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4S

INWARD WITNESS TO

CHRISTIAN/TY.,

CSERM.

Irr,

evidence for

a season may

be

obscure,

and

may

seem

to

be silent through the power

of

iniquity, and

the

strength

of temptation;

yet

this life

will

resume

its

activity,

and

discover

itself,

because

its

nature

is

eternal.

.

It

is

Christ

Jesus

living

in

the soul

by

the power

of

his own

Spirit;

Christ Jesus,

who

is

the eternal principle

of

life,

and

his Spirit,

which

is

the

eternal Spirit; and

'where he

bath

begun to

dwell,.

he

shall for

ever inhabit.

This evidence

shall

continue

to

all

eternity, and shall

give many

a

sweet reflection. to

the saints

in

heaven.

I

feel now (says every

saint there)

that

this

was

a

true

gospel

I

'trusted

in, in

the days

of

my

flesh

and this

religion

was

divine, for it

hath raised

me

to these

man-

sions of

blessedness.

I

feel now

it

was

a doctrine

came

down from heaven,

and that Christ

Jesus

was

not an

impostor,

but

the

Son

of

God

indeed, for he

has

brought

me to

his

father's ,house

by

this

doctrine

;

he

hath

seated

me

upon

his own

throne,

even as

he

is

seated upon

the

throne of

his

father

;

he

bath made

me

an overcomer

by

believing this

doctrine,

even

as

he

himself

has

overcome."

Eternal

life

itself,

in

the perfection

of

it

in the

future

world, shall be

a.

standing and everlasting evidence

of

the

truth of the

gospel.

I

will

now

endeavour

to draw some

few

inferences

or

remarks

from the

discourse, and then conclude.

1.

The

first

remark

is

very obvious, how

glorious

is

the gospel

of our Lord

!

How preferable

to all

other

religions

!

Those

which men bave

invented, are

not

to

come in competition

with

it;

let

none

of

them

be

named.

Even

that

religion which

God

himself invented, the re-

ligion

of

the Jews,

had

not

such honourable

charaéters

.belonging

to

it;

as

this

of

our

Saviour bath.

Many

ex-

pressions

that

are

used in

the epistles

of

St.

Paul,

to

chew

the

superiority

of

the gospel above

the

law,

are

such

as givé

it

an infinite

advantage and preference

As

in

point of

glory,

so

in

point

of

evidence too. One

was

the letter,

the

other

is

the

spirit;

one

was

the

ministra-

tion

of

condemnation,

the

other

of

salvation

;

one the

ministration

of

death, the

other

of

life:

and

as

life,

spiritual

or eternal

life,

is

represented

as

the

peculiar

effect and prerogative of

the

gospel,

so

it

carries more

light

of

evidence with

it

to confirm its heavenly

origi-

nal; it

brings the believing soul much

nearer

to heaven.