A SERMON Preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen At GUILDHALL-Chappel, on Palm-Sunday, 1679.  
And now published as it was then delivered.  
By SAMUEL JOHNSON, a Minister of the Church of England as it is now by Law established.  
LONDON; Printed for the Author, and are to be sold by Richard Baldwin in the Old-Baily. 1684.   

THE Epistle Dedicatory TO THE Clergy.  
Men, Brethren, and Fathers;  
I Presume with all Humility, to offer this small Discourse, rather to You, than to any other Patrons; because being levelled against the Church of Rome, the implacable and mortal Enemy of the Protestant Religion, it is a Service to You in the first place; and therefore has an immediate right to Your Acceptance and Encouragement. The Protestant Cause against Popery, is a very Good One in itself; but besides, You have so many, and so strong Engagements to it, that whenever a Defence of it is recommended to Your Patronage, it comes to its Own, and therefore I hope will be received by You. It is a great part of the Doctrine of the Church of England, to say, that we are not Papists; and very many of the thirty nine Articles are wholly spent in condemning and renouncing 
a Artic. 14.  the Arrogant and Impious Doctrines; 
b Artic. 22.  The fond, and vain, and unwarrantable Inventions; 
c Artic. 31.  The blasphemous Fables, and dangerous Deceits of that False Religion. I have endeavoured to justify that Doctrine of our Church, by giving some further Reasons, why we are not Papists; and by showing, that we can never be made Papists, but by putting out the Eyes of the Nation.  
My Design both in the preaching this Sermon heretofore, and in publishing it now, was partly, to prevent, as far as in me lay, the Ruin and Destruction of those many millions of Souls which are now your Charge; and will certainly perish, if ever they come under the Conduct of the blind Romish Guides: And partly, to free myself from the Blood of our miserable Posterity, which will undoubtedly be required of this Generation, if Popery return again in our Days, after it has been so long cast out.  
Popery is the worst Religion, or pretended Religion, in the whole World; for she puts out the Understandings of those of her own Communion, and tears out the Hearts of all others: whom she cannot deceive, she will destroy. Upon which account she is the Common Enemy of Mankind, and of us in particular, whom she has threatened with utter Extirpation, and has given it us under the Hand of her Secretary Coleman. Now I can as soon believe Transubstantiation to be true, as believe that we are bound to encourage and assist her intended Cruelty against us, by meeting it halfway, and by vowing ourselves Sacrifices to it. On the other hand; Unless we use our best Endeavours, both against Popery, and all those treacherous Inlets which make a way for it, we do but mock God when we pray against it; and particularly, when we say that excellent Prayer against the Popes of Rome, which our own Church has put into our Mouths.  
The Lord of heaven and Earth 
The 2d Part of the Sermon for Whit sunday, p. 286.  defend us from their Tyranny and pride, that they never enter into his Wineyard again, to the disturbance of his silly poor Flock: but that they may be utterly confounded and put to flight in all Parts of the World: and he of his great Mercy so work in all men's hearts, by the mighty Power of the holy Ghost, that the comfortable Gospel of his Son CHRIST may be truly preached, truly receibed, and truly followed in all places, to the beating down of Sin, Death, the Pope, the Devil, and all the Kingdom of Antichrist, that like scattered and dispersed Sheep, being at length gathered into one fold, we may in the end rest altogether in the Bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there to be partakers of Eternal and Eherlasting Life, through the Derits and Death of Jesus Christ our Saviour.  
Amen.   
S. Mat. 15. latter part of the 14th Verse. — And if the Blind lead the Blind, they shall both of them fall into the Ditch. 
THese words are spoken of the Scribes and Pharisees, as appears plainly by the Context; who though they were perversely and stupidly ignorant, yet undertook to be the only Guides and Instructors of the People: And they again were so simple and besotted, as to put themselves under their Conduct and Direction.  
And now, what good can come of such senseless Doings? Our Saviour here tells us what the Effect of it will be, They shall both of them fall into the Ditch, and ingulf themselves together in Perdition. And this is so certain, that in another place, the 6th of St. Luke, vers. 39 He appeals to the common sense of Mankind, whether this be not likely to prove the last issue of such a course; He would fain know how it can be otherwise; Can the Blind lead the Blind? shall they not both fall into the Ditch?  

