SERM. perhaps fome may complain that the condiIII. tion of mankind is unhappy, that they are capable of it. Why were not we, by our very conftitution, fecured against such a danger? why was not the eye ' of the foul fo made, that it could not become evil? the light of conscience fo ftrong and clear that it could not be obfcured, or perverted? In other words, why were we made fuch frail and imperfect creatures? But, * Who art thou, O Man! that repliest against. God, fall the thing form'd fay to him that form'd it, why haft thou made me thus?. Et would have you first of all to be thoroughly fenfible that the fact is fo; I mean, that there is a poffibility, nay and a danger of your being thus felf-deceived, and falling into fuch darkness, that you may be thorougly follicitous But, it is the perverfe and fro ward way of men, that they will not feafonably be aware of their danger; and then when they actually fall into it, they lay the fault to their maker. I fhall not, at prefent, enter on the vindication of God's goodness in the frame of our nature and the condition of

to avoid it.

trial he has appointed for us. I will only fuggeft,

*Rom. ix. 20.

fuggeft, that there feems to be very little SERM. ground of complaint that we are liable to a III. danger, for escaping which, we are furnished with fo fufficient means, a danger from which plain honesty of heart would effectually preserve us, which must appear both reafonable and eafy, if any thing can be called fo. Will a man complain of being deluded, who chufes his own delufion, who forfakes the natural guide God has given him, and reverfes the order of his nature by voluntarily exalting into a fupremacy what the least attention to his own frame would fhew him ought always to be in fubjection? and ftill lefs handle of complaint have chriftians against their Lord as a fevere mafter, fince they enjoy fo many additional advantages, fuch excellent means of attaining to, and preferving integrity, for preventing their being led into destructive darkness and errors, and thereby fecuring their eternal happiness.

The 3d obfervation is concerning the means whereby this fatal difeafe of the mind and error of the judgment is contracted and confirmed. Tho' the real prevailing caufe is the corruption of the heat, yet there must be fome plaufible pretences and falfe colours that men's minds may be effectually darkened..

SERM. For, the understanding muft have fome ap-
III. pearance of truth, that it may give its affent

in any degree, and particularly, a bad moral
object must be difguifed, that the eye of the
foul may not difcern its turpitude. One in-
stance of this kind, is a false imagination,
that fomething different from true moral
piety and virtue, as they appear to the mind
in their genuine fimplicity, will answer the
ends of them, and make amends for defects
in them, rendering men acceptable to God.
It is first of all fuppofed, and we eafily come
into it, that the end of all religion is pleafing
the deity. It is then infinuated, that the
ftrict obfervance of fome pofitive appoint-
ments will certainly please him; while it is
not confidered what the voice of reafon, as
well as fcripture, would convince us of, if
we attended to it, that morally good disposi-
tions and actions are, to this purpose, not
only of equal, but vaftly fuperior neceffity
and importance. This is the evil of fuper-
ftition; placing religion in the things wherein
it does not confift, or which are of little or no
moment to its ends. It is what experience shews
us men have always been eafily led into, Hea-
thens, Jews and Chriftians; and nothing has
been more fuccefsful in blinding the eyes of

their understandings and corrupting their mo- SERM. ral judgment. What impurities, wickedness, III. and barbarities, have been committed in the world, while men thought they were doing God service; at least, fondly imagined they fufficiently reconciled themfelves to him by ceremonies of their own invention, or by complying with merely external observances which were originally of divine inftitution, but never intended by their author to be fubftituted in the room of the weightier matters of his law?

But, though fuperftition be one great 'means of felf-deceit in matters of religion, of vitiating the eye of the mind, or corrupting the practical moral judgment; it is not the only one. Some men who have the juftest notions of religion, placing it not in forms and ceremonies, but in righteousness, temperance, godliness, and charity, yet commit the most grievous trefpaffes against fome of those virtues, ftill flattering themselves that their ftate is good, at least, that they fhall escape with impunity, and at last die the death of the righteous. In order to this, fuch is the deceitfulness of fin, that even vice itself puts on the falfe appearance of virtue. Thus, extravagance is reprefented to the deluded F 4 ima

SERM. imagination of the finner as generofity; amIII. bition as a laudable greatness of spirit; and covetoufnefs paffes for prudent frugality; and generally men are deluded into real wickedness, at least, support themselves in it, by the false disguise of fomething praife worthy. But if this be too palpable an abfurdity to pass upon the minds of men, as in many cafes it is, their next shift is to leffen their favourite vices into tolerable infirmities. It is a principle generally received, and if rightly understood, it is a true one, that fome failures will always cleave to us while we are in this imperfect ftate; there is not a juft man that liveth upon the earth and finneth not; but the error lies in diminishing a wilful fin, even habitually indulg'd, fo as to make it pafs with the deluded mind for fuch a weakness as is confiftent with fincerity in the main, which certainly is an inftance of the groffeft partiality. To this is added, as partly, an excufe wherewith men hide from their own eyes the malignity of their tranfgreffions, that temptations are very violent, and their own ability to refift but finall; they are frail creatures; and this is charg'd to the fcore of nature which made them fo, or of providence which placed them

* Ecclef vii. 20.