SPRM. the Garb and Habit, but even the Graces XVIII. of true Prophets, there can be no Way

of diftinguishing them by it, unless we take in the following Words for our Direction, in which our Saviour has laid down a plain and fignal Mark, to know them by, and to discover to whom this Character doth of Right belong :

3. YE fhall know them by their Fruits. Our Saviour doth not affix this Character upon any Church, Sect, or Party of Men; he doth not confine it to any one Sort of People; neither doth he take this Mark of Diftinction from their Profeffion, but from their Practices, ye shall know them by their Fruits, i. e. ye fhall know the Men by their Lives and Conversations, and ye fhall judge of the Truth of their Doctrines, by confidering what are their genuine Effects, and what is the Tendency of them; whether to make Men temperate, and just, and peaceable, and holy; or debauched, difhoneft, turbulent, and prophane.

(1.) YE fhall know the Men by their Lives and Converfations; it is God alone can judge of the Heart, Man must judge by the outward Appearance; and there, fore let Men make never fo fair Pretences to Holinefs and Purity, let them pro

fefs

fefs themselves Members of the true Ca- SERM. tholic Church; or of any particular Con- XVIII. gregation of Chriftians, though never fo exactly reformed; let them faft never fo often, or pray never fo fervently; yet if they are proud, contentious, envious, and malicious; if they do not live foberly, quietly, and juftlys they are but Hypocrites and Diffemblers, they have only the Form, but not the Power of Godliness; but now because wicked Men may teach wholfome Doctrine, and Hypocrites peak and profess well: Since Balaam, though a wicked Man, was a Prophet of the Lord, and the Scribes and Pharifees (against whom our Saviour pronounced fo many Woes) yet fat in Mofes's Chair, and the Jews were commanded to hearken unto them Therefore,

(2.) WE muft confider the Fruits of Men's Doctrines, i.e. we must confider what is the Design and Tendency of the Doctrines which they teach; for we have good Reason to fufpect all thofe Opinions, and that those Men who teach them are false Prophets, which tend to the Palliating Men's Vices, Disturbing the Peace of Kingdoms, the Encouragement of Looseness and Debauchery, and the Taking Men's Minds off from all that is grave and ferious; which E e 2

aim

SERM. aim mainly and principally to promote the XVIII. Grandeur and Power of their Profeffors in this World, and allow of any unjust Means whatsoever, for the Attainment of this End. This is that pretended Religion, which cometh not from Above, but is earthly, fenfual, devilish. On the Contrary, thofe Articles of Faith which tend to promote Holinefs of Life, Devotion towards God, brotherly Love and Charity towards our Neighbour, Temperance and Sobriety in the Government of ourselves, and a peaceable Demeanour towards thofe who are set over us, either in Church or State, are true and genuine. The Wif dom that is from Above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of Mercy and good Fruits, without Partiality, and without Hypocrify; and it was to this Teft that our Saviour himfelf fubmitted his Doctrines and Miracles; for when the Jews, blafpheming, faid, that he caft out Devils by the Power of Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils, he tells them, that the Holinefs of his Doctrine was a fufficient Confutation of their Objection, and evidently proved it came down from Heaven, for a Kingdom divided against itself cannot ftand, i. e. fince the End and Defign of the Doctrines of Chri

stianity

tianity was to beat down the Power of SE RM. the Devil, to caft off his Yoke, to with- XVIII. draw Men from the Slavery of Sin, and to advance a holy and deyout Way of Living; therefore there was no Probability that the Devil, that wicked and impure Spirit, fhould aid, affift, or contribute to propagate or confirm it; for this would be to combine against himself, and to destroy that Power and Authority which he so diligently endeavours to establish in the Hearts of Men. But, that we may the more easily discover these falfe Prophets by their Doctrines, I fhall endeavour to find them out by the evil Fruits which they produce, the chief of which are these :

I. INTRODUCING difhonourable Notions of God.

2. CORRUPTING Morality.

3. EMBROILING Civil Government.

1. INTRODUCING difhonourable Notions of God. There are fome who defcribe God to be an inflexible, cruel, and arbitrary Being; whofe Will is the fole Foundation of his Laws, and into which the Reason of them is to be refolved; who enjoins us fuch Things as are impoffible for us to perform, and then punishes us for Ee 3

not

SERM. not performing them; who takes Delight XVIII. in the Mifery of his poor Creatures, and

has created the Generality of Mankind onPurpose to torment them to all Eternity. These are the natural Confequences of fome Men's Theology; who tell us that God has fore-ordained fome Men to eternalHappinefs, others to eternal Mifery, by an abfolute Decree, without any Respect to their good or evil Deeds; and that, if we are defigned for Damnation, all our Endeavours for the Reformation of our Lives will be ineffectual, our Hands being bound with the adamantine Chain of an invincible Neceffity; and that it is to no Purpose to work out our Salvation, though with Fear and Trembling: But, on the other Hand, if we are of the Number of God's Elect, we fhall be hurried on by a Divine and irrefiftible Impulse; and, inftead of taking Heaven by Force, be faved even against our Wills. Thus they describe to us a Moloch, instead of a Being of infinite Goodness and Justice; they dishearten the Sinner from ufing any Endeavours to free himself from his vicious Habits, and imprint in Men's Minds a dreadful and fupertitious Idea of God, instead of an awful and filial Fear,

BUT