14 SELF -LOVE A 1) VIRTUE RECONCILED. - SECT. VI. The Chief Difficulty of this Scheme of thoughts removed. After a careful survey of what I have written on this sub- - ject, I can find but one difficulty of any importance attending it Perhaps some friend may rise up here and object, that the whóle stress and weight of my argument against the sufficient " obli- gation to - virtue, arising from the mere fitness of things," rests and turns upon this, single point, the certainty of divine rewards, which alone can bring over the principle of self -love to the side of virtue.. But is it absolutely certain, that God will reward every man'svirtue ? And if he does not, then it will be said, that according to my argument, even the known will and command of God, though joined with the-fitness of things, will lay but an insufficient obligation upon us to practise virtue : For the will of God, which really and in truth should give the highest obliga- tion to the rules of virtue, will be as much superseded apd over- powered by this same principle of self-love and self-felicitation, as that which arises from the fitness of things : And thus, if God' be not a .rewarder of virtue, Philedon will be indulged in all manner of pleasant vices still ; though the known will of God forbids him. This objection, as plausible as it appears, I think maybe answered these two ways : I. The will of God in commanding virtue, and thewill of God to reward it, ought never to'be sepa- rated. The equity and goodness of God joined together, incline him to consult the happiness of his creatures, as well as his own honour, in the obligations which he lays upon them to virtue or piety. He has inseparably united our duty and our best interest : And, therefore, though the will of God, made known to man, is a just obligation on man to obey it; yet since God himself bath Mingled so intense and supreme a desire of happiness inour com- position, hewill provide-some satisfaction for it in the way of obe- dience or virtue. Since God has inwrought in our frame such active principles as hope and fear of gaining or losing this happi- ness, there is abundant reason, from the light of nature, to con- clude, that he did-not make all these supreme passions about hap- piness in vain; nor to obstruct our virtue, but to encourage and promote it ; and consequently that hewill be a rewarder, as well as a commander of it. If St. Paul may be cited here, he is of the same mind ; Heb. xi. 6. He that cometh unto God, that is, with a holy reso- solution to do his will, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarderof those echo diligently seek him. To live a life of obe- dience to God's will, and trust in his goodness, with the faith and hope of divine rewards, this is the general idea of the religion of man both before and since the fall, both natural and revealed ; Do this, and thoushalt lire : Repent, and your sins shall be-blot- ted out : Believe, and obey the gospel, and thou shalt be saved.
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