That the Doctrines of the Gofpel are fuch as are adapted to the Service of Religion, and as might be expected from a Teacher divinely inspired.

And First, Let it be confidered, That this Objection does not lie against the Gospel of Chrift; but, if there be any Force in it, it ftrikes immediately at the Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Creation.

As long as Men keep to the plain fimple Points in which Religion is concerned, there is no Danger of their splitting upon these infuperable Difficulties. If they seek after God, the whole Creation will lead them to him; for the invisible Things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly feen, being understood by the Things which are made, even his eternal Power and Godhead. If they search after the Immortality of the Soul, and the Certainty of a future State of Rewards and Punishments, these Truths will be fuggefted to them from their own natural Sense of Good and Evil, and the Notions of God's Wisdom and Juftice and Goodness, compared with the present unequal Distributions of Rewards and Punishments; which can be accounted for upon no other Foot, nor reconciled to the natural Senfe God has implanted VOL. I. I

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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 philosophical 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 see there the natural Seeds of Immortality; 'tis no wonder if they make shipwreck both of their Reason and their Faith at once: For this Knowledge is too high for Men. God has not given us Faculties to enable us to comprehend these Mysteries of Nature; and therefore we must always of neceffity wander out of the Way, and be bewildered, when we search 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 fell under the Notice of our Senfes, 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 reprefent 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 utmost Care and Diligence, however affifted, cannot advance. Whatever Wisdom 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 thofe great Secrets of Nature, which the Curicus and Learned are fo defirous of prying into. His Bufinefs was to instruct 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 speak to the Senfe and Understanding of the People; and, whenever he rifes 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 blessed 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 Bufinefs 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. Instead of improving the Nature of Man, he must have destroyed 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,

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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 set forward our Salvation, which he has not already both instructed and enabled us to do: And therefore, as the Cafe stands, he has fully performed the Office of a divine Teacher, having fully instructed us in the Things which make for our Peace.

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If will prefs this Argument any you ther, you must plead the Cause with God, and not with Chrift: He has taught you all that you were capable of knowing; and you must inquire of God, why he made you no better and no wifer. And had it not, you'll say, been better, if God had given us fuch enlarged Faculties, as might have enabled us to furmount all Difficulties of this kind? If you ask me, I can readily anfwer, That I had rather I were 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 Reason to be thankful;