tained at a cheaper Rate. But, when you fay or think this, do you pretend to know by what other Way all the Purposes of God in fending his Son into the World might have been anfwered? If you do not, poffibly this was the only Way to answer all the Ends and Intentions of Providence in this great Work; and, if it was, the Means ufed were neceffary, and therefore, without doubt, proper: And, fuppofing them proper, you will not furely be furprized, that God fhould defign, and his bleffed Son undertake to perform what was proper to execute the wife Ends of Providence. It was indeed a very great Thing for a Man to be born of a Virgin: But in what Senfe was it great? only as being unusual, and contrary to the established Course, in our Eyes: With refpect to God, I fee no Reason to call it fo. Were God to form a new Race under this new Law of Nature, that all should be born of Virgins, I conceive, there would be nothing in it more wonderful than in the present established Course of Nature.

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It is more wonderful ftill to think of the Son of God living on Earth in the Form and Fashion of a Man: And, if we speak in relation to our own Abilities of fearching

into this mysterious Work, it is, and it ever must continue to be, a Wonder: But, with refpect to God, have you any Reason to think this wonderful and mysterious, or a Thing difficult to be performed? God has united our Spirits, our Souls, to these Bodies: A wonderful and myfterious Thing it is to us: But can you imagine there is any Thing in the Works of God, that is wonderful, mysterious, or difficult in the Execution to Him? If not, how weakly do we amuse ourselves, when we fet ourselves with great Wisdom to weigh the Works of God in our Scales, and to judge which are great and difficult in the Performance?

But this is not the only Mistake Men are liable to, when they fet themselves up for Judges in this Matter. That the Redemption and Salvation of Men is the End of Christ's coming into the World, is certain, and is revealed in the Gofpel: But whoever fhall fay God had no other Purpose in view than this only, will judge hastily, and, I doubt, rafhly. What relates to us immediately in this great Dispensation, God has been pleased to reveal to us distinctly; but he has no where told us that we are the only Persons concerned: That others probably are, may be collected from many Intimations

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Intimations in Scripture. Our bleffed Redeemer has all Power given him in Heaven as well as in Earth: Principalities and Powers, the invifible Powers, are made fubject to him: And they cannot be thought to be unconcerned in that Work, for the fake of which their King was exalted, and every Knee made to bow to him. How they are concerned, we know not: But this we know, that we are but a fmall Part of the natural World. That there are many intelligent Beings befides ourselves, we know: That they may be numberlefs, we have Reafon to believe: That God is the common Governor of all, is out of queftion: That all his Difpenfations in the moral Government of the World regard the whole, and will finally appear in the Eyes of every rational Creature to be juft and equal, we have great Reason to conclude; and that God will be juftified in his Sayings, and clear when he is judged. If this be fo, the great Work of our Redemption, however immediately it relates to us, must be supposed adapted to answer the general Ends and Purpofes of God's Government in the univerfal moral World. And this plainly fhews, that we cannot judge of the Propriety of the Means made ufe of for redeeming the Y World

World by confidering only the Relation they have to Men; for probably they relate to others, and to other Purposes, and are, upon the whole, in every refpect proper and fit: But the Propriety cannot be difcerned by us, nor will it, 'till we come into a clearer Light, and fee the whole Scheme of Providence together.

You fee then, upon the whole, that the Objections against God's Government in the natural and moral World, founded upon the Difproportion between the means made ufe of, and the Ends propofed, are really the Effects of Shortfightedness, and of that great Propenfity which Men have to judge, though they want proper Materials to form a Judgment upon.

But let us confider, whether the Obfervations, which have given rise to these perverfe Reasonings, will not, if duly attended to, open a Way to far other and far jufter Conclufions. That Men are weak and wretched, and not worthy of the Care of Providence over them, we know by fad Experience; and have Reafon enough, in this View, to fall into the Pfalmift's Reflection, Lord! what is Man, that thou regardeft him? But ftill most certain it is, that God does regard Man: All Nature bears witness

witness to the Truth of this; for he is ferved by the Works of Nature: And, though the Works of Nature may serve an hundred Purposes more, yet it cannot be doubted but that they were made to ferve Man, though not him alone. This muft appear upon the strictest Inquiry: For, confidering this Solar System, of which we are a Part, we have no Reafon to think but that it bears as great Proportion to the whole, as any other System: In this System our Earth is one confiderable Part; and this Part was manifeftly prepared for Man, who has Dominion over it. So that the human Race is no inconfiderable Part of the Creation in this Way of reckoning: And it is reasonable to say, that the World was made, if not for him only, yet as much and as truly for him, as for others.

Being then poffeffed of this Fact, That, weak and infirm as we are, God has abundantly provided for us in this Life; and that, confidered as Part of the natural World, we have a very full Proportion of good Things allotted to us; what Conclufion does it lead us to, if we confider ourselves as Part of the rational and moral World? Is it reasonable to imagine, that God has taken fo much Care of us in his natural Govern

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