JOB in the foregoing Chapter, carried the Justi­fication of his Integrity so far, that he seem'd to entrench somewhat rudely on the Justice of Providence; Zophar therefore to repress this Insolence, and vindicate the Divine Honor, lays be­fore him the Incomprehensibleness and Majesty of God. That this is a proper Topick to awe the Rashness, and to chastise the Pride of Man, is evident from hence, that God himself makes use of it to this End, Chap. 38. Then God answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, who is this that darkeneth Counsel by words without knowledge? where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? &c.

And if ever it were necessary to possess our Minds with a due Sense of the Meaness of Man, and the [Page 2] Majesty of God, 'tis now; now, when Luxury and Hypocrisie, Loosness and Corruption do not more openly insult and affront the Morals, than Atheism and Infidelity the Faith of Christianity; now, when Scepticism, Heresie and Impiety assault our Religion with all the Artillery of Judaism, Arrianism, Photini­anism, Turcism: now, when bold Men trample under foot all Mysteries, and under colour of advancing free and impartial Reason, do in effect cashier Revela­tion. Never therefore was it more necessary than now to put the Question in my Text, and to invite the World to consider the Consequences naturally flowing from it. 'Tis a Question which implies its own Answer, Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? i. e. 'Tis past all Controversie thou canst not. The Sense then of the Words is easily resolved into this Proposition: That God is incomprehensible. I will therefore,

• 1. Assert and illustrate this Doctrine in my Text, and then
• 2. Make two or three Inferences from it.

1. That God is incomprehensible. This is an Article of the Athanasian Creed; and if universal Tradition may be allowed to weigh any thing, there is no Do­ctrine in our Religion can lay a fairer Claim to it; but it needs derive no Strength from Human Authority, being asserted in almost so many Words in my Text, [Page 3]and either in express Terms, or immediate, necessary, and obvious Consequence, in innumerable others; and I think all Men who have not abandon'd their Modesty, with their Faith, must confess, that with respect to human Capacity, infinite and incomprehensible are Terms almost equivalent, and consequently who­ever attributes the one to God must be obliged not to deny the other. All this being clear, I shall not so much labour to prove, as to illustrate, and unfold this Doctrine.

The Heathens painted their Demiurgus, to whom they assign'd Eternity, for a Companion in pitchy Darkness, retired within a Cave, which their Poets thus describe:

Not intimating by this, that they had no know­ledge at all of God amongst 'em, but that the Per­fections of the Divine Nature, were too vast, too high, too deep, what shall I say, too mysterious for human Minds, nay for Angels to search out. 'Twas this Notion made the Philosopher exact so much Mo­desty and Reverence in all Discourses on Divine Things, which Seneca commends as a wise and great Thought.

Now all this was probably borrowed from Moses and the Prophets, how near soever God was to Israel, yet would not he endure that they should approach too near to Mount Sinai to gaze, Exodus xix. 21. And how familiarly soever God would be consulted by Moses, yet when he desired to see his Glory, Chap. 33. God said unto him, Verse 20. thou canst not see my face. And Verse 23. Thou shalt see my back-parts, but my face shall not be seen. To the same purpose is that of the Prophet, Verily thou art a God that hidest thy self, O God of Israel our Saviour, Isai. xlv. 15. and that of Solomon, the Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness, 1 Kings viii. 12. Under the Gospel indeed the Son of God is said to have revealed God to us, John 1.18. but yet even this Revelation must not be supposed to have exhausted all the Depths and Mysteries of the God-head; for notwithstanding this Revelation, we as yet see but as thorough a Glass darkly, we know but in part, and prophesie in part, 1 Cor. xiii. 9. He is reveal'd to us, as he was in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire to Israel, to guide our feet into Canaan, not to entertain our Curiosity; that is, he is sufficiently re­vealed in order to Holiness and Worship, but no fur­ther; for in all other Respects, if under the Old Te­stament, he made Darkness his Pavilion, under the New, he dwells in Light inaccessible.

