travagance or mismanagement of those who went before them; of which, nevertheless, they feel the effects. All this we see every day; and we see it without surprise or complaint. What, therefore, accords with the state of things under the ordinary dispensations of Providence, as to temporal prosperity and adversity, was, by a special Providence and by a particular sentence, ordained to be the mode, and probably a most efficacious mode of restraining and correcting an offence, from which it was of the utmost importance to deter the Jewish nation.

My third proposition is, that this commandment related particularly to the Jewish economy. In the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, you find Moses, with prodigious solemnity, pronouncing the blessings and cursings which awaited the children of Israel under the dispensation to which they were called: and you will observe that these blessings consisted altogether of worldly benefits, and these curses of worldly punishments. Moses in effect declared, that with respect to this peculiar people, when they came into their own land, there should be amongst them such a signal and extraordinary and visible interposition of Providence, as to shower down blessings and happiness and prosperity upon those who adhered faithfully to the God of their fathers, and to punish with exemplary misfortunes those who disobeyed and deserted him. Such, Moses told them, would be the order of God's government over them. This dispensation dealt in temporal rewards and punishments. the second commandment, which made the temporal prosperity and adversity of families depend, in many instances, upon the religious behaviour of the ances

And

tor of such families, was a branch and consistent part of that dispensation.

But, lastly and principally, my fourth proposition is, that at no rate does it affect, or was ever meant to affect the acceptance or salvation of individuals in a future life. My proof of this proposition I draw from the 18th chapter of Ezekiel. It should seem from this chapter, that some of the Jews, at that time, had put too large an interpretation upon the second commandment; for the prophet puts this question into the mouth of his countrymen; he supposes them to be thus, as it were expostulating with God. Ye say, Why? "Doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?" that is the question he makes them ask. Now take notice of the answer; the answer, which the prophet delivers in the name of God, is this: "When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father; neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Verse 19, 20.

In the preceding part of the chapter, the prophet has dilated a good deal, and very expressly indeed, upon the same subject, all to confirm the great truth which he lays down: "Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine; the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Now apply this to the second commandment; and the only way of reconciling them together is by supposing, that the second commandment related solely to tem

poral or rather family adversity and prosperity, and Ezekiel's chapter to the rewards and punishments of a future state. When to this is added what hath been observed, that the threat in the second commandment belongs to the crime forbidden in that commandment, namely, the going over to false gods, and deserting the one true God; and that it also formed a part or branch of the Mosaic system, which dealt throughout in temporal rewards and punishments, at that time dispensed by a particular providence; when these considerations are laid together, much of the difficulty and much of the objection, which our own minds may have raised against this commandment, will, I hope, be removed.

XIV.

HOW VIRTUE PRODUCES BELIEF, AND VICE UNBELIEF.

JOHN, vii. 17.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.

It does not, I think at first sight appear, why our behaviour should influence our belief, or how any particular course of action, good or bad, should affect our assent to any particular propositions which are offered to us; for truth or probability can never depend upon our conduct; the credibility or incredibility of religion is the same, whether we act well or ill, whether we obey its laws or disobey them. Nor is it very manifest, how even our perception of evidence or credibility should be affected by our virtues or vices; because conduct is immediately voluntary, belief is not: one is an act of the will, under the power of motives; the other is an act of the understanding, upon which motives do not, primarily at least, operate, nor ought to operate at all. Yet our Lord, in the text, affirms this to be the case, namely, that our behaviour does influence our belief, and to have been the case from the beginning, that is, even during his own mi

nistry upon earth. If any man will do his will, he

shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." It becomes, therefore, a subject of serious and religious inquiry, how, why, and to what extent the declaration of the text may be maintained.

Now the first and most striking observation is, that it corresponds with experience. The fact so far as

can be observed, is as the text represents it to be. I speak of the general course of human conduct, which is the thing to be considered. Good men are generally believers; bad men are generally unbelievers. This is the general state of the case: not without exceptions; for on the one hand, there may be men of regular external morals, who are yet unbelievers, because, though immorality be one cause of unbelief, it is not the only cause: and, on the other hand, there are undoubtedly many, who, although they believe and tremble, yet go on in their sins, because their faith doth not regulate their practice. But, having respect to the ordinary course and state of human conduct, what our Saviour hath declared is verified by experience. He that doeth the will of God cometh to believe, that Jesus Christ is of God, namely, a messenger from God. A process, some how or other, takes place in the understanding, which brings the mind of him who acts rightly to this conclusion. A conviction is formed, and every day made stronger and stronger. No man ever comprehended the value of Christian precepts but by conducting his life according to them. When by so doing he is brought to know their excellency, their perfection, I had almost said their divinity, he is necessarily also brought to think well of the religion itself. Hear St. Paul:-"The night is far spent: the day is at hand: let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light; let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ; and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." (Rom. xiii. 11.) It is recorded of this text, that it was the means of con