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Vol. I. can of it felf carry us, and therefore he expects nothing from us, but what is proportionable to the Succour he fupplies us with. Hence we may obferve, when our Lord and Master published our holy and exalted Religion on the Mount, he did anticipate all Objections which the Difficulties, of it were likely to create, by the promise of the Holy Ghoft, Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it fhall be opened to you. If ye being evil, know how to give good gifts to your Children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give his holy Spirit to them that ask him, Matth. 7.7, II. This is that Grace which awakens us when we flumber, quickens us when we tire, ftrengthens us when we faint or defpond, exalts and vigorates us when we flagg and grovel. It is called the Power of the Holy Ghost, and the Might of God in Scripture, to affure us of the Sufficiency of it to accomplish the Ends for which it is bestow'd. And indeed, infufficient Grace is fuch a Contradiction to the Riches of Divine Goodness, to the fellow feeling and compaffion of our great High Prieft; nay, fuch a Contradiction to it felf, that

more

being a strange fort of Grace, that can Vol.II. only make us more guilty or miferable, not virtuous or happy, that I wonder how it ever entred into the heads of Men.

If then God does adminifter strength proportionable to the Duty, let him command what he please;let but hisSpirit be present, and in all our trials we shall come off more than Conquerors; We fhall stand unbow'd under the weight of Evils, or look down with fcorn on the Flatteries of the World and Careffes of Sense; for the World will be crucified to us, God will be all in all to us, we fhall rejoyce in the Lord Jesus with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.

3.

that our

Nor will you think this at all incredible, if remember you Confolat ion is one great Office of the Paraclet or Comforter: This Spirit is to witness to our fpirit, that we are the Chil dren of God; 'tis to be an Earneft to us of our future Inheritance, to raise our Joys high, and give us fome foretafts of the Powers of the World to come; God accommodating himself to the Nature of Man, who, as Plutarch well obferves, is made to love as well as know, would not leave him defti

tute

3

Vol. II, tute of Pleasure: This had been the ftate of those Devils in the Gospel, which wandered through dry places, Seeking rest and finding none. No, no, Religion does not perfwade us to Renounce, but Exchange our Pleasures to quit our Impure and corrupt, for pure and holy ones, our falfe for true ones, and our perifhing withering Joy for growing and immortal ones. Ah Religion! our hearts may fay of thee what Tully's Wit made him once fay of Virtue, One holy, one religious day, is to be preferr'd before a finful Immortality. Ah my God! where have I loft my self, my Senfe, my Reason, when in any part of my life, I forfook thee the fountain of living waters, and hew'd out to my self Cisterns, broken Cisterns that would hold

no water.

Ah! how good and gracious art thou, and how inexcufable I, if I do not obey thee, fince my Duty is Pleasure, and the Reward Glory. And my Virtues, though they take root in the Earth, in Mortification and Difcipline, yet they spring up, and bloffom with Joy, Peace and Hope; and their Fruit are the inconceivable Delights and Extafies of Heaven.

Charity

149

Charity in Censuring
Sinners.

John VIII. 7.

And when they continued asking him, he lift up himself, and faid unto them, be that is without fin among you, let him firft caft a ftone at her.

TH

Hough I have proposed to my self to go through, in order, the Syftem of our Religion, I mean, at least, all the Neceffary and Fundamental parts of it; and though well knowing that all Difcourfes are very imperfect,to fay no worse of them, which are not continually intermixt with practical Exhortations, or clos'd with ufeful Reflections. I have therefore all along had an Eye to this; yet I think it fit to intermix now and then a Discourse purely Practical. Omitting therefore at prefent the further Profecution of our Creed till the Afternoon, I will treat of these words, mov'd to it by a Reason too sad and too well known to need to be mentioned. In the Text we may obferve these three things:

Vol. II. I. The Sin of the unhappy Woman, prefented before our Lord by the Scribes and Pharifees, Adultery, which by the Law of Mofes was punish'd with ftoning.

II. The behaviour of the Scribes and
Pharifees, they accused her to our
Lord, and when he feem'd at first
to neglect their Accufation, they were
importunate for Sentence against her,
They continued asking him.
III. The behaviour of our Lord on this
occafion, confifting in two things;
An Answer to the Scribes and Pha-
rifees,and Admonition to the wretch
ed Sinner His Answer to the
Scribes and Pharifees is, Let him
that is without fin caft the first
ftone. His Admonition to the Wo-
man, Go and fin no more.

I will give you a brief Paraphrafe or Difcant on each of thefe Heads,and then from them altogether infer two or three Practical Obfervations or Directions.

I. Of the Sin of which the Woman in my Text is accused, Adultery. So heinous and wicked was this Sin accounted in the Eye of the Law, that, as the Scribes

and

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