sea PREFACE. the lawofGod is eternal and relaxes not its demands; and though man i1 continually failing in his obedience, either in thought, word, or deed, yet that conscience, within him, which teaches him the law ; Rom. ii. 14, 15. accuses himWhen hebreaks it. The rel%g.on ofa fallen creature,, according to the light ofnature, requires also some adï,itions of duty more than a state of innocence, viz. confession of. our faults, sincere repentance of every sin, and addresses to God for mercy, With h^pe in his fo'tí ing grace, together with a return to diligence in new obedience after every fall or transgression, and aconstant zeal tb subdue and mortify all sin'.`nl inclinations .and perseverance therein till death, This runs through every dispensetionof grace. And since none of theseworks are so perfect in thebest of men, w; to full! thedemands of the law of God, or to justify th.eran before God, Coerr oreafterall, if fallen man be ever justified, that is, pardoned and accepted of God, it must beby his trusting or depend- ing upon divinegrace, in whatsoeder way it is or shall be manifested. This is the Only thin,;, beside what I mentioned before, that remains for him to do in order to his acceptance. Observe mere, I do not say, that this is sufficient to procure certain par- don, or to obtain the jartifoation of a sinner; ihrnatural reason cannot assure sis that an o!fended God will forgiveall our past sins, upon this practice. But this I may boldly affirm, that reaa is directs to this practice, as the only way wherein -,ve can reasonably hope for the favour of God, and acceptance before him. And, as this is the plain and obvious doctrine which the light of reason teaches, so this was practised, not Onlyby Abraham and David, but by all the.good men of old, in every nation who wrought righteousness, and were acceptedof God ; Acts x. 35. This is St. Paul'sdoctrine of justificationby faith, or trust in the grace of God without the works of the law, which he insistsupon in his epistles to Rome and Galatia, though it has most unhappily been perplexed and obscuredby noisy controversies. In these papers, among other things, I hare endeavoured to scatter those clouds, and set this divine truth in amost natural and easy light. Since the blessed God saw the light of natureafter the fall, insufficient to give the sinful creature any solidassuranceof pardon and acceptance, hecon- descended tomake some special revelationsof his mercy and his will, to poor perishing mankind; and this he has done in several ages of the world, and in particular nations. Therein hehas been pleased to reveal some further doc- trines for men to believe, and some further duties for them to practise, which arenot written in the book of nature: And they are such as these, viz. That Goal is ready to forgive all thosesinners who return to him by sincere repen. tance, andwho trust in his mercy, accordingto the different discoveriesof it : 'That he will assist humble creatures in their return to God, and in their hearty endeavours to practise their duty : That he has appointed aMediator, by whom sinners are to be restored to hisfavours. That this Mediator is the Son of God : That be wasto be born of a woman, tospring from the house of Abraham, and the family of David: That he shouldbe the great peace. maker between God and man, to reconcilesinners to God, and to restore them to the image of his holiness ; that to this end he should not only fulfil the law of God, but also endure many sufferings,and die for sinners, as an atoning sacri- fice, in order to free them from guilt, and deliver them from deserved de, struction. Again, hehas made known to men also, that this Jesus Christ the Me- diator is raised from the dead, is ascended to heaven, and there governs all things, till he shall return to judge the world ; and that thedead shall be raisedby him, to receive their final sentence from him, either a sentence of eternal misery, or everlasting happiness. It is amongstthese discoveries of grace and duty, that we mustrank the several sae vifices, which God has appointed men to offer, and that not onlyof
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