Vol. II. our Lord, who when he could do no ~ more for Jerusalem, wept over it; we should rejoyce at the Conversion of a Sinner, and we should delight in the Conversation of those that are good, and in beholding the Fruits of their Faith, and Charity, and Hope, and triumph in their Steadiness and Conftancy as St. Paul does. ■ Theff. For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord, iii. 8, 9. For what Thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the Joy wherewith we joy for your Sakes before our God? And thus again, Theff. For what is our Hope, or foy, or Crown of ii. 19, 20. rejoycing? Are not even ye in the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our Glory and Foy.

Thus I have given you a few necessary Reflections upon every part of my Text. I have faid but little indeed upon fo copious a Subject, but what I have faid is fufficient to answer the Design of the Text, in fome measure at least, and I hope that of this Meeting. This Discourse requires no Application, I am apt to think every Auditor has made his Application all along as I went. I confess I can't but fee that upon the whole you will be ready to think I have carried the Matter too far, and rais'd our Duty too high; but I

follow Scripture, the Rule there is per

fect, fect, and the Examples set us very beau- Serm. tiful, and that which we have to do, is XV. to do what we can, and to come up to both as near as we can. God will pardon our Infirmities, supply our Defects, accept and reward our fincere Endeavours, but will feverely punish Unfaithfulness and Negligence. I have done when I have address'd my self in a word or two to the Laity here present.

You fee our Office, what the Dignity, what the Usefulness of it is, and from hence you may easily infer what you owe us. No one can envy the little we pofsess, who confiders how great our Work is, and how great our Account; no one he can be an Enemy to our Order, but who is an Enemy to Religion and Virtue; no one can refift or oppose us whilft we pursue the Ends of our Ministry, but he must act contrary to his own true and Eternal Interest. In a word, all that have a Zeal for the Honour of God, or Concern for the Salvation of Man, will think themselves oblig'd to support and encourage us in the Discharge of our Duty, fince the Design of it is to promote both. Every Part therefore of our Duty does suppose a correspondent one in you. If we be to watch over you, you are to communicate to us the great Concern of your

Vol. II. your Souls. If we be to preach, i. e. to ~ expound and inculcate the Scriptures to

you, you are to receive our Doctrine as the Word of God. You are not to fuffer Eph. iv. your selves to be carry'd about with every Wind, with every Novelty, but to adhere Jude iii. firmly to, and contend earnestly for the Faith

14.

once deliver'd to the Saints. If we be to guide and oversee you, you certainly are to follow our Direction and Advice. If

we be to speak, and exhort, and rebuke, with Tit. ii. all Authority, you are to liften with Humility and Modefty. In short, as we are to pray for you, fo are you for us, and by all means to cherish and maintain in your felves that Love and Esteem for us, without which our Pains are not likely to prove serviceable to you. If you and we behave our selves thus as we should, carefully discharging those Duties we owe one another, we shall be able to meet one another with Joy in another World, and render a good Account of our felves to the great Lord and Shepherd of us all the Lord Chrift Jesus.

The End of the Fifteenth Sermon.

SER

303

SERMON XVI.

JUSTICE and CHARITY.

Preach'd before the

Society of Coopers.

Ром. хїї. 8.

1

Owe no Man any thing, but to love one another.

T

:

HE Business of the Day IVol. II.
understand is Love, and

there is not another De-
fign in the World that bet-
ter becomes a Christian

than the promoting this; and the Way you have chosen to do it is confirm'd and warranted, not only by the

Vol. II. the Discourses of the Wise amongst the ~ Heathen, by the Practice and Example of good Men in all Ages, but also by the Institution of Festival Solemnities in the Old Testament and the New. I will not therefore be wanting to contribute what I can to this excellent End, nor will I willingly deviate from the main Design of the Day.

The Subject therefore that I shall efpecially infift upon shall be mutual Love and Charity, but in my Text God has joyn'd Justice and Charity together, and I will not put 'em dsunder; first, because they mutually support one another, and cannot fubfift without one another. No Man can pretend to love his Brother, who is so far from being kind, that he is not just to him, who instead of obliging him by Benefits and good Offices, oppresses him by Wrongs and Injuries. Injustice, if it spread and prevail, will foon diffolve all Society, all Dearness and mutual Confidence amongst Men; it would turn our Mirth and Joy into Mourning, and our Feafts, and the Beauty and Elegance of Life, into Want and Poverty, Sollicitude and Subtilty, Hatred and Contention. Secondly, Never did any Times more earnestly call for the inculcating of thefe Two great Duties in my Text, Ju

Stice

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