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Til E 
 
 EST ABLISHMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LAW 
 
 BY 
 
 THE GOSPEL. 
 
 By W. HAMILTON, 
 
 MINISTER OF STRATHBLANE. 
 
 GLASGOW: 
 
 PRINTED BY YOUNG, GALLIE, AND CO. 
 
 SOLD BY M. OGLE, J. SMITH AND SON, J. BRASH AND CO. CHALMERS 
 AND COLLINS, WARDLAW AND CUNNINGHAME, J. STEVEN, AND J. 
 WYLLIE AND CO GLASGOW; OGLE, ALLARDTCE, AND THOMSON, 
 WAUGH AND INNES, W. BLACKWOOD, W. WHYTB, W. OLIPHANT, D. 
 BROWN, AND A* BLACK, EDINBURGH. 
 
 1820. 
 
YOUNG, GALLIE,& CO, 
 Printers. 
 
TO 
 
 CJe Jftfgfrt f&onoura&Ie 
 ARCHIBALD COLQUHOUN, 
 
 OF KILLERMONT, 
 
 LORD REGISTER OF SCQTLAVP, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING TREATISE, 
 
 AS 
 
 A MARK OF THE HIGHEST ESTEEM AND 
 GRATITUDE, 
 
 IS 
 MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 HIS LORDSHIP'S AFFECTIONATE AND DEVOTED 
 
 SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following Publication has originated in a wish to 
 defend the Preachers of the Gospel from the charge of 
 Antinomianism. 
 
 Nothing is more common than to hear them, in cer- 
 tain quarters, accused of an immoderate concern for the 
 doctrines, whilst they are comparatively regardless of 
 the duties, of Christianity. 
 
 The evangelical name has often been abused, by 
 being assumed by men who have had no real right to 
 that honourable appellation; and, therefore, it would 
 be presumptuous to assert that the above censure is in 
 no instance just : but, if understood as a general remark, 
 which includes the whole body of evangelical preachers, 
 we can confidently aver that nothing can be more remote 
 from the truth. As far as it is possible to judge of their 
 intentions from their language and conduct, we are war- 
 ranted to affirm, that nothing lies nearer their hearts, 
 than a desire to behold the authority of God re-established 
 over the whole of this world's apostate population, to see 
 the people rendered all righteous, and the whole earth 
 filled with his glory. But whilst intensely set upon the 
 attainment of these interesting events, they absolutely 
 despair of ever securing their accomplishment by any 
 other means, than the faithful manifestation of the lead- 
 ing and essential truths of Christianity. If, therefore, 
 
VI 
 
 our opponents were fully aware of our actual views and 
 motives, and true to their own professed anxiety for the 
 practice of good works, the very circumstance, which 
 they are so forward to denounce as a crime, they would 
 applaud as the most noble and worthy object of com- 
 mendation : for our ardour in illustrating and recommend- 
 ing the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel, is inspired 
 and maintained by superior zeal for the advancement of 
 koliness. The writer must say for himself, and in this 
 declaration of his own sentiments, he is persuaded that 
 he is uttering those of the great mass of his brethren, 
 that, next to his conviction of its truth, nothing has 
 ever more powerfully contributed to rivet his adherence 
 to the evangelical system, than the holy effects by which 
 it is followed, and the prodigious advantage with which, 
 on its principles, he can enforce the obligations of mor- 
 ality, and promote the great ends of practical godliness. 
 
 Whilst, however, this little work was undertaken to 
 vindicate the preachers of the gospel from the foul ca- 
 lumny of being indifferent to the claims of moral good- 
 ness, it is to be hoped, that it may be the mean of in- 
 ducing some of an anti-evangelical creed, who, while 
 sincerely attached to the cause of virtue, have, by the 
 misrepresentation in question, been prejudiced against 
 the gospel, as a system which encourages licentiousness, 
 to review the grounds on which they have opposed it, 
 and thus pf leading them to embrace the only doctrines, 
 which the God of heaven has blessed, for producing any 
 
Vll 
 
 substantial or lasting cliange upon the heart9 and lives of 
 men. 
 
 In the course of the following pages a great deal has 
 been said, from an earnest solicitude to reach the votar- 
 ies of antinomiaiiism, and u> shew them that the peculi- 
 arities of their scheme are just as foreign, as the tenets of 
 legality, from the spirit and design of Christianity. The 
 law of God was in the heart of the Redeemer; and let 
 men delude themselves as they please, they never can 
 possess the smallest scriptural evidence that their names 
 are written in heaven, till they find that its precepts are 
 written on their own inward parts, nor entertain any well- 
 founded expectation of reigning with him in his kingdom, 
 unless they now resemble him in their temper and con- 
 duct: for, it is on the highest authority that we are 
 assured, that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, 
 he is none of his. 
 
 The present production may, perhaps, be of use to 
 some evangelical preachers themselves. If there are 
 any who are at a loss to follow out the practical bearings 
 of their subjects, and to take complete advantage of the 
 truths before them, for driving home upon the hearts 
 and consciences of their hearers, the moral lessons 
 which they administer; if there are any who are full and 
 forcible in their doctrinal discussions, but, from the 
 dread of fostering a self-righteous spirit, are deterred 
 from being equally copious and energetic in urging the 
 discharge of every Christian duty, it is to be hoped, 
 
Vlll 
 
 that they will perceive that this apprehension is alto- 
 gether visionary ; and see that, whilst a preacher stands 
 upon evangelical ground, he never can be too warm and 
 vehement in pressing upon men the performance of the 
 whole of the Divine will, that he never can keep more 
 closely by the footsteps of Christ and his apostles, than 
 when he is employed, from gospel motives, in insisting 
 upon the entire surrender of the heart and life to the 
 service and glory of God. These great models for mi- 
 nisterial imitation never were deficient in their exposi- 
 tions of the articles of faith ; and at the same time, they 
 never have been equalled in the frequency and cogency 
 with which they inculeated every branch of obedience^ 
 With these illustrious examples before us, we may de- 
 pend upon it, that we never can be more usefully, nor 
 appropriately occupied, than, when like them, we are 
 engaged with all the earnestness and fervour that we 
 can command, in exhorting those, who have believed 
 in Jesus, to be careful to maintain good works, and to 
 abound in all the fruits of righteousness. 
 
 If the Author has in any degree succeeded according 
 to his wish, this Treatise will tend to unfold one of the 
 delightful marks of the truth of the peculiar doctrines 
 of the gospel, their simplicity and consistency. Whilst 
 error is contradictory, endless, and pernicious, it is re- 
 freshing to know that truth is always simple, uniform, 
 and salutary, Accordingly; whilst the Antinomian, for 
 fear of trenching upon the prerogative* of the Divine be- 
 
IX 
 
 nignity and clemency, is afraid to speak of the claims of 
 duty, and the legalist, from the suspicion of encourag- 
 ing ungodliness, is terrified to dwell upon the doctrines 
 of grace ; the enlightened evangelist, who knows the 
 strength of his system, is haunted with none of these 
 imaginary terror* • with the freedom and decision, which 
 a good cause never fails to create, he gives to the law 
 all its rights, and to the gospel all its high and well- 
 earned honours. Coming boldly forward to proclaim 
 the endearing provisions of redeeming mercy, he finds, 
 in the boundless kindness which it reveals, an argu- 
 ment to urge, with a matchless efficacy and force, 
 the cultivation of good works, and an instrument, by 
 means of which, he can raise their interests to an un- 
 precedented elevation ; so that whilst he yields, to none 
 in his veneration for the fundamental truths of evange- 
 lical religion, he can enjoin a loftier and purer morality, 
 than they ever possessed, upon the partisans of legality 
 themselves. 
 
 Though the topics treated are mostly of a controver- 
 sial nature, the writer has studiously avoided all the 
 bitterness of controversy. If, in any instance, he has 
 been unconsciously betrayed into that odious spirit, or 
 has uttered a single sentence that can give unnecessary 
 pain to any, it will be to him a matter of deep regret. 
 His object was not to widen, but to close, the breaches 
 in the Christian world. One of the greatest benefits 
 attending the amicable discussion of religious questions, 
 
is to place the truth in a more conspicuous and impres- 
 sive point of view. It is by prejudice and error that be- 
 lievers are kept asunder. If they were all agreed in the 
 faith, they would soon be all united in the hope, the 
 love, and obedience of the gospel. It is through the 
 truth that they are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ; 
 and, like the rays of light, which all flow from the sun, 
 and which the nearer that they approximate their com- 
 mon centre, the nearer they approach to each other, the 
 more firmly that Christians cleave to their glorified 
 Head, the more perfectly will they bear his adorable 
 image, and the more closely will their own hearts be 
 knit in affection to each other. 
 
 Strathblane Manse, "I 
 May 10th, 1820. J 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 CHAP. I. — Introduction. On the perpetuity of the Law, 1 
 
 CHAP. II. — Proof of the retention of the Law under the 
 
 Gospel, ...... 23 
 
 Sect. 1. Evidence of the continuance of the Law from the 
 
 ministry of Christ and his apostles, • . . ibid. 
 
 Sect. 2 Proof of the continuance of the Law from the 
 
 general nature and character of the Gospel, . . 42 
 
 Sect. 3. The consistency betwixt salvation by grace, and 
 
 the practice of good works, 83 
 
 CHAP. III. The means by which the Gospel establishes the 
 
 Law, • . . . • .123 
 
 Sect. 1. The Gospel establishes the Law by the proof 
 which it affords of its obligation, and the necessity of 
 
 obeying it, 127 
 
 Sect. 2 The gospel establishes the Law by the love to 
 
 duty which it inspires, . 208 
 
 Sect. 3. The Gospel establishes the Law, by the assistance 
 which it-imparts for performing the services which it 
 enjoins . 253 
 
 CHAP. IV.— Conclusion. Remarks on the evidence which 
 facts afford of the moral efficacy of the gospel, the im- 
 portance of evangelical truth, and the necessity of be- 
 lievers maintaining a holy and consistent conduct. 276 
 
THE 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LAW 
 
 BY 
 
 THE GOSPEL. 
 
 CHAR I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 On the perpetuity of the Law. 
 
 Of all the clamours by which the preachers of the 
 gospel are assailed, none is more odious and gall- 
 ing, nor more false and groundless, than the re- 
 proach that their doctrine is hostile to the interests 
 of morality, and calculated to set the minds of 
 men free from the restraints and obligations which 
 the law of God imposes. 
 
 From the high tone of religion and of morals in 
 christian countries, compared with the prostrate 
 and degraded state of piety and the duties of life, 
 in heathen and infidel lands; from the pure and 
 elevated goodness manifested by those who are 
 most distinguished for their attachment to the lead- 
 ing tenets of Christianity, contrasted with the loose 
 and worldly practices of those who ad< pt a lower 
 creed; and from the fact that the moral worth 
 A 
 
and sublimity of serious Christians rise in exact 
 proportion to the clearness with which they dis- 
 cern, and the closeness with which they cleave to 
 the essential articles of the gospel : there can be 
 no doubt that the charge of licentiousness, so long 
 
 o o 
 
 and so vehemently urged against evangelical truth, 
 has no real foundation, and is the effect either of 
 mistake or of prejudice; and that notwithstanding 
 all the apprehensions entertained of its demoralizing 
 spirit, it possesses some secret charm, which com- 
 pletely counteracts its corrupting tendencies, and 
 spreads around the whole system an atmosphere 
 of health and of sanctity which purifies and in- 
 vigorates every principle of action, and imparts to 
 the virtue of those who enjoy it a matchless ele- 
 vation and energy. 
 
 In entering, therefore, upon this attempt to vin- 
 dicate the holy nature of the gospel, it is highly 
 gratifying to know, whether success shall attend 
 this undertaking or not, that success is at least at- 
 tainable, and that an abler advocate of the cause 
 may effectually accomplish what its present defend- 
 er fails to perform. 
 
 It may be proper to observe, that, by the Law, 
 in the following dissertation, is understood the 
 moral law, or that rule of duty which God ori- 
 ginally prescribed to his creatures, which reaches 
 the whole intelligent creation, and extends to the 
 use of all their faculties, and the performance of 
 
the whole of their actions. Holiness, or moral 
 goodness, consists in conformity to its precepts; 
 and the violation of what it enjoins, constitutes 
 guilt and sin. By the Gospel is meant the Chris- 
 tian dispensation; or the revelation of the grace 
 of God for the recovery of man, through the 
 mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, from the aw- 
 ful state of depravity and wretchedness in which sin 
 had involved us, and our restoration to the enjoy- 
 ment of his favour on earth, and the possession of 
 everlasting life in heaven. The most interesting 
 and valuable truth which this merciful scheme 
 contains, and which forms its leading and distin- 
 guishing feature, is the promise of free and com- 
 plete forgiveness of sin to all who embrace the 
 atonement. In this sense the gospel is frequently 
 opposed to the law; and in that case it denotes 
 salvation by grace, in opposition to justification by 
 works, It is in this sense ihat^lhe gospel is an 
 object of suspicion and dislike to the legal and 
 self-righteous: and it is in this sense of the term 
 that the friends of evangelical religion are re- 
 quired to defend it from the charge of antino- 
 mianism. To maintain, therefore, that the law is 
 established by the gospel, is substantially the same 
 as to affirm that the interests of holiness are best 
 and most effectually secured by the doctrine of sal- 
 vation through grace. 
 
 In order to guard the gospel from abuse, and 
 cut off every pretext for the asperisons cast upon 
 A2 
 
it as contributing to undermine the foundations of 
 morality, and afford men a plea for continuing in 
 sin that grace may abound; some have given such 
 a representation of its nature, as has, to every in- 
 tent and purpose, converted it into the law under 
 another name; for they not only speak of it as a 
 rule of life, and talk of its duties and its precepts; 
 but likewise describe it as a system which demands 
 works of obedience, and exercises of faith and 
 penitence, of reformation and of piety, ^in order 
 to. Justify its subjects and entitle them to the pos- 
 session of the blessings which it announces. 
 
 Recording to this hypothesis the law and gospel 
 are made completely to coalesce : the gospel is ren- 
 dered utterly superfluous and useless, and totally 
 deprived of a separate and independent existence* 
 For as there is no work of righteousness binding 
 upon the heart and conscience of human creatures, 
 but what is most clearly and forcibly inculcated by 
 the law, if the gospel were intended to do no more 
 than merely to enjoin the performance of religious 
 and moral duties, it is neither more nor less than 
 a republication of the law: and as the holy ten- 
 dency of the law is well known and universally 
 acknowledged, on such a supposition, there could 
 not be the slightest shadow of a pretence for ac- 
 cusing the gospel of licentiousness, nor the least 
 occasion for asserting its holy nature, and spiritual 
 design. By thus identifying the gospel with the 
 law, the whole controversy about the moral effects 
 
of evangelical truth, is at once annihilated; and 
 when we have no vestige of the gospel left, it 
 would be as absurd and idle to dispute about its 
 practical consequences as about the operations or 
 properties of a non-entity. 
 
 In vindicating the holy tendency of the gospel, 
 and in enforcing the claims of the law, there is no 
 more necessity for having recourse to the silly and 
 pitiable shift of surrendering the existence of the 
 gospel, or of abandoning any of the truths which 
 it contains, than for lopping off the limbs of a 
 traveller to prevent him from wandering, or for 
 setting a vessel on fire to preserve it from sinking. 
 The obligation of men to yield obedience to the 
 authority of the Most High may be most easily 
 and abundantly proved without setting their opi- 
 nions loose upon the all-sufficiency of our Redeem- 
 er's sacrifice, or making the slightest infringement 
 upon the radical and leading fact in the Christian 
 system, that we are justified freely by the grace of 
 God through the redemption that is in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 If we read our Bibles to purpose, and understand 
 the precious truths with which each of their sacred 
 pages is enriched and stored, we must admit, in 
 the fullest and broadest sense of the terms, that 
 there is a gospel, and that this gospel is all a dis- 
 pensation of mercy; that we are redeemed from 
 guilt ana perdition solely through the sufferings 
 and death of the Saviour; that however valuable 
 A 3 
 
and necessary good works may be to prove the 
 reality of our faith or qualify us for the enjoyment of 
 heaven, they cannot contribute the smallest frac- 
 tion to our justifying righteousness, nor in the 
 slightest degree recommend us to the approbation 
 and favour of our Judge: that as the vilest are 
 not debarred on account of their demerits, from 
 the ample and liberal invitations of the gospel, 
 the best cannot by their religious performances, or 
 virtuous accomplishments, procure the notice or 
 commendation of God: for if there be one truth 
 in the volume of inspiration, more clear and un- 
 questionable than another, it is the fact that all 
 who are saved, " are saved by grace, through 
 faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift 
 of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." 
 The free and gratuitous nature of justification 
 pervades every representation, which in Scripture, 
 is given us of the nature of that inestimable bless- 
 ing; and it is this property of justification which 
 constitutes the great excellence and glory of the 
 gospel, which brings it within the reach and the 
 level ot every human creature, and renders it 
 good tidings of great joy to all mankind. With- 
 out feeling this fact, and dwelling largely and fully 
 on it, we never can reach the centre of the Christ- 
 ian system, nor secure that elevated and com- 
 manding position, from which we can make the 
 truths of redemption bear, with an irresistible 
 force and soul-subduing energy, upon the hearts 
 
and consciences of our fellow-immortals. With- 
 out proclaiming freely, and without fear, a full 
 and finished salvation, from which all our per- 
 sonal performances of every quality and name are 
 excluded, we never can preach the same glori- 
 ous gospel which was published by the apostles 
 among the nations, and carried by them to the 
 remotest ends of the earth. Wherever they went, 
 they were haunted with the accusation of intro- 
 ducing a system which subverted the foundations 
 of moral obligation, and opened the floodgates of 
 profligacy and vice. Again and again, were they 
 denounced for making the law void through faith, 
 and for encouraging men to continue in sin, that 
 grace might abound. But with what semblance 
 of truth or fairness could such a slander as this, 
 either have been advanced or repeated, if they 
 had preached a compound of the law and the gos- 
 pel, and taught that men are to be justified either 
 in whole, or in part, by their moral virtues or 
 reigious duties ? Unless they had distinctly and 
 earnestly enforced the doctrine of salvation by 
 grace, or of justification by faith without the deeds 
 of die law, it is utterly impossible either to ac- 
 count for the origin of this aspersion, or to dis- 
 cover its application to their ministry. The cen- 
 sure, therefore, so generally thrown out against 
 them, forms a simple and decisive test of the na- 
 ture of their instructions, and affords every preach- 
 er an easy and infallible standard, by which to 
 
s 
 
 estimate the quality and tendency of his own mini- 
 strations. As the hostility of the carnal and self- 
 righteous mind to the humbling doctrines of the 
 gospel continues unabated, we may rest assured 
 that if we were treading in the footsteps of the 
 apostles, we would leceive from their revilers ex« 
 actly the same obloquy and abuse which they sus- 
 tained. Unless, therefore, men of a legal and 
 pharasaical spirit are loading us with the same re- 
 proach which was so plentifully heaped upon them, 
 so far from regarding their forbearance or ap- 
 plause as a ground of self gratulation, we ought 
 to view it as a severe condemnation; for it gives 
 us sad reason to suspect that we have departed 
 from the simplicity of the gospel, and are not 
 preaching the truth as it is in Jesus. 
 
 Having cordially paid, at the outset, this hum- 
 ble tribute to the transcendant importance of the 
 leading articles of our holy faith, in the honest 
 hope, that, by thus admitting them in all their 
 extent and latitude, I shall not, in this attempt 
 to vindicate the purifying tendency of Christian- 
 ity, be considered as actuated by any unfriendly 
 feeling to the essential truths of evangelical reli- 
 gion, nor suspected of having recourse to the 
 awkward and clumsy expedient of defending the 
 law at the expense of the gospel, and of found- 
 ing the interests and obligations of morality upon 
 the overthrow and ruins of the doctrines of 
 grace; I proceed to the object more immediately 
 
before me, which is to shew that the law has been 
 ratified and confirmed, strengthened and estab- 
 lished by the gospel. 
 
 Here it is a matter of great moment to remark, 
 that in this discussion we possess a decided ad- 
 vantage over our opponents, from the fact, that 
 there are so many strong reasons before-hand to 
 prevent the belief that the law ever could sustain 
 any modification at all; that nothing short of the 
 most clear and irresistible evidence can induce 
 the mind to assent to the astonishing and incred- 
 ible assertion, that it has been relaxed or repeal- 
 ed by the gospeL 
 
 To allege that the law can admit any modifica- 
 tion or repeal, proceeds upon a supposition equal- 
 ly dishonourable to the original excellence of the 
 law, and to the wisdom and perfection of its 
 Divine and adorable Author. It assumes that the 
 law was originally rigid and unjust, or enacted 
 by a legislator, who was incapable of perceiving 
 what was befitting his own character or suitable 
 to the circumstances of his creatures. 
 
 Now, so far from being rigorous or unjust, 
 from being imperfect or wrong, it is an exceed- 
 ingly good law. The law of the Lord is perfect. 
 His law is the truth. The law is holy, and the 
 commandment holy, and just and good. The 
 righteousness of its testimonies is everlasting. 
 Let us either survey it as a whole, or take a view 
 of it in its separate and independent parts ; and 
 
10 
 
 say where, within all the wide range and compass 
 of its precepts and penalties, of its requisitions 
 and sanctions, is there a single article that needs 
 to be erased or altered, suspended or repealed ? 
 The sum and substance of the law is the supreme 
 and ardent love of God, and the sincere and 
 steady love of man. And is there any thing im- 
 proper or unjust in these injunctions? Any thing 
 that is dishonourable to God, or hurtful to our 
 brethren ? Any thing that can impair our indi- 
 vidual happiness, or injure the general prosperity 
 and welfare of society ? Supposing, that from 
 this spot, all round to the world's end, and from 
 this moment down to the last beat of time, the pre- 
 cepts of this law were written on every heart, and 
 made legible in every life ; that every individual, 
 in every succeeding generation, were to adopt 
 in his earliest youth, and amidst all the tempta- 
 tions and vicissitudes around him, were tenacious- 
 ly to retain till his latest age, a firm and inflexible 
 attachment to every principle which it contains, 
 and to every practice which it inculates: what 
 harm, either to God or to man, could possibly 
 result from this universal and cordial obedience 
 to its precepts ? Would it shake the allegiance 
 of man to his Maker, or diminish the amount of 
 virtue or of bliss to be found within the confines 
 of the globe ? Of all the improvements with 
 which the habitations of mortality could be visit- 
 ed, this would be by far the most desirable and 
 
11 
 
 delightful. The pleasing representations of pro- 
 phecy, in their most lovely and endearing form, 
 would speedily be realized The wilderness and 
 the solitary place would be glad : the desert would 
 rejoice and blossom as the rose: it would blossom 
 abundantly, and rejoice, even with joy and sing- 
 ing- The baneful empire of vice and impiety, 
 of fraud, cunning, oppression, malevolence and 
 cruelty would instantly be subverted and destroy- 
 ed: peace, concord, kindness and confidence 
 would revisit the world, and re-establish their 
 mild and auspicious reign amongst the children 
 of men: man would cease to be the foe, the 
 scourge and terror of man; each would bend on 
 his neighbour the eye of a friend, and feel for him 
 all the tenderness and affection of a brother: the 
 principles of religion and of righteousness would 
 pervade every heart, and give their form and colour 
 to every feature of human character, and to every 
 branch of human business; and render earth itself, 
 which sin has so long polluted and accursed, the 
 foretaste and image of heaven. 
 
 From an examination, therefore, of the spirit 
 and design, of the tendency and effects of this 
 law, we can discover in it nothing that is defec- 
 tive or redundant; nothing that is erroneous or 
 wrong, nothing that is unworthy of God to ap- 
 point, nor unfit for his creatures to receive. 
 
 And if it be once admitted that it was originally 
 perfect, that its precepts required no greater an 
 
12 
 
 amount of duty and obedience than what was ab- 
 solutely just and right, and that its penalties de- 
 nounced no more punishment than what the vio- 
 lation of its commands most reasonably deserved: 
 if thus it be once admitted, that the law of the 
 Lord was originally perfect; and if this admission 
 be refused, we surely have a title from our oppon- 
 ents to know, what other than a perfect law could 
 proceed from a holy, just, and righteous God : but 
 if it be once admitted that it was originally per- 
 fect, then it is stamped with the attribute of im- 
 mutability, and in its extent and latitude, with- 
 out the least alteration in all its terms, or the slight- 
 est abatement in its demands, it must remain for 
 ever the same. For what modification could such 
 a constiution sustain, which would not be a change 
 for the worse and not for the better? a change 
 from good to evil? from absolute rectitude and 
 unsullied purity and beauty, to imperfection and 
 deformity, to weakness and to evil? And is it cre- 
 dible that the all-perfect and ever-blessed Jehovah, 
 who sits on the throne of the universe, and sways 
 the sceptre over creation, for the purpose of main- 
 taining in their highest splendour and most unbend- 
 ing form, the reign of righteousness and truth, 
 wou-d ever give his deliberate and solemn sanction 
 to a measure so utterly inconsistent with the digni- 
 ty of his character, so completely at war with every 
 perfection of hh nature, so totally repugnant to 
 every principle of his government, and so directly 
 
13 
 
 calculated to shake the foundations of hi 
 and tarnish the glory of his throne? 
 
 If ever it was the intention of God to revoke this 
 •law, and free the children of men from its ob 
 tion, why did he appoint it at all ? Why prescribe 
 it to Adam in paradise, or render it binding on him 
 or on any of his descendants? With the solitary 
 exception of securing our acceptance with God, 
 what single advantage would have followed from 
 an unreserved compliance with its precepts in a 
 state of innocence, which cannot attend their ob- 
 servance now? or what benefit can result from the 
 keeping of its commandments in heaven through 
 eternity, which cannot be derived from a cordial 
 and devoted obedience to them on earth, and in 
 time? Can holiness of heart and of life contribute 
 more to our dignity and delight in one condition 
 than in another? Why then did the all- wise and 
 unchangeable God enjoin its observance upon 
 first human pair, unless he was determined in every 
 succeeding generation, to maintain its rights in 
 their full authority and force? Are we for one mo- 
 ment to entertain the unworth; 
 that the Most High was 
 
 of his own measures, and reduced to the 
 :ing an experiment upo 
 cities and powers of his creatures? and tha$, 
 an engineer, who, 
 
 chine, is nee to stand by and 
 
 operations, and wi 
 
 B * 
 
14 
 
 can pronounce upon its merits, the eternal and 
 omniscient Jehovah, whose all comprehending mind 
 sees the end from the beginning, and whose arrange- 
 ments are formed with such consummate wisdom, 
 that with him there is no variableness neither shadow 
 of turning, was compelled to suspend his decision 
 upon the obligation of the law, till once he had 
 for a season, committed it to its fate, and seen the 
 reception which it obtained from the sons of Adam? 
 I shall perhaps be told, as others have been told 
 before me, that man, in a state of innocence, was per- 
 fectly able to obey the law; but as this is a task now 
 far beyond his strength, the want of a capacity and 
 power to observe it, is a valid and sufficient reason 
 for its relaxation or repeal.— And are we then to be- 
 lieve, that the law is to suffer for the sin of its subjects, 
 and that when they violate its enactments, it is then 
 to forfeit its title to punishment for the past, and 
 to obedience for the future? If it were possible 
 to suppose that the law had made any encroach- 
 ment upon the rights and prerogatives of the crea- 
 ture, that it had overstepped the limits of reason, 
 and of equity, in such a case it is possible to con- 
 ceive that it might have sustained some abridge- 
 ment of its demands, and forfeited some of its claims 
 upon his homage and regard. But when man is the 
 transgressor, and the law has done nothing amiss, 
 is, it then to be stripped of its rights, and visited 
 with the vengeance due to the guilty rebel? Is the 
 plundered traveller to undergo the punishment 
 
15 
 
 which law and reason denounce against the nightly 
 depredator? Is the beneficent and patriotic tove* 
 reign to suffer for the crimes of the turbulent and 
 dark-minded traitor? Or is the law of heaven to be 
 shorn of its authority and titles on account of ti 
 vice and wickedness of those who are bound lo 
 obey it? 
 
 Let the capacities and powers of fallen man be what 
 they may, that surely must be a very flexible and con- 
 venient law indeed, which bends and twists and plies, 
 till it accommodate itself exactly to the taste, the 
 humours, and inclinations of those who are under 
 it; which peremptorily and rigidly insists upon a 
 punctual and perfect compliance with all its pre- 
 cepts, aye and until they choose to violate them, 
 and are disposed to obey them no longer: and then, 
 instead of coming forward, fully armed with reso- 
 lution and authority, to exact condign punishment 
 for the criminal breach of what it had decreed* 
 leaves the transgressors to the unrestrained enjoy- 
 ment of their own discretion, and allows them un- 
 bounded liberty in future either to obey it or not 
 as they please? Do the transactions of men ever 
 exhibit specimens of such conduct? Does the mer- 
 chant pointedly insist on a certain price for his 
 goods merely until a bargain is concluded; but 
 from the moment that they are transferred to the 
 possession of the purchaser, permit him either to 
 pay the whole or a part, or no part at all, as best 
 suits his own inclination ? Do human legislature* 
 
 b a 
 
16 
 
 demand obedience to their edicts only while the 
 subjects choose to yield it, but from the moment 
 that an offence lias been committed, retract their 
 statutes, and allow the criminals in future to live 
 according to their own will and fancy? And is 
 it credible, that the God of heaven and of earth, 
 after prescribing to his creatures a law which was 
 hdly, just, and good, and in the observance of which, 
 his own honour was as deeply concerned, as their 
 present and eternal welfare, after they had once 
 broken through its righteous and salutary re- 
 straints, instead of visiting their inventions with 
 merited vengeance, would curtail its enactments, 
 reduce the high standard of its requisitions, ac- 
 commodate it to the taste and wishes of the crimi- 
 nals* and grant them a free licence, in future to 
 live according to their own humour and caprice ? 
 
 if man be unable to obey, he certainly has the 
 greater cause to undergo the penalty due to his 
 disobedience, for what but his own wilfulness or 
 wickedness, which are the true names for his 
 weakness, prevents him from obeying? Except his 
 innocence, or holy disposition of soul, what sin- 
 gle bodily organ or mental pow r er did Adam possess, 
 when he came fresh from the hands of his Creator, 
 which we do not retain to the present hour? We 
 have each a pair of eyes, and a pair of ears; and 
 he had no more. We have each an understanding, 
 a heart, a conscience, and a will ; and he had no 
 more. And whilst our faculties and powers are sub- 
 
17 
 
 stantially the same with his, what is there at this 
 moment which the law of God demands, but what 
 each of us if we were trilling, or in other words 
 if it were not for our wickedness, we might very 
 easily render ? Look at it as it stands on the recorc! > 
 of revelation, and say, What can be more just and 
 reasonable than its requisitions ? At the very utmost 
 it commands us to do no more than to love the 
 Lord our God with our whole heart, and soul, and 
 strength, and mind, and our neighbour as our- 
 selves. If it had enjoined us to love God and 
 serve him with all the spirituality of upright Adam, 
 or with all the elevation and intensity of the rapt 
 seraph, that adores and burns: then we might have 
 had good cause to have complained of the extent of 
 its demands, and to have affirmed, that their fulfil- 
 ment was far beyond the reach of human power. Br.t 
 when each of us 3 amidst all the wreck and ruins of the 
 fall, has escaped with a heart and a soul, when we 
 can lavish their strength and energy on any object 
 that we love, and employ them in any pursuit and 
 for any purpose that we please: and when the law 
 of God, instead of obliging us to equal the perfor- 
 mances of the angels of light, or of the spirits cf the 
 just made perfect, merely commands us to love and 
 serve him with the heart and the soul that we have, 
 what can be more just and reasonable than its re- 
 quisitions * At the very utmost; what more do these 
 exact than to give to God the amount of that ho- 
 mage and obedience which is within our reach? 
 B 3 
 
18 
 
 And can any thing be more base and criminal than 
 to refuse to love and honour, as we can, the infinite 
 and all glorious Jehovah, and to withhold from him 
 and from his service the use of those faculties and 
 powers which his own hand first implanted, and 
 which his own providence and care sustain every 
 day in existence and in exercise? 
 
