THE whole of this chapter was de­signed by the inspired author of it, to set forth the excellency of faith. He begins with a defini­tion of it, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, &c. and proceeds to bring various instances from the old Testament, wherein those ancient Patriarchs were sup­ported and excited by this divine grace of faith, to do and suffer many excellent things to the advancement of the glory of God, and in obedience to his commands. It was this shining virtue that encouraged Abra­ham, [Page 2] at the command of God, to leave the place of his nativity, and to sojourn in a strange land, which was promised him for a future inheritance. Here, with Isaac and Jacob, he dwelt in tabernacles, as a stranger in the land of promise. These all died in faith, the apostle tells us, not having receiv­ed the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were perswaded that they should afterwards be accomplished. But though these promises were not made good during their life; yet by their ready obedience to the commands of God, their faith and reli­ance on his word, and their confessing that their life on earth was but a pilgrimage, they plainly declared that they sought a country: Yea, saith our text, they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly. Thus you see what connection the text has with what goes before. But I shall consider the words as they are in themselves; and thus they plainly include this

This doctrine naturally divides itself into two parts, which I shall handle distinctly.

[Page 3]I. Heaven is a better country. And,

II. The saints and people of God seek after, and desire it.

1. Heaven is a better country. This I shall attempt to prove by taking a brief sur­vey of the glories of those unseen mansions, and thereby shewing that the excellency, beauty, and happiness of them, infinitely surpass the most splendid and prosperous condition which can be enjoyed in this world. But alas! what a task have I proposed to undertake? What tongue can utter? What pen can describe? Yea, what imagination can comprehend, the transcendent happiness of those blessed regions, where God shines forth with unvailed lustre, displays his un­clouded majesty, and sheds the beams of his beneficence on all that stand around? "Nei­ther eye hath seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entred into the heart of man to con­ceive, the things which God has prepared for them that love him." To describe, or even to conceive those joys, were a task more suited to the capacities of those glori­ous angels who reside in those blissful seats, than for an inhabitant of this lower world.

When we have enlarged our conceptions of their utmost bounds, and taken in all that our narrow understandings can com­prehend, still our ideas fall infinitely short [Page 4] of the truth; still there remains behind, [...] unfathomable portion, of which we can ha [...] no adequate conception, until we arrive [...] those blissful abodes. Even St. Paul, w [...] was caught up into the third heavens, [...] favoured with a view of paradise, he [...] there such unspeakable words, and behe [...] there such transcendent glories, as when [...] came down to earth again, it was impossib [...] for him to utter. But though we cannot [...] present fully comprehend those things, a [...] though it were a faulty curiosity to pry to minutely into the divine mysteries, or [...] pretend to be wise above what is written yet as we hope through Christ's merits [...] arrive at length to this state of felicity, it is very suitable for us to consider it, and acquai [...] ourselves with it, so far as God in his word has been pleased to discover it to us. An [...] this is what with humble reverence I attemp [...] at this time, under the guidance of God's holy word, and I hope, by the assistance o [...] his holy Spirit. "For the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God, and he to whom the spirit shall reveal them."

Heaven, then, is far superior to this world▪ as it is a state of perfect knowledge, perfe [...] purity, and perfect happiness.

1. Heaven is a state of perfect knowledge. Here on earth, as the apostle saith, "w [...] [Page 5] know but in part," our knowledge of things [...]s obscure and imperfect, "but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is imperfect shall be done away." Here, in this world, we are unavoidably ignorant of many things, some are too sublime for our comprehension, some are too distant for our [...]each, and many so rare as not to fall under our observation. We labour under many prejudices and false conceptions, even of such things as daily occur to us, and of which we think we have a perfect knowledge. And [...] for things sublime and spiritual, such as are not gross enough to fall under our senses, we either know nothing about them, or our knowledge of them is very obscure. But in that our happy state, when we shall have bid adieu to these our clayey tabernacles, and shall be divested of our gross corporeal senses, we shall behold all things by immediate in­tuition. We shall have nothing to clog and confine our researches, but our enlarged ca­pacities shall be able fully to comprehend such things as now appear dark and unintel­ligible. Particularly we shall then be blessed with the vision of God, and shall be able per­fectly to comprehend his infinite nature and perfections. "Now we for him but thro' a glass darkly, but then face to face." The scripture assures us that "we shall then with [Page 6] open face behold the glory of God, and shall see him as he is." 1 John 3.2. Here "w [...] walk by faith and not by sight." But the [...] our faith shall be swallowed up in vision, and our hope superseded by fruition. Here w [...] see God only by reflection, as it were, from hi [...] works, but there we shall have an immedi­ate and direct view of him, "and shall know him even as we are known." Again, how many intricacies and mysteries do we daily behold in God's providence, which we can­not now reconcile with his all-holy and per­fect nature, and his concern for the good of man? But in our heavenly state, all these perplexing difficulties will be unfolded and made plain to us; we shall then be enabled to view the whole chain of providence to­gether, to discover the connection of it's se­veral parts, and their dependance upon each other, and perceive that every part, however dubious it might appear alone, is conducive to the good of the whole, and the carrying on of the grand design. There we shall see and acknowledge that it was only our blindness and ignorance that made us imagine any in­consistencies in the divine conduct.

Moreover, it is probable that we shall still know and remember our friends and rela­tives, whose company we took pleasure in whilst on earth: For the soul will retain all [Page 7] it's former ideas and impressions, and the de­lights of conversation will still be continued to us; at least so much of the knowledge of our former state, as is consistent with the purity of the place, and our happiness there, shall remain with us in those heavenly man­sions. From all this we learn that heaven is a better country than the earth, in this re­spect, that the knowledge of glorified spirits so far exceeds the ignorance of mortal men.

2. Heaven is a state of perfect purity and holiness. "There shall in no wise enter in­to it any thing that defileth, or that worketh abomination, or that maketh a lie," as we read in the 21st chapter of the Revelations, the 27th verse. In this world all godly men do mortify their earthly and corrupt affec­tions, and do their utmost to subdue all their perverse appetites, and root out all evil in­clinations. But still there remain some im­perfections and blemishes in the best of men. But when they enter the heavenly world, they shall be freed from every taint of sin, they shall be "cleansed from all fil [...]ness of flesh and spirit," and shall be pure and per­fect like the angels of God, or as the apostle says, like God himself. There, those long­ings and breathings after pure and spotless holiness, which they had in this life, shall be fully gratified. There, there will be nothing [Page 8] to incline or tempt them to any sin or impu­rity: But every thing will be agreable to the pure natures and desires of the inhabitants. There, the flesh will no longer sway them to sin, nor the world intrude on their divine employments. There, satan shall be disarm­ed of his darts, he shall be rendred incapable of tempting any more; and the destroyer himself shall be destroyed. Wherefore,

3. Heaven is a state of perfect joy and happiness. This is the peculiar characteristic of heaven, but cannot be conceived, much less described, by us in our present state; we are only certified of this in general (and this is sufficient to excite our zealous endea­vours to obtain it) that this happiness is great beyond comprehension, that it is free from all allay and interruption, that it will be suited to our capacities, and satisfactory to our desires.

But let us take a more particular view of what may be supposed to constitute the hap­piness of the blessed inhabitants of heaven.

1. They shall be freed from all those evils which attend them here. Men in this life are liable to numberless evils and casualties, fears and torments, which often render life itself a scene of misery and sorrow. But those that shall be counted worthy to enter into that world shall be delivered from all [Page 9] those annoyances. There, "all sickness and death, sorrow and sighing, shall flee away," and uninterrupted peace, joy and satisfaction, shall come in their stead. This is admirably described by St. John, the favourite apostle of our Lord, who was favoured with a vi­sion of this heaven of happiness, this new Jerusalem, whilst here on earth, Revelations 21. chap. 2, 3, and 4 verses. "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, be­hold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: For the former things are passed a­way." It was "sin that brought death into the world and all our woes" and afflictions: Wherefore when sin is thoroughly purged away, (as it will be before we enter upon the joys of heaven) all the dismal train of dis­eases, pains, and death, shall depart with it. So there will be nothing to allay our happi­ness, nothing to molest or discompose us in our tranquil pleasures.

[Page 10]2. Another constituent of the happiness of heaven will be, the enjoyment of God, the adoration of him, and the execution of his pleasure. If good men take pleasure in worshipping God here on earth, and in rendring praises and thanksgivings to his name, how much more when they shall have dropt this vile flesh, and are admitted to adore him in his more immediate presence? In this im­perfect state it is impossible for us to con­ceive or describe the pleasure and happiness which all the glorified saints will receive in the enjoyment of God. Doubtless it will be exceeding great, and worthy the bounteous author of it to bestow. The performance of the divine will, and the celebration of God's goodness and kindness in man's re­demption and salvation, will be inconceiv­ably pleasant to the grateful saints of God. And this pleasure will be heightned and in­creased, by recounting to each other the di­vine mercies, by worshipping God in com­pany, and singing social hallelujahs to him.

This brings me to consider the third ingre­dient of the happiness of heaven, namely,

3. The conversation of angels and spirits of just men made perfect. Man is by na­ture formed for society. He is so consti­tuted as to receive satisfaction and pleasure, from conversation with his fellow creatures. [Page 11] Especially, the saints and people of God here on earth, reap not only much advantage, but great delight and pleasure, from their communion and converse with each other. It is a pleasing entertainment to the true dis­ciples of Jesus, to confer together on holy matters, and jointly to exalt and magnify the glory of God for those manifestations of his love and kindness, which are discovered to us in this our limited state. But how much greater will the mutual pleasure of their conversation be, when they are enabled to behold, at one view, the whole grand scheme of grace, and to recount to each other the mighty and undeserved benefits resulting therefrom? How will they admire God's love, and gratefully bless his name to­gether? This is heaven! This is happiness! Here they will have nothing to interrupt them; no intrusions of the ungodly, no avocations of the world, to disturb them; but they will spend a happy eternity, in mutual fellowship and communion. And this commerce will not only be maintained by them with one another, but also with the holy angels, those ministring spirits, who have interested themselves in man's welfare, and who will now by their divine conversa­tion, augment their joy and happiness. But that we may have a more perfect idea of [Page 12] the happiness of the saints in heaven, let us consider,

4. That after the resurrection and final judgment, the bodies as well as the souls of the righteous shall participate in the heaven­ly bliss. Their bodies, I say; not such vile and corruptible bodies as they are laid in the grave, but they will then undergo a most glorious change. We learn from the apo­stle Paul, that when Christ shall come, "he shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Phil. 3.21. Flesh and blood, says the apostle, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Our bodies in their present gross and mortal state, are not susceptible of that happiness, which is to be enjoyed in the presence of God; the effulgence of God's glorious presence will be too bright and dazzling for mortal eyes. We cannot in these bodies see God's face and live. But at the resurrection, the bodies of saints will be so altered as to be made capable of enjoying a pure, and never­fading felicity, with God their Creator, Re­deemer, and Sanctifier. This change of the body to be raised, is thus set forth by the apostle, 1 Cor. 15.42. It is sown in cor­ruption, it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: [Page 13] It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spi­ritual body. That is, it shall be so purified and refined from all the dregs of matter, that it will deserve the denomination of a spi­rit, rather than of an ordinary body. These bodies of ours are liable to accidents and diseases, to corruption and decay; but at the resurrection, "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." They shall be freed from every destructive quality, and shall be ren­dred active and vigorous, so as to be no im­pediment to the free operation of the soul. Agreable to which our Saviour says, that the saints at the resurrection, shall be as the angels of God in heaven. Mat. 22.30. The bo­dies of the righteous being thus refined, and their souls purified from all the remainders of sin, they shall be admitted to dwell with the Lord both in soul and in body for ever. And,

5. The happiness which they shall there enjoy, shall be full and satisfactory; which cannot be said of any earthly happiness.

Here in this world we constantly imagine ourselves destitute of something, which we esteem requisite to our compleat felicity; and [...] creates uneasiness and discontent. But in heaven our whole capacities of enjoy­ment will be filled, and every desire will be [Page 14] satisfied. And though there will be degree of glory and rewards in heaven, (as may b [...] argued from many places of scripture) yet this does not hinder but that each one's hap­piness shall be perfect. For every one will be happy according to their several capaci­ties of enjoyment. So that nothing shall be wanting to any one to constitute the greatest happiness which he is capable of enjoying. A difference of rewards is evident hence, Holiness is a qualification, yea, and a necessary ingredient of happiness. Wherefore as there are different degrees of holiness in this life, so there must of necessity be different degrees of happiness in the next. More­over, the felicity of any state will be greatly increased, by a person's entring upon it from a state of adversity and unhappiness. The comparing their former with their present state, much enhances the value of the latter. Wherefore such saints as have been perse­cuted and hardly used o [...] [...]th, will more sensibly feel the vastness and worth of the heavenly enjoyments. Mat. 5.12. Blessed are ye, says our Saviour, when men shall revile you, and persecute you; rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven. But this difference does not hinder (as I said before) but that the happi­ness of all shall be complete, and propor­tioned to their desires and capacities.

[Page 15]6. and lastly. To crown all that has been said, of the happiness of the just, in the king­dom of heaven, let us consider that this hap­piness shall be eternal. The felicity which they shall enjoy in God's presence, shall ne­ver have an end. Whence it is so frequent­ly called in scripture by the name of eternal life, and everlasting life; (instances of which are numberless.) This is necessary to the perfection of the heavenly felicity. If the saints there were in continual apprehension of having an end put to their happiness, how would it damp their joys, and lessen their pleasure? But on the contrary, it adds a new relish to their enjoyments to be ascer­tain'd that they will be immutable, and inter­minable, that they will endure for myriads of ages, and then, be no nearer ending than at first. We cannot now form to ourselves an adequate idea of this endless duration. Our finite understandings cannot compre­hend infinity. But that the heavenly re­wards are perpetual, and without end, is a­bundantly evident from the word of God. St. Peter assures the saints to whom he wrote, that there is an inheritance incorruptible, un­defiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them. 1 Pet. 1.4. The things which are seen, and which we now enjoy, are temporal and vanishing; but the things [Page 16] which are not seen, & which shall succeed this transitory state, are never-ending and eternal▪ Thus I have given you some faint descripti­on of the matchless glories, and unparallell'd happiness of the heavenly kingdom: But how weak are all descriptions compared with the joys themselves! The representation which I have made of them, bears but a faint resem­blance of the reality. I have endeavour'd, a [...] far as my reason, and the word of God would conduct me, to decypher this happiness to you [...] And what I have said is sufficient to call forth our strongest desires and most zealous en­deavours, to attain these glorious rewards. That which is beyond the comprehension of our present faculties, we must patiently leave, until God shall see fit, of his abundant grace, and through the merits of Christ, to call us (after we have done o [...] utmost to qualify ourselves) to the possession of those transcendent enjoyments. We shall then doubtless be ready to say, as the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, Behold the half was not told us! The glories and excellencies, which we now behold, far exceed the utmost that we ever heard or conceived of them.

I now proceed according to my first pro­posed design briefly to consider the second part of the doctrine contained in the text, namely,

[Page 17]II. That the saints and people of God desire, and strive after heaven, that better country. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly. This life they esteem but a pilgrimage, or journey to another. They find nothing in this world worthy to engage their supreme affections: Nothing that is able to satisfy the desires of a rational and immortal soul. They look down on all these worldly vanities with in­difference, and soar aloft to those blessed re­gions of glory, where are transcendent re­wards prepared for them. Thus they de­sire and seek after heaven.

1. As their thoughts and conversation center in that blessed place. The pleasures of a virtuous course, the pleasures to be found in the service of God, and the glorious end of their godly race, are continually in their thoughts. They are constantly meditating on heaven, and the rewards that God has there prepared for them that love him. Heaven is the object of their contemplations, and it is this that influences them, in all their acti­ons. So that "their conversation is in hea­ven," whilst they dwell here on earth. All their words and speeches evidently manifest their heavenly temper, and shew their ar­dent love to God, and their pious endea­vours to please him. From these they de­rive [Page 18] a most sublime and god-like pleasure; living in a consciousness of the favor of God here, and a comforting and well-grounded hope of his approbation in the world to come.

2. The desires and affections of the godly are aimed at heaven. God and Christ are the objects of their love, they therefore often ardently wish to depart hence, that they may be with Christ which is far the best of all; with that mighty saint and holy apostle Paul, they know that when their earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, they have a building with God, an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. And there­fore for this they groan earnestly, desiring to be cloathed upon with their house which is from heaven. 2 Cor. 5.12. They are wil­ling, and chuse rather to be absent from the body, to cast off this vile body with all it's sinful instigations, with all it's pains and sor­rows, miseries and disquiets, and to be pre­sent with the Lord, to behold his glory, and worship in his presence through eternal ages. Though they enjoy here the blessings of a composed mind, and peaceful conscience, yet they feel that their happiness on earth is in­complete. Tho' to them, to live be Christ, yet to die will be still greater gain. This causes them to despise all earth's unsatisfying enjoyments, and excite their longings and breathings after heaven.

[Page 19]3. Not only their thoughts and affections are placed on heaven, but all their actions likewise are ordered with a view to the ob­taining of those glorious rewards. This is the principle of their conduct, this the spring from whence their actions flow, and the ob­ject at which they aim. Those who are thus heavenly disposed, will be careful "to deny ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and to live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present evil world," knowing that these are necessary qualifications for their admittance into heaven. It is not a vain and fruitless wishing to enjoy heaven, nor a bare assent to the truths of the gospel, that will procure an entrance into those blissful mansions. But all that hope for admittance there, must be careful to live a godly life, and to practice all those duties that are required in the gos­pel, as evidences of their being in a state of justification and salvation. Belief is in order to practice, and the one is vain without the other. All therefore who are truly pious, and who sincerely strive after heaven, are careful so to order their conversation here, as to be qualified for happiness hereafter. And thus must all do, that desire to be godly. Thus I have shewn, that it is the character of the saints, to desire and strive after hea­ven. All that now remains for me to do, [Page 20] is to draw some useful and practical infer­ences from the whole.