In handling these words, I shall consider;  
I. Why our Saviour calls these Scribes and Pharisees, blind Guides.  
II. Why he calls the People, their Followers, blind.  
III. The Danger of both Parties engaged in this senseless Course.   
1. Why our Saviour calls the Scribes and Pharisees, blind Guides.  

And the Reasons of it may be referred to these two Heads.  
1. Because their Doctrines were contrary to Reason and common Sense. And therefore he often calls them Fools and Blind.  
2. Because they were contrary to the Holy Scriptures. They made void the Commandments of God through their Traditions.   
1. Because their Doctrines were contrary to Reason and common Sense. What wise Heathen would not have scorned that idle Conceit, that washen Hands could contribute to a Man's inward Sanctity? And yet this was the standing Tradition of the Elders, that none must eat with unwashen Hands; that so the Hands might not defile the Meat, nor the Meat the Man. And they were so careful to have this Practice duly observed, that they came on purpose to our Saviour, to complain of his Disciples for their scandalous neglect in this Point, and to challenge him for suffering them in it: As you have a full account of it in the beginning of this Chapter; together with our Saviour's sense of this outside and superficial Religion, which is so far from the Heart. And upon this occasion it is, he here calls them blind.  
Another Instance of this, was, their senseless distinctions about the Obligation of Oaths, St. Matth. 23. 16, 17. woe unto you, ye blind Guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the Temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the Gold of the Temple, he is a Debtor; i. e. bound to take care of his Oath, and make it good. Ye Fools, and blind; for whether is greater, the Gold, or the Temple which sanctifies the Gold? These were profound Casuists indeed, to determine so awkardly and absurdly, and quite the wrong way, in Subtleties of their own making.  
2. Because their Doctrines were contrary to the Holy Scriptures, they made void the Commandments of God, through their Traditions. Our Saviour shows us how they transgressed the Fifth Commandment, and made it of none effect through their Tradition, in the 4th Verse of this Chapter. And so he shows in other places, how they had evaded and eluded the other Commandments, by their false Glosses and Interpretations. They taught Men how to supplant Justice and Honesty, by pretences of Piety; and to break the Tables of the Law one against another. They were very punctual in little Observances, about paying Tithe of Mint, Anise, and Cummin, which it is very disputable whether God did command or no; but in the mean time, made no Conscience of the more weighty and substantial things of the Law, Judgement, Mercy, and Faithfulness. Which makes our Saviour call them again, blind Guides, which strain at a Gnat, and swallow a Camel. St. Matth. 23. vers. 24.  
II. And yet, in the second place, these blind Guides were taken for no less than Infallible, by their blind and ignorant Followers. For they had swallowed down all their false and absurd Doctrines, without any scruple or examination: Insomuch that it was a great part of our Saviour's Business, both in his Sermon upon the Mount, and elsewhere, to undeceive them in these Matters. The People had captivated their Understandings and Belief to the Dictates of these Men, to such a degree, that it was laid down as a Rule amongst them, That if a Scribe said, their right Hand was their Left, 
R. Bechai.  they were bound to believe him. The Scribes and Pharisees, it seems, had gained such an absolute Empire and Dominion over the Minds of the People, that they thought it their Duty, rather to distrust their own Sense and Reason, than what their Teachers delivered, though it were never so apparently false.  
What has been said concerning these Jews, with whom we are less concerned, is enough to put you in mind of certain Priests and People in the World, who exactly agree with this Character, and seem to inherit the very Spirit and Temper of these Men. And to be plain, it is in the Romish Religion where this odd Scene has been acted over again, and the Blind have led the Blind for several Ages together. The blind Guides of that Church, have affronted the Reason of Mankind, and voided the Holy Scriptures more effectually, than ever the Scribes and Pharisees did; and all their Dictates have been followed with as blind an Obedience by the People.  
First, Their Doctrines and Traditions, as the Pharisees were, are contrary to Reason, and the common Sense of Mankind. Prayer in an unknown Tongue, is certainly a most unreasonable and contradictious thing. It is making their Requests known unto God, for that is the English of Prayer, when they do not know them themselves. It is the performance of a reasonable Act, without the help of the Understanding. In a word, It is the truest Sacrifice of Fools. Now, this is imposed upon the generality of Christians, as C. Perronne tell us, for Uniformity sake, that the Mass may be said alike in all places; That Latin may be kept up in the World, to 
Reply to K. James.  prevent the ill sounding of old and obsolete words in vulgar Tongues; and for suchlike Reasons, which are as vain and ridiculous, as the practice which they are brought to justify.  
