bably forgive him a hundred times over? That God will calf him to no pains and sufferings in a future state, on account of his sins in this life? Or if he endure some pain, can his reason teach him, that God will probably take him afterward into his favour, so far as to give an immortal reward to any of his poor pretences to virtue, which are so often interrupted and defiled by sin? And whatever inferences you and I may be able to make in Great-Britain, I doubt the skill of a negro on this theme.

LOG. I am sensible I have been too confident upon these matters; and I begin to think there is some need of a revelation to give men more clear discoveries of true religion, and more evident, substantial, and encouraging hopes of the pardon of sin and eternal happiness. But however, my friend, you seem at present to have got the better of me, by running over all the particular articles which Sophronius has mentioned, as belonging to natural religion, and I confess I cannot see how a wild negro, or an American, can so well find them out as I imagined: yet I cannot but think still, that human reason must or should have sufficient ability to guide and to conduct mankind to the favour of God, and happiness in a way of religion; and I have something further to offer upon this head: And when I lead the argument, and cast it into another form, we shall try whether your skill can refute it.

PITH. Let your arguments be proposed, Sir, in what new form you please, I think I shall be able to shew you their weakness, or if they are convincing, I desire to be so honest as to yield to their force. But the hours are passed away, Sir, with uncommon speed in such an agreeable conversation: The sun hath been set almost this half hour: I think it was full moon yesterday, and we shall have the light of that planet to guide us home in a little time, which is far more than the American savages have to guide them to heaven, or the African tribe of negroes to relieve their midnight darkness. If you please, Logisto, we will agree and meet here to-morrow evening, and carry on the discourse. But let us have Sophronius's impartial sentiments on our debate thus far, before we break up.

LOG. With all my heart, gentlemen, and I shall be very glad to see you both here to-morrow on so agreeable an occasion: And now I entreat you, Sophronius, to make use of no compliments, but fulfil the office of an impartial moderator, for which we both chuse you; for our business is the search of truth.

SOPH. Gentlemen, I have been a careful hearer of your free and learned debate, and I cannot but observe with pleasure, that you have avoided all the little paltry methods of cavilling, into which disputants are too often betrayed when they aim at

sictory more than truth, and when each person is resolved to to maintain his own opinion at all adventures. By this happy temper and conduct which has appeared in this conference, I am in no pain about giving you my freest thoughts on the subject, since I am in no danger of displeasing persons of your generous sentiments. Give me leave then, in the first place, to take notice, that you have confined the greatest part of your discourse to the sufficiency of human reason, in the rude and uncultivated nations of Africa and North-America, to lead them to the favour of God and happiness, by the knowledge and prac tice of religion: And indeed, I cannot but think you have wisely fixed this scene for your controversy, and limited your discourse to this sort of people, which are some of the most barbarous and brutish on the earth, and where reason has no supposed assistances from revelation. Logisto has taken great pains to prove, that human reason, even in such savage nations as these, is sufficient to guide and conduct them in the way of religion, to the favour of God, and future happiness; or else indeed, the proposition is not universally true, That the reason of all men is sufficient for this purpose; and, in my opinion, he has gone a great way toward proving the natural sufficiency of human reason for this purpose, by shewing how rational every article of natural religion appears, and by what natural and just steps of inference, it may be derived from such principles as lie within the reach of mankind, and his rea soning powers. On the other hand, Pithander has shewn us plainly in fact, how unassisted reason is turned aside perpetually from the truth, and that these several nations, in many successive ages, have been born, and lived, and died, by thousands and ten thousands, and have never sought nor found out any tolerable scheine of natural religion, and hardly done any thing toward it; not that he supposes them to be innocent and blameless in these shameful neglects of God, and aversions to true religion; but it is so in fact, from age to age, and there are many evident causes or occasions of it.

Give me leave, Logisto, to sum up in one view the various considerations that Pithander has intimated in several parts of this debate, why he thinks human reason, in these savages, to be insufficient to lead them to true religion.-1. He considers the early and inveterate prejudices of whole nations against the principles and rules of true religion, the obstinate and deep rooted. prepossessions which they labour under, and the gross and shameful errors which they are led into from their youngest infancy by all who are about them: And their crime is, that there is scarce a soul of them, that ever bethinks himself so far, as to question the truth of what his parents and neighbours have taught him in his childhood, let it be never so mucli contrary to reason and vir tuc.-2. He considers their irreligious customs and the vicious

practices, which run through the whole nation; which national customs are held so sacred in their esteem, that it is a sufficient proof of truth or duty to them to say, It is the constant opinion or custom of their country. Every thing that their ancestors have believed or done is reasonable in their account, without any examination.-3. He considers the natural thoughtlessness of these creatures, about any thing that is spiritual and divine, without some hint given them, tirat should set their reason at work: They eat and drink, aud lie down and rise whole years together, and never think of the true God, and the honours due to him, if some peculiar providence, occurrence, or conversation doth not turn their thoughts this way. And to this we might add, their general astonishing stupidity in matters of God and godliness, if ever they hear any discourse of them; their aversion to the spiritual parts of religion, and utter disregard of every thing that belongs to it.-4. He considers the weakness of their untaught reason, to distinguish truth from error, if it were set a working on spiritual things. Reason, as well as our other powers, learns to exercise itself by practice and instruction; and without instruction it is very rude and giddy, and ever wandering into folly and madness. These rude and barbarous creatures, therefore, must not only be put into a right track of thought at first, but he kept in it too; or otherwise they presently run into gross mistakes, even in the plainest and commonest principles of religion, such as the existence and unity of God, and the worship that ought to be paid to him, and the common virtues of justice and sobriety. Such poor savages as these, if their faces were once set towards rel' rien and truth, would be readily led away into a variety of errors which stand thick on every side, unless they had some other guide, some better clue and direction, than their own reasoning powers.-5. He considers the incessant and everlasting influence of sensible things upon their minds, which continually, though unreasonably, divert them from a right exercise of their reason about matters of religion and virtue. The urgent necessities of nature, the constant return of their appetites, the solicitude and care to supply them, and the frequent rise and efforts of their unruly passions all join together, not only to hinder the better powers of their nature from engaging closely in the pur suit of religion, but also tend to blind their minds, and lead them astray from the truth. They are criminal indeed, in indulging these inferior powers to the neglect of their souls, and their best interest; but still they do universally indulge them. And I might add, in the last place, he has intimated, that if they feel any efforts of their own reason toward the searching out of the true God and his worship, if they are awakened by the inward dictates and reproofs of conscience now and then, to make some resistance to their brutal customs, and ungodly practices; yet these inward efforts of conscience and reason are

