Sermons and the Preacher. And St. Paul ESSAY thought it a confiderable Point gained, when I. he could affume fuch a Degree of Courage as to be able to say, I dare preach amongst the Gentiles, the Jews, the Pharifees and the Philofophers at Jerufalem, and at Rome fuch a Gospel as this is; for I am not asham'd of the Gospel of Chrift. This is an Argument which, in my Opinion, carries much Evidence with it, that the Gospel of Christ is fuch a Doctrine as I have before described.

But here is a confiderable Objection arifes against this Description of the Gospel. How can the Atonement for Sin by the Death of Chrift be fo confiderable a Part of the Gospel, when Chrift himself, the great Prophet of his Church spoke fo feldom and fo very little of it during the whole Course of his Ministry. Surely one would think fo important a Part of the Chriftian Doctrine fhould not have been neglected by Christ himself.*

SE C T. III.

Anfiers to Objections.

Tho' there be a very large and particular Answer given to all the Parts of this Objection in those Sermons; particularly, Sermon the 35th, yet fince it feems to carry fome

con

*See a large and full Anfwer to this Objcction in Dr. Watts's Sermon on the Atonement of Chrift. Vol. II.

ESSAY confiderable Force in it, I would mention I. fome Hints of Reply in this Place.

I. The great Design of our Saviour in his publick Appearance and Miniftry on Earth, was to prove himself to wear the true Characters of the Meffiah, to deliver the Jews from many falfe Expofitions and Gloffes which the Scribes and Pharifees of that Day had given to several Parts of Scripture, to lead the World to a Conviction of their Sins, and thereby prepare them to receive the Doctrine of Salvation with more Zeal and Defire; whereas the Salvation itself, and the Manner whereby it was accomplished, was but briefly mentioned in fome few Texts, and the reft was left to be explained by his Apostles.

II. The Doctrine of Chrift's Atonement for Sin is, indeed, intimated in several Places of his own Ministrations (viz.) Matt. xx. 28. The Son of Man came not to be minifter'd unto, but to minifter, and give his Life a Ranfom for many. John x. 15. I lay down my Life for the Sheep. John vi. 51. The Bread which I will give is my Flesh, which I will give for the Life of the World. And when he inftituted the Holy Supper, Luke xxii. 19. He took Bread and brake it, faying, This is my Body which is given for you. And as in St. Matthew's Gofpel, This Cup is my Blood of the New Testament which is fhed for many for the Remiffion of Sins.

III. This Doctrine of Atonement for Sin ESSAY by his Death, as a Sacrifice, and the Accep- I. tance of it with God the Father, could not be fo well preached in Publick, before those very Facts were fulfilled, upon which this Doctrine is founded; for his Death was the the Foundation of this Atonement; his Refurrection and Afcenfion to Heaven, were the Proofs of its being accepted with God: Now it might have appear'd preposterous to our Saviour, who was divinely wife, to preach these Doctrines freely in Publick to the Multitude, before these Events appear'd in the World.

And even to his own Difciples he was not too free in the Communication of them, because, as John xvi. 12. He told them, he had many Things to teach them, but they could not bear them yet: It might have been the Means of raifing fome Prejudices in the Minds of his own Difciples; whereas he reserved fome of thefe Things to be taught in those forty Days, while he continued with them after his Refurrection, and fpake with them of the Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Acts i. 3.

And thence we may infer, that if we would learn the plainest and fulleft Account of the Gospel of Chrift, 'tis not enough for us to confult merely his publick Sermons, or the Hiftories of his Life, which are called the Four Gofpels, but we must read care

fully

ESSAY fully the Writings of the Apostles, after he I. went to Heaven; in which they taught these Doctrines more compleatly, which they had learnt from the Converse of Chrift, after his Refurrection, as well as by the pouring out of his own Spirit upon them in great Abundance, as he had promised.

it

But there is another Objection, which is borrowed from the Socinian Writings, which may be proper to give fome Reply to (viz.) That it does not agree to the moral Perfections of God to punifh Sin in a Surety; nor does it become the great God who is a Being of infinite Wisdom and Goodness and Equity, to appoint fuch a Way of Salvation for Men, as would neceffitate an innocent Creature to be exposed to so many sharp Sufferings as Chrift underwent, while the guilty Sinner fuffers nothing of all thefe Terrors, but is deliver'd from the feverest of them by the Death of Chrift.

In Anfwer to this, I defire it may be confider'd, that this Doctrine of the Expiation and Atonement for Sin by Chrift, is fo plainly and exprefly revealed and declared in the New Testament, by the Apoftles Paul, Peter, and John, as has been already shewn, and is fo frequently repeated in many Forms of Speech in the Sacred Writings, that it feems a very bold Imagination to fuppofe, that that could not be agreeable to the moral Perfections of God, or that it could not be

come

come God to appoint that, which in fo many ESSAY repeated Scriptures, is exprefly afferted to be I. done by Jefus Chrift, and by the Appointment of the Father. Can it be ever imagined, that the Great God did not know what would become every one of his Perfections better than we little Infects, just crept out of the Earth, and returning thither again, could teach him? Can it be ever thought, that the Eternal Mind did not know what was decent for a juft and a wife God to do, better than we can conceive or fuggeft?

I answer, in the fecond Place, that fome of the very Expreffions wherein this Doctrine is reprefented in Scripture are fuch as feem to be defigned on purpose to obviate this very Objection, particularly 2 Cor. v. 21. God has made him to be Sin for us who knew no Sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him, i. e. he made him to be a Sacrifice for Sin for us, that we might be deliver'd from the Guilt of Sin, and accepted as righteous in the Sight of God. Again, 1 Pet. iii. 18. Chrift alfo bath once fuffer'd for Sins, the Just for the Unjust, that he might bring us to God. Again, 1 Pet. ii. 21, 22. Chrift fuffer'd for us, who did no Sin, neither was Guile found in his Mouth, who his own felf bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree. Again, 1 John ii. 1, 2. Jefus Christ the Righteous: He is the Propitiation for our Sins. Thus you fee all thefe Texts declare

exprefly