one that is mighty for them, that " JESUS CHRIST "is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give re"pentance and remiffion of fins];" which, as it preferves from defpair, fo it encourages and excites them to truft in CHRIST; when the holy fpirit takes of the things of CHRIST, the benefits of his paffion, and reveals them to the foul. 6. And hence, as the spirit of GOD justifies by applying to the guilty confcience the benefits of CHRIST's death, in pardon and peace, fo he feals our adoption of GOD by bearing witnefs with our "spirit that we are the children of GoD§." He also, as a farther inftance of his office and efficacy, faves the foul from its native impurity, from every temper and affection which conftitute the body of fin, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lufts; and conftitutes it anew, forming CHRIST in it, in righteousness and true holiness, the hope of glory↑. And to perpetuate and perfect the falvation procured for, and conferred upon men ; CHRIST by the fpirit preferveth his faints; for they are kept by his power through faith unto falvation*, unto that falvation which the foul will witnefs at death in deliverance from the body and this fublunary world; and to the body, at the refurrection, to eternal life: "For "if the fpirit of him who raifed up JESUS from the "dead, dwell in you, he who raised up CHRIST from "the dead, fhall alfo quicken your mortal bodies by "his fpirit that dwelleth in yout. I fhall now conclude with fome practical use of this doctrine, A&ts, v. 31. 1. And Rom. viii. 16. † Col. i. 27. I. Pet. i. 1. And firft, if there be falvation in none other, what will Atheifts and Deifts do? The one confeffing no GOD, and the other denying his word. These fubterfuges will do nothing in the hour of death and day of judgment: As the one is contrary to the evidence of fenfe, and the other to that of the underftanding. Now heaven and earth being objects of fenfe, if the Atheift's mind was not darkened to the laft degree, he would find a demonftration of a Deity in them: For however infufficient the works of creation and providence are to difcover what God is, yet they fufficiently fhew, that there is a GOD. These monuments of majefty, this wonderful fabrick the earth and heavens, with all their fhining hofts, cannot be the effect of chance and non-existence. Nor can day and night, fummer and winter, with the ten thoufand things which depend on them, be the refult of what is fashionably termed Fate'; which, with the Atheist, is a non-entity, a fenflefs nothing. 2. And furely the Atheift, though otherwife an unbeliever, is a volunteer in faith, if he believe that? the things which are now, always were; or, if once they were not, that they gave birth to themselves, and fo nothing produced fomething. And, if they always did, they always will exist; or, if they gave being to themfelves, they are able to diffolve them felves, and return to their primitive nothing. But if matter, or the world be not eternal, nor.could give being to itself, it infers a Deity, the creator and preferver of all: things. Let the unbeliever, then truft the evidence of his fenfes touching things temporal, and believe,. that as they could not create themfelves, fo there is a first. caufe, a God, to whom as creator every creature of humana the human kind is accountable, and from whom they will receive the reward of well or ill doing. For, all things being made for, and miniftering to man's wants and welfare; (which it is evident enough they do) it is hard to conceive that all this thould be for poor existence of a few years, without any respect to a future state, As fuch, let the Atheist who denies a Deity, and therewith the immortality of man, confider, that, if at death, inftead of annihilation and nonexiftence, that fpark of intelligence the foul, which now enables him to think and act, furvives the body: How furprized will it be, when its existence becomes more fenfible, by having fhook off the cumbrous load of a frail carcafs, and standing difengaged from matter, and whatever may hinder its motion, and being acted upon, and having fuch fenfations of a state of alienation from Gop's favour and image, and enmity to him, as will render it compleatly miferable., 3. And all external things, the things of this world carrying in them the evidence of wisdom, greatness, and goodness in their creator, which the various order every where obfervable, the immenfnefs of matter, and the ufefulness of the whole, fufficiently declare: A faithful reflection on the fuppofable time of their beginning to exift, aided by a contemplation of them as things which have remained amidst many viciffitudes, and a ferious confideration of what will be when time is no more, may give new ideas to a denier of the Deity. It may contribute toward, may help to expel that, infatuating folly which is the effect of fallen nature, increafed by bad education, and confirmed by corrupt converfation and a refufal of the grace of God. If then the Atheist will confult his own intereft, let him him with the Deift believe that there is one Gon; which he has evidence enough for, and reafon fufficient to do; and which will be one step toward commencing chriftian, in receiving the falvation which is in CHRIST JESUS, with eternal glory. 4. Let the Deift alfo, who believes that there is one GOD, confider whether men are fuch as a holy, wife, and good GOD made them; and whether he who is the author of their being, and daily benefactor, is fo ferved by them as he ought to be. And if the Almighty governs the world by a law which is according to the nature, reason, and fitness of things, and extends to the individuals of mankind; and which obliges them to fear, love, praife, and delight in GOD; to be foter and temperate in the use of God's creatures; and by reafon of the mutual relation fubfifting amongst men, to be just and good, to forbear all hoftile, injurious acts, and to promote as much as in them lies, the profperity of each other in respect of foul, body, and eftate. I fay, if the governor of the world by the law of nature, independant on revelation, obliges his creatures to obey him, preferve themselves, and be fubfervient to the happiness of each other: What if they fail in point of performance? Are they able to reconcile them felves to fo holy and juft a GOD, after having offended him? That they can, admits a doubt, is far from being certain. For, as every law has a fanction, a reward for the keepers, and a punishment for the breakers of it; fo the law of nature, if violated by man, will be found as exact in this as any other; because the act of violation, (if nature be pure and holy as the Deift believes) is as contrary to mature as it is to GOD against whom it is committed': The 1 The natural confequence of which is, that when nature is oppofed, the author of nature is offended: And, if other perfons be injured by it, then it is a fin against nature, GOD, and mankind alfo. As fuch, what can a finner do, what facrifice will he bring to atone for his fin? Confeffion of, and contrition for fin, are not an equivalent for crimes committed. They neither undo, nor atone for what is done; fo the fin remains. But juftice for the breach of the law muft be fatisfied, as well to fupport the authority of the lawgiver, as to punifh the author of the violation: Which can only be by inflicting a proportionable punishment on the offender, or by its being transferred to and borne by another for him. And if the Deift will not have a substitute, if he will not be faved by the LORD JESUS CHRIST, he must bear the punishment of his fin, which will certainly end in his utter ruin. 5. But if nature be corrupt or principled with a propenfion to every practical evil, which perfonal experience, and almoft univerfal practice prove; is it not most reasonable to confider man as a finful, guilty, helpless creature, and who needs better affiftance than his own, to fave him. And as a counterpoize to man's condition as a finner, let him believe on him whofe coming was foretold by the prophets, and whofe birth, life, and death exactly correfponded with the predictions which went before concerning him, and which were never accomplished in any other perfon but himself; and were attended with fuch circumftances as were fufficient evidences to all well-difpofed enquirers after truth, of his being the Meffiah, who fhould come into the world. 6. And |