Romans, and thofe innumerable laws that have been: added fince; and you fhall not in any of them find any of thofe virtues that I have mentioned, condemned and forbidden. A clear evidence that mankind never took any exception against them, but are generally agreed about the goodness of them.

Fourthly, God hath fhewn us what is good by external revelation. In former ages of the world, God revealed his will to particular perfons in an extraor dinary manner, and more efpecially to the nation of the Jews, the reft of the world being in a great meafure left to the conduct of natural light. But in thefe latter ages he hath made publick revelation of his will by his Son. And this, as to the matter of our duty, is the fame in fubftance with the law of nature; for our Saviour comprehends all under thefe two general heads, the love of God, and of our neighbour. The Apostle reduceth all to three, fobriety, juftice, and piety; The grace of God that brings fal vation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lufts, we should live foberly, righteously and godly in this prefent world. So that if we believe the Apoftle, the gofpel teacheth us the very fame things which nature dictated to men before; only it hath made a more perfect difcovery of them. So that whatever was doubtful and obfcure before, is now certain and plain; the duties are ftill the fame, only it offers us more powerful arguments, and a greater affiftance to the performance of those duties; fo that we may now much better fay, than the Prophet could in his days, He hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good; and what it is that the Lord requires of thee.

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Fifthly and lastly, God fhews us what is good, by the motions of his Spirit upon the minds of men. This the fcripture affures us of, and good men have experience more efpecially of it; though it be hard to give an account of it, and to fay what motions are from the Spirit of God, and what from our own minds; for as the wind blows where it lifteth, and we hear the found of it, but know not whence it comes, nor whither it goes; fo are the operations of the Spi

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rit of God upon the minds of men, fecret and imperceptible.

And thus I have done with the three things I propounded to speak to. All that now remains, is to make fome inferences from what hath been said, by way of application.

First, Seeing God hath fo abundantly provided that we fhould know our duty, we are altogether inexcufable, if we do not do it. Because he hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of thee; therefore thou art inexcufable, Oman, whofoever thou art, who liveft in a contradiction to this light. God hath acquainted us with our duty, by fuch ways as may moft effectually both direct and engage us to the practice of it; we are prompted to it by a kind of natural instinct, and strong impreffions upon our minds of the difference of good and evil; we are led to the knowledge, and urged to the practice of it, by our nature, and by our reafon, and by our intereft, and by that which is commonly very prevalent among men, the general voice and confent of mankind; and by the most powerful and governing paffions in human nature, by hope, and by fear, and by fhame; by the profpect of advantage, by the apprehenfion of danger, and by the fenfe of honour, and to take away all poffible excufe of ignorance from us, by an express revelation from God, the clearest and most perfect that ever.. was made to the world. So that whenever we do contrary to our duty, in any of thefe great inftances, we offend against all these, and do in the higheft degree fall under the heavy fentence of our Sa- } viour, this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.

Secondly, You fee hence what are the great duties of religion, which God mainly requires of us, and how reasonable they are; piety towards God, and juftice and charity towards men; the knowledge whereof is planted in our nature, and grows up with our reason. And thefe are things which are unqueftionably good, and against which we can have no

exception; things that were never reproved, nor found fault with by mankind, neither our nature nor our reafon rifeth up against them, or dictates any thing to the contrary. We have all the obligation, and we have all the encouragement to them, and are fecure on all hands in the practice of them. In the doing of these things, there is no danger to us from the laws of men, no fear of difpleafure from God, no offence or fting from our own minds.

And these things, which are fo agreeable to our nature, and our reason, and our intereft, are the great things which our religion requires of us, more valuable in themselves, and more acceptable to God, than whole burnt offerings and facrifices, more than thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil; more than if we offered to him all the beasts of the forreft, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. We are not to neglect any inftitution of God; but above all, we are to fecure the obfervance of thofe great duties to which we are directed by our very nature, and tied by the fureft and moft facred of all other laws, thofe which God hath riveted in our fouls, and written upon our hearts; and that mankind might have no pretence left to excufel them from thofe, thes Chriftian religion hath fet us free from thofe many pofitive and outward obfervances, that the Jewish religion was incumbered withal; that we might be wholly intent upon thefe great duties, and mind nothing in comparison of the real and substantial virtues of a good life.

