What then is the service of God? Or, what does God require of us, as the conditions of his present favour, and his final acceptance? This is the great inquiry, in answering which, the christian world has been divided into so many sects, and the seamless coat of Christ has been rent into a thousand unseemly fragments. Great numbers of creeds are formed, in open hostility to each other, and all claiming the sanction of God's word for all their unintelligible, and for all their contradictory expressions and articles. Ask a Roman catholic, what is christi➡ anity, and what are the conditions of the final favour of God; and he will refer you to the authority, and worship of his church. Propose the inquiry to a protestant, and all the articles of the creed adopted by his church will be arrayed before you. He will perhaps shut out from hope all who are not elected by the sovereign pleasure of God, even without any foresight of their faith or good works. He will tell you, that all mankind were, for Adam's sin, doomed to eternal torment; that some, however, by God's election, are to be saved; that Christ died to satisfy the divine justice in their salvation; and that it is by an almighty and irresistible grace, that God calls, sanctifies and saves those, whom he has thus elected to eternal life. He will tell you that man, by nature, is not only incapable of God's service, or of doing his will, but that he is born an enemy of God, and with a heart at enmity with all goodness; that even before an infant has done any evil, he may be condemned to everlasting burnings; that an unrenewed man is incapable of doing any thing to obtain a renewal of his heart; and that his very prayers and endea vours to please God, while yet he is not thus sanctified, are sin. But because we sometimes see religious zeal running out into these excesses, and because some of its primary principles, as we think, are in direct opposition to those of the gospel, it would be very unjust to infer, that there are not many who adc these very sentiments, of a truly christian temper and life. Their christian affections and conduct however are derived, not from these peculiarities of their faith, but from the influence of the word and will of God upon them; of that very word and will of God, which are equally acknowledged by many who widely differ from them, as by themselves. They are mistaken, as we think, in several of their views of the character and service of God; and it is particularly in their erroneous conceptions of God, of the nature and condition of man in this world, and of the design of the coming and of the death of our Lord, that the excitements of passion originate, which are mistaken for revivals of religion. And it is through the influence of these mistaken views of religion, that terror is employed as the great agent, for accomplishing the purposes of the gospel.

But would you understand, what indeed is christianity, and what are the conditions of the present, and the eternal accept. ance of God; inquire not at Calvin, nor Arminius, nor at the leader of any sect, nor at any sectarian. The word by which we are to be judged in the last day, is the word that Christ has spoken to us. Let him then be our only master, and his word our only guide. To the gospel let us bring the inquiries, what doth the Lord our God require of us? and, what must we do to be saved? and wherein must the work of religion be revived? Let us bring home its instructions to our hearts; and very much am I mistaken, if they will not convict us of much evil, of great prevailing vices; of great cause of bumiliation before God; and will enjoin upon us a reformation, which however it might be scoffed at by enthusiasts who decry good works, would be indeed and in truth a most important and happy revival of religion.

I ask again therefore, what is the service of God? Hear the answer of our blessed Saviour. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first and great com. mandment. And who is prepared to say I have kept this com mandment? Let us consider what is necessarily implied in it and ingenuously inquire, if our hearts were under the uncon trolled influence of this single command, whether the most im portant and salutary changes would not be produced in our af fections and tempers, our character and happiness.

The love of God is the main spring of all the duties of the christian life. We attribute to God's love to us, our existence and capacities; all that makes this life a blessing; all that Christ has done for us; and all for which we hope in heaven. The love we owe to God therefore, necessarily implies that love of Christ and that humble, grateful and affectionate acceptance of him, which we are called by our religion. It implies a constant regard to the presence, attention to the providence, and submission to the will of God. It implies not alone the obliga tion of prayer, but that love of communion with God, and that strong sense of the privilege and honor of intercourse with him, which will make it indispensable to our happiness. It implies the highest estimation of the opportunities we have as christians, to worship him daily in secret, and in our families; and to join with those who meet for his worship on the Sabbath. It implies habitual gratitude for his benefits, and an unreserved trust in the wisdom and goodness of all his appointments. I might even say, that the love of God implies universal obedience; for our religion makes it the first principle of all obligation; the life giving principle of every personal and social virtue, as well as of

every office of devotion. But let us consider it alone as the be ginning and source of the duties we owe immediately to God, and to Christ; and let the appeal be made to conscience, what changes would be produced in our hearts and conduct towards God and Christ, by an entire obedience to this single commandment.

