bing Merit to our felves, but giving all the Praise and Glory to God, as the Angels do, who ftand before his Throne, faying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive Honour, and Glory, and Power, Rev. 4. 11. The blef fed Angels that see the Majefty of God, and know his Goodness and Perfections, as they are in themselves, cannot well be touch'd with the leaft arrogant and lofty Thoughts of Themselves. As the brightest Stars difappear, and we see them not when the Sun is prefent, fo do they lofe all Conceit of themselves that are within the Sphere of God's Majefty and glorious Prefence. And if the Angels themselves, who are spotless in their Natures, and faultlefs in all their Doings, are swallowed up in the Contemplation of God's infinite Goodness and Perfections, and affume nothing to themselves in Comparison, how much more should we, who are finful Duft and Ashes, humble our felves before God, in a modest Opinion of our best Actions, in acknowledging our felves but unprofitable Servants in doing him the best Service we can? God's infinite Perfections, and our infinite Obligations to him, if they be duly confidered, will not only keep us from being puffed up with the Conceit of Wealth, Honour, or Power, or Wisdom, but even of Virtue and Religion, and Things well done by us. To him we fhall afcribe the Praise of all, of the Capa

city we are in to know him, and of those Means whereby we do what he is pleased to call ferving him, and of that good Mind it felf wherewith we ferve and obey him. And this is one great Perfection of welldoing, to do the best Things we can, and to make no Boaft of them, but to expect our Reward, not fo much from Merit, as from the Grace of the fame God, who giveth us both to will and to do.

5thly, and lastly, It is implied in this Petition, that we pray the Will of God may be done by us, to the end that we may never be weary of well-doing, but run with Patience the Race that is fet before us, till we have attained the End of our Faith, which is the Salvation of our Souls.

They are great Things that are comprehended, as you fee, in this Petition, where, in we pray that our Obedience may be like the Obedience of Angels; but they are no other Things than what by our Christian Profeffion we pretend to, and what we may and must attain to, if our Profeffion be fincere.

And there is Great Reason why we should afpire after doing the Will of God in this manner, and therefore why this fhould be Matter of our Prayer, which was the

Third Thing to be fhewed. Great Reafon, I fay For the Will of God is upon all

Ac

Accounts of Juftice to be thus performed by us.

It is the Will of him that made us, and hath an indifpenfable Right upon that Account to govern and difpofe us according to his Pleasure; and therefore the doing of it is but the Discharge of the moft plain and natural Obligation that can be imagin'd, efpecially if we confider that this is the proper Excellency of our Natures to know our Maker, and to be obedient and grateful to him out of Choice. The Ox knoweth his Owner, but no Creature under the Rank of Man knoweth his Maker. The Beasts have fome Shadows of Reason, but Religion is the Prerogative of Man.

Moreover, The Will of God is always good, and cannot be evil; and therefore 'tis, as we shall find, for the common Benefit of Mankind. It is one Inducement to the Obedience of Laws, that they who made them were led by an Intention of the Publick Good, that they were not influenc'd by Corrupt, nor perverted by Private Ends. Which Confideration with all its Strength engageth every Man to the most perfect. Compliance with the Will of his Maker, fince God, not for his own Benefit, because he needeth us not, but for our fole Advantage, is pleased to govern us, and to prescribe what he will have us do. Most miferable had been the State of Mankind, had God

made

made us, and left us to fhift for our felves. Moft happy fhould we be if we would obferve all his Commandments perfectly unto the End. He is our abfolute Lord, but yet his Laws are not the Effects of his abfolute Dominion, so much as of a boundless Goodnefs. He hath fhewed thee, O Man, what is good, even in that which he hath required of thee.

Again, This is the Will of infinite Wifdom and Understanding, which certainly and infallibly knows what is beft for us. Should we rely upon our own Apprehenfion, who judge very often fo weakly and pitifully of Things, that in the Compass of a Day we find reason to change our Opinion? Or fhould we not rather rely upon his Wifdom who comprehends all Things, and their Relations, and their Dependencies upon one another, and fees them from firft to laft in endless Connexion? Shall we, who may be, and fo often are deceived, pretend to contradict his Will, who neither is nor can be deceived?

It is farther to be confidered, that the Obedience we are to perform is in Profecution of Repentance, and in Gratitude, not only for Goodness in general, but for Mercy alfo in particular, to him that might have taken the Forfeiture at our Hands, and punifhed us according to our Deferts; whereas he invites us to our Duty by Promises of

Pardon

Pardon of what is paft, and Acceptance of fincere Obedience for the future. And when once a Man is touch'd with a due

Senfe of having offended his great and good Maker, and of his Patience and Mercy towards him, he will think all that he can do in Compliance with his Will for the future too little for the teftifying of his Repentance. He that has wrong'd a Friend, and is afterwards brought to relent by repeated Benefits from him, is impatient till he has an Opportunity of demonftrating his Refolution to offend no more, is not fatisfied with one or more, or any, but proceeds to add one Expreffion of Kindnefs and Service to another as fast as he can, how much more fhould fuch Ingenuity make our Obedience to our most merciful Friend chearful, humble, and conftant, to God, I fay, who is that Friend, and the more fo, because he is infinitely, above us, and yet vouchsafes to make us Part of his Care?

Furthermore, This fhould move us, that he hath not only promised a.vaft Reward to our Obedience, but gives Affiftance to us in it at prefent; and that we might not forget him, as we are fo wretchedly apt to do, hath required us to ask his Grace, and his holy Spirit, to enable us to do what is pleafing in his Sight, this being the Ground of this Petition, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Which Kind of Prayers

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