SERMON XIII. The FORTY-SECOND PSALM, Verses 14, 15. Why art thou vexed, O my Soul? and why thy Trust in God. - Page 189 SER- SERMON I. FIRST EPISTLE to the CORINTHIANS, Chapter ii. Verse 7. We Speak the Wisdom of God in a Mystery, even the hidden Wisdom, which God ordained before the World unto our Glory. CHRIST IST JESUS, who of God was made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and fanctification, and redemption, was the gospel which St. Paul declares he was fent to preach, not, as he acknowledges, in the wisdom of words, or of men, but in a Myftery, in the power of God. (2) That, notwithstanding the forfeiture of our first parents, God would pardon fin, and restore the penitent offender to a state of acceptance, that he would admit our fincere though imperfect endeavours after righteousness, and reward them with eternal glory, was what eye had not seen, nor ear heard, neither could it have entered into the heart of man to conceive, otherwise than as God has been pleased to reveal it to us by his fpirit. Ill then would it become us, with the vain fpirit of fpeculative curiofity, to pry into the means whereby this ftupendous act of mercy is accomplished, or to question their propriety. Can we look back into the abyss of eternity, and there difcern the councils of the Almighty determined before the world began Can we ftretch our eye beyond the vault of heaven, and penetrate into the completion of his will, when this earth, and that heaven shall be no more? Then might we hope by fearching to find out out God, and understand to perfection that mystery of our redemption, which the very angels are defirous to look into, and unable to comprehend. ་ But what presumption is it, for any man in the conceit of worldly wisdom to reject at once the gospel of Chrift with impious contempt, or with an affectation of philofophic indifference, merely because he does not fee, or is unable to account for, the hidden purposes of God. Let reason first exert her powers in examining with precifion, but with candour, the authorities of that evidence, to which the Christian revelation appeals. Let the fcriptures be fearched for the prophecies concerning the Meffiah, and the ftricteft inquiry be made, what ground there is to fuppofe, they were fabricated after the event. Let it be examined, whether they apply to the person of Chrift, or if we ought ftill to look for their completion. (4) Let reafon review the hiftory of our Saviour's miracles, and the proofs of his refurrection; but let not these evidences be fet afide, in order to question, whether he that first ordained can alter the courfe of nature. It is prepofterous to determine, that the belief of no miracle can be established, merely because a miracle contradicts the general tenor of past experience. Let reafon confider alfo the doctrines of the Christian revelation; let her judge of their fitness to promote the happiness of individuals, and the interests of fociety; let her compare them with the nature, and the condition, the hopes, and fears of men; but let not the force of these fe veral, and united arguments be rejected without examination, as if the subject were of fo little importance, as not to be worth an inquiry. A wilful ignorance of what may be learned, cannot be justified by our inability to comprehend what it is not given for man to know. We |