160 PROVIDENCE VINDICATED. conveys an untruth. You cannot have too many-poker, tongs, and all-keep them all going." (3.) If pains be scattered through all the conditions of life, so also are pleasures. When the human condition appears most depressed, the feelings of men, through the gracious appointment of Providence, adjust themselves wonderfully to their state, and enable them to extract satisfaction from sources that are totally unknown to others. (4.) Many of the evils which occasion our complaints are wholly imaginary. They derive their existence from fancy and humor, and childish subjection to the opinions of others. The distress which they produce is indeed real; but its reality does not arise from the nature of things, but from that disorder of imagination which a small measure of reflection might rectify. (5.) A great proportion of evils is brought upon us by our own misconduct. The ungoverned passions of men betray them into a thousand follies; their follies, into crimes; and their crimes, into calamities. Yet nothing is more common than for such as have been the authors of their own misery, to make loud complaints of the hard fate of men. (6.) It is admitted that there are evils which are both real and unavoidable; from which neither wisdom nor goodness can procure our exemption. But under these evils, this comfort remains, that if they cannot be prevented, there are means appointed by Divine Providence, by which they may be much alleviated. Religion is the great principle which acts, under such circumstances, in aid of human happiness. It inspires fortitude, supports patience, and, by its prospects and promises, darts a cheering ray into the darkest shade of human life. The tendency of divine revelation to promote human happiness, is fully considered in the last chapter of the volume, and may be profitably read in connection with the present chapter. 363. In what respects are we unjust to Divine Providence in the computation of our pleasures and our pains? TWO GREAT LAWS OF REVEALED MORALITY. 161 BOOK VI.-PART II. OF THE DUTIES WHICH RESPECT OTHER BEINGS. IN the remainder of the volume, these duties are drawn from various sources. (1.) From the two fundamental laws, of love to God, and to our neighbor. (2.) From the golden rule of our Savior. (3.) From St. Paul's description of love in 1 Cor. xv. (4.) From a view of man under certain general relations. (5.) From the Ten Commandments. (6.) From the biography of Christ and his followers. CHAPTER I. THE TWO GREAT LAWS OF REVEALED MORALITY. 364. THE two great laws of human duty recognized by our Savior, but drawn from the Mosaic writings, are in the following words :-" THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART, WITH ALL THY SOUL, WITH ALL THÝ MIND, WITH ALL THY STRENGTH; this is the first and great commandment; and the second is like unto it: THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." [Matt. xxii. 37-39; Mark xii. 30-33.] 364. What are the two great laws of human duty? SECTION I.-LOVE TO GOD. 365. THE following are perhaps some of the best definitions that can be furnished of the nature of this principle: (1.) It is such a reverential admiration of God's perfections in general, and such a grateful sense of his goodness in particular, as render the contemplation and the worship of Him delightful to us, and produce in us a constant desire and endeavor to please him in every part of our moral and religious conduct. [Bishop Porteus.] (2.) Love to God, though one affection, includes in it especially the three following things:-Complacency in 162 NATURE OF LOVE TO GOD. the divine character, gratitude for the divine goodness, and delight in the divine happiness. Love to God is love to Him for what he is, and for all that he is. It must regard Him in his entire char acter. Every existing creature owes to its Creator all that it is, and has, and hopes for; and from every creature that is capable of knowing God, gratitude is due to Him for its being and for its well-being. The complacency referred to is love to God for what He is, and for the benevolence of his nature as manifested to creation in general; gratitude is love to Him for his kindness to us personally; to us relatively, as members of families and communities. The Deity ought also to be the first of the objects of benevolence or good-will, in the bosoms of his intelligent offspring, though he does not need their benevolence. By every right-hearted creature a pure and intense sympathy must be experienced with the blessedness of Deity, whether flowing from His own exhaustless self-sufficiency, or from the accomplishment of the purposes of his goodness and righteousness. pro It is impossible that the love to God, which has been described, can exist and operate in any mind, but in portion as that mind is in a state of moral unison with the mind of the Deity; and wherever this is the case, the "keeping of God's commandments" will be its unfailing indication. [Wardlaw.] (3.) Love naturally transforms itself into the performance of all the relative duties which arise from the circumstances of the persons related. Thus, in the present case, if we love God, and consider him as the Lord and Governor of the world, our love will soon become obedience; if we consider him as wise, good, and gracious, our love will become honor, adoration, and gratitude; if we add to these our natural weakness and infirmity, love will teach us dependence, and prompt us, in all our wants, to fly for refuge to our great Protector; and thus, in all other instances, may all the particular duties be drawn from this general principle. Hence its fundamental nature is apparent. [Sherlock.] 