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reformed but by fome extraordinary Revelation. Natural Reafon might have taught them to be lefs Wicked, but nothing could make them Righteous but a Revelation; and the grofs Errors and Crimes which the wifest Men had faln into, fhew the neceffity of an extraordinary Revelation from God, to inftruct and inform the World. And the ways of extraordinary Revelation are but these two, either an immediate Revelation of the Divine Will to particular Perfons; or a Power of working Miracles, and of prophefying and foretelling future Events bestowed upon fome, to convince others that they are infpired, or come with a Commiffion from God, to instruct them in what he has revealed, either by himself, or by the Meffage of Angels.

1. But it cannot feem requisite that God should immediately infpire, or make an immediate Revelation to every particular Perfon in the World: For either he must so powerfully influence their Minds and Affections, as to take away their choice and freedom of acting, which would be to offer Violence to Humane Nature; or elfe Men would, for the most part, have gone on in their wicked courfes ftill, and would have denied God in their Lives, though their Understandings were never so clearly and fully convinced of his Will and Commandments, as well as of his Eternal Power and God-head. For, as St. Paul teftifies, the Heathens themselves were not ignorant of the Being of God; but when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. No Man can be more certain of any Infpiration which he can receive, than he is of the Being of that God from whom he receives it; and therefore he who denies the Being of God, muft by confequence deny the Truth of any fuch Inspiration, unless it have that powerful impulfe upon his Mind, as both to convince him and force him to an Acknowledgement at once of the Being of God, and of the Operation of his Spirit upon his Soul. And it is hard to con

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ceive how any Infpiration, which doth not over-rule the Will and Affections, as well as convince the Understanding, fhould be of more Efficacy upon the Minds and Lives of fuch Men, than the Notion of a God is. For if Men can fo ftifle the Notion of a God in their Minds, as to doubt whether there be any God or no, or at least to act as if there were none; no Reafon can be given why they might not as well act against any Conviction which they might receive by Infpiration, or any other way of immediate Revelation, (unless it had an irresistible effect upon them,) and either take it all for Fancy and Delufion, or else so harden themselves against it, as not to be reclaimed by it: And of this we have Balaam for an Example, who, notwithstanding the Revelations he received from God, loved the wages of unrighteoufnefs, 2 Pet. ii. 15.

But, above all Men, the profane and obftinate Unbelievers can have leaft Reason to expect that God fhould vouchfafe them an immediate Revelation. The Jews have obferved, that the Spirit of Prophecy rested only upon Men of regular and pure Affections, of gentle, and meek, and tractable Difpofitions. For the Lord will be found of them that tempt him not, and fheweth himself to fuch as do not distrust him; for froward thoughts feparate from God: into a malicious foul wifdom fhall not enter, nor dwell in the body that is fubject unto fin. For the holy Spirit of difcipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in, Wifd. i. 2, 3, 4, 5. And to the fame purpose Phile speaks. And for this reafon, when Jofeph had the Interpretation of Dreams revealed to him, the Word of the Lord is faid to try him, or to purge, to clear, and justifie him; it being evident, that God would not in that manner

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Maimon. de Fundament. Legis. c. 7. §. I.
Quis rerum divinarum Hæres fit. Philo, p.404.
See Dr. Hammond, on Pfal. cv. 19.

