we ought to remember that we differ just as much from him; that few persons do not agree, at least in theory, however much they may differ in practice respecting the necessity of purity of heart and holiness of life; and those, who thus acquiesce in believing the essentials of sound doctrine, should not contend about those things which have no reference to righteousness.

15. It is no help to the cause of religion to deny moral duties, or to represent them of no avail towards securing the approbation of God, as though pure morality and pure religion could ever be divided. For to do that, serves to lessen that reverence for practical virtue in the minds of men, which they ought most religiously to maintain. It will induce the supposition, that heaven may be obtained on easier conditions, than those habits of actual goodness, which are slowly acquired and difficultly retained, which cannot be generated without labour, and may be lost without watchfulness. It is to make what some persons call inward light a better guide to heaven than purity of heart and holiness of life, and the delirium of sensation a substitute for uprightness of character.

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16. Other than the life and actions, there is no

test by which we are to determine the reality or the

By their fruits, said
And St. John seems

absence of religion in the soul.
our Lord, ye shall know them.
particularly to guard against those

sometimes exist upon this point.

delusions which

Little children,

He that DOETH

says he, let no man DECEIVE you. righteousness is righteous, even as he (GOD) is righteous.

17. To sum up all our remarks on this head, it is briefly to be noticed that true religion is a principle to govern, rather than a sensation to enjoy. Salvation depends not upon the impulses of feeling, but is the consequence of a pure heart, and an humble and obedient life. Repentance is not a miraculous infusion, but such a sorrow for sin, as leads to its abandonment, and generates newness of life. Formality in religion, austerity in the manner, or apparent sanctity in the look, do not constitute the piety of the gospel; but it consists in that inward purity which cleanses the thoughts, and that goodness which is manifest in the conduct. When the effect of religious principle is to purify the soul from actual sin, and to render its

subjects a peculiar people, zealous of good works, it produces its great design, and the fruit being thus unto holiness, the end will be life everlasting. The more we do the will of God, the more we become like God; for to do his will is to imitate his perfections, whose will is the sum of them all.

PART II

THE FREE AGENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF MAN.

1. MAN from the beginning was made an accountable creature, and has continued so ever since. To this truth, which the scriptures fully establish, all succeeding ages have assented.

2. By an accountable being is meant one endued with a capacity to discern good from evil, and responsible for the use of it. The right use of this capacity constitutes religious obedience, and the wrong use, disobedience or impiety.

3. If we are constituted beings accountable for the morality of our actions, or in other words for the conformity of our conduct to the law of our rational nature, which is the will of God, it follows, that we possess not only the faculty of discerning good from evil, but also the free use of it in choosing either the one or the other, as it seemeth to us best; in either conforming, or not conforming our actions to the law

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