21 / 674
SERMONS.
SERMON
XXXI.
HOLY FORTITUDE,
OR
REMEDIES AGAINST FEAR.
1
con.
xvi.
13.
Stand
fast
in
the Faith,
quit
you like
Men, be strong.
IN
the first ages
of
Christianity,
the professors
of
the
gospel had
great
need
of
divine
courage,
that
they
might
stand
the many shocks
of
opposition, reproach
and
vio-
lence.
The Corinthian
heathens,
though
they were
a
polite and
learned
people, yet they
were
blind and
ob-
stinate
in
their
own
superstitions
and
idolatry,' and
root
-
ed
in
the
profane and
vicious
customs
of their
ancestors.
It
required
a
large stock
of
holy
fortitude,
to profess
and
practise
a
new religion
among
them,
that
ran
counter
to
all
their former opinions, and
their
manners.
Therefore
St.
Paul,
who
planted
the gospel in
that
city,
calls
upon
his
converts
to
shake
off
cowardice and fear,
to
stand
firm
and unmoved
in
the profession
of
their
faith,
to
behave like men
of
war,
like
heroes,
in
the
practice
of
christianity, and
to
exert
all
their strength
of
soul
in
this
glorious
work.
Stand
fast
in
the faith,
quit
you like
men,
be
strong."
It
is
true,
we live
not
in
a
heathen country, among
lewd
and barbarous
superstitions: The
land where
our
lot
is
cast,
is
honoured with the christian
name,
and
professes the religion
of
Jesús;
yet let
me
tell you,
in-
fidelity
is
a
growing
temptation
Of
this age,
the
gospel
of
Christ
Bath
plentifulridicule
thrown
upon` it, by
many
of our
neighbours
that
go
under
the name
of
christians,
vol.,.
11.
g