at this day For this teacheth us what manner of Worship we owe to God Rational and Spiritual the Product of the most excellent faculties of our Soul instructs us in the Purity and Spirituality of his Nature That he dwells not in Temples made with Hands but in the Hearts and Souls of Men that the Worship we offer to him ought to consist not in External shew and observation but in the affections and intention of the Mind Lastly reminds us of the affinity of our Souls to his Nature by partaking in the spirituality of it and thereby convinceth us that the Soul as far exceeds the Body in its excellency and real interest as God doth all Finite Creatures The last Attribute of God mentioned in my Text is his Wisdom the only wise God which may respect either the extent or the supreme excellency of his Knowledge either that he knoweth all things the most secret Transactions and Thoughts of Men or that he best of all knoweth the Causes of things and the tendency of means to their proper ends what is most fit in it self what is most convenient for us In either sense we must acknowledge God to be most worthy of our Adoration If God indeed seeth all our actions and the most inward recesses of our Soul if the most private motion of our Heart cannot escape his knowledge this not only describes him to be of Infinite Capacity and thereby worthy of the highest Veneration but also encourageth to Adore and Worship him Since we are sure that our Piety altho never so secretly performed cannot pass unregarded by him that it will not be thrown away and become ineffectual Whereas if we neglect to pay this Tribute of Honour and Glory we cannot flatter our selves with the hopes of secrecy and concealing it from the knowledge of God This of all other Attributes ought to create in us the most lively concern and diligence to consider that God is always present as a Witness with us to observe our demeanour and note every Action of our Life And if so we may be assured that no Action of Praise or Thanksgiving will miscarry or fall short of its intended end to procure the Favour of God In the next place God not only vieweth all the parts of the Creation and is conscious of every motion whether of the Soul or Body but directeth all things to their best and most proper ends fore-seeth all effects knoweth the force and efficacy of all Causes and ordereth all his designs in the most wise and perfect method And that we may not esteem our selves unconcerned in all this he hath chosen to employ his Wisdom most Illustriously in favour of Mankind Thus the whole Fabrick of the World doth in some measure tend to the Service and Happiness of Man whom he Constituted Lord of all the Visible World and most wisely contrived it for his Convenience as well as Pleasure This our Senses teach us this we cannot doubt if we view the several parts of the Universe and consider in what a Beautiful and Harmonious Frame they are united and conspire to the use of Man The Methods of Divine Providence in relation to the Government of the World are more unsearchable yet such as manifest a most compleat Wisdom and tender regard of our Happiness But above all his Wisdom as well as Love to Mankind appears most eminently in contriving the Redemption of lost and sinful Man in a method wherein Pardon is offered to Sinners without doing injury to the Divine Justice wherein Relief is afforded and Mercy granted to the infirmity of our Natures yet Diligence and Vigilance required as necessary wherein none are excluded none can justly either presume or despair The Consideration of these illustrious Instances of the Divine Wisdom cannot but create in us a Submission to his Laws and Acquiescence in his Decrees convince us of the Justice of his Proceedings and induce us to resign up our Wills and Passions wholly to his Conduct and Direction which is the most noble Testimony of giving Honour and Glory to God that the Soul of Man is capable of most pleasing to God and agreeable to his Nature For if we reflect upon the Quality of the Divine Attributes and Perfections we shall easily discover how justly the Apostle inferrs from them all that to God the Possessor of them ought to be ascribed Honour and Glory for ever and ever We find that from all these Perfections God hath a right to our Praise and Adoration this is the natural result of true Conceptions of them and cannot in Justice be denied ought not in Duty to be neglected To return Honour and Glory to God is the highest Effort of Gratitude which we can aim at and indeed the utmost which God requires of us It had been but a mean and unworthy Acknowledgment of those infinite Perfections to represent them upon Earth by costly Images and magnificent Pageants to erect stately Temples in remembrance of them or acknowledge the deference due to them by elaborate and pompous Ceremonies Actions indeed wherein the greatest part of the World have always expressed their religious Sentiments yet Expressions far beneath the Dignity of that infinite Object to which they were directed The perfections of God are spiritual and as such require a spiritual Acknowledgment an inward Worship that we ever preserve Noble thoughts of God in our Souls that we maintain an awful remembrance of our Obligation that we own him to be the Lord of Life and Death our King and Governour from whom we receive our Being and in whose sight we are Dust and Ashes that we cautiously fear to offend him studiously endeavour to satisfie those ends for which we were sent into the World and in all our Actions manifest that we are sensible of our Subjection to him Thus may we render Honour and Glory to him for ever and