;tedfa&s;t by a good Con&s;cience. Wherefore we are exhorted to make &s;ure our Vocation and Election by good Works.</P>
<P>I have confounded tho&s;e two places, be|cau&s;e there &s;eems to be no more My&s;tery in the one than in the other; yet I think my &s;elf obliged to examin more particularly the latter, and that becau&s;e it &s;eems to favour a little the Notion of a My&s;tery which I am confuting. <HI>Without controver&s;y, great is the My&s;tery of Godline&s;s, God was manife&s;ted in the Fle&s;h,</HI> &amp;c. 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.16. This &s;eems to countenance the My&s;tery of the Incarnation, as they call it. It &s;eems, I &s;ay, for there is no reality in it.</P>
<P>For, <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> It is more likely that the word <HI>God</HI> has been foi&s;ted into the Ori|ginal. We have good rea&s;on to believe this, and I intend to &s;hew you that the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks here of the My&s;tery of God|line&s;s, or rather of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P N="1">1. Many Greek Copies, the mo&s;t an|tient and the mo&s;t con&s;iderable, the Oriental Ver&s;ions, the Vulgar, and &s;ome Fathers, read con&s;tantly <HI>which</HI> in&s;tead of <HI>God, Great is the My&s;tery of Godline&s;s, [which] was ma|nife&s;ted in the Fle&s;h,</HI> &amp;c. This is there|fore
<PB N="10" REF="6">the Secret of the Go&s;pel, the great Secret of Salvation, which was preached up and delivered, not by Angels, as the Law was, but by <HI>Mortal Men;</HI> not by a conquering <HI>Me&s;&s;ias,</HI> as the Jews expected he &s;hould be, but by one that underwent <HI>Suffer|ings and Temptations.</HI> Cannot the Orthodox triumph over the Hereticks without fal&s;ify|ing the Text of the Scripture, and leaving to the World a Shameful Monument of their want of Sincerity? The Latin Church has not fal&s;ified her Ver&s;ion, nor &s;uffer'd that it &s;hould be fal&s;ified. Her Faith concerning this My&s;tery could not allow her to do that. Nor have the Hereticks fal&s;ified it, who were Ma&s;ters of the ancient Copies, that remain to this day, and upon which, or &s;uch like, the Oriental and Occidental Ver&s;ions of the Church were made. This is therefore a Miracle of God's Providence, who was plea&s;ed to pre&s;erve to us the precious Re|mainders of his Truth, notwith&s;tanding the Endeavours of tho&s;e who never loved it.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is plain, that this Title, <HI>the My&s;tery of Godline&s;s,</HI> is like the other which we have cited, and are undeniably a&s;cribed to the Go&s;pel, <HI>viz. the My&s;tery of God, the My&s;tery of Chri&s;t, the My&s;tery of the Go&s;pel, the My&s;tery of Faith.</HI> In effect, in St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Stile, the word <HI>My&s;tery</HI> is con&s;tantly be&s;towed upon the <HI>great Secret</HI> of the Divine Love, concern|ing the Salvation of Mankind, e&s;pecially of the Gentiles, which is the ordinary matter of his Tran&s;ports, and Admiration. If the Doctrines, which go now under the Names of A&s;toni&s;hing My&s;teries, had been look'd upon as &s;uch by that holy Man, how could he lay them a&s;ide, without &s;hewing his A&s;to|ni&s;hment, and be&s;towing his Encomiums upon them? If it be replied, that he has done &s;o in this place; then they mu&s;t con|fe&s;s that this is the only place. But is there any likelihood that the holy Apo&s;tle &s;hould admire at every &s;tep the profound Riches of God's Mercy towards the Gentiles, as ra|vi&s;hing My&s;teries, and that he &s;hould have cried out, O My&s;tery : but once, contem|plating the incomprehen&s;ible Depths of the Trinity and the Incarnation?</P>
<P>It is more natural to think, that he has not changed the u&s;ual Idea which he ties to the word <HI>My&s;tery.</HI> And,</P>
<P N="3">3. My third Argument will fully convince us of it. The &s;ame Quanlities which are a&s;cribed to the Doct<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ine of Salvation contained in the Go&s;pel, and which are (if I may &s;ay &s;o) in&s;eparable from it in the Epi&s;tles of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> are here attri|buted to <HI>the My&s;tery of Godline&s;s.</HI> It is called a <HI>manife&s;ted Secret,</HI> an Expre&s;&s;ion only &s;utable to God's Will; and <HI>mani|fe&s;ted in the Fle&s;h,</HI> that is, by the F<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;h, (as <HI>ju&s;tified in the Spirit</HI> &s;ignifies ju&s;tified by the Spirit) <HI>God having put this Trea|&s;ure in Earthen Ve&s;&s;els,</HI> or in <HI>Fle&s;hly</HI> Ve&s;&s;els, which is all one. <HI>The Fle&s;h,</HI> in the Stile of the Hebrews, &s;ignifies not only <HI>infirm and mortal</HI> Men, but Men of a low and poor Condition, &s;imple plain Men without Learning, without Greatne&s;s, without any Appearance, &s;uch as the Me&s;&s;ias and his Apo&s;tles were, Men born of mean Parents, Carpenters, or Fi&s;hers, and who had never been bred up in Schools. But God has &s;up|ported the Infirmity of his Mini&s;ters by the Greatne&s;s of the Miracles which they wrought. This the Apo&s;tle means by the words, <HI>ju&s;tified by the Spirit,</HI> becau&s;e by &s;uch means <HI>the weak and fooli&s;h things of God have confounded the Power and the Philo&s;ophy of this World,</HI> 1 Cor. 1.27. Now if you retain the word <HI>God,</HI> what would be the meaning of this Expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>God ju&s;tified by the Spirit?</HI> What a &s;trange Language! The Apo&s;tle adds, that this Secret <HI>was &s;een of Angels,</HI> who <HI>de&s;ired</HI> (&s;aid St. <HI>Peter,</HI> 1 Pet. 1.12.) <HI>to look into the Go&s;pel,</HI> which has been preached to us, that it <HI>was preached to the Gentiles and believed in the World:</HI> which words do plainly &s;hew that this My&s;tery is nothing el&s;e but the preaching of the Go&s;pel out of the Borders of <HI>Judea,</HI> and the Vocation of the Gentiles, that great Secret of God's Will, which did &s;o much &s;urprize the Apo&s;tles of our Lord, and which is in all the Epi&s;tles of St. <HI>Paul</HI> called a My&s;tery, whenever he treats of it. This certainly &s;hews that he has not fixed a new Idea up|on
<PB N="11" REF="6">that word in this place, and that he always under&s;tands thereby a Miracle of God's Mercy, who calls his People tho&s;e that were not his People, not the pre|tended My&s;tery of the Incarnation, which never was the Subject of the Apo&s;tles preach|ing, nor the Object of the Faith of the Gentiles. Indeed one mu&s;t be very &s;ubtile to find the Incarnation in the ancient Rules of their Faith, which they profe&s;t at their Bapti&s;m.</P>
<P N="4">4. The&s;e words <HI>received up into Glory,</HI> can|not agree with the Exaltation of the incar|nate Word. The Greek Phar&s;e cannot bear &s;uch a &s;en&s;e (<GAP DESC="foreign">, does not &s;ignify <HI>receptus in Glorian, received up into Glory;</HI> but <HI>receptus in Glori&acirc; vel cum Glori&acirc;, received with Glory</HI>). From whence it fol|lows, that it mu&s;t be meant of God's Will revealed in the Go&s;pel, which having been made manife&s;t, was received with Glory and Applau&s;e, or embraced in a glorious and triumphing manner. I &s;hall confirm this Explication with the words of <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> up|on this place. <HI>Mihi &s;ubolet</HI> (&s;ays he) De|um <HI>additum fui&s;&s;e adver&s;us Haereticos Arianos. Caeterum mea quidem &s;ententia, &s;implici&s;&s;ima fuerit interpretatio, &s;i quis My&s;terium intelligat prae|dicationem Evangelii, quod &s;aepe alias My&s;te|rium vocat, prius occultum, nunc manife&s;tum univer&s;o Mundo:</HI> That is, <Q>I am apt to think that the word <HI>God</HI> was here added again&s;t the Hereticks the Arians. Now this &s;eems to me the mo&s;t &s;imple Interpretation, if by the word <HI>My&s;tery</HI> we under&s;tand the preaching of the Go&s;pel, which the Apo|&s;tle calls often a My&s;tery in &s;everal o|ther places, a My&s;tery before hidden and unknown, but now made manife&s;t to all the World.</Q></P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> Suppo&s;e we ought to read, <HI>God was manife&s;ted in the Fle&s;h:</HI> that word <HI>God,</HI> e&s;pecially when put without an Article, as it is here, &s;ignifies only <HI>God's Word, Doctrine, or Attributes,</HI> manife&s;ted by the preaching of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles; as <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> &s;ig|nifies <HI>the Philo&s;ophy of</HI> Ari&s;totle; Mo&s;es, <HI>the Law of that Prophet; Chri&s;t, the Doctrine, or the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t.