t'St A RATÍ6;äAL DEFENCE OF THE coarat. [SERM. ATT. unknown reasons there may. be in the counsels and pro- vidence of . God in permitting heresies to arise for the farther trial of his own people, is too hard and high a point for us to determine. The apostle. saith ; l Cor. xi. 19. There must be also heresies among you, that they which are ,approved may be made manifest If such a thing as this is, shall be abused bymen of,corrupt minds, to turn them quite away from the aospel_of Christ, and to support their ow'n infidelity, they must answer for it at the great day to Christ their. Judge. Thus I have done with the third charge or accusation brought against the gospel, and removed the scandal and shame that some men have thrownupon it because them are such sects, and parties, aid divided opinions among the professors of it. IV. Another occasion of scandal which infidels charge upon the gospel of Christ, is this, " That some who have long professed it have forsaken it ; and one should be ashamed to embrace such a faith -as this is, for it has been tried, and found to be vain and groundless, even by those who have known it long, and searched it throu-gh and through, and therefore at last they have abandoned and cast it off" But in answer to this, give me leave to say, first, that the chief andmost common reason why. persons who have professed .christianity cast it off,- is not because they found any just reason of blame either in its principles or rules ; but because they think it too strict for them, and it curbs their vicious appetites more than they like. I will allow, that perhaps there may, be some persons who have abandoned the christian religion from a wan- tonness of fancy, from a licentiousness of thought, from a pride of reasoning, and who make it their glory to have thrown off the bonds of their education, and tó have ob- tained the honour of free-thinkers, or from a presuming conceit that they must comprehend every thing in their religion, and will believe nothing that bath mysteries in it. Such vain principles as these may have influenced some minds and given them up to apostacy : But, I fear, far-the greatest part of those who forsake the gos- pel, have been tempted to it by the power of their lusts, which the gospel would restrain, and sóme of these per- sons upon their death-beds have confessed it too. This is also sufficiently visible in the world, that when
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