86 tHE SUBSTANCE OF THE GOSPEL. den of our sins, and surrender or hetrust ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, that, by his death and obedience, we may be saved from hell, and be accepted unto eternal life, and that by the divine aid of his Spirit, we may have all the sinful powers of our na- tures renewed and sanctified, and fitted for that life eternal which Christ has purchased. Thus you see this grace of faith neces- sarily draws along withit sincere repentance for sin, and desires after true holiness. When we consider, that we are, by nature, afar off from God, ignorant and averse to all that is holy, we shall find that we are not more able to believe unto salvation, nor to repent of sin, at first, than we are to perform works of holiness afterwards. Therefore this gospel provides us with divine strength to fulfil these duties ; Christ is our strength, as well as our righteousness; Is. xlv. 24, 25. He is exalted to bestow repentance as well as for- giveness; Acts v. 31. and faith is the gift of God, who creates us anew in Christ Jesus, unto good works ; Eph. ii. 8-10. and makes us holy by his spirit, as is before expressed. It is by the Holy Spirit, considered eminently as the Spirit of Christ, thatwe are enabled to receive this salvation at first, and trained up and prepared for the full possession of it. It isfurther also comprehended in this gospel, and promised in this gracious constitution of God, that when we have finished our state of trial on earthy our souls shall be received, at death, into the presence and enjoyment of God ; and our bodies also shall be raised from the grave, in the great resurrection-day, and thus our whole natures shall be made happy together to all eter- nity. This is the matter and subject of the gracious revelation of God, this the method of salvation, and the manner of our partaking of it, which is appointed by God himself, and this is what I call the substance of the gospel. There are some other points of importancethat belong to it, but this is the foundation of all, and comprehensive of the rest. To sum up the several parts of it in as few words as I can ; the gospel of Christ is a gracious constitution of God, for the recovery of sinful man, by sending his own Son, in the flesh, to obey his law, which man had broken, to make a proper atonement for sin by his death, and to procure the favour 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 the hearts of men, to renew their sinful natures unto holiness, to form them fit for this happiness on earth, and to bring them to the full possession of it in heaven. All this is so evident froma varietyof scriptures, that might be cited here, that one would think there should be no need to prove it. But there havebeen some persons in the last and in
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