</HI> This is clear of it &s;elf and if we wanted &s;ome Te&s;timonies, Doctor <HI>Sherlock</HI> would afford us one in the very beginning of his Book concerning <HI>the Know|ledg of Chri&s;t,</HI> where he fully proves this Truth. <Q><HI>Chri&s;t</HI> (&s;ays he) &s;ignifies the Go&s;pel and Religion of Chri&s;t, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ignifies the Writings and Laws of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and the <HI>Prophets</HI> the Writings and Ser|mons of the Prophets, <HI>Luke</HI> 16.29, 31. And there is nothing more u&s;ual in com|mon Speech, then to call any Laws, or Religion, or Philo&s;ophy, by the Names of the fir&s;t Authors. Thus <HI>Gal.</HI> 6.15. <HI>Col.</HI> 2.8. <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.20, 21. where Chri&s;t mu&s;t &s;ignify not the Per&s;on, but the Reli|gion or Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t.</Q> It remains therefore that I &s;hould produce &s;ome places, wherein the word <HI>God</HI> is put for the Will of God, or the Revelation of his Glorious Perfections. Dr. <HI>Sherlock</HI> will al&s;o ea&s;e us of that labour; for he has done it in the &s;ame Book: He cites <HI>Mat.</HI> 11.27. <HI>No Man knows the Father &s;ave the Son,</HI> &amp;c. which he para|phra&s;es thus. <Q>God has now committed unto Chri&s;t all the &s;ecret Purpo&s;es of his Coun&s;el concerning the Salvation of Man|kind, which were concealed from Ages. None of the Prophets who lived before, did &s;o fully under&s;tand it, nor have we any other certain way of knowing this, but by the Revelation which Chri&s;t has made to us. And <HI>John</HI> 14.7. <HI>If ye had known me, ye &s;hould have known the Fa|ther, al&s;o,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Whoever knows me,</HI> i. e. (<HI>&s;ays the Author</HI>) whoever is acquainted with the Doctrine and Religion I preach, knows my Father, <HI>i. e.</HI> is throughly in|&s;tructed in God's Mind and Will. So that to know God, is to under&s;tand the Will of God, concerning the Salvation of Mankind. And <HI>Heb.</HI> 1.1. <HI>The Brightne&s;s of his Father's Glory, and the expre&s;s Image of his Per&s;on.</HI> The&s;e Di&s;coveries, <HI>&s;ays that Author,</HI> Chri&s;t has made of God, being a bright and glorious Reflection of the Nature and Attributes of God, of his Eternal Wi&s;dom, and Truth and Holi|ne&s;s, are as true a Repre&s;entation of the
<PB N="12" REF="7">Divine Nature and Will, as any Picture is of the Per&s;on it repre&s;ents. It is plain that in this &s;en&s;e Chri&s;t is called <HI>the Image of God,</HI> 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.4. where Chri&s;t being the Image of God comes in very abrupt|ly, unle&s;s we under&s;tand it in this &s;en&s;e, that he is the Image of God, with re|&s;pect to the glorious Revelations of the Go&s;pel, which contain a true and faith|ful account of God's Nature and Will. And <HI>Joh.</HI> 1.18. <HI>No Man hath &s;een God at any time,</HI> &amp;c. That is, <HI>&s;ays the Author,</HI> no Man ever before had &s;o perfect a knowledg of the Will of God, (which is here called &s;eeing God, becau&s;e Sight gives us the cleare&s;t Evidence, and the mo&s;t perfect and particular Knowledg) but the Son of God, who perfectly un|der&s;tood all his mo&s;t &s;ecret Coun&s;els, hath perfectly declared the Will of his Fa|ther to us.</Q> So <HI>Joh.</HI> 1.16. <HI>And of his Fulne&s;s have all we received,</HI> &amp;c. And <HI>Col.</HI> 2 9. <HI>In him dwelleth all the Fulne&s;s of the Godhead hodily,</HI> are explained by the Author thus: <Q>'Tis not the Per&s;onal Fulne&s;s we are to attend to, but the Fulne&s;s and Perfection of the Go&s;pel, from whence we mu&s;t fetch the Knowledg of the Divine Will. The Fulne&s;s of the Godhead is an Allu|&s;ive and Metaphorical Expre&s;&s;ion; for God, who is a Spirit, cannot, in a pro|per &s;en&s;e, dwell bodily in any thing.</Q> I hope now no body will wonder, that by the&s;e words, <HI>God was manife&s;ted in the Fle&s;h,</HI> I &s;hould under&s;tand only the Grace and the Will of God, which have been mani&s;e&s;ted unto us by the preaching of a <HI>Mi&s;&s;ias,</HI> and of a company of Fi&s;hermen, who neither were <HI>&s;trong nor noble according to the Fle&s;h,</HI> no more than their Pro&s;elytes, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1.20. Which &s;hews that our Copies, though differ|ing in words, yet agree in &s;en&s;e; becau&s;e as often as God manife&s;ts his Le&s;igns, e&s;pe|cially the Secrets of his Love, and of his Mercy, &s;uch as he reveals them in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, with a &s;hining Glory and a plenti|ful Profu&s;ion, then God manife&s;ts him&s;elf, and makes him&s;elf vi&s;ible to Men, di&s;play|ing to their Eyes through tho&s;e Images all the Riches of his Glory, Wi&s;dom, Power, Love and Faithfulne&s;s.</P>
<P>Now to put an end to the Explication of all tho&s;e places, there remains only one Que&s;tion to be an&s;wered, <HI>viz.</HI> Why the Go&s;pel, being the cleare&s;t and the mo&s;t perfect of all Revelations, is called <HI>a My|&s;tery?</HI> Be&s;ides &s;everal particular Rea&s;ons, which I have before mentioned in examin|ing every place by it &s;elf, I &s;hall here in|fi&s;t upon two general ones.</P>
<P N="1">1. This Speech is like that which we make u&s;e of, when we call a Secret &s;till, a De&s;ign which we have communicated to &s;ome Per&s;ons, whil&s;t it lies hidden to &s;ome others, and that we &s;ay, <HI>&s;uch and &s;uch are intru&s;ted with my Secret, few are intru&s;ted with my Secret.</HI> The Go&s;pel being in effect a Secret of God's Will revealed to certain Nations, but hidden to others, to whom, comparatively to tho&s;e who know it al|ready, it is a My&s;tery &s;till.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is called &s;o in the &s;ame &s;en&s;e that it is &s;aid, <HI>the Blind &s;ee,</HI> being &s;tyl'd blind after they have recovered their Sight; a blind Man &s;eeing, and a My&s;tery revealed, being like Expre&s;&s;ions: and in the &s;ame &s;en&s;e that <HI>Harlots</HI> are &s;aid <HI>to go before others into the Kingdom of God,</HI> being called Har|lots even after their Conver&s;ion. The Scrip|tures are full of the like Expre&s;&s;ions. Thus My&s;terirs, though revealed, are called My|&s;teries &s;till, to commend thereby the Grace and Love of God towards tho&s;e to whom he imparts his Secrets. All this is a Con|firmation of my foregoing Ob&s;ervation, that the My&s;tery of God is nothing le&s;s than a thing unintelligible and incomprehen&s;ible to Rea&s;on, and lea&s;t of all an Object which contradicts and de&s;troys our Natural Ideas. It is called &s;o only with re&s;pect to &s;ome Circum&s;tances of Time, Place and Per&s;on.</P>
<P>However, all the&s;e My&s;teries, as long as they continue to be My&s;teries, and God his &s;ome Rea&s;ons to hide his De&s;igns with the Ob&s;curity of Prophecies, and to cover them with a Vail, do not bind Chri&s;tians to have a clear and di&s;tinct Faith and Know|ledg concerning the Objets contained in
