.A. •)'.¦;,¦.;'¦'' :A.

•^'-vfr^-i'i,.

..^^¦^;F

:i^^;

-m%^^- \ ,0S,-'

fSt

f'''i'%^'

^M

SERMONS ON THE
s Moft Useful and Important
SUBJECTS, ADAPTED TO THE
FAMILY and CLOSET.

By the Rev. S AMU EL DAVIE S, yf.M
Late Preiident of the College at Princeton in New-Jerfey.
In THREE VOLUMES.
The SECOND EDITION.
VOL. I.
To which are prefixed,
A SERMON on the Death of Mr Day ies.
By SAMUEL F I N L E Y, D.D. j-,^
AND
Another Discourse on the fame Occafion,
together with an Elegiac P O.E M
to the Memory of Mr Davies,
By THOMAS GIBBONS, D.D.
L 0 N D O N:
Printed for J. Buckland, J. Payne, J. Johnson and B. Da
venport, in Pater-nofler-r<nu ; and E. and C. Dilly in {hp
Pfuttry, near the ManfioB^houfe. M.PCC.LXVII.

January i6, 1767,,
ADVERTISEMENT To this Second Edition.
^T^H E many applications for Mr Davies'x
three volumes of Difcourfes, which could not
poffibly be attfwered by the copies remaining above
what the Jubfcription required, have encouraged
this Second Edition ; in the grant of which, the
Editor has fl ill had a regard to the benefit of Mrs
Davies and her Children. Th$ Editor thinks him-
f elf amply rewarded for his expence of time and
pains in publifhing Mr DsiVies's Sermons, by the
cloud of affurances he has received of their very
favourable acceptance, and by the very corfidera-
ble profits that have accrued to the Widow and
Orphans of the deceafed : And that he might flill
oblige the Publicjand procure frefh afjiflance to Mrs
Davies and her fatherlefs babes, whofe circum-
flancesfland in need of the further aids ofchrifiian
benevolence, he hereby gives notice, that he defgns
to publifl^, in a [kort time, Propofals for printing by
fubfcription, two more volumes of Mr Davies'.? Ser-
mons, the profits' of which, he affures the public, as
he did in the former publication, fl^all be Iblely ap-
fropriatedto the benefit of his ReliB and Orphans.
5
PRE-

PREFACE To the First Edition.
F)^!'^^ N epiftolary correfpondeace
m A 101 commenced between the Rev.
hM^MM ^^' ^'^^^^^^^ Davies and my-
felf in the year 1752, and was
continued till the time of his deceafe.
When I began the intercourfe with
him I could not entertain any very pro
bable hopes that we fhould ever have an
interview in our world, but Mr Davies's
vilit to Great Britain in the Year 1753,
with that venerable man the Rev. Mr
Gilbert 'Tennent of Philadelphia^ to fo-
licit benefadions for the college of IVew-
Jer fey 3 gave me a pleafure beyond all
reafonable expcdation ; and the friend-
fhip which was kindled at the diftance
of feveral thoufand miles from each
other was increafed by free and frequent
converfes during the time, almoft a year,
A 3 of

vi PREFACE.
of Mr Davies\ refidence on this fid^
the Atlantic.
After his departure from our country
to America., I received feveral letters
from Mr Davies, and had the honour
of being nunlbered among his particular
friends to whom he communicated the
very fecrets of his bofom.
In a letter dated September 12, 1757,
Mv Davies (at that juncture fcarce reco
vered from a violent and dangerous fe
ver) thus writes to me. " I want to live
after I am dead, not in name, but in
public ufefulnefs: I vi^as therefore
"^' about to order in my will that all
" my notes, which are tolerably full,
" might be fent to you to corred and
*' publifh fuch of them as you might
" judge conducive to the public good.
" Fray, what do you think of the pro-
"jed, if the like occafion fhould re-
" turn while you are among mortals .?"
What anfwer I gave to my friend's
propofal I cannot exadly recoiled, but
I am perfuaded that my afFedion to him
would

CC

PREFACE; vli
• would not permit me to put a negative
upon his requeft.
On the 4th of February^ 1761, this
excellent man was by a violent fever re
moved from our world : and, though.
he died univerfally lamented, yet as he
had an uncommon intereft in my affec
tion while living, fo his deceafe opened
the fprings of the moft afHiding forrow
in ray breaft, and perhaps I may truly
apply, with a little variation, the words
of the Poet,
Multis ille Jiebilis occidit,
Nulli jlehilior quam mihi.—
HoRAT. Od. Lib. I. Od. 24J
But, though the prophet is afcended,
his mantle is left behind. A very con-
iiderable number of his Sermons has
been tranfmitted to me, and thence
I have feleded what were fufficient to
Gompofe the enfuing volumes.
As the Sermons which I now lay be
fore the public were Mr Z)/3'Z'/^j's ufual
popular difcourfes, it may naturally be
fuppofed that they required patient
and accurate levifal in order to their
A 4 publi-

viii P R E F.A C E.
publication ;; and that the Editor, if he
would difcharge his duty as he ought,
muft find himfelf under the necefTity of
making feme occafional alterations and
amend ments as to theknguage,and efpe^
cially of adjufting the pointing. Thefe
liberties I have taken, and have endea
voured to execute my truft in the fame
manner ivhich I have reafon to think
Mr Davies i if he had been living, would
have approved and commended ; and in
which I fhould vvifh my own Sennons,.
fhould 1 leave any behind me worthy of
the public view, might be correded and
ent into the world.
They who knew and heard Mr Davies
will need no further proof than the pe-
rufal of the difcourfes themfelves that
they are the real produdions of the au
thor to whom they are afcribed. The
fun fhews himfelf to be the fun by the
very beams with which he irradiates-
and enlivens mankind, and is eafily
diftinguifbed from other luminaries by
his furpafling luftre.
2 The

PREFACE. ix
The Sermons I have chofen for pub
lication ftridly anfwer the Advertifi-
ment in the Propos als for printing them;
namely. Sermons on the mofl useful
and important SubjeBs, adapted to the
Family and Closet. The reader will
meet. with no difcourfes in thele volumes
but what are calculated for general ufe,
or fuch as relate to the common condi
tions, duties, and interefts of mankind in
one form or another; and in how many
of them has both the Saint and the Sin
ner a portion of meat provided for him ?
may it prove a portion in due feafbnl
and may both the one and the other rife
from the facred feaft divinely ftrengthen-
ed and blefTed!
Amidft an attention to the very nu
merous and important duties of my feve
ral departments in life, the additional
weight of a due preparation of Three
Volumes of pofthuraous difcourfes for
the eye of the public, and of the careful
reviews of the proof-fheets as they came
from the prefs, has taken up no fmall
portion of my time, and been no incon-
fiderable

X PREFACE.
fiderable acceffion to my conftant la^
hours; but I have moft chearfully de-*
voted both my hours and my toils to
the very valuable purpofes — of fulfilling
the defires of my dear friend Mr Davies,
which I own have a kind of irreliftible
power over me ; — of contributing, as I
would hope, to the fpiritual benefit of
my fellow-heirs of immortality, by put
ting into their hands a colledion of very
pious and ufeful Sermons ; — andof aflifl-
ing and comforting the mournful widow
and orphans of a friend who was as dear
to me as a brother.
I take the liberty of returning Thanks
in the name of Mrs Davies (for to her
only the profits of the publication fhall
be applied) to the numerous Subscribers
to the work ; and I hope they will find
themfelves amply recompenced for their
benevolence to the widow and fatherlefs,
by the facred ad vantage and pleafure they
and their families will receive in the pe-
rufal of thefe difcourfes ; in which piety
and genius feem to have vied with each
other

PREFACE. xi
other which fhould excel, and triumph
in the fuperior glory.
Notwithftanding all the time and
pains the prefent work has coft me, and
the ftrong fenfe I have that a like propor
tion of both would be required in the
execution of a like undertaking, yet I
beg leave to afTure the public, that, as
I have a large number of Mr Daviess
mahufcript Sermons ftill in my hands,
I fhall be ready (health being continued
to me) to revile and publifh the Author's
remaming difcourfes, whenever there
fhall be an encouraging profped of be
nefit to Mrs Davies or her orphans by
a frefh publication. As to vijit, or vc-
\iQVQ,.the fatherlefs and the widow in
their affiiBion * is an eifential branch
of chriftian duty, fo it is a duty I truft
will never be wanting, whenever an op
portunity ofFers for exemplifying it, from
my firft regards and pradice.
Mr Davies annexed to fome of his
Sermons Hymns of his own compofition.
Had this been uniformly the cafe they
might
* James i. 27.

£i PREFACE.
might have accompanied his Difcourfes
to the prefs, but as it is not, I have
omitted them ; but, if death or incapa
city prevent not my defign, I intend
hereafter to colled what Hymns of his
have fallen into my hands, and publifh
them together with fbme of my own on
the like occafions.
I have prefixed to thefe Volumes a
Sermon upon the death of our Author
by that excellent man the Reverend Dr
Samuel Finley, Mr Davies\ fuccefTor to
the prefidency of New-'Jerfey College:
I have alfo republifhed the Difcourfe I
preached to my people the next Lord's
day after I received the diftrefling news
of Mr Daviess deceafe ; and have ven
tured to add an Elegiac Poem to the
memory of my dear friend ; in which
if thesreader finds not a vein of poefy
-worthy of the fubjed, yet he will not,
I prefume, be difpleafed at the efforts,
however languid and inadequate, of
bereaved mourning friend fhip to do
honour to the charader of a perfbn fb
amiable and deferving. The

PREFACE. xiii
The ideal have givenof bur Author
in my Sermon, and particularly in my
Poem, and above all, thejuft and lively,
the ftix)ng ahd elegant pidure which
Dr Finley has exhibited of him in his
difcourfe upon his death, render it un-
neceffary to enlarge this Preface with
an account of Mr Davies\ merit and
accomplifhments ; I fhall therefore only
add, that I moft fincerely wifh that
young minifters more efpecially would
perufe thefe Volumes with the deepeft
attention and ferioufnefs, and endeavour,
in conjundion with earneft prayer for
divine illumination and afUflance, to
form their difcourfes according to the
model of our Author ; in which, if I
miftake not, a critical Scrutiny into the
facred Texts which he choofes for his
fubjeds, a natural Edudion and clear
Reprefentation of their genuine meaning,
an elaborate and fatisfadory Proof of the
various heads of dodrine, a fteady
Profecution of his point, together with-
an eafy and plain, but yet ftrong and
pertinent Enlargement, and a free, ani
mated.

xiv PREFACE.
mated, and powerful Application and
Improvement, wonderfully adapted to
awaken the confciences, and ftrike the
hearts of both faints and finners, mingle
the various excellencies of learning,
judgment, eloquence, piety, and feraphic
zeal, in one uncommon glory; not
unlike the beams of the fun colleded
by a burning glafs, that at once fhine
with a moft dazzling brightnefs, and
fet fire, wherever the blaze is direded,
to objeds fufceptive of their celeftial
influence, and a transformation into
their own nature.

Srx;,'r76": Thomas Gibbons^

Ihe difinterejled md devoted Christian:
A
SERMON PREACHED AT
NaJfaU'Hall^ Princeton ^
May 28, 1761.
Cccafioned by the D E A T H of the
Rev. SAMUEL DAVIES, A.M.
Late Preiident of the College of New-Jerfey.
By SAMUEL F I N L E Y, D. D.
Prefident of the faid College.

To which are added.
Some MEMOIRS of Mr Davies.
By another Hand.

Qui confiderat qualis erit in Morte, femperque pavidus erit
in operatione, atque inde in Oculis fui Conditoiis vivet, nil
quod tranfeat, appetit : cunflis vits prefentis defideriis con-
tradicit, et peno mortuum fe confiderat, quia moriturura fs
minime ignorat. Grecor.L. 12. Moral.

T O
Mrs Martha Da v i e s the Mother,
and
Mrs Jean Davies the Widow
Of the late
Rev. President DAVIES, deceafed.
The following Sermon,
Preached on Occafion of his lamented Death,
IS,
With the tendered Refpeft,
PRESENTED BY
^heir Jincere and affeSlionatt Friend^
and humble Servant,,
SAMUEL FINLEY.
Vql. I. a

ROMANS XIV- 7, 8.
Eor none of us liveth to himfelf, and no man dieth
to himfelf. For whether we live, we live Wito
the Lord: or whether we die, we die unto the
Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we
are the Lor d's.
_l'*'@®@r^ S the very dear and reverend man,
P whofe premature and ur.expeded
^ death, we, amongft thoufands, this
^,^j^*5 day lament, .exprefTed his defire,
that, upon this mournful event, a
Sermon fhould be preached from thefe words,
he plainly intimated his expedation, that the
audience fliouid be entertained, not with an
ornamented funeral Oration, but with fuch an
.inftrudive difcourfe as the text itfelf naturally
fuggefts. The fubjedt being his own choice,
J cannot doubt but this friendly audience will
the more clofely and feriouily attend, as con
ceiving him, though dead, yet fpeaking to them
the folemn truths it contains. For having been
adrAitted into the full knowledge of his reli
gious principles, I may prefume on fpeaking
many of the fentiments he intended from this
text, though not in his more fabljme and ora-
torial manner,
a 2 When

XX A Funeral Sermon
When I refled on the truly chriftian, gene
rous, ye\.flri5i Catholicifm that diftinguifhes this
whole chapter, and how deeply it was imprint
ed on Mr Daviess own fpirit, and influenced
the courfe of his life, I am ready to conclude,
that perhaps no text could be more aptly chofen
on the occafion. It expreffes the very temper
that fhould be predominant in all, and which
^dually is fo in every pious breafl.
That we may apprehend the fcope and genu
ine fenfe of the words, it is neceffary to obferve,
that warm debates at that time arofe between
Xhtjewifh and Gentile converts, about the differ
ence of meats and days eflablifhed by the Mofaic
law ; anfij fo fharp was the contention, that
they were mutually difpofed to exclude each
other from chriflian communion. The Ge?i-
¦tile, being under no bias from the powerful
prejudices of education and cuflom, was fooner
and eafier convinced of his freedom from that
yoke of bondage, and defpifed ihe Jew as weak to
admiration, and fcrupulous to a fault. The
Jew, on the other hand, perfuaded that thefe
ancient divine inflitutions were flill obligatory,
cenfured and condemned the Gentile as incon-
fcientious, and profanely regardlefs of God's
awful authority.
The Apoflle, in order to quell the growing
ftrife, maturely determines that, though the
Gentile held the right fide of the queflion, yet
both parties were wrong as to their temper of
mind, and the manner in which they manaf^ed
3 the

on the Death of Mr 'Day lE^. xxi
the controverfyj and that they laid an undue
flrefs on the matters of diffelrence, and carried
their cenfures higher than the merits of the
caufe would at all juflify. He therefore re
commends moderation to both, and fets before
them fufHcient reafons why they fhould judge
of each other more charitably^ fince they agreed
in all thofe principal points that would juflly
denominate them " the ferv^nts of the Lord."
For if they would reckon it a bold intrufion to
call before their tribunal, condemn, and punifli
another man's fervant, over whom they had no
legal authority; how much rnore arrogant and
prefumptuous mufl it be fo to treat a ferva?it
of the Lord? ver. 4.
Again, let them be fo candid as to perfuade
themfelves, that, unlefs the contrary be evident,
they who differ from them, miflaken or not,
are influenced by a confcientious regard to the
divine glory, ver. 6. fhis .admitted, their per-
fjnal cenfures will necefl^arily be milder, even
though their judgment of the points In debate
continue unaltered; and this muft be admitted,
if they can charitably judge, that their refpsdive
opponents are real chriflians : for in all fuch the
governing principle is, " not to live to them-
" felves, but to the Lord. For none of us
" liveth to himfelf, and no man dieth to bim-
" felf ; for whether we live, we live unto the
*•' Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the
" Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we
" are the Lord's." Now, if no pious perfon
a -3 lives

xxii A Funeral Sermon
lives merely to pleafe himfelf, we ought not to
judge that his averfion from, or attachment tf>
certain meats and days, arifes only from a felf-
ifh humour: but, on the contrary, fince his
whole life is governed by an honefc regard to
the will of God, it is altogether credible that,
in his different "condud relpedting meats and
days, he ads from the fame principle; for
whatever is' trne of the general, is alio true of
all the particulars contained under it. Sup-
pofe a man to be a i-eal Chriflian. you then
fjppofe him to be of an upright heart, of a
tender confcience, and one who dares not to
negled, nor live in contradidion to known
duty. He makes it his main bufinefs to pleafe
God, and ^all we be implacably difgufled
becaufe he does not rather endeavour to pleafe
us? God forbid.
Thus, while cur text affords a convincing
argument for moderation in judging of other
Chriftians, who differ from us in circumftan-
tials, it teaches us what fhould be the pjinclplc
and end of our life, and that both negatively
and pofui-vdy. We may not live nor die to
ourfelves, but to the Lord.
I. " We may not live to ourfelves."
This propofition fuppofes, what is a demon-
ftrable truth, that we are not the abfolute pro
prietors, and therefore have not the rio-htful
difpofal of our lives. For fince we could ex
ert no kind of efficiency in bringing ourfelves. from

on the Death bf Mr Davies. xxiii
from nothing into exiftence, we could not pof
fibly defign ourfelves for any end or purpofe of
our own. Hence it is evident, that, whofe
property foever we are, we belong not to our
felves; confequently, it is the highefi indecency
to behave as though we were accountable to
none other. * As rationally may we claim felf-
exiflence and independence. It will, there
fore be an eternal folecifm in adion to aim
chiefly at our own glory, feek only oxir own
things, or purfue mofl eagerly our own plea-
fures. Right reafon itfelf peremptorily denies
that the didates of our own minds are our fu-
preme rule of condud, or that our own will is
our law ; much lefs may we fubjed ourfelves
to the government of blind paffions, or indulge
to irregular appetites.
We are not at liberty, nor have we any au
thority to employ either the members of our
bodies, or powers of our fouls, at pleafure, as
if we had originally defigned their uie. Hence
it will appear criminal, on the one hand, to wafte
our time, or expend our ftrength in ufelefs cx-
ercifes ; and, on the o'ther, to allow an idlr-
negligence of neceffary bufinefs. Our tongues
themfelves, thofe unridy members, muft be pa
tient of reftraint ; for it is the language only of
haughty rebels to fay, " Our lips are our own,
?' who is Lord over us {a) I" Our very thoughts
are to be confined within prefcribed limits, and
all our rational powers flatedly exercifed, not in
a 4 merely
(a) Pfalm xii. 4.

xxiv A Funeral Sermon
merely curious and amufing refearches, but in
matters the mofl ufeful and important.
It alfo follows, that the produd of our adi-
vlty, whatever is acquired by the exertion of
thefe powers, ought not to terminate in our
felves. Are we in purfuit of learning, that or
nament of human minds, it fhould not be with
a view only to fhine more confpicuous, but that
we may ferve our generation to better advan
tage. Has God blefTed " the hand of the dili-
" gent" with abundant riches ? We are not to
confider them as the means of gratifying vani
ty, or " fulfilling the defires of the flefh, and
'* of the mind ;" for we muft " honour the
" Lord with our fubftance (b)." Has God
clothed any of us with power? This is not a
difcharge from his fervice, nor a fz-eedom from
fubjedipn to his laws, but a ftronger obligation
to duty, as it gives us an opportunity of more
ex ten five ufefulnefs.
Finally, fince we v/ere not the authors of our
lives, we can have no right to take them away.
We have no power to determine, either the time
or kind of death, any m.ore than we can ward
off, or fufpend its blow when commifxioned to
deftroy. Therefore, amidft all the miferies that
can make life itfelf an infupportable burden,
and all the glorious profpeds that can make us
impatiently pant for diffolution, it muft be our
determinate purpofe, that " all the days of our
" appointed time, we will wait till our change
come {c)." p^^
{h) Proy. iii. 9. (,) Job xi,,_ j^_

on the Death of Mr Davies. xxv
As thefe particulars, examined by the ftiid-
eft reafon, will all appear to be immediate con-
fequences from felf-evident principles, and muft
all be confeffed by him, who acknowledges that
" he is n6t his own lord and mafter;" it will
follow as an evident truth, that " the evange-
" lical duty of felf-denial is founded on the
" everlafting reafon of things."
Refleding farther on the preceding obferva-
tions, they force upon us the difagreeable con-
vidion, that our whole race has revolted from
God, and rifen up in rebellion againft him.
" The world evidently lies in wickednefs ;" for
the allowed pradice of men fuppofes principles,
which, they themfelves being judges, muft con-
fefs to be palpably falfe and abfurd. They ad
as if they believed they vJtxQ made for them
felves, and had no other bufinefs in life but
the gratification of their refpedive humours.
One exerts all his powers, and fpends all his
time in nothing elfe but endeavouring to amafs
heaps of worldly treafure: another, by riotous
living, difperfes what had been colleded with
anxious care and afiiduous labour. Some live
in malice and envy, whofe favourite employ is
calumny and wrathful contentions, as if they
had been created for no other end but to be the
pefts of fociety : others blafpheme the name of
God, defpife his authority, mock at religion,
and ridicule ferious perfons and things. One
has no other purpofe in life but fport and m.er-
riment: another eats to gluttony, and drinks

Xxvi A Funeral Sermon
to befottednefs. Yet all thefe, and narhelefs
ranks of other daring offenders, would be a-
ftiamed in a chriftian country to profefs it as
their ferious belief, that they were made by a
moft wife, holy, and righteous God, preferv-
ed, blefled, and loaded with, benefits every day, '
on purpofe that they " might work all thefe
" abominations," or, in order to live juft as
they do.
If, then, it is confefl^dly impious and unrea-
fbnable to live to ourfelves, it neceffarily follows
that we are the property of another, for it will
ever be " lawful for one to do- what he will
" with his own." And whofe can we be but
his who gave us exiftence ? Or, if ties of grati
tude can more powerfully influence ingenuous
minds than even thofe of nature, who can fa
juftly claim us as He " who, as we hope, lov-
", ed us, and waftied us from our fins in his
" own blood (d) V This leads me to obferve,
II. That we fhould " live and die to the
Lord." This can admit of no debate; for if
our Maker and Redeemer be our rightful own
er, then v.'hatever we are, or have, or can do,
muft be for him. Being his fervants, we mufl
" llicw all good fidelity" in his bufinefs. The
talents with which he has entrufted us, more
or fewer, or of whatever kind, may not be re
turned without improvement; for, as is fit and
proper, he " requires his own with ufury {/)."
He is our King, whofe prerogative it is to dired our
id) Rev. J. 6. ,{^) IVIatt. xxv. 27.

on the Death of Mr Davies. xxvii
our courfe of adion, and propofe the end at
which we are to aim; to " mete out the bounds
** of our habitation," and carve our portion;
and it becomes us to give the moft ready and
chearful obedience to his commands, and fub-
mit to all his difpofals.
Our living thus to the Lord plainly fuppofes
our being fenfible of our entire dependance on
him, and tliat we devote ourfelves to his fervice.^
We muft " prefent our bodies a living facrifice
(f)," without refefve or hefitation; and " a-
*' vouch the Lord to be our GoD, to walk in
** his ways, and to keep his ftatutes, and judg-
" mentSi and commandments, and to hearken
" to his voice (g)." We bind ourfelves to him
in a firm covenant, not for a limited term of.
months and years, but for ever and ever, and
acquiefce in Him as our chief good.
The folemnity of fuch an infinitely import
ant tranfadion between the glorious majefly of
heaven, and fuch mean creatures as we, who
are " but duft and afhes," cannot but ftrike
us with reverential awe. And what will make
it yet more humbling is the confideration of
our guilt. We not only as Creatures take upon
us to fpeak unto the Lord our Maker, but as
Criminals approach to the feat of our offended-
and moft righteous Judge. Dare we then trifle,
and not rather be mofl ferious and deliberate?
Refleding that wc are in the prefence of the
heart-
(/) Rom. xii. 1. (g) Deut, xxvi, 17.

xxviii A Funeral Sermbn
heart-fearching God will naturally make us
watchful over every thought and motion of our
fpirits, and engage us to the greateft fincerity
in furrendering to him our all. We will give
him our hearts themfelves; keep nothing back;
nor except againft any terms he flaall pleafe to
propofe, but yield at difcretion.
On this occafion a confcioufnefs of our hav
ing revolted from him, negleded his fervice,
purloined his goods, and, in every refped, be
haved moft ungratefully and undutifully, will
affed us with the moft genuine forrow. There
fore, when repentant we return to him, we
fhall, covered with fhame, approach with the
Prodigal's felf-abafing confefiion, "Father! I
" have finned againft heaven, and in thy fight,
" and am no more worthy to be called thy fon
(h)." He will " furely hear us bemoaning our-
" felves, like Ephraim," that we have too long
wrought the will of the flefli, and fuffered
" other ufurping lords to have dominion over
" US;" but now vv'e humbly beg forgivenefs,
his gracious acceptance of our perfons, and ad-
miflion into his family, fhould it be only on
trial, " as hired fervants."
But thou|ih our fins have made us vile, and
the view of their odious nature makes us " loathe
" ourfelves in our own fight," yet a convidion
of the free grace and mercy of God in Christ
v/iU comfort and encourage our dejeded and
difndent hearts. The cords of Icve will draw us
(b) Luke XV. 18.

en the Death of Mr Davies. xxix
us nearer and nearer, until we fhall affume an
humble '' boldnefs, to enter into the holieft of
" all by the blood of Jesus (i)." Sacred love,
and a grateful fenfe of the unmerited favours- of
our God will now difpofe us to, and animate
us in the performance of every duty. Religion
will be our chofen courfe, and the command
ments of God will be fo far from being burden-
fome to us, that we fhall rejoice in them, and
delight in " doing the things that pleafe him."
Our whole time will be confecrated to his fer
vice: no part of it can be fpared for flefhly in
digencies, or finful pleafures, but will be em
ployed either in fome pofitive duty, or in pre
paration for it in the proper feafon.
This religious bent of mind will manifeft it
felf in all our condud, and give even common
adions a different diredion. If we attend our
ordinary callings, we ftiall be adive and dili
gent, not in order to gratify an earthly temper,
but from an obediential regard to fupreme au
thority. When our fpirits flag through intenfe
application to bufinefs, and recreation beco.mes
neceffary, our very diverfions will be confidered
as our duty, and fo as a branch of our religion:
and as they will always be innocent in their
nature, fo they will be no otherwife regarded
than as means to fit us for the repetition of our
work. If our friends or country demand our
fervice, we fhall not give place to felfifhnefs and
indolence, but, as lovers of God and men,
generoufly
(i) Hpb. X. 19.

3CXX A Funeral Sermon
generoufly exert ourfelves for the common good.
Thus will our whole life be religion, upon fuch
a fincere, entire, and affedionate dedication of
ourfelves to the Lord. And fuch as is our
courfe fo will be its end. When the date of
time is concluded we fliall alfo " die to the
" Lord." This in general imports, our living
under the rational, affeding imprefiion of our
diflblution, and appearing before God, and our
conftant endeavours after adual preparation to
-enjoy him for ever. Then, upon the approach
of death, we fhall confidently " commit our
" fpirits into his hands," recommend his ways
to furvivors, and glofify him with our dying
breath. But, on the other hand, if our lives are not
thus confecrated to our God, we cannot be fupr-
pofed to perform any duty in an acceptable
manner, as the requifite principle and end are
wanting. He, to whom the fecret fprings of
adion. are all obvious, will not, cannot accept
pretended fervices; nor be pleafed with the
*' blind and the lame for facrifice," when the
heft are efteemed too good for him. To com-
phment him with our lips, when we refufe
to give him our hearts, will be judged fimilar
to the condiid of thofe, who " bowed the knee
'¦'¦ in derifion," and in derifion faid, " Hail !
^« King of the Jews!" He, " with whom we
^^ have to do," cannot be deceived, nor will be
mocked. He requires " Truth in the inward
<' pa;-ts," which cannot fubfift without an ho-
neft

m the Death of Mr. Davies. xxxj
neft and upright defgn to ferve him all the days
of our lives.
Now to live wholly to the Lord, will appear
to be our reafonable fervice, if we confider, i .
That " fuch a life is moft worthy of rational
" and immortal creatures." From the powers
and faculties given us it may naturally be con-
^iCluded that we are created for fome very im
portant purpofe; but what can, be fo import
ant, or bear fo juft a correfpondence to our
capacities, as to live to the glory of our great
Creator? This being our ultimate end, to which
we refer all our adions, and perform each of
them in fuch a manner as may beft anfwer it,
will influence our hearts, and frame our whole
converfation agreeable to the divine approving
will. And what can fo ennoble the foul as
conformity to the pattern of perfedion ? But
p negled this, and chiefly regard our temporal
affairs, would be infinitely unworthy of beings
capable of the higheft purfuits, and formed for
immortality. Why fhould we have been " wifer
" than the beafts of the field, or the fowls of
*' -heaven," if we are to have no fublimer aims
than they? In a word, we could never vindi
cate the wifdom of God in our formation, if he
intended us for meaner things than thofe for
which we are qualified. Therefore,
2. ?' Such a life is moft worthy of God our
" Maker." Nothing can appear more conde-
cent and proper, than that he who is the begin-
niiig, fhould alfo be the end; that as all are of
3 hijn,

XX xii A Funeral Sermon
him, all ftiould be to him. And if his glory be
the moft excellent thing, and He the moft pcr-
fed Being, it will necefl"arily follow, that he
canmt ultimately defign what is lefs excellent.
Therefore the fcripture fpeaks agreeable to ever
lafting truth, when it aflerts, that " he made
" all things for himfelf;" and, that " for his
'' pleafure they are, and were created (k)"
And can it be rationally fuppofed, that he al
lows us, whom he made for his own glory, to
ad for a different or oppofite end ? It cannot.
We muft therefore peremptorily affirm, that he
cannot, in confiftency with his perfedions, re^
quire lefs, than that " whether we eat or drink,
" or whatever we do, we fhould do all to his
" glory (l)r And this he does require, not
becaufe he needs our fervice, or can be happier,
or more glorious in himfelf by our praifes, but
becaufe it is fit and right, and refults as our duty
from the eternal reafon of things.
3. " Such a life is our own happinefs:" for,
ading as prefcribed, we move in our proper
fphere, and tend to our native centre. We live
as near the fountain of bleffednefs as our pre
fent ftate can admit, and nothing can be fo
animating as the glorious and blifsful profpeds
our courfe affords. Our hearts, being fixed on
the chief good, are at reft, and no more tortured
with anxious hefitation, and uneafy fufpenfe,
as to what we fhall chufe for our portion, nor
do our defires wander in queft of a more fuit- able
(h) Rev. iv. II. (I) I Cor. X. 31.

on the Death of M*. Davies. xxxiii
able objedl. We can wifh for no more but the
full enjoyment of God, whom we " ferve with
our fpirits;" whofe " peace, that pafleth all
" underftanding, rules in our hearts;" and for
whofe glory we hope, fecure from confounding
difappointment in the day of the Lord.
Now methinks every attentive hearer pre
vents my improvement of the fubjed, being
ready, of his own accord to make fuch reflec
tions as thefe.— How ferene and placid is the
life, and how triumphant muft be the death,
of a true Chriftian !— How reafonable a fervice
do we perform, when we confecrate ourfelves
to the Lord, and receive him, freely offering
himfelf to be our portion, our father, and our
friend! None can plaufibly urge, that fome
things unfit, or detrimental are required. None
can pretend a confcientious fcruple about com
plying with the propofal, nor dare any, however
fecretly reludant, openly avow their diffent.
Every mouth is ftopped, and all acknowledge
their obligation to this plain duty. What then
fhould hinder the unanimous agreement of this
whole afl"embly to fo advantageous an overture?
Why may we not join ourfelves, this day, to
the Lord in an everlafting covenant ? Would
it not feem uncharitable to fuppofe, that any
one in this chriftian audience rejeds a propofal
fo infinitely juft and kind ? How pleafing is the
very imagination of an univerfal concurrence I
Not only would each of our hearts who are
Vol. I. b here

:;xxiv A Funeral Sermon
here prefent exult, but unnumbered hofts of
angels, and all " the fpirits of juft men made
" perfed" would rejoice.
Since therefore all things that pertain to our
prefent, or future happinefs, confpire to urge
this point, let us with one accord, in the moft
affedionate and reverent manner, approach the
throne of our auguft Sovereign, and chearfully
Eelign ourfelves to him for ever; fpend our lives
in his fervice, and exped his compenfating ap
probation at cur end.
In fome fuch ftrain, but more diffufive and
fubhme, would our reverend and dear deceafed
Friend have addreffed us on fuch a fubjed. We
may imagine how fervent his defire was of
" living to the Lord" himfelf, and perfuading
others to the fame courfe, when he fixed on this
for the fubjed of his Funeral Sermon. Now,
as it is generally agreed that pxample has the
moft powerful influence, perhaps a few fketch-
es of his own Life and Charader may beft re
commend the preceding difcourfe, as they will
prove the life defcribed to be pradicable. And
though he on whom this tafk is devolved owns
himfelf inferior to it, yet he is encouraged to
undertake it from a perfuafion, that a fimple
and unornamented narrative of what he knows,
either perfonally or by certain information, con
cerning Prefident D-^wVj, will fet him in a very
agreeable point of light. He is now difintereft-
ed in all the praifes and cenfures of mortals,
and can neither receive benefit, or fuffer detri ment

on the Death of Mr Davies. xxxv
ment by themj but his example may profit the
living, as it tends to excite a laudable emula
tion; and fome brief hints of the difpenfations
of divine providence towards him may not be
without very ufeful inftrudion.
He was an only fort, and, which is more,
was a fon of prayers and vows; was given in
anfwer to fervent fupplications, and, in grati
tude, wholly devoted to God from the womb
by his eminently pious mother, and named
Samuel, on the like occafion as the ancient Pro
phet. The event proved, that God accepted
the confecrated Boy, took him under his fpecial
care, furnifhed him for, and employed him in
the fervice of his church, profpered his labours
with remarkable fuccefs, and not only bleflTed
him, but made himfelf a blefilng.
The firft twelve years of his life were wafted
in the moft entire negligence of God and Reli
gion, which he often afterwards bitterly lament
ed, as having too " long wrought the Vv'iU of
" the flefh." But about that time the God
to whom he was dedicated by his Word and
Spirit awakened him to folemn thoughtful nefs,
and anxious concern about his eternal ftate.
He then faw fufficient reafon to dread all the
direful effeds of divine difpleafure againft fin.
And fb deeply imprinted was the rational fenfe
of his danger, as to make him habitually un
eafy and reftlefs, until he might obtain fatisfy-
b 2 ing

i'xxvi A Funeral Sermon
ing fcriptural evidence of his intereft in the for
giving love of GoD.
While thus exercifed he clearly faw the abfo
lute necefilty, and certain reality of the gof-
pel-plan of falvation, and what abundant and
fuitable provifion it makes for all the wants of
a finner. No other folid ground of hope, or
unfailing fource of comfort could he find, be-
fides the merits and righteoufnefs of him, '
" whom God fet forth to be a propitiation for
" fin, through faith in his blood (?;z)." On
this righteoufnefs he was enabled confidently to
depend ; by this blood his confcience was
purged from guilt; and " believing, he rejoiced
•' with joy unfpeakable, and full of glory [n)."
Yet he v/as afterwards exercifed with many per
plexing doubts for a long feafon, but at length,
after years of impartial repeated felf-examina-
tion, he attained to a fettled confidence of his
intereft in redeeming Grace, which he retained
to the end.
A diary, which he kept in the firft years of
his religious life, and continued to keep as long
as his leifure would permit, clearly fhews how
intenfely his mind was fet on heavenly things;
how obfervant he was of the temper of his
heart; and how watchful over all his thoughts,*
words, and adions. Did any cenfure his foi
bles, or juvenile indifcretions ? They would
have done it compaflionately, had they known
how feverely he cenfured them himfelf. The
tribunal
(«) Rom, iii. 25. (n) I Pet. i. 8. ¦,

on the Death of Mr Davies. xxxvii
tribunal daily ereded in his own bofom was
more critical in fcrutinizing, and more impartial
and fevere in paffing fentence, than either his
friends or enemies could be.
His love to God, and tender concern for pe-
riftiing finners, excited his eager defire of being
in a fituation to ferve mankind to the beft ad
vantage. With this view he engaged in the
purfuit of learning, in which, amidft many ob-r
vious inconveniences, he made furprifing pro-
grefs, and, fooner than could have been ex-
peded, was found competently qualified for
the minifterial office. He paffed the ufual pre
vious trials with uncomm.on approbation; hav
ing exceeded the raifed expedations of his moft
intimate friends and admirers.
When he was licenfed to preach the gofpel,
he zealoufly declared the counfel of God, the
truth and importance of which he knew by
happy experience; and did it in fuch a manner
as excited the earneft defires of every vacant
congregation, v/here he was known, to obtain
the happinefs of his ftated miniftrations. But,
far from gratifying his natural inclination to
the fociety of his friends, or confulting his eafe,
moved by confcience of duty, he undertook the
felf-denying charge of a diffenting congregation
in Virginia, feparated from all his Brethren,
and expofed to the cenfure and refentment of
many. But the more he was known in thofe
parts, the more were prejudices removed ; con-?
tempt was gradually turned into reverence;
b 3 the

xxxviii A Funeral Sermon
the number of his enemies daily diminifhed,
and his friends increafed.
Nor did he there labour in vain, or " fpend
" his ftrength for nought. The " Lord, who
" counted him faithful, putting him into the
" miniftry," fucceeded his faithful endeavours,
fo that a great number, both of whites and blacks,
v/ere hopefully converted to the living God;
for the proof of this, I muft refer you to his
own narrative fent to the reverend Mr. Bellamy,
and by him publiflied, and to his letters to fome
Gendemen of the Society in London for propa
gating Keligion among the Foor.
As to his natural genius, it was ftrong and
mafculine. His underftanding was clear; his
memory retentive ; his invention quick ; his
imagination lively and florid ; his thoughts
fubhme; and his language elegant, ftrong, and
expreffive. And I cannot but prefume that
true and candid criticks will readily difcern a
great degree of true poetic fire, ftile, and image
ry in his poetical compofitions; and v/ill grant
that he was capable to have flionc in that way,
had his leifure permitted the due cultivation
of his natural talent.
His appearance in company was manly and
graceful ; his behaviour genteel, not ceremo
nious ; grave, yet pleafant ; and folid, but
fprightly too. In a word, he was an open,
converfable, and entertaining Companion, a
polite Gentleman, and devout Chriftian at
once. In

on the Death of Mr Davies. xxsix'
In the facred Deflc zeal for God, and love
to men animated his addreffes, and made them
tender, folemn, pungent, and perfuafive; while
at the fame time they were ingenious, accurate,
and oratorial. A certain dignity of fentiment
and ftile, a venerable prefence, a commanding
voice, and emphatical delivery, concurred both
to charm his audience, and overawe them into
lilence and attention.
Nor was his ufefulnefs confined to the Pulpit.
His comprehenfive mind could take under view
the grand interefts of his Country and of Re
ligion at once ; and thefe interefts, as well as
thofe of his Friends, he was ever ready zealoufly
to ferve. It is known what an adive inftru-
ment he was in ftirring up a patriot fpirit, a
Ipirit of courage and refolution in Virginia,
where he refided during the late barbarous
French and Indian ravages.
His natural temper was remarkably fweet
and difpafllonate; * and his heart was one of
the tendereft towards the diftrefled. His fym-
pathetic foul could fay, " Who is weak, and I
" am not weak?" Accordingly his charitable
difpofition made him liberal to the poor, and
that often beyond his ability. He was eminent
ly obliging to all, and very fenfible of favours
conferred; which he could receive without fer-
b 4 vility,
* The Rev. Mr. John Rodgers, one of his moS intimate
friends, in a letter to me fince his death, fays, " I never faw
" him angry during feveral years of unbounded intimacy,
" though I have repeatedly known him to h.ive been ungene-
" roufly treated."

xl A Funeral Sermon
vility, and manifeft his grateful fenfe of them
with proper dignity.
To his friend he was voluntarily tranfparent,
and fully aded up to the Poet's advice:
Thy friend put in thy bofom : wear his eyes
Still in thy heart, that he may fee what's there.
And perhaps none better underftood the inge-^
nuities and delicacies of friendfhip, or had an
higher rehfh for it, or was truer or more con
ftant in it than he. He v/as not eafily dif-
eufted : his knov/ledge of human nature in its
prefent ftate, his candid heart, and enlarged
foul both difpofing and enabling him to make .
allowances for indifcretions, which narrower
and more felfifh minds could not make. He
readily and eafily forgave offences againft him
felf, whilft none could be more careful to avoid
offending others ; which, if he at any time in
advertently did, he was forward and defirous
to make the moft ample fatisfadion.
He was amongft the firft and brighteft ex
amples of filial piety, a very indulgent parent,
and humane mafter. As an hufband he was
kind, tender, cordial, and refpedful, with a
fondnefs that was manly and genuine. In a
word, think what might rationally be expeded,
in the prefent imperfed ftate, in a mature Man,
a Chriftian in minority, a Minifter of Jesus of
like paffions with others, in a Gentleman, Com
panion, and cordial Friend, and you conceive
of Prefident Davies. It

on the Death of Mr Davies. xli
It would hardly be expeded, that one fo ri
gid with refped to his own faith and pradice,
could be fo generous and catholic in his fenti
ments of thofe who differed from him in both,
as he was. He was ftrid, not bigoted ; con
fcientious, not fqueamifhly fcrupulous. His
clear and extenfive knowledge of religion ena
bled him to difcern where the main ftrefs fhould
be laid, and to proportion his zeal to the im
portance of things, too generous to be confined
to the interefts of a party as fuch. He confi
dered the vifible kingdom of Christ as extend
ed beyond the boundaries of this or that parti
cular denomination, and never fuppofed that
his declarative glory was wholly dependant on
the religious community which he moft ap
proved. Hence he gloried more in being a
Chriftian, than in being a Prefbyterian, though
he was the latter from principle. His truly
catholic addrefs to the eftablifhed Clergy of
Virginia is a demonftration of the fincere plea
fure it would have given him, to have heard
that " Christ was preached," and fubftantial
religion, common Chriftianity, promoted by
thofe who " walked not with him," and whom
he judged in other points to be miftaken. His
benevolent heart could not be fo foured, nor
his enlarged foul fo contraded, as to value men
from circumftantial diftindions, but according
to their perfonal worth.
He fought truth for its own fake, and would
profefs his fentiments with the undifguifed open- nefs

xlii A Funeral Sermon
nefs of an honefl Chriftian, and the inofi"enfive
boldnefs of a manly fpirit : yet, without the
leaft apparent difficulty, or hefitation, he v/ould
retrad an opinion on full convidion of its be
ing a miftake. I have never known one, who
appeared to lay himfelf more fully open to the
reception of truth, from whatever quarter it
eame, than he ; for he judged the knowledge
of truth only to be real learning, and that
endeavouring to defend an error was but la
bouring to be more ignorant. But, until fully
convinced, he was becom.ingly tenacicw-is of liis
opinion. The unavoidable confcioufnefs of native pov/er
made him bold and enterprizing. Yet the event
proved that his boldnefs arofe not from a par
tial, groundlefs felf-conceit, but from true ielf-
knowledge. Upon fair and candid trial, faith
ful and juft to himfelf, he judged what he could
do; and w'nat he could, when called to it, he
attempted ; and what he attempted he accom-
plilhed. It may here be properly obferved, that he
was chofen by the Synod of New-Tor k, at the
inftance of the Truflees of New-Jerfey College,
as a fit perfon to accompany the reverend Mr.
Gilbert Tennent to Great-Britain and Ireland, in
order to folicit benefadions for the faid college.
As this manifefled the high opinion which
both the Synod and Corporation entertained of
his popular talents and fuperior abilities, fo his
ready compliance to undertake that fervice, ha
zardous.

tn the Death of Mr Davies. xliii
zardous and difficult in itfelf, and precarious in
its confequences, which required him to over
look his domeftic connexions, however tender
and endearing, manifefted his refolution and
felf-denial. How well he was qualified as a
folicitor is witneffed by the numerous and large
benefadions he received. His fervices, as was
meet, were gratefully accepted by his conftitu-
ents; and to the pious, generous, and public-
fpirited charity of the friends of Religion and
Learning in Great-Britain, received on that oc
cafion, does the college of New-Jerfey, in a
great degree, owe its prefent flourifhing condi
tion. As his light fhone, his abilities to fill the
Prefident's chair in this College, then vacant,
was not doubted by the honourable board of
Truftees. He was accordingly chofen, and
earneftly invited to accept the charge of this
Society. Yet he once and again excufed him
felf, not being convinced that he was called in
duty to leave his then important province. But
repeated application at length prevailed to make
him apprehend that it was the will of God he
fhould accept the call ; yet, left he fliould mif
take in fo important a cafe, he withheld his
cxprefs confent, until the Reverend Synod of
New-Tork and Philadelphia gave their opinion in
favour of the College. This determined his
dubious mind. Lie came, and undertook the
weighty charge. And

xliv A Funeral Sermon
And what were the confequences ? had his
inceffant labours in travelling and preaching
tbe gofpel, his difadvantageous fituation, and
want of opportunity for improvement made
fome of his beft friends diffident of his capacity
and acquirements for moving with honour in
this unaccuftomed fphere ? He agreeably dif-
appointed their friendly fears, and convinced
them that ftrength of genius, joined to in-
duftrious application, had furmounted all other.
difadvantages. Had any fuch raifed expeda
tions as feemed hard to anfwer? they were
fully fatisfied : fo that from being highly ap
proved he came to be admired.
His manner of conduding the College did
honour to himfelf, and promoted its interefts.
Whatever alterations in the plans of education
he introduced were confefledly improvements on
thofe of his predeceflbrs. Had I never had other
means of intelligence, fave only my knowledge
of the man, I fhould naturally have e-xpeded
that all his public appearances would have been
conduded with fpirit, elegance, and decorum;
that his government would be mild and gentle,
tempered with wifdom and authority, and cal
culated to command reverence while it attraded
love, and that his manner of teaching would be
agreeable and ftriking.
But I propofe not thefe as mere conjedures.
The learned Tutors of the College, the part^
ners of his counfels and deliberations for its
good, and thefe young Gentlemen, once his
care

on the Death of Mr Davies. xlv
care and charge, who judged themfelves happy
under his tuition, all know more than I fhall
fpeak. You know the tendernefs and condefcenfion
with which he treated you ; the paternal care
with which he watched over you ; the reluc
tance with which he at any time inflided the
prefcribed punlfhment on a delinquent ; and
how pleafed he was to fucceed in reforming
any abufe by private and eafy methods. You
felt yourfelves voluntarily confined by the re-
ftraints of love, and obliged to fubjedion, not
from flavifh fear, but from principle and in
clination. You have yet frefh in memory his
inftrudive Ledures, and can tell with what
eafe he communicated his fentiments, and im-
prefl"ed his ideas on your minds, and the enter
taining manner in which he would reprefent
even a common thought.
But his perfuafive voice you will hear no
more. He is removed far from mortals, has
taken his aerial flight, and left us to lament, that
*' a great man is fallen in Ifrael ?" He lived
much in a little time; " he finifhed his courfe,"
performed fooner than many others his afilgned
tafk, and, in that view, might be faid to have
died mature. He fhone like a light fet in a
high place, that burns out and expires.
He went thorough every ftage of honour
and ufefulnefs, compatible to his charader as a
difl"enting Clergyman : and, while we flattered
our fond hopes of eminent fervices from him
4 for

xlvl A Funeral Sermon
for many years to come, the fatal blow was
ftruck: our pleafing profpeds are all at an end,
and he is cut down like a tree that had yielded
much fruit, and was loaden with bloffoms even
in its fall.
This difpenfation, how myfterious! how a-
ftoniftiing! nay how difcouraging does it feem!
Why was he raifed, by Divine Providence, in
the prime of life, to fo important a ftation,
and, amidft ufeful labours, whilft he was faft
increafing in ftrength adapted to his bufinefs,
quickly fiiatched away ? This is a perplexing
cafe; and the more fo that it fo focn fucceeded
the yet fhorter continuance of the venerable
Edwards. Were they fet in fo confpicuous a
point of view, only that their imitable excel
lencies might be more obfervable ? or, was
Naffau-Hall ereded by Divine Providence for
this, among other important purpofes, that it
might ferve to adorn the latter end of fome emi-
ment fervants of the living God, itfelf being ad-^
orned by them ? In this view, the fhort Pre
fidency of a Dickinfon, a Burr, an Edwards,
and a Davies, inftead of arguing the difpleafure
of the Almighty, will evidence His peculiar
favour to this inftitution; which I know was
planned, and has been carried on with the moft
pious, benevolent, and generous defigns. Thefe
defigns God's goodnefs has hitherto amazingly
profpered, amidft apparent frowns; and, if we
may infer any thing from what he has already
done, it is an encouraging expedation that he
will

t)n the Death of Mr. Davies. xlvii
will continue to blefs this Society, and make
it an honour and happinefs to this venerable
Board to have been engaged in fo noble and
fuccefsful an undertaking.
Now one more fliining orb is fet on our
World. Davies is departed, and with him all
that love, zeal, adivity, and benevolence, for
which he was remarkable. This the Church,
and this the bereaved College mourns. For
this we hang our once chearful harps, and in
dulge to plaintive ftrains. Yet we are not to
lament as thofe who are hopelefs, but rather
with humble confidence to "pray the Lord
" of the harveft," with whom is " the refidue
" of the Spirit," that he would fend forth an
other Davies to affift our labour and forward
his work-
Nor fhould the deceafe of ufeful labourefSi
the extindion of burning and fhining lights,
only fend us to the throne of grace for fupplies,
but excite us to greater diligence and adivity in
our bufinefs, as we have for the prefent the
more to do. And, inftead of being difpiritcd
by the lofs of fuch eminent affiftants, we ftiould
be animated by their example, and hope for
the fame divine aids that carried them through
all the duties and dangers of life with fafety,
fuccefs, and honour.
Finally, this difpenfation fhould lefTen our
efteem of this tranfitory diftppointing world,
and raife our affedions to Heaven, that place
and ftate of permanent bleffednefs. Thither
A afcends,

xlviii A Funeral Sermon, &cc.
afcends, as to its native home, all the goodnefs
that departs from earth : and the more of our
pious friends that go to glory, fb many more .
Secondary motives have we to excite our de
fires of •' departing and being with Christ;
" which is far better" than any ftate under the
fun : for there, in addition to fuperior felicity,
*' we fhall come to the general alfembly, and
" church of the firft-born who are written in
*' Heaven, — and to the fpirits of juft men
*' made perfed (o)." Amen.
(e) Heb. xiii. 23,

A N

N
APPENDIX.

THE following fads, drawn up by a gen^
tleman, who was Mr Daviess intimate
Friend, and lived in the fame town with him,
while he vvas Prefident of the College, were
-colleded partly from Mr Davies' s private pa
pers, and partly from the gentleman's perfonal
knowledge, and, as they illuftrate feveral things
juft hinted in the preceding difcourfe, and con
tain fome anecdotes not before mentioned, may
be properly fubjoined to the narrative already
given. The Rev. Mr. Samuel Davies, late Prefident
of the College of New-Jerfey, was born on the
3d day of November, A. D. 1724, in the coun
ty of Newcaflle on Delaware. His father was
a planter, who lived with great plainnefs and
fimplicity, and fupported the charader of an
honeft and pious man to his death; which
happened about two years ago. His mother,
who is ftill living*, and greatly diftinguifbed
Vol. I. c for
* The reader is defired to obferve that the following account
was drawn up fome years ago, fince which time I find it has
pleafed Providence to remove from our world the Mother of Mr
Daviei, who is mentioned as living by the writer of the Apfendh:.

1 APPENDIX.
for her eminent piety, fbme time before tlie con
ception of this favourite only fon, earneftly de-
fired fuch a blefling ; and as fhe then had only
borne a daughter, who was near five years old,
Ihe had fpecial oCcafion for the fcxercife of her
faith, in waiting for the divine anfwer to her
petition. In this fituation fhe took example
from the mother of the prophet Samuel, and
" Vowed a ,vovv unto the Lord; that if he
" would indeed give her a m.an-child, fhe would
" devote him to his fervice all the days of his
" life (7-)."
It may well be fuppofed that the parents re
ceived this child as from God, and that the
mother efpecially, who had reafon to look upon
him as a token of the divine favour, and an cx
prefs anfwer to her prayers, would, with the
greateft tendernefs, begin the rearing of this
beloved plant. As there was no fchcol in the
neighbourhood, ftiC herfelf taught him to read:
and, although he was then very younp-, he is
faid to have made fuch proficiency as furprifed
every perfon who heard it.
He continued at home with his parents till
he was about ten years old ; during which
time^ he appeared to have no remarkable im-
prcfiions of a religious kind; but behavin^'
himfelf as is common for a fprightly towardly
child, under the influence of pious example
and inftrudion. He was then fent to an Eng-
lifli fchool, at fome diftance from 'his father's v/here
(p) I .'^am. i. II.

APPENDIX. li
whefe he continued two years, and made great
progrefs in his learning; but, for want of the
pious inftrudion with which he was favoured at
home, he grew fomewhat more carelefs of the
things of religion.
It appears, that about this time of life, care
lefs as he was, he made a pradice of fecret
prayer, efpecially in the evening. The reafons
(as he tells it in his diary) why he was fo punc
tual in the evening was, that " he feared left
" he fhould perhaps die before morning."
What is farther obfervable in his prayers at this
time is, that " he was more ardent in his fup-
" plications for being introduced into theGofpel-
" Miniftry, than for any other thing."
[It is here prefumed that Dr Finley's Sermon,
preached on occafion of his Death, by defire of
the Truftees, contains fufficient Memorials of
his Life, from the time in which it pleafed
God more deeply to imprefs his mind with the
important realities of another world, untif he
was eleded Prefident of the College.]
It may perhaps not be amifs to mention that
when he returned home from his voyage to
Great-Britain, he entered again on his laborious
and beloved taflc of preaching the Gofpel to his
feveral Congregations ; and continued in this
work until the year 1759, v/hen he was eled
ed Prefident of the College of New-Jerfey, in
the room of the Rev. Mr Jonathan Edwards.
The College, before he came, had been in an
unhappy fituation ; partly owing to the length
c .2 of

Iii APPENDIX.
of that melancholy period between the death
of Prefident Burr, and his acceflion, and partly
to the evil difpofitions, and pradices of a few
members of the Society. Prefident Burr died
in September, i7S7- ^^^ although Mr E^u-Wj
was eleded a few days after, he did not take
upon himfelf the government of the College
till February, 1758; and about a fortnight after
took the frnall-pox, of which he died in March
following. Mr Davies was not initiated in his
office tijl the latter end of July, 1759. So that
the College lay under the obvious difadvantages
of a bereaved condition for almoft two years.
}3ut the prudent meafures taken by Prefident
Davies foon furmounted thefe difadvantages ;
fb that in a few months a fpirit of emulation
in Learning and Morality, as had been ufual,
evidently charaderized the Students of NaJJ'au-
Hall. While he continued Prefident his labours
were great, and his application to ftudy was
neceffarily more intenfe than that of his prede-.
ceffors. For he came to this feat of the Mufes,
vv^hen its learning, by the eminent abilities of
Prefident Burr, was advanced to a very confi-
dera'ole degree; and he had juft emerged from
a fea of minifterial labour in various places,
wherein a common Genius would have been
able to have made but little improvement in ac
ademical learning. Befides, the fi:ieedv paffage
he made through the courfe of his (ti\dies, pre
vious to his entering into the miniftry, made his

APPENDIX. liii
his after application the more neceffary for fo
important and elevated a fituation: He was
determined not to degrade his office, but to be
in reality what his ftation fuppofed him, and
accordingly exerted himfelf to the utmoft. The
labours of the day feemed to him rather an in
centive to ftudy than to reft in the night ; for
he commonly fat up till twelve o'clock, and
often later, although he rofe by break of day.
The fuccefs was proportionable; for by the
mighty efforts of his great genius, and by dint
of induftry, he left the College of New-Jerfey
at his death in as high a ftate of literary merit
as it ever had been in fince its firft inftitution.
It is a piece of juftice due to his memory to
remark that the few innovations he made in
the academical exercifes were certainly improve
ments upon the plans of his predeceffors.
Among other things the monthly Orations he
inftituted deferve particular notice. In order
to give his Pupils a tafte for compofition, and
to form them for public fpeaking, he direded
the members of the fenior clafs each to choofe
his' fubjed, and compofe a popular harangue
to be delivered publicly in the College-Hall be
fore the Mafters and Students, and as many of
the inhabitants of the town as chofe toattend.
When each ' had written his difcourfe he
brought it to the Prefident, who made fuch ob^-
fervatigns and corredions as he judged proper,
-and, after their difcourfes were fpoken, they fe-
verally attended him again for his remarks on
c 7 their

liv APPENDIX.
their delivery. About fix of the young Gcn-^
tlemen ufually delivered their Orations in the
afternoon of the firft Wed/iefday in every Month
to crowded audiences; and it is hard to fay,
whether the entertainment of the hearers, or
the improvement of the ftudents, was the'
greater. There is reafon to believe, that the intenfe
application with which Mr Davis attended to
the duties of his office was one great caufe of
his death. The habit of his body was, plethor
ric: and it is not to be doubted but that his
health for fome years had very much depended
upon the exercife of riding, to v/hich he was
neceffarily obliged while he lived in Vij'giiiia,
though even then he had feveral fevere fevers,
fuppofed to arife principally from his applica
tion to ftudy in the intervals of riding a-
broad. When he came to the College he
fcarcely ufed any bodily exercife, fave what was
required in going from his own houfe to Naffau-
Hall, which is a fpace about ten rods, five or
fix times a day.
In the latter end o'i January, A. D. 1761, a
bad cold feized him, and for his relief he was
bled. The fame day he tranfcribed for the
prefs the Sermon, which was foon after pub-
liflied, on the death of the late King, and the
day after preached twice in the College-Hall ;
by all which the arm, in which he w.as bled,
became much inflamed, and increafed his for
mer indifpofition. On the Mofiday morning after
at breakfaft he was feized with a violent chilly
2 fit,

APPENDIX. , Iv
fit, which was fucceeded by an Inflammatory
fever, and, in ten days brought on the period
of his important life.
Although premonitions of Death jn the pre
fent flate of the world are feldom, if ever,
given to mankind; and they who are difpofed
to interpret ordinary occurrences into fuch pre
monitions, when, by fomething fimilar in the
event thofe occurrences would feem as if pre-
didive, generally difcover their weaknets ; yet
the circumftances of the death of an eminent
perfon are commonly very acceptable to the
public, and for this reafon it may not be amils
to mention an anecdote which Mr Davies
more than once took notice of in his laft fick
nefs. An intimate Friend of his, a fevy days before
the beginning of the year in which he died,
in converfation told him that a Sermon would
be expeded from him on the new year's day ;
and, among other things, happened to men
tion that the late Prefident Burr, on the firft
day of the year wherein he died, preached a
Sermon on Jer. xxviii. i6. 'Thus faith the Lord,
This year thou floalt die ; and after his death,
the people took occafion to fay it was premo
nitory; upon which Mr Davies obferved, that
" although it ought not to be viewed in that
" light, yet it was very remarkable." When
new year's day came he preached; and the con
gregation were not a little furprized at his
taking the fame text of fcripture. Upon his
being taken with his laft ficknefs, about three
c 4 weeks

IvI APPENDIX.
weeks after, he foon adverted to this circum-
ftance, and mentioned it as remarkable t!;at he
had been undefignedly led to preach, as it
were, his own Funeral Sermon.
It is much to be lamented that the violence
of the difcrder, of which this excellent man
died, deprived him of the regular exercife of
his reafon the greater part of the time of his
ficknefs, otherwife the public would undoubt
edly have been gratified with his remarks on
tlie views of an approaching eternity, and
would have received another evidence of the
fuperior excellency and power of that Religion,
which alone can fuppoit the foul, and make
the, otherwi.^e gloomy, profped of death
chearful. For, the iffues of this decifive period
his life had been eminently calculated from his
youth. It abundantly appears, that from twelve
or fourteen years of age, he had continually
maintained the ftrideft watch over his thoughts
and adions, and daily lived under a deep fenfe
of his own unworthinefs, of the tranfcendent
excellency of the Chriftian Religion, of the
great importance of a public fpirit, and the
ncceffity of exerting it in promoting the gene
ral good. Even in his delirium his mind diiU
covered the favourite objeds of its concern, the
profperity of Christ's Church, and the good
of mankind. His bewildered brain was cout
tinually imagining, and his faultering tongue
pxpreffing fome expedient for thefe important
purpofes. Alas! for us that fo great a light
could no longer continue in this d Jk world !
5 Divine

Divine ConduB vindicated, or the Operations of
Gov> fhown to be the Operations of Wifdom : ,
In the Substance of
TWO DISCOURSES,
PREACHED AT
HABERDASHERS-HALL, London, March 29, 1761;
Occafioned by the Decease of the
Rev. SAMUEL DAVIES, .^. il^.
And Prefident of the College of Naffau-Hall
in New-Jerfey.
By r HO MAS GIBBONS, D.D.

Sive tribulemur & angullemu", five Ixtcmm, & exukemus, Deus
Jaudandus eft, qui & in Tribuiationibus erudit, & in Lsetitia
confolatur. Laus enim Dei a Corde Sc Ore Chriftiani recedere
non debet, non ut laudet in profperis, & maledicat in adver-
fts : fed quemadmodum Pfalmus ille fcribit, femper Laus
ejus in Ore meo. Gaudes, agnofce Patrem blandientem :
tribularis, agnofce Patr<em emendantem: five biandiatur, five
fepjendet, eum erudit, cui parat Hsereditatem. Augustin. in Pfal, liv.

EPHES. I. II.
-Who works all things ajter the counfel of
his own will.

