been in a Capacity of paying him a true and proper Obedience: for Obedience fuppofeth Choice, and Choice fuppofeth a Poffibility of Difobedience. To obey God in proper fpeaking, is to chufe to do what God has commanded, to fubmit to his Will, and to refolve to do what we know to be pleafing to Him, upon that very Reafon and Confideration, because we know it to be His Pleafure; not because the Neceffity of our own Nature, or fome over-ruling Power forceth us upon it. The Obedience of rational Creatures, fuppofing them from their first Creation out of all poffibility of finning, would be no other, than that of the irrational and inanimate Beings, and a Man then could be no more truly faid to obey God in acting as God has appointed, than a Stone may be faid to obey him in falling downward, or the Fire in afcending: Thefe act according to God's Appointment, and fo would Man, if he acted upon Neceffity; but it is an Honour and Homage due to God from rational Creatures, that they should determine themselves to do as he has commanded, and make a free Acknowledgment of his Bounty and Goodness, and pay a voluntary Submiffion to the Divine Authority, which is their reasonable Service.

The Wisdom of God is, and will be especially at the Day of Judgment, more confpicuous by the Government of a wicked World, than it would have. been, if all Men had been forcibly kept from doing wickedly. To restrain the Paffions, and over-rule all the Vices of Men, and fet bounds to them; to bring Good out of Evil, and by unexpected ways and methods to lead Men to Repentance, and to appoint and bring to pass the whole Difpenfation of the Gospel by which the Treasures and Myfteries of the Divine Wisdom are reveal'd, and fuch things are discover'd, as even the Angels themselves defire to look into, (1 Pet. i. 12.) this magnifies the Wisdom of God much more than the State of Men uncapable of Sin could have

done.

done. There is much more Wisdom fhewn in governing Free Agents, than in governing by Fate and Neceffity; and more Wisdom in making the worst Actions as inftrumental and serviceable to the purposes of Holiness and Goodness, as the beft could have been, than in not fuffering them to be; and more in redeeming Man, than in keeping him by force in fuch a condition, as to ftand in no need of Redemption.

All the Divine Attributes are much more magnified by the Incarnation of the Son of God for the Redemption of Man, than they could have been, if he had never fallen: The Love of God is manifested in a more wonderful manner, by fending his own Son to die for us his Juftice in requiring Satisfaction, and his Wisdom, and Truth, and Faithfulness, in recover. ing Man from his miferable Condition, and perfecting the Design of his Creation, in defpight of his Difobedience.

It is the Mercy of God to fave them that are saved ; but his Juftice is executed only upon the Wicked; and why fhould we think it reasonable, that God fhould debar himself the Exercise of one of his Attributes rather than punish fuch Men, as thro' their own Obftinacy will perish? Juftice is as much a Perfection of God as Mercy is; and tho' it may feem terrible to us, yet it is as reasonable in it felf, that wicked Men fhould perish, as that the righteous fhould be faved: And God acts upon Principles of infinite Reafon and Wisdom, without any mixture of Paffion. Therefore I demand, Is it reasonable or not, that the wicked fhould fuffer? And if it be, why fhould not God act according to his own Attributes, and the true Reasons of Things, rather than by our weak and fond Paffions? Since there is infinite Wisdom, and Justice, and Mercy, in God's Proceedings, it cannot be conceived, why the Ruine which many Men will bring upon themselves, fhould either alter or hinder the Di vine Counfels and Decrees.

2

II. A

II. A freedom of Choice conduceth more to the Happiness of the Bleffed, than a neceflity of not finning could have done. The Happiness of Heaven confift's in the Love and Enjoyment of God; but Love is never fo great, nor fo fenfible an Happiness, as when there has been fome Tryal and Experience in the proof of it. And it muft advance the Happiness both of Angels and Men in Heaven, that upon choice and tryal, they have preferr'd God before all things, and upon that, find themselves confirm'd and establish'd in the perpetual and unalterable love and enjoyment of him. This very confideration, that they might once have fallen from his Love, infpires them with the highest Ardors of Love, when they rejoice in the infinite Rewards of fo eafie and fhort a Tryal and the Reflection upon the Dangers efcaped, heightens even the Joys of Heaven it self to them, and makes an Addition to every degree of Blifs. The remembrancè of their past Sins and Temptations, and the fenfe of their own Unworthiness arifing from that remem brance, will continually excite in the Blessed fresh Acts of Love and Adoration of God, who has raifed them above all Sin and Temptation, and fix'd them in an everlasting State of Blifs and Glory. The Tryal that the Righteous underwent here, makes up fome part of their Happiness in Heaven; and in what de gree foever their Happiness can be fuppofed to be; yet it is in fome measure encreased, and, as it were, endeared to them, by reflecting upon their former State of Tryal, in which they were fubject to Temp tation and Sin.

