stifle them even in their Birth We may also affirm that it comprehends all in one word and that our Saviour by giving this Command thou shalt not Covet its full extent and so carefully enjoyning the Purity of the Heart and Conscience in opposition to the false Gloss and Interpretation of the Scribes and Pharisees who neglected the Inside and took care only to keep the Outside clean has established the true Principle of our Sanctification which few People were before acquainted with and none put themselves to any great trouble or enquiry to find out V. And this is another divine Character of the Christian Morality that in two words it establishes the Principle of all Christian Virtues A little knowledge of Mans Heart will teach us that self-Self-love ascribes every thing to it self and prefers us before God to whose Glory all our Actions should tend as to their common Center It sacrifices every thing to it self It desires every thing and blindly led astray by its own Inclinations seeks even those things that are contrary to its own good All its Motions are but so many Mediums to this End so many eager Wishes for what is not its own so many Transports for Glory or Pleasure its greatest Object so many secret Steps to attain them or so many Hypocritical Self-denials whose chief End is to carry that by surprize which they seemingly refuse Whether the Body wallows in voluptuousness or whether there is such a false pleasure in Pride as obscures the Light of the Understanding and casts a Mist before the Soul whether Interest makes us steal or Hipocrisy teaches us to over reach People or Ambition makes us attempt to gain what is not our own Give things what Name you please both Virtues and Vices in the Hearts of Worldly-minded Men are but so many Means which self-Self-love makes them interchangably use to carry on their Interest What then is to be done to reform these Irregularities and establish a Principle of Virtue as true and equitable as Self-love the Spring of them is impure and corrupt Oblige Men only to love God above all things For as the Preference of our Selves before God is as it were the Source and Spring of all Vices so without doubt the Preference of God before our Selves will give life and rise to all other Virtues The Love of God will reform all the Irregularities of Self-love which will be no more culpable in ascribing every thing to it self when we shall dedicate and give up our Selves our Thoughts and Actions to God Self-love will no longer be blindly ignorant of its true Interest which consists in carefully pleasing him from whom we have received all things A Man can't love God without delighting to reflect upon him nor reflect upon him without humbling himself before him He that loves God will certainly raise himself above his Passions disdain to indulge every vitious Inclination of his Heart and by living conformably to the Divine Will in all Justice and Temperance endeavour to be like that perfect Deity whose bright Image he bears Thus we see what solid Virtues proceed from the love of God But how comes it that Christ made so happy a Choice and had so good Success in establishing the Foundation of his Morality VI. To be satified in this and be assured of his Success we need only follow the Notions his Morality gives us of Virtue to attain to the true Principle of Happiness Men had too long in vain expected the happy conjunction of two things which Nature and Reason tell us ought to have been joyned together And because they had no solid Virtue therefore had they no real Felicity Their Happiness was answerable to their imaginary Virtues and as those Virtues were but a Compound of Pride so their Felicity was but a false vain Joy pleasing yet empty overcoming and deluding the Senses but not satisfying the Mind And this Brutus himself freely owned at his Death But the Satisfaction we reap from the Christian Morality is excellently suited to the Solidity of those Virtues it prescribes and the Spirit of Holiness is the Essential Principle of our Felicity In following the way to Virtue which Christ has set down we follow also that which leads us to Happiness If we take away Concupiscence we cut off a fruitful Source of Misery and remove an infinite number of Cares and Troubles which tend to that as to their Center If we love God as we ought we shall take as much pleasure in the Advancement of his Glory in the Contemplation of his infinite Perfections and Felicity as if we possessed them all our selves We shall delight as much in the Contemplation of the Beauty and Magnificence of the World as a Son in the sight of the Greatness and noble Magnificence of his Father's Possessions The Glory of God will then be our Glory his Advantages will seem to be ours and by making him the fole Object of our Love we shall at last be made partakers of his infinite Felicity Reason and Experience teach us that these are most undeniable Truths For since Experience assures us that he who loves any Object derives his Satisfaction from the knowledge of it a Man must doubtless necessarily be happy in loving God since he finds in that single Object every thing that is capable of supplying his Necessities He lives securely because he relies upon God He fears not the loss of any thing knowing that every thing passes away but that God alone remains always the same The consideration of futurity disturbs him not in the least because God abideth for ever He delights in Solitariness because he has thereby the greater opportunity to entertain himself with God He is not dejected with Fear or Despair at any