SERMON II. 1 PETER ii. 16. AS FREE, and not using your LIBERTY as a Cloak of Maliciousness; but as the Servants of God. LIBERTY, evangelical and social! Jewel of inestimable price! Thou Blessing, of all Blessings the first! Wooed and courted by many; won and wedded by few! Ever near us; yet often at a distance fancied! Through all the modes of faith, by the Saint pursued; and in every frame of government, by the Patriot sought! O thou celestial Good-or rather Thou who art the Author of all Good, terrestrial and celestial-Supreme Architect of the Universe; who, by our great and Spiritual Master, thy Son, has taught us the true Way of Liberty-the Way of being free and accepted through Him! May I now be enlightened and enlivened by a ray from Thee, while I endeavour to shew, that the doctrine delivered in my text for the enjoyment and exercise of Liberty, among Christians in general, is what the members of this Ancient Society (by whose appointment I appear in this place) have bound themselves by the strongest obligations to follow, in the several relations they sustain, viz. First, in all their Meetings and Communications with each other. Secondly, in Society at large; and Thirdly, in Private life; as individuals glowing with the love of their species; and seeking to promote their happiness, as far as opportunities can reach, or the wide wish of Benevolence extend. Upon these three grand Pillars, founded on the adamantine rock of Eternal Truth, we profess to support the fabric of our Labours; convinced that other foundation than what the great Master-Builder hath laid, can no man lay. Did we presume to depart from this, or propose to cultivate a science, which hath any thing less for its object than the contemplation and imitation of that everlasting Order, Harmony and Proportion which ("in Measure, Number and Weight") He hath established through all his works; I should consider our foundations as laid in the sand, and our superstructures raised of stubble. Whatever Curiosity might have at first prompted me to pry into the secrets of this science, the most solemn obligations could not have engaged my adherence to it, when found repugnant to antecedent obligations, which are indispensible, and therefore more solemn. These were my early declarations. Many years have since rolled over my head. That seriousness, which I ever wished to maintain, on graveand serious occasions, is now (through various trials and vicissitudes, public and private) become habitual to me. I * Sermon preached on St. John Baptist's Day, 1755. would not, therefore, upon this occasion, or in this sacred place, rise up to indulge the wanton sport of imagination: but my hope is that, in discharge of the present duty assigned me by the brotherhood, I may be in some degree instrumental, among all who honour us with their attendance, in that best office of a Christian minister-the rendering God more feared and more adored, and mankind more happy and more in love with each other. I proceed, then, to apply the apostle's doctrine to my first head of discourse; and, for that end, it is necessary to recite some preceding parts of his sublime Charge. 66 up a Wherefore, says he, laying aside all malice, and "all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil"speaking" be ye as "living stones, built "spiritual house-as free, and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of "God." For the better understanding these words, it must be observed that, as in our modern times, so likewise, from the first stages of the Gospel, its true purpose, respecting liberty both spiritual and temporal, hath been misunderstood, or misinterpreted by many. From the power of Bigotry, the strength of Prejudice, a strange meanness and unhallowed frame of mind; some, who were first called into evangelic freedom, had still, rooted in their temper, a beggarly hankering after the old abrogated rites and customs, both Jewish and Pagan. Astonished at this, St. Paul, with his usual fervour of eloquence, cries out-" O foolish Galatians! "who hath bewitched you?-After having known God, or rather are known of Him, how turn ye "back to the weak and beggarly Elements, where"with ye desire again to be united?"-Quit this folly-be persuaded to "stand fast in the liberty, "wherewith Christ has made us free; and be not "entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Others there were, and still are, in the contrary extreme; so hardly do men ever square their conduct by the golden rule, recommended in the text. Such were many of the early Jewish converts. The new Law of Christ, which promised them liberty from the ancient spiritual bondage, they interpreted into a scheme of such unbounded licentiousness, as dissolved all obligations even of their own moral law; which, he expressly told them, he "came not to destroy but to fulfil." Affecting to consider themselves as the peculiar favourites of God, and under his sole government, they sought an exemption from the authorities of this world, and were for trampling under foot the powers ordained, or permitted, by him. Thus, forgetting the spirit of the Gospel, and blown up with the pride of their own spirit; they treated with contempt all whom they considered as unbelievers, or less righteous than themselves. In private life, they thought that their superior professions of sanctity and furious zeal would atone for all sorts of "Malice, Guile, Hypocrisy, Envies and "Evil speaking;" and, in public life, would justify Seditions, Murders and the Destruction of their Brethren Miserable infatuation! as if the God of all Love and Goodness could be served, by extirpating from our hearts, not only those native dictates of Humanity which were implanted to give us some degree of happiness in this world; but those nobler lessons of Christian charity, which are our best preparation for the unbounded happiness of the world to come! The apostle, in my text, contends earnestly against this sad mistake; teaching that it leads not to the use, but deplorable abuse, of true Liberty; making it a covering for every wicked purpose, and enslaving us more and more to those infernal passions, from which our Divine Master came to set us free. To the like purpose are we taught by another great and wise master." Six things," says Solomon, "doth the Lord hate; yea seven are an abomination to Him," viz. First-A proud Look. Second-A lying Tongue. Third-Hands that shed innocent Blood. Fifth-Feet that be swift in running to Mischief. These seven abominations of Solomon, comprehended also by St. Peter under the general term Maliciousness, must ever be peculiarly hateful to us, as a society of friends; linked together by a strong tie of brotherly love, as well as by every other tie of Religion and Law, for the advancement of true |