Spirit attended the preaching of the gospel with his extraordinary
_gifts of tongues, of healing, of prophecy_, as well as with the graces
of conviction, and sanctification, and comfort: And the suddenness and
the glory of the change that was wrought on sinners carried with it an
illustrious and incontested proof of the presence and power of God and
his Spirit. Nor have some fainter resemblances of such glorious grace
been altogether wanting in later ages. There have been some most
remarkable instances of great sinners converted at once by the _gospel
of Christ, and the demonstrations of the Spirit_.
But in his more usual and ordinary communications of grace, he works so
gently upon our natures, and in so sweet and connatural a way, as not to
distinguish his agency in a sensible manner from the motions of our own
souls; for he never disturbs our rational powers, nor puts any violence
upon the natural faculties; yet when we are changed, when we are
renewed, when sin is mortified, the scripture tells us, that it is the
Spirit of God has done it: When our souls are prepared for heaven, and
our corrupted natures sanctified, and suited to the things that are
prepared in heaven for us, we are assured by the word of God, that the
Holy Spirit has been the great operator, and has wrought this change in
us. Thus I have made it appear at large, how _the gospel of Christ is
the power of God to salvation_. I apply myself immediately to raise a
few inferences from the subject I have been treating of.
Inference.—I. How unreasonable are all the reproaches that are cast upon
this gospel! A gospel that saves mankind from misery, and from sin, and
eternal death! A gospel that teaches men how to appear before a holy and
terrible God with comfort, though their sins are many, and their
righteousnesses are imperfect! A gospel that gives the hope of pardon to
criminals and rebels, and the hope of heaven to undeserving creatures!
And all this upon such solid grounds and foundations as justifies its
highest promises and proposals to the reason of men! It is a gospel that
changes our sinful natures into holiness, and reforms our hearts as well
as lives! A gospel that, aided by divine power, creates souls anew, and
raises dead sinners to life! It is a gospel that turns wolves into
lambs, and makes ravenous vultures as meek as doves! A gospel that so
disturbs the kingdom of Satan, as to take thousands of slaves and
captives out of his dominions, to transfer them into the glorious
kingdom of Christ, and make them chearful and willing subjects! A gospel
that fulfils gloriously the first promise, and makes it appear, that the
seed of the woman hath broke the serpent’s head, and destroyed the works
of the devil. You have never seen, you have never known, you have never
learned this gospel aright, if you have not felt it to be the power of
God unto salvation. Those that can speak evil of this gospel, it may be
universally said concerning them, _they speak evil of the things they
know not_; for if they had known this gospel as they ought to know it,
they would have seen it all over glorious and divine; they would have
felt it to be attended with divine power to their salvation, and then
they would never speak evil of it.
The heathen world may be ashamed of their doctrines and their religion;
the heathen worshippers may be ashamed of their sacrifices, their
superstitions, and their forms of devotion; for they have no power to
save their souls: And many of them were indeed brutish and shameful.
Mahomet, the founder of the Turkish religion, may be ashamed of his
alcoran, and volume of fables and incredible lies; all his followers may
be ashamed of their prophet, and of the sensual paradise that he
promises them. The Jews, under the eye of Christ, and the sun-beams of
the gospel, may be ashamed of the vain traditions of their rabbins which
were never divine: and even of their old rites and ceremonies which
Moses gave them; for all these are now but _weak and beggarly elements_;
the Spirit of God calls them so; Gal. iv. 9. They have now no power to
save souls, since God hath abolished them; nor indeed had they ever any
power but what they borrowed from this gospel of Christ, which lay
concealed in them: But let none of us that believe and profess the
gospel of Christ, be ever ashamed of any of the doctrines, or precepts,
or promises of it; for they are all holy, they are all heavenly; all of
them have divine power accompanying them to lead souls to salvation.
II. Learn hence the true method of obtaining christian courage; courage
to profess the gospel of Christ against all opposition: It is by getting
it wrought into your hearts and lives by christian experience, and not
by learning a mere form of words in a road of education and catechism.
