60 / 652
,so
TEE
EXCELLENCY OF,
&:C.
CSERM.
lit.
and God bath not
given us
the
spirit of
bondage
and
terror
under
the christian dispensation
;
but
the
spirit
of
cou-
rage, and
faith,
and
love,
and
joy
unspeakable
;" 2
Tim.
i.
7
-10.
For
ever blessed be the
Lord,
who
bath
call-
ed us to
be
christians.
Inference
III.
"
Do
we
enjoy
the privilege
of
know-
ing
this
better
covenant, and
shall any
of
us
content
ourselves
without
a
certain interest
in
the
blessings
of
it
?"
Do
we
hear of
these
better
promises,
and
shall we
be
satisfied
without
a
title to them
?
Shall
we
belong
to
that
wretched tribe
of
despisers, who behold this
great
salvation, and
wonder,
and perish
?
Acts
xiii.
41.
What
double anguish
will seize
our
consciences, when
the
Judge
shall pronounce
at
the last
day,
"
Go
ye
cursed into
endless
Misery;
ye
had all the glories and
joys
of
hea-
ven
brought nearest of
all to you in this
better
covenant,
and
offered to
you
in
these
better
promises,
and yet
ye
refused
to
accept
them
?"
Inference IV.
"
If
we
christians
live
under
a
better
covenant, and enjoy
better
promises,
we
must needs
re-
proach
ourselves
if
we
find
our
faith and obedience fall
below
that of
the
Jews." Have
we
nobler
assistances
in
our
holy
race to
heaven, and
yet
shall
we
move on
slower
than
they,
and
lag
behind
them
?
Ilave
we
brighter en-
couragements,
arad
yet
shall
our
zeal
be
colder?
Are
our
duties
set before
us
in a far
clearer
light,
and
shall
our
obedience
be
more defective? Does
divine mercy reign
in the
promises
of the
gospel with
superior
glory,
and
shall our
faith
in
these promises
be
more feeble and wa-
vering?
O
let
us
set the
pattern of
Abraham and
David,
and
other ancient saints
before
us,
and
shame ourselves
out
of our
earthiness
of
spirit,
our
lazy
humour,
our
cold
affection
to
divine
things,
and our languishing hope of
immortality.
Let
the name, and
pattern, and Spirit
of
the
blessed
Jesus
inspire us with
new
vigour to
follow
him, who
is
the
Mediator of
this
new
and
better
cove-
nant,
till
he
shall have brought
us
to the accomplishment
of
all these
better
promises. Amen.