 The enactments of this law appear to be inca- 
 pable of repeal or change, for they are all founded 
 in the relation in which we stand to God as his 
 creatures; and as that relation is unalterable, the 
 enactments of that law, which is founded on it, 
 must also be immutable, If like the weather, which 
 is sometimes clear, and at others cloudy, sometimes 
 settled and serene, and at others troubled and tem- 
 pestuous; the relation betwixt God and his crea- 
 tures w T ere fluctuating and variable; if at one time 
 they were under his dominion, and at another inde- 
 pendent of his providence and power; if at one 
 time they were more, and- -at another less than his 
 creatures, then the obligations of his law might 
 proportionably vary, and the homage and obedi~ 
 ence that we owe him might occasionally admit 
 of increase and diminution : But if our relation to 
 him is always the saa.e; if in every condition, and 
 under every interna^ and outward change we are al- 
 ways his creatures ; if we are perpetually protected 
 by his arm, and dependent upon his care; if we 
 receive every comfort from his bounty, and at every 
 moment live and move and have our being in him: 
 
19 
 
 how is it possible that the obligations of his law, 
 or the measure of our obedience, can ever admit 
 the slightest variation? Supposing that the earth 
 and all its works were this day dissolved, and that 
 no trace nor vestige of the whole of the mighty mass 
 were to be left in the wide fields of air; what alter- 
 ation could its annihilation produce upon the laws 
 of nature, or upon those principles which regulate 
 the affections of one particle of matter to another? 
 Whenever another planet, possessed of similar pro- 
 perties with our own, should be launched from the 
 hand of its almighty Creator, these laws would 
 anticipate its entrance into existence, and from the 
 first moment of its formation pervade all its parts, 
 and impress their influence and energy on the whole. 
 The waywardness and folly of one son, cannot an- 
 nul the duties of the filial relation, nor in the slight- 
 est degree weaken or destroy those principles, which 
 ought uniformly to animate and guide that flow of 
 kindness and devotion, which should at all times 
 circulate beiwixt the father and every member of 
 his family. And let the aportacy of man be ever 
 so foul and criminal, and let his depravity be ever 
 so deep and inveterate, as no language indeed is 
 sufficiently strong to express its actual amount, can 
 this, in a single article, alter or impair the right and 
 the claim, which the law of the Lord possesses upon 
 our heart and our life, upon our faculties and 
 powers, upon all that we have, and all that we 
 are? Let our guilt and depravity be ever so .fla- 
 
2(3 
 
 grant and enormous, still his amiableness And glory 
 remain unchanged ; our original obligations to his 
 kindness, and munificence are unabated ; the rights 
 and prerogatives of his law continue unaltered: 
 they remain more stable and lasting than the earth 
 and heavens; and like the relations betwixt figures 
 and numbers, are absolutely immutable and eternal. 
 If ever it had been the intention of God to release 
 his creatures from the obedience which they owed 
 to his law, the simplest and the shortest method cer- 
 tainly would have been to have repealed it at once, 
 and then to have announced the fact by a general 
 proclamation to the children of men. This would 
 have effectually secured his object, and completely 
 have superseded the necessity of having recource to 
 the circuitous and expensive process of redemption. 
 If a province of an immenee empire, .rise in insur- 
 rection upon account of some paltry but obnoxious 
 import, if its removal cannot injure the revenue, 
 and if the prince has secretly resolved to repeal it: 
 gay, whether would it be more rational and becom- 
 ing, instantly to rescind it, or to retain it in force, 
 till he had put all the military strength of his king- 
 dom in requisition, and drained his exchequer of its 
 treasures, till he had lost the flower of his forces, 
 and witnessed the fail of the best and noblest of the 
 land; and then when the kingdom was utterly wast- 
 ed, and the few surviving rebels compelled to sub- 
 mit to mercy; just then when he had swept ail op- 
 position from before hhri, and acquired the means 
 
21 
 
 of enforcing its payment, with safety and success, 
 he would allow the odious tribute to expire, and 
 Jast silently grant them the whole of the boon, 
 which they had at first solicited? If succeeding 3ges 
 have reprobated the folly of Pyrrhus, who proposed 
 no more to himself, as the reward of all his labours 
 and privations, in overrunning Greece, reducing 
 Rome, and conquering the world, than merely to 
 sit down and enjoy himself with his friends, which 
 . he might instantly and most liberally have done, 
 without putting one soldier in motion, or stepping a 
 single inch beyond the bounds of his paternal domin- 
 ions; if ever the Most High could have waved the 
 claims of his law, and dispensed with its observance; if 
 ever, in consistency with the dignity of his character, 
 and the great objects of his government, he could 
 have exempted man from its restraints, and indulged 
 him with the possession of carnal ease and licentious 
 freedom: when, without his Son's descending one 
 step from his throne, or relinquishing for a moment 
 his eternal blessedncsi and glory, all this could have 
 been so thoroughly and so easily accomplished by a 
 single stroke of his pen, or by a single sentence 
 from his lips, is it possible to believe that the all 
 wise and ever-blessed God; would have overlooked 
 such a simple and obvious expedient* and, in order 
 to secure our immunity from moral obligation, have 
 subjected his Son to the low and degraded condition 
 of man, and to all the ignominy and torture of the 
 cross? If without personal holiness, wo could have 
 
22 
 
 been admitted to all the privileges and distinctions 
 of the loyal and obedient subjects of Jehovah, to what 
 purpose was this unexampled manifestation of mer- 
 cy, and all this unparalleled waste of love. 
 
 The appointment, therefore, of a Mediator, so far 
 from indicating a design to relax or repeal the law, 
 discovers a deliberate and fixed determination to 
 maintain it in al! its extent and integrity. 
 
23 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Proof of the retention of the Law under the Gospel > 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 Evidence of the continuance of the Law from the ministry 
 of Christ and his Apostles. 
 
 Every thing connected with the purity and per- 
 fection of the law, and the prospective plans and 
 the unchangeable character of its ever-blessed and 
 all-glorious Author; every thing calculated to illus- 
 trate the equity and reasonableness of its claims, 
 and the care of Deity to assert its rights and vin- 
 dicate its honours; if insufficient to demonstrate 
 its absolute immutability and eternal duration, at 
 least go so far to establish its universal extent and 
 perpetual obligation, that nothing below the most 
 clear and incontestible proof can ever extort our 
 assent to the strange, the astonishing, the in- 
 credible, affirmation that this law has been revoked 
 or relaxed. A repeal or alteration of its enactments 
 is so completely contrary to all that we are led to 
 anticipate, that we cannot for one moment admit 
 the assertion without the most distinct and irresist- 
 ible evidence. The consequences depending upon 
 such an event are so numerous and momentous, 
 that we cannot believe we would have been left to 
 infer its existence from dark and distant hints, and 
 
24 
 
 far less to deduce it from our own conjectures and 
 surmises. If we are to judge from the general anal- 
 ogy of the Divine dispensations, and especially from 
 the conduct of the Most High in a parallel case, 
 we have reason to maintain that the intelligence 
 would have been unequivocally announced, that it 
 would have been written as with a sun-beam, and 
 made as manifest and unquestionable as the light 
 of day. When the temporary economy of Moses 
 was erected, its transitory nature was most explicitly 
 foretold: intimations of its limited duration and 
 figurative design were engrossed in the very body 
 and substance of the dispensation ; and when it ac- 
 tually expired, its termination and decease were 
 pointedly marked in the pages of inspiration. 
 
 But where is any similar notice given of the tem- 
 porary nature of the moral law ? Where is its 
 expiration predicted ? or its dissolution and extinc- 
 tion recorded ? Is its subversion indicated by 
 such prophetic declarations as these referring to 
 gospel times and gospel blessings? " Then will I 
 sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
 clean: from all your filth ipefes, and from all your 
 idols will I cleanse you: a new heart also will I give 
 you, and anew spirit will I put within you: and 
 I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, 
 and I will give you an heart of flesh : and I will 
 put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk 
 in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments 
 
25 
 
 and do them. After those days, saith the Lord, 
 I will put my law in their inward parts, and write 
 it in their hearts ; and will be their God, and they 
 shall be my people : and they shall teach no more 
 every man his neighbour, and every man his broth- 
 er, saying, Know the Lord ; for they shall all 
 know me from the least of them unto the greatest 
 of them, saith the Lord ; for I will forgive their 
 iniquity, and will remember their sin no more/' 
 Does the following language, relating to the ad- 
 vent and work of the Messiah, betray any hostility 
 to the law, or forebode any injurious consequences 
 to the rights and interests of morality ? " Thou 
 shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his peo- 
 ple from their sins. In his days shall the righteous 
 flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon 
 endureth. Thy people also shall be all righteous: 
 they shall inherit the land for ever. The branch 
 of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may 
 be glorified. In that day shall there be upon the 
 bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE 
 LORD: and the pots in the Lord's house shall 
 be like the bowls before the altar : yea, every pot 
 in Jerusalem and in Judah," all the articles of fur- 
 niture and instruments of industry, " shall be holi- 
 ness unto the Lord. He shall magnify the law, 
 and make it honourable* Of the increase of his 
 government and peace, there shall be no end, upon 
 the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to 
 order, and to establish it with judgment and with 
 C 
 
26 
 
 justice, from henceforth even for ever. The Spi- 
 rit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of 
 wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel 
 and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear 
 of the Lord ; and shall make him of quick under- 
 standing in the fear of the Lord; and he shall 
 not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove 
 after the hearing of his ears ; but with righteousness 
 shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity 
 for the meek of the earth : and he shall smite the 
 earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the 
 breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 
 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, 
 and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf 
 also shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard 
 shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the 
 young lion, and the fading together: and a little 
 child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear 
 shall feed ; their young ones shall lie down to- 
 gether : and the lion shall eat straw like the ox ; and 
 the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the 
 asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand upon 
 the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor de- 
 stroy in all my holy mountain :" and what shall be 
 the cause of this astonishing and delightful moral 
 transformation ? Will the doctrines of grace be 
 abolished, and the law 5 in all its rigour and severi- 
 ty, restored to its dominion over the children of 
 men? No: " For the earth shall be full of the 
 knowledge of the Lord/' of the truths which the 
 
27 
 
 gospel proclaims, of Christ and of him crucified, 
 whom to know is eternal life, and by the knowledge 
 of whom many shall be justified; " as the waters 
 cover the sea." 
 
 And since these sentences do not bespeak its re- 
 revocation, where is its relaxation or repeal re^ 
 corded? Where within the compass of the sacred 
 volume shall we find a counterpart to the epistles to 
 the Hebrews, and the Galatians, or the slightest 
 hint of an intention to rescind its enactments, or 
 reduce its demands ? 
 
 And if its abrogation has not been foretold in the 
 writings of the prophets, nor registered in the re- 
 cords of the inspired historians, pray, when, or 
 where, or to what extent has this modification or 
 repeal been made? 
 
 Was it repealed at Sinai, when the foundations 
 of the mountain shook beneath the descending De- 
 ity; and from the midst of lightning, and thunder, 
 and tempest, and darkness, he lifted up his voice, and 
 in the audience of the many thousands of Israel, pro- 
 claimed the provisions of his righteous and holy law ? 
 
 Was it abolished or relaxed by the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ, when in all the mildness of humanity, 
 and with all the compassionate tenderness of the 
 incarnate Godhead, he deigned to visit and to 
 bless this world of guilt and woe? If ever it could 
 have sustained the slightest renunciation of its 
 claims, if ever the Lord Jehovah could have fallen 
 back a single inch from its just and reasonable de- 
 C2 
 
28 
 
 mands, surely now was the time, when, by such 
 an august and illustrious messenger of grace and 
 mercy, this important fact would have been openly 
 and broadly promulgated. But did he come to 
 weaken its force, or cancel any of its sacred and 
 equitable requisitions? Did he come to set men 
 free from its restraints, and allow them with im- 
 punity to trample on its high and venerable au- 
 thority? Did he come to wage war against this 
 most firm and unshaken ally of heaven, and route 
 the best guard and the most faithful support of 
 the eternal throne? Did he come to crush the 
 interests of religion and of righteousness? to era- 
 dicate every remain of piety and of virtue from 
 the earth, and put the prince of darkness in indis- 
 puted possession of the sovereignty of the world? 
 No: he came not to annul the law, but to fulfil it; 
 not to justify anarchy and crime, but to vindicate 
 the rights cf justice and assert the cause of holiness 
 and truth; not to overturn the kingdom of light, 
 and demolish the institutions of God, but to sub- 
 vert the empire of profligacy and vice, and de- 
 stroy the works of the Devil. 
 
 If a life regulated by its spirit, and a death of- 
 fered up to its honour^ if a course of teaching 
 which supported the untarnished purity of the 
 law, and most powerfully pressed the most minute 
 and cordial compliance with all its precepts, can 
 prove the immutability of the law, and its eter- 
 nal duration: then this proof is most triumphantly 
 
29 
 
 afforded by the life and ministry of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. The great drift of his preaching 
 was to assert the integrity of the law, and enjoin 
 the most intense and ardent devotion to its in- 
 terests; his whole life was formed on its prin- 
 ciples, and his death itself was sustained to satisfy 
 its demands and confer majesty and dignity on 
 its rights. 
 
 Though, without the least hesitation or scruple, 
 he roundly affirmed the comparative insignificance 
 of the ritual economy, and its xapidly approaching 
 close, never did he breathe a single whisper to the 
 prejudice of the moral law, nor give the most 
 distant hint of a design to reduce the amount of its 
 requirements, or set believers free from its observ- 
 ance. He spoke of a new commandment which 
 he gave; but in vain shall we search all the re- 
 cords of his ministry for the slightest notice of 
 an intention to reverse or suspend a single article 
 of all that the decalogue contains, All that he 
 did and all that he said proved a strong desire,- 
 and firm determination to maintain its prerogatives 
 inviolate, to purge it from the false and degrad- 
 ing interpretations imposed upon it by a blind 
 and venal priesthood, to restore it to its primitive 
 purity, to seat it in high pre-eminence over every 
 member of the great family of man, and secure 
 the honour and obedience which it deserves, 
 through every succeeding age. By what means- 
 could he manifest a more profound respect for 
 C3 
 
so 
 
 its dignity or a more sincere wish for its universal 
 reception, than by being made under it, and in 
 his own person fulfilling all the righteousness 
 which it requires ? How could he express a more 
 decided and affectionate attachment to its interests 
 than by illustrating its precepts in all their original 
 simplicity, and inculcating them in all their native 
 spirituality and power; asserting all its high claims, 
 and stating in terms the most distinct and emphatic 
 the guilt and the danger of infringing the least of 
 all its enactments? By what language could he 
 more solemnly and forcibly assert its absolute in- 
 violability and perpetual obligation, than by de- 
 claring " Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or 
 one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all 
 be fulfilled ?" By what means could he more ef- 
 fectually insure its integrity, and procure an un- 
 feigned respect to each of its injunctions, than 
 by embodying its enactments with the principles 
 of Christianity, and rendering the discharge of 
 the services which it prescribes, necessary to the 
 enjoyment of the blessings which the gospel un- 
 folds ? He tells us that we are his friends if 
 we do whatsoever he commands us, and assures 
 us that not every one who saith unto him, Lord, 
 Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but 
 he who doeth the will of his Father who is in 
 heaven. Never was there a duty binding on a 
 human creature, but what preserves its place 
 under the gospel, and to the present hour re- 
 
31 
 
 tains its hold of every Christian's conscience. 
 Within the whole range and compass of c he 
 decalogue, where is there a single precept which 
 the Lord Jesus Christ has not transferred into 
 the New Testament dispensation, and, by invest- 
 ing it with the whole weight and influence of 
 his own express and positive command, has im- 
 moveably fixed it there? As in water face an- 
 swereth to face, so the principles and practices of 
 men under the gospel correspond to the duties 
 and obligations by which they w T ere bound under 
 the law. For how is it possible by the force of 
 words, or by all the majesty of high heaven, to 
 confer on each of its precepts in detail, or on the 
 whole in a body, a more decisive and permanent 
 authority, than that which was conveyed by the 
 Saviour of men when he said M Thou shalt love 
 the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
 thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neigh- 
 bour as thyself?" 
 
 And whilst in this manner he has secured 
 the entireness of the law, by what means could 
 he have more signally displayed his affection for 
 holiness, and his earnestness to obtain for each 
 of its requisitions the full measure of the res- 
 pect and obedience to which it is entitled, than 
 by teaching us that the duties of men rise in pro- 
 portion to their privileges, and that though he looks 
 for much from all mankind, yet, from his dis- 
 ciples, who are the children of light, and whose 
 advantages far surpass those of their brethren, he 
 
32 
 
 expects more than from others ? and by informing 
 us that in the world to come, the most dreadful 
 punishment shall be inflicted, not only on the pro- 
 fane and the hardened, the profligate and abandon- 
 ed, but likewise on the careless and secure, the in- 
 dolent and slothful, who, though possessed of the 
 most invaluable blessings and the best opportunities 
 for using them, have listlessly and criminally ne- 
 glected to improve them? By what means could 
 he more thoroughly demonstrate his own abhor- 
 rence of vice, and rouse men to a more vigorous 
 and indefatigable discharge of every duty, than 
 by telling us that the fig tree was ordered to be 
 cut down, not for bearing bad fruit, but for bar- 
 renness; not for injuring the surrounding vines, 
 but merely for cumbering, or uselessly occupying 
 the ground? that the wicked servant was cast into 
 outer darkness, not for purloining his master's 
 property, nor for squandering it in vice and dis- 
 sipation, but merely for burying his talent in the 
 earth, or placing it where it was altogether un- 
 profitable ? and that, in the great day of decision, 
 those on the left of the throne shall be banished 
 into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and 
 his angels, not for having stripped the poor of 
 their substance, nor for having lifted the hand of 
 violence against the faithful, nor for having op- 
 pressed them and thrown them into prison, but 
 merely for having neglected to minister to the 
 wants of the indigent, and visit and relieve the 
 
33 
 
 saints in the time of their persecution and dis- 
 tress ? 
 
 Look at all this, and say, if these were the 
 doctrines which might have been expected from 
 one who came to curtail the claims of the law, 
 and release us from the allegiance that we owed 
 it? Look at the life and ministry of our Lord 
 and Saviour, and say what more could he have 
 done, than what he actually adopted, to convince 
 us of his love to the law, and his solicitude to 
 reduce every human creature to its obedience? 
 His whole life was one unwearied effort to ex- 
 plain, to exemplify, and enforce its sacred prin- 
 ciples; and when he died, for his life was too 
 holy to allow it to be long in a world of such 
 impiety and crime, his death was an attestation 
 of its excellence, a sacrifice to satisfy its demands, 
 to confirm its high authority, and secure its eter- 
 nal prerogatives and rights. If, therefore, it be 
 possible, either by words or deeds, to afford a 
 complete demonstration of a desire and determi- 
 nation to maintain undiminished the claims of the 
 law, and establish its perpetual obligation, that 
 complete and irresistible demonstration has been 
 given by him who died for our offences, and 
 rose again for our justification. 
 
 And since the moral law, in all its original integ- 
 rity and beauty, without the loss of a single syllable, 
 or the erasure of a solitary iota, has been safely and 
 triumphantly transported across all the distance and 
 
34 
 
 dangers of the stormy and disastrous middle passage 
 which separates the old covenant from the new, and 
 has by the Saviour himself, under this last dispen- 
 sation of his grace, been left in full possession of all 
 the honours and prerogatives, which in a state of 
 innocence and bliss it enjoyed: has any, since his 
 ascension to glory, received a commission to tear it 
 down from the lofty elevation to which he had raised 
 it, and procure its expulsion beyond the precincts 
 of his mediatorial empire? 
 
 Was it rescinded or relaxed by the apostles, 
 when, in obedience to his parting precept, they car- 
 ried the glad tidings of salvation to the farthest 
 bounds of the earth, and planted among the nations, 
 as they passed, the gospel of peace in all the splen- 
 dours of its celestial charms, and in all the fulness 
 of its grace and truth ? Was it for this purpose 
 that as they went every where, they preached that 
 men should repent? that they published through 
 the world, and recorded in, their writings, that all 
 unrighteousness is sin, and, that the wages of sin are 
 death? that in the face of danger, and at the 
 peril of their lives, they boldly proclaimed the ter- 
 rors of the Lord against every immorality and a- 
 buse, and, with the most mighty and overbearing 
 of the sons of impiety and violence, they reasoned 
 of righteousness and temperance, and judgment 
 to come? Was it on this account that they felt such 
 oppressive heaviness, and such incessant sorrow of 
 soul, for the careless and the criminal, who lived 
 
ss 
 
 without God in the world, and by their vice and 
 impenitence, were treasuring up for themselves 
 wrath against the day of wrath ? Was it for this 
 purpose that they had recourse to every method and 
 every mean that kindness could invent, or diligence 
 employ, to reach their hearts, to rouse them to con- 
 sideration, to recover them from the evil and error 
 of their ways, and bring them to the knowledge and 
 obedience of the truth ? Was it for this purpose 
 that they denounced indignation and wrath, tribula- 
 tion and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth 
 evil, and affixed the whole weight and influence of 
 their deliberate and solemn sanction to the truth and 
 reasonableness of the Old Testament declaration, 
 " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
 things that are written in the book of the law to 
 do them ?" Was it for this purpose that every 
 sentence which they uttered, and «very paragraph 
 which they penned, breathed the most deep and 
 indignant abhorrence of vice, and the most vehe- 
 ment and unconquerable attachment to holiness ? 
 Was it for this purpose, that they laboured to raise 
 the law in the esteem, and enthrone it in the affec- 
 tions of all their followers ? that they tell us 
 that the law is good, that it is spiritual, that it is 
 holy? and that whilst they lavish on the righteous 
 and good, on the conscientious and devoted ser- 
 vants of the Most High, every honourable and en- 
 dearing appellation ; the transgressors of his law, 
 the workers of iniquity, are branded with every de- 
 
36 
 
 signation of ignominy and disgrace, that can excite 
 our detestation of their crimes, or convey an im- 
 pressive and awful idea of the meanness of their 
 character, and the wretchedness of their state? Was 
 it for this purpose that they insisted on the insig- 
 nificance of religious rites and observances, when 
 compared with the great and substantial duties of 
 Christianity : declaring that the kingdom of God 
 is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, 
 and joy in the holy Ghost ; and that circumcision 
 is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the 
 keeping of the commandments of God? Was it 
 on this account that they felt such concern and 
 manifested such bitter regret for the misconduct, 
 the inconsistencies, and falls of sincere but weak 
 disciples, and so anxiously, and perseveringly 
 endeavoured to persuade those who had believed in 
 Jesus, to be careful to maintain good works ? 
 to walk worthy of their high vocation? to hold 
 forth the word of life, and shine in the beauties 
 of holiness ? Was it for this purpose, that in their 
 preaching, in their writings, and in their prayers 
 they bent every power of their minds, and every 
 affection of their hearts, to secure the sanctification 
 of believers, and to render them sincere and with- 
 out offence, blameless and harmless, the sons of 
 God without rebuke, that they might be filled with 
 all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus 
 Christ mto the glory and praise of God ? Was 
 it for this that they so openly and distinctly affirm 
 
37 
 
 that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven a- 
 gainst all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 
 who hold the truth in unrighteousness? Was it 
 for this that they so frequently remind the faithful 
 that they are not their own ; and beseech them by 
 all that is affecting in redemption, or grand in eter- 
 nity, to glorify God in their soul, body, and spirit, 
 and to be stedfast, and immoveable, always abound- 
 ing in the work of the Lord ? 
 
 Were these the principles or the practices of men 
 who cherished a hostility to the law, and who were 
 embarked in a conspiracy to undermine its author- 
 ity, and annul its obligation ? By what means 
 could the most zealous and enraptured friend of the 
 law have given a more unequivocal and convincing 
 evidence of his profound veneration for its excel- 
 lence, his unfeigned devotedness to its interests, 
 and his deep and fervent solicitude to enforce its 
 universal observance, and secure its establishment 
 and perpetuity, than what was actually exhibited 
 in every part of their writings, of their labours and 
 sufferings, by the apostles of the Son of God ? 
 
 In order to evade the force of this conclusion, 
 shall we be told, that Christ and his apostles dwell 
 upon the paramount importance of faith ? that 
 they represent it as the turning point in religion ? 
 that they teach us to repose the whole weight of 
 our dependence for acceptance in the sight of God 
 upon the righteousness of the Redeemer, and not 
 to place one particle of our trust on our personal 
 D 
 
38 
 
 performances ? and that they must therefore have 
 regarded faith as all in all, and the personal holi- 
 ness of believers, not only as insignificant and 
 useless, but altogether superfluous and unneces- 
 sary ? 
 
 In replying to this objection, we must remind 
 the reader that whilst we protest against the un- 
 fair conclusion which it draws, we give the most 
 complete admisson to the truth in which it is found- 
 ed, and rejoice in its certainty as the only source 
 of hope and salvation to man. The light of the sun, 
 at the blaze of noon, does not more thoroughly fill 
 the horizon than the righteousness and grace of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ pervade and animate every part 
 of the Christian system. He is our wisdom, right- 
 eousness, and strength; he is our life, our hope, our 
 joy, our crown in redemption ; he is all and in all. 
 And faith is the bond that unites the soul to this al- 
 mighty and aU-sufficient Saviour, which clothes us 
 with his righteousness, lays hold of his strength, and 
 puts us in possession of all the rich and invaluable 
 fruits of his purchase. It is by faith that we live, 
 that we walk, that we stand, that we are made the 
 sons of God, that we overcome the world, and at 
 last obtain the enjoyment of eternal life : for he 
 that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; but 
 lie that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but 
 the wrath of God abideth on him. 
 
 But why do the sacred writers expatiate so 
 warmly in praise of the person and work of the 
 
39 
 
 Redeemer, hold faith up to such high and devout 
 regard, and press it so earnestly and powerfully 
 upon our study and cultivation ? This they did, 
 not only on account of the pardon and peace 
 which it brings, but also of the holiness which it 
 implants in the soul, and the habits of amiable- 
 ness and usefulness which it produces in the life. 
 They tell us that they did not make the law void 
 through faith, but established the law. The faith 
 which they preached, and which the grace of God 
 inspires, purifies the heart and works by love, it 
 effectually teaches him who enjoys it to deny un- 
 godliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly 
 and righteously and godly in the world. It is the 
 mean of begetting a new and a divine life. It 
 leads the believer to live, not to himself, but to 
 him who died for him, and who rose again; to 
 imitate the example of Jesus, to walk even as he 
 also walked, and to have the same mind which 
 was in him. It produces effects which no other 
 principle can accomplish. When the restraints 
 of reason and of conscience cannot bridle the cor- 
 rupt appetites and passions of the man : when the 
 terrors of law and the retributions of justice cannot 
 check his profligate career, and keep him back 
 from deeds of violence and baseness; the influence 
 of faith not only strips him of all his vices and 
 crimes, but forms him to habits of beneficence and 
 the love and pursuit of universal holiness. Look 
 at Onesimus. What prevented him, on the prin- 
 D 2 
 
40 
 
 ciples of natural religion in the days of his unre^ 
 generacy, from being dutiful to his master, and true 
 /to the trust assigned him? His history, however, 
 shews that he had disregarded every considera- 
 tion of justice and fidelity, and proved a thief and 
 fugitive, utterly unprincipled and worthless. But 
 from the hour that he believed, he became a new 
 man, a lover of God, a friend and benefactor to 
 his brethren, profitable both to his master and the 
 Apostle. Look at Zacheus. Contrary to every 
 dictate of honour and of probity, in direct oppo- 
 sition to every maxim of the legal system which 
 he professed, while in unbelief, he was an oppres- 
 sor and an extortioner: but no sooner did faith 
 take possession of his heart than it destroyed his 
 bad practices, blasted his covetous propensities, 
 and placed within him a spirit of liberality and 
 kindness. €t He stood, and said, Behold, Lord, 
 the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I 
 have taken any thing from any man by false ac- 
 cusation, I restore him four-fold." 
 
 Nor are these solitary specimens of the purify- 
 ing efficacy of faith. Wherever it is possessed, a 
 similar effect is uniformly experienced. There is 
 such a degree of moral activity and energy in this 
 principle, that it is as impossible to lock it up in a 
 state of idleness and uselessness in the soul, as to 
 restrain the prolific powers of the earth amidst the 
 genial warmth and fertilizing showers of spring. 
 Wherever it resides, it brings down the ascendancy 
 
41 
 
 of sin, it adorns the character with all the lovely 
 fruits of righteousness, and irresistibly impels its 
 enviable possessor to abound in every good word 
 and work. Holiness is so utterly inseparable from 
 the existence of faith, that in scripture, saints or 
 holy ones, and believers are convertible terms. 
 
 On attending, therefore, to the sanctifying in- 
 fluence of faith, the great stress laid on this prin- 
 ciple by Christ and his apostles, so far from form- 
 ing any exception to the practical and moral 
 tendency of their preaching, on the very contrary 
 gives immense additional strength to all their fervid 
 and powerful exhortations to a life of unsullied 
 purity and of the most enlarged and active gene - 
 rosity and goodness. 
 
 Remembering, therefore, the strong reason 
 which we had to expect, that if ever the law was 
 to have been repealed or relaxed by the gospel, 
 we would have received the most full and ex- 
 plicit information of the fact; and discovering on 
 examination that the most transient or distant 
 hint of such a singular and astonishing event can- 
 not be traced within the limits of the New Testa- 
 ment; but on the contrary, finding that the most 
 devoted and ardent admirer of the law could 
 not have done more than what Christ and his 
 apostles actually have done, to exalt its honour 
 and bring all men cordially and unreservedly to 
 submit to its authority, YVhat Other inference 
 can we deduce from the whole out that he did not 
 D 3 
 
42 
 
 come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it; and that, 
 so far from making it void, the gospel establishes 
 the law? 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 Proof of the continuance of the Law, from the general nature 
 and character of the Gospel. 
 
 Clear and convincing as the argument may ap- 
 pear, which has just now been advanced from the 
 ministry of Christ and his apostles, it derives a 
 great accession of strength from the habitual refer- 
 ence which, in the gospel, is made to holiness, and 
 the important and valuable purposes which it every 
 where attributes to good works. 
 
 If the law had been abolished, and if our faith 
 in the Redeemer could have freed us from the obli- 
 gation to cultivate the love and practice of right- 
 eousness, we certainly, throughout the whole New 
 Testament, should never have met with a single 
 allusion to moral duties, and far less with any pa- 
 negyrics upon their excellence, with any instruc- 
 tions for their proper and acceptable performance, 
 nor warm and urgent exhortations to prosecute 
 them with diligence, and discharge them with fidel- 
 ity and affection. When an instrument is super- 
 seded by the invention of a better, it is quietly laid 
 aside as of no farther service, and no man ever 
 dreams of employing either labour or expense to 
 repair or to restore it. Since the adoption of the 
 
43 
 
 present system of war, who ever seriously thinks 
 of founding establishments for teaching the military 
 tactics of Greece or Rome, or for constructing the 
 battering rams, and other warlike engines of anti- 
 quity ? Since the recent discoveries in the arts, 
 who ever proposes to revive the clumsy and tedi- 
 ous processes of the ancients ? Since the modern 
 improvements in the philosophy of the human mind, 
 what man, in his senses, would recommend a return 
 to the barbarous logic and learned trifling of the 
 schools? Since the introduction of a better hope, 
 where do we ever hear one word of the authority 
 of the Levitical law, or light on a solitary direc- 
 tion for the best means of complying with its rites 
 and forms ? And, if our blessed Lord had intend- 
 ed to sink the law in the gospel, and release his 
 followers as completely from the spirit and the prac- 
 tices which it enjoins, as from the yoke of ceremo- 
 nial institutions! have we not every reason to believe 
 that he would have taken no notice whatever of its 
 precepts, that he would have passed them by in 
 dignified silence, and have calmly allowed them to 
 descend into rapid and total oblivion ? 
 
 If, therefore, upon examination, we shall find 
 that, so far from treating them with contempt, or 
 by his cold unconcern for their welfare, accelerat- 
 ing their march to a state of everlasting forgetful- 
 ness, he has all along manifested the most lively 
 and tender regard for their interests, and by pro- 
 viding the means, and prescribing the rules by 
 
44. 
 
 which the deeds of morality may be most effectually 
 fulfilled, he has adopted the most successful method 
 to perpetuate their remembrance, and ensure their 
 universal and cordial observance : what inference 
 can w T e draw, but that he was in love with holi- 
 ness, and that, though our works are not to be 
 mixed up with our faith, nor substituted in the 
 room of the atonement, that though they are not 
 to be placed as the foundation of our trust, nor 
 even blended with his righteousness, still the law is 
 retained by the gospel, and every believer is bound, 
 at his peril, to yield an unreserved and cheerful 
 obedience to all its mandates ? Do we, from the 
 tendency of machinery to multiply the manufac- 
 tures of our country, regard the man who first 
 applied it, to increase the productive powers of la- 
 bour, as a friend to the wealth and prosperity of 
 the nation ? Do we, from the speedy and wide dif- 
 fusion of knowledge which the art of printing has 
 created, consider its authors as the lovers of learn- 
 ing, and as the most signal benefactors to the lite- 
 rary world?' And i£ upon inquiry, we shall find, 
 that our blessed Redeemer has not only retained, 
 but confirmed the duties and obligations of moral- 
 ity; that he has not only tolerated and indulged 
 them, but encouraged and approved them; that he 
 has not only protected and sanctioned them, but 
 has most positively and forcibly urged and com- 
 manded them: if we shall find that they are embo- 
 died in the gracious dispensation which he has pro- 
 
45 
 
 mulgated, engrafted upon the principles of the 
 go>pel f and inseparably interwoven with all its 
 doctrines and discoveries; that they form an essen- 
 tial part of the system, and that those who neglect 
 them are cut off from all share in the present bless- 
 ings which it imparts, and in the hopes which it 
 unfolds : if we shall find that every subdivision of 
 this sacred scheme is framed, for the avowed pur- 
 pose of promoting the cause of holiness, of raising 
 the standard of morals, of binding man more firmly 
 to his duty, and of enlarging and extending the in- 
 fluence of practical godliness; shall not we also, 
 on every principle of fairness and consistency, be 
 fully warranted to maintain that the gospel has pre- 
 served the authority of the law, in all its extent 
 and honour, and ratified and established it? 
 
 That this is precisely the conclusion to which 
 we must come, on taking a survey of the nature 
 and constitution of the gospel, will, I trust, ap- 
 pear by attending 
 
 I. To the great importance which the gospel 
 attaches to holiness. 
 
 II. To the language which the New Testa- 
 ment uniformly employs, respecting the necessity 
 of undergoing a great moral change before we can 
 become Christians, 
 
 III. To the sentiments of respect and venera- 
 
46 
 
 tion with which believers are every where repre- 
 sented as regarding the moral law, and the duties 
 which it inculcates. 
 
 IV. To the interesting purposes invariably 
 assigned to good works. And 
 
 V. To the ample provision made to secure the 
 sanctification of believers, and promote their pro- 
 gress in holiness. 
 
 We are authorised to argue the continuance of 
 the law, and the duty of every Christian to obey 
 it, 
 
 I. From the great importance which the gos- 
 pel attaches to holiness. 
 
 The great importance which the gospel attaches 
 to holiness is manifest from the fact, that the pro- 
 motion of holiness is at all times represented as 
 one of the great and ultimate ends which God had 
 in view in the formation of this invaluable plan of 
 mercy, and in the arrangement of its different 
 parts. 
 
 Do we inquire why we were made the objects of 
 electing grace ? The sacred volume informs us 
 that God predestinated us to be conformed to the 
 image of his Son; and chose us in him before the 
 foundation of the world, that we might be holy, 
 and without blame before him in love. Do we 
 ask why Christ loved the church, and gave him- 
 
47 
 
 self for it ? The reply of an Apostle is, that he 
 might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of 
 water by the word; that he might present it to 
 himself a glorious church, not having spot, or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be 
 holy, and without blemish. He gave himself for 
 us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and 
 purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
 good works. Why is the gospel sent among a 
 people? It is to open their eyes, and turn them 
 from darkness to light, and from the power of 
 Satan unto God, that they may receive forgive- 
 ness of sins, and inheritance among them who are 
 sanctified by faith that is in Christ. Why is it 
 applied with efficacy and power to any individual 
 soul ? The Saviour himself has furnished the 
 answer. " Ye have not chosen me, but 1 have 
 chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go 
 and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should 
 remain," For what purpose are w T e blessed with 
 the exceeding great and precious promises which 
 it contains ? That by them we may be partakers 
 of the Diyine nature, and escape the corruption 
 that is in the world through lust. Why are we 
 required in every period of our lives to maintain 
 the practice of good works? Because such is the 
 will of God, and he has before ordained that we 
 should walk in them. In short, if we were to ex- 
 amine in detail every portion of this blessed dis- 
 pensation, we would find that the whole was cal- 
 
48 
 
 culated and intended to advance the cause of mor- 
 al goodness. 
 
 And if thus the encouragement of holiness per- 
 vades every branch of the Christian system, and 
 constitutes one of its leading and principal designs, 
 it surely needs no proof that the gospel holds it in 
 the highest estimation, and that it never can be 
 despised nor neglected with innocence or safety. 
 
