~piritua! Perje[/ion. 1 That God is true, is a Principle immediately evident, not dependently upon an an. tecedent moi ve. This, by its native irrefilhble evidence, is beyond all difpute, and exempted from all critical Inquiries. There is no Principle\\ ricten in the Minds of Me~ with clearer CharaClers. 'Twas the faying of a wifi: Heathen, If God would conver[t vifiblt with Mm, be would ajfume. Li~ht (or a Body, and hav.< Truth for hzs Soul. God IS moll 1ealous of the Honour of hiS 1 ruth.. Thou haft mat,mfed thy PJord abovt a!! thy name. Truth is the fupreme CharaCler of rhe Deity. The A poll le bu!lds the alfurance of Chn· llians upon the Promifes, and .thm ftrong Co~folauon upon thiS wfalhble Rock, God H•b. s. that cannot /y(. From hence It follows, that tn fupernatural Dotl:mes, we muft firft confider the authority of the Revealer, and then the nature of DoCl:rmes. 2 . God's JurifdiClion extends to our Underllandmgs, as well asto our Wills: He rules our Underllandings by light, our Wills by emp1re. If God did command us to believe only Truths in themfelves evident, our rec~iving them would not be an undoubted re[pect to his Authority; but to beheve hts tefhmony without the evtdence of thmgs, 1s an Obedience worthy of him. And we are equally obliged to believe his te!limony concerning the truth of things, notwithftanding the reluClancy of the carnal Mind, and their teeming repugn1nce to the natural nouons. of Reafon;. as .to ?bey hts Pre~epts, nol\vithftanding the reluctancy of the corrupt Will, and the 1nclmauons to forbidden things. ~· God never requires our a!fent to fupernatural things revealed in his Word, but affords fufficient conviCl:ion that they are Divine Revelations. When God deputed any by Commiflion for an extraordinary Work, he always afforded a Light to difcover the Commiffi on was uncounterfeit. Moj(s was fent from God with a Command to Pharaoh to relea fe the Ifradiw from their cruel Servitude; and be had the Wonder-working Rod, to aurhorifo his Commiflion, and confirm the truth of Ius Melfage by Miracles. The DIVInity of the Scnpture, the Rule of Faith, fh!nes wllh that clear and ftrong evidence, that only thofe whofe Mmds are prevented w11h a conceit of the 1mpoflibdity of the DoClrincs contained in it, and perverted by their Paffions, can reftfr it. Colour'd Objects are not difcern'd more clearly by their Colours, nor Light by its Luftre, than that the Scriptures are of Divine Revelation. Rea fon is an E!fential Faculty of Man, and by it we are directed why to Believe; and what things are reveal'd as obJeCls of Faith. To believe, and not to underftand the re.. fon of our belief, is to turn Faith into Folly and Extravagance. The Men of .)amari& were fi rll induced to believe in Chrill, for the Tejlimony of the woman that told them, Come and/.u tht man that has told me all that tverl did: but when they heard Chrill:John,; fpeak, they fa id, ,Now tvt bdievr, not for thy words, /or n·t have heAnl, and l:now, that he is t!Jt true S•vioHr of the World. The Underflanding is convinc'd by reafon of the Divinity of the Scriptures: and as a pole fupports a Vine, but does not give Life and Vertue to its Root, fo Reafon aflills Faith in directing it to the Scriptures, the Rule of it, bu t Faith in the Myfteries of the Gofpel derives its Life from God the Author of them. By Reafon we difcover the relation, order, diftinction, and dependance of Reveal'd Truths: and reJeCl: the vain opinions of Men, when propos'd as Divine Oracles; and the fruits of Fancy, that are propos'd as Myfteries of Faith. 4· God reveal s himfdf to us in Scripture by Humane Expreflions, according to our Capacit y of receiving the Knowledge of Divine things: and we are to underlland them in thm apparent fenfe, unlefs the precife literal fenfe contains an evident Contr~di8:ion ro what is certainly known by Reafon, and difparaging the Divine PerfeCl:ions. The fine Rule of interpreting them, is to feparate whatever is defeClive in them, and apply them to God in the highell degree of PerfeCl:ion. We read of the Hands and Eyes of God in Sc ri pture, which fignify the perfeCl:ion of God's Knowledge and Power: they are Lhe Organs by which Men do and know things: but 'tis Infinitely unworthy of God to think that the Divine Operation has need of fuch Inftruments. T hus t he Communicating of the divine Nature from the Father to the Son is expre!S'd by Generation, which is the moll Noble ProduCl:ion qf one Living Crea;ure from anot her, efpecially of an Intelligent Creature, with all its properties: b•t who tan dular.t hts generatton? We mufi: not conceive it with the Imperfe8ion of Humane Generation, wherein the Effea is feparate from the Caufc, and fucceffive eo it. For 'cis a contradiB:ion, that God fhould beget a Son in his moll perfeCl: Image, but he mull be Eternal as the Father; otherwife, he would be defeCl:ive in the refemblance of the firll: perfeCl ion of the Deity. All refemblances of God in Scripture have their difparity and defe8:s , which mufl be feparated from him. But excepting fuch Cafes the Word of God ts to be. underltood in its proper fenfe. For we mull fuppofe that 'God fpeaks to us with an mtenuon that we fhould underftand him, otherwife it were not J ull: to H h h h require
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