The Doctrine of Merit and Supererrogation, is a false and insolent Doctrine at the first sight: whereby they teach, that our great Creator may be put into Debt, and owe vast Arrears to one of his own Creatures: That some particular Men may have goodness enough, and to spare; and may help out others with that overplus. And upon the Stock of these Merits, is raised the Fund of Roman Indulgences; whereby the Pope does make large Abatements of the Number of Men's Sins; and whereas they owe for Hundreds or Thousands, can, with the unjust Steward, bid them sit down and write Fourscore.  
It would be endless to rip up the Absurdities of a Purgatory Fire, which is to refine Men's Souls; Souls, I say, for it is plain that their Bodies are then lying in the Grave. Of Auricular Confession, where a Man unlades himself of all his Sins, by whispering them into the Priest's Ear. Of praying to Dead Men, which cannot hear us; and for Dead Men, which are past help. Of worshipping Images, and expecting great good from them; concerning which, what David says, is the Verdict of mere natural Reason; They 
Psal. 115. 8.  that make them, are like unto them; and so are all they that put their trust in them. As very Stocks and Stones as what they worship.  
Of Transubstantiation; where Men must renounce all their five Senses at once, and where Absurdities, Repugnancies, and utter Impossibilities lie upon heaps. A Doctrine that lies so cross to a Man's Understanding, as if it were framed in spite to our reasonable Faculties. But so much the better; for now we are able to demonstrate the falsehood and impossibility of it; and if it had not been so very absurd, it had been the harder to confute. But now, that it is so point-blank contrary to the most evident and certain Truths we have, either in the Mathematics, or in Philosophy, we are able to bring this Controversy to a short and speedy issue. For if Transubstantiation be true, it has the good luck to be the only Truth in the World, and there is never another beside.  
And after all, The Doctrine of the Pope's Infallibility, keeps a very good decorum with the rest. For though he has, by his Authority, spread these false and absurd Doctrines over a great part of the World; and though they seem to be very unreasonable, yet they are really true, because he that delivers them, is out of a possibility of erring; He alone cannot err, and all others, without some of his assistance, cannot but err. But it is very hard to believe, that one single Man in the World is more than a Man, and that all the rest are less than Men. That if he place himself in his Chair, he cannot err if he would; and that others lie under as fatal a necessity of erring, if they be left to themselves, without his guidance and direction. And it is still the harder to believe it, because these Oracles have been found contradicting each other. So that besides their Infallibility, they must have another privilege beyond all other mortal Men, and that is, to contradict one another, and yet be both in the right.  
Secondly, Their Traditions and Doctrines are contrary to the Holy Scriptures. Their Prayers, in an unknown Tongue, are directly contrary to the 14th Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians. Their Worship of Images is so plain a breach of the Second Commandment, that themselves seeing how irreconcilable they are, and that they cannot both stand together, have wisely let slip that Commandment out of their Catechisms. And so it were as easy to show you concerning the rest. The Sacramental Elements are called Bread and Wine in Scripture, even after Consecration. But instead of particular Instances, the Infallibility, and sole Prerogative of interpreting Scripture, is that which undermines the whole Gospel all at once. For it makes the Scripture but a Stale, and gives the Pope's Interpretations all the Authority, which of right belongs to the Scripture. So that as Bellarmine says, If the Pope call Virtue, Vice; or Vice, Virtue, he is to be believed and obeyed. And this indeed is a short and compendious way, of making all the Commandments of God of none effect; for Men must observe them no longer, than the Bishop of Rome thinks sit. And thus much for the first thing, which was, to show how contrary the Doctrines of the Romish Priests are both to Scripture and Reason; and consequently, that they have as much right to that Title of blind Guides, or more, than ever the Scribes and Pharisees had.  
The second Thing is to show you, That they are attended by as blind and ignorant Followers. And this is notorious to the World; for Ignorance is industriously cherished among the common People, to make them the better Catholics; according to that Proverb, which has been a long time currant among them, that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion. There is a kind of Contract of Error made betwixt them; The Clergy are loath to have the People examine Things; and the People, on the other side, are as ready to take Things upon trust, that they may not be at the pains of examining: And so they have right the Nuncio's Blessing, Si Populus vult decipi, decipiatur, If the People are willing to be deceived, let them.  
