"that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, "but enjoy everlasting life." He sent into the world "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of "his person," (h) partaker of his own divine perfections and honours, to be not merely a teacher of righteousness, and a messenger of grace, but also a sacrifice for the sins of men. Accordingly, at such a time as infinite wisdom saw most fitted for the purpose, the Lord Jesus Christ, "when he took upon him to deliver "man did not abhor the virgin's womb," but was born "of a virgin," (i) and appeared in human flesh: after he had fulfilled the whole law, gone through incessant fatigues, and borne all the injuries which the ingratitude and malice of men could inflict, he voluntarily "submitted himself to death, even the death of the "cross," and, having been "delivered for our offences, "was raised again for our justification." (k) "When " he had overcome the sharpness of death, he opened "the kingdom of heaven to all believers :" forty days after his resurrection he "ascended into heaven," in sight of his disciples, where he has become our Intercessor; and, agreeably to his promise, sent down his Spirit upon his apostles to enable them, in the most persuasive and authoritative manner," to preach the

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Gospel;" giving it in charge to them and their successors to publish it "to every creature ;" and declaring that all who repent and believe in that Gospel may be saved, may be released from punishment, and re(h) John, iii. 16. Heb. i. 3.

(i) Is. vii. 14. Matt. i. 23. Luke, i. 31. (k) Rom. iv. 25.

stored to the image and favour of God, by virtue of its abiding energy, and the immutable power and grace of its Divine Author. (1)

It is possible that a belief of these truths, striking and momentous as they are, may float loosely in the understanding, without being efficacious. But they are exquisitely formed to affect us deeply: and whenever the secret links which connect the understanding with the heart are acted upon by the mysterious energy of him "who knoweth our frame" and all its hidden springs, this belief leads to that saving change which is called conversion. Then he who is the subject of it becomes " a new creature: old things are passed

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away; behold, all things become new." (m) He has new apprehensions of things, new hopes, new fears, new joys, new sorrows, new affections, new employments, new prospects, and, it may be, new friends and new foes he feels a perfect renovation of character; his greatest solicitude is to be "a fellow worker with "God, and a fellow heir with the saints:" and impelled by the joint influence of delight and self-abasement, he may be ready to exclaim, with Baxter, "O "wonderful! that heaven will be familiar with earth, "God with man, the Most High with a worm, and "the Most Holy with a vile sinner! Man refuses me "when God entertains me. Those I never wronged "reproach me; and God, whom I have unspeakably injured, invites and entreats me, and condescends to me, as if he were obliged to serve me. (1) See Doddridge's Works, vol. i. p. 274.

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Men may

(m) 2 Cor. v. 17.

"abhor me, whom I have deserved well of: but God, "from whom I deserve eternal torments, graciously 66 accepts me. I upbraid myself with my sins, but he "now upbraids me not: I condemn myself for them, "but he will not condemn me. He forgives me sooner "than I can forgive myself. I have peace with him, "before I can have peace in my own conscience."

The Christian religion, as pourtrayed in the Gospel, differs from all others in furnishing an internal principle, from which the purest conduct emanates. It is not a religion of forms and ceremonies, but the religion of the "inner man. The language of God to every Christian is," My son, give me thine heart." The true Christian, as depicted in the New Testament, is a faithful and active servant, who inquires what his Lord's will is, and performs it with cheerful alacrity. He makes it "his meat and his drink to do the will of his

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heavenly Father;" and he knows that, conformably with that will, be must "relieve the fatherless and "widows in their affliction, and keep himself unspotted "from the world." (n) He considers it his duty, and finds it his delight, to please God, and render as far as possible his fellow-creatures happy; "to add to his faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to

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knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; "and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly "kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity." (0) Still he walks as on the confines of the eternal state, and is anxious, therefore, to renounce the world, its course and its spirit, yea, to be "dead unto the world"

(n) James, i. 27.

(0) 2 Pet. i. 5-7.

and "alive unto God," to attain more and more of the Divine image, to "grow up to Christ in all things," to enjoy "fellowship with God," and, "if he be risen "with Christ, to seek those things which are above, "where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (p)

Such are the dispositions and the employments which are required to be exemplified in the sincere Christian. He is exhorted to flee from a contrary temper and conduct, by the assurance that "the wrath of “God abideth on" all those who reject the offer of the Gospel; and he is stimulated to persevere in the Christian course by the assurance that heaven is the inheritance of every sincere and humble follower of Jesus. His hopes are constantly directed to that happy period when he shall be "ever with the Lord, to "behold" and participate in his glory." He lives under the persuasion that, after he has passed through "the valley of the shadow of death," "God will wipe

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away all tears from his eyes," and he will be no more exposed to fear or sorrow, to mourning or death. He believes that his spirit will be united to his glorified body in those delightful regions, where an enemy shall never enter, and from whence a friend shall never depart; where there will be satiety without disgust, day and no night, joy and no weeping, difference in degree and yet all full, "love without dissimulation," excellency without envy, multitudes without confusion, harmony without discord; where the understanding shall be astonishingly enriched, the will perfectly recti

(p) Gal. vi. 14. Rom. vi. 11. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Eph. iv. 15. 1 John, i. 3. Col. iii, 1.

fied, the affections all transformed into love and joy; where the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, "shall feed him, and lead him unto living fountains of "waters:" (q) where God shall be the light and the glory of the place for ever and ever!

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6

These, in brief, are the doctrines of the New Testament, the "fruits of the Spirit," manifested in those who believe, and the glorious expectations of a future world, which are intended at once to stimulate and to reward "a patient continuance in well doing." But 'these,' you will probably say, are not recognised 'by many who call themselves Christians; for there are many that profess a belief in Christianity, who nevertheless ridicule the idea of living under its power. If that system of religion, which is incul'cated in the New Testament, teach, as your language clearly implies, the depravity of human nature, the necessity of regeneration, the influences of the Spirit, 'particular Providence, the atonement and the Divinity of Jesus Christ, justification by faith, the resurrec'tion of the body, and the eternity of future punishment; it teaches what not many rich, not many ' noble, not many wise, are prepared to receive, and 'what none can receive without being exposed in

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consequence to contumely, derision, and reproach.' While I acknowledge the justice of this observation, I would wish to guard you against drawing any such conclusions from it as would be unfavourable to a cordial reception of the great and essential peculiarities of the evangelical system. That several of the rich and (2) Rev. vii. 17,