SER M. arifeth pleasure and pain; and this naturalXIV. ly leadeth us to the prefaging expectations

of the divine judgment, according to the judgment we pafs upon ourselves; we cannot help concluding that thus God speaketh to us, and maketh known his pleasure; that in acting and judging according to the plain unalterable dictates of our nature and reason, we please him, and in counteracting them we rebel against his will, which he disapproveth. The original ideas of morality, which we find in our own minds, it is not in our power to change; nor can we think otherwise, than that they are agreeable to the fentiments of all other moral agents; it is by them we form our notions of the divine moral attributes, only removing from our idea of God the imperfections we find in ourselves; and, therefore, we muft judge that what we neceffarily approve upon a calm and deliberate reflection, he will approve; and what we condemn, he will condemn also. And,

Laftly, Let it be obferved, that the judgment of God is of a very peculiar kind, altogether unparallelled in human judicature; for reafon teacheth, and the fcripture very expreffly, that not only external actions will come under its cognizance, nor will it

pro

ceed

ceed only according to external evidence, SER M. but that it reacheth to the most private and XIV. latent fprings of action, and the inward affections and difpofitions of the mind, undifcernable by any human, or, indeed, any created eye, and known only to the fearcher of hearts, and to the spirit of a man which is within him. Every work, and every fecret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, fhall be brought before the divine tribunal; and when the Lord cometh, he will bring to light the hidden things of darknefs, and make manifeft the counfels of the beart; and then every man shall have that praise, that due estimate put upon him and his works, which is according to truth. It followeth that the mind itself, being the principal scene wherein the works to be tried were tranfacted, the equity of the fentence to be pronounced on men will be manifeft to themselves, which it cannot be unlefs their confcience witneffeth the fincerity or infincerity of their works upon which the fentence is founded; and not only that it giveth this teftimony at the time of judgment, but that it judged the fame way when the works were done; at least, would have judged the fame way but for its own fault, that is, its inattention and prejudices; for without

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SERM. without this it feemeth utterly inconceiv XIV. able, that the heart can justify God. Upon the whole, then, it appeareth that if the heart, conscious of its own inclinations, purpofes, and actions, condemneth itself, it is the fureft evidence we can have of God's condemning; and if the heart divested of prejudice, not confcious of the prevailing love of darkness and evil deeds, and careful in its inquiry, doth not condemn, it is the greatest certainty we can attain to of the divine approbation.

I proceed now to draw fome useful inferences from what hath been faid. First, it is a dangerous mistake to place the hope of men's acceptance with God, not upon the goodness of their affections, and the integrity of their hearts, but upon the truth of their opinions, and the rectitude of their external actions in themselves, and abstractly confidered. It is the former of these which is the proper object of the mind's teftimony and judgment concerning itself, not the latter, of which we have not in many cafes a fufficient certainty. Upon a review of what paffeth in our minds, our inclinations, defigns, our motives of action, and our whole conduct, they who are impartially fo difpofed, can well diftinguish between what is right

2

any

right and wrong in a moral fenfe, that is, SER M. between fincerity and infincerity; and as XIV. fincerity is the thing we moft approve, and the very best which we can call our own, it must appear to us equitable, that by it, or the contrary, we should be justified or condemned: But by the mere knowledge of truth and right, no man can affure his heart before God; it doth not give him satisfaction in himself, as integrity doth, nor confidence towards God; fo far from it, that our knowledge of the will of God, if it hath not a proper influence in forming the. temper of our minds, and directing our behaviour, will aggravate our guilt, and render us the more obnoxious to his displeasure. Thus the apostle James faith to some who valued themselves upon the foundness of their belief, as that which would recommend to the favour of God, chap. ii. 19. Thou believeth there is one God, thou doft well; fo far it is right, but utterly infufficient to establish any hope of acceptance upon, for this plain reafon, the devils alfo believe and tremble. Thofe creatures who, above all others, are irrecoverably loft to goodness and to hope, being reserved in chains unto the last judgment, they believe rightly concerning that great article of religion,

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SERM. gion, the unity of God, and other articles XIV. likewife, for probably they have a more extenfive knowledge than any of mankind; but what is the effect of their knowledge and their faith? inftead of giving them confidence towards God, it maketh them tremble under the apprehenfions of his wrath; and fo, in proportion, it must do in all minds which detain the truth in unrighte oufnefs.

Shall it be said that the principles of religion which God hath manifested, whether by the light of nature or pofitive revelation, with a clearness fufficient to render ignorance inexcufable, and his laws injoining our duty, have a precife determined meaning, how then can we be accepted with him, if we come fhort of that meaning, either in our belief or our practice; if our fentiments are not conformable to the truth which he hath declared, and if we do not really and effectually fulfil the true intent of his law, by doing the very actions it requireth? I anfwer, this reafoning is founded on a mistake concerning the nature of the obligations which God hath laid us under as reasonable creatures; which obligations do not immediately terminate in the affent of our undertandings, not properly fubject to a law,

nor