enjoyment men have of dishoneft gain, he would be content to be lefs rich and more happy. The ambition of Alexander, of Cæfar, or of Charles the twelfth of Sweden, would have been restrained, if they could have seen the whole progrefs and termination of their fchemes.

1. Now religion both extends the forefight of man, and puts him under the direc tion of a being whofe forefight is greater than that of any man. When a man lofes his natural parent, and guide, religion fupplies him with another, fuperior in all respects to the former. By religion he puts himself under the direction of the Supreme Being, his true parent and best friend, on whose wisdom he may always rely, and in whofe guidance he is fure to find happiness. Any rule of life and conduct drawn up by men like ourselves may be erroneous, being founded on imperfect views of things. The beft parent may err in the management of his favourite child, whofe welfare he has moft at heart. But the great Being who made man can never err. The obfervance of his precepts must lead to happiness; and the full perfuafion of this, which religion cannot fail to give us, puts an

end to all doubt and uncertainty about what we ought to do, fuperfeding our own judgment, and filencing all the evasions of paffion and prejudice. And this alone is a circumftance of unspeakable advantage.

A perfon bent upon any particular gratification, however criminal, will make a thoufand apologies for the innocence, and perhaps the public utility, of it, which his own reason, biaffed, of course, by inclination, might never be able to see the fallacy of; which however the authority of an acknowledged master will filence at once. What has not the ingenuity of libertines pleaded in favour not only of fornication, but even of adultery; and by what fpecious names have thofe grofs offences against the order, the decency, and peace of society been not only covered from ignominy, but even recommended, as indications of a man's fpirit, as a fource of real pleasure to fome, and only an imaginary injury to others? How many perfons have actually made their boast of actions of other kinds for which they deserved to be banished from all civilized fociety? How has murder itself, in the form of a duel, and in fome countries in that of private affaffination, been more than juftified, from false notions

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tions of honour, the fuppofed dignity of revenge, and the meannefs of fubmitting to infults and wrongs?

We fee that men who have no belief in religion, actually commit these crimes, and indeed any other, without remorfe. But this can never be the cafe where there is a principle of religion, where it is really believed that the authority of the Supreme Being has interpofed, and exprefsly, as by a voice from heaven, abfolutely forbidden the practices above mentioned, how ingeniously foever apologized for; faying to man, Thou shalt not commit murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not fleal, &c. &c.

2. Many perfons, influenced by regard to their reputation, will refrain with fufficient care from fuch actions as they know would dishonour them in the opinion of their fellowcreatures; but without a sense of religion they would feel little or no remorfe in committing any crime with respect to which they had no fufpicion of being detected and expofed. Religion is a guard against even fecret vices. The belief that nothing is concealed from the eye of God, that he fees what man cannot fee, difcerning even the thoughts and inclinations

of the heart, will make a man as careful not to offend in private as in public. When the eye of man is not upon him, he well knows there is an eye that always fees him, and that though he might escape the cenfure of man, he has no means of escaping the righteous judgment of God.

Not only public cenfure, but other punishments, often fail to be inflicted on the guilty in this world. A man, therefore, who has no belief in another, may be tempted to risk a great deal with a reasonable profpect of impunity. For of the many crimes that are committed in human fociety, only a few are actually punished. But this avails nothing to a believer in religion, and a future ftate. He knows that there is a day coming in which God will judge the world in righteousness, and that no vice, though undetected, and unpunished, here, will efcape animadverfion and punishment hereafter.

Many offenders escape punishment in this world by means of their power, as well as their addrefs. The rich and the great have, in too many cafes, little to fear from the most flagrant violations of juftice with respect to the poor, who are without money and with

out

out friends; and the kings and tyrants of the earth, to gratify their revenge, their luft of power, or mere caprice, ravage whole nations, and introduce an incalculable mafs of mifery among their fellow-creatures, without the most distant apprehenfions of suffering in their own perfons in confequence of it. But all this ends with the present scene. In the future the greatest monarchs will appear on a footing with the meaneft of rational beings. No wealth or power will be of any avail then, and the knowledge of this may well be fupposed to restrain men from those violences and oppreffions of which they now are the authors. Thus is religion a powerful auxiliary of virtue, and thereby contributes to the good order and peace of fociety, as well as to the regulation of the private paffions, and the happiness of individuals.

3. Religion is of no lefs ufe with refpect to the troubles of life, than the duties of it. That, with a great preponderance of happinefs (which fufficiently proves the goodness of God) there is a confiderable mixture of mifery in the world, is what no person who is at all acquainted with it, will deny. We need not adopt the melancholy despairing language

of