First, confider thofe feveral duties which GOD SERM. here requires of us, and upon the performance of which he will be pacified towards us.

Secondly, by what ways and means God hath discovered thefe duties to us, and the goodness of them; "he hath fhewed thee, O man, what is "good, &c."

I. We will briefly confider the feveral duties which GOD here requires of us, and upon the performance of which he will be pacified towards us; What "doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, "and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy " GOD?"

It was ufual among the Jews to reduce all the duties of religion to these three heads, juftice, mercy, and piety; under the first two, comprehending the duties which we owe to one another, and under the third, the duties which we owe to God.

1. Juftice. And I was going to tell you what it is, but I confidered that every man knows it, as well. as any definition can explain it to him. I fhall only put you in mind of fome of the principal Inftances of it, and the feveral virtues comprehended under it. And,

First, juftice is concerned in the making of laws; that they be fuch as are equal and reasonable, useful and beneficial, for the honour of GoD and religion, and for the publick good of human fociety; this is a great truft, in the discharge of which, if men be: biaffed by favour or intereft, and drawn aside from the confideration and regard of the publick good, it is a far greater crime and of worse confequence than any private act of injuftice between man and

man.

And

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SERM. And then, juftice is alfo concerned in the due execution of laws; which are the guard of private property, the security of publick peace, and of religion and good manners. And,

Laftly, in the obfervance of laws and obedience to them; which is a debt that every man owes to human fociety.

But more especially justice is concerned in the obfervance of thofe laws, whether of GoD or man, which refpect the rights of men, and their mutual commerce and intercourfe with one another. That we use honesty and integrity in all our dealings, in oppofition to fraud and deceit; truth and fidelity, in oppofition to falfhood and breach of truft; equity and good confcience, in oppofition to all kind of oppreffion and exaction. These are the principal branches, and inftances of this great and comprehenfive duty of juftice; the violation whereof is fo much the greater fin, because this virtue is the firmeft bond of human fociety, upon the obfervation whereof, the peace and happinefs of mankind does fo much depend.

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2. Mercy, which does not only fignify the inward affection of pity and compaffion towards thofe that are in mifery and neceffity, but the effects of it, in the actual relief of thofe whofe condition calls for our charitable help and affiftance; by feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked, and visiting the fick, and vindicating the oppreffed, and comforting the afflicted, and miniftring eafe and relief to them if it be in our power. And this is a very lovely virtue, and argues more goodness in men than mere justice doth. For juftice is a strict debt; but mercy is

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favour

"

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favour and kindnefs. And this perhaps may be the S ERM. reason of the different expreffions in the text, that when God barely commands us " to do justly," he requires we should "love mercy," that is, take a particular pleasure and delight in the exercise of this virtue, which is fo proper and agreeable to mankind, that we commonly call it humanity, giving it its name from our very nature. In fhort, it is fo excellent a virtue, that I fhould be very forry that any religion fhould be able to pretend to the practice of it more than our own.

3. Piety; to walk humbly with thy God." "To walk humbly in the fear of the LORD;" fo the Chaldee paraphrase renders these words. And this phrase may comprehend all those acts of religion which refer immediately to GOD; a firm belief of his being and perfections; an awful sense of him, as the dread fovereign and righteous judge of the world; a due regard to his fervice, and a reverent behaviour of ourselves towards him in all acts of worship and religion, in oppofition to atheism and a prophane neglect and contempt of GoD and religion; a new and monftrous kind of impiety! which of late years hath broke in upon us, and got head among us, not only contrary to the example of former ages, but in despite of the very genius and temper of the nation, which is naturally devout and zealous in religion.

Or elfe this phrafe" of walking humbly with "GOD," may refer more particularly to the posture and condition of the people of Ifrael at that time, who were fallen under the heavy displeasure of GoD for their fins. And then the duty required is, that VOL. VI. being

U

SERM. being fenfible how highly God hath been offended |
CII. by us, by the general corruption and vitiousness of

the
age, which like a leprofy hath spread itself almost
over the whole body of the nation, and by that open
lewdness and those infolent impieties which are daily
committed amongst us; I say, that being deeply fen-
fible of this, we do with all humility acknowledge
our fins to God, and repent of them, and implore
his mercy and forgiveness, and refolve by his grace
"to turn every one from the evil of our ways," and
from "the wickedness that is in our hands;" which
God grant we may every one do* this day, accord-
ing to the pious defign and intention of it. And if
we be fincere in this refolution, "who can tell but
"GOD will turn and repent, and turn away his anger
"from us, that we perifh not." Nay, we have great
reason to believe, that he will be pacified towards us.
So he hath declared, Ifa. i. 16. "Wash ye, make

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you clean, put away the evil of your doings from "before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do "well, feek judgment, relieve the oppreffed, judge "the fatherless, plead for the widow; come now, "and let us reafon together, faith the LORD; though

your fins be as fcarlet, they fhall be as white as "fnow; though they be red like crimson, they fhall "be as wool." But if we continue unreformed, GoD will fay to us, as he does there to the people of Ifrael," to what purpose is the multitude of your fa“crifices unto me? your calling of affemblies I can"not away with, it is iniquity, even the folemn meeting; and when ye spread forth your hands, I will "hide mine eyes from you; when ye make many To which let me add

ઃઃ

prayers,

I will not hear."

This fermon was preached upon occafion of a publick faft.

that

pur

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that excellent faying of the fon of Sirach to this SERM. pose, Ecclus. xxxiv. 25, 26. " He that wafheth "himself after the touching of a dead body, if he "touch it again, what availeth his washing? fo is it "with a man that fafteth for his fins, and goeth "again and doth the fame things. Who will hear "his prayer, or what doth his humbling profit him?" II. Let us coníider by what ways and means GOD hath made known thefe duties to us, and the goodnefs and the obligation of them. "He hath fhewed, "thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the "LORD require of thee?" I fhall mention five ways whereby God hath discovered this to us.

By a kind of natural instinct.

2. By natural reason.

3. By the general vote and confent of mankind. 4. By external revelation.

5. By the inward dictates and motions of God's SPIRIT upon the minds of men.

First, by a kind of natural instinct, by which I mean a fecret impreffion upon the minds of men, whereby they are naturally carried to approve fome things as good and fit, and to dislike other things, as having a native evil and deformity in them. And this I call" a natural instinct," because it does not seem to proceed fo much from the exercise of our reafon, as from a natural propenfion and inclination, like thofe instincts which are in, brute creatures, of natural affection and care toward their young ones. And that these inclinations are precedent to all reafon and discourse about them, evidently appears by this, that they do put forth themselves every whit as vigorously in young perfons, as in those of riper