between God and Us, that neither We can go to Him, nor He come to Us; and unless he alter his Nature by becoming impure as we are impure, or we alter ours by becoming pure as He is pure, there will be fo immenfe a Distance between Him and Us, as that it is impoffible we fhould ever meet and agree. So that what the Prophet faith of Sacrifice may be truly affirm'd of all Religion of the Means, Will the Lord be pleafed with thousands of Rams, or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oil? Will he be reconciled upon our bare believing, praying, or receiving Sacraments, &c. No, no; He hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good; And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly,and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah vi. 7, 8.

II. This Religion of the Means is of no farther use as to the perfecting our Natures, than as it is inftrumental to produce and promote in us thofe Heavenly Virtues which are implied in the Religion of the End. For doubtlefs to be a Perfect Man is to live up to the Highest Principle of Humane Nature, which is Reafon; and till we are once released from the flavery of Sexfe and Paffion, and all our Powers of Action are fo fubdued to this fuperiour Principle as to be wholly regulated by it, and we chufe and refufe, and love and hate, and hope and fear, and defire and delight, according as right Reafon directs, we are in a maimed and im perfect Condition. Now what else is Virtue but a Habit of Living according to the Laws of Reafon, or of demeaning our felves towards God, our felves, and all the Word, as best becomes Rational Beings placed in our Condition and Circumftances? And till we are in fome measure arrived

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to this, our Nature is fo far from being perfect, that it is the most wretched and confufed thing in the whole world; A mere undiftinguished Chaos, where Frigida cum Calidis, Senfe and Reafon, Brute and Man, are fhuffled together without any order, like a confounded Heap of Ruines. And therefore as for this Religion of the Means, it will be altogether infignificant to the Perfection of our Natures, unless by the practice of it we do acquire a habit of acting according to the Law of our Reafon, which Habit includes all Heavenly Virtue. For conftantly to know and do what is beft and most reasonable, is the very Crown and Perfection of every reasonable Nature; and therefore fo far as our Faith and Confideration, our Sorrow for Sin and the other Inftrumentals of Religion, promote this Heavenly Habit in us, fo far are they perfetive of our Nature, and no farther.

III. This Religion of the Means is of no farther Ufe to us as to the Entitling us to Heaven, than as it is productive of thofe Heavenly Virtues which the Religion of the End implies. For our Title to Heaven depending wholly upon Gods Promife, muft immediately refult from our performance of thofe Conditions upon which he hath promised it; which till we have done, we can have no more Claim or Title to it than if he had never promifed it at all. But the fole Condition upon which he hath promifed it, is Univerfal Righteoufnefs and Goodness; for fo, without Holiness, we are affured that no man fhall fee God; and Matt.v. our Saviour intails all the Beatitudes of Heaven upon those Heavenly Virtues of Purity of Heart, Benignity of Temper, &c. So alfo Rom. ii. 7. the

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Promise of Eternal Life is limited to our Patient Continuance in well-doing. And that we may know before hand what to truft to, our Saviour plainly tells us,that not every one that cries, Lord, Lord,that makes folemn Prayers and Addreffes to me, fhall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven; And, this is the will of God, faith the Apoftle, even our SanEtification, that is, our being purged from all Impurities of Flesh and Spirit, and infpired with all Heavenly Virtues. And the Apoftle exprefly enumerates thofe Virtues upon which our Entrance into Eternal Life is promifed, 2 Pet. i. 5, 6, 7, 8. Add to your Faith Virtue, and to Virtue Knowledge, and to Knowledge Temperance, and to Temperance Patience, and to Patience Godlineß, and to Godlineß Brotherly Kindneß, and to Brotherly Kindness Chari ty; For if thefe things be in you, and abound, faith he, they make you that you shall neither be barren or unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jefus Chrift, that is, That you fhall receive the proper Fruit of that Knowledge, which is Eternal Life; for thus v. xi. he goes on, For fo, or upon this Condition, an entrance fhall be miniftred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Fefus Chrift. So that unless our Faith purifies our Hearts, and works by Love; unless our forrow for Sin works in us Repentance, or a Change of Mind; unless our Prayers raife in us Divine and Heavenly Affections, that is, unless we fo practife the Duties of the Religion of the Means as thereby to acquire the Virtues of the Religion of the End, it will be all as infignificant to our Title to Heaven, as the most indifferent Actions in the World.

IV. This Religion of the Means is of no farther Ufe to the difpofing and qualifying us for Heaven, than as it is an effectual means of the Religion of the End. Which is a perfectly distinct Confideration from the former; For it would be no advantage to us to have a Right to Heaven, unless we were antecedently qualified and difpofed for it. Because Pleafure which is a Relative thing, implies a Correfpondence and Agreement between the Object and the Faculty that talts and enjoys it. But in the Temper of every wicked Mind there is a trong Antipathy to the Pleafures of Heaven; which being all chafte, and pure, and spiritual, can never agree with the vitiated Palat of a base and degenerate Soul. For what concord can there be between a fpiteful and devilish Spirit and the Fountain of all Love and Goodneß? between a fenfual and carnalized one, that understands no other Pleasures but only thofe of the Flefh, and those Pure and Virgin Spirits that neither eat nor drink, but live for ever upon Wisdom and Holiness, and Love, and Contemplation? Certainly till our Mind is contempered to the heavenly State, and we are of the fame difpofition with God, and Angels, and Saints, there is no Pleafure in Heaven that can be agreeable to us. For, as for the main, we fhall be of the fame Temper and Difpofition when we come into the other World,as we are when we leave this; it being unimaginable how a Total Change fhould be wrought in us meerly by palling out of one World into another. And therefore as in this world it is Likenes that does congregate & afsociate Beings together; fo doubtless it is in the other too. So that if we carry with us thither our wicked and

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devillifh difpofitions (as we shall doubtlefs do, unlefs we fubdue and mortifie them here) there will be no Company fit for us to affociate with, but only the devillifh and damned Ghosts of wicked men, with whom our wretched Spirits being already joyned, by a likeness of Nature, will mingle themfelves, as foon as ever they are excommunicated from the fociety of Mortals. For whither fhould they flock, but to the Birds of their own Feather? with whom should they affociate, but with thofe malignant Spirits to whom they are already joyned by a Community of Nature? So that fuppofing that when they land in Eternity, it were left to their own Liberty to go to Heaven or Hell, into the fociety of the Bleffed or the Dam ned; it is plain that Heaven would be no place for them, that the Air of that bright Region of eternal Day would never agree with their black and hellish Natures. For, alas! what fhould they do among thofe Bleffed Beings that inhabit it, to whofe Godlike Natures, Divine Contemplations, and Heavenly Employments, they have fo great a Repugnancy and Averfation? So that befides the having a Right to Heaven, it is neceffary to our enjoying it that we should be antecedently dispofed and qualified for it. And it being thus, God hath been gra ciously pleased to make thofe very Virtues the Conditions of our Right to Heaven which are the proper Dispofitions and Qualifications of our Spirits for it; that fo with one and the fame Labour we might entitle our felves to, and qualifie our felves to enjoy it.

Now (as we fhewed you before) the Conditi on of our Right to Heaven, is our practising

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