| OCR Text |
Show Faith and Reafort. Book iv. divinely revealed, or that he under!land_s the Words rightly, wherein it is delivered, as be has, that the Contrary 1s true, and fo 1s bound to confider and judge of it as a Matter of Reafon, and not fwallow it, without Examination, as a Matter of Faith. §. 9· The Summ of all is, Firjl, Whatever Propofirion is revealed, ofwhofeTruth, our Mind, by its natural Faculties and Notions, cannot judge, that is pilrely Malter if Faith, and above Reafon. . -. . Second/~, All Propofitwns, wliereof the Mmd, by the ufe of 1ts natural Faculties, can come to determine and judge, from natural acquired Ideu,r, are /ltatter of Reafon ; with this di~ereiice frill, that in thofe, concerning which it has but an uncertam Ev1dence, and fo 1s perfuaded of their Truth, only upon probable Grounds, which frill admit a P<illibility of the Contrary to be true, without domg V10\ence to the certain Evidence of its own Knowledge, and overturning the Principles of all Rcafon· ' Iii fuch probable Propofitions, I f.1y, an evident Revelation· ought to determine our A(fem eved again!l Probability. For where the Principles of Rea• fon have not determined a Propofition to be certainly true or falfe, there clear Revelation, as another Principle 6f Truth, and Ground of Alfent, may determine; and fo it may be 'V!atter of Faith, and be alfo above Reafon. Becaufe Reafon, in that particular Matter, being able to· reach no higher than Probability, Faith gave the Determination, where Reafen came fhort; and Revelation difcovered on which fide the Truth lay. §. 10. Thus far the Dominion of Faith reaclies, and that without any violence, or hindrance to Re:ilon; which is not injured, or diilur!Jed, but alli!led and improved, uy new Difcoveties of Truth, coming from the Eternal Fountain of all !I now ledge. Whatever GOD' hath revealed, is certainly true; no Doubt can be made of it. This is the proper Object of Faith : But whether it be a divine Revelation, or no, Reafon mu!l judge·· which can never permit the Mind to rejec:t a greater Evidence to embrac~ what is lefs evident, nor prefer lefs Certainty to the greater. There can be no E,·idence, that any traditional Revelation is of divine Original, in the Words we receive it, and in the Senfe we underlland it, fo clear, and fo certain as thofe of the Principles of R,_eafon: And therefore, Nothi•g that is contrary to, a•d inccnfif/ent witb tbe cl-.r and fe/j·tnJident Dic7•teJ of Reafon, bar a Right to h •rged, or af{ented to, ar a Matter of Paith, wherein Reafon batb nothing to de. Whatfoevcr is divine Revelation, ought to over-rule all our Opinions, Prejudices, and Intcrefu, and hath a Right to be received with a full A/Tent: Such a Submillion as this of our Reafon to Faith, tal<es not away the Land-marks of Knowledge : This lhakes not the Foundations of Reafon, but leaves us that Ufe of our Faculties, for which they were given us. · ~. 1 r . .Tf the Pr01Jinas of Faitb and Reafon are not kept diflinEl ~~ tbefe Boundaries, there will, in matter of Religion, be no more for Reafon at all; and thofe extravagant Opinions and Ceremonies, that are to be found in the feveral Religions of the World, will not deferve to be blamed : F~r, to this crying up of Faith, in oppofition to Reafon, we may, I think, 1n good meafurc, afcribe thofc Abfurditic•, tim fill almofr all the Religions which porTefs and divide Mankind. For Men having been principled with an Opinion, that they muft not confult Reafon in the Things <'>f Religion, however apparently contradictory to common Senfe, and the very Principles of all their l\nowledge, have let loofc their Fanfies, and natural Superftition, and have been, by them, lead into fo !lrange Opmions, aod extravagant Practices in Religion, that a confiderate Mall cannot Chap.XiX. Wrong Ajfent or Error. cannot !Jut !land amazed at their Follies, and judge them fo far from being acceptable to the great and wife G 0 D, that he cannot :!void tliirikin5 them ridiculom, and offenfivc to a fober, good Man. So that, in ell feCI:, that which moft properly ought to di!linguifh us from Bea!ls, that wherein we are elevated, aS rational Creatures, above Brutes-; in that we appear moil irrational, and more fenfelefs than Bca!ls themfelves. Credu, quia impojlibile er1: I ~elie-ue, becaufe it ir impoj!ible, might, in a good Man, pa(s for a Sally of Zeal; but would prove ~ very ill Rule for Men to chufc their Opinions, or Religion by. C 1-I 'A P. XIX. Of Wrong .Ajfellt, or Errow. ~. r. lT Now ledge being to be had only of vifible certain Truth, £,> ' J."-. rour is not a Fault of our Knowledge, but a Miflake of our Judgment giving A{fent to that, whichis nottrue. . But if A{fent be grounded on L•kehhood, 1f the proper ObJeCl and Motive of our ArTent be Probability, and that Probability conlift in what is laid down in the foregoing Chapters, it will be demanded, how Men come to give their Aifents contrary to Probability : For there is nothing more common, than Contrariety of OJjinions; nothing more obvious, than that one Man wholly disbelieves what another only doubts of, and a third !ledfaftly believes, and firmly adheres to. The Reafons whereof, though they may be very various, yet, I fuppofe, may all be reduced to thefe four. 1- W<mt of Proofr. 2. Want of A~iliiJ to ufe them. 3· Want of Will to ufe them. 4· Wrong Meafures of Probability. . . . 9. 2. Firjl, By Want of Proofs: I do not mean, only the Want of thofe Proofs which are no where extant, which are no where to be had ; but the Want even of thofe Proofs which arc in Being, or might be procured. Arid thu.s Men want Proo!S, who have not the Convenience, or Opportunity to make Experiments and Obfervations themfelves, tending t? the Proof of any Propofiuon; nor hkew1fe the Convemence to enqmre mto, and col lea: the Te!limonies of others: And m tillS State are the greate!l part of Mankind, who are given up to Labour, and enflaved to the Necellity of their mean Condition ; whofe L1•es are worn out, only m the Provilions for Living. Thefe Men'sOpportunity of l\nowledge and En<] uiry, are commonly as narrow as their Fortunes; and the1r U~de~!la~dings are but little inftruoted, when all the!r whole T1me and Pa~~s 1s la1d out, to frill the Croaking of their own Belhes, or the Cnes of the•~ Children · 'Tis not to be expelled, that a Man, wh? drudges ?"• all Ius L1fe, in a labOrious Trade fl10uld be more knowing 111 the Vanety of Thmgs done in the World, ;han a Pack-horfe, who is driven con!lantly forwards and backwards, in a nMrow L'ne, and d~rty Road, onl.y to Market, fl10uld be skilled in the Geography of the Country. Nor IS 1t at all more poffible, that he who warrts Leifure, Bool<s, and Languages, and the ()pportun ;ty of Converfing with Variet~ of Men, fl10uld be 111 a Cond1t1on to collett thofe Te!limonies and Ob!ervanons wluch are 1n Bemg, and ore z z neceifary |
