certain of these divinely inspired teachers to commit their doctrines to writing, in epiftles, fome of which they addreffed to particular churches, others to particular persons, and others to believers in general; all which are still in our poffeffion. And that nothing might be wanting to the edification of the faithful, and to the converfion of unbelievers, Luke, the writer of one of the gospels, hath also written an history of the apoftles, which he hath entitled their Acts; in which the discourses they delivered, and the great miracles they wrought for the confirmation of the gospel, not only in Judea, but in the different provinces of the Roman empire where they travelled, are faithfully narrated. In the fame history we have an account of the oppofition which the apostles met with, especially from the Jews, and of the evils which the preaching of the gospel brought on them, and of their founding numerous churches in the chief cities of the moft civilized provinces of the Roman empire. And as, in the courfe of his narration, Luke hath mentioned many particulars relating to the natural and political ftate of the countries, which are the scene of his hiftory, and to the perfons who governed them at that time, the accuracy of his narration, even in the minuteft circumftances, is a striking proof of the truth of his history, and of the author's being, what he calls himself, an eye-witness of many of the tranfactions which he hath recorded. So that, in my opinion, all antiquity cannot furnish a narrative, of the fame length, in which there are as many internal marks of authenticity, as in Luke's history of the Acts of the apostles.

Seeing then, in the four gospels, and in the Acts, we have the hiftory of our Lord's miniftry, and of the fpreading of the gofpel in the first age, written by inspiration; and feeing, in the apoftolical epistles, the doctrines and precepts of our religion are fet forth by the like infpiration; these writings ought to be highly esteemed by all christians, as the rule of their faith and manners; and no doctrine ought to be received as an article of faith, nor any precept acknowledged as obligatory, but what is contained in thefe writings. With refpect, however, to the gofpels, and the Acts of the Apostles, let it be remarked, that, while the greatest regard is due to them, especially to the gofpels, because they contain the words of Chrift himself, we

are

are not in them to look for a full account of the gospel scheme. Their profeffed design is to give, not a complete delineation of our religion, but the hiftory of its founder, and of that illuftrious display which he made of his glory as the Son of God and Saviour of the world, together with an account of the spreading of the gospel after our Lord's afcention. The gofpel doctrine is to be found complete only in the epiftles, where it is exhibited with great accuracy by the apostles, to whom the Holy Ghost res vealed it, as Christ had promised.

I have faid that Paul excelled his brethren apoftles, by reafon of the abundance of the revelations that were given to him, By this, however, I do not mean, that his difcourfes and writings are fuperior to theirs in point of authority. The other apostles, indeed, have not entered fo deep into the christian scheme as he hath done; yet, in what they have written, being guided by the fame Spirit which inspired him, their declarations and decisions, fo far as they go, are of equal authority with his. Nevertheless it must be remembered, that it is St. Paul chiefly, who, in his epiftles, as fhall be fhewn immediately, hath explained the gofpel economy in its full extent, hath fhewn its connection with the former difpenfations, and hath defended it against the objections by which infidels, both in ancient and modern times, have endeavoured to overthrow it.

In confirmation of this account of the fuperior illumination of the apostle Paul, I now obferve, that the greatness of the mercy of God, as extending to all mankind, was made known to him before it was difcovered to the other apoftles, namely, in the commiffion which he received at his converfion, to preach to the Gentiles the good news of falvation through faith, that they might receive forgiveness of fin, and inheritance among them that are fanctified by faith, Acts xxvi. 18. So that he was the first of the apoftles, who, by Christ's command, declared that faith, and not circumcifion, was neceffary to the falvation of the idolatrous Gentiles. And as St. Paul carly communicated to his brethren apostles the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, (Gal. ii. 2.) it seems to have been by him that Chrift first made known to the other apostles the extent of the divine mercy to mankind. For that the apoftles, befides discovering to each other the revelations which they VOL. I. received,

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received, read each others writings, is plain from the character which Peter hath given of Paul's epiftles, 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16.

It is St. Paul who hath informed us, that fin and death were permitted to enter into the world, and pass through to all men, by the disobedience of one man; because God determined, by the obedience of a greater man, to bestow resurrection from the dead on all men, and to give all an opportunity of obtaining righteousness and life under a more gracious covenant than the former, procured for them by the merit of that obedience.

It is St. Paul who, in his learned epiftle to the Hebrews, hath largely explained and proved the priesthood and interceffion of Christ, and hath fhewn that his death is confidered by God as a facrifice for fin; not in a metaphorical fenfe, and in accommodation to the prejudices of mankind, but on account of its real efficacy in procuring pardon for penitents: that Chrift was constituted a prieft by the oath of God; that all the priests and facrifices that have been in the world, but especially the levitical priests and facrifices, were emblems of the priesthood, facrifice, and interceffion of Chrift: and, that facrifice was inftituted originally to preferve the memory of the revelation which God made at the fall, concerning the falvation of mankind through the death of his Son, after he should become the feed of the

woman.

