27, 30. SERM. tion of reason, nor on flender conjectures of fancy, nor on II. mufty traditions or popular rumours; but upon the infallible teftimony of God, conveyed unto us by powerful evidence, ftriking all capacities, apt with equal influence to enlighten the fimple and to convince the wife. For want of this all human wisdom was fo blind and lame; fo various, fo uncertain; nothing but confufion, unsettlement, and diffatisfaction arifing from mere ratiocination; Aas xvii. which being deftitute of light and aid from heaven, doth ever grope in the dark, doth rove after fhadows of truth, is bewildered in mazes of intricacy, wherein things lie involved; whence all philofophy did confift in faint gueffes, plaufible discourses, and endless disputes about matters of highest confequence, fuch as the original of the world, the administration of human things, the nature and subsistence of our foul, the way to happiness; none being able about fuch points to conclude with refolution, or to affert with confidence 8; fo that in effect all the philofophers might be ranged under one great fect of Sceptics, or seekers, the moft advised and beft difpofed among them, in result of their most diligent fpeculations, appearing very doubtful. 2 Pet. i. 19. But we have, as St. Peter faith, ßeßaióregov λóyov, a more fure word of prophecy, whereunto we do well to give heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, guiding us in the Heb. vi. 19. obfcurities and uncertainties of life; we have a hope, as an anchor of the foul both fure and ftable h; which stayeth and fettleth our mind, being toffed with winds and waves of uncertain cogitations, fuggested by different appearances of things. 8 Ὁ μὲ ἐκ πίτεως βοηθέμενος, ἀλλ ̓ οἴκοθεν ἐπὶ τὸν λόγον ἐρχόμενος, ταῖς ἄνθρω πίναις παρασκευαῖς πρὸς τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς ἀληθείας θαῤῥῶν, ψεύτης ἰσὶ, παραπολὺ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκπίπτων. Baf. in lfa. xv. Ὅλως δὲ ἡ ἄνευ πίσεως ἐπὶ τὸ λαλεῖν ἐρχομένη ψυχὴ διακενῆς ληρήσει. Ibid. Hanc ego perfectam Philosophiam semper judicavi, quæ de maximis quæftionibus copiofe poffet, ornateque dicere. Cic. Tufc. 5. Vid. in M. Ant. Comm. p. 143. Chryf. in Joh. Οr. 63. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ὅτω ποιεῖ σκοτόδινον ὡς ἀνθρώπινος λογισμὸς, ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς πάντα φθεγγόμενος, καὶ μὴ ἀνεχόμενος φωτίζεσθαι ἄνωθεν, &c. Chryf. in Joh. Or. 25. Η Τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἡμετέραν σεσαλευμένων, καὶ περιφερομένην ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν λογιστ μãv doDevías, &c. Chryf. tom. v. Orat. 55. Hence, as St. Chryfoftom is wont to infift, by virtue of SERM. faith ruftic and mechanic idiots do in true knowledge furII. pass the most refined wits, and children prove wiser than old philofophers: an idiot can tell us that, which a learned infidel doth not know; a child can affure us that, wherein a deep philosopher is not refolvedi : for ask a boor, ask a boy educated in our religion, who made him, he will tell you, God Almighty; which is more than Ariftotle or Democritus would have told: demand of him why he was made, he will answer you, to ferve and glorify his Maker; and hardly would Pythagoras or Plato have replied fo wifely: examine him concerning his foul, he will aver, that it is immortal; that it shall undergo a judgment after this life, that accordingly it fhall abide in a state of blifs or mifery everlasting; about which points neither Socrates nor Seneca could affure any thing: inquire of him how things are upheld, how governed and ordered, he presently will reply, by the powerful hand and wife Chryf. providence of God; whereas among philofophers one 61.