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Religion once more reftored to its native Hope of Glory and Life for evermore. You will be no longer obliged to wander in the Mazes and Intricacies of human Reason, and to fpeculate upon the Attributes of divine Mercy and Justice; the Limits and Boundaries of which are not to be determined by the Wit of Man, and the Contemplation of which abounds with Terrors as well as Hopes: But you may fee the clear and immutable Purpose of God to give Salvation to all who, with penitent Hearts, and a firm Reliance on his Word, endeavour after Righteousness.

One would imagine the Gospel should eafily find Credit with Men, when all its Promises do fo exactly tally and correfpond with the Hopes of Nature. Has Nature any Reafon to complain of this? Is it an Objection to the Gofpel, that it has confirmed all your Hopes and Expectations, that it has given you the Security of God's Promise to establish the very Wishes of your Heart? You trust, you say, that He who made you ftill retains fome Love for you: To convince you that he does, he has fent his well-beloved Son into the World to fave Sinners. Though you offend, yet you hope on Repentance to be forgiven: The Gofpel confirms this

Hope;

Hope; the Terms of it are more beneficial, and convey to true Penitents not only Hope, but a Claim to Pardon. But Pardon only will not fatisfy: There is still something farther that Nature craves, fomething which with unutterable Groans fhe pants after, even Life and Happiness for evermore. She fees all her Children go down to the Grave: All beyond the Grave is to her one wide Waste, a Land of Doubt and Uncertainty: When she looks into it, fhe has her Hopes, and fhe has her Fears; and, agitated by the Viciffitude of thefe Paffions, fhe finds no Ground whereon to reft her Foot. How different is the Scene which the Gospel opens! There we see the heavenly Canaan, the new Jerufalem; in which City of the great God there are Manfions, many Manfions, for receiving them, who through Faith, and patient Continuance in Well-doing, feek for Glory and Immortality. Our bleffed Mafter has abolished Death, and redeemed us into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God, that we may dwell in his Prefence as long as Time itself shall laft.

If we were to form a System of Religion for ourselves that should anfwer to all our Wishes and Defires, what more could we afk for ourselves than what the Gospel has

offered?

offered? The Obedience required of us is the fame to which we are antecedently bound in virtue of that Reafon and Understanding which makes us to be Men. The Promifes of the Gospel extend to more than Nature could ever claim; they take in all her Wishes, establish all her Hopes; and they are offered by a Hand that is able to make them good.

The Conclufion of the whole is, That, fince the Religion of a Sinner must necessarily be founded in the Hopes of Mercy; fince these Hopes have at best but uncertain Foundation in Natural Religion, and are liable to be disturbed and fhaken by frequent Doubts and Mifgivings of Mind; we have great Reason to blefs and adore the Goodness of God, who has openly displayed before our Eyes the Love that he has for the Children of Men, by fending his well-beloved Son into the World, that all who believe in him fhould not perish, but have everlasting Life.

DISCOURSE

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DISCOURSE VI.

2 TIMOTHY i. 10.

-And hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel.

***HESE Words being spoken of

T

our bleffed Saviour, and affirming that he through the Gospel brought Life and Immortality to Light, are thought by fome to be exclufive of all Arguments for a future Immortality, drawn either from the Light of Reason and Nature, or from the Writings of Mofes: For, if the Hopes of Immortality were fo fupported before the Coming of Chrift Jefus, it could not be truly afferted of him, that he brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel. And fo far at leaft they must be allowed to argue justly,

that,

that, if the Text is to be understood in this exclufive Senfe, it will affect the Proofs and Authorities of any former Revelation equally with those of Sense and Reason. But then, on the other fide, 'tis certain, that, if this Argument does not impeach the Authority of Mofes with regard to this fundamental Article of Faith, neither will it fhut out the Proofs of Natural Religion; fince it must destroy the Evidence of both, or of neither. Now, that it does not set aside the Authority of Mofes, is evident from our Saviour's Argument to the Sadducees: Now that the Dead are raised, even Mofes fhewed at the Bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob. Luke xx. 37. From whence it appears, that our Saviour thought the Law of Mofes afforded good Proof of a future Life; which is inconfiftent with the Suppofition that there was no Evidence for Life and Immortality till the Publication of the Gofpel,

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But, fuppofing Mofes or the Law of Nature to afford Evidence for a future Life and Immortality, it remains to be considered, in what Senfe the Words of the Text are to be understood, which do affirm that Life and Immortality were brought to Light through the Gospel. To bring any thing to Light

may

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