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judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.' A rod dipped in guilt may smart sore upon the back of God's children, if they will play the wantons and rebels with God. Eli broke his neck, his sons were killed in battle, the ark taken. But then there are some other things belonging to his internal government, as the withdrawing the comforts of his Spirit, or the lively influences of his grace ; for this was the evil David feared when he had gone into wilful sins: Ps. li. 11, 12, ' Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not away thy Holy Spirit from me. Kestore unto me the joy of thy .salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit.' When God's children fall into sin, though the Lord doth not utterly take away his loving- kindness from them, he may abate the influences of his grace so far as they may never recover the like measure again as long as they live.
SERMON in.
Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning aiuay every one of you from his iniquities. — Acts IIL 26.
These words are the conclusion of the second sermon that was preached after the pouring out of the Spirit, and in them you may observe three things : —
I. The parties concerned : unto you first.
II. The benefit offered: God, having raised wp his Son Jesiis, hath sent him to bless you.
III. The blessing interpreted, or what kind of blessing it is we shall have by the Mediator : he hath sent him to bless you, in tiirning every one of you from your iniquities.
Let me a little open these, before I come to observe anything.
I. For the parties concerned : unto yoii first. Why was the first offer of Christ made unto the people of the Jews ? For sundry reasons. Partly : —
1. Because they were the only church of God for that time, and the people that were in visible communion with him. And God hath so much respect for the church, that they shall have the refusal and the morning-market of the gospel. And whatsoever dispensations of grace are set on foot shall be first brought to them : ' He hath showed his statutes unto Jacob : he hath not dealt so with other nations/ Ps. cxlvii. 19.
2. They were the children of the covenant : ' Ye are the children of the covenant,' therefore ' unto you first.' God was in covenant with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and God follows a covenant people with more offers of grace than he doth vouchsafe unto others, and bears with sin after sin till he can bear no longer. And when the branches of the covenant-stock run quite wild, then they are cut off, Rom. xi. 20.
3. Christ came of thera after the flesh, and was of their .seed, Rora.
202 THE THIRD SERMON. [ACTS III. 2G.
ix. C) ; to teach us lirst to seek the salviition of our kindred, and countrymen, and near relations : those that are nearer to us he next our work and service. Therefore, to tjou first.
4. That he might magnify his grace and faithfulness, not only in the matter of the gospel, but even in the first offer of it. He doth magnify his faithfulness herein, for it is said, ' Christ is the minister of the circumcision to confirm the truth to their fathers,' Rom. xv. 8. God had promised their fathers that he would raise up a Saviour, therefore he must be first discovered here ; and he magnifies his grace, for there was Christ preached where he was crucified. They had tlie first handsel of this good news, and wrath came not upon them to the uttermost till they had despised the gospel, as well as killed the Lord of glory, 1 Thes. ii. 14, 1.5.
.5. This was necessary too for the confirmation of the gospel : to you first. Christ did not sneak nor steal into the world clancularly and privately, but he would have his law set up where it was likely to be most questioned. They were most concerned to inquire into the truth of matters of fact upon which the credit of the gospel had depended. If he had first gone to the Gentiles, the Jews might have objected their condemning Christ as a malefactor, and that his messengers and apostles durst not set on foot the report of his miracles, life, and death in their confines. But Christ would have the gospel preached there, where, if there were any falsehood in it, it might easily be disproved; and because the main of the Jewish doctrine was adopted into the Christian, and was confirmed by the prophecies of the Old Testament, they were the only competent judges to whose cognisance these things should be first offered. Therefore he saith, ' Unto you first, God, having raifed up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you.'
6. That the ruin of that nation might be a fit document and proof of God's severity again.st the contemners of the new gospel. Acts xiii. 45-47. There it is showed that they were the first people to whom it was offered, and they contenmed it, and therefore wrath cnme upon them to the uttermost. Therefore this did authorise and confirm this doctrine, wherever it should be preached and offered.