its Truth and Divinity its Intrinsic Goodness and Purity by an Appeal to the Precepts of Natural Religion The Believer must grant That if Custom Education and an unaccountable Tradition give Birth to all the prevailing Principles of Morality the Argument of the Intrinsic Purity of any Religious Precepts will fall to the ground and when the Deist has beat him from this Fortress he 'll easily perswade him that all the rest is Cheat and Imposture The Believer having then thus far resigned his Notions of Morality will now come into Play and do an equal Piece of Service to the Deist and himself too by making both Converts to Atheism and Irreligion For when the Morality and Religion of Mankind is wholly to be resolved into Custom Education and the Mode and Habits of Ancestors and Contradictions in Principles of Morality produced as a Confirmation of the Notion what can more effectually subvert the eternal Distinctions of Good and Evil and as a Consequent of it introduce and establish a Law of Fashion as the only Measure and Standard of Vertue I will not positively fix these Designs on all those that have espoused the Notion It 's sufficient to my present Business that it carries a manifest Tendency towards the Promotion of 'em or that it gives a Foundation to the Impious and Prophane to establish their lewd Schems of Infidelity It cannot therefore be unseasonable to assert the Divine Authority and Original of Natural Religion and that too not only by way of Vindication of such an important Truth but as it serves the Cause of Christianity against the Attempts of Deists and Vnbelievers These are Conclusions so natural and obvious that I 'm perswaded the natural Tendency of the Doctrin with an undisturbed Toleration will too fatally demonstrate the Power and Efficacy of ' em But yet whilst we endeavour to obviate one growing Error it ought to be consider'd whether such Endeavours do not prepare the way for introducing and confirming another more dang'rously pernicious For if God has establish'd a Law of Nature antecedent to Revelation as an indispensable Rule of Duty and Action to Mankind and enabled 'em to discover and embrace it as such the Deist will conclude there can be no Necessity for a Revealed Religion and consequently resolve it into a Contrivance of some Designing Men an Artificial System of certain Creed-makers as a late Author has Characteriz'd a certain Order of Men to secure an Empire as well as Maintainance from the silly Populace I must confess this is the great Goliah the Champion-argument which Infidelity has recourse to to assail the Faith of the Living God once delivered to the Saints But certainly this is a lewd Attempt for Men to think to Demonstrate against a plain Matter of Fact by putting their Adversaries upon demonstrating the Necessity of such a Matter of Fact This is to advance our own shallow Understandings above the Sphere of Infinite Wisdom and Reason since we are resolved not only to pronounce the most solemn Transactions of Providence useless but reject the Truth and Certainty of 'em because a biass'd Judgment is resolved not to account for the Ends and Designs of ' em But certainly the Reasons and Necessity of things are sufficiently asserted by resolving 'em into the Decrees and Proceedings of infinite Wisdom If Revealed Religion is not from God the Unbeliever has an easier Task to detect the Forgery If the Believer contends for a Divine Original why should it not be tryed upon its proper Evidence I mean as all matters of Fact are But I am perswaded the Apprehensions of a certain Defeat oblige the Infidel to decline this Challenge For it 's well known the most avow'd Enemies to Revelation even Julian himself could never dispute the Evidences of Christian Truth I mean the Performance of Miracles However since the modern Unbeliever seems to plume himself in the Successes of this Argument I shall for once allow the Objection and venture the whole Merits of the Cause in demonstrating the Expediency and Necessity of Divine Revelation § 1st Now in order to this it will be requisite to make a short Survey of the Original State and Condition of Mankind both before and after the Fall for by this means we may make a more exact Estimate of the Capacities and Attainments of Mankind in matters of Knowledge as well as Practice It will readily be granted That as God originally established a Line of Duty in the very Frame of our Natures so He undoubtedly created us with Faculties to enable us to discern or comprehend every Part or Branch of it It 's true Laws of Nature were never presented to the View of the Mind by an Angelic sort of Intuition without Ideas passing thro' the Animal part But yet Reason will oblige us to conclude That the Glory of an Almighty Creator and the Express Image of his Person came forth of his Hands pure and spotless All his