SERM. I. verfe eafily and fluently every where with the Perfons, to whom they addreffed themfelves, in their feveral refpective Tongues. If it be faid that their Knowledge of Greek alone might qualify them for this Undertaking, it being then an univerfal Language, and spoke, or at least understood every where; I anfwer, it is plain from a remarkable Place in Cafar's Commentaries *, that it was not: That great General writing to Quintus Cicero his Lieutenant in Greek, for Fear, if his Letter were intercepted, the Enemy fhould gain Intelligence of his Designs.

A Man must be either very careless or very laborious to be an Unbeliever. He muft labour very hard and ftruggle against Conviction to darken and pervert the ftrongeft Evidences, and to discolour his genuine Senfe of Things : or he must have been fo careless as never to have spent any Thought at all upon the Matter, but have taken his Infidelity upon Truft and at fecond Hand, But to be a Believer, where there is fuch a Fulness of Evidence, is the most easy, natural State of the Mind.

I have now dispatched the firft and second Heads of my Difcourfe, as far as the Time would permit, and haften

*Lib. V. XLVIII. Edit. Davis. Polyæni. Stratagemat. Lib. VIII. Cap. XXIII.

IIIdly, To conclude with a fhort Reflec- SERM. I. tion on the Importance of Christianity, and our Infenfibility of it's juft Value.

If there be no future State of Happiness, of what Avail is it to think, or pretend to think freely? Unlimited Range and Freedom of Thought may be the Cry; but the Aim of every wife Man fhould in that Cafe be Freedom from Thought; fince every Thought, that he could fend abroad, would bring Home this melancholy Truth; that he was a miferable Creature, ever importunate in his Demands for Happiness, but never to have thofe Demands fatisfied. But if there be a future State of Felicity, then Revelation must be of the utmost Importance to afcertain to us, what, when and where, and how long it is to be, and that the prefent State is our final State of Trial. Christianity, however important, has now been long a familiar and common Bleffing,` and has undergone the Misfortune of all other common Bleffings, to be difregarded merely because it is fo. To retrieve a juft, or what is the fame Thing, a great Esteem for it, as pure and unadulterated; it feems as if it were neceffary that fome gross Corruption of Religion fhould be fubftituted for a while in it's ftead: as Sicknefs, or a Body full of Wounds and putrifying Sores, makes us know how to value, what we neglected before, the Bleffings of Health and a vigo

C 4

rous

SERM. I.

rous Constitution. Christianity is like an Object held too clofe and near to us to be viewed in the beft Light; it must be removed to fome Distance from us, to be feen by us in the most advantageous Point of View. Then, however infenfible we may be of it's abfolute Value or Excellence, we fhall at least difcern it's comparative Worth; it's Worth compared with Mahometism, Enthufiafm and Paganifm. It certainly is the most heavenly Religion that ever was, tending most of all to raise our Affections to Heaven, and therefore moft worthy of the peculiar Interpofition of Heaven, and moft likely to have come down from Heaven, from that Being, from whom every good and perfect Gift defcendeth. To whom, Father, Son and Holy Ghoft, be afcribed, &c.

SERMON II.

Improbabilities not fufficient to invalidate Moral Certainty.

Preached before the University of Oxford. And afterwards at the Visitation at Andover, Sept. II, 1745.

HEBREWS x, 23.

Let us hold faft the Profeffion of our Faith without wavering: for he is faithful that promifed.

OW a Man may qualify himself, SERM. II.

fo as to be able to fettle his Principles and fix his Sentiments in Religious "Matters; and then to enjoy Tranquillity of Mind, neither disturbing others, nor being

greatly disturbed at what paffes among "them?" is a very interesting Query; and it were to be wished that the Author*. from whom, with fome little Variations of Expreffion, I have borrowed the Question, had given us his Thoughts upon it; which

Seo Wollafton's Religion of Nature, page 1. Quest. 3.
would

SERM. II. would have carried him beyond the Bounds of Natural Religion, to which he confines himself. For the Infufficiency of Natural Religion to this Purpofe has been fully fhewn; and Revelation (fuppofing a thorough Conviction of it's Truth) fets the Mind at Reft in feveral very concerning Points, as to which, in a State of Natural Religion, it would be ever seeking Reft and finding none. Shall we then, diffatisfied, as every thinking Man muft be, without better Affiftances than Natural Religion furnishes, embrace the Belief of Revelation, as neceffary to beget in us a firm Compofure of Mind? This would do, if fome Paffages not easily cleared up and fome seeming Improbabilities did not occur throughout the Records of it; if fpecious Objections both in Books and Converfation were not continually urged againft it; which fill People's Heads with Doubts and Scruples, and their Minds with Uneafinefs.

How then can a Man order Matters fo, as to be fixed in his Principles, and eafy in his Mind (which he cannot well be without being fixed in his Principles, as far as they relate to Matters of Importance) amidst all the Altercations and Difputes, which are, and perhaps ever will be, in Agitation, to the End of the World? This is a Question which nearly concerns us; and to come to any Satisfaction about it, the only Expedient

that