^ % ^ H E laft week gave me the awful af-
1 furance of the fudden and unexpeded
-¦-" death of that moft excellent and ami
able man and minifter of Jesus Christ, the
Rev. Mr Samuel Davies, Prefident of the col
lege of Naffau-Hall in New-Jcrjcy, by a moft
moving and melting letter from a gentleman of
Philadelphia, an acquaintance of Mr Davies,
and who well knew his worth, to a conelpon-
der.t of the gentleman's here in London.
A greater lofs, all things confidered, could
not perhaps befal the church of God in the
death of a fingle perfon. The God of nature
had endowed Mr Davies with extraordinary
talents. Perhaps in fub]imity and ftrength of
geniqs there were yery few, if any, who fur-
paffed him. To the brighteff and richeft
intelleds Mr Davies had fuperadded the im
provements of fcience, and a large acquaint
ance vyith books, and pofiibly, had he lived,
there would have been fcarcely a man in our
world a more accompliftied Divine, or a
more eminent Scholar. Liis charader in life
was

Ix The operations of God fkown
was wonderfully accommodated both to his
natural and acquired abilities. He was Prefi
dent of New-Jerfey college, in the difcharge of
which office there would have been a demand
for the exertion of his amazing talents, and the
exhibition of all his treafures of literature and
knowledge. Thus as he was a ftar of the firft
magnitude, fo he was placed in a fituation
where he might have fhone without any wafte
of his diftinguifbed and fupereminent glories.
But what crowned all, or advanced his dif-
tlndion as a man and a fcholar into the higheft
value and luftre, was, that his pious charader
appeared not at all inferior to his great intel
leds, and acquired accomplifhments. Nay,
(let me not be thought, for I intirrrately knew
him, to exceed the limits of truth in the ardor
of my friendfhip) his pious charader as much
furpaffed all elfe that was remarkable in him,
as the fparkling eye in the countenance of a
great genius does all the other features of the
face. If Mr Davies's good fenfe and learning
were the piBures offilver, his graces and virtues
were the apples of gold (a).
Here let me ftay a while; and, though I fhall
only give you a few outlines of his piety and
amiable difpofition, yet let me be allowed to
prefent you with fuch a view of him as fhall
not only be fufficient to demonftrate him to be
the beft of men and minifters, but as fhall
leave room for you to conclude that ^reat ad
ditions'
{a) Prov. XXV. ii.

to he the Operations of Wifdom. Ixi
ditions might be made to his charader by per
fons who had a longer acquaintance with him
than myfelf, and the colleded teftimonies of
the friends who were favoured with his inti
mate correfpondence.
He informed me in one of his letters, for I
was honoured with a clofe intimacy with him
feveral years, " That he was blefled with a mo-
" ther whom he might account, without filial
" vanity or partiality, one of the moft eminent
*•' faints he ever knew upon earth. And here,
*' fays he, I cannot but mention to my friend
" an anecdote known but to few, that is, that
*' I am a fon of prayer, like my name-fake
" Samuel the prophet; and my mother called
" me Samuel becaufe, fhe faid, I have afked him
" of the Lord, i Sam. i. 20. This early dedi-
" cation to God has always been a ftrong in-
" ducement to me to, devote myfelf to Him by
•' my own perfonal ad ; and the mofl irapor-
" tant bleflSngs of my life I have looked upon
^' as immediate anfwers to the prayers of a pi-
*' ous mother. But, alas ! what a "degenerate
" plant am 1 1 How unworthy of fuch a parent,
" and fuch a birth ! "
From the accounts Mr Davies gave of himfelf
in the converfation that paffed hetvv^een us when
he was here in Engla?id, .\ learnt, as the infe
rence from related' fad, that he muft have,, been
very affiduous in his ftudies. When he was
about entering the miniffry, or had not long
entered upon it, if I remember right, he was
judged

Ixii The Operations of GoV) fJjoisJn
judged to be in a deep and irrecoverable eon"
fumption. Finding himfelf upon the border^
of the grave, and without any hopes of recovery,
he determined to fpend the little remains of an
almoft exhaufted life, as he apprehended it, in
endeavouring to advance his mafter's glory in the
good of fouls. Accordingly he removed from
the place where he was to another about an hun
dred miles .diftance, that was then in want of
a minifter. Here he laboured in feafon and
out of feafon ; and, as he told mCj preached
in the day, and had his hedic fever by nighty
and that to fuch a degree as to be fometimes
delirious, and to ftand in need of perfons to fit
up with him. Here God gave him fome glo--
rious firft-fruits of his miniftry, for two in-
ftances of the converfion of two gentlemen he
related to me were very remarkable; and he
had the Satibfadion, as he informed me, to
find in the after-accounts of them, that there
was good reafon to believe that they were faints
indeed : their goodnefs' being by no means " like
" thegrafs upon the houfe-tops, which withers
" afore it grows up, and with which the mow-
" er filleth not his hand [b)," but yielding the
fruits meet for repentance in an holy and well-
ordered converfation.
Afterwards he fettled in Virgiiiia, a colony
where profanenefs and immorality called aloud
for his facred labours. His patience and per-
.feverance, his magnanimity and piety, together with
(^¦; Pfal, c-'£,vi.'{, i, J,

¦ to be the Operations of Wifdom. Ixiii
with his powerful and evangelical miniftra
tions, were not without fucceft. The wilder-
nefs and the folitary places, in the courfe of his
il:ay there, bloomed and bloffomed before him.
His trad of preaching, if I remember right,
for fome time was not lefs than fixty miles, and
by what I have learnt, though not from him
felf, he had but little of this world's goods to
repay his zealous and indefatigable labours ; but
his reward, as he well knew, was in Heaven;
and he feit, I doubt not, the animated joy that
every negro-flave, which under his miniftra
tions became the Lord's freeman, would fur-
nifh an additional jewel to his eternal crown.
Upon the deceafe of that excellent man the
Rev. Mr Jonathan Edvoards, Prefident of the
college of Naffau-Hall in New-Jerjey, Mr Da
vies writes mc word, that M.X Lockwood in New-
England, a gentleman of worthy charader, was
chofen to fill up the vacancy. " I have not yet
" heard, fays Mr Davies, whether he has ac-
" cepted the place. The Truftees were divided
" between him, another gentleman, and myfelf,
" but I happily efcaped." But fo it was ordered,
by Mr Lockwood' s not accepting the invitation,
that Mr Davies was afterwards eleded Prefident
of the college; and what concern, and indeed
what confternation this choice gave him, his
letters to me amply teftify; and L could parti
cularly relate to you what views he had of
things, and what fteps he took to detefmine^
wh.it was his duty. At laft he accepted thfj,
ca,

Ixiv • The Operations of God fljoiiDn
call to his important office of prefiding in the
college ; and tells me in a letter, dated June 6,
1759, " That the evidence of his duty was fo
" plain, that even his fceptical mind was fatis-
" fied; and that his people iaw the hand of
" providence in it, and dared not to oppofe."
Here he was fetded for about eighteen
months ; and as he could exercife his miniftry
as well as prefide over the college, great things
might have been expeded from that rare and
remarkable union there was in him of what
v/as great and good ; and with pleafure I have
received the information from his friends how
well he fupported and adorned his charader,
and what high expedations were formed as to
the benefit and blefling he was likely to prove
to that feminary of religion and learning. •' His
" whole foul, fays the letter that gives the news
*' of his death, was engaged for the good of
" the youth under his care." And again,
" Naffau-Hall in tears, difconfolate, and refuf-
" ing to be comforted."
But, alas ! in the midft of his days, (litde
more than thirty-fix years of age) h^was called
away from this but opening fcene di large and
extraordinary ufefulnefs to the invifible world,
the world of glory and bleffednefs, never to fo-
journ in mortal clay, or to irradiate and blefs
the church militant more. He is dead, he is
departed — America in groans proclaims her
inexpreflible lofs, and we in Great-Britain
fhare the djftrefs, and echo groan for groan. Thus

to be the Operations of Wifdom. Ixv
Thus ended the days on earth of this truly
great and good man ; having in his little circle
of hfe fhed more beams, and done more fer
vice than many a languid and lefs illuminated
foul, even in a public fphere, in the revolution
of fixty or fourfbore years.
Truly great and good I may ftile him with
out the fufpicion of flattery, and without the
flight of hyperbole. Let me call to your re
membrance, as proofs of what I fay, the. ex
cellent difcourfes he has delivered in this pulpit,
and the feveral Sermons of his which have been
publifhed, ftrong in manly ienie, loaden with
full ideas, rich with evangelical truth, and. ani
mated with the moft facred fervor for the good
of fouls. And to thefe evidences of the admira^
bie fpirit that dwelt in him, let me add a few
paragraphs from the many letters with which,
in the courfe of about nine years correfpondence,
he has favoured me.
Speaking in one of his letters concerning his
children, be fays ; " I am folicitous for them
" when I confider what a contagious world
*' they have entered into, and the innate infec-
" tion of their natures. There is nothing that
" can wound a parent's heart fo deep, as the
" thought that he fhould bring up children to
" difhonour his God here, and be miferable
" hereafter. I beg your*prayers for mine, and
" you may exped a 4:etaliation in the fame
'* kind."
Vol. L d In

Ixvi The Operations of Gov fjown
In another letter he favs, " We have now
" three fons and two daughters; whofe young
" minds as they open I am endeavouring to
" cultivate with my own hand, unwilling to
" truft them to a ftranger ; and I find the hu-
*' finefs of education much more difficult than
" I expeded. — My dear little creatures fob and
" drop a tear now and then under my inftruc-
" tions, but I am not fo happy as to fee them
" under deep and lafting impreflions pf reji-
" gion ; and this is the greateft grief they af-
" ford me. Grace cannot be communicated
" by natural defcent, and, if it could, they would
" receive but little from me. I earneffly beg
" your prayers for them." .
In another letter; " I defire ferioufly to de-
" vote to God and my dear country all the la-
" hours of my head, my heart, my hand, and
" pen; and if he pleafes to blefs any of them I
" hope I fhall be thankful, and wonder at his
" condcfcending grace. — Oh ! my dear brother,
" could we fpend and be fpent all our lives in
" painful, difintercfted, indefatigable fervice
" for God and the world, ,how ferene and
" bright would it render the fwift approach-
" ing eve of life ! I arn labouring to do a little
" to fave my country, and, which is of much
" rnore confequence, to fave fouls — thofe pre-
" cious, immortal things, fouls — from death
" — from that tremendous kind of death, which
" a Joul can die. I have but little fuccefs of late,
?' bii't bleffed be God, it furpaffes my expeda-
2 " tio.i.

to be the Operations of Wifdom. Ixvii
" tion, and much more my defert. Some of
" my brethren labour to better purpofe. The
" pleafure of the Lord prcfccrs in their hands."
Another epillle tells me, " As for myfelf, I
" am juft ftriving not to live in vain. I enter-
" ed the miniftrv with fuch a knk of my un-
" fitnefs for it, that I had no fanguine expeda-
" tions of fuccefs. And a condcfcending God
" (O, how condcfcending ! ) has made me much
" more ferviceable than I could hope. But,
" alas! my brother, I have but little, very lit-
" tie true religion. My advancements in holi-
" nefs are extremely fmall: I feel what I con-
" fefs, and am fure it is true, and not the rant
" of excelfive or affeded humility. It is an
" eafy thing to make a noife in the world, to
" flourifli and harangue, to dazzle the crowd, and
"fet them all agape, but deeply to imbibe the
" fpirit of chriftiknity, to maintain a fecret
" walk with God, to be holy as he is holy,
" this is the labour, this the v/ork. I beg the
" affiftance of your prayers in fb grand and
" important an enterprize. — The difficulty of
" the minifterial work feems to grow upon my
" hands. Perhaps once in three or four months
" I preach in fome msafure as I could wifh;
" that is, I preach as in the fight of God, and
" as if I were to ftep from the pulpit to the fu-
" preme tribunal. I feel my fubjed. I melt
" into tears, or I fhudder with horror, when I
*' denounce the terrors of the Lord. I glow,
*' I foar in facred extafies, when the love of
d 2 " Jesus

Ixviii The Operations ofGovJhown
" Jesus is my theme, and, as Mr Baxter was
" wont to exprefs it, in lines more ftriking to me
'' than all the fine poetry in the world,
" I preach as if I ne' er f Mild preach again ;
" And as a dying man to dying men,
*' But, alas ! my fpirits foon flag, my devotions
" languifti, and my zeal cools. It is really an
" affiidive thought that I ferve fo good a
«' Mafter with fo much inconftancy ; but fo it
" is, and my foul mourns upon that account."
In another letter he fays, " I am labouring
" to do a little good in the world. But, alas \
" I find I am of little ufe or importance. I
" have many defcdfs, but none gives me fo
" much pain and mortification as my flow pro-
" grefs in perfonal holinefs. This is the grand
" qualification of the office we fuftain, as well
" as for tiiat heaven we hope for, and I am
" fhockcd at myfelf when I fee how little I
" have of it."
In another of his letters he acquaints me,
*' That he indeed feels an union of hearts
" which cannot bear without pain the inter-
" vention of the huge Atlantic, nor even the
" abfence of a week. But our condcfcending
*' Lord, adds he, calls his minifters Stars, and
" he knows beft in what part of the firmament
" of the church to fix them: and (O the de-
*' lightftd thought!) they can never be out of
" the reach of his beams, though they fhine in
" different hemifpheres with regard to each
" other.

to be the Opera, ions ofWifdotn. Ixix
" other. This leads me, undefignedly, to *
" criticifm on Jude 13, on which perhaps an
" aftronomer would be the beft commentator.
*' A<j-g^gs TrXocvYircu, oh 0 ^o(p(^ tb axoTui eh tov
" aiwva rel^prilau. Wandering ftars, to whom is
*' referved, the blacknefs ofdarknefs for ever. Per-
" haps an aftronomical critic would obferve that
" falfe teachers are reprefented as planetary or
" wandering ftars, that in their eccentricities run
" out into aneternaly^^^//o« from the fun of righ-
" teoufnefs, beyond thefyftem which he warms,
" illuminates, and beatifies, and are conftandy
*' receding from the fountain of light, life, and
" blifs, and therefore muft wander through the
" blacknefs of darknefs for ever ; a darknefs
" unpierced by one ray from the great fun and
" center of the moral world — blacbiefs oi dark-
" nefs, an abftrad predicated of an abftrad.
" How gloomy and ftrong the expreffion ! "
Let me give you another quotation from his
letters. " I am very rriuch pleafed and affed-
" ed, fays he, with the fubjed of this week's
" ftudy, and next Lord's day's entertainment,
" namely, A bruifed reedjhall he not break, and
" the fmoking flax flsall he not quench. Such a
" bruifed reid at befl am I : a weak, oppreffed,
" ufelefs thing: ^flridcizsjlipulaih^t can make'
" no agreeable melody to entertain ray great
" Shepherd, Y et this bruifed reed \ have reafon
" to hope he will not break, but bind up and
" fupport. This fhattered pipe of ftraw he will
" not caft away, but repair and tune to join in
d 3 " the

Ixx Ihe Operations of Gon fnovon
" the angelic concert on high. I am at beft
" hut fmoking flax ; a dying fnuffin the candle-
" ftick of his church; a wick juft put out in
" the lamp of his fanduary. The flame of
" divine love, funk deep into the focket of a
" corrupt heart, quivers, and breaks, and catch-
" es, and feems juft expiring at times. The
" devil and the world rail'e many ftorms to
" blow upon it. And yet this fmoking flax,
" where the leaft fpark of that facred paffion
" ftill remains which renders it more fufceptive
" of his love, as a candle juft put out but ftill
"fmoking, is eafily rekindled. — This fmoking
"flax he will not quench, but blow it to a
" flame, which fhall fliine brighter and bright-
•' er till it mingle with its kindred flames in the
" pure element of love." t
I fhall conclude my extrads from his eplfto^
lary correfpondence with a part of a letter dated
Hanover, September 12, ij SJ-
" My ever dear Friend,
" I am juft beginning to creep back from
" the valley of the fhadow of death, to which
*' I made a very near approach a few days ago.
*' I was feized with a moft violent fever, which
" came to a crifis in a week, and now it is
*' much abated, though I am ftill confined to
" my chamber. In this fhattered ftate my trem-
" bling hand can write but little to you, and
" what I write will be languid and confufed,
i" like its author. But as the Virgim'a-^eet is
" about

to be the Operations of IVifdom. \x\\
' about to fail, and I know not when I fliall
' have another oppoitunitv, I cannot avoid
' wridng fomething. I v/ould fit down on the
' grave's mouth, and talk a while with my ia-
' vourite friend ; and from my fituation you
' may forefee what fubjeds my converfation
' will turn upon — Death — Eternity — the fu
preme Tribunal.
" Bleffed be my Mafter's name, this difordcr
' found me employed in his fervice. It feized
' me in the pulpit, like a foldier wounded in
' the field. This has been a bufy fummer
' with me. In about two months I rode
' about five hundred miles, and preached about
' forty Sermons. This affords me fome plea-
' fure in the review. But, alas ! the mixture
' of fin and of many namelefs imperfedions
' that run through and corrupt all my fervices,
' give me fhame, forrow, and mortification.
' My fever made unufual ravages upon my
' underftanding, and rendered me frequently
' dehrious, and always ftupid. But, when I
' had any little fenfe of things, I generally felt
' pretty calm and ferene, and death, that
' mighty terror, was difarmed. Indeed the
' thought of leaving my dear family deftitute,
' and my flock fhepherdlefs, made me often
' ftart back and chng to hfe; but in other
' refpeds death appeared a kind of indiffer-
' ency to me. Formerly I have vvifhed to live
- longer that I inight be better prepared for*-
' Heaven, but this confideration. had but very
d 4 " little

txii The Operations of God fhown
little weight with me, and that for a very
unufual reafon, which was this. After long
trial I found this world is a place fo unfriend
ly to the growth of every thing Divine and
Heavenly, that I was afraid, if I fhould live
longer, I fhould be no better fitted for Hea
ven than I am. Indeed I have hardly any
hopes of ever making any great attainments
in holinefs while in this world, though I
fliould be doomed to ftay in it as. long as Me-
thufelah. I fee other chriftians indeed around
me make fome progrefs, though they go on
with but a fnail-like motion : but when I
confider that I fet out about twelve years old,
and what fanguine hopes I then had of my
future progrefs, and yet that I have been al
moft at a ftand ever fince, I arn quite difcourag-
ed. — O my good Mafter, if I may dare to
call thee fo, I am afraid I fhall never ferve thee
much better on this fide the region of perfec
tion. The thought grieves m.e : it b-eaks n^
heart, but I can hardly hope better. But if I
have the leaft fpark of true piety in my breaft
1 fhall not always labour under this complaint.
No, my Lord, I fhall yet ferve thee — ferve
thee through an immortal duration — with
the adivity, the fervour, the perfedion of
the rapt feraph that adores and burns. I very
much fufped this defponding view of the
matter is wrong, and I do not mention it
with approbation, but only relate it as an
unufual reafon for my willingnefs to die,
" which

t6 be the Operations of Wifdom. Ixxiii'
"" which I never felt before, and v?hich I could^
" not fupprefs.
" In my ficknefs I found the unfpeakable im-
" portance of a Mediator in a religion for fin-
" ners. O ! I could have given you the word
" of a dying man for it, that that Jesus whom
" you preach is indeed a neceffary, and an all-
" fufficient Saviour. Indeed he is the only
" fupport for a departing foul. None but
" Christ, none but Christ. Had I as many
" good works as Abraham or Paul, I would
" not have dared to build my hopes upon fuch
" a quickfand, but only on this firm eternal
•' rock. " I am rifing up, my brother, with a defire
" to recommend him better to my fellow fin-
" ners, than I have done. But, alas ! I hardly
" hope to accomplifh it. He has done a
" great deal more by me already than ever I
" expeded, and infinitely more than I deferved.
" But he never intended me for great things.
" He has beings both of my own and of fuperior
'* orders that can perform him more worthy fer-
*' vice. O I if I might but unty the latchet
" of his fhoes, or draw water for the fervice
" of his fanduary, it is enough for me. I am
" no angel, nor would I murmur becaufe I am
*' not 
" My ftrength fails me, and I muft give over
" —-pray for me — write to me— -love me living
" and

Ixxiv The Operations of God flio^vn
«' and dying, on earth, and in Heaven — and
*' hope the fame from. Dear Sir,
Tour heart-united Friend
and Servant *.
Judge you from thefe paffages, written in the
freedom of friendfhip, and to one to whom he
jfcrupled not to lay open the fecrets of his bofom,
what a lofs the church has fuftained, and how
much our world is impoverifhed by the death
of dear Mr Davies, in the vigour of bis days,
and in the meridian of his ufefulnefs.
With how much juftice may we apply to '
him, with a little alteration, an epitaph which
he compofed for a moft beloved friend of his,
and an eminent chriftian {z) !
*' The colours of expreffion are too faint,
" Let thought defcribe what thought alone can
paint :
" Think what the chriflian, preacher, friehd.
fliould be,
*' You've then his charader: for fuch v>as He.
Such
* If there (hould be fome palTages in this letter that may do fo
much honour to the Editor as might have induced him in pru
dence to have fuppreffed them, he frankly acknowledges in the
words he made ufe of in a marginal Note to the Dedication of a
Sermon which Mr Daijies infcribed to him, (The 'vej/ih nfMency,
and the 'uejfels of Wrath, printed in London, 1758) " that he is
''unwilling to deny himfelf the pleafure of its being known,
•« wherever thefe Sermons may be read, that he was honoured
" with MrZ)flWfj's intimate friendfhip."
(z) Captain Grant of Philadelphia.

to be the Operations of Wifdom. Ixxv
Such a blow, fuch an uncommon and dif-
trefling blow has been given in the death of
Mr Davies. And now what fliall we do? to
what fhall we recur, or to what quarter ftiall
we look tor help under fuch an awful provi
dence ? My advice is, that we fhould ferioufly
and attentively turn our minds to the paffage
of facred writ which I mentioned at the begin
ning of my Difcourfe.
Wko (that is, God) works alf things after the
counfel of his own will.
Without enquiring into the context, the
words may be regarded as a diftind propofi
tion. He, that is, God, works. He works, or
he works with energy and irrefiftible povv^er,
in fuch a manner as none befides Him either
has ability or right to work. He works like
himfelf, he works with the omnipotence that
belongs to Him, and which is his effential and
diftinguiflii.ng attribute*. Farther, not only
does God work, but he works all things, all
things done by Him in Heaven and earth, in
all the provinces of his vaft empire, all things
in nature, providence, and grace, all things in
* That the word ('Ecsp^hr']©-) here tta.n^&lti.'who'worki, con
tains in it that forcible meaning which I have here afcribed to
it, we may learn from what the critics have faid upon it. " Hac
" voce fignificatur aflio conjunfta cum efficacia, & quidem fum-
" ma, quseprohiberi nullomodo poiTit. LXX utuntur, 7/a/. xli 4.''
Leiohius in verb. " At Graeca vox magis fonat, ejuscujus 'vi i^
" fvirtutejiunt omnia, h. e. omnia agentis ac moderantis." Eras
mus in loc. Could we admit of fuch an Englilh word, the ori
ginal might be rendered who energizes all things, is'c.

Ixxvl The operations of God fhown
in time, and all things in eternity. And He
works all things after the counfel of his own
will, that is, as He pleafes. His Vv'ill is the
fource of bis adion. He gives an account of
his matters to none. None in the army of
Heaven, or among the inhabitants of the earth
have any authority to fay unto Him, What doft
Thou? He depends upon none, but all, all
worlds and beings depend upon Him, and
therefore none are to prefiime to didate to
Him, or dired Him what is or what is not to
be done by Hitn. But obferve, that though
He works, and v/orks all things, and all this
as He pleafes, yet it is after the counfel of bis
own will. We are to confider God indeed as
a great fovereign, as Lord of all, higher, than
the higheft, fupreme and unrivalled in perfec
tion and glory, who is not to be called to the
tribunal of his creatures, or tO' be queflioiied
by them, as tb vyhat He pleafes to perf6rm>.
"We are not to fnatch the fceptre or the balan(ie
from his hand^. But yet this we may be affur-
ed of, that whatever God does is done not
from a kind of blind though ornnipotent ne
cefilty, or done in a kind of random, or by an
unguided or unmeaning exertion of power;
but that he works all things after the counfel,
the deflgn, or wijdom of his own Will *. Sur vey
* The word [fiaat^n] here tranflated counfel may, according to
the learned S/ef^f»j in his ^hefaiirus Gnscie Linguts, be rendered a
ilecrei or refolution, a coarftl'QX advice, whether good or bad, or a
con~

to he the Operations of Wifdom. Ixxvil
vey the great Jehovah as he is indeed in his
own nature, and in the revelation he has made
of himfelf. If He is fovereign, and accounta
ble to none, yet He is wife, and infinitely wife.
We are not to view God pardally, but as far
we can compleatly, as the fountain of all
perfedion ; as containing in his nature an har
mony of aft that is excellent and glorious. He
has a right to do, and He can do whatfbever
He pleafes in all his wide-extended dominions,
yet what He pleafes is always worthy of him
felf. He is the aggregate, the fyftem of ex
cellence, and one attribute never difplays itfelf
to the diminution or eclipfe of another. As He is
^onfultation or deliberation. If we uifflerftand the word here of
decree or ref lution as applied to Gqd, we are certain that fuch a
decree or refolution in Deity had its birth in wifdom, or in no way
<lerogatory to it. If we interpret thp word of counfel or admce^
who fees not that wjfdoin is. taken into the account ? it is the coun-^
fel, it is the ^^wV* of the Gopofqiierring wifdom. But if we take
the word, and what forbids that we (hould not fo tranflate it ? as
denoting confultation or deliberation, then we are led in the ftrong-
eft manner to conclude that the will of God proceeds upon wif
dom. Not that there is properly or ftriftly any fuch thing as cow
fultation or deliberation in the divine mind j but we may hereby
conceive, fpeaking of Gop after the ipgnner of men, that God,
when he wills, wills in fuch a wife manner, and upon fuch wor
thy reafons, as if he had firft cqnfulted and deliberated with him
felf what was proper to be done. Libere quidem, quia ex volun-
tate, fed tamen etiam fapienter & jude quia ex con&lio voluntatis..
Zanch. " But becaufe, fays the grea^ Wow^, he orders all things
" according to the counfel of his will, we muft conceive fome
" weighty reafon did induce hereto." Howe's Redeemer^! Domi-
¦r.ion over she invifble ivorld, p. 72. Folia Edition, Vol. IF.

Ixxvili The Operations 6f Got) fl^owit
is the greateft, fo He is the beft of beings.
Wifdom dwells eternally and effentially in the
divine Will, and who poffeffed of fb much rea
fon as its unoriginated and indefedible fource ?
Though none can limit God, yet He, with reve
rence be it fpoken, limits himfelf, limits himfelf
by the rule which infinite wifdom prefcribes to
infinite power. Hear the accounts fcripture gives
of Him. He is the rack, his works are perfeSl,
for all his ways are judgment ; a God of truth,
and without iniquity, jufl and right is he (a). He
is wife in heart, as well as mighty in firejtgth (b).
His judgments are a great deep (c), but they are
judgments, the children of wifdom and coun
fel ftill. If clouds and darknefs are round about
him, yet right eouftiefs and judgment are the habita-
tio7t of his throne (d). His works are truth, arid
his ways judgment (e). The Almighty will not
pervert judgment (f). His ways are equal (g),
direded by the ftraight unerring line of infinite
wifdom. Be this then an eftablifhed truth with
us, that, whatever perplexity and darknefs
may encompafs the divine proceedings, there
is nothing which God does, that God who
works all things after the counfel of his own Will,
but what is juft and right and good, and that
his every adion is no other than the birth of
confummate counfel, or that the plan of wif

dom

{a) Deut. xxxii. 4. {b) Job ix. 4.
(0 Pfal. xxxvi. 6. {d) Pfal. xcvii. 2.
(f) Dan. iv. 37. (/) Job xxxiv. 12.
ig) Ezek. xviii. 2:.

to be the Operations (f Wifdom. Ixxix
dom Is laid as the foui^.'idClon of all his govern
ment. And particularly in fuch an event as
we are now confidering, the removal of fuch
an excellent and worthy perfon as Mr Dalies
from our world, in the prime of life, and at
fuch a juncture as this, when there are fo few
furviving perfons of fuch ability and charader,
we are to believe and own that, as the blow was
unqueftionably given by God, it was perfedly
right, and that not the leaft fhadow or fufpicion
of blame or wrong is ty be afcribed to the moft
high, moft holy, mofl: wife, moft faithful, and
moft merciful God. And even though we could
not difcern one reafon, one end of wifdom or
goodnefs anfwered by fuch an awful providence
we are now confidering, yet .ftill we are not to
doubt but that the All-wife as well as Almighty
God has proceeded upon motives, though ab-
folutely impenetrable by us, worthy of himfelf;
that he dwells in the thickeft darknefs, al^d
that the glories of his perfedions are inthroned
at the center, though not a ray of them pene
trates and breaks through the external veil.
But perhaps upon a careful and fteady furvey
of this moft afftidive providence we may attain
to fjme difcovery of the purpofes or counfels of
Deity in the deceafe of fuch an excellent perfon
as IVIr Davies in the prime of his days, and in
the very height of his ufefulnefs. And, though
vi^e are not to call the Lord of all to our tri
bunal, yet perhaps we may not venture beyond
our line, or deviate frum the path of duty, nay we

Ixxx The Operations of God fljown
we may on the other hand be glorifying GoD,
as well as compofing and comfordng ourfelves,
if, with profound humility and reverence, we
make the enquiry. Wherefore it is that GoD,
who works all things after the counfel of his own
Will, is pleafed to call away by death the ex
cellent of the earth in the vigour of life, and
in the n>eridian of their fervices for the glory of
GoD, and the good of his Church? Thefe hard
myfteries may not upon a diligent refearch be
altogether inexplicable, and thefe dark paffages
of providence upon a clofe furvey may appear
illuminated with evident and illuftrious beams
of wifdom and love. Accordingly I fhall en
deavour, I truft with a decency becoming a
poor imperfed creature examining into the
ways of the moft high and glorious God, to re-
Iblve this problem of providence, " Why the
" excellent of the earth fhould be taken away
" in the flower or prime of their age, and
" from the moft enlarged fpheres of ufefulnefs,
" or what inftrudions and improvement we
" may gather from fuch feemingly unkind and
*' undefirable difpenfations?" If Job {zid. to
his God, and we do not find he was blamed
for it, " Shew me wherefore thou contendeft
" with me {h) ? If we are to hear the rod, and
•' that God, who has appointed it (/) ? And if
" in the day of adverfity we are to confider {k),"
certainly we are fo far from wandering out of
the
(*) job X. 2. (,•) Micah vi. g.
(k) Eccl. vii. 14.

to be the Operations of Wifdom. Ixxxi
the path of duty, that we are on the contrary
found in it, when, with a due deference to
Deity, we not only acknowledge his righteouf
nefs, " but talk Vv'ith him concCTning his judg-
" ments (/)." And,
(i.) In the removal of the excellent of the
earth in the flower or prime of their days, and
in the height of their ufefulnefs, we may be
taught the wonderful Majefly and independent
glories of the great God over all bleffed for
evermore. " God will have it known, fays
" the venerable Mr. Howe on an occafion not
" unlike that which has given rife to our dif-
" courfe*, that though he ufes inftruments,
" he needs them not. It is a piece of divine
" royalty and magnificences that when he hath
" prepared and polifhed fuch an utenfil, io
" as to be capable of great fervice, he can lay,
" it by without lofs." God can maintain and
carry on his own caufe, and anfwer his coun
fels, without the interpofition of his creatures,
or, if he pleafes, he may employ only meaner
inftruments, and may call home from the
vineyard the ableft and beft of his fervants, to
fhew his Church he can accomplifh his pleafure
without them.
(2.) God may cut off the excellent of the
earth in the flower or prime of their days, and
in the height of their ufefulnefs, to endear and
Vol. I. e mag-
(l) Jer. xii. I.
* B.:>'we\ Redeemer's Dominion over the Invifible World, on
the Death of J jk-i Eighton, Efqj

Ixxxii 7he Operations of God fl.o'Wn
magnify his power and grace in unexpededly
raifing up others amidft the defponding fears
and forrovvs of his people. When God takes
away the excellent of the earth, fuch as were
moft eminently formed for fervice, in the midft
of their days, the Church of God, the friends
q{ Zion, are apt to fink into great anxiety and
diftrefs, and to fay with Zion of old, " The
" Lord has forfaken me, and my God hath
" forgotten me (m) ;" or with Jacob, " All thefe
" things are againft me (n)." Novv at the very
jundure when the people of God are thus de
jeded, when their hearts are trembling for the
Ark of the Lord, for God then to arife and to
make the time of his Church's extremity the
time of his mercy in raifing up others, and
pouring out his Spirit upon them in a plentiful
effufion of gifts and graces, how does he here
by moft wonderfully illuftrate his power and
love? His light, his favour towards Zfon ap
pears as it were with a double brightnefs, thus
breaking out from amidft a night of thick
darknefs ; and the people of God with a moft
lively and powerful fenfe of the divine goodnefs,
acknowledge that God has done great things
for them which they looked not for, and that
nothing but his own arm, and his own love,
cculd have helped them in fuch a diftreffing fea
fon. Hereby God is more eminently feen, and
glorified, and the work appears to be the
Lord's, and is wonderful in his people's eyes.
(3.) God
(mj Ifa. xlix. 14. (n) Gen. xlii. 36.

to be the Operations of Wifdom. Ixxxlii
(3.) God may take aWay the excellent of the
earth in the flower or prime of their days, and
in the meridian of their ufefulnefs, to fliew us
more powerfully and affedingly the vanity of
the prefent ftate. God fhews us the vanity of
the prefent ftate when he takes away perfons
in old age, when they have reached their three-
fcore years and ten, or fourfcore years, for by
fuch inftances we are taught whai: a mere
hands-breadth of being this life is, even in its
utmoft extent, and how foon our exiftence in
this world will be terminated, even though it
is protraded to its fartheft limit. But when
death, ufurping, ^ as it were, by violence the
fickle from the delaying hands of time, cuts
off perfons in the bloom or in the prime of
life, then is the vanity of the prefent ftate
preached to us in the moft ftriking, affeding
manner. And if with the bloom of youth or
prime of manhood great intelledual abilities
and fuperior acquired accomplifhments, diftin
guifbed piety and moft enlarged ufefulnefs are
cut off, then, in the moft folemn awful accents,
is the vanity of the prefent ftate proclaimed to
us, and our ears receive the leffon, not in foft
whifpers, not in a common voice, but in peals
of thunder. Then we hear the cry founding,
as it were, in an overwhelming and irrefiftible
energy, " All flefh is grafs, and all the goodli-
" nefs thereof is as the flower of the field: the
" grafs withers, the flower fades, becaufe the
6 2 " Spirit

Ixxxiv Ihe Operations of God flxis)n
" Spirit of the Lord blows upon it (o)." I fee
a man in the vigour and ftrength of conftitu-
tion, a man ennobled beyond the common
multitude by a bright and lively imagination,
by a clear and piercing judgment, by a manly
and commanding eloquence: I fee a man fu
perior to his fellow-chriftians and his fellow-
minifters, by a moft fublime, fteady, rational,
and uniform piety, and by an unextinguifh-
able zeal, and unwearied labour for the glory
of God and the gcod of fouls; this man,
thus richly furnifhed and qualified, is taken
away by a fudden ftroke, or after a few
days illnefs, and an end, an utter end is
put to all his luflre and benefit in our world:
What inference refults from all this, but
that all is vanity here below ? If the beft we
meet with on earth is thus fugitive and uncer
tain, if it may fo foon be gone, for ever gone
from us, then " verily every man at his beft
" eftate," and the beft of men too, " are alto*
" gedier vanity (p)." The pearls and jewels of
our world may be as foon taken from it as the
dirt and drofs. Thefe is mortality, there is
death in my choiceft enjoyments. I fee that
tbe tall cedar may be cut down as well as the
humble plant. Stars of the firft magnitude,
as well as the fmaller orbs, may quit the fkies,
and vanifl:i from my fight. Death makes no
diftindion between good and bad, between the
greateft and meaneft, the beft and worft. Now
he ftrikes his dart at the poor peafant, and now he
(o) Ifa, xl. 6, 7. (p) Pfal. xxxix. 5.

to be the Operations of Wifdom. Jxxxv
he lanches it at the monarch on his throne.
Now his fliaft fmites the chriftian in his pri
vate walks of life, and now his unerrinG: ftroke
lays the eminent genius, fcholar, and minifter
in the duft. " All things," in this fenfe, " come
" alike to all {f)!' And is this the cafe, do the
floods of death alike overwhelm the ftately and
richly freighted fliip, as the fmall bark or boat,
then why fhould 1 doat upon the creature ? If
I build my fond expedations of peace and com
fort upon the beft of men, I build upon the
fand. My deareft friendships, aiid richeft joys
on earth may be dafhed in pieces in an ha(^
in a moment. All on earth is fliado'tv, ai^i
when I look even to the very beft it can afford,
I fee the fame vanity and frailty there, which
are common to lower and meaner things.
(4.) God may cut off the excellent of the
earth in the flower or prime of their days, and
in the height of their ufefulnefs, to bring our
hearts into a nearer and more intimate depen
dence upon himfelf. How pleafed are we apt
to be with our enjoyments here below, and
efpecially with our pious friendfhips and con
nexions? And it may be that we are in fuch
cafes the lefs aware of danger, and the lefs up
on our guard as to excef's, as we are certain
that it is no way finful, but on the other hand
acceptable in the fight of God, to value the ex
cellent of the earth, and to be delighted with
their converfe and company. But even here
e 3 we
(ci) Eccl. ix. 2.

Ixxxvi The Operations of God fljown
we may exceed, and by an inordinate regard to
only creatures and inftruments we may be led
aftray from our God, or may not fo much
confider, adore, and enjoy Him in them as we
ought. The creature, the inftrument therefore
of which we were too fond, and on which we
relied too much, may be removed from us in
order to prevent that facrilege of our beft affec
tions, or that unwarrantable withdrawment of
a great part of them from Heaven, which we
were before too apt to indulge. God has a
right to our entire hearts, and, unlefs we look
to him, and own him in all our beft enjoy
ments, we may provoke him to remove them
from us, and this he may do that he may bring
us into more intimate union with himfelf, and
dependence upon him, that the creature may
be fhewn to be nothing better than a creature,
and that he may be honoured and acknow
ledged as all in all. Peter, upon the mount of
transfiguration, fays, that it " was good for
^' them to be there, and was for making three
*' tabernacles, one for his Lord, one for Mofes,
" and one for Elias; but it is told us, he knew
" not what he faid (rj," and the bright vifion
was foon concluded. . G^d ^maytighteoufly,
and indeed gracioufly reiiXifve creiCurl^s, the
beft of creatures from u^', if they dravV off too
much of the current of our affedions from him
felf. The ciftern breaking may endear to us the
living fountain. The reed finking may recom mend
{-} Luke ix. 33.

to be the Operations of Wifdotn. Ixxxvli
mend us to th«fRock of ages. God may take
away this aiid, tne other created excellency that
our weaknef^has fet up as a veil between Him
and our fouls, that we may lie the more open
to his immediate communications, and that we
may better remember and pradife our duty,
" to love the Lord our Goi? with all our heart,
" with all our foul, with all our mind, and with
" all our ftrength {s)f
(5.) As by the death of the excellent of the
earth in the flower or prime of their days we
are taught that no ftrength of conftitution, or
eminency, or ufefulnefs, are fecurities from
death, fb we may hereby be excited the more
diligently to attend to our work, and prepare
for our difmiffion. If we fee others taken
away younger and ftronger then ourfelves, then
what is the inference, but that we may be cut
off as well as they, and indeed rnore eafily than
they ? If we obferve others more eminent and
more ferviceable than ourfelves called away
from life, if their brighter fplendors and more
extenfive benefit to mankind were no protec
tion from the arreft of death, then what may
we their inferiors exped ? We have no exemp
tion from fickneifs, pain, or fudden death, or
death in- the midft of our days, any more than
others. 'If we had the wifdom of Solomon, or the
zeal and ufefulnefs of St. Paul, ftill, like them,
we fhould be no better than mortal. Hear then
the voice of God to you, fpeaking from the
e 4 aflies
(s) Mark xii. 30.

Ixxxviii The Operations ofGoofljown
afhes of the young, the ftrong, the learned,
the eminently pious and ufeful: " Stand with
" youv loins girded, and your lamps burning.
" Give diligence to make your calling and
" eledion fure. Work while it is day; the
" night comes when no man can work." What-
" foever thine hand finds to do, do it with thy
" might." Do not think that becaufe you are
a tree, even a palm, or a vine " whofe fruit
" cheers both God and man (?)," that therefore
the order will not be iffued out," Hew down the
" tree, cut off its branches, and even pluck up
*' its roots," Flatter not yourfelf becaufe you are
a faint and fervant of God, or a minifter of
fome confiderable influence and importance in
the Church, that death can have no power
over you; dream not of an abiding- place here;
you dv.'ell in a tabernacle that may be foon
taken down, even though it is a tabernacle
which is Holinefs to the Lord. Attend then
to your work; every day look out for death,
and view yourfelf as at the brink of the grave,
and at the door of eternity.
(6.) By the' death of the excellent of the
earth in the flower or prime of their days, and
in the midft of their fervices to God and his
Church, we may be led to inquire, whether
there is no anger expreffed againft us by their
fiidden, and in refped of the common age of
man, untimely removal. As,
(/) Judges IX. 13.

to be the Operations of JVifdom. Ixxxix
As, (i.) We may do well to confider v/he-
ther there may not be fome judgments impend
ing over us. If ambaffadors are called home, it
may become the nation, where they were, to
confider whether a rupture is not likely to enfue.
Every good man that is taken away from our
world is a lofs to it, a dedudion from its worth,
in proportion to his goodnefs. There is a lofs
of his inftrudions, his example, and his pray
ers. And if the beft of men are cut off, the
lofs grows fo much the greater, and our appre-
henfions of the divine refentment may very
juftly be fo much the more awakened. Doves
fly home to their windows at the coming ftorm.
" The Righteous perifhes and no man lays it to
" heart; and merciful men are taken away,
" none confidering that the Righteous is taken
" away from the evil to come (u)." Lot leaves
Sodom, and when he is gone the floodgates of
vengeance are fet open, and the city is turned
into deftrudion. Do not let us think lightly
of the matter, that we fee the beft of men, men
that were holy wrallers with God, and ftood
in the breach to plead with him to turn away
his wrath, removed from our world in the midft
of their days, efpecially when fo few fervants
and faints of God remain behind, and the
world is fo generally filled with impiety, and
all manner of wickednefs. Good Hezekiah,
and after him good Jofiah, muft go to their
graves
(u) Ifaiah I vii. i.

xc The Operations of God fl.oim
graves before the deftrudion comes upon Ju
dah and Jerufalem.
(2). And as we know not but the deaths of
the excellent of the earth in the midft of their
days, and in the midft of their ufefulnefs, may
portend fome judgments from God comin? up
on us, fo let us hence be excited the more ear
neftly to deprecate them, and pray for his mer
ciful regards to us. If the excellent of the earth
are taken away, and taken away in the midft
of their ufefulnefs, and if, in fuch difpenfations
of Providence, we may hear, as it were, the
firft alarms of the Almighty's anger from his
fecret place of thunder,, let us be the more' fer
vent in our fupplicarions that he would turn
away his anger, and not deal wit^i us after our
fins, nor reward us according to our iniquities.
The more gloomy apprehenfion, the more ap
parent danger, the more fliould we be excited
to prayer, lively and importunate prayer. Let
us beg of God, and beg the more earneffly, that
he would have compaflion upon us, and that
the tokens of his judgments may proceed no
farther, and not continue upon us till the judg
ments themfelves defcend upon us in a ftorm of
refiftlefs and overwhelmins: ven<?;eance. And,
(3,) As we know not but the deaths of the
excellent of the earth, in the midft of their days
and ufefulnefs, maybe the forerunners of fome
judgments from God at the door, let us prepare
to meet our God if he fhould come out againft
us in the way of his judgments. Do we hear the

to he the Operations of Wifdom. xd
the found of his anger, and are there fome aw
ful flafhes, though at prefent at a diftance, that
feem to fignify an approaching tempeft, then
let us prepare to meet our God. " Prepare to
" meet thy God, O Ifrael (w)." Let us gird
our chriffian armour clofe about us. Let us
ftrengthen ourfelves in our God, and abound
in the e.vercifes 6f a dependence upon him
whofe " grace only is fufficient for us, and
" whofe ftrength alone can be perfeded in our
" weaknefs (xf Let us be in a readinefs to
follow our God at his call either through the
waters or fires of afflidion, being as willing
magnanimoufly to fuffer for him, as we are
chearfully to ferve him, and not being at all
fliaken in mind or fpirit by the moft grievous
calamities and trials of life; having an inviola
ble connexion with, and a fure intereft in him
" who v^ill make all things work together for
" our good (y)," and who has promifed us a
better life and a better world, after we have
fuffered a while, " even an inheritance incor-
" ruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away"
(z), and an admiffion into his palace and pre
fence, where " there is fulnefs of joy, and a
" place at his right hand where are pleafures
" for evermore (a)."
(7.) By the deaths pf the excellent of the
earth in the flower or prime of their days, and in
fiv) Amos iv. 12. fxj 2 Cor. xii^ 9.
fyj Rom. viii. 28. (zj i Peter i. 4.
(aJ Pfal.' xvi. u.
4

xcii The Operations of God Jbown
in the midft of their ufefulnefs, let us be excited
to exert ourfelves more vigoroufly and conftant-
ly to glorify God, and ferve cur generation,
than hitherto v/e have done. Their removal
ftiews us that v/e may be removed, and fo quick
ens us to our duty; and their lofs hiLewife, their
lofs to the world, fliould alfo excite us to duty,
fince, though there is as much work as ever,
yet there are fewer labourers to perform it.
The more the world is impoveriihed, the more
let us endeavour io enrich it. If an army is
thinned of its numbers^ let the officers, the
foldiers that remain, not be unwilling to go
through double fervice, and to exert themfelves
with a double adivity and vigour.
(8.) By the removal of the excellent of the
earth in the' flower or prime of their days, and
in the height of their ufefulnefs, we are fure
that we have loft by their departure from our
world one tie to earth, and gained one attach
ment more to Heaven. The excellent of the
earth are taken away; our friends, our com
panions with whom we took fweet counfel. In
every fuch inftance one more bond to earth and
time is confequently broken. We are in one
more degree detached from the charms of the
creature, and hereby may come nearer, if we
rightly improve the providence, to a delive
rance from this world, that may have had too
faft an hold of our hopes and affedions. Had
our pious and excellent friends ftayed behind
us, the thought of parting from them, though but

to be the Operations of Wifdom. xciii
but for a time, VAvArit haVe thrown a glootn
upon our expiring moments, and fharpened
the fting of death. But they are gone, and
life has loft bv the departure cf each of them
one of its ftrongeil engagements. And as we
have dropt one tie to earth by their removal,
fb we have gained one more argument for
Heaven. Heaven lets down one more attrac
tive, and a fweet and powerful attradive it is,
to draw up our hearts and hopes to it; Heaven,
where our immortal treafure lies, and whither
our pious friends are gone. Let .us feel the at
tachment, and the more Heaven enlarges its
glorious and bleffed company of Saints made
perfed, the more let us look by faith within
the veil, and the more ready let us be to follow
our brethren that have died in Christ to the.
world of glory, that we may fliare with them
in their eternal bleffednefs, and in the joys of
an intimate, perfed, and indiflbluble friend
fhip. (9.) And laftly. Let the removal of the ex
cellent of the earth, in the flower or prime . of
their days, and in the meridian of their -ufeful
nefs, quicken us to importunate and inceffant
prayer that God would pour out his fpirit up
on fuch of his fervants as remain, and upon
our rifing miniftry, and rifing generation.
The refidue of the Spirit is with God, and it
is a refidue copious enough to qualify and con
fecrate fuch as furvive, or fuch as are entering
into life, and fervice, with as eminent gifts
and as eminent graces, as thofe who are

gone

sciv The Operations of God fhown
gone before us. O for the Spirit of the af-
cending Elijahs, to reft upon our young Eh-
flmsl " The harveft truly is great, but the
" labourers arc few ; let us earneftly and in-^
" ceffandy befeech the Lord of the har-
" veft that he would fend forth labourers into
" his harveft ((5)." O that God vi'ould kindle
by his Almighty Breath, and a rich Undion
from himfelf, bright and burning Lamps, to
fill up the places of thofe which are removed
from his fanduary below to fliine in his Tem
ple above ! Let the death of fuch an eminent
fervant of Christ as Mr Davies, in the prime
of his age, and in the height of his ufefulnefs,
excite us to importunate and abundant prayer
that God would be pleafed, in compaffion to
our world, to raife up like inftruments of his
glory both in our land, and wherever his Name
is known, or there are any opportunities to
preach his gofpel ! O for the defcent of a double
portion of the Spirit upon furviving Minifters,
and upon all other nurferies of Religion and
Learning at home and abroad ! " Where is the
" LoRD.GoD of Elijah?" He lives, he is ftill
with us, though Elijah is gone. To him there
fore let us look, to him let us pray with holy
importunity and zeal, that the time, even the fet
time to favour his Zion, may come. Let but
the Lord " give the word, and pour out of his
" Spirit, and great fliall be the number of thofe
" that pubhfli it (c). Let him but clothe his
" Priefts
{^)Matt. ix. 37. 3S. (r) Pfal. Ixviii. u.

to he the Operations of Wifdom. xcv
" Priefts with Salvation, and his people fliall
" fliout aloud for joy {d):'
And thus have I endeavoured, from various
confiderations, to relblve this problem in pro
vidence, " Why the excellent of the earth
" fliould be taken away in the flower or prime
" of their age, and from the moft enlarged
" fpheres of ufefulnefs, or what inftrudions
" and improvement we may gather from fuch
" feemingly unkind and undefirable difpenfa-
*' tions." I pretend not to affign all the reafons
of fuch a condud in Diety, in that " God who
" works all things after the counfel of his own
" will," but yet poffibly I may have affigned
fome, and fbme fuch as may convince us that
even thefe affiidive, and perhaps frequently
fuppofed impenetrable proceedings, are not
without evident traces of the divine wifdom,
righteoufnefs, and mercy upon them to a duly
obferving eye, fo tbat we may not only as the
voice of faith, but as the conriiiion of experi
ence, fay, " I know, U Lord, that thy judg-
" ments are right, and that thou in faithfulnefs
" haft afilided me {e)."
I fhall only add, that whether we can or
cannot inveftigate the motives in the counfels
of a holy, wife, and merciful God, why fuch
providences fhould take place, as the removal
of the excellent of the earth in the flower or
prime
[d) Pfal. cxxxii. i6. {«) Pfal. cxix. 75.

xcvi The Operations of God fljown
prime of their days, and in the heigljt of their
ufefulnefs, yet two things methinks are indif-
penfible duties upon us in fuch difpenfations.
Congratulation and Submiflion. Congratulation that
our pious friends are gone to a belter worid,
for as one fays *, " Was not felf-love too pre-
" dominant, and our faith of invifible realities
" too weak, we fhould rejoice at a pious rela-
" tive (or friend's) admifiion into the fociety
" of the Bleffed. We congratulate them upon
" fome petty advantage gained in this low
" ftate of being, and again we mourn their
" advancement to the higheft degree of ho-
" nour and felicity, becaufe out of our ken !
" fuch aukward and prepofterous creatures are
" we !" ^
The other duty is Submiflion. Submiflion to
the high and holy, though awful will of Hea
ven. Patience has its hour of exertion and ef
fulgence in the darknefs of providence, and the
feafon of our greateft trials. "Father, not my
" will but thine be done," how glorious, how
pleafant to hear from a foul under the preffures
of the foreft affiidions ! I have often thought of
the noble fpeech of the Archbifhop of Cambray,
who, when he heard the news of the Duke of
Burgundy s death, to whom he had been Pre
ceptor, and for whom he had the moft tender
affedion, burft into tears, but yet prefendy faid,
* Extraftsofthe letters of Sawuel Holden, Efq; preferved in
a Funeral Difcourfe of Dr Benjamin Ci!.>n:iv'-j for that worthy
Gentleman.

to he the Operations of Wifdom. xcvii
faid, " If I knew that by the turn of a ftraw
" I could recover him to life, and yet at the
" fame time was affured that it was contrary
" to the will of God, I would not do it." O
for a complacential acquiefcence in the divine
difpofals I O for the meek and chearful fur-
render of our wills to the will of our God !
This temper how loyal and dutiful, and how
comfortable and happy ! May this be our ex
perience till faith is turned into fight, and hope
and patience fhall be fwallowed up in boundlefs
and everlafting fruition and joy !

#

Vol. I. • f AN

</^/'*^ JfT\/^ If^lTft s*jPSVk/ 1^1^ j^TSr'^

A N
Elegiac POEM
To the Memory of the
Rev. SAMUEL DAVIES, .^.M
By THOMAS GIBBONS, D. D.
7'e Apollinari nttper in agmine,
Florentis xui rohore 'vidimus
Stantem magifirum, lacrymofo
Pracipitem cecidijffi Fato.
Max ut caducis artubus ingruit
Mors <eJluofis torrida febribus,
Ferocientes deiioluta
Stamina diripuere Parca.
Catidents bjffo penfa fluentia
Rupere nodos : occidis, occidis.
Ornate, ceu quondam procellis
Exanimes cecidere Nardi .
Ceu dum per Hortos ccerulea manu
Defie'uit udus Jupiter, imbriius
Sterni reludantes Acanthi
LaJfa folo pofuere colla.
Casim. Lyric. Lib. iii. Od. 26.
TH E voice of infpiration oft proclaims
In various ftile, but in unvarying fenfe,
That vain are all things here : and oft the
Mufe, f 2 In

G An Elegiac POEM
In echos to the Oracles of God,
Has fung how Vanity corrodes the root,
And blafts the bloom of fublunary blifs.
But fcarce the awful veriry has glanc'd,
Has touch'd the mental furface, ere it di'd,
And left this foolifh heart intrench'd in earth,
Enamour'd with its fhows, and rich in dreams
Of joys below immaculate and fure.
But what the Scripture taught, and what the Mufe
Confefs'd without fenfation or effeft, '-
I now in Thunders from experience feel.
How my heart heaves in anguifh and defpair,
O'erpower'd by demonflradon, florm'd by fads,
Redoubling fads, that all on earth is vain!
My Father {a), whom my memory recals
Vig'rous in life, and arm'd with manly ftrength.
That prophefi'd a date of fourfcore years,
Stabb'd by that dire remorfclefs Murderer
The stone, at fixly funk into the grave.
My other Parent {b) too had not attain'd
To fevcnty years before her houfe of clay,
SappM by refifllefs premature decays.
Fell all precipitate in ruins down.
And now is mould'ring with its kindred duft.
My Brethren too, each younger than myfelf. In
(a) The Rev. Mr Thomas Gibbons, many years P=.(lor of
the Church at Royjlon, Hens. He deceafed April 12, 1757.
{b) Mrs Grace Gibbons, who died February^, 1764, in
the Sixty-fixth year of her age.

on the Death, of Mr Davies. ci
In their gay prime were hurri'd to the tomb :
Thrice, thrice I wept that dear relation flain {c).
But not within my Family alone
Has Death his fickle thrufl ; his cruel flroke
Alike has cut my choiceft Friendjhips down,
Watts, Notcutt, Grov'nor, Guyse, are all
inhum'd.
No more widi them fhall I the focial hour
Enjoy, with pleafure and improvement crown'd.
But they were ancients, and had pafs'd the bounds
The threefcore years and ten of human life :
Nor can we hope the adamantine laws
Of nature, that commiflion Death to feize
On age, and laws fo rigidly fulfill'd
In boundlefs havoc through the human race,
That not one mortal rifes from the wreck
Through the long race of dme, fhould be repeal*d
To gratify our wifh. As Autumn yields
To Winter's defolation -, or as Night
Ends the long funfhine of a Summer's-day
In raylefs glooms, fo Death fits clofe behind
Protradled life, and claims it as his prey.
Here we refign -, and though we wail our lofs.
And mourn a dark'ned and impoverifh'd world.
Yet not one murmur mingles with our fighs.
But when a noble Genius, fcarce beneath
An Angel's tow'ring intellect, refin'd
To all the luftre fcience can impart,
f 3 And
(0 The author was the eldeft of live Brethren, three of whom
are gone to their graves before him.

cii An Elegiac POEM
And fraught with all her fiores, a Genius purg'd
From nature's drofs, caft in the mould of Heav'n,
And ftamp'd with the full image of its God,
In life's meridian blazes on the world.
How our joys kindle ? How our hopes prefume
That this illuftrious orb for num'rous years
In wide-extended ufefulnefs fhall fhine.
And gild and gladden nations with its beams ?
But, while we gaze with wonder and delight,
Down drops the luminary from its fphere -,
Hopes, luftres, blefTings, raptures, all expire
In blank oblivion's midnight of defpair
Irreparably loft. Tfien burfts our grief
Tumultuous, as the hurricane tbat bears
The tempeft on its wings, or as the fea
Lafh'd into fury by the warring winds.
And in huge billows thund'ring to the fhore.
Wild in our agony we fcaree forbear
T'expoftulate with Heav'n ; " O why fhould fouls,
" Superlatively good and great, enrich'd
" With all that nature, art^ and grace can give,
" That vi'd in gen'rous co«teft which fhould flied
" The ftrongeft beams ; O why fhould thefe difpky
" Their matchtefs! treafures, and begin to blefs
" Our wretched world with their celeflnal lighr,
" And fwift in endlefs. darknefs be expung'd I
" Shall finners, execcations of mankind,
" Imperial Butchers, that delight to wade
" To pow'r, to empire through a fea of blo©d,
*_' Grow hoary in enormous wickednefs, »«^ While

On the Death of Mr Davies. ciii
*' While Saints of God, while cherubs cloth'd with
" clay,
*' Muft perifh in their ftrength, perhaps their
" bloom ?
*' Shall funs afcending to their noon rufli down
" Precipitate, quench'd in the eaftern main,
*' While comets ftay to glare in terrors round,
*' And fcatter wars and poifons o'er our globe ?
" What ftrange, myfterious, painful labyrinths ?
" Who fhall unfold them ? who explain their fenfej
*' Involv'd in tenfold night, who thence educe,
" The honours of the Deity, and fhow
*' His ways are wifdom, equity, and love ?'*
But is th' imagin'd cafe attefted truth?
Am I not cheated with the fable hues
That Fancy weaves in Melancholy's loom
To drefs a frightful dream, when Midnight reigns ?
'Tis truth, 'tis clear indubitable truth,
Infcrib'd in all the regifters of Time,
From Abel downward to the prefent hour.
And O ! I feel the fad. Davies is dead !
Not all his native intelledual ftore,
Not all the accomplifhments that learning gave.
Not all th' angelic graces of his foul.
Could turn th' inevitable dart afide ;
But in the midft of life, in high career
Of glory to his God, of good to men.
He fell : ah ! never to arife again
Till thefe inferior Ikies fhall be no more.
Devoted by thy Parent to thy God,
f 4 Fav'rite

civ yf« Elegiac POEM
Fav'rite of Heav'n ! who gave the gracious fign
Of his acceptance, when thy tender age
Kindl'd with ftrong importunate defires
To found his honour, and extend his reign.
How didfi thou, on commencing man, commence
A minifl:er of Jesus (d)? Though thy flefh
Was weak, and feem'd a vidim of the grave
In hopelefs irretrievable decay,
Thy fpirit was all life, was wing'd with fire.
To refcue fouls from death, that bitter death
Which fouls alone can die : nor did th' attempt,
The brave attempt, abortive prove, but Heav'n
Thy labours with diflinguifh'd blefTing crown'd. The
(d) I cannot exaftly afcertain when Mr Daws began his mi
niftry, but he fpeaks (leiter to the Rev. Mr Jofeph Bellamy on the
State of Religion \Xi.Virginia, p. 38.) of a glorious difplav of di
vine grace in and. about Somerfet county in Maryland, of its be
ginning, as he thinks, in the year 1745 by the miniftry of Mr
Rabinfon, and of its being carried on by fundry minifters that
preached tranfiently there. " I was there, fays he, about two
" months, when the work was at its height, and I never faw
" fuch a deep and fpreading concern among people in my life
'¦ as then appeared among them. The affemblies were numerous,
" though it vvas in the extremity of a cold winter, and frequent-
" ly there were very few among them that did not give fome
" plain indications of diftrefs or joy. O ! th'efe were the hap. ,
" pieft days thatever my eyes faw, or are, I fear, like to fee.''
If Mr Davies. was there, (and I fuppofe he was there as a mi
nifter) in the year 1745,' ^^ vvas but twenty-one years of age. ,
However, he was fent by the Preft^ytery of Ncwcafle to Vir
ginia in the year 1747, when he was but twenty three years of
age. See the above-mentioned letter, p. 18.

on the Death of Mr Davies. c?
Th* impious fcoffer («.), hard as adamant.
And fenc'd around with pride's obdurate fcales.
Feels the refiftlefs arrow, feels his heart
Transfixt with pains, and dying in defpair.
The dark, bewilder'd, doubtful, anxious foul.
In thee a kind, a fure condudor found
To Jiisus, whofe atoning blood relieves
The pang of guilt, and cures its burning wounds.
Emanuel's worth was then thy charming theme.
How able, how omnipotent to fave,
And how immeafurably great his love.
What a firm rock his merits, where our fouls
May build, build for eternity, nor dread
The ftorms of vengeance, nor di' afTaults of hell.
Not eafe, nor worldly riches were thine aim.
Thy low ambition, O thou man of God !
Thy fpirit, kindled with feraphic flame,
Soar'd high beyond this little fcene of things, Like
{e) One of the Gentlemen whofe converfion I have men.
tioned in my Sermon, and to whom I here refer in my Poem,
came into the aftembly where Mr Da-vies preached, with the
greateft figns of contempt imaginable, but before the affembly
was broken up, appeared to be indeed pricked to the heart
under a Sermon from thefe words. Malt. x.vii. 5. But they made
light of it. The other Gentleman whofe converfion I have alfo
mentioned in my Sermon, and whofe cafe I regard under the
charafter of a dark, beiuildered, doubtful, anxious foul, in my
Poem, had been for, fome time in fuch a condition as I have
defcribed, but Mr Da'vies^s endeavours for his illumination and
comfort were not only employed on his behalf, but, as Mr
Davies had reafon to hope, icere not in luiin in the Lord. From
circumftances I coaclude that thefe events happened during his
ftay in Maryland raendoM^ in the foregoing note.

cvi An Elegiac POEM
Like fome young eagle tow'ring to the fkics.
Plains, hills, and mountains lefs'ning to the fight,
Virginia (/), barren, dreary fpot, enjoy'd Thy
(f) Dr Finley obferves in his Sermon, " that Mr Davies's
*' preaching excited the earneft defires of every vacant congre-
" gation where he was known to obtain the happinefs of his
*' ftated miniftrations ; but that he undertook the felf-denying
*' charge of a diffenting congregation in Virginia, &c.'' Mr
Davies fays, in the above cited letter tO Mr Bellamy, p. 20.
when three other calls were before him, " that he was fully
" coav'inceA Hanover {3. ^oxxxilymVirginia) ftood in greaterneed
•' of a minifter than any place he knew, and that if his health
' " permitted, and none of his Brethren could be prevailed on to
" fettle there, he could not refufe the call of the people confiftent-
" ly with duty.  And again, on the arrival of a meffenger from
•* Hano-'MT (being then in a poor ftate of health) I put my life
" in my hand, and determined to accept of their call, willing to
•' expire under the fatigues of duty, rather than in voluntary
" negligence." In a letter to a friend (fee colleilion of his let-
•' ters printed 1757, p. 23.) Mr Dames fays, " Virginia was for
•• five or fix years a melancholy folitude to me, feparated from my
" Brethren, and furrounded with enemies in Church and State.
" — I divided my labours among feven congregations, fifteen or
" twenty miles apart." — And yet this excellent Servant of the
" Lord in his farewell Sermon to his people, July i, 1759, upon
" his removal to the College of Nevj Jerfey, tells them, " that
" when after many an anxious conflict he accepted their call, he
" fully expeded he was fettled among them for life. — I did not
'• forefee, fays he, nor feek for, nor ever defire an occafion to.
" remove, notwithftanding the fatigues and various difficulties
" attending my fituation: and whatever advantageous ofl^ers have
" been made to me on either fide the Atlantic they have not had
" the force of ^ temptation. It vvas in my heart to live and
" die with you: and fuch of you as beft know my circum-
-' ftances, and how little I Ihall eafry from Virginia, after
" eleveti

an the Dtath of Mr Davies. cvii
Thy facred toils : hei-e with divine fuccefs
Didft thou eradicate the thorn and bri'r.
And plant the fir and myrtle in their room,
Wide to difFufe their fragrancy, and grow
In ever-verdant beauty, to the praife
Of that all-gracious, all-creating hand.
That paints the fandy wafte with Eden's bloom {g).
Sublimity and energy of thought,
Enliven'd with devotion's fervid vein.
And inextinguifhable zeal to fave
Immortals from immortal mifery,
Charaderiz'd, ennobled, and refin'd
Thine ev'ry Sermon. Now methinks I hear,
I feel thee fpeaking from the facred defk
With afped, adion, accent that enforc'd
Thy great ideas, rend'ring more fublime
Sublimity, Devotion more devout.
Sinners, the aliens from the life of God,
And rebels to his fceptre, o'er whofe heads
The fword of vengeance flames, while they, reclin'd
On
«< eleven years labour in it, muft be convinced in your own
*' confciences, and can honeftly aflore others, that worldly ia-
" tereft was not the reafon of my attachment to you."
What a noble difinterefted fpirit did Mr Davies difcover in
his choice of Virginia, and fettlement there \ how wf rfhy of a
difciple of his divine Mafter, and what a glorious example to
all who call themfelves the minifters of Jesus CHfiisT, and the
fervants of fouls for his feke !
(g) " Inftead of tbe thorn fti,all come up the fir-tree, and in-
•* ftead of the brier fhall come up the myrtle-tree : and it fliall
*' be to the Lord for a name, for an everlailing fign that ftiall
" Dot be cut ofF," Ifa. !v. 13.

cviii An Elegiac POEM
On beds of rofes, and of myrtles, lull'd
By Syren fongs to reft, no danger dream.
In tender pity Davies ftrives to roufe.
With all the moving pow'rs of argument
That reafon and that fcripture can infpire,
From their tremendous fleep. Now Sinai's trump
In deep divine folemnity he founds.
And Sinai's curfes, red with vengeful flame
And roaring loud in thunders, round he throws
In moft amazing terrors, for he knew
That, till th' impendent ruin was beheld,
The gofpel muft extend its fhield in vain.
Is there a finner from his flumber ftarts
In wild confufion, horror, and defpair.
Like fome poor traveller, whofe limbs were laid
To reft in flow'ry meads, and blooming bow'rs,
That wakes at once amidft a brood of afps,
Loud-hifllng, glaring fierce, denouncing death,
Our orator afl"umes a diff'rent ftrain,
And fpeaks from 5w«'s gracious mount, where thron'J
In mercy fhines the Majesty of Heav'n
Encircl'd with a rainbow, peaceful fign,
And reaching out the fceptre of his grace
To ev'ry humble weeping penitent.
Who, proftrate in the duft, in Jesus' name
Implores the pardon of his crimfon crimes.
Implores to be inferred in the line
Of Heav'n, and with its citizens enroll'd.
With facred extafy, with melting ftrains
How Davies dv/ells upon that matchlefs love
2 That

on the Death of Mr Davies. cix
That refcues finners, trembling o'er the pit, '
Into th' unbounded plendtude of blifs.
That rolls forever in the realms on high?
Nor lefs the medium of rhis wondrous grace
Our great Emanuel, Son and Prince of Heav'n,
Who on the tree accurfl in groans and blood
Expir'd a facrifice for human guilt.
The prophet's lips, touch'd with celeftial fire,
Proclaim, and fhow the rights of Deity,
Show all its awful attributes, its truth.
Its righteoufnefs, its JanElity fevere,
Preferv'd inviolate, while Mercy reigns
Triumphant o'er the curfe, reigns to redeem
The fouleft rebel from the gulph of hell.
And throne him with the Princes of the fkies.
The vengeance of the law, and finner's doom.
In founds of deep majeftic awe denounc'd,
And in the mildeft ftrains the love defcrib'd
Of the great Father beaming through the Son,
Davies exhorts the foul, the foul condemn'd.
But cheer'd with hope's fweet orient beams, and fliown
The gate that opens from its dark diftrefs
Into celeftial bleffednefs and day,
T' accept the oflfer'd grace, and fue for peace
With proftrate fhame, but with courageous faith,
Fix'd on Emanuel's mediatorial love,
And righteoufnefs confummate, abfolute,
That hides, forever hides the fouleft guilt.
And Ihields us from the thunders of the fkies.
?' Sinners, I hear the ardent preacher cry, " Attend

ex u^M Elegiac POEM
" Attend your welfare -, and in th's your day,
" Your only day, well weigh your ftate, and choofe
** The things on which eternal weal depends.
*' By all the tender mercies of your God,
" By Jesus' agonies of pain and l')ve,
" By the good Spirit's energy divine
" In inward purity and heav'niy joys,
*' By all the promifes, thofe fprings of life,
*' Whofe ftreams perennial quench the burning thirft,
*' And vigour into dying fouls infpire,
*' By the great int'refts of this heav'n-born mind,
*' Endow'd with high capacities, and ftruck
" With the dread ftamp of immortality,
" And but divided from infernal flames '
" By the thin veil of clay, by blifs above,
*' Immaculate, eternal, infinite,
" Which angels, nadves of the fides, and faints,
*' The colonies tranfplanted from our world,
•' In full unclouded vifions of their God
*' Enjoy, and celebrate in endlefs praife,
*' Repent, believe, and be forever elest."
But Davies -vas not only fkill'd to ftrike
The Law's keen ploughfhare into ftubborn hearts,
And in the deep-drawn furrows caft the feed
Of evangelic piety and peace.
But, when the feed had fprung, he knew to nurfe
The rifing growth, to flied the fliow'r benign,
To kill the weeds infidious, that might drain
The vital juices, or extend their fhade
Malignant, and feclude the heav'niy ray.
2 The

on the Death of Mr Davies. cxi
The Convert, as the Sinner, was the care
Of Davies, and alike they fhar'd his zeal.
Hear him exhort, and fupplicate, and charge
All who the Chriftian's facred ftile affum'd,
And grounded their falvation on the crofs,
T' abandon ev'ry fin, to feize, to nail
The hateful monfters to the facred tree
On which the Saviour fhed his blood, the balm,
The fov'reign balm, that heals their rankling wounds.
Not merely from the motives Pagans faw,
Thofe ancient fages of fublime renown.
The boaft of learned Greece, and learned Rome,
tn their refearches deep, but not divine.
Nor only from the laws Jehovah gave
To Moses, chofen to reveal his will
To Isr'el's fons, and bind the mandates faft
With penal terrors on the human heart.
But chiefly from the peerlefs arguments
The gofpel yields, Davies devoutly urg'd
A fandity of manners, from the foul
In cloudlefs luftre o'er the life diffused.
" Behold, he cries, the Father's love, that gave
" From his own bofom his eternal Son
" To infamy and pain for guilty men !
" And can'fl: thou, Chriftian, whofe exulting heart
*' Feels the full joys of this philanthropy,
" Pervert, abufe, infult the grace, and blot
" Its beft effulgence with defpight and fcorn,
*' And in fupreme enormity of guilt
\\ Start up a monfter, at which hell itfelf " Might

cxii An Elegiac POEM
" Might gaze aghaft ? Behold the love of Christ,
*' That brought him from the realms of blifs to tread
" This vale of fin and woe ; behold his brows
" Impurpl'd with the thorny maze 1 his back
>' Plough'd with the cruel fcourge! the murd'rous
" tree
*' Ereded high, behold the Lord of Life
*' There hung, there nail'd with iron tortures
*' through,
*' And bleeding in the keeneft pangs of death
" A vidim for thy crimes ! Then afl<; thyfelf,
*' O Chriftian, O Believer ! if this love
*' Dimenfionlefs, th' amazemeqt of the fkies,
^' Claims not refponfive love ? what heart fo cold,
*' So frozen, but imbibes th' all- pow'rful rays,
*' Relents, difTolves, to gratitude transform'd ?
" By MERCY and by merit thus redeem'd,
*' Both matchlefs, both ftupendous ! O prefent
" Yourfelves a living facrifice to God
" In all your powr's, in all which you enjoy,
" Holy, acceptable, in flames of love,
" Ardent, yet uncorifuming {h). Homage due
" To unexampl'd, to unbounded Grace :
" This REASON didates j reason this requires."
Thus Davies preach'd : a true Evangelift,
The Envoy of the fkies. Not Pagan lore.
Where drofs with gold commingles, where no ftamp,
No
(h) " I befeech you, therefore. Brethren, by the mercies of
" God, that ye prefent your bodies a living facrifice, holy,
" acceptable u.^to God, which is your reafonable fervice."
Rom. xii. I.

on the Ifeath of Mr D'avIes. cxiji
1^0 fandion of the Deity is found.
But heav'n- defcended, uncorrupted Truth
This Steward of the myfteries of God
Difpens'd : defpairing indigence grew rich^
Rich for eternity, and fmil'd aWay
In tranfport and in triumph all its pangs.
But not alone in ftrains feraphic flow'd
The pureft nobleft dodrines from his tongue,'
For his own life confirm'd the truths he taught.'
In works of Piety, in Pray'r and Praife,
In frequent Admoninons to his Flock
Unwe^ri^d to purfue the road to Heav'nj
He fpent his days : nor were his arduous toils
A painful drudgery, or lifelefs form :
'Twas choice, ^twas reft, 'twas triumph, 'twas repaft
T'employ his faft-confuming lamp of life
In guiding fouls immortal to the fkies. i
When' fraudful France lands not her own ufurpt^
When Braddock's hoft was vanqiiifli'd by the foe
With hideous flaTJghter, and inglorious rout,
And when Virginia's, frontiers fell a prey
To Indian favages, incarnate fiends,
111 ravage, in remorfelefs maffacre.
That with wild confternation and difmay
Shook the pale Colony, this man of God,
His country's faithful friend, exhorts, excites (i)
Vol. L g The
(/') See an excellent and animated SermOn of Mr. Dci'vies'a
(d Jhis purpofe, entitled. Religion and Patriotifm the Confituenti
of a ^ood Soldier, preached to Captain 0-verton\ independent com
pany

CXIV

An Elegiac POENf

The fluggifh, tim'rous, and irrefolute.
By Liberty, Religion, Love to Men,
Love to Themfelves, to roufe from fear and floth,
March to the fighting field, and nobly die
In the brave enterprife, or live to hail
Themfelves, their Wives, their Children fav'd from
bonds.
From death, to hail the ftorm of war o'erblown.
And peace returning with her oHve-wand
To fmile in fun-beams and celeftial charms.
In private and domeftic life how bright
Were Davies' virtues .'' how divinely mild ?
Full from the God what heav'niy wifdom flied
Its radiance .'' facred, peaceable, ferene.
Forgiving, merciful, replete with blifs ;
With Partiality's opprobrious cloud.
With bafe Hypocrify's infernal fogs
Uninjur'd, uneclips'd (k). Not heav'n alone
But earth proclaim'd his worth in loudeft praife.
So have we feen a tree of nobleft kind
In fruits exub'rant lift its topmoft boughs
Sublime, impatient to prefent the fkies Pro-
pany of volunteers, raifed in Hanover county, Virginia, Au
guft i-j, 1755, foonafter Braddock's defeat. I might mention
alfo another Difcourfe of Mr Davies's entitled, the Curfe of
Cov3ardice, preached to the militia of Hanover-Qowdtyin Vir
ginia at a general mutter. May 5, 1758, to which might be
added other proofs of our Author's patriotic fpirit, in that
i time of danger, both from the pulpit and prefs.
{k) " But the wifdom that is from above is firft pure, then
" peaceable, gentle, and eafy to be intreated, full of mercy
" and good fruits, without partiality, and without hrpocrify."
fames iii. 17.

bn the Death of Mr Davies. cxy
Propitious with its ripeft, choiceft ftores.
Then bend its lower branches kindly down
To meet whatever hands beneath rnight claim
A fhare in its autumnal joys, to flake
The parching thirft, or vig'rous life infpire.
In him his venerable Mother found
True filial piety. The Widow's tear
By the Son's lenient hand was Wip'd away.
And the dark vale of age with pleafure fmil'd,
Illumin'd by his love, that tender love
Which Nature didates, and which Grace fecures.
Thrice happy Woman, honour'd with the birth
Of fuch a Saint and Prophet of the Lord !
Not only the obedient pious Son
Solac'd thine eve of life, but in his toils,
That bleft the world around him, thou wert bleft.
The Saint and Mother mingling joy with joy.
How great thy forrpws when he wing'd his flight
Away from earth, ah ! never to return !
But fhort thy ftay behind to weep, to wail j
Already thou haft trae'd him to the fkies,
And join'd the perfed fpirits of the juft.
That, from this atmofphere of fin and woe
Afcended, dwell in glory, love, and joy.
Angelic life ! immortal and divine.
But Davies was not more the duteous Sort
Than the kind Hufband, and the tender Sire :
How kind, how tender, Mufe, forbear to tell 5
The Widow f /j, and the Orphans ftill furvive,
g 2 And
(/) The three fons of Mr Davies, the eldeft about fourteen
or fifteen years of age, I find, through the affiiftance of bene*
fialoi*,'

cxvi An Elegiac POEM
And ftiould'ft thou paint his Worth, their griefs might
rife
Tumultuous, and their wounds might bleed anew.
Father of mercies, God of comfort, hear The
faftors, are at the college at Nevj-Jerfey for education. Mrs
Davies, with her two little daughters, is removed to Virginia,
and lives with her aged mother there. A palfage or two from
a letter I fome time fince received from the Rev. Mr John
Todd, a worthy minifter in Virginia, may give fome Idea of
Mrs Davies's eharafter and fituation. " Mrs Davies, fays he,
" lives now in Hanover (a county in Virginia)' with her aged
"mother, who is I think juftly efteemed one of the moft emi-
" nently pious and amiable chriftians in our land. There is
" alfo a younger fifter in the family, difable.d in one arm, th«
" moft remarkable young perfon I ever have known for a con-
*' tinned life of piety, her time being chiefly employed in the
" exercifes of the divine life, &c. There are an uncommon foft-
" nefs and delicacy in the whole family, abundance of good-
" nature, and they are remarkably inofFenfive and benevolent
•' towards all, and eminent^ modeft, felf-diffident, and tender
«' in their walk towards God andmankind. Mrs Davies enjoys
" pretty good- health, yet fubjeft to great defpondency and me-
" lancholy. She can hardly fpeak of the dear departed friend
<' without a fenfible commotion and tears. Thefe three females,
" with Mrs Dvies's two little daughters, make up an amiable
" little family, who live together on the little fortune ofthiold
" lady, vjhich keeps themfromdiftrefs, ivith proper frugality, retired
" from the noife of the world, and much taken up with the things
" of religion. Dear Mr Davies took no care to lay up an eftate
" for his family; his great foul vvas full of other things that re-
«' fpefted the immortal interefts of mankind ; and God has re-
*' markably rewarded him, if I may fo fay, in inclining others
•' to contribute to the education of his three fons at the college :
" and 1 hope the fame divine hand will appear for the comfort
"¦ and relief of his relift and daughters, who are deprived of a
?' moft excellent hufband and parent."'

