and obey their parents, the parents, on the other hand, are not to provoke them to wrath by unreasonable and unrighteous usage, but to provide for them, and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If the wife is to see that she reverence her husband, it is his duty to love her even as himself. If servants are commanded to be obedient unto their masters in singleness of heart, not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; ye masters are to do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening, all insolence and inhumanity, remembering that you have a master also in heaven, with whom there is no respect of persons. When to these are added the great commandments of universal love and benevolence, of doing as we would be done unto', of mutual subjection and mutual forbearancek, of concord, of unanimity1, and mutual respect", what a noble plan have we before us of social duty! what ample provision is made for social and public happiness! If we regard only the genius, the design, and tendency of Christianity, that pacific prophecy of the Messiah's kingdom is fulfilled in every age of the gospel: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain". This was the idea which the prophet had of the peace and har e See Ephes. vi. 1, 2, 4. 8 Ephes. vi. 5, 6, 9. j Ephes. v. 21. m Rom. xii. 10. f Ephes. v. 33. n Isaiah xi. 6, 9. mony of Christ's kingdom; and it is not the fault of his religion that this idea is not realized. From these premises, I may leave every man to draw his own conclusion. If those which we have examined be the genuine fruits of Christianity, your own reason will tell you what judgment you ought to form concerning the tree: for every tree is known by his own fruit; of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. The Christian religion is entitled to the protection of the magistrate, to all the establishment it enjoys, on account of its own intrinsic excellence, and the good influence it naturally has on society. It is entitled on that, and many other accounts, to much better usage from the subject than it has lately met with in this nation; where it has been treated with such outrageous insolence, as, I think, no Christian commonwealth is obliged to suffer for as Christian faith declines, the old pagan vices will revive; and in proportion as the good olive-tree is hindered from bringing forth good fruit, the olive-tree which is wild by nature will be more and more bringing forth that which is evil, and spreading destruction and poison through the land. Certainly power may be justly employed to protect truth, and government may very reasonably exert itself in support of religion; if for no other reason, yet for its own security: for in the natural consequence of things, as well as by divine appointment, them that honour God he will honour, and they that despise him shall be lightly esteemed P. 。 Luke vi. 44. PI Sam. ii. 30. SERMON IV. PART I. ACTS IV. 12. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. IT may be admitted, without any disservice to the doctrine I am going to assert, that these words were occasioned by, and have some relation to the fact, of which we have an account in the preceding chapter. A person, lame from his mother's womb, was miraculously healed by the apostles Peter and John; who took the opportunity which the attention of the people now gave them, to preach to them some subjects of the greatest importance. But as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captains of the temple, and the Sadducees laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day; when they were brought before the high priest and the rulers, and asked, by what power, or by what name, they had done this thing. Whereupon Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, very plainly told them, that this miracle was performed by the name of that Jesus Christ whom they had crucified, and whom God had raised from the dead. And that you may not be surprised (continues he to this effect) that the bodily infirmity of a single person should be removed by this name, I think myself obliged to declare to you, that evils of a higher nature, the spiritual evils of all mankind, are to be rectified by this name, and that men cannot be saved from them by any other means: neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. One would think that this doctrine might be received among Christians merely upon the authority that delivers it: but forasmuch as there are some who dispute the authority itself; forasmuch as there are some who call themselves Christians, and seem desirous of the Christian salvation, who yet have scarce wisdom and humility enough to expect it upon the terms on which it is offered by Almighty God, but have found out for themselves many inventions; it shall be my endeavour to prove and establish the doctrine of the text, by shewing the vanity of the several schemes and pretences which are or may be set up in opposition to it. I would not be guilty of an imperfect enumeration; but, as far as I am able to judge, men must be saved (if they be saved at all) either, First, By their own personal merits, by their own good works, or repentance, deserving salvation: or, Secondly, By the works of supererogation, wrought by some eminent saints, and applied to others, who want them or, Thirdly, By some vicarious satisfaction, such as sacrifice, or substitution of some sort or other: or, Fourthly, By the free gracious mercy of God, pardoning sin without any view either to atonement or repentance: or, Fifthly, By some complication, or mixture, of some or all of these methods together: or, (supposing them all insufficient and ineffectual,) Sixthly, and lastly, By the name, i. e. for the sake and through the merits, of Jesus Christ. I. It must therefore be evinced, in the first place, that men can lay no claim to salvation upon the account of their own personal merits: which point may easily be proved against the papists from the clear testimonies of the scripture; yet since others, who deny this authority, seem to risk their salvation upon something of the same kind, it will be necessary to see how this matter will be determined by the light of reason and nature. It is acknowledged by sober persons of every denomination, that we are the creatures of God, and indebted to him for every privilege and every advantage we enjoy. It will be owned too, though not upon the authority, yet in the words of St. Paul, that they who have not the written law, are yet a law to themselves; that virtue is the law of our being; and that, as we are rational and free creatures, we are concerned, we are indeed strictly obliged, to observe the rules of reason in the exercise of our liberty. That our nature is depraved, and that we are in a corrupt state, is a concession, which as it will not be granted, so at present needs not be asked. We will suppose then, what however is utterly false in fact, that men are all uniformly wise, and virtuous, and good; that they punctually comply with this law of their being, and observe all those rules, which God has manifested, by the very condition and circumstances of their nature, to be their duty. It is evident, at first sight, that men will find their immediate account in a Rom. ii. 14. |