THE HARMONY OI' ALL THE RELIGIONS Which God ever prescribed to Men, and all his Dispensations towards them. tuntooUCTION. L THE public dispensations of God towards men, are those wise and holy constitutions of his will and government, reveal- ed or some way manifested to them, in the several successive periods or ages of the world, wherein are contained the duties which he expects'from men, and the blessings which he promi- ses, or encourages them to expect from him, here or hereafter ; together with the sins which he forbids, and the punishments which he threatens to inflict on such sinners: Or, the dispensa- tions of God may be described more briefly, as the appointed moral rules of God's dealing with mankind, considered as rea- sonablecreatures, and as accountable to him for their behaviour, both in this world and that which is to come. Eachof these dis- pensations of God may be represented as different religions, or, at least, as different forms of religion, appointed for men in the several successive ages of the world. II. Hence it comes to pass, that in describing the several religions of men, or the public dispensations of God, we do not so much enter into his eternal designs, or the secret and inward transactions of his grace, eitherwith, or concerning the children ofmen, in order to bring them into hiscovenant of grace, nor do we search into his early and divine transactions with Christ Je- sus, his Son, in the covenant of redemption, in order to the sal- vation of men : But it is sufficient, here, to set forth the out- ward discoveries of God's mind and will to men, in his public government of the universe, or those several constitutions by which he will either justify and reward, or condemn and punish mankind, as he is their supreme Lord and Judge. These are the things most properly signified by his dispensations towards men, and which I propose as mypresent theme. III. We must here takenotice, in the first place, that natu- ral religion, or that religionwhich arises from the nature of God and men, and from their relations to God and one another, runs through every one of these dispensations, whether in a state of innocency,.or after the fall. And wheresoever divine revelation or the scripture hath not given man positive, express and par. tieular notice of his duty, there the light of nature or reason must be supposed to comein both beforeand after the fallof man,
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