IX.

minable Practices? Did the Light of Na- SERMON ture, or rather the Light of God in Nature, teach you this? Charge not your Maker thus foolishly and falfely, for our God is holy, and therefore cannot tempt nor lead to Sin: Or will you have to plead, that you were left in the helpless Condition of your fallen Nature, reprobate to all Good, neceffitated to Evil, and fo fealed under Wrath by a Decree that altereth not? Neither will this Plea be admitted in your Juftification, for a Seed of a heavenly Life and Nature, was fowed in your Hearts, by which God was not only near to every one of you, but allied to you, by the Confeffion of your own Poets, calling you his Offspring: And in this near Relation, had Aats xvii. you fought after Him you might have found 28. in Him: Befides, this good Seed in fome amongst you took Root, fprang up, and bore much good Fruit. Mystery hidden in you, preached to many of you, Love and Grace of God which bringeth Salvation, and given you to be the Reformer and Changer of your Nature: To this Saviour, tho' not revealed by Name, should you have turned, that He might pardon

Now this divine
and afterwards
was that Light,

your

IX.

SERMON your Offences, make you a clean Heart, and renew a right Spirit within you; But you turned from your true Light into the Darkness and Deception of your own Reafonings, and here the Prince of Darkness laid hold on you, and fo the Things belonging to your Peace were hidden from your Eyes. Say not then, that your Difease was incurable, and that an irrevocable Sentence of Death had paffed upon you, whilft the peculiar People, the outwardly Chofen, had ftolen away every Bleffing, Rev. xxii, for the Tree of Life groweth on either Side of the River of God, and tho' its pleasant Fruit be the appointed Food for them, yet the Leaves of the Tree are for the healing of the Nations.

2.

But here let me turn afide one Moment to you who continue in worfe than heathenish Infidelity, under Advantages of Means and Light which the Gentiles had not; for tho' the fame Lord who is loving to every Man gave them fufficient to leave their grofs Ignorance without Excufe, yet He who divideth his free Gift feverally to all in fuch Measure as to Him feemeth good, nor giveth Account to any of this Matter, hath beftowed on you more than a

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double

IX.

double Portion; for you have not only the SERMON hidden Mystery in common with them, but the Declaration of the Mystery; you have the Teftimony of Mofes and the Prophets, of Chrift and his Apoftles, befides many Calls and Invitations from the Mouths of his Minifters, loud and preffing: If then you will not hear your God fpeaking to you in the small still Voice, nor yet in his written Word, hear Him at least in the Voice of the Trumpet, for the Gospel hath founded even unto the Ends of our Land in this your Day of Vifitation, nor hath it founded altogether in vain, for many have obeyed the Call.-Beware then that it found not in vain to you, for if it does not ferve to convince, it will condemn. But we know you well, ye Sons of Reason, in your full Strength, and have weighed every Argument and Plea you have to offer for your Infidelity in the Balance of the Sanctua ry, and found them wanting: Give us, you say, a Religion which we can comprehend, and Doctrines which will quadrate with our Reason, and we will believe them, but as to these unintelligible Mysteries we cannot away with them: But herein you err not knowing your own Weakness, in

that

IX.

SERMON that you fet up a Sufficiency as of yourselves whereby to judge and determine concerning the deep Things of God; but as foon may you hope to mete out the Heavens with a Span, or to gather the Wind in your Fift, for thefe Things knoweth no Man of himfelf, but God revealeth them to us by his Spirit. Reafon can indeed fpeculate upon the Works of God in the Creation, and frame Arguments and Conclufions from fuch ideal Knowledge, but the 'Things of the Spirit of God the natural Man, even of the greatest and most improved Abilities, as fuch, cannot receive them, nay counteth them Foolishness, for there is an infinite Difproportion betwixt his Faculties and thefe Objects, and therefore an utter Impoffibility to difcern fupernatural Things but by a fupernatural Light: Confequently, all Religion that has no deeper Foundation than in the Reasonings of the earthly Understanding must be attended with Doubts and Diffatisfaction, as wanting Evidence and Influence fufficient for the Mind to reft on with any tolerable Comfort: All that Men build hereon is no better than a Babel of Opinions and Conjectures, and all their Zeal and Knowledge in Religion but

walking

IX.

walking in the Light of their own Fire and SERMON in the Sparks that they have kindled. Will you admit of no Myfteries in Religion? Then you must live and die without any; for whether you confider God in the Methods of his Providence, or in the Works of his Creation; his Judgments in both are unfearchable, and his Ways past finding out: But are you defirous to believe and to be made Partakers of the Mystery of Godlinefs, that you may know with all Saints "what is the Length and Breadth and

Depth and Heighth of the Mercies and "Love of God in Chrift fefus?" Behold, the Work is Half done; only caft out that Pride, and the Love of thofe Sins which indispose you for Faith, and truft in the Lord with all your Heart, and lean not unto your own Understanding; and the Father of Lights will caufe the Light of Life to fhine in your Hearts, which being' received in Humility and the Obedience of Faith, gives the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jefus Chrift, for them that are meek will He guide in Judgment, and fuch as are gentle them will He teach his Way So will He fill you with Joy and Peace in believing, and the Spirit of Truth