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to shew respect to them too, especially to thofe SER M. who represent him, and as his vicegerents rule over us. But furely it was never intended, that when we are to obey men for God's fake, we fhould regard him lefs; we fhould rather do it fo much the more on this very account.

In a word, love ought to be an ingredient in every act of obedience; even to human government, as I have faid before, as well as to that which is divine. What love is expreffed in that great canon of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift! Whatsoever ye would that men fhould do to you, do ye even fo to them; that is, you ought to judge the cafe thus: What would I wish to be done to me in fuch a man's circumftances? Would not I expect to be obeyed and reverenced, if I were a magiftrate? My love to my felf would incline me to expect it. Therefore my own love to myself, being the measure of that love which I owe to another, fhould oblige me to fhew the fame respect to him in his circumftances, that I would wifh to be fhewn to me in the like circumstances. But here is the iniquity of the cafe :' those whom we should honour and love in the Lord for his fake, men are apt to put the fupreme respect upon; which is to dethrone the fupreme Lord of all, and to fet up his creature in his place. And as to other perfons, who are not invefted with power and authority over us; how many are there of thofe, who will not wrong men, or do

Matth. vII. 12.

VOL. do them any injuftice? How many that are moft I. highly civil, and candid in their converfe with them, and ftrictly careful not to disoblige them by their behaviour? But who sticks at disobliging GOD, or makes a difficulty of disobeying him? Again,

ven them.

5. TOWARDS men there is a difpofition deeply to regret any offence we unwarily have giWhen we, though undefignedly, have done another an injury; if, for instance, we but cafually tread on his foot, or fome fuch like matter, we presently fay, "I am afraid I "have hurt you, I am forry for it." Common civility would oblige one to express such a regret. And if we by any rafh word or weak action have trefpaffed upon another, we are reckoned almost unfit for fociety, if we do not shew a sense of our having offended fuch person. Men that are not very ill-natured indeed, are apt to make apologies, and defire to be forgiven in cafes where they have offended through inadvertency. But how much is it otherwife with men towards GOD, who trespass upon him every day, and never cry to him for mercy! Who wear away their lives, from one month, year, and day, to another, in continual deviations from him, and rebellions against him, without its ever coming into their thoughts to fay, "LORD forgive me, "that I have lived fo long in the world, as it were, without thee! that I have carried it to "thee as if I owed thee no duty nor fervice! "LORD, I have offended, I defire to put an

"end

* end to this courfe, and to do fo no more." SER M. Finally,

6. A Love of converfe or delight in each other's company, is another expreffion of that regard which men have for one another. Man is naturally a fociable creature; and how few do you know, or ever have known, who do not affect company? Some few inftances there are of perfons, that are of a gloomy retired temper; but generally men feek to converse with one another, and take pleasure in it. But alas, how little do they care to converse with GOD! They had rather be any where, than in his prefence. Mahy, otherwise ingenious perfons, men of good difpofitions and of facetious tempers, who, as they delight in converse themselves, fo their converfation proves delightful to others; yet care not at what distance they keep themselves from GOD. How many, I fay, of fuch ingenious. perfons do we know; who yet neglect to pray to GOD take no pleafure in having any thing to do with him; take his holy name in vain; and set themselves at a distance from him, by their own evil practices? It may be they will come to the folemnities of publick worship for the fake of order, and to exprefs their refpect to others; fo that even in those things which are peculiarly appropriated to him, they fhew more refpect to men, than to GOD. And how fociable foever their temper is, one with another; yet with the Almighty they care not to converfe at all, but fay to him, Depart from us, for we defire not the VOL. I. knowledge

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C

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V.OL. knowledge of thy ways". From whence we may conclude, that to man in his prefent ftate, it is even natural to wifh the great GoD out of being. The fool bath faid in his heart there is no GOD. I would there were no Go D, my vote fhall go for it, that there were none; I could wifh him out of the universe *. But you never heard of fuch a monfter among men, as to wifh there was no man befide himfelf. You never heard of fuch a hater of mankind, as to wifh the whole human race into nothing.

Now all these things concur to evidence or prove to us, that GoD is much less beloved in the world, than men are by one another. And it must be allowed that the common practice of men fheweth their inclination. This is discovered by conftant experience and obfervation, and the very aspect of men's deportment doth reprefent this as the true ftate of things. And, as I obferved before, men may find something of it by the experience they have of themselves; even those who have applied themselves to the business of religion, seriously and in good earneft. They find they can prefently fet their love

P Job XXI. 14. 9 Pf. XIV. I.

on

אָמַר כְבָל כְּלָבוֹ,Fog it is in the Hebrew text *

7 that is, The fool hath faid in his heart, No GOD. And fo it may as well be understood to fignify the fool's wifh, as his judgment. And this is the more likely to be the meaning; in as much as it is manifeft, that this is not the fpeech of fome particular perfons, or of fome rare inftances of most monstrous horrid wickedness; but it is fpoken of apoftate nian in general, concerning whom it is faid in ver. 3. They are all gone afide, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doth good, no not one.

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on work towards this or that creature; but how SER M. long an exercise of the thoughts doth it require, and how great is the difficulty and toil, before the heart can be wrought up into a frame of actually loving GOD!

So that the former branch of this truth, that men are more inclinable to love one another, than they are to love GOD, is abundantly clear. The latter is, that it proceeds in a great measure from this caufe, that GOD is not feen by us, as we are by one another; but this must be referved for another discourse.

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