¿on adered under the Notion of Wifdom. 17 to it againft all temptations, by this aííä- S E x M. rance, that it fhall not hurt, but rather fe- I. cure their happinefs, which at been ac- knowledged to be the tendency of virtue, wherever any juif notions of it have ob- tained in the world. If men believe there is a God, wife, juft, and good, they mutt conclude that righteoufnefs is pleafing to him ; and if the foul is immortali and (hall fubfift in another {fate, they who have done good in this life, have the belt hope of be ing diftinguifhed by the favour of the Deity in the next. Thefe are matters about which the facred rule of our religion bath not left us in the dark, as the heathens were ; but taught us, with the greateft clearnefs and certainty, the wifdom of obedience to God's laws, and the folly of difobedience ; becaufe he bath appointed a day in which he will judge men by fetus Chr, according to their works. And thus purfuing his main fcope, and delivering his inftruLions agreeably to his grand principle, that virtue is wifdom, and that vice and wickednefs is extreme folly : Solomon fays, chap. xxii. 3.A prudent man forefeeth the evil, and hideth himfelf; but the fimple pats on, and are punif ed. Again ; the religious govern themf Ives by Vo L. III. C
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