of that warning and encouragement which it gave to the Living to be
mindful of their Duty_, says, _That the Greeks, as to what concern'd
the Rewards of the Just, and the Punishment of the Impious, had
nothing among them but invented Fables and Poetical Fictions which
never wrought upon Men for the Amendment of their Lives; but on the
contrary, were despis'd and laugh'd at by them_.

Whether, or no, Men should subsist after Death depending plainly upon
the good Pleasure of their Maker, the Pagan World (to whom God had not
reveal'd his Will herein) could not possibly have any certainty of a
Life after this. Arguments there were (as has been said) that might
induce rational Men to hope for a future Existence as a thing
probable; and they did so: But the Gross of Mankind saw not the Force
of these Reasonings to be perswaded thereby of a thing so
inconceivable by them as that the Life of the Person was not totally
extinguish'd in the Death of the Body; and a Resurrection to Life, was
what they thought not of, the certainty of which, together with future
Reward and Punishment, by enabling us to make a right estimate
concerning what will most conduce to our happiness, plainly brings
this great encouragement to our Observance of the Law of God, that it
lets us see our happiness, and our Duty, are inseparably united
therein; since whatever pleasure we voluntarily deprive our selves of
in this World from preference of Obedience to God's Commands, it
shall be recompenced to us manifold in the World that is to come: So
that now we can find our selves in no Circumstance, wherein our
Natural Desires of Happiness, or love of Pleasure, can rationally
induce us to depart from the Rule of our Duty.

The little which has been said, do, methinks, sufficiently evince the
need of Revelation both to Teach and inforce Natural Religion: But the