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had entertained the most false ideas. They enemies besides priests and rabbins, they represented to themselves a Messiah of flesh might have left their adversaries to bawl and blood, one adapted to the relish of human themselves hoarse in their solitary schools; passions. They authorized the most criminal to hurl after the innocent, the anathemas and remissness, and violated the most inviolable thunders of synagogues and consistories; rights of religion and nature. Revenge, in and each Christian, despising their ill-directtheir opinion, was inseparable from man. ed discipline, might have appealed from the Concupiscence was perfectly consistent with tribunal of such iniquitous judges to that of a purity of heart. Perjury changed its nature, sovereign God, and, with a prophet, might when it was accompanied with certain dou-have said, 'Let them 'curse, but bless thou: ceurs. Divorce was a prevention of discord, when they arise, let them be ashamed, ' Psal. and one of the domestic rights of a married cix. 28. person.

The Christian religion appears in the world, and in it other ideas of God, of man, of virtue, of the expected Messiah; other notions of concupiscence and revenge, of perjury, and of all the principal points of religion and morality. Christianity appears in the world. The Lord of the universe is no longer associated with other beings of the same kind. He is no longer an incestuous being, no more a parricide, an adulterer. He is a being alone in his essence, independent in his authority, just in his laws, wise in his purposes and irresistible in his performances. Philosophy is folly. Epicurus proves himself an idiot destitute of reason and intelligence, by not discovering the characters of intelligence and reason, that shine throughout all the universe, and by attributing to a fortuitous concourse of atoms the effect of wisdom the most profound, and of power infinite and supreme. Pythagoras is a master dreamer, who seems himself to have contracted the stupidity of all the animals, the bodies of which his soul has transmigrated. Zeno is an extravagant creature, who sinks the dignity of man by pretending to assign a false grandeur to him, and makes him meaner than a beast, by affecting to set him a rival with God. The Christian religion appears in the world. The Messiah is not a pompous, formidable conquerer, whose exploits are all in favour of one single nation. Revenge is murder, concupiscence is adultery, and divorces are violations of the prerogatives of God, separating what he has joined together, and subverting the order of the world and the church.

In this manner, Christian theology undermined that of the Jewish Rabbins, and that of the philosophers of Paganism. It is easy to judge what their fury must have been when they saw their schools deserted, their pupils removed, their decisive tone reprimanded, their reputation sullied, their learning degenerated into ignorance, and their wisdom into folly. Have you any difficulty in believing this? Judge of what passed in former ages by what passes now. As long as there are Christians in the world, Christianity will be divided into parties; and as long as Christianity is divided into sects and parties, those divines, who resist preachers of erroneous doctrines, will render themselves odious to the followers of the latter. No animals in nature are so furious as an idiot in the habit of a divine, when any of fers to instruct him, and a hypocrite, when any attempts to unmask him.

2. Let us pass to our next article, and let us attend the doctrine of Christ to court. If the servants of Christ had stirred up no other

But the grandees of the world have often as false ideas of their grandeur and power, as pedants have of their jurisdiction and learning. Dizzy with the height and brightness of their own elevation, they easily ima gine the regal grandeur extends its govern ment over the priestly censor, and gives them an exclusive right of determining articles of religion, and of enslaving those whose pa rents and protectors they pretend to be. As if false became true, and iniquity just, by proceeding from their mouths, they pretend, that whatever they propose is therefore to be received, because they propose it. They pretend to the right of making maxims of religion, as well as maxims of policy: and, if I may express myself so, of levying proselytes in the church as they levy soldiers for the army, with colours flying at the first word of command of HIS MAJESTY, for such is our good pleasure. They make an extraordinary display of this tyranny, when their consciences accuse them of some notorious crimes which they have committed; and as if they would wash away their sins with the blood of martyrs, they persecute virtue to expiate vice. It has been remarked, that the greatest persecutors of the church have been, in other cases, the least regular, and the most unjust of all mankind. This was observed by Tertullian, who, in his apology, says, We have never been persecuted, except by princes, whose lives abounded with injustice and uncleanness, with infamous and scandalous practices; by those whose lives ye yourselves have been accustomed to condemn, and whose unjust decisions ye have been obliged to revoke, in order to re-estab lish the innocent victims of their displea sure. Let us not insult our persecutors; but, after the example of Christ, let us bless them that curse us; and when we are reviled,' let us not revile again,' Matt. v. 44; 1 Pet. ii. 23. Perhaps in succeeding ages posterity may make similar reflections on our sufferings; or perhaps some may remark to our descendants what Tertullian remarked to the senate of Rome, on the persecutions of the primitive Christians. I will not enlarge this article, but return to my subject. The religion of Jesus Christ has armed a tyrant against a martyr; a combat worthy of our most profound considerations, in which the tyrant attacks the martyr and the martyr the

