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SERMON

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Incarnation of our Lord:

Preached at the

ROLLS,

On Christmas-Day, 1710.

MATTH. xi. 6.

Blessed is He whosoever shall not be of fended in Me.

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III.

ND can any Man then be offend- SERM. ed in Thee, blessed Jefu! who haft undertaken, and done, and fuffered fo much for all Men! Who willingly emptied t

SERM. emptiedft thyself of all thy Glory, leftIII. eft Heaven and the Bosom of thy Father,

for our Sakes; and, when thou tookst upon thee to deliver Man, didft not (as at this time) abhor the Virgin's Womb! Can a Design of fo much Goodness ever miscarry by the Folly of thofe, on whose very Account it was undertaken! Can such a Message of Love (of a Love aftonishing and infinite) be rejected !—— Canft Thou thyself, the great Meffenger, be received any otherwife, than with the open Arms and Hearts of all thy Creatures, for whofe Redemption thou wert thus made Flesh, and dweltft among Us! Is it poffible for any One of them to be any ways offended in Thee!

Yet so it is, Bleffed Lord! that from thy firft Coming in the Flesh to this time, there have been unreasonable Men all along, that have taken Offence at Thee! And there will not fail to be fuch within the Pale of Chriftianity itfelf, even till thy fecond Coming to Judge the World! Thy Doctrines

have been complained of, as laying too SERM great a Restraint on Human Nature, as III. hard and unpracticable Sayings!— Thy Mysteries have been doubted of, disputed against, and ridiculed, by Men of perverfe and proud Minds, who are refolved to believe nothing, farther than they can throughly and clearly compre hend it! Thy Person itself, the Circumftances and Way of thy Coming, have been an Offence unto Many!

To Cor. i.

the Jews a Stumbling-block, and to the Greeks Foolishness! A conftant Occafion of Falling, to all Godless and Sinful Men, whose high Minds are not brought into Captivity to the Obedience of Faith,' nor made fit for the Reception of the Truth, as it is in Jefus! But bleffed are all they (have thy Holy Lips pronounced) who (in none of these Ways) are offended in Thee!

As to the two former Ways of being offended in Chrift, on the Account of the Difficulty of practifing those Duties he has enjoined, and believing those Articles of Faith he hath propofed, I

fhall

23.

SERM. not at present enter into the Confidera III. tion of them. The Festival we are now

celebrating, determines me rather to point my Reflections on the Offence which has been taken at the Person of Chrift, the Method, and Manner of his Coming amongst Us! The Obje&ions of which Kind, I shall briefly propose, and answer; that fo having rooted and grounded ourselves in a firm Belief of the Doctrine, we may, with the more Affurance, make those several Improvements of it, which will be profitable unto Godliness.

It hath formerly by Porphyry and Celfus, and ever fince by their Succeffors, the open or hidden Enemies of Chriftianity, been thus argued.

That the Doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God is Unreasonable and Incredible; inconfiftent with the clear Notions we have of the unlimited Perfections of God, and the finite Properties of Man; between which there is fo Wide and Eternal a Difference, as seems to render them incapable of being join

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ed together in one and the fame Perfon SERM. or Subject. For how can Wisdom, Per- III. fection, and Happiness itself, be mixed with Folly, Infirmity, and Mifery? What Union can there be between what is Finite, and that which is Infinite?

But were it conceivable, how the Divine and Human Nature could be United into One Perfon; yet is it not (fay they) reasonable to believe, that fuch a Method was actually taken. For furely there were other ways befide this, of Reftoring lapsed Man to the Favour of God, and that Happiness which he had forfeited, and of taking away the Sins of the World: The unlimited Mercy of the Divine Nature, was of itself sufficient to compass this End, and forgive this Debt, without requiring any Ranfom; and unless a God Incarnate were abfolutely and indifpenfably requifite to free Mankind from the Guilt, and Dominion of their Sins, it is no ways reafonable to think, that Recourse was had to fo extraordinary a Remedy.

VOL. I.

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Now,