242 Honefly the beffi Prefervative Vola t doing ofit ; and ifany Man be defirous to do the Will ofGod, his Goodnefs is fuck, that he will take effe&ual Care to fecure fuch a one againft dangerous and fatal Errors. He that hath an honeft Mind, and would do the Will of God; if he knew ìt, God will not Lifer him to remain ignorant of it, or to be miftaken about it in any neceffary Point ofFaith, or Pra&ice. Thus far I have gone. I (hall now prodeed to remove an Objeaion, to which this Difcourfe may feein liable, and then draw fome Inferences from the whole. After all that bath been faid, fome perhaps may ask, Is every good Man then fecure from all Error and Miftake in Matters of Religion? This is a mighty Privi- ledge indeed Bút do not we find the contrary in Experience ? That an honeft Heart, and a weak Head, do often meet together ? For anfwer to this, I (hall lay down thefe following Propofitions. Firl, That if there were any neceflity, that as good Man should be fecured from all manner of Etrdr Arid Miftake in Religion, this Probity of Mind, and fincere Delire to do the Will of God, is. the belt way to do it ; becaufe fuch a Temper and Difpofition of Mind gives a Man the beft Advantages to difcern betwixt Truth and Error ; and God is moft likely to reveal his Will to fuch Perfons. But there is no neceffity of this becaufe a Man may be a good Man, and go to Heaven, notwithftanding a great many Miftakes in Religion about Things not ne- ceffary. For while we are in this imperfes`t State, we know but in part, and fee many Things very imperfe&ly; But when we fhall come into a more perfe& State, that which is imperfeEl (hall be done away ; the light of Glory !hall fcatter all thofe Milts and Clouds, which are nowupon our Underftandings, and hinder us from a clear Sight andJudgment of Things; we !hall then fee God, and other Things, as they are; and be freed fromall that Ignorance, and thofe many Childifh Miftakes, which we are liable to here below; and till then, it is not necelfary that we fhould befe- cured from them. Humility, under a Senfe of our Ignorance, is better for us, than Infallibility would be. Secondly, This Temper and Difpofition of Mind which I have been fpeaking of, is a certain Security againft fatal Miftakes in Religion, and a final Continuance in fuch Errors as would prove Damnable ; and this is all that this Difcourfe pretends to, or our Saviour hath promifed in this Text. And confidering the Goodnefs of God, nothing is more improbable, than that an honeft Mind that feeks impartially after Truth, fhouldmiffs of it, in Things that are Fundamentally neceffary to Salvation. And if we could fuppofe fucha Man to fall into fuch an Error, either it would not be Fundamental to him, having not been, perhaps, pro- pofed to him with fufficient Evidence, and would be forgiven him upon a gene- ral Repentance for all Sins and Errors known, or unknown; or he would not be permitted to continue in it; but theProvidence of God would find out fame way or other to convince himof his Error, and to bring him to the acknowledgment of the Truth, that he might be faved. God would rather fpeak to him immediately from Heaven (as he did to, Sc Paul) than fuffer him to continue in fuch ata Error, as would infallibly carry him to Hell. Thirdly, There is no fuch depth of Judgment, and fubtilty of Wit required, to difcern between grofs and damnable Errors in Religion, and Neceffary and Saving Truth, but that an ordinary Capacity may be .able to do it: There is fo plain a Line drawn between great Truth, and grofs Errors, that it is vifible to every Capacity ; and an ordinary Underftanding, that is not under a violent Prejudice, or blinded by foine Vice or Fault of the Will, may eafily difcern ir. Indeed, in Matters of leffer Momentsand Concernment, and which have no fuch confiderable and immediate Influence upon the Pra&ice of an Holy Life, the differencebetwixt Truth and Error is not always, fo grofs and fenfible, as to be Obvious to every unprejudiced Eye. But we have all the Reafon in the World to believe, that the Goodnefs and Juftice of God is fuch, as to make nothing ne- ceffary to be believed by any Man, which, by the helpof due Inftru&ion may not be made fulficiently plain to a common Underftanding. God bath fo tender a Care ofgood Men, who fincerely love him and his Truth, that we may reafon- ably prefume, that he will not leave them under an unavoidable Miftake, con- cerning
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