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tune to be evil spoken of, it is their fault that do it, and not ours; and therefore should not put us into passion; because another man's being injurious to me, is no good reason why I fhould be uneafy to myself. We fhould not revenge the injuries done to us, no not upon them that do them, much less upon ourselves. Let no man's provocation make thee to lofe thy patience. Be not fuch a fool, as to part with any one virtue, because some men are so malicious, as to endeavour to rob thee of the reputation of all the reft. When men fpeak ill of thee, do as Plato faid he would do in that cafe, "live "fo, as that no body may believe them."

All that now remains, is, to reflect upon what hath been faid, and to urge you and my felf to do accordingly: for all is nothing if we do not practise what we fo plainly fee to be our duty. Many are so taken up with the deep points and mysteries of religion, that they never think of the common duties and offices of human life. But faith and a good life are fo far from clashing with one another, that the Chriftian religion hath made them infeparable. True faith is neceffary in order to a good life, and a good life is the genuine product of a right belief; and therefore the one never ought to be preffed to the prejudice of the other.

I foresee what will be faid, because I have heard it fo often faid in the like cafe, that there is not one word of Jefus Chrift in all this. No more is there in the text. And yet I hope that Jefus Chrift is truly preached, whenever his will and laws, and the duties injoined by the Christian religion, are inculcated upon us.

But fome men are pleased to say, that this is mere morality. I answer, That this is fcripture morality and Christian morality; and who hath any thing to say a gainst that? Nay, I will go yet farther, that no man ought to pretend to believe the Christian religion, who lives in the neglect of fo plain a duty, and in the practice of a fin fo clearly condemned by it, as this of evilSpeaking is.

But because the word of God is quick and powerful, and Sharper than a two-edged fword, yea fharper than calumny itself, and pierceth the very hearts and confciences of men, laying us open to ourselves, and convincing us

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of our more fecret, as well as our more visible faults; I fhall therefore at one view represent to you what is difperfedly faid concerning this fin in the holy word of God.

And I have purposely referved this to the last, because it is more perfuafive and penetrating than any human difcourfe. And to this end, be pleased to confider in what company the Holy Ghost doth usually mention this fin. There is scarce any black catalogue of fins in the Bible, but we find this among them; in the company of the very worst actions and moft irregular paffions of men. Matth. xv. 19. Out of the heart (fays our Savi our) proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, falfe-witness, evil-speakings. And, Rom. i. 29. 30. the Apoftle ranks backbiters with fornicators, and murderers, and haters of God; and with thofe of whom it is exprefsly faid, I Cor. vi. 10. that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

And when he enumerates the fins of the last times, Men (fays he, 2 Tim. iii. 2. 3.) shall be lovers of themfelves, covetous, boafters, evil-fpeakers, without natural affection, perfidious, falfe-accufers, &c. And, which is the ftrangeft of all, they who are faid to be guilty of thefe great vices and enormities, are noted by the Apoftle to be great pretenders to religion: for fo it follows in the next words; Having a form of godlinefs, but deny ing the power thereof. So that it is no new thing for men to make a more than ordinary profeffion of Christianity, and yet at the fame time to live in a moft palpable contradiction to the precepts of that holy religion; as if any pretence to myftery, and I know not what extraordinary attainments in the knowledge of Christ, could exempt men from obedience to his laws, and fet them above the virtues of a good life.

And now, after all this, do we hardly think that to be a fin, which is in fcripture fo frequently ranked with murder, and adultery, and the blackeft crimes; fuch as are inconsistent with the life and power of religion, and will certainly shut men out of the kingdom of God? Do we believe the Bible to be the word of God; and can we allow ourselves in the common practice of a fin, than which there is hardly any fault of mens lives more fre

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quently mentioned, more feverely reproved, and more odiously branded in that holy book?

Confider seriously these texts: Pfal. xv. 1. Who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. Have ye never heard what our Saviour fays, that of every idle word we must give an account in the day of judgment; that by thy words thou shalt be juftified, and by thy words thou Jhalt be condemned? What can be more fevere than that of St. James: If any man among you feem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, this man's religion is vain?

