away the Substance of the Wicked, yet he rarely fuffers the Souls of the Righteons to famish.

Agreeable to this the royal Prophet speaks, I bave been young, and now am old, yet have I never feen the Righteous forlaken, nor bis Seed begging Bread. And again, he exhorts to trust in the Lord and do Good, and thou shalt dwell in the Land, and verily thou shalt be fed. And further, he calls to his People to fear the Lord, and believe in him; Believe in him, and he will help thee, and order thy Way aright; fear and trust in him, and your Reward fhall not fail. He fhall fave them, because they put their Truft in him; for look at the Generations of old, and fee, Did ever any truft in the Lord, and was confounded? Or, did any abide in his Fear, and was forfaken? Or whom did he ever despise that call'd upon his Name in Truth, Sincerity and Uprightness? But fuppofing that Chriftians, as a Tryal of their Faith, may fometimes be reduced to great outward Distress, which may poffibly be permitted to extend to Want of Bread, &c. yet fhall Famine, or Nakedness, or Perfecution, or Diftrefs, &c. feparate us (Chriftians) from the Love of God? No, furely; Thele (comparatively) light Afflictions which we suffer for a Moment, work for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory, 2 Cor. iv. 17. For tho' the fpiritual Exercises, as well as temporal Troubles of the Righteous, may be many, yet the Lord delivereth out of them all. And then can we say upon the Banks of Deliverance, We will love the Lord our Salvation, he having been our Strength and our Shield, and done great Things for us; therefore will we be thankful to his Name, and rejoice in

F 4.

bis

his Power: For who among the Gods (or Idols many make to themselves) is like unto our God! Let us therefore afcribe Strength and Powerto God; for his Name is glorious in Holiness; he is fearful in Praifes, and a God that has indeed wrought Wonders for us. Thus are we excited to love God, who first loved us, and has called us to Glory, which we have beheld, as of the Glory of the only begotten Son of God, full of Grace and Truth, of whom we have received Grace for Grace; and having thus feen his Glory, our Hearts are overcome with his Beauty, and we endeavour to return in our Measure, Love for Love, and can now fay in Truth and Sincerity, Whom have we in Heaven but thee, and there is nothing that we defire on Earth in Comparison of thee? Thou art indeed become the Chief among ten Thousands to our Souls. Thus the truly Godly love God above all earthly Confiderations, and in the highest Degree.

"The Love of God, Jays a pious Writer, is "of so noble a Nature, that the Mediocrity, "which in other Paffions is an Excellence, is "here an Imperfection. The Man after God's own Heart, is not afraid to own to his Maker an Ardency of Love, which he expreffes by "the fignificant Metaphor of Thirst, My Soul "is a thirst for God, &c. Other Paffions, like "other Rivers, are beft liked when they flow "within their wonted Banks; but the Love of God, as of the River Nile, the Overflowing "makes it the more welcome,"

The royal Prophet indeed discovers often a fervent Love to, and Defire after, the Enjoyment of God's holy Prefence: So he no lefs efteemed his

Precepts &

Precepts agreeable to what our bleffed Lord faid in After-ages to his Difciples, If ye love me, keep my Commandments. I hate, fays David, vain Thoughts, but thy Law do I love; for how fweet are thy Words to my Tafte? Yea, fweeter than Honey to my Mouth. I love thy Commandments above Gold, yea, I efteem them above fine Gold. Thy Teftimonies have I taken for an Heritage, for they are the rejoicing of my Heart. Thy Teftimonies are my Delight, and my Counsellers. I delight to do thy Will, O my God! yea, thy Law is within my Heart, Pfalm cxix. The Apostle Paul alfo delighted in the Law of God after the inner Man: And agreeably, the Righteous, in all Ages, decline not from the Commandments of his Lips, but esteem the Words of his Mouth more than neceffary Food.

But let none imagine, that tho' it is our Duty to love God with all our Heart, Soul and Strength, above every Confideration, and with the greatest Ardency, that this Injunction clashes with, or hinders our exerting this Duty of Love in its full Force in every natural and focial Relation; as it is not the fame Species of Love with which we love God, as that we extend to our Neighbour, Children, &c. For as God is an infinitely perfect Being, and happy in his own Perfections, we cannot add to his Happiness by wishing well to him; therefore we cannot love him with the Love of Benevolence or Beneficence, with which we love our Neighbour, &c. but with the Love of Defire, defiring to be with him, and to partake of his Fulnefs, agreeable to what the royal Prophet fpeaks, One Thing bave I defired, and that will I

jeek

feek after, that I may dwell in the House (or Prefence) of the Lord for ever; to behold the Beauty of the Lord, and to worship in his Temple !- A religious Soul, fays one, may obey the Command of laving God intirely, tho' fhe allows her Affections other Objects, provided they be kept in a due Subordination, and from entering in Competition with that Love which onght to be appropriated to God.

The Apostle Peter loved God above all earthly Confiderations, when he refufed to obey the High Prieft, who charged him, with the other Apostles, that they should not teach in the Name of Christ : He anfwer'd and faid, We ought to obey God rather than Man. Tho' in fo doing they incurr'd the Difpleafure of Men, and were in Danger of lofing not only their Liberty, but even their Lives; nevertheless, say they, we cannot but speak the Things which we have feen and heard (and for which Purpose we have been immediately commiffion'd by our great Mafter himself) viz. That by us Repentance and Remiffion of Sins should be preach'd in his Name in all Nations, beginning at Jerufalem.

And the Apostle Paul expreffes the greatest, as well as the most fervent Love to God, when he thus queries, Who (or what Confideration) ball feparate us from the Love of God in Chrift Jefus, our Lord? Shall Tribulation, or Diftrefs, or Perfecution, or Famine, or Peril, or Sword? No; in all these Things we are more than Conquerors thro' Christ, who bath loved us! Therefore I am perfwaded, that neither Life nor Death, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor Things prefent, nor Things to come, nor Heights (of Profperity) nor Depths (of Adverfity) nor any other Creature, fhall be able to Jeparate

Jeparate us (Chriftians) from the Love of God. And indeed thofe inferior Interefts bear no fort of Proportion to the fuperior Advantages of fupreme and heavenly Enjoyments; they being of fo precious a Nature, enough to engage us to court Heaven, at the Rate of renouncing for them all those unmanly Senfualities, and trifling Vanities, for which inconfiderate Mortals are wont to forfeit the Intereft their Saviour fo dearly purchased for them.

And as I have elsewhere faid, we may attribute all the fordid Vices and growing Follies, which the Generality of People indulge themselves in, to Inconfideration, as we don't enough examine and compare the fading Enjoyments of this Life, with the permanent Bleffings of an happy Eternity; if we did, we should foon discover the great Difproportion, and willingly part with all finful and tranfitory Pleafures.

And when I have been reflecting, that Vice and Luxury, in every Branch of it, abounds not only in Great-Britain, where I have fo lately, and fo frequently, lamented this epidemical Disorder among People, who neverthelefs affume the Title of Chriftians, and Difciples of Chrift, without rememb'ring, that all who take that facred Name upon them, muft depart from all Iniquity. (Chrift came to redeem us from all Sin, and to purify to himself a peculiar People, zealous of good Works :) I fay, when I have obferved that Vice, Softnefs, Effeminacy and Luxury of moft Kinds, has every where fown its noxious Seeds, which flourish in moft Climes or Countries, my Soul shrinks at the Thought of the Poffibility, not to fay Probability and Danger (without timely Repentance and Amendment