cerning the Son and the Holy Spirit: and the belief of them is necessary to every Christian, as far as the right use of the means depends on the right faith and belief of the doctrines. Whosoever denieth the Son, saith St. John, hath not the Father: for since we can only come to the Father through the Son, to deny the Son is to cut off all communication between us and the Father. The same may be said of the blessed Spirit, through whom we are in Christ: if any man, says St. Paul, have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his : our Saviour himself has told us, this is eternal life, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

When we were to be put under the conduct of the Spirit, and all our hopes rested on obedience to his holy motions, was it not necessary to inform us who this Spirit is? and that he is sufficient to the office allotted him, viz. to instruct us in the ways of God, and to rescue us from the powers of evil? Human reason may find it hard to conceive that this holy Spirit is the eternal Spirit of God, &c.; but it would be harder still to believe that the Spirit could do what is ascribed to him in Scripture, unless he were this glorious person: this point enlarged on God therefore has dealt with us more like reasonable creatures, in declaring the dignity and power of the persons in whom we are to trust, than if he had required from us the same faith in them without such a declaration and this shows how foolishly men sometimes charge God, when they complain of the heavy burthen laid on their faith and understanding by the gospel doctrines in this respect.

We see now what every Christian has to hope for from the assistance of the Spirit, and intercession of the Son: we were all strangers to God, and children of disobedience; but are now reconciled to him, and can approach him as our loving Father. Having this access, our all depends on the use we make of this great privilege. By having access to God, we are not placed in a state of security, but in one of probation: this idea enlarged on to the end.

DISCOURSE XVI.

EPHESIANS, CHAP. II.-VERSE 18.

For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father.

THESE words, rightly understood, will give us a distinct conception of the nature of the Christian religion, as it stands distinguished from all others, whether natural, or pretending to revelation. All religions pretend to give access to God, by instructing men in what manner to approach him by prayer and supplication; how to please him and obtain his favor and protection, by such works as each religion accounts to be holy and acceptable to God; and how to reconcile ourselves to him, after having offended him by our transgressions, through sorrow and repentance, or such other means as have been devised and instituted as effectual to this end. But the access to God, which the gospel opens to us, is to be had only under the guidance and direction of God's holy Spirit, and in the name and through the mediation of God's own Son. This access is the only one which the Christian religion knows any thing of; for we cannot come to God but by his holy Spirit, and through his Son and this is what no other religion does or can pretend to..

The end of all religion is manifestly this, to please God by serving him according to his will, in order to obtain of him happiness in this world and in the next: for the belief that God is the Governor of the world, and the Giver of every good thing, is the foundation of all the religious worship and honor which are paid to him. All religions being thus far the same, they differ when they come to prescribe the method, and to appoint the proper means by which God is to be served and applied to. Two things there are, which must necessarily be regarded in

the choice and appointment of these means; the holiness and majesty of God, and the nature and condition of man: for unless the means prescribed are such as are suitable to the holiness and majesty of God, he can never be pleased by them; for whatever is contrary to his holiness, or injurious to his majesty, must ever be an abomination to him. On the other hand, the means of religion must likewise be adapted to the use of man, must be such as he can practise, and such as, his present condition considered, will enable him to serve God acceptably; for without this, how proper soever the means may be in themselves, yet they can be of no use or service to him.

If we examine all the schemes of religion which either prevail in those parts of the world where the gospel is unknown, or which are set up in opposition to the gospel where it is known, we shall find that they split on one or other of these rocks. The Gentile religion is inconsistent with the holiness of God, as mixing impure rites and ceremonies with its worship, and allowing the practice of such vices as even nature abhors: it is injurious likewise to his majesty, as dividing the honor which is due to him alone among the creatures; teaching men to pay religious worship to those who by nature are not gods. On the other side, natural religion, which seems to be the most growing scheme, and is set up in opposition to the gospel, taking its rise from the purity and holiness of God's nature, and the essential difference of good and evil, prescribes a worship pure and holy; but it prescribes it to men who have lost their purity and holiness, and are no longer able to perform the rigorous conditions: it requires brick without allowing straw; exacting of men, in their present degenerate state, the purity and holiness of uncorrupted reason and nature: it affords no strength or assistance to men to secure against sin; and when they have sinned, it cannot give them any certain assurance of pardon and forgiveness: so that men, not being able to perform its conditions, and having no security of the mercy of God without performing them, can have no settled peace or satisfaction in it.

