law judge a man before it hear him?" and he was the same when he came to Christ by night, but the Saviour gave him no thanks for it. The young man in the gospel, when he was commanded to sell all and follow Christ, was very tame and gentle, and went away sorrowful; but it was the sorrow of the world, that worketh death. The Laodiceans were gentle, tame, and tractable; they had no fire of love, nor fiery zeal; no rancour, spleen, nor bitterness; they needed nothing, nor did they strive for any thing; and this carnal ease and sloth is all the gentleness and candour that some call for. But it is not enough to be lukewarm, they must be either cold or hot, they must be with Christ or against him; they must either gather with him, or scatter abroad; serve God and hate mammon, or serve mammon and hate God. gentleness springs from stupor, insensibility, carnal ease, and spiritual death; but the gentleness in my text is quite another thing; it is not forced by the withering vengeance of God, nor does it spring from an outward reformation, nor from an external perfuming or embalming of sinners by the word, which is sometimes the case where grace never reaches the heart or changes the soul.

This

Secondly, There is a gentleness that at times. influences even the servants of the Lord, which some of them are brought into by the fear of man, want of zeal, courage, and faithfulness; and which comes upon them by associating with the unregenerate. The liberality of hypocrites, the

feigned humility of legal workmongers, and the pretended candour of rotten fleshly professors, abates the edge of their zeal, betrays them to be partial in their trust, yield up half the good thing that is committed unto them to the children of lies; and, for the sake of unlawful peace, preach a universal gospel, and neglect the bounds that God has fixed, blunt the edge of God's sword, and pay no regard to the lines that he has drawn. This gentleness is not the gentleness that God commands in my text, for this is reprehensible. We find the angel or minister of the church in Thyatira had much of this sort of gentleness; he was not only gentle to all men, but to women also, for he suffered Jezebel to teach, for which he was reproved.

The apostle had some preachers in his days that were gentle to these prophetesses; hence he writes, that women should adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, which becometh women professing godliness, with good works, and that they should learn in silence with all subjection, but not to be suffered to teach nor to usurp authority over the man; for Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression, 1 Tim. chap. ii. The best account that Eve could give when the question was put home, "Woman, what hast thou done?" was this, "the serpent beguiled me;" and those that are so fond of writing against the Lord's servant, in order

to bring his ministry into contempt, and injure the word of God, can say no more in their defence than their mother did; the serpent beguiled me.

Some in the apostles' days were not contented with carrying a private message by word of mouth, as Mary did to the apostles, nor with private converse, as Priscilla was, who were both converted women; one knew the pardon of her sins, and the other the way of the Lord; but Paul had some women that knew not the way of the Lord nor the pardon of sin, yet would be teachers; hence Timothy is commanded to avoid old wives fables, though others might adhere to them. Paul had no small trials from this quarter; hence he ordains, that no widow shall be admitted to a proper relief "under threescore years of age, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she hath brought up children, if she hath lo.lged strangers, if she hath washed the saints' feet, if she hath diligently followed every good work," 1 Tim. v. 9, 10.

Paul had some honourable women, and these he greatly honoured. We read also of real prophetesses in the apostle's days, but we have no prophecies from them against the servant of the Lord, nor any account of their prophesying to teach men in public. Mary and Elizabeth prophesied to each other; and such are ordered to teach the younger women to be sober, guide the house, love their husbands and their children; to be discreet, chaste, and keepers at home, Titus ii. 4. Paul had female servants that waited on

him and the churches, but none of them pretended to teach him from the press: they did not tell him in print that he was too little because he was let out of a window in a basket, nor that Apollos was too big by one half. Paul's servants laboured with him, not against him; they succoured him, and did not add affliction to his bonds; they carried his epistles and his messages by word of mouth; they waited on him instead of slandering him; they were swift to hear him, but slow to teach him; they were helpers with him, not plagues to him.

But Paul had other sorts of women, who knew not the way of the Lord, nor the pardon of sin, like Mary; nor the Spirit's work on the soul, like those good prophetesses; but empty, insolent, tyrannical, bold, daring, and imperious; these are they that would teach and usurp authority over the men, like some in our days, whose writings bear just as much resemblance with Hannah's song, Elizabeth's prophecy, and Mary's triumphs, as the history of Tom Thumb does with Milton's Paradise Lost; the glorious rays of the one, and the confused gloom of the other, make as great a contrast as the garden of Eden would with the regions of Lapland. With this sort of prophetesses the apostle had no little trouble; and it appears there were too many preachers that were gentle towards them, knowing their warm inclination to dictate to the second Adam, as their poor grandmother had done to the first: hence the apostle adds, "But younger widows refuse; for when they have

begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; having damnation because they have cast off their first faith." He goes on; "and withal they learn to be idle;" they would sooner break through the positive commands of God, and reprobate the ministry of his servants, than work for their bread; "wandering about from house to house," says Paul; that is, to mump a livelihood under a pretence of religion, rather than handle the spindle or the distaff, or look well to her own household. And not only idle, says Paul, "but tatlers also;" that is, they would sooner carry tales, either with their tongue or pen from the press, for two-pence apiece, than buckle to the spinning wheel, or be confined to the intolerable employment of knitting or sewing; these things make women cut no figure in life; Dorcas's making garments for the poor; Hannah's making little coats for Samuel; Rachel's keeping sheep; and Ruth's going to gleaning, shews the weakness of those honourable women. These sort of prophetesses have no notion of being the daughters of Sarah, calling the master of the household, Lord. It is true, the real daughters of Sarah even in our day will not be ashamed of their mothers' humble conduct; but as for our prophetesses, falsely so called, they seem to be of the temper of Hagar; not contented with turning Sarah out of the chair, but they spit their yenom at the Lord of the household, that he sends servants too big into the vineyard; these women lay by their weakness, and let the