350
CBÀISTIAN MORALITY,
VIZ.
(SERA.
txr.
to
make
us
truly
wise
and
holy,
without
the
honesty and
integrity
of
the
heart.
Truth
demands
a
room and
place
there
also
:
And
this
is
the
truth
which
my
text recom-
mends.
The
first thing
I
proposed,
was
to shew
the
latitude
and extent of
this
duty
and
I
have described
it
as
con-
sisting in these three things
:
1.
Veracity,
which
is,
when
our
words
are conformable
to
the sentiments
of
our
mind.
2.
Faithfulness, when
our
actions agree
with
our
words.
3.
Constancy,
and that
is
when
our
practices are con-
sistent
with
our pious principles, and the
whole
course
of
our
life
is
of
a
piece,
governed
by
the same rules
and
dictates
of
morality and
religion.
Where
these are
want
-
ing,
that
person
is false,
faithless,
fickle,
and incon-
stant, and
acts
neither
agreeable
to his
nature
as
a
man,
nor
to
his
character
as a
christian.
The
second thing
I
designed to
shew, was
that
the
light
of
nature
dictates
and requires
the
practice of
this
virtue
:
And
it
will
appear,
if
we
consider
our relation
either
to
God
or man.
I.
If
we
consider
our natural relation
to
God, both
as
our
Creator
or Father, and
as
our Lord
or Go-
vernor.
Consider
him as
our Father, the Author
of
our
being.
Truth
and
faithfulness
are
the
attributes
of
his
nature,
and
the
necessary
characters of
his
conduct
toward
his
creatures;
and many
of
the
heathens
could tell
us,
that
a
likeness to
God
the
Father
of our
spirits, in such moral
perfections of
his
nature,
is
the duty
and
glory
of
man-
kind.
We are
his offspring,
saith Aratus,
a
heathen
poet;
Acts
xvii.
8.
and
children should
be
like
their
divine
Parent.
The
light
of nature
tells
us,
that
he
is
not
only
our
Creator, and our
Father
in this sense,
but
be
is
our
Lord
and
Governor
also.
And he has knowledge,
and
he
has
power to answer
and
fulfil
this
high
character and
station. The great God
who looks
into our hearts,
who
sees
our
souls
through and
through,
he knows
what
our
inward sentiments are
while
the falsehood
is
on
our
lips;
he remembers what
our
engagements and contracts
are
while
we
renounce
and
break them;
he
hates
deceit,
lying,
and
falsehood;
and
all
the
civilized
nations
have
ever
supposed
that
he
will
avenge
it
with
peculiar
judg-
ments.