To advance to Particulars; If in the God-head we gaze and pry too boldly into eternal Generation and Procession, and the ineffable Unity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it will but dazle and confound our weak Faculties; as far as the Scripture is plain, we may, and must advance, namely, that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one God; if we content not our selves here, without a Philosophical Account of the mysterious and inexplicable Unity and Distinction of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we shall be more like to lose our selves than find out an incomprehensible Truth. All human Explications, as far as ever I could observe yet, do but breed new Doubts and Scruples, not dissipate the old.

If we enquire after the Substance or Essence of God, we are told indeed, John iv. 24. That he is a Spirit, and so are Angels and Souls: but what vast Distance there is between that Self-Existent, and these created Spirits; alas, what human Understanding can comprehend? When we speak but of created Spirits, how little is it that we know of them? We learn indeed from the Operations of our own Minds, that Thinking and Liberty belong to Spirits, but all our Attempts beyond this, look little better than inge­nious Guesses, and fancyful Amusements. The most subtil Discourses on this Subject, seeming to [Page 6]me to amount to but this at most, that we rather understand what Spirits are not, than what they are. A Spirit, 'tis true, Reason and Revelation tell us, has not Flesh and Bones, is not made of the same Stuff with our mortal Bodies, Luke xxiv. 39. But if we demand what the Substance of it is, alas, we can form no Idea of this; our Fancy gro­vels, and cannot raise it self above this visible World, above Matter, above Body, above some pure Ethereal Substance, or something of that Na­ture, I know not what, which is but a little better Account of this Matter, for ought I know, than Homer's and Epicurus his [...], and [...], as it were Flesh, and as it were Blood.

Let us now come to the Attributes of God. Here not to mention, that the very Distinction between Essence and Attributes, is meer Condescension to the Weakness of human Capacity; that it is as difficult to conceive both to be the very same simple thing, as it is repugnant to Reason to divide and separate them. Not I say to mention this, the Attributes of God, as they have their bright side, so have they their dark one too; as far as God has revealed, we stand upon sure and safe Ground, but beyond this we know not where we tread; for if we go about to frame our Notions of boundless Perfections, from some faint Re­semblances of them in created Beings, and to judge of [Page 7]God by the actings and movings of our own Minds in these Bodies of Clay, we must needs fall vastly beneath any just and commensurate Idea of Divine Excellencies; and yet this is the highest, this is the utmost Effort of Reason.

All the Attributes of God are infinite in their Per­fection, and whosoever goes about to fathom what is infinite, is guilty of the Folly of that Country-man in the Poet, who sitting on the Bank-side, expects to see the Stream run quite away, and leave its Chan­nel dry; but that runs on and will do so to all Ages. Thus he that goes about to frame to himself an adequate Notion of Omnipotence, and Omnipre­sence, cannot but attempt the Contradiction of limiting the one, and manacling the other. The Mind which travels in the Contemplation of Eter­nity, loseth its self in the Journey, like an Eye, which if it meet with nothing to intercept its Pro­spect, its Quickness doth not find an End, but its Weakness makes one.

If we proceed to God's Moral Attributes, 'tis cer­tain, that as much as is revealed of them, we do, or may understand aright; but if we fancy we can comprehend the whole Extent of them, we do but deceive our selves; for Wisdom and Goodness, as well as Power and Duration are infinite when ascribed to God and therefore tho our Moral Hahits have so much, [Page 8]Resemblance of these Divine Attributes, that the Spirit stiles them the Image of God, Col. iii. 10. and a Participation of the Divine Nature. 2 Pet. 1.4. Yet does the same Spirit, with respect to the Infiniteness of God's Moral Perfections, assert that there are none good, Luke xviii. 19. None wise but God, 1 Tim. 1.17. In a word, all Men that think soberly, however taught that the best way of defining or describing the Perfections of God, is by excluding and remo­ving from him all the Defects and Imperfections of his Creatures; which is the same thing as if we should say of every Divine Attribute, that it has in it all the Perfection we can possibly conceive, and infinitely more.

