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VIII.

have been Heathens, and many of them, who, SE RM. without the Revelation that we enjoy, have led very exemplary, moral Lives. But how

came they to do fo? Why they were Men naturally well difpofed; and therefore they were defirous (because they thought it their Duty) to live up to all the Light they enjoyed: And had any further Revelation been made to them; there is no Queftion but they would have obeyed it: But, having no more, they acted according to what they had: And what further could be expected from them? But is this the Cafe of thofe Free-thinkers and Deifts that live among Chriftians? Far from it. For thefe Men have Divine Revelation laid before them, and yet difclaim and reject it: And instead of thankfully embracing Christianity, baughtily defpife it.

It is a fair Teft then, whereby to judge of the Sincerity of fuch Men, which I have here proposed; viz. When you find them (as you frequently will) vehemently insisting upon the Excellency of Morality, and crying it up in Oppofition to Faith; when inftead of representing good Works to be the Fruits of Faith, they fhall contend they may be perfarmed, and be fufficient to Salvation, without Faith, when they fhall compare moral Duties

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VIII.

SER M. Duties and pofitive ones together, and, though they are both of them abfolutely neceffary, fhall vaftly prefer the one to the other

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hear any

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you any Man haranguing thus -judge of his Words by his own Practice: Recollect with yourfelves his own Manner and Conduct of Life: And if he should prove to have nothing of that Strictness of Honour and Honesty he fo highly extols, (as I fear will generally prove the Cafe ;) in a Word, if you can discover nothing more of his Confcience, (which he boafts is fo calm and quiet within ;) but that it is ever very noify and troublesome without; you may then be fure, that the great Stir he makes about moral Religion, in Oppofition to what is revealed; is not done with any Design to advance either, but infidiously to undermine and deftroy both. Be ftedfaft therefore yourfelves to adhere to both: Stop your Ears against whatever fuch wicked and impious Scoffers thall offer to feduce you, and keep them always open and attentive to that divine Prophet recommended in my Text, and that in all Things whatsoever he fhall fay unto you.

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To the doing of which, if the perfuafive Motives I have hitherto fet forth, be not fufficient to induce you; let me, for a Conclufion,

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VIII.

clufion, read to you once more the laft Verfe S ER M. of my Text, which remains ftill to be confidered, and contains a dreadful Denunciation against all those that do it not.-It fhall come to pass that every Soul, which will not bear that Prophet, fhall be destroyed from among the People. How this Prophecy has been verified as to the Jews, I have mentioned be fore: And I could alfo recount to you many remarkable Examples of Apoftate Chriftians, who, of old and of late Days, have whet and Tharpened their Tongues and their Pens against Christianity, which yet have turned against themselves, and fet them forth for a Terror. to others. But Cenfures upon any Judgments that happen in this World, I had rather forbear. But of Destruction either in this World, or the next the Text certainly speaks. In one World or the other, it will come to pass, that every Soul that will not hear that Prophet (i. e. Jefus and his Gospel) shall be destroyed. Certainly in the next World, if not in this: For this is what Jefus himself has declared. He (faith he) that rejetteth me, and receiveth not my Words, bath one that judgeth him i The Word that I have spoken, the fame fhall judge him at the last Day, John xii. 48. That Word which they heard and believed not, fhall

stand

VIII.

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And

SER M. ftand as a Witness and testify against them. If he had not come and spoken unto them; Ch. xv. 22, then indeed (as he himself owns) they had not had Sin; i. e. they might have pleaded their Ignorance in Excufe: But now (faith he) they have no Cloak for their Sin ; i. e. they are intirely without Excufe. the fame Judgment which he threatens against those who rejected the Gofpel, when preached by himself, he threatens also against all that reject it, when preached by his Apoftles, or those that should fucceed them. For be faid unto them, Go ye into all the World, and preach the Gofpel unto every Creature: He that believeth and is baptized, fhall be fav'd; but he that believeth not, shall be damn'd, Mark xvi. 15, 16. You know who spake thefe Words, and upon what Occafion, They were spoken by HIM who revealed the Gofpel; who therefore certainly knew how, far it was necessary for his Difciples to believe it: They were spoken by him who is ordained of God to be the Judge of Quick and Dead; Acts x. 42. who therefore again knows whom he will fave and whom he will condemn, and for what their Salvation or Damnation fhall be awarded. This is he who fpake thefe Words, and fpake them at a Time,

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when

VIII.

when he was taking his folemn Leave of S ER M. his Apoftles, giving them his last and final Charge, and in which the Fate of all the World is pre-determined. The Author therefore, and the Occafion, and the Subject Matter of thefe Words, all fpeaking them to be of the highest Importance, and the most general Concern, I chufe to close with themand leave them upon your Minds.

SER

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