things, by which those who are truly blessed are described by our Saviour: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." And this Christ also speaks of, as one of the weightier matters of the law: "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith." To the same purpose is that passage, "He shall show thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?" And also, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice;" which seems to have been a text much delighted in by our Saviour, by his manner of citing it once and again.

as a very essential part of

It is spoken of as a great in giving himself for our

Zeal is also spoken of, the religion of true saints. object Christ had in view, redemption: "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." And this is spoken of as the great thing wanting in the lukewarm Laodiceans.

I have mentioned but a few texts, out of many in the Scripture, which place religion very much in the affections. But what has been observed may be sufficient to show, that they who would deny that much of true religion lies in the affections, must throw away what we have been wont to own for our Bible, and get some other rule by which to judge of the nature of religion.

5. The Scriptures represent true religion as being summarily comprehended in love, the chief of the affections, and fountain of all other affections.

So our blessed Saviour represents the matter, in answer to the lawyer, who asked him, which was the great commandment of the law: "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Which last words signify, that these two commandments comprehend all the duty prescribed, and the religion taught, in the law and the prophets. And the apostle Paul makes the same representation of the matter: "He that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." "Now, the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart," &c. The same apostle speaks of love, as the greatest thing in religion, and as the vitals, essence, and soul of it; without which, the greatest knowledge and gifts, the most glaring profession, and every thing else which appertains to religion, are vain and worthless; and represents it as the fountain from whence proceeds all that is good, in 1 Cor. xiii. throughout; for that which is there rendered charity, in the original is aуα, the proper English of which is love. αγάπη,

Now, although it be true that the love thus spoken of includes the whole of a sincerely benevolent propensity of the soul towards God and man, yet it is evident, from what has been before observed, that this propensity, or inclination of the soul, when in sensible or vigorous exercise, becomes affection, and

is no other than affectionate love.. And surely it is such vigorous and fervent love which Christ speaks of as the sum of all religion, when he speaks of lov ing God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds, and our neighbour as ourselves, as the sum of all that was taught and prescribed in the law and the prophets.

Indeed it cannot be supposed, when this affection of love is here, and in other scriptures, spoken of as the sum of all religion, that hereby is meant the act, exclusive of the habit, or that the exercise of the understanding is excluded, which is implied in all reasonable affection. But it is evident from these scriptures, that the essence of all true religion lies in holy love; and that in this divine affection, and an habitual disposition to it, and that light which is the foundation of it, and those things which are the fruits of it, consists the whole of religion.

From hence it clearly and certainly appears, that great part of true religion consists in the affections. For love is not only one of the affections, but it is the first and chief of them, and the fountain of all the affections. From love arises hatred of those things which are contrary to what we love, or which oppose and thwart us in those things in which we delight and from the various exercises of love and hatred, according to the circumstances of the objects of these affections, as present or absent, certain or uncertain, probable or improbable, arise all those other affections of desire, hope, fear, joy, grief, gratitude, anger, &c. From a vigorous, affectionate, and fervent love to God, will necessarily arise other religious affections; hence will arise an intense hatred and ab

horrence of sin, fear of sin, and a dread of God's displeasure, gratitude to God for his goodness, complacence and joy in God when God is graciously and sensibly present, and grief when he is absent, and a joyful hope when a future enjoyment of God is expected, and fervent zeal for the glory of God. And, in like manner, from a fervent love to men, will arise all other virtuous affections towards men.

6. The religion of the most eminent saints of which we have an account in Scripture, consisted much in holy affections.

I shall take particular notice of three eminent saints, who have expressed the frame and sentiments of their own hearts, and so described their own religion, and the manner of their intercourse with God.

The first I shall take notice of is David, that man after God's own heart; who has given us a lively portraiture of his religion in the book of Psalms. These holy songs of his are nothing else but the expressions and breathings of devout and holy affections such as an humble and fervent love to God; admiration of his glorious perfections and wonderful works; earnest desires, thirstings, and pantings of soul after God; delight and joy in God; a sweet and melting gratitude to God for his great goodness; a holy exultation and triumph of soul in the favour, sufficiency, and faithfulness of God; his love to, and delight in the saints, the excellent of the earth; his great delight in the word and ordinances of God; his grief for his own and others' sins; and his fervent zeal for God, and against the enemies of God and his church. And these expressions of holy affection, with which the Psalms of David abound, are

the more to our present purpose, because those psalms are not only the expressions of the religion of so eminent a saint, of whom God speaks as so agreeable to his mind; but were also, by the direction of the Holy Ghost, penned for the use of the church of God in its public worship, not only in that age, but in after ages; as being fitted to express the religion of all saints, in all ages, as well as the religion of the Psalmist. And it is moreover to be observed, that David, in the book of Psalms, speaks not as a private person, but as the Psalmist of Israel, as the subordinate head of the church of God, and leader in their worship and praises; and in many of the psalms speaks in the name of Christ, as personating him in these breathings forth of holy affection; and in many other psalms, he speaks in the name of the church.

Another instance I shall observe, is the apostle Paul, who was in many respects the chief of all the ministers of the New Testament; being, above all others, a chosen vessel unto Christ, to bear his name before the Gentiles, and made the chief instrument of propagating and establishing the Christian church in the world, and of distinctly revealing the glorious mysteries of the gospel, for the instruction of the church in all ages; and (as has not been improbably thought by some) the most eminent servant of Christ that ever lived, received to the highest rewards in the heavenly kingdom of his Master. By what is said of him in the Scripture, he appears to have been And it is very

a person that was full of affection. manifest, that the religion he expresses in his epistles consisted very much in holy affections.

It appears by all his expressions of himself, that he was, in the