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P. 4.

P. 20.

See the Extract of the first in our laft Journal,
Art. XXIX. p. 541.

ER MONI. (Of Chrift being fubftituted to

SER

the ancient Victims, from Hebr. x. v. 5, 6, 7.) begins with faying, that to have Chrift for our Redeemer, and for a Model to inftitute our Lives by, is the only Way to Heaven.

MR. S. confiders the Words of his Text in a double Sense. I. As fpoken by Chrift himself, who fubftitutes his Perfon to the ancient Victims, and likewise the Excellency of the Gift. II. He puts the fame Words in the Mouth of his Hearers, and from this fecond Senfe he draws a Conclufion to the first, and endeavours to ftir his Audience to Gratitude for fo an ineftimable a Present.

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IN the first part he endeavours first to verify his Text, which is only a Quotation. 2dly, To explain it. 3dly, As it is one of the moft effential Truths of Christianity, he endeavours to establish it on the firmeft Foundations.

IN the Quotation, which is from P. XL. the Author of the Epiftle quotes the LXX. who fay, A Body hast thou prepared me; whereas in the Hebrew 'tis, Mine Ears baft thou opened, or bored; which Difference is thus reconciled by our Author. 1. The Greek Word made ufe of by the LXX, and St. Paul, and which is render'd into English by prepared, fignifies either to dif pofe, or to mark, to feal, to fit, &c. 2. The Jewish Rites were but little known among the Heathens, before the Tranflation of the LXX. 3. 'Twas a Cuftom very much in ufe among the Heathens, to make certain Marks on the Bodies of fuch as belonged to them; as to Sol

diers, Slaves, fometimes to Apprentices, and to fuch as put themselves under the particular Protection of fome God. Thefe Marks were called

iyuara (from whence comes our English Word Stigmatize.) There are in the facred Writers feveral Allufions to this Cuftom. The LXX, or whoever were the Tranflators of the Verfion called by that Name, fearing, that if they tranflated verbatim, as it is in the Hebrew, mine Ears haft thou bored, (alluding to the Cuftom, or Law, Exod. xxi. 6.) they fhould not be understood by the difperfed Jews, or the Heathens, they tranflated, thou haft marked my Body, or p. 23. thou haft fitted, or prepared my Body for the Business I am going to undertake. Therefore St. Paul, to convey the Idea of the Prophet to the Heathens, makes choice of this Tranflation The Author having fhewn the Excellency of the Evangelical Victim over the Levitical, he proceeds to Part II. wherein he preffes his Hearers to offer up their Paffions, to be a boly &c. Sacrifice to God, &c. &c.

SERMON II. Of true Chriftian Glory, (from Galat. vi. 14.) St. Paul's Defign in writing to, the Galatians, was chiefly to revive the Spirit of Chriftianity he had, himself, fpread into Galatia; and which Cerinthus, (the Author prefumes) a noted Herefiarch, and the Cerinthians endeavour'd to stifle there, under pretence that it was unlawful to fet afide the Levitical Law. St. Paul convinces them of their Error by feveral Arguments, throughout this whole Epiftle..

MR. S. to clear his Text, proposes to exa mine, I. Wherein confift thefe Sentiments of a Chriftian, that caufe the World to be crucified unto him, and bim unto the World. Hdly, He fhews that in these Sentiments confifts the true

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Chriftian

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Chriftian Glory. III. He proves, that the Crofs of Chrift, alone, can infpire one with thefe Sentiments; from whence he infers, that the true Chriftian Glory can only be found in the Crofs of Chrift.

SERMON III. preached on Whitsunday (from 2 Corinth. I. 21, 22.) This Sermon is preceded by a Prayer fuited to the Occafion. MR. S. divides his Difcourfe into three Parts. In the I. His Defign is to clear the Expreffion P. 81. ufed by St. Paul, in the Text, to exprefs the Operation of the Holy Spirit in our Hearts. In the II. He propofes to explain the Nature, and prove the Reality of it. In the III. He fhews. what Difpofitions, in Man, retard or promote the Succefs of it.

p. 88.