on the Death of Mr Davies. cxvii
TJie ardent fupplication, " May his mate,
•' Once happy in his love, but now bereav'd,
" Such was thy will, of her beft mortal Friend,
" In thee a refuge find ! O may thy pow'r,
" Thy mercy foften her diftrefs, fupport
" Her finking heart, and gild her mournful doom
" With the glad vifions of eternal day ;
" Till, all her graces purify'd from drofs
" By thefe fevere afflidipns, like the gold
" Refin'd, refulgent from the tort'ring flame,
" Her fpirit at thy call fhall quit her clay,
" Shall tow'r triumphant to the world on high,
*' T' enjoy her Saviour and her God, and dwell
" With the dear Partner of her foul on earth,
*' Whofe lofs her ceafelefs forrows now deplore,
" In regions of perennial perfed blifs.
*' Nor lefs, O Thou, at once the Widow's Judge,
" And Orphan's gracious Father, deign to fmile
*' Upon his helplefs infant-progeny,
*' By this diftrefllng ftroke, this providence,
*' Depriv'd of Benefad.or (?w), Guardian, Guide
g 3 " Through
(«) How much yft D.^vias tender fpirit vvas concerned for
the beft interefts of his dear children may be obferved from
fome pafliages quoted from his Letters in the Editor's Difcourfe
on his death, and will further appear from a Poem of Mr Davies'^
on the birth gf his third fon, John Rodgers Davies, which I the
rather choofe to infert, .is it may, at the fame time that it ftiovv.
the pious Father, aftbrd a fpecimen of MrD^'z/w's poetical ta
lents, of which a juft notice is taken byDr Finley in hi Sermon
on his death. Tho.,

cxviii An Elegiac POEM
'^ Through childhood's wants and weaknefs, apd
" through youth's
Enchanting paths, with flow'ry ruin ftrow'd.
" O may
Thou little wond'rous miniature of man,
Form'd by unerring wifdom's perfeft plan ;
Thou little ftranger, from eternal night
Emerging into life's immortal light.
Thou heir of worlds unknown, thou candidate
For an important everlafting ftate.
Where this young embyro Ihall its pow'rs expand.
Enlarging, rjp'oing ftill, and never ftand.
This glimm'ring fpark of being, juft now ftruck
From nothing by the all-creating Rock,
To immortality fhall flame and burn,
Vv'hen funs and ftars to native darknefs turn ;
Thou ftialt the ruins of the world furvive.
And through the rounds of endlefs ages live.
Now thou art born into an anxious ftate
Of dubious trial for thy future fate :
Novv thou art lifted in the war of life.
The prize immenfe, and O ! fevere the ftrife.
Another birth awaits thee, when the hour
(Arrives that lands thee on th' eternal flaore,
(And O ! 'tis near, with winged hafte 'twill come,
Thy cradle rocks toward the neighb'ring tomb)
Then Ihall immortals fay, " A Son is born,"
While thee as dead miftaken mortals mourn :
froin glory theh \o glory thou flialt rife.
Or fink from deep to deeper miferies,
Afcend perfeflion's everlafting fcale,
(?r ftill defcend from gulph to gulph in hell.
Thou embryo-angel, or thou infant-fiend,
A being now begun, but ne'er to end,
u'hat boding fears a Father's heart torment,
Trembling an4 anxious for the grand event, Left

en the Death of Mr Davies. cxix
** O may thy fervant's living images,
" Thofe young editions of himfelf, to thee
" Prefented by him in their earlieft hours,
" When o'er them pafs'd the confecrated ftream,
*' Sign of thy grace, and in his fervent pray'rs
" By him commended to thy fpecial love
" To fandify and fave, in thee enjoy
" Far more than they have loft : thy pow'r fupreme
" Their adamantine fhield ; thy ftedfaft truth
*' Their rock ; thy wifdom their unerring guide ¦,
" Thy fandity their pattern -, and thy grace
" The ocean of their happinefs, immenfe
" As the unbounded withes of the foul,
" And permanent as its immortal age!"
The Preacher, Patriot, Hufband, Parent, Son,
In all their charaders in all their claims
Adorn'd, accomplifh'd in this Man of God,
View him as a Companion and a Friend,
Urania, for thou knew'ft him -, might thy ftrain
But equal his incomparable worth !
On wings of joy th' aufpicious moments flew
In his fociety : no pedant's pride.
No pert loquacity, no ftiff referve.
No mean obfequioufnefs, no fawning fmile.
No fulfome panegyricks fhow'r'd on all

5 4-
Left thy young foul, fo late by heav'n beftow'd.
Forget her Father, and forget her God,
Left, while imprifon'd in this houfe of clay.
To tyrant-lufts fhe fall an helplefs prey.
And left, defcending ftill from b.id to worfe,
Jier immortality fliould prove her curfe.
Maker of fouls ! avert fo dire .a doom.
Or fnatch her back to nruive nothing'= glojm !,

P

cKX An Elegiac P Q E M
Promifcuous, an hypocrify of praife.
No rudenefs, no impertinence were feen.
Were heard in him : but elegance, and eafe.
Freedom, and dignity, and pow'rs to fmooth
The wrinkled brow of care, and entertain
The foul, fatigu'd in fcience' thorny maze, ¦
With afeftivity, not foaming high
Over religion's banks, and foul with ftains.
But like Heav'n's luftres amiably ferene ;
Thefe crown'd his converfe as they form'd his foul.
While all mankind his counfels and his pray'rs
Enjoy'd, a chofen, a diftinguifli'd few
Were with his friendfhip dignify'd and bleft:
For thefe his foul colleded in a point
Its gen'rous ardors : fcarce the faint above,
Pr feraph glow'd with a diviner flame.
This friendfhip once, ah ! once, my foul, was thine.
Thine honour, and thy blefling. How haft thou
With tranfport fitting at the lift'ning ear
Ifnbjb'd the heav'niy mufic of his tongue.
As he his mifcellaneous life difclos'd -,
Thick gloomy clouds, fkirted with fmiling rays.
Corporeal weaknefs, hoftile frowns, high aims,
Vaft labours, the fupports and fmiles of Heav'n !
When parted from each other, and the deep.
The huge Jtlanlic deep, between us roll'd,
Affedion fed its ever-burning flame.
Th' Epiftle ofc was wafted o'er the main.
Where the famie friend fliip met th' enraptur'd eye.
Full as its current flow'd from line to line, .
5 Whofp

m the Death of Mr Davies. cxxJ
Whofe filver accents once entranc'd the ear.
Such noble fentiment, fuch cordial love.
Such genuine piety, the breath of Heav'n,
Infpir'd thy letters, O thou godlike man.
As angels might have didated, have own'd
As theirs, did they with fpirits in flefti now hold
Such correfpondence, as they erft on earth
Their vifits made, and friend conversed with friend.
Not long before thy vital glafs had run
The deftin'd number of thy fleeting fands,
Th' efteem of thine high merit call'd thee forth
Over a young illuftrious Nurfery
Oi Virtue and of Science to prefide,
And raife to fragrant bloom and fruits mature
Succefllve trees of righteoufnefs, a praife
To Heav'n, and blefling to mankipid. How great
Thy toils, thy fldll, how nobly adequate
To thine exalted fphere, the fighs, the groans
Of Naffau-Hall («) at thy deceafe proclaim'd.
How
(n) As Mr Davies was called to the Prefidentfliip of the Col
lege of Naffau-Hall, and died in that ftation, it may perhaps be
agreeable to the reader to be informed, from an account of the
College printed 1764, and which I have novv before me, that a
charter for founding a College in New-Jerfey was granted in the
year 1748 ; that by the benefaftions received in Great-Britain
and Ireland, as well as in America, the Truftees, confiftifig of
Gentlemen of the Clergy and Laity, in number twenty-three,
erefted a building in which the ftudents might be boarded as well
as taught in the little village of Princeton, being near the cen
ter of Nevj- Jerfey, on the public road between Nenu-York and
Philadelphia, — that the edifice is denominated Naffau-Hall, in ho
nour.

cxxii Aa B'legiac POEM
How happy that a Finley foon foppli'd
A Davies' lofs ! So when Elijah rode

To

nour to king William the third, prince of Orange and Najau ;
and that it will accommodate about an hundered and fofty-fe-
ven ftudents, computing three to a chamber. — That the confti
tution of the College, as appears from its charter, is founded,
upon a free and catholic bottom, and calculated for the equal
and general advantage of every religious denomination of Pro-
tcftants. — That at pfefent there are three Tutors, befides the
Prefident, who is the Rev. SamuelFinley, D.D. " as to the hap-
" pinefs of whofe fucceflion to the Prefidentftiip, fays my ac-
" count, the prefent flouriftiing ftate of the College, the gen,e-.
" ral diligence of the Youth in their literary purfuits, and the
•' internal harmony and good order fo obfervable in the Socie-
" ty are fufticient atteftations." — To the honour of the College
it is added " that many youths who have come to Naffau-Hall
" for education, without any juft fenfe of the obligations either
•' of natural or revealed Religion, have been there effeftually re-
" formed, become men of folid and rational piety, and now ap-
" pear upon the ftage of public aftion employing their talents
" to the honour of the fupreme Beftower, and in promoting the
" good of mankind." So far from the above account.
Was the Editor to fpeak his fentiments of this Seminary of
Religion and Learning from the intelligence he has received
concerning it, he (hould fpeak in the ftrongeft language of
commendation, and efpecially of its excellent order and manage
ment: and therefore, as he is informed from the abovementioned
account that the College ftands in need ofan addition to its Li
brary, which at prefent confifts only of about twelve hun
dred books, and is but indifferently furniflied with mathe
matical inftrumeptS) and apparatus for experimental Philo-
fophy, he piould greatly rejoice to find that thefe deficiencies
were fupplied by the hand of afiluence and liberality ; that by
thefe means this newly planted, and valuable nurfery of Virtue
and Knovikdge might enjoy every poffible advantage that might
contribute to its growing efteem, and e,\tenfive and lafting ufe
fulnefs.

on the Death of Mr Davies. cxxiii
To Heav'n triumphant in his car of fire,
Elisha, with the undion of his God
Enrich'd, up-rofe the Prophet in his room.
" Then why thefe mournful melancholy ftrains,'*
Cries Faith, dreft like a cherub of the fkics
With ftarry pinions, and a fun-like blaze.
One hand a telefcope advancing high.
The other with th' expanded code of Heav'n ;
" Why thefe complaints, fince, as one ftar defcends,
*' Another rifes in its place to gild '
*' The dark'ned hemifphere ? Know that the Church
*' Is with Omnipotence intrench'd around,
¦" Nor fhall the pow'rs of Hell, nor waftes of Death,
" Or vanquifh, or deftroy. Though 'tis decreed
" That Saints, that Minifters themfelves fhould die,
*' And pay the debt of fin, or in full age,
*• Or in the ftrength of life, or ev'n its bloom,
" Yet love immenfe, and everlafting pow'r
*' Repair the dcfolations. Soldiers fall,
" And foldiers to the chriftian ftandard crowd,
" And fill the ranks, the reg'ments thinn'd by death.
" Thus Heav'n fecures the Church, and as the Saints
" Succefllve die, the Saints fuccefTive rife.
" Know further, that this world is not defign'd
"' To be th' inheritance, the reft, the home
" Of the immortal fpirit : 'tis the fchool
" Of education for eternity,
^' And, when the foul is taught celeftial truth,
" And moulded to its nature, at the call
" Of its all-gracious Sire it wings its way
^' prom this corporeal pell, this vale of night,
" To

oixiv An Elegiac POEM
" To infinite perfedion, light, and joy,
*' The fummit of its wifh, the glorious prize
" That fills its hopes, its ardency infpires.
" Shall minors of the earth afpire to men,
" And long t'enjoy their honours and eftates ?
*' And fhall their friends congratulate their rife
" To manhood, and dominion o'er themfelves ?
" And fhall not Saints, the heirs of heav'niy crowns,
" Rejoice to reach maturity, to take
•' Poffeflion of their heritage above,
*' Immortal glories, and unbounded blifs ?
" What, fhall their dignity, their happinefs,
" By their affociates, for a little fpace
'* Detain'd behind, be mourn'd in tears and groans
^ Inconfolable, or fhall not their gain
" Abate your throbbing anguifli for their lofs,
" And drown your griefs in joy ? prepoft'rous men,
" Prepoft'rous boafters of the Chriftian name,
" Your creed and condud war perverfely wage.
" Henceforward then, defponding mortal, ceafe
" Thy caufelefs wijilings ; fee the gloomy clouds
*«^ Break into brightnefs, fee the ways of Heav'n
" Radiant with wifdom, faithfulnefs, and love.
" Go, ferve thy generation, fpeak and ad
" Each day, each hour in honour to thy God,
" And unremitting labours to diffufe
" Immortal bleflings to immortal men :
" Tread the fame path that Davies trod, and thou
^' Like him flialt fcale the manfions of the fliy,
?^ Like him fhalt hear the plaudit of thy God, '^ Like

tn the death of Mr Davies. cxSy
'• Like him fhalt wear an ever-blooming crown,
" Like him enjoy immenfity of blifs,
" Sin, Satan, Death, to their own native Hell
" Confign'd, and bound in adamantine chains."
So fpake the radiant daughter of the fkies.
And points me to the truths the book of God
Unveils, and lends her telefcope t'explore
The heav'niy Continent, and there behold
The joys, and glories of the Saints on high,
Difmifs'd from flefh, and prefent with the Lord.
I read, I faw. The darknefs, mifts, and fhades
Difpers'd, difTolv'd in univerfal day.
So when a Trav'ller, in nodurnal gloom
And hazy fogs involv'd, purfues his way.
Each objed fcarce difcernible appears
With mournful fable hung, and drench'd with tears :
But, when the orient fun reveals his light,
A lovely landfcape opens to the fight.
Spring's gay embroid'ries all the fields adorn.
And fparkling gems embellifh ev'ry thorn ;
To Heav'n the lark in tuneful ardor fprings,
Each grove, each tree with warbling rapture rings, |
The Pilgrim joins the joy, and as he journies
fings.

A LIST

I S
O F T H E
SUBSCRIBERS NAMES.
A.
MR S Elizabeth Abney, of Stoke-Newington.
The Rev. Mr John Adams, oiWeft-Kilbride.
The Rev. Mr Stephen Addington, of Market-
Harhorough, 7 Sets.
The Rev. Mr Richard Alliott, of Coventry.
Patrick Allifon, A. B. Tutor in the Academy ag
Philadelphia,
The Rev. Mr John Allifton, of Nottingham.
Capt. Charles Anderfon, of Virginia.
The Rev. Mr Samuel Andrews, of Tarmouth.
The Rev. Mr John Angus, oi BiJhop-Stortford.
The Rev. Mr George Archer, of Stow-Market.
Mr Robert Armour, Merchant, at Glafgow.
The Rev. Mr John Afh, oiPerfhore.
Mr Hugh Allifon, Student at Naffau-Hall
Mr Edward Afhburner, Student at Mile-End.
Mr Stephen Abbott, of Ipfwich.
Mr James Allen, of Virginia. Mr

fcxxViii .^ LIST o/' Subscribers.
Mr James Anderfon, of Virginia.
Anonymous.
'Anonymous. Anonymous.
Mr John Antony, of Beaconsfield.
Mr Anthony Aflcew, of Virginia.
Mr Jonah Atchifon, of South-Carolina.
Mr Jacob Axon, of South-Cardlind.
Mifs M— — A  ., of South-Carolina.
B.
Jonathan Baldwin, A. M. Steward of the College
of New-Jerfey.
The Rev. Mr Jofeph Barber.
Mr William Barnard, Merchant, of Norivich.
Mr John Barnes, jun. Merchant, at Philadelphia^
Tbe Rev. Mr Richard Baron.
Dodor James Afhton Bayard, of Maryland.
Col. James Bayard, of Maryland,
Mr John Bayard, Merchant, of Philadelphia,
The Rev. Mr Samuel Beldam, of Dunmow.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Bingham, of Dedham,
The Rev. Mr Malachi Blake, of Taunton,
The Rev. Mr Blake, of Crockhorn.
The Rev. Mr William Boughton, of Buckingham,
The Rev. Thomas Bowman, A. M. Vicar ofMar-
tham, Norfolk, 2 Sets.
The Rev. Mr Benjamin Boyce, of Kettering,
Mr David Boyd, Attorney at law, in Virginia, 2 Sets.-
The Rev. Mr John Brainerd, Miflionary to the
Indians, MP

^ LIST o/" SuBSCRlBEiJS. cxxix
Mr George Brown, Merchant, in Glafgow.
The Rev. Mr John Brown.
The Rev. Mr Abner Brufti, of New-Tork.
Andrew Bud, Efq; of Fenton, 2 Sets.
Dr Nathanael BuUine, of South-Carolina:
. Charles Buxton, Efq;
Mr Abfalom Bainbridge, Student at Naffaii-Hall,
Mr John Barfoot, Student at Mile-End.
Mr James Boyd, Student at Najfau-Hall.
Mr Jonathan Badger, of South-Carolina.
Mr Samuel Badley, of Walpole, 7 Sets^
Mr George Baldwin, of Soiah-Carolina.
Mr John Ballard, of Eaftwood.
Mrs Mary Barkfdale, of South-Carolina.
Mr David Batcheller, of South-Carolina^
Mr Robert Beck, of Virginia.
Mrs Sufannah Bee, of South-Carolina.
Mr John Beefly.
Mr James Bell, oi South-Carolina.
Mr William Bell, of South-Carolina.
Mr Mark Bell.
Mr William Bennett.
Mr Thomas Bentley.
Mrs Chriftian Barnard, of Southampton,
Mr Francis Berry, of Cambridge.
Mr Richard Blake, of South-Carolina. '
Mr Jacob Boardman, of New-England,
Mr Jonah Bonhorft, ol South-Carolina.
Mr Henry Bonneau, of South-Carolina.
Mr William Boofey, of Eaftwood.
Voii I h ^^^

cxxx ^ LIST o/' Subscribers.
Mr Charles Booth, of New-Tork.
Mr Stephen Boften, oi Pagglejham.
Mr John Bowles.
Mr Carington Bowles.
Mr Jonathan Bradbury, of New-England.
Mr Thomas Bradley,
Mr John Bradney.
Mr Edmond Brewer, of Virginia.
Mr Sackvill Brewer, of Virginia.
Mr Thomas Bridgeman, of Woodbridge.
Mr Brome, of Virginia.
Mr Samuel Brooks.
Mr David Brown, of Penfyhania.
Mr Jofhua Brown, of New-Tork.
Mr Clemens Brown, of South-Car olinai,
Mifs Sarah Brown, of Brijiol.
Mrs Brown, of Peckham.
Mr Browne.
Mr William Bruce.
Mr John Brufter, of New-Tork.
Mr Nathanael Bucke, of Ipfwich.
Mrs Ann Bullivant, of Willbafon.
Mr Julius King Burbydge, of Virginia., 2 Sets.
Mr Samuel Burch, of Hadleigh.
Mr Wright Burkitt.
Mr Burkitt, jun. of Sudbury.
Mr James Buttal.
Mr Buttall.
Mr Jeremiah Byles, of Ipfwich.
MrJ— B  . The

A LIST of Subscribers, cxxxi
C.
The Rev. Mr. Colin Campbell, of Kilmarnock.
Capt. John Cannon, of Virginia.
Dr Charles Capples, of Virginia.
The Rev. John Carmichael, A. B. of Penfyhania,
Benjamin Carpenter, Efq; of New-Tork.
Dr John Channing, of South-Carolina.
The Rev. Mr William Clarke.
The Rev. Mr. Benjamin Clegge, of Cottingham.
The Rev. Mr. Baxter Cole.
The Rev. John Conder, D. D.
The Rev. Mr. Connel, at Kilbride.
Capt. William Craghed, of Virginia, 2 Sets.
Dr Samuel Crefwell, of Virginia.
William Cromwell, Efq;
Mr Charles Cafe, Student at Mile-End.
Mr John Calver, of Ipfwich.
Mr John Carpenter, of New-Tork.
Mr Eliner Carpenter, of New-Tork.
Mr Samuel Carpenter, of New-Tork.
Mr Nathanael Chandler, of New-Tork,
Mr John Chatteris.
Mr Richard Chichefter, of Virginia.
Mr John Churchman, of Backing.
Mr Thomas Clarke, 7 Sets.
Mifs Clay, of Hodnet.
Mr Robert Clifl'e. .
Mr George Colebrooke.
Mr Daniel Coleman, of New-Tork.
Mr Samuel Coleman, of New-Tork.
h 2 Mr

exxxii yf LIST of Subscribers.
Mr John CoUett, of Briftol.
Mr Jonah Collins, of South-Carolina.
Mrs Hefter Conder, of Great-Stambridge
Mrs Ann Coaey.
Mr Thomas Corker, of South Carolina.
Mr John Croftsie, of St Edmunds-Bury.
Mr John Craven, of Philadelphia.
Mr David Crawford, of Virginia.
Mr Mofes Crawford, of Penfyhania.,
Mr Archibald Crawford, of Penfyhania.
Mr James Crefwell, of Virginia.
Mrs Johanna Crogher.
Mr Timothy Crofby, of South-Carolina.
Mr John Cumberland, of St Edmund' s-Bury.
Mr William Currie. D.
The Rev. Mr Jacob Dalton, of Braintree.
The Rev. Mr Abraham Darby, of Cambridge.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Davidfon, of Braintree.
The Rev. Mr Evan Davies, of Rochford.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Davies of Fairford.
The Rev. Mr Davies, of Kingfwood.
Mr Dennis de Berdt, Merchant, 14 Sets.
The Rev. Mr Jofliua Dickenfon, of Gloucejler.
The Rev. Mr William Douglafs, of Virginia.
The Rev. Mr Jonathan Dubois, of Penfyhania.
Capt. John Dutarque, of South-Carolina.
Mr Edmund Davies, Student, at Najfau-Hall.
Mr Samuel Duflield, Student in Phyfic, of Phila
delphia. Mr?

A LIST ©/'Subscribers, cxxxiii
Mrs Mary Daling.
Mr Robert Daniel, of South-Carolina.
Mrs Elizabeth Daniel, of South-Carolina.
Mr Valentine Darr, of South-Carolina.
Mr Thomas Day, of Saffron-Walden.
Mr Samuel Dayton.
Mr George Death, of Ipfwich.
Mr Ifchamar Degraffenriedt, of Virginia.
Mr Ifaac DeliefTelenc, of South-Carolina.
Mr Nathan Dell.
Mr Benjamin Dickenfon, of Halifax.
Mr Benjamin Dicker.
Mr Edward Dilly, Bookfeller, 3 Sets.
Mr John Doyle, of Penfyhania, >
Mr Walter Douglafs, of Virginia.
Mr John May Dring, of Ipfwich.
Mrs Lucretia Dungan, of Penfyhania.
Mrs Mary Dutarque, of South-Carolina.
Mr Edward Dyfon, of Stow Market.
E.
The Rev. Mr Edwards, of Ipfwich.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Ellis, of //«//, 7 Sets.
The Rev. Mr Jonathan Elmer, of New-Jerfey.
The Rev. John Erfliine, A. M. of Edinburgh.
The Rev. Mr Hugh Evans, of Briftol.
The Rev. Mr Caleb Evans, of Brifiol
Daniel Everett, YXc^, of New-Tork,
The Rev. Mr John Ewing, A. M. Profeflbrof Na
tural Philolbphy in the College at Philadelphia.
Mr Samuel Eakin, Student, at N^JJm-luu.
h 3 Mr

cxxxiv A LIST o/' Subscribers.
Mr Ezekiel Emerfon, Student at Naffau-Hall.
Mr John Eade.
Mr Thomas Eckley, of Hereford.
. Mr John Eddowes, of Chefter.
Mr Jofliua Eddowes, Bookfeller at Salop.
Mrs Sarah Edmonds, of South-Carolina.
Mr John Edwards, of Charles-Town, South-Cars-
lina, 7 Sets.
Mr John Eldridge, at Tarmouth, y Sets.
Mr William Ellis, of Charles-Town, South-Carolina.
Mr Richard Ellifon, of New-Tork.
Mr Jofeph Ellifon of New-Tork.
Mr Edward Ely, of St Edmund' s-Bury.
Mr Bulkely Emerfon, of New-England.
Mifs Mary Evans, of Brifiol.
Mr Ifaac Everett, of Rufhmere, F.
Mr Thomas Fall, Merchant, at Norwich.
The Rev. Mr Hugh Farmer, of Walthamftow.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Ferebee, of Sudbury^
The Rev. Mr Jeremiah Long Field, of Wellington.
The Rev. Samuel Finley, D.D. Prefident of the
College in New-Jerfey.
The Rev. James Fordyce, D. D,
Mr Ezekiel Forman, Merchant, of New-Market,.
America.
The Rev. Mr Benjamin Francis, of Horjley.
The Rev. Mr Francis, of Dunmow.
The Rev. Mr Samuel Fry, 7 Sets.
The Rev. Mr Philip Furneaux, of Clapham. '
4 Mr

..^ LIS T g/^ Subscribers, cxxxv
Mr Richard Farret, of Virginia.
Mr Benjamin Faulkner, of Virginia.
Mr Thomas Fenton, of Virginia,
Mr John Field.
Mr Daniel Finch, of New-Tork.
Mr John Flight.
Mr John Flindel, of Ipfwich.
Mr Ralph Flippen, of Virginia.
Mr Henry Fitcomb, of New- England.
Mr George Fordham, of KelJIiall.
Mr Stephen Fogartie, of South-Carolina.
Mr Alexander Foxcroft, of Nottingham.
Mr Jofeph Froft, of St Edmund' s-Bury.
Mr Richard Froft.
Mr William Fuller.
Mr Thomas Fuller. G.
The Right Hon. the Lady Frances Gardiner.
John Gale, Efq; of New-Tork,
The Rev. Mr John Gano.
The Rev. Mr John Gawfell, of IJlington.
Mr William Geddes, Merchant, in Maryland.
The Rev. Thomas Gibbons, D. D.
The Rev. Mr John Gillies, of Glafgow, 7 Sets.
, The Rev. Mr Peter Good, of Epping.
Mr Walter Goodman, Merchant, in Philadelphia.
The Rev. Mr William Gordon.
Col. James Gordon, of Virginia, 7 Sets,
Capt. John Gordon, of Virginia.
The Rev. Mr Greaves, of Tefftngton.
h 4 Mr

exxxvi ^ LIST o/" Subscribers.
Mr Edward Gantt, jun. Student at Naffau-Hall^
3 Sets.
Mr Thomas Gibbons, Student at Mile-End.
Mr Hiram Gains, of Virginia.
Mr John Gainfborough, of Sudbury.
Mr Samuel Gale, of New-Tork, 3 Sets,
Mr Benjamin Gale, of New-Tork.
Mr William Gardiier,
Mr Guilford Gibfbn.
Mr Edward Goldney.
Mr Danief Grant, of Virginia,
Mrs Mary Grant.
Mr William Gray, Bookfeller zt Edinburgh, 3 Sets,
Mr Robert Green, of Nottingham.
Mr John Green, of Nottingham.
Mr Benjamin Greenleaf, of New'England.
H.
The Rev. Mr Archibald Hall.
Jeremiah Halfey, A. B. Tutor in the College in
New-Jerfey.
Ifaac Handy, A. B. of Maryland.
Capt. George Harriot, of Great-Stambridge,
The Rev. Mr Rice Harris, 4 Sets.
The Rev. Mr John Harris, of Maryland.
Dodor Robert Harris.
The Rev. Mr Harrop, of IVem.
The Rev. Mr Oliver Hart, of South-Carolin(i,
7 Sets.
The Rev. Mr Thonias Hatton, Redor of Water^-
JJpton John

y^ LI S T o/' Subscribers, exxxvi
John Haywood, Efq; of Maryland.
The Rev. Mr John Adam Hecker.
Mr William Henry, Merchant, of Philadelphia.
The Rev. Mr Hugh Henry, of Maryland.
Col. John Henry, of Virginia.
The Rev. Mr Edward Hickman, of Hitchin.
The Rev. Mr Nathanael Hicks, of Brentwood.
The Rev. Mr Ottewel Higginbothom, of Sudbury.
Richard Hill, Efq ; of HawkeJlone,
The Rev. Mr Bartholomew Henry Himeli, of
South-Carolina.
The Rev. Mr Patriclc Henry, of Virginia.
The Rev. Edward Hitchin, B. D.
The Rev. Mr WiUiam Hitchman, of Hiljley.
Mr Andrew Hodge, Merchant, in Philadelphia.
Mr John Hodfden, Merchant, in South-Carolina,
7 Sets.
Mr William Hog, Merchant at Edinburgh.
Col. Elias Horry, of South-Carolina.
The Rev. Mr John Horfey, of Ringwood.
Major Benjamin Howard, of Virginia.
Capt. John Howard, of Virginia.
Capt. WilUam Howard, of Virginia.
Matthew Howell, Efq; of New-Tork.
Hezekiah Howell, Efq; of New-Tork.
The Rev. Mr John Howlett, of Bedworth,
The Rev. Mr WUliam Hunt, of Hackney.
Capt. John Hunter, of Virginia.
Mr John Harris, Student, at Naffau-Hall.
Mr John Hurlbut, Student, at Naffau-Hall.
MrWilliamHale, of5r^/7.;./, Mr
5

CEXXviii .^ LIST o/" SuBSCRtBERS.
Mr Henry HaU.
Mr Ebenezer Hally, of New-Tork.
Mr William Hamlin, of Souib-Carolina.
Mr WUliam Hammock, of Virginia.
Mrs Judah Harlow, of New Tcrk.
Mr James Harriott, 3 Sets.
Mr John Harris, of BriJloL
Mr Robert Harris.
Mr Harris, ofiHealh-Lane.
Mr Mongo Harvey, of Virginia.
Mr John Harvey, of Penfyhania.
Mr Benjamin Haws, of South-Carolina.
Mr Thomas Haydon.
Mr Nicholas Hayes, of Virginia.
Mr Bridg'er Haynie, of Virginia.
Mr Robert Hay ward, of St Edmund's-Bury..
Mr Philip Heath, of Salop.
Mr HeUicar, of Briftol.
Mr John Henderfon, fen. of Virginia.
Mr John Henderfon, of Penfyhania.
Mr Henfliaw, of Wem.
Mr John Hefkett, of South-Carolina.
Mrs Mary Hefkett, of South-Carolina.
Mr Thomas Heward.
Mr Andrew Hibben, of South-Carolina.
Mrs Rachel Himeli, of South-Carolina.
Mr Peter Hitchcock, of Lavenham.
Mr Samuel Hodge, of Virginia.
Mr William HoUand, fen. of Virginia.
Mr W^iUiam HoUand, jun. of Virginia.
Mr John Holmes, jun of Exeter. Mi=s

A LIST o/" Subscribers, cxxxix
Mrs Rebecca Holmes, of South-Carolina.
Mrs Elizabeth Holmes, of South-Carolina.
Mr William Holt, of Virginia, 14 Sets.
Mr Jofeph Holt, of J'irginia.
Mr John Hooke, of Sudbury.
Mr John Hopkins.
Mr Elias Horry, ^of South-Carolina.
Mr Peter Horry, 6^ South-Carolina.
Mr John Howell.
Mr David Hudfon, of Virginia.
Mr Mark Huggins, of South-Carolina.
Mr George Huggins, of South-Carolina.
Mr John Humber, of Virginia.
Mr Benjamin Humphreys, Willbafon.
Mr Thomas Hunt.
Mrs Hurlock;
Mr Thomas Hurft, of Hinckley.
Mr Jofeph Hurt, 2 Sets. I.
Michael Jackfon, Efq; of New-Tork.
The Rev. Mr David Jardine, of Abergavenny.
Charles Jennens, Efq; '
The Rev. Mr Jarvais.
The Rev. Mr Evan Jones, of Little-Baddow.
Samuel Jones, A.B. of Philadelphia.
Mr Devereux Jarrat, Student in Divinity, 2 Sets.
Mr Nathaniel Jennings,. Student at Mile-End.
Mr John Jackfon.
Mrs Sarah Jackfon, of Ipfwich.
Mrs Jackfon.
Mr

cxl .<^ LIST o/" Subscribers,'
Mr Samuel Jaliafeno, of Virginia.
Mr John Jamefon, of Virginia.
Mr John Jarrold, of Woodbridge.
Mr Samuel Jarrold, of Colchefler.
Mr James Jewett, of New-England.
Mr Samuel Ingham, of Nottingham.
Mrs Elizabeth Jondan, of South-Caroling.
Mr Edward Johns, of Bijhop-Stortford.
Mr Jones, of Bifltop-Stortford.
Mr Michael Jones, of Virginia.
Mr John Jones, of Virginia.
Mr Richard Joy, of South-Carolina, K.
The Honourable Mrs Kincaid.
The Rev. Mr Keay, of Whitchurch.
Nathan Ker, A. B. of Naffau-Hall.
Jacob Ker. A. M. Tutor in the College in New-
Jerfey.
The Rev. WUliam King, D. D.
The Rev. Mr William Kingflaury, of Southampton.
The Rev. Mr Andrew Kippis.
The Rev. Mr William Kirkpatrick, of Fenton.
Mr Leonard Keeling.
Mr George Keith, Bookfeller, 7 Sets.
Mrs Mary Kell, of Woodbridge,
Mr James Kenton.
Mrs Kett, of Norwich.
Mr Martin Key, of Virginia.
Mrs Mary King, of Virginia.
Mr Samuel Kirk, of Nottingham.
Mr William Kirkham, of Willbafon. The

.^LIST o/* Subscribers. cxU
L.
The Moft Honourable the Marquis of Lothian.
The Right Honourable the Earl of Lauderdale.
The Right Honourable the Earl of Leven.
The Rev. Mr Timothy Lamb.
Thomas Lambell, Efq; of South-Carolina.
The Rev. WiUiam Langford, D. D.
The Rev. Mr Samuel Lavington, of Biddeford.
John Leferty, A. B. of Naffau-Hall.
John Le Fevre, Efq;
The Rev. Mr Lewelyn, of Hereford.
Major Lewis, of Virginia.
Capt. Charles Lewis, of Virginia.
The Rev. Mr Jofiah Lewis.
The Rev. Mr William Lifter, of Ware.
Thomas LlueUin, L. L. D. 2 Sets.
The Rev. Mr Lombard.
Mr Nehemiah Ludlum, Student at Naffau-Hall.
Mr Jofeph Lyon, Student at Naffau-Hall.
Mr Charles Lawrence.
Mr WUliam Lawrence.
Mr John Leah, of Sower by.
Mr Samuel Leak, of Virginia.
Mr Thomas Lee, of Nottingham.
Mr Ifaac Legare, of South-Carolina.
Mr Nathan Legare, of South-Carolina.
Mr Daniel Legare, fen. of South-Carolina.
Mr Daniel Legare, jun. of South-Carolina.
Mr Thomas Legare, jun. of South-Carolina.
Mr Jofeph Legare, of South-Carolina.
Mr

cxiii ^ L I S T of Subscribers,
Mr Peter Lequex, of South -Carolina.
Mr Ifaac Lefefne, of South-Carolina.
Mr Daniel Lefefne, of South-Carolina.
Mr Robert Lewin.
Mr John Lewis jun. of Virginia, 4 Sets.
Mr Robert Lewis, of Virginia.
Mr Jofliua Lincolne, of Norwich.
Mr John Ling, of St Edmund's-Bury.
Mr Ebenezer Little, of New-England.
Mr Benjamin Lomas, of Nottingham.
Mr Jofeph Lomas.
Mr Edward Lowe.
Mr William Lowe, of Nottingham.
Mr Daniel Ludlow, of Sudbury,
M.
The Rev. Mr WiUiam M^CuUock, of Cambuffang^
The Rev. Mr Martin Madan.
The Rev. Mr Stephen Maling, of Lavenham.
The Rev. Mr John Martin, of South-Carolina.
Fletcher Matthews, Efq; of Neiv-Tork.
Ifrael Mauduit, Efq;
The Rev. Henry Mayo, A. M.
Rev. Mr Benjamin Miller, of New-Jerfey.
Capt. James MUler.
Mr Rob. Scott Moncreithj Merchant, atEdinburgh.
The Rev. Mr Jofeph Montgomery, of Maryland.
Capt. Samuel Morris, of Virginia.
Capt. John Morton, of Virginia.
WiUiam Mount, Efq; of Clapham, 3 Sets.
Capt. John Muir. Capt.

A LIST o/" SuBsCRiBElis. cxliii
Capt. William Muir,
Mr John M'Crea, Student at Naffau-Hall.
Mr Nathanael Manning, jun. Student at Naffaa-
Hall.
Mr James Manning, jun. Student at Naffau-HoM.
Mr Thomas Martin, Student at Naffau-Hall.
Mr James Merchant, Student at Mile-End.
Mr John M'Clain, of South-Carolina.
Mr John M'Dovel, of South-Carolina.
Mr WiUiam M'Hard, of New-England.
Mr Robert Maitland.
Mrs Sufannah Martin, of South-Carolina.
Mr Jofeph Mafon, of Stapletpn.
Mrs Hannah Mafon.
Mr WiUiam Mathews, of South-Carolina.
Mr George Mathews, of South-Carolina.
Mrs Ann Mathews, of South-Carolina.
Mr John Mayers, of South-Cafolina.
Mr John Meakin.
Mr John Mee, of Ipfwich.
Mr Philip Meyer, of South-Carolina.
Mr Jacob Michaux, of Virginia.
Mrs Emma Miles, of Tooting, z Sets.
Mr Frederick Miller.
Mr John Mitchell, of Virginia-
Mr John Moggridge.
Mr Jofeph Moody, of South-Carolina.
, Mr John Moore, of South -Carolina.
Mrs Elizabeth Moore, of South-Carolina.
Mifs Moore, of Briftol,
Mrs Morris, of RowelL Mr

cxliv A LIST of Subscribers,
Mr Stephen Mofbey, of Virginia,
Mr Mounflier, of Portfmouth, 7 Sets.
Mr John Mowdree, of Virginia.
Mr Robert MurreU, fen. of South-Carolina.
Mr Robert Murrell, jun. of South-Carolina.
N.
Nathanael Neale, Efq;
The Rev. Mr John Newton, of Olney.
Samuel Nivins, Student in Phyfic, of Philadelphia.
Ebenezer Noyes, A. B. of New-England.
Jofhua Noyes, A. B. of New-England.
Nathanael Noyes, A. B. of New-England.
Mr Obadiah Noble, jun. Student at Naffau-Hall.
MrNafli, ftr\.. of AElon.
Mr Ifaac Nafh, of Sudbury.
Mr Samuel Need, of Nottingham.
Mr Stephen Negus, fen. of Thorley.
Mr Sandall Netherwood, of Hockley.
Mr SandaU Netherwood, jun. of Rayleigh.
Mr John Notcutt, of Ipfwich
Mr George Notcutt, of Ipfwich:
Mrs Ann Nuckols, of Virginia
O.
The Rev. Mr John Olding, of Deptf ord.
The Rev. Job Orton, A. M. of Salop,
Mr John Oliver.
Mr William Oliver. P.
The Rev. Mr Samuel Palmer, of Hackney, The

A LIST of SUBSCRIBEltS. tjel^
the Rev. Mr John Palmer, of Woodbridge.
The Revt Mr Henry Patillo, of Virginia^ i SetSi
The Rev. Mr Edward Pickard.
The Rev. Mr Jofeph PittSi
The Rev. Mr Michael Pope.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Porter, of Hinckley,
John Potter, A. B. of Penfyhania.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Prentice.
The Rev. Mr Evan Pugh, of South-Carolina.
Mr Francis Peppard, Student at Naffau-HalL
Mr Thomas Pacy, of South-Carolina,
Mr Rowland Page.
Mr John Pagon, Merchant, in Glafgowi
Mr William Parker, of South-Carolina.
Mr Solomon Pafely, of Virginia.
Mr Thomas Paul; Merchant, in Norwich.
Mr John Payne, Bookfeller.
Mr Alexander PeronneaU, of South-Car olitiai
3 Sets.
Mr Henry Peronneau,' of Soilth-Cdroliria, 7 Sets;
Mr Samuel Peronneau, of South-Carolina, 2 Sets.-
Mr Thomas Pewrrefs.
Mr John Philips, bf Bifftop-Stortford.
Mr John PhUlibrown.
Mr Edward Pitts.
Mr Jofhua Polk, of Maryland.
Mr John I*fieftlyj of ftorthourani. R.
The Rev. Mr Ogle Radford, of Not tinghdni,
John Raven, Efq; of Soiith-Carolina.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Reader, of Newbury.
Vol. 1. i John

exivi A LIST ^Subscribers."
John Redman, M. D. of Philadelphia.
Mr John Rhea, Merchant, in Philadelphia.
David Rice, A. B. of Virginia.
Mr John Rimmington; Mayor of Coventry.
Dodor Andrew Robertfbn, of Virginia.
Septimus Robinfon, Efq; of Philadelphia.
Samuel Ruggles, Efq; of Spains-Hall, Effex.
Benjamin Rufli, A. B. Student in Phyfic, of Phi'
ladelphia. \
The Rev. Mr John Ryland, of Northampton.
Mr Thomas Rufton, Student in Phyfic, of Phi
ladelphia.
Mr John Radford.
Mr Robert Ralphs of Ipfwich.
Mr John Rampart, of South-Carolina.
Mr Peter Rampart, of South-Carolina.
Mr Thomas Randolph.
Mr Thomas Rankin, of Saffron-Walden. ,
Mr Thomas Redman, of Gofport.
Mr John Reed, of Crediton.
Mrs Reeves, of Spains-Hall, Effex, 2 Sets.
Mr Turner Richardfon, of Virginia.
Mrs Elizabeth Richier.
Mr Sa.muel Rickards.
Mr Mark Ridgeway.
Mrs Elizabeth Rimmington, of Coventry,
Mr Edward Roberts.
Mr Samuel Roberts.
Mr Robinfon, of Lincoln.
Mr Thomas Robinfon, of St Edmund's-Bury.
Mr

A LIST 6f SuBSCRIBEkS. cxlvii
Mr Samuel R6'by, of Nottidgham^
Mr Sambtt Rodbard, of Ipfwich.
Mr WiUiam Rogers*
Mrs Jane RoUefton, csf SouthafnptsH.
Mr William Rowntree, of Virginia.
Mr George RuflTell, of Philadelphia.
Mr John Rutland, of Woodbridge.
Mr George Rutt, of Friday-ftreet, 2 SetSi
Mr George Rutt, of Bir chin-lane.
S.
The Right Honourable the Lady Janet Sinclair.
The Right Honourable James Stuart, Efq; Lord
Frovoft of Edinburgh.
The Rev. Dr John Samwell, of Rumfeyi
The Rev. Samuel Moreton Savage, B. D.
The Rev. Mr Thomas Saunders, of Bedxvorth^
Micajah Sawyer, A. M. of New-England.
Mr Charles Schrieber^ Merchant.
Mr John Scqtt, Merchant, at Norwich.
Capt- John Scott, of Penfyhania.
Col. Richard Selden, of Virginia.
The Rev. Patrick Simfon, A. M. of Coventry.
The Rev. Mr Simfon, of Bothwell.
The Rev, Jofiah Smith, A. M. of South-Carolina,
7 Sets.
Jonathan Smith, Efqj of New-Tork.
WiUiam Smith, jun. Efq; Counfellor at Law, of
New-Tork.
WUUam Peachee Smith, Efq; of Elizabeth Town.
Capt. WiUiam Smith, of Virginia.
Mr Samuel Smith, Merchant, of Philadelphia.
i 2 'Mr

cxlviii A LIST of Subscribers.
Mr Thomas Smith, Merchant, of Philadelphia.
The Rev. Robert Smith, A. M. oi Penfyhania.
WiUiam Snooke, Efq;
Samuel Sparrow, Efq; 2 Sets.
The Rev. Mr John Stafford.
The Rev. Mr Ifaac Stelle, of New-Jerfey.
The Rev. Samuel Stennett, D. D.
The Rev. Mr Jofeph Stennett.
the Rev. Mr John Stephens, of South-Carolina.
The Rev. Mr Samuel Stephens, of Stretton.
The Rev. Mr George Stephens.
Dr Thomas Stinfon, of South-Carolina.
Richard Stockton, Counfellor at Law, of Prince
ton.
Col. John Syme, of Virginia.
Dr John Syme, of South-Carolina.
The Rev. Mr Jofhua Symonds.
Mr WUliam Symonds, Merchant, in Philadelphia.
Mr Jofeph Saunders, Student, at Mile-End.
Mr Hezekiah Smith, Student, at Naffau-Hall,
2 Sets.
Mr Jofeph Sanders, iun. of South-Carolina.
Mr John Scott, of Birmingham.
Mr WiUiam Scbtt, of Penfyhania. '
Mr John Scott, of South-Carolina.
Mr Robert Scott, of Penfyhania.
Mr WiUiam Sharp, jun. of Newport in the Ifte of
Wight, 3 Sets.
Mr David Shelton, of Virginia.
Mr David Shepherd, of New-Tork.
5 Mr

^ LIST o/' Subscribers. cxiix
Mr William Shepherd, of Plymouth.
Mr William Shepherd, of Virginia,
Mr Richard Shrapnal, 2 Sets.
Mr Thomas Shrimpton.
Mr Jofeph Shrimpton.
Mr Benjamin Simons, of South-Carolina.
Mrs Frances Simons, of South-Carolina.
Mr John Singletary, of South- Carolina.
Mr Chriftopher Simpfon, of South-Carolina.
Mr James Smith.
Mr George Smith, jun. of South-Carolina,
Mr David Smith, of South-Carolina, 7 Sets.
Mr Jofiah Smith, of South-Carolina, 2 Seu.
Mr John Smith, of South-Carolina,
Mr Samuel Smith, of Virginia,
Mr WiUiam Smith, of Virginia,
Mr Jonathan Smith.
Mr John Snelfon, of Virginia.
Mr Ifaac Snowden, of Philadelphia.
Mr Benjamin Snorgrafs, of Penfyhania.
Mr James Snorgrafs, of Penfyhania.
Society of young Men at Kettering, 2 Sets.
Society at Salop.
Mr Richard Span, of Virginia.
Mr Robert Sporle, of Ipfwich.
Mr Spungall.
Mr Hugh Stephenfon, of Penfyhania.
Mr Robert Stewart, of Penfyhania.
Mr Chriftopher Stibbs.
Mr John Stonard, fen. of Hockley, iffex%
i 3 Mr

cl ..4 L I S T o/" Subscribers,
Mr Jofeph Stonard, of Pag^ffi^m, Effex..
Mr James Stonard, of PagleJhtm, Effex.
Mr Thomas Studd, of Hadley, % Sets,
Mr Eufebius Sweet.
Mr J  S  . T.
Major William Taite, of Virginia, a Sets.
The Rev. Mr Taylor, of Stoke-Newington.
William Tennent, jun. A. M.
The Rev. Mr Thawyer.
The Rev. Mr WiUiam Tomlinfon, Redor of
Rochford.
The Rev. Mr Jofiah Thomfon.
Major William Thomfon, of New-Tork.
The Rev. Mr John Todd, of Virginia, 2 Sets.
The Rev. Thomas Towle, B. D-
Ihe Rev. Mr Meredith To\!ifnfend, of Stokcr.
Newington, 7 Sets,
The Rey. Mr Ds^nief Turner, of Abingdon.
Col. Benjamin Tvjften, of New-Tork.
Mr WiUiam Macky Tennent, Student at Naffau-'
Hall.
Mr John Tabor, of Backing, 2 Sets.
Mr John Talbot, of Weften.
Mr Nathan Tart, of South-Carolina.
Mr Jofeph Taylor, of Svuthmnpton.
Mr Walter Taylor, of Southmnpton,
Mr William Taylor.
Mr John Taylor, of SotHh-Carolina.
"Mr Andrew Taylor, of South-CoroUna. Mrs

A LIST of Subscribers. ell
Mrs Lydia Taylor.
Mr Robert Tenham, of Virginia.
Mr William Terrill, of Virginia.
Mrs Ann ToUer.
Mr Benjamin Tomkins, of Abingdon.
Mr Jofeph Tomkins, of Abingdon,
Mr \Villiam Tomkins, of Abingdon.
Mr Redburn Tomkins.
Mr James Tompfon, of Norwich.
Mr Stackhoufe Tompfon, of Norwich.
Mr John Townfend, of South-Carolina.
Mr John Traile.
Mr Aaron Trueheart, of Virginia.
Mr Samuel Tufts, of New England.
Mr John Turner, of Ipfwich.
Mr Paul Turquand, of South-Carolina.
U and V.
WilUam Vanderhorft, Efq; of South-Carolina.
Capt. Arnoldus Vanderhorft, of South-Carolina,
Lawrence Vandervier, A. B. of Naffau-Hall.
The Rev. Mr Edward Venner.
Mr Nicholas Van Dike, Student of Law at Phila
delphia.
Mr Elias Vanderhorft, of South-Carolina.
Mr Aaron Vardy, of St Edmund's-Bury.
Mr Abraham Venable, of Virginia, 3 Sets.
Mr Nathanael Venable, of Virginia.
Mr John Vowel.
Mr Thomas Utting, of 2''ar month, 7 Sets,
i 4. The

dii ./^ L I S T of Subscribers.
W.
The Honourable Samuel Woodruflf, Efq; 6nc of
his Majefty's Council for the Provirice ol
New-Jerfey.
The Rev. Mr James Waddel, of Virginia.
The Rev. Mr George Waldron, of Barnftaph.
Mr John Wallace, Merchant, in Philadelphia.
The Rev. John Walker, L.L.D.
The Rev. Arthur Walker, A. M. of Hantiver^
Virginia,
The Rev. James Watfon, A. M,
Luke Way man, M- D.
the Rev. Mr James Webb, 7 Sets.
The Rev. Mr Robert Wells, of P^oyfton.
The Rev. George Whitefield, A.B.
Mr John Wickoff^, Merchant, in Philadelphia.,
The Rev. Mr Thomas Williams, of Gofport,
Hugh Williamfon, A. M. Profeflbr of Mathe
matics in the College in Philadelphia,
The Rev. Mr Samuel WUton.
The Rev. Mr WUliam Windle.
John Winter Efq;
'The Rev. Richard Winter, B. D,
Henry Wither, Efq; of New-Tork.
The Rev. Samuel Wood, D. D. of Norwich.
The Rev. WiUiam Wright, of Ringwood, 7 Set§,
Henry Wynkoop, Efq; of Penfyhania,
Mr James Watt, Student, at Naffau-Hall.
Mr William EUiot Waggaman, of Maryland.
^Ir WiUiam Walker, of Virginia, Mrs

^ LIST o/'Subscribers.
Mrs Rebecca Wallace, of Glafgow.
Mr Samuel WaUace, of Virginia.
Mrs Watfon, of Hull.
Mr William Watfon, of Iftingtoii.
Mr John Watfon, of Virginia.
Mr Jonathan Wathen.
Mi:;s Wayte, of Finchley.
Mr Samuel Wells, of South^Carolina.
Mf Elifha Whilden, of South-Carolina.
Mr Jofeph WhUden, of South-Carolina.
Mr John Whinard, of Norwich.
Mr John White, of South-Carolina.
Mrs Martha White, of South-Carolina.
Mr WiUiam White, of Virginia.
Mr William White, of South-Carolina.
Mr David Whitlock, of Virginia.
Mrs Elizabeth Wigton, of Penf/hania.
Mr Bvjirton WUbie.
Mr Wilkins.
Mr Robert Wilkinfon.
Mr Mofes WUlats.
Mr Thomas Wilfon, 2 Sets:
Mrs Mary Wilfon, of Coventry.
Mr Samuel WUton.
Mr WiUiam Wilton.
Mr Richard Withers, of South-Carolina.
Mr George Witton.
Mrs Sarah Witton, pf Weft-Bromwich.
Mr Richard Parifli Witts.
}^r Wood, pf Salop.

Mr

div A LIST of Subscribers,
Mr Jofeph Wood, of Nottingham.
Mr Timothy Wood, of New-Tbri.
Mr Shirley Woolmer.
Mr Tucker Wpodfon, of Virginia.
Mrs Judith Wordfworth.
Mr Ichabod Wright, of Nottingham.
Mr John Wright, of Nottingham.
Mr Thomas Wright, of Nottingham.
Mr William Wright, of Wefton.
Mr John Wright j of Virginia.

Y.
fSot>
Mr Abimael Youngs, of New-Tork.

Mr Thomas Young, of Seuth-CaroUfta,

CON-

CONTENTS

O F

VOLUME t

SERMON I.
The Divine Authority and Sufficiency of the
Cbriflian Religion.
Luke xvi. 27 — 31.
<T^H E N he faid, I pray thee therefore, father,
that thou wouldefl fend him to my father s
houfe : for I have five brethren : that he may
teftify unto them, lefl they alfo come into this
place of torment. Abraham faith unto him, They
have Mofes and the prophets; let them hear them.
Aid he faid. Nay, father Abraham : but if one
went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
And he faid unto him. If they hear not Mcfes
and the prophets, neither will they be perfkafed
though one fofe from the dead. Page i — 50
5

clvi CONTENTS of Vol. L
SERMON IL
The Nature of Salvation through Jesus Christ
explained and recommended.
John iii. 26.
For God fo loved the world, that he gave his only-
begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him
fhould not perifh, but have everlafting Ufe.
Page 51— -87
SERMON III.
Sinners intreated to be reconciled to God.
2 C o R. V. 20.
Now then ipe are ambaffadors for Christ, as
though God did befeech you by us : we pray you
in Christ's ftead, Be ye reconciled to Goo.
89 — 121
SERMON IV.
The Nature and Univerfality of fpiritual Death.
E p h e s. ii. I and 5.
•¦¦ ¦ Who were dead in trefpajei and fins. — £w«
when we were dead in fi?ts. 123 — 157

CONTlENTSof Vol. I. clvii.,
SERMON V.
The Nature and Procefs of fpiritual Life;
E P H E s. ii. 4, 5.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us., even when we were dead
in fins, hath quickened us together with Christ.
Page 159—188
SERMON VL
Poor and Contrite Spirits the Objeils of the
Divine Favour.
Isaiah Ixvi. 2.
— 7<? this man will Hook ; even to him that is poor,
and of a contrite fpirit, and trembles at my
word. 189— 213
SERMON Vn.
The Nature and Danger of making light of
Christ and Salvation.
Matt. xxii. 5.
But they made light of it. 215—238

cMi CONTENTSef Vot. 1.
SERMON vm.
ThoCompifGon of Christ to Weak Believers.
Matt. xii. 20.
A bruifed reedfhall he not break, and fmoking fax
fhall he not quench. Page 239 — 265
SERMON IX.
The Connexion between prefent Holinefs and
future Felicity.
Heb. xii. 14.
Follow — Holinefs, without which no man fhall fee
//^f- Lord. 267' — 28S

SERMON

BOOKS lately FuhUfhed,
Which may be had of J. Buckland, J. Payne, and
J. Johnson and Co. in Pater-nofter-row, and E. and
C DiLLV in the Poultry, near the Manfion-houfe.
I. fT^ H E Hidden Life of a Chriftian, eXempli-
X fied in the Diary^ Meditations, and Letters
of a young Minifter. Publiflied from his own Ma-
nufcripts by Thomas Gibbons^ D. D.
II. Living Chriftianity deliheated in the Diaries
and Letters of Captain Hugh Bryan, and Mrs Mary
Hutfon, both of South-Carolina; with a Preface by
John Conder, D. D. and Thomas GibboHSi D. D.
III. Mr Pearfall's Contemplations on the Ocean^
Harveft, Sicknefs, and laft Judgment.
N. B. The Contemplations on the Ocean are re
commended by the late ingenious Mr Hervey
in his Theron and Afpajio.
IV. Mr Pearfall's Contemplations oh Butterflies,;
the fuU Moon, and a Walk through a Wood.
V. Reliquia Sacra, or Meditations on feleft Paffages
of Scripture, and Sacred Dialogues between a Father
and his ChUdren. In two Volumes. By the Rev.
Mr Richard Pearfall. Publifiied from his Manufcript?
defigned for the Prefs, by Thomas Gibbons, D. 0.

SERMON I.
The divine Authority and Sufficiency
of the Chriftian Religion.
LUKE XVL 27—31.
Tien ke faid, I pray thee therefore, father, tha^'
thou wouldjl Jend him to my father's houfe; for I
have five brethren ; that he may teftify unto
them, lejl they aljo come into this place of torment.
Abraham faith unto him. They have Mofes and
the Prophets ; let them hear them. And he faidi
Nay, father Abraham, hut if one went unto
them from the dead, they vjill repejit. And he
faid unto him, If they hear not Mofes aitd the
Prophets, 7ieithcr loill they be perfuaded, though
one rofe from the dead.

H

?<Si©i"^ HAT Micah faid fuperflitiouf]y,
¦r^ fl when he was robbed of his idols,
© " Ye have taken away my eods ;
js.^S-esji^ " and what have I more [a) V may
be truly fpoken with regard to the religion of
Vol. I. " B Jesus,
[a] Judg. xviii. 34.

2 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm. I .
Jesus, If that be taken from us, what have we
more? " If the foundations be deflroyed, what
" fliall the righteous do [f) ?" The generality
of you owe all your hopes of a glorious immor
tality to this heaven-born religion, and you
make it the rule of your faith and pra^Sice;
confident that in fo doing you pleafe God.
But what if after all you fliould be miflaken ?
what if the religion of Jesus fliould be an
impofture ?— ^I know you are flruck with hor
ror at the thought, and perhaps alarmed at my
making fo fhocking a fuppofition. But this
fufpicion, horrid as it is, has probably been
fuggefled to you at times by infernal agency ;
this fufpicion: may at' times have rifen in your
minds in their wanton and licentious excurfions,
or fiom the falfe alarms of a melancholy and
timorous imagination: and if this fufpicion has
never been raifed in you by the fophiftical con
verfation of loofe wits and afi^efted ration aliffs,
it has been owing to your happy retirement from
the -polite world, where infidelity makes ex-
tenfivij conquefls under the fpecious name of
Deifm. Since therefore you are fubjeft to an
affault from fuch a fufpicion, when you may
not be armed ready to repel it, let me this day
ftart it from its ambufli, that 1 may try the
force of a few arguments upon it, and furnifh
you with weapons to conquer it.
Let me alio tell you, that that faith in the
Chriftian Religion vv'hich proceeds from infuf-
ficicnt
(^) Pfal, xi. 3.

Scnn.r. of the Chriftian Religion. 3
ficient or bad principles, is but little better than
infidelity. If you believe the Chriftian Reli
gion to be divine, becaufe, you hardly care
whether it be true or falle, being utterly uncon
cerned about religion in any fliape, and there
fore never examining the matter; — If you be
lieve it true, becaufe you have been educated in
it; becaufe your parents or mifiifters have told
you fb} or becaufe it is the religion of your
country; if thefe are the only grounds of
your faith, it is not fuch a faith as conftitutes
you true Chriftians, for upon the very fame
grounds you would have been Mahometans in
Turkey, difciples of Confucius in China, or v/or-
fhippers of the devil among tlie Indians, if it had
been your unhappy lot to be born in thole coun
tries; for a Mahometan, a Chittefe, or an Indian^
can affign thefe grounds for his faith. But fure,
I need not tell you, that the grounds of a mif
taken belief in an impofture are not a fufScient
foundation for a faving faith in a divine reve
lation. I am afraid there are many fuch im
plicit believers among us, v/ho are in the right
only by chance : and thefe lie a prey to every
temptation, and may be turned out of the way
of truth by every wind of docCtrine. It is
therefore neceffary to teach them the grounds
of the Chriftian Religion, both to prevent their
feduftion, and to give them a rational and
well-grounded faith, inftead of ftiat vyhieh is
only blind and accidental.
B a Nay,

4 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm.i .
Nay, fuch of us as have the cleareft convic
tion of this important truth, had need to have
it inculcated upon us, that we may be more
and more imprefled with it; for the influence
of Chriftianity upon our hearts an4 lives will
be proportioned to the realizino;, affefting per
fuafion of its truth and certainty in our under-
ffandings. If I can prove that Chriftianity anfwers all
the ends of a religion from God ; — if I can
prove that it is attended with fufficient at
teftations; — if I can prove that no fufficient
objedions can be offered againft it 3 — and that
men have no reafon at all to defire another ;
but that if this proves ineffedual for their re
formation and falvation, there is no ground to
hope that any other would prove fuccefsful : — I
fay, if I can prove thefe things, then the point
in debate is carried, and we muft all embrace
the religion 'of Jesus as certainly true. — Thefe
things are afferted or implied in my text, with
reipeft to the Scriptures then extant, Mofes, and
the Prophets,
My text is a parabolical Dialogue between
Abraham and one of his wretched pofterity,
once rioting in the luxuries of high life, but
nov/ tormented in infernal fiame_s.
We read of his brethren in his father's houfe;
among thefe probably his eftLi;e was divided
upon his deceafe; from whence we may infer
that he had no children ; for had he had any,
it would have been more natural to reprefent him

S^rm;!/ ' ¦ of the Chriftian Religion. "' ' ' ' f
him as foKcitpus foir their Reformation by a
mfeflTdfigef ftom the dead, than for that of his
bMhersi He feems therefore; like fome of our
tih'M^|)'j? model;nir'akeS','juft to have dome to his
olateV andjtip havfe abandoned hitrifelf to fuch a
courfe of debaucheries as foon ffiattered his'con-
ftitution, and brought hitri down to the grave,
andl^alas ! to hell, in the bloom of life, when they
were' far' ff-oni- his thoughts. May this be' a-
%arnii3g to all of his age and circumftances 1 ,. ,
Whether froKj 'fome re-maiiiing affe£lioh to
his brethren, or (which is rhore. likely) fi'om ^
fear that they vvho;had fhared with hihi in ftn,
- .would jricreafe his torment if they fhould' de
fcend to him in the infernal prifdn, he is folici-
, toils that Lazarus Toi^xt he fent as an apoftle
jG^orri the' dead to warh them. His petition is
to this purpofe, 'f .Since no requeft in: iiiy own
*' favour can be granted j- fince I cannot obtaiii.
"" the poor favour of a drop of water, to, cool my
'* flamirsg tongue, let me ajtleaftf make one re-
'* queft in behalf of thofe that iare; as yet in the
•^ land of hope, and not beyond the reaeih of
*' mercy. In my father's houfe I haVe five bre-
" tbren,_gay, tho'ughtlefs, young creatures,- who
•* are now rioting in ' thDfe=^ riches I was forced
to leave,; who interred my mouldering corps
hi ftate, little, apprehenfive of the-'doom of
."liiy immortal part; who 'are noW treaiing
'"' the fa^lfe"' enchanting paths of pleafufe- I
'**' walked ipij^ and will, unlefs redlairned, foon
*^ defc'endy like tne, thoughtlefs and unprepar-
¦''i- - ' , ' . B.3 • ¦ "ed.

tf

6 ' The divine Authority ana mffciency serm.i.
" ed, into thefe doleful regions : I therefore
¦" pray, that thou wouldft fend Lazarus to
*' them, to alarm them in their wild career
'.' with an account of my dreadful doom, and
'" inform them of the reality and importance of
'.' everlafting happinefs and mifery, that they
" may reform, and fo avoid this place of tor-
'" ment, whence I can never efcape."
Abraham's anfwer may be thus paraphrafed ;
" If thy brothers periQi, it will not he for want
" of means ; they enjoy the facred Scriptures of
•' the Old Teftament, written by Mofes and th
•" Prophets, and thefe are fufficient to inform
" them of neceffary truths to regulate their prac-
•" tice, and particularly to warn them of ever-
" lafting puniftime-nt ! let them therefore hear
*,' and regard, ftudy and obey thofe writings,
" for thev need no further means for their fal-
" vation." To this the wretched creature replies; " Nay,
'.' father Abraham, thefe means will not avail ;
" I enjoyed them all; and yet here I am, a loft
?' foul ; and I am afraid they will have as little
'.' effedl upon them as they had upon me,
¦'* Thefe means are common and faniihar, and
" therefore difregarded. But if one arofe from
" the dead, if an apoftle from the invifible world
" were lent to them, to declare as an eye-witnefs
" the great things he has feen, furely they
f ' woiild repetTt. The novelty and terror of thc-
• ' apparition would alarm them. Their fenfes
' vyO-uId t<^ flruck \\xi\\ fo unufua] a meffenger, " and

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. 7
" ahd they would be convinced of the reality of
" eternal things, therefore I muft renew my re-
" queft; fend Lazarus to them in all the pomp
" of heavenly fplendor ; Lazarus, whom they
" onOe knew in fo abjed: a condition, and whom
" they will therefore the more regard, when
" they fee him appear in all his prefent glory."
Thus the miferable creature pleads, (and it is
natural for us to wifhi for other means, when
thofe we have enjoyed are ineffedual, though '
it fhould be through our own negled) but,
alas ! he pleads in vain.
Abraham continues inexorable, and gives a
very good reafon for his denial : " If they pay
" no regard to the writings of Mofes and the
" Prophets, the ftanding revelation God has
*' left in his Church, it would be • to no pur-
" pofe to give them another : they would -not
" be perfuaded tiiough one rofe from the dead ; -
" the fame difpofition, that renders them deaf
"to fuch meffengers as Mofes and the Prophets,
"would alfo render them imperfuafible by a
" meffenger from the dead. Such a one might
" ftrike them. with a panic, but it would foon
" be over, and then they would return to their
" ufual round of pleafures; they would pre-
" fently think the apparition was but the crea-
" ture of their own imagination, or fome un-
" accountable illufion of their fenfes. If one
«' rofe from the dead, he could but declare the
" fame things fubftantially with Mofes and the
" Prophet^ i and he could not fpeak with
B 4 " greater

S The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm. i ,
'-' greater authority, or give better credentials
" than they; and therefore they who are not
•' benefited by thefe ftanding means, muft be
•' given up as defperate ; and God for vcrv good
" reafons will not multiply new revelations to

" them.'

This anfwer of Abraham was exemplified,
when anoiuer Lazarus was railed from the dead
in the very fight of the Jews, and Ciirift burft
the bands of death, and gave them inconteft-
jble evidences of his refurredion ; and yet after
all they were not perfuaded, but perhfted in in
vincible infidelity.
This parable was fpoken before any part of
the New Teftaiiient was written, and added to
the facred Canon ; and if it might be then af
ferted, that the ftanding revelation of God's will
vvas fufficient, and that it was needlels to de-
in.md farther, then much rr:ore may it be af
ferted now, when the Canon of the Scriptures
is compleated, and we have received fo much
additional light from the New Teftament. 'We
have not only Mojes and the Prophets, but we
have alio Christ who is a meffenger frxim the-
dead, and his apoftles j and tlierefore, furely
" if we do not hear them, neither would we be
" perfuaded, though one arofe from the dead."
The gofpel is the laft effort of the Grace of
God with a guilty world, and if this has no
effed upon us, our difeafe is incurable, that rer
fufes tp be healed.
5 J cap-

Serm. i. of the Chriftian Religion. 9
I cannot infift upon all the important truths
contained in this copious tex^'but only defi.:n,
I, To fliew the Sufficiency of the ftandinj:; Re
velation of God's wUl in the Scuptures
to bring men to repentance: and,'
II. To expofe the vanity and unreafonable-
nefs of the Objedions againft this Reve
lation, and of demanding another.
I. I am to fhew the Sufficiency of the ftand
ing Revelation in the Scripture^ to bring men to
repentance. If the Scriptures give us fufficient inftrudions
in matters of faith, and fufficient diredions in
matters of pradice, — if they are attended with
fufficient evidences for our faith, — and produce
fufficient excitements to infiuence our pradice,
then they contain a fufficient revelation; for
it is for thefe purpofes we need a revelation, and
a revelation that anfwers thefe purpofes, has
the diredeft tendency to make us truly religi
ous, and bring us to an happy immortality.
But that the Revelation in the Scriptures (par
ticularly in the New Teftament, which 1 fliall
more immediately confider, as being the im
mediate foundation of Chriftianity) is fufficient
for all thefe purpofes, will be evident from an
jndudion of particulars.
I. The Scriptures give us fufficient inftruc-
tions what we fhould believe, or are a fuffici
ent rule of faith. Religion

I p The divine Authority and Sufficie7tcy Serm . i .
Religion cannot fubfift without right no
tions of God and divine things, and entire ig
norance or miftakes in its fundamental articles,
muft be deftrudive of its nature, and therefore
a divine Revelation muft be a colledion of rays
of light, a fyftem of divine knowledge; and
fuch we find the Chriftian Revelation to be, as
contained in the facred writings.
In the Scriptures we find the faint difcoveries
of natural reafon illuftrated, its uncertain con
jedures determined, and its miftakes correded;
fo that Chriftianity includes natural religion in
the greateft perfedion. But it does not reft .
here; it brings to light things; which " eye
" had not feen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of
*' man conceived {a); " things, which our fee
ble reafon could never have difcovered, with
out the help of fupernatural revelation; and
which yet are of the utmoft importance for us
to know.
In the Scriptures we have the cleareft and
inoft majeftic account of the nature and perfec
tions cf the Deity, and of his being the Creator,
Ruler, and Benefador of the univerfe, to whom
therefore all reafonable beings are under infinite
obligations. In the Scriptures v/e have an account of the
prefent ftate of human nature, as degenerate,
and a more rational and eafv account of the
manner of its apoftafy, than could ever be given
by the light of nature.
faj I Corinth; ii, g.

Serm.r. of the Chriftian Religion. ii
In the Scriptures too (which wound but to
cure) we have the welcome account of a me
thod of recovery from the ruin's of our apofta
fy through the mediation of the Son of God;
there we have the affurance which we could
find no where elfe, that G o d is reconcilable,
and willing to pardon penitents upon the ac
count of the obedience and fufferings of Christ.
There all our anxious enquiries, " Wherewith
" fliall I come before the LoRC ? or bow my-
" felf before the moft high God? fhall I come
" before him with burnt-offerings.? &c. fa)" 3iTC
fatisfadorily anfwered; and there the agoniz
ing confcience can obtain relief, which might
have fought it in vain among all the other reli
gions in the world.
In the Scriptures alfo eternity and the invi
fible worlds are laid open to our view; and " life
" and immortality are brought to light by the
^' gofpel;" about which the heathen fages, after
all their inquiries, laboured under uneafy fuf-
picions. There we are affured of the ftate of
future rewards and punifhments, according to
our condud in this ftate of probation; and
the nature, perfedion, and duration of the hap
pinefs and mifery, are defcribed with as much
accuracy, as are neceffary to engage us to feek
the one, and fhun the other.
I particularize thefe dodrines of Chriftia
nity as a fpecimen, or as fo many general heads,
tp which many others may be reduced; not in
tending

(a) IMicah yi. 6, 7.

1 2 The divine Authority and Sifficieitcy Serm. i .
tending a compleat enumeration, which v/ould
lead me far beyon4 the bounds of one fermon,
and for which my whole life is not fufficient.
I therefore proceed to add,
2. The holy Scriptures give us compleat di
redions in matters of pradice, or are a fuffici-
cent Rule of life.
A divine Revelation muft not be calculated
meerly to amufe us, and gratify our curiofity
with fublime and refined notions and ffpecula-
tlons, but adapted to dired and regulate our
pradice, and render us better as well as wifer.
Accordingly, the facred writings give us a
compleat fyftem of pradical religion and mo
rality. There not only the duties of natural
religion are inculcated ; but feveral important du
ties, as love to our enemies, humility, Gfc. are
clearly difcovered, which the feeble light of
reafon in the heathen moralifts did either not per
ceive at all, or but very faintly. In fhort, there
we are informed, of our duties towards God,
towards our neighbours, and towards ourfelves.
The Scriptures are full of particular injundions
and diredions to particular duties, left ' we
fhould not be fagacious enough to infer them
from general rules; and fometimes all thefe du
ties are fummed up in fome fhort maxim, or
general rule, which we may eafily remember,
and always carry about with us. Such a noble
fummary is that which Christ has given us of
the whole moral law; " Thou fhalt love the
" Lord thy God with all thy heart, &c. and
" thy

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. 13
" thy neighbour as thyfelf. " Or that all-com
prehending rule of our condud towards one
another, " Whatfoever ye would that men
" fhould do unto you, do ye the fame unto
" them."
What recommends thefe dodrinal inftruc-
tions and pradical diredions is, that they are
plain and obvious to common fenfe. It is as
much the concern of the illiterate and vulvar
to be religious, as of the few endowed with
an exalted and philofophic genius; and con
fequently, whatever difficulties may be in a
revelation to exercife the latter, yet all neceffary
matters of faith and pradice muft be delivered
in a plain manner, level to the capacities of
the former; otherwife it would be no revela
tion at all to them, who ftand in moft need
of it. Accordingly the religion of Jesus,
though it has myiferles equal and infinitely fu
perior to the largeft capacity, yet in its neceffary
articles is intelligible to all ranks who apply
themfelves with proper diligence to the perufai
of them; and I dare affirm, that a man of
common fenfe, with the affiftance of the facred
fcriptures, can form a better fyftem of religion
and morality, than the wifeft philofopher, Vv'ith
all his abilities and learning, can form without
this help. This I dare affirm, becaufe it has
been put to trial, and attefted by matter of
fad; for whoever is acquainted with the
writings of the antient heathen philofophers,
cannot but be convinced, that amidft all
.their learning and ftudy, amidft all their
llijiiin:?

