fo large a compafs and extent; and moft SERM. unaccountable folly to delight to grope in VII. the dark; to leave the plain dictates of reason, and follow the wild rovings of imagination and fancy; to attempt to argue where they have no principles to proceed upon, and unravel inexplicable myfteries; and to repine at not being omnifcient, or able to comprehend all the defigns of an infinite mind.

Our bleffed Saviour difcourag'd this idle, trifling curiofity upon all occafions, and very wifely; because it naturally leads to Scepticism and cavilling, and diverts the mind from a pursuit of folid wisdom, to amusing and useless speculations. Thus when one (who was only concern'd in the folution of that grand question, what HE fhould do to be fav'd) came and enquir'd of him, Lord, are there few that be fav'd? instead of giving a direct anfwer, which would have humoured this fpirit of impertinence, he instructed the multitude what was their proper business, and most important intereft: Strive to enter in at the ftrait Luke viii. gate, for many will feek to enter in, and23, 24.

Shall

SERM. fhall not be able. Other inftances might be VII. alledged to the 'fame purpose, but this

is fufficient to fhow, that, in the judgment of this divine teacher, such enquiries were vain and unprofitable, and argued a light unfteddy temper, and a mind intent upon trifles, instead of being defirous of that useful knowledge which is fuited to its faculties, and has an immediate influence upon its happiness. Let it therefore be our chief care to make a right improvement of what we do know of the plain directions of our reason, and the extraordinary light that is afforded us by divine revelation; and let us not afpire after things out of our reach, and fo neglect the fubftance, and hunt after shadows. Let us upon the evidences we have, which are very numerous and unconteftable, and of the utmoft force with every confiderate mind; let us, I fay, upon the evidences we have of the unerring wisdom, inflexible justice, and most perfect goodness of the great Author and Governor of the univerfe, acquiefce, without murmuring, in all his difpofals, and entertain an honourable opinion of all the methods

methods of his providence: In this our SERM. reafon will affift us; fo far the inference VII. is eafy and natural. But in attempting to account for every thing, and trace out the whole scheme of God's providential operations, we affume a task that is far above our capacities, and difquiet ourselves in vain. We may imagine, and guess, and indulge a thousand little groundless fancies, but shall find it impracticable, in numberlefs cafes, to form juft and certain conclufions.

The 2d obfervation from the text is, that there are, properly speaking, no myfteries in religion. The fecret, i. e. the myfterious things, belong unto the LORD our God; and only things reveal'd, things that are plain and intelligible, belong to us. A mystery, in the fcripture fenfe of it, is a thing that natural reafon could not difcover, and, confequently, which must have been unknown, if God had not reveal'd it: And of this kind, I own, there are feveral doctrines in the Christian religion; before the revelation was given they were mysteries; but cease to be myfteries now they are reveal'd. According

ly

SERM. ly Chrift fays to his difciples, that unto VII. them it was given to know the mystery Mark iv. of the kingdom of God. Again, St. Paul fpeaks of the revelation of the mystery

11.

Rom. xvi.

25.

1 Cor. xv.

gan;

which was kept fecret fince the world be-
and to the Corinthians, Behold I
fhew you a mystery. All which paffages evi-
dently imply, that how dark foever these
things were before, they are now plain
and intelligible, how elfe could they be
fhewn, reveal'd and known? And this
will
appear more undeniably, if we con-
fider the things themselves. For what
can be more clear than the two myfteries
St. Paul peaks of, viz. preaching the
gofpel to the Gentiles; and this propofi-
tion, We shall not all fleep, or die, but
we fhall all, i. e. those who are found
alive at the coming of Chrift, be chang'd.
They could not have been known if they
had not been reveal'd, and, confequently,
before that time were proper mysteries;
but, in themselves, are plain truths a-
dapted to all understandings, and have
not the least obfcurity or intricacy in them.
The fame may be faid of the parable of
the fower, which our Saviour refers to ;

it was a mystery of the kingdom of God, SERM. while it was conceal'd and hid under a VII. dark parable; but afterwards fo clear, that no man of common reflection could find any difficulty in it.

Now from this account 'tis most certain, that myfteries, i. e. things which reafon cannot discover, and which are not reveal'd, are, in the language of the text, the fecret things that belong to God, and what we have nothing at all to do with ; or, in other words, tho' certain things are parts of our religion that were mysteries, 'tis not our duty to believe or practise any thing that is ftill a mystery. To believe doctrines that are still myfterious is to believe without ideas, to believe what we know nothing of; but this, in the nature of the thing, is impoffible. We We may, in deed, believe that there is fome general truth contain❜d in propofitions which we don't understand, and fo far our faith may be rational, because we know what we believe; but of the propofitions themfelves we can believe nothing particularly because we understand nothing: Nor can greater dishonour be done to the infinite wisdom

2