Oil 
 V34^ 
 
/p 
 
 ** 
 
 3 * i$ , / 3l 
 
 Srom f 0e &i6rar£ of 
 
 (professor Wfiam (Qtiffer (pajfon, ©.©., &£.©. 
 
 Qpresenfefc fip (JJirs. flXwrfon 
 
 to f 0e &t6rar^ of 
 
 (princef on £0eofogicaf ^emindrg 
 
 //OP/ 
 
RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 
 MAR 131912 
 
 — ^ 
 
 BY ISAAC WATTS, D. D 
 
 WIT>Hi A PREFACE 
 
 BY A. ALEXANDER, D. D 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 JONATHAN LEAVITT. 
 
 boston: 
 CROCKER & BREWSTER 
 
 1831 
 
Wm. D'Hart, Printer, i 
 Princeton, JV. J. $ 
 
 *- 
 
PREFACE 
 
 No writer among the English dissenter* 
 has acquired more deserved celebrity than Dr. 
 Watts. His works are numer >us and on vari- 
 ous subjects; but most of them are calculated 
 to be useful. His style is remarkable for its 
 simplicity, perspicuity, and smoothness. It is 
 pure English, and intelligible by the meanest 
 capacity. But that which is the distinguish- 
 ing excellence of his theological writings is, 
 the vein of evangelical piety which runs 
 through them. It is evident to every impar- 
 tial and intelligent reader, that Dr. Watts was 
 a sincere lover of truth, and that he had 
 thought profoundly on the subjects discussed 
 by his pen. On some points, it is true, he 
 adopted peculiar opinions, different from the 
 common belief; and in his dissertations on 
 some of the mysterious doctrines of our holy- 
 religion, he indulged his fertile mind in spe- 
 culations which to us appear too bold, and 
 by which his own mind seems to have been 
 
IV. 
 
 somewhat bewildered. But on all practical 
 subjects, I scarcely know an author who has 
 expressed evangelical truth in a more per- 
 spicuous and felicitous manner. And I con- 
 ceive that it is a real loss to the Christian 
 community that some of the most valuable 
 productions of this author's pen, are now 
 not in circulation, or known only to those 
 who possess copies of his whole works. 
 Some of these were intended especially for 
 the common people, and ought to be again 
 given to the public, in a separate form, and 
 in cheap and convenient editions. 
 
 The small work which is here presented 
 to the reader, was, never before, it is be- 
 lieved, printed separately ; but when pub- 
 lished originally by the author, formed a 
 part of a series of *' Discourses on various 
 Subjects," in two volumes, 12mo., and has 
 since been comprised in the collection of his 
 works, of which several valuable editions 
 have been published. These short and pithy 
 discourses, on a very important subject, were 
 no doubt demanded by the state of society 
 when they were first written ; but they con- 
 tain nothing which adapts them more to thai 
 
V. 
 
 age, than to the one in which our lot is cast. 
 Indeed, there never has been a period, since 
 the reformation, when infidelity assumed 
 a bolder front, or more freely vented her 
 blasphemies against God and his Holy Word, 
 than the present. And such is the menacing 
 appearance of this deadly evil in our most 
 populous cities, that it is a duty incumbent 
 on every friend of Divine Revelation to lend 
 his aid, to check the torrent of error, which 
 will be sure to spread desolation through all 
 its course. Books of very different kinds 
 may be highly useful in this cause. Men 
 who are unconvinced by one sort of argu- 
 ments, may yield to those of another kind ; 
 and often when the elaborate and learned 
 treatise is thrown aside unopened, the brief 
 and popular argument of a few pages will 
 be read with profit. The reader, however, 
 must not expect, in this small volume, a for- 
 mal, historical view of the evidences of divine 
 revelation : — this was not the object of the 
 author. It was rather intended to furnish an 
 answer to some of the more common and popu- 
 lar objections which sceptics make to revealed 
 religion, and to exhibit the richness and free 
 
VI. 
 
 ness of the gospel of the grace of God ; and, 
 moreover, to explain the terms on which 
 sinful men may become partakers of its in- 
 estimable blessings. In my opinion, the 
 work is calculated to be eminently useful to 
 those who will seriously and impartially 
 peruse it, not only by removing doubts and 
 objections which relate to the truth of Chris- 
 tianity, but also by unfolding the true nature 
 of the plan of salvation, and by making a 
 salutary impression on the heart. And that 
 it may, by the blessing of God, be useful to 
 many, is our sincere prayer. 
 
 If this little volume should be favorably 
 received, so as to indemnify the publisher for 
 his expense and labor, he will immediately 
 put to press " Christian Morality," by 
 the same author, which, though entirely dis- 
 tinct in its subject, was originally published 
 in the same volume with the Discourses 
 which are now presented to the public. 
 
 Before I conclude this preface, I will, for 
 the satisfaction of such as have not attended 
 to the subject, extract the character of Dr. 
 Watts as a writer, from the lives of the 
 Poets, by Doctor Johnson. 
 
VII. 
 
 "Every man, acquainted with the common 
 principles of human action, will look with 
 veneration on the writer who is at one time 
 combating Locke, and at another making a 
 catechism for children in their fourth year. 
 A voluntarv descent from the dignity of sci- 
 ence is perhaps the hardest lesson that humi- 
 lity can teach. 
 
 " As his mind was capacious, his curiosity 
 excursive, and his industry continual, his 
 writings are very numerous, and his subjects 
 various. With his theological works I am 
 only enough acquainted to admire his meek- 
 ness of opposition, and his mildness of censure. 
 It was not only in his book but in his mind 
 that orthodoxy was united with charity. 
 
 " Of his philosophical pieces, his Logic has 
 been received into the universities, and there- 
 fore wants no private recommendation: if he 
 owes part of it to Le Clerc, it must be consi- 
 dered that no man who undertakes merely to 
 methodise or illustrate a system, pretends to 
 be its author. 
 
 11 In his metaphysical disquisitions, it was 
 observed by the late learned Mr. Dyer, that 
 he confounded the idea of space, with that of 
 
Vlll. 
 
 empty space, and did not consider, that though 
 space might be without matter, jet matter 
 being extended, could not be without space. 
 
 "Few books have been perused by me with 
 greater pleasure than his Improvemf.ntof the 
 Mind, of which the radical principles may in- 
 deed be found in Locke's Conduct of the 
 Understanding, but they are so expanded 
 and ramified by Watts, as to confer upon him 
 the merit of a work in the highest degree use- 
 ful and pleasing. Whoever has the care of in- 
 structingothers,may be charged with deficien- 
 cy in his duty if this book is not recommended. 
 
 "I have mentioned his treatises of Theology 
 as distinct from his other productions : but the 
 truth is, that whatever he took in hand was, 
 by his incessant solicitude for souls, converted 
 to theology. As piety predominated in his 
 mind, it is diffused over his works ; under his 
 direction it may be truly said, Theologice Phi- 
 losophia ancillatur, philosophy is subservient 
 to evangelical instruction ; it is difficult to read 
 a page without learning, or at least wishing, 
 to be better. The attention is caught by indi- 
 rect instruction, and he that sat down only to 
 reason is on a sudden compelled to pray. 
 
IX. 
 
 " It was therefore with great propriety that r 
 in 1728, he received from Edinburgh and 
 Aberdeen an unsolicited diploma, by which 
 he became a Doctor of divinity. Academical 
 honors would have more value, if they were 
 always bestowed with equal judgment. 
 
 "He continued many years to study and to 
 preach, and to do good by his instruction and 
 example; till at last the infirmities of age 
 disabled him from the more laborious part of 
 his ministerial functions, and, being no longer 
 capable of public duty, he offered to remit 
 the salary appendant to it ; but his congrega- 
 tion would not accept the resignation. 
 
 " By degrees his weakness increased, and at 
 last confined him to his chamber and his bed ; 
 where he was worn gradually away without 
 pain, till he expired, Nov. 25, 1748, in the 
 seventy -fifth year of his age. 
 
 " Few men have left behind such purity of 
 character, or such monuments of laborious 
 piety. He has provided instruction for all 
 ages, from those who are lisping their first 
 lessons, to the enlightened readers of Mai 
 branche and Locke ; he has left ueither cor- 
 poral nor spiritual nature unexamined; he has 
 
X. 
 
 taught the art of reasoning, and the science 
 of the stars. 
 
 "His character, therefore, must be formed 
 from the multiplicity and diversity of his 
 attainments, rather than from any single per- 
 formance ; for it would not he safe to claim 
 for him the highest rank in any single denomi- 
 nation of literary dignity ; yet perhaps there 
 was nothing in which he would not have ex- 
 celled, if he had not divided his powers to 
 different pursuits. 
 
 " As a poet, had he been only a poet, he 
 would probably have stood high among the 
 authors with whom he is now associated. 
 For his judgment was exact, and he noted 
 beauties and faults with very nice discern- 
 ment; his imagination, as the Dacian Bat- 
 tle proves, was vigorous and active, and the 
 stores of knowledge were large by which 
 his fancy was to be supplied. His ear was 
 well tuned, and his diction was elegant and 
 copious. But his devotional poetry is, like 
 that of others, unsatisfactory. The paucity 
 of its topics enforces perpetual repetition, and 
 the sanctity of the matter rejects the orna- 
 ments of figurative diction. It is sufficient for 
 
XI. 
 
 Watts to have done better than others what 
 no man has done weli."* 
 
 Although the name of Dr. Watts has been 
 exposed to no small obloquy, since his death, 
 on account of some of his opinions; jet it has 
 fallen to the lot of few men to be so highly 
 
 * This insinuation of Dr. Johnson, that devotional poetry 
 is incapable of high excellence on account of the paucity of 
 its topics, and its rejection of the ornaments of figurative 
 diction, has always appeared to me unjust, and calculated 
 to make a wrong impression. We want no other proof of 
 its incorrectness, than the devotional poetry contained in the 
 Bible. But, is it true, that all devotional poetry m our 
 language is "unsatisfactory?" No one wilJ make the 
 assertion who has a taste tor compositions or this kind. To 
 strengthen the opinion here expressed, I will cite a passage 
 from an "Essay" oi the amiable and pious poet, James M >nt- 
 o-omery, which is prefixed to his "Christian Psalmist." 
 
 "There is an idle prejudice founded upon the misappre- 
 hension of a passage in Dr. Johnson's Life of Waller, and a 
 hint of like nature in hi> life of Watts, that sacred subjects 
 are unfit for poetry, nay, incapable of being combined with 
 it. That their nature, majesty and grace, cannot be heigh- 
 tened by any art of embellibhment, is most freely admitted; 
 but that verse, as well as prose, may be advantageously as- 
 sociated with whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, 
 lovely, and of good report, in religion, we have the evidence 
 of the Scriptures themselves, "in tne law of Moses, and in 
 the Prophets, and in the Psalms," when they testify con- 
 cerning Christ and his sufferings, in strains the most exalted 
 that poesy can boast. We have evidence to the same effect, 
 in many of the most exquisite and perfect compositions of 
 uninspired poets, both in our own and in other countries." — 
 " We are not without proof, that hymns may be as splendid 
 in poetry, as they are fervent in devotion." 
 
Xll. 
 
 honored in the church. The praises of a 
 million of Christians are offered to God on 
 every Lord's day, in the words composed by 
 him. His Psalms and Hymns have been in- 
 strumental in aiding the devotions of a great 
 multitude of saints, who have already finished 
 their earthly pilgrimage ; and will continue 
 to be read and sung with delight, as long as 
 the English language shall be spoken by 
 Christians. And who is there, that has been 
 nurtured in the admonition of the Lord, who 
 does not recollect with pleasure, Dr. Watts' 
 Divine Songs for infant minds? There 
 is, therefore, less danger of the name of Dr. 
 Watts being forgotten in our churches, than 
 that of any other uninspired man. He may 
 truly be styled the "sweet singer of our 
 Israel," to whom we all owe a debt of gra- 
 titude : or rather I should say, we owe many 
 thanks to God for the gifts bestowed on his 
 servant, by which he has been rendered so 
 eminent an instrument in promoting the edifi- 
 cation of the church. And we trust, that the 
 thousands who experience, daily, the benefit 
 of his sacred poetry, will not find his prose 
 writings unworthy of their regard. 
 
 A. ALEXANDER. 
 
 Princeton, .7V. J. } 
 March, 28, 1831. S 
 
A RATIONAL DEFENCE OF THE GOSPEL: 
 ORj 
 
 COURAGE IX PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Rom. i. 16. 
 
 / am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for 
 it is the power of God unto salvation to every 
 one that believeth. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 Shame is a very discouraging passion of the 
 mind: it sinks the spirits low, it enfeebles ail 
 the active powers, and forbids the vigorous ex- 
 ecution of any tiling whereof we are ashamed. 
 It was necessary therefore, that St. Paul should 
 be endued with sacred courage, and raised 
 above the power of shame, when he was sent 
 to preach the gospel of Christ among the Jews 
 or the heathens, to face an infidel world, and 
 to break through all the reproaches and ter- 
 rors of it. / am a debtor, says he, v. 14. to 
 the Greeks and to the Barbarians, that is, to 
 the learned and unlearned nations, to the wise 
 and the unwise : < I have a commission from 
 
14 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 Christ to publish his gospel among all the na- 
 tions of men, and I esteem myself their debtor 
 until I have delivered my message. And 
 though Rome be the seat of worldly power 
 and policy, the mistress of the nations and so- 
 vereign of the earth, where I shall meet with 
 opposition and contempt in abundance, yet I 
 have courage enough to preach this doctrine 
 at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gos- 
 pel of Christ' 
 
 My friends, this is an age wherein the gospel 
 of our Redeemer meets with much contempt 
 and opposition. There are many in a baptized 
 nation, and who have been brought up in the 
 christian belief and worship, that- begin to be 
 weary of Christ and his religion ; they are en- 
 deavouring to find blemishes and defects in 
 this sacred gospel, and in that blessed word of 
 God that reveals this grace to us. The divine 
 truths that belong to this gospel meet with 
 mockery and profane reproach from deists and 
 unbelievers. I may call it therefore a day of 
 rebuke and blasphemy. God grant we may 
 never become a land of heathens again! — 
 Those of us that believe this gospel from the 
 heart, have need of courage to maiatain our pro- 
 fession of it, especially in some companies and 
 conversations. We should prepare ourselves 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 15 
 
 to encounter the reasonings of unbelievers, as 
 well as harden our faces against their ridicule. 
 Letus therefore meditate on this sacred text, that 
 each of us may pronounce boldly the words of 
 this great apostle, I am not ashamed of the gos- 
 pel of Christ. 
 
 Now that our mediations may proceed regu- 
 larly on the present theme of discourse, let us 
 consider, 
 
 I. What the gospel of Christ is, that we may 
 not mistake it. 
 
 II. What is included in this expression, I am 
 not ashamed of it. 
 
 III. What there is in this gospel that might 
 be supposed any way to expose a man to 
 shame. And I shall take occasion under this 
 head to give particular answers to some of the 
 most important objections that might be made 
 against the gospel, and show that there is no 
 just reason to be ashamed of it. 
 
 IV. I shall consider what is that general an- 
 swer to all objections ; that universal guard 
 against sinful shame which is contained in my 
 text, and which will bear out every christain 
 in his faith and profession of the gospel of 
 Christ, viz. that it is the power of God to the 
 salvation of every one who believes. 
 
 Y«. I shall draw some proper inferences. 
 
16 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 1. What is the gospel of Christ 1 
 
 I answer in general, it is a revelation of the 
 grace of God to fallen man through a Mediator, 
 Or, it is a gracious constitution of God for the 
 recovery of sinful and miserable man from 
 that deplorable state into which sin had brought 
 him, by the mediation of Christ ; or, in the 
 words of my text, it is the power of God, of 
 his powerful appointment for the salvation of 
 every one who believes. 
 
 The word gospel, in the original, elayfs\m 
 signifies good news or glad tidings. And surely, 
 when a sinner, who is exposed to the wrath of 
 God is sensible of his guilt and danger, it must 
 needs be glad tidings to him to hear of a way 
 of salvation and an all-sufficient Saviour. 
 
 This constitution of God for our salvation has 
 had various editions, if I may so express it, or 
 gradual discoveries of it, made to mankind, 
 ever since Adam first sinned, and God visited 
 him with the first promise of grace before he 
 turned him out of Paradise. 
 
 But the last and most complete revelation of 
 this gospel was made by the personal ministry 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, and more especially, 
 by his apostles, when his own death, resurrec- 
 tion and exaltation, had laid the complete (bun-, 
 dation for it. 
 
of tp:e gospel. 
 
 17 
 
 From the books of the New Testament, there- 
 fore, we may derive this larger description of 
 the gospel of Christ. 
 
 It is a wise, a holy, and gracious constitution 
 of God for the recovery of sinful man, by send- 
 ing his own Son Jesus Christ into the flesh, 
 to obey his law which man had broken, to make 
 a proper atonement for sin by his death, and 
 thus to procure the favor of God and eternal 
 happiness for all that believe and repent, and 
 and receive the offered salvation ; together with 
 a promise of the Holy Spirit to work this faith 
 and repentance in their hearts, to renew their 
 sinful natures unto holiness, to form them on 
 earth fit for this happiness, and to bring them 
 to the full possession of it in heaven. 
 
 It might be proved that this is the sense and 
 
 substance of the gospel of Christ, from many of 
 
 the prophecies of the Old Testament, and the 
 
 ceremonies and figures of the Jewish church, 
 
 as well as from a variety of citations from the 
 
 writings of the evangelists and apostles. Yet 
 
 there have risen some persons (I mean the Sc- 
 
 cinians and their disciples) in the last age, and 
 
 in this also, who call themselves christians, 
 
 but they so curtail and diminish the gospel of 
 
 Christ, as to make it signify very little more 
 
 than the dictates and hopes of the light of na~ 
 b 2. 
 
18 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 ture, viz : that if we repent of our sins pastv 
 and obey the commands of God as well as we 
 can for the future, Christ, as a great prophet, 
 has made a full declaration that there is pardon 
 for such sinners, and they shall be accepted 
 unto eternal life : and all this without any de- 
 pendance on his death as a proper sacrifice, and 
 with little regard to the operations of his holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 Now f need use no other argument to refute 
 this mistaken notion of the gospel, than what 
 may be derived from the words of my text, viz : 
 that St.. Paul expresses it with a sort of em- 
 phasis, and as a matter of importance, that he 
 was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. — ■. 
 Whereas, if this had been all the substance of 
 the gospel, he had no reason to be ashamed of 
 it, either among the Jews, or the heathens. — 
 The Jews had a knowledge of forgiveness upon 
 repentance, and a belief of it long before Christ 
 came :. and the heathen philosophers would 
 have readily received it, as a thing very little 
 different from what their natural reason might 
 lead them to hope for, though it could not 
 fully assure them of it, they would never have 
 sought to expose and ridicule the preaching of 
 St. Paul as mere babbling, and calLed him a 
 setter forth of strange gods. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 9 
 
 But on the other hand, if we suppose him 
 publishing the glorious doctrine which I have 
 described, there was something in this so 
 strange to the ears of the heathens as well as 
 of the blinded Jews, that might well be sup- 
 posed to awaken their opposition and rage ; 
 and, therefore, it was a great point gained 
 with him, when he had courage enough to 
 maintain such a gospel, and to say, I am not 
 ashamed of it. 
 
 This leads me to the second thing proposed. 
 
 II. What is included in these words, I am 
 not ashamed of the gospel] To this I answer 
 under these five heads. 
 
 1. I am not ashamed to believe it as a man, 
 
 2. I am not ashamed to profess it as a chris- 
 tian. 
 
 3. I am not ashamed to preach it to other? as 
 a minister. 
 
 4. I am not ashamed to defend it and contend 
 for it as a good soldier of Christ. 
 
 5. I am not ashamed to suffer and die for it as 
 a martyr. 
 
 1. c I am not ashamed to believe this gospel as 
 a man. My rational powers give me no secret 
 reproaches. My understanding and judgment 
 do not reprove and check my faith. I feel no 
 inward blush upon the face of my soul, while I 
 
20 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 give the fullest assent to all these truths, to 
 this scheme of doctrine, to this heavenly con- 
 trivance and system of grace. A rational man, 
 especially one who has been bred up in learning, 
 should be ashamed to believe fables and follies ; 
 but I believe all this gospel and am not 
 ashamed. My own reason approves it, and jus- 
 tifies me in the persuasion and belief of such a 
 gospel as this is.' 
 
 c I believe it with so firm and unshaken a faith, 
 that I venture all my own eternal concerns 
 upon it, I lay all the stress of my hopes of a 
 blessed immortality on it. My soul rests here, 
 and I am not ashamed of my resting place : — 
 I am not ashamed of my Saviour, and the 
 method of his salvation. I am persuaded my 
 hopes shall never disappoint me.' 
 
 Surely, if the gospel had been so very irra- 
 tional a thing as some men pretend it to be, 
 St. Paul being so rational and wise a man, would 
 have been ashamed to believe it. But ' I believe 
 it,' says he, 'and am not ashamed. I do not 
 think it casts any just reflection upon my ra- 
 tional capacities, or my learned education at 
 the feet of Gamaliel, for me to give a full as- 
 sent to this gospel. 
 
 2. < I am not ashamed to profess it as a Chris- 
 tian. I am ready to tell the world that I believe 
 
OP THE GOSPEL.. 21 
 
 it, and I take all occasions to let the world know 
 it. I am coming to profess this gospel at Rome,, 
 and am not ashamed : I have owned it before 
 my own countrymen the Jews, already, where 
 it has been most reproached. I have been tell- 
 ing the Gentiles what the gospel of salvation is, 
 and I long to see you at Rome, that I may tell 
 you what my belief is in the gospel, and may 
 hear how far you have believed, and may be 
 comforted by the mutual faith both of you and 
 me: Rom. i. 12. I shall be glad to tell you 
 what doctrines I venture my own soul upon, 
 and shall be willing to hear from you whether 
 you venture your souls upon the same doctrine 
 or no ; and shall rejoice to find we are both in- 
 terested in one salvation.' 
 