1 4 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm . i .
fhining thoughts ahd refined fpeculations, they
had not fuch juft notions of God and his per
fedions, of the moft acceptable way of wbr-
fhipping him, of the duties of morality, and
of a future ftate, as any common Chriftian
among us has learned from the Scriptures,^ with
out any uncommon natural parts, without ex
tenfive learning, and without fuch painful ftu
dy and clofe application, as the heathen mora
lifts were forced to ufe to make their lefs per
fed difcoveries. In this fenfe the leaft in the
kingdom of heaven, /. e. any common Chrif
tian, is greater than all the Socrates s, the Plato s,
the Cicero's, and the Seneca's of antiquity ; as
one that is of a weak fight can fee more clearly
by the help of day-light, than the cleareft eye
can without it.
And by whom was this vaft treafury of
knowledge laid up to enrich the world.? by
whom were thefe matchlefs writings compofed,
which furnifh us with a fyftem of religion and
morality fo much more plain, fo much more
perfed than all the famous fages of antiquity
could frame.? why, to our aftonifhmenty they
were compofed by a company of fifhermen, or
perfons not much fuperior; by perfons ge
nerally without any hberal education; perfons^
that had not devoted their lives to intelledual
improvement; perfons of no extraordinary
natural parts, and who had not travelled, like
the antient philofophers, to gather up frag
ment's of knowledge in different countries, but

who-

Serm.i. cf the Chriftian Religion. i^
who lived in fudea, a country where learning
was but little cultivated in comparifon of Greece
and Rome. '. Thefe were the moft accomplifhed
teachers of mankind that ever appeared in the
world. And can this be accounted for, with
out acknowledging their infpiration from hea
ven? If human reafon could have made fuch
difcoveries, furely it would have made them by
thofe in whom it was improved to the greateft
perfedion, and not by a company of ignorant
mechanics. The perfons themfelves declare that they had
not made thefe difcoveries, but were taught
them immediately from heaven; (which indeed
we muft have believed, though they had not
told us fo.) Now we muft believe their decla
ration, and own them infpired, or fall into
this abfurdity. That a company of illiterate,
wicked, and daring impoftors, who were hai'dy
enough to pretend themfelves commiffioned
and infpired from God, have furniflied us with
an incomparably more excellent fyftem of reli
gion and virtue, than could be furnifhed by all
the wifeft and beft of the fons of men befide;
and he that can believe this, may believe any
thing; and fhould never more pretend that he
cannot believe the Chriftian religion upon the
account of the difficulties that attend it.
I have touched but fuperficially upon the
Sufficiency of the Scriptures as a Rule of faith and
pradice, for to dwell long upon this would
be to fight without an antagonift. Our infi-
c dels

1 6 The divine Authority andfSufficiency Serm , i .
dels rejed the Chriftian religion, becaufe they
fuppofe it requires them to believe and pradice
too m.uch, rather than too little. Hence they
are for lopping off a great part of its dodrine
and precepts, as fuperfluities, or incumbrances,
and forming a meagre fkeleton of natural reli
gion. Their intelledual pride will not ftoop
to believe dodrines which they cannot compre
hend; and they cannot bear fuch narrow
bounds as the precepts of Chriftianity fixes for
them in their purfuits of pleafure, and there
fore they would break thefe bands afunder.
That which they affed moft, to complain of, is
the want of evidence to convince them of the
truth of this ungrateful religion; it will there
fore be neceffary to prove more largely, that,
3, The fcriptures are attended with fufficient
evidences of their truth and divinity.
It is certain, that as God can accept no other
worfhip than rational from reafonable creatures,
he cannot require us to believe a revelation to
be divine without fufficient reafon, and there
fore, when he gives us a revelation, he will at-
teft it with fuch evidences as will, be a fufficielit
¦foundation of our belief.
Accordingly, the fcriptures are attefted with
all the evidences, intrinfic and estrinfic, which
we can reafonably defire, and with all the evi
dences the nature of the thing will admit.
As for intrinfic evidences, many might be men
tioned; but I muft at prefent confine myfelf in
proper limits. I fhall refume the one I have
already

^tvm.i. "'^'•'' of the 'Chriftian' Religion. "\ "ly
already hinted at, na:mdy, that the ' religion of
the Bible has the direc^eft tendency to promote
true piety and folid virtue in the world ; it is
llich a religion as becomes a God to reveal ;
fuch a religion as we rnight exped from him,
in cafe he inftituted any ; a religion intended and
adapted to regulate felf-love, and to diffufe the
love' of God and man through the world, the
only generous principles and vigorous fprings
of a fuitable condud towards God, towards
one another,- and towards ourfelves ; a religion
produdive of every humane, focial, and divine
virtue, and diredly calculated to banifh all fin
out of the world; to transform impiety into
devotion; injuftice and oppreflion into equity
and univerfal benevolence; and fenfuallty in
to fobriety ; a religion infinitely preferable to
any that has been contrived by the wifeft and
beft of mortals. And whence do ye think
could this godlike religion proceed? does not its
nature prove its origin divine ? does it not evi
dently bear the hneaments of its heavenly pa
rent ? can you once imagine that fuch a pure,
fuch a holy, fuch a perfed: fyftem, could be the
contrivance of wicked infernal fpirits, of fel
fifh, artful priefts, or politicians, or of a par
cel of daring impoftors, or wild enthufiafts ?
Could thefe contrive a religion fo contrary to
their' inclination, fo deftrudive of their inte
reft, and fo diredly conducing to promote the
Caufe they abhor? If you can believe this, you
Vol. I. C may

1 8 The divine Authority and Sttfficiency Serm.i,
may alfo believe that light is the produd of
darknefs, virtue of vice, good of evil, (ic. If
fuch beings as thefe had contrived a religion,
it would have borne the fame appearance in the
Bible, as it does in Italy, or Spain, where it is
degenerated into a meer trade, for the benefit
of tyrannical and voracious priefts; or it would
have been fuch a religion as that of Mahomet,
allowing its fubjeds to propagate it with the
fword, that they might enrich themfelves with
the plunder of conquered nations; and indulg
ing them in the gratification of their lufts,
particularly in polygamy, or the unbounded
enjoyment of women. This religion, I fear,
would fult the tafte of our licentious free-think
ers, much better than the holy religion of
Jesus. Or if we fhould fuppofe Chriftianity
to be the contrivance of vifionary enthufiafts,
then it Would not be that rational fyftem which
it is, but a huddle of fanatical reveries and re-
tiiculous whims. If then It could not be the
•contrivance of fuch authors as thefe, to whom
fliall we afcribe it ? it muft have had fome- au
thor ; for it could not come into being with-
¦out a caufe, no more then the fyftem of the
univerfe. Will you then afcribe it to good
men? but thefe men were either Infpired from
heaven, or they were not ; if they were not,
then they could not be good men, but moft
audacious liars ; for they plainly declared, they
were divinely infpired, and ftood in it to the laft,
which no good man would do, if fuch a declara tion

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. i§
tion was falfe : if they were infpired from heaven?
then the point Is gained; then chriftianity is a
religion from God ; for to receive a religion
from perfons divinely infpired, and to receive it
from God, is the fame thingi
Another intrinfic evidence is that of prophecy.
Thofe future events which are contingent^
or which fhall be accomplifhed by caufes that
do not now exift or appear, cannot be cer--
tainly foreknown or foretold by man, as we
find by our own experience. Such objeds fall
within the compafs of omnifcience only; and
therefore -when fhort-fighted mortals are en
abled to. predid fuch events many years, and
even ages before they happen, it is a certain
evidence, that they are let Into the fecrets of
heaven, and that God communicates to them
a knowledge which cannot be acquired by thd
moft fagacious human mind; and this is an
evidence that the. perfons .thus divinely taught
are the meffengers of God to declare his will
to the world.
Nov/ there are numberlefs inftances of fuch
prophecies in the facred writings. Thus a
prophet foretold the deftrudion of Jeroboam's
altar by Jofiah, many ages before [a). Cyrui
was foretold by name as the reftorer of the
Jews from Babylon to rebuild their temple and
city about a hundred years before be was
born {b). Several of the prophets foretold
the deflrudion of various kingdoms in a very
C 2 punC-
(fl) I Kings xiii. 2. [}) Ifai. xlv. i, &c.

20 The divine Authority cind Sufficiency Serm. i .
pun<ftual manner, as of Jerufalem, Babylon,
Egypt, Nineveh, &c. which predidlon was ex-
adly fulfilled. But the moft remarkable pro
phecies of the Old Teftament are thofe relating
to the Meffiah, which are fo numerous and
full, that they might ferve for materials of his
hiftory; they fix the time of his coming, viz.
while the fceptre continued in Judah {a), while
the fecond temple was yet ftanding [b), and
towards the clofe of Daniel's feventy weeks df
years, i.e. four hundred and nipety years from
the rebuilding of Jerufalem {c). Thefe prophefies
alfo defcribe the lineage of the Meffiah, the
manner of his conception, his life and mira
cles, his death, and the various circumftances
of it; his burial, refurredion, afcenfion, and
advancement to univerfal empire, and the
fpread of the gofpel through the world. In the
New Teftament alfo we meet with fundry re
markable prophecies. There Christ foretels
his own death and the manner of it, and his
triumphant refurredion ; there, with furpi-iz-
ing accuracy, he predids the deftrudion of y^--
rufalem by the Romans. We find various pro
phecies alfo in the apoftoiic epiftles, particu
larly that of St Paul \d), concerning the con
verfion of the Jews; which though it be not
yet accompllflied, yet we fee a remarkable prc^
vidence making way for it, in keeping the Jews,
who
(a) Genef. xlix. lo. (b) Hug. ii. 7. Mai. iii. 2.
-(f) Dan. ix. 24, &c. (</) Rom. xi.

Serm.i. of the ChrijVutn Religion. 21
who are fcattered over all the earth, diftind
from all other nations for about one thoufand
feven hundred years, though they are hated of
£\11 nations, and confequently under the ftrong
eft temptation to coalefce with, and lofe them
felves among them; and though all other na
tions have in a much fhorter time mixed in fuch
a manner, that none of them can now trace
their own original; >. g. Who can now diftin-
guifh the pofterity of the ancient Romans from
the Goths and Vandals; and others that broke
in upon their empire and fettled among them;
or of the ancienty^«^// from the Danes, &c. that
mingled with them ?
Thefe and many other plain predidlons are
interfperfed through the Scriptures, and prove
their original to be from the Father of lights,
who alone knows all his works from the be
ginning, and who declares fuch diftant contin
gent futurities from ancient times (a).
I might, as another intrinfic evidence of
the truth of Chriftianity, mention its glorious
energy on the minds of men, in convincing
them of fin, eafing their confciences, infpiring
them with unfpeakable joy, fubduing their
lutl:s, and transforming them into its own llke-
nefs; which is attefted by the daily experience
of every true Chriftian. Every one that be
lieveth hath this witnefs in himfelf: and this
is an evidence level to the meaneft capacity,
which may bafoon loft in a courfe of fublime
C 3 rea-
{a) irai. xlv. 21.

2 2 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm . i .
reafonlng. But as the Delfts declare, alas !
with too much truth, that the gofpel hath no
fuch power upon them, it is not to my pur
pofe to infift upon it. I therefore proceed to
mention fome of
The extrinfic evidences of the religion of
Jesus, particularly the miracles with which it
was confirmed, and its early propagation thro'
the world.
Miracles in this cafe are events above or coh-r.
trary to the eftablifhed laws of nature, done
with a profeffed defign to atteft a Revelation j
and as they are obvious and ftriking to the
fenfes of the moft ignorant and unthinking,
they are the moft popular and convidive evi
dences, adapted to the capacities of the genera
lity of mankind, who are incapable of a long
train of argumentation, or of perceiving the
origin of a religion from its nature and ten-'
dency. Now the religion of Jesus is abundantly at
tefted with this kind, of evidence. The hiftory
of the life of Jesus, and his apoftles, is one
continued fcries of miracles. Sight was re-
ftored to the blind, the deaf were enabled to
hear, the lame to walk, the maimed furnifhed
with new-created limbs, the fick healed, the
fage of winds and feas controled, yea, the
dead were raifed ; and all this w^ith an air of
fovereignty, fuch as became a God ; the
apoftles were alfo endowed with miraculous
powers, enabled to fpeak with tongues, and
copi-

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. 23
communicate the Holy Spirit to others. Thefe
miracles were done not in a corner, but in
the moft public places, before numerous fpec-
tators, friends and foes ; and the perfons that
wrought them appealed to them as the evi
dences of their divine niifllon; and the ac
count of them is conveyed down to us by the
beft medium, written tradition, In a hiftory
that bears all the evidences of credlblhty, of
which any compofure of that kind is ca
pable. Another extrinfic evidence of the truth of
Chriftianity is its extenfive Propagation thro'
the world in the moft unpromlfing circum
ftances. The only religion, befides the Chriftian,
which has had any very confiderable fpread in
the world, is that of Mahomet; but we may
eafily account for this, without fuppofing it
divine, from its nature, as indulging the lufts
of men; and efpecially from the manner of
its propagation, not by the force of evidence,
but by the force of arms. But the circum^
ftances of the propagation of Chriftianity
were quite otherwife, whether we confider its
contrariety to the corruptions, prejudices, and
interefts of men; — the eafinefs of deteding it,
had it been falfe; — the violent oppofitlon it
met with from all the powers of the earth ;—
the inftruments of its propagation j-^r- or the
meafures they took for that purpofe.
C 4 Chriftia".:

24 The divine A^horky and Siffkieyicy Sefm.x.
Chriftianity was diredly contrary to the cor
ruptions, prejudices, and interefts of mankind.
It grants no indulgence to the corrupt propen-
fions of a degenerate world ; but requires that
univerfal holinefs of heart and life, which, as
we find by daily obfervation, is fo ungrateful to
them, and which is the principal reafon that the
religion of Jesus meets with fo much contempt
and oppofitlon in every age.
When Chriftianity was firft propagated, all
nations had been educated in fome other reli
gion ; the Jews were attached, to Mofes, and the
Gentiles to their various fyftefns of heathen-
ifm ; and were all of them very zealous for
their own religion : but Chriftianity propofed
a nevv fcheme, and could not take place, with
out antiquating or exploding all other religions;
and therefore it was contrary to the inveterate
prejudices of all mankinds and could never
have been fo generally received, if it had not
brought with it the moft evident credentials;
efpecially confidering that fome of its dodfipes
were fuch as feemed to the Jews a ftumbling
block, and to the Greeks foolifhnefs; particu--
larly that one of obfcure birth and low life,
who was publickly executed as a flave and a
malefador, fhould be worfliipped and honour
ed as God, upon pain of everlafting damna
tion; that there fhould be a refurredion of the
dead, the laft of which was an objed of ridi
cule to all the wits and philofophers of the
heathen

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. 25
heathen world. Again, as fbme religion or
other was eftablifhed In all nations, there were
many, like Demetrius and his craftfmen, whofe
temporal livings atjd intereft depended upon the
continuance of their religion; and if that was
changed, they fell into poverty and difgrace.
Thefe were a powerful party in every nation,
and they wouldexert themfelves to prevent the
.fpread of an innovation Co dangerous to their
intereft, which we find by all hlftpries of thefe
times they adually did. And yet the defpifed
religion of Jesus triumphed over all their op
pofitlon, and maintained its credit in fpite of
all their endeavours to deted it as an impofture ;
and this proves It was not an impofture ; for.
In the next place. It was eafy to have de-
ted:ed Chriftianity as an impofture, nay, it
was im poffible it fhould not have been deted:-!
ed, if it had been fuch ; for the great fads
upon which the evidence of it refted, were faid
to be 'obvious and public, done before thou
fands, and In all countries ; for wherever the
apoftles travelled, they carried their miraculous
powers along with them. Thoufands muft
know whether Christ had fed many thoufands
with provifions only fufficient for a few,;
whether Lazarus was raifed from the dead be
fore the admiring multitude; whether the
apoftles fpoke with tongues to thofe various
nations among whom they endeavoured to pro
pagate their religion, (as indeed they mufk
have done, otherwife they would not have been
under-

2 6 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm. i .
underftood.) Thefe things and many others,
upon which the evidence of Chriftianity de
pends, were public in their own nature; and
therefore, if they had not been matters of
fad, the cheat muft have been unavoidably de-
teded, efpecially when fo many were concern
ed to deted it.
Farther; Chriftianity met with the moft
ftrenuous oppofitlon from all the powers of the
earth. The Jewifh rulers and moft of the po
pulace ¦ were its implacable enemies ; and as
they lived on the fpot where its miraculous at
teftations were faid to be given, it was in their
power to crufh it in its birth, and never have
fuffered it to fpread farther, had it not been
attended with invincible evidence. All the
power of the Roman empire was alfo exerted
for its extirpation; and its propagators and
difciples could exped no profit or pleafure by
it, but were affured from the pofture of af
fairs, from daily experience, and from the
predidlons of their mafter, that they fhould
meet with fhame, perfecution, and death it--
felf in its moft tremendous fhapes ; and in the
next world, they could exped nothing, even
according to their own dodrine, but everlaft
ing damnation, if they were wilful impoftors :
and yet in fpite of all thefe difcouragements
they courageoufly perfifted in their teftlmony
to the laft, though they might have fecured
their lives, and helped their fortunes (as Ju
das did). by retrading it; nay, their teftimony pre-

Serm.i.' ' of the Chriftian "Religion. 27
prevailed in defiance of all oppofitlon ; mul
titudes in air nations then known embraced
the faith, though they expeded tortures and
death for it ; and in a few centuries the vaft and
mighty Roman empire fubmitted to the religion
of a crucified Jesus. And who were thofe
mighty heroes that thus triumphed over the
world ? Why, to our furprize.
The inftruments of the propagation of Chrll^
tianity were a company of poof mechanics, pub
licans, tent-makers, and fifhermen, from the
defpifed nation of the Jews. And by what
ftrange powers or arts did they make thefe ex
tenfive conquefts ?
The meafures they took were a plain decla
ration of their religion, and they wrought mi
racles for its confirmation. They did not ufe
the power of the fword, no fecular terrors, or
bribery; they were without learning, without
the arts of reafonlng and perfuafion ; and with
out all the ufual artifices of feducers to gain
credit to their impofture.
Here Tcannot but take particular notice of
that matchlefs fimphcity that appears in the hif
tory of Christ, and his apoftles. The evan-
gellfts write in that artlefs, calm and unguarded
manner, which is natural to perfons confident
of the undeniable truth of what they affert.
They do not write with that fcrupulous caution
which would argue any fear that they might
be confuted. They fimply relate the naked
fads, arid leave them to ftand upon their own evir

2 8 . Tbe divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm. i •
evidence. They relate the moft amazing, the
moft moving things, with the, moft cool fe-
r^nity, without any pafHonate exclamations,
and warm refledions ; for example, they relate
the moft aftonifliing miracles, as the refur
redion of Lazarus, in the moft fimple, and as
it were, carelefs manner, without breaking out
and celebrating the divine power of Christ.
In the [fame manner they relate the moft tragi
cal circumftances of his condemnation and
death, calmly mentioning matter of fad, with
out any inveetives againft the Je.ws,, without any
high eulogys upon Christ's innocence, with
out any rapturous celebrations of his grace in
fuffering all thefe things for finners, and with
out any tender lamentations over their deceafed
mafter. It is impoflible for a heart fo deeply
impreffed with fuch things, as theirs undoubt
edly was, to retain this difpaflionate ferenity,
vinlefs laid under fupernatural reftralnts ; and
there appears very good reafons for this reftraint
upon them, viz. that the gofpel-hiftory might
carry intrinfic evidences of its fimplicity and
arriefs impartiality; and that it might appear
adapted to convince the judgments of men,
and not merely to raife their paflions. In this
refped, the gofpel-hiftory is diftinguifbed from
all hiftories in the world ; and can we think fo
plain, fo undifguifed, fo artlefs a compofure,
the contrivance of defigning impoftors ? Would ,
not a confcioufnefs that they might be deteded . keep

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. 29
keep them more upon their guard, make them
more ready to anticipate and confute objedions,
and take every artifice to recommend their caufe,
atld prepoflefsthe reader in its favour?
It only remains under this head, that 1
fhould 4. Shew that the religion of Jestjs propofes
fufficient excitements to influence our faith and
pradice. To enforce a fyftem of dodrines and pre
cepts, two things are fefpeclally neceffary,—
that they fhould be made duty by competent
authority, — -and matters of Intereft by a fanc-
tioh of reward's and punifhments.— To which
I may add, that the excitemetits afe ftill ftron
ger. When we are laid under "the gentle obli
gations of gratitude. — In .all' thefe refpeds'the
Chriftian Religion has the moft powerful en
forcements. The authority upon which We are required
to receive the dodrines, and obferve the precepts
of "Chriftianity, is no lefs than the authority of
God, the fupreme lawgiver, and infallible
teacher, whofe wifdom to prefcribe, and right
to command, are indlfputable ; and We may
fafely fubmit our underftandlngs to his inftruc-
tions, however myfterious, and bur wills to his
injundions, however difficult they may feem
to us. This gives the religion of jEsus a bind
ing authority upon the confciences of men ;
which is abfoliitely neceffary to bring' piety and
virtue

30 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm.i.
virtue iuto pradice in the world ; for if men
are left at liberty, they will follow their own
inclinations, however wicked and pernicious.
And in this refped Chriftianity bears a glori
ous preference to all the fyftems of morality
compofed by the heathen philofophers ; for
though there were many good things in them,
yet who gave authority to Socrates, Plato, or
Seneca to affume the province of lawgivers
and didators to mankind, and prefcribe to
their confciences ? All they could do was to
teaeh, to advife, to perfuade, to reafon ; but
mankind were at liberty after all, whether to
take their advice or not. And this fhews the
neceffity of fupernatural revelation, not merely
to make known things beyond human appre
henfion, but to enforce with proper authority
fuch duties as might be difcovered by man ;
fince without it they would not have the bind
ing force of a law.
As to the fandions of rewards and punifh
ments in Chriftianity, they are fuch as become
a God to annex to his majeftic law, fuch as are
agreeable to creatures formed for immortality,
and fuch as would have the moft effedual ten
dency to encourage obedience, and prevent fin ;
they are no lefs than the moft perfed happinefs
and mifery which human nature is capable of,
and that through an endlefs duration. If thefe
are not fufficient to allure rational creatures to
obedience, and deter them from difobedlence,
then no confiderations that can be propofed can

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Rdigion. 31
can have any effed. Thefe tend to alarm our
hopes and our fears, the moft vigorous fprings
of human adivity ; and if thefe have no effed:
upon us, nothing that God can reveal, or our
minds conceive, will have any effed:. God by
adding the greateft fandions poffible to his law,
has taken the beft poffible precautions to pre
vent difobedlence ; and fince even thefe do not
reftrain men from it, we are fure that lefs would
not fuffice. If men will go on in fin, though
they believe the punifhment due to it will be
eternal, then much more would they perfift in
it. If it were not eternal ; or if they fay, they
will indulge themfelves in fin, becaufe they be
lieve it is not eternal, then this proves from
their own mouth, that It fhould be eternal in
order to reftrain them. The prevalence of fin
in the world tends to render it miferable ; and
therefore, to prevent it, as well as to difplay
God's eternal regard to moral goodnefs, it is
fit that he fliould annex the higheft degree of
punifhment to difobedlence in every indivi
dual, for the indulgence of fin in one indivi
dual would be a temptation to the whole ratio
nal creation ; and on the other hand, the
threatenings of everlafting punifhment to all
finners indefinitely, is neceffary to deter the
whole rational world, and every particular per
fon from difobedlence. Thus in civil govern
ment It Is neceffary, that robbery fhould be
threatened indefinitely with death, becaufe,
though one robber may take from a man but
what

§2 The di'^ine Authority and Sufficiency Serm.i'.
what he can very well fpare; yet if every man
might rob and plunder His- neighbour, the con>-
fe^ufeflce would he univerfal robbery and con^
fufiort. It is therefore neceffary that the great
eft punifhment fhould be threatened to difobe-
dience, both to prevent it, and to teftify the
divine difpleafure againft it; which is the pri
mary defign of the threatening ; and fince the
penalty was annexed with this view, it follows,
that it was primarily enaded with a view to the
happinefs of mankind, by preventing what
Would naturally make them miferable, and but
fecondarily with a view to be executed; for it
is to be executed only upon condition of difo^
bediencc; which difbbedience it was intended
to prevent, and confequently it was not Imme
diately intended to be executed, or enaded for
the fake of the execution, as though God took
a malignant pleafure in the mifery of his crea
tures. But when the penalty has failed of its
primary end, reftraining from fin, then it is
fit it fhould anfwer its fecondary end, and be
executed upon the offender, to keep the reft of
reafonable creatures in their obedience, to illnf*
irate the veracity and holinefs of the lawgiver,
arJd prevent his government from falling into
contempt. There are the fame reafons that
threatenings fliould be exeaited when denounc
ed, as for their being ^^denounced at firft; for
threatenings never executed are the fame with
no threatenings at all. Let

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. jj
Let me add, that the gofpel lays us under
the ftrongeft obligations from gratitude. It
not only clearly informs us of our obliga
tions to God, as the author of our beings and
all our temporal bleffings, which natural reli
gion more faintly difcovers, but fuperadds thofe
more endearing ones derived from the fcheme of
man's redemption thro' the death of the eternal
Son of God. Though the bleffings of cre
ation and providence are great In themfelves,
they are fwallowed up, as it were, and loft
in the love of God, which is commended
to us by this matchlefs circumftance, " that
" while v/e were yet finners, CniciST died for
" US;" and while under the conftralnts of this
love, we cannot but devote ourfelves entirely to
God (a).
Thus I have hinted at a few things among
the many that might be mentiotied to prove
the Divinity of the Religion of Jesus, and Its
Sufficiency to bring men to repentance and fal
vation. And if it be fb, v.hy fliould it be re-
jeded, or another fought? — This reminds
me that I promifed,
II. To expofe the Vanity and Unreafonabte-
nefs of the Objedions againft the Chriftian Re
ligion, or of demanding another, &c.
What can our ingenious Infidels offer againft
what has been faid? It muft be fomething very
weighty indeed to preponderate all this evi-
Vol. I. D dence.
{a) 2 Corinth. V, l.)., 15.

34 The divine Authority and Sufiiciency Serm.i.
dence. A laugh, or a fneer, a pert witticifm,
declaiming againft prieftcraft and the preju
dices of education, artful evafions, and ftial-
low fophifms, the ufual arguments of our pre
tended free-thinkers, thefe will not fufiice to
banter us out of our joyful confidence of the
Divinity of the religion of Jesus ; and I may
add, thefe will not fuffice to indemnify them.
Nothing will be fufficient for this but demon
ftration: It lies upon them to prove the Chrif
tian religion to be certainly falfe; otherwife,
unlefs they are hardened to a prodigy, they
muft be racked with anxious fears left they
fhould find it true at laft to their coft; and
left that difmal threatening fhould ftand firm a-
galnft them: " He that believeth not, fhall be
" damned."
What mighty objedions then have they to
offer? Will they fay that the Chriftian religion
contains feveral myfterious dodrines, which
they cannot comprehend, which feem to them
unacountable? As that of the Trinity, the In
carnation, and Satisfadion of Christ, Gff.
But will they advance their underftanding to
be the univerfal Standard of Truth? Will they
pretend to comprehend the infinite God in
their finite minds? then let them go, and mea-
fure the heavens with a fpan, and comprehend
the ocean in the hollow of their hand. Will
they pretend to underftand the divine nature,
when they cannot underftand their own ?
when they cannot account for or explain the
union

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. 35
union between their own fouls and bodies?
Will they rejed myfteries in Chriftianity, when
they muft own them in every thing elfe? Let
them firft folve all the phcenomena In nature;
let them give us a rational theory of the infinite
divifibility of a piece of finite matter; let them
account for the feemingly magical operation
of the loadftone; the circulation of the blood
upwards as well as downwards, contrary to all
the laws of motion; let them inform us of the
caufes of the cohefion of the particles of mat
ter; let them tell us, how fpirits can receive
ideas from material organs, how they hear and
fee, ^c. let them give us Intelligible theories
of thefe things, and then they may with fome
thing of a better grace fet up for critics upon
God and his ways; but, while they are myfte
ries to themfelves, while every particle of mat-
tar baffies their underftandlngs, it is the moft
impious intelledual pride to rejed Chriftianity
upon the account of its myfteries, and to fet
up themfelves as the fupreme judges of truth.
Or will they objed that there are a great
many difficult and ftrange paffages in the Scrip
tures, the meaning and propriety of which
they do not fee ? And are there not many
ftrange things in the book of nature, and the
admlniftration of providence, the defign and
ufe of which they cannot fee, many things
that to them feem wrong and ill-contrived?
Yet they own the world was created by God, and
that his providence rules it : and why will they
D 2 not

36 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm.i.
not allow that the Scriptures may be from God,
notwithftanding thefe difficulties and feeming
incongruities? When a learned man can eafily
raife his difcourfe aboVe the capacity of com
mon people, will they not condefcend to grant
that an infinite God can eafily overfhoot their
litde fouls? Indeed a revelation which we
could fully comprehend, would not appear the
produdlon of an infinite mind; It would bear
no refemblance to Its heavenly Father; and
therefore we fhould have reafon to fufped: it
fpurlous. It is neceffary we fliould meet with
difficulties in the Scriptures to mortify our
pride. But farther, will they make no allow
ance for the different cuftoms and pradices of
different ages? It is certain, that may be pro
per and graceful in one age which would be
ridiculous and abfurd in another; and fince
the Scriptures were written fo many years ago,
we may fafely make this allowance for them,
which will remove many feeming abfurdlties.
There fhould alfo allowance be made for the
.Scriptures being rendered literally out of dead
difficult languages; for we know, that many
expreffions may be beautiful and fignificant In
one language, which would be ridiculous and
nonfenfical if literally tranflated into ano
ther. Were Homer or Virgil thus tranflated
into Engliffi, without regard to the idiom of
the language, inftead of admiring their beau
ties, we fliould be apt to think (as Cmvley ex
preffes

Serm. i. of the Chriftian Religion. 37
preffes it) " that one madman had tranflated an-
" other madman."
Will they objed the wicked lives of its pro-
feffors againft the holinefs and good tendency
of Chriftianity itfelf? But is it Chriftianity as
pradifed in the world, or Chriftianity as taught
by Christ and his apoftles, and contained in
the Bible, that I am proving to be divine? You
know it is the latter, and confequently the
poor appearance it makes in the former fenfe
is no argument againft its purity and divinity
in this. Again, are the bad lives of profeffors
taught and enjoined by genuine Chriftianity, •
and agreeable to It? No; they are quite con
trary to it, and fubverfive of it, and it is fo
far from encouraging fuch profeffors, that it
pronounces them miferable hypocrites, and
their doom will be more fevere than that of
heathens. Again, are there not hypocritical
profeffors of morality and natural religion, as
>well as of revealed? Are there not many who
cry up morality, and the religion of nature,
and yet boldly violate its plalneft precepts? If
therefore this be a fufficient objedion agaloft
Chriftianity, it muft be fo too againft all reli
gion. Further, do .men grow better, by re
nouncing the religion of Jesus? Obfervation af
fures us of quite the contrary. Finally, are there
not fome of the profeffors of Chriftianity, who
live habitually according to it? Who give us
the beft patterns of piety and virtue that ever
were exhibited to the world? This Is fufficient
D 3 to

3 8 The divine Authority and Suffit iency Serm.i.
to vindicate the religion they profefs, and it is
highly injurious to involve fuch promlfcuoufly
in the odium and contempt due to barefaced
hypocrites. How would this reafonlng pleafe
the Delfts themfelves in parallel cafes? " Some
" that have no fegard to Chriftianity have been
" murderers, thieves, ^c. therefore all that
" difregard it are fuch." Or " fome that
*' pretended to be honeft, have been found
** villains; therefore all that pretend to it are
** fuch; or therefore honefty is no virtue."
Or will they change the note, and inftead of
pleadiftg that Chriftianity leads to licentioufnefs,
objed that it bears too hard upon the plea
fures of mankind, and lays them under too
fevere reftiaints? Or that Its penaldes are excef-
live and cruel ? But does it rob mankind of any
pleafures, worthy the rational nature, worthy the
purfuit of creatures formed for immortality,
and confiftent with the good of the whole? It
reftrains them indeed; but it is only as a phy-
fician reftrains his patient from poifon or an
improper regimen; it reftrains men from living
like beafts ; it reftrains them from thofe plea
fures which will ruin their fouls and bodies in
the event; It reftrains them from gratifying a
private paffion at the expence of the public; in
fhort, it reftrains them from making them
felves and others miferable. Hard reftralnts in
deed 1 and the Delfts, to be fure, are generous
patrons of human liberty, that would free us
from fuch grievances as thefe! however this ob
jedion-

Serm* I. of the Chriftian Religion. 39
jedion lets us into the fecret, and informs us of
the reafon why our pretended free-thinkers
are fuch enemies to Chriftianity ; it is becaufe
it checks their lufts, and will not permit them
to aB, as well as to think freely, i. e. as they
pleafe. If they would content themfelves with
manly and rational pleafures, they would not
count the reftralnts of Chriftianity intolerable;
nay, they would find in it a fet of peculiarly
noble and refined pleafures, which they might
feek in vain elfewhere, for it Is fo far from be
ing an enemy to the happinefs of man, that it
was defigned to promote It, and then we make
ourfelves miferable, when we rejed It, or it be
comes our intereft that it fhould be falfe. As
to the penalty of everlafting punifhment an
nexed to fin, which is but a temporal evil, I
would afk them whether they are competent
judges In a matter In which they are parties?
Are they capable to determine what degree of
punifhment fhould be inflided upon difobedl
ence to the infinite majefty of heaven, when
they are not only fhort-fighted creatures, but
alfo concerned in the affair, and their judg
ments may be perverted by felf-intereft? 'Whe
ther is it moft fit that the judge of all the earth
fhould determine this point, or a company of
malefadors, as they are? Is it allowed to cri
minals in civil courts to determine their own
doom, and pronounce their own fentence? If
it were, few of them. would be puniflied at all,
and government would fall into contempt.
D 4 Again;

40 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm. i ,
Again, let xp^e remind them, that the penalty
was annexed to prevent difobedlence, and fo to
render the execution needlefs, and confequentr
ly it was primarily intended for their good.
Why then will they fruftrate this defign, and,
when they have, rendered the execution necef
fary, complain bf its feverity? If they think the
penalty fb terrible let them watch againft fin, let
them accept the falvation the gofpel offers, and
fo avoid It, Inftead of quarrelling with its fe
verity, and yet rufliing upon it. Or if they
fay, they will perfift in fin becaufe they do not
believe the punifhment is eternal; this gives me
room to appeal to themfelves whether a 'lefs pe
nalty than everlafting mifery would be fuffici
ent to reftrain them from fin? and whether
God would have taken all proper precautions
to prevent fin, if he had annexed a lefs punifh
ment to his law, fince, by their own confef
iion, nothing lefs could deter them from It? I
fhall only add, that as the human .^oul muft
always exift, and as by indulgence is fin In the
prefent ftate it contrads fuch habits as render
it incapable of happinefs in the holy enjoy
ment of the heavenly world, it muft by a na
tural neceffity be for ever miferable, though
God fliould not exert any pofitive ad for its
punifliment. And If the Deifts fay, that punifh
ment for fome time would reclaim offenders
from fin, and bring them to repentance, the diffi
culty is not removed, unlefs they can prove that
mifery

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. 41
mifery will bring men to love that God who in-
flids it, which they can never do; and it is
evident, that that repentance which proceeds
merely from felf-love, without any regard to
God at all, can never be pleafing to him, nor
prepare them for happinefs in the enjoyment
of Jilm, Punifhment would produce a repent
ance like that of a fick-bed, forced, fervile, and
tranfitory. Will they objed, that miracles are not a fuf
ficient evidence of the truth and divinity of a
Revelation, becaufe Infernal fpirits may alfo
work miracles, as in the cafe of the magicians
of E^ypt, to confirm an impofture? But it is
known that our free-thinkers explode and laugh
at the exiftence and power of evil fpirits in
other cafes, and therefore muft not be allowed
to admit them here to ferve a turn. However, we
grant there are infernal fpirits, and that they
can perform many things above human power,
which may appear to us miraculous, and yet the
evidence In favour of Chriftianity taken from
miracles ftands unihaken; for (i) Can we fup
pofe that thefe malignant and wicked fpirits,
whofe bufinefs it is to feduce men to fin and
ruin, would be willing to exert their power to
work miracles to confirm fo holy a religion ; a
religion fo contrary to their defign, and fo fub
verfive of their kingdom and intereft? This
would be wretched policy indeed. Or if v/e
fliould fuppofe them willing, yet, (2) Can we
think that God, who has them all at his con trol.

42 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm.i.
trol, would fuffier them to counterfeit the great
feal of heaven, and annex it to an impofture?
that is, to work fuch miracles as could not be
diftinguiflied from thofe wrought by him, to
atteft an impofture ? Would he permit them to
impofe upon mankind in a manner that could
not be deteded? This would be to deliver the
world to their management, and fuffer them to
lead them blindfold to hell in unavoidable de-
lufion: for miracles are fuch dazzling and pom
pous evidences, that the general run of man
kind could not refift them, even though they
were wrought to atteft a religion that might
be demonftrated by along train of fublime rea
fonlng to be falfe. God may Indeed fuffer the
devil to mimic the miracles wrought by his
immediate hand, as in the cafe of Janncs and
Jambres, but then, as in that cafe too, he v/ill
take care to excel them, and give fome diftin-
guifhing marks of his almighty agency, which
all mankind may eafily difcriminate from the
utmoft exertion of infernal power. But tho' Sa
tan fhould be willing, and God fhould permit
him to work miracles, yet (3) Can we fuppofe ,
that all the powers of hell united, are able to work
fuch aftonifhing miracles as were wrought for
the confirmation of the Chriftian Religion? Can
we fuppofe that they can control the laws of
nature at pleafure, and that with an air of fo-
vereignty, and profeffing themfelves the lords
of the univerfe, as we know Christ did? If
we can believe this, then we deify them, and
may

Serm.i. of the Chriftian Religion. 43
may as well afcribe the Creation and Preferva-
tion of the world to them. If they could ex
ert a creating power to form new limbs for the
maimed, or to multiply five loaves and two
fifhes into a fufficient quantity of food for five
thoufand, and leave a greater quantity of frag
ments when that were done, than the whole
provifion at firft, then they might create the
world, and fupport all the creatures in it. If
they could animate the dead, and remand the
feparate foul back to its former habitation,
and reunite It with the body, then I fee not
why they might not have given us life at firft.
But to fuppofe this would be to dethrone the
King of heaven, and renounce his providence
entirely. We therefore reft affured that the
miracles related In the Scriptures were wrought
by the finger of God.
But our free-thinkers will urge. How do we
at this diftance know that fuch miracles were
adually wrought? They are only related in
the Scripture-hiftory, but to prove the truth of
Scripture from arguments that fuppofe the
Scripture true, is a ridiculous method of rea
fonlng, and only a begging of the queftion.
But (i) the Reahty of thofe miracles was
granted by, the enemies of Chriftianity in their
writings againft It, and they had no anfwer to
make, but this forry one, that they were
wrought by the power of Magic. They never
durft deny that they were wrought; for they
knew all the world could prove it. Indeed an
honour-

44 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm. i .
lionourable teftimony concerning them could
not be expeded from infidels, for it would be
utterly inconfiftent that they fhould own thefe
miracles fufficient atteftations of Chriftianity,
and yet continue infidels. And this may an-
fv/er an unreafonable demand of the Deifts,
that we fhould produce fome honourable tefti
mony concerning thefe atteftations from Jews
and Heathens, as well as from Chriftians, who
were parties. We fliould have much more rea
fon to fufped the teftimony of the former as
not convidive when it did not~ convince the
perfons themfelves. But (2) As thefe miracles
were of fo public a nature, and as fo many
were concerned to deted them, that they would
unavoidably have been deteded, when related
in words, if they had not been done, fo for
the fame reafons, they could not but have been
deteded, when related In writing, and' this
we know they never were. If thefe miracles
had not been matters of undoubted fad they
could not have been in ferted at firft in the gof
pel-hiftory, for then thoufands in various coun
tries were alive to confute them ; and they
could nothave been intruded into it afterwards,
for all the world would fee that it was then too
late, and that if there had been fuch things,
they fliould have heard of them before, for
they were much more neceffary for the firft
propagation of Chriftianity than for its fupport
when received.

But

Serm.i.' of the Chriftian Religion. 45
But it may be objeded. How can we at this
diftance know that thefe hiftories are genuine ?
May they not have been corrupted, and many
additions made to them by defigning men in
ages fince ? And why is it not alfo afked, how
do we know that there were fuch men as Alex
ander, Julius Ccefar, or King William the Third t
How do we know but their hiftories are all ro
mance and fable? How do we know that there
were any generations of mankind before our
felves ? How do we know but all the ads of
parliament of former reigns are corrupted, and
we are ruled by impofitions? In fliort, Hovv^
can we know any thing, but v/hat we have
feen with our eyes ? We may, as well make dif
ficulties of all thefe things, and'fo deftroy all hu
man teftimony, as fcruple the genuinenefs of the
facred writings, for never were any v/ritings
conveyed down with fo good evidence of their
being genuine and uncorrupted as thefe. Up
on their firft publication they were put into
all hands, they were fcattered into all nations,
tranflated into various languages, and all per-
ufed them, either to be taught by them, or to
cavil at them. And ever fince they have b.eeh
quoted by thoufands of authors, appealed to
by all parties of Chriftians, as the fupreme
Judge of controverfies ; and not only the ene^
mies of Chriftianity have carefully watched
them to deted any alterations which pious
fraud might attempt to make, but one fed of
Chriftians has kept a watchful eye over the
other,

46 The divine Authority and Sufficiency Serm.r.
other, left they fhould alter any thing in fa
vour of their own caufe. And it is matter of
aftonifliment as well as convidion, that all the
various copies and tranflations of the Scrip
tures in different nations and libraries are fub-*
ftantially the fame, and differ only in matters
of fmall moment, fo that from the worft copy
or tranflation In the world, one might eafily
learn the fubftance of Chriftianity.
Or will our infidels Infift to be eye-witneffes
of thefe fads ? Muft one arife from the dead,
or new miracles be wrought to convince them
by ocular demonftration ? This is a moft un
reafonable demand, for ( i ) The continuance
of miracles in every age would be attended
with numerous inconveniencies. For example.
Multitudes muft be born blind, deaf, or dumb ;
multitudes muft be afflided with incurable dif-
eafes, and poffeffed by evil fpirits ; multitudes
muft be difturbed in the fleep of death ; and
all the laws of nature muft be made precari
ous and fickle in order to leave room for mi
raculous operations, and all this to humour a
company of obftlnate infidels, who would not
believe upon lefs ftriking though entitely fuf
ficient evidence. (2) The continuance of mi
racles from age to age would deftroy their
very nature, to which It is effential, that they
be rare and extraordinary, for what is ordi
nary and frequent, we are apt to afcribe to the
eftabliflied laws of nature, however wonder ful

Serm.r. of the Chriftian Religion. 47
fui it be In itfelf. For example. If we faw dead
bodies rife from their graves, as often as we fee
vegetables fpring from feed rotten in the earth,
we fhould be no more furprifed at the one
phasnomenon, than we are at the other, and
our virtuofi would be equally bufy to afiign fome
natural caufe for both.
And had we never feen the fun rife until
this morning we fhould juftly have accounted
it as great a miracle as any recorded in the
Scriptures ; but becaufe It is common we neg
led it as a thing of courfe. Indeed, it is not
any thing in the event itfelf, or In the degree
of power neceffary for its accompllfliment, that
renders it miraculous, but its being uncom
mon, and out of the ordinary courfe of things ;
for example, the generation of the human bor
dy is not In itfelf lefs aftonifhing, nor does it
require lefs power, than its refurredion : the
revolution of the fun in its regular courfe is as
wonderful, and as much requires a divine
power, as its ftanding ftill in the days of Jo
fhua. But we acknowledge a miracle in the
one cafe, but not in the other, becaufe the one is
extraordinary, while the other frequently occurs.
Hence it follows, that the frequent repetition
of miracles, as often as men are pleafed to
plead the want of evidence to excufe their in
fidelity, would deftroy their very nature, and
confequently, to demand their continuance is
to demand an impoffibllity. But (3) Suppofe
that men fhould be indulged in this requeft, it

48 The divine Authority and Siificiency Serm.i.
it would not probably bring them to believe.
If they are unbelievers now it is not for want
of evidence, but through wilful bllndnefs and
obftinacy ; and as they that will fliut their eyes
can fee no more in meridian light than In the
twilight, fo they that rejed a fufficiency of evi
dence would alfo refift a fuperfluity of it.
Thus the Jews, who were eye-witneffes of the
miracles recorded in the Scriptures, continued
invincible infidels ftill. They had always fome
trifling cavil ready to objed againft the bright-
eft evidence. And thus our modern infidels
would no doubt evade the force of the moft mi
raculous atteftation by fome wretched hypo-
thefis or other; they would look upon mira*
cles either as magical produdions, or 'illufions
of their fenfes, or rather, as natural and necef
fary events, which they would indeed have
fome reafon to conclude, if they were fre
quently performed before their- eyes. Some
have pretended to doubt of the exiftence and
perfedions of God, notwithftanding the evi
dences thereof upon all this magnificent ftruc-
ture of the univerfe, and muft God be always
cfeating new worlds befx)re thefe obftlnate crea
tures for their convidion ? Such perfons have as
much reafon to demand It In this cafe as our
Deifts have to infift for new miracles in the other.
I might add, that fuch glaring evidence, as, like
the light of the fun, would force itfelf Irrefifti-
bly upon the minds of the moft reludant,
would not leave room for us to fhew our regard to

Serm.i. ^f the Chriftian Religion. 49
to God In believing, for we fhould then be
lieve from extrinfic neceffity, and not from
choice. It -is therefore moft correfpondent to
our prefent ftate of probation, that there
fhould be fomething in the evidence of a divine
Revelation to try us; fomething that might
fully convince the teachable, and yet not re
move all umbrages for cavilling from the obfti-
nate. Thus I have anfwered as many objedions as
the bounds of one fermon would admit; and
I think they are the principal ones which lie
againft my fubjed in the view I have confidered
it. And as I have not defignedly feleded the
weakeft, in order to an eafy triumpli, you
may look upon the anfwers that have been
given as a ground of rational prefumption that
.all other objedions may be anfwered with equal
eafe. Indeed, if they could not, it would not
invalidate the pofitive arguments in favour of
Chriftianity, for when we have fufficient pofi
tive eviiJence for a thing. We do not rejed it,
becaufe it is attended with fome difficulties
which We cannot fblve.
My time will allow me to make but two or
three fliort refledions upon the whole.
I. If the Religion of Jesus be attefted with
fuch full evidence, and be fufficient to condud
men to everlafting felicity, then how helplefs are
they, that have enjoyed it all their life, without
profit ; who either rejed it as falfe, or have not
felt its power to reform their hearts and lives ?
VoL.L E It

50 The divine Authority and Sufficiency, &c.
It is the laft remedy provided fer a guilty world;,
and if this fails, their difeafe is incurable, and
they are not to exped better means.
2. If the Religion of Jesus be true, then
wo unto the wicked of all forts ; wo to infidels
both pradical and ^eculatlve, for all the curfes
of it are in full force againft them, and I need
not tell you how dreadful they are.
3. If the Religion of Jesus be true, then I
congratulate fuch of you, whofe hearts and
lives are habitually conformed to it, and who
have ventured your everlafting All upon it. You
build upon a fure foundation, and your hope
fhall never make you afhamed.
Finally, Let us all ftrive to become rational
and pradical believers of this heaven-born Re
ligion. Let our underftandlngs be more ratio
nally and thoroughly convinced of its truth ;
and our hearts and lives be more and more con
formed to its purity j and ere long we fliall re
ceive thofe glorious rewards it enfures to all its
fincere difciples ; which may God grant to u«
all for Jesus fake. Amen !

SERMON

SERMON IL
The method of Salvation through
Jesus Christ.
JOHN IIL 16.
For G OD fo loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him,
fhould not perifh, but have everlafting life.
\ HAVE been follcitoufly thinking in
what way my life, redeemed from
_ __ the grave, may be of moft fervice to
k.i®^!@(jil rny dear people. And I would col
led all the feeble remains of my ftrength into
one vigorous effort this day to promote this
benevolent end. If I knew what fubjed has
the moft dired tendency to fave your fouls,
that is the fubjed to which my heart would
cling with peculiar endearment, and which I
would make the matter of the prefent difcourfe;
And when I confider I am fpeaking to an
affembly of finners, guilty, depraved, helplefs
creatures, and that, if ever you be faved, it will
be only through Jesus Christ, in that way
£2 which

52 Th method of Salvatio}i> " Serm. 2,
which the gofpel reveals ; when I confider that
your everlafting life and happinefs turn uport
this hinge, namely the reception you give to
this Saviour, and this way of falvation ; I fay,
when I confider thefe things, I can think of no
fubjedT can more properly choofo than to re
commend the Lord Jesus to your acceptance,
and to explain and inculcate the method of fal
vation through his mediation j or, in other
words-, to preach the pure gofpel to you ; for the
gofpel, in the moft proper fenfe, is nothing elfe
but a revelation of a' way of falvation for fin
ners of' Adam's race. ,
My text furniflies' me with proper- materials
for my pui-pofe. Let heaven and earth hear it
with wonder, joy, and raptures of praife! " God
" fo loved the world, that he gave his only be-
" gotten Son, that whofoever, or that every
" one {a), that believeth in him, fhould not pe-
" rifh, but have everlafting life."
This is a part of the moft important evening
converfation that ever was held, I m.ean, that
between Christ and Nicodemus, a Pharifeeand
a Ruler bf the Jews. Our Lord firft inftruds him
in the dodrine of regeneration, that grand con-
ftituent of a Chriftian, and prerequifite to our
admiffion into the kingdom of heaven ; and then
he proceeds to inform him of the gofpel-method
of falvation, which contains thefe two grand
articles, the death of Christ, as the great foun
dation of bleffednefs, and faith in him, as the
great qualification upon the part of the finner.
He
(a) ^«tf.

Serm. 2. through Jefm Chrift. 53
He prefents this important dodrine to us in
various forms with a very fignificant repetition.
" As Mofes Hfted up the ferpent In th'e'wllder-
" nefs, even fo fhall the Son of man be lifted
"up ;" thdt is, hung on high on a crofs ; " that
" whofoever believeth in him fhould not pcrifli,
"but have everlafting life." Then follows thy
text, which expreffes the fame dodrine with
great force : " God fo loved the world, that he
" gave his only begotten Son," gave him up to
death, " that whofoever believeth in him fhould
'* not perifh, but have everlafting life." He
goes on to mention a wonder. This earth is a
rebellious ^province of ^'i^^o-y-^i^'s dominions, and
therefore if his Son fhould ever vifit it, one
would think it would be as an angry judge, or
as the executioner of his father's vengeance.
But, O aftoqifliing ! " God fent not his Son in-
*' to the world to condemn the world, but that
" the world through him might be faved."
Hence the terms of life and death are thus fix
ed, " He that believeth in him is not'condemned:
" but he that believeth not is condemned already,
" becaufe he hath not believed in the name of
" the only begotten Son of God." Sure the hea
venly rivers of pleafure flow in thefe verfes !
Never, methinks, was there fo much gofpel
expreffed in fo few words ! Here take fhe gofpel
in miniature, and bind it to your hearts for
ever. Thefe verfes alone, methinks, are a fvif-
ficient remedy for a dying world.
The truths I would infer from the text for
prefent irpproyement are thefe; that without
E 3 Christ

54 The method of Salvation Serm. 2,
Christ you are all in a perlfliing condition ; —
that through Jesus Christ a way is opened for
your falvation ; — that the grand prerequifite
to your being faved in this way, is faith in Je
sus Christ; — that every one, without excep
tion, whatever his former charader has been,
that is enabled to comply with this prerequifite,
fhall certainly be faved;— and that the conftitu
tion of this method of falvation, or the miffion
of Christ into our world, as the Saviour of
finners, is a moft ftriklngj^and aftonifhing in
ftance and difplay of the love of God.
I. My text implies that without Christ you
are all in a perlfliing condition. This holds
true of you in particular, becaufe it holds true
of the world univerfally : for the world was
undoubtedly In a perlfliing condition without
Christ, and none but he could relieve it,
otherwife God would never have given his only
begotten Son to fave it. God is not oftenta-
tlous or prodigal of his gifts, efpecially of fo in-
eftimable a gift as his Son, whom he loves infi
nitely more than the wiiole creation. So great,
fo dear a perfon would not have been fent upon
a miffion, which could have been difcharged by
any other being. Thoufands of rams muft bleed
in facrifice, or ten thoufands of rivers of oil muft
flow ; our firft-born muft die for cur tranfgref-
fions, and the fruit of our body for the fin of our
fouls ; or Gabriel, or fome of the upper ranks of
angels, muft leave their thrones', and hang
upon a crofs, if fuch methods of falvation had,

Serm. 2. through Jefus Chrift; |5
had been fufficient. All this would have been
nothing in comparifon of the only begotten
Son of God leaving his native heaven, and all
its glories, affuming our degraded nature, fpend-
ing thirty three long and tedious years in po
verty, difgrace, and perfecution, dying as a
malefador and a flave in the midft of ignominy
and torture, and lying a mangled breathlefs
corps in the grave. We may be fure there was
the higheft degree of neceffity for it, otherwife
God would not have given up his dear Son to
fuch an horrid fcene of fiifferlngs.
This tlien was the true ftate of the world,
and confequently yours without Christ ; it
was hopelefs and defperate in every view. In
that fituation there would not have been fo
much goodnefs in the vi^orld as to try the effi
cacy of facrlfices, prayers, tears, reformation,
and repentance, or they would have been tried
in vain. It would have been inconfiftent with
the honour of the divine perfedions and go
vernment, to admit facrifices, prayers, tears,
repentance, 'and reformation, as a fufficient a-
tonement. What a melancholy view of the world have
we now before us ! We know the ftate of
mankind only under the gracious government
of a Mediator, and we but feldom realize what
our miferable condition would have been, had
this gracious admlniftration never been fet up.
But exclude a Saviour in your thoughts for a
moment, and then take a view of the world —
^elplefs! — hopelefs! — under the righteous dif-
E 4 pleafure

^6 The method of Sdvatlon Serm, 2,
pleafure of God; and defpaiifng of relief! —
the very fuburbs of hell ! — the range of malig
nant devils ! — the region of guilt, mifery, and
defpair ! — the mouth of the infernal pit ! — r
the gate of hell ! This would have been the
condition of our world had it not been for that
Jesus who redeemed it, and yet in this very
world he is negleded and defpifed.
But you will afk me, " How comes it that
*^ the world was ip fuch an undone, helplefs,
" hopelefs condition without Christ ? or what
*' are the reafons of all this?"
The true account of this will appear from
thefe two cohfiderations, that all mankind
arefiriners; and that no other method but the
mediation of Christ could render the falva^
tion of finners confiftent with the honour of
the divine perfedions and government, with
the public good, gnd even with the nature of
things. All mankind are finners. This is too eviT
dent to need proof. They ^re finners, rebels
againft the greateft and beft of beings, againft
their Maker, their liberal Benefador, and their
rightful Sovereign, to whom they are under
ftronger and more endearing obligations thari
they can be under to any creature, or even
to the intire fyftem of creatures : finners, re
bels in every part of our guilty globe; none
righteous, no not one; all finners, without ex r
peptlon : finners from age to age for thoufands
of years : thoufands, millions, innumerable mul
titudes of finqers. What an obnoxious race is
3 this I

Serm> 2, through Jefus Chrift. ff
this ! There appears no difficulty in the way
of juftice to punifli fuch creatures. But what
feeming infuperable difficulties appear in the*
way of their falvation ! Let me mention a few
of them to recommend that bleffed Saviour who
has removed them all.
If fuch finners be faved, how fhall the holi
nefs and juftice of God be difplayed ? HoW
fhall he give an honourable view of himfelf ta
all worlds, as a Being of perfed: purity, and an
enemy to all moral evil ?
If fuch finners be faved, how fl:iall the hon
our of the divine government and law be fe
cured ? How vdll the dignity of the Law ap
pear, if a race of rebels may thus trifle with it
with impunity ? What a forry law muft that
be, that has no fandions, or whofe fandions
may be difpenfed with at pleafure ? What a
contemptible government, that may be infult-
ed and rejeded, and the offender admitted in
to favour without exemplary punifhment? No
government can fubfift upon fuch principles of
cxceffive indulgence.
How can fuch finners be faved, aiid yet the
good of the public fecured, which is always the
end of every wife and good ruler ? By the pub
lic good I, do not mean the happinefs of man
kind alone, but I mean -the happinefs of all
worlds of reafonable creatures colledively, in
comparifon of which the happinefs of mankind
alone may be only a private intereft, which
fhould always give way to the public good.
Now fin has a dired tendency,- not only ac
cording:

5^ The method of Salvation Serm. 2.
cording to law, but according to the nature of
things, to fcatter mifery and ruin wherever its
iijfedion reaches. Therefore the public good
cannot be properly confulted without giving a
loud and effedual warning againft all fin, and
dealing with offenders in fuch a manner as to
deter others from offending. But how can
this be done ? how can the finner be faved, and
yet the evil of fin be difplayed, and all other
beings be deterred from it for ever ? How can
fin be difcouraged by pardoning it ? its evil dif
played by letting the criminal efcape punifh
ment ? Thefe are fuch difficulties that nothing
but divine wifdom could ever furmount them.
Thefe difficulties lie in the way of a mere
pardon, iand exemption from punifliment. But
falvation includes more than this. When fin
ners are faved, they are not only pardoned but
received into high favour, made the children,
the friends, the courtiers of the King of hea
ven. They are not only delivered from punilh-
ment, but alfo advanced to a ftate of perfed:
pofitive happinefs; and nothing fhort of this
can render fuch creatures as we happy. Now
in this view, the difficulties rife ftill higher, and
it is the more worthy of obfervation, as this is
not generally the cafe in human governments ;
and as men are apt to form their notions of the
divine government by human, they are lefs fen
fible of thefe difficulties. But this is indeed the
true ftate of the cafe here'; how can the finner
be not only delivered from punifhment, but alfo
advanced to a ftate bf perfed happinefs ; not
only

Serm. 2. through Jefus Chrift. 59
only efcape the difpleafure of his offended fove
reign, but be received into full favour, and
advanced to the higheft honour and dignity;
how can this be done without cafting a cloud
over the purity and juftice of the Lord of all ;
without finking his law and government into
contempt, without diminlfliing the evil of fin,
and emboldening others to venture upon it, and
fo at once injuring the charader of the fupreme
Ruler, and the public good ? How can finners,
I fay, be faved without the falvation being at
tended with thefe bad confequences ?
And here you muft remember, that thefe
confequences muft be provided againft. To
fave men at random, without confidering the
confequences, to diftribute happinefs to private
perfons with an undiftinguifliing hand, this
would be at once inconfiftent with the charac
ter of the fupreme Maglftrate of the univerfe,
and with the public good. Private perfons are
at liberty to forgive private offences ; nay. It Is
their duty to forgive, and they can hardly of
fend by way of excefs in the generous virtues
of mercy and compafllon. But the 'cafe is
otherwife with a maglftrate : he is obliged to
confult the dignity of his government, and the
intereft of the public, and he may eafily carry
his lenity to a very dangerous extreme, and by
his tendernefs to criminals do an extenfive in
jury to the ftate. This Is particularly the cafe
with regard to the great God, the univerfal fu
preme Maglftrate of all worlds. And this ought
to be ferioufly confidered by thofe men of loofe
3 principles

6 The method of Salvation Serm. 2.
principles among us, who look upon God only
under the fond charader of a Father, or a Be
ing of infinite mercy, and thence conclude they
have little to fear from him for all their auda
cious iniquities. There is no abfolute neceffity
that finners fhould be faved ; juftice may hs
fuffered to take place upon them. But there is
the moft abfolute neceffity that the ruler of the
world fhould both be, and appear to be holy
and juft. There is the moft abfolute neceffity
that he fhould fupport the dignity of his go
vernment, and guard it from contempt, that
he fhould ftrike all worlds with a proper horror
of fin, and reprefent it in its genuine infernal
colours, and fo confult the good of the whole,
rather than a part. There is^ I fay, the higheft
and moft abfolute neceffity for thefe things, and
they cannot be difpenfed with as matters of ar
bitrary pleafiirei And unlefs thefe ends can be
anfwered in the falvation of men they cannot
be faved at all. No, they muft all perifh, ra
ther than God fhould ad out of charader, as
the fupreme Maglftrate of the univerfe, or be-
ftow private favours to criminals to the detri
ment of the public.
And in this lay the difficulty. Call a coun
cil of all the fages and wife men of the worlds
and they can never get over this difficulty,
without borrowing affiftance from the gofpel.
Nay, this, no doubt, puzzled all the angelic in-
telligencies, who pry fo deep into the myfteries
of heaven, before the gofpel was fully revealed.
Methinks the angels, when they faw the fall of
man.

Serm. 2^. throiigh Jefus Cbrifl. 6i
man, gave him up as defperate. « Alas I they
" cried> the poor creature is gone I he and all
"•' his numerous race are loft for ever." This*
they knew, had been the doom of their, fellow-
angels that finned, and could they hope betteU
-Ibr man ? Then they had not feen any of the
wonders of pardoning love and mercy; and
could they have once thought that that glorious
perfon, who filled the middle throne, and was
their Creator and Lord, would ever become a
man, and die, like a criminal, to .redeem an in
ferior rank of creatures? no, this thought they
would probably have fhuddered at as blafphe-
my. And muft we then give up ourfelves and all
our race as loft beyond recovery ? There are
huge and feemingly infuperable difficulties in
the way, and we have feen, neither men not
angels can prefcribe any relief. But " fing, O
"" ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it : fhout
*' ye lower parts of the earth : break forth into
" finging, ye mountains, O foreft, and every
•' tree therein : for the Lord hath redeemed
** Jacob, and glorified himfelf in Ifrael [b)."^
Which leads me to add,
IL My text Implies that thro' Jesus Christ
ia way is opened for your falvation. He, and
he only was found equal to the undertaking ;
and before him all thefe mountains become a
plain J all thefe dfficulties vanifli ; and now
God can be Juft, can fecure the dignity of his
charader,
{i) Ifaiah zHv. 23.

62 The method of Salvation Sferffi. 2,
charadet", afe the Ruler of the world, and an
fwer all the ends of government, and yet jufti-
fy and fave the finner that believeth in Jesus.
This is plainly implied in this glorious epi'^
tome of the gofpel : " God fo loved the world,
" that he gave his only begotten Son, that
" whofoever believeth In him, fhould not pe-
•' rifli, but have everlafting life." Without this
gift, all was loft : but now whofoever believeth
in him may be faved ; faved in a moft ho
nourable way. This will appear more parti
cularly if we confider the tendency the media
tion of Christ had to remove the difficulties
mentioned. But I would premife two general
remarks. The firft is, That God being confidered in
this affair in his public diarader, as fupreme
maglftrate, of governor of the world, all the
punifhment which he is concerned to fee inflid
ed upon fin is only fuch as anfwers the ends of
government. Private revenge muft vent itfelf
on the very perfon of the offender, or be difap-
pointed. But to a ruler, as fuch, it may in
fome cafes be indifferent, whether the punifh
ment be fuftained by the very perfon that of
fended, or by a fubftitute fuffering in his ftead.
It may alfo be indifferent whether the very fame
punifhment, as to kind and degree, threatened
in the law, be inflided, or a punifhment equi
valent to it. If the honour of the ruler and his
government be maintained, if all difobedlence
be properly difcountenanced, if, in fhort, all
the

Serm* 2. through Jefus Chrift. , 63
the ends of government can be anfwered, fuch
things as thefe are indifferences. Confequent
ly if thefe ends fhould be anfwered by Christ's
fuftering in the ftead of finners there would
be no objedion againft it. This remark In
troduces another, namely, (2) That Jesus
Christ was fuch a perfon that his fuffering
as the fubftitute or furety of finners anfwered
all the ends of government, which could be an
fwered by the execution of the punifliment
upon the finners themfelves. To impofe fuf
fering upon the innocent, when unwilling, is
unjuft; but Jesus was willing to undertake the
dreadful tafk. And befides, he was a perfon
(fui juris ) at his own difpofal, his own proper
ty, and therefore he had a right to difpofe of
his life as he pleafed, and there was a merit in
his confenting to that, which he was not ob
liged to previous to his confent. He was alfo
a perfon of infinite dignity, and infinitely ber-
loved by his Father, and thefe confiderations
rendered the merit of his fufferings for a fhort
time, and another kind of punifhment than
that of hell, equal, niore than equal to the
everlafting fufferings of finners themfelves.
Jesus Christ was alfo above law, that is, not
obliged to be fubjed to that law which he had
made for his creatures, and confequently his
obedience to the law, not being neceffary for
himfelf, might be imputed to others : whereas
creatures are incapable of works of fupereroga-
tlpn, or of doing more than they are bound to
do.

64 The method .of Satv^ion Sefm. ij
do, being obliged to obey their divine lawgiver
for themfelves to the utmoft extent of their abi
lities, and confequently, their obedience, however
perfed, can be fufficient only for themfelves, but'
cannot be Imputed to others. Thus it appears, in
general, that the ends of government are as ef-
fedually anfwered by the fufferings of Christ
in the room of finners, as they could be by the
everlafting punifhment of the finners them
felves } nay, we fhall prefently find they are an
fwered in a more ftriking and illuftrious man
ner. To mention particulars ;
Was it neceffary that the holinefs and juftice
ef God fhould be difplayed in the falvation of
finners ? See how bright they fhine in a fuf
fering Saviour! Now it appears that fuch is
the holinefs and juftice ' of God that he will
not let even his own Son efcape unpunifhed,,
when he ftands in the law-place of finners,
though guilty only by the flight ftain, may I
fo fpeak, of imputation. Could the execution
of everlafting punifhmeHt upon the -hateful cri
minals themfelves ever give fo l)right a difplay
of thefe attributes ? It were impoffible. A-
gain. Was it a difficulty to fave finners, and ye;t
maintain the rights of the divine government,
and the honour of the law ? See how this diffi
culty ds removed by the obedience and death of
Christ! Now it appears, that the rights of
the divine government are fo facred and invio
lable that they muft be maintained, though
the darling Son of God fhould fall a facrifice to

Sertii. 2. through Jefus Chrifti. 6 j
to juftice; and that not one offence againft this
government can be pardoned, without his mak
ing a full atonement. Now It appears, that the
fupreme Ruler is not to be trifled with, but
that his injured honour muft be repaired, tho'
at the expence of his Son's blood and life*
Now the precept of the law is perfedly obey
ed in every part, and a full equivalent to its pe
nalty endured, by a perfon of infinite dignity ;
and it is only upon this footing, that is, of
compleat fatisfadion to all the demands of the
law, that any of the rebelfious fons of men can
be reftored Into favour. This is a fatisfadion
which Christ alone could give: to finners it
is utterly impoffible, either by doing, or fuffer-
' ing. "They cannot do all the things that are
Written in the law : nor can they endure its pe
nalty, without being for ever miferable. And
therefore the law has received a more compleat
fatisfadion in Christ than it would ever re
ceive from the offenders themfelves. Further, .
Was it a difficulty how finners might be
faved, and yet the evil of fin be difplayed in all
its horrors? Go to the crofs of Christ, there,
ye fools that make a mock of fin, there learn
its malignity, and its hatefulnefs to the great
God. There you may fee it is fo great an evil,
that when it is but imputed to the man that is
God's fellow, as the furety of finners, it can
not efcape punifliment. No, when that dread
ful ftain lay upon him, Immediately the com-
miffion was given to divine juftice, " Awake,
' Vol. I. F ' " O

66 The method of Salvation Serm. 2 ,
" O fword, againft my fhepherd, againft the
*' man that is my fellow, faith the Lord of
" hofts; fmite the fliepherd (a)." When
Christ ftood in the room of finners, even the
Father fpared not his own Son, but gave him
up to death. That the criminals themfelves,
who are an inferior race of creatures, fhould
not efcape would not be ftrange: but what
an enormous evil muft that be, which cannot
be connived at even in the favourite of heaven,
the only begotten Son of God? Surely nothing
befides could give fo ftriking a difplay of its
malignity I
Was it a difficulty, how to reconcile the fal
vation of finners, and the public good? that
is. How to forgive fin, and yet give an effec
tual warning againft it? How to receive the
finner into favour, and advance him to the
higheft honour and happinefs, and in the mean
time deter all other beings from offending ?
All this is provided for in the fufferings of
Christ as a furety. Let all worlds look to
his crofs, and receive the warning which his
wounds and groans and blood and dying ago
nies proclaim aloud ; and fure they can never
dare to offend after the example of man. Novv
they may fee that the only inftance of pardon
to be found in the univerfe was not brought
about but by fuch means as are not likely to be
repeated; by the incarnation and death of the
Lord of glory. And can they flatter them- felves J
(a) Zech. xiii. 7.

