Worth and Value with GOD, as that, upon account of it, all other Duties do receive their Eftimation; great Reason had our Saviour to affirm it the firft and great Commandment.

But, Fourthly, and Laftly, to love GoD with all our Hearts, and Souls, and Minds, is the first and great Commandment, in regard of the univerfal Influence and Efficacy it hath to put us there, obferving all GOD's Commandments. Such is the Force and Power of Love, that where-ever it gets Poffeffion, it brings all the Powers of the Soul and Body into a Compliance with the Will of the Beloved, in all the Inftances wherein that Will hath declared itself. So that we can no fooner think what it is that GOD would have us to do in any Inftance, or how it is that he would have us behave ourselves in any Emergency; but if we fincerely love him, we shall readily put ourselves in a Pofture of obeying him.

Fear may go a great way towards the deterring Men from fome Practices, and at some Seafons; but when the Fright is over, the • Man naturally returns to his former Inclinations and Habits. But Love is a Principle that changes the Bent and 'Temper of the Mind, and, by a gentle and eafy Violence (if it be proper to speak fo), carries us on to a chearful, and fteady, and uniform Obedience to every thing that we think is pleafing and

acceptable

acceptable to GOD. If any Man love me, faith our Saviour, he will keep my Words; it is impoffible he fhould do otherwife; if we can once bring ourselves to love God, it is needless to bid us to be kind to our Brethren, to be fincere and honeft in our Dealings, to abftain from Whoredom and Drunkennefs, and all fuch Impurities; to take all Opportunities of worshiping GOD, and offering up our Prayers and Thanksgivings to him, both in Publick and Private. For thefe Actions will come of Course, because we know that it is fuch Things as these, that God, whom we love, takes Pleasure in, and hath required of us. Nay, tho' any of the Commandments fhould at the first Appearance feem hard and fevere to Flesh and Blood, yet the true Love of God will eafily furmount thefe Hardships. Nothing will be difficult to him that fincerely loves. When Jacob had ferved Laban feven Years for his Daughter, and in that Service had undergone as many Labours and Difficulties as can easily be fuppofed, yet the Text tells, that these Years feemed to him but a very few Days, for the Love he bare unto her. It is the Property of Love, to think nothing grievous or painful that leads to the obtaining of what we defire; or that recommends us to the Person that is the Object of our Love. And if Love be thus powerful, when it is placed upon earthly Objects, where the Attractions are fo fmall, and where oftentimes blind Paf

fion

fion is interested more than Reason; O how powerful must it be, when it is placed upon the most charming, and lovely, and glorious, Object in the whole World! and where true Understanding and Reafon do fo fully and intirely close with that Object, that with its utmost Force and Vigour it recommends it to all the inferior Faculties, and fets them on work in the Purfuit of it!

Since therefore the Love of GOD is of fuch univerfal Influence, and is fo neceffarily productive of Obedience to all the holy Commandments, we must needs be convinced, that it is, what our Saviour here ftiles it, the firft and great Commandment, and unto which all other Commandments are to be reduced.

And thus much let it fuffice to have spoken on my Second general Head. I now proceed to the Third: Which is, to draw fome Inferences, or to make fome Application of this Doctrine.

Our Saviour here tells us, that to love GOD with all our Heart, and Soul, and Mind, is the first and great Commandment; and, in Conjunction with the Second (that of loving onr Neighbour as ourselves), it makes up the whole Law and the Prophets; is in Effect the Summary of both; there being no other. Duty there commanded, but what may be reducible to one of these two Heads.

The

The first Thing I would take Occafion to obferve from hence, is this: That Religion (taking that Word as it fignifies that univerfal Duty we owe to GOD, and by which we are to recommend ourselves to his Favour), I fay, that Religion is not so variable, uncertain, and arbitrary a Matter, as fome Men do perhaps fuppofe it, but is a conftant, fixed, permanent, immutable Thing; the fame now, that it was in the Days of the Old Law; and the fame then, that it was in the Days before the Law was given; and the fame, both then and now, that it shall be a thousand Years hence, if the World should laft fo long. True Religion, and that which is from GOD, was, and is, and ever will be, the fame in Substance in all Countries, and in all Nations, and among all Sorts and Conditions of Men whatfoever; and the Sum of it is, to love the LORD our GOD with all our Hearts, and with all our Minds, and with all our Strength; and, next to that, to love our Neighbour as ourselves. This was the Religion that the Patriarchs and all the pious Men of old lived in, and by which they obtained God's Favour and Acceptance, when as yet there was no revealed instituted Religion in the World. And this, as our Saviour tells us, was the Sum of that Religion, which God, when he thought fit to make known his Will by Revelation, gave to the Ifraelites by Mofes, and which he continued

by

by a perpetual Succeffion of Prophets to prefs upon them; and laftly, That this likewife is the Sum of that Religion which hath Jefus Christ for its Author, and who was the laft and the greatest Prophet that came to declare GOD's Will to Mankind, and whofe Religion is to continue in Force for ever: I fay, that this is the Sum of the Chriftian Religion, no Man can in the leaft doubt, that hath ever read the New Teftament. If our Saviour could truly fay, that the Sum of the Jewish Religion, as it was deliver'd by Mofes and the Prophets, did confift in those two Things, the Love of God, and of our Neighbour, I am fure we have much greater Reason to fay, that the Religion that he taught may be fummed up in these two Duties: For, in the Jewish Law, there were a great many Precepts that were about Matters of an indifferent Nature, and feem wholly foreign, and no way to look towards this Bufinefs of loving GOD and our Neighbour; but, in our Saviour's Inftitution, there is hardly any one Thing recommended to us, that doth not directly relate to this Matter, that is not either an Instance wherein we are to exprefs our Love to God and our Neighbour, or a Means whereby we may be further'd in the practifing of thofe Duties, or an Argument, and Motive, and Encouragement to excite us to the practifing of them. It is the Defign of all his Doctrines to give us right Notions of GOD and VOL. IV.

P.

our