326                The Deity of Jeſus Chriſt                Sect. VI

' which might render it ſafe to be affirmed of God, rather
' than to underſtand it in the literal ſenſe.' As if he had
ſaid, We are determined to regulate, not our thenligical ſen-
timents, by the Scriptures ; but the Scriptures, by our pre-
conceived opinions. But let us conſider this point a little more
particularly.

If human reaſon had not been corrupted by ſin, we might
have placed a great degree of dependence upon it : yet even
then it would not have been rational, to rely more on the
powers of our own underſtanding, than on the light of Divine
Revelation, ſuppoſing ſuch a Revelation to have been enjoy-
ed: becauſe the knowledge of man, when his reaſon was un-
impaired, was limited; but the knowledge of God is infinite.
What a diſparity, then, muſt there be, when the human un-
derſtanding is not only limited, but corrupted; when the un-
avoidable commerce between a man's thoughts and his de-
praved paſſions, fills his mind with a multitude of prejudices,
which have a tendency in various ways to diſguiſe, or conceal,
the truth.-Were we bound to believe nothing but what ap-
pears conformable to reaſon, in its preſent ſtate, we might
ſoon reject the great objects revealed in the goſpel, in general,
For. after all the ſtrenuous efforts of our adverſaries, to re-
move the grand difficulies attending the Chriſtian religion ;
there are, and there always will be, ſuch depths in it, as are
unfathomable by the plummet of human reaſon. On this ac-
count, the apoſtle of the Gentiles calls the goſpel fooliſhneſs.
If the doctrines of Chriſtianity had nothing myſterious and
inexplicable in them, there would be no difficulty in believing;
not would faith be any more the gift of God, than the per-
ſuaſion we have of natural truths. Conſequently, there would
be no more occaſion for the agency of the Holy Spirit, in or-
der to our believing the truths of the goſpel, than there is to
our underſtanding the problems of geometry.

To act on this principle of our oppoſers is to treat God, as
if he were leſs worthy of credit than an honeſt man. A fal-
lible mortal, who has not forfeited his character, as a perſon
of veracity, would take it deſervedly ill, if, when ſpeaking
of any extraordinary fact, of which he was an eye witneſs, he
was to ſay, ' Take my word for it ; it is as I aſſert :' and
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