Sermons, preached partly before His Majesty at White-Hall and partly before Anne Dutchess of York, at the chappel at St. James / by Henry Killigrew ...

The First Sermon. (Book 1)

1 JOHN iii.5.

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sin, and in him is no sin.

THE main Drift and Scope of Saint John, throughout this whole E∣pistle, is to perswade the Chri∣stians to whom he writes, Not to sin; These things, says he in the former Chapter, I write unto ye, that ye sin not. For such Chri∣stians it seems there were then, as well as now, who believed that the Faith and a wicked Life were not inconsistent together; that men might profess the Gospel, and not forsake their Vices. They acknow∣ledged

Christ to be the promised Messiah and Saviour that was to come into the World, but they under∣stood not rightly wherein Salvation consisted, viz. that 'twas not only in the remission of sins, but in the reclaiming men from the commission of them; not only in taking away their guilt, but in reforming their evil lives. The Apostle therefore, to set them right in a matter of so high concernment, alledges in the foregoing Chapter many Reasons against their in∣dulging themselves in any vicious course: As the con∣trariety of sin to God, who is all Light, and to walk in sin, is to walk in darkness: the unsuteableness of such ways to the glorious Promises they expected; the vileness of earthly things, in comparison of things heavenly, and the like. And in the Words of my Text he adds two Reasons more, taken from two things, which he says they did know, but did not duly consider. The first from the purpose of the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh, which was to take away sin. And the second from the Sanctity of his Life, (which was an even course of righteousness) Christ purposing to take away Sin by his Example, as well as by his Death and Sufferings. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin.

We may observe in the Words these three things:

I. The Purpose of the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh, It was to take away sin.

II. The Purpose of his holy Life, That was also to take away sin: For S^t John alledges this for a Motive, as well as his manifestation in the Flesh, That in him was no sin.

III. The Inference from these two Purposes, im∣ply'd in the Argumentation of the Apostle, though not express'd in his Words, That it is the Duty of all

Christ's Followers, as far as 'tis possible for frail men, to be without sin.

I begin with the Purpose of Christ's Manifestation in the Flesh, To take away sin. And first a few things

Of his Manifestation.

Christ's coming into the World is express'd in Scri∣pture by this Term of Manifestation, to shew that 'twas of a different kind from other mens, who had no Being before their productions into the World, un∣less in a very imperfect way of conceiving it, viz. in their Causes and Principles. But Christ before he was born into the World, had a full and perfect Existence, even from all Eternity, and did only assume our Na∣ture to his Pre-existent Being, thereby to enable him to perform the Work of our Salvation, and more fa∣miliarly to converse with Mankind: as our Apostle says, that we might see, and hear, and handle the Word of Life. And 'twas in reference to his Being before he was born of the Virgin, that Old Zachary com∣pares his Manifestation in the Flesh, to the rising of the Sun above the Horizon, Whereby the Day-spring, says he, from on high hath visited us. The Sun's Ri∣sing, we know is not his first Being, as some ignorant People of old conceived, who thought he was ex∣tinguish'd every Night in the Sea, and a new one lighted every Morning: But the Sun, before he comes forth to us as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber, has run his Course to many People and Nations. So likewise Christ, the Sun of righteousness, before he shone to us here on Earth, had run the Course of E∣ternity, as I may say, with his Father, being the power of God from all Ages, the Image of his Good∣ness, and the brightness of his Person. And this, by

the way, may arme us against the errour and sedu∣ction of the Ebionites, Samosatenians, reviv'd again by the Socinians in later days: who teach, That Christ had no Being before he was conceived by the Virgin, of the Holy Ghost, Christus non fuit ante Mariam Virginem; Mary the Virgin, say they, and Christ the Saviour, were Cotemporaries. Thus these Hereticks, while they feared to worship a Man, de∣nyed the Son of God; and ran into the highest In∣fidelity and Sacriledge, to avoid only a supposed I∣dolatry. But to proceed.

