it is impossible we should understand all the particular laws by which they are governed. Only thus much in general we know, that the whole order of angelical beings were from the first moment of their creation subjected to laws fitted to their nature; by which natural laws they stood obliged to obey their Creator in all his positive commands and institutions; and that these laws, whatsoever they were, both natural and positive, were established in rewards and punishments, by which if they continued in obedience, they were to continue for ever in their most blissful ranks and stations; but if they rebelled, were immediately to be banished thence into everlasting wretchedness and misery: that a certain order of these angelical beings, excited either by their pride, or envy, or sensual affections, did, under their head or chieftain, revolt from God by transgressing some natural or positive law, for which they were expelled the high territories of happiness, and driven into these lower parts of the world, where, under the prince of their rebellion, they have ever since waged war against God and man: that in this state of war they are under the restraint of God's almighty power, who sets bounds to their power and malice which it cannot pass, and determines it to what ends and purposes he pleases; employing it sometimes to try and chasten good men, sometimes to execute his wrath upon the children of disobedience, and sometimes again letting it loose merely to display his own almighty power in its defeat and overthrow; in which state they are reserved as prisoners at large to the judgment of the great day; whereby, together with wicked men, they shall be sentenced and confined to everlasting flames and darkness: that the good anVOL., II.

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gels, in reward of their constant obedience, are continued and fixed in a most blissful condition, in which they enjoy the constant smiles of God, and the unspeakable pleasure of being entirely resigned to his will, who upon all occasions sends them to and fro in the world, as the great messengers and ministers of his providence, to minister to the recovery of recoverable sinners, and to pour out the phials of his wrath upon the obstinate and unreclaimable; to assist, protect, and comfort good men while they live, and when they depart from hence to conduct their spirits through the airy territories of the wicked angels, into those blissful mansions that are prepared to receive them till the resurrection; at which time their part will be to summon and gather both the good and bad before the tribunal of Christ, to receive their final sentence to everlasting weal or woe.

This is the main of what we know concerning God's government of angels; the sincere belief of which will be of vast advantage to us in the whole course of our religion. For since there is such a mighty colony of evil angels roving about the world, watching all opportunities to lay snares in our way, and to tempt us into their revolt and ruin; and since their design in tempting us now is only to get us into their power, that so they may torment us hereafter; how much doth it concern us to guard and defend ourselves against their evil motions and suggestions, lest by complying with them we give them opportunity to train us on from one degree of wickedness to another, till they have made us provoke the Almighty to cut us off, and abandon us for ever to their rage and fury: and since they are all of them under his restraint, and can proceed no farther in

their mischievous designs against us than he lets loose his chain to them, how should this encourage us manfully to struggle and contend against them; since if we do, we may depend upon it that God, in whose power they are, will either command them off, or at least not permit them to overpower us with temptation. And since by God's permission there are greater flocks of good angels always hovering about us, to guard us against those malignant ones, and to prompt us to good, as they prompt us to evil, and with their holy inspirations to countermine their impure suggestions, how much doth it import us to cherish and reverence every pious thought and motion; since, for all we know, it may be the whisper of some angel of God, who, by these and such like holy injections, is now struggling with the powers of darkness, to rescue our souls out of their hands. And since these blessed and benevolent spirits do, by God's appointment, pitch their tents about good men while they live, and convey them safely to the seat of the blessed when they die, how should this encourage bad men to be good, and good men to persevere in well-doing, since they place and continue themselves under the blessed patronage of angels, to be conducted safely by them through this perilous sea to the calm regions of eternal light. Thus the belief of God's government of angels, so far as he hath thought good to reveal it to us, very much conduces to a holy life.

But that which more nearly concerns us, and hath a more immediate influence on our practice, is his government of men; the belief of which is indispensably necessary to render us truly religious. Now

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concerning this government of God over men, there

are seven things necessary to be believed.

I. That the great end of God's government is the welfare of mankind.

II. That in order to this end God hath given us laws for the regulation and government of our actions.

III. That to secure our obedience to these laws, he hath derived his authority upon all lawful sovereignties, to govern us according to them.

IV. That he is ready to contribute to us all necessary assistance, to enable us to observe these laws.

V. That the assistance he contributes to us is such as supposes us free agents, and concurs with and maintains our natural freedom.

VI. That he takes particular cognizance of the good and ill use which we make of our natural freedom.

VII. That he will certainly reward or punish us accordingly.

I. To oblige us to be truly religious, it is necessary we should believe that the great end of God's governing us is our welfare and happiness: that being infinitely raised above all want and indigence, he doth not assume the government of us to advance himself, or to gratify any boundless ambition of his own, which is a vice that springs out of poverty and indigence, and therefore can have neither root nor room in a nature so infinitely happy as his; but that all his design in reigning over us is to do us good, and to consummate our happiness; to restore and rectify our disordered nature, and to advance and raise it

to the utmost perfection, and bliss, and glory it is capable of; to protect and defend us against present evils, and support us under them, and convert them into instruments of good, and to rescue us from that worst of evils, sin, and from all those endless miseries it is pregnant with. This we ought to believe is the great scope of all his acts of government, and even of the direct punishments he inflicts, which are always intended either to reclaim the offenders themselves, or to warn others, by the sad example of their suffering, not to follow the ill example of their sin. And that this is the great end of his government, he himself hath expressly declared. So Psalm cxlv. 9! we are assured that the Lord is good to all, and that his tender mercies are over all his works; and verse 13, 14. that in the exercise of his everlasting kingdom he upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all that are bowed down: and though in the administration of his government he hath decreed to cut off all such obstinate rebels as will not be reduced by the methods of his love, yet he hath declared that he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Pet. iii. 9. and that he would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Tim. ii. 4. And unless we believe him to be a benevolent Governor, that aims at the good of his subjects, we shall look upon his government as a cruel tyranny, erected for no other end but to squeeze and oppress us, to enthral our liberty, and rob us of the rights of our nature, and to chain us down to an endless and careless toil and wretchedness: and whilst we thus look upon it, it is impossible we should ever submit to it with that generous freedom and cheerfulness