SERMON XLVIII. Preached May 31, 1772. All things are lawful unto me; but all things are not expedient: All things are lawful for SERMON XLIX. Preached July 5, 1772. Ye have heared that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also: And, if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also: And Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own SERMON LIII. Preached Feb. 5, 1775. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, SERMON XXIX. PREACHED MARCH 21, 1773. ACTS xxiv. 24, 25. After certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith of Christ. And, as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go THY WAY FOR THIS TIME; WHEN I HAVE A CONVENIENT SEASON, I WILL CALL FOR THEE. THIS Felix, whose name is become so memorable in the Christian church, had been made Procurator of Judæa by the Emperor Claudius, and continued in that government VOL. VII. during the six or seven first years of Nero: when he was recalled to answer for his oppressive administration before the emperor; who, we are told, would have punished him, according to his deserts, but for the interposition of Pallas, at that time Nero's chief minister. He was, indeed, in all respects a very corrupt and profligate man, as appears from the testimony of Tacitusa and Josephusb; from whom we learn, that he was more especially addicted to the vices of lust and cruelty; both which he exercised in the most audacious manner; vexing the people with all sorts of oppression, and rioting in his excesses, without restraint. Drusilla, too, is represented to us in a light, not much more favourable. For, though a Jewess, and the wife of another man, she had contracted a marriage, or rather lived in adultery with this pagan governor of Judæa; transgressing at once both a moral and positive law of her religion, for the sake of ascending to that honour. One would wonder how persons of this cha-racter should have any curiosity to hear Paul a Annal. xii. c. 54. Hist. v. c. 9. b. Antiq. Jud. L. xx. c. 5. |