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THE

SERMONS

OF

Mr. Y O R I C K,

VO L. VI.

A NEW EDITION.

LONDON:

Printed for W. Strahan ; T. Becret, and

T. Cadell, in the Strand.

M DCC LXXVI.

A&l >U,fa

C O NT E N T S

OF THE

SIXTH VOLUME,

SERMON XXIII.

On Enthufiafm.

SERMON XXIV.

Eternal Advantages of Religion.

SERMON XXV.

Afa : a Thankfgiving Sermon.

SERMON XXVL

Follow Peace.

CONTENTS.
SERMON XXVII.

m

Search the Scriptures.
SERMON XXVIII.

SERMON XXIX.

The Ways of Providence juftified
to Man.

SERMON XXX.

The Ingratitude of IfraeL

SERMON XXIII.

On Enthufiafm.

St. John xv. 5.

■ ■ ■■ For without me, ye can do no-
thing.

OU R Saviour, in the former
part of the verfe, having told
his difciples, — That he was the vine,
and that they were only branches ;—
intimating, in what a degree their
good fruits, as well as the fuccefs of
all their endeavours, were to depend
upon his communications with them ;
— he clofes the illuftration with the
inference from it, in the words of
Vol. VI. B

2 SERMON XXIII.

the text, — For without me, ye can
do nothing. — In the nth chapter to
the Romans, where the manner is
explained in which a chriftian (lands
by faith, — there is a like illuflration
made ufe of, and probably with an
eye to this, — where St. Paul in-
ftructs us, — that a good man (lands
as the branch of a wild olive does,
when it is grafted into a good olive
tree ; — and that is, — it flourifhes not
through its own virtue, but in virtue
of the root, — and fuch a root as is
.naturally not its own.

It is very remarkable in that paf-
lage, — that the apoflle calls a bad
man a wild olive tree\ — not barely
a branch, (as in the other cafe) but
a tree, which having a root of its

SERMON XXIH: $
<bwn, fupports itfelf, and ftands in
ks own ftrength, and brings forth its
own fruit. — And fo does every bad
-man in refpsdt, of the wild and four
fruit of a vicious and corrupt heart.
—According to the refemblance,— »
if the apoftle intended it, — he is a
tree, — has a root of his own, — and
fruitfulnefs, fuch as it is, with a
power to bring it forth without help.
But in refpect of religion, and the
moral improvements of virtue and
goodnefs, — the apoftle calls us, and
reafon tells us, we are no more than
a branch j and all our fruitfulnefs*
and all our fupport, — depend fo
much upon the influence and com-
munications of God, — that without
him we can do nothing, — as cur
B 2

'4 SERMON XXIII.

Saviour declares in the text. — There
is fcarce any point in our religion
wherein men have run into fuch
violent extremes as in the fenfes given
to this, and fuch like declarations in
Scripture, — of our fufficiency being
of God ; — fome underftanding them
fo, as to leave no meaning at all in
them ; — others, — too much : — the
one interpreting the gifts and influ-
ences of the fpirit, fo as to deftroy
the truth of all fuch promifes and
declarations in the gofpel ; — the
other carrying their notions of them
fo high, as to deilroy the reafon of
the gofpel itfelf, — and render the
chriftian religion, which confifts of
fober and confiflent doctrines, — the
mod intoxicated, — the moft wild

SERMON XXIII. 5

and unintelligible inftitution that ever
was in the world.

This being premifed, I know not
how I can more feafonably engage
your attention this day, than by a
fhort examination of each of thefe
errors ; — in doing which, as I fhall
take fome pains to reduce both the
extremes of them to reafon, — it will
neceflarily lead me, at the fame time,
to mark the fafe and true doctrine of
our church, concerning the promifed
influences and operations of the fpi-
rit of God upon our hearts > — which,
however depreciated through the firft
miftake, — or boafted of beyond mea-
lure through, the iecond, — muft
neverthelefs be fo limited and under-
Hood, — as, on one hand, to make
B 3

6 SERMON XXIII.

the gofpel of Chrift confident- with
itfelf, — and, on the other, to make
it confident with reafon and common
fenfe.

l£ we confider the many exprefs
declaration*, wherein our Saviour
tells his followers, before his cruci-
fixion,— That God would fend his
fpirif the comforter amongft them.,
to fupply his' place in' their hearts •,
— arid, as in the text, — that without
him, they could do nothing : — if we
conceive them as fpoken to his difci-
ples with an immediate view to the
emergencies they were under, from
their natural incapacities of finifhing
the great work he had left them, and
building upon that large foundation
fere fta'd hid,— without fome extract-

SERMON XXIII. 7

dinary help and guidance ro carry
them through, — no one can diipute
that evidence and confirmation which
was after given of its truth ; — as our
Lord's difciples were illiterate men,
confequently unfkilled in the arts and
acquired ways of perfuafion. — Un-
kfs this want had been fuppiied, —
the firft obftacle to their labours muft
have difcouraged and put an end to
them for ever. — As they had no
language but their own, without the
gift of tongues they could not have
preached the gofpel except in Judea ;
— and as they had no authority of
their own, — without the fupernatural
one of figns and wonders,— they
could not vouch for the truth of it
beyond the limits where it was firit
B 4

8 SERMON XXIII.

tranfa&ed. — In this work, doubtlefs,
all their fufficiency and power of act-
ing was immediately from God; —
his holy fpirit, as he had promifed
them, fo it gave them a mouth and
wifdom which all their adverfaries
were not able to gainfay or refill. —
So that without him, — without thefe
extraordinary gifts, in the moil lite-
ral fenfe of the words, they could do
nothing. — But befides this plain ap-
plication of the text to thofe particu-
lar perfons and times, when God's
fpirit was poured down in that fignal
manner held facred to this day, —
there is fomething in them to be ex-
tended further, which chriflians of all
ages, — and, I hope, of all denomina-
tions, have Hill a claim and truft in,

SERMON XXIII. 9

— and that is, the ordinary affiftance
and influences of the fpirit of God
in our hearts, for moral and virtuous
improvements -s — thefe, both in their
natures as well as intentions, being
altogether different from the others
above-mentioned conferred upon the
difciples of our Lord. — The one were
miraculous gifts, — in which the en-
dowed perfon contributed nothing,
which advanced human nature above
itfelf, and raifed all its projectile
fprings above their fountains ; ena-
bling them to fpeak and act fuch
things, and in fuch manner, as was
impoffible for men not infpired and
preternaturally upheld. — In the other
cafe, the helps fpoken of were the in-
fluences of God's fpirit, which up-

it> SERMON XXIII.

held us from falling belovfr the dig-
nity of our nature : — that divine afiift-
ance which gracioufly kept us from
falling, and enabled us to perform
the holy profefiions of our religion. —
Though thefe are equally called fpi-
ritual gifts, — they are not, as in the
firft cafe, the entire works of the fpi-
rit, — but the calm co-operations of it
with our own endeavours-, and are or-
dinarily what every fmcere and well-
dilpofed chriflian has reafon to pray
for, and expect, from the fame foun-
tain of ftrength, — who has promifed
to give his holy fpiiit to them that
zfk it.

From this point, which is the true
doctrine of our church,— die two par-
lies begin to divide both from it and

SERMON XXIII. i*

each other j — each of them equally
mifapplying theie pafTages of Scrip-
ture, and wrefting them to extremes
equally pernicious. —

To begin with the firfb ; of whom,
fliould you inquire the explanation
and meaning of this or of other texts,
—wherein the afMance of God's
grace and holy fpirit is implied as
neceflary to fa notify our nature, and
enable us to ferve and pleafe God ?
— They will anfwer, — That no doubt
a'fl our parts and abilities are the gifts
of God, — who is the original author
of our nature, — and, of confequence,
of all that belongs thereto. — That as
by him zve Htfe\ and wove, and have cur
beings — we mud in courfe depend
upon him for all cur actions- whatfo-

12 SERMON XXIII.

ever, — fince we muft depend upon
him even for our life, and for every
moment of its continuance. — That
from this view of our flate and natu-
ral dependence, it is certain they will
lay, — We can do nothing without his
help. — But then they will add, — that
it concerns us no farther as chriftians,
than as we are men ; — the fanclity of
our lives, the religious habits and
improvements of our hearts, in no
other fenie depending upon God,
than the moft indifferent of our ac-
tions, or the natural exercife of any
of the other powers he has given us.
— Agreeably with this, — that the fpi-
ritual gifts ipoken of in Scripture,
are to be underftood by way of accom-
modation, to fignify the natural or

SERMON XXIII. i3

acquired gifts of a man's mind ; fuch
as memory, fancy, wit and elo-
quence •, which, in a ftricTb and philo-
fophical fenfe, may be called fpirl-
tual \ — becaufe they tranfcend the
mechanical powers of matter, — and
proceed more or lefs from the ratir
onal foul5 which is a fpiritual fub-
ftance.

Whether thefe ought, in propriety,
to be called fpiritual gifts, I mall not
contend, as it feems a mere difpute
about words ; — but it is enough that
the interpretation cuts the knot, in-
ftead of untying it -9 and, befides, ex-
plains away all kind of meaning in
the above promifes. — And the error
of them feems to arife, in the Srfl
place, from not diftinguifhing that

4

14 SERMON XXIII.

thefe fpiritual gifts, — if they muft
be called fo, — fuch as memory, fancy,
and wit, and other endowments of
the mind, which are known by the
name of natural parts, belong merely
to us as men j — and whether the dif-
ferent degrees, by which we excel
each other in them, arife from a na-
tural difference of our fouls, — or a
happier difpofition of the orga-
nical parts of us. — They are fuch,
however, as God originally beftows
upon us, and with which, in a great
meafure, we are fent into the world.
But the moral gifts of the Holy Ghoft,
—which are more commonly called
the fruits of the fpirit, — cannot be
confined within this description. —
We come not into the world equipt
8

SERMON XXIII. 15
with virtues, as we do with talents j
— if we did, we mould come into
the1 world with that which robbed
virtue of its bed title both to prefent
commendation and future reward. —
The gift of continency depends nor,
as thefe affirm, upon a mere coldnefs
of the coniiitution — or patience and
humility from an infenfibility of it ;
— but they are virtues infenfibly
wrought in us by the endeavours of
our own wills and concurrent influ-
ences of a gracious agent ; — and the
religious improvements arifing from
thence, are fo far from being the
effects of nature, and a fit difpo-
fition of the feveral parts and organi-
cal powers given us, — that the con-
trary is true ;— namely,— that the

i6 SERMON XXIII.

flream of our affections and appe-
tites but too naturally carry us the
other way. — For this, let any man
lay his hand upon his heart, and re-
flect what has pad within him, in the
feveral conflicts- of meeknefs, — tem-
perance,— chaftity, and other felf-de-
nials, — and he will need no better
argument for his conviction. —

This hint leads to the true anfwer
to the above m interpretation of the
text> — That we depend upon God in
no other fenfe for our virtues, — than
we neceffarily do for every thing elfe ;
and that the fruits of the fpirii are
merely the determinations and efforts
of our own reafon, — and as much
our own accomplifhments, as any

SERMON XXIII. 17

other improvements are the effect of
our own diligence and induftry.

This account, by the way, is oppo-
fite to the apoftle's ; — who tells us,—
It is God that worketh in us both to
do and will, of his good pleafure. —
It is true, — though we are born ig-
norant,— we can make ourfelves fkil-
ful; — we can acquire arts and fcien-
ces by our own application and fludy.
— But the cafe is not the fame in re-
fpect of goodnefs. — We can acquire
arts and fciences, becaufe we lay
under no natural indifpofition or
backwardnefs to that acquirement. —
For nature, though it be corrupt, yet
flili it is curious and bufy after know-
ledge.— But it does not appear, that
to goodnefs and fanctity of manners;

Vol. VI. C

18 SERMON XXIII.

we have the fame natural propenfity.
— Lufts within, and temptations with-
out, fet up fo ftrong a confederacy
againft it, as we are never able to fur-
mount by our own itrength. — How-
ever firmly we may think we Hand, —
the belt of us are but upheld, and gra-
cicufly kept upright •, and whenever
this divine afliftance is withdrawn, —
or fufpended, — all hiftory, efpecially
the facred, is full of melancholy in-
ftances of what man is, when God
leaves him to himfclf, — that he is
even a thing of nought.

Whether it was from a confeious
experience of this truth in them-
felves, — or fome traditions handed
from the Scripture account of it ;—
or that it was, in fome meafure, de-

i

SERMON XXIII. 19

'ducible from the principles of rea-
fon, — in the writings of fome of the
wifeft of the heathen philofophers,
we find the flrongeft traces of the
perfuafion of God's aflifting men to
virtue and probity of manners. — One
of the £reateft mailers of reafoning
amcngl: the ancients acknowledges,
that nothing great and exalted can
be atchieved, fine divino afrlatu -, —
and Seneca, to the fame purpoie, —
nulla mens bona fine deo ; — that no
foul can be good without divine
auiftance. — Now whatever comments
may be put upon fuch pafTages in
their writings, — it is certain thofe in
Scripture can receive no other, to be
confident with themfelves, than what
has been given. — And though, in

C 2

20 SERMON XXIII.
vindication of human liberty, it is
as certain on the other hand, — that
education, precepts, examples, pious
inclinations, and practical diligence,
are great and meritorious advances
towards a religious ftate ; — yet the
ftate itfelf is got and finifhed by
God's grace ; and the concurrence
of his fpirit upon tempers thus hap-
pily pre-difpofed, — and honeftly mak-
ing ufe of fuch fit means : — and
unlefs thus much is understood from
them, — the feveral expreflions in
Scripture, where the offices of the
Holy Ghoft conducive to this end,
are enumerated ; — fuch as cleanfing,
guiding, renewing, comforting,
ftrengthening and eftablifhing us, —
are a fet of unintelligible words,

SERMON XXIII. 21

which may amufe, but can convey-
little light to the understanding.

This is all I have time left to lay
at prefent upon the firft error of
thofe, who, by too loofe an interpre-
tation of the gifts and fruits of the
fpirit, explain away the whole fenfe
and meaning of them, and therehy
render not only the promifes, but
the comforts of them too, of none
effect. — Concerning which error, I
have only to add this by way of ex-
tenuation of it, — that I believe the
great and unedifying rout made about
fanctification and regeneration in the
middle of the iaft century, — and
the enthufiaftic extravagances into
which the communications of the
fpirit have been carried by fo many
C 3

22 S E R M O N XXIII.
deluded or deluding people in this^
are two of the great caufcs which
have driven many a fober man into
the oppofite extreme, againft which
I have argued.— Now if the dread
of favouring too much of religion in
their interpretations has done this-
ill fervice,— let us inquire, on the
other hand, whether the afreclation
of too much religion in the other ex-
treme, has not milled others full as
far from truth, and further from the
reafon and fcbriety cf the gofpel,.
than the firft.

1 have already proved by Scripture
arguments, that the/influence of the
holy fpirit cf God is neceifary to
render the imperfect facrifice of our
obedience pleafmg to our Maker,- —

SERMON XXIIL 23

He hath promifed to perfect his
firength in our weaknefs,~-Wixh this
affurance we ought to be fatisfied ;
— efpecially fince our Saviour hath
thought proper to mortify all fcru-
pulous inquiries into operations of
this kind, by comparing them to the
wind, which bloweth where it lifteth ;
and thou hear eft the found thereof ^ hit
canft not tell whence it comelh, or whi-
ther it goeth : — fo is every one that is
horn of the fpirit. — Let humble gra-
titude acknowledge the effect, un-
prompted by an idle curiofity to
explain the caufe.

