SERMONS BY THE

ife und Cimes of the Author,

ALBERT BARNES.

A In Three Volumes.

Vol. Hi.

1867." THE MASTER'S COLLEGE POWELL LIBRARY

“SANTA CLARITA, CA $132]

CHOWK TS Ee Lice

PRS Hey HRS

CONTENTS

VOLUME II.

SERMON XXVII. LIFE AND IMMORTALITY REVEALED IN THE GOSFEL.

2 Tim. 1. 10.—And hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel, - - - - aiii - PAG@E9

SERMON XXVIII. JESUS CHRIST THE ONLY FOUNDATION.

Isaran xxvii. 16, 17.—Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I

. lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place, - - - - - 23

SERMON XXIX. THE NECESSITY AND EXCELLENCE OF FAMILY RELIGION.

1 Tim. v. 8.—But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel, - - - - - - 42

SERMON XXX. THE RULE OF EQUITY.

Marr. vu. 12.—Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for tnis is the law and the prophets, - - - - - 62

Iv CONTENTS.

SERMON XXXI. DEDICATION TO GOD ARGUED FROM REDEEMING MERCY. Cor. vi. 19, 29.—What, know ye not that ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's, - 76

SERMON XXXIIL THE CHRISTIAN FEAST.

1 Cor. v. 8.—Therefore let us' keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, - 95

SERMON XXXIII. THE NATURE AND BLESSEDNESS OF SONSHIP WITH GOD,

Joun mt. 1, 2.—Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he

SERMON XXXV.

Luxe x. 20.—Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits

are subject to you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heay, - - - ee - - 153

THE SUCCESS QF THE GOSPEL BY THE DIVINE POWER UPON THE; SOULS OF MEN. 2 Cor. x. 4, 5.—For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds

CONTENTS. , v

castmg down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, - i 164

SERMON XXXVII.

THE DIVINE PERFECTIONS ILLUSTRATED IN THE METHOD OF SALVA- TION THROUGH THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.

Joun xu. 27, 23.—Now my soul is troubled: and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause zame I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name, - 182

SERMON XXXVIII.

Psaum cxi. 10.—The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments, - - - - - - - 208

SERMON XXXIX. REJECTION OF CHRIST A COMMON BUT MOST UNREASONABLE INIQUITY.

Marx xu. 6.—Having yet therefore one Son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence MY SONs fern) aana isting ys tebiowy s1818

SERMON XL. THE DOOM OF THE INCORRIGIBLE SINNER.

Prov. xxrx. 1.—He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy, 236

SERMON XLI. THE NATURE OF LOOKING TO CHRIST OPENED AND EXPLAINED.

SERMON XLII. ARGUMENTS TO ENFORCE OUR LOOKING TO CHRIST.

vi CONTENTS. re, $ PAI y

' SERMON XLUI.. a THE VESSELS OF MERCY AND THE VESSELS OF WRATH DELINEATED Rom. 1x. 22, 23.—The vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,

SERMON XLIV. THE NATURE AND NECESSITY OF TRUE REPENTANCE.,

Acts xvu. 30.—And the times of this ignorance God winked at’ but now commandeth all men every where to repent, 29ien SERMON XLY.

Gat. 1v. 19, 20.—My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you, - - - = - - - - - 307

SERMON XLVI.

THE WONDERFUL COMPASSIONS OF CHRIST TO THE GREATEST O7 SINNERS. ’

Marr. xxm. 37.—O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! - - - - ` - - - 326

SERMON XLVII. THE NATURE OF LOVE TO GOD AND CHRIST OPENED AND ENFORCED

Joun xxi. 17.—He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me, And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep, - - 343

SERMON XLVIII.

Jonn ui. ~,—Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again eee Spe: 2 388

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CONTENTS vil

SERMON XLIX. THE DIVINE LIFE IN THE SOULS OF MEN CONSIDERED.

Gat. 1. 20.-—I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, 385 r

oes a SERMON L. = On the same subject, - - - TEE TEP 398 e. SERMON LI.

THE WAYS OF SIN HARD AND DIFFICULT. Acts 1x. 5.—It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks, 414

SERMON LII.

THE CHARACTERS OF THE WHOLE AND SICK, IN A SPIRITUAL SENSE, CONSIDERED AND CONTRASTED.

Marr. rx. 12.—But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them,

They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick, - - = 2 A = z = = 425

SERMON LIII. A SIGHT OF CHRIST THE DESIRE AND DELIGHT OF SAINTS IN ALL AGES

Joun vin. 56.—Your Father Abraham rejoiced (earnestly desired) to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad, - ~- 446

SERMON LIV. THE LAW AND GOSPEL,

. Gat. m. 23.—But before faith came, we were under the law,

shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be reveal- Penne he eer gee + eae

SERMON LV. THE GOSPEL INVITATION.

Luxe xiv. 21-24.—Then the master of the house being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said Lord, it is

Vili CONTENTS.

done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper, soy) Stee Stes 484

SERMON LVI.

Rom. 1. 16, 17.—For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek; for therein the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith—or,

therein is the righteousness of God by faith revealed to faith, SE PT Ole Get. SORE GHEE IOP aah eee

SERMON LVII.

1 Cor. m. 7.—So then neither is he that plants any thing, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase, -= 522

SERMON LYIII. THE REJECTION OF GOSPEL LIGHT THE CONDEMNATION OF MEN,

Joun ur. J9.—And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because (or, for,) their deeds were evil, - > 543

SERMONS ON

SERMON XXVII. LIFE AND IMMORTALITY REVEALED IN THE GOSPEL.

2 Tia... 10—And hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel.*

So extensive have been the havoc and devastation which death has made in the world for near six thousand years, ever since it was first introduced by the sin of man, that this earth is now become one vast grave-yard, or burying-place for her sons. The many generations that have followed upon each other, in so quick a succession from Adam to this day, are now in the mansions under ground. And there must we and all the present generation sleep ere long. Some make a sort of journey _ from the womb to the grave: they rise from nothing at

the creative fiat of the Almighty, and take an immediate flight into the world of spirits, without an intermediate state of probation. Like a bird on the wing, they perch on our globe, rest a day, a month, or a year, and then fly off for some other regions. It is evident, these were not formed for the purposes of the present state, where they make so short a stay; and yet we are sure they are not made in vain by an all-wise Creator; and there

* This Sermon was preached at the funeral of Mr. William Yuille, an is dated Sept. 1, 1756

EA 10 LIFE AND IMMORTALITY

fore we conclude they are young immortals, that immediately ripen’in the world of spirits, and there enter upon scenes, for which it was worth their while coming into existence. Others spring up and bloom for a few years; but they fade away like a flower, and are cut down. Others arrive at the prime or meridian of human life; but in all their strength and gaiety, and amid their hurries and schemes, and promising prospects, they are surprised by the arrest of death, and laid stiff, senseless, and ghastly in the grave. A few creep into their beds of dust under the burden of old age and the gradual decays of nature. In short, the grave is the place appointed for all living; the general rendezvous of all the sons of Adam. ‘There the prince and the beggar, the conqueror and the slave, the giant and the infant, the scheming politician and the simple peasant, the wise and the fool, Heathens, Jews, Mahometans, and Christians, all lie equally low, and mingle their dust without distinction. Their beauty in all its charms putrifies into stench and corruption, and feeds the vilest insects. There the sturdy arm of youth lies torpid and benumbed, unable to drive off the worms that crawl through their frame, and riot upon their marrow. There lie our ancestors, our neighbors, our friends, our relatives, with whom we once conversed, and who were united to our hearts by strong and endearing ties; and there lies our friend, and sprightly vigorous youth, whose death is the occasion of this funeral solemnity. This earth is overspread with the ruins of the human frame: it is a huge carnage, a vast charnel-house, undermined and hollowed with the graves, the last mansions of mortals.

And shall these ruins of time and death never be repaired? Is this the final state of human nature? Are all these millions of creatures, that were so curiously formed, that could think, and will, and exercise the superior powers of reason, are they all utterly extinct, absorbed into the yawning gulf of annihilation, and never again to emerge into life and activity? If this be the case, the expostulation of the psalmist upon this supposition, seems unavoidable; Lord, wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? Psalm Ixxxix. 47. It was not worth while to come into being, if it must be resigned so soon. The

powers of reason were thrown away upon us, they were given only for low purposes of the present life.

But my text revives us with heavenly light to scat ter this tremendous gleom. Jesus hath abolished death, overthrown its empire, and delivered its captives; and he hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel.

Life and immortality here seem to refer both to the soul and the body, the two constituents of our person. As applied to the body, life and immortality signify, that though our bodies are dissolved at death, and return into their native elements, yet they shall be formed anew with vast improvements, and raised to an immortal existence; so that they shall be as though death never had had any power over them; and thus death shall be abolished, annihilated, and all traces of the ruins it had made for ever disappear, as though they had never been. It is in this sense chiefly that the word Immortality or Incorruptibility,* is made use of in my text.’ But then the resurrection of the body supposes the perpetual existence of the soul, for whose sake it is raised: therefore

-life and immortality, as referring to the soul, signify that it is immortal, in a strict and proper sense ; that is, that it cannot die at all, or be dissolved like the body ; but it lives in the agonies of the dying animal; it lives after the dissolution of the animal frame in a separate state ; it lives at the resurrection to re-animate the new formed body ; and it lives for ever, like- its mortal parent, and shall never be dissolved nor annihilated. In this complex sense we may understand the immortality of which my text speaks.

Now it is to the gospel that we owe the clear discovery of immortality in both these senses. As for the resurrection of the dead, which confers a kind of immortality upon our mortal bodies, it is altogether the discovery of divine revelation. The light of nature could not so much as give a hint of it to the most sagacious philo sophers in the heathen world. They did not hope for it as possible, much less believe it as certain. And when, among other important doctrines of pure revelation, it was first preached to them by St. Paul, their pride could not bear the mortification of being taught by a tent-

* abdupctas

maker what all their studies had not been able to discover; and therefore rejected it with scorn, and ridiculed it as a new-fangled notion of the superstitious Jews. This seems to have been an entire secret to all nations, (except the Jews,) till the light of Christianity dawned upon the world. ‘They bade an eternal farewell to their bodies, when they dropped them in the grave. They never expected to meet them again in all the glorious improvements of a happy resurrection. But that divine revelation from whence we learn our religion, opens to us a brighter prospect; it strengthens our eyes to look forward through the glooms of death, and behold the many that sleep in the dust awaking; “some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt:” Dan. xii. 2. It assures us, “that the hour is coming, when all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth; they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation:” John v. 28. Therefore, be it known unto thee, O Death, thou king of terrors, that though we cannot now resist thy power nor escape thy arrest, yet we do not surrender ourselves to thee as helpless, irredeemable prisoners. We shall yet burst thy bonds, and obtain the victory over thee. And when we commit the dust of our friends or our own to thee, O grave! know, it is a trust deposited in thy custody, to be faithfully kept till called for by Him who was once a prisoner in thy territories, but regained his liberty, and triumphed over thee, and put that song of victory into the mouths of all his followers, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 1-Cor. xv. 55.

As for the immortality of the soul, Christian philosophers find it no difficulty to establish it upon the plain principles of reason. Their arguments are such as these, and I think they are conclusive: That the soul is an im. material substance, and therefore cannot perish by dissolution, like the body; that the soul is a substance distinct from the bedy, and therefore the dissolution of the body has no more tendency to destroy the soul, than the breaking of a cage to destroy the bird enclosed in it; that God has implanted in the soul the innate desire of immortality; and that as the tendencies of nature in

other instances and in other creatures, are not in vain, this innate desire is an indication that he intended it for an immortal duration; that, as God is the moral Governor cf the rational world, there must be rewards and punishments, and therefore there must be a future state of retribution ; for we see mankind are now under a pro

miscuous providence, and generally are not dealt with according to their works; and if there be a future state of retribution, the soul must live in a future state, other

wise it could not be the subject of rewards and punishments. These and the like topics of argument have been improved by the friends of immortality, to prove that important doctrine beyond all reasonable suspicion. And because these arguments from reason seem sufficient, some would conclude, that we are not at all obliged to the Christian revelation in this respect. But it should be considered, that those are not the arguments of the populace, the bulk of mankind, but of a few philosophic studious men. But as immortality is the prerogative of all mankind, of the ignorant and illiterate, as well as of the wise and Jearned, all mankind, of all ranks of under

standing, are equally concerned in the doctrine of immor

tality; and therefore a common revelation was necessary, which would teach the ploughman and mechanic, as well as the philosopher, that he was formed for an immortal existence, and, consequently, that it is his grand concern to fit himself for a happiness beyond the gtave, as lasting as his nature. Now, it is the gospel alone that makes this important discovery plain and obvious to all. It must also be considered, that men may be able to demonstrate a truth when the hint is but once given, which they would never have discovered, nor perhaps suspected, without that hint. So when the gospel of Christ has brought immortality to light, our Christian philosophers may support it with arguments from reason; bat had they been destitute of this additional light, they would have been lost in perplexity and uncertainty, or at best have been advanced to no farther than plausible or probable conjectures. Persons may be assisted in sheir searches by the light of revelation; but, being accustomed to it, they may mistake it for the light of their own reason; or they may not be so honest and humble as to acknowledge the assistance they have received.

