the Peril of your Salvation if you do not
give ear to their Meffage. The Men may
be contemptible enough; but yet the Er-
rand they come upon is not contemptible.
How untowardly, how ungraceful, how
unacceptable foever they may be as to their
other Circumftances, yet, if they preach
nothing but the Gospel of Christ, you are
bound to listen to it, nay, you are mifera-
ble if you do not. And as for thofe that
do embrace it, it is no lefs a valuable Trea-
fure to them, for being had from earthen
Veffels. Let it not therefore be objected
to us, when we preach Chrift Jefus to you,
that it is our Trade; we muft talk at this
rate, for we get our Living by it: Alas! it
is but small Comfort to get a Livelihood by
other People's Credulity; I think an honeft
ferious Man would rather ftarve than live
by Cheating. If there be any Atheists or
Infidels among the Clergy, any that, whilft
they preach Chrift Jefus to the People, be-
lieve no better of him and his Religion than
as a mere Fable (as they fay Pope Leo the
Tenth did not) they are certainly the worst
of Men, and the greatest Impofters that the
World can fhew; and let them be treated
as fuch; no Man will be forry for it.
when we heartily believe in Jefus Chrift
and his Religion, and are really perfuaded
that neither we nor you can be faved with-
out it, and likewife are called by the Au-
thority of God and Man to the publick
Preaching

But

Preaching of it, we think it very hard we
fhould be the lefs credited, because it is
the Profeffion we live by. If our Saviour's
Words be true, Whofoever believeth fhall be
faved; but whosoever believeth not, shall be
damned; it is certainly more your Interest
than ours, that you fhould all be fuch Be-
lievers as we would have you. But let that
be as it will, we fhall have a fad Account
to make, if, being Minifters of the Gospel,
we fuffer you to perifh for want of telling
you
of thefe Things; or, if we cannot tell
you any thing but what you knew before,
at leaft for want of calling upon you, to
put in practise what you know. Time
was, when the preaching of the Gospel was
fo far from being encourag'd by the State,
that to be a publick Minister was the ready
way to Martyrdom; Yet in thofe Days
there were as many Preachers, in Proportion
to the Number of the Hearers, as there are
now: Nay, and their Saying then was,
Væ mihi fi non evangelizavero, Woe is unto
me if I preach not the Gofpel! I hope fuch
Times will never come again; and I hope
none among us wifh for them: But if they
should come, I doubt not but God would
raise up thofe that would ftill preach the
Gofpel, and would declare, even at the Peril
of their Lives, that Whofoever believeth fhall
be faved; but whosoever believeth not, shall
be damned,

1

The Second Thing I obferve from these Words is this, That our Saviour here fo puts his Propofition, as to make Baptism as neceffary a Condition of Salvation as Believing; for he doth not fay, Whosoever believeth fhall be faved, but thus, Whosoever believeth, and is baptized, fhall be faved: He joins them both together. What are we to learn from hence? that Jefus Chrift has laid as great a Strefs upon an outward Ceremony, as he hath done upon an inward Virtue? No, by no means: But this; that the Belief of Chriftianity, without taking the Profeffion of it upon us, and obliging ourfelves to live according to it, is not fufficient. A Man will perhaps tell you, that he believes the Hiftory of our Saviour to be a true Hiftory, and that he hath a great Efteem for his Perfon, and looks upon his Doctrine as the most excellent, and useful, and divine Morality that was ever deliver'd to the World. Why now this feems a pretty fair Account of the Man's Religion in Comparifon of what we can have from others. The Gentleman that makes this Confeffion of his Faith, is civil to our Lord Jesus Christ. But yet this extremely falls fhort of what one muft do that means to have any Benefit by our Saviour. How great a Refpect foever a Man pretends to have for the Gofpel, yet if he do not take the Profeon of it upon him, that is to fay, if he do not

.enter

enter himself into the Number of Chrift's Difciples by Baptism, vowing all Obedience to Chrift Jefus as his Lord and Master, and owning his Religion upon all Occafions, and communicating in his Worship and Service, we cannot fay that he is a Chriftian, tho' he may be a Well-wisher to Christianity.

Examine the Scriptures, and fee what it was that made one to be a Jew, or an Ifraelite in the old Time; Was it enough to think honourably of the Law of Mojes? No; but a Man muft become circumcifed, and oblige himself to live according to that Law. The Cafe is juft the fame as to our Christianity. I will fpeak the Thing as plainly as I can; and in what I fhall fay, you will have a full Account of the Meaning of the Words of my Text. The Bufinefs of our Lord Jefus, as our Redeemer, was to mediate or procure a new Covenant between God and Man, and to feal it with his Blood. God's Part in this Covenant was this; He was to grant unto all thofe that enter'd into this Covenant the Forgiveness of their Sins, and the Grace and Affiftance of his Holy Spirit, for the enabling them to live a holy Life; and laftly, an eternal Inheritance in the Kingdom of God. This was God's Part. The Condition of this Covenant on Man's Part was this, That all they who expect to partake of those Benefits, fhould believe in Jefus Chrift, and own

him for their Saviour, and affent to all his Doctrines, and endeavour to frame their Lives according to thofe Rules he hath prescribed them. This is that gracious, that happy Covenant which God establish'd with Mankind thro' the Mediation of our Lord Jefus. Well, now here is a Covenant made, an everlasting Covenant between God and Man, fealed with the Blood of the Son of God. All Mankind that will be eternally happy, are to be enter'd into this Covenant; actually and particularly enter'd, not the Father for the Children, but every one for himself, as it was in the Covenant of Circumcifion. But how is that to be done? Why, our Saviour himself hath taken Care to order and prescribe the Way of it; Go, faith he, difciple all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. Baptifm then is the Way which he hath appointed for the entring into this Covenant; and great Reafon there was for it. Our Saviour found, when he came into the World, that his Countrymen the Jews had used that Ceremony of Baptifm many Ages, for the Admiffion of Profelytes into the true Religion. He, therefore, that came to take all Nations, and Peoples, and Languages into his Covenant, laid hold of that Ceremony, which he already found to his Hands ufed for that Purpofe, and applies it to his own Inftitution, ordering all Per

fons