We are told, without this affiftance,
we can do nothing •, — we are told,
from the fame authority, we can do
C 4

24 SERMON XXIIL

all through Chrift that ftrengthens
us. — We are commanded to work out
eur own fahation with fear and trem-
bling. The reafon immediately fol-
lows ; for it is God that worketh in
yoUy loth to will and to do, of his own
good pleafure. — From theie, and many
other repeated pafTages, it is evident,
that the affiftances of grace were not
intended to deftroy, but to co-operate
with the endeavours of man, — and
are derived from God in the fame
manner as all natural powers. — In-
deed, without this interpretation, how
could the Almighty addrefs himfelf
to man as a rational being; ? — how
could his actions be his own ? — how
could he be confidered as a blame-
able or rewardable creature ?

SERMON XXIII. 25

From this account of the con-
fident opinions of a fober- minded
chriftian, let us take a view of the
miltaken enthufiaft. — See him often-
tatioufly clothed with the outward
garb of fanctity, to attract the eyes
of the vulgar. — See a cheerful de-
meanour, the natural refill t of an
eafy and felf-applauding heart, flu-
dioufly avoided as criminal. — See his
countenance overfpread with, a me-
lancholy gloom and defpondence ;
— as if religion, which is evidently
calculated to make us happy in this
life as well as the next, was the
parent of fullennefs and difcontent.
— Hear him pouring forth his pha-
rifaical ejaculations on his journey,
or in the flreets. — Hear him bead-
ing of extraordinary communications

26 SERMON XXIII.

with the God of all knowledge, and
at the fame time orTendino; againd
the common rules of his own native
language, and the plainer dictates
of common fenfe. — Hear him arro-
gantly thanking his God, that he is
not as other men are ; and, with
more than papal uncharitablenefs,
very liberally allotting the portion of
the damned, to every chriftian whom
he, partial judge, deems lefs perfect
than himfelf — to every chriftian
who is walking on in the paths of
duty with fober vigilance, afpiring
to perfection by progreftive attain-
ments, and ferioufly endeavour-
ing, through a rational faith in his
Redeemer, to make his calling and
election fure.

SERMON XXIIL 27
There have been no feels in the
chriftian world, however abfurd,
which have not endeavoured to fup-
port their opinions by arguments
drawn from Scripture, mifinterpret-
ed or mifapplied.

We had a melancholy inftance of
this in our own country, in the laft

century, when the church of

(Thrift, as well as the government,
during that period of national con-
fufion, was torn afunder into various
feels and factions ; — when fome men
pretended to have Scripture pre-
cepts, parables, or prophecies to
plead, in favour of the moil impious
absurdities that falfehood could ad-
vance. The fame fpirit which pre-
vailed amongft the fanatics, items

£8 SERMON XXIII.

to have gone forth among thefe
modern enthufiafts. — Faith, the dif-
tinguifhing characteriflic of a chrif-
tian, is defined by them not as a
rational alTent of the understanding,
to truths which are eftablimed by
indifputable authority, but as a vio-
lent periuafion of mind, that they are
inftantaneoufly become the children
of God — that the whole fcore of
their fins is for ever blotted our,
without the payment of one tear of
repentance. — Pleafing doctrine this
to the fears and pafiions of man-
kind ! — promifing fair to gain pro-
felytes of the vicious and impenitent.

Pardons and indulgences are the
great fupport of papal power •, — but
thefe modern empirics in religion

SERMON XXIIL 29

have improved upon the fcheme,
pretending to have difcovered an in-
fallible noftrum for all incurables ^
fuch as will preferve them for ever.
— And notwithftanding we have in-
ftances of notorious offenders among
the warmeft advocates for fmlefs per-
fection,— the charm continues power-
ful.— Did thefe vifionary notions of
an heated imagination tend only to
amufe the fancy, they might be
treated with contempt 5 — but when
they depreciate all moral attain-
ments ; — when the fuggeftions of a
frantic brain are blafphemoufly af-
cribed to the holy fpirit of God ; —
when faith and divine love are placed
in oppofition to practical virtues,
they thenb ecome the objects of aver-

3o SERMON XXIIL

fion. In one fenfe, indeed, many of
thefe deluded people demand our
tendereft companion, — whofe diforder
is in the head rather than the heart :
and who call for the aid of a phy-
fician who can cure the diftempered
(late of the body, rather than one
who may focth the anxieties of the
mind.

Indeed, in many cafes, they feem
fo much above the fkill of either,—
that unlefs God in his mercy rebuke
this fpiri: of enthufiafm, which is
gone out amongft us, no one can
pretend to fay how far it may go, or
what mifchiefs it may do in thefe
kingdoms. — Already it has taught us
as much blafphemous language ;—
and, if it goes on, by the famples

SERMON XXIII. 3i

given us in their journals, will fill us
with as many legendary accounts of
vifions and revelations, as we have
formerly had from the church of
Rome. And for any fecurity we have
againft it, — when time fhall ferve,
it may as effectually convert the pro-
feffors of it, even into popery itfelf,
— confident with their own princi-
ples •, — for they have nothing more
to do than to fay, that the fpiric
which infplred them, has fignified,
that the pope is infpired as well as
they, — and confequently is infallible.
— After which I cannot fee how they
can pofilbly refrain going to mais,
confident with their own principles*—

Thus much for thele two oppofite
errors 5 — the examination of which

32 SERMON XXIIL

has taken up fo much time, — that
I have little left to add, but to beg
of God, by the affiftance of his holy
fpirit, to preferve us equally from
both extremes, and enable us to form
fuch right and worthy apprehenfions
of our holy religion, — that it may
never fuffer, through the coolnefs of
our conceptions of it, on one hand,—
or the immoderate heat of them, on
the other ; — but that we may at all
times fee it, as it is, and as it was
defigned by its bleiled Founder, as
the moil rational, fober, and confident
inftitution that could have been giver*
to the fons of men.

Now to God, &c*

SERMON XXIV.

Eternal Advantages of Religion.

ECCLESIASTES xii. I3.

Let us hear the conclufion of the whole
matter, — Fear God, and keep his
commandments : for this is the whole
duty of man.

THE wife man, in the beginning
of this book, had propoied it as
a grand query to be diicuflcd, — To
find out what was good for the foil s of
men, which they fhould do under the
heavens, all. the days of their lives : —
That is, what was the fitted employ-
ment, and the chief and proper bufi-
nefs, which they fhould apply them-
Vol. VI. D

34. SERMON XXIV.

felves to in this world. — And here,
in the text, after a fair difcuffion of
the queftion, he afTcrts it to be the
bufinefs of religion, — the fearing
God, and keeping his command-
ments.— This was the conclufion of
the whole matter, — and the natural
refult of all his debates and inqui-
ries.— And I am perfuaded, the
more obfervations we make upon
the fnort life of man, — the more we
experience, — and the longer trials
we have of the world,— and the
feveral pretenfions it offers to our
happincfs, — the more we fhall be
engaged to think, like him, — that
we can never find what we look for
in any other thing whi.h we do under
the heavens, except in that of duty

SERMON XXIV. 25
and obedience to God. — In the courfe
of the wife man's examination of this
point, — we find a great many beau-
tiful reflections upon human affairs,
all tending to illuftrate the conclufion
he draws ; and as they are fuch as are
apt to offer themfelves to tut thoughts
of every ferious and considerate man,
— I cannot do better than renew the
impreffions, — by retouching the prin-
cipal arguments of his difcourfe, —
before I proceed to the general ule
and application of the whole.

In the former part of his book he
had taken into his confideration thofe
feveral dates of life to which men
ufually apply themfelves forhappineis ;
— firft, learning, — wiillom •, — next, —
mirth, jollity and pleafure ; — then

D 2

5<5 SERMON XXIV.

power and greatnefs, — riches and pof-
fefiions. — All of which are fo far from
anfwering the end for which they were
at firft purfued, — that, by a great va-
riety of arguments, — he proves them
feve rally to be fo many fere travels
which Goa had given to the Jons of men
to he exercifed therewith : — and inftead
of being any, or all of them, our pro-
per end and employment, or fuffi-
cient to our happinefs, — he makes it
plain, by a feries of obfervations upon
the life of man, — that they are ever
likely to end with others where they
had done with him; — that is, in va-
nity and vexation of fpirit.

Then he takes notice of the feve-
ral accidents of life, which perpetu-
ally rob us of what little fweets the

SERMON XXIV. 37

fruition of thefe objects might feem
to promife us, — both with regard to
our endeavours and our perfons in
this world.

i ft, With regard to our endea-
vours,— he mews that the mod likely
ways and means are not always effec-
tual for the attaining of their end :
— that, in general, — the utmcft that
human councils and prudence can
provide for, is to take care, when
they contend in a race, that they be
fwifter than thofe who run againft
them j — or when they are to fight a
battle, that they be ftronger than
thofe whom they are to encounter. —
And yet afterwards, in the ninth
chapter, he obferves, that the race is
not to the fwift, nor the battle to the
D 3

38 SERMON XXIV.

ftrong; — neither yet bread to the
wife, — nor yet riches to men of un-
derstanding,— nor favour to men of
flulls — but time and chance happens
to them all. — That there are fecret
workings in human affairs, which
over-rule all human contrivance, and
counterplot the wifeft of our coun-
cils, in fo ftrange and unexpected a
manner, as to call a damp upon our
bell fcliemes and warmed endea-
vours.

And then, for thofe accidents to
which our perfons are as liable as our
labours,—— he obferves thefe three
things -y — firft, the natural infirmities
of cur bodies, — which alternately lay
us open to the fad changes of pain and
ficknefs ; whichj in the fifth chapter.

SERMON XXIV. 39.

he ftyles wrath and forrow ; under
which, when a man lies languifhing,
none of his worldly enjoyments will
fignify much. — Like one that fingeth
fongs with a heavy heart, neither mirth,
— nor power, — nor riches, mail afford

him eafe, nor will all their force be

ablefo to flay the ftroke. of nature, —
hut that he Jhall be cut off in the midft
ef his days, and then all his thoughts
peri/h. Or elfe, — what is no un-
common fpecTacle, in the midft of all
his luxury, he may wafle away the
greateft part of his life with much
wearinefs and anguifh ; and with the
long torture of an unrelenting difeafe,
he may wifh himfelf to go down into
the grave, and to be fet at liberty from
D 4

4o SERMON XXIV.

all his pofTeflions, and all his mifety,
at the fame time.

2dly, If it be fuppofed, — that by
the ftrength of fpirits, and the natu-
ral chearfulnefs of a man's temper,
he mould efcape thefe, and live many
years, and rejoice in them all, — which
is not the lot of many; — yet, be muft
remember the days of darknefs ; — that
is, — they who devote themfelves to a
perpetual round of mirth and plea-
fure, cannot fo manage matters as
to avoid the thoughts of their future
fates, and the anxiety about what fhall
become of them hereafter, when they
are to depart out of this world; —
that they cannot fo crowd their heads,
and fill up their time with other

SERMON XXIV. 41

matters,— but that the remembrance
of this will fometimes be uppermoft,
— and thruft itfelf upon their minds
whenever they are retired and ferious.
— And as this will naturally prefent
to them a dark profpecl: of their fu-
ture happinefs, — it muft, at the fame
time, prove no fmall damp and allay
to what they would enjoy at prefent.

But, in the third place, — fuppofe a
man fhould be able to avoid ficknefs,

and to put the trouble of thefe

thoughts likewife far from him, — yet
there is fomething elfe which he can-
not poflibly decline ; — old age will
unavoidably fteal upon him, with all
the infirmities of it,- — when, (as he
exprelfes it) the grinders Jhall be few,
and appetite ceafes -, when thofe who

42 SERMON XXIV,

look out of the windows fhall be darken-
ed, and the keepers of the hcufe fhall
tremble. — When a man mail become
a burden to himfelf, and to his friends ^
when, perhaps, thofe of his- near-
eft relations, whom he hath mod ob-
liged by kindnefs, fnail think it time
for him to depart, to creep off the
flage, and make room for fucceeding
generations..

And then, after a little funeral pomp
of mourners going about the fireets^ —
a man (hall be buried out of the
way, and in a year or two be as
much forgotten, as if he had never
exifted. — For there is no remem-
brance (fays he) of the wife more
than the fool-, — feeing that which
now is, in the days to come, fhall

SERMON XXIV. 43

be forgotten; every day producing
fomething which feems new and
ftrange, to take up men's talk and
wonder, and to drown the memory
of former perfons and actions. —

And I appeal to any rational
man, whether thefe are not fome
of the mod material reflections
about human affairs, — which oc-
cur to every one who gives him-
felf the lead leifure to think about
them ? — Now, from all thefe pre-
mifes put together, Solomon infers
this fhort conclufion in the text, —
That to fear God, and keep his
commandments, is the whole of
man ; — that, to be ferious in the
matter of religion, and careful about
our future ftates, is that which, after

44 SERMON XXIV.

all our other experiments, will be
found to be our chief happinefs, —
our greateft intereft, — our greateft
wifdom, — and that which moil of all
deferves our care and application —
This mud ever be the lad refult, and
the upfhot of every wife man's ob-
fervations upon all thefe tranfitory
things, and upon the vanity of their
feveral pretences to our well-being;
— and we may depend upon it, as
an everlafting truth, — that we can
never find what we feek for in any
other courfe, or any other object, —
but this one •, — and the more we
know and think, and the more expe-
rience we have of the world, and of
ourfelves, the more we are convinced
of this truth, and led back by it

SERMON XXIV. 45
to reft our fouls upon that God from
whence we came. — Every confider-
ation upon the life of man tends to
engage us to this point, — to be in
earned in the concernment of reli-
gion j — to love and fear God ; — to
provide for our true intereft, — and
do ourfelves the moft effectual fer-
vice, — by devoting ourfelves to him,
— and always thinking of him, — as
he is the true and final happinefs of
a reafonable and an immortal fpirit.

And indeed one would think it
next to impoflible,— did not the com-
monnefs of the thing take off from
the wonder, — that a man who thinks
at all, — mould let his whole life be
a contradiction to fuch obvious re-
flections.

