,so TEE EXCELLENCY OF, &:C. CSERM. lit. and God bath not given us the spirit of bondage and terror under the christian dispensation ; but the spirit of cou- rage, and faith, and love, and joy unspeakable ;" 2 Tim. i. 7-10. For ever blessed be the Lord, who bath call- ed us to be christians. Inference III. " Do we enjoy the privilege of know- ing this better covenant, and shall any of us content ourselves without a certain interest in the blessings of it ?" Do we hear of these better promises, and shall we be satisfied without a title to them ? Shall we belong to that wretched tribe of despisers, who behold this great salvation, and wonder, and perish ? Acts xiii. 41. What double anguishwill seize our consciences, when the Judge shall pronounce at the last day, " Go ye cursed into endless Misery; ye had all the glories and joys of hea- ven brought nearest of all to you in this better covenant, and offered to you in these better promises, and yet ye refused to accept them ?" Inference IV. " Ifwe christians live under a better covenant, and enjoy better promises, we must needs re- proach ourselves if we find our faith and obedience fall below that of the Jews." Have we nobler assistances in our holy race to heaven, and yet shall we move on slower than they, and lag behind them ? Ilave we brighter en- couragements, arad yet shall our zeal be colder? Are our duties set before us in a far clearer light, and shall our obedience be more defective? Does divine mercy reign in the promises of the gospel with superior glory, and shall our faith in these promises be more feeble and wa- vering? O let us set the pattern of Abraham and David, and other ancient saints before us, and shame ourselves out of our earthiness of spirit, our lazy humour, our cold affection to divine things, and our languishing hope of immortality. Let the name, and pattern, and Spirit of the blessed Jesus inspire us with new vigour to follow him, who is the Mediator of this new and better cove- nant, till he shall have brought us to the accomplishment of all these better promises. Amen.
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