<PB N="13" REF="7">them, under pain of Damnation. When the Object is vail'd, Faith mu&s;t needs be confu&s;ed and implicite. This is the unju&s;t Practice of Divines, to damn, with their own Authority, the &s;uppo&s;ed Hereticks, who refu&s;e to embrace in an explicite man|ner My&s;teries, which &s;uppo&s;ing them to be true, are &s;o incomprehen&s;ible (as they own them&s;elves) that for that very rea&s;on they are capable of no Interpretation, nor con&s;equently, fit to be di&s;tinctly believed. The&s;e fal&s;e My&s;teries have no ground in the New Te&s;tament, as I have &s;hewed, to appropriate that Title to them&s;elves, ex|cept it be in the fir&s;t Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Corin|thians,</HI> Chap. 14.2. the only Pa&s;&s;age which remains to be examined; where the Apo|&s;tle, di&s;cour&s;ing of him who &s;peaks in an unknown Tongu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, &s;ays, that <HI>in the Sprit he &s;peaketh My&s;teries.</HI> Indeed their Meta|phy&s;ical Gibberi&s;h is a Barbarous and un|known Tongue, full of tho&s;e <HI>My&s;teries in Spirit,</HI> and of frighting Ab&s;urdities. By the means of My&s;tery, Divines have made Religion a very difficult thing, that is, an Art which Chri&s;tians are not able to un|der&s;tand. <HI>Ex Religione Ars facta,</HI> &s;ays <HI>Grotius,</HI> (<HI>De Ver. Relig. Chri&s;t.</HI> lib. 6.) Thereby they rei&s;ed them&s;elves above com|mon Chri&s;tians, and are made nece&s;&s;ary to the People, improving that Art to their own benefit. If Religion were ea&s;y, and without any encumbrance, then every one &s;hould be Doctor to him&s;elf. But Clergy|men have done like Phy&s;icians, who have kept &s;till to <HI>Hippocrates</HI>'s extravagant Ex|pre&s;&s;ions, and make u&s;e of far-fetch'd Drugs, left their Art become too common in u&s;ing Herbs of our own Gardens, and Terms of our vulgar Tongue. Chri&s;tianity is by that means nothing el&s;e but the Religion of Learned Men, and of the mo&s;t &s;ubtile and refin'd Philo&s;ophers. Tho&s;e are e&s;teem'd the mo&s;t excellent Chri&s;tians, who believe mo&s;t My&s;teries. Men will by no means have a Religion of a level, which neither <HI>a&s;cends into Heaven,</HI> nor <HI>de&s;cends into the Deep,</HI> and who&s;e whole My&s;tery is <HI>nigh us, in the Faith of the Heart, and in the Con|fe&s;&s;ion of the Mouth. If thou &s;halt confe&s;s with thy Mouth the Lord Je&s;us, and &s;halt believe in thine Heart, that God has rai&s;ed him from the Dead, thou &s;halt be &s;aved.</HI> Rom. 10.9. This has been rightly ob&s;erved by Dr. <HI>Sherlock</HI> him&s;elt in his Book <HI>of the Know|ledge of Chri&s;t,</HI> p. 273. <Q>Let us leave, <HI>&s;ays he,</HI> tho&s;e dim Notions to Men who can believe what no Men can under&s;tand, who de&s;pi&s;e every thing that can be under|&s;tood, as if it were no better than Car|nal Rea&s;on.</Q> <HI>De&s;iring to be Teachers of the Law</HI> (&s;ays St. <HI>Paul,</HI> 1 Tim. 1.7.) <HI>under|&s;tanding neither what they &s;ay, nor whereof they affirm.</HI></P>
<P>We may therefore conclude, Sir, that the Go&s;pel is &s;o far from being a My&s;tery and a Secret, that it is the mo&s;t evident and the cleare&s;t of all Revelations. Divine Truth is not hid in a Well, as <HI>Democritus</HI> &s;aith: it is like a City &s;tanding upon a Hill, which may be &s;een of all Men. Chri&s;t has brought all things to light, and as the Wo|man of <HI>Samaria</HI> &s;peaks, <HI>He has taught us all things.</HI> He is called <HI>a Word,</HI> not <HI>a Silence;</HI> his Go&s;pel is a Revelation, not a My&s;tery Indeed he forbids us to ca&s;t his holy Do|ctrine <HI>before, Dogs and Swine;</HI> but on the other hand, he will have it to be made plain and intelligible to any Man, who heartily de&s;ires to know it. We ought to leave that covered and my&s;tical Philo&s;ophy to <HI>Heraclitus,</HI> who was wont to tell his Di&s;ci|ples, <HI>Darken your Thoughts, and never expre&s;s your &s;elves but enigmatically, left you &s;hould be under&s;tood of the People.</HI> Such an Affecta|tion of Ob&s;curity was the occa&s;ion of <HI>Ari|&s;totle</HI>'s being called <HI>a Sphinx,</HI> who did al|ways propound inexplicable Riddles: Nay, it is reported, that by that means he in&s;i|nuated him&s;elf into <HI>Alexander</HI>'s Favour, and comforted that Prince, who was afraid le&s;t the My&s;teries of the Acroamatick Philo&s;o|phy &s;hould grow too commom I know it is commonly &s;aid, that there are &s;ome My&s;teries which Chri&s;t did not teach, becau&s;e they were too high and too &s;ublime for the Church, which was then in her Infancy, and con&s;equently, that the perfect Revela|tion
<PB N="14" REF="8">thereof was deferr'd till the coming down of the Holy Gho&s;t upon the Apo&s;tles, and thereupon they cite <HI>John.</HI> 16.12, 13. But Dr. <HI>Sherlock</HI> will an&s;wer this for me; for he &s;ays in the Book before mentioned, <Q>That this place does not &s;peak of any Doctrine nece&s;&s;ary to Salvation, but only of certain In&s;tructions relating to the Na|ture or Extent of the Apo&s;tle's Mini&s;try; As for Example, the Vocation of the Gentiles, which is often called a My&s;te|ry, and cou&s;equently, that the perfect Revelation thereof could not be deferr'd to a more &s;ea&s;onable time, For, <HI>as he goes on,</HI> if the Apo&s;tles had preached any other thing in matters relating to Salvation, than what Chri&s;t had taught them, they &s;hould have preached ano|ther Go&s;pel, which was to be rejected, <HI>Gal.</HI> 1.8, 9. <HI>He adds,</HI> This I do not &s;ay to le&s;&s;en the Authority of the Apo&s;tles, who could teach nothing but what they had learn'd; nor make any Doctrine ne|ce&s;&s;ary, but what was made &s;uch by Chri&s;t: <HI>But to awaken tho&s;e Men who take little notice of the Go&s;pel of our Saviour, while they fetch all their my&s;terious Divinity out of &s;ome ab&s;cure Pa&s;&s;ages of St.</HI> Paul's <HI>Epi&s;tles,</HI> 2 Pet. 3.16. Yet upon tho&s;e ob&s;cure places they ground their Faith, without taking care to con&s;ider, whether they agree with the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, which is the fir&s;t Rule, and yet is perfectly &s;ilent about tho&s;e pretended grounds.</Q> If therefore we mu&s;t examine the very Pa&s;&s;ages of the Apo&s;tles according to this Rule, how much more the my&s;terious Terms contrived by the Councils and Di|vines?</P>
<P>I do not know from whence they fetch that Spirit of My&s;tery. Certainly the read|ing of the Go&s;pel will never &s;ugge&s;t it, &s;eeing the Holy Gho&s;t does his utmo&s;t En|deavour to make the Revelation as plain and intelligible to us as can be. As for Doctrines, the Doctrine of the Cro&s;s, which <HI>is a Stumbling-block to the Jews, and Fooli&s;h|ne&s;s to the Greeks,</HI> it is &s;et therein before us with the greate&s;t Evidence, and we &s;ee all at once the whole Wi&s;dom of its Scope, U&s;es, Effects, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> As for the invi&s;ible Pro|mi&s;e of a future Life: he makes us to handle it with St. <HI>Thomas</HI> in the Wounds of Chri&s;t rai&s;ed from the Dead, after he had &s;uffer'd for God's &s;ake. As for Pre|cepts; God has &s;ent us a Preacher, who fir&s;t ob&s;erves them, before he impo&s;es them upon others, and thr&oacute; the Pattern of his Obedi|ence which he left to us, he plainly lets us &s;ee the po&s;&s;ibility thereof. Every thing therefore is plain in the Divine Revelation, and in&s;tead of &s;piritualizing &s;en&s;ible things, it makes the mo&s;t &s;piritual and impercepti|ble things, plain and &s;en&s;ible to us: God him&s;elf, though invi&s;ible, manife&s;ting him&s;elf in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who is his Character and vi&s;ible Image. God, who could have &s;ent Angles to us (which would be &s;utable to the my&s;tical and ab&s;tru&s;e Doctrines of Di|vines) to teach us the Tongue of Angels, and acquaint us with their <HI>Sy&s;tem,</HI> has been willing to accommodate him&s;elf to our li|mited Knowledg, by &s;ending us a Man like unto us, who &s;poke the Language of Men, and who did &s;o far conde&s;cend in the Sy&s;tem of Doctrine, which he left to us, that we may not only &s;ay, that we heard him with our Ears, but &s;aw him with our Eyes, and handled him with our Hands. Be&s;ides, God who might have &s;ent us &s;ome Philo&s;ophers, acquainted with <HI>plato</HI>'s and <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI>'s No|tions, was willing to comply with the mean|ne&s;s of our Minds by cau&s;ing his Go&s;pel to be preached by Publicans and Fi&s;hermen of <HI>Galilee,</HI> who never heard of <HI>Con&s;ub&s;tantiality</HI> and <HI>Hypo&s;ta&s;is,</HI> and yet le&s;s of <HI>Perichore&s;is</HI> and <HI>Apotele&s;m.</HI> Hereupon Dr. <HI>Sherlock</HI>'s A&s;to|ni&s;hment is worth the noting (<HI>&V;bi &s;upr.</HI> p. 131.) <Q>I know not, <HI>&s;ays he,</HI> whence it comes to pa&s;s, that Men love to make plain things ob&s;cure, and like nothing in Religion but Riddles and My&s;teries. God indeed was plea&s;ed to in&s;titute a great ma|ny Ceremonies (and many of them of very ob&s;cure Signification) in the Jewi&s;h Wor&s;hip, to awe their Childi&s;h Minds into a greater Veneration of his Divine Maje&s;ty. But in the&s;e la&s;t days, God
<PB N="15" REF="8">hath &s;ent his own Son into the World to make a plain, and ea&s;y, and perfect Revelation of his Will, to publi&s;h &s;uch a Religion as may approve it &s;elf to our Rea&s;on, and captivate our Affections by its natural Charms and Beauties. And there cannot be a greater Injury to the Chri&s;tian Regigion, than to render it ob|&s;cure and unintelligible. And yet too many there are, who de&s;pi&s;e every thing which they under&s;tand, and think nothing a &s;ufficient Trial of their Faith, but what contradicts the Sen&s;e and Rea&s;on of Mankind.</Q></P>
