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the bleffed time I am now speaking of; when that covenant of peace shall take place, when God will cause the evil beafts to ceafe out of the land: and his fheep shall dwell fafely in the wilderness, and fleep in the woods*. When the meek fhall inherit the earth. Then fhall the original harmony be restored; and what the great Poet fays was once, will, undoubtedly, take place again:

*

About them, frisking, play'd

All beafts of th' earth, fince wild, and of all chace,
In wood or wilderness, foreft or den;

Sporting the Lion ramp'd, and, in his paw,
Dandled the Kid; Bears, Tygers, Ounces, Pards,
Gambol'd before them; th' unweildy Elephant,

To make them mirth, us'd all his might, and wreath'd
His lithe probofcis.

Milton.

Hail, happy scenes of univerfal jubilee! when violence. and spoil shall cease-when no hurt or deftruction fhall be in God's holy mountain-when his wonderful promifes fhall be fully accomplished-And as he hath faid, I will rebuke the devourer for your. fakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither fhall your vine caft her fruit before the time in the field, faith the Lord of Hofts. And all nations fhall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, faith the LORD OF HOSTS t.

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SERMON IX.

Univerfal Benevolence.

MARK xii. 31.

Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself.

WH

HETHER all these steps, which will mark out this bleffed epocha which I am demonftrating, will happen in the fucceffion in which I have arranged them, I cannot fay; nor is it a point of very great importance, as I apprehend there will be no very great distance between them; for I fuppofe, when the Jews are brought in, with the Fullness of the Gentiles, there will be little difcord left behind: and when Christ becomes All in all-when we love God with all the heart,-it will naturally follow we shall love our neighbour as ourselves; and the latter will never take place till the former is fixed in the foul. Therefore the loving God, with all the heart, is juftly called the first and great Commandment ; not only the first in dignity, but the first in order: for there must be fire before there can be any flame. Now the love of God in the heart is the fire, and the fame flowing to our neighbour is the facred flame. And here is the perfection of the law, or, as the Apoftle fays, the fulfilling of the law.

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law. All that is faid in the Ten Commandments, as they are a fummary of the whole moral law, is briefly comprehended in these two points, viz. the love of God and my neighbour. And we may farther obferve, not one jot or tittle of this law fhall fail, but all shall be fulfilled. But I doubt few, at prefent, attain to this blessed mark; perhaps there may be here and there one who approaches near unto it: but now, when the kingdoms of this world fhall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, then shall this pure benevolence and love univerfally prevail. We shall then fee that these great and glorious Commands are not given us as patterns to imitate, but that they fhall be written upon the heart,

when God created man in his own image.

as they were When that

image was defaced, then God, indeed, condefcended to write it upon tables of stone, that we may fee the tranfcendent excellency of that royal law which man had tranfgreffed; but now he will write it by his Spirit on the flefhly table of the heart.

I

Now, feeing this will be one ray of the latter day glory, it will be necessary to give it a serious attention ; for I look upon this happy period to be a true emblem of the New Heavens and the New Earth, where all will love each other with a pure heart, and that fervently. Let us, I. Confider, Who is my neighbour.

man.

II. What is my duty to him.

1. Who is my neighbour ?-I answer, every child of We are all relations, and nothing can dissolve the connexion while in this world; no diftance of place, or manners, or opinions, or cuftoms, language, or complexion.

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plexion. It is true, felf has found, or made, a variety of breaches, infomuch that the human kind are become, not only aliens, but implacable enemies to each other; and, oftentimes, no reason can be affigned why it is fo; and when fomething like a cause is pretended, it is fcarcely the fhadow of a caufe, but fomething which the grand enemy, and a fallen nature, can make a handle of. The difference of a point in religion, or politics, is often found as an excufe, not only for saying all manner of evil, but even exercifing all manner of cruelties against the hated party; so that a house, as well as a kingdom, has been divided against itself, and a man's foes have been those of his own household; but that is a dire effect of the fall, and the great remedy-the Sacrifice upon the Crofs, will draw all men unto himfelf, and then they will love as brethren.

2. THIS is further evident, because God bath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell upon the face of the earth: So that, in Him, we live, and move, and have our being and are denominated HIS OFFSPRING *. God is the common father of all fleth, and all the inhabi tants of the world are his family; and he makes one fun to shine upon the earth, and to rule it by day; and one moon to give light, and rule by night; one earth to yield fuftenence; not many funs, not many moons, not many earths; but, being one family, there is one fufficient provifion made for us all, from that one Parent of Good, whofe tender mercies are over all his works, and whofe liberal hand is ever open to fatisfy all plenteously out of his infinite fullness. I wish this point was a little more attended unto than what it is; it might have a tendency to bring

S3

AЯsxvii. 26-28.

bring us a little nearer to each other, and to feel for each other, and point to this great doctrine-of loving my neighbour as myself. Then fhall I be willing to do as I would be done by; and, if I do this, I cannot bite and devour my neighbour: no; his character will be as facred as my own, and I shall regard his welfare as my own. O charming temper of mind! Pleafing profpect! O may thy kingdom come, that Thy will may be thus done on earth as it is done in heaven! Then they, who have come out of every nation, and people, and tongue, will be of one heart, mind, voice, and fong! All harmony, peace, and concord!

3. We are all fprung from one common ftock. The Great Author of All only created one father and mother, and the Bible is very explicit in describing their posterity, as it were, on purpose to keep this great point in view; fo that we might treat each other as brethren, with tenderness and affection. If God had created several pairs at the fame time, there might have been a fort of a plea for the want of natural affection, but we are very clearly informed of our real pedigree; hence all the inhabitants of the world, in the time of Mofes, were called the fons of Adam *. Likewise, S. Paul, speaking of our original taint, fays,-By one man's disobedience many were made finners: and though the off nce of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation . Nor did the general deluge cut off the entail, or diffolve this fraternity: for there, again, care is taken to trace the uninterrupted line from Adam to Noah, in whom we see a fecond general root, repleat with branches, extending all the world over, and from whom

* Deut. xxxii. 8.

↑ Rom. v. 18, 19,

we

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