Part 5

The first sermons which I published[18] were taken up chiefly in the more spiritual parts of our religion, and such as relate more immediately to the secret transactions of the soul with God, and with his Son Jesus Christ. In several following discourses, I have attempted to explain many duties of the christian life which refer to our fellow-creatures. I hope no man who loves the gospel of Christ, will knit his brow and throw disgrace upon the book, with a contempt of dull morality: If such a person would give himself leave to peruse these sermons, perhaps he would meet with so much of Christ and the gospel in them, that he might learn to love his Saviour better than ever he did, and find how necessary moral duties are to make his own religion either safe or honourable: While _we are saved by faith_ in the blood and righteousness of the Son of God, we must remember also, that it is such a _faith as worketh by love_, for _faith without works is dead_, and useless to all purposes of hope and salvation.

My design in these sermons is to represent vice and virtue in their proper colours, I foresee that many readers will quickly spy out their neighbours’ names amongst the vicious or unlovely characters; but it would turn perhaps to their better account, if they can find their own: for there is many a description here that a hundred persons may lay a righteous claim to. It was my business to set a faithful glass before the face of conscience, by which we may examine ourselves, and learn _what manner of persons we are_; and I pray God to keep it daily before my own eyes. I acknowledge my defects, and stand corrected in many of my own sermons. Blessed be God for a Mediator who is _exalted to give repentance and forgiveness of sins_.

Yet it may not be an improper or unsuccessful method of reproof to fold down a useful leaf now and then for a friend, and give him notice in such an inoffensive manner of any blemishes that may belong to his character. Thus the silent page shall bestow upon him the richest benefit of friendship; it may whisper in his ear a secret word of admonition, and convey it to his conscience without offence. Such a gentle monitor may awaken him to inward shame and penitence; may rouse his virtue to shine brighter than ever, and scatter the clouds that hung dark upon the evidence of his graces.

Since I first published these discourses[19], the world has been furnished with a more complete account of most of these subjects, in that excellent treatise called the “Christian Temper,” which my worthy friend Doctor Evans hath sent abroad, and which is, perhaps, the most complete summary of those duties which make up the christian life, that hath been published in our age.

The next three sermons are employed on that divine subject, which I am ready to call the chief wonder and glory of the christian religion, that is, the great atonement for sin made by the death of Christ, and the practical uses derived thence[20]. This is the blessed foundation of our hope, which I have endeavoured to set in a clear light, and to support by reasoning drawn from the types and predictions of the Old Testament and the clearer language of the New. This is that grace and that righteousness which was witnessed by the law and the prophets, as St. Paul expresses it; Rom. iii. 24. This is that important work of the blessed Saviour, who was promised to the guilty world ever since the fall, and whose various glories have been well represented, according to ancient prophecy, in a happy correspondence with the doctrine of the New Testament, by a volume of “Discourses on the Messiah,” lately published by Dr. William Harris. I wonder how any man can read all these correspondencies of the type, prophecy and history, and not be convinced that Jesus was the appointed Saviour of the world.

The several sermons that follow next, are all formed upon some of the most momentous concerns of a christian, _viz._ How to improve every thing for the advantage of our own souls; how to look on all things as working for our good; how to employ the time of life to noble purposes, and such as the saints above can never be employed in; and to improve the death of others to valuable ends in the christian life, and especially to a preparation for our own departure. The death of that worthy gentleman and excellent christian, Sir Thomas Abney, gave the first occasion to some of these meditations, for the use of the mourning family, which were much amplified afterwards in my public ministry. Here I have endeavoured to awaken myself and my friends to an immediate and constant readiness for a dismission from this sinful, and sorrowful, and tempting world: And God grant when that awful hour approaches, I may be so far honoured by divine grace, as to become an example as well as a teacher.

The last discourse of all, exhibits the “most plain and obvious representation of the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, as it lies in the bible, and the great and necessary use that is to be made of it in our religion.” It is a doctrine that runs through the whole of our serious transactions with God, and therefore it is necessary to be known by men. Without the mediation of the Son, and the influences of the Spirit, we can find no way of access to the Father, nor is there any other hope of his favour proposed in the gospel.

