6s9 SERMON CCe The bad and the good life of God's fignal Judg- ments upon others. LUKE XIII. 5. I tell you, Nay : ,but except ye repent, ye fball all lik 'ife perifb. THE occafion of thefe words you have at the beginning of the Chapter 3 There were prefent at thatfeafon (fays the Evangelift) fame that told our Saviour of theGalileans whofe blood Pilatebadmingledwith their Sacrifices. Thefe in all probability were fome of the Fa&ion of judos Gaulonita, who about that .time, as Jofephus tells- us, had ftirred up the Galileans to a Seditioti againft the Ro- man Government,, under a Pretence of affecting their Liberty,, by freeing them- felves from the Roman Tribute; and force of thefe, coming to Jerufalem to facri- fice, (as theCuftom of the yews was, efpecially at the time of thePaffover) Pilate caufed them to be Hain upon the place, while theywere at this Service, fhedding their blood with that of the beafts, which were killed for Sacrifice. The report of this prophane cruelty being brought to our Saviour, he (as his Cuftom was in all his converfation, to raife force ufeful meditation from filch occurrences that happen'd, and to turn them to a fpiritual advantage) takes occafion from the re lation ofthis fad Accident, to corre& a very vitious°humour, which hath always reigned in the World, of cenfuring the faults of others, whilft we overlook out own. The Principle of Self-love, whichwas planted in innocent Nature, is by the fall and corruption of Man degenerated into Self-flattery; fo that it is now almoft become natural to Men, to fupply the want of a good Confeience, by a good con= ceit of themfelves. Hence it comes to pafs that Men are fo ready to take all ad= vantages to confirm themfelves in -that falfe Peace which they have created to themfelves in their own imaginations; and fo they can but Maintain a comfortable Opinion of themfelves, they matter not how uncharitable they are to others; and knowingno better way to countenance this fond conceit of themfelves,- than by fancying God to be their Friend, hence it comes to pafs, that they are fo apt to in- terpret the feveral Providences of God towards others in favour of themfelves; and to abufe the Judgments of God, which fall Upon their Neighbours; into an argument of their Own comparative Innocency. And therefore our Saviour (who knewwhat m'as in Man, and what kindof con- 'clufions Men are apt to draw, from fuch occurrences of Providence as this which was now prefented,) endeavours in thefirfl place to prevent the bad ufe they were likely to make of it; Suppofeye, (fays he) that thefe Galilean were' 'inners above all the Galileans, becaufe they fuffered fuch things. I tellyou, Nay, &c. To this Inftance of the Galilean he adds another ofthe fame kind, well known to all that dwelt in Jerufalem, and that was ofthe eighteen Perfons, who were flair by the fall of a Tower, which was in the Pool ofSiloam at the foot of Mount Sion, verfe the 4th , or thefe eighteen upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell , thinkye that they were finners above all that dwelt in ferufalemd I tell you, Nay. And having thus anticipated their cenfuringof others, our Saviour proceeds to awaken them to a confideration and careof themfelves, I tell you, Nay: but except you repent, ye (hall all likewife perifb. PPPP a . The
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