christianity; and they amount to this-That chriftianity is in theory a probable thing, and therefore credible; and, confidering the benevolent nature of God, and the fallen ftate of mankind, we had reafon to expect, or at leaft to hope, that a revelation from heaven would be made of the will of God to man, which would be fufficient to found his faith, and direct his conduct, and teach him the way to life eternal; and we declare it as a fact, that we have fuch a revelation in the New Testament, and we may receive it as a faithful faying, and worthy of all acceptation. Let us cordially receive it, fincerely conform to it, and build our future hopes upon it. It is the rock of our falvation. Some may boast of the religion of nature, and defpife a revealed religion as unneffary; but they are much mistaken. Adam in innocency needed a revelation to form a fyftem of religion. But man fallen into a state of moral depravity, fin and darknefs, ftood in much greater need of a revelation from the beneficent Father of Lights; and fuch an one we have, which teaches us the way to life perfectly; a revelation fupported by arguments which the reafon of man cannot refift, nor the wickednefs of man obfcure. Men of corrupt minds may cavil, but they cannot deny one fingle fact on which refts the fyftem. Therefore clofe with the whole fcheme of the gofpel, and act it out in life, and approve yourselves fincere chriftians; be more confirmed in your faith; and, by the warmth and steadiness of your devotions, the benevolence of your temper, the dignity of your conduct, and the integrity of your whole deportment, let the world know that in the way of well-doing you are fecking for glory, honour and immortality. And while you poffefs the true fpirit of the gofpel, pity and pray for them who defpife and reject it. Such undoubtedly there are, even in our enlightened age and nation. Let us lift up a humble and a compaffionate cry to the God of all grace: peradventure he will give repentance to the ac

knowledgment

knowledgment of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the fnare of the devil, who are now led captive by him at his pleasure. And, while we pity mahometans and heathens, we have much more reason to deplore the cafe of thofe who live in Emanuel's land, the valley of vifion, but by their careleffnefs, obftinacy and infidelity turn it into the valley of the fhadow of death. But a more melancholy reflection than this is, that a nation who had boafted that they were the bulwark of the catholic church of Chrift, fhould become the avowed enemies to the throne of Jefus, and zealously employ. every measure in their power to exterminate his holy religion from the earth. They have publicly denied the God who made them, and Jefus who has redeemed them, and placed on the throne of God and the Redeemer fictitious deities, under the names of reafon, nature, philofophy, liberty, equality, and difinterefted moral virtue. These they adore, and pull down the altars of papacy that they may establish a system of philofophical idolatry on the dangerous ground of impiety and atheism. Will not God be avenged on fuch a nation as this? and what will they do in the day thereof?

We infer the reasonablenefs and propriety of impartially examining into the evidence of the chriftian religion. It is a duty we owe to God, to the cause and interest of Jefus Chrift, and to the peace and comfort of our own fouls. The marks of truth and divinity are so obvious, that, if they are attended to with candour and impartiality, I am perfuaded that they will ftrike the eye which is fingle fo forcibly as to carry conviction home to the heart, and, through the concurring influences of the Spirit of Truth, make them, not almost, but altogether, christians.

In fine, the chriftian revelation is, in its own nature, practical; and, if we receive Jesus Christ as the founder of our holy religion, fo we must walk in him: for the grace

grace of God, which appears in the gospel, teacheth all men, that, denying ungodlinefs and worldly lufts, we fhould live foberly, righteously and godly in the present world, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jefus Chrift anto eternal life.

DISCOURSE

Difcourfe VI.

The Chriftian Church.

REV. ii. 7:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit faith unto the

WE

churches.

2.

E often read in the Scriptures of a Church-the church of God-the church of Christ-of a church at Corinth, at Ephefus, Galatia, Rome, and even in Cæfar's house: and in the Revelations of St. John we read of feven churches in Afia. In our text we are commanded by the great Head of the church to hear and obferve what the Spirit faith unto the churches. That we may do this it is neceffary to know whom we are to understand by the Spirit, and what by the churches. By the Spirit we are undoubtedly to understand, the Holy Spirit of God-the third perfon in the facred Trinity-the Spirit of infpiration, by whofe influences, and under whofe direction, the vifion opened upon St. John in his banishment: therefore it is faid, that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day when he received thefe orders to attend to what the Spirit had to fay unto the churches. And by the church or churches, in the writings of the New Teftament, we are generally to understand, the chriflian church, which is a felect number of christians, agreeing together to profess their faith in Christ, and to

P. z

worship

worship the living and true God through him. Thefe were, before, generally idolaters, carried away unto dumb idols; but when they received the gospel which was fent unto them, they renounced idolatry, and agreed to worfhip God; to obferve the institutions of christianity-baptifm and the Lord's fupper-as prescribed in the gospel. These were called a church, felected from the rest of the world, agreeing in the effential doctrines of the gofpel, and, engaging to walk in all the ftatutes and ordinances of the Lord Jefus Chrift blameless: they are said to be sanctified in Chrift, confecrated to him, and, uniting with him by faith, are confidered as members of him, and called to be faints. And, though we may not conclude from thence that they were all certainly gracious perfons, they were called to be fo; it was their profeffion and public charac ter; and all those who agreed in the effential doctrines of the gospel, profeffed their faith in Chrift, and lived agreeably to their profeffion, gave fufficient grounds of charity to believe that they were really true faints. All thefe, in the Apoftle's day, were called brethren, chriftians, disciples, or faints. When any number of these united together, and agreed to worship God in one place, and there to attend upon the christian ordinances, they were called a church, or the church of God in fuch a place; and they were called holy, in the fame fense that the fabbath, the temple, the Jewish priests and nation, were called fo. Mofes faid to them, Ye are all a holy nation; i. e. confecrated to God, and in covenant with him; under every obligation to live to his honour, and to be devoted to his fervice. Saints, in moft places in Scripture, ftand opposed, not to unfound believers, or more formal hypocrites, but to heathens, to idolaters, and to those who were not in covenant with God: a credible profeffion of the christian faith denominated them faints. The apostles fometimes described the christian church by those who in every place called on the name of the Lord

Jefus,