I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus what advantageth it me if the Dead rise not Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die Since the beginning of the World Men of wordly Minds and carnal Appetites who aim only at the good things of this Life have always argued thus and indeed they would have a great deal of reason in arguing thus and pursuing their reasons were there no Resurrection of the dead Chap. XVI 21. The Salutation of me Paul with mine own hand If any Man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha He begun still and ended with Christ which evidently shews the strong persuasion of his Mind Second Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. I. 8 9. For we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble c. That we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead By these words we perceive what troubles they underwent and what hopes they had to sustain them in their Sufferings Chap. II. 14 15 16. Now thanks be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the savour of his Knowledge by us in every place For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ c. To the one we are the savour of Death unto Death and to the other the savour of Life unto Life and who is sufficient for these things And who is sufficient to express all the force and energy of these words unlike the false Charms of humane Eloquence yet such as are easily discerned by an Heart rightly disposed Chap. IV. 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the Knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The Eloquence of Men which is generally above the thing it represents has usually but one Idea to represent one single object But if that Idea be a complex one then it is composed of several others proportionable and agreeable to it There cant well be in this sort of Eloquence a mixture of various Ideas and different Metaphors together in one and the same Period But on the contrary the Eloquence of the Holy Ghost which is always inferiour to those Objects it lays before us makes use of several different Images and Ideas at once because a single one could not express what it endeavours to represent As for instance in these expressions The Sun of righteousness with the healing of his wings has visited us through his tender mercies as also in this place where the Apostle thought he could never say enough this is a light which shineth which shineth into the heart which giveth the light the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For a Man to express himself thus he must really be very strongly perswaded of what he could say The Orators of this World are usually Masters of their own Thoughts but this Writer here was as it were filled and wholly taken up with the greatness of the Object he was about to represent Vers 15. For all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God Thanksgiving Gratefulness Acknowledgement Glory of God Charity Confession of their Frailties Prayer Exhortation c. are the only Subjects that all the Writings of those pretended Impostors are full of Vers 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory No Writer ever spoke with so much energy because no Writer was so strongly perswaded of the Truth of what he delivered Chap. V. 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature What Teachers ever required such things of their Disciples What mean these Words and this strange Exhortation Chap. VI. 1 4 5 6. We then as workers together with him beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain c. but in all things approving our selves as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings by pureness by knowledge by long-suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned Do such Exhortations usually come from the Men of this World or rather do they not proceed from the Holy Ghost himself Chap. VIII 18. And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches He speaks of St. Luke in this place and what he says of him is sufficient to make us understand that the Gospel according to St. Luke was read even in those days in all the Christian Churchès which overthrows all suspicion that that Gospel had been filled with sham Stories of certain matters of fact in a time when every body had yet fresh in their Remembrance all that came to pass in those days Chap. XII 12. Truly the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds St. Paul wrote these things to several numerous Churches and to whole Societies And can we suppose he could perswade them that he wrought so many Wonders and Signs among them when he wrought none Chap. XIII 5. Examine your selves c. prove your own selves c. how that Jesus Christ is in you What mean these Expessions We are in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is in us And whence come they Who first established such a strange Language And who did the Apostles learn this Stile from a Stile till then unknown to the World Had Men ever said before that time Cesar is in us No surely because they had never received the Spirit of Cesar But the Disciples had received the Spirit of Jesus Christ Epistle to the Galatians Chap. III. 4 5. O foolish Galatians c. Have ye suffered so many things in vain If it be yet in vain He therefore that ministreth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you doth he it by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith What means this Interrogation If the Miracles and the miraculous and extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost had been only meer Fictions Is it possible we should not perceive the Truth of that matter of fact by the ingenuous simplicity wherewith this Author takes it for granted when he makes it a Principle of his Arguments and takes an occasion from thence to censure the Galatians after so sharp and severe a manner Chap. VI. 12 14 15. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh they constrain you to be Circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ c. But God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the World is crucified unto me and I unto the World For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor
