( our imaginations ftrongly on the account of their nearnefs; wheras the vices of the heathen world, being practised at a distance, and coming to our knowledge by rare and uncertain reports, do therefore make but faint impreffions on our minds. The rule, by which Chriftians are obliged to -walk, is fo excellent, and they are thereby fo fully and clearly informed of the whole extent of their duty; the promised affiftances are fo mighty, and the rewards fo vaft, by which they are animated to obedience; that their tranfgreffions, as they are attended with a deeper guilt, fo mult needs appear to be of a more prodigious fize, than thofe of other men. And it is no wonder therefore, if, on both these accounts, good and holy perfons have spoken of them with a parti cular degree of deteftation and horror, And as the vices of Chriftians are, for thele I reasons, open and glaring, fo their virtues oftentimes difappear and lie hid. The profound humility and felf-denial, which the Chriftian religion first enjoined, leads the true difciples of Chrift, in the exercife of the chief gofpel graces, to fhun the applause and fight of men, as much as is poffible. Hence, fome of the beft Chriftians are leaft known to be fuch, because they make the leaft noife and fhew with their goodnefs. There is nothing extraordinary or fingular in their manner of life and behaviour; no oftentation of fanctity in look, word, or deed. Notwithstand. ing their domeftick feverities, yet when they come abroad they anoint the head and wash the face that they appear not unto men to fast." Matt. vi. 17. 17. They found no trumpet before their almis, or other good works; but endeavour to perform them with that fecrefy, which our Saviour recommended, when he faid, "Let not thy right hand know what the left hand doth." Matt. vi. 3. And of this there his one, though a very late, yet fo remarkable an inftance, that, for the ho nour of our holy faith, I think it may deserve to be particularly mentioned; the inftance, I mean of the author of that excellent book, The whole duty of man who took not more care to do good to the world, than he did to conceal the dǝer of it; being contented to prove himself to him, and him only," who feeth in fecret," and refolved that the praife of men, whether in his life, or after his death, fhould be no part of his reward. On these, and fuch accounts as thefe, I fay vice feems to have the odds of virtue among "thofe, who name the name of Chrift," much more than it really hath. However after all the abatements that have been, or can be made in this cafe, ftill it must be owned, That the wick, edness of Chriftians is exceeding great, and, con fidering the fpecial helps towards holinefs, which they above the rest of the world enjoy, very a mazing Even good men, when they find all the powerful means of grace proposed in the gofpel to have fo little fuccefs, are apt to be fome what ftartled at it; and ill men do not fail to make a very ill use of it, and to turn it to the difadvantage of Christianity itself. Secondly, That they are very unreasonable in fo doing, I am in the next place to fhew. For, VOL. IV. 1. The D 1. The holiest and pureft doctrine imaginable is but doctrine still ; it can only inftruct, admonith, or perfuade; it cannot compel. The gospel means of grace, powerful as they are, yet are not, and ought not to be, irrefiftible. They are morál causes, which do not violently constrain our wills and affections; but only, by gentle methods, főlicit and incline them. They work not like a medicine, or a charm, without our concurrence and co-operation. And therefore let the difcoveries of our duty and happiness now made, be never fo bright and clear, yet a multitude of Chriftians may ftill fo live, as if there were no fuch difcoveries. And this is no greater a wonder, than it is, that the lufts and paffions of frail men fhould often get the better of their reason, and the trueft fenfe and knowledge of our duty give way in the presence of mighty temptations; which always hath been, always will, and muft be the cafe, while human nature confifts (as it doth) of jarring principles, and the corrupt part of us is (as it generally is) the prevailing ingredient in the compofition. Let the gofpel have never fo little fuccefs in promoting holiness, yet all who have confidered it, muft own, that it is in itself as fit as any thing that can be imagined for that purpose, and incom parably more fit than any other courfe that ever was taken. If therefore the defired end be not attained, we muft not blame the means, which are conteffedly appofite and proper, but the men, who refuse or neglect to make ufe of them. The rules of health, and the preferiptions of the phyfician may be good, and yet few be the better for them, them, if few ftrictly obferve them. It is no dif paragement to the art, if thofe receive no great benefit from it, who do not surrender themselves up to the methods it prescribes. Did philofophy fuffer in the opinion of wife men, on the account of the debaucheries that reigned in thofe ages, wherein it flourished most among the Grecians and Romans? Was it then thought a good inference, that, because men were very diffolute, when wisdom was at the height, and the light of reafon fhone brightest, therefore wisdom and reason were of little use towards making men virtuous? No! the excellence and fitnefs of the rule was univerfally acknowledged; and all the blame was laid on those, who did not com→ ply with it. Object in the like manner against natural religion to a Deift, and he will give you the like answer. And why then should he not receive the fame apology for revealed religion, in its turn? If the ill conduct of those, who em brace any rule of life and manners, be a reafon able exception against the rule itself, there's an end of all rules whatfoever; fince none there are, from which most of thofe, who in theory approve them, do not in practice mightily fwerve and decline. But, 2. The prefent wickednefs of Chriftians cannot be owing to any defect in the doctrine of Ch ist, nor be urged as a proof of the real inefficacy of it towards rendering men holy; because there was a time, when it had all the fuccefs of this kind, that could be expected; the time, I mean, of its earliest appearance in the world; when the prac tice of the generality of Chriftians was a juft comD 2 ment 1 ment on the precepts of Christ; and they could appeal from their doctrines to their lives, and challenge their worst enemies to thew any remarkable difference between them. When they were, as the apoftle fpeaks, "blameless, and harmless, "the fons of God, without rebuke, in the midst "of a crooked and perverfe nation, among whom "they fhone as lights in the world,” Phil. ii. 15. When they were fo far from injuftice and wrong, and the feveral wicked arts of deceiving, that, in the vast multitude of converts, "No man faid that ought was his own, but they had all things common," Acts iv. 32. and were not only of one faith and of one worship, but " of one heart, and of one foul." Now, if the efficacy and power of the Christian doctrine must be tried by its fruits, why may we not have leave to take it at its firft fetting out, and to argue, that the most immediate and nearest must have been the most natural and genuine effects of it? He that will try the goodnefs of a spring, thould go to the fountain head itself, and not to judge of it by ftreams from thence at a great diftance derived, which many other waters may perhaps have fallen into during its courfe, and many impure mixtures have defiled. The gofpel is the fame now, as it was then ; equally "the power of God unto falvation," Rom. i. 16. equally" mighty in pulling down of strong holds;" 2 Cor. x. 4. and therefore, that it doth not till produce the fame effects, must be owing, not to any inaptitude or defect in the means, but to other caufes and confiderations, fome of which I fhall now briefly explain. And, 1. There muit needs be a great difparity be tween |