in regard to fervants, and in God in regard to us, three senses of the phrafe. There is a hand of beneficence, a hand of protection, or deliverance, and a hand of correction. A fervant expects fa vours from the hand of his mafter, not from that of a stranger. He looks to him for protection and deliverance in threatning dangers, and refufes all help, except that of his mafter. He expects correction from him, when he commits a fault, and, when corrected, humbles himfelf under his master's frown, in order to difarm him by tears of repentance. The application of thefe to the fervants of God is easy. The word fuccour (2) is general, and may very well be confidered by descending from the genus to the fpecies, and by obferving the different occafions, which we have for divine affiftance, and confequently the different affiftances and fuccours, which God affords us-as the help of his word to remove our ignorance, doubts, or errors-the help of his providence to deliver us out of afflictions the help of his grace and fpirit to guard us from the temptations of the world, and to aid us against the weakneffes of nature the help of divine confolations to sweeten the bitterness of our exercises under diftreffing circumftances, and to give us courage to bear afflictions-the help of his mercy to pardon our fins, and to restore to our confciences that tranquillity, which they have loft by offending God. You will meet with a great number of texts which may be difcuffed in this manner: but great care must be taken not to ftrain the fubject, for ix. 13. Hammond apud Pol. Synopf. in loc. (2) Until he have mercy upon us, or, until he fuccour VOL. II. us. Donec mifereatur noftri -Donec benefaciat nobisi. e. liberaverit a præfenti miferia. D for that would make you look like a school-boy. The best way is to make only one general obfervation, and then to apply it to several particular fubjects, collecting all at last into one general point of view. (3) (3) Go from genus to fpecies, that is to fay, when a text fpeaks of a fubject in general, apply the general idea to particular cafes. Thus a general truth may be applied to particular persons-timesplaces-circumftances and fo on, as in the example given by Mr. Claude, to illuftrate which the more, we fubjoin the following. Pfal. cxliv. 15. Happy is that people, that is in Juch a cafe [as the pfalmift had been defcribing.] Yea, happy is that people, whofe God is the Lord. Thefe general truths, applicable to any nation, are applied by Bp. Burnet, in the moft beautiful manner, to the English nation under the aufpices of William III. and they amount to this happy is Great Britain in being fecured from breaking in, that is, from foreign invafion-Happy is Britain in the fecurity of liberty and property, a fecond fenfe of fecurity from breaking in, ver. 14.-Happy the Englifh, who are fecured from going out, that is, who are not banished, or harraffed into voluntary exile-Happy the English, who have no complaining in their streets, no perverfion of publick justice, III. RE no invafions of the rights of confcience-Happy the English, whofe God is the Lord, who have the Christian religion in reformed purity, &c. &c. Thankgiv. Serm. bef. Houfe of Commons for the Revolution. 1688. Gal. vi. 2. Bear ye one anothers burdens, and jo fulfil the law of Chrift. This general exhortation is juftly and beautifully applied by Dr. Snape to the relief of the City-hofpitals. Bear ye [rich citizens of London.] the innocent burdens, that affect the condition, the bodies, or the minds of your fellow-creatures in these hofpitals. Relieve poor children from the burden of ignorance by fubfcribing to Chrift's hofpitalRelieve profligate people from the guilty burden of vice by contributing to Bridewell, and the London-workboufe-Relieve the fick poor by contributing to the bofpitals of S. Bartholomew, and S. Thomas-Relieve the mad and diftracted by fubfcribing to Bethlehem. Spittal Sermon at S. Bride's. 1707. Mat. iv. 1. Then was Jefus led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The text speaks of temptations in gene ral: ral: but a fermon preached to the clergy of the diocefe of Clermont runs only on temptations to ambition in particular, to which clergymen are exposed. "The firft fnare is only a fcheme to live genteelly, command the ftones to be made bread, this danger belongs to the first entrance on the miniftry. The fecond is prefumptuously to afpire after preferments, he fet him on the pinacle of the temple; and excites a vain hope, that God will be glorified by rafh enterprizes, he shall give his angels charge. This belongs to an afpiring minifter. The third is a boundless defire of riches and honours in elevated ftations, by which a man is induced to fubmit to abject fervices for the fake of elevation, all thefe will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Maffillon Confer. 1. fur l'ambition des clercs. John ii. 24. But Jefus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should teftify of man, for he knew what <was in man. The text gives this reason why Jefus did not confide in them, because he knew what was in man. He did not confider them as dangerous confidants on account of one fin only, he viewed the whole body of fin in them, he faw Ti v cv T avOg. There is (by the way) an elegant antanaclafis in the paffage. Many at the paffover επιςευσαν in his name, but 66 Jefus did not eπISEVAD ELUor alors. The like figure is in John i. 10. he was ev τω κόσμω, and ο κοσμο was made by him, and oxooμ knew him not. So again John iv. 13. 