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AIM
(
2sG
)
SERMON
XV.
A
RATIONAL
DEFENCE
OF
THE GOSPEL;
OR, COURAGE IN
PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY.
Rom.
i.
16.
I
am not ashamed
of the
Gospel of
Christ,
for
it
is
the
power
of God unto
salvation
to
every
one
that
believeth.
THE
FIRST
PART.
SHAME
is
a
very
discouraging passion
of
the
mind;
it
sinks the
spirits
low,
it
enfeebles
all
the
active powers,
and
forbids
the vigorous
execution
of
any
thing whereof
we
are
ashamed.
It
was
necessary therefore,
that
St.
Paul
should
be
endued
with sacred courage, and raised
above the power
of
shame,
when
he
was
sent
to
preach
the
gospel
of
Christ
among the
Jews or
the heathens, to
face an infidel world,
and
to
break through
all
the
re-
proaches and terrors
of
it.
I
am
a
debtor,
says he,
verse
14,
to
the Greeks
and
to
the
barbarians; that
is,
to
the
learned and
the
unlearned nations
;
to
the
wise
and
to
the
unwise
:
I
have a
commission
from
Christ
to
pub-
lish
his
gospel among
all
the nations
of
men,
and
I
esteem
myself their debtor,
till
I
have delivered
my
message
:
And though Rome
be
the seat
of
worldly power and
policy,
the
mistress
of
the nations, and
sovereign
of
the
earth,
where
I
shall
meet
with
opposition
and
contempt
in abundance, yet
I
have
courage enough
to
preach
this
doctrine
at
Rome
also,
for
I
am
not
ashamed
of
the
gos-
pel
of
Christ.
My
friends,
this
is
an
age
wherein the gospel
of
our
Redeemer
meets
with much
contempt
and opposition.
There are
many
in a
baptized nation, and
who
have been
brought
up
in
the
christian belief and
worship,
that
begin to
be
weary
of
Christ and
his
religion
;
they are
endeavouring
to find blemishes
and defects
in
this sacred
gospel,
and
in
that
blessed word
of God
that
reveals
this
grace
to
us.
The
divine
truths,
that
belong
to this gos-
pel,
meet
with mockery and profane
reproach
from
deists
and
unbelievers.
I
may call
it therefore
a
day
of.
rebuke
and
blasphemy..
God grant
we
may
never
.became