death." Death is the purchase of any, of every fin. Gal. iii. 10. Curfed is every one,

"of the law to do them." And of this St. James gives a reafon, chap. ii. 10, 11." Whofoever fhall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all: for he that faid, Do not commit adultery, faid alfo, Do not "kill". e. he that offends in any one point, fins against the authority which eftablished the law.

of the law 20 continueth not in all things, which are written in the book

HERE then we have the standing and fixed measures of life and death. Immortality and bliss belong to the righteous; those who have lived in an exact conformity to the law of God, are out of the reach of death: but an exclufion. from paradife and lofs of immortality is the portion of finners; of all those,. who have any way broke that law, and failed of a complete obedience to it, by the guilt of any one tranfgreffion. And thus mankind, by the law, are put upon the iffues of life or death, as they are righteous or unrighteous, juft or unjuft; i. e. exact performers or tranfgreffors of the law.

"

BUT yet, "all having finned," Rom. iii. 23. "and come fhort of the glory "of God," i. e. the kingdom of God in heaven, (which is often called his "glory) both Jews and Gentiles;" ver. 22. fo that, by the deeds of the law," no one could be juftified, ver. 20. it follows, that no one could then have eternal life and blifs.

PERHAPS, it will be demanded, "Why did God give fo hard a law to mankind, that, to the apostle's time, no one of Adam's iffue had kept it? As ap-pears by Rom. iii. and Gal. iii. 21, 22."

ANSW. IT was fuch a law as the purity of God's nature required, and must be the law of fuch a creature as man; unless God would have made him a rational creature, and not required him to have lived by the law of reason; but would have countenanced in him irregularity and disobedience to that light which he had, and that rule which was fuitable to his nature; which would have been to have authorised disorder, confufion, and wickedness in his crea-tures for that this law was the law of reafon, or, as it is called, of nature; we fhall fee by and by: and if rational creatures will not live up to the rule of their reafon, who fhall excuse them? If you will admit them to forfake reafon in one point, why not in another? Where will you ftop? To difobey God in any part of his commands, (and 'tis he that commands what reafon does) is di-rect rebellion, which, if difpenfed with in any point, government and order are at an end; and there can be no bounds fet to the lawless exorbitancy of unconfined man. The law therefore was, as St. Paul tells us, Rom. vii. 12, Holy,, juft, and good," and fuch as it ought, and could not otherwife be.. THIS then being the cafe, that whoever is guilty of any fin fhould certainly die, and ceafe to be; the benefit of life, reftored by Chrift at the refurrection, would have been no great advantage, (for as much as, here again, death must have feized upon all mankind, because all had finned; for the wages of fin is every-where death, as well after, as before the refurrection) if God had not found out a way to justify fome, i. e. fo many as obeyed another law, which gave; which in the new teftament is called "the law of faith," Rom. iii. 27. and is oppofed to "the law of works." And therefore the punishment of thofe,

God

who would not follow him, was to lofe their fouls, i. e. their lives, Mark viii. 3538. as is plain, confidering the occafion it was spoke on.

THE better to understand the law of faith, it will be convenient, in the firft place, to confider the law of works. The law of works then, in short, is that law which requires perfect obedience, without any remiffion or abatement; fo that, by that law, a man cannot be juft, or juftified, without an exact performance of every tittle. Such a perfect obedience, in the new teftament, is termed Sinatorum, which we tranflate righteoufnefs.

THE language of this law is," Do this and live, tranfgrefs and die." Lev. xviii. 5. Ye fhall keep my ftatutes and my judgments, which if a man do, he "shall live in them." Ezek. xx. 11. "I gave them my ftatutes, and fhewed them

my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Mofes, fays "St. Paul, Rom. x. 5, defcribeth the righteoufnefs, which is of the law, that "the man, which doth thofe things, fhall live in them." Gal. iii. 12. "The law " is not of faith; but that man, that doth them, fhall live in them." On the other fide, tranfgrefs and die; no difpenfation, no atonement. Ver. 10. "Cuffed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them.'

WHERE this law of works was to be found, the new teftament tells us, viz. in the law delivered by Mofes. John i. 17. "The law was given by Mofes, but grace and truth came by Jefus Chrift." Chap. vii. 19. "Did not Mofes give you the law?" fays our Saviour," and yet none of you keep the law." And this is the law, which he speaks of, where he afks the lawyer, Luke x. 26, What is written in the law? How readeft thou? Ver. 28. This do, and thou fhalt live." This is that which St. Paul fo often ftyles the law, without any other diftinction, Rom. ii. 13. "Not the hearers of the law are just before "God, but the doers of the law are juftified." "Tis needlefs to quote any more places; his epiftles are full of it, efpecially this to the Romans.