represents the Disciples continually fasting and praying could not devise that matter of fact supposing it to be false He would be very extravagant that should believe that the Apostles led an ill course of Life and plunged themselves in all sorts of lewd Debaucheries Their Words their Actions convince us of the contrary Yet it may be said that they were Villains indeed if what they preached was false But if they were downright plain honest Men as their speech necessarily evinces to us then was their preaching also necessarily true Vers 12. Then the Deputy when he saw what was done believed being astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord. 'T would argue but little Judgment in any one that designs to impose a Fiction upon Men's belief to pitch upon Circumstances as are contrary to publick knowledge The Conversion of a Deputy was certainly an Event very remarkable Chap. XV. 39. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus This Historian is very exact in relating the least occurrences He is sincere too since he scruples not to relate the Contentions which arose among the Apostles themselves Chap. XX. 12. And they brought the young Man alive and were not a little comforted Can any thing be more surprising or convincing than the Resurrection of the Dead Chap. XXIV 25. And as he reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled and answered go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee Great indeed was the Divine efficacy of his words which made a Judge tremble sitting on his Tribunal of Justice and before the Chains of his Prisoner Chap. XXVIII 30 31. And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired House and received all that came unto him preaching the Kingdom of God c. Here endeth the History of the Acts of the holy Apostles written by St. Luke 'T is manifest he compiled it before the Destruction of Jerusalem because he mentions nothing of that Event Neither do the Gospels or Epistles of the Apostles speak of it But they often speak of the sudden coming of the Lord or of the Judgments he had resolved to execute upon the Jewish Nation CAHP. IX Wherein we shall yet farther produce from the Epistles of St. Paul St. Peter and St John several Texts very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christian Religion Epistle to the Romans CHap. I. 1 2 3 4. Paul the Servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God c. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the Flesh and declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead Men generally insert all their Titles in the Epistles they write but St. Paul inserts the whole Gospel in his And what was the reason of it Because his Mind and Heart were so full of it that he could not speak of any thing else Jesus Christ was his Alpha and his Omega his Beginning and his End Vers 7. To all that â—e in Rome beloved of God called to be saints Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Did ever Man before him write in this stile He directs his Discourse to those only that were called to be Saints He does not vainly complement them after the usual way of the World but wishes them the Peace and Grace of God Certainly he would not have wrote thus had he been an Impostor or an Enemy to his Country Men who endeavoured to render them odious throughout the World by accusing them of an imaginary Crime Vers 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth c. How strongly perswaded must that Man be of what he says who expresses himself after so pathetical a manner And how well does the fulness of his mind appear by all these manifold and multiplied expressions Chap. VIII 37 38 39. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels c. An immoveable Constancy indeed and a Divine confidence which he so naturally set down and which could not possibly arise from the Soul of an Impostor Chap. XI 28 29. As concerning the Gospel they are Enemies for your sake but as touching the Election they are beloved for the Father's sake For the Gifts and calling of God c. Why did St. Paul here speak so movingly and tenderly of the Jews And why did he earnestly endeavour to soften and mitigate the Minds of the Gentiles towards them Whence comes that inclination both of his Heart and Affections to favour those implacable Enemies who sought nothing but his Destruction and Ruin Certainly a Man that had forsaken his own Nation out of spight or a desire of revenge could not be of such a Temper Chap. XII 2. And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind c. We have here a Man who having been wholly changed having acquired new Knowledge new Habits and new Affections speaks of nothing but of being transformed renewed and becoming a New Creature c. A Man who having been enlightned in his way to Damascus speaks of nothing but of illumination of a Light that shone from Heaven