or the want of it. And this intitles the S ERM. Precept, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as XII. thy felf to the Pre-eminence given to it; and is a Juftification of the Apostle's Affertion, that all other Commandments are comprehended in it; whatever Cautions and Restrictions there are, which might require For Inftance: As we are not competent Judges, what is upon the whole for the Good of the World; there may be other immediate Ends appointed us to pursue, besides that one of doing Good, or producing Happiness. Though the Good of the Creation be the only End of the Author of it, yet he may have laid us under particular Obligations, which we may dif cern and feel ourselves under, quite diftinct from a Perception, that the Obfervance or Violation of them is for the Happiness or Mifery of our Fellow-creatures. And this is in Fact the Cafe. For there are certain Difpofitions of Mind, and certain Actions, which are in themselves approved or disap proved by Mankind, abstracted from the Confideration of their Tendency to the Happiness or Mifery of the World; approved or disapproved by Reflection, by that Principle within, which is the Guide of Life, the Judge of Right and Wrong Numberless Inftances of this Kind might be mentioned. There are Pieces of Treachery, which in themselves appear base and detestable to every one. There are Actions, which perhaps can scarce have any other general Name given them than Indecencies, which yet are odious and fhocking to Humane Nature. There is fuch a thing as Meanness, a little Mind; which, as it is quite diftin&t from Incapacity, fo it raises a Diflike and Difapprobation quite different from that Contempt, which Men are too apt to have, of meer Folly. On the other Hand; what we call Greatness of Mind, is the Ob ject of another Sort of Approbation, than fuperiour Underftanding. Fidelity, Honour, ftrict Justice, are themselves approved in the highest Degree, abftrated from the Confidemtion SERM. require to be confidered, if we were to XII. ftate particularly and at length, what is Virtue and right Behaviour in Mankind. But, Secondly, IT might be added, that in a higher and more general Way of Confideration, leaving out the particular Nature of Creatures, and the particular Circumstances in which they are placed, Benevolence feems in the ftricteft Senfe to include in it all that is Good and Worthy; all that is Good, which we have any diftinct particular Notion of. We have no clear Conception of any pofitive moral Attribute in the fupream Being, but what may be refolved up into Goodnefs. And, if we confider a reasonable Creature or moral Agent, without Regard to the particular Relations and Circumftances in which he is placed; we cannot conceive any thing elfe to come in towards determining of their Tendency. Now, whether it be thought that each of these are connected with Benevolence in Our Nature, and to may be confidered as the fame thing with it; or whether fome of them be thought an inferiour Kind of Virtues and Vices, fomewhat like natural Beauties and Deformities; or laftly, plain Exceptions to the general Rule; thus much however is certain, that the things now inftanced in, and numberless others, are approved or difapproved by Mankind in general, in quire another View than as conducive to the Happiness or Mifer, of the World. determining whether he is to be ranked in an SER M. higher or lower Clafs of virtuous Beings, XII. but the higher or lower Degree in which that Principle, and what is manifeftly connected with it, prevail in him. THAT which we more strictly call Piety, or the Love of God, and which is an essential Part of a right Temper, fome may perhaps imagine no Way connected with Benevolence: Yet furely they must be connected, if there be indeed in Being an Object infinitely Good. Humane Nature is fo conftituted, that every good Affection implies the Love of itself; i. e. becomes the Object of a new Affection in the fame Perfon. Thus, to be righteous implies in it the Love of Righteousness; to be benevolent the Love of Benevolence; to be good the Love of Goodness; whether this Righteousness, Benevolence, or Goodness, be viewed as in our own Mind, or in another's: And the Love of God as a Being perfectly Good, is the Love of perfect Goodness contemplated in a Being or Perfon. Thus Morality and Religion, Virtue and Piety, will at laft neceffarily coincide, run up into one and the fame Point, and Love will be in all Senfes the End of the Commandment. ! SERM. O Almighty God, inspire us with this divine Principle; kill in us all the Seeds of Envy and Ill-will; and help us, by cultivating within ourselves the Love of our Neighbour, to improve in the Love of Thee. Thou haft placed us in various Kindreds, FriendShips, and Relations, as the School of Difcipline for our Affections: Help us, by the due Exercife of them, to improve to Perfection; till all partial Affection be loft in that intire univerfal one, and Thou, O God, falt be all in all. SERMON SERMON XIII, XIV. Upon the Love of GOD. MATTH. Xxii. 37: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy Mind. E VERY Body knows, you therefore SERM. need only just be put in Mind, that XIII. there is fuch a Thing, as having fo great Horror of one Extream, as to run infenfibly and of Course into the contrary; and that a Doctrine's having been a Shelter for Enthusiasm, or made to ferve the Purpofes of Superftition, is no Proof of the Falfity of it: Truth or Right being fomewhat real in itself, and so not to be judged of by its Liableness $ 3 |