If ever a general propenfity might be called a dictate of Nature, this furely may. That fuch a propensity there is, the Deift, or pretended follower of natural Religion, freely confeffeth; nay, is forward to infift upon, às à circumftance of difcredit to thofe Revelations, which we receive for true. Yet furely, of all his vifionary advantages, none ever afforded him less cause of triumph; a confequence flowing from it, which is entirely fubverfive of his whole fcheme.

For let me afk such a one, What could be the cause of fo universal a propensity in all ages, places, and people? But before he anfwer, let him fee that he be able to diftinguish between the causes which the Few had in giving, and the Many in receiving, pretended Revelations. The caufes for projecting and giving are explained at large in the former volume; where it is fhewn, that all the pretended Revelations, but real corruptions of religion, came from Princes and Lawgivers. It is true, he hath been taught otherwife. His inftructors, the Tolands and Tindals of the time, affure him, that all came from the PRIESTS; and I fuppofe they spoke what they believed: It might be fo for any thing they knew.n

My queftion then is, What could induce Man-kind to embrace thefe offered Revelations, untess it were,

1. Either a CONSCIOUSNESS that they wanted a revealed Will for the rule of their actions; or,

2. An old TRADITION that God had vouchfafed it to their forefathers?

One

One can hardly conceive any thing elfe, for a general effect must have as general a cause: which, in this cafe, is only to be found in the nature of man; or in a tradition preferved in the whole race. Prince-craft or priest-craft might indeed offer them, for their own private ends: but nothing short of a common inducement could difpofe mankind to accept them.

1. As to the consciousness of the want of a Revelation, that may fairly be inferred from the miferable blindnefs of our condition: And he who wants to be informed of this, fhould confult Antiquity; or, what may be more for his eafe, those modern writers, who, for no very good ends, but yet to a very good iffue, have drawn fuch lively pictures of it, from thence. But without going even fo far, he may find, in the very difpofition to receive fuch abfurd fchemes of religion as Revelations from heaven, more than a thousand other ar guments to prove men ignorant of the first principles of natural religion; a very moderate knowledge of which would have certainly detected the imposture of those pretences. But now, men fo totally at a lofs for a rule of life, would greedily embrace any direction that came with pretended credentials, from heaven.

If we turn to the Few, the wife and learned amongst them, we fhall find the case still more defperate. In religious matters, these were blinder even than the People; and in proportion too, as they were less conscious of their ignorance. The most advanced in the knowledge of human nature and its dependencies, were, without queftion, the ancient Sages of Greece. Of thefe, the wifeft, and far the wifeft, was SOCRATES; for he faw and confeffed his ignorance, and deplored the want of a fuperior

B 2

fuperior direction. For the reft, who thought themselves wife, and appeared not fo fenfibly to feel their wants, we have fhewn at large, how they became Fools; and, debauched by falfe science, affected the language of Gods before they had well emancipated themselves from the condition of brutes. The two great fupports of natural religion, in the world at large, are the belief of a FUTURE STATE, and the knowledge of MORAL OBLIGATION. The firft was rejected by all, and the true ground of the second was understood by none: The honour of this difcovery was referved for Revelation, which teacheth us, in fpite of unwilling hearers, that the real ground of moral obligation is the will of God.

2. There only remains that other poffible caufe, the general tradition of God's early revelation of bis will to mankind, as delivered in Scripture. I, for my part, fuppofe both concerned in the effect; and that that state of mind which disposed men to fo ready and general a reception of these numerous impoftures, was the refult of the confciousness of their wants, joined to the prejudice of Tradition. If the Deift allow Tradition, he gives up the question; if he acknowledges our wants, he affords a strong prefumption, in favour of Revelation.

For if man (let the caufe proceed from what it will) be fo irrecoverably blind and helpless, it is highly reasonable to think that infinite goodness would lead and enlighten him by an extraordinary revelation of his will.

b Book iii. fect. 2, 3, 4, and 5.

The Stoics, who thought the foul mortal, yet reckoned their wife man equal, or fuperior, to the gods.

But

But here, Tindal objects, "That this blindness is men's own fault, who, instead of improving their reason, and following its dictates, which would lead them into all truth, (our own Scriptures affuring us, that that which may be known of God is manifeft in them; for God bath fhewed it unto them) go on like beafts, and follow one another as they are led or driven."

