ERRATA. Page 22, 17th line from the top, for fail read are a foil. P. 62, 6th line from the bottom insert nôt'after does. F. 165, 5th line from the bottom, for deeds read duels. P. 267, in the text of Sermon xvi. insert the death of. P. 336, 17th line from bottom for unjust read just. P. 391, 17th line from top, for external rend eternal. P. 394, 6th line from bottom, omit to after not. SERMON I. FAITHFUL MINISTERS AVOW THEIR RELIGIOUS ACTS, XXIV. 14.—But this I confess unto thee, that after the way, which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers; believing all things, which are written in the law and the prophets. After Paul returned from Greece to Jerusalem, he went into the temple to preach; but the Asiatic Jews stirred up all the people and laid hands on him and would have killed him, if the chief captain had not taken him out of their hands and led him to the castle. When he came upon the stairs, he requested and obtained leave of the captain to make his defence before the people. After this, the chief captain carried him before the Sanhedrim, the highest ecclesiastical court in the nation. In pleading before them, he so wisely managed his cause, as to disunite them in opinion, which defeated their design to condemn him.--But though the council dismissed him, yet a number of the people conspired against him and bound themselves, by an oath, that they would not eat, nor drink, till they had slain him. When this was made known to the chief captain, he sent a band of soldiers to conduct him in safety to Felix, the governor. Felix immediately sent to Jerusalem for Ananias with the elders, to come and exhibit their complaints against Paul. When they were come, they employed one Tertullus, an orator, to be their advocate. He opened their cause with peculiar address; and exhibited their complaints. After the governor had heard them, he beckoned to Paul to make a reply. In his reply, he absolutely denied the charges, which had been alleged against him. But he turned to the governor and said, "This I confess unto thee, that after the way, which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers; believing all things, which are written in the law and the prophets." Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, which he preached, nor afraid to profess his belief of its great and essential doctrines, though he knew they were called, by the greatest men in the nation, an absurd and fatal heresy. Hence we conclude, That those, who preach the true doctrines of the gospel, are not afraid to avow their religious sentiments, though they know, that they are called heresy by others. I. I shall show, that the true doctrines of the gospcl are very often called heresy; And, II. Show why those, who preach them, are not afraid to avow their religious sentiments. I. I am to show, that the true doctrines of the gospel are very often called heresy. The gospel was essentially preached to Adam, and from Adam to Abraham; and from Abraham to Moses; and from Moses to Christ. But through all that long tract of time, it was generally misunderstood and misrepresented by all the heathen nations; and by many who professed to acknowledge its truth and divinity. When Christ came and preached the gospel, with greater purity and plainness, not only the Gentiles, but the Jews disbelieved, misrepresented and rejected it. Both the Pharisees and Sadducees hated and opposed him and finally put him to death, for preaching the plain and important truths of the gospel. And wherever the apostles preached the same doctrines, they were generally represented, by Jews and Gentiles, as a mean and contemptible sect, who propagated gross heresies and delusions. Tertullus, in his plea against Paul, said, "We have found this man, a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition among all the Jews, throughout the world; and a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazarenes." As Christ was brought up in Nazareth, an obscure place, his enemies reproachful |