Two Books, Treatise 1 · Chapter 10
CHAP. X.
This Object. That Receiving of Chriſt is not an act of the Ʋnderſtanding, for that may be in Hypocrites and Ʋnregenerate Perſons, anſwered.
OBJECT.
THeſe Acts of the underſtanding may ſeem not to be a receiving of and from Chriſt, for theſe may be in an Hypocrite. Hypocrites have their underſtandings inlightned, and aſſent ſo firmly unto the things that are revealed in the Goſpell, as thoſe which are regenerated do. They are often times perſwaded, and affected with the perſwaſion of the word to go unto Chriſt. The Seat of Grace (it may be ſaid) is not in the underſtanding, for it's Grace which makes good, which no virtue in the underſtanding doth, for no man is ſaid to be good, becauſe he knows. Faith, ſo far as it is in the underſtanding, is common as well to an unregenerate man, as to a regenerate man. The Objection is grounded upon theſe two things. 1. Becauſe the Scripture doth aſcribe unto Hypocrites and men that periſh, that they do beleeve. 2. Upon this Principle, viz. That is only to be counted a Grace which makes a man good, and no man is ſaid to be good for what he knows, but for what he doth.
Anſw. Becauſe of this difficulty ſome have placed the difference btween a regenerate and an unregenerate man only in the Wil: that a regenerate man approves, and an unregenerate man doth not, of the light that ſhines in him. But though that be true, yet the Scripture doth make a cleer and diſtinct difference between a regenerate man and an unregenerate man, even in their very mind and underſtanding. As you may ſee in 1 Cor. 2.14. The naturall man foreign, He that hath all the reaſon and underſtanding which a man as a man is capable of, he doth not underſtand the things of God, neither can he ſaith the text: But we have the mind of Chriſt. As the ſenſe doth only meddle with the things that are ſenſible. So reaſon and underſtanding in men doth meddle only with the things that are naturall, or with things that are ſpirituall in a naturall way. For as every thing is, ſo it works. So in 1 Theſ. 5.23. You have the whol man diſtributed into ſpirit, ſoul and body. I pray God ſanctifie you throughout in ſpirit, ſoul and body. By the ſpirit be means the underſtanding, as you may ſee by the like phraſe in Rom. 12.2. where he bids them be renewed in the ſpirit of their mind. And by Soul, he means the Will, and affections, and by Body the outward practice and converſation. And in John 6.44. Our Lord laies the reaſon why ſome come to him, and not all, becauſe ſome were taught, and ſome were not taught of the Father. Murmur not among your ſelves, for no man can come to me, except my Father which hath ſent me, draw him, for it is written in the Prophets, You ſhal be al taught of God. Every one therefore that hath learned and been taught of the Father comes unto me. And in Eph. 4.20. You have not ſo learned Chriſt. That word foreign, So, Imports a different apprehenſion in men of the ſame object Jeſus Chriſt. You have not So learned him, that is, ſo as ſome other men have, whoſe hearts are not renewed and changed to walk according to what they know of him. If you do but obſerve it in that very place, the Apoſtle gives that as the reaſon, why ſome put off the old man with its deceitfull luſts, and others are cloathed with the new man in righteouſneſs and true holineſs, in verſe 21.22. Becauſe that they had not ſo learned Jeſus Chriſt. It's a marvellous hard thing, I confeſs to aſſign the difference that is between the hiſtorical faith of him that ſhal be ſaved, and of an Hypocrite it's hard, but yet the Scripture makes a difference and diſtinction.
In the general therefore, Grace or Virtue may be conſidered under a double notion.
Either as it gives a power and ability to do good: And ſo Grace may be ſaid to be in the underſtanding.
Or Secondly: As Grace doth put that power into uſe, and inables a man to uſe that power wel. And ſo it's properly in the Will. For al vertuous acts muſt be voluntary, and therefore they depend upon the ſanctification of the affections. But though the uſe of this light in externall acts depends upon the Will, yet notwithſtanding this light in its ſelf doth differ from all other light. For it's a new one. (Bear with the Phraſe) for it's the phraſe of the Holy Ghoſt in Rom. 12.2. Be renewed in the ſpirit of your mind.
