Love of Truth necesary. A Forward nels to dictate, offenfive to a fober good Man. So that in effe& Religion, which should moft diftinguish us from Beafts, and ought moft peculiarly to elevate us, as rational Creatures, above Brutes, is that wherein Men often appear moft irrational, and more fenflefs than Beafts themselves. Credo, quia impoffibile eft; I believe, because it is impoffible, might in a good Man pafs for a Sally of Zeal; but would prove a very ill Rule for Men to chufe their Opinions or Religion by. 6. I. HE CHA P. XIX. Of Enthusiasm. E that would seriously fet upon the Search of Truth, ought in the firft place to prepare his Mind with a Love of it. For he that loves it not, will not take much pains to get it, nor be much concerned when he mifles it. There is no body in the Commonwealth of Learning, who does not profefs himself a Lover of Truth; and there is not a rational Creature, that would not take it amifs to be thought otherwife of. And yet for all this, one may truly fay, there are very few Lovers of Truth for Truth-fake, even amongst thofe who perfuade themfelves that they are fo. How a Man may know whether he be fo in carneft, is worth enquiry: And I think there is this one unerring Mark of it, viz. The not entertaining any Propofition with greater Affurance, than the Proofs it is built upon will warrant. Whoever goes beyond this measure of Affent, 'tis plain receives not Truth in the love of it; loves not Truth for Truth-fake, but for fome other By-end. For the Evidence that any Propofition is true except fuch as are felf-evident) lying only in the Proofs a Man has of it, whatsoever Degrees of Affent he affords it beyond the Degrees of that Evidence, 'tis plain that all the Surplufage of Affurance is owing to fome other Affection, and not to the Love of Truth: it being as impoffible, that the Love of Truth fhould carry my Affent above the Evidence there is to me that it is true, as that the Love of Truth fhould make me affent to any Propofition for the fake of that Evidence, which it has not, that it is true; which is in effect to love it as a Truth, because it is poffible or probable that it may not be true. In any Truth that gets not poffeffion of our Minds by the it refiftible Light of Self-evidence, or by the force of Demonftration, the Arguments that gain it Affent are the Vouchers and Gage of its Probability to us; and we can receive it for no other, than fuch as they deliver it to our Underftandings. Whatfoever Credit or Authority we give to any Propofition, more than it receives from the Principles and Proofs it fupports it felf upon, is owing to our Inclinations that way, and is fo far a Derogation from the Love of Truth as fuch which, as it can receive no Evidence from our Paffions or Interests, fo it fhould receive no Tincture from them. §. 2. The aluming an Authority of dictating to others, and a Forwardness from whence to prefcribe to their Opinions, is a conftant Concomitant of this Byafs and Corruption of our Judgments. For how almoft can it be otherwise, but that he fhould be ready to impofe on others Belief, who has already impos'd on his own? Who can reafonably expe& Arguments and Conviction from him, in dealling with others, whofe Understanding is not accuftom'd to them in his dealing with himfelf? Who does violence to his own Faculties, tyrannizes over his own Mind, and ufurps the Prerogative that belongs to Truth alone, which is to command Affent by only its own Authority, i. e. by and in proportion to that Evidence which it carries with it. Force of Enthufiafm. §. 3. Upon this occafion I fhall take the liberty to confider a third Ground of At, which with fome Men has the fame Authority, and is as confidently rely'd on as either Faith or Reafon; I mean Enthufiafm: which laying by Reason, would fet up Revelation without it. Whereby in effect it takes away both Reafon and Revelation, and fubftitutes in the room of it the ungrounded Fancies of a Man's own Brain, and affumes them for a Foundation both of Opinion and Conduct. S. 4. Reafon is natural Revelation, whereby the eternal Father of Light, and Reason and Fountain of all Knowledg, communicates to Mankind that Portion of Truth Revelation which he has laid within the reach of their natural Faculties: Revelation is natural Reafon enlarg'd by a new Set of Discoveries communicated by GOD immediately, which Reafon vouches the Truth of, by the Teftimony and Proofs it gives that they come from GOD. So that he that takes away Reason, to make way for Revelation, puts out the Light of both, and does much-what the fame, as if he would perfuade a Man to put out his Eyes, the better to receive the remote Light of an invifible Star by a Telescope. §. 