IN the firft Part, our Author labours to prove the Godhead of the Holy Spirit, and for that quotes John xvi. 12. which, in his Opinion, is parallel to his Text, &c. ૮.

WE defire Leave to prefent our Readers p. 95. with a Specimen of Mr. S's way of arguing, in the fecond and third Parts, which are here blended together. Our Author lays down, that every Operation of the Holy Spirit, in the Hearts of Chriftians, requires fome Duty from them, without which, this Operation becomes unfruitful. Refufing to acquit onefelf of that Duty, is what is called in Scripture, to quench, refift, afflict, revile the Spirit: now to quench, &c. the Spirit, in the Scripture-ftile, is to render this Operation unfruitful. For the better underftanding this Principle, the Holy Spirit must be confidered, either as God-Omnipotent, or as a Wife Law-giver, and God-Omnipotent,at the fame time. Man mult likewife be confidered, either as a phyfical Being, of a moral Being, or as a

moral

moral and physical Being, at the fame time. To confider the Holy Spirit in the Converfion of Man, as God-Omnipotent, and Man as a phyfical Being, whom the Holy Spirit by his Omnipotence is about to convert, and Man as a meer paffive Being, is, according to our Author, a very corrupt Morality. To confider the Holy Spirit in this Operation as a Law-giver only, and Man as a mere moral Being; to fay the Holy Spirit only propofes his Laws, and that Man, of himfelf, fulfils them without any fupernatural Affiftance, is, fays he, to teach an erroneous Theology. But to confider the Holy Spirit as God-Omnipotent, and Law-giver, at the fame time, and Man as a moral and phyfical Being, at the fame time; this, fays our Author, is to reconcile the Rights of Theology, ánd Morálity. 'Tis acknowledging there are certain Difpofitions in Man that retard, or accelerate the Succefs of God's Operation in our Hearts, &c. from whence he infers the Neceffity all Men are in to examine the Truth of the Chriftian Religion, &c.

SERMON IV. (Of God's Covenant with the Ifraelites, from Deut. xxix. 10-19.) after having fhewn the great Analogy between the legal and evangelical Covenant, fo that they may be called but one, and the fame; both being Covenants of Grace; confiders five Things in the Ifraelitifh Covenant.

1. THE Holinefs of the Place where it was made, Teftand all this day before the Lord your P. 122. God; that is to fay, before his Ark, the moft auguft Symbol of his Prefence.

II. THB Univerfality of the Covenanters: (Te ftand this Day ALL of you before the Lord

your

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your GOD, &c, to the end of the eleventh Verfe.

III. THE reciprocal Obligation. Ye ftand before the Lord, that on the one hand he may eftablish thee for a People unto himfelf; and, on the other, HE may be unto thee a GOD.

IV. THE Extent of the Covenant. It is a Covenant without Referve. Gop engages to give himself to the Ifraelites, as he had fworn to their Fathers Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob. The Ifraelites, on their part, engage to give themfelves to GOD, and to abjure all manner of Idolatry, ver. 18.

V. AND laftly, the Sacredness of the Oath Thou entreft into Covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his Oath.

SERMON V. preach'd on the fifth of April 1724, a Faft-Day, (from Jerem. xvii. 14, 15, 16.) The Author, for the better understanding of the Words of his Text, gives a fhort and diftinct Hiftorical Account of the Circumftances the Jews were in, when these Words were P. 156. fpoken.

THE Text, fays he, is naturally divided P. 161. into two Parts.

I. THE Accufation brought against Jeremiab by the Jews, who charge him with hating his Country, and denouncing God's Judgments againft it, for no other reafon than that he wifhed thefe Judgments might fall on it.

II. JEREMIAH'S Apology.

AFTER which, in order to fhew the Validity of this Apology, he fays it is founded,

I. UPON the Commands the Prophet had received concerning the Jews.

II. UPON the Greatness of the Crimes he upbraids them with.

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