The Days now before us, were feparated by the Piety of our Ancestors for holy Joy; were feparated, that, with humble thankful Hearts, we might give ourselves up to mutual Congratulation, to fpeak one to another of the great Things which the Redeemer hath done. But to think, how the approaching Holy-days will be spent in this Land; how the Body of this People, as it were set loose and cafting off all Restraint, are going with a determined Refolutenefs into all manner of Debauchery and Riot, as if a Licence to Sin upon this Occafion had been iffued from Heaven; how doth it pierce every faithful Heart with Sorrow, and cover the loyal Countenance with Sadness! My Brethren, what little Spot will be undefiled? What Corner of the Land where GOD will not be peculiarly dishonored, Chrift trampled upon with a more than double Portion of Infolence, and Vice wallow in mad Lawlessnefs? Horrid Expectation! But fhall not we escape? Shall I not hope, that this feafonable Word will check the Sallies of intemperate Mirth among you; and direct your Joy into a better Channel than that of drunken Carousals and abused Feafts? Your Hearts must be hard and favage, if what you have heard already, and what is now to be advanced, do not gain fo much as this with you, to be fober and confiderate a few Days. But to come nearer to the Subject:

If I have thus far prevailed; if Confcience. pronounces you guilty; and, from a deliberate Attention to the Confequences of Sin, Vengeance difmays you, as a Dishonorer of GOD's universal Government, and as defiled and unfit for his Prefence, having found that no other Way remains on your Part to glorify God, than by the eternal Suffering of his juft Indignation, and alfo that your rebellious Spirit hath taken to it fuch black and malignant Difpofitions, as when filled to the full Measure, (which they would neceffarily grow up to, for any Inclination or Power you have to restrain them) would leave you only a meet Companion for the accurfed Outcafts of Heaven: If, with a fair Inquiry, being juft to your eternal Interefts, you have weighed what hath been before faid, and are wondring at the Immenfity of Ruin which Sin hath introduced, furprised too with the Conviction of your own Helpleffnefs; my Doctrine ball drop upon you as the Rain on a parched Ground, my Speech shall diftil as the Dew, as the fmall Rain upon the tender Herb, and as the Showers upon the Grass, when I publish the Name of the Lord, the Rock of Salvation, whofe Work is perfect (m). Upon a fuppofed Conviction, now wrought in you, of your Sinfulness, of the Confequences of Sin, and of your utter Inability to remove them, I proceed to the

(m) Deut. xxxii. 2.

D 2

Third

Third general Propofition:

Cbrift is able to fuccour you, having taken away all these fearful Circumftances, which were feen to be the Event of Sin: And, witbal, be is willing to do fo.

Firft, HE is able to fuccour you: For he hath fully vindicated and restored God's in jured Glory.

Secondly, He hath obtained Power to renew the Hearts of Men to their original Purity.

Thirdly, He hath fatisfied the Demands of Divine Justice, and all this by his Obedience, even unto Death.

First, BUT you are ready to fay, Who is he that is fufficient for thefe Things? Who is the Perfon fo dignified, as by his fingle Might to fet out the Glory of God upon Earth in its native Grandeur and Splendor; by his own meritorious Doings, to bring all that Honor to the Divine Government, which it would have received from the univerfal Obedience, Loyalty, and Submiffion of the whole Race of Mankind? What is his Rank, that he should have Power to prevail with God to return, and, creating anew the Souls of Men, again to communicate Himself to them? Who is that wondrous One, that could undergo the Vengeance and the Puniment, which the Sins of Men deferved, and amply fatisfy the ftrict Demands of Justice?

Justice? Who is he, thus mighty to fave? Suffer me, ye highest Angels and Archangels, ye Cherubim and Seraphim; ye can only be his Attendants. Your kindeft Endeavours had left us without Hope. You prefume only to ftand at a Distance, and adore the Counfels of divine Wifdom; while. Admiration overfpreads you, and your Spirits cry with folemn Sentiment: "How deep thy Knowledge and Wisdom, O God! how unfearchable thy Judgments! how "paft finding out thy Ways!""

The Son of God was manifefted, that he might destroy the Works of the Devil (n); thạc is, to restore that original State, which Sm had overturned; to effect a Reconciliation between the Creator and the Creature, wherein the Majefty and Juftice of Gov fhould remain unhurt, and Man brought to Obedience and Submiffion, fhould live. God was manifeft in the Flesh (a), upon this important Reconciliation. The Word, which was in the Beginning with God, and was God by whom all Things were made, and without whom was not any Thing made that was made, was made Flesh, and dwelt among us (p). Im that Flesh which he had affumed, now Gop and Man myfterioufly united, he was amply qualified to restore that Glory to Gop upon

(*) 1 John iii. 8.
(P) John i. 3, 14.

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Earth, which Sin had fpoiled him of; to quicken the Souls of Men funk under the Dominion of Sin, and to bear the utmoft Inflictions of Juftice. And to thefe Ends, in that Flesh he fuffered Death upon the Crofs.

Confider him not now, as a Man merely of your own Nature; but as a Man of the fame Nature with you, united to the Deity. The Man thus dignified, free from all Spot of Sin, gave himself a willing Victim to the divine Glory, was made a Spectacle to Angels and Men, was lifted up to Shame, and refigned his Breath upon a Tree: and this with every Circumftance of Reproach, which could poffibly make Sin appear infamous, and put it to Shame. And what Infamy or Shame could Sin be brought to in the Face of the World, equal with the facrificing of the only innocent Man that was ever born, and this Man alfo avowed to be the Son of God, where-ever his Name should be heard, and that by a Death most vile and flave-like? Surely herein Sin fuffered Difgrace indeed; and the Glory of God's Government was

fully vindicated." As in buman Conftitutions, when fhaken by the Infolence of Rebellion, the Execution of fome capital Rebel recovers the Majefty and Firmnefs of Government, and makes Rebellion fhrink in the utmost Corners of the Land; fo much

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