246 Honefty the belt Prefervative $I Vol. I. Virtue. God hath fo framed Religion, and the Evidence of Truth, and theMeans of coming to theKnowledge of it, as to he a fufficient Security to. Men of honeft Minds and teachable Tempers, againft all Fatal and Final Mittakes concerning Things neceffary to Salvation ; but not fo, that every Man that is of fuch a Church, fhould be Infallibly fecured againft all Errors in Matters ofFaith ; and this on Pur- pofe to try the Virtue and Difpofition of Men, whether they will be at the Pains to fearch for Truth, and when it is propofed to them with fufficient Evidence, tho' not by an Infallible Hand, they will receive it in the love of it, that they may be Saved. Fourthly, This is as much fecurity againft Error in Matters of Faith, as God hath provided againft Sin and Vice in Matters of Pra&ice ; and fince a right Belief is only in order to a good Life, a Man would be hard put to it, to give a wife Reafon, why God fhould take greater Care for the Infallible Security of Mens Faith, than of their Obedience. The Reafon pretended why God fhould make fuch Infallible Provifion for a right Faith, is, for the better fecurityof Mens Eter- nal Salvation, and Happinefs. Now the Virtues of a good Life, have a more Di- re& and Immediate Influence upon that, than the moft OrthodoxBelief. The end of the Commandments, (i. e. ) ofthe Declaration oftheGofpel is Charity. In the Chriftian Religion that which mainly avails to our Juftification and Salvation is, a Faith that worketh by Charity, and the keeping of the Commandments of God. He that heareth thefe Sayings ofmine, and cloth them ( faith our Bleffed Lord) I will liken him to a Wife Man that built his Houfe upon a Rock ; and again, not every one thatfaith unto me, Lord, Lord, (i. e.) makes Profeffion of Faithin me, fhall enter into theKingdomofHeaven; but he that doth theWillofmy Father which is in Hea- ven ; and again, ifye know thefe things, happy areye ifye do them. And theApoftle St. Peter ExhortsChriftians toadd to their Faith andKnowledge,Virtue, andGodlnefs, andBrotherly Kindnefs, andCharity, that fo an abundant entrance may be minred to them, into the everlafing Kingdomofour Lord andSaviour fefus Chr. So that the Virtuesof a good Life have the greateft Influence upon our Salvation, and the main ftrefs of Chriftianity is to be laid there. And therefore whatever Reafon can be affigned, why God fhould provide for the Infallible Security of our Faith, is much ftronger, why an equal Provifion fhould be made to fecure Holinefs, and Obedience of Life ; becaufe without this, Faith cannot Infallibly attain its End, which is the Salvation ofour Souls. But this it is granted God bath not done, and Experience thews it; and therefore it is unreafonable to fuppofe that he hath done the other. It is fufficient, that in both kinds he hath done that which is fuf- ficient to make us capable of Happinefs, if we be not wanting to our felves ; the reft he bath left to the fincerity of our Endeavours ; expelling that we on our part, fhould work out our Salvation with fear and trembling, and give all Dili- gence to make our Calling and EleElionfore. And if God bath made fuch Provifi- on by the Gofpel, for all that enjoy the Light and Advantage of it, that none can mifcatry without their own fault; then both his Goodnefs and Wifdom are fuffìci- ently acquitted, without an Infallible Guide and fudge in Matters of Faith ; and that Irreverent way of Arguing in the Canon Law, might well have been fpared ; that of neceffity there mutt be an Infallible fudge of Controverfìes in Relegion; aliter Dominus non videretur fìtfe difcretus, otherwife God would notfeem to have ordered Matters difcreetly. But what Infallible Security foever they have in the Church of Rome, as to Mat- ters of Faith, they are certainly the worft provided of ivholfom and fafe Dire&ions for the Confciences and Lives of Men, of any Church in the World. No Reli- gion that I know of in the World, ever had fuch Lewd and Scandalous Cafuifts. Witnefs the Moral Divinity of the fefuits, which bath been fo expofed to the World, not only by thofe of our Religion, but by their own Writers alto. Nor is this Mifchief only confined to that Order; their Cafuifts in general, and even the more Ancient of them, who writ before the Order of jefiaits appeared in the World, have given fuck a Liberty, and Loofe, to great Immorality in feveral kinds, as is infinitely to the reproach of the heft and pureft Religion in the World. Infomuch that Sir Tho. Moor himfelf, who was a great Zealot for that Religions,, could
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