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DISCOURSE V.

MYSTERY AND REVELATION INCONSISTENT.

DEUT. xxix. 29:

Secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

THAT which we render secret things, is in the Hebrew, nistaroth, that is, mysteries, or hidden things which God hath not revealed in his Word, which I have elsewhere proved to be the constant sense of the word vorpa, in the Holy Scriptures. Whence it demonstrably follows, that what is truly a mystery, cannot be a revelation made by God; and that to require any man to believe what we confess to be a mystery, is to require him to believe what God hath not revealed in his Word, as is apparent from the opposition here put betwixt mysteries or hidden things which God only knows, and things revealed by him to us, that we may know them and do them, and which it is impossible for us to do, till we first know the import of them, or what it is that God requires us to do. Whence, secondly, observe, that all that God requires any man to do, in order to the obtaining his favour or avoiding his displeasure, must be so plainly delivered by God in his Word, as that all men concerned to do them, may certainly know the true import of them. And, by parity of reason, all that God requires any man to believe, in order to salvation or the avoiding his displeasure, must be so plainly delivered in his holy Word, that all men concerned to believe it must be enabled by him to know the true and certain meaning of it. This will be evident,

First, From the consideration of the wisdom and goodness of God.

Secondly, From the nature of a rule, which must be plain, and of a certain sense.

Thirdly, From the consideration of the persons to whom it is revealed, that they may believe it and do it.

And,

Fourthly, From the consideration of the end and design of God in making this revelation to mankind, that it may be believed and practised by them.

First, From the consideration of the wisdom and goodness of God.

For sure it was most agreeable to the infinite goodness and tender mercies of God, to make every thing which he requires of us weak men obvious and clear. The importance of the duty implies its certainty, which is not to be found in phrases either doubtful or obscure. A just God will never require us to believe any article, or obey any precept, till we understand him and know what he means. A righteous God can expect nothing from us, but what he has given us the means and ability to perform. The Creator and Preserver of mankind cannot take delight in puzzling his creatures with darkness and ambiguities, and in points, too, where their souls are in danger. He is not a rigid master, who would reap where he did not sow. This would be a cruel mockery, unworthy of that Being who has brought life and immortality to light. I think it but justice to the goodness of God to affirm, that belief or disbelief can neither be a virtue nor a crime in any one who has no means in his power of being informed; and a righteous God will condemn no man for not doing more than he was able to perform. The all-merciful Being doth never require of us that which, after our most diligent search, we cannot find he requires. It is not consistent with his wisdom and goodness to make that necessary which he hath not made plain. It is evident, then, that the all-wise God could not intend to perplex and confound weak minds with subtleties, for the knowledge of which he has not given them suitable qualifications.

Secondly, This will be farther evident from the nature of a rule.

For, First, the true way to measure the essential properties of this or that means, is by considering its sufficiency for this end. For whatsoever is necessary to make any means sufficient for the obtaining its end, is to be reputed an essential property of that means, and nothing else. Now, because the end we are speaking of is the conveyance of the knowledge of Christ's doctrine to all those who are concerned to know it, in such a manner as they may be sufficiently certain and secure that it hath received no change or corruption from what it was when it was first delivered, from hence it appears that the means to know this end must have these two properties:-First, it must be sufficiently plain and intelligible. Secondly, it must be sufficiently certain to us; that is, such as we may be fully satisfied concerning it, that it hath received no corruption or alteration. If it have these two conditions, it is sufficient for its end; but if it want either of them, it must necessarily fall short of its end. For if it be not plain and intelligible, it cannot convey

this doctrine to our knowledge; if it be not certain, we cannot be assured that that doctrine which it brings down to us for the doctrine of Christ, is really such. Hence it demonstratively follows, that a rule which is not plain is no rule at all. Nor will God make a law binding, or the transgression of it a sin, until we know what it is. A just and righteous Judge will condemn us only for neglecting to do that for which he hath given us means and abilities to perform. An all-wise God cannot prescribe a means in order to an end, which he knows will not be sufficient to produce that end. Add to this,-Thirdly, that a perfect rule of faith and manners must with sufficient plainness and certainty contain all things necessary to be believed or done, in order to the end of our faith, that is, "the salvation of our souls" (1 Pet. i. 9). And agreeable to these things is that inquiry of St. Paul, "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise you, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, no Adyov, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak unto the air;" that is, vain and unprofitable words (1 Cor. xiv. 8,9). And to deny this perfection to the Holy Scripture, which is our only rule of faith and the only treasury of divine revelations, is in effect to say, that all that our blessed Lord and his inspired apostles have taught us in the holy Gospels and Epistles is insufficient to make any Christian wise unto salvation; it being certain that that which is deficient in any one thing necessary to be believed or done, in order to our salvation, cannot produce that end.