Inference 1st. Hence we see the vanity of this world, and it's insufficiency to make us happy. Though a man be possessed of all the good things of this life: Though he have attain'd to the highest pitch of affluence, and is dignified with all the honour and power his ambition could crave: Though he have riches unnumbered, and all worldly pleasures at his command; yet with these only, how far is he from happiness? There still remains some void in his breast, some desire which these things are not able to satisfy. Besides, these outward things are fading and transi­tory, they vanish like a shadow and leave no trace behind them. And tho' they should be continued to a man as long as his frail and brittle life lasts, yet how short is that? What a poor compensation will these fleeting and unsatisfactory pleasures make for the loss of happiness to all eternity? It becomes us therefore to draw off our affections from the things of this world, & place them on heaven; to look upon this life as a journey to another; to be indifferent to the things of earth, and to shew by all our actions that we are aiming at a better country, even a heavenly one.

2. The consideration of those bright and glorious rewards, prepared for the just in [Page 21] heaven, should excite our thankfulness, and draw forth our praises to God, for such un­merited goodness.

We by our sins have subjected ourselves to the curse of God's broken law, and it had been no breach of justice in him, to have per­mitted the eternal punishment, annexed to the violation of it, to have fallen upon us. But blessed be his name, he has not left us to our own ruin; he has promised us par­don upon our repentance; the assistance of his Spirit upon our weak endeavours; and eternal life upon our perseverance in good­ness. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son to die for us, to procure for us the pardon of our sins, and to open to us the gates of hea­ven. O let God's love and mercy to us, en­kindle our love to him: And let us manifest our gratitude, by our praises and thanksgiv­ings; and not only so, but by embracing those offers of grace, by performing the will of God, and laying hold on eternal life.

3. This thought, that there is a crown of glory prepared in heaven for the godly, which God the righteous judge will shortly bestow upon them, should serve to support them under all the pressures and calamities of life.

Though their circumstances be low in the world, though they be destitute of the comfort­able enjoyments in this life, though they be [Page 22] exercised with pains and afflictions, and tho' suffer persecution from the ungodly, yet let them consider that they shall shortly be freed from them, that they shall soon be admitted to the rewards of their sufferings, and the hap­piness of heaven, which will even be aug­mented by them. With these thoughts let them comfort themselves, and possess their souls in patience. For I reckon, saith the a­postle, that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Those who die in the Lord shall rest in their labours. The grave will be to the godly a place of quiet: There the wicked cease from troubling: There the weary are at rest. There the pri­soners rest together, they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master, as Job elegantly expresses it, 3d chap. 17, 18, and 19 verses. Surely then they have no reason to complain or to be impatient under the evils of this life, since they will be so very short, and will be followed with such great and inconceivable rewards. Especially when the apostle tells them, that "these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Cor. 4.17. By thus quietly submitting to the troubles and [Page 23] crosses of life, we imitate our blessed master, "who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame." But to proceed,

4. From what has been said, of the purity and holiness of heaven, we learn the necessity of our being holy here, in order to our be­ing happy there. Such as are pure in heart, and only such, shall inherit the kingdom of God. "Without holiness, says the apostle, no man shall see the Lord." Wherefore if we ever would get to heaven, we must, thro' the aids of the divine Spirit, renounce all our carnal affections, subdue all our depraved ap­petites and inclinations, mortify all our lusts and corruptions, and cleanse ourselves from all impurities of thought, word and deed. This, in the very nature of the thing, is re­quisite to make us capable of enjoying the happiness of heaven. For if we should sup­pose a wicked man to be admitted into hea­ven, in the temper with which he left the earth, with all his grovelling desires, and carnal affections about him; heaven itself would be no heaven to him. He would have no relish for the sublime and spiritual joys of that place. He would take no pleasure in the fellowship of God, whose nature is so opposite to his. And the society of the just would afford him no delight: For they be­ing [Page 24] sanctified, and purified from all filthiness, their conversation and employment will be wholly about things pure and spiritual, and so will afford no satisfaction to the impure desires, and carnal propensions of a wicked man. In fine, he would find there nothing suited to his depraved taste, nothing to gra­tify his corrupt inclinations, and so he would properly be in hell, though in the mansions of the blessed. Thus we see it is not so much the place itself, as the temper of the inhabitants, that constitutes the happiness of heaven. So that if we ever expect to enjoy happiness in heaven, we must acquire a hea­venly temper here below: The latter is both a natural, and moral qualification for the former; a natural, as it fits us for enjoying this happiness, and a moral, as it is required by God as a condition of our being admit­ted to it.

5. This doctrine affords us ample encou­ragement, to zeal and faithfulness in the ser­vice of God. There is an ample reward offer­ed to them that do well, no less than an eter­nity of happiness. This will be conferred on all the true servants of Christ; and such as have most distinguished themselves in serving God and doing good, to their brethren, shall be blessed with a more distinguishing re­ward. Wherefore let us with a holy emu­lation, [Page 25] strive to outvie each other in our re­ligious course. Let us struggle, and strive with all our might, diligently to do God's will, that great may be our reward in hea­ven. More especially let us do all the good we can to the souls of men, let us do our ut­most to procure the salvation of our bre­thren; resting assured, that after the resur­rection, They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. Dan. 12.3.

Finally. Let us (as we have heard that the people of God do) long and seek after this heavenly country. Let us soar above the tri­fling pleasures of this world, and fix our minds on heaven the habitation of God. Let us always keep heaven in our eye; let our su­preme affections be placed on this; and let all our actions tend to this. Let us improve the price put into our hands. Let us seize the present opportunity, and lay hold on e­ternal life: Let us live as those that expect a future bliss: Let us consecrate our lives, our faculties, and all that we are [...], to the service of our Creator, and the [...]ful author of our happiness. And then when Christ shall adjudge to every one his due re­ward, we shall be admitted into his presence, where is fulness of joy, and shall be seated at his right hand, where dwell pleasures for ever­more. [Page 26] Where our happiness shall be com­plete, and shall perpetually endure, without intermission and without end.

Thus, my Brethren, I have given you the first fruits of my labours. Since you are at present by a particular providence of God des­titute of a teacher; I thought it my indispen­sible duty, no longer to decline your repeated importunities, but to supply the place of your sick pastor, that you might as usual worship God in his house, in a social manner. I intreat you to hear and judge with candour and chri­stian charity, in consideration of my youthful age. My will is good to edify and save your souls, however deficient my abilities may be. I beg your earnest prayers for me at the throne of divine grace, that God would afford me his merciful aid and assistance, that I may increase in grace, as well as in learning; that from these weak and faint beginnings, I may rise to greater & greater perfection, and may be qualified for eminent usefulness in that sa­cred & important office in which I have now engaged▪ [...]ay God grant that I may be an inst [...] [...] in his hands of converting sinners, edi [...] [...]g saints, and promoting his cause and kingdom in the world. And that I may have the spirit of holiness dwelling in me, that whilst I preach to others I my self may not be a castaway.

THERE is no question of so great importance for a rational and im­mortal soul to ask, as that of the Jailor, "What shall I [...] to be saved?" This is the grand study, and en­quiry of every pious and understanding man; being that, on the right resolving of which an eternity of happiness depends. It was to clear up this important point, that the Son [Page 28] of God himself came down from heaven; and by his doctrines, precepts, and example, pointed out the only effectual way, whereby mankind can escape the pollutions of the world, and attain the regions of eternal bliss. And in order to the instruction of after ages, he has left behind him the sacred records of his will, written by holy men under the di­rection and inspiration of his blessed Spirit, that none might be ignorant of the way of salvation, wrought out and revealed by him. "Thus has Christ Jesus abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel." Mankind being sinners, there ap­pears no way to unassisted reason, whereby God can, consistent with the honor of his perfections and laws, overlook their trans­gressions, and receive them into favour and happiness with himself. But in consulting the gospel revelation, how are we surprised to find, that God has in infinite wisdom con­trived, and in infinite mercy revealed and executed a plan of grace, whereby all his glo­rious attributes shine unsullied, and yet man­kind is put into a capacity of obtaining eter­nal salvation.? For "God so loved the world as to send his only begotten Son," &c. This is an undeserved favour. The free gift of God—as is declared by the apostle in the text. By grace are ye saved, &c.

[Page 29]The apostle begins this chapter by shew­ing the Ephesians what a deplorable situation they were in, before they were quickned by divine grace. He describes them as "dead in trespasses and sins—walking according to the course of this world, and according to the prince of the power of the air—having their conversation in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind—and being by nature children of wrath." " But" proceeds the apostle, "God who is rich in mercy, for his great love where­with he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickned us together with Christ, has raised us up, and has made us sit toge­ther in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." So that it was owing to the free grace of God alone, that they were renewed in the temper of their minds, and from a state of exposed­ness to the divine wrath, and eternal death, were brought into a state of salvation. This is more fully declared in the text, wherein we are told, that the salvation of believers is of the free grace of God, and that the qua­lification herefor on their part, is faith in Jesus Christ. From the words I shall at­tempt these three things.

• I. To shew that it is of the free grace of God alone that any are saved.
• [Page 30]II. That this salvation is obtained only through faith in Jesus Christ. And,
• III. Shew how or in what sense this faith is said to be the gift of God.

1. I am to shew that it is of the free grace of God alone that any are saved. By grace are ye saved, &c. It was the unconstrained benevolence of the divine nature, that pub­lished the tenders of mercy, and made eter­nal life obtainable by us. It is a free and un­sollicited favour, to which God had no ex­traneous motives or excitements, nothing but his benevolence and good will. "He first loved us," and that when by sin we had re­belled against him. We being sinners and could do nothing to call forth the divine mercy, there was nothing in us but our mis­ery to move his pity and compassion. Our justification therefore and salvation is often called by St. Paul, "the free gift." Which seems at first sight in some measure to op­pose or interfere with this, are the satisfacti­on of Christ, and the doings of our own? But neither of these destroy the freeness of God's grace in our salvation. For,

1. Though it is granted that Christ made full atonement for our offences, and so paid down our ransom for us, yet nevertheless it is of the free grace of God that we are justi­fied and saved. For it was God himself that [Page 31] provided a Saviour for us. From motives of love and kindness only, he gave this unspeak­able gift of a redeemer to the world, that there­by he might shew mercy to us consistent with the honour of his perfections. So that the mediation of Christ, and all that he did and suffered for us, is to be considered only as the means made use of by God in ex­ecuting his scheme of mercy, and not as the motive that prompted him to shew mercy to man: It is not the cause, but the fruit and consequence of the exertion of his free and undeserved grace and favour towards us. It is thus that the scriptures represent the matter. "In this was manifested the love of God to­wards us, because that God sent his only begot­ten Son into the world, that we might live thro' him." "Christ who knew no sin was" by the gracious appointment of God "made sin for us," the chastisement of our peace was on him, and by his stripes we are heal­ed. God was in no way obliged to provide a surety to bear the punishment of our sins, and discharge our debts for us; neither was he obliged, when a redeemer freely offered himself to suffer for us, to accept of his suffer­ings as satisfaction for our offences. So that the mission of Christ was of free grace, his undertaking the office of mediator was of free grace, and God's accepting his merits [Page 32] and sufferings for the justification of believ­ers, is likewise of free grace. Hence as the apostle says, we are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God:—That he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Rom. 3.24, 25, and 26. So far then is the satis­faction and meritorious sufferings of Christ from infringing the free grace of God in our justification, that it is the greatest instance of his free and undeserved love towards us. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4.10.

2. Neither is the free grace of God any ways lessened, by any works of holiness per­formed by men, to qualify themselves for the saving gift. The apostle Paul is very earnest in affirming and proving that no man can be justified by any deeds of his own, done in conformity to the law. If indeed any man had fully answered the demands of the law, so as to stand justified and uncon­demned, when that is made the standard of judgment, then "the reward would justly be reckoned, not of grace but of debt:" He [Page 33] might claim the reward as his due. But this is not the case. There is no one but has transgressed the law, and so subjected him­self to it's curse. For the law is very strict and peremptory in pronouncing "every one cursed that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." But as many as are under the law and expect justification by it, are under the curse. For, says the apostle, "all are gone out of the way—there is none righteous, no not one." Agreable to which saith the wise man, "There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not." Since therefore all mankind have rendred but a very imperfect obedience to the divine law, and consequently are under the curse of it, they cannot be justified by it. For the law cannot condemn a man as a transgressor, and at the same time vindicate him as righteous. So that it must be by the free grace of God, through the redemption of Jesus Christ, that any man is justified and saved; since all that we do merits no reward, but leaves us still debtors to the law. Not by works of righ­teousness that we have done, saith the apostle, but according to his mercy be saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, be­ing [Page 34] justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3.5, 6, 7. It would reflect highly o [...] the divine wisdom in consulting a redeemer, and would destroy the necessity of any me­diator, to suppose that we by any works of ours, could claim the divine acceptance. For "if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." "Then faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect." For the promise of justification to those that believed in Christ, and depended on his righ­teousness alone herefor, would be vain and useless, could we be justified by the law, in consequence of any deeds of ours done is conformity to it. But since it is impossible that any should make void the promises or designs of God, it is evident, that it is of the free and abundant grace of God alone that any of the sinful children of men are justified and saved. Indeed it is not only on account of our being debtors to the law, that we an saved by grace, but the same divine grace would be exercised in our salvation were we free from the law. For suppose a man should render perfect obedience to the divine law, and not transgress it, in one single point, yet still he would merit nothing; and hav­ing done no more than his duty, separa [...] from the divine promise, he would [...] [Page 35] entitled to no reward. Justification indeed be might claim as his due: For he being really righteous, deserves to be esteemed and vindicated as righteous. Wherefore though such a one could not be looked upon as guilty in the sight of God, and consequently not liable to punishment; yet separate from the promise of God, who has connected justifica­tion with salvation, and has said that "whom he justifies, them he also will glorify," se­parate from this I say, he would not be en­titled to eternal life in heaven. If then the bestowment of eternal happiness on man would be of grace, even if he perfectly an­swered the demands of the law, what super­abounding grace is exerted in saving any, when "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God?" But I proceed to consider,

II. The grand qualification requisite in those who shall obtain salvation. By grace are ye saved thro' faith." It is only thro' faith therefore that salvation is obtained. In the justification of a person by which he is put into a state of salvation, there are three things requisite, grace, Christ & faith. The free grace of God is the prime or im­pulsive cause of man's salvation; the righ­teousness of Christ is the sole meritorious cause; and faith in him, is the qualification [Page 36] required in those that receive this salvation, and is that by which alone the righteousness of Christ is imputed to any for justification.

Faith, in the simple notion of it, is an assen, or persuasion of the mind relating to any truth upon the testimony of others. The object of christian faith is the revealed word of God, especially the gospel of Christ and his apostles. It is, as the apostle phrases it, "the belief of the truth as it is in Jesus." But all that believe Christ and his gospel, are not possessed of saving faith. When our Saviour preached to the Jews at Bethany, "many of the chief rulers believed on him:" But they still remained in a state of condem­nation, and loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. John 12.43. And such is the faith of many professing christians at this day. It is historical & speculative only; it is the result of education, rather than a se­rious and pious confidence in the testimony of God, and does but faintly affect their hearts, and influence their actions. It may rather be said of them, that they do not dis­believe the gospel, or do not concern them­selves about it, whether it be true or not, than that they have a positive belief of it, or a firm persuasion of the truth of those im­portant matters contained in it. But he who is the subject of saving faith, hath a realizing [Page 37] and affecting view of spiritual things. He receives the truths of the gospel, "not as the word of man but as the word of God," and relies on Christ alone for salvation. The eyes of his understanding being enlightned, he is enabled to view divine truths in their spirituality and importance, as what intimate­ly concern him, and ought suitably to affect him. The natural product of this faith is love to God, and delight in his worship and obedience. It is a faith that works by love, and purifies the heart. It is a faith that o­vercometh the world; so as that the subject of it is not conformed unto this evil world, but is transformed by the renewing of the holy Ghost, and created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. For whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, says the apostle John, is born of God: And whosoever is born of God sinneth not, does not allow himself in known transgressions, but keepeth himself, and is careful to conform his conversation to the example of Christ, and the precepts of the gospel.