of a Kingdom of Light A Man in fine who having had mercy shewn him in the midst of the fury of his persecutions speaks of nothing but Pardon and Grace T is an easy matter to collect his History from his very expressions Vers 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in Honour preferring one another not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Rejoycing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer distributing to the necessity of Saints given to hospitality Bless them which persecute you bless and curse not rejoyce with them that do rejoyce c. Can we suppose these to be the words or thoughts of an Impostor Chap. XIII 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Religion as it were Cements the good and welfare of a State and Piety seems inseparable from the publick good of a Society because God by whose appointment Kings reign is the prime Author of Religion Vers 12 14 The night is far spent the day is at hand c. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof This Author's words continually follow and express his thoughts He considered the Gospel as a Light that dissipated all the erroneous Darkness and Ignorance of his Mind he considered
us humble that fits it self to all the Conditions of Life and satisfies all the Desires of our Hearts In a word it is the Christian Religion that sanctifies us exalts us and compleats all our Wishes and tho Men and Angels should jointly endeavour to contrive a more excellent one and more suitable to our Wants and Necessities than this 't is certain they could never accomplish their Design VI Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is consider'd in the Relation it bears to the Glory of God IT is with the Deity as with the Sun which being bright in it self diffuses abroad it's Glory by it's Beams and imprints upon the Clouds or Waters an imperfect Image of it self which Image tho it wants the full Splendor of it's Original is yet pure agreeable and adorn'd with sufficient Brightness and Majesty The Deity has an essential Glory consisting in it's supereminent Virtues and infinite Perfections to which nothing can be superadded and the Brightness of it is more than Man can bear This Glory streaming from the eternal Author of All things diffuses it self abroad in all his Works and forms out of the bright Efflux of those Beams which strike by reflexion upon us and are united into the Heart of Man an Image of that refulgent and immortal Sun which Image tho it has not all it 's full perfect and dazling Splendor is yet pure bright lively and transcendent And this Glory is what we call the Christian Religion easily prov'd to be so in that it refers it self solely to the Glory of God and is as it were a lively Image and Transcript of His Perfection and Our Duty This Religion is alone capable of undeceiving Man by removing those false Notions they had so long entertain'd of the Deity This alone discovers the true Nature of God removes all Symbols Types Shadows material and sensible Appearances under which he was Worship'd all which were more proper to disguise than discover the true Nature of the Deity It gives us some insight into that Nature by assuring us that God is invisible and removes him from our Senses to make him the Object of our Vnderstanding 'T is this Religion alone that discovers that Eternal Counsel of God so full of Mercy and Consolation to us that he sent his Son into the World that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life 'T is this alone that glorifies God in his Attributes and shews distinctly their infinite Perfection By this alone we are taught that God governs all things by his Providence that he makes Evil it self instrâ—mental to our Good that by his Goodness he supplies all our Necessities that our Sins being inconsistent with his Truth and Justice he cannot consequently bear with them and yet that his Mercy and Compassion is without Bounds It teaches us not only that we are bound to Worship God and serve him but assures us also that this was the End of our Creation It teaches us to ask of him above all things the advancement of his own Glory and to begin our Petitions with this Form Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done It requires of us that we should glorify him not only with our Lips or barely by our spiritual Songs but with all our Thoughts Words and Works It shews us that there is no Creature but what is under his Providence no Sin but what may fall under his Justice no Sinner but what may experience his Mercy no motion or inclination to â—â—â—ty but what ought to be attributed to the Efficacy of his Grace nor no unlawful Action but what will one day fall under his Judgment It discovers to us such Miracles as glorify his infinite Power such Events as clearly manifest the Wonders of his Providence such Benefits as evince his Goodness and Mercy and it allows all his Divine Attributes a thing before unknown to Man their just Extent that is an Extent without Limits Now from whence can proceed those Ideas we have of the Eternity of God of his Immensity Omnipotence his infinite Knowledge and Immutability c. but from this Divine Religion No other Religion could at once elevate both God and Man It shews us how admirably Man is united to God and God to Man It alone induces us to submit our Will to God to acquiesce without any murmuring to the Decrees of his Providence and to direct all our Desires and Affections to him as our supream Good Men indeed heretofore endeavour'd to honour their Deities by Offering