2.-&.M-^--^ 
 
 '3 'Cj2 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 •VP'mr?f/n/ /y. T\ . XXXxAVrCWA 
 
 
 .S-;*^//-. 
 
A DISCOURSE, 
 
 DELITEHED AT THE OPENING OF 
 
 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 On the 2\stof May, A. D. 1 829. 
 
 BY EZRA STILUS ELY, D. D. 
 
 MODERATOR OF THE LAST ASSEMBLY. 
 
 Rom. XV. 19. "I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ." 
 
 MY fathers and brethren in the Christian Ministry, 
 
 We believe ourselves to have been called by the providence, 
 word, and Spirit of our God, to undertake the duties of the Sacred 
 office. Of these duties, that of preaching the word undoubtedly 
 holds the first place. We are assured also, that, in a little time, 
 we shall appear before the Judge of the whole earth, to give an ac- 
 count of the manner in which we have executed our stewardship. 
 Must we not then habitually aim to preach the truth, the whole 
 truth, and nothing but the truth, so far as we know it to be reveal- 
 ed in the sacred Scriptures, and so to speak that a great multitude 
 may believe? Should we not copy the example of Paul; that in 
 the last day we may affirm concerning the places in which we have 
 ministered the word, as he did of the region from Jerusalem, and 
 round about unto lUyricum, that we have ftdly preached the Gospel 
 of Christ? 
 
 Permit me, as one who would strive together with you for the 
 furtherance of the Gospel, and be a helper of your faith and joy, to 
 show what I conceive to be necessary for us, as ministers of Christ, 
 if we would adopt the language of the text on our death-bed, and 
 at the bar of judgment. We must preach the same good news of 
 salvation by Jesus, Avhich Paul preached; and we must imitate him 
 in the manner of his preaching. 
 
 The SUBJECT of our preaching must be the Gospel of Christ. 
 Because gospel signifies good news, son\c have confined the preaching 
 of it to the exhibition of those great and precious promises, where- 
 by we arc made partakers of the divine moral nature; but Christ 
 *' came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, 
 and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: 
 repent ye, and believe the Gospel." Hence we may conclude, that 
 every thing revealed concerning God and his kingdom, and the 
 duty of sinners to repent, and believe the truth concerning the way 
 of salvation, must be considered as appertaining to that Gospel 
 which its Divine Author taught. If the Gospel relates to Christ, 
 we must show who Christ is, and what ho has performed. This 
 cannot be done without teaching that God is, and is a rewarder of 
 all who diligently seek him; nor can we preach Jesus as the Sa- 
 
 A 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 viour of his people from their sins, without pourtrayiug the- cha 
 racter of sinners, and the manner in which they become interested 
 in that redemption which has been effected by the Son of God, 
 agreeably to the counsels of the Eternal Father. 
 
 We are not to suppose that men Avithout the Gospel will become 
 acquainted with the fundamental truths of Christianity; but, in 
 thought, accompanying Paul into the presence of learned Greeks 
 and Romans, of illiterate pagans, of scoffing Jews, and of little 
 children, we must consider how he taught every man; and, in like 
 manner, must instruct children, philosophers, and such persons as 
 the Bible denominates /oo/s. True it is, that in a Christian country, 
 parents, and other teachers who do not sustain the ministerial of- 
 fice, inculcate usually the first lessons concerning God, who made 
 the world ; and so far as they teach the fundamental principles of 
 religion, may be accounted labourers together with us; but we are 
 not to presume that our hearers have learned any thing aright, and 
 therefore neglect the simplest doctrines of the oracles of God. Should 
 we require them to believe, without first teaching them what they 
 are to believe; or to repent, without explaining the nature of evange- 
 lical repentance; or to submit, without unfolding the moral charac- 
 ter and government of the Supreme Being, to whose revealed will 
 submission is due, we should be justly charged with tantalizing 
 miserable men. 
 
 The following is a summary of the truths which must be assert- 
 ed, illustrated, and applied by every one who would fully preach the 
 Gospel of Christ. 
 
 There is one only, self-existent, increated, eternal, perfect, holy, 
 just, good, wise, merciful, omniscient, and almighty God; of one, 
 indivisible, pure, spiritual essence; who subsists, acts, and is re- 
 vealed to us, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This Supreme Be- 
 ing once existed alone in infinite space, and, in his own time, ac- 
 cording to his own unchanging purposes concerning all his own 
 actions, produced whatever substance besides himself has being. 
 This Creator of all material and spiritual beings which have begun 
 to exist, exercises a providential government over all the works of 
 his hands, in a way exactly suited to the different natures which he 
 has given to different substances. Material substances are regulat- 
 ed according to established laws of matter; and intelligent, sensi- 
 tive, voluntary, efficient minds, are the subjects of a mental govern- 
 ment, by which ihe counsels of God are accomplished, without 
 imposing any physical necessity to secure the certainly foreknown 
 instances of their fiec agency. In the administration of his provi- 
 dential government, free agents of angelic and human orders have 
 been put on trial, under moral laws revealed to them, by some one 
 or more of God's various methods of communicating the knowledge 
 ot truth and duty. Any law given to an intelligent, free, voluntary 
 agent, lor the regulation of his mental activity, is a moral law. Any 
 jnental operation, forbidden by the moral law of God, is a sin; and 
 all transgressions of the law, are comprehended under this generic 
 term, bvery instance of activity which is required by the moral 
 uw, IS a duty, because it is conduct due to God; and every act of 
 
i 3 ) 
 
 »:luty is called righteousness, from its conformity to the rule pre- 
 scribed. A state, habit, disposition, or moral nature, resulting 
 from, and inducing to, sin, is sinful, and maybe termed depravity, 
 or moral evil. 
 