Powers Faculties and Appetites were correct and regular Those native Passions and Propensions which are now too often the Parents of Disorder and Confusion were no doubt originally constant Attendants and faithful Handmaids to the Powers of Reason That Love and Zeal that Complacency and Delight which are now fatally chain'd to sensual Enjoyments were originally engaged and devoted to the Entertainments and Exercises of a spiritual rational Mind Our chiefest Flights of Zeal and Love were no doubt directed on the Improvement of Knowledge and the Disquisition of Truth And certainly here 's a solid Foundation for Truth For here are not only native Passions and Propensions which serve as Springs to engage the Mind in the closest Researches after Truth but the whole Frame of the animal Part being thus correct the Images of Things must needs be presented to the View of the Mind in their native Shapes and Proportions without the least Paint or Disguise and consequently the Mind could act and display herself in the largest Train of Deductions without the least Trippings or Miscarriages So that Man in his Original Frame was enabled to lay in a wonderful Stock of substantial Knowledge and make a clear Discovery of the full Line of Duty But besides it 's highly consonant to Reason to imagin as the Great Creator of the World had adorned his Image and Representative with all desirable Perfections so he had not only entitled but invested him with special Favours and Blessings as well Spiritual as Temporal For we must not suppose that the placing him in Paradise only implies an actual Fruition of the whole Circle of Temporal Felicities but the Dispensation of such Spiritual Blessings and Favours as are suitable to Human Nature whilst it rested on this side Heaven and was not immediately instated in the Beatific Vision Whilst Man retained his primitive Innocence he was no doubt a very choice Favourite in the Eyes of his Maker and consequently we must conclude that he enjoyed constant Communications and Intercourses with him For
to the Mind of our Apostle endeavour to prove a Law of Nature implanted in the Minds of Men as Rational Beings and consequently originally design'd as a perpetual Standard and Measure of their Actions This I shall endeavour to perform 1st By proving that Man is naturally a Thinking Reasoning Being 2dly That Man naturally Thinks and Reasons in a fixt determinate way 3dly That by the exercise of Reason and the condition of his Nature he can discern the Subject-matter of the Laws of Nature And 4thly That he discovers it as the Subject-matter of a true and proper Law established on a competent Authority by discerning and receiving it as the Command of God § 2. And 1st That Man is by Nature a Thinking Reasoning Being Indeed that an Order of Rational Creatures can of ' emselves exert the Powers of Reason seems to be a Proposition that carries its own Evidence in the Terms of it And to imagine a Creation of Rational Powers and Faculties and that too ascribed to an infinitely wise Creator and yet deny an inherent Power of exerting ' emselves seems to reflect the highest Folly and Disgrace upon the Contrivance For it either represents Infinite Power and Wisdom displaying ' emselves as we say in vain or to no purpose or labouring under the greatest Imperfections It represents the great Exemplar of a Creative Power to be little else than a sensless unactive sort of Machin whose Efforts entirely depend on foreign Impulses and the express Image and Representative of a glorious Creator in one sense to be of a baser Alloy than the unthinking Brutes that perish Since these in their original Frame were made to exert those Powers and Faculties God thought fit to impart to ' em But Man must by no means act like himself or display any of his Natural Powers and Faculties unless he has the good Fortune to be Born under the Influence of a skilful Tutor and a polish'd Education But certainly this is a Conjecture void of any shadow of Reason For whosoever considers the Activity of the Souls of Men a Truth I think of universal allowance and approbation cannot imagine that Men even in this State shou'd not be capable of perceiving discerning comparing or thinking at all But that we may proceed with greater Clearness in these Matters let us endeavour to strip Mankind of all the Embelishments of Education and turn 'em into the pure Garb of Nature and thereupon let us for once suppose a Set of Men sprung up like Mushrooms in an instant and placed in an unpeopled Island in their full growth and vigor Some perhaps in this case are so fond of attributing the whole Product of Humane Knowledge to the Business of Education that they would deny them the Power of exerting one Faculty peculiar to a Rational Being without it But certainly this is a Notion highly improbable if we consider that