* Tertullian, in the chapter from which ont author historians, that Nero was the first who abused the quotes the passage above, remarks, from the Roman imperial sword to persecute Christians, that Domitian was the second, and then adds; Tales semper nobis insecutores, injusti, impii, turpes: quos et ipsi damnare consuestis, et a quibus damnatos ristituere soliti estis. Apol. cap. v.

tyrant, but with very different arms. The tyrant with cruelty, the martyr with patience; the tyrant with blasphemy, the martyr with prayer; the tyrant with curses, the martyr with blessing; the tyrant with inhuman barbarity, beyond the ferocity of the most fierce and savage animals, the martyr with an unshaken steadiness, that elevates the man above humanity, and fills his mouth with songs of victory and benevolence, amidst the most cruel and barbarous torments.

3. I said, farther, that the religion of Jesus Christ often occasioned troubles in the church, and excited the pastor against the flock. The gospel-ministry, I mean, is such that we cannot exercise it, without often applying the fire and the knife to the wounds of some of our hearers. Yes! these ministers of the gospel, these heads of the mystical body of Christ, these fathers, these ambassadors of peace, these shepherds, to whom the Scriptures give the kindest and most tender names; these are sometimes incendiaries and firebrands, who in imitation of their great master, Jesus Christ, the 'shepherd and bishop of souls, come to set fire on the earth,' 1 Pet. ii. 25; Luke xii. 49.

Two things will make this article very plain: consider our commission, and consider society. It is our commission, that we should suffer no murmuring in your adversities, no arrogance in your prosperities, no revenge under your injuries, no injustice in your dealings, no irregularity in your actions, no inutility in your words, no impropriety in your thoughts.

Society, on the contrary, forms continual obstacles against the execution of this commission. Here, we meet with an admired wit, overflowing with calumny and treachery, and increasing his own fame by committing depredations on the characters of others. There, we see a superb palace, where the family tread on azure and gold, glittering with magnificence and pomp, and founded on the ruins of the houses of widows and orphans. Yonder we behold hearts closely united; but, alas! united by a criminal tie, a scandalous intelligence.

Suppose now a pastor, not a pastor by trade and profession, but a zealous and religious pastor; who judges of his commission, not by the revenue which belongs to it, but by the duties which it obliges him to perform. What is such a man? A firebrand, an incendiary. He is going to sap the foundations of that house, which subsists only by injustice and rapine; he is going to trouble that false peace, and those unworthy pleasures, which the impure enjoy in their union and so of the rest.

Among the sinners to whose resentment we expose ourselves, we meet with some whom birth, credit, and fortune, have raised to a superior rank, and who hold our lives and fortunes in their hands. Moses finds a Pharach; Elijah an Ahab, and a Jezebel; St. John Baptist a Herod, an Herodias; St. Paul a Felix and a Drusilla; St. Ambrose a Theodosius; St. Chrysostom a Eudoxia, or, to use his own words, another Herodias, who rageth afresh, and who demandeth the

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head of John Baptist again. How is it possible to attack such formidable persons without arming society, and without incurring the charge of mutiny? Well may such putrefied bodies shriek, when cutting, and burning, and actual cauteries are applied to the mortified parts! Well may the criminal roar when the judgments of God put his conscience on the rack!

