be principally feated in the heart; and never reckon that you are poffeffed of it, so long as it lodges merely in the understanding. Knowledge and faith are in order to practice; and we neither know nor believe to any good purpose, unless our knowledge and faith influence our practice, and make us truly better men. Be fure to live upon the great fundamentals of religion, and let not your attention to these be diverted by an intemperate zeal about leffer things. Place not your religion in difputable points and ineffectual opinions, but in those weightier matters of the law and gofpel, which are of undoubted importance, and in which holy, men, among all the different denominations of Chriftians, are better agreed than is commonly apprehended.Choofe God for your portion and felicity; beware of thinking, that any thing befides himself is neceffary to make you happy; and live daily upon Chrift Jefus, as the only Mediator by whom you can either have access to God, or acceptance with him. -Indulge no fin; plead for no infirmity; but make it the daily business of your lives, to mor

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to

" tify the deeds of the body," and crucify the flesh with its affections and "lufts."-Walk continually as in the sight of a holy, just, and heart-searching God; and study to be the fame in fecret that you wish to appear in public. Reft not in a low degree of holiness, but love, and long, and strive for the highest. And for thefe purposes, pray without ceafing for those promifed influences of divine grace, which alone can heal your difeafed natures, and carry you forward from one degree of holiness to another, till, being ripened for glory, an entrance fhall in due time be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ. To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be glory and honour, dominion and thanksgiving, for ever and ever.

Amen.

SER

138

SERMON V.

ISAIAH liii. 3.

He is defpifed and rejected of men :—He was defpifed, and we efteemed him not.

HAT the whole of this chapter relates

TH

to the Meffiah, is fo universally acknowledged, that I need not fpend any of your time in proving it: and whofoever hath read the hiftory of our Saviour's life with a proper degree of attention, cannot fail to have remarked the exact accomplishment of that part of the prophecy which I have chofen for the fubject of the following difcourfe." Chrift came unto "his own, but his own received him "not." The learned, the rich, and the mighty among the Jews, were almost univerfally combined against him; the most oppofite parties, the Pharifees and the Sadducees, united their endeavours to difcre

dit his doctrine and miffion: he was condemned by the fupreme council of the nation as an impoftor and blafphemer; nay, the whole body of the people difowned him in the most public and contemptuous manner before Pontius Pilate the Roman governor, crying out as with one voice," Away "with him, away with him! crucify him, crucify him!" Thus was he defpifed and rejected of men, in the days of his humiliation, to which the prophet more immediately refers.

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But as the Jews are not the only people chargeable with this crime; as Chrift hath been, and still is, defpifed and rejected by many, even by many of those who were baptized into his church, and are called by his name; we may be allowed to confider the prediction in my text, as reaching beyond the time of our Saviour's abode on this earth, and looking forward to all that injurious contempt, which, in after ages, fhould be caft upon the bleffed Jefus, by pretended friends, as well as by open and profeffed enemies.

In this large extent I fhall at prefent take

the

the liberty to difcourfe upon these words. And my defign is,-firft, To fhow in what refpects it may ftill be faid that men defpife and reject the Saviour; and, fecondly, To inquire whence it is that they do this?— After which, I fhall lay before you the heinous nature of their guilt; and direct you to the proper improvement of the whole.

I BEGIN with fhowing in what refpects it may still be faid that Chrift is defpifed and rejected of men.

That

True it is, that his glorious perfon is no more expofed to the outrage of men. body which was " fcourged,"

buffeted,"

fpit upon," and "crucified," is far beyond the reach of any fuch abusive treatment. He is now exalted to his Father's right hand; where he is adored and worfhipped with the most lowly reverence by all the heavenly hoft. But yet there are fome other, and no lefs criminal, refpects, in which he is still despised and rejected of many. I fpeak not here of thofe baptized infidels, who openly "deny the Lord

"that