Serra. LXV. and his Religion conjider'd. 4-73 and the Grace of God which goes alongwith it, did force Men to begood and virtuous, and no Man could be fo unlefs he were thus violently forc'd, then it would be no Virtue in any Man to be good, nor any Crime and Fault to be otherwife. For then the reafon why Come Men were good, would be becaufe they could not help it; and others bad, becaufe the Grace of God did not make them fo whether theywould or not. But Religion does not thus work upon Men. It dire&s Men to their Duty by the Ihortelt and plainelt Precepts of a good Life; it perfuades Men to the Obe- dienceof thefe Precepts, by the Promifes of Eternal Happinefs, and theThreat- nings of Eternal Mifery in cafe of obftinate Difobedience; it offers us the Affì- ftance of God's Holy Spirit, to help our Weaknefs, . and enable us to that, for which we are not fufftcient of our felves But there is nothing of Violence or Neceffity in all this. After all, Men may difobey thefe Precepts, and not be per- fuaded by thefe Arguments, may not make ufe of this Grace which God offers, may quench and refifi the Holy Ghofl, and reject the Counfel of God againfi them- felves. And the Cafe being thus, it is no wonder, if the Temptations of this prefent World prevail upon the vicious Inclinations of Men againft their Duty, and their true Intereft 5 and confequently if the Motives and Arguments of the Chriftian Religion have not a confiant and certain Effe& upon a great part of Mankind. Not but that Chriftianity is apt to bring Men to Goodnefs ; but fotne are fo obftinately bad, as not to bewrought upon by the molt powerful Confide- rations it can offer to them. S. It cannot be denied, but that Chriftianity is as well framed to make Men good, as any Religion can be imagined to be; and therefore wherever the Fault be, it cannot be in the Chriftian Religion, that we are not good. So that the bad Lives of Chriftians are no fufficient Obje &ion either againft the Truth or Good- nefs of the Chriftian Do&rine. Befides the Confirmation that was given to it by Miracles, the Excellencyof theDo&rive, and its proper Tendency tomake Men holy and virtuous, are a plain Evidence of its Divine and Heavenly Original. And Curdy the Goodnefs of any Religion confu s in the fufficiency of its Pre cepts, to dire&Men to their Duty ; in the force of its Arguments to perfuade Men to it; and the fuitablenefs of its Aids and Helps to enable us to the Dif- charge and Performance of it. And all thofe Advantages theChriftian Religion hath above any Religion or Inftitution that ever was in the World. The reafo- nable and plain Rules of a good Life are no where fo perfe&ly colleted, as in the Difcourfes of our Bletfed Saviour and his Apoftles. No Religion ever gave Men fo full Affurance of the mighty Rewards and Punifhmentsof another World ; nor fuch gracious Promifesof Divine Aflìftance, and fuch Evidence of it, efpe- cially in the Piety, and Virtue, and Patience, and Self- denial of the Primitive Chriftians, as the DoCrine of God our Saviour hath done, which teacheth Men to denyVngodlinefs and worldly Lulls, and to live foberly, and righteoufly, and godly in this prefent World, in contemplation of the bled hope and the glorious appearance of the great God, and ourSaviour feftes Chrifi ; who gave himfelf for us, that he might redeem us from all Iniquity, andpurify to himfetf a peculiar People xealone of good Works. 6. And La/ily, After all that hath or can be faid, it mutt be acknowledged, and ought fadly to be lamented by us, that the wicked Lives of Chriftians are a marvellous Scandal and Reproach to our Holy Religion, and a great Ob- ftacle to the fpreading of it in the World, and a real Obje&ion againft it to prejudiced Perfons, with whom it doth juttly bring into doubt the Good- nefs and Efficacy of the In(titution it felf, to fee how little EffeC it hath up- on theHearts and Lives of Men. It is hard for a Man to maintain the Repu- tation of an excellent Matter in any kind, when all the World fees, that molt of his Scholars prove Dunces. Whatever Commendation may be given to any Art or Science, Men will queflion the Truth and Reality of it, when they fee the greateft part of thofe who profefs it, not able to do any thing anfwe- table to it. The Chrifitan Religion pretends to be an Art of ferving God more decently and devoutly, and of living better than other Men ; but if it P p p be
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=