Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."

Now, my Fathers and Brethren, if we are the ministers of Christ, we shall likewise feel the force of these strong and tender obligations, to be faithful in our office. We shall not seek to please men, but we shall seek to please Christ. We shall tell men the truth, even though they should become our enemies for telling them the truth. We shall plainly lay open the depravity and corruption of the human heart. We shall aim to strip sinners of their self righteousness, and drive them from all their refuges of lies. We shall endeavor to make our hearers understand and feel the most disagreeable, which are indeed the most important and profitable doctrines of the gospel. And we shall labor to lodge in their consciences as well as in our own, a lasting evidence that, having declared the whole counsel of God, we are pure from the blood of all men.

Seventhly: It is a privilege to hear, as well as to preach the gospel. It was a privilege of the Gentiles to hear Paul, as well as a privilege of Paul to preach to the Gentiles. And it is a privilege of the people now to hear the ministers of Christ, as well as a privilege of the ministers of Christ to preach to the people. Indeed, the opportunity of hearing the gospel is one of the highest privileges that mankind can ever enjoy. What greater privilege can Christ bestow upon any people, than to raise up an able and faithful minister, and furnish him with his richest gifts and graces, and send him among them, "to open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God?" This great and invaluable blessing, my hearers, you all enjoy, who enjoy able and faithful ministers. How then will you be able to answer it to Christ at the day of judgment, if you esteem it a burden rather than a privilege, to hear them preach; and from Sabbath to Sabbath, neglect to appear in the house of God, to seek the law at their mouth? You had better misimprove any other day in the week, than misimprove the Sabbath. You had better misimprove seed time and harvest, than misimprove the precious season of hearing the word of God. You had better absent yourselves from any other place, than from the place of public worship, where God manifests his presence, and displays his pardoning mercy. You had better therefore abuse any other privilege you enjoy, than abuse the privilege of hearing the gospel; for if you abuse this privilege, you will abuse light; which above all things will enhance your guilt, and aggravate your everlasting ruin. For says Christ himself, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light."

SERMON III.

THE GOSPEL A SCHEME OF GRACE.*

AN ORDINATION SERMON.

To testify the gospel of the grace of God. - ÅCTS, xx. 24.

PAUL, in his passage from Greece to Rome, having landed at Miletus, sent and called the elders of the church of Ephesus. When they were come together, he addressed them, with peculiar solemnity and affection, on the important subject of the gospel ministry. And to make the deeper impression on their minds, he not only recalled to their remembrance his former manner of life and preaching among them, but expressed, in the most feeling manner, his present views of the nature and importance of the gospel, which both he and they were under solemn and inviolable obligations to preach. "Ye know," says

The author believes that every man has a right to judge for himself in matters of religion; but yet he believes that no man has a right to judge for himself, even in these matters, contrary to the dictates of reason and scripture. He believes that argument and church discipline are the only proper weapons to be employed against heretics; and absolutely reprobates the cruel and absurd notion of torturing men's bodies, in order to enlighten and convince their minds. He approves the genuine candor which overlooks small errors, and the noble catholicism which embraces truth, in whatever denomination it is found; but he abhors the false and blind charity, which sees no difference between truth and error. He entertains a high opinion of the superior abilities of Mr. Locke, Dr. Price, and Dr. Priestly; he gratefully acknowledges the eminent services they have done to the Republics of Liberty and of Letters; and he especially admires the noble and independent spirit with which they have expressed their sentiments upon some of the most important subjects in divinity. But yet he believes that they have done great and extensive injury to the distinguishing and fundamental doctrines of the gospel; and therefore he wishes to expose, to the utmost of his power, the false and dangerous principles which they have endeavored to establish. And he has no doubt but all who possess their noble and independent spirit, will readily grant that he has neither transgressed the rules of decency, nor violated the laws of Christianity, in attacking their public opinions, while he has treated their characters with all proper deference and respect.

he, "from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons; serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house; testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there; save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." In these last words we see the ground upon which the apostle was so much attached to the gospel, and so much engaged to preach it, in the face of every danger. It was because he viewed the gospel as containing and exhibiting the grace of God to our guilty world. Accordingly I shall confine my attention to this single point, that the gospel is a scheme of divine grace.