The Manifestation of Christ unto the World in our Nature, the Appearance of the Son of God in the Flesh, to speak strictly, was rather an Obscuration than a Manifestation of him. As the interposition of a Cloud between the sight of our Eyes and the Sun, is a veiling, and not a shewing of him; so the exhi∣biting of Christ in the beggarly Raggs of our Flesh and Bloud, was a disguising, not a revealing of him. That God (who is incomprehensible and unconceive∣able, hid from our senses, and hid from our under∣standings, not by Darkness, but by excess of Light and Glory, and our incapacity to behold him) would stoop to manifest himself to mortal eyes, though in the most excellent created Form whatsoever, was an infinite diminution of his Majesty: But to manifest himself not only to, but in our Nature, must be con∣fest to be the greatest Clouding and Absconding, and not Revelation, of the Deity imaginable; and such as could never have entred into the thoughts of Man to believe, if it had not been done and seen. But however that this is most true: yet if we consider this Mystery rightly (for though the Evangelists set down the Manifestation of Christ in the Flesh Histo∣rically, S^t Paul speaks of it as of a high Mystery) we

shall find, that God could no way have more emi∣nently declared his Wisdom, and consulted the infir∣mity of Men, in the manifesting of his Son to the World, than after that mean manner which he did; that such his eclipsing and obscuring him, was the most advantageous and effectual way of revealing him.

For in the first Place, how was it possible for mor∣tal eyes to have seen the Immortal God otherwise? Alas! we cannot behold the Sun, but in his setting, as one says, Spectantes oculos infirmo lumine passus, our weak Eyes are not able to gaze on that glorious Lu∣minary in its Meridian strength; but if we will see its Beauty, we must watch the opportunity of its infirmity: For otherwise the greater its lustre is, the greater is our darkness to perceive it. How then could we have beheld the Glory of Christ? the ineffable Glory, I say, which he had with his Father from all Eternity? His three Disciples were as dead men, beholding only his Transfiguration! and those that apprehended him in the Garden, upon the streaming-forth only of some Rays of his Divinity through the Cloud of his Flesh, fell twice to the Ground: who could then have stood or supported the Fulguration, as I may say, of his Deity in its full Glory? It was not possible for Christ to have appear∣ed, but in some exinanition, or being stript of his Majesty; the Son of God to have convers'd with Mankind, but in the Clothing of Humanity.

2. If we consider the Purpose of his Manifestation, which was to take away sin; it was not possible again to have effected this by any other Manifestation, but such as was also an Obscuration of him. For how could he have been subject to the Law in his Divine Nature? delivered up into the hands of wicked men,

suffered Death, and the like? How could he have fulfilled the Types that shadow'd him in the Law, the Paschal Lamb, the Goat for the Sin-Offering, the Ram caught by the Horns in the Bush, &c. unless he had been hamper'd, as I may say, and caught in our Flesh, intangled in our infirmities, found, as St. Paul says, in the similitude of a man? There had been no Sacrifice, no Propitiation for Sin, if Christ had not come in the Flesh; no Redemption, no Salvation of the World, if the God of the World had not vouchsa∣fed to have been born of a Woman. Yes, some per∣haps will say, God of his free Grace might have par∣doned mens sins, without the Incarnation of his Son, or any Sacrifice or Atonement for them. What be∣longs to this will fall-in in the next Place, the hand∣ling the Purpose of the Manifestation of Christ in the ••••••sh, which was

To take away our Sins.

It is no Wisdom barely to understand things; but this is Wisdom, To understand the Purpose of things. Generally the greatest Naturalists among us admire the World, this stupendous Workmanship of the Al∣mighty and Eternal Agent, and think they have stu∣died and observed fairly, if they have arrived to the Knowledge of the Qualities and Properties of some particular Natural Bodies; but rarely do they deduce them from their first Original, the Creator, and rare∣lier discern the chief End for which they were crea∣ted; they see a continual corruption and generation of Sublunary Beings, and that by this means the succes∣sion of the Universe is maintained: but pierce not so deep as to see that this is done, not so much for the continuance of the World, as for the continuance

of God's Glory in the World; and that many Ages may see, and acknowledge his Power, and partake of his Bounty and Goodness. And so it is with ma∣ny Believers under the Gospel; they read what's written of Christ, they magnifie his Miracles, admire his holy Life and Doctrine, commemorate his Suffer∣ings, celebrate his Festivals; But what was the main Design of these things, what they were to bring to pass in the World, they reflect not on as they ought to do: but stand in need to be put in mind of it, as the first Christians our Apostle here wrote to. All men are ready to assent to this Saying of St. Paul, Great is the mystery—God was manifest in the Flesh, justify'd in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached to the Gentiles, &c. But then that all these Mysteries are Mysteries of Godliness, i. e. such as should produce God∣liness, Vertue and Piety in all those to whom they are preached and revealed; make them renounce their wicked ways, and fulfil the Law of righteousness; this they neither penetrate into, nor care to be con∣vinc'd of. We cannot be therefore too solicitous and assiduous in making known the End, and awa∣kening men to the consideration of the Design and Purpose of the Transactions of their Salvation, as ne∣cessary to be understood as the Transactions them∣selves: As our Apostle does not only teach, That Christ was manifested in the Flesh, but adds also the Reason of it, that 'twas to take away our sins. And this being his chief design in my Text, I shall endea∣vour to explain, How Christ, assuming our Flesh, did take away our sins. For the contrary may be imagined, that by taking our Flesh, he should have taken likewise our sins, but not have taken them away. But Christ by his Incarnation took away our sins two ways. He took them away [From us] And took

them away out of us, or [From within us.]

