A moral government, is a government exercised over accountable beings; a government of laws, and administered by motives.

The importance of such a government below, is manifest from the consideration, that it is in his moral government, chiefly, that the glory of God is displayed..

The superintendence of an empty world, or a world of mere animals, would not exhibit, at all, the moral character of God. The glory of God, shining in his law, could never be made manifest, and the brighter glory of God, as displayed in the Gospel, must remain forever hid. And all that happiness of which we are capable, as moral beings, the joys of religion below, and the boundless joys of heaven above, would be extinguished, in a moment, by the suspension of the divine moral government.

Will any pretend that the Almighty cannot maintain a moral government on earth, if he governs according to his own pleasure? Can he wield the elements, and control, at his pleasure, every work of his hands but just the mind of man? Is the most noble work of God, that which is the most worthy of attention, and in reference to which, all beside is upheld and governed, itself wholly unmanageable?

Has omnipotence framed minds, which, the moment they are made, escape from his hands, and defy the control of their maker? Has the Almighty erected a moral kingdom which he cannot govern, without destroying its moral nature? Can he only watch, and mend, and rectify, the lawless wanderings of mind? Has he filled the earth with untamed und untamable spirits, whose wickedness and rebellion he can merely remedy, but cannot control? Does he superintend a world of madmen, full of darkness and disorder, cheered and blessed by no internal pervading government of his own? Are we bound to submit to all events, as parts of the holy providence of God; and yet, is there actually no hand of God controlling the movements of the moral world? But if the Almighty can, and if he does, govern the earth as

a part of his moral kingdom, is there any method of government more safe and wise, than that which pleases God? Can there be a better government? We may safely pray, then, "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven," without fearing at all, the loss of moral agency; for all the glory of God, in his Law and Gospel, and all the eternal manifestations of glory to principalities and powers in heavenly places, depend wholly upon the fact, that men, though living under the government of God, and controlled according to his pleasure, are still, entirely free, and accountable for all the deeds done in the body. There could be no justice in punishment, no condescension, no wisdom, no mercy in the glorious Gospel, did not the government of God, though administered according to his pleasure, include and insure the accountable agency of the creature.

Seeing, therefore, that all the glory of God which he ever proposes to manifest to the intelligent creation, is to be made known by the church, and is to shine in the face of Jesus Christ, and is to depend upon the perfect consistency of the moral government of God with human freedom, we have boundless assurance, that, among his absolute, immutable, eternal purposes, one, and a leading one, is, so to govern the world according to his counsels, that, if men sin, there shall be complete desert of punishment, and boundless mercy in their redemption.

Fifthly. It is greatly to be desired that God should rule in the earth according to his pleasure, because it is his pleasure to govern the world in mercy, by Jesus Christ.

The government is in the hand of a Mediator, by whom God is reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them that believe. Mercy is the bestowment of pardon and favor upon the sinful and undeserving. Now mankind are so eminently sinful, that no government, but one administered in infinite mercy, could afford the least consolation. Had any being, but the God of mercy, sat upon the throne, or any will but his will prevailed, there

would have been no plan of redemption, and no purposes of election, to perplex and alarm the wicked. There would have been but one decree, and that would have been destruction to the whole race of man. Are any reluctant, to be entirely in the hands of God? Are they afraid to trust him to dispose of soul and body, for time and for eternity? Let them surrender their mercies then, and go out naked, from that government which feeds, protects, and comforts them. Let them give up their Bibles, and relinquish the means of grace, and the hopes of glory, and descend and make their bed in hell, where they have, long since, deserved to be, and where they long since would have been, if God had not governed the world according to his own good pleasure. If they would escape the evils which they fear from the hand of God, let them abandon the blessings they receive from it, and they will soon discover, whether the absolute dominion of God, and their dependence upon him, be, in reality, a ground of murmuring and alarm. Our only hope of heaven, arises from being entirely in the hands of God. Our destruction could not be made more certain than it would be, were we to be given up to our own disposal, or to the disposal of any being but God. Would sinful mortals change their own hearts? Could the combined universe, without God, change the depraved affections of men? Surely then, we have cause for unceasing joy, that we are in the hands of God, seeing he is a God of mercy, and has decreed to rule in mercy, and actually is administering the government of the world, in mercy by Jesus Christ.

