68 THE SUBSTANCE or THE GOSPEL. reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them ; 2 Cor v. 19. He was made sin, verse 21. anda curse for us; Gal. iii. 10. He is our propitiation and atonement ; 1 John ii.2. He appeared to put away sin .by the sacrifice of himself; Heb. ix. 26. Whenwe were enemies we were reconciled to God by his death ; Rom. v. 8. He made eace by the blood of his cross; Col. i. 20. He was deliveredfor our ofences, and raised againfor our justification; Rom iv. 25. By the righteousness of one' man the free gift came upon all men to justification of lift. By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous; Rom. v. 18, 19. and we are justified by faith inhim ; verse 1. He teaches us also the offices of the Holy Spirit. We have access to God throughhis Spirit; Eph. ii. 18. " We are purified and sancti- fied by the spirit; 1 Cor. vi. 11. It is by the Spirit of Christ that we are to morti y the deeds of the flesh; Rom. viii. 13-17. We are led by the Spirit ; and we are taught to understand this gospel by the Spirit which he hath given us ; Eph. iii. 16. We aresealed by this Spirit unto the day of redemption ; chapter iv. 23. The Spirit dwelling in us is a pledge and earnest of our Inheritance in heaven, chapter i. 14. Now these expressions of his are to be understood in the common sense andmeaning of the words, and not as far-fetched metaphors ; for it is evident, that in all this he doesnot affect the arts oforatory, nor assume a magnificent air of writing, nor does he raisehimself into sublimities of style, nor rove in an enthusi- astic' way, when he treats of these subjects, but while he is ex- plaining to us these great things of the gospel, he avoids thewis- dom of words and oratory, and he talks in a plain, rational, and argumentative method, to inform the minds of men, and give them the clearest knowledge of the truth. Surely, a person that was sent of God to preach and write the gospel, for the use of all nations and future ages, and even for the ignorant and uninstructed barbarians, would not have ex- pressed himself in this sort of language, if he meant no more by it than the Socinians do by the gospel of Christ ; that is, " that the Lord Jesus Christ was a very great man, but a mere man still ; he was aprophet ordained of God, to preach up holiness in greater degrees than it had been before preached, to settle some points which were left a little doubtful by the light of nature, to assure us that God would be reconciled to man, and forgive him, if man repented and was sorry forhis sins, andlivedas well as he could for time to come ; and that for the sake of the prayers of Christ, who was so very pious, so very religious, and so very heavenly a person, and so submissive in his sufferings to the will of God, he would favour the penitent among mankind with some blessings and comforts in this world, and eternallife in the world above. Then, when he had preached this doctrine to the world, e
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