43$ STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS or HUMAN REASON. the gospel of insufficiency too. I might argue concerning the scripture and the religion of Christ, that it does not provide suf- ficient motivesto virtue and goodness, because the bulk and mul- titude, even in christian nations, are not influenced by it, either to learn or to practise their duty, but are carried away perpetu- ally into viciouscourses by appetite and passion, by sinful custom andevil companions, andutter forgetfulness of God, and all that is good. Pith. But you must still allow, Sir, that the christian reve lation has á vast preference above the mere principle of human reason, in that its motives aremore pamerons and more powerful beyond all comparison. And if the motives to religion, which our reasoning powers can propose, may be called sufficient to equal, or rather to exceed all temptations to vice and impiety, because in the balance of reason they appear more weighty, then the principles and motives of christianity must be more abun- dantly sufficient, because with an infinite superabundance, they outweighall the temptations of flesh and sin, when put into the same balance of reason. And, on the other hand, if the mo- tives of the gospel, 'numerous and powerful as they are, prove ineffectual to many thousands- that hear them, surely the motives of mere reason, which are much fewer and feebler, are very in- sufficient in comparison with those of revelation. In the third place, let it be observed, that there are large and considerable numbers of mankind, in all ages, who have been effectually in- fluenced by the gospel to renounce every vice, and to practise piety toward God, and virtue toward men, and especially where the christian religion bas appeared in its full liberty and lustre. But any numbers of truly pious and religious men are not to be heard óf among the most polite nations of heathenism. How shamefully vicious in practice were many of the philosophers of greatest fame, if the report of Diogenes Laertins, and others, may be erèdited ? How very few of them lived according to the light of nature, and the eternal rules of piety and virtue? But what if here and there a good man or two has been found in heathen countries,,where knowledge flourished, such as Italy or Greece, Or the lesser Asia, in ancient times ? Perhaps in our age, in Great Britain thereare fifty to one, and it maybe more than a hundred ; and if we should compare the numbers of religions persons in the British isles, with those of Africa or North-Ame- rica, I have some rea.sou to think the proportion would exceed several thousands to 'one. Loe. 'then, my friend, according to your own argument, if themotives and obligations of christianity are proved to be suffi- cient to enforce the practice of religion, and to conduct a man to heaven, bee.ause they have been found effectual and successful in the hearts of some hundreds or thousands, I think I may make
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