 3.. 6 T am not ashamed to preach it to others 
 as a minister ; that is, to invite others to believe 
 it. It is a communicable good, and I am sent 
 to diffuse it, nor am I ashamed of my commis^ 
 sion. See 2 Tim. 12* 13.. Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ has abolished death, and brought life 
 and immortality to light by the gospel, and has 
 appointed me a preacher, and an apostle to the 
 Gentiles : I preach the gospel and am not 
 ashamed, though I have suffered for it. I ven- 
 ture my soul upon it unto the last great day, and 
 I bid thee, Timothy, as a preacher unto others, 
 
%% 
 
 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 to hold fast the same form of sound words which 
 thou has learned of me. I long to teach the 
 whole world this faith and this doctrine, there- 
 fore I am a debtor to the Greeks and Barba- 
 rians ; I would make others partakers of the 
 same hope. Would to God, that not only thou, 
 Agrippa, but all those that hear me, were not 
 only almost, but altogether such as I am, ex- 
 cept only these bonds, these sufferings which I 
 endure for Christ's sake :' Acts xxvi. 29. 
 
 4. ■ I am not ashamed to contend for it as a 
 good soldier of Christ ; to defend it when it is 
 attacked, and to vindicate the cause of my 
 Lord and Master. Where it is assaulted I en- 
 deavor to secure it, though with many re- 
 proaches from the carnal prejudices of man- 
 kind. I oppose them all, for they oppose my 
 Saviour and his cross, and I build my everlast- 
 ing hopes there. I am set for the defence of 
 the gospel of Christ : Phil. i. 17> and I will con- 
 tend earnestly for the faith once delivered to 
 the saints.' And he gave us an instance of it, 
 that when Peter, who was an apostle, seemed 
 to diminish some of the glory and the liberty of 
 of the gospel, he withstood him to the face : 
 Gal. ii. 11. < There shall no man silence me, 
 or stop my mouth, when I am preaching a 
 crucified Saviour, and when I express my faith 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 2o 
 
 in the liberty and latitude of the gospel of 
 Christ. For if I durst withstand an apostle 
 under his criminal concealments, and in his di- 
 minution of the honor of this doctrine, surely 
 I dare oppose all the world besides.' 
 
 5. Lastly, <I am not ashamed to suffer and die 
 for it as a martyr. Load me with reproaches, 
 ye Jews, my countrymen, and load me with 
 chains, ye magistrates of Rome ; of none of 
 these am I ashamed or afraid, but with all bold- 
 ness I am always ready that Christ should be 
 magnified in my life, or my death: Phil. i. 14, 
 20. And as for my friends that are full of sor- 
 row lest Paul should be sacrificed for the faith 
 of Christ, Why mourn ye and break my heart ? 
 I am not only ready to be bound, but to 
 die for the sake of Christ. I count nothing 
 dear to me, no nor my life precious to myself, 
 that I may finish with joy the course of my mi- 
 nistry of this gospel, that I may testify the 
 grace of my God:' Acts xx. 24, and xxi. 13. 
 
 I might add also, that St. Paul intends and 
 means more than he expresses by a very usual 
 figure of speech, « I am not ashamed of it, that 
 is, I glory in it, I make my boast of it ; if there 
 be any doctrine worth boasting of, it is the gos- 
 pel of Christ. If I have any profession to glory 
 in, it is that I am a Christian. Once I was a 
 
£4 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 Pharisee, and I counted it my gain and my ho* 
 nor :' Phil. iii. 4, &c. But what things were 
 gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 
 Yea dobtless, and I count all things but loss for 
 the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus 
 my Lord. I glory in being a minister of the 
 gospel ; it is the highest honor God could have 
 put upon me, who am less than the least of all 
 saints. To me is this grace given to preach 
 among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ: Eph. iii. 8. I glory in it to that degree, 
 that I am dead to all things else. God forbid 
 I should glory in any thing save i?i the cross of 
 our Lord Jesus, whereby the world is crucified 
 to me, and I to the world. I glory in my suf* 
 feringsfor Christ; and, my friends, if ye under- 
 stood the value of these things, they are your 
 glory too. If I am offered up a sacrifice for the 
 service of your faith ; I joy and rejoice together 
 with you all : O ! that you would but rejoice to- 
 gether with me in it.' 
 
 Thus, I have showed you that all these things 
 are implied in St. Paul's not being ashamed of 
 the gospel of Christ, and I have proved it to you 
 from other parts of his epistles. 
 
 The third general head I proposed to speak 
 to, was this, 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 25 
 
 III. What is there in this gospel that may be 
 supposed to expose any man to shame ! 
 
 And this question is very needful ; for if there 
 were nothing in it that men might take occasion 
 to throw their scandals and reproaches at, it had 
 been no great matter for St. Paul to have cried 
 out, 'I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ? 
 
 To this I answer in general, this was a gospel 
 that contradicted the rooted prejudices of the 
 Jews, and was severely reproached by those 
 that professed great knowledge in their law ; it 
 was also a new and strange thing to the Gen- 
 tiles. A crucified Christ was a stumbling-block 
 to the Jews and foolishness to the Greek : 1 
 Cor. 1. 23. There was something in the faith 
 and practice and worship of the gospel, so con- 
 trary to the course of their education in the 
 world, so opposite to their carnal inclinations, 
 and to the customs and fashions of their coun- 
 try, that a man might well be afraid and ashamed 
 to profess it, when they lift their tongues and 
 their hands and their swords against it ; and 
 the chief of them crucified the Lord of glory, 
 and put the preachers of it to death. 
 
 Thus, in general. But while I descend to 
 particulars, I shall confine myself only to those 
 occasions of shame, which the same gospel 
 meets with in our day, that so the discourse 
 
26 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 may be more useful to the present audience ; 
 and as I mention each objection or supposed 
 occasion of shame, I shall endeavor to take off 
 the force of it, and shew that it is unreasonable. 
 Now the things that might any ways be sup- 
 posed to expose this gospel to shame, may be 
 ranked under these two heads. 
 
 I. Those which arise from the doctrines of 
 the gospel: and 
 
 II. Those which arise from the professors of 
 the gospel. 
 
 I. The occasions of shame that arise from the 
 doctrines of the gospel, are these five that fol- 
 low. 
 
 1. 'That there are mysteries in it which are 
 above the powers of our reason to comprehend, 
 and I will never believe a gospel that I cannot 
 comprehend.' This is the language of Sociai- 
 ans, men that pretend so much to reason in 
 our day. 
 
 But to relieve this occasion of shame, let us 
 consider, that mysteries are of two sorts. 
 
 1. Such as we could never have known, but 
 by divine revelation ; but being once revealed, 
 they may be fairly explained and understood. 
 Such is the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ, 
 of the resurrection of the dead, of forgiveness 
 of sins for the sake of Christ's sufferings, and of 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 27 
 
 eternal life in a future world. I say, these are 
 all mysteries that were hid from ages, that is, 
 they are such truths which nature or reason 
 could not have found out of itself, but being 
 once revealed to us of God, may be fairly ex- 
 plained and well understood. 
 
 Another sort of mysteries, are those, which 
 when revealed unto us, we know merely the 
 existence or reality and certainty of them, but 
 cannot comprehend the mode and manner how 
 they are. And of this kind there are but two 
 that I know of in our religion, which are the 
 chief objects of offence to some men. These 
 are the mystery of the blessed Trinity, and the 
 mystery of the incarnation of Christ. The mys- 
 tery of Three Persons, who have some glorious 
 communion in one Godhead ; and the mystery 
 of two natures united in one Person. 
 
 Now, though the way and manner how Three 
 Persons, Father, Son and Spirit, should be one 
 God, and how two natures, human and divine, 
 should be one Person in Christ Jesus ; I say, 
 though the way and manner how these things 
 are, is not so easy to be explained and unfolded 
 by us, and above our own present capacity to 
 comprehend and fully explain, yet I could never 
 find these things proved impossible to be. If I 
 must refuse to believe a thing that I know not 
 
28 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 the manner and nature of, there are many 
 things in the world of nature and in natural re- 
 ligion that I must disbelieve. Let them ex- 
 plain to me in natural religion what is the eter- 
 nity of God, what ideas they can have of a Be- 
 ing that never began to be ; and then perhaps 
 I may be able to explain to them how Three 
 Persons can be one God, and how two natures 
 can be in one Person. I am well assured, there 
 are some doctrines in natural religion as diffi- 
 cult to be explained, and hard to be understood, 
 and the manner of them is as mysterious, as 
 these doctrines of revealed religion, which are 
 also rendered more offensive by some men's at- 
 tempts to explain them in an unhappy manner. 
 But we may go a step lower to meet this ob- 
 jection, and confound it. In the world of na- 
 ture there are mysteries of this kind, which are 
 as unaccountable, and as hard to be unfolded, 
 as the mysteries of grace. It is the doctrine of 
 unions, both in the Trinity and the incarnation, 
 which renders them so mysterious. Now this 
 doctrine of unions in Natural Philosophy hath 
 been hitherto insolvable. We know that spirit 
 and body are united to make a man: but the 
 manner how they are united, remains still a 
 most difficult question. We know that some 
 bodies are hard, and some are soft ; but wha* 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. 29 
 
 it is that ties or unites the hard bodies so closely 
 together, and makes them so difficult to be se- 
 parated, is a riddle to the best philosophers, 
 which they cannot solve; or, what it is that 
 renders the parts of soft bodies so easily sepa- 
 rable. And many other things there are in 
 nature as mysterious as this. 
 
 Besides, if it were possible for us to explain 
 all things in nature, and to write a perfect book 
 of Natural Philosophy, with accurate skill, yet 
 it would not follow that we must know God 
 the Creator to perfection. The things of God 
 are infinitely superior to the things of men. 
 The nature of a Creator, in his manner of exist- 
 tence, is infinitely above the nature of creatures 
 in theirs. 'Tis fit there should be something be- 
 longing to God, an Infinite Spirit, that is incom- 
 prehensible, and above the power of fiinite spirits 
 to comprehend and fully search out and explain. 
 It ought, therefore, to be no just ground of shame 
 to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it 
 has mysteries in it ; that is to say, has some doc- 
 trines in it which we could never have found out 
 by the mere light of reason ; and some truths 
 the full manner of explication whereof we can 
 never attain to, since there are many things in 
 
 the world of nature, in the world of bodies and 
 
 c % 
 
30 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 souls, and many things in natural religion, which 
 we cannot fully explain. 
 
 2. Another occasion of reproach, which men 
 fasten upon the gospel, is, that some of the doc- 
 trines are so singular and contrary to the com- 
 mon opinions and reasonings of men ; such as 
 that the ever blessed God should want a satis- 
 faction, in order to pardon sin with honor; 
 that he should punish the most innocent and 
 obedient man that ever lived, even his own Son, 
 for the sins of wicked and rebellious creatures ; 
 that we should be freed from hell, which we 
 had deserved, by the sufferings of another in 
 our stead ; that one man should be justified with 
 another's obedience ; nay, that ten thousands of 
 men should be pardoned and justified for the sake 
 of the obedience and death of one single man ; 
 that all our own repentance is not sufficient of 
 itself to obtain our pardon ; that our holiness be it 
 never so great, does not procure us a title to the 
 favor of God and heaven ; and that dead bodies* 
 though mouldered in the grave for thousands of 
 years, should be raised again to life and immor- 
 tality . These are such strange doctrines, so very 
 foreign to the common sentiments of most men, 
 that some of the Athenians cried out, c what does 
 this babbler mean 1 A man should be ashamed 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. St 
 
 of these things ; the very heathen philosophers 
 called it foolishness.' 
 
 But now to remove this scandal, let us con- 
 sider, that many of these things are not so con- 
 trary to the reason of men as some think : for as 
 to the satisfaction made for our sins by the suf- 
 ferings of Christ, did not almost all the heathen 
 world suppose that God would not pardon sin 
 without satisfaction ? What else mean all their 
 bloody sacrifices 1 And why did they some- 
 times proceed so far as to murder men and 
 offer them to God for their sins 1 I confess, in- 
 deed, that many of the philosophers and learned 
 men amongst them who derided the gospel of 
 Christ, did also despise the sacrifices and reli- 
 gious ceremonies of their own countrymen, be- 
 lieving that God would be merciful to men that 
 were penitent and pious, without any rites of 
 atonement and sacrifice. But it is as evident, 
 also, that the people had a general notion of the 
 necessity of some atonement for sin, and that the 
 more valuable the sacrifice was, the sooner was 
 their god appeased, and the benefit procured 
 would be more extensive, however the philoso- 
 phers might ridicule it. It is manifest then, that 
 many of the heathens did imagine, that the death 
 and sufferings of one person should procure par- 
 don and immunities for a whole multitude. And, 
 
32 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 upon this principle, some of the ancient Romans> 
 now and then, out of nobility of spirit, devoted 
 themselves to death to appease the anger of 
 the Gods for their whole country. Thus it ap- 
 pears, that the business of satisfaction for sin, 
 and the doctrine of expiation and atonement by 
 the blood and death of a surety, was not so ut- 
 terly unknown in the world. 
 
 I add farther, that the notion of one person's 
 making satisfaction for the crime of another, in 
 human and political affairs, has been sometimes 
 practised, and thought to be very intelligible ; 
 and why should it be counted so very monstrous 
 and absurd, in things divine ] Do we not under- 
 stand what it is for one man to become a surety 
 for another, or for a criminal to be set free from 
 punishment by the voluntary substitution of 
 another person in his stead ? Are we not well 
 acquainted with what it is for one man to pay the 
 debt of another, and the original person that 
 was obliged thereby, to become free 1 Do we 
 not know what it is for a whole family of chil- 
 dren to inherit a possession for many ages, one 
 after another, for some noble acts and services 
 of their father? Therefore, honor, and glory, and 
 happiness, bestowed upon a multitude for the 
 sake of what one man has done, is not so unintel- 
 ligible a thing as some men would persuade us. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. S3 
 
 Why should that be esteemed impossible in the 
 affairs of religion, which is evident and plainly 
 practicable in the affairs of this world ? 
 
 Again, they think it strange that our repent- 
 ance should not be enough to obtain the pardon 
 of past sins, and our own obedience should not 
 procure heaven for us. But are not traitors, and 
 robbers, and all notorious criminals punished in 
 all governments, notwithstanding their repent- 
 ance 1 Can their sorrow for what is past pro- 
 cure a pardon of their prince 7 Who then would 
 be punished 1 And is man's government in pun- 
 ishing criminals without a satisfaction just and 
 reasonable] And shall God's government be 
 counted unreasonable 1 Can future obedience 
 among men obtain no forgiveness for past trea- 
 son and rebellion 1 And why then should you 
 think the great God is obliged to accept of it 1 
 
 As for the resurrection of the dead, though it 
 was counted a strange thing among heathens 
 when it was first preached to them ; yet in these 
 latter days, since the knowledge of God and his 
 glorious attributes has been so much increased, 
 and the reason of men has freely exercised it- 
 self upo n things divine and human, the resur- 
 rection is not counted any impossible thing, nor 
 the doctrine of it incredible. And I am verily 
 persuaded, if men whom God has endued with 
 
34 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 large capacities and great skill in reasoning, 
 would but employ those talents to write a ra- 
 tional account of most of the doctrines of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, it might be done with much 
 glory and success. 
 
 As for those few doctrines of Christianity, 
 which may at first appear less reasonable to 
 men, their abundant attestation from heaven de- 
 mands our belief. 
 
 3. Another occasion of reproach is, that the 
 gospel teaches mortification and self-denial, in a 
 very great degree conflicting with our natural 
 appetites, and fighting against our own flesh 
 and blood : and all that it promises is an unseen 
 heaven, a future reward, a far distant happiness 
 in another country, which eye has not seen, nor 
 ear heard of, nor the heart of man conceived. 
 A mere spiritual pleasure that is to be enjoyed 
 by the mind, and which the body shall not taste 
 of, till perhaps after a thousand years or more. 
 Now, as under the former head, the doctrines of 
 the gospel are a scandal to men of reason ; so 
 under this they become a scandal and reproach 
 to those that are litterally called men of sense, 
 who are carpalized and immersed in sensuality. 
 They think it strange to forego the joys of sense, 
 for the hopes of enjoying a happiness in a world 
 they don't know when or where* 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 35 
 
 But I need not stand long to answer this 
 calumny ; for even some of the refined philoso- 
 phers gave sufficient rebuke to this sensual 
 temper. The very heathens could say enough 
 to abash this censure, and to remove this occa- 
 sion of shame, though the gospel of Christ does 
 it infinitely better. 
 
 Christianity does not abridge us of the com- 
 mon comforts of flesh and blood, nor lay an un- 
 reasonable restraint upon any natural appetite ; 
 but it teaches us to live like men, and not like 
 brutes ; to regulate and manage our animal 
 nature with its desires and inclinations, so as to 
 enjoy life in the most proper and becoming 
 manner ; to eat and drink and taste the boun- 
 ties of Providence to the honor of our Creator, 
 and to the best interest of our souls. 
 
 But suppose, we were forbid all the indul- 
 gence of our appetites and the delights of 
 sense, by the gospel ; surely, those who know 
 what intellectual pleasures are, who can relish 
 the joy that belongs to spirits, will not be much 
 terrified with these objections, nor deride the 
 faith of Christ because it does not propose to 
 them the reward of an earthly paradise. The 
 rewards of the gospel are indeed spiritual till the 
 resurection, but those spiritual pleasures shall 
 vastly over-balance all that toil, sorrow, and suf- 
 
36 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 fering we have passed through on earth, and all 
 that self-denial which we'have exercised. But 
 when the body shall be raised again, our refined 
 delights, of all kinds, shall be infinitely satisfying: 
 We shall not say, that God has dealt out happi- 
 ness to us with a niggardly hand, but that he has 
 exceeded all his promises, when we shall come 
 to taste the things God has prepared for us, 
 which eye has not seen, or ear heard of. 
 
 4. Another prejudice against the gospel is 
 this. Some persons charge it with much of en- 
 thusiasm ; and that the doctrine of the opera- 
 tions of the Spirit, and the expectation of his 
 divine assistance to instruct us in truth, to mor- 
 tify sin in us, and to enable us to perform holy 
 duties, has too much of a visionary and fanciful 
 turn of mind, and does not become men that 
 profess reason. 
 
 But, if such objectors were but better ac- 
 quainted with themselves, and knew the weak- 
 ness of their own reason in the search after 
 truth, and the various and plausible errors that 
 attend their inquiries on every side ; if they 
 were better acquainted with the strength of 
 temptation, the power of their own sinful ap- 
 petites, and the weakness of their will to resist 
 sin, and to fulfil the rules of righteousness; 
 surely, they would not think it a thing to lift up 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 3*7 
 
 a prayer to the great God to guide them into 
 truth, and to assist them to walk steadily in the 
 paths of religion and virtue. If they had but 
 a deep and lively sense of their own insufficiency 
 for every thing that's good, and of the many 
 dangers and enemies that beset them,they would 
 rather see infinite reason to bless their Creator, 
 that has given them any promise or hope of the 
 aids of his grace. 
 
 Nor is it at all fantastical or irrational to sup- 
 pose, that the great and blessed God, who made 
 these spirits of ours, should kindly act upon 
 them, and influence them by secret and divine 
 methods, to their duty and their happiness ; 
 that he should send his own Spirit to help 
 them onward in their proper business, which is 
 to serve him here, and assist them in pursuit 
 of their true blessedness, which is to enjoy him 
 hereafter. 
 
 Methinks it is one of the glories of this gos- 
 pel of Christ, that God has not only sent his 
 Son to purchase heaven for us, but continually 
 sends down his own Spirit to lead every hum- 
 ble Christian in the way thither. When a 
 poor penitent creature, distressed under a sense 
 of the power of sin dwelling in him, who has 
 long and often toiled and labored to bring his 
 heart near to God, and to suppress the irregu- 
 
38 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 lar and exorbitant appetites of his nature, ad- 
 dresses himself to the throne of God, and cries 
 earnestly for divine help ; it is a glorious provi- 
 sion that is made in the gospel of Christ, that 
 the Spirit of God is promised for our assistance. 
 Nor is at all unworthy of a person of the great- 
 est reason, and the best understanding, hum- 
 bly to wait and hope for the accomplishment 
 of this promise. Thus the charge of enthu- 
 siasm vanishes, and the gospel maintains its 
 honor. 
 
 5. The last objection against the doctrines of 
 the gospel of Christ is, that 'they are not suffi- 
 ciently attested, that there is not ground 
 enough given to credit the divinity of them in 
 our age.' 
 
 They are ready to say, ' These things were 
 done (according as ourselves profess) above 
 sixteen hundred years ago, and we have not 
 sufficient credentials to venture our faith upon 
 at this day.' 
 
 It would be too long here to repeat over to 
 you half the grounds we have for faith in this 
 gospel. That there was such a man as Jesus 
 Christ ; that he lived at such a time at Jerusa- 
 lem ; that he wrought wonderful works in his 
 own country, is not at all disbelieved by those 
 that profess any reasonable faith in human 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 39 
 
 history. The Jews themselves, who were his 
 greatest enemies, do not deny that he wrought 
 those miracles, which others could not work ; 
 but they pretended that he did it by some 
 magic art, by diabolical charms ; and wrought 
 miracles, not "by the power of God, but by vir- 
 tue derived from spells and evil spirits. So 
 that the miracles he wrought were not disbe- 
 lieved and denied, but the heavenly spring of 
 them is impiously perverted and turned down- 
 ward, as though Christ borrowed his power 
 from hell to transact these affairs. But the 
 holiness and the heavenly temper of the gospel 
 of Christ, refutes this accusation. Satan was 
 never known to demolish his own kingdom of 
 ungodliness in such a manner as this. The 
 gospel of Christ, in every part of it, has a most 
 singular and sublime tendency to advance the 
 name, the attributes and the honor of God, 
 whom Satan hates with a perfect hatred. He 
 would never lend his assisting hand to support 
 a scheme of religion so divine and holy. 
 
