3

the children of Ifrael from the bondage of Egypt and the machinations of Balak; when he is represented as fuddenly interrupted by the impaffioned exclamations of one of the multitude pierced with a conviction of his own fin and of the divine goodness, and eagerly, enquiring after the means of making atonement for his guilt and regaining the favour of Omnipotence. Wherewith fhall I come before the Lord, and bor myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleafed with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my tranfgreffion; the fruit of my body for the fin of my foul (a) ? The prophet, in the name of God, returns the answer. He hath fbewed thee, O man, what is good. And what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? The queftion is as interefting to us as it was to the Jew. Let us confider the reply

as addreffed to ourselves.

(a) A critic of great eminence confiders these words as spoken by Balak. To that opinion another affents, with the exception of attributing the firft part of verfe 7 to Balaam. The context, I apprchend, affigns the whole paffage to the mouth of a Jew. But its import, whoever be the speaker, is

the fame.

I. He hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good. So clearly hath God made known whatever is neceffary to falvation, that they who attain not falvation fhall ftand without excufe. In the breast of every man He hath implanted a natural confcience, capable of difcriminating between good and evil, prepared with fecret ftings for the chastisement of guilt, and with filent approbation for the encouragement of obedience. But confcience may be blinded and led aftray, may be hardened and deadened by the practice of fin. God has therefore given to us His written. word. In the Old Teftament by the mouth. of His holy prophets, in the New Teftament by the mouth of His own Son, and of the apoftles, of His Son, He replies in the plaineft terms to the momentous queftion, What must we do to be faved? He fets before us the way of life and the way of death; the road to heaven, and the road to hell. He has diftinguished them by marks fo ftriking, that it is impoffible that the one track can be mistaken for the other by a fincere and humble enquirer. He has fhewn them to be as different as light and darkness, as widely feparated as the east from the west. By hope and by fear, by argument and by entreaty, by mercy and by judgement, he

urges

urges us to choose the path of life and to fly from the way of deftruction. On every man he bestows power to attain eternal life. He enfures to every faithful fuppliant the all-fufficient influence of His Holy Spirit, not only that it may enlighten the mind to understand the Scriptures, but may alfo give grace to obey them. He commands his minifters to preach the gospel throughout all the world to every creature; to proclaim the offer of univerfal falvation, to call finners to repentance, to instruct the ignorant, to strengthen the weak, to denounce vengeance on the careless and the obftinate, to confirm and animate the pious. Thus truly may it be affirmed, that God hath fhewed us what is good. Thus truly may it be affirmed, that God willeth not the death of the wicked, but that all should be converted and live. If you know not your duty; it is because you will not know. it. If you perish through ignorance; it is because you prefer ignorance to underftanding.

II. What then muft we do to be faved? The prophet answers the enquirer, Do juftly: love mercy: and walk humbly with your God.

1. First; you must do juftly. You must be just in every part of every one of your

proceedings. You must render to every man, you must render cheerfully and without delay, that which belongs to him. This rule obliges you on all occafions to speak the truth. For a lie is not only a breach of your duty to God, who is a God of truth and hateth deceit; but is alfo a breach of your duty to your neighbour. The man to whom you address a lie, you feek to deceive. You lead him aftray. You caufe him to form expectations, or to cherish hopes, or to adopt measures, upon the ftrength of your words: and those words are falfe. Thus, as far as depends on yourself, you injure him. A lie therefore is a breach of justice. And whenever you are guilty of a lie, you are guilty of a crime which belongs to the fame clafs with theft and robbery. Beware then of deeming yourself an honeft man, if you are a wilful liar; and leaft of all if you are a flanderer, robbing your neighbour of that which is more valuable than riches, his good

name.

The rule of doing juftly constrains you, in the next place, to be a faithful fubject to the King; to fubmit to all who are entitled to authority over you; and to obey all the laws of your country. For obedience is due to the king, and to all inferior magistrates, ac14 cording

gua

cording to their feveral stations. If you fail in rendering obedience, you defraud them of their right. You receive the protection of the laws. Are you not then bound and pledged to obey them? Again: justice prohibits you from injuring the perfon and reftraining the liberty of your neighbour. The free enjoyment of his life and limbs is a right conferred upon him by his Creator, and ranteed by the ftatutes of the realm. Do you interfere with the poffeffion which he holds under the fanction of his country and his God; and pretend that you deprive him not of that which is his own? Again: juftice requires that you should in no respect injure your neighbour's property. The methods by which another may be injured in his property are numberless. In fome cafes the guilt is fo palpable, that it cannot be mistaken. If a man commits a forgery; if he robs on the highway; if he fteals an article privately; if he maliciously damages the poffeffion of another; he is inftantly pronounced unjust. But there are other cafes, in which the fentence is equally deserved, and is affuredly pronounced by the all-feeing Judge; while the criminal perceives not, or perceives with more than usual reluctance, the extent of his injuftice. Thus a perfon, it may be, who

has