Know ye not, that they which run in a Race, run all, but Oue receiveth the Prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every Man that striveth for the Mastery is temperate in The Best Christians, unprofitable Servants. So likewife ye, when ye shall have done all thofe Things which are commanded you, fay, We 211, 4. 5. for and the ftrong Lines of moral Duty, to which 301. 8. Conduct of, change made in. Ib. 23. after Lord, add, Matth. xxv. 21, 23. Of SUPERSTITION. SERMON I Preached before the KING, March 23, ACTS XVII. 22. Then Paul ftood in the midft of Mars-hill, and faid, Ye Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things re are too Superftitious. UPPOSING the Word Superftitious to s ER M. answer exactly to the Word in the Origi nal; yet, it does not feem rightly tranflated here by the Expreffion too fuperftitious : because this carries along with it an Implication that there is a Degree of Superftition, not at all blameable; and that St. Paul in this Paffage allows it; contrary to the conftant Use of that Word amongst Us, in a bad Sense. The Greek Word for that Temper of Mind, relating to Religion, from which the Athenians are in our Tranflation denominated Superftitious, fignifies a Dread of fome Superior Being, or Beings; and commonly, an Unreasonable, Blind, and Gloomy, Dread of fuch Beings, lead I. I. SERM.ing to great and various Abfurdities, about the Methods of pleasing Them. And as the Word, ufed by St. Paul, implies in it a Comparison of the Athenians with Others; and therefore ought to have been tranflated, more Superftitious than ordinary; or the like: I think, the Apoftle may be truly represented as fpeaking thus to Thofe around Him,-" Ye Men of Athens, I perceive "that you are more thoroughly poffeffed with "the Fear of Invifible Beings Superior to Us, " than I have found any Others to be. And "this I conclude, from what I have observed "of the public Marks of your Worship appear ing in the City. For, befides your Altars to "numberless Deities with Names to them, in "which you agree with Others, all around you; I found an Altar inscribed to the Un"known God: which uncommon Appearance "must be owing to a very extraordinary De gree of a dark, and uncomfortable Dread of "fome Superior Being, though you know not "what: Whom you fear you may otherwise "be thought to have neglected," &c. But, as it is my present Design to take Occafion from the Words of the Text, as they ftand in Our Tranflation, to fpeak in such a manner upon the Subject of Superftition, as may be of general Ufe, and Service, to All Chriftians, in the great Affair of True Religion; I fhall not enter farther into any Critical Enqui ries ries about the precife Meaning of the Words in SE RM. the Original; or the whole Intention of St. Paul, in this Difcourfe: but fhall endeavour, I. To fay Something about the Nature of Superftition, confidered as a Vice, to be avoided by All. II. To point out the True Remedy of it. And, III. To apply what I fhall have faid, to Chriftians, and to the present State of Chriftianity in the World. I. I will endeavour to give you fome Account of the Nature of Superftition, considered as a Vice, to be avoided by All. And, this having been much the fame, both amongst Those who have not lived under any exprefs Revelation from God, and Those who have; the General Account of it muft, I suppose, be given, entirely with Relation to that Faith, that Worship, and that Practice, to which, both thefe Sorts of Perfons might see themselves to be truly and strictly obliged, as their Religion, and Duty. With refpect therefore, to Heathens, the best Account I can, at present, think of, is this; That the Superftition of Heathens confifted in every Particular, which either their Fear, or their Folly; either the Strength of their Imagination, or the Weakness of their Judgment; or the DeB 2 fign I. |