 Never was any body of doctrines and of 
 duties so composed and calculated to promote 
 the glory of God, nor the good of man, as this 
 gospel does. Our peace and happiness would 
 be secured by it on earth, if all men would 
 comply with it, and our felicity after death is 
 
40 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 the great and indefeasible proposal and design 
 of it. Now Satan is a restless enemy to men 
 his fellow-creatures, as well as to God his 
 Maker ; and he would never exert the remains 
 of his angelic power to encourage and defend 
 such a pious and beneficent religion. 
 
 But the most amazing progress and success 
 of the gospel, is another argument that proves 
 it to be divine, even when devils and magicians 
 opposed it as well as princes and philosophers. 
 That the gospel itself, without the force of arms, 
 that a naked gospel,should spread itself through- 
 out the world, in so short a space of time, and 
 that by the preaching of a few despised persons, 
 and several of them fishermen that were utterly 
 unlearned : that this gospel should triumph 
 over all the powers and policies of men and 
 hell : that it should make its way in opposition 
 to the wisdom of philosophers, and the will of 
 princes, and all the temptations and terrors of 
 this world : this is another miracle, which per- 
 haps is as divine and convincing as any of the 
 preceding wonders that attested this gospel, 
 when it was first preached. 
 
 I add also the testimony of prophecy to that 
 of miracles. The wondrous and exact accom- 
 plishment of many prophecies, since our Lord 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 41 
 
 Jesus Christ dwelt on earth in the days of his 
 flesh, confirm his gospel. The prophecies that 
 he himself gave forth from God is another tes- 
 timony to this gospel, which is uncontrolable. 
 The destruction of Jerusalem, the time and 
 methods of its destruction, and the terrors of it, 
 may be read in Matthew, xxiv. And if you 
 read the history of Josephus, a Jew, you find 
 so many parallels, that you must say Christ did 
 foretel it indeed. 
 
 I might here subjoin the predictions of the 
 apostles, particularly that of St. Paul and St. 
 John, concerning the rise and spirit of Anti- 
 christ, wherein the church of Rome so clearly 
 answers the language of the visions and pro- 
 phecies. 
 
 But the brightest and most uncontrolable 
 witness of prophecy to the truth of the gospel, 
 is the most exact and punctual accomplish- 
 ments of all the predictions of the Old Testa- 
 ment, in the life and death, the resurrection 
 and glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. From the 
 first promise given to Adam in the garden, 
 down to the words of Malachi, the last of the 
 prophets, you find every thing that was said 
 of him, fulfilled in his history. And thus 
 the books of the Jews, wherein they placed 
 all their hopes, confirm the gospel of Chrsit* 
 d2 
 
42 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 and refute and confound their own infidelity s 
 so that if ever I had been a Jew, and did 
 believe Moses and the prophets, I think I am 
 constrained to be a Christian,, and believe in 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Thus I have endeavored to answer those 
 objections against the gospel, which are pre- 
 tended to arise from the truths or doctrines 
 of it : and before I proceed to answer those, 
 cavils which are raised against it because of 
 the professors of it, I must finish the present 
 discourse with a word or two of improve- 
 ment. 
 
 Use 1. If this be a gospel not to be ashamed 
 of, then study it well : learn the truths and 
 doctrines of it thoroughly : truths and doc- 
 trines which St. Paul, so wise and so great a 
 man, did not blush to profess, and preach, and 
 die for. Value it as he valued it: the more 
 you know it, the more you will esteem it ; and 
 the better you are acquainted with all the glo- 
 rious articles of it, the less you will be ashamed 
 of it: the divine harmony of the whole will cast 
 a beauty and lustre on every part. 
 
 Use 2. Furnish yourselves with arguments 
 for it daily, that you may profess it without 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 43 
 
 shame, and defend it without blushing. This is 
 a day of temptation, and you know not what 
 conversation you may be called into by divine 
 Providence ; you know not what cavils you may 
 meet with to assault your faith, and attack 
 Christianity. Be ready, therefore, to give rea- 
 sons of the hope that is in you, and to make a just 
 and pertinent reply to gainsayers, and to con- 
 vince those, if possible, that are led away captive 
 by the wiles of the devil, to forsake Christ and 
 his gospel. Let not every turn of wit or sleight 
 of argument and sophistry, make you waver in 
 your faith. It is a gospel that will bear the 
 trial of reasonings and reproaches. It has 
 something in itself that is divine, and therefore 
 it is able to support the professors, of it against 
 an army of cavillers. 
 
 Use 3. Submit to all the institutions of it. 
 Profess the whole of this gospel ; not only the 
 doctrines, but the ordinances of this gospel, are 
 divine and glorious ; they have something ia 
 them that show they come from God, and they 
 have something in them that evidently leads to 
 God. They have all something in their sense 
 and signification that discovers divinity. Wait 
 upon God, therefore, in all his ordinances in the 
 assemblies of Christians, that you may see his 
 
44 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 power and his glory, in his own sanctuary ; and 
 that you may, from your own experience, be 
 able to say, that the gospel is too great, too 
 glorious, too divine a thing in its doctrine and 
 worship, and in all its institutions, for you 
 ever to be ashamed of. It has now, for six- 
 teen ages endured the test of the wit and the 
 rage of earth and hell, and it shall stand in 
 power and glory, till the heavens be no more. 
 Amen., 
 
 
A RATIONAL DEFENCE OF THE GOSPEL: 
 OR, 
 
 COURAGE IN PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Rom. i. 16. 
 
 / am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for 
 it is th*e power of God unto salvation to every 
 one that believeth. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 There are many in the world who call them- 
 selves Christians, and boast in the name ; yet 
 if you ask them what the gospel of Christ is, 
 they are either struck into confusion and silence, 
 or they give such an awkward and impertinent 
 answer, as sufficiently discovers they know little 
 of the religion of Christ, or of the sacred name 
 into which they were baptized. Now, that we 
 may act and speak as becomes persons indued 
 with reason, I thought it necessary at first, to 
 give some account what this gospel is, that 
 you might know and understand the religion 
 which you profess ; and if ye will glory in the 
 
46 a RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 name of Christian, ye may be able to tell what 
 it is you mean by Christianity. 
 
 By reading the books of the New Testament 
 wherein the gospel is contained, you will find 
 this to be the sum and substance of it, viz: 
 * That it is a wise, a holy, and a gracious consti- 
 tution of God, for the recovery of sinful man, by 
 sending his own Son Jesus Christ into the flesh, 
 to obey his law which man had broken, to make 
 a proper atonement for sin by his death, and 
 thus to procure the favor of God an^ eternal 
 happiness, for all that believe and repent, and 
 receive this offered salvation ; together with a 
 promise of the Holy Spirit, to work this faith 
 and repentance in their hearts, to renew their 
 sinful natures unto holiness, to form them on 
 earth fit for this happiness, and to bring them 
 to the full possession of it in heaven/ 
 
 I have shewn, in the next place, what St. 
 Paul meant, when he told the Romans, he ' was 
 not ashamed of this gospel :' he was neither 
 ashamed to believe it as a man, nor to profess 
 it as a Christian, nor to preach it to others as a 
 minister, nor to defend it as a good soldier of 
 Christ, nor to suffer and die for it as a martyr. 
 
 The third thing, which I proposed, was to 
 make it appear, that 'all the occasions of 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. 47 
 
 shame, which men of infidelity pretend to raise 
 from this gospel, may be answered upon the 
 fair and just principles of reason and argument.' 
 The first sort of reproaches are those which 
 are cast upon the doctrines of the gospel, and 
 I hope I have rolled them away. 
 
 I repeat no more of these things, but pro- 
 ceed to the next sort of occasions of shame, 
 and these are such as are supposed to arise 
 from the professors of this Gospel ; and I shall 
 endeavor to shew you also how they may be 
 answered. They are chiefly these four. 
 
 I. Some will say, c The professors of this 
 gospel,in the beginnh g,were the weak and fool- 
 ish and mean things of this world ; but it was 
 despised by the wise, it was scorned by the 
 great and honorable, and persecuted by the 
 mighty. Why should a Paul, a Pharisee, a 
 Doctor of the Law, become the follower of a 
 carpenter's son, and associate with a parcel of 
 fishermen ? This is a scandal, and foolish in- 
 deed. Who among the Pharisees or the riders, 
 have beli ved on m? John vii. 48.' This was 
 the stumbling block of the gospel in that age, 
 and it is the stumbling block at which many 
 persons take offe ce in our age, too. « It is the 
 unthinking multitude,' say they, 'the mere mob 
 of mankind, that ai e led away with the noise of 
 
48 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 strange things and the gospel. And it is only 
 those who have no relish of good sense, that 
 can dispense with mysteries. The poorer and 
 weaker sort of men and women flock after your 
 powerful preachers of the gospel, but wise men 
 despise it.' 
 
 I am very glad, my friends, if in your con- 
 versation you meet with no such persons that 
 ridicule the gospel at this rate. But there are 
 many in our age and nation, arrived at this 
 height of pride and contempt of the gospel. 
 
 This objection may have more answers than 
 one given to it ; as first, It is a matter of unjust 
 reproach, and it is false in fact ; for all the pro- 
 fessors of this gospel are not weak and unlearn- 
 ed. There have been in the very beginning of 
 Christianity some wise, some great persons, 
 that have given testimony to this gospel, by 
 their believing it. St. Paul was a man of no 
 weak reason, no mean understanding, no small 
 learning, and yet he believes this gospel, and 
 professes he is not ashamed of it. 
 
 And there have been in most ages of the 
 church, some instances of the power and suc- 
 cess of this gospel, in converting philosophers, 
 and senators, and princes. The learned the 
 ingenious, and the noble amongst mankind, 
 have sometimes given up their names to 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 49 
 
 Christ, have yielded their assent to his doctrines, 
 and conformed their hearts and lives to the 
 rules of his gospel. Men of wit and reason 
 have been converted to the faith, and then 
 have exerted their peculiar talents in the de- 
 fence of Christianity, and they have convinced 
 the world that they had neither left their rea- 
 son nor their wit behind them, when they 
 became Christians. Men of grandeur and 
 power have sometimes also supported it with 
 honor. 
 
 But the number of these has not been ex- 
 ceeding great. God has ordained that there 
 should be sorne^ to show that it is no foolish 
 and unreasonable doctrine ; that it is not a reli- 
 gion unworthy of kings, nor unbecoming the 
 wisest and the greatest of characters. But if 
 there have been but few great and wise who 
 have embraced it, it is evident that its success 
 and glory is not owing to the wisdom and pow- 
 er of men, but to the divinity of its doctrines, 
 and the power of God. 
 
 Besides, I might tell you secondly, that 
 riches, and grandeur, and elevated degrees of 
 wit and learning, become a sore temptation to 
 pride of mind and self-sufficiency. Now the 
 faith of the gospel is founded in humility, and 
 self-diffidence, and poverty of spirit ; and this is 
 
50 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 one plain reason why it was received by so few 
 of the rich, and the learned, and the mighty 
 among men, though it was contrived and in- 
 vented by God himself. 
 
 I answer, in the third place, that it is one of 
 the designed characters of the true gospel of 
 Christ, and it is foretold by the ancient prophets, 
 that when it should come to be preached upon 
 the earth, the poor-should receive it. Its recep- 
 tion by the poor and weak among men, is one 
 evidence that it comes from God ; Matth. xi. 5. 
 When John the Baptist sent his disciples to 
 our Saviour, to know whether he was the Mes- 
 siah, or must they expect another ? Go tell 
 John, the blind receive sight, the deaf hear, and 
 the lame walk, and to the poor the gospel is 
 preached ; blessed is he that is not offended in 
 me, &c. Go and give John this very account 
 I now relate to you, and tell him these are my 
 credentials, these are the testimonials I bring. 
 John will infer that I am the Messiah, and this 
 is the true gospel that I preach ; for the great 
 and rich, and the pretenders to wisdom among 
 the Jews, account it a stone of stumbling, and 
 a rock of offence, and only a few of the poor 
 receive it, as it was foretold by the prophets. 
 
 Each of us may say, therefore, if only the 
 wise, or the great, or the rich believed it, it 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 51 
 
 must have been such a gospel as I could never 
 have believed ; for it wanted one character 
 which is necessarily adjoined to it, that is, that 
 the poor receive the gospel. Father, I thank 
 thee, says our Lord, that thou hast hid these 
 things from the wise and prudent, but thou 
 hast revealed them unto babes : Math. xi. 25. 
 It pleased God, when the world by wisdom 
 knew not God, to darken all their wisdom, and 
 turn it into folly; and to call those that were 
 esteemed fools, and make them wise in believ- 
 ing the gospel of Christ. It has pleased God 
 to choose the mean and weak and contempti- 
 ble things of this world, to confound the wise 
 and mighty. It has pleased him to choose the 
 things that are not, to bring to nought the 
 things that are, that no flesh might glory in 
 his presence ; 1 Cor. i. 27, &c. 
 
 II. It is another occasion of stumbling or 
 shame in the gospel of Christ, that some of the 
 professors of it are vicious in their lives. < Will 
 you believe such a gospel,' says an infidel, 'that 
 does not restrain the professors of it from the 
 worst of sins.' 
 
 This, I confess, gives it great dishonor among 
 the men of the world, and is sometimes ready 
 to shake the faith of younger Christians ; they 
 know not how to go on farther in Christianity, 
 
5£ A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 for such and such that made great profession, 
 you see how they are fallen. This is a com- 
 mon temptation of the devil ; it is a frequent 
 snare, and there hath been many a pious soul 
 that hath been in danger of being caught 
 thereby. The vices of some professors were 
 great, even in St. Paul's days : there were 
 some among the PhiHippians, Phil. iii. 18, of 
 whom I have told you often, and now even 
 weeping, that they walk as enemies to the 
 cross of Christ, and 'east scandal and shame 
 upon it. It makes my eyes flow with tears, 
 and my soul bleed within me, to hear of it : 
 the gospel of Christ is so much dishonored by 
 these means.' 
 
 But if we take a nearer view, we shall see 
 that no doctrine ought to fare the worse, be- 
 cause some wicked men are professors of it. 
 It was not counted a discredit to philosophy, 
 that some of the professors of it, who hated the 
 Gospel, were vicious in their lives. I would ask 
 the deist now, is there any ground to disbe- 
 lieve natural religion, because there are some 
 that make profession of it, are fallen into great 
 sins ? The gospel itself teaches us to deny all 
 ungodliness and worldly lusts, and does not in-, 
 dulge one of them. And they are said to b* 
 enemies to the cross of Christ, when their cov. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 53 
 
 vernation is all earthly, when their God is their 
 belly, and their glory is their shame. This is no 
 fault of the gospel, for they felt not the power 
 of it. Nor is there any religion or profession in 
 the world, that would have had any followers at 
 all, if men must have entirely cashiered that 
 religion, because there have been some per- 
 sons vicious that have been professors of it. — 
 There is no sect, no religion in the world, 
 though the institution and the rules of it have 
 been ever so pious, but what has produced 
 some persons that have been vicious in their 
 lives. 
 
 But this cavil is still carried on, and urged 
 with much vehemence. ' If the gospel of Christ 
 were a religion so heavenly, and so divine in 
 its original, as you pretend, surely the nations 
 that profess it, would eminently exceed all 
 other nations in piety, in justice and goodness; 
 whereas, the nations that no\v-a-days embrace 
 Christianity, are not at all superior to the Ma- 
 hometans, nor to some of the heathens, either 
 in duty that relates to God or man : and if we 
 may give credit to ancient history, the virtues 
 of the old Romans, long before the days of Ju- 
 lius Caesar, shone much brighter than any of 
 the virtues of the baptized nations : there was 
 more truth and honesty, more devotion to the 
 
54 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 heavenly powers, more of a public spirit anct 
 zeal for their country's good, than we can find 
 in any Ghrislian kingdoms or states now-a-days. 
 To this I would give these three answers.' 
 
 1st, The account which we have of the 
 shining virtues of these best ages of heathenism, 
 is given us only by their own posterity who 
 lived in succeeding ages. Now it is the well 
 known temper and custom of mankind, to mag- 
 nify the virtue of their ancestors, and to say, 
 that the former times were better than these . 
 but you have scarce any heathen writers who 
 do not describe their own age as vicious enough, 
 if they have occasion to talk upon that subject, 
 And, therefore, there is just reason to suspect 
 the strict truth of these encomiums of their 
 forefathers. 
 
 2dly, Although some social virtues in a hea- 
 then country might really flourish more for an, 
 age or two springing from the principles of ambi- 
 tion, and honor, and love to their own coun- 
 try; yet there were such vices also practised 
 among many of the Gentile nations, which are 
 seldom heard or known among Christians : the 
 apostle describes them in Rom. i. 26, and that 
 in such a manner, as leads us to believe that 
 they were practised by those who professed 
 wisdom among them. 
 
0T THE GOSPEL. 55 
 
 It must be acknowledged, also, that these 
 nations were gross idolaters, and worshipped 
 many gods , and that even in the times when 
 their social virtues were most conspicuous. 
 Now, this is most highly criminal in the sight of 
 the great and Sovereign God, the Creator of all 
 things : and the warmer and the more zealous 
 were their devotions, which they paid to these 
 idols, with the neglect or contempt of the true 
 God, the greater was their guilt and abomina- 
 tion. 
 
 But 3dly, The chief answer I give is this, 
 that when whole kingdoms are made Christians 
 merely by birth, education and custom, it is not 
 to be supposed that a twentieth part of them 
 believe the gospel upon any just and reasonble 
 principles of knowledge and choice. When 
 whole cities and nations are worshippers of 
 Christ, no otherwise than the Ephesians were 
 worshippers of Diana, or the Turks of Mahomet, 
 it is not reasonable to expect that there should 
 be much difference in the virtues of such a na- 
 tional sort of Christians, Mahometans, or hea- 
 thens ; for the principle from which all their 
 religion springs is the same, namely, their edu- 
 cation, custom and fashion of their country ; 
 and therefore, their vices are much the same as 
 they would be according to the present reign- 
 
56 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 ing humour, disposition, or political temper of 
 the nation, whatsoever were their form of reli- 
 gion and their established worship. 
 
 The true way, therefore, to put those things 
 to the test, is to consider those Christians only 
 who believe and profess the gospel from know- 
 ledge, and choice, and inward conviction, and 
 who make their religion a matter of solemnity 
 and importance, and not of mere form and cus- 
 tom. Now, if you seperate these from the rest of 
 mankind, I am well assured, that as bad as the 
 Christian world is, you will find all the human 
 and divine virtues more gloriously practised: ' 
 among such Christians as these, than among 
 an equal number of the professors of any other 
 religion under the sun: for inward Christianity, 
 and the faith of the gospel, when it si built upon 
 just foundations, wilt necessarily draw along 
 with it such a train of virtues and graces as 
 shall adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour ; 
 and by such a comparison as this, men would 
 be constrained to confess that God is among 
 us of a truth. 
 
 III. The various and divided opinions, the 
 sects and parties that are found in the Christian 
 world, have been another occasion of scandal 
 and offence to the infidels. ' How can we ever 
 come,' say they, *to any certainty what your 
 
 I 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. «*« 
 
 religion is, since you do not agree about it among 
 yourselves V 
 
 < All Europe pretends to be Christian, and to 
 believe the gospel ; yet France, and Spain, and 
 Italy, and Poland, and a good part of Germany, 
 tells us that true Christianity is found only 
 amongst them. But in the countries of Den- 
 mark and Sweden, and the northern parts of 
 Germany, and in the British Islands, there is 
 another religion professed, of a very different 
 kind, and they call theirs the pure gospel and 
 reformed Christianity. The Protestant and the 
 Papist divide these western parts of the world, 
 and they are ready to tear one another to 
 pieces upon the account of their different opi- 
 nions and practices. Now if the books that con- 
 tain the religion of Christ be of so very un- 
 certain sense and signification, truly we are 
 ashamed of such a doubtful religion ; it is even 
 as well for us to content ourselves with the re- 
 ligion that the light of nature teaches us, and 
 the dictates of our own common reason, which 
 we think has more certainty in it.* 
 
 To this, I answer, that it is a great mistake ta 
 imagine that the light of nature and reason, if 
 left entirely to itself in this corrupt and fallen 
 state, has more certainty in its determinations 
 than Scripture hath. How many wild opinions. 
 
58 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 hath the corrupt mind of man produced among 
 the inhabitants of the heathen world, and this 
 same light of nature has not corrected them ? 
 What infinite diversity of vain and monstrous 
 fancies hath past for religion and devotion 
 among them? And the light of nature has 
 been supposed to dictate some of them, for 
 they did not always pretend revelation for them. 
 There have been wide and irreconcilable differ- 
 ences among the philosophers, as well as among 
 the priests and the people of different nations. 
 The light of nature and reason is a poor dark 
 bewildered thing, if it hath no commerce, nor 
 communication with persons who have been 
 favoured with Divine Revelation. It is only 
 the scripture that has established and ascer- 
 tained the doctrines of natural religion : and it 
 is to the scripture that the deist of our age are 
 obliged for their greater acquaintance with na- 
 tural religion than ever their forefathers, the 
 heathen philosophers, arrived at, though they 
 are too proud to acknowledge it. If they agree 
 better, and are more uniform in their principles 
 now than the old Epicureans, the Stoicks, and 
 the Platonists were, it is all owing to a more 
 intimate acquaintance with the writings of 
 Moses and the prophets, the evangelists and 
 the apostles ; so that it is with a very ill grace 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. 59 
 
 that our present infidels can object to Christians 
 their difference of opinions, and pretend that 
 this is a ground of shame to the gospel of* 
 Christ, and a reason why they do not believe 
 or profess it. 
 
