This is a certain proof, that these Fears are not owing to Education, but fpring from Nature; for the Mistakes of Education may be rectify'd by Reason and Experience, especially when they are fuch troublesome mistakes, that Mankind are defirous to get rid of them: No fuch Mistakes could ever hold out long against Reason and Interest whatever is a Miftake, may be confuted by Reafon; and when it is mens Intereft to discover the Miftake, this will make them very fagacious in their Enquiries, and very ready to fee their Miftake; that had the Fears of bad men been the effect only of Idle Tales, and Traditionary Fables, it is impoffible they fhould have withstood all the Wit and Reafon of Philofophical Atheists; that fuch men with all their Arguments should not be able to make themselves abfolutely fecure, much less to make many Converts; tho every Age and Nation has been filled with men whofe lives have difpofed them to be Atheists. These are the general Marks and Signs of what is Natural; that which is univerfal and common to all Mankind; that which is the first and original Senfe of Human Nature; and that which is fo deeply fix'd in our Minds, that no Art or Induftry can wholly root it out; and all this proves, that these Prefages of Confcience, the Hopes good men have of a Reward, and the Fear of Punishment and Vengeance,which haunts bad men, are the natural Senfe of mens Minds.

III. Let us now confider the force of this Argument, how these Hopes and Fears of good and bad men are natural Prefages of a Future Judg

ment.

F4

1. Now

1. Now in the first place, I think, I may lay it down as a certain Principle, that Nature, or the natural Senfe of our own Minds, does not deceive us; for if we should say it may, there is an end of all certainty; we must be Scepticks in every thing, if we cannot believe the natural Impreffions upon our Minds; for I know not then, why we should believe our External Senfes, what we fee, or hear, or feel; If man was made by God, who is Eternal Truth, the Natural Senfe of our Minds must be as true and certain, as our Bodily Senfes are; for tho the Deductions of Reason are not always fo neceffary and certain, because men may reafon wrong; yet if the firft Principles of Reafon, and the immediate Senfe of our Minds, which are common to Human Nature, fhould misguide us, this were the fault not of Reasoning and Discourse, but of Nature it felf, and therefore must be charg'd upon the Author of Nature; and certainly there cannot be fo ill a contrived Creature made, as Man is, who is purfued with the Fears of Juftice and Vengeance,when he does ill,and flattered with the promifing hopes of great Rewards when he does well, if there be no Future Judgment to reward good men, and to punifh the wicked.

2. For fecondly, Thefe natural Hopes and Fears of Good and Bad Men, immediately refpect the Judgment of God, not of Men, and concern the Rewards and Punishments of the other World, more than of this. Let bad men be never fo powerful and profperous, tho they fear no hurt from men, nor any change and alteration of their Fortune, yet the fenfe of Guilt distracts and terrifies them with the Fears of an Unseen and

Almighty

Almighty Vengeance; and tho good men fuffer very hard things from the world, and have no profpect of better Ufage here, yet their Confciences fpeak Peace to them, and fupport them with great Hopes; and therefore unless these Natural Hopes and Fears deceive us, good men fhall certainly be rewarded by God, and bad men punished, either in this world, or in the next, or in both.

3. We may confider farther, that these Hopes and Fears of good and bad men, give a natural Confirmation to all thofe other Arguments which I have already urged for the proof of a Future Judgment. As to fhew this in a few words:

1. This proves a natural sense in all men, that they are accountable Creatures, and fhall be called to an account for their Actions; for unless men were fenfible of this,why fhould their Confciences acquit or condemn them? why should they Judge themselves, but in relation to fome higher Tribunal, which will certainly judge them? efpecially when the Confciences of bad men do not only condemn, but threaten them, and the Confciences of good men do not only acquit and abfolve, but promise a Reward; for they can neither punish nor reward themselves..

2. This proves the natural fenfe we have of the effential Difference between Good and Evil, and that what is Good deferves a Reward, and what iş Evil deferves Punishment, becaufe good men expect a Reward for the good they do, and bad men fear Punishment when they have done Evil; which fhews a natural Senfe of the juft Merits and Deferts both of Good and Evil, and that they fhall receive their juft Rewards.

3. This

3. This provesalfo, that natural fenfe mankind have, That God is the Supreme and Sovereign Lord and Judge of the World, and will judge mankind; for there is no other Tribunal which all mankind can be accountable to. The common fense of Human Nature must respect the univerfal Lord and Judge of theWorld, who has a natural right to govern and to judge mankind. He who made us, imprinted this Sense upon our Minds; for what is natural is owing only to the Author of Nature; and therefore thefe natural Hopes and Fears can only relate to the Government and Judgment of our Maker and Natural Lord; and then they must prove that God will judgeus, that he will reward or punish us according to our Works: Nay,

4. This proves that Natural Senfe men have of a juft Providence which governs this World at present; for though these Natural Hopes and Fears do not give men any affurance that they fhall be rewarded or punished in this World, as they deferve; yet a good Confcience, especially fome great and eminent Virtues, give good men great hopes in God, and a fecure truft and dependance on his Providence, even in this Life and a great fense of Guilt makes men afraid of prefent Vengeance; though God may think fit to delay the punishment of bad men till the next World, yet a Guilty Conscience never thinks it self safe here: So that if there be any force in thefe Arguments, the Accountableness of Human Nature, the Effential Differences of Good and Evil, the Natural Notions of God's Dominion and Sovereignty, and that juft Providence which governs the World at pre

fent,

fent, to prove a future Judgment, they all receive ftrength and confirmation from the natural Hopes and Fears of good and bad men, which are a natural Prefage of Judgment. And this is a fifth Argument of a Future State, The Natural Prefages of Conscience.

6. To add no more; The removing Mankind out of this World into the next, proves the neceffity of a Future Judgment: If mankind after death fubfifts in another State, they must be judged, and therefore Judgment is as certain as a life after death, which I muft take for granted in this Argument; the reason I believe of this is not obvious at the first proposal, but it will be plain, if you confider but fome few things:

1. That when we go into the next World, we must remove into a State of Happiness or Mifery I do not mean, that when we go into the nextWorld, good men fhall be certainly hapру, and the wicked miferable; for that is to beg the thing in queftion, and to take that for granted which is to be proved; but if we live in the next World, it is certain we must be happy or miferable there, for every thing that lives is fo in proportion to the Capacities of its Na

ture.

2. That our State and Condition in the next world must have relation to our Behaviour and Deferts in this: When God first makes man, he puts him into fuch a ftate as is fitted to his Nature for when he has done neither Good nor Evil, it is not what he deferves, but what God fees him fit for, that must allot him his Rank and Station; but when man is removed out of one ftate of life into another, his Behaviour in the firft ftate must

be