 Some of the angelic creatures of God have not kept their first 
 estate; but, before the rebellion of man, sinned against their Maker, 
 and are reserved in chains, under darkness, to the judgment of the 
 great day. Other angels have continued to discharge their duty, 
 and are the servants of Christ in his mediatorial government, being 
 sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. 
 
 When the Almighty had made the first human pair, a male and 
 a female, each consisting of a material body, and of an immaterial 
 soul, he revealed to them, by personal discourse, through the in- 
 strumentality of an assumed bodily form, after the image of Avhich 
 Adam had been made, so much of the moral law as he deemed 
 suitable for their probation; and the duty required of them, cor- 
 responded with the extent of the revelation aftorded. 
 
 Endowed with all the requisitey«ci<//ies and the liberty of a moral 
 agent, and possessing in his original estate the godlike attributes 
 of knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, Adam abode not 
 m honour and felicity; but, through the temptation of an evil angel, 
 called the Devil, Satan, and from the use which he made, in his 
 work of seduction, of one of the serpentine race, the Old Serpent, 
 he trangressed the moral law under which he was placed. His 
 s;iiilty that is, liability to punishment, now corresponded exactly with 
 the measure of his criminality ; and his criminality, fully to be com- 
 ])rehendcd only by the Supreme Lawgiver, was measured by that 
 portion of the holy, just, and good moral law, which was made 
 known to him, and against which he had wilfully rebelled. The 
 first sin of the first man, Adam, immediately produced a change in 
 his moral character and condition. No longer righteous and enti- 
 tled to life by obedience, he had become unrighteous and con- 
 demned. His kind Heavenly Father had now become his condemn- 
 ing Judge; and his moral nature being changed by his first sin, he 
 hated and dreaded the very Being whom he had before loved. His 
 estate of primeval blessedness was instantly exchanged for one of 
 predisposition to sin, of guilt, and misery. His natural desire for hap- 
 piness, made him view his Maker with disaffection, when he regaded 
 him as angry with the wicked every day; and had no subsequent 
 revelation been made to him, man's heart would have remained at 
 enmity against the Holy One, like the heart of a devil forever. 
 Subsequent disclosures, however, of divine truth and human duty, 
 were made to our first parents, and frequently to some of their pos- 
 terity; until in the time of Moses, a record was made under the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit, of the most important events which 
 had transpired, and of the chief revelations which had been made 
 from Heaven during the twenty-five preceding centuries. In the 
 lime of that leader of Israel, men began to possess, for the first 
 time, a written revelation; having been in all previous ages de- 
 pendent on their own reason, some personal communications from 
 Jehovah, and the oral tradition of his instructions to the patriarchs. 
 I'rom the time of Moses until the last days of John the Divine, God, 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 at sundry times, and in diverse manners, spake to men by his pro- 
 phets, apostles, and Son, and caused the pages of inspired truth 
 to be giadiially produced by holy men, who wrote as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost, until the whole volume became com- 
 plete. These Scriptures contain the revealed will of God, for the 
 regulation of human conduct, and the exhibition of the only way 
 of salvation for sinners which has been provided. Every particular 
 disclosure of human duty made in the Holy Bible, may be considered 
 as a development in part of the moral law of God, and the whole 
 volume of inspiration teaches us all which we ought to believe and 
 practice, to secure perfect, everlasting bliss. 
 
 The volume of inspired truth teaches us, that the Lord God re- 
 garded Adam as the head and representative of his race, in the pro- 
 bation to which he was subjected, in such a manner, that " by one 
 man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death pass- 
 ed upon all men, for that all have sinned ;'\not ;je/'sona%, "af- 
 ter the similitude of Adam's transgression," but semmally, and re- 
 pvescntativdy, through their fcederal head. "Cursed is the ground 
 for thy sake," said the Lord to Adam, after he sinned; and subse- 
 rjuently he has taught us, that every instance of suffering and death 
 which occurs, should be considered as a penal evil inflicted on the 
 same account. Obnoxiousness to evil for Adam's sake, is properly 
 termed the guilt of Adam's first sbi: and our first father maybe 
 considered as suffering for his transgression, not only through all 
 of his posterity, but through the brutes which were made for his 
 use, and have been cursed no less than the ground on his account. 
 This connexion between the first sin of Adam, and all the woes of 
 our fallen world, will not render, however, the personal sufferings 
 of his sinning children less the correction of their own actual sins. 
 The san^e evil may be the punishment of the sin of a father, and 
 of his child; just as the peculiar curse devolved upon Eve and her 
 daughters may be regarded as the special penalty of Eve's transgres- 
 sion, and at the same time as a part of the comprehensive penalty 
 denounced against Adam and his whole family. The execution of 
 the divine threatening to Adam, corresponds exactly with God's 
 understanding and intention in relation to it. His providence and 
 word also show what connexion subsists between the erring first 
 man and his posterity; for all men begin life without any original 
 righteousness, in just such a sinful, guilty, and miserable estate, 
 as that into which Adam fell; with all the requisite faculties of 
 moral agents in a deteriorated condition, and with such a depraved 
 moral nature and mental disposition, as renders it co-tain, though 
 not a matter of physical necessity, that they will do nothing spirit- 
 ually good of themselves, and that their moral conduct Avill be evil, 
 and only evil, continually, until they are renewed by divine grace. 
 The whole history of redemption, beginning Avith the first pro- 
 nuse of a seed which should bruise the serpent's head, reflects 
 light upon the moral law, and teaches us, that before the founda- 
 tion ol the world, a vicarious obedience was contemplated, and 
 that the denunciation of death had respect both to the death which 
 Jesus should die for his people, and to the death which all the 
 hnally impenitent and unbelieving shall experience as the due re- 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 Avard of their crimes. Every transs^rcssion of the law, was to be 
 punished either in the criminal, or in his substitute; and all right- 
 eousness rendered by one for himself, or by the Lord, his right- 
 eousness in his stead, was to meet with its suitable rcAvard in the 
 person for whom the righteousness was wrought and accepted. Had 
 not a substitution in obedience and punishment been originally con- 
 templated by the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge, the salvation of a 
 sinner would have been incompatible with the essential justice and 
 moral trovernment of the Deity; and the relinquishment of the pe- 
 nalty of the law, in relation to any sinner, would have been a depart- 
 ure from truth and equity. 
 
