hatred, that some profligate wretches presume to wish damnation to their adversaries, and are fond of uttering that shocking curse! This far exceeds the bitter

zeal of the papists: for they pretend to desire the Salvation of the soul, while they rejoice in the destruction of the body. But these unnatural furies pursue their revenge beyond the grave, and carry it even to hell. Deluded fools! is it possible that you should know what damnation means, and wish that your brethren should fall into that accursed state? Have Have you torn

out your bowels, and renounced the mercies of Jesus? Have you forgotten His agony and bloody sweat, his Cross and Passion? "Was it nothing to you that "there was any sorrow like unto His sorrow" for sinful men? Can you desire that it should be of no effect to those immortal souls whom He died to redeem?

Surely you do not consider; for if you considered you must relent; " you know not what manner of spirit

ἐσ

you are of."

But if there is any one that is so far lost to every thing that bears the name of pity, as to wish for the damnation of his enemies, in the full meaning, and importance, of that complication of all evils; let him remember the words of the Psalmist " his delight "was in cursing, and it shall happen unto him: he "loved not blessing, therefore it shall be far from him. "He cloathed himself with cursing, like as with a "raiment and it shall come into his bowels like 66 water, and like oil into his bones."

But let us endeavor to "walk worthy of the voca"tion wherewith we are called, with all lowliness and "meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one an"other in love." Let us forgive "those who with

"out

"out any cause are our enemies," and try to win upon them by repeated offices of kindness and compassion. And whereas, on the one hand, they even boast of their cruelty, and, on the other, falsely, pretend to moderation; let us, constantly, exercise that Christian virtue. Let this be, as it, always, has been, the glory of the Church of England; and let us pray that

66

peace may be within her walls, and plenteousness "within her palaces; and may we all delight to do "her good;" to give support to her by our knowlege, and ornament by our piety!

SERMON

SERMON XXI:

ON THE THIRTIETH OF JANUARY.

BY 12 Ch. 2. c. 30. Every 30th day of January, unless it falls out to be on the Lord's Day, and then the next day following shall for ever be set apart to be kept and observed in all Churches and Chapels; as an anniversary day of fasting and humiliation to implore the mercy of God, that neither the guilt of the sacred and innocent blood of his late Majesty King Charles the first, nor those other sins by which God was provoked to deliver up both us and our king into the hands of cruel and unreasonable men, may at any time be vi sited upon us or our posterity.

Vide Sermon for 5th of November.

MATTHEW XXII. 21.*

Render, therefore, unto Casar, the things that are Cesar's, and unto God, the things that are God's.

HESE words of our Saviour were an answer to

THE

a question insidiously proposed, and a great dis

appointment to the malice that suggested it.

* Dr. St. John.

To

To dispense with the allegiance exacted by the Emperor, was offensive to the Herodian; to declare it in his favor was obnoxious to the Pharisee; and, therefore, the better to entangle Him in his discourse, and draw from Him such an answer as must, inevitably, expose Him to the zeal of the Jew, or the power of the Roman, they industriously send out of each party to consult Him whether it was lawful" to pay tribute unto "Cæsar."

Our Saviour, perceiving the wickedness of their hearts, and therefore, unwilling to entertain them on the subject any longer than was necessary to resolve their doubt, and expose their hypocrisy, contents Himself with referring them to the tribute-money they disputed, and bids them read in the inscription to whom they were to pay it. There Cæsar was acknowleged supreme in the empire, and protector of its commerce; his image and authority had for many years together passed current in their payments, and left them without scruple in their submission to a government so long before attained by conquest, and settled by possession. "Render, therefore, unto Cæsar the things that are "Cæsar's." Some things, it seems, there were, in our Saviour's allowance, belonging unto Cæsar, as well as others unto God. And farther, to let them see that both these obligations, though different in themselves, were yet consistent with each other, He goes on in the next words, and pronounces them inseparable : "and unto God, the things that are God's."

And now, what our Saviour, in the text, hath so solemnly "joined together, let no man," hereafter, presume to "put asunder." The Religion and Loyalty of a Christian are inseparable; the duties we owe to

God

God and his Vice-gerent are of the closest alliance; they are born, and bred, and grow up in us together, and give a natural support and assistance to each other: But then it is dangerous to divide, it is impossible to oppose them without destroying our obedience, and either incurring the guilt of treason against the one, or of apostacy from the other.

That, therefore, we may bring the traitors of this day to an open shame, and, which were more to be desired, their children to repentance, and ourselves, as it becomes us, to a just abhorrence of what those acted with so much wickedness, that only these can defend it with greater, give me leave, in this discourse,

First, to shew how religiously they fulfilled each part of this command; how "they rendered unto Cæsar, the things that were Cæsar's; and unto God, "the things that were God's."

Secondly, to draw a reflection or two from what shall have been said, and humbly represent the use we are to make of it.

And first, of those things we are to render unto Cæsar, the most considerable of all others, because inclusive of the rest, is submission to his authority.

And this, indeed, is no more than what the common laws of nature, and of nations, what the peace and subsistence of society among men, and the very notion of government, requires that we should pay him. For, though many may have disputed about the forms of government, and the original or extent of the power that supports it, yet all men have agreed, that government without power, and power without obedience, are contradictions in themselves, and destructive of the notions we have, naturally, of these things. Religion

goes