This ſaving Faith gives an intuitive knowledg of the things of God as they are in themſelves. 2 Pet. 1.9. ſaith the Apoſtle, He that lacketh theſe things: the word in The Greek is foreign, Theſe things are not preſent. It's all one with that of 2 Cor. 3.18. We behold with open face: And with that in Eph. 1.18. where he praies that they may have their eyes opened to ſee what is the hope of their calling, what it is in it ſelf. For the better underſtanding of this you muſt know, That unto the ſight of the eye, there goes two things.
Firſt: A Faculty and a viſive power. And
Secondly: There muſt be light to diſcover the Object unto the eye. So unto the ſight of the mind, there goes theſe two things.
Firſt: Somthing which doth convey the mind of God, which the School-men cals Lumen deferens, Something which conveys things unto the underſtanding. And that is the word of Scripture, The letter, Similitude, diſcourſe, and reaſonings wherby one thing is gathered and concluded from another. And this anſwers unto the light which is in the air for the eye to ſee by.
There is alſo Lumen diſponens, or a light which makes the underſtanding to ſee, or take notice of the things revealed, & that is as the light of the eye. And this light which indeed is the light of Faith, it is infuſed, and comes not, nor is cauſed by diſcourſe, or ſtudy, or by deduction, or conſequence from any naturall thing, but ariſeth immediately from the ſpirit bringing the things of God and the Soul together. You ſhall diſcern it in that ſimilitude which the Scripture ſets it forth by, Taſting, and Seeing. Taſting; That as a man that taſts a thing, he hath it preſent with him, the ſavor of it, that there is no diſputing againſt it, or making him to beleeve otherwiſe. Do not you taſt it, ſaith he: So alſo the things of God are brought unto the ſoul ſo through the word by faith, that there is not a poſſibility for the ſoul to be miſtaken. That you may ſee a little into this, take the cleereſt diſcovery of God in nature, yet you cannot thence conclude that therefore God will do ſuch things, or that ſuch things ſhall be done by God for us, as Faith doth beleeve. Again, Compare earthly things and heavenly things together. Though that earthly things may ſerve to give you ſome reſemblance of heavenly, though that ſimilitude may ſet out things revealed, and keep them in memory, yet theſe ſimilitudes do not prove theſe things to be, nor can ſhew them in their own nature: And therefore you ſhall find that Nicodemus was partly ignorant of regeneration, though that Chriſt had told him of it under an earthly ſimilitude of being born again. That ſimilitude did rather make the thing hard than eaſie: And our Lord adds, that, If I have ſpoken unto you of earthly things, and you beleeve not, how wil you beleeve if I tel you of heavenly? Joh. 3.12. That is, there are ſome things to be beleeved in reference unto ſalvation, that there are no things in the earth, to be compared to them: Therefore if you will not beleeve but by ſimilitude, you wil not beleeve them. You ſhall ſee what I aim at, beloved. The knowledg or faith of unregenerate men may be reduced,
Either unto diſcourſe, knowledg, or unto fancy, which is all one. Unto the congruity that is between things that are earthly, and unto heavenly. I ſay you may either reduce it into diſcourſe. As for example. Men reaſon thus. Firſt, by way of cauſality, that if there be kindneſs in men, then much more in God that gave it. Secondly, by way of eminency, there is much more in the Fountain than in the ſtreams that are derived from it. Thirdly, By way of negation. If ſo be that this be not fit for a man to do, if man wil not be unjuſt, or forgetfull of the ſervice that is done unto him, then God will not forget the labor of our love, and the work of our faith, &c. Now ſuch a kind of concluſion as this is, is not faith. I beſeech you mark it. It is not faith becauſe the concluſion is drawn only from a naturall principle, from that knowledg which we have of God by nature. This knowledg by diſcourſe is naturall, and therefore this cannot be true faith. I ſhall only give you this for a proof of it, which is in James 2.19. The Devils do beleeve, and tremble. They properly do not beleeve as is apparent by this, becauſe their Faith hath not thoſe