sErol. XVII A RATIONAL DEFENCE OF THE GOSPEL. 287 world in any of the corrupt and unlawful customs and courses of it. Mingle not your practice of the lovely duties which this gospel enjoins, with lying, and slan- dering, and railing ; do not interline your lives with religion and sin, with devotion and shameful lusts. It is a gospel that forbids all iniquity, it requires that you mortify sin and cleanse yourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, and that you go on to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. 2 Cor. vii. 1. The very design and end of it in God's eternal counsels and contrivance, is, that you might be holy, and without blame before him in love ; Eph. i. 4.. If you pursue this advice, then shall others, who behold you, confess that there is something divine in christianity, when you thus adorn the doctrine of God, your Saviour. Thus you give the gospel its due honour, by believing all it reveals, by worshipping ac- cording to the methods of its appointment, and by that purity ofconversation which it enjoins. 3. Make not the lesser circumstances and appendages of your religion the matter of loud contest, and a party-. strife. We are called to contend earnestly for the great and necessary doctrines of faith, which were once deli= vered to the saints: But we are commanded also to re- ceive those that are weak in the faith, without involving them in doubtful disputations about matters of less mo- ment. Give no occasion to the infidel to blaspheme the gospel. by your factions and quarrels, and the rage of a bitter and unsanctified zeal. Oh that the time were come, when the wolf and the lamb shall lie down toge- ther, and there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain ! But surely, it is very hard if the lambs themselves, who belong to the flockof Christ, can- not live without hurting and destroying one another; that christians cannot live without exposing their divine and heavenly religion to the blasphemies of sinful men. Happy were the christian world, if we could all behave ourselves so as never togive occasion to the adversary to reproach the professors of the christian faith, nor throw. shame and dishonour upon the gospel of Christ ! May the blessed spirit of God teach us this lesson effectually, and let it be copied out in ourlives daily, till we arrive at the regions of perfect holiness and love ! Amen.
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