1. Hitherto of the knowledge of things _natural_, and of the
passions that arise naturally from them. Now forasmuch as we give
names not only to things natural, but also to _supernatural_; and by
all names we ought to have some meaning and conception: it followeth
in the next place, to consider what thoughts and imaginations of the
mind we have, when we take into our mouths the most blessed name of
GOD, and the names of those _virtues_ we attribute unto him; as
also, what _image_ cometh into the mind at hearing the name of
_spirit_, or the name of _angel_, good or bad.
2. And forasmuch as God Almighty is _incomprehensible_, it
followeth, that we can have _no_ conception or _image_ of the
_Deity_, and consequently, all _his attributes_ signify our
_inability_ and defect of power to _conceive_ any thing concerning
his nature, and not any conception of the same, excepting only this,
that _there is a God_: for the effects we acknowledge naturally, do
include a power of their producing, before they were produced; and
that power presupposeth something existent that hath such power: and
the thing so existing with power to produce, if it were not eternal,
must needs have been produced by somewhat before it, and that again
by something else before that, till we come to an eternal, that is
to say, the first power of all powers, and first cause of all
causes: and this is it which all men conceive by the name of GOD,
implying eternity, incomprehensibility, and omnipotency. And thus
all that will consider, may know _that_ God is, though not _what_ he
is: even a man that is born blind, though it be not possible for him
to have any imagination what kind of thing fire is; yet he cannot
but know that somewhat there is that men call fire, because it
warmeth him.
3. And whereas we attribute to God Almighty, _seeing_, _hearing_,
_speaking_, _knowing_, _loving_, and the like, by which names we
understand something in _men_ to whom we attribute them, we
understand _nothing_ by them in the nature of God: for, as it is
well reasoned, _Shall not the God that made the_ _eye, see; and the
ear, hear?_ So it is also, if we say, shall God, which made the eye,
not see without the eye; or that made the ear, not hear without the
ear; or that made the brain, not know without the brain; or that
made the heart, not love without the heart? The _attributes_
therefore given unto the _Deity_, are such as _signify_ either _our
incapacity_ or our _reverence_: our incapacity, when we say
incomprehensible and infinite; our reverence, when we give him those
names, which amongst us are the names of those things we most
magnify and commend, as omnipotent, omniscient, just, merciful, &c.
And when God Almighty giveth those names to himself in the
Scriptures, it is but ἀνϑρωποπαθῶς, that is to say, by descending to
our manner of speaking; without which we are not capable of
understanding him.
4. By the name of _spirit_, we understand a _body natural_, but of
such _subtilty_, that it worketh not upon the senses; but that
filleth up the place which the image of a visible body might fill
up. Our conception therefore of spirit consisteth of _figure without
colour_; and in figure is understood dimension, and consequently, to
conceive a spirit, is to conceive something that hath dimension. But
_spirits supernatural_ commonly signify some _substance without_
dimension; which two words do flatly contradict one another: and
therefore when we attribute the name of spirit unto God, we
attribute it not as the name of anything we conceive, no more than
we ascribe unto him sense and understanding; but as a signification
of our reverence, we desire to abstract from him all corporal
grossness.
5. Concerning other things, which some men call _spirits
incorporeal_, and some _corporeal_, it is not _possible_ by
_natural_ means only, to come to _knowledge_ of so much, as that
_there are such_ things. We that are Christians _acknowledge_ that
there be angels good and evil, and that there are spirits, and that
the soul of a man is a spirit, and that those spirits are immortal:
_but_, to _know_ it, that is to say, to have natural evidence of the
same, it is _impossible_: for, all _evidence_ is _conception_, as it
is said, chap. VI. sect. 3, and all conception is imagination, and
proceedeth from _sense_, chap. III. sect. 1. And _spirits_ we
suppose to be those substances which work _not_ upon the _sense_,
and therefore not conceptible. But though the Scripture acknowledges
spirits, yet doth it nowhere say, that they are incorporeal, meaning
thereby, without dimension and quality; nor, I think, is that word
incorporeal at all in the Bible; but it is said of the spirit, that
it abideth in men; sometimes that it dwelleth in them, sometimes
that it cometh on them, that it descendeth, and goeth, and cometh;
and that spirits are angels, that is to say messengers: all which
words do imply _locality_; and locality is _dimension_; and
whatsoever hath dimension, is _body_, be it never so subtile. To me
therefore it seemeth, that the Scripture favoureth them more, that
hold angels and spirits corporeal, than them that hold the contrary.
