should reduce himself to the level of beggars; and if he should not stop there, but when he has done all this, should yield himself to undergo the fiercest sufferings, giving up not only all his possessions, but also giving his body to be clothed in rags, or to be mangled and burned and tormented as much as the wit of man could conceive, all, even all this, would not make up for the want of sincere love to God in the heart. And it is plain that it would not for the following reasons:

1. It is not the external work done, or the suffering endured, that is, in itself, worth anything in the sight of God.-The motions and exercise of the body, or anything that may be done by it, if considered separately from the heart-the inward part of the man, is of no more consequence or worth in the sight of God, than the motions of anything without life. If anything be offered or given, though it be silver, or gold, or the cattle on a thousand hills, though it be a thousand rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil, there is nothing of value in it, as an external thing, in God's sight. If God were in need of these things, they might be of value to him in themselves considered, independently of the motives of

the heart that led to their being offered. We often stand in need of external good things, and therefore such things offered or given to us, may and do have a value to us, in themselves considered. But God stands in need of nothing. He is all-sufficient in himself. He is not fed by the sacrifices of beasts, nor enriched by the gift of silver, or gold, or pearls, "Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof," Psalm 1. 10, 12. "All things come of thee, and of thine own, have we given thee. O, Lord, our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name, cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own," 1 Chronicles xxix. 14, 16. And as there is nothing profitable to God in any of our services or performances, so there can be nothing acceptable in his sight in a mere external action without sincere love in the heart, "for the Lord seeth not as men seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart." The heart is just as naked and open to him as the external actions. And therefore he sees our actions, and all our conduct, not

merely as the external motions of a machine, but as the actions of rational, intelligent creatures, and voluntary free agents, and therefore there can be, in his estimation, no excellence or amiableness in anything we can do, if the heart be not right with him.

And so God takes no pleasure in any sufferings that we may endure, in themselves considered. He is not profited by the torments men may undergo, nor does he delight to see them putting themselves to suffering, unless it be from some good motive, or to some good purpose and end. We sometimes may need that our fellow-men, our friends and neighbors should suffer for us, and should help us bear our burdens, and put themselves to inconvenience for our sake. But God stands in no such need of us, and therefore our sufferings are not acceptable to him, considered merely as sufferings endured by us; and are of no account apart from the motive that leads us to endure them. No matter what may be done or suffered, neither doings nor sufferings will make up for the want of love to God in the soul. They are not profitable to God, or lovely for their own sake in his sight; nor can they ever make up for the absence of that

love to God and love to men, which is the sum of all that God requires of his moral creatures.

2. Whatever is done or suffered, yet if the heart is withheld from God, there is nothing really given to him.—The act of the individual, in what he does or suffers, is in every case, looked upon not as the act of a lifeless engine or machine, but as the act of an intelligent, voluntary, moral being. For surely a machine is not properly capable of giving anything and if any such machine, that is without life, being moved by springs, or weights, places anything before us, it cannot properly be said to give it to us. Harps, and cymbals, and other instruments of music, were of old made use of in praising God in the temple and elsewhere. But these lifeless instruments could not be said to give praise to God, because they had no thought, nor understanding, or will, or heart, to give value to their pleasant sounds. And so though a man has a heart, and an understanding, and a will, yet if when he gives anything to God, he gives it without his heart, there is no more truly given to God, than is given by the instrument of music.

He that has no sincerity in his heart, has

no real respect to God in what he seems to give, or in all his performances or sufferings; and therefore God is not his great end in what he does or gives. What is given, is given to that which the individual makes his great end in giving. If his end be only himself, then it is given only to himself, and not to God ;and if his aim be his own honor or ease, or worldly profit, then the gift is but an offering to these things. The gift is an offering to him to whom the giver's heart devotes, and for whom he designs it. It is the aim of the heart that makes the reality of the gift; and if the sincere aim of the heart be not to God, then there is in reality nothing given to him, no matter what is performed or suffered. that it would be a great absurdity to suppose, that anything that can be offered or given to God, can make up for the absence of love in the heart to him; for without this, nothing is truly given, and the seeming gift is but mockery of the Most High. This further appears,

So

3. From the fact, that this love or charity is the sum of all that God requires of us.—And it is absurd to suppose that anything can make for the want of that which is the sum of all that God requires. Charity or love is some

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