wards his brother men, as suspicion should be the last sentiment he admits into his bosom. Yet just as it doth not hinder us from keeping our eyes open to investigate the truth, that we know such investigations do often lead to suspicion, it ought not to hinder our hearts from discharging copiously their streams of affection that we know it doth, in the end, often lead to judge and con demn the niggard and unfair return of others. The conclusion is, that from no existing state, wherein man stands related to man, can judgment and execution of judgment be spared, though they ought never to be introduced till all other measures have failed. Bearing this conclusion in mind, let us go forward to examine the res sponsibility whereto God hath subjected us.

He hath given a law for the regulation of the heart and life of man, and hath been at pains to make it manifest as being from himself, by visitation of angels and of his own awful presence, by inspiration of holy men whom he clothed with hea venly powers and, finally, by the hands of his own Son, whom he raised from the dead and took up into heaven until the restitution of all things. With these tokens of its being his will, it is offered to the world, to take it or not as they please. Some have never had the offer of it, with whose case we have not to deal. We have had the offer of it, and in our next discourse we are to examine whether it will do us good to accept it, or whether there be in it any thing to disconcert the nature of man. In the mean time, we go into the previous

question upon what God builds his claim to pre scribe to us in any form, and by what feelings the sense of reponsibility in this new instance is bound upon our minds.

Now, in turning over the sacred books to examine into this previous question, we find them full of various information concerning the interest which God hath taken in man from the very first, and the schemes which he hath on foot to ameliorate our state, the desire he hath to contribute to our present happiness, and the views. he hath for our future glory. He presents himself as our father, who first breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, and ever since hath nourished and brought us up as children:→→→ who prepared the earth for our habitation; and for our sakes made its womb to teem with food, with beauty and with life. For our sakes no less he garnished the heavens and created the whole host of them with the breath of his mouth, bringing the sun forth from his chamber every morning, with the joy of a bridegroom and a giant's strength, to shed his cheerful light over the face of creation, and draw blooming life from the cold bosom of the ground. From him also was derived the wonderful workmanship of our frames-the eye, in whose small orb of beauty is pencilled the whole of heaven and of earth, for the mind to peruse and know and possess and rejoice over, even as if the whole universe were her own-the ear, in whose vocal chambers are entertained harmonious numbers, the melody

of rejoicing nature, the welcomes and salutations of friends, the whisperings of love, the voices of parents and of children, with all the sweetness that resideth in the tongue of man. -His also is the gift of the beating heart, flooding all the hidden recesses of the human frame with the tide of life-his the cunning of the hand, whose workmanship turns rude and raw materials to pleasant forms and wholesome uses,his the whole vital frame of man, is a world of wonders within itself, a world of bounty, and, if rightly used, a world of finest enjoyments.-His also the mysteries of the soul within-the judgment, which weighs in a balance all contending thoughts, extracting wisdom out of folly, and extricating order out of confusion; the memory, recorder of the soul, in whose books are chronicled the accidents of the changing world, and the fluctuating moods of the mind itself; fancy, the eye of the soul, which scales the heavens and circles round the verge and circuits of all possible existence; hope, the purveyer of happiness, which peoples the hidden future with brighter forms and happier accidents than ever possessed the present, offering to the soul the foretaste of every joy; affection, the nurse of joy, whose full bosom can cherish a thousand objects without being impoverished, but rather replenished, a storehouse inexhaustible towards the brotherhood and sisterhood of this earth, as the storehouse of God is inexhaustible to the universal world; finally, conscience, the arbitrator of the soul, and the touchstone of the

These, all these,

evil and the good, whose voice within our breast is the echo of the voice of God. whose varied action and movement constitutes the maze of thought, the mystery of life, the continuous chain of being-God hath given us to know that we hold of his hand, and during his pleasure, and out of the fulness of his care.

Upon which tokens of his affectionate bounty, not upon bare authority, command, and fear, God desireth to form a union and intimacy with the human soul. As we love our parents from whom we derived our being, sustenance and protection while we stood in need, and afterwards proof of unchanging and undying love, so God would have us love him in whom we live and move and breathe and have our being, and from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift. And as out of this strong affection we not only obey, but honour the commandments of our father and mother, so willeth he that we should honour and obey the commandments of our father in heaven. As we look up to a master in whose house we dwell, and at whose plentiful board we feed with whose smiles we are recreated, and whose service is gentle and sweet-so God wisheth us to look up to him, in whose replenished house of nature he hath given us a habitation, and from whose bountiful table of providence we have a plentiful living, and whose service is full of virtue, health, and joy.—As we love a friend who took us by the hand in youth, and helped us step by step up the

hill of life, and found for our feet a room to rest in, and for our hands an occupation to work atý, so God wisheth to be loved for having taken us up from the womb, and compassed us from our childhood, and found us favour in the sight of men.-As we revere a master of wisdom, who nursed our opening mind, and fed it with knowledge and with prudence, until the way of truth and peacefulness lay disclosed before us; so God wisheth us to be revered for giving to our souls all the faculties of knowledge, and to nature all the hidden truths which these faculties reveal. In truth, there is not an excellent attachment by which the sons of men are bound together, which doth not bind us more strongly to God, and lay the foundation of all generous and noble sentiments towards him within the mind-of all loving, dutiful, reverential conduct towards him in our outward walk and conversation.

Therefore we greatly err when we imagine his revelation to be nothing, save a code of laws and statutes enforced by awful authority and awful judgment to come. Doubtless it contains a code of laws, but these laws set in the bosom of a thousand noble sentiments and warm affections and generous promises towards us-such as are wont to catch and captivate and ravish the spirit when uttered by a mortal-why they should not when uttered by the great immortal, eternal, and invisible, I know not, except that we are so lost in bustle and agitation as seldom to be in sufficient repose to hear and meditate his voice. No one