duct, directed, governed and tried. To this the statute law of

God, he brings his heart and his life, daily comparing himself with it, and judging himself by it. For these the venerable records of heaven, fully satisfied of their authority, he maintains a sacred reverence: and from a genuine principle of true loyalty to his sovereign, he labours to conform to them, not wishing to be released from their commanding influence. And to this cheerful obedience, though alas! disgraced with many weaknesses and imperfections, he is sweetly allured, and powerfully urged by the generous motives the blessed gospel suggests; motives arising from the unparalleled love of the Son of God himself, in laying down his life, to restore the honours of his broken. law, and to vindicate the rights of his injured government. From hence likewise,

4. We are led to contemplate the beauty, order and harmony of this spiritual kingdom, which is another idea the metaphor naturally conveys. Sin, as hath been already observed, introduces into the soul of man the most horrid anarchy and confusion. It raises a civil war there, and sets all the powers of the heart at variance, not with God only, but with one another. And, in these sad circumstances, what a miserable appearance does the mind of man make! How is its beauty defaced; its strength enervated; and its real happiness spoiled and destroyed! But, when God sets up his kingdom there, when real religion takes possession of the heart, the face of things is in some good degree altered. This little state, torn to pieces by intestine broils, angry passions, and furious lusts, emerges out of that disgrace and misery, in which it was involved, collects somewhat of its former strength, and rises gradually into a fair and flourishing empire: as the soul itself becomes again subject to the dominion of heaven, so the several powers of it, no longer restlessly invading each other's province, retire to their proper stations. Reason guides the judgment, the judgment rules the will, the will commands the affections, and the affections of the mind, under the united conduct of the judgment and the will, restrain and regulate the inferior appetites of nature. And thus order succeeds confusion, and with it that beauty, firmness and union, which were originally the glory of the human soul.

But, by all this I do not mean to insinuate, that religion at once exalts a man to a state of perfection. No; the kingdom of God is as yet in its infancy, and of consequence we see it struggling, even in the best of men, with many difficulties and dangers. There are still Canaanites in the land, remains of ignorance, passion, and sin, which will prove the unhappy occasions of disquietude and contention, if not in some instances of a kind of mutiny and rebellion. Nevertheless it must be acknowledged, that in proportion to the influence of religion on the heart, so is the beauty, health, and vigour of the mind. These are the natural and genuine fruits of a true knowledge of Christ and his grace, and of a lively experience of real and substantial piety. Hereby the man is invigorated and strengthened, united to God and himself, and possessed of a dignity which will command reverence from even wicked men themselves. And if such be the nature and tendency of religion, how great may we reasonably suppose,

5. Are the privileges and immunities annexed to this spiritual kingdom! God himself, as you have seen, is both the Founder and the Sovereign of it; and since it receives its denomination and existence from him, there can be no just doubt but he will honour it with his peculiar favour, presence and protection. If it be a happiness, as to our outward concerns, to live under the wise, just, and mild administration of a worldly prince; to have our liberties and properties preserved entire; to be sure of the speedy and effectual redress of our grievances; and, together with peace and plenty, to possess a rich supply of every needful and desirable good; how great must be the felicity of the Christian, who is entitled to these spiritual blessings in a much higher and nobler perfection! God his king reigns in truth and righteousness, in gentleness and love: and as the humble heart is the willing subject of his government, so he deigns to make it the seat of his residence. There, where he hath set up the trophies of his victorious power, he condescends to display the charms of his beauty and grace. I will dwell in them, says he, and I will walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people a. They are the men whom he delights to honour. To him they are allowed on

a 2 Cor. vi. 16.

every occasion to have access with boldness: and whilst he graciously smiles upon them, he assures them, with a generosity 'peculiar to himself, that he will supply all their wants according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ. His perfections are each of them interested in their behalf; his providence and grace are constantly employed to promote their real welfare; and no good thing, which either his wisdom judges fit for them, or his bounty inclines him to bestow on them, will he ever withhold. To all which I have only to add one circumstance more, to complete our idea of this spiritual kingdom; and that is,

6. And lastly, Its stability and duration. It is a kingdom that shall not be moved. The foundation of it is laid in the purpose and grace of him who wants neither means nor inclination to support and defend it. Having raised up to himself this new empire out of the ruins of human apostacy, whilst he hath taken the administration of its affairs into his own hands, he hath condescended solemnly to swear, and that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Thus dignified then above the favourites of the most powerful monarch on earth, it is the peculiar felicity of the good man that he holds his liberties and possessions, not on the precarious tenure of all human things, but on the faithfulness of a God, who hath made with him an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure a.