Afflictions looking upon them as so many fatherly Chastisements or Trials of his Patience which all conduce to his Welfare and Preservation He is certain that he shall possess Joy and Immortality because he knows that all those things are eminently in God Turn the Matter which way you please it is impossible for us to love God without being intirely pleased and thus delighted with him which we cannot be without a full and entire Satisfaction such a one as those Men have who think they want for nothing and that they have found comprehended in one Object whatever they could desire It is therefore certain that the Idea of our Duty leads us to the very Principle of Happiness a clear Demonstration of the Justness of that Duty and an undeniable Proof that the Morality which so recommends it to our practice and observance must necessarily be pure sound and true VII But 't is not sufficient that the Measure of Virtue which Christ prescribes us as the Foundation of the Law and the Gospel should be the Measure of the particular Happiness of every individual Person it farther establishes the Prosperity and Welfare of publick Society and by a happy Privilege it has above all other Virtues it causes
Spiritual benefits than any miraculous Gifts altho the latter are more transcendent in the Eyes of Men than the former Vers 41 42. And Jesus answered and said unto her Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is needful And Mary has chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her Did ever a deceiver or a Man whose mind was set upon this World express himself after this manner Chap. XI 27 28. And it came to pass a certain Woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked But he said yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it It was impossible for any one to flatter Christ For he having no regard to himself nor taking any pleasure in the satisfaction of other Men's inordinate desires had his whole Heart fixt upon God his Eyes his Ears were bent wholly upon his service and his sole Felicity consisted in seeing his Father feared and adored Nothing could be pleasant nothing acceptable to him but true Piety And that because God was the Center of all his Actions and the love of him was as it were the Spring that gave motion to all his desires and affections So great was his Behaviour and so sublime his Thoughts Vers 40 41. Ye fools did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also But rather give alms of such things as ye have and behold all things are clean unto you The Pharisees contended only for outward and corporeal Purity but Christ for that which is Spiritual and Internal Which think ye of the two knew best the Genius of true Religion Chap. XII But he said unto him man who made me a judge or a divider over you Christ utterly renounced all the cares and business of this World and would scarce hear them mentioned So strangely had he weaned his Thoughts from the World Vers 30 31. For all these things do the Nations of the World seek after and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things But rather seek the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you Christ designed to form a Society that should wholly consist of such Persons as were utterly to renounce the World and not busy their Thoughts about temporal concerns such as were to lose all their possessions and suffer all kinds of Punishments to be numbred among his Followers Did ever yet such a great and extraordinary design enter into any Man's Mind Chap. XIV 33. So likewise whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple A strange and terrible Declaration indeed which does not at all become a flattering Impostor Chap. XXIV 48 49 50 51 52 53 And ye are witnesses of these things And behold I send the promise of my Father but tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem until ye be endued with Power from on high And he led them out as far as to Bethany and he lift up his hands and blessed them And it came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great Joy And were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God In these words we find four several things worthy of our Reflexion 1. The Promise of the Holy Ghost 2. The Ascension of Christ 3. The Joy of the Apostles And 4. Their continual assiduity in praising God How could St. Luke have made his Brethren believe that Chrict had promised them the Gifts of the Holy Ghost that he ascended into Heaven in their sight that the Disciples were exceeding joyful and continued daily in the Temple praising and blessing God And if he could perswade none of them to believe it what could be his design in writing it How comes it to pass that they all suffered Martyrdom in defence of such an incredible Fiction St. JOHN Chap. I. 8 9. He was not that light but was sent to â—ear witness of that light That was the true light which â—ightneth every man that cometh into the World John was originally but a Fisherman who then could have infused these sublime Notions into his Mind Vers 14. And we beheld his glory the glory as of the â—nly begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth There plainly appears in this discourse the stedfast persuasion of a Man who had seen with his eyes what he testified and the fulness of an Understanding that was truly convinced of what he asserted nay the persuasion of an Author that thought no expression could be strong enough to utter what he thought and who united together several Ideas different from one another because a single Idea could not perfectly represent what he would say The word Glory was not sufficient of it self and therefore he further added a Glory full of Grace and Truth Chap. III. 