his law.

kind, fo far as they are voluntary in their circumstances, let us not think to put them in the room of obedience to If any man, from this paffage of fcripture, fhall take liberty to defpife the fabbath, to forbear prayer in secret and in family, to neglect the facraments or inftituted worfhip of God, he perverteth and wrefteth the fcriptures, to his own deftruction. On the other hand, if any perfon, under pretence of extraordinary prayer, shall neglect his calling, if he fhall put voluntary fafts and bodily mortification in the room of repentance, if he shall make donations to the poor, or to facred uses, inftead of paying his juft debts, to the prejudice of others, it may, with great propriety, be faid to him in the words of Samuel, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey, is bet"ter than facrifice; and to hearken, than the fat of rams."

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2. Obedience is oppofed to facrifices as they are false and hypocritical. Even in thofe facrifices that were most exprefsly appointed, and of the most indispensable obligation, there might be an effential defect, from the inward difpofition not corresponding to the outward action. Reafon, as well as fcripture, teacheth us, that in all acts of worship, the fincerity of the heart makes the chief ingredient. It is the prerogative, and the glory of God, that he fearcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men. Therefore, in every part of his fervice, he requires integrity and uprightnefs of heart: "He defireth

truth in the inward parts." That I may treat this part of the fubject with the greater diftinctnefs, you may obferve, that our facrifices or worship may be polluted by a two-fold hypocrify. These may be called, hypocrify towards God, and hypocrify towards man; or, in other words, inconfiftency or unfoundness in the character, and difguife or infincerity in the act of worship.

(1) Our facrifices may be polluted by inconfiftency of unfoundnefs in the character. This is the cafe where men are careful in attending upon the inftitutions of religion, but do not make confcience of keeping the commandments of God in their ordinary converfation; when they are punctual in the outward performance of the du

ties of the first table of the law, but are under no restraint as to fins against the fecond; but, in a particular manner, when they are under the unhappy delufion of imagining, that the one will make atonement for the other. I believe

it will be found, that this is the meaning of many passages of fcripture, where facrifices are fpoken of with difregard. The word of God could never be fo inconfiftent with itself, as to condemn them fimply, while the law concerning them ftood in force; but when they were offered by wicked men, when they were rested on as the whole. of religion, or made to compenfate for the neglect of moral duties, then they are spoken of with abhorrence: Hofea vi. 6. "For I defired mercy, and not facrifice; and the knowledge of God, more than burnt-offerings. But "they like men have tranfgreffed the covenant: there "have they dealt treacheroufly against me." If. i. 10. "Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear "unto the law of your God, ye people of Gomorrah. To "what purpose is the multitude of your facrifices unto me? "faith the Lord: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, "and the fat of fed beafts, and I delight not in the blood of "bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come "to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand "to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations, in"cenfe is an abomination unto me, the new-moons and "fabbaths, the calling of affemblies, I cannot away with, "it is iniquity, even the folemn meeting. Your new

moons, and your appointed feasts, my foul hateth: they "are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them. And "when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes "from you yea, when ye make many prayers, I will "not hear your hands are full of blood. Wash ye, "make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from "before minę eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, feek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." Pfal. 1. 16. "Unto the wicked "God faith, What haft thou to do to declare my ftatutes, "or that thou fhouldft take my covenant in thy mouth?" Amos verse 21,-24, I hate, I defpife your feast-days, "and I will not fmell in your folemn affemblies. Though VOL. I.

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"ye offer me burnt-offerings, and your meat-offerings, "I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace

offerings of your fat beafts. Take thou away from me "the noife of thy fongs, for I will not hear the melody of "thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and "righteousness as a mighty ftream."

Indeed, my brethren, what can be more abominable, than the worship of such persons as live in the habitual indulgence of fin? what more provoking to God? what more prefumptuous in the finner? And who can fufficiently wonder at the blindness of all of this character? That their very accefs to God, which fhould increase their abhorrence of fin, fhould, notwithstanding, fet them at ease in the commiffion of it? Will he bear more in you, think you, than in others? He will bear lefs. He will vifit you fooner in his providence, and he will punish you heavier to all eternity. Things are quite oppofite to what you fuppofe. Inftead of your duties rendering your fins pardonable, your fins render your duties infupportable.