ever in the words of the Apostle that is continually and without Intermission For a steady Course of Life fixed upon Principles and Resolutions of Obedience and agreeable to them is a continued Act of honouring God although we cannot always employ our Thoughts in admiring his Perfections or our Tongue in confessing them The Angels indeed are by the Spirituality of their Nature fitted to celebrate the Praises of God without Intermission as being not distracted with the Cares and Necessities of a Body and having a more perfect Comprehension of the Divine Attributes but of Man whose Knowledge in this Life is imperfect whose Temptations are numerous and Distractions continual no more is required than a sincere Endeavour of directing his Life in general by Principles and Rules which arise from Obedience to the Commands and Will of God and ultimately tend to the Honour of his Name And surely we cannot imagine this Condition of Happiness to be any difficult much less any Grievous Matter which is the constant Exercise of Angels now in the Supreme Fruition of their Happiness This Constitutes their
he did with a Discourse on that Text S. John 14. 25 26. the first of the following Sermons In September following the Archbishop admitted him into the number of his Chaplains at the same time as his Custom was giving him a Living his Institution to which being deferr'd a while till he should be of full Age in the mean time the Vicaridge of Minster in the Isle of Thanet fell void to which he was Collated Novemb. the 12th of the same Year and afterwards to the Rectory of Chartham Septemb. the 19th 1689. He having first conferr'd on him the Holy Order of Priesthood with his own hand on his Birth-day Novem. the 9th 1688. Now it was that by the Advice and Encouragement of his Noble and Learned Patron he addrest himself to the composing of his Great Work called by him Anglia Sacra A Work of incredible Pains as must needs be acknowledged by any one who considers the uncommonness of the Subject never before so treated of by any one the scarcity and obscurity of the Materials from whence it was to be Collected and these too not to be had but in several places and at vast distances yet all these Difficulties were overcome by his own unwearied Diligence a◅d Patience and the kind and generous ◅sistance of Friends Among whom particularly must always be mentioned with Honour the profoundly Learned Dr. Lloyd the then Right Reverend Bishop of St. Asaph and now of Litchfield and Coventry who freely imparted to him many things worthy of Notice out of the curious Treasury of his incomparable Collections and did also several other ways animate him in the Prosecution of his Design Nor ought here to be forgotten the Reverend and Learned Dr. John Battely Archdeacon of Canterbury his dear and worthy Friend who with those two Learned Persons Dr. William Hopkins and Dr. Matthew Hutton the former Prebendary of Worcester and the Latter the Worthy Rector of Ayno in Northamptonshire communicated to him many things worthy of Publick Noticē the two first from the Archives of their respective Churches and the last out of his own private Collections A Work this was of such excellent Design that for it alone though he had given no other instance of his Industry and Zeal for the cause of Religion and Learning as he had many the Name of Mr. Wharton ought always to be dear to the Learned World for the benefit and advantage whereof so many Ancient Monuments of our Nation relating to Church Affairs have been brought to light and retriev'd from perishing in that Obscurity and Darkness wherein they had layn hid for many Ages Which methinks should have inclined a Learned Gentleman in the Preface to a late Book to reflect upon some of his Discourses with a little more Tenderness and Respect The whole Work was design'd to exhibit to us a compleat Ecclesiastical History of England untill the Reformation Two Volumes in Folio were by himself published in his Life time 1691. A Third in Octavo is since his Death come out giving an account of the Bishops and Deans of London and St. Asaph from the first Foundation of those Sees to the Year 1540. His account of which may perhaps by some be thought small and the performance not considerable tho' to them who know how very little the helps in such Matters are and the many tedious hours it must cost even to search them out it will I doubt not appear to deserve another sort of Judgment and the Consideration thereof reflect a due Commendation upon his unwearied Endeavours He intended the like for all the other Sees if God had granted Life but the infinite All-seeing Wisdom hath other ways disposed of him and in the midst of his great Designs call'd him to himself to receive an early Reward for his well-deserving Labours In 1693. He put out Venerable Bede's Commentaries on Genesis and on the Song of Habacuc together with Aldhelmus his eloquent Book of the Praise of Virginity There are several other Pieces for which the World is in some measure and upon some account indebted to him As. the Life of Cardinal Pool The Disceptation between the Embassadors of England and France in the Council of Constance about Precedency Mr. Stripe's Life of Archbishop Cranmer which he reviewed adding some critical Observations thereon in a large Postscript With some others also But that which he himself more especially rejoyced in and which to use his own words He accounted the most fortunate Transaction of his whole Life was the Honour which his late Lord the most Reverend Archbishop Sancroft did him upon his Death-bed in committing to his Trust the Papers of that Blessed Martyr