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee ye must be born again What could be more extraordinary than this discourse And how strangely persuaded was he that spoke it that we must be entirely changed before we can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Vers 13. And no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven Certainly this Man spoke not like other Men whatever he says here seems either to be very extravagantly blasphemous or something above the sublimest Thoughts of Men. If then the purity of his Manners his Holiness of Life his short clear expressive Precepts that seem to savour of nothing but Piety and true Holiness together with the surprizing and wonderful effects of the Gospel force us to look upon the former part of the expression as Blasphemous we can't at the same time but believe the latter to be so too Vers 31. He that is of the Earth is earthly and speaketh of the Earth he that cometh from Heaven is above all Tho John the Baptist had not said this we might have known Christ by his own words to have been the Lord of Life come down from Heaven Chap. IV. But whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give shall never thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of Water springing up into everlasting Life These expressions are something more than humane Had Christ thought like other Men he would certainly have exprest himself so too But he thought no otherwise upon earthly things than as they serv'd to make us understand those that were Spiritual What ever he met with he made use of only for that design He seemed to live here upon Earth for no other purpose than to guide us in the way to Heaven To Fishermen he spoke of becoming Fishers of Men. To those who valued themselves upon their Birth he spoke of being born again When they spoke
the Paper it is written upon yet they are enjoyned to oppress Men that bear the Image of God by their Religion which breaths out nothing but Violence Fury and Oppression The Reason why Men usually refer thus every thing to their Senses is because a Worship that is corporeal and sensual is far more easie It is much easier for a Man to take the Sun for a God than to be continually taken up in seeking after a God that is invisible to solemnize Games and Festivals in honour of a pretended Deity than to renounce himself for the sake of a true one 'T is much easier for him to fast than to renounce his Vices to sing spiritual Songs or bow to a Statue than forgive his Enemies It appears then that the Christian Religion bears a more excellent Character in that it gives us for the Object of our Worship not a God under an human Shape but a God that is a Spirit in that it teaches us to honour him not with a carnal but a Spiritual Worship And this Christ himself has very elegantly told us in these Words God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth John 4. 24. Who could fill his Mind with such elevated Notions And how comes it that he so excellently sets down in that short Precept the Genius of true Religion of which Men before were wholly ignorant V. It may be said of all other Religions without Exception that they induce us to look after the Pleasures and Profits of the World in the Worship of God whereas the Christian Religion makes us glorify God by renouncing the World Thus the Heathens designing rather to please themselves than their Deities introduced into Religion whatever could any ways flatter and divert them And the Mahumatan Religion not being Incumbred with many Ceremonies at least affixes temporal Advantages to the Practice of its Worship as if the Pleasures of the World were to be the future Reward of Religion But certainly both of them are much mistaken for the Heathens should have known that the Worship of God consisted not in diverting and pleasing themselves and the Mahumetans should not have been ignorant that since temporal and worldly Advantages were insufficient in themselves to satisfy the boundless Desires of Man's Heart they could not come in Competition with those Benefits which true Religion had peculiarly designed for him But both these follow'd the Motions of self-Self-love which being naturally held in suspense between the World and Religion imagins that nothing can be more pleasant than to unite them both thinking thereby to reconcile its Inclination and Duty consecrate it's Pleasures and put no difference between Conscience and Interest But the first Rule of true Religion teaches us that that mutual Agreement is impossible or to use it 's own Words that Christ and Belial are incompatible one with the other that we must either glorify God at the expence of worldly Pleasures or possess the Advantages of the World with the Loss of our Religion And this certainly shews the Christian Religion to have a Divine Character VI. Other false Religions debase the Deity and exalt Man whereas the Christian Religion humbles Man and exalts the Deity The Egyptians a Nation that boasted so much of their Antiquity made Monsters of their Deities and the Romans made Deities of their Emperors who were rather Monsters than Men The most famous Philosophers were not ashamed to rank their Deities below themselves and themselves ever before Jupiter but the Christian Religion teaches us that we owe all to God who owes nothing at all to us It humbles us by the Consideration of that infinite Distance there is between God and us it shews that we are miserable