Were it expressed in those terms of Art, which the Masters of each sect have devised to transmit their opinions to posterity by, they would be fit for none but those few, who by acquaintance with such terms, esteem themselves, or are esteemed learned men: And yet the men of another sect might little understand them. For most new Sect-masters in Philosophy, devised new terms, as well as new principles or opinions: Though at Athens, where the principal Sects were near together, the diversity was not so great as among them at a further distance, yet was there enough to trouble their disciples. He that understandeth Zoroaster and Trismegistus, may not understand Pythagoras; and he that understandeth him, may not understand his follower Plato; and he that understandeth him, may not understand Aristotle: and so of Telesius, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, Aristippus, Antisthenes, Zeno, Chrysippus, Heraclitus, Democritus, Pyrrho, Epicurus, with all the rest: And among Christians themselves, the degenerated Heretics and Sectaries, that make their own opinions, do make also their own terms of Art; so that if you compare the Valentinians, Basilidians, Apollinarians, &c. and our late Wigelians, Paracelsians, Rosicrucians, Belimenists, Familists, Libertines, Quakers, &c. you shall find that he that seemeth to understand one Sect, must learn, as it were, a new language, before he can understand the rest. So that if the Scripture must have been phrased according to Philosophers terms of art, who knoweth to which Sect it must have been suited? and every day there riseth up a Campanella, a Thomas White, &c. who are reforming the old terms and arts, and making both new; so that nothing which is of universal use, as Religion is, can be fitted to any such uncertain measure. Christ hath therefore dealt much ⟨p. 241⟩better with the world, and spoken plainly the things which the simple and all must know, and yet spoken sublimely of things mysterious, heavenly and sublime.
Were it expressed in those terms of Art, which the Masters of each sect have devised to transmit their opinions to posterity by, they would be fit for none but those few, who by acquaintance with such terms, esteem themselves, or are esteemed learned men: And yet the men of another sect might little understand them. For most new Sect-masters in Philosophy, devised new terms, as well as new principles or opinions: Though at Athens, where the principal Sects were near together, the diversity was not so great as among them at a further distance, yet was there enough to trouble their disciples. He that understandeth Zoroaster and Trismegistus, may not understand Pythagoras; and he that understandeth him, may not understand his follower Plato; and he that understandeth him, may not understand Aristotle: and so of Telesius, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, Aristippus, Antisthenes, Zeno, Chrysippus, Heraclitus, Democritus, Pyrrho, Epicurus, with all the rest: And among Christians themselves, the degenerated Hereticks and Sectaries, that make their own opinions, do make also their own terms of Art; so that if you compare the Valentinians, Basilidians, Apollinarians, &c. and our late Wigelians, Paracelsians, Rosicrucians, Belimenists, Familists, Libertines, Quakers, &c. you shall find that he that seemeth to understand one Sect, must learn, as it were, a new language, before he can understand the rest. So that if the Scripture must have been phrased according to Philosophers terms of art, who knoweth to which Sect it must have been suited? and every day there riseth up a Campanella, a Thomas White, &c. who are reforming the old terms and arts, and making both new; so that nothing which is of universal use, as Religion is, can be fitted to any such uncertain measure. Christ hath therefore dealt much ⟨p. 241⟩better with the world, and spoken plainly the things which the simple and all must know, and yet spoken sublimely of things mysterious, heavenly and sublime.
