yoke which the Romans had put on all the nations of the earth, was sufficient to excite the impatience of all, except the natives of Rome; and to stir them up to perplex and to counteract the governors, whom they set over the countries which they had invaded. On the other, it must be acknowledged, that they who are deputed to govern conquered provinces, and for a time to represent the sovereign there, very seldom discharge their offices with mildness and equity. They are instantly infatuated with that shadow of royalty, to which they have not been accustomed; and hence come pride and insolence. They imagine they ought to push their fortune, by making the most of a rank from which they must presently descend; and hence come injustice and extortion. The reconciliation of Herod and Pilate is more surprizing than their discord.

We hasten to more important subjects. We will direct all your remaining attention to the examination of the text, He stirreth up the people from Galilee to this place. The doctrine of Jesus Christ hath always been accused of troubling society. They who have preached truth and virtue, have always been accounted disturbers of the peace of society. I would enquire,

I. In what respects this charge is false; and in what respects it is true.

II. From the nature of those troubles which Jesus Christ, and his ministers, excite, I would derive an apology for christianity in general, and for a gospel ministry in particular; and prove that the troubling of society ought not to be imputed to those who preach the doctrine of Christ; but to those, who hear it.

III. As we are now between two days of solemn

devotion, between a fast, which we have observed a few days ago, and a communion, that we shall receive a few days hence: I shall infer from the subject a few rules, by which you may know, whether you have kept the first of these solemnities, or whether you will approach the last, with suitable dispositions. Our text, you see, my brethren, will supply us with abundant matter for the remaining part of this exercise.

1. One distinction will explain our first article, and will shew us in what respects religion doth not disturb society, and in what respects it doth. We must distinguish what religion is in itself from the effects, which it produceth through the dispositions of those, to whom it is preached. In regard to the first, Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. This idea the prophets, this idea the angels, who announced his coming, gave of him. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace; this is what the prophets said of him, Isa. ix. 6. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men! Luke ii. 14. This was the exclamation of the heavenly host, when they appeared to the shepherds. Jesus Christ perfectly answereth these descriptions.

and

Consider the kingdom of this divine Saviour, you will find, that all his maxims are peace, and all tend to unity and concord; A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another, John xiii. 34. Peace is the inheritance he left to his disciples; peace I leave with you, my peace I give

unto you, chap. xiv. 27. Peace between God and man; being justified by faith we have peace with God, Rom. v. 1. he hath reconciled all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, Col. i. 20. Peace between Jews and Gentiles; for he is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; and came and preached peace to you, which were afar off, and to them that were nigh, Eph. ii. 14. 17. Peace in the society of the first disciples; for all that believed were together, and had all things common, Acts ii. 44. Peace in the conscience; for without Jesus Christ trouble and terror surround us. Heaven is armed with lightnings and thunderbolts, the earth is under the curse, a terrible angel, with a flaming sword, forbids our access to the gate of paradise, and the stings of conscience are the arrows of the Almighty; the poison whereof drinketh up the spirit, Job vi. 4. But at the approach of Jesus Christ our miseries flee, and we listen to his voice, which cries to us, Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and ye shall find rest unto your souls, Matt. ix. 28, 29.

But, if religion, considered in itself, breaths only peace, it actually occasioneth trouble in society, through the dispositions of those, to whom it is preached. According to the general disposition of mankind, the religion of Jesus Christ must necessarily disgust, and therefore disturb, schools, courts, churches, and families; stirring up one minister against another minister, a confessor against a tyrant, a pastor against a people, a father against his family.

1. Schools. There were two celebrated schools in the days of Jesus Christ, the Pagan school, and the Jewish school. The Pagan schools were fo un

tains of errors. They taught erroneous opinions of God, whose excellence they pretended to represent by figures of men, animals, and devils. They taught erroneous opinions of man, of whose origin, obligations, and end, they were totally ignorant. They taught erroneous opinions of morality, which they had adjusted, not according to the dictates of conscience, but agreeably to the suggestions of their own vicious hearts.

The Jewish schools, originally directed by a heavenly light, had not fallen into errors so gross: but they were not exempt, they had even embraced some capital mistakes. The fundamental article of the Jewish religion, that, on which depended all their hopes, and all their joys, I mean the doctrine of the Messiah, was precisely that, of which they had entertained the most false ideas. They represented to themselves a Messiah of flesh and blood, one adapted to the relish of human passions. They authorized the most criminal remissness, and violated the most inviolable rights of religion and nature. Revenge, in their opinion, was inseperable from man. Concupiscence was perfectly consistent with purity of heart. Perjury changed its nature, when it was accompanied with certain douceurs. Divorce was a prevention of discord, and one of the domestic rights of a married person.

The christian religion appears in the world, and in it other ideas of God, of man, of virtue, of the expected Messiah; other notions of concupiscence and revenge, of perjury, and of all the principal points of religion and morality. Christianity appears in the world. The Lord of the universe is no longer associated with other beings of the same kind. He is no longer an incestuous being, no more a parracide, an adulterer. He is a being alone in his es

sence, independent in his authority, just in his laws, wise in his purposes, and irresistible in his performances. Philosophy is folly. Epicurus proves himself an idiot, destitute of reason and intelligence, by not discovering the characters of intelligence and reason, that shine throughout all the universe, and by attributing to a fortuitous concourse of atoms the effects of wisdom the most profound, aud of power infinite and supreme. Pythagoras is a master dreamer, who seemeth to have contracted the stupidity of all the animals, the bodies of which his soul hath transmigrated. Zeno is an extravagant creature, who sinks the dignity of man by pretending to assign a false grandeur to him, and maketh him meaner than a beast, by affecting to set him a rival with God. christian religion appears in the world. The Messiah is not a pompous formidable conqueror, whose exploits are all in favor of one single nation. Revenge is murder, concupiscence is adultery, and divorces are violations of the prerogatives of God, separating what he hath joined together, and subverting the order of the world and the church.

The

In this manner, christian theology undermined that of the Jewish rabbies, and that of the philosophers of paganism. It is easy to judge what their fury must be, when they saw their schools deserted, their pupils removed, their decisive tone reprimanded, their reputation sullied, their learning degenerated into ignorance, and their wisdom into folly. Have you any difficulty in believing this? Judge of what passed in former ages by what passeth now. As long as there are christians in the world, christianity will be divided into parties; and as long as christianity is divided into sects and parties, those divines, who resist preachers of er