VOL. Il. 2

The surest way to know what mere unassisted reason can do, is to inquire what it has actually done m those sages of the heathen world who had no other guide, and in whom it was carried to the highest degree of improvement. Now we find, in fact, that though some philosophers had plausibilities and presumptions, that their souls should exist after the dissolution of their bodies, yet that they rather supposed, or wished, or thought it probable, than firmly believed it upon good evidence. The Socrateses, the Platos, and the Ciceros of Greece and Rome, after all their searches, were more perplexed on this point, than a plain common Christian of the smallest intellectual improvements in our land of evangelical light. Whoever reads their writings upon this subject, will find, when they draw’their conclusion of the soul’s existence after death, it is often from extravagant and chimerical premises; such as the pre-existence of human souls, their successive transmigrations from body to body, their being literally particles of the Deity, whom they supposed to be the Anima Mund, the universal soul of the world, &c. All these premises want the support of

proper evidence; and some of them are directly subversive of the proper notion of a future state, as a state of rewards and punishments. Sometimes, indeed, they seem to reason from better principles; but then they still hesitate about the conclusion, and fluctuate between the presumptions for it and the objections against it. Socrates was confessedly the brightest character in the heathen world, and seemed to have the fairest claim of any among them to the honor of a martyr for the cause of truth and virtue; and yet, even he, when making his defence before his judges, speaks in the language of uncertainty and perplexity. “Death,” says he, “either reduces us to nothing and entirely destroys all sense and consciousness; or, as some say, it conveys us from this world in

to some other region.” Thus standing on the brink ot eternity, he was not assured whether he was not about to leap into the hideous gulf of annihilation, or to pass mto some vital region replete with inhubitants. When he was condemned, his last words to the court were these: “It is time for us to part; I, that I may suffer death; and you, that you may enjoy life; but which of us has the happier lot, is known only to God.” Poor

honest Socrates! how happy hadst thou beer. hadst thou but enjoyed one glimmering of that heavenly light which multitudes among us despise! My brethren, let us be thankful for our superior advantages, and let us prize und improve that precious gospel, which gives us fall information in this important point, and renders the meanest Christian wiser, in this respect, than Socrates himself.

My present design is not to propose arguments for the conviction of your judgments, which I hope you do not so much need; but I shall give you some idea of immortality, in both the senses I have mentioned, and then improve it.

Let us first look through the wastes and glooms of death and the grave to the glorious dreadful morning of the resurrection. At the all-alarming clangor of the last trumpet, Adam, and the sleeping millions of his posterity, start into sudden life. “ The hour is coming, in which all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.” John v. 28.

Then, my brethren, your dust and mine shall be organized, and reanimated; and “though after our skin worms destroy these bodies, yet in our flesh shall we see God.” Job xix. 26. “Then this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality.” 1 Cor. xv. 53.

And may not the prospect alarm us, and set us upon earnest preparation for these important scenes? Shall we take so much care of our bodies in this mortal state, where, after all our care, they must soon fall to dust, and become the prey of worms, and shail we take no care that they may have a happy and glorious resurrection! What does it signify how they are fed or dressed, while they are only fattening for worms, and the ornaments of dress may be our winding sheet? What does this signify, in comparison with their doom at the great rising day, and their state through eternity? My brethren, you must not let sin reign in your mortal bodies now, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof, if you would have them raised holy and happy in that awful morning; but you must consecrate your bodies, and

keep them holy as the temples of the Holy Ghost; and - yield your members as instruments © righteousness unto God. Can you flatter yourselves that bodies polluted with filthy lusts and sensual gratifications shall ever be admitted into the regions of perfect purity? It would be an unnatural element to such depraved constitutions. Shall those feet ever walk the chrystal pavement of the New Jerusalem, which have been accustomed to run into the foul paths of sin? Shall those tongues ever join the songs of heaven, which have been oftener employed in swearing and imprecation, the language of hell, than in prayer and praise t Shall those ears ever be charmed with celestial music, which have not listened with pleasure and eagerness to the joyful sound of the gospel, but were entertained with the song of drunkards, the loud unthinking laugh, and the impure jest? Are those knees > likely to bow in delightful homage before the throne of God and the Lamb on high, which have not been used to the posture of petitioners at the throne of grace on earth? Are those members likely to be the instruments of a heavenly spirit, in the exercise of that blessed state, which have not been “instruments of righteousness unto holiness” in this state of trial and discipline? No, my brethren, this is not at all probable, even to a superficial inquirer; and to one that thinks deeply, and consults right reason and the sacred scriptures, this appears utterly impossible. Therefore, take warning in time. Methinks this consideration might have some weight, even with epicures and sensualists, who consider themselves as mere animals, and make it their only concern to provide for and gratify the flesh. Unless you be resigious now, unless you now deny yourselves of your guilty pleasures, not only your soul, that neglected, disregarded trifle, must perish, but your body, your dear body, your only care, must be wretched too; your body must be hungry, thirsty, pained, tortured, hideously deformed, a mere system of pain and loathsomeness. But if you now keep your bodies pure, and serve God with them, and with your spirits too, they will bloom for ever in the charms of celestial beauty; they will flourish in immortal youth and vigor! they will for ever be the receptacles of the most exquisite sensations of pleasure. And will you not deny yourselves the sordid pleasures

of a few years, for the sake of those of a blessed immortality 1

But let me give you a view of immortality of a more noble kind, the proper immortality of the soul. And here, what an extensive and illustrious prospect opens before us! lock a little way backward, and your sight is lost in the darkness of non-existence. A few years ago you were nothing. But at the creative fiat of the Almighty, that little spark of being, the soul, was struck opt of nothing; and now it warms your breast, and animates the machine of flesh. But shall this glimmering spark, this divine particula aure,ever be extinguished! No; it will survive the ruins of the universe, and blaze out into immortality: it will be coeval with the angels, the natives of heaven, and the Indigene, the original inhabitants of the world of spirits; nay, with the great Father of spirits himself. The duration of your souls will run on from its first commencement, in parallel lines with the existence of the Deity. What an inheritance is this entailed upon the child of dust, the creature of yesterday! Here let us pause,—make a,stand—and take a survey of this majestic prospect! This body must soon moulder into dust, but the soul will live unhurt, untouched, amid all the dissolving struggles and convulsions of animal nature. ‘These heavens shall pass away with a great noise; these elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth, and the things that are therein, shall be burnt up;” 2 Pet. iii. 10, but this soul shall live secure of existence in the universal desolation:

“ Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.”—Appison.

And now, when the present system of things is dissolved, and time: shall be no more, eternity, boundless eter: nity, succeeds; and on this the soul enters as on its proper hereditary duration. Now look forward as far as you will, your eyes meet with no obstruction, with nothing but the immensity of the prospect: in that, indeed, it is lost, as extending infinitely beyond itsken. Come, attempt this arithmetic of infinites, and exhaust the power of numbers: lét millions of millions of ages begin the vast computation; multiply these by the stars of heaven; by the particles of dust in this huge globe of earth;

by the drops of water ïn all the vast oceans, rivers, lakes, and springs that are spread over the globe; by all the thoughts that have risen in so quick a succession in the minds of men and angels, from their first creation to this day; make this computation, and then look forward through this long line of duration, and contemplate your future selves. Still you see yourselves in existence still the same persons; still endowed with the same consciousness, and the same capacities for happiness or misery, but vastly enlarged; as much superior to the present as the capacities of an adult to those of a new-born infant, or an embryo in the womb. Still will you bloom in immortal youth, and are as far from an end as in the first moment of our existence. O Sirs, methinks it may startle us to view our future selves so changed, so improved, removed into such different regions, associated with such strange unacquainted beings, and fixed in such different circumstances of glory or terror, of happiness or misery.

Men of great projects and sanguine hopes are apt to sit and pause, and take an imaginary survey of what they will do, and what they will be in the progress of life. But then death, like an apparition, starts up before them, and threatens to cut them off in the midst of their pursuits. But here no death threatens to extinguish your being or snap the thread of your existence; but it runs on In one continued everlasting tenor. Whata vast inheritance is this, unalienably entailed upon every child of Adam! What importance, what value, does this consideration give to that neglected thing the soul! What an awful being is it? Immortality! What emphasis, what grandeur in the sound! Immortality is so vast an attribute, that it adds a kind of infinity to anything to which it is annexed, however insignificant in other respects: and on the other hand, the want of this would degrade the most exalted being into a trifle. The highest angel, if the creature of a day, or of a thousand years, what would he be? A fading flower, a vanishing vapor, a flying shadow. When his day or his thousand years are past, he is as truly nothing as if he had never been. It is little matter what becomes of him: let him stand or fall, let him be happy ar miserable, it 1s Just the same in a little time; he is gone, and there is no more of him,—no traces of him

eit. but an immortal! a creature that shall never, never, never cease to be! that shall expand his capacities of action, of pleasure, or pain, throùgh an everlasting duration! what an awful, important being is this!—And is my soul, this little spark of reason in my breast, is that such a being? I tremble at myself. I revere my own dignity, and am struck with a kind of pleasing horror to view what I must be. And is there anything so worthy of the care of such a being, as the happiness, the everlasting happiness, of my immortal part? What is it to me, who am formed for an endless duration, what I en joy, or what I must suffer in this vanishing state? Seventy or eighty years bear not the least imaginable proportion to the duration of such a being; they are too inconsiderable a point to be seen; mere ciphers in the computation! They do not bear as much proportion as the small dust that will not turn the balance, to this vast globe of earth, and all the vaster globes that roll in their orbits through the immense space of the universe.

And what shall become of me through this immortal duration? This, and this only, is the grand concern of an immortal; and in comparison of it, it does not deserve one thought what will become of me while in this vanishing phantom of a world. For consider, your immortality will not be a state of insensibility, without pleasure or pain; you will not draw out an useless, inactive existence, in an eternal stupor, or a dead sleep. But your souls will be active as long as they exist; and as I have repeatedly observed, still retain all their capacities; nay, their capacities will perpetually enlarge with an eternal growth, and for ever tower from glory to glory in heaven, or plunge from depth to depth in hell. Here, then, my fellow-immortals! here pause and say to yourselves, “ What is like to become of my soul through this long space, for ever? Is it likely to be happy or miserable? What though you are now rich, honorable, nealthy, merry, and gay! Alas! terrestrial enjoyments are not proper food for an immortal soul; and besides. they are not immortal, as your souls are. If these are your portion, what will you do for happiness millions of ages hence, when all these are fled away like a vapor? Are you provided with a happiness which will last as long as your souls will live to crave it? Have you an interest

in God! Are you prepared for the fruition of the hea. venly state? Do you delight in God above all? Have you a relish for the refined pleasures of religion? Is the supreme good the principal object of your desire? Do you now accustom yourselves to the service of God, the great employment of heaven? and are you preparing yourselves for the more exalted devotion of the church on high, by a serious attendance on the humbler forms of worship in the church on earth? Are you made pure in heart and life, that you may be prepared for the regions of untainted holiness, to breathe in that pure salubrious air, and live in that climate, so warm with the love of God, and so near the Sun of Righteousness 1 Do not some of you know that this is not your prevailing character? And what then do you think will become of you without a ‘speedy alteration in your temper and conduct? Alas! must your immortality, the grand prerogative of your nature, become your eternal curse? Have you made it your interest that you should be a brute? that is, that you should perish entirely, and your whole being be extinguished in death? Then it is no wonder you strive to disbelieve the doctrine of a future state, and your own immortality. But alas! in vain is the strife. The principles of atheism and infidelity may lull your consciences into a stupid repose for a little while, but they cannot annihilate you. They may lead you to live like beasts, but they cannot enable you to die like beasts; no, you must live, live to suffer righteous punishment, whether you will or not. As you did not come into being by your own consent, so neither can you lay down your being when you please. And will you not labor to make your immortality a blessing? Is there any thing in this world that can be a temptation to you to forfeit such an immense blessing? O that you were wise! that you would consider this!

I shall now accommodate my subject to the present melancholy occasion, and endeavor to make a particular improvement of it.

