finds many more and greater in conceiving how things should be as they are without a GOD. Seeing as hath been shewn this is plainly the case let all men of common sense now judge whether he who makes himself confident that there is no GOD be not past all dispute a very Fool. But now in vain have we all this while been considering the Atheists Folly if we our selves resolve to be as much or greater Fools than he And certainly if it be as it hath been proved a very foolish thing to think that there is no GOD it cannot be less foolish to live without any regard of GOD as too many amongst us seem to do who behave themselves so in the World as if GOD had nothing to do with them or they with him or as tho it were all one to them whether there be a GOD or no. If there be a GOD and if none but Fools deny this then are we to consider that these things do necessarily follow 1. Every one that is wise doth take all possible care to confirm himself in so stedfast a belief of GOD that nothing may be able to make him doubt of it Take heed therefore Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living GOD Heb. III. 12. The fear of the LORD that is Wisdom Job XXVIII 28. If there be a GOD it must needs be the greatest piece of Wisdom that man is capable of to behave himself Religiously towards GOD but this he can never do without firmly believing that there is a GOD this belief being the first and fundamental point in Religion He that cometh to GOD must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. XI 6. Therefore In the first place let no one think himself excusable if he be not throughly convinced that there is a GOD. For no man living that hath the right use of Reason can be ignorant of this and be held Guiltless GOD hath so many ways manifested himself unto us that the blindest Heathen cannot say that he hath not had means enough of knowing that He is And if a Heathen can have no excuse for his being ignorant of this who hath but at most one half of the means of Knowledg which every the most unlearned Christian hath how should any ignorant Christian be excused Tho it be therefore too common a thing to hear both Men and Women among us who both are of considerable Age and also Understanding and wise enough for the business of their worldly Callings excusing their ignorance of GOD by their want of Learning yet in truth they can have no excuse at all for this ignorance It is their negligence and sloth and unwillingness to learn that keeps them ignorant and for these there can be no excuse Can any one live in a Christian Church and not have heard enough if he would have minded it tho he cannot read to convince him That there is a GOD whom he is bound to serve Nay can any one live in the World and not see enough every where to teach him this first and fundamental Truth He that cannot read GOD's word may yet if he live in a Christian Church hear it and GOD himself speaking to him in it And he that lives abroad in the World tho he cannot see GOD himself yet he may every where see his Works and in them all the Being the Power the Wisdom and the Goodness of GOD. Nay if he can but eat and drink he may know there is a GOD that feeds him for he knows very well that it is not in his own power nor of any other creature to provide his food for him or to enable him to receive good by his food Yet more No man how unlearned so ever he be can think seriously of himself and consider what he is or how he lives but he may easily discover a GOD that made him to be what he is and preserves him in being and life How inexcusable then must every one be for not learning that which every thing teacheth him and which he cannot but learn when he doth but consider that he himself is something In the next place Let none of us think it a needless thing very often and seriously to consider that there is a GOD. If we do not much consider it it will be but a vain thing for us to know it We should so lose the benefit of GOD's manifesting himself so fully and so variously to us Consideration must make our knowledg useful to us If there be a GOD it is certain that we depend wholly upon him and must needs owe a duty to him Yet tho we may know there is a GOD if we keep it not in mind and think but little of it our Knowledg can have little influence on our life and behaviour but we shall demean our selves as carelesly and be every whit as secure and unconcern'd how we live as tho we had never heard or thought of any such thing as a GOD. Yea not to consider and have this much in our thoughts seems to be more inexcusable in us than not to know it at all As he who knows his LORD's Will and doth it not deserves to be beaten with more stripes than he that doth not his Will merely because he knows it not Luke XII 47. So he that considereth not much that there is a GOD when he knows it seems more blame-worthy than he who doth not know it and therefore cannot consider it Both are faulty and can have nothing at all to plead for themselves but he that knows and considers not seems to be more faulty and a great deal more