46 SERMON XXIV.

The vanity and emptinefs of
wordly goods and enjoyments, — the
fhortnefs and uncertainty of life, —
the unalterable event hanging over
our heads, — that, in a few days, we
niuft all of us go to that place from
whence we Jhall not return •, — the cer-
tainty of this, — the uncertainty of
the time when, — the immortality of
the foul, — the doubtful and momen-
tous ifTues of eternity, — the terrors of
damnation, and the glorious things
which are fpoken of the city of God,
are meditations fo obvious, and fo na-
turally check and block up a man's
way, — are fo very interefling, and,
above all, fo unavoidable, — that it is
2flonifhing how it was poMible, at any
time, for mortal man to have his head

SERMON XXIV. 47

full of any thing elfe ? And yet,

was the fame perfon to take a view of
the (late of the world, — how flight an
obfervation would convince him, that
the wonder lay, in fact, on the other
fide; — and that, as wifely as we ail
difcourfe, and philofophize de con-
tempt u mundi & fuga faculi — yet, for
one who really acts in the world — con-
fident with his own reflections upon
it, — that there are multitudes who
feem to take aim at nothing higher;
— and, as empty a thing as it is, — are
fo dazzled with, as to think it meet
to build tabernacles of reft upon
it,' and fay, 7/ is good to he here,""
Whether as an able inquirer into this
paradox guefifes, — whether it is, that
men do not heartily believe fuch a

5

48 SERMON XXIV.

thing as a future ftate of happinefs
and mifery, — or if they do, — that they
do not actually and ferioufly confider
it, — but fuffer it to lay dormant and
unadtive within them, and fo are as
little affected with it, as if, in truth,
they believed it not ; — or whether they
look upon it through that end of the
perfpective which reprefents as afar
off, — and fo are more forcibly drawn
by the nearer, though the leffer,
loadftonei— whether thefe, or what-
ever other caufe may be affigned for
ir, — the obfervation is inconteftible,
that the bulk of mankind, in pafling
through this vale of mifery, — ufe it
not as a well to refrefh and allay, — but
fully to quench and fatisfy their third;
—minding (or as the Apoftle fays),

7

SERMON XXIV. 49

'reliftiing earthly things, making

them the end and fum- total of their

defires amd wifhess and, in one

word, loving this world — juft as

they are commanded to love God ;—
that is, — with all their hearty with all
their foul, — with all their mind and
flrength. — But this is not the ftrangeft
part of this paradox. — A man fhal!
not only lean and refl upon the
world with his whole ftrefs, — but, in
many inftances, fhall live notorioufly
bad and vicious \ — when he is re-
proved, he fhall feem convinced ;— .

when he is obferved, he (hall be

afhamed; — when he purfues his fin,

* he will do it in the dark -, — and

when he has done it, fhall even be
diflatisfied with himfelf : yet {till,

Vol. VI. E

50 SERMON XXIV.

this fhall produce, no alteration in

his conduct. — Tell him he fhall one

day die; or bring the event flill

nearer,— and fhew, that, according to
the courfe of nature, he cannot poi-
fibly live many years, — he will figh,.
perhaps, and tell you he is con-
vinced of that, as much as reafon
and experience can make him:--
proceed and urge to him, — that after
death comes judgment, and that he
will certainly there be dealt with by
ajuft God according to his actions y
— he will thank God he is no deift,
--and tell you, with the fame grave
face, — he is thoroughly convinced
of that too; — and as he believes, —
no doubt, he trembles too: — and
yet after all, with all this conviction

SERMON XXIV. 5 1

npon his mind, you will fee him dill
perfevere in the fame courfe, — and
commit his fin with as certain an
event and refolution, as if he knew
no argument againft it. — Theft no-/
tices of things, however terrible and
true, pafs through his underftanding
as an eagle through the air, that
leaves no path behind.

So that, upon the whole, inftead
of abounding with occafions to fet us
ferioufly on thinking, — the world
might difpenfe with many more calls
of this kind \ — and were they iQvm
times as many as they are,. — consider-
ing what inefficient ufe we make of
thole we have, all, I fear, would be
little enough to bring thefe things to
aur remembrance as often, and en-
E 2

5l SERMON XXIV.

gage us to lay them to our hearts
with that affectionate concern, which
the weight and interett of them re-
quires at our hands. — Sooner or later,
the moft inconfiderate of us all
fhall find, with Solomon, — that to
do this effectually, is the whole of
man.

And I cannot conclude this dif-
courfe upon his words better than
with a fhort and earned exhortation,
that the folemnity of this feafon, —
and the meditations to which it is de-
voted, may lead you up to the true
knowledge and practice of the fame
point, of fearing God and keeping
his commandments, — and convince
you, as it did him, of the indifpen-
fable necefllty of making that the

SERMON XXIV. 53

bufinefs of a man's life, which is the
chief end of his being, — the eternal
happinefs and falvation of his foul

"Which may God grant, for the
fake of Jefus Chrift. Amen,

E3

SERMON XXV.

Afa: a Thankfgiving Sermon.

2 Chronicles xv. 14.

And they /ware unto the Lord with a
loud voice, .and with jhouting, and
with trumpets ) and with cornets. —
And all the men of Judah rejoiced at
.the oath,

F T will be neceflary to give a par-

-*• ticular account of what was the

occafion, as well as the nature, of

the oath which the men of Judah

fware unto the Lord •> which will

explain not only the reafons why it
became a matter of fo much joy to
them, but likewife admit of an ap-
E 4

56 SERMON XXV.

plication fuitable to the purpofes of
this folemn affembly.

Abijah, and Afa his fon, were
fucceffive kings of Judah. — The firft
came to the crown at the clofe of a
long, and, in the end, a very unfuc-
cefsful war, which had gradually
wafted the ftrength and riches of his
kingdom.

He was a prince endowed with the
talents which the emergencies of his
country required, and feemed born to
make Judah. a victorious, as well as a
happy people.— —The conduct and
great fuccefs of his arms againfl Jero-
boam, had well eftablifhed the firft;-—
but his kingdom, which had been fo
many years the feat of a war, had been

SERMON XXV. 57

fo wafted and bewildered, that his reign*
good as it was, was too fhort to ao
complifh the latter. — He died, and left
the work unfinifhed for his fon. —
Afa fucceeded, in the room of Abijah
his father, with the trueft notions of
religion and government that could
be fetched either from reafon or ex-
perience.— His reafon told him, that
God mould be worihipped in fim-
piicity and finglenefs of heart; —
therefore he took away the altars of
the ft range gods, and broke down
their images. — His experience told
him, that the mod fuccefsful wars,
inftead of invigorating, more gene-
rally drained away the vitals of
government, — and, at the beflr, ended
but in a brighter and more oftenta-

58 SERMON XXV.

tious kind of poverry and defolation :
—therefore he laid afide his fword,
and ftudied the arts of ruling Judah
with peace.— Confcience would not
furTer Afa to faerince his fubjecls
to private views of ambition, and
wifdom forbad he fhould fuffer them
to offer up themfelves to the pre-
tence of public ones \ — fince enlarge-
ment of empire, by the definition
of its people, (the natural and only-
valuable fource of flrength and
riches) was a diflioneft and miferable
exchange. — And however well the
glory of a conqueft might appear in
the eyes of a common beholder, yet,
when bought at that coftly rate, a
father to his country would behold
the triumphs which attended it, and

SERMON XXV. 59

Tveep as it patted by him. — Amidft
all the glare and jollity of the day,
the parent's eyes would fix attentively
upon his child ; — he would difcern
him drooping under the weight of
his attire, without ftrength or vigour,
—his former .beauty and comelinefs
gone off: — he would behold the
coat of many colours ftained with
blood, and cry, — Alas ! they have
decked thee with a parent's pride,
but not with a parent's care and
forefight.

With fuch affectionate fentiments
of government, and juft principles of
religion, Afa began his reign. — A
reign marked out with new ^ras,
and a fucceflion of happier occur-
5

60 SERMON XXV.

rences than what had diftinguifhed
former days.

The juft and gentle fpirit of the
prince, infenfibly ilole into the breads
of the people. — The men of Judah
turned their fwords into plowfhares,
and their fpears into pruning hooks.
— By induftry and virtuous labour
they acquired, what by fpoil and
rapine they might have fought after
long in vain. — The traces of their
late troubles foon began to wear out.
— The cities, which had become
ruinous and defolate (the prey of
famine and the fword) were now re-
built, fortified, and made populous. —
Peace, fecurity, wealth, and profpe-
rity, feemed to compofe the whole

i

SERMON XXV. 6r

hiftory of A fa's reign.— O Judah !
what could then have been done more
than what was done to make thy peo-
ple happy ?—

What one blefling was with-held,
that thou fhouklH ever with-hold thy
thankfulnefs ?—

That thou didft not continually turn
thy eyes towards heaven with an ha-
bitual fenfe of God's mercies, and de-
voutly praife him for fetting Afa over
you.

Were not the public bleflings, and
the private enjoyments, which every
man of Judah derived from them,
fuch as to make the continuance of
them defirable ? — and what other way
was there to effect it, than to fwear
unto the Lord, with all your hearts

62 SERMON XXV.
and fouls, to perform the covenant
made with your fathers ? — to fecure
that favour and intereft with the al-
mighty Being, without which the wif-
dom of this world is foolifhnefs, and
the belt connected fyftems of human
policy are fpeculative and airy pro-
jects, without foundation or fubftance.
The hificry of their own ex-
ploits and eftablifhment fince they had
become a nation, was a ftrong con-
firmation of this doctrine.

But too free and uninterrupted a
poffefiion of God Almighty's blef-
fings, fometimes (though it feems
ft range to fuppofe it) even tempts
men to forget him, either from at cer-
tain depravity and ingratitude of na-
ture, not to be wrought upon by good-

SERMON XXV, 63

nefs,— or that they are made by it too
pafilonately fond of the prefent hour,
and too thoughtlefs of its great Au-
thor, whofe kind providence brought
it about. — This feemed to have been
the cafe with the men of Judah :—
for notwithstanding all that God had
done for them, in placing Abjah, and
Afa his ion, over them, and infpiring
them with hearts and talents proper
to retrieve the errors of the foregoing
reign, and bring back peace and
plenty to the dwellings of Judah \ —
yet there appears no record of any
folemn and religious acknowledgment
to God for fuch fignal favours. — The
people fat down in a thanklefs fecu-
rity, each man under his vine, to eat
and drink, and rofe up to play \

64 SERMON XXV.

more folicitous to enjoy their bleffings,
than to deferve them.

But this fcene of tranquillity was
not to fubfift without fome change •,
— and it feemed as if providence at
length had fuffered the dream to be
interrupted, to make them confider
whence it flowed, and how neceflary
it had been all along to their fupport.
— The Ethiopians, ever fince the be-
ginning of Abijah's reign, until the
tenth year of Afa's, had been at peace,
or at leaft, whatever fecret enmity
they bore, had made no open attacks
upon the kingdom of Judah. — And
indeed the bad meafures which Reho-
boam had taken, in the latter part of
the reign which immediately preceded
theirs, feemed to have faved the Ethi-

SERMON XXV. 65

opians the trouble. — For Rehoboam,
though in the former part of his reign
he dealt wifely; yet when he had
eftablifhed his kingdom, and ftrength-
ened himfelf, — he forfook the laws of
the Lord ; — he forfook the council
which the old men gave him, and took
council with the young men, which
were brought up with him, and flood
before him. — Such ill-advifed mea-
fures, in all probability, had given
the enemies of Judah fuch decifive
advantages over her, that they had
fat down contented, and for many
years enjoyed the fruits of their ac-

quifitions. But the friendfhip of

princes is feldom made up of better
materials than thofe which are every

day to be i&cn in private life, in

Vol. VI. F

66 SERMON XXV.

which fincerity and affection are not

at all confidered as ingredients.

Change of time and circumftances pro-
duce a change of councils and beha-
viour.— Judah, in length of time,
had become a frefh temptation, and
was worth fighting for. — Her riches
and plenty might firft make her ene-
mies covet, and then the remembrance
of how cheap and ea'y a prey fne had
formerly been, might make them not
doubt of obtaining.

By thefe apparent motives, (or whe-
ther God, who fometimes over- rules
the heart of man, was pleafed to turn
them by fecret ones, to the purpofes
of his wifdom) the ambition of the
Ethiopians revived, with an hoft of
men numerous as the fand upon the

SERMON XXV. 67

fea-fhore in multitude.— They had
left their country, and were coming
forwards to invade them. — What can
Judah propofe to do in fo terrifying a
crifis ? — where can me betake herfelf
for refuge ? — on one handj her reli-
gion and laws are too precious to be
given up, or trufted to the hands of
a ftranger -, — and on the other hand,
how can fo fmall a kingdom, juft re-
covering ftrength, furrounded by an
army of a thoufand thoufand men,
befides chariots and horfes, be able to
withftand fo powerful a fnock. — But
here it appeared that thofe, who, in
their profperity, can forget God, do yet
remember him in the day of danger
and diftrefs •, — and can begin with
comfort to depend upon his provi-
F 2

68 S E R iM O N XXV.

dence, when with comfort they can
depend upon nothing elfe. — For
when Zerah, the Ethiopian, was
come unto the valley of Zephatha at
Maretha, Afa, and all the men of
Judah, and Benjamin, went out
againft him ; — and as they went,
they cried mightily unto God. — And
Afa prayed for his people, and he
faid, — " O Lord ! it is nothing with
thee to help, whether with many, or
with them that have no power: — .
help us, O Lord our God •, for we
reft in thee, and in thy name we go
againft this multitude. — O Lord,
thou art our God, let not man pre-
vail againft thee." — Succels almoft
feemed a debt due to the piety of the
prince, and the contrition of his
4

SERMON XXV. 69

people, — So God fmote the Ethio-
pians, and they could not recover
themfelves : — for they were fcattered,
and utterly deftroyed, — before the
Lord, and before his hoft. — And
as they returned to Jerufalem from
purfuing, — behold the fpirit of God
came upon Afariah, the fon of Oded,
— And he went out to meet Afa,
and he faid unto him, — Hear ye me,
Afa, and all Judah' and Benjamin;
— the Lord is with you, whilft you
are with him •, — and if you feek him,
he will be found of you, but if ye
forfake him, he will forfake you. —
Nothing could more powerfully call
home the confeience than fo timely
an expoftulation. — The men of Judah
and Benjamin, (truck with a fenfe

F3

7o SERMON XXV.
of their late deliverance, and the
many other felicities they had enjoyed
fince Afa was king over them, they
gathered themfclves together at Jeru-
falem, in the third month in the
fifteenth year of Afa's reign \ — and
they entered into a covenant to feek
th^ Lord God of their fathers, with
all their heart, and with all their
ibul :-—and they fware unto the
Lord with a loud voice, and with
fhouting, and with trumpets, and
with cornets, and all Judah rejoiced
at the oath.

One may obferve a kind of luxu-
riety in the defcription, which the
holy hiftorian gives of the tranfport
of the men of Judah upon this occa-
ficn. — And fure, if ever matter of

SERMON XXV. 71

joy was fo reafonably founded, as to
excufe any excefies in the expreflions
of it, — this was one : — for without
it, — the condition of Judah, though
otherwife the happieft, would have
been, of all nations under heaven,
the molt miferable.

Let us fuppofe a moment, inftead
of bang repulfed, that the enterprife
of the Ethiopians had profpcred
agairift them, — like other grievous
diftempers, where the vitals are firft
attacked, — A fa, their king, would
have been fought after, and have
been made the firft facrifice. — He
muft either have fallen by the fvvord
of battle, or execution ; or, what is
worfe, he muft have furvived the
ruin of his country by flighty—and
F 4

72 SERMON XXV.

worn out the remainder of his days
in forrow, for the afflictions which
were come upon it. — In fome remote
corner of the world, the good king
would have heard the particulars of
Judah's deftruction. — He would have
been told how the country, which
had become dear to him by his pa-
ternal care, was now utterly laid
wafte, and all his labour loft; —
how the fences which protected it
were torn up, and the tender plant
within, which he had fo long fhel-
tered, was cruelly trodden underfoot
and devoured. — He would hear how
Zerah, the Ethiopian, when he had
overthrown the kingdom, thought
himfelf bound in confcience to over-
throw the religion of it too, and

SERMON XXV. 73
eftablifn his own idolatrous one in its
flead. — That, in purfuance of this,
the holy religion, which Afa had re-
formed, had begun every where to be
evil fpoken of, and evil entreated :

That it was firft banifhed from the
courts of the king's houfe, and the
midft of Jerufalem,— and then fled for
fafety out of the way into the wilder-
nefs, and found no city to dwell in.—
That Zerah had rebuilt the altars of
the ftrange gods, — which Afa's piety
had broken down, and fet up their

images :

That his commandment was urgent?
that all mould fall down and wror-
fhip the idol he had made : — That,
to complete the tale of their miferies,
there was no proipect of deliverance

74 SERMON XXV.

for any but the word of his fub-
jects ; — thofe who, in his reign, had
either leaned in their hearts towards
thefe idolatries, — or whofe principles
and morals were fuch, that all religions
fuited them alike. — But that the ho-
ned and confcientious men of Judah,
unable to behold fuch abominations,
hung down every man his head like a
bulrufh, and put fack-cloth and afhes
under him.