4. But censure and reproof belong not only to pastors and leaders of flocks, they are the duties of all Christians; Christianity, therefore, will often excite troubles in families. A slight survey of each family will be suffi cient to convince us, that each has some prevailing evil habit, some infatuating prejudice, some darling vice. Amidst all these disorders, each Christian is particularly called to censure, and to reprove; and each of our houses ought to be a church, in which the master should alternately execute the offices of a priest and prince, and boldly resist those who oppose his maxims. Christian charity, indeed, requires us to bear with one another's frailties. Charity maintains union, notwithstanding differences on points that are not essential to salvation and conscience. Charity requires us to become to the Jews as Jews, to them that are without law as without law, to be made all things to all men,' 1 Cor. ix. 26—22. But, after all, charity does not allow us to tolerate the pernicious practices of all those with whom we are connected by natural or social ties, much less does it allow us to follow them down a precipice. And, deceive not yourselves, my brethren, there is a moral as well as a doctrinal denial of Jesus Christ. It is not enough, you know, to believe and to respect the truth inwardly; when the mouth is shut, and sentiments palliated, religion is denied. In like manner, in society, in regard to morals, it is not enough to know our duty, and to be guilty of reserves in doing it. If virtue be concealed in the heart; if, through timidity or complaisance, people dare not openly profess it, they apostatize from the practical part of religion. Always when you fall in with a company of slanderers, if you content yourself with abhorring the vice, and conceal your abhorrence of it; if you outwardly approve what you inwardly condemn, you are apostates from the law that forbids calumny. When your parents endeavour to inspire you with maxims opposite to the gospel, if you comply with them, you apostatize from the law, that says, we ought to obey God rather than men,' Acts vi. 29.

Such being the duty of a Christian, who does not see the troubles which the religion of Jesus Christ may excite in families? For, I repeat it again, where is the society, where is the family, that has not adopted its peculiar errors and vices? Into what society can you be admitted? With what family can you live? What course of life can you pursue, in which you will not be often obliged to contradict your friend, your superior, your father?

II. The explanation of our first article, has almost been a discussion of the second; and by considering the nature of the troubles which religion occasions, we have, in a man

ner proved, that they ought not to be imputed to those who teach this religion, but to them who hear and resist it. This is the apology for our gospel, for our reformation, and for our ministry. This is our reply to the objections of ancient and modern Rome. One of the strongest objections that was made against primitive Christianity, was taken from the troubles which it excited in society. A religion (said some) that kindles a fire on earth; a religion, which withdraws subjects frow the allegiance they owe to their sovereign; which requires its votaries to hate father, mother, children; that excites people to quarrel with the gods themselves; a religion of this kind, can it be of heavenly original? Can it proceed from any but the enemy of mankind?' Blasphemy of this kind is still to be seen in a city of Spain,* where it remains on a column, that was erected by Dioclesian, and on which we read these words: To Dioclesian, Jovius, and Maximinus, Cesars, for having enlarged the bounds of the empire, and for having exterminated the name of Christians, those disturbers of the public repose.'t

The enemies of our reformation adopt the sentiment, and speak the language of the ancient Romans. They have always this objection in their mouths: Your reformation was the source of schisms and disturbances. It was that which armed the Condes, the Chatillons, the Williams; or, to use the words of a historian, who was educated in a society, where the sincerity necessary to make a faithful historian is seldom acquired: 'Nothing was to be seen,' says he, in speaking of the wars, which were excited under the detestable triumvirate, Nothing was to be seen but the vengeance of some, and the crimes of others; nothing but ruins and ashes, blood and carnage, and a thousand frightful images of death: and these were,' adds this venal pen, 'these were the fruits of the new gospel, altogether contrary to that of Jesus Christ, who brought peace on earth, and left it at his death with his apostles.'

But I am pleased to see my religion attacked with the same weapons with which Jesus Christ and his apostles were formerly attacked. And I rejoice to defend my religion with the same armour, with which the primitive Christians defended it against the first enemies of Christianity. To the gospel, then, or to the cruelty of tyrants, to the inflexible pride of the priesthood, to the superstitious rage of the populace, ought these ravages to

Cluny.