Do you expect a character of our deceased friend? This is not my usual practice; and I omit it, not because I can see nothing amiable in mankind, nor because I would enviously deny them their just praises, but because I have things of much greater importance to engage your attention. The dead have received their just and unchangeable doom at a superior tribunal; and our panegyrics or censures may be often misapplied. My business is with the living; not to flatter their vanity with compliments, but to awaken them to a sense of their own mortality, and to a prepatation for it. However, if you must have a character, I will draw it to you in the most important and interesting light. Here was a youth in the bloom of life, in the prime of his strength, with a lively flow of spirits, who seemed as secure from the stroke of death as any of us; a youth that had escaped many dangers by sea and land; a youth launched into the world with, no doubt, the usual projects and expectations of that sanguineage. But where is he now? In yonder grave, alas! lies the blooming, promising flower, withered in the morning of life. There lies the mortal body, mouldering into dust, and feeding the worms. Come to his grave, ye young and gay, ye lively and strong, ye men of business and hurry, come and learn what now may, and shortly must, be your doom. Thus shall your limbs stiffen, your blood stagnate, your faces wear the pale and ghastly aspect of death, and your whole frame dissolve into dust and ashes. ‚Thus shall your purposes be broken off, your schemes vanish like smoke, and all your hopes from this world perish. Death perpetually lurks in ambush for you, ready every moment to spring upon his prey. “O that Death!” (said a gentleman of large estate, strong constitution, and cheerful temper,) ‘I do not love to think of that Death; he comes in and spoils all.” So he does indeed; he spoils all your thoughtless mirth, your idle amusements, and your great schemes. Methinks it becomes you to prepare for what you cannot avoid. Methinks, among your many schemes and projects, you should form one to be religious. You may make a poor shift to live without religion, but you can make none to die without it. You may ridicule the saint, but he really has the advantage of you. ‘ Well, after all,” said a celebrated unbeliever, “ these Christians are the happiest people upon earth.” Indeed they are; and if you are wise, you will labor to be of their number.

But was our departed friend nothing but an animal, a mere machine of flesh? Is the whole of him putrifying

in yonder grave? No; I must draw his character farther. He was an immortal; and no sooner did he resign his breath, than his soul took wing, and made its flight into the regions of spirits. There it now dwells. And what amazing scenes now present themselves to his view? what strange, unknown beings does he now converse with? There also, my brethren, you and I must ere long be. We too must be initiated into those grand mysteries of the invisible world, and mingle in this assembly of strangers. We must share with angels in their bliss and glory, or with devils in their agonies and terrors. And our eternal doom shall be according to our present character, and the improvement we make of our opportunities for preparation.

And do you, sirs, make it your main concern to secure a happy immortality? Do you live as expectants of eternity? or do you live as though this world were to be your eternal residence, and as if your bodies, not your souls, were immortal? Does your conscience approve of such conduct? Do you really think it is better for you, upon the whole, to commence fashionably wicked, or perhaps ringleaders in debauchery and infidelity, na country overrun with all manner of vice? Is this better than to retain the good impressions you might perhaps receive in youth, and to act upon the model built for you in a religious education? Which do you think you will approve of in the hour of death, that honest hour, when things begin to appear in a true light? And of which, think ye, will you be able to give the most comfortable account at the supreme tribunal? Brethren, form an impartial judgment upon this comparison, and let it guide your conduct. Behave as “strangers and pilgrims on earth, that have here no continuing city;” behave as expectants of eternity, as candidates for immortality; as “beholding him that is invisible, and looking fora city which has foundations, eternal in the heavens.”

In that celestial city may we all meet at last, through Jesus Christ Amen!

SERMON XXVIII. JESUS CHRIST THE ONLY FOUNDATION.

isaran xxvn. 16, 17. Behold, I lay in Zion, for a Jouns dation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the re- Suge of lies, and the waters shall overfiow the hidingplaee.*

THE context, like many other passages of the prophetical scriptures, seems to have a double sense. The primary sense may be thus represented. The judgments of God were ready to break in upon and overwhelm the impenitent nation of the Jews, like “a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing,”* and bearing all before it. (ver. 2.) The prophet had repeatedly given them timely warning of these approaching judgments; but they still continued secure and impenitent, and unapprehensive of danger. They flattered themselves they had artifice enough to keep themselves safe. They thought themselves impregnably intrenched and fortified in their riches, their strongholds, and the sanctity of their temple and nation. They might also think their arts of negotiation would secure them from the invasion of the neighboring powers, particularly the Assyrians, to whom they were not exposed. These were the lies which they made their refuge, and the falsehood under which they hid themselves. These, they imagined, like moles or ditches, would keep off the deluge of wrath, so that it should not come to them, much less overwhelm them; and they were as secure as if they had made “a covenant with death, and entered into an agreement with hell, or the grave,” not to hurt them. Therefore the prophet represents them as saying, “ We have made a covenant with death; and with hell are we at agreement: when the overflowing scourge shall pase through,

* This semon is dated Hanover, Feb. 13, 1757.

it shall not come to us; for we have made lies (that is what the prophet calls lies,) our refuge;” and under what he calls falsehood have we hid ourselves. (ver. 15.) It is in this connection my text is introduced; and it points out a solid ground of hope, in opposition to the refuge of lies in which these sinners trusted; as if he had said, “ Since the refuge to which you flee is not safe, and since my people need another, Therefore, thus saith the Lord, behold, I Jay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation;” that is, “ My promises, my providential care, the supporting influences of my grace, and the various means | shall take for the comfort and safety of my people ın this national distress, shall as effectually bear them up, as a firm foundation of stone does a building erected upon it. They that build their hopes upon this foundation shall stand unshaken amidst all the storms and temests of national calamity, that may beat upon our guilty land.” He that believeth shall not make haste; that is, “ he that trusts in this refuge shall not be struck into a distracted hurry and consternation upon the sudden appearance of these calamities. He shall not, like persons surprised with unexpected danger, fly in a wild haste to ` improper means for his safety, and thus throw himself mto destruction by his ill-advised, precipitate attempts to keep out of it; but he shall be calm and serene, and have presence of mind to take the most proper measures for his deliverance.” Or the meaning may be, “ He that believeth shall not make such haste to be delivered, as to fly to unlawful means for that purpose; but will patiently wait God’s time to deliver him ina lawful way.” The prophet proceeds, “ Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet;” that is, “ God will try the Jews with strict justice, as an architect examines a building with a line and plummet. Such of them who have built their hopes upon the foundation above described, shall stand firm and unshaken, whatever tempests fall upon them, like a regular and stately building, founded upon a solid rock. But as to others, they shall be overwhelmed in the public calamity! “ the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies in which they trusted; and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.” And then your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your

agreement with hell shall not stand: “ when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then shall they be trodden down by it.” (ver. 18.) ~

This seems to be a primary sense of the context; and thus, it is probable, the Jews understood it, who did not enjoy that additional light which the gospel sheds upon it. In this view it is very applicable to us, in the present state of our country and nation, when the enemy is likely to break in like a flood upon us. But I must add, that it is very likely, that even in this primary sense of the context, the text refers to Jesus Christ. There seems to be an unnatural force put upon the words, when they are applied to any other; and the connection will admit of their application to him, even in this sense, thus, “ Since the refuge of sinners is a refuge of lies, behold I wiil provide one that will effectually secure all that fly to it from all the judgments to which they are exposed.” I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, &c. ‘Il send my Son into: the world, as an Almighty Savior; and all that put themselves under his protection, and build their hopes upon him, shall be so safe, that all the calamities of life shall not do thema lasting injury; and the vengeance of the eternal world shall never fall upon them.”

But whether we can find Christ in the primary sense of these words or not, it is certain we shall find him in their ultimate, principal sense. And we have the au thority of an inspired apostle for this application. St. Peter quotes this passage according to the LXX, with some improvements, and applies it expressly to Christ, To whom coming,” says he, “ as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house. Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.” 1 Peter ii. 4, 6. Taking the passage in this evangelical sense, the general meaning is to this purpose: — The Lord Jesus is represented as a tried, precious, and sure foundation, laid in Zion, that is, in the church, for the sons of men to build their hopes upon. Hischurch thus built on him, is compared to a stately, regular, and impregnable temple, consecrated to

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the service of God, to offer up spiritual sacrifces; and proof against-all the storms and tempests that may beat upon it. It shall stand firm and immoveable through all eternity, for its foundation is sure.

But, alas! though Jesus Christ be the only foundation, yet the sons of men are so full of themselves, that they venture to build their hopes upon something else, and promise themselves safety, though they reject this sure foundation. They think themselves as secure as if they had entered into a treaty with death and the grave, and brought them over to their interest.

But, lo! the wrath of God will at last beat upon a guilty world, like a storm of hail, or break in upon it like an overwhelming torrent; then every soul that is not built upon this rock must be swept away, and all the other refuges and hiding-places shall be laid in ruins for ever.

The great God will also strictly inquire who is founded upon this rock, and who not. He will critically try the temple of his church, like a workman, with line and plummet; he will discover all irregularities and useless appendages. And in consequence of this examina tion, the storms and torrents of divine indignation shail sweep away and overwhelm all that are not built upon this foundation, and that are not compacted into this building.

These remarks contain the general meaning of our text: but it is necessary I should be more particular.

Brethren, our nature, our circumstances, and the important prospects before us, are such, that it is high time for us to look about us for some sure foundation upon which to build our happiness. The fabric must endure long, for our souls will exist for ever; and their eagerness for happiness will continue vehement for ever. The fabric must rise high, for the capacities of our souls will perpetually expand and enlarge; and a low happiness of a vulgar size will not be equal to them. ‘The fabric must be strong and impregnable, proof against all the storms that may beat upon it; for many are the storms that will rise upon us, upon our country, and upon this guilty world in general. Losses, bereavements, sicknesses, and a thousand calamities that I cannot name, may yet try us. The enemy is now breaking

in like a flood upon our country, and we and our earthly all are in danger of being overwhelmed. Death will certainly attack us all; and that must be a strong building indeed which the king of terrors will not be able to demolish. Besides, when all the purposes of divine love in our world shall be accomplished, an almighty tempest of divine indignation shall break upon it, and sweep away all that it contains; and blend cities, kingdoms, plains and mountains, seas and dry land, kings and beggars, in one vast heap of promiscuous ruin. Or, to shift the metaphor according to the emphatical variety in my text, the fiery deluge of divine vengeance, which has been gathering and swelling for thousands of years, but has been, as it were, restrained and kept within bounds by divine patience, shall then rise so high asto burst through all restraints, and overwhelm the guilty globe, and turn it into an universal ocean of liquid fire. This resistless torrent shall sweep away all the refuges of lies, and them that trusted in them, into the gulf of remediless destruction. We, my brethren, shall be concerned in this universal catastrophe of nature; and where shall we find a support to bear us up in this tremendous day? Where shall we find a rock to build upon, that we may be able to stand the shock, and remain safe and unmoved in the wreck of dissolving worlds? What can support the fabric when this vast machine of nature, formed with so much skill and strength by the hands of a divine Architect, shall be broken up and fall to pieces? Now is the time for us to look out; it will be too late when all created supports are swept away, and this solid globe itself is dis solved beneath our feet into a sea of fire. Now, now is the time for you to provide. And where will you look 1 whither will you turn? This earth, and all its riches, honors, and pleasures, will prove but a quicksand in that day. Your friends and relations, were they ever so great or powerful, can then afford you no support. If they can but find refuge for themselves, that will be all; therefore bethink yourselves once more; where shali

ou find a rock on which you may build a happiness that will stand the shock in that day.

If you are anxious and perplexed, I need only point you to my text for relief. “ Behold,” says the Lord

28 JESUS CHRIST THE ONLY FOUNDATION. : God, “ behold Ilay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation °

-he that believeth shall not make haste.” Let me expatiate a little upon the properties of this foundation.

1. It is a stone; a stone for solidity, stability, and durableness. ‘(Every thing else,” says the charming Hervey,* “is sliding sand, is yielding air, is a breaking, bubble. Wealth will prove a vain shadow, honor an empty breath, pleasure a delusory dream, our own righteousness a spider’s web. If on these we rely, disa = pointment must ensue, and shame be inevitable. Nething but Christ, nothing but Christ, can stably sup port our spiritual interests, and realize our expects tions of the true happiness.’ And blessed be God! h is sufficient for this parpose. Isa stone firm and solid ! so is Jesus Christ. His power is almighty, able to sup port the meanest of his people that build their hope: upon him, and render them proof against all the attacks of earth and hell. His righteousness is infinitely per fect, equal to the highest demands of the divine law, ano therefore a firm, immoyeable ground of trust. We may safely venture the weight of our eternal all upon this rock ; it will stand for ever, without giving way under the heaviest pressure; without being broken by the most violent shock. Let thousands, let millions, with all the mountainous weight of guilt upon them, build upon this foundation, and they shall never be moved. Is a stone durable and lasting? so is Jesus Christ; the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. His righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, his strength an everlasting strength, and himself the everlasting Father He liveth for ever to make intercession for his people and therefore he is able to save to the uttermost, to the uttermost point of duration, all that come unto God by him. Here is a stone that can never moulder away by the waste of all-consuming time. Parian marble, and even the flinty rocks decay; the firm foundations, the stately columns, the majestic buildings of Nineveh, Babylon, and Persepolis, and all the magnificent structures of antiquity, though formed of the most durable stone, and promising immortality, are now.shattered into ten

* Theron and Aspasia, Vol. II. p. 361, &e.

thousand fragments, or lying ın ruinous heaps. But here is a foundation for immortal souls, immortal as themselves; a foundation that now stands as firm under Adam, Abel, and Abraham, as the first moment they ventured their dependence upon it; a foundation that will remain the same to all eternity. Therefore it deserves the next character given to it, namely—

2. A tried stone. “Tried,” says the same fine writer,

“in the days of his humanity by all the vehemence of

temptations, and all the weight of afflictions; yet, like

gold from the furnace, rendered more shining and illustrious by the fiery scrutiny.” His obedience was tried;

and it appeared upon trial that it was perfect and universal. His meekness was tried, by the abusive treatment

he met with from men. His patience and resignation to

the divine will was tried, when the bitter cup of the

wrath of God was put into his hand, and when the absence of his Father extorted that bitter cry from him,

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Matt. xxvii,

46. His love to his Father, and his zeal for his honor

were tried, and they were found an unquenchable flame,

that glowed without once languishing through the whole

of his life. His love to men—to sinners—to enemies, was

tried: tried to the uttermost: it was put to the trial

whether his own life or theirs was most dear to him;

whether he would rather see his enemies perish by the

sword of justice, or that himself should feel the agonies

of a cross. This wasa trial indeed; and you know how

it issued. The severity of the trial did but render his

love to us the more illustrious. In short, this stone was

thoroughly tried by God and man, and it still remained

‘firm without a flaw.

