The works of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D. in nine volumes (volume 1 of 9)

Shame is a very discouraging passion of the mind; it sinks the spirits low, it enfeebles all the active powers, and forbids the vigorous execution of any thing whereof we are ashamed. It was necessary therefore, that St. Paul should be endued with sacred courage, and raised above the power of shame, when he was sent to preach the gospel of Christ among the Jews or the heathens, to face an infidel world, and to break through all the reproaches and terrors of it. I am a debtor, saith he, verse 14, to the Greeks and to the Barbarians; that is, to the learned and the unlearned nations; to the wise and to the unwise: I have a commission from Christ to publish his gospel among all the nations of men, and I esteem myself their debtor, till I have delivered my message: And though Rome be the seat of worldly power and policy, the mistress of the nations, and sovereign of the earth, where I shall meet with opposition and contempt in abundance, yet I have courage enough to preach this doctrine at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

My friends, this is an age wherein the gospel of our Redeemer meets with much contempt and opposition. There are many in a baptized nation, and who have been brought up in the christian belief and worship, that begin to be weary of Christ and his religion; they are endeavouring to find blemishes and defects in this sacred gospel, and in that blessed word of God that reveals this grace to us. The divine truths, that belong to this gospel, meet with mockery and profane reproach from deists and unbelievers. I may call it therefore a day of rebuke and blasphemy. God grant we may never become a land of heathens again! Those of us that believe this gospel from the heart, have need of courage to maintain our profession of it, especially in some companies and conversations. We should prepare ourselves to encounter the false reasonings of unbelievers, as well as harden our faces against their ridicule. Let us therefore meditate this sacred text, that each of us may pronounce boldly the words of this great apostle, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

Now, that our meditations may proceed regularly on the present theme of discourse, let us consider,

I. What the gospel of Christ is, that we may not mistake it.—II. What is included in this expression, I am not ashamed of it.—III. What there is in this gospel that might be supposed any way to expose a man to shame; and I shall take occasion under this head to give particular answers to some of the most important objections that might be made against the gospel, and shew that there is no just reason to be ashamed of it.—IV. I shall consider what is that general answer to all objections; that universal guard against sinful shame which is contained in my text, and which will bear out every christian in his faith and profession of the gospel of Christ, viz. that it is the power of God to the salvation of every one who believes.—And, V. I shall draw some proper inferences.

First, What is the gospel of Christ?

I answer in general, It is a revelation of the grace of God to fallen man through a Mediator. Or, It is a gracious constitution of God for the recovery of sinful and miserable man, from that deplorable state into which sin had brought him, by the meditation of Christ: Or, in the words of my text, it is the power of God, or his powerful appointment, for the salvation of every one who believes. The word gospel, in the original, εὐαγγέλιον signifies good news, or glad tidings. And surely, when a sinner who is exposed to the wrath of God, is sensible of his guilt and danger, it must needs be glad tidings to him to hear of a way of salvation, and an all-sufficient Saviour. This constitution of God for our salvation has had various editions, if I may so express it, or gradual discoveries of it made to mankind, ever since Adam first sinned, and God visited him with the first promise of grace before he turned him out of paradise. But the last and most complete revelation of this gospel was made by the personal ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, and more especially by his apostles, when his own death, resurrection, and exaltation had laid the complete foundation for it. From the books of the New Testament therefore we may derive this larger description of the gospel of Christ.

It is a wise, a holy, and gracious constitution of God for the recovery of sinful man, by sending his own Son Jesus Christ into the flesh, to obey his laws which man had broken, to make a proper atonement for sin by his death, and thus to procure the favour of God, and eternal happiness for all that believe and repent, and receive the offered salvation; together with a promise of the Holy Spirit to work this faith and repentance in their hearts, to renew their sinful natures into holiness, to form them on earth fit for this happiness, and to bring them to the full possession of it in heaven.

It might be proved that this is the sense and substance of the gospel of Christ from many of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and the ceremonies and figures of the Jewish church, as well as from a variety of citations from the writings of the evangelists and apostles: Yet there have risen some persons, I mean the Socinians and their disciples, in the last age and in this also, who call themselves christians, but they also curtail and diminish the gospel of Christ, as to make it signify very little more than the dictates and hopes of the light of nature, viz. “That if we repent of our sins past, and obey the commands of God as well as we can for the future, Christ as a great prophet, has made a full declaration that there is pardon for such sinners, and they shall be accepted unto eternal life:” and all this without any dependance on his death as a proper sacrifice, and with little regard to the operations of his Holy Spirit.