may be pleaded against him The one is ignorant of GOD when he might know him the other sets light by GOD when he knows him The one not knowing GOD knows not how much he deserves his Thoughts the other tho he knows him yet carries himself so towards him as if he thought him not worthy to be thought upon He likes not to retain GOD in his knowledg as 't is said of some Rom. I. 28. As then if there be a GOD 't is altogether necessary that we should know and believe it that so we understand how much it concerns us not to live as we list having one over us to whom we must be accountable even for every idle word Mat. XII 36. So when we know this 't is altogether as necessary we should much consider and think of it that we may walk worthy of GOD unto all pleasing Col. I. 10. and not wilfully or giddily run upon our own destruction by disregarding him It will be a very terrible thing to the ignorant person at the last day to meet with a GOD of whom he never knew and then to reflect thus upon himself Had I been any thing but a Fool I might have known this GOD to my eternal Comfort whom now I find to my
he hath been seen and heard both so as any one can conceive that he could be seen and heard that is in visible and audible significations and tokens of his Divine Presence Thus did GOD call upon and talk with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden both before and after they had sinned Gen. II. 15 c. III. 9 c. Thus he appeared and spake unto Abraham as Gen. XV. 1 c. XVII 1 c. XVIII 1 23 c. Thus did he appear and speak unto Moses in a Flame of Fire in a Bush Exod. III. 2. And so he did to the Israelites from the Mount in fire and smoke the noise of a trumpet with thundrings and lightnings Exod. XIX 18 19 20. I need not say how often and how many ways GOD hath so manifested himself speaking unto men But it may be the Atheist will say If he himself could see or hear GOD speaking he would believe it to be His Word which he heard And truly if he be of this mind that he will believe nothing but what he himself sees and hears he is too great a fool to be reasoned into any thing and therefore not to be discours'd with at all It has been already shew'd what reason we have to believe that these men speak Truth who tell us all this of GOD. And if he will not believe upon the best evidence that can be given of a thing tho it was he cannot believe at all However suppose he should himself see or hear what Abraham and Moses heard and saw Or suppose he should see the Church fill'd as the Tabernacle and Temple of old with a Cloud or Smoke or hear a Voice from the Altar as that from between the Cherubims over the Mercy-Seat or suppose he should hear and see such a Voice and Glory as those at the Baptism of CHRIST Luke III. 22. Or at the Conversion of St. Paul Acts IX 3 4. Or at the Transfiguration of our Blessed Saviour on the Mount Matt. 17. 5. Or suppose he should hear GOD calling upon him as he did upon Samuel by his name 1 Sam. 3 4. Would he not as that Child did before Eli better instructed him think it the voice of some other or account of it but as a Dream or a Fancy If he say again He would be satisfied thus and otherwise he cannot then I answer That it is not in the power of man to say any thing that may satisfie him and it is much to be fear'd that GOD will not give him any other satisfaction For is it reasonable to expect that GOD should merely to humour every obstinate Fool shew himself every day or as often as a wicked man pleaseth and just in such a manner as he would have him and for no other cause but because he is sullen and unreasonable and will not believe any thing that GOD hath formerly said or done to satisfie him Why should GOD have such hard measure from him above all others Will he not believe he hath his Father's Will and Testament unless his Father himself whenever he requires it come from the dead to tell him so And why must GOD who hath given him his Will in writing sufficiently attested appear as he pleaseth to confirm it anew unto him 2. Much of the Word of GOD has been given unto us by way of Prophecy foretelling things to come which are within the compass of His Knowledge only And the Prophecies in the Scripture have been notoriously and undeniably fulfilled I mean so many of them as were to be fulfilled before the days wherein we now live and if these have been so fulfilled we can have no cause to doubt but all the rest will be so too when the time shall come Now things to come are acknowledg'd not to be within the compass of man's knowledge especially such as depend not necessarily on Natural Causes or are not wont to follow one another in the ordinary course and order of Nature We are all of us very sure That we know not what shall be on the morrow James IV. 14. We cannot tell what a day no not what the next hour or minute may bring forth Prov. XXVII 1. Nay we know not certainly whether or no there shall be another day or who shall live to see it or in what condition it will find us We are not only ignorant of such future things as are of least