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ing with Expreffions of Zeal, and eagerly contending for their Own way of Worship, tho at the fame time they have a Pharifaical contempt of all befides themselves, and, with them, neglect the more weighty matters of the Law, Judgment, Mercy, and Faith? those indifpenfable Duties which God defires rather than Sacrifice, which are the true Love of God, and therefore exprefsly fo call'd by St Luke in a parallel place, where he expreffes what St Matthew calls Judgment,Mercy, and Faith, by Judgment and the Love of God. Luke 11.42. Wo unto you Pharifees, for ye Tithe Mint and Rue, and neglect Judgment and the Love of God.

Are there not those, who think they have fulfill'd this firft Great and Comprehenfive Commandment of Loving God with all their Heart, if they are exact and fcrupulous in the Duties of the firft Table, tho they flight and difregard, as meer Heathen Virtues, all thofe of the fecond? Who are very Devout towards God, but very Unmerciful towards Men; Abborrers of Idols, but full of Covetousnes, which is alfo Idolatry; exceedingly fearful of a vain Oath, but reconcileable enough to a profitable Lye; who can after a long Prayer devour a Widow's House, and after a folemn Faft greedily drink up the Tears of the Oppreffed; in fhort, who are of a Burning Zeal, but a Frozen Charity. Whereas if we confider

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our Saviour's Life, the perfect pattern of Love, we shall find that he lays as great ftrefs upon Beneficence, and Charity, and Univerfal good Will, and all thofe Duties that relate to our Neighbour, as upon those that we are bound to pay immediately to God himself. And this Command, fays St John, we have from him, that he who Loveth God Love his Brother alfo; For if a Man fay he Loveth God, and Hateth his Brother; he is a Lyar. 1 John 4. 20, 21.

But yet farther has not this Spirit, that works in the Children of Difobedience, infatuated fome to that degree, as to make Legal Obedience even inconfiftent with Evangelical Love? to pronounce good Works not only Unneceffary to Salvation as Some, but even Pernicious, as Others have dar'd to Blafpheme. To affert that a ftrong Faith and Affurance, a confident Relying, and familiar Refting upon Chrift, is all that is requir'd to Sainthip here, or to Salvation hereafter. Willingly enough they would use Chrift as their Prieft, but care not to Obey him as their King; not confidering what St Peter and the other Apoftles taught Acts 5. 31. Him has God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, a Prince to give Laws to be fubmitted to by Obedience, as well as a Saviour to procure Redemption to be embrac'd by Faith. But

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thefe it seems, who are more intimate with Chrift, are not oblig'd to the obfervance of the Moral Law, for St Paul has in feveral places told them, that the Faithful are freed from the Law, are Dead to the Law, are no longer under the Law, and fuch like expreffions, which thefe unlearned, prefumptuous Souls wreft, as they do other Scriptures, to their own Deftruction. Not rightly understanding, or not duly attending to this plain Diftinction, that will clear up all this Difficulty; namely, that the Law in Scripture is fometimes confider'd as a Covenant, fometimes as a Rule; and when it is spoken of as abrogated, it is taken as a Covenant of Works; but when 'tis urg'd as ftill in force, 'tis confider'd as a Rule of Life: fo Chrift has freed us from the Curfe of the Law, as it was a Covenant of Works but more strongly enforc'd the Obedience of the Law, as it is a Rule of Life. For as a Covenant, twas rigorous and condemning, Do This and Live, Fail in One Tittle and Die. That Rigour and Condemnation Chrift has taken away but as a Rule it was Equal, and Juft, and Good, commanding nothing, but what God himself did, when he was pleas'd to become Man; and that Equity, and Juftice, and Goodness, he has by no means taken away, he has rather eftablish'd and confirm'd Them; Think not, fays he himself, Bb that

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that I am come to deftroy the Law, I am not come to deftroy the Law, but to fulfill; and St Paul, Do we then make Void the Law by Faith? God forbid. Yea we establish the Law. In fine, the Duties of the Moral Law being not Good because commanded, but commanded because Good, are of indifpenfable and never ceafing Obligation, fo exactly conformable to the Eternal Rectitude and immutable Holiness of God, the Copy not only of his Will but his Nature, that it is as impoffible that God fhould ever abrogate or difpenfe with these, as it is that he fhould deny himfelf. As concerning thy Teftimonies I have known long fince, that thou hast founded them for ever. Pfal. 119. V. 152. and again, All his Commandments are True. They ftand fast for ever and ever, and are done in Truth and Equity. Pfal. 111. 8. and our Saviour himself, Ve rily I fay unto you,'Till Heaven and Earth pass away, one fot or one Tittle ball in no wife pass from the Law. Mat. 5. 18.

Can any One therefore, who lives in oppofition to thefe Holy Rules, think, that` he can have the leaft pretence to any fhare in God's Favour, or perfuade himself that he has within him the leaft Inclination, or Affection towards God? No certainly; Love, which is rightly defin'd a Defire of Union with the Object Belov'd, towards that end produces ever a moft natural Effect, a defire

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of Likeness, a study of Imitation and Conformity with that Perfection and Excellence, with which it is enamour'd. It is manifeft Deceit therefore and Hypocrify to pretend to Love God without endeavouring to be like him. And This none can ever hope for, but by adjufting his whole Life to thofe moft Holy Laws of his, which as I faid are not only the Arbitrary Declarations of his Will, but a Sample of his Effential Goodness, the Image and Reflection of his Divine Nature.

An Heart enflam'd with Love feeks out, and delights in, what is agreeable and pleafing to the Beloved, is ever poffefs'd with a dread of Offending, a jealousy of Difpleafing, a tenderness of Grieving the Fountain of its Delight. Is it not then an impious and abfurd piece of Nonsense to imagine, that any one can be actuated by this generous and tender Affection toward God, at the fame time that he is in league with his profest Enemy, the Devil, and cherishes That moft, which is the only Thing in the whole World which God hates, SIN; The utmost Abomination to his Purity, the moft audacious Outrage to his Adorable Majefty, the perfect Contradiction to his Deity?

This I think is too plain to be further infifted upon, and fhall therefore take it for granted now with the Apoftle, that who

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