Archbishop Laud and to his Care the Edition of them The most considerable among which containing the Troubles and Tryal of that great Person he published in the Year 1694. These we◅e the Works of Mr. Wharton which the Author of this Account has thought sufficient almost barely to Name without pretending to pass any Judgment concerning the Performance for that indeed is render'd altogether needless by the Universal Approbation and Applause wherewith they were constantly received as well in Foreign Countries as in our own by the Engagements which they always drew upon him from the greatest and most Learned of entring upon something else as soon as any one was finished and Lastly by the Esteem and Value they procured to him from Persons of all Degrees and Qualities Besides those which he publish'd in his Life-time he has left several Pieces behind him both Manuscript and others about which he has bestowed great Pains Among the former are several English Historians never as yet published which he hath with exact Care and Faithfulness transcribed and collated with the Originals sitting them for the Press and which possibly sometime or other may be made publick viz. Benedictus Abbas de Gestis Henrici Secundi Regis Angliae A. D. 1170. Chronicon Nicolai Tribetti vulgo de Trebeth Dominicani ab An. 1136. ad An. 1307. Chronicon Petri Ickham Compilatio de Gestis Britonum Anglorum Stephani Birchington Monachi Cantuariensis Historia de Regibus Angliae post Conquestum Liber Nonus de Miraculis Anglorum In some of them are contained vast Collections out of Ancient and Modern Records relating to Church Affairs As to his Sermons which are here presented to the Reader there is one thing which he is desired to take notice of There was a Sermon which ought to have accompanied these to wit that Preacht before her late Majesty of Blessed Memory but being by some accident left imperfect it has not been thought fit to be Printed among the rest which 't is hoped will be entertain'd with no less Applause now appearing together in publick than the Satisfaction they were heard with when deliver'd apart in private Auditories So much however happily remains of that aforesaid imperfect Sermon as is sufficient to declare what Worthy thoughts he had of the present Government and
those which are revealed by God supposing them to have been indeed revealed but only that any such Revelation is really made can appear no otherwise than by Arguments of probability Thirdly a perfect knowledge of all the Mysteries of Religion might have been extraordinarily obtained by the Apostles before the Ascension of our Saviour by conferring on them the same Gifts of the Holy Ghost as were afterwards poured on them on the day of Pentecost But neither was this convenient to the design of the Gospel nor the Wisdom of God Not to the former For the plentiful Effusion and Mission of the Holy Ghost was an Act of the Regal power of Christ which he commenced not till after his Ascension when he first began to exercise that Authority which he had obtained to himself by the obedience of Death And therefore our Saviour tells the Apostles S. Joh. XVI 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away For if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And in another place this is assigned as the Reason why the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified The Wisdom of God also was no less engaged which might justly have been arraigned if he had used so wonderful and signal a Miracle as was the Mission of the Holy Ghost for the extraordinary instruction of the Apostles before the Ascension of our Lord since no such Instruction was yet necessary which was the second Point I proposed to prove Namely II. That a perfect and infallible Information of the Apostles was not absolutely necessary till after the Ascension of Christ. For this was required in the Apostles for no other cause than that they might thereby be inabled to teach the Doctrines of our Saviour to the whole world and at last deliver them down in writing to succeeding Ages infallibly and without danger of any intermixed Enrour to the suspicion of which the Christian Religion would ever have been subjected if they had not been indued with such clearness of apprehension concerning every Point of it and attended by such an extraordinary assistance as might secure them from all possible danger of mistaking the Sense of that Doctrine which they were to deliver to the rest of Mankind To create this clear apprehension in the Apostles and convey down this assistance to them was the chief intention of sending the Holy Ghost as upon this day and the principal effect of that Mission at least as far as I am at present concerned So that since the sending of the Holy Ghost was designed purely to enable them to the due execution of their Office of preaching and propagating the Doctrine of Christ to the whole world which Office was not to be commenced till after his Ascension it manifestly follows that an exact and infallible knowledge of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion was not absolutely necessary to the Apostles before that time A perfect knowledge would have been useful indeed to them even before that time but useful to them only as private Persons not as bearing the publick Office and Character of Apostles whose Office before the Ascension of our Saviour consisted as we before observed in taking notice of the Actions Sufferings and Miracles of Christ that they might be able afterwards to testifie them to the whole world This Office of observing the Actions of Christ required no exact and perfect knowledge of all the