the great Reason why our Infant State discovers such faint Glimpses of Thought or Reason is not so much from any native Obstructions in the Mind or an Indisposition of her Faculties in receiving and forming Idea's but from unknown Indispositions of the Animal Part. For the Souls of Men being to act through Flesh and Blood or Material Vehicles no wonder if they do not exert ' emselves till these are throughly fix'd and setled that is before they arrive at a due state of Maturity or a suitable Disposition or Temperament And therefore were Men to enter upon the World under an exact Disposition of the Animal Part it 's highly probable the Faculties of the Rational Part wou'd exert ' emselves with wonderful vigour and expedition Indeed it must be confess'd that Idea's will be collected and Principles setled at a much slower rate where they are only gain'd by a Man's single Observation and Experience than where the Instructions of Parents and Tutors contribute to the Improvement By this Means the Observations and Attainments of past Ages are presented in an established Method and Order and added to our own Experience and consequently the growth of Idea's will be more quick clear and lasting But yet when the Organs of Sense are rightly fixed and disposed and the Mind lies under no real Incumbrances or Eclipses it 's ridiculous to imagin that it cannot exert itself by its own native Light and Activity in all its Powers and Faculties and we may as well affirm that a Man would not walk or perform any other indifferent Actions as a sensitive Creature without Instruction as affirm that he cou'd not think and exert all the Powers of Reason without special Inspiration Revelation or Instruction It 's visible there are certain Springs or Movements implanted in the Frame of Nature that serve to put all Native Powers and Faculties into their proper Motions And therefore we must conclude that a Rational Soul or a Soul framed for Reason must act agreeably to its original Frame and discover itself in all the Functions of Thought and Reason It 's certain the great Law of Self-preservation a quick and piercing Sense of Pleasure and Pain and the incessant Desires of Ease and Happiness which strictly speaking are rather Natural Instincts implanted in all Sensitive Beings than Laws peculiar to Free Agents will serve as forcible Springs to every Native Power or Faculty and furnish 'em with suitable Objects as well as prompt 'em to exert upon 'em and consequently if Rational Faculties in their Original Frame are fitted for Thought and Reason they will by an Intrinsick Impulse exert in all the Parts and Offices of ' em And therefore to have recourse to the Instance already given we may justly conclude that meer Salvages wou'd not only fall to Thinking but after a few Interviews form Signs and Words and Language apply ' emselves to the setling of all the Instruments of Reason and Knowledge I 'm perswaded few will deny that Man by his Natural Powers cou'd form Words and Language and Words necessarily suppose Idea's and Thoughts To conclude this Argument then As Man by a Law of his Creator is peculiarly fitted with Organs for Speech and Language so is he endued with Faculties of Reason and since he 's capable of exerting the one in all its Designs and Functions we may justly allow him the same Abilities in exerting the other and in one word it derogates from the Wisdom of God to endue a Creature with Noble Powers and Faculties and not put him into a condition to exert ' em Therefore we may conclude that as Man by a native Endowment can see and hear and speak he can likewise think and reason which is the First General proposed in order to establish a Law of Nature § 3. I proceed to the Second which is to prove That we think and reason in a fix'd and determinate way And certainly this is a Truth so clear and evident that it does not admit of any colour of dispute For otherwise I cannot conceive why we may not question the Perception
Immoralities or to speak in other Terms the Seeds of this kind of Corruption are certainly lodged in the Propensions and Habits of the Animal Part. For that which has such an Ascendent over us to command us to Act in favour of it will infallibly influence our Judgments This is so obvious that in wilful Enormities I mean such as were first committed against the Convictions of the Mind the Power of Animal Propensions Assiduity of Practice and a kind of Natural Intimacy or Familiarity resulting from it has at last engaged Reason itself to appear as an Advocate for it and very often it makes such elaborate Researches for Arguments to support the Cause that at last it declares for the Justice and Innocence of it and asserts it upon Principle and inward Conviction I am perswaded and can without breach of Charity or Justice affirm That the Growth of the foulest Heresies