SERM.

3.

Se

We may here clearly fee how vain III. and groundless all thofe Prejudices are, which either the Adverfaries of Religion in general, or any Others conceive against the Practice of Piety and Virtue, as being a Thing burthenfome to human Nature, and inconfiftent with the true Pleasure and Enjoyment of Life. This is a Notion which many entertain of a ftrictly religious and virtuous Life, and which never fails to give them a great Diftafte to That, which appears fo frightful and difagreeable. veral, it is to be feared, gladly take up, and cherish this Apprehenfion, only that They may render Themselves more Easy in their Wickedness, and have Something to fay in Excufe of it. And Others, may, poffibly, be deceived into it, from a miftaken Interpretation of fome Paffages of Scripture, and the injudicious Representations which have too often been made of Religion, as if it was a perpetual Conflict with Nature, and a Constraint on our most prevailing Defires and Affections; or, perhaps, from the indiscreet Zeal and affected Aufterities of fome Profeffors of Religion, from whofe Conduct and Management of Then felves, under a Pretence of Piety, if one were to judge of the true Genius of Religion,

Religion, he must indeed conclude it to be SER M. deftructive of many of our most innocent III. Enjoyments, and intended for a Punishment to Mankind. But whencefoever this disadvantageous Opinion of a pious and virtuous Course may take its Rife, it is certainly false, and very injurious to God, who has been fo far from putting a Force upon our Nature, and reftraining us from any thing that really tends to our Good, by the Laws which he has given us, that, on the Contrary, the Obfervation of these Laws is the nobleft Improvement, and most delightful Exercise of our natural Powers and Affections, and the only fure and effectual Means of promoting our highest Happiness. The Truth is, it is Vice which is altogether unnatural, and ruinous to all our most valuable Interests; which spoils the native Beauty and fubverts the Order of the Soul, which forces us upon the vilest Drudgeries, and involves us in the most deplorable Mifery. And it is the Practice of Religion and Virtue alone, which can restore us to our original Dignity and Freedom, and lay the Foundation of our perfect Happiness. And before this can be found fault with, as lying heavy upon human Nature, and abridging our Pleasures, it muft

90

The true Happiness of Mankind.

SERM. muft always be mifreprefented, or viewed III. in a wrong Light: To all who apprehend it rightly, it must appear the most natural and agreeable Thing in the World.

4. From what has been difcourfed, we may see the strong Foundation which is laid for our practifing all Virtue. To engage us to This, both Confcience, and Intereft; our natural Senfe of Duty, and our Defire of Happiness, confpire. The Dictates, of our Confciences concerning the motal, Good or Evil of our Conduct, lay the firmeft Obligation upon us to abstain from Vice, and to abound in all Goodness: But fuppofing the Principle of Confcience to have loft its Authority and Power over us, and that we are fo far degenerated, as not to be capable of difcerning, in any lively Manner, the Beauties of Holiness, and of being warmed with the Love of Virtue; yet, fo long as we love Ourselves, and feel a Concern for our own Welfare, which all will acknowledge they do, it may be expected, that we will have the utmoft Dread of Vice, the certain Source of Ruin and Mifery, and fly from it, as we would from a deadly Plague, or an enraged Monster ready to devour us; and that we will use all Methods in our Power, for recovering Ourselves

Ourselves from our Corruptions, and at- SER M. taining to a State of Piety and Righteouf- III. nefs, which is the only poffible Means of Happiness. If, notwithstanding the neceffary Dependance which our Happiness has upon the Practice of Virtue, we ftill neglect this, and indulge Ourselves in Habits of Wickedness, we fhall difcover a most throughly depraved and infatuated Temper, which is loft, both to all Senfe of Ingenuity, and all rational Regard for our moft obvious Intereft. If we act even with any Degree of Prudence, we hall keep far away from the deftructive Paths of Vice, and enter upon the Ways of Righteoufnefs, in which Freedom, and Safety, and Satisfaction of all Sorts, are to be found. to This, certainly, all of us will be easily induced, who have any Generosity and Nobleness of Soul, or any Gratitude towards God, for connecting our Duty and Intereft; or contriving Things fo, as that in performing the Service which he requires from us, we should find our true Good and Happiness.

And

SERMON

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SERMON IV.

The Folly of Denying, or of Wishing againft, the Existence of the Deity.

SERM.

IV.

PSALM XIV. 1.

The Fool bath faid in his Heart, there is

T

no God.

HE Thing which the Pfalmift here brands with the Name of Folly, may be either the Judgment of a Man's Mind, or the Wish of his Heart, against the Existence of a Deity: He feems, indeed, to have the Latter more particularly in his View, as it is the Sentence of the Heart which he speaks of, rather than of the Understanding. It it certain, that Both may be moft justly termed Folly or Madness, though of the Two, the Latter is the more grofs and unnatural Infatuation. In treating of this Subject, I fhall confider the monstrous Folly, I. Of denying the Existence