Christian's duty; Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give accounts. If any thing be wrong, they must answer for it; the private Christian is safe in his submission; while he that is contentious, and will not obey, may possibly have some reason to fear, that his zeal for his own opinions and fancies will not atone for the disturbance he raises in the church, or the separation he makes from it. It may perhaps be suggested, that such doctrine as this will prevent all reformation in the church, and would have prevented our own from the church of Rome about two centuries ago. All which I deny; when corruptions in the church become gross and grievous, they will speak for themselves. The people will feel them, and be willing to shake them off: all estates and degrees of men will be sensible of the want of reformation; and all good men, who have wisdom and resolution equal to the work, will endeavour to promote it. When the reformation was begun here in England, the corruptions of the church of Rome were too gross either to be concealed or defended. The errors in her doctrine, the superstition and idolatry in her worship, and the usurpations and tyranny of her priests, all cried so loud for reformation, that all heard who did not wilfully stop their ears: and the foulnesses and deformities on the face of religion were become so conspicuous, that all saw who did not wilfully shut their eyes. The council of Trent gathered up, as it were, all the loose sticks of popery, and bundled them together in one huge unmerciful fagot; which thus became a burden, which s Heb. xiii. 17.

neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. Points, before of doubtful disputation, and scholastical doctrines, which some believed, and others believed not, were now defined and decreed into articles of faith; and imposed and forced upon men, with all the pains and punishments of this world, and with all the threats and terrors of damnation in the next. Here was an absolute necessity of reformation in the church, and as that could not be obtained, separation from her was unavoidable. They who cannot stay in without sin are compelled to go out. But to introduce innovations in religion without any sufficient reason, to make alterations in our prayers without improving them, and to obtrude amendments which will bear a just and reasonable dispute, whether they be real amendments or no, is as little consistent with piety as it is with prudence; and as good policy does not permit, so pure religion does not require it.

Let us mortify our own pride and passions, and divest ourselves, as much as we can, of folly and selfconceit. Let us not be confident, when we are not certain; nor obstinate, where we are ignorant. Let us imitate the better part of Naaman's example: he was a little positive and perverse at first; but, however, he was not incorrigible, and proof against all instruction. He heard his servant's advice, and submitted to the prophet's direction; which if he had not done, he would have carried his leprosy with him to the grave. But he went down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. God grant that we may always be thus

obedient to the heavenly will! And do thou, O Lord, we beseech thee, take from us all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word; that so being ready both in body and soul, we may cheerfully accomplish those things that thou wouldest have done, through Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom, &c.

SERMON XIII.

MATT. X. 28.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

IT is taken for granted in these words, that there are two principal parts in the constitution of human nature, upon the account of which every man sustains a relation to two different states or societies. And the same reason which obliges him to provide for the happiness of the noblest part, and to fix his attention chiefly on that state which is of the greatest importance and the most lasting duration, will engage him likewise to shew some regard to the in-. ferior part in him, and to that society which is relative to it, in the degree and proportion which they may appear to deserve. It must not therefore be imagined, that our Saviour, by forbidding his disciples to fear them which kill the body, intended to teach them an absolute contempt of the terrors of this world. It is plain from the preceding verses, that the case he had in view, and was preparing them for, was that of persecution. He was sending them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, and therefore tells them what treatment they should expect to meet with, not only from the hatred and ill offices of private persons, but from kings and governors. Upon this occasion he reminds them (and it was but necessary that he should remind them)

of that fundamental principle of all religion, that we are to fear and obey God rather than men. When the commands of God and the magistrate are really inconsistent, it cannot admit of a moment's debate which of them are to be preferred. The terrors of this world are not worthy to be mentioned, in cómparison with the terrors of the next; and they who can only kill the body can have no pretensions to our obedience, when it would expose us to the displeasure of him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

But, excepting the cases of this extraordinary kind, it is well known that the Christian religion is far from teaching men to disobey the commands of the civil power, or to despise the sanctions that enforce them. On the contrary, it expressly enjoins us, if we do evil, to be afraid; it threatens us in that case with the sword, which the magistrate beareth not in vain; and commands us to be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake a Here, we see, the terrors of the Lord are so far from being represented as contrary to those of the magistrate, that they are called in to aid and support them. We are to submit to the civil power out of considerations of conscience, and duty towards God, and for fear of his punishments, as well as for fear of that wrath which the magistrate is appointed to execute here, and of those pains which he can inflict in this world. Upon this view of the matter then, I might go on to represent the harmony and agreement of civil and religious enforcements; that generally, and in common cases, they conspire to promote the same ends, and both tend a Rom. xiii. 4, 5.