SERM. I. I have now dispatched the first and fecond Heads of my Difcourfe, as far as the Time would permit, and hasten

IIIdly, To conclude with a short Rèflection on the Importance of Christianity, and our Infenfibility of it's just Value.

If there be no future State of Happiness, of what Avail is it to think, or pretend to think freely? Unlimited Range and Freedom of Thought may be the Cry; but the Aim of every wife Man fhould in that Cafe be Freedom from Thought; fince every Thought, that he could send abroad, would bring Home this melancholy Truth; that he was a miferable Creature, ever importunate in his Demands for Happiness, but never to have those Demands fatisfied. But if there be a future State of Felicity, then Revelation muft be of the utmost Importance to afcertain to us, what, when and where, and how long it is to be, and that the prefent State is our final State of Trial. Chriftianity, however important, has now been long a familiar and common Bleffing, and has undergone the Misfortune of all other common Bleffings, to be difregarded merely because it is fo. To retrieve a just, or

what

what is the fame Thing, a great Efteem for SERM. I. it, as pure and unadulterated; it seems as if it were neceffary that fome grofs Corruption of Religion should be fubftituted for a while in it's stead: as Sickness, or a Body full of Wounds and putrifying Sores, makes us know, how to value, what we neglected before, the Bleffings of Health and a vigorous Constitution. Christianity is like an Object held too close and near to us to be viewed in the best Light; it must be removed to fome Distance from us, to be seen by us in the most advantageous Point of View. Then, however infenfible we may be of it's abfolute Value or Excellence, we shall at least difcern it's comparative Worth; it's Worth compared with Mahometism, Enthusiasm and Paganifm. It certainly is. the most heavenly Religion that ever was, tending most of all to raise our Affections to Heaven, and therefore most worthy of the peculiar Interpofition of Heaven, and most likely to have come down from Heaven, from that Being, from whom every good and perfect Gift descendeth. To whom Father, Son and Holy Ghost be afcribed, &c.

SERMON

Improbabilities not sufficient to invalidate Moral Certainty.

Preached before the University of Oxford. And afterwards at the Vifitation at Andover, Sept. II, 1745.

HEBREWS X. 23.

Let us hold fast the Profeffion of our Faith without wavering: for he is faithful that promifed.

H

OW a Man may qualify him- SERM. II. felf, fo as to be able to fettle

his Principles and fix his Senti

ments in Religious Matters; and then to enjoy Tranquillity of Mind, neither difturbing others, nor being greatly disturb"ed at what paffes among them?" is a very interefting Query; and it were to be wished that the Author *, from whom,

See Wollafton's Religion of Nature, page 1. Quest. 3.

with

SERM. II. with fome little Variations of Expreffion, I

have borrowed the Queftion, had given us

his Thoughts upon it; which would have carried him beyond the Bounds of Natural Religion, to which he confines himself. For the Infufficiency of Natural Religion to this Purpose has been fully fhewn; and Revelation (fuppofing a thorough Conviction of it's Truth) fets the Mind at Rest in several very concerning Points, as to which, in a State of Natural Religion, it would be ever seeking Reft and finding none. Shall we then, diffatisfied, as every thinking Man must be, without better Affiftances than Natural Religion furnishes, embrace the Belief of Revelation, as neceffary to beget in us a firm Compofure of Mind? This would do, if fome Paffages not eafily cleared up, and fome seeming Improbabilities did not occur throughout the Records of it; if fpecious Objections both in Books and Conver-fation were not continually urged against it; which fill People's Heads with Doubts and Scruples, and their Minds with Uneafinefs.

How then can a Man order Matters fo, as to be fixed in his Principles, and easy in his Mind (which he cannot well be without being fixed in his Principles, as far as they

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