But our Bleffed Lord makes good both thofe Circumftances whereon fuch his Offer was grounded; on the one hand they were Slaves, inafmuch as they were Sinners; for whosoever committeth Sin is the Servant of Sin: On the other hand, He was able to make them free, inasmuch as He was the Son, the Heir of all things, abiding in the Houfe for ever; to whom all Power was committed by the Father. And the Servant abideth not in the Houfe for ever; but the Son abideth ever: If the Son therefore fhall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Which Words are capable of two Interpretations, but both of them advance one and the fame Doctrine. A Servant abideth not in the Houfe for ever; i. e. However ye boast yourselves to be the Seed of Abraham, and therefore in Covenant with God, yet as long as ye continue in your Sins, you are not to be efteem'd Part of his Family; you are in the State of Servants, who have no Inheritance, but may be caft out at Pleasure. But the Son abideth ever; i. e. thofe who are admitted into Sonship with God by Adoption, and

come

come up to the Terms of fuch Adoption; they are no longer the Servants of Sin, but the Children of God, and as fuch must be free, and partake of the Inheritance of Children; they are not removable at Pleasure, they abide in the House for ever: If therefore the Son, i.e. if I, who am the eternal Son of God, who alone have Power to make you the Children of God by Adoption, do by Virtue of fuch Adoption make you free, ye fhall be free indeed. Or thus;

You are indeed the Seed of Abraham, and the Disciples of Moses; but inasmuch as ye are the Servants of Sin, you are not free of God's Family: They, whose Relation you boaft, were only Servants themselves, and confequently the Benefits of your Alliance with the one, and of the Ministry of the other are not perpetual; A Servant abideth not in the Houfe for ever: But I, who am the Son of God, have Power over the Houfhold, the Exercise of my Miniftry is attended with the Fulness of Authority, the Bleffings of my Difpenfation are perpetual; the Son abideth in the House for ever: If VOL. II.

P

the

the Son therefore shall make you free, ye fhall be free indeed.

So that in whatever Light we take the Words of the Text, the Doctrine of them is plainly this: The Condition of Man under the Gospel is that of Freedom; the Christian Religion does alone inveft Mankind with true Liberty.

AND this is a Doctrine which will be receiv'd by many Perfons with great Difficulty of Affent; the Gospel is esteem'd the laft State, which a Man, who defires Freedom, would have recourfe to, and Christianity will be look'd upon as another Term for direct Slavery. The Freethinkers are for bringing large and powerful Appeals against the Encroachments, which Articles of Faith make upon human Reason; and theLibertines are loudly and continually declaring the Tyranny of Gofpel- Precepts in thwarting those strong Affections and Inclinations, which Nature itself lays the Foundation of, and confequently which it is a Force and Violence upon our Nature to contradict: For can there be any thing of Freedom, fay they, in fubmitting our Judgment to mere

mere Dictates, or reftraining our Defires towards agreeable and entertaining Objects? True Liberty must certainly consist in understanding the Whole of whatever we give our Affent to, and in following our own Wills and Inclinations in the Pursuit of our Happiness. It fhall therefore be the Business of this Difcourfe to enlarge upon and maintain the Truth of what is here declared, viz. that the Christian Difpenfation doth invest Mankind with true Liberty, and that from these three following Topics.

I. IT redeems us from the Slavery of
Sin.

II. IT fets us above the Rigour and
Meannefs of a flavifh Obedience :
And,

III. 1T entirely falls in with the true
Notion of Liberty.

I. THEN, the Christian Dispensation redeems us from the Slavery of Sin.

THAT a State of Sin is a State of Slavery is evident from its fubjecting Mankind to eternal Punishments: Mifery and Liberty

VOL. II.

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Liberty can in no wife confift together; and however the Sinner may feem pleafed with his prefent Purfuits of Folly and Vanity, yet none but a Slave will fuffer himself to be dragg'd on to his utter Deftruction The very Notion of Guilt implies a Debt to Justice, and no one who has that Debt to pay can be call'd a Freeman: Upon this Account, among others, our Bleffed Saviour may be truly faid to have taken upon Him the Form of a Servant; because by undertaking to fatisfy Divine Vengeance for the Sins of the whole World, he became fubject to the Law, and a Debtor to Juftice; and by fuffering the Penalties of the one, and discharging the Obligations of the other, He redeem'd us from the Slavery of Sin, inafmuch as He thereby cleanfed us from the prefent Guilt, and exempted us from the future Punishment of it. Now Liberty under this Notion of it is the peculiar Privilege of the Chriftian Difpenfation; for however the Heathen World might with comfortable Hope rely upon the Favour of an all-gracious God for the Pardon of thofe Sins which they

were