step, and consequently this will awaken all our diligence and caution to endeavour to guard against it; for, after all, there is no art which our adversaries will not try to make us stumble, nor is there any sin which we are not capable of committing. Which of us, however advanced he may be in piety, can answer for his own heart? This made Jesus Christ say to his disciples, Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation; for the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

5. Though the grace of God, which supports us in temptations, be capable of preserving us, yet, should God suspend the influence of his grace, what advantages would not the flesh obtain over the Spirit, as the falls of David and Peter too sufficiently teach us? This consideration should perpetually make us fear and tremble; for who can assure us that there will be no moments in our lives in which God will leave us a prey to the temptations of the world and the occasions of sin? And, should this happen, it would be the most deplorable and miserable state into which a believer could fall. This is then a just subject of fear, which ought always to make us lift up our eyes and prayers to God, to beg him not to lead us into temptation, but to deliver us from the wiles of the enemy, and the evil tempers of our own hearts.

In a word, there are five kinds of fear in which we ought continually to be: A fear of respect, remembering what we are in the eyes of that infinite Majesty who sees us, and in the hands of the perpetual Providence which governs us-A fear of horror in regard to sin, remembering that the greatest of evils is that of offending a good and merciful God, of whom we have received so many favours-A fear of humility, remembering that all we are, and all we have by grace, we hold not of ourselves, but God-A fear of precaution, remembering that the just falleth seven times a day, and that if we say We have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us-A fear of attachment to God, saying to him with the prophet, Forsake me not, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me. In this manner let us work out our own salvation; and God, beholding his talents multiply in our hands, will increase their number by adding blessing upon blessing, till at length he will change grace into glory,

and give us the entire and perfect enjoyment of his everlasting inheritancé.

CHAP. VIII.

OF TEXTS TO BE DISCUSSED IN PROPOSITIONS.

TO these three a fourth may be added, which consists, in reducing the texts to a number of propositions, two at least, and three or four at most, having mutual dependence and connexion. Thus for example, Rom. viii. 13. If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. You may, without pretending to explain the terms, fleshspirit-death-life, or the phrases, live after the fleshmortify the deeds of the body-(which is the usual method) you may reduce the whole to two propositions; the one, that the damnation of sinners is inevitable-and the other, that a good and holy life is both a principal end of the Gospel, and an inseparable character of Christianity. When this method is taken, there is much more liberty than in the former, and a more extensive field opens. In the former methods you are restrained to your text, and you can only explain and apply that; you can make no other observations than such as precisely belong to it; but here your subject is the matter contained in your propositions, and you may treat of them thoroughly, and extend them as far as you please, provided you do not violate the general rules of a sermon. Here you must propose not to treat of the text, but of those subjects which you have chosen from several contained in the text. The way of explication is most proper to give the meaning of Scripture; and this, of systematical divinity. The way of application rather regards practice than theory: but this, which we call the way of propositions, or points, is more proper to produce an acquaintance with systematical divinity, and it will equally serve theory and practice.

ye

For example, let us take the text just now quoted. If live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. After saying in a few words, that by those who live after the flesh, the Apostle means the worldly and wicked, such as are governed by worldly interests and carnal passions;

and` that by the death, with which he threatens them, he means eternal damnation; and that, on the contrary, by life, he intends that eternal salvation and heavenly glory which the Gospel promises; and that, by the mortification of the deeds of the body, of which he speaks, and of which he says the Holy Spirit is the author, he intends an holy life, spent in the exercise of virtues and practice of good works: after briefly saying this, reduce the whole discourse to two propositions. First, The damnation of the wicked is inevitable. Secondly, The practice of good works, and an holy and religious life, is the principal end proposed in the Gospel, and a principal character of a true Christian.

You may enter on the first proposition, by observing, that it is deplorable to consider the blindness in which the greatest part of the people in the world live, who seldom think of the punishments of hell, or the consequences of death. You may remark, that from this blindness comes their insensibility to religion, and their extreme attachment to the vanities of this present world; for it would be impossible for them not to endeavour to avoid the eternal torments which await sinners after this life, were they well persuaded of the truth of them, as nature itself would lead them to this, and self-love would reduce knowledge to practice. Yet, you may add, that, however great this blindness is, it is, in a measure, affected, and voluntary, proceeding more from the malice of the heart than the darkness of the understanding; for the passions avoid those objects which are disagreeable to them, and perpetually substitute others to employ the mind. Whence it may be concluded, that it is of the last importance to meditate on this matter, on which depends the justice or injustice of our life, the good or bad state of our death, and our eternal interest in a future world.

