Page:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.djvu/56

 The conclusion is, that while the Lord's will, as to end, is man's eternal happiness in heaven,—his will, as to means, is that man should come into a state of love and goodness,—and his will, again, as to the means of that means, is, that man should keep the commandments revealed and taught in the Divine Word; for the Lord has given that Word to man, for "a lamp to his feet and a light to his path," in his journey through the world. The sum of the whole, then, is, that it is the Lord's will that man should learn the Divine commandments and keep them: love, and, together with it, heavenly happiness, will necessarily be the result: as the Lord said, "he that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:" "and," he added, "my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him:" and where the Lord's abode is, there is heaven.

But this point, namely, that the Lord's will is, chiefly, that man should live according to the Divine commandments,—will be seen more clearly by considering in what manner the keeping of those commandments tends to produce that state of love in the heart, which is the essence of the heavenly state. It is effected in this way. In the first place, the Divine commandments forbid the indulgence of every feeling or inclination that is opposed to love, whether towards God or man. The commandment, for instance, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," when understood in its full spiritual