word, the sense man is now possessed of, where God does not restrain it, is used for evil and not for good: his "wisdom is earthly, sensual*, devilisha;" it is the sagacity of a brute, animated by the malignity of an evil spirit.

This being the present state of man, the Scripture does therefore declare it necessary, that he should be "transformed by the renewing of his mind," and restored to that "sound mind"," and "light of the "understanding," that " spiritual discernment"," with which the human nature was endued when it came from the hands of God, but to which it has been dead from the day that evil was brought into the world. And where the grace of God that should open the eyes, and prepare the heart to receive instruction, has been obstinately withstood and resisted, this blindness, which at first was only natural, becomes judicial; from being a defect, it is confirmed into a judgment; and men are not only unable to discern the truth, but are settled and rivetted in error: which is the case with all those to whom "God sends strong delusion that they should believe

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a lie, and have pleasure in unrighteousness." It is then they sit down in the "seat of the scornful," as "fools" that "make a mock at sin," and "de"spisers of those that are good";" hating and railing at their fellow-creatures, only because they are endued with the fear of God! This is the last stage of blindness; and it is referred to in those words of the Apostle-" If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them "that are lost d:" as also in that lamentation of our blessed Lord over the city of Jerusalem-" If thou "hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, "the things that belong to thy peace! but now they 66 are hid from thine eyes e."

The absolute necessity of God's grace to lighten our darkness, has often been largely and faithfully insisted upon by the writers and preachers of the church of England; but since a spirit of Deism has crept in among us, it has been openly slighted and contemned by some, and too much neglected by others; which has given an opportunity to several sorts of enthusiasts to make a wrong use of it: such as our Quakers, Methodists, and particularly the Rev. Mr. William Law, who, after writing so ex cellently upon the vanity of the world, and the follies

of human life, (on which subjects he has no superior} has left us nothing to depend upon but imagination, and reduced the whole evidence of Christianity to fancied impulses and inspiration; so as to render the Scriptures useless, and the appointed means of grace contemptible. I have observed the like to have happened in many other instances; that where any essential point of doctrine has been dropt by the writers of the church, or at least not brought out to view so often as it should have been, it has been taken up by others, (as all tares are sown while the husbandmen are asleep) and employed, under some false state of it, to the no small disadvantage of the church and the Christian religion.

To illustrate this subject a little farther, I shall make it appear by a few plain examples, that where mankind have been divided in their opinions with regard to any divine truth, it has not been owing to the ambiguity of its terms, or the defect of its evidence, but wholly and solely to the state and temper of the hearers. And thus Christ himself has instructed us in his parable of the sower; that where the good seed of the word perishes, it is to be imputed to the ground and not to the seed. How else can we account for it, that when St. Paul laid the evidence of the Gospel before a large assembly of Jews at Rome,

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Rome, "some believed the things which were spoken, "and some believed not," though the same things were spoken to all? Such in general was the success of the apostolical preaching; some few "re"ceiving the word with gladness," while others opposed themselves and blasphemed. And though it be supposed, that words are more easily misunderstood than facts, and may admit of a greater latitude; yet here we shall find, that the same spirit which has divided mankind in what are called the more speculative points of faith, will also divide them in the plainest and most striking matters of fact. The resurrection of Lazarus was a matter of fact, seen and attested by a competent number of witnesses: but how different was the effect of it upon different persons! for while it had its free course with many of the Jews, and moved them to believe on Jesus, it only moved the chief Priests to hate him the more; and they consulted how "they might put Lazarus also "to death." When Jesus cured the blind, and cast out devils, some rightly concluded" Rabbi, thou art a "teacher come from God; for no man can do these "miracles that thou dost, except God be with him":" yet there were not a few, and they of the most

a Acts xxviii. 24.

John xii. 10, II.
g 2

€ John iii. 2.

learned

learned and knowing too, who concluded far otherwise, that he "cast out devils by Beelzebub the "prince of the devils." So likewise, when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles, and inspired them with the gift of tongues, some devout men were amazed and confounded at the miracle; plainly seeing the hand of God in it, and asking what it meant, what was the end and design of it? and being informed by St. Peter's discourse, that it was to confirm the mission of "Jesus of Nazareth, re"ceived his word gladly, and were baptized b;" while others, to avoid the conclusion, "mocking, "said, these men are full of new wine "." Here is a great multitude assembled together; all of them witnesses to the same fact; yet, in their opinions of it, they are as far asunder as drunkenness is from inspiration. But in this case no Christian will raise a doubt about the real inspiration of the Apostles, or deny the power of God to have been sufficiently manifested, because some were so profane and senseless as to ridicule it, under the name of drunkenness.

This self-deceit always operates by the assistance of some false principle contrary to the Scripture: which

a Matt. xii. 24.

Acts ii. 41.

c Acts v. 13.

gets