Sei'nl. 2. Ihrough Jefus Chrifl. t-f
felves, that he will leave his throne, and hang
tipon a crofs, as often as any of his creatures
wantonly dare to offend him? No; fttch a mi
racle as this, the utmoft effort of divine grace,
is not often to be rehewed ; and therefore, if
they dare to fin, it is at their peril. They have
no reafon to flatter themfelves they fliall be fa
voured like fallen man; but rather to expedt
they fliall fhare In the doom of the fallen
angels. Or if they fhould think fin may efcape with
but a flight punifhmentj here they may be con
vinced of the contrary. If the Darling of hea
ven, the Lord of glory, though perfonally in
nocent, fufters fo much, when fin is but im
puted to himj what fhall the finners themfelves
feel, who can claim no favour upon the foot-^
ing of their own Importance, or perfonal in
nocence ? " If thefe things be done in the green
" tree, what fliall be done in the dry?"
Thus, my brethren, you may fee, how a
way Is opened through Jesus Christ for your
falvation; All the ends of government may
be anfwered, and yet you pardoned, and made
happy. Thofe attributes of the divine nature,
fuch as mercy, and juftice, which feemed to
clafli, are now reconciled; now they mingle
their beams, and both fliine with a brighter
glory in the falvation of finners, than either of
them could apart. And muft you not acknow
ledge this a divine gcd-like fcheme? Can you
look round )bu over the works of Creation,
Fa an i

68 The method of Salvation Serm. 2.
and fee the divine wifdom in every objed, and
can you not perceive the divine agency in this
ftill more glorious work of Redemption ? Re
demption, which gives a full view c^ the Dei
ty, not as the fun in eclipfe, half dark, half
bright, but as
" A God all o'er, confummate, abfolute, ,
" Full orb'd, in his whole round of rays consplete (a)".
And fliall not men and angels join in won
der and praife at the furvey of this amazing
fcheme? Angels are wrapt in wonder and
praife, and will be fo to all eternity. See!
how they pry into this myftery: hark, how
they fing I "Glory to God in the higheft;"
and celebiate the Lamb that was flain! And
fhall not men, who are perfonally inter efted in
the affair, join with them ? O ! are there none
to join with them in this affembly? Surely
none can refufe !
Now fince all obftrudions are removed on
God's part, that lay in the way of our falva
tion, why fhould we hot all be faved together?
What is there to hinder our crouding into hea,-
ven promlfcuoufly? Or what Is there requifite
on our part, in order to make us partakers of
this falvation ? Here it is proper to pafs on to
the next truth inferred from the text, namely,
III. That the grand prerequifite to your be
ing faved in this way Is faith in Jesus Christ. Though
(a) Youno'c Nighf-Thoughts, B. 4.

Serm. 2. through Jefus Chriffi . 69
Though the obftrudions on God's part are
removed by ths death of Christ, yet there is
one remaining in the finner, which cannot be
removed without his confent; and which, while.
it remains, renders his falvation impoffible in
the nature of things; that is, the depravity
and corruption of his nature. Till this Is cur
ed, he cannot rehfh thofe fruitions and employ
ments in which the happinefs of heaven con
fifts, and confequently he cannot be happy
there. Therefore there is a neceffity in the
very nature of things that he fhould be made
holy in order to be faved : nay, his falva
tion itfelf confifts in holinefs. Now faith
is the root of all holinefs in a finner. With
out a firm realizing belief of the great truths of
the gofpel, it is impoffible a finner fliould be
fandiified by their influence. And without a
particular faith in Jesus Christ, he cannot
derive from him thole fandifying influences by
which alone he Can be made holy, and which
are conveyed through Jfisus Christ, and thro*
him alone.
Further, It would be highly incongruous,
and indeed impoflible, to fave a finner againft
his will, or in a way he diflikes. Now, faith,
as you fliall fee prefently, principally confifts in
a hearty confent to, and approbation of the
way of falvation through Jesus Christ, the
only way in Which a finner can be faved con-
fiftenriy whh the divine hohOur; fo tbat the
conftitution .of the gofpel is not only juft, but as
F 3 merciful

7P The method of Salvation S?rm . 2 ,
merciful as it can be, when it ordains, that on-.
ly "he that believeth fhall be faved; but tha^
" he that believeth not, fliall he damned."
Again, We cannot be faved through Jesus
Christ, till his righteoufnefs be fo far made
qurs, as that it will anfwer the demands of the
Law for us, and procure the favour of God tq
US; but his righteoufnefs cannot be thus im
puted to us, or accounted ours in law, till we
are fo ui^ited to hin^ as tp be one in law, or
one legal perfon with hini. Noyi' faith is the,
bond of union; faith is that which interefts us
in Christ; and therefore without faith we
cannot receive any benefit from his rjghteouf-
n?:fs. Here then ^ tjioft Interefting Inquiry prefents
itfelf, " What is it to believe In Jesus Christ?
" or what is that fait'n which Is the grand pre-
*' requifite to falvation?" If you c^re capable
pf attention to the moft interefting affair in all
the world attend to this with the utmoft feri
oufnefs and folemnity.
Faith in Christ includes fomething fpecula-
tive in it; that is, it Includes a fpeculative, ra
tional belief, upon the teftimony of Gop, that
Jesus Christ is die only Savjpur of men. But
yet It is not entirely ^ fpeculation, like the faith
pf multitudes among us: it Is a more pradical
experimental thing; and that yoii mjay under
ftand its nature you muft take notice of the fol-
igvying partlculaj'S. (0 Faitl^

Serm. 2. through Jefus Chrift. 71
( I ) Faith prefuppofes a deep fenfe of our
undone, helplefs condition. Itold you before
this is the condition of the world without
Christ, and you muft be fenfible at heart that
this is your condition in particular, before you
can believe in him as your Saviour. He came
to be a Saviour in a defperate cafe, when no
relief could poffibly be had from any other quar
ter, and you cannot receive him under that
charader till you feel yourfelves in fuch a cafe;
therefore, in order to your believing, all your
pleas and excufes for your fins muft be filenced,
all your high conceit of your own goodnefs muft
be mortified, all your dependence upon your
own righteoufnefs, upon the merit of your pray
ers, your repentance, and good works, muft be
caft down, and you muft feel that indeed you
lie at mercy, that God may juftly rejed you
for ever, and that all you can do can bring him
under no obligation to fave you. Thefe things
you muft be deeply fenfible of, otherwife you
can never receive the Lord Jesus in that view
in which he is propofed to you, namely, as a
Saviour In a defperate cale.
I wifh and pray you may this day fee your
felves in this true, though mortifying light. It
is the want of this fenfe of things that keeps
fuch crowds of perfons unbelievers among us.
It is the want of this that caufes the Lord Je
sus to be fo little efteemed, fo litde fought for,
fo little defired among us. In fhort, it is the
want of this that is the great occafion of fo ma-
F 4 ny

72 , The, method of Salvation Serm. 2,
ny perlfliing from under the gofpel, and as it
were from between the hands of a Saviour. It
is this, alas! that caufes them to perifti, like the
impenitent thief on the crofs, with a Saviour
by their fide. O that you once rightly knew
yourfelves, you would then foon know Jesus
Christ, and receive falvation from his hands!
(2) Faith implies the enlightning of the un
derftanding to difcover the fuitablenefs of Je
sus Christ as a Saviour, and the excellency of
the way of falvation through him. While the
finner lies undone and helplefs in himfelf, and
looking about in vain for fome relief, it pleafes
a gracious God to fliine into his heart, and en
able him to fee his glory in the face of Jesus
Christ. Now this once negleded Saviour ap
pears not only abfolutely neceffary, but alfo all-
glorious and lovely, and the finner's heart ig
rapt away, and for ever captivated with his beau
ty ; now the negleded gofpel appears in a new
light, as different from all his former appre-
henfiops as if it were quite another thing. I
have not time at prefent to enlarge upon this
difcovery of Christ and the gofpel, which faith
jt^cludes; and indeed fliould I dwell upon it ne
ver fo long I could not convey juft ideas of it
to fuch of you as have never had the happy ex
perience of it. In fliort, the Lord Jesus, and
the way of falvation through him, appear per
fedly fuitable, all-fuflicient, and all-glorious;
and in confequence of this,
(3) The

0erm. 2. through Jefm Chrift, 73
(3) The finner is enabled to embrace this Sa
viour with all his heart, and to give a volunta
ry chearful confent to this glorious fcheme of
falvation. Now all his former unwillingnefs
and reludance are fubdued, and his heart no
more draws back from the terms of the gofpel,
but be complies with them, and that not mere
ly out of conftraint and neceffity, but out of
tree choice, and with the greateft pleafure and
delight. How does his heart now cling to the
bleffed Jesus with the moft affedionate endear
ment ! How is he loft in wonder, joy, and gra
titude at the furvey of the divine perfedions, as
difplayed in this method of redemption ! How
does he rejoice in it, as not only bringing hap
pinefs to him, but glory to God, as making his
falvation not only confiftent with, but a bright
illuftration of the divine perfedions, and the
dignity of his government ! While he had no
other but the low and felfifh principles of corr
fupt nature he had no concern about the hor
nour of GoD; if he might be but faved it was
all he was folicitous about : but now he has a
poble generous heart ; now he is concerned that
God fhould be honoured in his falvation, and
ihis method of falvation is recommended and
endeared to him by the thought that it fecures to
God the fupremacy, and makes his falvation
fubfervient to the divine glory.
(4) Faith in Jesus Christ implies a humble
truft or dependence upon him alone for the par
don pf fin, acceptance with God, and every
blelTing.

74 Th method of Salvation Serm. 2.
bleffing. As I told you before, the finner's
felf-confidence is mortified ; he gives up all
hopes of acceptance upon the footing of his own
righteoufnefs : he is filled with felf-defpair, and
yet he does not defpair abfolutely ; he does not
give up himfelf as loft, but has chearful hopes
of becoming a child of God, and being for
ever happy, guilty and unworthy as he is ; and
what are thefe hopes founded upon ? Why up
on the mere free grace and mercy of God,
through the righteoufnefs of Jesus ChrIst.
On this he ventures a guilty, unworthy, help-
lefe foul, and finds it a firm, immoveable foun
dation, while every other ground of depen
dence proves but a quickfand. There are ma
ny that flatter themfelves they put their truft
in God, but their truft wants fundry qualifica
tions effential to a true faith. It is not the truft
of a humble helplefs foul that draws all its en
couragement from the mere mercy of God, and
the free indefinite offer of the Gofpel ; but it Is
the prefumptuous truft of a proud felf-confi-
dent finnner, who draws his encouragement in
part at leaft from his own imaginary goodnefs
and importance. It Is not a truft In the mercy
of God through Jefus Chrifl, as the only me
dium through which it can be honourably con
veyed, but either in the abfolute mercy of God,
which without a proper reference to a Media
tor, or in his mercy, as in fome meafure de
ferved or moved by fomething in the finner.
Examiu?

Serm,. 2. through Jefus Chrift. 7^
Examine whether your truft in God will ftand
this teft.
I have now given you a brief anfwer to that
grand queftion, What is it to believe in Jesus
Christ ? ^nd I hope you underftand it, though
I have not enlarged fo miich upon it as I wil
lingly would. I fhall only add, that this faith
may alfo be known by its infeparable effeds,
which are fuch as follow. Faith purifies the
heart, and is a lively principle of inward holi
nefs. Faith is always produdive of good works,
and lead'^ us to univerfal obedience : faith over
comes the world and all its temptations ; faith
realizes eternal things, and brings them near ;
and hence it is defined by the apoftle, " The
"fubftance of tilings hoped for, and thc/evi-
" dence of things not feen {a).''
Here I have a very important queftion to
propofe to you; Who among you can fay,
" Well, notwithftanding all my imperfedions,
" and all my doubts and fears, I cannot but
*' humbly hope, after the beft examination I can
" make, that fuch a faith has been produced in
" this heart of mine ?" And can you fay fo
Indeed ? Then I bring you glad tidings of great
joy; You SHALL BE SAVED: ycs, faved you
fhall be, infpiteof earth and hell; faved, how^
ever great your paft fins have been. Which
thought introduces the glorious truth that comes
next in order, namely,
IV. My
(a) Heb. xi. I.

7&. The method of Salvation Serm. 2.
IV. My text implies; that every one with
put exception,, whatever his former charader
has been, that is enabled to believe in Jesus
Christ, fhall certainly be faved.
The number or aggravations of fin do not
alter the cafe ; and the reafon is, the finner is
not received into favour, in whole or in part,
upon the account of- any thing perfonal, but
folely and entirely upon the account of the
righteoufnefs of Jesus Christ. Now this
righteoufnefs is perfedly equal to all the demands
of the Law ; and therefore, when this righte
oufnefs is made over to the finner as his by im
putation, the Law has no more demands upon
him for great .fins than for fmall, for many than
for few ; becaufe all demands are fully fatis
fied by the obedience of Jekus Christ to the
LaW. You fee that finners of all charaders
who believe hi him are put upon an equality in
this tefped : they are all admitted upon one
common footing, the righteoufnefs of Christ,
and that Is as fufficient for one as another.
This encouraging truth has the moft abun
dant fupport from the holy Scriptures. Ob
ferve the agreeable indefinite whofoever fo often
repeated.- " Whosoever believeth in him,
" fhall not perifh, but have everlafting life."
Whcfodverht be, however vile, however guilty,
however unworthy, if he- does but believe, he
fliall not perifh, but have everlafting life. What
an agreeable affurance is this from the lips of
him who has the final ftates of men athisdifpo-
3 1^1 '•

Serm. 2. fhrough Jefus ChriJl. 77
fal ! The fame bleffed lips have alfo declared,
" Him that Cometh unto me I will in nowife
" caft out [a) :" and " Whofoever will, let him
" take the water of life, freely (1^)." He has giv
en you more than bare words to eftablifh yoa
in the belief of this truth: upon this principle
he has aSled, choofing fome of the moft aban
doned finners to make them examples, not cf
his juftice, as we might exped, but of his mer
cy, for the encouragement of others. In the
days of his flefh he was reproached by his ene
mies for his friendfhip to publicans and finnei"s,
but fure it is, inftead of reproaching, we muft
Jiovehim on this account. When he rofe from
the dead he did not rife with angry refentments
ggainft his murderers ; no, but he fingles
.them out from a whole world of finners, to
make them the firft offers of pardon through
the blood which they had jufi fhed. He or
ders "that repentance and remiffion of fins
" fhould be preached in his name to all nations,
" beginning at Jerufalem [c);" zX. Jerufalem Vv'here
he had been crucified a few d^ys before, there
he orders the -firft publication of pardon and
life to be made. You m.ay fee what monfters
of fin he chofe to make the monuments of his
grace in Corinth. " Neither fornicators, nor ido-
" laters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
" abufers of themfelves with mAankind, nor
" thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor rc-
" vllcrs, nor extortioners, fhall inherit the king-
" dom
{a) John vi. 37. (h) Rev, xxii, .17. [c) Luke yxiv. 47.

7S 'fhg method of Salvation Serrh. i.-
" dom of God." What a difmal catalogue iS
this ! It Is no wonder fuch a crew fhould not in
herit the kingdom of heaven ; they are fit only
for the infernal prifon; and yet, aftonifhing i
it follows, " Such were some of you ; but ye
" are wafhed, but ye are fandified, but ye are
" juftified in the name of the Lord Jesus,
" and by the Spirit of our GoD {a)." What
finner after this can defpair of mercy upon his
believing In Jesus! St. P««/ was another in
ftance of the fame kind : "This, fays he, is a
" faithful faying;" a faying that may be depend
ed on as true, •' and worthy of all acceptation,*'
from a guilty world, " that Christ Jesus came
" into the world to fave finners, of whom I am
*' chief: howbelt, for this caufe I obtained mei*-
" cy, that In me the chief, Jesus Christ might
" fhew forth all long-fuffering, for a pattern to
" them which fhould hereafter believe in him
" to life everlafting {b)." A finner of lefs fize
would not have anfwered this end fo well ; but
if Saul the perfecutor obtains mercy upon his
believing, who can defpair ?
You fee upon the whole, my brethren, you
are not excluded from Christ and life by the
greatnefs of your fins, but If you perifh it muft
be from another caufe : it muft be on account
of your wilful unbelief in not accepting of Je
sus Christ as your Saviour. If you rejed him
then indeed you muft perifh, however fmall
your fins have been ; for it Is only his death that
{a) I Cor. vi. 9 — 11. {L) \ Tim. i, ij, 16.

Serm. 2. through Jefus Chrift. yg
that can malce atonement for the flighteft guilt,
and if you have no intereft in that, the guilt of
tlie fmalleft fin will fink you into ruin.
Here Is a door wide enough for you all, if
you will but enter in by faith. Ccme then,
enter in, you that have hitherto claimed an
horrid precedence in fin, that have been ring
leaders in vice, come now take the lead, and
fhew others the way to Jesus Christ ; harlots,
publicans, thieves, and murderers, if fuch be a-
mong you, there is falvation even for you, if
you will but believe. O ! how aftonifhing Is
the love ofGoD difcovered in this way; a con
fideration which introduces the laft inference
from my text, namely,
V. That the conftitution of this method of
falvation, or the miffion of a Saviour into our
world, is a moft ftriking and aftonifhing dif
play of the love of God : " God fo loved the
" world as to give his only begotten Son," &c.
View the fcheme all through, and you will
difcover love, infinite love in every part of it.
Confider the great God as felf-happy, and in
dependent upon all his creatures, and v.'hat but
love, felf-moved love, could excite him to make
fuch provifion for an Inferior part of them !
Confider the world funk In fin, not only with
out merit, but moft deferving of everlafting
punlflimentj and what but love could move
him to have mercy upon fuch a world ? Confi
der the Saviour provided, not an angel, not the
higheft

8a Th method of Salivation Serrh. 2/
higheft creature, but his Son, his only begotten
Son; and what but love could move him to ap
point fuch a Saviour? Confider the manner in
which he was fent, as a gift, a free unmerited
gift; " God gave his only begotten Son :" And
what but infinite love could give fuch an un
fpeakable gift ? Confider the bleflings conferred
through this Saviour, deliverance from perdi
tion, and the enjoyment of everlafting life, and
what but tbe love of a God could confer fuch
bleflings ? Confider the condition upon which
thefe bleffings are offered, faith, that humble^
felf-emptied grace, fo fuitable to the circumftan
ces of a poor finner, that brings nothing but re
ceives all, and what but divine love could make
fuch a gracious appointment ? " It is by faith,-
" that it may be of grace {a)." Confider the inde
finite extent, or the univerfality of the offer,!
which takes in finners of the vfleft charaders,
and excepts againft none : " Whofoever believeth
" fhall not perifh," (Sc. O what love is this I But
I muft leave it as the theme of your meditations,
not only In the houfe of your pilgrimage, but
through all eternity : eternity will be fhort c-
nough to pry into this myftery, and it will em
ploy the underftandlngs of men and angels thro'
the revolutions of eternal ages.
And now, my brethren, to draw towards a
conclufion, I would hold a treaty with you this
day about the reconciliation to God through
Jesus ChrisT, I have this day fet life and death
before
C«j Rom. iv. 1 6.

Serm. ;^. through Jefus Chrift. Si
before you : I have opened to you the method
of falvation through Jesus Christ; the only
method in which you can be faved; the only
method that could afford a gleam of hope tb
fuch a finner as I in my late approach to the
eternal world (o). And now I would bring the
matter home, and propofe it to you all to
confent to be faved in this method, or in other
words, to believe in the only begotten Son of
God ; this propofal I ferioufly make to you, and
let heaven and earth and your own confciences
vVltnefs that it is made to you : I alfo infift for a
determinate anfwer this day ; the matter will
not admit of a delay, and the duty is fo plain
that there is no need of time to deliberate. A
Roman ambaffador, treating about peace with the
ambaffador of a neighbouring ftate, if I remem
ber rightly, and finding him defirous to gain time
by fhuffiing and tedious negoeiations, drew a
circle about him, and faid, " I demand an an-
" fwer before you go out of this circle." Such a
circle let the walls of this houfe, or the extent
of my voice be to you : before you leave this
houfe, or go out of hearing, I infift on a full de
cifive anfwer to this propofal, Whether you will
believe in Jesus Christ this day, or not?
But before I proceed any farther I would
remove one ftumbling block Out of your way.
You are apt to objed, " You teach us that faith
" is the gift of God, and that we cannot be-
Vol. L G "lleve
{a) This fermon svas preached a little after recovery from a
fevere fit of ficknefs, and it is dated Hanaver, Oft. 2. ij^j.

82 The method of Salvation Serm. 2.
" lieve of ourfelves, why then do you exhort us
*' to it? or how can we be concerned to endea-
*•* vour that which it is impoffible for us to
" do?" In anfwer to this, I grant the premifes are
true; and God forbid I fhould fo much as inti
mate that faith is the fpontaneous growth of
corrupt nature, or that you can come to Christ
without the Father's drawing you : but the con-
clufions you draw from thefe premifes are very
erroneous. I exhort and perfuade you to believe
in Jesus Qhrist, becaufe it is while fuch.
means are ufed with finners and by the ufe of
them that it pleafes God to enable them to com
ply, or ito work faith in them. I would there
fore ufe thofe means which God is pleafed to
blefs for this end. I exhort you to believe, in
order to fet you upon the trial, for it is putting
it to trial, and that only, which can fully con
vince you of your own inability to believe, and
till you are convinced of this you can never ex
ped ftrength from God. I exhort you to be
lieve, becaufe, firfful and infeebled • as you are,
you are capable of ufing various preparatives to
faith. You may attend upon prayer, hearing,
and all the outward means of grace with natu
ral ferioufnefs : you may endeavour to get ac
quainted with your own helplefs condition, and
as it were put yourfelves in the way of divine
mercy : and though all thefe means cannot of
themfelves produce faith In you, yet it Is only
in the ufe of thefe means you are to exped di
vine

^erm. 2. through Jefus Chrift. 83
vine grace to work it in you : never was it yet
piroduced in one foul, while lying fupine, lazy,
and in adive.
I hope you now fee good reafons why I fhould
exhort you to believe, arid alfo perceive my de
fign in it : I therefore renew the propofal to
you, that you fhould this day, as guilty, un
worthy, felt-defpalring finners, accept of the
only begotten Son of God as your Saviour, and
fall In with the gofpel-method of falvation; and
1 once more demand your anfwer. I would by
no means, if poffible, leave the pulpit this day
till I have effedually recommended the bleffed
Jesus, my Lord and mafter, to your acceptance.
I am ftrongly bound by the vows and refolu-
tions of a fick-bed to recommend him to you,
and now I would endeavour to perform my
vows. I would have us all this day before we
part confent to God's covenant, that we may go
away juftified to our houfes.
To this I perfuade and exhort you in the
name, and by the authority of the great God,
by the death of Jesus Christ for finners, by
your own moft urgent and abfolute neceffity,
by the immenfe bleffings propofed in the Gof
pel, and by the heavy curfe denounced againft
unbelievers. All the blefilngs of the Gofpel, pardon of fin,
fandifying grace, eternal life, and whatever
you can want, fhall become yours this day, if
you but believe in the Son of God : then kt de
folation over-run our land, let public and pri-
G 2 vate

84 The method of Salvation Serm. 2.
vate calamities crowd upon you, and make you
fo many Jobs for poverty and affiidlon, ftill
your main intereft is fecure; the ftorms and
waves of trouble can only bear you to heaven,
and haften your paffage to the harbour of eter
nal reft. Let devils accufe you before God,
let confcience indid you and bring you in guil
ty, let the fiery law make ifs demands upon
you, you have a righteoufnefs in Jesus Christ
that is fufficient to anfwer all demands, and,
having received It by faith, you may plead it as
your own in law. Happy fduls! rejoice in hope
of the glory of God, for your hope will never
make you afhamed !
But I exped, as ufual, fome of you will re
fufe to comply with this propofal. This, alas !
has been the ufual fate of the bleffed Gofpel in
all ages and In all countries ; as fome have re
ceived it, fo fome have rejeded it. That old
complaint of Ifaiah has been juftly repeated thou
fands of 'times; " Who hath believed our re-
" port? and to whom is the arm of the Lord
" revealed {a) ?" And Is there no reafon to pour
it out from a broken heart over fome of you,
my dear people ? Are you all this day determin
ed to believe ? If fo, I pronoiince you bleffed in
the name of the Lord ; but if not, I muft de
nounce your doom.
Be it known to you then from the living
God, that, if you thus continue in unbelief,
you fhut the door of mercy againft yourfelves, and
{a) Ifai. liii, i.

Serm. 2. through Jefus Chrift. 85
and exclude yoUrfelves from eternal life. What
ever fplendid appearances of virtue, whatever
amiable qualities, whatever feeming good works
you have, the exprefs fentence of the Gofpel
lies in full force againft you, " He that believ-
" eth not fhall be damned (d). — ^Fle that believ-
" eth not is condemned already, becaufe he
" hath not believed on the only begotten Son
" of God {b], — He that believeth not fliall not
" fee life, but the wrath of God abideth upon
*' him (£•)." — This is your doom repeatedly pro
nounced by him v/hom you muft own to be
the beft friend of human nature, and if he con
demn, who can juftify you ?
Be it alfo known to you that you will not
only perifh, but you will perifli with peculiar
aggravations; you will fall with no common
ruin; you will envy the lot of Heathens who pe-
rifhed without the Law: forO! you incur the
peculiarly enormous guilt of rejeding the Gof
pel, and putting contempt upon the Son of
God. This is an horrid exploit of wickednefs,
and this God refents above all the other crimes
of which human nature Is Incapable. Hence
Christ is come for judgment as well as for
mercy into this world, and he is fet for the fall
as well as the rifing again of many in Ifrael.
You now enjoy the light of the Gofpel, which
has conduded many through this dark world
to eternal day ; but remember alfo, " this is
G 3 " the
[a] Mark xvi. 16. {b) John iii. 18.
\c] John iii. 36.

86 The method of Salvation Serm. 2/
" the condemnation;" that is, it is the occa
fion of the moft aggravated condemnation,
•' that light Is come into the world, and men
" love darknefs rather than hght." On this
principle Jefus pronounced the doom of Chora-
zin and BcthJaida more intolerable than that
of Sodom and Gomorrah {a); and would it not
be hard to find a place in Virgi?iia where the
doom of unbelievers Is likely to be fo terrible as
among us ?
And now does not all this move you? Are
you not alarmed at the thought of perifhing ;
of perifhing by the hand of a Saviour rejed
ed and defpifed; perifhing under the ftain of
his profaned blood; perifhing not only under
the curfe of the Law, but under that of the
Gofpel, which is vaftly heavier ? O ! are you
hardy enough to venture upon fuch a doom !
This doom is unavoidable if you refufe to com
ply with the propofal now made to you.
I muft now conclude the treaty; but for
my own acquittance I muft take witnefs that I
have endeavoured to difcharge my commiffion,
whatever reception you give it. I call heaven
and earth, and your ov-m confciences to wit
nefs that hfe and falvation, through Jesus
Christ, have been offered to you on this day;
and if you rejed It, remember it ; remember it
whenever you fee this place; remember it when
ever you fee my face, or one another ; remem
ber it, that you may v/itnefs for me at the fu
preme
[a] Matth. xi. 21, 22.

Serm. 2. through Jefus Chrift, 87
preme tribunal that I am clear of your blood.
Alas ! you will remember It among a thoufand
painful refledions millions of ages hence when
the remembrance of it will rend your hearts
like a vulture. Many fermons forgotten upon
earth are remembred in hell, and haunt the
guilty mind for ever. O that you would be
lieve, and fo prevent this dreadful effed: from
the prefent fermon !

G4 SERMON

J'^X)KX)O0:C<)O<)O()€<;O<)^<>C>()O<M>C^
k'. .-...¦¦. .-'..-¦v ..¦¦.,.".. .¦-..-,.¦¦• .-"v.."-. .-"vo/'s .--ve/x ."^.i/v .¦*\»/''« ••"•vt/S •'"^e.¦'^ -¦" miI
SERMON III.
Sinners intreated to be reconciled to
God.
2 C O R. V. 20.
We then are ambaffadors for Chrift, as though GOD
did befeech you by us. We pray you, in Chrift' s
Jiead, be ye reconciled to GOD.
®^)^^® 0 prefide in the folemnities of public
S rp S worfhip, to dired your thoughts, and
^ ag choofe for you the fubjeds of your
(^|gj)j(||4@ meditation on thofe facred hours
which you fpend in the houfe of God, and up
on the right improvement of which your ever
lafting happinefs fo much depends, this is a
province of the moft tremendous importance
that can be devolved upon a mortal ; and every
man of the facred charader, who knows what
he is about, muft tremble at the thought, and
be often anxioufly perplexed what fubjed he
fhall choofe, what he fhall fay upon it, and in
4 what

go Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
what manner he fhall deliver his meffage. His
fuccefs in a great meafure depends upon his
choice, for, though the bleffed Spirit is the
proper agent, and though the beft means, with
out his efficacious concurrence, are altogether
fruitlefs, yet he is wont to blefs thofe mean?
that are beft adapted to do good ; and after a
long courfe of languid and fruitlefs efforts,
which feem to have been unufually difowned
by my divine Mafter, what text fhall 1 choofe
out of the inexhauftible treafury of God's word?
In what new method fhall I fpeak upon it ?
What new untried experiment fhall I make?
Bleffed Jesus! my heavenly Mafter! dired thy
poor perplexed fervant that is at a lofs, and
knows not what to do; dired him that has
tried and tried again all the expedients he could
think of, but almoft in vain, and now fcarce
ly knows what it is to hope for fuccefs. Di
vine diredion, my brethren, has been fought j
and may I hope It is that which has turned my
mind to addrefs you this day on the important
fubjed of your reconciliation to God, and to be
come a humble imitator of the great St Paul,
whofe affeding words I have read to you,
" We then are ambaffadors for Christ, as tho'
" God did befeech you by us: we pray you, in
- ' Christ's ftead, be ye reconciled to God."
The introdudlon to this paffage you find in
the foregoing verfes, " God hath given to us,
.*' [the apoftles] the miniftry of reconciliation j"
the fum and fubftance of which is this, name-

Serm. 3' be reconciled to God. gj
ly, " That God was in Christ reconciling the
^' world unto himfelf, not imputing their tref-
" paffes unto them." As If he had faid, " The
great fovereign of the univerfe, though highly
provoked, and juftly difpleafed with our rebel
lious world, has been fo gracious as to contrive
a plan of reconcifiatlon, whereby they may not
only efcape the punifhment they deferve, but
alfo be reftored to the favour of God, and all
the privileges of his favourite fubjeds." This
plan was laid in Chrift; that is, it was he that
was appointed, and undertook to remove all ob-
ftacles out of the way of their reconciliation, lb
that it might be confiftent with the honour and
dignity of God and his government. This he
performed by a life of perfed obedience, and
an atoning death inftead of rebellious man.
Though " he knew no fin" of his own; yet " he
" was made fin," that is, a fin-offering, or a
finner by Imputation "for us," that we might
" be made the righteoufnefs of God in him." Thus
all hindrances are removed on God's part.
The plan of a treaty of reconciliation is formed,
approved, and ratified in the court of heaven ;
but then it muft be publifhed, all the terms
made known, and the confent of the rebels fo-
licited and gained. It Is not enough that all
impediments to peace are removed on God's
part ; they muft alfo be removed on the part of
man : the reconciliation muft be mutual ; both
the parties muft agree. Hence arifes the necef
fity of the miniftry of reconciliation which was
committed

92 ' Sinners intreated to. Serm. 3.
committed to the apoftles, thofe prime minifters
ofthe kingdom of Christ, and in a lower fphere
to the ordinary minifters of the Gofpel In every
age. The great bufinefs of their office is to
publifh the treaty of peace ; that Is, the articles
of reconciliation, and to ufe every motive to
gain the confent of mankind to thefe articles.
It is this office St Paul is difcharging, when he
fays, " We are ambaffadors for Christ, as
" though God did befeech you by us: we pray
" you in Christ's ftead, be ye reconciled to
" God." " We are ambaffiadors for Christ." The pro
per notion of an ambaffador is that of a perfon
fent by a king to tranfad; affairs in his name,
and according to his inftrudions, with foreign
ftates, or a part of his fubjeds, to whom he
does not think proper tb go himfelf and treat
with them in his own perfon. Thus a peace Is
generally concluded between contending na
tions, not by their kings in perfon, but by their
plenipotentiaries ading in their natne, and by
their authority; and, while they keep to their
inftrudions, their negoeiations and agreements
are as valid and authentic as if they were carried
on and concluded by their mafters in perfon.
Thus the Lord Jesus Christ is not perfonal
ly prefent in our world to manage the treaty
of peace himfelf, but he has appointed firft his
apoftles, and then the minlflers of the gofpel
through every age to carry It on In his name.
This is their proper charader ; they are ambaf fadors

Serm. 3- be reconciled to God. 93
fadors for Christ, his plenipotentiaries, fur
nifhed with a commiffion and Inftrudtlons io
make overtures of reconciliation to a rebel-
world, and treat with them to gain their con
fent. Indeed afpiring ecclefiaftlcs have affunled
high-founding tides merely to procure extra
vagant honours to themfelves. They have call
ed themfelves ambaffadors of Christ, meffen
gers from God, the plenipotentiaries and vice
roys of heaven, and I know not what, not with
a defign to do honour to their Mafter but to
keep the world in a fuperftitlous awe of them
felves. This prieftly pride and infolence I
utterly abhor; and yet I humbly adventure to
affume the title of an ambaffador of the great
King of heaven, and require you to regard me
in this high charader: but then you muft
know, that while I ani making this claim, I own
myfelf obliged inviolably to adhere to the in
ftrudions of my divine mafter contained In the
Bible. I have no power over your faith; no
power to didate or prefcribe; but my work is
only juft to publifh the articles of peace as my
Mafter has eftabliflied and revealed them in his
word, without the leaft addition, diminution,
or alteration. I pretend to no higher power
than this, and this power I muft claim, unlefs I
would renounce my office; for who can con-
fiftentiy profefs himfelf a minifter of Christ
without afferting his right and power to publifh what

94 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
M'hat his Lord has taught, and communicate
his royal inftrudions ?
Therefore, without ufurping an equality
with St Paul, or his fellow-apoftles, I muft tell
you in his language I appear among you this
day as the ambaffador of the moft high God j
I am difcharging a?t embaffiy for Chrift (a) ; and I
tell you this with no other defign than to pro
cure your moft ferious regard to what I fay. If
you confider it only as my declaration, what
ever regard you pay to it, the end of my rrilnif-
try will not be anfwered upon you. The end
of my office is not to make myfelf the objed of
your love and veneration, but to reconcile you
to God : but you cannot be reconciled to God
while you confider the propofal as made to you
only by your feflow-mortal. You muft regard
it as made to you by the Lord Jesus Christ,
the great Mediator between God and man. I
not only allow, but even invite and charge you
to inquire and judge whether what I fay be a-
greeable to my divine inftrudions, which are
as open to your infpedion as mine, and to re
gard it no farther than it is fo: but if I follow
thefe inftrudions, and propofe the treaty of
peace to you juft as it is concluded in heaven,
then I charge you to regard it as propofed by
the Lord of heaven and earth, the King of
kings, and Lord of lords, though through my
unworthy
faJ This is the moft literal tranflation of a-fstrpjc/zec i/Vsp

§erm. 3- be reconciled to Gvd. 95
unworthy lips. Confider yourfelves this day as
the" hearers not of a preacher formed out
of the clay like yourfelves, but of the Lord Je
sus Christ. Suppofe him herein perfon treat
ing with you about your reconciliation to God,
and what regard you would pay to a propofal
made by him in perfon, with all his divine roy
alties about him, that you fhould now fhew to
the treaty I am to negociate with you in his
name and ftead.
The next fentence in my text binds you ftill
more ftrongly to this ; " as though God did be-
" feech you by us." As if he had faid, " God
the Father alfo concurs in this treaty of peace,
as well as Christ the great peace-maker; and
as we difcharge an embaffy for Christ, fo we
do alfo for God, and you are to regard our be-
feeching and exhrting (af, as tho' the great God
did in perfon befeech and exhort you by us."
What aftonifhing condefcenfion is here inti
mated 1 not that the minifters of Christ fliould
befeech you; this would be no mighty conde
fcenfion: but that the fupreme Jehovah fhould
befeech you; that he fhould not only command
you with a ftern air of authority as your Sove
reign, but as a friend, nay as a petitioner fliould
affedionately befeech you, you defpicable, guilty
worms, obnoxious rebels! How aftonifhing,
how God-like, how unprecedented and inimi
table is this condefcenfion ! Let heaven and earth
admire
{a) tfiffctKcCKxylsS Cgnifies exhorting, as well as hefeeching.

96 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3*
admire and adore! It is by us, indeed, by ui
your poor fellow-mortals, that he befeeches,
but O! let not this tempt you to difregard him
or his entreaty: though he employs fuch mean
ambaffadors, yet confider his dignity who fends
us, and then you cannot difregard his meffage
even from our mouth.
The apoftle, having thus prepared the way,
proceeds to the adual exercife of his office as
an ambaffador for Christ: " We pray you,
" fays he, in Christ's ftead, be reconciled to
•• God." As if he had faid, " If Christ were
now prefent in perfon among you, this Is what
he would propofe to you, and urge upon you,
that you would be reconciled to GOD, but him the
heavens muft receive till the time of the refti-
tution of all things, but he has left us his poor
fervants to officiate in his place as well as we
can, and we would profecute the fame defign^
We would urge upon you what he would urge,
were he to fpeak, therefore we pray you in
his ftead be ye reconciled to God : we earneft
ly pray you to be reconciled : that Is the ut
moft which fuch feeble worms as we can do :
we can only pray and beg, but your compli
ance is not within the command of our power;
the compliance belongs to you ; and remember,
if you refufe, you muft take it upon yourfelves,
and anfwer the confequence."
Having thus explained the text, I proceed In
my poor manner to exemplify it by negociat-
ing the treaty with you for your reconciliation to

Serm. ^. h reconciled to God. 97
to God ; and you fee my bufinefs lies diredly
with fuch of you as are as yet enemies to God:
you are the only perfons that ftand in need of
reconciliation. As for fuch of you (and I doubt
not but there are fuch among ypu) whofe in
nate enmity has been fubdued, and who are
become the friends and fubjeds of the King of
heaven after your guilty revolt, I muft defire
you as it were to ftand by yourfelves for the
prefent hour, and help me by your prayers,
while I am fpeaking to your poor brethren,
who ftill continue in that ftate of hoftllity and
rebellion againft God, in which you once were,
and the miferies of which you well know, and
ftill lament and deplore.
But by this propofal I am afraid I have de
prived myfelf of hearers on this fubjed : for
have you not all already placed yourfelves a-
mong the lovers of God, who confequently do
not need to be reconciled to him ? Is not every
one of you ready to fay to me, " If your bu-
*' finefs only lies with the enemies of God, you
" have no concern with me in this difcourfe ?
" for, GoD forbid, that I fhould be an enemy to
" him. I have indeed been guilty of a great many
" fins, but I had no bad defign in them, and
" never had the leaft enmity againft my Maker ;
" fo far from it, that I fhudder at the very
" thought !" This is the firft obftacle that I
meet .with in difcharging my embafly: the em-
bafly itfelf is looked upon as needlefs by the
perfons concerned, like an attempt to reconcile
Vol. I, H thofe

98 Sinners iMreated to Serm. 3.
thofe that are good friends already. This ob
ftacle muft be renaoved before we can proceed
any farther.
I am far from charging any of you with fo
horrid a crime as enmity and rebellion againft
God, who can produce fatisfadory evidences to
your own confcience that you are his friends. I
only defire that you would not flatter yourfelves,
nor draw a rafli and groundlefs conclufion In .an
affair of fuch infinite moment, but that you
would put the matter to a fair trial, according
to evidence, and then let your confcience pafs
an impartial fentence as your judge under the
fupreme Judge of the world.
You plead " Not guilty" to the charge, and al-
ledge that you have always loved GoD; but if this
be the cafe,whence is it that you have afforded him
fo few of your aftedionate and warm thoughts ?
,Do not your tendereft thoughts dwell upon the
objeds of your love ? But has not your mind
been fliy of him who gave you your power of
thinking? Have not you lived flupldly thoughtlefs
of him for days and weeks together ? Nay, have
not ferious thoughts of him been unwelcome,
and made you uneafy, and have you not turn
ed every way to avoid them ? Have you not
often prayed to him, and concurred in other ads
of religious worfhip, and yet had but very few
or no devout thoughts of him, even at the very
time ? And is that mind well affeded to
wards him that is fo averfe to him, and turns
every way to fliun a glance of him ? Alas ! is
this

Serm. 3- be 7'econciled to God, 99
this your friendfhip for the God that made
you, whofe you are, and whom you ought to
ferve !
Would you not have indulged the fool's wlfli,
that there were no GOD, had not the horror and
impoflibillty of the thing reftraiiied you ? But,
notwithftanding this reftraint, has not this blaf-
phemy fhed Its malignant poifon at times in
your hearts ? If there was no God, then you
would fin without controul, and without dread
of punifhment, and how fweet was this ! Then
you would have nothing to do with that me
lancholy thing, religion ; and what an agreeable
exemption would this be ? But Is this your love
for him, to wifh the parent of all being out of
being ! Alas ! can ' the rankeft enmity rife
higher !
Again, If you are reconciled to God, whence
is it that you are fecretly, or perhaps openly
difaiffeded to his hnage, I mean the purity and
ftridnefs of his Law, and the lineaments of ho
linefs that appear upon the unfafhionable reli
gious few ? If you loved God you would of
courfe love every thing that bears any refem
blance to him. But are you not confcious that
it is otherwife with you ; that you murmur and
cavil at the reftralnts of God's Law, and would
much rather abjure it, be free from it, and live
as you lift ? Are you not confcious that nothing
expofes a man more to your fecret difguft and
corttempt, and perhaps to your public mocke
ry and ridicule, than a ftrid: and holy walk,
H 2 and

100 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
and a confcientious obfervance of the duties of
devotion? and if you catch your neighbour in
any of thefe offences, do not your hearts rife
againft him? and what is this but the effed of
your enmity againft God? Do you thus difguft
a man for wearing the genuine image and re
femblance of your friend ? No ; the effed: of
love is quite the reverfe.
Again, If you do but refled: upon the daily
fenfations of your own minds, muft you not be
confcious that you love other perfons and things
more than God ? that you love pleafure, ho
nour, riches, your relations and friends, more
than the glorious and ever-bleffed God? Look
into your own hearts and you will find it fo :
you will find that this, and that, and a thou
fand things in this world, engrofs more of your
thoughts, your cares, defires, joys, forrows,
hopes, and fears, than God, or any of his con
cerns. Now it is effential to the love of God
that It be fupreme. You do not love him truly
at all, in the leaft degree, if you do not love
him above all ; above all perfons and things in
the whole univerfe. He is a jealous God, . and
will not fuffer a rival. A lower degree of love
for fupreme excellence is an affront and indig
nity. Is it not therefore evident, even to your
own convidion, that you do not love God at
all ; and what is this but to be his enemy ? To
be indifferent towards him, as though he were
an infignlficant being, neither good nor evil, a
mere cypher; to feel neither love nor hatred
towards

Serm. 3 • b^ reconciled to God. loi
towards him, but to negled him, as if you had
no concern with him one way or other; what
an horrible difpofition is this towards him, who
is fupremely and infinitely glorious and ami
able, your Creator, your Sovereign, and Bene-
fad:or, who therefore deferves and demands
your higheft love ; or in the words of his own
Law, that you fhotdd love him with all yotir harf,
with all your foul, with all your mind, and with all
your ftrength (a) I From what can fuch indiffe-
rency towards him proceed but from difaffec-
tion and enmity ? It is in this way that the en
mity of men towards God moft generally dif-
cbvers itfelf. They feel, perhaps, no pofitive
workings of hatred towards him, unlefs when
their innate corruption, like an exafperated fer
pent, is irritated by convidion from his Law ;
but they feel an apathy, a llftlefsnefs, an indif-
ferency towards him, and becaufe they feel no
more, they flatter themfelves they are far from
hating him, efpecially as they may have very
honourable fpeculative thoughts of him floating
on the furface of their minds. But alas! this
very thing, this indlfferency, or liftlefs neutra
lity is the very core of their enmity ; and if
they are thus indifferent to him noW, while en
joying fo many bleffings from his hand, and
while he delays their punifhment, how' will their
- enmity fwell and rife to all the rage of a devil
- againft him, v/hen he puts forth his vindidivq
hand and touches them, and fo gives occafion
H 3 t9
(a) Mark xii. 30,

102 Sinners intreated to Serm. .3.
to it to difcover Its venom ! My foul fliudders
tq think what horrid infurredions and dired re
bellion this temper will produce when once ir
ritated, and _all reftralnts are taken off, which
will be the doom of finners in the eternal world,
and then they will have no, more of the love of
God in them than the moft malignant devil in
hell! If therefore you generally feel fuch an
indifferency towards God, be affured you are
not reconciled to him, but are his enemies in
your hearts.
Again, All moral evil, or fin, Is contrary to
God: It is the only thing upon earth, or in
hell, that is moft oppofite to his holy nafurei
and the objed of his implacable and eternal in
dignation. He is of purer eyes than to behold it
or endure it. It is his hatred to fin that has turn
ed his heart againft any of his creatures, and is
the caufe of all the vengeance that he has inflid:-
ed upon the guilty inhabitants of our world or
the fpirits of hell. There is no objed in the
whole compafs of the univerfe fo odious to you
as every fin is to a pure and all-holy God : now
it Is impoffible you fhould at once love two
things fo oppofite, fo eternally Irieconclleable.
As much love as you have for any unlawful
pleafure, juft fo much enmity there is in your
hearts towards God. Hence, fays St. Paul, " you
" were enemies in your minds by wicked
" works (a) '' Intimating, that the love and
pradice of our wicked works is a plain evidence of
[a) Col. i, 21.

Serm. 3 • be reconciled to God. 103
of inward enmity of mind towards God. The
works of the flefh are finful : hence, fays the
fame apoftle, " the carnal mind, or the mind-
" ing of the flefli (a). Is enmity againft God ;
" it is not fubjed to the Law of God, neither
" indeed can it be: fo then they that are in the
" flefli ;" or under the power of a carnal mind,
" cannot pleafe God (b) ;' becaufe, whatever
feeming ads of obedience they perform, and
whatever appearances of friendfhip they put on,
they are at heart enemies to Gob, and there
fore cannot pleafe him, who fearches their
heart, and fees the fecret principle of their ac
tions. Hence alfo St. James tells us, " that if
" any man would be a friend of the world, he
*' Is the enemy of God, becaufe the friendfhip
" of the world Is enmity againft God, (^) :" for
the world enflames the lufts of men, and occa
fions much fin ; and if we love the tempter, we
love the fin to which it would allure us, and if
we love the fin we are the enemies of God ; and
therefore the friendfhip of the world is enmity
againft God. This then is an eftablifhed max-
im without ftralning the matter too far, that
as far as you love any fin, fo far are you ene
mies to God. The love, as well as the, fervice
of fuch oppofite mafters, is utterly inconfiftent.
Now, do not your own confciences witnefs a-
gainftyou, that you have indulged, and ftflldoha-
bitually indulge the love of fome fin or other?
H 4 whether
(a) epoi'ii.Mi* fl-ctpK-of, Rom, viii, 7. (^) Rom. viii, 8.
if) Jam. iv. 4.

104 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
whether it be covetoufnefs or fenfual pleafure,
or ambition, or fome angry paffion, or what
ever fin it be, as far as you love it, fo far yoa
are enemies to God : and if you take a view of
your temper and pradice, muft you not una
voidably be convided of this dreadful guilt?
Horrible as the crime is, is it not an undeniable
matter of fad, that you do really love fome
fin, and confequently hate the infinitely amiable
and ever-bleffed God ? and therefore you are
the perfons I have to deal with, as needing re
conciliation with God.
Farther, Take a view of your general man
ner of ferving God in the duties of religion j
your manner of praying, meditation, hearing
the word of God, and other ads of devotion,
and then inquire. Do you perform this fervice
as the willing fervants of a mafter you love ?
Do you not enter upon fijch fervice with reluc
tance or liftlefbnefs, and perform it with lan
guor and indifferency, as a bufinefs to which
you have no heart ? But is this your manner of
performing a labour of love to a friend ? Will
your own reafon fuffer you to think you would
be fo lukewarm and heartlefs in the worfhip of
<^od If you fincerely loved him ? No ; love is
an adive principle, a vigorous fpring of adion,
and if this were the principle of your religious
fervices, yoi; would infufe more fpirit and life
into them, you would exert all your powers, and
be " fervent in fpirit, ferving the Lord (a).'' But
(a) RoKi. xii, jj.

Serm. 3. be reconciled to God. 105
But when you have performed offices of de
votion with fome degree of earneftnefs, which
no doubt you have fometimes done, what was
the principle or fpring of your exertion ? Was
it the love of God ? or was it purely the low ¦
principle of felf-love ? Why did you pray with
fuch eager importunity, and attend upon the
other means of grace with fo much ferioufnefs,
but becaufe you apprehended your dear felves
were in danger, and you were not willing to
be miferable for ever ? This fervile, mercenary
kind of religious earneftnefs will not prove that
you love God, but only that you love your
felves, and this you may do, and yet have no
more true goodnefs, or genuine love to God,
than an infernal fpirit, for there is not a fpirit
in hell but what loves himfelf. Indeed felf-
love is fo far from being an evidence of the love
of God, that the extravagant excefs of it is the
fource of that wickednefs that abounds among
men and devils. I do not mean by this utter
ly to exclude felf-love out of genuine religion ;
it muft have its place in the moft excellent and
beft beings, but then it muft be kept in a pro
per fubordination, and not advance the creature
above the Creator, and dethrone the fupreme
JCing of the univerfe. His love muft be upper-
moft in the heart, and when that i?ias the high
eft place, the indulgence of felf-love in purfu-
ing our own happinefs is lawful, and an impor
tant duty. Now do you not find from this
. view of the cafe that you are not reconciled to
God,

io6 Sinners intreated to Serm, 3.
God, even in your moft devout and zealous
hours, much lefs in the languid inadlve tenoui*
of your lives ? If fo, place yourfelves among
thofe that I have to do With to-day ; that is,
the enemies of God.
So alfo; when you perform good offices to
mankind ; when you are harmlefs, obliging
neighbours ; when you are charitable to the
poor, or fl:ridly juft in trade ; is the love of
God, and a regard to his authority, the reafon
and principle of your adions ? That is, do you
do thefe things becaufe God commands them,
and becaufe you delight to do what he com
mands ; or rather do you not do them merely
becaufe it is your nature to perform humane
and honourable adions In fuch inftances ; or
becaufe you may acquire honour, or fome felf-
ifli advantage by them ? Alas 1 that God fhould
be negleded, forgotten, and left out of the
queflion, as of no importance, even in thofe
adions that are materially good ! that even
what he cornmands fhould be done, not becaufe
he commands it, but for fome other fordid felf-
ifli reafon ! O ! if you did really love God
would you thus difregard him, and do nothing
for his fake, not only when you are doing what
he forbids, but even when you are performing
what he has made your duty ! Would he be fiich
a cypher, a mere nothing In your pradical .
efteem, if your hearts were reconciled to him as
your God ! No ; fuch of you muft look upon
yourfelves as' the very perfons whom I am to
pray

Serm. 3' be reconciled to God. 107
pray in Christ's ftead to be reconciled to
God. I might thus, from obvious fads, lay before
you many more evidences of your difaffedion
to the great God ; but I muft leave fome room
for the other part of my addrefs to you, in which
I am to perfuade you to accept of the propofal
of reconciliation, and therefore I fliall add on
ly one more teft of your pretended friendfhip,
a teft which is eftablifhed by the great founder
of our rehgion, as infallibly decifive In this cafe,
and that is, obedience, or the keeping of the
commandments of God. This, I fay, is efta
blifhed in the ftrongeft terms by Jesus Christ
himfelf, as a decifive teft of love, " If ye love
" me, keep my commandments {a). Then are
" ye my friends if ye do whatfoever I command
" you (b). If any man love me, he will keep
" my words. He that loveth me not keepeth
" not my fayings [c). This is the love of God,
" fays St John, that we keep bis commandments,
" and his commandments are not grievous (d)."
That is, they are not grievous when love is the
principle of obedience. The fervice of love is
always willing and pleafing. Now, my bre
thren, bring your hearts and lives to this ftan
dard, and let confcience declare. Are there not
fome demands and reftralnts of the divine Law
fo difagreeable to you that you labour to keep
yourfelves
(a) John xiv. 15. (i},John xv. 14. (f) John xiv. 23, 24.
(«') I John V. 3.

io8 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
yourfelves- ignorant of them, and turn every
way to avoid the painful light of convidion ?
Are there not feveral duties which you know in
your confciences to be fuch, which you do not
fo much as honeftly endeavour to perform, but
knowingly and wilfully negled ? And are there
not fome favourite fins which your confciences
tell you God has forbidden, which yet are fo
pleafing to you, that you knowingly and allow
edly indulge and pradife them ? If this be your
cafe, you need not pretend to plead any thing
in your own defence, or hefitate any longer :
the cafe is plain, you are, be yond all doubt,
ENEMIES TO GoD ; you are undeniably dOn-
vided of it this day by irrefiftible evidence. You
perhaps glory in the profeffion of Chriftians,
but you are, notwithftanding, enemies ol^
God. You attend on pu'olic worfhip, you pray,
you read, you communicate, you are perhaps a
zealous churchman or diftenter, but you are
enemies OF God. You have perhaps had ma
ny fits of religious affedion, and ferious con
cern about your everlafting happinefs, but not
withftanding you are enemies of God. You
may have reformed in many things, but you
are ftill enemies of God. Men may efteem
you Chriftians, but the God of heaven accounts
you his enemies. In vain do you Infift upon
it, that you have never hated your Maker all
your life, but even tremble at the thought, for
undeniable fads are againft you : and the rea
fon why you have not feen your enmity was,
becaufe

Serm. 3. be reconciled to God. 109
becaufe you were blind, and judged upon wrong
principles : but if you this day feel the force of
convidion from the Law, and have your eyeis
opened, you will fee and be fhocked at your hoiTid
enmity againft God, before yonder fun fets.
, And now, when I have fingled out from the
reft thofe I am now to befeech to reconciliation
with God, have I not got the majority of you
to treat with ? Where are the fincere lovers of
God ? Alas, how few are they ! and how im
perfed even is their love, fo that they hardly
dare call themfelves lovers of God, but trem
ble left they fhould ftill belong to the wretched
crowd that are ftill unreconciled to him !
Ye rebels againft the King of heaven! ye
enemies againft my Lord and Mafter Jesus
Christ ! (I cannot flatter you with a fofter
name) hear me ; attend to the propofal I
make to you, not in my own name, but in the
name and ftead of your rightful Sovereign ;
and that is, that you will this day be recon
ciled TO God. " I pray you in his ftead, (that
is all I can do) " be ye reconciled to God."
That you may know v/hat I mean, I will more
particularly explain this overture to you.
If you would be reconciled to God, you muft
be deeply fenfible of the guilt, the wickednefs,
the bafenefs, the inexpreffible malignity of your
enmity and rebellion againft him. You muft
return to your rightful Sovereign as convided,
felf-eondemned, penitent, broken-hearted re
bels, confounded and afhamed of your con
dud,
2

no Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
dud, loathing yourfelves becaufe you have
loathed the Supreme Excellence, mourning
over your unnatural difaffedion, your bafe in
gratitude, your horrid rebellion againft fo good
a king. And what do you fay to this article
of the treaty of peace ? Is it an hard thing for
fuch caufelefs enemies to fall upon the knee,
and to mourn and weep as proftrate penitents
at the feet of their injured Maker ? Is it an
hard thing for one that has all his life been guil
ty of the blackeft crime upon earth, or even In
hell, I mean enmity againft God, to confefs
" I have finned," and to feel his own confef-
fion? to feel k, 1 fay; for if he does not feel it,
his confeffion Is but an empty compliment, that
increafes his guilt ?
Again, If you would be reconciled to God,
you muft heartily confent to be reconciled to
him in Chrift ; that is, you muft come in upon
the footing of that ad of grace which is pub
lifhed In the Gofpel through Christ, and ex-
peding no favour at all upon the footing of
your own goodnefs. The merit of what you
call your good adions, of your repentance, your
prayers, your ads of charity and juftice, muft
all pafs for nothing in this refped : you muft
depend only and entirely upon the merit of
CHRisT'sobedience and fufferings, as the ground
of your acceptance with God, and hope for
forgivenefs and favour from his mere mercy be-
ftowed upon you only for the fake of Christ,
or on account of v/hat he has done and fuffer ed

Serm. 3- be reconciled to God. iii
ed In the ftead of finners. The context in
forms you, that It is only in Chrift that God
is reconciling the world to himfelf ; and confe
quently it is only in Chrifl that the world muft
accept of reconciliation and pardon. It does
not confift with the dignity and perfedions of
the King of heaven to receive rebels into favour
upon any other footing. I would have yoa
confent to every article of the overture as I go
along, and therefore here again I make a paule
to afii you, what do you think of this article ?
Are you willing to comply with it, willing to
come into favour with God, as convided, felf-
condemned rebels, upon aii ad of grace pro
cured by the righteoufnefs of Christ alone ? Is
it a mortification to creatures that never have
done one adion truly good In all their lives,
becaufe they have never loved God in one mo
ment of their lives, creatures that have always,
even in what they counted their beft difpofi
tions and beft adions, been hateful to God,
becaufe even in their beft difpofitions, and beft
adions, they were utterly deftitute of his love ?
Is it a mortification to, fuch creatures to re
nounce all their ov/n merit, and confent to be
faved only through grace, on account of the
righteoufnefs of another, even of Jesus Chrisi
the great Peace-maker ? Can It be a mortifica
tion to you to renounce what you have not,
and to o- ,1 yourfelves guilty, and utterly un
worthy, when you are really fuch ? O ! may
I not

J 12 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
I not exped your compliance with this term of
reconciliation !
Again, If you would be reconciled to God,
you muft engage yourfelves in his fervice for the
future, and devote yourfelves to do his will.
His Law muft be the rule of your temper and
pradice : whatever he commands you muft ho
neftly endeavour to perform, without excep
tion of any one duty as difagreeable and labo
rious ; and whatever he forbids you muft, for
that reafon, abftain from, however pleafing,
advantageous, or fafhionable. You muft no
longer look upon yourfelves as your own, but
as bought with a price, and therefore bound to
glorify God with your fouls and your bodies,
which are his. And can you make any diffi
culty of complying with this term ; of obeying
Him, whom the happy angels of heaven obey;
of obferving that Law which always unites your
duty and your happinefs, and forbids nothing
but what is Itfelf injurious to you in the nature
of things ; of doing the will of the wifeft and
beft of beings rather than your own, who are
ignorant and depraved creatures ? O ! can you
make any difficulty of this ! If not, you will re
turn home this day reconciled to God ; an happi
nefs you have never yet enjoyed for one moment.
Finafly, If you would be reconciled to God,
you muft break off all friendfliip with his ene
mies : your friendfhip with the world j 1 mean
your attachment to its wicked fafhions and cuf
toms, and your fondnefs for its rebellious in
habitants,

Serm. 3. be reconciled to God. 113
habitants, who continue enemies to God ; your
love of guilty pleafures, and every form of fin,
however pleafing or gainful you may imagine
it to.be, your old habits and pradices, while
enemies to God, all thefe you muft break off
for ever, for your friendfliip with thefe is ut
terly, inconfiftent with the love of God. As
long as you are refolved to love the world, to
k^eep up your fociety with your old companions
in fin, to retain your-old pleafures and evil prac
tices ; as long, I fay, as you are refolved upon
this courfe, farewel all hope of your reconcili
ation to God : it is abfolutely impoffible. And
do any of you hefitate at this article? Is fin fo
noble, a thing in Itfelf, and fo happy In Its con
fequences, as that you fhould be fo loth to part
with it? Is it fo fweet a thing to you to fin a-
. gaiqft God, that you know not how to forbear?
Alas ! will you rather be an implacable enemy
to the God that made you than break, your
league with his enemies and your own? Do
you love your fins fo well, and are you fo oblig
ed to them that you will lay down yoUr hfe,
your eternal life for their fake?
I might multiply particulars, but thefe are
the principal articles of that treaty of peace I
am negociating with you, and a confent to thefe
includes a cdmphance with all the reft. And
are you determined to comply ? Does the hea
ven-born pufpofe now rife in your minds, " I
•' am determined I will be an enemy of God
" no longer, but this very day I will be recon-
Vol. I. I *' ciled

114 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
" ciled to God upon his own terms?" Is this
your fixed purpofe; or is there any occafion to
pray and perfuade you ?
I well know, and it is fit yoU fliould know, that
you are not able of yourfelves to confent to thefe
terms, but that it is the work of the power of
God alone to reconcile you to himfelf, and that all
my perfuafions and intreaties will never make
you either able or willing. You will then afk
me, perhaps, " Why do I propofe the terms to
" you, or ufe any perfuafives or intreaties with
*' you?" I anfwer, Becaufe you never will be
fenfible of your inability till you make an honeft
trial, and becaufe you never will look and pray
for the aid of the bleffed Spirit till yoii are
deeply fenfible of your own infufficiency: and
further, becaufe, if the bleffed Spirit fhould ever
effedually work upon you, it will be . by en-
lightning your underftandlngs to fee the rea-
fonablenefs of the terms, and the force of the
perfuafives, and In this w^ay, agreeably to your
reafonable natures, fweetly .conftralning your
obftlnate wIHs to yield yourfelves to God; there
fore the terms muft be propofed to you, and
perfuafives ufed, if I would be fubfervient to
this divine agent, and funilfli him with mate
rials with which to work; -and 1 have fome
little hope that he will, as It were, catch my
feeble words from my lips before they vanlfh
into air, and bear them home to vour
hearts with a power which you will not be a-
bie to refift. Finally, a convidion of the true
5 ' ftate

Serm. 3. be recojiciled to God. 1 15
ftate of your cafe may con ftrain you from
felf-love and the low principles of nature to
ufe the means of reconclliatign with zeal and
earneftnefs; this yoU are capable of, even with
the mere ftrength of degenerate nature, and It
is only in this way of earneft endeavours that
you have any encouragement to hope for di
vine aid : therefore,- notwithftanding your ut
ter impotence, I muft pray; intreat, and per
fuade you to be reconciled to God.
I pray you, in the name of the great God
your heavenly Father, and of Jesus Christ
your Redeemer. If God fhould once more re
new the thunder and lightning, and darknefs
and tempeft of Sincfi, and fpeak to you as he
once did to the trembling Ifraelites; or if he
fhould appear to you iri all the amiable and al
luring glories of a fiii-pardoning reconcilable
God, and pray you to be reconciled to him,
would you not then regard the propofal ? or if
Jesusj who once prayed/or you from the crofs,
fhould now pray to you from his throne In
heaven, and beg you with his own gracious
voice to be reconciled, O ! could you difregard
theintreaty! Surely no. Now the overture of
peace is as really made to you by the bleffed
God and his Son JesUs Christ, as if It were
exprefsly prOpofed tb yoi^ by an immediate voice
from heaven. For I befeech you, " as though
*' God did befeech yoa by me, and it is in
" Christ's ftead, that I pray you be reconcil-
** ed to God." Therefore, however light you
I 2 m-ay

1 1 6 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
may make of a mere propofal of mine, can you
difregard an overture from the God that made
you, and the Saviour that bought you with his
blood, in which I am but the faint echo of
their voice from heaven ?,
In the name of God I pray you ; the name of
the greateft and beft of beings, that name
which angels love and adore, and which ftrikes
terror through the hardieft devil in the infernal
regions, the name of your Father, the imme
diate Father of your fpirits, and the author of
your mortal frames, the name of your preferv-
er and benefador, in whom you live, and move,
and have your being, and who gives you life,
and breath, and all things; the name of your
rightful Sovereign and Lawgiver, who has a
right to demand your love and obedience; the
name of your fupreme Judge, who will afcend
the tribunal, and acquit or condemn you, as
he finds you friends or foes; the name of that
God, rich in goodnefs, who has repleniflied
heaven with an infinite plenitude of happi
nefs, in which he will allow you to fhare, after
all your hoftllity and rebellion, if you confent
to the overture of reconciliation ; in the name
of that God of terrible majefty and juftice, who
has prepared the dungeon of hell as a prifon
for his enemies, where he holds in chains the
mighty powers of darknefs, and thoufands of
your own race, who perfifted in that enmity to
him of which you are now guilty, and with
whom you muft have your everlafting portion, if.

Serm. 3' be reconciled to God. 117
if, hke them, you continue hardened and in
corrigible In your rebelfion; in the name of
that compaffionate God, who fent his dear
Son- (O the tranfporting thought!) to fatlsfy
divine juftice for you by his death, and the pre
cepts of the law by his life,' and thus to remove
all' obftrudions out of the way of your recpn-
cihation on the part of God; in this great, this
endearing and tremendous name, I pray you
be Teconciled to God. I pray you for his fake;
and has' this name no weight with you ? Will
you do nothing for his fake? what, not fo rea
fonable and ¦ advantageous a thing as dropping
your uhnatural rebellion, and being reconciled
to him? Is your contempt of God rifen to
that pitch that you will not do the moft rea
fonable and profitable thing in the world, if he
intreat you to do It ? Be aff onlfhed, O ye hea
ven's'! at this.
I pray you in the name, and for the fake of
Jesus Christ, the true friend of publicans and
finners, in his name, and for his fake, who af-
fumed your degraded nature, that he might
dignify and fave it; who fived a life of labour,
poverty, and perfecution upon earth, that you
might enjoy a life of everlafting happinefs and
glory in heaven ; who died upon a torturing
Crofs that you might fit upon heavenly thrones;
who was imprifoned in the gloomy grave, that
you might enjoy a glorious refurredion; who
fell a vidim to divine juftice, that you might
be fet free from its dreadful arreft ; who felt
I 3 trouble

1 1 .8 Sinners intreated to Sjsrm. 3,
trouble and agony of foul that you might en
joy the fmiles, the pleafures of divine lovej
v/ho, in fhort, has difcovered niore ardent and
extenfive love for you than all the friends in
the world can do.: in his name, and for his
fake, I pray you to be reconciled to God. And
is his dear name a trifle in your efteem? Will
you not do a thing fo reafonable and fo necefr
fary and conducive to your happinefs for his
fake, for his fake who has done and fuffered fo
much for you? Alas! has the name of Jesus
no more influence among the creatures he
bought with his blood ! It is hard indeed if
I beg in vain, when I beg for the ftke of
Christ, the friend, the Saviour of perifhing
fouls. But if you have no regard for him, you cer
tainly have for yourfelves ; therefore, for your
own fakes, for the fake of your precious immor
tal fouls, for the fake of your own everlafting
happinefs, I pray you to be reconciled to God.
If you refufe, you degrade the honour of your
nature, and commence incarnate devils. For
what is the grand conftltuent of a devil but en
mity againft God ? You become the refufe of
the creation, fit for no apartment of the uni
verfe but the prifon of hell. While you are
unreconciled to God you can do nothing at all
to pleafe him. He that fearches the heart
knows that even your good adions do not pro
ceed from love to him, and therefore he abhors
them. Ten thoufand prayers and ads of devo- jion

Serm. 3- be reconciled to God, 119
tion and morality, as you have no principles
of real , holinefs, are fo many provocations to
a righteous God. While you refufe to be re
conciled, you are acceffary to, and patronize
all the rebellion of men and devils ; for if you
have a right to continue in your rebellion, why
may not others ? why may not every man upon
earth? why may not every miferable ghoft in
the infernal regions? And are you for raifing
an univerfal mutiny and rebelfion againft the
throne of the moft High ! O the inexpreffible
horror ofthe thought! If you refufe to be re
conciled you will foon weary out the mercy
and patience of God towards you, and he will
come forth againft you in all the terrors of an
a,lmighty enemy. He will give death a com
miffion to feize you, and drag you to his flam
ing tribunal. He will break off the treaty,
and never make you one offer of reconciliation
more": he will ftrip you of all the enjoyments
he was pleafed to lend you, while you were un
der a reprieve, and the treaty was not come to
a final iffue, and will leave you nothing but
bare being, and an extenfive capacity of mifery,
which will be filled up to the uttermoft from
the vials of his indignation. He will treat you
as his implacable enemy, and you fliall be to
him as Amalek (a), with whom he will make
War for ever and ever. He will reprove you,
and fet your fins in order before you, and tear
ypu in pieces, and there fhall be none to de-
I 4 liver,
(a) Exod. xvii. 16,

I20 Sinners intreated to Serm. 3.
liver. He will meet you as a lion, " and as a
" bear bereaved of her whelps, and will rend
". the caul of your hearts (a J." He hath for z
long time held his peace, and endured yoiir
rebelfion, but ere long he wfll go Jorth as a
mighty man; he fhall ftir up jealoufy' like a '
man of war; he fhall ciy, yea roar; he fhall
prevail againft his enemies. Ah ! he Will eafe;
him of his adverfaries and avenge him of his
enemies. He will give orders to the' execution
ers of his juftice: " Thefe mine enemies, that
" would not that I fhould reign over them,
" bring them hither, and flay' them before'
" me {b)." And now, if you will not fubmit
to peace, prepare tb meet your G o D, O fin
ners; gird up your loins like meri; put on all
the terror of your rage, ahd go forth to meet
your almighty . adverfary, who will foon meet
you in the field, and try your ftrength. Call
the legions of hell to your aid, and ftrengthen
the confederacy with all your fellow-fin ners
upon earth ; put briars and thorn's aroUnd you
to inclofe you from his reach. Prepare the
dry ftubble to oppofe devouring flame. Affo-
ciate yourfelves, but ye fhall be broken in pie
ces; gird yourfelves, but, alas! ye fhall be bro
ken in pieces.
But O ! I muft drop this ironical challenge,
and ferioufly pray you to make peace with
him whom you cannot refift: then all your paft
(a) Hof. xiii. 8. [b) Luke xix. 27.

Serm. 3. be reconciled to God. 121
paft rebellion will be forgiven; you fhall be
the favourites of your fovereign, and happy
for ever, and earth and heaven will rejoice at
the conclufion of this bleffed peace, and my
now fad heart will fhare in the joy. Therefore,
for your own fakes, *' I pray you to be reconcil-
" edto God."

SERMON

ykX^)Oooooooooo<yooooooo<^ SERMON IV.
The Nature and Univerfality of fpiri
tual Death.

EPHES. n. I, and 5.
r-Who were dead in trefpaffies and fins. —Even when
we were dead in fins.
|«'}^§^"5^HERE is a kind of death which wc
M T '^\ ^ e.xped to feel that carries terror
;^ iSi I" the very found, and all its circum-
kL)e(S)9^jt)( ftances are fhocking to nature. The
ghaftly countenance, the convulfive agonies,
the expiring groan, the coffin, the grave, the
devouring worm, the ftupor, the infenfibihty,
the univerfal inadlvity, thefe ftrike a damp to
the fpirit, and we turn pale at the thought.
With fuch objeds as thefe In view courage
fails, levity looks ferious, prefumption is dafh
ed, the chearful paflions link, and all is fo
lemn, all is melancholy. The moft ftupid and
hardy finner cannot but be moved to fee thefe
things exemplified in others, and when he can not

I ^4 Tbe Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
not avoid the profped,, he is fhocked to think
that he himfelf, mufl feel them.
But there is another kind of death little re
garded' indeed, little feared, little lamented^
which is Infinitely more terrible, the death, not
of the body, but . of the fohl : a„ deathj wljfich
does not ffupify the limbs but the faculties of
the mind : a death, which does not feparate fhe
foul and body, and confign the latter to' the
grave, but that feparates the foul from God,
excludes It from all the joys of his prefence, and
delivers It over to everlafting rhifery : a tremen
dous death indeed ! " a death unto death." The
expreffion of St Paul is prodigioufly ftrong and
ftriking; 0acaT(^«s Qxpx^ap, Death unto death,
death after death, in a dreadful fucceffibn, ' arid •
the laft more terrible than the firft (a); ahd
this is the death meant in my text, " dead in
" trefpaffes and fins."
To explain the context and fhew vou the
connedlon I fhall make two fhort remarks.
The one is, that the apoftle had obferved in
the nineteenth and twentieth verfes ofthe forego
ing chapter, that the fame almighty power of
God vvhich raifed Christ from the dead, is
exerted to enable a finner to believe. " We be-
" lieve, fays he, according to the working or
" energy (b) of his mighty power which he
" wrought in Christ, when he raifed him from
" the dead." 'The one as well as the other is
an exploit of omnipotence. The exceeding greatnefs
(a) 2 Cor. ii. 16. (A) ipipyiictv.

