keep my commandments. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two hang all the law and the prophets;' for 'love is the fulfilling of the law.' God, we see, requires our obedience on that amiable, that exalted principle of charity, wherewith he purposes to unite us to himself, and one another, in the glorious community formed by the Christian covenant. This purely moral part of the covenant which was once delivered from Mount Sinai in a voice that 'shook the earth,' and struck terror into those that received it, is now founded by our blessed Saviour on the love of God and man; and not only proposed as a rule, for our outward actions, but as a pure and spiritual law of liberty,' correcting our inward thoughts, and teaching us to consider God as a searcher of hearts, who will judge us by our wills, as well as our deeds.

Carrying this observation with us, let us briefly touch the purport of each commandment; and those first, that prescribe our duty to God himself. In the first place, we must, by love, fear, prayer, and dependance, worship the Lord our God, and serve him alone, by every instance, whether in thought or deed, of duty and obedience to whatsoever he enjoins. Not to worship him, or to worship any thing else, in this manner, is revolt, rebellion, and a removal of enmity with God.

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Secondly, To pay any part of our worship to an image, a picture, or any other creature, as the representative of God, is not, to worship him in spirit and truth,' as he requires ; nor to flee from idolatry,' as he commands; but to thrust in the creatures between God and our affections of love, reverence, and trust; which excites his jealousy, and is therefore regarded by him as a declaration of war and rebellion against him.

Thirdly, To swear falsely by his name, or to profane it by using it in our common or idle discourse, is in both instances to take his awful name in vain; because, in the one case, it is applied to no purpose, and, in the other, to a concealment, not a discovery, of the truth; which, he tells

us, he will look on as a horrible sin, that is, as an insolent affront to his majesty, and an act of enmity and hostility against him.

Fourthly, To seize any thing dedicated to God, particularly by his own commandment, more especially that day which he hath set apart for his worship, and our instruction, and to apply it to common or profane uses, is a violation committed on his peculiar property, and consequently an act of enmity against him.

As to those commandments which contain our duty towards our neighbour, they are the commandments of God, as well as those that relate immediately to himself; and therefore we cannot transgress them, without a grievous injury to God, and our neighbour, who is under his government and protection.

To dishonour, or, in any thing lawful, to disobey our parents, or such as God, by his providence, hath set over us, with either civil or spiritual authority, is to dishonour and resist God in his deputy; for he commands us to honour and obey our parents; to be subject to principalities and powers; to obey and submit ourselves to them who have the rule over us in spiritual matters; for they watch for our souls, as they that must give an account;' and to be subject to our masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

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To take away the life of any man, without a lawful cause or authority; to maim or injure his person, or even to be angry with him, without a sufficient cause; is to attack God in his image; is to shew hatred, where he prescribes love; who saith, 'A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. Whosoever hateth his brother, is a murderer;' and God will be the avenger, not only of blood, but of malice, which thirsts for blood.

To commit uncleanness of any kind, in thought, word, or deed, more especially to be guilty of fornication, adultery, or other more unnatural lusts, too abominable to be named, is to render ourselves foul and hateful in the sight of God; and, as it wounds both our own souls, and those of our unhappy partners in sin, it represents us as tempters, seducers, and as enemies of that pure and holy God, who saith, 'I have not called you to uncleanness, but to holiness; flee

fornication, knowing that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, and of God.' Whoremongers and adulterers I will judge; and I will judge them by their desires and wills, for, in my sight, 'he who looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.'

To possess ourselves of our neighbour's property, by theftt by robbery, by fraud, by extortion, or by oppression, is to provoke God, the guardian of justice, who saith Let him that stole, steal no more; thou shalt not rob thy neighbour; let no man go beyond, or defraud his brother in any matter; the extortioner shall not inherit the kingdom of God; ye shall not oppress one another; woe to him who buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong, who useth his neighbour's service without wages.'

