An article entitled "A Report From Heaven" by Thomas Boston (from the longer essay "The Unsuccessfulness of the Gospel...") was included in the Winter 2006 issue (pdf) of the Free Grace Broadcaster (free downloads or paper subscription on request). I liked his conclusion, as follows:

This shows that the Gospel is the means of divine appointment for the salvation of sinners. Therefore, it is called "the gospel of our salvation" (Eph 1:13), and [it] "bringeth salvation" (Tit 2:11). The light of nature is not the external means or instrument of salvation, for it brings no report of Christ (Act 4:12). The Law is not it either—it is the ministration of death and condemnation (2Co 3:7-9)—but the Gospel only. For it is in the Gospel only that a righteousness is revealed for the unrighteous (Rom 1:16-17), and in which the Spirit is conveyed to dead sinners (Gal 3:2). To slight the Gospel, then, is to slight the only mean of salvation. . . Wherefore know, that your life lies here, and that there is no salvation but in the way of trusting to the report of the Gospel.

May those we meet hear a faithful report of the gospel!

Labels: Puritans, theology