Jesus has also been tried under the capacity of a Savior, by millions and millions of depraved, wretched, ruined creatures, who have always found him perfectly able, and as perfectly willing to expiate the most enormous guilt; to deliver from the most inveterate corruptions; and to save to the very uttermost all that come unto God through him. Ten thousand times ten thousand have built their hopes upon this stone, and it has never failed so much as one of them. Manasseh and Paul, that had been bloody persecutors, Mary Magdalen, that had been possessed w seven devils, and thousands more that

.

were sinners of the most atrocious characters, have ventured upon this rock with all their load of sin upon them, and found it able to sustain them. This stone is the foundation of that living temple, the church, which has been now building for near six thousand years, and the top of which already reaches the highest heaven. All the millions of saints from Adam to this day, both those in heaven and those on earth, are living stones built upon this foundation-stone; this supports the weight of all. And this trial may encourage all others to build upon it; for it appears sufficient to bear them

all. ` But I must farther observe, that a new translation of this sentence, still nearer to the original, will give a new and important view of the sense of it. Instead of a tried stone, it may be rendered, ‘ a stone of trial; or, ‘3 trying stone; that is, this is the true touch-stone of men’s characters. It is this that, above all other things, discovers what they really are, whether good or bad men, whether heirs of heaven or hell. Only propose Jesus Christ to them as a Savior, and according as they receive or reject him, you may know their true character, and their everlasting doom. If with eager hearts they spring forward and embrace him as a Savior, they are true subjects to the King cf heaven; they give the highest, the last, the most decisive proof of their subjection to his authority. That men should submit to Jesus Christ as a Savior, is not a single command of God, but it is the drift, the scope, the substance of the whole law and gospel; it is the grand capital precept; it is a kind of universal command that runs through all the dispensations of Heaven towards the sons of men. And therefore, while men refuse to submit to this command, they are guilty of a kind of universal disobedience; and it is in vain for them to pretend to have a real regard to God and his authority in any one instance whatsoever If they obey God sincerely in falling in with this com mand, they will obey him in everything; but if they wil not obey him in this, they will truly obey him in nothing Hence it is that good works are the inseparable fruits of faith in Christ, and that unbelief is the root of all evil. Submission to Christ is also the most effectual trial, whether the corrupt dispositions of the heart, whether the

JESUS CHRIST THE ONLY FOUNDATION. 31 mnate enmity to God, pride, stubbornness, &c., be thoroughly subdued. If a man is once made so dutiful, so humble, so pliable, as to submit to this humbling, mortifying method of salvation through Jesus Christ, it shows that divine grace has got an entire victory over him, and that now the rebel is so subdued that he will be obedient in anything. There is nothing in the whole law or gospel to which the hearts of sinners are so averse, as this method of salvation; and therefore, when they are subdued to this, and made willing captives of the cross of Christ, we may be sure they have surrendered themselves to universal obedience.

This text has made strange discoveries in the world in every age. This touch-stone has discovered many glittering virtues to be but dross. The pharisees and scribes had a high character among the Jews for piety, till this trying stone was applied to them; and then it appeared what they were; then it appeared they were the most inveterate enemies of God upon earth. These were the builders that rejected this stone, and would not build upon it. They rather chose to build upon the sandy foundation of their own righteousness. Nay, instead of making him the foundation of their hopes, they made him a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, Roin. ix. 32, 33. 1 Pet. ii. 8. and they stumbled and fell into destruction. Christ crucified, says the apostle, is to the Jews a stumbling-block. 1 Cor. i. 23. This test made strange discoveries also in the heathen world. Many of the sages of Greece and Rome had a high reputation for wisdom and virtue; they gloried in it themselves, and they were admired and celebrated by the populace. ‘But when this stone was pointed out to them as the only foundation of their hopes, they rejected it with proud disdain, and thought it much more safe to depend upon their own virtue and merit, than upon the virtue and merit of one that was crucified like a malefactor. And thus it appeared they were not truly good and virtuous. Let this touch-stone be applied likewise to the men of this generation, and it will discover a great many counterfeits. You will find some who have an amiable, in- | gratiating conduct, who are temperate, just, charitable, and shine with the appearance of many virtues. You will find others who are very punctual in the duties of

religion; they,are frequent in prayer, and strict attendants upon all the solemnities of divine worship; all this looks well. But tell them that all this is no sufficient ground for their hopes of the divine acceptance; nay, that they must renounce all this in point of dependence, as having no merit at all; and that they must, as helpless, guilty, self-condemned sinners, place their trust only in Jesus Christ; and they then begin to show their pride: then their hearts rise against this mortifying doctrine, and perhaps against him that inculeates it. They cannot bear that all their imaginary merit should have such contempt cast upon it. They will own indeed, as others around them do, that Christ is the only Savior; but their real dependence is at bottom upon some supposed goodness in themselves. And thus they discover that all their righteousness is but the proud self-righteousness of a Pharisee, or the self-confident virtue of a stoic philosopher, and not the humble religion or genuine sterling virtue of a true Christian. Thus the reception which men give to Jesus Christ is the grand criterion of their character. And this is agreeable to the prophecy of good old Simeon concerning him: Behold this child, says he, zs set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against;—that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Luke ii. 34, 35. The secret thoughts, reasonings,* and dispositions of many hearts, that were before unsuspected, are revealed by this trial. And I wish it may not make very ungrateful discoveries among you.

As this is a trying stone with regard to men’s present characters, so it will be also as to their final doom and everlasting state. All that are built upon this foundation, however frail and tottering in themselves, shall grow up into a glorious impregnable temple, and stand firm when the frame of nature is dissolved. But all that are not built upon this foundation, however strong or well established in their own conceit, or however high they raise the fabric of their hopes, shall be demolished and laid in ruins for ever. The one may be likened, says Christ, vanto a wise man, who built his house upon a rock, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds

* dradoviouol,

blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon, a rock. And the other eal We likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell; and great was the fal of wt. Matt. vii. 24.27. What a confounding fall will this be to those that have built a towering Babel of hopes that reaches to heaven! But,

3. This is a precious stone. “ More precious than rubies (to borrow the words of Mr. Hervey,) the pearl of great price, and the desire of all nations. Precious with regard to the divine dignity of his person, and the unequalled excellency of his mediatorial offices. In these and in all respects greater than Jonah ; wiser than Solomon ; fairer than the children of men; chiefest among ten thousand; and, to the awakened sinner, or enlightened believer, altogether lovely.”

He is precious in himself, as possessing all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, the sum total of all divine excellencies, and as clothed with all the virtues of a perfect man. In short, all moral excellency, divine and human, created and uncreated, centre in him, and render him infinitely precious and valuable. He is precious to his Father; his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased; his elect, in whom his soul delighteth. He is precious to angels; Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, is their eternal song. He is dear to all good men in all ages. To you therefore that believe he is precious, says St. Peter: 1 Peter ii. 7. How precious are his atoning blood and meritorious righteousness to the guilty, self-condemned soul! how precious is his sanctifying grace to the soul heavy-laden with sin, and groaning under that body of death! how precious the assistance of his almighty arm to his poor soldiers in the spiritual warfare! how precious the light of his instructions to the benighted wandering mind; how sweet the words of his mouth; sweeter than honey from the honey-comb. How precious the light of his smiling countenance, and the sensations of his love to the desponding, sinking soul! how precious that eternal salvation which he imparts! and how precious the price he paid for it! Not corruptible things, such as silver and gold, says St. Peter, but his own precious blood: 1 Peter i. 18, 19. In short, he is altogether lovely, altogether precious. Diamonds and pearls, and all the precious stones in the universe, cannot represent his worth. O that a thoughtless world did but know hew precious he is! Surely they would then say to his friends, Whither is thy beloved gone, that we may seek him with thee? [ enlarge upon this article with the more pleasure, as I doubt not but the experience of several among you can affix your Amen to what I say, and to much more. Iam now but complying with the request of one of my friends,* at the distance of near four thousand miles, who writes to me thus:—“ Dear sir, recommend Him to poor sinners, recommend him to poor believers, as a most wonderful Savior and Redeemer; abundantly able to deliver them from all that hell and sin can do to destroy them. O that his divine excellencies and worth could be set forth! Surely the most abandoned sinners would fall before him with ravishment and wonder.”—These are British sterling thoughts concerning this precious stone, my brethren, and I hope the same thoughts are to be found among you. O that they were universal among us, and among all the sons of men!

4. This stone is a sure foundation. “ Such (says Mr. Hervey) as no pressure can shake ; equal, more than equal to every weight ; even to sin, the heaviest load in the world. The rock of ages, such as never has failed, never will fail those humble penitents who cast their burden upon the Lord Redeemer; who roll all their guilt, and fix their whole hopes upon this immoveable basis.” The foundation is sure, because it is of divine appointment. Behold, says the Lord God, who has authority to make the appointment, “ behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation.” It is also sure, because of the extent of his power, the perfection of his righteousness, and the eternity of his existence. But these I have already touched upon. Indeed, his excellencies are so sweetly blended and complicated, like the colors of the rainbow, that it is hard to describe one of them, without running into another.

The author, whom I have repeatedly quoted, thinks the words may be otherwise rendered: “A foundation!

* Mr. Benjamin Forfitt, of London.

a foundation!” “There is,” says he, “a fine spirit of vehemency in the sentence thus understood; it speaks the language of agreeable surprise and exultation, and expresses an important discovery. That which mankind infinitely want; that which multitudes seek, and find not; it is here! it is here! This, this is the foundation for their pardon, their peace, their eternal felicity.”

5. ‘This isa corner-stone. “It not only,” says Mr. Hervey, “sustains but unites the edifice: incorporating both Jews and Gentiles, believers of various languages and manifold denominations, here, in one harmonious bond of brotherly love ; hereafter, in one common participation of eternal joy.” To this purpose, and in this style, speaks the apostle: He is our peace who hath made both, that is, both Jews and Gentiles, one ; one regular, compact, magnificent superstructure, “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone ; in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth up into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you [Gentiles] also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit :” Ephes. ii. 14, 20,22. Materials for this sacred temple are collected from thrones and cottages, from bond and free, from Jews and Gentiles, from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America: but notwithstanding these distinctions, they are all united in this corner-stone ; all harmoniously compacted * into one regular, magnificent temple, where the God of heaven delights to dwell.