in the Christian World is to be placed in this Original Men have so long given the full Reins to Pride Ambition Covetousness or other vitious Lusts and Propensions that they have called in their whole Stock of Parts and Learning and made Converts to their Judgments to support them or revenge their Disappointments And now upon this Bottom we may silence all Objections brought from the absurd and Heterodox Opinions of certain Moralists and Philosophers For it 's highly probable they were at first but exquisite Apologies to Patronize importunate Passions and confirm'd Practices and consequently can be no real Prejudices to a Law of Nature Indeed the impure Doctrine of the Gnosticks may be as well admitted a just Plea against the Truth and Purity of Christianity and the Evidences for both as some few lewd Doctrines of Philosophers against the Certainty of a Law of Nature upon the Evidences of Natural Reason § 2. But to enlarge a little on this part of the Objection it 's well known that the foulest and most absurd Opinions charged on particular Philosophers are by others recorded as an eternal Mark of Infamy and Reproach due to 'em and consequently they are by no means a just Balance to the substantial Reasonings of others in deciphering Laws of Nature We might add to all this how unjust a Measure the Practices of Mankind is of their real Notices of Moral Good an Argument too fatally demonstrated under a Christian Dispensation and consequently tho' the Generality of Philosophers liv'd in Opposition to Laws of Nature and some few taught contrary to 'em yet it 's no just Consequence to place Laws of Nature above the Researches of Natural Reason I am perswaded some of the Instances presented in a late Conference * See Conference with a Theist Part 2. p. 56 to p. 64. do not fall under the Character of prime Laws of Nature and consequently do not reach the Author's Design It 's very well known Plato's Model for Peopling his Common-wealth was not by a Community of Women without Limitations from the Civil Power But for the precise Limitations in this matter as well as the manner of Worshiping God whether by Sacrifices and corporeal Representations I presume it 's the business of Revealed Religion to fix and determine As for his Instance of Masculine Venery Zeno and his Followers pronounced it indifferent I presume it was a previous Practice that had made it appear so And yet St. Paul speaks of some of these unnatural Whoredoms as things scarce named among the Gentiles 1 Cor. 5.1 But it were highly to be wished that some Nations in the Confines of Christendom had wholly escaped the Contagion so that if such vile Practices in a State of Nature may be an Argument against Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation it will be of Force against written Revelations Since Laws of Nature founded in the Dictates of natural Reason may be as easily violated as any written Law Certainly such avowed Practices may with greater force of Reason be allowed against a Law that pretends to no higher Authority than Revelation or supported by Tradition Lastly As for the Grecian Piece of Cruelty in exposing Children to the Mercy of Beasts and Travellers without remorse I presume the Practice was not frequent because it must be the Concern and Interest of every Government to suppress it But it 's well known the Christian World is not wholly freed from such Monsters who I am afraid are acted by no other Dread but what the Apprehensions of a Discovery and the Penalties of the Law extort from them However this is an Instance so absolutely repugnant to the common Bowels of Humanity that it as effectually disproves those Earnings which natural Instinct discovers in the whole Order of Brutes towards their own Off-spring as that natural Reason discovers the same Earnings to be a point of Duty to Mankind In one word the Cruelties of Heathens is no more an Argument that natural Reason doth not teach the contrary than the Barbarity of some particular Christians an Argument that Christianity does not exhort to Bowels of Compassion and a Parental Care towards their own Off-spring But to return A second Cause of Error is certain Prejudices or Prepossessions imprinted on the Mind by Example and Education The Cause and Origin of Error already given presents us with the Propensions and Bias of Humane Nature and consequently how liable the World is to be overspread with Error At least Matter of Fact informs us how wide the Actions of Men deviate from the Line of Duty so that it may truly be said of the Heathen World That the Imaginations of their Hearts is to do Evil continually Certainly then where a Contagion extends itself not only to the Judgments but Practices of Mankind and not only corrupt Principles but vitious Examples prevail in Parents Guardians and Tutors the Minds of their Descendents