reclaiming; and therefore ought neither to be efteemed nor treated as one of the chriftian brotherhood, but to be rejected by every faithful chriftian.

I am fenfible it is thought by fome, that by those words [being condemned of himself] St. Paul meant, that the heretick ftood condemned in his own mind. Now tho' this was true, yet I think this was not the meaning of the apostle, because it was not so much to his purpose as the fenfe I have given above. A man may be faid to stand condemned in his own mind, or to fin against his confcience, in a lefs or in a greater degree. In a lefs, when he does that which, upon mature confideration and fuppofing the cafe were not his own, his judgment would condemn. Thus David by flaying Uriah the Hittite, with the fword of the children of Ammon, and by taking the wife of Uriah to be his wife, finned against his confcience, not by acting against the immediate conviction of his own mind, but by his doing that which upon mature confideration his judgment would have condemned; as is moft evident from the judgment he gave upon the parable which Nathan the prophet related to him. And thus robbers and pick-pockets fin against their consciences, or are self-condemned, by doing that which, upon a fair and impartial confideration of the cafe, and fuppofing it not to be their own, their judgments would condemn. And thus the heretick referred to finned a

gainst his confcience, or was felf-condemned, as he did that which, upon mature confideration, and when confidered abftractedly from his covetoufnefs, his judgment would have condemned. And indeed men thus fin against their confciences in every blameable action, not by finning against the immediate conviction of their own minds (which perhaps is very rarely the cafe) but by their finning against fuch conviction, as would unavoidably take place if they attended to the cafe as they ought to do. Again, men fin against their confciences in a greater degree, when they continue to practise a bad action, after their attention has been called in, and the vicioufnefs of the action has been again and again plainly reprefented to them; and thereby they have been as it were neceffitated against their inclination, to fee or be convinced of the unfitnefs of it. In this cafe men not only do what their judgments would condemn, were they fairly to confider the cafe, but they alfo do what their judgments must have condemned antecedent to the action, as their attention has been called in as aforefaid; and thus they fin against their confciences, or are felf-condemned in a greater degree. And this likewife was the cafe of the blameable perfon St. Paul referred to, fuppofing him to have been admonished as the apostle directs; then he not only did what upon mature confidcration his judgment would have condemned, but alfo what his judgment must have

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condemned antecedent to the action, as his attention was again and again called in, by the repeated admonitions which had been given him. But then, tho' this was true of the perfon St. Paul referred to, that he stood. condemned in his own mind, or finned against his confcience even in the greater degree, yet, I think, St. Paul did not intend to express this in the words we have now under confideration; because the sense of those words, which I have given above, feem to have been more to his purpose, as the point he had in view was to reprefent to Titus the apparent unreclaimableness of the offender (which unreclaimableness was or might be discovered from his actions and behaviour) and thereby to fhew, that he was the proper object of rejection, and ought to be rejected. Befides, as the heretick's ftanding condemned in his own mind must itself ordinarily have been known and judged of by his actions, and by thofe circumftances that attended the cafe, and as it does not appear that Titus was endowed with any extraordinary ability to answer such a purpose, fo it feems to have been more to the point in hand for the apoftle to obferve to Titus, that the heretick ftood condemned by his own actions, rather than that he stood condemned in his own mind; because the latter (ordinarily at leaft) became apparent by or from the former. This being the ftate of the cafe, I think it is not likely that St. Paul should reprefent the heretick as ftanding condemned

in his own mind, in the words I have now. under confideration, but rather, or it is more likely, that by these words the apostle intended to obferve, that as he had declared the heretick to be irreclaimable, fo this plainly appeared to be the truth of the cafe, from his own behaviour, from his being deaf to all admonition and advice, and from his perfifting in his wickedness, after all proper means had been used to reclaim him; and therefore he was the proper object of rejection, and ought to be rejected.

The ufe that I fhall make of this difcourfe is only to obferve, what a prevailing influence a vicious felf-love has upon the minds and lives of men, and of what fatal confequence it has been to chriftianity. This was fadly exemplified in the ile of Crete, the produce of which, upon the inhabitants of that place, was the most grofs hypocrify and diffimulation. And tho', when St. Paul wrote his epiftle to Titus, the chriftian religion was profeffed at Crete; yet it was fo far from proving a univerfal remedy to this evil, that on the contrary, chriftianity itfelf became corrupted thro' its influence; the preachers of Chrift's gospel in Crete fubverted that gofpel, by teaching things that they ought not for filthy lucre fake. And happy had it been, if this could have been justly and truly faid of chriftianity, and its teachers in Crete only: but, alas! the influence of a vicious felf-love, in thefe refpects, has abundantly fhewn itself ever since that time;

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time; as it has led the preachers of Chrift's gofpel to fubvert that gofpel, and to render it inefficacious for the faving of mankind. Here then are two things to be lamented, viz. first, that christianity has been fubverted; and, fecondly, that its teachers have brought this evil upon it. And,

.

Firft, It is a thing much to be lamented, that christianity hath been fubverted. Chrif tianity, or that revelation of God's will which is commonly called the gofpel of Jefus Chrift, was kindly intended and excellently calculated to reform the vices, and rightly to direct and govern the affections and behaviour of mankind. And thus it was ordained to be a favour of life unto life unto all thofe, who fhould fo receive it as to answer the true intent and purpose of it. But, alas! inftead of its being a favour of life unto life, it has become, thro' the viciousness of men, a favour of death unto death, that is, men thro' a vicious felf-love have been led greatly to corrupt christianity; by which means it has been fo far from reforming the vices of men, that it has been the occafion of their continuing and abounding in them; and it has been fo far from rightly directing and governing the affections and actions of men, that on the contrary, it has been the occafion of their being greatly misled in these refpects. True and uncorrupted chriftianity represents perfonal valuableness in men to be the fole ground of their acceptance with God, and a perfonal change from bad to good