of fruitless and tyrannical impofitions, that each command, abstracted from his authority which iffues it, is able to recommend itself, and nothing is required, but what every wife man would choofe of his own accord, and cannot without being his own foe, with to be exempted from. The precepts of religion, fays that pious and learned divine, and eminent mathematician, Dr. Barrow, are no other than fuch as physicians prescribe for the health of our bodies, as politi cians would allow to be needful for the peace the state, as epicurean philofophers recommend for the tranquility of our minds, and the pleafure of our lives, fuch as right reafon dictates, and experience daily fhews, to be conducive to our welfare in all refpects; which confequently, were there no laws enacting them, we should in wisdom choose to obferve, and voluntarily impose upon ourselves; confeffing them to be matters of law, as most advantageous and requifite to the general and particular good of mankind. That great and truly good man Archbishop Tillotson, declares that all the precepts of christianity are reasonable and wife, requiring fuch duties, as are fuitable to the light of nature, and do approve themfelves to the best reason of mankind; fuch as have their foundation in the nature of God, and are an imitation of the divine excellencies, fuch as tend to the perfection of human nature, and raise the minds of men to the highest pitch of goodness and virtue. They command nothing that is unneceffary, they omit nothing that may tend to the glory of God, or the welfare and happiness of men, nor do H 2 they they restrain us in any thing but what is contrary to the regular inclinations of nature, or to our reafon and true intereft; they forbid us nothing but what is bafe and unworthy, to ferve our humours and our paffions, to make ourselves fools or beafts. In a word, nothing but what tends to our private harm or prejudice, to public disorder and confufion. The things that true religion propounds are ferviceable and beneficial, and which it exhorts to, are moft copious and extenfive, are no lefs beautiful than agreeable, to fuch as are governed by reason, and the rules and directions laid down by Chrift, our divine Lord and benign lawgiver. Wherefore we in things facred fhould be zealous, and warmly exert ourfelves, and our best efforts, to acquire an affectionate perfuafion of the being and attributes of God, as the fource from whence fprings all the branches of moral virtue, evangelical faith, and gofpel holiness. Because this vital principle of faith, has an operative, and natural tendency, to quell the mutinous oppofition within, to crush the defpotick powers of fin; to fettle men in habits of goodness, and in an unfeigned love of the truth, and the exercife of every laudable and commendable action. What foever things are true, truth being the grand *There are fome who call themfelves free-thinkers, or more properly half-thinkers, who are determined not to believe the golpel, or the facred myfteries of religion, till they can fathom the depth of them, and therefore cry out they cannot be, as if there were no myfteries in nature, or none but fuch as they could understand, and were able to explain. But whenever unbelievers will undertake to explicate all the myfteries of nature, and the inexplicable fecrets of providence, I will undertake to unfold and lay open the myfteries of reli gion, and all the abstruse doctrines in divinity. pre grand characteristic of our religion, is to be expreffed in all our words and actions, as in the immediate fight of him, in whose boundlefs fence we always ftand, and from whofe univerfal inspection none can flee. Whatfoever things are boneft, or agreeable to the gravity and dignity of our high calling, must be punctually obferved by us in all our covenants and mutual tranfactions with one another, as thofe that must appear before infinitejuftice, and give up their final accounts to God. Whafoever things are just, or correspond with divine laws, or with buman injunctions, great refpect must be paid to them, that we in all our dealings, may act with fimplicity, integrity and godly fincerity, and not defraud any, either of their private or public property. Whatfoever things are pure, must be preserved from lewdnefs, that we may not be fullied with uncleannefs, nor our tongues reproachfully defiled with obfcenity, or any dif courfe unbecoming the mouth, or the pure and facred name of chriftian. Whatfoever things are lively, or of good report, that is, fuch as are of univerfal efteem, and of real benefit to mankind, as fweetnefs of converfation, without gall or bitterness, and a readiness at all convenient feafons, to relieve the miferable and diftreffed, and render their lives as happy as poffible; that these amiable and lovely virtues we are not only commanded to think on, but we are also obliged to do them, by the invariable laws of nature, and the immutable obligations of reafon; or it will be impoffible to attain that divine ferenity, and durable confolation, which is infeparably annexed to them, and cannot be enjoyed without due culture, and the conftant very conftant exercise of them. For thefe moral duties are so efficacious and excellent in themselves, that wherefoever they are obferved, or confcientiously practifed, create that concord and unanimity, that uprightness and conftancy among men, which ought alway to be adhered to, and with the utmost firmness and steadiness maintained by them. So that whatever we may be→ lieve, or whatever fine notions we may be poffeffed of, or have the affurance to ascertain, unless we do those things, which God himself has appointed, and strongly recommended to us, it will be of little fignification, and of no advantage to our fpiritual and immortal part. Things rational in themselves, and good in their nature, are by the clemency of infinite wifdom, fo admirably fuited to our condition,and to our present fituation in life, that we can neither enjoy ourselves, nor the company of each other, with any tolerable degree of confidence, or reasonable fatisfaction, without an impartial and affiduous obfervation of them. For wherever they are forfaken, or by whomsoever deferted, heart-burnings are raifed, fwelling tumults encouraged, and perfecutions are abetted, and every thing runs into fuch confufion and distraction, as none know whom to truft, or where with fafety to retreat, or find fecurity from danger. These terrible calamities and frightful defolations, introduced into the world, by the breach of God's holy laws, and the fhameful indulgence of fierce paffions and irregular appetites, have made fuch havock in the earth, as render it more like a defart of brutes, or an habitation of wild and defperate favages, than than of kind and focial beings. But notwithstanding these diforders, fome men have advanced and conveyed such a scheme of principles, with respect to abftruse points of doctrine, as naturally fubvert the laws of morality, and destroy the effence and aims of all true religion, a scheme not to be admitted, or allowed of on any confideration. But if men will follow their own imaginations, and live, and act as independent of God, they can have no fecurity in any thing; they are infecure in their purposes, unfafe in their pursuit of them, and unfatisfied in obtaining them, and will, in the end thereof, find grievous remorfe and the most bitter reflexions. For fo long as men continue thus perverse, and bid open defiance to God, the guilt of it can never be removed; the voice of their inbred monitor, and the deadly reproaches of confcience, will fo difturb and difquiet the peace and tranquility of their Minds, as will render them unfit to prepare for God, who is a pure and perfect spirit, and cannot look on froward and haughty creatures, with any fort of complacency, or any degree of delight. The gospel will not screen stubborn offenders, or fuch as refufe fubmiffion to the almighty, from the refentment of infinite wrath, or the vengeance of an affronted and provoked Deity. So that if virtue be wanting, or the ordering our life and converfation be difregarded or inadvertently neglected, the most costly sacrifice will not avail, nor be received by the bounteous and beneficent author of nature, who obferves regularity and uniformity in all his works. Do not then impofe upon yourselves, nor upon your own |