when thofe Difficulties are loft and swallowed up in the Sweet Hope of a better State, which we are fure of attaining by the means of them. Where once fuch a Perfwafion as this is well-fix'd, I grant, it will smooth all the Roughness of the Way, that leads to Happiness, and render all the Conflicts we maintain with our Lufts and Paffions pleafing: but furely, without the Hopes of fuch a State, the mere Profpect of the Pleasures which Virtue in this Life may yield, would fcarce make the Struggle it felf delightful to those who were Strangers to fuch Pleafures.

Thus far, in answer to his fourth Remark, which contains the Grounds of his Doctrine, and offers at fomewhat toward the Difproof of mine. As to the reft of his Obfervations on my manner of proceeding in the prefent Argument, were it worth while to reduce them from their prefent Confufion into fome Order, they might be rang'd and confider'd under Three Heads, my Omiffions, my Inconfiftencies, and the Ií Confequences of my Doctrine. My Omiffions are confefs'd, for I did not write a Treatife, but a few Pages only on the Subject; which I handled with particular Views, and pretended not to exhauft. Whether any of the Reafonings by me employ'd, are inconfiftent with each other, I fecurely leave to the Judgment of the Reader, who bath now the Argumentative part of that Sermon before him verbatim as it was firft Printed: But the Ill Confequences of my Doctrine, which he objects, deferve to be a little confider'd.

My Doctrine is, as I have endeavour'd to fhew, the very fame with that of St. Paul; and if this hath been made out, the fame Ill Confequences are equally charge able upon Both, and He too may be faid to have made Conceffions to the Caufe of Vice, by allowing,

that,

true;

be

that, if the Dead rife not, the Inference would be
just, Let us Eat and Drink, for to morrow we
Die. All that needs be done toward justifying the A-
poftle (and my self, by his means) is, to open the De-
fign and Manner of his Reasoning. He is there making
ufe of that fort of Argument, which, in order to prove
a Doctrine true, fuppofes the contrary Doctrine to be
and then fhews, what Abfurdities follow upon
fuch a Suppofition: and the greater thofe Abfurdities
are, the more strongly do they evince the falfity of that
Suppofition, from whence they flow, and, confequently,
the Truth of the Doctrine fet afide by that Suppofition.
Thus, in the prefent cafe, the more abfurd it is to affirm,
that Beafts have the Advantage of Men,and BadMen of
Good,in point of Happiness; or that a Senfual Life may
preferred to a Severe and Rigid Virtue; the more clear-
ly doth the folly and falfhood of that Suppofition appear,
which is the Parent of these wild Abfurdities, viz. that
We have hope in this Life only: and the falfhood of
that Suppofition being prov'd, proves the truth of the con-
trary Doctrine, which was defign'd to be establish'd. Now
thefe very Abfurdities, are by the Letter-Writer, repre-
fented as Conceffions to the Caufe of Vice, when
indeed they are employ'd by me, and do in themselves
tend, to confirm the Truth of a Capital Article in Reli-
gion, upon which (as I verily think) the whole Cause
of Virtue depends. It may fuffice to have given this
Short, but full Answer to all the Ill Confequences he
bath vainly endeavour'd to fasten on my Doctrine; and
which are in truth fo far from being ill Confequen-
ces of my Doctrine that they are Confequences
only of that falle Suppofition, which I advanc'd,
in order to difprove it, and, by that means, to
prove the Truth of my Doctrine. If the Letter-Writer
was fincere in this part of his Charge, he must be con

tented

lx

16.

