IV. This darkness and ignorance are increased by a course of sinning. Naterally man is in darkness, he is born in darkness, and continues in it, and walketh in darkness; and by an habit and custom in sinning increases the darkness of his mind; for notwithstanding the fall there are some remains of the light of nature in man; some general notions of good and evil, according to which the natural conscience accuses or excuses; but sometimes through a course of sin conscience is cauterized, seared as with a red-hot iron, so that it is become past feeling, and insensible to the distinction of good and evil.

v. There is in many an affected ignorance, which is very criminal; they are willingly ignorant, as the apostle says of the scoffers who shall arise in the last time, or rather they are unwilling to understand what they might, they know not, nor will they understand, they walk on in darkness; they do not choose to make use of but shun the means of knowledge, and shut their eyes against all light and conviction; they do not care to come to the light, and love darkness rather than light; they do not desire to know God and his ways, but rather that he would depart from them; with such as these wisdom expostulates, saying, How long, ye simple onès, will ye love simplicity?-and fools hate knowledge? "VI. Some because of their sinful lusts they indulge themselves in, and thei contempt of the means of light and knowledge, and the stubborn choice they make of error and falsehood, are given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart; as many among the heathens, who because they liked not to retain God in their knowledge, were given up to à reprobate mind, or to a mind void of judg ment, and so imbibed notions and performed actions not convenient, Rom. i. 28. and the Jews, who rejected Jesus the Messiah against all light and evidence, had a spirit of slumber given them, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear; nor understand with their hearts, Rom. xi. 8. and the followers of Antichrist, who received not the love of the truth, had a strong delusion sent then to believe a lie, 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11. others have been left under the power of Satan, the same with the power of darkness, who is the god of this world, and who is suffered to blind the eyes of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them, 2 Cor. iv. 4.

Now whilst men are in an unrenewed state, and in such a state of darkness and blindness, they are ignorant, 1. Of God, of his nature and perfections; for though they may by the light of nature, and from the works of creation, know that there is a God, and some of his perfections, as his wisdom, power, and goodness, which manifestly appear in them; yet not so as to glorify him as God, nor so as to preserve them from the worship of other gods besides him; indeed their knowledge of him is so dim and obscure, that after all they are said by their wisdom not to know God, the true God, this was the case of the Gentiles; and as for the Jews who had a revelation, yet they were ignorant of the righteousness of God, which was the ground of their capital mistake' in going about to establish their own righteousness and reject the righteousness of Christ. And carnal men are very apt to think that God is such an one as themselves,

and they measure him by themselves, and fancy that what is agreeable to the reasonings of their minds is approved of by him; or that he takes no notice of men and their actions, but leaves them to act as they please; that the Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not, Ezek. ix. 9. and thus they live without God, or as atheists in the world; or they think that God is a Gcd of mercy and will have mercy on them at last, but never think of his justice and holiness.

2. They are ignorant of Christ, of his person and offices, and of the way of life and salvation by him; as they know neither the Father not the Sun, nor the distinction between them, so not the concern that each have in the salvation.

of men. The way of peace they know not, how God was in Christ recon-, ciling the world to himself, forming the plan and scheme of reconciliation, and how Christ has made peace by the blood of his cross. 3. They are ignorant of the Spirit of God; The world seeth him not, neither knoweth him, John xiv. 17. neither his person nor his office, as a sanctifier and comforter; not the operations of his grace on the souls of men; Nicodemus, a master in Israel, could not conceive how it should be that a man should be born again of water and of the Spirit, John iii. 8, 9. Nor can a natural man either receive or know the. things of the Spirit of God, because they are spiritually discerned, and he has not a spiritual visive faculty to discern them, 1 Cor. ii. 14.-4. They are ig-. norant of themselves, and of their state and condition by nature; they think themselves rich and increased with goods, when they are wretched, miserable, poor, and blind, and naked; they fancy themselves whole, sound and healthful, and need not a physician for their souls, when they are sadly diseased and distempered with sin; they reckon themselves alive without the law, in a good condition, and in a fair way tor life, heaven and happiness, till the law enters them and cuts off all their hopes of salvation by the works of it. They are upon the brink of ruin, like a man on the top of the mast of a ship asleep, or in the midst of the sea, insensible of their danger; they rush into sin like the horse into the battle, and hasten like a bird to the snare, which knows not it is for it, life.5. They are ignorant of sin and the sad effects of it; if they have any notion of the grosser sins of life, and the evil of them, they do not know that lust in the heart is sin; not the evil of indwelling sin and corrupt nature; nor consider that the wages of sin is death, eternal death; they are not sensible of their own insufficiency and inability to make atonement for their sins, nor to work out a righteousness that will justity them from their sins. 6. They are ignorant of the sacred scriptures, and the truths contained in then; though they are plain to them that understand, and right to them that find knowledge, Prov. viii. 9. yet they are like a sealed book to carnal men, whether learned or un learned; the one cannot read them because scaled, and the other because he is not learned. The mysteries of the kingdom are delivered to them in parables, and they are riddles, enigmas, and dark sayings to them; the gospel, and the doctrines of it, are hid from the wise and prudent; they cannot understand them they are foolishness to them, and thev pronounce them such.