The Sum of all is this, Tho God were so far discoverable by the Light of Reason, as served to ren­der the Idolatry and Wickedness of the Pagan World unexcusable, Rom. 1. tho he were revealed to the Jew, and more fully to us under the Gospel, to in­struct us in the Nature of Religious Worship, and our Obligations to it, yet still God being infinite, and his Perfections a vast Abyss, there are therefore My­steries in the God-head, which human Reason cannot penetrate, Heights which we cannot soar, and Reason it self, if it be not drunk with Pride and Ar­rogance, will not only acknowledge that it is thus, but also that it is fit it should be thus; for, if Man [Page 9]could fully comprehend God, how Great must we be, how little He, we more than Men, He less than God. When the Prophet tells us, that all the Nations upon Earth, in Comparison of him, are but as the drop of the Bucket, or the Grain of the Ballance, Isai. xl. and by a clear Consequence all the Knowledge and Understanding upon Earth, if united in one Man, can be but as a little Particle of Light to that eternal Sun, a Drop to that eternal, boundless, and inexhaustible Fountain, how is it possible, that Man should com­prehend God!

I will conclude my Reflections upon this Propo­sition in the Words of Zophar, close after my Text, Vers. 8.9. It is as high as Heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than Hell, what canst thou know? The Measure thereof is longer than the Earth, and broader than the Sea. Having thus open'd and establish'd the Do­ctrine in my Text, That God is incomprehensible; I will now proceed to make Two or three Inferences from it.

• 1. To let out the Tumor of Self-conceit.
• 2. To justifie our Belief of Mysteries.
• 3. To vindicate the Doctrine of Providence.

1. The Consideration of God's Incomprehensible­ness, should methinks humble Man, prevail with him to think soberly of himself, and to contain his En­quiries after God, within sober and modest Bounds. [Page 10]This is that Zophar seems to aim at, witness that sharp Reflection, Verse 12. Vain Man would be wise, tho Man be born like a wild Asses Colt. 'Tis obvious to us all, what Man is born, and 'tis as obvious, that he grows up into a rational Creature, by slow steps, repeated Instructions, and tedious Experience; and 'tis as evident, that in the height and maturity of his rational Attainments, the Soul how great soever it be in its self, is clogg'd by a lumpish Body, streighten'd by scanty Organs, clouded by Passions, and perverted by Prejudices, which always limit, and too too frequently misguide it, in its Enquiry af­ter Truth. This being so, there cannot be a clearer Proof of Man's Folly, than his aptness to be puffed up with an Opinion of his Wisdom, nor can any thing more notoriously expose his Ignorance, than his extravagant Pretensions, to an unlimited and an universal Knowledge. What, nothing satisfie this poor Creature, but the comprehending or discarding Mysteries! What, can this Understanding, such as I have described it, be the Test and Standard of univer­sal Truth! Can this shallow Capacity measure the ut­most Extent of Nature, and the God of it too! Alas, We may with as much Reason pretend to contain the Waters in the Hollow of our Hand, to mete out Heaven with a Span, and weigh the Mountains of the Earth in a pair of Scales! 'Tis true, we have Revelation, but [Page 11]we ought never to forget that of S. Paul, When I was a Child, I thought as a Child, I spake as a Child; for in the brightest Revelations God talks with us in such Language, instructs and governs us by such Notions, as we in this our Childhood are capable of; our Language is that of Men, not Angels, and our Notions such as fit this State of Mortality, not one of Glory or Perfection. When ever therefore we go a­bout proudly to explicate a Mystery, as if it were indeed but an Idol, the Figment of Man's Brain, we serve it as the Ark of God did Dagon, cast it down from the height where it stood to the Earth, and leave it a maim'd and shapeless Trunk.

But what talk I of our Comprehension of Divine Mysteries, when there is scarcely the most trifling Product of Nature, an Ant, a Fly, a Spire of Grass, that has not something or other in it that fools our Enquiry, and baffles our Confidence; how much more then the God of Nature who is concealed from us by the infinite Splendour of his inconceivable Glories, and retired within the Veil of his incom­prehensible Excellencies and Perfections. Ah! let us then content our selves with admiring and loving that God, which we cannot yet at least comprehend. Let us imitate Elijah, who when God passed by, wrapt his Face in a Mantle, and stood at the Mouth of the Cave, to adore and worship, not gaze upon [Page 12]his Majesty. Let us content our selves with such a Search after the Knowledge of God, as may sancti­fie and exalt our Minds, as may strengthen and e­stablish our Obedience, and enkindle in us ardent Desires after that Heaven, wherein we shall no longer know in part, and see as thorough a Glass darkly, but we shall know as we are known, and see Face to Face. In the mean time,