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Thirdly, This will be still more evident from the consideration of the persons to whom the gospel was revealed, that they might believe it and do it: for seeing when God Almighty condescends to make use of human language, he intends to be understood, and consequently makes use of words in their common acceptation; that when he designed to reveal his will to babes and sucklings (that is, to the ignorant and unlearned), he cannot rationally be supposed to do it in obscure expressions, or in dubious and uncertain words; that being to do it so, that they who were obliged to believe and do it could not know certainly what they were either to believe or do; hence must it necessarily follow, that the gospel must be plain and easy to be understood in all things which can be the duty of all men to know, in order to salvation; seeing God, saith the apostle, "willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. ii. 4). In order to that end, he must have given all men sufficient means to come to the knowledge of that salvation; seeing our Saviour sent his apostles to preach that gospel unto all creatures" which is able to make them wise unto sal

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vation," he must have required them to preach it so as that the hearers of it may be made "wise unto salvation;" whence St. Paul, in the name of them all, speaks thus (2 Cor. iii. 12): Seeing then we have such hope [of the divine assistance, in execution of this our commission], we use great plainness of speech;" whence he infers in the next chapter, that "if the gospel they preached was hid from any to whom it was preached, it was only hid from them whose minds Satan, the God of this world, had blinded, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine in upon them;" plainly insinuating that the gospel was not hid from any one for want of clearness in them that preached it, but only by reason of that blindness which Satan had wrought in them that heard it. And in the xivth chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians, he speaketh to the preachers of Corinth, delighting to speak in tongues unknown in the assemblies of their fellow-Christians, thus, for their correction and reproof, that in this they acted like barbarians and as "children in understanding; that they speak unto the air;" that they transgressed the great rule which they ought always to observe in speaking, to wit, the doing it to the edification of the hearers; that unless they uttered by the tongue nuo Adyov, "words easy εὔσημον λόγον, to be understood," their hearers could not know what was spoken; that he himself, unless he spake by knowledge or revelation to them, could not profit them, and that, therefore, in the church he had " rather speak five words with his understanding" so employed, that by his voice he might teach others, than "ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.' Now is it reasonable to conceive that after these things said for the reproof of others, he himself in writing to the churches should be guilty of the same fault? That he should speak unto the air, and so as not to profit, because his trumpet gave an uncertain sound? That he, in his Epistles, should write things not to be understood, and by which he might teach the church, and so be a barbarian to them that read them? And yet, if what he delivered in those Epistles concerning matters necessary to be believed and done, were not indited by the Holy Spirit, and by him delivered with sufficient clearness, both he himself, and that good Spirit which enabled him to write them, must be guilty of that very crime which they so sharply had condemned. Shall we then be guilty of such horrid blasphemy as to aver that the teachings of the all-wise God, designed to make men wise unto salvation, and to convey to them the knowledge of the truth requisite in order to that end, should be obnoxious to the same faults which the apostle so sharply doth reprove in the Corinthians? What would this be but to mend the word of God; to make it more useful than God has made it; to help the Holy Ghost; and to

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teach the Almighty how to express himself; and in effect to say, that the wisdom of the Holy Ghost hath so indited the Gospel of Salvation, as to need his coming a second time with his infallible assistance, to teach men met in councils to declare it unto others in order to their salvation? The vile imputation which this assertion charges upon the all-wise God, our great Lawgiver, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost and the inspired apostles, is clearly demonstrated in my Sermon on these words, "We use great plainness of speech," &c., from p. 56 to p. 63.

This, Fourthly, may be demonstrated from the end and design of God in making this revelation to mankind: for, seeing an all-wise and all-powerful God cannot fail in accomplishing the end which he designeth to obtain; and seeing it is also certain, that the end of God in speaking to men what he conceiveth necessary to be believed or done in order to their salvation, cannot be obtained by speaking to them these things obscurely and ambiguously; hence it is certain, that God cannot be supposed, in matters of so great importance, to speak thus to those whom he designs to teach these things, since that end cannot certainly be obtained by speaking those things obscurely and ambiguously, but only by doing this plainly, and in words easy to be understood, and of a certain sense. Seeing, then, every wise agent pursues his end by the most proper and effectual means,-and writing plainly, and not obscurely, is the most proper means to instruct men by writing,-hence it follows, that the apostles must have used this means of instructing in their writings, or else they cannot be esteemed wise agents. The contrary supposition casts a vile imputation both on that blessed Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith, and upon that Holy Spirit by which the Scriptures were indited. For, first, if our great Lawgiver only taught by his apostles those necessary things obscurely in the Scriptures which are delivered as his laws to the church, and so were continually received by it, he acted so as no wise lawgiver ever did or thought fit to do. For do any of them make laws, in matters necessary to be observed by their subjects, so obscurely as that they shall not be obliged to obey them until they are interpreted by another law or another assembly? And shall he who is styled the Wisdom of the Father, be supposed to do what no wise lawgiver would choose to do? Secondly, if the good Spirit hath so obscurely delivered his mind in Scripture, that they who are concerned to do it cannot know sufficiently things necessary to be believed and done contained in it, without an infallible interpreter, he must have writ this book so as no understanding Christian ever writ any thing of the like nature: for did ever any wise Christian write obscurely what he thought needful to be known by them

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