precepts; like David's, we may presume, when he sang, "My heart is fixed." "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, and give praise" (Ps. lvii. 8)! And again, " I will magnify thee, O God, my King; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I give thanks unto thee; and praise thy name for ever and ever" (Ibid. cxlv. 1, 2).

Therefore, valuing conscience as one of our highest intellectual endowments, we pray for its continuance as we would pray for the continuance of our intellects, and not only for its continuance, but improvement. For the sake of thy beloved Son and co-existing Word, give us, O God, a conscience; and give us a good one! Perpetuate thy fear in us: perpetuate in us the fear that leads to peace and salvation: not too mighty for its frail associates, nor yet too feeble for the opposition!

§4. So prepared we may be in a capacity to perceive the more general and with respect to its object more intimate sort of godliness here termed Devotion, or the Love of God: being a characteristic of that extent, as to stand sometimes, like faith, for the whole genus; and so essential, as to have received the testimony of the law, with a gospel confirmation, of its being the first and great commandment, (Matt. xxii. 38,) that is, the first of those two grand divisions on which hang all the law and the prophets (Ib. 40).

No inconsiderable degree of labour has been also be stowed on the subject of these two great commandments or divisions of righteousness by other authorities as well as by the Law and the prophets; by the sages of antiquity and of all nations, as well as by the legislators and philosophers of those days, and by the later divines of Christendom: but it may not have occurred to many even of the last mentioned class, to remark the agreement or rather unity which the two said commandments or divisions, have with each other, and only an accidental difference between them proceeding from the relation of their ultimate object. For all the principal objects of our love or regard are only

three in number; being first ourselves, and next our neighbour, and ultimately God, the crown of each: whereupon the characteristic may differ, so as to form species by the number and choice of its objects from among these three: for example, with the first only it would be selfish love; with the second, weakness; with the third, ultra human, or seraphic: with the first and second object it is just, lawful, or moral; being of that sort which St. Paul recommends when he says, "Owe no man any thing but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" (Rom. xiii. 8): with the first and third only, if such a combination were possible, it would not be accepted. "For (as St. John says) he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, THAT HE WHO LOVETH GOD LOVE HIS BROTHER ALSO" (John I. iv. 20, 21). The love of God, therefore, to be perfect, must now respect all three of these objects, namely God, our neighbour, and ourselves.

Such is the love of God which Christian modes uphold and recommend; always referring the love of God to the benefit of his creatures, and especially of two parties, the author and receiver of such benefit, "that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together" (John iv. 36); and making it then very lawful and becoming to love ourselves, if it be not even praiseworthy with such a preference, because we shall deserve it. And, as love without a special object will be both halt and blind however high its pretensions, that we may be prepared for the love of God in this respect, He has also given us a living pattern of Himself, "Christ, who is the image of God" (Cor. II. ́iv. 4), as an instance of goodness to excite, and an object of sensation to define or embody our love; but for which it must be in this case as airy and insubstantial as any sentiment can ever be without an object. Thus it was said of that living image and his archetype, "no man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the

bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him" (John i. 18) -literally "brought Him out," which made him also tell Philip "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father" (Ib. xiv. 9). It is not that the property of Love cannot exist without an object, but that it must otherwise be latent and inefficient, that a clear and sensible object is required even for the love of God.

Supposing moreover love efficient, there will still be degrees of intenseness or efficiency belonging to it; which begin with liking and ascend to devotion. Devotion being the highest degree of love, is that which we assign as properly the love of God, the same being also perfect in its kind as well as highest in degree: which it is, not only as including all the objects before mentioned, but also for its universality; being the only sort of love that can apply to its ultimate object, whatever that may be, most intimately and entirely without any alloy or modification, which is its greatest peculiarity. For all true love is of that sort which attaches most intimately and entirely to the beloved object; as more to a man's person, than to his fortune or circumstances, and more to his mind than his person. If therefore a man were all mind, as they say, we could love him more intimately than a man of the earth, as well as with more consent in thinking and doing, which is said to be the firmest friendship or love: and if the man should live so long too, we might love him in this degree all the days of our life. But God being all mind or most intellectual, as well as all life or eternal, we may love him longer than our present life without any IFS, or exceptions, and as long as we live, if we should live for ever. And if self be admitted with our neighbour into the love of God, it is almost imperceptibly, and the more so the better. It were romantic in this age of the world, to think of exchanging or laying aside our self-love entirely for any other sort; but there may have been a time perhaps when it was more moderate than at present, and self not the less amiable. Our first parents were most probably what the apostle would

have men still to be, and what they might be too as well as they, were they equally innocent-" FOLLOWERS OF GOD, AS DEAR CHILDREN" (Eph. v. 1): who passed their time most delightfully, "walking in love" (Ib. 2), before they had learned to distinguish between good and evil. But the beginning of knowledge was the downfall of love; and by the time that our first parents were come to know what was good for themselves they had well nigh lost the best thing belonging to them, that frank dependence and unsuspecting love which they formerly reposed in God, their parent and protector.

Thus it appears evidently, how the human heart was corrupted by knowledge. And we need not a stronger evidence, to send the conviction of his innate depravity home to any one, than the difficulty that he must now feel in himself of loving and esteeming the adorable image of God-not to say, so much as he ought but so much as he loves his own vile self: and this, notwithstanding the unquestionable proofs of divine wisdom and goodness presenting themselves continually on all sides! Indeed it is not only self, but nearly all the world that seems to step in between God and us: that is to say, not its various inhabitants altogether, whom God loves more than they love him, or each other," For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be→ lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. 16): but it is the depraved way of the world, suiting better than he a depraved appetite, that steps in between God and us. And hence it happens, that the best of us can pretend to no more than a divided affection, a loving of God by halves, as we also believe; being half his and half the world's, like the amphibious creatures, snakes, toads, newts and others, which addict themselves equally to land and water, and which nature therefore seems to have clothed with horror and disgust, as if on purpose to shew by comparison THE DEFORMITY OF A

DOUBLE MIND.

On the other hand, there is a natural idea of beauty or loveliness in the singleness and simplicity of every sort of subject, but more especially in that of an heart so devoted to God, his word, and commandments. For God, as lately observed, being all mind, of which these commandments are a part, we cannot love Him entirely without loving them; nor love these either, without experience; nor enjoy such experience without owning and adoring the authority by which they were framed. It is idle, to pretend to know him without such experience; as our Saviour told the Jews, "Ye say, that he is your God: yet ye have not known Him; but I know Him: and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know Him, and keep his saying” (John viii. 55); and again, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God" (Ib. vii. 17). It had also been similarly said, by the Psalmist, "As for me, I will behold thy presence in righteousness" (Ps. xvii. 16): and so it will be said by every enlightened Christian and true lover of God, when he feels any godly motions in himself, instead of congratulating, or priding himself upon them. For he knows what it is that he enjoys. The perception of God's presence is delightful to him: the feeling of his Holy Spirit, most comfortable: and well may he be anxious about retaining such an inestimable treasure, such an unspeakable gift” (Cor. II. ix. 15).

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To mistake the "fulness of joy" for their own sweetness, as some will at the first sip, is both simple and unjust. The experienced lover will delight in God only, and in his commandments. If he perceive in his own conduct a ready obedience to these, it will not be his obedience that satisfies him; but its principle, love kindling love, God's love kindling his love of God. Such is the evidence of our love towards God and Christ, both given and required by Him. "Hereafter I will not talk much with you (said he to his disciples): but THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT I LOVE THE FATHER, AS THE FATHER