5. Immediate Revelation being a much eafier way for Men to establish their Rife of EnthuOpinions, and regulate their Conduct, than the tedious and not always fucceff- fiafm. ful Labour of ftri&t Reasoning, it is no wonder that fome have been very apt to pretend to Revelation, and to perfuade themselves that they are under the peculiar Guidance of Heaven in their Actions and Opinions, especially in those of them which they cannot account for by the ordinary Methods of Knowledg, and Principles of Reafon. Hence we fee, that in all Ages, Men, in whom Melancholy has mix'd with Devotion, or whofe Conceit of themselves has rais'd them into an Opinion of a greater Familiarity with GOD, and a nearer Admittance to his Favour than is afforded to others, have often flatter'd themselves with a Persuasion of an immediate Intercourfe with the Deity, and frequent Communications from the Divine Spirit. GOD, I own, cannot be deny'd to be able to enlighten the Understanding by a Ray darted into the Mind immediately from the Fountain of Light: This they understand he has promis'd to do, and who then has fo good a Title to expect it as those who are his peculiar People, chofen by him, and depending on him? §. 6. Their Minds being thus prepar'd, whatever groundless Opinion comes Enthufiafm. to fettle it felt strongly upon their Fancies, is an Illumination from the Spirit of GOD, and presently of divine Authority: and whatsoever odd Action they find in themselves a strong Inclination to do, that impulfe is concluded to be a Call or Direction from Heaven, and must be obey'd; 'tis a Commiffion from above, and they cannot err in executing it. §. 7. This I take to be properly Enthusiasm, which, tho' founded neither on Reason nor Divine Revelation, but rifing from the Conceits of a warm'd or over-weening Brain, works yet, where it once gets footing, more powerfully on the Perfuafions and Actions of Men, than either of thofe two, or both together: Men being moft forwardly obedient to the Impulses they receive from themselves; and the whole Man is fure to act more vigorously, where the whole Man is carry'd by a natural Motion. For ftrong Conceit, like a new Principle, carries all easily with it, when got above common Senfe, and freed from all Reftraint of Reason, and Check of Reflection, it is heighten'd into a Divine Authority, in concurrence with our own Temper and Inclination. feeling. §. 8. Tho' the odd Opinions and extravagant Actions Enthufiafm has run Men Enthusiasm into, were enough to warn them against this wrong Principle, fo apt to mifguide mistaken for them both in their Belief and Conduct; yet the Love of fomething extraor Seeing and dinary, the Eafe and Glory it is to be infpir'd, and be above the common and natural ways of Knowledg, fo flatters many Mens Laziness, Ignorance and Vanity, that when once they are got into this way of immediate Revelation, of Illumination without Search, and of Certainty without Proof, and without Examination, 'tis a hard matter to get them out of it. Reafon is loft upon them, they are above it: they see the Light infus'd into their Understandings, and cannot be mistaken; 'tis clear and vifible there, like the Light of bright Sun-thine; fhews it felf, and needs no other Proof but its own Evidence: they feel the Hand of GOD moving them within, and the Impulfes of the Spirit, and cannot be mistaken in what they feel. Thus they fupport themselves, and are fure Reafon hath nothing to do with what they fee and feel in themselves: what they have a fenfible Experience of, admits no Doubt, needs no Probation. Would he not be ridiculous, who fhould require to have it prov'd to him that the Light fhines, and that he fees it? It is it's own Proof, and can have no other. When the Spirit brings Light into our Minds, it difpels Darkness. We fee it, as we do that of the Sun at noon, and need not the Twilight of Reason to fhew it us. This Light from Heaven is ftrong, clear, and pure, Vol. I. Uu2 carries Enthusiasm how to be difcover'd. carries its own Demonstration with it; and we may as rationally take a Glowworm to affift us to discover the Sun, as to examine the Celestial Ray by our dim Candle, Reason. -. 9. This is the way of talking of, thefe Men: they are fure, because they are fure: and their Perfuations are right, only because they are ftrong in them. For, when what they fay is ftrip'd of the Metaphor of feeing and feeling, this is all it amounts to: and yet these Similes fo impofe on them, that they serve them for Certainty in themselves, and Demonftration to others. §. 