will rather fend an Angel or an Apostle to them, as he did to Cornelius, than that any fincere Penitent fhould fall under a Condemning Sentence.

SECT. VII.

The tranfcendent Advantages of the Doctrines of the Atonement of Chrift and the Sanctification of the Spirit toward all Chriftian Duties.

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HEN Charistes had finish'd his Difcourfe, Cavenor acknowledged how much he was pleafed and profited by the greatest Part of it: And I think faid he, I fhall become a Convert of Paulinus and you, if you can clear up one Point of Difficulty that sticks with me ftill; and that is, that you fuppofe the Chriftian Duties of Repentance, Faith, and Love, Prayer, and Hope, with univerfal Obedience, to be built on this particular Doctrine of the Atonement for Sin by the Blood of Christ. I confefs the Scriptures you have brought seem to give fome Countenance to it; but does not Agrippa's Creed fecure the Neceffity of all the fame Duties? Suppose that Chrift died only as a Martyr for the Doctrine

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of Pardon and Peace and eternal Life to be obtain❜d by Repentance and new Obedience; or fuppofe yet further, that he was put to death also to shew, in a Way of Emblem, that Sin deserved Death; are not Chriftians under the fame Obligations to believe the Doctrine of Christ, and to fulfil thefe Duties, as tho' he died a Sacrifice to make Atonement for Sin? This is certain, that the bleffed God would never fend his own Son to our Earth, nor would his Son ever come down from Heaven, merely to bring Meffages of Notion and Speculation to Mankind, if they have not a peculiar and confiderable Influence upon the Practice of Piety and Virtue. Tell me therefore plainly, Charistes, what Advantages has the Doctrine of the Atonement of Chrift and the fanctifying Operations of the Spirit to promote practical Godliness, fo much beyond Agrippa's Creed.

This Task, reply'd Chariftes, I readily and chearfully accept, and will endeavour to make it appear in several Instances what a fuperior Influence on true Piety and Goodnefs our Doctrines have above all that Agrippa's Creed can pretend to.

And first let us begin with the Atonement of Chrift. The peculiar Advantages that it has to promote all Chriftian Duties are fuch as thefe.

I. It gives us a more awful and dreadful Senfe of Sin, and awakens us by a more folemn

folemn Motive to fincere and hearty Repentance: For hereby it appears that Sin is fo highly offenfive to the bleffed God, that he could not think fit to forgive it in his Creatures, even where he defign'd to fhew Mercy to them, without requiring fome Compenfation for the Honours of his broken Law; and that by fuch a glorious Sacrifice as his own Son. Does not Sin appear more hateful when God thought it requifite that fuch a Divine Perfon, who is one with the Father, fhould pay down his Life and Blood, and yield to fo many Agonies of Soul, if he would undertake to expiate the Guilt of it? What is there in all the Pretences of the Death of Christ as a Witness to the Truth of his Gospel, or as a mere Representation of what our Sins deserved; what is there, I fay, in all this, comparable to the grand and awful Idea, that the Son of God must be made a Sacrifice before the Evil of Sin could be removed, even by a God of Mercy and Forgiveness? This more powerfully excites us to hate all Sin, and that with greater Deteftation, to feek the Mortification of it with a warmer Zeal, to mourn more fenfibly for our paft Tranfgreffions, and to walk with greater Watchfulness for time to come, left we again defile our Souls with fuch Abominations which the Soul of God hates with fo intenfe and irreconcileable a Hatred.

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II. This

II. This Doctrine of the Atonement of Christ for our Sins, raises in us much more grand and fublime Ideas both of the Justice and of the Mercy of God, than if Sin were pardon'd, without an Atonement, and teaches us to contemplate thofe Perfections of the Divine Nature with double Veneration and Acknowledgment. By this means our religious Fear of God will be greatly increased, and our Love to him be inflamed to a much higher Degree, as indeed the Benefit of our Forgiveness, when 'tis fet in this Light, requires. Sinners will be more effectually deterr'd from venturing to affront that Juftice which will not fuffer Mercy itself to pardon Sin without a Satisfaction to the Rights of Government. Such Juftice will be more revered which would not fpare the Son of God himself when he had undertaken to become a Sponfor for guilty Creatures: And Mercy will be adored with fo much greater Gratitude, fince God himself, the Perfon offended, hath in his rich Mercy found out and provided fuch a full Satisfaction for his Juftice. I do but hint thefe Things, Cavenor, in brief Language to your Judgment in this Converfation, which if mentioned by a Preacher, would furnish out abundant Matter for Amplification and Oratory.

III. The Condefcenfion, the Compaffion and Love of our bleffed Saviour is reprefented in a much more glorious Light by this Doc

trine of his fuffering as a Sacrifice in the room and stead of guilty Creatures, and .it fhould engage our Returns in Love in a much higher Proportion. Pray, Cavenor, think with yourself, fhould a Perfon come down from Heaven to preach to you Forgiveness of Sins upon Repentance, and in order to affure you of the Truth and Authority of his Commiffion, fhould he expofe himself to Death to bear Witnefs to his Meffage, or fhould he fuffer himself to be put to death to fhew you in Emblem what your Sins required; would this reprefent hist Love and Compaffion to you in half fo high a Degree, as if you who are the Offender were demanded by God himself to terrible. and eternal Execution, unless you could find a Surety to fuffer for you, and the bleffed Jesus stept forth and freely became your Surety, and had the Agonies and the Anguish of Death executed upon him in your ftead; and fuppofe thereupon you were not only released from Bonds, but had alfo a Title to eternal Life given you on the account of what he had done and fuffer'd? Methinks the Love manifefted in the one Cafe above the other is fuperior to all Comparifon, and demands a more abundant Measure of our Gratitude and Affection.

As for the mere Proof of his Commiffion to publish Pardon to Penitents, the Miracles of Chrift effected this much more than his Deach

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