will be deeply impregnated with pernicious Prejudices and Prepossessions They are implanted among the first and earliest Impressions even before the Powers of Reason exert themselves This I am confident is the Case of the uncultivated Regions of Mankind And certainly when Reason comes to exert it self under such a fatal Bias no wonder if she often falls into very gross Miscarriages And yet this is the inevitable Portion of Mankind that are brought forth in a State of Impotence as well in Mind as Body and can hardly arrive to any Growth in Reason before they arrive to a Maturity in Body But now these things being laid together and admitted it 's very unjust to reject the Divine Oeconomy of Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation because the unavoidable Prepossessions of some Men have carried them besides the Mark so as to contradict the general Lines of Duty For it 's apparent were Men to enter the World in the Strength and Power of Reason without the Clog and Encumbrance of antecedent Prepossessions as in the Instance already given See Chap. 1. Sect. 2. It 's impossible but the Fundamental Line of Duty must present it self to the
'em so that they may appear as natural as the most regulated Acts of Morality yet this does by no means destroy the Foundations of moral Good for it is nothing else but a kind of Spiritual Disease and consequently we may as well say there was originally no true Foundations for Health because the Body is over-run with a Disease as deny the Foundations of Morality because our Native Capacities are habitually Vitiated and Corrupted CHAP. XV. Reflections on Mr. Lock 's Law of Fashion § 9. HAving offered thus much upon the Nature and Distinction of Moral Goodness I cannot dismiss the Argument without bestowing a few Remarks on the Author of the Essay concerning Humane Understanding upon his advancing a Law of Fashion or Opinion among the Rules or Measures of Moral Goodness I shall not conceal what he has said in Vindication of himself against Mr. Lowde See his Ep. to the Reader Ed. 2. I was there not laying down Moral Rules but shewing the Original and Nature of Moral Ideas and enumerating the Rules Men make use of in Moral Relations whether those Rules were true or false Now certainly tho' the principal Design of this Chapter might be what this Author expresses yet an Impartial Reader could not have believed but there was a professed Design too to represent the true rules or measures of Moral Good had he not expresly declared the contrary And for all this I think a man must have a great deal of Charity to alter his Belief notwithstanding this extorted Declaration And to justify my Opinion I shall appeal to that very Section which he refers to for his Vindication Sect. 4. Chap. 28. B. 2. speaking of Moral Duties or Actions viz. Gratitude c. he concludes It is not enough to have clear and distinct Ideas of them and to know what Names belong to such and such Combinations of Ideas as make up the complex Idea belonging to such a Name we have a further and greater Concernment and that is to know whether such Actions so made up are morally Good or Bad. Now truly if the great concernment be to know or discover whether certain Actions are Morally Good or Bad the true Nature of Moral Good must be fixed for if it be not material whether the Rule or Measure be true or false I would fain know what Light we have given of Moral Good or how we shall judge whether any particular action is Morally Good or Bad. Thus far there 's a design to six the true measures of Moral Goodness and we are the more induced to believe it because the very next Section presents us with a professed description of Morally Good and Evil pursuant to the description he had before given of Good and Evil. Morally Good and Evil then is only the Conformity or Disagreement of our Voluntary Actions to some Law whereby Good and Evil is drawn upon us from the Will and Power of the Law-maker Here 's a standing definition of Moral Good and Evil and this Author must own that a definition of Things such as Good and Evil is a discovery of the precise Nature of 'em as they are in themselves and consequently it must imply a discovery of the true measures of Morally Good and Bad. To proceed then the Nature of Morally Good and Bad is here made to consist in the conformity of Voluntary Actions to some Law and therefore it 's requisite an Account should be given of the several Rules or Laws of Moral Goodness whereby we may view it in its several Species or kinds This Mr. Lock performs in the Section immediately following Of these Moral Rules and Laws to which Men generally Refer and by which they judge of the Rectitude or Pravity of their Actions there seems to me to be three sorts with their different Enforcements or Rewards and Punishments so that we see he industriously represents 