them fo that without it thofe Ends cannot be procured, and those Effects cannot be prcduced. It does not only ferve to the Repose and Tranquility of the Mind, but there is no fuch thing as Tranquility of Mind to be had without it. It does not only ferve to adorn the Behaviour, but is also a neceffary Requifite to that purpose, there being no fuch thing as Decency or Comelinefs of Behaviour to be maintain'd without it. And fo in like manner of all the reft. Which by the way is a Confideration further applicable to the setting forth the excellency of Hu mility, fince it is neceffary to the production of all the forementioned good Effects, as well as certainly productive of them.

4. But before I proceed any further in fhewing the neceflity of Humility, I fhall prepare the way to it by fome general Reflections upon the neceffity of the Vertues at large. They are neceffary two ways. First, By the Will and Ordination of God. Secondly, in the nature of the thing it self. They are neceffary to procure us Admittance into Heaven. And they are neceffary to qualifie us for the enjoyment of it when we are there. They are neceffary both to the poffeffion and to the fruition of that Object wherein our Happiness does confift. These are diftinct things, and ought to be distinctly confidered,

5. Fint

5. First then, the Vertues are neceffary Conditions of our Admittance into Heaven. Not that this Neceffity is fo grounded in the nature of the thing as the other is. No, there is nothing in the nature of the thing it felf Abfolutely confidered that hinders or makes it impoffible, but that God may locally admit a Sinner into Heaven if he pleases. But he will not, and he has pofitively declared that he will not. For fo the Apostle tells us exprefly, that without Holiness no Man fhall See the Lord. So then God requires Holinefs as the Condition without which no Man fhall fee him, or be so much as admitted to his Glorious Presence. And fo there is a plain neceffity of it for that purpose, though not by the Abfolute nature of the thing, yet by the fetled Will and Appointment of God.

6. Not but that this Will of his has a great deal of Reason in it too. So much that perhaps conditionally speaking, and confidering God as acting Wifely, and according to certain measures of Order and Perfection, it may be true to say that he cannot (that is, Morally cannot) fo much as admit any Man into Heaven without Holinefs. But yet Abfolutely fpeaking, or according to his Abfolute Power which extends to every thing wherein there is no Contradiction, I think there is no doubt but that he can, there being no natural Repugnance in the thing to

it. However, he has declared that he will not, and 'tis certain that God may justly and reasonably require Holinefs as the condition without which we fhall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, and that notwithstanding that Christ has Dyed to open it for us. For though Chrift has fatisfied to the full for our Sins, as far as concerns the demands of Divine Juftice, yet the fatisfaction which he made, and the price which he paid for our Redemption being not that very thing which the Law required (for the Law required the punishment of the Offender himself, and that the Soul that Sinn'd fhould Dye) God might have chofen whether he would have accepted this Satisfaction or no, and as infinite as it was, might have refused it if he had pleased. If therefore he did accept it (which to do was of it self an Act of Grace) he was at liberty to limit and qualifie it with fuch Conditions as he faw fit either in relation to the Sinner, or in relation to himself, the Glory of his Attributes, or the Order of his Go vernment. And if Repentance and Holiness of Life fhould appear to him to be Conditi ons of that Nature, he juftly and reasonably might exact and require them as the neceffary Conditions of our Admittance into Heaven, And accordingly he has done fo, and 'tis now his declared and established Will not ta admit any thither without them 3 however,

by

by his Abfolute Power he might be suppo fed able to do otherwise.

7. But it would be to no purpose if he fhould. And that because Secondly, the Vertues of Chriftian Life are neceffary not only to give us a right of entrance into Heaven, but even to qualifie us for the enjoyment of it when we are there, to make us meet partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. And this Neceffity is not from any positive Institution of God, but is founded in the very Nature of the thing. For there goes fomething more to make up the Happiness of Heaven, than an outward Object, Place, or State. There must be alfo an inward Temper and Difpofition of Mind to Correspond to it, or else we shall poffefs only, and not enjoy. Now this Temper is Holiness, a God-like frame and difpofition of Mind. For as Happiness is a Relative thing, fo God the Object of it, is a Being of Infinite Purity and Perfection; and therefore if we be not in fome measure Partakers of that his Divine Nature and Spirit, we fhall not be like him, confequently cannot Love him, and confequently cannot Enjoy him. So that Holinefs is a natural Difpofition for Happiness. And if our very Bodies must be changed, put on another Temper, be Refined and Spiritualized to fit them for the Glories of Heaven, and to Inhabit Eternity, as St. Paul fays they

muft,

muft, when he tells us that this Mortal must put on Immortality, &c. and that Flesh and Blood cannot Inherit the Kingdom of God, much more is it neceffary that our Souls fhould be found in a fit and suitable Temper for the enjoyment of fo excellent an Object. So that however we may fuppofe it Abfolutely poffible for a Man to be admitted to Heaven without Holiness, yet 'tis Abfolutely impoffible he should be Happy without it.

8. Now this Natural Connexion between Holiness and Happiness, does most strongly inforce the Neceffity of a Holy and Christian Life, and most effectually fhut out all Evafions and Dependencies whereby Men might otherwise deceive and abuse themselves. For if the whole Business and Concern of a Holy Life, rested only in God's Will and Pleasure, if there were no other Neceffity of it but what was Arbitrary and of his making, if the Vertues of Chriftian Life were therefore only good because he commanded them, and therefore only neceffary to Happiness because God had tied these things together, by making one of them a condition of the other, then as God might Abfolutely dispense with his own Laws and Conftitutions, and unmake what he had made, fo the impenitent Sinner would be apt to flatter himself with hopes that he would, (to encourage him in which presumption the Infinite Goodness and

Mercy