Beasts as a Sacrifice But was it ever known before that they were to glorify God by the Sacrifice of themselves And what other Religion but this could incite Men to Offer such a Sacrifice in which there seems to be so much Pain and Reluctance Certainly unless we wilfully blind our Selves 't is a thing incredible that we should not perceive that the Christian Religion is as it were a pure and spiritual Communion between the Perfections and Attributes of God which make Man sensible of their effects and the inward sense of Man's Heart which glorifies God Neither Flesh and Blood Neither the World Nature or Education were forcible enough to produce so great and sublime an Effect and this can be the Work of none but him who perfectly knew the agreement of all things and was certain that our Hearts were wholly made for the Glory of God and that the Sentiments of his Glory were to be imprinted in our Hearts only by the help of Religion VII Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its Morality WEre we never so little acquainted with what passes within us we should not only find that the two principal Faculties of our Soul the Sensitive and Intellectual Apetite by consent alternately deceive one another but we should also perceive that it is almost impossible to undertake to rectify the one without increasing the Disorders of the other If by the Knowledge of those things we were before ignorant of we remove the Darkness of our Understanding we usually then grow proud of our Learning And if we satisfy our Desires by soothing our Passions we often cherish the most dangerous Principles of Errour and Prejudice that obscure the Light of the Understanding And 't is a Truth but too well experienced that the Knowledge which enlightens the Understanding often corrupts the Heart and a Sin indulg'd in which satisfies the Heart corrupts the Understanding And this is the cause of the ill Success those Men have met with who endeavour'd to regulate the Desires of Man For some observ'd not the Dictates of Right Reason in being too indulgent to their Passions as the Epicureans who making Pleasure the only End of Man debase him to a Brute to render him more happy Others were puff'd up with a kind of Spiritual Pride in ascribing the knowledge of too many things to their Reason such were the Stoicks who forgot that they were Men because they had
the other Scale to overbalance it but t is not the Pleasure of God we should and we must rest content to believe those Objects which make us thus renounce that which we actually see And should they be never so agreeable to the Principles of Common Sense yet Faith and not Reason ought chiefly to induce us to receive them Now the same Principle that sets the Heart at variance with the Law that imposes on it the necessity of acting after that manner the same Principle I say makes Reason oppose Revelation which lays upon it an invincible Necessity of believing what it cannot comprehend 'T is certain however that this Command of God is very conformable to the nature of things very suitable to our present Condition necessary to our Sanctification and useful for the advancement of Gods Glory We must not think it strange that the Dispensation of Faith should preceed that of Sight since we daily observe Darkness to preceed Light by a natural Order and that we are Children before we come to be Men. Both Experience and Reason tell us that our Knowledge is very imperfect in this Life wherein the Soul is as it were pressed down by the Clog of the Body that we may walk more secure by the help of the Light of Nature And those Heathens who attempted to go beyoud it wandred blindly about and lost their Way There are two sorts of Irregularities in Man which produce all his other Disorders Pride and Voluptuousness The latter of which springs up in the most inferiour part of the Soul and is chiefly produced by the Senses But Pride is properly a Defect of the Mind As therefore there has not been found hitherto a better Remedy against Voluptuousness than that of afflicting the Senses by denying them those Pleasures they so earnestly thirst after so it does not appear there has been as yet a better means thought of to remove the Pride of the Mind than to humble it by restraining those Speculations of Knowledge which puff it up beyond measure and mortify it by requiring it to sacrifice all its weak Conjectures and vain Reasonings to Faith And indeed this Sacrifice of our selves is deservedly owing to God since there is as much Reason for submitting our Willby our Obedience to his Laws as there is for subjecting our Mind to him by Faith For by the former of these acts we own him for our Lord that has a Right to command us and by the latter we readily confess his Veracity and that we need not fear being imposed upon when we receive those things he commands us to observe Thus Man who had lost himself in his Desire of infinite Knowledge is bound in some measure to expiate his Crime in not desiring to know any thing by himself He had attempted to get as clear a Knowledge of all things as God himself But now he refuses to know any thing but from God He was blind whilst he walked in the Light of Nature but now he must see clear in the Darkness of the Dispensation of Faith For after that in the Wisdom of God the World by Wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 21. 