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There are two forts of defpifers of the gospel. (1.) Those who are open and avowed enemies to the doctrine of the gospel, who defert it, defpife it, or flander it. Too many there are of this character in the prefent age, to whom the crofs of Chrift is foolifhnefs. O! how deplorable is their folly and how aggravated their guilt! If this is the divine commandment, That we fhould believe in the name of the Son of God; and if there is truth in the divine. word, "That there is no falvation in any other;" mile. rable indeed must be the ftate of those who are found thus fighting against God. Will it be a light thing to be found defpifers of all that grace and love manifefted in the gofpei? How heavy is the threatening, in our Saviour's own words, against those who defpife the precious corner stone, and tried foundation, which is laid in Zion, Matth. xxi. 44." And whofoever fhall fall on this ftone, fhall be bro

ken; but on whomfoever it fhall fall, it will grind him "to powder." (2.) They are defpifers of the gospel who, profeffing belief in the doctrine of Chrift, continue to live in unrighteousness. He came to turn you from all your tranfgreffions, as well as to deliver you from condemnation. His power is particularly illuftrated in bringing finners" from darkness to light, and from the power of "Satan unto God." The end of his coming is loft to all thofe who continue in fin. If they are called by his name, they are a scandal to it; if they form any hopes from his fufferings, they will be difappointed; if they advance any claim to his mercy, it will be rejected; if they plead relation to him, he will openly renounce them: Matth. vii. 21, 22, 23. Not every one that faith unto me, Lord, "Lord, fhall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he "that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will fay to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we "not prophefied in thy name? and in thy name have caft "out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful "works? and then will I profefs unto them, I never knew "you: depart from me ye that work iniquity."

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5. In the last place, Suffer me, in the moft earnest manner, to befeech every finner in this affembly, to believe in the name of the Son of God. I fay, every finner,

because those only who are fenfible that they are finners, will be obedient to the call.

Are you not therefore fenfible of your guilt and danger? Are your understandings fo blinded? Is natural confcience itself fo feared, that you do not fee how much you fland in need of a Saviour? Remember, that if there be any truth in the whole compafs of natural and reveal ed religion that cannot be spoken againft, it is this, That God" is of purer eyes than that he can behold iniquity;" and that, for this reafon," he will render to every man "according to his works." It is a truth engraven upon the confcience, and ratified by the courfe of providence; the Heathens difcovered it through the thickest darkness; and the guilty confefs it by their daily fears. What a harveft of converts would I bring in, even in this affembly, if I could but lead to the Saviour every one that believes, in fome measure, in a judgment to come! What an aftonishing diforder is brought into our nature by fin? What a marvellous delufion is upon the mind, and what inconfiftency is there in the conduct of finners! It is hard to fay, which of the two is moft amazing; their backwardness to receive the truth, or their unwillingness to obey it; their inattention to evidence on the one hand, or their forgetful. nefs of what they do believe, upon the other. Is there any perfon within thefe walls, who doubts that he is to die; or who does not believe, that he must be judged after death? Are you then ready for the trial? Have you ferved your Maker? Have you loved him above all? Have you lived to his glory? Have you fought and placed your happinefs in his favor? Or are you fenfible that iniquities have prevailed againft you? Have they now taken hold upon you, fo that you cannot lift your eyes? Behold, I preach peace to you by Jefus Chrift. Believe in his name and merits for your pardon: rely on his grace and Spirit for your your reformation; and return to God, through him, as your unchangeable portion. This is the tenor of the gofpel: Luke xxiv. 46, 47." Thus it is "written, and thus it behoved Chrift to fuffer, and to "rife from the dead the third day: and that repentance "and remiffion of fins fhould be preached in his name, "among all nations, beginning at Jerufalem."

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And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

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ACTION SERMON.

MY BRETHREN,

O as many as have any belief of eternity, it must be

a matter of unspeakable moment to know, how they may have confidence towards God. This enquiry becomes, if poffible, ftill more ferious, when we confider man as in a lapfed and corrupt ftate by nature, as guilty, and obnoxious to his Maker's righteous judgment. Then it becomes neceffary, not only to preferve the favor, not only to avoid the difpleafure, but to feek for fome shelter or covering from the wrath of God.