To conclude: The fin which I have now warned men againft, is plainly condemned by the word of God; and the duty which I have now been perfuading you to, is easy for every man to understand; not hard for any man, that can but refolve to keep a good guard upon himself for some time, by the grace of God, to practife; and most reasonable for all men, but efpecially for all Christians, to obferve. It is as eafy as a refolute filence upon juft occafion; as reasonable as prudence, and juftice, and charity, and the preservation of peace and good-will among men, can make it; and of as neceffary and indifpenfable an obligation as the authority of God can render any thing.

Upon all which confiderations, let us every one of us be perfuaded to take up David's deliberate refolution, Pfal. xxxix. 1. I faid, I will take heed to my ways, that I offend not with my tongue. And I do verily believe, that, would we but heartily endeavour to amend this one fault, we fhould foon be better men in our whole lives; I mean, that the correcting of this vice, together with those that are nearly allied to it, and may, at the fame time, and almoft with the fame refolution and care, be corrected, would make us owners of a great many confiderable virtues, and carry us on a good way towards perfection; it being hardly to be imagined, that a man that makes confcience of his words fhould not take an equal or a greater care of his actions. And this I take to be both the true meaning, and the true reason, of that faying of St. James, and with which I fhall conclude, If any man offend not in word, the fame is a perfect man.

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Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead. our Lord Jefus Chrift, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good word and work to do his will, working in you always that which is well-pleafing in his fight, through Jefus Chrift; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Concerning the divinity and incarnation of our bleffed Saviour.

An ADVERTISEMENT to the Reader.

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HE following fermons were preached feveral years in the church of St. Lawrence-Jewry, in London; and, being now revifed and enlarged by the author, are here made publick. The true reafon whereof was not that which is commonly alledged for printing books, the impor tunity of friends; but the importunate clamours and malicious calumnies of others, whom the author heartily prays God to forgive, and to give them better minds; and to grant that the enfuing difcourfes, the publication whereof was in fo great a degree necessary, may by his blessing prove in fome measure useful.

SERMON

XLIII.

Concerning the divinity of our bleffed Saviour.

Preached in the church of St. Lawrence-Jewry, December 30. 1679.

JOHN i. 14.

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.

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The first fermon on this text.

Hefe words contain in them three great points concerning our bleffed Saviour, the author and founder of our faith and religion.

1. His incarnation: The Word was made (or became) flesh.

2. His life and converfation here among us: And dwelt among us, ètkhvwσev ev ňμiv, he pitched his tabernacle amongst us; he lived here below in this world, and, for a time, made his refidence and abode with us.

3. That in this ftate of his humiliation he gave great and clear evidence of his divinity. Whilft he appeared as a man, and lived amongst us, there were great and glorious teftimonies given of him, that he was the Son of God; and that in fo peculiar a manner as no creature can be faid to be: And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, &c.

I fhall begin with the first of these, his incarnation, as most proper for this folemn time, which hath for many ages been fet apart for the commemoration of the nativity and incarnation of our blessed Saviour. The Word was made flesh; that is, he who is perfonally called the Word, and whom the Evangelift St. John had fo fully defcribed in the beginning of this golpel, he became flesh; that is, affumed our nature, and became man. For fo the word fleb is frequently ufed in fcripture for man, or human nature: Pfal. lxv. 2. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come; that is, to thee fhall all men addrefs their fupplications. Again, If. xl. 5. 6. The glory of the Lord fhall be revealed, and all flesh fhall fee it together; that is, all men fhall behold and acknowledge it; and then it follows, All flesh is grafs, fpeaking of the frailty and mortality of man. And fo likewife, in the New Teltament, our bleffed Saviour, foretelling the mifery that was coming upon the Jewish nation, fays, Matth. xxiv. 22. Except thofe days fhould be Shortened, no flesh fhould be faved; that is, no man fhould efcape and furvive that great calamity and destruction which was coming upon them: Gal. ii. 16. By the works of the law (fays the Apostle) shall no flesh (that is, no man) be justified.

So that by the Word's being made (or becoming) fleh, the Evangelist did not intend that he affumed only a hu man body without a foul, and was united only to a hu man body, which was the heresy of Apollinaris and his followers; but that he became man, that is, affumed the VOL. III.

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