ed. The Question then is, against what Law thofe Offences were committed, the Repentance for which was fo neceffary, that without it there was no Admittance into the Fellowship of the Gofpel of Chrift? The Laws of the Gofpel, confidered as fuch, are evidently excluded upon the prefent View; for Repentance being the first thing every where taught, and antecedently to the Publication of any of the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel, the Law not yet published could not be the Rule of that Repentance, which related to Sins already committed. At the Time of the Publication of the Gospel, there were many Forms and Inftitutions of Religion fubfifting in the World; but as these were very different from one another, infomuch that if fome were true, others were certainly false; fo they could not be the Ground of that Repentance, which being generally taught to all the World,to the Gentile as well as the Jew, muft refpect fome general Law, which related alike to all, and the Obligations to which were in fome Degree univerfally felt and acknowledged: and this can be no other than that which the Apostle to the Romans has described in the ii. Chap. 14 and 15 Ver. when the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by Nature the Things contained in the Law, thefe having not the Law, are a Law unto themselves: which shew the Work of the Law written in their Hearts, their Confcience alfo bearing Witness, and their thoughts the mean while

Accu

accufing or elfe excufing one another. However the light of Reafon and Nature was darkned and obfcured by the Ignorance and Superfti tion of the World, yet fome Remains of it were in all Places to be found; and the general Principles of Religion were fo rivitted in humane Nature, that he could not but ftart at any Thing that directly contradicted them: Thus, for Inftance, in the great Branch of natural Religion, which relates to the Worship and Service of God, tho' Mankind had univerfally erred and defiled themfelves with many Pollutions and Abominations, yet Atheism was as detefted a Crime in the Heathen World, as it is in the Chriftian and fome, we know, were thought worthy of Death, for being the Maintainers of fo unnatural an Opinion. A Senfe of the moral Duties between Man and Man was better preserved; and there are not many Vices condemned in the Gofpel, which were not infamous before in all the civiliz'd Parts of the World. This general Law, as the Apoftle tells us, was the Ground-work of Confcience, the Teftimony of the Confcience plainly fhewing the Work of the Law to be written in the Heart; and this is a further Evidence, that this Law of Nature was the Foundation of that Repentance, which was to ufher in the Gofpel; for as the Preacher of Repentance neceffarily refers himself to the Confciences of Men, to point out to

:

them the Guilt of their Actions; so must his Doctrine neceffarily relate to that Law, which is the Principle or Origin of Confcience fince then the Doctrine of Repentance," with which the Gofpel fet out in the World,' had reference to the Law of Reason and Nature, against which Men had every where offended; and fince Repentance infers the Neceffity of a future Reformation, and a Return to that Duty and Obedience, from which by Tranfgreffion we are fallen the Confequence is manifeftly this, that the Gospel was a Republication of the Law of Nature, and its Precepts declarative of that original Religion, which was as old as the Creation.

That this muft certainly be the Cafe, will appear, by confidering the Nature of the Thing in it felf. The Notions of Good and Evil are eternally and unalterably the fame, which Notions are the Rules and Measures of all Moral Actions, and are confequently neceffary and conftituent Parts of Religion and therefore if the Religion of Nature, in her primitive State, was pure and uncorrupt, (which will not, I prefume, be denied) tho' there was fufficient Reafon for a Republication of it, because of the great Ignorance and Superftition which had grown upon the World, yet there could be no Reafon for any Alteration of it; for though the World was the worfe for abafing

the

the Religion of Nature, and might want to be reformed by a divine Inftructor; yet the Religion of Nature was not the worse for being abused, but ftill retain'd its first Purity and Simplicity. The Duties of Religion, confidered as a Rule of Action, flow from the Relation we bear to God, and to one another; and Religion muft ever be the fame, as long as thefe Relations continue unaltered: If our firft Parent was the Creature of God, fo are we; and whatever Service and Duty he owed, in Virtue of this Dependance, the fame is due from us ; nor can this Relation be ever made the Ground of different Duties in his Cafe, and in ours; If therefore Nature rightly instructed him at first how to ferve his Maker, our Obligations being the fame with his, our Rule muft be the fame alfo. The Cafe is the fame with Respect to the Duties owing from Man to Man and it would be as reasonable to fuppofe, that the three Angles of a Triangle fhould be equal to two right ones in one Age, and unequal in another, as to fuppofe that the Duties of Religion fhould differ in one Age, from what they were in another, the Habitudes and Relations from which they flow continuing always the fame.

That the Cafe is in Fact what I have reprefented it to be, might be fhewn from the particular Laws of the Gofpel, and their Dependance,

Dependance, from the Maxims and Princi ples of natural Religion: But this would be rather the Work of a Volume, than a Sermon I will content my felf therefore with one general Proof, which reaches to every Part of the Chriftian Doctrine, and yet will not lead me beyond the Bounds to which I am confined. Our Saviour, in the 5th of St. Matthew, tells us, that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil them": what his meaning was, he fufficiently explain'd in the following Part of his Sermon on the Mount; in which, laying down firft the old Law, he fhewed in every Inftance wherein the true Perfection of that Vertue confifted which the Law required. The Law 'forbad Murder and Adultery, our Lord declares, that not only the immoral Actions, known by thofe Names, were reftrain'd, but even the internal Corruptions of Heart from which they flowed; and extends the Prohibition to Hatred and to Luft, one the Parent of Murder, the other of Adultrey. Since then our Lord fo fully declares that his Furpofe was to perfect and compleat the Law and the Prophets, it remains to be confidered, what Notion he had of the Law and of the Prophets; In the xxii of St. Matthew, the Queftion was put to him by a Lawyer: Which is the great Commandment in the Law? Our Saviour anfwers, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy

Heart,