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SERMON XVI.

FEAR OF PUNISHMENT.

HOSEA xiii. 9.

THOU HAST DESTROYED THYSELF.

THE Supreme Being, who is infinitely good, as well as infinitely wise and powerful, in creating the children of men, designed them for virtue and happiness. Virtue is valuable for its own sake: it is an object, which we cannot forbear to love and admire, even if it should produce no salutary effects to the individual, by whom it is practised. The good man is a great and honourable character, whether he is happy or unhappy; and a world filled with virtuous beings is a glorious spectacle, whatever the consequences of their virtue may be. But the value of virtue is much enhanced, when it is found that the natural effect of it is to bless its possessors. God intends us for perfect moral rectitude, because the consequence of it is happiness; and he forbids whatever is contrary to it, because by trangressing its laws, we render ourselves miserable.

In this view of virtue, as the cause of happiness, we cannot forbear considering every method, which God employs to lead us to it, as an instance of benevolence. When he says to us, Be ye holy, it is the same thing as if he said to us in other words, Be ye happy. With how many means of felicity of various kinds has he provided us! In the natural world we see and acknowledge the goodness of God. Here one part is adjusted to another, and the happiness of mankind is designed in all. The earth and the vegetables which spring from it, the rain and the clear shining of the sun, the sea and the air, have each a final cause, which is some good to created beings. It is the same thing in the moral world. When God instructs us in his will by the objects, that he presents to our view; imprints on our bosoms a love of whatsoever things are true, honourable, just, pure, kind, and praiseworthy; and gives us reason, by which we are enabled to ascertain the nature of actions, and the difference between virtue and vice; his intention is to lead us to happiness. Above all, his supernatural communications are designed to promote this object. He has sent his Son to bless mankind, by turning them away from their iniquities. For this purpose did Jesus Christ and his Apostles describe piety and holiness in all their charms. For this purpose did they declare, that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things,

which God hath prepared for them who love him. The design of all our Saviour's precepts was to give rest to our souls; to communicate to us peace, and comfort, and joy in the holy Spirit. In a word, all the commands and all the promises of God respect this end.

But God employs other means and motives to lead us to virtue, which are his threatenings, or denunciations of punishment, to be inflicted on the sinful. These threatenings seem to present his character in another view, as a severe and angry Being this sentiment however is founded on our misconceptions. For what is implied in the threatenings of the Deity? Do they proceed from any real severity in his nature? No; for he is eternally and unchangeably benevolent: he delights not in the misery, but in the happiness of his creatures. Do they imply that God will punish for the sake of punishing? No; but all his threats amount to these prohibitions: Destroy not yourselves: do yourselves no harm do not injure and ruin yourselves by your crimes do not make yourselves wretched. They are not merely denunciations of positive punishment; but they may also be regarded as declarations of the natural and inevitable consequences of sin.

If it is admitted as an established truth, that the purpose of the Almighty in creating man was to

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confer happiness on him, it must at the same time be allowed, that a particular constitution of mind is necessary to qualify him for this happiness. This constitution in man appears to be holy dispositions and confirmed habits of virtue. It is evident, that as the possession of these qualities produces felicity, so what is contrary to them must produce misery. For opposite causes must of necessity yield opposite effects; and to assert, that man might have been made happy both by obedience and disobedience to the commands of God, is as absurd as to say, that a body, which is impelled in a certain direction by an external force, may at the same time be impelled toward the same point by a force applied in a contrary direction. This argument is conclusive; and thus do different causes act throughout nature. If fire warms, cold must chill us; if virtue makes us happy, vice must render us miserable.

It is in our power to choose either of these causes, either virtue or vice; in other words, we are free agents. Life and death are set before us; and we are able to make an election between them. Consequently our happiness and misery are of our own procuring. If we choose to be happy, happiness is within our reach, and nothing can frustrate our design if we choose to be miserable, nothing can prevent our pernicious choice; and when we become so, we can blame none but ourselves.

If this reasoning is just, when God forbids us to commit sin, and threatens us with punishment, if we disregard his prohibition, we may consider him as speaking to us in the following manner :—

Children of men, moved by the principle of benevolence, I have created you and placed you on the earth. I have made you to be happy, and not to promote my own felicity. Your goodness extends not to me; it is no pleasure nor gain to me, if you are righteous: for infinitely blessed in myself, I stand in no need of your services and praises. I have formed you free, capable of choosing either virtue or vice. Virtue is the source of genuine felicity; and without freedom virtue can have no existence for the essence of it consists in voluntarily preferring what is right, when it is in your power to practise what is wrong. I command you therefore to be virtuous, because I desire your happiness. I promise you that you shall be blessed, if you obey my will: or I make known to you the natural consequences of obedience. I enjoin it upon you to do yourselves good : I direct you to make yourselves happy here and hereafter. On the contrary I forbid you to sin, because I desire not your death and misery. I threaten you with punishment, if you disobey my will: or I reveal to you the natural consequences of disobedience. I command you not to destroy yourselves I forbid you to make yourselves wretched in this world and in the other.

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