SERM.

VII.

Standing and univerfal Signs or Marks of Truth. It is fuppofed in the words, that, what our Saviour here calls the Sign of the Prophet Jonas, was fufficient to render That generation of the Jews inexcufable in their Unbelief. 2dly; HERE is a description given of wicked men, in one particular and remarkable part of their Character; that they are apt continually to require more and more Signs, and to tempt God without reafon and without End. An evil and adulterous generation feeketh after a Sign. 3dly; THE declaration our Saviour here makes, plainly implies, that there are juft and good reafons, why God fhould not gratify the unreafonable expectations of prejudiced and corrupt Minds. There fhall No Sign be given to it, but the Sign of the Prophet Jonas,

THE First of thefe, I have already gone through; and have shown, that the

Doctrine

Doctrine of Religion is in itself refona- S ER M. ble to be believed, and fufficiently evi- VII. denced by the standing and universal Signs or Marks of Truth. According to our Saviour's Suppofition in the words of the Text; that, what he here calls the Sign of the Prophet Jonas, was fufficient to render That generation of the Jews inexcufable in their Unbelief.

THE Second Obfervable, was, the Description here given of wicked men, in one particular and remarkable part of their Character; that they are apt continually to require more and more Signs, and to tempt God without reafon and without End: An evil and adulterous generation feeketh after a Sign. And This Obfervation I at large illuftrated by That remarkable Inftance the Scripture gives us, of the behaviour of the people of the Jews in their paffage through the Wilderness ; which is fo diftinctly recorded in the Books of Mofes, and fo frequently alluded to in the Pfalms, and in St Paul's Epiftles to the Corinthians and to the Hebrews, as a ftanding Admonition and Caution to

perverfe

SER M. perverse Minds, in all fucceeding generaVII. tions.

I SHALL Now proceed to fome Other Inftances of the like Sort, in which the Unreasonableness of tempting God in this manner, will still further appear. In our Saviour's time, the fame Spirit of Perverseness, which the Scripture calls an evil heart of Unbelief, (meaning always by Unbelief, not a reasonable Caution in with-holding the Affent, but a captious Defire of evading the reafons of conviction;) In our Saviour's time, I fay, the same perverfe Spirit, which appeared fo remarkably in the Jews of old in the Wilderness, continued ftill in the corrupt part of That Nation: So that whatever Method the divine Wisdom thought fit to make use of, in order to bring them to Repentance; they could Always render it ineffectual. John the Baptift came unto them, neither eating Bread, nor drinking Wine; Luke vii. 33; that is, he came in the more severe way of aufterity and mortification; and they faid, He hath a Devil; that is, they charged him with be

n

ing enthufiaftick and mad. On the other SE R M, hand, the Son of man is come eating and VII. drinking; ver. 34; that is, in the more familiar way of a free converfation; and they faid, Behold a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of Publicans and Sinners. The Methods of Proceeding were Both of them right, in their proper Time and Place; and Wisdom is juftified of all her children; But incorrigible men could equally find Objections against Both. Our Saviour therefore, in a most elegant parable, compares them to cross and perverse children, whom neither Mirth nor Seriousness could please: Ver. 31; Whereunto fhall I liken the men of This generation? and to what are they like? They are like unto children fitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and say, ing, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. When the men of Nazareth heard what mighty works our Lord had done at Capernaum, they said, Whatfoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do alfo here in thy own country; Luk. iv. 23.

On

SERM. On the other hand, when he did Won

into Ju

VII. ders in his own country, then their Anfwer was, Depart hence, and dea, that thy Difciples alfo may fee the works that thou doeft ;------ - If thou do these things, show thyself to the world; Joh. vii. 3. When our Lord had miraculously healed many diseased persons here upon Earth, then the Pharifees faid unto him, Mafter, we would fee of thee a Sign from Heaven : And when there came unto him a voice from Heaven, Joh. xii. 28; the Evangelift tells us, ver. 37. that yet they believed not on him. When the Chief Priefts and Elders faw our Saviour crucified, they said, Matt. xxvii. 42; He faved others, kimfelf he cannot fave; if he be the King of Ifrael, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him: But when he was rifen from the Dead, to the Terrour of their own Soldiers, whom they had fet to watch him; then they gave them money to report, that his Difciples had come by night, and ftolen him away; ch. xxviii. 13. Thus, of tempting God; and of continually requiring more and

greater