Nay, they have enslaved themselves to such Principles, as will for ever keep them low and ignorant, and which cut off all enquiry after Truth. For they are made to believe, that it is a mortal Sin to doubt of any part of their Religion: And then it is another mortal Sin, not to confess this to the Priest; who questionless will take care to keep them from staggering, and effectually prevent their Apostasy from the Church.  
The Holy Scripture, which is the best means of instructing them better, is either locked up from them in an unknown Tongue, or at least the free use of it is denied to them. And yet they take this Injury so patiently, that most of them are really and heartily persuaded that it is for their good, and that they are thereby the farther removed from all danger of falling into Heresy.  
They content themselves with that short Creed, To believe as the Church believes; with an implicit Faith, that is, with a Belief in another's keeping. Or as Cardinal Perrone 
In his Letter to Casaubon.  explains the thing, It is to believe with the Faith of the Church, or adhere to the Church which believes such things: By the Faith of which Church, says he, they live, as long as they continue in its Communion; as Children live by the Nourishment of the Mother, all the while they are in her Womb. Which is the fittest resemblance in Nature that can be found out for them.  
By virtue of this Faith, all the Embrioes' of that Religion do believe, that all these absurd Doctrines are contained in Scripture. Nay that Transubstantiation itself is in the Apostles Creed. For the Trent Catechism says expressly, That it is not lawful for any of the Faithful to doubt, but it is comprehended in these two Articles; I believe in God 
De Sacram. Eucharistiae. Sect. 25.  the Father Almighty, and I believe in the Holy Catholic Church. The father Almighty is able to effect and bring it to pass, and the Holy Catholic Church tells us, he does effect and being it to pass: and there it is. Now if this be not blind Belief, I would fain know what is.  
III. The third thing I propounded was, to show you the Danger of both Parties engaged in this senseless course; If the Blind lead the Blind, they shall both fall into the Ditch. And I shall choose this way to do it.  

First, By laying open before you what a great Fault it is in the Priests.  
Secondly, In the People. And then yourselves may easily judge of the Danger.   
First, What a great Fault it is in the Priests.  
And that (1.) in advancing Doctrines contrary to Reason and common Sense; whereby they go about, as much as in them lies, to extinguish that great Light which God has set up to enlighten every Man that comes into the World. Reason is the only thing we have to trust to, in the last issue and result of things. And our very belief of Divine Revelations, must finally be resolved into it: Or else we shall very ill comply with St. Peter's Advice, to be ready to render a Reason of the hope that is in us. It is that which lays in us the Foundation of all Religion, I mean, a true Notion of God; It teaches us due apprehensions of him, and to conceive rightly concerning him. It instructs us, that we received our Being, and all our Faculties from him, that we cannot be deceived by them, in those things which we evidently and distinctly perceive; and that to think otherwise, would be to reflect upon God. Nay, it teaches us, that Omnipotence itself cannot make a clear Conception to be false: It can indeed make something out of nothing, but it cannot make something to be nothing.  
These, and such like Principles of Reason, are the Rock upon which all Religion stands; and if any Man will go wisely and orderly to Work, he must be satisfied in these things, before he can think of Revelation. As for our Reasonable Faculties, we know whence we had them, and are assured that God has spoken to us by them: But as for any Revelation, we know not whence it is, till we have tried and examined it. Till we see how it agrees with our natural Notices of God, till we find that it is worthy of God, and becoming his Holiness, Wisdom, Goodness, and Truth: for than it bears God's Mark and Superscription upon it, and carries along with it one great Evidence, that it came forth from God. When a revealed Religion, and the Reason of Mankind, do perfectly correspond, and bear Witness to one another, it is a sign they both proceed from one Author, and were both given us by the same Hand. If a Doctrine, which pretends to come from God, does teach us over again the first Principles of our Creation, and the Eternal Laws of Heaven and Earth, and nothing at all contrary to them, who can reasonably doubt but this is the very Mind and Will of him who made the World?  
However, this is an undeniable Consequence on the other hand; if any pretended Revelation contain in it things contrary to Reason, such as we are able to prove false, it cannot come from God, it is immediately convicted of Fraud and Imposture. For whatsoever is false in Philosophy, can never be true in Divinity. If natural and supernatural Truths could be supposed to cross one another, we should be bound to Contradictions and Impossibilities, we should be engaged at once to believe and disbelieve the same things; and in the selfsame instance, to act both as reasonable, and unreasonable Creatures.  