To give false testimony before the magistrate, or in a court of justice, or either lightly or maliciously to take away the character of our neighbour, is one of the most grievous injuries we can do him, and a deliberate insult upon God, who saith, Thou shalt not raise a false report; put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness; I hate a false witness, that speaketh lies; I myself will be a swift witness against the false swearer; judge not, that ye be not judged; charity thinketh no evil; therefore speak evil of no man; speak not evil one of another; he that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law; but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. But there is one lawgiver, who is able to save, and to destroy: Who art thou that judgest another? Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? To his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall be holden up;' for I am able to make him stand in spite of thee, who presumest to place thyself in my tribunal, and sit in judgment on thy fellowservant, perhaps thy fellow-sinner, whose offences are not more provoking than thy own.

In the last place, to covet our neighbour's wife or possessions, or to desire them, without acquiring a just or legal right to them, is as great a sin, as actually to seize them; perhaps in this respect a greater, that the regard we pay to the laws of men, withholds our hand; whereas we shew so

little for those of God, who sees and judges the heart, that there is nothing wanting but opportunity and secrecy, to the full execution of the injurious purpose we are invited to by our dishonest principles and desires. It is no difficult matter to judge in what light he must stand before God, who hath no other sense of duty than what arises from his fear of worldly shame or punishment; while he sets the laws and judgments of God at nought, as if the ruler of the world could neither see nor punish. Hath not God commanded us to be content with such things as we have? To'take heed and beware of covetousness,' which he calls idolatry? Is he not in a state of war and enmity with God, who is thus prepared for the violation of his neighbour's property; who is restrained by the laws of men, but despises the commandment of God; and whose heart is alienated from the true object of love and worship, to an idol, or false god, of his own erecting?

Now here it is to be observed, that neither branch of intemperance, gluttony or drunkenness, is expressly forbidden in any of these commandments. And why? But because these laws of God are laid on men, that is, rational creatures, and not on brutes; and therefore imply the absence of both those vices in all his subjects. He who enjoined these duties, enjoined also the necessary means. Now a sensual brute, though in the shape of a man, is in no capacity to perform any one of these laws; and therefore, if these two vices had not been sufficiently condemned in other parts of Scripture, yet as here they are, by necessary consequence, prohibited in every single commandment, the sensualist stands condemned, by the tenor of the whole moral law, as an enemy to God. His over-heated blood, and pampered passions, are surely far enough from renouncing the lusts of the flesh, and from a disposition to conform to the will of God.

All the duties we owe ourselves, such as religious knowledge, temperance, sobriety, humility, meekness, contentedness, &c. come under this way of reasoning; and are comprehended in the commandments of God, though those commandments seem to have only God and our neighbour for their objects. Nay, the principles whereon we seek our own improvement and happiness, is the very principle and spring

of all the duties to be performed either to God or man; first, because it is most evident, that the virtues just now mentioned, while they render us good and happy in ourselves, tend directly to make us dutiful to God, and both just and beneficent to mankind; as it is, on the contrary, that he who is not thus principled, is neither in a capacity, nor disposition, to demean himself, as he ought, to God or man: and, secondly, because the motives to the performance of our duty, both to our Maker, and neighbour, work on us chiefly, if not only, through that regard we have for our own happiness, temporal and eternal. What is it prevails on us to do the duties of either table? Is it not because we firmly believe we shall be happy, if we do, and miserable, if we do not, perform those duties? He therefore who sins against God, or his neighbour, sins against himself. He only, who is a good man in himself, is prepared to be a good servant to the former, and a good neighbour or fellow Christian to the latter. Thus, you see, the law of God is perfect, and takes in every branch of our duty to God, ourselves, and our neighbours.

St. Paul tells us, this law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good;' and our Saviour, expressly mentioning these commandments, saith, 'If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.' But, as all men are not tempted to the transgression of the same commandments, and few or none to the transgression of them all; lest any man should think himself excusable in the breach of some, while he keeps the rest, St. James gives him to understand, that 'whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all; for he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.' He who transgresses any one law of God, tramples on the authority of the Lawgiver; and it is only for want of inclination, not of disrespect for God, if he does not violate all the rest.

But although it is certain, that, in strict justice, all transgressions of God's law render us liable to the punishment, yet we are not to despair on falling into sin, because our covenant of peace with God is a covenant of mercy, as well as works, established between a gracious Maker, who knows the temptations wherewith we are beset; and frail creatures, who cannot always stand upright. If all our