SECTIONV. 133 the saints shall admire the grace of God, and the mediation of Christ, while they see how unworthy they and their works are of such a glorious reward. Thus we find there is abundant reason for our obedience to the commands of the moral law, though it is not made the proper condition, or prescribed term of our acceptance with God, and of obtaining happiness by the gospel ; for it .is only perfect obe- dience to these commands in thought, word and deed, can give us a right to eternal life, according to the law. And yet a sin- cere endeavour after universal obedience to them, is one neces- sary requisite of our being approved by Christ at last, and our actual eh-trance intg heaven, according to the gospel : Hereupon I am bold to affirm, that those persons whom all these reasons cannot draw to the sincere practice Of holiness, may be sure they never believed in Christ, and are not partakers of the salvation of the gospel ; for the great and necessary duty of christianity is faith which works by love; Gal. v. 0. The heart is purified by true faith ; Acts xv: 9. Andfaithwithout works is dead, and is unable to save us ; James ii. 20, 20. SECT. V.Reflections. I: " It is a dangerous thing to mistake the great design of Christ's ministry here on earth." Let us learn from this dis- course, that our Saviour often preached to sinters the gospel of grace and forgiveness, of repentance and faith in himself; yet that his chief business here, was not to preach the gospel con- stantly, nor to preach it in its full light, perfection and glory ; but rather to prepare the way for it when he had laid the foundation in his own death and resurrection, and when his kingdom should be set up in the world by his apostles, and by his Spirit, and built upon this foundation. He prepared the way for his Spirit, and his apostles, even as John the baptist prepared the way for him. The great business of Christ in this life on earth, was to appear with the characters of the Messiah on him ; to answer the types and prophecies that went before concerning him ; to pass through the stages of life without sin as our example; lo yield a perfect obedience to the law, and fulfil all those precepts in perfection which we could never fulfil; to preach the law in the spirituality and perfection of its demands, and begin to open the gospel ; to resign and submit himself to death, as a sa- crifice for sin, accursed by the law, and devoted to the punishing justice of God : And hereby he laid a foundation for clearer preaching the gospel of forgiveness of sins through his blood; which doctrine he just mentions to his disciples at the last supper. As for his own public preaching, it chiefly Consisted in clear and full explications of the law of God in its spirituality, which had been shamefully obscured and curtailed by the Jewish Doc- tors; in bringing the invisible worlds of heaven and hell into a t3
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