You must feel it as _the power of God to your salvation_, or you will
never suffer much for it: Let it be an _ingrafted word able to save your
souls_; James i. 21. and then it will harden your faces against all
blaspheming adversaries, and the terrors of a persecuting world: then
you will be able to render a most powerful reason why you are bold to
profess this gospel, and to _answer every one that asks you a reason of
the hope that is in you_; you will be able to oppose those that set
themselves against the gospel of Christ, when you feel this divine
spring of courage within you.
I have encouraged you before, to acquaint yourselves with reasons and
arguments that may defend your religion, and support your faith: But
hours of temptation may come, when all the knowledge and learned
furniture of your head, all the arguments that are treasured up in your
memory, and all the reasonings that your invention can supply you with,
will hardly be able to keep your faith and hope firm and stedfast; for
Satan goes before you in skill and rational argument; and though your
arguments are strong and solid, yet he may baffle you by his hellish
sophistry, and thus cheat you of your faith, and your hope, and your
heaven, if you have not got this gospel wrought into your hearts with
power, if you have not felt it to be _the power of God unto salvation_.
Hence it comes to pass, that in times of great temptation and
persecution there are many fall away, as the leaves of a tree in the
blasts of autumn, when but here and there one stands and endures the
shock: It is because there are so few of the professors of the gospel
have felt it to be the power of God to the conversion of their souls,
and turning their hearts to God and heaven. And hence it comes to pass
also, that several unlearned christians in all ages, that could not
argue much for the faith in a rational way, yet could dare to die for
it, because they had this argument wrought in their own souls; they had
felt a divine power going along with it to change their natures, to make
them new creatures, to give them the hope of heaven, and a preparation
for it.
III. From what you have heard of this subject, learn the wide extent of
this argument for the defence of the gospel of Christ, and the
invaluable worth of it to every christian, _viz._ that the gospel is the
power of God to your salvation.
It is an argument of wide extent: for it belongs to every christian, to
the wise and to the unwise, to the weak and the strong; there is no
sincere christian, no true believer in Christ, but hath got the
foundation of this argument wrought within him: He knows this gospel is
divine, and he should not be ashamed to believe and profess it; for he
hath felt it support his soul under a sense of guilt, and give him solid
hope of pardoning grace. He hath found it change his sinful nature,
soften his heart into repentance, and turn him from a sinner into a
saint; it hath laid the foundation of eternal life within him. And as it
is an argument that belongs to every true christian; so it answers every
objection that an infidel can bring against the gospel, either from the
doctrines, or from the professors of it: And methinks, I would fain have
you all furnished with this glorious argument, and learn to manage it
for the defence of your faith.
Do they tell you, that the doctrines of the gospel contain mysteries in
them, and things that are unsearchable? Do they endeavour to put you out
of countenance by ridiculing the truth of christianity, as being
contrary to the common opinions and reasonings of men? Do they reproach
them as foolish and unreasonable, and do they endeavour to persuade you
that they are not sufficiently attested, and there is not ground enough
to give credit to them? Though there have been particular answers given
to each of these cavils in the first discourse; yet you may give this
general and short reply to all of them, and say, “I am sure they are not
contrary to reason: for they are divine. They are not incredible, nor do
they want sufficient evidence; for God himself by his own Spirit has
borne witness to them in my heart: He has wrought an almighty work there
by the means of this gospel: He has created me anew unto faith, and
hope, and holiness: He has turned my heart from earth to heaven, and
subdued the sinful inclinations of my nature by the precepts, by the
promises, by the glorious discoveries of this gospel: He has made use of
it to save my soul; and I carry about me an incontrolable proof that it
came from heaven.” Now though this sort of argument may have but little
force in it sometimes for the conviction of the infidel; yet it is of
sufficient force to establish the believer.
