'Part'II. :A S4int br ·A·Bruu; _ and Religiondo reqmire,. they would have nothi.ng that £?ight be injurious eo any. Eut furely as a ficlz man or a /tflme, ts better then·a dead corps; and as a man of mean ·underftanding i~ better -then·an ideot , and a me cm Scho/lar better then the illiterate ; fo a man imperfealy fanilift ed, is better in a Common .wealth, then the un6~~dty. You blame not rhe Laws of this La.nd, becau~e thac Thieves and Murmerers break them : The Laws are·Good, tfthey oblige men ro nothing but what is Good, though bad men break them. The Rules of Chrifiian Religion are mofl perfect, and direct or command men l}Othtng that is evil. There may be faults in us, but there is none in the holy Laws which we defire and en– deavour to obey. Religion therefore is the way to the perfeCting an·d fecuririg of all Societies , and the want of it fubverteth them. . 1· H(jlinefs aoth not only tell men'of aright way, and/he~ them their duty, but 11ljo effetlually Di{p9{eth their verJ minds to tht! performa~ce ef it, andcau(eth them to -walk..therein. The natnre of it is, to be the very Right Difpofttirm of the heart , and right or– dering of the life. The truly grariOtlS foul is hahitHA!/y an enemJ ro all known fin, and addicted to obey in all known Duries : And furely perfons thus hahitNated, are liker to live according eo their Difpofitions, then or hers to live well that bate the good in their hearts which chey ihould pracl:ife. Mens Laws·can commandgood:i' but cannot give men good hearts topt actife it , as God doth by his fen·ants. If you cannot tell whether wicked men that love fin, or godly men .that hate it, are better members ofa Common– wealrh, you know not what Societies are for. 8. Holinefs deftroyeth the root of iniquity, ana teachethmen t~ b~tte even fecret fins, -which llre in the heart, or rPhich none can fee hut G~d ~~o~e. The L<nys of men refirain the SubjeCts but from . open IOJUnes: but Hohnefs refiraineth men from doing the mofl: fecrtt ';Vrong to others, or once thinking, fpeaking, or contriving any evil agamfi them. It rcacheth the confcience; it deanfeth the heart, from whence all evil dGth proceed. 2 Sam. I 2. I z. Deut. 27. 24. Pfalm 90. 8. Ecclef. I 2. 14. A man fearing God as fuch , dar.e not deceive or wrong another , thoagh he ;ere fure that tt would never be known on· earth : For he knoweth that the Lord Mthe ~evengtr of fuch things, I The{ 4. 6. 9· Holinefs cementeth the members of all Secieties with ·the . fl.rrmgeft &ement of endeared Love. It bindeth them together in che - Y 2. · bond
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