If you have this love of God, you delight to think of him, and to feel his presence. But how often do you think of him, and with what emotions? Does the thought of God excite reverence, gratitude, reliance, and a supreme desire of his favour? Do you detain the thought, and cherish it, and rejoice that you have an almighty, an infinitely wise and beneficent Father, to whom you can express all your wants; and in whose service is the present protection, and the eternal security of all, who thoroughly love, and faithfully obey him? Let conscience speak, and let it be heard. You are not, perhaps, wholly unobservant of his presence and providence. But how often do you think of them, and with what emotions? From a consciousness of God's presence, do you feel half that restraint from evil, or half that excitement to duty, which you feel in the presence of an earthly superior? It may be that we are accustomed also to private, and to family prayer. But are ours the prayers of hearts filled with the love of God? Do we feel this great principle of our religion extending its holy influence over our affections and wills, fastening our hearts upon God as the end of desire, and bringing the whole soul to a willing and chosen subjection to his disposal? Whence is the thoughtless levity of conversation that so much prevails; the irreverent and profane use of the name of God, and of Christ? Whence is it that the Sabbath is by some appropriated, almost equally as other days, to worldly concerns; that the neglect of public worship is justified, even by the most trivial excuses; that the obligations of baptism and the Lord's Supper are so feebly felt, and so easily disregarded? Whence is it that, by some, not one hour of the week is given to God's word; and that it is read by those of us who profess to make it our rule of life, with such infrequency, and with so little sensibility? All these inquiries we may answer in one word. It is because of the coldness of our love of God. The strength of our affections is given to the objects of our worldly passions. We are trusting that God will accept us in an observance of the forms, even while we are destitute of the spirit, of religion. Or we are relying on his mercy, almost without even an external compliance with the conditions on which it is offered. Suppose then that the love of God should become the first, and all pervading principle of our hearts. There would not then be

an individual, whose secret prayers would not daily rise as sweet incense to heaven. There would not be a house, in which the morning and evening sacrifice of family prayer would not be offered. And how fervent and pure would be these devotions; and how much of the spirit of heaven would they excite and exercise in the hearts that presented them! If God were so loved by us, with what joy would the Sabbath be hailed by every one? How precious would be its hours at home, for self examination, for private devotion, for reading the scriptures, and for the instruction of our children? And how would the church be thronged with happy worshippers, all prepared with their whole souls to engage in its services? Nor would one believer in our religion refuse to profess his faith, and to cherish the hopes of Christianity at the table of the Lord. And then, if the happy spirits above witness the transactions of men, with what holy joy would they bend their eyes on the seasons of our communion? Here would be every one who is of an age to understand his christian obligations; evey heart would be an abode of the spirit of God; every prayer would rise with acceptance; and all would go away justified and blessed. Yes, in the exaltation and strength which this single principle would give to our piety, and in the holy influence it would exert over every emotion and desire of our hearts, it would produce among us a most glorious and happy revival of religion. And does not a consideration of what we should thus be, and a conviction of what we are, not only suggest, but most forcibly bring before the mind, causes of deep humiliation, and excitements to godly sorrow? We should be humbled in the feeling, that we have no more of the love of God in us; we should pray, that his love may shed abroad in our hearts by the holy spirit, that we may be excited to all those offices of piety here, which are so essential to our qualification for the service and enjoyment of him hereafter.

But these offices of piety are but a part of duty. The service of God equally comprehends every personal and social virtue. The second commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, is of like authority and obligation, as the first. We shall be as certainly judged by the precepts which require self-knowledge, the cultivation of our understandings, self-government and discretion, humility, industry and contentment, as by that which demands that we should love the Lord our God with all our hearts. The great evidence indeed which God requires of the sincerity of our love of himself, and of all the offices of christian piety, is our obedience to the moral precepts of the gospel. And suppose that each of these precepts exerted on our hearts and conduct, all the authority of divine commands. Not

only would there be no envy nor jealousy among us, but every one would feel the prosperity of another to be a proportionate accession to his own happiness. There would be no ungenerous interpretation of each others' motives; no false accusations; no tell-tale gossipping; no slander; and no disposition to sit in judg ment on others, and condemn them. In all our intercourse, we should feel the perfect security and confidence of friendship. We should be as ready to do every office of kindness, as we are to desire it. We should as readily and unreservedly forgive, as we hope to be forgiven. There would be no encroachments on neighbours, and no interference in each others' rights.-We should feel equal trust in each others' word, as if it were confirmed by all the bonds of law. We should look with confidence, for every aid and accommodation, as if they might be claimed as the most incontestible of rights. Then, too, we should see the ignorant, not claiming and exerting influence, but,-seeking instruction. Every one would be far more solicitous to know himself, than to obtain the secrets of others. We should have no idlers, wasting their time and abusing their opportunities; and none squandering their property, destroying their health, corrupting their hearts, and bringing want and misery into their families, by intemperance. If then, the precepts of the gospel which enjoin the personal and social virtues, were strongly and universally felt, as the will of God, would they not produce a most striking revival of religion? Embody the piety and virtue of the gospel in an individual. Form as distinct a conception as you can of one, of whom you would say, he is indeed a christian; attend him in his private and his family worship, in all his intercourse with his friends, in his daily labours and transactions of business: observe him in all his personal indulgences, and in all his conduct as a neighbour; in his disposal of his time, and in the character and tendencies of his conversation; observe at once his temperance and frugality; his benevolence, and incorruptible uprightness; and go with him to the house of God, and to the table of Christ. What this individual is, should each of us be, if we were christians. And what a change would it produce in the hearts and characters of individuals; in the economy, discipline, and happiness of families; and in our character and happiness as a christian society! See then what motives we have to pray for a revival of religion!

I have adverted to what I believe to be most essential mistakes concerning religion itself. And out of these mistakes, as I think, have grown equally mistaken conceptions of revivals of religion. Religion has been supposed to be something very distinct from the ordinary duties of life. It has been made mere passion, and