But I proceed. Do they fill your ears with the mean and contemptible
character of the professors of this gospel? Do they charge many of them
with vicious practices? Do they tell you of their different opinions,
their contests and their quarrels? And do they discourage you by
pointing to the apostates that have forsaken the faith? You may defend
yourself and your profession against all these objections by the same
general argument thus; “Are the professors of it some of the mean and
base things of this world? But they are saints, and this gospel has made
them so; they are the sons and daughters of the most high God by faith
in this gospel; and I will not be ashamed to reckon myself of their
society, and to number myself amongst them. Are there many that are
called christians, whose lives are vicious? Surely they never knew this
gospel in truth; they are but false professors of it. There are
thousands that can bear this witness to the gospel, that it has changed
their hearts; it has renewed their natures: it has made them hate every
vice, and their lives shine amongst men glorious in holiness, and
resembling God himself. Are the sentiments of some of them different
from others? It is chiefly in points of lesser importance; but the
substantial truths of it, which are the power of God to salvation, are
professed and acknowledged by us all. And though a thousand should
forsake this gospel, and become apostates, yet I can never part with it,
while I feel the blessed effects of it abiding upon my heart, and I
trust, through the grace of God, they shall abide for ever.”
This leads me to the last inference.
IV. What strong engagements is every true christian under to maintain
the profession of this gospel? Not only is he laid under many
obligations from the commands of God, and the bonds of duty, and
gratitude, and love, but he has a constant pressing obligation within
him. “How can I be ashamed of my hope, my portion, my everlasting all?
Shall I be ashamed of that gospel, upon which my salvation is founded,
and my best and highest interest, even my expectations of endless
felicity? If I let go this faith, if I lose my hold of this gospel, I
let go my hold of Christ, of God, and his love; I let go my hold of
heaven, and all my happiness: My sins all return upon me with their
insufferable loads of guilt and anguish of conscience, if I lose my
faith in this gospel; for all my hope of pardon is built upon this
foundation: heaven with the joys of it vanish from my soul, if I part
with this glorious gospel of Christ, and death and hell face me with all
their terrors.”
There is an awful and solemn motive derived from the great judgment-day
to maintain the profession of this glorious gospel; for our Lord himself
has pronounced this threatening, and he will fulfil it, _Whosoever shall
be ashamed of me and my words amongst a sinful generation of men, I will
also be ashamed of him before my Father and his holy angels_. But this
text shall be the subject of some future discourses.
HYMN FOR SERMONS XVI. and XVII.
_The Gospel the power of God to Salvation._
What shall the dying sinner do,
That seeks relief for all his woe?
Where shall the guilty conscience find
Ease for the torment of the mind?
How shall we get our crimes forgiven,
Or form our natures fit for heaven;
Can souls all o’er defil’d with sin;
Make their own powers and passions clean?
In vain we search, in vain we try,
Till Jesus brings his gospel nigh:
’Tis there such power and glory dwell,
As saves rebellious souls from hell.
This is the pillar of our hope,
That bears our fainting spirits up:
We read the grace, we trust the word,
And find salvation in the Lord.
Let men or angels dig the mines,
Where nature’s golden treasure shines;
Brought near the doctrine of the cross,
All nature’s gold appears but dross.
Should vile blasphemers with disdain
Pronounce the truths of Jesus vain,
I’ll meet the scandal and the shame,
And sing and triumph in his name.
SERMON XVIII.
_Faith the Way to Salvation._
ROM. i. 16.——The gospel of Christ,—it is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Salvation is a frequent and familiar word in the mouth of all who call
themselves christians. It is a sort of asseveration or oath among the
looser and meaner part of mankind: As I hope to be saved. But little do
they know what salvation means. All the notion they have of it is this,
that they would be saved from going down to hell, a place of fire and
torment, and that they would go up to heaven when they die, to some
unknown shining place above the skies, where they shall be free from all
pain and uneasiness. This is the utmost point to which their idea
reaches, and I think I have hit their sense exactly in this description.
Alas! poor ignorant creatures! They have no thought of being saved from
sin, of having their hearts made holy, their sinful inclinations
rectified, their passions subdued or refined, their love turned toward
God and things spiritual, and their desire and delight fixed upon things
divine and holy, instead of their sensual entertainments of flesh and
blood. They have no concern about the pardon of the guilt of sin, and
restoration to the favour or image of God, and not so much as a wish for
the joys that arise from his love, or from the blessed presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ in the world to come.
