Nor

the Land. But both these are wicked unchristian Principles, as well as deftructive to human Society. Whatever the Notion of Chriftian Liberty be, I am fure it meddles not with Civil Government, nor Civil Rights; nor will it bear out any Man in refifting or oppofing the fecular Magiftrates, be they good, or be they bad; be they of the right Religion, or of a wrong; be they Chriftians, or be they Heathens. will it give any Man a Title to my Estate, or my Office, or allow him by Force or Fraud to detain from me what is my Due by Law, or difpoffefs me of what I am poffeffed of, tho', as to my Perfon, I should be the vileft Wretch upon Earth. Nothing makes void a civil Right, but a civil Law; and my Christianity is fo far from fetting me above Laws, that it ftrictly enjoins my Obedience to them. If Chriftianity is fo tender of Mens civil Rights, as that it will not permit a very Slave to depart out of his Mafter's Family without his Mafter's Leave, tho' his Condition there may be well fuppofed very hard and uneafy, (as we see it Ver. 21. is in this Chapter) little can we imagine

that any Man is warranted by or upon account of the Gospel (nay, tho' it was for the Gospel's fake) to difquiet or disturb the Peace of the Nation, to raife Rebellion, or to abet it; or, in a Word, to with-hold or withdraw, either from the Publick, or from any private Perfon, any Right or

Due

Due which Nature or Law hath vefted in them.

3. If Christianity hath made no Alteration as to the Civil Degrees and Callings of Men, but hath obliged all to abide in that Degree, and to walk in that Calling they are caft into by the Providence of God; then they are much to be blamed, who, upon Pretence of any Gifts or Powers they are furnished with, think it lawful to forfake their Station, and ufurp Places or Offices which they are not lawfully call'd to. I do not here speak of a Man's changing one Calling, or one Way of Living, for another; as for Inftance, When a Man cannot do fo well in one Employment to go to another, which is either fitter for his Temper, or wherein he hath a fairer Profpect of living more comfortably in the World; this is unqueftionably lawful, and every Man may, in fuch Cafe, do as he thinks fit: But I here fpeak of entring upon Places or Offices, which either by the Laws of the Land, or the Laws of God, Men are not warranted to execute. This, I fay, is not to be done in any Cafe.

And here I have likewife Refpect to two wild fanatical Principles, which Men are apt enough to take up, which yet, whereever they are entertained, fail not to fill the State with Seditions, and the Church with Schifms in abundance. They are these, that where there are Abufes and Corrup

tions in a Church or State, there every Man hath Authority to reform them, tho' he be not commiffioned thereto by Law, but indeed acts in Contradiction to it. The other is, that whofoever finds himself gifted and qualified for the Work of the Ministry, and thinks he may do the Church good Service in that Way, may, without any further Call, enter upon that Office.

But both these are directly contrary to the Apostle's Precept in the Text, Let every Man abide in that Calling wherein he is called, and fo I ordain in all Churches. Art thou a private Perfon? Thou must not take the Sword into thy Hand to punish Malefactors, nor invade a Jurifdiction that doth not belong to thee of reforming publick Abuses; nay, tho' thou feeft that the Magiftrate to whom it belongs is negligent herein, and does not perform the Truft committed to him. If Things, either in Church or State, go not fo well as they fhould, thou mayeft, nay, thou ougheft, to do all that in thy Sphere thou art capable of doing for the amending them. Thou muft ufe thy hearty Prayers to God, nay, thou mayeft, if thou pleafe, modeftly represent thy Senfe of Things to those who are in a more publick Station, and are more immediately concerned about these Things; and, in a Word, thou mayeft ufe all honeft Endeavours that the Law of the Land allows thee. But ftill thou art not to tranfgrefs

grefs thy Bounds. Thou art not to forget in what Capacity thou acteft. A private Man is not a Magiftrate, and therefore muft not invade his Office. An inferior Magiftrate is not the fupreme, and therefore muft not exceed the Limits of his Commisfion. And as for the fecret Whispers and Impulfes of God's Spirit, which are often pretended for fuch illegal Ufurpations, they are not to be regarded. God is the God of 1 Cor. 14 Order, and not of Confufion, as the Apostle 33. has told us; and therefore all thefe Suggeftions and Impulfes which tend to Confufion, which, if they be followed, naturally create Disturbance to the publick Peace, cannot be from God, but are the Effects of an over-heated Brain, or Illufions of the Devil. Besides, the Age which we now live in, is not an Age of Infpirations and Impulses: we have a standing and fixed Rule to proceed by in all our Actions, and that is, the written Word of God, and the Law of the Land. And whatever Actions are not warranted or allowed by them, no immediate Inspiration or Impulse can justify

And the fame Thing is to be faid as to the Minifterial Function. A Man may have exceeding good Parts, and a great Talent in fpeaking: He may have likewife attain'd a confiderable Skill in the Scriptures and other Sorts of Learning, and have all the other Qualifications which are needful to make him a very useful Minister of the

Church:

Church: But ftill this alone, without a lawful Call, doth not impower him to take that Office upon him; nay, he quits his Station, and can neither anfwer it to God nor the Church, if he does. But is not the very having thefe Abilities, and the Defire of making use of them, a lawful Call without any more? No: He must have the Call of Men too, even the Call of thofe whom Jefus Chrift hath intrufted with the Government of the Church. If a Man do not come in this way, he is not a lawful Shepherd, but an Intruder into Chrift's Flock, whatever natural or acquired Abilities he may have to fit him for the Employment.

III. But to leave this Point, I proceed to the third general Head which I propos'd to speak to; which is not indeed directly affirmed or contained in my Text, but is rather a neceffary Confequence from it, viz. That fince the various Circumftances and Callings into which Men are difpofed, are from God, therefore no Man can be juftified, who lives in fuch a Way, or follows fuch a Course of Life, as cannot be fuppofed to be of God's Distribution. This, I fay, is a natural Confequence of my Text; and it thus arifeth: The Text implies that every Man hath Talents and Gifts diftributed to him by God, in order to the fitting him for fome civil Employment or Course of Life. It implies likewife, that according