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SERMON afcend higher under the Christian DispenVII. fation than it poffibly could under any o

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ther; for herein is the Love of God fuperJohn xiii. latively difplayed, in that He gave his only. begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in Him Should not perish, but have everlasting Life. And here it will be needful to glance. at the State of Religion in the World before the Coming of Chrift, as it ftood divided into Heathens and Jews: As to the former, how does their grofs Idolatry, their wretched Superftitions, and their unworthy Conceptions of the Divine Nature, argue their Ignorance in the first Elements of Natural Religion! But take the wifeft, take the best amongst them; I give you Socrates, I give you Plato, I give you Archimedes, Great Names, and of good Report! And yet, poor Heathens, fhall we more admire that you went fo far, or that you came fo fhort in what most concerned you to know. Say, Socrates, that thou believedft in one. God: yet thou kneweft Him not (nor was it thy Fault) as a Reconciled God in the Son of his Love, and, as fuch, the Father

too, by great Purity of Heart) for Divine Contemplations : And even these, it must be allowed, can no where take fuch amiable and animating Views of the Glory of God, as in the Face of Jefus Chrift.

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of Mercies, and God of all Comfort. Say, SERMON Plato, justly admired Heathen, that the Soul's. Immortality was not hid from thee; yet the Way to a happy Immortality the Light of Nature could not teach thee. Say, laftly, Archimedes, Did the Heavens declare to thee the Glory of God? yet that Man was an Heir of Glory they declared not: Did the Firmament fhew forth his Handy-work as its Creator? yet no Star therein could lead thee to Chrift, the Power of God unto Salvation, as thy Redeemer. Here, Philofopher, thy Perspective failed thee, fuch Knowledge was too high for thee; a God Incarnate uniting our Nature to Himself, that we might become the Sons of God, is an Abyss of Wonders which thy Line fathomed not; thou couldst not attain unto this Wisdom neither in the Height above, nor in the Depth beneath: It is higher than the Heaven, what couldst thou do; deeper than Hell, what couldst thou know? The Meafure of fuch Love is longer than the Earth, and broader than the Sea. Conclude we then, that the wifest and best Heathens, for want of Revelation, could not attain to any Degree of Divine Love comparable to the Measure of the Chriftian, N

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SERMON being unacquainted with the Extent of God's VII. Love to Man in his most important Interest.

Befides, being Strangers to the Doctrine of the Fall, they could not explain the Evil they faw, both in the natural and moral World*, in any juft Confistency with the Divine Wisdom and Goodnefs: And this rendered their Conceptions and Reasonings touching the Attributes and Providence of God perplexed and dark; and therefore we the lefs wonder that the Worship of the most knowing among them was little better than erecting an Altar To the unknown God.

To the Jews, indeed, God vouchsafed a Discovery of his Nature and Will, and gave them a Law for their Directory to lead them to Himself, for the End of the Commandment was Love; but they attained not to the End of the Commandment, and fo it became Gal.iii. 10. to them a killing Letter, pronouncing Death 2 Cor. iii. on their Difobedience, whilst it

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*Their Ignorance of this, probably, firft gave Rife to the Suppofition of a Duality of Gods, as held by fome of the most antient Philofophers in their Doctrine of the two Principles, the one of Good, the other of Evil. The former was called by the Perfian Magi Oromafdes; the latter, Arimanius. This abfurd Error, under fome Alterations and Improvements, was afterwards adapted by the Manichæans in the third Century. See Bayle's Dict. Art. MANICHEANS. See alfa Theol: Ancienne, par Chev, RAMSAY.

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not Grace and Strength for Performance, for SERMON fuch Communication belonged to a higher Difpenfation, even a fpiritual one; and therefore however glorious the Ministration of Condemnation was in the Promulgation of the Law, and in the awful Difplay of God's Power and Majefty, yet it was to be done away when He who was the End of the Law for Righteousness should come, as having no comparative Glory in respect of that Miniftration which fo far excelleth in Glory; when God's Justice should give 2 Cor. iii. Place to his Goodness, and Mercy rejoice 10, & feq. against Judgment.-Hence we may fee the abfolute Neceffity there was of Gofpel Salvation for the Recovery of fallen Man, in that no outward Rule of Action *, tho' of

The Energy of Divine Grace, as a fanctifying Prin ciple in the Heart, made no Part nor Promife of the Mofaic Difpenfation, fo that Man's Nature could not be reformed by it; and, therefore, the Prophets and holy Men under the Law were not faved by the Law, but by the Regenerating Spirit of Chrift working in them, and speaking thro' them. Salvation was then the fame free Gift, and by the fame free Grace, thro' Faith, as now, tho' not revealed in the Way of a publick Difpenfation till afterwards, when that better Covenant took Place, whose distinguishing Property and Pri vilege it should be, with refpect to all the Faithful under it, that the Divine Laws fhould be within them, as a powerful living Principle of Love and Obedience,--not written in Tables of Stone, but in the fleshly Tables of the Heart, with the Spirit of the Living God. Jer. xxxi. 33. 2 Cor. iii. 3. Heb. x.16. Divine

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SERMON Divine Appointment, could lead him to God in the Way of acceptable Love and Obedience, because of the Weakness of the Flesh in its State of natural Corruption: If Gal.iii. 21. there had been a Law given which could have given Life, verily Righteoufnefs fhould have been by the Law.

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And now we are led to that wonderful Myftery of our Redemption, God manifeft in the Flesh to destroy the Works of the Devil, even all that Sin and Satan had done in our fallen Nature. In this Confolation of Ifrael we have the Subftance of all Types and Shadows, the Accomplishment of all Promises and Prophecies, and the Fulfilling of the Law for all them that believe to the Heb.i.,Saving of the Soul. God, who at fundry Times, and in divers Manners, Spake in Time paft unto the Fathers by the Prophets, bath in thefe laft Days Spoken unto us by his Son.-And what was the Meffage? It was Love; for, fpeaking of all them that receivJohn xvii. ed Him, he faith, I have declared unto them thy Name, and will declare it, that the Love wherewith thou haft loved me may be in them, and I in them. Now, in an Evangelical 2 Cor. v. Senfe, God's Name is Love, for He was in Chrift

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