First, He took away our sins from us.] And this he did by taking them upon himself, and paying to God the forfeiture for them, undergoing the punishment of their guilt in our behalf, so that they were no longer our sins, but his own; the Original sin of Adam, after this manner, and all the Actual sins since of the whole World, he made his own. To speak strictly indeed, the Guilt of sin can never be taken away; for sin after 'tis once committed, remains for ever sinful: but in a Legal and Political sence Sin may be said to be ta∣ken away from us, when the Guilt of it is trans∣ferr'd, and the Punishment undergone by another; and the Word in the Original for [taking away] our Sins is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which signifies [the lifting them up] and is in importance the same with St. Peter's expression [he bare] or as the Margent of our Bible has it [he bare away] our sins in his Body on the Tree. What our Lord said of his Exaltation on the Cross, When I am lifted up from the Earth, I will draw all men unto me; may be affirmed of their Sins, as well as of themselves; of the Guilt, as well as of the Persons of them that believe in him▪ viz. that by his lifting up on the Cross, the Sins of all men should be taken up from them, as Exhalations are drawn up from the Earth by the heat of the Sun, and after dispers'd into Air.

But now if we consider seriously this great and wonderful Dispensation of God's, in manifesting his Son in the Flesh to take away the Sins of the World, we must certainly conceive that he had a further and more excellent aim and end in it, than merely to pardon the Guilt of Sin, and to cancel past Trans∣gressions. For if this had been all, as 'twas object∣ed, this might have been done freely, and with less

ado, without Sacrifice or Atonement for Sin; without God's sending his Son from Heaven to live so many Years upon Earth in a poor and persecuted Conditi∣on, and at last to suffer a painful and ignominious Death: Besides, in all reason, the Pardon of Sin would have been pronounced more authoritatively and satisfactorily by God in his Glory, than in the Disguise of Humane Nature; as the Great Lord of Heaven and Earth, than as a poor Delinquent standing himself before the Tribunal of Justice. Again, what had all the other Mutations in the Church of the Jews, the removing of the Law of Moses, and the in∣troducing a more perfect, that of the Gospel, to do with the bare Remission of Sin? the giving so many excellent Precepts, and Christ himself for an Example of a holy Life; the clear discovery of a Heaven for the Reward of Well-doers, and of a Hell for evil; the confirming these things with so many Miracles, and the Bloud of so many Divine Persons; the insti∣tuting an Order of men to preach and inculcate these things to the end of the World? If, I say, the absol∣ving men from their past Transgressions had been all the business, and nothing had been aimed at further, or required of them to qualifie them to receive this Grace, but barely to believe that such a Grace was of∣fered them (as too many flatter and delude them∣selves) all these operose, toilsome, mysterious and a∣stonishing Performances of Christ and the Holy Ghost might have been spar'd, and any one of the least of the Sons of the Prophets would have serv'd to have proclaim'd the Remission of Sins, and coming on this Errand, would have found credence and welcome. But, alas, the Case was otherwise: Men were not only to be pardoned, but reformed; to be absolved from their Guilt: but, as 'tis in the Benedict', be∣ing

delivered out of the hands of their Enemies, they were to serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of their life.

