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was
promised
to the
guilty world ever
since
the
fall,
and
whose
various
.
glories have been well
represented, according
to
ancient prophecy,
in
a
happy
correspondence with the
doctrine
of the New Testament, by
a
vo-
lume of
"
Discourses on
the
Messiah,
"
lately published
by
Dr.
William
Harris.
I wonder
how
any man can
read
all these correspondencies of the
type,
prophecy, and history, and
not be
covinced
that
Jesus was
the
ap-
pointed
Saviour
of
the
world.
The
several sermons
that
follow
next,
are
all formed
upon
some
of the
most
momentous concerns
of
a
christian,
viz. how
to improve every
thing
for the
advantage
of our
own souls
;
how to look
on
all
things
as work-
ing
for our
good
:
how to
employ
the time of
life to noble purposes,
and
such
as
the
saints above
can never be employed
in;
and
to
improve
the
death of
others to valuable ends
in
the
christian
life,
and especially
to
a
preparation
for
our
own
departure.
The
death of
that
worthy gentle-
.
mean
and excellent
Christian, Sir
Thomas Abney, gave the
,first
occasion
to
some of these meditations, for the use of the mourning family, which
were much amplified afterwards
in
my public ministry.
Here
I
have en-
deavoured
to
awaken
myself and my
friends to an
immediate
and' constant
readiness
for a dismission
from this sinful,
and
sorrowful,
and
tempting
'world
:
And God grant
when
that
awful
hour approaches,
I
may be
so
far
honoured by divine grace,
as to
become an
example
as well as a
teacher.
The
last
discourse
of
all, exhibits the
"
most plain
and
obvious
repre-
sentation of the
dottrine
of the blessed
Trinity,
as
it
lies in
the bible, and
the
great
and necessary use
that
is
to be made
of
it in
our religion."
It
is
a
doctrine
that
runs through the
whole
of
our
serious
transactions
with
God,
and
therefore it
is
necessary to be known by men.
Without the
mediation'
of the
Son,
and the
influences
of the Spirit,
we
can
find no
way of access
to
the Father,
nor
is
there any other hope of
his
favour proposed
in
the
gospel.
I
thought it proper
also,
to
publish it
at
this
season, to
Iet
the
world
know,
that
though I
have entered into
some
further
enquiries
on
this divine
subject, and,made humble attempts
to
gain clearer ideas of it, in order
to
'vindicate
the truth
and glory
of
this
sacred
article; yet
I
have never
changed
my belief and
profession
of
any
necessary
and important
part of
it,
as
will
here
appear
with
abundant
evidence:
In this
sermon
I
have followed
the track of
no
particular
scheme what-
soever; but have represented the sacred
Three,' the Father, the
Son,
and
the
Holy Spirit, in
that
light
in
which
they
seem
to
lie most
open
to this
common view of
mankind
in
the
word of God
And
I ant
glad to find
what hhave
drawn out
in
this
manner into
seventeen propositions,
appears
o
agreeable to the general
sense
of
our fathers
in
this
article, that
I
do
not
think any
one
of
these propositionswould
be
denied
or
disputed by
our
divines of the
last
or present age,
who
have had the greatest name and re-
putation of
strict orthodoxy.
If
I
may express the substance of
it
in á
few
words,
it
is
this
It
seems
to
me
to be
plainly and evidently revealed
in
scripture,
"
That
both
the
.
Son
and
the Holy
Ghost have such
a communion
in
true and eternal
god-head,
as
to
have the
same names, titles,
attributes and operations
ascribed
to
them,
which are elsewhere ascribed
to
the Father, and which
belong
only to the true
God:
And yet
that
there
is
such
a
plain distinc-
tion between
them,
as
is
sufficient to
support their distinct personal cha-
racters and
offices
in
the great
work of
our salvation:"
And
this
is
what
has
been generally called
the trinitarian
doctrine,
or
the doctrine of three
-
persons and
one
God.
3