Thus the true christian faith, or that faith which justifies and saves, is such a firm and realizing persuasion of the truth of the gos­pel, as powerfully influences the heart and affections, and disposes to a chearful compli­ance with all the divine commands. Such [Page 38] was the faith of Abraham, the father of the faithful, who "by faith, when he was called to go out unto a place which he should after­wards receive for an inheritance, obeyed." And such was the faith of all the ancient Patriarchs, as the apostle to the Hebrews shews at large;—and this is the faith which the apostle James shews to be necessary to our justification. We are not justified by a dead and unactive faith, but by such a faith as is a lively and powerful principle of holy actions, as exerts and evidences itself by good works, as is declared in the 2d chapter of St. James's epistle. St. Paul likewise assures us, that all, whatever their belief is, "who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power." 2 Thess. 1.9. Works of obe­dience then, or the blessed fruits of faith, are the best and only sure evidence by which the faith of God's elect, may be discerned from the faith of such as remain in an unjustified state. And that faith in this view of it, is the con­dition on which the saving benefits of Christ's mediation are conferred upon us, or the qua­lification required in order to our being justi­fied before God, and admitted to eternal life, is evident from scripture, and from the na­ture of the thing. John 3.36. He that [Page 39] believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. In the Greek it is, "he that obeyeth not the Son," without which none does truly and savingly believe. It is necessary that mens hearts should be purified by faith, be­fore they can be fitted for the holy enjoyments of heaven. By faith they realize things not seen, conquer the world in their affections, and look supremely at God and heaven:— It is through faith then that any are saved. But here lest we mistake, it is necessary that we make a proper distinction. Though be­lievers only are justified and saved; yet their believing is not the meritorious cause of their salvation. It is not for the sake of any thing that the person is or has, that he is acquitted from guilt, and admitted into favour and happiness with God: But the reward pro­ceeds wholly from the free grace of God, and is conferred solely on account, or in consideration of the righteousness wrought out by Jesus Christ. Faith is to be under­stood as subordinate to these. For if we rely on our faith as that in the sole virtue of which we shall be justified and saved, or as the con­sideration entitling us to these, we do as truly make void the grace of God, and the death of Christ, as if we relied on the merit of our [Page 40] works to save us. Unerring wisdom has seen fit to constitute his plan of mercy, as that the saving benefits of redemption should be conferred only on such as believe on him; not because their faith has any merit or ten­dency in itself to procure these benefits; but because it is most suitable to the honor of his majesty, to confer them on such as believe on, and trust in, the proffer'd Saviour, rather than on such as despise and reject him. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." I proceed now to consider the

IIId and last thing proposed from the text, viz. To shew how, or in what sense this faith is said truly and properly to be the gift of God. But here by the way, I would just re­mark, that this last part of the text is ex­pressed somewhat ambiguously (as well in the original as in our translation) and accor­dingly expositors differ in their interpretation of it. Some [as Poole, Clarius, &c.] refer the last words, "it is the gift of God," to the whole preceeding sentence: "By grace ye are sav­ed," &c.—and so understand it, that salva­tion is the gift of God.—Others again [as Henry, Grotius, Burkitt, &c.] refer it to the substantive immediately foregoing, and sup­pose that what the apostle designed to affirm, [Page 41] was, that the faith through which we are saved, is the gift of God. I shall prefer the latter sense as it is the common acceptation, and as it is agreable to what this same apo­stle, who is the best interpreter of his own meaning, says in another place, Phil. 1.29. "Unto you it is given, to believe on him." So that what I have to enquire into is, how this faith by which we are justified and sav­ed, is the gift of God; or in what sense it is properly said to be the gift of God? To this I answer—

1. Negatively. Faith is not so the gift of God, as to prevent or set aside the ne­cessity of all endeavours of our own to obtain it. It is very plain from the whole tenor of scripture, from the exhortations, commands, promises and threatnings, which are found in almost every page, especially of the new Testament. It is very evident from these, I say, and will appear so to every one, that peruses them, with a careful and impartial eye, that we are not to sit idle and indulge ourselves in sin, 'till God shall see fit to in­spire us with this saving virtue; but that we are to be up and doing, exercing ourselves and faculties in the use of those means, which God has appointed to fit us, for the bestow­ment of his grace and spirit, and by which alone he ordinarily communicates them.— [Page 42] Why else are we so often called upon to be­lieve, repent, &c. and threatned with aggra­vated damnation if we comply not? Why does he not rather say to us, as to the Isra­elites at the red, sea, " Stand still, & see the sal­vation of the Lord?" This were more pro­per and suitable language to be addressed to us, if there is nothing for us to do preparatory to, or in concurrence with, the saving work of the Spirit in our souls, than that which we find in the new Testament, "Repent and believe the gospel—and he that believeth not shall be damned—He that hath ears to hear, let him hear—Consider the mighty works and miracles wrought among you, & be per­suaded by them to believe on me, otherwise it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of judg­ment, than for you—strive to enter into the strait gate;" and innumerable other texts of like import. When the Jailor in conster­nation besought Paul & Silas, what he should do to be saved, they did not tell him that he had nothing to do but sit still, 'till God should work faith in him; but their answer was, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." So when Simon the sor­cerer by his avaritious and mercenary dispo­sition proved himself to be "in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity." The a­postle [Page 43] in order that he might be extricated from this woful state, does not advise him to [...]dolence and inactivity, and a contempt of the instituted means, as of no avail with God; but he directs him to "repent of this his wickedness, and to pray to God, if perhaps the thought of his heart might be forgiven him." Let us now see whether the apostles in this respect taught any thing different from what their great Lord and master taught before them. In the 6th chapter of John at the 27th verse, we find our blessed Saviour exhorting the people to "labour for the meat that endures unto everlasting life." On which some of his surrounding audience pro­pose to him this question, "What shall we do that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered, "This is the work of God," or this is the work which God requires of you, "that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Now if God in the bestowment of faith supersedes all human exertions, why does Christ mention it as a work required of them? Why does he not rather say, This is what God requires of you, that you wait in carnal indolence and sloth, 'till you receive the irresistible impulse of the spirit of grace begetting faith in your hearts? Thus it ap­pears according to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, that it is not only the duty of [Page 44] holy and regenerated persons, to attend [...] the means of grace in order to the increasing their faith, but that it is also the duty of such as are not as yet subjects of saving faith, [...] be zealous and industrious in the use of th [...] same instituted means, in order to the beg [...] ting this faith in them. "Of his own w [...] begat he us, with the word of truth." Th [...] we cannot by our own strength conve [...] ourselves, or work a saving faith in o [...] souls, is an established undoubted truth. I [...] is to God's grace and not to themselves th [...] any are indebted for this blessed work. B [...] though without Christ we can do nothing, y [...] with him we can. "I can do all things, [...] saith the apostle, "through Christ strength [...] ning me." The operation and assistance [...] the spirit with us, the scripture makes an ar­gument why we should work out our salva­tion, namely, because it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. And this is sufficient encouragement for us to work, since we know that o [...] labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. But faith, say you, is the gift of God.—Very true.—But how is this gift conferred? Or in what way is it communicated to us? The apostle will resolve this question for us, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." We are considered by [Page 45] God as moral and accountable agents, as beings endued with understanding and will; and God requires that we make use of our rational faculties in matters of religion and faith. Otherwise what need have we of any written revelation at all, if the belief of di­vine truths is wrought in us wholly by the more compendious way of divine illumina­tion? Particularly, of what use are the many miracles wrought in confirmation of christi­anity, if not to convince us by rational evi­dence? It is on these that Christ himself rests the ground of our faith on him. "If I do not the works of my father, says he, believe me not; but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the father is in me, and I in him." John 10.37, 38. Why is it so frequently recorded of the apostles that they reasoned with their hearers, proving from the scriptures, &c. that Jesus was the Christ, if faith is wrought in us by the Spirit without the use of our own faculties and powers? If we are not to apply our diligence to reading and hearing the word, and to weigh in our minds the proofs offered for our rational convicti­on, the multitude of miracles wrought by Christ and his apostles, were to no end, and the works themselves, as well as the records of them, are wholly superfluous. But this [Page 46] cannot be. Besides, if there is nothing lest for us to do, how do we incur so great gui [...] by not believing? And how shall we qui [...] God of injustice, when he says, "He that believeth not shall be damned?" If there is nothing required of us, we cannot certainly merit eternal punishment for doing nothing.

Moreover, that we may farther see the consistency between human endeavours, and the assertion in the text, let us consider, that God is said in scripture to be the giver, not only of faith, but of every good and perfect gift. Our corn and wine, and whole bodily sustenance, are as truly the gifts of God, as faith and other spiritual gifts. But as God does not in the ordinary course of his pro­vidence, confer these temporal gifts, but thro' human industry in the use of the means a­dapted to obtaining them, so also it is with the gifts of the spirit. They are not ordi­narily conferred but only on such as are in­dustrious to refrain from sin, and to please God in the ways of his appointment. Not but that God sometimes is "found of them that seek him not," as well in the obtaining of spiritual as of temporal favours. Thus it was with St. Paul, and many others in his day, and perhaps some in our's too. But as both scripture and experience abundantly testify, that this is not the ordinary way of [Page 47] God's dealing with men, we have no right or reason to expect the spiritual gifts of God, without the use of our own faculties and en­deavours. Nay this would be as absurd, as for a man who is desirous of getting an e­state, to fit still and wait for some extraor­dinary interposition of providence in his fa­vour. As some have been wrought upon, and converted by God, exclusive of all pre­vious endeavours, or wishes of their own, so some have grown rich exclusive of their own pains and foresight: And both of them are extraordinary, and out of the common course of God's dealings with men. But I proceed in the

2d Place, to shew, positively, how this faith by which any are justified and saved, is truly and properly the gift of God. This I shall do in two or three particulars. And,

1. It is God that gave the object of faith, viz. Christ and his gospel. He who delights in the good and happiness of his creatures, so soon as man had fallen and forfeited his favour, was pleased of his free and unsollici­ted benevolence, to enter into a new cove­nant with him, and constitute a mediator, through whom he might be just and yet the justifier of those that should believe in him. An early promise of this God gave to Adam, immediately after the fall, "that the seed of [Page 48] the woman should bruise the serpent's head▪ This glorious Advocate and Redeemer [...] shadowed out by many types and figure under the mosaic dispensation, and was pro­phetically described by the prophets of th [...] old Testament, under the inspiration of th [...] Spirit of God. At last when the fulness o [...] time came, the Messiah appeared on earth, and by his meritorious sufferings he purge away our sins on the cross, and by the stri [...] and holy obedience of his life, perfectly an­swered the demands of the law; that so "the righteousness of God might be by faith in Jesus Christ, unto all, and upon all them th [...] believe." Moreover, it is God that dictated and revealed the gospel, which contains the doctrines of the christian faith, and the duti [...] of the christian life.

All this was done without any concur­rence, sollicitation or endeavours, on the part of man. As God therefore gave Christ, and his gospel, to be believed by man, he may truly and justly be said, to be the giver of the christian faith.

2. God is the giver of faith, as he is the author of those arguments which were de­signed to convince and persuade the natural reason of men. God not only sent his Son to publish the glad tidings of salvation, but he also accompanied his mission, with such [Page 49] glorious proofs and attestations as render all men inexcusable who do not believe on him. Thus, by a voice from heaven, the mansion of his glory, he declared him to be his "beloved Son in whom he was well pleased." The Saviour through the whole course of his ministry, wrought by his divine power many great, signal and evident mira­cles, to confirm the faith of his disciples, and that all men might have sufficient evidence to believe on him: And to these he himself frequently appeals for the truth of his divine mission. And after his ascension his apostles were enabled, by the effusion of the holy Spirit on them, to work miracles in his name, for the conviction of the world: "God him­self bearing witness to the truth of their preaching, both with signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the holy Ghost." But the greatest outward testimony, which the Spirit of God has given of the truth [...] Christ's mission, is, his resurrection from the dead. By this "he was declared to be the Son of God with power." St. Paul, in his sermon at Athens, having mentioned the im­portant article of a future judgment by Jesus Christ, gives this as the confirmation of it, "whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." In the original it is, "given faith [Page 50] to all men." Acts 17.31. Thus God is the giver of faith, as he gives those means and arguments by which faith, as a rational conviction, is wrought in the soul.

3dly and lastly. Faith is the gift of God, more especially in respect to the Spirit of God, by which this faith is produced in the heart, and without the inward efficacy and operation of which, it never becomes an a­biding and effectual persuasion and principle of holiness in any person. It is the Spirit of God that worketh in us the work of faith with power; and not the mere exertion of our natural faculties, which being depraved and disabled by sin, are insufficient for this work. But then the method ordinarily made use of by the spirit of holiness in working faith in the hearts of men, is not immediate inspiration, or a mere supernatural and irre­sistible impulse, in which man is wholly and entirely passive; but a proper improving and directing these faculties we already pos­sess, concurring with them, and propounding proper means and motives to them. The spirit does not implant in our minds any new faculties or powers which we had not before, neither does it infuse into them any new truths, besides them contained in the holy Bible, which is a perfect rule of faith and manners. But by the Spirit of God ou [...] [Page 51] understandings are strengthned, & the truths of the gospel proposed to them in a new and striking light. "The eyes of our under­standings being enlightned, that we may know what is the hope of his calling," &c. By the Spirit, the arguments or evidence of the christian faith are propounded, and our minds held fixt and intent on the considera­tion of them: The prejudices of our minds against the gospel are removed, our lusts and passions suppressed, and our minds freed from the wrong bias they induce. By the Spirit our faculties, though not materially changed, are refined, purified, and freed from that deprevation which sin has brought up­on them.

It is by such means as these, generally, that the Spirit of holiness works faith in the hearts of men, and not by such an irresistible im­pulse as supercedes the use of our own facul­ties and endeavours. We cannot, on the one hand, by our own strength alone, produce a saving faith in our hearts, or change in our souls; the influence and operation of the holy Spirit (which by the promise of God will not be withheld from our sincere endeavours and requests) is absolutely requisite: And on the other hand, the concurrence of our own powers and endeavours, is so necessary as to render us absolutely inexcusable, if we re­main [Page 52] destitute of this saving grace. The we see that faith is truly and properly [...] gift of God, and yet we are justly condem [...] ed, if we die in an impenitent and unbel [...] ing state.

Nothing therefore now remains for me [...] do, but that after the example of Christ [...] his apostles, I earnestly persuade and exh [...] you to repent and believe the gospel. Fa [...] is the root of all the other graces, which [...] flourish or decay, according to the streng [...] or weakness of this. It is of infinite imp [...] tance therefore, that our faith be firm [...] well established. In order whereto consid [...] seriously, and weigh in your minds those ar­guments which God himself makes use [...] for your conviction. Carefully study and at­tend to the word of God, with desire to dis­cover the truth, and resolution to embrace it. Ponder and search out all those traces of the Deity, which shine so conspicuous, both in his works, and in his word. Be much in prayer to God, and diligent in your attend­ance on all those means & ordinances, which he has appointed for the begetting and in­creasing of faith in you.

Perhaps there will still lye in some of your minds, an objection of this fore: To what purpose is it for me to strive, and why do you exhort me to all these duties, since all [...] [Page 53] [...]n do is of no avail, unless God concur with [...]e, and grant me faith after all? The truth of the assertion I allow, but not of the con­sequence. For consider an instance some­what parallel. Those of you that are hus­bandmen, why do you take so much pains to plough and manure your fields, and sow your grain? Your labour will all be vain and fruitless, unless God concur with your endeavours, grant you refreshing showers, and the warm influences of the heavens, to draw forth, quicken and mature the seed you sow. But was this ever considered by any as a good reason, why he should sit still and not labour at all? Do you not all industri­ously pursue the means suited to your de­sired end, and leave the event to providence? And with reason; for though you cannot ensure the success of your labours, yet this you are pretty well assured of, that without your labour and industry in the means, you will not obtain what you seek. But though you all think your labour and in­dustry reasonable in this instance, yet herein you act with much less certainty of success, than in that I am persuading you to. For God never promised that he that plougheth and soweth should inevitably reap the fruit of his labours; but he has promised the assistance of his holy Spirit, to all such as [Page 54] sincerely ask it of him, with earnest des [...] to do his will. "Ask and ye shal receive [...] seek and ye shall find," &c. Faith is no [...] only represented in scripture, as a gift of God, and work of his Spirit, and so pro­mised as a blessing and privilege under the gospel; but it is also commanded us as a duty, which shews the necessity of o [...] endeavours. Therefore I say, come unto Christ, weary and heavy laden with the burden of your sins, and rely on him fo [...] salvation. Endeavour daily to increase and strengthen your faith in him, and more and more to evidence it, by works of obedience and holiness, knowing that be that believeth [...] not, is not condemned; but he that believeth not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3. 18.

THE creatures of God are of two kinds, material and immaterial, or body and spirit; some of the superior ranks of creatures are, so far as we can judge, like the great Creator himself, pure spirit, without any mixture or conjunction of matter.

But the things with which we are chiefly conversant here on earth, are material ob­jects, destitute of any incorporeal substance. Man is a compound of both. He is the bond [Page 56] of union between the two worlds of body and spirit: An immaterial soul, being in him [...] by some inconceivable bands, connected with a material body. How unimbodied spirits perceive and know things, we cannot deter­mine. But we, while we exist in these bo­dies, derive through them our most perfect knowledge of external things. We see, hear, and feel the objects around us, and thereby come to the infallible knowledge of, their existence, and these ideas being com­municated to the mind, the immaterial soul can reflect on them, and judge and reason about them. But as to such things as are of a spiritual nature, and so fall not under the cognizance of our bodily senses, or things that are at such a distance as to be beyond the reach of sight and sense, our knowledge of them is less distinct and certain: They are not the objects of sense, but of faith, which is a somewhat less degree of evidence than that of sense. When we see any thing plainly existing before our eyes, we do not say we believe that such a thing is, but we know it, because we have the greatest and surest evi­dence of it that we can possibly have of any thing. But when we determine concerning any thing of a spiritual nature, or any thing that exists or is translated beyond the reach of our senses, our evidence or knowledge of [Page 57] this is called faith, and we say that we be­lieve that it exists, or is so and so. And this evidence of faith arises not from ocular de­monstration (for then it would not be faith, but fight): But it arises from the moral pro­bability or certainty of the thing, or else from the testimony of some other person or per­sons. And so that the certainty of the thing to be believed is greater and more infallible, according as the moral evidence of it, or the reasons drawn from the thing, are more con­vincing, or as the person on whose testimony [...]e receive it, is more credible and able to give a certain account. It is thus that the apostle defines faith, making a distinction be­tween it and fight; faith is not the evidence of things seen, but "the evidence of things not seen." Heb. 11.1. It is also called "the substance, or confident expectation of things hoped for:" Which must evidently mean things future and invisible; for "hope that is seen is not hope: For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But, we have hope for that we see not." Having thus shewn what is the evident meaning of the a­postle, in his description of the christian walk in the text, which is by faith, not by fight; we will proceed to a more distinct consider­ation of the words. In which I shall attempt to shew the four following things, viz.