Now I need use no other argument to refute this mistaken notion of the gospel, than what may be derived from the words of my text, viz. that St. Paul expresses it with a sort of emphasis, and as a matter of importance, that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: Whereas if this had been all the substance of the gospel, he had no reason to be ashamed of it either among the Jews or the heathens. The Jews had a knowledge of forgiveness upon repentance, and a belief of it long before Christ came: And the heathen philosophers would have readily received it, as a thing very little different from what their natural reason might lead them to hope for: though it could not fully assure them of it: They would never have sought to expose and ridicule the preaching of St. Paul as mere babbling, and called him a setter forth of strange gods.

But on the other hand, if we suppose him publishing the glorious doctrine which I have described, there was something in this so strange to the ears of the heathens, as well as of the blinded Jews, that might well be supposed to awaken their opposition and rage; and therefore it was a great point gained with him, when he had courage enough to maintain such a gospel, and to say, I am not ashamed of it.

This leads me to the second thing proposed.

Secondly, What is included in these words, I am not ashamed of the gospel? To this I answer under these five heads:

1. I am not ashamed to believe it as a man.—2. I am not ashamed to profess it as a christian.—3. I am not ashamed to preach it to others as a minister.—4. I am not ashamed to defend it, and contend for it as a good soldier of Christ.—5. I am not ashamed to suffer and die for it as a martyr.

1. I am not ashamed to believe this gospel as a man. My rational powers give me no secret reproaches. My understanding and judgment do not reprove and check my faith. I feel no inward blush upon the face of my soul, while I give the fullest assent to all these truths, to this scheme of doctrine, to this heavenly contrivance and system of grace. A rational man, especially who has been bred up in learning, should be ashamed to believe fables and follies, but I believe all this gospel and am not ashamed. My own reason approves it, and justifies me in the persuasion and belief of such a gospel as this is. I believe it with so firm and unshaken a faith, that I venture all my own eternal concerns upon it. I lay all the stress of my hopes of a blessed immortality on it. My soul rests here, and I am not ashamed of my resting-place: I am not ashamed of my Saviour, and the method of his salvation. I am persuaded my hopes shall never disappoint me. Surely, if the gospel had been so very irrational a thing, as some men pretend it to be, St. Paul, being so rational and wise a man, would have been ashamed to believe it. But I believe it, says he, and am not ashamed. I do not think it casts any just reflection upon my rational capacities, or my learned education at the feet of Gamaliel, for me to give a full assent to this gospel.

2. I am not ashamed to profess it as a christian. I am ready to tell the world that I believe it, and I take all occasions to let the world know it. I am coming to profess this gospel at Rome, and am not ashamed: I have owned it before my own countrymen the Jews already, where it has been most reproached. I have been telling the Gentiles what the gospel of salvation is, and I long to see you at Rome, that I may tell you what my belief is in the gospel, and may hear how far you have believed, and may be comforted by the mutual faith both of you and me; Rom. i. 12. I shall be glad to tell you what doctrines I venture my own soul upon, and shall be willing to hear from you whether you venture your souls upon the same doctrine, or no; and shall rejoice to find we are both interested in one salvation.

3. I am not ashamed to preach it to others as a minister, that is, to invite others to believe it. It is a communicable good, and I am sent to diffuse it, nor am I ashamed of my commission. See 2 Tim. i. 12, 13. Our Lord Jesus Christ has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel, and has appointed me a preacher, and an apostle to the gentiles: I preach the gospel, and am not ashamed, though I have suffered for it. I venture my soul upon it unto the last great day, and I bid thee, Timothy, as a preacher unto others, to hold fast the same form of sound words which thou hast learned of me. I long to teach the whole world this faith and this doctrine, therefore I am a debtor to the Greeks and barbarians; I would make others partakers of the same hope. Would to God, that not only thou, Agrippa, but all those that hear me, were not only almost, but altogether such as I am, except only these bonds, these sufferings which I endure for Christ’s sake; Acts xxvi. 22.

