who understood not how the principle and the end sanctified these works of mercy, seemed a violation of the institution: and it was in justification of an action in which no such merit could be pretended-an action done by some of his followers, perhaps without much consideration, to appease the cravings of a keen appetite that he alleged the maxim in the text, “ that the Sab. bath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” a maxim which, at the same time that it establishes in the most peremptory terms the distinction between natural duties and positive institutions, defines with the greatest precision and perspicuity in what the difference consists, and as little justifies the wilful neglect of the ordinances of religion as it countenances an hypocritical formality in the performance or a superstitious reliance on the merit of them.

Although the obligation upon man to a discharge of any duty arises, as I have observed, from the sole will of God, yet, in the great duties of justice and charity in our dealings with men--of mildness to our inferiors, courtesy to our equals, and submission to our governors of sobriety and temperance in the refections of the body, and of moderation in the pleasures which belong to the animal life,-in all these we can discern a natural fitness and propriety immutably inherent in the things themselves; insomuch, that any rational being, once placed in a situation to be superior to the influence of external motives, and to be determined in his conduct by the sole approbation of his own mind, must always delight in them: and though occasions may arise which may render a contrary conduct useful to the individual, yet no occasions can arise which may render it so lovely and laudable. Now, although this natural fitness and propriety be not the origin of moral obligation among men, yet it is indeed a higher principle; for it is that from which that will of God himself originates

by which the natural discernment of our conscience acquires the force of a law for the regulation of our lives. Of these duties of inherent and immutable propriety, it were not true to say that they are made for man: but what is denied of positive institutions is true of these, that man was made for them. They are analogous to the moral attributes of the Deity himself. The more that any man is fixed in the habitual love and practice of them, the more the image of God in that man is perfected. The perfection of these moral attributes is the foundation of the necessity of God's own existence; and if the enjoyment and display of them is (if the expression may be allowed) the end and purpose to which God himself exists, the humble imitation of these Divine perfections is the end and purpose for which men and angels were created.

We discern, therefore, in these natural duties, that intrinsic worth and seemliness, which is the motive that determines the Divine will to exact the performance of them from the rational part of his creation; for God's will is not arbitrary, but directed by his goodness and his wisdom. Or, to go a step higher, the natural ex.

a cellence of these duties, we may reasonably presume, was the original motive which determined the Deity to create beings who should be capable of being brought to that dignity of character which a proficiency in virtue confers, and of enjoying, in their improved state of moral worth, a corresponding happiness.

But in the positive institutions of religion we discern nothing of inherent excellence. They evidently make a part of the discipline only of our present state, by which creatures in their first state of imperfection, weak in intellect and strong in passion, might be trained to the habit of those virtues which are in themselves valuable, and by the fear of God thus artificially as it were impressed upon their minds, be rendered in the end superior to temptation. They are therefore, as it were, but a secondary part of the will of God; and the rank which they hold as objects of God's will, the same they must hold as branches of man's obedience. They are no otherwise pleasing to God than as they are beneficial to man, by enlivening the flame of genuine religion in his bosom. Man, therefore, was not made for these, but these were made for man. To commemorate the creation of the universe by certain ceremo. nies in public assemblies on the seventh day, though a noble and a salutary employment of our time, is not, however, the principal business for which man was created; nor is the commemoration of our Redeemer's death, by any external rite, the principal end and business of the Christian's calling: but the observation of the Sabbath with certain ceremonies in public assemblies, and the commemoration of our Lord's death in the eucharist, were appointed as means of cherishing in the heart of man a more serious and interested attention to those duties which are the real end and purpose of his existence, and the peculiar service which the Chris. tian owes his Lord, who bought him with his blood. And thus we see the distinction between the primary duties and the positive precepts of religion. The practice of the first is the very end for which man was ori. ginally created, and after the ruin of his fall, redeemed: the other are means appointed to facilitate and secure the attainment of the end. In themselves they are of no value; insomuch, that a scrupulous attention to these secondary duties, when the great end of them is wilfully neglected, will but aggravate the guilt of an immoral life. Man was not made for these.

But, on the other hand, it demands our serious attention, that it is declared by the very same authority that they were made for him. They are not mere arbitrary appointments, of no meaning or significance. They are not useless exactions of wanton power, contrived only to display the authority of the master, and to imbitter the subjection of the slave. They were made for man. They were appointed for the salutary influence which the Maker of man foresees they are likely to have upon his life and conduct. To live in the wilful neglect of them, is to neglect the means which Infinite Wisdom hath condescended to provide for the security of our future condition. The consequence naturally to be expected is that which is always seen to ensue,-a total profligacy of manners, hardness of heart, and contempt for God's word and commandment.

Having thus shown the true distinction between the primary duties and the positive precepts of religion, I shall in some future discourses proceed to the particular subject which the text more especially suggests, and inquire what the reverence may be, due to the Sabbath under the Christian dispensation; which I shall prove to be much more than it is generally understood to be, if the principles of men are to be inferred from their practicc.

SERMON XXII.

MARK ii. 27.

The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the

Sabbath.

WHAT is affirmed of the Sabbath in these remarkable words is equally true of all the ordinances of external worship. The maxim therefore is general; and, at the same time that it establishes a distinction between the primary duties and the positive institutions of religion, it clearly defines the circumstance in which the difference consists. Of the positive institutions of religion, even of those of Divine appointment, whatever sanctity may be derived to them from the will of God, which is indeed the supreme rule and proper foundation of human duty,--whatever importance may belong to them as necessary means for the attainment of the noblest end, the improvement of man's moral character, and the consequent advancement of his happiness,-yet we have our Lord's authority to say, that the observance of them is not itself the end for which man was created. Man was not made for these. Of natural duties we affirm the contrary. The acquisition of that virtue which consists in the habitual love and practice of them is the very final cause of man's existence. The intrinsic worth and seemliness of that virtue is so great, that it may be presumed to be the motive which determined the will of God to create beings with capacities for the attainment.