so feeble, that they suffer them to be quickly overpowered and extinguished, by the temptations that stand around them within and without.

PITH. I own my great obligations to you, Sophronius, for so happy a recollection of my scattered thoughts, and so beautiful a disposition of thein, as gives force, perspicuity, and elegance to my argument.

SOPH. Sir, I have done nothing but my duty in summing up the evidence, before I pronounce the sentence. Had there been any thing in Logisto's part of the conference which had needed such a rehearsal and new disposition, he might be assured, I should not have failed either in my diligence or readiness to assist or set forth his argument to as good advantage. But, compliments apart: Thus, gentlemen, having briefly recapitulated the debate between you, all that I shall say, by way of an arbitrator in the present dispute, shall be contained in a few following propositions: Perhaps I shall not be able to place them in so just and regular a form: But I can trust. your candour: Conversation does not require such exactness. And I would particularly bespeak Logisto's pardon, before I mention the two first of them, because they suppose the truth of christianity, and the bible, which he seems to doubt of at present. But he shall find that I name them only to introduce the rest, and that I shall make no manner of use of these two propositions against his present argument, or in favour of Pithander. I proceed therefore:

I. I am persuaded, that God never did or will forgive the sins of any man upon earth, whether Jew, heathen or christian, nor receive any of our sinful race into his favour, but upon the account of what Jesus Christ his Son, the Mediator, has done and suffered, for the atonement or expiation of sin, and the recovery of man to the favour of God: So that if heathens are saved, I think it is owing to the merit of Christ, and his death. There is salvation in no other, nor is there any other name whereby men may be saved. If any of those who never heard of Christ might be saved without the influence of his atonement and mediation, why might not they that have heard of him be saved without it also Thus there would be no need of him to become a Mediator, or to make atonement for the sins of the one or the other; and thus Christ would have lived and died to very little purpose.

II. With most sincere esteem and love, and shall I add, with tender compassion to Logisto, I ask leave to declare my belief of the constitution of the gospel, with all the solemn threatenings that are annexed to it, which I would call my second proposition; viz. He that lives where the gospel of Christ is published, with its proper and necessary evidences, and yet refuses all his life-time to believe and receive it, cannot be saved; but lies under that sentence of condemnation which is frequently denounced

in the New Testament, He that believeth not shall be damned: If ye believe not that I am he, that is the Messiah, ye shall die in your sins. Nor would the blessed God ever denounce such terrible sentences as these, for mere errors of the mind, without any vice of the will. God well knows where he has given sufficient light and evidence; and he also knows, that however an honest and sincere mind may happen to be led astray for a season, yet nothing but criminal negligence, or culpable prejudices, or some sinful aversion to the gospel, can influence men, under such evidences, constantly and finally to reject it: It is plain to me, even from these scriptures, that no man who truly fears and loves God, and seeks to know or to do his will, can or will be guilty of constant and final opposition to the gospel, where it is surrounded with its proper attestations. And upon this account, dear Lo gisto, I am persuaded, your sincere enquiries to find out the true religion, will issue in a hearty belief and profession of christianity, though your thoughts may be at present fluttering abroad with some uncertainty where to fix.

LOG. I cannot withhold myself, gentlemen, from interrupting our moderator in his discourse, that I may make my acknowledgments for his tender concern about my best interests, which he has expressed in so affectionate and respectful a manner. I must confess, I have no obstinate and rooted aversion to the christian religion, if I can find that there is any real need of it, and that it stands upon solid foundations, and if I could answer some few difficulties that belong to the bible. But lest I make too long an interruption of your discourse, I entreat you, Sophronius, proceed to your third proposition.

SOPH. III. Though I suppose no man shall be saved but by virtue of the mediation and death of Christ, nor doth the gospel permit me to allow salvation to those who wilfully and finally reject it, under clear light and evidence; yet there is good reason to believe, that there have been many sinners actually saved, who never believed in Jesus Christ the Son of Mary, nor ever heard of his name, nor had any notion of his atoning death and sacrifice. Such were some of the early descendants of Noah, who lived long before this name was known in the world, among whom we may reckon Abimelech king of the Philistines, Melchisedec king of Salem, Job in the land of Uz*, with his four

Some will object here, did not Job believe in Jesus Christ, his Redeemer, who shall stand at last on the earth; Job xix. 24, &c. Answer. It is granted that in rome bright hours, and particularly in the text cited, he was carried by inspiration above the level of the dispensation under which he lived, so far as, plainly to rejoice in this glorious Saviour of mankind, even the same person who was afterward manifested in the world under the name of Jesus Christ: And so might several other pious men under the ancient dispensations and perhaps many or most of them might hope for some such Saviour: but it can scarce be proved, that all of them bad an explicit notion of such a glorious Messiab, and that they actually trusted in him as a Mediator; much less does it appear, that they all trusted in him as an atoning sacrifice, though they might wait and hope for him, as some future deliverer.