4 198 AGAINST UNCHARITABLENESS.. of christianity which St: Paul describes, he speaks evil of all men but his own party, he is a brawler and ungentle, spewing meekness unto none ; and while he pretends that the grace of God which brings salvation has appeared unto him, he lives still in maliceand envy, and wears the visible characters of the men of heathenism, hateful and hating one another ; Tit. ii. 11, 12. chapter iii. 2 -4. Ie flourishes and enlarges upon the gra- cious qualities of our Redeemer, our great High-priest, who is touched with thefeelingofour infirmities ; Heb. iv. 15. yet him- self has not learned from so glorious an example to have compas- sion on them that are ignorant andout of the way ; chapter v. 2. but rather being exalted in his own knowledge, he condemns his weak brother to perish, for whom Christ died;1 Cor. viii. 11. Take thy bible, O vain man, and read a few lines in the eighth chapter of St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, verses 1, 2, 8. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth: and if any man think that he knoweth any thing, lie knoweth nothingyet as he ought to know; but if any man love God, thesame es known of him. And St. John will assure thee, that he that loveth not his brother, knoweth not God, and if a man say, I love God, and .bateth has brother, he is a liar; 1 John iv. 8, 20. Yet let not any think that I advance charity so high, as to place it in the room of knowledge and faith, or to make it a self-sufficient ground for our admittance into heaven at last: Nor can I suppose it alone to be a sufficient plea for a recep- tion into any visible church of Christ on earth. A confession of the name of Jesus, with the most important and most necessary articles of his blessed religion, a declaration of my personal faith or trust in him, together with a solemn dedication of myself unto the Lord, maybe justly required of me by that christian society intowhich I desire admittance. Indefault of these the biggest instances of charity will never constituteme a christian : Except yebelieve that I am he, saith our Saviour, ye shall die inyour sins ; John viii. 24. If a man strive for a prize, yet is he not crowned, unless he strive lawfully; that is, according to the methods pre.. scribed in the gospel, the knowledge and the faith of the Sonof God 2 Tim. ii. 5. and the sentence of our Lord is dreadful and peremptory. He that believeth not shall be damned'; Mark 'xvi. 18. With the heart man believes unto rightousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation ; Rom. x. 10. But without charity my faith can never be true, for it must be such a ,faith as worketh by love, and discovers itself by all thefruits of the spirit, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance; Gal. v.0,22. Thus far have we traced the vice of uncharitableness in manyof the properties that belong to it, and the causes of it, and many instances in which it discovers itself in the world, and in
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