It is this great apoftle who hath most fully explained the doctrine of justification, and fhewn, that it confifts in our being delivered from death, and in our obtaining eternal life, through the obedience of Chrift: that no finner can obtain this justification meritoriously through works of law: that though faith is required as the condition thereof, justification is still the free gift of God, through Jefus Chrift; because no works which men can perform, not even the work of faith itself, hath any merit with God to procure pardon for those who have finned that this method of juftification having been established at the fall, is the way in which mankind, from the beginning to the end of time, are justified: and that, as such, it is attefted both by the law and by the prophets.

It is St. Paul who, by often difcourfing of the juftification of Abraham, hath fhewn the true nature of the faith which justifies finners that it confifts in a strong defire to know, and in a fin

cere

cere difpofition to do, the will of God that it leads the believer implicitly to obey the will of God when made known: and that even the heathens are capable of attaining this kind of faith, and of being faved through Chrift. Alfo, it is this apoftle who, by penetrating into the depth of the meaning of the covenant with Abraham, hath discovered the nature and greatness of those rewards, which God taught mankind, even in the first ages, to expect from his goodness; and who hath fhewn that the gofpel, in its chief articles, was preached to Abraham and to the Jews; nay, preached to the antediluvians, in the promise, that the feed of the woman should bruise the head of the ferpent. So that the gospel is not a revelation of a new method of juftification, but a more full publication of the method of juftification mercifully established by God for all mankind from the very beginning.

It is the apostle Paul chiefly who, by proving the principal: doctrines of the gospel from the writings of Mofes and the prophets, hath fhewn, that the fame God who spake to the fathers by the prophets, did, in the laft days of the Mofaic difpenfation, speak to all mankind by his Son: that the various difpenfations of religion, under which mankind have been placed, are all parts of one great fcheme, formed by God for faving penitent finners: and, in particular, that there is an intimate connection between the Jewish and the Christian revelations; that the former was a preparation for the latter; confequently, thofe writers fhew great ignorance of the divine difpenfations, who, on account of the objections to which the law of Moses, as a rule of justification, is liable, and on account of the obfcurity of the ancient prophecies, wish to disjoin the Jewish and Chriftian revelations. But all who make this attempt, do it in oppofition to the testimony of Jesus himself, who commanded the Jews to fearch their own fcriptures, because they are they which teftify of him, (John v. 39.): who, in his conversation with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, beginning at Mofes and all the prophets, expounded unto them, from all the fcriptures, the things concerning himself, (Luke xxiv. 27.); and who told them, ver. 44, That all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Mofes, and in the prophets, and in the Pfalms,

concerning him. The attempt is made in opposition also to the teftimony of the apostle Peter, who, fpeaking to Cornelius of Christ, faid, To him give all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whofoever believeth in him fhall receive remiffion of fins; Acts x. 43. The Jewish and Christian revelations, therefore, are fo closely connected, that if the former is removed as false, the latter muft, of neceffity, fall to the ground."

It is the apoftle of the Gentiles, who hath fet the Sinaitic covenant, or law of Mofes, in a proper light, by fhewing, that it was no method of juftification, even to the Jews, but merely their national law, delivered to them by God, not as governor of the universe, but as king in Ifrael, who had feparated them from the reft of mankind, and placed them in Canaan under his own immediate government, as a nation, for the purpose of preferving his oracles and worship, amidst that universal corruption which had overspread the earth. Accordingly, this apoftle hath proved, that, feeing the law of Mofes contained a more perfect account of the duties of morality, and of the demerit of fin, than is to be found in any other national law, instead of justifying, it condemned the Jews by its curfe; efpecially as it prescribed no facrifice of any real efficacy to cleanse the confciences of finners, nor promised them pardon in any method whatsoever: and that, by the rigour of its curfe, the faw of Mofes laid the Jews under the neceffity of seeking justification from the mercy of God through faith, according to the tenor of the covenant with Abraham, which was the gospel and religion of the Jews. Thus, by the lights which St. Paul hath held up to us, the impious railings of the Manicheans against the law of Mofes, and against the God of the Jews, the author of that law, on the fuppofition that it was a rule of jùftification, are feen to be without foundation; as are the objections likewife which modern deifts have urged against the Mofaic revelation, on account of God's dealings with the Ifraelites.

It is St. Paul who hath most largely difcourfed concerning the tranfcendant greatness of the Son of God, above angels and all created beings whatever; and who hath fhewn, that, as the reward of his humiliation and death in the human nature, he hath, in that nature, obtained the government of the world, for the good of his church, and will hold that government till he

hath