This picture of Judah's defolation
might be fome rsfemblance of what
every of Afa's fubjecls would pro-
bably form to himfelf, the day he lb-
lemnized an exemption from it. —
And the tranfport was natural, — To
fwear unto the Lord with a loud voice,
and with fhouting, and with trumpets,

SERMON XXV. 75

and with eornets ; — to rejoice at the
oath which fecured their future peace,
and celebrate it with all external marks
of gladnefs.

1 have at length gone through the
ftory, which gave the occafion to this
religious act, which is recorded of the
men of Judah in the text.

I believe there is not one, in facred
Scripture, that bids fairer for a paral-
lel to our own times, or that would
admit of an application more fuitable
to the folemnity of this day. •

But men are apt to be ftruck with
likenefTes in fo different a manner,
from the different points of view in
which they (land, as well as their diver-
fity of judgments, that it is generally
a very unacceptable piece of ofTiciouf-

?6 SERMON XXV.

nefs to fix any certain degrees of ap-
proach. .

In this cafe, it feems fufficient,—
that thofe who will difcern the lead re-
femblance, will difcern enough to make
them ferioufly comply with the devo-
tion of the day ; — and that thofe who
are affected with it in a flronger man-
ner, and fee the blefiing of a protef-
tant king in its faireft light, with all
the mercies which made way for it,
will have frill more abundant reafon to
adore that good Being, which has all
along protected it from the enemies
which have rifen up to do it violence ;
—but more efpecially, in a late in-
flance, by turning down the councils
of the froward head-long, — and con-
founding the devices of the crafty,-—

SERMON XXV. 77

io that their hands could not perform
their enterprife. — Though this event,
for many reafons, will ever be told
amongft the felicities of thefe days •,

yet for none more fo, — than that

it has given us a frefh mark of the
continuation of God Almighty's fa-
vour to us: — apart of that great com-
plicated blefling for which we are ga-
thered together to return him thanks.
Let us, therefore, I befeech you,
endeavour to do it in the way which
becomes wife men, and which is
likely to be moft acceptable-, — and

that is, to purfue the intentions of

his providence, in giving us the occa-

fion to become better men, and

by a holy and an honed converfation,
make ourfelves capable of enjoying

78 SERMON XXV.

what God has done for us. — In vain
fhall we celebrate the day with a loud
voice, and with fhouting, and with
trumpets, — if we do not do it likewife
with the internal and more certain
marks of fincerity, — a reformation
and purity in our manners. — It is in>
poftible a fmful people can either be
grateful to God, or properly loyal to
their prince.— They cannot be grate-
ful to the one, becaufe they live not
under a fenfe of his mercies -, — nor
can they be loyal to the other, becaufe
they daily offend in two of the ten-
derer!: points which concern his wel-
fare.— By firft difengaging the pro-
vidence of God from taking our part,
and then giving a heart to our adver-
saries to lift their hands againft us,

SERMON XXV. 79

who muft know, that, if we forfake God,
God will forfake us, — Their hopes,
their defigns, their wickednefs againft
us, can only be built upon ours to-
wards God.

For if they did not think we did
evil, they durlt not hope we could
perifh.

Ceafe, therefore, to do evil; — for
by following righteoufnefs, you will
make the hearts of your enemies faint,
they will turn their backs againft your
indignation, — and their weapons will
fall from their hands.

Which may God grant, through the
merits and mediation of his Son Jefus
Chrift, to whom be all honour, 6cc.
Amen.

SERMON XXVI.

Follow Peace.

Hebrews xii. 14.

Follow peace with all men^ and holi-
nefSi without which no man Jlo all fee
the Lord,

THE great end and. defign of
our holy religion, next to the
main view of reconciling us to God,
was to reconcile us to each other ; —
by teaching us to fubdue all thofe
unfriendly difpofitions in our nature,
which unnt us for happinefs, and the
focial enjoyment of the many blef-
fings which God has enabled us to
Vol. VI. G

82 SERMON XXVI.

partake of in this world, miferable
as it is, in many refpects. — Could
chriftianity perfuade the profefibrs
e'f it into this temper, and engage
us, as its doctrine requires, to go on
and exalt our natures, and, after the
fubducuon of the moft unfriendly of
our pafiions, to plant, in the room of
them, all thofe (more natural to the
foil) humane and benevolent incli-
nations, which, in imitation of the
perfections of God, mould difpofe us
to extend our love and goodnefs to
our fellow creatures, according to
the extent of our abilities 5 — in lifee
manner, as the goodnefs of God ex-
tends itfelf over all the works of the
creation : — could this be accom-
plimed, — the world would be worth

SERMON XXVI. $3

living in ;— and might be confidered
by us as a foretafte of what we mould
<enter upon hereafter.

But fuch a fyftem, you'll fay, is
merely vifionary 5— and, confidering
man as a creature fo befer with felflfh-
nefs, and other fretful pafiions that
propenfity prompt him to, though
it is to be wifhed, i: is not to be
expected, — But our religion enjoins
us to approach as near this fair
pattern as we can ; and, if it be
pofnble, as much as lieth in us, to
live peaceably with all men -, — where
the term, — If pofiible, I own, implies
it may not only be difficult, but
fometimes impofuble. — Thus the
words of the text, — Follow peace,—
may by fome be thought to imply, —
G 2

84 SERMON XXVI.

that this defirable blefling may
fometimes fly from us : — but dill we
are required to follow it, and not
ceafe the purfuit, till we have ufed all
warrantable methods to regain and
fettle it : — becaufe, adds the Apoftle,
without this frame of mind, no man
fhall fee the Lord. For heaven is the
region, as well as the recompenfe,
of peace and benevolence; and fuch
as do not defire and promote it
here, are not qualified to enjoy it
hereafter.

For this caufe, in Scripture lan-
guage,— peace is always fpoke of as
the great and comprehenfive blef-
fing, which included in it all man-
ner of happinefs •, — -and to wifli peace
to any houfe or perlbn, was, in one

SERMON XXVI. 85:

word, to wifli them all that was good
and denrable. — Beckufe happinefs'
confifts in the inward complacency'
and fatisfaction of the mind \ and he
who has fuch a difpofuion of foul, as
to acquiefce and reft contented with
all the events of providence, can
want nothing this world can give
him. — A greeable to this, — that fliortjr
but mod comprehenfive, hymn fung-
by angels at our Saviour's birth,
declaratory of the joy and happy
ends of his incarnation, — after glory,
in the firft, to God, — the next note
which founded was, Peace upon earth,
and good-will to men. — It was a
public wifli of happinefs to man-
kind, and implied a fokmn charge'
to purfue the means that would ever

G3

86 SERMON XXVL
lead to it. — And, in truth, the good
tidings of the" gofpel are nothing
elfe but a grand mtflage and embarTy
of peace, to let us know, that cur
peace is made in heaven.

The prophet Ifaiah ftyles our
Saviour the Prince of Peace, long
before he came into the world ->
—and to anfwer the title, he made
choice to enter into it at a time
when all nations were at peace with
each other; which was in the days
of Auguftus, — when the temple of
Janus was fhut, and all the alarms
of war were hufhed and filenced
throughout the world. — At his birth,
the hofl of heaven defcended, and
proclaimed peace on earth, as the
bcii ftate and temper the world could

SERMON XXVI. 87
be in to receive and welcome the
Author of it. — His future conver-
fation and doctrine, here upon earth,
was every way agreeable with his
peaceable entrance upon it; — the
whole courfe of his life being but
one great example of meeknefs,
peace and patience. — At his death,
it was the only legacy he bequeathed
to his followers : — My peace I give
unto you. — Kow far this has taken
place, or been actually enjoyed, — is
not my intention to enlarge upon,
any further than juft to ohferve how
precious a bequeft it was, from the
many mileries and calamities which
have, and ever will, enfue from the
want of it. — If we look into the
larger circle of the world, — what
G4

S8 SERMON XXVI.

defolations, difiblutions of govern-
ment, and invafions of property! —
what rapine, plunder, and profana-
tion cf the mod facred rights of man-
kind, are the certain unhappy effects
of it ! — fields dyed in blood, — the
cries of orphans and widows, bereft
of their beft help, too fully inftruct
vjs. — Look into private life, — be-
hold how good and pleafant a thing
it is to live together in unity ; — it
is like the precious ointment poured
upon the head of Aaron, that run
down to his fkirts •, — importing, that
this balm of life is felt and enjoyed,
not only by governors cf kingdoms,
cd down to the lowefl:
life, and tafted in the mod
private re • — all, from the king

SERMON XXVI. 89

to the peafant, are refrefhed with its
bleffings, without which we can find
no comfort in any thing this world
can give, — It is this blefling gives
every one to fit quietly under his
vine, and reap the fruits of his labour
and induftry : — in one word, — which
befpeaks who is the beftower of it-
it is that only which keeps up the
harmony and order of the world, and
preferves every thing in it from ruin
and confufion.

There is one faying of our Savi-
our's, recorded by St. Matthew, which,
at fird fght, feems to carry fome op-
pofition to this doflrine ; — I came
not to fend peace on earth, but a
fword. — But this reaches no farther
than the bare words, not entering fo
7

9o SERMON XXVI.

deep as to afFect the fenfe, or imply
any contradiction ; — intimating only,
—that the preaching of the goipel
will prove in the event, through fun-
dry unhappy caufes, fuch as pre-
judices, the corruption of men's
hearts, a pafilon for idolatry and fu-
perdition, the occafion of much vari-
ance and divifion even amongft near-
eft relations ; — yea, and oft-times of
bodily death, and many calamities
and perfecutions, which actually en-
fued upon the firft preachers and fol-
lowers of it. — Or the words may be
underftood, — as a beautiful defcrip-
tion of the inward contefts and
oppofition which chriftianity would
occafion in the heart of man, — from
its oppoCtions to the violent paflions

SERMON XXVI. 9»

of our nature, — which would engage
us in a perpetual warfare. — This was
not only a fword, — a divifion betwixt
neareft kindred ; — but it was divid-
ing a man againft himfelf; — fetting
up an oppofition to an intereft long
eftabiifhed, — ftrong by nature, —
more fo by uncontrouled cuftom. —
This is verified every hour in the
ftruggles for maftery betwixt the
principles of the world, the flefh and
the devil ; — which fet up fo ftrong a
confederacy, that there is need of
all the helps which reafon and chrif-
tianity can offer to bring them
down.

But this contention is not that
againft which fuch exhortations in the
gofpel are levelled s— for the Scrip-

92 SERMON XXVI.

ture mud be interpreted by Scrip-
ture, and be made confident with
itfelf. — And we find the diftingnifh-
ing marks and doctrines, by which
all men were to know who were
Chrift's difciples, — was that benevo-
lent frame of mind towards all our
fellow-creatures, which, by itfelf, is
a fufncient fecurity for the particular
focial duty here recommended : — fo
far from meditations of war-, — for
love thinketh no evil to his neighbour^
— fo far from doing any, it harbours
not the lead thought of it \ but, on
the contrary, rejoices with them that
rejoice, and weeps with them that
wet p.

This debt chriflianity has highly
exalted -, thou£h it is a debt that we

SERMON XXVf. 92

were fenfible of before, and acknow-
ledged to be owed to human nature,
— which, as we all partake of,— fo
ought we to pay it in a fuitable re-
fpect — For, as men, we are allied to-
gether in the natural bond of bro-
therhood, and are members one of
another. — We have the fame Father
in heaven, who made us and takes care
of us all. — Our earthly extraction
tco is nearer alike, than the pride of
the world cares to be reminded of :
— for Adam was the father of us all,
and Eve the mother of all living. — ■
The prince and the beggar fprung
from the fame flocks, as wide afunder
as the branches are. — So that, in this
view, the mod upflart family may
vie antiquity, and compare families

54 SERMON XXVI.

with the greateft monarchs. — We arc
all formed too of the fame mould,
and muft equally return to the fame
dufL — So that, to love our neigh-
bour, and live quietly with him, is
to live at peace with ourfelves. — He
is but felf- multiplied, and enlarged
into another form ; and to be un-
kind or cruel to him, is but, as Solo-
mon obferves of the unmerciful, to be
cruel to our own flelh. — As a far-
ther motive and engagement to this
peaceable commerce with each other,
—God has placed us all in one ano-
ther's power by turns, — in a condi-
tion of mutual need and dependence.
— There is no man io liberally
ftocked with earthly blefTings, as to
be able to live without another man's
8

SERMON XXVI. 95

aid. — God, in his wifdom, has lb dif-
penfed his gifts, in various kinds and
meafures, as to render us helpful, and
make a focial intercourfe indifpenfable.
—The prince depends on the labour
and induftry of the peafant ; — and
the wealth and honour of the greateft
perfons are fed and fupported from
the fame fource.

This the Apoftle hath elegantly fet
forth to us by the familiar refem-
blance of the natural body ; — where-
in there are many members, and all
have not the fame office •, but the
different faculties and operations of
each, are for the ule and benefit of
the whole. — The eye fees not for
itfelf, but for the other members ;—
and is fet up as a light to direct

96 S E R M O N XXVI.

them : — the feet ferve to fupport and
carry about the other parts -, and the
hands act and labour for them all.
It is the fame in ftates and king-
doms, wherein there are many, mem-
bers, yet each in their fcveral func-
tions and employments -, which, if
peaceably discharged, are for the har-
mony of the whole flate, — Some are
eyes and guides to the blind ; —
ethers, feet to the lame and impo-
tent ; — fome to fupply the place of
the head, to amll with council and
direction 5 — others the hand, to be
ufeful by their labour and induftry.
— To make this link of dependenee
ftiil fironger, — there is a great por-
tion of mutability in all human af-
fairs, to make benignity of temper

SERMON XXVI. 97

not only our duty, but our intereft and
wifdom. — There is no condition in
life fo fixed and permanent as to be out
of danger, or the reach of change : —
and we all may depend upon it, that
we fhall take our turns of wanting
and defiring.— ^By how many un-
forefeen caufes may riches take
wing ! — The crowns of princes may
be fhaken, and the greateft that ever
awed the world have experienced
what the turn of the wheel can do.—
That which hath happened to orre
man, may befal another •, and, there-
fore, that excellent rule of our Savi-
our's ought to govern us in all our
actions, — Whatfoever ye would that
men mould do to you, do you ajfo to
Vol. VI. H

9* SERMON XXVI.

them likewife. — Time and chance
happens to all; — and the mod affluent
may be flript of all, and find hia
worldly comforts like fo many wi-
thered leaves dropping from him. —
Sure nothing can better become us,
than hearts fo full of our dependance
as to overflow with mercy, and pity,
and good-will towards mankind. —
To exhort us to this, is, in other
words, to exhort us to follow peace
with all men : — the firft is the root,
— this the fair fruit and happy pro-
duel: of it.

Therefore, my beloved brethren,
in the bowels of mercy, let us put
away anger, and malice, and evil
fpeaking ;" — let us fly all clamour and

SERMON XXVI. 99

ftrife ; — let us be kindly affected
one to another, — following peace
with all men, and holinefs, that we
may fee the Lord.

