SERM, will then be of no use, because we fhall know II. that they are not well founded; but the Difapprobation of wife and good Men, will add much to our Uneafinefs: And our Cafe will be made ftill more deplorable by our Apprehenfions of the Judgment of God, from whom we can expect nothing, except we repent and reform ourselves, but that he should banish us from his Prefence, and expofe us to that Shame, Contempt, and Mifery, which are the natural and just Confequences of our Impiety and Wickedness. It is therefore only by the practice of Virtue, that we can attain to true Honour and Felicity. Let it be our Business then above all things, to raise and strengthen all good Difpofitions in ourselves: Let us always look on these as of the greatest importance, and value other things only as they give us an opportunity of exerting more effectually our pious, benevolent, and generous Affections: Let thofe who have any extraordinary Advantages from their Station and Condition. in the World, or from the natural or acquired Abilities of their Minds or Bodics, never think highly of themselves, purely because they poffefs them; for this they may do without taking of any real Worth; but let them prudently apply fuch Advantages to the promoting of the Defigns of Piety and Humanity, which

par

II.

will make them turn both to their Glory and SER M Satisfaction: And let every one of us endeavour to increase continually in goodness, by all the means we have of doing it, particularly by offering our Prayers to the God of all Mercy and Grace, to affift us in improving ourfelves in Righteoufnefs; that fo we may arrive at that Excellency and Dignity, that Honour and Happiness of Nature which he has made us capable of enjoying.

SERMON III.

The Weightier Matters of Religion.

MATTH. XXIII. 23.

Wo unto you Scribes and Pharifees, Hypocrites; for ye pay Tithe of Mint, and Anife, and Cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, Judgment, Mercy and Faith: These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

LUKE XI. 42.

But wo unto you Pharifees; for ye tithe Mint and Rue, and all manner of Herbs, and pass over Judgment and the Love of God: Thefe ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

I

N thefe two Paffages our Saviour cenfures the Scribes and Pharifees, for their vile Hypocrify, in expreffing the greatest Zeal for the ritual Obfervances of their Law, while

they

III.

they shamefully neglected and made no ac- SER M. count of the principal and most important Duties of it; in being fuperftitiously nice and fcrupulous about the tithing of fome inconfiderable Herbs, while they had no regard to Justice and Equity, Mercy and Charity, Faithfulness and Truth, and a Reverence and Love of God, which Duties contain the Substance of all Religion, and are by far the most amiable and neceffary parts of it: Whereas, on the other hand, though those smaller matters which they were so zealous about, were not altogether to be disregarded, yet these great and important Duties ought certainly to have been the Objects of their first and chief Care: The Warmth and Indignation with which our Lord reproves the Pharifees for this perverfion of Religion, may convince us, that it is of great confequence to understand the nature and value of the several religious Duties which we perform, and to proportion our Zeal for them, according to their real Impor

tance.

In difcourfing on this Subject, I shall praceed in the following Method.

I. I shall explain the feveral Virtues, which our Saviour here inftances in, as the principal and most important Duties of Religion. F 3

ĮI.

SERM.

II. I fhall fhew that these Virtues are in

III. deed the principal and moft important parts of Religion, and which, above all other things in it, deferve our Pains and Care.

Laftly, I fhall make fome useful Reflections upon the whole.

First, I fhall explain the feveral Virtues which our Saviour here mentions asthe principal and most important Duties of Religion. And this I fhall do as plainly and briefly as I can. The firft Virtue which our Saviour fpeaks of is, Judgment or Justice. This, as it is a Virtue to be practised by Men in a private Capacity, in which view only I shall here confider it, is a Difpofition to abftain from all invafion of the Properties and Rights of others, and to render to them all the things which they can demand as their own. There are fome things which all Perfons obtain a Property in from the bounty of Nature, fuch as their Life, Health, and Liberty; and there are other things which they acquire a Right to by their own Labour and Industry, or by fair Compact, by legal Conftitution, or the voluntary Donation of others, as Riches, Lands, and by far the greatest part of the Poffeffions which they have in the World. The Prefervation of their Rights and Titles to the things