4. I am not ashamed to contend for it as a good soldier of Christ; to defend it when it is attacked, and to vindicate the cause of my Lord and Master. Where it is assaulted I endeavour to secure it, though with many reproaches from the carnal prejudices of mankind. I oppose them all; for they oppose my Saviour and his cross, and I build my everlasting hopes there. I am set for the defence of the gospel of Christ; Phil. i. 17. and I will contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints; Jude ver. 3. And he gave us an instance of it, that when Peter, who was an apostle, seemed to diminish some of the glory and the liberty of the gospel, he withstood him to the face; Gal. ii. 11. “There shall no man silence me, or stop my mouth, when I am preaching a crucified Saviour, and when I express my faith in the liberty and latitude of the gospel of Christ. For if I durst withstand an apostle under his criminal concealments, and in his diminution of the honour of this doctrine, surely I dare oppose all the world besides.”

5. Lastly, I am not ashamed to suffer and die for it as a martyr. Load me with reproaches, ye Jews, my countrymen, and load me with chains, ye magistrates of Rome; of none of these am I ashamed or afraid, but with all boldness I am always ready that Christ should be magnified in my life, or my death; Phil. i. 14, 20. And as for my friends that are full of sorrow lest Paul should be sacrificed for the faith of Christ. What mourn ye, and break my heart for? I am not only ready to be bound, but to die for the sake of Christ. I count nothing dear to me, no nor my life precious to myself, that I may finish with joy the course of my ministry of this gospel, that I may testify the grace of my God; Acts xx. 24. and xxi. 13.

I might add also, that St. Paul intends and means more than he expresses by a very usual figure of speech: I am not ashamed of it, that is, I glory in it, I make my boast of it. If there be any doctrine worth boasting of, it is the gospel of Christ. If I have any profession to glory in, it is that I am a christian. Once I was a pharisee, and I counted it my gain and my honour; Phil. iii. 7, 8. But what things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ; yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I glory in being a minister of the gospel; it is the highest honour God could have put upon me, who am less than the least of all saints. To me is this grace given to preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; Eph. iii. 8. I glory in it to that degree, that I am dead to all things else. God forbid I should glory in any thing save in the cross of our Lord Jesus, whereby the world is crucified to me, and I to the world; Gal. vi. 14. I glory in my sufferings: and, my friends, if ye understood the value of these things, they are your glory too. If I am offered up a sacrifice for the service of your faith; I joy and rejoice together with all; Phill. ii. 17. O! that you would but rejoice together with me in it. Thus I have shewed you that all these things are implied in St. Paul’s not being ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and I have proved it to you from other parts of his epistles.

The third general head I proposed to speak to, was this; What is there in this gospel that may be supposed to expose any man to shame! And this question is very needful; for if there were nothing in it that men might take occasion to throw their scandals and reproaches at, it had been no great matter for St. Paul to have cried out, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

To this I answer in general, this was a gospel that contradicted the rooted prejudices of the Jews, and was severely reproached by those that professed great knowledge in their law; it was also a new and strange thing to the Gentiles. A crucified Christ was a stumbling-block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks; 1 Cor. i. 23. There was something in the faith, and practice, and worship of the gospel so contrary to the course of their education in the world, so opposite to their carnal inclinations, and to the customs and fashions of their country, that a man might well be afraid and ashamed to profess it, when they lift their tongues, and their hands, and their swords against it, and the chief of them crucified the Lord of glory, and put the preachers of it to death.

Thus in general. But while I descend to particulars, I shall confine myself only to those occasions of shame, which the same gospel meets with in our day, that so the discourse may be more useful, to the present audience; and as I mention each objection or supposed occasion of shame, I shall endeavour to take off the force of it, and shew that it is unreasonable.

Now the things that might any ways be supposed to expose this gospel to shame, may be ranked under these two heads:—

I. Those which arise from the doctrines of the gospel: And, II.—Those which arise from the professors of the gospel.

First, The occasions of shame that arise from the doctrines of the gospel, are these five that follow:

I. That there are mysteries in it which are above the powers of our reason to comprehend, and I will never believe a gospel that I cannot comprehend. This is the language of Socinians, men that have pretended so much to reason in our day.

