church; to celebrate the worship of God, more solemnly, and bear a public testimony to his truths; to exhort, and provoke one another to love and good works * ; to restore in the spirit of meekness them that re overtaken in faults, but put away from amongst n the grossly and obstinately wicked; that if possible, the reverence of so awful a censure may bring them to recollect themselves and repent; or, supposing it fails, that yet the innocence of the rest, and the honour of the Christian name, may be preserved. And that all this may be performed in a due manner, he hath instituted a regular subordination and succession of pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ §. An appointment evidently suitable, both to the nature of a being, which so greatly wants instruction and admonition, as man; and to the nature of a religion, that will so very well bear to be shewn in a full light. However defectively, therefore, or wrongly, this institution may be administered through our faults; or how much soever it may be despised, or obstructed, through yours; yet, in itself, it is visibly of excellent use; and, which is remarkable, peculiar to the religion delivered in Scripture. For, in the Gentile world, through many centuries, we have no one instance of any public teaching, much less any moral discipline, attending their worship. And indeed, when Julian attempted to set up preachers of heathenism, in opposition to those of Christianity, it was immediately foretold him, and the event verified the prediction, that what had proved so effectual to establish truth, would only serve to expose and ruin error. Such then being the nature of our holy religion, VOL. I. *Heb. x. 24, 25. Ꮓ + Gal. vi. 1. and such the methods taken to preserve it from corruption, and make it a perpetual instrument of present and eternal happiness to mankind; whoever sincerely honours God, loves his fellow-creatures, or wishes well to his own soul, must see and feel himself deeply concerned to embrace and respect the Gospel of Christ; which God cannot have revealed for such noble purposes, and left any one at liberty to slight a single part of it. But then we must remember, that neither professing nor admiring it, will serve for any thing but our condemnation; unless we receive it into an honest and good heart*, and bring forth the fruits of it in pious and virtuous lives. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doth righteousness, is righteous: he that committeth sin, is of the devil. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil † ; and hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his Commandments ‡. Mark iv. 20. Luke viii. 15. + 1 John iii. 7, 8. 1 John ii. 3. SERMON XXII. 1 PETER IV. 8. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. A RELIGION, the precepts of which are all just and good, must immediately be acknowledged to be so far true; but if, besides the general temper from which it appoints every particular duty to be done, be the proper and right one, then the argument in its favour strengthens. And if, lastly, the means which it prescribes to form this temper, be well adapted to produce it in the worst of men, and raise it still higher in the best, nothing more can be wanting to prove the practical part of such an institution, which is always the most important part, worthy of him, who alone perfectly knows both the obligations arising from our original nature, and the assistances needful in our present circumstances. Now this is evidently the case of Christianity. Its injunctions comprehend every dictate, the very purest and sublimest, of natural piety and virtue, without any single article contradictory to them: whereas all religions of human invention have both omitted right things, and commanded wrong ones. The precepts it hath added, peculiar to itself, are few and unexcep tionable. And the motives from which the whole is to be practised, are two, the most rational and excellent that can be conceived: the first and great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and the second like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: both which have one original source; that inward esteem of moral goodness and rectitude, which must incline us to adore it in our Maker, cultivate it in ourselves, and exercise it towards our fellow-creatures. This is the genuine spirit of the Gospel and it is plainly the worthiest and noblest that our nature, or any nature, is capable of: too noble, indeed, for human minds, weak and depraved as they are, to be wholly influenced by at first. And therefore we are trained up to it gradually, by a preparatory discipline of threatenings to restrain, and promises to excite us; of religious appointments to remind us of our duty, visible signs to make stronger impressions of it, worldly trials of many kinds to exercise and confirm us in it: till, through a course of this improving education, we grow up to our maturity; and that which is perfect being come, that which is in part be done away t. Then God in his own good time shall translate us into a better world, and removing, as superfluous, now, those temporary aids, which, in some degree, obsured the building they contributed to raise, its beauty shall appear complete, and its duration eternal. Therefore, in every act, and every thought of religion, we should always remember, that the only true measure of our improvement, is the increase of that virtuous affection, which St. Paul hath declared to be the end of the commandment ‡, love to God, and love to his whole creation; especially our own species, or as large a proportion of it as our behaviour can affect. The former part of this blessed temper, that which regards our Maker, hath been taught so unintelligibly, * Matth. xxii. 37, 38, 39. † 2 Cor. xiii. 10. 1 1 Tim. i. 5. and perverted so wildly, by some, and partly in consequence of that, rejected with such scorn, or admitted with such diffidence, by others; that to the great disadvantage and dishonour of religion, it hath obtained but little place in the souls of men, even of those, who think themselves pious and devout. And yet, if goodness be the natural object of love, and infinite goodness of the highest love that we can exert, surely the meaning of love to God is as plain, and the obligation to it as indispensable, as the feeling of it is delightful, and the fruits excellent. Love to our fellow-creatures, the second precept of our blessed Lord, which in the text is rendered charity, the original word being the very same, hath indeed so far escaped better than the first, as to be in general terms well spoken of by all the world. But, at the same time, its nature hath often been ill understood; and its worth seldom considered near enough, yet sometimes exalted a great deal too much. For these reasons, I shall endeavour, I. To settle the right notion of this virtue. II. To shew the just value of it: particularly its influence in what both St. Peter and St. James ascribe to it, covering of sins. I. To settle the right notion of it: a thing the more necessary because the word, by which it is here expressed, hath greatly altered its meaning. Charity, in common speech at present, almost constantly signifies, either judging favorably of the actions and intentions of others, or relieving their distresses: whereas in the New Testament, it never signifies these particularly, and scarce ever any single virtue, but that general benevolence of disposition, which prompts us, on all occasions, to mild thoughts and beneficent deeds; and on which, wrought in us by the grace of our |