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ERRAT A.

Page 11. Line 6. for is, read are. p. 91 lin. 3.
for decline r. declining. p. 138. lin. 12. for have,
r. has. p. 368. lin. antepenult. for prejudial, r.
prejudicial. p. 381. lin. 6. for indeed, r. inftead.
P. 459. lin. 15. after parts, r. of.

SERMON I

Of the Diftinction between Moral and Pofitive Duties.

PART I.

MATT. ix. 13.

But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have Mercy, and not Sacrifice.

T was a miferable Cor- SERM.

ruption of Religion, pro-
ductive of the vileft Con-
fequences, which many
of the Heathen of Old
fell into, when they per-

fuaded themselves, that the Deity received
a fenfible Satisfaction from their Gifts and

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SERM. Sacrifices; was fairly repaid by them for I. Favours already done; or else indebted to m his Worshipper, and obliged to bestow new ones on him to clear the Score: A Folly that falls below that of Atheism, with a Pride furpaffing all other Blafphemies! Such Delufions are the juft Objects of our greatest Pity and Indignation at once: For we fee fome Chriftians approach with equal Steps, to. their Idolatry, and to this abfurd and pernicious Imagination bred out of it. Indeed fo it has ever proved, that fuch as communicate to Creatures the Honour which God has referved to himfelf, communicate again to him in their Imaginations (I fpeak of the Generality) the Imperfections and Infirmities of the Creature. And though they do not with the wicked Man in the 50th Pfalm, think Him altogether fuch an one as themselves; yet with his Substitutes or Favourites they will be more free, and (whatever may be faid to the contrary) fuppofe them still, in many Respects, Men of like Paffions. Hence fprings a corrupt Hope, ruinous to all the Ends of. Religion, of pleafing whom they invoke by infinite Services and Submiffions,

I.

Submiffions, inftead of Repentance and SERM. á good Life, and fo obtaining the bleffed Rewards of Obedience and Righteousness without the Practice.

But instead of reproaching thefe, let us rather praise God for his Mercy, that hath restored, and preferves to us the Purity of Religion, keeping us undefiled in the true Notion of Himself and his Worship, the very Fountain of all moral Goodness, all Justice and Mercy amongst Mankind. For our one Lord and only Worship, that in the Beginning made, and now fills Heaven and Earth, we can never fuppofe to receive any Addition from his own Creatures. We never can fuppofe, that he needs, or defigns, or gains any Thing to himself from ought in the Universe ; who is the Creator, Upholder, Difpofer, and everlasting Sovereign Proprietor of all Things and all Perfons therein. His Laws therefore are not like thofe of earthly Superiors, intending the common Benefit of Governor and Subject, but are framed and given for the fole Benefit of the lat ter. For, If thou finneft, what doft thou against him? or if thy Tranfgreffions be multiply'd,

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SERM. multiply'd, what doft thou unto him? If I. thou be righteous, what giveft thou bim, or

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what receiveth be of thine Hand? Thy Wickedness may hurt a Man as thou art, and thy Righteousness may profit the Son of Man; as ye read, Job xxxv. 6, 7, 8. Whatsoever accordingly he hath appointed by any Revelation of his Will to be offer'd or done in his Service; was and is merely for the Advantage of the Doers and Givers: For fo he innobles them by his Condefcenfion; accepting his own as theirs, and styling their Ufe and Service his own. For it is not to be imagined, that any Oblation, Worship, or Praise contributes in any other Senfe to the Glory of God, than as it includes the Under→ ftanding of his Goodness to us, and ma king it understood by others, and fo ferves to render it the more diffufive and ef fectual.

But if fuch Appointments are by falfe Opinions perverted from their End, or become unfruitful to it, through the Pre valence of Immorality, fo that they no longer ferve to fix and quicken Men in their Obedience to his everlasting Laws of

Justice

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