Serm, 4' of fpiritual Death. 125
greatnefs of his mighty power is exerted towards
us that believe, as well as it was upon the dead
bpdy of Christ to reftore It to life, after it had
been torn and mangled upon the crofs, and Iain'
three days and three nights in the grave. What
flrong language is this! what a forcible Illyf-
tratlonl Methinks this palfage, alone Is fufficient
to confoLirid all the vanity and felf-fufficlency of
mortals, and Intirely deftroy the proud fidi,on
of a felf-fpruhg faith produced by the efforts, of
degenerate nature. In my text the apoftle
affigns the reafon of this. The' fame exertion
of the fame power is neceffary iii the one cafe
and the other; becaufe, as the body of Christ
was^ead, and had no principle of life In it, fo,
fays he,. " ye were dead in trefpafles and fins ;'*
and therefore could no more quicken your
felves than a dead body can reftore itfelf to life.
*' But God, verfe 4th, who Is rich in mercy,
"for his great love wherewith he loved us ;"
that God, who raifed the entombed Redeetner
to life again, that farne almighty God, by a
like exertion ofthe fame power, " hath qulcken-
*' ed us, verfe 5th, even when we were dead In
" fins ;" dead, fenfelefs, inadive and incapa
ble of animating 'ourfelves. Let any man care
fully read thefe verfes, and confider their rnoft
natural meaning, and I cannot but think com
mon fenfe will dired him thus to underftand
them. The Scriptures were written with a de
fign to be underftood; and therefore that fenfe
4 which

126 The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
which is the moft natural to a plain unpreju
diced underftanding is moft likely to be true.
The other remark is. That the apoftle having
pronounced the Epheftans dead in fin, while un
converted, in the firft verfe, paffeS the fame fen
tence upon himfelf and the whole body of the
Jews, notwithftanding their high privileges in
the fifth verfe. The fenfe and connedlon may be
difcovered in the following paraphrafe : " You
" Ephefians were very lately Heathens, and,
" while you were in that ftate you were fpiri-
" tually dead, and all your adions were dead
" works. In time paft ye walked in trefpaffes
" and fins, nor were you fingular in your
" courfe : though it be infinitely perniclcus, yet
" It is the common courfe of this world, and it
" Is alfo agreeable to the temper and inftlga-
" tion of that gloomy prince, who has a pecu-
" fiar power in the region of the air ; that ma-
" lignant fpirit who works with dreadful effi-
" cacy in the numerous children of dlfobedl-
" ence; but this was not the cafe of yoU Hea-
" thens alone : we alfo who arc Jews, notwith-
" ftanding our many religious advantages, and
** even I myfelf, notwithftanding my high pri--
" vileges and unblameable life as a Pharlfee,
" we alfo, I fay, had our converfation in times
" paft among the children of difobedience ; v/e
" all, as well as they, walked In the lufts ofthe
" flefh, fulfilfing the defires and inclinations {a)
" of our fenfual flefh, and of our depraved
I* rninds j
[fi] QiKi](J.a]<t.t

Serm. 4." of fpiritual Death. izy
'' minds ; for thefe were tainted with fpiritual
" wickednefs. Independent upon our animal
" paflions and appetites, and we were all, even
" by nature, children of wrath, even as others :
*' in this refpeft we Jews were juft like the
" reft of mankind, corrupt from our very birth,
" tranfgreffors from the womb, and liable to
" the wrath of God. Our external relation and
" privileges as the peculiar people of God, dif-
" tinguifhed with a religion from heaven, makes
" no difUndion between us and others in this
'• matter. As we are all children of difobe-
" dience by our lives, fo we are all, without ex-
" ception, children of wrath by nature : but
" when we are all dead in fins, when Jews and
" Gentiles were equally dead to God, then,
" even then, God who is rich in mercy had pity
" upon US;" " he quickened us;" " he infpired
" us with a new and fpiritual life by his own
" almighty power, which raifed the dead body
" of Christ from the grave." " He quickened
" us together with Christ :" " We received our
" life by virtue of our union with him as our
" vital head, who was raifed to an Immortal life
" that he might quicken dead fouls by thofe
" Influences of his Spirit, which he purchafed
" by his death ; and therefore by grace are ye
" faved. It is the pureft, richeft, free'ft grace,
" that ever fuch dead fouls as we were made alive
" to God, and not fuffered to remain dead for
" ever." This

•1 a 8 Tte Nature and Univerfality .Se?m,. 4,
< This is' the ob\^us meaning and connedlon
efsthefeverfesj and we now, proceed to confider
the text, '-'Dead in trefjaffes, and fins ;" you
dead, we dead, Jews and Gerttiles, all ", dead
*' tog^ether in trefpaffes and fins." A|difpial,
tnbttifjnng charader I " This one , place, fays
" Beza, 4ike a thunderbolt, -^dafhes taU mankind
" down" to thev duft, great and proud as they
*' are; for it pronounces their nature not only
*' hurt but //(?fldf;by fin, and therefore :liable to
" wrath {a)."
Death is a ftate jDf infenfibility and inadlvity,
¦and a dead man is incapable of reftoring him
felf to life, therefore the condition of, an, un
converted finner muft have fome, refeml?laflce
to fuch a ftate In order tOifupport the bold me
taphor here ufed by the apoftle. To uoder-
¦ ftand it'arightwemuft take, eare on. the one
hand that we do not explain- it away in flattery to
ourfelves, or in compliment to the, pride of hu
man nature: and on the other hand that we do
^ not carry the fimilitude too far^ foasto, kad
into abfufdities, and contradid matter of fad;
The metaphor muft be underftood With feve
ral limitations or exceptions; for it is certain
there is a wide difference between the fpiritual
death of the foul, and the natural death ofthe
body, particularly in this refped, tha|pdcafli
puts an entire end to all the powers, adions, and
W Hoc unoloco, quafi fulmine, totus homo, quantns quan-
tus eft profternitur. Neque enim raturam dicit Ixi'am, fed rx'r-
tuam, perpeccatum; ideogueira obncxi.^m.

Serm. 4' of fpiritual Death. 129
and fenfations of our animal nature univerfally
with regard to all objeds of every kind ; but a
foul dead in fin is on\y partially dead; that is. It
is dead onlv with regard to a certain kind of
fenfations and exercifes, but In the mean time
it may be all life and adivity about other things.
It is alive, fenfible, and vigorous about earthly
, objeds and purfuits; thefe raife its paffions and
engage its .thoughts. It has alfo a dreadful
power and facility of finning, though this is
not its life but its difeafe, its death, like the
tendency of a dead body to corruption. It can
llkewife exercife its intelledual powers, and
make confiderable improvements in fcience. A
finner dead in trefpaffes and fins may be a living
treafury of knowledge, an univerfal fcholar, a
profound philofopher, and even a great divine,
as far as mere fpeculative knowledge can render
him fuch, nay, he is capable of many fenfations
and impreffions from religious objeds, and of
performing all the, external duties of religion. He
is able to read, to hear, to pray, to meditate up
on divine things; nay, he may be an inllrudor
of others, and preach perhaps with extenfive
popularity: he may have a form of godlinefs,
and obtain a name to live among men : he is
in fome meafure able, and it is his duty to at
tend upon the means God has inftituted for
quickening him with fpiritual life, and God
deals with him as with a rational creature, by
laws, fandions, promifes, expoftulations, and
invitations: thefe conceffions t make, not only
¦ Vol. I. K to

13^ The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
to give you the fenfe of the text, but alfo to
prevent the abufe of the dodrine, and antici
pate fome objedions againft it, as though it
were an encouragement to continue Idle, and
ufe no means to obtain fpiritual life ; or as tho'
it rendered all the means of grace needlefs and
abfurd, like arguments to the dead 60 reftore
themfelves to life. But, notwithftanding all
thefe conceffions, it is a melancholy truth, that
an unregenerate finner is dead. Though he
can commit fin with- greedinefs, though he
is capable of animal adions, and fecular pur
fuits, nay, though he can employ his mind
even about intelledual and fpiritual things, and
is capable of performing the external duties of
religion, yet there is fomething in religion with
regard to which he is entircly dead : there is a
kind of fpiritual life of which he is entirely def
titute : he is habitually infenfibk with regard to
things divine and eternal ; he has no ad:Ivity,
no vigour in the pure, fpiritual,, and vital ex
ercifes of religion : he has no prevalhng bent of
mind towards them : he has not thofe views ahd
appreheiifions of things which a foul fpirltual-
ly alive would neceffarily receive and entertain :
he is deftitute of thofe facred affedions, that
joy, that love, that defire, that hope, that fear,
that forrow, which are as it were the innate paf
fions of the new man. In fhort, he is fo inac
tive, fo liftlefs, fo infenfible In thefe refpeds,
that death, which puts an end to all adion and
fenfation, is a proper emblem, of his ftate ; and
2 this

Serm. 4. of fpiritual Death. 131
this is the meaning of the apoftle In my text.
He is alfo utterly unable to quicken himfelf.
He may indeed ufe means in fome fort, but to
implant a vital principle in his foul, to give
himfelf vivid fenfations of divine things, and
make himfelf alive towards God, this is en
tirely beyond his utmoft ability : this is as pe
culiarly the work of almighty power as' the re
furredion of a dead body from the grave. As
to this death it is brought upon him by, and
confifts in " trefpaffes and fins." The innate
depravity and corruption of the heart, and the
habits of fin contraded and confirmed by re
peated indulgencies of inbred corruption, thefe
are the poifonous, deadly things that have flain
the foul ; thefe have entirely indifpofed and dif-
abledit for living religion. " Trefpaffes and fins"
are the grave, the corrupt efHuvIa, the malig
nant damps, the rottennefs of a dead foul : it lies
dead, fenfelefs, inadlve, buried " in trefpaffes
" and fins." " Trefpaffes and fins" render it
ghaftly, odious, abominable, a noifome putre-
fadion before an holy God, like a rotten car-
cafs, or a mere mafs of corruption : the vlleft
lufts, like worms, riot upon and devour it, but
it feels them not, nor can it lift a hand to
drive the vermin off. Such mortifying ideas as
thefe may be contained in the ftriking meta
phor, "dead in trefpaffes and fins;" and I hope
you now underftand its general meaning.
If you would know what has turned my
thoughts to this fubjedl I will candidly tell you,
K 2 though

132 Th Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
though with a forrowful heart, I am fure, if
any objeds within the compafs of human know
ledge have a tendency to make the deepeft im
preffions upon our minds, they are thofe things
which Chriftianity teaches us concerning God,
concerning ourfelves and a future ftate ; and if
there be any exercifes which fhould call forth
all the life and powers of our fouls into adion,
they are thofe of a religious nature : but, alas !
I often find a ftrange, aftonifhing ftupor, and
llftlefsnefs about thefe things. In this I am not
fingular; the beft among us complain of the
fame thing ; the moft lively Chriftians feel this
unaccountable languor and Infenfibility; and
the generality are evidently deftitute of all habi
tual concern about them : they are all alive in
the purfuit of pleafure, riches, or honours ; their
thoughts are eafily engaged, and their affec-
'tlons raifed by fuch things as thefe ; but the
concerns of religion, which above all other
things are adapted to make impreffions upon
them, and ftir up all thelife within them, feem
to have little or no effed. When I have made
this obfervation with refped to others, and felt
the melancholy confirmation of it in my own
breaft, I have really been ftruck with amaze
ment, and ready to cry out, " Lord, what is this
"that has befallen me, and the reft of my fel-
*' low-mortals ? what can be the caufe of fuch
" a condud in a rational nature, to be adive
" and eager about trifles, and ftupid and care-
*' lefs about matters of infinite importance ? O
" whence

Serrh. 4. of fpiritual Death. 133
" whence is this ftrange infatuation !" Thus I
have been fliocked at this aftonifhing fad, and
I could account for it no other way but by re
fleding that we have all been " dead in tref-
*' paffes and fins." In fuch a folemn hour the
apoftle's expreflion does not feem at all too
ftrong. I have no fcruple at all to pronounce,
not only from the authority of an apoftle, but
from the evidence of the thing, that I, and all
around me, yea, and all the fbns of men have
been dead, In the fpiritual fenfe utterly dead.
Multitudes among us, yea, the generality are dead
ftill ; hence the ftilhiefs about religion among
US; hence the ftupor, the carelefsnefs about eter
nal things, the thoughtlefs negled of God, the
infenfibility under his providential difpenfations,
the impenitence, the prefumption that fo much
prevail. God has indeed, out of the great love
wherewith he loved us, quickened fome of us,
even when we were dead in fins, and we have a
little life, fome vital fenfations and impreffions
at times, but O! how little, how fuperficial,
how much of a deadly ftupor yet remains ! how
little life in prayer, in hearing, or in the near-
eft approach to the living God ! The refledion
is fhocking, but, alas. It is too true; confult
your own hearts and you will find it even.fo.
Animal life feems to be a gradual thing; it gra
dually grows in an infant, it is perfed In ma
ture age, and in old age it gradually decays, till
all is gone ; but how fmall is the degree of life,
when the foetus is juft animated,, or the infant
K 3 born

134 The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
born intd the world ! but little fuperior to that
of a plant or an oyfter : what faint fenfations,
what obfcure and languid perceptions, what
feeble motions! Such are the children of grace
in the prefent ftate. Spiritual life is gradual ;
it is infufed in regeneration ; but O 1 how far
from perfedion while on this fide heaven ! Alas I
the beft of us are like the poor traveller that fell
among thieves, and was left half dead: how
ever, it is an unfpeakable mercy to have the
leaft principle of fpiritual life, and we fhould
prize it more than crowns and empires.
If you Vv'ould know my defign in choofing
this fubjed, it is partly -for the convidion of
finners, that they may be alarmed with their
deplorable condition, which is the firft ftep to
wards their being quickened ; partly to roufe
the children of grace to feek more life from
their vital head ; and partly to difplay the rich
gi-ace of God in quickening fuch dead finners,
and beftowing upon them a fpiritual and im
mortal life ; and furely nothing can inflame
our gratitude and raife our wonder more
than the confideration that we were dead in
trefpaffes and fins ? If I may but anfwer thefe
ends it will be an unfpeakable bleffing to us
all. And O that divine grace may honour this
humble attempt of a poor creature, at beft but
half alive, with fuccefs ! I hope, my brethren,
you will hear ferioufly, for it is really a moft it-
rious fubjed.
You

Serm. 4,. vf fpiritual Death. 135
You have feen that the metaphorical ex
preflion in my text is intended to reprefent the
ftupidity, Inadlvity, and impotence of unrege
nerate finners about divine things. This truth
I might confirm by argument and fcripturc-
authorlty, but I think It may be a better me
thod for popular convidion to prove and illuP
trate it from plain inftances of the temper and
condud of finners about the concerns of reli
gion, as this may force the convidion upon
them from undoubted matters of fad and theit
Own experience. This therefore is the method
I intend to purfue, and my time will allow mc
to particularize only the following inftances.
I. Confider the excellency of the divine Be
ing, the fum total, the great original of all
perfedions. How infinitely worthy is he ofthe
adoration of all his creatures ! how deferving of
their moft intenfe thoughts, and moft ardent af
fedions ! If majefty and glory can ftrike us with
awe and veneration, does not Jehovah demand
them, who is clothed with majeify and glory as
with a garnient, and before whom all the in
habitants of the earth are as grafhoppers, as
nothing, as lefs than nothing, and vanity ? If
wifdom excites our pleafing wonder, here is an
unfathomable depth. O the depth of the
riches of the wifdom and knowledge of God- !
If goodnefs, grace, and mercy attrad our love
and gratitude, here thefe amiable perfedions
fhine in their moft alluring glories. If juftice
K 4 ftrikes

136 The Nature a7id Univerfal ity Serm. 4.
ftrikes a damp to the guilty, here is juftice in
all its tremendous majefty. If veracity, if can
dor, if any, or all of the moral virtues engage
our efteem, here they all center in their high
eft perfedion. If the prefence of a king ftrikes
a reverence. If the eye of his judge awes the
criminal, and reftrains him from offending,
certainly we fhould fear before the Lord all the
day, for we are furrounded with his cmnlpre-
fencc, and he is the Infpedor and Judge of all
our thoughts and adions. If riches excite de
fire, here are unfearchable riches : if happinefs
has charms that draw all the world after it,
here is an unbounded ocean of happinefs; here
is the, only complete portion for an Immortal
mind. Men are affeded with thefe things in
one another, tho' found in a very Imperfed; de
gree. Power awes and commands ; virtue and
goodnefs pleafe; beauty charms ; juftice ftrikes
with folemnity and terror ; a bright genius is
admired ; a, benevolent merciful temper is loved :
thus men are affeded with created excellencies.
Whence is it then they are fo ftupidly unaffed-
ed with the fupreme original excellencies of Je
hovah? Here, my brethren, turn your eyes in
ward upon yourfelves, and Inquire, are not
feveral of you 'confcious that, thongh you have
paffions for fuch objeds as thefe, and you are
eafily moved by them, yet, with regard to the per
fedions ofthe fupreme and beft of beings, your
hearts are habitually . fenfelefs and unaffed^ed.
It is not an eafy thing to make impreffions upon
you by them ; and what increafes the wonder, and
aggravate^

Scr m . 4- f fpiritual Death. 1 3 7
aggravates your guilt, is, that you are thus fenfe
lefs and unafteded, when you believe and profefs
that thefe perfedions are really In God, and that
in the higheft degree poflible. In other cafes
you can love what appears amiable, you revere
what is great and majeftic, you eagerly defire
and purfue what is valuable, and tends to your
happinefs; and all this you do freely, fpontane-
oufly, vigoroufly, by the innate inclination and
tendency of your nature, without reludance,
without compulfion, nay without perfuafion ;
but as to God and all his perfedions you are
ftrangely Infenfible, backward and averfe. Where
is there one being that has any confeffed excel
lency in the compafs of human knowledge that
does not engage more of the thoughts and af
fections of mankind than the glorious and ever-
bleffed God ? The fun, moon, and ftars, have
had more worfliippers than the uncreated foun
tain of light from which they derive their luftre.
Kings, and minifters of ftate, have more punc
tual homage, and frequent applications made
to them than the King of kings, and Lord of
lords. Created enjoyments are more eagerly
purfued than the fupreme good. Search all the
world over,, and you will find but very little
motions of heart towards God ; little love, little
defire, little fearching after him. You will oft-
, en indeed fee him honoured with the compli
ment of a bended knee, and a few heartlefs words
under the name of a prayer, but where is the
heart, where are the thoughts, where the affec
tions ? Thefe run wild through the vyorld, and are

138 The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
are fcattered among a thoufand other objeds.
The heart has no prevailing tendency toward
God, the thoughts are fliy of him, the affec
tions have no innate propenfity to him. In
fhort, in this refpeft the whole man is out of
order': -here he does not at all ad like himfelf;
here are no affedionate thoughts, no delightful
meditations, no ardent defires, no eager pur
fuits and vigorous endeavours, but all is liftlefs,
ftupid, indifpofed, inadive, and averfe ; and
Vi'hat is the matter ? " Lord ! what is this that
*' has feized the fouls of thine own offspring,
" that they are thus utterly difordered towards
" thee!" The reafon is, they are dead, " dead
" in trefpaffes and fins." It is impoffible a liv
ing foul fhould be fo ftupid and unaffeded wit'n
fuch an objed : it muft be a dead foul that has
no feeling. Yes, finners, this is the melancho
ly reafon why you are fo thoughtlefs, fo uncon
cerned, fo fenfelefs about the God that made
you : you are dead. And what is the reafon that
you who have been begotten again to a fpiritual
life, and who are united to Christ as your vi
tal head, what is the reafon that you fo often
feel fuch languifhments, that the pulfe of fpiri
tual life beats fo faint and Irregular, and that its
motions. are fo feeble and flow ? All this you feel
and lament, but how comes it to pafs ? what
can be the caufe that you who have indeed
tafted that the Lord is gracious, and are fenfible
that he is all-glorious and lovely, and your on
ly happinefs, , O ! what can be the caufe, that
you, of all men in the world, fhould be fo fittle
engaged

Serm. 4 of fpiritual Death. 139
engaged to him ! Alas ! the caufe is, you have
been dead, and the deadly ftupor has not yet
left you : you have (bleffed be the quickening
^Irit of Christ !) you have received a little life ;
but, alas ! it Is a feeble fpark ; it finds the prin
ciples of death ftill ftrong in your conftitution ;
thefe it muft ftruggle with, and by them it is
often borne down, fuppreffed, and juft expiring.
Walk humbly then, and remember your fhame,
that you were once dead, and children of
wrath, even as others. Tiie careleflnefs and
indifpofition of the foul toward the fupreme
excellence will appear yet more evident and a-
ftonifliing, if we confider,
n. The auguft and endearing relations the
great and bleffed God fuftains to us, and the
many ways he has taken to make dutiful and
grateful impreffions upon our hearts. What
tender endearments are contained in the rela
tion of a Father I This he bears to us : " he made
" uSj and not we ourfelves." Our bodies in
deed are produced in a fucceffion from Adam
by generation, but who was it that began the
ferles ? It .was the Almighty, who formed the
firft man of the duft : It was he who firft put
the fucceflion of caufes In motion, and there-r
fore he is the grand original caufe, and the
whole chain depends upon him. Who was it
that firft eftablifhed the laws of generation, and
ftill continues them in force ? It is the all-cre
ating Parent of nature, and without him men
would

140 Tke Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
would have been no more able to produce pne
another than ftones or clods of earth. As to
our fouls, the principal part of our perfons,
God is their Immediate author, without the
leaft concurrence of fecondary caufes. Hence
he is called the Father of your fpirits in a pecu
liar fenfe [a), and he affumes the endearing
name of" the God ofthe fpirits of all flefh [b)."
Now the name of a father is wont to carry
fome endearment and authority. Children,
efpecially in their young and helplefs years, are
fond of their father ; their little hearts beat with
a thoufand grateful paflions towards him ; they
love to be with him, to be dandled on his knees,
and fondled in his arms, and they fly to him
upon every appearance of danger ; but if God
be a father, where is his honour ? here, alas !
the filial paffions are fenfelefs and immovable.
It is but a litde time fince we came from his
creating hand, and yet we have forgotten him.
It feems unnatural for his own offspring to in
quire " where is God my Maker ?" They fhew
no fondnefs for him, no affedionate venera
tion, and no humble confidence ; their hearts
are dead towards him, as though there were no
fuch being, or no fuch near relation fubfifling
between them. In childhood a rattle, or a ftraw,
or any trifle, is more thought of than their
heavenly Father ; in riper years their vain plea
fures and fecular purfuits command more of their
affedions than their divine original and only
happinefs*
(a) Heb. xii. 9. [b) Numb, xvi. 22.

Serm. 4- of fpiritual Death. 141
happinefs. Compare your natural temper to
wards your heavenly Father, and towards your
earthly parents, and how wide is the difference !
Nature works ftrong in your hearts towards
them, but towards him all the filial paffions
are dull and dead; and why? alas! the reafon
is, you " are dead in trefpafles and flns." But
this relation of a Father is not the only relation
our God fuftains to you; he is your fupreme
King, to whom you owe allegiance; your Law
giver, whofe will is the rule of your condud ;
and your Judge, who will call you to an ac
count, and reward or punifh you according to
your works; but how unnatural is it to men to
revere the moft high God under thefe auguft
charaders I Where is there a king upon earth,
however weak or tyrannical, but is more re
garded by his fubjeds than the King of hea
ven by the generality of men ? Where ever fuch
excellent laws contemned and violated? Did
ever criminals treat their Judge with fo much
negled and contempt? And are thefe fouls alive
to God who thus treat him? No. Alas! " they
" are dead in trefpaffes and fins;" however live
ly they are towards other things, yet In this re
fped they are feized with a deadly ftupor. God
is alfo our Guardian and Deliverer; and from
how many dangers has he preferved us, from
how many calamities has he delivered us! Dan
gers, diftreffes, and deaths crowd upon us and
furround us in every age and every place: the
air, the earth, the fea,. and every element are
4 pregnant

142 Th Is at we and Univerfality Serm. 4.
pregnant with numberlefs principles of pain and
death ready to feize and deftroy us : ficknefs
and death fwarm around us: nay, they lie in
ambufh in our own conftitution, and are per
petually undermining our lives, and yet our
divine Guardian preferves us for months and
years unhurt, untouched; or if he fufters the
calamity to fall, or death to threaten, he flies
to our deliverance; and how many falvations
of this kind has he wrought for us, falvations
from accidents, fi-om fickneffes, from pain,
from- forrows, from death ; falvations for our
perfons and our poffeffions, for ourfelves and
for our friends and relations; falvations from
dangers feen and unfeen ; falvations in infan
cy, in youth, and in maturer years ! Thefe
things we cannot deny without the moft ftupid
ignorance, and an athelfl:ical difbelief of divine
Providence. Now fuch repeated, fuch long-
continued, fuch unmicrlted favours as thefe
would not pafs for nothing between man and
man. We have hearts to feel fiich obligations ;
nay, the ten thoulandth, the millionth part of
fuch gracious care and goodnefs would be
gratefully refented, and thankfully acknowledg
ed. Indeed It is impoffible we fhould receive
even this fmall, this very fmall proportion of
favours from men In comparifon of what we
receive from God ; and even when they are the
inftruments of our deliverance he is the original
author. But after all, is there a natural apti
tude in the hearts of men to think of their gra
cious

Serm. 4. of fpiritual Death. 143
clous Guardian and Saviour ? Does the principle
of gratitude naturally lead them to love him,
and to make thankful acknowledgments to
hinn ? Alas ! no. They may indeed feel fome
tranfient, fuperficial workings of gratitude when
under the frefh fenfe of fome remarkable deli
verance, but thefe impreffions foon wear off,
and they become as thoughdefs and ftupid as
ever. But let a man, like yourfelves, fave you
from fome great diftrefs, you will always grate
fully remember him, think of him often with
pleafure, and take all opportunities of return
ing his kindnefs, efpecially if your deliverer was
much your fuperior, and independent upon you,
if you had forfeited his favour, provokedhim, and
incurred his difpleafure: great favours from fuch
an one would make impreffions upon the moft
obdurate heart. But tho' God be infinitely fu
perior to us, and it is nothing to him what be
comes of us, though we have rebelled againft
him, and deferve his vengeance, yet ten thou
fand deliverances from his hands have little or
no effed upon the hearts of men: all thefe can
not bring them to think of him, or love him
as much as they do a friend, or a common be
nefador of their own fpecles: and does fuch
ftupid ingratitude difcover any fpiritual fife in
them? No; they are dead in this refped, tho'
they are all alive to thofe paflions that terminate
upon created objeds. Farther, Gob is the Be-
nefaSlor of mankind, not only in delivering them
fi'om dangers and calamities, but in beftowing
unnumbered

144 ^'^^ Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
unnumbered ^^//t)^ bleffings upon them. Here
I cannot pretend to be particular, for the lift
of bleffings is endlefs, and It will be the happy
employment of an eternity to recoiled and enu
merate them. What an extenfive and well-
furnlflied world has our God formed for our
accommodation! For us he has enriched the
fun with light and heat, and the earth with fruit
ful nefs. The numerous inhabitants of every
element, the plants, minerals, and beafts of the
earth, the fifhes of the fea, the fowls of the
air, are all rendering their fervice to man; fome
afford him focd, and others work for him : the
winds and feas, fire and water, ftones and trees,
all confpire to be ufeful to him. Our divine
Benefador crowns us with the bleffings of liber
ty, of fociety, of friendfhip, and the moft en
dearing relations: he preferves our health, gives
us " rain from heaven, and fruitful fcafons, and
" fills our hearts with food and gladnefs." In
fliort, he gives us life, and breath, and all things;
every day, every hour, every moment has ar
rived to us rielilv freiohted with bleflings; blefs-
ings have refided with us at home, and attend
ed us abroad; bleflings prefented themfelves
.ready for our enjoyment as foon as we entered
into the world; then God provided hands to
receive us, knees to fupport us, breafts to fuckle
us, and parents to guard and cherifh us; blefs-
ings have grown up with us, and given fuch
conftant attendance, that they are become fa
miliar to u.^, and are the infeparable companions of

Serm. 4» of fpiritual Death. I45
of our lives. It is no new or unufual thing to
us to fee an illuftrious fun rifing to give us the
day, to enjoy repofe In the night, to rife re-
frefhed and vigorous in the morning, to fee
our tables fpread with plenty, the trees cover
ed with fruit, the fields with grain, and va
rious forms of animals growing up for our fup
port or fervice. Thefe are fuch familiar blefs-
ings to us, that they too often feem things of
courfe, or neceffary appendages of our being.
What a crowd of bleffings have crowned the
prefent morning ! You and yours are alive and
well, you have not conde hither ghaftly and
pining with hunger, or agonizing with pain.
How many refrefhing draughts of air have you
drawn this morning, how many fprightly and
regular pulfes have beat through your frame,
how many eafy motions have you performedl
with hands, feet, eyes, tongue, and other mem
bers of your body, and are not all thefe favours
from God ? yes undoubtedly ; and thus has he
gone on bleffin'g you all your days, without any
interruption at all in many of thefe particulars
of kindnefs, and with but very little in the reft.
Sinflil and miferable as this world is, it is a trea
fury rich In bleffings, a ftore-houfe full of pro
vifions, a dwelling well furnifhed for the accom
modation of mortals, and all by the care, and
at' the expence of that gracious God who firft
made and ftill preferves it what it is. *' Lord,
whence is it then that the inhabitants forget and
negled thee, as though they were not at all
Vol. L L obliged

J 46 The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
obliged to thee ? O whence is it that they love
thy gifts, and yet difregard the giver ; that they
think lefs of thee than of an earthly father or
friend, or an human benefador; that there
fliould be fo little gratitude towards thee, that
of all benefadors thou fhouldft be the leaft ac
knowledged, that the benefadors of nations,
and even of private perfons, in inftances un
worthy to be mentioned with thofe of thy good
nefs, fliould be celebrated, and even adored,
while thou art negleded, thine agency over
looked, and thy goodnefs forgotten ? O whence
is this ftrange phoenomenon, this unaccount
able, unprecedented ftupidity and ingratitude
in reafonable creatures ! Surely, if they had
any life, any fenfation In this refped, they
would not be capable of fuch a condud ; but
they are dead, dead to all the generous fenfa
tions of gratitude to God : and as a dead corpfe
feels no gratitude to thofe that perform the laft
friendly office, and cover it with earth, fo a
dead foul ftands unmoved under all the profu-
fion of bleffings which heaven pours upon it.
The bleffings I have mentioned, which arc
confined to the prefent ftate, are great, and de
ferve our wonder and thankfgiving, efpecially
confidering that they are beftowed upon a race
of rebellious, ungrateful creatures, who deferve
the fevereft vengeance ; but there is a fet of
bleffings yet unmentioned, of infinitely greater
importance, in which all others are fwallowed
up, by the glory of which they are obfcured, like

1

Serm. 4' of fpiritual Death. 1 47
like the ftars of night by the rifing fun. To fome
of our race God has given crowns and king*
doms. For Ifrael Jehov ah wrought the moft
aftonifhing miracles ; feas and rivers opened to
make way for them ; rocks burft into fprings
of water to quench their thirft; the clouds
poured down manna and fed them with bread
from heaven : their God delivered Daniel from
the jaws of hungry lions, and his three compa
nions fro.m the burning fiery furnace. He has
reftored health to the fick, fight to the blind,
and life to the dead. Thefe bleffings and deli
verances have fomething majeftic and ftriking
in them, and had we been the fubjeds of them
we could not but have regarded them as great
and fingular, but what are thefe in comparifon
of God's gift of his Son, and the blefifings he
has purchafed ? his Son, who is of greater va
lue, and dearer to him than teh thoufand
worlds ; his beloved Son, in whom he is well
pleafed; him has he given for us, given up to
three and thirty years of the moft mortifying
abafement, and an inceffant conflid with the
fevereft trials, given up to death, and all the
ignominy and agonies of crucifixion. Thus
has God loved our world ! and never was there
fuch a difplay of love in heaven or on earth.
You can no more find love equal to this among
creatures, than you can find among them the in
finite power that formed the univerfe out of no
thing. This wfll ftand upon record to all eter
nity, as the unprecedented, unparalelled, ini*
L 2 mitable

148 The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4,
mitable love of God. And it appears the more
illuftrious when we confider that this unfpeak
able gift was given to finners, to rebels, to ene
mies, that were fo far from deferving it, that,
on the other hand, it is a miracle of mercy that
they are not all groaning for ever under the tre
mendous weight of his juftice. O that I could
fay fomething becoming this love ; fomething
that might do honour to it! but, alas! the lan
guage of mortals was formed for lower fubjeds.
This love paffes all defcription and all know
ledge. Confider alfo what rich bleffings Christ
has purchafed for us; purchafed not with fuch
corruptible things as filver and gold, but with
his own precious blood : the price recommends
and endears the bleffings, though they are fo
great in themfelves as to need no fuch recom
mendation. What can be greater or more
fuitable bleffings to perfons In our circumftan
ces, than pardon for the guilty, redemption
for flaves, righteoufnefs and juftificatlon for the
condemned, fandification for the unholy, reft
for the weary, comfort for mourners, the fa
vour of God for rebels and exiles, ftrength for
the Impotent, protedion for the helplefs, ever
lafting happinefs for the heirs of hell, and, to
fum up all, grace and glory, and every good
thing, and all the unfearchable riches of Christ
for the wretched and miferable, the poor, and
blind, and naked! Thefe arc bleffings indeed,
and in comparifon of them all the riches of the"
world are impoveriflied, and vanlfh to nothing ;
and

Serm. 4. of fpiritual Death. 149
and all thefe bleffings are publiflied, offered
freely, indefinitely offered to you,-to me, to the
greateft finner on earth, in the Gofpel ; and we
arc allowed, — allowed did I fay} we are invited
with the utmoft importunity, intreated with the
moft compaffionate tendernefs and condefcen
fion, and commanded by the higheft authority,
upon pain of eternal damnation, to accept the
bleffings prefented to us. And what recepflon
does all this love meet with in our world ! I
tremble to think of it. It Is plain thefe things
are propofed to a world dead In fin ; for they are
all ftfll, all unmoved, all fenfelefs under fuch a
revelation of infinite grace; mankind know not
what it is to be moved, melted, tranfported with
the love of a crucified Saviour, till divine grace
vifits their hearts, and forms them into new
creatures : they feel no eager fblicitude, nay,
not fo much as a wilhngnefs to receive thefe
bleffings, till they become willing by almighty
powtr: and judge ye, my brethren, whether they
are not dead fouls that are proof even againft the
love of God in Christ, that are not moved
and melted by the agonies of his crofs, that are
carelefs about fuch ineftimable bleflings as thefe?
Has that foul any fpiritual life in it, that can
fit fenfelefs under the crofs of Jesus, that can
forget him, negled him, difhonour him, after
all his love and all his fufferings ; that feels a
prevailing indifferency and languor towards
him ; that loves him lefs than an earthly friend,
and feeks him with lefs eagernefs than gold and
L 3 filver?

150 The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
filver ? Is not every generous paflion, every
principle of gratitude quite extind in fuch a
fpirit ? It may he alive to other objeds, but to
wards this it is dead ; and alas! is not fliis the
common cafe ! O look round the world, and
what do you fee but a general negled of the
bleffed Jesus, and all the bleffings of his Gof
pel? How cold, how untoward, how reludant,
how averfe are the hearts of men towards him ;
how hard to perfuade them to think of him and
love him ! Try to perfuade men to give over
their fins which grieve him, diflionour him,
and were the caufe of his death ; try to engage
them to devote themfelves entirely to him, and
live to his glory, alas! you try in vain; their
hearts ftill continue cold and hard as a ftone ;
try to perfuade them to murder or robbery, and
you are more likely to prevail. Suffer me, in
my aftonlfhment, to repeat this moft melancholy
truth again; the generality of mankind are ha
bitually carelefs about the bleffed Jesus; they will
not feek him, nor give him their hearts and af
fedions, tho' they muft perifh for ever by their
negled of him I Aftonifhing, and moft lament
able, that ever fuch perverfenefs and ftupidity
fhould feize the foul of man ! Methinks I could
here take up a lamentation over human nature,
and fall on my knees with this prayer for my
fellov/-men, " Father of fpirits, and Lord of
" life, quicken, O quicken thefe dead fouls!"
O, firs, while we fee death all around us, and
feel it benumbing our own fouls, who gan help the

Serm. 4. of fpiritual Death, 1 5 1
the moft bitter wailing and lamentation ; who
can reftrain himfelf from crying to the great
Author of life for a happy refurredion ! While
the valfey of dry bones lies before me, while
the carnage, the charnel-houfe of immortal
fouls ftrikes my fight all around me far and
wide, how can I forbear crying, " Come from
" the four winds, O breath; breathe upon thefe
" flain, that they may live?'' But to return from
this digreffion, into which I was unavoidably
hurried by the horror of the fubjed, I would
obferve farther, that kind ufage and pleafing
treatment may not be always beft for fuch
creatures as we are: fatherly feverities and cha-
ftifements, though not agreeable to us, yet may
be neceffary and conducive to our greateft good.
Accordingly God has tried the force of chaftife-
ments to make impreffions upon our hearts :
thefe indeed have been but few in comparifon of
his more agreeable difpenfations ; yet recoiled
whether you have not frequently felt his rod.
Have you not langulflied under ficknefs and
pain, and been brought within a near view of
the king of terrors ? Have you not fuffered the
bereavement of friends and relations, and met
with loffes, adverfity, and difappointments ?
Others have felt ftill greater calamities in a
clofer fucceflion, and with fewer mercies inter
mixed. Thefe things, one would think. Would
immediately bring men to regard the hand that
fmites them, and make them fenfible of their
undutiful condud, which has procured the cor-
L 4 redion :

152 The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
redion : thefe are like the application of fire to
one in a lethargy, to awaken him to life ; but
alas ! under all thefe affiidions, the ftupor and
infenfibility ftill remain. Sinners groan by
reafon of oppreffion, but It Is not natural for
them to inquire, " Where is God my Maker,
" that giveth fongs in the night ?" It is not na
tural for them to repent of their undutiful con
dud and amend ; or, if they are awakened to
fome little fenfe, while the painful rod of the
Almighty is yet upon them, as foon as it is re
moved they become as hardened and fenfelefs as
ever. And is not a ftate of death a very propefr.
reprefentation of fuch fullen, incorrigible ftupi-i'
dity? Living fouls have very tender fenfations;
one touch of their heavenly Father's hand makes
deep Impreffions upon them; they tremble at
his frown, they fall and weep at his feet, they.-
confefs their offences, ^nd mourn over them ;
they fly to the arms of his mercy to efcape the
impending blow ; and thus would all do were
they not quite deftitute of fpiritual life.
I have materials fufficient for a difcourfe of
fome hours, but at prefent I muft abruptly drop
the fubjed: however, I cannot difmifs you
without making a few refledions. And
I . 'What a ftrange affeding view does this
fubjed give us of this affembly ! I doubt not
but I may accommodate the text to fome of
you with this agreeable addition, " You hath
" he quickened, though you were once dead In
" trefpaffes and fins." Though the vital pulfi? beats

Serm. 4- of fpiritual Death. 153
beats faint and irregular, and your fpiritual
life is but very low, yet, bleffed be God, yoa
are not entirely dead : you have fome living
fenfations, fome lively and vigorous exercifes in
religion. On the other hand, I doubt not but
fome of you not only were, but ftill are " dead
" in trefpaffes and fins." It is not to be exped
ed in our world, at leaft not before the millen
nium, that we fhall fee fuch a mixed company
together, and all living fouls. Here then is
the difference between you ; fome of you are
fplritually alive, and fome of you are fpiritually
dead : here the living and the dead are blended
together in the fame affembly, on the fame
feat, and united in the nearefl relations : here
fits a dead foul, there another, and there an
other, and a few living fouls are fcattered here
and there among them : here is a dead parent
and a living child, or a dead child and a hying
parent : here fife and death (O fhocking !) are
united in the bonds of conjugal love, and dwell
under the fame roof: here is a dead fervant and
a living mafter ; and there a dead mafter (O
terrible !) commands a living fervant. Should
I trace the diftindion beyond this affembly into
the world, we fhall find a family here and there
that have a little life ; perhaps one, perhaps
two, difcover fome vital fymptoms; but O what
crowds of dead families ! all dead together, and
no endeavours ufed to bring one another to
life ; a death-like filence about eternal things,
3 deadly ftiipor and infenfibility reign among them;

1 54 ^^^ Nature and Univerfality Serrrt. 4.
them ; they breathe out no defires and prayers-
after G o D ; nor does the vital pulfe of love
beat in their hearts towards him ; but, on the
contrary, their fouls are putrifying in fin, which
is very emphatically called corruption by the fa
cred writers ; they are over-run and devoured
by their lufts, as worms infult and deftroy the'
dead body. Call to them they will not awake >
thunder the terrors of the Lord in their ears
they will not hear > offer them all the bleffings
ofthe Gofpel they will not ftretch out the hand
of faith to receive them : lay the word of Go©,
the bread of life, before them, they have no
appetite for it. In fhort, the plain fymptoms
of death are upon them : the animal is alive,
but alas ! the fpirit is dead towards God. And
what an affeding, melancholy viev/ does this
give of this affembly, and of the world in ge
neral! " O that ray head were waters, and mine
" eyes fountains of tears, tbat I might weep
" day and night for the flain of the daughter of
** my people !" Weep not for the affiided, weep
not over ghaftly corpfes . diffolving into their
original duft, but O weep for dead fouls.*
Should God now ftrike all thofe perfons dead
in this affembly whofe fouls are " dead in tref-
" paffes and fins, fhould he lay them all in pale
corpfes before us, like Ananias and Sapphira at
the apoftle's feet, what numbers of you would
never return from this houfe more, and what
lamentations would there be among the fur
viving few ! One would lofe a hufband or a
wife.

Serm. 4. of fpiritual Death. 15;
wife, another a fon or a daughter, another a
father or a mother, and alas! would not fome
whole families be fwept off" together, all blended
in one promifcuous death ! Such a fight as this
would ftrike terror Into the hardieft heart among
you. But what is this to a company of rational
fpirits flain and dead in trefpaffes and fins? How
deplorable and inexpreffibly melancholy a fight
this ! Therefore,
2. " Awake thou that fleepeft, and arife from the
" dead, that Christ may give thee light." This
call is direded to you dead finners, which is a
fufficient warrant for me to exhort and perfuade-
you. The principle of reafon is ftill alive in
you ; you are alfo fenfible of your own intereft,
and feel the workings of felf-love. It is God
alone that can quicken you, but he effeds this
by a power that does not exclude, but attends
rational inftrudions and perfuafions to your un
derftanding. Therefore, though I am fure you
will continue dead ftill If left to yourfelves, yet
with fome trembling hopes that his power may
accompany my feeble words, and impregnate
them with life, I call upon, I intreat, I charge
you finners to roufe yourfelves out of your dead
, fleep, and feek to obtain fpiritual life. Now,
while my voice founds in your ears, now, this
moment, waft up this prayer, " Lord, pity a
" dead foul, a foul that has been dead for ten,
" twenty, thirty, forty years, or more, and
" lain corrupting In fin, and fay unto me. Live :
*' from this moment let me live unto thee." Let this

1 5^ The Nature and Univerfality Serm. 4.
this prayer be ftill upon your hearts : keep your
fouls always in a fupplicating pofture, and who
knows but that he, who raifed Lazarus from
the grave, may give you a fpiritual refurrec-
tion to a more important life ? But if you wil
fully continue your fecurity, expefl in a little
time to fuffer the fecond death ; the mortifica
tion will become incurable ; and then, though
you will be ftill dead to God, yet you will be
*' tremblingly alive all over'' to the fenfations
of pain and torture. O that I could gain but
this one requeft of you, which your own inte
reft fo ftrongly enforces ! but alas 1 it has been
fo often refufed, that to exped to prevail Is to
hope againft hope.
3. Let the children of God be fenfible of
their great happinefs in being made fpiritually
alive. Life is a principle, a capacity neceffary
for enjoyments of any kind. Without animal
life you would be as incapable of animal plea
fures as a ftone or a clod ; and without fpiri
tual life you can no more enjoy the happinefs
of heaven than a beaft or a devil. This there
fore is a preparative, a previous qualification,
and a fure pledge and earneft of everlafting
life. How highly then are you diftinguifli
ed, and what caufe have you for gratitude and
praife I
4. Let us all be fenfible of this important
truth, that it is entirely by grace we are faved.
This is the inference the apoftle exprefsly makes
from this dodrine ; and he is fo full cf it, that he

Serm. 4. of fpiritual Death. 157
he throws it into a parenfhefis (verfe 5th)
though it breaks the conne<Sion of his dif^
courfe, and as foon as he has room he refumes
it again, (verfe 8th) and repeats it over and
over, in various forms, in the compafs of a few
verfes, " By grace are ye faved. — By grace
" are you' faved through faith. — It is the gift
" of God ; — not of yourfelves, — not of works,"
(verfe 9th). This, you fee, is an inference that
feemed of great importance to the apoftle, and
what can more naturally follow from the pre
mifes ? If we were once dead In fin, certainly
it is owing to the freeft grace that we have been
quickened ; therefore, when we furvey the
change, let us cry, " Grace, grace unto it."

SERMON

^j-^:. ..-ii-.. ..•¦«¦¦¦. .--a--. .••'4s'v-.--§*\.--'-^\,.-"¥-v--^-\.--'^-\-'-^ ¦Ji^
p.V--4^^~r^^'^^''^''^'^4^'^'^''^^^^^
SERMON V.
The Nature and Procefs of fpiritual
Life.
EPHES, II. 4, 5.
But GOD who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in fins, hath quickened us together with
CHRIST.
^.^^^ T Is not my ufual method to weary
^ I w yo'^^ attention by a long confinement
^^Tf^ to one fubjed ; and our religion fur-
niflies us with fuch a boundlefs vari
ety of Important topics, that a minifter who
makes them his ftudy will find no temptation
to cloy you with repetitions, but rather finds it
difficult to fpeak fo concifely on one fubjed, as
to leave room for others of equal importance:
however the fubjed of my laff Difcourfe was
fo copious and interefting that I cannot dif
mifs

l6o The Nature and Procefi Serm. 5.
mifs it without a fupplement. I there fhewed
you fome of the fymptoms of fpiritual death,
but I would not leave you dead as I found you ;
and therefore I intend now to confider the
counterpart of that fubjed, and fliew you the
nature and fymptoms of fpiritual life.
I doubt not but a number of you have been
made alive to God by his quickening Spirit ;
but many, I fear, ftill continue '• dead In tref^
" pafles and fins;" and, while fuch are around
me, 1 cannot help imagining my fituation
fomething like that of the prophet Ezekiel [a)
in the midft of the valley full of dry bones,
fpread far and wide around him; and fhould I
be afked, " Can thefe dry bones,, can thefe dead
" fouls live?" I muft anfwer with him, " OLord
*' God thou knoweft." " Lord, I fee no fymp-
" toms of life in them, no tendency towards
" it. I know nothing is Impoffible to thee : I
" firmly believe thou canft infpire them with
" life, dry and dead as they are : and what thy
" defigns are towards them, whether thou in-
" tendeft to exert thy all-quickening power up-
" on them, thou only knoweft, and I. would
•' not prefume to determine ; but this I know,
" that. If they are left to themfelves, they will
" continue dead to all eternity ; for, O Lord,
" the experiment has been repeatedly tried ;
" thy fervant has over and over made thofe
" quickening applications to them, which thy
*' Word, that facred difpenfary, prefcribes; but
" all
(«) Ch. xxxvii.

Serm. 5. of fpiritual Life. 1 6 1
" all in vain ; they ftill continue dead towards
" thee, and He putrifying more and more in
*• trefpaffes and fins : however, at thy comi
** mand, I would attempt the moft Unpromif-
" ing undertaking ; I would proclaim even un-
" to dry bones and dead fouls, " O ye dry bones,
*' O yedeadfouls,hearthewordof theLord (a)."
" I would al.fo cry aloud for the animating
" breath of the holy Spirit, " Come from the
" four winds and breathe ; breathe upon thefe
*' flain that they may live (bJ."
Ye dead finners, I would make one attempt
more in the name of the Lord to bring you to
life ; and if I have the leaft hope of fuccefs it
is entirely owing to the encouraging peradven-
ture that the quickening Spirit of Christ may
work upon your hearts while I am addrefling
myfelf to your ears. And, O firs, let us all
keep our fouls In a praying, pofture throughout
this difcourfe. If one of you fliould fall into
a fwoon or an apoplexy how would all about
you beftir themfelves to bring you to life again!
And alas ! fliall dead fouls lie fo thick among
us, in every affembly, in every family, and fliall
no means be ufed for their recovery ? Did
Martha and Mary apply to Jesus with all the
arts of importunity in behalf of their fick and
deceafed brother, and ate there not fome of
you that have dead relations, dead friends and
neighbours, I mean dead in the worft fenfe,
•* dead in trefpaffes and fins ?" and will you not
Vol. I. M apply
{a) Ezek, xxxvii, 4. {h] Verfe g.

i62 The Nature and Procefs Serm. 5.
apply to Jesus the Lord of life, and follow him
with your importunate cries, till he come and
call them to life? Now let parents turn inter-^
ceffors for their children, children for their pa
rents, friend for friend, neighbour for neigh
bour, yea enemy for enemy. O fhould we all
take this method we might foon exped to fee
the valley of dry bones full of living fouls, " an
" exceeding great army [a)."
In praying for this great and glorious event,
you do not pray for an impoffibllity. Thou-^
fands as dead as they have obtained a joyful refur
redion by the power of God. Here In my text
you have an inftance of a promifcuous crowd of
Jews and Gentiles that had lain dead in fin to
gether, and even St Paul among them,, who
v/ere recovered to life, and are now enjoying
an immoitdl hfe in the heavenly regions; and,
bleffed be God, this fpiritual life is not entirely
extind among us. Among the multitudes of
dead fouls that we every where meet with we
find here and there a foul that has very diffe
rent fymptoms: once Indeed it was like the reft;
but now, v/hile they are quite fenfelefs of divine
thing.?, and have no vital afpirations after God,
this foul cannot be content with the richeft afHu-
ence of created enjoyments, it pants and breathes
after God, It feeds upon his word, it feels an al
mighty energy in eternal things, and receives vital
fenfations from them. It difcovers life and vi
gour in devotion, and ferves the living God
with pleafure, though it is alfo fubjed to fits of
languifliment,
(a) Ezek. xxxvii, 10.

Serm. 5- if fpiritual Life. i6j
languifhment, and at times feems juft expiring,
and to lofe all fenfation* And whence is this
vaft difference ? Why is this foul fo different
fronb \*hat it once was, and what thoufands
around ftill are ? Why can it not, like them,
and like itfelf formerly, fie dead and fenfelefs in
fin, without any vital impreffions or experi
ences from God or divine things ? The reafon,
the happy reafon, my brethren. Is, this is a
living foul : " God, out of the great love where-
" with he loved it, hath quickened It together
" with Chr 1ST, "and hence it is alive to him.
My prefent defign is to explain the nature
and properties of this divine life, and to fhew
you the manner in which it is ufually begun
in the foul: I fhall open with the confideration
of the laft particular.
Here you muft obferve, that, though fpiri
tual fife is inftantaneoufly infufed, yet G oji
prepares the foul for its reception by a courfe
of previous operations. He fpent fix days In
the creation of the world, though he might
have fpoken it ^ito being in an inftant. Thus
he ufually creates the foul anew after a gra
dual procefs of preparatory adions. In form
ing the firft man, he firft created the chaos out
of nothing, then he digefted it Into earth; on
the fixth day he formed and organized the earth
into a body, with all its endlefs variety of mem
bers, juices, mufcles, fibres, veins and arteries;
and then, after this procefs, he infpired It with
a living foul, and what was but a lump of clay
fprung up a perfed man. Thus alio the fcetus
Ma in

1 64 The Nature and Procefs Serm. 5*
in the womb Is for fome months in formation
before the foul or the principle of life is infufed.
In like manner the Almighty proceeds in quick
ening uS with fpiritual life : we all pafs thro'
a courfe of preparation, though fome through
a longer, and fome a fhorter. And as one rea
fon why the great Creator took up fo much
time in the creation of the world probably was
that he might allow the angels time for leifure-
ly furveys of the aftonifhing procefs, fo he may
advance thus gradually in the new creation,
that we may obferve the various fteps of the
operation, and make proper refledions upon
it in future life. My prefent defign is to trace
thefe fteps to their grand refult that you. may
know whether ever divine grace has carried you
through this gracious procefs.
And that you may not fall into needlefs per
plexities it may be neceffary for me to premife
farther that there is a great variety in thefe
preparatory operations, and in the degrees of
fpiritual life. Indeed the difference is only cir
cumftantial, for the work is fubftantially the
fame, and fpiritual life is fubftantially the fame
in ftil; but then, in fuch circumftances as the
length of time, the particular external means,
the degree of previous terror, and of fubfequent
joy and vitality, &c. God exercifes a fove
reign freedom, and fhews that he has a variety
of ways by which to accomplifh his end; and
it is no matter how we obtained if we have
but fpiritual life. I fliall therefore endeavour to

Serm. 5' of fpiritual Lif. 165
to confine myfelf to the fubftance of this work
without its peculiarities in different fubjeds ;
and, when I cannot avoid defcending to parti
culars, I fhall endeavour fo to diverfify them,
as that they may be eafily adapted to the va
rious cafes of different Chriftians. To draw
their common hneaments, whereby they may
be diftinguifbed from all others, Is fufficient to
ray prefent purpofe; whereas to draw the par
ticular lineaments, or peculiar features, where
by they may be diftinguifbed from one another,
is a very difficult talk, and cannot be of any great
fervice to what I have now in defign.
I have only one thing more to premife, and
that is, that the way by which divine grace prcr
pares a finner for fpiritual life, is by working
upon all the principles of the rational life, and
exciting him to exert them to the utmoft to ob
tain it. Here it is proper for you to recoiled:
what I obferved in my laft difcourfe; that even
a finner dead in trefpaffes and fins is alive, and
capable of adion in other refpeds : he can not
only perform the adions, and feel the fenfa
tions of animal life, but he can alfo exercife his
intelledual powers about intelledual objeds^
and even about divine things: he is capable of
thinking of thefe, and of receiving fome impref
fions from them: he is alfo capable of attending
upon the ordinances ofthe Gofpel, and perform-;
ing the external duties of religion. Thefe things
a finner may do, and yet be dead In fin. Indeed
he will not exercife his natural powers about
M 3 , thefe

1,66 Th Nature and Procefs .Serm. 5,
thefe things while left to himfelf: he has the
power, but then he has no difpofition to employ
it : he is indeed capable of meditating upon fpi
ritual things, but what does this avail when he
will not turn his mind to fuch objeds ? or if
he does, he confiders them as mere fpecula
tions, and not as the moft interefting and im
portant reafities. How few, or how fuper
ficial and unaffeding are a finner's thoughts of
them! Heaven and hell are objeds that may
ftrike the paffions, and raife the joys and fears
of a natural man, but in genetal he is little or
nothing impreffed with them. He is capable of
prayer, hearing, and ufing the means of grace,
hut I believe, if you make obfervations upon the
condu<ll: of mankind, that you will find they are
but feldom employed in thefe duties, or that
they perform them in fuch a carelefs manner
that they have no tendency to anfwer the end of
their inffitution. In (hort, the more I know of
mankind I have the lower opinion of what
they will do in religion when left to themfelves.
They have a natural power, and we have feen
all poffible means ufed with them to excite
them to put It forth, but alas! all Is in vain,
and nothing will be' done to purpofe till God
ftir them up to exert their natural abilities;
and this he performs as a preparative ' for fpiri
tual life. He brings the finner to exert ail his
adive powers in feeking this divine principle :
nature does her utmoft-, and all outward means are

Serm. 5. of fpiritual Life. i dj
are tried before a fupernatural principle Is im
planted. The evangelift John has given us the hiftory
of the refurredion of the dead body of Laza
rus after it had been four days in the grave,
and I would now give you the hiftory of a more
glorious refurredion, the refurredion of a foul
that had lain dead for months and years, and
yet is at laft quickened by the fame almighty
pow-er with a divine and immortal life.
.Should I exemplify It by a particular in
ftance, I might fix upon this or that perfon In
this affembly, and remind you, and inform o-
thers of the procefs of this work In your fouls.
And O ! how happy are fuch of you that you
may be produced as inftances in this cafe!
You lay, for ten, twenty, thirty years or
more, dead In trefpaffes and fins; you did not
breathe and pant like a living foul after God
and holinefs; vou had little more fenfe of the
^burden of fin than a corps of the preffure of a
mountain ; you had no appetite for the living
bread that came down from heaven ; the vital
pulfe of facred paffions did not beat in your
hearts towards God and divine things, but you
lay putrifying in fin ; filthy lufts preyed upon
you like worms on the bodies of the dead ; you
fpread the contagion of fin around you by your
converfation and example, like the ftench and
corrupt effluvia of a rotting carcafs; you were
odious and .abominable to God, fit to be fhut
up- In the infernal pit out of his fight; and you
, ' M 4 were

1 68 The Nature and Procefs Serm. 5.
were objeds of hoiTor and lamentation to all
that knew, and duly confidered your cafe, your
deplorable cafe. During this time many quick
ening applications were made to you ; you had
, friends that ufed all means to bring you to life
again, but alas! all in vain; confcience proved
your friend, and pierced and chafed you, to
bring you J:o fome feeling, but you remained
ftill fenfelefs, or the fymptoms of fife foon va^
niflied. God did not caft you away as irreco
verably dead, but ftirred and agitated you
within, and ftruggled long with the principles
of death to fubdue them : and, if it was your
happy lot to live under a faithful miniftry, the
living oracles that contain the feeds of the di
vine life were applied to you with care and fo-
licitude. The terrors ofthe Lord were thunder
ed in your ears to awaken you. The experi
ment of a Saviour's dying love, and the rich
grace of the Gofpel, was repeatedly tried upon
you: now you were carried within hearing of
the heavenly mufic, and within fight of the
glories of Paradife to try if thefe would charm
you : now you were, as it were, held over the
flames of hell, that they might by their pun
gent pains fcorch and ftartle you into life.
Providence alfo concurred with thefe applica
tions, and tried to. recover you by mercies and
judgments, ficknefs and health, loffes and pof-
jteflions, difappointments ^nd fucceffes, threatr
Iiings and deliverances. If it was your unhap
py lot to lie among dead fouls like yourfelf

Serm. 5, of fpiritual Life. 169
you had indeed but little pity from them, nay
they and Satan were plying you with their opi
ates and poifon to confirm the deadly fleep.
And O ! how aftonifhing Is it that you fhould
be quickened in a charnel-houfe, in the man
fions of the dead, with dead fouls lying all
round you ! But if it was your happinefs to be
in the fociety of the living, they pitied you, they
fhrred and agitated you with their warnings
and perfuafions, they, like Martha and Mary
in behalf of their deceafed brother, went to
Jesus with their cries and importunities, " Lord,
" my child, my parent, my fervant, my neigh-
*' hour is dead, Ocome and rellore him to life!
" Lord, if thou hadft been here, he would not
" have died, but even now, I know it is not too
". late for thee to raife him." Thus' when one is
dead in our heavenly Father's family, the whole
houfe fhould be alarmed, and all the domeftics
be bufy in trying to bring him to life again.
But O ! refled with fhame and forrow how
long, all thefe quickening applications were in
vain ; you ftill lay in a dead fleep, or, if at times
you feemed to move, and gave us hopes you
were coming to life again, you foon relapfed,
and grew as fenfelefs as ever. And alas ! are
there not fome of you in this condition to this
very moment ? O deplorable fight ! May the
hour come, and O that this may be the hour,
in which fuch dead fouls " fhall hear the Voice
-" pf the Son of God and live («) !" ^ut
{o) John V, 25.

1 jo^ Th Nfiture and Procefs . Serm. 5.,
Put as to fuch of you in whom I would ex
emplify this hiftory of a fpiritual refurredion
V^hen your cafe was thus depiorable, and feem
ingly helplefs, the happy hour, the time of love
came, when you muft live. When all thefe ap-
l^ications had been unfuccefjful the all-quickr:
eniug Spirit of God determined to exert more
of his energy, and work more effedually upon
yoa. Perhaps a verfe in , your Bible, a fen
tence In a fermon, an alarnjing provideiice, the
converfation of a pious friend, or fomething that
urtexpedediy occurred to your own thoughts,
fii-ft ftruck your minds vwth unufual force ; you
found you could not harden yourfelves againft
it as you were wont to do ; it was attended with
a power you never before had felt, and which
you could not refift : this made you thoughtiful
and penfive, and turned your nands to objeds
that you were wont to negled; ; this made you
fland and paufe, and think of the .ftate of your
negleded fouls : you began to fear matters were
wrong wit'n you ; " What will become of me
?' when I leave this world ?. where fliall I refidc
"for ever? Am I prepared for the eternal
*'¦ world? How have I fpent my life?" Thefe, and
the like inquiries put you to a ftand, and yojs
could not pafs over them fo fuperficially as you
were -wont to doj your fins now appeared to
ypu in a neyv hght ; you were fhocked and fur-
prized at their malignant nature, their num
ber, their aggravations, and their dreadful con
fequences. 'The great God, whom you were
wont

Serm . 5 . <f fpiritual Life. 1 7 1
wont toncgied, appeared to you as a Being
that demanded- your regard; you faw he was
indeed a venerable, awful, maj.eftic Being, with
,whoni you had the moft important concern :. in
ftiort, you faw that fuch a life as you had led
would never bring you to heaven: you faw you
muft make religion more your bufinefs than you
-had ever done, and hereupon you altered your
former courfe ; you broke off from feveral iof
¦yOur vices, you defcrted your extravagant com
pany, and you began to frequent the throne
¦of grace, ;t0 ftudy religion, and attend upon its
inftitutions, and this you did with fome degree
of earneftnefs and follcitude. ¦ , , - -
When you were thus reformed, you b^n
to flatter yourfelves that you had efcaped out
-of your dangerous condition, and fecured the
-divine favour: now you began to view your
felves with fecret felf-applaufe as true Chrifti
ans; but all this time the refbrmatlon was iO'n'-
ly outward, and there was no new principle of
a divine fupernatural life implanted in your
¦Jiearts ; you had not the generous paffions and
;fenfations of living fouls towards God,, but ad
ed entirely from natural, felfifh principles: you
had no clear heart-affeding views of theintrin-
fic evil, and odbus nature of fin, confidered
in itfelf, nor of the entire univerfal corrup-
-tbn of your nature, and the neceffity not on
ly of adorning your outer man by an external
reformation, but ofan inward change of heai:t
by the almighty power of Gop : you were not
deeply

-1/2 Th Nature and Procefs Serm. 5,
deeply fenfible of ^the extent and fpirituality of
the divine Law, nor of the infinite purity and
inexorable juftice of the Deity : you had no
love for religion and virtue for their own fakes,
but only on account of their happy confequen
ces. Indeed your love of novelty and a regard
to your own happinefs might fo work upon
you for a time that you might have very raif^
cd and delightful paffions in religious duties,
but all your religion at that time was a mere
fyftem of felfifhnefs, and you had no generous
difinterefted delight in holinefs for its own ex
cellency, nor did you heartily relifh the ftrid
nefs of pure, living religion : you were alfo
under the government of a felf-righteous fpirit:
your own good works were the ground of your
hopes, and you had no relifh for the mortify
ing doctrine of falvation through the mere mer
cy of God and the righteoufnefs of Jesus
Christ : though your education taught you to
acknowledge Christ as the only Saviour, and
afcribe all your hopes to his death, yet in re
ality he was of very little importance in your
religion ; he had but little place in your heart
and affedions, even when you urged his name
¦ as your only plea at the throne of grace : in
fhort, you had not the fpirit of the Gofpel, nor
any fpiritual life within you. And this is all the
religion with which multitudes are contented :
with this they obtain a name that they live, but
in the fight of God, and in reality, they are
dead ; and had you been fuffered to reft here,
according

Serm. 5. cf fpiritual Life. 173
according to your own defire, you would have
been dead flill.
But God, who is rich (O how inconceivably
rich ! ) in mercy, for the great love wherewith
he loved you, refolved to carry on his work in
you ; and therefore, while you were flattering
yourfelves, and elated with a proud conceit of
the happy change in your condition, he furpriz
ed you with a very different view of your cafe :
he opened your eyes farther, and then you faw,
you felt thofe things, of which till then you had
little fenfe or apprehenfion, fuch as the corrup-'
tion of your hearts, the awful ftridnefs of the
divine Law, your utter inability to yield perfed:
obedience, and the neceffity ofan inward change
of the inclinations and relifhes of your foul.
Thefe, and a great many other things of a like
nature broke in upon your minds with ftriking
evidence, and a kind of almighty energy ; and
now you faw you were ftill " dead in fin," weak,
indifpofed, averfe towards fpiritual things, and
" dead in law," condemned to everlafting death
and mifery by its righteous fentence : now you
fet about the duties of religion with more ear
neftnefs than ever ; now you prayed, you heard,
and ufed the other means of grace as for your
life, for you faw that your eternal life was in
deed at ftake; and now, when you put the mat
ter to a thorough trial, you were more fenfible
than ever of your own weaknefs, and the diffi
culties in your way. " O ! who would have
*' thought my heart had been fo depraved that "it

174' The Nature and Procefs Serm. 5*
*' it fhodld.thos fly off from God, and ftruggle-
" and reludate againft returning to him?" fuch<
was then your language. Alas! you found
yourfelves quite helplefs, and all your efforts
feeble and ineffedual ; then you perceived your-
felvesreally dead in fin, and that you ntiuft con
tinue fo to all eternity, unleis quickened by a
power Infinitely fuperior to your own : not that
you lay flothful and inadive at this time ; no,
never did you exert yourfelves fo vigoroufly in
all your life, never did you befiege the throne
of grace with fuch earneft Importunity, never'
did you hear and read with fuch eager atten
tion, or make fuch a vigorous refiftance againft
fin and temptation: all your natural powers
¦v^ere exerted to the higheft pitch, for now you
faw your cafe required it : but you found all
your moft vigorous endeavours infufficient, and
you were fenfible that, without the afliftance of
a fuperior power, the work of religion cquld ne
ver be effeded.
Now you were reduced very low Indeed.
While you imagined you could render your
felves fafe by a reformation in your ov^n power
you were not much alarmed at your condition,
though you law it bad. But O! to feel your-*
lelves dead in fin, and that you cannot help
yourfelves; to fee yourfelves in a ftate of con
demnation, liable to execution every moment,
and yet to find all your own endeavours utterly
infufficient to relieve you ; to be obliged, after
all you had done, to lie at mercy, and confefs
4 ' that

Serm, 5. of fpiritual Life ty.^
thst you were as deferving of everlafting punifli*
ment as ever the moft notorious criminal was
of the ftroke of public juftice: this was a ftate
of extreme dejedion, terror, and anxiety in
deed. The proud, felf-confident creature was-
never thoroughly mortified and humbled tfll
now, when he is flain by the Law, and intire*
ly cut off" from all hopes from himfelf.
And now, finding you could not fave your
felves,. you began to caft' about you, and look
out for another to fave you : now you were-
more fenfible than ever of the abfolute need of
Jesus, and you cried and reached after him,
and ftirred up yourfelves to take hold of him.
The Gofpel brought the free offer of him to
your ears, and you would fain have accepted of
him ; but here new difficulties arofe. Alas !
you did not think yourfelves gOod enough to
accept of him, and hence you took a great deal
of fruitlefs pains to make yourfelves better : yoU
alfo found your hearts ftrangely averfe to the
Gofpel-method of falvation, and, though a fenfe
of your neceffity made you try to work up your-"
felves to an approbation of it, yet you could not
affedionately acquiefce in it, and cordially re-
lifli it.
And now, how melancholy was your fitu
ation ! you were " fhut up to the faith (a);'
there was no other poflible way of efcape, and
yet, alas! you could not take this way: now
you were ready to cry, *' I am cat off : my

" ftrength

(«) Gal.

176 The Nature and. Procefs Serm. 5.
•' ftrength and my hope are perlfhed from the
" Lord;" but, bleffed be God, he did not leave
you in this condition. Man's extremity of dif^
trefs is God's opportunity for refief and falva
tion, and fo you found it.
Now the procefs of preparatory operations is
juft come to a refult. Now it is time for God
to work, for nature has done her utmoft, and
has been found utterly infufficient : now it is
proper a divine fupernatural principle fhould be
infufed, for all the principles of nature have
failed, and the proud finner is obliged to own
it, and ftand ftill, and fee the falvation of God.
In this fituation you wanted nothing but fuch
a divine principle to make you living Chriftians
indeed. Thefe preparatives were like the taking
away the ftone from the fepulchre of Lazarus,
which was a prelude of that almighty voice
which called him from the dead. Now yoa
appear to me like the dry bones in Ezekiel's vi
fion, in one ftage ofthe operation. After there
had been a noife, and a fhaking among them,
and the bones had come together, bone to his
bone : " I beheld, fays he, and lo the finews
" and the flefli came "p upon them, and the
** fkin covered them above ; but there was no
" breath in them {a) :" this was all that was
wanting to make them living men. In like
manner you at this time had the external ap
pearance of Chriftians, but you had no divine
fupernatural life in you ; you were but the fair
carcafes
(«) Ezek. xxxvii. 8.

