such as have knowledge. Neither can men, as he saith, excuse their ignorance or their want of faith, because they are not booke learned, for though they cannot read, yet they may heare, and by hearing faith commeth.
§. IX Hilarie inquiring how we should so be one in the Father and in the Sonne, as the Father is in the Sonne, and the Sonne in the Fa∣ther, saith; that in such mysteries habet non tam veniam, quàm praemium, ignorare, (that is, non intelliger•…•…) quod credas, quia maximum stipendium fi∣dei est sperare quae nescias, it hath not so much pardon as reward, not to know what thou beleevest. For, it is the greatest stipend of faith to hope for those things which thou understandest not. For as the Apostle saith, they never entred into the heart of man the things •…•…hich God hath prepared for us. And no doubt, but it is a great commendation of faith, when a man giveth glory to God, undoubtedly beleeving that to be true, which God in •…•…he greatest mysteries hath revealed though he doth not comprehend the reason thereof. The thing r•…•…vealed hee be∣leeveth to bee true and •…•…o knoweth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, though hee doe not distinctly, exactly and clearely comprehend 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the reason thereof, which hee findeth to be incomprehensible.: What then, saith Hilarie, is there no office of faith, if nothing can be comprehended? Imò hoc officium fides profiteatur, id quod cred•…•… incomprehensibile sibi esse, se scire; yea, saith hee, let faith professe this offic•…•…, that it knoweth that thing to be incompre∣hensible to it selfe, which it beleeveth.
§. X. Out of Augustine he citeth five places, wherein he teacheth nothing but what we freely confesse, that the faithfull (for he speaketh not particularly of the ignorant, but of all the faithfull) beleeve those things which they doe not comprehend: or as hee speaketh in the first place quae certa intelligentia non possunt discernere, which by certaine in∣telligence they are not able to discerne, which in the second place he calleth intelligendi vivacita•…•…em, in the third intelligentiam mysteriorum, which in the fourth place hee sheweth not to goe before, but to follow after Faith. For first by rel•…•…tion wee know 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, what God revealeth, then wee assent thereto, and having assented we come afterwards more dist•…•…nctly to understand it. But he who seeketh not onely to know the thing but the reason thereof, may as he saith in the fifth plac•…•…, be cal∣led rationalis, that is a quaerist: whereas a faithfull man should say Nescio q•…•…od credo, I understand not that which I beleeve. Vis scire▪ saith hee, Naturam Dei, hoc scito quod nescias, wilt thou know the nature of God? know this that thou know'st it not. For as elswhere he saith, debemus credere, quod intelligere nondum valeamus, quàm verissimè dictum est per Prophetam nisi credideritis, non intelligetis. And in the Sermon even now alleaged. Nobis sufficiat: Let it suffice us to know concerning the Trinity, what God hath vouchsafed to explaine—what Christ hath beene willing to shew, that onely I know: when a thought shall arise and propound this question, what is God, and what is the reason, that is, the proper nature of the Trinity, let it suffice us to beleeve, that it is, (that is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and not rashly seeke the reason of the Trinity.