right judgment: for 'tis certain were the cafe referr'd to any competent Judge, indeed to any but themselves they would inevitably be caft; and fure 'tis high time that fome fhould affift oppreft vertue in its appeal; find it out fome Court of equity where its plea may be heard: and we need not travel far for that purpofe, every man may do it in his own breaft, where in his little Com mon-wealth he fhall find a Court of Gods erecting: let him but draw the Cause thither, difcufs the matter in his own confcience; and he will foon find the former unrighteous fentences revers'd: let him but seriously reflect on his violations of thofe facred Precepts of Chrift; and ob ferve what a fting and fecret remorse every fuch breach leaves within him: and that will be a competent atteftation of the equity and obligingnefs of those Mandates: for from whence elfe can the regret arife? thofe things that are either impoffible in their nature, or unconcerning to us cannot beget it. No man accufes himfelf for not flying in the air, or walking upon the water: nor owns himself guilty in the non-obfervance of any Laws, but fuch as have power to oblige him: and therefore these clofe pangs and checks of Confcience are an irrefragable evidence, that men do inwardly affent to the juftice and authority of thofe divine rules; which their actions, yea often their words too, do moft oppugn.

BUT over and above the throws and afterpains of conscience,when fin is brought forth, the felf-accufation of the Criminal, when none be

fide controuls, nay many flatter and commend: I fay beyond this fecondary and reflext Apology, for Chrifts Law, owed to the foregoing prevarication of it; there is an early and immediate verdict paft in its behalf, in the esteem and liking which thofe documents command, where ere they pafs: creating an affent and veneration not only when obey'd, but from profeft defpifers; who cannot chufe to think well of that vertue they defert, and the neceffity of their affairs compel them to speak ill of. An event visible in the condemnation of our Saviour, where the Judge who gave Sentence against him, at the fame moment wafht his hands, and openly profest he found no fault in him.

AND indeed this very reflexion on the Author of thefe precepts, if well confider'd would fuperfede all other arguments. The Mandates of the Gofpel on this one fcore, that they are Chrifts, are certainly both pure in themselves, and poffible to us: and fo moft worthy not only of all Obedience, but all Love too. He who is our Lord upon both the titles of Creation and Redemption, may certainly with all justice impofe what laws he pleases on us. Yet he, who laid down his life for the redemption of the tranfgreffions which were under the first Teftament, cannot be imagin'd fo inconfiderate of our frailty which himself had fmarted for, as to introduce another of equal rigor, or be so prodigal of his bloud, as to pour it out for thofe who by a new fet of impoffible commands fhould infalli

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bly reforfeit themselves again: and if this cannot be fuppos'd, the contrary may be concluded, that he hath fo far condefcended to our imbecillity, as not to prescribe us any thing which he either finds or makes us not able to perform. 'Tis true indeed, his Lans are above the reach of our corrupt and debafed nature; and they were unfit to be his, were they not fo: but when he by his grace offers to elevate and refine this nature, bring it up to the pitch and rity of those Laws, this is a far greater mercy than if he had defcended to our corruption; fo he might have contaminated himself, given laws unworthy of him: but alass what advantage would it be to us, to have the Blafphemy mention'd, Pfal. 50. fo verified to have our God in this fenfe, fuch a one as our felves? but by this other Method he purifies, and exalts us: puts us in a capacity of being like unto him, in which is fumm'd up at once, all both vertue and felicity.

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AND on this glorious end every particular command of his, has a direct afpect, every one of them tending to re-imprefs on us fome part of that divine image which was raz'd out by the firft fin: and this one would think enough to recommend them to our highest value. Certainly, if Confcience may be Judge, it will be fo: there being in this cafe no middle between devout reverence, and horrid blafphemy; for he that defpifes fuch an affimulation, must neceffarily alfo defpife him who is fo refembled: he who thinks meeknefs, purity, humility, &c. unamiable qua

lities, can have little esteem for him, in whom they are so tranfcendently eminent,but will take the Prophet at his word, and fay, there is no form nor comeliness in him, Ef. 53. But this fure can never be the Verdict of Confcience; he that can thus pronounce, must be fuppos'd to have fuppreft and filenc'd that. It being one of the most indelible nctions there, that all that is in God, is fublimely excellent. But because 'tis indeed too poffible that confcience may be put under fuch an undue reftraint, fuffer the violence of a Prifoner, when it should sustain the place of a Fudge: because many men dare not permit their confciences to speak, left they should say more than they are willing to hear. And lastly, fince these perfons make their appeal to reafon, pretend the aids,and boast in the advantages of that, it may not be amifs to bring the Caufe unto that Bar: whose Empire and Authority none must disclaim that own the Style, and least of all those Scepticks in Religion with whom we have to do: who will allow of no conviction but from it.

AND God, who as the Apoftle faies, leaves not himself without witness, has fo temper'd and difpos'd his Precepts as to qualifie them to pass even this Teft alfo, they being not the contradi tions but improvements of natural Reafon and fo most apt to recommend themselves to all that is Man, not Brute about us. Indeed they have the very fame aim and defign with that. It has ever been the grand bufinefs of fober reafon firft to discover, and then to attain that one Supreme

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good, which would give reft and felicity to the foul: in this inquifition have the Philofophers and greatest Matters of Reafon, laid out their moft ferious ftudies and deepest contemplations; and in their indefatigable pursuits feem joyntly to figh out David's queftion, Who will shew us any good? and now the Gospel comes a folution of this fo important a Query, brings thefe glad tidings of joy to all people, and that not only in its credenda, by informing us what that Good is: but in its agenda too, by tracing us out the Way to it: beating us a path which will certainly lead us to that fummum bonum which our very Nature implicitly gafps after; and sure Reason can never jar with this, which comes thus as a happy Auxiliary to fuccour its impotence: as an infallible Guide to conduct its fteps: and as a glorious Light to give it a clear view, of what it before blindly groped after. 'Tis a certain Indication of Madness, to tear and mischief those things that would be useful to us, to curfe and revile a friend, or fly in the face of those whofe charity brings them to ouraid; and therefore 'tis most evident that Reafon muft first cease to be reafon,and commence Phrenzy, before 'tis poffible it can fet its felf in defiance of thofe Laws of Christ, which are thus accommodated to its greateft Interests.

AND as the accord is thus obfervable in the ultimate, fo is it in the intermediate defign alfo. Reafon had by its twilight difcern'd that, that Soveraign Blifs it aim'd at, would never be hit by

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