ofGod and hisWdl. affeEI them , it ptoduceth no ble!Ted effects in them. Some fenfe they have of the Power ofGod in the Works·. of Creation and Providence, in his Rule and Government; and in the Workings ofNatural Confcience. Beyond thefethey hav·e no real fenfe of him. The Reafon is, becaufe they have not Faith, whereby alone the Reprefentation that is made of God in Chrill, and declared in the Gofpel, is made effefru!l unto the fouls of men. Wherefore · . 3· It is the highefi degeneracy from the Myfiery of Chri– fiian Religion, · tor men to fatisfie themfelves in natural dif– coveries of the Divine Being and Excellencies, without an Acquaintance with that ·perfeCt Declaration and Reprefenta– tion of them which is made in the Perfon of Chrifr, as he is revealed and declared in the Gofpel. . It is confeiled that there may be good ufe made of the Evidence which Reafon gives, or takes from its own innate Principles, with the Con– fideration of the external works of Divine 'Vifdom and Power, concerning the Being and Rule of God. But to reil: herein, to efieem it the 6eJl and mofi perfeEJi.ve Knowledge of God that we can attain, not to rife up unto the more full, perfefr and evident manitefration of himfelf that he hath made in Chrij}, is a declaration of our Vn!Jelief, and a ,Vir– tual Renunciation ofthe Gofpel. This is the fpr ing of that · 'lJeclenftonunto a meer Nntural Religion, which difcovers it fe]f in many, and ufually ends in the exprefs denial of the Divine Perfon of Chrifi. For when the proper ufe of it is defpifed, on what grqunds can the Notion of it be long re· tained? Bt1t a fuppofition ofhis 'Divine Perfon is the Foun.. dation of this Difcourfe. Were he not the E.f[ential Image of the Father in his .own Divine Perfon, he could not be the Reprefentafi.ve Image of God unto us, as he is incarnate. For if he were a man only, however miraculoufly produced and glorioufly exalted, yet the Angels above, the glorious HeaL vens,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=