what now seems impoffible to them, fhall in a little Time appear poffible; and what is then but poffible, fhall in a little Time more look very probable to be done; and what in these Circumftances is but a bare Probability, fhall in Time be reduced to Act; that is, they fhall at laft really live as they fhould do, and be in actual Poffeffion of that Holiness and Virtue, and that Acceptance with God, which (as their prefent Condition ftands) they now defpair of. And the

29.

Truth of all this is confirmed to us by that memorable Aphorifm of our Saviour, which we find in his Mouth at feveral Times, and upon feveral Occafions: To him that hath, Matt. 25, to him fhall be given, and he shall have in abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath. The plain Senfe of which is no other than this, that every one who well husbands and employs thofe Talents that his Lord hath committed to him to trade with, (as to every Perfon fome Talents are committed, to fome Perfons more, and to others fewer) every one who takes care to employ the Gifts and Powers he hath received from God to a good End, (be they at firft never fo mean and contemptible) fuch a Man fhall have his Stock increated: Tho' he had but a very little at firft, yet in proportion to his good Management, the Bounty of his Lord fhall be enlarged to him, till at laft he fhall have in abundance: But, on the contrary, every

D 4

one

one who hides his Talent in a Napkin, that lets the Powers that God hath given him lie idle and unemployed, that doth not use due Care and Industry for the improving of them, even that which he hath shall be taken from him. God will withdraw all that Strength and Grace, and all thofe Means and Affiftances, that he did at first afford to him.

2. A fecond Thing I take notice of in this Hiftory of Cornelius is, that when God had declared by the Angel that he should have the Gospel of Salvation preached to him, there is a particular Order given, that he fhould fend for Peter to undertake that Ver. 5, 6.Office. Send, fays he, to Joppa, and call for one Simon, furnamed Peter, he fhall tell thee what thou oughteft to do. Why must St. Peter, above all other of the Apostles, be fent for to perform this Work, and especially when he was at fo great a Distance from the Place? That which I obferve from hence is this, that this Circumstance gives us a clear Account of the true Meaning of that Promife which our Saviour made to St. Peter, upon his having made a publick Declaration, that Jefus was the Chrift the Son of God: I fay unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my Church, and the Gates of Hell fhall not preVer. 19. vail against it: And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. The

Matt. 16.

18.

Papifts

Papifts make a world ado with this Paffage, and because the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are here fo particularly made over to St. Peter, they from hence conclude, that he was made Head of the Church, and invefted with a Superiority and Jurifdiction over the rest of the Apoftles, and confequently that his Succeffors, the Popes of Rome, have the fupreme Government of the Christian World. But if we will well confider this Hiftory of Cornelius, and join to it what is reported to us in the 2d Chapter of the Acts, where the Story is told us of St. Peter's preaching to the Jews on the Day of Pentecoft, we shall be fully fatisfied, that it was quite another Privilege than the Headship of the Catholick Church that was promised to St. Peter in thofe Words of our Saviour.

The Kingdom of Heaven (of which our Lord then promised him the Keys) is undoubtedly to be understood of the Kingdom of Chrift in the World, viz. that Church which Chrift there faid he would build, and against which the Gates of Hell fhould not prevail. By the Keys of this Kingdom, muft undoubtedly be understood the Power of admitting Perfons into this Church, and shutting them out of it; for to what other Ufe doth a Key serve, but to open and shut a Lock? Now thefe Keys, tho' they were afterwards given to all the Apostles, and to their Succeffors, yet they are here promised

to

to St. Peter in particular, and by Name; and that, as we grant, for a Reward of his fo clear and noble a Confeffion of Chrift Jefus And we make no doubt neither but that in this Promise there was a particular Privilege conferred upon him, that was not upon the rest of the Apostles. All this we grant. But now what was this Privilege? Was it that he fhould be the Prince of the Apoftles, and his Succeffors Lords of the World? No fuch matter. But only this, that St. Peter, for his generous Acknowledgment of our Lord, fhould have the Honour, by his preaching, to open the Kingdom of Heaven both to the Jews and to the Gentiles; and accordingly we find that God made good this Promife to him in both these Inftances: For to the Jews he opened the Kingdom of Heaven upon the Day of Pentecoft, that very Day on which the Holy Ghost defcended upon the Apostles in a vifible Manner. Then did Peter, being filled with the Spirit, preach fo effectually to the Jews there affembled, that 3000 of them were by that Sermon brought into the Church. And now here again, when God thinks fit that the Doors of the Kingdom of Heaven should be opened to the Gentiles, who is to be employed upon that Work, but the fame St. Peter to whom our Lord had given the Keys? It is exprefly ordered by the Angel, that he, and no other, fhould be fent for to preach the Gofpel to Cornelius,

and

and that by his Means the Gentiles fhould be made Believers, and admitted into the Church of Chrift. And thus did St. Peter exercise his Power of the Keys in opening the Kingdom of Heaven, both to the Jews and to the Gentiles: And thus did Chrift, in a remarkable Manner, make good that which he had fo particularly promised him. But what is this to St. Peter's being Head of the Apoftles, or the Pope of Rome being the Head of the Catholick Church?

3. A Third Observation I make from this Hiftory of Cornelius is this, that it is not enough to entitle any Man to everlasting Salvation, that he practifeth the Duties of Natural Religion, unless he alfo believe and embrace that Religion which God has revealed by Jefus Chrift, fuppofing he has Opportunities of coming to the Knowledge of it. Cornelius, of whom we are treating, was certainly, as far as Natural Religion could carry a Man, as devout and honeft a Perfon, and as acceptable to God upon that Account, as any we can imagine: And God did fo far accept him, as to fend an Angel in pure Kindness to him. But then this Angel's Meffage to him, was not that God did very well approve of the Way that he was in, and that he needed not trouble himfelf farther; but this, that he had done well for a Man in his Circumstances, but if he would farther recommend himfelf to God,