<P>Let us follow the Doctor a &s;tep further; he will di&s;cover to us the two Sources of that Abu&s;e (<HI>ubi &s;upr.</HI> p. 69., <HI>&amp;c,</HI>) by making us ob&s;erve; <Q>That there are two ways of expounding Scripture in great vogue a|mong Men. Fir&s;t, by the &s;ound and clink of Words and Phra&s;es, which is all &s;ome Men under&s;tand; by <HI>keeping a form of &s;ound Words.</HI> Secondly, when this will not do, they rea&s;on about the Sen&s;e of Scripture from their own pre-conceived Notions and Opinions, and prove that this mu&s;t be the meaning of Scripture, becau&s;e otherwi&s;e it is not reconcileable to their Dreams, which is called expound|ing Scripture by <HI>the Analogy of Faith</HI> &mdash; 'Tis no wonder, <HI>&s;ays he,</HI> if Men can ac|commodate Scripture-Expre&s;&s;ions to their own Dreams and Fancies. For when Mens Fancies are &s;o po&s;&s;e&s;t with Shews and Ideas of Religion, whatever they look on appears of the &s;ame &s;hape and colour, wherewith their Minds are already tin|ctured; like a Man &s;ick of the Jaundies, or that look'd through a painted Gla&s;s, who &s;ees every thing of the &s;ame colour that his Eye or Gla&s;s gives it. All the Metaphors, and Similitudes, and Allego|ries of Scripture are ea&s;ily applied to their purpo&s;e. And if any word &s;ounds like the tinkling of their own Fancies, it is no le&s;s than a Demon&s;tration that <HI>that</HI> is the meaning of the Spirit of God; and every little &s;hadow and eppearance doth mightily confirm them in their pre-con|ceived Opinions. As <HI>Irenaeus</HI> ob&s;erves of the <HI>Valentinians,</HI> that they u&s;ed one Arti|fice or other to adapt all the Speeches of our Saviour to, and all the Allegories of Scripture, <HI>mal&egrave; compo&s;ito Phanta&s;mati, to the ill-contrived Figment of their own Brain.</HI> And thus the Minds of Men are abu&s;ed with Words and Phra&s;es, and the Scripture is pre&s;t to &s;erve every new|fangled conceit in Religion.</Q> They Doctor goes on after the &s;ame rate, and I make no doubt but you will like what remains to be tran&s;cribed upon this Subject, nor could I &s;ay any thing more &s;utable to the matter in hand. <Q>The wilde&s;t, <HI>&s;ays he,</HI> and mo&s;t ex|travagant Opinions that were ever yet vented under the Name of Religion, have pretended the Authority of Scripture for their Patronage. Though any unpreju|diced Man would wonder how the reading &s;uch places of Scripture &s;hould &s;ugge&s;t &s;uch Notions to them. But this is no wonder, when we con&s;ider that Men fir&s;t contrive their Religion, and po&s;&s;e&s;s their Fancy throughly with their private Opinions, and then read the Scripture with no other de&s;ign, than to find &s;ome thing there to &s;tamp Divinity on their own Conceits. For it is ea&s;y to pervert the plaine&s;t Sen&s;e, and by the help of a &s;trange Ima|gination to make any thing of any thing. Such Men dote upon Words and Phra&s;es, Metaphors and Allu&s;ions, as be&s;t fitted for their purpo&s;e: They found their Religion on ob&s;cure Texts, or My&s;tical Interpre|tations of plain Texts, and by the help of &s;ome Arbitrary Di&s;tinctions and Limi|tations, Glo&s;&s;es and Paraphra&s;es, by cur|tailing of Texts, or tra&s;placing Words or Comma's. or &s;eparating a &s;ingle Sen|tence from the Body of the Di&s;cour&s;e, make the Scripture &s;peak their Sen&s;e as plainly as the Bells ring what every Boy would have them &mdash;At this rate we may find the Alcoran in the Bible, as well as make &s;o many Books &s;o different and con|trary to each other, from the various Compo&s;ition of twenty four Letters &mdash;All the My&s;tery of tho&s;e Men confi&s;ts in
<PB N="16" REF="9">wre&s;ting Metaphorical and Allu&s;ive Ex|pre&s;&s;ions to a proper Sen&s;e &mdash; He, who would be an hone&s;t Reader of Books, who hath no mind to turn every thing into Burle&s;que, ought carefully to di&s;tin|gui&s;h between Proper and Allu&s;ive, or Metaphorical Expre&s;&s;ions, to con&s;ider the u&s;e of Words and Phra&s;es, and the great variety of Dialects, and the pecu|liar ways of &s;peaking in every Language, and in every Age, and to u&s;e Metaphors no farther than their fir&s;t Intention, with|out which we may deal by all Authors, as the&s;e Men deal by Scripture, make them &s;peak Non-&s;en&s;e, or (as they u&s;e to call them) <HI>venerable My&s;teries,</HI> and overthrow and contradict their own De&s;ign.</Q> Thus, Sir, by wre&s;ting to a proper Sen&s;e, the Al|lu&s;ion which St. <HI>John</HI> makes to the fir&s;t Chapter of <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> they have found a great My&s;tery in meer Metaphorical Expre&s;&s;ions, and the old Creation where the new is only intended. This &s;hort, but right and impor|tant Con&s;equence, ought to indemnify me for the trouble which the reading of &s;o long a Citation may have given you.</P>
<P>I know the Doctor in his <HI>Vindicetion of the Trinity,</HI> inveighs again&s;t the Hereticks who de&s;troy My&s;teries, and, as he thinks, do the Per&s;on of our Saviour a great Injury (as if Chri&s;tianity were undone, unle&s;s Chri&s;t be the Supream God.) But he has been formerly &s;ubject to the &s;ame Reproaches, without being much moved with them. We may therefore ea&s;ily vindicate our &s;elves with his own words, and &s;ay, <Q>That Chri&s;t has occa&s;ioned very great Mi&s;takes in &s;ome Mens Divinity, who are very zealous to advance Chri&s;t's Per&s;on, to the Prejudice and Reproach of his Religion. The Foundation of their Riddles and My&s;te|ries, is, that they make the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t almo&s;t the &s;ole Object of the Chri&s;tian Religion (<HI>Ib.</HI> p. 10.) Tho&s;e Men who talk &s;o much of the Per&s;on and Per&s;onal Excellencies of Chri&s;t, frequent|ly without any Sen&s;e, and generally with|out any ju&s;t ground from Rea&s;on or Scrip|ture, are very clamorous, and alarm the World with extream Jealou&s;ies and Fears, as if there were a Party of Men &s;tarted up, who de&s;ign to make Chri&s;t u&s;ele&s;s, and to reduce Religion to its fir&s;t natu|ral State, which knew no Prie&s;t, nor Sa|crifice, nor Mediator.</Q> It &s;eems now that we have both the &s;ame Right with the Doctor, to believe that the Di&s;&s;enters are ill-grounded in expounding literally of the Per&s;on of Chri&s;t, what is only meant of his Doctrine in a Metaphorical way; and I do believe that the Doctor him&s;elf has no ground to take in a literal &s;en&s;e for a &s;e|cond Per&s;on in the Godhead, what is only metaphorically &s;aid of that Per&s;on born of a Virgin, to whom the Father has imparted a Divine Power for the Work of the new Creation. One of the Di&s;&s;enters, again&s;t whom he di&s;putes, having &s;aid, <HI>Pag.</HI> 138. That <HI>as there is an &V;nion of Three Per&s;ons in One Nature in the Trinity, and of Two Natures in One Per&s;on in Chri&s;t, which is the Hypo&s;ta|tical &V;nion; &s;o the My&s;tical &V;nion is an &V;nion of Per&s;ons, where both Per&s;ons and Na|tures are di&s;tinct:</HI> the Doctor laughs at this My&s;tical Union. How &s;o? Is not the <HI>My|&s;tical</HI> Union of the Di&s;&s;enters as well groun|ded in Scripture, as the <HI>Hypo&s;tatical</HI> Union of Two Natures, or the <HI>E&s;&s;ential</HI> Union of the Three Per&s;ons, which the Doctor thinks to be great My&s;teries? And as for Rea&s;on, Is the word <HI>My&s;tical</HI> more affrighting than the word&punc; <HI>Hypo&s;tatical?</HI> Alas! they are Bre|thren, let them joyn Hands and live peace|ably in the Kingdom of Dreams.</P>
<P>This puts me in mind of a Reproach made unto us by a Papi&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> That our Re|formation has no certain Principle <HI>(Con&s;ider. upon the Schi&s;m of the Prote&s;t.) The Incom|prehen&s;ibility of a My&s;tery,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>is &s;ome|times look'd upon among them as a Demon&s;tra|tion to condemn it; and &s;ometimes it is a Cha|racter of Divinity, which makes it adorable. Sometimes the Letter of the Scripture is a &s;a|cred Authority which they cannot part with with|out committing a Sacriledg; and &s;ometimes they look upon it as a Letter which killeth.</HI> Would to God this were an altogether ungrounded Reproach! We have no fixed Principle to
