There is a Contagion in ill Company, and he who dwells with the Scorner shall not be guiltless. But, fince these Difficulties appear fo great, compare them with the real Hardfhips that surrounded the Chriftians of the firft Ages: They lived in Perils, on all Sides were Terrors, within were Fears, without was Death. In these Circumftances they

were called to confefs Chrift in the Face of an enraged and cruel World; and the Rule given them to go by was, Not to fear thofe, who could kill the Body only, but to fear him, who could destroy both Body and Soul everlaftingly. If this was their Rule under fuch real Difficulties, what must be yours under fuch pretended ones? If they were not permitted to fear the Rage of Kings and Princes, fhall you be excused for fearing the Scorn or the Refentment of a light Companion? If they were called to brave the Sword, and to look every Image of Death boldly in the Face; fhall you find Pity, because you were afraid perhaps of being laughed at, and defpifed by thofe who are void of Understanding?

But not to infift upon this, which may perhaps be too high a Degree of Virtue for the Times we live in, let us come lower: If

you care not to be a Reprover or Rebuker of this Iniquity, yet surely there is no Neceffity for you to be an Admirer or Encourager of it: It is no great Sacrifice you make to Christ, when you refign your Share of the Applause, which belongs to thofe who perfecute and blafpheme him. In a word: Confider with yourselves that Religion is, of all others, the most serious Concern. If its Pretenfions are founded in Truth, it is Life to embrace them, it is Death to despise them. We cannot in this Cafe ftand neuter: We cannot ferve two Masters; we must hold to the one, and defpife the other. If we confefs Chrift before Men, he will also confefs us before God, and his holy Angels: If we deny him before Men, he will deny us at the last Day, when he shall come in the Glory of his Father to judge the World.

Had our Lord been merely a Teacher of good Things, without any fpecial Commiffion or Authority from the great Creator and Governor of the World, it would have been highly abfurd to affume to himself this great Prerogative of being owned and acknowledged before Men. Several have from the Light of Reason taught many good Leffons to the World: But are we bound to take

every reasonable Man, who recommends the Practice of Virtue, for our Mafter? To own his Authority at the Peril of our Lives? No Man ever thought fo. Socrates taught many great Things to the Greeks before Christ came into the World. If he followed Reason, he did well; and we shall do well to follow it too, and farther we have no Concern with him. But, if there be any Truth at all in the Gospel, the Cafe is far otherwise with respect to our Bleffed Redeemer; we must own his Authority, we must confefs him before the World, be the Danger of fo doing ever so great or extreme. Whence arises this Obligation? It cannot reft merely upon this, that he was a Teacher of Reason and good Morality; for in that Cafe it would be fufficient to fubmit to the Reason and the Rules of Morality which he taught, without concerning ourselves with his Authority, which was no more than what Reafon and Virtue give every Man. But the Cafe with us is otherwife: Our Lord requires of us, that we fhould confefs him before Men; and has declared, that if we deny him before the World, he will deny us in the Prefence of God and his holy Angels, when he comes to judge the Quick and the Dead, Confider what man

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ner of Perfon is this, who requires fo much at our Hands. If he is indeed the Son of God; if all Power in Heaven and Earth is given him by the Father; if he is constituted by God Judge of all Men, there is a clear Reason to justify his Demand, and our Obedience: But if he was only a mere Teacher of Morality and Religion, how is he to be juftified in pretending to be the only Son of God, in pretending to have all Power given him in Heaven and Earth, and to be appointed Judge of all Men? You must either own him under these Characters, or you must condemn him as an Impoftor for claiming them. How far those who are willing to admit Christ to be a good Teacher, but refuse to acknowledge him in any other Character, are chargeable with seeing this Confequence, I know not; nor can I fee, if they confider it, how they can avoid it.

When therefore we read that our Lord requires of us to confefs him before Men, the true Way to know what we are to confefs, is to reflect what he confeffed himself; for it cannot be supposed that he thought it reafonable for himself to make one Confeffion, and for his Difciples and Servants to make another. Look then into the Gospel, and

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fee his own Confeffion: He confeffed himself to be the only Son of God, to come from the Bofom of the Father to die for the Sins of the World; to have all Power given to him in Heaven and Earth; to be the Judge of the World. When you have weighed these Things, read his Words, and judge what your Duty is: Whosoever shall be afhamed of me, and of my Words, in this adulterous and finful Generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the Glory of his Father, with the boly Angels.

DISCOURSE