any of those which have been called Perfecution. But when matters come to this Pafs, they feldom ftop here, we find no Difficulty to inflict any fort of Punishment, to exercise any Degree of Cruelty we have in our Power on those whom we have learn'd to fcorn and abhor. After the Mockery, away with him, crucify him, crucify him, follow very naturally : Here a Robber or a Murderer fhall be preferr'd before the most virtuous Character.

I hope this will not be thought an unfair Draught of the great Wisdom, the Virtue, the Liberty, the Humanity, and Candor of these Men Their Plan was formed in this manner, but as I have just before hinted, they have not fucceeded in it. The Laugh has turned against them, and they have fmarted forely under it: Their own Measure has been meted back to them, pressed down, and shaken

to

*

together, and running over has it been given into their Bofom. Then was their Laughter turn'd into Mourning, and the Joy of their Heart ceased. But the Woes and Bleffings of our Lord are not to be limited to this Life, they reach us in the next, and we can set no Bounds to them. Now if our Works follow us into Futurity, if the Habits we have contracted here attend us hereafter, if we shall be all rewarded according to the Works done in our Body, and peculiar kinds of Tribulation and Anguish will either arise from or be affigned to the feveral Degrees of Wickedness and Iniquity; Then we may easily imagine that this Habit of Mind will be a terrible Source of weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth. When the Son of Man fhall come in his own Glory, and in the Glory of his Father, and in the Glory

Luke vi. 38.

of

of all the holy Angels, and all Nations Shall be gathered before him, and he Shall Separate them one from another, where fhall the Ungodly and the Sinner appear? The Laugher and Scorner where fhall they appear, who have mocked him afresh, and crucify'd him afresh? Will he not laugh at their Calamity, and mock when their Fear cometh; when their Fear cometh like Defolation, and their Destruction as a Whirlwind? Then fhall the Righteous ftand in great Boldness before the Face of fuch as have afflicted them, and made no Account of their Labours. Whilst these Scorners groaning for Anguish of Spirit, fhall fay within themselves; This was he, whom we had fometime in Derifion, and a Proverb of Reproach. We Fools counted his Life Madnefs, and his End to be without Honour. But how is he numbered with the Children of God, and his Lot is among the Saints.

DISCOURSE X.

Character of the Pharifee and Publican.

LUKE Xviii. 14.

I tell you, this Man went down to his Houfe juftify'd, rather than the other.

HE Words are the Conclu

T

fion of a Parable, which our Lord fpake unto certain

which trufted in themselves, that they were righteous, and defpifed others; the Parable must be too well known to need any Repetition. We cannot but obferve, that the chief moral Characters and Opinions have

been

been much the fame in all Ages, thoʻ under different Names: Some leffer Circumstances in forming these Characters, the feveral Modes that make up Opinions, and their various Combinations with others that bear fome Relation to them, must always alter: But nevertheless it is equally true in Moral, as in Natural Things, that the fame Causes will produce the fame Effects. The Natures, Difpofitions, and even the Corruptions of Mankind, have been nearly the fame; and their Opinions, which are formed or influenced by these, muft of course be the fame alfo. And from hence it follows, that, if the principal Irregularities and Vices are diftinctly marked out, the fame Out-lines will fuit the Circumstances of every Age, and the fame Reproofs be as justly applicable to them. The moral Characters taken notice of in the Gofpel are chiefly thefe, Publicans and Heathens, Sadducees