one.

offended at them. As to the Laws which are made the Conditions of our Happiness, they are not new Impofitions, but as old as Reason itself, and the very fame which Natural Religion ftands bound to obey. Here then can be no Complaint, at least no just So far then we are quite safe, that we can be no Lofers by the Gospel, fince it lays no new Burden on us. In all other Respects our Cafe is extremely altered for the better. We feel ourselves eafily tempted to do wrong, and unable to pay the Obedience we owe to Righteousness. Hopes therefore from our Innocence we have none, but are forced to have recourse to the Mercy of God. Now this Mercy, which we hope for, the Gospel offers us in the Name of God. Have we any Reason to suspect the Offer? or to reject that very Mercy, when promifed by God, which our own Reafon teaches us to expect at his Hands?

If we fin, Nature has no Refuge but in Repentance; and how far that will go, we know not: Nature has not, cannot teach us this Knowledge. From the Gospel we learn, that true Repentance fhall never be in vain ; shall not only protect us from Punishment, but shall also set open to us the Doors of Life and Immortality. There you may view Religion

N 4

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 Gospel, 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 truft, you say, that He who made you still 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 Gospel 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 crayes, fomething which with unutterable Groans she 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 fhe looks into it, fhe has her Hopes, and she 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, seek for Glory and Immortality. Our bleffed Master has abolished Death, and redeemed us into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God, that we may dwell in his Presence as long as Time itself shall last.

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 neceffarily be founded in the Hopes of Mercy; fince these Hopes have at beft 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 difplayed 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

DISCOURSE VI.

2 TIMOTHY i. 10.

•And hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gofpel.

T

HESE Words being spoken of our bleffed Saviour, and affirming that he through the Gospel brought Life and Immortality to Light, are thought by some 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 Christ Jefus, it could not be truly afferted of him, that he brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel. And so far at least they must be allowed to argue justly,

that,