The Love, and Praifes, and Adorations of the Father, for fending his Son, and accepting his Ranfom; of the Son, as our bleffed Saviour and Redeemer; and of the Holy Ghost, as our Guide and Conductor to Heaven; must fuppofe, that we needed a Ranfom and a Redeemer, and the Grace and Influence of the Holy Ghost; that is, we must have been capable of Sin

and

and Mifery, or else we had wanted these Motives to the Love of God, which the Difpenfation of the Gofpel affords, and which will make up the Happiness of Heaven to us. Creatures cannot comprehend the Divine Effence, but they know and love God, according as he manifefts himself to them; and therefore that Difpenfation, which doth most manifeft the Love, and Wisdom, and Goodness of God, doth most conduce to the Glory of God, and the Happiness of Men. The Blessed fhall fee God face to face, they shall enjoy his Prefence, and partake of his Glory, and in this their Happiness will confift; but the Love of God is not only the neceffary confequence of this Beatifick Vision, but it is antecedently neceffary to qualifie us for it ; and the more any Soul is inflamed with the Divine Love, the fuller and more perfect Vision of God we must suppose it to enjoy. But Goodness is the Object of our Love, and not Goodnefs in the Idea fo much, as Goodness extended to us: And as God's Goodness is more manifefted in fending his Son to atone for our Sins, than it could have been by exempting us from all poffibility of Sinning; fo our Love to him must be more ftrongly excited, whereby the Soul is dilated, as it were, and made more receptive of the Communications of the Divine Effence in the Beatifick Vision. As Faith is made perfect by Works proceeding from Love in this Life, and without Charity is nothing worth; fo in the other World, where Faith fhall be swallowed up in Vision, Love muft be that Power or Quality in the Soul, whereby we be come capable of receiving the Divine Communications, and the more extenfive and boundlefs this is, the more happy we shall be; and therefore, whatever is moft conducing to advance the Love of God in us, is the best means of our Salvation and future Happinefs.

The Motives which the Chriftian Religion affords us, to the Praise and Love of God, will accompany

us

us for ever to augment and improve the Happiness, even of Heaven it felf, where Charity never fails: and it is not conceivable, how the Divine Love could have been fo fully manifested, and set forth to us fo gloriously, if Man had never fallen, but by representing to him the danger of his Fall, and the gracious defign of God towards him, fuppofing he had fallen. To have escaped Hell, and to find our felves in the unchangeable poffeffion of Salvation by the free Mercy and Goodness of God, and by the Death of his own Son, are Thoughts which must. create a new Heaven, as it were, in Heaven it felf; I mean, they will enlarge our Souls to the utmost capacities of our Natures, and fill and actuate them with fuch Divine Ardors of Love, as if we had been kept neceffarily from all Sin, feem impoffible to have been raised in us. The Angels themselves rejoice over one Sinner that repenteth, and that Joy muft have been wanting to them, who are of fo much higher and more excellent a Nature than we are of, if there had been no poffibility either of Sin, or of Repentance. And the wonderful Dif penfation of the Gospel is an eternal Subject of Praise and Adoration, an eternal Fountain of Love, and Joy, and Happiness to all the Blessed Spirits in Heaven.

The more the Divine Attributes are difplayed, the more adorable the Majefty of God will appear, and will become the greater Object of our Praife and Ve neration; those that are wife and good, will be made the wifer and better by it, and the happier in the Contemplation of the Divine Perfections, and in the fense and experience, that they have been all continually employed for their benefit, that the most unlikely Accidents have conftantly tended to the advantage of them that love God, and all things have worked together for their good. Now a Governour in his Laws, and in the Method and Order of his Government, has regard chiefly to the Good and Obedient, and has little concern for the reft. And we must consider God not

only