Watts - Houston-Packer Collection BX5207.W3 S4x 1805 v.1

SEAM. 1.1 INWARD WITNESS TO C 1RISTIANITY. 5 ing his person; such as these, that he is true God and true man, i. e. that God and man are united in him; that he was the son of God before all ages, and the son of man born in time. That he was the seed of David after theflesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead, liom. i. 3, 4. That he is that eternal Word, who in the beginning was with God, and was God, and who was in due time madeflesl :, and tabernacled among us; as in John i. 14. This is that mystery of godliness which we must believe, God manifest in theflesh, 1 Tim. iii. 16. It implies also our belief of his doctrine, as well as of the divinity and humanity united in his person; wiz. That we are all sinners condemned by the law of God ;. enemies to God in our minds, transgressors in our lives, and exposed to eternal death: That the divine law is so strict, so perfect, so holy, and so just, that no mere man since the fall can fulfil it, nor yet excuse or free himself from the condemnation of it : That Christ him- self came toficll this law, as he tells us in .IWat. v. 17, 18. That he carne not only to perform the duties of it by an active obedience, but to put himself under the curse and condemnation for our sakes. Which the apos- tle to the Galatians expresses in this language, that in thefulness oftime he was made under the law, to become a cursefor us, that we who are under the law might be redeemedfrom the curse, and receive a blessing, Gal. iii. 13. and iv. 5. That he died for our eences, that he rose again for our justification; and that he has re- ceived the spirit of holiness, which he sends into our sinful natures, to form us fit for that heavenly inherit- ance which he bath purchased for us by his death. That without this purification of our natures, we can have no hope of heaven, for without repentance and holiness no man shall see God. That Jesus Christ our Lord shall raise the dead, shall come in the last day to judge the world, and pass a decisive sentence, and shall then re- ward every one according to his works. Though all these things were not so plainly taught by our Saviour himself in his public ministry in the world, yet thesc were the doctrines which his apostles preached continu- ally, and they received them from him by private in » 3

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