Reasons of his Actions and Mysteries of his Doctrine but might be sufficiently discharged by any Persons who were not devoid of common Sense and Honesty The Mission of the Holy Ghost was necessary upon Reasons of another nature and would have continued necessary although the Apostles had perfectly understood all the Doctrine of our Saviour before his Ascension For however they might then sufficiently understand it nothing less than a perpetual extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost could infallibly secure them from all future Errour in delivering it to others or create such a degree of probability as might deserve the Assent and Belief of Mankind in all future Ages Thus I have shewn the Reasons of that Ignorance of the Apostles which is so remarkable through all the History of the Gospels and for which our Saviour promiseth so extraordinary a remedy in the words of my Text and withal demonstrated that there is nothing in all this Conduct of the Apostles continuing under that Ignorance till the Ascension and of our Saviour permitting it till that time disadvantageous to the Truth and Divinity of the Christian Religion It remains that I draw some few Conclusions from what hath been said which was the third and last Proposal First then if as we before shewed our Saviour and the Apostles who were unquestionably infallible never set up themselves for infallible Judges nor required from their Hearers a blind Assent to their Dictates if they submitted their Doctrines to the Examination of Scripture and Judgment of all private men in vain do any at this day pretend in vertue of an Authority derived from them to set up themselves for infallible Judges of Controversie from whom lyeth no Appeal either to Scripture or Reason and thereby exercise a Jurisdiction which they never claimed But I wave that Particular and choose rather to insist on some more practical Considerations Of which The first is That if the knowledge of the Christian Religion was so difficult to the Apostles who enjoyed so many and so great advantages under the Instruction and Government of their Divine Master the Author of this Religion if after the sight of his Miracles the Enjoyment of a triennial Conversation and the constant hearing of his Divine Discourses they continued ignorant of the true Spirit and Nature of Christianity this ought to excite us to great diligence in learning and studying the Mysteries of our Religion and enquiring the true Sense of those Revelations which our Saviour conveyed to the world It is indeed the peculiar Excellency and Glory of the Christian Religion that its admirable simplicity hath fited it to the Understandings and Capacity of all men that it is not such an abstruce Science as surmounts the ordinary reach of Mankind and must intirely be confined to the Discipline of the Schools and knowledge of Learned men the acquisition and understanding of it is possible and even easie to all men But then God in proposing this Religion intended not purely to supercede the Labours of men and consult their ease Some Conditions are also necessary on our side that we diligently search the Truth examine the Scriptures hearken to the instruction of our Pastors carefully weigh the Reasons of things and bring a mind ready disposed to assent to any Truths which shall evidently appear to us how contrary soever they may be to our Passions and Inclinations For although we labour not with those prejudices of a temporal Kingdom
and withal acknowledge that there is no other method whereby to obtain the one or escape the other but a hearty and sincere Repentance and yet with this Belief and Confession should continue in a state of Unrepentance Or if perhaps it may be possible that two such contrary things should consist together yet it cannot be denied but that by his Actions he proclaims his Unbelief to the World who neglects this necessary Duty of Repentance or which is all one deferrs to perform it This was the Second Head proposed namely the time prefixed by God to our Repentance To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Or as the Apostle expresseth it Hebr. III. 13. While it is called to day Which may either import the term of our natural Life for that Repentance will take no place after Death agreeably to that of our Saviour John IX 4. The night cometh wherein no man can work So that Repentance being necessarily to be performed in this Life and no more of this Life being certain to us than that moment which we now enjoy it ought to commence from this very moment Or else which seems most natural and agreeable to the Design of the Psalmist and the Apostle in the III. of the Hebrews Repent to day That is immediately while God continueth his offers of Mercy before it be too late for that he will not await our Repentance till we please nor suffer his Goodness to be willfully slighted This term of Repentance fixed by God to every Man may be easily discovered as being no other than the first moment of his Conviction of the necessity of Repentance When that Conviction is once throughly formed when Men are fully satisfied that it is their indispensable Duty to conform themselves to the Will of God when they know withal that this Conformity consists in practising all the Divine Precepts of Holiness Justice and Sobriety and that all habitual Sins are an open Opposition to it when they are asâ—…ured that God hath proclaimed his Pardon to Penitent and denounced his Wrath to Impenitent Sinners Then is Life and Death truely set before them Then is it committed to their Choice which they will preferr An easie Choice one would imagine had not the