We have nothing to fear from the entire dominion of God, which we should not have cause equally to fear, as outcasts from the divine government; but we have every thing to hope, while he rules the earth according to his most merciful pleasure. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Sixthly. It is greatly to be desired that God should dispose

of mankind according to his pleasure, because, if he does so, it is certain that there will be no injustice done to any one.

He will do no injustice to his holy kingdom, by any whom he saves. He will bring none to heaven, who are not holy and prepared for heaven. He will bring none there, in any way not consistent with his perfections, and the best good of his kingdom: none, in any way but that prescribed in the Gospel, the way of faith in Jesus Christ, of repentance for sin, and of good works as the constituted fruit and evidence of faith.

Earthly monarchs have their favorites, whom, if guilty of a violation of the laws, they will, often, interpose to save, although the welfare of the kingdom requires their punishment. But God has no such favorites: he is no respecter of persons he spared not the angels: and upon the earth, distinctions of intellect, or wealth, or honor, will have no effect; he only that believeth, shall be saved.

The great and the learned, shall not be obtruded upon heaven without holiness, because they are great or learned; and the humble and contrite, shall not be excluded, because they are poor, or ignorant, or obscure. God has provided a way for all men to return to him. He has opened the door of their prison, and set open before them a door of admission into the kingdom of his dear Son; and commanded, and entreated them to abandon their dreary abode, and come into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. But all, with one consent, refuse to comply. Each prefers his own loathsome dwelling, to the building of God, and chooses, steadfastly, the darkness of his own dungeon, to the light of God's kingdom. But, as God has determined that the redemption of his Son shall not be unavailing through human obstinacy; so he hath chosen, in Christ, multitudes which no man can number, that they should be holy and without blame before him in love. And, in bringing these sons and daughters to glory, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, he will introduce not one, whom all the inhabitants of

heaven will not hail joyfully, as the companion of their glory. And if God does in the earth just as he pleases, he will make willing, and obedient, and bring to heaven, just those persons who it was most desirable should come. And he will bring just as many obstinate rebels to abandon their prison, and enter cheerfully his kingdom, as infinite wisdom, goodness, and mercy, sees fit and desires. He will not mar his glory, or the happiness of his kingdom, by bringing in too many, nor by shutting out too many. His redeemed kingdom, as to the number and the persons who compose it, and the happiness included in it, will be such as shall be wholly satisfactory to God, and to every subject of his kingdom.

And if God governs according to his pleasure, he will do no injustice to his impenitent enemies. He will send to misery, no harmless animals without souls; no mere machines none who have done, or even attempted to do, as well as they could. He will leave to walk in their own way, none who do not deserve to be left; and punish none for walking in it, who did not walk therein knowingly, deliberately, and with wilful obstinacy. He will give up to death none who did not choose death, and choose it with as entire freedom as himself chooses holiness; and who did not deserve eternal punishment, as truly as himself deserves eternal praise. He will send to hell none who are not opposed to him, and to holiness, and to heaven. None who are not, by voluntary sin and rebellion, unfitted for heaven and fitted for destruction, as eminently as saints are prepared for glory. He will consign to perdition no poor, feeble, inoffensive beings, sacrificing one innocent creature to increase the happiness of another. He will cause the punishment of the wicked to illustrate his glory, and thus, indirectly, to promote the happiness of heaven. But God will not illumine heaven with his glory, and fill it with praise, by sacrificing helpless, unoffending creatures to eternal torment; nor will he doom to hell, one whom he will not convince also, that he deserves to go thither. The justice of God, in the condemnation of the