owns the Charge, and fays, The whole need no Phyfician, Mat. 9. 12. but they that are fick; which wou'd have been an improper Anfwer, if he thought that All ftood in Need of him, and his spiritual Physick. am not come to call the righteous, but Sinners to Repentance; Ib. Ver. 13. and that There's more Joy in Heaven for one Sinner that repents, than ninety nine juft Persons that need no Repentance. Which is dividing Mankind into two Parts, the whole or righteous, and the fick or Sinners; and that his Business was intirely with the latter. The not observing this Distinction has been the Occasion of many uncharitable and gross Mistakes ; and 'tis fomewhat ftrange, that Jefus, who beft knew how far his Commiffion extended, fhou'd not be credited in this Matter; efpecially confidering that in Religion there are no Noftrums, or Secrets, but all may know what God requires of all; and there is but one univerfal Remedy for all fick Perfons, Repentance and Amendment. And if God, who is no Refpecter of Perfons, will judge the World in Righteousness; and they that in every Nation fear him, and work Righteousness shall be accepted of him; they, certainly, are whole, and need no Physician, who do of themselves what will make them acceptable to him; living as thofe whom Chrift came to reform were taught to live: Is it not abfurd to suppose, that till then none had fufficient Means given them to answer the End for which all were created ? §. 5. p. 272. THE Catholick Epistle of St. Barnabas will inform you of the Sentiments of the Ancients on this Head. This great Apoftle (as tranflated by Dr. Wake) fays, "That Jefus, when Wake's Tranfl. "he chose his Apostles, which were afterwards to publish "his Gospel, took Men who had been very great Sinners; "that thereby he might plainly, fhew, that He came not to call Mat 9.13. Celfum. 1 1. the righteous, but Sinners to Repentance. The Words are fuller in the Original, ὄντας ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνομω τέρας. B. THIS may be a forg'd Paffage. A. Origen owns it to be genuine, for when Celfus (I will Origen cont. give you his Words in the Latin Translation ) says, Jesum afcitis decem undecimve famofis hominibus, publicanis nautifque nequiffimis, cum his ultro citróque fugitâffe, corrogantem cibos Ib. p. 49. Jordidè ac turpiter. Origen Jays, Extat fane in Barnabæ Catholica Epistola fcriptum, Jefum ad Apoftolicam functionem elegiffe homines omni iniquitate iniquiores. And it may be faid in Support of St. Barnabas, that the Apostles first became Jefus's Difciples upon temporal Motives; and the Belief of Christ's temporal Kingdom was fo firmly rooted in them, that Jefus neither during his Life, nor even after his Resurrection was able to remove it. At the laft Supper there Luke 23, 24. Was a Strife amongft them, Who should be accounted the greateft?" The meanest (as Bishop Parker expreffes it) hoped at least to have been made Lord Mayor of Caper " naum. And even at his Afcention the only Question his A&s 1. 6. Disciples ask'd was, Lord, wilt thou at this Time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? BUT to take away all Subterfuges, what can be more requir'd than those Qualifications as will make Jefus in the last Day declare, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Beginning of the World? And what are thofe Qualifications, but living up to the Law of Reason, in exercifing Acts of Benevolence, Goodnefs, &c. That this was the Unum neceffarium is plain from his Answer, Depart from me ye that work Iniquity, made to those who had omitted thefe Things, tho' they Mat. 7. 22, pleaded, They had prophefy'd in his Name, and in his Name 23. caft caft out Devils, and done many wonderful Works. St. Paul in the first Chapter to the Romans is very large, in fhewing that the Gentiles cou'd not plead Ignorance of their Duty, either to God or Man, and as finning against Knowledge were inexcusable; and persuing the same Subject in the second, he says, that God who is no Respecter of Persons will deal with every One both Jew and Gentile according to their Deeds; and those by which they are to be judg'd are either moral or immoral; and had there been any Thing else requir'd by the written Law, it cou'd not be faid that the Gentiles, who were not ignorant of their Duty either to God or Man, did by Nature the Things contained in the Law. AND does not St. Paul, in another Place, put our future State on the fame Foot, in fuppofing we shall be dealt with at the last Day according to what we have done in the Body, 2 Cor. 5. 