504 STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS er HUMAN REASON. ful and rebellious race of creatures, if he has taught one genera- tion the way to recover his favour and happiness, and has wrought this principle not only into the powers of their reason, but even into their animal natures, that parents should take care of the welfare of their offspring, and should teach them the rules of duty and felicity ? Seventhly, suppose again, that notwithstanding all this care and goodness of the blessed God in revealing his laws, and his grace, that mankind by degrees have corrupted themselvesagain, and run into such an universal'practice of impiety and vice, that God has manifested his indignation against their sins, and their neglect of religion, by an universal destruction of their whole race, excepting a few families. Suppose he has taught. religion afresh to these few families who were saved from the universal punishment and desolation, and impressed a deep sense of his justice, and of the evil of sin, upon their minds, by this spread- ing ruin of their fellow-creatures : Suppose he has given further assurances of his grace and goodness, that if they repent, and do his will, and trust in his mercy, according to the methods he prescribed, they should be saved : yet after all, in some succes- sive generations, the greatest part of them corrupt themselves again, and grow rebels against their Maker : What shall be said in a way of vindication or apology for such a race of criminals, who are neither to be kept in their duty by examples of venge- ance or discoveries of grace ? What is there can reasonably be alledged by way of accusation against the justice and goodness of the great God, if he leave them to perish in their wilful igno- rance and rebellion : While I have been representing this matter, Logisto, while I have been shewing the repeated discoveries of grace and duty made to all mankind, I know you are so well acquainted with the bible, that your thoughts must needs run upon the grace mani- fested to Adam and Eve after their first sin, when God taught them sacrifices, and without doubt, promised them pardon and peace, and gave them intimations of a Saviour and salvation, in much plainer language, and greater variety, than the short his- tory of Moses can be supposed to contain in a page or two in the book of Genesis : And I doubt not but when I speak of some universal vengeance destroying sinful man, and of a second re- velation of grace made to all mankind, who were saved out of the general destruction of the world, you readily apprehend the the four couple of persons saved out of the general deluge in the ark, that is, Noah, with his three sons, and all their wives: And yet, even after all these instances of vengeance and grace, man - kind grew most abominably ignorant, corrupt, and profligate, vicious, and profane, in most of the familiesof the world, Now is the blessed God bound in every age of mankind to
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