deplorable Experience of so many obstinate Sinners taught us the unhappiness of Mankind in choosing the worse even under Convictions of their Interest and Obligation to the contrary If we enquire after the Cause of this miserable Perverseness we find indeed the Temptations to which Mankind is exposed to be very violent the Lusts of the World and the Flesh to be very powerful and the Pleasures of sin of a bewitching Nature Yet all this would not be sufficient to Master the Dictates of Reason and natural desire of true Happiness which is found in all did not an unhappy mistake misguide the practice of Men and render all the present Convictions of Conscience ineffectual Men are apt to raise false Notions from the Divine Attribute of infinite Mercy and flatter themselves with vain Hopes that the term prefixed by God to their Repentance is not yet expired that it will never be too late to begin their Repentance and in Vertue of it take out their Pardon This is that Deceitfulness of sin of which the Apostle warns us in the afore-mentioned place least any of us be hardened through it after the Example of the Jews of whom some when they had heard did provoke Verse 16. That is after a full Conviction of the Power and Veracity of God refused to obey his Commands or rely on his Pomises as in the Case of their refusal to go up and take possession of the Land which God had given to them related in the XIV of Numbers to which this Psalm particularly relates They immediately indeed repented of their Folly and resolved forthwith to take up Arms and enter upon the Design but then it was too late they had slipt their time and God refused to be among them or to give them Success It is frivolous therefore to plead the Hopes of continual offers of Pardon for deferring of Repentance and to pretend that if they exactly knew the time beyond which the Patience of God would not await they would immediately begin to form a sincere Repentance Such Resolutions may possibly be true and indeed unless a monstrous stupidity intervenes it cannot be otherwise But then the term is manifest and cannot be unknown to any being the moment from which we are convinced that it is our Duty to obey God and know what are the Rules and Measures of Obedience We must believe that God can do nothing irrational now the reasonableness of Pardon to sinful Man is founded either in the invincible ignorance of his Duty or in the Infirmity of his Nature prone to yield to powerful Temptations The latter supposeth an endeavour of Obedience and Piety and cannot consist with a fixed and resolved unrepentance for then every Sin will be the effect not of humane Infirmity but of Resolution The former Cause vanisheth when the Ignorance of Men is removed by a clear Revelation of the Will of God And therefore the Apostle tells the Athenians That God winked indeed at the times of ignorance but now after the Manifestation of the Gospel Willeth all men every where to repent As for us Christians we cannot pretend an Ignorance of our Duty much less those who have the Happiness to be Members of a Church so excellently Constituted We have the Scriptures open to us are admonished and incited to the Practice of our Duty by weekly Exhortations and disown all little Arts so usual in other Churches of procuring Salvation without a strict and real Obedience There remains then to us only the Plea of Infirmity whereby to excuse our Sins and not wholly to despair of the Divine Mercy This supposeth our sincere Endeavours of performing our Duty and a settled Course of Vertue and Piety in which Course we may be overtaken with Temptations and being unawares insuared by them may be betrayed into Sin while the Soul is clouded with a Passion and by violent impressions from the Body or outward Objects hath scarce the Liberty of directing her thoughts aright But if when this Tempest is allayed this Cloud removed when the Mind regains its perfect Freedom and enters into a serious thought of its Condition it entertains any Complacency with the Sin performed or is willing to permit a continuance of it this is no longer a Sin of Infirmity but of deliberate and resolved Choice much more when any Man resolves wholly to stand out against the Divine Command and Convictions of his own Conscience and to proceed in his unrepentance although but for a certain time This is a Sin of so heinous a Nature that no Pardon is promised to it under the Gospel nor indeed can it consist with the Justice and Holiness of God to give it And then even for Sins of Infirmity it is
common or unclean and convinced him that his Favours were not to be restrained according to the mean and unworthy conceptions of the Jews that the extent of his Mercy and Goodness was no more capable of limitation than the Nature of them and that the conditions of his Favour should not as his Countrey men had hitherto vainly imagined be descent from Abraham and observation of legal Ceremonies but the more noble and universal conditions of Fear and Righteousness Convinced of this Truth Peter opened his Mouth and said Of a Truth I perceive that God is no respecter of Persons But in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted by him In which words we may observe I. The Universality and Impartiality of the Divine Justice and Favour II. The conditions of it which are Fear of God and working of Righteousness The First is founded in the excellency of the Divine Nature which enjoying all perfections in the most Transcendent manner cannot be supposed to want that which above all is necessary to a Supreme Judge and Governour of the World Impartial Justice in the dispensing of Rewards