of the divine displeasure and vengeance, as If. xlviii. 22. and Ivii. 21. "There is no peace, faith my "God, to the wicked." And all the judgments which the divine being is represented as interpofing to inflict, are always faid to have been on account of wickedness only, as in the cafe of our first parents, the inhabitants of the old world, the pcople of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Canaanites, and many others.

Whereas the favour of the heathen gods was fuppofed to be gained by the performance of certain rites and ceremonies, while moral virtue was feldom thought to be of any ufe for that purpofe; the contrary is expreffed in the ftrongest terms, with refpect to the true God; and admonitions of this kind are repeated again and again in the books of fcripture. David, confeffing his fins before God, fays, Pf. li. 16. "Thou defireft not facrifice, "elfe would I give it: thou delighteft not in "burnt offering. The facrifices of God are a "broken fpirit: a broken and a contrite heart, "O God, thou wilt not defpife." One of the fineft paffages in the facred writings to this purpose is, If. i. 13. &c. "Hear the word of the Lord, ye "rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of our "God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what pur"pofe is the multitude of your facrifices unto me? "faith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings "of rams, and the fat of fed beafts, and I delight VOL. II.

I

་

not

And when ye

hide mine eyes many prayers,

"not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of "he goats. When ye come to appear before me, "who hath required this at your hand, to tread "my courts: Bring no more vain oblations, in❝cenfe is an abomination unto me, the new-moons “and fabbaths, the calling of affemblies I cannot "away with, it is iniquity, even the folemn meet"ing. Your new moons, and your appointed "feafts my foul hateth; they are a trouble unto 86 me, I am weary to bear them. fpread forth your hands, I will <from you yea, when ye make "I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. * Wash ye, make ye clean, put away the evil of 66 your doings from hence before mine eyes, cease "to do evil, learn to do well, feek judgment, re"lieve the oppreffed, judge the fatherless, plead "for the widow. Come now and let us reafon "together, faith the Lord: though your fins be "as fcarlet, they fhall be as white as fnow; though "they be red like crimson, they fhall be as wool." The fame fentiment is alfo admirably expressed in Micah vi. 6. &c. "Wherewith fhall I come be"fore the Lord, and bow myfelf before the high * God? fhall I come before him with burnt of"ferings, with calves of a year old? Will the "Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with "ten thousands of rivers of oil? fhall I give my "first-born for my tranfgreffion, the fruit of my

"body

"body for the fin of my foul? He hath fhewed "thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the "Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to "love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy "God?" To the fame purpose fee alfo Pf. 1. Jer. vii. 2. Hof. vi. 6. and Amos v. 21.

In the New Teftament, we find John the Baptift expofing the vain confidence of the Jews, on account of their having Abraham for their father, Matt. iii. 9. and our Saviour alfo, when they made the fame boaft, in his prefence, fays, John viii. 39. "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the "works of Abraham. Ye are of your father the "devil, and the lufts of your father ye will do." Again, fpeaking of his natural relations, he fays, Matt. xii. 50. "Whofoever fhall do the will of "my father who is heaven, the fame is my brother, "and fifter and mother."

If we confider the great object and end of all the parts of the scheme of revelation, we cannot but fee that it was intended to promote the practice of moral virtue, in order to men's attaining to the greatest degrees of perfection and happiness. The ten commandments, which God fpake from Sinai, are all of a moral, and moft of them of a focial nature. His earneft exhortations to the Ifraelites, through the whole of the book of Deuteronomy, enforces the practice of virtue in the strongest manner; and fo do all the writings of the prophets.

I 2

The

The purport of their earnest exhortations is, "Ceafe to do evil, learn to do well; turn ye, turn "ye, from your evil ways; why will ye die, O "houfe of Ifrael."

Repentance and works meet for repentance, was the chief fubject of John the Baptift's preaching, and also of that of our Saviour. Our Lord's admirable fermon on the mount, confifts chiefly of precepts of the moft fublime moral virtue; and he represents the fate of all mankind at the laft day, as determined by a regard to their moral character only, and efpecially their benevolence.

Whenever the general defign of the gospel is mentioned, it is always fpoken of as intended to reform and blefs mankind. Thus the apoftle Peter, in his addrefs to the Jews, after the effufion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecoft, fays, Acts iii. 26. "God, having raised up his Son Jefus, fent him

to bless you, in turning away every one of you "from his iniquities." To the same purpose the "apoftle Paul, Titus ii. 11. " The grace of God "that bringeth falvation, hath appeared to all "men; teaching us, that denying ungodliness and "worldly lufts, we should live foberly, righteously, "and godly in this prefent world; looking for

that bleffed hope, and the glorious appearing of "the great God, and our Saviour Jefus Chrift: "who gave himself for us, that he might redeem

us from all iniquity, and purify unto himfelf a

"peculiar

peculiar people, zealous of good works." And our Lord himself says, John xv. viii. "Herein "is my father glorified, that ye bear much "fruit."

Laftly, it is impoffible that the practice of univerfal virtue, abfolute or relative, fhould be more. ftrongly enforced than it is in all the apoftolical epiftles, and especially towards the clofe of them. See Rom. ii. 4. &c. 12. 1 Cor. vi. 9. &c. Eph. i. 4. v. 2. &c. 1 Thef. v. 22. the epiftle of James throughout, 1 Pet. 11. 11. &c. I John

iv. 20.

It is in vain that we look for any thing that can be compared with this in any fyftem of heathen religion. Almost the best that can be faid of them is, that they enjoin practices that are merely idle and infignificant; for too often they countenance the most deftructive vices.

SECTION III.

Of the goodness of God.

HE goodness of God feems to be pretty clearly inferred from a view of the works of creation, a benevolent defign being fufficiently manifest in every thing that we understand. Indeed the great mixture that we fee of apparent evil is apt to ftag