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PART state, from the Opinion of Neceffity; it has I. been fhewn, that God has given us the Evidence, as it were, of Experience, that all Objections againft Religion, on this Head, are vain and delufive. He has alfo, in his natu⚫ral Government, fuggefted an Answer to all our short-fighted Objections, against the Equity and Goodness of his moral Government : And in general He has exemplified to us the latter by the former.

These things, which, it is to be remembred, are Matters of Fact, ought, in all common Sense, to awaken Mankind; to induce them to confider in earneft their Condition, and what they have to do. It is abfurd, abfurd to the Degree of being ridiculous, if the Subject were not of fo ferious a kind, for Men to think themselves fecure, in a vicious Life; or even in that immoral Thoughtlessnefs, which far the greatest Part of them are fallen into. And the Credibility of Religion, arifing from Experience and Facts here confidered, is fully fufficient, in Reason, to engage them to live in the general Practice of all Virtue and Piety; under the serious Apprehenfion, though it fhould be mixed with fome Doubt, of a righteous Administration established in Nature, and a future Judgment in Confequence of it: Efpecially when we

d Part II. Ch. vi.

confider,

confider, how very questionable it is, whe-PART ther any thing at all can be gained by Vice; I. how unquestionably little, as well as precarious, the Pleasures and Profits of it are at the best; and how foon they must be parted with at the longest. For, in the Deliberations of Reason, concerning what we are to pursue, and what to avoid, as Temptations to any thing from mere Paffion, are fuppofed out of the Cafe: So Inducements to Vice, from cool Expectations of Pleasure and Intereft fo fmall and uncertain and fhort, are really fo infignificant, as, in the View of Reason, to be almost Nothing in themselves: And in Comparison with the Importance of Religion, they quite difappear and are loft. Mere Paffion indeed may be alledged, though not as a Reason, yet as an Excufe, for a vicious Course of Life. And how forry an Excuse it is, will be manifest by observing, that we are placed in a Condition, in which we are unavoidably inured to govern our Paffions, by being neceffitated to govern them; and to lay ourselves under the fame Kind of Reftraints, and as great ones too, from temporal Regards, as Virtue and Piety, in the ordinary Course of things, require. The Plea of ungovernable Paffion then, on the Side of Vice, is the poorest of all things: for it is no Reason, and but a poor Excuse.

* p. 69.

But the proper

Motives

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PART Motives to Religion, are the proper Proofs of I. it, from our moral Nature, from the Prefages ww of Conscience, and our natural Apprehenfion

of God under the Character of a righteous Governor and Judge; a Nature and Conscience and Apprehenfion given us by Him: and from the Confirmation of the Dictates of Reafon, by Life and Immortality brought to light by the Gofpel; and the wrath of God revealed from Heaven, against all ungodliness, and unrighteoufness of Men.

The End of the Firft PART.

THE

THE

ANALOGY

OF

RELIGION

то тНЕ

Conftitution and Course of NATURE.

PART II.

Of REVEALED RELIGION.

CHAP. I.

Of the Importance of Chriftianity.

OME Perfons, upon Pretence of the CHAP.

S Sufficiency of the Light of Nature, a

vowedly reject all Revelation, as, in its very Notion, incredible, and what must be fictitious. And indeed it is certain, no Re

velation

I.

PAR T velation would have been given, had the
II. Light of Nature been fufficient in fuch a

Senfe, as to render one not wanting and
useless. But no Man, in Serioufnefs and
Simplicity of Mind, can poffibly think it so,
who confiders the State of Religion in the hea-
then World, before Revelation, and its pre-
fent State in thofe Places which have borrow-
ed no Light from it: particularly, the Doubt-
fulness of fome of the greatest Men, con-
cerning things of the utmost Importance, as
·well as the natural Inattention and Ignorance
of Mankind in general. It is impoffible to
fay, who would have been able to have rea-
foned out that whole Syftem, which we call
natural Religion, in its genuine Simplicity,
clear of Superftition: but there is certainly no
Ground to affirm, that the Generality could.
If they could, there is no Sort of Probabili-
ty, that they would. Admitting there were,
they would highly want a standing Admoni-
tion, to remind them of it, and inculcate it
upon them.
them. And farther ftill, were they as
much difpofed to attend to Religion, as the
better Sort of Men are: yet even upon this
Suppofition, there would be various Occafi-
ons for fupernatural Inftruction and Affistance,
and the greatest Advantages might be afforded
by them. So that to fay, Revelation is a
thing fuperfluous, what there was no Need
of, and what can be of no Service; is, I think,

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