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stances. Persons in authority will reflect, that he who is Lord of lords*, and the Prince of the kings of the earth, hath deputed them for a work, similar to his own final one, the punishment of evildoers, and the praise of them that do well; and consequently will inform themselves concerning both. He needed not, when upon earth, that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man §. But sagacious inquiry and strict observation are necessary for their executing that noble plan, which David hath laid down for them in the 101st Psalm. Happy the nation, where it is pursued with gentleness and candor, yet with spirit and efficacy, that the ill-inclined may hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously

Again the ministers of the Gospel, if they look unto and love the Lord Jesus in sincerity¶, will imitate his assiduity in giving instruction, his compassion to penitents, his plain denunciations against obstinate sinners, his contempt of unjust reproach, yet his caution to guard against needless offence: will accommodate their discourses, as he did, to the wants, the dispositions, the capacities of their hearers; condescending in this and all things to men of low estate**: will remember, that his kingdom is not of this world tt, and use whatever advantages they enjoy in it, to the purposes of the next; be in every good sense, as he was, but in no bad one, the friends of Publicans and Sinners ‡‡; neither act as being lords over God's heritage, but ensamples to the flock, that when the chief Shepherd shall appear, they may receive a crown of glory §§. Wherefore holy

* Rev. xvii. 14. Deut. xvii. 13. tt John xviii. 36.

† Rev. i. 5. 1 Pet. ii.

¶ Eph. vi. 24.
Matth. xi. 19.

14. § John ii. 25.

** Rom. xii. 16. §§ 1 Pet. v. 3, 4.

brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession*.

Further yet those who have large incomes, if they fix their thoughts on him, who for our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, might become rich in good works and heavenly treasures, will be powerfully excited not to place their happiness, either in the acquisition or possession of wealth or the enjoyment of any of those pleasures which wealth can help to procure: but in doing good, as the blessed Jesus did, and benefiting their brethren for whom he died §. To do this more effectually, they will set an example of prudent self-constraint and frugality, which may preserve multitudes of others, if not themselves, from follies and distresses: they will employ what is thus saved in acts of judicious charity; and have constantly in their minds. what many, who are extremely liberal, strangely forget, that all expences, and seeming bounties, which tend to corrupt morals, are mischievous; and using methods to make men pious and virtuous, providing for their souls at the same time with their bodies, which our Saviour did continually, conduces beyond all things even to their present welfare.

Lastly, they who are afflicted, (and who is not often so in one respect or another?) if they dwell, as the text was meant to advise them particularly, on the contemplation of our compassionate High-Priest, the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, will learn from him to endure all the contradiction of sinners, and all the heavy yoke that is laid on the sons of Adam, disesteem, ingratitude, perverseness, insolence, disappointment, poverty, pain and death, without being weary or faint in their minds**. He,

+ 2 Cor. viii. 9.

* Heb. iii. 1. 1 Tim. vi. 18. Rom. xiv. 10. 15. || Is. liii. 3. Ecclus. xl. 1. ** Heb. xii. 3.

though faultless, endured much more than we sinners shall be called to: under every trial his grace will be sufficient for us*: if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him†; the more we undergo, the greater will be our reward: and what have we then to resent or fear or be dejected about, or whom to envy? Miserable comforts are all the worldly means, by which men labour in vain to deceive themselves, and mitigate their wretchedness, compared with the everlasting consolation and good hope, which our Lord Jesus Christ hath given us ‡, whose words are, To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne; even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne §.

Let every one therefore of every degree fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life, whereunto he is called: for these are not cunningly devised fables, but the true sayings of God **. They who have hitherto lived in sin, (and so far we all have, that by his obedience to the law no man is justified in the sight of God††) let them flee to the merciful Jesus from the wrath to come ‡‡, acquaint themselves with him, and be at peace §§. They that once had a sense of religion, but have left their first love, drawn away by vicious indulgences, or temporal interests, or the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge ¶¶, let them remember from whence they are fallen, and repent and do their first works ***. They who have hitherto persevered in piety, let them form in themselves, as they will 2 Cor. xii. 9. + 2 Tim. ii. 12. 2 Thess. ii. 16. § Rev. iii. 21. 1 Tim. vi. 12. ¶ 2 Pet. i. 16. ** Rev. xix. 9. ++ Gal. ii. 16. iii. 11. ‡‡ Matth. iii. 7. §§ Job xxii. 21. Rev. ii. 4. ¶¶ Prov. xix 27.

Rev. ii. 5.

always have room and need, a still completer image of Christ. And let us all incessantly study to acquire that constant, that affectionate and influencing attention to him, for which St. Peter celebrates the early Christians, when he saith, Whom having not seen, ye love: in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls*.

* 1 Pet. i. 8, 9.

SERMON VII.

1 COR. I. 22, 23, 24.

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom;

But we preach Christ crucified: unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

To expect eternal life through a Saviour who died for us, is the fundamental doctrine of the Christian profession: the article that distinguishes our faith from all others, and with which our religion stands or falls. The New Testament therefore dwells much on the importance of this belief: and especially the Epistles of St. Paul inculcate it every where. He determined, though a man of extensive knowledge, not to know any thing among those whom he instructed, to insist on no subject, comparatively speaking, save Christ Jesus, and him crucified*. Still both he, and the rest of the Apostles, must plainly foresee, and they quickly experienced, as the preachers of the Gospel have done ever since, that the prejudices of many, and the pride of all men, would find much difficulty in submitting to owe their salvation to another; especially to one, who had lived so poor a life, and suffered so disgraceful a death; which would all be avoided by teaching them to ascribe the whole merit of it to themselves. But they had not so

* 1 Cor. ii. 2.

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