[Page 58]I. To prove the truth of the proposition, that christians walk by faith, and not by sight.

II. To shew the reasons why we may sup­pose it was so ordered by God, or the supe­rior advantange of such a constitution to any other.

III. Shew that such a representation of the christian walk, does not weaken the ground [...] of our faith, or the certainty we have of spi­ritual things.

IV. That it is both our duty and interest to walk by faith, and not by sight.

1. I am to shew, that the christian life is a life of faith, or that christians in this world walk by faith and not by sight.

All who direct their walk chiefly with re­spect to God and the things of another world, which are beyond the ken of our bodily senses, (as all true christians do) are properly said to direct their walk by faith. For un­less they have a full persuasion of these things by faith, they have no evidence of them at all; and so it is highly absurd, as well as im­possible in the nature of things, that they should make these the aim and end of our conduct. For who would take pains to please a being of whose existence they doubt­ed? Especially if this command thwarted their natural, though corrupt inclinations. Or who would deny himself any present en­joyments [Page 59] or satisfactions, for the sake of any invisible good, unless he was fully persuaded in his mind that there were such goods? But [...]s it is the character of all true christians so to do, it is evident that they firmly and on good grounds believe these, though they see them not. Like the Patriarchs of old, they live and "die in faith, not having yet receiv­ed the promises, but having seen them afar off by an eye of faith, they are persuaded of them, and embrace them, and so confess that they are but strangers and pilgrims on earth." Even in respect of God, though wherever we turn our eyes we behold his footsteps, the marks and traces of his infinite wisdom, power and goodness, which furnish us with undeniable evidence of his existence; yet still this is the evidence of faith and not of sight: For "no man hath seen God at any time." The supreme Jehovah, "who only hath immortality, dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen or can see. "None can see his face and live" in these bodies. "Oh that I knew where I might find him, says Job, that I might come even to his seat!—Behold I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: He hideth himself on the right hand that I [Page 60] cannot see him. But he knoweth the w [...] that I take; therefore am I troubled at hi [...] presence; when I consider, I am afraid of him." "God hath made all nations [...] men," says St. Paul, and endued them with noble faculties and powers of soul, not that they might behold God with their bodily eyes, but "that they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one [...] us; for in him we live, and move, and ha [...] our being;" as even the heathens have be­lieved and testified. Acts 17. 27. Th [...] though God being a Spirit is not the object of sight, yet being discernible and clear [...] the eye of faith, believers walk as seeing him who is invisible. The apostles indeed an [...] their cotemporaries, had the happiness to see the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, in person, or with the eye of sense; but christians in after ages know [...] him only by faith, or the evidences of hi [...] word and spirit. "Whom having not seen, we love; in whom tho' now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeak­able and full of glory." And thus it is like­wise with regard to future joys, and future torments. The enjoyments of heaven and spiritual enjoyments, and the punishments o [...] hell are the torments of the spirits of th [...] [Page 61] wicked. "Neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, either the things which God has pre­pared for them that love him, or for them that [...]e him. But God has revealed them unto us by his spirit." But though the glories of the heavenly world are too dazzling, and too distant for mortal eyes, yet christians in this life have a full assurance of hope, and realize them to their view by faith, and so live un­der the constant influence of them. None of us have ever seen the mansions of glory [...]ove, or place of God's wrath beneath; but notwithstanding this, we firmly believe, and [...] fully persuaded that there are such scenes [...]r places, from the dictates of our own minds and consciences, from the reasonableness and necessity of the thing, but more especially from the express word, the promises and threatnings of an unchangeable God that cannot lie. So likewise those past things which the scriptures reveal to us, though we saw them not transacted, yet by faith we are fully persuaded and convinced of them.— "Through faith, says the apostle, we under­stand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things that do ap­pear." We were none of us present at the making of the world. We saw not the beau­teous frame of nature spring into existence [Page 62] at the all prevailing fiat of God. We f [...] not light arise and darkness glide away, [...] the divine command. We beheld not [...] earth and planets rounded and push'd in motion by the Almighty's hand, and the s [...] and stars fix'd in their several stations in the heavens. But though we saw not when God stretched out the heavens, and laid the foun­dations of the earth, yet we are fully sati [...] fied and believe, that the worlds were fram [...] by the word of God, and were not produce [...] from things which do now appear. We n [...] ver saw the miracles performed by Christ [...] how he expell'd the most inveterate disea [...] with a word, and made universal nature o­bedient to his sovereign beck. But having sufficient evidence of these things, both ex­ternal and internal, we are unquestionably convinced of the truth of them, and of the holy scriptures in general, which are the rule of our faith. Thus we see that the christian in respect to the ground, the evidence, and the end of his course walks by faith and not by fight. Very properly therefore is he denominated a believer, in contra­distinction to those who walk according to the course of this world, who are sensual­ists, directing their course by sight and sense, and not by faith, the evidence of things not seen.

[Page 63]II. I am to consider the reasonableness of it, that christians in this life should walk by faith and not by sight; and what advantages such a constitution of things has above any other.

Some will think thus. The evidence of sense is certainly a stronger degree of assu­rance and more solid ground of assent, than the evidence of faith. Since then the things of God and another world are indisputably of the utmost importance to us; why has not God made them matters of sensible and ocular demonstration, that every one might see and know them to be true? Why are we not made to behold the invisible things of God directly and sensibly, and not by re­ [...]ction from the things which are made? That so all might be influenced by them, and walk by sight to the kingdom of hea­ven. To all such bold censurers of the ways of God I would answer, that the disadvan­tages attending such an appointment [...] they would mark out, would inevitably be much greater, than the supposed advantages of it. For, not to argue from the wisdom of God, who does all things for the best, nor from the nature of man, who (as I have said in the beginning of this discourse) cannot whilst he is incorporated in flesh, view spiritual things by immediate intuition. To wave these ar­guments, [Page 64] I say, making the objects of chri­stian faith to become matters of sensible evi­dence, would be attended with these two plain bad consequences. It would wholly destroy the virtue of faith, and would hinder this life [...] being properly a probationary state. It would make faith of no value. For suppose every man in this life was admitted to a view of the heavenly mansions, and saw with hi [...] eyes the internal glories of that blissful place, the chosen people of God enjoying happiness unconceived in his beatific presence, and blessed with the gracious smiles of their re­deemer's love, happy in themselves and hap­py in each other: And suppose also that the gates of darkness were unbared, and the hor­rors of the bottomless pit unfolded to our view: Suppose we could convey ourselves to this dismal place, and with our bodily senses see the dreadful torments, and hear the horr [...] cries and groans of the damned; or suppose we could for one moment feel these tormenting pains: We should certainly in this case be convinced of these things by irresistible evidence, and there would be no room left for the exercise of faith. For what virtue would it be in any one to believe these things, when he had felt such sensible con­victions of them? The best faith that could be exercised under such circumstances by [Page 65] man, would have no more virtue in it scarce­ly, than that of the devils, who believe and tremble; for faith in this case would not be virue but necessity, where then would be the distinction between the believer and unbe­liever, good and bad, righteous and wicked? All would be unavoidably excited by the na­tural principle of self-preservation to endea­vour to fly from the pains which they saw or felt, and to seek God, without any holiness perhaps or love to him in their hearts. And such a forc'd obedience as this, would cer­tainly be of no value in the sight of God, who requires the whole heart. Thus there would be no room for trial and probation in this life; no place for the exercise of an holy and divine faith, or pure and unconstrained acts of obedience, but all would be violently and irresistibly compelled. The same may be said of the other objects of the christian faith, as of future rewards and punishments: If they were the objects of sight and sense, they could not properly be the objects of faith, and so not fitted to our state on earth. When Thomas, one of the apostles, would not be convinced of the truth of Christ's re­surrection without the evidence of sense, our Saviour condescended to grant him such con­viction, but did not pronounce him blessed, because his faith, after having seen and felt [Page 66] the Lord, was necessary, and he could [...] but believe. "Because thou hast seen, th [...] hast believed: But blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Thus [...] see how reasonable and necessary it is, th [...] the christian life on earth should be a life [...] faith, and not of the irresistible evidence o [...] sense; that whilst we are absent in the body we should only believe and expect, that w [...] may wait the time with earnest expectation and desire when we shall come to be presen [...] with the Lord, and may see and enjoy [...] blissful presence. I am,

III. To shew that the evidence of faith [...] sufficient evidence; or that the grounds of our faith are not weakened by such a repre­sentation as has been given.

We have sufficient assurance of the truths of religion, though the objects of it are not visible to sense. When we look on the beau­teous frame of nature, and see how far it ex­ceeds in dignity and greatness, harmony and majesty, the most excellent works of human skill; when we see all things not only cre­ated, but governed and conducted in the greatest wisdom; when we open the bible and see a more exact description of the Deity there; when we meditate on the contrivance and accomplishment of the glorious plan of redemption, which could possibly be the [Page 67] work of none but God; when we behold and consider these things, I say, we are, I about not, as fully satisfied of the existence of a Deity, as if he made himself visible to our bodily eyes: That none but David's fool, who wilfully shuts his eyes, can even say in his heart, there is no God. The many things revealed to us in the word of God, and the truth of revelation itself, though they are matters of faith, yet we may be fully and be­yond all doubt convinced of the truth of them. For if we have all the demonstration of the truth of any thing to be proved by moral evidence, which the case and circum­stances of the thing will admit of, and all the evidence & assurance we could have received, supposing the thing was true, we have no more reason to doubt it, than to dispute the existence of any sensible object, when we see it with our eyes. This is the case with mat­ters of divine revelation. We believe them because we have all the evidence of them that they are capable of. We receive them on no less evidence than the testimony of God himself that cannot lie: Who to convince us has foretold many things that we have seen are since fulfilled; who has wrought many miracles to confirm our faith, accounts of which have been delivered down to us by the incontested and concurring report of [Page 68] credible witnesses, even the inspired writers▪ [...] who have not only confirmed their testimony [...] with miracles of their own, but have seal [...] it with their blood. Christ Jesus has been declared to be the son of God with power, [...] by his resurrection from the dead. All these confirmations have been given that our faith of divine things may be rational, and fixt [...] solid grounds. And all such as have expe­rienced the power of Christ's resurrection, and of the gospel truths on their souls, as have been raised thereby from the death of sin to newness of life, have still more abun­dant proofs of the truth of religion. Thus we see that though christians walk by faith and not by sight, yet they are not without sufficient certainty, but have light and evi­dence enough to dispel all doubt, and by the concurrence of divine grace, to work in them what the apostle calls a full assurance of faith. I proceed to say,

IV. and lastly. It is the duty and interest of all christians to walk by faith and not by sight, or to direct their course by the things which they believe, and not by things of sense. They are chiefly to regard and look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal. It is their duty not only to believe these things and rely upon [Page 69] them as true, but also to think and act agre­able to such a belief. That is they are always to bear on their minds, a sense of the reality and infinite importance of those things, how nearly themselves are concerned in them, and how certainly their future state will be deter­mined by their present belief of them and care about them. They ought seriously and frequently to meditate on the being and per­fections of God, his universal presence and providence; to read and study his word of truth, and to resign themselves to his dispo­sal, with faith unfeigned: They are daily to walk more humbly and closely with God, and to pray him through Jesus Christ to increase and strengthen their faith, and to make it more and more influential and operative in their lives. It is the duty of all that profess themselves christians, to neglect the things of sight and sense, in comparison of future and invisible things; to rise above the world, and the vanities of it; to free their souls from an undue attachment to the vain and fleeting joys of time and sense, and to set their af­fections on things of a heavenly nature, the service and glory of God, the unseen plea­sures of immortality, and joys beyond the grave. Thus should they demonstrate by the whole tenor of their conversation, that they prefer heaven to earth, the pleasures of [Page 70] holiness and religion, to the transient enjoy­ments of this world. This is to walk by faith and not by sight: And this is the character of every true christian. Every true believ [...] therefore needs no other proof but the testi­mony of his own heart and life, to evidence the truth of what the apostle asserts in the name of true christians, We walk by faith not by sight. And as it is our duty thus to walk, so it also our interest and happiness [...] Many are the advantages that will accrue [...] us herefrom. Hereby we shall be convince [...] of the vanity of this world and things of sight that they subserve not our main interest, no [...] suffice to our solid and lasting felicity. Here­by we shall be fortified against the evils and afflictions that attend us here. Whilst by an eye of faith we behold, and rely on, thi [...] not seen, we shall look upon this world as a place of short sojourn, and all the trials and troubles we meet with in it, but as gales to waft us onward towards our heavenly state or as remidies to purify and prepare us for it. We shall know that the greatest afflictions and sorrows we can possibly be called to en­counter here on earth, "are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall here­after be revealed in us. Moreover, if our life has been a walk of faith and not of sight, we shall hereby be armed against the fear of [Page 71] death. If we have attained to a full assurance of faith and hope, we shall know with the a­postle, "that when the earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, we have a build­ing of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." "Therefore," saith the apostle in the verses preceeding and fol­lowing the text, "we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight) we are con­fident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that whether we are present or absent, we may be accept­ed of him." True faith purifies the heart, Acts 15.9. and so qualifies the subject of it to enjoy pure and spiritual happiness at God's right hand: A happiness refined from all al­ [...]ys of sin and sense, and conferred as the reward only of believers, who through faith and patience inherit the promises. If there­fore we strengthen in us, and conduct our­selves by, this great principle of the christian life; if we bring the distant scenes of futu­rity near to us by holy contemplation, fix on our thoughts the certainty and importance of them, and make them as if they were actually present before our eyes; if we walk and live by faith, as the men of this world do by sense, [Page 72] and are as serious and earnest in the pursuit of the things of it, as they are of their sensual gratifications & enjoyments, we shall doubt­less at last through the grace of God, "re­ceive the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls."

Thus we see that it is both the duty and happiness of christians to walk by faith, and not by fight; to look at things not seen, and not at things seen, to set their affections on things above, and not on things on the earth, and so to conduct themselves by that faith by which the just shall live, by an unshaken be­lief in God, in Christ, and the things of a­nother world, that their faith may not be vain, and their hope also vain; but that they may believe to the saving of their souls.

Having thus shewn that the christian life on earth is necessarily a life of faith and not of vision, that this is the wise appointment of God, who hereby gives all due encourage­ment to faith and holiness, and has afforded us sufficient grounds for a confident persua­sion, and that we ought accordingly to make our faith in God, and his word and promises, the chief directory of our christian walk. I shall proceed to make application of the whole, and so conclude.

THE christian religion is partly speculative, and partly practical. In the gospel which contains this religion, are conveyed the clear­est instructions, and most important doct­rines, which serve not only to gratify the inquisitive mind, but to edify the christian, and direct the immortal soul. Herein we are instructed, much more plainly than na­tural reason could inform us, concerning the being and nature of the Deity, his perfecti­ons and designs, his providence and govern­ment [Page 84] over us, and all things. In the word of God are discovered to us our primitive, our present, and our future state. Here we learn, that man was created in the ima [...] of God, perfect and upright, but that h [...] soon broke the divine command which wa [...] the test of his obedience, and the conformity to which, was the condition of his remaining in his happy paradisi [...]cal state: That by this breach of the divine law, he lost the di­vine image, forfeited God's favour, and ex­posed himself to his eternal displeasure. But instead of our being doomed to suffer irretrievably that eternal death which is an­nexed to the breach of God's law, the gos­pel brings us glad tidings of great joy. By this we are informed that God of his infinite mercy, and unconstrained goodness, has deigned to send his own son, from the glo­rious mansions of bliss, where he shone coe­ternal with the father, to this our polluted world, to ransom us from sin and destructi­on, to bear the punishment of our sins, and thereby render man's salvation consistent with God's unerring justice. In the gospel revelation, the plan of grace, the method of executing it, the benefits resulting therefrom, and the terms on which we are to receive them are laid before us, and proposed to our study and acquaintance. Here it is that we are to [Page 85] learn our duty. Here are laid down the most excellent rules & most important precepts for the direction of our conduct. And it is our incumbent and indispensable duty to study these rules, and by a diligent inquiry, to in­form ourselves in whatever our great Creator, Lawgiver and Redeemer, requires of us. But we are not to rest here. We are not only to search out what our duty is, but must seriously and diligently set about the practice of it. Knowledge is absolutely requisite in order to practice, but in vain and useless with­out it. Useless did I say? Nay, it is an ag­gravation of our guilt; for "he that knows his master's will, and yet doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." One design of our Saviour's appearing on earth, was to instruct men in the doctrines and duties of religion; for without such instruction they could not partake of the benefits of his re­demption. This instruction he gave both by example & precept. But he often inculcates it upon us, that we rest not in the bare spe­culative knowledge of our duty, but that we be careful to reduce it to practice. "Learn of me," says he, and not only so, but "if ye love me keep my commandments."

