He denied his Master:-but in all instances of his life but that, was a man of the greatest truth and sincerity ;--to which part of his character our Saviour has given an undeniable testimony, in confering on him the symbolical name of Cephas, a rock, a name the most expressive of constancy and firm

ness,

He was a man of great love to his Master,--and of no less zeal for his religion, of which, from among many, I shall take one instance out of St. John, with which I shall conclude this account ;--where, upon the desertion of several other disciples,-our Saviour puts the question to the twelve," Will

"

ye also go away?"Then, says the text, "Peter "answered and said,-Lord! whither shall we go? "Thou hast the words of eternal life,-and we be"lieve, and know that thou art Christ the Son of "of God."--Now, if we look into the gospel, we find what our Saviour pronounced on this very confession.

"Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh " and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,--but my "Father which is in heaven."That our Saviour had the words of eternal life, Peter was able to deduce from principles of natural reason; because reason was able to judge from the internal marks of his doctrine, that it was worthy God, and accommodated properly to advance human nature and human happiness. But for all this,-reason could not infallibly determine that the messenger of this doctrine was the Messias, the eternal Son of the living God :--to know this, required an illumination ;-and this illu mination, I say, seems to have been vouchsafed at that instant as a reward,--as would have been suffi

cient evidence by itself of the disposition of his heart.-

I have now finished this short essay upon the character of St. Peter, not with a loud panegyrick upon the power of his keys, or a ranting encomium upon some monastick qualifications with which a popish pulpit would ring upon such an occasion, without doing much honour to the saint, or good to the audience; but have drawn it with truth and sobriety, representing it as it was, as consisting of virtues the most worthy of imitation,-and grounded, not upon apocryphal accounts and legendary inventions, the wardrobe from whence popery dresses out her saints on these days, but upon matters of fact in the sacred scriptures, in which all Christians agree. And since I have mentioned popery, I cannot better conclude than by observing, how ill the spirit and character of that church resembles that particular part of St. Peter's which has been made the subject of this discourse. Would one think that a church, which thrusts itself under this apostle's patronage, and claims her power under him, would presume to exceed the degrees of it, which he acknowledged to possess himself?-But how ill are your expectations answered, when, instead of the humble declaration in the text," Ye men of Israel, marvel not at us,

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as if our own power and holiness had wrought "this ;"-you hear a language and behaviour from the Romish court, as opposite to it as insolent words and actions can frame ;—

So that, instead of " Ye men of Israel, marvel not "at us,"-Ye men of Israel, do marvel at us,-hold. us in admiration. Approach our sacred pontiff, (who is not only holy, but holiness itself ;) approach

his person with reverence, and deem it the greatest honour and happiness of your lives to fall down before his chair, and be admitted to kiss his feet.

Think not, as if it were not our own holiness which merits all the homage you can pay us. It is our own holiness, the superabundance of it, of which, having more than we know what to do with ourselves, from works of supererogation, we have transferred the surplus in ecclesiastick warehouses, and, in pure zeal for the good of your souls, have estab lished publick banks of merit, ready to be drawn upon at all times.

Think not, ye men of Israel, or say within yourselves that we are unprofitable servants ;—we have no good works to spare; or that, if we had, we cannot make this use of them ;-that we have no pow er to circulate our indulgences, and huckster them out, as we do, through all the parts of Christendom. -Know ye by these presents, that it is our own power which does this, the plenitude of our apostolick power operating with our own holiness, that enables us to bind and loose, as seems meet to us on earth;-to save your souls or deliver them up to Satan; and, as we please or displease, to indulge whole kingdoms at once, or excommunicate them all;-binding kings in chains, and your nobles in links of iron,

That we may never again feel the effects of such language and principles,-may God of his mercy grant us. Amen.

SERMON XXXII.

THIRTIETH OF JANUARY.

EZRA IX. 6, 7.

And I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my facę to thee, my God :--for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.--Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day.

THERE is not, I believe, throughout all history, an instance of so strange and obstinately corrupt à people as the Jews, of whom Ezra complains :-for though, on one hand, there never was a people that received so many testimonies of God's favour to encourage them to be good ;-so, on the other hand, there never was a people which so often felt the Scourge of their iniquities, to dishearten them from doing evil.

And yet, neither the one nor the other seem'd ever able to make them either the wiser or better; -neither God's blessings nor his corrections, could ever soften them ;-they still continued a thankless, unthinking people, who profited by no lessons, neither were to be won with mercies, nor terrified with punishments; but, on every succeeding trial and occasion, extremely disposed against God, to go astray and act wickedly.

In the words of the text, the prophet's heart overflows with sorrow upon his reflection of this unwor

thy part of their character; and the manner of his application to God is so expressive of his humble sense of it, and there is something in the words so full of tenderness and shame for them upon that score,--as bespeaks the most paternal, as well as pastoral concern for them.--And he said,--" O my "God! I am ashamed ;-and blush to lift up my " my face to thee, my God !"--No doubt the holy man was confounded to look back upon that long series of so many of God's undeserved mercies to them, of which they had made so bad and ungrateful a use -he considered, that they had all the motives that could lay restraints either upon a considerate or a reasonable people ;-that God had not only created, upheld, and favoured them with all advantages in common with the rest of their fellowcreatures, but had been particularly kind to them; -that when they were in the house of bondage, in the most hopeless condition, he had heard their ery, and took compassion upon their afflictions, and, by a chain of great and mighty deliverances, had set them free from the yoke of oppression. The prophet, no doubt, reflected at the same time, that, besides this instance of God's goodness in first favouring their miraculous escape, a series of successes, not to be accounted for from second causes and the natural course of events, had crowned their heads in so remarkable a manner, as to afford an evident proof, not only of God's general concern, but of his particular providence and attachment to them, above all people.-In the wilderness he led them like sheep, and kept them as the apple of his eye; he suffered no man to do them wrong, but reproved even kings for their sake; that when