SERM. transgression; and this is the reason, that the free grace of XIV. God is so much spoken of in the Gospel; that men may not claim any thing to themselves, but to be humble, thankful, and obedient, to the Lord that bought and redeemed them.

To conclude: The Church has sanctified this day, and this season, in honour of our blessed Saviour, and of His coming into the world.

Our duty, this day, is to give God our most sincere thanks for His infinite mercy and goodness in sending His Son into the world, to shew us our duty and our danger; how to perform the one, and to avoid the other.

Now, as this ought to be the subject of our thanks and joy at this time, we should not forget that it was our sins which occasioned our blessed Lord's humbling Himself to be born into the world, that we might not be miserable for ever.

This will help to temper our joys, lest, forgetting our danger, we lose our share in the blessings He came to bring us.

Let all such, therefore, as value themselves for being christians, and who hope for any benefit from Christ's coming into the world, resolve, in the first place, sincerely to repent of those sins for which He gave His life and blood; and they will not only have joy in themselves, but will occasion joy in heaven.

And may our gracious God fill all our hearts with sincere thanks, as well as our mouths with praise: then we shall have good reason to rejoice indeed.

Now, unto Him Who had compassion on us when we were under the sentence of death, and sent His only Son to deliver us; blessing, and honour, and glory, and thanksgiving, and power, be unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON XV.

CHRISTMAS.

THE MEANING AND THE EXTENT OF THE SALVATION PURCHASED BY JESUS CHRIST, AND THE DREADFUL CASE OF THOSE WHO DESPISE IT.

1 TIM. i. 15.

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

THAT is, there is no truth more certain, no truth more worthy of our knowledge, no truth which so much concerns us to know, or which we may more surely depend on, than this; "That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

But however worthy this truth is to be received of all men, yet few, God knows, receive it as they ought to do. For how many are there, who because Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, hope for salvation, without taking any care to live as becomes the Gospel of Christ? How many who believe this truth, and yet receive no comfort from it; either suspecting themselves not to be of the number of those whom Christ came to save, or that their sins are too great to be pardoned? And lastly, how very many are there, who, though they are indeed sinners, never think of the danger of being such; and are therefore as careless and unconcerned for what may come hereafter, as if there were nothing to be feared, nothing to be hoped for?

Now, all these being sad delusions and a great dishonour to christianity, it well becomes the servants of Him, Who came into the world to save sinners, to use their utmost endeavours to remove them; to support the spirits of those who fear where there is no danger; to awaken the consciences

XV.

SERM. of those who are secure and careless in the very midst of danger; and lastly, to reprove the presumption of those who hope for salvation through Jesus Christ without observing His laws.

And these are the things which I beseech you will give attention to with the greatest seriousness. And that I may set these things before you after as plain a manner as possible, we will consider,

First; the meaning and extent of this truth, "That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" that we may be able to judge who may, and who may not, hope for salvation through His merits.

Secondly; We shall consider the delusion, and the danger, of those who neglect or despise the salvation purchased for them by Jesus Christ.

I. We will first consider the MEANING, and then the EXTENT, of this truth, That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Now, a sinner is one, who having broken the laws of God, has reason to fear that God will severely punish him for so doing. He sees very plainly, that he cannot deliver himself from the wrath of an angry God. He is so far from being able to make any satisfaction for the sins he has been guilty of, that he finds in himself a proneness, an inclination to evil, and an aversion, an unwillingness to close with what God has commanded us for our good. This is the condition of a sinner; this is the condition of every man by nature. And a sad condition it will appear to be to every one who knows and considers, that the end of sin is not to be seen in this life; but that a day is coming, in which God will judge the world in righteousness, and give to every man according to the works done in the body.

What sinner, what man living, could think of this without despair, if Jesus Christ had not undertaken to deliver us from the just displeasure of God; to make satisfaction for our sins; to restore us to God's favour; and to put us into a way of being happy for ever?

But what has Jesus Christ done to save sinners from this sad condition? Why, He took upon Him the nature of man; He dwelt amongst men; made known to them this com

fortable truth, that God, for His sake, will accept of our repentance; receive us into favour, notwithstanding our past offences; assist us with helps sufficient to do what He expects from us; and will make us eternally happy when we die, if we will suffer ourselves to be governed by His holy laws while we live.

To convince us more effectually of the truth and importance of these things, after He had wrought many wonderful miracles to shew that He came from God, He willingly laid down His life for our sake, for our sins, for our offences; and that God might spare us, and not punish us as we had deserved.

And God, to convince mankind how entirely He was reconciled to them, on account of His Son's death, raised Him from the dead, received Him into heaven, set Him at His own right hand, where He is continually interceding for all those that come unto God by Him, that pray to God for His sake.

And that we may have no doubt in our minds but that all this is done in heaven for us, our Lord sent down the Holy Ghost to supply His place on earth; Who, having appointed an order of men to publish these glad tidings to the whole world, enabled them to work miracles; to speak languages which before they were ignorant of; to heal the sick with a word of their mouth; to raise the dead; in one word, to do such things as none but such as were sent by God could do.

And lastly, these having fulfilled their ministry, before they laid down their lives for the truths they had preached, they (as Jesus Christ had commanded them) ordained others to supply their places, to preach these truths, to offer these terms of mercy to all succeeding generations, with whom He promised His presence and blessing unto the world's end.

To these He has given power to receive all that are willing into His family, which is His Church; to reconcile such as fall, and return from their evil ways; and to represent unto God the satisfaction which His Son has made in our nature for our sins.

This is what Jesus Christ has done for us.

He has recon

SERM. ciled us to God; He has put us into a way of salvation; He XV. has given us all necessary assistance, to support our weak

ness, to resist our enemies, to renew our nature, and to make us fit for heaven and happiness.

But have all men a right to this salvation purchased by Jesus Christ? This we shall see now we come to consider the EXTENT of these words, "That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

And truly, the Scriptures are in nothing more plain than John 3. 17. in this truth, "That God so loved the world, that He sent His Son, that the world through Him might be saved."

That God had no respect of persons in thus loving the 1 Tim. 2. 4. world, His will being this, THAT ALL MEN SHOULD BE SAVED; that even such as perish, through their own wilful disobedience, are of the number of those whom Jesus Christ came [2 Pet. 2.1.] to save. They denied, saith St. Peter, the Lord that bought them; that bought and would have saved them, but that they brought upon themselves destruction.

Rom. 5.

Nay, to take away all manner of scruple, and to apply this comfortable truth to the minds of afflicted penitents, St. Paul speaks of this after a most convincing manner. As the sin of Adam (saith he) affected all his posterity; as by one offence judgment came upon all men to condemnation; so the merits of Christ were designed to redeem all the posterity of Adam; forasmuch as by the righteousness of One, that is, Jesus Christ, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

As sure then as I am one of those, who by Adam's transgression am become corrupt and a sinner before God, so sure am I redeemed by Jesus Christ. This every christian man may say to himself.

This was the very doctrine of Christ Himself, and this He taught by His own example, when He prayed for the very persons who crucified Him, who had an interest in the very death they made Him to suffer; otherwise He would not have prayed that God would forgive them.

And the Church of Christ still continues to intercede with God for all mankind, holding this truth, that the love of God, and the merits of Jesus Christ, extend to the whole race of men. By this practice, endeavouring to bring the