concernment to us which we have little desire to know or see no reason to enquire after but of the things which we most long to know and would account it a very great satisfaction to be assured of We know not whether we shall be at ease or in pain sick or in health alive or dead the very next day or hour We know not whether we shall be rich or poor or have any meat to eat or be able to eat it if we have it so uncertain are all future things to us Yet we are sure there have been Prophecies of things to come and very true ones too Men have foretold things many hundreds of years before-hand which came to pass in all Circumstances of Time Place and Manner as they had been foretold Some indeed have been bold enough to foretel things by human Art and Skill but have only befool'd thereby both themselves and all that trusted to them If any of them have sometimes guess'd right 't was either First By Chance as he that guesseth a Thousand times has ill luck if he guess not right once or twice tho he knows no more when he doth so than when he guesseth wrong Or he saves his credit by Craft and Cunning as most of the old Oracles and our Astrologers who utter their Predictions in ambiguous Expressions which are capable of a double Sense and Construction If things happen as you understood their words they have got Credit without any reason for it and if things fall out otherwise than you understood them they can tell you You were mistaken in their meaning and they meant as it hath hapned 'T is true also That when men will not hearken to the Truth of GOD he may give them up to Delusion and may suffer a Deceiver to hit on a Truth to make way for the belief of a Lye as a very just Punishment of an unreasonable Infidelity But they only whose Knowledg of Things Future they themselves confess'd to be of GOD and not acquired by Human Art and whose design it was to draw men off from Idolatry and every evil thing to the Worship and Service of the True and Living God have constantly and without failing foretold things truly and the Event hath always verified their Predictions And who but GOD alone who governs and disposeth of all things according to his own Eternal Decree and Council could make them so knowing In the Holy Scriptures we have many such Prophecies As concerning the Carrying of the Iews Captive into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar their Restoration to their own
Countrey by Cyrus The Succession of the Four Famous Monarchies in Daniel The Coming of our Lord JESUS and his Sufferings The Final Destruction of the Temple and of the whole Iewish Nation And these things with many more there foretold have been undeniably fulfilled And is not this a demonstration that these mens Prophecies were GOD's own Word Let them bring forth their strong reasons saith GOD by his Prophet and shew us what shall happen Let them shew the former things what they be that we may consider them or declare us things for to come Shew us the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods Isa. XLI 22 23. Tell ye and bring them near let them take counsel together Who hath told it from that time Have not I the LORD And there is no GOD else besides me Isa. XLV 21. I am GOD and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying My Counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure Isa. XLVI 10 11. 3. This Word hath been deliver'd with Miracles to confirm it which are the Works of Divine Power only We know that it is not in the Power of Man or of any thing else but of the Great GOD of Nature and LORD of the World to alter any thing in the Course of Nature to do things which exceed the Power of Natural Causes or to make things act quite contrary to their Natures When therefore we see such things done we must acknowledg a Power above all Natural Power whereby they are done Yet is it as certain as History and Observation can make it that such things have been done and by those very men from whom we have what we call the Word of GOD. Indeed all things in the World from the greatest to the least are truly wonderful to us as being far above not only our Skill to imitate but also our Reason throughly to understand yet we call not all things Miracles Only such things as rarely happen and not according to the ordinary course of Nature are accounted Miracles As when the Fire refuseth to burn those that are cast into it when the Water divides it self and stands up like two walls on each hand to let men pass through it on dry ground when the Sun stands still in Heaven and doubles the length of the day When men without any Medicinal Art or help by a touch or a word only either take away or restore sight hearing health and strength dispossess Devils command Winds and Seas take life from the living and give life to the dead These things above the power and contrary to the course of Nature are Miracles And these with others many have been done Not indeed every day and ordinarily for then would they have been disregarded as common things and cease to be Wonders Not secretly neither nor in