despicable Creatures in comparison of God who is a Supream Being and only worthy our Love and Adoration Who then can chuse but admire so excellent a Religion VII Other Religions made us depend upon those Beings which were given us to command and saucily pretend a Power over that supream Being upon whom we ought wholly to depend They taught Men to burn Incense to the meanest Creatures and impudently to equal themselves to the Universal Monarch of the World But 't is no wonder that Men should be so impious as to desire to become Gods since they were so base as to forget that they were Men and yet how ill their Pride became them when they disdain'd not to submit to the four-footed Beasts to the Fowls of the Air the creeping Animals and Plants of the Earth as St. Paul reproaches them and how basely superstitious were they in that they were not content to Deify themselves but would also Deify their own Vices and Imperfections But the Christian Religion alone restores that equitable Order which ought to be establish'd in the World by submitting every thing to the Power of Man that he might submit himself to the Will of his God And what can be the Duty of true Religion but to restore such just and becoming Order in the World VIII We need no deep search into other Religions to find that they chiefly tend to flatter Men's corrupt Desires and efface those Principles of Justice and Vprightness which God has imprinted on their Minds But he that shall truly consider the Christian Religion will certainly find that it tends to the rooting up those corrupt Desires out of our Hearts and restoring those bright Characters of Honesty and Justice imprinted on our Minds by the hand of God The Heathens flattered their Passions to that degree as to erect Altars in Honour of them and Mahomet was so well pleas'd with temporal Prosperity that he made it the End and Reward of his Religion The Gnosticks imagined that when they had arrived to a certain degree of Knowledge which they called a State of Perfection they might commit all sorts of Actions without any Scruple of Conscience and that Sin which polluted others would be sanctified in them But what Blindness what Impiety was this How admirable is the Christian Religion which alone among all others shews us our own Wickedness and Corruption and heals it with such Remedies as are as wholsome to the Soul as unpleasing to the Body IX 'T is observable that other Religions are contrary to Policy either in favouring or restraining too much human Weakness and Corruption upon the Account of Policy Whereas the Christian Religion preserves it's Rights and Privileges inviolable independent from either The Pagan Religion was against Policy in giving too much to human Weakness and Corruption It would have been much better for the Good and Welfare of the State if Men had framed to themselves a greater Idea of the Holiness of their Gods because they would have been less licentious and more submissive to the Civil Laws whereas they were encourag'd by the Example of their Deities to violate the most sacred and inviolable Rights Mahomet desirous to avoid this Irregularity retain'd the Notion of a true
such a deep penetration of Mind and attempted to exalt Man above himself by infatuating him with the Conceits of his own Wisdom But God who knows best what Remedies are most proper for us has given us a Religion which satisfies the Heart without corrupting the Vnderstanding and enlarges the Vnderstanding without corrupting the Heart and that because it satisfies and yet mortifies it enlightens and yet confounds the Understanding If to the Understanding several great and sublime Truths are revealed it has not therefore any pretence to exalt it self because it knows that Knowledge to be above its Capacity and ows it only to Revelation If the Heart finds the Objects of Religion answerable to it's infinite Desires it has no reason to be puffed up by them because those Objects destroy its darling Passions and vitious Inclinations So that the only means to enlighten and at the same time humble our Understanding was to intermix some Obscurity with the Light of Revelation and the only way to satisfy the Heart and prevent its being puffed up was to qualify some sorrowful and mortifying Duties with the extraordinary Promises of the Gospel Thus the Severity of Christian Morality and the Obscurity of its Mysteries are two different means which God has made use of to enlighten the Understanding without puffing up the Heart and to satisfy the Desires of the Heart without flatering those Passions which corrupt the Understanding Which manifestly shews that the Christian Religion has not only the Divine Stamp upon it since it contains the true manner of reforming and regulating the Desires of Mans Heart but also that the Severity of the Christian Morality and the Difficulty of its Mysteries which shock the Incredulous most in the Principles of Christianity were purposely made use of by God in his eternal Wisdom as the most proper Means to sanctify Mankind which is the grand Design of the Christian Religion We have then here the Two most essential and most important parts of our Religion Its Morality and Mysteries The latter are necessary in respect of Faith and the former is the Rule of those Duties which God is pleased we shall perform as a Means to attain Everlasting Life It would be superfluous to lay down here at large what Doctrin or Precepts are contained in the Gospel because it has pleased God that we cannot pretend any Ignorance of them and besides 't is the Truth of Religion in general we are now treating of we are oblig'd to speak here only of Christian Morality and the Doctrin of Faith in general As for the Morality of Christ it has so many remarkable Characters that it is impossible to reflect upon any of them without immediatly acknowledging its Divinity For I. 