I thought it proper also, to publish it at this season, to let the world know, that though I have entered into some further enquiries on this divine subject, and made humble attempts to gain clearer ideas of it, in order to vindicate the truth and glory of this sacred article; yet I have never changed my belief and profession of any necessary and important part of it, as will here appear with abundant evidence.

In this sermon I have followed the track of no particular scheme whatsoever; but have represented the sacred Three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in that light in which they seem to lie most open to the common view of mankind in the word of God: And I am glad to find what I have drawn out in this manner in seventeen propositions, appears so agreeable to the general sense of our fathers in this article, that I do not think any one of these propositions would be denied or disputed by our divines of the last or present age, who have had the greatest name and reputation of strict orthodoxy[21].

If I may express the substance of it in a few words, it is this: It seems to me to be plainly and evidently revealed in scripture, “That both the Son and the Holy Ghost have such a communion in the true and eternal God-head, as to have the same names, titles, attributes and operations ascribed to them, which are elsewhere ascribed to the Father, and which belong only to the true God: And yet that there is such a plain distinction between them, as is sufficient to support their distinct personal characters and offices in the great work of our salvation.” And this is what has been generally called the Trinitarian Doctrine, or the doctrine of Three Persons and one God.

At the end of the latter sermons I have endeavoured to assist christians in the devout collection of what they hear or read in a way of pious converse with their own hearts, and with God. In most of those meditations, the reader will find the principal heads of the foregoing sermons rehearsed.

Where the sermons are too long to be read in a family at once, I have marked out proper pauses, that the religious service may not be made tedious. May the great God vouchsafe to send his own Almighty Spirit, wheresoever his providence shall disperse these weak labours of mine in the world, and attend them with his sovereign power and blessing for the welfare of immortal souls! _Amen._

Footnote 17:

In the fifth edition the three volumes in 12mo were reduced into two in octavo, and the prefaces abridged and united by the author.

Footnote 18:

21st February, 1720-21.

Footnote 19:

25th March, 1723.

Footnote 20:

They were first published 25th March, 1727.

Footnote 21:

In this complete collection of the author’s works there are large additions, as well as many alterations inserted in this sermon ‘On the Doctrine of the Trinity,’ from the author’s manuscripts. 1734.

SERMONS.

SERMON I. _The Inward Witness to Christianity._ 1 JOHN v. 10.—He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the Witness in himself. THE FIRST PART.

There are two points of great and solemn importance, which it becomes every man to enquire into: _First_, Whether the religion he professes be true and divine; and _then_, Whether he has so far complied with the rules of this religion, as to stand entitled to the blessings thereof.

The christians of our age and nation, have been nursed up amongst the forms of christianity from their childhood; they take it for granted their religion is divine and true, and therefore seldom enter into the _first_ enquiry: but when they come to think in good earnest about religious affairs, their great concern is with the _second_, _viz._ to know whether they have so far complied with the rules of the gospel of Christ, as to obtain an interest in the promised blessings of it. And when they hear such a text as this, _He that believeth, hath the witness in himself_, they immediately expect that the meaning and design of it should be to _witness_ the truth of their own faith, and consequently to prove their own title to salvation.

But in the first christian age the case was far otherwise. The gospel itself was not then universally established, and the disciples of this new religion might have frequent doubts in their own minds concerning the truth of it, while they saw it disallowed and opposed by the world round about them. It was evidently necessary therefore for them to enquire, whether it came from God or no? And it is with this view the apostle John writes these words, _He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself_; _viz._ _he_ hath a proof within himself that _eternal life is in the Son_, ver. 11. and is to be obtained by our believing in him. It is to the truth of this doctrine that the _three bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and the three on earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood_. And though the proof of the sincerity and truth of our faith now may be derived from hence by a farther consequence, yet the first and direct design of the apostle is to shew, that the truth and divinity of our religion has an inward witness to it in the heart of every believer.

