duties; and this is the new creature, and this is the proper effect of the Chriftian faith to produce thefe virtues in us. And indeed the great defign of the Christian religion, and every thing in it, of the love of God in giving his Son to die for us, of the pardon of our fins, and juftification in his blood, of all the promifes and threatenings of the gofpel, and of the affiftance therein promifed, is to engage and encou rage, and enable to the practice of moral duties.

And thus I have done with the first thing I propofed to speak to, namely, That natural religion is the foundation of instituted and revealed religion; and alt revealed religion does fuppofe it, and builds upon it. I proceed to the

II. Second, namely, That no revealed and inftituted religion was ever defigned to take away the ob. ligation of natural duties, but was intended to confirm and establish them. And this alfo will be evident, if we confider thefe three things:

1. That all revealed religion calls men to the prac tice of natural duties. This the Jewith religion did. The first laws which God gave them, and which he diftinguished from the reft, by writing them in tables of stone with his own finger, were the precepts of the moral law. And the great bufinefs of the Prophets whom God raifed up among them from time to time, was to reprove, not fo much their defects in their fa crifices, and in the duties of inftituted worship, as the breach of the natural law by their vices and immoralities ; and to threaten them with the judge, ments of God, if they did not reform and amend thefe faults.

And now under the gofpel, the preceptive part of it is almoft wholly made up of moral duties, namely, those which are comprehended under those two great commandments, of the love of God, and our neighbour. In the Christian religion there is very little that is merely positive and inftituted, befides the two facraments, and praying to God in the name and mediation of Jefus Christ.

2. The most perfect revelation that ever God made to mankind (I mean that of the Chriftian religion)

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doth

doth furnifh us with the beft helps and advantages for the performance of moral duties; it difcovers our duty more clearly to us; it offers us the greatest affiftance to enable us to the performance of it; it presents us with the most powerful motives and arguments to engage us thereto; fo that this revelation of the gofpel is fo far from weakening the obligation of natural duties, that it confirms and strengthens it, and urges us more forcibly to the practice of them.

3. The pofitive rites and inftitutions of revealed religion are so far from intrenching upon the laws of nature, that they were always defigned to be fubordinate and fubfervient to them; and whenever they come in competition, it is the declared will of God, that pofitive inftitutions fhould give way to natural duties; and this I have fhewn to be plainly the meaning of this faying in the text, I will have mercy, and not facrifice. If circumstances be fuch, that one part of religion muft give place, God will have the ritual and inftituted part to give way to that which is natural and moral.

It is very frequent in fcripture, when the duties of natural religion, and rites of divine inftitution, come in competition, to flight and difparage thefe in comparifon of moral duties, and to fpeak of them as things which God hath no pleasure in, and which in comparison of the other he will hardly own that he hath commanded. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand? If. i. 12. Thou defireft not facrifice, thou delighteft not in burnt-offerings, Pfal. li. 16. Will the Lord be pleafed with thou fands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil? He bath fhewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do juftly, and to Love mercy ?

But God no where makes any comparison to the disadvantage of natural duties; he never derogated from them in any cafe; he never faid he would have fuch a thing, and not mercy; or that he had rather fuch a rite of religion fhould be performed, than that men fhould do the greatest good, and fhew the greateft charity to one another. It is no where made a

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queftion, Will the Lord be pleased that we deal juftly every man with his neighbour, and speak the truth one to another? that we be kind and tender-hearted, and ready to forgive? that we be willing to dif tribute and give alms to thofe that are in need? There is no fuch queftion as this put in fcripture; nay it is pofitive in these matters, that with fuch facrifices God is well pleafed. I inftance in this virtue more especially of kindness and compaffion, becaufe it is one of the prime inftances of moral duties, as facrifice is put for all the ritual and inftituted part of religion; and this difpofition of mind our Saviour makes the root of all moral duties, Love is the fulfilling of the law and the Apostle speaks of it as the great end and scope of the gospel, The end of the commandment is charity; and this temper and difpofition of mind he advanceth above knowledge, and faith, and hope, The greatest of thefe is charity; and without this, he will not allow a man to be any thing in Chrift anity; this he makes our highest perfection and attainment, and that which abides and remains in the future ftate, Charity never fails.