PART II.

FROM this figurative description of religion, we now come to consider what is more particularly and plainly affirmed concerning it in the text:

II. It is not in word, but in power. It is not in word; it does not consist in notions, professions, or external forms, things wherein men are too apt to place the essence of it: but in power; it is an inward, spiritual, vital principle, which takes hold of the heart, and diffuses its influence through the life. So the text is expounded by a similar passage: the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, it does not consist in outward observances; but it is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost b. These are the very essence of it, and constitute its

a 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.

b Rom. xiv. 17.

trué and
proper nature. To the like purpose the same inspired
writer thus expresses himself in another place: He is not a Jew
who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is out-
ward in the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God a,

Here therefore, agreeably to the order observed in the text, it will be natural to inquire more particularly,

FIRST, What religion is not; and,

SECONDLY, What it really is, or wherein the true nature of it does consist.

FIRST, As to the negative part of the question, What religion is not; it is lamentable to reflect how much the degeneracy of mankind hath contributed to our enlargement on this head. One would, indeed, at first view, be ready to imagine, that a general contemplation of the spiritual nature of God, and of the proper use of their own intellectual powers, should be sufficient to secure men's understandings, however depraved their dispositions might be, from any very great absurdities here. But alas! what absurdities can imagination devise, which have not assumed the venerable name of religion, and under that denomination claimed the serious attention of mankind? To enter particularly into them, would be almost an endless task. We must not, however, wholly pass them over in silence. But, in the mean while, it will be of considerable use to help us through this maze, if we take the pains to look for a moment into those principles of the human heart, which have the main influence, though perhaps without being observed, in forming the various religious sentiments which commonly obtain.

Mankind are in an apostate state; and there are few so stupid, as not to be sensible that something is necessary to recommend them to the Deity. Now, Pride and Self-indulgence being the two prevailing corruptions of the heart, that scheme of religion will be most acceptable to the generality, which, while it flatters the one, can be made tolerably well to consist with the other. And since the judgment is often considerably influenced by the will, it is not to be wondered that men by degrees come to think those opinions true, which exactly corre

a Rom. ii. 28, 29.

spond with the very spirit of their depraved nature, though they are found, when stript of this recommendation, to be most absurd and ridiculous. The common herd of mankind will greedily swallow down a religion which is made thus palatable to their taste, without troubling themselves to consider one moment about it, whether it be a reasonable service. And as to those who cannot so easily submit their understandings to a glaring imposition; being nevertheless as strongly impelled by the same corrupt passions, they will have recourse to innumerable refinements, to gild over their fond conceits with the pleasing appearance of truth. Upon these principles then, we are enabled to account for that almost infinite variety of mistaken notions, which prevail in the world. To Pride and Sloth, thus either triumphing over the understanding, or else insensibly blinding it, they owe their entire origin and support; and these depraved tempers are the grand characteristics of them all. Now, by the help of this clue, we shall soon find our way through that labyrinth of error and deception which is before us, and discover what the apostle means by that religion, which he emphatically describes as consisting in Word only.

Under this denomination then is to be reduced, in the first place, the religion of the Pagan world, which consisted in the observance of certain rites, instituted by their priests and lawgivers, with little or no foundation in reason or common sense. Their beasts we see them leading with great solemnity to their temples, and there, amidst a crowd of unmeaning ceremonies, offering them on their altars, to appease the wrath of the Deity, and entitle themselves to his favour. Some we see sacrificing this animal, and others that; some bowing to a calf, and others, more devout than the rest, not sparing their very children from the flames. History will acquaint us with the different forms which obtained among them: but though they were so various, and passed under so many changes, yet they were all expressive of the same temper, and were all adapted to the same ends. To merit the divine regards, was the grand point they aimed at; so gratifying their Pride, while, by a kind of commutation for their vices, they enabled themselves to sin with the less uneasiness and remorse.