Which God of his infinite mercy
grant, through the merits of his Son,
our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

II 2

SERMON XXVII.

Search the Scriptures.

St. John v. 39.

Search the Scriptures.

a

THAT things of the moft inei-
timable ufe and value, for want
of due application and ftudy laid out
upon them, may be pafTed by unre-
garded, nay, even looked upon with
coldnefs and averfion, is a truth soo
evident to need enlarging on. — Nor
is it lefs certain that prejudices, con-
traded by an unhappy education,,
will fometimes fo (lop up all the pai-
fages to our hearts, that the aiofc
H 3

io2 SERMON XXVII.

amiable objects can never find acceis,
or bribe us by all their charms into /
juftice and impartiality. — It would be /
pafling the tendere'ft reflection upon *
the age we live in, to fay it is owing
to one of theie, that thofe inefti-*
mable books, the Sacred Writings,
meet fo often with a difrelifri (what
makes the accufation almoft incredi-
ble) amongft perfons who fet up for
men of tafte and delicacy ; who pre-
tend to be charmed with what they
call beauties and nature in claflical
authors, and in other things would
blufh not to be reckoned amongft
found and impartial critics. — But fo
far has negligence and prepofTefTion
flopped their ears againft the voice of
the charmer, that they turn over

SERMON XXVIL 103

thofe awful facred pages with inat-
tention and an unbecoming indiffer-
ence, unaffected amidft ten thoufand
fublime and noble paffages, which,
by the rules of found criticifm and
reafon, may be demonflrated to be
truly eloquent and beautiful.

Indeed the opinion of falfe Greek
and barbarous language, in the Old
and New Teftament, had, for fome
ages, been a ftumbling-block to ano-
ther fet of men, who were profeffedly
great readers and admirers of the
ancients. — The Sacred Writings were,
by thefe perfons, rudely attacked on
all fides : expreflions which came not
within the compafs of their learning,
were branded with barbarifm and fo-
lecifm j words which fcarce fignified
H 4

io4 SERMON XXVII.

any thing but the ignorance of thole
who laid fuch groundlefs charges on
them,— -Prefumptuous man ! —Shall
he, who is but dud and allies, dare
to End fault with the words of that
Being, who firft infpired man with
language, and taught his mouth to
utter ; who opened the lips of the
dumb, and made the infant eloquent ?
— Thefe perfons, as they attacked the
infpired writings on the foot of cri-
tics and men of learning, accordingly
have been treated as fuch : and tho'
a (hotter way might have been gone
to work, which was, — that as their
accufations reached no farther than
the bare words and phrafeology of
the Bible, they, in no wife, affected
the fentiments and foundnefs of the

SERMON XXVII. 105

doctrines, which were conveyed with
as much clearnefs and perfpicuity to
mankind, as they could have been,
had the language been written with
the utmoft elegance and grammatical
nicety. And even though the charge
of barbarous idioms could be made
out; — yet the caufe of chriftianity was
thereby noways affected, but remain-
ed juft in the flate they found it.-—
Yet, unhappily for them, they even
mifcarried in their favourite point ;— •
there being few, if any at all, of the
Scripture expreflions, which may not
be juftified by numbers of parallel
modes of fpeaking, made nfe of
amongft the pureft and moft authen-
tic Greek authors. — This, an able
hand amongft us, not many years

10S SERMO N XXVII.
ago, has fufficiently made out, and
thereby baffled and expofed all their
prefumptuous and ridiculous alTer-
tions. — Thefe perfons, bad and de-
ceitful as they were, are yet far out-
gone by a third fet of men. — I wifli
we had not too many inftances of
them, who, like foul ftomachs, that
turn the fweeteft food to bitternefs,
upon all occafions endeavour to
make merry with facred Scripture,
and turn every thing they meet with
therein into banter and burlefque. —
But as men of this ftamp, by their
excefs of wickednefs and weaknefs
together, have entirely difarmed us
from arguing with them as reafon-
able creatures, it is not only making
them too confiderable, but likewife

SERMON XXVII. 107

to no purpofe to fpend much time
about them ; they being, in the
language of the Apoftle, creatures of
no underftanding, fpeaking evil of
things they know not, and fhall
utterly perifh in their own corrup-
tion.— Of thefe two laft, the one is
difqualified for being argued with,
and the other has no occafion for it \
they being already filenced. — Yet
thofe that were firft mentioned, may
not altogether be thought unworthy
of our endeavours ; — being perfons,
as was hinted above, who, though
their taftes are fo far vitiated that
they cannot reiifh the Sacred Scrip-
tures, yet have imaginations capable
of being railed by the fancied excel-
lencies of claffical writers. — And in-

108 SERMON XXVII.

deed thefe perfons claim from us
fome degree of pity, when, through
the unfkilfulnefs of preceptors in
their youth, or fome other unhappy
circumflance in their education, they
have been taught to form falfe and
wretched notions of good writing. —
When this is the cafe, it is no wonder
they mould be more touched and
affected with the drefTed-up trifles and
empty conceits of poets and rheto-
ricians, than they are with that true
fublimity and grandeur cf fentiment
which glow throughout every page of
the infpired writings. — By way of in-
formation, Rich mould be inftructed : —
There are two forts of eloquence,
the one indeed fcarce deferves the name
of it, which confifts chiefly in laboured

SERMON XXVII. 109

and polilhed periods, an over-curious
and artificial arrangement of figures,
tinfel'd over with a gaudy embellifh-
ment of words, which glitter, but con-
vey little or no light to the underftand-
ing. This kind of writing is for the
moftpart much affected and admired
by people of weak judgment and
vicious taite, but is a piece of affec-
tation and formality the facred writers
are utter ftrangers to. — It is a vain
and boyifh eloquence •, and as it has
always been efteemed below the
great geniufes of all ages, fo much
more fo, with refpecl to thofe writers
who were acted by the fpirit of in-
finite wifdom, and therefore wrote
with that force and majefty with,
whicji never man writ.— The other

j io SERMON XXVII.
fort of eloquence is quite the reverie
to this, and which may be faid to
be the true characteristic of the holy
Scriptures ; where the excellence
does not arife from a laboured and
far-fetched elocution, but from a
furprifing mixture of fimplicity and
majefty, which is a double character,
fo difficult to be united, that it is
feldom to be met with in compo-
fitions merely human. — We fee no-
thing in holy writ of affectation and
fuperfluous ornament. — As the in-
finite wife Beins; has condefcended
to ftoop to our language, thereby to
convey to us the light of revelation,
fo has he been pleafcd gracioufly to
accommodate it to us with the mod
natural and graceful plain nefs it

SERMON XXVII, m

would admit of. — Now, it is obferv-
able that the mod excellent pro-
phane authors, whether Greek or
Latin, lofe mod of their graces
whenever we find them literally trans-
lated.— Homer's famed representa-
tion of J upiter, in his firft book j —
his cried- up defcription of a temped ;
— his relation of Neptune's making
the earth, and opening it to it's
center -r — his defcription of Pallas's
horfes ^ with numbers of other long-
fince-admired paffages, — flag, and
■aimoft vanifh away, in the vulgar
Latin tranflation.

Let any one but take the pains to
read the common Latin interpret-
ation of Virgil, Theocritus, or even
of Pindar, and one may venture to
2

in SERMON XXVIL

affirm he will be able to trace out
but few remains of the graces which
charmed him fo much in the ori-
ginal.— The natural conclufion from
hence is, that in the clafilcal authors,
the expreflion, the fweetnefs of the
numbers, occafioned by a mufical
placing of words, conftitute a great
part of their beauties -, — whereas, in
the Sacred Writings, they confift
more in the greatnefs of the things
themfelves, than in the words and
expreffions. — The ideas and concep-
tions are fo great and lofty in their
own nature, that they neceffarily ap-
pear magnificent in the mod artlefs
drefs. — Look but into the Bible, and
we fee them mine through the mod
fimple and literal tranQations.— That

5

SERMON XXVII. n3
glorious defcription which Mofes
gives of the creation of the heavens
and the earth, which Longinus, the
bed critic the eaftern world ever pro-
duced, was fo juftly taken with, has
not loft the leaft whit of its intrinfic
worth ; and though it has undergone
fo many tranflations, yet triumphs
over all, and breaks forth with as
much force and vehemence as in the
original. — Of this flamp are num-
bers of pafTages throughout the
Scriptures ; — inftance, that celebrat-
ed defcription of a temped in the
hundred and feventh pfalm-, thofe
beautiful reflections of holy Job,,
upon the fhortnefs of life, and infta-
bility of human affairs, fo judicioufly
appointed by our church in her
Vcl, VI. I

H4 SERMON XXVII.

office for the burial of the dead ; —
that lively defcription of a horfe of
war, in the thirty-ninth chapter of
Job, in which, from the 19th to the
26th verfe, there is fcarce a word
which does not merit a particular
explication to difplay the beauties
of. — I might add to thefe, thofe
tender and pathetic expostulations
with the children of Ifrael, which
run throughout all the prophets,
which the moft uncritical reader can
fcarce help being affected with.

And now, O inhabitants of Jeru-
falem, and men of Judah, judge, I
pray you, betwixt me and my vine-
yard.— What could have been done
more to my vineyard that I have not
done ? — wherefore, when I expected

3

SERMON XXVII. 115

that it fhould bring forth grapes,
brought it forth wild grapes ? — and
yet, ye fay, the way of the Lord is
unequal. — Hear now, O houfe of
Ifrael, — is not my way equal ?— are
not your ways unequal ? — have I
any pleafure at all that the wicked
fhould die, and not that he fhould
return from his ways and live ? — I
have nourifhed and brought up chil-
dren, and they have rebelled againft
me. — The ox knows his owner, and
the afs his matter's crib ; — but Ifrael
doth not know, my people doth not
confider. — There is nothing in all
the eloquence of the heathen world
comparable to the vivacity and ten-
dernefs of thefe reproaches •, — there
is fomer,hing in them fo thoroughly
I 2

n6 SERMON XXVIL

arTecting, and fj noble and fublime
withal, that one might challenge
the writings of the moft celebrated
orators of antiquiry to produce any
thing like them. — Thefe obfervations
upon the fuperiority of the infpired
pen-men to heathen ones, in that
which regards the compofition more
eonfpicuoufly, hold good when they
areconfidered upon the foot of hifto-
rians. — Not to mention that pro-
phane hiftories give an account only
of human achievements and tern*
poral events, which, for the mofl
part, are fo full of uncertainty and
contradictions, that we are at a lofs
where to feek for truth •, — but that
the facred hiftory is the hiftory of
God himfelf, — the hiftory of his

SERMON XXVII. 117

omnipotence and infinite wifdom, his
univerfal providence, his juftice and
mercy, and all his other attributes,
difplayed under a thoufand different
forms, by a feries of trie mod various
and wonderful events that ever hap-
pened to any nation, or language : —
not to infift upon this vifible fupe-
riority in facred hiftory, — there is
yet another undoubted excellence
the prophane hiftorians feldom arrive
at, which is almoft the diftinguifhing
character of the facred ones ; namely,
that unaffected, artlefs manner of re-
lating hiftorical fads, — which is fo
intirely of a piece with every other
part of the holy writings. — What I
mean will be beft made out by a few
inftances. — In the hiftory of Jofeph,

1 3

n8 SERMON XXVII.

(which certainly is told with the
greateft variety of beautiful and af-
fecting circumftances) when Jofeph
makes himfelf known, and weeps
aloud upon the neck of his dear
brother Benjamin, that all the houfe
of Pharaoh heard him ; — at that in-
ftant, none if his brethren are intro-
duced as uttering aught, either to
exprefs their prefentjoy, or palliate
their former injuries to him. — On all
fides, there immediately enfues a
deep and folemn filence j — a filence
infinitely more eloquent and exprei-
five, than ary thing elie could have
been fubftituted in its place. — Had
Thucydides, Herodotus, Livy,or any
of the celebrated claflical hiftorians,
been employed in writing this hifbory,

SERMON XXVII. u9

when they came to this point, they
would, doubtlefs, have exhaufted all
their fund of eloquence in furnifhing
Jofeph's brethren with laboured and
fludied harangues ; which, however
fine they might have been in them-
felves, would neverthelefs have been
unnatural, and altogether improper
on the occafion. — For when fuch a
variety of contrary paffions broke in
upon them, — what tongue was able
to utter their hurried and diftracled
thoughts ? — When remorfe, furprife,
fhame, joy and gratitude ftruggled
together in their bofoms, how un-
eloquently would their lips have per-
formed their duty ? — how unfaith-
fully their tongues have fpoken the
language of their hearts ? — In this
I 4

i2o SERMON XXVII.

cafe, filence was truly eloquent and
natural, and tears exprerTed what ora-
tory was incapable of.

If ever thefe perfons I have been
addrefling myfelf to, can be perfuaded
to follow the advice in the text, of
fearching the Scriptures,— the work of
their falvation will be begun upon its
true foundation. — For, firft, they will
infenfibly be led to admire the beau-
tiful propriety of their language : —
when a favourable opinion is con-
ceived of this, next, they will more
clofely attend to the goodnefs of the
moral, and the purity and foundnefs
of the doctrines. — The pleafure of
reading will ftill beincreafed, by that
near concern which they will find
themfelves to have in thofe many im-

SERMON XXVII. m
portant truths, which they will fee fo
clearly demonftrated in the Bible,
that grand charter of our eternal hap-
pinefs. — It is the fate of mankind, too
often, to feem infenfible of what they
may enjoy at the eafieft rate. — What
might not our neighbouring Romifli
countries, who groan under the yoke
of popifh impofnions and pri eft-craft,
what might not thofe poor, mif-
guided creatures give, for the happi-
nefs which we know not how to va-
lue,— of being born in a country
where a church is eftablifhed by our
laws, and encouraged by our prin-
ces ; which not only allows the free
fludy of the Scriptures, but even ex-
horts and invites us to it •, — a church
that is a flranger to the tricks and
artifice of having the Bible in an un-

122 SERMON XXVII.
known tongue, to give the greater
latitude to the defigns of the clergy
in impofing their own trumpery, and
foifting in whatever may beft ferve
to aggrandize themfclves, or enflave
the wretches committed to their truft.
— In ihort, our religion was not given
us to raife our imaginations with or-
naments of words, or ftrokes of elo-
quence ; but to purify our hearts,
and lead us into the paths of righ-
teoufnefs. — However, not to defend
ourfelves, — when the attack is prin-
cipally level'd at this point, — might
sive occafion to our adverfaries to
triumph, and charge us either with
negligence or inability. — It is well
known how willing the enemies of
our religion are to feek occafions
againft us ; — how ready to magnify

SERMON XXVII. 123
every mote in our eyes to the bignefs
of a beam ; — how eager, upon the)
leaft default, to infult and cry out, —
There, there ! fo would we have it : —
not, perhaps, that we are fo much the
fubjed of malice and averfion, but
that the licentious age feems bent
upon bringing chriftianity into dif-
credit at any rate ; and, rather than
mils the aim, would ftrike through
the fides of thofe that are fent to teach
it. — Thank God, the truth of our
holy religion is eftabiifhed with fuch
ftrong evidence, that it refts upon a
foundation never to be overthrown,
either by the open aflaults or cun».
ning devices of wicked and defign-
ing men.— The part we have to a£b
is to be fteady, fobcr, and vigilant;
to be ready to every good work % to

124 SERMON XXVII.

reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all
long-fufFering ; to give occafion of
offence to no man ; that, with well-
doing, we may put to filence the ig-
norance of fooliih men.

