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makers, saith our Lord, for they shall be called the children of God. He that came down from heaven to promote the great work of peace, will own those as children to God, and brethren to himself, who have been encouraged to follow his example.

Grace and peace, saith St. Peter, be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ: teaching us in these words, that peace will be multiplied among us, through the knowledge of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ: whose word informs us, that we are all brethren descended from the same Father, and have one faith and one Redeemer; we are all fellow-travellers upon the same road to a better world, and ought not to fall out one with another by the way. And here, who can help lamenting, that religion, which ought to unite men, should ever be the means of dividing them; that the bond of peace should ever become the instrument of discord? It is to be wished, that we were all of the same profession; that with one mind and one mouth we might glorify God. But as this can never be, it is the part of the peaceable man to find out and esteem what is valuable in all professions, and what may serve, in a certain degree as a bond of peace to all. If then there be any man who worships Jesus Christ as God, and depends upon him as his Saviour, and loves the wisdom of Scripture, and sees the vanity of the world, every sincere Christian is a friend to that man. As to the errors there may be in his profession, he has another master to whom he is accountable for them; and it is wiser to lament them with compassion, than to reprove them with bitterness; for that very seldom does any good. Any persons whatsoever, who are seriously disposed to religion, and of a peaceable temper, may find something

to agree in, some seat to sit down upon together, if they have but the patience to look for it: and how much better is it for them so to do, than to make sport for unbelievers by their jealousies and disputes. Let us then resolve to follow the Apostle's advice, and do all that lieth in us to live peaceably with all men, for the sake of that present comfort and edification which peace brings with it, and the glorious reward that shall crown it at last. For though we are not able to attain to perfect peace in this disorderly world, they who labour after it shall at length find it, in that holy and heavenly Jerusalem, which will be built as a city that is at unity in itself: peace shall be within her walls, and plenteousness within her palaces. Then shall the flock of God's pasture be unmolested in the land of righteousness; and shall enjoy that perfect rest which remaineth for the people of God, under the direction of that shepherd, who is the king of righteousness and of peace.

SERMON IX.

BUT AND IF THAT EVIL SERVANT SHALL SAY IN HIS HEART, MY LORD DELAYETH HIS COMING, AND SHALL BEGIN TO SMITE HIS FELLOW SERVANTS, AND TO EAT AND DRINK WITH THE DRUNKEN; THE LORD OF THAT SERVANT SHALL COME IN A DAY WHEN HE LOOKETH NOT FOR HIM, AND IN AN HOUR THAT HE IS NOT AWARE OF, AND SHALL CUT HIM ASUNDER, AND APPOINT HIM HIS PORTION WITH THE HYPOCRITES: THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH.

MATT. XXIV. 48, et seq.

THE monition here delivered, is in the style of a parable, and contains the history and catastrophe of a careless Christian. It is not aimed at all wicked men in general, whether Jews, Turks, or Heathens, but at those only, who professing themselves to be the servants of God, forget him, and go over to the service of the world. So that by the evil servant here mentioned, we are to understand the apostatizing or worldly-minded Christian, who bears the name of a servant of the Lord Christ, but in practice employs himself in the business of another master, who has gotten the possession of his affections.

If we wish to see a perfect description of any man, we must in the first place be made acquainted with his principles. He appears then to be one, who deceives himself, and says in his heart, my Lord delayeth

his coming. He lays it down as a principle of action, that no account, at least no immediate account, of his actions will be required. He has a lord or master, who for a while is absent; and the report goes amongst his fellow-servants, that this lord will return and reckon with him: but this reckoning, in his estimation, is either none at all, or so distant, that he is under no necessity of paying any regard to it. His lord has been absent so long, and wicked men have been so often threatened with his return to no purpose, that it is more probable he will never return any more.

Principle and practice have as natural a dependence on each other as the cause and the effect. An evil life grows naturally from an evil heart; and an evil heart will necessarily produce an evil life. The servant here spoken of begins with thinking as an infidel, and then proceeds to act as a brute: he begins to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. Thus it is in every other case of the kind; immoral and sensual practices being the natural offspring of some false delusive principle, which is first said in the heart: neither can man follow his own corrupt inclinations, till he has either denied or perverted the revealed will of God.

But the parable proceeds to teach us, that although a man may cheat his understanding for a while, the deception is not long to be enjoyed. The day, which he puts from him, will certainly come, and be the more terrible for being unexpected. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of. His false principle will then be overthrown by a matter of fact. He says within himself, day after day, my lord delayeth his coming; till his lord actually is come; and then

his folly is manifest, when there is no time left to make any advantage of the discovery. Such as he is, he is seized upon, and brought before his master to give an account of himself, and receive the due punishment of his insolence: which is the thing declared in the words that conclude the parable; he shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The parable then consists of these four particulars, 1. The unbelief. 2. The careless life. 3. The conviction. And 4. The condemnation of an evil servant, who, knowing his lord's will, and preparing not himself, is to expect a punishment beyond the measure of other wicked men.

Before I expound these things at large, it is proper to inform you, that the words of the text allude very plainly to the wickedness and punishment of the idolatrous Israelites in the wilderness. The people who had submitted to the authority of Moses, to be guided by him to the land of Canaan, were too well affected to the religion and morals of Egypt; both of which were irreconcileable with the faith and practice of the servants of God. When it became necessary that their ruler Moses should depart from them for a while into the mount of God, he gave this charge to the elders; tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you. Having thus assured them of his return, he continued forty days and forty nights in the mount; but he had not left them long, before they began to reason about his absence, and to make their use of it; when they saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, they gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, up, make us Gods which shall go before us; for as to this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what

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