10. But to examine a little foberly this internal Light, and this Feeling on which they build fo much. Thefe Men have, they fay, clear Light, and they fee; they have an awaken'd Senfe, and they feel: this cannot, they are fure, be difputed them. For when a Man fays he fees or feels, no body can deny it him that he does fo. But here let me ask: This feeing, is it the Perception of the Truth of the Propofition, or of this, that it is a Revelation from GOD? This feeling, is it a Perception of an Inclination or Fancy to do fomething, or of the Spirit of GOD moving that Inclination? Thefe are two very different Perceptions, and must be carefully diftinguifh'd, if we would not impofe upon our felves. I may perceive the Truth of a Propofition, and yet not perceive that it is an immediate Revelation from GOD. I may perceive the Truth of a Propofition in Euclid, without its being, or my perceiving it to be a Revelation: Nay, I may perceive I came not by this Knowledg in a natural way, and fo may conclude it reveal'd, without perceiving that it is a Revelation from GOD; because there be Spirits, which, without being divinely commiffion'd, may excite thofe Ideas in me, and lay them in fuch order before my Mind, that I may perceive their Connection. So that the Knowledg of any Propofition coming into my Mind I know not how, is not a Perception that it is from GOD. Much lefs is a strong Perfuafion, that it is true, a Perception that it is from GOD, or fo much as true. But however it be call'd Light and Seeing, I fuppofe it is at moft but Belief and Aflurance: and the Propofition taken for a Revelation, is not fuch as they know to be true, but take to be true. For where a Propofition is known to be true, Revelation is needlefs: and it is hard to conceive how there can be a Revelation to any one of what he knows already. It therefore it be a Propofition which they are perfuaded, but do not know, to be true, whatever they may call it, it is not feeing, but believing. For these are two ways, whereby Truth comes into the Mind, wholly diftină, fo that one is not the other. What I fee, I know to be fo by the Evidence of the thing it felf: what I believe, I take to be fo upon the Testimony of another: But this Teftimony I must know to be given, or elfe what ground have I of believing? I muft fee that 'tis GOD that reveals this to me, or elfe I fee nothing. The queftion then here is, How do I know that GOD is the Revealer of this to me; that this Impreffion is made upon my Mind by his holy Spirit, and that therefore I ought to obey it? If I know not this, how great foever the Affurance is that I am poffefs'd with, it is groundlefs; whatever Light I pretend to, it is but Enthusiasm. For whether the Propofition fuppos'd to be reveal'd, be in it felf evidently true, or visibly probable, or by the natural ways of Knowledg uncertain, the Propofition that must be well grounded, and manifefted to be true, is this, That GOD is the Revealer of it, and that what I take to be a Revelation is certainly put into my Mind by him, and is not an Illufion drop'd in by fome other Spirit, or rais'd by my own Fancy. For if I miftake not, thefe Men receive it for true, because they prefume GOD reveal'd it. Does it not then ftand them upon, to examine on what grounds they prefume it to be a Revelation from GOD? or elfe all their Confidence is mere Prefumption: and this Light, they are fo dazzled with, is nothing but an ignis fatuus that leads them continually round in this Circle; It is a Revelation, because they firmly believe it, and they believe it because it is a Revelation. Enthusiasm 9. 11. In all that is of Divine Revelation, there is need of no other Proof but fails of Evi- that it is an Infpiration from GOD: For he can neither deceive, nor be dedence,that the ceiv'd. But how fhall it be known that any Propofition in our Minds is a Propofition is Truth infus'd by GOD; a Truth that is reveal'd to us by him, which he declares to us, and therefore we ought to believe? Here it is that Enthufiafm fails of the Evidence it pretends to. For Men thus poffefs'd boaft of a Light whereby from GOD. by they fay they are enlighten'd, and brought into the Knowledg of this or §. 12. This cannot be otherwife, whilft Firmness of Perfuafion is made the Firmness of Caufe of believing, and Confidence of being in the right is made an Argument Perfuafion no of Truth. St. Paul himfelf believ'd he did well, and that he had a Call to it Proof that any Propofition is when he perfecuted the Chriftians, whom he confidently thought in the wrong; from GOD. But yet it was he, and not they, who were miftaken. Good Men are Men ftill, liable to Miftakes; and are fometimes warmly engag'd in Errors, which they take for Divine Truths, fhining in their Minds with the clearest Light. . 13. Light, true Light in the Mind is, or can be nothing elle but the Evi- Light in the Mind, what. dence of the Truth of any Propofition; and if it be not a felf-evident Propofition, all the Light it has, or can have, is from the Clearness and Validity of thofe Proofs, upon which it is receiv'd. To talk of any other Light in the Understanding, is to put our felves in the dark, or in the power of the Prince of Darkness, and by our own Confent to give our felves up to Delusion to believe a Lye. For if Strength of Perfuafion be the Light which muft guide us; I ask how fhall any one diftinguifh between the Delufions of Satan, and the Infpirations of the Holy Ghoft? He can transform himself into an Angel of Light. And they who are led by this Son of the Morning, are as fully fatisfy'd of the Illumination, i. e. are as ftrongly perfuaded, that they are enlighten'd by the Spirit of God, as any one who is fo: They acquiefce and rejoice in it, are acted by it and no Body can be more fure, nor more in the right (if their own ftrong Belief may be judg) than they. 9. 