some close corners only for then few could have witnessed and fewer would have believed them Neither yet were they done upon any slight or trivial occasion for then would they have been look'd on only as Casualties and odd Chances But they were done rarely to encrease the wonder yet openly to gain belief and upon special and weighty Occasions that the Cause might be more noted They who did them own'd that it was GOD who extraordinarily enabled them and that not for their sakes but for his own Glory and in confirmation of the truth of what he had sent them to teach In a word all was to make GOD known unto men and to persuade men to seek their happiness in him By such Works did GOD bear witness to his own Word And every one but a Fool will say Blessed be the LORD GOD of Israel who only doth wondrous things Psal. LXXII 18. Thou art great and dost wondrous things thou art GOD alone Psal. LXXXVI 10. Understand ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise Psal. XCIV 8. Whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the LORD Psal. CVII 43. 3. The Success which the Doctrine contain'd in the holy SCRIPTURE hath had has been such as none but GOD alone could give it If the Men who wrote these Books we speak of had not given great satisfaction to the World that they spake from GOD how came the Doctrine which they taught to gain belief How came it so to take root and grow and spread as it hath undeniably done Why have not its Enemies the Wise-men of this World after so much straining of their Wits and using all their Art and Policy to that end been yet able to convince men of its solly vanity or falshood Why have not all the Mighty Powers on Earth bending their whole force against it been able to suppress and stifle it Whatever Stratagems the Devil or Man could invent have been made use of to this purpose Iews and Gentiles conspired together to crush it in the Egg. The Heathen raged and the people imagined a vain thing The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers took counsel together against the LORD and against his Anointed saying Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us As David prophesied of them Psal. II. 1 2 3. The Kings of the Earth have persecuted this Religion with Fire and Sword The Lusts of mens hearts rise up in open war against it continually Yet hath it taken root and flourish'd it has conquer'd and made the most wonderful change imaginable in mens hearts and lives This success it has had not among a few simple ones easily deceived but among the most learned and understanding and judicious And what can this be imputed to but to the light and power of Divine Truth Indeed by its own light men may easily see all things in it which can be proper to commend it to all who think fit to be govern'd by Reason as all but Fools do If it be said That Idolatry is yet reigning over the greatest part of the World and the foolish Religion of Mahomet hath had very wonderful Success and hath triumph'd over and quite extinguished Christianity in many places so that the least part of the World is at this day Christian And therefore the Christian Doctrine gains little credit by its success in the World In answer to this we say these things First Whichsoever of these Religions Heathenism Mahometism or Christianity prevail most or be thought truest yet is it true still That all the World is of some Religion and owns a GOD. And therefore this is noObjection against what we at first undertook to prove That there is a GOD Only it may seem to weaken one of our Arguments whereby we would prove this But indeed it doth not weaken it at all For secondly We are now only proving that our Scripture is the Word of GOD and this is but one of the many
everlasting Confusion And it will be more terrible at that day for the unconsidering person to find a GOD armed with vengeance against all that contemn'd him And then to reflect on his own folly saying What a Mad-man was I who knew there was a GOD and did not think him worth a few serious Thoughts when by little serious consideration I might have prevented this confounding sight and my own eternal destruction now come upon me through my heedlesness As we therefore desire that we may never feel the wrath of GOD let us now entertain often and serious thoughts of him To this purpose lastly Let us be very constant in the use of all the means which GOD hath given us to confirm and establish us in this belief and lively sense of GOD and take heed as we love our Souls how we give ear to any thing which may weaken this belief or make us doubt of the being of a GOD. We have all the reason in the World to be very careful of this Because as we have seen If it be a truth that there is a GOD nothing can be more necessary either to prevent our Misery or to promote our Happiness than a firm belief of it and tho it were false as it cannot be yet would it do a great deal of good and no hurt at all Let us labour then to be well grounded and setled in this belief and to this end let us well weigh and consider all those many