_3dly_, Spiritual experiences of the grace of God, have, sometimes, been turned by those who are strangers to them to their reproach and termed no other than madness. Thus when the apostle Paul related the gracious dealings of God with him in his first conversion, Festus charged him with being _beside himself_, Acts xxvi. 24. _4thly_, A person’s being made use of by God, to overthrow the kingdom of Satan, has been charged against him, as though it were rebellion. Thus the Jews tell Pilate, when he sought to release Jesus, _If thou let this man go, thou art not Cesar’s friend_, John xix. 12. and that reformation which the apostles were instrumental in making in the world, by preaching the gospel, is styled, _turning the world upside down_, Acts xvii. 6. _5thly_, Humility of mind in owning our weakness, as not being able to comprehend some divine mysteries contained in the gospel, is reckoned matter of reproach by many, who call it implicit faith, and admitting of the greatest absurdities in matters of religion. _6thly_, Giving glory to the Spirit, as the author of all grace and peace, and desiring to draw nigh to God in prayer, or engage in other holy duties, by his assistance, is reproached by some, as though it were enthusiasm, and they who desire or are favoured with this privilege, were pretenders to extraordinary revelation. _7thly_, A being conscientious in abstaining from those sins which abound in a licentious age, or reproving and bearing our testimony against those who are guilty of them, is reproached with the character of hypocrisy, preciseness, and being righteous overmuch. _8thly_, Separating from communion with a false church, and renouncing those doctrines which tend to pervert the gospel of Christ, is called, by some, heresy. Thus the Papists brand the Protestants with the reproachful name of heretics; to whom we may answer, that this is rather our glory, and confess, that _after the way which they call heresy, so worship we the God of our fathers_, Acts xxiv. 14. This sin is attended with many aggravations; for God reckons it as a contempt cast on himself, Luke x. 16. and it is a plain intimation, that they who are guilty of it, pretend not to be what they reproach and deride in others, who, if they be in the right way to heaven, these discover that they desire not to come hither. And, in their whole conduct, they act as though they were endeavouring to banish all religion out of the world, by methods of scorn and ridicule; which, if it should take effect, this earth would be but a small degree better than hell.