222 Loving Clrí%l above all, S n x M. Without that, the name is a meer infigni- IX ficancy ; or rather, it is hypocrify. Now `MJ this obedience is the genuine infeparable fruit of prevailing love to him ; it is the tef}, to which our profeffed affed}ionate regards to him, are to be brought, that we may judge with certainty, whether they are fin - cere, or not. If ye love me, fays our Saviour himfelf, yohn xiv. i 5. keep my coni- c' mandments. And verfe 21. " He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, " he it is that loveth me." Nor is there any thing elfe, which in reafon can be fup- pofed, to preferve us in a Reddy, and uni- verfal obedience to his laws. Other prin- ciples and motives may produce a temporary and external conformity, or rather appear- ance of conformity to them: But in many inftances, and thcfe of the greateft moment, their influence will fail. If the demands of a perfon, or objedt, more beloved than Chrift, interfere with his precepts, the ftronger affed}iean will carry the mind, and thereby govern the pradtice. And the deli- berate of once in that one point is an effen- tial breach, forfeiting the chriftian charadrer and hopes : So that the keeping of the whole law, that is, all the reft of it, paífes for
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