'em in all the formalities of Laws and gives 'em their proper and peculiar Sanctions that they may obtain the Authority and Character of Laws Upon this he proceeds to establish the several Species of Moral Good and having enlarged very much upon the third Species of Moral Good that of Virtue and Vice he gives us to understand his Intentions by the very Title of his Thirteenth Section These three Laws are Rules of Moral Good and Evil and Sect 14. he expresly tells us That by taking the Rule from the Fashion of the Country the Mind hath a notion of Moral Goodness or Evil which is the conformity or not conformity of any action to that Rule Now what is all this but to describe the real Nature of Moral Goodness in its true measures as well as kinds It 's evident it was the Business of Sect. 5. and the rest Branches from it by the Laws of method and order nay it 's expressed in the very Conclusion Sect. 14. and therefore we cannot without robbing Mr. Lock of the Character he has justly merited of being a Master of Reason but conclude that all this was in pursuance to his Great Concernment Sect. 4. That is to know whether such actions so made up are morally Good or Bad. But further to take off all this Mr. Lock appeals to Sect. 15.20 Whereas the latter only affirms that we have a notion of Moral Relation whether the Rule be true or false and this I think no body can deny but yet I hope I have proved that the notion of all Moral Goodness depends on the truth of the Rule not on the conformity of an Action to a Rule whether true or false The former affirms that the Idea or Notion of Moral Goodness arises from the conformity of an Action to one of his three Rules but I hope I have proved that they only represent the Idea of a Moral Action not of Moral Goodness which indispensibly requires the truth and goodness of the Rule Lastly in vindication of himself he produces his own Authorities for the eternal and unalterable nature of Virtue by fixing it in the Will or Commands of God Book 1. Chap. 3. Sect. 6. and 18. But yet we were at a loss to know whether he designed the revealed Will and positive Commands of God or his Will discovered by the Light of Reason had he not told us in a second Edition That by the Divine Law he meant as well a Law promulged by the Light of Reason as the voice of Revelation Book 2. Chap. 28. Sect. 8. If the Commands or Will of God are only those we receive from Revelation or the positive Will of God the first Edition of this Essay suggesting nothing to the contrary then Moral Good and evil Antecedent to Revelation is not Eternal and Unalterable but may be founded on a Law of fashion as a true measure of Moral Good for as this Author observes the natural conveniences and inconveniences of things themselves may determine our choices without making 'em the inviolable Rules of Practice See Sect. 6. Book 1. Chap. 3. and Sect.
their incompatibility with the Line of Duty nay there will be a discovery of the Reasons and Original of all Miscarriages the Mind will plainly discern the Error and Absurdity of former Convictions she will confess that the violence and importunity of Lust or a habit of Thoughtlesness or Inconsideration was the true and genuine cause of 'em and consequently the frame and Oeconomy of Conscience will not only be altered according to the Intrinsick Nature of things and received as every Man 's own proper Conscience but it will discover Sin and Guilt in the erring Conscience and charge the mischief of it upon its proper owner where-ever the Errors appear to be contracted from the neglect of means of Information For certainly as God has endued us with Faculties to instruct us in the Line of Duty so he has made us capable of attaining it in that Course and Order which he has established and consequently of pursuing and embracing such Means as are truly conducive to the attainment of it and therefore when proper Means are instituted or proposed or as it were lie before us in the common road of Thinking the Mischiefs or iniquity of an Action by the Laws of Conscience will be imputed to us tho' it was committed with a perswasion of its Innocence because the Order of Nature and the Laws of Humane Action are as much perverted by acting without the use of established means as contrary to inward Convictions and tho' the Action in the precise nature of it is not willfully wicked yet the neglect of Means may be justly esteemed willfull and consequently the Effects and mischiefs of the Action justly imputed I will not deny but there are thousands of miserable Wretches in the World under such fatal Circumstances that they seem to be placed out of the reach of due Means of Information but to judge precisely of this seems to be a peculiar of the searcher of Hearts and Reins However I am perswaded the common Exigences and Necessities of Humane Nature