 What has been stated under this article is of a 
 general nature, and may be regarded as in some 
 degree, introductory to what is to follow. It 
 may, therefore, be remarked, that the truth which 
 it enforces is confirmed, 
 
 II. From the language which the New Testa- 
 ment uniformly employs, respecting the necessity 
 of undergoing a great moral change before we can 
 become Christians. 
 
 It represents every believer as the subject of a 
 great change, not only in his state, but likewise in 
 his temper and character : for it not only tells us 
 that he is delivered from condemnation, justified 
 by grace, admitted into the family of God, and 
 made an heir of eternal life; but it likewise informs 
 us that he is born again, quickened together with 
 Christ, planted in the likeness of his resurreclion, 
 and enabled to walk in newness of life. 
 
 This change may be made at differeut ages, and 
 accomplished by different instruments and means; it 
 may be designated by various names, and a longer 
 
43 
 
 or shorter period may elapse in its production: 
 one thing however is certain, and that is, that at 
 whatever time it takes place, or by whatever means 
 it may be brought to pass, it consists in a remark- 
 able and thorough moral transformation, and 
 leaves a lasting and conspicuous effect upon the 
 whole of the man's conduct and views. He be- 
 comes completely different from what he once was, 
 and from what the great mass of men around him 
 remain. Far from correcting merely a few of his 
 outward irregularities, or suppressing the working 
 of a few of the passions and sins within him; far 
 from being rendered merely a reformed or an al- 
 tered man, he becomes a new creature : old things 
 pass away, and all things become new; and all 
 things are of God. He is created again in Christ 
 Jesus, unto good works. He drinks into the Spirit 
 of Christ, imbibes his temper, bears his image, 
 and follows his example. The same mind that 
 was in Christ, is in him also; and as Christ was 
 in the world, so is he in the world. What nobler 
 privilege did Adam enjoy in innocence, than the 
 possession of the image of his Creator? yet this 
 very image, though not fully replaced, is in some 
 degree restored to every man at regeneration : for 
 he " puts off, concerning his former conversation, 
 the old man, which is corrupt according to the 
 deceitful lusts; and is renewed in the spirit of his 
 mind ; and puts on the new man, which after God 
 is created in righteousness and true holiness." 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 Great however, and wonderful as this inward 
 radical and thorough renovation is, it is to be re- 
 membered, that it is absolutely necessary to salva- 
 tion. It is not desirable nor useful merely as an 
 ornament to our character, nor as a step to enable 
 us to reach some high and illustrious elevation in 
 the Christian life: but is essential to the very ex- 
 istence of religion in the soul, and without it we 
 have no right at all to the name of Christians. 
 Without it we may be baptized, and attend church 
 or meeting ; without it we may take a lead in the 
 labours of beneficence, and be foremost in the ranks 
 of patriotism, but without it it is impossible to en- 
 joy any spiritual blessings here, or to be admitted 
 into the place of the just hereafter : for it is an 
 apostle who says, " If any man have not the Spirit 
 of Christ, he is none of his :" and it was no less 
 than the Redeemer himself who declared, " Except 
 a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom 
 of God." 
 
 But unless the law had retained its place under 
 the gospel, and preserved all its rights and prerog- 
 atives entire, what occasion would there have been 
 for this mighty and astonishing moral tranforma- 
 lion ? If Jesus had been regardless of the interests 
 of holiness, and if our faith in his atonement could 
 have exempted us from the need of cultivating the 
 love and practice of good works, what reason can 
 we assign for his insisting so peremptorily and 
 strongly upon the universal indispensible necessi- 
 
51 
 
 ty of regeneration? If the opinion of our oppon- 
 ents were founded in truth, regeneration would 
 have been altogether useless; the gates of paradise 
 would have been thrown wide to the whole human 
 race; moral character would have presented no 
 bar to our final happiness, and all men without 
 discrimination would have been ultimately saved. 
 
 So long, therefore, as the same Bible, which 
 makes known the doctrine of justification by faith, 
 dwells on the rigid, the absolute necessity of re- 
 generation and sanctification, the most free and 
 liberal manner in which salvation by grace can be 
 published, cannot in the most slight or transient 
 degree impair the obligation of the moral law, nor 
 injure the interests of godliness and virtue. 
 
 And if thus we can argue the continuance of 
 the moral law from the necessity of regeneration, 
 the same inference may be as fairly drawn, 
 
 III. From the sentiments of respect and venera- 
 tion with which believers, every where throughout 
 the New Testament, are represented as regarding 
 it and the duties which it enjoins. 
 
 On it they have lavished the most noble and 
 affectionate encomiums. Conformity to its pre- 
 cepts was the object of their dearest and most fer- 
 vent ambition ; and nothing filled them with such 
 bitter and penetrating distress, as a sense of their 
 remaining infirmities, and the weakness and de- 
 fects of their obedience. Though some of the 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 apostles were endowed with superior talents, and 
 adorned with eminent attainments; though they 
 had the whole of this world's distinctions and 
 pleasures placed fully before them, and a favoura- 
 ble prospect of succeeding in the contest to acquire 
 them : they felt no love for these empty honours, 
 and these unsubstantial and perishing joys: but 
 their admiration of holiness was profound and 
 ardent, and their attachment to its interests was 
 deep seated and sincere. Their heart's desire and 
 daily prayer were to make greater progress in 
 moral goodness, to secure the means of more ex- 
 tensive and permanent usefulness, and obtain a 
 more close resemblance to the Son of God. Each 
 could say for himself in the language of one of 
 their number, " This one thing I do, forget- 
 ting those things which are behind, and reach- 
 ing forth unto those things which are before, I 
 press toward the mark, for the prize of the high 
 calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
 
 Their lot was hard and grievous. They were 
 exposed to persecution and affliction, to calumny 
 and abuse of every form and name. They were 
 subjected to the treachery of false friends and to the 
 obloquy and outrage of open and inveterate foes. 
 By sufferings and reproaches they were made a 
 spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 
 But none of these things moved them. In the 
 midst of all their privations and distresses, we never 
 hear them complaining of the number and severity 
 
53 
 
 ©f their hardships, nor inquiring who would deliver 
 them from the buffettings and scourgings, from the 
 hu.jger and nakedness, from the disgrace, and 
 bonds, and want of all things which they were con- 
 demned to endure. Amidst the heaviest pressure 
 of calamity, they possessed their souls in patience, 
 took pleasure in their reproaches, rejoiced in tri- 
 bulation, and even gloried in the cross. But sin 
 they regarded with feelings of unmingled detes- 
 tation and horror. This they treated as an in- 
 curable evil. They trembled at its first approaches, 
 and its presence^filled them with the most pungent 
 and overwhelming vexation and shame. They 
 complained, that, when they would do good, evil 
 was present with them; that there was a law in 
 their members warring against the law in their 
 minds, and bringing them into captivity to the law 
 of sin. Tired and disgusted with this galling and 
 odious struggle, we find the great apostle of the 
 Gentiles exclaiming, " O wretched man that I am, 
 who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" 
 But if the law had been cancelled or relaxed, if 
 their faith in the gospel could in the smallest de- 
 gree have diminished or destroyed the necessity of 
 personal holiness: why did they display such a con- 
 tempt for this world's honours ? why were they so 
 solicitous to secure conformity to the commands of 
 the law, and so enamoured with the duties which it 
 prescribed? Why did they feel themselves con- 
 strained to maintain a constant watchfulness and 
 E 3 
 
54 
 
 war against sin? Why did they so carefully shun 
 every appearance of evil, and so strenuously labour 
 to perfect holiness in the fear of God? Where no 
 law is, there is no transgression. If, therefore, 
 that law, by which is the knowledge of sin, had 
 been annulled, on what account could they have 
 bewailed their moral imperfections, or have felt 
 humbled and grieved under a consciousness of 
 their infirmities, and a sense of the presence and 
 prevalence of their remaining corruptions ? Since 
 the accession of the Brunswick Family to the throne, 
 what Briton blames himself for a want of allegiance 
 to the house of Stuart? Since the introduction of 
 modern manners, who condemns himself for a de- 
 ficiency in the graceful and splendid accomplish- 
 ments of the feudal ages? And if the law had been 
 abrogated, or its obligation weakened by the gos- 
 pel, on what ground could the apostles, who, above 
 all that ever lived, were, most unquestionably, not 
 under the law, but under grace, have experienced 
 any more compunction or alarm for their failures 
 to fulfil the requisitions of the decalogue, than for 
 their neglect of the political institutions or mytho- 
 logical observances of the Antediluvians ? 
 
 The pungent and overwhelming sorrow, there- 
 fore, which they telt for sin, and the strong and 
 ardent desire which they entertained for holiness, 
 may be regarded as a demonstration of their con- 
 viction of the continuance of the law, and their 
 duty to comply with all its dictates. 
 
55 
 
 The same conclusion may, with equal safety, be 
 drawn 
 
 IV. From the interesting purposes invariably as- 
 cribed, in the New Testament, to good works. 
 
 Nothing can give us a higher idea of their ex- 
 cellence and value, than to be told, that they are 
 the evidence of our union to Christ, that they 
 constitute our meetness for heaven, that they prove 
 our right to eternal life, form the measure of our 
 future glory, and will compose an essential part of 
 our everlasting happiness. Yet such as these are 
 exactly the uses which the New Testament assigns 
 them. 
 
 1. Holiness, or good works, are represented as 
 the evidence of our union to Christ, and interest 
 in the blessings of his salvation. 
 
 From the statements of the New Testament, it 
 is evident, that the knowledge of the relation in 
 which Christians stand to the Saviour, is a privi- 
 lege which has been attained, and which is still at- 
 tainable. It speaks of a great difference betwixt 
 the subjects of salvation and of perdition; it tells 
 us ihat believers have the witness in themselves; it 
 exhorts us to examine ourselves whether we be in 
 the faith, to prove our ownselves; and admonishes 
 us to secure the full assurance of hope, and to give 
 all diligence to make our calling and election sure. 
 
 Such language undoubtedly implies that faith is 
 possessed of a practical influence, and that from its 
 
56 
 
 effects upon our temper and conduct, we may with 
 ease and certainty discover its presence. If it pro- 
 duced no moral effect, created no specific differ- 
 ence betwixt those who possess and those who want 
 it; how could it be possible to comply with tht ex- 
 hortation to self-examination? Where would be 
 the justice of the expostulation, Know ye not your 
 ownselves, bow that Jesus Christ is in you, except 
 ye be reprobates? What advantages could result 
 from the most close and persevering inquiry into 
 our religions condition f By what means could the 
 children of light be known from the children 
 of darkness? or the sons of God distinguished from 
 the slaves of Satan t Where a known effect follows 
 a known cause, from the presence of the former we 
 may safely infer the existence of the latter: but if 
 no sensible effect takes place, by what process with- 
 in the reach of mortals, can we trace the nature 
 or efficiency of the cause ? By the thermometer, or 
 by our feelings, we may judge of a change upon 
 the temperature of the air: but in the present state 
 of natural science, by what instrument or expedient 
 can we tell whether or not the atmosphere be im- 
 pregnated with contagion ? If our faith be possessed 
 of a moral influence, and leave a manifest and per- 
 manent impression upon our temper and conduct; 
 then the injunction to self-examination is perfectly 
 just and reasonable, and the best advantages may 
 be confidently expected to attend the exercise. But 
 if no moral influence accompany the gospel, and if 
 
57 
 
 our faith be not naturally and necessarily connect- 
 ed with holy deeds, it would be as idle and useless 
 to require us to examine ourselves, as to set us a 
 searching the atmosphere for the infectious exhala- 
 tions which it contains, or to appoint us to watch 
 the face of the sky to detect the passage of the 
 angels who traverse it. In such a case we might 
 be commanded to explore our Bibles, and to ex- 
 amine our creeds; but to direct us to examine or 
 prove ourselves would be utterly absurd, and its 
 fulfilment altogether impracticable. 
 
 The exhortation in question may therefore be 
 regarded as decisive of the fact, that there is a close 
 and inseparable connexion betwixt faith and holi- 
 ness, betwixt our union to Christ and cur confor- 
 mity to his image. And this inference is placed 
 beyond the possibility of a doubt, by the plain and 
 positive assertions of the New Testament. For unless 
 we grant the connexion which is here maintained, 
 why does the Bible distinguish betwixt hearing 
 the word, and doing it? betwixt a living and a 
 dead faith? betwixt the form of godliness and its 
 power? betwixt real spiritual life and a name to live? 
 Why inform us that every tree is known by its 
 fruits? that every one that abideth in Christ, and 
 Christ in him, bringeth forth much fruit; and that 
 every branch that beareth not fruit he taketh away? 
 Why teach us that believers know their calling and 
 election? and that the Spirit himself beareth wit- 
 ness, with our spirits, that we are the sons of 
 God? 
 
5S 
 
 And since our faith is possessed of a practical 
 influence, and our relation to God may be ascer- 
 tained from our spirit and conduct, what are the 
 circumstances or qualities by which this high and 
 enviable privilege may be most readily and infalli- 
 bly determined? On this point the sacred oracles 
 have left us in no uncertainty, and every sentence 
 which they utter upon the subject tells most forci- 
 bly upon our present purpose. " Hereby we do 
 know, that we know him, if we keep his command- 
 ments: he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not 
 his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not 
 in him: but whoso keepeth his word, in him veri- 
 ly is the love of God perfected. Whosoever 
 abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth 
 hath not seen him, neither known him. Little 
 children let no man deceive you: he that doeth 
 righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous ; 
 he that committeth sin is of the devil: for the de- 
 vil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, 
 the Son of God was manifested that he might des- 
 troy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born 
 of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remain- 
 eth in him : and he cannot sin because he is born 
 of God. In this the children of God are manifest, 
 and the children of the devil: whosoever doth not 
 righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth 
 not his brother. As the body without the spirit 
 is dead, so faith without works is dead also." 
 
 Greater proof than this cannot be desired of the 
 
59 
 
 purifying tendency of faith, and that holiness is 
 the best, if not the only evidence, of our interest 
 in the salvation of the gospel. 
 
 2 Holiness is represented as constituting our 
 fitness for the services and enjoyments of heaven. 
 We read not only of a right to the tree of life, 
 and of a power or privilege to become the sons of 
 God, bui likewise of a meetness for the inheritance 
 of the saints in light, and of the vessels of mercy 
 being afore prepared unto glory. 
 
 Now, this meetness or preparation must surely 
 consist in a correspondence or suitableness betwixt 
 our tastes, tempers, characters, and pursuits, and 
 the place, the services, and enjoyments, for which 
 we are destined. If our present attainments have 
 no tendency to fit us for the allotments reserved 
 for us in the world to come, all our labour must 
 be thrown away in vain. It would be preposter- 
 ous in a man bound for the tropics, to make an 
 outfit for a voyage to the poles; and it would be 
 equally ridiculous in a man who should imagine 
 that he could qualify himself for speaking Persian 
 or Arabic, by sitting down to the study of Gaelic; 
 or who should fancy that he would gain a know- 
 ledge of navigation by making himself master of 
 the rules of husbandry: and if heaven be a holy 
 place, and its blessedness consist in holy services 
 and in spiritual enjoyments; if its inhabitants 
 are all righteous, and nothing can enter within its 
 sacred confines that defileth: in what can our 
 
60 
 
 ineetness or preparation for it be comprised, but 
 in the possession of holy tempers, in the cultivation 
 of holy principles, and in the performance of holy 
 duties? Without these, let our endowments be 
 ever so great, or our acquirements ever so fair 
 and imposing, we must be destitute of all conge- 
 niality for its pure pleasures and beatific employ- 
 ments. Without these we should be utterly unable 
 to appreciate the worth, or relish the excellence of 
 its sublimest visions and most exquisite and trans- 
 porting delights. Without these, supposing that 
 by a miracle or an accident we were placed along- 
 side the spirits of the just made perfect, we would 
 be completely miserable in the very midst of the 
 regions of bliss. 
 
 Since, therefore, the gospel affirms that there is 
 a preparation or fitness requisite for the inheritance 
 of the saints in light; since it assures us that it is 
 by patient continuance in well-doing, that we are 
 to seek for glory and honour, and immortality; 
 since it still avers that without holiness no man 
 shall see the Lord: on what ground can our justi- 
 fication by faith be suspected of suspending or di- 
 minishing our obligations to be blameless and harm- 
 less in all manner of conversation, and to perfect 
 holiness in the fear of God ? 
 
 3. The good works of believers will be brought 
 forward in the day of judgment as proofs of their 
 right to the kingdom of heaven, and of the equity 
 of that sentence by which they shall be adjudged 
 to the enjoyment of eternal life. 
 
61 
 
 The transactions of that aweful day will be all 
 open and visible, and the rectitude of the proceed- 
 ings will be fully acknowledged by all the specta- 
 tors, and by all the parties in its affecting and 
 solemn results. The heavens shall declare his 
 righteousness; Christ shall judge the world in 
 righteousness; and from the clear manifestation of 
 the strict justice, which shall mark all his decisions, 
 the day itself is emphatically called the revelation 
 of the righteous judgement of God. 
 
 But unless the equity of the respective sentences 
 were to be illustrated by some overt, and obvious 
 circumstances, in the history and character of 
 those upon whom they are pronounced, how could 
 the issue of that day's events, < s for which all other 
 days were made," be denominated a " revelation 
 of the righteous judgment of God?" 
 
 That the Judge accordingly will give such a con* 
 spicuous disclosure of his justice, and demonstrate 
 the equity of his procedure, by referring to the 
 moral character of those who receive their doom 
 from his lips, are facts plainly asserted in the pages 
 of inspiration. There we are told that every man 
 shall be judged according to his works; that the 
 good works of some are manifest before-hand, go- 
 ing into judgment, and that they that are other- 
 wise cannot be hid: and our Lord himself in his 
 description of the events <xf that dread day, repre- 
 sents the justice of the sentence as displayed, not 
 by any secret purpose or determination of God, nor 
 F 
 
62 
 
 by the faith of the believers, nor by their interest 
 in the righteousness of the Redeemer, but by the 
 proof which they had given of the reality of their 
 religion by the integrity and beneficence of their 
 lives, 
 
 And if all men shall be judged according to 
 their works, if the virtuous conduct and benevolent 
 labours of the redeemed shall be adduced as evi- 
 dence of their union to the Saviour, and right to 
 the kingdom of God; are we not from this war- 
 ranted to infer the great importance of good 
 works, and to maintain that faith is as uniformly 
 and necessarily connected with holiness as life with 
 respiration? If holiness were only an occasional 
 attendant upon faith, it could not with any safety 
 nor propriety be made the sole rule of decision in 
 the day of doom. In such a case, many who by 
 their faith in Christ were possessed of a valid and 
 meritorious claim to heaven, from the want of this 
 precarious and uncertain evidence of their plea, 
 might have the dreadful misfortune to be deprived 
 of the eternal inheritance to which in point of 
 justice they were completely entitled. 
 
 4. Our progress in holiness will form the mea- 
 sure of our future glory. 
 
 There can be little doubt that among the spirits 
 of the just there shall be various degrees of honour. 
 The exhortation, not only to lay up treasure in 
 heaven, but also to lay up in store for ourselves a 
 good foundation against the time to come; the ad* 
 
63 
 
 monition to hold that fast which we have, that no 
 man take our crown; and to look to ourselves that 
 we lose not the things which we have wrought, 
 but that we may receive a full reward; the asser- 
 tion that some are scarcely saved, and that others 
 are more than conquerors; that some shall barely 
 obtain mercy of the Lord, and that others shall 
 have an entrance administered unto them abun- 
 dantly into his everlasting kingdom: most broadly 
 intimate, though every inhabitant of heaven shall 
 be invested with the most resplendent dignity, and 
 made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of an 
 infinite and all-sufficient God, that still they shall 
 possess very different degrees of glory. 
 
 And there is surely little reason to question that 
 these distinctions will be adjusted to the progress 
 of Christians in holiness, and to their fidelity aud 
 earnestness in the discharge of duty. Justifying 
 righteousness certainly cannot constitute the ground 
 of any difference in the rank nor in the enjoyments 
 of the redeemed: for that is imparted with equal 
 fulness and freeness to every one who partakes of it. 
 Believers are all one in Christ: in him there is no 
 respect of persons; and every individual therefore, 
 who is justified at all, is justified freely from all 
 things. But though their justifying righteousness 
 is the same, their religious and moral acquire- 
 ments are very unlike. In some the grace of God 
 is more abundant than in others. Their labours 
 are more numerous; their resolution more firm : 
 F 2 
 
61 
 
 their love and zeal more steady, warm and enter- 
 prising. In the family of Christ there are babes 
 as well as old men and fathers. In his employ- 
 ment he has servants of every age and standing, of 
 every talent and accomplishment, and who with 
 the dissimilar abilities and opportunities which 
 they possess, exhibit very unequal attachment and 
 devotion to his cause. And with these different 
 degrees of assiduity and faithfulness in his work, 
 which they at present display, it is but just and 
 reasonable to expect that there will be a corres- 
 ponding diversity in their recompense in the 
 w r orld to come. 
 
 This conclusion is completely supported by the 
 language of revelation. From the parabie of the 
 pounds, where each servant was remunerated ac- 
 cording to his industry and success ; from the as- 
 surance that God is not unrighteous to forget our 
 work of faith and labour of love; from the af- 
 firmation that every mon shall receive his 
 own reward, according to his own labour; from 
 the repeated declaration that all shall be judged 
 according to their works, and receive according 
 to what they have done in the body; from 
 the express testimony of the apostle, that * he 
 who soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparing- 
 ly; and he who soweth bountifully, shall reap 
 also bountifully :" it is placed beyond the 
 shadow of a suspicion, that the different degrees 
 of future glory will be proportioned to the 
 
65 
 
 various amount of activity in duty which the saints 
 exert, and the different attainments in holiness 
 which they make. 
 
 And if thus the gospel authorises us to expect 
 that our future recompense will correspond to our 
 present fidelity and obedience; if thus it warrants 
 us to maintain that, in heaven and through eter- 
 nity, the man who shall stand nearest to the 
 throne, and wear the most brilliant and endearing 
 marks of his Creator's favour, is exactly the man 
 who on earth bore the closest resemblance to 
 Jesus, and who through life was most ardently 
 and intensely devoted to his service: how is it 
 possible to impeach it of immorality, or brand it 
 with the foul and infamous charge of disparaging 
 the worth and setting aside the necessity of good 
 works? Unless it positively and imperatively re- 
 quires their presence; unless it most sincerely and 
 cordially approves atod sanctions their perform- 
 ance: on what principle can we account for the 
 unrivalled honour, and the exceeding, the eternal 
 weight of glory which it has reserved to ennoble 
 and reward them in the world of light? 
 
 5. The possession of holiness will compose an 
 essential part of our everlasting happiness* 
 
 It not only constitutes our meetness for heaven, 
 but will also be retained in the kingdom of God, 
 and prove a principal ingredient in the boundless 
 and never-ending satisfaction and delight which we 
 shall there enjoy. 
 
 F3 
 
66 
 
 The scriptures every where indicate that there 
 is a close and inseparable connexion betwixt our 
 present and our future state, and an intimate and 
 striking resemblance betwixt the felicity which we 
 now experience, and the blessedness which we 
 shall hereafter possess. They tell us that he who 
 believeth on the Son hath eternal life; that we 
 who believe do enter into rest; that Christ liveth 
 in us, and that we live by faith on him; that his 
 love is shed abroad in our hearts, and that our 
 affections are set on things above; that Christ is 
 in us the hope of glory, that our life is hid with 
 Christ, and that when he who is our life shall ap- 
 pear we shall appear with him in glory : they speak 
 of the first fruits of the Spirit; and of the sealing 
 of the Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance, 
 until the redemption of the purchased possession. 
 But this earnest and these first fruits consist as 
 much in the holiness which he implants, as in the 
 peace, the hope, and the consolation which he im- 
 parts. It is as much his office to renovate our 
 natures, and restore us to the image of God, as to 
 cheer cur hearts and oear witness to our adoption. 
 " Let every one that nameth the name of Christ 
 depart from iniquity," is a sentence as deeply 
 engraved on his seal as that other truth, " The 
 Lord knoweth them that are his." 
 
 Th* preceding language obviously implies that, 
 however far our future d gnity and happiness may 
 surpass ^U that we, ia the meantime, can either 
 
67 
 
 taste or conceive, still there is a close relation, and 
 a strong similarity, betwixt our present privileges 
 and future enjoyments; and that *he bond by which 
 they are united, is maintained by the holy princi- 
 ples created in the believer's heart, and the benevo- 
 lent and useful habits of life to which he is formed. 
 These are properties which abide with him, amidst 
 the various changes and fluctuations in his lot, and 
 retain their strength and energy amidst all the Ian- 
 gours and decays of nature. In the world to come, 
 the distinctions of rank and fortune may be for- 
 gotten; the acquisitions of learning, and the dis- 
 coveries of science, may be obi iterated; and the 
 arts and the occupations, which were employed 
 merely to sustain or embellish our mortal existence, 
 must all be left behind us in the place wheie we 
 pursued them. But, none of our holy dispositions, 
 nor beneficent services, shall be overlooked nor 
 lost. They shall all survive the stroke of death, 
 attend us ino the heaven of heavens, and, through 
 the whole of a gladsome eternity, furnish the in- 
 struments of our most transporting employments, 
 and the elements of our best and purest delights. 
 " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; they 
 rest from their labours, and their works do follow 
 them:" In heaven, saints stiil continue the servants 
 of the Most High, and perform his will in a man- 
 ner far more thoroughly and effectually than they 
 ever could reach on earth. Tnere they shali see 
 his face in righteousness, and be satisfied with his 
 
68 
 
 likeness. Every spiritual weakness shall be re- 
 move * ; their sanctification shall be without defect 
 or limit; and their resemblance to the moral cha- 
 racter of the Son of God, rendered entire and full. 
 When that which is perfect is come, then that 
 which is in part shall be done away. As here we 
 have borne the image of the earthy, we shall there 
 bear the image of the heavenly Adam. When he 
 appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him 
 as he is. With open face beholding his glory, we 
 shall be changed into the same image, from glory 
 to glory* " Whether there be prophecies, they 
 shall fail; whether there be knowledge, it shall 
 vanish away; whether there be tongues, they shall 
 cease; but charity," or love, which is the fulfilling 
 of the law and the bond of perfectness; love which 
 is the heart, and soul, and life, and substance of 
 genuine and practical religion, " never faileth." 
 
 And, since the mind can conceive, and God can 
 bestow, no more exalted dignity, nor more en via- 
 able bliss than what we shall possess in heaven, 
 by what means could the gospel confer more deci- 
 sive and illustrious honour upon this lovely and in« 
 estimable principle, than by telling us, that the 
 best and noblest ipgredient in our celestial enjoy- 
 ments, shall consist in the possession and exercise 
 of holiness? 
 
 It remains for us to show that the continuance 
 of the law may be deduced 
 
69 
 
 V. From the ample provision which the gospel 
 has made to secure the sanctification of believers, 
 and promote their progress in holiness. 
 
 No agent is more mighty than the Holy Ghost. 
 He enjoys an unlimited share in a!l the glories of 
 the Godhead, and has all the fulness of divine 
 honour and perfection completely at his command. 
 The promise to believers of his presence and agency 
 pervades both the Old Testament and the New; 
 and, from the rich and the liberal effusion of his 
 influences, and the important part which he sus- 
 tains under this last dispensation of grace, the 
 gospel itself is emphatically called the ministration 
 of the Spirit. The highest value is, at all times, 
 expressed for his presence, and the most beneficial 
 and momentous effects, are uniformly ascribed to 
 his sacred and mysterious operations. He is repre- 
 sented as a refiner and purifier; as the conqueror 
 of the enmity of the carnal mind; and the blessed 
 Being who, by his mild but irresistible energy, 
 effectually applies the doctrines of salvation to the 
 soul, and bends the wills of men to a cordial and 
 unqualified submission to the grace and authority 
 of God. It is he who convinces the world of un- 
 belief and unrighteousness; it is he who quickens 
 his people when dead in trespasses and sins ; it is he 
 who pours the light of heavenly truth around their 
 path, and renews them in the spirit of their minds'; 
 it is he who washes them with the washing of re- 
 generation, and baptizes them with fire; who 
 
70 
 
 writes the law of God in their hearts, who perfects 
 what concerns them, who sanctifies them wholly, 
 and makes them a habitation of God. 
 
 For carrying into effect these high and merciful 
 objects of his commission, he has all the dispensa- 
 tions of Providence under his guidance, and is in- 
 Tested with the administration of all the ordinances 
 of religion, so that, if the Agent be almighty, the 
 instruments which he uses are well adapted to his 
 work, and such as may be justly wielded by Omni- 
 potence. The sabbath, the services of the sanctu- 
 ary, the scriptures of truth, the regular and stated* 
 and the occasional and more extraordinary means 
 of grace, are all subjected to his controul, and made 
 subservient to the sanctification of the heirs of 
 eternal life. The sabbath is appointed to detach 
 our thoughts from the things of earth and sense, 
 to familiarise our minds with the scenes lying on 
 the other side of time and the grave, and to accele- 
 rate and aid our preparation for the rest which re- 
 mains for the people of God. The ministers of 
 religion are sent abroad into the world to rouse the 
 careless, to reclaim the vicious and abandoned, to 
 direct the inquiring into the way of righteousness 
 and peace, and build up the believing in their most 
 holy faith The sacraments are instituted to pro- 
 mote our fellowship one with another, and confirm 
 our union with our glorified Head. The scriptures 
 of truth are put into our hands in order to regulate 
 ©ur life and conversation, and render the man of 
 
71 
 
 God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
 works. 
 
 With these provisions of his grace, the vast and 
 complicated movements of providence are made 
 directly and powerfully to concur and co-operate. 
 Prosperity and adversity, health and sickness, joy 
 and sorrow, success and disappointment, are all 
 made to contribute their respective proportions to 
 advance the moral health, and spiritual improve- 
 ment of the subjects of saving mercy. Whilst the 
 goodness of God leads to repentance, affliction, 
 however formidable and painful, is designed to ac- 
 complish the most eminent and lasting advantages : 
 for, on the highest authority, we are assured, that 
 M he chastises us, not for his own pleasure, but for 
 our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness." 
 In short, ordinances and providences, every reli- 
 gious and moral mean, which can either penetrate 
 the understanding or impress the heart, are all 
 placed under the management of this Almighty 
 Spirit; and, by his gracious agency, overruled "for 
 the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the 
 body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the 
 faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
 unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the sta- 
 ture of the fulness of Christ." 
 
 Take a calm and steady survey of the astonish- 
 ing operations by which you are surrounded, and 
 attend to the serious and urgent applications, 
 which every day and every hour, are made to your 
 
72 
 
 hearts' and consciences, to induce you to yield your* 
 selves up to God and devote your time and strength 
 to the duties of religion and of life: and say, if 
 the Eternal has abandoned the cause of holiness, 
 and betrays any indifference to your probity and 
 worth? Look at all that he has done in nature, in 
 providence, and in grace, and say what more effec- 
 tual and affecting means could he have employed 
 than what he actually his adopted, to renovate our 
 natures, and fit us through the discipline of holi- 
 ness for the inheritance of the saints in light? 
 Could he have given us a more clear and ample 
 revelation of his will than what he has placed in 
 his blessed word? Could we have desired sabbaths 
 of greater length, or of more frequent recurrence, 
 than those which he has already appointed ? Could 
 we have solicited ordinances of richer efficacy, and 
 of a more purifying and transforming tendency 
 than those which he has in fact planted in his 
 church, and left for our observance and use? 
 Could we have wished for an instrument of greater 
 energy than the Christian ministry to break us 
 off from our selfish and worldly pursuits, and win 
 us to the knowledge and obedience of Christ? 
 Could we have looked for events better calculated 
 than those which we have personally experienced, 
 to touch our affections, or to rouse our fears? 
 Could we have requested to have been more pain- 
 fully and severely tried, or to have enjoyed a great- 
 
73 
 
 er amount of divine munificence and kindness, than 
 what the God of mercy has already accumulated 
 upon our heads? Or could we have presumed to 
 have implored an agent of greater majesty than 
 the Holy Ghost to give effect to the instruments 
 which he has employed, and bind our souls to the 
 love and the practice of holiness ? 
 
 Look at all that he has done, and at all that he 
 is daily doing, in nature, in providence and grace, 
 in order to promote your improvement and secure 
 your complete sanctification, and say if the Lord 
 Jehovah does not only sanction and approve 
 the holiness of his people, but is even deeply and 
 seriously set upon its attainment ? If holiness be 
 unnecessary, why has he expended on its formation 
 such an astonishing and immense degree of labour 
 and care? Why has he had recourse to the magni- 
 ficient and complicated process delegated to the 
 Spirit of grace for the renovation and moral im- 
 provement of thern that believe? If no spiritual 
 nor holy effect is to be produced upon the hearts* 
 and consciences of them who shall be heirs of sal- 
 vation, for what purpose is all this amazing and 
 mighty machinery kept in such vigorous and con- 
 stant motion, and such a strong and lively interest 
 maintained by all in heaven and in earth, for the 
 reformation and sanctification of the sons of men ? 
 If holiness be an useless or superfluous ornament 
 in the disciples of Jesus, say why did the Spirit of 
 God and of glory, in childhood and in early years, 
 G 
 
74 
 
 strive so assiduously and earnestly by the prayers 
 and tears of your pious parents and teachers, by 
 the admonitions and entreaties of your godly rela- 
 tives and friends to imbue your tender minds 
 with the love of God, and join your youthful 
 hearts in a firm and lasting alliance with truth and 
 goodness? Why by crowding the Bibte with such 
 plain discoveries of the way of life, and with such 
 awful remonstrances against the love and the prac- 
 tice of evil, does he give you such distinct and im- 
 pressive warning of the dreadful inconceivable 
 guilt and danger of transgression, and of the glory, 
 honour, and peace awaiting every man who re- 
 gards and serves the Lord? Why does he disturb 
 your constitutional and hereditary security and 
 sloth, by the regular return of the sabbath, and 
 the weekly summons of the church-going bell ? 
 Why, by enjoining his ministers to preach the 
 word, to be instant in season and out of season, re- 
 proving, rebuking, and exhorting; why, by sending 
 them back to their sacred station, and urging them 
 by all that they desire, and all that they dread in 
 eternity, to give full proof of their ministry, does 
 he command them to warn every man, and teach 
 every man in all wisdom, that they may present 
 every man perfect in Christ Jesus ? 
 
