inany arguments, and taking, if we may thus fpeak, fo much pains to perfuade us to walk in it? For, take all the laws of God, whether written on hearts of flesh, or tables of stone, or on fofter leaves of evangelic paper, and caft them up-What is their amount? LOVE.Love is the bond of perfection. Love is the fulfilling of the law. He bath fhewed thee, O man! what is good, and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to love him, thy Parent God, with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.

AND as God has thus enjoined love, fo has he difpofed every thing in an order the most favourable to the production of it.

FOR who is this neighbour whom we are enjoined to love? Is he fome vile inferior creature whom it were hard, if not impoffible to love? No, he is, on the coutrary, a moft noble being, and defcended from the greatest family in

the

the universe. He is no lefs a perfonage, than a young prince, a fon of the Great King eternal, whom he is not only allowed but even commanded to call his father. If fome young nobleman cloathed in filks and broad-cloaths, fcented with rich perfumes, and richly equipaged, were to call at our houses, we fhould instantly be impreffed with fentiments of respect, and good will for him, and readily invite him to the hofpitalities of our tables. But what are filver and gold? what are filks and broad-cloths? what are fine horfes and fervants? in comparison of that immortal foul which this neighbour poffeffes, and those eternal beauties of. which his foul is capable? know, that he was made but a few degrees lower than the angels, and that God, the true judge of merit, has, on account of the rich excellencies of his nature, created this world, with all the goodly bright

nefs

ness of heaven, and all the coftly furniture of earth, to serve him.

"THOU madeft him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet."

HE poffeffes a foul capable of fo exceedingly great and eternal a weight of glory, that rather than he should be deprived of it forever by fin, God himself came down on earth to expiate it, and by his own moft perfect and amiable life and leffons, to allure him back to love heaven. God has adopted him as his fon, and made him a free denizen of his heavenly city; and has appointed his own glorious angels to wait on him, as on the heir of falvation and candidate for eternal glory. Can we then think it hard to love him whom God thus loves and thus delights to honor?

Bur if it be easy to love a person of eminent dignity and excellence, it becomes easier and pleasanter ftill to love

him, if he be a near kinfman and friend. Well, this is truly the cafe betwixt our neighbour and us. He is our near relation our brother-bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. God kindly raifed him up to be unto us as a companion and a help-mate, to lighten our burdens, to multiply our comforts, and, like dear children walking in love, to enjoy together the rich fruits of our mutual induftry, rejoicing in the present bounties of our common parent, and exulting in the hopes of better yet to come.

AND as if all thefe tender and endearing circumftances were not fufficient, God himself has put forth his hand, and touched our hearts with fentiments of good will towards each other.

THESE native fentiments of love, thefe dear remains of God's own image, originally stamped on our minds, appear very vifible in all, even in those unfortunates,

whose

whofe hard lot and corrupting companions have done much to stifle them.

TAKE you pooreft of men! who gleans precarious and feanty bread, by hard and humble toil. His four looks and crabbed manners give room to fuppect that he is a mifanthrope, an utter ftranger to natural affection; but the slightest experiment will foon discover what tender fympathies unite him to his kind.

You need not tell him of flourishing cities, with all their gay inhabitants, fwallowed up by the devouring fword, or ruthless flames, while mourning millions loaded with chains, are driven far from their native homes to make room for new mafters. No; fuch horrid tragedies are not neceffary to touch the fprings of his compaffion. Let him but hear the fong of Chevy Chafe, or the tender ballad of the Babes in the Wood; or carry him to the Theatre, and let