Serm. 5- of fpiritual Life. 177
carcafes of Chriftians; your religion had a body
compleatly formed, but it had no foul in it, and,
had the holy Spirit now given over his work,
you would have continued dead ftill.
But now the important crifis is come, when
he who ftood over the grave of Lazarus, and
pronounced the llfe-reftoring mandate, " La-
" zarus come forth;" when he who breathed
into Adam the breath of life, and made him a
living foul; I fay, now the crifis Is come, when
he will implant the principles of life in yout
fouls ; fuddenly you feel the amazing change,
and find you are ading from principles entirely
new to you j for now your hearts that were
wont to reludate, and ftart back from God,
rife to him with the ftrongeft afpirations: now
the way of falvation through Christ, which
you could never relifh before, appears all ami
able and glorious, and captivates your whole
fouls. Holinefs has lovely and powerful
charms, which captivate you to the moft wil
ling obedience, notwuhftanding your former
difguft to it ; and, though once you were ena
moured with fin, or difliked it only becaufe
you could not indulge it with impunity, it now
appears to you a mere mafs of corruption and
deformity, an abominable thing, which you
hate above all other things on earth or in hell.
At this jundure you were animated with a new
life In every faculty of your fouls, and hereupon
you felt the Inftinds, the appetites, the fympa-
VoL. I. N thies

178 The Nature and Procefs Serm. 5^
thies and antipathies of a new life, a divine
life, juftly ftiled by the apoftle " the life of
*' GoD;" the life of God in the foul of man.
The pulfe of facred paffions began to beat to
wards fpiritual objeds ; the vital warmth of
love fpread itfelf through your whole frame;,
you breathed out your defires and prayers be
fore God ; like a new-born infant you began
to cry after him, and at times you have learned
to lifp his name with filial endearment, and
cry " Abba, Father;" you hungred and thirft-
cd after righteoufnefs, and as every kind of life
muft have its proper nourlfliment, fo your fpi
ritual life fed upon Christ, the living bread,
and the fincere milk of his word. You alfo
felt a new, fet of fenfations; divine things now
made deep and tender impreffions upon you ; the
great realities of religion and eternity now affed
ed you in a manner unknown before; you lik,?^
wife found your foals aduated with life, and
vigour in the fervice of God, and in the duties
you owed to mankind. This ftrange alteration,
no doubt, filled you with furprize and amaze
ment, fomething like that of Adam when he
found himfelf ftart into life out of his eternal
non-exiftence. With thefe new fenfationS;
every thing appeared to you in a quite different
light, ^nd you could not but wonder that you
had never perceived them in that manner be
fore. Thus, my dear brethren, when you were
even dead in fin, God quickened you tQget^er with

Serm. ^. bf fpiritual Life. lyg
with Christ. It is true the principle of life
might be very weak at firft, like the life of a
new-born Infant, or a foetus juft animated in
the Womb : nay, it may be but very weak ftill,
and at times may languifli, and feem juft expir
ing in the agonies of death; but, bleffed be the
quickening Spirit of Christ, fince the happy
hour of your refurredtion you have never been,
and you never will be to ail eternity, what you
once were, " dead in trefpaffes and fins." Should
I give you your own hiftory fince that time, it
would be to this purpofe, and you will difcern
many fymptoms of life in it. You haye often
known what ficknefs of foul is, as well as of
body; and fometimes It has rifen to fuch a height
as to endanger your fpiritual life. The feeds of
fin, that ftill lurk in your conftitution, like the
principles of death, or a deadly poifon circu
lating through yoiir veins, have often ftruggled
for the maftery, and caft you into languifhing
or violent difordcrs ; then was the divine life
oppreffed, and you could not freely draw the
breath of prayer and pious defires ; you loft the
appetite for the word of God, and what you
received did notdigeft well, and turn to kindly
nourifhment ; the pUlfe of facred paflions beat
faint and irregular, the vital heat decayed, and
you felt a death-like cold creeping upon you
and benumbing you. Sometimes you have
been afflided, perhaps, with convulfions of vio
lent and outrageous paffions, with the dropfy
of infatlable defires after things below, with the
N 2 lethargy

1 80 The Nature and Procefs Serm. 5.
lethargy of carnal fecurity, or the fever of luft :
at other times you have felt an univerfal difor
der through your whole fraqne, and you hardly
knew what ailed you, only you were fure your
fouls were not well ; but perhaps your moft
common diforder that feizes you is a kind of
confumption, a lownefs of fpirits, a languor
and weaknefs, the want of appetite for your
fpiritual food, or perhaps a naufea and difguft
towards it ; you alfo live in a country very un-
wholfome to living fouls; you dwell among the
dead, and catch contagion from the converfa
tion of thofe around you, and this heightens
the diforder: add further, that old ferpent the
devil labours to infed you with his deadly poi
fon, and increafe the peccant humours by his
temptations : at fuch times you can hardly feel
any workings of fpiritual life in you, and you
fear you are entirely dead; but examine ftrid
ly, and you will difcover fome vital fymptoms
even in this bad habit of foul: for does not your
new nature exert Itfelf to work off the diforder ?
Are not your fpirits in a ferment, and do you
not feel yourfelves in exqulfite pain, or at leaft
greatly uneafy ? Give all the world to a fick
man, and he defpifes it all : " O give me my
" health, fays he, or you give me nothing." So
It is with you ; nothing can content you, while
your fouls are thus out of order. Do you not
long for their recovery, that you may go about
your bufinefs again; I mean that you may en
gage In the fervice of God with all the vigour of

?erm. 5. ?¦ of fpiritual Life. 1 8 1
of health ? and do you not apply to Christ a.s
your only- phyfician in this condition ? And O!
what an healing balm is his blood ! what a re
viving cordial is his love ! and how kindly does
his Spirit purge off the corrupt humours; and
fubdue the principles of fin and death ! Has not
experience taught you the meaning of the apo
ftle, when he fays, " Christ is our life." And
" I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me {pi) ?"
Do you not perceive that Christ is your vital
head, and that you revive or languifh juft as
he communicates or withholds his influence ?
And have you not been taught in the fame way
what is the meaning of that expreffion fo often
repeated, " Thejuft fliall live by his faith {b) ?"
Do you not find that faith is, as it were, the
grand artery by which you derive life from
Christ, and by which It is circulated ihro'your
whole frame ; and that when faith languilhes,
then you weaken, pine away, and perhaps fall
into a fwoon, as though you were quite dead ?
Are you not careful of the health of your fjuls ?
You endeavour to keep them warm with the
love of God ; you fhun thofe fickly regions as
far as you can, where the example and conver
fation of the wicked fpread their deadly infec
tion, and you love to dwell among living fouls,
and breathe in their wholefbme air. Upon the
whole, it Is evident, notwithftanding your fre
quent indifpofitions, you have fome life within
you : life takes occafion to fhew itfelf, even
N 3 from
(4)Galii. zo. (J)Hab.ii. 4. Rom. i. 17. Gal. iii. 11,

l82 The Nature and Procefs Serm. 5.
from your diforders. It is a plain fymptom of
it, that you have fomething within you that
makes fuch a vigorous refiftance againft the
principles of fin and death, and throws your
whole frame into a ferment, till it has wrought
off the diftemper. In fhort, you have the fen
fations, the fympathiesand antipathies, the plea
fures and pains of living fouls.
And is it fo indeed ? Then from this moment
begin to rejoice and blefs the Lord, who raifed
you to fpiritual life. O let the hearts he has
quickened beat with his love ; let the lips he
has opened, when quivering in death, fpeak his
praife, and devote that life to him which he
has given you, and which he ftill fupports!
Confider what a divine and noble kind of life
he has given you. It is a capacity and aptitude
for the moft exalted and divine fervices and en
joyments. Now you have a relifli for the Su^
preme Good as your happinefs, the only proper
food for your immortal fouls, and he will not
fuffer you to hunger and thirft in vain, but will
fatlsfy the appetites he has implanted in' your
nature. You have fome fpirit and life in his
fervice, and are not like the dead fouls around
you, that are all afive towards other objeds,
but abfolutely dead towards him : you h^ve alfq
noble and exalted fenfations; you are capable of
a fet of pleafures of a more refined and fublime
nature than what are relifhed by groveling fin^
«€rs. From your inmoft fouls you deteft and
Raufeate whatever is mean, bafe, and abomi nable.

iSerm.5' of fpiritual Life. 183
nable, and you can feaft on what is pure, ami
able, excellent, and worthy of your love. Your
vitiated tafte for trafli and poifon is cured, and
you feed upon heavenly bread, upon food agree
able to the conftitution of your fpiritual nature ;
and hence you may infer your meetnefs for the
heavenly world, that region of perfed vitality.
You have a difpofition for Its enjoyments and
fervices, and this is the grand preparative. God
will not encumber the heaven of his glory with
dead fouls, nor infed: the pure fidubrlous air
of Paradife with the poifon of their corruption ;
but the everlafting doors are always open for
living fouls, and not one of them fhall ever be
excluded; nay, the life of heaven Is already
within you ; the life that reigns with immortal
health .and vigour above, is the very fame with
that wliich works In your breafts ; only there it
is arrived to maturity and perfedion, and here
it is in its rudiments and weaknefs. Your ani
mal life, which was hardly perceiveable in the
womb, was the very fame with that which now
poffeffes you, only now it is come to perfedion.
Thus you are now angels in embryo, the fcetus,
might I be allowed the expreflion, of glorified
immortals ; and when you are born out of the
wombof time into the eternal world, this feeble'
fpark of fpiritual life will kindle and blaze, and
render you as adive and vigorous as " the rapt-
" feraph that adores and burns." Then you
will feel no more weaknefs, no more languors,
no moPe qualms of indifpofition ; the poifon of
N 4 tempta-*

184 The Nature and PrOcefs Serm. 5,
temptation, and tbe contagion of bad example
cannot reach you there, and the inward feeds
of ficknefs and death will be purged entirely
out of your fouls : you will be got quite out of
this fickly country, and breathe a pure reviving
air, the natural element of your fouls. There
you will find the fountain, yea whole rivers of
the waters of life, of which you will drink in
large draughts for ever and ever, and which will
infpire you with immortal life and vigour. O
how happy are you in this fingle gift of fpiritual
life! this is a life that cannot perifli even in the
ruins of the world. What though you muft ere
long yield your mortal bodies and animal life to
death and rottennefs? your moft important life
is immortal, and fubjed to no fuch diffolution ;
and therefore be courageous in the name of the
Lord, and bid defiance to all the calamities of
life, and all the terrors of death ; for '' your
" life is hid with Christ in God ; and when
" Christ who is your life fhall appear, then
" fhall you alfo appear with him in glory {a)'.'
I would willingly go on in this ftrain, and
leave the pulpit with a rehfli of thefe delight
ful truths upon my fpirit ; but, alas ! I muft
turn my addrefs to another fet of perfons in
this affembly: but " where is the Lord God of
" Elijah," who reftored the Shunamite's fon to
life by means of that prophet ? I am going to
call to the dead, and I know they will not hear,
unlefs he attend my feisble voice with his al
mighty
(«) Col. iii. 3, 4,

Serm. 5- of fpiritual Life. i8^
mighty power. I Would pray over you, like
Elijah over the dead child, " O Lord God, let
?' this finner's life come Into him again («)."
Are not the living and the dead promlfcuoufly
blended in this affembly ? Here is a dead foul,
there another, and there another all over the
houfe, and here and there a few living fouls
thinly fcattered among them. Have you ever
been carried through fuch a preparatory pro
cefs as I have defcribed ? or if you are uncer
tain about this, as fome may be who are ani
mated with fpiritual life, inquire, have you
the feelings, the appetites and averfibns, the
pleafing and the painful fenfations of living
fouls ? Methinks confcience breaks its, filence
in fome of you whether you will or not, and
cries, " O no ; there Is not a fpark of life in
" this breaft."
Well, my poor deceafed friends, (for fo I may
call you) I hope you will ferioufly attend to
what I am going ferioufly to fay to you. I
have no bad defign upon you, but only to re
ftore you to life. And though your cafe is
really difcouraging, yet I hope it is not quite
defperate. The principles of nature, reafon,
felf-love, joy and fear are ftill alive in you, and
you are capable of fome application to divine
things. And, as I told you, it is upon the prin
ciples of nature that God Is wont to work, to
prepare the foul for the infufion of a fuperna
tural life. And thefe I would now work up on,
{a) I Kings xvii, 21.

1 86 The Nature and Procefs Serm. 5,
on, in hopes you are not proof againft confi
derations ofthe greateft weight and energy. I
earneftly beg you would lay to heart fuch things
as thefe.
Can you content yourfelves with an animal
life, the life of beafts, with that fuperfluity,
reafon, juft to render you a more ingenious and
felf-tormenting kind of brutes j more artful in
gratifying your fordid appetites, and yet ftill
uneafy for want of an unknown fomething ; a
care that the brutal world, being deftitute of
reafon, are unmolefted with ? O! have you no
ambition to be animated with a divine immor
tal life, the life of God ?
Can you be contented with a mere temporal
life, when your fouls muft exift for ever?
That infinite" world beyond the grave is reple
niflied with nothing but the terrors of death to
you, if you are deftitute of fpiritual life. And
O can you bear the thought of refiding among t
its grim and ghaftly terrors for ever?
Are you contented to be cut off from God,
as a mortified member from the body, and to
be banifhed for ever from all the joys of his
prefence ? You cannot be admitted to heaven
without fpiritual life. Hell is the fepulchre for ,
dead fouls, and thither you muft be fent, if
you ftill continue dead. And does not this
thought affed you ?
Confider alfo now is the only time in which
you can be reftored to fife. And O will you
let it pafs by without improvement ] ShaU

Serm. 5. of fpiritual Life. i%j
Shall all the means that have been ufed for
your revival be in vain ? Or the ftrlvings of
the Spirit, the alarms of your own confciences,
the bleflings and chaftifements of providence,
the perfuafions, tears, and lamentations of your
living friends, O ! fhall all thefe be in vajn ?
Can you bear the thought ? Surely no. There
fore, O heave and ftruggle to burft the chains
of death. Cry mightily to God to quicken
you. Ufe all the means of vivification, and
avoid every deadly and contagious thing.
I know not, my brethren, how this thought
will affed us at parting to-day, that we have
left behind us many a dead foul. But fuppofe
we fhould leave as many bodies here behind
us, as there are of dead fouls among us ; fup
pofe every finner deftitute of fpiritual life, fhould
now be ftruck dead before us, O how would
this floor be overlaid with dead corpfes ! How
few of us would efcape ? What bitter lamen
tations and tears would be among us ! One
would lofe a hufband, or a wife, another a
child, or a parent, another a friend, or a neigh
bour. And have we hearts to mourn, and
tears to fhed over fuch an event as this, and
have we no compaflion for dead fouls ? Is there
none to mourn over them ? Sinners, if you
will ftill continue dead, there are fome here to
day who part with you with this wifli, " Q
" that my head were waters, and mine eyes
"fountains of tears, that I might weep day
" and

188 Th Nature and Procefs, &c. Serm. 5,
*' and night for the flain of the daughter of
*' my people." And O that our mournings
may reach the ears of the Lord of life, and that
you might be quickened from your death in
trefpaffes and fins ! Amen, and Amen.

FF3f>'<^"^i

SERMON

SERMON VI.
Poor and contrite Spirits the Objects
of the divine Favour.
5^&& $^&$ ^^ 5^ 5^&$ ^^^ 5^^^^*5^5^$^
ISAIAH LXVI. 2.
To this man will I look ; even to him that ts poor
and of a contrite fpirit, and trembleth at my
word.
y^^J^^M"*! S we confift of animal bodies as well
^ ^ as immortal fouls, and are endowed
)3j jgf viTith corporeal fenfes as well as ra-
k.)8(§)6G)( tional powers, God, who has wifely
adapted our religion to our make,
requires bodily as well as fpiritual worfhip, and
commands us not only to exercife the inward
powers of our minds in proper ads of devotion,
but alfo to exprefs our Inward devotion in fuit
able external adions ; and to attend upon him
in the fenfible outward ordinances which he has
appointed. Thus it is under the Gofpel j but
it was more remarkably fo under the law,
which, compared with the pure and fpiritual
worfhip

1 go Pior and ct^ntrite Spirits Serm. 6*
worfhip of the Gofpel, was a fyftem of carnal
ordinances, and required a great deal of exter
nal pomp and grandeur, and bodily fervices.
Thus a coftly and magnificent ftrudure was
crededj by divine diredion, in the wildernefs,
called the tabernacle, becaufe built in the form
of a tent, and moveable from place to place ;
and afterwards a moft ftately temple was built
by Solomon with immenfe coft, where the divine
worfhip fhould be ftatedly celebrated, and where
all the males of Ifrael fhould folemnly meet for
that purpofe three times in the year.
Thefe externals were not intended to exclude
the internal worfhip of the Spirit, but to ex
prefs and affift It. And thefe ceremonials were
not to be put into the place of morals, but ob
ferved as helps to the pradice of them, and to
jjrefigure the great Meffiah. Even under the
mofaic difpenfation, God had the greateft regard
to holinefs of heart, and a good fife ; and the
ftrideft obferver of ceremonies could not be
^accepted without them.
But it is natural to degenerate mankind to
invert the order of things, to place a part, the
eafieft and meaneft part of religion, for the
whole of it, to reft in the externals of religion
as fufficient, without regarding the heart, and
to depend upon a pharifalcal ftrid:nefs in cere
monial obfervances, as an excufe or atonement
for negleding the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith. This

Serm. 6. the Qbjf&s^ of divine fPAVour. 191
This was the unhappy error of the Jew^ in
ifaiah's time ; and this the Lord would correct
in tbe firft verfes of this chapter.
The Jews gloried in their having the houfe
of God among them, and were ever trufting in
vain words, faying, " The temple of the Lord,
" the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
" Lord are thefe (a)." They filled his altars
with coftly facrifices, and in thefe they trufted
to make atonement for fin, and fecure. the di
vine favour.
As to their facrifices God lets them know,
that while they bad no regard to their morals^
but chofe their own ways, and their fouk de
lighted in their abominations, while they pre
fented them in a formal manner, without the
fire of divine love, their facrifices were fo far
from procuring his acceptance, that they were
odious to him. He abhors their moft expen*
five offerings as abominable and profane. He
" that killeth an ox for fccrifice," is as far from
being accepted, " as if he unjuflly flew a man ;
" he that facrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a
" dog's neck, &c (bJ."
To remove this fuperftitlous confidence In
the temple, the Lord informs them, that he had
no need of it; that, large and magnificent as it
was, it was not fit to contain him, and that, in
confecrating it to him, they fliould not proudly
think that thty had given him any thing to
which he had no prior right. " Thus faith
" the
(aJ Jer. fii, 4, (ij [faiah Ixvi. 3.

192 poor and cohtrite Spirits Serm. 6.
*' the Lord, the heaven Is my throne, where I
'' reign confpicuous In the vifible majefty and
'' grandeur o/i a God ; and though the earth
*' is not adorned with fuch illuftrious difplays
** of my immediate prefence, though it does
*' not fhine in all the glory of my royal palace
'* on high, yet it is a little province in my im-
" menfe empire, and fubjed to my authority j
" it is my footftool. If then heaven is my
:*' throne, and earth is my footftool, if the
'' whole creation is my kingdom, where is the
c'' houfe that ye build unto me ? where Is your
'' temple which appears fo ftately in your eyes ?
-" it Is vanifhed, it is funk into nothing. Is it
<' able to contain that infinite Being to whom
" the whole earth is but a humble footftool,
" and the vaft heaven but a throne? Can you
" vainly Imagine that my prefence can be con-
" fined to you in the narrow bounds of a tem-
" pie, when the heaven, and the heaven of
** heavens cannot contain me ? Where is the
" place of my reft? can you provide a place
*' for my repofe, as though I were weary? or
" can my prefence be reftrained to one place,
*^ Incapable of ading beyond the prefcribed 11-
" mits ? ' No ; infinite fpace only can equal
" my being and perfedions ; infinite fpace
" only is a fufficient fphere for my opera-
" tions." " Can you imagine you can bribe my fa-
*' vour, and give me fomething I had no right
" to before, by all the ftately buildings you can
" rear

Serm. 6. the ObjeSf's ofdi"iine Favour. \ 93
"rear to my name? Is not univerfal nature
" mine? For all thefe things hath mine hand
" made out of nothing, and all thefe things
*' have been, or ftill fubfift by the fupport of
*' my all-preferving hand, and what right can
" be more valid and inalienable than that
" founded upon creation? Your filver and
" gold are mine, and mine the cattic upon a
" thoufand hills ; and therefore of mine own
" do you give me, faith the Lord."
Thefe are fuch majeftic ftrains of language
as are worthy a God. Thus it becomes him
to advance himfelf above the whole creation,
and to affert his abfolute property in, and in*
dependency upon the univerfe.
Had he only turned to us the bright fide of
his throne that dazzles us with infufferable
fjjlendor, had he only difplayed his majefty un-
-.allayed with grace and condefcenfion in fuch
language as this, it would have overwhelmed
us, and caft us into the moft abjed defpondency,
as the oUtcafts of his providence beneath his
notice. We might fear be would overlook us
with majeftic difdain, or carelefs negled, like
the littie things that are called great by mortals,
or as the bufy emniets of our fpecles are apt to
do. In the hurry of bufinefs they are liable to
negled, and in the power of pride and gran
deur to overlook or difdain their dependents.
We fhould be ready in hopelefs anxiety to fay,
" Is all this earth which to us appears fo vaft,
" and which is parcelled into a thot^.iand mighty
Vol. I. O "¦ king-

194 ^^^^ ^'^^ contrite Spirits Serm. 6.
" kingdoms, as we call them, is It all but the
" humble footftool of God ? hardly worthy to
" bear his feet? What then am I? an atom
" of an atom- world, -a trifling individual of a
" trifling race. Can I exped he will take any
*' notice of fuch an Infignificant thing as I?
*' The vaft affairs of heaven and earth lie upon
" his hand, and he is employed in the con-
" cerns of the wide univerfe, and can he find
" leifure to concern himfelf with me, and my
" little interefts? Will a king, deliberating
" upon the concerns of nations, intereft him-
" felf in favour of the worm that crawls at his
'* footftool ? If the magnificent temple of Sc-
" lonton was unworthy of the divine inhabitant,
" will he admit me into his prefence, and give
" me audience ? how can 1 exped it ? It feems
" daring and prefumptuous to hope for fuch
•' condefcenfion. And fhall I then defpair of
" the gracious regard of my maker?"
No, defponding creature ! mean and unwor
thy as thou art, hear the voice of divine con
defcenfion, as well as of majefty : " To this
" man will I look, even to him that is poor,
" and of a contrite fpirit, and that trembleth at
" my word." Though God dwelleth not in
temples made with hands, though he pours
contempt upon princes, and fcorns them in all
their haughty glory and affeded majefty, yet
there are perfons whom his gracious eye will
regard. The high aiid lofty One that inhabit-
eth eternity, that dwelleth in the high and lioly
place,

Serm. 6. the Objeds ofdi'-^ine f.ivour. 1 9 5
jdacei he will look down through all the fhin
ing ranks of angels upon  whom ? hot on
the proud, the haughty gnd prefumptuous, but
upon him " that is poor; and of a contrite fpi-
" rit, and trembleth at his word." To this
man will he look from the throne of his ma
jefty, howeyer low, however mean he may be.
This man Is an objed that can, as it were, at
trad: his eyes from all the glories of the hea
venly world fo as to regard a humble felf-abafing
worm. This man can never be loft or over
looked among the multitude of creatures, but
the eyes of ;the Lord will difcover him in the
greateft croud, his eyes will gracioufly- fix upon
this man, this particular man, though there
were but one fuch in the compafs of the crea
tion, or though he were banifhed into the re-
fnoteft corner of the univerfe, like a diamond
in a heap of rubbifh, or at the bottom of the
ocean, Do you hear this, you that are poor and con
trite in fpirit, and that tremble at his word ?
ye that above all others are moft apt to fear
that you fhall be difregarded by him, becaufe
you of all others are moft deeply fenfible how
unworthy you are of his gracious notice ? God,
the great, the glorious, the terrible God, looks
down upon you with eyes of love, and by fo
much the more affedionately by how much thp
lower you are in youf own efteem. Does not
your heart fpring within you at the found ? Are
you not loft in pleafing wonder and gratitude,
O 3 and

196 Poor and contrite Spirits Serm. 6,
and crying out, " Can it be? can It be? is it
" indeed poffible? Is it true?" Yes, you have
his own word for it, and do not think it too
good news to be true, but believe, and rejoice,
and give glory to his name, and fear not what
men or devils can do unto you.
This, my brethren, is a matter of univerfal
concern. It is the intereft of each of us to
know whether We are thus gracioufly regarded
hy that God on whom our very being and all
our happinefs intirely depend. And how fhall
we know this ? In no other way than by dif-
coverlng whether we have the charaders of
that happy man to whom he condefcends to
look. Thefe are not pompous and high cha
raders, they are not formed by earthly riches,
learning, glory, and power, " But to this man
*' will I look, faith the Lord, even to him that
" is poor, and of a contrite fpirit, and that
" trembleth at my word." Let us inquire in
to the import of each ofthe charaders.
I. It is the poor man to whom the majefty
of heaven condefcends to look.
This does not principally refer to thofe that
are poor in this world, for though It be very
common that " the poor of this world are cho-
" fen to be rich in faith, and heirs ofthe king-
•' dom (c)," yet this is not an univerfal rule,
for many, alas ! that are poor in this world are
not rich towards God, nor rich in good works, and
\{c) James ii. 5,

Serm. 6. the OhjeBs of d'lvlne Favour. 197
and therefore fliall famifli through eternity In
remedllefs want and wretchednefs. But the
poor here fignlfies fuch as Christ charac
terizes more fully by the " poor In fpirit (d)'.'
And this charader Implies_the following ingre
dients :
(i.) The poor man to whom Jehovah looks
is deeply fenfible of his own infufficiency, and
that nothing but the enjoyment of God can
make him happy.
The poor man feels that he Is not formed
felf-fufficient, buta dependent upon God. He
is fenfible of the weaknefs and poverty of his
nature, and that he was not endowed with a
fufficient flock of riches in his creation to fup
port him through the endlefs duration for which
he Is formed, or even for a fingle day. The
feeble vine does not more clofely adhere to the
elm than he to his God. He Is not more fen
fible of the infufficiency of his body to fubfift
without air, or the produdions of the earth,
than of that of his foul without his God, and the
enjoyment of his love. In fliort, he Is reduced
into his proper place In the fyftem of the uni
verfe, low and mean in comparifon with fupe
rior beings of the angelic order, and efpecially
in comparifon with the great parent and fup
port of nature. He feels himfelf to be, what
he really is, a poor impotent dependent crea
ture, that can neither live, nor move, nor exift
without God. He Is fenfible that his " fuffi-
O 3 " ciency
Cd) Matt. V. 1.

J 98 Poor and contrite spirits Serm. 6,
" ciency is of God {e), " and that all the fprings
bf his happinefs are in him.
This fenfe of his dependence upon God is
attended with a fenfe of the inability of all
earthly enjoyments to make him happy, and fill
the vaft: capacities of his foul, which were form
ed for the enjoyment of an infinite good. He
has a relifh for the bleflings of this life, but it
is attended with a fenfe of their infufficiency,
and does not exclude a ftronger relifh for the
fuperior pleafures of religion. He is not a pre-
clfe hermit, or a four afcetic on tbe one hand ;
and on the other, he is not " a lover of plea-
" fure more than a lover of God."
If he enjoys no great fhare of the comforts of
this life, he does not labour, nor fo much as
wifh for them as his fupreme happinefs : he is
Well affured they can never anfwer this end in
their greateft affluence. It is for God, it is for
the living God that his ibul moft eagerly thirfts.
In the greateft extremity he is fenfible that the
enjoyment of his love is more neceffary to his
felicity than the pofleflion of earthly bleffings ;
nay, he is fenfible, that if he Is miferable in the
abfence of thefe, the principal caufe is the ab
fence of his God. O ! if he were bleft with
the perfed enjoyment of God, he could fay
with Hahakkuk, " Though the fig-tree fhould
*' not bloflbm, and there ftiould be no fruit in
^' the vine, though the labour of the olive fhould
^^ fail, and the fields yield no meat; though the
" flock
(rt) 2 Cor. iii, ;.

Serm, 6. the Obje&s of divine Favour. 199
" flock fhould be cut off from the fold, and
" there be no herd in the ftall;" though univer
fal famine fliould ftrip me of all my earthly
bleffings, " yet I will rejoice In the Lord," as
my compleat happinefs ; " I will joy in the God
" of my falvation (/)."
If he enjoys an affluence of eartiiiy bleffings,
he ftill retains a fenfe of his need of the enjoy
ment of God. To be difcontent and diflatis-
fied is the common fate of the rich as well as
the poor; they are ftill craving, craving an un
known fomething to compleat their blifs. The
foul, being formed for the fruition of the fu
preme good, fecretly languiflies and pines away
in the niidft of other enjoyments, without
knowing its cure. It is the enjoyment of God
only that can fatisfy its unbounded defires, but,
alas, it has no rehfh for hitn, no thirft after
him ; It is ftill crying, " More, more ofthe de-
" lights ofthe world," like a man in a burning
fever, that calls for cold water, that will but
inflame liis difeafe, and occafion a more paln-
-ful return of thirft. But the poor in, fpirit
know where their cure lies. They do not afk
with uncertainty, " Vv'ho will fliew us any fort
"of good.''" but their petitions centre in this,
as the grand conftltuent of their happinefs,
" Lord, fift thou up the light of thy counte-
" nance upon us;" and this puts more glad
nefs Into thtir hearts " than the abundance of
" corn and wine (£¦)." This was the language
O 4 of
(/) Hab, iii. 17, 18. l:g) Pfalm iv. 6., 7,

2 GO Poor and contrite Spirits Serm. 6.
of the pfalmift, " There is none upon earth
" that I defire befides thee. My flefli and my
" heart faileth; but thou art the ftrength of my
" heart, and my portion for ever (/)." And as
this difpofition extends to all earthly things, fo
i does to all created enjoyments whatfoever,
even to thofe of the heavenly world ; the poor
man is fenfible that he could not be happy even
there without the enjoyment of his God. His
1 mguage is, " whom have I in heaven but
" thee ?" It is " beholding thy face in righte-
*' oufnefs, and awaking in thy llkenefs, that
" alone can fatlsfy me [k),"
(2.) This fpiritual poverty implies deep hu-
niilitv and felf-abafement.
The poor man on vi'hom the God of hea
ven condefcends to look is mean in his own
apprehenfions, he accounts himfelf not a being
of mighty importance. He has no high efteem
of his own good qualities, but is little In his
own eyes. He Is not apt to give himfelf the
preference to others, but is ready to give way
to them as his fuperiors. Pie has a generous
fagacity to behold their good qualities, and a
commendable bhndnefs towards their imperfec
tions, but he is not quick to difcern his own
excellencies, nor fparing to his own frailties.
Inftead of being dazzled with the fplendor
of his own endowments or acquifitlons, he is
apt to overlook them witli a noble negled, and is
(/) Pfalm Ixxiii. 25,26, (k) Pfalm xvii' 15.

Serm. 6 . th ObjeBs of divine Favour, 2 o i
is fenfible of the weaknefs and defeds of his
nature. And as to his gracious qualities they appear
fmall, exceeding fmall to him. When he con
fiders how much they fall fhort of what they
fliould be, they as it were vanifli and flirink
into nothing. Alas ! how cold does his love
appear to him in its greateft fervour! How
feeble his faith in its greateft confidence ! How
fuperficial his repentance in its greateft depth !
How proud his loweft humility ! And as for
the gcod adions he has performed, alas ! how
few, how poorly done, how fliort of his duty do
they appear !. After he has done all, he counts
himfelf an unprofitable fervant. After he has
done all, he is more apt to adopt the language
of the Publican than the Pharifee, " God be
" merciful to me a finner." In his higheft at
tainments he is not apt to admire himfelf; fo
far is he from it that it is much more natural
to him to fall into the oppofite extreme, and to
account himfelf the leaft, yea, lefs than the leaft
of all other faints upon the face of the earth :
and if he contends tor any preference it Is for
the loweft place in the lift of Chriffians. This
difpofition was remarkably exemplified in Saint
Paid, vi'ho probably had made greater advance-
rnents in holinefs than any faint that was ever
received to heaven from this guilty world.
He that is poor in fpirit has alio a humbling^
fenfe of his own finfulnefs. His memory is
quick to recoiled his paft fins, and he is very
fharp^
5

202 Poor and contrite Spirits Serm. 6.
fharp-fighted to difcover the remaining corrup
tions of his heart, and the imperfedions of his
beft duties. He is not ingenious to excufe them,
but views them impartially in all their defor
mity and aggravations. He fincerely doubts
whether there be a faint upon earth fo exceed
ing corrupt; and, though he may be convinced
that the Lord has begun a work of grace in
him, and confequentiy that he is in a better
ftate than fuch as are under the prevailing do
minion of fin, yet he really queftlons whether
there be fuch a depraved creature in the world
as he fees he has been. He is apt to count
himfelf the chief of finners, and more indebted
to free grace than any of the fons of men. He
is intimately acquainted with himfelf, but he
fees only the out- fide of others; and hence he
concludes himfelf fo much worfe than others,
hence he loaths himfelf in his own fight for all
his abcMTiinations (/). Self-abafement is pleafing
to him; his humility is not forced; he does
not' think it a great thing for him to fink thus
low. He plainly fees himfelf to be a mean,
finful, exceeding finful creature, and therefore
is fure that it is no condefcenfion, but the moft
reafonable thing In the world for him to think
meanly of himfelf, and to humble and afeafa
himfelf. It is unnatural for one that efteems
himfelf a being of great importance to ftoop,
but it is eafy, and appears no felf-denial for a
poor
{fj Ezek. xx.xvi. 31.

Serm. 6. the Objeds of divine Favour. 203
poor mean creature to do fo, who looks upon
himfelf and feels himfelf to be fuch.
Finally, the poor man is deeply fenfible of
his own unworthinefs. He fees that in himfelf
he deferves no favour from God for all the
good he has ever done, but that he may after
all juftly rejed: him. He makes no proud
boafts of his good heart, or good life, but falls
in the duft before God, and cafts aU his de
pendance upon his free grace. Which leads
me to obferve,
(3.) That he who Is poor in fpirit is fenfible
of his need of the influences of divine grace to
fandify him, and enrich him with the graces
of the Spirit.
He is fenfible of the want of holinefs ; *this
neceflarily flows from his fenfe of his corrup
tion and the imperfedion of all his graces.
Holinefs is the one thing needful with him,
which he defires and longs for above all others.
And he is deeply fenfible that he cannot work
it In his own heart by his own ftrength. He
feels that without Christ he can do nothing,
and that It Is God who muft work In him both
to will and to do. Hence, like a poor man
that cannot fubfift upon his ftock, he depends
entirely upon the grace of God tb work all his
works In him, and to enable him to work out
his falvation with fear and trembling.
(4.) He is deeply fenfible of the abfolute ne
ceffity of the righ teoufnefs cf Christ for his
juftification.
He

204 Poor and contrite Spirits Serm, 6.
He does not think himfelf rich in good works
to bribe his judge, and procure acquittance, but,
like a poor criminal, that having nothing to
purchale a pardon, nothing to plead in his own
defence, cafts himfelf upon the mercy of the
court, he places his whole dependence upon the
free grace of God through Jesus Christ. He
pleads his righteoufnefs only, and trufts in It a-
lone. The rich fcorn to be obliged, but the
poor, that fannot fubfift of themfelves, will
chearfully receive. So the felf-righteous will
not fubmit to the righteoufnefs of God, but the
poor in fpirit will chearfully receive it.
(5,) And laftly, the man that Is poor in fpi
rit is an imiportunate beggar at the throne of
grace. He lives upon charity ; he lives upon the
bounties of heaven ; and, as thefe are not to be
obtained without begging, he is frequently lift
ing up his cries to the Father of all his mercies
for them. He attends upon the ordinances of
God, as Bartimeus by the way fide, to afk the
charity of paffengers. Prayer is the natural
language of fpiritual poverty, " The poor,
•" faith Solomon, ulcth intreaties (.%) ;" whereas
they that are rich in their own conceit can live
without prayer, or content themfelves with the
carelefs formal performance of it.
This Is the habitual charader of that poor
man to whom the majefty of heaven vouchfafes
the looks of his love. At times indeed he has but
(a) Prov. xviii. 23 .

Serm. 6. the Objeds of divine Favour. 205
but littie fenfe of thefe things, but then he is
uneafy, and he labours to re-obtain it, and
fometimes is adually bleffed with it.
And is there no fuch poor man or woman In
this affembly ? I hope there is. Where are ye
poor creatiires? ftand forth, and receive the
bleffing of your Redeemer, " Bleffed are the pcwr
" in fpirit, &c." He who has his throne in the
height of heaven, and to whom this vaft earth
is but a footftool, looks upon you with eyes of
love. This fpiritual poverty is greater riches
than the treafures of the univerfe. Be not a-
fhamed therefore to own yourfelves poor men,
if fuch you are. May God thus impoverlfh us
all ! may he ftrip us of all our imaginary gran
deur and riches, and reduce us to poor beggars
at his door !
But it is time to confider the other charader
of the happy man upon whom the Lord of hea
ven will gracioufly look; and that is,
II. Contrition of fpirit. " To this man will
" I look, that is of a contrite fpirit."
The word contrite fignlfies one that is beaten
or bruifed with hard blows, or an heavy burden.
And It belongs to the mourning penitent whofe
heart is broken and wounded for fin. Sin is an
intolerable burden that cruflies and brulfes him,
and he feels himfelf pained and fore under it.
His flony heart, which could not be impreffed,
but repelled the blow, is taken away, and now he

2o6 Poi3r and ci^xtrife Spirits Serm. 6 <
he has an heart of flefh, eafily bruifed and wound
ed. His heart Is not always hard and fenfelefs,
light and trifling, but it has tender fenfations;
he is eafily fufceptive of forrow for fin, is hum
bled under a fenfe of his imperfedions, and is
really pained and diftreffed becaufe he can ferve
his God no better, but daily fins againft him.
This charad:er may alfo agree to the poor an
xious foul that is broken with cruel fears of its
ftate. The ftout-hearted can venture their eter
nal all upon uncertainty, . and indulge pleafing
hopes without anxioufly examining their foun
dation, but he that is of a contrite fpirit is ten
derly fenfible of the Importance of the matter,
and cannot be eafy without fome good evidence
of fafety. Such fliocking fuppofitions as thefe
frequently ftartle him, and pierce his very heart,
" What if I .fliould be deceived at laft ? What
" if after all I fhould be baniffied from that
" God in whom lies all my happinefs, &c."
Thefe are fuppofitions full of infupportable ter
ror, when they appear but barely poffible, and
much more when there feems to be reafon for
them. Such an habitual pious jealoufy as this
is a good fymptom, and to your pleafing fur
prize, ye doubtful chriftians, I may tell you
that that majefty, who you are afraid difregards
you, looks down upon you with eyes of pity.
Therefore lift up your eyes to him In wonder
and joyful confidence. You are not fuch neg-
led:ed things as you think. The Majefty of
heaven thinks it not beneath huii to look down
through

Serm. 6. th Objeds of divine Favour. toy
through all the glorious orders of angels, and
through interpofing worlds, down, down even
upon you in the depth of your felf-abhorrence.
Let us.
III. Confider the remaining charader of the
happy man to whom the Lord will look :
" Him that trembleth at my word."
This charader implies a tender fenfe of the
great things ofthe word, and an heart eafily im
preffed with them as the moft important reali
ties. This was remarkably exemplified in ten
der-hearted Jofiah fn). To one that trembles
at the divine word the threatnings of it do not
appear vain terrors, nor great fwelling words
of vanity, but the moft tremendous realities.
Such an one cannot bear up uhder them, but
would tremble, and fall, and die away, if not
relieved by fome happy promife of deliverance.
He that trembles at the word of God is not a
ftupid hearer or reader of It. It reaches and
pierces his heart as a fharp two-edged fword;
it carries power along with it, and he feels that
it is the word of God, and not of man, even
when it is fpoken by feeble mortals. Thus he
not only trembles at the terror, but at the au
thority ofthe word. Which leads me to obferve
farther, that he trembles with filial veneration
of the majefty of God fpeaking in his word.
He confiders It as his voice who fpake all things
into being, and whofe glory is fuch that a deep
folemnity
(n) 2 Chron. xxxiv. 19, 20, 27.

2o8 Poor and contrite Spirits Serm. 6.
folemnity muft feize thofe that are admitted to
hear him fpeak.
Flow oppofite is this to the temper of multi
tudes who regard the word of God no more than
(with horror I exprefs it) the Word of a child or
a fool. They will have their own way, let
him fay what he will. They perfift in fin in
defiance of his threatnings. They fit as care
lefs and ftupid under his word, as though it
were fome old, dull, trifling ftory. It feldom
makes any impreffions upon their ftony hearts.
Thefe are the brave, undaunted men of the
world, who harden themfelves againft the fear
of futurity. But, unhappy creatures! the God
of heaven difdalns to give them a gracious look,
while he fixes his eyes upon the man that " is
"-contrite, and that trembles at his word."
And where is that happy man? where in this
affembly, where is the contrite fpirit? where
the man that trembleth at the word? you are
all ready to catch at the charader, but be not
prefumptuous on the one hand, nor exceffively
timorous on the other. Inquire whether this
be your prevailing charader. If fo, then claim
it, and rejoice in it, though you have it not
in perfedion. But if you have It not prevail
ingly do not feize It as your own. Though
you have been at times diftreffed with a fenfe
of fin and danger, and the word ftrikes a ter
ror to your hearts, yet, unlefs you are habitu
ally of a tender and contrite fpirit, you are not
to claim th'e charader. But

Serm- 6. the ObjeBs of divine Favdur. ^oo
Butletfueh of you as are poor and contrito
in fpirit, and that tremble at the word of the
Lord, enter deeply into the meaning of this ex
preffion, that the Lord looks to you. He does
not look on you as a carelefs fpedator, not con
cerning himfelf with you, or caring what will
become of you, but he looks upon you as a fa
ther, a friend, a benefador: his looks are effi
cacious for your good. ^
He looks upon you with acceptance. He is
pleafed with thg fight.- He loves to fee you
labouring towards him. He looks upon you
as the objeds of his everlafting love, and pur-
ehafed.by .the blood of his Son, and he is well-
. pleafed with you for his righteoufnefs fake.
Hence his looking upon him that is poof, &c.
is oppofed to his hating the wicked, and their
facrifices, wr. 3. And is he whom yOu have
fo grievoufly offended, he whofe wrath you
fear above all other things, is he Indeed recon
ciled to you, and does he delight in you ? v^^hat
caufe of joy, and praife, and wonder is here ?
Again, he looks to you fo as to take particular
notice of you. He fees all the workings of your
hearts towards him. He fees and 'pities you in
your honeft, though feeble conflids with in-
dvi^elling fin. He obferves all your faithful
though weak endeavours , to ferve him. His
eyes pierce your very hearts, and the leaft mo
tion there cannot efcape his notice. This in
deed might make you tremble, if he looked'up-
on you with the eyes of a judge, for O how
Vol. I. P. many

±16 Poor and contrite Spirits Sferm^di
many abominations muft he fee in you- i But
be of good chear, he lodes upon you with the
eyes of a friend, and with that love which co
vers a multitude of fins. He lodks upon you
with the eyes of compaffion in all your calami
ties. He looks on ydu to fee tfiat you be not
overborne and crufhed. David, who paffed
through as many har^fhips and affiidions as
any of you, could fay from happy experience>
" the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
" and his ears are open unto their cry (o)."
Finally, he looks to you fo as to look after
you, as we do after the fick and weak. He
iooks to you fo as to provide for you. And he
will give you grace and glory, and " no good
" thing will he withhold from you (p)."
And are you not fafe and happy under the
infpedion of a father and a friend ? Let a little
humble courage then animate you amid your
many dgedions, and confide in that care of
which you feel yourfelf to be fo unworthy.
Here it may be not amifs to obferve, what
muft give you no fmall pleafure, that thofe
very perfons who according to the eftimate of
men are the moft likely to be overlooked, are
thofe whom God gracioufly regards. The per
fons themfelves are apt to cry, " Happy I, could
" i believe that the God of heaven thus graci-
" Oufly regards me, but, alas ! I feel myfelf a
*' poor unworthy creature; I am a trembling
" broken-hearted thing, beneath the notice of
" fo
(c) Pfal. xxxiv. ij. (/) Pfal. Ixxxiv. ji.

Serni. 6. th ObjeSls of divine Favmr. i i i
" fo great a m^efty.'- And art thou fo in-^
deed? then I may convert thy objedion into an
encouragement. Thou art the very perfon up
on whom God looks. His eyes are running to
and fro through the earth in queft of fuch as
thou art, and he will find thee out among the
innumerable multitudes of mankind. Wert
thou furrounded with Crouds of kings and nobles-,
his eyes would pafs by them all to fix upon
thee. What a glorious artifice, if I may fo
fpeak, is this to catch at and convert the per-
fon's dlfcouragement as a ground of courage !
to make that the charader of the favourites of
heaven, which they themfelves look upon as
marks of his negled of them ? " Alas ! fays the
^' poor man, if I was the objed of divine no-
" tice, he would not fuffer me to continue thus
" poor and broken-hearted." But you may
reafon diredly the reverfe^ he makes you thus
poor in fpirit, fenfible of your finfi>lnefs and
impetfedions, becaufe he gracioufly regards
you. Pie will not fuffer you to be puffed up
with your imaginary goodnefs, like the reft or
the World, becaufe he loves you more than he
loves them.
However unaccountable this procedure feem
fhere is very good reafon for it. The poor are
the only perfons that would relifli: the enjoy
ment of God, and prize his love i they alone
are capable of the happinefs of heaven, which
confifts in the perfedion of holinefs.
P 2 To

4 1 2 Poor and contrite Spirits Serm. 6.
To conclude. Let us view the perfedion and
condefcenfion of God as illuftrated by this fub
jed. Confider, ye poor in fpirit, who He Is
that ftoops to look upon fuch littie things as
you. It is He whofe throne is in the higheft
heaven, furrounded with myriads of angels and
archangels, it is He whofe footftool is the earth,
who fupports every creature upon it, it is He
who is exalted above the blefling and praife of
all the celeftial armies, and who cannot with
out condefcenfion behold the things that are
done in heaven, it Is He that looks down upon
fuch worms as you. And what a ftoop is this ?
It is He that looks upon you in particular,
who looks after all the worlds he has made.
He manages all the affairs of the univerfe. He
takes care of every individual in his vaft family.
He provides for all his creatures, and yet He is
at leifure to regard you. He takes as particu
lar notice of you as if you were his only crea-
tureSk What perfedion is this! what an infinite
gr-afp of thought! what unbounded power!
and what condefcenfion too ? Do but confider
what a fmall figure you make in the univerfe
of beings. You are not fo much in compari
fon with the infinite multitude of creatures in
the compafs of nature as a grain of fand to all
the fands upon the fea-ffiore, or as a mote to
this vaft globe of earth, and yet He, that has
the care of the whole univerfe, takes particular
notice of you, you who are but trifles, compar
ed with your fellow-creatures ; and who, if
you

Serm. 6. the ObjeSls of divine Favour, 2 \ 3
you were annihilated, would hardly leave a
blank in the creation. Confider this, and won
der at the condefcenfion of God ; confider this,
and acknowledge your own meannefs ; you are
but nothing not only compared with God, but
you are as nothing in the fyftem of creation.
I fhall add but this one natural refled;Ion, If
it be fo great a happinefs to have the great God
for our patron, then what is it to be out of his
favour ? to be difregarded by him ? methinks
an univerfal tremor may feize this affembly at
the very fuppofition. And is there a creature
in the univerfe in this wretched condition ? me
thinks all the creation befides muft pity him.
Where is the wretched beincj to be found ? muft
we defcend to hell to find him ? no, alas ! there
are many fuch on this earth ; nay, I muft come
nearer you ftlU, there are many fuch probably
in this affembly : all among you are fuch who
are not poor and contrite in fpirit, and do not
tremble at the word of the Lord. And art not
thou one of the miferable number, O man ?
What ! difregarded by the God that made
thee ! not favoured with one look of love by
the author, of all happinefs! Pie looks upon
thee indeed, but it is with eyes of indignation,
marking thee out for vengeance, and canft thou
be eafy in fuch a cafe ? wilt thou not labour tq
impoverlfh thyfelf, and have thy heart broken,
that thou may eft become the obje-d of his gra-
ciops regards ?
P 7 SERMON

SERMON VII.
The Nature and Danger of making
light of Christ and Salvation.
MATT. XXIL 5.
jBut they made light of it.
?«1F^^3P*IHERE is not one of us in this
K ^ affembly that has heard any thing
^ ^ but what has heard of Christ
MS ^ and falvation : there Is not one of
lK.^:S^^jti^ us but has had the rich bleffings
of the gofpel freely and repeatedly offered to
us : there is not one of us but ftands in the
moft abfolute need of thefe bleffings, and muft
perifli for ever without them : I wifh I could
add, there is not one of us but has chearfully
accepted them according to the offer of the
gofpel. But, alas ! fuch an affembly is not to
be expeded on earth ! Multitudes will ftill
make light of Christ and the invitations of the
gofpel, as the Jews did. F .1 This

2 1 6 The Nature and Danger of Serm. y.
This parable reprefents the' great God under'
the majeftic idea of a king.
He is reprefented as nraking a marriage feaft
for his Son; that is, God in the gofpel offers
his Son Jesus Christ as a Saviour to the guilty
fans of men, and, upon their acceptance of
him, the moft intimate, indearing union, and
the tendereft mutual affedion take place be
tween Christ and them, which may very pro
perly be reprefented by the marriage-relation,
And God has provided for them a rich variety
of bleffings, pardon, holinefs, and everlafting
felicity, which may be fignified by a royal nup
tial feafl-, verfe 2.
Thefe bleffings were firft offered to the Jews,
who were bidden to the wedding by Mofes and
the prophets, whofe great bufinefs it was to
prepare them to receive the Meffiah, verfe 3,
The fervants that were fent to call them after
they were thus bidden, were the apoftles, and
feventy difciples, whom Christ fent out to
preach that the gofpel-kingdom was juft at
hand, verfe 3.
When the Jews rejeded this call, he fent
forth other fervants, namely, the apoftles aftef
bis afcenfion, who were to be more-urgent in
their invitations, and to tell them that, in con
fequence of Christ's death, all things were now
ready, verfe 4.
It is" feldom that invitations to a royal feaft
are rejeded ; but, alas ! the Jews rejed;ed th^
Jnvitati9n of t\\e gofpe], and would not accept

Serm. 7. making, light, of Christ. 217
of its imj)ortant Ueffings. They made light of
Christ and his bleffings ; they were carelefs
about them, and turned their attention to other
things. Thefe things were not peculiar to the Jews,
but belong to us finners ofthe Gentiles in thefe
ends ofthe earth. Christ is ftill propofed to
us, to the fame bleffings we are invited, and I
have the honour, my dear brethren, of appear
ing among you as a fervant of the heavenly
king, fent out to urge you to embrace the offer.
I doubt not but fundry of you have com
plied, and you are enriched and made for
ever. But, alas! muft I not entertain a godly
jealoufy over fome of you ? have you not made
light of Christ and falvation, to which you
have been Invited' for fo many years fucceffively ?
Ypur cafe is really lamentable, as L hope you
will fee before I have done, and I moft fincerely
compaffionate you from my heart. I rife up
in this folemn place with a defign to addrefs
yoii with the moft awful ferioufnefs, and the
moft compaffionate concern; and did you know
how much your happinefs may depend, upon it,
(0nd how anxious I am left I fliould fail in the
attempt, I atn fure you could not but pray for
me, and pity me. If ever you regarded a man
jn the moft ferious temper and addrefs I beg
you would now regard what I am. going to fay
to you, . You

21 8 Th Nature and Danger of Serm. 7.'
You cannot receive any benefit from this, op
indeed any other fuhged, till you apply it to
yourfelves. And therefore in order to reform
yoa of the fin of making light of Christ and
the gofpel, I muft firft inquire who are guilty
of it. For this purpofe let us confider.
What it is to make light of Christ and the
invitations of the gofpel, ;
I can think of no plainer way to difcover
this, than to inquire how we treat thofe things
that we highly efteem ; and alfo, by way of
contraft, how we treat thofe things which we
make light of; and hence we may difcover whe
ther Christ and the gofpel may be ranked
among the things we efteem, or thofe we dif
regard. I. Men are apt to remember and affedio
nately think of the things that they highly e-
fteem ; but as for thofe which they difregard,
they can eafily forget them, and live from day
to day without a fingle thought about them.
Now do you often affedionately remember
the Lord Jesus, and do your thoughts often go
after him ? do they pay him early vifits in the
morning ? do they make frequent excurfions t»
him through the day ? and do you lie down
with him in your hearts at night ? Is not the
contrary evident as to many of you ? Can you
not live from day to day thoughtlefs of Jesus,
and your everlafting falvation ? Recoiled now,
how many affedionate thoughts have you had of

Seros. 7. making light of Christ. . 219
of thefe things through the, week paft, or in
this facred •morning. And can you indeed
highly efteem thofe things which you hardly
ever think of? Follow your own hearts. Sirs,
obferve which way they moft naturally and
freely run, and then judge whether you make
light of, the gofpel or not. Alas! we cannot
perfuade men to one hour's ferious confidera
tion what they fhould do for an intereft in
Christ ; we cannot perfuade them fo much as
to afford him their thoughts, v/hich are fuch
cheap things, and yet they will not be convinced
that they make light of Christ. And here
lies the infatuation of fin ; it blinds and befools
men, fo that they do not know what they think
of, what they love, or what they intend, much
lefs do they know the habitual bent of their
fouls. They often imagine themfelves free from
thofe fins to which they are moft enflaved, and
particularly they think themfelves innocent of
the crime of making light of the gofpel, when
this is the very crime that is likely to deftroy
them for ever.
II. The things that men value, if of fuch a
nature as to admit of publication, will be the
frequent fubjeds of their difcourfe: the thoughts
will command the tongue, and furnifh materials
for converfation. But thofe things that they.
forget and difregard they will not talk of.
Do not they therefore make light of Christ
and falvation, who have no delight in converf-
ing ^bout tliem, and hardly ever mention the
name

220 The Nature and Danger of Sermi 7,
name of Christ, but in a trifling or profane
manner ? they do not like the company where
divine things are difcourfed of, but think it pre-
cife and troublefome. They had much rather
be entertained with humorous tales and idle
ftories, or talk about the affairs of the world.
" They are of the world, fays St John, there-
" fore fpeak they of the world, and the world
*' heareth them [a)." They are in their ele
ment in fuch convqrfation. Or others may
talk about religion, but it is only about the
circumftances of it, as " How fuch a man
*' preached ; it was a very good, or a bad fer-
" mon, ^c." but they care not to enter into
the fpirit and fubftance of divine things ; and
if they fpeak of Christ and experimental reli
gion, it is in an heartiefs, infipid manner. And
do not fuch make light ofthe gofpel? and is not
this the charader of many of you ?
III. Men make light of thofe things, if they
are of a pradical nature, which they only talk
about, but do not reduce into pradice.
Chriftianity was Intended not to furnifh
matter for empty talkers, but to govern' the
heart and pradice. But are there not , fome
that only employ their tongues about it, efpe
cially when their fpirits are raifed with liquor,
and then a torrent of noily religion breaks from
them. Watch their lives, and you will fee lit
tle appearance of Chriftianity there. And do
not thefe evidently make light of Christ, who
make
(fl) I John iv, 5.

Serm. 7. making light of Christ. 22 1
make him the theme of their drunken conver
fation, or who feem to tiilnk that God fent
his Son from heaven juft to fet the world a
talking about him ? There is nothing in na
ture that feems to me more abominable than
this. IV. We take the utmoft pains and labour to
fecure the things we value, and cannot be eafy
while our property in them is uncertain, but
thofe things that we think lightly of we care
but little whether they be ours or not.
Therefore have not fuch of you made light
of Christ and falvation, who have lived twen-*
ty or thirty years uncertain whether you have
any intereft in them, and yet have been eafy
and contented, and take no method to b^ re
folved ? Are all that hear me this day deter
mined In this Important queftion, " What ffiall
*' become of me when I die ?" Are you all
certain upon good grounds, and after a tho
rough trial, that you fhall be faved ? O that
you were! but, alas ! you know you are not.
And do you think you would bear this uncer
tainty about it, if you did not make light of
falvation ? No ; you would carefully examine
yourfelves, you would diligently perufe the
fcriptures to find out the marks of thofe that
.fhair.be faved; you would anxioufly confult
thofe that could dired you, and particularly
pious minifters, who would think it the great
eft favour yoii could do them to devolve fuch
tin office upon them. But now minifters may
5 ¦ ^'t

222 , Tbe Naturi and Danger tf Serm. 7,
fit in their ftudies for a whole year, and not
ten perfons perhaps in five hundred agreeabfy
intrude upon them on this moft important bu
finefs.
, O, Sirs, if the gofpel ffiould pierce your hearts
indeed, you could not but cry out with the con
vided Jews, " Men and brethren, what fhall we
" do to be faved {b) ?" Paul, when awakened,
cries out in a trembling confternation, " Lord !
" what wilt thou have me to do ?" But when
fhall we hear fuch queftlons now a-days ?
V. The things that men highly efteem deeply
'and tenderly affed them, and excite fome mo
tions in their hearts ; but what they make light
of makes no impreflion upon them.
And if you did not make light of the go^el,
what workings would there be in your hearts
about it? what folemn, tender, and vigorous
paffions would it raife in you to hear fuch
things about the world to come 1 what forrows
would burft from your hearts at the difcovery
of your fins ! what fear and aftonlfhment would
feize you at the confideration of your mifery!-
what tranfports of joy and gratitude would yOti
feel at the glad tidings of falvation by the blood
of Christ! what ftrong efficacious purpofes
would be raifed in you at the difcdVery of your
duty ! O what hearers flipuld We have, were
it not for this one fin, the making light of the
gofpel ! whereas now we are in danger of weary
ing them, or preaching them afleep with our
moft-
(h) Aasii. 37,

Serm. 7. M^^i^ngJigh of Christ. 223
moft folemn -difcourfes about this momentoufi
affair. We talk to them of Christ and falva
tion till they gmw quite tired of this diijU old
tale, and this fooliflinefs of preaching. Alas !
littie would one #i4nk, from the air of careleff-
nefsi, levity,, and inattention that appears among
them, that they were hearing fuch w-elgfety
truthsi or have any concern in them.
VL Our'cftimate of things may be dlfopvered
by the -diligefocse and earneftrjefs of our , endea
vours about tibetin. Thofe things which w^
highly value, We think no pains too great lo
obtain; but what we think lightiy of we ufe
ho oMeavours about, or we ufe ttem in a lanr
guid carelefs' manner.
And do not they make fight of Christ and
falvation, vvhe do not exert themfelves in eai'-
neft to obtain them, and think a great deal of
every little thing they do In rehgion ?. they are
ftill, ready to cry out, "What need of fo much
" pains ? we hope to be faved.witbout fo much
" trouble." And-, though thefe may not be fo
honeft as to fpeak it out, It is plain from their
temper and pradice they grudge all the fervice
they do for Christ, as done to a mafter they
do not love. Tfiey love and -efteem the v;orld,
and therefore for the world they vnW labour
and toil all day, and feem never to think they
can do too much : but for the God that made
them, for the Lord that bought them, and
for their everlafiing falvation, they feem afraid
ef taking too 'much pains. Let us preach to
th;m
5

2.24- Tbe Nature and Danger ef Serm, 7,;
them as long as we will, we cannot bring them
in earneft to defire and purfue after holinefs.
Follow them to their houfes, and you will hard
ly ever find them reading a chapter in theif
Bibles, or calling upon God with their families,
fo much as once a day. Follow them into
their retirements, and you will hear no peni
tent confeffions of fin, no earneft cries for mer^
cy. They will not allow to God that one day
in feven whicb he has appropriated to his own
immediate fervice, but they will fteal and pro-
ftitute fome even of thofe facred hours for idle-
nefs, or worldly converfation or bufinefs. And
many of them are fo malignant in wickednefSj
that they will reproach and ridicule others that
are not fo mad as themfelves in thefe refpeds.
And is not Christ worth feeking ? is not eter
nal falvation worth fo much trouble ? does not
that man make light of thefe things that thinks
his eafe or carnal pleafure of greater importance ?
Let common fenfe judge.
VII. That which we highly value we think
we cannot buy too dear, and we are ready to
part with every thing that comes in competitiofi
with it. The merchant that found one pearl
of great price fold all that he had to pu'rchafe
it (c), but thofe things that we make light of
we will not part with things of value for thern.
Now when Christ and the bleffings of the
gofpel come in competition with the world and
finful pleafures, you may know which you
mo'ft-
(/) Mat., xiii. 46.

Serm. 7. making light ^Christ. 225
moft highly efteem by confidering which you
are moft ready to part with. You are called
to part with every thing that is Inconfiftent with
an intereft in Christ, and yet many of you
will not do it. You are called but to give God
his own, to refign all to his will, to let go all
thofe profits and pleafure? which you muft ei
ther part with, or part with Christ, and yet
your hearts cfing to thefe things, you grafp
them eagerly, and nothing can tear them from
you. You muft have your pleafures, you muft
keep your credit in the world, you muft look
to. your eftates, whatever becomes of Christ
and falvation ; as if you could live and die bet
ter without Christ than without thefe things ;
or as if Christ could not make you happy
without them. And does not this bring the
matter to an iffue, and plainly fhew that you
make light of Christ in comparifon of thefe
things ? Christ himfelf has affured you over
and over, that unlefs you are willing to part
with all for his fake, you cannot be his difci
ples ; and yet, while you have the quite con
trary difpofition, you will pretend to be his dif
ciples ; as if you knew better what it is that
conftituted his difciples than he.
VIII. Thofe things which we highly value
we fhall be for helping our friends to obtain.
Do not thofe thenmake light ofCnRisT who
do not take half fo muth pains to help their
children to an intereft in him, as to fet them
up in credit in the world, and leave them large
Vol. I. Q^ fortunes ?

2 26 ,Tbe Nature and Danger of Serm. 7,
fortunes ? They fiipply the outward wants of
their families, but they take littie or no care a-
bout their everlafting falvation. Alas! Sirs, the
negleded, ignorant, and vicious children and
fervants of fuch of you can witnefs againft you
that you make very light of Christ and falva
tion, and their immortal fouls,
IX, That which men highly efteem they
will fo diligently purfue that you may fee their
regard for it in their endeavours after it, if it
be a matter within their reach.
You may therefore fee that many make light
of the gofpel by the littie knowledge they have
of it, after all the means of inftrudion with
which they have been favoured. Alas ! where
is their improvement in holinefs! how little do
they know of their own hearts, of God and
Christ, and the world to come, and what they
muft do to be faved ! Aflc them about thefe
things, and you will find them ftupidly igno
rant; and yet they have fo much conceited
knowledge that they will not acknowledge it,
or if they do, they have no better excufe than
to fay they are no fcholars, or they have a poor
memory ; as if it required extenfive learning, or
a great genius to know the things that are ne
ceffary to falvation. O ! if they had not made
light of thefe things, if they had beftowed but
half the pains upon them which they have taken
to underftand matters of trade and worldly bu
finefs, they would not be fo groffly ignorant as
they are. When men that can learn the hard- eft

Serm. 7- making iight of Chr jst. 227
eft trade in a few years, when men of bright
parts, and perhaps confiderable learning, after
living fo many years, are ,ftiU mere novices In
matters of religion, and do not fo much as
know the terms of life according to the gofpel,
is It not plain that they care but little about
thefe things, and that they make light of the
Son of God, and all his ineftimable immortal
bleffings ?
Thus I have offered you fufficient matter of
convidion in this affair. And what is the re
fult? does not confcience fmite fome of you by
this time, and fay, " I am the man that have
" made light of Christ and his gofpel?"- If
not, upon what evidence are you acquitted ?
Some of you, I doubt not, can fay, in the inte
grity of your hearts, " Alas ! I am too carelefs
" about this important affair, but God knows
" I am often deeply concerned about it : God
" knows that if ever I was In earneft about any
" thing in all my life, it has been about my
" everlafting ftate; and there is nothlng'in all
" the world that habitually lies fo near, my
•' heart." But are there not fome of you whom
confcience does not accufe of this crime of too
great careleffnefs about the gofpel, not becaufe
you are innocent, but becaufe you make fo very
light of it, that you will make no thorough
fearch into it ? and does not this alone prove
you guilty ? I befeech fuch to confider the folly
of your condud: ? do you think to excufe yq^ur
crime, by being carelefs whether you are guilty
CL2 of

228 Th Nature and' Danger of Serm. 7.
of it or not ? Can you avoid the precipice by
fhutting your eyes ? If you difcover your fin
now it may be of unfpeakable fervice, but if
you now fliut your eyes you muft fee it here
after, when it will be too late, when your con
vidion will be your punifhment, I befeech
you alfo to confider the dreadful evil of your
condud: in making light of a Saviour. And
here I fhall offer fuch arguments to expofe its
aggravations, as I am fure cannot fail to con
vince and aftonifh you, if you ad like men of
reafon and underftanding.
I. Confider you make light of him who did
not make light of you, when you deferved his
final negled of you. You were worthy of no
thing but contempt and abhorrence, from him.
As a man you are but a worm to God, and as
a finner you were viler than a toad or a ferpent.
Yet Christ was fo far from making light of
you that he left his native heaven, became a
man of forrows, and died in the moft exqulfite
agonies, that a way might be opened for the
falvation of your miferable foul : and can you
make light of him after all his regard to you?
What miracles of love and mercy has he fhewn
towards you, and can you negled him after all ?
Angels, who are lefs concerned in thefe things
than we, cannot but pry into them with de
lightful wonder (d), and fhall finners, who have
the moft intimate perfonal concern in them, make
{d) I Peter i. 12.

Serm. 7" making light of Curist. 229
make light of them ? This is a crime more
than devilifli, for the devils never had a Savi
our offered to them, and confequently never
could defpife him. And can you live in a care
leffnefs of Christ all your days, and yet feel
no remorfe ?
. II. Confider you make light of matters of
the greateft excellency and importance In aU the
world. O Sirs, you know not what it Is that
you flight ; had you known thefe things you
would not have ventured to make light of them
for ten thoufand worlds. As Christ faid to
the woman of Samaria, *' If thou hadft known
" the gift of God, and who it is that fpeaketh
" to thee, thou wouldeft have afked of him
" living water {e)." " Had the Jews known,
" they would not have crucified the Lord of
" glory (f)." So had you known what Jesus
is, you would not have made light of him; he
would have been to you the moft important
being in the univerfe. O had you been but
one day in heaven, and feen and felt the hap
pinefs there ! or had you been one hour under
the agonies of hell, you could never more have
trifled with falvation.
Here I find my thoughts run fo naturally
into the fame channel with thofe of the excel
lent Mr Baxter about a hundred years ago, that
you will allow me to give you a long quotation
from him that you may fee in what light this
great and good man viewed the negleded things
0^3 which
(«) John iv; 10. (f) 1 Cor. ii. 8.

230 The Nature and Danger of Serm. 7.
which the gofpel brings to your ears. His
words are thefe, and I am fure to me they have
been very weighty. " O Sirs, they are no trifles
" or jefting matters that the gofpel fpeaks of. I
" muft needs profefs to you that when I have
" the mofl: ferious thoughts of thefe things, I
" am ready to wonder that fuch amazing mat-
" ters do not overwhelm the fouls of men : that
" the greatnefs of the fubjed doth not fo over-
*' match our underftandlngs and affed:ion's, as
*' even to drive men befide themfelves, but that
" God hath always fomewhat allayed it by
" diftance ; much more do I wonder that men
" fliould be fo blocklfh as to make light of fuch
" things. O Lord, that men did but know
" what everlafting glory and everlafting tor-
" ments are ! would they then hear us as they
"do? would they read and think of thefe
" things as they do ? I profefs I have been
" ready to wonder when I have heard fuch
" weighty things delivered, how people can
" forbear crying out in the congregation, and
" much more do I wonder how they can refl,
" till they have gone to their minifters and
" learned what they fhall do to be faved, that
" this great bufinefs ffiould be put out of doubt.
" O that heaven and hell fliould work no more
" updn men! O that eternity ffiould work
" no more ! O how can you forbear when
*' you are alone to think with yourfelves what
" it is to be everlaftingly In joy or to.rment ! I
'•¦ wonder that fuch thoughts do not break your
" fleep,

Serm. 7. making light of Christ. 23 1
fleep, and that they do not croud into your
minds when you are about your labour ! I
vyonder how, you can almoft do any thing
elfe! How can you have any quietnefs in
jour minds ? how can you eat or drink, or
reft, till you have got fome ground of ever
lafting confolatlons ? Is that a man or a
corps that Is not affeded with matters of this
moment? that can be readier to fleep than
to tremble, when he hears how he muft ftand
at the bar of God ? Is that a man or a clod
of clay that can rife up and lie down with
out being deeply affeded with his everlafting
ftate ? that can follow his worldly bufinefs,
and make nothing of the great bufinefs of
falvation or damnation, and that when he
knows it is hard at hand ? Truly, Sirs,
when I think of the weight of the matter, I
wonder at the beft faints upon earth, that
they are no better, and do no more in fo
weighty a cafe. I wonder at thofe whom
the world accounts more holy than needs,
and fcorns for making too much ado, that
they can put off Christ and their fouls with
fo little ; that they do not pour out their
fouls in every prayer; that they are not more
taken up with God ; that their thoughts are
.not more ferious in preparation for their laft
account. I wonder that they are not a thou
fand times more ftrid in their lives, and more
laborious and unwearied for the crown than
they are. And for myfelf (fays that zealous,
0^4 " fla.ming,

232 The Nature and Danger of Serm. 7.
' flaming, indefatigable preacher) as I arn a-
* ffiamed of my dull and carelefs heart, and of
'-my flow and unprofitable courfe of life, fo
* the Lord knows I am affiamed of every fer-
* mon that I preach: when I think what I
' am, and who fent me, and how much the
' falvation and damnation of men is concerned
' in it, I am ready to tremble, left God ffiould
' judge me as a flighter of his truth and the
' fouls of men, and left in my beft fermon I
' ffiould be guilty of their blood. Methinks
' we ffiould not fpeak a word to men in mat-
' ters of fuch confequence without tears, or the
' greateft earneftnefs that poffibly we can.
' Were we not too much guilty of the fin
' which we reprove, it would be fo. Whether
' we are alone or in company, methinks our
' end, and fuch an end, fhould ftill be in our
' mind, and as before our eyes; and we ffiould
' fooner forget any thing, or fet light by any
' thing, or by all things, than by this."
And now, my brethren. If fuch a man as this
viewed thefe things in this light, O what ffiall
we, we langulffiing carelefs creatures, what ffiall
we think of ourfelves ? Info what a dead fleep
^re we fallen ! O let the moft adive and zeal'
ous among us awake, and be a thoufand times
more in earneft : and ye frozen-hearted, care
lefs finners, for God's fake awake, and exert
yoiirfelves to good purpofe in the purfuit of fal
vation, or you are loft to all eternity. III. Confider

Serm. 7- making light of Q-rrist . 233
III. Confider whofe falvation it is you make
light of. It is your own. And do you not
care what becomes of your own felves ? Is it
nothing to you whether you be faved or damned
for ever ? Is the natural principle of felf-love
extind: In you ? Have yoti no concern for
your own prefervation ? Are you commenced
your own enemies ? If you flight Christ and
love fin, you virtually love death [g). You may
as well fay, "I yvill live, and yet neither eat
*' nor drink," as fay, " I will go to heaven,
" and yet make light of Christ." And you
may as well fay this in words as by your prac
tice. IV, Confider your fin is aggravated by pro
feffing to believe that gofpel which you make
light of. For a profeffed infidel, that does
not believe the fcripture revelation concerning
Christ, and a future ftate of rewards and pu-
niffiments, for fuch a one to be carelefs about
thefe things, v/ould not be fo ftrange : but for
you that make thefe things your creed, and a
part of your religion, for you that call your
felves Chriftians, and have been baptized into
this faith, for you, I fay, to make light of them,
how aftoniffiing ! how utterly inexcufable !
What ! believe that you fhall live for ever in
the moft perfed happinefs or exqulfite mifery,
and yet take no more pains to obtain the one,
and efcape the other ? What ! believe that the
great and dreadful God will ffiortiy be your
judge,
(g) Prov. viii. 36.

