Britons, who, though obliged to view him in the late revolution as their most formidable enemy, yet felt themselves equally obliged to admire and extol those great and good qualities, which ennobled the man. How much greater then must be the obligation, which binds us all to revere and love the infinitely perfect Original, on account of his transcendent greatness and goodness! It is God's infinite perfection, which makes him to be a God, which constitutes all his glory and beauty. If therefore we overlook this, we overlook God himself; we set aside every thing in him, which is a ground of esteem or affection; consequently all our love, if we have any, must centre and terminate in self. In a word, it is self-evident, that no man can truly esteem and love the excellent character of Deity, unless he loves it on account of its excellence. This love to GOD for his own most amiable perfections, and especially for his holiness, which may be called the sum and crown of his perfections, is the most noble, prominent, and discriminating feature of true religion. But still it is not the only feature; the religion of fallen, imperfect man is not wholly made up of disinterested love either to GoD, or the created system. For,

In the 2d place, we are to love him not only as the LORD, but as our GOD. This points out the secondary ground to this duty. We are to love him as our Creator, who gave us our existence and faculties, and to whom therefore they ought to be affectionately devoted; as our Preserver and Benefactor, who, by upholding, actuating and comforting us every moment, acquires a new title, with each successive instant, to our best affections and service; as our Lawgiver and Judge, who has an undoubted right to give law to his own creatures, who has accordingly summed up his requirements in the great law of love, and who can and will reward or

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punish their obedience or transgression; finally, as our merciful Father and Redeemer, who, by giving his own Son to die for our redemption, has bought us to himself at an infinite price, and thereby laid us under the most forcible and endearing obligations to glorify GoD with our bodies and spirits, which are his. The love and benefits of GOD in our creation and preservation, especially in our redemption and everlasting salvation, are constantly held up in Scripture as arguments to engage our love and obedience; and all the saints on sa cred record are represented, as feeling the animating, constraining influence of these motives. A thankful sense therefore of the temporal, spiritual, and everlasting mercies of God, and a subordinate regard to our own interest, as affected thereby, do not betray a mean and unchristian selfishness, as some seem to represent, but form an essential trait in the truly pious character. If Moses, the first character for virtue in the Old Tes tament, was in some degree incited to duty by the fu ture recompense of reward; if St. Paul and other eminent Christians were constrained by the mercies of GOD, and the love of Christ in redemption, to live to his glory; if the Redeemer himself was animated by the joy set before him; then it cannot be base or criminal for his disciples to be influenced by the same.

We proceed now to ascertain the measure of this love to God. We are to love him "with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind, and with all the strength." This noble cluster of emphatical and nearly synonymous expressions is designed more forcibly to express this one great idea, that God ought to be loved to the highest possible degree of our natural capacities. We must love him "with all our hearts," that is, with a cordial, unfeigned, governing affection, in opposition to a double or divided heart, a part of which seems

devoted to God and religion, while its supreme love and service are given to some other object. We must love him" with all our souls;" that is, with all the faculties of our souls. The understanding must be occupied in the contemplation of him; the judgment must hold him in the highest esteem; the will must embrace him, as its chief good; and the affections meet and rest in him, as their central and ultimate object. We must love him "with all our minds ;" that is, a well informed mind must be the guide, and a willing mind the spring and soul of our piety. Finally, we are to love him with "all our strength;" that is, our affection must be vigorous and operative; it must seize and strain every nerve, and exert the whole strength of our souls and bodies in the service of the glorious and beloved object. In a word, these strong phrases do not imply, that divine love ought to swallow up our faculties in such a manner, as to extinguish all our other passions, or shut out every innocent earthly object and entertainment, or keep the mind in a constant passionate rapture of religious zeal and joy; they only intend, that love to God must steadily keep the throne in our breasts, and duly regulate and sanctify all our inferior affections and pursuits.

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Let us now, in the last place, attend to the superior importance of this divine principle. Love to our Maker is here styled the first and great commandment. is so in regard of its object. As God is infinitely more excellent, than all other beings, so love to him must proportionably transcend all other obligations and vir

tues.

That affection, which embraces an infinite object, the sum of all being and beauty, seems to possess a sort of infinity, an amplitude, an elevation, a glory derived from and congenial to that of its object. Further, as

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the infinite perfections of God, and his consequent authority over his rational creatures, are the foundation of all their religious and moral obligations; so a due respect to these divine perfections and this authority must be the ground work of all religion, the prime moving spring of universal obedience. Without this regard to God, there is no holy, acceptable obedience in any instance whatever; but where this exists, it ever leads to genuine religious obedience in every particular; it forms the only sure, efficacious, and inflexible principle of virtue.

Again. The love of GoD appears greater than the love of our neighbour in another respect, namely, because the latter is to be loved chiefly for the sake of the former, or as the offspring and image of God, and the object of his paternal affection. We are also to love our neighbour in subordination to GoD, so as to be ready to give up the most valuable and favourite creature, when it comes in competition with the will, the favour, the interest of the Creator. This is doubtless the import of that remarkable text, Luke xiv. 26, and was exemplified in Abraham, when he offered up the dearest earthly object.

Blessed be God, we, who are parents, are not called, as was Abraham, to offer up an only son with our own hands; yet we are sometimes called to resign our beloved children, who are dear as a right hand, to the stroke of death. In such cases true love to God will unite our wills to his, will swallow up our natural and earthly affections in a supreme regard to his pleasure, his approbation and honour, and this will make us ultimately feel and act, as if we hated and despised the most beloved creature, compared with the infinite Creator.

Finally. The love of God is the first and great command, as it is the principal source or ingredient of our

happiness. This divine affection directly tends to assimilate us to its glorious and blessed object; to enlarge, purify, and elevate our minds; to improve us in the various branches of moral goodness, which constitutes the health, the perfection, the felicity of our rational nature. Divine love unites us to God its object, and gives us the happifying enjoyment of him. As God is the sovereign good, the adequate portion of our souls, so love introduces us to the possession of this good; it introduces us to an object, sufficient to employ, to entertain, to absorb all our faculties of contemplation and enjoyment. It unites us to a Friend, who is infinitely wise, faithful, and good; who has no unkindness to be suspected, no sorrows to be condoled, no change to be feared; who is forever glorious and happy, and forever our own, and is always at hand to guard, assist, and comfort us. How great the happiness arising from an intercourse of love with such an object even in this state of distance and imperfection! But how unspeakably greater the bliss of seeing him face to face in the light of future glory; of beholding, loving, and enjoying him in an immediate, perfect, progressive manner forever and ever! Well might the Psalmist in the view of this blessedness exclaim, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness; for in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore,'

In the review of this subject, it is natural to reflect on the goodness as well, as propriety and justice of that divine constitution, which makes love to God the first duty of man, The divine Legislator herein has equally consulted and inseparably united his own rights and dignity, and our interest and happiness; for this pious regard to the Deity is the main qualification for and ingredient in rational felicity,