24

Reflections on the Need of Self-denial and Mortification. Sect. 93. Vol. i. pag. 223.) and as Salt is a very good Thing, the Salt have lost his Saltness, ~ fo will you, if you answer that Character, be in- wherewith will ye season

Mark IX.

50.

Mat.xviii.1.

Markix. 36.

eftimable Blessings to the World: But remember
what I then added, if the Salt itself be grown in-
fipid, with what will you feafon it? or what can
restore you, if you are corrupted, who should
restore others? See to it therefore, that you have
this excellent Salt in yourselves; and as one In-
stance of it, be careful to maintain Peace with
each other, and do not give Way to those very
unbecoming Disputes and Emulations, which have
been the Occasion of my present Discourse.

it? Have Salt in yourselves, and have Peace one with another.

IMPROVEMENT.

OW deeply is Pride rooted in the Heart of fallen Man; when neither the daily Instructions, nor edifying Example of the humble Jefus, could prevent it from appearing, even among the Apostles themselves, in so mean and unworthy a Manner! Still did Worldly Interest and Grandeur so intoxicate their Minds, that they seemed even against Hope to have hoped for it, and to have found out a strange Kind of Method, of grafting these Expectations, even on the very Cross of Christ, which was intended to destroy them.

How edifying and affecting are these Lessons, which the meek and lowly Redeemer gave us, with this little Child in his Arms, whose Example we are required to copy! Lord, give us of thy regenerating Grace, that Mat.xviii.3. we may do it; that we may be converted, and become as little Children, free from Avarice and Ambition, Malice and Prejudice! How melancholy is it to think, that many, who have by their Office been employed to read and explain this Lesson to others, and who have not been Children in Understanding, seem to have learnt so little of it themselves; as if it had never been at all intended for that Order of Men, to whom indeed it was immediately addressed ! If there be any such yet remaining in the Christian Ministry, let them seriously weigh the Woe, denounced on that Man by whom the Offence cometh. May the infinite Mercies of God be extended to all profeffing Christians, who give themselves up to Worldly Pursuits and Projects; and especially to those, who make the Church of Christ only a Kind of Porch to the Temple of Mammon, and the Sacred Office itself merely a convenient Vehicle, for swallowing down Riches and Honours! May Divine Grace deliver us from such fatal Snares, and form us to that Self-denial and Mortification, without which we cannot be the true Disciples of Chrift; but after having pierced ourselves thro' with many unnecessary Sorrows here, small plunge ourselves deep into Eternal Perdition!

Ver. 7.

May

CHRIST will not have his Little Ones despised:

25

43,-48.

May these repeated, and dreadful Representations of future Misery, Sect. 93. which we have now been reading, impress our Souls in a becoming Mark ix. Manner! Blessed Jesus! thou bringest good Tidings; yet which of the Prophets under the Legal Dispensation ever represented the Terrors of the Lord in so awful a Light, as that in which thou hast placed them! Let none of thy Ministers be afraid to imitate thee herein! nor let any of thy Followers presume to censure them for it! May we all be effectually warned to flee from the Wrath to come ; and as we would not another Day be falted Ver. 49. with Fire, may our Hearts now be feafoned with thy Grace! and may we Ver. 50. by a modest and peaceful, a benevolent and useful Life, be daily bearing a Testimony to it, and as the Salt of the Earth may we be labouring to cure the growing Corruption of the World about us!

SECT. XCIV.

Our LORD farther inforces Condefcenfion and Humility, and gives Rules for the Accommodation of Disputes and Offences among Christians. Mat. XVIII. 10,---20.

F

МАТ. XVIII. 10.

Mat.XVIII.

10.

