man, the Things that God has prepared for those who love Him." How justly then did our Saviour pronounce this to be the first and great Commandment. "The purest Motive of human Action is the Love of God. There may be Motives stronger, and more general, but none so pure. It is indeed the Source of every Thing which is good in Man, and of all the Principles of Conduct, it is the safest, the best, the truest, the highest."* Towards the Author of infinite Obligation, Gratitude is the only Species of Love that can exist.

OBEDIENCE.

As we are the Creatures of God, and Moral Agents, and therefore accountable, it is our highest Duty to obey the Divine Will in every Instance, however that Will be made known to us, whether by the Light of Nature, or by Revelation, or by Experience, or by Expedience; and must constitute our greatest Happiness, under the Government of that Being, who will reward every Man according to his Works. But our merciful Creator, (who knows whereof we are made,) does not expect perfect unerring Obedience from such frail Beings as Men; but has declared that if we hate Iniquity, and indulge no known Sin, we may, notwithstanding our frequent Failures, be accepted of Him, through the Mediation of His Son Jesus Christ. Obedience

is the Way alone, in which we can hope to please Him, or satisfy our own Minds that we are grateful, for Faith without due Affection for the Object of it will be of little Avail, however firm and sincere it may be. "Shew me thy Faith without thy Works, and I will shew my Faith by my Works."

DISOBEDIENCE. As God's Will is always wisest and best, every Deviation from it must be criminal, and there is no Sin or faulty Behaviour, whatever, that is not contrary to it. If this be true, there cannot be any further Dispute about the Necessity of good Works, in Order to our Acceptance with God; for though the word Morality is nowhere mentioned in the Gospel, yet Terms of the same Import abound, as e. g. Obedience, Righteousness, Well-Doing, denying Ungodliness, Walking by Faith, Good Works, Virtue, the Righteousness which is of God, by Faith, and a Variety of synonymous Expressions scattered throughout the New Testament, set in the strongest Light the great Importance of Morality and good Works, and of Obedience as the End of Faith. "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord

thy

Obedience to the Divine Laws is enforced upon us through the whole Scriptures, in the strongest and most explicit Terms that can be imagined, and the whole historical and prophetic Parts of the Old and all the Precepts of the New Testament, conspire to inculcate it upon us by all the Sanctions which either this Life, or that which is to come, can furnish. No religious Observances, no Homage nor Worship we can possibly pay our Creator, can ever come in Competition with Morality, that is with doing the Will of God. "Behold, to obey is better than Sacrifice, and to hearken than the Fat of Rams." It is true that such is the Frailty of our Nature, and so many and great are the Temptations and Allurements by which we are assailed, that none of us ever come up to the Standard. But if Love to God be supreme in our Hearts above every other Love, our Obedience to His Will will be as Perfect as our Nature admits.

REPENTANCE. As we are all Sinners, and all guilty before God, a hearty Sorrow for, and a real Turning from, all our past Sins and Offences, are both by right Reason, and the Terms of the Gospel, made indispensable Conditions of Pardon and Acceptance with God, and as necessary as Faith, in order to Salvation. The Term Repentance involves in it a steady Course of virtuous Obedience throughout

thy God, to walk in all his Ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul?"

LIVING IN A COURSE OF VICIOUS INDULGENCE, without Consideration, or without Compunction or Reflection, denotes a most heedless or abandoned Character, and is utterly destructive of all our Hopes of a happy Futurity. The future State of the Blessed in Heaven is represented in the Gospel as a social State of perfect Holiness, into which Nothing can enter that defileth, that worketh Abomination, or maketh a Lie. No one, therefore, who dies in the conscious Indulgence of any known Sin, can have any Reason, from any Thing revealed in the Bible, to hope to inherit eternal Life; since there is no Repentance in the Grave. It is, therefore, incumbent on each to turn from all his Iniquities without a single Exception, by humble and sincere Repentance, and then as far as Repentance avails, he will be entitled by the Word of God to an Inheritance among them that are sanctified. But let no one sin under a Notion that he will repent hereafter. For, beside the Consideration that he does not know that he shall ever live to that hereafter, he should seriously

consider,

throughout our whole Lives. The Cause of Salvation, is the free Bounty and Mercy of God, but it is a Favour offered us in the Gospel, upon the express Condition of Newness of Life, and new Obedience. "God will render to every one according to his Deeds, to them, who by patient Continuance in good Works, (as it ought to be translated,) seek for Glory, and Honour, and Immortality, Eternal Life." But as Repentance, however sincere, and our future Obedience, however perfect, cannot make any Compensation for past Offences, so Natural Religion affords no Grounds upon which we can rely, that mere Repentance could reinstate us in the Divine Favour. But Revelation informs us, that our Saviour has made Repentance through Faith in Him available to our Acceptance with God.

HOPE. From the perfect Rectitude, Benevolence, and Immutability of the Deity, all who believe and obey, may with the utmost Confidence hope in His Mercy, and the Hope of a blessed Immortality, if well grounded, is a never failing Source of Satisfaction. It yields us the greatest Happiness while we live, and in the Hour of Death, the greatest and best Support.

FEAR. As God has declared His utmost Detestation of Sin and all Iniquity, and that He will pun