that he should? Befides, fuppofe it probable that he was to come, yet ftill it was improbable that this was the perfon: their characters and offices were very different: John went about baptizing; but we are told exprefsly that Jefus baptized no man: Jefus wrought many miracles; but of John it is recorded in holy writ that he wrought no miracle. But Herod minded none of these things; he had a motive that weighed more with him on the other fide, a motive which fhut out all reason and argument: it was his guilty confcience told him this was John the Baptift. He had murdered the holy man, to please a lewd woman; and no fooner did he hear that there was one in the country who wrought miracles, but he concluded the Baptift was come from the grave, armed with power to take vengeance for his iniquities, and his own wrongs. This is John the Baptift, fays Herod: he is rifen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do Thew forth themfelves in him.

The use I intend to make of this paffage of holy Scripture is to fet before you fuch confiderations as naturally arise from it, and are proper for the government and direction of ourselves. And,

First, You may obferve from hence the great force and efficacy of confcience.

It is reasonable to suppose, that if God intended men for his own fervice, and defigned them for another state of happiness and mifery after this life, according to their good or ill behaviour in it, that he fhould make himself known to them by fome clear and plain manifestation; and promulge the Jaws, which were to be the rule of their obedience,

in fuch manner that all fhould know and acknowledge their duty. Were men left deftitute of these neceffary affiftances, there could be no equity in requiring obedience, no juftice in punishing difobedience. There are many demonftrations to be had of the existence of a Deity from the works of nature, and from the operations of our own minds: but the plaineft of these proofs do fometimes escape the lower part of mankind, who, being constantly taken up in the fervile employments of life, do not exercise their reason fo far as to come to the conclufion, which is but one remove diftant from the objects they every day converse with. And though, as the Pfalmift fpeaks, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament fheweth his handy work; though day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night fheweth knowledge; yet some there are, who, for want of attention, hear not this ftill voice of nature, and are flow to apprehend the glory which the heavens declare, or to discover the hand of the Creator in the works of the firmament which they every day behold. But then there is an internal proof of a Deity arifing from confcience, and the reflection of the mind upon the good or evil we do, which amounts to the fulleft declaration of the power of God, and is the completeft promulgation of his law to mankind that can be defired or expected. In all civil cafes a king is fufficiently proclaimed, and a law is fufficiently promulged, when either is done according to custom in fome public and folemn manner; for, it being impoffible to give every man concerned particular notice, the neceffity of the case requires that every man should

at his peril take notice of the public declaration. But, with respect to the authority of God, and the common laws of morality, fuch care is taken, that the promulgation is made at every man's own door, nay, in his very heart. The fense which men have of good and evil, the hopes and fears which naturally arife in confequence of the good or ill they do, are fuch demonftrations, and fo homely applied to every man's understanding, of the obedience owing to a fuperior Being, that nothing can invalidate.

As fpeculation helps us to other proofs of the power and authority of our Maker, fo does it help fome alfo to get rid of them. It is an eafy matter for a man of a fubtle wit to refine fo far on any fubject, till there fhall be hardly any thing left for the mind to reft on with fatisfaction and affurance. But this proof of a fuperior Being, to whom we are accountable, which dwells in every man's breast, no art or fubtilty can ever expel. As long as men continue to judge of the good and evil of their actions, as long as fuch reflections are attended in the innocent with peace and fatisfaction of mind, and in the guilty with fear and anxiety; fo long it will be plain that God hath not left himself without witness, but that there are as many evidences of his power and authority as there are rational beings in the world and there is this peculiar to this evidence, that it is ftrongest and most irrefiftible in those who in intereft are most concerned to suppress it. The innocent have little temptation to plead to the jurisdiction of the court; they are the guilty who want that and other artifices to decline the

power of the judge: but, in the prefent cafe, the fears which furround the guilty are fo many undoubted proofs and records of the judge's authority; and his mind, confcious of all thofe fears, fpeaks to him in the language which Feftus used to St. Paul; Haft thou appealed unto Cæfar? Unto Cafar fhalt thou go.

Secondly, In the fame manner the moral law is promulged to every rational creature: the work of the law is written in the heart, as the conscience beareth witness, and the thoughts, which either accufe or excufe. The promulgation, in this case, is ftronger than that of any human laws, which, how publicly and folemnly foever they are declared at first, are often worn out by length of time, or grow dark and obfcure, and stand in need of an authoritative expofition to filence the contentions arifing from the different accéptations of the rule. But here the law is renewed to every man, and the fense and meaning of it fo preserved, that nothing but great ability and fkill, joined with little honefty, can pervert or obfcure it; and then only for a time; fince the rebukes of confcience will fooner or later reftore the true fenfe to the law, which was darkened by the fhades of false reason ferving the inclinations of a corrupted heart. It would grieve an honeft man to see how the plaineft laws have been treated by corrupt cafuifts, who, to ferve the vile purposes of themselves or others, have made the commandment of God of none effect by their traditions; who have played rule against rule, and duty against duty, till both have been loft. This might be fhewn in every cafe, but in none

more apparently than in the inftance which the text furnishes of the obligation of an oath, which is made to bind, or not to bind, juft as the corrupt purposes require. But though thefe daubings with untempered mortar ferve often to deceive the fimple, and to hide their plain duty from their eyes; yet when they come to reflect coolly upon their paft actions, confcience proves a far honefter cafuift, and pulls off the thin disguise; and the man trembles at the remembrance of thofe very things which he committed under the pretence of a religious care and difpofition. Herod, it feems, had promised with an oath to give the daughter of Herodias whatsoever fhe would afk; and though he was troubled when the demanded the head of John the Baptift, yet, as it is particularly remarked by the Evangelift, for his oath's fake, and them which fat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. Happy hypocrite! how ferenely does he dip his hands in guiltless blood, and how calmly does he fit under the comfort of a confcientious regard to his oath! But fee, the fcene is quickly changed; Herod is alarmed with the fame of one who wrought miracles in the country: he starts at the news; he cries out, This is John the Baptift, he is rifen from the dead. This fenfe of good and evil, which is natural to rational minds, and is thus guarded against falfe and corrupt interpretations by the power of confcience, is a great juftification of the goodness and equity of God, in taking care to promulge his laws fufficiently to all who are bound to obey them, and to make their duty clear and evident to them; without which we should not be able to discern him.