Thirdly, You fee, in the last place, what is the best way to appeafe the difpleasure of God towards a finful nation. God feems to have as great a controverfy with us, as he had with the people of Ifrael, and his wrath is of late years moft vifibly gone outagainst us; and proportionably to the full measure of our fins, it hath been poured out upon us in full vials. How have the judgments of God followed us? And how clofe have they followed one another? What fearful calamities have our eyes feen enough to make the ears of every one that hears them to tingle. What terrible and hazardous wars have we been en gaged

gaged in? What a raging peftilence did God fend among us, that fwept away thousands, and ten thoufands in our ftreets? What a dreadful and fatal fire, that was not to be checked and refifted in its course, till it had laid in afhes one of the greatest and richest cities in the world? What unfeasonable weather have we had of late as if for the wickedness of men upon the earth, the very ordinances of heaven were changed, and fummer and winter, feed-time and harveft, had forgotten their appointed feafons. And which is more and fadder than all this, what dangerous attempts have been made upon our religion, by the reftlefs adverfaries of it?

And now furely, after all this is come upon us for our fins, it is time for us to look up to him that fmites us, and to think of taking up this quarrel. It is time to enquire as they do in the text, wherewith fhall we come before the Lord, and bow ourselves before the high God? And we are apt to take the fame courfe they did, to endeavour to appeafe God by fome external devotion. We have now betaken ourselves to prayer and fafting, and it was very fit, nay neceffary we should do fo; but let us not think this is all God expects from us. Thefe are but a means to a further end, to oblige us for the future to the practice of a good life. The outward profeffion of religion is not loft among us, there appears ftill in men a great and commendable zeal for the reformed religi on, and there hath been too much occafion for it but that which God chiefly expects from us, is reformed lives. Piety and virtue are in a great meafure gone from among us, the manners of men are ftrangely corrupted, the great and weighty things of the law are neglected, justice and mercy, temperance and chastity, truth and fidelity; fo that we may take up David's complaint, Help Lord! for the righteous man ceafeth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

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And till the nation be brought back to a fober fense of religion, from an airy and fantastical piety, to real and unaffected devotion, and from a factious contention about things indifferent, to the feri

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ous practice of what is neceffary; from our violent hates and animofities, to a more peaceable temper, and by a mutual condefcenfion on all fides, to a nearer and stronger union among ourselves, till we recover in fome measure our ancient virtue and integrity of manners, we have reason to fear, that God will fill have a controverfy with us, notwithstanding all our noife and zeal about religion.

This is the true, this is the only course to appease the indignation of God, and to draw down his favour and bleffing upon a poor distracted and gafping nation. He hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

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I have but one word more, and that is to put you prefently upon the practice of one of these duties that I have been perfuading you to, and that is mercy, and alms to the poor. If what I have already faid, have had its effect upon you, I need not ufe aother arguments; if it have not, I have hardly the heart to ufe any. I fhall only put you in mind again, that God values this above all our external devotion, he will have mercy rather than facrifice; that this is the way to find mercy with God, and to have our prayers fpeed in heaven; and without this, all our fafting and humiliation fignifies nothing. And to this purpofe. I will only read to you thofe plain and perfuafive words of the prophet, which do fo fully declare unto us the whole duty of this day, and particularly urge us to this of charity, Ifa. lviii. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Is it fuch a faft that I have chosen ? a day for a man to afflict his foul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread fackcloth and afbes under him? Wilt thou call this a faft, and an acceptable day unto the Lord? Is not this the faft that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppreffed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are caft out to thy house? when thou feeft the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide

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