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erroneous conscience and a misguided zeal. It is not sufficient to mean and intend well, in such cases: but it is further necessary to take all reasonable care to be rightly and fully informed; that so we may know certainly what we do, and may be able to justify it upon true and sound principles. Ignorance of the rule will not excuse a man in acting against it; because he ought to know the rule he is to act by; which he may do, if he will be at the pains to attend and look into it. Yet it must be acknowledged, on the other hand, that many merciful allowances will be made for men of sincere virtue and probity, who have been misled only by the almost insuperable prejudices of education, and whose mistakes have been owing more to natural infirmity and human frailty, than to any evil disposition of a corrupt heart. St. Paul found mercy, on this account chiefly and so may other misguided zealots who have the same probity of mind which St. Paul, even before his conversion, had.

2. From the same instance of St. Paul learn we a ready submission and obedience to truth and godliness, when sufficiently propounded to us. Lay we aside all inveterate prejudices and stubborn reluctances, as soon as ever we have light enough to see that we have been in an error, and that we ought to retract. There is a great deal of pride and obstinacy in some tempers, which renders them proof against conviction. They are averse to own they have ever been in the wrong, lest it be a reflection upon their judgment, and lessen their esteem in the world. This is folly and vanity. There is no real discredit, but honour rather, in growing wiser: and it is much more creditable to correct our follies or mistakes, than to persist in them. How resigned and tractable was the good Apostle of this day! how ready both to own and to retract his former errors and misconduct! how sincerely penitent for them, and zealous to amend them! He valued not the imputation of levity or inconstancy: to change for the better showed the truest constancy of a well-disposed mind. He regarded not the flouts or reproaches of his party, whom he

had deserted for Christ. Let them call him a deserter, a renegade, an apostate, or what they pleased: he knew that he had weighty and unanswerable reasons for leaving them, and that they ought also to follow, under pain and peril of being themselves deserted and abandoned by God. Such was St. Paul's wise and willing compliance with what was right and just, as soon as apprised of it; which showed a large soul and a generous probity of mind, and is an admirable pattern for others to copy after.

3. Thirdly, and lastly, learn we from the whole transaction, which we this day commemorate, the truth and certainty of our Lord's resurrection and ascension into heaven, his power and majesty there as Lord of all, and his exceeding goodness in looking down from thence to take care of his Church here below; and how dangerous a thing it will be, and how fatal to the undertakers, to persist in any attempts against him. It will be "hard for "them to kick against the pricks." What account then shall those men have to give, who still oppose, and, as much as in them lies, persecute the religion of Christ? I speak not now of Jews, Pagans, or Mahometans, who may have the prejudices of education to plead, as St. Paul had, to alleviate their sin in doing it: but I speak of such as have been baptized and bred up in this very religion, and have revolted from it, and labour, if it were possible, to destroy it. Their conduct is plainly monstrous, and their crime unpardonable. They have no colour for it, no temptation to it, more than what springs from a wicked and corrupt heart. Either the pride of singularity, or the spirit of contradiction, or malice towards the profession of this religion, or the aversion they have to rule and restraint, or, in a word, their strong attachment to their lusts and vices, makes them wild and outrageous, and so of course drives them upon any desperate lengths. The time will come, when the Lord Jesus, whom they persecute, will take sad vengeance upon them in flames of fire. In the mean while, let every serious Christian detest and abominate

such flagrant instances of impiety: and let us however make this good use of them, as they are occasions offered, to stir us up and to awaken us to a more fervent zeal for our most holy profession, endeavouring also to adorn the

same with a conversation suitable to the Gospel of Christ.

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SERMON XXXI.

Christ's Sacrifice of himself explained; and Man's Duty to offer spiritual Sacrifice inferred and recommended.

EPHES. V. I, 2.

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

THESE words carry in them an instructive lesson concerning Christ's death and passion, together with a practical conclusion drawn from it, to show the use and improvement which we ought to make of it. As Christ hath loved us, and gave himself a sacrifice to God upon the cross for us, (a sure pledge and token of his kindness towards us,) so ought we to give up ourselves to God in all holy obedience, but more particularly in the offices of love towards our brethren, as such offices are the most acceptable sacrifices that we can offer to God most high. The general meaning and intendment of the text being thus briefly opened, I may now proceed to a particular consideration of the two main branches of it; namely, our Lord's unexampled sacrifice made in his death, for the honour of God and the good of men; and our own sacrifice of ourselves in the whole course of our lives, which ought to bear some analogy to our Lord's, and to be, as it were, a copy drawn from it, as an humble imitation of it.

I.

I begin with our Lord's sacrifice, that great sacrifice which was from all eternity forelaid in the high counsels of Heaven; which was intimated to mankind as soon as there was need for it, (that is, immediately after the fall,) which, probably, gave birth and rise to all other sacrifices whatsoever, whether in the Jewish or Gentile world; but which undoubtedly was as the pattern in the mount to all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, (Mosaical or Patriarchal,) all which pointed to it, rested upon it, and centered in it. No sooner had man forfeited the favour of God by committing sin, but there appeared a necessity of a sacrifice for sin, to reinstate him. Divine wisdom appointed it, and called for it from whence we may certainly infer, that reasons of justice, or (which comes to the same) the unerring rules of Divine government, required it. God would not, or in reason could not, be appeased without it: but with it he might, and he has declared that he would. He accepts of our Lord's sacrifice as a grateful odour, a "sweetsmelling savour" delightful to him, as reconciling his justice and goodness together, securing the honour of his laws, and at the same time providing for the felicity of man.

The first time we meet with the phrase of "sweet"smelling savour," or sweet savour, (which comes to the same,) is in the eighth chapter of Genesis, ver. 21, where Noah having offered burnt offerings, the Lord is said to have "smelled a sweet savour," or a savour of rest. When God speaks to men, he accommodates his expressions to the language of men, in order to be understood by them. He condescends to make use of their low phrases, to express high and sublime truths in the most affecting and sensible way. The figure or similitude here made use of is very easily understood: for as perfumes are grateful to man's sense, so are virtuous and godly acts or exercises grateful to the Divine mind. Our Lord's obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, was eminently a godly service, the most exalted instance of true piety and charity

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