 But I come now to give some account of the 
 true reasons of such divisions of sect and party, 
 among Christians. There are two great causes 
 of these divisions, and the charge is not to be 
 laid upon the gospel of Christ, nor upon the 
 books that contain it. 
 
 1. The first cause is, that the Papist does 
 not pretend to derive his religion merely from, 
 the Bible ; but he brings in the Jewish Apocry- 
 phal writers of ancient ages, and lays them also 
 for a foundation of his faith ; and he makes the 
 traditions of the Christian Church, which he pre- 
 tends to have been delivered down from age to 
 age,of almost the same authority as the scripture 
 itself: and some of their authors have raised 
 these traditions to equal dignity with the scrip- 
 ture, as being built upon the same foundation, 
 viz. the authority of the church. As they -have 
 many things in their religion which they can- 
 not find in the word of God, so they think it is 
 sufficient if they can support them by these pre- 
 tended traditions of the church. Whereas, the 
 Protestant takes nothing for the ground of 
 
60 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 his faith, but the books of the Old and Ne\v 
 Testament; and what he cannot find written 
 there, nor derived thence by most obvious and 
 evident consequences, he does not profess it as 
 any necessary part of his Christianity. The 
 religion of the Protestant, therefore, is abun- 
 dantly more conformable to the gospel of Christ, 
 both in the doctrines and the worship of it, be- 
 cause it derives the whole from the word of 
 God : but it is no wonder at all that there 
 should be such a difference between them and 
 the Papists, when they lay such different foun- 
 dations for their faith and practice. 
 
 2. Another reason why the Protestant and 
 Papist differ so much, is, because the Papist 
 pretends that there is an infallible judge among 
 them to determine all controversies ; and that 
 their popes and their councils, which they call 
 the church, have authority to appoint what 
 shall be esteemed the true articles of faith, and 
 to bring in rites and ceremonies into their wor- 
 ship, according to their own invention and plea- 
 sure. And that all the people are bound to 
 believe as the church bids them believe, and to 
 practise in matters of worship, whatsoever the 
 church bids them practise : and upon this ac- 
 count they forbid the Scripture to be read by 
 the common people, that they may not learn 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 61 
 
 the truth of the gospel, but may take all for 
 gospel which they teach them, and be con- 
 tent with it. Whereas, the Protestant has noth- 
 ing else but his Bible to have recourse to for 
 the conclusion of all controversies ; and he 
 encourages every man to use his Bible, and to 
 judge for himself concerning the sense and 
 meaning of it, using the best helps that he can 
 obtain for this end : the Protestant ministers 
 teach him not only what they know of the 
 gospel, but they put the Bible into his hand, 
 and bid him search and see whether things are 
 so or no, that thence he may learn what are 
 those doctrines and those duties which Christ 
 has required him to believe and practise. 
 Thence it comes to pass, that there are almost 
 a thousand things in Popery, which the Protes- 
 tants utterly disown, because they disown the 
 power of the pope, or church, to stamp new 
 articles of faith or invent new forms of worship. 
 Object. But it may be said still, there are so 
 many different sects and parties among the 
 Protestants themselves, as encourages the 
 deist to maintain his charge and accusation. 
 1 Why do you,' saith he, 'who profess to derive 
 all your religion from the Scripture, differ so 
 much among yourselves, both in doctrine, in 
 worship, and in the order of your churches, if 
 
62 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 the gospel of Christ be so excellent a religion, 
 and if the books that contain it can give you 
 so plain and certain a knowledge of it V 
 
 I answer, that almost all those things where- 
 in Protestants differ, are but of smaller import- 
 ance in religion, in comparison of those many 
 and great things wherein they agree. The 
 chief and most important points of Christianity 
 are written with so much plainness and evidence 
 in the word of God, as would lead all humble, 
 honest, sincere and diligent enquirers into a 
 belief of them, and consent in them. Now it 
 is not necessary that the lesser matters of 
 Christianity should be written down so express- 
 ly in scripture : for the all-wise God thought it 
 proper to leave many of these articles of less 
 importance more dubious and obscure, both to 
 awaken the diligence of men to study his word 
 and to leave amongst them some occasions for 
 the exercise of their mutual charity and for- 
 bearance. Our Blessed Lord has thought it 
 proper to put the universal love which he re- 
 quires amongst his followers to this test or trial 
 to see whether they will cultivate peace and 
 charity to one another amidst their various and 
 divided opinions in things of less concernment. 
 I confess there are some differences among 
 Protestants in the great doctrines of the Trinity, 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 63 
 
 and the satisfaction of Christ, which must be 
 acknowledged to be articles of very high mo- 
 ment and importance in Christianity. But if 
 we compare those few who profess dangerous 
 opinions in these points, with the millions that 
 agree in the same general profession of faith, it 
 will be found that their number is but very small. 
 If we consider the great ignorance of God which 
 is found in all men, by nature, and take a sur- 
 vey of the unhappy influences that education, 
 fancy, passion, pride, frendship, aversion, pre- 
 cipitance and laziness, have upon mankind in 
 forming their judgments and opinions, we shall 
 not wonder to find some persons here and there 
 falling into strange sentiments, contrary to the 
 plain and sufficient evidence of scripture. We 
 believe in general, that whoever puts off all pre- 
 judices, and is piously sincere in his search of 
 the word of God, shall certainly find, through 
 divine assistance, all needful truth. If, therefore, 
 a disbeliever come with a serious, humble, and 
 pious mind, and apply himself with diligence and 
 fervent prayer to read the scripture, I am well 
 assured he will become a Christian, and find 
 out so much of the doctrines and duties of the 
 gospel, as are necessary to his eternal happi- 
 ness. 
 
 But there will be heresies arising sometimes 
 
64 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 in the church. Tares will grow up sometimes 
 in the field that is ever so well cultivated and 
 sown with corn : and what unknown reasons 
 there may be in the counsels and providence of 
 God in permitting heresies to arise for the 
 farther trial of his own people, is too high and 
 hard a point for us to determine. The apostle 
 saith, 1 Cor. xi. 19; There must he also here- 
 sies among you, that they which are approved 
 may he made manifest. If such a thing as this 
 is, shall be abused by men of corrupt minds, to 
 turn them quite away from the gospel of Christ, 
 and to support their own infidelity, they must 
 answer for it at the great day to Christ their 
 Judge. 
 
 Thus I have done with the third charge or 
 accusation brought against the gospel, and re- 
 moved the scandal and shame that some men 
 have thrown upon it, because there are such 
 sects, and parties, and divided opinions among 
 the professors of it. 
 
 IV. Another occasion of scandal which infi- 
 dels charge upon the gospel of Christ, is this, 
 < That some who have long professed it have for- 
 saken it; and one should be ashamed to em- 
 brace such a faith as this is, for it has been tried 
 and found to be vain and groundless, even by 
 those who have known it long and searched it 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 65 
 
 through and through, and therefore at last they 
 have abandoned and cast it off.' 
 
 But in answer to this, give me leave to say, 
 first, that the chief and most common reason 
 why persons who have professed Christianity 
 cast it off, is not because they found any just 
 reason of blame either in its principles or rules ; 
 but because they think it too strict for them, 
 and it curbs their vicious appetites more than 
 they like. 
 
 I will allow, that perhaps there may be some 
 persons who have abandoned the Christian reli- 
 gion from a wantonness of fancy, from a li- 
 centiousness of thought, from a pride of rea- 
 soning, and who make it their glory to have 
 thrown off the bonds of their education, and to 
 have obtained the honor of free-thinkers, or 
 from a presuming conceit that they must com- 
 prehend every thing in their religion, and will 
 believe nothing that hath mysteries in it. Such 
 vain principles as these may have influenced 
 some minds, and given them up to apostacy : 
 but far the greatest part of those who forsake 
 the gospel have been tempted to it by the pow- 
 er of their lusts, which the gospel would re- 
 strain ; and some of these persons upon their 
 death-beds have confessed it too. 
 
 This is also sufficiently visible in the world, 
 f 2 
 
66 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 that when men have long professed this gospel 
 and forsaken it, they seldom grow more pious, 
 more sober, more honest or good than before ; 
 but, on the contrary, they generally have in- 
 dulged vicious excesses and neglected all piety, 
 and this is rather a ground of glory to the 
 gospel than a just reason of shame. 
 
 If these persons had generally grown more 
 holy ; if they had feared God more afterwards 
 than ever they did before ; if they had more 
 aimed at the glory of God, and loved him bet- 
 ter, when they forsook Christ and his gospel ; 
 then we might have some reason to suspect 
 this gospel was false, and a mere mistake or 
 imposture. But when these persons grow 
 more unjust than before, love, their neighbours 
 less, are become more sensual, more selfish, 
 disregard God more than they did before; I 
 repeat it again, this is rather a ground of glory to 
 the gospel of Christ, than of shame. Demas 
 hath forsaken us, saith Paul, because he loved 
 this present world ; 2 Tim. iv. 10. A covetous 
 Demas is no good argument why St. Paul 
 should forsake Christ, or be ashamed of the 
 gospel. And the apostle has shewn that those 
 who have made shipwreck of their faith, have 
 parted with a good conscience too, and lost 
 their virtue; 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 67 
 
 But there is another answer which the apos- 
 tle John gives to this objection in his first epistle, 
 chap. ii. ver. 19. They went out from us, but 
 they were not of us ; for if they had been of us, 
 they would no doubt have continued with us: 
 but they went out that they might be made man- 
 ifest that they were not all of us. They might 
 make a profession of the gospel, and perhaps 
 give a real assent to the truths and doctrines 
 of it by the convincing influence of miracles and 
 human reason, or perhaps they became Chris- 
 tians merely by the force of education, because 
 they were taught this religion from their child- 
 hood, and professed it without thought; but they 
 never had such a powerful belief of this gospel 
 of Christ, as to change their hearts, to renew 
 their natures, to form their souls after the image 
 of Christ into real holiness ; and, therefore, like 
 the hearers that are compared to stony ground, 
 the seed did not sink deep into their hearts, 
 though they might receive the word at first 
 with joy ; but having not root in themselves, 
 they endure but for a while, and when any temp- 
 tation arises, they are offended, and depart from 
 the faith which they once professed ; Math. xiii. 
 20, 21. Thus it appears, that the gospel of 
 Christ is never the worse in itself, nor does it 
 deserve the less esteem in the world, notwith- 
 
68 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 standing such apostates as these, no more than 
 seed-corn, should be pronounced naught, be- 
 cause it does not bring forth a harvest in every soil. 
 
 I have now finished the third general head of 
 discourse which I proposed, and have shown, 
 whatsoever occasions of shame might be sup- 
 posed to arise, either from the doctrines of the 
 gospel, or the professors of it, are unjustly 
 charged as blemishes on the gospel ; and I have 
 given particular answers to both sorts of cavils, 
 and defeated the accusations. 
 
 One word of advice to Christians shall con- 
 clude the present discourse ; and that is this. 
 
 - A word of advice. 
 
 Since the gospel of Christ gives no just occa- 
 sions of shame, you, that are professors of it, 
 should take heed that you do nothing to cast 
 shame on this gospel. Do not mingle the 
 Christian faith with doubtful notions of your own. 
 Do not defile your Christian conversation with 
 sinful practices. Do not make the lesser cir- 
 cumstances and appendages of your religion, the 
 matter of loud contest, and a party strife ; for 
 all these things expose the gospel to shame, 
 and may justly put its professors to the blush, in 
 the face of the world, when they are guilty of 
 these practices. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 69 
 
 Let me insist a little upon each of these. 
 
 1. Do not mingle the Christian faith with 
 doubtful notions and fancies of your own. The 
 articles of our Christianity, and the necessary 
 truths of the gospel, are divine and glorious : 
 take heed you do not bring in your peculiar 
 sentiments and favorite opinions, which have 
 no sufficient evidence from the word of God, 
 and join them in the same rank of dignity with 
 the articles of your faith ; and much less should 
 you dare to impose them upon the consciences 
 of your fellow-christians. The gospel itself 
 will suffer by it, and sink in the esteem of the 
 world, when the divine doctrines of it are min- 
 gled with our weaknesses, and debased by the 
 addition of our doubtful sentiments. 
 
 2. Defile not your Christian conversation with 
 sinful practices. Indulge not a conformity to this 
 present evil world in any of the corrupt and un- 
 lawful customs and* courses of it. Mingle not 
 your practice of the lovely duties which this gos- 
 pel enjoins, wkh lying, and slandering, and rail- 
 ing ; do not interline your lives with religion and 
 sin, with devotion and shameful lusts. It is a 
 gospel that forbids all iniquity ; it requires that 
 you mortify sin, and cleanse yourselves from 
 every defilement of flesh and spirit, and that you 
 go on to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord ; 
 
70 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 2 Cor. vii. 1. The very design and end of it in 
 God's eternal counsels and contrivance, is, that 
 you might be holy and without blame before 
 him in love, Ephes. i. 4. If you pursue this ad- 
 vice, then shall others, who behold you, confess 
 that there is something divine in Christianity, 
 when you thus adorn the doctrine of God your 
 Saviour. Thus you give the gospel its due hon- 
 or, by believing all it reveals, by worshipping 
 according to the methods of itsappointment,and 
 by that purity of conversation which it enjoins. 
 3. Make not the lesser circumstances and 
 appendages of your religion the matter of loud 
 contest, and a party-strife. We are called to 
 contend earnestly for the great and necessary 
 doctrines of faith, which were once delivered to 
 the Saints : but we are commanded also to re- 
 ceive those that are weak in the faith, without 
 involving them in doubtful disputations about 
 matters of less moment. Give no occasion to 
 the infidel to blaspheme the gospel by your 
 factions and quarrels, and the rage of a bitter 
 and unsanctified zeal. Oh, that the time were 
 come, when the wolf and the lamb shall lie down 
 together, and there shall be nothing to hurt or 
 destroy in all the Holy Mountain ! But surely, 
 it is very hard if the lambs themselves, who 
 belong to the flock of Christ, cannot live with- 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 71 
 
 out hurting and destroying one another ; that 
 Christians cannot live without exposing their 
 divine and heavenly religion to the blasphemies 
 of sinful men. Happy were the Christian 
 world, if we could all behave ourselves so as 
 never to give occasion to the adversary to re- 
 proach the professors of the Christian faith, nor 
 throw shame and dishonour upon the gospel of 
 Christ ! May the blessed spirit of God teach us 
 this lesson effectually, and let it be copied out 
 in our lives daily, till we arrive at the regions 
 of perfect holiness and love ! Amen. 
 
A RATIONAL DEFENCE OF THE GOSPEL t 
 OR, 
 
 COURAGE IN PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Rom. i. 16. 
 
 / am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for 
 it is the power of God unto salvation to every 
 one that believelh. 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
 Though the passion of shame has something 
 in it that sinks our nature, and enfeebles 
 our spirits, yet it is a very becoming passion, 
 where sin is the object of it ; and indeed, it was 
 wisely ordained by our Creator, to be a guardian 
 to those small remains of natural virtue that 
 abide in us since the fall. We find the first 
 young sinners clothed with shame, in the 
 garden of Eden, at the presence of God. But 
 the growing corruption of our natures, the 
 subtilty of Satan, and the temptations of this 
 world, have joined together to take this piece-of 
 artillery out of the hands of virtue, and make use 
 of it in their attacks upon religion and goodness. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 73 
 
 We ought to be ashamed indeed of nothing but 
 our sin, our folly, and our wretchedness ; but we 
 have been too ready to be ashamed, even of the 
 grace of God, and the methods of our recovery 
 from folly, wretchedness and sin. The gospel 
 itself — the glorious gospel- — has been made a 
 matter of reproach among men, and its profes- 
 sors have been sometimes tempted to be 
 ashamed of it. 
 
 The blessed apostle, in my text, had gained a 
 victory over this temptation, for he was not 
 ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Whatsoever 
 there might be contained in the doctrines of this 
 gospel, or whatsoever might be found among 
 the professors of it, from which infidels or un- 
 believers might take occasion to throw shame 
 and scandal upon it ; yet I have shown in the 
 (wo foregoing discourses, that all this is unjustly 
 charged on the gospel, and have given particu- 
 lar answers to both sorts of cavils. 
 
 I go on now to the last proposal, which is to 
 explain the force of the apostle's argument 
 against shame in professing and preaching this 
 gospel, and to nuke it appear, that the words 
 of my text contain a general and most exten- 
 sive guard, or defence, against all possible oc- 
 casions of shame, in the profession of Christiani- 
 ty ; and that is, that the gospel of Christ is the 
 
74 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 power of God for the salvation of all that be- 
 lieve. 
 
 Now this is an argument which you, who be- 
 lieve in Christ, may all assume to yourselves 
 as well as the apostle. You cannot preach this 
 gospel so well as he, nor explain the reasons of 
 your faith to others, and establish it upon so 
 solid and unshaken foundations of argument, as 
 Paul could do; but every Christian that has 
 embraced the faith, and felt the power of this 
 gospel for his own salvation, may give this 
 reason for his profession of it, and may support 
 his courage in opposition to all the sharpest 
 temptations of mockery and reproach. 
 
 When the apostle says, 'it is the power of God,' 
 we must suppose him to understand, it is a most 
 powerful means, or effectual instrument that 
 God uses, to save souls ; and it is attended with 
 divine power for that end. 
 
 It is more powerful than the light of nature ; 
 for we have no just reason to believe, that the 
 mere light of nature, without some helps of 
 divine revelation, or some unwritten traditions 
 of it, ever saved any souls at all ; and if there 
 have been any of the sinners of the heathen 
 nations made partakers of grace, I think it is 
 otherwise to be accounted for, than merely by 
 the poor remains of the light of nature. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 75 
 
 It is more powerful than any religion that 
 men or angels could invent, and more powerful 
 too, than any religion that God himself ever in- 
 vented, or revealed, and proposed to men before 
 the gospel of Christ. His revelations to the 
 Partriarchs were but few ; they were made here 
 and there to a house or two, or to a family ; 
 they were particular favors that he bestowed 
 upon persons called out of idolatry; nor had 
 they a very long, nor spreading, nor lasting 
 influence, except in the family of Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, where they were frequently 
 renewed. 
 
 It is more powerful than all the revelations 
 of grace, which God made by Moses to the 
 children of Israel, and intermingled with the 
 Jewish law ; for these discoveries reached, but 
 to one single nation, and wrought but feebly 
 toward the conversion of sinful souls to God 
 and holiness, in comparison of what the gospel 
 of Christ has done. 
 
 Besides, let it be considered that all the power 
 which all the former discoveries of grace to the 
 Partriarchs, or to the Jews, had to save souls, 
 was derived from the gospel of Christ, which is 
 contained in them, in lower measures, and in a 
 more obscure manner. Therefore, since the 
 gospel of Christ now stands forth in open light, 
 
76 
 
 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 and in full glory, it is most eminently powerful 
 to convert sinners, to bring this apostate world 
 back again to God, and to save millions of souls. 
 
 I. It is the most powerful means of salvation 
 considered in itself, and in its own nature and 
 influence. 
 
 II. It is the most powerful means, as it is ac- 
 compained with the influence of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The first of these may be called a moral or 
 persuasive influence ; the last is supernatural 
 and sovereign. Let us meditate on each of 
 these distinctly. 
 
 I. It is the most powerful means, if we consi- 
 der the gospel in itself, and its own nature. Not 
 that the mere word of the gospel, reaching the 
 ears of men, is sufficient to change the heart, 
 and to save the soul, without divine influences : 
 for it is said to be the power of God to salvation ; 
 i. e. it is that doctrine whereby God exerts his 
 Divine Power to save sinful man. But still it 
 must be granted, that the doctrine itself, in its 
 own nature, has a very great and evident ten- 
 dency to this glorious end, as it is the noblest, 
 the richest, and the brightest discovery of grace 
 that ever was made to man. 
 
 If we consider it in its own nature, it has the 
 greatest moral power, or persuasive influence, 
 toward the salvation of perishing sinners. Thi& 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 77 
 
 is easily proved by explaining what this salva- 
 tion means. 
 
 Salvation includes in it a freedom from the 
 guilt and punishment of sin, together with a 
 right and title to heaven ; it implies also a free- 
 dom from the power of sin, and thereby a pre- 
 paration for heaven, and a final possession of it. 
 Under each of these considerations it will appear 
 with great evidence, that the gospel of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ is the power of God to salvation. 
 
 1st, It is the most powerful means to set sin- 
 ners free from the guilt and punishment of sin, 
 and to relieve a distressed conscience under the 
 sense of divine anger: it gives the most effec- 
 tual security to a believer against the terrors of 
 hell and eternal death ; for it not only declares 
 that there is forgiveness with God, but it shows 
 us the foundation upon which this forgiveness 
 stands ; namely, the satisfaction made to the 
 offended justice of God by the death and sacri- 
 fice of Jesus Christ, his Son. Suppose it were 
 possible for a philosopher or wise man, to prove 
 that God would forgive the sins of the penitent, 
 yet there is nothing but the gospel that can set 
 the conscience at such joyful ease from the 
 terror of guilt, and release the soul from the 
 chains wherewith it was held ; c For now,' says- 
 
 the believer, ' I not only hear it proved by di- 
 g 2 
 
78 A RATCONAL DEFENCE 
 
 viae testimony, that there is pardon of sin to be 
 obtained from God, but I see how God may do 
 it with honor. I behold the atonement that is 
 made by Christ Jesus, his own Son : the atone- 
 ment is equal to the offence. He can justify 
 me, though I am a sinner, upon the account of 
 this perfect righteousness, and he can do it with 
 glory to all his terrible perfections ; therefore, I 
 may venture my assent to this doctrine, and I 
 may rest my soul upon it.' 
 
