salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved; Acts iv. 12. And they that wilfully and obstinately reject this message of divine love, must perish without remedy and without hope; for there remains no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful expectation of vengeance; Heb. x. 26. By this conduct you will approve yourself to be a faithful messenger of Christ in good earnest, a minister of the New Testament, and a workman that needs not to be ashamed, if you take special seasons to discover to men what the word of God reveals concerning their misery, and declare to them the whole counsel of God for their salvation. I entreat you, my dear friend and brother, to get it deeply impressed on your heart, that as (I believe) your real and sincere design is to save the souls of men from sin and eternal death, so it is the gospel of Christ which is the only instrument whereby you can ever hope to attain this blessed end; and that for two reasons.

1. It is this gospel, which, in its own nature, is most happily suited in all the parts of it to this great design; and no other schemes which the wit or reason of man can contrive are so: It is the voice of pardoning grace and reconciliation to God by Jesus Christ, that powerfully allures and encourages the awakened sinner, to return to his duty to God and his Maker: It is the promise of divine assistance to enable us to mortify sin, and to practise holiness, which animates the feeble creature to attempt it: It is the attractive view of heavenly blessedness as revealed in the gospel, that invites the soul onward to make its way through all the dangerous enticements and terrors of this world, which is at enmity with God. The divine fitness of this gospel of grace, to restore fallen man to the favour and image of his Maker, is so various and astonishing, that to describe it in all instances would require a large volume.

And 2. As the gospel is so happily suited to attain these ends, so it is the only effectual means that God has appointed, in the lips of his ministers, for this purpose. It is with these wondrous discoveries of this gospel, that he furnished the minds and lips of the fishermen and illiterate persons, when he sent them forth to convert and save a perishing world. These were the sacred weapons with which they were armed, when our exalted Saviour gave them commission to travel through the dominions of Satan, which were spread over the heathen countries, and to raise up a kingdom for himself amongst them. It was with principles, rules, and motives, derived from this gospel, that they were sent to attack the reigning vices of mankind, to reform profligate nations, and to turn them from dumb idols to serve the living God. And though St. Paul were a man of learning above the rest, yet he was not sent to preach the enticing words of man's wisdom, nor to talk as the disputers of the age and philosophers did in their schools; but his business was to preach Christ crucified: Though this doctrine of the cross and the Son of God hanging upon it, was a stumbling block to the Jews, and the Greeks counted it foolishness, yet to them that were called, both Jews and Greeks, this doctrine was the power of God, and the wisdom of God for the salvation of men. And therefore St. Paul determined to know nothing among them, in comparison of the doctrine of Christ and him crucified. These were the weapons of his warfare, which were mighty through God to the pulling down of the strong holds of sin and Satan in the hearts of men, and brought every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. It was by the ministration of this gospel that the fornicators were made chaste and holy, and idolaters became worshippers of the God of heaven; that thieves learned honest labour, and the covetous were taught to seek treasures in heaven; the drunkards grew out of love with their cups, and re

nounced all intemperance; the revilers governed their tongues and spoke well of their neighbours, and the cruel extortioners and oppressors learned to practise compassion and charity: These vilest of sinners, these children of hell, were made heirs of the kingdom of heaven, being washed, being sanctified, being justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God; 1 Cor. vi. 9, &c.

Had you all the refined science of Plato or Socrates, all the skill in morals that ever was attained by Zeno, Seneca or Epictetus; were you furnished with all the flowing oratory of Cicero, or the thunder of Demosthenes; were all these talents and excellencies united in one man, and you were the person so richly endowed, and could you employ them all in every sermon you preach, yet you could have no reasonable hope to convert and save one soul in Great Britain, where the gospel is published, while you lay aside the glorious gospel of Christ, and leave it entirely out of your discourses. Let me proceed yet further and say, had you the fullest acquaintance that ever man acquired with all the principles and duties of natural religion, both in its regard to God and to your fellow-creatures, had you the skill and tongue of an angel to range all these in their fairest order, to place them in their fullest light, and to pronounce and represent the whole law of God with such force and splendour to a British auditory, as was done to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, you might perhaps lay the consciences of men under deep conviction, for by the law is the knowledge of sin: But I am fully persuaded you would never reconcile one soul to God, you would never change the heart of one sinner, nor bring him into the favour of God, nor fit him for the joys of heaven, without this blessed gospel which is committed to your hands.

The great and glorious God is jealous of his own authority, and of the honour of his Son Jesus; nor will he condescend to bless any other methods for obtaining so divine an end, than what he himself has prescribed; nor will his Holy Spirit, whose office is to glorify Christ, stoop to concur with any other sort of means for the saving of sinners, where the name and offices of his Son, the only appointed Saviour, are known, and despised and neglected. It is the gospel alone that is the power of God to salvation. If the prophets will not stand in his counsel, nor cause the people to hear his words, they will never be able to turn Israel from the iniquity of their ways, nor the evil of their doings; Jer. xxiii. 22.