But to relieve this occasion of shame, let us consider that mysteries are of two sorts.

First, Such as we should never have known but by divine revelation; but being once revealed, they may be fairly explained and understood. Such is the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ, of the resurrection of the dead, of the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ’s sufferings, and of eternal life in a future world. I say, these are all mysteries that were hid from ages, that is, they are such truths which nature or reason could not have found out of itself, but being once revealed to us of God, may be fairly explained and well understood. Other sort of mysteries are those, which when revealed unto us, we know merely the existence, or reality and certainty of them, but cannot comprehend the mode and manner how they are. And of this kind there are but two that I know of which are peculiar to our religion, and which are the chief objects of offence to some men. These are the mysteries of the blessed Trinity, and the mystery of the incarnation of Christ. The mystery of Three, whom the scripture describes as persons, who have some glorious communion in one godhead! and the mystery of two natures united in one person.

Now, though the way and manner how the three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, should be one God, and how two natures, human and divine, should be one person in Christ Jesus; I say, though the way and manner how these things are, is not so easy to be explained and unfolded by us, and above our own present capacity to comprehend and fully to explain, yet I could never find these things proved impossible to be. If I must refuse to believe a thing that I know not the manner and nature of, there are many things in the world of nature, and in natural religion, that I must disbelieve. Let them explain to me in natural religion what is the eternity of God, what ideas they can have of a being that never began to be; and then perhaps I may be able to explain to them how three persons can have communion in one godhead, and how two natures can be one in person. I am well assured, there are some doctrines in natural religion as difficult to be explained, and hard to be understood, and the manner of them is as mysterious, as these doctrines of revealed religion, which are also rendered more offensive to the thinking mind, by some men’s attempts to explain them in an unhappy manner.

But we may go a step lower to meet this objection, and confound it. In the world of nature there are mysteries of this kind, which are as unaccountable and as hard to be unfolded as the mysteries of grace. It is the doctrine of union both in the trinity and the incarnation, which renders them so mysterious. Now this doctrine of unions in natural philosophy hath been hitherto insolvable. We know that spirit and body are united to make a man: But the manner how they are united, remains still a most difficult question. We know that some bodies are hard, and some are soft; but what it is that ties or unites hard bodies so closely together, and makes them so difficult to be separated, is a riddle to the best philosophers, which they cannot solve; or what it is that renders the parts of soft bodies so easily separable. And many other things there are in nature as mysterious as this.

Besides, if it were possible for us to explain all things in nature, and to write a perfect book of natural philosophy with the most accurate skill, yet it would not follow that we must know God the Creator to perfection. The things of God are infinitely superior to the things of men. The nature of a Creator in his manner of existence is infinitely above the nature of creatures in theirs. It is fit there should be something belonging to God an infinite Spirit, that is incomprehensible, and above the power of finite spirits to comprehend, and fully search out and explain. It ought therefore to be no just ground of shame to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it has mysteries in it, that is to say, that it has some doctrines in it, which we could never have found out by the mere light of reason; and some truths, the full explication whereof we can never attain to, since there are many things in the world of nature, in the world of bodies and souls, and many things in natural religion, which we cannot fully explain.

II. Another occasion of reproach, which men fasten upon the gospel, is, that some of the doctrines are so singular and contrary to the common opinions and reasonings of men; such as that the ever-blessed God should want a satisfaction, in order to pardon sin with honour; that he should punish the most innocent and obedient man that ever lived, even his own Son, for the sins of wicked and rebellious creatures; that we should be freed from hell, which we had deserved, by the sufferings of another in our stead; that one man should be justified with another’s obedience; nay, that ten thousands of men should be pardoned and justified for the sake of the obedience and death of one single man; that all our own repentance is not sufficient of itself to obtain our pardon; and our holiness, be it never so great, does not procure us a title to the favour of God and heaven; that dead bodies, though mouldered in the grave for thousands of years, should be raised again to life and immortality: These are such strange doctrines, so very foreign to the common sentiments of most men, that some of the Athenians cried out, “What does this babbler mean?” A man should be ashamed of these things; the very heathen philosophers called it foolishness.

