81O 11.4 HUMBLE ATTEMPT, SLC; of the learned and polite men of the age to explain away the sa crifice and the atonement made for our sins by the death of Christ, and to bereave our religion of the ordinary aids of the Holy Spirit, both which are so plainly and expressly revealed, and so frequently repeated in the NewTestament, and whichare two of the chief glories of the blessed gospel, and which perhaps are two of the chiefuses of those sacred names of the Son and, the Holy Spirit, into which we are baptized. It is this very humour that persuades somepersons, to reduce the injury and mischief that we have sustained by the sin and fall of Adam, to so slight a bruise and so inconsiderable a wound, that a small matter of grace is needful for our recovery r. and accordingly they impo= verist' the rich and admirable remedy of the gospel, to a very culpable degree, supposing no more to be necessary for the re- storation of man, than those few ingredients, which in their opinion, make up the whole composition. Hence it comes to pass, that the doctrine of regeneration, or an entire change of corrupt nature by a principle of divine grace, is ahnost lost out of their christianity ; or at least they suppose renewing grace and sanctification by the Holy Spirit and his assistances, to carry nothing more in them than the outward divine messages and discoveries of grace made and attested bythe extraordinarygifts of the Spirit to the christian world. This is a dangerous extreme on the other hand ; I hope it will never obtain amongst us pro- testant dissenters : but since it is a.fashionable'error, you ought to set a stricterguard against it. As he that adds or tapes away front the words of theprophecy in the latter endrf the book ofGod, . is left under a curse ; Rev. xxii. 18, 19. so we should set a holy guard- upon ourselves, lest we add any thing to the gospel of Christ, or take any thing from it, lest we expose ourselves to the same divine indignation.. To avoid both these extremes, permit me togive this gene- ral word of advice, and may God enable me to take it myself, (viz.) That in all our ministrations we keep aconstant and reli- gious eye upon the holy scripture,.that in the necessary and most important points of doctrine or duty, we may teachour hearers neither more nor less than the scripture teaches. Our great business is to expound scripture, and enforce the word of God upon the minds and hearts of men : when therefirce we explain- the great and necessary points- of the gospel Contained in any one scripture, let us do it as much as possible by bringing other parts. of scripture into the same view, that the word of God may be a comment on itself'. When we have occasion to make inferences from it, let co take care that the connexion of them be:strong ani; evident, and that they lie not far off at a distance, for in very distant inferences we are more liable to mistake. When we are delivering our own best opinions concerning divine subjects,
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