From these two considerations plainly appears the deplorable condition of mankind without the interposition of God by a new revelation of himself to the world: for after the utmost N

SHERL.

VOL. I.

efforts that you can make to frame a religion in all respects proper, you will still find that it will be defective in one or other of these respects. If you require such degrees of holiness from men, as may render their service acceptable to the holy God, you will require what they cannot perform, and thereby preclude them of any access to him; or, if you consult the present powers of men, and require no more righteousness than they by their strength can arrive at; if you indulge the passions which you cannot correct, if you allow the vices you cannot reform, if you tolerate the infirmities which you cannot remove by thus adapting religion to the condition of men, you will render it too impure to be accepted by God, who 'is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity;' and the communication between heaven and earth will still be shut up against all such who hold the truth in unrighteousness.'

The Christian religion alone has effectually provided against both these cases: it requires a worship spiritual, pure, and holy; its laws are just and righteous, but abate nothing of the strictest rules of reason and morality; it exacts from us not only an outward obedience and conformity in our actions, but it searcheth the very heart and reins, and requireth truth in the inward parts;' it restrains every dissolute thought of our minds, and every inordinate desire of our hearts. On the other side, that the gracious purposes of God may not be defeated by the weakness and infirmity of men, it has provided proper remedies for every want: it has brought down from heaven the pardon of God to all the sins of men, which was sealed with the blood of its great author, the ever-blessed Son of God: it has reconciled us to our offended Father, and conferred on us anew the spirit of adoption: it has put us under the direction of the Holy Spirit, who is our fellow-laborer in the work of God, and who so effectually helpeth our infirmities, that 'when we are weak, then are we strong;' who is our stay in prosperity, and our support in adversity, and the undivided companion of our spiritual warfare, leading us through Christ to God, who is the end of all our hopes. And as it has thus strenghtened and enabled us to draw near to God, so has it likewise as effectually secured our access to him through Christ, who' sitteth at the right hand of God, to make continual intercession for us;' to offer up, and by himself to per

fect, all our prayers and praises before the throne of God; to supply all our wants, to confirm our faith, to strengthen our virtue, and to make our repentance available to the remission of our sins; and at the last, if we perform the conditions on our part, to receive us into the kingdom of his Father for ever. The use I would make of the text, and of what has been already discoursed on it, is to observe to you :

First, that these means of salvation, which the Christian religion has provided, were necessary to the life of the world, the state and condition of man considered.

Secondly, that these means being necessary, it was likewise necessary to reveal to mankind the doctrine concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit; and that the belief of these doctrines is necessary to every Christian, as far as the right use of the means depends on the right faith and belief of the doctrines : for as the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us, that whoever' comes to God must believe that he is;' so likewise whoever comes to God through Christ, in the Spirit, must believe that the Spirit is the Spirit of God and of Christ, and able to direct him that Christ is the Son of God, and able to bring him to his Father. And by this means shall we be able to justify to ourselves the wisdom and goodness of God in revealing this wonderful knowlege to men, inasmuch as he did it, not to impose arbitrarily on their faith and their understanding, but in order to perfect and render effectual their salvation.

:

First, I would observe to you that these means of salvation which the Christian religion has provided, namely, the assistance of the Spirit, and the mediation of the Son, were necessary to the life of the world, the state and condition of man considered.

I would not here be understood to affirm that these means were so absolutely necessary in themselves, that God could not by any other method save the world. The wisdom and the 'ways of God are infinite and unsearchable: we cannot, and therefore ought not, to pretend to set bounds to them. To inquire in what other way God might possibly have saved mankind, will make us neither wiser in this world nor happier in the next.

What I would then be understood to mean is this; that the