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tion of others, and are unwilling to do any thing, that may leffen them in the opinion of their fellow-creatures. It is then the defire of fame, not the love of virtue, which is their incentive to good actions. And if we look abroad into the world, we find it thus in fact. Perfons of this ftamp will scorn to do a little thing, through the abhorrence of any thing that may make them cheap and contemptible in the eye of the world: but they will not fcruple to commita fin, upon which the fashionable world has ftamped a credit, and given a fanction to. A person who is ungrateful, much more ungrateful to his fovereign benefactor, must be void of every thing which is great, glorious, and beautiful in the foul. He may indeed be actuated by the love of applaufe, by caprice, by the prevailing mode and fashion of the age, in which he lives; but his mind is too narrow, contracted, and ungenerous, to be fwayed by any fixed and determined principle of goodness. You may wonder at this motley mixture in his character: But why fhould you expect a confiftency of life and manners from a man who has no religious, and, therefore, no confiftent, principle to act upon? He, who obferves the rules of morality for the fake of temporal pleasures, will never perform any act of duty that is highly distasteful to him, or forego any vice that is pleafant and palatable. This is the moral man, in the language of the world; but, in the language of reafon, as immoral a man as can be conceived. For he lives daily in the uninterrupted practice of immorality of the deepest dye, viz. ingratitude to his fovereign benefactor; from whom he has received every thing, and to whom he can return nothing, but obedience and thanksgiving, the tribute of a grateful heart.

What fhall we think of this fet of men? It would be uncharitable to suppose them determined Atheists: What is most likely, is, that they imagine God will accept the focial duties, in lieu of piety. And yet true fubftantial morality is infeparably connected with the highest regard to the Deity; and it is an unnatural divorce to part them afunder. For the only-fure ground-work of morality is the profpect of heavenly blifs: But, to return:

It is certain, that the light of nature discovers to us the be

ing of a God, and fo much of his infinite perfection, as to teach us that he is all good, and hateth every thing of natural that is evil; that he loveth thofe that avoid the religion. evil and chufe the good; and will with fevere juftice punish the evil-doers. So that the light of nature fearcheth out the goodness and juftice of God; man's duty and subjection to his Creator; and disposes us to receive the perfect will of the Almighty. This is called natural religion, which all men might know, and should be obliged unto, by the mere principles of reafon, improved by confideration and experience, without the help of revelation. And they who live by it shall also be judged by it, their confciences accufing or else excufing one another. Yet natural religion, or that religion, which the light of nature dictates, is not fufficiently calculated for the generality of mankind, as may be inferred from hence; that to trace a confiderable number of doctrines up to the fountain-head from which they flow, by the strength of unaffifted reason, and to pursue them to their remotest confequences, is a task at least extremely difficult to men of letters, but I may venture to fay impracticable to the ignorant. Befides, pure natural religion may perhaps have existed in the minds of fome few reclufe contemplative men, but was never in fact established in any one nation from the foundation of the world to the prefent times. But

The dimness of this is cleared up by * revealed religion, or that method by which God makes himself, or of revealed his will, known to mankind, over and above what religion. he hath made known to us by the light of nature. Not that hereby God did mean to put out any part of that natural light, which he had fet up in our fouls; but to give greater light unto men. And therefore the poffibility of revealed religion is evident from the nature of God, and the capacities of men; as well as from that proof, which is produced to fatisfy us concerning a miffion from God. An infinite being, that created our fouls capable of knowing him Is reafonand loving him, can never want power to com- able and municate farther light to our minds, and make certain. brighter difcoveries of his will and pleasure: it carries no

See Sunday 3. Sect. 1.

