are at a great distance from it, yet the ordination of nature is not in vain; because by virtue of it, every heavy body is always tending thither in motion or inclination : so although we cannot reach to complete holiness in this imperfect state, yet it is not in vain that the gospel prescribes it, and infuses into christians those dispositions whereby they are gradually carried to the full accomplishment of it. Not to arrive to perfection is the weakness of the flesh, not to aspire after it is the fault of the spirit. To excite us, it will be of moment to consider the great obligations that the gospel lays upon christians to be holy, 1 John 3. 1. By that covenant the holy God is pleased to take them into the relation of his children; and as the nature of sanctification, so the motives of it are contained in that title. For so near an alliance obliges them to a faithful observation of his commands, and to imitate him with the greatest care, that the vein of his spirit, and the marks of his blood may appear in all their actions. “Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin:" 1 John 3. 9. The allowed practice of it is inconsistent with the quality of a son of God, it is contrary to the grace of his divine birth. Nay, the omission of good, as well as the commission of evil, is inconsistent with that relation. It is for this reason, that holiness is so much the character of a true christian, that to be a christian and a saint are the same thing in the writing of the apostles. The venerable title obliges him to a higher practice of virtue, than ever the pagans imagined. He is far behind them, if he do not surpass them; and if he is surpassed by them,

; he will be clothed with shame. Besides, our Redeemer who hath a right to us by so many titles, by his divine and human nature, by his life and death, by his glory and sufferings ; as he strictly commands us to be holy; so he hath joined example to his authority, “that we may walk as he walked, and be as he was in the world.” St. Paul makes use of this consideration, to restrain the disciples of Christ from all sin, and to persuade them to universal holiness. After he had mentioned the disorders of the Gentiles, to deter the Ephesians from the like, he tells them, Eph. 4. 20. “But ye have not so learned Christ,” that is, his rule and practice instructed them otherwise. And when he commands the Romans, Rom. 13. 13, 14. “To walk honestly as

. in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying ;" he opposes to all these vices the pattern that Christ set before us, “ but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.” The expression intimates the duty, that as the garment is commensurate to the body, so we are to imitate all the parts of his holy conversation.

It is no wonder that the heathens gratified the inclinations of lust or rage, when their gods were represented acting in such a manner as to authorize their vices : Semina pene omnium scele. rum, a diis suis peccantium turba collegit, as Julius Firmicus justly reproaches them. There was no villany how notorious soever, but had some Deity for its protector. They found in heaven a justification of all their crimes, and became vicious by imitation. * For it is very congruous for men to follow those whom they esteem to be perfect, and to whom they think themselves accountable. If they attribute to their supreme God, the judge of the world, vices as virtues, what virtues will there be to reward, or vices to punish in men ? But for those that name the name of Christ to continue in iniquity," is the most unbecoming thing in the world. For they live in the perfect contradiction of their profession. An unholy christian is a real apostate from Christ, that retracts by his wickedness the dedication that was made of him in his baptism. Although he doth not abjure our Saviour in words, “ he denies him in his works.” A proud person renounces his humility, the revengeful his mercy, the lukewarm his zeal, the unclean his purity, the covetous his bounty and compassion, the hypocrite his sincerity. And can there be any thing more indecent and absurd, than to pretend the relation and respect of disciples to such an holy master, and yet by disobedience to deny him? When the bloody spectacles of the gladiators were first brought to Athens, a wise man cried out to the masters of the prizes, that they should remove the statue and altar of mercy out of the city, there being such an incongruity between the goddess they pretended to worship, and that cruel sacrifice of men for the sport of the people. It were more suitable for those who are not afraid to violate the most holy laws, and to contradict the pattern of Christ, to leave their profession, and to take some other more complying with their lusts. It is not the title of a christian that sanctifies those who pollute and defame it. It is not wearing the livery of Christ that can honour those who stain it by their filthiness, but it is an aggravation of their guilt. It is an unconceivable indignity to our Saviour, and revives the old ealumnies of the heathens, as if the gospel were a sanctuary for criminals, when those that call him Lord, Rev. 2. 9. do not what he commands them. I know, saith Christ, the blasphemy of them that say, they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of satan.” Those that own the profession of christianity, and live in unchristian practices, are baptized pagans; and in effect revile our® blessed Redeemer, as if he had proclaimed a licentious impunity for sinners. Such wretches may deceive themselves with a pretence they believe in Christ, and that visibly they declare their dependance on him; but this pretence will be as unprofitable as it is vain : it is not the “ calling him Lord, that will give them admission into the kingdom of heaven.” Mat. 7. 21. The naked name of a christian cannot protect them from the wrath of God. Tertullian (Lib. de Pæn.) smartly upbraids some in his time who were careless of the dignity and purity of the christian profession in their lives, imagining that they might reverence God in their hearts without regarding him in their actions; that they might salvo metu & fide peccare, sin without losing their fear of God and their faith. To refute this gross contradiction, he propounds it in a sensible example: Hoc est salva castitate matrimonium violare, salva pietate parenti venenum temperare; this is the same thing as to violate the fidelity of marriage without the wounding of chastity, or to poison a parent without failing in the duty that is owing to them. And to express his indignation, he tells them, Sic ergo & ipsi salva venia in gehennam detruduntur, dum saloo metu peccant : let them expect that God will cast them into hell, without prejudice to their pardon, as they pretend to sin without prejudice to the respect they bear him.