To this I anfwer, that what had been the lot of man from the beginning of the world to the birth of CHRIST, was like to continue fo to the end of it. A deviation fpringing from no partial cause of climate, government, or age; but the fad effect of human weakness in the circumstance of our earthly fituation. By the fault of man it is true; but fuch a fault as, it is feen by long experience, man could never remedy. He therefore flies to Heaven for relief; and seems to havẹ reafon for his confidence.

But to this, our man of morals has a reply at hand; "That if fuch be our condition, it may indeed want redress; but then, a Revelation will not render the cure lafting." And for this he appeals to the corrupt ftate of the Chriftian world; which, in his opinion, feems to demand a new Revelation, to restore the virtue and efficacy of the old.

But let me tell this vain Rationalist, There is an extreme difference between the corruption of the Pagan and the Chriftian world. In the Pagan, where false Revelations had given men wrong ideas of the attributes of the Deity, they must of course, Rom. i. 19, 20.

B 3

and

and did in fact, act viciously UPON PRINCIPLE; a condition of blindnefs which feemed to call out on God's goodnets for a remedy: but in the Chriftian world, for the very contrary reafon, all wicked men act ill AGAINST PRINCIPLE; a condition of perverfenefs which feems to call out for nothing but his juftice: God, according to the ftate of the cafe, having done every thing that man, with all his prefumption, can pretend to expect from the goodnefs of his Maker.

So far on the Deift's own principles; on his own falfe notion that God's Revelation is reprefented in Scripture to be merely a republication of the religion of nature. For, as fuch he has prefumed to comment on it; and as fuch, in excefs of complaifance, we believers have generally thought fit to receive it. But I fhäll, ere long, fhew it to be a very different thing: and, from its true nature, prove not only (as here) the use of Revelation, but likewife the abfolute neceffity of it, to mankind. I fhall fhew that what our adverfaries fuppofe the only, was but the secondary end of the two Revelations, that what

Τὴν φύσιν

e See Div. Leg. p. 147,—8. vol. i. edit. 20 θνητὲς καὶ ἀνθρωπίναις κεχρημήνες συμφοραῖς, ὡς ἀγαθῶν χορηγείς, σως Τῆρας καὶ θεὸς αναγορέυειν, την σεβάσμιον ἔννοιαν φυσικῶς αὐτοῖς ἐνυπάρ χεσαν, ἐφ ̓ ὃς ἐνόμιζον ευεργέτας μελαθεικότες. τοσαύτη δ' ἄρα συνεῖχε αὐτὲς φρενῶν ἀποπληξία, ως μηδὲν τῶν πλημμελεμένων τοῖς θεολο γεμένοις υπολογίζεσθαι, μηδ' ἐρυθριῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσχρῶς περὶ αὐτῶν φημιζομένοις, τὰ πάλα δὲ τὰς άνδρας διὰ τὰς παρ' αὐτῶν παρεχομένας ὠφελείας, ἢ καὶ διὰ τὰς τότε πρῶτον συνισαμένας δυνασείας τε καὶ τυραν νίδας αποθαυμάζειν. νόμων γῶν, ὥστες ἔφην, ἤδη πρότερον μηδέπω τότε ἐν ἀνθρώποις πολιτευομένων, μηδ' ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρανομένοις αμαρτίας [τιμωρίας] ἀπωρημένης, μοιχείας και αξξένων φθορᾶς, ἐκθέσμως τε καὶ παρανόμος γάμος, μιαιφονίας τε καὶ πατροκτονίας, τέκνων τε καὶ ἀδελφῶν σφαγάς, καὶ μὴν καὶ πολέμες και τάσεις πεπραγμένας ὄντως τοῖς οἰκείοις προτάταις, ὃς θεὸς ἡγελό τε καὶ ἀπεκάλεν, ὥσπερ ἐν μέρει καλεςθώς μάτων και ανδραγαθίας απεμνημόνευον, τὴν τέτων μνήμην ως σεμνών και ἀνδρείων τοῖς ὀψιγόνοις απολιπόντες. Eufeb. Pray. Evang. 1. ii c. 6.

was