'T is it seems a Paradox to the Senses to the Heart to the Mind and Nature of Man It was never before heard of or known that a Man must take up his Cross and think those Blessed that are poor in Spirit that mourn and are persecuted for Righteousness sake that we must love our Enemies and pray for them that shall revile and persecute us that we must not only comfort our selves in the midst of our Afflictions and Crosses but also rejoyce for being thus afflicted and esteem our Happiness and Glory the greater as our Sufferings are increased Men I say had never such Thoughts before and the Puradoxes of the Stoicks are nothing to these for here we find to our great surprize that a few poor Fishermen rustick in their Speech preach such Maxims abroad as are as far above the ordinary Capacity of the Understanding as they are contrary to the Affections and Inclinations of the Heart II. 'T is observable that Christian Morality seems to be a very sad and mortifying thing For it curbs and restrains all our Passions self-Self-love repines at it Voluptuousness can't endure it Pride is wholly humbled and mortified by it and those who seem to allow of it most cannot but privately hate it when ever their Hearts are engaged in any Passion It has been often observ'd that there have been Christians in all Ages who attempted to pervert the sense of it by putting such Glosses and Interpretations upon it as were more conformable to their Inclinations than to the Truth it self and by endeavouring to extirpate it at least indirectly when they durst not attempt it in a more open manner But let no man imagin that this Morality was offered to the World under any Disguise Christ who among so many other wonderful Characters of his Calling has a very remarkable one and that is never to flatter the loose Inclinations of Men plainly declares that whosoever will be thought his Disciple must pluck out his Eyes and cut off his Hands must hate himself deny himself nay even hate his own Soul c. Expressions which explain one another and certify us that the Pains and Torments the observers of his Morality must undergo are like unto those which Men endure when they cut off their Arms or pluck out their Eyes or are in a manner separated from Themselves There is nothing in all this like the cunning Address and subtle Management of Men in the World when they endeavour to establish new Doctrins and it evidently appears that Christ alone is a Teacher come from God III. The better to comprehend this it is observable that all the Principles of Christian Religion depend upon Humility as their chief Foundation For if we pretend to the qualification of Christ's Disciples we must be meek single in heart poor in Spirit weary and heavy laden little in our own Conceits Lambs little Children in Innocence and want of Malice and Servants of other Men. Christ has united two different qualities before not easily reconcilable the Humility of the Heart and the Light of the Understanding charging us to be wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves 'T is manifest this Union was necessary for the true Sanctification of Mankind a Secret indeed Men had not yet been able to find out There have been some who have forsaken their Interest and have been either burnt or had their Arms and Hands cut off who durst encounter Death it self supported by Pride and a vain hope of Glory which they prefer'd before all things But it was never known that Men had so little Self-love as to sacrifice their Lives unless at the same time they could make their Name immortal Such a Miracle is only to be produced by the Christian Morality IV. After what has been said we shall have less Reason to wonder that this Morality roots up every Vice since all Vices proceed either from Pride or Voluptuousness This Morality then which subverts the former by the severe Mortifications of Repentance and destroys the latter by the Ideas it gives us of the Greatness and Perfection of God as opposed to our Wretchedness and Misery I say this Morality contains every thing absolutely necessary to extirpate our Vices in their first Rise and
that was divided into the Porch the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies is answerable the World the Church and the Heavens the eternal Sanctuary of God To the Levites all the Faithful without Exception that are designed to serve God to the White Cloathings of the Ministers of the Tabernacle the Innocence and Holyness of all those who design to approach unto him to the Purity of the Body the Purity both of the Heart and Conscience to the Blood of Goats and of Lambs which was a Confirmation of the Old Covenant the Blood of Jesus Christ which confirms the New Testament to the Entrance of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies wearing the Names of the Twelve Tribes written upon his Breast and presenting to God the Blood that was shed in the Porch corresponds the Ascention of Christ into Heaven where he continually presents us to God his Father and intercedes for us by virtue of that Blood which he shed for the Expiation of our Sins to the purifying Waters which washed away all the Pollutions of the Body the Waters of Grace which sanctify the Spirit To Mount Sinai Mount Zion to the sound of the Trumpet of Rams Horns the Voice of the