70 OF THE MORAL LAW, AND THE ,EVIL OF SIN. [SEAM. V. New Testament; and thus it becomes an universal law which requires the obedience of all mankind. And as it hath universal authority over all men, so its obligation is perpetual and everlasting; there cannot be , any dissolution of it, nor a release from its commands or requirements ; which will appear if we consider the fol- lowing reasons I. " It is a law which arises from the very existence of God and the nature of man :" It springs from the very relation ofsuch creatures to their Maker and to one ano- ther. Every creature must owe its all to him that made it; and therefore all its powers ought to be employed so as to bring some honour to its Maker God. He is the supreme Lord and Ruler, and he ought to be reverenced and obeyed : He is all-wise and almighty, he ought to be feared and worshipped : He is in himself the most excel- lent of beings as well as merciful and kind to us, and the spring ofall our present comforts, and our future hopes; he ought therefore to be loved above all things, and to be addressedwith prayer and praise ; nor can it ever be said that a creature is under no obligation to love and obey, to fear and worship his Creator, or to render what is due to his fellow-creatures, even according to his utmost powers. II. " This law is so far wrought into the very nature of man as a reasonable creature, that an awakened con- science will require obedience to it for ever." Whereso- ever the reasoning powers of man are diligent and sin- ' cerely attentive to his most important concerns, he must acknowledge the great God demands our best obedience, our honourand our love, and he deserves it : Every con- science acting on reasonable principles must confess that truth and honesty ought to be practised towards our neighbour, and temperance and sobriety with regard to ourselves; that we are bound to restrain our vicious, ap- petités, and passions within the rules of reason and our better powers that we must not be savage or cruel to others, nor must we abuse our understanding and our senses which God has given us- for better purposes, and . by drowning them in wine and strong liquors, or by any , intemperance behave like the brutes that perish. As long as man is man, and reason i5 reason, so lunawill this 14w be a rule to mankind,
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