tented to bear the Reproach of understanding nothing P of Logick, or good Senfe*; An Imputation, which, I find, be looks upon as carrying a greater Abfurdity in it, than even any thing I have faid in my Sermon ! I doubt whether He can as easily get rid of the Ill Confequences of his Doctrine; which manifeftly tends to fhew, That there is no need of a Future State, to fet right the unequal Diftributions of Happiness in this Life. And if once this be allow'd, we give up the very best Argument for fuch a State, with which mere Reafon furnishes us. And of what use that Conceffion can be to the Caufe of Virtue, this pretended Patron ef it will be pleas'd to tell us. Had be fubftituted any other Argument for a Future State, in the room of this be thus endeavours to weaken; had he once, throughout bis Pamphlet, directly and plainly affirm'd, that any convincing Evidence of fuch a State was to be had from Reafon alone, or that even the bitter Sufferings of good Men were fufficient to prove it; his Conduct would have been fo much the more excufable. But he hath offer'd at nothing of this kind. Once indeed (in a very Odd and Wary manner) he fays, I have heard theSufferings and Afflictions of many good Men here below, made an Argument that, in another State, all the Virtuous fhall have the Outward, as well as Inward Tokens of Gods Favor *. But we are left at a lofs to know, whether he approves the Argument, he thus heard; whether he thinks it a good Argument for a Future State, as well as a proof of what shall happen in fuch a State, if fuch a State there fhould be: He fays not, whether a Futare State be, in his Opini on, neceffary, in order to a manifeftation of thefe Outward Tokens of Gods favor; or whether the Inward Tokens of it, beftow'd in this Life, may not fuf

fl. p.

32.

free

+L. P.

31.

fice to all the purposes of Virtue. In another place, he mentions the Prefumptions of Reason, and owns, that our Lord's Refurrection, his Affurances of A FUTURE STATE, and his Miracles, A DDED to these Prefumptions (fuch is his manner of Speech) are fufficient (for what? why) to fatisfy all that are willing to liften to Truth f. But of what Truth they are to be fatisfy'd; and, if it be the truth of a Future State, what Intereft They are to have in it, and what Right They have to it, he cares not exprefly to say. And, as to thefe Prefumptions of Reafon, he gives us no account of them, What they are, or whence they arife. On the contrary,be bath all along employ'd fuch Reasonings, as, if true, are Strong Prefumptions againft a Future State. For be fuppofes Virtue to be a fufficient Reward to it felf in this Life: It is the Imitation of God (he fays) and therefore must be the Happiness of Man*; nay, the Practice of Virtue is Happiness it self †. And tp.23. if fo, then it is not ncceffary that a Future Reward fhould be referv'd for Virtue; for it hath a fufficient Reward already. A Virtuous Heathen is, at this rate, as happy as a Virtuous Chriftian; a Man, without theProSpect of another World, is as happy as with it: for if the Practice of Virtue be Happiness it felf, He that poffefes Happiness it felf can, by no other Confiderations, or Views, have any Addition made to his Happiness. If the Doctrine of the Letter be true, This World may be our Home, and not the place of our Pilgrimage, as we Chriftians think, and call it for our prefent State is, it feems, a State of Fruition and Felicity, not a State of Preparation and Tryal; and, fhould there be no Other Life, yet fuch a Suppofition will not reflect on the Justice, or Goodness of God,

"p.26;

+ Pref.

which are fufficiently vindicated by his wife distribut on of Good and Evil in this Life, and by that Pleasure and Plain, with which Virtue and Vice are feverally and infeparably attended. Now thefe Principles do, as I conceive, tend to fubvert the belief of a Future State; and have, therefore, been generally entertain'd by all those who doubted of the Reality of fuch a State, or exprefly disbeliev'd it, without shaking off at the fame time the Obligations of Morality. Such, particularly, were the Stoics, who first brought thefe Tenets into Repute and Fashion; an Atheistical Sect of Philofophers, that held the World to be God; and having no certain perfuafion, much less Evidence, of another Life, and yet defigning to be thought Lovers of Virtue, knew not how to defend it's Cause, but by affirming that Virtue was it's own Reward, and the Practice of it Happinefs it felf; fuch an Happiness, as no Afflictions, no Torments, which befel a Man, could deprive him of, or any ways diminish. I will not argue against fuch wild Paradoxes as thefe: the Excellent Words I have

P. 32. once already cited * are a fufficient Reply to them

Thus to cry up Virtue, to the weakning our Be lief and Hope of the Immortality of the Soul, however at firft blush it may feem plaufible, is in effect no better than a fubtle Invention to ruin Virtue by it felf, fince it cannot poffibly fubfift but by the Belief and Support of another Life.

Whether the Letter-Writer intended,by what he hath wrote, to undermine this Belief, is left to God, and his own Confcience. Sure I am, there are feveral Paffages in bis Piece (befdes thofe I have mention'd) which look that way, and require a great deal of Candor to be interpreted in fuch a Senfe, as doth not reflect on the Certainty of this great Article of all Religion. For he is

not