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Infpire one who had been guilty of the Crimes which Jofeph was accufed of. It is not to be imagin'd that God fhould farther reveal himfelf to all fuch in particular, by an immediate Inspiration, who have rejected all the Manifeftations which he has, made of himfelf, in the Creation and Government of the World; but, that he would reserve these immediate Revelations, as peculiar Favours, to his faithful and obedient Servants. God has fometimes, indeed, made ufe of wicked Men, Balaam, Caiaphas, &c. as his Inftruments both in Prophecies and Miracles, to fhew that they are at his disposal, and proceed from his Bounty, not from any Worth or Merit of Men; and that he can over-rule the Designs and Intentions of the worst of Men, and make them serviceable to him, even against their Will, whenever he pleaseth: but then these are peculiar Cafes, in which these Gifts were afforded for particular Ends, and for the Benefit of others, and the Men themselves were never the better for them. But as for the Difobedient, St. Paul acquaints us how, in the general Difpenfations of his Providence, God dealt with them; God them gave over to a reprobate mind, Rom. i. 28. and he there fets down a Catalogue of thofe Sins which were the confequence of this Reprobation. The Apoftle all along maintains, that they had fo much Knowledge of God, as to render them without Excufe; and that they would make no Improvement of it, to the attaining the Knowledge of the Laws of Nature first, and then of his Revealed Will; and it was the juft Judgment of God to give them up to their own hearts lufts, to abandon them to the tyranny of their fins, fince they would take no notice of his Works, and would not abide his Counfels: and it must needs have been highly inconfiftent, to fend immediate Revelations, or afford particular Inspiration to all fuch Men as are there defcribed. God's Spirit will not always ftrive with man; but he withdraws his ordinary Grace from those that

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abuse it, and therefore it can never be prefumed he fhould confer higher Favours upon them.

If Men will believe upon reasonable Motives, they have fufficient Means of Salvation allowed them; but if they will not believe without fome immediate Revelation, they are never like to have that in this World, but in the next God will reveal himself with terror and vengeance upon all the workers of iniquity. God doth, both by Nature and by Revelation, provide for the Neceflities, for the Welfare and Happinefs, but never for the Humours and Peevifhnefs of Men; and those who will not be faved, but according to fome new Way and Method of their own Invention, must be miserable without remedy. I doubt not but the greatest Infidels would own, that if Chrift should perfonally speak to them in a Voice from Heaven, or appear to them upon Earth, and grant them that Conviction which he once granted to St. Thomas, or St. Paul, they would believe in him, as these Apostles did. But they would do well to confider what reason there can be, why fo much favour fhould be fhewn to thofe who reject with fcorn and derifion all the Tenders of Grace, and Means of Salvation; and what Obligation God can be under, to fave them in fuch a manner as themselves fhall prescribe, who will not be faved in his Way, and according to the Terms of the Gospel. And if God should vouchsafe to make fome immediate Revelation of himself to thefe infolent Offenders, and Blafphemers of his Name and Authority; how can we be affured that they would be converted? Would they not rather find out fome pretence to perfuade themselves that it was no real Revelation, but the effect of Natural Agents, or of Melancholy, and of a disturbed Imagination? For those who have so long not only rejected (that were a modest thing) but derided and reviled Mofes and the Prophets, nay, the Apostles, and our Saviour himfelf, would not believe, though one should rife from the

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dead. They might be terrified, perhaps, for the prefent, but they would foon ftifle thofe Apprehenfions with their accustomed Arguments for Atheifin and Infidelity. I hope to prove, in this Difcourfe, That all but Atheists must be convinced of the Truth of the Revelations delivered down to us in the Old and New Testament, if they will but take the pains to confider them: and Atheists could never be convinced of any Revelation whatsoever; for Men must first believe that there is a God, before they can believe that he reveals himself either to themselves or others.

But befides their being ineffectual, and never to be expected by fuch as this Conceit must be calculated for this Suppofition, of immediate Revelations to every Man in particular, would fill the World with continual Impostures and Delufions. For if every one had a Revelation made to himself, every one might pretend to others what he pleased; and we know, from the Example of the Prophet who was fent to Prophefie against the Altar at Bethel, that a Man may be deluded by the pretence of a Revelation made to another, against an exprefs Revelation made to himfelf; and we may conclude that this would often happen, from what we every day experience: For if Men can be perverted by the Arts and Infinuations of others, against their own Reafon and Judgment, they might as well be prevailed upon to act against a Revelation made to them, though Revelations were as common and familiar a thing amongst Men, as Reason it self is.

So that immediate Revelations to every particular Man would have been needlefs and fuperfluous; they would have been unfutable to the Majefty and Honour of God; and they would have been ineffectual to - the Ends for which they must be fuppofed to be defigned, and would have given many more pretences to Impostures than there are now in the World.

But there were many Confiderations, even in a wicked World, to move the Compaffions of Infinite

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