 The centre and soul of all the revelations from God to man, con- 
 cerning the salvation of sinners, may be discovered in such as the 
 following divine and cheering assurances — "God so loved the 
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The gift of 
 God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. He v/as wound- 
 ed for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : the 
 chastisement of our peace v/as upon him; laid with his stripes we 
 are healed. The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. 
 It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief. He 
 shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his 
 knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall 
 bear their iniquities. He bare t!ie sin of many, and made interces- 
 sion for the transgressors. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the 
 ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. Surely 
 shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even 
 to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall 
 be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, 
 and shall glory. This is the name whereby he shall be called. The 
 Lord our Righteousness. By the obedience of ONE, shall many 
 be made righteous. Where sin abounded, grace did much more 
 abound : that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace 
 reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. We 
 thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that 
 he died for all; that they which live should not henceforth live unto 
 themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. God 
 was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing 
 their trespasses to them; and hath committed unto us the word 
 of reconciliation. Now, then, we are amI)assadors for Christ, as 
 though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead 
 be ye reconciled to God ; for he hath made him to be sin for us, 
 who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of 
 God in him. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, 
 being made a c\irse for us. When the fulness of time was come, 
 God sent forth his 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. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the 
 Spirit of his Son into your hearts. God for Christ's sake hath for- 
 given you. God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith 
 ^ lie loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 logellicr with Christ ; (by grace ye are saved ;) and hath raised us 
 up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesiis^ If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also 
 live with him. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him 
 up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all 
 ihiiip-s? Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. We have redemp- 
 tion through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. In him dwell- 
 eth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete 
 in him, which is the head of all principality and power." 
 
 From these and similar passages of the Bible, we are authorized 
 to teach, that God, as the Father, in which character he is greater 
 than the Son, ordained him to be the Saviour of sinners; and God 
 as the Son, in which character he is inferior to the Father, w^as 
 sent into the world to die, the just for the unjust, that through his 
 death they for whom he died, might become dead to the law as a 
 covenant of works, and alive unto God through his covenant of 
 grace. Jesus Christ was the true God, by possession of the in- 
 created. unproceeding,indivisible, independent divine essence, which 
 was so united to the human soul and l:)ody of the man Christ Jesus, 
 that both natures constituted but one person. In that one person 
 was vested the office, and by him was performed the whole work, 
 of the only Mediator between God and man. The design of the 
 whole work of the Mediator was to glorify God by the salvation of 
 men. That Christ might accomplish the end designed, he under- 
 took to become obedient to the preceptive and penal demands of 
 the moral law, in behalf of all who shall be saved; and for them he 
 was obedient even unto the death of the cross, the endurance of the 
 wrath and curse of God due to the sins which he bore, and the 
 humiliation of the grave. In virtue of this covenanted obedience, 
 performed in the time appointed, Christ Jesus in his mediatorial 
 office was made Lord and Judge of all ; so that God, as the Father, 
 neither rules nor judges any intelligent being, whether in heaven, 
 earth, or hell. Christ Jesus "being in the form of God, thought it 
 not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputa- 
 tion, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in 
 the likeness of men ; and, being found in fashion as a man, he hum- 
 bled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of 
 the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given 
 him a name which is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus 
 every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
 and things under the earth; and that everv tongue should confess 
 that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." " The 
 Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the 
 Son." By his mediatorial obedience, Christ has merited all the 
 distinction and honour to be enjoyed by him, as head over all things 
 lor his church for ever; and whatever he has merited will be ren- 
 dered to him by the Father, who has divided him a portion with 
 the great and the spoil of the strong. The pleasure of the Lord 
 shall prosper in his hand, and as King of kings he "shall be satis- 
 licd." 
 
 To limit the merit and the residts of his mediatorial obedience to 
 Jhc salvation of his people, would exclude Christ as Redeemer from 
 
( - ) 
 
 the government of the universe; yet it was by his obedience to the 
 preceptive and penal demands of the law, as a shepherd for his 
 sheep, as the head for the members of his body, as a surety for 
 those whom he represented in his humiliation, that he became the 
 author of everlasting salvation to all who obey him, and at the 
 same time universal governor and judge. His meritorious and 
 strictly legal redemption of his people, entitled him to the crown 
 which adorns his head, and the sword which the Almighty has 
 girded to his thigh, no less than to the sceptre which he extends 
 in mercy to all penitents. In the exercise of the power of Supreme 
 Potentate, vested in him as a reward of his toils, and as the means 
 of effecting the subjugation of his purchased possession, the Re- 
 deemer grants a temporary reprieve to every sinner of mankind ; 
 which affords space for repentance; and in this day of salvation, he 
 enlightens, more or less, every one coming into the world; eithei- 
 through natural conscience, the dispensations of his providence, 
 oral traditions of revelation, or by the written word, and the more 
 direct influences of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 In his government of sinners the Son glorifies the Father, not 
 merely by securing the salvation of those who believe; but by his 
 wisdom, patience, and forbearance in relation to those who destroy 
 themselves. He proposes to them truths which are worthy of uni- 
 versal reception and approbation; concerning the salvation of be- 
 lievers, and the damnation of all who die in the final neglect of the 
 great salvation. Every part of his testimony is worthy of credit; 
 and he who i-ejects it is chargeable with the affront of making God 
 a liar, whereby he aggravates his crimes, and the amount of his 
 everlasting punishment; whether the truth rejected be a denuncia- 
 tion of wrath, or the promise of endless felicity. As a King, Christ 
 commands universal obedience to the moral law so far as it is re- 
 vealed; and the first of the ten commandments makes faith, Godly 
 sorrow, hope, love, and cordial and practical conformity to the 
 Gospel, of every one, whether renewed in the temper of his mind 
 or not, provided the glad tidings of great joy have ever saluted his 
 ears. 
 
