to theE P H E S I A N S. 335 - Toclearthisyet a littlemoreuntoyou, becaufeitis thefoundationofwhatl~ fhall afterwards proceed m; you m~y obferve that God hath tryed all forts of con- :urmon clulions with the hearts of men; accord10g to feveral fizes. He afforded corrupt XXVL Nature a little light of Truth, which the Apoflle fpeaks of, Rom_. I· A Light 1./V'""V thatjhinedinadark place, whereby they knew manytlungs o! the Law; as that there was a God, and that that God rnufl be worfhipped ; this the Heathens and all men more or lefs have it in their hearts. , He tryed what cor:upt Nature would do with this, and he finds that general!y they dtd tmpnfon tt m unnghteoufnefs they put this Prophet of God toto Pnfon; that ts, they w,ent agamlt their k~owledg, they llighted it. The Light df Confcience t!Jen will not do it: Yea he went fo far with one man, he gavetnflance of one man m the World that went fo far as to dye for this, that there was bvt doe God, and yet knew nothing of the Scripture; SoSocratu was the highelt inflance how farrhe Light of Nature would go. God tried this conclufion firfl with the Heathens. . . I will give you a Scnpture for that: It ts 1 Cor. 1. 21. After that w the wif– dom of God, the World (tha,t is the World of the Gcmti~J, fOr he fpeaks of them there) by wifdom /mew nof God; then when he had tned thts conclufion_, that all the Light pf Nature,whtch he calleth the wiftlom of God, yet becaufe of that corrupt Carnal wifdom in rhens hear_ts, would not turn them; then he fendeth Preaching to 'convert them: After thts faith he_, Jt pleajetl God 6y thejoo!ijh11ejf of P reaching ro (ave them that6e!Jeve. Tlus was tryulg a conclufion you fee, for after that he faw that this Light ·Of Nature would do no good, then he fend– eth Chrifl into the World, and by the preaching of the Gofpel to convert theni. Well, having .tried the Light of Nature, and. fees that will do no good, he cometh to the Light of the Law, and tries that with the JewJ, he gave the Law to them; He dealt 110t fo with tl'!JI Nation, .1Jeither have the Heath~" the k11owledge of hu Law. This was but trying a conclufion too os the other was. He would fee how far the Light of Nature improved by the Light of the Law added to it, would go. Now what faith the Apollle in Rom.8. 5· What the L aw could not do i?t that il w aJ we/Jk th•o11gh the Fltjb. He would try what the Law would do; he gave them a perfect Rule, they had the fame help for the the ex– ternal means that Adam himfelfhad, (mark it) for they had the fame Law.How cometh it to pafs that the Law could do no good ; could not work upon men's hearts, though a Spirit went with it? (For fo the Law had, Neh. g. r 3·) faith he, it WtJJ weake11edthrough the Fief/;; corrupt Nature weakened all the power ofir; it was toohardforthat LightoftheLaw. He tried thatconcluftootoo, and for thar, as he gave Socrates the highefl infl~nce undet the Light of Nature; fo he gave Paul the highelt inflance under the Law, :i man that never finned a– gainfl his Conf,ience irJ his life, but was concerning the Law blamlefs till his Con– verfion ; I have kept agood Confcitllce, faith"he, to thu day; he fpeaks it to the Phari(ees that knew him before, Well, he bath given us the Gofpel, he will try how far corrupt ·Nature will go_ t~ere too, will be_ wrought upon by the Gofpd, whicl! hath a power of the Sptnt accompanymg tt, as all the le had; for certamly they were all Supernatu– ral, that mufl be acknowledged, 1t was.more than corrupt Nature of it felf would h~ve do_ne.He makes a tnal I fay wrth the Go!pel too; for that you have that emment tnflance tn t)le 61h. of the Hebrew,, of men that are i?J/ightfled, midpartake of the Heavenlygift, f!ic. and yet the Apoflle tells us plairily at the gth. Verfe, that there are better thmgs than thefe which God works in mens hearts when he faveth them; ~e are per(waded, faith he, 6etter thingJ ofyou; and {uch aJ accompa'!Y Salvatto11. The Holy Ghofl clevateth and raifeth, and works upon corrupt Nature to fee how far it will go under the Cofpel. And here he hath feveral fizes of working too, That Parable in L11k. 18. and Matt.q, fheweth it. Thef!o,ygroulidreceivtth the Word with joy, 6ttt fa!Jeth off inptrfewtiort ; .The thomyground holdeth out in perfecutioh, pur earn, aud rJcheJ, a11d p!eafuteJ grew up with it and chodked tfit Word. Goj hath fe– veral works upon Nature,and trieth thefe conclufions with it. And
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