Gospel to Moses himself the Mediatour of the Law Jesus Christ the Mediatour of the New Covenant The different state and condition of the Church is is also further represented to us by the various condition of the People of Israel Our spiritual Bondage is marked out by their temporal Slavery our Deliverances by their Deliverances our Enemies by their Enemies and so just and reasonable is the Conformity there is betwixt those Images and their Original that the Holy Scripture often makes little distinction betwixt them and intermixes in one and the same Chapter that which concerns the temporal State of the Israelites and that which concerns the Spiritual condition of the Faithful as also the Events that attended the Jewish Oeconomy and the Wonders of the New Covenant These things are worth our Observation and he that does not duly consider them will never be able to understand any thing in the Prophecies contained in the Books of the Old Testament Lastly The Wisdom of God was resolved we should not want a competent number of Types that might sufficiently represent to us the Excellence Offices and Ministry of our Mediatour Thus Isaac conceived in the Womb of a barren Woman the Delight of his Father the Foundation of all the Promises of God offered up for a Sacrifice upon a Mount by the very hand of his Father rising as it were from the Dead by being delivered from the Knife he had already lifted up against him and having afterwards a Seed as numerous as the Stars of Heaven and the Sand of the Sea this Isaac I say was a lively Image of Jesus Christ who was conceived in the Virgins Womb the Darling of his Father in whom he was well-pleased the Foundation of all his Promises the Source of his Blessings dying upon Mount Calvary rising again in a wonderful manner after his Death and seeing his Seed after him when he had made his Soul an Offering for Sin Thus again Joseph sold by his Brethren betrayed out of Envy accused tho' Innocent condemned because he would not submit to the immodest Desires of a lascivious Woman delivered out of Prison appearing before Pharaoh cloathed in Garments suitable to that Honour and then sitting at his Right Hand was a wonderful Representation of Jesus Christ betrayed out of Envy sold by the Jews themselves who were his Brethren condemned for refusing to comply with the Synagogue cast down into the Darkness of Death endued with heavenly Gifts raised again to Heaven and sitting at length at the Right Hand of God Moses defigned to be the Mediatour of the Legal Covenant rescued at his Nativity from a Deluge of Blood exposed to the River-side and as it were given up to a sure and infallible Death but afterwards delivered by a kind of Miracle from the Fury of the Waters and also delivering not long after his own Nation himself by a lucky Turn when he seemed to be cast away was an exact Representation of Jesus Christ who came into the World to be the Mediatour of the New Covenant was delivered at his Birth from the Murder of Herod and saved Men after his having suffered Death Jonas who was cast into the Sea to appease the Tempest and swallowed by a Whale which three Days after cast him again on the Shore sufficiently gives us to understand who it was that calm'd by his Death that Storm our Sins had raised that went down into the Grave and afterwards rose again the third Day Lastly David being raised from the State of a Shepherd to that of a Monarch was an excellent Type of Christ who after his Humiliation inherited a Name that is above every Name And as for those Prophecies which have described to us by such notable Epochaes and signal Characters both the Person Coming and the Time of the Coming of the Messias we have already very largely spoke of them so that what we have said in that respect is more than sufficient to make us admire the exact Proportion there is betwixt the first and second Covenant as well as betwixt the Jewish and Christian Religion Moses Illustrates Christ as we have proved in our first Part of this Treatise and Christ again Illustrates Moses as appears plainly by the Comparison we just now made of them XI Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the Proportion it bears to natural Religion WE have already described the Christian Religion as it is thus considered in having fully proved in several places of this Work that it takes away the Corruption which had disordered Nature that it subverts Paganism which was the Corruption of natural Religion that 't is the perfect Restauration of the latter that it reestablishes the Principles of Justice and Equity which God had imprinted in our Hearts that it produces the most perfect Union of Society by Love and Charity that Humility Temperance Wisdom and all other kind of Virtues which support natural Religion derive the Force of their Motives from the Christian Religion they alone being equivalent to all sensible Objects and lastly that it makes us answer the End of our Creation 'T is a wonderful Comfort and Satisfaction to our Minds and at the same time exalts our Nature to reflect that the End for which Man was designed is the same with that of Christian Religion and the End of Christian Religion the same with the true End of Man's Creation Every thing that goes to the Constitution of Man's Nature does in a manner seek after God The infinite Curiosity of our Minds incessantly thirsting after the Knowledge of New Objects seeks after that Deity which the Christian Religion discovers to us because that Deity contains all things in the Excellence of its own Nature The greedy and hasty Desires of our