 Why, when running on in sin, and forming 
 schemes of vicious indulgence or of dishonest gain, 
 has this divine Spirit laboured to turn you from the 
 evil of your purpose, by the stirring of a principle 
 
15 
 
 within you, struggling against your passion and 
 your crime, and whispering that the eye of the 
 Eternal was upon you, and that for the very deed 
 which you were meditating, the God of justice 
 would soon bring you into judgment? Why by 
 visiting you with sickness, and subjecting you to 
 privation, suffering, or sorrow, did he remind you 
 that this is not your rest, and beseech you to arise 
 and prepare to meet your God? Why, by sending 
 death out of his beaten track, and conducting him 
 past the venerable and hoary headed veteran, se- 
 lect for his victim your companion and friend, 
 who stood firm in all the false and delusive confi- 
 dence of youth and of health, and before you had 
 the least suspicion of his danger, see him writh- 
 ing in all the agonies of pain, and sinking in all 
 the feebleness of dissolution? Why, by em- 
 powering the grim king of terrors, to march forth 
 in ghastly array, over all the strength and beauty 
 of man, and by fixing the gloomy ensigns of his 
 might and his triumph on the best and the dearest 
 of all below, does he so forcibly reiterate the 
 humbling act, that all flesh is grass, and all the 
 goodliness thereof as the flower of the field, and 
 with such solemnity admonish you to be also ready, 
 for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of 
 man cometh ? 
 
 If all this does not demonstrate a tender and 
 lively concern for the advancement of the inter- 
 ests of piety and of morals 8 what can it possiblv 
 G 2 
 
mean ? If the fervent, the earnest inculcation of ho- 
 liness, is not pointedly and zealously intended and 
 prosecuted through the whole of this amazing and 
 interesting process, what useful or rational end can 
 we possibly assign for ail its singular and affecting 
 phenomena? In other subjects are we at liberty to 
 infer design from the nature of the course that is 
 pursued ? From the labour and industry of the 
 husbandman in digging, manuring, and dressing 
 his fields, do we argue his anxiety to obtain a rich 
 and a luxuriant crop ? From the judicious and 
 virtuous manner in which he brings up his child, 
 and from the time spent, and the sums disbursed 
 to command for him a thorough acquaintance with 
 literature and science, do we gather with certain- 
 ty, and affirm with confidence, that the father is 
 ambitious to guard the moral principles, and en- 
 sure the upright and honourable conduct of his 
 son, and confer on him all the advantages of a 
 liberal and enlightened education ? And after all 
 that the God of heaven and of earth has done by 
 his word, his providence, and Spirit to change 
 and meliorate the stubborn and sterile soil of the 
 human soul, and render it fertile in the fruits of 
 righteousness : after he has had recourse to every 
 method and every mean, which wisdom could sug- 
 gest, or kindness employ, to train up in habits of 
 holiness and virtue the many sons and daughters 
 whom he is bringing to glory: after he has dele- 
 gated to the Holy Ghost the business of our sane- 
 
11 
 
 tification, and entrusted him with the management 
 and use of the most powerful and expensive moral 
 apparatus that ever was exhibited to the universe, 
 or framed by the hand of Omnipotence : after we 
 find him in deep intensity watching the progress 
 of his measures, marking minutely every effect 
 they produce, and, on discovering the failure of 
 his best concerted, and most beneficial plans for 
 our repentance and amendments ; can we hear 
 him in all the bitterness of disappointed expecta- 
 tion enumerating the wonderful series of his be- 
 nignant labours, and inquiring, in the tone of 
 grief and indignation, what more could have been 
 done to his vineyard than what he had actually 
 adopted? Can we witness all this, and yet serious- 
 ly question, whether or not he values our person- 
 al goodness, and s'ncerely and truly longs for our 
 conformity to the requisitions of his pure and righ- 
 teous law ? 
 
 With these facts before us, I do not say that a 
 common share of piety and devotion, but I af- 
 firm, that a common portion of sense and decen- 
 cy compels us to maintain that the heart of the 
 Most High is set upon our moral improvement, 
 and that he cherishes a strong and ardent desire 
 for the purity and worth of all the members of his 
 ransomed family. His language and conduct rise 
 far above the cold and bate approval and encour- 
 agement of virtue, and express, in a form too dis- 
 tinct and striking, either to be overlooked or mis- 
 G 3 
 
78 
 
 understood, all the solicitude of a deep, an abid- 
 ing and earnest concern for our holiness, 
 
 If he is not sincerely desirous of our sanctifica- 
 tion, and if they who partake of the redemption 
 that is in Christ, possess no moral superiority 
 over their brethren, it would be exceedingly de- 
 sirable to know for what purpose the Holy Ghost 
 has been given to the Christian church, and what 
 the grace of God does for those on whom it oper- 
 ates. Was it intended merely to implant .some 
 speculative notions in their heads; to enlarge the 
 range of their information; to rectify some mis- 
 placed and disjointed articles in their creeds ; to 
 brush off a few of their external offences, and form 
 them to habits of outward virtue and decorum? 
 If this be any thing at all like the nature ana ex- 
 tent of its object, this would be to do no more for 
 us than what a bare revelation of Divine truth, 
 unaccompanied by any supernatural influence, 
 might easily have accomplished, and what objec- 
 tive truth might long ago have fully performed for 
 apostate angels. In such a case, the ministry of 
 the eternal Spirit surely, might with safety, have 
 been spared; and the Bible, and its interpreters, 
 might have been lett to travel abroad through the 
 circuit of the earth, and, without his presence 
 and his aid, achieve the task of the world's in- 
 struction and reformation. 
 
 If personal holiness be unnecessary in them who 
 are saved, what reason can we assign for the per- 
 
79 
 
 dition of any of the children of men ? It will not 
 do to say that the reprobate are punished for their 
 sins: for if faith produce no moral change upon 
 them who possess it; then, since, by nature, there 
 is no difference among the sons of Adam, and 
 believers and unbelievers must be alike deep in re- 
 bellion and in guilt, why are they not both sub- 
 jected to precisely the same condemnation? It 
 will not do to say, that Christians are endowed 
 with faith, and that this places them under the 
 ample and impenetrable protection of the atone- 
 ment; for if our faith contain no holy influence, and 
 be productive of no practical results, why should 
 our state in the sight of God, and our condition 
 through eternity be affected by its presence or its 
 absence, any more than by a knowledge or ig- 
 norance of the principles of mathematics or fi'msief 
 There certainly is virtue in the sacrifice of the 
 Saviour sufficient to extend to all mankind; and 
 heaven could not be more desecrated and dishon- 
 oured by the entrance oi the whole, than by the ad- 
 mission of a part of our impure and polluted race. 
 If sin be allowed to enter the regions of bliss, the 
 profanation must be the same, whether it be in- 
 troduced in the persons oP believers or unbelievers. 
 If, according to this hypothesis, faith be utterly 
 unconnected with any moral or spiritual effects, 
 why are not all men, and the devils too, who be- 
 lieve and tremble, admitted without distinction to 
 
80 
 
 the full enjoyment of the light and glory of the 
 celestial kingdom ? 
 
 Every thing, therefore, which relates to the pre- 
 sence of the Holy Spirit in the Christian church, 
 and to his work upon the hearts of them who be- 
 lieve, powerfully concurs to prove the infinite im- 
 portance and absolute necessity of holiness, and to 
 demonstrate, that, so far from weakening or de- 
 stroying the law, the gospel ratifies and confirms 
 it. For if no spiritual change be accomplished 
 upon the hearts and lives of believers; if they can 
 be saved in their sins; if they are permitted to 
 live to themselves, to walk according to the course 
 of this world, and their own former vain conver- 
 sation : then the presence of the Holy Spirit is 
 totally superfluous, and all that relates to the na- 
 ture and necessity of his operations under the 
 economy of grace, and that at least amounts to 
 one-third of the sacred volume, is at once depriv- 
 ed of all its meaning and use. 
 
 Thus then, notwithstanding all the strong rea- 
 son which we had to expect, that, it the law had 
 been repealed or relaxed, it and all its piecepts 
 would have been suffered to sink in ob avion, that 
 no reference would have been made to its duties, 
 nor any attempt employed to perpeiuate their me- 
 mory or prolong their observance; is it true, as 
 we have proved, that holiness is incorporated with 
 the whole substance and structure oi the Christian 
 dispensation, that every principle and every dis- 
 
81 
 
 covery of the gospel has a direct and studied refer- 
 ence to the great business of practical godliness, 
 and that the promotion of its interests constitutes one 
 of the great ultimate ends of this sacred system ? 
 Is it true that the gospel teaches us that Christ 
 came, not to exempt us from the obligation of the 
 law and release us from the fulfillment of our duty, 
 but to redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us 
 unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good 
 works? Is it true, that it tells us that we were pre- 
 destinated to be conformed unto the image of the 
 Son of God, and chosen in him before the foun- 
 dation of the world, that we might be holy and 
 without blame before him in love? Is it true, that 
 it insists upon the indispensable necessity of every 
 man being born again before he can enjoy the 
 blessings of salvation here, or obtain an entrance 
 into the kingdom of the just hereafter? Is it true, 
 tl at it holds up vice to our reprobation and abhor* 
 rence, and the law of God to our veneration and 
 our love? Is it true, that it assures us that holi- 
 ness is the only genuine infallible test of our faith 
 in Christ? that it constitutes our meetness for 
 heaven? that it will be produced in the day of 
 judgment as the evidence of our right to eternal 
 life ? that it will form the measure of our future 
 dignity and felicity ? and compose an essential and 
 principal ingredient in our ineffable and everlast- 
 ing bliss? Is it true, that this same gospel informs 
 us that the Holy Ghost has been sent down to 
 
82 
 
 sanctify the souls of believers, and train them up 
 in habits of holiness for the enjoyment of bound- 
 less and never-ending glory ? 
 
 Is all this true? And who, with the volume of 
 inspiration lying open before him, can doubt its 
 truth ? Then the gospel is a doctrine according to 
 godliness ; and it - is a foul and an insufferable ca- 
 lumny to say, or to insinuate, that this best and 
 noblest ffift of the God of love is at war with the 
 interests of righteousness, that it disparages the 
 importance and utility of personal holiness; that it 
 discourages zeal and earnestness in the discharge of 
 any moral or religious duty; that it lays the ban 
 and interdict of high Heaven on the performance 
 of good works; and lest the cultivation of practical 
 goodness should beget a spirit of legality and self- 
 dependence, that it leaves its votaries the free in- 
 dulgence of their indolence and crimes. What 
 more interesting and useful purposes could the 
 most enthusiastic admirer of morality arrogate to 
 it than what are actually assigned it by the Lord 
 Jesus Christ? or what more potent and useful 
 auxiliary of the eternal law, could its most enrap- 
 tured and devoted adherent desire, than the bless- 
 ed, though defamed and injured, gospel of peace? 
 
S3 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 The consistency betwixt Salvation by grace, and the practice of 
 good works. 
 
 From a supposed incompatibility betwixt justi- 
 fication by faith, and the obligation to practise 
 good works, many imagine that the preceding 
 reasoning, notwithstanding a 1 the apparent force 
 and soundness which it possesses m^y be eo - 
 pletely overs t by the warmth ar.d frequency with 
 which the New Testament as*ert> the neces-ity of 
 a free and gratuitous salvation, and the animated 
 and glowing eloquence with which it expatiates on 
 the greatness, the fulness, and the riches of re- 
 deeming grace. 
 
 Those accordingly, who deny it to be the duty 
 of man to obey the will ot his Creator, either from 
 the idea of exalting the value of the Saviour's 
 righteousness, or from the hope of obtaining a 
 sanction for their carnality and crimes, have long 
 agreed in strenuously contending, that, though 
 the law has not been openly and avowedly repeal- 
 ed, its rights have been secretly infringed, and 
 its authority silently revoked by the nature and 
 tendency of the doctrines which the gospel incul- 
 cates, and that, in spite of all that we can urge 
 upon the advantages or the necessity of holiness, 
 the statements of Christ and his apostles respect- 
 ing the leading and fundame: tai article in the 
 Christian system, salvation by grace, just as ine- 
 
84 
 
 vitably undermine the foundations of morality, 
 and as effectually release us from the need of de- 
 voting ourselves to the love and practice of godli- 
 ness and of good works, as if the decalogue had 
 been annihilated, and every trace and vestige of 
 it expunged from the sacred pages. 
 
 Though, therefore, with the conclusion of the 
 former section we would gladly have closed the 
 evidence for the continuance of the law under the 
 gospel, in order to consolidate the proof which 
 has been already advanced of the spiritual nature 
 and design of the gospel, and to shew the un- 
 speakable importance and the absolute necessity 
 of cultivating holiness of heart and of life, it be- 
 comes imperatively incumbent on us to employ a 
 few pages to the exclusive examination of the va- 
 lidity and strength of this formidable, and sweeping 
 objection. 
 
 If, while it professes to respect and venerate the 
 law, the gospel has tacitly repealed it, it must be 
 either by setting aside the necessity of personal 
 holiness, or by weakening the obligations to obe- 
 dience, or by lowering the standard of morality, 
 or by enfeebling the motives by which the love 
 and practice of piety and virtue are most power- 
 fully and successfully enforced. If it has not pro- 
 duced any of these consequences, it is not easy 
 to conceive how the gospel, in the slightest degree, 
 can have interfered with the authority of the law, 
 or injured the cause of genuine holiness. 
 
85 
 
 To the honest and candid then of every class 
 and description, we make our serious and earnest 
 appeal, and ask whether this representation in 
 substance, or in shadow, be possessed of the most 
 distant resemblance to the spirit and design, to the 
 tendency and effect of the glorious gospel of the 
 blessed God ? 
 
 I. Has it been asserted that, by teaching that we 
 are justified by faith in the righteousness of the 
 Redeemer, the gospel virtually supersedes the ne- 
 cessity of personal holiness, and in its native le- 
 gitimate consequences, contributes to establish the 
 conclusion, that our own obedience is altogether 
 superfluous and useless ? 
 
 To meet this appalling objection, we have only 
 to remember the reason why our deeds of righte- 
 ousness are excluded from the business of our jus- 
 tification, and that we are compelled to accept sal- 
 vation as the gift of grace. It is not because God is 
 regardless of the interests of morality, and careless 
 whether or not the heirs of life yield obedience to 
 the precepts of his law; but, because his law is so 
 pure and spiritual, so holy and unbending in its 
 requisitions, that our poor polluted services, our 
 paltry and contemptible performances can never 
 reach the high standard which it has fixed, nor 
 render a full and adequate satisfaction to its just 
 and reasonable demands. Since the obedience of 
 a fallen creature, however sincere and steady, must 
 necessarily, at the very best, be imperfect and de- 
 
86 
 
 fective, if the gospel had broached the tenet that 
 the sinner can be justified either in whole, or in 
 part, by his moral duties and religious perform- 
 ances; then, in the worst and most offensive 
 sense of the terms, the gospel would have been 
 chargeable with subverting the foundations of 
 godliness, and encouraging men to undervalue 
 and despise the strong and eternal obligations of 
 the law. But w r hen the gospel advances no such 
 assertion nor insinuation; when it broadly and 
 uniformly affirms the very reverse; when it dis- 
 places our works of righteousness from the office 
 of justifying us, not because God is indifferent 
 about their presence or absence, but simply and en- 
 tirely, because they are too insignificant and mean, 
 too low and worthless ever to meet the high and 
 holy, the spiritual and comprehensive requisitions 
 of bis law; is it not clear and indisputable, on the 
 very first sight and statement of the fact, that so 
 far from making the law void, the gospel ratifies 
 and confirms it, magnifies and makes it honour- 
 able? 
 
 In a state of rectitude, obedience to the divine 
 law appears to have been enforced upon more no- 
 ble and generous principles than the selfish and 
 mercenary motive of man's recommending himself 
 to the approbation and favour of his Maker, and 
 purchasing a title to eternal life. Being the crea- 
 ture of God, and deriving every enjoyment and 
 comfort from his bounty, man was bound by every 
 
87 
 
 consideration of justice and of gratitude to yield a 
 cordial and unqualified submission to all his will; 
 and from the inherent essential purity of the Divine 
 nature, without holiness it was utterly impossible 
 for man ever to relish or enjoy the sublime and sa- 
 cred sources of delight and of bliss to be found in 
 intercourse with the Most High, or in the possess* 
 ion of celestial felicity and glory. And if holiness, 
 even in Eden and in innocence, was absolutely re- 
 quisite to fit us for his presence, and qualify us for 
 enjoying the communications of his friendship and 
 love, is it possible that it can be less necessary for 
 the attainment or fruition of these inestimable bless- 
 ings now ? Are base passions and unhallowed tem- 
 pers the bane and scourge of men in a state of na- 
 ture? and can they be less galling or pernicious to the 
 soul that is in a state of grace ? Was it on account of 
 our guilt and crimes that we were driven out from 
 the presence of the Lord, and subjected to the signal 
 and awful manifestations of his indignation? and can 
 we expect the removal of his displeasure, or the re- 
 storation of his favour, by persisting in the prac- 
 tices which first alienated his affection, and exposed 
 us to the overwhelming operations of his wrath ? 
 Can the wanderer regain the right road by obsti- 
 nately advancing in the path which first led him 
 astray ? Can the patient secure the abatement of 
 his pain, or the recovery of his health, by madly 
 persevering in the courses which first brought on 
 his malady ? and can a sinner more rationally ex- 
 H 2 
 
88 
 
 pect the suspension of the anger of the Most High, 
 or the free and uninterrupted flow of his kindness, 
 by impiously retaining the vicious tempers and cri- 
 minal pursuits by which he first forfeited his friend- 
 ship, and laid himself open to the tremendous vi- 
 sitations of his vengeance ? 
 
 If obedience had been originally enjoined mere- 
 ly in order to recommend us to the favour of the 
 Almighty, and secure a right to everlasting happi- 
 ness ; then whenever it was stripped of this function 
 it might with some propriety have been alleged that 
 it was deprived of its use and had lost its obliga- 
 tion : and if sin had done us no other mischief than 
 merely to expose us to punishment, then the An- 
 tinomian tenet would naturally and unavoidably 
 have followed, that the substance and essence of 
 our salvation consist in the pardon of our offences; 
 and, therefore, if our crimes are forgiven, we need 
 give ourselves no further concern about our trans- 
 gressions, nor exert any activity or diligence in the 
 cultivation of godliness, and in the practice of good 
 works. But if the gospel uniformly represents ho- 
 liness to be as essential as the forgiveness of sins, 
 to the possession of happiness ; if it at all times re- 
 presents sin as a malignant and comprehensive 
 evil, which brings along with it, not only the loss of 
 innocence and obnoxiousness to punishment, but 
 likewise the depravation of our nature, and an 
 utter incapacity while labouring under its viru- 
 ence to enjoy any genuine or lasting felicity and 
 
89 
 
 peace; and, if from the nature of things, we also 
 know that the carnal and depraved can neither see 
 God nor enjoy him, amidst ail the rich and precious 
 benefits which the gospel unfolds, and all the ful- 
 ness of pardon and of peace which it proclaims, 
 how is it possible that these can ever supersede the 
 necessity of personal worth, or give those who em- 
 brace its gracious provisions the slightest encou- 
 ragement to indulge a licentious disposition or con- 
 tinue in the love and practice of iniquity ? If the 
 inhabitants of an island have been obliged to pro- 
 secute trade and commerce not only in order to 
 pay a tribute to their prince, but likewise to provide 
 the means of their own subsistence; because the 
 sovereign remits the duties which he had previous- 
 ly levied, does that supersede the necessity of la- 
 bouring in future for their own support and com- 
 fort ? And because personal obedience is not ex- 
 acted now as the condition of our acceptance with 
 God, does that annihilate the other uses which it 
 served, or in the smallest degree relieve us from 
 the necessity of cultivating personal holiness for 
 the purpose of maintaining the spiritual life, health, 
 and prosperity of our souls? If exercise and tem- 
 perance are necessary not only for the removal of 
 sickness, but likewise for the preservation of our 
 bodily welfare ; granting that a patient were re- 
 covered from a dangerous illness by the uncom- 
 mon skill and attention of his physician, or even 
 by a miracle, would the extraordinary nature of 
 H3 
 
90 
 
 his cure free him in the smallest measure from the 
 necessity of attending, in future, to the means re- 
 quisite for preserving his health and safety ? And 
 because the salvation of the gospel brings the be- 
 liever the full and free remission of all his sins, 
 does it therefore set aside the necessity of guarding, 
 for the time to come, against that evil and accurs- 
 ed thing which is the root of all bitterness, and the 
 very bane, disgrace and plague of his soul? 
 
 The salvation which the Lord Jesus Christ has 
 wrought out is exactly adapted to our condition ; 
 and, indeed, without a suitableness to our wretch- 
 ed circumstances, it would have been utterly im- 
 possible to have derived any real benefit from his 
 incarnation, and his sufferings and death would 
 have been all sustained in vain. Unless the re- 
 medy be proportioned to the complaint, no cure 
 can be effected : and unless the gospel had provi- 
 ded for the whole extent of our guilty ruin, no so- 
 lid nor lasting advantage could have been obtain- 
 ed from all the rich and invaluable blessings which 
 it contains. If it w r ere possible to suppose that, 
 without any disorder in our affections or any de- 
 pravity in our natures, we had been involved in 
 consequence of the fall, merely in mistake or in 
 ignorance, or that we had been seduced into a 
 few practical transgressions and exposed to some 
 slight expressions of our Creator's displeasure: all 
 that, in such a case, could have been necessary for 
 the restoration of our happiness, would have been 
 
91 
 
 the removal of the particular evil by which we were 
 affected. But if we find that there is something 
 in our situation far more culpable, calamitous and 
 dreadful than a little involuntary ignorance, or a 
 few occasional offences : in order to give us salva- 
 tion with eternal glory^however important and de- 
 sirable they may be, something far more spiritual, 
 and practical, and that possesses a more direct and 
 powerful operation upon our persons becomes in- 
 dispensably necessary, than the bare erasure of 
 the sentence of condemnation, and the enlighten- 
 ing of our minds in things sacred and divine. If 
 a patriot find his country, not only involved in 
 war, and famine, but likewise in pestilence, what 
 would the restoration of peace or of plenty avail, 
 so long as the plague continued to spread abroad 
 its awful and wide wasting desolations ? If a phy- 
 sician find his patient suffering not only from deaf- 
 ness and a weakness of vision, but also consumed 
 by sickness or harassed by phrenzy, what would it 
 signify to the man to regain the sound and perfect 
 use of his ears or his eyes whilst he continues to be 
 spent by hectic, or distracted by madness? And if 
 the Bible tells us, and if our souls and consciences 
 bear testimony to the truth of its mournful and 
 humbling averments, that net only are our under- 
 standings darkened through the influence of vice, 
 and our conduct disgraced and stained by the pol- 
 lutions of wickedness, but that our minds are also 
 alienated from the love of God, and that our hearts 
 
92 
 
 are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; and 
 if we also know that this alienation of mind, and 
 this hardness and depravity of heart constitate our 
 disgrace and bane, the substance and strength of 
 all our misery and woe ; what would it profit us, 
 though our irregular practices were reformed, and 
 our errors and prejudices all completely dissipated ; 
 though our lives were to be rendered most correct, 
 and sober, and composed to all the decent and 
 faultless formality of a pharisee ; though the light 
 of heaven were to pour its brightest radiance'upon 
 our path, and our understandings were to be crowd- 
 ed with all the intelligence of a seraph ; what would 
 all this avail whilst the worst and most terrible 
 part of our disorder remains, whilst the seat and 
 centre of our disease are untouched, whilst passion 
 and crime are carrying on their destructive ravages 
 in ihe interior regions of our souls, whilst our facul- 
 ties and affections are left under the enslaving ty- 
 ranny of corruption, and our hearts retain all the 
 malignity and impurity of a fiend ? When a rest- 
 less and fro ward child, by violating his parent's com- 
 mands, has fractured a limb, or fallen into the fire, 
 what would it signify to him to see his father com- 
 ing forward with a look of hypocritical mildness, 
 and to hear him in a tone of whining benignity and 
 tenderness, declaring that he fully and frankly 
 forgave him, while nothing was done to mitigate 
 his pain, and the little sufferer was coolly left to 
 writhe in all the agony of torture ? What benefit 
 
could a criminal derive from the clemency of his 
 prince, who humanely cancels the sentence of death, 
 whilst he is sinking under a mortal distemper con- 
 tracted in the commission of the outrage for which 
 he had forfeited his life, and which will inevitably 
 land him in eternity before the arrival of the day on 
 which, by the decision of the law, he was doomed to 
 die ? And granting that it were possible, which in 
 fact it is not, to separate justification and sanctifi- 
 cation, the pardon of our offences from holiness of 
 heart and life, so long as sin retains its degrading 
 and destructive nature, so long as it continues to be 
 our disgrace and bane, so long as it excludes us 
 from the society of a perfect and of a holy God, 
 so long as it unfits us for the services of a blessed 
 and holy heaven, so long as it entails on its hapless 
 victim remorse, shame and wretchedness : though 
 from the midst of the eternal throne a voice were 
 at this moment to proclaim to each of the sons and 
 daughters of Adam, " Be of good cheer, your sins 
 are forgiven you," what advantage could we reap 
 from this most absolute and plenary obliteration of 
 our guilt, whilst sin maintains its seat within us, and 
 our natures all over are fermenting, rankling, and 
 festering under its foul, malignant, and baneful 
 strength and virulence ? 
 
 Without undergoing a change upon our charac- 
 ter, it is utterly impossible that any alteration upon 
 our state can make us truly and permanently hap- 
 py. The sinner must be born again and renewed 
 
94 
 
 in the spirit of his mind; he must have a taste to 
 relish, and a capacity to appreciate the nature and 
 value of the salvation which the gospel brings, be- 
 fore he can enjoy the peace, the consolation and 
 the hope which it imparts. How, in the nature 
 of things, is it possible that the titular possession of 
 the gospel and of all the blessing which it contains, 
 can render an unh< ly man happy, any more than 
 the nominal possession of weahh and erudition* can 
 enrich the poor or confer wisdom or learning on a 
 dunce ? A telescope may be useful to the near or 
 the dim-sighted, but what service can it render to 
 the blind? And pardon, accompanied with the re- 
 novation of our nature, is of unspeakable, of immense 
 iQiportar.ce to the possessor; but what benefit can 
 it bestow on a soul that is dead in trespasses and 
 sins ? 
 
 Without a change, and that too of the most sig- 
 nal and comprehensive description, upon the habits 
 and dispositions of his heart, what delight could a 
 sinner find in the possession even of heaven itself? 
 Its great excellence and glory consists, not in its lo- 
 cal position, nor the beauty, the extent, cr the gran- 
 deur of its scenery, but in the presence of a Holy 
 God, in the society of holy creatures, and in the 
 performance of spiritual and holy services. Now, 
 it is well known that all happiness is comprised in 
 the adaptation of the object, to the taste and facul- 
 ties of its possessor. What signify the comforts of 
 polished life to a rude and uncultivated barbarian ? 
 
95 
 
 or a sumptuous banquet to a man whose appetite 
 is gone ? or the charms of a concert to him who 
 has no ear? Supposing, therefore, that it were pos- 
 sible for an unsanctified sinner to gain admission 
 within the gales of the Jerusalem above; that it 
 were possible to lift him up from the debauchery 
 and revelry of a tavern; or to transport him from 
 the eager pursuit of his vicious schemes, and fraud- 
 ulent, and malevolent purposes, and with all his sor- 
 did principles, and depraved passions hanging 
 round him, to plant him, ju^t as he is, in the midst 
 of the general assembly and church of the first born; 
 what enjoyment could he derive from all the bliss- 
 ful visions, which every where would spread their 
 overpowering loveliness and magnificence before 
 him, and from ail the sacred and delightful services, 
 which with unremitted earnestness and evergrowing 
 zeal, would incessantly be carried on by all the glo- 
 rified hosts around him? The devotion wouid be 
 too exalted, the atmosphere of ardent adoring piety 
 would be too pure, and the temperature of sublime 
 enraptured gratitude and praise too high, for his 
 gioss habits and dull and heavy powers: exhausted 
 and overcome by the iervours of an element for 
 which he had acquired no congeniality, and by the 
 employments of a place for which he possessed no 
 relish, he would sink oppressed beneath the splen- 
 dours of celestial glory, and pine away with anguish 
 in the very seat and centre of boundless and un- 
 mingled bliss. 
 
96 
 
 The resources of Omnipotence are far beyond 
 our conception, and are utterly inexhaustible. By 
 a simple act of his will, Jehovah can give sight to 
 the blind, feet to the lame, health to the sick, and 
 the power of speaking languages which the orator 
 never learned* But if Omnipotence have no limits, 
 it at least has rules; and by the present constitution 
 which God has prescribed to nature, we know that 
 it is impossible for a man to see without eyes, to 
 walk without the power of motion, to converse with- 
 out the organs of speech, or enjoy health and ease at 
 the very time that he is languishing with disease, or 
 convulsed with pain; and by the same constitution of 
 nature, we know that it is as impossible for a creature 
 to enjoy any genuine happiness, whilst destitute of 
 real holiness. If such had been his pleasure, for 
 ought that we can tell, God could have made a sun 
 which could have enabled even the blind to see, and 
 he could have endowed men with the power of ut- 
 tering articulate sounds without any of the organs 
 of speech : but we perfectly know that this is what 
 he has not done. And for any thing that we can 
 affirm to the contrary, if such had been his pleasure, 
 he also possessed the power to render sin and hap- 
 piness perfectly compatible: but we also most fully 
 know, that this is what he has not done : and every 
 thing in the constitution of nature concurs to prove, 
 that whilst the present laws continue to regulate the 
 moral world, it is as impossible to reconcile the 
 possession of happiness with the love and practice 
 
97 
 
 of vice, as the enjoyment of sight with the want of 
 eyes, or the faculty of distinct articulation, with the 
 want of the organs of speech. Men may delude 
 themselves with whatever visionary hopes of safety 
 they cfioose, and attempt by whatever schemes they 
 fancy most successful to defeat the counsels of the 
 Most High, and overturn his fixed and immutable 
 decrees: but whilst he fills the throne of heaven, and 
 remains the perfect and all glorious Being that he 
 is, over the w r hole extent of creation, and down 
 through every succeeding age in eternity, these mo- 
 mentous declarations of his word, will retain the 
 whole of their force and truth, u There is no peace 
 to the wicked, and without holiness no man shall 
 see* the Lord." 
 
 Though therefore the gospel dethrones good 
 works from the office of justifying the sinner, by 
 insisting on their absolute indispensible necessity 
 as an essential part of our salvation and the quali- 
 fying mean of enjoying present and future felicity, 
 it does not annihilate their use, nor detract one 
 atom from the greatest amount, which their most 
 enthusiastic admirers can desire, of their excellence 
 and value. 
 
 If the gospel has not superseded the necessity of 
 personal purity and worth, has it 
 
 II. Weakened or destroyed our obligations to 
 obedience ? 
 
 The grand characteristic of the gospel is the 
 atonement, or the substitution of the sufferings and 
 
98 
 
 sacrifice of the Son of God in our room, that by 
 the believing reception of this provision of infinite 
 beneficence and mercy, we might be delivered 
 from the dreadful consequences of our transgres- 
 sions, and admitted to the enjoyment of spiritual 
 peace on earth and the possession of everlasting 
 blessedness in heaven. 
 
 But though this transaction affords a matchless 
 manifestation of the kindness and compassion of the 
 Most High, and is fraught with the most rich and 
 invaluable blessings to man, is there any thing 
 in it which invalidates the authority of the moral 
 law, or diminishes our obligation to receive and 
 observe it ? It clearly recognizes the fact that the 
 law was previously binding on the heart and con- 
 science of every human creature; for unless we 
 were antecedently bound to obey it, what occasion 
 was there for the Son of God and the Lord of glory 
 to become the Redeemer of our race, and by his 
 ow r n sufferings and death expiate that guilt which 
 we had contracted entirely by the violation of its 
 precepts ? If the principal is not in arrears, there is 
 certainly no reasonableness nor equity in exacting 
 payment from his surety : and if we were not by 
 nature under the bond and obligation of the law, 
 where was the wisdom or the mercy of appointing 
 a Mediator to redeem us from its condemnation 
 and its curse ? Every fact, therefore, which proves 
 that provision has been made in the person of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver us from the penalty 
 
99 
 
 due to our trespasses, demonstrates, in the most im- 
 pressive and irresistible form, that we were previ- 
 ously amenable to its authority, and bound to sub- 
 mit to all its injunctions. 
 
 And if we were previously under its authority, 
 the only question which we have now to put, and 
 it is a question of no small moment, is, — Can our 
 deliverance from the sentence of condemnation, in- 
 curred solely by our violation of its enactments, 
 diminish our obligation to obey its demands, or 
 free us from the necessity in future of maintaining 
 a life of piety and virtue ? Because an intelligent 
 friend has providentially preserved a neighbour 
 from falling a sacrifice to the incautious use of ar- 
 senic, does the seasonable and successful adminis- 
 tration of a*n antidote indicate that there is nothing 
 dangerous nor deleterious in the nature of poison ? 
 Because a liberal benefactor, by his unexpected in- 
 terposition, has rescued a spendthrift from bank- 
 ruptcy or a dungeon, does it follow frcm this dis- 
 interested payment of his debts, that there is no- 
 thing foolish nor ruinous in a life of extravagance 
 and waste ? And because the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 by his own obedience and death, has made atone- 
 ment for our offences, and in a manner so affect- 
 ing and unlooked for, has freed us from the dread- 
 ful doom which we deserved ; does this afford us 
 any encouragement to trifle with temptation, or to 
 venture upon that abominable and forbidden thing 
 which Jehovah hates, and which naturally and ne- 
 12 
 
100 
 
 cessarily tends to entail disgrace and wretched- 
 ness, wrath and everlasting ruin upon the soul ? 
 
