lsaüfi t, SIEI MON XV, 213 to renewtheir sinful natures into holiness, to form them on earth fit for this happiness, and to bring them to the full possession of it in heaven. - It might be proved that this is the sense and substance of the gospel of Christ from many of the prophecies of the Old Testa- ment, and the ceremoniesand figures of the Jewish church, as well as from a variety of citations fromthe writings of the evan- gelists and apostles : Yet there have-risen some persons, I mean the Socinians and their disciples, in the last age and in this also, who call themselves christians, but they also curtail and diminish the gospel of Christ, as to make it signify very 'little more than the dictates and hopes of the light of nature; viz. " That if we répent of our sins past, and obey the commands of God as well as we can for the future, Christ as a great prophet, has made a full declaration that there is pardon for such sinners, and they shall beaccepted unto eternal life:" and all this without any de- pendanceon his death as a proper sacrifice, and with little regard to the operations of his Holy Spirit. Now I need use no other argument to refute this mistaken notion of the gospel, than what may be derived from the words of my text, 2 iz. that St. Paul expresses it with a sort of empha- sis, andas a matter of importance, that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : Whereas if this had been all the substance of the gospel, he had no reason to be ashamed of it either among the Jews or the heathens. The Jews had a knowledge of for- giveness upon repentance, and a belief of it longbefore. Christ came : And the heathenphilosophers would have readily received it, as a thing very little different from what their natural reason might lead them to hope for : thoughit could not fully assure them of it : Theywould never have sought to expose andridicule the preaching of St. Paul as mere babbling, and called him a setter forth of strange gods. But on the other hand, if we suppose him publishing the glorious doctrine which I have described, there was something in this sostrange to the ears of the heathens, as well as of the blinded Jews, that might well be supposed toawaken their oppo- sitionand rage ; and therefore it was a great point gained with him, when he had courage enough to maintain such a gospel, and to say, I am not ashamed of it. Thisleads me to the second thingproposed, Secondly, What isincluded in these words, I am not ashamed of thegospel ? To this I answer under these five heads : 1. I am not ashamed to believe it as a man.-2. I am not ashamed to profess it as a christian.-3. I am not asham- ed to preach it to others as a minister. 4. I am not ashamed to defend it, and contend for it as a good soldier of Christ.-5. I am not ashamed to suffer and diefor it as a martyr.
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