And here, in the text, he promises the re­ward of happiness to those that not only know, but do what is commanded them. [Page 86] "If ye know these things, &c." In this our Saviour takes occasion from a particular instance, to settle a general maxim, viz that religion consists mainly in practice, to which, nevertheless, knowledge is a pre-requisite. In the preceeding verses we are told, that Christ though Lord of glory, condescended to the low and servile office of washing his disciples feet, thereby to testify his love to his disciples, to give them an example of humi­lity and serviceableness, and to figure to them that spiritual washing which was necessary in order to their being cleansed from the filth, and pollution of sin, and being made parta­kers of his holiness. This service being per­formed, Christ inquires of them whether they knew the meaning of what he had done. On which he takes occasion to explain it to them, and to exhort them to the like deeds of cha­rity and condescension, one towards another. Whence he establishes this general conclusion, "if ye know these things," this duty of hu­mility and the other christian graces and vir­tues which I have taught you, "happy are are ye if ye do them."—Though these words primarily refer to this particular duty, of con­descending to low and mean services, for the ben fit of our brethren, yet as they may well be extended to the whole of religion, I shall consider them in this enlarged view. In [Page 87] which sense these three propositions are either expressed or implied in them, viz.

I. The knowledge of God's will, and our duty, is absolutely necessary in order to our performing it.

II. The knowledge of christianity is vain and insignificant, if not attended with prac­tice. And,

III. The practice of religion, or doing what we know to be our duty, is the way, and the only way to happiness. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

1. The knowledge of God's will, and our duty, is absolutely necessary in order to our performing it.

This is implied in the text, "if ye know these things," which supposes that we must know them, before we can do them. ^* "All true religion begins with the understanding, from thence descends into the heart, and re­gulates our life and conversation." Unless we first learn what things are to be done by us, and what not, we cannot know when we do them, nor when we neglect them. We may sometimes perhaps, through accident, do those things which God requires of us, but then, since we do them not from a convicti­on, that such things are our duty, since we do not perform them from love to God, and [Page 88] from a design to glorify him, we do not do our duty, even whilst we perform those ve­ry acts, which are required of us by God as duties. So that there must be knowledge prior to practice, in order to our perform­ing any religious acts aright. Accordingly the apostle exhorts christians to search the scriptures, to let the word of God dwell in them richly, and to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of their Lord and Savior Je­sus Christ. Would we be sincerely religi­ous, and true disciples of Christ, we must ac­quaint ourselves with all the duties that are to be practised by us. We must study the scriptures with diligence and care, and use all necessary means, to find out the true mean­ing of them. We must hear them explained from the pulpit, and diligently improve all the means of knowledge, which God has been graciously pleased to grant us. We must add to these, our own strictest inqui­ry and meditation, and pray for the divine assistance with us in our researches. But not only are the duties themselves to be sought out, but we must also consider and know the obligations we are under to perform these du­ties. We must consider God as our righte­ous sovereign and lawgiver; must consider ourselves as his dependent creatures, indebt­ed to him for life, preservation, and redemp­tion. [Page 89] We are obliged to render obedience to him, not only because he is supremely ex­ [...]ted above us, and so in himself infinitely worthy of our obedience; but we are also obliged to it, from principles of gratitude, because he has been pleased through Christ to accept of, and reward our sincere services when performed aright. By thus acquaint­ing ourselves with the obligations we are un­der, to do the will of God, we shall have [...]resh inducements to practice it.

We must likewise, previously to our per­forming the duties of christianity, acquaint ourselves with the manner in which they are to be done. The principles, the ends and designs from which we ought to act in re­ligion, must be duly settled in our minds. Love to God, and a desire to please him, must be the chief springs of our conduct; and the divine glory the end at which we are to aim. But whilst I mention these as the principles from which we ought to act, I do not mean to set aside all views to our own happiness, in religion. That is made by God himself, a motive of our conduct. And whilst we serve God from the principles alrea­dy mentioned, we unavoidably pursue our grand & truest interest. That christian know­ledge which we are required to obtain, likewise includes the knowledge of our own weak­ness, [Page 90] and natural inability of ourselves, to perform the duties of christianity aright. We must settle it in our minds, that it is by the concurrent operations of the divine spirit that we are assisted to perform the divine will in an acceptable manner. It is very ne­cessary for us to know, that whatever [...] do, merits nothing of God; that it is by his grace we are enabled to do our duty; and that it is thro' the merits of Christ, and not for our own worthiness, that our deeds are accepted of him: This is that know­ledge that is necessary to the christian; this is that instruction in righteousness, in which he is required to make continual advances, that he may be perfect and thoroughly fur­nished unto every good work. Not that ev­ery true christian is firmly established in ev­ery point of duty: There are some actions of lesser importance in religion, concerning which he is sometimes in doubt, whether they be required by God or not. But all true christians will be desirous to be instructed i [...] the duties of religion, and zealous to get what light they can, concerning the necessi­ty, lawfulness, or sinfulness of any action. They will be careful to search into the me­thods of rendring themselves and their con­duct acceptable to God, and their obligati­ons to it. They will be convinced of the [Page 91] necessity of the divine assistance, and the im­putation of Christ's merits in order hereunto. Nor will they rest satisfied with the bare knowledge of these things, but they will en­ [...]ge their whole hearts and strength in the practice of those things, which they find up­on the most careful enquiry, to be their duty. For they consider,

II. That the bare knowledge of christiani­ty is vain, and insignificant, if not attended with a suitable practice. The doing the will of God is so essential to the true knowledge of it, that the scriptures will hardly allow it to be called knowledge, unless it have an in­fluence on our lives. For saith the apostle, "Hereby we know that we do know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his command­ments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 Joh. 2.3, 4. The Psalmist also makes the practice of duty a proof of our understand­ing it aright. "A good understanding have all they that do his commandments." Psalm 111.10. Notwithstanding the intimate and indissoluble connection there ought to be be­tween the knowledge and practice of reli­gion, yet we often see them unnaturally se­ [...]ated.—Some study religion only as a science, that they may appear learned, and know how to converse upon divine subjects. [Page 92] They will often take upon them to deter­mine with a dogmatical air the most abstruse doctrines in religion, and condemn those who they pretend are ignorant or erroneous in them; whilst they neglect the precepts of religion, and feel nothing of their influence.

Others there are that take up religion merely for fashion's sake. These will some­times read the scriptures, that they may be able to quote them on common occasions [...] they attend on the public worship, because it is the custom; and thus they learn some­thing of the history of the bible, (and the doctrines of christianity) without endeavour­ing to conform their lives to it. There are others again who make use of religion for worldly designs, to acquire the credit of men, to get an estate, &c. These are obliged to understand something of religion, that they may know how to keep up the appearance of it: But they comply with the injunctions of it no farther than is necessary to answer their selfish designs. All these have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it; they know these things, but do them not. But the bare knowing of these things, will not be any advantage to them. For their know­ledge will not recommend them to the fa­vour of God. They come under the cha­racter of those whom our Saviour speaks of, [Page 93] "who call him, Lord, Lord, but do not [...]e things which he says." Let us hear the curse that will be denounced against such. Matt. 7.22. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in [...]y name cast out devils, and done many [...]ndrous works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from [...]e ye workers of iniquity." Though they knew Christ in their head, yet as they knew him not in their heart, Christ never knew them. There is not a place in the bible where the favour of God, or the gift of God, which is eternal life, are promised upon a mere spe­culative knowledge of him. And as this knowledge cannot procure the divine favor, nor future happiness, so neither can it pro­cure true peace and satisfaction of mind in this life. That consciousness of the divine favor here, and assurance of his approbation hereafter, which fills those that are truly godly with joy and comfort, are unknown to the win pretender to religion. He is a stranger to the pleasures of a virtuous course, and that comforting self-approbation which attends the mere exercise of acts of piety and bene­volence. [Page 94] The knowledge of God which he has will not qualify him for the enjoyment of him in the next life. For tho' we must acquaint ourselves with God here, in order to be happy with him eternally, yet this ac­quaintance must be not only in the under­standing, but also in the heart and life. For "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Nay so far will the bare knowledge of God's requirements be from benefiting us, that it will make us the more aggravatedly guilty, and consequently more deplorably miserable. He that conforms not to an unknown law, has some excuse for his neglect; but if we sin against the light we have no cloak for our sin. "To him that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin." James 4.17. God will forgive such transgressions of his law as proceed from unavoidable igno­rance; but will severely punish all wilful vi­olations of a known duty. For, saith our Saviour, "that servant that knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes: For "unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be requir­ed." The misimprovement of the know­ledge we have been favoured with, will of itself necessarily aggravate our future torment. For nothing will more sensibly torment and [Page 95] [...]ing us in the other world, than this cutting reflection, that we wilfully rendred ourselves miserable, when we know better, and had the means of happiness in our power. "For if we sin wilfully, saith the apostle, after having received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin; but a certain fearful looking for of judg­ment and fiery indignation, which shall de­vour the adversaries." So far then is the bare speculative knowledge of religion from being an advantage to us, that it will deprive us of solid comfort and happiness here, and increase our condemnation in the coming world. But,

III. The practice of religion, or doing what we know to be our duty, is the way, and the only way to happiness. If ye know these things, &c. The text don't say, if ye know these things, happy are ye; but hap­py are ye if ye know and do them. Such as diligently improve all the opportunities, that God has put into their hands of gain­ing the knowledge of him and their duty. Such as in good earnest set about the dis­covery of their duty, with prayers to God for his assistance, and resolution by divine grace to act agreable to what they shall find to be their duty: Such as in all respects, and at all times, endeavour to conform [Page 96] their temper and behaviour to what by the most diligent study, appears to them to be the will of God; and that with pleasure and delight; with a view to please and glo­rify God, as well as to obey him, and with a special reference to Jesus Christ: Such will be happy, happy in the blessing and favor of God here on earth—happy in their own minds, and the approving testimony of their own consciences—and happy in the compleat enjoyment of God throughout e­ternity. Both the divine promise and the nature of things, entitles them to happiness in each of these respects.

1. They are happy in the favor & blessing of God here on earth. This the apostle James declares, "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Such shall be blessed with the enjoyment of worldly good things, so far as God sees to be most for his glory, and best for them. "The Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them." A confluence of earthly enjoyments often­times proves a snare to men; wherefore God often sees it best that his faithful ser­vants [Page 97] should not possess them. But even if they are destitute of these, and over­whelm'd in afflictions, still God is merciful to them, extends his grace and favour to­wards them, sanctifies his afflictive dispen­sations to them, and so makes all things work together for their good. Those that sincerely endeavour, to conform their minds and actions to the will of God, enjoy his fa­vor and smiles here on earth; whereas they that know their duty, and are not careful to do it, are objects of his wrath and displeasure. "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Rom. 2.13. Thus the sin­cere christian who uses all possible means to know his duty, and applies his whole strength to do it, is blessed and approved of God on earth, and is conscious of pleasing him. And on this account chiefly it is, that

2. He is happy in the peace of his own mind, and the approbation of his conscience. There is nothing that affords a more pleas­ing satisfaction to the mind of man than a consciousness of having done his duty. The [...]se of this will support him under all the [...]osses and insults which the doing of his duty will expose him to, from the difficulty of the undertaking, or the malice of enemies. Though difficulties apparently insurmoun­table [Page 98] oppose themselves in his way, though he incur the hatred, and draw upon him the slander and ridicule of men, yet the consideration that he is engaged in what is his duty, and consequently pleasing to God, will afford him comfort and satisfaction of mind, and carry him through all attending difficul­ties in an inconceivable manner. Where­as on the contrary, nothing so troubles and disquiets a man's mind, as the consciousness that what he is doing is displeasing to God, and so a violation of his duty to him. Our actions considered only in themselves, and in relation to this life, necessarily afford either satisfaction or dissatisfaction, according as they are conformable to the will of God or not. But more especially do they so, if we take into consideration those future rewards and punishments, which are the certain con­sequents of them. These hopes of the di­vine approbation and reward hereafter, which men enjoy upon doing their duty; and that dread of future vengeance which attends the neglect and violation of it, greatly increase the serenity and joy of the active servants of Christ, and the grief and uneasiness of the vain professors of his gospel. To be happy in one's own mind, is the greatest happi­ness that can be enjoyed on this side heaven; and the way which our Saviour points out [Page 99] to us in the text, is the only way to secure this, viz. to learn and do our duty. But, moreover,

3. Such as not only know, but do the will of God, will be happy in the eternal enjoy­ment of him. We are told by the inspired Psalmist, Psal. 103.18. "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them." Not to such as barely remember his commandments, but to such as remember them to do them. This is the account which the bible gives us of the matter, from one end of it to the other. "If thou dost well, shalt thou not be accept­ed?" says God to Cain. And in the last chapter of the revelations Christ says, "Be­hold I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.—Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." If a man attend to the doctrine of Christ, and gain the knowledge of it, without governing his life by it, his hopes of heaven are vain and groundless, built as it were upon the sand. The difference of the hopes of him that per­forms his duty, and of him that negligently hears it, is thus admirably expressed by our [Page 100] Saviour: "Whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and doth them, I will liken to a wise man that built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock: And every one that hears these sayings of mine and doth them not, shall be likened to a foolish man, that built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, &c. and it fell, and great was the fall of it." The hopes of him who has a practical knowledge of chri­stianity, shall brave the utmost efforts of malice, shall firmly stand the storms of af­fliction, and floods of persecution: While the hopes of him whose knowledge is theoretical or speculative only, shall fail and sink under the least trial. Though it is not on account of what we do that eternal life is conferred on us (for it is the meritorious obedience and sufferings of Christ that have opened heaven to us) yet without our performing the duties of christianity, or unless we exercise that faith and repentance, and shew forth that sincere obedience, which the gospel requires, we can­not be saved. For knowledge alone will not fit us for heaven. It is a conformity to God in heart and actions, that renders us like him, and so capable of enjoying him. ^* "If a [Page 101] man had the understanding of an angel, says a great divine, he might for all that be a devil, for he that committeth sin is of the de­vil, and whatever knowledge such a man may have, he is of a devilish temper and dis­position. But every one that doth righte­ousness is born of God. By this we are like God, and only by our likeness to him, do we become capable of the sight and enjoyment of him; therefore every man that hopes to be happy, by the blessed sight of God in the next life, must endeavour after holiness in this. So saith the apostle, every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure." Thus we see that the practice of religion is the way, and the only way to happiness in this, and the future life; which is what I was last to shew. I shall now make a short improvement of the whole, and so conclude. And,

1. Since knowledge is so necessary in reli­gion, how thankful should we be to God that he has granted us the means of know­ledge? The holy scriptures are profitable for doctrine, and for instruction in righteous­ness; and these God has graciously given into our hands, translated into our own lan­guage, and made intelligible to us by the ex­positions of persons skilled in the original tongues. So that we need not make that [Page 102] inquiry, "Who shall ascend into heaven? i. e. to bring Christ down from above. Or who shall descend into the depths? i e. to bring up Christ again from the dead. For behold, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart." How thankful should we be, that we are allowed the free use of those sacred writings, wherein are con­tained the doctrines and precepts of salvation? That they are not prohibited the lowest of the people, nor lock'd up from them in an unknown tongue, as in some popish coun­tries, but that we have been taught from our infancy to read, and to study them, and to hear the explanations of them. How thank­ful ought we to be for sabbath opportuni­ties? For the provision God has made in his church of a standing ministry, whereby the truths of the gospel are proposed, and his precepts inculcated on our minds; wherein by his ambassadors, Christ himself beseeches us to be reconciled to God, and calls upon us to repent, turn, and live. What praises and thanksgivings should we render to God, for the spirit of grace, whereby if we sin­cerely a [...]m at doing our duty, our minds will be enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, and we led into all truth. For, saith Christ, "if any man be desirous to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whe­ther [Page 103] I speak of myself." Whereas "if the gospel be hid from any, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath b [...]inded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, should shine unto them." So that if any man searches the scriptures with an honest heart, and with sincere desires to learn and do the will of God, God will graciously assist him, and by the illuminations of his spi­rit, lead him into the knowledge of all ne­cessary truth. "The meek will he guide in judgment; and the meek will he teach his way." The goodness of God in this respect calls for our sincere and unfeigned thanks.

