part

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inftance of his kindness and good-will towards ús, as hereby he would fhew himself to be concerned for our well-doing. But then, to urge this as an inftance of God's acting the of an abfolute and arbitrary governor, is, I think, greatly below a man of understanding; because, in truth, there is nothing in it; feeing, it is only contending for fuch abfolute fovereignty in the Deity, as, I prefume, no man of understanding ever denied that he might exercife, when the circumftances of things rendered it proper that he fhould, which is the present cafe.

I am also fenfible, that in difficult and complex cafes our difcerning faculty is fometimes incapable of diftinguishing betwixt truth and error, right and wrong, and confequently is liable to err with refpect to both. But then, this is the cafe as well with as without divine revelation, there not having been any divine revelation yet given to the world, which has difcharged us of thofe difficulties. And, as to revelation itself, our difcerning faculty is abfolutely neceffary to direct us in the use and application of it, for otherwife we are in great danger of being misled by it. Thus for example, in the Chriftian revelation, (which is allowed to be the most perfect of any revelation that has hitherto come forth under a heavenly character,) we are required to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate us, to take no thought for the morrow, not to refift evil and the like; which precepts

were

were we not to exercife our difcerning faculty in order to discover when, and how far, and under what circumftances they are to be rules of action to us, we should be in great danger of being misled by them, both to our own, and the publick hurt. So that divine revelation is only intended to affift and help our discerning faculty, and not to fuperfede it and fet it afide. Our difcerning faculty, or in other words our reason, was intended to be our guide, as well in religious matters, as in all other affairs; and were we to lay it afide, or suffer it to be overruled, we should lay ourselves open to all delufion. By fuffering our reafon to be over-ruled, I mean, when we receive that for truth, which appears to our difcerning faculty to be error; that for right, which appears to us to be wrong; fuch a fubmiffion puts us off our guard, and lays us open to all fraud and impotion, As to darkness and myfteries in religion, thefe, as I have already obferved, may answer the purposes of cunning crafty men, but they by no means comport with the wisdom and goodness of God, who has no purpose to anfwer to himself, by any revelation he makes to his creatures, and therefore, can only intend bis creatures good by fuch revelation; which end darkness and mysteries would not promote, but difappoint. And to argue from mysteries in nature, to myfteries in religion, would be most unfafe; because it tends to difarm us of what God and nature has provided for our fecurity, by rendering our difcerning faculty useless in

all

all enquiries about religion. For, if myfteries in religion are to be admitted, because there are myfteries in nature, then the groffeft wickedness may be put upon us as religious, and we could have no juft objection against it, feeing, in this view of the cafe, it is to be confidered as a mystery, or a religious injunction, that we cannot fee the fitness nor reasonableness of And, tho' it appears plainly to us to be evil, yet that will not be a proper ground for us to reject it; because myfteries in religion are what our discerning faculty cannot comprehend, nor form any judgment about; and therefore it is not to be made use of with respect to them. And there is scarce any thing how vile and wicked foever it may appear to be, but fomething or other in nature may be found out, and be repesented as analogous to it. That there are, and will be, myfteries in nature is moft certain, because in a multitude of cafes nature is above the reach of our difcerning faculty, and in those inftances it must and will be myfterious to us: but will it therefore follow that there may be myfteries in Religion? by no means. Religion is of moral confideration, and is what each individual of our fpecies is particularly interested in, and therefore, in the nature of the thing, it ought to be plain and obvious; because fo far as it is otherwise, as it does not come within the reach of our difcerning faculty, fo far it can be of no ufe nor concern to us. And God would act very prepofterously, were he to be at all dark,

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where the reafon of the thing requires he fhould be all light. Befides, divine revelation, furely, must be intended to inform and instruct us, and not to amafe, perplex, and confound us, which are the produce of darkness and myfteries in religion.

And, though in difficult and complex cafes our difcerning faculty is fometimes incapable of distinguishing betwixt truth and error, right and wrong, and confequently is liable to err with refpect to both, which, as I have already obferved, is the cafe as well with as without divine revelation, and which, indeed, muft appear to be the cafe of man, when we confider how he is to attain knowledge, and how many things there are in his way that are liable to mislead him; yet, notwithstanding this, his cafe is by no means defperate. Man (as I have fhewn above) is an accountable creature, and, as fuch, reafon requires that he should have fair play for his life, that is, reason requires that he fhould be dealt with in a way of juftice and equity. And therefore, let a man be in what circumftances he will, whether with or without divine revelation, if he does his best to have his understanding rightly informed as to truth and good, that is, if he does all that in reafon and equity can be expected from him in his circumstances to obtain fuch information, and if he acts boneftly and uprightly according to it, he must and will be accepted and approved of God, even though he thould err with refpect to both. I fay,

fuch

fuch a man muft and will be approved and accepted of God; and the reason is most obvious, because, by fuch a conduct, he renders himself the fuitable and proper object of God's approbation and affection. This must and will be the cafe, whether men be of high or. low rank in the world, or whether their advantages in it be more or lefs. And this must and will be the cafe, in all ages, and under all difpenfations, and in all worlds, if I may fo fpeak; because God is equally difpofed at all times, even from everlafting to everlasting, to accept and approve of every creature, who renders himself the fuitable and proper object of his approbation and affection; and to dif approve or reprobate every creature, who by his misbehaviour renders himself the fuitable and proper object of his diflike and refentment.. And though divine revelation may affift and help our difcerning faculty in the discovery of truth and good, and in distinguishing them from their contraries; yet it cannot poffibly alter the grounds of our acceptance with God, because that is eternally and unchangeably the fame.

But farther, as there are many things that are liable to mislead the understandings of men, and as there are many and strong temptations with which men are furrounded, and by which they are in great danger of being fometimes betrayed into folly; fo this renders it unreafonable to expect that man, in his present circumftances, fhould be either infallible or impeccable;

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that