above all others, because of abfolute purity, SER M. and because it is univerfal.

There is no darkness nor fhadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves from God. His eye pierces into the deepest solitude, and fees the fecrets of all hearts; and there is no kind of moral turpitude which is not odious to him. He is partial to no corruptions, nor can the least offence against perfect rectitude meet with his approbation, any more than it can escape his notice. The most ingenuous and the most pious minds are senfible of this; they feel an inward shame, remembring their finful imperfections and failures, which none know but God and their own hearts.

Lastly, the moral perfection of the Deity is the great pattern which we ought to imitate. This is the application which the sacred writers always direct us to make of it, and the principal view with which they infist on that important doctrine. They do not teach us that God is Holy, merely as a point of speculation, nor only to attract our esteem and veneration to him; but chiefly that we should follow his example, and be holy in all manner of converfation, as he is holy. It must be acknowledged that the method they take is very rational, and the motive they infift on very

apt

I.

I.

SERM.apt to work on the human mind. For there seems to be naturally in mankind a proneness to imitation, which is fo ftrong a principle of action that it is exceeding difficult to refift it. Perhaps there is no one greater cause of corruption in morals fpreading fo univerfally, as it has been known to do in fome parts of the world, against the dictates of reafon and confcience, and against the cleareft religious inftructions, than that it has been recommended by fome great examples, whereby the sense of its turpitude gradually wears off, till at last it is thought honourable. Now if this difpofition to imitate be fo ftrong that by its influence example prevails, even contrary to the dictates of reafon and nature; what can have a greater tendency to ftrengthen virtuous affections, which our minds muft neceffarily approve, than to fet before them a perfect pattern of moral rectitude, the proper effect of which is to raise in them an ardent defire of refembling it, as far as their condition will allow? And this is the true dignity of the rational nature, which every one who partakes of it, will find an inward felf-applauding fatisfaction in afpiring to.

If we reflect on our own conftitution, (and 'tis very becoming fuch creatures as we are to do fo,) there appears a great diverfity in it.

One

One part of our nature has an affinity with the SER M. inferior kinds of living creatures: We have I. external fenfes like theirs, and appetites which determine us to things neceffary for the prefervation of the animal life, in the fame manner as they have. In fome of the brutal species there are remarkable difcoveries of reafoning, within a narrow sphere, and upon objects which fall within the perception of their fenfes. 'Tis religion and virtue which makes the distinction. There is no appearance at all which leads us to imagine that the lower kinds of animals have any fenfe, or capacity of moral obligations. Here, then, is the preeminence of man above the beasts. By the body, its senses and appetites, we are allied to them, and shall perish like them; but by the knowledge of God and religion, by conscience, by the devout and generous affections, and a sense of the dignity and excellence which is in them, we are related to fuperior orders of beings, and even to the fupreme. If this be fo, there needs little reasoning to fhew what is worthieft of a man: Whether to be like the beafts, and live as if we had nothing in our nature more noble than they; or to partake of a divine nature, and improve those powers and affections wherewith our minds. are indued, so as to resemble the perfections.

of

I.

SERM. of God. Let any man who has a juft value for his kind, and a fenfe of the true dignity of human nature, judge then, whether this does not lay him under an obligation to follow holinefs and virtue, which above all things enobles humanity, raising it to the fimilitude even of the highest perfection. No creature has, or can poffibly have, the leaft likeness to God in some of his natural attributes; but as his moral character appears to our minds infinitely amiable whenever we consider it, the сараcity of imitating it, is the distinguishing excellence of intelligent natures: The actual likenefs to it in virtuous difpofitions and practices, is their highest glory and felicity, and every step of their progrefs in it, is accompanied with high felf-enjoyment. Thus it is evident, that as wrong notions of the Deity, which have fometimes prevail'd among mankind, particularly relating to his moral perfections, have above all things tended to corrupt men's morals, and produced very fatal effects in the world; fo on the contrary, a just representation of him, as a Being perfectly pure and righteous, has the greatest force, as an example, to promote universal righteousness and goodness.

'Tis certain that the highest moral rectitude of any creature comes far fhort of the divine, effential,

effential, and original purity. The Lord God S ER M. Almighty and the King of faints only is holy; I. and the moral attainments of men in this imperfect state come short of what a created nature is capable of; they come fhort of innocence or finlefs perfection. Yet notwithstanding all the abatements which must be made, not only because of our natural imperfection as finite beings, but moral imperfection, having infirmities whereby we are betrayed into finful failures, there is a real tho' faint resemblance of the divine holiness, in the virtues of good men. And pursuant to the account which has been given of this perfection in the Deity, his image in men discovers itself by their hearty diflike of all moral turpitude wherever it is found, (whether in others or in themselves,) and their fincere hatred of every false way, even of vain thoughts. And because we are always in danger of being misled, thro' the frailty of nature and the influence of our lower appetites and paffions, therefore ought we always to employ ourselves in a careful vigilance, and in the exercife of a strict discipline over these fources of evil in ourfelves, afpiring to a greater freedom from their power. The mind that is formed to the imitation of God, habitually inclines to good; the remains of fin are its most grievous bur

den.