Therefore when Men first teach what is contrary to Reason, and then vilify and disparage it, as that which savours not the things which be of God, as that which is purblind, and sees little or nothing in Matters of Religion, as that which is stark blind, and sees nothing at all; What do they, but undermine the Foundations of all Religion, and eclipse that common Light which discovers God to the World, and that bright Star which leads all Wise Men to Christ; and, in a word, take the ready way, not to leave a Christian, or a reasonable Man, in the World?  
2. It is likewise a great Fault, to teach Doctrines contrary to the Holy Scripture. For it is to unteach the People what God has taught them; It is to set them free from those Obligations which God has laid upon them, and to make them the Servants of Men: It is the presumptuous entitling of God to their own Errors and Falsehoods, and saying, the Lord hath spoken it; when he never said it, neither did it ever come into his mind.  
It is an unspeakable Injury to our Blessed Saviour, to misrepresent his Holy Gospel, and to make him be thought the Author of an absurd, and senseless, and loose, and cruel Religion. It is enough to alienate the minds of those, who only know Popery, and the dark side of our Religion, from Christianity itself; and to make them take up the Resolution of Averro, Quandoquidem Christiani adorant quod comedunt, sit anima mea cum Philosophis. As long as the Christians worship what they eat, let my Soul be with the Philosophers.  
It deceives Men in Matters of the greatest Consequence, in the weighty Concerns of their Soul, and of Eternity; wherein, of all other things, it is the most horrid and barbarous to impose upon them. In a word, It is the shrewdest ill turn, under pretence of the greatest Charity; it is destroying Men, in the way of making them happy; it is poisoning the Sacrament, and it is the Blood of Souls.  
And the badness of this practice will further appear, by considering the Motives which draw Men to it. And in some Points of Popery, it is visible that it is Covetousness, making merchandise of Souls for filthy Lucre sake. And indeed, no Gain can be so foul and dishonest, as that for which Men sell Truth, and the everlasting Interests of Men.  
In other Points, the Motive is Reputation; which is so plain in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, that one of their own Writers, cannot forbear enlarging upon the great Honour which it derives upon the 
Rushw. Dial. 1. Sect. 4.  Clergy, by giving them such a Privilege, as if all the learned Clerks, that ever lived since the 
Another says, the Priest has hereby the Honour of being the Father of Christ, whom he has begotten in the Sacrament. See this, with much other Blasphemy, in Andr. Rivet, Explic. Decal. P. 1364.  beginning of the World, should have studied to raise, advance, and magnify some one State of Men to the highest pitch of Reverence and Eminency, they could never (without special Light from Heaven) have thought of any thing comparable to this. That is, they can make their Maker: Sacerdos est Creator sui Creatoris.  
The Sweets of Government, and the extreme and accursed Pleasure of having a Spiritual Dominion, and reigning over the Minds and Belief of Men, seems to be the Original of other Points, as namely, Infallibility and Confession.  
It is much to be feared, that Ambition, Secular Profit and Advantages, that the God of this World has blinded their Eyes in these, and many other Particulars. I know, they plead Councils, and Fathers, and uninterrupted Tradition, in behalf of their Doctrines: but with so little probability, that it may put us in mind of what Polybius says concerning the declaring of War; That one Reason is given out, but generally that which is concealed is the true Reason.  
However, we are sure, that if such worldly Considerations do not blind their Eyes, and bias their Understandings; Yet want of considering and examining things freely and impartially, is a Fault, of which they will never be able to acquit themselves. And that's Crime enough for a Man to bury his Reason alive, and hide his Talon in a Napkin, because he will not be at the pains of improving it. It is an unpardonable slighting of Heaven, and of the right way thither; as if they were not worthy of their enquiry after them, and is sufficient to destroy, both themselves and them that hear them. Who are likewise,  
Secondly, In great Danger, if we consider what a great Fault it is in them, to follow their blind Guides with a blind Belief and Obedience.  
