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X.

of the Gofpel? if we patiently submit to hear it vili-SERM. fied and blafphemed; or, which is no less fhameful, by the wickedness of our Lives give advantage to those who labour to deftroy it? Let us remember that we are Chriftians; a Title which imports, that we have put off the old man with his Affections and Lufts, and are renewed in the Spirit of our Minds. Let us fhew and convince thofe, who, in oppofition to the Gofpel, would deprive us of the Succours of divine Grace in Chrift, perfuading us to rely on the mere Strength of Nature, what Advantages the true Christian has; and to what heights of Virtue that man may rife, whose Weaknesses and Infirmities are fuftained by Grace, and who acts with eternal Happinefs before him. Let us never, my Brethren, lay afide these Thoughts: Let us always cherish and preferve them in us. For if any thing can stir us up to a Zeal for God's Glory, and to every other Virtue that is commendable in man, it must be this Reflection, that we are Chriftians by Profeffion; that we have promised and engaged to forfake our Lufts, to refift the Devil, to bid Defiance to the World, to combat and oppose every Difficulty or Obstruction, that would hinder us in our Paffage to that State of Glory, which it hath pleafed God, in Chrift Jefus, to propose to us. Let us always be ashamed, with these Views before us, to do any thing unworthy of the great Character we affume: And if worldly Greatnefs be an Argument with fome, to do nothing that may ftain their Honour, let this spiritual Greatness be an Argument with us, to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we have been called, to adorn our Profeffion, and, by the brightness of our Example, bring back to the great Shepherd and Phyfician of our Souls those unhappy Wanderers, who are at first offended by

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SERM, the diffolute and wicked Lives of Chriftians, and then become a prey to the cunning Craftiness of thofe, who, too fuccefsfully, lie in wait to deceive.

In short, whatever treatment Christianity may receive, let its true Profeffors be ftill zealous to maintain it. For whosoever shall be ashamed of Chrift or his Doctrine, in this wicked and corrupt Generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed hereafter, when he fhall come in the Clouds of Heaven, as his Judge: But for them, who by patient continuance in well doing fhall feek for Glory and Honour and Immortality, there is laid up a Crown of Righteousness in Heaven.

Which the good God grant we may all receive, thro' the Merits of Jefus Chrift our Saviour, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghoft, be afcribed, as is moft due, all Honour and Glory, Might, Majefty and Dominion, both now, and for evermore.

We

We must not Judge others by what they fuffer.

Α

SERMON

Preached at St. James's.

LUKE Xiii. 2, 3, 4, 5.

And Jefus anfwering faid unto them, Suppose ye, that thefe Galileans were Sinners above all the Galileans, because they fuffered fuch things?

I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye fball all likewife perish.

Or thofe eighteen, upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell, and flew them, Think ye that they were Sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerufalem?

I tell you, Nay: But except ye repent, ye fhall all likewife perish.

T has been always obferved as a SERM. Weakness in human Nature, that we XI.. are apt, upon all. Occafions, to cen

fure the Faults of others, and in the

mean time to be inattentive to our

own. Against this, many Rules and Precepts have: been directed by thofe, who have undertook to in

G. 5

ftruct

SERM. ftruct the World in the Principles of Moral Wisdom. XI. Among the reft, our bleffed Saviour, in his Sermon won the Mount, thought it a Subject too confiderable

to be omitted; expreffing himself with fome Warmth and Indignation against thofe, who were apt to difcover Motes in the Eyes of others, and yet could not perceive Beams in their own. Notwithstanding this, we find in this Chapter fome Persons, that in his Hearing were guilty of the fame Fault, upon the Occafion of an Accident which, it seems, had happened to fome of his reputed Countrymen the Galileans, intimating, as one may judge from the anfwer Chrift makes, that they looked upon it as an Instance of God's high Displeasure, and as a Punishment inflicted on them for their Sins. There were, fays the Evangelift, prefent at that Seafon fome whò told him of the Galileans, whofe blood Pilate bad mingled with their Sacrifices, i. e. whom Pilate, for adhering to a Set of Men, who had declared it unlawful to pay Tribute to Cefar, had taken Occafion, as they were facrificing, to deftroy. To this our Saviour answers in the words of my Text, Suppose ye that thefe Galileans were Sinners above all the Galileans, because they fuffered fuch things? I tell you, Nay: But except ye repent, ye shall all likewife perish. Or thofe eighteen, upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell, and flew them, Think ye that they were Sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerufalem? I tell you, Nay: But except ye repent, ye shall all likewife perish. From which words of our Saviour, taken all together, it looks as if those who made this Reflection were led to it by the Prejudices, they had conceived against the Country, to which the unhappy Sufferers belonged, and as if they were the more forward to furmife the worst, because those who had thus pe

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rifhed were Galileans, the Inhabitants of a Country, SERM to which it is well known the Jews had a very great Dislike. To remove which Prejudice, and to teach them to judge charitably with respect to Mankind in general, our Saviour fo frames and contrives his Answer, as to inform them, that the Accident which had happened to thefe men, was neither owing to their being Sinners, nor Galileans. The firft of which Affertions is expreft in plain Terms, and the fecond is implied in that part of his Difcourfe, in which he produces another Inftance of the fame kind, which had happened among the Jews at Jerufalem, where no less than eighteen Perfons had been destroyed together by the Accident of a Tower's falling upon their Heads. By which Example he not only enforces the fame Doctrine he had advanced before, but does further inform them, that what had happened to the Galileans, did not happen to them, because they were Galileans, fince they found that Misfortunes of the fame kind with theirs, befel those of their own Country too. After which he proceeds to repeat the Admonition he had before given them, of the Danger they were in, affuring them that if they did not repent of their Sins, they should all in like manner perish.

But

Some have underftood the Deftruction here threatned, as spoken of that final Deftruction in the next World, which is often call'd in Scripture perishing. For indeed it was true, that if they did not repent, they fhould all likewife in that Senfe perish. others have understood it, upon better Grounds, to have respect to the temporal Destruction of that People, which our Saviour has elfewhere foretold; and which agrees much better with his Expreffion in this Place, importing, that they should suffer in the

fame

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