here opposed to other particular Crimes, are chiefly meant, either those Sins to which Men could not well have had any Temptation originally but from him, or which are particularly afcribed to him in the Sacred Writings. -Such as all kinds of Idolatry, Witchcraft, Magick; all Recourse to those who pretend, how falfely foever, to have Communications with him; all Pride, Malice, Hatred, falfe Accufation, and Murder.-And by renouncing him and them is meant, our living in conftant Oppofition to, Defiance of, and Enmity with him; our being conftantly on our Guard against his Temptations to thefe or the like Crimes; and our making it the Business of our Lives to avoid falling into them.-Upon which account our Chriftian Profeffion is frequently called by the Sacred Writers a continual Warfare, as being a perpetual Contention with these Principalities and Powers, the Rulers of the Darkness of this World.

By the Pomps of the World were anciently meant those Shews and Solemnities which the Heathens used in their idolatrous Worship; but by these Pomps and Vanities are now chiefly to be understood thofe glittering, but empty Enjoyments in Life, which are most apt to enfnare us, and draw us from our Duty; that is, Fame, Honours, Riches, and Power. And by renouncing them is meant, our being fo moderate in the Search, and fo temperate in the Use of them, as neither to Y 4

get

get them by any wicked Means, nor detain them wickedly from thofe who have a Right to them, nor enjoy them in any wicked Manner, nor employ them to any wicked Purposes, nor to fet our Hearts and Affections upon them. We renounce them only fo far as they are finful, which they are not in themselves, but only as they are founded in, or lead to, Injustice, Fraud, Oppreffion, Cruelty, Pride, Covetoufnefs, Worldly-inindedness, or any other Crime; and fo far we are obliged by our baptifmal Vow to avoid them.

The finful Lufts of the Flesh are by the Apoftle declared to be Adultery, Fornication, Lafcivioufness, and fuch like; of which he likewife declares, that they who do fuch Things cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

This then is the Evil which by the baptifmal Vow our Sureties promised in our Names to renounce or avoid; that is, all Sin and Wickedness; and the other two Particulars of that Promife, concerning what we are to believe and to do, will be particularly confidered in their proper Places hereafter; and by proceeding to the next and last Question and Answer which I fhall now confider, it will appear how far we are obliged or bound by their Engagement. - For this Anfwer implies three things:

1. That we are obliged to believe and to do as our Sureties promifed for us,

2. That

2. That we cannot perform this of our felves, it must be by the Help of God's Grace, And,

3. That we ought to be very thankful to the Divine Providence, and to our Sureties, for bringing us into this happy Chriftian State, which is a State of Salvation.

1. This Answer implies, that we are obliged to believe and to do as our Sureties promifed for us.Which Obligation arifes not from their Promises (for strictly speaking, no Perfon's Promise can bind another without his Confent) but from what we ourselves have fince done, and from the Nature of the Things promifed.-At our Confirmations we took the fame Vow and Engagement upon ourselves, which they made for us at our Baptifms; and whenever we have received the Bleffed Sacrament, we have in Effect done the fame thing in the most folemn manner.-And confequently what was before their Acts, was on these Occafions our own; and tho' we be not bound barely by what they did, we must furely be obliged by what we have done ourselves. --Neither are thofe Perfons free from this Obligation, who have not either been confirmed, or Partakers of the Holy Communion; because, as I have obferved, our Obligation to what our Godfathers and Godmothers promised arifes partly, and indeed chiefly, from the Nature of the Things they promised.-Every Man is obliged,

as

as a rational Creature, to avoid every thing that will offend the God who made him, to believe that what that God fays must be true, and to perform whatever he commands.—And this is the whole of what was promised for us at our Baptifm.-And therefore, tho' we are not strictly obliged by the Promises of others to which we did not confent, and tho' we have not ourselves made the fame Promifes fince, yet the Nature of the Things is fuch,

plainly fhews it to be the indifpenfable Duty of every reasonable Creature to his Creator and Lawgiver, who cannot lie; and he must be therefore indifpenfably obliged, by the unalterable Laws of his Nature, to perform them.

2. The fecond thing fhewn by this Answer is, that we cannot perform these things without Affistance; they are only to be done by the Help of God's Grace.-We can do nothing herein our felves, as of ourselves; our Sufficiency must be from God.-It is his Grace alone that can give us Victory in our Chriftian Warfare, and make our Goings acceptable to himself.

And lastly, Another thing here implied likewife, that we can never be too thankful to the Divine Providence and to our Sureties, for bringing us into this Chriftian State, which is a State of Salvation.-For fuch indeed it is, as well with refpect to this Life as a better.The Doctrines of Chrift are the most refresh

ing Springs of Comfort which mortal Men can enjoy in this Vale of Mifery. And an Obedience to his Laws is the fureft Way to make Men eafy and chearful under Afflictions, and temperate and humble in Profperity; that is, as happy as Men in fuch Circumstances can be made in this State of Uncertainty and Imperfection. Happy are the People who are in fuch a Cafe; yea, blessed are they who know the Word of God and keep it.-And from a due Sense of this we ought therefore heartily to thank our heavenly Father, that hath called us to this State of Salvation, both here and hereafter, and daily to pray unto him to give us Grace, that we may continue in the fame unto our Lives End.

LECTURE