bounds or limits, is moft demonftrably certain. God is infinite in his being and greatness, in his excellence and worthinefs, in his fuperiority to the creature, and fo in his right to dispose of and dictate to them. If that which gives him authority, or that wherein his authority confifts, be infinite, then the authority itfelf is infinite: that is, it is fo great,that it is beyond all limits, and is infinitely more and greater than the authority of any finite being can poffibly be. AND hence the law of God becomes infinitely binding; and the violation of this law, in the least inftance, may truly be faid on this account, and in this view, to be infinitely wrong; and fo the crime of it to be infinitely great. For the tranfgreffion of any rule or law must be more or less criminal according as the authority of the legiflator is greater or lefs; becaufe the obligation to obey it,must bear a proportion to this; and the crime of every tranfgreffion is greater or lefs, in proportion to the degree of obligation the finner is under to the contrary. If any being has ten degrees of authority over another to command and give law to him, and no more; then he, to whom the command is given, is under ten degrees of obligation to obey, and his refufal to do it,will have ten degrees of criminality in it, and no more. And if he is under law to another being, who has a hundred, or a thousand degrees degrees of authority over him, but yet a lim ited authority, he is under tensor a hundred times greater obligation to obey him, than he is to obey the other; fo his crime in not obeying, will be ten, or an hundred times greater than in the other cafe, though it will yet be a limited `or finite crime. But if another being gives law to him, who has authority beyond all poffible degree or limits, i. e. truly infinite authority; his crime in difobeying, in this cafe, will also exceed all degrees or limits, and be really and properly infinite. THIS law, of which I am fpeaking, confifts in two main branches: one points out our duty to God; and the other, our duty to our fellow creatures, and to ourselves. This is all contained and expreffed in the law of the ten commandments, publifhed to the children of Ifrael by God from mount Sinai; and afterwards written by God himself on two tables of stone, and laid up in the ark, which was placed in the holy of holies, under the mercy feat or propitiatory. The four first of theie exprefs our duty to God; the fix laft, our du. ty to our fellow creatures. And this law is all fummed up, in the moft comprehenfive manner by our divine teacher, in the following words. "Thou fhait love the LORD thy GOD with all thy heart, and with all Matt, xxii, 37, 38, 39. f all thy foul, and with all thy mind. And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy felf."The law of God then requires nothing but Lovi: Love exercifed in a perfect manner and degree, and expreffed in all poffible, proper ways. In this the whole of the duty and obedience of moral agents confifts. LET it be further obferved, that a penalty is annexed to this law, which confits in a threatning to the difobedient. This is ef fential to a law. Whatever rule or directory is propofed and fet up without any threatning to him who difregards it, fo that he exposes himself to no more evil of any kind, by tranfgreffing it, than by the most strict obfervance of it, cannot have the nature and force of a law. It has been just observed that authority is effential to law, fo that where there is no authority, there can be no law; and that the law must be cloathed and enforced with all the authority of the legiflator. Now,this authority is exercised and expreffed in the threatning to the disobedient, and cannot poffibly be expreffed in any thing elfe, or in any other way. That rule which carries not in it a threatning to the trangref for, is attended or cloathed with no authority at all; no authority is expreffed or exercifed and therefore it has not, it cannot have, the nature and force of a law. : AND this penalty, or the evil threatened, must be exactly answerable to the authority of the lawgiver, and the juft defert of the tranfgreffor, The authority of a law lies wholly in the threatning, or appears and is expreffed only in that, as has been just ob, ferved; and it is in this that the authority of the lawgiver is exhibited. Therefore, the greater and more facred the authority of the legiflator is, the greater and more dreadful must be the punishment threatened. And this will proportion the punishment to the crime; for, as has been fhewn, the crime of the tranfgreflor of a law is greater or lefs, according to the degree of dignity and authority of the lawgiver, other things being equal. If a legislator fhould annex a threatning to his law, which is not answerable to his facred authority and worthiness to be obeyed, and fo not equal to the crime of dif bedience, he would fo far lay afide, or di veft himself of his own proper character, by not afferting and acting up to it. And the law would be fo far unbecoming him, and not agreeable to the truth and reafon of things; and fo not perfectly right and excellent. It is therefore certain, that whenever a legiflator will affert and maintain his proper character and authority, he muft threaten difobedience to his commands with a punishment exactly anfwerable to his character and authority; fo that this fhall be properly and fully expreffed in the threat ning. wing. Neither a greater nor a lefs punish ment must be threatned. For to threaten and inflict a greater punishment would be un juft, and tyrannical, and to threaten and inAict a lefs, would be injurious to his own character, contrary to the reafon and nature of things, and many ways hurtful to the fubjects. THEREFORE the penalty of the law of God must be infinite; --the punish ment threatened to the finner, must be an infinite evil, fomething infinitely great and dreadful, as the dignity, majefty, and authority of the lawgiver are infinite. Any thing less than this, would be infinitely too Jittle for the most high God to threaten; infinitely too mean and low for him. For to threaten fin against himself with a finite evil only, would be, in effect, to dethrone himfelf, and renounce his proper character and authority more, yea infinitely more, than the greatest earthly monarch would do it, with regardto himself, if he should publicly declare that however much his laws fhould be dif regarded, and trampled upon by his fubjects, they should be exposed to no evil by their rebellion; fhould have his favor, and enjoy all the benefits of his kingdom, to as great a degree as if they were perfectly obedient, For fuch an earthly monarch would in the cafe propofed, give up infinitely less than the most high majesty of heaven and earth would |