happy a thing it is to escape the common prejudices which men are apt to entertain against religion : "Blessed is he whosover shall not be offended in Me." And this will appear if we consider these three or four things:

(First), That prejudice does many times sway and bias men against the plainest and clearest truths. We see, in daily experience, what a false bias prejudice puts upon men's understandings. Men that are educated in the grossest errors and superstitions, how hard it is to convince them that they are in the wrong way! And with what difficulty are they persuaded of their mistake! Nay, they have hardly the patience to be told they are in an error, much less to consider what may be offered against it. How do the passions and lusts of men blind them and lead them aside from the truth, and incline them to that side of the question which is most favourable to their lusts and interests! How partially do men lean to that part which makes most for their advantage, though all the reason in the world lie on the other side!

Now, ignorance and mistake are a great slavery of the understanding, if there were no worse consequences of our errors and therefore our Saviour says excellently, that the truth makes men free: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

(Secondly), Prejudice does not only bias men against the plainest truths, but in matters of greatest concernment, in things that concern the honour of God, and the good of others, and our own welfare and happiness. Prejudices against religion. occasion mistakes of the highest nature, and may lead men to superstition and idolatry, and to all manner of impiety, nay, many times to atheism and infidelity. The prejudices against the doctrine of our Saviour are of another concernment than the prejudices which men have against the writers of natural philosophy or eloquence, or any other human art or science. If a man's prejudice make him err in these matters, the thing is of no great moment; but the business of religion is a matter of the greatest and weightiest concernment to mankind.

(Thirdly), The consequences of men's prejudices in these things prove many times fatal and destructive to them. Men may, upon unreasonable prejudices," reject the counsel of God against themselves," as it is said of the chief priests and Pharisees among the Jews. Men may oppose the truth so obstinately and perversely, as to be fighters against God, and to bring certain ruin and swift destruction upon themselves, both in this world and the other, as the Jews did; who, by opposing the doctrine of the Gospel, and persecuting our Saviour and His disciples, "filled up the measure of their sins, till wrath came upon them to the uttermost." It is easy to entertain prejudices against religion, and, by considering only the wrong side of things, to fortify our prejudices to such a degree, and entrench ourselves so strongly in our errors, that the plainest and most convincing truths shall not be able to have any access to us, or make any impression upon us; but all this while we do in truth undermine our own happiness, and are secretly working our own ruin; and while we think we are opposing an enemy, we are destroying ourselves; " for who hath hardened himself against God," and His truth," and prospered ?" The principles of religion are a firm and immoveable rock, against which the more violently we dash ourselves, the more miserably we shall be split and shattered. Our blessed Saviour and His religion have been to many, and are to this day, "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence;" but He Himself hath told us what shall be the fate of those who are offended at Him: "Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but upon whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder." And, therefore, well might He say here in the text, Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me."

(Fourthly), There are but few, in comparison, who have the happiness to escape and overcome the common prejudices which men are apt to entertain against religion. Thus, to be sure, it was when Christianity first appeared in the world: and though among us the great prejudice of education be removed, yet there are still many, who, upon one account or other, are prejudiced against religion, at least so far as not to yield to the power of it in their lives. Few men are so impartial in considering things, as not to be swayed by the interest of

their lusts and passions, as to keep the balance of their judgments even, and to suffer nothing but truth and reason to weigh with them. We generally pretend to be "pilgrims and strangers in the world," and to be all travelling towards heaven: but few of us have the indifferency of travellers, who are not concerned to find out the fairest and the easiest way, but to know which is the right way and to go in it. Thus it should be with us, our end should always be in our eye, and we should choose our way only with respect to that; not considering our inclination so much as our desigu, nor choosing those principles for the government of our lives which are most agreeable to our present desires, but those which will most certainly bring us to happiness at the last; and that I am sure the principles of the Christian religion, firmly believed and practised by us, will do.

