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SECTION I.

The INTRODUCTION.

Wherein thofe points, viz. Of divine impreffions on men's minds; of Special grace; of the virtue and merit of faith; and of St. Thomas's unbelief; are particularly confidered.

SIRS,

A

FTER having had a correfpondence with you, by writing, for many years paft, which, I truft, has not been altogether useless, nor unacceptable to you; I now propose, at the conclufion of this tract, to take my leave of you. What I have principally aimed at, in all my writings, has been both to evince, and to impress deeply upon your minds, a just sense of those truths, which are of the highest concern to you. For, tho' I do not think that error, confidered fimply as fuch, that is, confidered as a wrong apprehenfion of things, especially when all proper measures have been taken to have the understanding H

rightly

rightly informed, is either blameable in itfelf, or displeasing to God, feeing it is what all men are liable, and greatly in danger, of falling into, be they ever to careful in guarding against it yet, forafmuch as our opinions have, in fome inftances, a great influence upon our wills, and, confequently, upon our behaviour; when that is the cafe, then, error, in the event, may be greatly injurious both to ourselves and others; and, therefore, it must be a matter of moment to have our understandings rightly directed, in all fuch cafes, in order to the rightly directing our affections and actions. Some of the points, that I have laboured to imprefs upon the minds of my readers, are these that follow. First, That there is a natural and an effential difference in things, and a law or rule of affection and action, refulting from that difference, which every moral agent ought to direct his affections and behaviour by; and, that nothing, but a conformity of mind and life to this rule, or, at leaft, an honest intention of acting rightly, and a fuitable practice, will render men pleafing and acceptable to the Deity. Secondly, If men have greatly departed from the rule abovementioned, and have,by their vicious

affec

affections and actions, rendered themselves the proper objects of divine refentment; then, as nothing but their repentance and reformation can render them the proper objects of mercy and forgiveness, fo that, and nothing but that, will be the ground and reafon of God's mercy to them. Thirdly, That God will judge the world, and that he will do it, not by capricious humour, and according to arbitrary will; but by, or according to, the eternal rules of right and wrong, that is, by the aforefaid law; and, in confequence thereof, will reward or punish men, in another world, according as they have, by their good or bad behaviour, rendered themfelves the proper objects of either, in this. And, fourthly, That the three foregoing propofitions are the fum and substance of the gospel of Chrift, or of what Chrift was, in a special manner, fent of God to acquaint the world with. Thefe, furely, are points, in which mankind at large are greatly interefted; and, therefore, their being fet right in thele matters must be of the highest concern to them. The three first of these come under the denomination of natural religion; that is, the belief of these, and a practice conformable to fuch belief, conftitute

H 2

the

the pure and uncorrupted religion of reason and nature; as they are grounded upon the unalterable nature, and the eternal reafon of things, and, as fuch, they are, and muft, and will, be the fame, whether there be any divine revelation, or any promulged law, or not. Men's relation to, and dependence upon, God, and their relation to, and dependence upon, each other, and all obligations, that flow from fuch relations and dependencies, are what they are, antecedent to, and independent of, any revelation or promulged law and, therefore, are, and must be the fame, both before, and after fuch promulgation; and all just and reasonable expectations, grounded upon these, and upon men's behaviour with respect to them, must be the fame alfo. So that the grounds of men's acceptance with God, and of their obtaining the divine mercy, and the juftness and propriety of a future retribution, muft of neceffity be the fame, whether God has made a revelation of his will to mankind, or not. And, as to the fourth and last point, mentioned above, (viz.) that the three foregoing propofitions are the fum and fubftance of the gospel of Chrift, this, I am fenfible, is fo far from having been generally admitted,

that

that on the contrary, great oppofition has been made to it; and men seem difposed to have no gospel at all, rather than fuch a gospel as this. This is a gospel too plain and intelligible for artful men to make their advantages of, and to build a profitable trade upon; they must have a gofpel which is fublime and myfterious, which is out of the reach of the human understanding, and, therefore, cannot be judged of by it, otherwise it will not answer their purposes. This is a gospel too closely attached to virtue and goodness, for vicious and evil-minded men to be pleased with; they must have a gospel which will permit them to be eafy under, and which gives them a little indulgence in their vices; and therefore, it is no wonder that the representation I have given of Chrift's gospel, should be opposed by many; tho', by the way, if that representation be not the truth of the cafe, then, it would have been better for us, that no gofpel had been given at all; because any other gospel, but this, would have been a great impofition upon mankind. And this leads me to observe, that the point under confideration is fupported by the abfurdity of the contrary fuppofition, fuppofing Chrift's gofpel to be divine. For, had