4 popifb Objeffiontprevented. the truthandpromifesofGod. But no afl'ent can be given toa thing utterlyunknown. What is more abfurd than to dreameof ablind affent toweknow notwhat , toa thing we never heard of? Howfoever faith apprehends myf eries not to be inqui- red into , yet the propofitionand do&rineof all the Ar- ticlesoffaithmult bediltin&ly conceived, that-a man be PopiJ6i o1)e17i able to underflandwhat they are. If a mancannot give a onr prevented. reafon of the thing beleeved,he mullbe able to give a rea- z Cor.10 5. fonof his beleefe. Faith captivatesour underflanding un- Bell.de Pelf. to the obedienceof Chrift, but is not ignorant of Chrifi, 1`b' I r' 7. or of his do&rine. It giveth credit andfubmitteth to the truth acknowledged, though it feeme abfurd to carnali realòn,but it cherifhethnot ignorance ofdivine myfleries exceedingall humane capacitie. It fubjeð reafon to the doSlrine.of God and his revelation, but it neither extin- guifheth thenatureof man, nor the light of reafon. Faith is not a brutifhcaptivitie,which yeelds up her eyes tobe put out : but the underftandingreceiving a more excellent fight by faith, yeelds up the worfe, and dothnot lofe her light, but exchange it for thebetter. There is a double affent ; one from reafon,the other fromauthority: both are made with the knowledge of the Minde. Knowledge is includedin both ; in theone of the caufe and properties, whichis ftri&ly called Science ; in the otherof the autho- rityand truth of the revealer, and in that refpe& of the Rom. TO. c4, t7. thingtaught, which iscalled Faith. How (hallwe beleeve in z Cor.4.14. him ofwhomwe have notheard? There is nofight without Bell. ubifupra. fome vifible obje&, no faith without the knowledge of God in Chrift. Though knowledge be not faith , but an habit diftin& from ir, yet it concurres to thebeing of faith , in as much as no man can affent to that he neverheard of.Wífedomeis . diffinguifhed from knowledge as a thing more excellent, whichyetit prefuppofeth : fò faith is diftinguifhed from knowledge, but cannot be without. it. The knowledge r which hathno ingredience into faith, is the knowledge of
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