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النشر الإلكتروني

SERMON XIV.

The Practice of Wickedness generally attended with great Evil.

[An Inauguration-Sermon.]

SLA

PROV. xiii. 21.

Evil purfueth Sinners; but to the Righteous, Good fhall be repaid.

T

HE Parable which our Savi- SER M
our fpake concerning the Per- XIV.
verfeness of the Jews, in find-
ing fault equally on Both fides;

both with John Baptift's more

fevere, and with our Lord's own more free manner of Converfation in the world; may be applied generally to almost all the

Objections,

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SER M. Objections, which wicked and profane
XIV. men at any time make againft Religion.

No Reafon, No Argument, No Method of
Proceeding whatsoever, will fatisfy preju-
diced and corrupt Minds. John the Bap-
tist came, neither eating nor drinking;
Matt. xi. 18. That is, He, when he was
fent to preach, came folitary in the Wil-
dernefs, with great Auftereness and Seve-
rity of Life, with Fafting and Abftinence,
with Mortification and Self-denial; and
they said, he is Mad, and hath a Devil.
On the contrary, Chrift came to preach
without this Aufterity, in a more free way
of Conversation; and they called him a
Loose Perfon, a Glutton, and a Wine-
Drinker, and a Companion of the worst
of men. Upon This their Perverseness
our Lord compares those Jews to froward
and peevish children, who do every thing
contrary to what their Companions defire
and expect: Ver. 17; We have piped unto
have not danced; we have
you, and ye
mourned unto you, and ye have not lament-
ed: When others play and are cheerful,
they will be fullen and ill-humoured;
when others be forrowful, they will laugh

and

XIV.

and mock. But, after the Perverfenefs of SER M. Men has faid and done all that it can ; Wisdom, fays our Lord, is juflified of all her children; Wifdom will still vindicate itself, and appear to be Wisdom, in whomfoever it be found, and in what manner foever it be exercised.

THE Cafe is the Same in almost all other Inftances, wherein prejudiced and corrupt minds are continually seeking Objections against Religion; Objections, con trary to and inconfiftent with each other. Does Providence at any time bestow remarkable Bleffings, upon virtuous and good men? Immediately from hence an Argument is drawn against Virtue, as if it loft the Nature of Virtue, and became mercenary, by having refpect unto the recompence of Reward. Moft elegantly is This Objection fet forth, in the first chapter of the book of Job; where Satan is represented as arguing before the Lord; ver. 93 Doth fob fear God for nought? Haft not thou made an hedge about him, and about his boufe, and about all that he hath on every fide? Thou haft bleffed the work of his hands, and his fubftance is increased in the VOL. VI. Y land.

SER M. land. But put forth thine hand now, and XIV. touch all that he bath, and he will curfe thee to thy face.

ON the contrary; Does Providence forbear to interpofe in the present time, and referve Judgment to the day of Retribution? Then the Argument is turned ; and the Speech of the Scoffers is, Where is the Promife of bis Coming? For fince the Fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the Beginning of the Creation; 2 Pet. iii. 4: Then they fay, It is vain to ferve God; and what Profit is it, that we have kept his Ordinance? Mal.. iii. 14: Then they ask, What is the Almighty, that we should ferve him? and what Profit fhould we have, if we pray unto him? Job xxi. 15.

THE Answer to Both, is eafy and obvious. God's Forbearance at any time to interpofe in the prefent State on the behalf of Virtue, is no Argument at all against the Benefit and Advantage of Serving him; becaufe he is able to make abundant Recompence in the Life to come: Upon which account, excellent is the Advice of Solomon, Prov. xxiii. 17; Let

not

not thine heart envy Sinners, but be thou SER M. in the Fear of the Lord all the day long: XIV. For furely there is an end, (or, as we render it in the margin, furely there is a Reward,) and thine expectation fhall not be cut off And on the other hand, the Rewards and Punishments which God diftri butes either in the prefent or in a future ftate, do not at all alter the Nature of Virtue, or make it in Any degree become mercenary: Because a Man's Regard to his own Intereft and Advantage is Then only Faulty, when it is a Temptation to him to do any thing that is in its own nature Evil; not when it is in conjunction with the univerfal Right and Reason of things, and the Happiness of God's whole Creation.

My Defign at This Time from the words of the Text, is to represent and inculcate this great Truth, that the Practice of Righteousness is mens true Intereft, even in the present Life; and that Wickedness is generally attended with Great Mifery, even Here as well as Hereafter. Evil purfueth Sinners; but to the Righteous, Good fhall be repayed.

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