SERMON III.

MATT. xviii. 7.

Wo unto the World, because of Offences; for it must needs be that Offences come: but wo to that Man, by whom the Offence cometh.

N

O confiderate Man can need any other Proof of the great Principles of our holy Religion, viz. the Fall and Corruption of Man, and the Neceffity of our Redemption, than what Experience and the too common Occurrences of Life perpetually give him. Frauds, Perjuries, Murders, Superftitions, Idolatries, and fuch like, can never be the Product of right Reason, or the Work of unerring Wisdom and infinite Goodnefs. These, and the whole numberlefs Train of Iniquities with which the World abounds, can only proceed from the abufed Powers of free Agents; from perverting the best Faculties to the worst Purposes; from a depraved Judgment, a perverfe Will, or boisterous and unruly Paffions. Wherever thefe prevail, ErD 3

ror

ror and Wickedness must be the Confequence; the fubmitting to their Guidance is neglecting our true Conductor, and fubmitting to the Government of ignorant and corrupted Pilots, who will infallibly drive us on fuch Rocks and Quickfands, as must prove our inevitable Destruction. But nevertheless, that Mankind in general do fubmit to be fo guided, is a Fact too plain to be denied. And that Submiffion fhews both the Guilt of their Actions, and the moral Neceffity they lye under, when fo govern'd and directed, of filling the Earth with Sin and Misery. And from hence arises both that Neceffity and that Denunciation which we find mentioned in the Text: Wo unto the World because of Offences; it must needs be that Offences come: but wo unto that Man by whom the Offence cometh. In fpeaking to which Words I fhall,

I. State the Scripture Notion of offending,
or giving Offence.

II. Shew that fuch Offences, however un-
avoidable, are yet juftly chargeable with
Guilt, and will certainly expofe Men to
the Wo here denounced: Wo unto the
World because of Offences; it must needs
be that Offences come.
III. Shew it to be very confiftent with the
divine Goodness to permit thofe Offences,
and eafily reconcileable with the divine
Juftice to punish the Authors of them:

Wo unto that Man by whom the Offence cometh.

This may ferve to explain the Nature of the Duty of not giving Offence; may remove fome feeming Difficulties concerning the Dif penfations of Providence; and may confirm us in this useful and important Leffon, that wife and just in every View are the Ways of God; prefumptuous, obftinate, and daring, the Wickednefs of Man; and that as the Load of every Man's perfonal Offences will be alone too heavy for him to bear, he ought to ufe more than ordinary Circumfpection to avoid the complicated Guilt of contributing to the Vices of others, and thereby making himself Partaker of other Men's Sins.

I. As to the Scripture Notion of offending, or giving Offence. The Word Scandals, or Offences, fignifies either Sins or Sinners in general; or fome particular Crimes of a more heinous Nature, fuch as Herefy; or else barely the Occafions or Temptations to Sin, which are either innocently or wickedly thrown in our Way. When our bleffed Lord, explaining the Parable of the Tares to his Difciples, fays, (Matt. xiii. 40, 41.) That as the Tares are gathered and burnt in the Fire, fo it fhall be in the End of the World; the Son fhall fend forth his Angels, and gather out of his Kingdom all Scandals, or, as we render it, all D4

Things

Things that offend. The Word Scandals plainly imports all Wickedness, or wicked Men in general, and is fynonymous to the following general Expreffion, and them which do Iniquity.

When St. Paul befeeches the Romans (xvi. 17.) to mark them which caufe Divifions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which they bad learned, and avoid them, it is evident, that Offences there must mean Herefies, as being the only Offences contrary to the Doctrine of the Gofpel, in those that embrace it.

When Christ crucified is by St. Paul (1 Cor.i. 23.) faid to be unto the Jews a Stumblingblock, (σxávdarov) or Offence; and by St. Peter (1 Pet. ii. 7.) a Stone of Stumbling, and a Rock of Offence to them which stumble at the Word, being difobedient; and when St. Paul fays, that if he preached Circumcifion he should avoid Perfecution, and thereby the Offence of the Cross would ceafe: In thefe Paffages, 'tis plain, Offences can fignify no more than barely the Occafions, or accidental, and, if I may fo fpeak, innocent Temptations to Sin. Such things as are excellent in themselves, but are nevertheless rejected or abused by wicked Men ; fuch as have no natural Tendency to produce Evil, and yet become in fome Senfe the Occafions of it, as their native Worth and inherent Goodness both display the Weakness and increase the Guilt of thofe who neglect or pervert them. In this Senfe only could the

Gofpel