 2dly, The gospel is a powerful means, also, 
 to raise undeserving sinners to a hope of hea- 
 ven and eternal life. It shows us what heaven 
 is, by the disco vories of one that has been 
 there, even the Son of God himself. Life and 
 immortality are brought to light by this gospeL, 
 which lay hid under much darkness before ; 
 % Tim. i. 10. It teaches us also how the happi- 
 ness of heaven is procured for us, even by the 
 obedience and blood of the Son of God; and 
 therefore, some think, heaven is called the pur* 
 chased possession in Ephes. i. 14. It assures 
 us, that this blessed state of the enjoyment of 
 God,, in unchangeable peace, and in the com^ 
 pany of blessed spirits, waits for every believer* 
 when he is d slodged from this flesh, and when 
 the habitation of the body is no longer fit to re- 
 tain the spirit : and it reveals also the final hea- 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. 
 
 79 
 
 veil of the saints, when the body shall be raised 
 into immortality. 'Without this gospel,' says 
 the soul, ■ I could have no just ground to hope 
 for heaven ; for all my best righteousnesses 
 are imperfect — my fairest acts of holiness have 
 many defects in them ; but I behold the per- 
 fect righteousness of my Saviour that has pro- 
 cured it. A life of holiness without defect, and 
 a most submissive obedienee to a painful and 
 shameful death, has been the price and pur- 
 chase of it.' 
 
 3dly, This gospel is a most powerful means 
 to subdue sin in the soul, to mortify corrupt 
 nature, to inspire us with virtue, to wean our 
 hearts from vice, sensuality and trifles, and 
 from all the insufficient pretences to blessed- 
 ness that the world can flatter us with. 
 
 The gospel of Christ, both in his own per- 
 sonal ministry of it, and in the writings of 
 his apostles, sets before us the most divine 
 scheme of morality, piety and virtue, that ever 
 the world knew. The sacred dictates of 
 probity and goodness toward men, as well as 
 the venerable rules of piety toward God, which 
 are scattered up and down in an impeded 
 and obscure manner among the philosophers, 
 and shine like a star here and there in the 
 midnight darkness of heathenism — these are 
 
80 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 all collected and refined in the gospel of Christ, 
 and fill the Christian world with a pure and 
 universal light, like the sun unclouded in a 
 meridian sky. We know our duty infinitely 
 better from the instructions of Christ and St 
 Paul, than all the Plato's and the Plutarch's, all 
 the Zeno's and the Antonines of Greece or 
 Rome, could ever teach us. 
 
 The most divine- rules of the gospel are 
 attended also with the noblest motives to love 
 virtue, and to hate all vice ; for never was the 
 evil of sin so displayed to the eyes and senses of 
 man, as by the cross and gospel of our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ: never did sin appear so hateful, so 
 abominable, so justly the object of divine and 
 human harted, as when it appeared pressing 
 the soul of the Holy One of God into agonies 
 and sharp anguish. A believer who has seen 
 the evil of sin, as revealed in this gospel, will 
 hate it, and will be led powerfully to a conquest 
 over it. 
 
 P>esides, the terrors of hell are revaled to us 
 among the doctrines of Christian ty, as the just 
 punishment of sin, and that in such a manner 
 a9 no other religion pretends to : for, as the 
 doors of heaven are opened by our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, both by his ministry on earth, and by 
 his ascent into heaven, and by the farther dis- 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 81 
 
 coveries which his apostles have made of the 
 future unseen happy world, so the doors of hell 
 are opened too. Our Lord Jesus himself 
 preached hell and terror to sinners with a sa- 
 cred vehemence, and set everlasting fire in a 
 clearer and more dreadful light than ever had 
 been done by all the philosophers in the world. 
 The soul of every saint has been in some mea- 
 sure a witness of this truth, when it lay under 
 the work of divine conviction. 
 
 And not only the horrid nature and evil of sin, 
 and the dreanful consequences of it, are power- 
 ful motives to make us stand afar off, and fear 
 it; but 'the sweet and constraining influence 
 of the love of Christ does most effectually in- 
 cline me,' saith the believer, 'to hate every sin, 
 and to follow after universal holiness: shall I 
 build up again the things which my Saviour died 
 to destroy] This would be to make him suffer 
 agonies in vain, and run counter to all the de- 
 signs of his Weeding love, and the voluntary 
 sacrifice of his soul. 
 
 'I have also, the glorious and perfect example 
 of my blessed Lord. Never did virtue and re- 
 ligion shine so bright, and look so amiable as 
 in his life, and he has set it before me as my 
 pattern : I feel the attractive and divine power 
 
82 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 of it. Where my Lord leads, I must follow ; for 
 I would fain be like him. 
 
 ' He draws me by his example, and he draws 
 me too by his heavenly promises. He spreads 
 the glories and the joys of heaven before me, 
 to allure my hope — I see those sacred glories — I 
 long after the possession of these unfading joys, 
 and I must and will keep the path that leads to 
 paradise, that where my Lord is, I may be also. 
 
 'The rules and precepts of holiness, which 
 my Lord has taught me, are more pure, more 
 clean, more perfect, more divine and godlike, 
 than ever any other scheme of rules and duties 
 was ; arid the joyful and dreadful motives given 
 me to press after this holiness, are infinitely be- 
 yond all the motives that any doctrine or religion 
 has proposed. Blessed be God that I ever 
 learnt these holy rules, that I ever felt the 
 power of these divine motives, and am become 
 a lover of holiness.' 
 
 4thly, Thus the gospel prepares the saint 
 for heaven, and fits every power of his soul for 
 the business and belssedness of those happy 
 regions. 'Once,' says he, 'I had no delight 
 in spiritual things ; I had no relish of spiritual 
 pleasures ; but now I taste them with delight, 
 and I rejoice in the hopes of a sweeter and 
 more complete taste of them on high. Once 
 
• OF THE GOSPEL. S3 
 
 I had no love to God — it is true, I feared him 
 as some unknown and extraordinary terror — 
 but I had no delight in him, no desire after him. 
 Now he is the object of my warmest love, 
 and of my sweetest meditations. Heaven 
 itself, as it is described in the word of God, was 
 not pleasant to me. What! The everlasting 
 continuance of a Sabbath ] Perpetual employ- 
 ments of worships and service to be done for 
 God everlastingly ? These are things that were 
 not agreeable to carnal nature , but bv the in- 
 fluence of this gospel of Christ, my heart is 
 new moulded, and I delight in the forethoughts 
 of such a heaven as the gospel describes.' 
 Such instances as these of the sweet efficacy 
 of the gospel upon the soul of man, turning it 
 into a divine temper, and fitting it forthe en- 
 joyment of God, are so many proofs of the 
 power of this gospel unto salvation, and so 
 many grounds and reasons why the believer 
 cannot be ashamed of it. 
 
 But I must add in the 5th place, it is the gos- 
 pel of Christ that brings believers to the final 
 possession of heaven. Then, and not till then, 
 is the salvation perfect. It is the gospel that 
 has given us an unchangeable promise of 
 heaven, when our state of trial is ended here 
 on earth, and Chiist is bound to fulfil it. 
 
84 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 The gospel assures us, that when we are 
 absent from the body, we shall be present 
 with the Lord. When we see the heavens 
 open at the death of Stephen the first martyr, 
 and Jesus Christ standing there to receive 
 his departing spirit, we believe that the same 
 Jesus will fulfil the same kind office to us also, 
 and receive our spirits, if we have been found 
 faithful to the death. 
 
 The same gospel also gives us a more distant 
 hope and glorious assurance of the resurrec- 
 tion of our bodies from the prison of the grave. 
 When we behold the body of our Blessed 
 Saviour rising from the tomb, and ascending 
 to glory, and when we are told that his resurrec- 
 tion is a pledge and pattern of ours ; then with 
 a joyful' expectation we wait for the same 
 blessedness. The gospel lays an obligation 
 upon Christ himsejf to raise his saints from the 
 dead ; for he himself tells us, that it is the will 
 of his Father, that every one which seeth the 
 Son, and believeth on him, should have ever- 
 lasting life, and I will raise him up at the last 
 day ; John vi. 40. 
 
 Hence it comes to pass, that the believer 
 triumphs over death under the influence of 
 these hopes. « Now,' saith the saint, * 1 can 
 venture to die ; for my spirit shall be received 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 85 
 
 to dwell with my Saviour among the spirits of 
 the just that are made perfect. These feeble 
 and withering limbs of mine, I can cheerfully 
 commit them to dust and the grave ; for the 
 great trumpet must sound, the dead must arise, 
 my Redeemer will call my flesh from its dark 
 prison ; I shall arise to meet the Lord in the 
 air, and dwell with him for ever in unknown 
 worlds of blessedness.' 
 
 Thus I have shewn you the first thing I 
 proposed, Viz. how the gospel, in its own na- 
 ture, has a very proper and powerful tendency 
 in a moral or persuasive way towards the sal- 
 vation of the soul, as it insures pardoning grace 
 and final blessedness to believers. 
 
 II. I come now to show how the gospel 
 is made powerful to the* salvation of sinners 
 by the accompanying influence of the Spirit 
 of God, and this is supernatural and sovereign. 
 If I should run over all the particulars I have 
 just before mentioned, I might make it appear 
 in each of them, how the Spirit of God, by the 
 word of his gospel, works this salvation. 
 
 It is this Blessed Spirit that awakens the 
 stupid and thoughtless sinner to a sense of his 
 guilt and danger. It is He that shows him the 
 evil of sin, and makes him groan after deliver- 
 ance, and cry out, what shall I do to be slaved ? 
 
86 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 And it is the Spirit that reveals and discovers 
 Christ Jesus to him as the only and all-sufficient 
 Saviour : it is He who shows the convinced 
 sinner that there is righteousness and grace 
 to be found in Christ to answer all his present 
 complaints and necessities. The word of the 
 gospel says these things indeed, but it is like 
 a dead letter, until the living Spirit speaks 
 them over again, and, as it were, constrains us 
 to hear the voice of encouragement and hope. 
 It is He that represents the death and suffer- 
 ings of the Son of God, as an effectual atone- 
 ment for sin, and makes the soul believe it, and 
 teaches us how to lay hold on this hope, to 
 fly to this refuge, to receive this atonement : it is 
 the Spirit of God that softens the hardest heart, 
 and melts it into godly sorrow : it is He who 
 makes us willing to accept of Jesus as a Prince 
 and a Saviour, to renew our sinful natures, 
 to refine our hearts, and thereby to reform 
 our lives ; it is he that takes the blood of Christ, 
 and applies it to a distressed conscience under 
 the guilt of sin, and thus gives the disquieted 
 soul rest and peace : He takes of the things of 
 Christ, and shows them unto us in all their 
 glory and sufficiency, for our salvation, and 
 thereby justly obtains the name of the para- 
 clete, that is, an advocate for Christ, and a 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 87 
 
 comforter to us; John xiv. 26, and xv. 26, and 
 xvi. 14, 15. He composes the ruffles of the 
 disturbed mind, and speaks all the waves of 
 the soul into a calm: he makes all within us 
 peaceful and easy, under the apprehension of 
 divine forgiveness through the merit of Christ. 
 
 It is only the Spirit of God that can make 
 the discoveries of heaven in the gospel effec- 
 tual, to awaken our hope and to raise our joy : 
 he shows us how it is purchased by the blood 
 of Christ, and that it is made sure to all those 
 that believe: he stamps his own Holy Image 
 upon us, and seals us up for the inheritance 
 of heaven; Ephes. i. 13. When ye heard the 
 word of thruth — the gospel of your salvation — 
 and believed it, ye were then sealed with the 
 Holv Spirit of promise, which is the earnest 
 of our inheritance. The spirit is sent into 
 our hearts as a spirit of adoption, whereby 
 we call God Father ; Gal. iv. 6. And he 
 changes us from children of wrath into the 
 sons and daughters of the living God; and 
 he himself dwelling in us is a pledge and 
 earnest of that inheritance, which is reserved 
 for us among the saints in light. 
 
 It is the same Blessed Spirit that makes the 
 gospel of Christ powerful, to mortify sin in us ; 
 for though the words of the gospel forbid 
 
88 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 all iniquity, and require us to renounce the 
 lusts of the flesh and the vanities of the world* 
 if we belong to Christ: yet it is by the Spirit of 
 God alone that we are enabled to mortify the 
 deeds of the body, that we may obtain eternal 
 life: it is he that makes the commands of 
 Christ come with divine power and authority 
 upon the soul, and gives the motives of the 
 gospel power to persuade us : it is he that 
 renews our affections, makes us hate sin, and 
 love God superemely, and causes us to delight 
 in the spiritual pleasures of a future, unseen 
 world, which before, we treated with contempt, 
 or disregard. It is by the sanctification of the 
 Spirit, and the belief of the truth, that we are 
 prepared for the heavenly glory whereunto we 
 are Called by the gospel ; 2 Thess. ii. 13. And 
 since the Spirit of God is promised to dwell 
 in us for ever, John xiv. 16, 17, we have good 
 reason to believe he will be our eternal sanctl- 
 fier in heaven, and our eternal comforter. 
 
 There is such a thing as the influence 
 of the Spirit of God attending the gospel of 
 Christ. The apostle argues thus with the Ga^ 
 latian Christans, received ye the spirit by the 
 works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 
 Gal. iii. 2. And it is the great promise of the gos-. 
 pel, or the new cov enant, that God would send 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 89 
 
 his Spirit to make it powerful for the blessed 
 ends for which he has designed it; Ezech. 
 xxxvi. 25, 26, 27. Joel ii. 28. Zach. xli. 10. 
 £sa. xliv. 3. 
 
 In the primitive days of Christianity, and 
 the age of miracles, the Holy Spirit attended 
 the preaching of the gospel with his extraordi- 
 nary -gifts of tongues, of healing, of prohecy, 
 as well as with the graces of conviction and 
 sanstiricati on and comfort: and the suddeness 
 and the glory of the change that was wrought 
 on sinners, carried with it an illustrious and 
 uncontested proof of the presence and power 
 of God arid his Spirit. Nor have some fainter 
 lblances of such glorious grace been 
 ether want! ig i:i later ages. There have 
 been some most remarkable instances of great 
 sinners converted at once by the gospel of 
 Christ, and the demonstration of the Spirit. 
 
 Hut in his more usual and ordinary commu- 
 nications of grace, He works so gentry upon 
 our natures, and in so sweet and connatural 
 a way, as not to distinguish his agency in a 
 sensible manner from the motions of our own 
 souls; for he never disturbs our rational pow- 
 ers, nor puts any violence upon the natural 
 faculties; yet when we are changed, when 
 
 we are renewed, when sin is mortified, the 
 h 2 
 
90 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 scripture tells us, that it is the Spirit of God 
 that has done it : when our souls are prepared 
 for heaven, and our corrupted natures sancti- 
 fied and suited to the things that are prepared 
 in heaven for us, we are assured by the word 
 of God that the Holy Spirit has been the great 
 operator, and has wrought this change in us. 
 
 Thus I have made it appear at large, how 
 the gospel of Christ is the power of God, to 
 salvation. I apply myself immediately to raise 
 a few inferences from the subject I have been 
 treating of. 
 
 INFERENCES. 
 
 I. Inf. How unreasonable are all the re- 
 proaches that are cast upon this gospel ! A 
 gospel that saves mankind from misery, and 
 from sin, and eternal death ! A gospel that 
 teaches men how to appear before a holy and 
 terrible God with comfort, though their sins 
 are many, and their righteousness imperfect! 
 A gospel that gives the hope of pardon to cri- 
 minals and rebels, and the hope of heaven ta 
 undeserving creatures ! And all this upon such 
 solid grounds and foundations, as justifies its 
 highest promises and proposals to the reason of 
 men ! It is a gospel that changes our sinful na- 
 tures into holiness, and reforms our hearts as 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 91 
 
 well as lives ! A gospel, that aided by divine 
 power, creates souls anew, and raises dead sin- 
 ners to life ! It is a gospel that turns wolves 
 into lambs, and makes ravenous vultures meek 
 as doves ! A gospel that so disturbs the king- 
 dom of Satan, as to take thousands of slaves 
 and captives out of his dominions, to transfer 
 them into the glorious kingdom of Christ, and 
 make them cheerful and willing subjects ! A 
 gospel that fulfils gloriously the first promise, 
 and makes it appear, that the seed of the 
 woman hath broke the serpent's head, and de- 
 stroyed the works of the devil. You have never 
 seen, you have never known, you have never 
 learned this gospel aright, if you have not felt 
 it to be the power of God unto salvation. Those 
 that can speak evil of this gospel, it may be 
 universally said concerning them, they speak 
 evil of the things they know not; for if they 
 had known this gospel as they ought to know 
 it, they would have seen it all over glorious and 
 divine ; they would have felt it to be attended 
 with divine power to their salvation, and then 
 they would never speak evil of it. 
 
 The heathen world may be ashamed of their 
 doctrines and their religion ; the heathen wor- 
 shipperers may be ashamed of their sacrifices, 
 their superstitions, and their forms of devotion ; 
 
92 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 for they have no power to save their souls : and 
 many of them were indeed brutish and shameful. 
 Mahomet, the founder of the Turkish religion, 
 may be ashamed of his Alcoran, a volume of 
 fables and incredible lies ; all his followers may 
 be ashamed of their prophet, and of the sensual 
 paradise that he promises them. The Jews 
 under the eye of Christ, and the sun-beams of 
 the gospel, may be ashamed of the vain tradi- 
 tions of their Rabbins, which were never divine; 
 and even of the old rites and ceremonies which 
 Moses gave them ; for all these are now but 
 weak and beggarly elements; the Spirit of God 
 calls them so; Gal, iv. 9. They have now no 
 power to save souls, since God hath abolished 
 them ; nor indeed had they ever any power but 
 what they borrowed from this gospel of Christ, 
 which lay concealed in them : but let none of 
 us that believe and profess the gospel of Christ 
 be ever ashamed of any of the doctrines, or 
 precepts, or promises of it ; for they are all 
 holy, they are all heavenly; all of them have 
 divine power accompanying them to lead souls 
 to salvation. 
 
 II. Inf. Learn hence the true method of ob- 
 taining Christian courage ; courage to profess 
 the gospel of Christ against all opposition ; it is 
 by getting it wrought into your heart: a d lives 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 93 
 
 by Christian experience, and not by learning a 
 mere form of words in a road of education and 
 catechism. You must feel it as the power of 
 God to your salvation, or you will never suffer 
 much for it. Let it be an ingrafted word able 
 to save vour souls, Jam. i. 21. and then it will 
 harden your faees against all blaspheming ad- 
 versaries, and the terrors of a persecuting world; 
 then you will be able to render a most powerful 
 reason why you are bold to profess this gospel, 
 and to answer every one that asks you a reason 
 of the hope that is in you : you will be able to 
 oppose those that set themselves against the 
 gospel of Christ, when you feel this divine spring 
 of courage within you. 
 
 I have encouraged you before, to acquaint 
 yourselves with reasons and arguments that 
 may defend your religion, and support your 
 faith : but hours of temptation may come, when 
 all the knowledge and learn ed furniture of your 
 head, all the arguments that are treasured up 
 in your memory, and all the reasonings that 
 your invention can supply you with, will hardly 
 be able to keep your faith and hope firm and 
 steadfast ; for Satan goes before you in skill and 
 rational argument ; and though your arguments 
 are strong and solid, yet he may baffle you by 
 his hellish sophistry, and thus cheat you of your 
 
94 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 faith, and your hope, and your heaven, if you 
 have not got this gospel wrought into your 
 hearts with power, if you have not felt it to be 
 the power of God unto salvation. 
 
 Hence it comes to pass, that in times of great 
 temptation and persecution, there are many who 
 fall away, as the leaves of a tree in the blast of 
 autumn, when but here and there one stands 
 and endures the shock : it is because there are 
 so few of the professors of the gospel who have 
 felt it to be the power of God to the conversion of 
 their souls, and turning their hearts to God and 
 heaven. 
 
 And hence it comes to pass also, that several 
 unlearned Christians in all ages, that could not 
 argue much for the faith in a rational way, yet 
 could dare to die for it, because they had this 
 argument wrought in their own souls ; they had 
 felt a divine power going along with it to change 
 their natures, to make them new creatures, to 
 give them the hope of heaven, and a prepara- 
 tion for it. 
 
 III. Inf. From what you have heard of this 
 subject, learn the wide extent of this argument 
 for the defence of the gospel of Christ, and the 
 invaluable worth of it to every Christian, viz : 
 that the gospel is the power of God to your sal- 
 vation. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 95 
 
 It is an argument of wide extent ; for it be- 
 longs to every Christian, to the wise and to the 
 unwise, to the weak and the strong ; there is no 
 sincere Christian, no true believer in Christ, but 
 hath got the foundation of this argument wrought 
 within him : he knows this gospel is divine, and 
 he should not be ashamed to believe and pro- 
 fess it ; for he hath felt it support his soul under 
 a sense of guilt, and give him solid hope of par- 
 doning grace : He hath found it change his sin- 
 ful nature, soften his heart into repentance, and 
 turn him from a sinner into a saint ; it hah laid 
 the foundation of eternal life within him. 
 
 And as it is an argument that belongs to 
 every true Christian, so it answers every ob- 
 jection that an infidel can bring against the 
 gospel, either from the doctrines, or from the 
 professors of it : and methinks, I would fain have 
 you all furnished with this glorious argument, 
 and learn to manage it for the defence of your 
 faith. 
 