(p.633.) would ascribe all events to the current of fate, another to the tides of fortune; one to blind influences of stars, another to a confused jumble of atoms: pofe him about the main points of morality and duty; and he will in few words better inform you than Cicero, or Epictetus, or Aristotle, or Plutarch, in their large tracts and voluminous discourses about matters of that nature. tom. vi. Or. Pfal. xix. 7. John xii. So real a property it is of God's law to give fubtilty to Prov. i. 4. the fimple, to the young man knowledge and difcretion; fo cxix. 9, true it is, that our Lord affirmeth of himself, I came a 100, 130. light into the world, that he who believeth in me may not 46. viii. 12. abide in darkness; so justly doth St. Paul affirm concerning divine revelation, that it is able to make a man wife unto 2 Tim. iii. falvation, through faith, which is in Chrift Jefus; being 15, 16, 17. profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for inftruction in righteousness, that the man of God of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. This is · Τίς ἐκ ἂν αὐτόθεν μάθοι τὴν τῷ Χρισῦ δύναμιν, ἢ τὰς ἀγραμμάτες καὶ ἰδιώτας τῶν μέγα ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ κομπαζόντων τοσέτῳ σοφωτέρως ἀπέδειξεν, ὅσῳ τῶν μικρῶν παι δίων τὰς ἔμφρονας ἄνδρας ὑπερέχοντας ἐσιν ἰδεῖν, &c. Chryf. Ανδρ. 19. SERM. that highway of holinefs, of which the Prophet faith, the way-faring men, though fools, shall not err therein. Thus is faith in its nature honourable. If. xxxv. 8. II. It hath also divers ingredients, or infeparable adjuncts, which it doth imply, rendering it commendable and acceptable to God. As, 1. Faith implieth a good use of reason. This is that which commendeth any virtue, that a man acting after it, doth act wifely, in conformity to the frame and defign of Havrò ragà his nature, or like a rational creature; ufing his best faculτὸν λόγον τὸν v, TT ties in the best manner, and in their proper operations toánu ward the end intended by the all-wife Creator: this is Clem. Alex. that, upon which all dispensation of justice is founded, a Pad. i. 13. man being accountable for the use of his reason, so as to 151, &c. Pf. cxi. 10. 28. deferve reward for the right management, and punishment for the misuse thereof; this is that confequently, whereon God fo often declareth himself to ground his judgment; Deut. iv. 6. fo that in effect he will justify men for being wife, and xxxii. 29. condemn them as guilty of folly; whence in the holy style Job xxviii. wisdom, and virtue or piety, are terms equivalent; and a fool doth fignify the fame with a vicious or impious perfon. And if ever a man deferveth commendation for well ufing his reason, it is then, when upon mature deliberation he doth embrace the Chriftian doctrine; for fo doing is a most rational act, arguing the person to be fagacious, confiderate, and judicious; one, who doth carefully inquire into things, doth seriously weigh the case, doth judge foundly about it. Prov. i. 7, 9, 10. It was a foul afperfion caft upon our religion by its ancient oppofers, that it did require ψιλὴν καὶ ἄλογον πίςιν, α mere belief, void of reafonk; challenging affent to its doctrines without any trial or proof. This fuggeftion, if true, were, I confefs, a mighty prejudice against it, and no man indeed juftly could be obliged to admit it upon fuch terms: but it is really a grofs calumny; fuch a proceed * Μὴ ἐξέταζε, ἀλλὰ πίςευσον. Οrig. in Celf. (p. 84.) Πίςευσον, εἰ σωθῆναι θέλεις, ἢ ἄπιθι. Id. in Celf. vi. (p. 282.) Ὁ ταῦτα πιςεύσας ἐχ ἁπλῶς ἐδὲ ἀλόγως, ἀλλὰ κρίσει καὶ πληροφορίᾳ χάρισμα singar ix O. Conft. Apoft. viii. 1. ། ing being disclaimed by the teachers and advocates of our SERM. religion, being repugnant to the nature and tenor thereof; II. being prejudicial to its intereft and defign; being contrary to its use and practice. Never any religion was indeed fo little liable to the cenfure of obtruding itself on men's credulity, none ever fo freely expofed itself to a fair trial at the bar of reafon; none ever fo earneftly invited men to fcan and fift its pretences; yea provoked them for its fake and their own, upon most important confiderations, (at the peril of their fouls, as they tendered