 So far from detracting from the dignity, or weak- 
 ening the obligation of the law, the death of the 
 Redeemer illustrates its reasonableness, and gives 
 an inconceivable majesty and force to each of its 
 righteous and holy mandates. The divinity of his 
 person, and the depth of his debasement proclaim 
 the enormity of our guilt, and the infinite danger 
 attending the breach of its just and sacred requisi- 
 tions. And because we are now reconciled to God 
 by the death of hk Son, and our redemption has 
 been secured by means so unparalleled and so ut- 
 terly astonishing, are we less bound to love and 
 serve him now, than when we were in a state of 
 guilt and condemnation, of total wretchedness and 
 ruin ? Supposing that no Redeemer had ever vi- 
 sited and blessed our globe, supposing that the 
 whole posterity of Adam had been left to bear, in 
 their own persons, all the weight of vengeance due 
 to their own trespasses and sins ; what effect could 
 such a deplorable and awful condition have pro- 
 duced upon our moral obligations? Would our 
 subjection to hopeless, endless misery have exempt- 
 ed us from obedience to a single precept in all the 
 decalogue, or freed us from a single duty binding 
 on man in his situation of primeval purity and 
 bliss ? No: the law of God cannot forgo its rights 
 in consequence of a change on the character and 
 condition of its subjects* Its claims upon the ho- 
 
101 
 
 mage and obedience of the creature remain forever 
 the same. In every stage of his existence, and in 
 every place of his residence, every creature is bound 
 to love God and serve him with his whole heart 
 and soul. And if thus, even in a state of pure un- 
 mitigated wretchedness and horror, we should have 
 been bound to have yielded unqualified and cor- 
 dial submission to every precept of his law; is 
 it credible now, when we are made the objects 
 of unmerited and marvellous loving kindness, that 
 his law has lost its authority, and that we owe him 
 no duty nor allegiance at all ? When his mercy is 
 at the highest, and his goodness and grace have 
 been manifested in a manner the most affecting and 
 endearing ; is this exactly the time when our obli- 
 gations to his compassion and generosity are fewest 
 and our expressions of gratitude and obedience are 
 to be at the lowest ? Are those to love him least 
 who have had most forgiven ? and those, on whose 
 heads the most signal and overwhelming marks of 
 his beneficence have been accumulated, to render 
 him the most paltry and unworthy returns ? Are 
 we to consider ourselves obliged to our benefactor 
 for the advance often pounds; but, by adding at 
 our request ten thousand to the sum, does he ex- 
 tinguish the whole of the debt, and forfeit in future 
 every claim to our affection and respect ? By the 
 graad law of universal love, are we bound to cul- 
 tivate a spirit of kindness and good will towards 
 the man with whom wo have the slightest acquain- 
 I 3 
 
102 
 
 tance, and the most rare and transient intercourse ? 
 but after this stranger, by an act of the most gener- 
 ous and daring intrepidity, has preserved our life 
 at the peril of his own, are we from that day and 
 downwards to disregard all the calls of humanity 
 and justice, and treat him with the most insulting 
 and insufferable insolence and scorn ? Was the 
 Jew bound to love the Samaritan because he was 
 his neighbour ? but from the day that he was re- 
 scued from death by the humane attentions of this 
 hospitable traveller, was he relieved from every call 
 to cultivate a spirit of benevolence, or perform acts 
 of civility and benignity to this compassionate and 
 liberal alien ? When sweltering in the brick kilns 
 of Egypt, and groaning beneath the lash of their 
 merciless task masters, were the Israelites bound 
 to hearken to the voice of the Most High, and keep 
 all his commandments and statutes, and ordinances 
 and judgments, and do them ? but were their obli- 
 gations to love and serve him cancelled or diminish- 
 ed, after he had by a strong hand and an out- 
 stretched arm delivered them from the iron furnace, 
 and the outrage and tyranny of Pharaoh, led them 
 through the untrodden paths of the deep, conduct- 
 ed them by miracle across the wilds of the Arab- 
 ian wilderness, and planted them in safety and in 
 triumph amidst the beauties and fertility of Pales- 
 tine ? And were we by the constitution of our na- 
 ture, by the very law of our creation, by that law 
 whose high authority extends over every quarter 
 
103 
 
 of the universe, and reaches the creature in every 
 period of his existence, and in every place of his 
 residence whether in heaven, on earth or in hell ; 
 were we, by the distinct and positive enactments 
 of that law, bound to love God with our whole 
 heart and soul, and devote to his service, and em- 
 ploy in his praise, every moment of our time, and 
 every partice of our strength : and though he has 
 not lost the smallest fraction of his rights, nor for- 
 feited a single title to the entire possession of all 
 that we have and are ; but on the contrary by the 
 death of his Son for our redemption, has given to 
 each of his claims an unknown and inconceivable 
 additional force ; instead of converting this affect- 
 ing and amazing fact to the great purpose of 
 strengthening our holy resolution and activity in 
 his employment, instead of applying it as a rea- 
 son for clothing our religious efforts with an irre- 
 sistible decision and vigour; instead of arguing 
 from the sacrifice of the Saviour that we are not 
 our own, but are bought with a price, and there- 
 by bound to glorify God in our soul, body and 
 spirit which are his; are we to draw an inference 
 precisely the reverse, and to conclude, because the 
 God of grace has in mercy done so much to relieve 
 our wretchedness and misery, therefore we are to 
 do nothing either to mark our submission to his 
 will or attest our thankful sense of his marvellous 
 unsearchable generosity and grace? Because he 
 has done so much to maintain his dominion over 
 
104 
 
 man, and bind our hearts in the most strong and 
 tender attachment to his cause; are we on that 
 very account to disregard his authority, and allow- 
 ed with impunity to trample on the plainest rules 
 of duty, and the most positive and commanding 
 intimations of his pleasure? Is it just now, when 
 to the demands of justice he has added all the 
 weight and influence of boundless beneficence and 
 infinite love, that we are to suppose ourselves re- 
 leased alike from the requisitions of the law, and 
 the claims of the gospel, from the obligations of 
 duty, and the calls of gratitude; and instead of be- 
 ing laid under new and more powerful obligations 
 to spend and be spent in works of faith, and 
 in labours of love, we are to believe that we are 
 left at liberty to live to ourselves, and break 
 through the strong army of motives and of 
 means, which, if it had not been for this match- 
 less display of Divine benignity and mercy, would 
 have followed us through every period of our ex- 
 istence, and bound us to unreserved compliance 
 with all his commands, and the most absolute 
 and indefatigable devotedness to his service ? Is 
 it credible, that the exercise of beneficence, 
 which enhances the demands of one man upon the 
 kindness and affection of another, diminishes the 
 claims of the Deity; and that when, by an immense 
 display of benevolence, the sum has swelled to in- 
 finity, it is exactly then that his title becomes ex- 
 tinct, and all his rights and prerogatives expire ? 
 
105 
 
 The id an who slights the overpowering influence 
 of redeeming love, is insensible to the force of mo- 
 ral motives. Having succeeded in resisting the 
 most mighty and commanding consideration that 
 Omnipotence can employ, it is not to be expected 
 that he can be impelled to the performance of his 
 duties, by the influence of feebler and inferior rea- 
 sons. Every exhortation and argument that kind- 
 ness can suggest, or that justice or goodness can 
 urge, must be thrown away in vain. To the guilt 
 and baseness of despising the calls of reason, and 
 the obligations of equity, he adds the crime and 
 infamy of contemning all the tender and irresist- 
 ible demands of gratitude and love. 
 
 When, therefixre, the nature and design of the 
 gospel are calmly and judiciously considered, so 
 far from weakening or destroying the obligations 
 of the law, it is found to contribute unspeakably to 
 strengthen and confirm them. 
 
 And since it has admitted the equity of all the 
 claims of the Divine- law, and retained the necessity 
 of cultivating a life of personal piety and good- 
 ness, will any have the hardihood to affirm 
 
 III. That it has lowered the standard of morality, 
 or reduced the amount of the homage and obedience 
 which man originally owed to his Maker ? 
 
 Is this any thing at all like the inference which, 
 it might have been expected, would have been 
 drawn from the sublime and spotless example which 
 our Saviour set; or the spiritual and elevated sys- 
 
106 
 
 tern of morals which he inculcated ? from the 
 tremendous denunciations which he uttered against 
 the indolent, the hypocritical, and wicked ; or the 
 liberal and affectionate benedictions which he pro- 
 nounced upon the humble, the meek, the faithful, 
 the obedient, and the pure in heart ? He, him- 
 self, was holy, harmless, and undefiled : he did 
 no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth : the 
 law of God was in his heart, and its benign and 
 exalted principles were every day illustrated and 
 adorned by his engaging and heavenly life. From 
 the manger to the cross, he carried about with 
 him, in distinct and lively manifestation, the holy 
 and beneficient spirit which pervades and animates 
 every part of this sacred code. In his own person 
 he exhibited a bright pattern of the most ardent 
 piety and unbending untegrity: his conduct, through 
 the whole of life, bespoke a sensibility, alive to the 
 sufferings of all the wretched ; a generosity which 
 knew no bounds, and u a well doing that never 
 was weary." 
 
 His doctrine was in perfect harmony, and pos- 
 sessed the most glorious agreement, with this lovely 
 and illustrious example of unclouded excellence, 
 which, in every situation, and under the most 
 bitter and rancorous opposition , he so uniformly 
 displayed. His constant and unwearied aim was 
 to illustrate the purity of the law, vindicate the 
 reasonableness of its precepts, and enforce on every 
 Christian, an undeviating obedience to all that it 
 
10T 
 
 enjoins. Attend to the scope and spirit of his 
 teaching, and say, when were its requisitions more 
 fully explained, or mure powerfully inculcated, 
 than in his ministry ? When did it ever impose 
 upon its subjects a greater degree of seriousness, or 
 fervour in devotion, than when he declared, in words 
 whose authority shall reach the utmost ends of the 
 earth, and last through all the succeeding ages of 
 time, that God is a Spirit, and that they who wor- 
 ship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth ? 
 When did it ever go deeper into the heart, or lay 
 a more firm and forcible restraint upon the very 
 first risings and movements of disorderly passion, 
 than when he affirmed that causeless anger is in 
 danger of the judgment ; and that a forbidden de- 
 sire is as positively sinful, and will as certainly 
 meet with punishment, as the deliberate and open 
 perpetration of actual crime ? When was resent- 
 ment ever placed under more vigorous controul, 
 or the forgiveness of injuries more strongly and 
 imperatively prescribed, than when he said, " Love 
 your enemies* bless them that curse you, do good 
 to them that hate you, and pray for them that de- 
 spitefully use you and persecute you ?" When 
 was a spirit of more expanded liberality recom- 
 mended, or the duties of social virtue more fully 
 or authoratively urged, than when, he taught us 
 to regard every man as a neighbour, and com- 
 manded us to do to others as we would wash that 
 they should do to us ? When did the law ever 
 
108 
 
 fix the standard of obedience higher, or require a 
 greater amount of spirituality and purity of motive, 
 thar when he instructed us to seek the honour that 
 comcth from God only ; taught us to pray that the 
 will of God may he done on earth, as it is in 
 heaven; and exhorted us in our spirit and nractice to 
 imitate no lower a pattern than that of tru- great and 
 ever blessed God; to be merciful as he is merciful, 
 and perfect even as he is perfect ? When were the 
 duties which we owe to God and to mar, in a 
 manner more distinct and clear, or in a form more 
 absolute and comprehensive, impressed en every 
 conscience, and made binding on every human 
 soul, than, when in answer to the captious and 
 insiduous question, Which is the great command- 
 ment of the law; the incarnate Redeemer delivered 
 this admirable and interesting response, " Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, 
 and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind This 
 is the fik*st and great commandment; and the se- 
 cond is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour 
 as thy self?" What more than this did the law of 
 God originally exact ? What more than this could 
 it demand from the highest seraph before the eter- 
 nal throne? What more than this could the 
 ever blessed Jehovah expect or desire from the 
 best and noblest inhabitant of creation ? Yet all 
 this, without the abatement of a single article, or 
 the want of the snalleet fraction, is declared, by 
 the Lord Jesus Christ himself, to be binding on 
 
109 
 
 each of his followers, and by his own authority, 
 is peremptorily and positively exacted from us and 
 from all mankind. 
 
 And if the gospel has not superseded the ne- 
 cessity of personal obedience, nor weakened the 
 obligations of the law, nor reduced the standard 
 of morality, will any presume to affirm that it has 
 
 IV. Enfeebled any of the strong and command- 
 ing motives, by which the cultivation of holiness, 
 and the practice of good works are most power- 
 fully and successfully enforced ? 
 
 By excluding good works from the office of jus- 
 tifying the sinner, has the gospel placed us under 
 the jurisdiction of laws less exact and unyielding 
 than those which were binding on man in inno- 
 cence, and which, if he had remained in integrity, 
 would have retained their obligation for ever ? Was 
 he then accountable to a tribunal more august and 
 awful, than that which is now erected for the 
 cognizance of our conduct, and the decision of 
 of our everlasting fate ? Has Jehovah now aban- 
 doned the distribution of justice, and entrusted 
 the execution of judgment to some of the subal- 
 terns of his administration, who wait at a humble 
 and fearful distance round his glorious throne ? 
 Was an interest in his friendship more useful and 
 desireable, or the exercise of his displeasure more 
 a matter of dread to man, at the first moment of 
 his formation, than they are at this present hour ? 
 Could the Almighty then have threatened the 
 K 
 
no 
 
 rebellious and disobedient with a hell more horrid 
 and intolerable, than that which just now is in ac- 
 tive operation for the endless punishment of those 
 who have a form of godliness, but are destitute of 
 its power; who profess the gospel, while by their 
 worldly and vicious lives they disgrace it; who 
 talk of their faith, and vaunt of their knowledge 
 and attainments, while they are living to themselves, 
 and enslaved by base principles and unmortified 
 passions ? Can any thing in the lot of a rational 
 immortal be more hideous and tremendous, than 
 to be banished from the presence of the Lord, and 
 the glory of his power, and sent away, under his 
 curse, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
 and his angels ? Yet all this shall be the portion 
 of the worldly and the worthless, of the impenitent 
 and hardened, and of them who profess to know 
 God, while in works they deny him ; being abom- 
 inable and disobedient, and unto every good work 
 reprobate. 
 
 Shall we be told that the force of this argument 
 is neutralized, by the tenet which is supposed ne- 
 cessarily to result from the full admission of the 
 doctrines of the gospel, that sin cannot injure the 
 elect ; that they who are once elected are always 
 beloved ; that they who have once been the sub- 
 jects of grace, shall never be permitted to draw 
 back to perdition ? 
 
 We rejoice in the fact, that the gifts and calling 
 of God are without repentance; that he rests in 
 
Ill 
 
 his love, and hateth putting away. But whilst we 
 admit, in the most ample and unlimited extent of 
 the terms, that the purpose of God, according to 
 election, shall stand ; we reject with detestation, 
 the foul and impious charge that this truth is at 
 war with Christian watchfulness, or gives those 
 who embrace it the slightest encouragement to in- 
 dulge in carelessness and sin. Men may delude 
 themselves as they choose about the safety of the 
 elect, and the immutability of the Divine decrees ; 
 but so long as they live in vice, we would like to 
 know what scriptural authority they possess, for 
 the final enjoyment of salvation. When told that 
 whom God did foreknow, he also predestinated 
 to be conformed to the image of his Son ; and that 
 our calling and election are to be made sure, by 
 adding to our faith, virtue, knowledge, temper- 
 ance, patience^ godliness, brotherly kindness, and 
 charity : while destitute of the holiness and spirit- 
 uality which the gospel inspires, what evidence 
 can they produce* from the pages of inspiration, 
 of their being within the limits of the protection 
 and security which the gospel affords? The very 
 same Bible which proclaims the delightful fact, 
 that to his sheep Christ will give eternal life, and 
 that they shall never perish, neither shall any 
 pluck them out of his hands; also tells us, that if 
 any man draw back, the Lord will have no pleasure 
 in him. The very same Bible which pours such 
 rich and abundant benedictions upon the heads of 
 K 2 
 
112 
 
 the humble, the faithful, and the holy, denounces 
 the most terrible threatenings, without restriction, 
 upon every soul of man that doeth evil. It does 
 not say, " if the reprobate and unbelieving live 
 after the flesh, they shall die; to them, the wages 
 of sin are death ; without holiness, the reprobate 
 and unbelieving shall not see the Lord." No such 
 narrow and miserable distinctions obscure and 
 blot its pure and impartial pages, In language 
 the most comprehensive and indiscriminate, and 
 every way worthy of the majesty and equity of 
 its Almighty and Righteous Author, it declares, 
 and let every one who reads, seriously ponder 
 the import of its declarations, " If ye" who are 
 in Christ Jesus, and to whom there is no condem- 
 nation, M if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : 
 The wages of sin," without respect of persons, to 
 every child of Adam, " is death : and without 
 holiness, no man shall see the Lord." And let it 
 not be forgotten, that, as if on purpose to cut off 
 the hope that a sound creed will prevent the con- 
 sequences of an immoral life, it expressly affirms, 
 that '* the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, 
 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of 
 men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." 
 
 And if God, on the morning of man's forma- 
 tion, could not have threatened him, in case of 
 revolt, with a hell more gloomy and horrid, than 
 that which he has actually fitted up for the recep- 
 tion of the impenitent and hardened under the 
 
113 
 
 crospel; could he then have enriched and recom- 
 pensed his faithful and obedient subjects with a 
 heaven more splendid and blissful, than that which 
 he has now provided, for the everlasting habita- 
 tion and rest of the humble and devoted followers 
 of the Lamb ? Could the eyes of innocence, from 
 the lofty elevation of the bowers of paradise, have 
 descried, in the regions of futurity, any dignity 
 more exalted and endearing than that which the 
 Lord Jesus Christ has placed in the full view of 
 all the intrepid and determined adherents of the 
 cross ? " If any man serve me, let him follow 
 me ; and where I am, there also shall my servant 
 be: if any man serve me, him w r ill my Father 
 honour." Could the confines of celestial purity 
 and peace have furnished to upright and holy men, 
 any seat more honourable and glorious, or any 
 possession more immense and invaluable, than 
 those with which Iminanuel engages to distinguish 
 the conquering Christian ? " To him that over- 
 cometh, will 1 grant to sit with me in my throne ; 
 even as I also overcame, and am set down with 
 my Father in his throne. Fie that overcometh, 
 shall inherit all things: and I will be his God, and 
 he shall be my son." 
 
 More than this, the heart of a creature never 
 could desire; more than this, the God of love 
 never could confer: yet ail this our blessed Re- 
 deemer has pledged himself to bestow on them 
 that love him, and are devoted to him. For 
 K3 
 
114 
 
 though their title to these inestimable privileges 
 and exalted honours, is founded entirely in his 
 own righteousness ; yet, it is to be remembered, 
 that it is only by patient continuance in well-doing, 
 that these sublime and unutterable dignities and 
 blessings can be enjoyed ; and that the amount of 
 of our blessedness and glory there, shall be in 
 proportion to our moral and religious attainments 
 here. By an authority no lower than that which 
 informs us that by grace we are saved, we are 
 told, that as one star differeth from another star 
 in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead ; 
 and are assured, that he who soweth sparingly 
 shall reap also sparingly, and he who soweth 
 bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. 
 
 Thus then on examining the subject, we can 
 discover no disagreement betwixt the doctrine of 
 salvation by grace, and the most active and perse- 
 vering practice of good works ; and find, notwith- 
 standing all the clamour against the antinomian 
 tendency of the gospel, the most abundant reason 
 for affirming, that, instead of weakening the ob- 
 ligation of the law, it in reality establishes it ; and 
 gives immense additional force to the strong and 
 eternal ties which bind every man to the love and 
 service of the Lord. So long as holiness continues 
 an indispensible qualification for the enjoyment of 
 religious blessings here, and the possession of the 
 honours and delights of a blissful immortality 
 hereafter ; the doctrine of salvation by grace can 
 
115 
 
 never supersede the necessity of personal piety, 
 nor afford its votaries the slightest pretext for in- 
 dulging in carelessness and sin. So long as the 
 gospel bears on its front, as its grand distinguish- 
 ing peculiarity, that the scheme of redemption was 
 employed to expiate the guilt of our transgressions, 
 and render the exercise of Divine mercy consistent 
 with the claims of justice ; the doctrine of justi- 
 fication by faith, so tar from destroying or dirnin- 
 i -shing the rights and authority of the law, actually 
 ratifies and confirms them. So long as every pre- 
 cept of the law finds a place within the dispensation 
 of the gospel, and our present obedience corres- 
 ponds with that which was originally imposed; the 
 gospel cannot be charged with lowering the stan- 
 dard of morality, nor narrowing the range and 
 bounds of our duties and obligations. And so 
 long as it continues to tell us that the impenitent 
 and hardened lie exposed to the wrath of the Most 
 High, and to assure us that the distinctions and 
 honours of heaven shall be proportioned to the 
 progress that we make in holiness, and the dili- 
 gence and zeal that we employ in the cause of God 
 and of goodness, it cannot be accused of detracting 
 from the use and excellence of good works, nor 
 of enfeebling any of the animating, and powerful 
 motives, and encouragements to a life of the most 
 pure piety, and of the most sublime and active 
 beneficience and virtue. 
 
 Within the limits of Christian duty, however 
 
116 
 
 much it may have been suspected of having con- 
 tracted and abridged them, it leaves ample room 
 for the most ardent admirer of morality, to put 
 forth every faculty and every portion of his strength, 
 in the most strenuous and unremitting efforts for 
 the glory of God, and the good of man. So far 
 from laying any restraints on his moral powers, or 
 repressing any of his laudable and generous enter- 
 prises, it only contributes to confirm and invigo- 
 rate his resolution, and impart a superior decision 
 and energy to all his benevolent and holy exer- 
 tions. Without departing from the simplicity or 
 purity of the faith ; without encroaching upon the 
 honour of the Redeemer's righteousness, or in- 
 curring the smallest danger of fostering a spirit of 
 legality and self-dependence, with the most evan- 
 gelical creed in his head, and a soul the most 
 thoroughly imbued with its principles, a Christian 
 may exercise every branch of virtue, and rise to 
 the highest elevation in moral goodness ; he may 
 devote himself unto godliness and good works ; 
 he may spend and be spent in deeds of beneficence, 
 and in labours of love ; in his yheart he may che- 
 rish an attachment as affectionate and intense, as 
 the spirits of the just made perfect, to all that is 
 amiable and excellent, and throw around his life 
 as beauteous and brilliant an array of graces and 
 of virtues, as ever distinguished or adorned an an- 
 gel ; and so far from checking the ardour of his 
 benevolence, or discouraging the steadiness and 
 
117 
 
 vigour of bis endeavours, the gospel sanctions and 
 approves them all, and stimulates him to still 
 more enlarged and arduous undertakings ; by re- 
 minding him of the immense, the infinite obliga- 
 tions which he owes his Redeemer ; by holding 
 up to his imitation the bright and perfect pattern 
 exhibited by the Son of God ; and unfolding to his 
 view the bliss and the glory of heaven, to reward 
 and crown his labours. 
 
 On taking a review, therefore, of all that has been 
 stated in this chapter, we find that, so far from en* 
 couraging a spirit of sloth or licentiousness, of all 
 the religious and moral schemes that ever were 
 proposed to the belief or observance of man, the 
 gospel, as delivered by Christ and his apostles, is 
 by far the most elevated in the principles which it 
 inspires, and the most pure and spiritual in the 
 duties which it enjoins. Never was there a system 
 published within the confines of the globe, so 
 strongly calculated to disturb the moral apathy of 
 a darkened and degenerate world, to set every 
 principle in man a stirring for his personal im- 
 provement, and compel him to embark all the ener- 
 gies of his soul, in efforts to advance the honour 
 of God and the general welfare of humanity. It 
 every where breathes such an air of purity and 
 sanctity, and is so plenteously stored with means 
 and motives to enforce the practice of every duty, 
 that we cannot plate a foot within its limits without 
 feeling that we are treading upon holy ground, and 
 
118 
 
 that it is at our peril that we dare to pollute or pro- 
 fane a region so blessed and hallowed by the sym- 
 bols of a present Deity. Wherever it comes hone 
 to a man in the demonstration of the Spirit, and 
 with power, it sanctifies him, and makes him a 
 son of God: and such is the holy virtue which it 
 possesses, that it never establishes its residence in 
 a land without spreading the mild and balmy influ- 
 ence of its heavenly temper, over thousands who are 
 strangers to its saving power; and thus gives a po- 
 lish and a grace to their deportment, which, though 
 they do not prevent their final perdition, at any rate, 
 strip their conduct of much of its perniciousness 
 and filth, like the perfumed applications in gan- 
 grene, which, if they cannot arrest its ravages, 
 and prevent its fatal termination, at least render 
 its progress and close less odious and disgusting. 
 Men of infidel minds may declaim as they 
 please about the inconsistency betwixt salvation 
 by grace, and the practice of moral duties ; pro- 
 fessors of a sickly and hectic orthodoxy may edify 
 us with their harangues, upon the legal tendency 
 and hurtful consequences of admonitions to the 
 cultivation of vital godliness, and the performance 
 of good works : on these subjects, however, Christ 
 and his apostles never felt themselves confined nor 
 encumbered with difficulties, nor the strong and 
 steady march of their practical addresses embar- 
 rassed by any of those alarming apprehensions, 
 which some of their more cautious and discerning 
 
119 
 
 followers affect so terribly to dread. These preach- 
 ers of a free salvation, who have so widely filled 
 the world with the doctrines of grace, are the very 
 preachers who have most zealously and successfully 
 contended for unreserved devotedness to God, and 
 the most strenuous and persevering discharge of 
 every moral obligation. 
 
 The Lord Jesus Christ, who came to seek and 
 to save that which was lost, and redeem the world 
 by his death, did not hesitate to declare that, ex- 
 cept a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
 dom of God, and to assure us that, in the great 
 day of retribution, the careless and the hardened, 
 who were too indolent to study his will, and too 
 wicked to perform it, shall be driven from his pre- 
 sence with ev^ry mark of detestation and disgrace, 
 and banished into everlasting fire prepared for the 
 devil and his angels. And his apostles, who were 
 commissioned to publish this gospel in all the ful- 
 ness of its grace and truth among the nations, and 
 bring all men to the obedience of the faith, with 
 the very same distinctness with which they tell us 
 that we have redemption through his blood, main- 
 tain that to be carnally minded U death, and that 
 the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 When, therefore, we find the very same Bible 
 which proclaims a free salvation through faith, in 
 the righteousness of the Redeemer, just as boldly 
 and distinctly asserting the necessity of having the 
 
120 
 
 law of God written on the heart; when we find 
 the very same Bible which affirms that, by the 
 deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified, 
 just as frequently and as fully insisting on the ne» 
 cessity of being born again ; when we find the 
 very same Bible which announces the invaluable 
 fact, that by grace we are saved, just as broadly 
 and forcibly assuring us that, without holiness, no 
 man shall see the Lord : with what safety or con- 
 sistency can we admit its statements in the one 
 case, and reject them in the other? What reason 
 can we assign for relying on its declarations when 
 it asserts the efficacy of faith, and yet discredit or 
 disregard its attestations, when it speaks of the ne- 
 cessity of holiness ? If the Bible be our standard, 
 we must receive its testimony in all its iatitude ; 
 and never conclude that our belief, or our prac- 
 tice, is either sound or warranted, till it corresponds 
 with the principles of revelation in all their dimen- 
 sions, and carries us on to an unqualified compli- 
 ance with its dictates, in the whole of their length 
 and breadth. 
 
 If, in the revelation which he had sent us, Je- 
 hovah had confined his communications to the an- 
 nouncement of a solitary truth ; if, for example, 
 he had merely told us of the power and virtue of 
 the blood of propitiation, or of the all-sufficiency 
 of the atonement, or of the liberal and universal 
 offers of its blessings, without saying a single sylla- 
 ble, respecting the blood of sprinkling or the sane- 
 
121 
 
 tifying influences of the Spirit, or of the prepara- 
 tion necessary for the enjoyment of celestial bliss : 
 however scanty and defective the information which 
 such a message would have conveyed, it would 
 have become us to have accepted it with gratitude* 
 and with cordial acquiesence to have bowed to its 
 decision. But, when the Bible has gone farther; 
 when it has not only told us of the grace that 
 brings salvation, but likewise of the washing of 
 regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; 
 when it as frequently and earnestly dwells upon the 
 necessity of conformity to the image of Jesus and 
 obedience to his will, as upon submission to his 
 righteousness and reliance on his sacrifice: with 
 what face can any man call himself his disciple, 
 and profess, in deference to the authority of the 
 word of God, to found bis hopes of acceptance 
 upon the death of the Redeemer, whilst, in down- 
 right opposition to the clear and unequivocal in- 
 junctions of the very same Bible, he refuses to cul- 
 tivate the holiness of heart and of life which it 
 inculcates? If he who keeps the whole law, and 
 yet offends in one point, be guilty of all, because, 
 'by violating its precepts in one article, he proves 
 that his obedience to it, in other instances, does not 
 flow from unfeigned respect and love to its spirit 
 and its principles, for, if his attachment to it had 
 been sincere, this would have been manifested by 
 an uniform and undeviating regard to all that ft 
 prescribes: after faith and holiness are so closely 
 L 
 
122 
 
 and inseparably united in the system of revelation, 
 the man who attempts to divide what God has so 
 firmly and indissolubly conjoined, with all his pre- 
 tended veneration for the oracles of truth and pro- 
 found admiration of the grace of the gospel, that 
 man evinces that he has no real respect for the 
 Scriptures, that his religion is not the religion of 
 the Bible, nor his faith the faith of the operation of 
 God. By this preposterous attempt to exalt faith 
 at the expense of its inseparable attendant, and to 
 make a simple speculative inoperative belief in the 
 truths of revelation to be the whole of religion, let 
 him fancy what he may, this gives sad evidence 
 that he has no faith at all, that he has no part in 
 the great salvation, and that, so far from doing 
 honour to the grace of the Redeemer, he is actually 
 defeating the great design of his death, and guilty 
 of crucifying him afresh. 
 
323 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 The means hy which the Gospel establishes 
 the Law. 
 
 From what has been already stated respecting the 
 perpetuity of the law, and its continuance under 
 the Christian dispensation, it is to be presumed, 
 that it will now be readily acknowledged, notwith- 
 standing all the outcry against the licentious ten- 
 dency of the gospel, that, so far from having 
 unsettled the foundations of moral obligation and 
 contracted the bounds of human duty, it has ac- 
 tually ratified and established the authority of the 
 law, and lent a large accession of strength and ma- 
 jesty to the interests of religion and of righteous- 
 ness, 
 
 Since, however, it so explicitly excludes our good 
 works from having any share in our justification, 
 and so unequivocally and roundly maintains, that 
 we are saved by grace through faith, it may be 
 very naturally and justly asked, how it is possible 
 that fehe gospel can not only repress the prevalence 
 of impiety and vice, but even give increased stabi* 
 lity and force to the sanctions of the law, and in- 
 fuse into the obedience of believers, a steadiness 
 L2 
 
124 
 
 and consistency, an unction and an energy, far be- 
 yond all that ever has been displayed by any other 
 class of the children of men ? If the preceding 
 reasoning possess any soundness at all, there can 
 be no doubt of the reality of the fact: the only 
 question which now remains to be discussed, is, the 
 means by which this singular but delightful result 
 is attained. 
 
 In the hope, therefore, of still farther unfolding 
 the matchless excellence of this sacred system, of 
 disarming its opponents of their unfounded sus- 
 picions and prepossessions, of raising it still higher 
 in the esteem, and endearing it still more deeply 
 to the affections of its sincere and intelligent ad- 
 mirers, we shall now endeavour to illustrate the 
 manner in which it so effectually promotes the in- 
 terests of holiness, and secures such profound and 
 unqualified submission to the mandates of the eter- 
 nal law. 
 
 The reader may be expected to agree with me, 
 in believing that that system bids fairest for success, 
 which is addressed to the greatest number of our 
 mental and moral powers, and addressed to each 
 with the most mighty ahd commanding force. If 
 a given weight can move a body at a certain rate, 
 every addition made to the moving power, must 
 surely accelerate its velocity. If a vessel be regard- 
 ed as secure with a single anchor, its safety un- 
 doubtedly must be augmented by another of double 
 or treble strength. And if the gospel, as we have 
 
125 
 
 seen, without detracting one ace from the ex- 
 tent or strictness of the law ; if the gospel, at the 
 very time that it retains all its precepts and requi- 
 sitions in their original integrity and purity, is found 
 to pour a new and unknown vigour into the motives 
 which bind the soul of a Christian in the bands 
 of delighted and devoted attachment to his duty; 
 we naturally and necessarily must admit, that, so 
 far from having unhinged the obligation, or dimi- 
 nished the claims of the law, it has unspeakably 
 heightened and confirmed the whole. 
 
 Grant the legitimacy of this test of its efficacy; 
 and the request for yielding this concession cannot 
 be regarded as forming an unreasonable or extra- 
 vagant demand on any man's judgment or liberali- 
 ty ; and the gospel will bear an honourable, a fear- 
 less, and triumphant comparison with every scheme 
 that has been employed to regulate or improve the 
 morals of men. It is addressed to every fadulty 
 and power to which legal motives can be applied; 
 and there is no argument nor consideration which 
 its opponent can press into its service but what 
 the gospel can also wield, not only with equal ad- 
 vantage, but with a decided and vast superiority 
 over its competitor; and whilst thus, on the ground 
 which they occupy in common, it is more than a 
 match for its rival, it at the same time possesses in- 
 numerable and powerful resources of its own. 
 
 To justify the truth of these assertions, it must 
 be observed, that, in order to secure a habitual and 
 L3 
 
126 
 
 cordial compliance with the dictates of morality, no- 
 thing can be more desirable nor useful than strong 
 realizing convictions of the necessity of holiness, 
 an unfeigned love and attachment to duty, and 
 ability to fulfil with constancy and ease the services 
 which the law of God enjoins. 
 
 Each of these qualities seems to be indispen- 
 sably requisite to procure the undeviating obedi- 
 ence of men to the authority of their Creator. 
 Man is an intelligent agent, and, therefore, if we 
 would wish to obtain his submission to any mea- 
 sure or practice which we recommend, we must 
 first apply ourselves to his understanding, and 
 procure the assent or conviction of his mind to the 
 reasonableness and propriety of what we enforce. 
 He is an active being, endowed with various feel- 
 ings and passions; and, therefore, if we would ex- 
 pect to gain his acquiescence in what we urge, we 
 must point our admonitions to his heart, and en- 
 gage liis affections in its favour. And as he is a sin- 
 ful, weak, and corrupt creature, in order to main- 
 tain the firm and predominating influence of holi- 
 ness in his heart and life, and fit him for the ac- 
 ceptable and successful performance of the Divine 
 will, he must be furnished with assistance to give 
 effect to the moral motives by which he is address- 
 ed, and supplied with strength for uniformly and 
 cheerfully walking in the commandments and or- 
 dinances of God. 
 
 If, without the concurrence of these different 
 
127 
 
 circumstance?, no genuine holiness can bd pro- 
 duced, and if by their union they are perfectly 
 sufficient to insure it; then we can be at no less 
 to account for the unrivalled efficacy of the gospe], 
 and discover its infinite superiority over every 
 other system ; for, while in one or more of these 
 respects each of them is deplorably deficient, the 
 gospel most easily and amply secures them all. 
 By the representation which it gives of the nature 
 of the law, it most forcibly demonstrates the im- 
 portance and necessity of obedience ; by the dis- 
 positions which it inspires, it creates a love and 
 attachment to holiness; and by the aid which it 
 imparts, it effectually enables the believer to dis- 
 charge the duties which the law of God inculcates. 
 