 Do they tell you that the doctrines of the gos- 
 pel contain mysteries in them, and things that 
 are unsearchable 1 Do they endeavor to put you 
 out of countenance by ridiculing the truths of 
 Christianity, as being contrary to the common 
 opinions and reasonings of men ? Do. ty re- 
 proach them as foolish and unreasonable, and 
 
96 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 do they endeavor to persuade you that they are 
 not sufficiently attested, and there is not ground 
 enough to give credit to them *? Though there 
 have been particular answers given to each of 
 these cavils in the first discourse ; yet you may 
 give this general and short reply to all of them, 
 and say, ' I am sure they are not contrary to 
 reason ; for they are divine. They are not ill* 
 credible, nor do they want sufficient evidence ; 
 for God himself, by his own Spirit, has borne wit- 
 ness to them in my heart ; He has Wrought an 
 almighty work there by the means of this gos- 
 pel : He has created me anew unto faith, and 
 hopes and holiness : He has turned my heart 
 from earth to heaven, and subdued the sinful 
 inclinationsof my nature by the precepts, by the 
 promises, by the glorious discoveries of this gos- 
 pel : He has made use of it to save my soul; and I 
 carry about me an uncontrollable proof that it 
 came from heaven.' Now, though this sort of 
 argument may have but little force in it some- 
 times for the conviction of the infidel, yet it is of 
 sufficient force to establish the believer. 
 
 But I proceed. Do they fill your ears with 
 the mean and contemptible character of the 
 professors of this gospel] Do they charge 
 many of them with vicious practices ? Do they 
 tell you of their different opinions, their contests 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 97 
 
 and their quarrels 1 And do they discourage 
 you by pointing to the apostates that have for- 
 saken the faith? You may defend yourself 
 and your profession against all these objections 
 by the same general argument, thus ; < Are the 
 professors of it some of the mean and base 
 things of this world ] But they are saints, and 
 this gospel has made them so; they are the 
 sons and daughters of the Most High God by 
 faith in this gospel; and I will not be ashamed 
 to reckon myself of their society, and to num- 
 ber myself amongst them. Are there many 
 that are called Christians, whose lives are vi- 
 cious 1 Surely, they never knew this gospel in 
 truth ; they are but false professors of it. — 
 There are thousands that can bear this witness 
 to the gospel, that it has changed their hearts; 
 it has renewed their natures ; it has made them 
 hate every vice, and their lives shine amongst 
 men glorious in holiness, and resembling God 
 himself. Are the sentiments of some of them 
 different from others 1 It is chiefly in points of 
 lesser importance ; but the substantial truths 
 of it, which are the power of God to salvation, 
 are professed and acknowledged by us all. 
 And though a thousand should forsake this gos- 
 pel, and become apostates, yet I can never part 
 
 i 
 
98 
 
 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 with it, while I feel the blessed effects of it 
 abiding upon my heart, and I trust through the 
 grace of God, they shall abide forever.' 
 This leads me to the last Inference. 
 IV. Inf. What strong engagements is every 
 true Christian under to maintain the profession 
 of this gospel? Not only is he laid under many 
 obligations from the commands of God, and 
 the bonds of duty, and gratitude, and love, but 
 he has a constant pressing obligation within 
 him. ' How can I be ashamed of my hope, my 
 portion, my everlasting all? Shall I be ashamed 
 of that gospel, upon which my salvation is 
 founded, and my best and highest interest, even 
 my expectations of endless felicity ? If I let go 
 this faith, if I loose my hold of this gospel, I 
 let go my hold of Christ, of God, and his love ; 
 I let go my hold of heaven and all my happiness : 
 my sins all return upon me with their unsuffera- 
 ble loads of guilt and anguish of conscience, if 
 I loose my faith in this gospel; for all my hope 
 of pardon is built on this foundation : heaven 
 with ail the joys of it vanish from my soul, if I 
 part with this glorious gospel of Christ; and 
 death and hell face me with all their terrors.' 
 
 There is an awful and solemn motive derived 
 from the great judgment day to maintain the 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 99 
 
 profession of this glorious gospel ; for our Lord 
 himself has pronounced this threatening, and he 
 will fulfil it, 'whosoever shall be ashamed of 
 me and of my words amongst a sinful genera- 
 tion of men, I will also be ashamed of him before 
 my Father and his holy angels.' But this text 
 shall be the subject of some future discourses. 
 
A RATIONAL DEFENCE OF THE GOSPEL: 
 
 COURAGE IN PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Rom. i. 16. 
 
 The gospel of Christ, — it is the power of God 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth ; to the 
 Jew first, and also to the Greek. 
 
 Salvation is a frequent and familiar word in 
 the mouth of all who call themselves Christians. 
 It is a sort of asseveration or oath among the 
 looser and meaner part of mankind; as I hope 
 to be saved. But little do they know what 
 salvation means. All the notion they have of 
 it is this, that they would be saved from going 
 down to hell, a place of fire and torment, and 
 that they would go up to heaven when they die, 
 to some fine unknown shining places above the 
 skies, where they shall be free from all pain and 
 uneasiness. This is the utmost point to which 
 their idea reaches, and I think I have hit their 
 sense exactly in this description. Alas I Poor 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 101 
 
 ignorant creatures! They have no thought of 
 being saved from sin, of having their hearts 
 made holy, their sinful inclinations rectified, 
 their passions subdued or refined, their love 
 turned toward God and things spiritual, and their 
 desire and delight fixed upon things divine and 
 holy, instead of their sensual entertainments 
 of flesh and blood. They have no concern 
 about the pardon of the guilt of sin, and restora- 
 tion to the favor or image of God, and not so 
 much as a wish for the joys that arise from his 
 love, or from the blessed presence of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ in the world to come. 
 
 I have shewn you therefore, in the foregoing 
 discourse, what this salvation is, and made it 
 appear that the gospel is the power of God to 
 salvation; that is, it is a powerful means in 
 the hand of the Spirit of God to save us from 
 the guilt of sin, and to give us a right to heaven ; 
 to save us from the power of sin, to fit us for 
 the business and the joys of heaven, and ensure 
 to us the actual possession of it. 
 
 There are two things yet remain to be con- 
 sidered in discoursing on this subject. 
 
 I. The place or influence that faith, or believ- 
 ing, hath in this salvation ; for the gospel pro- 
 vides this blessing only for believers. It is 
 i 2 
 
102 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 called the power of God to salvation to every- 
 one who believes. 
 
 II. The wide extent of this glorious benefit : 
 it belongs to every one that believes, whether 
 Greek, or Jew. 
 
 I shall treat of each of these particularly. 
 
 First, Since the gospel is the power of God to 
 the salvation of them that believe, let us in- 
 quire, what place or influence has our faith in 
 this sacred concernment ! 
 
 To answer this, we may consider faith in its 
 various acts or degrees of exercise, as it begins 
 in this assent, as it proceeds to affiance, and as 
 it is completed in assurance ; and shew what 
 influence each of them hath in the work of 
 salvation. 
 
 1. An assent to the truths of the gospel must 
 begin the work of salvation in us : there must 
 be a belief and inward conviction of our sinful 
 and dangerous state, which is more clearly 
 revealed under the gospel, and that there is an 
 atonement made for sin by the blood of Christ : 
 we must believe, that there is forgiveness to be 
 found with God for the sake of this atonement ; 
 and that there is grace enough in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, to renew our sinful natures, and to fit 
 us for heaven. This usually begets in the sin- 
 ner who is truly awakened some desire toward 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 103 
 
 this salvation, and some distant hope of obtain- 
 ing it. When the poor perishing creature be- 
 lieves and beholds the glorious influence of the 
 death and righteousness of Christ to justify a 
 sinner in the sight of God ; when he surveys 
 the love, the wisdom, the grace and the power 
 of Christ, answerable to all his wants, he then 
 comes to determine thus with himself, 'This sal- 
 vation is glorious and desirable ; the methods 
 proposed even for my own attainment of it, are 
 practicable and sufficient, and why should not 
 I apply myself to this Saviour, and seek this 
 unspeakable happiness ?' 
 
 2. Affiance or trust in Jesus Christ the Saviour, 
 is the next degree of faith. When we are wil- 
 ling to be delivered from the condemning guilt 
 of sin, and from the defiling power of it, and 
 have seen an all-sufficiency of atonement, grace 
 and power in Christ, then we commit our souls 
 into the hands of Jesus the Mediator, for this 
 blessed purpose, and make a solemn surrender 
 of our whole selves unto his charge and care, 
 that we may be pardoned for the sake of his 
 death, that we may be accepted of God through 
 his righteousness, that we may be sanctified 
 and made holy by his grace and spirit, and that 
 we may be fitted for and preserved to his hea- 
 venly kingdom. We reflect upon our past 
 
104 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 iniquities, and mourn to think that we have been 
 rebels so long ; we are ashamed and grieved 
 for our rebellions, and we now most earnestly 
 desire to be made willing subjects to his holy 
 goverment ; and therefore we entrust our souls 
 with him, and beg that he would take us under 
 his care for this end, and bring us into the 
 Father's presence with comfort and joy. This 
 is the soul's coming to God by Jesus Christ. 
 
 Now su£h an act of faith, as this is, has some 
 sensible tendency to promote the peace of a 
 distressed conscience, the sanctification of a 
 sinful nature, the solid hope of heaven, and a 
 preparation for it. But still it must be acknow- 
 ledged, that its original and chief influence 
 arises from divine appointment. The gospel is 
 the power of God to salvation, and it is by 
 divine promise and power that faith saves the 
 soul. Such a faith, or trust in Christ, has all 
 the promises of gospel blessings belonging to it. 
 God has appointed in his word, and it is the 
 standing rule of the gospel, he that believes 
 shall be saved; Mark xvi. 15, 16. 
 
 All the parts of salvation come by faith : 
 justification, and favor in the sight of God ; 
 Rom. v. 1. Being justified by faith, we have 
 peace with God. Adoption comes also by faith ; 
 GaL iii. 2.6. Ye are the children of God by faith 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 105 
 
 in Christ Jesus. Sanctification is ascribed to 
 the same principle ; Act. xv. 19. The Gentiles 
 had their hearts purified from sin by faith. Joy 
 and hope come in this way also ; Rom. xv. 13. 
 The God of hope Jill yon with all joy and peace 
 in believing, that ye may abound in hope through 
 the power of the Holy Ghost. And you may read 
 several of these benefits of the gospel, these 
 divine ingredients of our salvation put together, 
 and all attributed to faith; Act. xxvi. 18. '/ 
 send thee new to the Gentiles? saith the Lord 
 Jesus to St. Paul, * to open their eyes, to turn 
 them from darkness to light, and from the 
 power of Satan unto God, that they may receive 
 forgiveness of sinse and inheritance among 
 them which are sanctified, by faith that is in 
 me/ 
 
 Faith, or affiance in Jesus Christ, is an accep- 
 tance of this salvation, it is a trust in the offered 
 grace, it is a dependance on the promises of 
 the gospel, confirmed by Christ, it is the sur- 
 render of a sinful soul to Jesus the Saviour, to 
 perform his whole work of grace for him and to 
 nim; and thereby the believing sinner, accord- 
 ing to the appointment of God in his gospel, 
 partakes of all the benefits that are treasured 
 up in Christ. 
 
 Faith in the gospel relieves the distressed 
 
106 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 soul under a sense of the guilt of sin, and the 
 humble weary sinner finds mercy to forgive, 
 and strength to subdue it. Faith appropri- 
 ates and applies the blood of Christ, that sove- 
 reign medicine, to the wounds of a guilty con- 
 science, and the conscience finds ease and 
 refreshment. It applies the grace of Christ, 
 that powerful antidote, to expel the venom of 
 in-dwelling sin, and the soul is healed in some 
 measure, and the poison is expelled. It lays 
 hold on the power of Christ to assist in the per- 
 formance of every duty, and it obtains divine 
 assistance. Every true believer has experi- 
 enced something of these benefits, by a sincere 
 surrender of himself to Christ in such a way of 
 trust and holy dependance. 
 
 Can the thirsty soul taste of the running 
 water, and not find refreshment, since God, 
 who created water, has ordained it to refresh 
 the thirsty 1 Can weary limbs lie down on a 
 bed, and not finJ ease, since a bed is made to 
 give ease and rest to the weary 1 Can a faint- 
 ing creature drink a divine cordial appointed to 
 give life, and yet feel no revival? No more 
 can a guilty, distressed, and penitent sinner 
 believe the truths of the gospel, and trust in 
 Jesus the Saviour, and yet find no relief: for 
 this is the will and settled law of the God of 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 107 
 
 heaven, that peace and holiness shall be ob- 
 tained this way. 
 
 3. When faith grows up to assurance, it ap- 
 proaches toward complete salvation. Then the 
 Christian can say, ' I know I have believed on 
 the Son of God, I know I enjoy his favor. 9 
 Then the holiness and the joy increase, for the 
 salvation enters into the soul in fuller measures : 
 the nearer faith arises to assurance of our own 
 interest in the grace of Christ, the more it sup- 
 ports the soul, the more it comforts, the more it 
 sanctifies, and the more evidently doth the gos- 
 pel appear to be divinely powerful to save us 
 from sin and hell. 
 
 c Can I believe God has pardoned me, so vile a 
 rebel, and forgiven me so many and aggravated 
 offences, and yet is it possible I should not love 
 him, and rejoice? Can I be assured he. loves 
 me, and not make him a return of my highest 
 and warmest love] Can I believe that Christ 
 the Son of God died for me, and shall I not con- 
 secrate myself and all the powers of my nature 
 to him, that I may live devoted to his service? 
 He has bought me with a price, a dear and 
 valuable price, that of his own blood, and I 
 must glorify him with my body, and with my 
 soul, which are his; 1 Cor. vi. 20. Can I 
 believe that I am redeemed from hell and de- 
 
108 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 struction, and shall I dare to walk in the road 
 that leads to it? and not rather run with pa- 
 tience and joy the race that is set before me, 
 until I arrive at the gates of heaven? Am I 
 not assured that Jesus the beloved of God, suf- 
 fered death for my sins, and shall not I hate sin, 
 which caused his suffering? Sin, which was the 
 occasion of his agonies, and the very sting of 
 his sorrows! I am crucified and dead to sin 
 and to this world by my union with a crucified 
 Saviour; yet I live, saith the divine apostle, and 
 the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the 
 faith of the Son of God, who hath loved me, and 
 gave himself for me; Gal. ii. 20. How is it 
 possible that I should hope to be made like 
 Christ in glory, with a full assurance of arriving 
 thither, and not purify myself as he is pure 1 
 1 John iii. 2, 3. While I believe and am persuad- 
 ed that the promise of the joys of heaven shall 
 be fulfilled to me, I would awaken myself hourly 
 to the joyful prospect, and be ever preparing 
 for the possession of that blessedness. ' 
 
 Thus when faith rises to a sublime and emi- 
 nent degree in this world, the believer may be 
 said to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of 
 glory, and to receive the end of his faith, even 
 the salvation of his soul; 1 Pet. i. 8, 9. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 109 
 
 Before I pass to the second head, I desire 
 leave to make these few remarks. 
 
 Remark I. Though the first degree of faith 
 or assent to the gospel be necessary to salva- 
 tion, yet it is not of itself sufficient ; and though 
 the last degree of faith or assurance be glori- 
 ously useful in this work, yet it is not absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
 A mere assent to the truths of the gospel is 
 not sufficient to save ; for there are many who 
 by the force of education, or by the force of 
 argument, yield their assent to the doctrine, 
 and believe it to be true ; yet it is a cold, feeble, 
 languid assent ; it begins and ends in the head, 
 and never reaches the heart; it does not awaken 
 them thoroughly, nor make them long after the 
 pardon and the grace promised :.they seWm* w : 
 sit still, contented with the forms of their' cate- 
 chism, and a general belief of the Christian 
 religion, so far as they know it ; but are under 
 no painful solicitude, or concern of soul, about 
 the forgiveness of their sins, the sanctification 
 of their natures, their interest in the favor of 
 God and eternal happiness ; and therefore they 
 proceed no farther ; they never heartily apply 
 themselves to Jesus Christ the only Saviour, 
 and they fall short of the blessing. The devils 
 
1 10 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 believe as much as they do, but are in a state 
 of damnation still 
 
 Again, consider that a full assurance of our 
 own interest in the favor of God through Jesus 
 Christ, is the highest degree of attainment on 
 earth ; but it is not necessary to the being 
 of Christianity, nor doth it belong to every 
 Christian. It is true indeed, that every one 
 ought to seek after it by the frequent exercise 
 of faith and love, and every grace, thus bright- 
 nign the evidences of his saving interest in the 
 blessings of the gospel daily ; and where assu- 
 rance is obtained upon solid grounds, holiness 
 and joy will rise by swiit degrees, and the soul 
 will make glorious advances towards the hea- 
 venly state and complete salvation : but some 
 Christians scarce ever arrive at this attainment 
 al(l&e^ a days.. 
 
 $J£cej/therefor£ a mere assent to the gospel 
 in general is not sufficient for salvation, and a 
 full assurance of our own interest is not neces- 
 sary, it follows, that an affiance or trust in Christ 
 as a Saviour, is the most essential and important 
 act of faith. This is that sacred and appointed 
 duty of a convi ced soul, whereby it is made 
 partaker of the blessings of salvation according 
 to the gospel, hit be practised in the way which 
 I have just before described. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. Ill 
 
 Remark II. Take notice here of the diffe- 
 rence between the law and the gospel, between 
 the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. 
 The one gives us life upon our working, the 
 other saves us from death, and givr s us a right 
 to heaven upon our believing 1 . Therefore one 
 is called the law of works, and the other the law 
 of faith ; Rom. iii. 27. 
 
 It is proper here to observe, that the scrip- 
 ture sometimes speaks of two covenants ; the 
 old and the new : and means chiefly the oecono- 
 my or dispensation of the Jews under Moses, 
 and the ceconomy of Christ, or the dispensation 
 of the gospel since the Messiah came. But by 
 the two covenants I now speak of, I would be 
 understood to mean the law or constitution of 
 innocency, and the constitution of grace. 
 
 By the constitution, or law of innocency, man 
 was to have obtained eternal life before his fall; 
 and as this law or covenant was given to Adam 
 as the head and representative of all mankind, so 
 every son and daughter of Adam continues un- 
 der it, until they accept of the covenant of grace, 
 or the offers of the gospel, either in the darker 
 or brighter discoveries of it : and therefore all 
 mankind, Jews and Gentiles, are laid under 
 condemnation by it in the writings of St. Paul, 
 in the second and third chapters to the Romans. 
 
U2 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 By this law of works every mouth is stopped, 
 and the whole world is become guilty before 
 God; Rom. iii. 19. Though the nations of the 
 Jews and Christians, and perhaps the greatest 
 part of the heathen world have had some reve- 
 lations of the gospel or covenant of grace, and 
 have been under the outward offers of it ; yet 
 Jews, Heathens, and National Christians, are all 
 under the sentence of the covenant or law of 
 works, until they enter into the covenant of 
 grace by repentance and faith in the mercy 
 of God. 
 
 But the covenant of grace, or the gospel, is a 
 new constitution, which God hath ordained for 
 the relief of poor, fallen, miserable man, con- 
 demned and perishing under the curse of the 
 law of works. It is a constitution of grace, 
 whereby alone fallen sinners can obtain salva- 
 tion. 
 
 The law of works demands universal obedi- 
 ence to all the commands of God, obedience 
 perfect and persevering: for this is the lan- 
 guage of it; the man that doth them, shall live 
 in them; Rom. x. 5. and it curses every sinner 
 without hope or remedy ; cursed is every one 
 that continueth not in all things that are written 
 in the book of the law to do them ; Gal iii. 10, 
 1 %. But the voice of the gospel, the righteous • 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. 113 
 
 ness of faith, or the way of justification by Christ, 
 speaketh on this wise ; with the heart, man 
 believelh unto right eousness, and with the mouth 
 confession is made unto salvation ; for the just 
 shall live by faith ; Rom. x. 10. Gal. ii. 11. 
 The one proclaims eternal life to all that per- 
 fectly obey, the other publishes salvation to all 
 that believe, though their obedience be very 
 imperfect. 
 
 I grant indeed, that the apostle cites these 
 descriptions of the law of works out of the books 
 of Moses, and therefore some persons would 
 suppose him only to mean the particular law 
 given to the Jews at Mount Sinai, and not 
 the general covenant of works made with Adam 
 and with all mankind in him. 
 
 But to this I give these two answers. 
 
 1. Answ. The law of works, which the apostle 
 speaks of in the epistle to the Romans, particu- 
 larly in the second and third chapters, cannot 
 signify merely the Jewish law ; for it is such a 
 law as includes all the heathen world, as appears 
 plain; Ro*m. ii. 14. 15. and by which the hea- 
 thens as well as the Jews were cosdemned, 
 and could never be justified ; Rom. iii. 20. By 
 the deeds of the law shale no flesh be justified in 
 his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin ; 
 therefore this must be a law that extended to all 
 
 K 2 
 
114 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 mankind, since it stops every mouth, and pro- 
 claims the whole world guilty before God. 
 
 2. Answ. The law given to the Jews, or the 
 covenant of Sinai, so far as it is purely political, 
 was indeed a covenant of works; and their 
 continuance in, or rejection out of the land of 
 Canaan, depended upon their own works, their 
 obedience or disobedience to this law, as is 
 often expressed in the writings of Moses : and 
 upon this account it is used sometimes by the 
 apostle as a very proper emblem or representa- 
 tive of the covenant of works made with our 
 first father Adam, who was to have enjoyed or 
 forfeited some earthly or heavenly paradise, 
 according to his obedience or disodedience. It 
 is plain then, that though St. Paul may cite the 
 law of Moses to show the nature of a law of 
 works in general, yet it does not follow that he 
 means only the law or covenant of Sinai ; and 
 it is as plain, by his including the Gentiles under 
 it, that he does not mean the law of Sinai, but 
 the original law or covenant of works made 
 with all mankind in Adam, their fathef and their 
 head, and of which the law of Sinai was a proper 
 emblem or figure. 
 
