1. Give a specific answer to the question our- selves—
[Is it asked by any, " What thinkest thou" of the Gospel itself, and of the people who profess it ? We reply, that, in our judgment, the plain simple doctrine of salvation by faith in our Lord J'esus Christ, is, " the wisdom of God, and the power of God, ' even " the power of God unto salvation to every one that believethj" and that its proper title is, " the glorious Gospel of the blessed God." As for those who profess it, we say, that, if they walk unworthy of it, they are hypocrites, and self-deceivers : but, if they adorn it by a suitable life and con- versation, then are they " the excellent of the earth," " the Church of the living God," " the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty." Of them will we say, with Moses, " Happy art thou, O Israel : who is like unto thee, O people saved of the Lord™?" Whoever may speak against them, they may be of good courage ; for God approves them, and will confess them as his before the assembled universe. They shall assuredly " be his, in the day that he shall make up his jewels"."]
2. Put the question to every one here present —
[What thinkest thou ? Dost thou think the doctrines of the Gospel so objectionable as the world represents them to be? Compare those doctrines with thine own wants and necessities ; and then say, whether they do not contain the very remedy
which thou standest in need of? Would Paul have
represented them as containing " the unsearchable riches of Christ ;" and would the angels be represented as ever " desiring to look into them," if they were unworthy of our regard ?
Again, Dost thou think that those who embrace the Gospel deserve the ignominious appellation of " a sect ?" By this name they were called in the first ages ; and by this name they are yet too often called. But, because " they worship God in a way which the world calls heresy," are they therefore heretics ? No : they are " the general assembly and Church of the First- born, which are written in heaven ;" they are the living stones of which his temple is composed ; and they are now, and shall to all eternity continue, the habitation of God through the Spirit0.
Once more ; Dost thou think, that, because " they are every- where evil spoken of" thou shouldest not join thyself to them ? Sad indeed is thy state, if thou entertainest such a thought as that : for, " if thou art ashamed of Christ, of thee will Christ be ashamed," when he shall come in his glory to judge the world. Remember the choice of Moses, and ask, Whether it
m Deut. xxxiii. 29. n Mai. iii. 17.
0 Heb. xii. 23. 1 Pet. ii. 5. Eph. ii. 19—22.