Imatges de pàgina
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wifdom of God and the folly of man; muft humbly bow the head, and acknowledge how vain the attempt for finite to fathom infinity. Thofe ufeful and neceffary truths which are to influence our practice, and direct our conduct, will afford us abundant matter for meditation; our business here is rather to act than to know; rather to perform the feveral duties required of us, than to enter into ufelefs enquiries concerning them.

There is fcarcely the moft trifling production of nature that hath not fomething in it which mocketh our foolish confidence, and baffles our vain enquiries: even in the minuteft parts of the creation, though the effects are apparent and vifible, the firft caufes and fprings, with all their wonderful operations, ftill lie hidden from us. How much more incomprehenfible, therefore, must be the God of nature? concealed as he is, and furrounded by the infinite fplendor of unconceivable glory, and covered with the veil of unfpeakable perfections. The day however is not far off when all these myfterious depths of the riches of God's wifdom and knowledge, which now fo perplex and confound us, fhall be made clear, open, and familiar to us. Then fhall the Almighty dif play the hidden glories of his nature, and our faculties enlarge proportionably at the view; then shall all the complicated ways of his divine Providence be unravelled, and we shall know even as we are known.

Let us, then, no longer fummon Omnipotence before the bar of ignorance, or place a

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fhort-lived and fhort-fighted mortal to fit in judgment on his Maker. Let us reft thoroughly convinced that an over-anxious fcrutiny into the mysterious ways and judgments of God is utterly useless, as to all the purposes of rational enquiry and yet unfearchable as the ways of God are, at all times there have been, and at all times there will be, found inquifitive and prefumptuous men, who have afpired to the knowledge of them. What volumes have been written to explain myfteries that are inexplicable, and difclofe judgments that are not to be revealed! How many have dared to confine the justice, and to limit the mercy of the Moft High? and in confequence of this affumed knowledge, have taken upon them to dif pense his bounties, and to inflict his punishments on their fellow,creatures: How many who have dared to arraign that Providence which fupports them, and to condemn that wifdom by which they were made? And as there are fome who find fault with the works, fo there are others who misunderstand and mifinterpret the word of God; who pretend to know the will of their Creator much better than those to whom he hath thought fit to reveal it. How many are there amongst the enthusiasts of our own age and nation, who are perpetually employed in wrefting and straining Holy Writ, merely with a view of fupporting fome newfangled doctrine, or favourite hypothefis, by forced and unauthorized conftructions, and ftrange interpretations of difficult and obfcure paffages; pretending to find out the unfearch

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of God, and explain his judgments

If as fience and literature extended themfelves, true wifdom and virtue had extended themselves alfo, we must doubtlefs have been much wifer and better than our anceftors; but to multiply books is not always to multiply knowledge: and an improvement in arts and fciences is not certain to be accompanied with an equal improvement in piety and virtue; fo far from it, that with all the advantages which we have over former times, we abound haps as much in vain wifdom and falfe philofophy, in folly, vice and irreligion, as any of our Pagan predeceffors.

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With God, wifdom and knowledge are united and infeparable perfections; but with man we too frequently fee it the reverfe; the little knowledge we acquire, inftead of conducting us to the paths of wifdom, only mislead us into the labyrinths of folly; and the few truths we have been able to difcover, ferve but to promote the caufe of error and falfhood.

If we look back to the remoter ages of antiquity, we fhall find, that their moft accurate furvey and examination of the heavenly bodies, inftead of directing them to the worship of the one true God, but deceived them into idolatry ; and that even in later and more enlightened times, when true philofophy began to dawn upon us, the clouds of error and fuperftition fill continued to obfcure the profpect. What ftrange and unaccountable doctrines hath the church of Rome endeavoured to draw from the

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facred fountain of Holy Writ! How hath fhe refined away the true fenfe of the Gofpel of our bleffed Redeemer, and laboured to reconcile fin with Chriftianity, to the utter extirpapation of holiness, and the diffolution of every moral and focial tie!

If we look back upon the almost numberlefs. volumes which, from time to time, have been written concerning the redemption of man, and the incarnation of our Saviour, we cannot but reflect, with aftonishment, on the little, the very little light, which all that blaze of human art hath caft on the fubject: all that they have hitherto done, has but perplexed inftead of enlightening the understanding; and obfcured, inftead of illuftrating the matter under confideration. The peculiar fitnefs of that method to restore fallen man, is ftill as great a mystery to us, as it was on the first promulgation of the gospel; and all that we have learned from the united labours of the moff subtle reafoners, amounts to no more than a thorough conviction of that truth which is expreffed in the words of my text, "That the ways of the "Almighty are unfearchable, and his judg "ments are paft finding out."

But amongst all thofe divine and unfearchable truths, which, from their mysterious and incomprehenfible nature, have at all times fuffered from the vain fuggeftions and interpreta.. tions of men, that facred mystery which we this day commemorate has been treated in a manner most unsuitable to its dignity and inportance. What immenfe tracts of unintelli

gible divinity (for fo it hath been justly called) have been published on this fubject! what unaccountable chimeras have entered into the heads of our controverfial writers concerning it! what various difputes, fects, and opinions, hath it produced amongst us! Almost every part of fcripture hath been wrefted, and tortured by the foveral parties, either in vindication of, or in oppofition to it; and all the fubtleties of human reafon employed to explain that, which, after all, nothing ever can explain but the divine.

And yet, after all that hath been faid, and all that hath been written on this occafion, are we at all better acquainted with the mys tery of the Holy Trinity? Doth it appear more plain and demonftrable, or better adapted to our capacities, than it was to our unlearned predeceffors, before any fuch contests arose, or any fuch books were written? If it doth not, what hath every cool, impartial and reafonable Christian to conclude from hence, but that the ways of God are unfearchable, and his judgments paft finding out! That it is his indifpenfable duty to believe in the Holy Trinity, because the word of God, (which cannot err) has commanded him fo to do; that the manner and operation of this divine mystery is pofely concealed from us; and that as the perfect knowledge of it can be of no use to us in this world, it is therefore refolved, by the great fountain of wisdom, to exercise our improved faculties and encrease our fuperior happiness in that which is to come.

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