Here give me leave to put you in mind, that it is necessary for you, as it was for the primitive christians, to settle your profession of christianity upon solid grounds; otherwise you are christians but for the same reason that makes a Turk a disciple of Mahomet, or a heathen a worshipper of the Gods of his country; that is, because you were born in such a climate, and under such a meridian. And can you be contented with so poor a pretence to the noblest religion? and lay so sandy a foundation for your eternal hopes? Besides, the day in which we live, threatens you with bold temptations; and how will you stand if you have no surer grounds? Infidelity is a growing weed; the contempt and ridicule of revealed religion, flourish and become fashionable among the gay part of the world; and if you are not furnished with some solid proofs of the gospel of Christ, you may be in great danger of losing your faith; you may be tempted to yield up your religion to a witty jest, and become a heathen for company.

I might say another thing to awaken you to acquaint yourselves with some arguments that will justify and support your belief of the gospel. Suppose you think you have complied with the rules of your religion, and have raised your hopes of heaven to a high degree; should Satan the tempter spread his darkness round your souls, and in a melancholy and gloomy hour assault your faith with such bold questions as these, _How do you know that christianity is the true religion? What tokens have you to shew that it came from God?_ If you have no other answer to make, but that _it is the religion of your country_, that _you are born and bred up in it_, think with yourselves how your spirits will be surprized, your comforts languish, and all your high built hopes totter to the ground; unless the Spirit of God, by his uncommon and sovereign grace, should give in an answer to the temptation, and by some immediate and convincing argument support your faith: but if you are negligent to lay a good foundation at first, you have no reason to expect such a divine favour.

Let the importance of this concern therefore keep your attention awake, while I briefly run over some of the proofs of christianity, and thus lead you down to the surest and best of them, which is contained in my text.

Many are the outward testimonies which God hath given to the gospel of his Son; many witnesses have confirmed it from the time that Christ appeared in the flesh, to the day when St. John wrote this epistle. If we trace his life from the cradle in the manger to his cross and the grave, we shall find the rays of divinity still shining round his doctrine and his works, still pointing to his person, and proving his commission with a convincing and resistless light. At his birth the witnessing angels appeared in much brightness, and while the Son of God lay an infant below, his record was on high; for there appeared a strange new star, and was his witness in heaven. The wise men of the East were his witnesses, when they came from afar, and paid tributes and offerings, gold and incense to the God, the king of Israel. Simeon and Anna in the temple, by the Spirit of prophecy witnessed to the holy child Jesus. And the doctors with whom he disputed at twelve years old, were his witnesses that there was something in him more than man. At his baptism the Father and the Spirit witnessed to the Son of God; they told the world that this was He, the Messiah: The Father by a voice from heaven, saying, _This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased_; and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. His life was a life of wonders, and each of them witnessed to the truth of his commission, and to the divinity of his doctrine. Every blind eye that he opened, saw and witnessed Jesus, and declared his divine power. Every one of the dead that he raised were his witnesses. They came from the land of silence to speak his glory, and to give a loud testimony to his mission from heaven. The devils themselves, when he drove them out of their possessions, confessed that he was Christ, _The holy one of God_; but he had no mind to accept their witness, and therefore forbade them to speak. Miracles attended him to the cross and the grave, and opened the grave again for him, and made a passage for him to his Father’s right hand. Nor did the witnesses of his person and of his doctrine then cease; for _that salvation which began to be spoken by Jesus the Lord_, was afterwards published _by those that heard him, God himself bearing them witness with signs and wonders_; as in Heb. ii. 3, 4.

But all these still were outward witnesses to convince an unbelieving world. There is an inward witness that my text speaks of, that belongs to every true christian: _He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself._ And let us prepare now to examine whether our religion be true, and whether we are believers on the Son of God in truth, by searching after this inward witness; which we shall endeavour to explain, by considering these three things:

I. What believing on the Son of God means.—II. What this inward witness is, that faith gives to christianity.—III. What sort of witness it is, and how it exceeds other testimonies in several respects. And, _Lastly_, We shall make some inferences.

I. What is meant in my text by _believing on the Son of God_? I answer briefly under these two heads. It is,—1. A believing Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the world.—2. A trust in Christ Jesus as our Saviour.

