we might have Peace and strong Confolation in our own Minds, thro' the Hopes of another Life; I say, supposing that all this is done for us by our Saviour (as we are sure it is) will not the Love of God constrain us in this Cafe, with our whole Hearts, to embrace this kind Messenger, and this kind Message from God to our Souls? Will it not be joyful News to every Soul that loves God to hear of fuch a Saviour, such a Mediator? Or can any fuch forbear to thank God most affectionately, for this wonderful Condescention of his in sending his own Son among us? Can they forbear to yield the most firm Belief, to give the most hearty Entertainment to every Thing that this Son of his doth deliver as the Will of God? Oh! certainly all that love God muft needs be filled with unexpressible Joy and Satisfaction for this unspeakable Grace and Favour to us, and must so entirely, with Heart and Mind, give into this new Dispensation that Chrift hath set on foot, as with the most fervent Zeal to lift themselves among the Number of his Disciples, with the greateft Sincerity to embrace all his Doctrines, to study and inquire into his Revelations, to meditate on his Arguments, to comfort themselves with his Promises, to instruct themselves fully in the Duties he hath obliged them to; to fet themselves chearfully and vigorously, with all their Might,

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to the practising of them: And Lastly, To refolve to own him and his Religion, to trust in him, and to depend upon him as their Lord, their Saviour, their Redeemer, to the laft Breath of their Lives. All this now every one that fincerely loves God will most naturally and necessarily do, suppofing that the Gospel of Christ be propofed to them; I will not say, with that Fulness, and Clearness, and Evidence, which God at first gave, but even with that Degree of Evidence that every thinking considering Man among tis may have at this Day.

Away therefore with that Religion which confifts only in the outward Practices of that which we call moral Honesty: There is no Heart nor Life in it; it is a Religion without the fincere Love of God: For where-ever that takes place, it will so entirely possess our Minds with the Sense of what we owe to him, and our Lord Jesus, that it will be the Delight of our Lives, and the greatest Joy of our Hearts, to enjoy Communion with both in all the Instances of Piety and Devotion which our Saviour hath recommended in the Gospel. The true Love of God will make us both devout in the Way that Nature teacheth, and also in the Way that Jesus Chrift hath taught us in the New Testament.

But

But I proceed in the third Place to another Inference from my Text, and that is this. Since the great Precept, both of the Law and the Gospel, is, that we should love the Lord our God with all our Heart, and with all our Soul, and with all our Mind; since, I say, this is the first and great Commandment, then we may fee what little Countenance either the Law or the Gofpel have given to the Doctrines of Merit, and Works of Supererogation, as they are taught in the Church of Rome. It is one of their Doctrines, that the good Works of justified Persons are truly meritorious of eternal Life; so the Council of Trent teacheth and pronounceth an Anathema against all such as deny it, or if ye will have it in the Words of the Rhemish Translators of the English Testament, take it thus: "Mens Works, (say they) done by the "Grace of Christ, do condignly or wor"thily deserve eternal Joy; so as Works

can be no other but the Value, Defert, " Price, Worth, and Merit of the same". Thus the Rhemish Teftament.

They have also another Doctrine, that a Man may do good Works more than he is bound to do, more than any Precept of God doth require of him; and these they call Works of Perfection, or Works of Supererogation; and these, to be sure, are of all others most meritorious.

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One would at first wonder for what Reason these Doctrines were fet on Foot, or what Ends they ferved to; for that they do not any way minister to the promoting true Piety, is visible enough, because the direct Tendency of them rather is to puff up Mens Minds, and to fill them with Presumption and Self-Confidence, to make them proud and vain, and affuming, which are Qualities very different from those that our Saviour seems to have recommended to us; and the Wonder will still encrease, to consider how they have applied these Doctrines, and to what a Degree they have extended them; for it is a current received Maxim among them, that a Man may not only merit for himself, but for other Folks; and that if any Man have fuffered more than he deserved, or hath done more good Works than he was obliged to, all those Merits that he obtains hereby over and above what is needful for the fatisfying for himself, are not loft, but may be communicated to others that want them, and shall really be available to their Good to whom they are thus communicated. I say, one that looks no farther than the Business of Virtue and Piety, would be apt to wonder much at this strange Opinion : But then when we are once let into the Secrets of these Doctrines, and come to know the true Ufe they are put to, we shall not be much surprized at them. For here lies the Thing; every Man being thus capable capable of meriting in his Works, and Merits being thus transferrable and communicable to others, here is a plaufible Foundation laid for a Fund or Stock of Merits in the Church; which Fund, or Stock, is to be in the Keeping and Disposal of the chief Pastor; and out of this Fund or Stock, he may supply every one's Necessities that hath no Merits of his own, by his Indulgences; and the Effect of these Indulgences are, that they do redeem out of Purgatory : So that Purgatory brought in Indulgences, as they are now used; and for the Support of Indulgences, these Doctrines of Merits, and Works of Supererogation, were contrived.

But now let us a little look into this Doctrine of Merits and Supererogation, and examine it by my Text. Our Saviour's Speech that we are now upon, doth imply, that it is our Duty to love God with all our Hearts, and Souls, and Minds, and to love our Neighbour as our selves; for he faith it is a Commandment, nay, and the first and great Commandment.

I defire now to know how a Man can be strictly and properly faid to merit any Thing by doing that which is his Duty to do; much more how he can be faid to earn or merit such a Reward by doing his Duty, as doth amount to a thousand times more in Worth and Value than his Duty comes to? I pray let this be reconciled to the common Principles of Reafon. We own indeed that a Man

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