 Having obtained a right by his mediatorial obedience to reign as 
 Lord of all, Jesus Christ exercises a gracious, and yet strictly just 
 moral government over all the sinners of our race; and will ulti- 
 mately i-ender to every one according to his deeds. He is good tu 
 all, and showers down his mercies even on the evil and unthankful. 
 He exercises all with judgment, and tries man under this process 
 of heavenly discipline, every moment. The natural tendency of the 
 means of grace which the Saviour Cxod employs with sinners is to con- 
 vert and sanctify them ; and did they not resist,, quench,, and grieve the 
 Holy Spirit, Avhich being sent by him, is the spirit of Chiist, they 
 would all become new creatures, and be happy. To those who 
 believe the Gospel, repent of sin. and by patient continuance in well 
 doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality, he renders eternal 
 life, as a matter of grace to them, but of justice to himself; that his 
 obedience may be rewarded in their salvation. All who thus believe, 
 repent, and v/ork that which is good, are perfectly free and volun- 
 tary in their own proper efforts; so that their reformation and new 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 obedience consist wholly in mental actions, of which they arc the 
 efficients: and yrt, by his divine moral suasion, not by any creative, 
 ])hysical energy, God ihcir Saviour worketh in them both to will 
 and to do, of his own good pleasure. Unto them it is given to be- 
 lieve i and their faith resulting from a gracious rational influence in 
 bringing them to the exercise of it, is the gift of God, a grace of the 
 Spirit, and, at the same time, their ow^i mental act. 
 
 The testimony of God concerning the salvation of sinners, is the 
 object believed; and when any one so believes the Gospel as to realize 
 its all-important truths, and to feel and act agreeably to them, we 
 pronounce that he has saving faith; a faith, which is, in the sense 
 described, of the operation of the Holy Ghost; which is influential 
 in the production of holy love; and which becomes the instrumental 
 cause of the progressive purification of the human heart. In the 
 first moment in which a sinner thus believes the Gospel, so as to 
 experience its cordial and practical excitements, the Saviour, in all 
 his redeeming power and love is given to him, in solemn covenant, 
 as the unspeakable gift of the Father; and thenceforth he is legally 
 identified with the Holy One, who has espoused him. The right- 
 eousness of Christ becomes his in this moment, by the covenanted 
 gratuity of the Eternal Deity; and Christ becomes actually respon- 
 sible to the justice of God, for all the sins of the person for whom 
 he now pledges as a surety his mediatorial character and work. 
 This righteousness of Christ was originally wrought with the de- 
 sign of its being thus actually appropriated in due time to every 
 one who shall be born of the Spirit; and ever after it has become 
 the property of the believer, but not before, it will be imputed; that 
 is, legally reckoned and accounted to him, as his in the judgment of 
 heaven's high court. Hence, he who once had no justifying right- 
 eousness, may say, "in the Lord have I righteousness and strength." 
 Because God has by covenant inseparably connected the bestow- 
 ment of his unspeakable gift with the exercise of a practical faith, 
 it is said, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
 saved." "He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is 
 righteous." Now the righteousness of God, without the perfect 
 obedience of sinners themselves to the law, is manifested; even the 
 righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and 
 npon all them that believe. To every one who believes, his faith 
 shall be imputed, for the very purpose of securing to him the right- 
 eousness of Christ; for faith is reckoned in order to righteousness; 
 that being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption 
 that IS in Christ Jesus, the righteousness of God may be declared, 
 and he may be just even while he is the justifier of him which be- 
 heveth in Jesus. 
 
 Every sinner who is made acquainted with any portion of the tes- 
 timony ol his Maker, is in duty bound immediately to believe it, be- 
 cause It is true, and is uttered by one who cannot lie; and because 
 He possesses all the requisite faculties and facilities for the exercise 
 Ol a holy savmg faith. It is this faith which is required in the 
 commands, "seek the Lord," "ask," "knock," "look unto me," 
 
 r!^^\ Tu ""u^ ' """'^ "^^y ^'^^^^ °" eternal life." In preaching the 
 'gospel fully, this duty of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ with- 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 out delay, and consequently of repenting and turning unto the Lord^ 
 iTiust be rcpeutedly and solemnly urged; by the reasonableness and 
 importance of the duty; by the certainty that all who believe shall 
 be saved; by the goodness of God in granting us this acceptable 
 time, this only day of salvation; by the love of Christ in dying for 
 sinners; by the condescension of the Holy Spirit in striving with 
 us; by the danger of hardening our hearts until they shall become 
 the subjects of a judicial dei'eliction and blindness; and by all the 
 dreadful denunciations of eternal death to them who neglect the 
 great salvation, and die in unbelief. 
 