 In order to verify these remarks, we shall now 
 endeavour to illustrate each of them in succes- 
 sion. 
 
 SECT i. 
 
 The Gospel establishes the Law, by demonstrating the import- 
 ance and necessity of obedience. 
 
 PART I* 
 
 As man is a rational agent, and the understand- 
 ing is one of the most valuable and powerful facul- 
 ties in his nature, no system can expect success 
 without addressing itself immediately and fully to 
 his judgment. When once the conviction of this 
 
128 
 
 fiicultv is gained, we may depend upon the con- 
 sent of his other powers: but till once this object 
 is accomplished, it is as vain to hope to make any 
 impression upon his heart and affections, as if our 
 harangues were directed to a plant or a stone. 
 
 Though truth does not always operate upon the 
 understanding; though when it is overlooked and 
 disregarded, when it is imperfectly comprehended, 
 or loosely and carelessly held, it may produce no 
 sensible result: whenever a tenet, whether true 
 or false, makes its way directly and distinctly to 
 the mind, and takes complete and firm possession 
 of the intellect, its effect upon the temper and con- 
 duct is instantaneous and irresistible. In the 
 hardihood of dogmatism, infidels have declaimed 
 on the insignificance of forms of faith, and the all* 
 sufficiency of an upright and virtuous lite: but 
 amidst all the vagaries of fancy, it was scarcely 
 possible to have selected a more groundless asser- 
 tion, and one which admits a more instant and 
 palpable contradiction. Amongst Christians, Jews, 
 Mahometans and Pagans all over the world, we 
 find that their practice is uniformly regulated by 
 the opinions which they adopt; that it is just as 
 impossible to separate the man's conduct from his 
 faith, as the form of the impression on the wax 
 from the figure engraven on the seal ; and, there- 
 fore, that no life can be permanently in the right 
 while the creed is in the wrong. 
 
 From various causes a man's conduct may fall 
 
129 
 
 below the notions which he holds: but they cannof 
 naturally, nor in ordinary circumstances rise and 
 remain above them. A man may sometimes give 
 less for an article than what he knows to be its 
 worth ; but while it is a commodity with which 
 the market is crowded, it is very unlikely that he 
 will advance for it more than what he reckons its 
 real value, And though, from the crookedness of 
 the human mind, men may often act inconsistent- 
 ly with the principles which they profess, no reason 
 can be conceived to induce them perpetually and 
 uniformly to submit to the labour and self-denial 
 of maintaining a more sublime and holy deport- 
 ment, than what they actually believe to be in it* 
 self just and right, and absolutely necessary for 
 their present and their future welfare. 
 
 The more error and delusion, therefore, that 
 we can remove, on the subjects of religion and of 
 morality, it is obvious that we shall bring the more 
 points of a man's constitution in contact with his 
 duty, and render him, if not more active and un- 
 wearied in its discharge, at least more wretched 
 and restless for its neglect. In every other case, 
 the value of truth is inexpressible, and the most 
 lasting and beneficial consequences attend it. If 
 we can prove to a man that twice two is neither 
 more nor less than four, we have no suspicion 
 that any future calculator will shake his confidence 
 in this fact, and substitute a different belief. If 
 we can convince him that poison is destructive pf 
 
130 
 
 animal life; we have no fear that any impostor 
 will persuade him of the contrary, and prevail 
 with him to have recourse to it as a safe and nour- 
 ishing article of diet. And if truth be of such utility 
 in the business of the world, it is of equal, or still 
 greater importance in the affairs of religion and 
 morality. The nearer the views of men can be 
 brought to coincide with its dictates, the more 
 closely will their convictions accord with their 
 duty, and the more unremittingly and powerfully 
 will they be prompted to perform what it pre- 
 scribes. The men who have the most enlarged 
 and correct ideas of the nature and obligation of 
 the Divine law, may justly be expected to surpass 
 their brethren in the fidelity and conscientiousness 
 with which they will obey its dictates, If we en- 
 joyed the same exact and comprehensive know- 
 ledge of its nature and excellence with an angel, 
 might we not warrantably expect that our conduct 
 would rise far above its present level? And might 
 we not anticipate still more lovely and blessed re- 
 sults, if we saw the beauties of the moral law in 
 the same strong and steady light with which the 
 eye of God beholds them? If, therefore, we could 
 succeed in planting in the mind of every man a 
 distinct perception of the nature, and a deep and 
 abiding conviction of the reasonableness and obli- 
 gation, of all its enactments, might not we also 
 look with confidence for the most delightful and sur- 
 prising moral transformation to diffuse its sublime 
 
131 
 
 and purifying influence through all the abodes of 
 humanity? 
 
 If the soundness of these ©bserva-tions be ad- 
 mitted; in other words, if exalted ideas of the 
 purity and spirituality of the law, and impressive 
 and realizing convictions of our obligation to obey 
 it, are fitted to promote the interests of holiness; 
 then we must instantly end explicitly confess the 
 transcendent moral efficacy of the gospel. Never 
 was any class of principles more directly and pow- 
 erfully calculated to inspire a dread and horror of 
 transgression, and enforce an unreserved and 
 cheerful dedication to the service of the Most 
 High, than those doctrines on which the gospel 
 is founded, which pervade every branch of the 
 system, and which it presses with the greatest 
 warmth and cogency on the understanding, the 
 heart and conscience of every Christian, Without 
 travelling into the w T hole extent of evangelical 
 truth, we may just ask, by what means could a 
 more firm and unshaken regard to the cause of 
 religion and of righteousness be secured, than by 
 a demonstration of the equity and reasonableness 
 of the demands of the law, the exceeding sinfulness 
 and awful danger of sin, and the strictness and in- 
 flexibility of Divine justice? Could more mighty 
 and resistless considerations have been desired or 
 conceived, to command the entire and unqualified 
 obedience of every human creature? Yet, these 
 are precisely the means which the gospel has em- 
 
152 
 
 ployed, and employed too with a force and aa 
 energy which leave every rival and competitor 
 at a breathless distance behind, to constrain them 
 who believe in Jesus to cultivate good works. 
 
 It proves the obligation of the law, and the ne- 
 cessity of obeying it: 
 
 I. By shewing us the equity and reasonableness 
 of all its demands* 
 
 These are matters, of which, there can be no 
 doubt, that it is exceedingly desirable that all 
 men should be fully and thoroughly convinced. 
 It is contrary to every principle of reason to ex- 
 pect that any man will comply with the prescrip- 
 tions of the law, before he be sensible that obedi- 
 ence is his duty. When once he is satisfied of 
 the justice and excellence of what the law exacts, 
 and *of his accountableness to its authority, it may 
 naturally be supposed that he will submit to its dic- 
 tates, and readily fulfil its injunctions. But without 
 a persuasion of the propriety and reasonableness of 
 its demands, it is impossible to inspire him with 
 any veneration for its rights, or create in him any 
 sincere and permanent delight in its precepts; and 
 without such a veneration and delight", our obe- 
 dience must be very stiff and artificial, very cramp- 
 ed, limited, and desultory. 
 
 But if a discovery of the excellence of the law 
 be of any service ai all in producing genuine and 
 lasting attachment to its precepts, it certainly foJ- 
 
133 
 
 lows, that the more enlarged and distinct the con* 
 ceptions are which we entertain of its spirituality 
 and perfection, the more constant, unqualified, 
 and vigorous will our obedience prove- 
 Now, it is exactly the gospel which affords us 
 the most impressive and overpowering evidence 
 of the equity and reasonableness of all that the 
 law contains. 
 
 Under the idea of magnifying and confirming 
 the law, every other system in reality weakens 
 and degrades it; and so far from advancing, actu- 
 ally undermines and destroys the interests of holi- 
 ness. For let the intentions of their abettors be 
 ever so pure and honourable, on what other prin- 
 ciple is every opinion founded, which asserts or 
 insinuates that man must be justified, either in 
 whole or in part, by his personal performances, 
 but upon the assumption that the law is not per- 
 fect, that it does not require absolute and undeviat- 
 ing compliance with its precepts; but that, fallen, 
 degraded, and depraved as the creature is, it ac- 
 commodates itself to his frailty and his crimes, 
 and will placidly accept his sincere, though de- 
 fective and vitiated services, in the room of 
 steady uniform and unqualified obedience. 
 
 Now, to the votaries themselves of such tenets, 
 we surely may with safety appeal, and ask, whe- 
 ther notions like these can ever be expected to ex- 
 alt our conceptions of the spirituality and perfec- 
 tion of the law, and inspire any uncommon dread 
 M 
 
-134 
 
 and horror of transgression ? We would ask them, 
 if the clear and unquestionable consequence, the 
 natural and necessary result of such opinions must 
 not be, to lower the standard of morality, to break 
 down the fence that encircles the sacred enclosures 
 of duty, and embolden men to rush upon tempta- 
 tion, and tamely yield to the suggestions of in- 
 dolence and corruption? Such a belief must in- 
 evitably lead those who adopt it to imagine, that 
 God, in some measure, is like themselves, that he 
 will not mark their offences with strictness, nor 
 punish their delinquencies with severity? And, 
 in a world like this, where men are all naturally 
 alienated from the love and the life of God, and 
 devoted to objects and pursuits of their own, is it 
 credible that the prevalence of such a licentious 
 persuasion as this, will ever excite any peculiar 
 dread of that abominable and forbidden thing 
 which Jehovah hates, beget any ardent concern for 
 their individual improvement, or inspire any lively 
 and ardent zeal for the promotion of the cause of 
 godliness and virtue in the world at large ? 
 
 But now look at the gospel, and say, if any 
 such immoral and pernicious conclusions can be 
 drawn from the momentous and awful facts which 
 it discloses? Go to Gethsemane and Calvary, 
 and say, if the genuine and enlightened disciples 
 of the Saviour, can ever learn to cherish slight 
 and diminutive thoughts of the sublimity and gran- 
 deur, the spirituality and purity of the law, or of 
 
105: 
 
 the immaculate, the infinite holiness of its Divine 
 and adorable Author, from the astonishing and 
 meltings spectacle there exhibited to their view? 
 Let them contemplate the San of God and the 
 Lord of glory, who has the universe at his com- 
 mand, and all the resources of the Deity at his 
 disposal, for the maintenance of the honour of this 
 law, and the establishment of its just and reason- 
 able authority, bending beneath a load of woe, 
 and by the weight of his internal sufferings thrown 
 prostrate upon the cold ground; let them view his 
 sacred body bathed in a bloody sweat, and his soul, 
 perplexed and oppressed by the fulness of its sor- 
 rows, in earnest fervent intercession addressing 
 the throne of mercy ; let them take a survey of his 
 frame mangled with the scourge and racked upon 
 the cross; let them look on his eyes, that ever 
 beamed with begnignity, and diffused around the 
 radiance of kindness and peace, now swimming in 
 darkness and sinking in death: and say, if crea- 
 tion can afford, or Omnipotence can supply a de-. 
 monstration, half so affecting and impressive as 
 this, of the eternal righteousness which is in every 
 statute, and the unchangeable excellence, and 
 the absolute inviolability of the whole ? 
 
 If, within the sphere of human knowledge, there 
 be one fact, whose truth is carried farther than 
 another beyond the limits of doubt and uncertain- 
 ty, it is the demonstration afforded by the death 
 of the Redeemer, that the law is holy, and the 
 M2 
 
136 
 
 commandment holy, and just, and good, and that 
 heaven and earth shall pass away, but one jot or 
 tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be 
 fulfilled. For if the Lord Jehovah in a single ar- 
 ticle could have receded from its enactments; ii\ in 
 the least instance, he could have admitted the small- 
 est abatement of its demands; if, in consistency with 
 the high objects of his government, and the safety 
 and glory of his throne, he could have dispensed 
 with undeviating conformity to its decrees, and 
 have sustained the personal, though defective and 
 polluted performances of the sinner, as a complete 
 and adequate satisfaction to its requisitions : when, 
 by his almighty power he could so soon, and so 
 easily have annihilated the law, or reduced it to 
 the level of our tastes and humours, we may rest 
 assured that such a measure would have been a- 
 dopted; that he never would have If d all the trea- 
 sures of love and mercy under contribution, nor 
 have exhausted all the riches of his generosity and 
 grace to illustrate its excellence, and give dignity, 
 force, and permanence to its demands : the pain- 
 ful and expensive plan of redemption would have 
 been spared: the world never would have been 
 astonished with the incarnation of its Creator; the 
 echoes of Gethsemane never would have been dis- 
 turbed by the midnight cries of the suffering Sa- 
 viour, nor the rugged summit of Calvary moist- 
 ened and reddened with the blood of the Son of 
 God. 
 
137 
 
 The sufferings and the death, therefore, of the 
 Redeemer are a proof wide as the dominions of 
 the Deity and lasting as eternity, that every form 
 and shade of unrighteousness is sin, and that it is at 
 the certain, the awful peril of every human soul to 
 presume to commit it. 
 
 Now, if a conviction of the obligation of the 
 law be of the smallest efficacy in leading us to 
 obey it; and, if thus it is found, that the gospel 
 furnishes us with the most lively and affecting dis- 
 covery of the justice, the reasonableness and in- 
 volability of its precepts, is it consistent with the 
 principles of probability to believe that the Christ- 
 ian, who is taught by the very nature of his faith, 
 to entertain the most profound and realizing ideas 
 of its sacred and august authority, will be the 
 very first or most frequent to infringe its venerable 
 and righteous injunctions ? 
 
 It is true, indeed, that he places no dependence 
 upon his own merits, that he builds his hopes of 
 heaven solely upon the redemption that is in Christ 
 Jesus : but is there any thing in this exercise of 
 his mind, from which it may be apprehended, 
 either as a necessary, or even as a probable con- 
 sequence, that, by thus renouncing his reliance 
 on his own virtuous deeds, and betaking himself 
 simply and wholly to the protection of grace, he 
 will lose his convictions of the binding nature of 
 the law, and of his accountableness to the Judge 
 of all? If in the world there be one man in whom. 
 M3 
 
18S 
 
 the sense of personal responsibility is more strong 
 and habitual, who has a more nice and instinctive 
 perception of what is base and criminal, or a more 
 full and abiding impression of the rights and claims 
 of the eternal law than another, it clearly and un- 
 questionably is the Christian. For what is it 
 which first creates in him a suspicion of the suffi- 
 ciency of his own righteousness, and compels 
 him earnestly and entirely to have recourse to the 
 salvation of the gospel? When the great mass of 
 men around him give themselves no concern about 
 matters of a spiritual nature, and which lie at the 
 very foundation of all human happiness and hope; 
 when, in downright defiance of the most plain and 
 the most repeated declarations of revelation, they 
 coolly commit their eternity to some vague and 
 inexplicable notions which they have formed of 
 Divine mercy, or to the ability of their own paltry 
 and contemptible performances to meet the large 
 and the high demands of the law of Heaven; and 
 with the immense weight of their endless condition, 
 suspended wholly, or in part, upon their own 
 virtues, have scarcely the semblance cf a virtue to 
 shew: why does he hesitate to submit to their 
 choice, and decline to club his fate with theirs ? 
 Why does he deviate so widely from the course of 
 the multitude, and refuse to embark his own best 
 interests on board that frail and crazy bottom on 
 which they have boldly ventured their everlasting 
 all? 
 
139 
 
 What reason can we assign for this strange and 
 odious departure from common usage, but a superi- 
 or solicitude about the business of religion, a more 
 adequate and intense concern for the affairs of im- 
 mortality ? But without a fuller discovery of the 
 equity and purity of the law, and a more clear and 
 penetrating discernment of the criminality and dan- 
 ger of transgression, how could this more earnest 
 and vehement anxiety for salvation have been ex- 
 cited ? The eagerness with which a man desires de- 
 liverance*, must always be proportioned to the ap- 
 prehensions which he forms of the magnitude of the 
 evil which he dreads. And the sense too, which 
 the sinner entertains of the misery of his natural 
 state, must undoubtedly correspond to the views 
 which he possesses of the spirituality and purity, of 
 the obligation and perfection of that law which he 
 has broken, and by whose sentence his condition 
 must be for ever decided. It is on the highrst au- 
 thority that we are informed that " where there is 
 no law, there is no transgression." By analogy, 
 therefore, we are warranted to affirm, that the man 
 who has slight and defective ideas of the obligation 
 and rectitude of the law, must have equally faint 
 and inappropriate impressions of the extent, and 
 sinfulness, and danger attending his offences. 
 
 The man who is conscious of no crime, can feel 
 no more fear of the Divine displeasure than Adam 
 in innocence, or than an angel in heaven. Such a 
 man can never cherish the least esteem for the righ- 
 
14* 
 
 teousness of the Mediator, nor repair to it as the 
 only refuge and rest of his soul. If, by mistake 
 or accident, a pardon were put into the hands of a 
 man who never had committed any crime against 
 the statutes of his country, and who, therefore, had 
 no occasion for such a document, instead of being 
 delighted by its appearauce, he would rather feel 
 insulted at the sight, and if pressed to accept it, 
 would be disposed to resent such an admonition as 
 an indignity. But would it meet with such a surly 
 reception from the man for whom it is intended ; 
 who is sensible of his need of it; and who knows 
 that without it he must soon undergo the ignomi- 
 nious and untimely death which he dreads ? No : 
 he would hail its arrival with ecstacy, and clasp it 
 to his breast with transports of gratitude and joy. 
 And, in exact proportion to the convictions which 
 a man entertains of his sinfulness, will be the esteem 
 with which he will prize, and the ardour with which 
 he will embrace the salvation which the gospel pro- 
 claims. So long as he fancies himself chargeable 
 with no more guilt than he can completely expiate, 
 and assailed by no greater danger than what he 
 can easily surmount, to him the preaching of the 
 cross must be foolishness, and the knowledge of 
 Christ and of him crucified the most useless and 
 insignificant subject of information. In such a case 
 he can contract no love nor admiration for the Holy 
 One of God, nor possess any overcoming and abid- 
 ing desires of an interest in the unsearchable, the 
 
141 
 
 inexhaustible riches of his grace. But let him once 
 obtain a thorough discovery of the evil and malig- 
 nity of sin 5 let the Holy Ghost once set home the 
 commandment upon his conscience in its purity and 
 power ; let him once perceive the extent, the spirit- 
 uality and excellence of the law, and the sovereign, 
 matchless wisdom and goodness condensed into 
 each of its precepts ; let him once see the empti- 
 ness, the worthlessness of his own performances, 
 and find that all his own righteousnesses are as 
 filthy rags : let him thus feel the utter rottenness 
 of the foundation beneath him, and discover the 
 dreadful ruin which threatens to overwhelm the 
 whole of his everlasting prospects ; and gladly 
 would he now give, were it at his disposal, the 
 wealth of ten thousand worlds for an interest in that 
 grace which reigns through righteousness, and 
 which is provided by the God of mercy solely for 
 the benefit of the destitute and undone. The atone- 
 ment is now all his salvation and all his desire ; 
 and he counts every thing but loss for the excel- 
 lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. 
 
 Now, is it credible, is it possible, that that man . 
 who by a sense of his guilt and danger, arising from 
 a superior discovery of the purity and obligation 
 of the Divine law, has been hunted out of all his 
 refuges of lies ; driven from all his groundless and 
 vain-glorious pleas ; compelled to abandon the ter- 
 ritories of self-righteousness, to bend his flight to 
 Calvary ; and, in all the urgency of fear, alarm and 
 
142 
 
 terror, to betake himself completely to the protec- 
 tion of the cross, will lose his horror of iniquity, 
 and his desire of cordial unqualified conformity to 
 the dictates of this law, whenever he has reached the 
 ci tidal of mercy and obtained an asylum for his pre- 
 cious but agitated, distracted and perishing soul ? 
 Is that man who, from dread of an approaching 
 storm, has fled to the shelter of a building, most, 
 likely to be the very first to venture forth amidst 
 its violene, and expose himself to the utmost of its 
 rage ? Is that man who from the fear of an invad- 
 ing foe, has retired to the defence of a fortress, like- 
 ly to be the very first to break away from the secu- 
 rity he has found, to throw himself in the enemy's 
 line of march, and become the helpless victim of 
 his insolence and cruelty? Is the man who, by 
 pestilence, has been forced to resort to a health- 
 ier region, before its ravages are spent, likely to 
 be the first to quit his safe retreat, and plunge 
 into the midst of contagion and death ? Is the man 
 who has the most deep and painful impressions of 
 the infamy and odiousness of intemperance, just the 
 man who runs the greatest risk of becoming the 
 slave of dissipation and debauchery ? Is the man 
 who is most feelingly alive to the disadvantages and 
 disgrace accompanying titled ignorance, and who 
 has subjected himself to the greatest expense and 
 toil in travelling in quest of knowledge, just the 
 most likely person, when he has reached the seat of 
 the most liberal and extensive learning, to neglect 
 
143 
 
 every opportunity which its munificent institutions 
 afford him for successfully cultivating the study of 
 the arts and sciences, and sink down into all the 
 apathy of the most callous and impenetrable listless- 
 ness and idleness? And with the most penetrat- 
 ing convictions of the dignity and excellence of the 
 law, with the most distressing ideas of the turpitude 
 and baseness of transgression, with the deepest dis- 
 satisfaction with his former course of carelessness, 
 and the most bitter self-reproaches for his former 
 offences, with the most distracting solicitude to se- 
 cure deliverance from his trespasses, and reconcilia- 
 tion with the God whom by his iniquities he had dis- 
 honoured or provoked; is it credible, is it possible, 
 that the believer, after all the pains which he has ta- 
 ken to obtain freedom from sin, and restoration to the 
 friendship of his Creator, will be the most forward 
 to tamper with temptation, and the most easy and 
 frequent in consenting to the foul suggestions of 
 depravity and wickedness; that he will retain the 
 least value for the favour of the Almighty, and 
 manifest the least concern for the cultivation of 
 that holiness, the want of which has wrought him 
 so much mischief, and the absence of which he has 
 had such cause to regret and deplore ? Whilst in 
 every other department of the natural and moral 
 world, every fresh accession of strength to a cause 
 augments its force; are we to suppose that the case 
 before us constitutes a solitary exception to this 
 universal rule, and that, though the Christian pre- 
 
144 
 
 serves all the respect and reverence for the law, 
 which the self-righteous are taught on the princi- 
 ples of legality, or natural religion to cherish, and 
 to these adds all the regard and veneration which 
 the gospel inspires, his attachment to its dictates, 
 and his devotion to its duties, will prove more loose 
 and feeble, than those of the men who are actuated 
 by the influence of the weak and shifting motives 
 of self-righteousness, and of self-righteousness a- 
 lone ? 
 
 Every consideration, however, derived from this 
 topic, in support of the obligation of the law, and 
 the necessity of obeying it, is most powerfully cor- 
 roborated, 
 
 II. By the impressive view which the gospel 
 gives us of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the 
 dreadful danger by which it is attended. 
 
 Deep and realizing convictions pf the equity and 
 immutability of the Divine law, are incontestably 
 of great importance to secure pure and permanent 
 submission to its authority. For, if any thing can 
 penetrate our understandings, and lay a firm and 
 lasting hold upon the intellectual part of our con- 
 stitution, it undoubtedly is an appeal to our judge- 
 ment upon the extent and reasonableness of the 
 claims of the law, and a luminous and forcible de- 
 monstration of our subjection to its authority, and 
 responsibility to its tribunal. 
 
 Every practical effect, however, expected from 
 
Hi V 
 
 sach an appeal, is most powerfully confirmed by - 
 every fact which tends to illustrate the criminal na- 
 ture and the dreadful consequences of transgres- 
 sion. If arguments upon the obligation of the 
 law are fitted to enlighten our reason, upon the 
 necessity of personal holiness, addresses upon the 
 guilt, and the punishment of iniquity, are calculated 
 to rouse our fears, and lead us to hate and shun 
 what we find to be both detestable and ruinous. 
 
 This evidently is a matter of no small moment. 
 The man who has the most keen and instinctive 
 sense of the evil and the danger of any improper 
 course, -is certainly the most likely to avoid that 
 measure which he regards with the greatest aversion 
 and dread. If we would wish to restrain our ser- 
 vant, or our son, from fraud, lying, or covetous- 
 ness, could we contrive or seek a more simple and 
 successful expedient, than to inspire him with a 
 just and lively idea of their disgraceful nature, and 
 of the terrible and irretrievable misery in which 
 the indulgence of them will inevitably involve him? 
 And is it possible to devise or desire a more com- 
 plete and effectual antidote, to the fascinating and 
 destructive snares of vice, than a clear and im- 
 pressive view of its unparalleled odiousness, and of 
 the tremendous, the unutterable wretchedness 
 which it entails? 
 
 But if an apprehension of its evils has any ten- 
 dency at all to deter us from the love and practice 
 ef what is forbidden, it is a fact which needs n© 
 N 
 
1-16 
 
 proof, that the more enlarged and adequate no- 
 tions we entertain of its malignity, the more 
 carefully will we guard against its presence, and 
 the more sedulously will we labour to escape from 
 its fatal and horrid power. 
 
 If the truth of this position be admitted, then 
 we will soon see another reason for asserting the 
 lovely and matchless moral energy of the evangeli- 
 cal system; for, while sin is the most abominable 
 and dreadful evil in the universe, it is the gospel 
 which affords us the most exact and faithful por- 
 trait of its loathsome deformity, and conveys the 
 most formidable and revolting representation of its 
 inexpressible and never ending horrors. 
 
 The dispensations of providence, indeed, furnish 
 us with many striking and awful proofs of the cri- 
 minality and enormity of transgression. The rava- 
 ges of famine, the 'desolations of pestilence, the 
 wholesale waste and havoc of war ; the turbulence 
 and anarchy in public life, and the fretfulness, 
 irritation and discord, which lower over private 
 habitations, and darken and trouble the domestic 
 circle; the savage satisfaction and cold-blooded 
 cruelty with which the mercenary and covetous 
 batten on the hapless victims of their rapacity and 
 violence; the wrecks of the most expensive schemes, 
 and the frustrations of the dearest hopes; the po- 
 verty, disgrace and suffering, which tread so closely 
 on the heels of vice, and the scenes of lamentation 
 and sorrow every where created by the ceaseless 
 
147 
 
 operations of death, all most loudly proclaim that 
 it is an evil, and a bitter thing, to depart from the 
 Most High, and that sin is alike the foe of God, 
 and the plague and scourge of man. 
 
 But, calamitous and painful as they are, can any 
 one of these events, or even the whole of them, 
 when taken together, convey an idea half so deep 
 and affecting of the turpitude and baseness, of the 
 guilt and atrocity of this root of all bitterness, as 
 the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ ? Let the sinner 
 only reflect on the Divine dignity, the infinite per- 
 fections, the uncreated and eternal excellencies of 
 Him, who, in agony and blood, was suspended 
 there: let him remember that the illustrious and ' 
 adorable sufferer was no less than the brightness 
 of the Father's glory, and the express image of 
 his person, He, whom all the angels revere, and 
 all nature obeys: let him think of all this, and then 
 say what must be the amount of the evil and ma- 
 lignity of sin, which, before mercy could be ex- 
 tended to the criminal, stretched the Holy One of 
 God upon the accursed tree, and brought the 
 Prince of life to the darkness and dust of death? 
 
 Can the mind conceive, or could Omnipotence, 
 with all its vast and inexhaustible resources, have 
 employed a mean of manifesting in a manner, by 
 the ten thousandth part, so tremendous and mov- 
 ing, the unutterable, the infinite enormity of trans- 
 gression, as the sufferings and death of the al- 
 mighty and ever-blessed Immanuei? Could a pro- 
 N 2 
 
148 
 
 clamation from the throne of the Eternal, an- 
 nouncing his detestation of this foul and loathsome 
 principle of mischief and of misery, and his fixed 
 determination, in every instance, to punish it with 
 terrible and unsparing rigour; could the expulsion 
 of the angels, that fel!, from the regions of light, 
 and the banishment of the first apostate human 
 pair, from the seat of innocence and bliss; could 
 the destruction of the old world by water, the over- 
 throw of the cities of the plain, the subversion of 
 the whole frame of nature for theba^eand impious 
 revolt of man, or the everlasting anguish and wait- 
 ings of the place of despair, have left on the mind 
 of the criminal, or have spread over the empire of 
 Jehovah an impression half so deep, and indeli- 
 ble of the evil and danger of iniquity, as that which 
 is produced by the sufferings and death of the Son 
 of God and the Lord of glory ? 
 
 The annihilation of the material universe, with 
 all it3 enormous load of worlds, the never ending 
 wretchedness and ruin of all the guilty inhabitants 
 which it contains, sad and disastrous as such ca- 
 tastrophes may appear, shrink into insignificance, 
 and are less than nothing, when compared with the 
 incarnation, the sufferings, and dying agonies of 
 Immanuel. They are only creatures, but he is the 
 ever-blessed and all-glorious Creator ; mighty and 
 immense as they seem, their dimensions are limited, 
 and their magnitude and value can easily be told 
 by Him, who, by his intelligence planned, by his 
 
149 
 
 power produced, and by his unremitting energy, 
 pervades, sustains, and regulates the whole. But, 
 what bounds can we assign to his majesty and 
 grandeur, or what mind can comprehend the per- 
 fections and the glories of Him, who speaks and it 
 is donej who commands, and all things stand fast; 
 who formed creation by a word, and were it this 
 day dissolved, could in a moment, and with ease, 
 replace it; who is able to do again what he has al- 
 ready done, and to outdo all that he has yet per- 
 formed; for he is not only mighty, but all-mighty, 
 not only sufficient, but a! Insufficient; and all that he 
 has hitherto accomplished, so far from being the 
 measure of his might, is but a mere specimen of 
 his power, and, when compared with the real a- 
 mount of his wisdom and his strength, is no more 
 than a drop to the ocean, or a grain to the globe. 
 
 It is in his death, accordingly, and there only, 
 where we see, in its full extent and in all its match- 
 less horrors, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and 
 what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of 
 the living God. It is here where Jehovah, by the 
 magnitude of the ransom, has published over all 
 worlds, and perpetuated to eternity the immensity 
 of our guilt, and the total inability of man and 
 every other creature to expiate the demerit of a sin- 
 gle trespass, or repair the mischief and dishonour 
 which the least transgression has brought upon the 
 authority and government of God. It is hither, ac- 
 cordingly, that the best and the highest in creation 
 N 3 
 
150 
 
 will come to study the holiness of his character, and 
 learn the infinite evil and malignity of sin. When 
 they wish to discover tKe justice of their Maker, and 
 impress their own minds with the rectitude and in- 
 violability of his law, passing by the place of perdi- 
 tion, and the scenes of the most awful devastation 
 which wickedness has created in the other pro- 
 vinces of his dominions, they will turn their thoughts 
 to the affecting spot which the sufferings of the Sa- 
 viour have for ever ennobled and hallowed, and fix 
 a devout and admiring eye on Him who bore the 
 cross. 
 
 Now, if nothing less than the sufferings and sa- 
 crifice of a person of the Divine dignity, and of the 
 uncreated matchless and eternal excellencies of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, could expiate the guilt of our 
 transgressions, and redeem us from the awful con- 
 sequences cf our crimes, how great must be the sin- 
 fulness of sin, and what a fearful thing must it be 
 to fall into the hands of the living God ! 
 
 The ignominy and torture sustained by our bless* 
 ed and adorable Surety, go infinitely farther than 
 merely to manifest the danger attending the com- 
 mission of iniquity, and evince the equity and im- 
 mutability of the law. They establish its supreme 
 and incomprehensible excellence, and demonstrate 
 the unalterable, the inconceivable criminality and 
 atrocity of sin. For the Lord Jehovah is not far- 
 ther exalted above his creatures in majesty and 
 in power, than in wisdom and in goodness. Im- 
 
151 
 
 measurably superior to the spirit of rash and wrong 
 headed mortals, who frequently act from whim and 
 caprice, or a wish to inspire a terror for the obsti- 
 nacy and perseverance of their character, Jehovah 
 does nothing to confound his subjects by an useless 
 display of his might, and astonish them by the sin- 
 gularity and firmness of his measures. The King's 
 strength loveth judgment, and therefore whatever 
 he does, is done because it is just and right, and 
 good, and because the contrary would be inconsist- 
 ent with the glorious perfections of his nature, and 
 repugnant to those principles of pure, unchanging 
 and eternal rectitude, which direct and animate 
 every movement of his almighty will, and regulate 
 every step in the vast and complicated administra- 
 tion of the worlds which he has made, God is 
 light, and in him there is no darkness at all. He 
 is love, and no taint of weakness can ever cloud the 
 bright and immaculate purity of his character. In 
 all his attributes and works he is perfect ; and we 
 never can entertain any just or worthy ideas what- 
 ever of his nature, till we regard him as the essence 
 and consummation of every amiable uncreated and 
 eternal excellence. 
 
 But if such be the sublime, the righteous and be- 
 neficent character of the Most High ; then from the 
 consideration of the perfections of his own infinite 
 nature we may rest assured that there is not a sin- 
 gle sentence nor syllable within the whole compass 
 of the sacred code which he has prescribed, but 
 
152 
 
 what is enacted upon account of its own intrinsic 
 worth, and its tendency to display his own peerless 
 glory, and secure the most extensive and lasting wel- 
 fare of the universe. If, however, in this manner 
 we are warranted to infer the ineffable holiness of 
 the law, ami the unreasonableness, the flagitious? 
 ness, and malignity of sin, what an overwhelming 
 emphasis is given to this conclusion by the cross of 
 Christ ! By the stupendous method to which the 
 God of mercy has there had recourse, to vindicate 
 the claims of justice, and maintain the untarnished 
 honour and lustre of his law, he has shown his deep 
 detestation of iniquity, and left an everlasting me- 
 morial of the unutterable, the infinite criminality 
 which every transgression contains. The sufferings 
 and death of the Redeemer lay open the deformity 
 of sin in all its hideousness, and in all its horrors, 
 and enable us to see into the very heart and sub- 
 stance of this base, pestilential, and abominable 
 principle. They prove that it is as detestable as 
 it is dangerous; that it entails as much disgrace on 
 the character, as wretch dness on the soul; that it 
 sinks us as low in the scale of creation, that it se- 
 parates us as completely from all that is noble, or 
 lovely, or good, and allies us as closely to all that 
 is mean, and vile, and despicable, as that it deprives 
 us of happiness, and oppresses us with misery, vexa- 
 tion, and anguish. The sufferings and death of the 
 Redeemer intimate how strongly it is reprobated 
 by the Most High, and in what abhorrence it ought 
 
15S 
 
 to be held by all his intelligent offspring. For un- 
 less it had deserved it, is it credible, that the ever- 
 blessed Jehovah would have hated it with such per- 
 fect and implacable hatred; that he would have 
 threatened it with everlasting punishment $ that he 
 would have visited it with such awful tokens of his 
 displeasure; and on its account have doomed his 
 own Son to such unparalleled abasement and agony? 
 Is it possible then, for a Christian, for a man 
 who believes in the absolute perfection cf the Al- 
 mighty, and in the Divinity of the Saviour, to take 
 a survey of the qualities of iniquity in the light of 
 the cross, without perceiving that sin is exceeding 
 sinful, and that terrible as the judgments are with 
 which it is menaced, there is no punishment which 
 can surpass the amount of its demerits? Can he stand 
 by the cross and contemplate the dying agonies of 
 the Mighty sufferer, without cordially subscribing 
 to the equity of that sentence which consigned him- 
 self, as a sinner, to dreadful and never^ ending misery, 
 and frankly acknowledging, that there is no place 
 in the world of woe more dismal and intolerable 
 than his guilt most righteously deserves? If one 
 possessed of the majesty and glory of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, died for all, then all must have 
 been morally dead, and utterly destitute of every, 
 thing that is valuable and good. For unless 
 this was the case; unless our personal performances 
 were totally insignificant and worthless 5 unless 
 we were altogether incapable of working out a 
 
154 
 
 righteousness by which we might be saved; un- 
 less our sins were possessed of an atrocity for 
 which the whole creation was unable to atone, 
 would the Father of mercies and the God of love 
 have surrendered to ignominy so mean, and suffer- 
 ings so severe, a person possessed of the infinite 
 excellencies, and of the close and tender relation 
 to himself, as our almighty and adorable Re- 
 deemer? 
 
