wretched temper. No more shall any one call veneration of God the common father-gratitude to God the common giver-obedience of God the great fountain of wisdom-devotion to God the length of our days and the strength of our life, call these most exalted most refined sentiments of the soul, bondage, slavery, and blind subserviency; or I hold him heartless, thoughtless, and unholy-a man divested of his crown of glory, blind to the excellencies of the earth, deaf to the harmonies of nature, dead and insensible. to the ebbs and flows, the wants and the possessions of human life.

Let no one accuse God of tyranny or self-willedness, or wrest him from his fatherly seat of affection and bounty among his children, to instate him in a throne of stern and unreasonable sovereignty, from being a most generous parent and patron, convert him into a frowning judge, because he hath seen it necessary, when presenting his scheme of government unto men, to introduce into it the judgment of all and the punishment of the rebellious-two conditions which we found were never wanting in any kind of society or association. If a son complains not against his father for entering among his affections both command, inquiry and judgment-if a subject complain not against the law for entering amongst its wise and wholesome provisions interdicts, threats and penalties-if a friend is content to recognise the obligations and to bow contented to the dissolution of friendship, as well as to taste its enjoyments. And so of love, of marriage, of intimacy, of acquaintance, and every other form of union, fast or loose, why, in the name of consistency, will any one revolt that God, when he presented every tie of affection, duty and interest, and sought to come about the heart by every fond enticement, did also add the other element of all relationship, that if we failed, were obstinate and rebellious, there should be an account and a punishment.

Had there not been such an account and punishment, God might have spared his pains in promulgating any laws for the guidance of man. For it has been well shown by the greatest philosopher, and perhaps the best man* that England hath produced, that a law is nothing unless it be supported by rewards and punishments. And certainly there never was a law upon the earth that was not so supported. But if these laws of God were mere expressions of

* Locke-in the Essay on Human Understanding.

his will, not consultations for our welfare, having more of rigour in them than was necessary, harassing life out of its natural joy and contentment, and reducing us all into an unmanly servitude-then there might be reason to complain of inquisitorial judgment and undue severity. But waving the right of the Creator to have his will out of his creature, which is an argument God never uses, except when the creature sets himself into a most daring attitude-(I know only once in scripture it is used, in the ixth of the Romans, against a most inveterate and incorrigible faultfinder and objector, whom there was no other way of bringing under)-waving God's right, which he seldom rests his commandments upon, it is most apparent from the whole tenor of Scripture, that the happiness of the creature, not his own will, is his aim. He had thrones, and dominions, and principalities, and powers enow to rule over, if it was power he wanted. He could have created another world in room of this, if he had found his empire incomplete. He could have rid the universe of us if we had been an eyesore to him or put us out of the way as he did the angels that kept not their first estate. It was an interest in us, a deep and pathetic interest, which moved him to interfere so often, and draw us out of sin under his own good government to commission counsellor after counsellor, and to part at length with his own well-beloved Son. It is manifest from the whole tendency and language of the revelation, that it is intended for our happiness. Its name is the Gospel, that is, good news-it sets forth redemption, that is, deliverance out of slavery-salvation, that is, keeping from the power of evil, forgiveness, comfort, and consolation. It summoneth to glory and renown, to victory and triumph, and an immortal crown. It commandeth not to penance or monastic severity, but to honest, comely deeds; forbideth dishonesty, dishonour, and untruth; encourageth love and kindness; hateth hardness of heart and harshness of behaviour; breathes gentleness, peace, and charity; renounces strife, war, and bloodshed; knowledge it encourages, purity and love still more: all these virtuous and worthy qualities of heart and life it sustains and crowns with the promise of life and blessedness everlasting. The spirit of the law therefore, is to rejoice the heart, to convert the soul, to enlighten the eyes, and give understanding to the simple. And, if we had leisure to trace its effects upon the world, we should find that it hath tended in every instance to promote its happiness and prosperity.

Here then is an argument which the law hath within itself, in addition to these many obligations mentioned above, which the author hath upon us for all his bountiful gifts. It is not only the voice of God our parent, preserver, patron, and friend-but it is the devise of wisdom for securing the welfare of the world. It is bound upon us not only by early and affectionate ties of nature, but by ties of interest-not only a bond upon the heart, but a preservative of peace between man and man, and the insurance of the common safety. Thus it hath in it all that gives to political government reverence and authority. It is a constitution of social intercourse for the wide world, leaguing men together in community-owning no locality of jurisdiction or separation of interests, but embracing human nature, every where, extending from pole to pole, and round the five zones of the earth. Now, among the many causes, well or ill-grounded, against any political institution, I never heard any one murmur against tribunals of justice and execution of judgment. No one ever imagined that a state could stand without a judge and a punishment. The mode may be objected against-the facility or severity -but the necessity of the thing was never questioned. On the same ground, it is necessary to the stability and extension of this universal law for the hearts and lives of men.

