Confidence towards Gods explained. 355 tranquillity, i5 free from the foreboding ap- S E R . prehenfions of vengeance which haunt the XIV. guilty heart; nay, maintaineth his integrity'j in the deepeft difireffes, and amidft the re- proaches of men ; if even all the world fhould join in condemning him, fince he acquitteth himfelf, his confidence towards God remaineth unfhaken. As thefe fentiments are indelibly im- printed on the human mind, and neceffarily refult from our conflitution, of which God is the author; we mutt afcribe them to him. His will is declared in the nature of things, and they all ferve his purpofes. Inanimate beings in their conftant motions, and the feries of their operations, fulfil the law of their natures ; and fenfitive creatures, di- reeled by their inflinets, always anfwer the ends of their being which he bath ap- pointed ; fo it is impoffible for us to doubt but that the fundamental laws of the rational nature are his will ; and that, in judging and wring according to them, we judge and at agreeably to his mind. Therefore, feeing the author of our being hath endued us with that power which we call confcience, a power of felf-refleEtion, of comparing our own difpofitions and actions with a rule en- graven on our hearts, whence necefiàrily> A a z ariâeth
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