1. Preach the gospel to every creature:and forgiveness of sins in [my] name, Mark xvi. 15. Luke. xxiv. 47.

1. Saul preached Christ in the synagogues: —We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, Acts ix. 20. 2. Cor. iv. 5.

1. We preach Christ crucified; unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them that are called [and obey the call] Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.-For I determined not to know any thing among you [Corinthians] save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified; 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.—ii. 2.

1. Preaching Peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all:-the Prince of Peace, Acts x. 36. Isa. ix. 6.

1. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life, 1 John v. 12.

1. He that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also, 1 John. ii. 23.

1. Christ is our Life, Col. iii. 4.

1. Jesus Christ, who is our Hope, 1 Tim. i. l.

1. I have laid help upon one that is mighty. -Without me ye can do nothing, Ps. lxxxix. 19.-John xv. 5.

1. Neither is he that planteth any thing [comparatively] &c. but God that giveth the increase, 1 Cor. iii. 7.

1. Yet not I [alone, not I first] but the Grace of God which was with me, 1 Cor.

xv. 10.

1. Call no Man your Father upon earth: For one is your Father, who is in heaven, Matt. xxiii. 9.

1. Christ is made unto us of God Wisdom, 1 Cor. i. 30.

1. God only wise, Jude 25.

1. Why callest thou'me good? There is none good but one, that is God, Matt. xix. 17.

1. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour, Rev. iv. 11.

1. I am the light of the world, John viii. 12.

1. If God be for us, who can be against us? Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God. who also maketh intercession for us, Rom. viii. 31, 34.

1. If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, 1 John ii. 1.

1. Christ ever liveth to make Intercession

2. Teaching them to observe all Things, whatsoever I have commanded you, Matt. xxviii 20.

2. As he reasoned of righteousness, [or Justice,] Temperance, and the Judgment to come, Felix trembled, Acts xxiv. 25.

2. And yet when the Apostle exhorts these very Corinthians to relieve the poor, he uses a variety of motives, besides that of Christ's Cross.-Other churches had abundantly given, 2 Cor. viii. 2 :-He had boasted of their forwardness:-Their charity would make others praise God, and pray for them :-He that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully, &c. 2 Cor. ix. 3, 6, 12, 14.

2. There is no Peace to the wicked.-He that will love Life, &c. let him do Good, seek Peace, and pursue it, Isa. Ivii. 21. Psalm xxxiv. 14.

2. Beloved, &c. He that doeth Good is of God: He that doeth Evil hath not seen God, 3 John 11.

2. What is our Hope? &c.

Are not even

Ye, [Thessalonians ?] 1 Thes. ii. 19. 2. Whosoever transgresseth, hath not God, 2 John 9.

2. To be spiritually minded is Life, Rom. viii. 6.

2. I [Paul] can do all things through Christ, who strengthened me, Phil. iv. 13.

2. We are labourers together with God.As a wise Master-builder, I have laid the foundation, 1 Cor. iii. 9, 10.

2. I [Paul] laboured more abundantly than they all [the apostles,] 1 Cor. xv. 10.

2. Ye have not many Fathers: For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel, 1 Cor iv. 15.

Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son, Prov. xxviii. 7.

2. Five virgins were wise, Matt. xxv. 2.

2. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart, [an honest and good heart] bringeth forth good things, Matt. xii. 35. Luke

viii. 15.

2. They shall walk with me in white, for [or rather or because,] they are worthy, Rev. iii. 4.

2. Ye are the light of the world, Matt.

v. 14.

2. Hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: Far be it from God that he should do wickedness, &c. for the work of a mau shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yea, surely, GOD will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert Judgment, Job, xxxiv. 10, 11, 12.

2. If any man see his brother sin, &c. he shall ask, and he [God] will give him life for them, that sin not unto death, 1 John v. 16.

2. I will that intercessions be made for all

for them that come unto God by him, Heb. vii. 25.

1. The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive Sins, Mark ii. 10.

1. Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement, Rom. v 11.

There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. ii. 5.

1. O God, shine on thy sanctuary, for the Lord's sake,-For my Name's sake will I defer mine anger, Dan. ix. 17. Isa. xlviii. 9. 1. The son of man is come, &c. to save that which was lost, Luke xix. 10.

1, Christ is all and in all ;-it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; -and ye are complete in him, Col. iii. 11.— i. 19-ii, 10. To him that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests, &c. to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Rev. i. 5, 6.

Is it not evident from the balance of these, and the like Scriptures, that Honestus and Zelotes are both under a capital, though

men -The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, 1 Tim. ii. 1. James v. 16.

