to make them up into one family, in one new head, his son Jesus Christ, in whom he hath now actually gathered into one, all things that are in heaven and earth, to his praise and glory, Ephes. i, 10.

$8. There is, then, no necessary reason inducing us to believe, that God hath left all mankind to perish under the curse, without any remedy; yea, there are, on the contrary, many evidences, that there is a way provided for their recovery; for,

1. The glorious properties of the nature of God, which he designs to manifest and exalt, in all his external works, do in a sense require that there should be salvation for sinners. God had, in the creation of all things, glorified his greatness, power, wisdom, and goodness. His sovereignty, righteousness, and holiness he had in like manner revealed in that holy law, which he had prescribed to angels and men, for the rule of their obedience, and in the assignation of their reward. Upon the sin of angels and men, he had made known his severity and vindictive justice, in the curse and punishment inflicted on them. But there were yet remaining undiscovered, in the abyss of his eternal essence, grace, and pardoning mercy, which in none of his works had as yet exerted themselves, or manifested their glory. The creatures know nothing in God, but as manifested in its effects. His essence, in itself, dwells, in light inaccessible. Had never any stood in need of grace or mercy, or had never been made partakers of them, it could not have been made known, that there was that kind of goodness in his nature, which yet it is his principal design to glorify himself in. And there is nothing in himself, which the Lord more requireth our conformity to himself in, than in this condescension, goodness, grace, and readi

ness to forgive; which manifests how dear the glory

of them is to him.

2. To what end shall we conceive the providence and patience of God to be exercised towards the race of mankind for so long a season? We see what is the general event of the continuance of mankind in the world; God saw it, and complained of it long ago, Gen. vi, 5, 6. Shall we now think, that God hath no other design in his patience towards the children of men for so many generations, but merely to suffer them all without exception, to sin against him, dishonor him, provoke him, that so he may at length everlastingly destroy them? That this, indeed, is the event with many, or even with the most, through their own perverse wickedness, blindness, and love of sinful pleasures, cannot be denied. But to suppose that God hath no other design, but merely by his patience to bear with them awhile in their folly, and then to avenge himself upon them, is unsuitable to his wisdom and goodness. It cannot be, then, but that he would long since have cut off the whole race (to prevent its propagation) if there were no way for them to be delivered out of this perishing condition.

3. That there is a way of deliverance for mankind, the event hath manifested in two remarkable and undeniable instances.

1. In that sundry persons who were, as others, "by "nature children of wrath," and under the curse, have obtained an undoubted and infallible interest in the love and favor of God, and this testimony, "that they "pleased him." Some persons, in all generations, have, enjoyed the friendship, love, and favor of God; which they would never have done, unless there had been some way for their deliverance out of the state of sin and misery, before described. For, therein ev

ery man, upon a just account, will find himself in the state of Adam, who, when "he heard the voice of "God, was afraid."

2. God hath been pleased to require from men, a revenue of glory, by way of worship, prescribed them after the entrance of sin. This he hath not done to the angels that sinned; nor could it have been done consistently with righteousness to men, without supposing a possibility of deliverance from under his wrath. For in every prescription of duty, God proposeth himself as a rewarder, which he is only to them that please him; and to please God, without the deliverance inquired after, is impossible. Deliverance, then, from this condition, may on just grounds be expected. Our next inquiry is, how it might be effected.

§9. The great relief must be brought about, either by men themselves, or by some other for them. About what they can do themselves, we may be quickly satisfied. The nature of the evils under which they suffer, and the event of things in the world, sufficiently discover the disability of men to be their own deliverers. Besides, who should contrive the way of it for them? one single person, more, or all? How easily the impossibility of it might be demonstrated on any of these suppositions, is too manifest to be insisted on.

There are but two ways conceivable (setting aside the consideration of what shall be afterwards fixed on) whereby mankind, or any individual amongst them, may obtain deliverance from this evil:

1. That God, without any farther consideration, should remit it, and exempt the creation from under it. But although this way seems possible to some, it is, indeed, utterly otherwise. Did not the sentence against this evil proceed from his righteousness, and

the essential rectitude of his nature? Did he not engage his truth and faithfulness, that it should be inflicted? And doth not his holiness and justice require that it should be so? What should become of his glory; what should he do unto his great name, if now, without any cause or reason, he should, contrary to all those engagements of his holy perfections, wholly remit and take it off? nay, this would plainly justify the serpent in his calumny, that, whatever he pretended, yet indeed, that no execution could ever ensue. How also can it be supposed, that any of his future comminations should have a just weight upon men, that first great and fundamental one should be evacuated? or what authority would be left unto his law, when he himself should dissolve the sanction of it? Besides, if God should do thus, which reason, revelation, and the event of things manifest, that he neither would, nor could, (for he cannot deny himself) it would have been His work, and not an acquisition of men themselves. But this way of deliverance is, at best, but imaginary. Therefore,

if

2. There is no other way for man, if he will not perish eternally under the punishment due to his apostasy and rebellion, but to find out some way of commutation, or making a recompense for the evil of sin, to the law and righteousness of God. But herein his utter insufficiency quickly manifests itself; for whatever he is, or hath, or can claim any interest in, lies no less under the curse, than he doth himself; and that which is under the curse can contribute nothing to its removal. That which is, in its whole being obnoxious to the greatest punishment, can have nothing wherewith to make commutation for it; for that must first be accepted for itself, which can either make atonement, or be received for any other in exchange. And

this is the condition of every individual of mankind, and will be so to eternity, unless relief arise from another quarter. It is farther evident, that all the endeavors of men must needs be unspeakably disproportionate to the end aimed at, from the concernment of the other parts of the creation, in the curse against sin. What can they do to restore the universe to its first glory and beauty? How can they reduce the creation to its original harmony? Wherewith shall they recompense the great God, for the defacing of so great a portion of that impress of his glory and goodness that he enstamped upon it? In a word, they, who from their first date, to their utmost period, are always under the punishment, can do nothing for the total removal of it. The experience also of five thousand years hath sufficiently evinced how insufficient man is to be a savior to himself. All the various, and uncertain notions of Adam's posterity in religion, from the extreme of atheism, to that of sacrificing themselves and one another, have been designed in vain towards this end. Nor can any of them, to this day, find out a better, or a more likely way for them to thrive in, than those wherewith their progenitors deluded themselves. And in the issue of all we see, as to what man has been able of himself to do towards his own deliverance, that both he, myself, and the whole world, are continued in the same state wherein they were upon the first entrance of sin, cumulated, as it were, with another world of confusion, disorder, mischief, and misery. The corrupt spring of moral evil that is in man's nature, is universal and endless: it mixeth itself with all, and every thing that man doth, or can do, as a moral agent, and that always, and for ever, Gen. vi, 5. It is, then, impossible that it should have an end, unless it either destroy, or spend itself;