tent our selves if we think we may have any Share and Portion in it: And while we mark the Failings of thofe, who yet we think shall be highly advanced in Glory, we are apt to conclude, that tho' we allow our felves a greater Freedom than they take, yet we may be safe at laft, altho' not fo glorious. Thus a foolish vain Word in the Mouth of a Profeffor, may come to be an Oath of another Man's an Equivocation in him, may improve to be a grofs Lye in another: If he speak but flightly of Religion, and the Things of God; others will be emboldened openly to fcoff and deride them. If he carry on his Affairs by underhand Craft, and cunning Dealing, not fhewing that downright Sincerity and Plainnefs in his Affairs, as a Christian, and an honest Man ought to do; others that observe this, will be thereby encouraged to cheat and defraud: For in following of Examples, we always bate fomething; and those Examples that give us any kind of Liberty, we shall foon turn into Licentioufnefs. It is a fad Thing to be exemplary, unless we are also most strict and severe, fo that the World can find no Flaws, no Defects in our Conversation: For otherwife, we must answer for their Sins, which our our Mifcarriages have emboldened them to commit. And thus I have at large fhewed you, the great Disgrace and Difcredit which Profeffors bring upon Religion, by the Unfuitableness of their Lives to their Principles and Profeffion. They make the World believe it to be either falfe, or needlefs: And fo they do in a great measure evacuate the Death of Jefus Chrift; make wicked Men fecure and impenitent in their Sins, induce them to think that their Ways are better than God's; and encourage them to fin more daringly and defperately, than else they would. And yet notwithstanding thefe great Mischiefs, Mischiefs which strike at the very Life of Piety and Religion; notwithstanding thefe, which follow upon an unholy Converfation, what is the ordinary Rate at which Profeffors live, but vain, frothy, fenfual, and worldly? Yea, as far removed fometimes (I fpeak it with Shame) from the Honefty of common Men, as they would be thought to be from the Pollutions and Impieties of the World. Now, muft it not needs be a Stumbling-block to many, when Men shall fpeak at fuch a Rate of Spiritualness, as if fome fome Angel fat upon their Tongues, and yet live at fuch a Rate of Vanity, and it may be of Profaneness too, as if Legion poffefs'd their Hearts? What shall we judge of fuch Men? If we judge the Tree by the Leaves, what elfe can we think of them, but that they are Trees of Righte ousness, and Plants of Renown? But if we look to their Fruits, Envy, Strife, Variance, Wrath, Pride, Worldliness, Selfishness, what can we think of them, but that Heaven and Hell are now as near toge ther, as thefe Mens Hearts and Mouths? May we not use the fame Speech that the Apostle doth, concerning the Corinthians, I Corinth. 3.3. Te are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you Envying, Strife, and Divifions, are je not carnal, and walk as Men? If the Apostle could have laid in a Charge against these Corinthians, not only of Envy, Strife, and Divifion; but of Hatred, Bitterness, and Implacableness of Spirit; of Brain-fick Opinions, and Selffeeking Practices, joined with the utter Neglect and Contempt of the Glory of God as juftly as we can against the Men of our Times; certainly his Reproof would not have been fo mild as to tell them they walked as Men, but rather that they walked as Devils. Such are a Reproach to Religion; a Grief and a ་ Shame Shame to true Chriftians who are jealous for the Lord God of Hosts, and cannot, but with bleeding Hearts, obferve the Difhonour that is caft upon the Ways of God, by those who will be Saints in fpight of Holiness. They are fo many Stumblingblocks laid in the Ways of others, imbittering their Spirits against the Profeffion of Holiness, accounting it no better than Hypocrify, and grofs Diffimulation; or elle encouraging them, by their evil Examples, to continue in theirWickedness and Profaneness. Thus now I have fhewn you the first Ufe of Ornaments, which is to hide Shame and Nakedness; and that it is only an holy Life and Conversation, that can hide the Shame of Religion: For where the Life is unfuitable to the Profeffion, it reflects this twofold Shame upon Religion, that it is either Fabulous or Frivolous, either Untrue or Unneceffary: And have shewn you the fad Confequences that will follow upon these. Secondly, Another Use of Ornaments, is to beautify the Perfon that wears them, and to fet him off to the Acceptance and Efteem of others. And thus also it is only an holy and strict Life, that can adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour. Nothing doth make Religion fo lovely and taking in the Eyes of others, as the holy Lives of those who profefs it. And to this, must we impute the wonderful Growth of Christianity in the Primitive Times, when it gained more Nations and Countries in its perfecuted State, than it can now gain Perfons in its flourishing. And the Reason of its Succefs was, that it had all the attractive Charms, that are fitted to work upon the Minds of Men not altogether brutish: For though it ftill retains the fame innate Beauty, the Sublimeness of its Myfteries, the Purity of its Commands, the Majefty and Authority of its Word, the Excellency of its Rewards, and the Dreadfulness of its Threatnings, and the clear and infallible Evidence of all thefe; yet that which added a mighty Grace and Luftre to it, was the Holiness and Innocency of the Profeffors of it; their Meekness, Patience, Love, Charity, Single-heartedness; and in every Respect, a blameless Demeanour, which made Religion wonderfully fuccefsful in the World; Mankind being rather affected by the Eye, than the Ear; and more taken by what they faw, than by what they were told of the Excellency of Christianity. And therefore we find, |