of Salvation, the Truth of the Affertion will be admitted.

The Enemies of Revelation will of themfelves, and in fpight of themselves, bear witness so far to this Truth. They now fee clearly the great Truths of Religion; they can now demonftrate the Being and Attributes of God, and from the Relation we bear to him deduce the Duties owing to him, the Worship, and the Purity of the Worship, that is to be paid him. Are they wifer than all who lived before them? or do they owe this new Degree of Light and Knowledge to fome Advantage which others before them had not? They will hardly fay they are wifer than all who lived when Learning and Arts and Sciences flourished in the East, in Greece, and at Rome; and, should they fay it, it will be harder still to believe them: And yet what one Advantage have they above the others, this only excepted, That in their Days the Light of the Gospel has been spread over the World?

But, however, this Comparison between the Wife and Learned of different Ages will not determine the Cafe before us; for Religion is not made for Scholars only: The Use of it is to govern and direct the World, and to influence the Practice of Mankind.

And

And the great Question lies between the Religion of the World in general before the Coming of Chrift, and fince; and the Influence which Religion in one State and the other naturally had, or may be supposed to have had, by juft Confequence, on the Morality of Mankind. To give you an Account of the Religion and Divinity of the Vulgar in the Days of Heathenifm, would be to entertain you with an History of Folly and Superstition; fome Parts of which for the Barbarity of them, and fome for the Lewdness of them, are very unfit to be related in a Christian Congregation. The People thought of their Gods much after the rate that the Poets write of them; and their facred History was an Account of the Battles and Quarrels, and of the Loves and Amours of their Deities. Their Practice in Religion was agreeable to their Articles of Belief: Their impure Deities were worshiped in Acts of Impurity or Barbarity: And how could it be otherwife? for, when Vice itself was confecrated, and had Temples dedicated to it, how could the Worshipers. be untainted?

But confider now how the Cafe ftands in Countries where the Gofpel is preached in any tolerable Degree of Purity. The comL

mon

1

mon People now are no greater Reasoners than they were formerly: Yet go into our Villages, you will find there a firm Perfuafion of the Unity of God, who made Heaven and Earth, and all Things in them: The meaneft of the People will tell you, that an honest Heart is the only acceptable Sacrifice to God, and that there is no Way to please him but by doing justly and righteously.

Let me ask now, whence comes this Change? Is it for the better, or no? If it is, furely the World is greatly indebted to the Hand that wrought this Change, that rooted out all the falfe Notions deftructive of Virtue and the Happinefs of Mankind, and planted in the room thereof Principles which do fo much Honour and Glory to God, and are full of present Peace and future Hopes for the Children of Men.

I am aware that it will be faid, That the common People now are no more able to give a Reason of the Faith that is in them, than their Heathenish Anceftors were before them; and that Cuftom and the Prejudices of Education have influenced both equally; and that thefe Chriftians, had they been born. Heathens, would have been Heathens, or,

if

if Mahometans, they would have been still Mahometans.

Suppose the Cafe to be fo, and confider whether we are not extremely obliged to Revelation even upon this Foot.

If Men are naturally influenced by Custom and the Force of Education to follow the Opinions and Practices of their Country, and are, after all that has been faid to exalt human Reason, incapable to deliver themselves from popular and national Errors by the Strength of their own Reafon; two Things muft, I think, be admitted:

First, That it was a great Undertaking, and the Work of a very extraordinary Power, to root out antient Errors, which had for many Ages had Poffeffion of the whole World: And,

Secondly, That it was an Act of great Wisdom and Goodness, as well as Power, to introduce juft Principles and Notions of Religion, and, by giving them at first a firm Establishment, to throw the Weight of Custom and Education on the Side of Virtue and true Religion, in oppofition to Superftition and Vice.

The first Propofition cannot be difputed; for, if the Power of Cuftom and Education be as great as it is reprefented, the Power

must be very great that gets the better of it: And I believe it will be hard to fhew from Hiftory, that ever a Nation was reasoned out of their religious Errors: It has been done by the Power of Miracles, and by the Power of the Sword; but in this laft Method the Nation and its Errors have been commonly destroyed together. However, the Gospel was not introduced by external Force; and therefore the Work must neceffarily be afcribed to a Power of another kind.

As to the second Propofition, it may be thought dishonourable to true Religion to fuppofe it to be at all beholden to Custom and Education for its Support; dishonourable to God, to fuppofe that he can make use of any thing to propagate Religion, but the Reason and Understanding of his Creatures; and, confequently, that true Religion is no longer Religion, when it stands by the Force of Cuftom and Education.

I know how much has been faid of the Use of Reafon in Religion, to the Exclufion of all other Helps: But I know too that the holy Writers frequently call on us to train up a Child in the Way he should go, and give this Reafon for it, That when he is old he will not depart from it: I know too that God called Abraham, and made of him a

great