The Glory of the Gofpel, Secondly, Get to be aSaint, to whom God will make known the Riches, &c: other\\·tfe you cannot recet~e them, you Wtll count themfoolljhtujs, as bath been iliewed; tf you do, you will but take them upon truft, by the Whole-fate, as we .ufe·to fay, and to the bundle, Will not be able to fee the particular fecrets that are In the Truthsrevealed 10 the Gofpel, and opened, and Riches laid out. Or if you could do all this without Grace, yet. a Saint hath advantage. Ftrft, It1 the comfort you Will have , m ftudymg the Myfteries of the Gofpel, [ol. 2. 2. to go no further, hewifheth t~em the know!tdgr of the Myf/rry that ther m1ght ~ecomf~rted; for mdeed aSamt, the more he fees into it, the more h~ knows IllS own nches; he tells them but over, and gets more evidence of his Title to them. Whereas another IS but as a Lawyer, that ftudies other mens Evi– dences, without any great comfort to himfelf. The choiceft Flowers of Gof– rel Truths to an unregenerate man, are of the !talk, and yield no fcent but grow up in a Saints heart frefh and comfortable. ' Secondly, In that plac~ Col.2.2, you fhall find Riches of Affi•rmtcr joyned with a Sr1int's kuowlrd,~e, which 1 The{fr.4, )·IS made a note of Elecriou, and not in · another. Sc~mf fays,That to geta true and perfed: knowledge in Divine things, Fides tll{tt(a ~ acqw(tta, both Faith mfufed and acquired arc neceffary, I. APrinciple of Faith inf'ufed, which may be an Evidma, as iris defined Heb. I 1,1. of all the Principles and fundamental Truths which are revealed in the Gofpel, and not proved, for otberwife all our Knowledge acquired built thereon, will want Ailurance, will hang upon uncertainties. Things hanging upon a Pin, are no firmer than the Pm they hang on, unlefs Faith rivets the Prin– Ciples of 'Divine knowledge into the heart, all the conclulions hang on uncer• tainties, and fall down in the end. - And, Thirdly, Grace will help you to get the !lartof another. As for aNa~ tural man, he brings only Natural parts; a Regenerate man is fuppofed to have as good, aod moreover, bath a further power of Difcerning given him; r Got. 2.t)· The Spirittlfll matt difternet.h all things, It!' his own Art : And as Wicked men are oftenwifer, m their Art and Generation, thmt the Chi/drm of L inht; yea, bv your leave, the Reafon will more ftrongly hold, that a Child of Light may ealilier be wifer in his; and therefore Solomo11 fays, Thr knowledge of the holy u Ultderflaudi?tg. And Laftly, If they be Saints, God makes known the faving Truths of the Cofpel, by the Writings ar.d Judgments of Holy men. The Angels learn thefe Myfteries of the Church, and why fbould .not we? Pja/.19,9· l11 the[hurch eve– ry one [peaks of God'sglory; or as Others read it, 1?1 the Church God utters all hisglory. The Saints efpccially, that are or have been of the Church, they fpeak of the glory of his Kingdom, and of his Power, and make known to the Sons of Men his mighty Ad:s, and the glorious Majefty of his Kingdom. The ways of Grace, and Myfterics of the Kingdom, are feldom made known, but unto them. And, if God reveals the Myfteries of Grace to his Saints only, truft not the Judgments of Natural men in the matters of Grace; this is a godly man's Arr, and not awicked man's, though never fd learned : And a man would truft an Arri!1 in his own Trade, rather than another, The knowledge of the Ho{y is tmderf/mtding, fays Solomon Prov.9. 10. efpecially in ways of Holinefs. Take the Controverlies which are now on foot; Shall they judge of Ele– flilm, who are reprobate to every good work themfelves; or they, of the uni– verfalityof God's Free Gra'cr, who turn the Grace of God into wantonnefs? Or they, of the Power of God in Converlion , that deny the Power of godli– nefs? Or thofe, of the perjevera11ce of Faith, who care not to make volun– tary fb ipwreck of it? Men of corrupt minds, whofe god is their Belly, Gain their godlinefs, Preferment their Religion, and who will cut their own Opini– ons accordingly. I will
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