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structure of his designs respecting the gradual improvement of our race, and is supported by the analogy which it bears to all human acquirements. Faith was to supply the place of the evidence of sense. Why should not the exercise of it be made liable to rewards and punishments, in the same way as the moral virtues and vices are which form the trial of the heart? It is want of faith in those Scripture difficulties which oppose men's natural pride and selfishness, that renders them Atheists, Infidels, and Sceptics; and the difference even among those who admit the holy writings to be true, may be fairly attributed to the different measures of their faith. One object of God in our redemption seems to have been, to prepare us, by a present obscurity with regard to invisible things, for the enjoyment and full appreciation of his glorious perfections, which is amply promised us in another life. Now, in proportion as those future things lay hold of the mind and engross its notice, men commonly become thoughtful, anxious, and submissive; and viewing the great and marvellous scene which lies open before them with increasing interest, they are more inclined to believe what they read, and more ready to do honour to the God who revealed it. Faith would never have been insisted upon with so much earnestness by Christ and the Apostles, had it not been of the first importance in the Christian life; and, indeed, its importance is such, that we cannot fix any bounds to it, nor say how far the cultivation of it here, may be an indispensable requisite for the

enjoyments of hereafter. That we shall ever come to a full knowledge of God, cannot, for a moment, be deemed probable; and if so, our faith, (or a principle resulting from faith) like our moral virtues, may find ample employment for itself through eternal ages, even when we shall have been admitted to the very court and presence of God. If, then, our faith, like our moral virtues, be put into a state of trial for its proof and enhancement, the leaving many parts of revelation dark and mysterious, and especially what relates to the nature and properties of the Divine Being himself, may reasonably be accounted a wise and prudent course, and in perfect accordance with the designs of God to promote our everlasting happiness.

Besides, what can be so well calculated to improve our faith as difficulty and obscurity? When an humble-minded man sits down to consider the Scriptures, he views them as the relation of God to poor, infirm, and ignorant creatures, and accepts them with all readiness, though he finds much in them that exceeds his comprehension, and many marvellous truths which he but imperfectly understands. He submits his judgment to the wisdom of his heavenly Teacher, and accounts those things true, of which he has, nevertheless, no experience. His mind takes comfort in its very infirmity, and blesses God that so much may be comprehended. The difficulties it encounters cause it to pray for more grace, and finding it cannot fully search out various particulars which lie unfolded before it, instead of com

plaint and fruitless endeavours to ascribe it to the errors or wickedness of men, who have handled the word of God deceitfully, it modestly imputes its ignorance to its own want of capacity, and gives God credit for uttering the truth.

Moreover, this state of trial is well calculated to rouse the attention, and give it a deep interest in God's holy word. Our information on the most ordinary topics is the result of acquirement, proceeding from the observations either of ourselves or of others. If the striking difference among men, occupied in the same pursuit, results ordinarily from the different degrees of application which they have made to it, does it not appear highly probable, that God should have left many things with respect to his nature and providence, involved in great obscurity, for the important end of stimulating enquiry, and obliging all those who would come to the knowledge of the truth, to search and examine, to make themselves conversant with holy writ, and to render the discovery of his will a reward of its patient investigation? Something of this kind seems to be necessary in the present depressed circumstances of our nature, in order to stir us up to the fulfilment of our duty, and it is analogous to the course he adopts for our gradual improvement, and to all that we meet with in the world. We are obliged to take many things on the credit of others, till we are wise enough to decide for ourselves, and our acceptance of this mode of information is always a proof of our docility and confidence. But this state of things awakens our industry, and we

are urged by our want of knowledge to investigate the truths ourselves. Hence it is that all knowledge is acquired, and men's attainments may generally be classed according to their diligence and opportunities. Every religious man can bear testimony to the satisfaction he has felt, from what appeared to him to be discoveries, arising from his diligent study of the Scriptures, and how often he has risen up from his employment edified and improved. How natural, then, it is, that God should leave difficulties in religion to draw men's minds to a more earnest attention to the subject; that he should have made the knowledge of divine things dependent, in a great measure, on their zeal and assiduity; and that the reality even of those truths which cannot be comprehended in their full import, and, consequently, cannot be explained, should, nevertheless, be made acceptable to the humble and enquiring mind, which seeks not to satisfy scruples, but to convince the judgment. "The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way."

II. But in the Second place, reasons may exist, independently of a state of trial, to render a declaration of many mysteries, and of the Godhead in particular, quite impossible without miraculous aid However willing the mind, the capacity may be wanting. God may have done all that could be done, consistently with his glory and our weakness; unquestionably all that our case required. He may have made as clear a revelation of himself as the language

and ideas we possess could possibly allow, so that to have gone farther, would have required a new mode of speech, and new powers of intellect. St. Paul tells us, that, when he was caught up into heaven, he heard unspeakable words which it was not possible for a man to utter: that is, he could not express what he had seen and heard, so totally different were celestial from terrestrial objects. If this, then, be a just conclusion, it exonerates the Scriptures from all charge of defect on account of the want of explicitness, and it manifestly acquits God of neglecting to inform his creatures more accurately of himself. And that this is the case, seems to be highly reasonable, both because we have no experience of invisible objects, and because God's goodness is such, that it might be concluded, he would afford us all the information on such topics which we were able to receive. A reserve he maintains for the reward of his faithful followers in a better world, but that reserve, at the same time, stands so connected with every thing future, as to render a personal acquaintance with that world, a preliminary step to its comprehension. A man living amid an order of things quite different to all that prevails around us, could not form any correct notion of our state by a comparison of it with his own. So neither can we, who have never seen God, or a spirit, or a spiritual world, be capable, from what we behold on earth, of judging truly of the nature of the things of heaven.

Let us, then, be content with what we know.

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