CHAPTER III.

The New Creature in Christianity.

IN the course of my enquiry, my first endeavour was to make it appear, that man is by nature unrighteous; and, after the example and method of the blessed Apostle St. Paul, I have pointed out all those particulars in which this unrighteousness is found to consist. This account has been confirmed, by its correspondence with the sufferings of Christ on the cross; whose afflictions and death were of such a form, as to refer us back to the sinfulness of the nature for which he suffered. And now in the last place, to clear this matter as far as possible, it may be shewn, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a system, accommodated, in all its parts, to this unrighteousness of human nature; and applying itself professedly to all those evils which have been described and insisted upon in the foregoing chapters. The Christian religion, in every step it takes for the salvation of man, presupposes the fall of Adam, and the permanent effects of it in all his posterity. Medicines are accommodated to the nature of the diseases which they are designed to cure; so

that from the medicines themselves, if prescribed by a skilful person, and according to the rules of his art, the symptoms of the disease may be inferred. Thus much, however, is always certain, that when a medicine is provided, a distemper is supposed; and that he who stands in need of a cure, can be no other than a sick man. All the several alteratives and restoratives which the Gospel has provided, serve to convince us, in the first place, that we are sick by nature: upon any other supposition the Gospel is an absurdity; as undertaking to do that for all men, of which no man hath any need. Therefore, if the Gospel is a consistent scheme, the remedies therein offered demonstrate, that the soul of man is in a state of sin and blindness; as plainly as medicinal drugs and instruments of surgery shew that his body is frail and mortal.

These remedies, with their properties and applications, are the things we are now to consider; and a slight examination will make it evident, that they are all adapted to the evils of man's constitution, as described by the Apostle, and consequently for the producing of a new creature.

It was first asserted in this description, that there is none righteous; which assertion is the same for substance with what the holy Psalmist had said in his supplication-Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. To obviate this, the Gospel, in opposition to the ministration of condemnation by the law of Moses, is called the ministration of righteousness; bringing us to that justification in the sight of God, to which no man living can restore himself. It brings about this change, by admitting us to be members of Christ, who is called + Cor. iii. 9.

Psalm cxliii. 2.

the Lord our Righteousness: that instead of being considered as we are in ourselves, we may be accepted in the beloved, who is the first-born among many brethren. So that the Apostle asks, and teaches us to iriumph in the same question-who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again: who died to make satisfaction for the sins of the world, and rose again to shew that it was accepted: so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. As surely as many, according to the state of nature, were made sinners by one man's disobedience; so surely also by the obedience of one are many made righteous. Thus abundantly is the evil of unrighteousness provided gainst.

The next thing in order is the renovation of the understanding. Of the old man it was said, there is none that understandeth; but the new man is said to be renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him*.-When God changes us from natural into spiritual men, he restores the spiritual powers of discernment, which we lost by the fall; and in which the image of God consisted. As the sight of the mind is now dark by nature, God is said to enlighten the eyes of the understanding: and as the eyes are shut to spiritual things, Christ is therefore said to have opened the understanding of his disciples, that they might understand the Scriptures. The Psalmist speaks as one sensible of this defect-Open thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of thy law: whence it follows, that a man, whom God hath enlightened, sees some things in the Scripture, of which that man ↑ Eph. 1. 18.

* Col. iii. 10.

can have no understanding, who views it with the eyes of nature. Sometimes this principle is called faith; which is a divine sense superinduced to the senses of nature: it signifies a right apprehension of God, a love of his wisdom, a trust in his promises, and an expectation of the world to come. This principle is the gift of God; and they who are blessed with it are of one mind; but they who have it not are always jarring and disputing about the plainest things, and will be so to the world's end.

But God doth not only renew the mind, and restore the right use of the understanding:, he also supplies true matter to it. He reveals to us the knowledge of himself, the true God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sanctifier of Men. "The Son of God hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true:" therefore till he gives us this understanding, we have no knowledge of any proper object of adoration. Besides the true notion of God's Being, the Bible opens to us the ways of his providence in the government of the world, and the wonders of redemption in the salvation of his Church by Jesus Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

But still there is no right understanding without a proper rule of action: therefore we have such a rule offered to us in the commandments of the law, and in the precepts of the Gospel, by which all the colours of vice and virtue are properly distinguished; so that the Christian is delivered from that miserable folly to which all the world is subject, of confounding good and evil, and putting one for the other. On these considerations, we may subscribe to those divine words of Solomon-The Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up

sound wisdom for the righteous; he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea every good path *.

This leads us to the next article, the error of our way. All men are out of their way, and the gospel undertakes to put them into it.-They are represented as wandering in a pathless wilderness, such as this world is to all those who are not under the direction of God; but in this wilderness, he that led the Israelites from Egypt makes a path so plain and direct, that the wayfaring men, though fools (though never so simple in the estimation of the world,) cannot err therein. So far as we have followed the dictates of nature, we have erred and strayed from that right way, which leads to God, and the happiness of his kingdom; in which capacity we are compared to lost sheep, whom Christ came to seek and save. Such as are willing to be found, are conducted by him to the Father; and he himself becomes a new and living way to them, by means of the doctrine which he taught; by his death, which opened to them the kingdom of heaven; by his life, which serves as an example to direct them thither, and by his Spirit leading and supporting them; so that if this way be kept in view, they cannot fail of attaining their end, even the salvation of their souls.

Then again, instead of that unsound speech, which is the effusion of the natural man, the Gospel dictates a new sort of speech, agreeable to the doctrines of grace, and seasoned with salt, to preserve it from corruption. When a man is reformed from that hateful condition of the open sepulchre, no filthy communication pro