reasons which we have above taken notice of to perswade us to it Especially let us diligently attend to GOD's word and observe his works The reason why many men either so weakly believe that there is a GOD or so little and slightly think of it is because either their Lusts or their worldly Business or else Vanities hold their thoughts so continually imploy'd about them that they will not allow themselves time nor be at the pains to consider those notable evidences which GOD hath given of himself He that shuts his Eyes and stops his Ears when he should read or hear GOD speaking to him or when he should observe the wonderful works of Creation and Providence it is not strange if he never come to have a rational and firm belief of GOD. Therefore if we would as it highly concerns us be unmovably rooted in this Belief we must observe these Rules 1. Let us be sure to keep our Reason and Understanding which GOD has given us as we are Men constantly awake Let the Eye of the Soul be kept open that it may be ready to see GOD whensoever and howsoever he shews himself What 's the most rational Discourse to a sleeping man He neither hears it nor considers it and therefore is he no wiser for it What 's Light and Beauty to a man that always winks He sees them not and so knows no more of them than it they were not to be seen This Truth That there is a GOD is as visible to the Understanding as Colours are to the Eye but neither are visible to one that is not awake Let us consider that the best things must certainly be the best worth our seeing and knowing and nothing can be better than GOD who is the Fountain of all Goodness Nothing is so carefully to be regarded as that without the knowledg whereof we eternally perish and such is GOD. Hath man Understanding and Reason for no use Or is he to use them about every thing of least concernment and not about that which above all things in the World he is mostly concern'd to Understand If there be a GOD we must all of us be either Happy or Miserable for ever accordingly as we Regard and Honour him or Neglect and Dishonour him And can there be any thing the Knowledg whereof doth more concern us And yet is it thus with too many of us that whilst our Understanding and Reason are very intent upon other things and never grow weary of considering them and inquiring after them they are wholly asleep as to GOD and never imploy'd about him as if to think of Him were not any part of our business O why should we be any longer such Fools as to suffer the Business and Vanities of this World which passeth away and the lusts thereof or the Pleasures of sin which are but for a moment so to bewitch us that we can never be awake to GOD Seeing that about Him we are most of all concern'd that our Souls attain to the most rational and full satisfaction let our Reason be busied about him above all things that so we may be able both to live and die like men 2. Let us exercise our Reason in considering those things especially which are most proper and apt to beget in us the most clear and lively sense of GOD. For as GOD hath appointed proper means and helps for the attaining to all those ends which he would have us to pursue So hath it pleased him to ordain certain means by the use whereof we may soonest and most perfectly come to the knowledg and belief of Himself Such are his Word and his Works both of Creation and Providence which are therefore to be very diligently studied and meditated upon We must very frequently read and hear his Word and when we read or hear it we must be very attentive to it and take heed how we do it in a regardless and formal manner or as a customary Task only which we have set our selves to do as tho the reading or the hearing of it were our only or principal Business Our work is to think and consider well of all that we read and hear that we may be perfectly inform'd and throughly convinced and heartily affected with the matters which are therein commended either to our Belief or Practice In vain shall we either read or hear GOD's word if we do not labour to see and hear GOD himself speaking to us and discovering Himself and his Will unto us therein To read in the Bible so many Chapters a Day or to hear so many Sermons a Week is an Employment to as little purpose as the reading or hearing any common History if we make it not our end to come better acquainted with GOD and to be instructed in our Duty of Honouring and Serving him And thus is it also in our seeing and observing and making use of the many and wonderful works of GOD Whilst we endeavour only to serve our selves of them and not to discern GOD in them we improve nothing in our Knowledg of GOD by them How many of us busie our selves daily abroad in the Field or at Home in the Garden and what wonders of GOD's Power and Wisdom and Goodness have we there constantly before our Eyes and yet we profit no more in the knowledg of GOD by what we see than the Beasts themselves How many of us are very busie in studying and observing the courses of the Stars and in searching in the secrets of