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He hath faid fo well on this account, that there is little need I should say any more; yet let me add thus much did men mind the language of the Holy Ghoft more than their own conceits, they would not ftile those mere moral men, in a way of difgrace, who are not of their perfuafion: it would fuffice, that those that "fear God and work righteoufnefs in all nations are cc accepted of him;" that Chrift himself hath faid, "He that doth the will of my Father which is in "heaven, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;" and of them that work iniquity, "Depart from me, "I know you not.”

My friends, let us not deceive ourselves; "God " will not be mocked; fuch as we fow we shall cer"tainly reap." The tree is known by its fruits, and will be judged according to its fruits. "The wages

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"of fin is death:" men will find it fo; and every man fhall receive his reward fuitable to his work. For people to talk of special grace, and yet be carried away by common temptations; to let pride, vanity, covetousness, revenge, &c. predominate, is provoking to God: but to conceit that the righteous God will indulge his people in that latitude which he condemns in other men, is abominable. It is fanctification that makes the faint, and felf-denial that conftitutes the Christian; and not filling our heads, and elevating our fancies, by applying those promifes to ourselves, which, as yet, we have no intereft in, though we may think they belong to nobody else: this fpiritual flattery of ourselves is moft pernicious. I cannot but fay, with the apostle,* "It is neither circumcifion nor " uncircumcifion, Jew nor Gentile (this nor the other "thing) but the new creature, created after Chrift "Jefus in holiness: for without holiness no man shall "ever fee the Lord," And what is boliness, but abstaining from wickednefs? And what is that, but keeping the law of God? "Great peace have they that

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"love thy law," faid David, that had known the trouble of breaking it: therefore it is that "Grace " and truth are come by Jefus Chrift," to help us to fulfil the law, not to excuse our disobedience to the law: and what before we were unable, this gives us force to do. So that Chriftianity is not an indulgence of people under weakness and difobedience, but the completing and perfection of that righteousness, which, without him, was but fhort and imperfect, through the all-fufficient grace and power that came by Jefus Christ.

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Give me leave, I beseech you, for I have a godly jealoufy upon me; I fear left the very end of Chrift's coming is mistaken; and of how dreadful a consequence fuch a mistake would be, you cannot poffibly be ignorant, that believe, "there is no falvation in any "other name." Let us hear the teftimony of fcripture: they are the words of Chrift himself, "I muft "preach the kingdom of God, for therefore am I "fent." Now, what is this kingdom of God, but God's government? And where is this kingdom and government to be fet up, but in man? So Chrift tells us," "Behold the kingdom of God is within you.' So that the reason of his being fent is, that the kingdom and government of the devil may be destroyed, the itrong man that kept the house, the heart, be difpoffeffed, and the kingdom and government of God in the foul erected and established. We are taught to pray for it, as little as we make of it.° "Thy kingdom "come, thy will be done." Would to God people would but confider what they pray for! for they are scandalized at the thing they afk, and both neglect and revile the substance of their own prayers; 66 Thy "kingdorn come, and thy will be done;" but believe neither. It was the office God defigned his Son to. "The thief," fays Chrift, "does not come but to "kill, to steal, and to destroy;" that is, to steal

Pfalm cxix. Pfalm clxv. John i. 16, 17.
• Luke xi. 2.

* Luke xvii. 21.

- Luke iv. 43.

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away the beart from God, and to kill and deftroy all good defires and inclinations in the foul: for the devil is the thief and deftroyer: " But I am come," fays Christ, "that ye might have life; and that ye might "have it more abundantly." Again, "O death, I "will be thy death!" as if he had faid, I will kill that which kill the foul: I will breathe the breath of life into it again; and, by my fpirit and grace, I ⚫ will beget holy motions, and kindle heavenly defires, in it after God, after the kingdom of God, and the righteoufnefs thereof:' this is the newness of life: And I will not only restore that life the foul has loft, but I will increase it: I will add to it, that it may have life more abundantly; more power and ftrength to refift evil, and embrace and delight in that which is good.'