Grutery corpus Inscript. tom. i. p. 380.
Father Maimbourg, in his history of Calvinism.

Book iv.

The Duke of Guise, the Constable de Montmorenci, and the Marshal de St. Andre. The Jesuit, whose words our author quotes, is speaking of the reign of Henry II. in which the kingdom was governed, or rather disturbed, by the triumvirate, mention ed by Mr. Saurin. They, according to the president Thuanus, were governed by Diana of Poitiers, Duchess of Valentinois, the king's mistress; and she by her own violent and capricious passions. Haec vio lenta et acerba regni initia facile ministris tributa sunt; praecipue Dianae Pictariensi, saperbi et impotentis animi feminae;... HUJUS FEMINE ARBITRIO OMNIA REGEBANTUR. Thuan Hist. lib. 3. These were the favourites mentioned in our preface to the 1st vol.

be imputed? What did the primitive Christians desire, but liberty to worship the true God, to free themselves from error, to destroy vice, and to make truth and virtue triumph in every place? And we, who glory in following these venerable men, we ask, What treasons have we plotted? Rome! What designs hast thou seen us form? Have we attempted to invade thy property, to con quer thy states, to usurp thy crowns? Have we envied the pomp, which thou displayest with so much parade, and which dazzles thy gazing followers? What other spirit animated us, beside that of following the dictates of our consciences, and of using our learning, and all our qualifications, to purify the Christian world from its errors and vices? If the purity of our hands, if the rectitude of our hearts, if the fervour of our zeal, have provoked thee to lift up thine arm to crush us, and if we have been obliged to oppose thine unjust persecutions by a lawful selfdefence; is it to us, is it to our reformation, is it to our reformers, that the discord may be ascribed?

That which makes an apology for the reformation, and for the primitive gospel, makes it also for a gospel ministry. It is sufficiently mortifying to us, my brethren, to be obliged to use the same armour against the children of the reformation that we employ against the enemies of it. But this armour, how mortifying soever the necessity may be that obliges us thus to put it on, is an apology for our ministry, and will be our glory before that august tribunal, at which your cause, and ours, will be heard; when the manner in which we have preached the gospel, and the manner in which you have received our preaching, will be examined. How often have you given your pastors the same title which the enemies of our reformation gave the reformers? I mean that of disturbers of the peace of society. How often have you said of him, who undertook to show you all the light of truth, and make you feel all the rights of virtue,' He stirreth up the people?" But I ask again, Ought the disturbances which are occasioned by the preaching of the gospel, to be imputed to those who foment error, or to them who refute it; to those who censure vice, or to them who eagerly and obstinately commit it? Is the discord to be attributed to those who drown reason in wine, or to them who show the extravagance of drunkenness? Is it to those who retain an unjust gain, or to them who urge the necessity of restoring it? Is it to those who profane our solemn feasts, who are spots' in our assemblies, as an apostle speaks, Jude 12. and who, in the language of a prophet, defile our courts with their feet," or to them

* Isaiah i. 12. Tread my courts. The French version is better, que vous fouliez de vos pieds mes parvis. Fouler aux pieds, is to trample on by way of contempt. The prophet meant to show the imperfection of exte rior worship; and probally our translators intended to convey the same idea by our phrase, Wherefore do ye tread my courts? As if it had been said, The worship of the mind and heart is essential to the holi ness of my festivals; but you only tread my courts your bodies indeed are present; but your attention and affections are absent: you defile my courts, that is, you celebrate my festivals unholily. See shop.

xxix. 13.

To

who endeavour to reform such abuses?
put these questions is to answer them. I
shall, therefore, pass from them to our last
article, and shall detain you but a few mo-
ments in the discussion of it.

III. We are now between two solemnities; between a fast, which we kept a few days ago, and a communion, that we shall receive a few days hence. I wish you would derive from the words of the text a rule to discover, whether you have attended the first of these solemnities, and whether you will approach the last, with suitable dispositions.