2. Whose soever Sins ye remit, they are remitted to them, John xx. 23.

2. Phineas was zealous for God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel, Numb. xxv. 13.

2. Moses his chosen, stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them, Ps. cvi. 23.

2. I will not do it [i. e. I will not rain fire and brimstone from the Lord upon Sodom] for ten Righteous's sake, Gen. xviii. 32.

2. He became the author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him, Heb. v. 9.

2. Is Christ the minister of Sin? God forbid !-By their Fruit ye shall know them. -We labour that we may be accepted of him: for we must all appear before the judgmentseat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or had, Gal. ii. 17. Matt. vii. 20. 2 Cor. v. 9, 10.

contrary mistake? and that, to do the gospel justice, we must scripturally join together what they rashly put asunder?

FIRST SCALE.

1. WHOSOEVER believeth on him [Christ] shall not be ashamed, Rom. ix. 33.

1. This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent, John vi. 29.

1. Abraham believed God, &c. and he was called the friend of God, James ii. 23.

1. To him that worketh not, but believeth, &c. his faith is counted for righteousness, Rom. iv. 5.

1. If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins, John viii 24.

1. Only believe: [I particularly require a strong exertion of thy faith at this time.] Luke viii. 50.

1. He that believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life, John v. 24.

1. Thy Faith hath saved thee, Luke vii. 50. 1. Through faith they wrought righteousness, obtained promises, &c. Heb. xi. 33.

1. With the heart, man believeth to righteousness, Rom. x. 10.

1. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Gal.

jii. 2.,

SECOND SCALE.

2. THEN shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments, Psa. cxix. 6.

2. What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah vi. 8.

2. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you, John xv. 14.

2. Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone, James ii. 17.

2. Brethren, &c. if ye live, after the flesh, ye shall die, Rom viii. 13.

2. The devils believe: [Therefore faith is not sufficient without its works.] James ii.

19.

2. With the merciful thou [O God] wilt shew thyself merciful;-and with the froward, thou wilt shew thyself unsavory, 2 Sam. xxii. 26, 27.

2. We are saved by Hope, Rom. viii. 24. 2. Remembering, &c. your labour of love.— Let patience have her perfect work, I Thess. i. 3. Jam. i. 4.

2. And with the mouth confession is made to salvation. Ibid.

2. I know thy Works, that thou art neither cold nor hot, &c. so then, &c. I will spue thee out of my mouth, Rev. iii. 15. 16.

1. Through his name, whosoever believeth on him, shall receive remission of sins, Acts X. 43.

1. If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, Rom. iv. 2.

1. Without Faith it is impossible to please God, Heb. xi. 6.

1. They that are of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham, Gal. iii. 9.

1. To them that are unbelieving is nothing pure, Tit. i. 15.

1. Believe in the Lord, &c. so shall ye be established, 2 Chron. xx. 20.

1. To the praise of the glory of his Grace, &c. he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, Eph. i. 6.

1. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me, Gal. ii. 20. 1. For me to live is Christ, Phil. i. 21.

1. This [Christ] is the true God, and eternal life, 1 John v. 20.

1. This is eternal life, to know thee, &c. and Jesus Christ, John xvii. 3.

1. He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life.

1. Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by Faith, but as it were by the works of the law [opposed to Christ:] for they stumbled at that stumbling stone, Rom. ix. 31, 32.

1. Abraham believed God, and it was imputed [or counted] to him for righteousness, Rom.

2. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven.-If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us, Luke vi. 37. 1 John i. 9.

2. Was not Abraham our father justified by works? James ii. 21.

2. O vain man, faith without works is dead James ii. 20.

2. If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the work of Abraham, John viii 39.

2. Give alms, &c. and behold all things "are clean unto you, Luke xi. 14.

2. If thou do well, shalt not thou be accepted? Gen. iv. 7.

2. In every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. Acts x. 35.

2. If ye, through the Spirit, Mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live, Rom. viii. 13. 2. Keep my commandments and live, Prov. vi. 4.

2. His [my Father's] commandment is life everlasting, John xii. 50.

2. Though I have all knowledge, &c. and have not charity, I am nothing, I Cor. xiii 2. 2. And he that [are] disobeyeth the Son, shall not see life, Joh iii. 36.

2. If any man among you, &c. bridleth not his tongue, &c. this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world, James i. 26, 27.

2. Phineas executed judgment, and that was counted [or imputed] unto him for righteousness for evermore, Psa. cvi. 30, 31.

2. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me :-If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God, Psa. Ixvi. 18. 1 John iii. 21.

2. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, Luke xiv. 11.

2 The doers of the law [of faith] shall be justified,-in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, &c, according to my gos pel. Rom. ii. 13, 16.

2. In the day of judgment-by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned, Matt, xii. 36. 37.,

Our translation makes St. Paul speak unguar dedly, where it says, that "The law is not made for a righteous man.' The absurdity of making believers afraid of the decalogue. The moral law of Christ, and the moral law of Moses, are one and the same. The moral law is rescued from under the feet of the Antinomians. Christians are not less under the morul law to Christ as a rule of judgment, than the Jews were under it to Moses. The Sinai-covenant is proved to be an edition of the covenant of Grace. The most judicious Calvinists maintain this doctrine. Wherein consists the difference between the Jewish, and the Christian dispensation. As the latter is most glorious in its promises, so it is most terrible in its threatenings. Two capital objections are answered.

WHEN Justice has used her Scales, she is sometimes obliged to wield her Sword. In imi tation of her I lay by my Scales, to rescue a capital Scripture, which, I fear, our translators have inadvertently delivered into the hands of the antinomians.

1 Tim. i. 8, 9, the apostle is represented as saying, "We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man." Now, say some antinomiars, all believers being complete in Christ's imputed righteousness, are, and shall for ever be perfectly righteous in him therefore the law is not made for them: They can no more be condemned for breaking the moral than for transgressing the ceremonial law An horrible inference this, which, I fear, is countenanced by these words of our translation: "The law is not made for the righteous." Is this strictly true? not angels and our first parents righteous when God made for them the [then] easy yoke' of the Law of innocence ? And is not the law made for the absolution of the righteous,

Were

as well as for the condemnation of the wic

ked? Happily St. Paul does not speak the unguarded words which we impute to him, for he says dikai voμoc ov KELTAL, literally The law lieth not at, or is not levelled against, a righteous man, but against the lawless and disobedient; that is, against those who break it. This literal sence perfectly agrees with the Apostle's doctrine, where he says, "Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power ? do that which is good, and thou shalt have [absolution and] Praise of the same

This mistake of our translators seems to be countenanced by Gal. v. 23; "Against such [the righteous] there is no law :"Just as if the apostle had said εçi voμog ovdes whereas his words are κατα των τοιαυτών εκ εςι νόμος, literally, The law is not against such. Whence it

appears: 1. That believers are under the law of Christ not only as a rule of life, but also as a rule of judgment: 2. That when they "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil that law," it is not against them, it does not condemn them, 3. That, as there is no medium between the condemnation and the absolution of the law; the moment the law does not condemn a believer, it acquits him: And 4. that consequently every penitent, obedient believer, is actually justifi ed by the law of Christ, agreeably to Rom. ii. 13, and Mat. xii. 37; For, says the apostle, "The law is not against such," plainly intimating that it is FOR them.

us as

It were well for us, if some of our divines had been satisfied with insinuating, that we need not keep the commandments to obtain eternal salvation through Jesus Christ: But some of them even endeavour to make much afraid of the decalogue, as of a battery of cannon. With such design it is, that pious J. Bunyan says in one of his unguarded moments; "Have a care of these great gens the ten commandments;" just as if it were as desperate an attempt to look into the law of God, in order to one's salvation; as to look into the mouths of ten loaded cannons in orhere taken with the gospel! Christ says, “If der to one's preservation. What liberty is thou will enter into life, keep the commandments;" the obedience of faith being the narrow way, which through him leads to life. No, say some of our gospel ministers," Sincere obedience is a jack o'lanthoru, and what you recommend as a way to life is a tenfold way to death." O ye that fear God do not so rashly contradict our Lord. regard yet his sayings? baptismal vow? all the articles of the christian faith; but also "keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of their

life? "

Who among you Who stand to their Who will not only believe

Let no solifidian make you afraid of

the commandments. Methinks I see the bleeding Captain of our salvation lifting up the word of command, Dread not my precepts. standard of the cross and giving thus the "If you love me, keep my commandments, Blessed are they who keep God's commandments, that they may enter into the city by the gate, and lay hold on eternal life." If this is the language of inspiration, far from dreading "the ten great guns," love their mouths next to the wounds of Jesus. Stand behind the cross; ply there the heavenly ordnance, and you shall be invincible: yea, one of you shall chase a thousand: It is the command broken in unbelief, and not the command kept in faith, that slays: For that very ordlevelled “ unto the third or fourth generanance which is loaded with a fearful curse,

tion of them that hate God," is loaded with mere" mercy to a thousand generations of them that love him and keep his commandments."