That men therefore may not mistake the principal Design for which Christ came into the World, our Apostle plainly declares it at the 8^th Verse. For this purpose, says he, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil. Christ came not only to pardon Sin, but to destroy it; not only to absolve a wicked World, but to make a righteous; to take away the condemnation, but the commission of Sin: And therefore the second way I named of Christ's taking away our Sins [From within us] ought to be taken into our highest consideration. For can it be imagined, that he should descend from the Bo∣some of his Father, and visit the Earth for no other end, but to make a Gaol-Delivery, as I may say, to reprieve so many Rake-Hells only and condemn'd Persons, and to turn them loose again into the World to commit more villanies? The whole Tenor of the Gospel speaks otherwise, that Christ was born in the Flesh, that we might be regenerate and new∣born of the Spirit; that he was crucified, that we might crucifie our vile Lusts and Affections: dyed for the Guilt of Sin, that we might dye to the Practice of it; suffer'd, to excuse us from suf∣fering, but not to excuse us in any wickedness: he cast out the Hand-writing, or Accusation of Sa∣tan against us, to no other end but that we should cast out Satan himself and his Kingdom out of our hearts, and erect in the place God's Kingdom, or the Kingdom of righteousness. So that the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh to take away our sins, imports no less than his rectifying that ugly confusion and disorder which Sin had wrought in the Universe, and the de∣posing

Satan from his Usurpation over the World; than the restoring God to his Dominion, and his Creatures to his Obedience; the repairing his Honour, and gi∣ving satisfaction, not to one Attribute only, his Justice, but to all his other Attributes, his Wisdom, Truth, Goodness, Holiness, &c. And this was a Design wor∣thy of the Incarnation of the Deity, of the travel, sufferings, and all the other Glorious Works of the Messiah, of his unhinging and unframing the Course of Nature by his Miracles: for it was to no less end, than to re-establish it again in the beautiful Frame and Order, which God at first created it in, before the Devil had disfigured and deformed it.

And for this Cause the Evangelists, in relating the Passages of Christ's life, often take us off from looking too intently on the Events which they record, and call upon us to consider the Purposes of them, rather than the Events themselves, bidding us regard the Prophecies that went before of them, frequent∣ly repeating, that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled, that was spoken by such or such a Prophet. And if we will make the best advantage of Christ's Incar∣nation, we must not look so much on the Fact, as on the design of the Fact, what it intimates and preaches to us, viz. the extinction and extirpation of Sin, not only of the Guilt, but of the reigning Power of it. According to what S^t Peter says, As he has suffered for us in the Flesh, arm your selves like∣wise with the same mind: for he that has suffered in the Flesh hath ceased from Sin. This arming-our selves with the same mind, and ceasing from Sin in the Flesh, was that which God chiefly aimed at in his Manifestation of his Son in the Flesh; To the end, as the Apostle goes on, that we should no longer live the rest of our time in the Flesh, to the lusts of men,

but to the will of God. And to shew us yet further, that the bringing of men to live righteously was the great aim of God in all Ages of the World, says St. Peter, For this cause was the Gospel preached also to those that are dead, [i. e. to those of the old World] that they might live according to God in the Spirit. Let e∣very Christian therefore (that professes the Faith of Christ's coming in the Flesh to take away Sin, and yet lives in it) hearken and attend to this Admoni∣tion, [Remember thy End.] In the Place where the Son of Syrach utters these Words, he means the End or Consummation of our Days, as we are natural men, which is good Wisdom: But remember thy end, i. e. the Design and Purpose of thy Christian Profes∣sion, and the Mysteries of it: for this is yet a higher degree of Wisdom. And before I yet leave this Point, I shall give caution against two sorts of Men, who greatly pervert this Advice:

And first, Against the Papists, who play and trifle with the weightiest Passages of our Salvation, as Po∣ets and Romance-Writers do with serious Histories, turn them into Gauds and Entertainments of the Fancy; make Models and Representations in their Churches, of Christ's lying in the Manger at this ho∣ly Season, and of his rising from the Grave at the Feast of Easter, with all the circumstances belonging to them; as if such Puppet-Shews were adequate and sutable Returns of Devotion for these Divine Dispensations. Again, they gather and hoard up the Nails and Fragments of our Lord's Cross, as if they treasured to their Souls the Benefits of his Passion: hug his Crucifix, and weep over the Pictures of his Wounds, as if this express'd a Seraphical Affection, though they hug also at the same time the grossest Sins.

The second Caution is against those among our selves, who yet worse abuse the Purpose of the Ma∣nifestation of Christ in the Flesh, making it to be more for the encouragement, than the taking away of Sin; fansying that he died, to excuse them from holy living; was made subject to the Law, that they might be freed from the Obedience of it; perform'd all righteousness, that they should need to perform none: and these men pray, as they believe, O Lord, say they, do thou all in us, and for us, and take thou the glory. Thus exempting themselves from all Ob∣ligations to the Commandments, and making the Faith a jest and scorn to Libertines and Unbelievers, while they talk only more of a holy Life than they, but practise it as little; make the Cross of Christ not a Sanctuary to Penitent Sinners, but a refuge for Hy∣pocrites and Cheats in Religion; and yet none are so righteous, so much in God's favour in their own o∣pinion as these: But they will find at last to their great confusion, That Christ was manifested in the Flesh, not only to take away our Sins [From us] but also to take them away [Out of us, or from within us.]