II. The Incomprehensibleness of God does abundantly justifie our Belief of Gospel-Mysteries.

A Mystery in the Notion of some at this Day, is indeed a very odd thing, that is, something of which we understand nothing at all, and from hence they fasten upon us those insulting Consequences, that we believe we know not what, and that we make Christ in revealing a Mystery to have revealed just nothing at all. Truly, whatever these Men pretend to, there is little Acuteness in this, What, is there no Difference between know­ing all things, and knowing nothing, between a full and comprehensive Knowledge and utter Ignorance? Blessed be God, the meanest of our People have a better Notion of a Mystery, and 'tis this, That it is a Doctrine or Article, wherein much is revealed, and yet much hidden and abstruse; wherein there is something plain and intelligible, something deep and inscrutable, [Page 13]something that we do or may know, something that we cannot. That there are such Mysteries in the Gospel, no Man ought to doubt, when S. Paul as­serts, that we know but in part. Such a Mystery is God, as I have shew'd already, and such a Mystery is the Incarnation of our Lord. That the Word was made Man is reveal'd, and there is no Term in this Proposition but what is intelligible enough; but if we enquire into the Nature and Manner of that U­nion, wherein this Incarnation consists, this is to all of us a Mystery; and I wonder not if it seem a very contradictious one to a Socinian, whose Divinity and Philosophy, if we may take his Word, are not able to furnish him with any higher Notion of Union than what results from Coextention of parts.

This being the Notion of a Mystery, to assert the Reasonableness of believing one, when revealed by God, is no more than to assert, that the Incompre­hensibleness of something involved and wrapt up in a Divine Revelation, ought not to supplant our Bel [...]ef of that which is plain and intelligible. That secret things belong to God, but those that are revealed to us and our Children; That the Shallowness of human Capacity is no Objection against the Veracity of God, nor ought our Dimness or Dullness to invalidate or disparage Divine Authority; All this is plain of its self, and if it were not, may be made out by an [Page 14]answerable Arguments. To make Mysteries stoop and bow down to our Capacities, and if they will not, to reject them, is in effect to devest them of their Nature, and to make them none. Besides, what Grounds shall we proceed upon in such an Enquiry as this? Shall we judge of Divine Things by Maxims of Corpuscular Philosophy? How ridiculous and absurd were this? especially when the Philosophy of one Age overthrows that of another, and Time again rather confounds the Old, than esta­blishes the New. Indeed, in almost every days Ex­perience, something or other occurs to every modest Enquirer into Nature, too wonderful, and too big for our Capacities, so that we are forc'd, either to disbelieve the Evidence of our Sense, or to confess the Weakness of our Reason. Is it reasonable then to expect that the Mysteries of our Faith should be more easie and demonstrable than the Objects of our Sense? Or if not, yet, that that Reason which is so purblind, in the search of Natural, should be a com­petent Judge of Divine Things? It is true, to be­lieve without a Reason for it, is Credulity, not Faith: But it is as true, that as the Soveraignty and Goodness of God, is the Supreme Reason of our Obedience, so is his Veracity of our Faith. So that all that Reason can have to do here, is not to reject the Articles re­vealed, because we cannot fathom all the Depths [Page 15]and Mystteries contain'd in them, but to examine the Authority and sense of the Revelation, and these being once cleared, to Sacrifice all our doubts and Scruples to our Faith.

