SERM IV Confideration? Nay perhaps it would be for the Advantage of thofe, who are poffeffed of uncommon Worth, to do, as Mofes did, when his Face fhone with heavenly Glory, fo that the Ifraelites could not ftedfafly behold it; viz., to draw a Veil o ver it, and to moderate that Luftre, which is painful to moft Eyes, and infupportable to diftempered ones. The Bulk of Mankind regard a Man in Proportion to what he is worth, the only Worth, that fome seem to have any Notion of.

Again, we were defigned for an exact Knowledge of ourselves. Yet, feeing every Thing else through a Glass darkly, we fee ourselves through a flattering Glafs, in the fairest and brightest Light. But could we, feveral of us, view ourselves just as we are, without thofe falfe Colours, and gilded Luftre, which Self-Love fheds around it's Votaries; it might be a greater Mifery to us, than any we ever felt. For in all other Cafes, an imaginary Worth affords a fantastic Pleafure, which buoys up our Spirits, and is a Kind of Counterpoise to thofe Sufferings, which we undergo, however folid and real: But in this Cafe, Mifery, genuine Mifery, would have it's full

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Full Effect, without any Confideration to SERM.IV. break the Force of it. Many of us muft, in fome Measure, deceive our felves to be tolerably happy To difabufe the Mind of it's ill-grounded Efteem, and ftrip it of every agreeable but wrong Idea, would fink feveral of us into a Set of joylefs, dull, fpiritlefs Creatures. It would be to turn us out of a Fool's Paradife, where the Mind was delightfully loft and bewildered, among gay Delufions and fine vifionary Scenes, into a dreary Heath and barren Wilderness where there was little or nothing goodly, fair, and amiable.

Laftly, we were formed for the Attainment of beneficial Truth. Yet there are not many certain Truths, demonftrable from intrinfic Evidences, from the abstract Nature of the Thing; though Reason can prove feveral, by the Help of external Evidences. Setting Revelation afide, Mankind would have Reason to wish that they did not know fo much as they do; or that they knew a great Deal more. At present they have juft Knowledge enough to dif quiet and perplex them, but not enough, without the Scriptures, to make them eafy. In a total Darknefs they would view No

SERM.IV. thing at all, and in a full Day-Light they would view Objects clearly and juftly: But in a Twilight of Knowledge they imagine they fee Things, that are not; and fee Things, that are, otherwife than they really are. Youth, fanguine Youth, may be pofitive and peremptory, and fancy it knows every Thing, because as yet it knows Nothing fully. But Men, who have read, and ftudied, and thought much; towards the Close of Life, retain fcarce one Sentiment unaltered and unimproved, which they had at their firft Entrance upon their Studies: Juft as that famed Veffel, which had been in several Voyages, and first failed round the Globe, had fcarce one Plank the fame, upon it's laft Arrival in Port, with which it was firft launched. There are feveral confiderable Truths, which, like the great Author of Truth, dwell in Light which no Man can approach to: Whatever Evidences they may be furrounded with, they are inacceffible to us.

I might proceed, to demonstrate the Truth of the Fall from those plain Monuments of it, those Miseries which, in Confequence of it, were introduced into the World. Can it be proved, that natural

Good

Good and natural Evil are fo clofely con- SERM.IV. nected, that there could not be fuch a Quantity of natural Good, except there was juft fuch a Quantity of natural Evil too? That, for Inftance, the World could not be fo happy; except there were fo many acute and painful Difeafes, fo many noxious Infects, Famines, Eruptions from burning Mountains, &c? Are thefe, what God, upon a Review of the Creation, pronounced very good? No, there is no accounting for fo much natural Evil; except it was fent as a ftanding Indication of God's Difpleasure against thofe moral Disorders, which prevailed in the World, confequent to the Fall.

People may, I know, ftart many Difficulties upon this Head. But it is, I think, not fo reasonable to fuppofe, that God created Man originally bad; as that, when Man had corrupted his Nature, he let that Corruption defcend upon his Pofterity, in a natural Way. Juft as it would be more irreconcileable to the Sentimentą, which we have, of the Deity, to ima gine, he would immediately form a Creature difordered in his Senfes; than that, when a Parent had brought this Distemto VOL. II. A a

per

SERM. IV.

per upon himself by Debauchery, he permitted the Madness to devolve upon his Children.

It is one Thing to fay, that God was, or could be the Author of Evil; and another to say, that, when Evil was introduced by Man, he did not work a Miracle, to prevent the natural Confequences of it; but fuffered it for the Sake of bringing a greater Good out of it; and that by the Redemption, he has advanced Man to much fuperior Happiness, than he could have had any Title to, if he had continued in a State of Innocence. This is the fcriptural Solution of the Difficulty. Where Sin abounded, Grace did much more abound. As in Adam all die; fo in Chrift fhall all be made alive. As by one Man

Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin; fo the Grace of God hath abounded unto all Men, through Jefus Christ. This was the Labour of Love (if any Thing to Love can be a Labour) to countervail the ill Effects of the Fall, by an univerfal Remedy.

However great a Myftery the Tranfmiffion of Sin may be, which yet is not a greater Difficulty, than the Tranfmiffion

of