2. How inexcuseable shall we be if we do not improve those means of knowledge, in study and in practice? The heathen, who were never favoured with the light of reve­lation as we are, will by a plea of ignorance, receive at least a mitigation of their punish­ment. But we cannot exculpate ourselves by pleading ignorance at the ba [...] of God. For since God has put us into a capacity of learning our duty; though we should neg­lect the means of knowledge, and remain as ignorant of the divine will as the heathen world, yet our ignorance would not serve for our excuse, at the great day. For God [Page 104] offers instruction to us if we will receive it, but we wilfully oppose it. And the breach of duties of which we are wilfully ignorant, is equally as blame-worthy as the breach of, duties which we knew to be commanded by God. Wherefore when I say that the know­ledge of duties unperformed, will aggravate our punishment, let none think to alleviate his condemnation by obstinately persisting in ignorance of his duty. For the obstinate neglect of learning his duty, will render him as guilty in the sight of God, and conse­quently as miserable, as the not performing his duty when known. Wherefore we see how destitute we are of all excuse, if we do not make use of those means which God has graciously favoured us with, and by divine grace, learn and practice what is required of us. God has done his part towards instruct­ing us. He has granted us his word, and offers us his spirit, to enlighten our under­standings, and lead us in the way of truth. Whom then have we to blame but ourselves, if we at last suffer the aggravated condem­nation of those who have chosen darkness ra­ther than light, because their deeds were e­vil? Since then we cannot be acquitted up­on a plea of ignorance, for our own non-con­formity to the divine will; what excuse shall we offer? Shall we plead our natural weak­ness [Page 105] and inability to perform the duties re­quired of us? Neither will this pretence stand us in stead. For tho' our natural im­becility and impotence is great, yet God has promised us his spirit to help our infir­mities, if we sincerely ask it of him, and are desirous to practise his will. If to our sincere endeavours we add our earnest pray­ers for assistance, his strength will be suffi­cient for us; and through his strengthning [...]s we can do all things. "Does any man lack wisdom" to direct, or strength to assist him in the way of his duty, "Let him ask it of God, who gives to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." But, it follows, "let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." Our Savior declares that God is more ready to grant his holy Spirit to those that thus ask, than earthly parents are to give portions to their children. So that neither the plea of igno­rance nor inability will serve to excuse us at the bar of God, for our neglecting the du­ties of religion. But if from principles of love to God and faith in Christ, we sincere­ly and cheerfully endeavour, to perform whatever we can find to be our duty, our obedience tho' mix'd with many imperfec­ions, will through the merits of Christ be ac­cepted and rewarded. And this is the only [Page 106] way wherein we can be acquitted, in the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, when he shall render to every man according to his works, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Finally, since we here see the road to hap­piness marked out to us, let us all be per­suaded to pursue it. Let us lay aside e­very weight, and the sin that does most easily beset us, and run with patience the race set before us. Let us be zealous and resolute in discharging the duties of chris­tianity, that we may become the approved servants of Christ. Let no difficulties dis­courage us, no dangers affright us from per­forming our duty; if we are the disciples of Christ, we must imitate him as in other things, so in bearing the cross. "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself," &c. We must expect to meet with many crosses, difficulties, and disappointments in our christian warfare. But considering the end of our faith, the prize of victory, and him under whose banner we serve, let us cloath ourselves with the whole armour of God, and with undaunted fortitude fight the good fight of faith, looking unto Jesus the captain of our salvation, who himself for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now [Page 107] set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Thus we also, if we resolutely perse­vere in the way of our duty, shall under the darkest clouds of affliction, enjoy the enli­ [...]ening smiles of God, and the heavenly con­solation of his spirit, shall possess our souls in patience, and have our minds serene and [...]ruffled by the storms of adversity. No­thing external shall be able to discompose the internal quiet and happiness of our souls, arising from a consciousness of having done, and still doing our duty, and from the plea­ing and well grounded hopes, of the divine approbation in the world to come. Thus having walked worthy of our profession, having been not only attentive hearers and diligent readers, but ready and careful do­ [...]rs of God's word, when we draw towards the end of our christian course, we shall each one be able in the, calm, but assured language of preparation, to say with that holy apostle, and faithful servant of Christ, St. Paul—"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand: I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course: I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is [...]id up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appear­ing." [Page 108] The consideration that they have kept the faith, and have conscientiously per­formed to their best abilities, all that they could learn to be their duty, will smooth their dying pillow, will make their [...] from life calm and easy, and their state joy­ful and happy. For since they have serv­ed their Creator faithfully in life, they will then have this joyful sentence pronounced from their approving judge, "Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord." May God grant, that we may all so learn and do his will here on earth, that we may stand in this happy lot at that day, thro' Jesus Christ our worthy Redeemer; to whom with God the Creator, and the holy Spirit the Sanctifier, be ren­der'd praise, thanksgiving and glory, now and forever. AMEN.

THESE words are part of St. Paul's famous sermon at Athens, when bro't to answer for himself before the court of Areopagus. Athens was at this time famed throughout the world for learning and arts, which flou­rished here in the greatest perfection and lustre, and which rendred this city the mis­tress [Page 110] of Greece and of the world, and the re­sort of all learned men for several ages, 'till Rome rivalled her and eclipsed her glory. But however eminent the Athenians were for human knowledge, the holy apostle found the city wholly given to idolatry, which shewed their gross ignorance in divine and heavenly things. To reclaim them from their idols to the service of the living God, in the design and tendency of this discourse of the apostle, which we find in the text and context. From the 18th verse we learn that the apostle had been disputing with some of their philosophers and wise men, particularly of the epicurean and stoic sects. The for­mer of whom, though they did not deny a God, yet they made him an idle and useless being, for they held the world to be made and governed by chance, that God took no cognizance of the affairs of men, and that the pleasures of the world constituted the supreme happiness of man. Thus their prin­ciples tended directly to the dishonour of God, and the uncontroled indulgence of all manner of vice and immorality. The latter sect, the stoics, allowed both the being and providence of God, but supposed him to be of a corporeal substance, and that his hands were tied up by the rigid & inflexible laws of fate: And their fancied wise men, who had [Page 111] wholly eradicated their passions, they pro­phanely extolled as equal to God himself. These men it was that opposed Paul with their false notions and sophistic reasonings, and carried him before the above-named [...]ourt, there demanding his farther explana­tion. This was probably done from an itch­ing curiosity of hearing some new notions or opinions; for it is said ver. 21. that "all the Athenians and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new things." These be­ing a pagan and idolatrous people, and con­sequently not knowing the holy scriptures, the apostle does not reason with them from the scriptures as he did oftentimes with the Jews, but confutes their absurd and idola­trous notions from their own principles, from the reason and nature of things. But first to obviate a prejudice they had conceived a­gainst him as a letter-forth of strange gods, he tells them that the God he preached unto them they already ignorantly worshipped, as appeared by an altar they had amongst them inscribed "to the unknown God." That his design therefore was only to instruct them in his nature and perfections, and the way to render their conduct acceptable to him. Those things he proves and elucidates from God's making the world, and preserving all [Page 112] things in being, so that "in him we live, move, and have our being." And he cites [a passage from Aratus] one of their own poets, affirming that we are all the offspring of God. Since then God is allowed to be the God of the spirits of all flesh, and since he giveth to all life and breath and all things, the apostle infers that he cannot be like to gold or silver, or stone graven by the art of man, nor that he dwells in temples made with hands, or that he was worshipped by their oblations as though be needed any thing, or was fed by the fumes of their in­cense and sacrifices, as they absurdly and fondly imagined. And lest they should plead the authority of their own religion, and their desires of trusting their salva­tion on the same footing that their fathers for so many ages had, the apostle tells them in the text, that though God had hitherto connived at their ignorant systems of devo­tion and ways of worship, yet that he had now revealed a new dispensation of his grace, wherein he abolished all sacrifices but that of Christ, who had now appeared in the end of the world to take away sin by one sacri­fice of himself; and wherein all men were invited to repent of all their former sins and miscarriages, and accept the salvation offered by Jesus Christ. And the times of this ig­norance [Page 113] God winked at, &c. Because he hath appointed a day, &c. Thus we see how admirably this sermon was adapted to con [...]ince and persuade these learned heathen, who were wise and understanding men, and had carried natural and moral erudition to a very high pitch, and who consequently were able to comprehend and relish these sublime reasonings, had they attended to them without prejudice or prepossession. Accordingly, though many resisted the evi­dence & spirit with which the apostle spake, there were many likewise, as we learn from the subsequent narration, that were convin­ced hereby, and converted to the christian [...]aith; one of which belonged to the council before which St. Paul was summoned.

From those words which I have selected from this sermon of the apostle for my text, there arise three propositions which demand [...] distinct consideration, viz.

I. The times of heathenism were times of ignorance.

II. God winked at these times of igno­rance, without bearing any public testimony against the corruptions of them, until the [...]ming of Christ. And,

III. The grand design of the gospel re­velation is to call men to repentance.

[Page 114]1. The times of heathenism were times of great ignorance and error. Though the polite arts and sciences flourished in great perfection among several of the gentile na­tions, they were so deficient in divine know­ledge, that there were scarce any traces of the true religion to be found among them. ^* "In many countries, as Persia, Chalde [...], Egypt, Greece and Italy, these arts and sci­ences (as one expresses it) had been carried to a surprizing degree of perfection. The poet's numbers were harmonious, and his song sublime. The musician almost en­chanted wild beasts, and the woods which they haunted, as well as savage men. The orator thunder'd and lighten'd, and at plea­sure either rais'd or allay'd a storm in the breasts of his auditors. The noblest piles and structures arose under the hands of the ar­chitect. The canvass was taught to glow with life, borrowed from the painter's pen­cil; and brass and marble to breath under the chizzel of the statuary: While the astro­nomer surveyed and measured the heavens; even those heavens which declare the glory of God. But notwithstanding all these im­provements, these wonderful efforts of hu­man genius and industry, the world by wis­dom knew not God. Even in those ages and [Page 115] those places, where human literature was in [...]'s highest perfection; if we look into the doctrines and practices of the most enlight­ened men among them, we shall find that di­vine and spiritual knowledge was at a very low ebb. "They were vain in their imagi­nations, & their foolish hearts was darkned." The generality of them form'd very gross conceptions, and laboured under very perni­ [...]ous mistakes concerning God; which be­ing the foundation of all religion, the whole superstructure must likewise be very faulty and erroneous. How did they people hea­ven & earth with a multitude of deities, and pay their senseless adorations and offer sacri­fices to gods of their own creation; though few of them went so far as wholly to deny the existence of any God, (for to do this they must first deny their reason and senses, since they could not open their eyes without dis­covering the footsteps of the Deity in the works of his creative and providential power. Their reason left to itself, however corrupt, would still lead them to the knowledge of a God. Though therefore they could not but own his existence) yet their gross and unworthy apprehensions of him dishonour him as much or more than the total denial of him would have done: For there was scarce any manner of vice or lewdness practis'd on [Page 116] earth, but they ascribed to their gods. No wonder therefore if they in imitation of their deities, indulged themselves in all manner of vicious and immoral practices. Not but that there were some exceptions. There were a few choice and enlightned spirits even in these dark ages, who in a great measure broke thro' these mists of ignorance, and entertained more just and worthy notions of the supreme being. Thus Socrates, Plato, and some others, seem to have reasoned well on the unity of the di­vine nature and moral duties. But even these, however just their ideas and conceptions were, conformed in their practices to the cor­ruptions of the times. And as the opinions generally entertained of the Deity, were very gross and inadequate, their knowledge of the way of rendering themselves & their conduct acceptable to him, must be equally false and erroneous. They seem to have trusted al­most wholly in external rites, prayers, hymns, sacrifices, &c. without those internal devo­tions of the soul and those spiritual sacrifices which the blessed Jesus has taught us, and shewn to be so worthy of God, who being himself a Spirit, demands a spiritual service of his rational creatures. They had only the dim light of nature to direct their con­duct, and point out the rules of duty to them: Which though it might lead them to [Page 117] the knowledge of the chief moral duties, yet these did but feebly influence their hearts and [...]ves; because they had not that clear know­ledge of them, nor those encouragements [...]d obligations to practise them, which we have under the gospel. The mere beauty and amiableness of virtue in itself, and the rewards it carries along with it, could not have that efficacy against the corrupt incli­nations, lusts and prejudices of men, as when accompanied with the assurance of the divine presence here, and acceptance in the coming world. When therefore we behold the great prevalence of iniquity, even under all the motives and encouragements which the gos­pel affords to a holy life, we cannot wonder if the heathen world, while distitute of these encouragements, was more generally cor­rupted and sunk in the depths of vice, error and superstition. Moreover the gentile world before it was enlightned by the gospel of Christ, was not only vastly defective in the knowledge of God, and in the know­ledge, and consequently the practice of reli­gion and holiness, but they know little of themselves, their condition here, the design of their creation, and the cause of that cor­ruption so prevalent in the world. The most discerning of them seem to have been sensible in general that there was something [Page 118] wrong in the nature of man, that he could not come out of the hands of a merciful Creator, as we now find him, prone to sin, subject to a thousand unhappy casualties, dis­eases. and calamities; and after a short life of hur [...]y and d [...]q [...]tude, to be cut down and [...]n away by death. These things ap­peared paradoxes to them, they not knowing that man was created innocent and happy, not subject to diseases nor death, had not he by his own unhappy fall, brought death upon himself, attended with a long and dismal train of evils, pains, and miseries.

In fine (for I must not enlarge here) The heathen were ignorant in regard to a future state. Some of them (as Epicurus and his followers) wholly denied the soul's immor­tality and future existence. But the greatest part of them had some dark and confused notions of a future state of rewards and pu­nishments, which they might derive partly from tradition, and partly from a sense of the justice and holiness of the Deity, and the un­equal distribution of pleasure and pain in this world. But what wild notions did they enter­tain of heaven and hell, of the elysian fields and internal regions! When we read these ficti­ons and fancies in their poets, one would be ready to imagine that their design was rather to ridicule and burlesque, than describe a fu­ture [Page 119] state. So ignorant were they of that life and immortality which are now brought to light by the gospel. They nevertheless, many of them, entertained strong hopes, not far short of assurance, that there was a hap­piness prepared for good men after death. [Witness Pythagoras, Plato, Socrates, Cicero, &c.] But as to the resurrection of the body, they seem not to have had the least imagi­nation or suspicion of any such thing: But supposed that at it's dissolution by death it wholly ceased for ever. They had no con­jecture that these bodies of ours, which are now so frail and brittle, though after death they be corrupted and dissolved; yet shall e'er long be called from their dusty bed, re­animated by the power of God, and so re­fined and spiritualized as never again to be subject to dissolution or decay.

Thus ignorant was the heathen world. In such an impenetrable darkness were we of the Gentiles involved, until the day-spring from high visited us; until the light of the glorious gospel shone upon us, and with it's refulgent beams scatter'd these clouds of ig­norance and error, and brought to light these future glorious scenes of joy, and things in­visible to mortal sight. "Blessed be God therefore, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mer­cy" [Page 120] has not left us to grope in the thick darkness of heathenism, void of hope and void of comfort, but "has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last times; wherein we greatly rejoice." 1 Pet. 1.3, 5. I proceed to say,

II. God winked at the ignorance and cor­ruption of these times, without bearing any public testimony against them, except [...] the general indications of his providence, until the coming of Christ. We read not of any prophe [...]s [...]ent to instruct them, or to convert them from the error of their ways, nor of any particular signal manifestations of the divine judgments against them, either to punish them for their wickedness, or reclaim them from their errors, except in a few single cities or individuals, until after Christ ap­peared on earth, and commissioned his apo­stles to go and teach all nations what is the true and acceptable way of the Lord. God beheld the generality of the world sunk in sin and idolatry for so many ages with ap­parent unconcern, and seemingly connived at their ways, until the fulness of time came, [Page 121] until the Messiah appeared to destroy the dominions of sin and satan, and established his own kingdom in the world. This the apostle Paul declares not only in the text but more fully in his sermon to the men of Lystra, Acts 14 where he tells them that he was now sent "to preach to them that they should turn from their vanities unto the liv­ing God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things therein; who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways; nevertheless he left not himself with­out witness, in that he did them good, and gave them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness." Here we see exemplified the goodness, patience and forbearance of the great Father of mercies, who makes his sun to rise, and his rain to fall on the evil as well as the good. Notwithstanding their igno­rance was in a great measure wilful, notwith­standing their prejudices and perverseness which hindred them from attending to the intimation of the divine will in his works of creation and providence, notwithstanding they acted in general contrary to the sug­gestions of their consciences, or that law of God which was written in their hearts; not­withstanding these things, I say, God bore with them from age to age, granted them [Page 122] temporal favours in abundance, and after a long succession of years and of mercies, sent his own son to enlighten and reform them, and receive them into covenant with himself. "These things hast thou done, saith God, and I have kept silence." Sometimes in­deed God testified his displeasure against their wicked ways, by displaying his judgments against some particular cities, which had filled up the measure of their iniquities. Thus we read of the frequent denunciations of God's wrath against Egypt, Babylon, Tyre and Sidon, &c. Upon their not attending to which, God utterly destroyed them, for an example to present and after ages.

But as long as they maintained any thing of natural virtue, humanity, and probity a­mongst them, God winked at their many e­normities, because they enjoyed but a small degree of light. For which reason also he has declared that their case shall be more tolerable at the judgment, than that of those who have sinned against the clear light of the gospel. Here is a demonstration of the mercy and compassion of God to the hea­then world. Tho' God was always equally an enemy to sin, yet as he saw not fit then to instruct them by a revelation from heaven, he passed by their corruptions in doctrine and worship, and in compassion to their ig­norance, [Page 123] withheld his judgments from them. They had not any particular call to repen­tance, nor any direct encouragement to for­giveness upon their renouncing and forsaking their sins. Upon these considerations God winked at the impenitency of these dark ages, but now under the gospel, commands all men every where to repent, and threatens the signal manifestations of his vengeance a­gainst all such as refuse to comply with the gracious invitation.

Or we may consider the text in another light. We may consider God's winking at the heathen in their ignorance and corrup­tion, as the just judgment of God against them for their notorious wickedness and de­testable idolatry. Had they acted agreable to the best light they had, and appeared ho­nestly desirous of farther degrees of know­ledge for the sake of performing the divine will in a more perfect manner, God would doubtless have dispatched some of his ser­vants to them, as he often did to his people Israel, to enlighten their minds in the know­ledge of the truth, and declare to them more explicitly what is that good and acceptable thing which the Lord required of them. But when God saw them so little desirous of in­struction, so obstinate in their prejudices, and firmly attach'd to their errors and vices, he [Page 124] gave them up to their own blindness of mind and hardness of heart, and suffered them to go on in their ways, without reclaiming them by any express messages from heaven. We may imagine God so displeased with them for their flagrant immoralities and violations of the law of nature, as to pronounce con­cerning them as he did of the rebellious Jews by the prophet Isaiah, "go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed but perceive not: Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and convert and be healed." This prejudice and per­verseness of the Jews, our blessed Savior him­self gives as the reason (and cites this very text) why he did not instruct them more plainly, during his abode on the earth, in things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven, but chose to declare them only by way of fiction and parable, to be more fully explained by his apostles after his ascension.

