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Secondly, That which hence offers it as applicable to all the Publick Profeffors and Teachers of Christianity, is this; that they would make it their Endeavour,in the First place, to form in their own Minds a clear and diftin& Notion concerning Christianity in general, and the terms of the New Covenant. That they would get a right general Idea of the Gospel, what it is in it self, and how it differs from the Law; what are its Abatements, and what its Improvements.

And,after they have duly inform'd themselves, that they would make it their next great care to inftruct those committed to their charge, in this fo weighty and fundamental a Point of Divinity. As for the particular Disputes of Religion, I think 'tis no great matter how little common People are troubled with them; but fure there cannot be too much care taken in making them underftand the general nature and defign of Chriftianity, and the true difference between the Law and the Gospel, the Old Covenant and the New, the Covenant of Works, and the Covenant of Grace. And left the Indulgence which the Latter, even in its very Name imports, fhould raise in them a falfe Idea of Licentioufnefs; great care fhould be taken so to state and explain the Grace of the Gospel, that it may not make void the Moral Duties of the Law; and to prefs and inculcate the neceffity of Repentance and good Life, as that which the Gospel both commands as a Duty, and requires as the neceffary indifpenfable Condition of Pardon and Salvation.

The

De caufis Incredu

The empty notional way of Preaching-up the Doctrins of Faith in Chrift, Juftification by Faith only, Free Grace, Christian Liberty, and Imputed Righteoufnefs; as 'twas in ufe in the late times, and is ftill among the Men of that ftamp; has done a great deal of Mischief in this Kingdom, and has had (I doubt not) an ill effect upon the Lives of Men, and contributing as much as any one thing to the unmoralizing and debauching the Age. And as it has been of an ill influence within our felves, so I doubt not but that it has done as much mischief without too, and has been a general prejudice to the Intereft of Chriften dom. The Learned Epifcopius (I remember) reckons it as one of the Bars to the Jews Converfion; to which I add, and to the Heathens too: For what advantage would either Jew or Gentile gain by em bracing Christianity, if they must part with their Morality in the Exchange? This certainly is the most proper and obvious fenfe, to make void the Law through Faith. For if good Works are not neceffary as the condition of my Pardon and Juftification, for what are they neceffary? And if they are not neceffary at all, what reafon has any Man to trouble himself about them?

litatis Judeorum. Pag. 437.

I fhall not at prefent ingage in that long naufeous Difpute about Juftification; but shall rather offer fuch a Remark, as may quickly put an end to it. I confider therefore, that without all queftion our Juftification in this Life muft proceed.

by

by the very fame Measures that it will do at the
laft Day, when we shall publickly receive it from
the Mouth of our Judge. But then, I think, the
great Question will be, how we have Lived, and
what we have done in the Body, whether Good
or Bad; and as we shall be able to answer to this
Question, fo we shall be either finally Justified-
or Condemn'd. He therefore Preaches Chrift beft,
that infifts most upon the neceffity of Obedience
to his Commands ; and he makes the beft Chri-
ftians, that makes the best Men; and then is the
Gospel most truly reprefented, when it is fo fet
forth, as to be an Establishment of the Law.
Now to God the Father, &c.

A Difcourfe concerning the Origin

# and the Relief of all Trouble and

4

Uneasiness of Mind.

PSA L. xciv. 19.

In the Multitude of my Thoughts within me, thy
Comforts delight my Soul.

"A

ND 'tis well for the Soul of Man, that she has Divine Comforts to take hold of for her Support, when all Human and Worldly Sa

tisfactions

tisfactions fail; that she can delight and folace her felf in God, when weary of her felf and of her own Thoughts; and can fix and repose the whole endeavour of her Being, upon a firm and immoveable Center, when no longer able to fuftain the weight of her own Defire. For were it not for this great Sanctuary of Human Nature; that Power of Thinking, which we value as the Priviledge of Man, would be to him an Inftrument of the greatest Torment and Mifery; the Wife Man might defervedly envy the happiness of the Fool; and a Beaft that grazes in the Field, would be in a better condition than both.

Indeed our Thoughts are the occafion of much Trouble to us, as well as Delight; and as all Honour is attended with its proper Burthen, that which is the Priviledge of our Nature, is often the Inftrument of our Difquiet; and our great Exaltation above the Beasts, makes us liable to feveral uneafineffes, from which the lowness of their Condition exempts them. They feel only the weight of Prefent Evil; and of Prefent Evils, the only one that they labour under, is Pain; (for I think 'twould be too great a Conceffion of Reason in them, to allow them capable of Grief of Mind ;) and in Pain, all that they indure, is the direct impreffion, without adding to their Mifery, by making impatient Reflections upon what they fuffer. Whereas Man, by the Advantage,fhall I fay, or by the Misfortune, of a quicker and more active Senfe, torments himself both with troublesome Reflections upon what has been,

and

and with jealous Apprehenfions and Expectations of what may be; and fo feels Evils, when they are paft and gone, and when they are prefent; and is befides,liable to Grief of Mind, as well as to Bodily Pain; and is withal fo unkind to himself, as to aggravate both thefe,by close Reflections and paffionate Applications of Spirit. So fevere is the Tax, that Nature charges upon Man for his Priviledge above the Beasts.

And as this is the cafe of Man in refpect of Brute Creatures; fo in proportion, the fame is alfo the cafe of Wife Men with respect to Fools and Perfons of lefs Difcernment. 'Tis a thing of common obfervation and Experience, that Thinking and Contemplative Men, are very apt to be Melancholy; to which agrees that Refle&tion of the Wife Preacher, In much Wisdom is much Grief, and he that increases Knowledge, increafes Sorrow, Eccl. 1. 18. And there is a very fatisfying Account to be given of this: The Foundation of that Content and Complacency we take in the things of this World, is Error and BR. Mistake, (for 'tis impoffible that vain things,conas vain, should please) and both our love Jay lefider'd to the World, and our delight in it, are purely owing to our ignorance of its Vanity: But now Wisdom discovers to us the Vanity of the World, gives a Man a lively and convincing sense of it, and fo makes him uncapable of relishing its mean Enjoyments. The Wifer a Man grows, the harder he will be to be pleafed, and the fewer things he will delight in 3 and we find, that in every Stage

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