Precious faith considered in its nature, working, and growth

Passing over those three great Pillars of Scripture Precepts, Promises and Threatenings; I now proceed to the Sacred Truths, which lie therein, as Rich Veins of Gold and Silver do in a Mine: And to avoid Prolixity, I shall pick out of them some supernatural Ones, such as cannot be known by the mere Light of Nature, but drop down from Heaven in a way of pure Revelation; concluding with my self, That if Faith can make an Experiment in these, it may much more do so in others. I shall first instance in that Sacred Truth of The blessed Trinity of Persons in Unity of the God-head: This is, as one hath it, Fundamentum Fundamentorum, The Foundation of Foundations; unless this stand fast all Evangelical Truths fall to the Ground; we are no longer Christians then we acknowledge it. So sublime is this Mystery, that as Saint Bernard saith, Scrutari haec temeritas est, credere pietas est, nosse vero vita aeterna est. And when Gregory Nazianzen was pressed to assign a difference between those words, Begotten and Proceeding, he made this answer, Dic mihi, quid sit generatio, & ego dicam, quid sit processio, ut ambo insaniamus; distinguere inter processionem & generationem nescio, non valeo, non sufficio. This Truth is totally supernatural; it could never without a Revelation enter into our Heart; ⟨p. 353⟩humane reason; no, not that of Adam could not reach it. Indeed there are strange passages touching it in Trismegistus and Plato: Trismegistus saith, God who is Mind begat [Greek or Hebrew], the Speech or Word which is another Mind, and with that Speech another which is the Fiery God and Spirit of the God-head. Plato speaks of a [Greek or Hebrew], A most Divine Word, and of the begotten Son of the Good; and the learned Grotius saith. Apud Platonicos reperias, [Greek or Hebrew], three Persons in one. But sure these men knew nothing of this Mystery; if they spake somewhat like, they spake not the same; or if the same, they borrowed it from Moses. Plato is called the Atticizing Moses; and his [Greek or Hebrew], one and many, is an old Tradition derived from the Jews; and his [Greek or Hebrew], is taken from Jehovah, or I am. Or, which is most probable, the notions of the Trinity in Plato and Trismegistus were foisted into their Works. How many Books have been put out under the names of the Apostles and ancient Fathers, which have not been truly such?

Passing over those three great Pillars of Scripture Precepts, Promises and Threatnings; I now proceed to the Sacred Truths, which lie therein, as Rich Veins of Gold and Silver do in a Mine: And to avoid Prolixity, I shall pick out of them some supernatural Ones, such as cannot be known by the mere Light of Nature, but drop down from Heaven in a way of pure Revelation; concluding with my self, That if Faith can make an Experiment in these, it may much more do so in others. I shall first instance in that Sacred Truth of The blessed Trinity of Persons in Ʋnity of the God-head: This is, as one hath it, Fundamentum Fundamentorum, The Foundation of Foundations; unless this stand fast all Evangelical Truths fall to the Ground; we are no longer Christians then we acknowledg it. So sublime is this Mystery, that as Saint Bernard saith, Scrutari haec temeritas est, credere pietas est, nosse vero vita aeterna est. And when Gregory Nazianzen was pressed to assign a disserence between those words, Begotten and Proceeding, he made this answer, Dic mihi, quid sit generatio, & ego dicam, quid sit processio, ut ambo insaniamus; distinguere inter processionem & generationem nescio, non valeo, non sufficio. This Truth is totally supernatural; it could never without a Revelation enter into our Heart;