"BUT the law given by Mofes, being not given to all mankind, how are all men finners; fince, without a law, there is no tranfgreffion?" To this the apostle, ver. 14, anfwers," For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, "do, (i. e. find it reafonable to do) by nature the things contained in the law thefe, having not the law, are a law unto themfelves: which fhew the work of the law written in their hearts; their confciences alfo bearing witness, and amongst themselves their thoughts accufing or excufing one another." By which, and other places in the following chapter, 'tis plain, that under the law of works, is comprehended alfo the law of nature, knowable by reason, as well as the law given by Mofes. For, fays St. Paul, Rom. iii. 9, 23. "We have proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under fin: For all "have finned, and come fhort of the glory of God:" which they could not do without a law.

NAY, whatever God requires any where to be done, without making any allowance for faith, that is a part of the law of works: fo that forbidding Adam to eat of the tree of knowledge was part of the law of works. Only we muft take notice here, that fome of God's pofitive commands, being for pecu

liar ends, and fuited to particular circumftances of times, places, and perfons; have a limited and only temporary obligation, by virtue of God's pofitive injunction; such as was that part of Mofes's law, which concerned the outward worship, or political conftitution of the Jews; and is called the ceremonial and judicial law, in contradistinction to the moral part of it; which, being conformable to the eternal law of right, is of eternal obligation; and therefore remains in force ftill, under the gofpel; nor is abrogated by the law of faith, as St. Paul found fome ready to infer, Rom. iii. 31. " Do we then make void the law, "through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law."

NOR can it be otherwife: for, were there no law of works, there could be no law of faith. For there could be no need of faith, which should be counted to men for righteousness; if there were no law, to be the rule and measure of righteousness, which men failed in their obedience to. Where there is no law, there is no fin; all are righteous equally, with or without faith.

THE rule, therefore, of right, is the fame that ever it was; the obligation to observe it is alfo the fame: the difference between the law of works, and the law of faith, is only this: that the law of works makes no allowance for failing on any occafion. Those that obey are righteous; those that in any part disobey, are unrighteous, and must not expect life, the reward of righteousness. But, by the law of faith, faith is allowed to fupply the defect of full obedi'ence; and fo the believers are admitted to life and immortality, as if they were righteous. Only here we must take notice, that when St. Paul fays, that the gofpel establishes the law, he means the moral part of the law of Mofes; for that he could not mean the ceremonial, or political part of it, is evident, by what I quoted out of him just now, where he fays, That the Gentiles do, by nature, the things contained in the law, their confciences bearing witnefs. For the Gentiles neither did, nor thought of, the judicial or ceremonial institutions of Mofes; 'twas only the moral part their confciences were concerned in. As for the reft, St. Paul tells the Galatians, chap. iv, they are not under that part of the law, which, ver. 3, he calls elements of the world; and, ver. 9, weak and beggarly elements. And our Saviour himself, in his gofpel fermon on the mount, tells them, Matth. v. 17. That, whatever they might think, he was not come to diffolve the law, but to make it more full and ftrict: for that that is meant by anpoa, is evident from the following part of that chapter, where he gives the precepts in a stricter fenfe, than they were received in before. But they are all precepts of the moral law, which he re-inforces. What should become of the ritual law, he tells the woman of Samaria, in these words, John iv. "The hour cometh, when you fhall, neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerufalem, worship the Father. But the true worshippers fhall worship "the Father in fpirit and in truth; for the Father feeketh fuch to worship

21, 23.

." him."

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THUS then, as to the law, in short: the civil and ritual part of the law, delivered by Mofes, obliges not Chriftians, though, to the Jews, it were a part of the law of works; it being a part of the law of nature, that man ought to obey every pofitive law of God, whenever he fhall pleafe to make any fuch addition to the law of his nature. But the moral part of Mofes's law, or the moral law, VOL. III.

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(which

(which is every-where the fame, the eternal rule of right) obliges Chriftians, and all men, every-where, and is to all men the standing law of works. But christian believers have the privilege to be under the law of faith too; which is that law, whereby God juftifies a man for believing, though by his works he be not juft or righteous, i. e, though he come short of perfect obedience to the law of works. God alone does or can juftify, or make juft, those who by their works are not fo: which he doth, by counting their faith for righteoufnefs, i. e.. for a complete performance of the law. Rom. iv. 3, "Abraham be"lieved God, and it was counted to him for righteoufnefs." Ver. 5. "To him. "that believeth on him that juftifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righ"teoufnefs." Ver. 6. " Even as David alfo defcribeth the bleffedness of the man

unto whom God imputeth righteoufnefs without works;" i. e. without a full. measure of works, which is exact obedience. Ver. 7. Saying, "Bleffed are they. "whofe iniquities are forgiven, and whose fins are covered." Ver. 8. " Bleffed is the man, to whom the Lord will not impute fin."

