the maintaining truth and godliness in the face of the world, every man according to his abilities, and according to the station wherein God has placed him: for "since "the conservation of such things as are united is the end "of union, it is evident that we are not to entertain any "union but only with them who may help it forward. If "therefore there be any, who, under colour of the blessed "name of Christ, subvert his doctrine, annihilate his au"thority and our salvation; it is so far from being our "duty to unite ourselves to them, that, on the contrary, "we are obliged to part with them: because, to unite "with them, were in effect to disunite from Christ, and "from his body; and instead of coming to salvation, to "fall into eternal ruin.-Both the discipline of Jesus "Christ, and the laws of civil societies, and even those of "nature itself, permit us to avoid the communion of such as, under any pretence, name, or colour whatever, go "about to destroy and ruin Christianity "."

66

n

Daillé, Apology for the Reformed Churches, p. 4, 5.

THE

DOCTRINAL USE

OF THE

CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS

CONSIDERED;

IN

A CHARGE

DELIVERED TO THE

MIDDLESEX CLERGY,

May 12th, 1736.

A CHARGE

DELIVERED TO THE

MIDDLESEX CLERGY, &c.

REVEREND BRETHREN,

As it hath been customary, upon these occasions, to recommend some important point of Christianity; so I take the liberty to offer to your thoughts, at this juncture, the consideration of the Christian Sacraments. Not that I can have room, in a short discourse, to enter into the heart of the subject: but the time perhaps may permit me to single out some collateral article, of moderate compass, and to throw in a few incidental reflections, tending to illustrate the value and dignity of those Divine ordinances, and to preserve in our minds a just regard and veneration for them.

When we duly consider the many excellent ends and purposes for which these holy Sacraments were ordained, or have been found in fact to serve, through a long succession of ages, we shall see great reason to adore the Divine wisdom and goodness in the appointment of them. They are of admirable use many ways; either for confirming our faith in the Christian religion at large, and the prime articles of it; or for promoting Christian practice in this world; or for procuring eternal happiness in a world to come.

I shall confine my present views to the first particular, the subserviency of the Sacraments to true and sound