ARTHER to promote the Humility and Sect. 94. Moderation of his Disciples, our Lord proceeded in the Discourse, which he had begun (as in the former Section,) with the little Child in his Arms, and said, Take special heed that you despise not one of these Little Ones, or that you do not caft Contempt on the weakest and meanest of my Servants, nor flight even the Soul of a Child; for I say unto you, that their attendant Angels, while in Heaven, do incessfantly behold the Face of my Heavenly Father (a); and if the highest Courtiers

in

(a) Their attendant Angels, while in Heaven, &c.] The Fathers looked on this as an Argument, that each good Man had his particular Guardian Angel: (See Suicer. Thefaur. vol. i. pag. 43.) And Grotius also seems to allow the Force of it. I apprehend this Passage rather intimates, that the Angels, who sometimes attend the Little Ones spoken of, at other Times stand in God's immediate Presence; and consequently that different Angels are at different Times employed in this kind Office, if it be incessantly performed. The general Sense is plain, that the highest Angels do not disdain, on proper Occasions, to perform Services of Protection and Friendship for the meanest Christian; but, as St. Paul says, they are all ministring Spirits fent forth to minister to the Heirs of Salvation. Heb. i. 14. I say, the highest; because to behold the Face of GOD, may fignify waiting near bis Throne, and be an Allufion to the Office of Chief Ministers in Earthly Courts, who daily converse with their Princes. See Grotius; and compare 2 Sam. xvi. 19. 1 Kings xii. 6. Efth. i. 14. and Luke i. 19. VOL. II.

D

(b) For

II.

26

Nor will the Father fuffer one of them to perish.

Sect. 94. in the World above do not disdain, on proper OcMat. XVIII, cafions, to minister unto them, much less should you disdain it. Especially when you confider, how much greater an Instance of Condescension you have continually before you, than it is possible even the Angels should give; for the Son of Man himself (6), that great and illustrious Personage, came, not, as many have imagined, to reign and triumph upon Earth, but by all the Offices of Humility and Endearment to fave that which was loft and undone; and he takes a gracious and constant Oversight of the least, as well as the greatest

of his Redeemed ones. (Compare Luke xix. 10.

12 Sect. 143.) What do you think would be the Con-
duct of a faithful Shepherd? If a Man had an
Hundred Sheep, and but one of them should wander,
would be not leave the Ninety-nine in their Pasture
or Fold on the Mountains (c), and go out with the
most solicitous Care and Labour to feek that which is
13 gone astray? And if be happen to find it, I affur-
edly say unto you, that he will bring it back with grea-
ter Pleasure, and it will give him a more sensible
Joy, than the Ninety-nine which had not wandered at
14 all. (Compare Luke xv. 4, 5. Sect. 122.) Even
fo, it is not the Will of GOD your Heavenly Father,
that any one of these Little Ones should be loft, for
Want of your Care in attending it, or thro' your
Negligence in seeking its Recovery.

15

And as in order to the Recovery of your weaker Brethren, Admonition will frequently be necessary, let me lay down a Rule, which, when larger Societies are formed among you, it will be of great Importance to attend to with the utmost Care: If thou shalt know thy Brother to be guilty of a Fault, and he shall fin against thee, go and reprove him in the most convincing, yet the most gentle

II For the Son of Man is come to save that which was loft.

12 How think ye? If a Man have an hundred Sheep, and one of them be gone aftray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth the Mountains, and feeketh that which is gone aftray?

13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that Sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not aftray?

14 Even so it is not the Will of your Father which is in Heaven, that one of these Little ones should pehe

15 Moreover, if thy Brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his Fault be

tween

(b) For the Son of Man himself.] The Particle For here introduces another Reafon, to inforce the Caution not to despise these Little ones, and not a Proof of their Angels beholding GOD's Face. See Note (d) on Luke xi. 36. Vol. i. pag. 390.

(c) Leave the Ninety-nine on the Mountains.] The Original will bear, either this Construction, or that which is given in our common Translation; but I have rather chosen to express it thus, as moft agreeable to what we find in Luke, chap. xv. 4. Sect. 122.

(d) Re

How they should deal with an offending Brother.

