words and works; by the submission which all creatures, when he pleased, were enforced to pay him; by a thousand circumstances in his life; yet more by the manner of his death; more still by his raising himself from the dead; most of all by his actual and evident dominion at the right hand of God; from whence I behold him exerting such acts of power upon the hearts of men, and especially my own; watching over his church with such infinite love, directing every the minutest circumstance, attending all the members of it with such absolute wisdom, and displaying such acts of divine power; that, upon the whole, I am still more convincingly satisfied, by his mediatorial transactions, of his being in very deed the Son of God.-And therefore,

Secondly. Knowing him to be the only Son of God, I cannot doubt of his power to save. I see, evidently, that salvation must be the work of God, who alone can open the blind eyes of apostate minds, alone can justify the ungodly, and by whose alone power it is that souls spiritually dead can be raised to spiritual life, and restored to the divine image and likeness again, that body of sin, which now so dreadfully works in them, being utterly destroyed. To shine into the heart with supernatural and divine light, to justify the ungodly, to sanctify the unholy, must be God's works: for they are appropriated to God alone. And here I see God himself effecting them by the only Son, who has graciously condescended to this task, and, having taken our nature into his own, he himself, in that union, is become a Prophet, Priest, and King, for our full salvation. Can I dispute, then, his sufficiency in this mediatorial character? Not while I know him to be the only-begotten of the Father. That one word silences all objection. To say that he is God come to save us, and yet to say that he is not able to save us, is a blasphemy I tremble at. Can I say that he made all things, and at the same time question if he be able to restore all things? Does he uphold the world by his power, and yet has he not might enough to save a worm? Did he come down from heaven to work salvation, and shall his undertaking fail? What should, what could, frustrate it? Was he unable to answer the demands of infinite justice? What! when the blood which purchased the church was the blood of God? Was

he ignorant of the counsels of the Father's will, when from all eternity he was by him, as one brought up with him; when he was in the bosom of the Father, when in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? Should the opposition of Sin, Satan, Men, Death, Hell, hinder? O how sufficient above all such difficulties is this God our Saviour! Here lies my chief ground of faith, I know Jesus to be the only Son of God, and, with the Father and the Spirit, one God. Knowing this, I avow the merit of all he did and suffered; I avouch every gracious word of his mouth to be yea and amen; his promises to be unchangeable; his charge to be divine; I proclaim him mighty to save, though a most rebellious nature, the power of the grave, the artifice of Satan, and the whole force of earthly allurement, interest, ease, custom, reproach, stand in the way. All-sufficiency is in Jesus, because he is the only Son of the Father. And hereupon,

Thirdly. I do solemnly declare, that, knowing him to be an all-sufficient Saviour, because the only-begotten Son of God, I do rely upon him, in all respects, with the fullest confidence ; and humbly yield myself up to him to be saved by him in all his offices. I know his power, and do not distrust him in any wise; but, leaning assuredly on what he has said, I do not fear condemnation, though I am a sinner; nor question his perfecting the work of holiness which he has begun in me, though I am so full of corruption; I look forward to the day of his appearing with boldness, and wait for it with longing expectation; I lay my hand on everlasting life as my portion, and tread death and hell under my feet, as risen with my incarnate God; I defy every enemy present and to come, and say unto the Lord, Thou art my God. I know whom I have believed, and being fully persuaded that he is very God, I have committed and do commit my whole self to his keeping, humbly and reverently waiting for his saving help from day to day, that he may show me more and more of his divine glory and unsearchable love, to the end that I may rejoice more abundantly in the efficacy of his obedience and death, and may be changed into the same image from glory to glory by his Almighty Spirit. And this my confidence in him, and submission to him, I mean to declare, when I say I believe in Jesus his only Son.