And why may not this be supposed to be the case with the gentile world? It seems to be agreable to the account which St. Paul gives of them in his first chapter to the Ro­mans, where he says, that "the invisible things of God, even his eternal power and [Page 125] godhead, are clearly seen by the work of creation; so that they are without excuse: Because that when they knew God, they glo­rified him not as God, neither were thank­ful, but became vain in their imaginations, and [so] their foolish hearts was darkned. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools; and changed the glory of the incor­ruptible God into an image, &c. And so, as they did not like to retain God in their know­ledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not conve­nient. Because that knowing the judgment of God thus far, that they who commit such things are worthy of death, they not only did the same, but had pleasure also in them that did them."

Thus did God for many ages overlook the corruptions of the heathen world; while he chose out the posterity of Abraham for his own peculiar people, to whom he might more plainly reveal himself, that they might be a generation to seek him, and a seed to serve him; and that the worship of the true God might never wholly cease among men, 'till Christ the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, appeared on earth, who gave him­self a ransom for all, and who commanded his apostles to go and preach the gospel to every creature, heathen as well as jew, that [Page 126] whosoever believed on him, forsook his sins, and conformed his life to his instructions, might be saved by him. This blessed gospel is what by the grace of God we are favoured with, and the tenor of which we are next to contemplate. I proceed therefore to my

III. Proposition, which is, that the grand design of the gospel revelation is to call men to repentance. "But now commandeth all men every where to repent. The glad news of salvation by Christ was ushered in by John baptist his forerunner, who preached the bap­tism of repentance for the remission of sins; and cried in the wilderness of Judea, "repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." i. e. the dispensation of the gospel and king­dom of the Messiah is soon to be established in the world, repent ye therefore and reform your lives, that ye may become the worthy subjects of his kingdom. Our blessed Sa­vior himself being initiated into his office as it were by baptism, began his public preach­ing with "repent, for the kingdom of hea­ven is at hand." Mat. 4.17. And when he sent forth the twelve with instructions to publish his gospel to the world, they know­ing the general scope and tenor of the doct­rines of their divine master, "went out and preached that men should repent." For Christ himself, when he came into Galilee [Page 127] "preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God," did it in these words, "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: " Repent ye and believe the gospel." These two words, repent and believe, comprehend in brief all that the gospel requires of us. But the world, before Christ, being over­whelmed and sunk in the lowest abyss of ig­norance and idolatry, as we have just now seen, it was necessary that they should repent of all their former sins, and so obtain the for­giveness of them, before they could properly embrace the gospel, and receive the saving benefits of it. For the first step that a vici­ous man can take towards a godly reforma­tion, and such a thorough change of life as the gospel requires, is to be truly sensible of, and sorry for his sins, and so to repent of, and forsake them. Accordingly, "God hath highly exalted Christ Jesus by his right hand, to be a prince and a saviour to give repen­tance and forgiveness of sins." And the a­postle in his name testified not only to Jews, but also to the Greeks, repentance towards God as well as saith in the Lord Je­sus Christ. "It is indeed a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, to save them from the error and corruption of their ways, to excite them to repent and [Page 128] to invite them to accept salvation through him. Had mankind been so holy and guilt­less as not to stand in need of forgiveness, there had been no necessity of the gospel re­velation to call and encourage them to re­pent; there had been no occasion for the de­scent of the son of God from the heaven of glory, to suffer and die, to purchase pardon for penitent transgressors. But since all man­kind had corrupted his way, and there was none righteous, no not one: Since not only the Heathens who sat in darkness, but the Jews also who were favoured with a revela­tion from God, had shamefully perverted and violated the divine law; it was requisite in order to save mankind from perishing eter­nally, that there should be some other way appointed for their salvation, besides the ri­gid condition of the covenant of works.

To answer this gracious end, Christ came to earth, "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." And through him "the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appear­ed unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this pre­sent world; looking for that blessed hope, [Page 129] and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave him­self for us that he might redeem us from all iniquities, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." This is what God the Lord requires of us under this new dispensation of his grace. For this, Christ has enlightned us with the light of his glorious gospel, has purchased forgiveness by his sufferings, and has promised us his holy Spirit to assist us to forsake our sins and subdue our lusts; and on our complying with these his gracious designs, has promised us pardon and acceptance with God, whose favour is life, and whose loving kindness is better than life.

Repentance then we see is a duty indispen­sably incumbent on all who hope to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ, it therefore deserves a more large and ample considera­tion. I shall therefore under this head at­tempt to shew these several things. 1st. What is implied in true repentance. 2dly. The universality of the call and obligation to it. 3dly. The absolute necessity of it. And, 4thly. The motives and encouragements gi­ven to it in the gospel. But, I shall conclude at present with one or two reflections on what has been already considered. And,

[Page 130]1. How thankful ought we to be to God, for granting us the light and priviledges of the glorious gospel of the blessed Jesus, and thereby dispelling the ignorance of heathen­ism, and calling us out of darkness into mar­vellous light. The greater the darkness is from which we are delivered, the greater in proportion ought our gratitude to be. We have seen what gross ignorance and error the heathen world before Christ was involved in; "The gentiles, says the apostle, walk in the vanity of their minds, having the understand­ing darkned, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts." It was almost impossible for them amidst such thick and palpable darkness, to discern the right way and walk in it. Being thus blind­ed and deluded in their minds, it was easy for satan the prince of darkness, to lead them captive at his pleasure. But yet methinks, it would not be proper for us, ignorant as we are of the doings and designs of the al­mighty, utterly to exclude them from hea­ven, and peremptorily to deny the possibili­ty of the salvation of any of them. The scripture no where that I know of, authori­zes any such determination; and if we have no ground for it here, certainly that charity which the gospel so frequently inculcates, [Page 131] does not require us thus to judge. There were a few even in the dark ages of hea­thenism, who seem to have been raised up as glorious lights in the world; and who shone the brighter, for daring to appear ad­vocates for virtue, when the generality of mankind were sunk in sin and vice.

These glorious few seem not only to have had pretty just notions of God and religion, but to have been sincerely desirous to please him, to have taken great pains to subdue their appetites and passions, and to cultivate the virtues of a good life. Now there seems to be no absurdity in supposing that a righ­teous and good God should in some measure grant to such the divine influences of his spirit, to implant in them a principle of ho­liness, and so far reveal Christ to them, as is necessary to their salvation thro' him, as well as to such as lived under the jewish dispensation. It is said of Cornelius, while he was yet a heathen, "that he was a de­vout man, and one that feared God, that his prayers were heard, and that his alms were had in remembrance before him." And be­ing possest of these good qualities, he was dictated by a vision where to go and learn Christ. On which occurrence the apostle Peter, to whom he was sent, makes this ob­servation, "of a truth I perceive that God [Page 132] is no respecter of persons; but in every na­tion, he that feareth God and worketh righ­teousness, is accepted with him." Acts 10.4. But whether it shall please God to admit any of the heathen to eternal happiness or not, as it does not intimately concern us, and as he has not thought fit expressly to reveal it to us, so it becomes us not to be peremtory on either hand, but to rest gratefully satisfied with that measure of light and knowledge which we are favoured with, and to leave the rest to God, "who will have mercy on whom he will have mercy," assured that he who has no pleasure in the death or punishment of any, will extend his mercy and loving kind­ness so far, and no farther, than shall be con­sistent with equity and justice, and the sup­port and honour of his moral government. But be this as it may. This we are abun­dantly affored of, that we under the gospel are put into a capacity of obtaining eternal life: That this eternal life and the way to it are revealed to us with sufficient clearness; that God is ready to assist our feeble but up­right endeavours after it; that we may, and many of us doubtless shall be admitted thro' Christ's merits to the blessed presence and enjoyment of God in heaven. What un­feigned and unbounded thanks are due from us to God, for this unspeakable gift! That [Page 133] the sun of righteousness has arisen upon us, and scattered with his gladsome beams the mists of heathen ignorance! That the day­spring from on high has visited us and diffu­sed the blessings of light, life & joy among us.

How should our tongues be exercised with repeated nosannas to God! How should our hearts be affected and earth resound with our praises to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with the joyful sound of salvation by Christ; who has revealed to us those mysteries which have been hid from ages and generations of the world, and has brought to our ears those glad tidings of great joy, which many prophets, wise men and princes desired to see and hear, but might not! If we have the least sense of grati­tude in our bosoms, or any relish for divine and spiritual blessings, we cannot but be af­fected with love and thankfulness to God for these inestimable favours. But,

2. We are bound not only to be thank­ful to God for the gospel, but to comply with the merciful design of it, which we have heard is to call men to repentance. It is by this means alone that we can demonstrate to ourselves and others, that we are truly thankful. If we reject the gospel and live in the practice of those immoralities and vi­ces which blackened the heathen world, we [Page 134] give an undeniable evidence that we are not truly thankful for that gospel which re­proves those deeds, and commands us to repent of and forsake them.

Such as thus go on in sin, whatever professions of thankfulness they make, would doubtless be glad that God had never so clearly revealed his will and their duty to them, and the necessity of their compliance with it. "For he that doth evil hateth the light, neither cometh he to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."

Let us therefore shew forth our love and gratitude to God by forsaking our sins and cleaning unto him. And may God al­mighty assist us by his grace hereto. May he "create us anew in Christ Jesus unto good works," and grant us the aids of his Spirit, to subdue our sinful affections, to fortify us against temptation, and lead us in the paths of truth and righteousness for his name sake. AMEN.

IN my former discourse I shewed 1. That the times of heathenism were times of ignorance, o [...] that the gentile world before Christ was dark and unenlightned. They were [...]osly ignorant of the existence, nature, and perfections of the Deity, of the way of wor­ [...]ip agreable to him, of their duty towards [...], their fellow-creatures and themselves, [Page 136] and the natural consequence of their igno­rance was a universal corruption and dep [...] ­vity of manners. They were at a loss how to account for the origin and prevalence of sin and evil, how they first came into the world, and why all mankind were still liable to sin, to afflictions, diseases and death. Their notions of a future state were very erroneous and chimerical, full of doubt & uncertainty: And of the resurrection, they entertained not the least suspicion. They knew not how to sue for pardon and the divine favor, nor in what way, or in what name, it was possible for them to be reconciled to a just and holy God. They seem to have been sensible that a mediator was necessary, which made them address their supplications to Demons, An­gels, departed Heroes, and other inferior Deities. For these, by some of the wisest of them, were worshipped only as intercessors for them to the supreme God; though the ignorant vulgar seem generally to have made them the ultimate objects of their adoration. [...]. I shewed in the former discourse that God winked at these times of general ignorance and corruption; and bore with them with­out any particular visitation or express reve­lation of his will, 'till the coming of Christ. This I told you might be understood either as a manifestation of the patience of God, in [Page 137] that he kept silence and did not cut them off in their frequent and enormous vices; or of his mercy, in that he pitied their ignorance; and passed by their faults because the light they were favoured with was but small; or of his justice, whereby he was induced by rea­son of this walking so contrary to the light of nature, and the dictates of their own con­sciences, to give them over to blindness of mind, and hardness of heart, to commit all iniquity with greediness. But though God as it were connived at the ignorance and im­penitency of those times, yet now under the gospel he peremptorily and expresly "com­mands all men every where to repent."— For I shewed thirdly, that the grand design of the gospel revelation is to call men to re­pentance. Under this last head I told you I should endeavour to shew four several things; to which I now proceed, viz.

• I. What is implied in true repentance.
• II. The universality of the call and obli­gation to it.
• III. The absolute necessity of it. And,
• IV. The motives and encouragements the gospel gives to it.

In the first place I am to shew wherein true repentance consists, or what is implied in it. Here I shall very briefly mention se­veral things which a sincere repentance to­wards [Page 138] God necessarily includes in it, though all of them perhaps are not felt in equal de­grees by every true penitent. And if any should chuse to call some of the things I shall mention, preparatories to true repentance, or concomitants with it, and others of them the blessed fruits and effects of it, rather than parts of repentance itself, I will not contend; but only affirm that wherever true repen­tance is, there are found (in a greater or lesser degree) the following things: 1. A sense of sin and guilt. None can truly re­pent of his sins till he is sensible that he is a sin­ner. He must be brought to a sense of the great evil and heinous nature of sin, and of his exposedness thereby to the wrath and curse of God; he must see the necessity there is of breaking off his sins by repentance in order to his obtaining favour and acceptance with the Almighty; otherwise he cannot ex­ercise a sincere and godly repentance. For whilst he thinks himself innocent, or is [...]ot convinced of his aggravated guilt, he sees nothing that he has to repent of. It is not such as are self-righteous, that by the enabling grace of God are brought to a true repen­tance, but such as know themselves to be sinners, such as have so thorough and humi­liating conviction of their own vileness, such as are of a broken heart and contrite spirit [Page 139] on account of their transgressions of the holy law of God, and are cloathed with that self-abasing ornament of humility, which is in the sight of God of great price.

This is admirably exemplified by our Sa­viour in the story of the conceited Pharisee and convinced Publican, who enter'd the temple together to pay their devotions to God. Whilst the one boasts of his virtues to claim the divine acceptance, the other sensible of his unworthiness not only to re­ceive the favour of God, but even to lift up his eyes to heaven, smites on his breast, and exclaims, "Lord, be merciful to me a sin­ner." He being thus convinced of his sin­fulness and guilt, was in a proper disposition of mind to receive the pardon and favour of God; and accordingly "he went down to his house justified rather than the other." He that is duly sensible of the great need he stands in of the divine forgiveness, of his own unworthiness of it, and of the necessity of the merits and mediation of Christ in order to it, cannot but be sorry that he has bro't himself into such a woful state by sin; and will be excited to the strongest desires and endeavours to forsake his sins, and please God, whose displeasure he has incurred by sinning: And such a one has ample encou­ragement to expect the assistance and accep­tance [Page 140] of God, who with such a sacrifice is well pleased." "For thus saith the high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the con­trite ones. I have seen his ways, and will heal him, peace, peace to him," &c. Isa. 57.15.

2. True repentance implies in it not only a convicted sense of our manifold sin and guilt, but a humble acknowledgment of them before God. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and for­saketh them shall have mercy." And "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So that we cannot truly repent of our sins, so as to obtain mer­cy and forgiveness, without penitent con­fession of them. I acknowledge my trans­gressions, says David; and my sin is ever before me. It is necessary that we confess in general, that we have sinned and done that which is not right, that we have in many instances broken God's holy law, and acted contrary to those obligations of duty and gratitude we were under to him; that here­by we have justly incensed him against us, and exposed ourselves to his wrath, and the [Page 141] sad effects of his displeasure. And not only so, but when we fall into any great or pre­sumptuous sins, we ought particularly to recount and confess them before God, with their several aggravations, and with a con­trition in some measure proportioned to the guilt of them. Whereas a general confessi­on only, (if sincere) will be accepted for those many sins which we cannot particularly call to remembrance, for our sins of ignorance and infirmity, and the daily imperfections of our best services. And our confessions both general and particular, must be accompanied with hearty desires and earnest prayers for forgiveness. Thus David prays particular­ly, "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O my God; and in general, "cleanse thou me from secret faults." God requires confession of us not to inform him, (for he is perfectly accquainted with all our thoughts and ways) but for our own good, to im­press on our hearts a humiliating sense of our sins, and to shew forth our penitent dis­position of mind. Such a disposition as will fit us for receiving pardon from God, "who looketh upon man, as Elihu saith, and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not: He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light." Job 33.27, 28.

