AmmesmINI ( 16 ) SERMON II. THE INWARD WITNESS TO CHRISTIANITY. í Jona v. 10. He that believeth on the Sonof God, bath the witness in himself. THE SECOND PART. WHEN such a text as this is named for the founda- tion of discourse, some nicer hearers begin to grow jealous, that the preacher is entering into mystery and inward light, and they expect to hear no clear and solid reasoning, nor any justness of thought. Thus blinded by their own prejudices, they prevent their improvement by the ministry of the word and because they have heard the experiences of christians wittily ridiculed, they resolve to believe that nothing, of experimental religion can be justified to strict reason, or have any thin;' to do with argument. But how impious, and how unreasonable a fancy this is, will sufficiently appear, ifit canbe proved that every true christian has a most rational and incontestable evi- dence of the truth of his religion, drawn from the change that is hereby made in his own heart. If it can once be made evident, that eternal life is begun in every soul that believes in Jesus Christ, this will confirm christianity with a high hand, and confute the wicked scandal for ever. I have begun this attempt in the first discourse, and have shewn that eternal life is composed of two parts, viz. holiness and happiness. The happiness of it consists in a just and comfortable sense of the forgiveness of sin, and a lively hope and persuasion of the special love of God, and the delightful harmony of all the natural powers, viz, reason, consci- ence, the will, and the passions. Where these are found, heaven is begun; eternal life has takenpossession of the soul; and this evidently proves the doctrine that effected it to be divine. Now, ifan atheist, a heathen, or a Jew, should cavil and say, "Are not all your hopes mere presumption?
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=