because it is the great Rule of fuch Men, that they may lawfully follow the Dictates of Nature, where-ever their Safety, Health, and Fortune are not injured. So that, upon the Whole, there is hardly one Vice which a meer moral Man may not, upon fome Occafions, allow himself to practife.

fet up

The other falfe Principle, which fome Men in the Place of Confcience, to be their Director in Life, is what those who pretend to it, call Honour.

This Word is often made the Sanction of an Oath; it is reckoned a great Commendation to be a Man of ftrict Honour; and it is commonly understood, that a Man of Honour can never be guilty of a bafe Action. This is ufually the Stile of military Men; of Perfons with Titles; and of others who pretend to Birth and Quality. It is true, indeed, that in ancient Times, it was univerfally understood, that Honour was the Reward of Virtue; but if fuch Honour, as is now-a-days going, will not permit a Man to do a bafe Action, it must be allowed, there are very few fuch Things as bafe Actions in Nature. No Man of Honour, as that Word is ufually understood, did ever pretend that his Honour obliged him to be chafte or temperate; to pay his Creditors; to be useful to his Country; to do good to Mankind; to endeavour to be wife or learned; to - regard his Word, his Promife, or his Oath; or, if he hath any of thefe Virtues, they were

never learned in the Catechism of Honour which containeth but two Precepts, the punctual Payment of Debts contracted at Play, and the right understanding the feveral Degrees of an Affront, in order to revenge it by the Death of an Adversary.

But fuppofe this Principle of Honour, which fome Men fo much boast of, did really produce more Virtues than it ever pretended to; yet, fince the very Being of that Honour dependeth upon the Breath, the Opinion, or the Fancy of the People, the Virtues derived from it could be of no long or certain Duration, For Example: Suppofe a Man, from a Principle of Honour, fhould refolve to be juft, or chafte, or temperate, and yet the cenfuring World should take a Humour of refusing him those Characters, he would then think the Obligation at an End; or, on the other Side, if he thought he could gain Honour by the falsest and vileft Actions, (which is a Cafe that very often happeneth) he would then make no Scruple to perform it. And God knoweth, it would be an unhappy State, to have the Religion, the Liberty, or the Property of a People lodged in fuch Hands, which, however, hath been too often the Cafe.

What I have faid upon this Principle of Honour may, perhaps, be thought of small Concernment to moft of you who are my Hearers; however, a Caution was not altogether unneceffary, fince there is nothing by which not

U 4

only

only the Vulgar, but the honeft Tradefman, hath been fo much deceived, as this infamous Pretence to Honour in too many of their Bet

ters.

Having thus fhewn you the Weakness and Uncertainty of thofe Principles which fome Men fet up in the Place of Confcience to direct them in their Actions, I fhall now endeavour to prove to you, that there is no folid, firm Foundation of Virtue, but in a Confci-. ence directed by the Principles of Religion.

There is no Way of judging how far we may depend upon the Actions of Men, otherwife than by knowing the Motives and Grounds, and Caufes of them; and, if the Motives of our Actions be not refolved and determined into the Law of God, they will be precarious and uncertain, and liable to perpetual Changes. I will fhew you what I mean, by an Example: Suppofe a Man thinketh it his Duty to obey his Parents, because Reason telleth him fo, because he is obliged by Gratitude, and because the Laws of his Country command him to do fo; But, if he stoppeth here, his Parents can have no lafting Security; for an Occafion may happen, wherein it may be extremely his Intereft to be disobedient, and where the Laws of the Land can lay no hold upon him: Therefore, before fuch a Man can safely be trusted, he muft proceed farther, and confider, that his Reafon is the Gift of God; that God commanded him to be obedient to

the

the Laws; and did moreover, in a particular Manner, enjoin him to be dutiful to his Parents; after which, if he layeth a due Weight upon those Confiderations, he will probably continue in his Duty to the End of his Life: Because no earthly Interest can ever come in Competition to balance the Danger of offending his Creator, or the Happiness of pleafing him. And of all this his Confcience will certainly inform him, if he hath any Regard to Religion.

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SECONDLY, Fear and Hope are the two greatest natural Motives of all Men's Actions but neither of these Paffions will ever put us in the Way of Virtue, unless they be directed by Conscience. For although virtuous Men do fometimes accidentally make their Way to Preferment, yet the World is fo corrupted, that no Man can reasonably hope to be rewarded in it, merely upon Account of his Virtue, And confequently, the Fear of Punishment in this Life, will preferve Men from very few Vices, fince fome of the blackest and basest do often prove the fureft Steps to Favour; fuch as Ingratitude, Hypocrify, Treachery, Malice, Subornation, Atheism, and many more which human Laws do little concern themfélves about. But when Confcience placeth before us the Hopes of everlasting Happiness, and the Fears of everlasting Misery, as the Reward and Punishment of our good or evil Actions, our Reason can find no Way to avoid

the

the Force of fuch an Argument, otherwife than by running into Infidelity.

LASTLY, Confcience will direct us to love God, and to put our whole Trust and Confidence in him. Our Love of God will infpire us with a Deteftation for Sin, as what is of all Things moft contrary to his divine Nature; and, if we have an entire Confidence in him, that will enable us to fubdue and despise all the Allurements of the World.

It may here be objected, If Confcience be fo fure a Director to us Chriftians in the Conduct of our Lives, how cometh it to pass, that the ancient Heathens, who had no other Lights but those of Nature and Reafon, fhould fo far. Exceed us in all manner of Virtue, as plainly appeareth by many Examples they have left on Record?

To which it may be answered: First, those Heathens were extremely ftrict and exact in the Education of their Children; whereas, amongst us, this Care is fo much laid afide, that the more God hath bleffed any Man with Eftate or Quality, juft fo much less in Proportion is the Care he taketh in the Education of his Children, and particularly of that Child which is to inherit his Fortune; of which the Effects are visible enough among the Great Ones of the World. Again, those Heathens did, in a particular Manner, inftil the Principle into their Children of loving their Country; which is fo far otherwise now-a-days, that of

the