SERMON XVII. A Rational Defenceof the Gospel : Or, Courage in Professing Christianity. Rom. i. 16. I am not ashamedof the Gospelof Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. THE THIRD PART. IIOU.GH. the passion of shame has something in it that sinks T our nature, and enfeebles our spirits, yet it is a very becoming passion, where sin is the object of it ; and indeed it was wisely ordained by our Creator to beaguardian to those small remains of natural virtue that abide in us since the fall. We find the first young sinnersclothed with shame in the garden of Eden at the presence of God. But the growing corruption of our natures, the subtilty of Satan, and the temptations of this world have joined together to .take this piece of artillery out of the hands of virtue, and make use of it in their attacks upon religion and goodness. We ought to be ashamed indeed of nothing but our sin, . our folly, and our wretchedness ; but wé have been too ready to be ashamed, even of the grace of God, and the methods of our recovery from folly,- wretchedness, and sin. The gospel itself, the glorious gospel, has been madea matter of reproach among men, and its professors have been sometimes tempted to be ashamed of it. The blessed apostle in my text had gained a victory over this temptation, for he wasnot ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Whatsoever there might be contained in the doctrines`of this gospel, or whatsoever mightbe found among the professors of it, from which infidels or unbelievers might take occasion to throw shame and scandal upon it ; yetT have shewn in the two fore-, going discourses, that all this -is unjustly charged on the gospel, and have givenparticular answers to both sorts of cavils. . I go on now to the last proposal, which is to explain the force of theapostle's argument against shame in professing and preaching this gospel, and to make it appear, that the wordsof my text contain a general and most extensive guard, or defence,. against all possible occasions of shame in the profession of chris- tianity ; and that is that the gospel of Christ is the power of God for the salvation of all that believe.
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