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Show Faith and Rea/on. Book IV. by Mofcs: but he ha• not fo great an aJfuranre. 'chat 11/ofes " ·rit thJt Boo!t, as if he had fcen !IJn(.s wme 1t; fo that the aJTuranccof 1t> bemg aRc·,:! arion is lef• !hll than the ailurance cf his Scnks. §. ;. In Propofitions then, whole Cenaioty is built upon clear, and perfect fdeas,and evident Deductions of Reafon,we need not the ailiilcnce of Revelation, as neccifary to gam our Alfent, ~nd mtroduce them mto our Minds. 13ecaufe the natural ways of [(now ledge could fettle thc>n there, or had done it already, which is the grcateil alfurancc we can poJli. bly have of any thing, unlefs where God immediately reveals it to us : and there too our AlTura nee can be no greater than our J(nmrlcdge IS, that it is a Revelation from Go:!. But yet nothing, I think, can llnder that Title, fl1ake or over-rule plo in Knowledge, nor rationally prevail with any Man, to admit it for true, in a direct contradiction to the clear Evideilce of his own Underilanding. For Iince no Evidence of onr Factdt;es, Ly which we receive fuch Revelations, can exceed, if «Jual, the Certoinry ol our intuitive !(now ledge, we can never rece1ve for a Truth, any thing that is directly contrary to our clear and dlibn£1: !(now ledge ; v. g. The Idea of one Body, and one Place, docs fo clearly agree; and the Mind has fO evident a Perception of it, that we can never ofTent to a Propofition, that allirms the fame llody to be in two diftant Places at once, however it Jbould pretend to the Authority of a divine Revelation, Iince the Evidence; Fir/1, That we deceive not our fclves in afcribing it to G 0 D ; Secondly, Tl11t we undcrilaml it right, can never be fo great, as the Evidence of our own intuitive !(now ledge, whereby we difccrn it impoflible, for the fame llody to be in two Places at once. And therefore, 1!0 Propofitio~ can /;e recerved for divin• Revelation, or obtain the Alfent due to all fuch, if it 6e colltra£lit1ory to our cl'"r intuitiw Xnowl•dg,, Since this would be to fubverrthe Principles, and Foundations of all Knowledge, Evidencc, and AJTent whatfoever; and leave no difference between Truth and Fahhocd; no meafures of Credible and Incredible in the World, if doubtful Propofitions fl1all take place before felf-evident; and what we certainly know, give way to what we may pollibly be miftaken in. In Propofitions therefore contrary to our diClinct and clear Ideas, 'twill be in v•in ro mgc them as Matters of Faith. They cannot move our Alfent under that, or any other T itle whatfoever. For Faith can never convince us of any thing,· that contradicts our Knowledge. J3eraufe though Faith be founded on the Teilimony of God, (revealing any Propofiticn to us,) who cannot lie; yet we cannot have an afTurance of the T ruth of its bemg a divine Revelation, greater than our own Knowledge : Iince the whole flrength of the Certainty depends upon our I<no1dedge, that God revealed it, which in this Cafe, where the Propof1tion Juppos'd reveaJ'd, contradtcts our Knowledge or Reafon, w11l always have this Objection hangmg to 1t, (vi<.) that we cannot tell how to conceive, that to come from G 0 D, the bountiful Author of our Being, which if received for true, mull: overturn all our Principles and Foundations of !\now ledge; render a flour Faculties ufelefs; wholly deilroy the moil excellent part of Jus Workmanflup, our Underilandings; and put a Man in a Condition, wherein he will have lefs Light , lefs Conduct than the Ileaft that periflmh. For if the Mind of Man can never have a clearer (and, per~ la ps, not fo clear). an Ev!Cknce of any thing to be a divme Revelation, "' It has of the Pnnctplcs of tts own Reafon, it can never h•ve a ground to quct th~ clear Ev1dence of tts Reafon, to give place to a Propofition, whofe Revelauon has nota greater Evidence. §. 