oftheir State by Cteation. 59 lance, and this in believing there is a God, or thatChriCI is _the Sari of God, ~ os well as in believi-ng the lnterc!l of a Clm!lran tn hrm. T1us !find r Joh" ). Cnap. 7· . 5 , 6. fpe•king of believing not only a man's fel t to be the Son of God, liuc ~ this rrurh, Th<~t Chrz(/u the Son of God, verfe s. He fays, That the Sptrrt bMYiwitnefl to it: And verje 10. H< that beluves bath th< WJtntfl in htmjelj. Now his Scope there is to fpeak of the Witnefs ~ not only to a man's rn~ tcrcCI in Chriir, ol which vtr{e I 2, but clfo of Chnl\'s bemg ordamed the FomJtain of L1fe, verf.·Jo, r L He th,11 believeth on the So1J of God, bath the witne{s ill himfetf: · he thilt 6eluvethnot God, hatb made him 11 liar, 6ecauje he 6eluvetb uott!Je record thttl God gave of hu Son. A11d tbis is the record, Tb,;t God h.1th give11 to tU eter~al hfe, atldt!i~s life is bis _SO.'J. :. , It is necelfary, upon occafion of thiS Drrcourfe, to add· a Caut1on tn tlus pbce; which is, That all this is not fo to be under(\ood, as if the light of Su" pernatural Faitli in us de(\roys that of Reafon 'and Nature, yea, it fubordinates it to it felf, and reftoreth it again, and rectifies it, and then makes ure of it; even as the light of Reafon cloth fubordinate and make ufe of Senfe. God pof– fclfoth and cloatheth the natural Powers of the Mind, with an higher hght than ever inbred in us,through the Revelation of the Spirit, and converts them all, as its Eng:nes, to get a further knowledge by. We fee it by this , That tile word wr.tten ( unto which the light ofFairh is fuited ·.,Colours to the eye) though it reveals things, beyond re:!fon and light natural, as: are the Princi· pies of the Gofpel, yet it reveals them in fuch a way, as Reafon enlighrned by Faith may fee the greate!l harmony and correfpondency in them, and re– ceive as much fatisfaction as ever in that other natural Knowledge, And the Principlesbeing taken for granted once by Faith, there is ufe of 1\cafon to fee the dependence of all things revealed one with another, and the collecting one thing lrom another; fo as God hath writ the Scriptures as t;o men' endowed with re1fon, yea, and applyed it to the way of Human Arts and Sfiences.: Yet !\ill fo, as the light of Faith is a light beyond that of Reafon; which •p· pears, 1. In that the firjl Principles of theGoJPtl, as the Apo!lle calls them, Heb; 6. r. laid in the Mind, are wholly above Reafon, and made evident by this Supernatural Light wholly: They are wholly new; and Reafon is uncapable of tnem. So that there is much the fame difference between the Principles in– bred, and thefe by Faith revealed in the Gofpel; that is, between the Princi– ples of Sciences. Some Sciences take their Principles out of Nature, being· fuch as are known by Nature, as Philofophy doth; and fo did Adam's Divini– ty and Knowledge of God, the Principles of it were inbred: But others _,take their Principles from other Sciences, as Mufick, havingufeofNumbcrs, borrows its skill in -them from Arithmetick: So Faith cloth fetch its Principles about Chri(\, ~c. from Heaven, the bot'ome of God, the Spirit laying in the deep things of God's Counfel, as Principles wholly new, and wholly above Nature. And thefe it fees noother way, than by a Supernatural Light and Revelation of the Spirit; at fir(\ it is fo, though reafon may confirm them, Therein Faith and Reafon differ, that Nibilejl.n intelleflu, q11odno11 priut · in fenfi•; but here many things are in Faith, which were never in Reafon. And 2ly , It appears in this, That though Faith ufeth Reafon to difcuf• the Trmh of Deductions from thofe Principles, and to gather Conclutions from thefe Principles laid: As for example; the Word hath Motives which Faith makes ufe of in a way of Reafoo too, and it argues thiogs in a rHioml way, lt argues the Caufe from the-Effect, Gods Love from Signs. In interpreting the Scnptures, we ufe Reafon to gather from the Connexion and Dependence, the meamng of the Holy Gho(\: Yet !\ill, even in thefe Arguin£;s and D~duwons, there accompanies a Light that Faith !lrikes in with, a Light beyond the force 111 the R.eafon: It feals up rhe Truth, collected by Reafon, beyond thePowerof Reafon: ltfuperaddsaLight which cans the Ballance. It not only_ reveals the Principles we realon from, by an higher Light than Natural, bur 1t confirms rhe Reafonings and Concluflons frotn thence by a Light more' than Natural, of bare R:.ealon; as the phrafe in Job is, He fealetb lnf/rttfli– on, Jo633. 16. If we be moved to any Duty by a practical Reafon or Motive, I ~ tile
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