XI. As Jesus Christ dwelt unrecognized among men, so the truth dwells undistinguished among the crowd of vulgar opinions. If the mercy of God is so great, that it makes us wise unto salvation, even while he hideth himself, what illumination may we not expect when he is fully revealed! We can know nothing of the works of God, if we do not admit as a first principle, that he blinds some, while he enlightens others. CHAPTER XIV. THE RELIGION OF REAL CHRISTIANS, AND REAL JEWS, ONE THE Jewish religion seemed to consist essentially in descent from Abraham, in circumcision, in sacrifices and ceremonies, in the ark and the temple at Jerusalem, and in the law and the covenant of Moses. I affirm that it did not consist in any of these things, but simply in the love of God, and that God disallowed all the rest; that God did not choose the people who sprung from Abraham according to the flesh; that the Jews were to be punished by the Almighty, as strangers would be, if they offended: "If thou forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day, that ye shall surely perish, as the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; that strangers would be accepted, even as the Jews, if they loved God; that the Jews ascribed their safety to God, and not to Abraham: "Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer, Isaiah, 63: 16; Moses also had said, "God accepteth not persons, nor taketh rewards." I affirm that the Jewish religion enjoins also the circumcision of the heart: "Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, a terrible," etc. Deut. 10: 16, 17; that God promised to do this for them at some future day: “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, Deut. 30: 6; that the uncircumcised in heart shall be judged and punished: "God will punish them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart." II. I affirm that circumcision was a sign, instituted to distinguish the Jewish people from all other nations. And therefore it was, that while they wandered in the wilderness, they were not circumcised, because they could not then intermingle with strangers, and that since the coming of Jesus Christ, it is no longer necessary. The love of God is every where enjoined: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him, for he is thy life," Deut. 30: 19, 20. It is said also,, that the Jews, from the want of this love, shall be rejected for their crimes, and the Gentiles chosen in their stead: “I will hide my face from them, for they are a very froward nation, and unbelieving; they have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God, and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation," Deut. 32: 20, 21; that temporal blessings are fallacious, but that the true good is to be united with God; that their feasts were displeasing to God; that the sacrifices of the Jews displeased God, and not only those of the wicked Jews, but he had no pleasure in the sacrifices of the righteous, for, in Psalm 50th, previously to his special address to the wicked, beginning, "But to the wicked God saith," etc. verse 16th, it is stated that God will not accept the sacrifices of beasts, nor their blood: 1 Sam. 15: 22; that the offerings of the Gentiles shall be accepted of God, Mal. 1: 11; and that the offerings of the Jews were not acceptable to him, Jer. 6: 20; that God would make a new covenant by Messiah, and that the old one should be abolished, Jer. 31: 31; that the former things shall be forgotten, Isa. 43: 18; that the ark shall be no more remembered, Jer. 3: 16; that the temple shall be rejected, Jer 7: 12-14; that the sacrifices should be done away, and a purer sacrifice established, Mal. 1: 10, 11; that the order of the Aaronic priesthood should be rejected, and that of Melchisedec introduced by the Messiah, and that this should be an everlasting priesthood; that Jerusalem shall be rejected, Isaiah v; that a new name shall be given; that it shall be a better and an eternal name, Isaiah 56: 5; that the Jews shall continue without prophet, priest, king, prince, sacrifice or altar; and that they shall exist notwithstanding as a distinct people. CHAPTER XV. GOD KNOWN SAVINGLY ONLY BY JESUS CHRIST. I. It is usual for the greater part of those who try to convince the ungodly of the being of a God, to begin with the works of nature; and they seldom succeed. Not that I question the weight of these proofs, for they are consecrated by the Scripture, and consist with sound reason; but frequently they are not well adapted to the disposition of those minds for which they are intended. For it should be observed, that this argument is not applied to those who have a living faith in the heart, and who see clearly that everything which exists, is the work of the God whom they adore. To such, all nature speaks for its author, and to them, the heavens declare the glory of God. But for those in whom this light is extinct, and in whom we wish to revive it, those men, without faith and charity, who find nothing but clouds and darkness throughout nature; it seems not the right way to reclaim such, that on a subject so great and important, we should give them proofs, drawn from the course of the moon and the planets, or any of those common-place arguments, against which they have invariably revolted. The hardness of their hearts has rendered them deaf to this voice of nature, ringing constantly upon their ear; and experience proves, that far from persuading them by these means, nothing is more likely to disgust them, and to destroy the hope of their discovering the truth, than professing to convince them simply by such reasonings, and telling them that there they will find truth altogether unveiled. This is not the way in which the Scriptures speak of God, and they are far better prepared to speak of him than we are. They tell us, we allow, that the beauty of creation declares its author; but, they do not say that it does so to the whole world. On the contrary, they affirm, that the creature does not make God known by its own light, but by that light which God, at the same time, pours into the minds of those whom he thus instructs. "That which may be known of God, is manifest in them; for God hath showed it to them," Rom. 1: 19. The Scripture teaches us in general, that "God is a God, that hideth himself;" and that, since the corruption of human nature, he has left men in a state of blindness, from which they can escape only through Jesus Christ, without whom we are deprived of all communion with God. "No man knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him," Matt. 2: 27. The Scripture teaches the same truth also, when, in so many different passages, it affirms, that they who seek God shall find him; for we do not speak thus of a clear and self-evident light. It needs no seeking. It compels observation by its own brilliancy. II. Metaphysical arguments, in proof of the Deity, are so remote from the common habits of reasoning, and so intricate, that they produce little impression; and though they may influence a few, it is only at the time when they are considering the demonstration, and an hour afterwards, they fear they have deceived themselves. "Quod curiositate cognoverant superbia amiserunt." Besides, this sort of proof can lead only to a speculative |