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truth_n grace_n jesus_n law_n 4,649 5 5.3571 4 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A52533 A sermon preached at the publick commencement at Cambridge Sunday in the forenoon, July iii, 1698 / by Peter Nourse ... Nourse, Peter, 1663-1723. 1698 (1698) Wing N1415; ESTC R181111 10,105 34

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A SERMON PREACHED at the Publick Commencement AT CAMBRIDGE SUNDAY in the Forenoon July iij. 1698. By PETER NOURSE D. D. Fellow of S. John's College CAMBRIDGE Printed for Edward Hall Bookseller in Cambridge and are to be Sold by Luke Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-yard London 1698. II COR. CHAP. IV. V. iij. But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost THE Gospel in the largest signification of the word comprehends the Writings both of the Old and New Testament which are the perfect and compleat Will of God reveal'd to Mankind in order to their future Happiness But there is a more limited Sense of the word Gospel in which it is opposed to the Law and the Prophets it began from Galilee after the Baptism which John preached Acts 10. v. 37. and in this stricter Sense it is to be understood in the Text the Apostle calling it our Gospel meaning his own Sermons and Writings and together with them the whole Doctrine of our Saviour and his Apostles It is necessary for our present purpose thus to distinguish for how near soever the Agreement is between the Old and New Testament in substance and design yet in this they differ exceedingly that the Truths contain'd in the Law were veil'd under Types and Figures dark and mysterious Representations so that it was difficult for the wisest Jew to see to the end of that Faith by which alone he could be saved namely the Sufferings and Death of the Messiah and Moral Duties were so mingled even in their Prophets with Legal Observances that the best and sincerest men of that Religion could not easily discern the different obligations that were due to the one and to the other so that a Jew might have a great deal to say for himself in Excuse of his Ignorance and Unbelief But this Gospel which St. Paul speaks of is so clear and open it shines with that strength and brightness that no Professor of it can be Ignorant of its Truths or withstand its Power without doing the greatest Violence to his own Conscience and Understanding if it be hid to any that have had the Means of being instructed in it it is hid to such as are lost and that not only to Vertue and Religion but even to common Sense and Reason It would take up too much of this Discourse to shew the great Happiness and Advantages we Christians enjoy by comparing the Grace and Truth which came by JESUS CHRIST with the Law that was given by Moses in that particular of the Plainness and Perspicuity of the one above the other and it would be needless to speak any thing upon this Head since our greatest Adversaries confess it as well as our Selves and there is no one thing in which the different Parties in Religion except those of the Church of Rome do so much agree as in this that the Gospel of CHRIST in all things that are necessary to Salvation is very plain and easy to be understood Taking it therefore for granted that it is so I shall only inquire into these two things First How or in what Respect the Gospel may be hid Secondly How just their Condemnation is to whom it is hid the Text tells us they are lost First The Gospel may be hid either in Respect of that Faith which it delivers or Secondly in Respect of its Power The Faith deliver'd in the Gospel takes in all those Truths that are reveal'd in it but particularly those which we receive only from Revelation which the Light of Nature could neither have let us into nor can it yet comprehend them so that Faith is an Evidence of things not understood as well as of things not seen Whosoever therefore are either Ignorant of or will not believe what the Gospel discovers to us to those it is certainly hid not that all kinds of ignorance do necessarily bring men under the Apostles censure in the Text but such only as is voluntary and in other cases criminal It would be the worst sort of judging those that are without if we should pronounce all those men absolutely lost who have not yet receiv'd the Gospel there have been and without doubt still are some men of Piety and Virtue even amongst the Heathen whose Hearts are well disposed for the receiving it if it should please God to impart it to them these are not such as the God of this World has blinded but the Providence of the eternal God who has determin'd the bounds of Man's habitation has placed them at so great a distance from this Light that it is morally impossible it should shine unto them Neither can we pronounce all those to be lost to whom some of the Gospel Truths are hid for though we believe every word of it to have proceeded out of the Mouth of God yet all its Truths are not of equal moment for our Salvation and considering the Nature of Mankind it is impossible but Errors and Divisions will spring up amongst them and in many cases great allowances must be made for the prejudices or for the want of Education and even for the incapacities of some men to judge in the plainest matters God Almighty considers all this and will not be so severe upon us as we are upon one another our heats and animosities generally rise highest where the grounds of difference are the most inconsiderable but God looks upon things in another manner and is as ready to pass by some Errors in our Faith as he is to pardon sins of infirmity in our practice for they both arise from the same causes the strength of our passions and inadvertency But those who are left without all excuse are such as wholly reject the Gospel when they have had sufficient means of being instructed in it or pervert the end of our Faith as the Gnoslicks did who turned the Grace of God into Lasciviousness making the Gospel which was design'd to purify us from sin to justify and patronize it or else they are such as endeavour to ruin the Foundations of our Faith which is done more effectually by secretly undermining it with false Interpretations than if they should with bare face disown it And of all those Truths that are Fundamental in our Religion nothing is more plainly and peculiarly so than that JESUS CHRIST is the Son of the living God This is that Rock upon which and not upon him who Confessed it our Lord declared that he would Build his Church and the Gates of Hell should never prevail against it it is too bold an attempt even for Hell it self openly to Assault this Truth because it stands so clearly reveal'd in many places of Scripture but never were the powers of darkness more industrious in any thing than to subvert it by false expositions which was once done with that success that one of the Fathers tells us The World groan'd and was surpriz'd to see it self turn'd Arrian In every Age of the Church