no danger to apprehend upon that score; fince the Authority of all the Gospel-Laws, vanishes with the Doctrine of Chrift's Refurrection.

So that it is past all doubt, the Deifts have by much the Advantage, of thofe that believe the Gofpel, with respect to the prefent World; if it be fo, that the latter lie under a Delufion, as to this great Article of their Faith.

SECT. X.

I Hope what I have advanc'd here, will not be misunderstood; and that no Man will think, I am for throwing off all Regard to the Laws of Nature in the prefent Life, upon the Suppofition, that we have no Rewards to expect hereafter: That Men may be as extravagant and licentious as they pleafe, and live like Beafts while they are here; if all views of future Happiness and Immortality be taken away.

The very Thoughts of this strike a Man with Horror; and no Chriftian (to be fure) will ever entertain, much lefs ftand by fuch a fort of Notion.

For my own part, I declare, I am far from imagining, That our Obligations or Encouragement to any of the common Duties of Morality and Natural Religion, would, upon this Suppofition, be either weakned or taken away. For, Firft, 'Tis in it felf eternally fit and reasonable, that we should own the Sovereign Author of our Being, and thank him for the innumerable Benefits we receive in the present Life, even without Expectations of future Rewards from him. We owe him Praife and Acknowledgment for the Good we actually receive at his hands; and a Profpect or no Prospect of more Mercies behind, has nothing to do with our thank

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ful Returns for those that are prefent. 'Tis true, if we have a View of more Bleffings coming to us, we may be more chearful and enlarg'd in our Thankf givings to fo kind a Benefactor. But however, by receiving from him, we become infinitely indebted to him; and therefore to praise him for what we have, is our indifpenfible Duty. These Duties therefore, which are founded upon God's Creation, and Prefervation of us, and providential Difpofal of the Bleflings of the prefent Life, are of a fure and lasting Obligation; and while Human Nature continues, they muft needs be of Force. And the taking away the Hope of a future Reward, can no more take off our Obligations to the Practice of thefe, than the having no Profpect of a second or third Mercy, can discharge us from the Duty of being thankful for a first, which we now actually enjoy.

And then, Secondly, as for the Practice of moral Vertues; a Man's own temporal Felicity, and the Well-being of Human Society, do neceffarily require a nice and ftrict Obfervance of these. For example; Temperance is abfolutely neceffary, both to our longer Enjoyment of the Comforts of the World, and to our fweeter and more exquisite Relish of them. Without Prudence and Difcretion in the Management of the Affairs of Life, we can neither fecure our felves in the Poffeffion of any Good we enjoy, nor make the best of it, to improve it as Opportunity fhall offer, for a farther increafe of our Happiness here: In a word, without this, we can neither avoid Dangers, live free from Abufes and Impofitions, nor with any tolerable Reputation amongst Men. To be affable and courteous in our Deportment towards others, is the way to gain an univerfal Affection and Efteem, and to engage Men to be ready to do us any good Offices

Offices that lie in their Power, when we may have an urgent Occafion for them. To be just and righteous in our Dealings with all Men, is the way to be free from Injuries and Affaults, and never to make any of our Fellow-Creatures our Enemies: And confequently, there's no living fafely and quietly in the World without it: Since there's no Man whatsoever, fo mean and little, but if provok'd by bad and unjust Usage, may, fome time or other, have it in his Power to give very coftly and dangerous Proofs of his Refentments. And fo to have due Reverence, and a loyal Regard for our Superiors, is what even good Breeding, Honour, Intereft, and Self-prefervation, will oblige us to. We can't tranfgrefs due Bounds here, without apparent Hazards; and to be good Subjects (if there were no other Reasons for being fo) is the directeft way, either to make or mend our Fortunes in the World. And the fame Principles will engage us, not only to be quiet and faithful, but also useful and induftrious Members of the Communities in which we live; zealous to promote their Good, and careful to prevent all Mifchief that threatens them, as far as we can. For our own private Interefts and thofe of the Publick, are very clofely link'd together; and when the whole Body fuffers, 'tis much if each Member has not its fhare in the common Calamity. 'Tis true, that Men who have dar'd to be guilty of fuch unnatural Bafenefs and Treachery, as to intrigue with Enemies, and facrifice the Interefts of the Publick to them, may have fometimes come off without their deferv'd Punishment. But this rarely happens: And fuch Crimes are fo hateful both to God and to Mankind in general, and even to those who can be glad to make use of them to ferve their own Turn; that they most commonly come home, either fooner or la

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ter, with fufficient Vengeance to the Committers of them. Divine Providence, which difpofes all Men in the World, where they fhould be ufeful and ferviceable in their Places, rarely fails to find fuch out; and the very Tempters to the Treafon, often become the Difpenfers of a just Punishment to the

Traitors.

So that without any Profpect of future Rewards, here are strong and undeniable Obligations to the Practice of all thefe moral Duties. As long as the prefent State of the World lafts, and Men live together in Communities, there will be urgent Reasons why fuch Rules fhould be carefully obferv'd, both in their Management of themselves, and their Deportment towards one another.

TH

SECT. XI.

HUS we have seen, what Circumstances, both of Duty and Danger, the Chriftians are plac'd under in the prefent World, in confequence of their Adherence to the Religion taught by Chrift Fefus.

I shall now make two or three general Reflections, upon what has been difcours'd under this Head, concerning the Nature of the Chriftian Religion.

First, 'Tis plain, that this Inftitution is in it felf admirably well adapted to the Design of rectifying all the Disorders of Human Nature, and the improving it with all fuch Vertues and Qualifications as are neceffary (in the very Nature of the thing) to render it truly beautiful and excellent. Nor would I be understood here, to fpeak only of what the Chriftian Religion it felf makes to be Vertue or Vice; but of that, which the common Senfe and Reafon of Mankind pro

nounces

nounces to be fo, abftracting from all Revelation or pofitive Law, either to approve or condema it as fuch.

SECT. XII.

Secondly, THAT it will appear to every Man,

who confiders it impartially, to have

a direct Tendency to fit and qualify us for a future bleffed State; Such a one, as we our felves, if we think any thing worthily of God, fhall judg it the moft confonant to his Perfections, to prepare for reaSonable Creatures, whom he delights to make happy: And that this is the great Drift and Scope of all the Gospel-Discipline and Precepts, how useful foever they are otherwife, to promote a temporal Felicity. And tho this may be infer'd eafily enough, from that short Account before given, of the Nature of the Chriftian Inftitution; yet I think it worth while to illuftrate it a little particularly, by a brief Rationale of the three principal Duties enjoin'd therein.

SECT. XIII.

AND, First of all, as to a Life of Faith.

If it be fo, that we are defign'd for another State hereafter, fo very different from that we are now in, and where we shall be difpos'd of for ever; then how fit and reasonable is it, that we should accuftom our selves to ferious Thoughts of it before-hand? That our Minds fhould be thorowly convinc'd in general, of the certain D 3 Truth