366. The love which we owe to God is the same in nature with that which we owe to all created intelligent NATURE OF LOVE TO GOD. 163 beings; but they are, of course, to be loved in subordination to Him, from whom we cannot withhold the supreme love of our hearts during every period of our being, without extreme injustice and criminality. The degree of love forms the next subject of our consideration. 367. The terms of the law in respect to this point are very explicit : "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." The affection here required, therefore, must be as large as the powers of the soul itself, and must engross the whole, to the exclusion of all contrary affections, and the regulation and moderation of all other affections, in entire subordination and subservience to this governing principle; so that nothing should in any sense or in any degree be loved by us but for the Lord's sake, and according to his commandment. (1.) He loves God with all his heart who loves nothing in comparison of him, and nothing but in reference to Him -who is ready to give up, do, or suffer anything in order to please and glorify Him. (2.) He loves God with all his soul, or, rather, with all his life, who is ready to give up life for his sake; to be deprived of all sorts of comforts and endure all sorts of torments rather than dishonor God; who employs life, with all its comforts and conveniences, as means of glorifying God. (3.) He loves God with all his strength who, for the honor of his Maker, spares neither labor nor cost; who employs in his service all his goods, his talents, his power, credit, authority, and influence. (4.) He loves God with all his mind, or intellect, who applies himself only to know God and his holy will; who receives with submission, gratitude, and pleasure, the sacred truths which God has revealed to man; who forms no projects nor designs but in reference to God and the interests of mankind; who banishes from his understanding and memory every useless, foolish, and dangerous thought, together with every idea which has any tendency to defile his soul or turn it for a moment from the center of eternal repose. [Dr. Adam Clarke.] 368. The first and the natural expression of love to God is OBEDIENCE TO HIS WILL. It is of the nature of love 164 LOVE EXPRESSED BY OBEDIENCE. to prompt to a compliance with the will of the beloved object. By obedience to the will of God, we mean the whole of our duty as accountable creatures. Every duty, whether its direct object be God, our fellow-creatures, or ourselves, is a duty which we owe to God; and that morality must therefore be extremely defective which does not proceed from the principle of love to God. This has been proved in a previous chapter. The law of God is the expression of His will, who is infinitely wise, just, and good; it is nothing else than the measure and rule of that obedience which the natures of God and man make necessary from the one to the other. The obligation to render this obedience arises from the relations necessarily subsisting between a created and dependent moral agent and the great Creator. The law which he gives to his creatures is the standard and directory, as to the nature and extent of that love and service which were previously and necessarily due. Its authority is not at all affected by the way in which it is made known to us-that being the same, whether it is ascertained from a survey of the established order of the universe, an analysis of the powers of our moral constitution, or by divine revelation. If we are only satisfied that the voice which speaks is the voice of God, we are bound to listen and obey, whatever be the medium through which it reaches us. Different Forms of Obedience to the Law of God. 369. This obedience has reference to the commands which God enjoins; to the truths which he reveals; and to the dispensations which he appoints. In the first case, he is to obey or execute; in the second, to believe; in the third, to submit. 370. To render our obedience to his commands acceptable (1.) It must be intended, voluntary, affectionate. (2.) It must proceed from a deep and practical sense of God's authority over us. (3.) We must have respect, in our obedience, to all God's commandments. The willful violation of one of them is the virtual violation of the principle upon which |