And he does this by three Means or Expedients, By his Spirit, by his Word, and by his Example.

First, By his Spirit. After the Manifestation of Christ in the Flesh, his Suffering, and being laid in the Grave, he was quickned (or raised to life again) by the Spirit of God, and exalted to have the Power and Prerogative of sending down the Spirit into the hearts of Believers, to quicken them, and to raise them from the Death of Sin to a Life of Righteous∣ness, i. e. to sanctifie and enable them to master Sin in themselves. They that saw Christ in the Flesh, knew not at first, That the principal Intention of his

Flesh, was his Spirit, viz. that his Incarnation was to produce their Sanctification; to conform them to his likeness in the Inner-man, as he was conformed to their likeness in the Outward-Man: and those that are not thus conformed, that have not their Sins ta∣ken away In them, by Vertue of his Nativity, shall never have them taken away From them by Vertue and Merit of his Passion.

Secondly, By his Word he takes away our sin from within us. Now ye are clean, says our Lord, John 15.3. through the Word which I have spoken unto you, i. e. you have put away your former wickedness, up∣on believing what I have preached. To believe and to be clean, in a Scripture sense, is the same thing: For 'tis not possible rightly to believe, and to continue in the Pollution of Sin. The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged Sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit. The efficacy of it was seen in the reprobate hearts of He∣rod and Felix; How did it ruffle and discompose the incestuous security of the first, and put an Earth∣quake into the stupid Conscience of the last? But yet 'tis then only, to use Solomon's expression, that wise Words are as Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver, when they meet with docile ears and honest hearts; when the disposition of the Hearers concurs with the faithful intention of the Preacher; and they comply to destroy Sin in themselves, as he endeavours to destroy it in his Sermon. Otherwise this most powerful and effectual Engine to batter and beat down Sin, the Word preached, profits not, as 'tis in the Chapter now mentioned in the Hebrews, But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixt with Faith in them that heard it.

Thirdly, Christ takes away Sin from within us by his Example, i. e. by his holy Life, as well as by his Word and by his Spirit: his Meekness, Holiness, Self-denial, Obedience, &c. were designed by him to excite his Fol∣lowers to practise the same Vertues equally or above his Precepts. And though we condemn the Errour of those who affirm, That the Pattern of Christ's life, the perfect Exemplar of Piety and Holiness which he exhibited to the World, was the only means, besides his Word, which he used to take away our Sins: We may yet more condemn the sloth and hypocrisie of those, who set his Life above our Imitation; who put his Vertues into the same Classis with his Miracles, and think it as impossible for us to practise his Humility, Patience, and the like, as to open the Eyes of the Blind, or to raise the dead; affirm that his Obedience and Righteousness were not set for our Example, to direct and encourage us to do the like, but to up∣braid and reproach our weakness and infirmities. In the mean time our Lord himself, Joh. 17.19. declares, That the holiness he practised, was not only for the love of holiness, but that his Disciples should follow him, even in the roughest Paths he trod, those of his Suffering, to which his Words more particularly re∣late. For their sakes, says he, I sanctifie my self, [or offer up my self a Sacrifice] that they also might be sanctified through the Truth. And S^t Peter says ex∣presly, Christ suffered for us, leaving us an Example, that we should follow his steps. And this brings me to the second Motive the Apostle alledges to disswade men from Sin, the sanctity and sinlesness of Christ's Person,—and ye know that in him is no sin. But because this in a great part has fallen-in with the for∣mer Motive, and to accumulate Reasons of the same Nature rather nauseates than perswades, I shall wave

this Point, and proceed to my last, The Inference which the Argumentation of the Apostle implies from the foregoing Motives, viz. That 'tis the Duty of all Christ's Followers to endeavour, as far as 'tis pos∣sible, to be also without sin, and which shall serve me also for an Application.