oppo

oppofition to natural light, that God should reveal his mind by fome particular perfons to the world: forafmuch as the great ignorance and corruption of human nature, and that mifery and guilt which mankind had contracted, made it both neceffary and expedient for man. For, tho' natural light afcertains the being of a Deity, and fhews us how reasonable it is to pay our adorations to that power, that created and preferves us; yet it does not fufficiently direct us in the way and manner of performing it: and tho' it gives us fome hopes of pardon upon our repentance, from the general notion of God's goodness; yet it prefcribes us no certain method Why ne- for the obtaining our reconciliation. So that recefary. vealed religion was neceffary both to relieve the wants of men in a natural state, and to recover the luftre and brightness of thofe principles, which God originally implanted in them, tho' now fullied and impaired by the corruptions of mankind; and to add fuch improvements as might draw human nature to a true sense of its own bad state and weakness; and to inftruct men in the method of obtaining pardon of their offended Creator. On the contrary, The defign of thofe, who would undermine chriftianity, Why opis plainly this: They are for carving out a religion posed. for themselves inftead of leaving that work to a Being of unerring wisdom: The confequence of which is, that they always take up with a maimed and defective morality, instead of a fixed determined scheme of duties, complete in all its parts, and confiftent upon the whole. They are for contriving a religion, that may fit eafy upon them, suited rather to their own vicious relish of things, than to the genuine standard of uncorrupted reafon. They are for doing what feemeth good in their own fhort-fighted eyes, dimmed by paffion; in lieu of acquiefcing in the will of that Being, who feeth not as man seeth, and hath at fundry times, When pub- and in divers manners spoken, in times past, unto lifhed. the fathers by the prophets; but in these last days fpeaketh unto us by his Son Jefus Chrift. In which revela tion are contained articles of faith to be believed; precepts of life to be practifed; and motives and arguments to inforce obedience. From whence it is natural to collect, that the know

ledge

ledge of the holy fcriptures is neceffary to our eternal falvation; because these are the great and ftanding revelation of God to mankind; wherein the nature of God, and his will concerning our duty, and the terms and conditions of our eternal happiness in another world, are fully and plainly declared to us.

Therefore, though there be fome things in the fcriptures, which our reafon and understanding cannot fa- Must be bethom; yet, because we are fatisfied they are relieved, vealed by God, who cannot lye, whofe knowledge is infallible, and whofe word is true, we ought upon this higher and fuperior reafon, to yield a firm affent to the truth of them. And I add, that though some complain the Bible is not clear and determinate enough as to certain points; yet, if I miftake not, the main quarrel against it will be found to be, that it is too clear and determinate in injoining certain duties, and forbidding certain vices. And though we meet therein with many precepts of life, which corrupt nature may be unwilling to put in practice; yet we must remember it is the Lord who commands them, and we must obey with the refignation becoming a child of God; Lord, not my will but thine be done; who by the mouth of his holy apoftle has expressly commanded us to live SOBERLY, RIGHTEOUSLY, and GODLY in this present world: where by the word Soberly we are to understand our duty to OURSELVES; and by the word righteously, our duty to our NEIGHBOUR; and by the word godly our duty to God. And as religion itself is that purity, or that virtu- branches of ous temper and difpofition of mind, which exerts itself in a conftant endeavour of being like unto God, and of obeying his commands; which is the principal diftinction of men from the inferior orders of creatures, and upon which alone are grounded all hopes of life and happiness hereafter fo the great end and defign of religion is, by the trial of men's virtue and integrity in the prefent world, to qualify them for the happiness of that which is to come; that they, who have been faithful in a fmall and temporary truft committed to them here, may hereafter be put in poffession of a never-fading inheritance, which shall be their

own for ever..

The three

GREAT

man's duty.

In

Ina matter of fo great importance, therefore, 'tis very wonderful, that a man, who calls himself a reasonable creature, should be careless and indifferent; careless, whether he has any religion, or none; indifferent, whether his religion, when he does profefs any, be true or falfe; careless, when he has embraced the true religion, whether he makes any improvement in his practice answerable to it, or no: fo that the foundation of a chriftian's-duty (I fay) is a due regard of God, of our neighbour, and of ourselves: of which duties I shall treat in their proper order.

II. First then of our duty to God. Our duty towards God Our duty to is to believe in him; to fear him; to love him with God, What. all our heart, with all our mind, with all our ⚫ foul, and with all our ftrength; to worship him; to give ⚫ him thanks; to put our whole truft in him; to call upon him; to honour his holy name, and his word, and to ferve ⚫ him truly all the days of our life.'. * In which short defcription of our duty towards God, we are directed to believe

God.

and acknowledge the being and felf-existence of Believing him to be a God; that he is from everlasting and world without end; that he is a spirit whom no man hath feen, nor can fee; that he is the great creator and preferver of all things, the father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, cloathed with the infinite perfections of power, wisdom, and goodness, from which all the other divine attributes do flow; that in the god-head there are three diftinct perfons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghoft: Therefore he that cometh to God, must thus believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently feek him. And

It is in vain to make profeffion of religion, without being first well inftructed and firmly perfuaded of the being and attributes of God. Right notions of which every one knows are the foundation of all religion: but then this knowledge must not be a bare fpeculation; but a serious, practical, affecting impreffion, and deep fenfe upon the mind, of a fupreme being, who created the world by his power, preferves and governs it by his goodness and wisdom, and will judge

See the first Answer after the Commandments in the Church Catechism.

it

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