my to him. And therefore St. John, as very fenfible how many unhappy Wretches oppos'd themselves to the Name of his Mafter, tells thofe to whom he writes, that as they had heard. that Antichrift fhould come, even now there were many Antichrifts, i. e. many fuch, who were Enémies to the Crofs of Chrift, Enemies to his Name, Enemies to his Government and Doctrine, and therefore Enemies to his Church and Kingdom. For Herefies began fo very early in the Church and Schifms too, that the Apoftles themfelves were obliged to animadvert upon them. And again, our Apoftle tells 1 John 2. us, He who denies the Father, and the Son, he is 18, 22. Antichrift: Which that Man may be guilty of, who owns the Being of a God, if he acknow1 John 4. ledges only, the Exiftence of one fuperior Being, without that Relation of him as a Father

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to a Son. The Apoftle fpeaks to the fame 2 John v. Purpofe in his Second Epiftle, where he fpeaks of fuch as deny'd that Chrift was come in the Flefb and he affures us, that whoever did fo, the fame was a Deceiver, and an Antichrift. Of this kind were thofe ftubborn Fems, who oppos'd our Saviour with fo much Violence and Obftinacy, while he was converfant on Earth. Of the fame Sort were thofe Pagan People and Princes, who were the cruel Perfecutors of Chriftianity. For as our Lord took Notice of thofe his Enemies, who would not permit Him himfelf to reign over them; fo he threatned thofe with equal Vengeance, who fhould reject thofe whom he fent. For as in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, the Sheep, upon Account of their good Acti

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ons, were told, that inasmuch as they perform'd thofe Actions of Charity and Goodness for any one of the leaft of Chrift's 'Friends and Followers, they did them unto him: So the Goats are affured, that all their Neglect of, and Mat. 25. Difrefpect to the Minifters and Difciples cf40, 45. Chrift reflected upon Chrift himself; as Affronts given to Ambaffadors reflect upon the Princes, who employ them. Antichrift then being of fuch a Nature, as we have defcribed, it is an eafy Matter to know what Antichriftian Means, and what it is to be of an Antichriftian Spirit For Men are faid to have fuch a Spirit, or to be lead by it, who act in Oppofition to Chrift, whether it be directly or indirectly: For he, who honours a great Perfon truly, will be ready to promote his Interefts in all really honourable Cafes; and he, who wounds the Credit and Reputation of another, either in plain Terms, or by a Side-Wind, is equally guilty of Bafenefs and Malice. But we may apprehend these things the better, if we inquire,

2. Who thofe are, to whom the Title of Antichrift, or Antichriftian, more properly be longs And they are,

1. Such as live generally in Oppofition to the Laws of God, or fuch Perfons who follow a perpetual Courfe of Sin and Wickedness. And this Head brings under the Lafh, all those genteel and modifh Sinners and Debauchees, who let their Lives pafs merrily, without the leaft Regard to their lawful Earthly Superiors, or to that Judgment, which is to come hereafter

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after. We know the Charge looks very broad, when we call Men Atheifts; and it is not eafy to be digefted, or to tell them in fo many Words, that they are Enemies to Chrift: That Name of the ever bleffed JESUS, carries always fomething auguft and venerable along with it: And till of late Days, when fome of the more zealous Emiffaries of Hell began to blafpheme the Carpenter's Son, and the Tyler's Son together; Men were as unwilling to bid open Defiance to it, as to ftem a violent Spring Tide, or to face the Furies of a ThunderStorm. And would to God, there were none yet,whofe Wickedness would oblige us,to break the common Rules, as they are call'd, of De cency and good Manners, to give them their proper Names and dearly purchas'd Titles! It is plain from all kind of Hiftory, that at the Time of our bleffed Lord's Appearance, all manner of Wickednefs was at its Height; the Earth groan'd under the prodigious Weight of the Sins of its ungrateful Inhabitants: Even the Jews, once God's own peculiar People, and the Lot of his Inheritance, had little to fhew, by which they might vindicate to themselves the extraordinary Patronage of the God of their Fathers; And for the Gentile World, as they were without a right Notion of the true God; fo were they without any found Foundation of a rational Hope. This fo extreme and univerfal Corruption was one great Reafon of our Saviour's Incarnation at that particular Time; Which, if it were, as certainly it was; we muft conclude, that as one great End of his Coming was to atone the Indignation of his Father, then ready to break out into a final and utter

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Deftruction of rebellious Mankind; fó it was another, to put an End to thofe abominable Sins for the future, by which Men had fo far and fo long provoked the Wrath of his Heavenly Father. As a Mean by which to effect this great Defign, as he was born un fpotted, and intirely free from all the Pollution of malignant Nature; fo he lived a Life fo pure, fo untainted, that the fharpeft Eye of Jewish Malice, how loofe foever their Tongues were, could never convince him of any one Sin: For as for the Crimes they charged him with, they were fo far from being criminal, that they were the moft undeniable Evidences of his Innocence. This Example then, which the incarnate Son of God fet before them, was the wifeft and the beft of Methods for reforming the Lives of Sinners.

Again, the holy Jefus preach'd fuch Doctrine, as apparently tended to the rendring all humane Converfation perfect and useful, His Rules, or the Laws of that compleat Religion, which he fettled in the World, were fo exactly agreeable to the nobleft Notions, which Men of the moft refined Intellectuals ever had of Prudence, Juftice,or Fortitude; that every one who was not wilfully blind, might plainly apprehend their Tendency to the Happiness of Mankind, far beyond any of thofe fine Speculations recommended to the World under the applauded Names of their greateft Philofophers, Our Lord obferv'd the very firft Motions toward Sin in his beloved Difciples, a piece of Skill which no Philofopher could ever pretend to; So when he found their Pride beginning to bud in that very unfeafonable Con

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Luke 22. tention fprung among them, who should be greateft; He check'd that abfurd Humour, and taught them Humility, both by Doctrine and Example. When an over-fiery Zeal carry'd them to take Revenge, had it been in their Luke 9. Power, upon the foolish Samaritan Villagers,

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who had refus'd to entertain their Mafter; He read them a Lecture of Meeknefs and Patience, taught them to look into and examine themselves, whether they in like Circumftances would not have behav'd themselves as ill; and let them know, that they had forgotten both themselves, and him, when they were fo eager to deftroy fuch as he came not to defroy, but to fave. When he found them touch'd with the Spirit of Envy against thofe, who caft out Devils in their Mafter's Name, and yet Mark 9. follow'd not him as they did; He taught them 38. to understand truly, how far the Intereft of his Cause was advanced by fuch, who could, to be fure, work no real Miracles in his Name, otherwife than by a real Faith in him; by which Inftruction he rebuked at once both their Vanity and their Cenforiousness; their Vanity in thinking the Influences of the holy Spirit could defcend upon none but themselves, and their Cenforioufnefs in thinking None could be their Mafter's Difciples, but fuch, whofe Time and Method of Converfion to Faith in him, they themselves could comprehend. When he faw the Dulnefs and Stupidity, which prevail'd upon his Difciples at the very Critical Hour of his bitter Agony in the Garden; (by which too, as he had foreseen it, fo he knew what dangerous Advantages the Devil would take of them on fuch an Oppor