36 THE KNOWLEDGE dr GOD. shall he judge the world ; Rom. iii. 5, 6. As there havebeen many instances of a righteous providence inthe present life where- by the great God has already revealed his wrath fromheaven against the unrighteousness and ungodliness of the'heathenworld; Rom. i. 18. So in the world to come not one condemned sinner shall be able to say God is unjust : Every mouth shall be stop- ped, And the heavens and the earth proclaim his righteousness, when he shall appear in his Son Jesus at the last day, as the ;judge of all mankind. 5. This knowledge of Godby natural light prepares the way for preaching and receiving the gospel of hisgrace : and that he doth manyways, viz. Unless men are first acquainted that there is a God who can make knownhis mind and will to men, what ground is there for preaching any discoveries of his mind and will amongst them ? Unless the heathens are taught that he is a God of all knowledge and cannot be deceived himself; and that he is kind and good, true and faithful, and will not deceive his creatures, how can they be persuaded to believe what he reveals ? Unless they are instructed by the light of reason that he is an Almighty God and theLord ofNature, how can any miracle give testimony to the truth of what he reveals ? For it is as the Sovereign Lord of nature that he sets the seal of a miracle to his divine truths ; amiracle which is above the power of nature to work. Again, when sinners, by the light and law of nature in their own consciences are laid under conviction of sin and guilt, and they are infear of the wrath of God, theybecome more ready to receive thegospel of pardon and salvation as glad tidings from heaven. We see the great apostle St. Paul wisely managing his ministry to the Athenians, of which we have but short hints in Acts xvii. 22-30. By discoursing first on natural religion, he comes at last to awaken men to repentance, and preaches Jesus with the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment; verse 31. And agreeably to this method of propagating the gospel among the heathen nations, we find, in fact, that where there was any thingof the knowledge of the true God, either by the light of nature, or by tradition, there the gospel was soonest received ; the minds of men were better fitted and prepared for faith in Christ, the Son of God, by this degree of knowledge of God the Father. Those who in the book of the Acts are styled the devout persons, are such as feared God, they acknow- ledged the one living and true God, and worshipped him ; `and they much more readily complied With the gospel of grace, and the tidings Of a Saviour, than the idolaters who had these other lessons to learn first. Thus having shewn thevarious uses
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