272 Attending public rnfruélion, SERM. Firfl, To thew the reafonablenefs of our XI. attending all the inftituted means of inftruc-. tion ; and this will eafily appear to any con- fiderate perfon If God had never vouch - fafed to men a pofitive revelation, if wifdom had never cried, nor underjianding lifted up her voice in that manner to the children of men, if we had never known any thing of her but by the foft whifpers in our own breafts, that fenfe of moral goodnefs and excellence, which we feel whenever we at- tend to it, though it is in the generality of men very much overborne by the tumults of the imagination, by vehement felfifh paf- fions, and evil habits ; if; I fay, it were fo, we thould have been obliged, under all the difcouragements and difficulties which at- tend our prefent frailty, to fiel after virtue if happily we might find it, as the apoftle fpeaketh of mens feeking God by the light of nature, As xvii. 27. And it is furprizing to what length force have arrived without the help of that grace which bringeth falva- tion, and bath appeared unto us. But when it hath pleafed God to erea a kingdom in the world, when we have laws publifhed, examples, promifes, divine afiiftance, when there is a public adminiftration whereby we are called to glory and virtue, and the divine 3 power
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