SERM. That immoral actions speak intelligibly, II. and proclaim to all the world either that Wit is our opinion that our faith is good for nothing, and ought not to be allowed its natural influence; or elfe, that we are to be held by no tye and can fet at defiance the most facred principles, which is an infallible fign, that scarce a spark of honour or probity of mind is fubfifting within us. And for the very fame reason, on which faith is accepted and rewarded when it is a mark of integrity, it muft of neceffity, be rejected as an infufficient plea, by our upright and all-difcerning Judge, when it is attended with flagrant dishonesty. So that upon the whole, the law of righteousness by faith comes to much the fame, if we take in the foundation and true fcope of it, and all the cafes to which, by a parity of reason, it may and must be extended; it then, I fay, comes "to much the fame with that more gene "ral rule laid down by St. John, that he "that doth righteousness is righteous." For juftifying faith, as it is above explain'd, may with great propriety be ftiled an act of moral righteousness. It Springs Springs from virtue, and terminates in it: SERM. In virtue, the fincere practice of which, II. "according to the light and advantages "which they severally enjoy, may be "confider'd as an uniform and invariable "law of righteousness with respect to "all nations; and a means of procuring indulgence and mercy for many, who "never heard of Chrift, from the Father "and Friend of the whole race of man"kind." VOL. III. E SER SERMON III. Moral reflections on the history of GEN. xxxix. 9. How, then, can I do this great wickedness, and fin againft God! T HERE is no branch of anci- SERM, ent private history more re- III. markable, than that of the patriarch Jofeph: Whether we regard the characters of the actors, the Surprising revolutions, the extremes of SERM. fortune, the variety, or importance, of III. the events contained in it. And of this may history, there is no part more affecting and useful than that to which the text relates: If we confider it either as affording an example of manly refolution; or of heroick virtue first oppressed, and, in the end, victorious and triumphant; or with refpect to the moral inftructions that be deduced from it. The substance of the fact is this: Jofeph, being betrayed by his brethren, was fold as a slave to Potiphar, an officer of diftinction under the king of Egypt. His good qualities gained him the esteem and affection of his mafter, who preferred him to manage all the affairs of his family. But here an accident happened, that was likely to have blafted all his schemes of happiness. The wife of Potiphar tempted him to lewdnefs: Which he, reflecting on the heinousness of the crime of adultery in itself, (which is branded with peculiar infamy by every civilized nation, and held in the utmost deteftation by almost all, who retain any fenfe of the difference of good and evil) reflecting likewise on the baseness of |