14. Пaso Tray Ен ту ибат еш тыть бывноев παλιν. ος δ' αν πιη εκ τη udal@ & εyw swow & μn difnones Tov alva.-To return, the text confiders the ignorance, inconftancy, malevolence, &c. of the Jews, and affigns the notice, that Chrift took of the whole, as a reason why he did not trust himself to them: but Bp. Maffillon compofes from this text a fermon on flander and begins thus. They were the fame Pharifees, who had decried the conduct of Jefus Chrift to the people, and envenomed the innocence and holiness of his words, who made a feint of believing in him, and arranged themselves among his difciples; and fuch, my brethren, is the character of a detractor, who hides under an outfide of friendly politenefs, the wormwood and gall of flander."He obferves, nothing can be more frivolousthanthepretexts used to justify slander-it cannot be justified by the imprudence of the culprit-nor by the notoriety of the crimenor by zeal for the glory of God. The difcuffion of thefe three reflections make the whole of that beautiful difcourfe. Ser. Car. 4. fur la medifance. D 2 Examples Examples from Cicero. Laudatur Pompeii temperantia a præcipuis temperantiæ fpeciebus, per negationem. Pro leg. Manil. lera exaggerantur per fpecies crudelitatis avaritiæ, perfidiæ, impietatis. In Pif. Pifonis fce The following remarks feem well grounded. Genus ad probandam speciem minimum valet, plurimum ad refellendam. Contra, fpecies firmam probationem habet generis, infirmam refutatiohem. Quint. Inf. lib. v. 10. Before a preacher defcends to particular ideas, he should take care to prove the general idea is in his text, otherwife he will build on the fand. Epifcopal, and Archidiaconal vifitations have been grounded on the following texts. 1 Sam. vii. 15. Samuel went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mixpeh, and JUDGED Ifrael in all thefe places.-2 Chron. xvii. 7, 8, 9. Jehoshaphat fent princes TO TEAC in the cities of Judah, and with them be Jent Levites and priests, and they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and TAUGHT the people.-Luke viii. 1. Jefus swent about all Galilee, TEACHING and PREACHING the gospel. Acts xv. 35. Paul faid unto Bar nabas, Let us go again, and vifit our brethren in every city, where we have preached the word of the Lord, and SEE HOW THEY Do. The application of thefe to English epifcopal vifitations is not pertinent, because the general idea, that is vifitation, in the epifcopal fenfe of the word, is not in the texts. Bp. of Lincoln's Charge in prim. Vifitation 1706. Gal. iv. 18. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing. The object of Christian zeal is a good man, or a good thing, and, when a furious zealot, applied thefe words to the canons, the articles, the homilies, and the liturgy of the eftablished church of England; and, when he affirmed, zeal for them is incompatible with toleration of diffenters, he certainly found that in the nut, which had never been in the fhell. Smeaton's Vifitat. Serm. at Andover, 1704. III. REMARK III. REMARK THE DIVERS CHARACTERS OF A VICE, WHICH IS FORBIDDEN, OR OF A VIRTUE, WHICH is COMMANDED. (4)· For example, 2 Theff. iii. 5. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, (5) and into the patient waiting for Chrift. (6) Here I should defcribe the characters of true love to God, and, perhaps, it might not be improper to fubjoin the characters of expectation of Chrift; ard, that I might not seem to travel the fame road twice, I would call (4) Remark the characters of a vice, or a virtue. Obferve what properties, or peculiar qualities belong to any particular fubject. This is a kind of diffufive definition, including propria and differentia. We have a fine example of this manner of treating the fubject of philanthropy in I Cor. xiii. In like manner S. James defcribes the characteristical properties of the wisdom, that is from above, iii. 17. "I fhall explain, fays an excellent man, each of these feven characters of wifdom, and fhew, that they are the characters of true and heavenly wifdom, and then apply what fhall be faid on this argument to ourselves." Dr. Bradford's Serm. on purity and peace at Bow-Church. 1710. "Acts iv. 32. The multitude of them, that believed, were of one heart, and of one the foul, &c. .... Obf. 1. The two great characters of the whole body of Chriftians at that time, unanimity and charity. Obf. 2. In what manner and degree Chriftians in every age ought to refemble them in thefe characters, &c. &c." Dr. Bradford's Serm. at St. Sepulchre's for Charity-Schools. Unan. and Char. the Charact. of Chriftians. 1709. (5) The Lord, that is, Chrift, by his fpirit-direct, moveatque magis et magisyour hearts into the love of God, vel 1. paffivam, quæ a Deo eft: vel 2. activam, quod perinde eft, quum alera alteri femper annexa fit, nempe in adultis; quæ eft erga Deum, ut Deum diligatis, Poli Synopf. in loc. (6) In dilectionem Dei. i. e. ut Deum diligatis. Genetivus hic objectum fignificat, |