of it to their eafe, give it vent upon the Times, of which they are always complaining right or wrong. No, the deplorable and dangerous ftate of Chriftianity, and the too vifible growth of Socinianifm and Deifm among us extort thefe Reflections from me, and have given me many a troublesom and uneafie Thought in my private Retirements. For my Satisfaction under which, my beft Salvo has been to confider that God governs the World, and that Jefus Chrift, who is the Head of his Church, will preferve it from all the Powers of Earth, and even from the Gates of Hell. And that tho' now he seems to be asleep in this Sacred Veffel while the Tempeft rages, and the Waves beat against it, and almoft cover it, yet 'tis to bę hoped he will awake, and rebuke the Winds and the Sea, and make all calm and quiet again. However in the mean time 'tis fit the Mariners fhould work, and neglect the use of no means that are neceffary to the fafety of their Ship; fome by Writing, others by private Difcourfe, and all by Prayers and a good Life.

6. But now whereas all Rational Method of Cure is founded upon the knowledge of the Cause of the Diftemper, he that would contribute any thing to the ftopping this Contagion of Religious Scepticism, that now reigns among us, ought in the first place to confider the Reason of it, what it is that makes Men fo difpofed to waver in their Religion, and fo ready to part. with the great Articles and Myfteries of it. Now to this purpose I

call

6

call to mind a very confiderable Observation of * Defcartes concerning Atheism, which I take to be equally applicable to Infidelity, particularly to this of the Myfteries of the Chriftian Faith: The Obfervation is this, That those things which are commonly alledged by Atheifts to impugne the Existence of God, do 'all turn upon this, that either we attribute • fome Human Affection to God, or elfe arrogate fo great force and penetration to our own minds as to go about to comprehend and • determine what God can, and ought to do. So that if we would but carry about us this Thought, that our Minds are to be confider'd as Finite, but God as Incomprehenfi'ble and Infinite, there would be no further difficulty in any of their Objections. Thus that very Acute and Judicious Perfon concerning the Grounds of Atheism. And in like manner I think it may be faid of Infide lity as to the Myfteries of Chriftianity, That the great Reason why fo many that call themfelves Chriftians do fo obftinately cavil at them and dispute them, is, that either they think too meanly of God, or too highly of themfelves; that either they afcribe fomething Human to his Nature, or fomething Divine to their own; that either they fet too narrow limits to the Divine Power and Greatness, or carry out too far those of their own understandings; in one word, that either they Humanize God,

B 4

In the Preface to his Metaphyfical Meditations.

or

or Deify themselves and their own Rational Abilities.

7. And they confefs in effect as much themfelves. For the Reason that these Men commonly give out and pretend for their not allowing the Mysteries of the Chriftian Religion any room in their Creed, is, that they are above the reach of their Understandings. They cannot comprehend them, or conceive how they can be, and therefore will not believe them; having fixed it as a Law in the general to believe nothing but what they can comprehend. But now where does the Ground of this Consequence reft at laft, or upon what Principle does it ultimately depend? How comes the Incomprehenfibility of a Point of Faith to be a prefumption against it; why is its being above their Reafon an Argument that it is not true? Why I fay, but only because in the first place they attribute fo much to their Reason (at least by a Confufe Sentiment) as to prefume it to be the Measure and Standard of all Truth, and that nothing that is True can really be above it. Here I fay the ftrefs of the matter will rest at laft. For fhould the Argument of these Men be reduced to a Syllogiftical Form, it must neceffarily proceed thus,

Whatever is above our Reason is not to be belied as true;

But the Reputed Mysteries of Christianity are above our Reason:

There

Therefore the Reputed Mysteries of Christianity are not to be believ'd as true.

Now the only conteftable Propofition in this Syllogifm is the Major, which can be prov'd by no other Principle than this, That our Reason is the Measure of all Truth, and whofe Proof must be in this Form.

Whatever is above the Measure of all Truth is not to be believ'd as true;

But our Reafon is the Measure of all Truth: Therefore whatever is above our Reason is not to be believ'd as true.

By this Analysis of their Argument into its Principle, it is plain, that this their Reason of disbelieving the Mysteries of the Chriftian Religion, viz. Because they are above their Reafon, does at last resolve into this, That their Reafon is the Measure of all Truth, and that they can comprehend all things. For otherwife how fhould their not being able to comprehend a thing, be an Argument that it is not true? This I prefume is a Principle our Adverfaries would be loth to own, and indeed with good Reason, it being the most extravagantly abfurd and felf-arrogating one that can poffibly enter the Thought, or proceed from the Mouth of a Man. And accordingly I do not know any Socinian that had the immodefty in terms openly to affert it. But this is what they must come to if they will speak out, and what in the mean

time

time they do virtually and implicitly fay. So then their procedure in fhort feems to be this, They first fet their Reafon above all things, and then will believe nothing that is above their Reafon. And if this be not in an unreafonable measure to exalt that Faculty, to carry it beyond its due bounds, nay to fet it no bounds at all, but ftrictly to make it Infinite, and fo to afcribe to it no less than a Divine Perfection, I must profefs my defpair ever to know what is.

8. To be the adequate Measure of all Truth, fo as to have no one Truth above the Comprehenfion of it, is as much as can be faid of the Reafon and Understanding of God himself. His Infinite Understanding is indeed truly and neceffarily fo, and whatever is above his Reason is for that very reafon moft certainly not true. Because he effentially comprehending all that truly is, it must neceffarily follow that whatever he does not comprehend must be nothing. But to say the fame of the Reafon of a Man, or of the Intelligence of the most illuminated Angel, would be to confound all diftinction between Finite and Infinite, God and Creature; and to advance the most abfurd, and withal the most impious and blafphemous Propofition imaginable. And yet this is the general Principle upon which the Body of Socinianifm turns, and by which it would be most directly and moft compendiously confuted.

9. I fhall therefore take hold of it by this handle: And fince that which is a Principle one

way,