Serm. II. The Excellency ofAbraham's Faith andObedience. i 7 God is pleafed to make immediate Revelations of his Will, are force way or other affured that they are Divine; otherwife theywould be in vain, and to no purpofe, But how Men are allured concerning DivineRevelations made to them, is not fo eafie to makeout to others ; only thefe two things we are furo of. I. That God can work in the Mind of Man, a firm Perfwafionof the Truth of what he Reveals, and that fuch a Revelation is from him. This no Man can doubt of that confiders the great `Power and Influence which God, who madeus, and perfectly knows our Frame, muff needs have upon our Minds and Underftandings: 2. That God never offers any thing to any Man's belief, that plainly contradicts the Natural and Effential Notions of his Mind ; becaufe this would be for God to deftroy his own, Workmanfhip, and to impofe that upon the Underftanding of Man, which whilft it remains what it is, it cannot poffibly admit. For inftance, We cannot imagine, that God fhould reveal to anyMan any thing that plainly contradi&s the Effential Perfe&ions of the Divine Nature ; for fuch a Revelation can no morebe fuppofed to be from God, than a Revelation from God, that there is no God ; which is a downright Contradidion. Now to apply this to the Revelation which God made to Abraham concerning the Sacrificing of his Son : This was made to him by an audible Voice, and he was fully fatisfied by the Evidence which it carried along with it, that it was fromGod. For this was not the firft of many Revelations that had been made to him, fo that he knew the manner of them, and had found by manifold experience, that hewas not deceived, and upon this Experience was grown to a great Confidence in the Truth and Goodnefs of God. And it is very probable the firft time God ap- peared to Abraham, becaufe it was a new thing, that to make way for the Credit of future Revelations, God did thew himfelf to him in fo glorious a manner, as was abundantly to his Conviction. And this St. Stephen does feem to intimate Ads 7. 2. TheGodofglory appeared to our Father Abrahamwhen he was in Mefopotamia. Now by this glorious Ap- pearance of God to him at firft, he was fo prepared for the Entertainment of after Revelations , that he' was not ftaggered even at this, . concerning the Sa- crificing of his Son, being both by the manner of it, and the affurance that accom- panied it, fully fatisfied that it was from God. Secondly, I obferve from hence the great and neceffary ufe of Reafon, in mat- ters of Faith. For we fee here that Abraham's Reafon was a mighty ftrengthning and help to hisFaith. Here were two Revelations made to Abraham, which feemed to clafh with one another ; and ifAbraham's Reafon could not have reconciled the Repugnancy of them, he could not poffibly have believed them both ro be from God; becaufe this natural Notion, or Principle, that God cannot contradict himfelf, every Man does firft, and more firmly believe, than any Revelation whatfoever. NowAbraham's Reafon relieved him in this (trait. So the Text exprefly tells us, that be'reefoned with himfelf, that God was able to raife him from the Dead. And this being admitted, the Commandof God, concerningthe Slaying of Ileac, was very well confiftent with his former Promife, That in Ifaac his Seed fhould be called. I know there bath a very rude clamour been raifed by forne Perfons, (but of more Zeal I think than Judgment) againft the ufe of Reafon in matters of Faith : But how very unreafonable this is, will appear to any one that will but have pati- ence to confider thefe following particulars. t. The nature of Divine Revelation; That it doth not endow, Men with new Faculties, but propoundeth new Objeas to the Faculties, which they had be- fore. Reafon is the Faculty wherebyRevelation is to be difcerned ; for when God reveals any thing to us, he reveals it to our Underftanding, and by that we are to judge'of it. Therefore St. Yohn cautions us, r Yoh. q. a. Not to believe every fpirit; but to try thefpirits, whether they are ofGod; becaufe manyfalfe Prophets are gone out into the World ; that is, there are many that falfly pretend to Infpirs- lion : But how can thefe Pretenders be tryed and difcerned from thefe that are truly infpired, but by uling our Reafon, in comparing the Evidence for the one and the other? D ß. This
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