'T is certain should God familiarly and frequently Reveal himself unto Men by sensible and continued Miracles we should then walk by Sight and not by Faith and 't is true also that if the Objects of Revelation were not in some sort obscure there would be no Endeavours no Difficulty no Sacrifice of Reason made to believe them The Difficulties that Mysteries are attended with have almost the same Influence over our Vnderstanding as Afflictions have upon our Heart For as these bring the latter in subjection so the others serve to try the Constancy of the former And since God Almighty was pleased to encrease our Patience by two different sorts of Sufferings the one which he himself inflicts immediately upon us and the other he permits worldly minded and sinful Men to inflict upon us so in like manner he was pleased to exercise our Faith by two different sorts of Difficulties some whereof spring immediately from God himself and others proceed from the very Heart and Vnderstanding of Men. For we must distinguish betwixt that Obscurity with respect to the Mysteries which proceed from God and that which proceeds from the Vnderstanding of Men. The first is either necessary as all those Difficulties which arise from the essential Disproportion between infinite Objects such as those of Revelation and a finite Understanding like ours or else voluntary and so enter into the very Plan and Design of Religion it self And these again may be distinguished according to that Diversity which in our manner of conceiving things we are obliged to suppose in the Perfections of God himself There being some which proceed from the Council of his Wisdom others from that of his Justice others from that of his Majesty and lastly from that of his Goodness and Mercy Thus Divine Wisdom was pleased to intermix some sort of Darkness amidst the most express Prophecies we have lest that too clear an Evidence of them should destroy their Event To this Principle also must we refer all those Shadows Types Parabolical Representations that mixture of sensible Objects with spiritual Benefits that of the State of the Church with the State of Israel according to the flesh and generally all those other means which the Holy Ghost made use of partly to cover those Events he has declared to Men many Ages before their Completion God drew a Veil over the most essential Truths of the Old Testament such as the Immortality of the Soul the Trinity the Redemption of Mankind c. that a distinct Revelation from all these Objects might be an undeniable Character of the Messias and that his Disciples might boldly affirm that Life was manifested in Jesus Christ that Grace had appeared unto all Men. For no Man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him John 1. 18. To this Wisdom of God also must be referred that Conduct of the Holy Ghost in inspiring the Patriarchs thereby to reveal a better life to them and make them cry out upon their Death-beds Lord I have waited for thy Salvation but withal giving them but a faint Prospect of that Object by such obscure Thoughts and dark Notions as they were not able of themselves to solve deferring to give a more perfect Knowledge of his Mysteries till that Time which he had set apart for the fulfilling of his Oracles and the Manifestation of him that was to be the Author and End of Christian Religion For this cause therefore there is hardly mention made of any thing else in the Writings of Moses but of temporal Promises and Threatnings and hence it was that Jesus Christ himself when disputing against the Sadducees proved the Resurrection of the dead but by
Consequence only Divine Wisdom was also pleased that Jesus Christ should be born in Obscurity and Humiliation that those mean outward Appearances being offensive to the prejudice of carnal and worldly minded Jews they might as it were by chance give occasion to the execution of those things which the Council of God had determined And this is one of the principal causes of his Poverty and Humiliation of the Meanness of his Birth and the Vnworthiness of his first Profession the choice of his Disciples c. The Justice of God acting in concert with his Wisdom obliges him to speak to all prophane Contemners of his Mysteries in an obscure Language and so as it were to conceal those Pearls from them lest like unclean Beasts they should trample them under their Feet And this may very well serve for a Reason of the denial which Christ formerly made to the Unbelievers of those Times of signalizing his Power among them and of the great care he often took to conceal his Miracles from them For this cause therefore spoke he sometimes in Parables to Strangers but he always very clearly exprest himself to his Disciples giving them to understand the meaning of those Parables and telling them that as for them they had the Priviledge of seeing all things openly Neither does his Majesty suffer him to reveal himself as familiarly to the sinful Man as he would to the innocent This we ought not to wonder at since Men themselves are wont so to deal with one another There is nothing more common than for Great Men to banish their Presence those who have incurr'd their Displeasure To think it then strange if God conceals himself from a Sinner would be to entertain a more unworthy Idea of his Majesty than that of an Earthly Monarch This was the Reason why God took such care to conceal himself even when he design'd to manifest his Glory And for this Cause he shewed himself only in Visions and Dreams or when hidden in the Cloud and Ark or covered with some other Veil On this account also he was wont to banish from his Presence all those as were defiled in their Bodies and order the Priests of the