III.

all Things, and in his Book are all the SER M. Members of it written. After all, were we no more interefted in the Contents of the Bible, than we are in those of a favourite Claffic, we should efteem it as, what it is, the nobleft Compofition that ever was penned. There would be acknowledged to be in it, as in the Works of Nature, fomething grand, auguft, and magnificent; and (however irregular fome Things may feem) far preferable to the correcter Elegances of Art, and the confined Exactnefs of a regular Work. The only Confideration, that makes us fond of every little Cavil, and willing, at any Rate, to depreciate it, is, what ought in Reafon to recommend it most of all, that it's Contents are Obligatory upon us. Setting this Confideration afide, we fhould make neceffary Allowances for the Lofs of proper Keys, at this Distance, to unlock Difficulties; and condemn that Man, as an ill-natured Critic, who, when there is a Cup in the Hands of the Authors, and they pour out of the fame thofe cordial Drops, which strengthen every good Man's Heart, is eager to find and fuck out any Dregs, or Sediments mixed with them; any exceptionable Part, any Inaccuracy, or Impropriety. It would be owned, that every Perfon, that read them, was the better for them. They would be univerfally applauded as ancient Authors, if F 2

they

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SERM. they were but Authors: The Confideration that they are likewife Prophets, Apostles, and Law-givers to us, flattens our Relifh for them. There are a thousand fhining Paffages, which, if they had originally grown in the Gardens of Plato, or Cicero, would have been thought the most generous Plants, that any Soil is capable of producing. Unhappily for them, our heavenly Father bath planted them, and commanded us to eat of them, and live for ever. How admirable, in those aforementioned Writers, would have feemed the indirect Manner of fuggefting Knowledge under the Veil of Parables and Allegories; that useful, but otherwife offenfive, Truth might enter, as it were, by a By-path into the Underftanding, when all the direct Avenues were fhut up against it as an Enemy! How would thofe ftrong Paintings have been extolled, the leaft Praife of which is their Beauty! Their chief Commendation is, that their Beauty is made fubfervient to nobler Purposes; and that while they entertain the Fancy with agreeable Imagery, they convey to us the moft beneficial Sentiments, and imprefs them more deeply upon the Mind: Like Bloffoms, which, though they feem to be made only to please the Eye, are neceffary for the Production of Fruit, and the Prefervation of the Seed; Nature concealing, as it were, it's grand End,

and

and appearing intent to beautify the Crca- SER M. tion, at the fame Time it is benefiting it.

It would be easy to multiply Inftances to make it appear, that those Objections, which are looked upon as the Refult of a fuperior Sagacity and Difcernment, arc, in Reality, the Effect of a profound Ignorance of facred, and fometimes of profane, Antiquity. One fcarce indeed knows, what fome People deem Objections. Triflcs, light as Air, often tried in the Balance, and found wanting, fink as deeply in unfurnished Minds, and make as much Impreffion there, as Difficulties of a weightier Nature; like Feathers defcending in a Void with a Force and Velocity equal to that of much more fubftantial and maffy Bodies. From this Set of Men you continually hear the ftale Objection of David's being a Man after God's own Heart: And fo he might be, comparatively with Saul, as to his public Character, in answering all the Purposes (the meaning of the Phrafe, after God's own Heart) which the Deity had in vesting him with Kingly Power, by beating down Idolatry, and promoting true Religion, which was the fole End of the Jewish Polity. Or he might be fo, even as to his private Character, though not in Refpect of the Crime he committed; yet in Respect of the Severity of his Repentance, which bore Proportion to the Enormity of his

III.

SER M. Crime, and reinftated him in God's Favour; not to mention his prevailing good Qualities, and the main Tenour of his Life. I would not diffemble, however, that Révelation, as all other Things, has it's dark, as well as bright Side; is a Mixture of Light and Darknefs; and that, as God has been pleased to give bright and illuftrious Indications of it's Divinity to those that seek after Truth with all their Soul and with all their Strength, he has turned the Pillar of the Cloud to the difingenuous and perverfe. Notwithstanding, though the Matter of our Faith be dark or myfterious, yet the formal Reafon of it is not fo. Whereas Facts imperfectly related in a fummary View, without defcending to Particulars, and therefore liable to Objections; mysterious Doctrines; the unfathomable Difpenfations of Providence; Obfcurities occafioned by Forms of speaking widely different from ours; Accounts of the invifible World, and of the Offices of evil Angels; thefe, and many other Things of which we know little or nothing, and therefore cannot affirm or deny any Thing with Certainty, are the formal Reafons of Infidelity. To thefe Men of this Stamp retreat, as to Haunts impervious to the Beams of the Sun, when we would fet before them the Brightness of that Light, which arcfe with Healing in it's Wings.

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III.

The Difference between a Chriftian and SER M. a Deift does not confift in this, that the one affents to nothing but what is evident; the latter affents to Things inevident in themfelves. But here the Distinction lies; the Deift affents to Things inevident in themselves, without any Ground or Reafon at all; the Chriftian affents to Things. inevident in themfelves upon the Authority of God. Thus the Deit believes there is only One Solitary Perfon in the Divine Nature; the Chriftian, that there are Three: both Propofitions inevident in themselves: And he, who affirms the former, no more perceives any neceflary Agreement of Ideas, than he who maintains the latter. Nor is there any plaufible Plea, that can be offered for a Singleness of Perfon, but that exploded one of a foreign Philofopher, viz. whatever is, there is a fufficient Reafon appearing to us, why it is, rather than why it is not. And an ingenious Stirrer up of Doubts might raife as many Cavils against the folitary Unity of Perfon in an Effence every-where prefent, as an Antitrinitarian can do against a Trinity of Subfiftences. The Truth is, both thefe Doctrines are equally. incomprehenfiole: And he who rejects a Trinity, refigns his Understanding to a Propofition, of which he has neither intrinfic nor extrinfic Proofs; he who admits it, believes it upon the only Proofs,

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that