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for ever. Those that are upright and fincere already, have the promise of spiritual growth and improvement. Pfalm XCII. 1214. The righteous fhall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Thofe that be planted in the boufe of the Lord, fhall flourish in the courts of our God; they shall fill bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing. Ifa. XL. 31. They that wait upon the Lord fhall renew their strength; they fhall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. There are alfo many gracious promifes of fupport and comfort under trouble and affliction. Pfalm XLI. 3. the Pfalmift fpeaking of the righteous man fays, The Lord will frengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make all his bed in his fickness. Isaiah XLIII. 2. When thou paffeft through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkeft through the fire, thou Shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

If we come to the new teftament, we fhall find the fame promises repeated, with the addition of more and E 2 greater,

greater; e. g. the promise of the Holy Spirit, and of eternal life. The former of these is promised, Luke XI. 13. If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that afk him. *Indeed our Saviour doth not inform us in this place, for what end and purpose his heavenly Father would give the Holy Spirit unto them who afk it: but that may be eafily collected from other places of fcripture, where good works are afcribed to the Holy Spirit as their author. Galat. V. 22, The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-fuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance. Eph. V. 9. The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth? Now if thefe virtues be the fruits of the Spirit, we can no longer be ignorant of the end for which God beftows his Spirit upon men: it must certainly be to produce thofe virtues in them. But the great promise of the gospel is eternal

*For internal peace, fee Philip. IV. 6, 7. John XIV. 27. For increase of knowledge and of grace, fee John VII. 17. Matt. XXV. 29. Philip. I. 6. For comfort under affliction, fee 2 Corinth. I. 3, 5. Matt. V. 4.

life;

life; which is most clearly revealed in various places of the new teftament. I shall mention but two: John VI. 40. This is the will of him that fent me, that every one who feeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raife him up at the last day. Rom. II. 7. God will render to every man according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in well-doing feek for glory, honour, and immortality; eternal life.

Such are the promises of God's word. How then can the man who hides it in his heart, fin against God? who can meditate upon these promises, and not be fired with a zeal to obtain them? and who can expect to obtain them, that practises vice and wickedness? Are they not powerful motives to virtue and goodness? and must not that man be prodigiously ftupid, who knows them, and believes the truth of them, and yet is not excited by them to the practice of religion?

IV. And lastly: The word of God contains many fevere and terrible threatnings against wicked and impious E 3

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men and therefore he who hides it in his heart will not fin against God. I will read you three portions of scripture to this purpose. Prov. I. 24-28. Because I have called, and ye refused, I have ftretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but ye have fet at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I alfo will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as defolation, and your de ftruction cometh as a whirlwind, when diftrefs and anguish cometh upon you; then they shall call upon me, but I will not answer, they fhall feek me early, but they shall not find me. Matt. XXV. ver. 46. And these, (i.e. the wicked, for of them our Saviour was fpeaking in the verses immediately preceding; and thefe) fhall go away into everlasting punishment. Rom. II. 8. God will render unto them who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. Thefe threatnings are enough to deter any wife and confiderate man from the practice of fin; and he who in despight of them will gratify his lufts, and give himself up to a vicious courfe, can be accounted no other than a fool or a mad man.

Thus

Thus have we taken a fhort view of the doctrine of the bible, and endeavoured to fhow that the diligent study thereof has a direct tendency to make a man abstain from all vice and wickednefs, and practife religion and virtue. The notions which it gives us of the divine being, the precepts which it enjoins, the rewards which it proposes to the righteous, and the punishments with which it threatens the wicked, are all calculated for the promoting of these ends; and cannot fail to produce them in a serious mind.

I will now make fome inferences, and fo conclude.

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I. Is the ftudy of the fcriptures fo excellent a means to preferve from fin? Then, hence I infer, that the scriptures are a very excellent book, This goes a great way towards the proving them to be divinely inspired, tho by itself it is not fufficient. For it cannot be denied that fome of the heathen writers give us very juft notions of God, deliver many excellent precepts of virtue and morality, and fay many moving things about the happiness of good men, and the mifery of wicked; and yet we

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