There is an opposition, we have seen, between the maxims of Jesus Christ and the maxims of the world; and, consequently, we have been convinced, that a Christian is called to resist all mankind, to stem a general torrent; and, in that eternal division which separates the kingdom of Jesus Christ from the kingdom of sin in the world, to fight continually against the world, and to cleave to Jesus Christ. Apply this maxim to yourselves, apply it to every circumstance of your lives, in order to obtain a thorough knowledge of yourselves.

Thou! thou art a member of that august body, to which society commits in trust its honour, its property, its peace, its liberty, its life, in a word, its felicity. But with what eye do men of the world elevated to thy rank accustom themselves to consider these trusts? How often do these depositories enter into tacit agreements, reciprocally to pardon sacrifices of public to private interest? How often do they say one to another, Wink you at my injustice to-day, and I will wink at yours tomorrow. If thou enter into these iniquitous combinations, yea, if thou wink at those who form them; if thou forbear detecting them, for fear of the resentment of those, whose favour it is thine interest to conciliate, most assuredly thou art a false Christian; most assuredly thy fast was a vain ceremony, and thy communion will be as vain as thy fast.

tie; if the fear, lest either should say of thee, he is a troublesome fellow, he is a morose unsocial soul, he is a mopish creature, prevent thy declaring for Jesus Christ: most assuredly thou art a false Christian; most assuredly thy fast was a vain ceremony, and thy communion will be as vain as thy fast.

Too many articles might be added to this enumeration, my brethren. I comprise all in one, the peace of society. I do not say that peace, which society ought to cherish; but that peace, after which society aspires. It is a general agreement among mankind, by which they mutually engage themselves to let one another go quietly to hell, and, on no occasion whatever, to obstruct each other in the way. Every man who refuses to accede to this contract (this refusal, however, is our calling), shall be considered by the world as a disturber of public peace.

Where, then, will be the Christian's peace? Where, then, will the Christian find the peace after which he aspires? In another world, my brethren. This is only a tempestuous ocean, in which we can promise ourselves very little calm, and in which we seem always to lie at the mercy of the wind and the sea. Yes, which way soever I look, I discover only objects of the formidable kind. Nature opens to me scenes of misery. Society, far from alleviating them, seems only to aggravate them. I see enmity, discord, falsehood, treachery, perfidy. Disgusted with the sight of so many miseries, I enter into the sanctuary, I lay hold on the horns of the altar, I embrace religion. I find, indeed, a sincerity in its promises. I find, if there be an enjoyment of happiness in this world, it is to be obtained by a punctual adherence to its maxims. I find, indeed, that the surest way of passing through life with tranquillity and ease, is to throw one's self into the arms of Jesus Christ. Yet, the religion of this Jesus has its crosses, and its peculiar tribulations. It leads me through paths edged with fires and flames. It raises up in anger against me my fellowcitizens, relations, and friends.

Thou! thou art set over the church. In a body composed of so many different members, it is impossible to avoid finding many ene- What consequences shall we derive from mies of Jesus Christ, some of whom oppose this principle? He, who is able and willing his gospel with erroneous maxims, and others to reason, may derive very important consewith vices incompatible with Christianity. quences; consequences with which I would If thou live in, I know not what, union conclude all our discourses, all our sermons, all with thy flock; if thou dare not condemn our pleasures, all our solemnities: consein public those with whom thou art familiar quences, which I would engrave on the walls in private; if thou allow in private what of our churches, on the walls of your houses, thou condemnest in public; if the fear of on the frontispieces of your doors, particularpassing for an innovator, a broacher of newly on the tables of your hearts. The conseopinions, prevent thine opposing abuses which custom has authorized; and if the fear of being reputed, a reformer of the public, prevent thy attacking the public licentiousness; if thou say, 'Peace, peace, when there is no peace,' Ezek. xii. 10; most assuredly thy fast was a vain ceremony, and thy communion will be a ceremony as vain as thy fast.

quences are these, That this is not the place of our felicity; that this world is a valley of tears; that man is in a continual warfare on earth; that nature, with all its treasures, society, with all its advantages, religion, with all its excellencies, cannot procure us a perfect felicity on earth. Happy we! if the endless vicissitudes of the present world conduct us Thou! thou art a member of a family, and to rest in the world to come, according to this of a society, which doubtless have their por-expression of the Spirit of God, Blessed are tion of the general corruption; for, as I said before, each has its particular vice, and its favourite false maxim: a maxim of pride, interest, arrogance, vanity. If thou be united to thy family, and to thy society, by a corrupt

the dead which die in the Lord, they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them,' Rev. xiv. 13. To God be honour and glory for ever. Amen.

