He who never SERM. V. whole World. For if God be FOR us, it will in a fhort Time fignify little or nothing, who was against us: But if He bę against us, what will it fignify, who was for us? Our Communication and Intercourfe with our nearest and dearest Relations may be intercepted by our Misfortunes : But our Intercourfe with the nearest Object of all, even Him, in whom we live, and move, and have our Being, cannot be intercepted but by our Vices. faileth them that feek him, will never forJake us, till we forfake Him and Virtue. He is, according to the expreffive Defcription of St. John, Light and Love, pure unclouded Light, without any Mixture of 'Darkness and Ignorance; and pure unallayed Love, without any Tincture of Malice and Hatred: He knows whatever is really Good for us; and will do whatever in his unerring Judgment is most effectually conducive to our Good, making every difaftrous Incident finally terminate in our Benefit. The intrinfic Excellency of the Scriptures, a Proof of their divine Inspiration. In Two SERMONS. I PETER III. 15. Be ready always to give an Answer to every I T is furprifing to observe, what a close SERM. VI. Connexion and Alliance one material Truth has with another. Thus, for Inftance, that there is a God, those manifeft Traces of infinite Wisdom, which appear through the whole Oeconomy of Nature, fufficiently make out. The whole World is in this Refpect, as it were, one great Temple, where, as in the Jewish, the Shechinah or divine Prefence shines confeft M 4 SERM.VI. confeft in a vifible Glory. The fame Arguments, that prove our own Existence, demonftrate God's. How do we prove there is a vital Principle within any Perfon? Why, because he moves, he thinks and acts: And can we from these Operations conclude there fubfifts within us a Principle, which actuates and informs the Body: And fhall we not from the stupendous Operations of the Universe conclude, there is a Being that actuates and invigorates all Nature *? Matter cannot be a neceffarily exiftent Being. Because that alone is necessarily exiftent, which exifts immutably, and cannot but be, what it is. Whereas, on the other Hand, Matter does not perfift in an uniform State of Being, but is liable to Changes, and admits of new Modifications. The infinite Variety, that there is in the World, which fhews a manifold Wisdom, is no more confiftent with the Scheme of unintelligent Neceffity; than Regularity, Uniformity and Defign is with that of Chance. And *Eft, eft profecto illa Vis; neque in his Corporibus, atque in hac imbecillitate ineft quiddam, quod vigeat ac fentiat et non ineft in hoc tanto Nature tam præ claro motu; nifi forte idcirco effe non putant, quia non pa And if there be a God, there must be SERM. VIfome Religion; or, in other Words, fome Homage must be due from an indigent and dependent Creature, to his great Creator, Preferver and Benefactor. And if fome Religion be neceffary, it must be one that is fufficient, or is fufficiently calculated for the Generality of Mankind. Now, that natural Religion, or that Religion, which the Light of Nature dictates, is not fufficiently calculated for the Generality of Mankind, is evident from hence; that to trace a confiderable Number of Doctrines up to the Fountain-Head from which they flow, by the Strength of unaffifted Reason, and to pursue them to their remotest Confequences, is a Task at least extremely difficult to Men of Letters, but I may venture to say impracticable to the Ignorant. Besides, pure natural Religion is a mere Utopian Scheme, which may perhaps have exifted in the Minds of fome few reclufe contemapparet, nec cernitur: proinde quafi noftram ipfam men tem, quâ fapimus, quâ providemus, quâ hæc ipfa agimus ac dicimus, videre, aut plane qualis, aut ubi fit, fentire poffumus. Cicero pro Milone. Unde fcis tibi ineffe vitale Principium? Refpondebis, quia loquor, quia ambulo, quia operor. Stulte, ex operibus corporis agnofcis viventem → ex operibus Creationis non agnofcis Creatorem? S. Auguftinus, plative SERM VI plative Men, but was never in Fact eftablished in any one Nation from the Foundation of the World to the prefent Times. As certain as it is, that there is a God; fo certainly muft he will the Belief and Practice of fome Religion: the Belief of fome Religion, and a Practice conformable to that Belief, being neceffary to the · Good of Mankind. And as certainly as he wills the Belief and Practice of fome Religion; he must will the Belief and Prac-> tice of the best Religion: And what Religion is there, that equals or rivals the Chriftian Revelation? Such Reflections, as thefe, enable us, in fome Measure, to act in Conformity to the Apoftle's Advice; they make us ready to give an Answer to every Man that afketh us a Reafon of the Hope, or, as the Word here: fignifies, of the Faith, that is in us. I should enter into too fpacious a Field, if I attempted to do Juftice to all the Proofs of Revelation: It fhall therefore be my 2 Business at present to dwell upon that Ar- |