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man would do an almanac out of date, or than aS ERM. man, who believes the attaining the philofopher's ftone to be impoffible, would ftudy thofe books that treat of it? If men did believe that it contains plain and eafy directions for the attaining of eternal happiness, and escaping eternal misery; they would converfe much with it, make it their companion and their counsellor, "meditate in it day and night,” read it with all diligence, and put in practice the directions of it.

So that whatever men prétend, it it plain, that those who neglect GOD and religion, and contradict the precept of his word by their lives, they do not firmly believe there is a GOD, nor that this book is the word of GOD. If this faith and perfuafion were firmly rooted in men, they could not live wickedly. For a man that defires happiness, cán no more neglect those means which he is convinced are neceffary for the obtaining of it; than a man that defires life can neglect the means which he knows to be neceffary for the preservation of it.

Secondly, if faith have fo great an influence upon religion, then the next ufe fhall be to perfuade men to believe. No man can be religious that doth not believe these two things.

First, the principles of natural religion; that there is a God; that his foul is immortal; and that there are future rewards.

Secondly, that the fcriptures are the word of God; or, which comes all to one, that the doctrine contained in them is a divine revelation. Therefore whoever would perfuade men to be religious, he muft begin here; and whoever would improve men in religion and holiness, he must labour to ftrengthen this principle of faith. Faith is the root of all other VOL. XI.

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SER M. graces; and they will flourish, or decay, according CCXXIV. to the degrees of our faith. Now he that would perfuade a man, or prevail with him to do any thing, muft do it one of these three ways; either by entreaty, or authority, or argument: either he muft entreat him as a friend, or command him as fubject to him and under his power, or convince him as a man. Now he that should go about to entreat men to believe any thing, or to charge them fo to do, before he hath convinced them by fufficient arguments, that it is reasonable to do fo, would, in my opinion, take a prepofterous courfe. He that entreats or chargeth a man to do any thing, fuppofeth that he can do the thing if he will: but a man cannot believe what he will; the nature of a human understanding is fuch, that it cannot affent without evidence, nor believe any thing to be true, unless it fee reafon fo to do, any more than a man can see a thing without light. So that if the dearest friend that I have in the world fhould beg of me with the greatest importunity; or any man, that hath the greatest authority over me, fhould lay his feverest commands upon me to believe a thing, for which I fee no reason, I could not do it; because nothing can command affent, but evidence. So that he that would perfuade men to believe either the principles of natural religion, or any divine revelation, muft convince them of the truth of them for it is unreasonable to defire a man to believe any thing, unless I give him good reason why he should.

And this being the proper courfe which is to be taken, there are two forts of perfons to whom I fhall apply myfelf in this exhortation: thofe who do not believe these things; and thofe who are perfuaded of them to the former, in order to the begetting of faith

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in them; to the latter, in order to the strengthening SER M. and confirming of their faith.

Those who do not believe are of two forts: either fuch as do pofitively difbelieve these things and make it their business to arm themselves against them with all the arguments they can; who are so far from believing a GOD, or any divine revelation, that they endeavour to perfuade themselves of the contrary, that there is no fuch thing; or else they are fuch as are indifferent about these matters. They have received the principles of religion by their education, and they have nothing to fay against them, nor for them; they never confidered them, nor the proper confequences of them; they neither believe, nor difbelieve them upon any reasonable account.

Now all these are to be dealt withal in the fame way for whatever will convince the difbeliever, will much more perfuade the indifferent, and confirm the weak. For faith is to be ftrengthened by the fame arguments by which it is wrought. Therefore I fhall apply myself to convince unbelievers; and every one may apply thofe arguments which I ufe to this purpose, for the ftrengthening of their own faith.

But before I come to thofe arguments, I intend to offer for the conviction of those who do not believe, I think it convenient to endeavour, if poffible, to remove a violent, and, I think, unreasonable prejudice which men have received against all those who endeavour to make religion reasonable. As if Bellarmine had been in the right, when he faid "that faith was "rather to be defined by ignorance than by know"ledge." The plain english of which is, that it is for want of understanding that men believe the gofpel; and if the world were but a little more know-ing and wife, no body would be a Chriftian. I know

SERM-not how it comes to pass, whether through the artifice CCXXIV of the popish party, who "hate the light, left it

"fhould reprove them, and make them manifeft;" or through the ignorance of too many well-meaning proteftants; I fay, I know not how it comes to pafs; but fo it is, that every one that offers to give a reafonable account of his faith, and to establish religion upon rational principles, is presently branded for a Socinian; of which we have a fad instance in that incomparable person Mr. Chillingworth, the glory of this age and nation, who for no other caufe, that I know of, but his worthy and fuccefsful attempts to make christian religion reasonable, and to discover thofe firm and folid foundations upon which our faith is built, hath been requited with this black and odious character. But if this be Socinianism, for a man to enquire into the grounds and reasons of christian religion, and to endeavour to give a fatisfactory account why he believes it, I know no way but that all confiderate, inquifitive men, that are above fancy and enthufiafm, must be either Socinians or atheists.

I cannot imagine how men can do greater differvice to religion, than by taking it off from the ra tional and folid basis upon which it stands, and bearing the world in hand, that men ought to believe without reafon: for this is to turn faith into credulity, and to level chriftian religion with the vileft and most groundless enthusiasms that ever were in the world. Indeed if we had only to deal with Henry Nicholas and Jacob Behman, who fight against us in the dark, not with reasons and arguments, but with infignificant words and obfcure phrases; we might make a shift to bear up againft them with this principle, and we might charge them to believe us, as they do us to believe them, without giving them

any

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any reason for it: but if we are to deal with Celfus, SER M. or Julian, or Porphyry, or fome of our modern atheifts, we fhould foon find how vain it would be to go about to cajole them with phrases, and to gain them over to chriftianity, by telling them that they muft deny their reason, and lay afide their understandings, and believe they know not why. If the great pillars of chriftianity, the ancient fathers, had taken this course in their apologies for chriftian religion, it had never triumphed over judaifm and paganism, as it did; and whoever hath read over those defenfes and vindications of chriftian religion against Jews and heathens, which were written in the firft ages of the church, especially the books of Origen against Celfus, and Eufebius his book De demonft. and Præparat, evangel. fhall find that they did very folicitously endeavour to fatisfy the world by all rational ways, both of the truth and reasonableness of christian religion. And if that was a good way then, it is fo now; and never more neceffary than in this age, which I fear hath as many atheists and infidels, that go under the name of Christians, as ever werę in any age fince chriftian religion was first planted in the world.

But my defign at prefent is not to perfuade men particularly to the belief of christianity (that I intend hereafter, by GoD's affiftance, to speak to) but to perfuade men to the belief of religion in general. So, that all I fhall do at prefent, fhall be, as briefly as I can, to offer fome arguments and confiderations to perfuade men to the belief of the principles of natural. religion, and of the revelation which God hath made of his mind and will in the holy fcriptures.

I. To perfuade men to believe the principles of natural religion; fuch as the being of a GOD; the immortality

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