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ERD3.
XVII.)
A
ILATIONAL
bEFENCE
OF
THE GOSPEL.
289
professing and
preaching
this
gospel,
and
to
make it
ap-
pear, that
the words
of
my
text
contain a general
and
most
extensive
guard, or
defence,
against
all
possible
occasions
of
shame
in the
profession
of
christianity
;
and
that
is,
that
the gospel
of
Christ
is
the
power
of
God for
the
salvation
of
all
that
believe.
Now
this
is
an
argument
which
you, who believe
in
Christ, may all assume to yourselves
as
well
as
the
apos-
tle
:
You
cannot preach
this gospel
so well
as
he, nor
explain the reasons
of
your
faith
to
others, and establish
it
upon
so
solid and
unshaken foundations
of
argument,
as
Paul
could
do
;
but
every
Christian,
that
has
em-
braced the
faith,
and felt
the power
of
this gospel
for
his
own salvation, may
give
this reason for the
profession
of
it,
and
may
support
his
courage
in
opposition
to all
the sharpest temptations
of
mockery
and reproach.
When
the
apostle
says,
it
is
the power
of God,
we
must
suppose
him to
understand,
it
is
a
most powerful
means,
or
effectual
instrument that God
uses,
to save
souls,
and
it
is
attended
with divine
power for
that
'end.
It
is
more powerful than the light
of nature;
for
we
have no
just
reason
to believe,
that
the mere light
of
nature, without
some
helps
of
divine
revelation, or
Some
unwritten traditions
of
it,
ever
saved any souls
at
all
;
and
if
there
have been
any
of
the sinners
of
the
heathen
nations
made partakers
of
grace,
I
think
it
is
'otherwise
to
be
accounted
for
than
merely
by
the
poor
remains
of
the light
of
nature.
It
is
more powerful
than
any religion
that
men
or an-
gels
could invent, and more powerful
too,
than
any
re-
ligion
that God
himself ever invented,
or
revealed,
and
proposed
to men before the gospel
of
Christ. His reve-
lations
to
the
patriarchs
were
but
'few
;
they
were
made
here' and there
to
a
house
or
two,
or
to a family
;
they
were
particular
favours
that
he bestowed
upon persons
called
out of
idolatry,
nor
had they
a
very
long,
nor
spreading,
nor
lasting
influence,
except
in
the family
of
Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob,
where they were
frequently
renewed.
It
is
more powerful than
all
the
revelations
of
grace,
which
God
made
by
Moses to the
children
of
Israel,
and
intermingled
with
the
Jewish law:
for these discoveries
VOL.
L.
1J