[Page 142]3. Our confession must be accompanied with shame and sorrow for our sins, such a sorrow as shall produce hatred and abhor­rence of them, otherwise we shall not be sin­cere in our confessions, and in our purposes of amendment. For he that confesses a fault is always supposed to be convinced of it. And he that is convinced that he has done amiss, cannot but be ashamed of it. Thus Ezra lamented, and confessing before God the sins of the land, says, "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens." So Jeremiah 3.25. "We lie down in our shame, and our con­fusion covereth us, for we have sinned against the Lord." Evangelical repentance is also attended with great grief and sorrow for sin. I will declare mine iniquity, says the Psalmist, and be sorry for my sin. The sincere peni­tent mourns and sorrows for his sins, not only because he has by them subjected him­self to the wrath of God & pains of hell. For a sinner that is actuated by a mere legal prin­ciple, who continues to love sin and is re­solved to go on in it, may yet like Judas, be filled with sorrow and remorse, on ac­count of the great mischief and intolerable misery which he has brought upon himself. [Page 143] Such sorrow, such repentance as this, shall be exercised by the damned in hell, and con­sequently is not in itself that gracious af­fection of soul which recommends to the fa­vour of God. But sorrow for sin, which is the concomitant of true repentance, is of a more ingenious nature. It proceeds chiefly (though not wholly excluding the other prin­ciple) from love and gratitude towards God, and a conciousness of having acted unwor­thily towards him who is his Creator and constant Benefactor, and who has sent his own son to ransom him from sin and de­struction. He is grieved for having acted unworthy of a rational creature, for having deformed and defiled his own soul, reflected dishonour on God, and disobeyed his righ­teous laws. This is that "godly sorrow" that "worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of." He who thus sincerely laments his sin, and sorrows after a godly sort, who weeps and grieves more bitterly, the greater his sin and folly has been, will be led to hate sin and loathe himself on account of it. And not only so, but—

4. He whose grief and repentance for his sins is sincere, will firmly resolve to forsake them for the future, and cleave unto God. And unless this is the happy effect of it, his repentance is not genuine, but only that re­luctance [Page 144] and uneasiness which naturally arises in the mind of man, from a consciousness of having done wrong, and a fear of punishment. Without a firm and vigorous resolution, nothing can be done towards repentance and a change of life. When a sinner is brought to reflect on his past life, and sees how guilty he has been; when he is convinced of the evil and danger of his former courses, and that the only safe way for him is to forsake his sin and return to God and his duty; how­ever strongly he is determined in his mind upon the expediency of repentance, yet un­less there is a fixed determination or resolution of the will also, true repentance will not en­sue. For though it is necessary that the de­termination of the judgment should go be­fore the resolution of the will, yet the one does not always imply the other. Many men have been fully convinced of the fitness and necessity of a change of life, who yet for want of a stedfast resolution to turn from their sins, have gone on in them and died in a state of impenitence. Nothing but a strong and determinate resolution will enable a man to stem the torrent of vicious custom, to conquer his own sinful inclinations, and the strength of inveterate habits, and to withstand the powerful assaults of temptation. Weak and feeble purposes of amendment will not [Page 145] do this. Such as only faintly wish and in­tend to repent and reform, will be easily sway'd to sin: Whereas he who upon ma­ture deliberation and sincere desires to glo­rify God in his life, has taken up a firm re­solution to cease from sin and go on in a way of duty, will doubtless be able, by help of divine grace, to keep his resolution. For resolution fixes a man's spirit, like an im­moveable rock, which when the rains descend and floods assail it, abides firm against all impressions. By virtue of such a resolution as this, David could rise in defiance against all that would tempt him to sin, saying, "depart from me, ye evil doers, for I will keep the commandments of my God."— Thus we see how necessary a part holy reso­lution is, of true repentance. Again,

5. That christian repentance which the gospel requires, includes in it, a repairing to Christ, relying on his merits alone for for­giveness, and casting the guilty soul before him to be washed in his blood, and cleansed from all sin. Faith in Christ, and trust in him for acceptance, is the root and founda­tion of all the christian graces; and destitute of this principle, they are not evangelical graces, but mere moral acts, such as may be exercised by Pagans as well as Christians. An Infidel, Heathen, or Jew, may be hearti­ly [Page 146] grieved and sorry for his sins, and resolve to forsake them; and in consequence of this may turn from his allowed vicious courses, and cultivate in general the moral virtues of a good life. But this repentance, though it be commendable and praise worthy in him, yet being destitute of faith in Christ, it is not evangelical repentance which is required of us under the christian dispensation. Weary and heavy-laden sinners, who labour under a burdensome sense of their sins, are com­manded in the gospel, not only to repent of and forsake them, but to come to Christ for pardon, that so being eased of the heavy load, they may find rest for their souls. Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, who was delivered up to death for our offences, and rose again for our justification, has by his obedience and sufferings made a compleat atonement and satisfaction for sin. In consequence of which God has highly ex­alted him by his right hand, to give repen­tance and remission of sins. "Through him therefore is preached unto you the forgive­ness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Thus as the forgiveness of sins is conferred only through Christ, and as repentance is in order to forgiveness, it is necessary that our repen­tance [Page 147] should have a particular reference to Christ; or that a gospel penitent should ex­ercise faith in him, by whom we receive the atonement.

6. That repentance which is sincere and genuine, necessarily implies in it, or at least produces, actual reformation and change of life; a forsaking of sin, and practice of virtue and piety. It has been already shewn that repentance includes in it a deep and hearty sorrow for sin, with a disposition of mind, and a resolution of will to turn from it. But this, if we stop here, is not true repentance. Repentance signifies a change, not only of disposition but of practice; not only a reso­lution to walk in the way of duty, but an actual performing such a resolution, so far as opportunity is granted for it. In affairs of common life, by repenting we frequently mean no more than a sorrow for any past action, which upon reflection we find to have been wrong, and to wish that we had done otherwise. But this though it is implied in gospel repentance, does not come up to the full notion of it, neither is it what is most essential to it. For what availeth the most poignant sorrows and compunction, unless it worketh repentance, or a thorough change of heart and life? How can grief or remorse alone, either please God or profit us? Sorrow [Page 148] in itself is only pain and misery. There can­not therefore be a greater affront and indig­nity offered to God, who delights in the happiness of his creatures, than to suppose that he takes a cruel pleasure in the misery of men; or that he delights to see them in­volved in tears, and labouring under trouble of mind and remorse of conscience for their sins, any further than as this conduces to the reformation and happiness of the persons thus affected. Our grieving and taking on can­not affect the almighty, nor move his com­passion towards us, whilst we continue in sin: Neither does he count himself glorified by pain or melancholy; but " herein is my father glorified, saith our Savior, that ye bring forth much fruit." What persons feel a more painful sorrow and contrition for sin, than such as are sunk into the depths of de­spair? Yet who are farther from true repen­tance? If grief and affliction of soul for hav­ing sinned were all that constituted gospel repentance, the devil himself might become a true penitent: For he, when he feelst he just vengeance of God, cannot but condemn himself, and grieve that ever he rebelled a­gainst him: But as he remains the same devil still, retains the same malignant temper, and continues the same course of wickedness and rebellion, he is at the farthest remove possible [Page 149] from true repentance. Thus we see, that grief and sorrow are of no advantage, any farther than as they are productive of a real repentance and reformation. So that if we would determine what is godly sorrow and what not, we must judge of it, not from the degree of affliction in it, but from the real effects of it in heart and life. For he is most truly sorry for his sin, that reflects upon it with detestation, and absolutely shuns and forsakes it. The gospel repentance is called repentance from dead works;" not only for them, but from them. The grace of God by Christ Jesus, was not revealed to the world to inflict torment and misery on men, or to make them sad and melancholy, but to subdue sin in them and under them, to teach and direct them to "deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righ­teously and godly, in the world." When John baptist came preaching the baptism of repentance, and when many people were baptised by him, and confessed their sins, he lets them know that this alone was not sufficient, but that it was necessary that they should also bring forth fruits meet for re­pentance. A good tree will infallibly bring forth good fruit. However humbly and penitently therefore we have confessed our sins, however deeply we have been affected [Page 150] with sorrow and anguish for them, however vile we have esteemed ourselves on account of them, and however strongly we have de­termined to forsake them, yet if we do not actually cease the indulgence of them, and practice the virtues of a holy life, when time and opportunity is granted herefor, we may be assured beyond all doubt, that we have not yet exercised that true repentance to­wards God which the gospel requires of us. Every true penitent becomes thenceforward a new creature. He is "created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works," By the assistance of the divine Spirit, "he puts off the old man which is corrupt, and puts on the new," repentance being necessarily con­nected or concomitant with regeneration and conversion. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." I proceed to say,

7. Restitution is a necessary branch or effect of sincere repentance. It is a dictate of natural reason as well as of religion, that whenever any wrong or injury is done to a­nother, a full restitution or satisfaction ought (so far as can be) to be made to the party injured. As to our trespasses against God, we can make no adequate compensation for them. All we can do in respect of God, is humbly to confess our faults, to be heartily [Page 151] sorry for them, and do better for the future. Though this does not come up to the notion of restitution or satisfaction, yet God is gra­ciously pleased through Christ to accept it as such, when performed sincerely and from the heart. But besides the wrong done to God and ourselves; in many of our sins we likewise injure our fellow-men. In this case we may and ought to make reparation. If we have by our example, influence, or en­ticements, drawn any into sin, and thereby endangered their precious souls, we are bound so far as we can, to reclaim them from their vices, and promote their salvation. Or in whatever other way we have injured any person, whether by fraud or violence; whether the wrong affects his body, estate or reputation; we are obliged to restore what we have unjustly detained from him, or o­therwise make satisfaction, according as the case and circumstances require. And unless we do thus, we do not sincerely repent of the sin. For he that is truly penitent and sorry for his sin, will heartily wish he had not done it, and so will be careful so far as he can to undo it by making restitution. Whilst a man wilfully neglects making re­paration for any act of injustice, oppression, desamation, &c. he continues in the sin; and whilst he continues in the sin, and does [Page 152] not forsake it, the guilt of it shall not be washed away. [Non dimittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ablatum.] The scriptures mention restitution as a necessary part of repentance, and an indispensible condition of pardon. Thus Ezekiel 33.14, &c.— "When I say unto the wicked, thou shall surely die: If he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he hath robbed, and walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity; none of his sins that he hath committed shall be menti­oned unto him; he shall surely live, he shall not die."

8. That our repentance be sincere, and effectual to procure the pardon of our sins, it is necessary that we forgive the offences of others against us. That this is a necessary concomitant of true repentance, I prove thus. The divine forgiveness is often promised us on our sincere repentance: "Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out." "If the wicked turn, he shall live, &c. But our Savior expresly declares, that "if we forgive not men their trespasses, nei­ther will our heavenly father forgive us." Consequently that repentance to which the promise of pardon is annexed, must include in it, forgiveness of others. Indeed the [Page 153] practice of all the duties of christianity, so far as by God's grace we are able, is, as I have already shewn, comprehended in true repentance. But this duty of forgiving o­thers is more particularly insisted on in the gospel, as of peculiar efficacy in order to our obtaining pardon of God. If we forgive men their trespasses, and not otherwise, God will forgive us all those sins which we have utterly forsaken and renounced. And this is a very just and equitable requisition.

For if God is ready to forgive us our hei­ [...]ous and aggravated transgressions upon our penitently asking it of him, how can we in conscience or gratitude refuse to overlook the slight and inconsiderable offences of o­thers against us? When we read the story of the servant who being freely forgiven by his Lord a vast debt of ten thousand talents, yet refused to forgive or have patience with his needy and supplicating fellow-servant for the small sum of one hundred pence, but [...]elentlesly consigned him to prison and mis­ [...]ry; the conscience of every one cannot [...]ut subscribe to the justice of the sentence of his being delivered to the tormentors, until [...]e should make satisfaction for the whole debt. "So likewise shall my heavenly fa­ther do unto you, says Christ, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother [Page 154] their trespasses." If therefore we would e­vidence our repentance to be true and un­feigned, such as shall avail with God through Christ for our pardon, we must "be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, when as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us."

Lastly. That our repentance be effectual to our final salvation, it is necessary that we not only change our lives at first, and turn from sin to God, but that we continue in such a course to the end. "He that con­tinueth to the end shall be saved; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no plea­sure in him." There are many who by some awakening call either in the word or pro­vidence of God, are brought [...] dan­ger of their state, to mourn [...] [...]ns, and alter or amend their lives [...] [...]ntinue for some time to all appearance sincerely reli­gious. But these good impressions being worn off by time, they relapse into their former state of inactivity and wickedness, and shew by their after-conduct that their former repentance was not established on a good and lasting principle. Now the re­pentance of such as thus afterwards fall a­way (if it may be called repentance) will not avail to their final happiness. All their for­mer strivings and sorrows will not answer for [Page 155] their admission into heaven. For saith God, "when I say to the righteous, thou shalt surely live; if he trust to his own righte­ousness [and turn aside] and commit iniqui­ty; all his righteousness shall not be remem­bered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it." So that a constant and steady progress in virtue is essential to that repentance unto salvation, which the gospel requires. And by this it is distinguished from that repentance which is vain and unavailing.

Thus I have considered the several things which are either contained in true repentance or accompany it, or else flow from it. They are a sense of sins, confession of them with shame and sorrow, resolution against them, applying to Christ for forgiveness, an actual reformation in heart and life, restitution, for­giveness, and persistance in virtue and god­liness. Before I proceed to the next head, I would just make one remark. Though each of these I have mentioned (as parts of true repentance) are necessary, yet they are not equally discernible in every gospel-peni­tent. Such as have had the happiness of a religious education, whose infant minds have had the principles of christianity instilled into them, and who have been brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, [Page 156] though in their repentance they mourn for their sins and imperfections, yet not having been guilty of any notorious transgressions, their sorrow will not be equal in degree to that of others: And as the general tenor of their actions has always been outwardly con­formed to the rules of religion, the change that is made in them will not be so conspi­cuous and evident to themselves and others, as in those that are reformed from a course of profligancy and vice. But though the repentance and renovation of such is more silent and insensible, yet it is necessary that they as well as all others should repent and be renewed in the temper of their minds, before they can be so conformed to the im­age of God as to enjoy happiness with him. For "God commandeth all men every where to repent." I proceed therefore to consider, as I proposed,

II. The universality of the call and obli­gation to repentance. Before Christ, the re­velation of God's will, and the invitation to repentance for the remission of sins, was made only to the Jews. Many prophets were sent forth by the almighty, command­ing and exhorting them to repent and turn from their evil ways, with promises that hereupon they should live and not die. But since the preaching of the gospel, the true [Page 157] religion is not as before, confined to any one nation or country, "but in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him." God has now graci­ously fulfilled his promise made by his pro­phets to call the gentile world to the faith. "Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gen­tiles also." Every man every where, who hears the blessed sound of the gospel, is now called upon to repent. Even the greatest sinners have encouragement here. For "it is a faithful saying—that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the chief." And just before his entrance into glory, he gave orders to his apostles, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, who were the chief of sinners, the despisers and crucifiers of our blessed Lord. But not only great and no­torious transgressors, but such also as have led more regular and moral lives, are com­manded to repent. For as all men have sinned and therefore stand in need of for­giveness, so all are invited to accept of it on gospel terms. Even the righteous or such as have already turned their feet into the way of God's testimonies, though the general tenor of their actions being right, they have [Page 158] not need like the sinner to turn wholly about, and change their course, yet they ought fre­quently to renew their repentance. Though the loud calls in scripture to repent and turn, are directed chiefly to sinners, and though that repentance which I have described, im­plying a thorough change, can in the extent of it be applied only to them, yet there is a repen­tance which is required of such as are already true penitents and believers. For since none can arrive to a state of impeccability or sin­less perfection in this life, the grace of God in the gospel would be insufficient to the sal­vation of any, if it provided not for the par­don of sins committed after the first repen­tance as well as before. The best of men, the most eminent saints, will sometimes not­withstanding their utmost caution, fall into sin, and fail in the exact performance of their duty; and while any are under the guilt of any sin, they are exposed to the wrath and curse of God: It is necessary therefore that they recover themselves, and be renewed a­gain unto repentance in order to their being restored to the favour of God. They must mourn for their remaining imperfections; and whenever they are surprized into sin, must penitently ask forgiveness thro' Christ, and be excited to greater caution and vigi­lance in their future conduct. Thus all men, [Page 159] good and bad, high and low, bond and free, are called to repentance, and so invited to the benefits of the gospel redemption. For with God "there is no respect of persons,—there is neither Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all."—I am,

III. To shew the necessity of repentance. And this, as there needs not much to be said to make it evident, so I shall not be long upon it. Without it we cannot be pardoned. For God is holy, and cannot be reconciled to sin. His nature is opposite to it, and his laws were designed to restrain men from it But to forgive sin without repentance and amendment, is the direct way to encourage the practice of it, and destroy the honour and reverence due to those laws which so severely forbid it. We cannot enjoy happiness in the communion of God, until we become like him, or he like us. But God is un­changeable. Consequently we must forsake our sins, and become in some degree holy as God is holy, before we can be happy with him. Nay, should God, contrary to his nature and word, forgive our sins tho' in­dulg'd and unrepented of, and admit us in­to his beatific presence, still we could not forgive ourselves. Conscience, that inex­orable Judge which God has placed in our breast, will not free us from the sting of [Page 160] guilt, till we have repented and reformed. And so long as a sense of guilt remained, we could not be happy. Thus in the nature of things, happiness and impenitency are abso­lutely incompatible with each other. This is farther evident from the word of God. Sinners or "the unrighteous cannot inherit the kingdom of God." "The wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment." "God is angry with the wicked every day: If he turn not he will whet his sword, and his mischief shall return upon his own head." "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise pe­rish." "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God:" But "without holi­ness no man shall see the Lord." Every man who consults the word of God, who sees there the woful end of the impenitent sinner, and the glorious happiness of the par­doned saint, cannot but be sensible of the im­portance and necessity of repentance. And since the present life is known to be the only time allotted for it, one would think it im­possible that any should be so unwise as to neglect or delay it. But this being unhap­pily the case, we will consider in the

IV. and last place, the motives and en­couragements to repentance which the gos­pel affords. The impenitency of the hea­then was winked at by God, because they [Page 161] had little or no encouragement to it. But this is not the case under the gospel. Here we find God declaring himself "not willing any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." And that for this very reason "he is long-suffering to us-ward," "that the goodness of God may lead us to repentance." Here we have the promise of pardon and remission, on our sincerely and truly repenting of our sins; and a promise of the divine assistance herein, and not only so, but we are assured that there is a crown of glory that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. The great and manifold blessings of redemption, the divine blessing and fellowship of the spirit here, and the en­joyment of God throughout eternity, are promised to such as forsake their sins, sub­due their lusts, and are renewed in the spirit of their minds after the image of him that created them. But if we refuse to hearken to the gracious calls of God to repentance and a holy life, and obstinately go on in sin "after our hard and impenitent hearts, we treasure up to ourselves wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righ­teous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and im­mortality, [Page 162] eternal life." Having therefore those promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Let us consider that whilst we go on in a state of impenitency, we counteract the gracious designs of God in the gospel reve­velation. In vain has God provided a re­deemer for us to deliver us from sin and death: In vain as to us has Christ died to purchase pardon and justification for sinful man, and thereby to reconcile him to an offended God: In vain has God enlightened us with the knowledge of his will, and the terms on which we may procure his favor; if we stand out against his exhortations and calls, and are wilfully bent on our own de­struction. Nay it will be the unspeakable ag­gravation of our future doom, that the grace of God bringing salvation has appeared to us, but we have harden'd our hearts against God, and refused compliance with it.— Though God winked at the impenitency of the heathen in the times of ignorance, he will not wink at it in professed christians under the light of the gospel; but will assuredly execute his threatned vengeance on all that now daringly continue in sin. "Now consider this ye that forget God, [Page 163] left he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver." Rom. 16.25, 26, 27.

"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to the gospel, and the preach­ing of Jesus Christ (according to the reve­lation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the pro­phets according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ, for ever.

AMEN.