Perhaps it may be said in opposition to this advice, that the peculiar doctrines and discoveries of the gospel of Christ, were necessary to be published in a more large and particular manner, at the first institution of our religion, and to be insisted upon with greater frequency among the Jews, and especially among the gentiles, who before were unacquainted with the name, the history and the several offices of the blessed Jesus ; but there is no such need of repeating them in christian countries, where people are trained up from their infancy to know Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour of the world: And therefore it is more needful in our land to preach upon the natural duties of piety towards God, of justice and truth and goodness toward our neighbour, and selfgovernment and sobriety with regard to ourselves. And this may be done with good success among the people, upon the plain principles and motives which arise from the very nature of things, from the beauty and excellency of virtue, and its tendency to make · all men happy, and the natural deformity of vice, and the mischiefs that attend it. But give me leave to answer this objection with these three or four enquiries:

First, Was it not the special design of these doctrines of Christ, when they were first.

graciously communicated to the world, to reform the vices of mankind which reason could not reform, and to restore the world to piety and virtue, for which the powers of reason appeared so feeble and impotent? The nations of the earth had made long and fruitless essays, what the light of nature and philosophy would do, to bring wandering degenerate man back again to his Maker: Fruitless and long essays indeed, when after some thousands of years the world, who had forgotten their Maker and his laws, still run further from God, and plunged themselves into all abominable impieties and corrupt practices! Now if the all-wise God saw the gospel of Christ, to be so fit and happy an instrument, for the recovery of wretched man to religion and morality; if he furnished his apostles with these doctrines for this very purpose, and pronounced a blessing upon them as his own appointment, why should we not suppose, that this gospel is still as fit in its own nature for the same purposes as it was at first? And why may we not hope, the same heavenly blessing in a great measure to remain upon it, for these purposes, to the end of the world? While we introduce these divine topics, drawn from the gospel of Christ, to enforce piety and virtue upon the consciences of men, God forbid that we should abandon those arguments, drawn from the nature of things, and from human reason: The gospel does by no means exclude them, but clears and enlightens and advances them all, and gives them tenfold power for the purposes for which they are designed. The blessed apostles themselves sometimes made use of them; and they may be spread abroad in a rich variety by every preacher of the gospel to much better purpose, than a Seneca, or an Epictetus could display them. All kinds of efforts are necessary, and every sort of weapon may be used in its proper place, to make assaults upon the kingdom of Satan in the hearts of men; but it is evident, that the divine principles and motives of christianity were sent us down from heaven, as more sovereign remedies for the mortal diseases of the soul, and far more effectual for the reformation of mankind.

Secondly, If the beautiful ideas of virtue and religion, and the natural tendency of it to make men happy, be such sufficient motives to enforce the practice of it, I would enquire, why was not the gentile world reformed without the gospel? Why were the polite and knowing nations so abominably and almost universally sunk into shameful vices? Why did not the self-sufficient reward of virtue constrain greater numbers of mankind to change their manners, and to practise good morality? If this had been the best and most effectual way of changing the hearts and of reforming the profligate lives of men, why was not St. Paul sent only or chiefly with these principles and instructions of reason, to talk of the divine beauty of religion and excellency of virtue amongst them, and the advantages that it brought into human society and private life? What need was there that he should be commissioned to preach the doctrine of the cross of Christ, and the love of the Son of God descending from heaven to die for sinners? What makes him dwell so much upon the recovery of a sinful world to God, by the atonement and sufferings of the blessed Jesus, as a means and motive to persuade sinners to forsake their sins, and to be reconciled to God? Why are the evangelic topics so often insisted on, and represented in lively language, for the encouragement of virtue and piety, and as a guard against sin? What need had he of the history of a crucified Son of God rising from the dead, ascending to heaven, sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for sinners, and governing the world, in order to reform mankind from vice and impiety? Why does the scripture tell us, that the hearts of men are to be purified by faith, that believing on the Son of God is the way to get the victory over the world? What need was there

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that St. Paul should teach us, that our sins are to be mortified in us by the assistance of the Holy Spirit; or that St. Peter or St. John should tell us, that we must be born again and made new creatures by the word of God, and by this blessed Spirit and his influences? Were all these doctrines so needful in the primitive days, and attended with such illustrious and divine success, and are they grown useless and needless now?

