SERM. demeanour thereto. Reflecting upon these things XXI. should make us to disdain to do any thing unworthy

that high regard of God, and that honourable alliance unto him. It should breed in us noble thoughts, worthy desires, and all excellent disposiHeb. ii. 14. tions of soul conformable to such relations; it should engage us unto a constant practice, beseeming them whom God hath so dignified, whom the Son of God hath vouchsafed to make his brethren: by fex. ingany thing mean or sordid, by doing any thing base or wicked, we greatly undervalue ourselves, we much disparage that glorious family, into which, by the Son of God's incarnation, we are inserted. Taúτns οὖν τῆς τιμῆς ἀξίαν τὴν φιλοσοφίαν ἐπιδειξώμεθα, καὶ μηδὲν EXCμLED KOLVOY TρÒS Th y. Let us therefore, saith St. Chrysostom, shew a philosophy worthy of this honour; having nothing common with this earth. (In Joh. i. Hom. 18.)

7. This consideration doth much aggravate all impiety and sin. Wilful sin upon this account appeareth not only disobedience to our Creator and natural Lord, but enormous offence against the infinite bounty and mercy and condescension of our Saviour; a most heinous abusing the Son of God, who came down into this homely and humble state on Acts iii. 26. purpose to bless us, in turning every one of us from our iniquities; to free us from the grievous dominion and from the woful effects of sin; we thereby frustrate the most gracious intentions of God, and defeat the most admirable project that could be for Heb. vi. 6. our benefit and salvation: we thereby trample upon the Son of God, recrucify him, and put him to an open shame so the Apostle to the Hebrews telleth us, implying the heinous guilt and sad consequence

Rom. vi. 22.

of doing so; He, saith the apostle, that despised SERM. Moses's law died without mercy;-Of how much XXI. sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought Heb. x. 28. worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing?

8. Lastly, This consideration may serve to beget in us a high esteem of the dispensation evangelical, and hearty submission thereto. Almighty God, (as is signified in the parable,) after several provisions Luke xx. for the good of mankind, and several messages from 13· heaven to the world here, did at last send his Son, with this expectation; Surely they will reverence my Son and surely much reason he had to expect the greatest reverence to be yielded to his person; the readiest credence and obedience to his word. For if any declaration of God concerning his will, of our duty, however proceeding from him, (either by dictate of natural reason, or by the instruction of prophets, or by the ministry of angels,) ought to be entertained with great respect and observance; much more should the overtures of greatest mercy and favour exhibited by his own Son (on purpose sent unto us to discover them) be embraced with highest regard, and humblest reverence, and most hearty compliance. It is the Apostle to the Hebrews his discourse and inference; Therefore (saith Heb. i. 2. he, therefore, because God hath in these last times spoken unto us by his Son) we ought représ pocéxen, to give more (abundant, or more) earnest heed to the things which we have heard; for, subjoins he, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at first began to be spoken by (our) Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them

ii. 1, 3.

XXI.

SERM. that heard him ? Ταῦτ ̓ οὖν διηνεκῶς στρέφοντες, καὶ ἀναλογιζόμενοι ἐκκαθάρωμεν ἡμῶν τὸν βιὸν, καὶ λαμπρὸν ποιήσωPer Continually therefore revolving and recounting these things, let us cleanse our life, and make Vide Chrys. it bright: so we conclude with good St. Chrysos

tom. vi. p. 623, &c.

tom.

Almighty God, who hast given us thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him; grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit, through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Dur Lord.

SERMON XXII.

EPHESIANS iv. 5.

One Lord.

XXII.

Ὅς ἐστι Χρισ

As the name of God (truly common to all three SERM. Persons of the Blessed Trinity) is (not in way of exclusion, but) according to a mysterious peculiarity Luke ii. 11. (Kaτ' oikovoμíav, in way of dispensation, accommodated ris, Kgs. (κατ' οἰκονομίαν, to our instruction, as the Greek fathers express it) attributed to God the Father, who is the Fountain of the Deity, and first in order among the divine Persons; so likewise is the name Lord, truly common to the other Persons, peculiarly (though also not exclusively) ascribed and appropriated unto God the Son; who therefore in the style of the New Testament, which more fully hath revealed him, is called sometimes absolutely Lord, sometimes the Lord Jesus, sometimes our Lord; to acknowledge and call him so, being the especial duty, and the distinctive mark or character of a Christian: for, to us, as there is one God and Father of all, and one Holy Spirit, so there is, as St. Paul here in my text doth say, one Lord. And otherwhere; There be (saith 1 Cor. viii. he, there be, according to popular estimation and worldly use) gods many, and lords many; but to

5, 6.

SERM. us there is one God the Father, and one Lord XXII. Jesus Christ. Hence to call upon the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ (that is, by confession and prac

tice to acknowledge him our Lord) gives a peri1 Cor. i. 2. phrasis, or description of a Christian, (To the church

3.

Acts ix. 14. of God that is in Corinth, sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place; that is, together with all Christians every where; so doth St. Paul inscribe his First 1 Cor. xii. Epistle to the Corinthians ;) whence, No man, saith he in the same Epistle, can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost; that is, no man can heartily embrace Christianity without the gracious assistance of God's holy Spirit. The reason of which appellation being so peculiarly attributed unto Christ, may be, for that, beside the natural right unto dominion over us, necessarily appertaining to him as our God, who hath made us, and doth preserve us, there are divers other respects and grounds supervenient, and accruing to him from what he hath undertaken, performed, and undergone for us, in spontaneous obedience to the will of God his Father, upon which also the title of Lord is due unto him: the which to declare first, then to apply them unto our practice, shall be the subject and scope of our present Discourse.

In whatsoever notion we take the word Lord, either as a prince over subjects, or as a master over servants, or as an owner of goods, or as a preceptor and president over disciples, or as a leader and captain to followers, or as a person singularly eminent above inferiors, he is according to all such notions truly our Lord.

According to whatever capacity we distinctly or