To sum up all; Jesus Christ, as by his doctrine and life, he clearly discovered our duty, so he offers to us the aid of his spirit for our assistance, by which the commands of the gospel are not only possible but easy: and to enforce our obligations he hath threatened such vengeance to the rebellious, and promised such a reward to those that obey the gospel, that it is impossible we should not be deeply affected with them, if we seriously believe them, and he hath given such an evidence of their truth,

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that it is impossible we should not believe them, unless “ the God of this world hath blinded our minds.” It is matter there. fore of just astonishment, that christians should not express the efficacy of the gospel in their actions. How can a reasonable creature believe that eternal damnation shall be the punishment of sin, and yet live in the wilful practice of it? The historian speaking of mushrooms that sometimes proved deadly to whole families, asks with wonder, * what pleasure could allure them to eat such doubtful meat ? Yet they may be so corrected as to become innocent. But when it is certain that the pleasures of sin are mortal, can any one be tempted by those attractives to venture on that which will undoubtedly bring death to the soul ? Let sense itself be judge, and make the comparison between whatsoever the present life can afford for delight in sin, and what the future death will bring to torment it: let the flesh see into what torments all its delights shall be changed, and with what other fire than of impure lust it shall burn for ever.

Besides, we are encouraged to our duty with the assurance of a happiness so excellent, that not only the enjoyment of it in the next world, but the just expectation of it here makes us truly blessed. If the reward were small, or the promise uncertain, there might be some pretence for our not performing the conditions to obtain it : but when the one is infinitely great, and the other as true as the God of truth, what more powerful motive can be conceived to make us holy? It is the apostle's chosen argument, that

we should walk worthy of him who hath called us to his kingdom and glory." The heathens were in a great measure strangers to the secrets of another world; they had but a shadow of probability, we have the light of truth brought down from heaven by the Son of God, that reveals to us a blessedness, that de

most ardent active affections. But if men are not wrought on by natural reason, nor divine faith; if neither the terrors of the Lord, nor the blessed hope can persuade them from sin to holiness, their condition is irrecoverable. In this the rules of natural and spiritual healing agree, Hippocrat. Sect. 7. Aphor. ult. Where neither corrosive nor lenitives are successful, we must use the knife; if cutting off be unprofitable, we must sear

the part; if the fire is ineffectual, the ulcer is incurable. If the threatening of hell-fire through unbelief and carelessnes is not seared, and hath no efficacy to correct and change sinners, what remains but to make a presage of eternal death, that will unavoidably and speedily seize on them ? And if so clear a diseovery of the heavenly glory doth not produce in men a living faith, that works by love, and a lively hope that purifies the heart and conversation, what can be concluded, but that they are wholly sensual and senseless, and shall be for ever deprived of that bless, edness they now despise and neglect.

CHAP. XX,

The divine power is admirably glorified in the creation of the world, in re

spect of the greatness of the effect, and the manner of its production. It is as evident in our redemption. The principal effects of it are consider. ed. The incarnation of the Son of God is a work fully responsible to omnipotence. Our Redeemer's snpernatual conception by the Holy Ghost. The divine 'power was eminently declared in the miracles Jesus Christ wrought in the course of his ministryHis miracles were the evidence of his celestial calling; they were necessary for the conviction of the world: their nature considered. The divine power was glorified in making the death of Christ victoriogs over all our spiritual enemies. The resurrection of Christ the effect of glorious power. The reasons of it from the quality of his person, and the nature of his office, that he might dispense the blessings he had purchased for believers. His resurrection is the foundation of faith. It hath a threefold reference, to his person as the Son of God, to his death as an all-sufficient sacrifice, to bis promise of raising believers at the last-day,

THE divine power is admirably glorified in the creation of the world, not only in regard of the greatness of the effect, that comprehends the heavens and earth, and all things in them; but in regard of the marvellous way of its production : for he made