XV.

of fuch a wicked Mafter? Muft he not defpife and SERM, contemn him? Muft he not think him, in one refpect, inferior even to him, however Circumstances of Birth and Fortune may have made him in another respect his Superior? Vice is a great Leveller of all Distinctions; and no Man will ever preserve his Authority by the Forfeiture of his Virtue, any more than he can cause himself, by the moft skilfull Management, to be at once both refpected and defpifed. On the other hand, if this Servant or Inferior, whose Obedience you are endeavouring to fecure, fhould chance to be as wicked as yourself, as the Example of fo ill a Master may very probably make him, what Authority can you expect to preserve, what Obedience is it likely fhould be performed by one, who has no Sense of his Duty to your common Master? Let but the Fear of God take poffeffion of our Hearts, and it will not fail to produce a fuitable Behaviour in all Circumftances and Relations of Life. But deftroy that, and there is no Security that we shall do our Duty in any Station we poffefs: There is no knowing how to govern or obey: In a word, there is no hope of our being either good Mafters, or good Servants, good Neighbours, or good Men.

And now, I think enough has been faid to discourage you from a Practice fo wicked and abfurd. If any thing more is neceffary to be added, it fhould be a short Exhortation to those who are as yet free from this Sin, to take heed, left they fuffer it to steal upon them from the Examples of any profligate Companions; as well as to thofe who are but young Beginners, to draw back betimes, before they have either multiplied the Number of their Sins, or increafed the Habit of Sinning. And if any of those who hear me this Day, are fo unhappy as to be tempted

to

SER M. to the Commiffion of this Sin, by those whom it is their XV. Duty to love and honour, and who ought therefore

to teach them better (for some fuch Parents and Masters to be sure there are, who, instead of checking their Children and Servants whom they find guilty of this Sin, do but encourage them to it by their own fcandalous Examples) If this, I fay, fhould be the Cafe of any of you, let it be confidered, that tho' the Parent or Mafter will feverely answer for his Mifbehaviour in this Cafe, yet this will by no means excufe the mifguided Child or Servant, who, contrary to his own better Judgment, is drawn into a refemblance of his Parent's or Master's Vice. On the other hand, what an exalted piece of Virtue would it be in the more intelligent Child, not only to draw back himself, and from henceforth to preferve his Confcience unfullied, though encompassed and beset with Dangers; but also by a more confpicuous exactness in his Behaviour, become a Pattern and Example even to his Parents! God grant that by this, or whatever other means to his Wifdom fhall feem moft expedient, we may be all brought to a juft Senfe of our Duty, in this great and important Article, remembring always the great Abhorrence which God has expreffed to this Sin in particular, declaring folemnly, that he will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his Name

in vain.

We

We are to prove, and then hold faft that which is good.

A

SERM ON

Preached at a VISITATION.

JOHN i. 46.

And Nathaniel faid unto him, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ? Philip faith unto him, come and fee.

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T

HE two Perfons concerned in this SERM. Dialogue were both of them Men XVI. of upright Intentions; both of them fincere in their different Perfuafions, and acting upon true Principles of Confcience. The only difference to be obferved in their Characters, is, that Philip had received Jefus as the Meffiah; but Nathaniel, for want of Evidence to convert him, ftuck faft to his Jewish Prejudices; and, if he had ever heard of the Name of Jefus, had hitherto rejected him as an Im

poftor.!

SERM. poftor. Philip, however, was fo well affured of his XVI. Sincerity as to believe, that by proper Arguments

he might be perfuaded to renounce his Error. Accordingly, in the foregoing Verfe, he attempts it. Philip findeth Nathaniel, and faith unto him, we have found him of whom Mofes in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jefus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph; to which Nathaniel replies in my Text, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip, without answering his Objection, appeals only to his own Judgment and Understanding, inviting him to come and fee.

Now because it may be the cafe of any of us to labour under Prejudices, like Nathaniel; and because it is the duty of all Chriftians in general, more espe cially of those who bear office in the Church, to endeavour, like St. Philip, to the utmost of their Power, to remove them out of the Minds of others, I fhall take occafion from the behaviour of these two righteous Perfons, to confider our own Duty in both thefe refpects, by calling to your remembrance fuch Rules and Directions for Practice, as their Examples, do naturally fuggeft. The only thing obfervable in the Character of Nathaniel is the Nature of the Prejudice he had imbibed; Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Nazareth was, it seems, a poor defpicable City, or, as fome fay, a fmall Village of Galilee; and Galilee itself was fo odious to the Jews, that the very Name of Galilean was a Reproach. Thou hast vanquished me, O Galilean, was the Acknowledgment of one, who in the bitternefs of his Heart could not help blafpheming his Conqueror, at the fame time that he confeffed his Power. The fame Title was given alfo to the Apostles, who, till they changed it for the Name of Chriftians

Chriftians at Antioch, were constantly styled Naza- SERM. renes and Galileans; for the fame reason Jefus was XVI. called the Nazarene, as were also the first Converts to Christianity, who, though they were far from being ashamed of the Appellation, (as we may fee from St. Peter's use of it in the third Chapter of the Acts) seem nevertheless to have it fixed on them by their Enemies with a malicious Design to make their Perfons despicable, and bring their Doctrines into Disrepute.

Now all the Foundation of this Prejudice against Galilee, befides an ancient Dislike that was taken to it upon the account of its corrupt Religion, was, that out of Galilee no prophet had arisen; from whence it was very weakly and prepofterously concluded, that out of Galilee no prophet could arife. It is eafy at this distance of time to see the Abfurdity of fuch Reasoning as this; and yet the Strength of the Prejudice was then fo great, that it misled the wifeft Men amongst them. You find it urged by the great Confiftory of the Nation to Nicodemus, who was himself a Doctor of the Law. Search and fee, for out of Galilee arifeth no prophet. He is appealed to as a Man of Learning and Judgment, capable of fearching into the Grounds of the Tradition; and yet, though he was defirous to vindicate our Saviour, he never offers to make a Reply to the Objection. From all this it is natural to obferve, how far the Prejudices of Education may carry us; how the wildest and most inconclufive Reasoning may pass for folid and substantial Argument, the crudest and most indigested Notions be admitted for eftablished Truths, when they are supported by popular Opinion, and the plaufible Pretence of a religious Zeal. Such Objections as were urged by the VOL. II.

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