II. In every renewed person there is a knowledge of God and of divine things: the new creature or new man is renewed in knowledge, &c. Col. iii. 10. Spiritual and divine knowledge is a part of the new man, which is no other than an assemblage of grace consisting of various members, of which this is one; it is a part of the image of God and Christ enstamped upon the soul in regeneration, and which gives it a disposition God-ward; concerning which may be observed, I. The object of it, God; before conversion men know not God, but after that they know him, or rather are known of him, Gal. iv. 8, 9. there is a threefold knowledge of God, or a knowledge of God that is come at in a threefold

way.

1. There is a knowledge of God by the light of nature through the works of creation, which shew his eternal power and godhead, declare his glory, and display his wisdom and goodness; and through the works of providence, by which he has not left himself without a witness of his Being and beneficence; and though these ways and works are past finding out, and a small portion of them is known by men, yet something of God is to be known by them, and that he is, as Jethro said, greater than all Gods; but then such knowledge was always insufficient to teach men the true worship of God, and influence them to it, notwithstanding this, either they did not worship him at all, or ignorantly worshipped him; that is, not in a right way and manner; the wise pihlosophers of the heathens, though thev in some sort knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor serve him only, but worshipped and served the creature more and beside the Creator; nor was such knowledge effectual to make the hearts of men better, nor to mend their lives; those to whom God left not himself without a witness, by the works of creation and providence, still walked on in their own ways, and those very bad ones, walking in lasciviousness, lusts, drunkenness, revelling, banquettings, and abominable idolatries, even commit. ting abominable lewdness in their religious services. What a character does the apostle give of them Rom. i. even of those who professed themselves to be wise, both as to their hearts and actions? their foolish heart was darkened and their imagination vain, and they were given up to the lusts of their hearts and to the uncleanness of them, to vile affections and a reprobate mind, being filled with all unrighteousness and wickedness; what a dreadful portrait does the apostle draw of thein, verse 29-31. Nor was this light and knowledge sufficient to point out to them the true way, how incensed Deity may be appeased, or sinners be reconciled to God; or by what means atonement for sin could be made, and therefore put such questions as in Mic. vi. 6, 7. not the least hint did it give of a sin-bearing, and sin-atoning Saviour, and of the blood of Christ which makes peace with God, and cleanses from all sin; nor could it give men any good ground to hope for pardon of sin on any account whatever; though they might presume on the mercy of God, and conjecture that he would forgive their sins upon their repentance, this they could not be sure of; at most it was but an who can tell if God will repent and turn from his fierce anger, as said

で

the Ninevites, Jonah iii. 9.
Nor was it sufficient to assure them of a future
state of happiness, and describe what that is; as for the immortality of the sou',
they had some faint views of it, and rather wished it to be true than believed
it; of the resurrection of the dead they had no hope; and what that happiness
of man hereafter they sometimes speak of, they had gross notions of, such as
had any; and could not assure themselves by all their vittue that they should
enjoy it.
Life and immortality are only truly brought to light by the gospel.

2. There is a knowledge of God by the law, the law of Moses, the moral law; though this came by Moses, it was of God, and shews what is his good and perfect will; it is a transcript of his nature, his justice and holiness; but then it only gives knowledge of him as a lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy, and as an incensed God threatening wrath to the breakers of it, without any hope of mercy, not even on the foot of repentance; it accuses of sin, the breach of it; pronounces guilty for it, and is the ministration of conderanation and death; by it is the knowledge of sin, but not of a saviour from it. The ceremonial law was indeed a shadow of good things to come by Christ; its sacrifices prefigured the sacrifice of Christ; it was the Jews schoolmaster that taught then Christ, and directed them to him.

