However the Lord approves of the faithfulness of his people, commends and will greatly reward their good works and labours of love which have been done for his name's sake; however he praises such of his churches and children, whose last works have been more than the first, and blames such whose works were faulty; yet that righteousness which saves the soul, and that which he calls so, and is the only proper righteousness, is the obedience, sufferings, and merits of our crucified God and Lord Jesus Christ; and this is imputed to us by believing in him. This was the way in which the Father of the faithful found righteousness, and was justified in the sight of God, and in this only a soul can be clothed at the great day. Venture who will to try any other, it shall be dearly repented, and cost them dearly. They shall only once be sorry for their rashness and presumption, and that will be for evermore. O do not let it be a light matter with you, whether or no this doctrine be true; neither be content to say Amen to it, but put on the Lamb and his righteousness, fly into his wounds, and cover yourselves up in his merits; make sure of his pardon and forgiveness, and obtain of him that raiment of which he speaks to the angel of the Laodiceans, that ye may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness may not appear. Have you never made any shew of religion, but have lived altogether without seeking righteousness hitherto? Now let it be so no more; come now to Jesus, the Friend of publicans and sinners, and he who hanged naked on the cross will hide your shame. He was stripped to clothe you and dress you for his Father's house. Come to him with all your heart, sincere and willing indeed to be saved, and you shall find, notwithstanding all what men can say, your own false heart fancy, and Satan suggest to the contrary, a God nigh, and not afar off, and who is a covering to his people.

Or,

Or, are you devout and religious? have you attempted by the law, and strove by works to become righteous, and when ye failed, patched up your rags with Christ's merits, God's mercy, and the like? Have ye, to quiet your conscience, mingled the woollen and linen together? Now, then, throw away the linsey-woolsey cloth, the forbidden garment, the unclean and illegal dress, and approach naked to him who clothes the lilies of the field, and he will be your covering; the Lord God and the Lamb will be your shield, and in as much as you have obeyed him, and trusted his blood and merits alone, you shall see, for his honour's sake, for his word sake, and according to his eternal purpose, he will save you, and you shall appear at his wedding in linen clean and white.

You shall here, in this life, rest well persuaded and confident of his love, of your being pardoned, and clothed, and blessed; and die when you will, nothing shall part you from his love, ye shall go to him, ye shall follow him with that company which no man can number, who are in white raiment, with crowns on their heads, before the throne. With whom may you and I have our eternal part. Amen.

DISCOURSE XXXVIII.

THE REPROACH OF THE GROSS.

HEB. xiii, 13.

Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

IT is in vain to hope to become true christians,

and escape the shame of the cross of Jesus.

The whole doctrine of the Son of God's incarnation and death, when set forth in simplicity and plainness, and not preached with wisdom of words, has been always esteemed foolishness, and the believers of the gospel, and sincere professors of true christianity, have continually been accounted fools; and the more zealously they have confessed Jesus Christ for their God, and the more firmly they have been attached to his merits alone, the more the world have condemned and despised them, the more they have been made, as it were, gazing-stocks to men and angels, persecuted, reviled, rejected and reproached; and if pitied by any, it has been because (as they think) "much religion has made them mad."

Whoever therefore unfeignedly desires to be a christian indeed, must set his face as a flint against all opposition, and resolve to deny himself, leave all he has, and take up his cross daily, and follow Jesus through a gainsaying and perverse generation.

There

There is no palliating the matter, or seeking to reconcile men of the world to our religion, without danger, as long as they are unenlightened from above, and stay in the course of flesh and blood, judging and weighing things according to rules of common sense and reason alone, and not according to the scriptures, they cannot be pleased with our manner of acting, our lives must seem madness to them, and our principles foolishness. Our faith must be exploded by all, and our practice condemned by all.

The many attempts made by great and learned men to make the religion of Christ coincide with the measures and minds of men, have been fruitless, it cannot be effected. The world, with all its customs, pomp, glory and pleasures, are at enmity with the King of saints; the spirit of the world is the enemy of him and our happiness; therefore it is so often repeated in the gospel, that whoso will be a lover of the world, or the things of the world, is an enemy of God, and therefore Jesus, when he makes men his disciples, calls them out of the world, teaches them, that neither himself nor his doctrine were of the world, wherefore the world hated them. He warns every where his people to leave all and follow him; to come out from among them, i. e. the world, and be separate, and not partake with their sins, that they might not partake of their plagues.

Those are ministers of Laodicea who have a shew of piety and keep in with the world; and as long as they can please men they cannot be the servants of Christ.

How stupid are such who profess to believe in the Son of man, and who conform to the world? Or who would endeavour so to dress up the doctrine of our Lord and Master, or to speak of his

person as to shun the infamy of being his disciples?

The world cannot love the doctrine of the Lord Christ. Sensual and carnal men cannot value the redemption: Lovers of pleasure, and covetous persons, cannot like the life of a christian; nor can wise men, and such as will be governed by philosophical principles, ever approve of our way. They will constantly find fault with us, blame us as weak and inconsiderate men. They will wonder why we act and believe so unreasonably; while the careless will condemn us altogether. The bigotted in every sect deem us heretics; our friends wonder why we risque thus our honour, name, character, and fortune; and all sorts will pour on us, from every side, calumnies, revilings, and charges innumerable; nor can we, by any means, satisfy them, or reconcile them to us, unless we even resolve to stay in the world with them, and suffer religion to lead us no farther than to put on the form of christianity, be sober, moral and moderate people, without being Christ's disciples indeed.

Since then it is thus, since our Lord and Master has assured us it would be so, and since experience teacheth us daily the truth of his words, what shall sincere souls do? Why, for Jesus Christ's sake, that they may please him, and for their own sakes, that they may be saved, let them take his advice who is the Counsellor; let them escape for their lives, rise up, and at the loss of all things follow him. Let them 66 go out of the camp after him, bearing his reproach;" and remember, that whoso loves father, or mother, or wife, or children, or fields, or estates, or any thing else, more than him, is not worthy of him.

Wherever we find honest men, or women, or children, who unfeignedly seek salvation, it will not be hard to persuade them to leave all for his name's sake,

and