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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 of
such
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 of
all our
present
comforts,
and our future
hopes;
he ought
therefore
to be loved
above
all things,
and to
be
addressed
with
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 honour
and 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
luna
will
this
14w
be
a
rule
to
mankind,