I fhall cfofe all with that excellent
collect of our church : —

BlerTed Lord, who has caufed all
holy Scriptures to be written for our
learning, — grant that we may in fuch-
wife hear them, read, mark, learn,
and inwardly digeft them, that, by
patience and comfort of thy holy
word, we may embrace, and ever hold
fad, the blerTed hope of everlafting
life, which thou haft given us in thy
Son, our Saviour, Jefus Chrift.

Now to God the Father, &c.

SERMON XXVIII.

Psalm xev. 6, 7.

O come let us wcrjhip and fall down
before him : for he is the Lord our

God,

IN thh pfalm we find holy David
taken up with the pious contem-
plation of God's infinite power,
majefty, and greatnefs : — he confiders
him as the fovereign Lord of the
whole earth, the maker and fup-
porter of all things ; — that by him
the heavens were created, and all the
hoft of them ; that the earth was
wifely fafhioned by his hands j— he
had founded it upon the feas, and
eftablilhed it upon the floods :— that

126 SERMON XXVIII.

we likewife, the people of his paf-
ture, were raifed up by the fame cre-
ating hand, from nothing, to the dig-
nity of rational creatures, made, with
refpecl to our reafon and underftand-
ing, after his own moft perfect image.
It was natural to imagine that fuch
a contemplation would light up a
flame of devotion in any grateful
man's breaft ; and accordingly we
find it break forth in the words of
the text, in a kind of religious rap-
ture : —

O come let us wormip and fall down
before him : — for he is the Lord our
God.

Sure never exhortation to prayer
and worfhip can be better enforced
than upon this principle,— that God

SERMON XXVIII. 127

is the caufe and creator of all things ;
— that each individual being is up*
held in the ftation it was firft placed,
by the fame hand which firft formec}
it; — that all the blefiings and ad-
vantages, which are neceifary to the
happinefs and welfare of beings on
earth, are only to be derived from
the fame fountain ; — and that the
only way to do it, is to fecure an in-
tereft in his favour, by a grateful
expreflion of our fenfe for the bene-
fits we have received, and a humble
dependance upon him for thofe we
expect and (land in want of. — Whom
have we in heaven, fays the Pfalmift,
but thee, O God, to look unto or
depend on, to whom fhall we pour
out our complaints, and fpeak of all

I2S SERMON XXVIII.

our wants anc necefllties, but to thy
goodnefs, which is ever willing to
confer upon us whatever becomes us
to afk, and thee to grant ; — becaufe
thou haft promifed to be nigh unto
all that call upon thee, — yea, unto
all fuch as call upon thee faithfully •,
— that thou wilt fulfil the defire of
them that fear thee, that thou wilt
alfo hear their cry, and help them.

Of all duties, prayer certainly is
the fweeteft and morl eafy. — There
are fome duties which may feem to
occafion a troublefome oppofition to
the natural workings of flefri and
blood ; — fuch as the forgivenefs of
injuries, and the love of our enemies -,
— others, which will force us un-
avoidably into a perpetual ftruggle

SERMON XXVIII. 129

with our pafnons, — which war againft
the foul ; — fuch as chaftity, — tempe-
rance,—humility. — There are other
virtues, which feem to bid us forget
our prefent intereft for a while, —
fuch as charity and generofity; —
others, that teach us to forget it at
all times, and wholly to fix our affec-
tions on things above, and in no cir-
cumftance to act like men that look
for a continuing city here, but upon
one to come, whofe builder and
maker is God. — But this duty of
prayer and thankfgiving to God— -
has no fuch oppofitions to encounter ;
— it takes no bullock out of thy field,
—no horfe out of thy (table, — nor
he-goat out of thy fold •> — it colt-
cth no wearinefs of bones, no un*
Vol VI. K

130 SERMON XXVIII.

timely watchings ; — it requireth no
ftrength of parts, or painful ftudy,
but juft to know and have a true fenfe
of our dependance, and of the mer*
cies by which we are upheld : — and
with this, in every place and pofture
of body, a good man may lift up his
foul unto the Lord his God.

Indeed, as to the frequency of put-
ting this duty formally in practice,
as the precept muft neceflarily have
varied according to the different Ma-
rions in which God has placed us ; —
fb he has been pleafed to determine

nothing precifely concerning it :

for, perhaps, it would be unreafon-
ible to expect that the day-labourer,
or he that fupports a numerous family

SERMON XXVIII. 131

by the fweatof his brow, fhould fpend
as much of his time in devotion, as
the man of leifure and unbounded
wealth. This, however, in the ge-
neral, may hold good, that we are
bound to pay this tribute to God, as
often as his providence has put an
opportunity into our hands of fo
doing •, — provided that no plea, drawn
from the neceflary attention to the
affairs of the world, which many
men's filiations oblige them to, may
be fuppofed to extend to an exemp-
tion from paying their morning and

evening facrifice to God. For it

feems to be the leaft that can be done
to anfwer the demand of our duty in
this point, — fuccefiively to open and
fhut up the day in prayer and thankf-
K 2

i32 SERMON XXVIII,

giving ; — fince there is not a morning
thou rifeft, or a night thou layeft
down, but thou art indebted for it to
the watchful providence of Almighty-
God. David and Daniel, whole

names are recorded in Scripture for
future examole : — the firft, thoush a
mighty king, embarraffed with wars
abroad, and unnatural diilurbances at
home ; a foliation, one would think,
would allow little time for any thing
but his own and his kingdom's fafety ;
— yet found he leifure to pray /even
times a day: — jthe latter, the coun-
sellor and firft minifrer of flate to the
great Nebuchadnezzar ; and though
perpetually fatigued with the affairs
of a mighty kingdom, and the go-
vernment of the whole province of

SERMON XXVIII. 133

Babylon, which was committed to
his adminiftration ; — though near the
perfon of an idolatrous king, and
amidft the temptations of a luxurious

court, yet never neglected he his

God ; but, as we read, — he kneeled
upon his knees three times a day,
and prayed, and gave thanks before
him.

A frequent correfpondence with
heaven by prayer and devotion, is the
greateft nourifhment and fupport of
fpiritual life : — it keeps the fenfc of a

God warm and lively within us, ■

which fecures our difpoiition, and fets
fuch guards over us, that hardly will

a temptation prevail againft us. •

"Who can entertain a bafe or an im-
pure thought, or think of executing
K 3

134 SERMON XXVIII.

it, who is incefiantly converting with
his God ?— or not defpife every tempt-
ation this lower world can offer him,
when, by his conftant addreffes before
the throne of God's majefty, he brings
the glorious profpecl of heaven per-
petually before his eyes ?

I cannot help here taking notice
of the doctrine of thofe who would
refolve all devotion into the inner
man, and think that there is nothing
more requifite to exprefs our reverence
to God, but purity and integrity of

heart, unaccompanied either with

words or actions. — To this opinion it
may be juftly anfwered, — that, in the
prefent Hate we are in, we find fuch
a ftrong fympathy and union between
our fouls and bodies, that the one

SERMON XXVIII. 135

cannot be touched orfenfibly affected,
without producing fome correfpond-
ing emotion in the other. — Nature has
affigned a different look, tone of voice,
and gefture, peculiar to every paffion
and affection we are fubjecl: to -, and,
therefore, to argue againft this ftricl:
correfpondence which is held between
our fouls and bodies,— is difputing
againft the frame and mechanifm of
human nature. — We are not angels,
but men cloathed with bodies, and,
in fome meafure, governed by our
imaginations, that we have need of all
thefe external helps which nature has
made the interpreters of our thoughts.
— And, no doubt, though a virtuous
and a good life are more acceptable
K 4

136 SERMON XXVIir.

in the fight of God, than either prayer -

or thankfgiving •, for behold, tO'

obey is better than facrince, and to

hearken than the fat of rams ; ne-

verthelefs, as the one ought to be
done, fo the other ought not, by any
means,, to be left undone. — As God-
is to be obeyed, — fo he is to be wor-
fhipped alio. — For although inward
holinefs and integrity of heart is the
ultimate end of the divine difpenfa-

tions ; yet extern r.l religion is a

certain means of promoting it.

Each of them has its juft bounds;
— and therefore, as we would not ba
fo carnal as merely to reft contented
with the one, — fo nek her can we pre-
tend to be fc fpiritual as to neglect
the other.

SERMON XXVIII. 137

And though God is all-wife, and
therefore understands our thoughts
afar off, — and knows the exact de-
grees of aur love and reverence to
him, though we fhould with-hold
thofe outward marks of it ; — yet God
himfelf has been gracioufly pleafed
to command us to pray to him ; — i
that we might beg the afliftance of
his grace to work with us againfl our
own infirmities; — that we might ac-
knowledge him to be, what he is, the
fupreme Lord of the whole world ; —
that we might teftify the fenfe we have
of all his mercies and loving kindnefs
to us, — and eonfefs that he has the
propriety of every thing we enjoy, —
that the earth is the Lord's, and the
fulnefs thereof.

rjf SERMON XXVIIL

Thus much of this duty of prayer
in general. — From every individual
it may be reafonably expected, from
a bare reflection upon his own fta-
tion, his perfonal wants, and the daily
blefiings which he has received in
particular; — but, for thofe blefiings
bellowed upon the whole fpecies in
common, — reaibn feems further to
require, that a joint return mould be
made by as many of the fpecies as
can conveniently affemble together
for this religious purpofe. — From
hence arifes, likewife, the reafonable-
neis of public worfhip, and facred
places fet apart for that purpofe ;
without which, it would be very diffi-
cult to preferve that fenfe of God and
religion upon the minds of men,

SERMON XXVIII. 139
which is fo neceffary to their well-
being, confidered only as a civil fo-
ciety, and with regard to the purpofes
of this life, and the influence which
a juft fenfe of it mull have upon their
actions. — Befides, men, who are united
in focieties, can have no other ce-
ment to unite them likewife in re-
ligious ties, as well as in manners of
worfhip and points of faith, but the
inftitution of folemn times and pub-
lic places deftined for that ufe.

And it is not to be queflioned,
that if the time, as well as place, for
ferving God, were once confidered as
indifferent, and left fo far to every
man's choice as to have no calls to,
public prayer, however a fenfe of reli-
gion might be preferved a while by &

i4o SERMON XXVIIL

few fpeculative men, yet that the bulk
of mankind would lofe all knowledge
of it, and in time live without God in
the world. — Not that private prayer
is the lefs our duty, the contrary of
which is proved above ; and our
Saviour fays, that when we pray to
God in fecret, we (hall be rewarded
openly ; — but that prayers which are
publickly offered up in God's houfe,
tend more to the glory of God, and

the benefit of ourfelves : for this

reafon, that they are prefumed to be
performed with greater attention and
ferioufnefs, and therefore mod likely
to be heard with a more favourable
acceptance. — And for this, one might
appeal to every man's bread, whe-
ther he has not been arkcled with.

SERMON XXVIIL 141

the moft elevated pitch of devotion,
when he gave thanks in the great
congregation of the faints, and praifed

God amongft much people? Of

this united worfhip there is a glo-
rious defcription which St. John gives
us, in the Revelations, where he fup-
pofes the whole univerfe joining toge-
ther, in their feveral capacities, to
give glory in this manner to their com-
mon Lord. — Every creature which
was in heaven, and on earth, and un-
der the earth, and fuch as were in the
feas, and all that were in them, heard
I, crying, — Blefiing, and honour, and
glory, and power, be unto him that
fitceth upon the throne.

But here it may be afced, that if
public worfhip tends fo much to pro-

i42 SERMON XXVIII.

mote the glory of God, — and is what
is fo indifpenfably the duty and bene-
fit of every chriftian ftate, how

came it to pals, that our bleffed Sa-
viour left no command to his follow-
ers, throughout the gofpel, to let up
public places of worfhip, and keep
them facred for that purpofe ?- It
may be anfwered, — that the neceffity
of fetting apart places for divine wor-
fhip, and the holinefs of them when
thus fct apart, feemed already to have
been fo well eftablifhed by former
revelation, as not to need any expreft
precept upon that fubject : — for tho*
the particular appointment of the
temple, and the confinement of wor-
fhip to that place alone, were only
temporary pares of the Jewifh cove*'

SERMON XXVIIL i+3

nant ; yet the neceflky and duty of
having places fomewhere folemnly
dedicated to God carried a moral
reafon with it, and therefore was not
abolifned with the ceremonial part of
the law. — Our Saviour came not to
deftroy, but to fulfil the lav/ ; — and
therefore the moral precepts of it,
which promoted a due regard to the
divine Majefty, remained in as full
force as ever. — And accordingly we
find it attefted, both by chriftian and
heathen writers, that fo foon as the
fecond century, when the number of
believers was much increafed, and the
circumftances of rich converts en-
abled them to do it, — that they be-
gan to erect edifices for divine wor-
fhip i— and though, under the frown*

t44 SERMON XXVIII.

and oppreffion of the civil power, they
every Sabbath aflembled themfelves
therein, that with one heart and one
lip they might declare whofe they
were, and whom they ferved, and, as
the fervants of one Lord, might offer
up their joint prayers and petitions.

I wifh there was no reafon to la-
ment an abatement of this religious
zeal amongft chriftians of later days*
— Though the piety of our forefathers
feems, in a great meafure, to have
deprived us of the merit of building
churches for the fervice of God, there
can be no fuch plea for not frequenting
them in a regular and folemn man-
ner.— How often do people abient
themfelves (when in the utmoft dif-
trefs how to difpofe of themfelves)
8

SERMON XXVIII. 145
from church, even upon thofe days
which are fet apart for nothing elfe
but the worfhip of God ; — when, to
trifle that day away, or apply any
portion of it to fecular concerns, is a
facrilege almoft in the literal fcnJe
of the word.

From this duty of public prayer
arifes another, which I cannot help
fpeaking of, it being fo dependant
upon it ; — I mean, a ferious, devout
and refpeclful behaviour, when we
are performing this folemn duty in
the houfe of God. — This is furriy
the lead that can be necelfary in the
immediate prefcnce of the Sovereign
of the world, upon whofe acceptance
of our addrefies all our prefent and
future happinefs depends.

Vol. VI. L

i46 SERMON XXVIII.

External behaviour is the refult of
inward reverence, and is therefore
part of our duty to God, whom we
are to worfhip in body as well as
fpirit.

And as no one mould be wanting
in outward refpect and decorum be-
fore an earthly prince or fuperior,
much lefs mould we be fo before
him, whom the heaven of heavens
cannot contain.

Notwithstanding the obvioufnefs
of this branch of duty, — it feems
often to be little underflood ; and
whoever will take a general furvey
of church behaviour, will often meet
with fcenes of fad variety. — What a
vein of indolence and indevotion
fometimes feems to run throughout

SERMON XXVIIL i4?

whole congregations ! — what ill-timed
pains do fome take in putting on an
air of gayety and indifference in the
mod interefling parts of this duty, —
even when they are making confefilon
of their fins, as if they were afham-
ed to be thought ferious with their
God ! — Surely, to addrefs ourfelves
to his infinite Majefty after a neg-
ligent and difpaffionate manner, be-
fides the immediate indignity offer-
ed, it is a fad fign we little confider
the bleflings we afk for, and far leis
deferve them. — Befides, what is a
prayer, unkfs our heart and affections
go along with it ? — It is not (o
much as the fhadow of devotion ;
and little better than the papifts tel-
ling their beads, — or honouring God
L 2

i4* sermon xxvnr;

with their lips, when their hearts arc
far from him. — The confideration
that a perfcn h come to proftrate
himfelf before the throne of high
heaven, and in that place which is
particularly diftinguifhed by his pre-
sence, is Sufficient inducement for
any one to watch over his imagi-
nation, and guard againft the leaft ap-
pearance of levity and difrefpect.