Though grace is one of the most common words in use, yet it seems necessary, in treating on the subject before us, to fix the meaning of this easy and familiar term. Grace is often used to signify goodness; but this is not the strict and proper sense of the word. For grace is the exercise of love to the guilty; whereas goodness is the exercise of love to the innocent.* Goodness and grace, therefore, immutably differ, as much as guilt and innocence, the objects upon which they finally terminate. And this distinction will for ever remain, and be felt in heaven. While angels there will for ever drink of the rivers of goodness, saints will for ever drink of the rivers of grace. When we say, therefore, that the gospel is a scheme of divine grace, we mean that it is a method which God has devised, to open the way for the free and full display of divine love to the guilty.

Now, if we search the New Testament, we shall find the gospel is every where represented as a scheme of divine grace. The angels who brought the news of Christ's birth to the shepherds, were constrained on that occasion, to celebrate the grace of the gospel with the most joyful acclamations. "And lo,

*I do not mean that every exercise of love to the guilty is grace, nor every exercise of love to the innocent, is goodness, in the strictest sense. But what I mean is, that wherever there is goodness in the strictest sense, it consists in love to the innocent; and wherever there is any grace at all, it consists in love to the guilty.

the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." This is good will to the guilty, which is grace in the highest and best sense.

Christ himself, who was equally concerned in devising, and principally concerned in executing the plan of redemption, represents it as a scheme of divine grace. "For," saith he, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." Such love as this to the guilty, is astonishing grace.

The apostle Paul, however, says more concerning the grace of the gospel than any other of the inspired writers. He touches upon this darling theme in all his epistles, and in some he undertakes to prove the gospel to be a scheme of divine grace. In the third chapter of Romans he reasons thus: "Now we know, that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." From these premises he brings out this fair and just conclusion, that we are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." He continues this train of reasoning to the end of this and of the next chapter, and finally concludes with these strong and striking expressions: "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." In the second epistle to the Corinthians, after opening the nature and design of the gospel, he represents it as a scheme of divine grace. "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, Be ye reconciled to God." "We then as workers together with him, beseech you also, that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." By the grace of God here, the apostle evidently means the grace of God displayed in the gospel. He wrote his epistle to the Galatians

with a particular design to unfold the genius and spirit of the gospel as a scheme of divine grace. I shall, however, mention but one passage, which breathes the spirit of the whole epistle. "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God; For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." By this, the apostle plainly suggests that the gospel is so entirely built upon grace, that if this foundation be once destroyed, the whole gospel is completely frustrated and subverted. In the epistle to the Ephesians, he employs the strongest expressions to celebrate the riches of divine grace displayed in the gospel. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved; in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." He pursues this pleasing subject in the next chapter, and carries the idea of grace as high as language can carry it. "But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ: (by grace ye are saved:) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." I might observe that he calls the gospel "the grace of God," "the grace of God in truth," "the dispensation of the grace of God," "the grace of God which bringeth salvation." And I might still farther observe, that in the salutations of almost every epistle, the apostles abundantly celebrate the grace of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, displayed in the work of redemption. But without adducing any more passages of scripture, I shall rest the truth of the doctrine upon the plain texts which I have already cited. These are not loose, independent sentences, but chiefly distinct arguments, linked together in a chain of clear and strong reasoning, by which the apostle demonstrates the gospel to be, in its whole frame and contexture, a scheme of divine grace.

I now beg the patience and attention of my hearers, while I proceed to point out a number of truths, which immediately flow from the nature of the gospel.

1. If the gospel is a scheme of divine grace, then the work of redemption is the most glorious of all the works of God.