 Christ as moral governor of the world and final judge, places none 
 of our race under any necessity of doing evil, and of continuing im- 
 penitent in their sins. They who will be lost, jnight believe, and 
 repent, and be saved, if they would; but Omniscience foresees that 
 they will not; and infinite wisdom and goodness, have not determin- 
 ed to overcome the opposition of all men to the truth. For holy 
 and wise reasons, some will be permitted always to resist the Holy 
 Ghost, to continue dcspisers of the grace of God, and to die in their 
 iniquities. The purposes of God, concerning the everlasting death 
 of those who will experience it, not being known to these individuals, 
 cannot influence their moral conduct; and in the conclusion of all 
 earthly scenes, it will appear to the assembled universe of intelligent 
 beings, that God has rejected none but for their rejection of him, 
 and that he damns none but those who first damn themselves. 
 
 In the judgment of the great day, the moral law will be the mea- 
 sure of obedience and of criminality, and of the reward or punish- 
 ment, which shall be apportioned to each individual. All renewed 
 persons having been pardoned, in the moment of believing, in con- 
 sideration of Christ's having borne the punishment of their sins, 
 und being accepted with God through the vicarious righteousness 
 of Christ, which fulfilled the law as a covenant of works for them, 
 shall be made honourable and happy, in relative states prepared 
 for them, which shall differ as one star differeth from another in 
 glory; or as the ruler over one city differs from the ruler over five 
 or ten cities. The happiness of heaven shall be equally durable 
 to all, and all shall be perfectly free from evil; but still the positive 
 felicity of each saint in glory, shall be as his works of new obedience 
 "performed after he became a child of God, and began to lay up 
 treasures in heaven. 
 
 The souls of men, so soon as separated from their bodies by that 
 dissolution which is denominated natural death, enter into paradise, 
 or into the prison of despair; and there await, in the certainty of 
 perpetual bliss or misery, the resurrection of their bodies, which is 
 immediately to precede the general judgment. From the presence 
 of Jesus Christ, the final judge of men and angels, the wicked will 
 depart into a state and place of everlasting punishment, in which 
 the sufferings of each will be regulated in degree by the divine ad- 
 measurement of his individual wickedness. All his privileges, 
 knowledge, measure of divine revelation, and other talents, will be 
 brought into a strict and impartial account, and will all have their 
 due iniluence in fixing the proportion of endless punishment ^yhi(5h 
 
 B 
 
( 10 ; 
 
 is lo be awarded lo each. Every criminal moral action ivhich an) 
 one performs, if he shall die impenitent, will add something to tht^ 
 degree of his endless misery ; and every holy moral action, perform- 
 ed by any man after his adoption into God's family, at the time of 
 his regeneration, will be the occasion of an addition to the measure 
 of his endless glory and happiness ; so that ours must learn to main- 
 tain good works for necessary uses. A wicked deed performed by 
 a pious man, and every instance of unfaithfulness in a truly Gospel 
 minister, will be the occasion of some diminution from that degree 
 of felicity which would otherwise have been enjoyed. The hay, 
 wood, and stubble, built upon the foundation itself, shall be burned, 
 and the foolish builder shall sufiFer loss; while he himself is saved, 
 yet so as by running through a fire. 
 
 That men may be warned, and flee from the wrath which is to 
 come upon the finally impenitent, the doctrine of the new spiritual 
 birth must be frequently inculcated in such a manner as to make 
 sinners realize that it is wholly imputable to themselves as a crime, 
 •which they cannot palliate, that they do not seek the Lord, turn un- 
 lo him, and call upon him, out of a contrite heart, so soon as they 
 liave the opportunity and means of knowing God and Jesus Christ; 
 ^yhile at the same time the Holy Spirit exerts an indispensable sav- 
 ing, governmental influence over the mind in every instance of con- 
 version ; without which divine mental suasion, no sinner would evei' 
 repent; and which the Holy Spirit is daily tempted, by thoughtless, 
 prayerless mortals, to withdraw. The presumption of sinners, that 
 at some future moment they can, without any aids from the Holy 
 Spirit, without any drawing of the Father, by some inherent natu- 
 ral ability turn to God and be saved, is equally destructive to souls, 
 ^vith that apology for indifference, that awful fatalism in theology, 
 ■^vhich asserts "that in the day of grace we can do nothing; arc 
 ■wholly passive in the concern of salvation; and cannot repent." 
 Truth equally abhors the sentiment that fallen man possesses in 
 himself, independently of the Holy Spirit's regenerating influence, 
 all the requisite power for making in himself a new heart; for be- 
 coming a new and holy moral agent in spiritual things ; and tht- 
 false theor}"-, that in being born of the Spirit, man is inactive, and 
 •merely acted upon by a physical energy upon his will. When God 
 worketh in sinful man as an intelligent being, both to will and lo do 
 them, and only them, has he the requisite power to work out his own 
 salvation. In quickening one, figuratively said to be asleep, and 
 even dead in trespasses and sins, the Holy Spirit operates upon a 
 moral, sensitive, efficient, free agent, who possesses all the neces- 
 ss-vy facidties and liberty of an accountable being; and he brings those 
 faculties into a right disposition for holy activity, without contra- 
 vening his own established laws of mental empire. In this way the 
 understanding is, first,in the order of nature, rectified in its spiritual 
 conceptions and judgments; then the conscience is purified and enliv- 
 ened ; and then the moral feelings of the soul are changed by the new 
 views of the savingly illuminated mind ; so that the sinner loves what 
 he formerly hated, and hates what he formerly loved. The thoughts 
 und feelings of the man being thus rectified by the Holy Ghost, the vo- 
 litions of his soul, dependent on these anterior thoughts and feelings 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 which are ihc motives to his volitions, are changed also. His voluu>^ 
 tary conduct becomes holy, just so far as his motives are holy; and 
 henceforth he is habitually a spiritual man, in all the energies of his 
 soul. In eftecling- this saving revolution in the spiritual state and de- 
 portment of depraved man, the Spirit commonly employs the instru- 
 mental agency of revealed truth, and applies the same, under the 
 guidance of his gracious providence, by private religious instruc- 
 tion and reading; by the public ministry of the world; by the sacra- 
 ments of the New Testament; by the discipline of the Church; and 
 l)y the natural and rational operations of the human mind, under all 
 tlie varied means of grace. Means in themselves are inefficient, 
 but in the hands of the Spirit they are mighty to accomplish the 
 conversion of the proudest rebels, not merely in the acts of their 
 will, nor in their feelings alone, but in all those operations of their 
 souls which are cognizable by the moral law of God. 
 
