132 PATTERN FOR A DISSENTING PREACHER. establish them in the spirituality and perfection of the moral law of God, and touches very little upon ceremonies, for he thought the scribes and pharisees did that sufficiently of them- selves. Again, they insisted upon the traditions of thefathers, and councils, and inventions ofmen; Christ, upon the commandments and words of God. And whenanypoint of doctrine, and espe- cially when any point of practice was in dispute, their recourse was to the fathers ; what do the traditions say, what say the an- cients? But our Lord Jesus Christ refers them still to some part of his Father's word, and quotes a text, either to prove a doctrine, or a duty. Thus the teachers of the established church, in that day, instructed the people to build their hopes of heaven upon their natural birth, upon their relation to Abraham, and upon their passage through that original ceremonyof circumcision, whereby they were initiated into the Jewish church, and thought they were made sufficient members of it for eternal happiness. Our Lord Jesus taught them to build titer hopes, rather upon regene- ration, uponfaith and repentance, upon the inward and mighty change of their souls, upon an alteration of their whole nature, and a turn of their hearts toward God, upon a humble con- fession of sins, and a dependence on the forgiving grace of God. In 1%Iat. iii. we have a particular account what it was the phari- sees taught them to build their hopes of heaven Upon, viz. their being children of _lbraham; and John the baptist, who was the fore-runner of our Lord, cuts off that hold ; he nullifies that foundation, and makes it vanish. Think not to say withinyour- selves, we are children of Abraham, but bringforth fruits of re- pentance, verses 8, 9. And Christ, in John iii. 3, 5. shews, that if a man be not born again, let him pretend never so much to a birth of the family of Abraham, and to his pas- sage through the initial rite of circumcision, the ordinance of that day, it was in vain for him to hope to enter into the kingdom of God. They preached up the doctrineof justification by their own works, for the pharisees trusted in themselves that they were righteous; Luke viii. 9. and in their opinion, whoever would follow the rules of the pharisees, must be righteous, as well as they, in the sight of God, and thus go to heaven upon the foundation of their own duties. But our Lord Jesus Christ continuallyshews men the imperfection of their own righteous- ness, and their utter insufficiency to perform any obedience, for which they might be accepted of God to eternal life. He preached the gospel of salvation by the mercy and forgiveness of Godhis Father, and gave hints of his own atonement for sin, and his mediation withGod, as far as was proper in that day and time.
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