SERM. God has given us, we shall entitle ourXVIII, felves to more, and engage God, the Au thor of every good and perfect Gift, to fill all our Capacities of receiving; and then we fhall grow in Grace, and increase in Favour with God and Man, till our patient Continuing in Well-doing has had its perfect Work in our Souls, which God of his Mercy grant for Jefus Christ his Sake, SERMON SERMON XIX, The Fruits of the Spirit. GAL. V. 22, 23. But the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-fuffering, Gentlenefs, Goodness, Faith, Meeknefs, Temperance there is no Law. A against fuch Deut. xxx. 19. S Mofes faid to the Children of I-SERM, rael, I have fet before you Life XIX. and Death, Bleffing and Curfing, r therefore chufe Life, that both thou and thy Seed may live; fo the Apostle St. Paul, in this Chapter, fets forth unto us the contrary Fruits of the Flesh and of the Spirit ; fhews us the Oppofition which is between Cc 2 them SERM. them, to the End that we fhould chufe XIX. the one, and refuse the other. The Works of the Flesh, he tells us, are manifeft, i. e. Ver. 19. fuch as every one may know, such as are Adultery, Fornication, Witchcraft, Variance, Wrath, Strife, &c. but the Fruits of the Spirit are more difficult to be difcerned; it will require fome Care and Diligence to difcern them from counterfeit Graces, and fuch as appear to be like them, though they are not truly fuch. But the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, LongSuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meeknefs, Temperance. Thefe are the chief and principal, but not all the Fruits of the Spirit; they are fufficient to discover to any Man, whether the Spirit of God dwells in him; and, fince all the Graces of the Holy Spirit are fo firmly connected together, by one common Bond, he, who practises one, will practise all the reft: Which that we may be encouraged to perVer. 18. form, the Apoftle adds, Against fuch there is no Law, and, if you be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the Law; agreeable with Rom. viii. that of the fame Apostle, If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body, ye fhall live. Which is as much as to fay, 13. T that that if ye bring forth these Fruits of the SERM Holy Spirit, if ye practife thefe Graces, XIX. ye fhall not lie under the Condemnation of any Law, ye shall not be liable to that Punishment which thofe Perfons expose themfelves to, who give themselves up to the undue Gratification of their fenfual Appetites and Defires. BUT fince there is fome Difficulty in difcerning those Fruits of the Spirit, which are true and genuine, from those which are falfe and counterfeit, I fhall therefore proceed in this Method: I. I SHALL give you a brief Defcription of those Graces which are here called the Fruits of the Spirit. II. I SHALL fhew, why they are called the Fruits of the Spirit. III. FROM both thefe I fhall raise fome plain and practical Inferences. I. I BEGIN, first, with giving a brief Description of thofe Graces which, in the Text, are called, The Fruits of the Spirit. And, THE first which is mentioned is Love, in the Original 'Ayán, Charity, which in the general imports Glory, Honour, and Cc 3 Piety SERM. Piety towards God and Good-will towards XIX. Men; and in this large Senfe it is taken in moft Places of the Holy Scripture: But here it seems to be reftrained within a narrower Compass to Benevolence and Lovingkindness towards our Fellow-Creatures, as being opposed to thofe Fruits of the Flesh, mentioned in the Verfe before the Text, Envyings and Murders, Sins chiefly and principally committed against the second Table. And, in Truth, this Love towards our Neighbour very well deferves to be fet in the firft Place, as being not only the chief and principal, but also the Source and Original of all those other Graces which are here named, as the genuine Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Our Joy, Peace, Long-fuffering, Gentleness, Good nefs, Faith, Meekness, Temperance, all proceed from that Spirit of Love, which the Christian Religion infufes into the Minds and Souls of its Difciples and Profeffors. He that duly and seriously confiders that we have all one Lord and Master, that we are imbarked in one common Intereft, that we have one Faith, one Baptifm, and hope, at laft, to arrive at the fame Place, the Reft and Haven of our Souls; muft needs think it highly reasonable that we should · be |