And it is a plain _contradiction_ in natural discourse, to say of
the soul of man, that it is _tota in toto, et tota in qualibet parte
corporis_, grounded neither upon reason nor revelation, but
proceeding from the ignorance of what those things are which are
called _spectra_, images, that appear in the dark to children, and
such as have strong fears, and other strange imaginations, as hath
been said, chapter III. sect. 5, where I call them phantasms: for,
taking them to be things real, without us, like bodies, and seeing
them to come and vanish so strangely as they do, unlike to _bodies_;
what could they call them else, but _incorporeal bodies_? which is
not a name, but an absurdity of speech.
6. It is true, that the heathens, and all nations of the world, have
acknowledged that there be _spirits_, which for the most part they
hold to be incorporeal; whereby it might be thought, that a man by
natural reason, may arrive, without the Scriptures, to the knowledge
of this, _that spirits are_: but the erroneous collection thereof by
the heathens, may proceed, as I have said before, from the ignorance
of the cause of ghosts and phantasms, and such other apparitions.
And from thence had the Grecians their number of gods, their number
of _dæmons_ good or bad, and for every man his _genius_; which is
not the acknowledging of this truth, _that spirits are_; but a false
opinion concerning the force of imagination.
7. And seeing the _knowledge_ we have of _spirits_, is _not natural_
knowledge, but _faith_ from supernatural revelation given to the
holy writers of the Scriptures; it followeth, that of inspirations
also, which is the operation of spirit in us, the knowledge which we
have, must all proceed from Scripture. The _signs_ there set down of
_inspiration_, are _miracles_, when they be great, and manifestly
above the power of men to do by imposture: as for example, the
inspiration of Elias was known by the miraculous burning of the
sacrifice. But the _signs_ to _distinguish_ whether a _spirit_ be
_good_ or _evil_, are the same by which we distinguish whether a man
or a tree be good or evil, namely, _actions_ and _fruit_: for there
are _lying_ spirits, wherewith men are inspired sometimes, as well
as with _spirits_ of _truth_. And we are commanded in Scripture, to
judge of the spirits by their doctrine, and not of the doctrine by
the spirits. For miracles, our Saviour (_Matth._ xxiv. 24) hath
forbidden us to rule our faith by them. And Saint Paul saith,
(_Gal._ i. 8): _Though an angel from heaven preach to you
otherwise_, &c. _let him be accursed_. Where it is plain, that we
are not to judge whether the doctrine be true or not, by the angel;
but whether the angel say true or no, by the doctrine. So likewise,
(_1 Joh._ iv. 1): _Believe not every spirit: for false prophets are
gone out into the world_. Verse 2: _Hereby shall ye know the spirit
of God_. Verse 3: _Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God: and this is the spirit
of Antichrist_. Verse 15: _Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the
Son of God, in him dwelleth God, and he in God_. The _knowledge_
therefore we have of _good_ and _evil_ inspiration, cometh _not_ by
_vision_ of an angel that may teach it, _nor_ by a _miracle_ that
may seem to confirm it; _but_ by _conformity_ of doctrine with this
article and fundamental point of Christian faith, which also Saint
Paul (_1 Cor._ iii. 11) saith is the sole foundation, _That Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh_.
8. But if _inspiration_ be discerned by _this_ point, and _this_
point be acknowledged and believed upon the _authority_ of the
_Scriptures_; _how_ (may some men ask) know we that the _Scripture
deserveth_ so great _authority_, which must be no less than that of
the lively voice of God; that is, how do we know the _Scriptures_ to
be the _word of God_? And first, it is manifest, that if by
knowledge we understand science infallible and natural, as is
defined, chap. VI. sect. 4, proceeding from sense, we cannot be said
to know it, because it proceedeth not from the conceptions
engendered by sense. And if we understand knowledge as supernatural,
we cannot have it but by inspiration: and of that _inspiration_ we
cannot judge, but by the _doctrine_: it followeth, that we have not
any way, natural or supernatural, of the _knowledge_ thereof, which
can properly be called _infallible science_ and _evidence_. It
remaineth, that the knowledge that we have that the Scriptures are
the word of God, is only _faith_, which faith therefore is also by
Saint Paul (_Heb._ xi. 1) defined to be _the evidence of things not
seen_; that is to say, not otherwise evident but by faith: for,
whatsoever either is evident by natural reason, or revelation
supernatural, is not called faith; else should not faith cease, no
more than charity, when we are in heaven; which is contrary to the
doctrine of the Scripture. And, we are _not_ said to _believe_,
_but_ to _know_ those things that be _evident_.