 The whole of man's duty to himself, his relatives, his fellow-citi- 
 zens, his country and his God, must be preached by every ambas- 
 sador of Jesus, und urged for right uses, by evangelical motives. 
 Obedience performed with thedesireof making satisfaction for past 
 sins, and of procuring acceptance with God, is self-righteousness, 
 which prevents multitudes from submitting themselves to the right- 
 eousness of God. That system of doctrine which connects salva- 
 tion Avitha mere speculative faith, and leads men to expect eternal 
 life through the merits of Christ Jesus, Avithout conversion of 
 Jieart and reformation of life, is damning Antinomianism. Good 
 works must be performed from love to God; and they must be en- 
 joined as the means of glorifying and enjoying God ; of promoting 
 our own happiness and that of our fellow-men; of evincing the ge- 
 nuineness of our faith and the certainty of our interest in Christ; and 
 of becoming meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. The whole 
 duly of maivmust be urged upon him, that being convinced of sin, 
 the law, as a schoolmaster, may bring him to Christ, in utter despair 
 of justification in any other manner than through his perfect right- 
 eousness. By the law is the knowledge of sin; and by the law meu 
 become dead to the law, that they may live unto God. For this very 
 reason, as well as to exhibit the holiness of God, was the law given 
 after the apostacy, and not with any design that a smtier's perfect 
 or imperfect obedience should be regarded as the meritorious cause 
 or condition of his salvation. When we were Avithout strength, 
 and the laAV Avas Aveak through the flesh, (that is, impotent to save 
 us on account of our depravity,) God sent his Son in the likeness of 
 sinful flesh, to do for us that which the law could not do; to pro- 
 cure our justification l)y sufi"ering in his flesh the condemnation of 
 our sins; so that Christ havhig in due time died for us, the ungodly, 
 the righteousness of the laAv is fulfilled in us, Avho Avalk not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit. The performance of duty in the manner 
 leciuired by the Gospel, and iov necessarii/ t'.ses, constitutes evangeli- 
 cal obedience: and none preach the Gospel fully, Avithout enjoining 
 it upon their hearers to be perfect, as their Father in Heaven is per- 
 fect. Not the least sin may be palliated or alloAved; and he who 
 gives a cup of cold Avater to a disciple from regard to Christ, shall 
 }>i no wise lose his appropriate, gracious reward. In passing, let 
 
( 1^^ ) 
 
 me desir* you to note what encouragement is here presented to in- 
 duce Christian hospitality to the people, and particularly the niinis- 
 ters-^of Christ. Christian principles must regulate our conduct in 
 all the duties of piety and morality, and we must in the naxne of 
 God, require all men in their several stations and relations, whether 
 public or private, civil or religious, to walk as Christ also walked. 
 The religion of Jesus is a system of moral obligation, which binds 
 all men to the duty of believing the doctrines, and following the ex- 
 example of the great God our Saviour. 
 
 Having now sketched an outline of evangelical doctrine, permit me 
 to offer a few considerations concerning theMANNERin which we 
 must preach, would we like Paul fully preach the Gospel of Christ. 
 The Gospel may be preached by those who do not preach it fully; 
 and if the Gospel is preached at all, even though it should be from 
 envy and contention, and by unrenewed men, we rejoice and will re- 
 joice; for Christ will be glorified by the tfuth, and sinners may be 
 eanctified through it. The preaching of the cross is to them that 
 perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of 
 God. 
 
 If v/e would fully preach the Gospel of Christ, it is requisite — 
 
 1. That we should give every portion of divine truth its proper 
 share of attention. The most prominent and important doctrines 
 of the Bible must be most frequently insisted on in our discourses ; 
 and thr less important must not be omitted. We must lay the 
 foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith towards God,, 
 of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of re- 
 surrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment; and then, leaving 
 the principles of the doctrine of Christ, we must go on unto per- 
 fection. No better rule can be given, than to treat of subjects as 
 nearly as possible in the proportion in which they are introduced 
 in the sacred Scriptures; and that we may do this, the practice of 
 reading the Bible from the pulpit, and of lecturing from extended 
 portions, ought not to be forsaken; for the whole Scripture is given 
 by inspiration of God, and is profitable, either for private or public 
 instruction, We should guard against the error of those, who so 
 confine themselves to an isthmus of thought as to know nothing of 
 the continents which it connects ; and so magnify their own peculiar 
 views, as always to insist on a few topics, and thus fail rightly to 
 divide the word of God, and give every man a portion in due sea- 
 son. 
 