Zelotes probably wonders at the legality of the preceding lines, and is ready to exclaim against my blindness, for not seeing that Moses's moral law, delivered on Mount Sinai is a mere covenant of works, diametrically opposed to the covenant of grace. As his opinion is one of the strongest ramparts of antinomianism, I beg leave to erect a battery against it: If I am so happy as to demolish it. I shall not only be able to recover the dec. alogue-the "ten great guns:" but also a considerable part of the Old Testament, such, as most of the lessons, which our church has selected out of Deuteronomy and Ezekiel, and which the solifidians consider as jewish trumpery, akin to Arminian heresy; merely be cause they contain powerful incentives to sincere evangelical obedience, according to the doctrine of the second gospel-axiom.

I humbly conceive then, 1. That the moral law delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai, was a particular edition of that gracious and holy law, which St. James calls "the law of liberty," and St. Paul "the law of Christ :" 2. That our Lord solemnly adopted the moral part of the decalogue, in his sermon upon the Mount, where he rescued the moral precepts from the false glosses of the scribes; representing those precepts as the evangelical law, according to which we must live, if ever our righteousness exceeds that of the pharisees and by which we must be justified in the Day of Judgment, [agreeable to his own doctrine, Mat. xii. 37, if ever we escape the curse which will fall on the ungodly: And 3. That, although we are not bound to obey the decalogue, as delivered to Moses, literally written in stone [in which sense Paul observes that it is done away, 2 Cor. iii. 7, 11 :] yet we are obliged to obey it, so far, as it is a transcript of the moral law, that eternally binds all rational agents, and so far as Christ has made it his own by spritualizing and enforcing its moral precepts, on the Mount. I say its moral precepts, because the fourth Commandment, which is rather of the ceremonial than of the moral kind, does not bind us so strictly as others do. Hence it is that St. Paul says, "Let no man judge you in respect of the sabbath-days," Col. ii. 16: and even finds fault with the Galations for observing days with a jewish scrupulosity.

That the moral law of Sinai was a peculiar edition of God's evangelical law adapted to the jewish common-wealth, and not an edition of the Adamic law of innocence, I prove by the following arguments :

1. Rom. x. 5, St. Paul produces Moses as describing the righteousness which is of the law of Sinai: "that the man who does these things shall live by them." And Rom. viii. 13,

he himself describes the righteousness which is of the law of liberty thus, "If ye live after the flesh ye shall die; but if ye, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Now are not those people excessively prejudiced, who deny, either that in both these descriptions, the promise,-shall live,—is the same; or that it is suspended on sincere, obedience? And therefore, is it not evident that St. Paul never blamed the Jews for seeking salvation by an humble obedience to the moral precepts of the Mosaic covenant, in due subordination to faith in the divine mercy and in the promised Messiah ; but only for opposing their opus operatum, their formal, partial ceremonies, pharisaic obedience, to that very faith, which should have animated all their works?

2. The truth of this observation will appear in a still stronger light, if you consider, that when the evangelical apostle asks, "What says the righteousness of faith?" he answers almost in the very words, in which the legal prophet asserts the practicableness of his own law. For St. Paul writes, "The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is the word of faith which we preach," Rom. x. 8. And Moses says, Deut xxx. 11. "The word is very nigh unto thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it; which undoubtedly implies a believing of that word, in order to the doing of it; agreeably to the doctrine of our Church, who asks in her catechism, "What dost thou learn in the commandments?" and answers, "I learn my duty towards God, &c, which is to believe in him," &c. Thus we see, that, as the Mosaic law was not without gospel and faith, so the christian gospel is not without law and obedience; and consequently that those divines, who represent Moses as promiscuously cursing, and Christ as indiscriminately blessing, all the people under their respective dispensations are greatly mistaken.

3. Whatever liberty the apostle takes with the superannuated ceremonies of the Jews, which he sometimes calls carnal ordinances, and sometimes beggarly elements; it is remarkable that he never speaks disrepectfully of the moral law, and that he exactly treads in the steps of Moses's evangelical legality: For if Moses comes down from Mount Sinai, saying, "Honour thy father and mother," &c. St. Paul writes from Mount Sion, "Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment, [of the second table] with promise that it may be well with thee," Eph. vi. 2, 3. As for Christ, we have already seen, that when he informs us, how well it will be with us, if we keep his commandments, he says, "This do, and thou shalt live:" i. e. thou shalt inherit eternal life in glory.

4 As Christ freely conversed with Moses on the Mount, so St. Paul is freely conversant with Moses's legality in his most evan