upon; I mean the great and obvious dif"tinction between religion and morality; "and here, by religion is to be understood, "the Chriftian religion; and by morality, "fuch good works as are independent of it.

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Religion is the rule which teaches us to "believe in God, and to worship him. Its "three great duties are, FAITH, HOPE, AND

CHARITY. Morality is the rule which teaches

us to live foberly and honeftly. It hath "four chief virtues, which moral writers "have well explained; juftice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. By juftice we give every man what is due to him. Temperance is the rule whereby we restrain the appetites of the body, which are all naturally given to excefs. Prudence, is that ແ forefight which distinguishes good from "evil by the confequences of each; and "fortitude teaches us to meet danger, and "bear fufferings. All these virtues are fo "ufeful one to another, that they cannot "well fubfift when they are feparated. He "who is without temperance, will not pre"ferve his juftice, because he will wafte, "in felf-indulgence, what is due to other men: and he who has no prudence to "confider confequences, will not be guarded against intemperance. It is evident thefe

"virtues are neceffary for carrying us through "life with honour and fafety: therefore we "exhort all Christians to the practice of "them. But the difference which we are "always to bear in mind, is, that the un"believer having no Chriftian principles, "practises these virtues as well as he can, on fecular and felfish confiderations, in con"formity to commandments of his own

making; while the Chriftian, animated by "hopes and motives peculiar to revelation, "acts for the love of God, and in obedience to

Jefus Chrift: knowing that we are not to "be faved for any thing we do, but for that "faith in the promises, and that love to God "and man with which it is done. There is

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a juftice and propriety in our being faved "by faith, rather than by works, because all good works of every kind may be practifed "in hypocrify; they may proceed from the bafe motives of ambition, vanity, or felf

intereft, in which God hath no part: but "in faith there can be no hypocrify; because "moral virtue is between man and man, but "faith is between man and God, who seeth "the heart, and cannot be impofed upon. "Therefore no virtue can be certain and "univerfal but that of faith; which confi"deration entitles it to be the faving prin

"ciple in the Chriftian as it was in the patri"archal religion. It is this only which ex"tinguishes the pride of reason, and gives

to God the glory of our falvation. It is "this only which brings all men to a state of equality. It is accommodated to every "condition of life, for it costs nothing; and "while it reduces the rich, by obliging them

to a renunciation of the world, it raises "the ability of the poor, by giving as much "effect to a cup of cold water, as to the trea"fures of the wealthy. The fame rule " obtains remarkably in the powers of the "mind; for the wife and prudent of this "world, who appear ftrong in understand

ing, are fometimes found very weak in

faith; and thofe endowments of learning "which should bring them nearer to God, "often carry them farther from him; while "the poor and fimple have that faculty of "the foul, that ineftimable talent of a believing heart, which enables man to receive

"and understand the things of heaven. In

every poffible sense but the literal, are those "words of the prophet fulfilled: Every "valley fhall be exalted, and every mountain " and hill shall be made low; for in the king"dom of God, as it fubfifts in the heart of man, none of those inequalities are found,

a 2

" which

"which are every where fo obfervable in "nature; and faith is the principle which "levels them all.

"Morality, without religion, is the scheme of the Deifts, who, that they may not "feem deftitute of fyftem, affect a religion "which they call natural. But their natural

religion hath no affinity to Christianity; "it is inconsistent with it, and opposite to it. "It hath no Saviour, no Sanctifier, no fall "of man, no atonement, no facrifice, no facraments, no fabbath; no tempter, no church, no priesthood, no refurrection, no life everlasting. It hath no creed; for it "hath nothing to form a creed upon; and "fo is a religion without that principle which "alone gives value and fignification to every "moral action. The Heathens never de"pended for acceptance on any fuch plan "of religion; they had recourse to rites "of worship, facrifices, fupplications, and "other acts of what we call devotion, for

in

obtaining the pardon of fin, and the averting of divine vengeance. Natural religion, as a fyftem, is a phænomenon risen up "these latter times; infidelity feems to have "been increasing upon us ever fince; and as "the unedifying morality of our pulpits is a

growth from the fame root, we need not ❝ wonder

"wonder at the zeal and earneftness with " which it hath very lately been treated by a "learned and able prelate of this church *."

Bishop Horfley fpeaks thus to his clergy:

"I never hear, without extreme concern, "from the lips of a divine, either from the "pulpit or in familiar conversation, that "practical religion and morality are one and "the fame thing; that moral duties confti66 tute the whole, or by far the better part of "practical Chriftianity. . Thefe maxims

"have contributed to diveft our fermons of

"the genuine fpirit and favour of Chriftianity, "and to reduce them to mere moral effays.. "The dry firain of moral preaching is too "much in ufe.

"By mere argument," fays the Bishop, "addreffed to their reason, no conviction "could be wrought in the minds of the common people, of the very first principles of religion. . . . Pray carneftly to God to affift the miniftration of the Word, by "the SECRET INFLUENCE OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT on the minds of your hearers. "REASON," adds he, "from which mo"rality derives her whole authority and in"formation, Reafon knows not, till she has

*The Bishop of St. David's.

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"been