effects, which true faith hath. But they are ſaid to beleeve, becauſe they have experience in themſelves of the truth of the word of God: They find that true to their coſt which God hath threatned: It is made good upon them, which God hath written in the word. And again, they ſee by experience, that many whom they have tempted are gone to Heaven, and therefore they know that God will not fail nor break his word. Their Faith being raiſed only from their experience, that credit which they give to God, being only from what they feel & ſee, is not good. Now al the faith in unregenerate men is of the ſame ſort with this faith of the Devils, for there is no more in the Child, than there is in the Parent. In John 8.44. They are of their Father the Devill; becauſe they go no further than he is a pattern to them in. As the Children of the firſt Adam are like unto him, ſo all the Children of the Devill are like unto him. And therefore as you may thus reduce, or analize their Faith unto light, or diſcourſe, ſo that faith which unregerate men have, is taken from the ſimilitude which earthly things have with Heavenly: They look upon Heavenly things through Earthly, as through a glaſs, and no further than that do they ſee, Matth. 13.11. To you (ſaith God) it is given to know the Myſteries of the Kingdom of God, but unto theſe in parables, that in ſeeing they might not ſee, and in bearing they might not underſtand. Here you find a difference between the knowledg of the Myſtery, and the knowledg which men have by parables. Parables are nothing elſe but only the comparing of one thing with another, One thing ſet out by another. To have no more knowledg therefore of Heavenly things, than Earthly doth adminiſter, is for a man to have his eyes blinded; Yea it is a Seal of the eternall wrath of God, Leaſt he ſhould be converted and healed by me. If it may be, yet more plainly to expreſs my ſelf. As in the worſhip of God, an Image or repreſentation made by man cannot help a man at all in the worſhip of God. So neither can the Image of Heavenly things in Earthly ſimilitudes give us life and ſalvation. You know that there are Innate principles, Notions which are in every man by nature, of a Judgment, and of a God. Look what thoſe principles are unto natural things, ſuch a kind of innate principle is Faith unto the new Creature, which makes known the things of God by Jeſus Chriſt. It's not raiſed by diſcourſe, It comes not in by diſcourſe, it is infuſed, It lies there, and from thence it ſends forth its light into the Soul. You find the Apoſtle in the Epiſtle to the Corinthians, blaming the Teachers there, becauſe they teached in the wiſdom of words, and he tels them that it was the means to make …he faith of their hearts to conſiſt in man, and not in the power of God. His meaning is this, they heard the Goſpel preached Eloquently and Rhetorically: They looked upon Heaven as upon a Paradiſe or garden of pleaſure: They looked upon Communion with God but only as friendſhip of one with his Friend. The things of Chriſt were ſet out only by Earthly things as in a Map: All the Glory of Heavenly things were put upon them only by the reſemblances which they had unto theſe Earthly things. If ſo be it be ſo good to be rich, and ſo good to have pleaſures here, then what is it to have good for ever, and the like. The Apoſtle tels them that al this would never make them Chriſtians, for their Faith muſt be in God, and this would keep them ſtil in the wiſdom of man. I ſhal conclude this Point thus. That as a man that knows a man only by his cloaths, takes another for him that is cloathed like him: So a man that hath the knowledg of theſe things only by Earthly things, loſeth his knowledg or his fancy of them, as his fancy alters.
Secondly: The ſecond is this. Wherever this ſaving light in the underſtanding is, there it's joyned with love in the Will: that is, the heart doth chooſe, embrace, take pleaſure and contentment in it: that is, it ſo takes pleaſure, as that it would rather have the truth than any thing: though ſomtimes in a paſſion, it may as wel quarrel with that truth, as it doth at other times quarrel with a luſt. But that I ſhall ſpeak more unto, when I come to ſpeak of the Acts of Faith as it is in the Wil, which now I ſhall betake my ſelf unto.