great as any, and manifestly shews that the finger of God was in it, and that an Almighty power went along with it. What remains then, but that we learn from all to set a just price and value upon this our most holy profession; evermore defending and maintaining it against all opposers, and adorning the same, as it becomes us to do, with suitable lives and conversations.

SERMON XXIX.

The Case of Deceivers and Deceived considered.

EPHESIANS iv. 14.

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

H

ERE are two sorts of persons marked out by the Apostle in the text, the deceivers and the deceived; the one, subtle and crafty, and full of intrigue; the other, easy and credulous, and unsuspecting; the one supposed to have all the wiliness of the serpent, without the innocency of the dove; the other, all the tameness and simplicity of the dove, without the serpent's wisdom. Both are blameable, though in different respects, and not in the same degree; one, for abusing and misemploying their talents, and the other, for not employing them at all to discern between true and false, between good and evil. Both are accountable to God as delinquents; one, for high contempt, and the other, for great supineness and neglect. The world has never been without both these kinds of men, since men have multiplied upon the earth, and sin and folly have taken place among them. The Church of Christ, from the beginning and downwards, has suffered much by both. Heresies and schisms have disturbed its peace and broken its union; while crafty and intriguing men have begun the quarrel, and weak credulous men have run blindly into it. It

was the design of our blessed Lord, when he first founded his Church, to prevent, as much as possible, all confusion and discord, and to provide for its then present and future peace.

With this view, as the Apostle here in this chapter observes, he instituted a ministry, and appointed proper officers to instruct his people, and to lead them in the way everlasting. "He gave

some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; "and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the "saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith, and "of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, &c.a" Such was the provision made at the first planting of the Church, to preserve its unity, to bind and cement it together by the ministry and good offices of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. The first three offices lasted for a time only, and ceased by degrees, as there was less and less occasion for them; but pastors and teachers, as they will be always needful, so will they be continued always in constant succession till the end of the world. As there is no new Church to form, after the foundation laid by Christ and his Apostles; nor any new doctrines to be published beyond what they have taught; so there is no need of officers extraordinary, such as were apostles, prophets, and evangelists, after a Church has been once raised, and a rule fixed and settled for all times to come: it is sufficient then to have a standing ministry, in succession, to preach and publish that rule, and so to keep up in all after-ages what was once delivered to the saints.

But as neither the apostles themselves, nor prophets, nor our Lord's own presence with mankind, was then sufficient to hinder evil-minded men from sowing divisions, or unstable men from running in with them; so neither is it to be expected that the ordinary ministers, in after-ages, can with all their endeavours prevent the like irregularities, supposing them ever so sincere and intent upon it.

But it is further to be considered, that they themselves are but weak and frail men, and they have no such infallible assistances or Divine inspirations as the Apostles had, nor are they proof against such temptations as are common to men; so that it is not impossible even for them to fall from their own steadfastness, and to desert their rule; and so, in effect, to become deceivers

and seducers, instead of being proper instructors of the Church of Christ. And whenever such cases as these happen, it is a dangerous snare to common Christians, who will be most at a loss what course to steer, when the very guides themselves differ, and draw contrary ways. This however is a case which may be supposed, and which has often appeared in fact. Divine wisdom has not thought proper to provide any infallible remedy against it, but leaves it for a trial of men's ingenuity and sincerity in such instances; that it may be seen what care and pains honest men will take to inform themselves right in any doubtful circumstances, and that they who are approved may be made manifest. In discoursing further, my design is,

I. To consider the case of deceivers, or seducers, who, in their sleight and cunning craftiness, lie in wait to deceive.

II. To consider the case of the deceived, who, in their great simplicity or credulity, are apt to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

III. I shall suggest some advices proper to prevent our falling in with either; concluding with some brief application of the whole, suitable to our present circumstances.

I.

First, I propose to consider the case of deceivers, or seducers, such as, by their sleight and cunning craftiness, lie in wait to deceive.

And here it will be proper to inquire, upon what motives, or with what views, men are led thus to beguile and misguide others. The particular motives in such cases may be many; but they are all reducible to these three heads, pride, avarice, voluptuousness; that is to say, love of honour, or profit, or pleasure.

1. To begin with the first. There is oftentimes a great deal of pride and vanity in starting odd notions and broaching new doctrines. It is pretending to be wiser than the rest of the world, and is thought to be an argument of uncommon sagacity. Upon this foot, some are perpetually in quest of new discoveries. Nothing pleases them, if they have not the honour of inventing it, or of reviving it in their times. It is objection enough against common truths, that they are common, and in every body's hands. There is no glory to be gained by traversing this beaten road; it is but low and dull employment: but if they can open a new way, and strike out a new track which no man has discovered;

When once a man has

there is the triumph and the exultation. thus far given a loose to his vanity, and thinks himself significant enough to be head of a sect; then he begins, first, to whisper out his choice discoveries to a few admirers and confidents, who will be sure to flatter him in it; and next, to tell aloud to all the world, how great a secret he had found out, with the inestimable value of it. And now at length comes in the use of sleight and cunning craftiness, and all imaginable artifices; first, to find out proper agents to commend and cry up the conceit; next, to spread it in the most artful manner among the simple and least suspecting; and after that, to form interests and make parties; and so, if possible, to have a public sanction set to it, or a majority at least contending for it. This frequently is the end and aim of novelists and seducers. They are first fond of their own conceits, which is their pride and vanity; and next, impatient to make proselytes, and to draw the world after them, because every convert gained is a compliment to their judgment, and the greater the numbers are, the greater their glory. Love of fame and glory is a very strong passion, and operates marvellously in persons of a warm complexion. Even St. John the Apostle, with all his gifts and heavenly endowments, was slighted by Diotrephes, who set up against him. "I wrote unto the Church," says that divine man, "but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us notb." Diotrephes was a Christian, and probably a Christian priest too, and thought himself considerable enough to form a sect, and to head a party in the Church, even against St. John. "He loved to have the preeminence :" ambition, it seems, was his motive: and as he wanted not sleight, or cunning craftiness, whereby he could impose upon the weak and ignorant, and mislead them with "every wind of doctrine;" he was able, in a good measure, to maintain his ground, and to keep himself in countenance, though in direct opposition to the greatest man in the Church, the only then surviving Apostle. Having seen how pride and ambition prompt and incite many to become deceivers or false teachers,

2. Next let us observe how avarice or love of profit may sometimes do the same thing. There is a gain to be made, in some junctures, by perverting the truth and deceiving the populace. Men who are not worthy to teach in the Church, or who have