Jesus Christ may also be called a corner-stone, to signify his peculiar importance in this spiritual building. Hence he is elsewhere repeatedly called the chief corner-stone, and the head of the corner: Matt. xxi. 42; Psal. cxvili. 22; Mark xii. 10; Luke xx. 17; Acts iv. 11; 1 Peter ii. 7; Ephes. ii. 20. We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, in a subordinate sense; but Jesus Christ himself is the chief corner-stone. He has the most important place in the building. It is he that holds up and connects all. Apostles, prophets and all, are but sinking sand without him. Their righteousness, their strength, are nothing without him. -On him all their doctrines depend, in him they all terminate, and from him they derive all their efficacy. Take away this

* See the original word, cvvappodoyownérg.

corner-stone, and immediately the saints in heaven fall from their thrones; and the saints upon earth, that are gradually rising heavenward, sink forever. Take away this corner-stone, and this glorious living temple, that has been building for so many ages, breaks to pieces, and covers heaven and earth with its ruins. Having thus illustrated the particular properties of this stone, I shall take notice of this general property of it, that it is a foundation. So it is repeatedly called in my text, “It is laid in Zion as a foundation:” It is a sure foundation. It must be the foundation, and have the principal place in the spiritual building, or none at all. “ No other foundation,” says St. Paul, “can any man lay, than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” And he must lie at the bottom of all, or the superstructure cannot stand. To join our own righteousness with his in our justification, is to form a foundation of solid stone, and hay, straw, and stubble, blended together. ‘To make our own merit the ground of our claim to his righteousness; that is, to hope that God will save us for Christ’s sake, because we are so good as to deserve some favour at least for our own sakes, this is to lay a foundation of stone upon a quicksand. The stone would have stood, had it been in its proper place, that is, at the bottom of all; but when it is founded upon the sand, it must give way, and all the superstructure must fall. This is the grand fundamental mistake of multitudes in the Christian world. They all owa Christ is the only Savior; but then the ground of their expecting salvation through him, is not his righteousness, but their own. Their own worthless works, which their ignorance and vanity call good, lie at the bottom of all their hopes, as the first foundation; and Christ’s righteousness is rather a part of the superstructure, than the entire foundation. ‘This is the refuge of lies, the delusive hiding-place which multitudes are building al. their lives with a great deal of pains, and, when they think themselves provided with a strong everlasting man sion, suddenly they feel themselves swept away into de struction by the overwhelming torrent of divine indig nation. R Here, brethren, let us pause awhile, and turn our at tention to a question that I hope you have anticipated

“ Am J a living stone built upon this foundation? Are all my hopes of acceptance with God and eternal happi- _ ness founded upon this rock?’ Are you not desirous to make this important discovery? To make it now while you have time? If you have made a mistake, to correct it, by pulling down the old building, and beginning a new one on the right foundation? Have you no anxiety about this? If not, I must tell you, you care not for the God that made you, or the Savior that bought you with his blood: heaven and hell are but trifles to you, and you are indifferent which should be your eternal jot. You have not the sensibility of a man, with regard to pleasure and pain, but the stupidity of a brute, or rather of a senseless stone. And if you continue thus stupidly careless about eternal things, you shall for ever be cut off from the rewards of pious diligence, and feel the dreadful doom of the slothful servant. Brethren, can you be indifferent in a matter of such infinite consequence? Let me remind you, that a dreadful hurricane is gathering over this guilty world, which will burst upon you, and sweep you away, unless you be founded upon the rock of ages. Think of the last part of my text: the hail shall sweep away the refuge, or hope of lies, the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. You may be parts of the outward court of this spiritual building; I mean, you may be members of the visible church; but that is only a scaffold to the sacred temple, and when this is finished, that shall be pulled down. Remember this building will be critically inspected: the great Architect “will lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet;” and if you do not stand that test, you will be demolished, as useless appendages or incumbrances, and you never can be built up again; the temple of God will then be complete, and no new stones shall be added to it for ever. ‘Therefore now is the time to discover fundamental errors, and correct them. Discover them you can and will in the eternal world: but O! it wil) then be too late to correct them!

Would you then know whether you are really built upon this sure foundation? If so, I shall willingly assist you to make the trial. And for this purpose I solemnly propose a few questions to your consciences in the sight of Gor.

VOL. II. $

1. Have you ever seen the utter insufficiency of every other foundation? You will never build upon Christ, ` while you can build any where else with hopes of safety. | If you have ever fled to him as a hiding-place, you have seen it was your last refuge. And have all your false hopes, all your refuges of lies been swept away? Have you seen that honors, riches, pleasures, and all the world were but breaking bubbles? Have you been sensible that your own righteousness was a rotten foundation, and that you were just ready to sink every moment under the burden of your sins, and to be swept away by the torrent of divine vengeance? Like a smking man, you have been ready to catch at every twig or straw for support ; but.were you obliged at length with Peter to turn to Christ, and cry out, help, Lord, I perish? Have you let go every other hold, and taken fast hold of him as the only support? Have you given up all other grounds of hope, and as poor, guilty, perishing, helpless creatures, placed your whole dependence upon this foundation? If you can honestly give a satisfactory answer to these inquiries, it looks encouraging: but if not, you may be sure you are building upon some sandy foundation; you are lurking in some refuge of lies, and must be overwhelmed at last in inevitable ruin.

2. Have you ever been sensible of the preciousness, the excellency, and the stability of this divme founda tion? If you have ever built upon Christ, it has been at once an act of the last necessity, and of the most free choice. O! how precious did this stone appear to yout like the loadstone, it had a strong attraction upon you, and you were effectually drawn to it. You need go no farther than your own hearts to find the truth of what | have said of the preciousness of Christ ; the precious ness of his strength, his righteousness, and every thing n him. To you that believe he is precious. 1 Pet. ii. 7 This is the assertion of an apostle concerning all believ 2rs, Without exception. And shall I conclude this is the veal sentiment of this assembly concerning Christ? Shall I conclude it, brethren? O shall I allow myself to be so happy? Does your conscience tell you there is ground for your saying that Christ is precious to you? Alas! is it not quite the reverse with many of you?

3 Where is your habitual dependence? Is it upon

Jesus Christ alone? or is it upon something else? Do you not feel the need of strength, of spiritual life, of pardon, and righteousness, and eternal life t Certainly, if you know yourselves, you feel the need of these things. And upon whom do you depend for them? Is it upon Jesus Christ alone? Is it habitnal, and, as it were, natural to you, since you first ventured upon this foundation, to rest there, sensible that you have always needed this support, and that every other foundation is but sinking sand? Brethren, what does conscience reply to these questions?

4. Have you been formed into proper stones for this spiritual temple? Has God hewn you, may I so speak, by his word, and broken off whatever was rugged, irregular, and unfit to be compacted into the building? Has he shaped and polished your souls fora place in it? Do you feel this divine architect daily carrying on this work in you, polishing you more and more into a resemblance to Christ? Or are you still the same rough, irregular, unpolished pieces, with human nature unsanctified in its present degenerate state? Then you may be sure you are not built upon this foundation.

I think I may pronounce these few queries fully decisive in this case. And what discoveries do they now make among you? Where now appears to be the foundation of your hope? Have not some of you rejected the chief corner-stone which God has appointed, and built upon a quicksand? If so, even a friendly tongue cannot but denounce some terrible things to

ou. 2 While you are not founded upon Christ, you shall, you must unavoidably sink for ever. There is nothing that can support you. Build your hopes ever so high, the fabric will fall, and bury you in its ruins. Nay, this only foundation of hope and happiness will be to youa stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, the occasion of your more aggravated guilt, and more dreadful destruction. There are a few texts of scripture which I would ring like peals of alarming thunder in your ears. “ The same Lord of hosts who shall be for a sanctuary to his people, shall be for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, for agin and a snare; and many shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken.” Isa,

viii. 14. “Unto you that believe,” says St. Peter, “he is precious; but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offenceto them that stumble at the word.” 1 Pet. 11.7, 8. If this stone be not made by you the foundation of your hopes, it will fall upon you and crush you in pieces. Remember the declaration of Christ himself, “ Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken;” that is, whosoever shall reject him while in an humble form in the days of his flesh, shall perish, “but on whomsoever this stone shall fall, it shall grind him to powder;” that is, whosoever shall reject him im his state of exaltation, shall perish na still more dreadful manner. And will not all these alarming considerations have a weight with you, to persuade you-to make him your only foundation?

If you have already made him so, then be assured you are safe and immoveable for ever. Let storms of private or public calamity rise and beat upon you; let your fears and doubts rise to ever so high a deluge; let temptations make ever so severe attacks upon you, still the foundation on which you stand abides firm and unshaken. Nay, let all nature go to wreck, and seas and land, and heaven and earth be blended together, still this foundation stands firm, and the living temple built upon it will remain immoveable for ever. You that believe need not make haste, you need not be struck with consternation upon the appearance of danger, nor fly to unlawful means of deliverance; your all is safe, and therefore you may be serene and calm. Is the burthen of guilt intolerable, and are you ready to sink under it? Or are you sinking under a load of sorrow? Whatever be the burden, cast it upon the Lord, ‘and he will sustain you. This foundation is able to bear you up, however great the pressure. Come, ye that are weary and heavy-laden, come, and build your hopes, and place your rest here. O! what joyful tidings are these! I hope they will prove a word in season to some soul that is weary.

What now remains, but that I should more explicitly point out this precious stone to you all, by illustrating the emphatical word behold, prefixed to the text.

Behold, ye poor sinking souls, behold with wonder and gratitude: here is a sure foundation for you: cast your whole weight, venture your eternal all upon it, and it will support you. Say no more, “Alas! 1

must sink for ever under this mountain of guilt;” but turn to Jesus, with sinking Peter, and cry, Help, Lord, I perish; and he will bear you up. Yes, whatever storms may blow, whatever convulsions may shake the world, you are safe. .

Behold, ye joyful believers. See here the foundation of all your joys and hopes. Do you not stand firm like Mount Zion? See, here is the rock that supports you. Gratefully acknowledge it, and inscribe this precious stone with your praises. Point it out to others as the only ground of hope for perishing souls.

Behold, ye wretched, self-righteous Pharisees, the only rock on which you must build if you expect to stand. Your proud, self-confident virtue, your boasted philoso phical morality, is but a loose, tottering foundation. Virtue and morality are necessary to complete and adorn the superstructure; but when they are laid at the bottom of all, they will prove but a quicksand.

Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish! perish you must, if you set at naught this precious stone. To you this only foundation is like to prove a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. To you the nature of things is inverted; the only ground of hope will heighten your despair; and the Savior of men will be your destroyer.

Behold, ye glorious angels, behold the firm foundation divine love has laid for the salvation of guilty worms. It is as firm as that on which you stand. Are the affairs of mortals beneath your notice? No, we are concerned with Jesus too who is your head; and our connection with him must give us an importance in your view. Therefore join with us in celebrating the praises ‘of this foundation. This precious stone appears to you in all its splendors: its brilliancy dazzles your admiring eyes. We also admire it as far as we know it; but to us it is like a foundation laid deep under ground, that supports us though we see it not. When shall we be placed in your advantageous situation, the heights of the heavenly Zion, where it will appear full to our view, and be the object of our delightful contemplation for ever and ever 4

SERMON XXIX. THE NECESSITY AND EXCELLENCE OF FAMILY RELIGION.

t Tim. v. 8.—But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. à

Tue great Author of our nature, who has made us sociable creatures, has instituted various societies among mankind, both civil and religious, and joined them together by the various bonds of relation. The first and radical society is that of a family, which is the nursery of the church and state. This was the society instituted in Paradise in the state of innocence, when the indulgent Creator, finding that it was not good for man, a sociable creature, to be alone, formed a help meet for him, and united them in the endearing bonds of the conjugal relation. From thence the human race was propagated; and when multiplied, it was formed mto civil governments and ecclesiastical assemblies. Without these associations the worship of God could not be publicly and socially performed, and liberty and property could not be secured. Without these, men would turn savages and roam at large, destitute of religion, insensible of the human passions, and regardless of each other’s welfare. Civil and religious societies are therefore wisely continved in the word, and we enjoy the numerous advantages of them. But these do not exclude, but presuppose domestic societies, which are the materials of which they are composed; and as churches and kingdoms are formed out of families, they will be such as the materials of which they consist. It is therefore of the greatest importance to religion and civil society that families be under proper regulations, that they may produce proper plants for church and state, and especially for the eternal world, in which all the temporary associations of mortals in this world finally terminate, and to which they ultimately refer.

Now in families, as well as in all governments, there are superiors and inferiors ; and as it is the place of the latter to obey, so it belongs to the former both to rule

and to provide. The heads of families are obliged not only to exercise their authority over their dependents, but also to provide for them a competency of the necessaries of life; and indeed their right to rule is but a power to provide for themselves and their domestics.

This is implied in my text, where the apostle makes the omission of this duty utterly inconsistent with Christianity; and a crime so unnatural, that even infidels are free from it. “If any man provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

The apostle, among other things, in this chapter, is giving directions how widows should be treated in the church. If they were widows indeed; that is widowed and entirely destitute of relations to support them; then he advises to maintain them at the public expense of the church; (ver. 3, 9, 10.) But if they were such widows as had children or nephews, then he orders that they should be maintained by these their relatives, and that the charge should not fall upon the church; (ver. 4, 16.)

He supposes that the relatives, of some of them might be unwilling to put themselves to this expense: and to engage such to their duty, he in the text exposes the unnatural wickedness of neglecting it. “If any man provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

By a man’s own are meant poor relatives, who are un able to support themselves. And by his house are meant those that are his domestics, and that live with him, as wife, children, servants. The former a man is obliged to provide for, but especially the latter; and if he neglect it, he has denied the faith in fact, however much he may profess it in words; he is no Christian, nor to be treated as such: nay, he is worse than an infidel; for many heathens have had so much humanity and natural light, as to observe their duty, supporting their domestics and such of their relatives as could not procure a subsistence for themselves.

In order to make provision for our families, we must be careful or laborious, according to our circumstances, and see that all our domestics be so too. And him thas will not work, neither let him eat. 2 Thess. ui. 10.