And as this is most reasonable, so is it most safe too, and that upon two plain Grounds;

• 1. Because thus we worship God with our Un­derstandings as well as Wills, and captivate our Rea­sons as well as our Affections to the Obedience of Faith.
• . This will secure our Faith, and keep us from Apostatising thorough Pride or Confidence; whereas such as stumble at every thing in Scripture, which includes in it any thing deep and inscrutable, such who indulge to themselves such a liberty of Prophesy­ing, as to forsake the received and obvious sence of Scripture, if it do not square with their Axioms or Rules of proud Reason. Such as these, have in all Ages miserably tortured and perverted the Scripture, and adulterated our holy Religion by sophistical Sub­tilties and bold Fancies, devested it of every thing that is august and mysterious in it, debased our Faith into vain Philosophy, our Christianity into mere Paganism, divided the Church of Christ by innume­rable Schisms, and multiplied bold and blasphemous Heresies from time to time. In a word if we will be Christians, the Reason of our faith must be resolved into the Veracity of God, not the Philosophy of Man; and [Page 16]we must search the Scriptures, with the generous Bereans, to see whether these things be true or no; but must not stupidly or arrogantly put the Question of Nicodemus, how can these things be?

But does not this make way for Superstition and Error under pretence of Mystery? on the quite contra­ry; whoever forsakes the received, natural and obvi­ous sense of Scripture, as he has no warrant to expect the conduct and guidance of the Spirit, so has he rea­son to fear that fancy may lead him to fatal Preci­pices. Besides that such a one ought to Remem­ber that wresting the words of Scripture by Criti­cism, or its sence by subtility or Sophistry is the next step to a down right rejecting its Authority. But must we then admit of a sence loaded with Con­tradictions? by no means; But we must take Care, least while we Combat the Fancies and Notions of Men, we carry on the War too far, and oppose and fight against the express sense and Mind of God. We must take Care too, in the next place, that we be not too forward to charge what is above our Reason with Contradictions, for this, if it be not it self a Contradiction to right Reason, is to Modesty and Ingenuity, for 'tis to pronounce of and censure what we do not understand.

Lastly, The Incomprehensibleness of God solves all the Difficulties that clog the Doctrine of Providence. These must be acknowledg'd to be many. To make the actual Concourse or Super intendence of God, in every Folly or sinful Action, in every trifling Pro­duction, or Blunder of Nature, to consist with his Dignity and Majesty; To reconcile Confusion and Disorder with unerring Wisdom, a thousand for­tuitous and blind Events with eternal and uncontrolable Counsel and Contrivance, Infallibility in Foreknowledge with Uncertainty in Events, Fate and Necessity in the End, with Freedom and Contingency in the Means, this seems a very puzzling Undertaking, as to the pro­miscuous Dispensation of Good and Evil, the wisest and best Men were sometimes at a Loss to reconcile this with the Wisdom and Justice of God. 'Tis true, a Judgment to come, solves this Difficulty, and it may be, Humility might have done so without it, since the best Men, what Evil soever they met with, have receiv'd more, and suffered less, than they de­served. But it may be, it is more difficult to make this kind of Administration consist with God's Love and Zeal for Virtue, than with his Justice. Again, In our Notion of Perfection to do less good than one can, is a Defect at least, and yet if God had made all things at first, as perfect, or govern'd 'em since as [Page 18]well as He could, whence is it, that the World is such as it is. But, if in temporal Things only, a blind and arbitrary Chance did seem to govern, ano­ther Life might rectifie this, but what shall recti­fie it in spiritual Things? That Grace should be di­spersed as unaccountably as temporal Favours, that the Manifestation of Jesus in the flesh, should be the only effectual Means to reclaim the World, and yet that He should make his Entrance into it so late, that untimely Death should surprize well inclined Persons in their first Debauches, and pious ones in their first Revolts and Relapses, when others despe­rately and irrecoverably wicked, sin out Life to the last, fullest and ripest Period; For so much Sin to enter into a World of God's own Creation, and grow to such an Excess, if God had done all he could, to prevent or extirpate it, seems hardly con­sistent with his infinite Power and Wisdom, and yet for God to neglect any Means necessary to the Preven­tion or Suppression of it, seems no less inconsistent with his Holiness; That the Almighty should fore­see from all Eternity how small the Flock would be which should inherit Heaven, and how his wretched Creatures would throng in Crowds the broad way to destruction, and yet delight to Create a World, which was to be fill'd with so much Sin, and end in so [Page 19]much Misery, seems very difficultly reconcileable with his Goodness, and yet that he should not fore­see all this is utterly inconsistent with his Perfection, and particularly his Foreknowledge. These and such like Difficulties, the Manichees endeavoured to solve by asserting two first Principles, an evil, and a good one, but with what success every Body knows; as to the success of others from time to time in the same Attempt, I'll pronounce nothing: This only I may affirm, that the Incomprehensibleness of God, is both a pious and a satisfactory Answer to these and all other Doubts of this Nature; It is enough to say with the Apostle, Rom. xi. . O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his Judgments, and his ways past finding out! It is but Justice, that we should stifle our Doubts, and suspend our Censure of the Divine Pro­ceedings, when we consider how far both his Counsels and his Actions are raised above our Enquiries. How can we, without the Guilt of Confidence and Rash­ness, prescribe Rules to Power, Wisdom, and Good­ness in their own Nature infinite? We know not where God began, nor where he will make an end; his Wisdom comprehends a thousand things we can never think of, and his Omnipotence can accom­plish ten thousand more, which we can never as [Page 20]much as fancy possible. Past, present, and to come, form but one entire prospect to him; and tho things appear confused, scattered, mangled, and dismembered to us, to him they appear uniform, re­gular and Harmonious; we can therefore no more judge of the Wisdom, Justice, or Goodness of God, by any particular Instances of Providence disjoined from the whole, than we can of the Beauty and Spirit of a Poem by some shatter'd, confus'd and incoherent Fragments.