This is the account given us of our condition in fcripture; which, as it is a truth of the utmost importance, lying at the foundation of all religion, I have often endea vored both to explain and enforce. And happy, happy they who have heard with application; happy they whole eyes have been opened on their danger as finners; who have feen and felt the evil of fin, as a departure from, and rebellion against a moft holy, righteous and gracious God. Happy they, who, rejecting the vain reafonings of the carnal mind, and the cob-web-defences of the fhort-fight

ed creature, have been laid proftrate as guilty and helplefs, before the fovereign and almighty Creator. All mankind, in the feveral ages of the world, have in general discovered fuch a jealousy of their condition, and have fo far felt the reproof and condemnation of natural confcience, that their attempts and inventions have been innumerable to appease the offended Deity.

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But bleffed be the name of God, we are not left to any uncertainty as to this important quellion. We may chearfully apply our minds to it and receive unspeakable confolation" through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the day-fpring from on high hath vifited us." The way to life and peace is fully explained in the glorious gofpel of the Son of God. We are indeed, by nature, guilty finners, enemies to God in our minds, and by wicked works; but there is a gracious provision made for our recovery in the mediation of Christ. This is the strong hold and refuge of the finner; it is the foundation stone and confidence of the believer. In the 8th and 9th verfes of the preceding chapter, the apostle John fays, "If we fay that we have no fin, we deceive ourselves, and the "truth is not in us. If we confefs our fins, he is faith"ful and juft to forgive us our fins, and to cleanfe us from "all unrighteoufnefs." And in the verfe preceding the text, "My little children, these things write I unto you, "that ye fin not. And if any man fin, we have an ad"vocate with the Father, Jefus Chrift the righteous."He then teaches the Chriftian to live by faith in the Savi our's blood: And he is the propitiation for our sins. And that he might further illuftrate the extent and efficacy of the great atonement, he adds, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. In further dif courfing on this fubject, I propose, through the affiftance of divine grace,

I. To confider Chrift as the propitiation for fin, or what is implied in his being fo called.

And,

II. To confider the extent of this propitiation, or its being for the finis of the whole world. - III. To make fome practical improvement of the fub

ject.

1. First, then, Let us consider Christ as the propitia. tion for sin, or what is implied in his being so called. We find our Saviour defigned as a propitiation in feveral other paffages of fcripture; as in this epifile, chap. iv. 10. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he "loved us, and fent his Son to be the propitiation for our "fins ;" and Rom. iii. 25. "Whom God hath fet forth "to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." It is the opinion of many learned men, that Chrift is called a propitiation, or the propitiation, in allufion to the mercy-feat above the ark, which was fet up at firft in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple in the most holy place. To confirm this, it is obferved, that the original word here ufed is the fame which the Greek tranflators of the Old Teftament always ufe to denote the mercy-feat, and which the apofile to the Hebrews ufes when speaking of the fame fubject, Heb. ix. 5. "And over it the cheru"bims of glory fhadowing the mercy-feat: of which we "cannot now fpeak particularly." But I apprehend there is fome inverfion of the order of things in this remark: for Chrift is not called a propitiation in allufion to the mercyfeat, which, independent of him, could ill bear that denomination; but the mercy-feat hath this title given to it because it was an eminent type of Chrift. It beautifully indeed represented the benefit which we derive from him as our propitiation. For as God, by the Shechinah, or fymbol of his prefence, dwelt of old upon the mercy-feat, between the cherubims, and was from that place propitious to his people; fo now God dwells in Chrift, and by him reconciles finners to himself: 2 Cor. v. 19. "To wit, "That God was in Chrift, reconciling the world unto "himself, not imputing their trefpaffes unto them; and "hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation," In that ancient difpenfation, every worshipper was to look toward the mercy-feat; and it was from thence that God accepted them, and gave intimations of their acceptance: fo it is through Chrift, or in his name, that we have now accefs to God; and it is in him that he fheweth us favor, and maketh us accepted; Eph. i. 6. "To the praife of "the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us acceptVOL. I. Tt

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