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SERM".
L7
NATURAL
RELIGION, ITS
USES AND
DEFECTS.
7
it, Why
hast thou made
me
thus
?"
Shall
the
vessel
say
to
the
potter, Why didst thou
mould
me
in
such
a
form
?
Why
was
I
disposed
of
in such
a station
?
and
why was
I
appointed
for such
a
purpose
?
And
the force
of
this
ar-
gument
grows
yet
much stronger, when
we
consider,
that
the
great God not
only
gives his
creatures their
form
and
manner
of
being,
but
he
created the
very substance
as
well
as
the
qualities
of
every thing,
and
gave them
their
whole
nature and
all
the being they
have.
4.
The
light
of nature
teaches
us,
that
though
God
is
the
absolute and
natural Lord
of
all things
that
he
has
made
;
yet
"
he
is
pleased
to
deal
with
his
rational crea-
tures
in
a
way
of
moral government,
that
he
rules
them
by a
law,
and
will
some time
or other reward
them in
equity according to
their
works."
The
conscience
which
he hath formed
in man, may
discover to
him
so
much
of
the natural
law
and
will
of
his
God,
as a righteous
Go-
vernor
of the
world,
if it
be
properly and
wisely
employ-
ed
:
Rom.
ii.
14, 15.
"
The
gentiles
which
have
not the
written
law
which the
Jews
enjoyed,
yet they
do
by
nature
the
things
contained
.in
the
law,
that
is
they
are
inwardly
excited
to do them these having
not
the
law,
are a
law
to
themselves, which shew
the work
of
the
law
written
in
their
hearts,
their
consciences
also
bearing
witness,
and
their
thoughts the mean
while accusing,
or
else
excusing
them."
This
law
written
in
their
hearts,
and
which
they
may
find
out
by a
diligent
use
of
their reason,
not
only
teaches
them that adoration and
worship,
prayer
and praise,
are
duties which they
owe
to
God
;
but
it
instructs them
also to distinguish between vice
and virtue,
good
and
evil, as
it relates to
their neighbours and
themselves.
It
shews
them the difference between
sobriety and
intem-
perance,
between kindness
and
malice, between
honesty
and
knavery,
truth and
falsehood
and
it
teaches them
also to
expect
some
vengeance
to fall
upon transgressors.
So
Acts
xxviii. 4.
"
Surely
this man
is
a
murderer, said
the
barbarous inhabitants
of
Melita concerning
St.
Paul,
when
a viper fastened
on his
hand
;
and though
he
bath
escaped the
sea,
yet vengeance doth
not
suffer
him
to
live."
Reason and
conscience might
teach
mankind,
that
since
God
has
Given
them
an
understanding and freedom
V
Q
AA