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"Father who is in heaven. But whofoever shall "deny me before men, him will I alfo deny be"fore my Father who is in heaven.”

Thefe admonitions the apoftles keep in mind in their writings, and therefore the apostle Paul says, 2 Tim, ii. 12. "If we fuffer, we shall also reign. "with him if we deny him, he will alfo deny "us." And, acting upon this maxim, thousands of chriftians have chearfully laid down their lives for the profeffion of the chriftian faith.

It is to be observed, that, in the fcriptures, though the rewards of virtue are only promised to perfons of a truly virtuous character and conduct, they are promised to those who shall fo repent of their fins, as to manifeft a change of character and conduct at any time of the active part of their lives. No perfon, however, has any encouragement from any part of fcripture, to expect that he fhall be entitled to the rewards of the gofpel, who repents fo late, that he has no opportunity of hewing a change of conduct at all.

Befides, few of thofe late profeffions of repentance are fincere, or, if fincere, would have been lafting; and, according to the uniform language of the fcriptures, it is "according to the deeds that men have actually done in this life," that they fhall receive at the hand of God hereafter. 2. Cor. v. Io. " for we must all appear before the judg

"ment

"ment feat of Chrift; that every one may receive "the things done in his body, according to that he "hath done, whether it be good or bad. Know

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ing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we per"fuade men."

It is alledged, indeed, that our Saviour promised the thief upon the cross, that he should be with him in paradise; but nothing can be inferred from a cafe so very obscure as this is; for we know nothing of the previous character of this man, we can guess but very imperfectly at what is meant by his request, nor do we know precisely the full import of what our Lord did promife him. Befides, this story is only found in one of the evangelists, viz. Luke, who appears, by many circumstances, to have been the leaft informed of any of them; and Matthew, who was upon the spot, fays, that both the thieves reviled Chrift, without adding one word in favour of either of them. As, therefore, there is no other fact in the history of the Old or New Teftament, that gives any countenance to expectations of mercy in a proper death-bed repentance, and all the general rules and precepts of the fcripture abfolutely exclude all hope in this cafe, it must be very dangerous to rely upon it; though it is to be feared that many perfons continue to live in a manner which their confcience difapproves, in consequence of deluding themselves with this miferable fallacy.

I fhall

I fhall conclude this account of the morality of the fcriptures with obferving, that it is not delivered fyftematically, and at large, either in the Old or New Teftament; but that it is not on this account the less, but, in fact, the more valuable, because it is delivered in a manner that is both more intelligible, and more forcible. For, being delivered as particular occafions fuggeft, it has neceffarily the advantage of a peculiar emphafis and energy. What precept, for instance, against pride or hypocrify, in a general fyftem of morals, would have had the force of our Lord's vehement reflections upon the Scribes and Pharifees, and of his affectionate admonitions to his own difciples on those subjects; or what other manner of instruction would have recommended a great variety of amiable virtues fo much as our Lord's method of inculcating them by example and pertinent parables.

Besides, what men really want, is not fo`much to know what is their duty, as proper views and motives to induce them to practise it. It is, therefore, in general, very properly taken for granted, in the fcriptures, that men know what it is that God requires of them; and almost all the admonitions to virtue go upon that fuppofition, enforcing the practice of what is acknowledged to be right, by motives adapted to peculiar fituations and circumftances.

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SECTION VI.

Of pofitive inflitutions.

BESIDE the duties of ftrictly moral obligation,

on the obfervance of which our moral character, and happiness, chiefly depend: we find in revelation, that the divine being has been pleased to enjoin feveral obfervances, which are not in themselves of a moral nature, but which ultimately tend to promote good morals, and that just state of mind, which makes the practice of our duty in other refpects eafy to us. These are the obfervance of one day in feven for the purpose of reft from labour, which is obligatory on all mankind; the observance of a large ritual of ceremonies by the Jews, and of baptifm and the Lord's fupper by the chriftians. Of each of thefe, in the order of which I now have mentioned them, I fhall give a general account, with a view to explain the na ture and use of them.

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§ 1. Of the obfervance of the Sabbath.

E are expressly told, in the books of Mofes, that the obfervance of the fabbath, or of rest from labour every seventh day, was appointed in commemoration of the day on which God rested from the creation of the heavens and the earth, which was completed in fix days. This injunction being laid upon Adam, neceffarily affects all his pofterity. Gen. ii. 2. "And on the seventh

day God ended his work which he had made: " and he refted on the seventh day from all his "work which he had made. And God bleffed "the feventh day, and fanctified it: because that " in it he had refted from all his work which God "created and made." But we have a more particular account of the reft to be observed on this day, in the fourth commandment, Ex. xx. 8. "Remember the fabbath-day, to keep it holy. "Six days fhalt thou labour, and do all thy "work. But the seventh day is the fabbath of the "Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any "work, thou, nor thy fon, nor thy daughter, thy "man-fervant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy

cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For, in fix days the Lord made heaven and earth,

"the

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