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This our Saviour moft effectually recommends to us, both in his doctrine, and by his example; this he preffeth as a peculiar law of his religion, and the proper mark and character of a difciple; this he requires us to exercise towards those who practife the contrary towards us, to love our enemies, and to do good to them that hate us; and of this he hath given the greatest example that ever was, When we were enemies to him, he loved us fo as hardly ever any man did his friend, fo as to lay down his life for us; and he inftituted the facrament for a memorial of his love to mankind, and to put us in mind how we ought to love one another.

And now the application of what hath been faid upon this argument, to the occafion of this day, is very obvious; and there are two very natural infe rences from it.

First, From what hath been faid upon this argu ment, it plainly appears what place natural and moral duties ought to have in the Chriftian religion

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and of all natural duties, mercy and goodness. This is fo primary a duty of human nature, fo great and confiderable a part of religion, that all pofitive inftitutions must give way to it; and nothing of that kind can cancel the obligation of it, nor juftify the violation of this great and natural law. Our bleffed Sa viour in his religion hath declared nothing to the prejudice of it; but on the contrary heth heightened our obligation to it, as much as is poffible, by telling us, that the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives, but to fave them.

So that they know not what manner of Spirit they are of, who will kill men to do God Service; and to advance his caufe and religion in the world, will break through all obligations of nature, and civil focety, and disturb the peace and happiness of mank nd.

Nor did our Saviour, by any thing in his religion, defign to release men from the obligation of natural and civil duties. He had (as one would imagine) as much power as the Pope; but yet he depofed none of the princes of this world, nor did abfolve their subjects from their fidelity and obedience to them, for their oppofition to his religion; he affumed no fuch power to himself, (no, not in ordine ad fpiritualia) nor, that ever we read of, did he give it to any o ther. Whence then comes his pretended vicar to have this authority? And yet the horrid attempt of this. day was firft defigned, and afterwards carried on, in profecution of the Pope's bull of excommunication, and was not fo much the effect of the defpair and difcontent of that party here in England, as the natural confequence of their doctrines of extirpating heretics, and depofing kings, and abfolving fubjects from their allegiance to them.

No zeal for any pofitive inftitution in religion can juftify the violation of the natural law, the precepts whereof are of primary and indifpenfable obligation.. The Pope's fupremacy is not fo clear as the duty of obedience to civil government; nor is tranfubftantiation fo plainly revealed in fcripture, as it is both in nature and fcripture, that we should do no murder. And

And yet how many thousands have been put to death, because they could not understand this hard word, and believe this impoffible thing! And yet if the fupremacy of the Pope were clearly of divine right, and the doctrine of tranfubftantiation as plain as the inftitution of the facrament; yet thefe being but po. fitive matters in religion, there would be no reafon to kill men for not understanding and believing these things: nay, it would be contrary to religion to do it; because the law of mercy and humanity, which is the law of nature, ought not to be violated for the promoting of any politive inftitution; and God hath plainly faid, that he will have mercy rather than facrifice; yea, rather than the facrifice of the mafs, if it were what they pretend it is, the offering of the natural body and blood of Chrift; because it would be needlefs for propitiation of fin being once made by Chrift's offering himself once for all upon the cross, there needs no more facrifice for fin. Nay, I will go further yet; I had rather never administer the facrament, nor ever receive it, than take away any man's. life about it; because the facrament is but a pofitive rite and inftitution of the Chriftian religion, and God prefers mercy, which is a duty of natural religion, before any rite or inftitution whatsoever. Befides, that all acts of malice and cruelty are directly contrary to the particular nature and defign of this bleffed facrament, which is to commemorate the fufferings of the Son of God for our fakes, and to give us an example of the greateft love that ever was, and thereby to excite us to the imitation of it.

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Secondly, What hath been faid gives us a right notion and character of that church and religion which prefers the pofitive rites and inftitutions of religion, and the obfervance of them, to those duties which are of natural and eternal obligation, mercy and goodnefs, fidelity and justice; and which, for the fake of a pretended articles of religion, or rite of worship, (which, if it were certain that they were revealed, and inftituted by God, are yet merely pofitive), will break the greateft of God's commandments, and teach men for