10. whether good or bad. In fhort, if the Tree is to be known by its Fruit, and it brings forth good Fruit, the Means by which this good Fruit is produc'd are not material; but if it does not, no Means whatever can hinder it from being hewn down, and caft into the Fire. "The grand deciding Mat. 7 19. "Question (Jays Dr. South) at the laft Day will be, not "what you have faid, or what you have believ'd; but what " you have done more than others. God is pleas'd to vouch-1b p. 1726 "fafe the best he can give, only to the best we can do. But to go to the Bottom of this Matter, " FAITH Confider'd in itself can neither be a Virtue, or a Vice; because Men can no otherwise believe than as Things appear to them: Nay, can there be an higher Affront to God than to fuppofe, he requires Men to judge otherwise than the Faculties he has given them enable them to do? Or what can be more abfurd than to imagine, that God will fhew his Favour to one for believing what he could H 2 not Serm. Vol. 3. P. 174. 40. not but believe; and his Difpleafure to another for not believing, what he could not believe; and therefore Faith is only to be efteem'd by the Works it produces; for the strongest Faith may be worse than no Faith at all. The Devils themselves, who are held the moft wicked Beings in the Universe) believe, and tremble. Happy had it been for Christendom, if Zeal for, what the prevailing Parties call'd, The Orthodox Faith, had made none but themselves to tremble. : Dr. Whitby expreffes himself very accurately on this Whitby's Laft Point, " Belief, or Disbelief can neither be a Virtue, or Thoughts. P. a Crime in any One, who uses the best Means in his "Power of being inform'd. If a Propofition is evident, "we cannot avoid believing it; and where is the Merit "or Piety of a neceffary Affent? If it is not evident, we "cannot help rejecting it, or doubting of it: And where "is the Crime of not performing Impoffibilities, or not I Cor. 13. believing what does not appear to us to be true?" What worse Opinion can we have of the divine Goodness, than to imagine a mean Denial of our Reason, or a wretched Affectation of believing any Point too hard for our Understanding, can entitle us to the Favour of God. IF Charity, which comprehends doing all poffible Good to our Fellow-Creature, is to be. deftroy'd for the fake of Faith; or if Incapacities, Fines, Imprisonments, Rods, Gibbets, Racks, and Fire, are Marks of Charity, the Christian World has outdone all Mankind in Acts of Charity; but the Description St. Paul gives of Charity, is fo far from requiring us to make others suffer, that Itself juffers long, feeks not her own, bears all Things, endures all Things; and ftrictly enjoins us fo to do. HERE Col. 3. 14. HERE is the Practice of the Chriftian World on the Side of Faith, facrificing Charity, and all that's valuable to it; and on the other Side, Christ and his Apostles preferring Charity before it. St. Paul, fpeaking of himself, fays, Tho' I have the Gift of Prophesy, and understand all Myfteries,, Cor. 13. and all Knowledge; And tho' I have all Faith, and could remove Mountains, and have no Charity, I am nothing: Or tho' I give my Body to be burnt (which fhews the highest Act of Faith) and have not Charity, it profiteth nothing. And in another Place he says,. Above all Things put on Charity, which is the Bond of Perfectness. And again, The End 1 Tim. 1. 5. of the Commandment is Charity; and Love is the Fulfilling of Rom. 13.10. the Law. And, If any provide not for his own, especially 1 Tim. 5. 8. thofe of his own House (which is but one Species of Charity) he has denied the Faith, and is worse than an Infidel. And St. Peter likewise speaks as highly of it in saying, Above 1 Pet. 4. 8. all Things have fervent Charity among yourfelves, for Charity fhall cover a Multitude of Sins; which can't be faid of Faith, because That without Charity profiteth nothing; in not answering the End for which it was given. And St. James calls Love the Royal Law. And St. John fays, If James 2. 8. any Man fays I love God, and hateth his Brother, he is a Liar, 1 John 4.20. And is not he likewise a Liar, who fhews all the Marks of . . Hatred to his Brother, and yet pretends to love him, and makes those very Marks an Argument of his Love. In Je-Gal. 5. 6. fus Chrift, fays the Apostle Paul, neither Circumcifion, nor Uncircumcifion availeth any Thing, but Faith which worketh by Love. For all the Law is fulfilled in one Word, even Ver. 14. And in this, Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy felf. Chrift, in faying, By this fhall all Men know ye are my Dif-John 13. 35 ciples, if ye love one another, fuppofes Mens loving one another fo effential to Christianity, as by that Token alone all |