14. He therefore that will not give himself up to all the Extravagancies Revelation of Delufion and Error, muft bring this Guide of his Light within to the Trial. must be judg GOD, when he makes the Prophet, does not unmake the Man. He leaves all his ed of by Rea Facultiesfon. of Revelati Faculties in the natural State, to enable him to judg of his Infpirations, whether they be of Divine Original or no. When he illuminates the Mind with fupernatural Light, he does not extinguish that which is natural. If he would have us affent to the Truth of any Propofition, he either evidences that Truth by the ufual Methods of natural Reason, or elfe makes it known to be a Truth which he would have us affent to, by his Authority; and convinces us that it is from him, by fome Marks which Reason cannot be mistaken in. Reason must be our laft Judg and Guide in every thing. I do not mean that we must confult Reason, and examine whether a Propofition reveal'd from GOD can be made out by natural Principles, and if it cannot, that then we may reject it: but confult it we muft, and by it examine, whether it be a Revelation from GOD or no. And if Reason finds it to be reveal'd from GOD, Reason then declares for it, as much as for any other Truth, and makes it one of her Dictates. Every Conceit that thorowly warms our Fancies must pass for an Infpiration, if there be nothing but the Strength of our Perfuafions, whereby to judg of our Perfuafions: If Reafon must not examine their Truth by fomething extrinfecal to the Perfuafions themselves, Infpirations and Delufions, Truth and Falfhood, will have the fame Measure, and will not be poffible to be distinguish'd. Belief no Prof. 15. If this internal Light, or any Propofition which under that Title we take for infpir'd, be conformable to the Principles of Reason, or to the Word of GOD, which is attefted Revelation, Reafon warrants it, and we may safely receive it for true, and be guided by it in our Belief and Actions: if it receive no Teftimony nor Evidence from either of thefe Rules, we cannot take it for a_Revelation, or fo much as for true, till we have fome other Mark that it is a Revelation, befides our believing that it is fo. Thus we fee the holy Men of old, who had Revelations from GOD, had something else befides that internal Light of Affurance in their own Minds, to teftify to them that it was from GOD. They were not left to their own Perfuafions alone, that those Perfuafions were from GOD; but had outward Signs to convince them of the Author of those Revelations. And when they were to convince others, they had a Power given them to juftify the Truth of their Commiffion from Heaven; and by visible Signs to affert the Divine Authority of a Meffage they were fent with. Mofes faw the Bufh burn without being confumed, and heard a Voice out of it. This was fomething befides finding an Impulse upon his Mind to go to Pharaoh, that he might bring his Brethren out of Egypt: and yet he thought not this enough to authorize him to go with that Meffage, till GOD, by another Miracle of his Rod turn'd into a Serpent, had affur'd him of a Power to testify his Miffion, by the fame Miracle repeated before them, whom he was fent to. Gideon was fent by an Angel to deliver Ifrael from the Midianites, and yet he defir'd a Sign to convince him that this Commiffion was from GOD. These, and feveral the like Inftances to be found among the Prophets of old, are enough to fhew that they thought not an inward Seeing or Perfuafion of their own Minds, without any other Proof, a fufficient Evidence that it was from GOD, tho' the Scripture does not every where mention their demanding or having fuch Proofs. §. 16. In what I have said, I am far from denying, that GOD can, or doth fometimes enlighten Mens Minds in the apprehending of certain Truths, or excite them to good Actions by the immediate Influence and Affiftance of the Holy Spirit, without any extraordinary Signs accompanying it. But in fuch cafes too we have Reason and Scripture, unerring Rules to know whether it be from GOD or no. Where the Truth embrac'd is confonant to the Revelation in the written Word of GOD, or the A&ion conformable to the Dictates of right Reason or Holy Writ, we may be affur'd that we run no risk in entertaining it as fuch; because tho' perhaps it be not an immediate Revelation from GOD, extraordinarily operating on our Minds, yet we are sure it is warranted by that Revelation which he has given us of Truth. But it is not the Strength of our private Perfuafion within our felves, that can warrant it to be a Light or Motion from Heaven: Nothing can do that but the written Word of GOD without us, or that Standard of Reafon which is common to us with all Men. Where Reafon or Scripture is exprefs for any Opinion or |