VI. by God himself. And those are the terms and conditions CHAP. on which the soul of man may upon good grounds expect an eternal happiness; which we assert the book of Seriptures to be the only authentic and infallible records of. Men might, by the improvements of reason, and the sagacity of their minds, discover much, not only of the lapsed condition of their souls, and the necessity of a purgation of them, in order to their felicity, but might in the general know what things are pleasing and acceptable to the Divine nature, from those differences of good and evil, which are unalterably fixed in the things themselves but which way to obtain any certainty of the remission of sins, to recover the grace and favour of God, to enjoy perfect tranquillity and peace of conscience, to be able to please God in things agreeable to his will, and by these to be assured of eternal bliss, had been impossible for men to have ever found, had not God himself been graciously pleased to reveal them to us. Men might still have bewildered themselves in following the ignes fatui of their own imaginations, and hunting up and down the world for a path which leads to heaven; but could have found none, unless God himself, taking pity of the wanderings of men, had been pleased to hang out a light from heaven, to direct them in their way thither, and by this Pharos of Divine revelation to direct them so to steer their course, as to escape splitting themselves on the rocks of open impieties, or being swallowed up in the quicksands of terrene delights. Neither doth he shew them only what shelves and rocks they must escape, but what particular course they must steer; what star they must have in their eye, what compass they must observe, what winds and gales they must expect and pray for, if they would arrive at last at eternal bliss. Eternal bliss! What more could a God of infinite goodness promise, or the soul of man wish for? A reward to such who are so far from deserving, that they are still provoking; glory to such who are more apt to be ashamed of their duties than of their offences. But that it should not only be a glorious reward, but eternal too, is that which, though it infinitely transcend the deserts of the receivers, yet it highly discovers the infinite goodness of the Giver. But when we not only know that there is so rich a mine of inestimable treasures, but if the owner of it undertakes to shew us the way to it, and gives us certain and infallible directions how to come to the full possession of it, how much are we in love with misery, and do we court our BOOK own ruin, if we neglect to hearken to his directions, and observe his commands! II. II. This is that we are now undertaking to make good concerning the Scriptures; that these alone contain those sacred discoveries, by which the souls of men may come at last to enjoy a complete and eternal happiness. One would think there could be nothing more needless in the world than to bid men regard their own welfare, and to seek to be happy. Yet whoever casts his eye into the world, will find no counsel so little hearkened to as this, nor any thing which is more generally looked on as a matter trivial and impertinent. Which cannot arise but from one of these two grounds; that either they think it no great wisdom to let go their present hold as to the good things of this world, for that which they secretly question whether they shall ever live to see or no; or else that their minds are in suspense, whether they be not sent on a Guiana voyage to heaven, whether the certainty of it be yet fully discovered, or the instructions which are given be such as may infallibly conduct them thither. The first, though it hath the advantage of sense, fruition, delight, and further expectation, yet to a rational person, who seriously reflects on himself, and sums up what (after all his troubles and disquietments in the procuring, his cares in keeping, his disappointments in his expectations, his fears of losing what he doth enjoy, and that vexation of spirit which attends all these) he hath gained of true contentment to his mind, can never certainly believe that ever these things were intended for his happiness. For is it possible that the soul of man should ever enjoy its full and complete happiness in this world, when nothing is able to make it happy but what is most suitable to its nature, able to fill up its large capacity, and commensurate with its duration? But in this life the matter of men's greatest delight is strangely unsuitable to the nature of our rational beings; the measure of them too short for our vast desires to stretch themselves upon; the proportion too scant and narrow to run parallel with immortality. It must be then only a supreme, infinite, and eternal Being, which, by the free communications of his bounty and goodness, can fix and satiate the soul's desires, and by the constant flowings forth of his own uninterrupted streams of favour will always keep up desire, and yet always satisfy it: one whose goodness can only be felt by some transient touches here; whose love can be seen but as through a lattice; whose constant presence VI. may be rather wished for than enjoyed; who hath re- CHAP. served the full sight and fruition of himself to that future state, when all these dark veils shall be done away, and the soul shall be continually sunning herself under immediate beams of light and love. But how, or in what way the soul of man, in this degenerate condition, should come to be partaker of so great a happiness, by the enjoyment of that God our natures are now at such a distance from, is the greatest and most important enquiry of human nature; and we continually see how successless and unsatisfactory the endeavours of those have been to themselves at last, who have sought for this happiness in a way of their own finding out. The large volume of the creation, wherein God hath described so much of his wisdom and power, is yet too dark and obscure, too short and imperfect, to set forth to us the way which leads to eternal happiness. Unless then the same God who made men's souls at first do shew them the way for their recovery, as they are in a degenerate, so they will be in a desperate condition. But the same bounty and goodness of God, which did at first display itself in giving being to men's souls, hath in a higher manner enlarged the discovery of itself, by making known the way whereby we may be taken into his grace and favour again. Which it now concerns us particularly to discover, thereby to make it appear that this way is of that peculiar excellency, that we may have from thence the greatest evidence it could come from no other author but God himself, and doth tend to no other end but our eternal happiness. Now that incomparable excellency which is in the sacred Scriptures, will fully appear, if we consider the matters contained in them under this threefold capacity. 