Paftors, to the Doctrine of an infpir'd Apoftle, nay, and to the Voice of the Son of God himfelf: The lefs they really know, the more they think they know, and their Ignorance is the more invincible.

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St. Paul feems in thofe early Days to have a Profpect of the rifing of fuch Perfons as might fuppofe Ignorance the beft Mother of De votion, and therefore would at firft fet very readily upon fuch as knew little. And here it is fit that we should make this Remark; that tho' our Saviour Preach'd very much contrary to the Humours and Inclinations of the moft powerful Men among the Jews; and tho' he was watch'd and affronted and calumniated without any Regard to Truth or Juftice or their own eternal Interefts; tho' they daily laid wait for his Life, and endeavour'd to expofe him to the Government; yet ftill he preach'd in Publick; the Publick were Witneffes of all his moft difpleafing Doctrines and Actions, all the Occafions of his Heavenly Difcourfes were taken openly; all his higheft Pretenfions were offer'd openly: He fac'd the Hypocritical Scribes and Pharifees with open and undifguis'd Truth and Reafon And therefore when brought before the High-Prieft, he vindicates his own Innocence from this very Confideration, and freely appeals to all the Jewish World, even to those who had heard him with Prejudice enough; I spoke openly to the World, fays he, John 18. I ever taught in the Synagogues, and in the Temple 20, 21. whither the Jews always refort, and in fecret have

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faid nothing: Why askeft thou me? Ask them

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who beard me what I have faid unto them; behold, they know what I have faid. No Doubt but our Saviour, had he thought fit to fet fuch an Example, might have prevail'd as far as he pleas'd upon the weaker Sex, Beauty, Wifdom, Eloquence, irrefiftible Senfe, a pitiful and compaffionate Temper, and a Thousand Miracles to make him appear as one immediately fent from Heaven: All thefe Things carry'd inconceivable Charms along with them: No Doubt but he might have eafily made a very ftrong Party among the more ignorant Part of the Community; But he took very different Methods: He knew that if Men of Wifdom in the vulgar Opinion, if Men of Repu tation and Intereft, whofe unhappy Examples had had a fatal Influence upon the Faith and Manners of the People; if fuch were throughly convinced of their Errors, and fo reform'd, the reft would be foon reclaim'd from their wildest Extravagancies.

Our Saviour had indeed, fome pious and devout Women who minifter'd to his Neceffities, and he had generally mighty Crouds who' follow'd him: But tho', as we may juftly fuppofe, he omitted no Opportunity of imparting fo much of the Counfel of God with refpect to their Salvation as they were able to bear yet we never find him thrufting himself upon them, or pretending to make them fecret Profelytes to any new Doctrine which might vacate the Mofaick Moral Law: And when the giddy Throng, ftruck with a fudden Veneration for him, on Account of thofe mighty Works, which they had feen done by him, would have taken him by Force, and made him a

King; he hid himself immediately from their diforderly Fondness. The Apoftles, as faithful Servants, follow'd that Example, which their Master had fet them. They entred upon the Theater of the World in an extremely corrupted Age, when almost all Flesh had a fecond Time perverted their Ways before God. The Reformation of this corrupted World was their Bufinefs, and to do that they did not fculk about in private Corners; nor while the Jewish Church and State ftocd, did they feparate from the publick Worfhip either of the Synagogue or the Temple; but they preach'd openly thofe Evangelical Truths committed to them. They own'd their Characters upon all Occafions, and openly perform'd all the Duties incumbent upon Men of that Character. They were infallibly affur'd that their Commiflion was from Heaven, and they never fear'd the Faces of Men. Hence they publickly reprov'd thofe Vices, and rectify'd thofe Errors and Miftakes which the World then groan'd under: Like wife Mafter-Builders they laid the Foundation of the Chriftian Church, and built it up by the Preaching of fuch Doctrines to thofe who were admitted into it, according to the Prescriptions of their Mafter; fuch Doctrines as were faving and infallible. They appointed neceffary Officers under themselves, who fhould be able with fufficient Authority to govern the Chriftian Church throughout all Ages; and when they had once compleated the Building of his Church by the Conduct of the Eternal Spirit, Jefus Chrift himself being the Chief Corner-ftone.

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As for St. Paul, the great Apoftle of the Gentiles, he had a Work even more difficult than thofe had who were to contend with Jewish Blindness and Obftinacy. He encountred the wifeft Pagan Philofophers, expos'd the Doctrine he taught to the fevereft Courts of Judicature: In a publick School or Academy, he difputed against all Opponents in the Vindication of Chriftianity and the Author of it. Neither he, nor the rest of the Apostles flighted or undervalued the meaner Sort of People; for they remembred very well, that it was one great Evidence, that the Meffias was come, and that Jefus was that Meffias, that the Gospel was preached to the Poor: Nor did they look upon the more ignorant among them as altogether defperate; but they inftructed them, and preach'd to them openly; fo that the whole inquifitive World might be Judges whether thofe Sins with which they charged, and for which they reprov'd, the World, were fuch as deferv'd fuch. Reproof and Correction or not. By all which we may be fure that the Apoftles and their Companions practic'd none of thofe clandeftine and feducing Arts which others did. They made not their principal Attacks where they found the Defendants weakeft; because the Apoftle lays this down as the diftinguifhing Character of falfe and feducing Teachers, that they creep into Houfes, leading captive filly Women, which he would never have done, had he and his infpired Companions done any thing of the fame Nature themselves. We doubt not but that thofe of the Female Sex have their various Capacities as well as Men; and many among them are able to give an

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Account of, and to defend that Truth they profefs, with all becoming Seriouf.efs and Modefty: But Men of Antichriftian and feducing Spirits care as little to encounter them as the more learned and confiderate of Men. The Apoftle gives thofe Women whom he repre fents, as obnoxious more than others, to those Deceivers a Title which renders them rather lefs than Women: He does not call them ruναῖκες but Γυναικάρια, the meaneft, the moft inconfiderable and foolish of the Sex, as if none but fuch unthinking filly Creatures could be feduced by these buify Seducers. And farther, they are σεσωρευμένα ἁμαρτίαις, quite prefs'd down and over-burthen'd with their Sins, the moft wicked and leud of all others; fuch as have finn'd fo far, that plain Chriftian Truths can give them very little Comfort: Such Women run eagerly after thofe pernicious Deceivers, as thofe who leave a found Phyfician, and one who tells them honeftly how defperate their Condition is, and how little Probability of their Recovery, and fly to Quacks and Empiricks, who promise with one fingle Dofe of theirs to cure them of the most incurable Distempers.

He who confiders thefe Things carefully and impartially, would certainly conclude that the Apoftle prophefy'd of our Times, perillous Days indeed, in which the Emiffaries of Rome, and the Agents of the Separation, both very bufy, and too often in Concert to do Mifchief, practice chiefly upon poor Creatures under the fame unhappy Qualifications; and common Pandars, Bawds and Whores, and the moft fcandalous of Murderers and Villains are

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