Sanctuary to purifie themselves He commanded too the People to wash their Garments when he gave them notice that within three Days he would come down to them nothing but an external and corporeal Purity being sufficient to qualify those that were to approach the Deity manifested under corporeal Symbols But Christ fulfilling in the Spirit every thing hidden in the Letter of the Law teaches us that those only shall see God who shall be found pure in Heart so that we have no reason to wonder if when Man by reason of his Guilt hides himself from God the Almighty withdraws the Influence of his Glorious Majesty from Man Lastly The Goodness and Mercy of God overshadows Revelation with some sort of Darkness to exercise our Faith and keep up our Minds in Vigour which also would grow sluggish if not stirred up by such Difficulties as are proper to Mysteries as also to humble our proud and haughty Reason which is immediately puffed up with its own Knowledge to make us submit our Understandings to him since we ought to believe any Truths tho incredible if he reveals them as also to sway our Hearts and Affections which ought readily to embrace any sorrowful and mortifying Objects that he is pleased to offer them to strip our Pride of all its Pretences and to dispose our Minds that we must necessarily acknowledge every Benefit we enjoy springs from him and that too so much the more because we thereby attain to life Eternal by such means and objects as are above our Capacity to comprehend So necessary is it that it should appear that our Sufficiency is of God and that the Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth Rom. 1. 16. To this Principle we owe the choice of those persons which God has made use of to preach the Gospel the nature of those seeming Paradoxes he commanded them to publish so contrary to the Light of Nature and Reason the Silence of the Holy Ghost in those things which a few Words from him would have rendred plain and easy to our Understandings But God is not content to exercise our Faith by those Obscurities we find dispersed throughout the Divine Revelations he further permits Heresies Schisms and Errours nay Superstition it self to reign among us that those who are approved may be made manifest Thus we may say he suffers all Egypt to be covered with Darkness the more eminently to discover his wonderful Protection in blessing at the same time the Land of Goshen with the Light of his Truth that is by giving us a Religion accompanied with so bright an Evidence as carnal and worldly minded Men can never comprehend because their Reason is eclipsed by Sensuality and the Corruption of their Hearts produces those thick Clouds that hide the Truth from their sight God 't is true enlightens the Minds of Men but Men wilfully blind themselves He permits it should be so to confound their Ignorance and demonstrate to us that he is the Father of Light But let us now enquire into the Principles of that Obscurity which solely springs from Men. And I. So gross are all the Prejudices of the Senses that there is no body so void of shame as to follow them openly Yet 't is certain they are very prevalent in the Hearts of most Men who stick not to say I never saw the like I could willingly believe it if I should but see it Who ever saw dead Men rise again from their graves And who ever ascended into Heaven or went down into the Pit All which Reasonings are manifestly absurd For can there be any greater Folly in a Man than to refuse to believe that which he does not see when these Objects of his Faith could have no Existence were they not invisible Did any one ever see the Time past long before he liv'd or the future long after his Death Did he ever see his own Soul the Deity c. For 't is nothing else but the Time past and the future the Objects and Interests of the Soul together with the Benefits of God which Faith offers to our Consideration II. We are accustomed by Education not to believe any thing that happens not in the ordinary course of Nature We confine our selves as it were to a Circle of Objects which we willingly admit of because they contain nothing that is repugnant to Experience or Probability So that the Custom we have of refusing to give our Assent to all other things reaching even unto matters of Religion inevitably casts us into Scepticism and Incredulity Yet should we but throughly consider those Objects which fall under common Experience they would certainly appear as surprising and incomprehensible as those of Religion If you think it strange that the Soul should outlive
easily beleive Mysteries tho we are not able to dive into the manner of them 3 dly This Submission to God is so very reasonable that none but a Man utterly void of Sense can be so stupid as not to perceive it For till we are endowed with an infinite Understanding we shall never be able to know but one side of things and consequently we must necessarily be for ever ignorant of the other 4 thly It is very just and equitable if ever any thing was so and it aims at nothing but shewing us our Ignorance and representing to us that being liable to be deceived we ought carefully to follow Revelation as a true and faithful Guide We should certainly be extravagant proudly to deny our own Ignorance or impiously suspect that God could deceive us when his Design is to reveal his Majesty to us V. But what is chiefly to be observed for the Honour of our Religion what shews the Characters of its Divinity and forces us to acknowledge them is that it teaches us that to see clear