While I thus argue from all kind of analogies the reasonableness and pleasure of responsibility to God, with the necessity of judgment in the divine as in the human procedure, I am willing to admit that here also punishment should be the last direful resource, only to be called in when every thing else has failed. Man should be tried by every means before you have recourse to the cruelty of punishment. Address every nobler part before you make your appeal to fearwork upon him by every argument to change his course, before you pass a sentence upon him which cuts him off from repentance, and makes an end of his prospects for ever. Now I fearlessly appeal to the knowledge and experience of every one, if God is not slow to judgment, and patient to pursue every method of grace and love-willing to take repentance at any season, to wipe all past misdemeanors away, so that we will turn and behave towards him with affection. In this respect, the divine government surpasses all other governments whatever. A father will take his prodigal son back to his bosom, and forget in the transports of his affection, all the follies of a child who was lost and now is found. But a father will not do this many times; once and again, and per

adventure thrice. But if he find promises vain, confidence betrayed, and affection unanswered, he is compelled for the credit of his house and the sustenance of parental authority, to bid the perverse youth begone, and to cut him off from his inheritance. So also in every other association, whether of nature or of compact. Political administrations are less patient, because it is not private affection but common interest they steer upon, yet even there a first offence hath mitigation of punishment, perhaps forgiveness-a second sometimes. commutation of punishment-but an old offender, one in habit and repute an offender, gets the heavier doom. Private friendship will hardly cement again when its duties have been once violated. In business, one who hath been dishonest to his engagements is not easily trusted the second time. There is need for a sharp outlook in all the affairs of life; and though Mercy hath, we trust, often a glorious pre-eminence in men's hearts as in God's, still she cannot bear to be trampled on or abused; otherwise she steps to a side, and lets Justice with her scales and sword come in to weigh and determine. But, in God mercy rejoiceth over judgment. All a man's lifetime is the reign of grace. Till he closes his eyes mercy weeps over him, to melt his stony heart. God's own Son, whose daughter Mercy is, weeps over him to melt his stony heart-He shows to him his wounds, and his cross, telling him he hath died once, and could die again to save him. There is no argument he does not use-calling upon us by our ancient noble stock from God derived, not to degenerate-calling upon us by all heavenly affections lurking still within us, love of excellence, gratitude for favours, desire of self-satisfaction and inward peace, to attach ourselves to God-calling upon us by the assurance of a glorious regeneration, and reinstatement in the divine image through the powerful operation of the Spirit, to cleave unto the Lord; -finally, calling upon us by an unspeakable weight of glory to be revealed in heaven, to persevere in the service of God. There is nothing noble, nothing tender, nothing spirit-stirring, which the Son of man doth not address unto his brethren. His words drop over them like the tears of a mother over her darling child. He watches and waits for their late return he comes to their sick-bed suing, and to their deathbed he comes praying. He stands at the door of every heart, and knocks. Our enemies he fought unto the death, and he hath conquered them in death. He hath singly beat our tyrants, and put into every man's hand a patent of his liberty. And now he goeth about and about amongst us, rousing us

with songs and sweet melody to rise from slavery and be ourselves again. He asks nothing of us for what he hath done he lays on no new mastery-but shows the ways of heaven and of sinless happy creatures, and craves us by the memory of his death, and by our own eternal life-all our life long craves us to be ourselves again, to be the noble sons of God as our father was.

Is this a reign of terror? a reign of judgment? a reign of punishment? What then is a reign of mercy, persuasion, and forgiveness?-He takes no hostages of you, lays on no fines for the past, no penalties for the future-free forgiveness even unto the end, unto sincere repentance. Surely God is slower to judgment than man is-Surely unto the last he putteth off-Surely there is not any thing he would not do, sooner than bring it to the grand and finishing crisis.

The argument of this discourse thus completes itself. Man it seems by all his institutions for securing his welfare is made for responsibility, and for submitting himself to judgment, when all other methods fail of preserving the peace. This is the nature of man, wherever he is found and into whatever community he enters. God, legislating for man, hath adapted himself to this his nature, placing him under responsibility; yet taking every measure of his wisdom, and applying to every faculty of human nature by each kindly, noble method, to secure sweet harmony; putting off issues of judgment to the last, and not ringing the knell of doom until every other note and signal hath entirely failed to have effect. Therefore, he having taken that course. which men uniformly take and admire, is devoutly to be adored for accommodating himself so sweetly to our nature and our condition.

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