I 



BOOK IX.] FAITH ABOVE KNOWLEDGE. 369 



wiiich is no more than we do to a suspected witnejr3. But. 

 the faith imputed to Abraham for righteousness consisted iu; 

 a particular, laughed at by Sarah/'^ who, in that respect, ya^ 

 Hii image of the natural reason. And^ therefore, the more 

 absurd and incredible any divine mystery is, the greater 

 honour we do to God in believing it ; and so much the more 

 noble the victory of faith : as sinners, the more they are 

 oi)preb6ed in conscience, yet relying upon the mercy of God 

 for salvation, honour him the more ; for all despaii* is a kind 

 of reproaching the deity. And if well considered, belief is 

 more worthy than knowledge ; such knowledge, I mean, as 

 we have at present : for in knowledge, the human mind is 

 acted upon by sense, which results from material things ; but 

 in faith, the spirit is affected by spirit, which is the more 

 worthy agent. It is otherwise in the state of glory : for, 

 then, faith shall cease, and we shall know as we are known. ^ 

 Let us, therefore, conclude, that sacred theology must be 

 drawn from the word and oracles of God ; ^ not from the 

 light of nature, or the dictates of reason. It is written, that 

 " the heavens declare the glory of God :" but we nowhere 

 find it, that the heavens declare the will of God, wliich is 

 pronounced a law, and a testimony, that men should do 

 according to it, &c. Nor does this hold only in the great 

 mysteries of the Godhead, of the creation, and oi the redemp- 

 tion, but belongs, also, to the true interpretation of the 

 moral law. " Love your enemies, do good to them that hate 

 you," tkc, " that ye may be the children of your heavenly 

 father, who sends his rain upon the just and the unjust."'* 

 Which words are more than human, — 



" Nee vox hominem sonat."* 

 and go beyond the light of nature. So the heathen poets, 

 especially when they speak pathetically, frequently expostu- 

 late with laws and moral doctrines, (though these are far 

 more easy and indulgent than divine laws), as if they had a 

 kind of malignant opposition to the freedom of nature, — 



" Et quod natura remittit 



Invida jura negant."^ 



according to the expression of Dendamis, the Indian, to tho 

 messengers of Alexander; viz., " That he had heard, indeed, 



■ Gen. xviii. ' 1 Cor. xiii. 12. * Psal. xviii. 2. 



« >Iatt. v. 44, 4i). • iEneid, i. 332. ^ Ovid, Metam. x 380. 

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