into matters of Religion we ought not to rely upon the Light of our Understanding and that we must lay aside the Evidence of Reason if we would be free from Errours in point of Faith 'T is a wonderful Effect of the Christian Religion that it renders us happy by inducing us to renounce our selves and no less admirable that it enlightens our Minds by obliging us to renounce our Reason To look boldly and stedfastly upon Mysteries is the way to be blind whereas we shall easily perceive the Light of God shining about us if we do but humbly cast down our Eyes We shall be sufficiently learned if we rest satisfied with the Knowledge of what God has been pleased to reveal unto us And nothing more betrays an Universal Ignorance than an insignificant Desire to be ignorant of nothing In other Sciences a Man's Skill is measured by his Knowledge but in that of Salvation he is best instructed who is most humble he who has the least Pride has the most understanding And the proof of it is easy We have already seen that the nice Speculations of Reason about Mysteries do but more perplex and darken what was before obscure Let us now see how much the submitting our Reason to Faith makes us have a clearer Insight into those Mysteries or at least how much it hinders our being confounded by them 'T is certain that by continuing in such a state of Humility whatsoever Difficulties may arise they will not have force enough to discompose our Minds We shall not be surprised that we are not able to comprehend the Nature of God or his manner of Knowing loving and acting or his Eternity Immensity c. but we shall rather be ravished with Admiration to think that we that are no better than Worms or Atoms are yet thought worthy to know him and raised to that pitch of Glory as to have some Prospect tho but a faint one of his wondrous Works and infinite Perfections Neither shall we have any reason to be offended because God formerly abandon'd the Gentiles and casts away other Nations which still abide in profound Ignorance and Darkness tho perhaps there is nothing in Nature so difficult or incomprehensible as the Conduct of God But we shall rather reflect upon our Selves and endeavour to search into the Knowledge of our own Nature And upon such a consideration we shall find our selves buried and swallowed up if I may so speak in some Corner of this vast Universe and that too in such a Time or conjuncture as is a meer Point in comparison of that almost infinite Duration of Time which has elapsed and that Eternity which is still to pass away We shall only perceive a few Years and a few Nations which we ascribe to Providence as its Object as if that which presides over the whole Creation were to be bounded by a few Ages or Nations But weak and foolish Creatures that we are we perceive not that infinite Succession of Objects which take their Turn and move on according to the Decree of eternal Wisdom we perceive not the strict union of this World with that which is to come or the share those Nations whose Ignorance we so much deplore have in that continued Chain of Events nor the Rights which Divine Justice has over them or at least we have but a faint and imperfect Knowledge of them We consider not that a thousand Years are as one Day and one Day as a thousand Years one Nation as an hundred Nations and an hundred Nations as one Nation in his sight who is able to create an infinite number of them out of Nothing as he did us And in this we may be compared to those who lying in the bottom of a Well would fain see the whole Extent of the Heavens Were we truly sensible of our wretched Nature we should not be so curious or inconsiderate but rather dread the Fate of those Men who were smitten from above for having looked into the Ark of God We should find out the Falsity of those Opinions which are the products of a rash Curiosity and whilst we limited our Enquiries by Revelation we should easily discern those that went beyond it We should distinguish Religion which mortisies us from Superstition which flatters and agreeably deludes us and however Policy in the height of its Pride might rank us among Creatures not much superiour to Brutes we should not cease to think our selves the Children of God No Charms of Eloquence should impose upon our Belief no idle Niceties of Grammar perplex that Faith which depends upon the Objects of the Gospel which are indeed too manifest in their Nature too often repeated and closely united to the Principles of Common Sense too well confirmed and attested by their Events too worthy of God himself and conduce too much to our Sanctification to be ever called in question In a word we should then shake off our Incredulity when we removed that which excited within us a secret Propension to it It is therefore certain that God has covered the Mysteries of Religion with a sacred Darkness and has even permitted Men to make them yet more obscure by their vain Speculations But what at once gives us Wonder and Consolation is that the deepest Philosophers and most curious Enquirers see not always clearest into the matters of Religion but those only who make least use of the force of their Reason and forbear to enquire nicely into those things which it becomes them humbly to believe This seems to be the Opinion of Christ himself who said to his Father I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Mat. 5. 11. And here indeed we cannot but tremble with Reverence and Admiration when we joyn this Character of the Divinity of our Religion to the rest Hence it is that we