their own beft advantage,) to a fair, difcreet, careful examination Ewo thereof. Other religions have for their justification infifted s Orig. upon the examples of ancestors, custom and prescription of times, large extent and prevalence among crews of people, establishment by civil laws, and countenance of fecular powers, (arguments extrinfecal, and of small validity in any La&t. ii. 6. cafe,) declining all other test and verdict of reason: but our religion confideth in itself, and the pure merit of its caufe; and therefore warneth men, in a cafe of fuch moment, laying afide all prejudice, to employ their best understand- Lact, ii. 7. ings on an induftrious and impartial search of the truth; referring the decifion and refult, fo far as concerneth each particular man, to the verdict of that reafon and confcience, with which God, in order to fuch purposes, hath endued every person. It indeed ordinarily doth refuse a fudden and precipitate affent, admitting no man, capable of judging and choofing for himself, to the participation of it, or to the name and privileges of a worthy believer, until after a competent time and opportunities of inftruction, he can approve himfelf to understand it well, and doth avow himself to be cordially perfuaded of its truth. Such is its method, and it hath not any need of other; God having provided and exhibited arguments abundantly fufficient to convince any man of its truth, who is not 1 Δέχεσθε, φησὶν, ἁπλῶς τὰ λεγόμενα, καὶ μηδεὶς ἐξεταζέτω τι πρέπον ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τι ἀπρεπές· καὶ πίσιν ὀνομάζει τὴν ἀβασάνισον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀφάτοις καὶ ἀναποδείκτους izì ßhály svynaráðin. Athas, tom. ii. p. 325. de Arianis. SERM. affectedly blind and ftupid, or wantonly flothful and carelefs, or frowardly stiff and obftinate. II. What indeed better arguments (confidering the nature of the objects which faith refpecteth, being things spiritual and invifible; confidering alfo the capacities of perfons concerned, being all forts of people, wife and fimple, learned and rude) could we have, or could we need, than the confpicuous excellency and ufefulness of the doctrine, approving itself to the mind, and confirming itself by palpable experience of moft happy fruits, fpringing from a 1Pet. i. 10. practice conformable thereto; than its exact correfpondence to manifold ancient prefignifications and predictions Heb. ii. 4. concerning it; than fpecial atteftations of God thereto, not only by audible voices, and visible apparitions from heaven, but also by innumerable miraculous works; than the concurrence of divine Providence in ftrange methods to the propagation and maintenance of it; than the bleffings and confolations, attending a faithful obfervance of it? John vii. 17. what fubtilty of difcourfe, what charm of eloquence could Acts v. 32. ferve to evince and imprefs the great truths concerning Acts iv. 33. xix. 20. the attributes, providence, will, commands, and promises of God; m concerning the immortal fubfiftence of our foul, the future judgment, the everlafting rewards hereafter, with fuch evidence and fuch force, to the common and vulgar reafon, or indeed to any reafon of man, as do these plain arguments, needing no reach of wit or depth of judgment to found their meaning, or feel their strength? But if any man be too wife to be pleafed with fuch downright and eafy ways of conviction, reafon itself, well followed, would lead him hither, and ferve to produce faith in him; for that there is a God, reafon from obfervation of appearances in nature and providence will collect; that goodness is one of his principal attributes, reafon from the fame grounds will infer; that God hath an especial regard to men will thence alfo become notorious; - Τί ἀναγκαστικώτερον εἰς συγκατάθεσιν, επί μας, προτάσεων πλοκαὶ τὸ συμπί φασμα ἀπόλυθον ἑαυτοῖς ἐφελεόμεναι, ἡ θαῦμα τοῦτον ἐνεργῶς δρώμενον, πᾶσαν ἀν Iqwwe divamo imiękẩm, Baf, in Pfal. cxv. |