<PB REF="9">
<PB REF="10">
<PB N="17" REF="10">agree about the Notion of a My&s;tery, and it &s;eems we are rather determin'd to our choice by <HI>Caprichio</HI> or Intere&s;t, than by the Scripture. What? taking wi&s;ely the Scrip|ture to be our Principle, have we adapted, for the expounding of it, this Maxim of Cardinal <HI>Cu&s;anus, Secundum currentia tempora &s;cripturas e&s;&s;e interpretandas, That the Scriptures ought to be interpreted according to the current of Times?</HI> When we di&s;pute again&s;t the Di&s;&s;enters, we inveigh again&s;t My&s;tery at the very fir&s;t Page of the Book, thus, <HI>(ubi &s;upr.)</HI><Q>It happens too often in Matters of Religion, that Men con&s;ider nothing but the &s;ound of Words, and from thence form &s;uch uncough Ideas of Religion, as are fitted to the meanne&s;s of the Under&s;tandings, or gratify their Natural Genius or Di&s;po&s;ition, or are calculated to &s;erve an Intere&s;t. And thus the Go&s;pel of our Saviour is defaced and ob&s;cured by affected My&s;te|ries, and Paradoxes, and &s;en&s;ele&s;s Propo|&s;itions. And Chri&s;t him&s;elf, <HI>who was the Brightne&s;s of his Father's Glory, and the expre&s;s Image of his Per&s;on,</HI> who in the mo&s;t plain and per&s;picuous manner de|clared the Will of God to us, is repre|&s;ented with a thicker Vail upon his Face than <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> And the Glory of the &s;econd Covenant is much more ob&s;cured with a Mi&s;t of Words, than the fir&s;t was with Types and Figures. <HI>We add,</HI> that to un|riddle &s;uch My&s;teries, we mu&s;t expect the coming of <HI>Elias.</HI></Q> But, what an Al<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">era|tion is our Theology &s;ubject to, when we come to di&s;pute afterwards again&s;t the <HI>&V;ni|tarians?</HI> We mention <HI>My&s;tery</HI> at the very Title of the Book, and we prejudice the Spirit of the Reader with it, <HI>A Vindication of the My&s;tery of the Holy Trinity.</HI> After|wards we &s;pread over tho&s;e Doctrines a Cloud of Metaphy&s;ical and Barbarous Terms. What ari&s;es from this? This Inconvenien|cy, <HI>viz.</HI><Q>That (<HI>ubi. &s;up.</HI> p. 93.) &s;uch Ar|bitrary Notions do naturally force Men to pervert the Scriptures to make them &s;peak the Orthodox Language. To this we owe all tho&s;e nice and &s;ubtile Di&s;tincti|ons <HI>(for Example, Self and Matual Con&s;ci|ou&s;ne&s;s</HI>) which con&s;titute the Body of Sy|&s;tematical Divinity, which commonly have no other de&s;ign than to clude the force of Scripture, or to bribe it to &s;peak on their &s;ide.</Q> Thus we our &s;elves fall into that pi|tiful Ridiculou&s;ne&s;s, which he had formerly condemned. This we may call, To cry down My&s;tery, till &s;ome other Intere&s;t will re|quire the contrary.</P>
<P>Now, Sir, if I was willing to go on fur|ther in this Con&s;ideration, I &s;hould only in|&s;i&s;t upon all the Maxims made u&s;e of by Prote&s;tants again&s;t Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, and oppo&s;e them to their own My&s;teries. They have none that may be able to bear the Trial of &s;uch a Touch-&s;tone. I &s;hall only &s;et down &s;ix of their Maxims, without making any particular. Application of them, for that is out of my way. 1. <HI>That Rea&s;on is the Fa|culty whereby Revelations are to be di&s;cerned.</HI> 2. <HI>That all &s;upernatural Revelations do &s;uppo&s;e the truth of the Principles of Natural Religion.</HI> 3. <HI>That all Rea&s;onings about Divine Revelations mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be governed by the Principles of Natural-Religion; that is, by tho&s;e Apprehen&s;i|ons which Men naturally have of the Divine Perfections.</HI> 4. <HI>That nothing ought to be re|ceived as a Revelation from God, which plainly contradicts the Principles of Natural Religion, or overthrows the Certainty of them.</HI> 5. <HI>That nothing ought to be received as a Divine Doctrine and Revelation, without good Evidence that it is &s;o.</HI> 6. <HI>That no Argument is &s;ufficient to prove a Doctrine or Revelation to be from God, which is not clearer and &s;tronger than the Difficulties and Objections again&s;t it.</HI> Now either tho&s;e Maxims are fal&s;e, and ill applied to Tran&s;ub|&s;tantiation; or, if there is any &s;trength in them again&s;t that pretended My&s;tery, they overthrow at the &s;ame time all the Doctrines, which at this day go under that Name among Prote&s;tants. At lea&s;t I do not &s;ee how any rational Man can deny &s;uch a Parity. They &s;hould do me a kindne&s;s to &s;hew me, that tho&s;e &s;ix Maxims do not hurt in the lea&s;t the My&s;teries of the Trinity, and of the In|carnation.</P>
<P>Now, Sir, be plea&s;ed to hear &s;ome weak Rea&s;ons alledged in the behalf of My&s;tery.
<PB N="18" REF="11">It is objected, that there are My&s;teries in Nature, and mo&s;t incomprehen&s;ible Truths; as for Example, The Union of our Soul with our Body; and con&s;equently, that we mu&s;t not wonder, if there are &s;ome too in the Deity and Religion. And if tho&s;e, &s;ay they, though incomprehen&s;ible, yet are mo&s;t certain, Why &s;hould we call into que&s;tion the latter? I an&s;wer, that there is a va&s;t difference between both. Tho&s;e are only the Objects of our Curio&s;ity, the &s;earch whereof no body is bound to, &s;eeing that Enquiry is rather a Ra&s;hne&s;s, and an ill u&s;e of our Natural Light, which was given us in that re&s;pect only for the u&s;e of this Life both private and civil. But they will have the&s;e to be the Objects of our Faith and Re|ligion, which ought to be the clearer and the more acce&s;&s;ible to Rea&s;on, in that my Eter|nal Salvation is concerned in it, if I appre|hend and embrace them; or my Eternal Mi&s;ery, if I reject or do not apprehend them. Will God have me to conceive the Union of my Soul with my Body under pain of Death, or promi&s;e of Life? No certain|ly; but he is willing that I &s;hould have a right under&s;tanding of the Truths which I ought to believe, under the promi&s;e of Eter|nal Life, if I obey his Commands; and un|der the threatnings of Eternal Death, if I refu&s;e to acquie&s;ce in them. And con&s;e|quently, he will have them to be proportio|nable to our Capacities: and indeed Religi|on ought to be clearer than tho&s;e Metaphy&s;i|cal Objects. I confe&s;s that there are incom|prehen&s;ible things, which yet are true, but I deny that they are &s;uch as do contradict our natural Ideas; I mean, tho&s;e clear and cer|tain Notions, for want of which I &s;hould not be capable of Religion; &s;o that to be a Chri&s;tian, I &s;hould cea&s;e to be a Man.</P>
<P>They di&s;tingui&s;h to no purpo&s;e, the man|ner of the My&s;tery from the My&s;tery it &s;elf. This Di&s;tinction may hold in things which our Rea&s;on cannot apprehend, becau&s;e it has not in it &s;elf the Ideas and the Proof thereof; as for Example, the manner of the Re&s;urrection. But it is fal&s;e and wrongly applied to tho&s;e things which our Rea&s;on cannot apprehend, becau&s;e they contradict its mo&s;t di&s;tinct and certain Ideas; as for. Ex|ample, that three Divine Per&s;ons are but one God. Then the manner of the My&s;tery only is not to be called in que&s;tion, &s;ince the My&s;tery in it &s;elf, propounded with its greate&s;t Simplicity, is &s;urrounded with Con|tradictions, which way &s;oever it be viewed.</P>
<P>Moreover they will &s;ay, that the My&s;tery lies only in the Objects of Religion, but that the way of revealing them is clear and ea&s;y. But if the Revelation is &s;o clear, Why do Men contrive new Words unknown to Scripture, to explain it more clearly? Di|vines are very happy to have found out Ex|pre&s;&s;ions more fit to expre&s;s the Truths of God, than the Holy Gho&s;t him&s;elf, who knows the deep things of God. And if the Objects are in them&s;elves &s;o ob&s;cure and un|intelligible, why do they broach new Terms, to endeavour to make us under&s;tand that which is incomprehen&s;ible? Be&s;ides, how can a Book be accounted clear, which is ea&s;y to be under&s;tood in its Terms, but is altoge|ther ob&s;cure in the Objects which it contains? Holy Ob&s;curity! Light&s;ome Darkne&s;s! The Words made u&s;e of to explain the Things are very clear, but the Things explained by tho&s;e Words are very ob&s;cure: And what is more admirable, though the Words be very clear, yet we perceive thr&ocirc; that Light, that the Things are very ob&s;cure; and though the Things be very ob&s;cure, yet thr&ocirc; that Ob|&s;curity we perceive, that the Words are very clear. Thus they have found the way to re|concile Light with Darkne&s;s: This is a new kind of Oracles never heard of before. The Oracles of the fal&s;e Gods contained things very intelligible in them&s;elves, but expre&s;&s;ed with ob&s;cure and equivocal Terms. On the contrary, tho&s;e of the true God contain Truths incomprehen&s;ible and unintelligible in them&s;elves, but expre&s;&s;ed with clear and ea&s;y Terms. At this rate the ancient Fathers could not fairly inveigh &s;o much again&s;t the Ambiguity and the Riddles of the Heatheni&s;h Oracles.</P>