3. There is a knowledge of God which comes by the gospel, the doctrine of grace and truth, that is by Christ, who lay in the bosom of his Father, and has declared him, his person; his nature, his grace, his mind and will to men; Gol has spoken by his Son, and made the largest discovery of himself by him; and makes use of the ministers of the gospel to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face or person of Christ, who is the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person: and it is of this kind of knowledge of God in Christ, that souls are made partakers, when they are renewed in the spirit of their minds; this is not a mere notional and speculative knowledge, such as the carnal Jews had, who had a form of know edge in the law, and by breaking it dishonoured God; and which some who call themselves christians. may have, who profess in words to know God, but in works deny him; who say, Lord, Lord, but do not the will of our Father in heaven: but this is a spiritual and experimental knowledge of God, such a spiritual man has, and that from the Spirit of God as a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; and which leads men to mind and savour spiritual things. This is a knowledge which is attended with faith in God as a covenant-God in Christ; it is a fiducial knowledge, such as know his name put their trust in him, in whom is everlasting strength, and from whom they expect all supplies of grace; and having knowledge of him as their portion and exceeding great reward, they hope in him for what they want in time, and for happiness with him hereafter; and such knowledge always includes in it love to God, and the most cordial affec tion for him; he who loveth not, knoweth not God, 1 John iv. 1. for if he knew him he could not but love him, and say of him, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. Such knowledge is

accompanied with a filial fear and reverence of God; where there is no knowledge of God there is no fear of God; but where there is knowledge of God,, of his grace and goodness, and of his pardoning mercy in Christ, men fear the Lord and his goodness; for there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared; not with a slavish but a child-like fear; and where it is known he is so feared. And such a knowledge is practical, and it is known to be right by being so; hereby we know that we knew him, if we keep his commandments, 1 John ii. 3. for such only may be said to be filled with the knowledge of his will, &c. in a true spiritual and evangelical manner, when the end for which they have it, and for which they desire it, is, to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing; that is, to do the will of God in the most acceptable manner, Col. i. 9, 10. and a knowledge attender with such graces and fruits of righteousness may be called saving knowledge; that is, salvation is annexed unto it and follows upon it; for this is life eternal, the beginning of it, and in which it issues, John xvii. 3.

For

Now this knowledge of God may be considered as respecting the three divine persons in the godhead distinctly, Father, Son, and Spirit; and that acquaintance and fellowship with each which such knowledge leads into. there is a fellowship and communion which believers have with each divine person, which arises from their distinct knowledge of them, 1 John i. 3.

1. Every renewed soul has knowledge of God the Father. I write unto you little children, says the apostle John, 1 epist. ii. 13. because ye have known the Father, the Father of Christ, and their Father in Christ; for he that is Christ's Father is their Father, though they are not in the same class of sonship with him, I ascend to my Father and your Father, John xx. 17. and this relation is made known to them, as children are taught to know their father; and this the saints know by the Spirit of adoption sent down into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father; and witnessing to their spirits that they are the children of God; and this leads into communion with him, and into the enjoyment of many privileges with pleasure. They have knowledge of the love of the Father which is bestowed on them, and is in them, and which appears in their election, in the gift of Christ to them, and in their adoption, and in other blessings of grace; and this is shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit, and they are led by him into the heighths and depths, and lengths and breadths of it; they are warmed by it, and comforted with it; it is a source of joy, peace, and comfort to them; and the knowledge of it is what they glory in and should do, and in that only, Jer. ix. 23, 24. They have also knowledge of God the Father as having chosen them in Christ, and blessed them with all spiritual blessings in him; for though their election is so early as before the foundation of the world, and so secret as it is in Christ, yet it may be kuown by them;. Knowing, brethren be loved, your election of God; how and by what means? by the powerful influence of the gospel upon their hearts, fer cur gospel came not uno you in word only but also in power, 1 Thess. i. 4. they have knowledge of him as their covenant-God in Christ, who has blessed them with all covenant-blessings, with the sure mer