far it is charged as new, and with how little reafon.

My declared intention, in that part of my Sermon which difpleafes the Letter-Writer, is, to "explain that great argument for a future ftate, "which St Paul hath couched in the words" of my text. If in this life only we have hope in Chrift, we are of all men most miferable. I fuppofe them to fignify, That "if all the benefits we expect from "the Chriftian inftitution were confined within "the bounds of this life, and we had no hopes "of a better ftate after this, of a great and lafting "reward in á life to come; we Chriftians fhould "be the most abandoned and wretched of crea"tures; all other forts and fects of men would "evidently have the advantage of us, and a much "furer title to happiness than we. From whence "I fay, the apoftle would be understood to infer "(though the inferance be not expreffed) that "therefore there must needs be another state, to "make up the inequalities of this, and to folve "all irregular appearances," p 2.

In the explication of this argument, I profess, to urge (what i call) the conceffion of the apoftle Somewhat further than the Letter of the text will carry us, by afferting, under two different heads, "That were there no life after this, 1ft, Men "would be more miferable than beafts; and 2dly, "The best men would be often the moft miferable. "I mean, as far as happiness or mifery are to be "measured from pleafing and painful fenfations. "And, fupofing the prefent to be the only life we are to lead, I fee not but that this might be VOL. II. "efteemed

"efteemed the true measure of them." *Upon the first of these heads I fhew, that "in this life beasts "have, in many refpects, the advantage of men;

in as much as they (1) enjoy greater fenfual "pleasures, and (2) feel fewer corporal pains, "and (3) are utter ftrangers to all thofe anxious "and tormenting thoughts, which perpetually "haunt and difquiet mankind t. I enlarge on. thefe particulars, and then proceed on the fame foot likewise to fhew, That" the best men would "be often the most miserable;" fince "their "principles (1) give them not leave to tafte fo "freely of the pleafures of life, as other men's do, "and (2) expose them more to the troubles and "dangers of it,” p. 6.

Both these points I illuftrate by various inftances; and, upon the whole, conclude, "That "therefore, as certainly as God is, a time there "will and must be, when all thefe unequal diftri"butions of good and evil fhall be fet right, and "the wisdom and reasonableness of all his tranf"actions, with all his creatures, be made as clear 66 as the noon-day," p. 10.

I was willing to reprefent to the reader, at one view, the whole courfe of my reasoning, according to the order in which it lies, and in the very words, which I have made use of to express it in my Sermon. If he compares this fhort Account of my Doctrine, with the larger explication given of its several branches in the Sermon itself, he will find, That (whatever the Letter- Writer boldly affirms to the contrary) it must be understood,

and is by me actually propofed, under the Reftrictions following:

1 When I prefer beasts to men, and bad men to good, in point of happiness, it is upon a fuppofition, not only that there is no other life than this, but that mankind are perfuaded that there is none. The men I speak of, are fuch as those Corinthians were against whom St. Paul argued; men, who "in this life only have hope in Chrift;" fuch as Co expect no benefits from the Chriftian Inftitution, but what are confined within the bounds of this prefent life, and have no hopes of a better state after this, of a great and lafting reward in a life to come *." This is the account which I exprefly give of them when I enter on the argument, and which I repeat feveral times in the courfe of it; and which must be understood all along, even where it is not mentioned. And fuch a fort of Chriftians I may be allowed to fuppofe now, fince fuch there manifeftly were in the days of the apostles. Nor does it any ways interfere with this fuppofition, to represent these very men, as having now and then

the uneafy prefages of a future reckoning" and as fcaring themselves fometimes with the fears of another life, even while they do not entertain the hopes of it. This, I doubt not is the cafe of all fuch who profess to disbelieve a future ftate; they are not always equally fatisfied with their own reafonings about it, but tremble fometimes at the thoughts of it. My Reprover, therefore, deals very unfairly, when he reckons this among the

advantages peculiar to men, that they "have the "prefent fupport of the belief of a Future State, " and the firm expectation of Rewards *” in a life to come; and affures his Readers, with equal modefty and truth, that this is "agreeable to "what I fuppofed t," whereas I fuppofe the quite contrary; and, on that fuppofition, all my reafonings and reflexions turn. Nor is there a word, throughout the whole argument, that can juftly be construed to a different meaning.

2. Proceeding on this fuppofition, I affirm, not that the best men would be always, but often the moft miserable. And that I might be sure of not being misapprehended. I repeat this (or fome other equivalent) expreffion at leaft fix times, in the compafs of a few pages. Nor doth the argument, which I am explaining, require a more extenfive fuppofition; it being equally neceffary that there fhould be a future ftate to vindicate the juftice of God, and falve the prefent irregularities of Providence, whether the best men be oftentimes only, or always the moft miferable. The Letter-Writer diffembles his knowledge of this remarkable reftriction; and, having taken advantage from thence to argue and object as he pleafed, contents himself flightly to mention it towards the clofe of his pamphlet ; which was difcreetly done, fince an earlier acknowledgment of it would have difcovered at first fight, even to the meanest of his readers, the impertinence of feveral of thofe objections and arguments. He would excufe this procedure, by

L.p 21. † Sce L. p. 25 19. 31. P. 3, 4.6 8 9.11

faying,

faying, at laft, That though "I profefs only to "fhew that the best men are often the most mi"ferable," yet I argue, as if they were always Jo*, viz. "from that obligation to fo ne parti"cular practices, from which they are never ex66 empt in any condition of this life +" Which is as great and groundlefs a mifreprefentation as any of the former; Since,

3lly, My chief proof of this point is drawn from that state of perfecution, to which good men above all others are fubject; Because "their "principles expofe them moft to the troubles and "dangers of life ;" becaufe "fore evils and "temporal inconveniencies attend the discharge "of their duty;" they " become a reproach "and a bye-word, are injured and outraged, "fuffer unjuft and illegal encroachments §; the "greatest faints being fometimes made the most "remarkable inftances of fuffering :' for they are inflexible in their uprightness-" No profpect "of intereft can allur them, no fear of danger 66 can difmay them *.” Would one imagine, after all thefe expreffions, and feveral others of the fame kind that I have made ufe of, any man fo lost to all fenfe of juftice, and truth as to fay, That "I fuppofe no cafe of perfecution +?" that "I do not once fuppof: such a state of perfecution "as the apoftle pointed at? but maintain my po"fitions with referrence to the moft quiet and "profperons ftate of this life t?" Certamly the letter-writer doth not mean this as one instance