<P>But after all, how come they to know that the Things are ob&s;cure, if the Words that
<PB N="19" REF="11">teach them are plain and ea&s;y? Or, how do they know that the Words are plain and ea&s;y, if the Things contained in them are ob|&s;cure? Clear and ea&s;y Words in unintelligi|ble Things are meer Words without Sen&s;e. And Things which are unintelligible, though expre&s;&s;ed with plain and ea&s;y Words, are called a <HI>Galemaufrey:</HI> They pay a &s;trange Ho|nour to Scripture, by a&s;cribing to it &s;uch My&s;teries and &s;uch a Clearne&s;s. The Objects of that Book remaining &s;till in the dark, the Book mu&s;t needs be dark too, though the Words be never &s;o clear. On the contrary, if I was to commend the Clearne&s;s of Scrip|ture, without bani&s;hing that holy Ob&s;curity which the Orthodox are &s;o well plea&s;ed with, I would &s;ay that though mo&s;t of its Terms be ob&s;cure and unu&s;ual in other Languages and other Books, yet the Things are &s;o clear in it, at lea&s;t as far as they are to be believed in order to Salvation, that the Evidence of tho&s;e Objects mentioned in &s;o many places, and grounded upon &s;en&s;ible Facts, takes off the Ob&s;curity of certain Expre&s;&s;ions which in them&s;elves are very dark, becau&s;e they pa&s;s from a Profane to a Divine U&s;e, which is le&s;s natural to them. But this is not the right way to find My&s;teries, and Men are re&s;olved at any rate to have &s;ome covered with a dreadful and &s;acred Horror.</P>
<P>The Author of <HI>the Hi&s;tory of Oracles</HI> has prettily &s;aid, <HI>that he who has never &s;o little &s;tudied the Spirit of Men, knows what an Im|pre&s;&s;ion wonderful Things make upon it.</HI><Q>In|deed, <HI>Plato,</HI> who is all over &s;ublime and wonderful, became thereby a Philo&s;opher in fa&s;hion among the learned Chri&s;tians of the fir&s;t Ages, and the Agreeablene&s;s which they thought to perceive between his Philo&s;ophy and the Religion of Chri&s;t, cau&s;ed them to look upon him as a kind of a Prophet, who had found out &s;everal important Matters of Chri&s;tianity, e&s;peci|ally the Trinity, which cannot be denied to be clearly contained in his Writings. Bewitched with &s;uch a mon&s;trous Preju|dice, we look upon his Works, as &s;o many Commentaries upon Scripture, and fan|cy that the nature of the Word was &s;uch as he fancied it to be. The Ancient fir&s;t of all lay hold of this &s;eeming Conformi|ty, the Modern have followed them. Whatever was &s;poken by the Ancient, ei|ther good or bad, is obnoxious to frequent Repetitions; and what they were not able to make good them&s;elves by &s;ufficient Rea&s;ons, is now proved by their &s;ole Au|thority. If they fore&s;aw this, it was well to &s;pare them&s;elves the labour of an exact Rea&s;oning. Tho&s;e Prejudices being brought into Religion, found the way as it were to be confounded with it, and to get a Veneration which is due to it only.</Q> This Author clearly enough di&s;covers to us the Source of My&s;tery &s;pringing out of the wonderful and incomprehen&s;ible Language of <HI>Plato,</HI> and at the &s;ame time the holy Reve|rence paid to My&s;teries ari&s;ing from a blind Re&s;pect paid to a fal&s;e Antiquity. I add, that that which makes My&s;tery the more com|mendable, is the need Men &s;tand in thereof to hide their Errors; for this is the la&s;t Hold whither they repair, when they are at a lo&s;s, and have nothing to &s;ay in their own defence. <HI>My&s;tery</HI> is a Supplement ready at hand, when we fall &s;hort of Rea&s;on. In a word, <HI>My&s;tery</HI> is a Salve for all Di&s;ea&s;es. It dazles the Eyes of &s;imple Men, or rather bewitches them in &s;o great a mea&s;ure, that by &s;eeing they perceive not the Ridicu|lou&s;ne&s;s of the Opinions impo&s;ed upon their Belief, and it makes wi&s;e Men willingly to &s;hut them; for they do not love to be di|&s;turbed in the Enjoyment of their Tempo|ral Advantages, and are afraid of <HI>Socrates</HI> his Fate.</P>
<P>In the mean time I hope, Sir, we &s;hall no more be troubled with this dreadful Word, and <HI>My&s;tery</HI> will be no longer in fa&s;hion, &s;ince Dr. <HI>Sherlock</HI> has &s;o clearly and ea&s;ily explained to us the Trinity, and a Papi&s;t a Friend of his who has well &s;tudied his Sy|&s;tem, has happily made u&s;e of it to uncover the whole Secret of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation. <HI>Self</HI> and <HI>Mutual-Con&s;ciou&s;ne&s;s</HI> are one of tho&s;e Keys fit to open any Door, and which lays the Sen&s;e of the mo&s;t ab&s;tru&s;e Opinions &s;o open to us, that tho&s;e who after his opening, &s;hall
<PB N="20" REF="12">be &s;o bold as to call them My&s;teries &s;till, mu&s;t be accounted very mean Divines, not to &s;ay Hereticks. I hope further, that when we &s;hall ask Evidence and Rea&s;on in matters of Faith, they will no more cry our that it is to run down My&s;teries, to form a plain and ea&s;y Religion. For at this rate the Doctor him&s;elf &s;hould be a great De&s;troyer of My|&s;teries, &s;ince he has made the Trinity (if we mu&s;t believe him upon his word) a plain and ea&s;y Truth, free from Contradiction, and agreeable to Rea&s;on. Is not the Rea|&s;onablene&s;s of this Demand, and the Pre|tentions of Hereticks, ju&s;tified by the many Endeavours that are u&s;ed, to take off the Difficulties of this My&s;tery, and to make it parallel with the mo&s;t common Doctrines, which are neither wonderful, nor incom|prehen&s;ible? I perceive what this is. The Name of <HI>My&s;tery</HI> is only a <HI>provi&s;ionary</HI> Title be&s;towed upon the Trinity, till &s;ome other Sy&s;tem he found out, whereby it may be made clearer and more agreeable to Rea&s;on. It may be the Doctor is that ble&s;&s;ed Chri&s;ti|an, to whom Heaven had re&s;erved the Di&s;co|very thereof. If it be &s;o, the Hereticks will be convinced of Error, but at lea&s;t they &s;hall enjoy the plea&s;ure of &s;eeing My&s;tery falling down, and of being &s;atisfied about the Evidence and the Rea&s;onablene&s;s which they ask.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, the Papi&s;ts will be able at the &s;ame time to &s;hew us the po&s;&s;ibility of Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation. Or, if we will lay a&s;ide the Papi&s;ts, we may make u&s;e of the Hypothe|&s;is of the <HI>&V;biquitarians</HI> or <HI>Lutherans,</HI> who are our Brethren, and apply the Doctor's Philo&s;ophy thereunto. They will ea&s;ily &s;hew us, that it implies no Contradiction. For the eternal Word of God being pre&s;ent eve|ry where, the Body which he a&s;&s;umed to him&s;elf by Per&s;onal Union, is pre&s;ent every where; not that it is divided and &s;eparated by infinite Parts, but becau&s;e it is united to an Infinite Mind. And tho we &s;hould &s;uppo&s;e as many &s;acred <HI>Ho&s;ts</HI> as there are Altars in the World, yet there is but one Body of Chri&s;t; tho&s;e &s;acred Ho&s;ts being numerically One by rea&s;on of their <HI>Mutual Sen&s;ation</HI> with one another, and with the Original Body of Chri&s;t, which is in Heaven. <Q>But that this may not be thought a meer Ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i|trary and groundle&s;s Con|jecture,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vindic. of the My&s;t. of of the Holy Trin. <HI>p. 50.</HI></NOTE> I &s;hall &s;hew you that this is the true Scripture No|tion of <HI>the Plurality of Sacra|mental Bodies in one Natural Body.</HI></Q> When Chri&s;t delivered the Bread to his Di&s;ciples, he told them, <HI>This is my Body;</HI> not my <HI>Bodies,</HI> but my <HI>Body:</HI> as for Example, he told <HI>Peter, This is my Body;</HI> he told <HI>James, This is my Body;</HI> he told <HI>John, This is my Body;</HI> yet there are not three Bodies, but one Body. (<HI>Ib.