But now to remove this scandal, let us consider that many of these things are not so contrary to the reason of men as some think: As for the satisfaction made for our sins by the sufferings of Christ, did not almost all the heathen world suppose that God would not pardon sin without satisfaction? What else mean all their bloody sacrifices? And why did they sometimes proceed so far as to murder men, and offer them to God for their sins? I confess indeed, that many of the philosophers and learned men amongst them, who derided the gospel of Christ, did also despise the sacrifices and religious ceremonies of their own countrymen, believing that God would be merciful to men that were penitent and pious, without any rites of atonement and sacrifice. But it is as evident also, that the people had a general notion of the necessity of some atonement for sin, and that the more valuable the sacrifice was, the sooner was their god appeased, and the benefit procured would be more extensive, howsoever the philosophers might ridicule it. It is manifest then, that many of the heathens did imagine that the death and sufferings of one person would procure pardon and immunities for a whole multitude. And upon this principle some of the ancient Romans, now and then, out of nobility of spirit, devoted themselves to death, to appease the anger of the gods, for their whole country. Thus it appears, that the business of satisfaction for sin, and the doctrine of expiation and atonement by the blood and death of a surety, was not so utterly unknown in the world.

I add farther, that the notion of one person’s making satisfaction for the crime of another in human and political affairs, has been sometimes practised, and thought to be very intelligible; and why should it be counted so very monstrous and absurd in things divine? Do we understand what it is for one man to become a surety for another, or for a criminal to be set free from punishment by the voluntary substitution of another person in his stead? Are we not well acquainted what it is for one man to pay the debt of another, and the original person that was obliged thereby, to become free? Do we not know what it is for a whole family of children to inherit a possession for many ages, one after another, for some noble acts and services of their father? Therefore honour, and glory, and happiness, bestowed upon a multitude, for the sake of what one man has done, is not so unintelligible a thing as some men would persuade us. Why should that be esteemed impossible in the affair of religion, which is evident and plainly practicable in the affairs of this world?

Again, they think it strange that our repentance should not be enough to obtain the pardon of past sins, and our own obedience should not procure heaven for us. But are not traitors and robbers, and all notorious criminals punished in all governments, notwithstanding their repentances? Can their sorrow for what is past, procure a pardon of their prince? Who then would be punished? And is man’s government in punishing criminals, without a satisfaction, just and reasonable? And shall God’s government be counted unreasonable? Can future obedience among men obtain forgiveness for past treason and rebellion? And why then should you think the great God is obliged to accept of it?

As for the resurrection of the dead, though it was counted a strange thing among the heathens, when it was preached to them, yet in these latter days, since the knowledge of God and his glorious attributes has been so much increased, and the reason of men has freely exercised itself upon things divine and human; the resurrection is not counted any impossible thing, nor the doctrine of it incredible. And I am verily persuaded if men, whom God has endued with large capacities and great skill in reasoning, would but employ those talents to write a rational account of most of the doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ, it might be done with much glory and success.

As for those few doctrines of christianity, which may at first appear less reasonable to men, their abundant attestation from heaven demands our belief.

III. Another occasion of reproach is, that the gospel teaches mortification and self-denial in a very great degree, conflicting with our natural appetites, and fighting against our own flesh and blood: And all that it promises is an unseen heaven, a future reward, a far distant happiness in another country, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard of, nor the heart of man conceived. A mere spiritual pleasure, that is to be enjoyed by the mind, and which the body shall not taste of, till perhaps after a thousand years or more. Now, as under the former head, the doctrines of the gospel are a scandal to the men of reasoning, so under this they become a scandal and reproach to those that are literally called men of sense, who are carnalized and immersed in sensuality. They think it strange to forego the joys of sense for the hopes of enjoying a happiness in a world they do not know when or where.

But I need not stand long to answer this calumny; for even some of the refined philosophers gave sufficient rebuke to this sensual temper: The very heathens could say enough to abate this censure, and to remove this occasion of shame, though the gospel of Christ does it infinitely better.

Christianity does not abridge us of the common comforts of flesh and blood, nor lay an unreasonable restraint upon any natural appetite; but it teaches us to live like men, and not like brutes; to regulate and manage our animal nature with its desires and inclinations, so as to enjoy life in the most proper and becoming manner; to eat and drink, and taste the bounties of providence, to the honour of our Creator, and to the best interest of our souls.