Having thus prepared the people's minds, enter into the matter more particularly, and, above all things, take care to establish the truth and evidence of your propo sition, by observing, first, that Man is a creature subject to a law, that even the light of his conscience discovers an essential difference between vice and virtue, good actions and bad, that thence come the emotions of conscience, and the judgments we make of one another's actions.

approving or condemning them; for this necessarily proves, that there is a common rule by which we acknowledge all men ought to live; and this is a truth so natural to all men, that the most wicked of all, who endeavour to elude its application to themselves, do however acknowledge it, when proposed in general, and applied to other subjects. If there be a law common to all men, there must be a Supreme Judge, before whose tribunal they must appear, to give an account of their actions; and if there be a supreme tribunal to judge them, it necessarily follows that there are punishments ordained for the transgressors of this common law. Law, Judge, Punishment, are three things which reason and nature have joined together in indissoluble bonds. A law is no law if it does not suppose a judgment; and judgment is no judgment if it does not suppose punishment: but if these three things be inseparable from each other, they are also from a fourth, the nature of man, and dignity of his condition as he is a reasonable creature, reason being only a principle of good or evil, or, if you please, a power which renders us capable of good and evil, in opposition to brute beasts, not naturally made capable of either vice or virtue. It must therefore be owned, that we are subject to a law; a law relates to a judge, a judge to a dispensation of punishments; so that these four things, reason, law, judgment, and punishment, are truths of incontestible evidence, nor can any one be denied without destroying them all.

Now from all this it appears how pernicious this wilful blindness is, which makes the wicked deny the pains of hell; for thereby they turn themselves into brute beasts, and, openly professing to deny their own reason, they degrade themselves below that admirable dignity of their nature which places them above all other animals.

Having thus established your proposition by reason, you may establish it by the consent of all mankind; for in the thickest darkness of Paganism, when, as the Scripture says, God suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, even then it was always acknowledged, that as there was a reward proposed to the just and virtuous, so there were also punishments determined for the unjust and impious. I own, when the Pagans philosophised on these punish

ments, they almost all said chimerical and unreasonable things; yet, allowing this, they were not far from this general idea, that there must necessarily be a punishment annexed to vice.

This may be further proved by the principles of all religions. There never was, nor can there ever be any, which is not founded on this principle, that God is our sovereign Judge, who holds in his hands our life and death: this made a profane writer say, Fear made gods; meaning, that from this source all religions generally proceeded.

Finally you may proceed to revelation and observe, that revealed religion has carefully placed this truth in full evidence. You may establish this by reciting some principal texts of Scripture, which expressly speak of the damnation of sinners. Such texts are not difficult to find. The truth of the punishment being thus proved, go on to the degree of it, which is very important, and will make a deep impression. You may say, 1. That this punishment must not be in this life only, but after death: the reason is plain; it is a punishment which must follow the judgment; for the judgment cannot be till life is ended, as the course of life we pursue must be finished before the decree can be pronounced to acquit or condemn us. It must not then be imagined, that the punishment of which we speak, consists in th eafflictions. of this life only. 2. It must be a punishment which involves both soul and body; for as both have joined in the practice of vice, both must also partake of the punishment; whence it follows, that the punishment can neither be temporal death, which does not affect the soul, nor the inquietudes and agitations of conscience, which do not affect the body. 3. It must be a real punishment, that is, something which has truly the essence of pain, and actually relates to the justice of God: whence it follows, that it cannot consist (as some pretend) in the annihilation of body and soul; for divine justice demands an eternal pain, which glorifies it, and, consequently, which does not destroy its subject, but continues its subsistence for a perpetual monument of God's hatred to sin. 4. It must be a punishment proportional in greatness, as well as in duration-to the greatness of the Judge who