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274
L
RATIONAL DEFENCE
OF
THE COSPEL.
ESERM..
XV!,
know
little of
the
religion
of
Christ,.
or
of the
sacred
name into
which they were baptized.
Now
that
we
may
act
and speak
as becomes
persons
endued
with reason;
I
thought it
necessary
at
first
to
give
some
account
what
this gospel
is,
that
you,
might
know
and
understand the
religion
which you
profess
;
and if
'ye
will
glory in
the
name
of
Christian, ye may be
able
to
tell
what
it
is
you
mean
by
christianity.
By
reading the
books
of
the
New Testament, wherein
the
gospel
is
contained,
you
will find
this to
be the
sum
and substance
of
it, viz.
that
it
is
a.
wise,-
a-
holy,
and
a
gracious constitution
of God
for
the
recovery
of
sinful
man,
by
sending
his own Son
Jesus
Christ
into the
flesh,
to obey
his
law which
man had
broke
-n,
to make a
proper
atonement
for
sin
by
his
death;
and
thus
to
procure the
favour
of
Grid,
and
eternal
happiness, for
all
that
be-
lieve
and repent, and
receive this offered
salvation; to-
gether
with
a
promise
of
the holy
Spirit
to work this
faith
and
repentance
in
their
hearts,.
to renew
their
sinful
natures unto
holiness, to form them on
earth
fit
for
this
happiness,
and
to bring them to the
full possession
of
it
in
heaven.
J
have
shewn, in
the next
place,
what
St.
Paul
meant,
when
he told
the Romans
he was
not
ashamed
of
this
gospel
:
He
was
neither
ashamed to
believe
it
as a man,
nor
to profess
it
as a
christian,
nor
to
preach
it
to
others
as a
minister,
nor
to defend
it
as
a
good soldier
of
Christ,
nor
to suffer
and
die for
it
as
a martyr.
The third
thing which
I
proposed,
was
to make
it
ap
pear,
that
all
the occasions
of
shame, which
men,
of
in-
fidelity
pretend' to raise
from this gospel, may be
an-
swered
upon the fair
and
just
principles
of
reason and
argument.
The
first
sort of reproaches
are these
which
are
cast upon the doctrines
of
the
gospel,
and
I
hope
I
have
rolled
them away.
I
repeat
no
more
of
these things,
but
proceed
to
the
next sort
of
Occasions
of
shame, and these
are
such as
are
supposed to arise
froni
the professors
of
this
gospel;
and
I
shall
endeavour
to
shed-
you also
how
they may be
answered.
They are
chiefly_
these
four:
I.
Some
will
say,
"
The
professors
of
this gospel in
the
beginning
were
the
weak,
and
foolish,
and mean
things
of
this world
;
but
it
was
despised
by
the
wise,
it