e Nq so tnsolento, we think of thud h reigns three r, and the thúkb bories all thahn almost to helot e idolatries, Otte e been spreadthhe wicked and rids the greatest pan; told put sert ids 't Caoiaeæ ioeness, the sen iWised and pais des in thosemm cati eve beblÍ and hiswoeh und evenmoot v believe iinsd, \Isker, thattb<di , as his ori;iadr their duty to Gd, toihairfelloaeto dices of fraud ati innumerable ion trough the gib wrath and an! vagantes of aim eace and tpasj tes and minhtd araetised ameog Ivey mademI him, by Ihata take a sorrel and druakeoO lankness; fdtt uess; tinaallycomm sl portug51a0.d of !modem, aawho a, e 00íbr0ad; QUESTION f. '219 still imagine that mankind is a race of beings, who abide in their own native and original state, such as they came from the hands of their Maker ? Shall itbe said in opposition to this view of things, that it is not the greatest part of mankind that are so shamefully ignorant and so abominably vile ? I answer, That in matters of religion the greatest part of the world are gross idolaters ; they adore the souls of the dead for gods, or they worship the sun and moon; or beasts, birds, images, naines, fabled gods, stocks and stones, or any thing but the true God : They neither know their Maker, nor love, nor worship him. There are many whole nations that practise abominable vices by general custom and consent, by the approbation of their wise men, and by long tradition, if not by the authority of their laws. 'Phis has been abundantly demonstrated by learned writers of the present age, both from the modern travels of the inquisitive, and from ancient histories, when they would shew in what need mankind stood of a divine revelation. In matters of morality, though the bulk of mankind are not guilty of the 'very vilest crimes with regard to their fellow- creatures, ,yet if we consider the numerous corrupt inclinations and sinful passions that sway all the world, the lesser vices and irregularities that work and run through the hearts and lives even of the best and most civilizedparts of the universe ; if we observe the strangeblindness of the understandings of men in divine things, the unfaithfulness of conscience, the unwillingness to know any 'mortifying and self-denying truths and duties, the general" prevalence of appetite and sinful desires over the powers and the rides of reason, and that not only among the unthink- ing multitude, but even where reason is consulted and makes its feeble remonstrances ; if we consider the universal disorder among the faculties of mankind ; and the violation of that har- mony and order wherein consists innocence, virtue and peace : If we add to all this heap of confusion, their general thought. lessness and disregardof God, and their gross defects in bene- volence to their neighbours, it will appear plain enough, that there is not one upon earth that is truly righteous and without sin; and it is more abundantly evident, that mankind are far from a state of innocence and perfect virtue : They are fallen from God, and have lost that likeness to their Maker, and that love of him, and those principles of universal virtue which doubtless were implanted in them by so wise, so righteous, so kind, and benevolent a Creator. That far the greatest number of men are evil, or greatly criminal, was a known sentiment of the ancients. The wiser and more considerate heathens saw and bewailed it, though they knew not how to account for it. os 7fiatf9YsÇ %Cf1t0k, most men are wicked, was,the sentence of a Greek
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