Indeed he was anointed of God for this purpose; and is therefore called the "Reftorer of paths, the re"pairer of breaches, and the builder-up of wafte

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places;" that is, he is ordained of God for the recovery of man from his fallen and disobedient ftate; this is the reason of his name: "Thou fhalt call his name JESUS," faid the angel," for he fhall fave his "ple from their fins:" not from wrath only, but from fin, which is the caufe of wrath. That is, of bad men he will make them really good men, and of finful and unholy, he will make them holy and righteous men, i. e. fuch as truly believe in him. This is the burden of John's teftimony: "There is one," fays he, "that "cometh after me, who is mightier than I; he shall "baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire; "whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly

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purge his floor." And seeing Jefus coming to him, he faid," "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh cc away the fins of the world !"

I know the use that too many make of these fcriptures, as if they were an Hebraifm borrowed from the

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old facrifices, which may be faid to take away fin by taking away the guilt, and not that the natures of men are restored and perfected. And, indeed, this is that fense which I dread above all others, because it perverts the end of Christ's coming, and lodges men in a fecurity pernicious to their own fouls. For though it is most true, that Remiflion of fin was, and is, preached in his name and blood," and that fin, in a fenfe, may be said to be taken away, when the guilt of the fin is removed by remiffion; yet this is only of fin past, that upon repentance is fergiven:' but this is not the whole, full and evangelical fenfe, as Chrift's own words do plainly import. "For," fays he," the "Son of man is come to fave that which was lost."

And upon another occafion he expreffeth himself to the fame purpose, and almost in the fame words," "For the Son of man is come to feek and to fave that "which was loft." Now, who is this that is loft, but man? And in what fenfe can man be faid to be loft, but by fin and difobedience? That it was which caft him out of the prefence and garden of God, and put him in a condition of eternal mifery. If Chrift then came to fave loft man, he must be understood to fave him from that which puts him into a loft condition, and that is fin; for "The wages of fin is death, and the " fervant of fin is a fon of perdition."

Christ has determined this point beyond all exception, in his difcourfe with the Jews, John viii. 31, 32, 33, 34. "Then faid Jefus to thofe Jews which believ

ed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye "my difciples indeed; and ye fhall know the truth,

and the truth fhall make you free." What freedom was this? Certainly from fin; fuitable to that paffage in his prayer: "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy "word is truth." But fome Jews prefent, proud of their privileges, apprehended not the liberty Chrift spoke of, and therefore answered him thus: "We are

Acts x. 43. Ephef. i. 7.
y Rom. vi, 23.

× Mat. xviii. 11.

Luke xix. 10.

z Rom. xvii. 17.

"Abraham's

"Abraham's feed, and were never in bondage to any "man; how fayeft thou, ye fhall be made free? Jefus answered them, Verily, verily, I fay unto

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you, whofoever committeth fin, is the fervant of fin." In which place it is very remarkable, that men are only to be diftinguished by their works; that no claims, privileges, fucceffions, or defcents are available, but he that commits fin, is the fervant of fin. Są that Christ's free man is he that is freed from fin: this is his follower and difciple. And as Chrift oppofed the works of the Jews, who unjustly fought to kill him, to the pretenfions they made to be Abraham's feed; fo we must oppose the actions of ill men to their better profeffions: we must faithfully tell them, "He "that commits fin, is the fervant of fin;" from which fervitude Chrift came to fave his people, and is therefore rightly called "the Saviour and Redeemer."

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This doctrine is clofely followed by the apostle Paul, in his fixth chapter to the Romans. "Therefore we "are buried with him by baptifm into death, that like "as Chrift was raised up from the dead by the glory "of the Father, even fo we alfo fhould walk in new"nefs of life.-Knowing this, that our old man is "crucified with him, that the body of fin might be "deftroyed, that henceforth we should not ferve fin."Likewife reckon ye alfo yourfelves to be dead in"deed unto fin, but alive unto God, through Jefus "Chrift our Lord." As if he had faid, The end ' of Chrift's coming, is to turn people from their fins; and that thofe who perfift in their difobedience, refift the benefits that come by him.' "Let not fin therefore reign in your mortal body, "that ye fhould obey it in the luft thereof." Nei"ther yield ye your members as inftruments of un"righteoufnefs unto fin; but yield yourselves unto "God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as inftruments of righteoufnefs un"to God.-Know ye not, that to whom ye yield

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z Rom. vi.

4, 6, II. 2 Rom. vi. 12. 13. 16. 20, 21, 22, 23, ❝ yourselves

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