Secondly, Make fome useful remarks on the whole.

In St. Mark's Gospel the fame thing is faid in different words, though to the fame effect. The words parallel to the text are thefe: There is none other commandment greater than these, Mark xii. 31: that is, there is nothing in religion of an higher obligation than these two precepts: all the duties of religion must be governed by these two principles beyond them there is nothing greater, nothing to limit or restrain them; but by them muft every thing else be limited and reftrained. The reafon of this is plain: for, the relation between God and man being once known, the first conclufion is, That we ought to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our fouls, and with all our minds; that is, to the utmost of our power: and, until this general principle be established, the particular duties owing to God cannot fall under our confideration. There is no room to inquire after

the

proper inftances of expreffing our love to God, till the general obligation of loving God be known and admitted. The fame reason holds likewife as to the other general head of religion, the love of our neighbour: for, the relation between man and man, and the common relation of all to one great Mafter, being fuppofed, the result is, that we ought to love our neighbour as ourself; that is, to do all we can to promote the happiness of each other: and, unless we have this general fenfe, we cannot be concerned to know in any particular cafe what is the proper inftance of love which we ought to fhew towards our neighbour.

But, these general principles being once eftablished, the particular duties flow from them naturally. The love of God, and the love of our neighbour, if carefully attended to, will eafily grow into a complete system of religion. The duties of religion are all relative, regarding either God or man ; and there is no relative duty that love does not readily transform itself into upon the mere view of the different circumftances of the perfons concerned. Love, with regard to a fuperior, becomes honour, and refpect, and fhews itself in a cheerful obedience and a willing fubmiffion to the commands of authority: love, with respect to our equals, is friendship and benevolence: towards inferiors it is courtesy and condefcenfion: if it regards the happy and profperous, it is joy and pleasure, which envy cannot corrupt: if it looks towards the miferable, it is pity and compaffion; it is a tenderness which will discover itself in all the acts of mercy and humanity.

In negative duties this principle is no less effectual than in pofitive. Love will not permit us to injure, oppress, or offend our brother: it will not give us leave to neglect our betters, or to despise our inferiors: it will reftrain every inordinate pasfion, and not fuffer us either to gratify our envy at the expence of our neighbour's credit and reputation, or our luft by violating his wife or his daughter; but it will preferve us harmless and innocent: for love worketh no ill to its neighbour. This deduction of particular duties from this general principle was made by St. Paul long fince: Owe no man, fays he, any thing, but to love one another: for

he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet: and, if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this faying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Rom. xiii. 8, &c.

This notion of love, as being the fulness of the law, and of all the commandments being comprehended in this faying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, will lead us to the true and natural interpretation of a paffage in St. James, which, as it is commonly understood, is liable to great difficulties and objections, and to those who have plain sense, and can follow it, muft appear abfurd: Whofoever, fays he, shall keep the whole law, and offend in one point, he is guilty of all, chap. ii. ver. 10. This is a position something ftrange, that an offence against one law fhould be a breach of all laws, however different they are in kind and degree; that he who commits adultery, for inftance, should therefore be guilty of murder and robbery, and other the like heinous offences nothing related to the fin of adultery. But let us confider the Apoftle's reafon in the next verse: For he that faid, Do not commit adultery, faid alfo, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet, if thou kill, thou art become a tranfgreffor of the law. This reafon, as interpreters commonly expound it, amounts to this: All laws are founded upon one and the fame authority of God; therefore every offence against any law is a contempt of the authority upon which all laws depend;

and therefore every act of difobedience is a breach of the whole law, because subverfive of that authority upon which the whole law ftands. But there are many objections against the reafon thus ftated: first, it is liable evidently to all the difficulties of the Stoics' paradox, that all offences are equal: for, if the guilt of fin depends, not upon the nature and circumftances of the finful action, but upon the authority of the lawgiver, then every fin, being an offence against the same authority, is of the fame guilt and heinoufnefs; and there will be no difference between killing your neighbour and your neighbour's horfe; for he that has forbid you killing your neighbour, has likewise forbid you doing any act to the hurt and detriment of your neighbour. Secondly, the Apoftle's inference in the latter part of the verse does not answer to the principle laid down in the former part: He that faid, Do not commit adultery, faid alfo, Do not kill. This is his principle; and he infers, Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet, if thou kill, thou art become a tranfgreffor of the law: no doubt of it; because there is a law against murder as well as against adultery. But what is this towards fhewing that the breach of one law is the breach of all? The inference therefore should have been upon this foot: now, if thou commit no adultery, yet, if thou kill, thou art guilty of all the laws by disobeying the Author of all laws.

But this paffage of St. James will have another appearance, when fairly examined. In order to it, we must look back to that which gave occafion to it, and follow the Apoftle's argument step by step.

The whole depends upon the notion, which is common to the writers of the New Teftament, that love is the fulfilling of the law. St. James confiders the whole duty of man to man as contained in one law, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: and then he argues rightly, he who offends in one point is guilty of the whole law: for, whether it be theft, or murder, or adultery, that you commit, it matters not; for any of thefe crimes is inconfiftent with the law, which contains and is the whole, Thou fhalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But hear the Apoftle's own words: in the eighth verse you read thus, If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: where, first, you are to observe, that he calls this the royal law, not because given by Chrift the king, as fome tell us, for all laws are in that fense royal laws; but because it is the first fupreme law, from which all others proceed, as diftinct branches, and by which they must all be governed. Secondly, you must take notice what stress the Apostle lays upon their fulfilling this royal law: If ye fulfil the royal law,—ye do well: that is, if you attend to it in all inftances, fo as not to offend against it in any cafe, ye then will do well. The Apoftle proceeds in the next verfe, But, if ye have respect to persons, ye commit fin, and are convinced of the law as tranfgreffors. The law in this verfe is the fame law that was mentioned before, that is, the royal law: if, fays he, you have any partial regards, you will not then fulfil the law of love, but will be found to be tranfgreffors of that law: for, as it follows in the tenth verse, whosoever shall keep the whole law, and