Serin, LXXXV. in the Redemption of Mankind. 3 upon it, carries it to him that made it, to mend it and put it into Order ; fo muft we do, after all our Care and Anxiety about our own private Concernments, or the,publick State of Things, we muft give over governing the World, as a Bufl- nefs pail our Skill, as a Province too hard , and a Knowledge too wonderfulfor w, and leave it to him, who made the World, to govern it and take care of it. And if we be not thus Affel ed and Difpofed, we do not believe the Provi- dence of God, whatever Profeffion we make of it ; if we did, it would have an Influence upon our Minds, to free us from anxious Care and Difcontent. Were we firmly perfuaded of the Wifdom and Goodnefs of the Divine Providence, we fhould confidenly rely upon it, and according to the Apoftle's Advice here in the Text, calf all our care upon him, becaufe he Garethfor us. SER l 1 \.! 1 \ LXXX {' o The Wifdom of God in the Redemption of Mankind. I COR I. 24. Chrifi, the Power of God, and the Wifdom of God. IHave in the ordinary Courfe of my Preachingbeen treating of theAttributes and Perfedtionsof God, more particularly thofe which relate to the Divine Underftanding ; the Knowledge and Wifdom of God. The frrff of thefe I have finifh'd ; and made tome Progrefs in thefecond, theWifdom of God ; which I have fpoken to in general, and have propounded more particularly toconfider thofe famous Inftances and Arguments of the Divine Wifdom in the Creation of the World ; the Government of it ; and the'Redemptionof Mankind by refus Chrifi. The two firft of thefe I have fpoken to, namely, the Wifdom of God, which ap- pears in'the Creation and Government of the World. I come now to the IIId Inftance of the DivineWifdom, the redemption of mankindby rfefus Chrilt; which I (hall, by God's Affiftance, fpeak to from thefe words, Chrift, the wifdom of God. The Apoftlein the beginning of this Epiftle, upon occafion of his mentioning the Divifions and Parties that were among the Corinthians, where one Paid , Iam of Paul ; another , I am of Apollos ; asks them, whether Paul was crucified for them ? or whether they were baptiz'd into the name of Paul ? To convince them that they couldnot pretend this, that they were Baptized into his Name, he tells them at the 14, and s 5th verfes ; that he had notfo much as baptizedany of them, except two or three ; fo far was he from having Baptized them into his own Name ; and at the r 7th verfe, he fàys, that his Work, his principal Work, was to preach the Gofpel, which he had done, not with Human Eloquence, not in wifdom of words, but with great Plainnefs and Simplicity , left the Croft of Chrifi fhould be made of none effetf ; left, if he fhould have ufed any Artifice, the Go- fpel fhould have been lefs powerful. And indeed his Preaching was unaffeétedly plain, and therefore the Gofpel did feem to very many to be a foolifh and ridicu. lous Thing. The Story which they told of Chri/t crucified, was to the 7ews a ffumbling-block , and to the Gentiles foolifhnefs. The pews, who expethed another kind of Meas, that fhould come in great Pomp and Glory, to be a mighty Tem- poral Prince, they were angry at the Story of a crucify'd Chrift. The Greeks, the Philofophers, who expeEted fome curious Theories, adorned with Eloquence, and delivered and laid down according to the exaû Rules of Art, they derided this plain and Pimple Relation ofChrift, and of the Gofpel, Bitt
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