“ This,” some.of you will say, “ is excellent doctrine, and this is our favorite text, which we often descant upon to justify our cager pursuit of the world. This commandment have we kept from our youth up; and, as we exert ourselves to provide estates for our children, we are not chargeable with any guilt in this case.” But stay Sirs; before you peremptorily conclude yourselves inno cent, let me ask you, are your domestics, your wives children, and servants, nothing but material bodies? If so, I grant your duty is fulfilled by providing for their bodies. If they are only formed for this world, and have no concern with a future, then it is enough for you to make provision for them in the present state. They are like your éattle, upon this hypothesis, and you may treat them as you do your beasts, fodder them well, and make them work for you. But are you so absurd as to indulge such a thought? Are you not fully convinced that your domestics were made for eternity, endowed with immortal souls, and have the greatest concern with the eternal world’? If so, can you think it sufficient that you provide for their bodies and their temporal subsistence? lappeal to yourselves, is there not as much reason for your taking care of their immortal spirits as of their perishing bodies? Ought you not to be as regardful, and as laborious for their comfortable subsistence in eternity as in time? Nay, is not your obligation to family religion as much more strong, as an immortal spirit is more important than a machine of animated clay, and the interests of eternity exceed those of this transitory world? If then he that does not provide for his domestics a competency of the necessaries of life has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel, what shall we say of him that neglects their souls, and takes no pains to form them fora happy immortality 2 Surely he must be worse than one that is worse than an infidel; and how extremely bad then must he be! He has more than denied the faith, however confidently he miay profess it.

You see that though thistext does not immediately refer to family religion, yet it will admit of a very natural accommodation to that purpose: and in this view I intend to handle it.

Several of you, my hearers, I doubt not, have long

since formed and practised Joshua’s resolution; 4s for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Josh. xxiv. 15. While vanity laughs aloud, and impiety belches out its blasphemies in families around you, “ the voice of spiritual rejoicing and salvation is heard in your tabernacles,” Psalm cxviii. 15. I congratulate you, my dear brethren, and hope your families will be nurseries for religion in future times, and educate many for the heavenly state; nay, I hope you have seen some of the happy effects of it already in the early impressions that begin to appear upon the tender minds of your dear children, and the promising solemnity and reformation of some of your slaves. It were to be wished that all of you made conscience of this matter, and it would not at all seem extravagant to expect it; for surely it would not be extravagant to expect that you, who attend upon pubhe worship, and profess the religion of Jesus, should not so grossly deny the faith as to be worse than infidels. But, alas! my friends, though I do not affect to be a spy into your families, J am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, lest some of you habitually neglect this very important duty. Though family religion be not the peculiarity of a party, but owned to be obligatory by Christians in general, (and therefore Christians of all denominations should conscientiously observe it, if they would act consistently with their own principles,) yet are there not several in this assembly who live without religion in their houses? Conscience can find out the guilty, and I need not be more particular. It is certainly a most lamentabie thing that any who have enjoyed such opportunities for instruction, who have been solemnly ‘and frequently warned, exhorted, and persuaded, and who have come under the strongest obligation to this duty, should, notwithstanding, live in the wilful and habitual neglect of it. For persons to omit it for want of instruction about its obligation might be very consistent with a tender conscience, and nothing would be necessary to bring such to the practice, but to convince them it is their duty, which it is very easy to do; but to omit family religion in our circumstances, my brethren, discovers such a stupid indifferency about religion, or so inveterate an aversion to it, that it is lamentably doubtful, whether a conviction of the:duty will determine you

to the practice of it. When persons have Jong habituated themselves to sin against light, it is hard to take any effectual measures to deal with them. All that the ministers of the gospel can do, is to convince their understandings, to persuade, to exhort, to invite, to threaten; but such are accustomed to resist these means, and now they find it no great difficulty to master them. I therefore make this attempt with discouragement, and hardly hope to succeed with such of you as have hitherto obstinately fought against conviction; and the attempt is still the more melancholy, as I know that, if what shall be offered does not prevail upon you to make conscience of family religion, the additional ight you may receive will but render you more inexcusable, increase your guilt, and consequently your punishment. This is one of the tremendous consequences of the ministry of this neglected, disregarded gospel, that may strike ministers and people with a solemn horror. However, I am not without hopes of success with some of you, who have not yet been cursed with a horrid victory over your consciences. Ihope that when you are more fully convinced of this duty, you will immediately begin the practice of it. But though I had no expectation of success, I am still obliged to make the attempt. Though nothing can animate a minister more than the prospect of success, yet he is not to regulate his conduct wholly according to this prospect. He must labor to deliver his own soul, by warning even such as may not regard it. He must declare the whole counsel of God, whether they hear, or whether they forbear. I shall therefore, my dear brethren, endeavor honestly this day to bring you to Joshua’s resolution, that you and your houses will serve the Lord; and let him who is hardy enough to despise it prepare to answer for it at the supreme tribunal; for he despises not man but God.

I would not have you perform anything as a duty, till you have sufficient means to convince you that it is a duty ; and I would not confine you to an over-frequent performance of the duty I am now to open to you; therefore, when I have briefly mentioned the various parts of family religion, I shall,

I. Prove it to be a duty, from the law of nature and scripture revelation. i

II. Show in what seasons, or how frequently family religion should be statedly performed.

lil. I shall consider what particular obligation the neads of families lie under, and what authority they are invested with to maintain religion in their houses.

IV. And lastly, I shall answer the usual objections made against this important duty.

As to the parts of family religion, they are prayer, praise, and instruction. We and our families stand in need of blessings in a domestic capacity, therefore in that capacity we should pray for them; in that capacity too we receive many blessings; therefore in that capacity we should return thanks for them; and singing of psalms is the most proper method of thanksgiving. Fur ther: Our domestics need instructions about the great concerns of religion, therefore we should teach them. But I need not stay to prove each of these branches to be a duty, because the following arguments for the whole of family religion, will be equally conclusive for each part of it, and may be easily accommodated to it. Therefore,

I, I shall prove that family religion is a duty, from the light of nature and of scripture.

To prepare the way, I would observe that you should hear what shall be offered with a mind in Jove with your duty when it appears. You would not willingly have a cause tried by one that is your enemy; now the carnal mind is enmity against God, and consequently while you retain that carnal mind, you are very unfit to judge of the force of those arguments that prove your duty towards him. If you hate the discovery, you will shut your eyes against the light, and not receive the truth in love. Therefore lie open to conviction, and I-doubt not but you shall receive it from the following arguments.

If family religion be due to the supreme Being upon che account of his perfections, and the relation he bears to us—if it be one great design of the institution of families—if it tend to the advantage of our domestics—if it be our privilege—then family religion appears to be our duty from the law of nature.

1. If family religion be a just debt to the supreme Being, upon account of his perfections and the relation he sustains to us as families, then it must be our duty

to maintain it according to the law of nature. Now this is the case in fact. z i

God is the most excellent of beings, and therefore worthy of homage in every capacity, from his reasonable creatures. It isthe supreme excellency of the Deity that renders him the object of personal devotion, or the religion of individuals, and the same reason extends to family religion; for such is his excellency, that he is entitled to all the worship which we can give him: and after all, he is exalted above all our blessing and praise, Neh. ix. 5, that is, he still deserves more blessing and praise than we can give him. Hence it follows, that our capacity is the measure of our obligation to serve him; that is, in whatever capacity we are that admits of service to him, we are bound to perform all that service to him, because he justly deserves it all. Now we are capable of worshiping him as a family, for family devotion, you must own, is a thing possible in itself, therefore we are bound to worship him in that capacity. If any of you deny this, do but put your denial into plain words, and you must shudder at yourselves: it must stand thus, _ “I must own that such is the excellency of the Deity, that he has a right to all the homage which I can pay him in every capacity: yet I owe him none, I will pay him none in the capacity of a head of a family. I own [ owe him worship from myself as an individual, but my family as such shall have nothing to do with him.” Will you, Sirs, rather run into such an impious absurdity as this, than own yourselves obliged to this duty 2

Again, God is the Author of our sociable natures, and as such claims social worship from us. He formed us capable of society, and inclined us to it: and surely this capacity ought to be improved for religious purposes. Is there any of you so hardy as to say, “ Though God has made me a sociable creature, yet I owe him no worship as such, and will pay him none?” You may as well say, “ Though he formed me a man, and endowed me: with powers to serve him, yet as a man or an individual, I will not serve him.” And what is this but to renounce all obligations to God, and to cut yourselves off from all connection with him. Now if your social nature lays you under an obligation to social religion, then it must oblige you to family religion, for a family is. the first society that.

ever was instituted; it is a radical society, from which all others are derived, therefore here social religion began (as it must have begun in families before it had place in other societies,) and here it ought still to continue,

Again, God is the Proprietor, Supporter, and Benefactor of our families, as well as of our persons, and therefore our families as such should pay him homage. He is the owner of your families, and where is the man that dares deny it? Dare any of you say, God has nothing to do with my family; he has no right there, and I will acknowledge none? Unhappy creatures! Whose property are you then? If not God’s, you are helpless orphans indeed; or rather the voluntary avowed subjects of hell. Bat if your families are his property, must you not own that you should worship him as such? What! pay no acknowledgment to your great Proprietor? how unjust! The apostle argues, that because our persons are his, therefore we should serve him, 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, and surely the argument is equally strong in this case. Further, Are not your families entirely dependent upon God as their Supporter and Benefactor? Should he withdraw his supporting hand, you and your houses would sink into ruintogether. Are you not then obliged in a family capacity to acknowledge and praise him? You also receive numberless blessings from him in a domestic capacity: every evening and morning, every night and day you find his mercies flowing down upon your houses; and shall no grateful acknowledgments ascend from them to him? You also every moment stand in need of numerous blessings, not only for yourselves, but for your families; and will you not jointly with your families implore these blessings from your divine Benefactor? Here again consider the language of your refusal, and it must strike you with horror: “I own that God is the proprietor of my family, that he is the constant support of my family, that I and mine every moment receive mercies from him, and depend entirely upon him for them, yet my family as such shall pay no worship, shall serve him no more than if we had no concern with him.” Can you venture upon such a declaration as this?

2. If family religion was the principal design of the

VOL. I.

stitution of families, then is family religion our indise pensable duty. .

That families were founded by God may be inferred from the creation of different sexes, the institution of marriage, and the various relations among mankind, and from the universal agency of his providence. Psalm lxviii. 6. and cxili. 9.

And that family religion was the principal end of the institution, is evident; for can you think that God would unite a number of immortals, heirs of the eternal world, together in the most intimate bonds, in this state of trial, without any reference to their future state? Were your families made for this world only, or for the next? If for the next, then religion must be maintained in them, for that alone can prepare you for eternity: or if you say your families were formed for this world, pray what was this world made for? To be the final residence? or to be only a stage along which to pass into your everlasting home, a place of probation for candidates for immortality? And must not religion then be maintained in your families? They should be nurseries for heaven; and that they cannot be, if you banish devotion from them.

If the conjugal relation, which is the foundation of families, was first instituted for religious purposes, then certainly the worship of God ought to be maintained in them. But the former is true; Did not he make one? Mal. ii. 15. that is, one of each sex, that there might be one for one; and that the very creation of our nature might carry an intimation that polygamy was unnatural. “ And wherefore one?” that is, wherefore did God make but one of each sex, when he had the residue of the spirit, and could have made more} Why his design was that he might seek a godly seed; that is, that children might not only be procreated, but retain and convey down religion from age to age. But can this design be accomplished if you refuse to maintain religion in your famihes? Can you expect that godliness shall run on in the line of your posterity, if you habitually neglect it in your houses! Can a godly seed be raised in so corrupt a soil? Therefore if you omit this duty, you live in families in direct opposition to the end of the institution, and deny your domestics the greatest advantage they can enjoy as

= OF FAMILY RELIGION. 5]

members of a family; a consideration which ieads me to another argument.

3. If family religion tends to the greatest advantage of our families, then it is our duty; and to neglect it is wickedly to rob ourselves and ours of the greatest advantage.

If you deny that religion is advantageous, you may renounce the name of Christians; yes, and of men too. Religion places its subjects under the blessing and guardianship of Heaven; it restrains them from those practices which may be ruinous to them in time and eternity; it suppresses such dispositions and passions as are turbulent and self-tormenting; and affords the most refined and substantial joys.

Now I appeal to yourselves whether it be not more probable that your family will be religious, if you solemnly worship God with them, and instruct them, than it would be if you neglected these duties? How can you expect that your children and servants will become worshippers of the God of heaven, if they have been educated in the neglect of family religion? Can prayerless parents expect to have praying children’? If you neglect to instruct them, can you expect they will grow up in the knowledge of God and of themselves? If they see that you receive daily mercies from the God of heaven, and yet refuse him the tribute of praise, is it not likely they will imitate your ingratitude, and spend their days in a stupid insensibility of their obligations to their divine Benefactor? Is it as likely they will make it their principal business in life to secure the favor of God and prepare for eternity, when they see their parents and masters thoughtless about this important concern, as if they saw you every day devoutly worshiping God with them, and imploring his blessing upon yourselves and your households? Their souls, Sirs, their immortal souls are intrusted to your care, and you must give a solemn account of your trust; and can you think you faithfully discharge it, while you neglect to maintain your religion in your families? Will you not be accessory to their perdition, and in your skirts will there not be found the blood of your poor innocent children 2 What a dreadful meeting may you expect to have with them at last! Therefore, if you love your children; if

you would make, some amends to your seryants for all the-service they do to you; if you would bring down the blessing,of heaven upon your families: if you would have your children make their houses the receptacles ot religion when they set up in life for themselves; if you would have religion survive in this place, and be conveyed from age to age; if you would deliver your own souls—I beseech, I entreat, I charge you to begin and continue the worship of God in your families from this day to the close of your lives.

