they enjoy fo great benefit without confidering it; and extremely vain, in thinking fo much better of their own natural abilities, than they do of thofe of all the greatest men in the times preceding the light of the Gofpel; they could not but think it more likely, that fuch wife and ferious men as Socrates, Heraclitus, Plato, Cicero, and others, fhould understand the ftate of the world in their own time, and know how much could be done, in that state, towards finding true Religion, and bringing men to the practice of it, upon the foot of mere human reafon, much better than we can do at this diftance; when we cannot be fo fenfible of the want of Revelation experimentally, because we are prevented by the antecedent enjoyment of it. Men who are bred and brought up in Chriftian Countries, where the great principles, both of Natural and Revealed Religion, are commonly profess'd, and difcourfed of, without diftinction; and our whole duty, with all the proper rational Motives to it, are made parts of ordinary inftruction; even though they have never strictly confider'd the additional evidence which Revelation gives, yet will be able to fee, how agreeable to Natural reafon and conscience many things in this light now appear to be, which

Bb 4

which they could never have fo clearly discovered, if they had not been fo effectually, though to themselves infenfibly, affifted. Juft as a man bred up in a Maritime province, where he daily fees fhips, and converses with feafaring perfons, though he never made Navigation his profeffion, will certainly have a readier apprehenfion of what belongs to it, and frame to himself more confiftent notions of it, than another man of equal understanding, who has always lived upon the Continent, far remote from any fuch converfation. It is not always easy, to difcern how much of that ftock of knowledge, which any man has, was acquired purely by his own industrious application of his thoughts, and how much by the external teaching of others; but yet it is always evident, that without the latter, he could not have made fo great a progress as not to need any more teaching for the future. So though there be now no occafion for any new Revelation, to make the principles of natural Religion better understood; fince we can, by the help of that light, which we have already had from heaven, make fuch ufe of our natural Reason, as to fee our original obligation in point of Religion and Morality; yet, without that light, men were fallen into fuch a

1

maze

maze of uncertainty, that it's evident the wifeft of them could not, of themfelves, find the way out of it. And why should any man now think, that if he had been in the fame state, he should have had better fuccefs?

And therefore upon the whole from fuch confiderations, as I have mentioned, and which I might have drawn out to a greater length, we may juftly conclude, that as in the nature of things there can be no Impoffibility of God's making a particular Revelation of his will to men, nor confidering our natural notions of the Goodness of God, any reason to think it Incredible, that he should at fome time or other make fuch Revelation: So confidering the general condition of mankind without it, fuch Revelation is by no means to be look'd upon as ufelefs and unneceffary.

I fhall now proceed more briefly to confider the third thing which I proposed in the beginning of my firft difcourfe on this Text, viz.

III. That it is every rational man's duty to ufe all the proper means he can to find out what is true Revelation, and what is only

pretended.

pretended. And this I think will not need any long deduction of arguments to prove it; because it seems to be a very natural confequence from the two former propofitions, of which I have hitherto been speaking more at large. For if it be agreed, that every Rational man, who believes a God and a Providence governing the world, is under a natural obligation to enquire, whether God has made any particular Revelation of his will to men, which they are any way concerned to take notice of; which was the firft of those propofitions: And if whoever seriously makes this enquiry will find it reasonable to conclude, that fome Revelation might be juftly expected from the Goodness of God, confidering the general ftate of mankind without it, which was the fecond: Then it is certainly very Reasonable, that every man, who is thus perfuaded, fhould apply himself very feriously to find out, what Revelation is true, and what not; that he may neither be impofed upon, by admitting equally all pretences to Revelation, nor cut himself off from all benefit that may arise from that which is true, by rejecting all equally. It is evident to all men, who will give themselves any time to confider, that there is, and has long

been

been in the world, a great variety of pretences to Revelation, and different Schemes of Religion have been formed upon them; and that these cannot poffibly all be true, because they not only differ from, but manifeftly contradict, one another in many cafes. And it is on the other hand very plain also, that if there never had been any true Revelation at all, there could not have ever been any ground for mens univerfally making fuch pretences to it: Unless we could suppose, that God had laid our nature at firft under an invincible neceffity of being perpetually deceived; which is inconfiftent with our original and most natural notions of his Goodnefs. And therefore to come at the truth it is neceffary, either strictly to examine all the particular pleas of the feveral pretenders to it, and compare them with one another, which would be a work too great for any one man to go through with, in his whole life; or else we must fix upon fome general acknowledged Principle, which, being once establish'd, will always be a ready Criterion to distinguish the true from the falfe, and which we may at any time apply as occafion offers.

Now if it can be made appear, that there is any one continued and standing Revelation,

the

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