 All laws of works therefore are insufficient for 
 the salvation of sinful man, and his resortation to 
 God's favor and image, and eternal life. The 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 115 
 
 law of Sinai was a law of works, promising an 
 earthly Canaan to the obedient Jews. The law 
 of innocency in Eden was a law of works, pro- 
 mising life and immortality to obedient mankind. 
 But they have been both wretchedly broken ; 
 man was turned out of Paradise, and the Jews 
 out of Canaan, because of disobedience. But 
 now the gospel, whereby the Jews or Gentiles 
 are to be saved, or to obtain eternal life, re- 
 quires faith in the mercy and promises of God 
 in and through Jesus Christ-; and by this means 
 it saves us, though our obedience be far short 
 of perfection. This was the way whereby the 
 Jews themselves were saved under the Old 
 Testament; for the gospel was preached to 
 them as well as unto us ; Heb. iv. 2 ; though it 
 was in darker hints and types, and figures. And 
 in this way were Abraham and David justified, 
 as the apostle teaches; Rom. iv. 3, 4, 5, 6. 
 
 Though the Jews enjoyment of the land of 
 Canaan depended on their good works and 
 obedience to the Law of Moses, yet their hope 
 and enjoyment of heaven depended on then- 
 faith or trust in the mercy of God, which was to 
 be farther revealed in the days of the Messiah. 
 And it is the same gospel by which we are to 
 obtain salvation, since Christ is come in the 
 flesh ; but with this difference, that we are now 
 
\{Q A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 more expressly required to make Jesus Christ 
 the object of our faith, and we have a thousand 
 clearer discoveries of his righteousness and 
 grace than ever the Jews were favored with. 
 
 Happy mankind ! though fallen and ruined in 
 Adam, yet recovered and raised to rightousness. 
 grace and glory by Jesus Christ. How dread- 
 ful is that law which pronounces a curse and 
 death upon every transgressor ! Tribulation 
 and wrath, indignation and anguish, upon every 
 soul-than doth evil, to the Jewjirst, and also to 
 the Gentile; Rom. ii. 9. But how sweet and 
 reviving is the grace of that gospel, which 
 becomes the power of God to the salvation of 
 every one that believes, to the Jew first and 
 also to the Greek ! 
 
 The great and blessed God saw the frailty of 
 his creature man, how ready he was to ruin 
 himself under a law of woi ks ; therefore he has 
 appointed his recovery by a law of faith. And 
 what the law could i ot do, in that it was weak 
 through the infirmity of our flesh, that he has 
 sent his own Son Jesus Christ in the likeness of 
 sinful flesh, to do for us, to fulfil all the demands 
 of the law both in the penalty and the precept, 
 to finish transgression, to make an end of sin by 
 his own sufferings, and to brh g in an everlast- 
 ing righteousness, that whosoever believes on 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. 1 17 
 
 and condescending are thy ways to the children 
 of men ! how full of compassion to rebels, who 
 had destroyed themselves! how gentle are the 
 methods of thy recovering mercy! if we will 
 but confess our sin? mourn over our own follies, 
 return to the Lord ou God, by humble repent- 
 ance, and put our trust in an Almighty Saviour, 
 there is peace and pardon, there is grace, and 
 iife, and glory provided for us, and laid up in the 
 hands of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 Remark III. Though the gospel offers us sal- 
 vation by faith and not by works, yet it effec- 
 tually secures the practice of holiness, since 
 holiness is a part of that salvation. We are 
 saved from sin as well as from hell, by this 
 gospel ; and we must have our souls prepared 
 for heaven, as well as brought to the possession 
 of it. He that pretends to trust in Christ for a 
 deliverance from hell, and has no desire to be 
 made holy, he has no desire after such a salva- 
 tion as Christ proposes in his gospel, nor is he 
 like to attain it. 
 
 We must be sensible then of the corruption 
 of our natures, the perverseness of our wills, 
 the vanity of our minds, the earthliness of our 
 affections, cur inability to do that which is good 
 him should be saved. Blessed God ! how kind 
 
118 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 for time to come, as well as our guilt, condem- 
 nation and misery, because of our transgressions 
 past : we must desire that a thorough work oi 
 repentance may be wrought in our hearts, that 
 the power and reign of si i maybe broken there, 
 and that we may beco ne new creatures as 
 well as desire to es.^ipe the wrath of God, ar.d 
 hell, and eternal death, if ever we would be 
 partakers of that salvation which the gospel 
 proposes. Christ will not divide one part of his 
 salvation from the other: and in vain do we 
 presume to trust in him for happiness, if we are 
 not willing to be made holy too. 
 
 How false and unreasonable are all the re- 
 proaches that are cast upon the doctrine of 
 salvation by faith, as thougn it tended to pro- 
 mote looseness of life, and to indulge iniquity; 
 when that very salvation includes in it a freedom 
 from the power of sin, and a delight in all that 
 is holy] Tnis is the very character of Christ 
 our Saviour, and the reason of his name Jesus, 
 that he shall save his people from their sins ; 
 Matth. i. 21. If we are delivered by Christ, it is 
 from this present wicked world ; Gal. i. 4. If 
 we are redeemed, it is from all i.:iquily, that we 
 might be a peculiar people, purified to himself, 
 zealous of good works; Tit. ii. 14. 
 
 Remark IV. Though the gospel is such u 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 1 1 i* 
 
 glorious doctrine of grace, that there is no rea- 
 son to be ashamed of it, yet since it saves us by 
 faith, and not by works, theie is no reason for 
 us to boast when we are saved. \\ e may glory 
 indeed in the Cross of Christ, and make our 
 boast in the Redeemer ail tne day long ; but the 
 gospel for ever cuts off all ground of boasting in 
 ourselves. Here the justice and mercy of God 
 shine forth gloriously ; here the righteousness 
 of God is declared, sinners find remission or 
 pardon, God is just and a justifier of him 
 who believeth id Jesus. Where is boasting- 
 then ? It is excluded. By what law ! Of works ? 
 Nay; but by the law of faith; Rom. hi. 25, 26, 
 27. By grace ye are saved through faith, and 
 that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; not 
 of works, lest any mau should boast; Eph. ii 
 3, 9. 
 
 The gospel concurs with the law in this re- 
 spect, that it shows us our own guilt and vileness 
 our ruin and our impotence to restore ourselves, 
 and therefore it has put all our help upon 
 another. God has laid <>vr help upon one that 
 is mighty to save ; Psal. lxxxix. 19; and he has 
 ordained that the way whereby we should 
 derive this salvation, is by renouncing all depen- 
 dence upon self, and trusting in Christ and 
 grace for all that w e enjoy and hope for. Thi 5 * 
 
120 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 is the business of faith ; this is the very nature 
 of that Christian virtue, to disclaim all self-suffi- 
 ciency, and receive all from mere mercy; and 
 therefore it is appointed to be the means of our 
 justification under the gospel ; therefore it is 
 said so often in scripture, that we are justified 
 by faith, that divine grace may have all the 
 glory ; Rom. iv. 1 6 Therefore it is of faith that 
 it might be of grace. We are ignorant and 
 foolish, and must derive wisdom from Christ: 
 we are guilty, and must receive righteousness 
 from him; we are unholy, he is the spring of 
 our sanctification ; we are captives ands laves 
 to sin and Satan, and we must have redemption 
 from him : He is made of God to us wisdom, 
 righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 
 that no flesh might glory in his presence ; but 
 he that glories, must glory in the Lord; 1 Cor. 
 i. 29, 30. 
 
 Man, innocent man, had power and righteous- 
 ness, and life put into his own hands; but the 
 first Adam grew vain in his self-sufficiency, and 
 he foolishly sinned and lost it all : therefore God, 
 in order to our recovery, would put power and 
 righteosness, and life into the hands of another, 
 even his own Son, the second Adam, that we 
 might go out of ourselves, and seek it all from 
 another hand. Now faith, or trust, is the proper 
 
OF THE GOSPEL, 121 
 
 act of the soul, to express our own emptiness, 
 and our dependence on another for all. 
 
 This is the language of faitn, < Lord I am a 
 sinful and guilty creature ; I have no righteous- 
 ness, no merit to recommend me to thy favor ; 
 I have no power to change my unholy nature, 
 and rectify the criminal disorders of my soul ; 
 I am unable to subdue the sins that dwell in me, 
 or to practice the required duties of holiness ; I 
 deserve condemnation and death, and I am by 
 nature walking in the way to hell : helpless and 
 hopeless forever in myself, but in thy rich 
 grace is all my hope : I rejoice in the discove- 
 ries of thy mercy; I come at the call of thy gospel, 
 upon the bending knees of my soul I accept of 
 the proposals of thy grace ; I give up myself to 
 thy power and mercy, as it is revealed in Jesus 
 Christ, thy Son, that I may be saved from sin 
 and hell. To me belongs nothing but shame 
 and confusion of face : I renounce forever all 
 self-sufficiency, and if ever I am saved, thy grace 
 shall have all the glory.' Now when a poor 
 humbled sinner is brought thus far, and receives 
 the salvation of God in this lowly posture of soul, 
 the great God has obtained a good part of his 
 designs in the gospel upon him; self is humbled, 
 grace is glorified, and the sinner is saved by 
 faith. 
 
\ZZ A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 Remark V. Heaven is made up of believers- 
 The whole number of the saved were once sin- 
 ners, and obtained salvation by faith. 
 
 The holy angels indeed never sinned, and 
 yet whether their confirmed state of holiness 
 and glory is not secured to them by trust, or 
 dependance on Christ, may be a reasonable 
 inquiry ; for all things in heaven and earth are 
 said to be gathered together, and reconciled in 
 him; Ephes. i. 10. Col. i. 20. But this we are 
 sure of, that not one of all the race of Adam 
 hath been restored to the love of God, or raised 
 to heaven, by their own works, but all by faith. 
 It is sovereign and glorious grace that has saved 
 them all, and that by the gospel too, in the va- 
 rious editions of it, from the promise in Eden 
 until the full discovery of grace at the days of 
 Pentecost after the ascension of Christ. 
 
 O it is a pleasing entertainment of soul to 
 send our thoughts forward to the last great 
 day, or to send them upward to the courts of j 
 heaven and glory,, and to hear how the millions 
 of redeemed sinners shout and sing to the - 
 honor of divine grace ! How all that happy world 
 of believers assist the melody, and dwell upon 
 the delightful sound. 'Not unto us, O God our 
 Father, not unto us, but to thine own name, 
 and to thy mercy be all our honors paid through 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 123 
 
 the ages of eternity. We were a race of guilty 
 and perishing rebels, who had sinned against 
 thy majesty, and ruined our own souls: we lay 
 upon the borders of death and hell without help 
 and without hope: we could do nothing to pro- 
 cure thy love, nor merit aiy this g by the best 
 of our works: but thou hasi called us to believe 
 thy gospel, to trust in thy grace, to lay down 
 the arms of our rebellion, and to receive the 
 blessings of salvation by faith: we have nothing 
 to boast of, for we are mere receivers : thou 
 hast put forth thine almighty arm, and hast 
 made thy gospel the instrument of thy power to 
 save us; and while we feel and taste the com- 
 plete salvation, thy power and thy mercy shall 
 have all the praise. 
 
 6 Not unto us, O Lord Jesus our Saviour, not 
 unto us, is any honor due ; but to thy conde- 
 scending love; to thy compassion and death 
 shall our honors be paid, and our acknowledg- 
 ments made for ever. We saw ourselves help- 
 less, and were directed to thee for help : we 
 trusted in thee,. and thou hast saved us; it is 
 thy sufferings that have procured our pardon; 
 it is by faith in thy blood we find an atonement; 
 it is through thy righteousness that we are 
 justified and accepted of God, and made parta- 
 kers of these heavenly glories that shine all 
 
124 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 around us. All our sacred comforts, our excel- 
 lencies, and our joys are thine. Pride is hidden 
 from our eyes for ever, and boasting is banished 
 from all our tongues: it.is thou hast fulfilled the 
 law ; it is thou hast suffered the curse ; it is thou 
 hast purchased, and promised, and bestowed 
 the blessing. We believed thy word, we re- 
 ceived thy grace, and behold, we dying sinners 
 are raised to life, and advanced to glory. There 
 is not a soul of us but delights to join in those 
 sublime anthems of worship; worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain to receive power, and riches, 
 and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 
 and blessing : blessing, and honor, and glory, 
 and power be to him that sits upon the throne v 
 and to the Lamb forever. Amen 
 
A RATIONAL DEFENCE OF THE GOSPEL: 
 OR, 
 
 COURAGE IN PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Rom. i. 16. 
 
 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : 
 for it is th>> power of God unto salvation, to 
 every one that believeth ; to the J eic firsthand 
 also to the Greek. 
 
 We have seen the gospel of Christ vindicated 
 in the former discourses on this text, and the 
 glorious doctrines of it guarded against the vari- 
 ous reproaches of an unbelieving world : we 
 have heard what a powerful instrument it is in 
 the hand of God for the salvation of perishing sin- 
 ners : we have been taught the way to partake 
 of this salvation, and that is by believing; and 
 we have learnt what influence our faith has in this 
 sacred concernment. I proceed now to the last 
 thing which I proposed, and that is to show the 
 wide extent of this blessing of the gospel ; for 
 it brings salvation to every one that believes, to 
 
 the Jew first, and also to the Greek, 
 l2 
 
126 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 Where the word Greek is used in opposition 
 to the Barbarian, as it is in the fourteenth verse 
 before my text, it signifies the learned part 
 of mankind, as distinguished from those that 
 are unlearned ; the Greeks being the most 
 famous among the nations for wisdom, know- 
 ledge, or learning in that day : but when this 
 same word stands in opposition to the Jew, as it 
 does here in my text, then it includes all the 
 heathen world ; so that when the apostle says, 
 the gospel brings salvation both to the Jew and 
 the Greek, he shows the extent of this benefit 
 to all mankind that hear and receive it. 
 
 It may be worth our while to spend a few hints 
 upon the order in which the apostle represents 
 the communication of this blessing, viz : to the 
 Jew first, and then to the Greek or Gentile. 
 
 When he describes in the second chapter of 
 this epistle the terms or conditions of the cove- 
 nant of works, he sets mankind in the same 
 order; he pronounces indignation and wrath 
 upon every soul that doth evil, of the Jew first, 
 and also of the Gentile ; but glory, honor and 
 peace to every man that worketh good, to the 
 Jew first, and also to the Gentile. So when he 
 declares the blessings of the covenant of grace or 
 the gospel, he brings the salvation first upon the 
 Jews, and then upon the Gentile nations : and 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 12? 
 
 one reason of it may be this, that the Jews having 
 been favored with an earlier and more express 
 discovery of the nature and will of God than the 
 heathens, they seem to stand fairest for the 
 participation of divine blessing ; and that, even 
 by the law of works, if life and righteousness 
 could have been obtained by it, as well as by 
 the covenant of grace, or law of faith. But if 
 they abuse their knowledge,- and their sacred 
 advantages, to the neglect of God and godliness, 
 faith and works, they justly fall under a more 
 severe condemnation every way, because their 
 guilt is greater. 
 
 But there may be some special reasons given, 
 why God thought it proper in the course of his 
 providence to send the notice of this salvation 
 by Jesus Christ among the Jews, before he sent 
 it to the Gentile world. 
 
 I. The Jews were the chosen people of God, 
 the sons and daughters of Abraham, his friend, 
 the first favorites of heaven considered as a 
 family and a nation ; and as he first preached to 
 them the purity and perfections of his law, 
 whence they might discover their own sin and 
 misery, so he published his gospel of grace by 
 Jesus Christ first among them, and sent his son 
 with the messages of peace and forgiveness 
 first to'their nation. The great Goa thought it 
 
128 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 becoming his equity to publish his abounding 
 mercy first toward them, amongst whom he first 
 published his law, to show them their guilt and 
 misery through the abounding of sin. By the 
 law is the knowledge of sin ; and where sin has 
 abounded, grace has much more abounded, 
 Rom. 3. and 5. 
 
 II. The Jews had this same gospel preached 
 to them many ages before in types and emblems,, 
 in sacred ceremonies and dark prophecies. Now 
 it was fit, that the types and prophecies should 
 be explained, and the grace contained therein 
 revealed first to them ; for hereby the gospel 
 obtained a great confirmation, and established 
 its own truth, when it appeared in all the parts 
 of it so exactly answerable to the ancient figures, 
 and to the predictions of many hundred years. 
 It was fit that the Messiah should appear among 
 them first, where his character and picture had 
 been drawn for many ages before, that so he 
 might be known and distinguished whensoever 
 he should visit the world It was fit that his 
 doctrine should be first published in plain lan- 
 guage, where it had been long written and 
 spoken in metaphors. Thus the gospel went 
 forth first from Jerusalem, that it might be 
 preached and proclaimed with more glorious 
 evidence among the rest of the nations. 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 129 
 
 III. Jesus Christ, who is the subject and sub- 
 stance of the gospel, was himself a Jew, of the 
 seed of Abraham, of the nation of Israel. He 
 was born, he lived, he died amongst them. All 
 the great affairs of his birth, his life, his ministry, 
 his death and resurrection, were transacted in 
 their country, and in the midst of them. It was 
 fit the benefit thereof should be first offered to 
 them. 
 
 If this gospel of Christ had been first preached 
 to the Gentiles, while it was kept silent and 
 secret amongst the Jews, there might have been 
 reason to suspect that there was some fraud or 
 falsehood at the bottom, and that this doctrine 
 would not bear the light in the country where 
 these things were done, and that it would not 
 stand the test of examination in the land of 
 Judea, and therefore the story was told first 
 among strangers : and thus the Gentiles might 
 have found some difficulty to receive it, and been 
 prejudiced against the belief of it. But now, 
 when it is published through all the land of 
 Israel, and the apostles appeal to their own 
 countrymen for the truth of these *ra sactions ; 
 when it has stood the test of public examination 
 there, where the things were transacted, it goes 
 forth to the rest of the nations with brighter 
 evidence and glory. 
 
130 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 IV. I might add, in the last place, That it was 
 lit it should be first published to the Jews, who 
 seemd to have the first claim to it; that since 
 they refused it, it might be offered to the poor 
 Gentile nations with greater justice and equity, 
 even the Jews themselves being judges. Such 
 are the frequent hints given by St. Paul ; Acts 
 xiii. 46. It was necessary that the word of God 
 should have been first spoken to you; but seeing 
 ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unwor- 
 thy of everlasting life, In, we turn to the Gen- 
 tiles. Be it kn ion, therefore, unto you, that the 
 salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and 
 they will hear it; Acts xxviii. 28. 
 
 When we think of that poor unhappy nation, 
 the Jews, scattered abroad among all the king- 
 doms of the earth, banished from their own pro- 
 mised land for their rejection of Christ, and yet 
 hardened in their unbelief, methinks we should 
 send out a groan of pity for them; for they are 
 the sons and daughters of Abraham, the first fa- 
 vorites of our God. Jesus our Saviour was their 
 Messiah, their kinsman, and their rightful King. 
 We should send up a kind wish to heaven upon 
 their account, " How long, O Lord, how long 
 shall Israel be cast off] How long wilt thou be 
 ;mgry with the children of Abraham, thy friend? 
 When shall the day come for the opening of their 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 131 
 
 eyes, that they may look on Jesus whom they 
 pierced, and believe and mourn ? When shall 
 the veil be taken off from their hearts, that they 
 may read the name of Christ in the books of 
 Moses, and trust in Jesus of Nazareth, whom 
 their fathers crucified ?" 
 
 When we see one and another of the Jewish 
 nation in this great city, and think of their 
 blindness and their zeal for the idle traditions of 
 their teachers, and observe their ignorant rage 
 against our blessed Saviour; when we behold 
 the vain superstitious of their worship, the thick 
 darkness that hangs upon them under the 
 brightest beams of gospel-light, and their wide 
 distance from salvation, we should let our eyes 
 affect our hearts, and drop a tear of compassion 
 upon their souls. " These were they to whom 
 the promises of salvation did first belong, and to 
 whom the first news was brought that Jesus the 
 Saviour is born. These are they to whom the 
 gospel was first preached. God himself dwelt 
 in the midst of them, and the Son of God was 
 their brother, their flesh and their blood. 
 Though they are for a season cast off for their 
 infidelity, yet God has told us, that he has a 
 secret love for that nation still, for their father 
 Abraham's sake, Rom. xi. 28. and this love 
 shall break forth in its full glory one day. Make 
 
132 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 haste, O deliverer, who didst come out of Zion. 
 make haste to fulfil thy promises, and turn away 
 ungodliness from Jacob. Let the fulness of the 
 Gentiles be brought in, and let all Israel be 
 saved. Bring them back from all the lands 
 whither thine anger hath scattered them. Re- 
 lease thy ancient people from their long captivi- 
 ty to Satan, and their bands of thick darkness. 
 Be thou, O Jesus, who art the light of the Gen- 
 tiles, be thou also the glory of thy people Israel. 
 
 But I would endeavor to make a larger im- 
 provement of this general head of discourse. 
 
 Does the gospel bring salvation to every one 
 that believes without exception ; to all ranks 
 and characters, and degrees, and orders of men ? 
 then let this grace be spread far abroad : and 
 let not the more polite and nicer hearers grow 
 tired, or drowsy, or disdainful, while I amplify a 
 little and diffuse my thoughts into various parti- 
 culars, pointing out the variety of the subjects 
 of this grace ; for I would (as it were) mention 
 every sinner by name, that they may not be left 
 only to unaffecting general notions, but being 
 specially addressed to, they may all come and 
 partake of this salvation by believing this gospel. , 
 
 A glorious and extensive gospel indeed, and 
 a wide-spreading salvation ! To every one who 
 believes ! None excluded from this blessing. 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. 133 
 
 1. It is not confined to one nation, or one fami 
 iy, not to one tribe or kindred of mankind, as 
 the law of Moses was. Go preach the gospel, 
 says our Lord, to every creature ; Mark xvi. 16, 
 Preach repentance and remission of sins in my 
 name among all nations, beginning at Jerusa- 
 lem ; Luk. xxiv. 47. To the Jew first, but let not 
 this grace be confined to them: publish this 
 blessed doctrine also to the sinners among the 
 Greeks and Gentiles. You that are afar off 
 from God, even in the ends of the earth, ye 
 are called to look unto Christ, and be saved ; 
 Isa. xlv. 22. It is no matter, oh sinner ! what 
 thy father was, or what thy kindred are ! if thou 
 art but a believer in Christ, thy soul is happy, thy 
 sins are pardoned, the gospel is the power of 
 God to thy salvation. 
 