4. You are to consider family religion not merely asa duty imposed by authority, but as your greatest privi lege granted by. divine grace. How great the privilege to hold a daily intercourse with Heaven in our dwellings! to have our houses converted into temples for that adorable Deity whom the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain! to mention our domestic wants before him with the encouraging hope of a supply! to vent the overflowings of gratitude! to spread the savor of his knowledge, and talk of him whom angels celebrate upon their golden harps and in anthems of praise! to have our families devoted to him while others live estranged from the God of their life! if all this does not appear the highest privilege to you, it is because you are astonishingly disaffected to the best of Beings. And since the Almighty condescends to allow you this privilege, will you wickedly deny it yourselves? If he had denied it to you, you would no doubt have cavilled at it as hard: you would have murmured had he laid a prohibition on your family and told you, “I will accept of worship from other families: they shall converse with me every day ; but as for yours, I will have nothing to do with them, I will accept of no worship from them; you may not make mention of the name of the Lord.” How would you tremble if God had marked your families with such a brand of reprobation} And will you put this - brand upon them with your own hand? Willyou deny that privilege to your families which would strike you with horror if God denied it? Will you affect such a horrid singularity, that when other families are admitted into a familiar audience with the Deity, you will keep off from him, and pay him no homage in yours 1

These arguments are chiefly derived from the light of

nature, and pliinly show that family-religion is a duty of

“natural religion. Accordingly heathens and idolaters have observed it. The heathens had their Lares, their Penates, or household gods. Such were Laban’s gods which Rachel stole from him, Gen. xxxi. 34; and such were those of Micah, Judges xvii. 4,5. These indeed were ido!s, but what did they stand instead of? Did they not stand instead of the true worship of the true God? What reformation was necessary in this case? The renouncing of these idols, and taking nothing in their room? or the renouncing of them and taking the true God in their place? Undoubtedly the latter. And will you not blush that heathens should exceed you? that you should be, according to the text, worse than infidels? And must you not tremble lest they should rise up in judgment against you, and condemn you’?

I now proceed to some arguments more purely seriptural, which prove the necessity of family religion in general, or of some particular branch of it.

1. We may argue from the examples of the saints, recorded and commended in scripture.

' Good examples infer an obligation upon us to imitate them; and when they are transmitted down to posterity with honor in the sacred records, they are proposed to our imitation, and as really bind us to the duty as express precepts. i

Now we are here surrounded with a bright cloud of witnesses. Even before the introduction of the clearer dispensations of the gospel, we find that the saints carefully maintained. family religion.

_ On this account Abraham was admitted into such intimacy with God, that he admits him into his secrets.

“ Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; since—I know him, that he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord,” &c. Gen. xviii. 16. 18.

We find Isaac and Jacob, by the influence of his good example and instructions, follow the same practice. They, as well as he, built. an altar to the Lord wherever they pitched their tents; an altar then being a necessary utensil for divine worship. This you will find repeatedly in the short history we have of these patriarchs, particularly in Gen. xxvi. 25; xxv. 1. 3, and xxxiii. 20.

5A THE NECESSITY AND EXCELLENCE

We find Job so intent upon family devotion, that he rises up early in the morning and offers burnt-offerings: and this he did, we are told, not upon extraordinary occasions only, but continually. Job i. 5.

The devout king David, after he had spent the day in the

glad solemnity of bringing the ark to its place, returned to bless his house. 2 Sam. vi. 20. He had his hour for family devotion; and when that is come, he leaves the solemnity of public worship, and hastens home. This was agreeable to his resolution, Z will behave myself wisely in a perfect way: I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. Psal. ci, 2. Daniel ran the risk of his life rather than omit this duty, which some of you omit with hardly any temptation. When the royal edict prohibited him, upon > penalty of being cast into the lion’s den, he still prayed and gave thanks to God, as he did aforetime.—As he did aforetime. 'This is added to show that he had always observed a stated course of devotion in his family, and that it was not a transient fit of zeal that now seized him. Dan. vi. 10.

These illustrious patterns we find under the dark dispensation of the Old Testament. How much more zealous should we be, who enjoy the meridian light of the gospel, to keep the religion of Jesus in our families!

In the New Testament we repeatedly find our blessed Lord in prayer with his. family, the apostles. St. Paul thrice mentions a church in a private house. Rom. xvi. 5. 1 Cor. xvi. 19, and Col. iv. 15, by which he probably means the religious families of Nymphas, and that pious pair Priscilla and Aquila. And Cornelius is an instance peculiarly observable, who, though a heathen, and ignorant of the coming of Christ, feared God (an expression that often signifies to worship God) with all his house 5 and prayed unto God always; that is, at all proper seasons. And when a divine messenger was sent to him to direct him to send for Peter, we are told he was found praying in his house; that is, with his domestics, as the word often signifies. Acts x. 2. 30.

If it might have any weight after such authentic examples as these, I might add, that in every age persons of piety have been exemplary in family religion. And if you look round y¢u, my brethren, you will find, that

by how much the more religious persons are, by so much

the more conscientious they are in this duty. What

though some, like the Pharisees, use it as a cloak for

their clandestine wickedness, this is no objection against

the practice ; otherwise there is hardly one branch of

religion or morality but what must be rejected too; for

every good thing has been abused by hypocrites to disguise their secret villany.

2. We may argue from several scripture precepts,

which either directly or consequentially refer to the

whole, or to some branch of family religion.

The apostle Paul, having given various directions

about relative duties in families, subjoins, Continue in

prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving: Col. iv.

2. Peter exhorts husbands to dwell with their wives according to knowledge, &c.—that their prayers might not. be

hindered: 1 Peter iii. 7. which certainly implies that they

should pray together. And here I may observe, by the by,

what is, perhaps, immediately intended in this text,

that beside the stated worship of God, common to all

the family, it may be very proper for the husband and

wife to retire for prayer at proper seasons by themselves

together. As there is a peculiar intimacy between them,

they ought to be peculiarly intimate in the duties of religion ; and when retired together, they may pour out

their hearts with more freedom than before all the family, and particularize those things that could not be pru

dently mentioned before others. But to return: we are

enjoined to pray always with all prayer and supplication :

Ephes. vi. 18; and surely family prayer must be included

in these comprehensive terms.

' As to family instruction, it was expressly enjoined upon the Israelites. “ These words which I command thee shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house:” Deut. vi. 6, 7, and xi. 19. They were commanded to instruct their domestics in the nature and design of the ordinances of that dispensation, particularly the passover: Exod. xii. 26, 27. And the Psalmist mentions all the wonderful works of God as what ought to be taught by parents to children from age toage. And must not parents now be under even superior obligations to inform their children of the more

D6 THE NECESSITY AND EXCELLENCE

glorious doctrines and ordinances of the gospel? Again, It is enjoined as a duty common to Christians in general, though they should not be united in one family, to exhort one another daily; Heb. iii. 13; and to teach ana admonish one another; Col. iii. 16. How much more then is it our duty to teach, and admonish, and exhort our families, which are more particularly entrusted to our caret

As to family praise, it is a duty, because thanksgiving is so often joined with prayer in scripture; Phil. iv. 6; Col. iv. 2; 1 Thess. v. 17,18; and psalmody must be owned the most proper method of expressing thankfulness by such as own it a part of divine worship. ‘“ The voice of joy and salvation is in the tabernacle of the righteous;” Psal. cviii. 15; an expression that may properly signify, praising God in psalms, and hymns, ana spiritual songs, as we are commanded, Col. iii. 16.

And now, my brethren, I presume you are convinced that family religion is a duty, unless you shut your eyes against the light of nature and the light of scripture; and if convinced, you are reduced to this dilemma, either to set up the worship of God immediately in your families, or sin wilfully against the knowledge of the truth. And which side will you choose’? O, sirs, the case is so plain, you need no time to deliberate; it is as plain as whether you should choose life or death, heaven or hell!

If you from henceforth make conscience of this important duty, it will be a most happy omen to your families and to this congregation. If the grateful incense of family devotion were ascending to heaven every morning and evening, from every family among us, we might expect a rich return of divine blessings upon ourselves and ours. Our houses would become the temples of the Deity, and our congregation feel his gracious influences. Our children would grow up in the knowledge and fear of God, and transplant religion from our families into their own whenever they should be formed. Our servants and slaves would become the servants of righteousness, and heirs with us of the grace of life. The animosities and contests that may now disturb our households, and render them like the dens of wild beasts, would cease. Vice would wither and die among us, and

languishing religion would lift up its head and 1evive This would certainly be the consequence in several instances, if we were but to maintain family religion in a proper manner; for God hath not commanded us to seek his face in vain; and if this desirable success should not be granted universally, we shall still have the comfort to refiect that we have done our duty.

But how shocking is the prospect if you are determined to resist conviction, and live in the wilful neglect of this duty! Your families are like to be nurseries for hell; or if there should be an Abijah in them, “ one in whom some good thing is found towards the Lord God ‘of Israel,” (1 Kings xiv. 13,) no thanks to you for it; you must be punished for your neglect of him as though he had perished by your iniquity.

Remember, Sirs, that the omission of a known, prac tical duty against the remonstrances of your conscience, is acertain evidence that you are entirely destitute of all religion; and therefore I must discharge the artillery of heaven against you in that dreadful imprecation which, as dictated by inspiration, is equivalent to a prediction, or denunciation. “ Pour out thy fury upon the heathen, that know thee not, and upon the families that call not upon thy name.” Jer. x. 25. Observe here that you are ranked with heathens that know not God; and that the divine fury is imprecated upon you, and it shall fall, it shall fall speedily upon your devoted heads and your prayerless families, unless you fly out of its reach by fly ing to the Lord in earnest supplications in your houses. Will you rather run the venture, will you rather destroy yourselves and your domestics too, than spend a quarter ‘or half an hour, morning and evening, in the most manly, noble, heavenly, evangelical exercises of devotion? Surely you are not so hardy! surely you are not so averse to God, and careless about your own welfare, and that of your dearest relatives and domestics! I request, I beg, I adjure you by your regard to the authority of God, by your concern for your own salvation and that of your families, by the regards you bear the interests of religion in this place, and your poor minister, that this may be the happy evening from whence you may date * the worship of God in your houses; that this may be

the blessed era from which you and your houses wik serve the Lord.

I proceed,

II. To show in what seasons, or how frequently, family religion should be statedly performed.

Now it is more than intimated in scripture, that it should be performed every day, and particularly morning and evening. Thus the sacrifices under the law, which were attended with prayer, were offered daily, morning and evening. To this the Psalmist alludes: Let my prayer be set before thee as incense, which was offered in the. morning, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice, Psal cxli. 2. He elsewhere resolves, every day will I bless thee. Psalm cxlv.2. © Yea, his devotion was so extraordinary, that he resolves, Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and cry aloud. Psalm lv. 17. So Daniel performed family-worship thrice aday. Hence we are undoubtedly bound to perform family religion twice at least in the day. And thus frequently it seems to be enjoined for common. “ It is a good thing to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night.” Psalm xcii. 1,2. Farther, reason directs us to morning and evening as the proper season for family worship: for, pray, which would you omit? Dare you venture your families out into the world all the uay without committing them to the care of Providence in the morning? Can you undertake your secular pursuits without imploring the divine blessing upon them? . And as to the evening, how can you venture to sleep, without committing yourselves and yours to the divine protection, and returning thanks for the mercies of the day? Again, the very course of nature seems to direct us to these seasons. Our life is parcelled out into so many days; and every day is a kind of life, and sleep a kind of death. And shall we enter upon life in the morning, without acknowledging the Author of our life? Or shall we, as it were, die in the evening, and not commend our departing spirits into his hands? Night is a kind of pause, a stop, in the progress of life, and should kindle a devout temper in us towards our divine Preserver. I shall only add, that the prophet hints that we should seek the Lord as the Author of the revolutions of night and day; “ Seek him that

turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night.” Amos v. 8; that is, seek him under tkat notion; and what time so proper for this as evening and morning? „Therefore, my brethren, determine to begin and conclude the day with God.

HI. I shall consider what particular obligation the. heads of families lie under, and what authority they are invested with to maintain religion in their houses.

In all societies there must be a subordination, and particularly in families, and it is the place of the head of such societies to rule and direct. Particularly it belongs to the head of a family, when there is no fitter person present, to perform worship in it, to use proper means to causé all his domestics to attend upon it.. The gentler means of persuasion ought to be used, where they will succeed; but when it is unavoidable, compulsive measures may be taken, to oblige all our domestics to an attendance. The consciences of all, bond and free, are subject to God only, and no man ought to compel another to anything, asa duty, that is against his conscience. But this is not the case here. Your domestics may plead a great many excuses for not joining in family-worship, but they will hardly plead that it is against their conscience; that is, they will hardly say that they think they should sin against God in so doing, Here then you may use your authority; and perhaps some word they hear may touch their hearts. You should, in common cases, cause them all to attend morning and evening, unless your servants are scattered in different quarters, and make conscience of praying together, which you should exhort them to do, and for which you should allow them convenient time.