27

Mat. XVIII.

gentle Manner that thou canst (d); and that he Sect. 94.
may take it the better, let it be done between thee
and him alone: If he will bear thee with due Re- 15.
gard, it is well; for by this Means thou hast gained
thy Brother; he will return to the Way of his
Duty, and the Friendship between you will thus
be established on firmer Foundations than ever,
in Confequence of this substantial Token of thy
impartial Sincerity, and Frankness of Temper.
(Compare Prov. xxviii. 23.) But if he will 16
not hearken [to thee, take with thee One or Two
more, who are Persons of Character and Reputa-
tion in the Society, that their Presence may add
greater Weight to the Admonition given, and may
be of Service, either to filence his Objections, and
bring him to a Sense of his Fault, or to prevent
Disputes, and justify thy Conduct, if the Matter
should be carried farther; as in the Mouth of Two
or Three Witnesses every Word may be established
more effectually, than it could otherwise have
been. (See Deut. xix. 15.) But if he shall 17.
be still incorrigible in his Fault, and disregard
them in the Advice they offer him for Peace,
then tell it to the whole Church (e), or Society

of

(d) Reprove him in the most convincing-Manner that thou canst.] The Word ελεγξου fignifies to convince, as well as to admonish. Compare John viii. 9, 46. xvi. 8. 1 Cor. xiv. 24. Tit. i. 9. and Jam. ii. 9. -The Reader will observe, I often chuse to give the full Force of a Word in the Paraphrafe, rather than greatly to increase the Number of Words in the Version, tho' so increased they might express no more, than is expressed in a single Word or two in the Greek.

(e) Tell it to the whole Church.] This is one of those many Scriptures, which would have been very intelligible, if they had not been learnedly obscured by ingenious Men, whose Interest it has been to spread a Cloud over them. I am more and more convinced, that the vulgar Sense of the New Testament, i. e. the Sense in which an honest Man of plain Sense would take it on his first reading the Original, or any good Translation, is almost every where the true general Sense of any Passage; tho' an Acquaintance with Language and Antiquity, with an attentive Meditation on the Text and Context, may illustrate the Spirit and Energy of a Multitude of Places, in a Manner which could not otherwise be learnt. The old English Editions of 1539. and 1541. render it, Tell it to the Congregation; and I think properly enough. The Word Church is unhappily grown into a Term of Art, and has by different Persons a Variety of fecondary Ideas annexed to it; as Dr. Watts has beautifully shewn, in his Effay on Uncharitableness, pag. 7, -10. But it signifies in general, an Affembly, or Number of People, called together on whatever Occasion; as is well known. (Compare Atts xix. 32, 39.) It is in the New Testament generally used, as here, for a particular Assembly; (Alts xiv. 23. 1 Cor. iv. 17. xiv. 23. xvi. 19.) but sometimes it is used for the whole Body of Christians, because they are now called out from the World, and are at last to be gathered together in the Presence of Christ their Head, (2 Thes. ii. 1.) and to dwell for ever with each other, and with him. (1 Thes. iv. 17.) Compare Mat. xvi. 18. Eph. i. 22. iii. 10. v. 24.

28

Sect. 94.

Mat. XVIII.

17.

18

neglect to hear the Church

let him be unto thee as an Heathen Man, and a Publi

can.

Whatever they bind on Earth, fhall be bound in Heaven. of worshipping Christians to which he belongs, and among whom he has immediate Communion in Gospel Ordinances; and if they concur in any Admonition to the Offender, and he be so far hardened as to disregard the whole Church, or Society of Christians, you have then done your utmost to reclaim him; and while he continues in this obstinate Temper, you will do well to enter your Protest against it, by forbearing any intimate Friendship with such a Person; and let him therefore in this Case be to thee even as a Heathen, and a Publican, or other most notorious Sinner (f), to whom you would perform only the common Offices of Humanity, but would avoid his intimate Society as scandalous, and to whom you are not under those peculiar Obligations, whereby Christian Brethren are bound to each other.

These are the Maxims, which you, my Apostles, are to inculcate on my other Followers, and let them fee to it, that they duly regard you; for verily I fay unto you, You shall be furnished with such Divine Illumination and Assistance, as shall abundantly confirm the Authority of your Decifions, on every Cafe and Question which may occur; and fully prove, (as I formerly told you,) that whatsoever you shall bind even in this Course of your humble Ministry on Earth, shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever you shall loofe

012

18 Verily I fay unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind

Earth, shall be bound in Heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loofe on Earth, shall be

loosed in Heaven.