An inward fincerity will of courfe
influence the outward deportment \
but where the one is wanting, there
is great reafon to fufpecl the abfence
of the other. — I own it is poflible,
a^d often happens, that this external
garb cf religion may be worn, when
there is little within of a piece with
it-,— but I believe the converfe of

8

SERMON XXVIII. 149

the propofition can never happen to
be true, that a truly religious frame
of mind mould exift without fome
outward mark of it. — The mind will
{hine through the veil of fiefn which
covers it, and naturally exprefs its re-
ligious difpofnions ; and, if it pofTef-
fes the power of godiinefs, — will have
the external form of it too.

May God grant us to be defective
in neither, — but that we may fo
praife and magnify God on earth, —
that when he cometh, at the laft day,
with ten thoufand of his faints in
heaven, to judge the world, we may
be partakers of their eternal inherit-
ance. Amen.

L3

SERMON XXIX.

The Ways of Providence juftified
to Man.

Psalm lxxiii. 12, 13.

Behold thefe are the ungodly who pro/per
in the worlds they increafe in riches.

Verily 1 I have cleanfed my heart in
vain, and wajhed my hands in inno-
cency.

THIS complaint of the Pfalmift's
concerning the promifcuous di-
ftribution of God's bleflings to the
juft and the unjuft, — that the fun
fhould fhine without diftinction upon
the good and the bad, — and rains
defcend upon the righteous and un-
L 4

i52 SERMON XXIX.

righteous man, — is a fubjeft that has
afforded much matter for inquiry, and
at one time or other has raifed doubts
to difnearten and perplex the minds
of men. If the fovercign Lord of all
the earth does look on, whence fo
much diforder in the face of things ?
— why is it permitted, that wife and
gcod men fhould be left often a prey
to fo many miferies and diftreffes of
•Jife, — whilft the guilty and fooliih
triumph in their offences, and even the
tabernacles of robbers profper ?

To this it is anfvvered, — that there-
fore there is a future date of rewards
and punifnments to take place after
this life, — wherein all thefe inequali-
ties Hi all be made even, where the
circumstances of every man's cafe fnall

SERMON XXIX. 153

be confidered, and where God fhall
bejuftified in all his ways, and every
mouth fhall be flopt.

If this was not fo, — if the ungodly
were to profper in the world, and have
riches in porlcOion, — and no diftinc-
tion to be made hereafter, — to what
purpofe would it have been to have
maintained our integrity ? — Lo! then,
indeed, fhould I have cleanfed my
heart in vain, and warned my hands'
in innocency.

It is farther faid, and what is a

more direct anfvver to the point, - «

that when God created man, that he
might make him capable of receiv-
ing happ:nefs at his hands hereafter,
— he endowed him with liberty and
freedom of choice, without which he

i54 SERMON XXIX.

could not have been a creature ac-
countable for his actions ; that it

is merely from the bad ufe he makes
of thefe gifts, — that all thofe in (lan-
ces of irregularity do refulr, upon
which the complaint is here ground-
ed,— which could no ways be prevent-
ed, but by the total fubverfion of hu-
man liberty; — that mould God make
bare his arm, and interpofe on every
injuftice that is committed, — man-
kind might be faid to do what was
right, — but, at the fame time, tolofe
the merit of it, fince they would act,
under force and neceflity, and not
from the determinations of their own
mind ; — that, upon this fuppofition,
— a man could with no more reafon
expect to go to heaven for acts of tern-

SERMON XXIX. 155

perance, juftice, and humanity, than
for the ordinary impulfes of hunger
and third, which nature directed; —
that God has dealt with man upon
better terms ; — he has firft endowed

him with liberty and free-will;

he has fet life and death, good and
evil, before him ; — that he has given
him faculties to find out what will be
the confequences of either way of
acting, and then left him to take which
courfe his reafon and direction mall
point out.

I mail defift from enlarging any
further upon either of the foregoing
arguments in vindication of God's
providence, which are urged fo often
with fo much force and conviction, as
to kave no room for a reafonable re-

i56 SERMON XXIX.

ply. — fmce the miferies which befal
the good, and the feeming happinefs
of the wicked, could not be otherwife
in fuch a free ft ate and condition as
this in which we are placed.

In all charges of this kind, we ge-
nerally take two things for granted ;
— ill, That in the inftances we give,
we know certainly the good from the

bad; and, 2dly, The refpective

ft ate of their enjoyments or fufFer-
ings.

I mall, therefore, in the remaining
part of my difcourfe, take up your
time with a fhort inquiry into the
difficulties of coming not only at the
true characters of men,-- — but like-
wife of knowing either the degrees of

SERMON XXIX. 157

their real happinefs or mifery in this

life.

The flrft of thefe will teach us can-
dour in our judgments of others;
— the fecond, to which I mall con-
fine myfelf, will teach us humility
in our reafonings upon the ways of
God.

For though the miferies of the
good, and the profperity of the
wicked, are not in general to be de-
nied ; — yet I lhall endeavour to ihew,
that the particular inftances we are
apt to produce, when we cry out in
the words of the Pfalmift, Lo ! thefe
are the ungodly, — thefe profper, and
are happy in the world ; — I fay, I
mail endeavour to mew, that we are
fo ienorant of the articles of the

158 SERMON XXIX.

charge, — and the evidence we go upon
to make them good is fo lame and
defective, — as to be fufficient by it-
felf to check all propenfity to expos-
tulate with God's providence, allow-
ing there was no other way of clear-
ing up the matter reconcileably to
his attributes.

And, firft, — what certain and in-
fallible marks have we of the good-
nefs or badnefs of the bulk of man-
kind ?

If we trull to fame and reports, —
if they are good, how do we know
but they may proceed from partial
friendfhip or flattery ? — when bad,
from envy or malice, from ill natured
furmifes and conflructions of things ?
— and, on both fides, from fmall

SERMON XXIX. 159

matters aggrandized through mif-
take, — and fometimes through the
unfkilful relation of even truth it-
felf ? — From fome, or all of which
caufes, it happens, that the charac-
ters of men, like the hiftories of
the Egyptians, are to be received
and read with caution 5— they are
generally drelTed out and disfigured
with fo many dreams and fables, that
every ordinary reader fhall not be
able to diftinguifh truth from falfe-
hood. — But allowing thefe reflections
to be too fevere in this matter, —
that no fuch thing as envy ever lef-
fened a man's character, or malice
blackened it; — yet the characters of
men are not eafily penetrated, as
they depend often upon the retired,

160 SERMON XXIX.

unfeen parts of a man's life. — The
beft and trueft piety is mod fecrer,
and the word of actions, for different
reafons, will be fo too. — Some men
are modeft, and feem to take pains
to hide their virtues; and, from a
natural diftance and reierve in their
tempers, fcarce fuffer their good
qualities to be known : — others, on
the contrary, put in practice a thou-
fand little arts to counterfeit virtues
which they have not, — the better to
conceal thofe vices which they really
have ; — and this under fair mows of
fanctity, good- nature, generofity, or
fome virtue cr other, — roo fpecious to
be feen through, — too amiable and
difmterefted to be fufpected.— Thefe
hints may be fuf&xient to (hew how

SERMON XXIX. i6r
hard it is to come at the matter of
fact : — but one may go a ftep further,
— and fay, that even that, in many
cafes, could we come to the know-
ledge of it, is not fufficient by itfelf
to pronounce a man either good or
bad. — There are numbers of circum-
flances which attend every action of a
man's life, which can never come to
the knowledge of the world, — yet
ought to be known, and well weighed,
before fentence with any juflice can
be paired upon him, — A man may
have different views and a different
fenfe of things from what his judges
have -, and what he underflands and
feels, and what pafTes within him, may
be a fecret treafured up deeply there
for ever. — A man, through bodily
Vol. VI. M

1C2 SERMON XXIX.

infirmity, or fome compleftional de-
fect, which perhaps is not in his power
to cor reel:, — may be fubject to inad-
vertencies,— to darts — and unhappy
turns of temper -, he may lay open to
fnares he fS not always aware of; or,
through ignorance and want of in-
formation and proper helps, he may
labour in the dark :— in all which cafes,
he may do many things which are
wrong in themfelves, and yet be in-
nocent -, — at fcafl! an object rather to
be pitied than cenfured with feverity
and ill-will. — Thefe are difficulties
T/hich (land in every one's way in the
forming a judgment of the characters
of others.— But, for once, let us fup-
pofe them all to be got ever, h that
Ave could fee the bottom of every
8

SERMON XXiX. 163
man's heart; — let us allow that the
word rogue, or honed man, was
wrote fo legibly in every man's face,
that no one could poffibly miftake
It; — yet (till the happinefs of both
the one and the other, which is the
only fact that can bring the charge
home, is what we have fo little cer-
tain knowledge of, — that, bating

fome flagrant inftances, whenever

we venture to pronounce upon it, our
decifions are little more than random

gueffes. -For who can fearch the

heart of man ? it is treacherous

even to ourfelves, and much more
likely to impofe upon others. — Even
in laughter (if you will believe Solo-
mon) the hear: is forrowful ; -t&i

mind fits drccping, whilft the counte-
nance is gay : — -and even he, who is
M 2

i$4 SERMON XXIX.

the objecl: of envy to thofe who
look no further than the furface of
his eftate, — may appear at the fame
time worthy of compaflion to thofe
who know his private recefles. — Be-
fides this, a man's unhappinefs is not
to be afcertained fo much from what

is known to have befallen him,

as from his particular turn and cad
of mind, and capacity of bearing it.

Poverty, exile, lofs of fame or

friends, the death of children, the
deareft of all pledges of a man's hap-
pinefs, make not equal impreffions
upon every temper. — You will fee one
man undergo, with fcarce the expence
of a figh, — what another, in the bit-
ternefs of his foul, would go mourn-
ing for all his life long : — nay, a huity

SERMON XXIX. 165

word, or an unkind look, to a foft
and tender nature, will ftrike deeper
than a fword to the hardened and
fenfelefs. — If thefe reflections hold
true with regard to misfortunes, — they
are the fame with regard to enjoy-
ments : — we are formed differently,—
have different taftes and perceptions
of things; — by the force of habit,
education, or a particular caft of
"mind, — it happens that neither the
ufe or pofTeflion of the fame enjoy-
ments and advantages, produce the
fame happinefs and contentment; —
but that it differs in every man almoll:
according to his temper and com-
plexion : — fo that the felf-fame happy
.accidents in life, which {hall give
raptures to the choleric or fanguine
M 3

1 65 SERMON XXIX.

man, fhall be received with indifference
by the cold and phlegmatic-, — and fo
oddly perplexed are the accounts of
both human happinefs and mifery in
this world, — that trifles, light as air,
fhall be able to make the hearts of
ibme men fing for joy, — at the fame
time that others, with real blefTings
and advantages, without the power
of ufing them, have their hearts heavy
and difcontented.

Alas! if the principles of content-
ment are not within us, — the height
©f ltation and worldly grandeur will
as foon add a cubit to a man's ftature
as to his happinefs.

This will fugged to us how little
a way we have gone towards th«

SERMON XXIX. 167

proof of any man's happinefs, in

barely faying, Lo ! this man pro-

fpers in the world, — and this man has
riches in pofTeffion.

When a man has got much above
us, we take it for granted — that he
fees fome glorious profpecls, and feels
fome mighty pleafures from his
height ; — whereas, could we get up
to him, — it' is great odds whether we
mould find any thing to make us to-
lerable amends for the pains and

trouble of climbing up fo high.

Nothing, perhaps, but more dangers
and more troubles dill; — and fuch a
giddinefs of head befides, as to make
a wife man wifh he was well down
again upon the level. — To calculate,
therefore, the happinefs of mankind
M 4

168 SERMON XXIX.

by their ftations and honours, is the

mod deceitful of all rules j

great, no doubt, is the happinefs
which a moderate fortune, and mode-
rate defires, with a confcioufnefs of
virtue, will lecure a man. — Many are
the filent pleafures of the honeft pea-
fant, who rifes chearfully to his la-
bour : — look into his dwelling,

where the fcene of every man's hap-
pinefs chiefly lies; — he has the" fame
domeftic endearments, — as much joy
and comfort in his children, — and as
flattering hopes of their doing well, —
to enliven his hours and glad his heart,
as you could conceive in the mod af-
fluent ftation. — And I make no doubr,
in general, but if the true account of
Ms joys and fufFerings were to be

SERMON XXIX. 169

balanced with thofe of his betters, —
that the upfhot would prove to be
little more than this, — that the rich
man had the more meat, — but the
poor man the better ftomach ; — the
one had more luxury, — more able
phyficians to attend and fet him to
rights; — the other, more health and
foundnefs in his bones, and lefs
occafion for their help ; — that, after
"thefe two articles betwixt them
were balanced, — in all' other things
they flood upon a level : — that the
fun mines as warm, — the air blows
as frefh, and the earth breathes as
fragrant, upon the one as the other-,
— and that they have an equal fhare
in all the beauties and real benefits
of nature. — Thcie hints may be fuf-

1 7o SERMON XXIX,
ficieot to fhew what I propofed from
them, — the difficulties which attend
us in judging truly either of the hap-
pinefs or the mifery of the bulk of
mankind, — the evidence being ftill
more defective in this cafe (as the
matter of fad is hard to come at) —
than even in that of judging of their
true charaders; of both which, in
general, we have fuch imperfed
knowledge, as will teach us candour
in our determinations upon each
other.

But the main purport of this dif-
courfe, is to teach us humility in our
reafonings upon the ways of the Al-
mighty.

That things are dealt unequally in
this world, is one of the ftrongeft na-

SERMON XXIX. 171

tural arguments for a future ftate,—
and therefore is not to be overthrown :
never thelefs, I am perfuaded the
charge is far from being as great as
at firit fight it may appear; — or if it
is, — that cur views of things are fo
narrow and confined, that it is not in
our power to make it good.

But fuppofe it otherwife, — that the
happinefs and profperity of bad men
were as great as our general complaints
make them ; — and, what is not the
cafe, — that we were not able to clear up
the matter, or anfwer it reconci-leably
with God's juftice and providence,
— what fhall we infer ? — Why, the

mod becoming conclufion is, that

it is one inftance more, out of many
others, of our ignorance: why

ift SERMON XXIX.

mould this, or any other religious
difficulty he cannot comprehend, —
why fhould it alarm him more than
ten thoufand other difficulties which
every day elude his moft exact and at-
tentive fearch ? — Does not the mean-
ell flower in the field, or the fmalleft
blade of grafs, baffle the understand-
ing of the moft penetrating mind ? —
Can the deepeft inquiries after nature
tell us, upon what particular fize and
motion of parts the various colours
and taftes of vegetables depend ; —
why one fhrub is laxative, — another
reftringent -, — why arfenic or hellebore
fhould lay wade this noble frame of
ours, — or opium lock up all the in-
roads to our fenfes, — and plunder us,
in fo mercilefs a manner, of reafon and

SERMON XXIX. 173

understanding ? — Nay, have not the
moft obvious things that come in our
way dark fides, which the quickeft fight
cannot penetrate into -, and do not
the cleareft and moft exalted under-
standings find themfelves puzzled, and
at a lofs, in every particle of mat-
ter ? . 1

Go then, — proud man! — and when
thy head turns giddy with opinions of
thy own wifdom, that thou wouldft
correct the meafures of the Almighty,
— go then, — take a full view of thy-
felf in this glais j — confider thy own
faculties, — how narrow and imperfect;
— how much they are checquercd
with truth and falfehood ; — how little
arrives at thy knowledge, and how
darkly and confufedly thou difcerneft

3

174 SERMON XXIX.
even that little as in a glafs :— confide?
the beginnings and endings of things^
the greateft and the fmalleft, how they

all confpire to baffle thee; and

which way ever thou profecuteft thy

inquiries, what frefh fubjecls of

amazement, — and what frefh reafons
to believe there are more yet behind
which thou canft nevercomprehend.—
Confider, — thefe are but part of his
ways ; — how little a portion is heard
of him ? Canft thou, by fearching,
find out God ? — wouldfl thou know
the Almighty to perfection ? — 'Tis as
high as heaven, What canft thou do?
—'tis deeper than hell, how canft thou
know it.

