requires a Worship fpiritual, pure, and holy; its Laws are juft and righteous, but abate nothing of the ftrictest Rules of Reafon and Morality; it exacts from us not only an outward Obedience and Conformity in our Actions, but it fearcheth the very Heart and Reins, and requireth Truth in the inward Parts; it reftrains every diffolute Thought of our Minds, and every inordinate Defire of our Hearts. On the other fide, that the gracious Purposes of God may not be defeated by the Weakness and Infirmity of Men, it has provided proper Remedies for every Want It has brought down from Heaven the Pardon of God to all the Sins of Men, which was fealed with the Blood of its great Author, the ever-bleffed Son of God: It has reconciled us to our offended Father, and conferred on us anew the Spirit of Adoption: It has put us under the Direction of the Holy Spirit, who is our Fellow-Labourer in the Work of God, and who fo effectually helpeth our Infirmities, that when we are weak, then are we ftrong; who is our Stay in Profperity, and our Support in Adverfity, and the undivided Companion of our spiritual Warfare, leading us through Christ to God, who is the End of all our Hopes,

Hopes. And, as it has thus ftrengthened and enabled us to draw near to God, fo has it likewife as effectually fecured our Access to him, through Chrift, who fitteth at the right Hand of God, to make continual Interceffion for us; to offer up, and by himself to perfect, all our Prayers and Praises, before the Throne of God; to supply all our Wants, to confirm our Faith, to ftrengthen our Virtue, and to make our Repentance available to the Remiffion of our Sins; and, at the laft, if we perform the Conditions on our Part, to receive us into the Kingdom of his Father for

ever.

The Use I would make of the Text, and of what has been already discoursed on it, is to observe to you,

First, That thefe Means of Salvation, which the Chriftian Religion has provided, were neceffary to the Life of the World, the State and Condition of Man confidered.

Secondly, That these Means being neceffary, it was likewife neceffary to reveal to Mankind the Doctrine concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit; and that the Belief of thefe Doctrines is neceffary to every Chriftian, as far as the right Use of the Means depends

upon

upon the right Faith and Belief of the Doctrines: For, as the Apoftle to the Hebrews tells us, that whoever comes to God, must believe that He is; fo likewife, whoever comes to God through Chrift, in the Spirit, must believe that the Spirit is the Spirit of God and of Christ, and able to direct him; that Chrift is the Son of God, and able to bring him to his Father. And by this Means shall we be able to juftify to ourselves the Wisdom and Goodness of God in revealing this wonderful Knowledge to Men, inasmuch as he did it, not to impofe arbitrarily upon their Faith and their Understanding, but in order to perfect and render effectual their Sal

vation.

First, I would obferve to you, That thefe Means of Salvation which the Christian Religion has provided, namely, the Affistance of the Spirit, and the Mediation of the Son, were neceffary to the Life of the World, the State and Condition of Man confidered.

I would not here be understood to affirm, That these Means were fo abfolutely neceffary in themselves, that God could not by any other Method fave the World. The Wisdom and the Ways of God are infinite

and

and unfearchable: We cannot, and therefore ought not to pretend to fet Bounds to them. To inquire, in what other Way God might poffibly have faved Mankind, will nei ther make us wifer in this World, nor happier in the next.

What I would then be underflood to mean, is this; That the Condition of Man before the Coming of Chrift was fuch, that he could not, by the Help of Reason and Nature, fo apply himself to God, as to be fecure of his Pardon and Mercy; but there was a Neceffity of providing other Means besides those of Reason and Nature, which no one could provide but God alone: That he has provided us with the Affiftance of his Holy Spirit, and appointed his own Son for our Redeemer and Mediator. Some Means being therefore abfolutely neceffary to be provided, and these being the Means made choice of by God; we may fafely affirm, without prying too far into the hidden Mysteries of God, That these Means were neceffary to the Salvation of the World.

The Truth of this Propofition thus limited, is that which does most plainly fhew us the Reasonableness of the Gospel, and the Wifdom and Goodness of God in the Revelation

3

of

of it: For, fuppofe the contrary to this to be true, That Men were able of themselves to do the whole Will of God, and fo to apply to him as to engage his Favour and Mercy, and to obtain Salvation for themfelves at his Hands; and you will find it very hard to account for the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion, which provides preternatural Affistances to enable us to do that which Nature can do without them; or for the Wisdom of God, in making the Revelation to ferve thofe Ends which Men knew how to accomplish without it. But, if you confider Man in the State under which the Scripture reprefents him before the Coming of Chrift, loft to God and to himself, the Slave of Paffion, and the Servant of Sin, equally unable to govern himfelf, and to ferve his Maker; you will then fee the Want there was of a Mediator to be the Ambaffador of our Peace, and to reconcile us to God; you will then fee the Want there was of the Holy Spirit's Influence to enable us to fubdue those unruly Paffions and Appetites, which were a Partition-Wall between us and our God; that we might serve our Maker in Spirit and in Truth, and perfect Holiness in the Fear of God.