I have shewn you therefore in the foregoing discourse what this
salvation is, and made it appear that the gospel is the power of God to
salvation, that is, it is a powerful means in the hand of the Spirit of
God to save us from the guilt of sin, and to give us a right to heaven;
to save us from the power of sin, to fit us for the business and the
joys of heaven, and ensure to us the actual possession of it.
There are two things yet remain to be considered in discoursing on this
subject:
I. The place or influence that faith, or believing, hath in this
salvation; for the gospel provides this blessing only for believers. It
is called the power of God to salvation to every one who believes.—II.
The wide extent of this glorious benefit: It belongs to every one that
believes, whether Greek, or Jew.
I shall treat of each of these particularly:
_First_, Since the gospel is the power of God to the salvation of them
that believe, let us enquire, what place or influence has our faith in
this concernment?
To answer this, we may consider faith in its various acts or degrees of
exercise as it begins in assent, as it proceeds to affiance, and as it
is completed in assurance; and shew what influence each of them hath in
the work of salvation.
1. An assent to the truths of the gospel must begin the work of
salvation in us: There must be a belief and inward conviction of our
sinful and dangerous state, which is more clearly revealed under the
gospel, and that there is an atonement made for sin by the blood of
Christ: We must believe, that there is forgiveness to be found with God,
for the sake of this atonement; and that there is grace enough in our
Lord Jesus Christ, to renew our sinful natures, and to fit us for
heaven. This usually begets in the sinner, who is truly awakened, some
desire toward this salvation, and some distant hope of obtaining it.
When the poor perishing creature believes and beholds the glorious
influence of the death and righteousness of Christ to justify a sinner
in the sight of God; when he surveys the love, the wisdom, the grace,
and the power of Christ, answerable to all his wants, he then comes to
determine thus with himself, “This salvation is glorious and desirable;
the methods proposed, even for my own attainment of it are practicable
and sufficient, and why should not I apply myself to this Saviour, and
seek this unspeakable happiness?”
2. Affiance or trust in Jesus Christ the Saviour is the next degree of
faith. When we are willing to be delivered from the condemning guilt of
sin, and from the defiling power of it, and have seen an all-sufficiency
of atonement, grace, and power in Christ, then we commit our souls into
the hands of Jesus, the Mediator for this blessed purpose, and make a
solemn surrender of our whole selves into his charge and care, that we
may be pardoned for the sake of his death, that we may be accepted of
God through his righteousness, that we may be sanctified and made holy
by his grace and Spirit, and that we may be fitted for and preserved to
his kingdom. We reflect upon our past iniquities, and mourn to think
that we have been rebels so long; we are ashamed and grieved for our
rebellions, and we now most earnestly desire to be made willing subjects
to his holy government; and therefore we entrust our souls with him, and
beg that he would take us under his care for this end, and bring us into
the Father’s presence with comfort and joy. This is the soul’s coming to
God by Jesus Christ.
Now such an act of faith as this is, has some sensible tendency to
promote the peace of a distressed conscience, the sanctification of a
sinful nature, the solid hope of heaven, and a preparation for it. But
still it must be acknowledged, that its original and chief influence
arises from divine appointment. The gospel is the power of God to
salvation, and it is by divine promise and power that faith saves the
soul. Such a faith, or trust in Christ, has all the promises of
gospel-blessings belonging to it. God has appointed in his word, and it
is the standing rule of the gospel, _He that believeth shall be saved_;
Mark xvi. 15, 16.
All the parts of salvation come by faith: Justification, and favour in
the sight of God; Rom. v. 1. _Being justified by faith, we have peace
with God._ Adoption comes also by faith; Gal. iii. 26. _Ye are the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus._ Sanctification is ascribed to
the same principle: Acts xv. 19. The Gentiles had their _hearts
purified_ from sin _by faith_. Joy and hope come in this way also; Rom.
xv. 13. _The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost._ And
you may read several of these benefits of the gospel, these divine
ingredients of our salvation put together, and all attributed to faith;
Acts xxvi. 18. I send thee now to the Gentiles, saith the Lord Jesus to
St. Paul, _to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and
from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and inheritance among them who are sanctified, by faith that is in
me_.