 2. It is not confined to one sex only, or to'one 
 age. The children are called as well as the 
 fathers, and men and woman are invited to par- 
 take of this blessing together in Christ. There 
 is neither male nor female, neither young noi 
 old, neither Greek nor Jew, that have any 
 distinction put upon them, to exclude them 
 from this grace ; they are all one in Christ 
 Jesus ; Gal. iii. 28. Children, have you seen the 
 evil of your sins, and the danger of hell] Do you 
 long for pardoning and saving grace, and are 
 
 M 
 
134 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 you willing that Christ should make your peace 
 with God, that he should enable you to serve 
 him on earth, and prepare you for heaven? 
 Come then, trust in this gospel, give up your- 
 selves to Jesus Christ the Saviour, in the manner 
 I have spoken, and the salvation is yours. Nor 
 let old sinners thrust away this mercy from 
 tlxem, under a pretence that they have long 
 abused it. You are now under the joyful sound 
 of the gospel ; you sit now under the language 
 of inviting love; are you willing to be made new 
 creatures before you die, and to accept of a deli- 
 verance from hell, though you are upon the 
 very borders of it 1 Behold power enough in this 
 gospel to deliver you : the blood of Christ can 
 wash out stains of the longest continuance ; the 
 spirit of Christ can change the skin of an old 
 Ethiopian, and create an old inveterate trans- 
 gressor into holiness. This gospel could save 
 the thief upon the cross, and ensure paradise 
 to him. It can rescue a dying rebel from eter- 
 nal death, for it gives life and salvation to every 
 one that believes. 
 
 3. It is not limited to one rank or condition of 
 men in the civil life, but reaches to persons of 
 every circumstance. The rich and the poor, 
 the master and the servant, the prince and the 
 peasant, must partake of salvation by the same 
 
OF THE GOSPEL* 135 
 
 faith in the Son of God. The Barbarian and the 
 Scythian, who seem to be born for slaves, and 
 the Romans who are lords of the earth, the 
 bond and the free, have all an equal call to re- 
 ceive this salvation ; Col. lii. xi. Ye are all rich 
 enough to obtain it : there is no purchase of 
 these blessings by any other price but that of 
 the blood of Jesus. Silver and gold, and the 
 treasure of kings are all contemptible offers in 
 so sacred a concernment as this is. The benefit 
 is too valuable to be bought at any meaner rate : 
 Christ who paid for it, will bestow it freely on all. 
 If the rich will receive it, they must come with- 
 out money, and without price, and accept of the 
 free gift of God, as humble petitioners at his 
 footstool ; and the poor that have no money, 
 come ye and buy; Isa. iv. 1, 2. Let the vilest, 
 meanest creature come to this treasury of grace, 
 and with thankfulness receive the salvation, for 
 it is bought already. You are called only to trust 
 in this gospel, to surrender yourselves to this 
 Saviour, and the salvation shall be yours. Ye 
 that are mean and low and base in this world, 
 there are many of your brethren already joined 
 in the fellowship of this gospel : come, enter 
 yourselves into the blessed fraternity. To the 
 poor the gospel is preached, and the poor receive 
 it. But there are some noble, there are some 
 
136 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 great, there are some rich, that have felt the 
 power of it too : there is Philemon the master, 
 and his servant Onesimus, joined in the same 
 faith, and partakers of the same salvation ; 
 Philem. 16. 
 
 Again, 4thly, it is not confined to the persons 
 whose intellectual excellencies are superior to 
 their neighbors, or who exceed others in under- 
 standing and the acquirements of the mind. St, 
 Paul was debtor both to the wise and the unwise ; 
 to the learned Greek, and to the ignorant and 
 unpolished Barbarian; Rom. i. 14. He preached 
 the gospel to all of them, for Christ had a chosen 
 number amongst them all. If the witty, and the 
 wise and learned, will lay down their pride, and 
 submit to the doctrine of Christ crucified, and 
 not call it foolishness : if they all humble their 
 understandings to receive the sacred mysteries 
 of our religion, God, manifest in the flesh, and 
 put to death for the sins of men, and will place 
 the concerns of their eternal welfare into the 
 hands of him who hung bleeding upon the cross ; 
 if they are willing to be converted, and become 
 as little children, there is a door for them to enter 
 into the kingdom of heaven. And as for you, 
 whose understandings are weak and unpolished 
 with human learning, this is a doctrine and a 
 gospel exactly fitted for your character : it is 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 1 37 
 
 no business of great sagacity, no ingenious 
 matter to become a Christian. Believe the 
 truths that are plainly revealed concerning your 
 own sin and misery, and the power of Jesus 
 Christ to save you, bewail your own wretched- 
 ness and guilt, and intrust yourselves in the 
 arms of his grace, that ye be made holy and 
 happy, and ye also shall become possessors of 
 the same kingdom. Father, I thank thee, Lord of 
 heaven and earth, that though these things may 
 be hidden from the wise and the prudent yet thou 
 hast revealed them to babes ; Matt. xi. 25, 26. 
 
 But I pursue the distributions of this grace yet 
 farther. 
 
 5. No particular tempers or constitutions of 
 men, no different qualities of soul or body, can 
 exclude those that believe, from the grace or 
 blessings of this gospel. Let not the strong man 
 glory in his strength, nor the comely figures of 
 human nature boast themselves in their beauty. 
 Let not the weak be overwhelmed with des- 
 pair, nor the deformed or uncomely stand afar 
 off and abandon their hopes ; the same Saviour 
 proposes the riches of his grace to all. Learn 
 therefore to look upon all your natural advan- 
 tages, and all your natural discouragements, with 
 a negligent eye in the matter of your salvation. 
 
 If vou would-be strong to win heaven, vou must 
 m 2 
 
13S A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 borrow ail your strength from Christ and the 
 gospel. If you would appear comely and ho- 
 norable before the face of God, you must be 
 clothed in the robe of righteousness and the 
 garments of Salvation, which he has prepared ; 
 Isa. lxi. 10. 
 
 Nor can any difference in the natural qualities 
 of the soul forbid any person who believes in 
 Christ to hope for this Salvation. Those who 
 are by nature proud or peevish, sullen or pas- 
 sionate, angry and revengeful, have been made 
 partakers of this grace, as well as those who by 
 the complexion of their animal frame, and the 
 original temper of their minds, have had more 
 of the natural virtues belonging to them ; such 
 as gentleness, meekness of spirit, good humor 
 and kindness. Those who have something in 
 their very frame that is sly and crafty, or cove- 
 tous, wanton and intemperate, have felt the 
 power of this gospel, as well as those that have 
 been generous and sincere, modest, chaste and 
 abstemious ; for the grace of the gospel, which 
 was typified by the ark of Noah, takes in all 
 manner of animals, clean and unclean, and saves 
 them from the deluge, of divine wrath that shall 
 come upon an ungodly workl. But there is this 
 blessed difference, that the brute.s went out of the 
 ark with the same nature they brought in ; but 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 139 
 
 those who come under the protection and power 
 of this gospel by faith, they are in some measure 
 changed, they are refined, they are sanctified : 
 the wolf that came in is turning into a iamb, and 
 the raven by degrees becomes a dove ; surely, 
 the gospel has begun to make them so, for it 
 has begun their salvation. 
 
 I will grant indeed, that the perverse temper 
 of blood and spirits, and the very make of the 
 man as to his natural vicious qualities, is seldom, 
 entirely altered by the grace of God here on 
 earth. There will be some sallies of animal 
 nature, some out breakings of the irregular fire 
 that is pent up in the constitution; and these will 
 too often mix themselves with our conduct, and 
 interline our acts of virtue and duty. But the 
 holy soul, who believes in Christ, will be humble, 
 will mourn, will accuse and chide itself before 
 God in secret, and will be importunate and rest- 
 less in prayer for the victory. The Christian 
 will not suffer himself to be carried away willingly 
 by the stream of vicious inclination; for he that 
 is born of God sinneth not ; 1 John v. 18. and it is 
 in vain to talk of the gospel and salvation, of 
 faith and grace, if we give up the reins to vicious 
 nature, and bid a careless farewell to any one 
 virtue. 
 
 But to proceed yet farther in reckoning up the 
 
140 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 various characters of men, whom the gospel 
 makes Christians by the grace of faith. 
 
 6. As no persons are excluded because of their 
 national constitution, so neither are any forbid 
 the blessing of salvation because of their former 
 ill characters in the moral life. Not the greatest 
 of sinners are shut out from this blessing, if they 
 repent and believe the gospel. Not the Jews., 
 who crucified the Lord of glory : not the Gen- 
 tiles or Greeks, who were slaves to superstition 
 and idolatry, and drenched in most infamous and 
 abominable practices ; the Greeks, who gave 
 themselves up to workuncleanness with greedi- 
 ness, without God, and without hope in the world. 
 One gospel has saved them all. No former fol- 
 lies or faults, no, not the greatest of sins against 
 man, or against God himself, ought to shut up a 
 humble soul under despair ; for this is a faithful 
 saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus 
 Christ came to save the chief of sinners; 1 Tim. 
 i. 15. And that is a word of most extensive 
 grace which our Saviour speaks ; Matth. xii. 31. 
 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be for- 
 given unto men. 
 
 You who have enjoyed a happy education, and 
 had pious parents to boast of, as the Jews boasted 
 of Abraham; you who have many shining works 
 of sobriety and righteousness, you are called to 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 141 
 
 come and trust in this gospel : but you must re- 
 nounce all your pretended merit, and accept ot 
 pardoning grace, or you can never be saved, 
 And you that have nothing that looks like a 
 good work to glory in. sinners as bad as the 
 worst of Gentiles, come and believe this gospel, 
 and surrender yourselves to Jesus the Prince 
 and the Saviour ; his blood is all-sufficient for the 
 pardon of your sins, his righteousness i3 all- 
 sufficient for your justification ; and his spirit 
 can purify your sinful natures. Where sin has 
 abounded, grace has much more abounded ; 
 Rom. v. 20. It is to the everlasting honor of the 
 gospel of Christ, that it has appeared to be the 
 power of God to the salvation of multitudes of 
 such as you : such were some of you, saith the 
 apostle to the Corinthians, but ye are washed, 
 but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our 
 God; 1 Cor. vi. 11. 
 
 And surely, if great degrees of sin cannot ex- 
 clude the penitent soul from the benefit of the 
 gospel, then 7thly, neither shall any person be 
 excluded because of the weak degrees of his 
 faith: him that is weak in the faith receive ye, 
 for Christ has received him : Rom. xiv. i. 3, 
 Read that kind condescending promise, and be- 
 lieve it ; Matth. xii. 20. He will not break tfc 
 
142 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 buised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, nor 
 suppress nor despise the least, the lowest desire 
 of grace. He will encourage the youngest and 
 feeblestacts of sincere repentance and true faith 
 though struggling under much sin and darkness, 
 until it break out into evident and active flame. 
 The little tender seed of grace under his heaven- 
 ly influences shall bud and blossom, and spring- 
 up into full glory. How large and glorious is the 
 salvation that attends faith in this gospel ! How 
 extensive is the grace of God our Saviour! How 
 unsearchable are the riches of his mercy ! O the 
 heights and the depths, the lengths and breadths 
 of the love of Christ, that pass all knowledge ! 
 None of the sons or daughters of Adam, the 
 sinner, are excluded from this salvation, where 
 the gospel is preached, but those who exclude 
 themselves by stubbornness and unbelief. Per- 
 sons of every kind, every character, condition 
 and quality, amongst men, have found this 
 gospel become the power of God to their salva- 
 tion, when they fled to the refuge and believed 
 in this Saviour. 
 
 What improvement now shall I make of the 
 last part of this discourse, this wide extent of 
 salvation bestowed on all who believe 1 Has 
 every single believer this salvation in some 
 measure conferred on him, and wrought in him ? 
 
OF THE GOSFEL. 143 
 
 Then here is a plain and evident test, whereby 
 to try our faith, or a certain sign whereby we 
 may judge, whether we are t;ue belivers, or no, 
 The gospel is the manifestation of the power 
 of God for the salvation of every one that be- 
 lieves. What have you found of this salvation 
 begun in you? What have you felt of your own 
 guilt and wretchedness by reason of sin, and of 
 your danger of eternal death] Have you seen 
 the death of Christ as an effectual atonement to 
 procure the forgiveness of an offended God? 
 Have you beheld the power and grace of Christ 
 sufficient to renew your sinful natures, and to 
 form them after the image of God in righteous- 
 ness and true holiness ? Have you found your 
 conscience resting upon the sacrifice of Christ, 
 and your souls humbly expecting pardon and 
 peace there? Are your hearts turned away 
 from every sin? Is the temper of your mind 
 made divine and havenly, and suited to tire 
 business and blessedness of the upper world ? 
 This is the salvation of Christ which the gospel 
 proposes, and bestows upon all that believe. 
 
 Upon such solemn inquiries as these, I am 
 persuaded there is many a soul must take up 
 this heavy complaint, " Alas ! I fear I am no 
 believer : I have sat long under the sound of the 
 gospel, and I have heard the doctrine of Christ 
 
144 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 crucified many years to no purpose ; for I have 
 never found this gospel attended with any such 
 powerful impressions as to begin salvation in 
 me. I have been too thoughtless about the 
 guilt of my sins, and about the forgiveness of 
 them in the court of heaven. Nor have I found 
 my sinful nature changed, nor " my affections 
 sanctified. I have very little of these spiritual 
 desires and delights which have been before 
 described as part of my salvation. I feel the in- 
 ward workings of my soul vain and carnal still ; 
 I am not prepared for the heavenly world, and 
 surely then I have never truly believed in Christ, 
 nor received his gospel." 
 
 To such complaints as these, I would propose 
 these three several answers. 
 
 Answer I. It may be so indeed. All this 
 complaint may be just and true ; and perhaps 
 thou art an unbeliever still, dead in trespasses 
 and sins, and exposed every moment to the 
 stroke of death, and to everlasting misery. This 
 is the case of many a thousand beside thyself: 
 even the greatest part of those who are called 
 Christians, are afar off from God and from sal- 
 vation, and have no just ground to suppose that 
 they are believers in Christ. But it is of infinite 
 concern for thee, O sinner, to busy thyself about 
 this inquiry. There is not any one act in thy 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 145 
 
 life, in which thou canst be engaged, that is of 
 greater and more awful importance than this, 
 for thy heaven or thy hell depends upon it. 
 
 Some sit all their days .under the gospel, and 
 hear nothing but the outward sound, always 
 unmoved, unawakened and unaffected; slum- 
 bering and nodding upon the borders of eternal 
 fire ; while others hear the voice of the Son of 
 God, arise from the dead, and receive a new, a 
 divine life. Some in the same family, perhaps 
 of thy own kindred, thy fl< sh and blood, or some 
 that are upon the same seat in the public assem- 
 bly, are convinced and converted, believe in 
 Christ, andare saved; while thou remainestahard 
 and impenitentsinner under the voice of thesame 
 grace, and the preaching of the same salvation. 
 And if this be thy case, it is a dreadful one 
 indeed. Consider, how will thy condemnation 
 be aggravated, that thou hast heard the gospel 
 published with so much glorious evidence, in 
 such a land, and such an age of light as this is, 
 and yet thou abidest in the state of impenitence, 
 and unbelief, and death. Thou hast had the 
 blessings of heaven offered at thy door, and hast 
 hitherto refused to receive them. Tfcou hast 
 sat, as it were, on the banks of the river of life, 
 and never desired to taste the living water. 
 Thou hast dwelt near the shadow of the tree of 
 life, but art an utter stranger to the fruit. O ! 
 
 N 
 
146 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 with what a stupid and a careless ear hast thou 
 heard the things of thy everlasting peace? 
 Think of it therefore, and be horribly afraid: if 
 the gospel be not powerful for the salvation of 
 thy soul, it will become, through thy own im- 
 penitence, a powerful means to increase thy 
 damnation, to make thy hell hotter, and thy 
 eternal sorrows more intolerable. Wo to thee, 
 Capernaum; wo to thee, Bethsaida; wo unto 
 you, O sinners of Great Britain, ye have been 
 exalted to heaven in divine favors, and ye shall 
 be thrust down to hell if ye continue in unbelief. 
 It shall be more tolerable in the day of Judg- 
 ment for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for you ; 
 Matth. xi. 21. 
 
 But art thou indeed yet an unbeliever ? Yet 
 sleeping the sleep of death 1 It may be this is 
 thy awakening time : it may be this is the hour 
 when thou shalt begin to hear the voice of God 
 in order to life. Q, cherish such important 
 thoughts as these. Let them arise with thee in 
 the morning, let them lie down at night with 
 thee, and give thyself no rest, nor give rest to 
 the God of heaven, nor to Jesus Christ the Sa- 
 viour, tiH he has received thy soul into the arms 
 of his love, forgiven thy sins, and made thee a 
 new creature, that the gospel may not be to 
 thy soul the savor of eternal death. 
 
 Ansiv. II. But perhaps the person who makes 
 
OP THE GOSPEL. 14? 
 
 this complaint, may be some humble melancholy 
 Christian, some sincere believer in Christ, and 
 yet under dark and timorous apprehensions con- 
 cerning his own state. It may be, poor tremb- 
 ling soul, that thou hast found the preaching of 
 the gospel to be the power of God to thy salva- 
 tion, though thou art not able rightly to evidence 
 it to thy own conscience. 
 
 Thou hast not the joy of pardon indeed, but 
 hast thou not some glimmering hopes'? Surely 
 thou dost not abandon thyself to utter despair. 
 Thou hast not assurance that Christ has accept- 
 ed of thee ; but art thou not sincerely willing to 
 surrender thyself to him, to receive his complete 
 salvation in the holiness as well as the happiness 
 of it] Dost thou not long to be pardoned and ac- 
 cepted of God, for the sake of his death and obedi- 
 ence 1 And art thou not heartily desirous to give 
 him all the honor of thy salvation ] Thou hast 
 not much power against sin, but dost thou not 
 hate it with immortal hatred, and esteem it thy 
 constant enemy ? Does it not often cause thee 
 to mourn before the Lord because of thy captive 
 state, and the working of indwelling iniquities ? 
 Perhaps thou dost not yet feel thyself to be 
 manifestly saved from sin, but art thou not saved 
 from the love of sin % It dwells in thy flesh, it 
 may be, and raises tumults there, but not in thy 
 
f 48 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 desire and thy delight. Canst thou not say with 
 the apostle ; Rom. vii. 23, 24. There is a law in 
 my members warring against the law of my 
 mind? But it is a daily torment to me, O wretch- 
 ed man that I am ! who shall deliver me? Thou 
 dost not love God, it may be, according to thy 
 wish and desire ; but is there any thing which 
 thou valuest.more than God and his love ? Art 
 thou not truly willing to love him above all things, 
 to be renewed and sanctified in all the powers 
 of thy nature, to be fitted for the business of 
 heaven, and suited to the blessedness ? 
 
 If thy heart can echo to this sort of language, 
 and the grace of God has prevailed thus far. in 
 thee, then thy salvation is begun; the gospel 
 has shown its divine power upon thee, and thou 
 art indeed to be numbered among the believers. 
 Jinsw. III. But I would conclude my discourse 
 with a word that may have equal respect to 
 saints or sinners. If you are concerned sincerely 
 about your eternal welfare, but can see no com- 
 fortable evidences in yourselves of the work of 
 faith or the beginnings of salvation, if all within 
 you appear to be gu It and sin, and there is much 
 of hell and darkness in the soul, yet do not cast 
 away all hope : arise and come to Jesus the 
 Saviour, behold he calleth you. This is the 
 reason of the grace of the gospel, this is the 
 
OF THE GOSPEL. 149 
 
 accepted time, this is the day of salvation. Make 
 haste now to the city of refuge, fly now to the 
 hope that is set before you. 
 
 The promises are held open to thee, O soul! 
 whosoever thou art, even the promises of light 
 and life, of grace and eternal glory. Christ 
 Jesus invites thee by the messengers of his 
 gospel : if there be some darkness upon thy 
 spirit, do not spend all thy time in laborious and 
 fruitless inquiries whether thou hast heretofore 
 believed in Christ, or no; but come now with an 
 humble sense of thy guilty and sinful cricum- 
 starices, and surrender thyself to his charge and 
 care by a new act of faith, or trust ordependance. 
 Plead with him to accept a vile criminal over- 
 loaded with guilt and misery, and to make thee 
 accepted with God by a righteousness which 
 was not thy own. Beseech him to look with 
 pity on thy unholy soul, to sanctify and renew it, 
 to take thy hard heart into his hand, and soften 
 it into repentance. Plead with him, and say, 
 Lord, art not thou exalted to give repentance 
 as well as remission ] Intreat of him to subdue 
 thy sins, to new-mould and create all the powers 
 of thy nature in the beauties of holiness, and to 
 prepare thee for the heavenly state. Go and 
 complain humbly at his mercy -seat, how long 
 thou hast "sat under the ministrv of his own 
 
150 A RATIONAL DEFENCE 
 
 i 
 
 gospel, and felt no divine power attending it 
 Intrust thy soul now to his care, and place thy- 
 self by faith under his divine influences. He 
 that comes in this manner, shall in no wise be 
 cast out, for the Lord has promised to receive 
 him ; John vi. 37. Wait on him with daily im- 
 portunity, follow all the means of grace which 
 he hath appointed, and the gospel of Christ shall 
 appear in due time to be the power of God, even 
 thv God to thy salvation. Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 


 ** 
 
 ^ 
 
 *##& 
 
 &■.<« 
 
 *