6. ·Chap:XVIIL Paitb and lieafon. 35J , f: Man has ufe of Reafon, and ought to hearken to it, , ~. 6. Thu~a~r! and original Revelation, where it is fuppofedly made even In lmm ' thole who retond not to immediate Revel anon to lumfelf: Bu\ to all Obe renee "and to receive the Truths revealed to but are requtrec to ~f{;, Tradi~ion ~f Writings, or Word of Mouth, are others, which, by l R fl J as a great deal more to do, and IS that conveyed down to~ 1em, ea o~c:ve them. For Matter of Faith being only wluch can tn ~ce us to r~thin elfe, Faith, as we ufe the Word, only D1vme Revflat~n,_ an~ n 1 ) h~s to do with no Propofitions, but (called ~ammon y, ~~me all divine! revealed. So that I do not fee thofc wh1ch are fuppofed t~ be lone~ he fole Objet!: of Faith, can f.1y, ·how thofe, who ma~e_ Rre adlon a f Reafon to believe that fuch or fuch that it is a Matter o ~a•t Jan (,'0~ 0 or f~ch ; Book, is 'of Divine Infpira: 1 Propofitcon,_ to be oun Ill uc \ t Pro ofirion . or all in that Book, cion; unleiS It be revealed, ti'"~ t '~·on PWithou'r fuch a Revelation, the was communicated by Dlvtne n p1ra ' . . Book to beofDivineAuthobclieving, or not believing fl~t ~~~~~~~t~~~rof Reafon ; and fuch as Imufl my,can never be Matter o aJt ·, f< f my Reafon wluch can never come to an Alfent to, only by t leu~ o h ·s contrar/to it felf: it being require or enable me to believe that, w ucy laent to that which to it felf impollible for Reafon, ever to procure an ' . . appears unreafonable. l lear Evidence from our Jd.a.s, In all Things therefore, where ~el JOVe ~ove mentioned Reafon is the · and thofe Principles of 1\nowledg~, 'tve a y in confenting with it, con_ proper Judge; and Revelation~ t [,ou1g g:f~a invalidate its Decrees: Nor firm its Dictates, yet cannot, m ~c 1 1 'and evident Sentence of &a. call we be obliged, rDhere lVC bave t. ~~ c e::der a Pretence that it is Mat .. fon, to fMit it, for the contrary Opmton, ter of Faith. . Thin s wherein we have very . §. 7. But 1J;irdly, T here bemg. ma~~therfh'ings, ofwhofe pail:, preimperfect NotiOns, or none at all ' an I Uf< of our Faculties, we can have fent, or future Exill:ence, by the natur~e •o~d the Difcovery of our natu· no 1\nowledge at all ; t hefe, as bemg l ) led the proper Matter of ral Faculties, and above Reafon, are, w len r:~e~ ai~i\: G 0 D, and there· f"aitiJ Thus that part of the Angdels1r ebelll Bdg· cs of Men fhall rife, and · · fi 11.1 S t . An nat ne o t f , by loll: thetr '" 1appy ta e. . cr be ·ond the Difcovery o Realon, live again: Thefe, and ~he hk~~ bel tn{' 1 Y Reafon has, direa!y, nothllll!; hre purely Matters of Fanh; Wit 1 w uc l, · to do. d I Character of Divine Revela- §.8. But fince all Things that are un e{ : ~~e are among!\: them, feveral Hon are eil:eemed Matter of Faith ; ar"~ t {; . and are fuch., we could Thi~gs, that fall under the Examm 0 . j0~~; Supernatural Revelation. judge of by our natural Faculnes ' Wtt 1 l ~aMe Conjefluris of Rea· In thefe, Revelatio>t muj/ carrJ."• a!,ar>1/l ~f~l;;;.ruth of that it does not . Jim: becaufe the Mind, not bemg c<;n~~nvinced of, is bound to give up fVidently know, but IS ? nly probab j it is fatisfied, comes from one who its AITent to fuch a Teil:1mon~' whcc 1' et it !I ill belongs to Reaf~n, to cannot err and wcll not dececve. Burly. ' nd of the fignificatton of judge of th' e Trut Il ?f , I. ts be .t ng da ReIv ed eaendo ni, f aa ny thing fl1all betI w ug ht the Words wherem It IS deltvere . n . ' . . les of Reafon, and the Revelation which is contrary to the plam P'J"c1~nd J iflintl: !dear; there evident Kn'owledge the Mind has of ItS own c ~~lin its Province : fince a R.eafon mufl be hearlmed to, _as to a M;~:.Jr; that a Propofition which Man can never ha~e fo certam a !(nod g 'f his own Knowledge,, was contradicts the clear Princ1ples and Evl ence 0 d1vmely |