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SERMONS.

SERMON I.

INFALLIBLE ANTIDOTES AGAINST UNBELIEVING FEARS.*

REV. i. 17. 18.-Fear not: I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen: and have the keys of hell and death.

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O-DAY is the feaft of the Chriftian paffover.

A communion-table is about to be covered. The great end of perfons fitting down at that table is, that they may fuck the breafts of confolation, and drink abundantly of that blood which flows from the pierced fide of a crucified Saviour. Some feed at this table without fear. Others fear fo much that they cannot feed. To fuch poor trembling fouls our text fpeaks good and comfortable words: Fear not, &c.

As the Lord fhewed to Daniel, a man greatly beloved, the state of his church till his first coming; fo to John, another beloved disciple, he VOL. I. discloses

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*Delivered immediately before the difpenfation of the Lord's fupper, OЯober 6. 1706.

difclofes the ftate of his church till his fecond coming. Both of them were dignified with a vifion of Chrift, the Son of God; and on each of them it had almoft the fame effect.

In Daniel there reHere we see the vi

mained no ftrength, Dan. x. fion had a fimilar effect on John. He is reprefented, ver. 17. as a dead man. He was con

founded with the glory of the person whom he faw. His eyes were dazzled with the brightness, his ftrength failed, he could act no more than if he had been dead. But our Lord revives him. He lays his right hand on him, and Arengthens him, that he might be able to stand, hear, and receive his orders. Jefus comforts him. He rebukes his fears: Fear not. There is a fear with which God is well pleased, and a fear of which he does not approve. This laft is exceffive fear, which greatly mars us in our duty, makes our hearts faint, and our hands hang down, fo as that we have neither heart nor hand for our work. This is incident to the people of God; but Chrift does not allow them in it, though he is tender of them under it.

We have next, the grounds of confolation, to difpel this fear, viz. (1.) The Godhead of Chrift. He is the first and the laft. The first principle of all things, from whom they had their beginning, and the laft end of all things: an irrefragable teftimony this of the divinity of Chrift. And it fhews us that the comfort of believers depends upon this article. (2.) The union of the Godhead and manhood in one perfon:-where Chrift is held forth as God, the living God; who had life from eternity of himself, and gave life to all the creatures:-As man; in that it is faid he died. It is fpoken of the fame perfon. It was the living God that died, though not the divine nature. Here

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we fee propofed, for John's comfort, the death of Chrift, God-man. He was made man, and died. (3.) His refurrection: I am alive. He overcame death, and arose the third day. (4.) The eternity of that life to which he was raised up: he lives for evermore. To all this is prefixed a behold! to ftir up believers to notice it as the grand fountain of their comfort; and it is followed with an affeveration, Amen, or verily, to put them out of doubt of it.

Next, we have his Mediatorial fovereignty: He hath the keys of hell and death. The keys are an enfign of government. The key of the house of David is laid upon his shoulder. He opens and none can shut, he shuts and none can open, Ifa. xxii. 22. None go to death or hell but when he fends them; and none are kept out of hell, and taken to glory, but by him.

From this fubject we may obferve the following

DOCTRINE. That the death and refurrection of Christ, that eternal life to which he was raised, and his Mediatory fovereignty, are the great grounds of the faints confolation, and fufficient to difpel all their unbelieving fears.

In difcourfing upon this fubject, I fhall, by divine aid,

I. Speak a little, and but a little, to each of these things, to unfold them, fo as that the ground of comfort in them may appear.

II. Point out the confolation of the faint to be found in these.

III. Make some practical improvement.

I. To speak a little to each of the things in the

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text,

text, to unfold them, so as that the ground of comfort in them may appear.

1. As to his death. On this I offer these few remarks: (1.) His death fuppofeth-his incarnation, and living as a man in the world, John i. 14. "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.' This has a respect to the Shechinah, or the divine prefence; that was a fire, encompaffed with a cloud, which was above the ark in the first temple. Chrift's divinity was clouded with his humanity; the form of God, with the form of a fervant, Phil. ii. 6.-8." He took upon him our nature." He was a partaker of flesh and blood, Heb. ii. 14. Thus he became a fubftantial Mediator between God and man, that fo he might be a Mediator of reconciliation; how he was conceived, born, and lived in the world, the Evangelifts fully relate. (2.) His death was vicarious: He died in the room and ftead of finners, not indeed of all, but of his own fheep. The Socinians allow that he died for our good, though not in our room; but this places the death of the martyrs and of Christ on the fame footing. But the fcripture is plain, Matth. xx. 28. "He came to give his life a ransom for many." Gal. iii. 13. "Chrift hath redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curse for us. He was made fin for us, and died, the just for the unjuft." There was a real imputation of the fins of the elect unto Chrift, and a real translation of the punishment due to us upon him, Ifa. liii. 4.—6. "Surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our forrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his ftripes we are healed. All we like heep have gone aftray: we have turned every one

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