(2) The other kind of hypocrify is, when men put on religion as a cloak and covering on their wickedness, and, without any inward regard or fenfe of duty to God, aim only at the praise of men, This is, if poffible, more daring and prefumptuous than the other, or rather is a more advanced ftage of the fame character. It was for this that our Saviour fo feverely reprehended the Pharifees: Matth. vi. I, 2. "Take heed that ye do not your alms before "men, to be feen of them: otherwife ye have no reward "of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when "thou doft thine alms, do not found a trumpet before thee, "as the hypocrites do, in the fynagogues, and in the streets, "that they may have glory of men. Verily I fay unto

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you, they have their reward." And verfe 5, “And "when thou prayeft, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites "are for they love to pray ftanding in the fynagogues, "and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen "of men. Verily I fay unto you, they have their reward." But truly this is not all. Some are not fatisfied with doing things in themfelves praise-worthy from oftentation, or the hope of applaufe from men, but they endeavor, by

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their fhining and burning zeal in fuch things, to blind the eyes of others, and hinder them from difcovering and punishing their fecret wickednefs: Matth. xxiii. 14. "Wo "unto you, fcribes and Pharifees, hypocrites; for ye "vour widows houses, and for a pretence make long pray"ers; therefore ye fhall receive the greater damnation." Whenever this is the cafe, it is no wonder that obedience fhould be preferred before facrifice, and indeed fet in oppofition to it. You fee, however, that this is no more than what our Saviour fays of almsgiving, which is fo eminent a moral duty, but which can never find acceptance with God, when done merely from a principle of oftentation. It is impoffible, upon the whole, to fet this matter in a jufter light than our Saviour has done, in speaking of the fame Pharifees, Matth. xxiii. 23. "Wo unto you, "fcribes and Pharifees, hypocrites; for ye pay tithe of "mint and annife, and cummin, and have omitted the

weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and "faith: thefe ought ye to have done, and not to leave the "other undone."

3. Obedience is opposed to facrifices, as they are dead and formal. I am not at this time to mention all the ends which an infinitely wife God intended to ferve by the appointment of facrifices: but every one must be fenfible, that they could be of no avail without taking in the principle from which they were brought, and the temper and difpofition of the offerer. There was no doubt very much of outward form in the Mofaic œconomy; and the ritual practices bore fo great a bulk in it, that, by way of comparison with the fpirituality of the gospel, it is called the law of a carnal commandment. But it would be mistaking it very much to fuppofe that God was fully fatisfied with, or defired that his people fhould reft in the outward form. This is plain from many paffages of fcripture. What an example of fervor and elevation of fpirit have we in the exercise and language of the Pfalmift David, through the whole of his writings! You may fee, Pf. v. 7. "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the "multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship "toward thy holy temple." Pf. xxvi. 6. "I will wash

my hands in innocency: fo will I compafs thine altar, "Lord." To this you may add what he fays, Pfal. li. 16, 17. "For thou defireft not facrifice, elfe would I give "it thou delighteft not in burnt-offering. The facri"fices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a con"trite heart, O God, thou wilt not defpife."

In oppofition to this, however clear a dictate, both of reafon and scripture, it feems to have been the disease of ancient times, to imagine, that the facrifices were fome how neceffary or useful to their Maker in themfelves; acd that he was pleased with the poffeffion of the gift, independent of the difpofition of the giver. This led both Jews and Gentiles to fuppofe, that the more numerous and coftly the victims, the greater would be their influence: Micah vi. 6. "Wherewith fhall I come before the Lord, "and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come "before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year "old! Will the Lord be pleafed with thoufands of rams,

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or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my "first born for my tranfgreffion, the fruit of my body for "the fin of my foul?" To fuch an exceffive height did this error proceed, that on extraordinary occafions the Heathens of many different nations offered human facrifices, and endeavored, by their number, their youth, or the high rank of their parents, to increase their value in the fight of God. In oppofition to this grofs delufion, God often afferts his all fufficiency as well as fovereignty; as particularly in that admirable paffage, Pf. 1. 7.—14 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Ifrael, and I "will teftify against thee: I am God, even thy God. I "will not reprove thee for thy facrifices, or thy burnt-of"ferings, to have been continually before me, I will "take no bullock out of thy houfe, nor he-goats out of "thy folds. For every beaft of the foreft is mine, and the "cattle upon a thoufand hills. I know all the fowls of "the mountains; and the wild beafts of the field are "mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the "world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat "the fleth of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer "unto God thankfgiving, and pay thy vows unto the