THIS faith, for which God juftified Abraham, what was it? It was the believing God, when he engaged his promise in the covenant he made with him.. This will be plain to any one, who confiders these places together, Gen. xv. 6. "He believed in the Lord, or believed the Lord." For that the Hebrew phrase, believing in," fignifies no more but believing, is plain from St. Paul's citation of this place, Rom. iv. 3, where he repeats it thus: "Abraham believed God," which he thus explains, ver. 18,-22, "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations: according to that which was fpoken, So fhall thy feed be. And, being not weak in faith, he confidered "not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, nor "yet the deadnefs of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being. fully perfuaded, that what he had promised he was alfo able to perform.. "And therefore it was imputed to him for righteoufnefs." By which it is clear, that the faith which God counted to Abraham for righteousness, was nothing but a firm belief of what God declared to him; and a stedfast relying on him, for the accomplishment of what he had promised.

Now this," fays St. Paul, ver. 23, 24, "was not writ for his [Abraham's] "fake alone, but for us alfo;" teaching us, that as Abraham was juftified for. his faith, fo alfo ours fhall be accounted to us for righteousness, if we believe God, as Abraham, believed him. Whereby it is plain is meant the firmness of our faith, without ftaggering, and not the believing the fame propofitions that Abraham believed; viz. that though he and Sarah were old, and paft the time and hopes of children, yet he should have a fon by her, and by him become the. father of a great people,, which fhould. poffefs the land of Canaan. This was what Abraham believed, and was counted to him for righteousness. But nobody, I think, will fay, that any one's, believing this now, fhall be imputed to him for righteousness. The law of faith then, in fhort, is for every one to believe what God, requires him to believe, as a condition of the covenant he makes with him. and not to doubt of the performance of his promifes. This the apoftle intimates in the clofe here, ver.. 24. "But for us alfo, to whom it thall

"be

"be imputed, if we believe on him that raifed up Jefus our Lord from the "dead. We muft, therefore, examine and fee what God requires us to believe now, under the revelation of the gofpel; for the belief of one invisible, eternal, omnipotent God, maker of heaven and earth,, &c. was required before, as well as now.

WHAT we are now required to believe to obtain eternal life, is plainly fet down in the gofpel. St. John tell us, John iii. 36. "He that believeth on the "Son, hath eternal life; and he that believeth not the Son, fhall not fee life." What this believing on him is, we are alfo told in the next chapter: "The wo"man faith unto him, I know that the Meffiah cometh: when he is come, he "will tell us all things. Jefus faid unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. "The woman then went into the city, and faith to the men, come fee a man "that hath told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Meffiah? And many of the Samaritans believed on him for the faying of the woman, who teftified, he told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come "unto him, many more believed becaufe of his words, and faid to the woman, "We believe not any longer, becaufe of thy faying; for we have heard our"felves, and we know, that this man is truly the Saviour of the world, the Meffiah," John iv. 25, 26, 29, 39, 40, 41, 42.

By which place it is plain, that believing on the Son is the believing that Jefus was the Meffiah; giving credit to the miracles he did, and the profeffion he made of himfelf. For those who were faid to BELIEVE ON HIM, for the faying of the woman, ver. 39, tell the woman, that they now believed not any longer, because of her faying; but that having heard him themselves, they knew, i. c. BELIEVED, paft doubt, THAT HE WAS THE MESSIAH,

THIS was the great propofition that was then controverted, concerning Jefus of Nazareth, "Whether he was the Meffiah or no?" And the affent to that was that which distinguished believers from unbelievers. When When many of his difciples had forfaken him, upon his declaring that he was the bread of life, which came down from heaven, "He faid to his apoftles, Will ye alfo go

go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom fhall we go? Thou "haft the words of eternal life. And we believe, and are fure, that thou art "the Meffiah, the Son of the living God," John vi. 69. This was the faith which diftinguished them from apoftates and unbelievers, and was fufficient to continue them in the rank of apoftles: and it was upon the fame propofition, "That Jefus was the Meffiah, the Son of the living God," owned by St. Peter, that our Saviour faid, he would build his church, Matth. xvi. 16-18.

To convince men of this, he did his miracles: and their affent to, or not asfenting to this, made them to be, or not to be, of his church; believers, or not believers: The Jews came round about him, and faid unto him, How long "doft thou make us doubt? If thou be the Meffiah, tell us plainly. Jefus an"fwered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my "Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my fheep," John x. 24,--26. Conformable hereunto, St. John tells us, That" many deceivers are entered into the world, who confefs not that Jefus, "the Meffiah, is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver, and an antichrift; whoC 2 "" foever