 2. It is requisite that we should preach the Gospel understand- 
 ingly. What men know themselves they can commonly teach; but 
 when they have no clear conceptions of the terms which they em- 
 ploy, and of the truths which ought to be exhibited, it may be ex- 
 pected that they will resemble trumpets which give an uncertain 
 sound. Paul tells us of teachers who understand neither what they 
 say, nor whereof they affirm ; and, it is to be regretted, that too ma- 
 ny preachers of this description are found in every land. They 
 should preach for the present what they do know, and endeavour 
 in future to understand the way of life more perfectly. If they 
 merely know, that in some way all penitent and believing sinners 
 shall be saved through Christ, let them make a right use of this ele- 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 mental truth ; and strive to learn, that they may hereafter show, how 
 grace reigns through righteousness, and how the Lord is at the 
 same time, the Just God and the Saviour; both merciful and juatiu 
 justifying him that believeth. 
 
 3. It is requisite to preach the Gospel intelligibly Siwd plainly. To 
 do this, we must suit our language to the language and understand- 
 ing of our hearers; or if for the sake of convenience we employ 
 terms with which they are not familiar, we must interpret our own 
 speech, and illustrate our meaning. " Christ sent me," said Paul, 
 *'to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross 
 of Christ should be made of none effect." Hence Paul went to the 
 gentiles, not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring the 
 testimony of God. His preaching was not with enticing words of 
 mni's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. In- 
 stead of employing his time to be obscure and difhcult of compre- 
 hension, that he may be thought learned and profound, every preach- 
 er ought to aim habi'ually at clearly understanding, and expressing, 
 so tiiat none can misappreliend, the meaning which the Holy Ghost 
 intended to convey by the sacred theme of his discourse. 
 
 4. It is requisite to preach the Gospel believingly. If we do not 
 deeply realize the truth of our own discourse, it will be likely to fall 
 powerless on the ears of our hearers. If we are not fully persuaded 
 ourselves, it is not probable that we shall be successful in our pre- 
 tended attempts to persuade others. If on the other hand we so 
 believe as to make Heaven, and Hell, and salvation by Christ, and 
 damnation by continued unbelief, appear as realities to our souls, 
 we shall be ready, like ambassadors of Christ, to pray sinners in 
 God's stead to be reconciled to God, in the only provided way; and 
 shall habitually seek to promote revivals of pure and undefiled reli- 
 gion. Without this realizing faith in the Gospel, we shall be blind 
 leaders of the blind, and it will be a miracle if both do not fall into 
 the ditch. Without this faiih we are rebels against Christ ourselves, 
 and shall not seriously endeavour to win our fellow-rebels to a state 
 of submission and reconciliation. To preach the Gospel fully, we 
 ought not only to believe all the doctrines inculcated to be true; 
 but that the Gospel preached is ordained of God to be his chief in- 
 strument in the conversion of sinners. Let us assure our souls, that 
 of his own will begat he us with the word of truth; that we are 
 born again, not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed, even by 
 the word of God which livcth and abideth forever; and we shall 
 be excited to go forth bearing precious seed, that we may sow it 
 \vith an unsparing hand. We may be compelled to sow it even 
 with weeping; yet doubtless we shall come again with rejoicing, 
 bringing our sheaves with us. The right kind of faith will 
 lead ministers to calculate tliat the word of God shall not return 
 void, and to expect, that sooner or later, more or less success will 
 crown the ministry of reconciliation; until it shall become the ho- 
 noured instrument of regenerating the world. Without this faith 
 in the Gospel itself, and in its instrumental agency in converting the 
 tiinners of our race, I see not how any minister of the Gospel can 
 seek the conversion of souls, or properly urge his hearers to the 
 iJischarge of their duty in relation to the benevolent operations of 
 
\ 11 ) 
 
 ihc a;-o: and probably it is destiUition of cordial failh in the ap- 
 pointed efficacy ol' the truth, which occasions so many pastors and 
 congrci.;ations, at ease in Zion, with cold formality to say, "thy 
 kingdom come ;" while they regard all our concerts in prayer, and 
 all our efforts in Education, Missionary, Bible, Tract, and Sab- 
 bath School societies, as the visions of a night, or the exploits of 
 chivalry. 
 
 5. It is requisite to preach the GospelfeeUng/i/. A cold, formal, 
 heartless preacher of the good news of great joy, which shall be un- 
 to all people, seems to be inconsistency incarnate. He cannot fully 
 preach the Gospel who is not animated in his sacred work by love 
 to God, gratitude to Christ, and a tender compassion for the souls 
 of perishing men. Persons of other feelings will soon tire in the 
 work; but let a preacher of the truth be deeply impressed with the 
 worth of the soul; let him sympathize with the damned and rejoice 
 at the joys of the saved ; let him feel the power of the Gospel on his 
 own heart, and be sensible that his discourses will all be a savour 
 of life or of death to his hearers; and he certainly will speak as a 
 dying man to dying men: he will speak much about hell, without 
 harshness; and more about Heaven with persuasive earnestness. 
 He will solemnly offer men salvation on the terms of the Gospel ; and 
 sincerely endeavour to compel them to come into the Ark of safety, 
 without a moment's delay. He will warn the wicked, Math grief for 
 their sins, and be in travail of soul for them, until they are born of 
 the Spirit. He will watch for souls as one that must give account, 
 and is solicitous that none of them may be required at his hands. 
 
