man naturally fet upon a good deed? And how does he fneak when he hath done wickedly, being fenfible: that he is condemned by others, as well as by himfelf? No man is afraid of being upbraided for having dealt honeftly or kindly with others; nor does he account it any calumny or reproach, to have it reported of him, that he is a fober and chafte man. No man blufheth, when he meets a man with whom he hath kept his word, and discharged his truft: but. every man is apt to do fo, when he meets one with whom he has dealt diflioneftly, or who knows fome notorious crime by him.

3dly, Vice is generally forbidden and punished by human laws but against the contrary virtues, there never was any law. Some vices are fo manifeftly evil in themselves, or fo mifchievous to human fociety, that the laws of moft nations have taken care to difcountenance them by fevere penalties. Scarce any

nation was ever fo barbarous, as not to maintain and vindicate the honour of their gods and religion by public laws. Murder and adultery, rebellion and sedition, perjury and breach of truft, fraud and oppreffion, are vices feverely prohibited by the laws of moft nations. A clear indication what opinion the generality of mankind, and the wifdom of nations, have always had of these things.

But now against the contrary virtues there never was any law. No man was ever impeached for living foberly, righteously, and godly in this prefent world. A plain acknowledgement that mankind always thought them good, and never were fenfible of the inconvenience of them; for had they been fo, they would have provided against them by laws. This St Paul takes notice of as a great commendation of the Christian virtues: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long fuffering, gentleness, kindness, fidelity, meekness, temperance; against fuch there is no law: the greatest evidence that could be given that these things are unquestionably good in the efteem of mankind, against fuch there is no law. As if he had faid, turn over the law of Mofes, fearch those at Athens, and Sparta, and the twelve tables of the Ro

mans,

mans, and thofe innumerable laws that have been added fince; and you fhall not in any of them find a ny of thofe virtues that I have mentioned, condemned and forbidden. A clear evidence that mankind never took any exception against them, but are gene, rally agreed about the goodness of them.

4. God hath fewn us what is good by external revelation. In former ages of the world, God revealed his will to particular perfons in an extraordi. nary manner, and more efpecially to the nation of the Jews, the rest of the world being in a great measure left to the conduct of natural light. But in thefe latter ages he hath made a public revelation of his will by his Son. And this, as to the matter of our duty, is the fame in fubftance with the law of nature; for our Saviour comprehends all under thefe two general heads, the love of God, and of our neighbour: The Apoftle reduceth all to three, fobriety, juftice, and piety: The grace of God, that brings falvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying urgediinefs and worldly lufts, we should live foberly, righteoufly, and godly in this prefent world. So that if we believe the Apostle, the gofpel teacheth us the very fame things which nature dictated to men before; only it hath made a more perfect discovery of them. So that whatever was doubtful and obfcure before, is now certain and plain. The duties are ftill the fame, only it offers us more powerful arguments, and a greater affiftance to the performance of thofe duties; fo that we may now much better fay, than the Prophet could in his days, He hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good; and what it is that the Lord requires of thee.

5. and laftly, God fhews us what is good, by the motions of his Spirit upon the minds of men. This the fcripture affures us of, and good men have experience more efpecially of it; though it be hard. to give an account of it, and to fay what motions are from the Spirit of God, and what from our own minds; for as the wind blows where it lifteth, and we hear the found of it, but know not whence it comes, nor whither it goes; fo are the operations of the Spi

rit of God upon the minds of men, fecret and imperceptible.

And thus I have done with the three things I propounded to speak to. All that now remains, is to nake fome inferences from what hath been faid, by way of application.

Firft, Seeing God hath so abundantly provided that we fhould know our duty, we are altogether inexcu fable, if we do not do it. Because he hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of thee; therefore thou art inexcufable, O man, whofoever thou art, who liveft in a contradiction to this light.. God hath acquainted us with our duty, by fuch ways as may moft effectually both direct and engage us to the practice of it; we are prompted to it by a kind of natural inftinct, and ftrong impreffions upon our minds, of the difference of good and evil; we are led to the knowledge, and urged to the prac tice of it, by our nature, and by our reafon, and by our intereft, and by that which is commonly very prevalent among men, the general voice and confent of mankind; and by the most powerful and governing paffions in human nature, by hope, and by fear, and by fhame; by the profpect of advantage, by the apprehenfion of danger, and by the fenfe of honour; and to take away all poffible excufe of ignorance from us, by an exprefs revelation from God, the clearest and most perfect that ever was made to the world. So that whenever we do contrary to cur duty in any of thefe great inftances, we offend against all these, and do in the highest degree fall under the heavy fentence of our Saviour, This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.

