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Thus far I have ſpoken of the juſtice and Mercy of God's Sentence, give me Leave now to conſider the Wiſdom of it.
Moral Virtues are in their very Nature the Objects of our Underſtandings; they are ſo many divine Truths, which whoever perceives cannot but perceive their Excellence; but yet this Perception of Truth or the bare Knowledge of our Duty is not ſufficient to make us act agreeable to it: The Will whoſe Province it is to obey and execute the Dictates of Reaſon, is continually rebelling againſt and uſurping Authority over it; it not only ſtops us in the Purſuit of Truth, makes us wink hard and ſhut our Eyes againſt the Light, but even where it cannot thus hoodwink our Underſtanding, it frequently exerts its Tyranny the more, and makes us act in Contradiction to it. It is this Malignity in the Will of Man that occaſions all the Evils and Diſorders of the moral World; ſomewhat therefore beſides the bare Excellence of Virtue was really wanting to correct and abate its Virulence; and to this End are directed God's Poſitive Commands. The Beauty and Excellence of Virtue influenced even our firſt Parents no longer than while they obeyed God's poſitive Command, and had no irregular Paſſions, Prejudices, or evil Ha-
bits,
