name, no fear of God before your eyes, but ye have loved the praise of men more than the praise of God; verily I say unto you, ye have had your reward.

Then will others come, saying, Lord, thou desirest not sacrifice, else would we give it; we have not paid the tithe of mint, anise, and cummin; but we have observed the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and fidelity. Then will the Judge answer and say unto them, These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone. Ye have said, 'What is the Almighty that we should serve him, and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?' I know you that ye have not

the love of God in you.

Then others will come saying, Lord, behold our charities. When I saw the hungry, I fed them; the sick, and in prison, I visited them; I have abstained from all appearance of evil. Behold my frequent resolutions, my public sacrifices, my zeal for thy cause; my care of my family; my humility, poverty, or my reputation and my friends. Then will the King answer and say to one, I know thy works, thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. To another, Pure religion before God the Father, is not only to visit the fatherless and widows, but to keep thyself unspotted from the world. To another, What shall I do unto thee, for thy goodness is as the morning cloud and the evening dew, which soon passeth away. To another,

To whom much has been given, of him much will be required.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?

SERMON XII.

THE INADEQUACY OF THE PREVAILING CONCEPTIONS AS TO THE EXTENT OF THE DIVINE LAW, COMPARED WITH THE MORALITY OF THE GOSPEL.

PSALMS, CXIX. 96.

THY COMMANDMENT IS EXCEEDING BROAD.

I HAVE seen, says the Psalmist, an end of all perfection; the glory of human greatness vanishes; the objects of human pursuit disappoint us; the wonders of nature and art decay; and what we call moral perfection, as it is exhibited in human character, is either frail, defective, or delusive; but thy commandment, O God, is exceeding broad.

The opposition between the two parallel portions of the verse may not at first be understood. The meaning undoubtedly is, of that which is perfect in human estimation we soon find a limit, but the wisdom and perfection of thy law, who can represent? This comprehensive law of goodness, which appeared to the Psalmist so exceeding broad, is more clearly defined and illustrated in the New Testament; and if there were nothing else to prove the divine origin of Christ's religion, the

very nature of his moral precepts would perhaps be sufficient. Of the evangelical morality it may be truly said, that it cannot be improved. The world had before known nothing like it, as a whole, and it would be perhaps impossible to collect all its precepts, even if we were permitted to search, and select here and there a maxim or a sentiment from all the works of the ancients. It is distinguished for the grandeur and efficacy of its sanctions, which lay hold on eternity to come; for the restraints which it lays on the heart, the source of action, and for its elevating, purifying, and spiritualizing influence. In short, the instructions of Christ partake of the divinity of their author; the spirit, which descended like a dove, and rested upon him, breathes in every line which he has left us.

When we consider the vast extent of the christian morality, and compare it with the inadequate conceptions of duty entertained by many Christians, it may be well thought surprising that we should have discovered so much more solicitude to erect standards of faith, than standards of practice. We have guarded the articles of our belief against invasion or evasion, by every possible barrier, and have considered the church in danger when the perfection of these formularies has been doubted or denied. But no church has thought it equally necessary to take care of its system of duties. Diversity of sentiment on the subject of practice, has been thought a less dangerous heresy,

and a church cannot be shown in ecclesiastical history, which has established a creed in morals.

Whence this strange inconsistency in our zeal? Is it because the intentions of scripture are more plain on this subject than on articles of faith? Or is it because our love of power is more flattered by subjecting other men to the standard of our speculations, than by guarding them from mistaking their duty?

Whatever answer may be given to these questions, I think no man, who makes the scriptures his study, need be more surprised or concerned at the variety of doctrines which men have attempted to draw from them, than at the imperfect notions which still exist on the subject of duty. The cause of this diversity is to be sought, not in the obscurity of our Saviour's precepts, for in general their spirit cannot be mistaken, but in our ignorance of ourselves, in our slavish subjection to custom and fashion, in our thoughtless lives, and above all, in the great reluctance which every man feels to suffer the standard of duty to be raised much higher than the point to which he has himself attained.

I shall devote this discourse to an inquiry into the inadequate conceptions which prevail as to the extent of the divine law. The subject naturally divides itself into the four grand points of justice, benevolence, purity, and piety. We shall consider the prevailng defects of our moral sentiments on each of these branches of the christian law.