vour, yet he drags his Chain along with SERM. him, and is fo far reftrained by God's XI. Grace and Power, that he cannot hurt us without his Permiffion, and unless we, ourselves, contribute to our own Ruin : But if we are careless and negligent, if we fleep, when we should ftand upon our Guard, it is no Wonder, if the evil One fows his Tares in our Souls, and prevails

over us.

WHEREFORE let me befeech you, as you love the eternal Salvation of your Souls, to be fober and vigilant, to stand upon your Guard, to refift the Devil, and he will flee from you, and to think no Pains and Labour too much, forafmuch as ye know that your Labour shall not be vain in the Lord.

SERMON XII.

Of Self-Denial, and Taking up the
Crofs.

SERM.

XII.

LUKE ix. 23.

And he faid to them all, If any Man will come after me, let him deny bimself, and take up his Cross daily and follow me.

S

O great were the Prejudices both of the Jews and Gentiles, against the Gofpel of our Saviour Chrift; fo dull were their Understandings, and fo hard were their Hearts, that it was with very great Difficulty they comprehended and closed with the Truths delivered by him; and therefore our Saviour did not, all at once, difcover to them the Contents of his Meffage, and the Extent of his Commiffion; he did not prefently

display

display his Beams, or fuffer that Light SERM.
which he brought into the World to fhine XII.
out with its moft glorious Rays, and
brightest Luftre; this had not been to in-
lighten the World, but to dazzle their
Eyes, and wholly to render their Faculties
ufelefs; for the Blindness of the Under-
ftanding may as well be caufed by the Ex-
cellency of the Object, as by the Obscurity
of it; and, therefore, he did not publish
the great Wonders of his Gofpel, those
Things which were with most Difficulty
believed and practifed, till he had by
Degrees purged their Minds, and prepared
and rendered them difpofed to receive
them. And this Courfe he took, not
only with his ordinary Hearers, and the
obftinate Scribes and Pharifees, but with
his Apostles themselves: For he gave
them Line upon Line, and Precept upon
Precept, here a little and there a little,
and difcovered his Truths unto them, in
Proportion to their Ability to bear them;
he took every Opportunity to instruct
them, and to remove their Prejudices: In
his Life-time, he taught them the chief
and fundamental Points of his Doctrine
but it was not, till after his Resurrection,
that they were fully and perfectly inftruct
ed in that Way.

AND

SERM. AND therefore, in the eighteenth Verfe XII. of this Chapter, we find him catechifing and instructing his Difciples; for, being alone with them, he asked them, Whom Jay the People that I am? To whom they answer, that the general Opinion was, either that Ver. 19. he was John the Baptift, or Elias, or one of the old Prophets, according to the common and received Opinion of the Tranfmigration of Souls, viz. that the Souls of good Men were not presently inftated in Blifs and Happiness, but paffed from one Body to another. This Queftion gave Ver. 20. Occafion to another, But whom fay ye that I am? Peter answers, in the Name of all the reft, that they believed, that he was the Chrift of God, i. e. that Meffias who was foretold by the Prophets, whom at that Time they fo earnestly expected. Our Saviour applauds his Anfwer, and bleffes him for it, as we find in a parallel Place, though it is not fet down in this Chapter : Mat. xvi. Bleed art thou Simon Barjona, for Flesh

17.

and Blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven: As if he had faid, Thou haft made a right Ufe of those Wonders and Miracles which thou haft feen me perform; whereby, as with the Finger of God, the true Meffiah is pointed out to thee. Our Saviour find

ing his Difciples well inftructed as to this SERM. fundamental Article, that he was the Mef- XII. fiah, the Son of God; he first strictly commands them, not to publish this Truth to the World, till he was rifen from the Dead: And he ftraightly charged them, and Ver. 21. commanded them, to tell no Man that Thing ; Jaying, that the Son of Man must fuffer Ver. 22. many Things, and be rejected of the Elders, and chief Priefs, and Scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third Day. And the Reafon why he would not have this published, before his Resurrection, seems to be, becaufe his Resurrection from the Dead was to be that fignal and inimitable Miracle, upon the Testimony of which, the Truth of his Doctrine was to be founded.

HAVING laid this Charge upon them, he proceeds to inform them concerning the Nature of that Deliverance they were to receive by the Meffiah, and to free them from that Prejudice they laboured under, as well as the reft of the Jews, that the Meffiah was to be a temporal Saviour, and to deliver them from the Slavery and Yoke of the Romans, as Mofes formerly did from the Egyptian Bondage, by acquainting them, that he was to be rejected and put to Death. This was fo unwelcome Doctrine, fo contrary to