9. Seeing then the acknowledgment of Scriptures to be the word of
God, is not evidence, but faith, and faith (chapter VI. sect. 7)
consisteth in the trust we have of other men, it appeareth plain,
that the men so trusted, are the holy men of God’s church succeeding
one another from the time of those that saw the wondrous works of
God Almighty in the flesh. Nor doth this imply that God is not the
worker or efficient cause of faith, or that faith is begotten in man
without the spirit of God: for, all those good opinions which we
admit and believe, though they proceed from hearing, and hearing
from teaching, both which are natural, yet they are the work of God:
for, all the works of nature are his, and they are attributed to the
Spirit of God: as for example, _Exod._ xxviii. 3: _Thou shalt speak
unto all cunning men, whom I have filled with the_ SPIRIT _of
wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments for his consecration,
that he may serve me in the priest’s office_. Faith therefore,
wherewith we believe, is the work of the Spirit of God in that
sense, by which the Spirit of God giveth to one man wisdom and
cunning in workmanship more than another; and by which he effecteth
also in other points pertaining to our ordinary life, that one man
believeth that, which, upon the same grounds, another doth not; and
one man reverenceth the opinion, and obeyeth the commands of his
superior, and others not.
10. And seeing our faith, that the Scriptures are the word of God,
began from the confidence and trust we repose in the _church_; there
can be no doubt but that their _interpretation_ of the same
Scriptures (when any doubt or controversy shall arise, by which this
fundamental point, _that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh_, may be
called in question) is _safer_ for any man to trust to, than his
_own_, whether _reasoning_ or _spirit_, that is to say, his own
_opinion_.
11. Now concerning men’s _affections_ to _Godward_, they are not the
same always that are described in the chapter concerning passions.
There, for to love, is to be delighted with the image or conception
of the thing loved; but God is unconceivable: _to love God_
therefore, in the Scripture, is to _obey his commandments_, and to
_love one another_. Also to _trust God_, is different from our
_trusting_ one _another_: for, when a man trusteth a man, (chap. IX.
sect. 9) he layeth aside his own endeavours: but if we do so in our
trust to God Almighty, we disobey him; and how shall we trust to him
whom we know we disobey? To _trust_ to _God Almighty_ therefore, is
to _refer_ to his _good pleasure_ all that is _above our_ own power
to effect: and this is _all one_ with _acknowledging one_ only God,
which is the first commandment. And to trust _in Christ_, is no more
but to acknowledge him for God; which is the fundamental article of
our Christian faith: and consequently, to trust, rely, or, as some
express it, to cast and roll ourselves on Christ, is the same thing
with the fundamental point of faith, namely, that _Jesus Christ is
the son of the living God_.
12. To _honour_ God internally in the heart, is the same thing with
that we ordinarily call honour amongst men: for it is nothing but
the _acknowledging_ of his _power_; and the signs thereof, the same
with the signs of the honour due to our superiors, mentioned chapter
VIII. section 6, viz. to _praise_, to _magnify_, to _bless_, to pray
to him, to thank him, to give oblations and sacrifices to him, to
give attention to his word, to speak to him in prayer with
consideration, to come into his presence with humble gesture, and in
decent manner, and to adorn his worship with magnificence and cost:
and these are natural signs of our honouring him internally: and
therefore the contrary hereof, to neglect prayer, to speak to him
_extempore_, to come to church slovenly, to adorn the place of his
worship worse than our own houses, to take up his name in every idle
discourse, are the manifest signs of contempt of the Divine Majesty.
There be other signs which are arbitrary; as, to be uncovered, as we
be here, to put off their shoes, as Moses at the fiery bush, and
some other of that kind, which in their own nature are indifferent,
till, to avoid indecency and discord, it be otherwise determined by
common consent.
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