« which the Law and the Prophets were read CHAP. " unto them every Sabbath; fo the Chriftians XVI. had their Churches, in which from the Begin"ning all the Doctrines and Duties of their

Religion were every Lord's Day taught, in"culcated, and explain'd unto them. And by. "God's Bleffing upon this Method chiefly was "it, that this holy Religion ftill bore up against "all Oppreffions, and notwithstanding the ten "Perfecutions, and all other Artifices and Me"thods of Cruelty and Oppreffion, which Hell "and Heathenifm could devife to fupprefs it, "grew up and increafed under them; which "Julian the Apoftate was fo fenfible of, that "when he put all his Wits to work to find out "new Methods for the reftoring the Heathen "Impiety, he could not think of any more "effectual for this Purpose, than to employ his "Philofophers to preach it up every Week to "the People in the fame Manner, as the "Minifters of the Gospel did the Chriftian Re"ligion. And had it not pleas'd God to cut

him off before he could put this Defign in "Execution, it is to be fear'd his Succefs herein "would in a great Measure have answer'd what "he proposed by it. But to Chriftians above "all others this must have been of the greatest "Benefit. For the Doctrines of our holy Re"ligion having in them the fublimeft Principles " of divine Knowledge, and the Precepts of "it containing all the Duties of Morality in the highest Manner improv'd, nothing can be of

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greater Advantage to us for the leading us to "the trueft Happiness we are capable of, as "well in this Life as in that which is to come, "than to have these weekly taught and explain'd unto us, and weekly put home upon L VOL. II.

66 our

CHAP. & our Confcience for the forming our Lives acXVII. "cording to them. And the Political State or "Civil Government of every Christian Country " is no lefs benefited thereby, than the Church "itfelf. For as it beft conduceth to keep up "the Spirit of Religion among us, and to make "every Man know his Duty to God, his Neigh"bour, and Himfelf; fo it may be reckon❜d of "all Methods the moft conducive to preferve "Peace and good Order in the State. For "hereby Subjects are taught to be obedient to "their Prince and his Laws, Children to be "dutiful to their Parents, Servants to be faith"ful to their Masters, and all to be just and "charitable, and pay all other Duties, which "in every Relation they owe to each other. "And in the faithful Difcharge of thefe Duties

doth the Peace, good Order, and Happi

"nefs of every Community confift. And to "be weekly inftructed in thefe Duties, and to "be weekly excited to the Obedience of them,

is certainly the propereft and most effectual "Method to induce Men hereto. And it may justly be reckoned that the good Order,

which is now maintain'd in this Kingdom, is "more owing to this Method, than to any "other now in Practice among us for this End;

and that one good Minifter by his weekly "Preaching and daily good Example, fets it "more forward than any two of the best Juftices " of the Peace can, by their exactest Diligence

in the Execution of the Laws which they are "entrufted with. For thefe by the utmost of "their Coercions can go no farther, than restrain "the outward Acts of Wickedness; but the "other reforms the Heart within, and removes "all thofe evil Inclinations of it, from whence

"they

"they flow. And it is not to be doubted, but CHA P. "that if this Method was once dropp'd among XVII. 66 us, the Generality of the People, whatever "elfe may be done to obviate it, would in feven "Years time relapfe into as bad a State of Bar

barity, as was ever in Practice among the "worst of our Saxon and Danish Ancestors. "And therefore fuppofing there was no fuch thing in Truth and Reality, as that Holy "Chriftian Religion, which the Ministers of "the Gospel teach (as too many among us are now permitted with Impunity to fay) yet the "Service they do the Civil Government, in "keeping all Men to thofe Duties, in the Ob"fervance of which its Peace, good Order and

66

Happiness confift, may very well deserve the "Maintenance which they receive from it *"

As long as Man is confcious of God, he is conscious of Religion to him, and that his Conduct in this World ought to be fteer'd by that Compass to the Point of pleasing him. Therefore there are, as there ought to be, publick Explainers and Enforcers of that internal Compafs of Action. Confequently the Confervators of, and Pleaders at the Tribunal of Confcience, are the fure Supporters of Civil Tris bunals, by promoting Virtue, the Bafis, and fuppreffing Vice, the Bane of Society, at the Root and Source; they ought to be acknowledg'd by all Men, that, doing their Duty, they are the best of Friends to Civil Government. How far they are the Confervators of Learning, whence fo many Benefits flow to the Publick, is left to others to report. Nay, of fo great Help to Piety,

* Connection, Part I. pag. 390, 391.

L 2

Virtue,

CHAP. Virtue, and the Furtherance of every Duty, is XVII. the Miniftry in their weekly Miniftrations, (tho

the Deifts malign the Service, and would preclude the Publick from that Benefit) that they have been able to effect that Reformation, which infpired Prophets, with all their Threatnings back'd with a Power of Miracles, could not bring to pafs, according to another Obfervation of the fame truely judicious Author. "If it be ex"amin'd into, fays he, how it came to pafs, "that the Jews were fo prone to Idolatry before the Babylonish Captivity, and fo ftrongly "and cautiously, even to Superstition, fixed against it after that Captivity, the true reason "thereof will appear to be, that they had the "Law and the Prophets every Week conftantly "read unto them after that Captivity, which "they had not before; for before that Capti"vity, they having no Synagogues for publick

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Worship, or publick Inftruction, nor any "Places to refort to for either, unless the "Temple at Jerufalem, or the Cities of the "Levites, or to the Prophets, when God was "pleased to fend fuch among them; for want

hereof, great Ignorance grew among the Peo

ple: God was little known among them, and "his Laws, in a manner, wholly forgotten. "And therefore, as occafions offer'd, they were "eafily drawn into all the Superftitious and "Idolatrous Ufages of the neighbouring Na"tions, that liv'd round about them, till at "length, for the Punishment hereof, God gave "them up to a difmal Destruction in the Babylonifh Captivity. But after that Captivity, and "the Return of the Jews from it, Synagogues being erected among them in every City, to

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I

"which they conftantly reforted to publick CHAP. "Worship, and where every Week they had XVII. the Law from the firft, and after that from

"the time of Antiochus's Perfecution, the Pro

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phets alfo read unto them, were by Sermons "and Exhortations there delivered, at least "every Sabbath, inftructed in their Duty, " and excited to the Obedience of it; this kept them in a thorough Knowledge of "God and his Laws *"