Christians are degenerated so far, not only from the precepts of Christ, but even from the pattern set by those first believers; and when there are even among those, who call themselves Christians, some as ready to lay hold of this objection, and to urge it in prejudice of our religion, as any of the most determined heathens, even Porphyry, Celsus, or Julian himself were.

From the words therefore, a proper occasion will be given me to inquire,

I. First, what ground there is for a complaint of the extreme wickedness of men now under the evangelical dispensation.

II. Secondly, allowing the complaint to be just, how little reason there yet would be for turning it to the disadvantage of Christianity itself. And,

III. Thirdly, what are the inferences that may more justly and naturally be deduced from it.

I. First, I am to consider what just ground or colour there may be for a complaint of the exceeding wickedness of men now under the christian dispensation.

And here it may with truth be observed to the advantage of our holy religion, that, as bad as men are under it, they would have yet been worse without it; since upon a just comparison of Christians, even in these later times, with the enemies of the cross of Christ, it will, I am persuaded, be found, that the manners of the one are not quite so corrupt and vicious as those of the other. There may perhaps be some particular Christians more abandoned to all sorts and degrees of impiety, than any even of the most profligate heathens (for which instances I shall account in what follows); but surely Christendom, as to the general state of it, is not equally scandalous in this respect, with those parts of the world, that are strangers to Christ; those parts of it, I mean, where the incentives to luxury, ambition, and every sort of vice do equally abound.

And therefore the aggravating descriptions that have

been given of this matter by some pious and pathetical pens, are not to be interpreted too strictly. The faults of Christians are obvious and manifest to those of the same faith, and strike our imaginations strongly on the account of their nearness; whereas the vices of the heathen world, being practised at a distance, and coming to our knowledge by rare and uncertain reports, do therefore make but faint impressions on our minds.

The rule, by which Christians are obliged to walk, is so excellent, and they are thereby so fully and clearly informed of the whole extent of their duty; the promised assistances are so mighty, and the rewards so vast, by which they are animated to obedience; that their transgressions, as they are attended with a deeper guilt, so must needs appear to be of a more prodigious size, than those of other men. And it is no wonder therefore, if, on both these accounts, good and holy persons have spoken of them with a particular degree of detestation and horror.

And as the vices of Christians are, for these reasons, open and glaring, so their virtues oftentimes disappear and lie hid. The profound humility and self-denial, which the christian religion first enjoined, leads the true disciples of Christ, in the exercise of the chief Gospel graces, to shun the applause and sight of men, as much as is possible. Hence, some of the best Christians are least known to be such, because they make the least noise and shew with their goodness. There is nothing extraordinary or singular in their manner of life and behaviour; no ostentation of sanctity in look, word or deed. Notwithstanding their domestic severities, yet when they come abroad they anoint the head and wash the face, that they appear not unto men to fast. Matt. vi. 17. They sound no trumpet before their alms, or other good works; but endeavour to perform them with that secrecy, which our Saviour recommended, when he said, Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doth. Matt. vi. 3.

And of this there is one, though a very late, yet so

remarkable an instance, that, for the honour of our holy faith, I think it may deserve to be particularly mentioned; the instance, I mean of the author of that excellent book, The Whole Duty of Man; who took not more care to do good to the world, than he did to conceal the doer of it; being contented to prove himself to Him, and him only, who seeth in secret, and resolved that the praise of men, whether in his life, or after his death should be no part of his reward.

On these, and such accounts as these, I say vice seems to have the odds of virtue among those, who name the name of Christ, much more than it really hath. However after all the abatements that have been, or can be made in this case, still it must be owned, that the wickedness of Christians is exceedingly great, and, considering the special helps towards holiness, which they above the rest of the world enjoy, very amazing. Even good men, when they find all the powerful means of grace proposed in the Gospel to have so little success, are apt to be somewhat startled at it; and ill men do not fail to make a very ill use of it, and to turn it to the disadvantage of Christianity itself.

II. Secondly, That they are very unreasonable in so doing, I am in the next place to shew. For,

1. The holiest and purest doctrine imaginable is but doctrine still; it can only instruct, admonish, or persuade; it cannot compel. The Gospel means of grace, powerful as they are, yet are not, and ought not to be, irresistible. They are moral causes, which do not violently constrain our wills and affections; but only, by gentle methods, solicit and incline them. They work not like a medicine, or a charm, without our concurrence and co-operation. And therefore let the discoveries of our duty and happiness now made, be never so bright and clear, yet a multitude of Christians may still so live, as if there were no such discoveries. And this is no greater a wonder, than it is, that the lusts and passions of frail men should often get the better of their reason;

and the truest sense and knowledge of our duty give way in the presence of mighty temptations; which always hath been, always will, and must be the case, while human nature consists (as it doth) of jarring principles, and the corrupt part of us is, as it generally is, the prevailing ingredient in the composition.

Let the Gospel have never so little success in promoting holiness, yet all who have considered it, must own, that it is in itself as fit as any thing that can be imagined for that purpose, and incomparably more fit than any other course that ever was taken. If therefore the desired end be not attained, we must not blame the means, which are confessedly apposite and proper, but the men who refuse or neglect to make use of them. The rules of health, and the prescriptions of the physician may be good; and yet few be the better for them, if few strictly observe them. It is no disparagement to the art, if those receive no great benefit from it, who do not surrender themselves up to the methods it prescribes.

Did philosophy suffer in the opinion of wise men, on the account of the debaucheries that reigned in those ages, wherein it flourished most among the Grecians and Romans? Was it then thought a good inference, that, because men were very dissolute, when wisdom was at the height, and the light of reason shone brightest, therefore wisdom and reason were of little use towards making men virtuous? No! the excellence and fitness of the rule was universally acknowledged; and all the blame was laid on those, who did not comply with it. Object in the like manner against natural religion to a deist, and he will give you the like answer. And why then should he not receive the same apology for revealed religion in its turn? If the ill conduct of those, who embrace any rule of life and manners, be a reasonable exception against the rule itself, there is an end of all rules whatsoever; since none there are, from which most of those, who in theory approve them, do not in practice mightily swerve and decline. But,

2. The present wickedness of Christians cannot be owing to any defect in the doctrine of Christ, nor be urged as a proof of the real inefficacy of it towards rendering men holy; because there was a time, when it had all the success of this kind, that could be expected; the time, I mean, of its earliest appearance in the world; when the practice of the generality of Christians was a just comment on the precepts of Christ; and they could appeal from their doctrines to their lives, and challenge their worst enemies to shew any remarkable difference between them. When they were, as the apostle speaks, blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom they shone as lights in the world, Phil. ii. 15. When they were so far from injustice and wrong, and the several wicked arts of deceiving, that, in the vast multitude of converts, no man said that ought was his own, but they had all things common, Acts iv. 32; and were not only of one faith and of one worship, but of one heart, and of one soul. Now, if the efficacy and power of the christian doctrine must be tried by its fruits, why may we not have leave to take it at its first setting out, and to argue that the most immediate and nearest must have been the most natural and genuine effects of it? He that will try the goodness of a spring, should go to the fountain-head itself, and not to judge of it by streams from thence at a great distance derived, which many other waters may perhaps have fallen into during its course, and many impure mixtures have defiled.

The Gospel is the same now, as it was then; equally the power of God unto salvation, Rom. i. 16; equally mighty in pulling down of strong holds, 2 Cor. x. 4 ; and therefore, that it doth not still produce the same effects, must be owing, not to any inaptitude or defect in the means, but to other causes and considerations, some of which I shall now briefly explain. And,

1. There must needs be a great disparity between the first Christians and those of these latter ages; be