SERMON XX.
ON THE INJUSTICE OF THE WORLD TOWARD THE GODLY.
"Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner." — John ix. 24.
What can the purest and most irreproachable virtue expect from the injustice of the worlds seeing it hath formerly found subjects for scandal and censure in the sanctity even of Jesus Christ? If, before their eyes, he work wonderful miracles; if, on this occasion, he restores sight to the blind, the Jews accuse him of being a sabbath-breaker; of working miracles through Beelzebub rather than in the name of the Lord, and of only wishing, through these impostures, to overturn and to destroy the law of Moses; that is to say, that they attack his intentions, in order to render suspicious and to criminate his works.
If he honour with his presence the table of the Pharisees, that he may have an opportunity of recalling and instructing them, he is looked upon as a sinner, and as a lover of good cheer: that is to say, that they make a crime to him of his works, when they find it convenient not to search into the integrity of his intentions.
Lastly. If he appear in the temple, armed with zeal and severity, to avenge the profanations which disgrace that holy place, the zeal with which he is inflamed for the glory of his Father is no longer in their mouth, but an unjust usurpation of an authority which belongs not to him: that is to say, that they exercise themselves in vague and unfounded reproaches, when they have nothing to say against his intentions or his works.
I say, and I say it with sorrow, that the piety of the godly doth not, at present, experience more indulgence amongst us, than the sanctity of Jesus Christ formerly met with in Judea. The pious are become objects of censure and derision to the public; and in an age where dissipation is become so general, where scandalous excesses of every kind furnish such ample matter to the malignity of conversations and censures, favour is liberally shown to all, excepting to virtue and innocence.
Yes, my brethren, if the conduct of the godly be apparently irreproachable, and furnish no materials for censure, you fix yourselves on their intentions which appear not; you accuse them of labouring toward their own purposes, and of having their own particular views and designs.
If their virtue seem to draw nearer to an equality with our own, and sometimes abate from its severity to attach us to God, by an ostensible conformity to our manners and customs; without searching into, or giving yourselves any concern about their intentions, you constitute as a crime in them, the most innocent complaisances, and concessions the most worthy of indulgence.
