122 The Favour of God obtained by Wifdom. S ER M. king. But if not, be it known unto thee, 0 V. king, we will not ferve thy gods, nor worfhip the golden image which thou haft Jet up. I come, in the Second Place, To confider the title which wifdom or religious virtue giveth to the fa- vour of God, or upon what grounds we may expert, according to the declaration in the text, that if we find wifdom, we fhall ob- tain favour of the Lord. As I (hewed before, that the perfection of felicity, and the great - nefs of the reward, imported in the favour of God, is juftly inf°rred from his glorious natu- ral excellencies, his abfolute dominion and power over all things; fo that the wife, that is, the virtuous and the good, are intitled to his favour, may be juftly argued from his moral attributes. We muff neceffarily fup- pofe that the Supreme Being is infinitely good, righteous, and true, and that he ex- ercifeth thefe perfections in the government of his reafonable creatures. This is proved in the fame manner as the exiftence of God, and his other attributes, that is, by arguing from effects to their caufes, from the exert. rife of powers and principles to their being ; and from this molt certain truth, that all real
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