That you are authorized and obliged to all this, is evident from God’s commending Abraham for commanding his children, &c. ; from Joshua’s resolving, that not only he, but also his house, should serve the Lord; a resolution he could not perform, unless he had authority over his house to compel them, at least externally, to serve the Lord, (Josh. xxiv. 15,) and from the superiority which you have over your domestics, which enables you to command them in this case, as well as in your own aflairs.

- 60 THE NECESSITY AND EXCELLENCE

IV. And lastly, I come to answer the usual objections against this important duty of family religion.

It would be more honest for people frankly to own that they have no heart to it, and that this is the real cause of their neglecting it, and not any valid objections they have against it ; but since they will torture their invention to discover some pleas to excuse themselves,

we must answer them. .

1st Objection. “I have no time, and my secular business would suffer by family religion.”

Were you formed for this world only, there would be some force inthis objection; but how strange does such an objection sound in the heir of an eternity! Pray, what is your time given to you for? Is it not principally that you may prepare for eternity? And have you no time for what is the great business of your lives?

Again, Why do you not plead too, that you have no time for your daily meals? Is food more necessary for your bodies than religion for your souls? If you think so, what is become of your understandings?

Further, What employment do you follow? Is it lawful or unlawful? If unlawful, then renounce it immediately; if lawful, then it will admit of the exercise of family religion, for God cannot command contradictions; and since he has commanded you to maimtain his worship in your houses, that is demonstration that every calling which he allows you to follow will afford time for it.

Finally, May you not redeem as much time from idle conversation, from trifling, or even from your sleep, as may be sufficient for family religion? May you not order your family devotion so as that your domestics may attend upon it, either before they go out to their work, or when they come to their meals?

2d Objection. “Ihave not ability to pray ; I am too

ignorant.”

If youhad a proper sense of your wants, this plea would not hinder you. Did you ever hear a beggar, however ignorant, make this objection? A sense of his necessities is an unfailing fountain of his eloquence.

Further, how strange does this objection sound from you! What! have you enjoyed preaching, Bibles, and

good books so long, and yet do not know what to ask of God? Alas! what have you been doing?

Again, Is neglecting prayer the way to improve in knowledge, and qualify you to perform it 2

Finally, May you not easily furnish yourselves with forms of prayer, which you may use as persons weak in their limbs do their crutches, till you can lay them aside? It is bigotry only that will say that you should neglect the substance of the duty, if you cannot perform every circumstance of it in the best manner.

3d Objection. “I amashamed.”

Bat is this shame well grounded? Is it really a shame to worship the God of heaven, and share in the employment of angels?

Are sinners ashamed to serve their master ?

A little practice will easily free you from all this difficulty.

4th Objection. “ But, alas! I know not how to begin it.”

Here, indeed, the difficulty lies; but why will you not own that you were hitherto mistaken, and that you would rather reform than persist obstinately in the omission of an evident duty 2

5th Objection. “ But my family will not join with me.”

How do you know? Have you tried? Are you not master of your own family? Exert that authority m this which you claim in other cases.

6th Objection. “ But I shall be ridiculed and laughed at.”

Are you then more afraid of a laugh or a jeer than the displeasure of God? Would you rather please men than. him?

Will you never become religious till you can obtain the applause of the wicked for being so? Then you will never be religious at all.

Think how you will bear the contempt of the whole universe at last for the neglect of this duty!

Thereforz, wherever you have your habitation, there let Jehovah, may I so speak, have an altar, and there let morning and evening prayers and praises be presented, till you are called to worship him in his temple above, where your prayers shall be swallowed up in everlasting praise. Amen.

` SERMON XXX.

Marr. vu. 12.—-Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so tothem; for this is the law and the prophets.

CHRISTIANITY is not a fragment, but a complete system of religion; and it is intended and adapted to make us good entirely and throughout: it teaches us a proper conduct and temper towards every being with whom we have any connection, particularly towards God and our fellow men. A Christian is a complete, uniform, finished character; a character in which there is the most amiable symmetry and proportion; it is all of apiece, without chasms and inconsistencies. A Christian is a penitent, a believer, a lover of God, conscientious in devotion, and diligent in attendance upon every ordinance of religious worship; he begins his religion with a supreme regard to God, the Supreme of beings, sensible that unless he begins here, he inverts the order of things, and that all his religion and virtue must be preposterous and vain. To Jove the Lord his God with all his heart, and to serve him from that exalted principle, is the first and great commandment with him; and he observes it as such. Religion, virtue, morality, and everything that bears a specious name among mankind, is a poor, maimed thing, monstrously defective, if a proper regard to God be left out of the system. It is shocking and unnatural for the creatures of God to be punctual in observing the duties they owe to one another, and yet entirely negligent of those radical fundamental duties they owe to him, their common Parent, the highest excellence, and the original of all authority and obligation.

But though Christianity begins with, and chiefly consists in our duty to God, yet it extends farther; it also includes a proper conduct and temper towards men. A good Christian is not only devout, but moral and virtuous: he is not only a dutiful servant of God in matters purely religious, but he is a useful member of every society to which hy belongs, and makes conscience of Justice, charity, and all the good offices due to his fellow-creatures. He isa good ruler or a good subject, a good neighbor, a good father or child, a good master or servant; in short, he endeavors to have a “ conscience void of offence towards God and towards men.” I have made it the great object of my ministry among you to bring you to pay a proper regard to God, as he has revealed himself in the gospel of his Son; and for this purpose have inculcated the important doctrines of faith, repentance, love, and those other graces which are essential to every good man. But I must not forget another part of my office, which is, to teach you the second great command, or summary of the divine law, namely, “ That you should love your neighbor as yourselves,” and inculcate upon you those important duties which you owe to mankind; and it is very extravagant for persons to disgust these, through a pretended relish for the gospel and the doctrines of grace, since these are no inconsiderable parts of the gospel, and the lessons of morality run through the whole New Testament.

When I would discourse upon the duties of social life, I cannot choose a text more pertinent or copious than that I have read to you, which is a fundamental and most comprehensive rule of morality; “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.”

In the illustration and improvement of this subject, I shall,

I. Offer a few things for the right understanding of this divine rule of social duty..

II. Consider the reason of it.

III. Open its excellency.

IV. Mention some important instances of particular cases to which it should be applied. And,

Lastly, show the necessity and advantage of observing it. ;

I. I am to offer a few things for the right understanding of this divine rule.

It is proper then to observe, that as there isa great diversity in the stations and characters of men, there is a proportionable diversity in the duties which they owe one to another; and self-love may make a man very extravagant in his expectations and desires about the conduct of another towards him. On these accounts it is

necessary that-we should understand this precept with these two cautions or limitations.

1. That we should do that to others which we would expect and wish from them upon a change of condition, or if they were in our circumstances and we in theirs. Every man should be treated according to his character and station; and therefore that conduct which may be proper towards me in my station, may not be proper towards another in a different station: but let me suppose myself in his place and he in mine, and then that behavior which I would expect from him, the same I should observe towards him. Thus, for example, a magistrate is bound to protect his subjects, and to behave towards them as he would desire a ruler to behave towards him if he were a subject; but he is not bound to yield that submission to his subjects, while a ruler, which he may justly demand of them. ‘The rule in such cases is, let every man act in character; let him perform to others those duties which he would desire from others if they were in his circumstances, and he in theirs; and where there is a sameness of circumstances, there, and there only, his duty to others must be the same that he expects from them.

2. We should make only our reasonable and lawful expectations from others the rule of our conduct towards them. A man may expect and wish very extravagant and sinful things from others: he may desire another should give him all his estate, or gratify his wicked lusts and passions by some criminal compliance: such desires are by no means to be the rule of conduct; for we cannot indulge them, nor others comply with them, without acting wickedly and unreasonably. But those things which we may desire and expect from others, consistently with right reason, religion, and the laws of society, those things we ought to perform to them; those things which our consciences justify, and not those to which our inordinate self-love or some extravagant passion may prompt us.

If we understand this precept with such limitations as these, we may safely follow it as a general rule of conduct; and then it will not be liable to such objections as may be otherwise made against it. For example, a criminal may plead, “If I were in the place of my judge, and

he in mine, i would acquit him, and grant him his life?” Or a judge might think, “If I were in the place of that poor criminal, I should be glad if my judge would forgive me: and therefore, if I would do as I would be done by, I must forgive him.” Such thoughts as these, arising from wrong principles, are not to be the rule and measure of our actions or expectations; for our own consciences cannot approve of them in our sedate and impartial moments. I proceed, - To consider the reason of this precept.

Now the reason or foundation of it is evidently this, namely, the natural equality of mankind. For notwithstanding the great difference in the capacities, improvements, characters, and stations of men, yet, considered as men, they share in the same common nature, and are so far equal; and therefore, in the same circumstances, they have a right to the same treatment. A superior, for example, should treat his inferior just in the manner in which he would reasonably expect to be treated himself if he was in a low condition and his inferior advanced to his station. If there be any reason why another should behave in such a manner to me, there is the very same reason that I should behave in the same manner towards him; because he is to himself what I am to myself, as near, as dear, as important. Is it reasonable my neighbor should make no encroachments upon my property? It is equally reasonable that I should not encroach upon his; for his property is as much his as my property is mine. Do I expect my neighbor should observe the rules of justice in his dealmgs with me? then certainly I should observe them in

‘my dealings with him; for he has as good a right to be treated according to these rules, by me, as I have to be so treated by him. If it is reasonable that he should be tender of my good name, it is equally reasonable that I should be tender of his.. If he should relieve me in my calamities, certainly I am equally bound.to relieve him when in the same circumstances. And the reason is plain; he is to himself what I am to myself, and he is to me what I ain to him, and therefore I am obliged to treat him as I would justly expect he would treat me; we are equal, and consequently our obligations are equal, and our duties mutual or reciprocal. Hence you see that

66 THE RULE OF EQUITY. this precept isthe most reasonable thing in the world. My next business is,

III. To open the excellency of it.

And this appears,(1.) from its comprehensiveness; it includes all the social duties of life; it is a short summary of the whole divine law, as far as it refers to our conduct towards man. This excellency Christ himself points out: This, says he, is the law and the prophets; that is, it is the substance of both: do to others what you would have others do to you, and then you do to them all that the law and the prophets, and I may add, all that Christ and the apostles require you to do. Now it is a great advantage to have the whole of our duty collected into such narrow bounds, and presented to us at one view: we are not sent to pore over tedious volumes of laws and statutes, or to gather up fragments of precepts here and there in order to learn our duty to one another: it is all summed up in this, “ Do to others what you would have them do to you.” With this is connected another excellency of this precept; and that is,

2. Its conciseness: it is what 1 may call a portable directory, which you may always carry about with you and easily recollect; and therefore you need never be ata loss to know your duty. You may always know your own expectations and desires; do to others then what you would expect and desire from them, and you are right; you do all that the law and the prophets require you to do. ‘Tedious precepts and long discourses are not so' easily learned or remembered; but the shortest memory cannot fail to recollect this concise command.

3. Another excellency of this precept is, that it is universal, and extends to all mankind, in all circumstances ; to superiors, inferiors, and equals. It is true there is a great diversity in the characters and stations of men, which it is not your business, nor is it in your power to alter; and there is a correspondent variety in the duties you owe them. But you can easily imagine them all in the same circumstances; or you can easily suppose yourselves in their place, and they in yours; and then you can with equal ease look into your own minds, and consider what treatment you would expect ‘rom them in such a change of circumstances ; and’ that

will immediately discover how you should treat them in their present circumstances. Thus the rule may be universally applied without impropriety.

4. Another excellency of this precept is, that it is plain and convictive. Common minds may be bewildered, instead of being guided, by an intricate, tedious system of laws; but a man of the weakest understanding may easily perceive this rule. It is an appeal to his own sensations. ‘What would you expect or wish from others? How would you have them treat you? Surely you cannot but know this; “well, treat them just in the same manner.” This is also a most convictive rule; every man that thinks a little, must immediately own that it is highly reasonable; consult your own consciences, and they will tell you, you need no other adviser, and you are self-condemned if you violate this precept. It is written upon your hearts in illustrious indelible characters: it shines and sparkles there, like the Urim and Thummim on the breast of Aaron. I am,

IV. To mention some important instances of particular cases to which this excellent rule ought to be applied. And here I shall throw a great many things together without method, that my description may agree the nearer to real life, in which these things happen promiscuously without order.

Would you desire that another should love you, be ready to serve you, and do you all the kind offices in his power? Do you expect your neighbor should rejoice in your prosperity, sympathize with you in affliction, promote your happiness, and relieve you in distress? Would you have him observe the rules of strict justice ‘in dealing with you? Would you have him tender of your reputation, ready to put the kindest construction upon your actions, and unwilling to believe or spread a bad report concerning you. Do you desire he should direct you when mistaken, and labor to reclaim you from a dangerous course? In short, do you think it reasonable he should do all in his power for your good, in soul, body, and estate? Are these your expectations and desires with regard to the conduct of others towards you? Then in this manner should you behave towards them; you have fixed and determined the rule