comprehend more of him if it were revealed, nor would it be of any Advantage to us, if we could. But nevertheless we know as much of God, without comprehending him, as is any Way ufeful or convenient for us; and can trace out in him many Virtues and Graces, which will either make us more acceptable to him, or better in ourselves. We can lay the Foundation of every good Word and Work in his Attributes, though we do not know him as we are known by him; and are nevertheless fufficiently acquainted with his Power, Knowledge, and Goodness to learn from thence, that we owe to him Obedience and Adoration, to ourselves Temperance and Humility, and universal Beneficence to one another. If it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves, we are then his Creatures, and bound to praise and to adore him. If it is his Arm that protects, and his Providence that feeds us, we are then the Sheep of his Pafture, and fhould be led by him, and walk in the Paths that he points out to us. If in him alone we live and move, then to him must be our Recourfe for Protection against future Danger, and for Deliverance from prefent Diftrefs. And if from him we derive both what we are and what we enjoy, this plainly teaches us Temperance in the Ufe of thofe Enjoyments, and Humility in ourselves; this fhews the Folly of being puffed up with the Poffeffion of any

borrowed

borrowed Glories, and the Injustice of being profufe and lavish with what is barely entrufted with us. And if we can obferve the Goodness and Mercy of God to be fo univerfal, as to extend itself to all his Creatures, and fee his Sun fhining on the Good and on the Bad, and his Rain falling on the Just and on the Unjuft, what can we infer from thence, but that we alfo fhould be as diffufive in our Love of our Brethren, and should difperfe the little Offices we can do one another, our Inftruction to the Ignorant, our Comfort to the afflicted, our Bread to the Hungry, and our Clothes to the Naked, to all whom the fame Goodness enables us to relieve, even to the Unthankful, and to the Evil.

Not that we only learn from hence how to govern our outward Actions, the inward Man likewife is taught his Improvements here; and every Faculty and Power in the Soul must find its proper Object, its Duty, and its Happiness, in the glorious Attributes of an incomprehenfible God. For his Power, Wisdom, and Knowledge, demand our Admiration, his Juftice our Fear, his Faithfulness our Hope, and his Mercy our Love.

So that our Knowledge of the Divine Nature, how imperfect foever, is yet fufficient to fhew us wherein our true Happiness confifts, and to point out the Means of attaining it. And these are the Ends for which all our Knowledge was given us, and the Pur

pofes

poses to which it fhould be applied. God's Defign, in the Revelations he gives the Jews of himself in the Text and other Places, was not to make them curious but good; and the farther Revelations, that Chriftianity has added to these, are plainly calculated for the fame Purposes, fince they tend not fo much. to please the Understanding, and indulge our Speculations, as to captivate the Affections, and charm us into Love. The Doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation, as they open to us the ftupendous Effects of an infinite Love, so do they likewife yet farther difplay the Incomprehenfibility of that God who wrought them; and should therefore as well prevent any prefumptuous Enquiries into the One, as raise our Devotion for the other, and as well teach us to believe him in what he fays of himself, as to thank him for what he has done for us. And this leads me to the

III. Third Obfervation from the Text, namely, that fince we cannot comprehend the Divine Nature, we ought therefore to model our Faith in him, as well as regulate our Obedience to him, by the Revelations which he has given us of himself, by his Prophets and Apoftles, and that for this evident Reason, because I AM hath sent them

unto us.

Were

Were the mysterious Doctrines of the Chri ftian Faith built on any other Foundation than that of the Prophets and Apostles, or even on them any otherwife than as Apoftles and Prophets; every Man would doubtlefs have a natural Right of examining them, of making his own Mind the Rule whereby to judge of them, and of either receiving or rejecting them, according as he found them to agree or disagree with his own Underftanding and Judgment. But when the Authority upon which they ftand appears to be divine, and these Men give us fenfible and irresistible Proofs, that it is not they who fpeak, but the Spirit of God which speaks in them; it then furely muft well become his Veracity and our Weakness, his Authority and our Dependance, to receive these Declarations with Readiness, and adhere to them without Wavering.

When God here fends his Prophet to his chofen People the Children of Ifrael, the Intent of his Meffage is no lefs than that of commanding them to leave the Country where they dwelt, and go they knew not whither, to run the Hazard of doubling the Miseries of their Slavery, by offending the Government, under which they lived, with their Complaints, and of perishing in the Attempt of escaping from it, if that Attempt fhould not fucceed. And yet we here find Wisdom itself implying, that the Divine Authority

thority was fufficient to command all this, and therefore he fays, go and fay unto them, 1 AM bath fent me unto you. And accordingly, this stubborn and ftiff-necked People obeyed and went. And if then the Word of God was fufficient to command Obedience, in a Cafe fo full of Difficulty and Danger, how much more should the fame Word demand our Affent to the Divine Truths contained in it, wherein we can incur no Danger, but an imaginary one, of casting a Stain on our own beloved Understandings by too ready a Credulity? How much more should the Sacred Writings demand our Reverence and Eftcem, as the Oracles of God; and our Reception of every Doctrine contained in them, as flowing from the unerring Fountains, and inexhauftible Treasures of Divine Wisdom and Knowledge? And indeed what do we in fo receiving them more than this, that we believe him who must know all Things, in Relation to Things of which ourfelves cannot, in a natural Way, know any Thing at all? Our Ignorance and his Knowledge make this a reasonable Duty, and the Authority of an exprefs Command makes it a pofitive one: And both together fhew the Neceffity of our acquiefcing in what the Scripture teaches, because of Divine Revelation, and because profitable for Doctrine as well as Inftruction, that fo the Man of God may be thoroughly perfected in every good Word as well as Work,

And

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