concerned for their Intereft with the World, than for their Intereft with God; and this is, in the Language of our Saviour, to receive Honour one from another, and to neglect the Honour which cometh from God only. We have an Inftance of this Conduct in the twenty-fourth of the Acts; As Paul reafoned of Righteoufnefs, Temperance, and Judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this Time; when I have a convenient Seafon, I will call for thee. You see the natural Working of Confcience, and the Power of Conviction: A fober, ferious Discourse upon the great fundamental Points of Religion threw the Governor into a Fit of trembling, and made him unable to bear the Prefence of his Prifoner. Had this Light been cherished and encouraged, what noble Fruits might it have produced? But the Love of the World prevailed: The Governor often communed with St. Paul, but it was in hopes of getting Money of him for his Release. When this Hope failed, he permitted the Preacher of Righteoufnefs, Temperance, and Judgment to come, to continue in Prison two Years; and, when he left the Government, he left Paul bound, being willing, as the Text expreffes it, to fhew the fews a Plea

fure.

fure. You fee what Place the Honour of God had in this Man's Affections: He would have fold both God and the People for Money; but, when no Money was to be had, he chose rather to please the People than God; and therefore facrificed his innocent Prisoner, whom in Juftice he ought to have fet free, to the Prejudices and Resentments of the Jewish Nation. Many denied Christ, for the fame Reason that Felix left St. Paul bound, that they might fhew the People a PleaJure, and thereby become acceptable to them. Truth and Juftice must always suffer, as long as Men determine their Choice by Confiderations of their temporal Interest. These Confiderations are fo apt to overbear the Judgment, that our Saviour fpeaks of them in the Text, as if they put Men under a moral Impoffibility of acknowledging the Truth: How can ye believe, who receive Honour one of another, and feek not the Honour that cometh from God only?

Secondly, We are to inquire what is meant by feeking the Honour which cometh from God only.

Them that honour me, I will honour, faith the Lord; and they that defpife me, shall be lightly esteemed. The only Way therefore to

feek

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feek Honour from God, is by paying to Göd the Honour that is due to him. A fincere Regard to Truth and Juftice is the truest Honour, indeed the only Honour we can pay to God. All external Signs of Regard to God, though expreffed in the very Method prefcribed by himself, become empty Shews, unless they proceed from an honest Heart. Under the Law, Circumcifion was the Seal of the Covenant; and under the Gofpel, Baptism fucceeds in its place. They were both or dained by God; yet of the first St. Paul has faid, He is not a few, which is one outwardly; neither is that Circumcifion, which is outward in the Flefb: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and Circumcifion is that of the Heart, in the Spirit, and not in the Letter; whofe Praife is not of Men, but of God. And of the fecond St. Peter has faid, Baptifm doth now fave us; not the putting away the Filth of the Flesh, but the Anfwer of a good Confcience towards God. But this Matter is directly confidered and fettled by our bleffed Lord in his Sermon on the Mount. In treating on the great Duties of Religion, Almsgiving, Prayer, and Fafting, he expounds to us what it is to feek the Praise of Men, and what to -feek the Praife of God, and sets before us A a

VOL. III.

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the Confequences on both Sides. Take heed, fays he, that you you do not your Alms before Men, to be feen of them; otherwife ye have no Reward of your Father which is in Heaven. Therefore when thou doeft thine Alms, do not found a Trumpet before thee, as the Hypocrites do, in the Synagogues, and in the Streets, that they may have Glory of Men: Verily I fay unto you, They have their Reward. But when thou doeft Alms, let not thy left Hand know what thy right Hand doth, that thine Alms may be in fecret; and thy Father which feeth in fecret, bimfelf fhall reward thee openly. The like Injunctions he gives us with respect to Prayer and Fafting; and fhews us in every Instance, that to have Regard to Men, and the good Opinion of the World, in the performing of religious Duties, will entitle us to no higher a Reward than the Praise of Men. God will not hold himself obliged, nor can he in Juftice be thought obliged, to reward those Works, which are offered up as an Incense to the World, without Regard or Refpect to himself. If we feek the Praife of God, we muft confider only what will please him, and put the World quite out of the question.

As it is in practical Duties, fo is it in Faith likewife: He who profeffes to believe in Ch rift

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Christ, merely because the World about him is in the fame Profeffion, may obtain perhaps the Ease, the Honours, or the Riches which he aims at; and let him make the most of them, he has his Reward; for his temporal Faith will procure him no Praise or Honour from God. If you chufe a Religion with an Intention to fave your Soul, you must chuse that which will render you most acceptable to God, however it may expose you to the Frowns of the World. Thus it you muft feek the Honour which cometh from God only.

is

How differently Men will act in Matters of Religion, when they feek the Praise of Men, and when they seek the Praise of God, may easily be collected from the Knowledge we have of God and the World, and the Measures that are necessary to please them; but I chufe to place it before you in fome Inftances recorded in Scripture. We read in the seventh of St. John, that many of the People believed on Jefus, and faid, When Chrift cometh, fhall be do more Miracles than thefe, which this Man hath done? The Pharifees were alarmed at this Defection of the People; and to prevent the Growth of the Evil, they with the Chief Priests fend Officers to feize A a 2

our