 From his death in our room, the believer is 
 taught to conclude, that by nature all are dead in 
 trespasses and sins; and whilst he contemplates the 
 compassion of Jehovah in surrendering up his own 
 Son to deliver us from the death which we deserv- 
 ed, shame and contrition for the iniquities which 
 he has wrought, for his offences against the God of 
 glory, and his total want of all resemblance to his 
 perfect and lovely character, humble and afflict 
 him, and make him, in the bitterness of his spirit, 
 abhor himself, and repent in dust and in ashes. 
 
 But if the dignity of the Redeemer give the be- 
 liever an idea of the enormity of his guilt, the na- 
 ture and intensity of the agonies which Immanuel 
 sustained display the magnitude of the punishment 
 which our offences merit. When the God of wisdom 
 does nothing in vain; when in all his works and 
 dispensations he uniformly keeps an object in view 
 proportioned to the expense and grandeur of the 
 means which he employs, is it possible for language 
 to express, or the mind to conceive the dreadful 
 
155 
 
 amount of those sorrows which abide the impeni- 
 tent in the world of woe fiom which nothing less 
 than the sufferings and death of the Son of God 
 could redeem us, and which, in the act of redemp- 
 tion, subjected him to such awful and unparalleled 
 anguish? If *he Lord Jesus Christ, by whose 
 strength the mountains are dissolved, and who re- 
 mcveth the earth in his anger: if he, who upholds 
 the worlds by the word of his power, and marshals 
 the hosts of heaven ; if he, who has the riches of 
 creation at command, and who wields at pleasure 
 the elements of nature; if he, when burdened with 
 the load of human guilt, bent beneath its weight, 
 and was thrown into an agony of sorrow; if, in the 
 mysterious hour of his passion, his soul was troubled, 
 and in the extremity of his marvellous distress, he 
 was forced to present his singular supplication with 
 strong crying, and with tears: who can conceive 
 the sufferings which the sinner, in his own person 
 must sustain, when wrath comes down upon him, 
 to the utmost; when Divine indignation breaks on 
 him in all its violence; and when, through a de- 
 solate and dreary eternity, he is left alone to con- 
 tend with its unmeasured and unabating fury? 
 Look at the travail of Imrnanuel and say, if it be 
 not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the liv- 
 ing God? Look at the pangs which he endured, and 
 say, who can tell the power of the Almighty's anger? 
 Now, if a discovery of the sinfulness of sin, 
 and of the punishment to which it is exposed, have 
 any tendency whatever to inspire a hatred of its 
 
I5G 
 
 presence, and deter us from loving or pursuing 
 it, can it require any argument to prove, that the 
 more cordially and thoroughly that we detest it, 
 and the more deep and awful ideas we entertain 
 of the terrible and intolerable misery with which 
 it will be followed in the world to come, the more 
 effectually will we be restrained from submitting 
 to its dictates, and the more carefully will we cul- 
 tivate, and the more diligently and zealously will 
 we practise every branch of duty ? And if our 
 hatred of sin and attachment to holiness depend 
 upon the ideas which we possess of the guilt and 
 the danger of iniquity, does it need uncommon 
 penetration to decide, whether the gospel, which 
 teaches us that no Redeemer less than Divine 
 could atone for the criminality of a single offence, 
 and restore the offender to the forfeited favour of 
 God, or that system which asserts or insinuates, 
 as every schemes does, in a greater or less degree, 
 which is opposed to the gospel, that the sinner 
 by the punctuality and purity of his present, or 
 future obedience, may compensate for the defects 
 and worthiessness of the past, is best calculated 
 to raise our conceptions of the spirituality and 
 purity of the law, and excite the greatest fear and 
 abhorrence of iniquity? To the candour and hon- 
 esty of all, then, we cheerfully put the question, 
 Whether that man, who imagines that his person- 
 al performances, either in the form of virtuous 
 deeds or of penitential exercises, will in some de- 
 cree counterbalance his demerits, and establish 
 
 23 
 
157 
 
 a right to the possession of everlasting bliss ; or 
 that man who perceives such an emptiness, insig- 
 nificance, and defilement in his best services, that 
 he dare not confide in a singie action that he has 
 done, but is compelled to betake himself simply 
 and entirely to the righteousness of Immanucl, 
 can have the most elevated notions of the strict- 
 ness of the law, and the sinfulness of sin, and be 
 most likely in future to abstain from all appear- 
 ance of evil ? If distress and pain for past trans- 
 gression can furnish any security for future care 
 to avoid it, that pledge certainly is given by the 
 man who, from a discovery of the total and ab- 
 solute ruin in which sin had involved him, has 
 been compelled to embrace the redemption of the 
 cross as the unspeakable gift of God, and make 
 it his all in all. But what gage can that man 
 afford us of the* punctuality and diligence of his 
 future obedience to the law, when by his principles 
 he is led to believe that there is nothing so very 
 flagrant in his offences, but what, in some degree, 
 he can with ease and success counteract by his own 
 exertions ? 
 
 The gospel shews the obligation of the law, and 
 the necessity of obeying it, 
 
 IK. By the clear and forcible demonstration 
 which it furnishes of the inflexibility of Divine 
 justice, and the certainty that God will inflict 
 O 
 
158 
 
 every penalty which he has denounced against 
 transgression. 
 
 These facts are of no small importance for se- 
 curing respect to the precepts which he has enact- 
 ed. The obedience paid to the laws of any coun- 
 try, is always in exact proportion to the opinion 
 which the inhabitants entertain of the firmness 
 and impartiality of the government under which 
 they are placed. If the belief once become gene- 
 ral that the administration is lax and supple; 
 sometimes correcting, and at other times overlook- 
 ing transgressors ; at one time pardoning, and at 
 another punishing precisely the same offences; 
 nor caring to maintain its own dignity and con- 
 sistency, nor to carry, with decision and vigour, 
 its own edicts into effect: though the laws should 
 be written in blood, and death in its most hideous 
 form should be menaced as the award of every 
 trespass, when once it is ascertained that these 
 appalling threatenings are empty bugbears, which 
 seldom or never were intended to be fulfilled, the 
 people will soon learn to despise their authority, 
 and treat them with that habitual neglect which 
 their inefficiency merits. But let all the subjects 
 have a deep and strong persuasion that the legis- 
 lature is in earnest, that no idle nor useless enact- 
 ment cumbers the statute-book, that every requisi- 
 tion shall be infallibly enforced, and that in no 
 quarter of the empire shall any of the provisions 
 of the code be violated with impunity: let the pains 
 
159 
 
 in such a case be ever so slight and gentle, when 
 they are found with an unerring certainty to fol- 
 low crime and overtake the criminal, the obedi- 
 ence of every class will prove unspeakably more 
 steady and uniform, than if the most tremendous 
 penalties had been denounced, but their execu- 
 tion left doubtful and precarious. Wherever 
 there is a chance of escape men will not be want- 
 ing, sufficiently enterprizing and daring, for some 
 bribe or other, to brave the utmost extremes of 
 danger; but no consideration will urge them on to 
 manifest and inevitable destruction. They will 
 readily tamper with intoxicating liquors, and in- 
 dulge in habits which have a slow and insensible, 
 though fatal, influence upon their health; but 
 nothing will persuade them to break their limbs, 
 or to drain the contents of a poisoned bowl: they 
 will encounter the perils of navigation, and face 
 all the horrors of war; but nothing will induce 
 them to submit to the bite of a rabid animal, nor 
 plunge into the crater of a burning volcano. 
 
 Allow men to imagine that God will come and 
 go in his demands; propagate the belief that his 
 word is mutable and bending, at one time, yea, 
 and at another, nay; circulate the persuasion 
 that his declarations supply no index to his inten- 
 tions, and that, notwithstanding the most terrific 
 array of pains and penalties that bristle around 
 the prescriptions of his law, he does not seriously 
 mean to inflict them, that the great mass of trans- 
 02 
 
160 
 
 gressors shall escape with impunity, and that any 
 punishment that shall take place, will prove far 
 lighter than they are apt to apprehend : and who, 
 thai is disposed to violate his commands, will ever 
 be deterred from making the attempt? But let 
 them see or practically believe, that, whilst the 
 judgments threatened are the most dreadful that 
 a creature can endure, their execution is also in- 
 fallible; that crime and punishment are as inse- 
 parably united as the shadow and the substance; 
 that the penalty as uniformly follows the trans- 
 gression, as the effect follows the cause: and 
 what man in his senses, by rushing upon what is 
 forbidden, will throw himself upon the thick bosses 
 of the Almighty's buckler, and entail on him- 
 self certain, irretrievable, and intolerable ruin? 
 
 Now, of all the demonstrations, which ever 
 were exhibited to the universe, of the inviolability 
 of the law of the Most High, and his fixed deter- 
 mination to fulfil his word, the sufferings and 
 death of his own eternal and all-glorious Son, are 
 infinitely the most strong and overpowering. After 
 this, who can believe that the King of heaven will 
 recede a single inch from his threatenings, or in the 
 smallest article alter or impair one sentence of 
 all that his law contains ? Has he not spared his 
 own Son when placed in our room? On whom 
 then can he now have pity or forbearance, who 
 goes on frowardly in the w r ay of his own heart, 
 and obstinately holds fast any of his trespasses and 
 
161 
 
 sins? Has vengeance to the utmost come down on 
 the head of our innocent and almighty Surety ? 
 And is it possible that any sinner of the human 
 race, who, by his follies and his vices, madly per- 
 sists in waging war against the God of justice, 
 shall escape the retributions of his righteous judg- 
 ment ? After visiting with such signal severity 
 our imputed offences upon the person of the Me- 
 diator, will the dread Sovereign of the universe 
 look with complacency and kindness upon the un- 
 hallowed and presumptuous transgressor, who, 
 unawed by his terrors, and unmoved by his mer- 
 cy, madly perseveres in insulting his majesty, and 
 in defying the worst of his power ? Can the sin- 
 ner, polluted with the filth of his personal pro- 
 vocations, presume that he is possessed of greater 
 loveliness or worth in the sight of Jehovah, than 
 his own Son, in whom his soul delighted, who 
 was free from every stain of guilt, and chargeable 
 with nothing but the iniquities of those for whom, 
 in the greatness of his mercy, he gave his al- 
 mighty interposition ? Can the feeble, the help- 
 less rebel oppose a more powerful barrier to the 
 stroke of justice, than the purity and strength 
 of the Omnipotent Immanuel ? Can he plead a 
 nearer relation to Jhe Most High, or the per- 
 formance of more valuable and acceptable ser- 
 vices, than He who was God's Fellow, and who, 
 by the labours of his life, and the achievements 
 of his death, spread a new radiance round the 
 03 
 
162 
 
 throne of glory ? And if the Lord Jesus Christ 
 was not spared, when found in our room; on 
 what principle then can any transgressor imagine 
 that he may retain his sins, and yet secure eter- 
 nal safety; may dishonour the God that made 
 him, and yet enjoy the constant flow of his benig- 
 nity and favour? 
 
 To the equity and candour of all then, we must 
 once more appeal, and ask, whether the doctrine 
 of justification through faith in the righteousness 
 of Christ, or the doctrine of justification, either 
 wholly or partially, by the performances of the 
 sinner, gives the most full and impressive illustra- 
 tion of the inflexibility of Divine justice, and tends 
 most effectually to evince the importance and ne- 
 cessity of personal piety and holiness ? 
 
 Can that man possess any profound or elevated 
 conceptions of the spirituality and perfection of 
 the law, who, instead of believing that it requires 
 exact and undeviating conformity to all its pre- 
 cepts, is led to suppose that it will be satisfied 
 with his feeble, defective, and limited observances ? 
 Can he entertain any uncommon reverence for 
 the veracity of God, and the truth and stability 
 of his declarations, who is induced to fancy, as 
 every self justiciary unavoidably must, that the 
 God of heaven gives him a pattern of inconsisten- 
 cy and self-contradiction; that though in the 
 Bible he enjoins us 4o love him with our whole 
 heart, and soul, and strength, and mind; that 
 
163 
 
 though he there tells us that all unrighteousness 
 is sin, and that the wages of sin are death; that 
 though he there affirms, that by the deeds of the 
 law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, 
 and that cursed is every one that continueth not 
 in all things which are written in the book of the 
 law to do them, still, notwithstanding these plain 
 and explicit testimonies to the guilt and danger 
 of a self-righteous spirit, it is by the deeds of this 
 very law that he is to be justified; that if ever he 
 be saved at all, it must, in part at least, be by 
 works of righteousness which he has done ; and 
 that his lame and vitiated obedience, instead of 
 exposing him to a curse, will bring down upon his 
 head the best and richest blessings ? What ideas 
 must such a man frame of the holiness of the Great 
 and Eternal King, who, instead of believing that 
 evil cannot dwell with him, and that he cannot 
 tolerate vice of any shape or name, is instructed 
 to suppose that he is too merciful to be absolutely 
 just and holy, that unless sin be uncommonly fla- 
 grant and revolting, it can excite no offence, nor 
 be followed by any visitation of his displeasure; 
 and that if his creatures display some temporary 
 fits of obedience, and perform a few services of 
 limited and local utility, he will close his eyes a- 
 gainst their habitual failures, and kindly admit 
 them to the everlasting enjoyment of his friend- 
 ship? 
 And can such mean and unworthy notions of 
 
164 
 
 God and of his law, ever exalt our thoughts of 
 the importance of holiness, or inspire any pecu- 
 liarly ardent and devoted attachment to duty? 
 
 Amidst all the zeal which the patrons of self- 
 righteousness pretend for the cause of virtue, and 
 the marvellous advantages which they boast that 
 the general adoption of their tenets would a- 
 chieve, few measures could prove more fatal to the 
 interests of morality, than the universal prevalence 
 of their principles. Expunge from the creed of a 
 sinner the doctrine of salvation by grace, and 
 leave him to believe that, by his own exertions, 
 he may, either altogether, or in part, make his 
 peace with God, and secure the distinctions of a 
 glorious immortality^ and what would be the con- 
 sequences of such a notion ? Would it beget an 
 uncommon solicitude for his own eternal welfare ? 
 Would it create an unusual jealousy and dread of 
 transgression ? Would it bind his soul in grate- 
 ful subjection to his Maker, and constrain him 
 to yield himself unreservedly and for ever to a 
 life of beneficence and piety ? Would it form him 
 to habits of singular watchfulness against evil, and 
 to unwonted efforts in the service of religion and 
 of righteousness, in order that with certainty he 
 might make his everlasting happiness secure? 
 There can be no doubt that all this ought to be 
 the result of such a persuasion; and many, per- 
 haps, may confidently expect that this precisely 
 would be the effect which it would produce: but 
 
165 
 
 the criminal always has found, and, as long as 
 he carries a depraved and perverse heart within 
 him, he always will find it far more convenient 
 and agreeable to his depraved and wayward hu- 
 mours, to employ another, and a very different 
 mode of reasoning, and to argue thus, " If the 
 Deity be so very mild and placable as to re-admit 
 me to his favour, upon the simple and easy terms 
 of my own repentance and reformation, his jus- 
 tice surely cannot be so very strict, nor he him- 
 self so very stern and rigid, as to be incensed at 
 every slight and temporary deviation from the 
 straight line of duty. Since he already, on my 
 penitence and amendment, has mercifully passed 
 over my former demerits, he certainly will not be 
 severe and inexorable in calling me to a reckon- 
 ing for any of my future delinquencies. Since 
 he fails to execute the terrible threatenings which 
 he has published in his word, what great guilt can 
 I contract, or what dreadful danger can I incur, 
 though 1 should occasionally relax the reins of 
 watchfulness, and, from time to time, indulge in a 
 few fashionable and less flagrant vices and follies ?" 
 You may guard the doctrines of legality by the 
 best securities that you can devise ; you may tell 
 your votary that his obedience must at least be sin- 
 cere, or predominant, or habitual. But if, instead 
 of compelling men to bring every tenet to the law 
 and to the testimony, and form all their principles 
 upon the safe and unerring standard contained in 
 
166 
 
 the pages of inspiration, you allow them to sup- 
 pose that they are at liberty to break through the 
 sacred fence, which the God of heaven has drawn 
 around the path of duty, and to mould and form 
 his law in some degree to their own taste and inte- 
 rests, it is utterly impossible to fix limits to their 
 encroachments, or to conjecture when or where 
 they will stop in their wild and desultory career. 
 As his guides are unable to agree upon a substitute 
 for that perfect righteousness which the law pre* 
 scribes, or determine the amount of sincerity neces* 
 sary for tbe justification of the sinner, he himself 
 is left at liberty to fix the tale and quality of his 
 performances, and it is not very likely that he will 
 carry his virtuous efforts to any very painful height, 
 nor exhibit any extraordinary or excessive zeal, 
 either for the general interests of godliness, or for 
 his personal holiness. If he dream that the law 
 will yield at all, instead of endeavouring to rise to 
 the height of its requirements, he finds it far more 
 desirable to bring it a degree lower, till he reduce 
 it completely to his own miserable level. Were 
 such dogmas as these supported by any appearance 
 of truth, to ga abroad into a world so depraved 
 and abandoned as ours, where every succeeding 
 generation adds to the profligacy and degeneracy 
 of its predecessor, instead of restoring the inno- 
 cence and rectitude of Eden, the fact is, if we 
 may judge of the future from the past, that, in the 
 lapse of a few generation?, every vestige of moral- 
 
161 
 
 ity would disappear, and the persuasion would uniV 
 versally prevail that men might be saved without 
 any repentance, or reformation, or holiness at all. 
 
 But could any such ungodly or licentious re- 
 sults be apprehended from the general knowledge, 
 and cordial belief of the glorious gospel of the 
 blessed God; that pure and sacred system, which, 
 wherever it goes, carries along with it, not only a 
 manifestation of the compassion and kindness of 
 the Most High, but likewise a discovery of the sin- 
 fulness of sin, and of the guilt and unworthiness of 
 man ; which never speaks of the sovereign efficacy 
 of the remedy, without reminding us of the un- 
 equalled virulence and desperate malignity of the 
 disease; which never announces the riches of re- 
 deeming mercy, rior the power and grace of the 
 generous and almighty Saviour, without broadly 
 and forcibly proclaiming, that the wages of sin are 
 death, and that without shedding of blood there is 
 no remission of iniquity; which never tells us of 
 the benevolence of the God of love, without bring- 
 ing to our view, in distinct and lively representa- 
 tion, that his law, like himself, is perfect, immuta* 
 ble, and eternal, and that the wide universe, with 
 all that it encloses, shall sooner be laid in ruins, 
 than one sentence or syllable of all that it con- 
 tains shall be despoiled of its honour, or stripped 
 of its authority and rights; which never tells us of 
 the all-sufficiency of the atonement without impress- 
 ing on us in a form the most emphatic and solemn, 
 
168 
 
 that such is the inviolability of the law, and such 
 the turpitude of sin, that when it has once infected 
 the constitution, and stained the character, it is ut- 
 terly beyond the transgressor's reach to make the 
 slightest reparation for his fault, or by his personal 
 deeds to merit the divine regard, and that he must 
 either renounce all reliance on his own perfor- 
 mances and worth, and betake himself simply and 
 entirely to the righteousness of Immanuel, receive 
 salvation as the gift of free, absolute, and unsearch- 
 able grace, or be undone for ever ? Can that man, 
 whose faith is founded upon the statements of the 
 gospel, trifle with the denunciations of the law, or 
 coolly indulge in any of the courses which it pro- 
 hibits, when he knows, that rather than allow its 
 prerogative to be infringed without adequate satis- 
 faction for the injury, "he sent his own Son to the 
 cross?" Such a man must stand in awe and not sin, 
 and be effectually constrained to deny all ungodli- 
 ness, and every worldly lust, and to perfect holiness 
 in the fear of God. A more affecting and irresis- 
 tible proof than this the Almighty could not give 
 of his inflexible determination to fulfil his word, 
 and inflict on every transgression the full amount 
 of the vengeance which it merits. The man who 
 with this fact before him is capable of perpetrating 
 the crimes which Jehovah has condemned, is be- 
 yond the reach of moral motives. His mind is proof 
 against the most overbearing arguments, and his 
 heart closed against the influence of the most en- 
 
16§ 
 
 dearing love. If such a fact cannot withhold him 
 from the practice of iniquity, what is there in exis- 
 tence which can disturb him in the career of vice, 
 or deter him from his unhallowed and heaven-dar- 
 ing deeds? He surely has hardihood sufficient to 
 brave all the denunciations of future vengeance, 
 and encounter the most mighty thunders which 
 guard the telestial throne. 
 
 FART II. 
 
 Whilst we have been expatiating on these topics, 
 perhaps some objector has been impatient for an 
 opportunity to interrupt the current of this argu- 
 mentation, and to tell us, " that the obligation of 
 the law, the sinfulness and danger of sin, and the 
 inflexibility of Divine justice, may reasonably be ex- 
 pected to -deter from transgression those who are 
 under the law, whose eternity is suspended upon 
 their obedience to its precepts, and who through 
 life are kept in a state of uncertainty whether they 
 shall finally be saved or lost; but that these con- 
 siderations can have no influence upon the mind or 
 conduct of a believer, who from the very circum- 
 stance of his having embraced the atonement, and 
 made it the sole ground of his reliance, must re- 
 gard himself as placed for ever beyond the reach 
 of danger, w r ho must necessarily imagine that sin 
 can do him no future injury ; and therefore, from 
 the very nature of his principles, must inevitably 
 
170 
 
 be led without the most distant dread of punish- 
 ment, freely to indulge in every worldly passion 
 and vicious affection; so that in spite of all our 
 labour to fortify and guard the gospel from abuse, 
 the very genius and spirit of the system necessarily 
 tend to conduct its genuine and consistent votaries 
 to practical ungodliness*" 
 
 If such were his disposition, there can be no 
 doubt that the believer preserves in as full vigour 
 as formerly, every mental and corporeal power re- 
 quisite to qualify him for the work of corruption, 
 and fit him for the drudgery of satan. But though 
 he retain the ability, since in such a case as this, 
 every thing depends upon the state of the will, be- 
 fore we peremptorily conclude that he must be pe- 
 culiarly liable to transgression, and in uncommon 
 hazard of living in sin, is it not of importance to 
 ascertain how his affections stand in relation to the 
 duties which he owes to the Almighty? The inha- 
 bitants of heaven enjoy, in full perfection, every 
 natural faculty and power: but whilst their hearts 
 are filled with love to God, and their wills supreme- 
 ly and intensely attached to his service, do we ever 
 dread an insurrection amongst the hosts of light, or 
 tremble for the stability of the eternal throne, be- 
 cause it is placed where creatures of the most mighty 
 minds surround it, each of whom possesses the 
 physical capacity of rising in rebellion against his 
 Maker, and of violating the high and sacred autho- 
 rity of his everlasting laws? And whilst we willing- 
 
ni 
 
 ly grant that the believer has the power to trans- 
 gress, if on examination we shall find, instead of 
 retaining an inclination to offend, that he has a 
 deep and inveterate abhorrence of evil, that his af- 
 fections are strongly and immovably set against 
 all that is base and criminal, that his heart is right 
 with God, and that his most fond and abiding desire 
 is to walk at all times so as to please Him, how can 
 the continuance of his natural ability to offend, 
 in the slightest degree endanger the purity or con- 
 stancy of his obedience? 
 
 There is no need whatever for blinking the ques- 
 tion. To give our opponents the full benefit of 
 their objection, just allow, for the sake of argument, 
 that a believer, as they assume, should actually 
 fancy that no sin could hurt him, before we posi- 
 tively conclude that this imagination must lead to any 
 pernicious result, we must first examine the other 
 articles with which it is conjoined, Jn the natural 
 world the properties of bodies are essentially affect- 
 ed by the situation in which they are placed. Take, 
 for example, hydrogen. By itself, no substance is 
 more inflammable: but when combined, as it has been 
 by the God of nature, with oxygen, another combus- 
 tible body, it forms the harmless and well known 
 compound of water, which possesses any quality but 
 that of inflammability. And in the moral world the 
 practical effects of every opinion depend upon the 
 other tenets with which it is held. If the mercy 
 of God were to be detached from his other attri- 
 P2 
 
172 
 
 butes, the consequences would be most fatal to 
 morality, for under a Being that was all mercy, 
 and this mercy infinite, what could restrain his 
 creatures from unbounded profligacy and vice? 
 But whilst belief in his infinite mercy, is united, as 
 in the case of every Christian, with faith in his in- 
 finite wisdom, justice, and power, what damage 
 can ensue to the cause of religion and of righteous- 
 ness? In precisely the same manner, we shall find, 
 that even granting that the obnoxious notion in 
 question formed a part of a believer's- creed, it is so 
 enclosed and embedded, or rather blended with 
 other articles, which, from the very nature of his 
 principles, he necessarily must hold, that it never 
 can expose the earnestness nor perpetuity of his 
 obedience to the smallest hazard. 
 
 As we already have had occasion to observe, the 
 circumstance in general, which first compels a sin- 
 ner to have recourse to the salvation of the gospel, 
 is a conviction of his own guilt and ruin, arising 
 from the affecting display, which the sufferings aud 
 death of the Redeemer afford him, of the infinite evil 
 and danger of iniquity. Till sensible of his total 
 helplessness and wretchedness, which never can b,e 
 accomplished till he sees the necessity of the substi- 
 tution of the Saviour in his room, no man will ever 
 accept the salvation of the gospel as the unspeaka- 
 ble gift of God, nor cling to its gracious provi- 
 sions as his only and his delighted plea. Who 
 will purchase at an immense expense an article 
 
173 
 
 which he regards as useless; or travel over half 
 the circumferance of the globe in quest of an ob- 
 ject which he possesses at home? And what sinner 
 will break up the fair and costly fabric of trust, 
 which by his religious and moral duties he has long 
 been labouring to rear, quit all his cherished de- 
 pendence upon the law, and betake himself simply 
 and entirely to the hope which redemption sets be- 
 fore him, till he discovers that all his own righte- 
 ousness is as filthy rags, and that, if left lo make 
 head against his own trespasses and sins, he must 
 inevitably and most miserably perish ? That danger 
 surely must be extreme, from which deliverance is 
 hailed as an unutterable and invaluable blessing. 
 It is, however, in this high and supreme estima- 
 tion in which every believer holds the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and it is with emotions of the most intense 
 delight, and grateful transport, that he welcomes to 
 his heart the gospel salvation. Without a thank- 
 ful, an enraptured reception of the adorable Re- 
 deemer, whatever he may expect or profess, no 
 man can be in a state of grace, nor have the small- 
 est claim, in the scriptural sense of the term, to 
 the appellation of a follower of Christ. The Bible 
 uniformly represents the Saviour as being all in 
 all, not only in the purchase and application of re- 
 demption, but likewise in the esteem and affections 
 of his people. In him, by whom they are justified, 
 they also glory. They count every thing but loss 
 
 for his sake; they rejoice in his cross, and deter- 
 P 3 
 
mine to know nothing but him and his crucifixion. 
 Unless, therefore, we prefer him to our chief joy, 
 and make him our all in all, however decent and 
 sober we may prove in our deportment, or what- 
 ever flaming pretensions we may make to piety and 
 zeal, we can have no part nor lot in the blessings 
 of his salvation, nor any more legitimate right than 
 a Jew or Mahometan, to the name of a Christian. 
 For if any man prefer not the Saviour to every 
 earthly relative and enjoyment, he is not worthy to 
 be called a disciple: if airy mail love not the Lord 
 Jesus Christ he shall be accursed. 
 
 Now after having felt such penetrating and real- 
 izing impressions of the sinfulness of sin, and the 
 dreadful doom which it deserves ; after having seen 
 that sin has exposed him to the displeasure of the 
 Most High, and to inconceivable and never-ending 
 woe; after having seen that hell naked before him, 
 and that destruction without a covering to which 
 his offences w r ere rapidly transmitting him ; after 
 having seen that w r ithin the wide confines of crea- 
 tion, no hope, no safety could be found for his guil- 
 ty, troubled, trembling, perishing spirit, but under 
 the mysterious and hallowed expiation of the cross ; 
 after having been compelled, by a sense of his own 
 imminent and awful peril, to renounce all for its 
 sake, and with feelings of the most exalted adora- 
 tion and most overpowering transport, to embrace 
 it as his only deliverance from the wrath which his 
 sins had deserved, is it credible that this man shall 
 
175 
 
 no sooner place his feet within the limits of that 
 venerable and sacred asylum which the atonement 
 affords, than he will return to the eager and unre- 
 strained pursuit of that evil and abominable thing 
 which is alike the abhorrence of his God, and the 
 disgrace and curse of his own immortal soul ? 
 
 Does a man look with horror upon that animal or 
 instrument, which had nearly extinguished his own 
 lifei and which has actually proved fatal to his best 
 benefactor and friend ? Does he instinctively recoil 
 from the sight and the society of the monster whom 
 he dreads, and avoid with care the courses which 
 he holds in the deepest detestation ? And with all 
 the clear and enlarged views before him which the 
 gospel discloses, of the malignity of sin, and the 
 dreadful doom awaiting it; with all his painful 
 knowledge of the irreparable, the insufferable mise- 
 ry in which it has involved millions of the children 
 of men, and the amazing amount of agony and sor- 
 row which it brought upon the Holy One of God, 
 is it consistent with any principle in reason or na- 
 ture to believe, even supposing that he had no ap- 
 prehension of any damage that it could inflict upon 
 himself, that the Christian will convert the refuge 
 from punishment which the cross confers, into an 
 occasion for coolly and perseveringly indulging in 
 habits of vice and profligacy ? Does the mind re- 
 volt from the horrid and monstrous idea that Lot 
 within the security of his retreat at Zoar, even 
 granting that he was persuaded that he himself 
 
176 
 
 could have incurred no harm from the action, be- 
 fore the last sad shrieks of the men of Sodom had 
 died away on his ear, or the flames had become ex- 
 tinct in which their bodies were consumed, would 
 have abandoned himself to the crimes for which he 
 had seen such just and signal judgment descending 
 on the inhabitants of the plain ? Granting that 
 Noah regarded the defence of his wooden habita- 
 tion as absolutely impregnable, and that he was con- 
 vinced, that, whilst he remained within its enclo- 
 sures, no calamity could assail him; whilst he 
 felt the beak of his floating mansion ever and anon 
 grazing on the carcases of his former acquaintances 
 and fellow-labourers, and far as the eye could 
 stretch it found nothing to rest on, but a world 
 made one hideous waste of water, does it surpass 
 the utmost power of human belief to suppose, that 
 just then he could have found in his heart a desire 
 to cherish the infidelity, the impenitence, and the 
 heaven-daring deeds for which he had witnessed 
 the crowded ranks of the generation around him, 
 overwhelmed with such complete and unsparing 
 destruction ? And when sin has wrought such ter- 
 rible desolation in the earth, hurried such multi- 
 tudes of our brethren into everlasting perdition, 
 when it is denounced by the God of heaven as the 
 object of his unmitigated hatred and vengeance, 
 when it has exposed our own souls to such awful 
 jeopardy, and inflicted such a combination of suf- 
 ferings upon our compassionate and adorable Re- 
 
177 
 
 deemer, is it credible that the believer will ever es- 
 teem it, live in it and practise it with calmness and 
 delight ? What mighiy service has it done to the 
 sons of Adam, or what is there in its own nature 
 so attractive, fascinating or lovely, that he cannot 
 part with its presence; that he must burden him- 
 self with its weight; and that, weak and exhausted 
 as he is, when he flees from approaching wrath, he 
 must drag it along with him on the road to Calva- 
 ry, and by its detested presence pollute and pro- 
 fane the hallowed region that encircles the cross? 
 
 Admitting, therefore, that the Christian should 
 imagine that he has such a hold of the atonement 
 as will completely protect him in future from all 
 the consequences of his crimes, and preserve him 
 from ever being again subjected to any marks of 
 the Divine displeasure ; after all that he has alrea- 
 dy suffered from its tyranny, after all the dreadful 
 disasters which it has brought upon his brethren, 
 after al3 the unparalleled anguish which it imposed 
 upon the Almighty Redeemer, and the horrid fate 
 which it was preparing for himself; can we really 
 persuade ourselves that this man, with all this know- 
 ledge fully and distinctly before him, will coolly and 
 deliberately return to the commission of this most 
 frightful and enormous evil ? Because a man by the 
 singular care and skill of his physician has been 
 recovered from a mortal malady, and has gotten 
 his constitution fortified against the fatal effects of 
 the disease for the time to come ; will he for the 
 
178 
 
 gratification of repeating the cure, subject himself 
 anew to all the weakness and langour, to all the 
 pains and privations attending the complaint? Be- 
 cause, by the most extraordinary and supernatural 
 means, a man has been saved from a conflagration or 
 a shipwreck, occasioned by his own vice and folly, 
 and, by some mysterious agency, such a degree of 
 buoyancy and incombustibility has been imparted 
 to his body, that he is now secured against perish- 
 ing either by fire or by water; is it likely that this 
 man, for the purpose of putting the efficacy of his 
 charm to the proof, or of enjoying the surprise and 
 pleasure of another deliverance, will deliberately 
 expose himself to a renewal of all the agitation and 
 dread which he endured during the horrors of the 
 former hours of peril ? And, when the interposition 
 of grace was so remote from all that we could have 
 claimed or expected, when by a miracle of sove- 
 reign mercy we have been so strangely preserved 
 from the direful effects of our transgressions ; even 
 on the most favourable supposition that can be de- 
 vised, on the supposition that sin could not ulti- 
 mately injure us, is it credible, is it possible, that 
 any man in his senses, will act a part so complete- 
 ly in opposition to every dictate of reason and reli- 
 gion, that, for the purpose of trying the strength of 
 his spiritual specific, or of enjoying the marvellou3- 
 ness of another rescue, he will revive all the anxi- 
 ety and distress, all the trepidation and distraction, 
 all the alarm and terror which he sustained during 
 
179 
 
 the momentous and never to be forgotten process, 
 by which he was first brought to the Saviour, and 
 compelled to fix his undivided and delighted de- 
 pendence upon the liberal and unsearchable provi- 
 sions of his grace ? 
 