Let us then be persuaded, by all that hath been said upon this argument, to a firm belief of the Christian doctrine. I hope you are, in some measure, satisfied, that the objections against it are not such as ought much to move a wise and considerate man. If we believe that God hath taken so much care of mankind as to make any certain revelation of His will to them, and of the way to eternal happiness; let us next consider, whether any religion in the world can come in competition with the Christian, and with half that reason pretend to be from God, that Christianity is able to produce for itself, whether we consider the things to be believed, or the duties to be practised, or the motives and arguments to the practice of those duties, or the Divine confirmation that is given to the whole. And if we be thus persuaded concerning it, let us resolve to live up to the laws and rules of this holy religion. Our belief of it signifies nothing, without the fruits and effects of a good life. And if this were once resolved upon, the difficulty of believing would cease; for the true reason why men are unwilling to believe the truths of the Gospel, is because they are loath to put them in practice. "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light." The true ground of most men's prejudice against the Christian doctrine is, because they have no mind to obey it; and when all is done, the great objection that lies at the bottom of men's minds against it, is, that it is an enemy to their lusts, and they cannot profess to believe it without condemning themselves, for not complying with it in their lives and practice.

JESUS THE SON OF GOD PROVED BY

HIS RESURRECTION.

And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.—Rom. i. 4.

ST. PAUL, in the beginning of this Epistle (according to his custom in the rest) styles himself an apostle, particularly called and set apart by God for the preaching of the Gospel; the main subject whereof was "Jesus Christ our Lord," who, as He was, according to His Divine nature, "the eternal Son of God;" so, according to His human nature, He was not only the Son of man, but also the Son of God. "According to the flesh (that is, the weakness, and frailty, and mortality of his human nature) He was the Son of David;" that is, of His posterity by His mother, who was of that house and line. Made of the seed of David, according to the flesh" (ver. 8). But "according to the Spirit of holiness" (that is, in regard of that Divine power of the Holy Ghost, which was manifest in Him, especially in His resurrection from the dead) He was demonstrated to be the Son of God; even according to His human nature; "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

All the difficulty in the words is concerning the meaning of this phrase; of Christ's being " declared to be the Son of God." The word is optolévτos, which most frequently in Scripture does signify, predestinated, decreed, determined; but likewise sig. nifies, that which is defined, declared, demonstrated, put out of all doubt and controversy :-and in this sense our translation

renders it. As if the apostle had said, that our Lord Jesus Christ, though, according to the frailty and weakness of His human nature, He was of the seed of David; yet, in respect of that Divine power of the Holy Ghost, which manifested itself in Him, especially in His resurrection from the dead, He was "declared to be the Son of God, with power;" that is, mightily, powerfully demonstrated to be so; so as to put the matter out of all dispute and controversy.

And, therefore, following our own translation, I shall handle the words in this sense, as containing this proposition in them; -that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, by the Holy Ghost, is a powerful demonstration that He was the Son of God. And it will conduce very much to the clearing of this proposition to consider these two things:

(First), Upon what account Christ, as man, is said to be " the Son of God."

(Secondly), In what sense He is said to be "declared to be the Son of God" by His resurrection from the dead. The consideration of these two particulars will fully clear this proposition, and the apostle's meaning in it.

(First), Upon what account Christ, as a man, is said to be "the Son of God." And for our right apprehension of this matter, it is very well worthy our observation, that Christ, as man, is nowhere in Scripture said to be "the Son of God," but with relation to the Divine power of the Holy Ghost, some way or other eminently manifested in Him; I say the Divine power of the Holy Ghost, as the Lord and Giver of life, as He is called in the ancient creeds of the Christian Church. For as men are naturally said to be the children of those from whom they receive their life and being; so Christ, as man, is said to be the Son of God, because He had life communicated to Him from the Father, by an immediate power of the Spirit of God, or the Holy Ghost. First, at His conception, which was by the Holy Ghost: the conception of our blessed Saviour was an immediate act of the power of the Holy Ghost, overshadowing, as the Scripture expresses it, the blessed mother of our Lord: and then at His resurrection,