firmities of a man may claim, when he falls through furprise, more than a premeditation,-man may venture upon the whole, to fum up Peter's character in a few words- He was a man fenfible in his nature, of quick paffions, tempered with the greatest humility, and most unaffected poverty of spirit that ever met in fuch a character.- -So that, in the only criminal inftance of his life which I have spoken to, you are at a lofs which to admire most the tenderness and fenfibility of his foul, in being wrought upon to repentance by a look from Jefus,or the uncommon humility of it, which he teftified thereupon, in the bitterness of his forrow for what he had done. He was once prefumptuous, in trufting to his own ftrength:-his general and true character was that of the moft engaging meeknefs-diftruftful of himself and his abilities to the laft degree.

He denied his mafter;-but in all inftances of his life, but that, was a man of the greatest truth and fincerity;to which part of his character our Saviour has given an undeniable teftimony, in conferring on him the fymbolical name of Cephas, a rock; a name the moft expreffive of conftancy and firmnefs.

He was a man of great love to his Mafter-and of no lefs zeal for his religion; of which, from among many, I fhall take one inftance out of St. John, with which I fhall conclude this account:on the desertion of feveral other difciples, viour puts the queftion to the twelve.

Where up

our Sa

Will ye

alfo go away? Then, fays the text, Peter answered and faid-Lord! whither fhall we go? Thou haft

the words of eternal life, and we believe, and know, that thou art Chrift the Son of GOD.-Now, if we look into the gospel, we find what our Saviour pronounced on this very confeffion

Bleffed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee-but my Father which is in heaven. That our Saviour had the words of eternal life-Peter was able to deduce from principles of natural reason; because reason was able to judge, from the internal marks of his doctrine, that it was worthy GOD, and accommodated properly to advance human nature and human happiness.

But for all this-reafon could not infallibly determine that the messenger of this doctrine was the Meffias, the eternal Son of the living GOD:-to know this, required an illumination;-and this il-, lumination, I fay, feems to have been vouchfafed at that inftant as a reward- as would have been fufficient evidence by itself of the difpofition of his heart.

I have now finished this short essay upon the character of St. Peter, not with a loud panegyric upon the power of his keys, or a ranting encomium upon fome monaftic qualifications, with which a popish pulpit would ring upon fuch an occafion, without doing much honour to the faint, or good to the audience, but have drawn it with truth and fobriety, representing it as it was, as confifting of virtues the moft worthy of imitation, and grounded, not upon apocryphal accounts, and legendary inventions, the wardrobe from whence popery dreffes out her faints on these days, but upon matters of fact in the facred Scriptures, in which all Chriftians agree.

And fince I have mentioned popery, I cannot better conclude, than by obferving, how ill the spirit and character of that, church refembles that particular * part of St. Peter's, which has been made the fubject of this difcourfe.Would one think that a church, hich thrufts itself under this apoftle's patronage, and claims her power under him, would prefume to exceed the degrees of it which he acknowledged to poffefs himfelf?-But how ill are your expectations anfwered, when, inftead of the humble declaration in the text,Ye men of Ifrael, marvel not at us, as if our own power and holiness had wrought this: -you hear a language and behaviour from the Romish court, as oppofite to it as infolent words and actions can frame.

So that, instead of, Ye men of Ifrael, marvel not at us,-Ye men of Ifrael, do marvel at us,-hold us in admiration Approach our facred pontif,-(who is not only holy-but holiness itself);—approach his perfon with reverence; and deem it the greatest honour and happiness of your lives, to fall down before his chair, and be admitted to kifs his feet.

Think not, as if it were not our own holiness which merits all the homage you can pay us. It is our own holiness the superabundance of it, of which, having more than we know what to do with ourselves,from works of fupererogation, we have transferred the furplus in ecclefiaftic warehouses, and, in pure zeal for the good of your fouls, have eftablished public banks of merit, ready to be drawn upon at all times.

Think not, ye men of Ifrael, or fay within your

felves, that we are unprofitable fervants,

we have

no good works to spare, or that, if we had—we can. not make this use of them ;-that we have no power to circulate our indulgences, and huckfter them out, as we do, through all the parts of ChristendomKnow ye, by these presents, that it is our own power which does this;the plenitude of our apoftolic power, operating with our own holiness, that enables us to bind and loofe, as feems meet to us on earth; -to fave your fouls, or deliver them up to Satan;

and as they please or displease, to indulge whole kingdoms at once, or excommunicate them all ;binding kings in chans, and your nobles in links of iron.

That we never again feel the effects of fuch language and principles -may GoD of his mercy

SERMON XXXII.

Thirtieth of January.

EZRA IX. 6, 7.

And I faid, O my GoD, I am afhamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my Goo: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day.

THERE is not, I believe, throughout all history, an inftance of fo ftrange and obftinately corrupt a people, as the Jews, of whom Ezra complains;-for though on one hand, there never was a people that receiv ed so many testimonies of God's favour to encourage them to be good,fo, on the other hand, there never was a pepple which so often felt the fcourge of their iniquities to dishearten them from doing evil.

And yet, neither the one nor the other feemed ever able to make them either the wifer or better; -neither Gon's bleffings, nor his corrections, could ever soften them; they ftill continued a thankless, unthinking people,-who profited by no leffons,-neither were to be won with mercies, nor terrified with punishments,-but, on every fucceed