A can poffibly terminate in a man's good, except he be made wifer and better by it than otherwise he would be. If a man, who is not a christian, attains to equal goodness with a man who is, he will of course be equally approved of God; because he is equally the object of the divine approbation; or, perhaps, he will be more fo, if his advantages for, and his excitements to, goodness have fallen fhort of what the christian has enjoyed. Faith in Chrift, and believing the christian religion to be of God, cannot, there-fore, terminate in a man's good, or be of any advantage to him, with regard to God's favour, except they become fubfervient to make him wiser and better, and thereby more the proper object of God's favour than otherwise he would be; and then it is not faith or believing, but it is the effect which that faith has upon our minds and lives, in making us good men, that, ftrictly speaking, renders us truly pleafing and acceptable to the deity. Let me therefore again befeech and intreat you to attend to and follow the wholesome counsel of the Apostle, be not deceived, either by impofing upon your felves or by being misled by others; God will not be mocked for it is not the believing in Je fus Jus Chrift, nor the profeffing to be his Difciple, nor bowing at the mention of his name, nor calling him Lord, Lord, in acts of outward worship; but it is answering the true end of fuch belief and profeffion, in becoming good men, by denying all ungodlinefs and worldly lufts, and by living godlily, foberly, righteously, and benevolently, in this present world; I'fay, it is this, and this only, which will render you truly pleafing and acceptable to God, for look whatsoever a man foweth, that shall be also reap. THUS, Sirs, I have laid before you, in the plaineft manner I can, both in this difcourfe and in what I have before published to the world, thofe truths which, I think, are of the highest importance to you; and therefore, I greatly defire that they may be strongly impressed upon your minds, in order to engage you to be properly affected therewith, and to act accordingly, which I think ought to be the ultimate end of all our enquiries, But then, it must be left to your choice, whether you will make a good, or a bad ufe, or no use at all, of what I have offered to your confideration; the former of these I heartily wifh, and with it I bid you farewell, hoping to be a fharer, with you, of the divine favour, in that peaceful and happy state which God hath prepared for the virtuous and faithful, in fome other future world. ́ Again, I bid you farewel. SARUM, February 1, 1746. THO. CHUBB. APPEN. APPENDIX. PART I. The following POSTSCRIPT, relating to the Author's four differtations lately published, and more particularly to that on the history of Melchizedec, was found among the Author's papers; and tho' poffibly it might not have received it's final review from him, yet, as it was left behind him, the Editor thinks himself obliged to prefent it to the publick. A S the publication of my differtations has given great offence,efpecially to the clergy; and as it has raised a clamour in the neighbourhood in which I live; fo it has been given forth that I have loft all my friends thereby. What, loft all my friends? Hard fate indeed! When friendship is held upon fo precarious a tenure, as that by a man's honeft and free publication of his fentiments he forfeits his intereft in it; then, furely, fuch friendship is fcarce worth maintaining, nor fuch friends worth regarding. However, my readers may be fatisfied I have not loft all my friends nor does the lofs I have fuftained prove to be any affliction to me. And tho' each of my differtations have been very disagreeable ; yet, I apprehend, that on the biftory of Melchizedec has met with the greatest oppofition; not as being of greater importance, but as more liable to exception. This being the cafe, I beg leave to make a few reflections, which may be relative thereto. And firft, as the following queftion has been often put, fince the publication of my differtations, (which makes it look as if that queftion was thought unanswerable, even tho' it was obviated in my Differtation) viz. what did Melchizedec give tithes of? So I answer, tho', perhaps, more fully, as before, namely, he gave tithes of the bread and wine, and fuch other good things as he brought with him from Salem, to entertain Abraham and |