Let me enquire, in the third place, Are all the hearers that make up our public assemblies so well acquainted with the doctrines of Christ and the gospel in our day, that they have no need to be taught them? Have they all enjoyed so happy an education from their infancy, as to understand the principles of the christian religion, and the peculiar articles of the faith, which are so necessary to restore sinners to a divine life? Do they so much as know that they are by nature dead in trespasses and sins? And do they know how to apply those vital truths to the blessed purposes of godliness? I am sure when we make particular enquiries, we find many of them ignorant enough both of themselves and their Saviour, and they have need to be taught the first principles of the oracles of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Shall I enquire yet farther, Is this a day when we should leave the peculiar articles of the religion of Christ out of our ministrations, when the truth of them is boldly called in question, and denied by such multitudes who dwell among us? Is this a proper time for us to forget the name of Christ in our public labours, when the witty talents and reasonings of men join together, and labour hard to cast out his sacred name with contempt and scorn? Is it so seasonable a practice in this age, to neglect these evangelic themes, and to preach up virtue, without the special principles and motives with which Christ has furnished us, when there are such numbers amongst us who are fond of heathenism, who are endeavouring to introduce it again into a christian country, and to spread the poison of infidelity through a nation called by his name? If this be our practice, our hearers will begin to think indeed that infidels may have some reason on their side, and that the glorious doctrines of the gospel of Christ are not so necessary as our fathers thought them, while they find no mention of them in the pulpit, no use of them in our discourses from week to week, and from month to month, and yet we profess to preach for the salvation of souls. Will this be our glory to imitate the heathen philosophers, and to drop the gospel of the Son of God? To be complimented by unbelievers as men of superior sense, and as deep reasoners, while we abandon the faith of Jesus, and starve the souls of our hearers, by neglecting to distribute to them this bread of life, which came down from heaven? O let us who are his ministers remember the last words of our departing Lord, Go, preach the gospel to every nation: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and he that believeth not shall be damned; and lo, I am with you alway, to the end of the world; Mark xvi. 15, 16. Matt. xxviii. 20. Let us fulfil the command, let us publish the threatening with the promise, and let us wait for the attendant blessing. Wheresoever this gospel is published with clear and proper evidence, the belief of it is made necessary to salvation, and it is part of the commission of ministers to make known this to the people; nor is there any thing else which can stand in the room and stead of this gospel, or attain those happy purposes for which this holy institution was designed. Unless, therefore, you have such a high esteem for the gospel of Christ, and such a sense of its divine worth and power, as to take it along with you when you desire. to save souls, you had better lay down the ministry and abandon your sacred profession

for you will but spend your strength for nought, and waste your breath in vain declamations: You will neither save your own soul, nor them that hear you; and you will have a terrible account to give at the last day, what you have done with this gospel which was entrusted with you for the salvation of men: You have hid this divine talent in the earth, you have traded entirely with your own stock, you have compassed yourself about with sparks of light of your own kindling, and you must lie down in sorrow with eternal loss.

Forgive me, my dear brother and friend, and you, my beloved and honoured brethren in the ministry, forgive me, if I have indulged too much vehemence in this part of my discourse; if I have given too great a loose to pathetic language on this needful subject. I doubt not but your own consciences bear me witness, that this elevated voice is not the voice of reproof, but of friendly warning; and, I persuade myself, that you all join with me in this sentiment, that if ever we are so happy as to reform the lives of our hearers, to convert their hearts to God, and to train them up for heaven, it must be done by the principles of the gospel of Christ. On the occasion of such a head of advice, therefore, I assure myself you will forgive these warm emotions of spirit. Can there be any juster cause or season to exert fervour and zeal, than while we are pleading for the name, and honour, and kingdom of our adored Jesus? Let him live, let him reign for ever on his throne of glory; let him live upon our lips, and reign in all our ministrations: Let him live in the hearts of all our hearers; let him live and reign through Great Britain, and through all the nations, till iniquity be subdued, till the kingdom of Satan be destroyed, and the whole world are become willing subjects to the sceptre of his grace! Thus have I finished my third exhortation relating to the preparation of your sermons for the pulpit. IV. In addressing your discourse to your hearers, remember to distinguish the different characters of saints and sinners, the converted and the unconverted, the sincere christian and the formal professor, the stupid and the awakened, the diligent and backsliding, the fearful or humble soul, and the obstinate and presumptuous; and in various seasons introduce a word for each of them. Thus you will divide the word of God aright, and give to every one their portion; 2 Tim. ii. 15. The general way of speaking to all persons in one view, and under one character, as though all your hearers were certainly true christians, and converted already, and wanted only a little farther reformation of heart and life, is too common in the world; but I think it is a dangerous way of preaching: It hath a powerful and unhappy tendency to lull unregenerate sinners asleep in secu rity, to flatter and deceive them with dreams of happiness, and make their consciences easy without a real conversion of heart to God.

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Let your hearers know that there is a vast and unspeakable difference betwixt a saint and a sinner, one in Christ, and one out of Christ; between one whose heart is in a state of corrupt nature or unrenewed, and one that is in a state of grace, and renewed to faith and holiness; between one who is only born of the flesh, and is a child of wrath, and one who is born again, or born of the Spirit, and is become a child of God, a member of Christ, and an heir of heaven. Let them know that this distinction is great and necessary; and it is not made (as some have imagined), by the water of baptism, but by the operations of the word and Spirit of God on the hearts of men, and by their diligent attendance on all the appointed means and methods of converting grace. It is a most real change, and of infinite importance, and however it has been derided by men, it is glorious in the eyes of God, and it will be made to appear so at the last day in the eyes of men and angels; but it will bring with it infinite terror to those, who thought themselves safe in a common