lime Essence of all Things, we shall see the husbandman on his knees to the sun and moon; and the seaman deprecating the wrath of the deities which rule the winds and the In such a case, polytheism would

waves.

not be long of returning to the earth.

Unbelievers tread one beaten path: they consider in general, that revelation is subject to many uncertainties; it may be a cheat at first, or it may be corrupted afterwards; but in natural religion there can be no cheat, because in that every man judges for himself; and is bound to nothing but what is agreeable to the dictates of reason, and his own mind: and upon these general views, they reject all revelation whatever, and adhere to natural religion as the safer guide. But attend to the consequence of this reasoning, which is this; that because there may be a false revelation, therefore there cannot be a true one! For, unless this consequence be just, they are inexcusable in rejecting all revelations, because of the uncertainties which may attend them.

But now to apply what has been said to the Christian revelation: it has such pretences, at least, as may make it worthy of a particular consideration. It pretends to come from heaven; to have been confirmed by undeniable miracles and prophecies; to have been ratified by the blood of Christ and his apostles who died in asserting its truth! Its doctrines are pure and holy; its precepts, just and righteous; its worship is a reasonable service, refined from the errors of idolatry and superstition; and spiritual, like the God who is the object of it: it offers the aid and assistance of heaven, to the weakness of nature ; which makes the religion of the gospel to be as practicable as it is reasonable: it promises infinite rewards to obedience, and threatens lasting punishment to obstinate offenders; which makes it of the utmost consequence to us, soberly and seriously to consider it; since every one who rashly rejects it, stakes his own soul against its truth.

Because miracles may be pretended, shall not the miracles of Christ be considered, which were not so much as questioned by the adversaries of the gospel in the first ages? Because there may be impostors, shall Christ

be rejected, whose life was innocence, and free from any suspicion of private design; and who died to seal the truths he had delivered? Because there have been cheats introduced by worldly men, endeavouring to make a gain of godliness; shall the gospel be suspected, that in every page declares against the world, against the pleasures, the riches, the glories of it; that labours no one thing more, than to draw off the affections from things below, and raise them to the enjoyment of heavenly and spiritual delights ?

The gospel does not make so mean a figure in the world, as to justify a total neglect of investigating its evidences: it is entertained by men of all degree: the light shines forth in the world, whether you will receive it or no; if you receive it not, the consequence is upon your own soul, and you must answer it.Were men sincere in their professions of religion, or even in their desires of immortality, the controversies in religion would take a different turn; for it is impossible that an unfeignedly good man should not, for the sake of his erring fellow-creatures, wish for a re

velation of God's will, to guide them by au thority from vice to virtue, from misery to happiness. Were the gospel but a title to an estate, there is not an infidel of them all, who would sit down contented with his own general reasonings against it: it would then be thought worth looking into; its proofs would be considered, and a just weight allowed them: and yet the GOSPEL is our title, our only title, to a much nobler inheritance than this world knows; it is the patent by which we claim life and immortality, and all the joys and blessings of the heavenly Eden.

There are but two ways by which we can possibly arrive at the knowledge of God's will; one is natural religion, and the other, revelation. Between these two, considered purely as principles of religious knowledge, it is no hard matter to judge, which is the safest for us to rely on; it being a matter that will bear no dispute, whether our own reason or God himself can best instruct us in the knowledge of his will: upon which single point, the whole controversy between nature and revelation turns, as long as they are considered only as principles of religion, without drawing into the question the merits of any particular scheme or system of natural religion: the consequence of which is plainly this; that as nature is a better guide than any pretended revelation, so every true revelation, as far as it goes, is a better guide than nature. For, if the revelation be false, there wants no arguments to make it yield to nature; and, if it be true, no arguments can be sufficient.

The gospel is a dispensation of Providence in regard to mankind, which the reason of man cannot fathom; and which the angels themselves are content to reverence at an humble distance. These methods of salvation are matter of great complaint with unbelievers: they think it highly unreasonable, that God should propose such things as objects of faith; and from the unreasonableness of the imposition, they argue, (which, presupposed, they conclude not amiss,) that these terms of salvation were not of God's contrivance, but are owing to the guile and deceit of cunning im postors, who took pleasure in abusing man, Though this objection is levelled against the