234 The Nature and Danger of Serm. 7.-
judge, and yet make no more preparation for
it ? Either fay plainly, "I am no Chriftian, I
" do not believe thefe things ;" or elfe let your
hearts be affeded with your belief, and let it
influence and govern your lives. '
V, Confider what thofe things are which en
grofs your affedions, and which tempt you to
negled Christ and your falvation. Have you
found out a better friend, or a more fubftantial
and lafting happinefs than his falvation? O!
what trifles and vanities, what dreams and
ffiadows are men purfuing, while they negled
tbe important realities ofthe eternal world ! If
crowns and kingdoms, If all the riches, glories,
and pleafures of the world were infured to you
as a reivard for making light of Christ, you
would even then make the moft fooliffi bargain
poffible, for what are thefe in the fcale to eter
nal joy or eternal torment ? and " what ffiall it
" profit a man if he gain even the whole world,
" and lofe his own foul {h) ?" But you cannot
hope for the ten thoufandth part, and will you
caft away your fouls for this ? You that think
it fuch a great thing to live in riches, pleafures,
and honours, confider is It fuch a mighty hap
pinefs to die rich ? to die after a life of pleafure
and honour ? Will it be fuch a great happinefs
to'give an account for the life of a rich fenfoa-
lift, rather than of a poor mortified creature ?
Will Dives then be fo much happier than La
zarus? Alas! what does the richeft, the high- eft,
'/') MatJ. xvi. 26.

Serm. 7- making light of Christ, 23 c
eft, the moft voluptuous finner, what does he
do, but lay up treafures of wrath againft the
day of wrath? O how will the unhappy crea
tures torture themfelves for ever with the moft
cutting refledions for felling their Saviour and
their fouls for fuch trifles ! Let your fins and
earthly enjoyments fave you then, if they can;
let them then do that for you which Christ
would have done for you if you had chofen
him. Then go and cry to the gods you have
chofen : let them deliver you in the day of your
tribulation. VI. Your making light of Christ and fal
vation Is a certain evidence that you have no
intereft in them. Christ will not throw him
felf and his bleffings away upon thofe that do
not value them. " Thofe that honour him he
" will honour, but they that defpife him fliall
" be lightly efteemed (/)." There is a day
coming, when you will feel you cannot do
without him ; when you will feel yourfelves pe-
riffiing for want of a Saviour ; and then you
may go and look .for a Saviour where you will;
then you may ihift for yourfelves as you can 5
he will have nothing to do with you : the Sa
viour of finners will caft you off for ever. I
tell you. Sirs, whatever eftimate you form of
thefe tilings, God thinks very highly of the
blood of his Son, and the bleffings of his pur-
chafe; and if ever you obtain them, he will
have you think highly of them too. If you
continue
(?) I Sam. ii. 30.

236 The Nature and Danger of Serm. 7.
continue to make light of them all the world
cannot fave you. And can you find fault with
God for denying you that which was fo little
in your account ?
VII. And laftly, the time is haftening when
you will not think fo ftightly of Christ and
falvation. O, Sirs, when God ffiall commiffion
death to tear your guilty fouls out of your bo
dies, when devils ffiall drag you away to the
place of torment, when you find yourfelves
condemned to everlafting fire by that Saviour
Whom you now negled, what would you then
give for a Saviour? When divine juftice brings
in its heavy charges againft you, and you have
nothing to anfwer, how will you then cry, " O
" if I had chofen Jesus for my Saviour, he
" would have anfwered all." When you fee
that the world has deferted you, that your com
panions in fin have deceived themfelves and
you, and all your merry days are over for ever,
would you not then give ten thoufand worlds
for Christ ? And will you not now think
him worthy of your efteem and earneft purfuit?
Why will you judge of things now quite the
reverfe of what you wlfl do then, when you
will be more capable of judging rightly ?
And now, dear immortal fouls ! I have dif
covered the nature and danger of this common
but unfufpeded and unlamented fin, making
light of Christ. I have delivered my meffage,
and now I muft leave it with you, imploring
4 the

Serm. 7. making light of Christ. 237
the bleffing of God upon it. I cannot follow
you home to your houfes to fee what effed: if
has upon you, or to make application of it to
each of you in particular, but O may your
confciences undertake this office ! Whenever
you fpend another prayerlefs thoughtlefs day,
whenever you give yourfelves up to finful plea
fures, or an over-eager purfuit of the world,
may your confcience become your preacher,
and fting you with this expoftulation, " Alas !
" is this the effeft of all I have heard ? Do
" I ftill make light of Christ and the con-
*' cerns of religion ? O what will be the end
" of fuch a condud: ?"
I cannot but fear after all, that fome of you
as ufual will continue carelefs and impenitent.
Well, when you are fuffering the puniffiment
of this fin in hell, remember that you were
warned, and acquit me from being acceffary to
your ruin. And when we all appear before the
fupreme Judge, and I am called to give an ac
count of my miniftry ; when I am afked^ " Did
" you warn thefe creatures of their danger ?
" Did you lay before them their guilt in mak-
" ing light of thefe things," you will allow me
to anfwer, " Yes, Lord, 1 warned them in the
" beft manner I could, but they would not be-
" lieve me ; they would not regard what I faid,
" though enforced by the authority of thyaw-
" fui name, and confirmed by thine own word."
O Sirs,

23S The Nature and Danger, &c. Serm, 7.
O Sirs, muft I give In this accufation againft
any of you ? No, rather have mercy upon
yourfelves, and have mercy upon me, that I
may give an account of you with joy and not
with grief!

SERMON

SERMON VIII.
The Compaflion of Christ to weak
Believers.
MATT. XII. 20.
A bruifed reed fall he not break, and fmoking
flax fhall he not quench.
^^^^¦^ HE Lord Jesus poffeffes all thofe
'S T ^ virtues in the higheft perfedion,
"^ ^ which render him infinitely amia-
^ ^ bie, and quafify him for the admi-
k.^^:S^jB[ niftration of a juft and gracious go
vernment over the world. The virtues of mor
tals, when carried to a high degree, very often
run into thofe vices which have a kind of affi
nity to them, " Right too rigid hardens into
" wrong." Strid juftice fteels itfelf Into ex-
ceffive feverity, and the man is loft in \he judge.
Goodnefs and mercy fometimes degenerate into
foftnefs and an irrational compaffion Inconfift
ent with government. But in Jesus Christ
thefe feemingly oppofite virtues center and har-
4 monize

240 The compaffion of Christ Serm. 8.
monize in the higheft perfedion without run
ning into extremes. Hence he is at once cha-
raderized as a Lamb, and as the Lion of the
tribe of Judah : a Lamb for gentfenefs towards^
ht^mble penitents, and a Lion to tear his ene
mies in pieces. Christ is faid to judge and
make war (^a), and yet he is called " 'The prince
" of peace (^)." He will at length ffiew him
felf terrible to the workers of iniquity, and the
terrors of the Lord are a very proper topic
whence to perfuade men ; but now he is
patient towards all men, and he is all love
and tendernefs towards the meaneft penitent.
The meeknefs and gentlenefs of Christ is
to be the pleafing entertainment of this day.
And I enter upon it with a particular view to
thofe mourning defponding fouls among us,
whofe weakpefs renders them in great need of
ftrong confolation. To fuch in particular I
addrefs the words of my text, " A bruifed reed
*' fhall he not break, and fnioking flax ffiall he
" not quench."
This is a part of the Redeemer's charader,
as delineated near three thoufand years ago by
the evangelical prophet Ifaiah (c), and it is ex
prefsly applied to him by St Matthew: " Behold,
*' fays the Father, my fervant whom 1 have
*' chofen" for the important undertaking of fav
ing the guilty fons of men ; "~ my beloved, in
" whom my foul is well-pleafed :" my very foul
is well-pleafed with his faithful difcharge of the
important
(a) Rev. xix. II. {b) Ifa. ix. 6. (e) Ifa. xlii 1—4.

Serm. 8. to weak Believers. 241
important office he has undertaken. " I will
" put my Spirit upon him ;" that is, I will com
pletely furnifli him by the gifts of my Spirit
for his high charader ; and " he ffiall fhew
" judgment to the Gentiles :" to the poor be
nighted Gentiles he ffiall ffiew the light of fal
vation by revealing the gofpel to them, which,
in tbe ftyle ofthe Old 'Teftament, may be call
ed his judgments. Or he will ffiew and exe
cute the judgment of this world by cafting out
its infernal prince who had fo long exercifed an
extenfive cruel tyranny over it.. " He ffiall not
*' ftrive nor cry, neither ffiafl any man hear his
". voice in the ftrcets :'' that Is, though he en
ters the world as a mighty prince and conqueror
to eftabliffi a kingdom of righteoufnefs, and
overthrow the kingdom ofdarknefs, yet he will
not introduce it with the noify terrors and
thunders of war, but ffiall ffiew himfelf mild
and gentle as the prince of peace. Or the con
nedlon may lead us to underftand thefe words
in a different fenfe, namely. He ffiall do no
thing with clamorous oftentation, nor proclaim
his wonderful works, when it will anfwer no
valuable end. Accordingly the verfe of our
text ftands thus conneded. " Great multitudes
" followed him, and he healed them all, and
" charged them that they ffiould not make him
" known. That it might be fulfilled which
" was fpoken by Ifaiah the prophet, faying, —
" He ffiall not cry, neither ffiall any man
" hear his voice in the ftreets ;" that is, he ffiall
Vol. I. R not

2 42 The Compaffion of Christ Serm . 8.
not publlffi his miracles with noify triumph in
the ftreets, and other public places. And when
it is faid, " He ffiall not ftrive," it may refer to
his inofFenfive paffive behaviour towards his
enemies that were plotting his death. For
thus we may conned this quotation from Ifaiah
with the preceding hiftory in the chapter of
our text. " Then the Pharifees went out, and
" held a council againft him, how they might
" deftroy him. But when Jesus knew it," in
ftead of praying to his Father for a guard of
angels, or employing his own miraculous power
to deftroy them, " he withdrew himfelf from
" thence; — that it might be fulfilled which was
*' fpoken by the prophet Ifaiah, faying, — He
•* ffiall not ftrive."
The general meaning of my text feems to be
contained in this obfervation, " That the Lord
" Jesus has the tendereft and moft compaffion-
" ate regard to the feebleft penitent, however
" oppreffed and defponding, and that he will
" approve and cheriffi the leaft fpark of true
" love towards himfelf."
The bruifed reed feems naturally to reprefent a
foul at once feeble in itfelf, and cruffied with a
burden, a foul both weak and oppreffed. The
reed Is a flender frail vegetable in itfelf, and
therefore a very proper image to reprefent a
foul that is feeble and weak. A bruifed reed
is ftill more frail, hangs its head, and is unable
to ftand without fome prop. And what can
be a more lively emblem of a poor foul, not
3 <^"'y

Serm. 8. ito weak Believers, 243
only weak in itfelf, but bowed down and bro
ken under a load of fin and forrow, that droops
and finks, and is unable to ftand without divine
fupport. Strength may bear up under a bur
den, or ftruggle with it, till it has thrown it
off. But oppreffed weaknefs, frailty under a
burden, what can be more pitiable ? and yet
this is the cafe of many a poor penitent. He is
weak in himfelf, and in the mean time cruffied
under an heavy weight of guilt and diftrefs.
And what would become of futh a frail op
preffed creature, if, inftead of raifing him up
and fupporting him, Jesus ffiould tread and
crufli him under the foot of his Indignation ?
But though a reed, efpecially a bruifed reed, is
an Infignificant thing, of little or no ufe, yet
" a bruifed reed he will not break," but he
raifes it up with a gentle hand, and enables it
to ftand, ffiough weak in itfelf, and eafily
cruffied in ruin.
Perhaps the imagery, when drawn at length,
may be this. " The Lord Jesus, as an al-
" mighty conqueror, marches in ftate through
" our world j and here and there a bruifed reed
" lies In his way. But, inftead of difregarding
" it, or trampling it under foot, he takes care
" not to break it: he raifes up the drooping
" ftraw, trifling as it is, and fupports it with
" his gentle hand." Thus, poor broken-hearted
penitents, thus he takes care of you, and fup
ports you, worthlefs and trifling as you are.
Though you feem to lie in the way of his juf-
R 2 tice.

244 Th Compaftion of Christ" Serm. 8.
tice, and It might tread you with its heavy
loot, yet he not only does not cruffi you but
takes you up, and infpires you with ftrength
to bear your burden, and flouriffi again.
Or perhaps the imagery may be derived from
the pradice ofthe ancient ffiepherds, who were
wont to amufe themfelves with the mufic of a
pipe of reed or ftraw, and when it was bruifed
they broke It, or threw it away as ufelefs. But
the bruifed reed ffiall not be broken by this
divine Shepherd of fouls. The mufic of broken
fighs and groans is indeed all that the broken
reed can afford him ; the notes are low, melan
choly, and jarring : and yet he will not break
the Inftrument, but he will repair and tune it,
till it is fit to join in the concert of angels on
high, and even now Its humble ftrains are pleaf
ing to his ears. Surely every broken heart a-
mong us muft revive, while contemplating this
tender and moving Imagery!
The other emblem is equally fignificant and
affeding. " The fmoking flax fhall he not
" quench." It feems to be an allufion to tbe
wick of a candle or lamp, the flame of which
is put out, but it ftill fmokes, and retains a lit
tle fire, which may again be blown Into a flame,
or rekindled by the application of more fire.
Many fuch dying ffiuffs or finoking wicks are
to be found in the Candlefticks of the churches,
and in the lamps of the fanduary. The flame
of divine love is juft expiring; it is funk into
the focket of a corrupt heart, and produces no
clear

Serm. 8. ' to weak Believers. 245
clear fteady blaze, but only a fmoke, that is
difagreeable, though it ffiews that a fpark of
the facred fire ftill remains ; or It produces a
falntquivering flame thatdies away, then catches
and revives, and feems unwilling to be quenched
entirely. The devil and the world raife many
ftorms of temptation to blow it out, and a cor
rupt heart, hke a fountain, pours out water to
quench it. But even this fmoking flax, this
dying fnuff Jesus will not quench, but he blows
it up into a flame, and pours in the oil of his
grace to recruit and nouriffi it. He walks a-
mong the goldisn candlefticks, and trims the
lamps of his fanduary. Where he finds empty
vcffels without oil or a fpark of heavenly fire,
like thofe of the fooliffi virgins, he breaks the
veffels, or throws them out of his houfe. But
where he finds the leaft fpark of true grace,
where he difcovers but the gllmpfe of fincere
love to him, where he fees the principle of true
piety, which, though juft expiring, yet renders
the heart fufceptive of divine love, as a can^ie
juft put out is eafily rekindled, there he will
ftrengthen the things which remain, and are.
ready to die : he will blow up the dying fnuff
to a hvely flame, and caufe it to ffilne brighter
and brighter to the perfed day. Where there
is the leaft principle of true holinefs he will
cheriffi it. He will furniffi the expiring lamp
with freffi fupplies of the oil of grace, and of
heavenly fire, and all the ftorms that beat upon
R 3 it.

246 The Compaffion of Christ' Serm, 8,
it, ffiall not be able to put It out, becaufe
ffieltered by his hand.
I hope, my dear brethren, fome of you be
gin already to feel the pleafing energy of this
text. Are you not ready to fay, " Bleffed Jet
" susl is this thy true charader ? Then thou
" art juft fuch a Saviour as I want, and I moft
*'' Willingly give up myfelf to thee." Yoa are
fenfible you are at beft but a bruifed reed, a feer
bie, fhattered, ufelefs thing; an untuneable,
broken pipe of ftraw, that can make no proper
mufic for the entertainment of your divine
Shepherd. Your heart Is at beft but fmoking
flax, where the love of God often appears like
a dying fnuff, or an expiring flame that quir
vers and catches, and hovers over the lamp, juft
ready to go out. Such fome of you probably
feel yourfelves to be. Well, and what think
ye of Christ ? " He will not break tbe bruifed
" reed, nor quench the fmoking flax ;" and
therefore, may not even your guflty eyes look
to this gentle Saviour with encouraging hope ?
May you not fay of him, with the fweet finger
of Ifrael, in his laft moments, " He is all my
*f falvation, and all my defire {d) ?"
In profecuting this fubjed I intend to illuf
trate the charader of a weak believer, as repre
fented in my text, and then to illuftrate the care
and compaffion of Jesus Christ even for fuch
a poor weakling, I. I
.(J) 2 Saai. xxiii; j.

Serm. 8. to weak Believers. 247
I. I am to illuftrate the charad:er of a weak
believer as reprefented in my text by " a bruifed
" reed, and fmoking flax."
The metaphor of a bruifedreed, as I obferved,
feems moft naturally to convey the idea of a
ftate of weaknefs and oppreffion. And there
fore in flluftrating it I am naturally led to de
fcribe the various weakneffes which a believer
fometimes painfully feels, and to point out the
heavy burdens which he fometimes groans un
der ; I fay, fometimes, for at other times even
the weak behever finds himfelf ftrong, " ftrong
" in the Lord, and in the power of his might,
** and ftrengthened with might by the Spirit in
" tlie inner man." The joy of the Lord is his
ftrength ; and he " can do aU things through
" Christ ftrengthening him." Even the op
preffed believer at times feels himfelf delivered
from his burden, and he can lift up his droop
ing head, and walk upright. But, alas ! the
burden returns, and cruffies him again. And
under fome burden or other many honeft-
hearted believers groan out the moft of their
lives. Let us now fee what are thofe weakneffes
which a believer feels and laments. He finds
himfelf weak in knowledge ; a fimple child in
the knowledge of God and divine things. He
is weak in love ; the facred flame does not rife
with a perpetual fervor, and diffufe itfelf thro'
all his devotions, but at times it languiffies and
dies away Into a fmoking fnuff. He Is weak In
R 4 faith ;

248 The Compaffion of Chrut Serm. 8.
faith ; he cannot keep a ftrong hold of ffie al
mighty, cannot fufpend his all upon his pro
mifes with chearful confidence, nor build a
firm immoveable fabric of hope upon the rock
Jesus Christ. He Is weak in hope ; his hope
is daffied with rifing billows of fears and jeal-
oufies, and fometimes juft overfet. He Is weal^
in joy J he cannot extrad the f weets of chrif
tianity, nor tafte the comforts of his religion,
He is weak In zeal for God and the interefts of
his kingdom ; he would wiffi himfelf always a
flaming feraph, always glowing with zeal, al
ways unwearied in ferving his God, and pro
moting the defigns of redeeming love m the
world; but, alas! at times bis zeal, with his
love, languiffies and dies aWay into a fmoking
fnuff. He is weak in repentance ; troubled with
that plague of plagues an hard heart. He is
weak in the conflid with indwelling fin, that is
perpetually making infurredions within him.
He is weak in refifting temptations; which
croud upon him from without, and are often
likely to overwhelm him. He is weak In cou
rage to encounter the king of terrors, and ven
ture through the valley of the ffiadow of death,
He is weak in prayer, in importunity, in filial
boldnefs in approaching the mercy -feat. He is
weak in abilities to endeavour the converfion of
finners, and fave fouls from death. In ffiort,
he is Weak in every thing in which he ffiould
be ftrong. He has indeed, like the church of
Pbil(idelpbi(i^

Serm. 8. to weak Believers. 249
Philadelphia, a little ftrength [e], and at times hp
feels it, but, O ! it feems to him much too little
for the work he has to do. Thefe weakneffes
or defeds the behever feels, painfully and ten
derly feels, and bitterly laments. A fenfe pf
them keeps him upon his guard againft temp
tations : he is not venturefome in rufhing into
the combat. He would not parley with temp
tation, but would keep out of. its way ; nor
would he run the rllk of a defeat by an often-
tatious experiment of his ftrength. This fenfe
of weaknefs alfo keeps him dependent upon
divine ftrength. He clings to that fupport given
to St. Paul in an hour of hard conflid, " My
" grace is fufficient for thee ; for my ftrength
" is made perfed: in weaknefs;" and when a
fenfe of his weaknefs has this happy effed upon
him, then with St. Paul he has reafon to fay,
" When I am weak, then am I ftrong (/)•".
I fay the believer feels and laments thefe weakr
neffes, and this Is the grand diftindion in this
cafe between him and the reft of the world.
They are weak too ; much weaker than he ;
nay, they have, properly, no fpiritual ftrength
at all ; but, alas ! they do not feel their weak
nefs, but the poor vain creatures boaft of their
ftrength, and think they can do great things,
when they are difpofed for them. Or if their
repeated falls and defeats by temptation extort
from them a confeffion of their weaknefs, they
plead It rather as an excufe, than lament it as at
[e) Rev. iii. 8. (/) 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.

250 T'he Compaffion ef Christ Serm. §.
at once a crime and a calamity. But the poor
believer tries no fuch artifice to extenuate his
guilt. He is fenfible that even his weaknefs it
felf has guilt in it, and therefore he laments it
with ingenuous forrows among his other fins.
Now have I not delineated the very charac
ter bf fome of you ? fuch weaklings, fuch frail
reeds you feel ypurfelves to be. Well, hear
this kind affurance, " Jesus will not break fuch
*' a feeble reed, but he willfupport and ftrength-
" en it."
But you perhaps not only feel you are weak,
but you are oppreffed with fome heavy burden
or other. You are not only a reed for weak
nefs, but you are a bruifed reed, trodden under
foot, crufhed under a load. Even this is no
unufual or difcouraging cafe ; for.
The weak believer often feels himfelf cruffied
under fome heavy burden. The frail reed is
often bruifed. Bruifed under a fenfe of guilt.
Guilt lies heavy at times upon his confcience,
and he cannot throw it off. Bruifed with a
fenfe of remaining fin, which he finds ftill ftrong
within him, and which at times prevails, and
treads him under foot. Bruifed under a bur
den of wants, the want of tendernefs of heart,
of ardent love to God and mankind, the want
of heavenly-mindednefs and vidory over the
world, the want of condud and refolution to
dired his behaviour in a pafl&ge fo intricate and
difficult, and the want of nearer intercourfe
with the Father of his fpirit : in ffiort, a thou fand

'Serm. 8. to weak Believers. 25 j
land preffing wants cruffi and brulfe him. He
^Ifo feels his ffiare of the calamities of life in
common with other men. But thefe burdens
I ffiall take no farther notice of becaufe they
are not peculiar to him as a believer : nor do
they lie heavieft upon his heart. He could
eafily bear up under all the calamities of life,
if his fpiritual wants were fupplied, and the
burden of guilt and fin were removed. Under
thefe laft he groans and finks. Indeed thefe
burdens lie witb all their full weight upon the
world around him, but they are dead In tref
paffes and fins, and feel them not : they do not
groan under them, nor labour for deliverance
from them. They lie contented under them,
with more ftupidity than beafts of burden, till
they fink under the intolerable load into the
depth of mifery. But the poor believer is not
fo ftupid, and his tender heart feels the burden,
and groans under it. " We that are In this
" tabernacle, fays St. Paid, do groan being bur-
** dened [g)." The believer underftands feel
ingly that pathetic exclamation, " O wretched
'f man that I am ! who ffiall deliver me from
*' the body of this death {h) ?" He pannot be
eafy till his confcience is appeafed by a well-
attefted pardon through the blood of Christ,
and the fins he feels working within him are
a real burden and uneafinefs to him, though
they ffiould never break out into adion, and
publicly diffionour his holy profeffion. And
{g) 2 Cor. V. 4. [h) Rom, vii, z^.

2^z The Compaffion. of Christ Serm. §.
And is not this the very charader of fome
poor oppreffed creatures among you? I hope
it Is. You niay look upon your c^fe to be very
difcouraging, but Jesus looks upon it in a more
favourable light. He looks upon ypu as pro
per objeds of his compaffionate care, Bruifed
as you are„ he wUl bind you up, ^iid fupport
you, IL But I proceed to take a view of the eha-
rad£r of a weak chriftian, as reprefented in the
other metaphor in my text, namely, " fmoking
*' flax." The idea moft naturally conveyed by
this metaphor is, that of grace true and fincere,
but languifhing and juft expiring, like a candle
juft blown out, which ftill fmokes and retains
a feeble fpark of fire. It fignifks a fufceptibi-
lity of farther grace, or a readinefs to catch
that facred fire, as a candle juft put oyt is eafily
rekindled. This metaphor therefore leads me
to defcribe the reality of rehgion in a low de
gree, or to delineate the true chriftian in his
naoft langulffiing hours. And in fo doing I
ffiall mention thofe difpofitions and exercifes
which the weakeft chriftian feels, even in thefe
melancholy feafons, for even in thefe he widely
differs ftill from the moft poliffied hypocrite in
his higheft improvements. To this fubjed let
me folicit your moft ferious attention, for, if
you have the leaft fpark of real religion within
you, you are now likely to difcover it, as I am
not going to rife to the high attainments of
4 chriftians

Serm. 8. to weak Believers. 253
chriftians of the firft rank, but to ftoop to the
charader of the meaneft. Now the peculiar
difpofitions and exercifes of heart which fuch
in fome meafure feel, you may difcover from
the following ffiort hiftory of their cafe.
The weak chriftian in fuch langulffiing hours
does indeed fometimes fall into fuch a ftate of
careleffnefs and infenfibility, that he has very few
and but fuperficial exercifes of mind about di
vine things. But generally he feels an uneafi
nefs, an emptinefs, an anxiety within, under
which be droops and pines away, and all the
world cannot heal the difeafe. He has chofen
the bleffed God as his fupreme happinefs, and,
when he cannot derive happinefs from that
fource, all the fweets of created enjoyments be
come infipid to him, and cannot fill up the pro
digious void which the abfence ofthe fupreme
good leaves in his craving foul. Sometimes his
anxiety is indiftind: and confufed, and he hard
ly knows what ails him, but at other times be
feels it is for God, for the living God, that his
foul pants. The evaporations of this fmoking
flax naturally afcend towards heaven. He
knows that he never can be happy till he can
enjoy the communications of divine love. Let
him turn which way he will, he can find no
folid eafe, no reft, till he comes to this center
again. Even at fuch times he cannot be thoroughly
reconciled to his fins. He may be parleying
with fome of them in an unguarded hour, and
feem

254 ^^^ Compaffion of Christ Serm. S<
feem to be negotiating a peace, but the truce is
foon ended, and they are at variance again.
The enmity of a renewed heart foon rifes againft
this old enemy i And there is this circumftance
remarkable in the believer's hatred and oppofi
tlon to fin, that they do not proceed principally,
much lefs entirely, from a fear of puniffiment,
but from a generous fenfe of its intrinfic bafe
nefs and ingratitude, and its contrariety to the
holy nature of God. This is the ground of
his hatred to fin, and forrow for it, and this
ffiews that there is at leaft a fpark of true grace
in his heart, and that he does not ad altoge
ther from the low, interefted, and mercenary
principles of nature.
At fuch times he is very jealous of the fince
rity of his rehgion, afraid that aU his paft ex*-
pcriences were delufive, and afraid that, if he
ffiould die in his prefent ftate, he would be for
ever miferable. A very anxious ftate this !
The ftupid world can lie fecure while this grand
concern lies in the moft dreadful fufpence. But
the tender-hearted believeir is not capable of fuch
fool-hardinefs. He fliudders at the thought of
everlafting feparation from that God and Savi-^
our whom he loves. He loves him, and there
fore the fear of feparation from him, fills him
with all the anxiety of bereaved love. This to
him is the moft painful ingredient of the punifh
ment of hell. Hell would be a feven-fold hell to
a lover of God, becaufe it is a ftate of baniffi-
ment from him whom he loves. He would for
ever

Serm. 8. to niiealt Believers. 25$
ever languiffi and pine away under the con-
fuming diftreffes of widowed love, which thofe
that love him not cannot feel. And has God
kindled the facred flame in his heart in order
to render him capable of the more exqulfite
pain ? Will he exclude from his prefence the
poor creature that clings to him, and languiffies
for him ? No, the flax that does but fmoke
with his love was never intended to be fuel for
hell, but he will blow it up into a flame, and
nourifli it till it mingles with the feraphic ar
dors in the region of perfed love.
The weak believer feems fometimes driven by
the tempefts of luft and temptation from off of
the rock Jesus Christ. But he makes towards
it on the ftormy billows, and labours to lay
hold upon it, and recover his ftation there, for
he is fenfible there is no other foundation of
fafety, but that without Christ he muft perlffi
for ever. It is the habitual difpofition of the
believer's foul to depend upon Jesus Christ
alone. He retains a kind of diredion or ten
dency towards him, like the needle touched
with the load-ftone towards the pole, and, if
his heart Is turned from its courfe, it trembles
and quivers till it gains its favourite point again,
and fixes there. Sometimes Indeed a confciouf
nefs of guilt renders him ffiy of his God and
Saviour, and after fuch bafe ingratitude he is
affiamed to go to him. But at length neceffity
as well as inclination conftrains him, and he is
obliged to cry out, " Lord, to whom ffiall I
S

"go?

±^6 Tbe Compaffion of Christ Serm. 8.
** go.? thou haft the words of eternal life (/)."
** In diee alone I find reft to my foul j and
** therefore to thee I muft fly, though I am
*' affiamed and confounded to appear in thy
" prefence." In ffiort, the weakeft chriftian upon earth
fenfibly feels that his comfort rifes and falls, as
he lives nearer to or farther from his God.
The love of God ha« fuch an habitual predo
minancy even in bis heart, that nothing in the
world, nor even all the world together can fill
up his place. No, when he is gone, heaven
and 'earth cannot repleniffi the mighty void.
Even the weakeft chriftian upon earth longs
to be delivered from fin, from all fin without
exception, and a body of deatii hanging about
him is the burden of his life. Even the poor
jealous langulffiing chriftian bas his hope, all
the httie hope that he has, built upon Jesus
Christ. Even this fmoking flax fends up
fome exhalations of love towards heaven. Even
the poor creature that often fears he is altoge
ther a flave to fin, honeftly, though feebly, la
bours to be holy, to be holy as an angel, yea,
to be holy as God is holy. He has an heart
Aat feels the attradive charms of holinefs, and
he is fo captivated by It, that fin can never reco
ver its former place in his heart : no, the tyrant
is for ever dethroned, and the believer would
rather die than yield himfelf a tame flave to
the afurped tyranny again. Thus
(/) John vi, 6S,

fien». B' ip weak Believers. 257
Thus Ubave-dellneated to you In the plalneft
manner I could, the charader of a weak chrif-
tlafl. 5ome of you I am afraid cannot lay claim
even to this low charader. If fo, you may be
fure you are not true chriftians, even of the
loweft rank. You may be fure you have not
the Xeaft ipafk of true religion in your hearts,
but are utterly deftitute of it.
But fome of you, I hope, can fay, " Well,
" after all my doubts and fears, if this be the
" charader of a true, though weak chriftian,!
" then I may humbly hope that I am one, I
" am indeed confirmed in it that I am lefs than
" the leaft of all othef faints upon the face ofthe
" earth, but yet I fee that I am a faint, for thus
** Jhas my heart been exercifed, even in my dark
" and langulffiing hours. This fecret uiieafi-
" finefs and pining anxiety, this thirft for God,
*' for the living God, this tendency of foul to-
*' wards Jesus Christ, this implacable enmity
" to fin, this panting and ftruggling after ho-
*' linefs J thefe things I have often felt." And
have you Indeed ? then away with your doubts
and jealoufies ! away with your fears and de-
fpondencies ! There is at leaft an immortal
fpark kindled in your hearts, which the united
power of men and devils, of fin and temptation
ffiall never be able to quench. No, it ffiall yet
rife into a flame, and burn with feraphic ardors
for ever.
For your farther encouragement I proceed,
Vol. L S II. To

258 The Compaffion 2/" Christ Serm. 8.
II. To illuftrate the care and compaffion of
Jesus Christ for fuch poor weaklings as you.
This may appear a needlefs tafk to fome, for
who Is there that does not believe it ? But to
fuch I would fay, it is no eafy thing to eftabliffi
a trembling foul in the full belief of this truth.
It is eafy for one that does not fee his danger,
and does not feel his extreme need of falvation,
and the difficulty of the work, to believe that
Christ Is willing and able to fave him. But,
O ! to a poor foul, deeply fenfible of its condi
tion, this is no eafy matter. Befides, the heart
may need to be more deeply affeded with this
truth, though the underftanding ffiould need
no farther arguments of the fpeculative kind for
its convidion ; and to imprefs this truth is my
prefent defign.
For this purpofe I need but read and para
phrafe to you a few ofthe many kind declara
tions and affurances which Jesus has given us
in his word, and relate the happy experiences
of fomiC of his faints there recorded, who found
him true and faithful to his word.
The Lord Jesus feemiS to have a peculiar
tendernefs for the poor, the mourners, the
broken-hearted, and thefe are peculiarly the
objeds of his mediatorial offxce. " The Lord
" hath anointed me, fays he, to preach good
" tidings to the meek, he hath fent me" all the
way from my native heaven down to earth;
upon this compaffionate errand, " to bind up
" the broken-hearted, to appoint unto them
" that

Serm. 8. to ^Joeak Believerk 259
" that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
" for afhes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
*' garment of praife for the fpirit of heavi-
" nefs (/^)." " Thus faith the Lord," in ftrains
of majefty that become him, " the heaven Is
" my throne, and the earth is my footftool :
" where is the houfe that ye build unto me ?
" and wberels the place of myreft? For all thefe
" things hath mine hand made, faith theLord."
Had he fpoken uniformlyin this majeftic lan
guage to us guilty worms, the declaration might
have overwhelmed us with awe, but could not
have infpired us with hope. But he advances
himfelf thus high, on purpofe to let us fee how
low he can ftoop. Hear the encouraging fe-
q^uel of this his majeftic fpeech: " To this man
*' will I look, even to him that is poor, and of
" a contrite fpirit, and trembleth at my word."
Let heaven and earth, wonder that he will look
down through all the ffiining ranks of angels,
and look by princes and nobles to fix his eye
upon this man, this poor man, this contrite
broken-hearted trembling creature (/). He loves
to dwell upon this fubjed:, and therefore you
hear it again in the fame prophecy : " Thus
" faith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth
" eternity, whofe name is holy,— ^" what does
he fay ? — " I dwell in the high and holy place
" iffif This is faid in charader. This is a
dwelling in fome meafure worthy the inhabi
tant*' But, O ! will he ftoop to dwell In a lower
S 2 manfion,
{k) Ifa. Ixi, 1—3. (/) Ifa. IxYi. I, z. [m) Ifa, Ivii. ij.

26o Tbe Compaffion of Christ Serm. 8.
manfion, ov pitch his tent among mortals? yes,
he dwells not only in his •' high and holy
" place," but alfo " with him that is of a con-
" trite and humble fpirit, to revive the fpirit of
** the humble, and to revive the heart of the
" contrite ones." He charges Peter to " feed
" his lambs," as well as his ffieep ; that is, to
take the tendereft care even of the weakeft In
his flock (n). And he feverely rebukes the
ffiepherds of Ifrael, " Becaufe, fays he, ye have
*' not ftrengthened the difeafed, neither have ye
" healed that which was fick, neither have yfe
" bound up that which was broken (o)." But
what an amiable reverfe is the charader of the
great Shepherd andBiffiop of fouls 1 " Behold,
*' fays Ifaiah, theLord will come wiffi a ftrong
*' hand, and his arm ffiall rule for him : behold-
" his reward is with him, and his Work before
" him." How juftly may we tremble at this
proclamation ofthe approaching God? for who
can ftand when he appeareth ? But how agree
ably are our fears difappointed in what fol
lows ? If he comes to take vengeance on his
enemies, he alfo comes to fliew mercy to the
meaneft of his people. " He ffiall feed his
flock like a ffiepherd : he ffiall gather the
lambs with his arm, and carry them in his
bofom, and ffiall gently lead thofe that are
^' with young (p);' that is, he ffiall exercife the
tendereft and moft compaffionate care towards
the meaneft and weakeft of his flock. " He
" looked
(s) John xxi. 15. (0) Ez,ek, xxxiv. 4, (/¦) If^. xl. 10, u.

<(

(C

5erm. 8. fo weak Believers. 261
"looked down, fays the Pfalmift, from the
*' height of his fanduary ; fi'om heaven did the
*' Lord behold the earth;" not to view the gran
deur and pride of courts and kings, nor the he
roic exploits of conquerors, but *' to hear the
" groaning of the prifoner, to loofe thofe that
*' are appointed to die. He will regard the
*' prayer of ffie deftitute, and not defpife their
" prayer. This ffiall be written for the gene-
*' ration to come (y)." It was written for your
encouragement, my brethren. Above three
thoufand years ago this encouraging paffage was
entered into the facred records for the fupport
of poor defponding fouls in Virginia, in the
ends of the earth. O what an early provident
care does God ffiew for his people ! There are
none of the feven churches of Afia fo highly
Commended by Christ as that of Philadelphia,
and yet in commending her, all he can fay i«,
** Thou haft a little ftrength." " I know thy
" works ; behold I have fet before thee an open
" door, and no man can ffiut it, for thou haft
" a Uttle ftrength (r)." O how acceptable is
a little ftrength to Jesus Christ, and how-
ready is he to improve it? "He giveth power
" to the faint, fays Ifaiah, and to them that
" have no might he increafeth ftrength (5)."
Hear farther what words of grace and truth
flowed from the lips of Jesus. " Come unto
" me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
" and I will give you reft, for I am meek and
S3 " lowly
{q) Pfal, cii, 17—20. (>•) Rev. iii, 8. (;) Ifa, xl. iq.

262 The Compaftion of Christ Serm. 8.
" lowly in heart (/)." *' Him that cometh un-
" to me, I will in no wife caft out [u)." " If
" any man thirft, let him come unto me and
" drink (w).'' " Let him that is athirft Come;
" and whofoever will, let him come and take of
" the water of life freely {x)." O what ftrong
confolation is here ! vi^hat exceeding great and
precious promifes are thefe! I might eafily add
to the catalogue, but thefe may fuffice.
Let us now fee how his people in every age
have found thefe promifes made good. Here
David may be confulted, infiar omnium, and he
will tell you, pointing to himfelf, " This poor
" man cried, and the Lord heard and delivered
*' him out of all his troubles (y)." St Paul m
the midft of affiidlon calls God " the Father
" of mercies, and God of all comfort, who
" comforteth us in all our tribulation (2;).''
*f God, fays he, that comforteth thofe that are
*' caft down, comforted us [a)." What a fweet
ly emphatical declaration is this ! " God, the
" comforter of the humble, comforted us*."
He. is not only the Lord of hofts, the King of
kings, the Creator of the world, but among his
more ayguft charaders he aflTumes this title,
" The comforter of the humble." Such Saint
Paul found him in an hour of temptation, when he
(/) Matt, xi, 28, 29. [u] John vi, 57.
(w) John vii. 37. (x) Rev. xxii. 17.
{y) Pfal. xxxiv. 6. (z) 2 Cor. i. 3, 4. [a] 2 Cor. vii. 6.
*? This is a more literal tranflation of — 0 'aA^a.KO.f.Sv 74V

Serm. 8, to weak Believers. 263
he had this fupporting anfwer to his repeated
prayer for deliverance, " My grace is fufficient
" for thee ; for my ftrength is miade perfed in
*' weaknefs {b.)" Since this was the cafe, fince
his Weaknefs was more than fupplied by the
ftrength of Christ, and was a foil to fet it off,
St Paul feems quite regardlefs what infirmities
he laboured under. Nay, " moft gladly, fays
*' he, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
" the power of Christ may reft upon me.
" Therefore I take pleafure in Infirmities — for
" when I am weak, then am I ftrong." He
could take no pleafure in feeling himfelf weak,
but the mortification was made up by the plea
fure he found in leaning upon this almighty
fupport. His wounds were painful to him,
but O ! the pleafure he found in feeling this di
vine phyfician dreffing his wounds, in fome
meafure fwallowed up the pain. It was pro
bably experience, as well as infpiration, that
didated to the apoftle that amiable charader of
Christ, that he is " a merciful and faithful
*' hlgh-prleft, who, being himfelf tempted,
" knows how to fuccour them that are tempt-
" ed (c)." And " we have not an high-prieft
" which cannot be touched with the feeling of
" our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
" like as we are, yet without fin {d)."
But why need I multiply arguments ? Go to
his crofs, and there learn his love and compaf
fion, from his groans and wounds, and blood,
S 4 and
(b) z Cor. .xii. g, (c) Heb. ii. 17, 18. (>i) Heb. iv. 1 5.

$64 The Compaffion tf Christ Serm, 8.
and death. Would he hang therq in fuch
agony for finners, if he were not willing to fave
them* and cherifh everygood principle in them?
There you may have much the fame evidence
of his compaflion as Thomas had of his refur
redion ; you may look into his hands, ahd fee
the print ofthe nails, and into his fide, and fee
the fear of the fpear, which loudly proclaim his
readinefs to pity and help yOu.
And now, poor trembling doubting fouls,
what hinders but you ffiould raife up your
drooping head, and take courage ? May you
not venture your fouls into fuch compaffionate
and faithful hands ? Why ffiould the bruifed
feed ffirink from him, when he comes not to
tread it down, but to raife it up ?
As I am really folicitous that impenitent hearts
among us ffiould be plefped with the medicinal
anguiffi and forroW of convidion and repent
ance, and the moft friendly heart cannot fornj
a kinder wiffi for them, fo I am truly folicitous
that every honeft foul, Jn which there is the
leaft fpark of true piety, ffiould enjoy the plea
fure of it. It is indeed to be lamented that they
who have a title to fo much happinefs ffiould
enjoy fo littie of it ; it is very incongruous that
they ffiould go bowing the head in their way
towards heaven, as if they were haftening to
the place of execution, and that they ffiould
ferve fo good a mafter with fuch heavy hearts.
O lift up the hands that hang down, and
ftrengthen

Serm. 8. to weak Believers. 265
ftrengthen the feeble knees ! " Comfort ye,
" comfort ye my people, faith your God." " Be
" ftrong in the Lord, and in the power of his
" might." Truft In your all-fufficient Redeemer,
truft in him though he ffiould flay you.
And do not indulge caufelefs doubts and fears
concerning your fincerity. When they arife in
your minds examine them, and fearch whether
there be any fufficient reafon for them, and If
you difcover there is not, then rejed: them and
fet them at defiance, and entertain your hopes
in fpite of them, and fay with the Pfalmift,
" Why art thou caft down, O my foul, and
" why art thou difquieted within me ? Hope
" thou in God, for I ffiall yet praife him, the
•" health of my countenance, and my God (<?)."
le) Pfalm xliii, 1 1.

SER-MON

SERMON IX.
The Connexion between prefent Holi
nefs and future Felicity.
¦•3^^ $^&& 5^ 5^^ 5^&^ $^&fr ^^^5^&&5^&^^&e^^$
HEB. xn. 14.
Follow — holinefs, without which no man fhall
fee the Lord.
1*")K#)^"^ S the human foul was originally de-
^ A ^ figned for the enjoyment of no lefs
^ "^ a portion than the everbleffed God,
k.)!C#^j|[ it was formed with a ftrong innate
tendency towards happinefs. It has not only
an eager fondnefs for exiftence, but for fome
good to render Its exiftence happy. And the
privation of being itfelf is not more terrible than
the privation of all its bleffings. It Is true, in
the prefent degeneracy of human nature, this
vehement defire is miferably perverted and mif-
placed : man feeks his fupreme happinefs in fin
ful, or at beft in created enjoyments, forgetful
ofthe uncreated fountain of blifs ; but yet ftill
he feeks happinefs; ftill this innate impetus is
predomi-

268 Tke Connexion hetween Serm. 9,
predominant, and, though he miftakes the
means, yet he ftill retains a general aim at the
encj. Hence he ranfacks this lower world in
queft of felicity ; climbs in fearch of it the flip-
pery afcent of honour; hunts for it in the trea
fures of gold and filver; or plunges for it in
the foul ftreams of fenfual pleafures. But fince
all the fordid fatisfadion refulting from thefe
things are not adequate to the unbounded crav
ings of the mind, and fince the fatisfadion is
tranfitory and periffiing, or we may be wrench--
cd from it by the inexorable hand of death, the
mind breaks through the limits of prefent en
joyments, and even of the lower creation, and
ranges through the unknown fcenes of futurity
in queft of fome untried good. Hope makes
excurfions into the dark duration between the
prefent now and the grave, and forms to itfelf
pleafing images of approaching bleffings, which
often vanlffi in the embrace, like delufive phan
toms. Way, it launches into the vaft unknown
world that lies beyond the grave, and roves
through the regions of immenfity after fome
complete feUeity to fupply the defeds of fub
lunary enjoyments. Hence, though men, till
their fpirits are-refined by regenerating grace,
have no reliffi for celeftial joys, but pant for
the poor pleafures of time and fenfe, yet, as they
cannot avoid the unwelcome confcioufnefs that
death will ere long rend them from thefe fordid
and momentary enjoyments, are conftrained to
indulge the hope of bl^fs in a future ftate: and
they

Serm. 9. Hoiineft and Felicity. 269
they promife themfelves happinefs in another
world, when they can no longer enjoy any In
this. And as reafon and revelation unitedly
affure them that this felicity cannot then confift
in fenfual Indulgencies, they generally exped it
will be of a more refined and fpiritual nature,
and flow more immediately from the great Fa
ther of fpirits.
He muft indeed be miferable that abandons
all hope of this bleffednefs. The chriftian reli
gion affords him no other profpedt but that of
eternal, intolerable mifery in the regions of dark
nefs and defpair : and if he flies to infidelity as
a refuge, it can afford him no comfort but the
.ffiocking profped of annihilation.
Now if men were preffed into heaven hy an
unavoidable fatality, if happinefs was promlf
cuoufly promifed to them all without difiindion
of charaders, then they might indulge a bhnd
unexamined hope, and never perplex themfelves
with anxious enquiries about it. And he might
juftly be deemed a malignant difturber of the
repofe of mankind, that would attempt to ffiock
their hope, and frighten them with caufelefs
fcruples. But if the light of nature Intimates, and the
voice of fcripture proclaims aloud, that this
eternal felicity is referved only for perfons of
particular charad:ers, and that multitudes, mul
titudes who entertainejl pleafing hopes of it,
•are confounded with an eternal difappointment,
and fliall fuffer an endlefs duration in the
moft

270 Th Connexion between Serm.^,
moft terrible miferies, we ought each of us to
take the alarm, and examine the grounds of our
hope, that, if they appear fufficient, we may
allow ourfelves a rational fatisfadion in them j
and, if they are found delufive, we may aban*^
don them and feek for a hope which will bear
the teft now while it may be obtained. And
however difagreeable the tafk be to give our
fellow-creatures even profitable uneafinefs, yet
he muft appear to the impartial a friend to the
beft interefts of mankind, who points out the
evidences and foundation of a rational and
fcriptural hope, and expofes the various mif
takes to which we are fubjed in fo important
a cafe. And if, when we look around us, we find
perfons full of the hopes of heaven, who can
give no fcriptural evidences of them to them
felves or others ; if we find many indulging
this pleafing delufion, whofe pradices arc men
tioned by God himfelf as the certain marks of
perlfliing finners; and if perfons are fo tenaci
ous of thefe hopes that they will retain them
to their everlafting ruin, unlefs the moft con
vidive methods are taken to undeceive them ;
then it is high time for thofe to whom the care
of fouls (a weightier charge than that of king
doms) is intrufted to ufe the greateft plainnefs
for this purpofe.
This is my chief defign at prefent, and to
this my text naturally leads„me. It contains
thefe dodrines: Firft,

Serm. 9^ Holinefs and Felicity. 271
Firft, That without holinefs here it is im
poffible for us to enjoy heavenly happinefs in
the future world. To fee the Lord is here put
for enjoying him, fee Rom. viii. 24. and the me
taphor fignlfies the happinefs of the future
ftate in general, and more particularly inti
mates that the knowledge of God will be a
fpecial ingredient therein. See a parallel ex
preffion in Matt. v. 8.
Secondly, That this confideration ffiould in
duce us to ufe the moft earneft endeavours to
obtain the heavenly happinefs. Purfue holinefs,
becaufe " without it no man can fee the Lord."
Hence I am naturally led,
I. To explain the nature of that " holinefs,
" without which no man ffiall fee the
Lord."
II. To ffiew what endeavours ffiould be ufed
to obtain it. And,
III. To urge you to ufe them by the confi
deration of the abfolute neceffity of holi
nefs.
I. I am to explain the nature of holinefs.
And I .ffiall give you a brief definition of it,
and then mention fome of thofe difpofitions and
pradices which naturally flow from it.
The moft Intelligible defcription of holinefs,
as It is inherent In us, may be this, " It is a
" conformity in heart and pradice to the re-
" vealed will of God." As the fupreme Being is

il

272 Th Connexion htween Serm. 9.
is the ftandard of all perfed:ion, his holinefs in
particular is the ftandard of ours. Then we
are holy, when his image is ftamped upon our
hearts, and refledied in our lives, ib the apoftle
defines it, " And that ye put on the new man,
*' which after God is created in righteoufnefs
*' and tru-e holinefs («?)." " Whom he did pre-
deftinate to be conformed to the image of
" his Son (h)!' Hence holinefs may be defined,
" A conformity to God in his moral perfec-
*' tions." But as we cannot have a diftind
knowledge of thefe perfedions, but as they are
manifefted by ffie revealed willofGk)D, I choofe
to define holinefs as above, " A conformity to
" his revealed will." Now his revealed will
comprizes both the law and the gofpel : tihe law
informs us of the duty which w^e as ^creatures
owe to God as a Being of fupreme excellency
as our Creator and Benefador, and to men as our
fellow-creatures ; and the gofpel informs us of
the duty which as finners we owe to God as re-
concileable ffirough a Mediator. Our obedience
to the former implies the whole of morality,
and to the latter the whole of evangelical graces,
as faith in a Mediator, i-epentanoe, Gfc .
From this definition of holinefs it appears,
on the one hand, that it is abfolutely neceffary
to fee the Lord, for unlefs our difpofitions are
conformed to him, we cannot be happy in the
enjoyment of him : and on the other hand, that
they who are made thus holy, are prepared for
tbe
[a] Eph. iv. 24. [b) R;m. viii. 2g.

Serm. 9, Holinefs and Felicity. 273
the vifion and fruition of his face, as they can
refiffi the divineft pleafure.
But as a concife definition of holinefs may
give an auditory but very imperfed ideas of it,
I ffiall expatiate upon the difpofitions and prac
tices in which it confifts, or which naturally
refult from it, and they are fuch as follow.
I, A dehght in God for bis holinefs. Self^
love may prompt us to love him for his good
nefs to us, and fo many unregenerate men may
have a felfiffi love to God on tills account. But
to love God becaufe he is infinitely holy, be
caufe he bears an Infinite deteftation to all fin,
and will not indulge his creatures in the negled
of the leaft inftance of holinefs, but commands
them to be holy as he is holy, this is a difpofi
tion connatural to a renewed foul only, and ar
gues a conformity to his image. Every nature
is moft agreeable to itfelf, and a holy nature
is moft agreeable to an holy nature.
Here I would make a remark, which may
God deeply imprefs on your hearts, and which
for that purpofe I ffiall fubjoin to each particu
lar, that holinefs in fallen man is fupernatural j
I mean, we are not born with it, we give no
difcoveries of it, till we have experienced a great
change. Thus we find it in the prefent cafe ;
v/e have no natural love to God, becaufe of his
infinite purity, and hatred to all fin, nay, we
would love him more, did he give us greater
indulgences ; and I am afraid the love of fome
perfons is founded upon a miftake ; they love
Vol. I. T him

274 The Connexion between Serm. 9',
him becaufe they imagine he does not hate fin,
nor them for it, fo much as he really does ; be
caufe they think he will bring them to heaven
at laft, let them live as they lift; and becaufe
they do not exped he Is fo Inexorably juft in
his deahngs with the finner. It is no wonder
they love fuch a foft, eafy, paffive Being as this
imaginary Deity; but did they fee the luftre of
that holinefs of God which dazzles the celeftial
armies; did they but know the terrors of his
juftice, and his implacable indignation againft
fin, their Innate enmity would ffiew its poifon,
and their hearts would rife againft God In all
thofe horrible blafphemles with which awaken
ed finners are fo frequentiy ffiocked. Such
love as this Is fo far from being acceptable, that
it is the greateft affront to the fupreme Being ;
as, if a profligate loved you on the miftaken
fuppofition that you were fuch a libertine as
himfelf, it would rather inflame your indigna
tion than procure your refped.
But to a regenerate mind how ftrong, how
tranfporting are the charms of holinefs ! Such
a mind joins the anthem of feraphs with the
divineft complacency [c), and anticipates the
fong of glorified faints, " Who would not fear
" thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for
" thou only art holy [d) ?" The perfedions
of G o D lofe their luftre, or fink into ob
jeds of terror or contempt, if this glorious at
tribute be abftraded. Without holinefs power
becomes
(f) Rev. iv. S; (rf) Rev, xv. 4.

Serm. 9- Holinefs and Felicity. 275
becomes tyranny, omnifcience craft, juftice re
venge and cruelty, and even the amiable attri
bute of goodnefs lofes its charms, and degene
rates Into a blind promifcuous prodigahty, or
fooliffi undifcerning fondnefs : but when thefe
perfedions are clothed in the beauties of holinefs,
how god-like, how majeftic, how lovely and at
tradive do they appear! and with what compla
cence does a mind faffiioned after the divine
image acquiefce in them ! It may appear amiable
even to an unholy finner that the exertions of
almighty power ffiould be regulated by the moft
confummate wifdom ; that juftice fliould not
without diftindion puniffi the guilty and the in
nocent ; but an holy foul only can rejoice that di
vine goodnefs will not communicate happinefs to
the difgrace of holinefs ; and that, rather than It
ffiould overflow In a blind promifcuous man
ner, the whole human race ffiould be mifera
ble. A felfifh finner has nothing in view but
his own happinefs, and if this be obtained, he
has no anxiety about the illuftration of the di
vine purity, but it recommends happinefs itfelf
to a fandified foul, that it cannot be commu
nicated in a way inconfiftent with the beauty
of holinefs.2. Holinefs confifts in an hearty complacence
in the law of God becaufe of its purity. The
law is the tranfcript of the moral perfedions of
God, and if we love the original we ffiall love
the copy. Accordingly it is natural to a re
newed mind to love the divine law, becaufe it
T 2 is

276 The Connexion between Serm. 9.
is perfedly holy; becaufe it makes no allow
ance for the leaft fin, and requires every duty
that It becomes us to perform towards God.
Pfal. cxix. 140, and xix. 7 — 10, Rom.v'n. 12,
compared with 22.
But Is this our natural difpofition ? Is this
the difpofition of the generality ? Do they not,
on the contrary, fecretiy find fault with the law,
becaufe it is fo ftrid ? And their common ob
jedion againft that holinefs of hfe which it en
joins is, that they cannot bear to be fo precife.
Hence they are always for abating the rigour pf
the law, for bringing it down to fome imagi
nary ftandard of their own, to their prefent a-
bllity, to fins of pradice without regard to the
finful difpofitions of the heart ; or to the pre
vailing difpofitions of the heart without regard
to the firft workings of concupifcence, thofe
embryos of iniquity ; and if they love the law
at all, as they profefs to do, it is upon the fup
pofition that it is not fo ftrid as it really is,
but grants them greater indulgences, Romans
viii. 7.
Hence it appears that, if we are made holy
at all, it muft be by a fupernatural change ;
and when that is effeded, what a ftrange and
happy alteration does the finner perceive ? with
what pleafure does he refign himfelf a willing
fubjed to that law to which he was once fo a-
verfe ? And when he fails (as, alas ! he does in
many things) how is he humbled ! he does not
lay the fault upon the law as requiring impof-
4 fibillties,

Serm. 9. Holinefs and Felicity. 277
fibillties, but lays the whole fault upon himfelf
as a corrupt finner.
3, Holinefs confifb in an hearty complacence
in the gofpel method of falvation, becaufe it
tends to illuftrate the moral perfedions of the
Deity, and to difcover the beauties of holinefs.
The gofpel Informs us of two grand pre-re-
quifites to the falvation of the fallen fons of
men, namely. The fatisfadion of divine juftice
by the obedience and paflion of Christ, that
God might be reconciled to them confiftently
with his perfedions. And the fandification of
finners by the efficacy of the Holy Ghoft, that
they might be capable of enjoying God, and
that he might maintain intimate communion
with them without any ftain to his holinefs.
Thefe two grand articles contain the fubftance
of the gofpel, and our acquiefcence In them is
the fubftance of that evangelical obedience which
it requires of us, and which is effential to holi
nefs in a fallen creature.
Now It is evident that without either of thefe
the moral perfedions of the Deity, particularly
his holinefs, could not be Illuftrated or even fe
cured In the falvation of a finner. Had he re
ceived an apoftate race into favour, who had
confpired In the moft unnatural rebellion againft
him, without any fatisfadion, his hohnefs would
have been ecllpfed ; it would not have appear
ed that he had fo invincible an abhorrence of
fin, fo zealous a regard for the vindication of
his own holy law ; or to his veracity, which
T 3 had

278 The Connexion between Serm, 9.
had threatned condign puniffiment to offenders.
But by the fatisfadion of Christ his holinefs
is Illuftrated in the moft confpicuous manner ;
now it appears that God would upon no terms
fave a finner but that of adequate fatisfadion,
and that no other was fufficient but the fuffer
ing of his coequal Son, otherwife he would not
have appointed him to fuftain the charader of
Mediator; and now it appears that his hatred
of fin is fuch that he would not let it pafs un-
puniffied even In his own Son, when only Im
puted to him. In like manner, if finners while
unholy were admitted into communion with
God in heaven, it would obfcure the glory of
his holinefs, and it would not then appear that
fuch was the purity of his nature that he could
have no fellowffiip with fin. But now it is
evident that even the blood of Immanuel can
not purchafe heaven to be enjoyed by a finner
while unholy, but that every one that arrives
at heaven m^uft firft be fandified. An unholy
finner can be no more faved, while fuch, by
the gofpel than by the law ; but here lies the
difference, that the gofpel makes provifion for
his fandification, which is gradually carried on
here, and perfeded at death, before his admif
fion into the heavenly glory.
Now it is the genius of true holinefs to ac
quiefce in both thefe articles. A fandified foul
places all its dependence on the righteoufnefs of
Christ for acceptance. It would be difagree
able to it to have the leaft concurrence in its
own

Serm, 9. Holinefs and Felicity. 279
own juftification. It is not only willing, but
delights to renounce all its own righteoufiiels,
and to glory in Christ alone, Phil, iii, 3, Free
grace to fuch fouls is a charming theme, and
falvation is more acceptable becaufe conveyed
In this way. It would render heaven Itfelf dif
agreeable and wither all Its joys, were they
brought thither in a way that degrades or does
not illuftrate the glory of God's holinefs ; but
O how agreeable the thought, that he that glo-
rieth muft glory in the Lord, and that the pride
of all fleffi ffiall be abafed !
So an holy perfon rejoices that the way of
holinefs is the appointed way to heaven. He
is not forced to be holy meerly by the fervile
confideration that he muft be fo or perlffi, and
fo unwillingly fubmits to the neceffity which
he cannot avoid, when in the mean time, were
it put to his choice, he would choofe to referve
fome fins, and negled fome painful duties. So
far from this, that he delights in the gofpel-
conftitutlon, becaufe it requires univerfal holi
nefs, and heaven would be lefs agreeable, were
he to carry even the leaft fin thither. He thinks
it no hardffiip that he muft deny himfelf In his
finful pleafures, and habituate himfelf to fo much
ftridnefs in religion ; no, but he bleffes the
Lord for obliging him to it, and where he fails
he charges himfelf with It, and is felf-abafed
upon the account.
This is folid rational religion, fit to be de
pended upon, in oppofitlon to antinomian II-
T 4 centiouf-

2 8o The Connexion between Serm. 9.
centloufnefs, the freaks of enthufiafm, and the
irrational flights of paffion and imagination on
the one hand; and in oppofitlon to formality,
meer morality, and the felf-fprung religion of
nature on the other. And is it not evident we
are deftitute of this by nature ? Men naturally
are averfe to this gofpel method of falvation ;
they will not fubmit to the righteoufnefs of God,
but fix their dependence, in part at leaft, upon
their own merit. Their proud hearts cannot
bear the thought that all their performances
muft go for juft nothing In their juftification.
They are alfo averfe to the way of holinefs ;
hence they will either abandon the expedation
of heaven, and, fince they cannot obtain It in
their finful ways, defperately conclude to go on
in fin come what will ; or, with all the little
' fophiftry they are capable of, they will endea
vour to widen the way to heaven, and perfuade
themfelves they ffiall attain it, notwithftanding
their continuance in fome known iniquity, and
though their hearts have never been thoroughly
fandified. Alas ! how evident is this aU around
us ! How many either give up their hopes of
heaven rather than part with fin, or vainly hold
them, while their difpofitions and pradices prove
them groundlefs ? And muft not fuch degene
rate creatures be renewed, ere they can be holy,
or fee the Lord ?
4. Holinefs confifts in an habitual delight in
all the duties of holinefs towards God and man,
and an earneft defire for communion with God in

Serm. 9, Holinefs and Felicity. 281
in them. This is the natural refult of all the
foregoing particulars, if we love God for his
holinefs, we fhall delight In that fervice in which
our conformity to him confifts; if we love his
law," we fliall delight in that obedience which it
enjoins ; and if we take complacence in the
evangelical method of falvation, we ffiall take
delight in that holinefs without which we can
not enjoy It, The fervice of God is the ele
ment, tbe pleafure of an holy foul; while others
delight in the riches, the honours, or the plea
fures of this world, the holy foul defires one
thing of the Lord, that it may behold his beauty
while enquinng in his temple, Pfalm xxvii. 4.
Such a perfon delights in retired converfe with
heaven in meditation and prayer, Pfal. cxxxix.
17. and Ixiil. 5, 6, and Ixxiii. 28, He alfo takes
pleafure in jufiice, benevolence, and charity to
wards men, Pjal. cxii. 5, 9. and in the ftrideft
temperance and fobriety, i Cor. ix. 27.
Moreover, the meer formality of performing
religious duties does not fatisfy a true faint,
unlefs he enjoys a divine freedom therein, re
ceives communications of grace from heaven,
and finds his graces quickened, Pfal. xlii. i, 2.
This confideration alfo ffiews us that holinefs
in us muft be fupernatural, for do we naturally
thus delight in the fervice of God ? or do you
all now thus delight in It ? is it not rather a
wearinefs to you, and do you not find more
pleafure in other things ? Surely you muft be
changed

282 The Connexion between Serm. 9.
changed, or you Can have no reliffi for the en
joyment of heavenly happinefs.
5. To conftltute us faints indeed there m'.'ft
be univerfal holinefs in pradice. This natu
rally follows from tbe laft, for as the body obeys
the ftronger volitions of the will, fo when the
heart is prevailingly difpofed to the fervice of
God, the man will habitually pradife it. This
is generally mentioned in fcripture as the grand
charaderiflic of feal religion, without which all
our pretenfions are vain, 1 John Hi. 3 — 10. and
V. 3. John XV. 14. True chriftians are far from
being perfed in pradice, yet they are prevail-
m"\y holy in all manner of converfation; they
do not live habitually in any one known fin,
or wilfully negled any one known duty, Pfal,
cxix. 6.
Without this pradical holinefs no man ffiall
fee the Lord ; and if fo, how great a change
muft be wrought on moft before they can fee
hitn, for how fey/ are thus adorned with a life
of univerfal holinefs ? Many profefs the name
of Christ, but how few of them depart from
iniquity ? But to what purpofe do they call
him Mafter and Lord, while they do not the
things which he commands them ?
Thus I have as plainly as I could defcribed
the nature and properties of that holinefs witii-
out which no man ffiall fee the Lord; and they
who are poffeffed of it may lift up their heads
with joy, affured that God has begun a good
vv'ork in them, and that he will carry it on ; and on

Serm. 9. Holinefs and Felicity. 283
on the other hand, they that are deftitute of it
may be affured, that, unlefs they are made new
creatures, they cannot fee the Lord. I come,
II. To fliew you the endeavours we ffiould
ufe to obtain this holinefs. And they are
fuch as thefe.
I. Endeavour to know whether you are
holy or not by clofe examination. It is hard
indeed for fome to know pofitlvely that they are
. holy, as they are perplexed with the appearances
of realities, and the fears of counterfeits ; but
it Is eafy for many to conclude negatively that
they are not holy, as they have not the llkenefs
of it. To determine this point is of great ufe
to our fuccefsful feeking after holinefs. That
an unregenerate finner ffiould attend on the
means of grace with other aims than one that
has reafon to believe himfelf fandified, is evi
dent. The anxieties, forrows, defires, and en
deavours of the one ffiould run in a very diffe
rent channel from thofe ofthe other. The one
ffiould look upon himfelf as a guilty condemn
ed finner, the other ffiould allow himfelf the
pleafure of a juftified ftate ; the one ffiould pur
fue after the Implantation, the other after the
Increafe of holinefs : the one ffiould indulge a
feafonable concern about his loft condition, the
other repofe an humble confidence in God as
reconciled to him : the one ffiould look upon
the threatnings of God as bis doom, the other
embrace the promifes as his portion. Hence it
follows

284 The Connexion between Serm. 9,
follows that, while we are miftaken about our
ftate, we cannot ufe endeavours after holinefs
in a proper manner. We ad: like a phyfician
that applies medicines at random, without know
ing the difeafe. It is a certain conclufion that
the moft generous charity, under foiptural li
mitations, cannot avoid, that multitudes are
deftitute of holineff, and ought not we to en
quire with proper anxiety whether we belong
to that number? Let us be impartial, and pro
ceed according to evidence. If we find thofe
marks of holinefs in heart and life which have
been mentioned, let not an exceffive fcrupulo-
fity fnghten us from drawing the happy con
clufion : and, if we find them not, let us exer
cife fo much wholefome feverity againft our
felves, as honeftly to conclude we are unholy
finners, and muft be renewed before we can
fee the Lord. The conclufion no doubt will
give you painful anxiety ; but if you was my
deareft friend, I could not form a kinder wifh
for you than that you might be inceffantiy dif
treffed with it till you are born again. This
conclufion will not be always avoidable ; the
light of eternity will force you upon it ; and
whether is it better to give way to it now, when
it may be to your advantage, or be forced to
admit it ffien, when it will be only a torment ?
2. Awake, arife, and betake yourfelf in ear
neft to all the means of grace. Your life, your
eternal life is concerned, and therefore it calls
for all the ardor and earneftnefs you are capa ble

Serm, 9- Holinefs and Felicity. 285
bie of exerting. Accuftom yourfelf to medita
tion, converfe with yourfelves in retirement,
and live no longer -ftrangers at home. Read
the word of God and other good books, with
diligence, attention, and felf-appllcation. At
tend on the public miniftrations of the gofpel,
not as a trifler, .but as one that fees his eternal
All concerned. Shun the tents of fin, the ren
dezvous of finners, and affociate with thofe that
have experienced the change you want, and
can give you proper diredions. Proftrate your
felves before the God of heaven, confefs your
fin, implore his mercy, cry to him night and
day, and give him no reft, till the importunity
prevail, and you take the kingdom of heaven
by violence.
But after all, acknowledge that it is God that
muft work in you both to will and to do, and
that when you have done all thefe things you
are but unprofitable fervants. I do not pre*
fcribe thefe diredions as though thefe means
could effed holinefs in you, no, ffiey can no
more do it, than a pen can write without a
hand. It is the holy Spirit's province alone to
fandify a degenerate finner, but he Is wont to
do it while we are waiting upon him in the ufe
of thefe means ; though our beft endeavours
give us no title to his grace, but he may juftly
leave us after all in that ftate of condemnation
and corruption into which we have voluntarily
brought ourfelves. I go on,
in. And

286 Tbe Connexion between Serm. 9.
III. And laftly, to urge you to the ufe of
. thefe means from the confideration mentioned
in the text, the abfolute necefilty of holinefs to
the enjoyment of heavenly happinefs.
Here I would ffiew that holinefs Is abfolute
ly neceflary, and that the confideration of its
neceffity may ftrongly enforce the purfuit of it.
The neceffity of holinefs appears from the
unchangeable appointment of heaven, and the
nature of things.
I. The unchangeable appointment of God
excludes all the unholy from the kingdom of
heaven ; fee i Cor. Ix. 6. Rev. xxi. 27, Pfal. v.
4, 5. 2 Cor.v. 17. Gdl. vi. 15. It Is moft afto
nifhing that many who profefs to believe the
divine authority of the fcriptures, will yet in
dulge vain hopes of heaven, in oppofitlon to
the plalneft declarations of eternal truth. But
though there were no pofitive conftitution ex
cluding the unholy from heaven, yet,
2. The very nature of things excludes fin
ners from heaven ; that is, it is impoffible In the
nature of things, that, while they are unholy,
they could receive happinefs from the employr-
ments and entertainments of the heavenly world.
Jf thefe confifted In the affluence of thofe things
which finners delight in here, If its enjoyments
were earthly riches, pleafures, and honours, if
its employments were the amufements of the
prefent life, then they might be happy there, as
far as their fordid natures are capable of hap
pinefs. But thefe trifles have no place in hea ven.

Serm. 9. Holinefs and Felicity. 287
ven. The felicity of that ftate confifts In the
contemplation of the divine perfedions, and
their difplays in the works of creation, provi
dence, and redemption ; hence is it defcribed
by feeing the Lord, Matt. v. 8. and as a ftate of
knowledge, i Cor. xiii. 10 — 12. In the fatlsfac-
tion refulting thence, Pfal.xvn. 15. and a com
placency In God as a portion, Pfal. Ixxiii. 25, 26.
and in perpetual ferving and pralfing the Lord ;
and hence adoration is generally mentioned as
the employ of all the hofts of heaven. Thefe
are the entertainments of heaven, and they that
cannot find fupreme happinefs in thefe cannot
find it in heaven. But it is evident thefe things
could afford no fatisfadion to an unholy per
fon. He would pine away at the heavenly feaft,
for want of appetite for the entertainment ; an
holy God would be an objed: of horror rather
than delight to him, and his fervice would be
a wearinefs, as it is now. Hence it appears,
that if we do not place our fupreme delight in
thefe things here, we cannot be happy hereafter ;
for there will be no change of difpofitions in a
future ftate, but only the perfedion of thofe
predominant in us here, whether good or evil.
Either, heaven muft be changed, or the finner,
before he can be happy there. Hence alfo it
appears, that God's excluding fuch from hea
ven is no more an ad of cruelty than our not
admitting a fick man to a feaft, who has no
relifli for the entertainments ; or not bringing a blind

288 The Connexion, &c. Serm. 9.
a blind man into the light of ffie fun, or to view
a beautiful profped.
We fee then that holinefs is abfolutely necef*
fary; and what a great inducement ffiould this
confideration be to purfue it ? If we do not fee
the Lord, we fliall never fee good. We are
cut off at death from all earthly enjoyments, and
can no longer make experiments to fatisfy our
unbounded defires with them, and we have no
God to fupply their room. We are baniffied
from all the joys of ^eaven, and how vaft, how
inconceivably vaff- the lofs ! We are doomed
to the regions oi^rknefs for ever, to bear the
vengeance of eternal fire, to feel the laffies of a
guilty confcience, and to fpend an eternity in
an horrid intimacy with infernal ghofts ; and
will we not then rather follow holinefs, than
incur fo dreadful a doom ? By the terrors of
tbe Lord then be perfuaded to break off" your
fins by righteoufnefs, and follow holinefs " with-
" out which no man ffiall fee the Lord."

Th END ofthe First Volu]\«e.

C'iS: «

1 ^ J.A

.wdSaa^gji

..fefi

¦f; ¦¦\-

PH>»JW<f

£;^

,!«.

M

wi