But, suppose, we were forbid all the indulgence of our appetites, and the delights of sense, by the gospel; surely, those who know what intellectual pleasures are, who can relish the joy that belongs to spirits, will not be much terrified with these objections, nor deride the faith of Christ, because it does not propose to them the reward of an earthly paradise. The rewards of the gospel are indeed spiritual till the resurrection, but those spiritual pleasures shall vastly over-balance all that toil, sorrow and suffering, we have passed through on earth, and all that self-denial which we have exercised. But when the body shall be raised again, our refined delights of all kinds shall be infinitely satisfying: We shall not say, that God has dealt our happiness to us with a niggardly hand, but that he has exceeded all his promises, when we shall come to taste the things God has prepared for us, which eye hath not seen, or ear heard of.

IV. Another prejudice against the gospel is this; some persons charge it with much of enthusiasm; and that the doctrine of the operations of the Spirit, and the expectation of his divine assistance to instruct us in truth, to mortify sin in us, and to enable us to perform holy duties, has too much of a visionary and fanciful turn of mind, and does not become men that profess reason.

But if such objectors were better acquainted with themselves, and knew the weakness of their own reason in the search after truth, and the various and plausible errors that attend their enquiries on every side; if they were better acquainted with the strength of temptation, the power of their own sinful appetites, and the weakness of their will to resist sin, and to fulfil the rules of righteousness: surely they would not think it a ridiculous thing to lift up a prayer to the great God to guide them into truth, and to assist them to walk steadily in the paths of religion and virtue. If they had but a deep and lively sense of their own insufficiency for every thing that is good, and of the many dangers and enemies that beset them, they would rather see infinite reason to bless their Creator, that has given them any promise or hope of the aids of his grace.

Nor is it at all fantastical or irrational to suppose, that the great and blessed God, who made these spirits of ours, should kindly act upon them, and influence them by secret and divine methods to their duty and their happiness; that he should send his own Spirit to help them onward in their proper business, which is to serve him here; and assist them in the pursuit of their true blessedness, which is, to enjoy him hereafter.

Methinks it is one of the glories of the gospel of Christ, that God has not only sent his Son to purchase heaven for us, but continually sends down his own Spirit to lead every humble christian in the way thither. When a poor penitent creature, distressed under a sense of the power of sin, dwelling in him, who has long and often toiled and laboured to bring his heart near to God, and to suppress the irregular and exorbitant appetites of his nature, addresses himself to the throne of God, and cries earnestly for divine help, it is a glorious provision that is made in the gospel of Christ, that the Spirit of God is promised for our assistance. Nor is it at all unworthy of a person of the greatest reason and the best understanding, humbly to wait and hope for the accomplishment of this promise. Thus the charge of enthusiasm vanishes, and the gospel maintains its honour.

V. The last objection against the doctrines of the gospel of Christ, is, that they are not sufficiently attested, that there is not ground enough given to credit the divinity of them in our age. They are ready to say, “These things were done, according as ourselves profess, above sixteen hundred years ago, and we have not sufficient credentials to venture our faith upon it at this day.”

It would be too long here to repeat over to you half the grounds we have for faith in this gospel. That there was such a man as Jesus Christ; that he lived at such a time at Jerusalem; that he wrought wondrous works in his own country, is not at all disbelieved by those that profess any reasonable faith in human history. The Jews themselves, who were his greatest enemies, do not deny that he wrought those miracles, which others could not work; but they pretend, that he did it by some magic art, by diabolical charms: and wrought miracles not by the power of God, but by virtue derived from spells and evil spirits. So that the miracles he wrought were not disbelieved and denied, but the heavenly spring of them is impiously perverted and turned downward, as though Christ borrowed his power from hell to transact these affairs. But the holiness and the heavenly temper of the gospel of Christ refutes this accusation. Satan was never known to demolish his own kingdom of ungodliness in such a manner as this. The gospel of Christ in every part of it has a most singular and sublime tendency to advance the name, the attributes, and the honour of God, whom Satan hates with a perfect hatred: He would never lend his assisting hand to support a scheme of religion so divine and holy.