Let us come now to some necessary considerations arising from this point. As,

First. We should observe the peculiar influence which our believing Jesus to be, in his heavenly nature, the Son of God, has unto our faith in him as a sufficient Saviour. I say the peculiar influence for though indeed all the grounds upon which this faith stands, and which are particularly pointed out in this branch of the Creed, be absolutely necessary unto that faith, so that not one of them can be disbelieved consistently therewith; yet in the present point there is this peculiar and eminent, that it is the life of all the rest, giving merit and efficacy to all the Mediator's transactions, and without which he could not be that Saviour he is. The divinity of Jesus standing confirmed, there is a power in his offices, life, death, resurrection, exaltation, and approaching coming, which faith can take hold of with confidence. But take this away, and what remains? What great difference between him and that other mediator, Moses, who prefigured him? What difference in their teaching? Jesus could only reveal more of God's will than his forerunner; but to teach the heart Moses and he would be equally insufficient. What differences in their sacrifices? There was no merit in those of Moses to take away sin, neither, in this case, would there be in that of Jesus to satisfy the demands of infinite injured justice. And as to dominion, what power in Jesus more than Moses, to know, convert, and govern the hearts of men; to sanctify their corrupted nature, or to defeat and overrule the secret or open attempts of the devil, if he be not God? Take away the divinity of Jesus, and you cut off his right hand. that he cannot help you, and therewith all your confidence in him as able to help you. Indeed, if you are not sensible of your fallen state, a saviour who is not God may serve your turn; if it be not absurd to call him a Saviour, when you find no saving work for him to do; and when from him, as you find not that you want anything else, so you expect nothing more than that he should come commissioned from God to fix a perfect system of morals, and to declare beforehand what the issue will be of your conforming to or neglecting them. And truly this is the way of such as deny the divinity of Christ. They deny or diminish to a mere nothing the corruption of our nature.

Hence they know not what the real state of man now is, nor consequently the need of divine illumination, remission of sins, and a change of heart; so being unacquainted with what indeed made a Saviour necessary, they can have no dependence upon him for the effectual discharge of his offices to them; and of course, when they set themselves to determine about the divinity of Christ, can only judge of it as a matter of mere speculation and orthodoxy. They begin at the wrong end; and, while they know not themselves, are void of that spirit of meekness which prepares the mind for divine discoveries and no wonder if they quarrel with that doctrine of the Trinity as unintelligible and incomprehensible, which to those who truly know the want of salvation is incontestably evident in the Scriptures, and the whole ground of their confidence, hope, and triumph.

Secondly. We should observe the exceeding sinfulness and danger of a state of unbelief. By a state of unbelief is meant that condition of soul wherein people, through the hardness of their hearts, do either carelessly neglect or wilfully refuse the Gospel. Brethren, are there no souls here in this condition? If ye all know yourselves to be such sinners, that ye dare not look up to God but through Jesus Christ, and are yet putting forth the strength given to you that he may be a Saviour unto you, concerned about this more than all things besides, then there are none such in this assembly. But, alas! is it so? Would to God it were so! O what a happy day would it then be for all of us! I mistake myself greatly, if all the things in the world together would give me such happiness. Ah, sirs! ye are committed to my care; your souls are betrusted unto me; and can I be easy while I see any of you out of the road of heaven ? Why will ye be angry with me? Do I wrong you by wishing you happy; happy beyond all that tongue can speak or heart can think, eternally, gloriously happy; seated on the hills of paradise, and every soul of you with a crown of glory on his head, and I among and amidst you, my dear people? What shall I do? shall I leave you to yourselves? What! shall I betray your souls, and leave you quietly in the hands of the devil? How would you then curse me at last, how justly would you then curse me, and call for vengeance on my unfaithful head?" This was our minister. He did not warn us;

he did not tell us of our danger; he did not care what became of our souls; he forbore to tell us plainly what the end would be, through fear of our displeasure. Justice, Jesus, thou righteous Judge! we demand justice upon him for our perished souls through his cowardice and neglect." Ah, sirs! I would willingly see you all at the right hand of Jesus. I would not, no, I would not have one word delivered by me to any soul of you rise up in judgment against you. What shall I say? Are ye all believers? Gracious God, that thy word should have been preached so many years together in this place to so little purpose! What? All believers? The marks of an unbelieving state to be found on none? Whence then so much drunkenness and idle company-keeping? whence so much covetousness and carking care after the world? whence so much pleasure and vanity? I say so much pleasure and vanity; for, since I knew you, you are grown exceedingly addicted to pleasure and vanity. It is but a very few years ago that this place was remarkable for gravity in dress; but is it so at present? You know it is not. There are many of you that spoil one another; and I see many of the lower sort who are as fond as their betters of making a figure this way. Now faith is certainly a serious thing. I wish you would all try your hearts. While we are following the vain pomp and glory of the world, the covetous desires of the same, or the carnal desires of the flesh, can we have faith? No, it cannot be. And yet I must tell you, that to be in a state of unbelief is terrible. Judge of it only from this word of the apostle," If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ?" And again, "For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven," that is, from the only Son of God. God said, "I will send my Son unto them, it may be they will reverence my Son." But when they would not, then it follows, "What shall God do to them? He shall miserably destroy them." But,

Thirdly. We should all of us honour the Son more than we do. His honour and our profit are inseparable. Had we higher thoughts of his glory, as the only-begotten of the Father in a