Serm. XLIV. l'romife:t of the Gofpel. 3o7 urine, it ought to be inculcated with great Authority andEarneftnefs, and thole who oppofed and defpifed it, to be feverely rebuked : And with great Reafon, hecaufe the contrary Do&ine.does molt effe&ually undermine and defeat the whole Defign of the Chrittian Religion. Secondly, Fromhence we learn, that if the Promifes of the Gofpel have not this effe& upon us, tomake us Partakers ofa Divine Nature, it is our own Fault, and becaufe we are wanting to our (elves. God is always ready to do his par, if we do not fail in ours. There is a Divine Power and Efficacy goes along with the Gofpel, to make way for the Entertainment of it in the Hearts of Men, where they put no barand obftacle to it. But if Men will refill the Motions of God's Bleffed Spirit, andquench the light of it, and obilinately hold out againft the force of Truth; God will withdraw his Grace and Holy Spirit from them. The Gofpel would -raife us to the Perfe&ionof all Virtue and Gbodnefs, and the Promifes of it are admirably fitted to relieve the, Infirmities and'Weaknefs of Hu- mane Nature, and to renew us after the Image of God, in Rightèoufnefs and true , Holinefo ; to take us off fromSin and Vice, and to allure us to Goodnefs, and to afiìft and encourage us in the Pra&ice of it : But if we will not'comply with the gracious DeGgn of God in theGofpel, and fuffer thefe Promifes to have their due Infiuence and Efficacy upon us; we wilfully deprive our (elves of all the Blef- fangs and Benefits of it, we rejeek the 'Council of God againfi our feines,: and receive the Grace ofGod in vain ; and by reje&ing and defpifing his Promifes, we pro- voke him to execute his Threatnings upon us. Thirdly, and Laftly, -If the Promifes of the ChriftianReligion are apt in their own Nature toáwork this great effe& upon us, to make us like to God, and to -bring us to fo near a refemblance of the Divine Perfe&ions, to make us Good and tuft, and Merciful and Patient, and Holy in all manner of Converfation, to purge us fromour Iniquities, . and to make us a peculiar and excellent People, zealous ofgood works ; t fay, if this be the proper tendency ofheGofpel, and the Pro miles of it, how doth this upbraid the degenerate State of the Chriftian World at this Day, which does fo abound in all kind of Wickednefs and Impiety ? So that we may cry but as he did, upon reading theGofpel; Profetia aut hoc non e¡i Evangelium ; ant nos non fumes: Evangelici ; " Either this is not the Gofpel which we read, and;the Chriftian Religion which we profefs ; or we are no " Chriftians. We are fo far from that pitch of Goodnefs and Virtue which the Chriftian Religion is apt to raife Men to, and which the Apoltle here calls the Divine Nature, that a great part of us are degenerated into Beath and Devils, wallowing in abominableand filthy Lults, indulging our,felves in thofe Devilith Paffionsof Malice and Hatred, ofStrife and Dilcord, of Revenge and Cruelty, ofSedition and Dilturbance of the Publick Peace to that degree, as if the Grace of God had never appeared to us to teach us the contrary. And therefore it concerns all thofe who have the face to call"thernfelves Chriftians," todemean theinfelces at another rate, and for the Honour of their Religion, and the Salvation of their own Souls, to have their Converfation as becometh the Gofpel of Chrifk; and by de- parting from the- vicious Pra&ifes ofthis prefent Evil World, to do what in them lies to prevent the Judgments of God which hang over us ? or if they cannot do that, to fave themfelves from this untoward Generation. Rr 2" SER-
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