296 SEVENTH SERMON wits mocked his doctrine, Acts xvii. 32. and it was a great stumbling block to Nicodemus to hear that a man must be born again, John iii. 4. Sarah bath much ado to believe beyond reason, Gen. xviii. 12. and Moses himself was a little staggered by this temptation, Num. xi, 21, 22. A very hard thing it is for busy and inquisitive reason to rest in the depth of the wisdom and counsel of God; and to adore the unsearchableness of his judgments, though even human laws tell us that reason of law is not always to be inquired into. The first great heresies against the highest mysteries of christian religion, the Trinity, the two natures of Christ, the hypostatical union, the Deity of the Holy Spirit, had their first rise among the Grecians, who were then the masters of wit and learning, and esteemed the rest of the world barba- rous ; and the old exception which they were wont to take at the doctrine of christianity was the foolish- ness of it, as the apostle notes, 1 Cor. i. 23. The sanctity and strictness of it is contrary to the carnal wills and affections of men : for as corruption doth deify reason in the way of wisdom, not willingly allowing any mysteries above the scrutiny and com- prehension of it ; so doth it deify will in a way of liberty and power, and doth not love to have any authority set over that which may pinch or restrain it. As Joshua said to Israel, " Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God," Josh. xxiv. 19. we may say of the law, we cannot submit to the law because it is a holy law ; the carnal mind is not, cannot be, subject to the law of God, Rom. viii. 7. Heat and cold will ever be offensive unto one another, and such are flesh and spirit, Gal. v. 17. Therefore ordinarily the arguments against the ways of God, have been drawn from politic or carnal interests. Jeroboam will
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