</HI> p. 82.) <Q><HI>Each Ho&s;t is the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ody of Chri&s;t,</HI> for each Ho&s;t hath the whole and entire Operations <HI>of the Body,</HI> having by this Mutual <HI>Sen&s;ation</HI> the other <HI>Ho&s;ts</HI> in it &s;elf; &s;o that each <HI>Ho&s;t</HI> is in &s;ome &s;en&s;e the whole <HI>Plurality of the Ho&s;ts</HI> by their In-being and In-dwelling. <HI>The Body delivered to James</HI> is in <HI>the Body delivered to</HI> Peter; and the <HI>Body delivered to</HI> Peter is in the <HI>Body delivered to</HI> James; and the <HI>Body delivered to</HI> John is in the <HI>Bodies delivered to</HI> Peter <HI>and</HI> James; and the <HI>Bodies delivered to</HI> Peter <HI>and</HI> James are in the <HI>Body delive|red to</HI> John; and therefore if that Trini|ty of <HI>Ho&s;ts delivered to</HI> Peter <HI>and</HI> James <HI>and</HI> John be the <HI>Body,</HI> the <HI>Ho&s;t of</HI> Peter <HI>is the Body,</HI> the <HI>Ho&s;t of</HI> James <HI>is the Body,</HI> the <HI>Ho&s;t of</HI> John <HI>is the Body,</HI> they being all mutually in each other; and yet this is a plain Demon&s;tration that they are not three <HI>Bodies,</HI> but one <HI>Body,</HI> becau&s;e nei|ther of them is the one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body,</HI> but as thus intimately united to all the re&s;t, and then they can be all three but one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body.</HI> Natural Rea&s;on teaches nothing about the <HI>Sacramentality</HI> of the <HI>Body-head;</HI> it teaches one <HI>Body,</HI> but whe|ther this one <HI>Body</HI> be one or <HI>many Sacra|mental Bodies,</HI> it &s;ays not. And therefore it may be either without contradicting the Natural Notions we have of one <HI>Body.</HI> And then there is free &s;cope for Revela|tion: And if Revelation teaches that there is but one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body,</HI> and that there
<PB REF="12">
<PB REF="13">
<PB N="21" REF="13">are <HI>many Sacramental Bedies,</HI> each of which in Scripture have not only the Title, but the Nature and Attributes of the <HI>Body</HI> a|&s;cribed to them, then we mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;i|ty believe <HI>a Plurality</HI> in Unity, <HI>many Sa|cramental Bodies</HI> in one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body.</HI> For what the Scripture affirms, and Rea&s;on does not deny, is a proper Object of our Faith. And then the Objection again&s;t this Faith, that the&s;e <HI>many Sacramental Bodies</HI> mu&s;t be <HI>many</HI> di&s;tinct <HI>Bodies,</HI> if each of them is the <HI>Body,</HI> is &s;en&s;ele&s;s and ridiculous. For it is demon&s;trable, that if there be <HI>many Sacramental Bodies,</HI> and one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body,</HI> each <HI>Sacramental Body</HI> mu&s;t be the <HI>Body;</HI> and yet there cannot be <HI>many</HI> di&s;tinct <HI>Bodies,</HI> but one <HI>Body.</HI> For if each <HI>Sacramental Body</HI> be not the <HI>Body,</HI> all cannot be the <HI>Body,</HI> unle&s;s the <HI>Body-head</HI> have <HI>Sacramental and Per&s;onal Bodies</HI> in it, which are not the <HI>Body;</HI> and if all are but one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body,</HI> they cannot be <HI>many</HI> di&s;tinct <HI>Bodies.</HI> So that all the Ab&s;urdi|ties and Contradictions are vani&s;hed only into <HI>Nicodemus</HI> his Que&s;tion, <HI>How can the&s;e things be?</HI> The right An&s;wer is, God knows. Mu&s;t we deny things that we cannot conceive and comprehend, though it be expre&s;ly taught by God him&s;elf? Mu&s;t be deny what we read in the Bible to be there, becau&s;e Rea&s;on does not teach it, and cannot frame an Adequate Idea of it? (<HI>ib.</HI> p. 180.) If you &s;ay that the <HI>Sacramental Bodies</HI> are not the one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body,</HI> as the <HI>Original Body which is in Hea|ven,</HI> is. I an&s;wer, That neither the <HI>Origi|nal Body,</HI> nor the <HI>Sacramental and Begotten Bodies</HI> con&s;idered &s;eparately from each other, are the one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body;</HI> they be|ing only <HI>Per&s;onal Bodies,</HI> both the <HI>Original and Sacramental Ones;</HI> but the <HI>Original and begotten Bodies</HI> con&s;idered as united to each other by Mutual Con&s;ciou&s;ne&s;s, is the one <HI>E&s;&s;ential Body.</HI></Q></P>
<P>Thus, Sir, an <HI>&V;biquitarian</HI> will prove the Po&s;&s;ibility of his My&s;tery by Dr. <HI>Sherlock</HI>'s Philo&s;ophy. But it may be Dr. <HI>Wallis</HI> is the Man mo&s;t fit to demon&s;trate this Po&s;&s;ibility, and that it is better proved from <HI>Mathe|matical Ideas</HI> than <HI>Plato</HI>'s. Let us &s;up|po&s;e further that it is &s;o; an Ubiquita|rian will not di&s;like this neither. For if the Doctor can rightly make u&s;e of the <HI>three Dimen&s;ions of Matter</HI> to take away the Contradictions which &s;eem to be contained in the Trinty, why &s;hall not an Ubiquitarian be allowed to make u&s;e of the Idea of the <HI>Divi&s;ibility of Matter to Infinity,</HI> to re&s;olve the Objections that are made a|gain&s;t him about the <HI>Divi&s;ibility</HI> and the <HI>&V;biquity</HI> of Chri&s;t's Body upon many Altars at the &s;ame time? He may an&s;wer, that, as a <HI>Cube</HI> may be divided <HI>in infinitum,</HI> and yet the Matter divided lo&s;es none of its Dimen|&s;ions, every part having &s;till the E&s;&s;ential Properties of Matter, the Length, the Breadth, and the Thickne&s;s. Thus the <HI>Original Body</HI> of Chri&s;t may be multiplied into a Million of other <HI>Sacramental and Per&s;onal Bodies,</HI> without lo&s;ing any of its E&s;&s;ential Properties, not even its Unity: There being no Contra|diction that a Body <HI>Hypo&s;tatically</HI> united to an Infinite Spirit, &s;hould be where-ever that Spirit is; or that a Body, to which the Bread is <HI>Hypo&s;tatically</HI> united, &s;hould be with re|&s;pect to the Sub&s;tance where-ever the Bread is. So that though there be but <HI>one Chri&s;t,</HI> yet there are <HI>many</HI> Bodies, and tho&s;e ma|ny Bodies are <HI>unum, non unus.</HI><Q><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Wall.</HI> third Let.</NOTE> The&s;e many, who are one <HI>what,</HI> or many <HI>&s;omewhats,</HI> are but one <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> For the&s;e <HI>&s;omewhats</HI> are called <HI>Bodies</HI> in a <HI>Metaphori|cal</HI> manner, whereby we mean no more, but &s;omewhat analogous thereunto: And which (becau&s;e of &s;uch Analogy) we &s;o call, as knowing no better words to u&s;e in&s;tead thereof. And therefore there is but one Chri&s;t, though there may be many Sacramental and Per&s;onal Bodies, becau&s;e the &s;ame Chri&s;t may be &s;aid to &s;u&s;tain divers Per&s;ons, and tho&s;e Per&s;ons to be the &s;ame Chri&s;t, that is the &s;ame Chri&s;t as &s;u&s;taining divers <HI>Capacities, Per|&s;onalities, Sacramentalities, Corporalities;</HI> as is &s;aid of <HI>Tully, Ego &s;olus tres Per&s;onas &s;u&s;tineo, meam, adver&s;arii, &amp; Judicis.</HI> And
<PB N="22" REF="14">all People, that can tell Money, know that <HI>twelve Pence</HI> are but <HI>one Shilling;</HI> every <HI>Baker that can make Bread knows that many Grains of Corn make but one Loaf,</HI> and what in one Con&s;ideration is many, may in another Con&s;ideration be but one.</Q> So true it is, that with never &s;o little Philo&s;o|phy, and by the means of a Compari&s;on of <HI>three Groats and one Shilling,</HI> the meane&s;t Plow-man may &s;ee clearly into the darke&s;t My&s;teries. But, alas! we are Chri&s;tians, and yet we expound Revelation by the Principles which Philo&s;ophy affords us; and we endeavour to find in it &s;uch things as may &s;upport our Prejudices, without examining whether the Sacred Writers were Philo&s;o|phers; or, &s;uppo&s;e they were, whether they followed <HI>Carte&s;ius, Ari&s;totle,</HI> or <HI>Plato</HI>'s Ideas; or, whether they were Mathemati|cians. Mu&s;t all our Di&s;putes, even the mo&s;t material, depend only upon meer Metaphy|&s;icks, and that by running our &s;elves into My&s;teries, we fall into &s;uch a Confu&s;ion of Words, and incomprehen&s;ible Notions, whereby that Divine Light, which ought to enlighten the mo&s;t &s;imple Men, is alto|gether darkned? No, the Holy Gho&s;t's Intent was not to make us Philo&s;ophers, he always accommodates him&s;elf to our mo&s;t common Ideas, and the Expre&s;&s;ions of Scripture, which &s;eem to have occa&s;ioned the Notion of a My&s;tery, are only Figures, and Expre&s;&s;ions common either to our Stile, or the time wherein it was written. The only &s;ight of its u&s;efulne&s;s and &s;cope will convince us of its Simplicity and Clear|ne&s;s.</P>