and Punishments All Men were equally created by God and if we respect that alone all have an equal Right to his Favour He accepteth not the Persons of Princes saith Job XXXIV 19. nor regardeth the rich more than the poor for they are all the work of his Hands or as it is in the Book of Wisdom VI. 7. He made the small and the great and doth equally take care of all So that in the right of Creation only antecedently to all Merits or Demerits of Men no respect is had to the Persons of Men. Otherwise we could not but conceive Injustice to be in God nor were it possible to reconcile such a partial Conduct with his infinite Excellency And therefore in 2 Chron. XIX 7. the reason why God is no respeâ—…er of Persons is said to be because there is no Iniquity with the Lord. All reasonable preference of one Person to another must necessarily be founded upon some just cause otherwise it would be trifling and fond nay even injust and foolish We find indeed in our selves our affection oft-times excited without sufficient Reasons We are passionately carried to Objects not worthy our Love or Desire We value the Objects of our Love beyond their true Merits and weigh not so much the Reason of the Thing as the dictates of a blind desire Yet after all we never fix our affections without some apparent shew of Reason Reasons indeed oft-times false and frivolous yet specious and pleasing which the imperfection of our Nature permits to become effectual with us and falsly representeth to us as perswasive Arguments But far be it from us to imagine any such imperfections to be in God In him is no variableness or shadow of change He fully knoweth the Merits of all Causes and can never be deceived by false Lights or Prejudices he cannot be swayed by Passions and Affections or be betrayed into erroneous Judgments by false representations He ever proceedeth upon fixed and immoveable principles drawn from the nature of things and reason of Causes principles which equally serve for all Actions and Causes and are never violated for the sake of external Circumstances Such as are to be Descended of this or that Family to be Born in this or that part of the World or to practice this or that Ceremony I mean not as a Religious Action but as a Custom of the Countrey All these outward Circumstances ought not to be respected by an Earthly Judge and therefore cannot have any place with God who hath fixed most juft and impartial Laws of Government which universally affect all the Members of Mankind It may not be amiss to view these principles and from them to Form right Notions of the Divine Justice They may be briefly comprehended in these three 1. God cannot create Man on purpose to make him miserable or after a promulgation of an Eternal Covenant deny the benefits of it to any performing the conditions of it It may perhaps seem offensive to say that God cannot do this but as the Apostle saith He cannot lye so we may truly say He cannot be unjust But what greater Injustice than to necessitate a Man to be miserable What more notorious respecting of Persons than to conferr Salvation upon one and deny it to another using equal diligence to attain it nay not only to deny this to him but to punish him everlastingly without respect to his demerits and only in vertue of an Arbitrary Decree of Reprobation Surely those who would perswade Men that God acteth in this manner contribute no less effectually although not intentionally to the extirpation of Religion and dishonour of God than either Atheists or the most gross Idolaters For to what purpose was Religion Instituted Rewards and Punishments proposed Laws prescribed and Rules fixed if after all Judgment is given at the last Day not according to the observation of them but the unaccountable Decrees of Election and Reprobation It is vain to pretend that God may justly do all this in right of Creation For this cannot still be denied to be respect of Persons and no respect of Persons can be Just in God Besides Eternal Damnation is a State whose miseries far surmount the necessary Benefits flowing from existence and as such cannot be by God necessarily imposed on any for then the existence which he gave them would not compensate the misery which he cast upon them which would be a manifest defect of Justice If any believe it a more preferable State to be infinitely miserable than not to be I would not be so uncharitable as to wish they might be convinced by their own experience but surely all will conclude them grosly mistaken unless the necessary Benefit of existence be also infinite which none will say 2. That which is the true and ultimate Happiness of Man I mean Eternal Salvation God will not and in Justice cannot conferr upon one merely for the sake of another nor deny to one only for default of another None is capable either of Reward or Punishment but for the good or bad use of his own free-will and if after his utmost diligence used Man could mifs his intended Happiness through default of another or gain it without employing that careful diligence there could be no obligation at least no encouragement to pursue the means Reason directeth Men to use any means only upon assurance or belief of their subserviency to the acquisition of the end proposed and if there be no necessary connexion between the means and the end it would be unreasonable for Mankind to employ the one or hope the other Not to fay that it would be an inexcusable partiality to bestow Happinefs upon one Man without any concurrence of his own and deny even the possibility of obtaining it to another although acting in the same Circumstances 3. Temporal Benefits and worldly