SERM.VI. I fhall in the laft Place, confider the Extent of the Redemption.

It, I fhall endeavour to establish and confirm the true Scripture Doctrine of the Satisfaction.

And this I fhall do,by enquiring what Neceffity there was for a Satisfactionby fhewing-that our Saviour was the only proper Perfon to fatisfy for our Sins, as he only could merit Forgiveness for themthat his Merits might be imputed to usand our Iniquities born by him; ----- and by removing Objections.

That there was a Neceffity for a Satiffaction; appears very ftrongly from Scripture Evidence, the only Evidence, which perhaps we are capable of, in Matters of fo high a Nature. For unless there had been an abfolute Neceffity, unless there had been a Knot too hard for any but the Deity to unty; a God indeed, who was the Brightness of his Father's Glory, and the express Image of his Perfon, would not have defcended upon the Scene of this World, to unravel the perplexing Difficulty. Certainly a Being of infinite Benevolence, would not have exposed his

only

only Son, in whom he was well pleafed, to SERM. VI. needlefs, as well as undeserved Mifery.d Again: It is faid, it is not poffible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats, which have no inherent Worth and Efficacy,

bould take away Sins, or the Penalty of Sin, Heb. x. 4. Therefore it was neceffary, that a Perfon of inconceivable Dignity, and fuperior Excellency, fhould fatisfy the Demands of Juftice, and procure for us the Endearments of divine Mercy. Him bath God fet forth to be a Propitiation for Sin; to declare bis Righteousness, or to difplay his Justice, for the Remiffion of Sins that are paft; that he might be juft, and the Juftifier of them, that believe in Jefus Chrift.

To reject a Satisfaction thus strongly proved from Scripture, merely because we do not perceive the abfolute Fitness and Neceffity of it, by any Evidence from the Nature of the Thing; is intirely to fet afide the Divine Authority. For a Regard to the divine Authority, can only be shewn by affenting to Propofitions inevident in themselves, as having his Sanction, or being revealed by him. To Propofitions evident in themselves we should have affented, whether revealed by him or not; nay, if they € e 2 had

SERM.VI. had been difcovered to us by the most aban doned Sinner, or notorious Liar. It is aftonishing therefore to find Perfons afferting, in exprefs Words, that it is not the Declaration of God, but the Fitness of the Thing declared, which is the proper Ground of our Affent, i. e. they will not believe the Deity affirming a Propofition, unless they have fuch a clear and distinct Percep tion of the Fitness of the Thing affirmed; as must induce their Belief, whether the Deity had affirmed it, or no. Modefter Men will be inclined to think, that all the Declarations of an infinitely wife Being imply a Fitness; a Fitness in the Nature of the Thing, but unperceived by us, whose Ideas do not reach the whole Compafs and Extent of Fitneffes and Unfitneffes. A Man of fuperior Senfe may discover a Fitnefs, that escaped the Obfervation of one of lefs Penetration: An Angel may discern a Fitness, which escapes a Man of the highest Reach of Thought: And the Deity muft perceive an Infinity of Fitnesses, which are undiscoverable by the most exalted Archangel. And here I would obferve, once for All, that most of the Objections, which I have met with against Scripture,

Scripture, proceed from hence; that Men SERM. VI. fet up for Free-Thinkers, in Cafes where they can be but Half-Thinkers, or even less than that. Particularly in this Cafe, we, who fee but fome fcattered Links of the universal Chain, fome disjointed Parts. of the whole united Syftem, cannot perceive, what is best and most fitting for the Good of the Whole; and therefore ought to acquiefce in his Declaration, who certainly does. Our Conclufion is but the Sum total of our Reafoning; and as a Sum can never be juftly caft up, when any one Particular is omitted: So neither can the Sum total of our Reafoning be juft and exact, when any one intermediate Idea, which ought to be taken into the Account, is dropped or wanting. What may seem to us to have no Fitnefs, who view only fome detached Branches of God's univerfal Kingdom; might appear very reasonable, could we fee through the whole Contexture of Things. Juft as fome loofe difjointed Paffages from Scripture, appear odd and unpromifing by themfelves; and yet are very beautiful, and pertinent; the Thread, Connexion, and Dependency of one Thing on another, being confidered, Nothing

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SERM. VI. Nothing can match the Ignorance and Infufficiency of those Perfons, except it be their great Self-Sufficiency, who vainly imagine, they have Compass of Thought enough, to grafp all that is neceffary to a clear and determinate Refolution of the Point in Debate. I have often thought, in how ridiculous a Light we muft appear, to intelligent Beings of a fuperior Rank, while we are thus meddling with Matters that are too high for us. A Set of Children, who fhould form Schemes to govern Europe, to adjust the interfering Interefts of contending Princes, and to direct their Sovereign in complicated Cafes, upon the most critical Emergencies; could not appear more abfurd to the ableft Statesmen; than we must do to them, when we fit in Judgment upon God's Difpenfations, fcan the whole Plan of his Providence, and determine, what his infinite Wisdom ought to do. No, Let Angels and Archangels defire to look into, and contemplate, the Nature of our Redemption: Let Man be humbly content to enjoy the Benefits of it. When God fhall unfold the whole Scheme of his Adminiftration; when he shall lay, before the whole Syftem of intelligent Be