1. It is a _believing_ Jesus Christ _to be the Saviour of the world_; and in this manner it is often expressed by our apostle in these epistles: a belief that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, who was foretold by all the prophets, and represented by all the types and shadows of the Old Testament. This usually includes a belief of the most important things that are related in the gospel concerning his person; such as these, that he is true God and true man, _i. e._ that God and man are united in him; that he was the Son of God before all ages, and the son of man born in time. _That he was the seed of David after the flesh, but declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead_; Rom. i. 3, 4. That he is that eternal Word, who _in the beginning was with God, and was God_, and who was in due time _made flesh and tabernacled among us_, as in John i. 14. This is that _mystery of godliness_ which we must believe, _God manifest in the flesh_; 1 Tim. iii. 16.

It implies also our belief of his doctrine, as well as of the divinity and humanity united in his person; _viz._ That we are all sinners condemned by the law of God; enemies to God in our minds, transgressors in our lives, and exposed to eternal death: That the divine law is so strict, so perfect, so holy, and so just that no mere man since the fall can fulfil it, nor yet can excuse or free himself from the condemnation of it: That Christ himself came _to fulfil this law_, as he tells us in Mat. v. 17, 18. That he came not only to perform the duties of it by an

## active obedience, but to put himself under the curse and condemnation

for our sakes. Which the apostle to the Galatians expresses in this language, that _in the fulness of time he was made under the law_ to become _a curse for us_, that we who are under the law _might be redeemed from the curse, and receive a blessing_; Gal. iii. 13. and iv. 5. That _he died for our offences_, that _he rose again for our justification_; and that he has received the spirit of holiness, which he sends into our sinful natures, to form us fit for that heavenly inheritance which he hath purchased for us by his death. That without this purification of our natures, we can have no hope of heaven, for _without_ repentance and _holiness no man shall see God_. That Jesus Christ our Lord shall raise the dead, shall come in the last day to judge the world, and pass a decisive sentence, and shall then _reward every one according to their works_. Though all these things were not so plainly taught by our Saviour himself in his public ministry in the world, yet these were the doctrines which his apostles preached continually, and they received them from him by private instructions, or the inspiration of his Spirit, so that they may be properly called the doctrines of Christ.

But this is not all that is required of believers; for so much knowledge, and so much faith as this is, the devils may have, and Simon Magus the sorcerer might have as much as this when he believed. The faith that is expressed in this epistle, and in other places of scripture, is more than a bare assent to the great truths of the gospel; for it is such a faith as _overcomes the world_, such a faith as _gains a victory_ over things sensual, and over Satan; such a faith as evidences a man _to be born of God_. And therefore something more must be implied in it than a mere belief of the nature and person of Christ, and the truth of his doctrine.

2. It therefore implies a _betrusting the soul into the hands of Christ, that he may be our Saviour_. And I have sometimes thought that those words in the Greek, which we render _faith_ and _believing_ are continually used in the New Testament, to signify _faith_, a _saving faith_; because they not only signify, in their natural sense, the _believing of a truth_, but the _trusting in a person_. They signify believing the doctrine of Christ, and committing the soul into his hands as a Saviour, as it is expressed by St. Paul; 2 Tim. i. 12. _I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him._ To _believe on the Son of God_ therefore, is when a person, from a sense of sin and danger of eternal death, and his inability to escape any other way, applies himself unto Christ Jesus, as the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. When the soul commits itself into his hands, as one All-sufficient in himself to save, and one appointed by the Father for this glorious purpose. When the soul is made willing to be justified by the merits and righteousness of another, seeing itself unable, by all its own works, to attain to a justifying righteousness. When the soul is desirous to be sanctified by the grace that is from above, because it sees the necessity of holiness, and yet feels itself utterly incapable to renew its own nature, to mortify its own sins, or to form itself fit for the enjoyment of God and heaven. When the soul for these ends, puts itself under the care of Christ Jesus, who is authorised and commissioned by the Father to take care of sinful and guilty souls, to remove and cancel their guilt by his sacrifice, and invest them with a perfect righteousness, to begin the work of grace in them, to fill them with principles of holiness, and by degrees to fit them for his glory: such a soul is a believer on the Son of God, and such a soul has the witness in himself, that our religion is divine, and that christianity is from above.

II. The second thing I proposed to consider, is, _What is the inward witness that faith gives to the truth of christianity?_