A11.1111 SERMON XVI. A Rational Defence of the Gospel: Or, Courage in Professing Christianity. $on. i.16. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. THE SECOND PART. THERE are many inthe world whocall themselves Christians, and boast in the name ; yet if you ask them what the gospel of Christ is, they are either struck into confusion and silence,or they give such an auwkard andimpertinent answer, as sufficiently dis- covers they know little of the religion of Christ, or of thesacred name into which they were baptized. Now that we may act and speak as becomespersons endued with reason, I thought it neces- sary at firstto give some account what this gospel is, that you might know and understand the religion which you profess ; and if ye will glory in the nameof christian, ye may be able to tell what it is you mean by Christianity. By readingthe books of the New Testament, wherein the gospel is contained, you will find this to be the sum andsubstance of it, viz. that it is 'a wise, a holy, and a gracious constitution of God for the recovery of sinful man, by sending his own Son Jesus Christ into the flesh, to obey his lawwhich man had broken, to make a proper atonement for sin by his death, and thus to pro- cure thefavour of God, and eternal happiness, for all that believe and repent, and receive this offered salvation ; together with a promise of the holy Spirit to work this faith and repentance in their hearts, to renew their sinful natures untoholiness, to form them on earthfit for this happiness, and to bring them to the full possession of it in heaven.. I have shewn, in the nextplace, what St. Paul meant, when he told the Romans he was not ashamed of this gospel : Hewas neither ashamed to believe it as a man, nor to profess it as a christian, nor to preach it to others as a minister, nor to defend it as a good soldier of Christ, nor to suffer and die for it as'a martyr. The third thingwhich I proposed, was to make it appear, that all the occasions of shame, whichmen of infidelity pretend to raise from this gospel, may be answered upon the fair and just
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