Faith, or affiance in Jesus Christ, is an acceptance of this salvation,
it is a trust in the offered grace, it is a dependance on the promises
of the gospel confirmed by Christ, it is the surrender of a sinful soul
to Jesus the Saviour to perform his whole work of grace for him and to
him; and thereby the believing sinner, according to the appointment of
God in his gospel, partakes of all the benefits that are treasured up in
Christ.
Faith in the gospel relieves the distressed soul under a sense of the
guilt of sin, and the humble weary sinner finds mercy to forgive, and
strength to subdue it. Faith appropriates and applies the blood of
Christ, that sovereign medicine, to the wounds of a guilty conscience,
and the conscience finds ease and refreshment. It applies the grace of
Christ, that powerful antidote, to expel the venom of in-dwelling sin,
and the soul is healed in some measure, and the poison is expelled. It
lays hold on the power of Christ to assist in the performance of every
duty, and it obtains divine assistance. Every true believer has
experienced something of these benefits by a sincere surrender of
himself to Christ in such a way of trust and holy dependance.
Can the thirsty soul taste of the running water, and not find
refreshment, since God, who created water, has ordained it to refresh
the thirsty? Can weary limbs lie down on a bed, and not find ease, since
a bed is made to give ease and rest to the weary? Can a fainting
creature drink a divine cordial appointed to give life, and yet feel no
revival? No more can a guilty, distressed, and penitent sinner believe
the truths of the gospel, and trust in Jesus the Saviour, and yet find
no relief: for this is the will and settled law of the God of heaven,
that peace and holiness shall be obtained this way.
3. When faith grows up to assurance, it approaches towards complete
salvation. Then the christian can say, _I know I have believed on the
Son of God_, I know I enjoy his favour. Then the holiness and the joy
increase, for the salvation enters into the soul in fuller measures: The
nearer faith arises to assurance of our own interest in the grace of
Christ, the more it supports the soul, the more it comforts, the more it
sanctifies, and the more evidently doth the gospel appear to be divinely
powerful to save us from sin and hell.
“Can I believe God has pardoned me, so vile a rebel, and forgiven me so
many and aggravated offences, and yet is it possible I should not love
him, and rejoice? Can I be assured he loves me, and not make him a
return of my highest and warmest love? Can I believe that Christ the Son
of God died for me, and shall I not consecrate myself and all the powers
of my nature to him, that I may live devoted to his service? He has
bought me with a price, a dear and valuable price, that of his own
blood, and I must _glorify him with my body and with my soul, which are
his_; 1 Cor. vi. 20. Can I believe that I am redeemed from hell and
destruction, and shall I dare to walk in the road that leads to it? And
not rather _run with patience_ and joy _the race that is set before me_,
till I arrive at the gates of heaven? Am I not assured that Jesus the
beloved of God suffered death for my sins, and shall not I hate sin,
which caused his suffering? Sin, which was the occasion of his agonies,
and the very sting of his sorrows! _I am crucified_ and dead to sin, and
to this world, by my union with a crucified Saviour, _yet I live_, saith
the divine apostle, _and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who hath loved me, and given himself for
me_; Gal. ii. 20. How is it possible that I should hope to be made like
Christ in glory, with a full assurance of arriving thither, and not
_purify myself as he is pure_; 1 John iii. 2, 3. While I believe and am
persuaded that the promise of the joys of heaven shall be fulfilled to
me, I would awaken myself hourly to the joyful prospect, and be ever
preparing for the possession of that blessedness.”
Thus when faith arises to a sublime and eminent degree in this world,
the believer may be said to _rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of
glory, and to receive the end of his faith, even the salvation of his
soul_; 1 Pet. i. 8, 9.
Before I pass to the second head, I desire leave to make these few
remarks.
Remark I. Though the first degree of faith or assent to the gospel be
necessary to salvation, yet it is not of itself sufficient; and though
the last degree of faith or assurance be gloriously useful in this work,
yet it is not absolutely necessary.