<P N="1">1. It was given us to excite and pre&s;erve among Men the Natural Principles of Mora|lity and Religion, which Nature or the Uni|ver&s;al Tradition has ingrafted in their Hearts. And how could it confirm to us the Truth of tho&s;e Natural Notions, and even &s;treng|then them by a new Light, if the fir&s;t Duty which it impo&s;es upon us, did con|&s;i&s;t in calling into Que&s;tion our cleare&s;t Notions, and our mo&s;t certain Principles? For Example, When I hear Men talk of a God, or of one &s;ole God, I have a Na|tural Idea of tho&s;e two words, <HI>One</HI> and <HI>God,</HI> and this Idea is common both to me and all Men, who are come to the know|ledg of one God. Shall we believe that Scripture &s;peaks a new Language, that it may not be under&s;tood, when it &s;peaks of one &s;ole God, and that it requires from me a confu&s;ed and uncertain Faith, which is only grounded upon &s;o &s;ubtile and &s;lip|pery Ideas, as the quicke&s;t Imagination can|not retain? The Name of God can be a&s;cribed to none but in a proper or figu|rative way (for as to the Metaphy&s;ical and My&s;terious Sen&s;e, it is neither the Language of God, nor of Angels, nor of Men, as &s;uch, I mean, as they have not corrupted their Mind by an unnatural Study.) In a proper Sen&s;e the Supream Being goes un|der that Name by rea&s;on of its Nature: In a figurative Sen&s;e Chri&s;t has this Name be&s;towed upon him by rea&s;on of his Power and Authority. Tho&s;e two Sen&s;es are &s;o clear and &s;o often reiterated in Scripture, and at the &s;ame time &s;o agreeable with our Notions, that one mu&s;t have only his Eyes and a New Te&s;tament to be convinced thereof.</P>
<P N="2">2. Revelation was given us to abridge our Studies and Enquiries, by making ea&s;y to us the knowledg of our Happine&s;s, and the means whereby we may be fitted to attain to it. I confe&s;s Philo&s;ophers might have clearer Notions about this Point than &s;imple Men, if we mu&s;t come to it by long Rea&s;onings: But &s;ince Revelation made tho&s;e Truths common to tho&s;e who cannot reach to an exact Rea&s;oning, the meane&s;t Men have as much knowledg about this matter, as the mo&s;t learned can have. For Example, One might know by Nature and Rea&s;oning, the Ju&s;tice, the Goodne&s;s, and the Power of God in rewarding ju&s;t Men: One might al&s;o from God's general Promi&s;es infer by &s;everal Con&s;equences the particular Reward of the Re&s;urrection of the Dead. Thus <HI>Abraham</HI> by Rea&s;oning concluded that God might rai&s;e his Son
<PB N="23" REF="14">from the Dead, whereof yet he had no formal and particular Promi&s;e (<GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>ratiocinatus e&s;t,</HI> Heb. 11.19.) Thus al&s;o our Saviour argues again&s;t the <HI>Sadduceans</HI> about that general Promi&s;e, <HI>I am the God of</HI> Abraham, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> from whence he infers the Re&s;urrection of tho&s;e Patriarchs. But now adays we have &s;o clear and &s;o expre&s;s a Revelation about the Truths of our Sal|vation, that the mo&s;t &s;imple Men can ap|prehend them without rea&s;oning, &s;o far are they from &s;tanding in need of flying to Philo&s;ophical and Speculative Di&s;tinctions. In this new Covenant which God has con|tracted with the Hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> according to the Promi&s;e of <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> no body needs to enquire from his Brother, his Neigh|bour, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> after what manner the Lord ought to be known and wor&s;hipped; for <HI>we are all taught of God,</HI> who has put his Word <HI>nigh us,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>i. e.</HI> it is &s;o agreeable to our Capacities, that to know <HI>the only true God, and Je&s;us Chri&s;t whom he has &s;ent (which is our Eternal Life)</HI> we need to con|&s;ult neither the <HI>School-men,</HI> nor Dr. <HI>Sherlock,</HI> nor Dr. <HI>Wallis</HI>'s Notions, nor the Di&s;tincti|on of <HI>E&s;&s;ence</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ons,</HI> or of <HI>Self</HI> and <HI>Mutual-Con&s;ciou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> or of the <HI>three Capacities</HI> with re&s;pect to <HI>three Dimen&s;ions</HI> of a <HI>Cube.</HI> We have no more to do, than to open the Go&s;pel, to frame a di&s;tinct Faith of <HI>one &s;ole God the Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth,</HI> who <HI>&s;ent his Son to us,</HI> and of <HI>one Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> whom the Father has <HI>highly exalted, by giving him a Name which is above every Name,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>God, who will have all Men to be &s;aved, and to come to the knowledg of his Truths, has made his Revelation &s;o intelligible, as to make it plain and ea&s;y to all Men, as well to Idiots, as to the mo&s;t &s;ubtile Philo|&s;ophers. Therefore it is, God never u&s;es any Term to teach us his My&s;teries, but what we have a clear and di&s;tinct Idea o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. All that he requires from us is, that we &s;hould &s;piritualize tho&s;e Notions, when the Terms made u&s;e of by him are taken from Earthly Things; or that we &s;hould &s;uit our Notions to the Nature of the Objects which he &s;peaks of, when the words u&s;ed by him are borrowed from a kind of things more &s;ublime and excellent. In the fir&s;t re&s;pect he makes u&s;e of the Terms, <HI>Water, Bread, Light,</HI> &amp;c. to repre&s;ent his Doctrine; Terms whereof we have a clear Notion in the &s;en&s;e of <HI>wa&s;hing,</HI> of <HI>nouri&s;hing,</HI> and of <HI>enlightening,</HI> wherein they are u&s;ed. And that fir&s;t Notion, though it be gro&s;s, yet if it be di&s;tinct, is like the Foundation of the other Spiritual Notion, which God lays upon it. In the &s;econd re&s;pect, the Scripture a&s;cribes the Name of <HI>God</HI> to Kings, Angels, and the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias,</HI> calls us the <HI>Sons of God,</HI> &s;ays that we are <HI>Partakers of the Divine Nature,</HI> &amp;c. Terms whereof we may have a mo&s;t clear Idea, in the &s;en&s;e of <HI>Power,</HI> of <HI>Holine&s;s,</HI> and of <HI>Immortality,</HI> wherein they are u&s;ed; &s;o we fit that Idea, which is borrowed from an Infinite Nature, to the Nature of Finite Objects, whereunto it is applied. As to Metaphy&s;ical Terms of <HI>E&s;&s;ence, Per&s;onality,</HI> and <HI>Con&s;ub&s;tantiality,</HI> the Scripture hath not liked to make u&s;e of them, becau&s;e they have not a fixed &s;en&s;e, and are not uni|ver&s;ally under&s;tood. And as we have no Natural Notions of them, they are not able to rai&s;e us from our Earthly Concep|tions, to a Divine and Spiritual Knowledg, nor to bring us from the Idea of God's Perfections, to the Idea of the Vertues, which he imparts to his mo&s;t excellent Creatures.</P>
<P>However, Sir, though that Philo&s;ophical Gibberi&s;h be never &s;o trifling, yet it made long ago the Language of Scripture u&s;ele&s;s, under pretence of giving a fuller &s;en&s;e of our My&s;teries. But if the Lovers of My|&s;teries pretend, that what they call Faith, ought to de&s;troy Rea&s;on, and our Natural Notions: I cannot &s;ee why the Per&s;ecutors may not pretend, that what they call Zeal, ought to take off Natural Pity? Thus, on one hand, fal&s;e Zeal; and on the other, My|&s;terious Ab&s;urdities, &s;hall utterly exting<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;h the Light of the Mind, and the Tender|ne&s;s
<PB N="24" REF="15">of Nature; &s;o that at la&s;t we may prove to be without Scripture and Con|&s;cience, unle&s;s God prevents us in his Mer|cy; and under the Name of Chri&s;tians, we &s;hall cea&s;e to be Men, and be like Bea&s;ts without Under&s;tanding and Compa&s;&s;ion. <HI>May God Almighty, who is rich in Mercies, pre&s;erve unto us his &s;imple Truth, which &s;hall make us free from Error and Sin!</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>I am, Sir, Your mo&s;t obliged Servant.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="15">
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