Secondly, You fee hence what are the great duties of religion, which God mainly requires of us, and how reafonable they are; piety towards God, and juftice and charity towards men; the knowledge whereof is planted in our nature, and grows up with our reafon. And these are things which are unquefionably good, and against which we can have no exception:

ception; things that were never reproved, nor found fault with by mankind; neither our nature nor our reafon rifeth up against them, or dictates any thing to the contrary. We have all the obligation, and we have all the encouragement to them, and are fecure on all hands in the practice of them. In the doing of thefe things, there is no danger to us from the laws of men, no fear of difpleasure from God, no offence or sting from our own minds.

And these things, which are fo agreeable to our nature, and our reason, and our intereft, are the great things which our religion requires of us; more valuable in themselves, and more acceptable to God, than whole burnt-offerings and facrifices; more than thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil; more than if we offered to him all the beafts of the foreft, and the cattle upon a thoufand hills. We are not to neglect any inftitution of God; but above all, we are to fecure the obfervance of thofe great duties to which we are directed by our very nature, and tied by the furest and most facred of all other laws, thofe which God hath rivetted in our fouls, and written upon our hearts; and that mankind might have no pretence left to excufe them from thefe, the Chriftian religion hath fet us free from thofe many pofi. tive and outward obfervances; that the Jewish religion was incumbered withal; that we might be wholly intent upon thefe great duties, and mind nothing in comparison of the real and fubftantial virtues of a good life.

Thirdly, You fee, in the last place, what is the beft way to appeafe the displeasure of God towards a finful nation. God feems to have as great a controverfy with us, as he had with the people of Ifrael; and his wrath is of late years moft vifibly gone cut against us; and proportionably to the full measure of our fins, it hath been poured out upon us in full vials. How have the judgements of God followed us? and how clófe, have they followed one another? What fearfulcalamities have our eyes feen? enough to make the ears of every one that hears them to tingle. What:

terrible

us,

terrible and hazardous wars have we been engaged in? What a raging peftilence did God fend among that swept away thoufands, and ten thoufands in our streets? What a dreadful and fatal fire, that was not to be checked and refifted in its courfe, till it had laid in afhes one of the greatest and richest cities in the world? What unfeasonable weather have we had of late as if for the wickedness of men upon the earth, the very ordinances of heaven were changed, and fummer and winter, feed-time and harvest, had forgotten their appointed feafons. And which is more, and fadder than all this, what dangerous attempts have been made upon our religion, by the restless adverfaries of it!

And now furely, after all this is come upon us for our fins, it is time for us to look up to him that fmites us, and to think of taking up this quarrel. It is time to inquire, as they do in the text, Wherewith Shall we come before the Lord, and bow ourselves before the high God? And we are apt to take the fame course they did, to endeavour to appeafe God by fome external devotion. We have now betaken ourselves to prayer and fafting, and it was very fit, nay neceffary, we fhould do fo. But let us not think this is all God expects from us. These are but the means to a further end, to oblige us for the future to the practice of a good life. The outward profeffion of religion is not loft among us, there appears ftill in men a great and commendable zeal for the reformed religion, and there hath been too much occafion for it; but that which God chiefly expects from us, is reformed lives. Piety and virtue are in a great measure gone from among us, the manners of men are ftrangely corrupted, the great and weighty things of the law are neglected, juftice and mercy, temperance and chastity, truth and fidelity; fo that we may take up David's complaint, Help, Lord! for the righteous man ceafeth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

And till the nation be brought back to a fober fenfe of religion, from an airy and fantastical piety, to real and unaffected devotion, and from a factious contention about things indifferent, to the ferious

practice