1. In Doctrines which are contrary to Reason and common Sense. This must be the worse, because a Man cannot do it without some reluctancy, and without offering violence to his own mind. We are apt to have very uncomfortable thoughts of the Heathen World, as sitting in Darkness, and in the shadow of Death; but Men that yield up their Belief to the Dictates of others, betray themselves into a worse condition; they expose themselves to greater Errors than ever the Heathens were guilty of; of which the single Doctrine of Transubstantiation will serve for a thousand Instances: And not only so, but they put it out of their power ever to correct their Errors, and lie wholly at the mercy of another.  
Mahomet requires no more than this tractable Principle, to keep Men Turks and good Musselmen, for this will for ever reconcile them to all the absurd and bloody Doctrines of the Alcoran. In the 32 Azoara of which Book, he cautions his Followers not to enter into Debate about their Religion, nor to argue for it; but if any one offer to dispute with them, to say, That God shall discuss all Controversies in the Day of Judgement: which it is as easy for him to do, as if it lay written before him in a Book, seeing all things are his. And in another place he says, That no Body understands the Alcoran, but God alone; but they that have the depth of Wisdom, say of it, We believe it, for all of it comes from our good God. And if they be true to these Principles, it is utterly impossible to bring Men over from that senseless and barbarous Religion, or ever to put them out of conceit with it.  
And besides, this temper not only exposes Men to the belief of the greatest Cheats and Impostures in Religion, but likewise is a folly, which admits of no manner of defence or excuse. Why did God give every Man a Conscience of his own, if he were to be guided and directed by another Man's Conscience, and not his own? It is the Birthright of Mankind to be governed by their own Reason in their sense of Religion, and as to their inward belief; but these Men part with it upon cheaper terms, than profane Esau sold his, and fairly renounce it at a Priest's bidding.  
Where should Men use their Reason and Understanding most, but in Matters of the greatest Moment? and such without controversy Religion is. Did God endow us with these Divine Faculties, only to measure Lines and Angles, or to learn Trades, or to drive Bargains? We may as well say, that he created the Sun to save Candle. No, he bestowed them upon us for nobler and higher Purposes; that we might know Him and know ourselves, what Relation we have to him, and what Service we owe him; that we might distinguish betwixt True and False, Right and Wrong, and might be able to think and act as becomes reasonable Creatures. And those that commit these precious Talents to another's keeping, are like to give but a very ill account of them.  
2. In Doctrines which are contrary to the Holy Scripture. Here the People may more easily be abused than before, and be misled without being aware of it: because the Institutions of Revealed Religion are not so well known, nor so obvious to Men, as the Dictates of Nature. But the Priests very forbidding the People to read the Scripture, gives them a just suspicion that they are abused, and would make any considerate Man the more eager to examine whether the things they teach be so or no. For which the generous Beraeans are commended in Scripture, who would not take the Apostle's bare word, but searched the Scriptures themselves.  
If any Doctrine decline Trial, it is a great Argument against it; for Truth loses nothing by being brought to the Test. If any Religion be too good to be examined, it is too bad to be believed.  
Men would not be thus tamely cheated in Worldly Matters; they will not buy, or bargain, at this blind rate: and therefore it is a sign that they less care what becomes of their Souls, than of their Money and Estates.  
So that in the last place, this Temper resolves itself into a great indifferency and unconcernedness about Religion, which ought to be our first and chief care. It proceeds from a brutish degeneracy of mind, which makes Men content to be like the Horse and Mule, which have no understanding. It has in it all the bad Ingredients of Sloth and Negligence; of Folly, and Credulity, and Irreligion. And I am sure there can be no safety in such a state of mind; for it is far from Truth, and far from God.  
We may take occasion, from what has been said, to thank God that it is otherwise with us. For who has made the difference? This was the Case of our Forefathers, in the dark and long Night of Popery. Blessed be God that it is not ours.  
2. Let us stand fast in that Liberty wherewith God has made us free, and never suffer our Souls to be brought into Bondage to any Man, whatever becomes of our Bodies.  
3. Let us heartily pity, and as we are able, seek the recovery of those that are in this bad condition.  
4. Let us take a special care to live up to that Knowledge which God has given us: otherwise we have but little reason to pity them, they are in a better condition than we. Let us think often of those words of our Saviour, St. John 9 the last Verse, Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no Sin, that is, none in comparison; your Sin would be the less: But now ye say, we see, therefore your Sin remaineth, and will be the harder to wipe out.  
These things require more enlargement than the time will bear, I shall therefore leave them, as they are, to your own Consideration.  
FINIS.