will instruct Mankind in the most fundamental Rules of Natural Religion and yet God will charge nothing upon us but where he can convince our Conscience of notorious Neglects and in this case it 's consonant to the Rules of Justice that Sentence should be passed not according to former but present Convictions Indeed it can never be imagin'd that the great Judge of all the Earth in his final Awards to Mankind will erect a Tribunal that had not its Original from him I mean from the Convictions of an erroneous Conscience and therefore since it is demonstrated that new Sentiments and Convictions will break in upon the Mind even to the charging of Guilt upon those Neglects which were the immediate source of false Convictions we may justly conclude that the judicial Proceedings of the Great Day shall be established upon a regulated Conscience I mean according to the Divine Oeconomy of it and consequently it is not the Plea of former Convictions nor want of consciousness when Enormities were committed that will be sufficient to exempt any Man from the jurisdiction of it For these may be resolved into Personal Neglects and Personal Neglects are alone sufficient to derive a Guilt upon us As for the want of consciousness it 's a branch of the Objection not yet replied to and therefore I shall make some few Remarks upon it And first it 's certain as long as Enormities are committed upon personal Neglects as in the case of Drunkenness it is not necessary the Mind should be conscious of the whole process when actually committed It 's abundantly sufficient if upon a representation of Circumstances we shall at last be forced to own them or ascribe the Commission of 'em to our selves for this will bring us under the dominion of Conscience at the last day Certainly we may with as much force of Reason plead an Exemption from the guilt of Enormities which thro' tract of time were wiped off the Table of the Mind as deny to account for Enormities which when committed we were not conscious of when it was some former Enormity had disabled us from being conscious of 'em whereas it can only be required in both cases that proper and competent Methods are contrived to make us conscious at the last day so as to pronounce our selves the Authors of 'em for when this is done Conscience will determine as effectually as if our present and past Convictions were consonant to each other Upon the whole then it 's visible it is not the present state of any Man's Conscience any farther than it accords with the Divine Oeconomy of Conscience no more than any present Act of Consciousness that will be received for a final measure of the Goodness or Evil of our Actions and consequently of a final Condemnation or Deliverance but Conscience founded on the express Laws of God the sole Rule of Duty and the Agreement or Disagreement of our Actions with them I would not be mistaken as if I intended to streighten or fix Limits to the infinite Mercies of God there 's nothing but his own infinite Purity Truth or Justice can at any time divert his Mercies but yet I think it 's evident that we shall be judged for our Actions as they are in their own Nature and that too on the Awards of a rectified Conscience where-ever an erroneous Conscience can be charged with Guilt No one can dispute the Guilt of an Erroneous Conscience where the Error is propagated thro' willfull Enormities or manifest Neglects Thus far the sacred Canon is express and clear when we are told in the case of Error that the Mind and Conscience is defiled Tit. 1.15 And certainly where-ever there is Defilement there must be Guilt and where-ever there is Guilt there is at least Punishment due And I presume it 's sufficiently demonstrated that lost Ideas will be revived that every Action will appear in its proper Dress and consequently the whole Oeconomy of Conscience will be changed If what has already been offered be not conclusive the State of the Wicked after Condemnation will infer it Now certainly whoever allows the divine Oeconomy of Conscience must allow a future Judgment and if there 's a future Judgment and Men to be judged by their Consciences the most Hardened Unrelenting Sinner will be brought to a clear apprehension of the Line of Duty and by this means forced to own the Justice of his Sentence tho' his Conscience was seered and past feeling it shall now recover a double Force and retain the quickest apprehension of Things and Conscience thus enforced and armed with fresh Power and Vigour shall be the eternal Instrument of increasing the Torments of the damned Since then Conscience shall be thus regulated in Order to enhance and perpetuate their Misery we may justly conclude that it's Regulation will commence at the great Tribunal in Order to ratify the sentence of Condemnation and certainly since it must be allowed that Conscience will be