The World, in a Word, is often wont and pro­perly to be compared to a well laid Dramatick Plot, which tho to the Spectator who beholds some part only, it seems ravell'd and intangl'd, yet to the Au­thor, who walks within the Mysteries of his own Scenes, the whole appears smooth and natural, and if you will have the patience to set it out to the last Act, it will appear so to us too. The Day is just ready to open, that will decipher all the Riddles of Divine Providence, unravel all the Intricacies, and un­fold all the Mysteries of its elaborate Scenes, and we shall then see Perfection rising out of Corruption, like Light out of Darkness, Sin ending in Holiness, and the Miseries of all who do not willfully obstruct it in Happiness. In the mean time, our business is not to in­trude our selves into the Counsels of God, to arraign the [Page 21]Conduct which we do not understand; much less to reject a Providence, because we cannot discover the hidden Springs, trace the various Windings, and ken the distant Ends of it; But to adore the Wis­dom which we cannot fathom, and with an humble awe magnifie and revere those Counsels which we cannot penetrate. Let us follow the Advice of Zophar, Vers. 1, 14 let us prepare our hearts and stretch out our hands towards God, if iniquity be in our hands let us put it far away, and let not Wickedness dwell in our Tabernacles. Then may we securely confide in God, and follow wheresoever his Provi­dence leads, and those Paths which appear to us like Labyrinths and Mazes, will yet prove our next way to our Canaan; for all things must and will work to­gether for good to them that love and fear God.

And now I have nothing more to do, but to convert my Exhortations into Prayers. May the Con­templation of the Incomprehensible Mystery of God, increase our Veneration for our Holy Religion, and secure the Peace of our Bosoms against the Assaults of Profaness and Irreligion on the one hand, and of Pride and Heresie on the other: May God fill our Souls with Faith and Love; and may an awful Reve­rence and devout Humility guard and fortifie both: May the Spirit of Religion in all of us, never eva­porate [Page 22]in giddy Novelties and daring Disputes, but ex­ert itself in solid Virtues and great and good Works.

Lastly, May we all be inspired with a zeal for God, a zeal that may make us the great Examples as well as Assertors of our truly Catholick and Aposto­lick Faith; a zeal that may effectually contribute to give a stop to the spreading Leprosie of Heresie and Innovation, to root out Atheism and Wickedness, and to propagate Godliness in the power of it through­out these Realms. So shall that God who hath promised to honour those who honour him, be our strength and Glory, our Confidence and Boast all the day long; and when we have happily finished our Race, and bow down under no other weight than that of Years and of mortal Body, he shall translate us into the Presence of his Glory, where we shall find the Seraphin themselves praising that Humility and Zeal, which I invite you to here; for they are described in the Prophet to have two wings to cover their Eyes, two to cover their Feet, and two to fly.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son, &c.