"all the will of God;" Col. iv. 12. "tc "abstain from all appearance of evil," 1 Theff. v. 22. and to propofe to ourselves the imitation of the all-perfect God himfelf. This was exprefsly inculcated by our Saviour, Matt. v. 28. "Be ye perfect, even "as your Father who is in heaven is perfect;" by the apostle Paul, Eph. v. 1. "Be ye followers of God, as dear chil"dren;" and the apoftle Peter, 1 Pet. i.

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15. "As he that has called you is holy; fo "be ye holy in all manner of converfa"tion; For it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy," referring to Lev. xi. 2. xix. 2.

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xx. 7.

These precepts appear, at firft view, to be very strict; and, confidering the imperfection of human nature, to be unreasonably fevere; but confidering that, in all cafes, fufficient allowance is made for every natural defect, for whatever is confiftent with a fincere endeavour to do the whole will of God, there is the greateft wifdom and propriety in these exhortations.

Had

Had any particular pitch of virtue been defined, upen our arrival at which we had heen encouraged to be fatisfied with ourfelves, without attempting any thing farther; many perfons, abounding in conceit and prefumption only, would foon have arrogated to themfelves that character, and have been dupes to the moft fatal delufion and felfdeceit. We even fee that abfolute perfection has been pretended to by many.

Befides, fince moral character is a thing which, in its own nature, admits of no precife boundary, but advances, by infenfible degrees, from the most extreme profligacy, to fuch purity and excellence as only the divine being himself is capable of; and since it is effential to a genuine good difpofition to wish the attainment of the greatest degrecs of excellence, there would have been an impropriety in moral precepts of any other kind. The man whofe chief study it is to recommend himfelf to God, by a conformity to his whole will, cannot but be fenfible, that whatever his attainments are, or may be, there will ftill be fomething more

that

that he might, and ought to have done; his moral difcernment being improved by the greater attention which he will continually give to his character and conduct.

great art

Indeed, this is the cafe with all inferior arts of various kinds, as well as this of life. What poet or painter ever thought his piece abfolutely faultlefs and perfect, with whatever admiration it might be confidered by others: and could he remove all the blemishes he now fees in it, he would ftill, by more attention to it, discover more. Now, for the fame reason, this must neceffarily be the cafe with every man whofe object is to excel in virtue, and who studies propriety and perfection of moral character.

The apostle Paul discovers this just difcernment in his own cafe, Phil. iii. 13. Brethren, I count not myfelf to have ap"prehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, "and reaching forth unto thofe things "which are before, I prefs toward the mark, "for the prize of the high calling of God VOL. II.

X

in

"in Chrift Jefus. Let us therefore, as

many as be perfect, be thus minded.” He, and other apostles, give many excellent precepts to this purpose, to those chriftians to whom they wrote. 2 Pet. 1. 5. "And "befides this, giving all diligence, add to 66 your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and "to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly "kindness; and to brotherly kindness, cha"rity. For if these things be in you, and "abound, they make you that ye fhall nei"ther be barren, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jefus Chrift."

It is agreeable to the fame general maxim, that perfeverance till death is abfolutely required of all who expect the rewards of the gofpel; and a backslider, at any period, is always reprefented as even in a worse condition than one who had never known the right way; fince the knowledge he had of the excellence of it ought to have been an additional motive with him to continue in it.

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To this purpofe the divine being addreffes the children of Ifrael by Ezekiel, ch. xviii. 24. "When the righteous turneth away "from his righteousness, and committeth

iniquity, and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth, "fhall he live? All his righteousness that "he hath done fhall not be mentioned: in "his trefpafs that he hath trefpaffed, and in "his fin that he hath finned, in them fhall "he die." It is alfo our Saviour's doctrine, John viii. 31. "That if we continue in his "word, then are we his difciples indeed." The aggravation of apoftacy is particularly pointed out by the apoftle Peter, 2 Pet. ii. 20. "If after they have efcaped the pollu"tions of the world, through the knowledge

of the Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift, they are again entangled therein, and over

come; the latter end is worse with them "than the beginning. For it had been bet"ter for them not to have known the way "of righteousness, than after they have "known it, to turn from the holy com"mandment delivered unto them."