Never was any body of doctrines and of duties so composed and calculated to promote the glory of God, nor the good of man, as this gospel does: Our peace and happiness would be secured by it on earth, if all men would comply with it, and our felicity after death is the great and indefeasible proposal and design of it: Now Satan is a restless enemy to men, his fellow-creatures, as well as to God, his Maker; and he would never exert the remains of his angelic power to encourage and defend such a pious and beneficent religion.

But the most amazing progress and success of the gospel is another argument that proves it to be divine, even when devils and magicians opposed it as well as princes and philosophers. That the gospel itself, without the force of arms, that a naked gospel, that seems so incredible as this did, should spread itself throughout the world in so short a space of time, that by the preaching of a few despised persons, and several of them fishermen that were utterly unlearned: That this gospel should triumph over all the powers and policies of men and hell: That it should make its way in opposition to the wisdom of philosophers, and the will of princes, and all the temptations and terrors of this world: This is another miracle, which perhaps is as divine and convincing as any of the preceding wonders, that attested this gospel, when it was first preached.

I add also the testimony of prophecy to that of miracles. The wondrous and exact accomplishment of many prophecies since our Lord Jesus Christ dwelt on earth in the days of his flesh, confirm his gospel. The prophecies that he himself gave forth from God, is another testimony of this gospel, which is uncontrollable. The destruction of Jerusalem, the time and methods of its destruction, and the terrors of it, may be read in Mat. xxiv. And if you read the history of Josephus, a Jew, you find so many parallels, that you may say Christ did foretel it indeed.

I might here subjoin the predictions of the apostles, particularly that of St. Paul, and St. John, concerning the rise and spirit of antichrist, wherein the church of Rome so clearly answers the language of the visions and prophecies. But the brightest and most uncontrollable witness of prophecy to the truth of the gospel, is the most exact and punctual accomplishments of all the predictions of the Old Testament, in the life and death, the resurrection and glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. From the first promise given to Adam in the garden, down to the words of Malachi, the last of the prophets, you find every thing that was said of him fulfilled in his history. And thus the books of the Jews, wherein they placed all their hopes, confirm the gospel of Christ, and refute and confound their own infidelity: So that if ever I had been a Jew, and did believe Moses and the prophets, I think I am constrained to be a christian, and believe in Jesus Christ.

Thus I have endeavoured to answer those objections against the gospel, which are pretended to arise from the truths or doctrines of it: And before I proceed to answer those cavils which are raised against it, because of the professors of it, I must finish the present discourse with a word or two of improvement.

Use 1. If this be a gospel not to be ashamed of, then study it well: Learn the truths and doctrines of it thoroughly: Truths and doctrines, which St. Paul, so wise, and so great a man, did not blush to profess, and preach, and die for. Value it as he valued it: The more you know it, the more you will esteem it; and the better you are acquainted with all the glorious articles of it, the less you will be ashamed of it: The divine harmony of the whole will cast a beauty and a lustre on every part.

Use 2. Furnish yourselves with arguments for it daily, that you may profess it without shame, and defend it without blushing: This is a day of temptation, and you know not what conversation you may be called into by divine providence; you know not what cavils you may meet with to assault your faith, and attack christianity. Be ready therefore to give reasons of the hope that is in you, and to make a just and pertinent reply to gainsayers, and convince those, if possible, that are led away captive by the wiles of the devil to forsake Christ and his gospel. Let not every turn of wit, or sleight of argument and sophistry, make you waver in your faith. It is a gospel that will bear the trial of reasonings and reproaches. It has something in itself that is divine, and therefore it is able to support the professors of it against an army of cavillers.

Use 3. Submit to all the institutions of it. Profess the whole of the gospel; not only the doctrines, but the ordinances of this gospel, are divine and glorious; they have something in them that shew they come from God, and they have something in them that evidently leads to God. They have all something in their sense and signification that discovers divinity. Wait upon God therefore in all his ordinances, in the assemblies of christians, that you may see his power and his glory in his own sanctuary, and that you may, from your own experience, be able to say, that the gospel is too great, too glorious, too divine a thing in its doctrines and worship, and in all its institutions, for you ever to be ashamed of. It has now, for sixteen ages, endured the test of the wit, and the rage of earth and hell, and it shall stand in power and glory, till the heavens be no more.