V.

SER M done with fome View or other, either upon a Good Principle or a Bad one. For when we fpeak of man's having No Principles at all, the Meaning is only that they have No Good Principles; and that they act entirely upon this One ill Principle, of thinking themselves at Liberty from all Obligation to regard the Effential Differences of Good and Evil. Every Action (I fay) of a rational Creature, every fuch action as has any thing of Morality or Immorality in it, muft of neceffity be done with Some View or other, either upon a Good Principle or a Bad one. Now if Men's Principles were neceffarily implanted in their Nature, and their Actions by a like natural Neceffity followed from their Principles; the Confequence then indeed would be, that Men had no Power at all over their Own Actions, and confequently could be no way accountable for what they do. But the Truth, plainly is This. As the Eye, or the Faculty of Seeing, is not at all formed by the Power of Man; and the Light, which is the Object of Sight, is likewise what God has made it, and has no dependence on Man's Will or Pleasure; and

.

therefore

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therefore Men are not anfwerable for ha-SER M. ving better or worse Organs of Sense, or for having more or lefs Light, but only for the Ufe of Thofe Eyes and of That Light which they have: So, with regard to the Mind likewife, both the internal Capacity of Understanding, and the external Means of Information, are what God pleases to bestow on every Man, and have no de-, pendence on the perfon's own Will; And therefore no Man is anfwerable for having a larger or smaller Capacity, or for having more or fewer Means of Information: But he is accountable for the Use of That degree of Understanding, and for the Ufe or Abuse of Thofe Means of Knowledge, whatfoever they be, they be, which God has thought fit to afford him. A Man may Jhut his Eyes, and may chufe Darkness rather than Light Or he may, through Wilfulness or Paffion, chufe to follow a Falfe Light instead of a True one, an imaginary Spectre inftead of a Reality: Or he may put out his Eyes, and bring himfelf under a fort of neceffity of blindly following Some Guide, who (as it happens) may equally lead him in the Right Way or in a Wrong one. A Man may by

Negli

SER M. Negligence, or by Wilfulness, or by Love

of Vice, or by Any customary and habitual ill Practice, pervert or blind his own Underfanding. He may, by rejecting the Means of difcovering the Truth, through his own Fault, and not through Want of Capacity, form to himself ill Principles inftead of Good ones. Or, if he has never fo good Principles, yet, as feeing the Way is not neceffarily walking in it, he may fuffer himfelf to be Tempted to act against his Principles, to act against the Reafon of his own Mind, as well as against the Reafon and Truth of Things. Men therefore have a Power over their own Actions, notwithstanding all the Influence of That Light or Understanding, by which they are to be directed. Neverthelefs; fince, generally fpeaking, fuch as Men's Principles are, fuch will be Their Actions; and He whofe Conduct is directed by fettled ill Principles, will much more conftantly, and in much greater Instances, and with Effects of much higher Malignity, do what is Wrong; than He who, having virtuous and good Principles, yet in particular Cafes fails of keeping up to them in Practife; 'tis hence obvious,

III. IN

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III. IN the Third place, to obferve, of SERM. what Confequence it is in matters of Religion, that Men fail not in this firft and grand Foundation; in the Root, the Spring, the univerfal Guide and Directer of their A&t. ions: Take heed, that the Light which is in thee, be not Darkness. If a Man has the Best Principles that can be: If he be firmly perfwaded in his own Mind, of the effential Difference of Good and Evil, of God's Government of the World, and of a Judgment to come: If he has right Notions of the true Nature of Religion, that it confifts in living fiberly, righteously and godly, under the Inspection of a righteous and all-feeing Judge: Still, fuch is the Deceitfulnefs of Sin; fo many are the Temptations and Allurements of the World; fo blind are the Appetites, fo ftrong the Paffions of Men; that nothing is more common, than to see even thefe beft of Principles over-ruled, and the Force of them defeated, by the Strength and Prevalency of different Temptations. How much more, when Men's Principles themselves are confiftent with Wickedness, muft it be expected that Degeneracy of Manners will prevail! and still more, if

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their

SER M. their Principles be not only consistent with

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Vice, but fuch as moreover directly lead them, and even lay the Obligations of ConScience upon them, to unrighteous PraEtices! If the Salt itself has loft its Savour, wherewith fhall things be feafoned? And if the Light itself, which is in thee, be Darkness; how great is That Darknefs? To inftance in Particulars. If a Man's Religion confifts chiefly, in a confident Prefumption of his own unconditionate Predeftination; will not This naturally lead him to be stiff and cenforious, and to have too little Care of his Moral and Equitable Behaviour towards all Men? If a man can perfwade himself that a ftrong Credulity, or an imaginary Belief of unintelligible Notions, can be truly acceptable in the Sight of God; has not This an obvious and evident Tendency, to make him pride himself in the pretended Rightness of his Faith; and defpife: the real Virtues, of Impartiality, Equity, and Love of Truth? If Another can prevail with himself to believe, that after a vitious and immoral Life, he may at laft upon a Bed of Sicknefs, by the Abfolution of the Prieft, or by the Sacra

ments