much our Intereft and Advantage to be drawn CHAP. to God by an Attraction as ftrong as infinite; XVIII. and because we are to take measure of it in our Contemplation, there are Dimenfions given to it, Breadth, Length, Depth, and Height; that being fill'd therewith, we may be fill'd, as it is exprefs'd, with all the Fulness of God.

"IT is true indeed, fays the present worthy "Dean of Chrift-Church, any Pains taken in "fixing the Meaning of the Words; in ftating "the Doctrines; or freeing them from the Charge "of Contradiction, will be usefully employ'd: "Because whatever Doctrines have been deli"ver'd by God, he hath given withal sufficient "Means of rightly understanding them: And "it is our Duty to ufe our best Endeavours "both to understand them rightly, and to clear "them from fuch Objections as may be urged

against them. But to proceed farther than "this; to frame Hypothefes by which to folve "Difficulties by us infolvable, and to explain "things by us inexplicable, is (to use the fofteft Expreffion) a very extraordinary Proceeding." Mysteries of the Chrift. Rel. Serm. at Oxford,

pag. 23.

THE Author of Characteristicks," without "the leaft Difficulty allows of Mystery in the "Honeftum and Pulchrum" Why not in this, which tranfcends all his Beautifuls?

2. NOT only in Scripture, but in Nature, how uniform is God, who has given us all things appertaining to Life and Godliness, távτa τpòs ζωὴν καὶ ἐυσέβειαν, in his Difpenfations of KnowCharact. Vol. III. pag. 182.

ledge?

CHAP. ledge? As in the former he reveals in part, XVIII and referves in part; fo he discovers and obfcures

66

in part, in the latter;" concealing from the "Mind of Man any other Knowledge even of "fuch familiar things, but what concerns the "Ways of using them; and the Sciences which "are defign'd for the Knowledge of their Nature, discover nothing in them but what is of "ufe to us, and we find all things wrapt up in "fo much the greater Darkness, the more we "endeavour to penetrate into their Nature be"yond what is ufeful *." There are Spots and dark Places to be feen in the bright fhining Sun in the Firmament, upon a clofer Inspection; it is therefore uniform, that there fhould be fomething obfcure and unintelligible in the Sun of Righteouf nefs, which enlightens the moral World. Origen has with great Sublimity and beauty of Thought, obferv'd this Uniformity in the Revelation of the Words of God, as Author of that Revelation; as in his Works, as Author of Nature, "That " he who acknowledges the Scriptures to have "proceeded from him who created the World, "or is the Author of Nature, may well expect "to meet with the like kind of Unintelligibles, "and Difficulties in them, as are to be met "with in the Conftitution of Nature +."

IT is plain then, that Reafon and Nature is full as deficient in regard to the Modus and Manner of Things, as Revelation; and therefore no more fault to be found with one than the other: which fhould afford an Argument of Similitude, that both derive from the fame divine Original; and that the prefent Defect of Know

*Principles of Law in general, pag. 6. Phil. pag. 23.

+ Orig

ledge,

ledge, as to the Manner of the Truth and Ex-CHAP. iftence of Things, is perfectly and adequately ne- XVIII. ceffary for confining our limited Faculties to their proper Subject, their Hoc age, to what verily and indeed concerns us in the one, as well as the other. Sir Ifaac Newton, that great Secretary of Natural Knowledge, fays, "We do not 66 at all know what the Subftance of any thing is." Light itself, (the fame may be faid of Knowledge if there be too much of it) if increased beyond a due Proportion to our prefent Organ, caufes a very unferviceable Senfation. Mr. Locke, "I may confidently fay, that the "intellectual and fenfible World are in this per"fectly alike. That that part which we fee of

"norance

And

either of them, holds no Proportion with "what we fee not; and whatfoever we can "reach with our Eyes or our Thoughts of ❝ each of them, is but a Point, almoft nothing "in comparison of the reft.". "He that knows "any thing, knows this in the first place, that "he need not feek long for Inftances of his Ig* "? There is the Philofophy of Air, Fire, and Water, daily Neceffaries, and abfolutely fo But what is the Life of the Body concerned in this Scheme, or that? What is more obvious or better known even to the Deift himself, than the Omnipresence of God, that he is not far from any of us; that in him we live, move, and have our Being? Yet what darker, more intricate, or unprofitable of Solution, than the phyfical difputatious Difquifition of the fame? but what plainer, more certain, or more edifying Truth in all Nature, than the Thing itself?

Human Understanding, B. IV. Ch. III. §. 23.

AND

CHAP.
XVIII.

If this is the very Constitution of Things with respect to human Understanding, and God has fet one and the fame Horizon to our Knowledge of Things natural and revealed; making them partly known fo far, and no farther than as they are of real ufe to us; and partly unknown, fo far as it is otherwife: And if the innumerable acknowledg'd Mysteries of the former fo far tally with the few of the latter, as that we learn one as well as the other by Degrees; and before we know the Ufes of either, it may be affirmed of the Knowledge of each, that it was hid from us; but when known, and so far as is known, revealed, and no longer hid. Does it follow, either in Revelation, or Nature, that we know nothing, or not enough, because we don't perceive the totum cognofcibile, the All of Things? Or that fome Part is not clearly understood, and good for Ufe, in each of them, because fome other Part is occult and undiscover'd in them both?

AND feeing it is regularly true and undeniable, that Things known to us by the Light of Nature, are nevertheless in some respect unintelligible and inexplicable, and we are informed of them but in part, and yet sufficiently informed: Is it not agreeable to the common Reason of Things, and the common Measure by which Knowledge is dealt out to human Capacity, to allow of Myftery likewife in Revelation and to confefs the Divine Goodness and Wisdom in one as well as the other; i. e. fome part undiscovered and incomprehenfible, whilst another, and that the better Portion, is plainly addreffed to the Affent of the Mind,

conveyed

conveyed over to our fpiritual Occafions, and is CHAP. thereunto very fufficient, tho' a Knowledge in XVIII. part?

IT must therefore be impious Scandal to Truth, and Offence to the God of Nature, to hear Men abuse their own Reason, in exclaiming fo bitterly, as they do, against Mystery in his Revelation of divine Things. Not only thefe Men, but Mr. Bayle and others, are moft immodeftly and outrageously guilty of this witlefs Ridicule. Can that ever be a Proof of an elevated Understanding, or a clear Sight into Religion, which is fo apparent a Demonftration of the Shallowness of one, and the Want of the other? If Mystery and Natural Knowledge are not Inconfiftency, errant Jumble, abfurd Nonfenfe, oppofite or contradictory Terms, but co-incident in the fame Subject, Nature; Why fhould Mystery and revealed Knowledge be ridiculed, and not admitted, in like manner, to be co-incident in the fame Subject, in Holy Scripture?

AND because this Faith is mifreprefented, as if the Excellency of it confifted in believing Impoffibilities, I proceed to fhew:

II. The Co-incidence of Faith and Knowledge, Faith and Reafon, in Matters of Christian Duty.

As Faith is the governing Principle of the Religion of the Means, fhedding its Influence and

* In his celebrated Dictionary almost every where; and three of his four Explanations at the End, and in most of his Writings that I have seen.

Efficacy