brought him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and fhewed to him the way of under, ftanding? What wouldft, what can't thou do, o man, to make the fupremely perfect still more perfect, him who is alone and unalterably happy, ftill more happy? What wouldft, what canft thou give him, that is not his, that he did not first give thee? Is not every beast of the foreft, are not the fowls of the mountains, and the cattle upon a thoufand hills, whence thou mightest be induced to bring him an offering, already his? Is not the earth, are. not all the fruits which it produces and treasure it contains, his? Of whom does he need any thing, the All-fufficient? Dwells he, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, in temples made with hands? Does he, who gave to all men life and breath and everything, want the fervice and the attendance of man? And can a man, as it is faid in the book of Job, be profitable unto God, as he that is wife may be profitable unto himself? Is it any gain to the Almighty, that thou art righteous, that thou makeft thy ways perfect? If thou finneft, what doft thou against him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? What receiveth he therefrom at thy hand?

Not lefs certain however is it, my pious hearers, that to worship God and pay him due fervice, does not imply, cannot merely confift in, what is fo called in. regard to the great and powerful of the earth. Thefe

we

we are wont to approach with apparent reverence and devotion, bow ourselves before them, or in their prefence fall proftrate to the ground, extol their grandeur, their authority, their wisdom, their bounty, flatter their darling propenfities and paffions, praise their real or fuppofed merits, fhew them outward marks of fubmiffion and of zeal for their interests, esteem ourselves, in appearance at least, honoured by their commands, cheered by their gracious fmiles, rewarded by their obliging words, promise them obedience and fidelity, commend ourfelves to their patronage and their graces; and afterwards commonly do juft what either we are abfolutely forced to do, or what we can do without much trouble or inconvenience, without caring any farther about their defires, the promotion of their views, their perfonal interefts or thofe of their dependants, without being governed or restrained by anything of all this in the rest of our ordinary carriage. With fuch fervice muft indeed the gods of the earth in general be content, for the intrinfic, the remote, what enfues in their abfence, is for the most part concealed from them, is fometimes. even indifferent to them. In the mean time these marks of honour flatter their pride, cause them to feel their fuperiority over their fellow-creatures, and remind them of the various means and implements they have at command for procuring actual fervices, for following their inclinations, executing their projects, and causing their orders to be obeyed.

9

But

But the God of heaven, the Omniscient, the Om niprefent, the trier of the heart and the reins, who fees in fecret, to whom the night is as light as the day, fhould, can, will he be fatisfied with this? Can and will he fuffer himself to be impofed upon, as we impofe upon one another? Is that forfooth the worshiping, is that the ferving of God, the ferving of God in fpirit and in truth, o man, if at stated times thou appearest in his temple, if thou there humbleft thyself before him, who dwelleth in hea ven, and filleth all with his prefence, if thou there repeat certain forms of prayer, chant certain hymns of praise, observe certain rites, attend certain folemnities, and then in all the rest of thy life, at other times and other places, but feldom thinkest on him, but feldom concernest thyself about his will and governest thyself by it, but feldom endeavoureft to please him, but feldom doft that which he commands thee to do, but feldom ftriveft to promote his designs on earth? Is this indeed to glorify God with our body and with our foul? Is this to confecrate our whole life to him? Is this to do all, whatever we do, to the honour and glory of God? - Certainly God requires of thee that public homage, thofe outward tokens of thy devout feelings and difpofitions, yet not on his account, but for thy own fake and that of thy brethren, not as an end, but as means to higher ends, not as the effentials of his worship and his fervice, but as direction and excitement and impulfe to it.

No,

No, my pious hearers, to worship God, implies, to have a deep fenfe of who God is, and in what

relations we stand towards him, to keep this fenfe always lively and active, and conftantly to think, speak and act in conformity with it. Therefore, to be fenfible how far God is exalted above us, how entirely we depend on him, and what unlimited. obedience, what complete fubmiffion we owe him; to be fenfible that God is our creator, our father, our fovereign, our judge, and to behave in fuch manner towards him, as becomes his creatures, his children, his fubjects; to be fenfible that God is omniscient, omniprefent, confummately wife and of great kindness, and therefore conftantly to walk before his face, to live under a due fenfe of his prefence, to dread everywhere and at all times the commiffion of any evil before his all-piercing eyes, or to omit any good, to acknowledge his unerring wisdom in all his ordinances and injunctions, to be: fatisfied with both the one and the other without referve and contradiction, and always with cheerful confidence to truft in his mercy. To ferve God, implies, to intend good and to do good, in every predicament to intend the best and to do the best, and to intend and do this from a principle of love and obedience to God; it implies to fulfil our duty, and readily and willingly and therefore to fulfil it, because God has impofed it on us; it implies, to promote as much as poffible order, truth, virtue, happiness in ourselves and among mankind, to contribute

I

tribute our due proportion to the beauty and perfec tion of the whole, to the general interests of the kingdom of God, and thus to think and act agree ably to his defigns. This is to worship God in spirit and in truth, and to pay him a reasonable, an acceptable fervice. Whoever feels and acts thus, whoever is thus difpofed and thus lives, his whole life is one continued act of worship, one uninterrupted fervice of God. We will illuftrate the fubject by a clofer application of it to a few particulars of our conduct.

―

I therefore ferve God, I worship him by labouring at my own improvement and perfection, by afferting the dignity of my rational nature, and by fo regulating my thoughts and life as befits a creature that is fo far exalted above the beasts of the field, that is of divine extraction. I have, (thus flow my thoughts on fuch occafions,) I have capacities and powers of various kinds, and of fuperior excellence. These I did not confer upon myfelf, they are God's, originate from him, and are by him preferved. My body and my foul are his property, and both fhould glorify him, their creator and preferver. He bestowed them both upon me for the furtherance of my own happiness and that of all my fpecies. It cannot therefore poflibly be of equal import to him, whether I enervate and destroy my body and my foul by folly and vice, or by wisdom and virtue preferve and perfect them; whether I make a good or ill ufe of my capacities and powers

whether