established. To this indolence and fu- SERM. pineness, both of teachers and hearers, we are also indebted, I will venture to add, for the fashionable enthusiasts of the prefent age, whose absurdities it is easier to ridicule than to put a stop to; whose tenets and principles may produce evils which we are not fufficiently aware of, and be attended with fatal confequences which we little expected. The charge of indolence and remiffnefs, which they lay upon us in excuse for their feparation, may perhaps have fome degree of justice in it be it our first and necessary business to remove this objection by our future conduct this may bring them back to the plain road of fenfe and reason, turn aside the waters of piety from thefe new currents, and teach them once more to run into their own purer channel. But the chief end and fcope of this divine parable feems, as I before observed to XVII. XVIII. SERM. to you, to be a vindication of the divine conduct, with regard to the permiffion and continuation of evil in this life. When the householder's fervants defired that they might be employed in taking the tares, he would not confent unto it, but faid, Nay, left whilst ye gather the tares, ye root up the wheat alfo. up In this world, fo interwoven are the interests, so connected is the happiness, fo dependent are the miseries of one man upon another, that it may be deemed impracticable even for Almighty power to discriminate and difunite them; or în other words, to chastise the vices of the bad, without involving the good alfo; the punishment of a guilty parent may heap undeferved forrows on the head of an innocent child; a worthy and faithful fervant may be ruined by the fall of a wicked mafter; if the licentious and aban XVIII. abandoned profligate is vifited by fick- SERM. tuous family. God therefore But that the gracious difpofer of all things may be clear when he is judged, by the permiffion of evil, God hath moreover most wifely and benevolently produced good. How many are there amongst the distinguishing perfections of human nature, which owe, if not their birth and existence, at least their growth, ftrength, and power, to thofe misfortunes and afflictions which alone caufed the exertion of them. How would the pa XVIII. SERM. tience and piety of the perfecuted martyr ever have fhone forth, but through the pride and cruelty of his oppreffors! What opportunity could afflicted virtue find to fhew her fortitude and perseverance, without the infults and inhumanity of fuccefsful vice! The frequent and impious violation of our holy religion, from the malicious attacks of infidels and free-thinkers, have opened a glorious field to the pious defenders of it, given them occafion to display their talents and abilities in the fairest light; talents which might for ever have lain hid, and abilities that never had become confpicuous, but from the iniquity and perverfeness of their adverfaries. Thus doth the deformity of the tares reflect an additional beauty on the wheat, which appears more full and fair by being placed in the fame field with them; and thus hath evil itself, by the providence of God, God, been productive of the greatest be- SERM, nefit and advantage to us. But the wisdom and goodness of the Almighty, in this particular, will appear ftill more evident to us, when we come to confider, that in the general characters of men, good and evil are so blended together, that it is fometimes impoffible to eradicate the one without destroying the other. Virtues and vices, follies and perfections, are often fo united in one person, that we cannot without difficulty determine him as the proper object of our love and esteem, or of our hatred and averfion. It is highly incumbent on us, therefore, to be extremely cautious, left whilst we punish the faults of our fellow-creatures, we do an injury to their merit and virtue also. In the field of human nature, the tares are fo intermingled with the wheat, that XVIII. |