in us of the Difference of Good and Evil, and the Notions we have of his Excellency and Perfection. But, if they launch out into philofophical Inquiries, and, not content to know that God is, without knowing what he is, endeavour to pry into the Nature and Manner of the Existence of the Almighty; or if, not fatisfied with the moral Certainty of a future State, they want to look into the Contexture of the Soul, and to fee there the natural Seeds of Immortality; 'tis no wonder if they make shipwreck both of their Reafon and their Faith at once: For this Knowledge is too high for Men. God has not given us Faculties to enable us to comprehend thefe Myfteries of Nature; and therefore we must always of neceffity wander out of the Way, and be bewildered, when we fearch after them. For let any Man confider whence it is that the Difficulty of these Inquiries arifeth: 'Tis not for want of Teaching, for all the Teaching in the World will not enable Men to comprehend the Things of which they can form no Notions or Ideas. And this is the Cafe: The Seeds of this Knowledge are not implanted in our Nature, and therefore no Cultivation can ever produce it. There is nothing which

ever

ever fell under the Notice of our Senses, to which the Existence and Being of God can be likened, nothing that bears any Proportion of Similitude to the natural Frame and Make of our Souls: And therefore 'tis impoffible to represent thefe Things to the Mind of Man; for 'tis not in the Power of any Sound of Words to create new Notions or Ideas in our Mind, or to convey new Knowledge without them. God has fet Bounds to our Knowledge by limiting our Faculties, beyond which our utmoft Care and Diligence, however affifted, cannot advance. Whatever Wifdom or Excellency of Knowledge may be in our Teacher, 'tis impoffible he should infuse more into us than we are capable of receiving; as a Veffel can never receive more than its Measure, though it be filled out of the Sea.

This being the State and Condition of Men, it had been to little Purpose, if our bleffed Lord had attempted to let them into the Knowledge of those great Secrets of Nature, which the Curious and Learned are fo defirous of prying into. His Business was to inftruct them in the Ways of Virtue and Holiness, to awaken their fleepy Souls and rouze their stupid Confciences to a Sense of Goodness,

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Goodness, to fhew them the Way to Peace and Happiness, by fetting before them the Precepts of God and Nature in their true uncorrupted Purity: And this he has done, even by the Confeffion of his greatest Enemies, who in this Part have nothing to object, but that his Laws are too good and too holy for their Obfervance. 'Tis the great Excellency of a Teacher to fpeak to the Senfe and Understanding of the People;, and, whenever he rises above them, he is loft in the Clouds, and his Words are mere Air and Sound: And therefore, whatever Wisdom and Knowledge were in our bleffed Saviour, 'tis Folly to expect from him any greater Degrees of either, than we are capable of comprehending. As he was our Prophet and Teacher, it was his Business to be understood; and he forbore teaching us the deep Mysteries of Nature, for the fame Reafon that we do not teach Children Algebra, not that we envy them the Knowledge, but that we know they are incapable of it. Inftead of improving the Nature of Man, he must have deftroyed it, and new-created him, to have made him capable of a clear Infight into all the Myfteries which the Curious feem defirous of knowing. And,

could

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could he have given us all the Knowledge we thirst after, yet ftill the Way to Happiness would be the fame, and we could do nothing to fet forward our Salvation, which he has not already both inftructed and enabled us to do: And therefore, as the Cafe ftands, he has fully performed the Office of a divine Teacher, having fully instructed us in the Things which make for our Peace.

If you will prefs this Argument any farther, you must plead the Caufe with God, and not with Chrift: He has taught you all that you were capable of knowing; and you muft inquire of God, why he made you no better and no wifer. And had it not, you'll fay, been better, if God had given us fuch enlarged Faculties, as might have enabled us to furmount all Difficulties of this kind? If you afk me, I can readily anfwer, That I had rather I wère an Angel than a Man; but I know of no Right I had to be either; and that I am either; is owing purely to the Goodness and Beneficence of my Creator. Had he left me ftill in the Lump of Clay out of which I was formed, he had done me no Injury, nor could any Complaint have been formed against him on my behalf. For what I have, I have Reafon to be thankful;

for what I have not, I have no Reafon to complain.

Had God indeed given us only the Faculties of Men, and required of us the Service of Angels, we might then with fome Justice have lamented the unequal Weight: But now that he requires nothing of us but what we are able to perform, and what, according to our prefent Degree of Underftanding, it is highly reasonable we should perform, it is great Perverseness to hang back for want of more Light, and a greater Capacity to understand what it is no way neceffary for us to understand. Our prefent Faculties, if rightly applied, will lead us to a Certainty of the Being of a God, to the Knowledge of his Excellency and Perfection, and will instruct us wherein our reasonable Service to him does confift: And fhall we, when we know there is an all-fufficient Being, and that it is our Duty to ferve him, fhall we, I fay, fufpend our Duty, because we meet with great Difficulties in trying to compre

hend his Nature and Manner of Existence? As weak as we are, we may affuredly know, That God will one Day judge the World in Righteousness, and reward every Man according to bis Doings: And fhall we not liften

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