honour Him; for all despair is a kind of reproach towards God. Howbeit, if we will truly consider it, it is more worthy to believe, than to know as we now know. For in knowledge man's mind suffers from sense which is the reflection of things material, but in faith the spirit suffers from spirit which is a worthier agent. Otherwise it is in the state of man glorified, for then faith shall cease, and we shall know even as we are known. Wherefore we conclude that Sacred Theology ought to be derived from the word and oracles of God, and not from the light of nature, or the dictates of reason. For it is written, "The heavens declare the glory of God," but it is nowhere written, "The heavens declare the will of God;" but of that it is said, "To the law and to the testimony; if men do not according to this word, &c."2 And this holds not only in those great mysteries which concern the Deity, the Creation, and the Redemption; but it pertains likewise to a more perfect interpretation of the moral law, "Love your enemies;""do good to them that hate you," and so "that ye may be the children of your father who is in heaven, that sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust." To which words this applause may well be applied, "that they do not sound human ;"4 since it is a voice beyond the light of nature. Again, we see the heathen poets, especially when they discourse of the passions, often expostulate with laws and moral doctrines (which yet are far more easy and indulgent than the divine laws), as if they were contradictory on; 1 Psalm xix. 1. 8 St. Matt. v. 44, 45. 2 Isaiah, viii. 20. 4 Virg. Æn. i. 328.: Nec vox hominum sonat. ners."2 and malignant to the liberty of nature; "What nature grants the envious laws deny." So said Dendamis the Indian to Alexander's messengers, "That he had heard somewhat of the name of Pythagoras and some other wise men of Greece, and that he held them for excellent men; but that they had a fault, which was that they had too great reverence and veneration for a kind of phantom, which they called law and manWherefore it must be confessed that a great part of the moral law is higher than the light of nature can aspire to. Nevertheless what is said, that man has by the light and law of nature some notions of virtue and vice, justice and injustice, good and evil, is most true. For we must observe that the light of nature is used in two several senses; the one, as far as it springs from sense, induction, reason, argument, according to the laws of heaven and earth; the other, as far as it flashes upon the spirit of man by an inward instinct, according to the law of conscience; which is a spark and relic of his primitive and original purity. And in this latter sense chiefly does the soul partake of some light to behold and discern the perfection of the moral law; a light however not altogether clear, but such as suffices rather to reprove the vice in some measure, than to give full information of the duty. So then religion, whether considered with regard to morals or mysteries, depends on revelation from God. The use notwithstanding of reason in spiritual things is manifold and very general. For it is not for nothing that the Apostle called religion, “Our reasonable ser1 Ovid, Metam. x. 330.: Et quod natura remittit, 2 Cf. Plut. in Alex. c. 65.; and Strabo, I. XV. vice of God." If we review the types and ceremonies of the old law we see that they were full of reason and signification, differing widely from the ceremonies of idolatry and magic, which were like surds and nonsignificants, mostly without meaning, and not even suggestive of anything. But especially the Christian faith, as in all things, so in this is pre-eminent; holding the golden mean touching the use of reason and discussion (the child of reason) between the law of the heathen and the law of Mahomet, which embrace the two extremes. For the religion of the heathen had no constant belief or confession; and the religion of Mahomet on the other side interdicts argument altogether; so that the one has the very face of vague and manifold error, the other of crafty and cautious imposture; whereas the holy Christian faith both admits and rejects the use of reason and disputation, but according to just limitations. The use of human reason in matters of religion is of two sorts; the former in the explanation of the mystery, the latter in the inferences derived from it. With regard to the explanation of the mysteries, we see that God vouchsafes to descend to the weakness of our apprehension, by so expressing his mysteries that they may be most sensible to us; and by grafting his revelations upon the notions and conceptions of our reason; and by applying his inspirations to open our understanding, as the form of the key to the ward of the lock. But here we ought by no means to be wanting to ourselves; for as God uses the help of our reason to illuminate us, so should we likewise turn it every way, that we may be more capable of receiving and under 1 Romans, xii. 1. standing His mysteries; provided only that the mind be enlarged, according to its capacity, to the grandeur of the mysteries, and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the mind. But with regard to inferences, we should know that there is allowed us a use of reason and argument (in regard to mysteries) secondary and respective, though not original and absolute. For after the articles and principles of religion have been set in their true place, so as to be completely exempted from the examination of reason, it is then permitted us to derive and deduce inferences from them according to their analogy. In nature indeed this holds not. For both the principles themselves are examinable, though not by a syllogism, yet by induction; and besides, these same principles have no discordance with reason, so that the first and middle propositions are derived from the same fountain. It is otherwise in religion, where the first propositions are not only self-existent and self-supporting; but likewise unamenable to that reason which deduces consequent propositions. Nor yet does this hold in religion alone, but also in other sciences both of a greater and smaller nature; namely, wherein the primary propositions are arbitrary and not positive; for in these also there can be no use of absolute reason. For we see in games, as chess or the like, that the first rules and laws are merely positive, and at will; and that they must be received as they are, and not disputed; but how to play a skilful and winning game is scientific and rational. So in human laws there are many maxims, as they call them, which are mere Placets of Law, dependent on authority rather than upon reason, and therefore not to be disputed. But what is most just, not absolutely but relatively (that is, according to these maxims), that is a matter of reason, and opens a wide field for disputation. Such therefore is that secondary reason which has place in Divinity, which is grounded upon the Placets of God. But as the use of the human reason in things divine is of two kinds, so likewise in the use there are two kinds of excess; the one when it inquires too curiously into the manner of the mystery; the other when the same authority is attached to inferences as to principles. For he may appear to be the disciple of Nicodemus who persists in asking, "How can a man be born when he is old?" And he can be nowise considered the disciple of Paul who does not sometimes insert in his doctrines, "I, not the Lord;" or again, "According to my counsel; "2 which style is generally suited to inferences. Wherefore it appears to me that it would be of especial use and benefit, if a temperate and careful treatise were instituted, which, as a kind of divine logic, should lay down proper precepts touching the use of human reason in theology. For it would act as an opiate, not only to lull to sleep the vanity of curious speculations, wherewith sometimes the schools labour, but also in some degree to assuage the fury of controversies, wherewith the church is troubled. Such a treatise I reckon among the things deficient; and call it Sophron or The Legitimate Use of Human Reason in Divine Subjects. It is of extreme importance to the peace of the Church, that the Christian covenant ordained by our Saviour be properly and clearly explained in those two heads, which appear somewhat discordant; whereof the 1 St. John, iii. 4. 10. 2 1 Corinth. vii. 10. |