Sin and Remedy


It is worth the observing here, that many who are prejudiced against revealed religion, acknowledge that natural religion is very plain and rational. It is evident the difficulties against the apostle's doctrine are difficulties of natural religion; it is not the Scripture only that tells us we are sinful, guilty, corrupt creatures; experience tells it, and reason teaches us, that an infinitely perfect God must be perfectly free, both from the blame of our sin, and the misery which it tends to; experience and reason teach us, that we are sinners and deserve punishment; it is the gospel that teaches us the remedy. It is unreasonable to make the difficulties of natural religion prejudices against revealed religion; the subject insisted on serves to give a right impression of both, by giving a just view of God's actions, and of those of his creatures; if that view of them were familiar to us, through God's grace the love of his creatures, instead of hindering our love to him, would be a help to it. This would be a happy stratagem for turning these earthly things, which corruption makes our enemies, to be really our friends; all the pleasures in these streams, would make us love the fountain; and all the trouble in them would make us long for him, long for that unmixed, unqualified bliss, where there is no more need of temperance, because there is no possibility of excess; where desire will not be checked, nor enjoyment restrained; where our joys will have none of that alloy that always cleaves to our joys here; where our honour will be without envy, our friendship without strife, our riches without care, our pleasures without mixture, without interruption; and, which crowns all, without end.

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