 6. It is requisite to preach the gospel jnaycrfidly. Our success 
 depends on God, who quickencth by our ministrations whom he 
 will. He is that God who hears and answers prayer; and since the 
 operations of the Holy Spirit arc needful to direct and sanctify the 
 activity of a hearer's soul, v/e must pray without ceasing, that the 
 God of all grace would direct and prosper our labours. We must 
 toil like the husbandman, and with him wait on the Lord of the 
 harvest for the increase. Paul planted, and Apollos watered, not 
 in vain; but God made the seeds of truth to germinate, and the 
 plants to flourish in everlasting beauty and fruitfulness. As a ge- 
 neral rule, if we preach the truth with fidelity, and seek the bless- 
 ing of Heaven upon our work with humility, fervour, frequency, 
 and perseverance, we shall be successful, and souls will be given us 
 for our hire; for God has not said to his people "seek ye me in 
 vain." 
 
 7. Wc must preach the Gospel in connexion with the use of all 
 the other Scriptural means of salvation, and without any of our 
 own inventions. If God M'ill save sinners, he will do it in his own 
 way; and if he will not render efficacious such ordinances as he has 
 appointed, avc need not expect that he will bless our new and unau- 
 thorized modes of attempting to awaken and convert sinners. To 
 plead that new means of grace, and extra-ecclesiastical associations 
 are necessary for the regeneration of the world, is to imply that 
 God, in prescribing means, and in making his church instrument- 
 ally the pillar and ground for supporting the truth, was not wise; 
 and that we can improve his counsels. The popularity of liberal, 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 national, catholic, and anti-sectarian associations, for doing good, 
 should not load any to disparage that visible society of which Christ 
 is the Head, nor lightly to esteem the form of ecclesiastical govern- 
 ment and discipline, of which the divinely inspired apostles have 
 left us a sufficiently definite pattern. It will be an evil day, when 
 Christians of our denomination think it bigotry to prefer the Church 
 to every other association, and deem it necessary to apologize for 
 being Presbyterians. 
 
 We must preach the Gospel with brotherly affection, and all due 
 deference to our fellow-labourers in Christ. In a great house, there 
 are many vessels fit for the Master's use. Our Lord condescends 
 lo employ a great variety of ministers, who are endowed with dif- 
 ferent talents, and different degrees of piety. They may not de- 
 spise each other; nor should any man make his brother an offender 
 for a word, in the use of which they cannot agree. Those who 
 hold the essentials of the Gospel, and preach them, should be treated 
 as brethren ; and those only discarded, who bring not the Gospel 
 which Paul preached. Let us agree, so far as we lawfully can, and 
 differ only when we must, for Christ's sake. 
 
 Finally, if Ave would fully preach the Gospel of Christ, we must 
 hold forth divine truth whenever we have ability and opportunity, 
 in the best manner in our power, and especially by a holy life. We 
 must inculcate the doctrines and duties of Christianity both in pri- 
 vate and in public, by precept and example; in common conversa- 
 tion, and in the diligently prepared discourse. Wc must preach to 
 all sorts of hearers whom we can procure to attend on our ministry, 
 or bring within our influence; and not be discouraged from seeking* 
 to save souls through the word, by the charge of vanity. He who 
 does not love to preach, and modestly seek opportunities of attract- 
 ing the attention of his fellow-men to the things which concern their 
 everlasting peace, has not the heart of Paul, nor such compassion 
 as his divine Master. Let us be willing to be thought vain, proud, 
 enthusiasts, bigots, and fools for Christ's sake, provided we maybe 
 the instrumental agents in saving some. 
 
 Brethren in the ministry, the time is rapidly coming to each one 
 of us, when w^e shall realize that it is a small thing to be judged by 
 man's judgment; and all important to be commended by our exalt- 
 ed Redeemer as having acted well the part of faithful servants. Let 
 us endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ; fight the good 
 light of faith; and girt in the armour which he furnishes resist all 
 his enemies with the sword of the Sprit. We must contend 
 earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, and form no al-; 
 liances with the hosts of heretics, who, like the Canaanites, will 
 dwell within the land of promise. We must love the enemies of 
 our Lord, while we hate and reprove their sins : we must be kind 
 and courteous to the errorist, while we would, by the power of the 
 truth alone, exterminate his pernicious sentiments. In this way, we 
 may hope to save souls from death, and cover the multitude of their 
 sins. In this way we may turn many to righteousness; and have 
 the honour of shining as the stars, in the new firmament which the 
 Lamb creates, for ever and ever. 
 
 Let us determine, in the strength of the Lord, that none shall bf; 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 lost through our neglect; that the blood of souls shall not be found 
 in the skirts of our garments; and that we will prayerfully and per- 
 severingly seek to have many, as our crown, of rejoicing in the day 
 of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 In conclusion, let me entreat my brethren to consider how great 
 is the honour which God has conferred on them by the office of the 
 Christian ministry; how glorious their prospect of future distinc- 
 tion; and how awful the thought, that they may not only be cast 
 away themselves, but dra.g multitudes after them to endless perdi- 
 tion ! 
 
 Let me plead also with those who should always be engaged in 
 winning souls for Christ, and never neglect an opportunity of pre- 
 sent usefulness; in behalf of the perishing thousands in this great 
 city; that every member of the General Assembly would strive to- 
 gether with us for the conversion of sinners here ; and would im- 
 portunately pray that this ecclesiastical body, by a vigorous use of 
 all Scriptural means, may promote an extensive revival among 
 themselves and others, while they sojourn in Philadelphia. Then 
 shall copious streams be diftused in every direction from this high- 
 ly-favoured metropolis; and as the members of this body return to 
 their respective charges, the churches of our God will be made 
 glad with abundant salvation. 
 
 Brethren, pray for us; and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 he with you all. Amen. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 7, line 33, ^fler Gospel, insert the duty. 
 
 Page 10, line 39, For them, and only them, read then, and only then. 
 
 Page 15, line 9, M the beginning, insert 8. 
 
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