IV. in giving the Law, he fays, Wherefore then SERM. ferveth the Law? It was added, because of Tranfgreffions, till the Seed fhould come to whom the Promife was made. What that Seed is, is plain from the 29th Verse, where those that belong to Chrift are faid to be of the Seed of Abraham. If ye be Chrift's, then are ye Abraham's Seed, and Heirs according to the Promife. And in the 4th and 5th Verses of the next Chapter he fays exprefly, that when the Fulness of Time was comc, God fent forth his own Son, made of a Woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the Adoption of Sons. Thus has the Divine Being, whom we have experienc'd to be infinite in Mercy, as well as in every other Attribute, when Man ftood before him a Convict by the Law of Nature, and had loft all Hopes of a Reconciliation with God upon any further Trial of his Obedience, given him a gentler Law, and fresh Hopes of Favour, by declaring, That tho' the Serpent had drawn the Woman aside from her Duty, and the Man had alfo join'd in the Tranfgreffion, yet that he fhould not finally prevail, but that, for the future, he would put Enmity between his Seed and her's; which has been fulfill'd, not only SERM. only in our Saviour, but in all good ChriIV. ftians ever fince; and that the Seed of the Woman should at length prevail over him, and fhake off his Dominion; that bleffed Seed which came down from Heaven to perform the Mercy promis'd to our Forefathers, and to remember God's holy Covenant; to perform the Oath that he swore to our Forefather Abraham, that he would give us, that we, being deliver'd out of the Hands of our Enemies, might ferve him without Fear, in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the Days of our Life. What we are to learn from all this, I come now, Thirdly to fhew. From the Fall of Man then we may learn how to account for all the Evil that is in the World, and by his Recovery for all the Good that is in it. To these two Springs are reducible the Happinefs and Mifery of every Mortal. Every evil Thought, every vain Imagination, derives its Original from thence, as every good Thought and Action, every Rivulet of Hope, from the other. And now we know the Original of Good and Evil, which, by the way, we know only by Revelation, no Scheme of Reason whatfoeyer having found out this grand Secret, J IV. Secret, we may know both what we are, SER M.. and how we came to be, what we are, and alfo what we may be, if we please; that we are indeed Creatures of the uppermoft Rank of Beings that are upon this Globe; but Oh! how fallen! how chang'd from human Nature in its State of Innocence! But then, tho' our Nature have got a different Stamp from what it received at its firft Formation, tho' the Characters are in a great measure obliterated, and the Divine Hand in fome fort defac'd, yet we know that the Divine Goodness has put us in a Method to recover the Impreffion, and revive the Image of God, in which we were first made, from the Injuries of Sin and Death; 10 good an Effect we now find from that early Prophecy, which is now fulfill'd at the Coming of Chrift, the promis'd Seed, into the World. This will naturally lead us to avoid two Things equally prejudicial to every good Man, i. e. Not to think too highly, or two meanly of ourselves; one leads to the high Road of Prefumption, the other to the dangerous Precipice of Defpair. As to the firft, There have not been wanting fome who haverais'd human Nature almoft to a Level with the divine, and have made Man self-sufficient, a Creature perfect and SERM independent, when at the fame time every IV. fingle Man in the World is a Contradiction to it. But whence fhould this Perfection come? Not from Nature, for Man broke that Law, and was condemn'd by it; nor yet by any subsequent Law, for every thing after the firft Tranfgreffion muft of course be upon the Foot of Grace. "Tis monftrous therefore to entertain fuch Notions of ourfelves, fo contrary to Fact and Experience, and which tend fo manifeftly to exclude God out of the Universe; for as far as we fet up for Perfection in ourselves, fo far we deny it to God. 'Tis a Perfection which we are not to thank God for: What Sort of Perfection this is, I leave to every proud Man to confider. Nor are there wanting others, who, on the contrary, run down Mankind to a Level with Brutes, as if, because there is fomewhat wrong in Man, there is therefore nothing good in him. The dwelling too much upon the Confideration of Man in his fallen State, without confidering enough his Redemption again by Chrift, has thrown many into a gloomy, melancholy Opinion of human Nature; whereas, tho' Man is fallen, yet he is not loft; tho' he is a Sinner, and the Law allows no Pardon, yet the Gospel does. Man is therefore upon a noble Footing ftill; for tho' he has Infirmities enough to SERM. pull down his Pride, yet, through the Gift, IV. of God, he is enabled to obtain eternal Life. |