1. As matters of Divine revelation. 2. As a rule of life. 3. As containing that covenant of grace which relates to man's eternal happiness. 1. Consider the Scripture generally, as containing in it matters of Divine revelation, and therein the excellency of the Scriptures appears in two things. 1. The matters which are revealed. 2. The manner wherein they are revealed. be 1. The matters which are revealed in Scripture may considered these three ways. 1. As they are matters of the greatest weight and moment. 2. As matters of the greatest depth and mysteriousness. 3. As matters of the most universal satisfaction to the minds of men. 1. They are matters of the greatest moment and import III. BOOK ance for men to know. The wisdom of men is most known III. by the weight of the things they speak; and therefore that wherein the wisdom of God is discovered cannot contain any thing that is mean and trivial; they must be matters of the highest importance, which the supreme Ruler of the world vouchsafes to speak to men concerning. And such we shall find the matters which God hath revealed in his word to be, which either concern the rectifying our apprehensions of his nature, or making known to men their state and condition, or discovering the way whereby to avoid eternal misery. Now which is there of these three, which, supposing God to discover his mind to the world, it doth not highly become him to speak to men of? 1. What is there which it doth more highly concern men to know, than God himself? Or what more glorious and excellent object could he discover than himself to the world? There is nothing certainly, which should more commend the Scriptures to us, than that thereby we may grow more acquainted with God; that we may know more of his nature and all his perfections, and many of the great reasons of his actings in the world. We may by them understand with safety what the eternal purposes of God were, as to the way of man's recovery by the death of his Son; we may there see and understand the great wisdom of God, not only in the contrivance of the world, and ordering of it, but in the gradual revelations of himself to his people; by what steps he trained up his Church till the fulness of time was come; what his aim was in laying such a load of ceremonies on his people of the Jews; by what steps and degrees he made way for the full revelation of his will to the world, by speaking in these last days by his Son, after he had spoke at sundry times and in divers manners by the Prophets, &c. unto the Fathers. In the Scriptures we read the most rich and admirable discoveries of Divine goodness, and all the ways and methods he useth in alluring sinners to himself; with what majesty he commands, with what condescension he intreats, with what importunity he wooes men's souls to be reconciled to him, with what favour he embraceth, with what tenderness he chastiseth, with what bowels he pitieth those who have chosen him to be their God! With what power he supporteth, with what wis dom he directeth, with what cordials he refresheth the souls of such who are dejected under the sense of his displeasure, and yet their love is sincere towards him! With what profound humility, what holy boldness, what be- CHAP. coming distance, and yet what restless importunity do VI. we therein find the souls of God's people addressing themselves to him in prayer! With what cheerfulness do they serve him, with what confidence do they trust him, with what resolution do they adhere to him in all straits and difficulties, with what patience do they submit to his will in their greatest extremities! How fearful are they of sinning against God, how careful to please him; how regardless of suffering, when they must choose either that or sinning; how little apprehensive of men's displeasure, while they enjoy the favour of God! Now all these things, which are so fully and pathetically expressed in Scripture, do abundantly set forth to us the exuberancy and pleonasm of God's grace and goodness towards his people; which makes them delight so much in him, and be so sensible of his displeasure. But above all other discoveries of God's goodness, his sending his Son into the world to die for sinners, is that which the Scripture sets forth with the greatest life and eloquence. By eloquence I mean not an artificial composure of words, but the gravity, weight, and persuasiveness of the matter contained in them. And what can tend more to melt our frozen hearts into a current of thankful obedience to God, than the vigorous reflection of the beams of God's love through Jesus Christ upon us! Was there ever so great an expression of love heard of! Nay, was it possible to be imagined that that God, who perfectly hates sin, should himself offer the pardon of it, and send his Son into the world to secure it to the sinner, who doth so heartily repent of his sins, as to deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Christ! Well might the Apostle say, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all 1 Tim. i. acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save 15. sinners. How dry and sapless are all the voluminous discourses of philosophers, compared with this sentence ! How jejune and unsatisfactory are all the discoveries they had of God and his goodness, in comparison of what we have by the Gospel of Christ! Well might Paul then say, That he determined to know nothing but Christ, and 1 Cor. ii. 2. him crucified. Christ crucified is the library which triumphant souls will be studying in to all eternity. This is the only library which is the true Ἰατρεῖον ψυχῆς, that which cures the soul of all its maladies and distempers. Other knowledge makes men's minds giddy and flatulent; this settles and composes them. Other knowledge is apt |