exercised towards different objects. These give it all those which are considered as its different forms. In all these forms it is exercised by the same man, in exactly the same manner. If it be found in one of these forms in any mind, it is of course found in the same mind, in every other form, whenever the object which gives it that form is presented to that mind. Thus he, who possesses benevolence, when happiness is the object present to him, exercises complacency whenever he contemplates moral excellence; and gratitude, whenever he turns his thoughts towards a benefactor. Thus also he who loves God, loves his fellow-creatures of course; and, of course, governs himself with evangelical moderation and self-denial. In all these exercises of the mind, and all others of a virtuous nature, a single, indivisible disposition exists and operates. This disposition is the love, required by the divine law; the love,' which St. Paul declares to be the fulfilling of the law :' not love of various kinds; not a train of dispositions, diversified in their nature, and springing up successively as new objects are presented to the mind: but love, of exactly the same nature, diversified only by being exercised towards different objects.

This disposition is the only real excellence of mind. There is no ultimate good, but happiness; and no disposition originally good, but that which rejoices in it, and voluntarily promotes it. Benevolence is therefore the only original excellence of mind; and is the foundation of all the real excellence of complacency and gratitude, which are only subordinate forms or exercises of the same character.

7. A higher, nobler state of being is enjoyed by him who loves God, than can possibly be enjoyed by any other.

God is the origin and residence of all that is great or good in the universe. All other greatness and goodness are mere emanations from the greatness and goodness of Jehovah. To have no delight in these glorious attributes, boundlessly existing in the infinite mind, is to be destitute of the noblest and best of all views and affections; of affections and views fitted in their own nature to improve, ennoble, refine, and enrapture the mind; and to form it into a most honourable resemblance to the sum of all perfection. Without this disposition, we are sinners; enemies to God, spots in his kingdom, and nuisances to the universe; are debased, guilty, and

hateful here, and shall be endlessly guilty and miserable hereafter.

8. In this manner we obey God.

God, whose we are, and whom we are bound to serve, has been pleased to express his pleasure to the intelligent universe, in these two commands. He who published them is our Maker, our Preserver; and our Benefactor. We are his property, created by his hand, formed for his use, made for his glory. His right to dispose of us according to his pleasure is therefore supreme, and such as cannot be questioned. It is a right of course which, although so exercised as to demand of us very great and long continued self-denial, is ever to be submissively, patiently, and cheerfully acknowledged by us. Whatever God is pleased to require us to do or to suffer, we are to do with delight, and suffer with absolute resignation. I do not mean that we can be required, either with justice or propriety, to do or to suffer any thing which is unjust or wrong. To require this of intelligent creatures is literally impossible for a mind infinitely perfect. But I mean, that whatever this perfect and great Being actually requires, we are absolutely bound to do or suffer in this manner.

At the same time, it is a source of unceasing satisfaction and delight, to discern, from the nature of the subject itself, that all which is actually required, is holy, just and good; supremely honourable to him, and supremely beneficial to his intelligent creatures. This, I flatter myself, has been sufficiently shown in this and the preceding Discourses. It is delightful, while we are employed in obeying God, to perceive immediately that our conduct is in all respects desirable; the most desirable, the most amiable, the most delightful of all possible conduct; in a word, the only conduct which really deserves these epithets.

Obedience to a parent possessed of peculiar wisdom and goodness is, to every dutiful child, delightful in itself; not only when the thing required by him is in its own nature pleasing; but also when it is indifferent, and even when it is difficult and painful. The pleasure enjoyed is in a great measure independent of that which is done; and consists, primarily, in the delightful nature of those affections which are exercised in obeying, and in the satisfaction of pleasing him whom we obey, by the respect and love manifested in our

obedience. The Parent of the universe is possessed of infinite wisdom and goodness. To please him therefore is supremely desirable and delightful. But the only conduct, in which we can possibly please him, is our obedience; and our only obedience is to love him with all the heart, and our neighbour as ourselves.'

Thus, whether we regard ourselves, and wish to be virtuous, excellent, honourable, and happy; or whether we regard our fellow creatures, and wish to render them happy, to unite with them in a pure and eternal friendship, to receive unceasingly their esteem and kind offices; and to add our efforts to theirs for the promotion of the universal good or whether we regard God; and desire to obey, to please, and to glorify him. to coincide voluntarily with the designs formed by his bound less wisdom and goodness; and to advance with our own cordial exertions the divine and immortal ends, which he is accomplishing; we shall make it our chief object to love, the Lord, our God, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and with all the understanding.'

SERMON XCIII.

THE LAW OF GOD.

THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT.

REVERENCE OF GOD.

AND UNTO MAN HE SAID, THE FEAR OF THE LORD, THAT IS WISDOM, AND TO DEPART FROM EVIL IS UNDERSTANDING.

JOB XXVIII. 28.

IN the last Discourse I examined the nature of love to God, as manifested in those three great exercises of it, which are commonly spoken of under this name: viz. benevolence, complacency, and gratitude. I shall now consider another exercise of this affection, of sufficient magnitude to claim a particular discussion in a System of Theology. This is reverence to the same glorious Being.

The context is an eulogium on wisdom, uttered in the noblest spirit of poetry. After describing, in a variety of particulars, the surprising effects of human ingenuity, and declaring that, extraordinary as these may seem, the ingenuity which has produced them is utterly insufficient to discover the nature of this glorious attainment, Job asserts its value to be greater than any, and than all the most precious things which this world contains. In this state of human insufficiency, he informs us, God was pleased to interfere, and by a direct revelation to declare to man, that the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.'

By wisdom, throughout the Scriptures, in the common language of such men as understand the meaning of their own language, is universally intended that conduct, in which the best means are selected to accomplish the best ends; or the spirit which chooses these ends, and selects these means for their accomplishment. In the former case, the name refers to the conduct only; in the latter, to the character. The best of all ends which it is possible for intelligent creatures to pursue, is the combined and perfectly coincident one of glorifying God, and promoting the good of the universe. The spirit with which this is done in the only effectual manner is that which is here styled 'the fear of the Lord.' The means by which it is done, are partly the spirit itself, in its various exercises and operations; and partly extraneous means, devised and employed by the same spirit.

A subordinate, but still very important, end, which is or ought to be proposed to himself by every intelligent creature, and for which the most efficacious means ought to be employed by him, is his own eternal happiness. The fear of the Lord is (equally) wisdom,' in this view; as being the only disposition which can either be happy in itself, or receive its proper reward from God.

Every person who has read the Scriptures of the Old Testament must have observed that this phrase, the fear of the Lord,' and others substantially involving the same words, as well as the same meaning, are oftener used to denote the moral character which is acceptable to God, than any, perhaps than all, other phrases whatever. It must also have struck every such reader, that this phrase is often used to denote all moral excellence; particularly, that supreme branch of this excellence, which is denominated piety. This is plainly the drift of the text, and of many other corresponding passages of Scripture. Thus it is said, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning' or the chief part, of wisdom,' Psalm cxi. 10. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,' Prov. xiv. 27. The fear of the Lord is his treasure,' Isa. xxxiii. 6. In these and a multitude of other declarations, of a similar import, it is plainly indicated, that the fear of the Lord' is the sum and substance of that morally excellent character, which is the object of the divine complacency.

It must, at the same time, be equally obvious to every