ers_ he hath
bestowed on him. The contrary would be very hard dealing indeed--If
a Law be dispensed to me, I must in the first Place have
Understanding sufficient to judge of its Authority, and the
Obligations it lays me under; and, in the second Place, I must also
have Power to keep it, otherwise it can never be a Law suitable to
me; and a Man's _Age_, _Complexion_, _Stature_, and _Circumstances_,
are as just Causes for Damnation, as the Breach of a Law which lies
beyond the Reach of his Knowledge and Abilities. But supposing, in
the last Place, that God did make such a Covenant with _Adam_, &_c_.
(though I think I have shewn it to be impossible) let us see how the
Doctrines of _Election_ and _Preterition_ will turn out _then_. I
have already endeavoured to make it appear, that God does not act in
that arbitrary Manner, which these Gentlemen teach; that though he
is indeed governed by no Law without, or accountable to any for what
he is pleased to do, yet his own Rectitude of Mind, is to him an
invariable Rule of Righteousness, equally secure to all Intents and
Purposes of a written Law without: and this argues the adorable and
incomparable Excellency of his Being who, though by Nature he is
infinitely above all Power and Authority whatever, yet his moral
Perfections continually prompt him to promote the Happiness of the
meanest of his Creatures. It was _sovereign Goodness_ (rather than
_sovereign Pleasure_) which prompted the Almighty to create Man, in
order to communicate Happiness to him; and if _Adam's_ Posterity
might be said to fall in him, yet God must at least look on them in
a more favourable Manner, than if they had actually sinned
themselves; and consequently it could never suit with his Goodness
to punish eternally _any one_ under this Circumstance, without
_first giving_ him an Opportunity of recovering from his lapsed
State; nor could he ordain the Means on Purpose to _save some_ by
_electing Grace_, without _saving all_. God does nothing without
sufficient Reason: he could save none under this Circumstance, but
as they were _in themselves_ Objects of his Pity and Mercy; and if
ever there was an Object of Mercy, here it is, an immortal Soul
condemned, for the Fault of _another_, which it could by no Means
hinder or prevent, to suffer eternal Torment. There is something
greatly moving in such an Object as this; and as _all Adam's_
Posterity were equally involved in his Guilt, all are Objects of
Mercy _pre