Could we but fee the myfterious
workings of providence, and were we

SERMON XXIX. 175

able to comprehend the whole plan
of his infinite wifdom and goodnefs,
which poffibly may be the cafe in the
final confummation of all things -, —
thofe events, which we are now fo
perplexed to account for, would pro-
bably exalt and magnify his wifdom,
and make us cry out with the Apoftle,
in that rapturous exclamation, — O !
the depth of the riches both of the
goodnefs and wifdom of God ! —
how unfearchable are his ways, and
his paths paft finding out !

Now to God, &c.

SERMON XXX.

The Ingratitude of Ifrael.

2 Kings xvii. 7.

For fo it was, — that the children of
Ifrael had finned againfi the Lord
their God, who had brought them up
out of the land of Egypt.—

THE words of the text account
for the caufe of a fad calamity,
which is related, in the foregoing
verfes, to have befallen a great
number of Ifraelites, who were fur-
prifed, in the capital city of Samaria,
by Hofea king of Aflyria, and cruelly
carried away by him out of their
own country,, and placed on thedefo-
Vol. Vi. N

i78 SERMON XXX.

late frontiers of Halah, and in Haber,
by the river Gozan, and in the city
of the Medes, and there confined to
end their days in forrow and cap-
tivity.— Upon which the facred his-
torian, inftead of accounting for fo
fad an event merely from political
fpringsand caufes; fuch, for inftance,
as the fuperior flrength and policy
of the enemy, or an unfeafonable
provocation given, — or that proper
meafures of defence were neglected ;
— he traces it up, in one word, to its
true caufe : — For fo it was, fays he,
that the children of Ifrael had finned
againlt the Lord their God, who
had brought them up out of the land
of Egypt. — It was furely a fufficient
foundation to dread fome evil, — that

SERMON XXX. 1 79

they had finned again fc thai: Being
who had an unqueitionable right to
their obedience. — But what an a^o-ra-
vation was it — that they had not
only finned (imply againit the truth,
but againft the God of mercies, —
who had brought them forth out of
the land of Egypt -, — who not only
created, upheld, and favoured them
with fo many advantages in common
with the reft of their fellow-crea-
tures,— but who had been parti-
cularly kind to them in their misfor-
tunes-,—who, when they were in the
houfe of bondage, in the mod hope-
lefs condition, without a profpect of
any natural means of redrefs, had
compafTionately heard their cry, and
took pity upon the afflictions of a
N 2

i8o SERMON XXX*

diftreffed people, — and, by a chain
of miracles, delivered them from
fervitude and oppreffion ; — miracles
of fo ftupendous a nature, that I take
delight to offer them, as often as 1
have an opportunity, to your de-
vouteft contemplations. — This, you
would think as high and as com-
plicated an aggravation of their fins
as could be urged. — This was not
all; — for befides God's goodnefs in
firft favouring their miraculous efcape,
a feries of fuccefTes, not to be ac-
counted for from fecond caufes, and
the natural courfe of events, had
crowned their heads in fo remarkable
a manner, as to afford an evident
proof, not only of his general con-
cern for their welfare, but of his
7

SERMON XXX. £$i

particular providence and attachment
to them above all people upon earth.
— In the wildernefs he led them like
fheep, and kept them as the apple
of his eye: he fuffered no man to
do them wrong, but reproved even

kings for their fake. When they

entered into the promifed land, — no
force was able to ftand before them ;
— when in pofiellion of it, — no army
was able to drive them out ; — and
in a word, nature, for a time, was
driven backwards to ferve them ;
and even the Sun itfelf had flood
ftill in the midft of heaven to fecure
their victories.

A people with fo many teftimonies
of God's favour, who had not pro-
fited thereby, fo as to become a
N 3

iS2 SERMON XXX.
virtuous people, mud have been
utterly corrupt ; — and fo they were.
And it is likely, from the many
fpecimens they had given, in Mofes's
time, of a difpofnion to forget God's
benefits, and upon every trial to
rebel againft him, — he forefaw they
would certainly prove a thanklefs
and unthinking people, extremely
inclined to go aftray and do evil ;
— and therefore, if any thing was
likely to bring them back to them-
felves, and to confider the evils of

their mifdoings, it mud be the

dread of fome temporal calamity,
which, he prophetically threaten-
ed, would one day or ether befal
them : — hoping, no doubt, — that if
no principle of gratitude could make

SERMON XXX. 183

them an obedient people, at lead

they might be wrought upon by the
terror of being reduced back again
by the fame all-powerful hand to

their firft diftreffed condition ;

which, in the end, did actually

overtake them. For at length,

when neither the alternatives of pro-
mifes or threatenings, — when neither

rewards or corrections, comforts

or afflictions, could foften them ; »

when continual inftructions, — warn-
ings,— invitations, — reproofs,— mira-
cles, prophets and holy guides,

had no effect, but inftead of making
them grow tetter, apparently made

them grow worfe, God's patience

at length withdrew, — and he fuffered
them to reap the wages of their folly,
N 4

i84 SERMON XXX.

by letting them fall into the flate of
bondage from whence he had firft
raifed them •, — and that not only in
that partial inftance of thofe in
Samaria, who were taken by Hofea,
— but, I mean, in that more general
infiance of their overthrow by the
army of the Chaldeans ; — wherein he
fuffered the whole nation to be led
away, and carried captive into Nine-
veh and Babylon. — We may be af-
fured, that the hiftory of God Al-
mighty's juft dealings with this f re-
ward and thoughriefs people was

not wrote for nothing-, — but that it
was given as a loud call and warning
of obedience and gratitude, for all
races of men to whom the light of
revelation mould hereafter reach :——

SERMON XXX. 185

and therefore I have made choice of
this fubject, as it feems likely to fur-
nifh fome reflections feafonable for
the beginning of this week, — which
mould be devoted to fuch medita-
tions as may prepare and fit us for
the folemn fall which we are fhortly
to obferve, and whole pious inten-
tion will not be anfwered by a bare
aftembling ourfelves together, with-
out making fome relig-ious and nati-
onal remarks fuitable to the occauon.
— Doubtlefs, there is no nation which
ever had fo many extraordinary rea-
fons and fupernatural motives to be-
come thankful and virtuous, as the
Jews had ; — which, befides the daily
bleflings of God's providence to them,
has not received fufficient blefiings

iS6 SERMON XXX.

and mercies at the hands of God, fo
as to engage their beft fervices, and
the warmeft returns of gratitude they
can pay.

There has been a time, may be,
when they have been delivered from
fome grievous calamity, — from the
rage of peftilence or famine, — from
the edge and fury of the fword, —
from the fate and fall of kingdoms
round them •, — they may have been
preferved by providential difcoveries
of plots and defigns againft the well-
being of their Hates, or by critical
turns and revolutions in their favour
when beginning to fink. — by fome
fignal interpofition of God's provi-
dence, they may have refcued their
liberties, and all that was dear to

SERMON XXX. 187

them, from the jaws of forne tyrant;
— or may have preferved their reli-
gion pure and uncorrupted, when all
ether comforts failed them. — If other
countries have reafon to be thankful
to God for any one of thefe mercies,.
— much more has this of ours, —
which, at one time or other, has re-
ceived them all ; — infomuch that our
hi (lory , for this laft hundred years, has
fcarce been any thing but the hiflory
of our deliverances and God's blef-
fings ; — and thefe in fo complicated a
chain, fuch as were fcarce ever vouch-
fafed to any people befides, except
the Jews j — and with regard to them,
though inferior in the ftupendous
manner of their working, — yet no
way fo — in the extenfive goodnefs of

18$ SERMON XXX.

thrir effects, and the infinite benevo-
lence and power which muft have
wrought them for us.

Here then let us flop to look back
a moment, and inquire what great ef-
fects all this has had upon our fins,
and how far worthy we have lived of
what we have received.

A flranger, w'.en he heard that
this ifland had been fo favoured by
heaven, — lo happy in our laws and
religion, — fo fiouriming in our trade,
— and fo bleffed in our fituation, — and
fj vifibly protected in all of them by

providence, would conclude, that

our morals had kept pace with thefe
bleflings, and would expect that, as
we were the moft favoured by God
Almighty, we mull be the mod vir-

SERMON XXX. 189

tuous and religious people upon
earth.

Would to God, there was any
other reafon to incline one to fuch a
belief! — would to God, that the ap-
pearance of religion was more fre-
quent ! for that would necefTarily im-
ply the reality of it fomewhere, and
mod probably in the greateft and
mod refpectable characters of the na-
tion.— Such was the fituation of this
country, till a licentious king intro-
duced a licentious age. — The court
of Charles the Second firft brake in
upon, and, I fear, has almofl demo-
lifhed the out- works of religion, of
modefty, and of fober manners — fo
that, inftead of any real marks of re-
ligion amongft us, you fee thoufands

i9o SERMON XXX.

who are tired with carrying the map*
of it, — and have thrown it afide as a
ufelefs incumbrance.

But this licentioufnefs, he'll fay,
may be chiefly owing to a long courfe
of profperity, which is apt to corrupt
men's minds. — God has fince tried you
with afflictions; — you have had lately
a bloody and expenfive war^ — God has
fent, moreover, a peitilence amongll
your cattle, which has cut off the (lock
from the fold and left no herd in the
flails-, — befides, — you have juft felt
two dreadful fhocks in your metropo-
lis of a moil terrifying nature-,

which, if God's providence had not
checked and retrained within fbme
bounds, might have overthrown your
capital, and your kingdom with it.
7

SERMON XXX. 191

Surely, he'll fay, — all thefe warn-
ings muft have awakened the con-
fciences of the mod unthinking part
of you, and forced the inhabitants
of your land, from fuch admonitions,
to have learned righteoufnefs. — I
own, this is the natural effect, — and,
one mould hope, fhould always be
the improvement from fuch calami-
ties •, — for we often find, that num-
bers of people, who, in their profpe-
rity, feemed to forget God, —do yet
remember him in the days of trouble
and diftrefs -, — yet, confider this nati-
onally,— we fee no fuch effect from
it, as, in fact, one would expect from
fpeculation.

For inftance, with all the devalua-
tion and bloodfhed which the war

i92 SERMON XXX.

has occafioned, — how many converts
has it made either to virtue or fru-
gality ? — Thepefulence amongft our
cattle, though it has diftreffed, and
utterly undone, fo many thcufands*
yet what one vifible alteration has it
madein the courie of our lives ?

And though, one would imagine,
that the neceiTary drains of taxes for
the one, and the iofs of rent and pro-
perty from the other,— mould, in lbme
meafure, have withdrawn the means
of gratifying our paffions as we have
done •, — yet what appearance is there
amongft us that it is fo ; — what one
fafhionable foily or extravagance has
been checked ? — Are not the fame
expences of equipage, and furniture,
and drefs, — the fame order of diver-

SERMON XXX, 193

lions, perpetually returning, and as
great luxury and epicurifm of enter-
tainments, as in the mod profperous
condition ? — So that, though the
head is fick, and the whole heart is
faint, we all affect to look well in the
face, either as if nothing had happen-
ed, or we were amamed to acknow-
ledge the force and natural effects
of the chaftifements of God. — And if,
from the effects which war and pefti-
knce have had, — we may form a
judgment of the moral effects which
this lafl terror is likely to produce,—
it is to be feared, however we might be
ftarded at firft, — that the impreffions
will fcarce lafl longer than the infcan-
taneous mock which occafioned them :
—-And I make no doubt, — mould a
Vol. VI. O

i94 SERMON XXX.

man have courage to declare his opi-
nion,— " That he believed it was an
indication of God's anger upon a cor-
rupt generation," — that it would be
great odds but he would be pitied for
his weaknefs, or openly laughed at
for his fuperftition. — Or if, after fuch
a declaration, — he was thought worth
fetting right in his miftakes,--he would
be informed, — that religion had no-
thing to do in explications of this
kind ; — that all fuch violentvibrations
of the earth were owing to fubterra-
neous caverns falHns; down of them-
felves, or being blown up by nitrous
and fulphureous vapours rarified by
heat •, — and that it was idle to bring
in the Deity to untie the knot, when
it can be refolved eafily into natural

SERMON XXX. 195

caufes. — Vain unthinking mortals ! —
As if natural caufes were any thing
elfe in the hands of God, — but in-
struments which he can turn to work
the purpofes of his will, either to re-
ward or punifh, as feems fitting to
his infinite wifdom.

Thus no man repenteth him of
his wickednefs, faying, — What have
I done ? — but every one turneth to
his courfe, as a horfe rufheth into
the battle. — To conclude, however
we may under- rate it now, — it is a
maxim of eternal truth, — which both
reafonings and all accounts from hif-
tory confirm, — that the wickednefs
and corruption of a people will fooner
or later always bring on temporal
O 2

i96 SERMON XXX.

mifchiefs and calamities. — And can
it be otherwife ? — for a vicious na-
tion not only carries the feeds of de-
ftruclion within, from the natural
workings and courfe of things, — but
it lays kfelf open to the whole force
and injury of accidents from with-
out;— and I do venture to fay, —
there never was a nation or people
fallen into troubles or decay, — but
one might juflly leave the fame re-
mark upon them which the facred
hiftorian makes in the text upon the
misfortunes of the Israelites, — for fo
it was, — that they had finned againft
the Lord their God.

Let us, therefore, conftantly bear
in mind that conclufion of the

SERMON XXX. 197

facred writer, — which I fhall give
you in his own beautiful and awful
language :

" But the Lord, who brought you
up out of the land of Egypt, with
great power and a flretch'd-out arm,
him fhall ye fear, and him fhall ye
worfhip, — and to him fhall ye do fa-
crifice : — And the ftatutes, and the
ordinances, and the commandments
he wrote for you, ye fhall obferve to
do for evermore. — The Lord your
God ye fhall fear, — and he fhall de-
liver you out of the hand of all your
enemies."

Now to God the Father, &c.
FINIS.

BOOKS written by Mr. STERNE.

i. The Life and Opinions of Triftram
Shandy. 6 Volumes. 15 s. fewed.

2. A Sentimental Journey through France
and Italy. 2 Volumes. 5 s. fewed.

3. Sermons. In fix Volumes complete.
j 5 s. fewed.

4. Mr. Sterne's Letters to his mod inti-
mate Friends : including thofe to his
Wife before and after Marriage, as alfo
thofe to his Daughter -, with a Fragment,
in the Manner of Rabelais. To which
is prefixed, Memoirs of his Life, written
by himfelf. Publifhed by his Daughter
Mrs. Lydia Sterne de Medalle.

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