Merits, not our own, will be imputed to us, and a glorious Salvation, which we had no Share in procuring, will be made our everlasting Portion.

HAD all Men been created, as Alam was, in Original Righteoufnefs, yet all Men might have finned, as he did, and, according to the then Order of things, there would have been no Sacrifice for Sin, but every Tranfgreffion must have brought down infinite Vengeance upon him that committed it: But under the prefent Difpenfation of Grace, Man, tho' more weak, feems equally fecure of his Salvation, because, tho' he be infinitely more liable to fall, yet he is always in a Capacity of rifing again. Man, admidft all his Infirmities, is ftill endued with Free-will, he cannot fin defperately, but by his own actual and voluntary Default; God's Grace is always willing both to prevent and recover us, and the Merits of Chrift's Sufferings are a Remedy not only against Original Sin, but against all the Confequences of it; and for every actual Offence likewife that we commit, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jefus Chrift,

the

the Righteous; and He is the Propitiation for our Sins.

WHAT then! tho' Man hath fallen. from his own Righteoufnefs, yet through. Faith he ftands in the Righteousness of the Bleffed Jesus; tho' he hath loft his own Strength, yet he can do all things through Chrift's ftrengthning him In this Respect we have even the Advantage of our first Parents; that which was Sin to them under their Covenant, is become. Matter of Privilege to us, under ours; they defired to be like unto God; and lo! we are made like unto God, we are made by Adoption the Children of God: Here then we may boaft of our Corruptions, and declare the Benefits of our Fall; for tho' Wrath and Mifery be thereby our natural Portion, yet Glory and Happiness are become our gracious Inheritance; tho' we are originally dead in Trefpaffes and Sin, yet we are alive again unto Holinefs, and we fhall live for

evermore.

HAD we been created Upright, as our first Parents were, whether we should have continued in that Condition, we know not,

or into what Circumftances of Guilt unpardonable, and Mifery irrevocable we might have fallen, we know not; but this at prefent we know, that as we are created in Tranfgreffion, it hath pleased the Almighty, by a fecond and better Creation, to propofe a Covenant of Grace to us for our Probation, and Heaven for our Reward: So that here is a folid Foundation for Comfort, but none for Pride: We are all Children of Wrath, as we are all Sinners; but we become Children of Grace and Glory, not through our own Merits, but through the Righteousness of one, Chrift Jefus Matter this of profound Humility, but abundant Joy; we are not in the leaft Degree fufficient of ourselves, but we are enrich'd with a much more glorious Sufficiency; for our Suficiency is of God.

THUS then, we have gone through what we at firft propofed by confidering the Spiritual State of Man, with Respect to Nature and Grace, both in a separate and compounded View; the Doctrine contain'd in the Words of the Text is fruitful of many ufeful Inferences; one

or

or two of which I would choose briefly to mention,

1. I WAS defignedly large upon the Firft Head of this Difcourfe, that we might discover the great Neceffity there was of a Crucified Redeemer : Had Mankind been fuffered to lic in Sin, eternal Mifery muft have been the Portion of all the Sons of Adam: What other Expedient might have been contrived to have prevented fuch an univerfal Diffufion of Mifery, is not for us to enquire; under the prefent State of things, Sin is plainly univerfal, and the Punishment of it must have been fo too, had not an Expiation been made for the Guilt of it; and what Expiation can we imagine available, but the all-fufficient Merits of the Death and Sufferings of the Son of God. This Article cannot be too largely and frequently inculcated, because it seems to be the favourite Turn that thefe Times have taken, to extenuate the Neceffity, and by that means to leffen the Value of our great Redemption, and by efteeming the Blood of the Covenant an indifferent thing, to make it appear an unholy thing; especially

F 4

efpecially fince the more affecting Senfe we have of the extreme Neceffity of a dying Saviour,the ftronger will be our Obligation to Him for his unfpeakable Benefits towards us; our Love will always rife in Proportion to the Sense we have of our Obligation, and our Obedience in Proportio 1 to our Love; fo that we shall hereby come up more effectually to the Terms of the Gospel, and partake more largely of the Bleffings of it.

2. FROM what hath been faid we may on another Account infer the fuperlative Excellency of the Chriftian Difpenfation; because while all other Syftems of Duty regard chiefly the Purity of the Hands, the Precepts of the Gospel are calculated moft eminently for the inward Purity of the Heart; the first Motions and Tendency to Sin are here prohibited, and the Ax is laid to the very Root of Iniquity, fo that the Original Depravity of our Nature is, as much as poffible, provided against, and the Image of God in our Souls, which by Tranfgreffion hath been so greatly effaced, is, as far as Circumftances will

pof