SERMON XX.

CHRIST THE KING OF TRUTH.

JOHN Xviii. 36-38.

Pilate said unto him,

Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king: to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?

all things,' who disposes all events, who be
stows a sceptre, or a crook, as he pleases, has
wise reasons for deferring the happiness of
his children to another economy; and hence
presumption arises, that he will give them
a king, whose kingdom is not of this world.'
St. Paul joins this second motive to the first.
I give thee charge, in the sight of God, who
quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ
who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good
confession.' What is this good confession?
It is that which you have heard in the words
of the text, Verily, I am a king, to this end
was I born; but my kingdom is not of this
world.'

HAVE you ever considered, my brethren, Providence, it is necessary to add the motive the plain conclusion that results from the two of a Christian to that of a philosopher. This motives which St. Paul addresses to Timothy? motive follows, that God, who quickeneth Timothy was the apostle's favourite. The attachment which that young disciple manifested to him entirely gained a heart, which his talents had conciliated before. The apostle took the greatest pleasure in cultivating a genius, which was formed to elevate truth and virtue to their utmost height. Having guarded him against the temptations to which his age, his character, and his circumstances, might expose him; having exhorted him to keep clear of the two rocks, against which so many ecclesiastics had been shipwrecked, ambition and avarice; he adds to his instructions this solemn charge, I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment,' 1 Tim. vi. 13, 14. God quickens all things. Jesus Christ, before Pontius Pilate, witnessed a good confession. From the union of these two motives arises that conclusion which I would remark to you.

The first may be called the motive of a philosopher: the second may be called the motive of a Christian. A philosopher, I mean a man of sound reason, who finds himself placed a little while in the world, concludes, from the objects that surround him, that there is a Supreme Being, a God who quickeneth all things.' His mind being penetrated with this truth, he cannot but attach himself to the service of the Supreme Being, whose existence and perfections he is able to demonstrate. He assures himself, that the same Being, whose power and wisdom adorned the firmament with stars, covered the earth with riches, and filled the sea with gifts of beneficence, will reward those, who sacrifice their inclinations to that obedience which his nature requires.

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But, let us own, my brethren, the ideas we form of the Creator are, in some sense, confounded, when we attend to the miseries to which he seems to abandon some of his most devoted servants. How can the Great Supreme, who quickeneth all things,' leave those men to languish in obscurity and indigence, who live and move only for the glory of him? In order to remove this objection, which has always formed insuperable difficulties against the belief of a God, and of a

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The first of these motives, my brethren, you can never study too much. It is a conduct unworthy of a rational soul, to be surrounded with so many wonders, and not to meditate on the author of them. But our present circumstances, the solemnity of this season, and particularly the words of the text, engage us to quit at present the motive of a philosopher, and to reflect wholly on that of a Christian. I exhort you to-day, by that Jesus, who declared himself a king, and who at the same time said, 'My kingdom is not of this world, to endeavour to divert your attention from the miseries and felicities of this world, to which the subjects of the Messiah do not belong. This is the chief, this is the only point of view, in which we shall now consider the text. We will omit several questions, which the words have occasioned, which the disputes of learned men have rendered famous, and on which, at other times, we have proposed our sentiments; and we will confine ourselves to three sorts of reflections.

I. We intend to justify the idea which Jesus Christ gives of his kingdom, and to prove this proposition, My kingdom is not of this world.'

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II. We will endeavour to convince you, that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is therefore a kingdom of truth, because it is not a kingdom of this world.

III. We will inquire, whether there be any in this assembly, who are of the truth, and who hear the voice of Jesus Christ; whether this king, whose kingdom is not of this world,' has any subjects in this assembly. To these

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