A Rational Defence of the Gospel

SHAME is a very discouraging passion of the mind; it sinks the spirits low, it enfeebles all the active powers, and forbids the vigorous execution of any thing whereof we are ashamed. It was necessary therefore, that St. Paul should be endued with sacred courage, and raised above the power of shame, when he, was sent to preach the gospel of Christ among the Jews or the heathens, to face an infidel world, and to break through all the reproaches and terrors of it. I am a debtor, saith he, verse14, to the Greeks and to the Barbarians; that is, to the learned and the unlearned nations; to the wise and to the unwise: I have a commission from Christ to publish his gospel among all the nations of men, and I esteem myself their debtor, till I have delivered my message: And though Rome be the seat of wordly power and policy, the mistress of the nations, and sovereign of the earth, where I shall meet with opposition and contempt in abundance, yet I have courage enough to preach this doctrine at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

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