And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. WH ACTION SERMON. E propofe, in a little, to draw near to God in the most folemn act of Chriftian worship. With what humble folicitude ought we to enquire, whether we are truly intitled to this great privilege, or may hope for acceptance in this important duty. It is the moft explicit, and the most public profeffion we can make of faith in the Redeemer's blood; and therefore none can do it in a proper manner, but those who have indeed believed in the Redeemer's name. Faith in Chrift is the great foundation of our peace with God. It is the great principle of our fanctification. It is the great diftinction between the heirs of glory and the heirs of hell: "For he that believeth, and is baptized, "fhall be faved; but he that believeth not, fhall be damn"ed." And therefore no fubject can be of more importance in general, or more fuited to our prefent employment, than what is prefented to us in the words of the text: This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. In the context the apostle is speaking of the Chriftian's confidence or perfuation of his relation to God, ver. 20, 21, 22. "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than "our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart "condemn us not, then have we confidence towards "God. And whatfoever we afk we receive of him; be"caufe we keep his commandments, and do thofe things "that are pleafing in his fight." Having thus mentioned the commandments, he points out in the words now read, the great commandments of the gofpel, in their order, And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. My purpofe at this time is, to confine myfelf to the first of thefe; and open, in as comprehenfive and practical a manner as I am able, what it is to believe on the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God; and having done fo, to make fome practical improvement of the fubject; particularly, by preffing every hearer, in the most earnest manner, to obey this commandment of God. I. In the first place, then, I am to explain what it is to believe on the name of Jefus Chrift the Son of God. Many have been the controverfies raised and agitated on this fubject, most of them unprofitable, and fome of them very hurtful, as tending to difquiet and perplex the minds of ferious perfons, and fometimes even to furnish an objection to the enemies of the gofpel. I fhall therefore avoid every thing of this kind, as in general undefirable, and at this time highly unfeafonable; and endeavor to lay it down in fuch a manner as I hope may be underftood by the meanest real Chriftian, and may afford to every exercifed foul inward confolation and peace with God. For this purpose, I hope it will be fufficient to obferve, that faith may be confidered in two views; its object, and its actings: 1ft, The object of faith; that is to fay, the truths to be believed: 2dly, The actings of faith; or what it is to believe these to the faving of the foul. As to the object of faith, it is thus expreffed in our text, This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of bis Son Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus, the Saviour, then, is the object of faith. This, in its full extent; includes every thing that is revealed in the holy fcriptures, with refpect to his person, character, and work. It may indeed be faid to include the whole revealed will of God; because every part of this will has a more remote or immediate reference to him. Chrift Jefus is "the Alpha and Ome"ga, the firft and the laft, the beginning and the ending," of the will of God as revealed for our falvation. But as every thing else was only introductory and preparatory to his atonement, or confequent upon it, I fhall chiefly direct your attention to him as a Saviour from guilt and pollution. This the name of Jefus immediately imports: Matth. i. 21. "And thou fhalt call his name Jefus: for " he shall save his people from their fins." In this view, I think the object of faith may be fummed up in the following particulars. 1. That we are, by nature, in a state of fin, alienated in heart from God, tranfgreffors of his law, and liable to his wrath. If this were not the cafe, a Saviour would not be neceffary; salvation would be a word without force, and even without meaning. It is accordingly found in experience, that till there be a conviction of this truth upon the conscience, the tidings of a Saviour are always treated with neglect or difdain. Nothing can be stronger than the language of fcripture on this fubject in many paffages; particularly, Matth. xviii. 11. For the Son of 66 man is come to fave that which was loft." Luke v. 31, 32. "And Jefus answering, faid unto them, they that are "whole, need not a phyfician; but they that are fick. I "came not to call the righteous, but finners to repentance." I fhall alfo read to you the account of our natural state, and the end of Chrift's coming, given by the apostle Paul, Eph. ii. 1—5. “And you hath he quickened who "were dead in trefpaffes and fins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the fpirit that "now worketh in the children of difobedience. Among "whom alfo we all had our conversation in times paft, in "the lufts of our flesh, fulfilling the defires of the flesh, "and of the mind; and were by nature the children of VOL. I. Rr 66 66 "wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, "for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we "were dead in fins hath quickened us together with Chrift, (by grace ye are faved)." I forbear to mention the proof of this from the history of the world, from the marks of God's displeasure against fin in the course of providence, and from the testimony of conscience, as I have illustrated them at confiderable length in other difcourfes. Let it fuffice at present to say, that the first truth which is the object of faith, is the guilt and mifery of our nature. 66 2. The next part of the object of faith is, that there is no way of recovery from this flate but by Chrift: Acts iv. 12. Neither is there falvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men where"by we must be faved.". If there were any other, it would not be the command of God that we fhould believe in the name of his fon Jesus Christ. After men are in fome measure sensible that they are guilty, it is often difficult to convince them that they are helpless. There is fomething fo mortifying in this confideration, and fo humbling to our pride, that it is with great unwillingness we yield to it. Nay, after we have feemed to confefs it, we are often ready to retract it. The finner has always a pronenefs to feek fome refource in himself. Hence the difpofition to extenuate his guilt; and if he cannot plead abfolute, to place fome dependance upon comparative innocence. Hence the difpofition to magnify human merit, as if, by the value of fome good deeds, we could balance or cancel the guilt of our disobedience. Hence the endlefs variety of human inventions, of coftly facrifices and voluntary penance. Micah vi. 6, 7. " Wherewith shall "I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high "God? fhall I come before him with burnt-offerings, "with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased "with thousands of rams, or with ten thoufands of rivers "of oil? fhall I give my firft-born for my tranfgreffion, the "fruit of my body for the fin of my foul?" The truth is, till the finner is ftript of every plea, and found to be without excufe, he will ftill refufe to be indebted to the grace of his Redeemer. But hear ye the Spirit of God, Rev. iii. 17, 18. "Because thou fayeft, I am rich, and increaf"ed with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest "not that thou art wretched, and miferable, and poor, and "blind, and naked. I counfel thee to buy of me gold tri"ed in the fire, that thou mayeft be rich; and white rai"ment, that thou mayeft be clothed, and that the fhame of "thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes "with eye-falve, that thou mayest see." 3. This leads me to the third part of the object of faith, viz. That the pardon of fin, and peace with an offended God, is freely offered to the chief of finners through Christ. The two preceding truths are preparatory to this, and serve to point out its neceffity and moment. This is the gracious meffage which was brought into the world by the gofpel; and from which it derives its name, importing glad tidings. What we are particularly to attend to here is, (1.) that Chrift Jefus was fubftituted in the room of finners, and fuffered, the just for the unjuft, that he might bring us to God; that the holiness and juftice of God required an expiation of fin, which was made by this immaculate victim: Ifa. liii. 5, 6. "But he was wounded "for our tranfgreffions, he was bruised for our iniquities: "the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with “his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone "aftray; we have turned every one to his own way, and "the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Rom. iii, 25." Whom God hath fet forth to be a propi "tiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righte "oufnefs for the remiffion of fins that are past, through the "forbearance of God." (2.) Another thing alfo to be obferved, is the conftitution of the fufferer's perfon. It was no less than the eternal and only begotten Son of God. This is a circumftance of the utmost moment, and on which the greatest stress is manifeftly laid in fcripture. It is included in the words of the text: "This is his commandment, That we fhould believe on the name of his Son Jefus Chrift." It is alfo conftantly found in the early Confeffions of Faith; John i. 49. "Nathaniel answered " and faid unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou "art the King of Ifrael." Matth. xvi. 16. " And Si |