The Son of God, we have heard, was manifested in the Flesh to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Now certainly we cannot think that we comply ei∣ther with the Example of Righteousness which he has set us, or yet with the gracious Purpose that brought him into the World, if we reflect on his Nativity on∣ly after an Historical manner, as that he was born in such an Olympiad, or when such an one was Em∣perour; that such rare Events attended his coming into the World, as are recorded by the Evangelists, namely, that he was conceived by a Virgin of the Ho∣ly Ghost, welcom'd by Angels, signaliz'd and reveal'd to the Gentiles by a Star, &c. as if we were Chrono∣logers, rather than Christian Believers: But that principally we are to consider these things Doctri∣nally and Morally, to regard the Obligations they lay upon us, and the final intendment of God in them. For Example, to say to our selves, If God came so far as from the highest Heavens to take our Flesh, that he might destroy sin, how much more are we concerned to destroy sin, in whom it dwells, whose Flesh is its Domestick Organ, and which will certainly destroy us both Body and Soul, unless we destroy it? Again, if God vouchsafe so highly to dignifie our Flesh, as to assume it to his Divine Na∣ture, and to carry it up to Heaven with him, and that by way of Pledge and assurance to carry up all that live holy lives thither also; how ought we to respect and even to revere these our mortal Bodies, and not

to pollute them with sin, which are designed to such sublime Honour, as to reign with God in Glory? Once more, If the Son of God came into the World, not only to teach us his Father's Will, but to demon∣strate to us, by his own performance, the feasibleness of accomplishing it; and did not only discourse of the probability of mortal mens ascending to Heaven, but gave an instance of it in our Flesh: how are we without excuse, if either upon pretence of the diffi∣culty of the Duties enjoined, or the arduous ascent to the heavenly Kingdom promised us, we supersede our endeavours to attain it? When the Israelites were travelling to the Land of Canaan, they said to Aaron, Make us Gods that may go before us, i. e. visi∣ble Gods that we may behold: they were not satis∣fied with the conduct of an invisible Deity, of a God that afforded not his personal presence. Christ mani∣fested in the Flesh is such a visible palpable God as they required, who marches as a Captain at the Head of us, and guides us not only by his Counsel, but leads us by his Bodily Presence. But yet notwithstanding this compliance with our infirmities, and all the other endeavours that have been used for our Salvation; though Christ by his Spirit, by his Word, and by his Example, has essayed to take away our sins From us, and to take them away In us: I know not how, they are not taken away from [Among us!] Our Sins, like Idolatry in Israel, like the Groves and High-Pla∣ces, are continually taking away, and still found re∣maining; they vary and change according to the se∣veral Revolutions and Vicissitudes of our Condition, but they are not abolished; when Rebellion reigned in the Land, Rapine, Oppression, Bloudshed, Sacri∣ledge, were its complexion: When this Evil by a singular Mercy was remov'd from us, the Sins of

Peace succeeded, Ingratitude for past, and Insensi∣bleness of present Benefits, Drunkenness, Whoredom, Irreligion, Schism, Faction, &c. So that as the Ro∣mans complained of old, that after they had subdu∣ed the Nations, themselves were subdued by their own Vices; that these sly and silent Enemies, Luxu∣ry, Covetousness and Ambition, revenged and reta∣liated the conquered World—victumque ulciscitur Orbem: We may in like manner complain, that after the Violences and Outrages of War ceased, the soft and soothing Sins of Peace crept in in their place, and have tyrannized over us more fatally and destructive∣ly. And who then can say, our Sins are taken away, when they are only transformed, and have assumed new Shapes and Names? when that which was Re∣bellion in 41. is Dissoluteness or Atheism in the Year 70?

But though there be too much reason to bewail this: yet I hope, (with the same Charity that I wish the thing) that none that are guilty of the more enor∣mous Sins I have mentioned, are present in this Assem∣bly: but that it fares with my Complaint, as it does with the Exhortations which are made out of the Pulpit to Non-Conformists, those to whom the Speech is directed, are never there. So in my present Complaint (of not forsaking our Sins, but exchange∣ing them for others) I do but inculcate a Doctrine to the Gracious already, and that those that are o∣therwise, are not here. But if any chance to be, I shall only mind them of those Words they find, Psal. 10.17. Take away his ungodliness, and thou shalt find none. If after God has endeavoured so many ways to take away their ungodliness, it shall still re∣main, they are more incorrigible than the worst of men; and their obstinacy may well fear, not only

what the Words in the Psalm sound, but what they signifie, viz. that God will not only confound their wickedness, but themselves also the wicked Doers. Christ was manifested in the Flesh to destroy Sin, and we ought in compliance with this his gracious Design to put to all our Powers to destroy Sin in our selves; that purifying our selves as he is pure, we may here∣after be glorious, even as he is glorious.

To the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour, &c.