move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." Deut. xxxii. 20, 21.

That temporal blessings are fallacious, and that the only true good is to be united to God. Psalm Ixxiii. 27.

That their festivals and sacrifices were displeasing to God. Isaiah lxvi. 3. Jer. vi. 20. Not only those of the wicked Jews, but he even took no pleasure in those of the good, as appears from the fiftieth Psalm, where, before the wicked are peculiarly addressed in those words, "to the wicked God saith," &c. verse 16, it is declared that God has no regard to the sacrifices or the blood of beasts.

That the offerings of the Gentiles should be accepted by God, and that he should withdraw his approbation from the offerings of the Jews. Mal. i. 11. Hos. vi. 6.

That God would make a new covenant by the Messiah, and that the old covenant should be disannulled. Jer. xxxi. 31.

That the old things should be forgotten. Isaiah xliii. 18.

That the ark should no more come to mind. Jer. iii. 16. That the temple should be rejected. Jer. vii, 14. That the sacrifices should be abolished, and purer sacrifices established. Mal. i. 10.

That the Aaronical order of priesthood should be set aside, and the order of Melchisedek introduced by the Messiah, and that this priesthood should be everlasting. Psalm cx. 4.

That Jerusalem should be cast off, and a new name given to the people, which should be more excellent than that of Jews, and of eternal duration, Isaiah yi. 11, 12; lvi. 3, 5.

That the Jews should be without prophets, without kings, without sacrifices, and without an altar; and should nevertheless subsist as a distinct people. Hos. iii. 4. Jer. xxxi. 37.

CHAPTER XX.

THAT GOD CANNOT BE SAVINGLY KNOWN BUT
THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.

MOST of those who undertake to demonstrate the divine being to ungodly persons, commonly begin with the works of nature, and they very rarely succeed. I do not mean to dispute the validity of these proofs, which are consecrated by the holy scripture ; they are conformable to reason; but very often they are not suited and proportioned to that disposition of mind which prevails in those for whom they are intended.

For we must observe, that such discourses are not addressed to men who have a lively faith in their hearts, and who immediately discern that every thing which exists is no more than the work of that God whom they adore. To these all nature proclaims its author, and the heavens declare the glory of God. But as for those in whom this light is extinct, and in whom we endeavour to revive it, who are destitute of faith and charity, and who behold nothing but darkness and obscurity in nature, it does not seem the proper way to convert them, to point out to them as proofs on this important subject, nothing more than the course of the moon, or the planets, or common arguments, against which they have constantly hardened themselves. The obduracy of their minds renders them deaf to this voice of nature, which has

sounded continually in their ears; and experience shews, that so far from convincing them by this method, nothing is so likely to discourage them, and to make them despair of ever finding the truth, as to undertake to persuade them by this mode of reasoning, and to tell them that they must clearly see the truth of it.

It is not in this manner the scripture speaks, which knows so much better than we do the things which are of God. It informs us, indeed, that the beauty of the creatures makes known him who is their Author; but it does not tell us that it does this to all persons in the world. On the contrary, it declares that whenever they do it, it is not by themselves, but by that light which God sheds abroad into the hearts of those to whom he discovers himself by their means. "That which may be known of God, is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it to them." Rom. i. 19. It teaches us, in general, that God is an invisible God. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself." Isaiah xlv. 15. And that since the corruption of human nature, he has left men in a state of blindness, from which they can only be delivered by Jesus Christ, without whom we are cut off from all communion with God. "No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Matt. xi. 27.

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The scripture also points this out to us, when it tells us in so many places, that those who seek God find him; for we do not speak thus of a thing which is evident and clear; men do not search after thatit discovers itself, and compels observation.

The metaphysical proofs of a God are so very intricate, and abstracted from the common reasonings of men, that they strike them with but little force, and when they do affect some, it is only for the moment in which they discern the demonstration; but the very next hour they suspect they are deceived: Quod curiositate cognoverant superbia amiserunt.

Moreover, arguments of this kind can only lead us to a speculative knowledge of God; and to know him only thus, is, in fact, not to know him at all.

The Deity of Christians is not merely a God who is the author of geometrical truths, and of the order of the elements; that is the divinity of the Pagans. Nor is he merely a God who over-rules by his providence the lives and fortunes of men, in order to give those who worship him a happy series of years; this is the portion of the Jews. But the God of Abraham and of Jacob, the God of the Christians, is a God of love and consolation; a God who fills the soul and the heart which he possesses; gives it an inward feeling of its own misery, and of his infinite mercy; unites himself to the soul, replenishing it with humility and joy, with confidence and love; and renders it incapable of fixing on any thing but himself, as its ultimate object.

The God of the Christians is a God who makes the soul perceive that he is its only good; that its only rest is in him; that it can have no joy but in his love; and at the same time he causes it to abhor those obstacles, which hinder and withhold it from loving him with all its strength. Self-love and concupiscence, which do this, are insupportable to it. God makes it feel that there is this self-love deeply rooted within it, and that he alone can remove it.

This it is to know God as a Christian. But to know him in this manner, we must, at the same time, know our own misery and unworthiness, and the need we have of a mediator, in order to draw nigh to God, and unite ourselves to him. We must never separate these truths, because either by itself is not only unprofitable but hurtful. The knowledge of God, without the knowledge of our own misery, produces pride. The knowledge of our own misery, without the knowledge of Jesus Christ, produces despair. But the knowledge of Jesus Christ exempts us both from pride and despair; because in him we

see God, our own misery, and the only way of recovery from it.

We may know God without knowing our own miseries, or our own miseries without knowing God; or we may know both without knowing the means of deliverance from the miseries which oppress us. But we cannot know Jesus Christ without at the same time knowing God, our own miseries, and the remedy for them; because Jesus Christ is not only God, but he is God the healer of our miseries.

Thus all who seek God without Jesus Christ, find no light which can afford them satisfaction, or be really profitable to them. For either they do not go far enough to know that there is a God; or if they do, it is of no use to them, because they frame to themselves a way of communicating without a mediator, with that God whom they have discovered without a mediator; so that they either fall into atheism, or deism, two things which the Christian religion almost equally abhors.

We ought, therefore, wholly to direct our inquiries to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, since it is by him alone that we can hope to know God, in a manner that shall be really advantageous to us.

He is the true God to us men; that is, to miserable and sinful creatures; he is the centre of all, and the object of all. He who knows not him, knows nothing either in the order of the world, or in himself. For not only do we know nothing of God but by Jesus Christ, but we know nothing of ourselves also, but by Jesus Christ alone.

Without Jesus Christ man must remain in vice and in misery; with Jesus Christ man is released from vice, and from misery also. In him is all our happiness, our virtue, our life, our light, our hope; and out of him there is nothing but vice, misery, darkness, despair; nothing but confusion appears in the nature of God, or in the nature of man.