3⁰0 A Vieus of the DzisTIcAL. Writers, Let. 26. ſenſes, reaſon, appetites, and paſſions. All theſe muſt be con- ſidered, that we may know wherein conſiſteth the proper order and harmony of our powers, which of them are to be ſubordi- nate, and which to govern; what are the juſt limits of our ap- petites and paſſions; how far, and in what inſtances they are to be gratified, and how far reſtrained. And is every parti- cular perſon, if left to himſelf, able by the mere force of his own reaſon to conſider and compare all theſe? and from thence to make the proper deductions, and acquire a particular now- lege, as our author requires, of thoſe laws that are deducible from this ſyſtem?

He has another remarkable paſſuge to the ſame purpoſe which it may be proper to take ſome notice of. Whether the word of God, ſaith he, be his word, may be, and hath „* been diſputed by Theiſts: But whether the works of God “ be his works, neither has been nor can be diſputed by any ¹*ſuch. Natural religion therefore being founded on human *¹“nature, which is the work of God, and the neceſſary condi- * tions of human happineſs, which are impoſed by the whole ¹*Fſyſtem of it, every man who receives the law of nature re- *Fceives it on his own authority, and not on the authority of other men known or unknown, and in their natural ſtate as ¹e fallible as himſelf. It is not communicated to him only by ** tradition and hiſtory: It is a perpetual ſtanding revelarion, “always made, always maldng, and as preſent in theſe days „c as in the days of Adam to all his offspringd.“ Here every man is directed, in forming a ſcheme of the law of nature for himſelf, to deſpiſe all other authority, and rely wholly on his own. It is even mentioned as an advantage, that he receives it on his own authority, i.«. that he has no other proof or authority for it, but the deductions he himſelf forms by his own reaſon: Though that reaſon is, as this writer owns, for the moſt part influenced and overborne by the appetites and paſſions. And this is cried up as a ſtanding revelation to all the ſons of Adam. But if we apply this magnificent talk concern- ing the divine certainty and clearneſs of the law of nature, to Wwhat our author plainly intends by it, the deductions drawn by every man for himſelf concerning his duty, and what he thinks moſt conducive to his happineſs, the fallacy of his way of argu- ing will immediately appear. For though the works of God are certainly the works of God, and it will not be denied that the human nature is his work, it doth not follow that the

4 Vol. v. p. 92. Lon: