SERMON XLV. 37 of this knowledge of God by the light of nature, I proceed in the third place to consider, what are the defectsor irnperfec- tions ofit. 1. 00 It is but a small portion of the things of God, which the bulk of mankind can generally be supposed to learn merely by their own reasonings." This is sufficiently evident by the historyof past times and ancientnations, as well as by present ob- servation of the heathen world. Though some of the philoso- phers, particularly the followers of Plato and Pythagoras, attainedsome considerable knowledge of the natureof God, and clearly sawhis eternalpower andgodhead, as itis expressed Rom. i. 20. yet these were but very few in comparison of the rest of men ; the bulk of mankind, even in the learned nations, as well as the rude and barbarous countries, did actually know but little of the true God, or of their duty towards him, or theway of ob- taining future happiness. . 2. The light of nature even in those things which it did teach the heathen world, is but dim and feeble, and leaves man- kind under many doubts and uncertainties in matters of consider- able importance. A short lesson of knowledge in the heathen schools was obtained with long toil and difficulty ; their philoso- phy was rather a feeling after God in the dark, than a sight of him in day light : so the apostle expresses himself, when he is talking to the Athenians, who were the most learned of mankind; Acts xvii. 27. That they should seek the Lord, ifhaply theymight feel after hint andfind him. What feeble words are these ? How doubtful a knowledge is representedby them ? How wretchedly did their wise men wander astray and bewilder themselves in their dark and blunderingsearches after the true God : What endless contests are found amongst them, whether there was a God, and what was his nature, and what was his will, and what was their duty ? Into what gross mistakes and shameful false- hoods did they plunge themselves, for want of a better guide than their own reasonings ? and how generally, and almost without exception, did their philosophers comply with the idolatry of their country, and worshipped God in the,formof beasts andbirds, and creeping things and changed the truth ofGod into a lie: or the true God intofalse and shameful images; Rom. i. 23-25. Sometimes appetite and passion, pride andhumour spread a mist over the understanding of the heathen ; sometimes the cus- toms and traditions of their nation, the authority of their ances- tors, or their philosophers, or their own vile prejudices, of various kinds, gave them a false clue, and set them a running upon a wrongscent : In other places, the tyranny of their princes, and the folly and superstitious madness of their priests, either led, or. c3
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