 On the very lowest supposition, therefore, that 
 we can form, on the supposition that fear alone is 
 the cause that drives him to the Saviour, instead of 
 indulging in sin, we see that it is far more natural 
 and reasonable to conclude that the pardoned sin- 
 ner will hate it with a perfect hatred, and shun 
 every false and wicked way. 
 
 But if the feeling of fear may be expected to 
 operate on his mind as a preservative from sin, how 
 greatly must the efficacy of this principle be 
 strengthened, when, to the influence of fear, we add 
 the force of detestation, of d^ep, inveterate, uncon- 
 querable detestation and abhorrence ? If the devas- 
 tations created by sin can be regarded as sufficient 
 to have deterred Lot and Noah from indulging in 
 the vices which they had seen prove so fatal to their 
 contemporaries; how much more completely must 
 they have been withheld from every desire to 
 commit them, when actuated by an innate invinci- 
 ble antipathy against these nefarious and enormous 
 practices ? If the recollection of the distraction 
 and dread which he felt amidst the ravages of a 
 conflagration, or the terrors of a shipwreck, can 
 be supposed capable of preventing a man from re- 
 newing these scenes of calamity, even though he 
 
180 
 
 were assured that they could not ultimately destroy 
 him; how much more powerfully must he be kept 
 back from such a rash and irrational deed, when to 
 the remembrance of former danger, is joined a prin- 
 ciple of strong insurmountable aversion and hor- 
 ror of being enveloped with flame, or immersed in 
 the ocean ? 
 
 And if we too shall find that the believer is not 
 more fully aware of the danger of sin than of its 
 evil; and that he is not more thoroughly terrified 
 for its destructive consequences, than penetrated 
 with an abiding irreconcileable hatred against its 
 evil and odious nature: granting that he were ever 
 so firmly persuaded that in future no sin could 
 harm him, so long as he retains these sentiments 
 respecting it, how is it possible that this notion 
 could ever relax his diligence in duty, or induce 
 him to submit to the base and loathsome principle 
 which his soul abhors? 
 
 Now, it will very soon appear that this is precise- 
 ly the affection which the Christian bears to sin. 
 
 We have just now been speaking of the danger 
 which rouses his alarm, and compels him in all the 
 vehemence of despair to speed his flight to the 
 strong-hold which grace has provided, and in all 
 the ardour of in pcrtunity to solicit an interest in 
 the gospel salvation. But what is it that excites 
 these overcoming fears; that raises the Saviour so 
 high in his estimation; that leads him to regard 
 the redemption ci' the cross with sentiments of such 
 
181 
 
 profound and enraptured delight, admiration, gra- 
 titude, and joy, that it absorbs every other object 
 and consideration, and rules in his heart unrivalled 
 and alone ? Is his sense of danger totally separated 
 • from all consciousness of guilt and demerit? Does 
 he view his perilous situation as the effect of chance 
 or accident ? Does he contemplate the salvation of 
 the gospel as a release from the power of an unrea- 
 sonable and exasperated despot ? or regard it as a 
 deliverance from some tremendous but irresistible 
 calamity, which, though he could neither avoid 
 nor bear, he himself is no more blameable for its 
 existence, than for the shock of an earthquake or 
 the fall of a planet ? 
 
 No: whilst reason and revelation concur to prove 
 that the Lord is infinitely good and gracious, the 
 Father of mercies, and the God of peace, that he 
 has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but 
 does good unto all, and seeks the welfare of the 
 most profligate and abandoned, by command- 
 ing them to turn to him and live ; under his mild 
 and beneficient administration, the believer knows 
 that the' upright and the innocent can have nothing 
 to suffer or to fear ; that they may walk abroad 
 amongst his works, in all the confidence of secu- 
 rity, and claim the unremitting exercise of his al- 
 mighty protection and boundless liberality and 
 love. The only circumstance, therefore, un ler 
 the omnipotent and universal reign of the Great 
 Supreme, which can disturb the tranquillity, or 
 Q 
 
182 
 
 endanger the safety of any of his subjects, is sin ; 
 and though an apprehension of danger may be the 
 first thing which attracts a Christian's attention, 
 and awakens his anxiety and terror, it is guilt 
 which, in reality, creates his danger, which consti- 
 tutes the very strength and substance of his misery, 
 which ultimately and permanently affects his mind, 
 and engrosses his most painful and distracting 
 thoughts. 
 
 But a conviction of guilt is very different from 
 a sense of danger, or a dread of impending and 
 dire destruction, brought on without our know- 
 ledge or our fault. Though repentance and fear 
 are frequently conjoined, no two things can in 
 their own nature be more distinct and independent; 
 and no tw r o things are in fact more frequently se- 
 parated. A man, w T ho in his sleep has been plac- 
 ed on the battlements of a lofty building, or car- 
 ried to the verge of a precipice, may be afraid, or 
 terrified even to distraction by a sight of his peril- 
 ous situation ; but he can have no remorse nor con- 
 trition for the frightful condition into which he has 
 been brought. And as there may be alarm with- 
 out any compunction, so, on the other hand, there 
 may be keen and cutting regret, without any fear 
 or danger. A rude repulse to the modest applica- 
 tion of a suppliant, a surly reception of the well 
 meant attentions of a child, an ungracious word 
 to a generous benefactor, or the recollection of 
 am act of coldness or unkindness to a dead, or far 
 
distant friend, may cover us with confusion, and, 
 send through our soul a pang of the most pungent 
 and insupportable self condemnation, even when 
 it is manifest, from the nature of the case, that it 
 is utterly impossible to apprehend the slightest 
 personal hurt, either immediate or remote, from 
 what we have done. 
 
 But, whilst these two principles are so radically 
 and essentially distinct, it is not for a moment to 
 be forgotten that it is the last of them that lakes 
 possession of a believer's heart, and pervades all his. 
 thoughts and feelings. It is because he has sinned, 
 that he has become obnoxious to suffering ; and be- 
 cause his transgressions have exceeded, that such 
 fearful judgments overhang him. Knowing that 
 God is good, supremely, absolutely, infinitely 
 good, he is certain that sin never would hrve been, 
 threatened with a doom more severe than what is, 
 strict y just, and that great as his own d iug* r is, 
 it is not in the bii;ai!est article more dreadful than 
 what he most righteously deserves. 
 
 From the day, therefore? that he feels his need 
 of the redemption that is in Christ, he is less oc-. 
 cupied with the destruction which impends him, 
 than with the magnitude of his guilt, which ren- 
 ders such inconceivable destruction due. He re- 
 gards sin not as his calamity, but as his crime : he 
 sees that there is no penalty denounced in the law, 
 but what it has most equitably merited, nor any 
 sufferings in the place of perdition, that can ex- 
 Q.2 
 
184 
 
 ceed its just deserts. With a law in his hand, 
 with which he can find no fault at all; with a con- 
 science reproaching him for crimes, for which he 
 had no cause, and for which he can plead no ex- 
 cuse ; with proofs innumerable and overpowering 
 of the matchless perfections and eternal excellen- 
 cies of his Creator, and a world before him all 
 bright with the marks of Divine beneficence and 
 skill ; with the melting fact, deep in his remem- 
 brance, that whilst he was multiplying offences 
 against the God of heaven, this God was loading 
 him with benefits ; and that, though he had refus- 
 ed to renounce his trespasses, this God, whom 
 they had insulted and provoked, had for his sake 
 surrendered his own Son to the dishonour and 
 pains of an ignominious and bloody death, he is 
 ashamed and confounded for all the evils which he 
 has done, and unable so much as to lift up his 
 eyes to heaven : he smites on his breast, and m 
 the bitterness of his spirit exclaims, God be mer- 
 ciful to me a sinner. 
 
 Now, we w T ould ask, is it this man, who has the 
 most penetrating and impressive ideas of the sin- 
 fulness of sin, and of the enormity of his own ini- 
 quities; is it this man whose soul is humbled and 
 broken for all the dishonour which his provoca- 
 tions have done to the God of grace, and the 
 death which they have inflicted on his ever blessed 
 Son; is it this man who, for the wickedness which 
 he has wrought, abhors himself, and repeuts in 
 
185 
 
 dust and in ashes; is it this man, who cannot bear 
 the review of his past life, nor the sight of his 
 own vile and loathsome heart; and who, though the 
 God of love, in the infinity of his mercy should 
 pardon his iniquities and blot out his sins, never 
 can forget his transgressions, nor forgive himself 
 for the foul and odious deeds which he has perpe- 
 trated ; is it this man, who condemns himself as 
 the chief of sinners, and who can find no words 
 sufficiently strong to express the love, admiration, 
 and gratitude, with which he regards that Divine 
 and adorable Redeemer, who had compassion on 
 a wretch so vile, and extended mercy to a rebel so 
 unworthy as he ; is this precisely the man who, 
 with the greatest justice, may be suspected of being 
 most ready to return to the love of vice, and the 
 most eager and indefatigable in the practice pf 
 iniquity ? Is it the man who has the greatest dread 
 of the ills of poverty, captivity, and exile, who is 
 most likely to expose himself to their endurance? 
 Is it the man who has the most unmeasured abhor- 
 rence of the meanness and infamy of falsehood, 
 duplicity, and cunning, of whom we have the 
 greatest reason to be afraid of acting the most base, 
 double, and designing part? And whilst the 
 Christian, above all the men in the world, has the 
 most painful depressing and agonising sense of the 
 guilt, impiety, and vileness of his former practices, 
 is he exactly the man who may most fairly be sus- 
 pected of tamely yielding to the dictates of corrupt 
 Q3 
 
iS6 
 
 tlon, of deliberately putting his neck in the yoke 
 of iniquity, and of working all unrighteousness 
 with constancy and greediness? 
 
 If therefore, as we have had occasion to remark, 
 a bare knowledge of the danger attendant on ini- 
 quity, can be supposed sufficient to deter a man 
 from the commission of sin, how greatly must the 
 influence of this preservative be increased, when, to 
 this fear of suffering, is added a rooted, inveterate, 
 irreconcilable hatred of transgression ? If it can 
 be supposed, that the devastations created by sin, 
 were sufficient to have intimidated Lot and Noah 
 from indulging in the vices which they had seen 
 prove so fatal to their contemporaries ; how much 
 more powerfully must they have been withheld 
 from ever y desire to commit them, when actuated 
 by an innate invincible antipathy against these 
 horrid and enormous abominations ? And if the 
 fear of danger can be thought capable of deter- 
 ring the Christian from the commission of evil, 
 how much more completely must he be preserved 
 from the love and practice of wickedness, when 
 he contemplates it with emotions of the greatest 
 horror, and feels for it the most pure and implaca- 
 ble hatred ? 
 
 Granting, therefore, that he should actually 
 believe that no act of vice which he can perpe- 
 trate, could in future disturb his peace or endanger 
 his safety, so long as he regards sin as the most 
 dreadful evi| hi existence, and his soul holds it in 
 
 
187 
 
 the most unmingled, and in the deepest detestation, 
 we find that it is utterly incredible that he will ever 
 love it, live in it, or cleave to it with a fond and 
 unyrelding tenacity. 
 
 Having thus seen the sinner, alarmed by a sense 
 of his danger, and oppressed with a consciousness 
 of the number and the demerit of his offences, 
 abandoning all dependence upon his own works of 
 righte:3usnes3, and repairing anxiously and earnestly 
 to the grace of the gospel, in order to follow cut 
 this argument, and still farther to illustrate the 
 subject before us, let us a little longer attend to the 
 workings of his mind, and mark the purpose for 
 which he applies to the compassionate and all-suffi- 
 cient Saviour. 
 
 When, by the very nature of his principles, he 
 is led to entertain uncommonly elevated views of 
 the purity and spirituality of the law, and of the 
 holiness of God; when he knows that sin is the un- 
 changeable object of the divine displeasure, and 
 that it is against it that the wrath of God is reveal- 
 ed from heaven; when he is assured that it is the 
 cause of all the evils that he either feels or fears, 
 that it has degraded his nature, robbed him of his 
 peace, unfitted him for heaven, and excluded him 
 from the sublime arid beatific presence of the ever- 
 blessed and ail-glorious Jehovah ; and thus has 
 proved alike his disgrace and misery: for what pur- 
 pose are we to believe that he makes his address to 
 the holy and almighty Immanuel ? Does he co me 
 
iSS 
 
 for happiness apart from holiness ? Does he solicit 
 salvation separately from sanctification? Is his 
 demand loud, earnest, ardent for freedom from 
 wrath, whilst he profers no petition for the reno- 
 vation of his nature, the subjugation of his iniqui- 
 ties, and his deliverance from the body of sin and 
 death ? 
 
 Did ever an offender, at the very moment that 
 he seriously and fervently entreated the forgiveness 
 of a former act of rudeness or violence, persist in 
 accumulating fresh insults and outrages upon his 
 injured benefactor ? Did ever a criminal, borne 
 down by a consciousness of guilt, and trembling 
 for the sentence awaiting his misdeeds, bring the 
 blood of murder to the tribunal of that judge, 
 who had his life at his disposal, and whose cle- 
 mency he humbly and importunately implored ? 
 And, knowing how rank and foul his offences smell 
 in the sight of Heaven, has the church ever pro- 
 duced the prodigy of a penitent, of a believer, 
 who brought a soul polluted and degraded by the 
 presence, and the love of vice, to the bar of the 
 Almighty, and manifested a clinging inflexible 
 adherence to his crimes at the very moment that 
 he approached him for mercy; who solicited par- 
 don whilst his heart cleaved to his trespasses; who 
 interceded for salvation without asking sanctifica- 
 tion; who prayed for happiness without making any 
 request for holiness ; who expected to be saved in 
 his sins, or wished to be carried to the regions of 
 
189 
 
 bliss, in the midst of his foul and loathsome abomi- 
 nations ? Did language liko this ever issue from 
 the lips, or desires like these ever steam from the 
 lieart of a single individual, who seriously sought 
 an interest in the gospel salvation ? *< Lord, I 
 know that sin is thy abhorrence; but it is my de- 
 light and love: I know that evil cannot dwell with 
 thee; but I neither can nor will dwell without it: 
 I know that Christ came to destroy the works of 
 the devil; but it is my labour and ambition to build 
 again those things which he has thrown down: I 
 know that he was wounded for my transgressions, 
 and bruised for mine iniquities, and, that for the 
 wickedness which I had committed, his soul was 
 in an agony of sorrow; but I want pardon that I 
 may be spared to have the opportunity of doing 
 more to his dishonour, of again putting him to open 
 shame, of augmenting the intensity of his suffer- 
 ings, and of crucifying him afresh." 
 
 Is the burden of his sins painful ; 5s the weight 
 of them intolerable; and does he hate them with a 
 perfect hatred ? and can we persuade ourselves that 
 he will cherish any attachment to their presence, 
 or any desire to prolong their detested and 
 baneful dominion? Galled and sinking under 
 the tyranny of his cold hearted oppressor, did ever 
 a slave supplicate his benefactor, not to procure his 
 emancipation, but to fortify his body against blows 
 and bruises, and steel his mind against insult, igno- 
 miny and abuse, that he might at once perform 
 
190 
 
 more .wprk-for'ki&p]'afit£r 9 and famish the b^rbariaft* 
 with the odious gratification of more fully feeding 
 his appetite for torture, by enabling him to multi- 
 ply at pleasure the inflictions of his malignity and 
 cruelty ? Did ever a patient, racked and torment- 
 ed by gout or stone, apply to his physician, not for 
 the removal of the cause of his distress, but for the 
 means of strengthening his body to sustain greater 
 inroads from the complaint, and bear new degrees 
 of suffering ? And, when it is sin which has filled 
 the believer with grief and shanne; when it is for 
 this that he goes mourning all the day, an 1 that his 
 soul is sore broken and bowed down ; wha i it is 
 this which has deprived him of the favour of the 
 Lord, and exposed him to all the evils which he has 
 endured in time, or can dread in eternity ; when 
 it is this which has rendered him vile in his own 
 esteem, and placed him as an outcast from the so- 
 ciety and enjoyments of all the v io!y and hnpoy in- 
 habitants of creation, is it credible, when he first 
 appears before the Saviour, that lie will suppli- 
 cate the remission of the sentence of condemnation, 
 whilst he makes no mention of the wickedness and 
 depravity which have deserved it; that he will en- 
 treat for pardon, whilst he advances no request for 
 the destruction of the cause of all his woes ; pray for 
 the free forgiveness of his transgressions, whilst he 
 continues to be the victim of the crimes and passions 
 which have ruined his peace, forfeited the favour 
 
191 
 
 df the Most Highland involved him fn the lowest 
 tind most insufferable wretchedness? 
 
 It is for pardon, indeed, that the sinner turns 
 his longing eyes to the Redeemer, and that he 
 bows in fervent supplication before the throne of 
 mercy ; but it is for pardon in close inseparable 
 connexion with holiness : he seeks reconciliation 
 with God ; but it is such reconciliation as is ac- 
 companied with fitness to enjoy his presence, and 
 meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light : 
 he begs the restoration of the favour of the Al- 
 mighty ; but it is that he may love him and live 
 to him, that he may be an instrument of usefulness 
 on earth, and a servant of his in heaven. While 
 the glorious excellencies and perfections of Jeho- 
 vah, attract and charm him, and excite an irrepres- 
 sible desire to resemble him perfectly, and enjoy him 
 fully; the compassion and grace d : splayed in re- 
 demption, completely overpower him, and carry 
 him irresistibly forward in every holy and benefi- 
 cent enterprise. His heart's desire and daily 
 prayer, accordingly, are as strongly and ardently 
 directed to be sanctified wholly, as to be justified 
 freely; and he is not more importunate and per- 
 severing in his requests to have his iniquities blot- 
 ted out and his guilt forgiven, than for the crea- 
 tion within him of a clean heart and the renewal of 
 a right spirit. 
 
 And whilst these are the ruling predominant 
 feelings of his heart, is it credible that he will 
 
192 
 
 .contradict them in his conduct? If it be a lively 
 •ense of pain, an aversion to sickness, and a desire 
 to renew the labours and the duties of life, which 
 bring the sick to the physician, is it likely that 
 they who have been most anxious to obtain health, 
 when they have secured the possession of their ob- 
 ject, will be the first to throw away that invaluable 
 blessing, and reduce themselves to their former 
 weakness, exhaustion and suffering ? Is it a love 
 of freedom and independence, a longing to return 
 to the land of his fathers, and recover the fondly 
 cherished joys that solaced and cheered the days 
 of h ; s youth, that make the high toned soul of the 
 slave impatient to burst the chains of oppression, 
 and regain the rights and privileges of our com- 
 mon nature? and are we to suppose that the liber- 
 ated captive shall no sooner embrace the dear ob- 
 ject of his warmest prayers, than he will return to 
 the drudgery and thraldom of his former bondage; 
 resume his fetters and his toils; assoc : ate with the 
 despised outcasts of humanity ; take his full share 
 of the tasks and the treatment of the, working 
 gang ; with them writhe be:»eath the cutting 
 scourge, and eat the bread of the broken-hearted ? 
 And when the believer knows that sin has pro- 
 voked his God, and disturbed the peace of society; 
 that it has brought disgrace and ruin on his own 
 soul, and procuied the death of his adorable Re- 
 deemer ; when he knows that it is the essence of 
 
 .all mischief and, misery, and when he hates it with 
 
IS>3 
 
 a perfect hatred ; when his heart's desire and his 
 prayer are to be formed after the image of him 
 that created him, and completely and for ever de- 
 livered from the presence and the power of evil; 
 when it is for these precious and invaluable bles- 
 sings that he makes his earnest ardent application 
 to him who alone can save him: can we believe 
 that no sooner shall his hands embrace the inval- 
 uable boon which he sought, than he will deliber- 
 ately return to the bondage which he dreads, and 
 subject himself anew to the irksome and galling 
 joke which he abhors ? Whilst he admires the 
 forbearance which spared him amidst his provoca- 
 tions, and adores the grace which provided such 
 a great and glorious Saviour from all the fright- 
 ful consequences of his crimes; whilst in his heart 
 he is exclaiming " what manner of love is this 
 which God hath bestowed upon the children of 
 men ! what shall I render to the Lord for all his 
 benefits l# is it possible that he can so totally 
 pervert every idea of right and of wrong, as to 
 imagine that he shall discharge the immense, the 
 infinite debt of love and of gratitude which he owes 
 him, by insulting his authority and violating his 
 laws ? While the kindness and generosity of God 
 in redemption completely transport him, and he is 
 longing to resemble him fully and live to him en- 
 tirely ; while he regards the Lord Jesus Christ as 
 the chief among ten thousand, and altogether love- 
 lv ; while he glories in his cross, and counts every 
 R 
 
194 
 
 thing but loss for his sake ; while he hears that 
 this is the love of God, that we keep his sayings, 
 and is told by the Saviour, " Ye are my friends if 
 ye do whatsoever I command you :" is it credible, 
 is it possible that this man will live to himself, and 
 fulfil the appetites and passions of a carnal and 
 corrupt nature ; that he will grieve his dearest 
 friend, and dishonour his best and greatest bene- 
 factor ? Can a man travel eastward, at the very 
 time that he is advancing westward ? Can he 
 keep his eye intently fixed on heaven above, at the 
 very time that it is immoveably rivitted to the 
 earth spread below him ? or love God supremely, 
 at the very time that he delights in what God 
 hates, and practices what he has most positively 
 prohibited ? 
 
 Do his anxiety and alarm for the profane and 
 the immoral around him, who are living in indo- 
 lence and sin, feeding themselves without fear, 
 and freely indulging the desires of the flesh and of 
 the mind, invade his hours of rest, banish sleep 
 from his eyes, cause him to water his couch with 
 his tears, force him to send up in their behalf the 
 most fervent and incessant intercessions to the hab- 
 itation of mercy, compel him to strive with the 
 obstinate, reprove the ungodly, and remonstrate 
 with the hardened, to dispatch ambassadors of 
 peace to all the ends of the earth, conduct schools, 
 patronize Bible associations, support religious and 
 moral institutions of every form and name, and 
 
195 
 
 keep every engine in steady and powerful motion 
 to rouse the careless, and reclaim the vicious and 
 the abandoned ? And with all this before us, can 
 we reconcile ourselves to the unnatural, to the 
 monstrous belief that this man, by submitting to the 
 mean and degrading drudgery of sin, will be guilty 
 of the inconsistency, the absurdity, and baseness of 
 promoting by his practice what he condemns by 
 his principles, of sanctioning in his own person 
 what he deplores in others, and of trembling for 
 their crimes, whilst he manifests no fear nor un- 
 easiness for his own ? 
 
 Thus then, granting the very worst that can be 
 alleged, granting that the believer has adopted, or 
 that by the nature of his principles he inevitably 
 must adopt, the revolting tenet that no sin can in- 
 jure him, we find that while it continues united 
 with other articles, which we unquestionably know 
 that he must habitually and necessarily hold, it 
 must prove perfectly harmless, and never can lead 
 to one immoral thought, nor word, nor action; 
 and therefore, so Ions: as it is confined to the gen- 
 uine and consistent adherents of the cross, we see 
 that every apprehension of danger from it to the 
 interests of virtue, is just as visionary and baseless 
 as to dread, from the combustible nature of the 
 elements which enter into the composition of water, 
 that the rain will set our fields en fire, or that the 
 ocean, which encircles it, will burn up the globe. 
 
 But we have hitherto been combating a phan- 
 R2 
 
196 
 
 torn, and defending our system against ideal fears. 
 To give our opponents the utmost advantage which 
 they can possibly desire from their objection, our 
 argument has been adapted to a supposition which 
 never ought to have been supposed. 
 
 When or where does the believer learn that sin 
 can never hurt him; that his salvation can be sep- 
 arated from holiness, and his safety rendered per- 
 fectly consistent with the love and practice of ini- 
 quity ? When or where is he taught that the 
 subjects of grace may offend with impunity, and 
 that the man, who has been once accepted in 
 the Beloved, may afterwards live to himself, and 
 coolly fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the 
 mind ? Does he learn these impure and pernicious 
 notions from that Bible which tells him, that the 
 same Jesus, who came to seek and to save that 
 which was lost, came also to save his people from 
 their sins ? which informs him, that believers are 
 predestinated to be holy, and without blame before 
 God in love? that Christ loved the church, and 
 gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and 
 cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
 that he might present it to himself a glorious 
 church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing; but that it might be holy and without ble- 
 mish ? Is it from that Bible which tells him that 
 those that were sometime alienated, and enemies 
 in their minds by wicked works, yet now hath 
 Christ reconciled in the body of his flesh through 
 
197 
 
 death, to present them holy, and unbiameable, 
 and unreproveable in his sight ; if they continue 
 in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved 
 away from the hope of the gospel ? Is it from that 
 Bible which tells him that the people of God shall 
 be all righteous ; that they are not without law 
 to God, but under the law to Christ ; and that 
 sin shall not have dominion over them, because 
 they are not under the law but under grace? Is 
 it from that Bible which tells him, that if he live 
 after the flesh, he shall die ; that all unrighteous- 
 ness is sin ; and that the wages of sin is death ? 
 Is it from that Bible which tells him, that they that 
 are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affec- 
 tions and lusts ; and that if any man be in Christ, 
 he is a new creature; old things are passed away, 
 and all things are become new, and all things are 
 of God ? Is it from that Bible which exhorts us 
 to abide in Christ, to walk even as he also walked; 
 and to hold that fast which we have, that no man 
 take our crown? Is it from that Bible which 
 commands us to take heed lest there be in any of 
 us an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the 
 living God; and to exhort one another daily, whilst 
 it is called to day, lest any of us be hardened 
 through the deceitfulness of sin : adding, that 
 we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the 
 beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end? 
 1$ it from that Bible which asks, how two can walk 
 together except they be agreed ; and inquiries, what 
 R 3 
 
198 
 
 fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness' 
 and what communion hath light with darkness- 
 and what concord hath Christ with Belial ? Is it 
 from that Bible which affirms, your iniquities have 
 separated between you and your God, and your 
 sins have hid his face from you ; and which de- 
 clares, thine own wickedness shall correct thee, 
 and thy backslidings shall reprove thee : know, 
 therefore, and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, 
 that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God ? Is it 
 from that Bible which assures us, that he that en- 
 dureth to the end shall be saved ; but that, if any 
 man draw back, God will have no pleasure in him; 
 and which addresses us in such language as this, 
 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and 
 that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ; if any man 
 defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy ; 
 for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye 
 are? » 
 
 Is it precisely from such declarations as these, 
 with which the sacred oracles every where abound, 
 that the believer is instructed to infer that sin can- 
 not injure him ; and that, from the day that the 
 sentence of his acquittal is pronounced, he may 
 persevere with absolute impunity to heap up crimes 
 and outrages against the God of grace ? 
 
 The pages of inspiration, indeed, furnish us with 
 the most ample and cheering security against all 
 the penal consequences of transgression : but this 
 is not by annihilating the evil of sin, nor by chang* 
 
no 
 
 ing its nature, nor by removing God's displeasure 
 against it, but by altering the relation to it in which 
 we stand ; by inspiring us with impressive views 
 of its odiousness, vileness, and baseness; by filling 
 us with fear of its presence, and hatred and horror 
 of its pollution ; by delivering us not only from 
 its punishment, but also from its power; by break- 
 ing its galling and ignominious yoke, and giving 
 God the possession and sovereignty of our hearts. 
 These precious and delightful truths we are war- 
 ranted to deduce from the statements which per- 
 vade both the Old Testament and the New, res- 
 pecting the design of God, in making any the 
 subjects of his grace, and the care which he em- 
 ploys to preserve them in the enjoyment and ex- 
 ercise of every holy temper and principle. It is 
 thus that we are told that he has formed his peo- 
 ple for himself, that they might shew forth his 
 praise, and that we are a chosen generation, a 
 royal priesthood, a holy nation ; that we should 
 shew forth the praises of him who hath called us 
 out of darkness into his marvellous light. It is 
 thus that our Redeemer informs us, ye have not 
 chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained 
 you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and 
 that your fruit should remain. It is thus that an 
 apostle tells us, 1 through the law am dead to the 
 law, that I might live unto God; and adds, where- 
 fore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the 
 law by the body of Christ, that ye should be mar- 
 
200 
 
 lied to another, even to him who is raised from 
 the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto 
 God. It is thus that Jehovah, in the new cove- 
 nant, binds himself to put his law in the inward 
 parts of his people, and write it in their hearts ; 
 to give them one heart, and one way, that they 
 may fear him for ever ; that he will not turn away 
 from them to do them good, but will put his fear 
 in their hearts, that they shall not depart from 
 him ; that he will give them one heart, and will 
 put a new spirit within them, and will take the 
 stony heart out of their flesh, and give them an 
 heart of flesh, that they may walk in his statutes, 
 and keep his ordinances, and do them ; and that 
 he will sprinkle clean water upon them, and they 
 shall be clean, and will put his Spirit within them, 
 and cause them to walk in his statutes, and they 
 shall keep his judgments and do them. And it 
 is thus that the Lord Jesus Christ, in his last in- 
 tercessory prayer, thus addressed his Father; Holy 
 Father, keep through thine own name those whom 
 thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we 
 are: — I pray not that thou shouldest take them out 
 of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them 
 from the evil. 
 
 When, therefore, we are brought into a state 
 of grace, sin cannot have dominion over us, for 
 we are otherwise occupied and employed. Our 
 time, our talents, and affections are transferred 
 to the service of another. They are surrendered 
 
201 
 
 to the Lord, and consecrated to the honour and 
 the interests of our Saviour. To him we live, 
 and for him we labour. The love of Christ con- 
 strains us to live to him, who died for us, and 
 who rose again. And thus, by being preserved 
 in the love and fear of God, by building ourselves 
 up in our most holy faith, by being stedfast and 
 unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the 
 Lord, and by walking in the Spirit, we are pre- 
 vented from fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the 
 wicked one touchcth us not, and we are kept by 
 the mighty power of God through faith unto sal- 
 vation. 
 
 The perseverance of the saints indeed, is in- 
 fallibly secured by the faithfulness and power of 
 God, and the care and watchfulness of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ: but this perseverance is indissolubly 
 connected with their abstinence from sin, and 
 their stedfast adherence to the faith and holiness 
 of the gospel. Were it possible to conceive an 
 instance of a Christian departing from the living 
 God, and returning deliberately and cordially 
 to the love and the practice of iniquity, his per- 
 dition would be just as certain as it would be se- 
 vere. While God rests in his love, and Jesus is 
 true to his promises to give unto his sheep eter- 
 nal life, and never to leave nor forsake his people, 
 such a case never can occur; but were the un- 
 parailelled event ever to happen, the consequent 
 ces would be most dreadful. Under the economy 
 
202 
 
 of Moses, the Jew, who had unwittingly slain a 
 man, had protection in the cities of refuge; but 
 if within the precincts of these hallowed retreats, 
 he had presumptuously lifted up the hand of vio- 
 lence, and intentionally imbrued it in the blood 
 of a brother, what defence could he then have ex- 
 pected to have screened him from the insulted 
 laws of his country? Under the Christian dispen- 
 sation, he who offends against the law has relief 
 from the grace of the gospel : but if he turn this 
 grace into licentiousness, if he transgress on prin- 
 ciple, if he sin, that compassion and forbearance 
 may abound, if he bring the stains of impurity 
 within the sanctuary of mercy, and sport the blood 
 of murder before the tribunal of justice; what 
 can be the effect of such audacious and insuffer- 
 able flagitiousness, but to be given up to the un- 
 mitigated rigour of the law, and left to endure 
 all the sad fruits of his insolence and crimes? 
 Horrific as this conclusion may appear, it does 
 not carry the awful matter a single hair-breadth 
 beyond the line where the apostle himself has 
 placed it. M If we sin wilfully after we have re- 
 ceived the knowledge of the truth, there remain- 
 eth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fear- 
 ful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, 
 which sh$ll devour the adversaries. He that des- 
 pised Moses' law, died without mercy under two 
 or three witnesses; of how much sorer pimish- 
 ipent, suppose ye, shall he ho thought worthy, 
 
203 
 
 who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and 
 hath counted the blood of the covenant, where- 
 with he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath 
 done despite unto the Spirit of grace ? For we 
 know him that hath said, " Vengeance belongeth 
 unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord; and 
 again, The Lord shall judge his people." 
 
 If, therefore, we thus find that the strength 
 and substance of our misery consist in our wicked- 
 ness, and that Christ came to save us from our 
 sins; if we find that salvation consists in deliver- 
 ance from the power, as well as from the punish- 
 ment of iniquity, and in restoration to the image 
 as well as the favour of God; if we find that we 
 are preserved from danger by being kept from 
 evil, and assured of the possession of everlasting 
 bliss by being made meet for the inheritance of 
 the saints in light, and enabled to abound in all 
 the fruits of righteousness to the glory and praise 
 of God; then to talk of being saved without 
 leaving our sins, is exactly the same as to speak 
 of living without life, or being saved without 
 salvation. Holiness is the very soul and essence 
 of salvation. Without holiness we are still in our 
 sins: and to be in our sins, is just another scrip- 
 tural expression for being under condemnation, 
 without Christ, having no hope, and without God 
 in the world. 
 
 Can a system which is founded on such truths 
 ever hurt the morals of its subjects, or lead them 
 
204 
 
 to indulge in indolence and vice? If told, that so 
 long as we remain within the limits of the British 
 isles, we shall not be consumed by the flames of 
 Etna, nor fall victims to the plague at Constan- 
 tinople, nor be swallowed up by the river of 
 Egypt; will any man in his senses affirm, that, 
 let him do what he will to destroy his life, he has 
 now an express indefeasible assurance of its pre- 
 servation; and upon the faith of what he calls an 
 absolute promise, and for the purpose of demon- 
 strating its infallibility, will he throw himself into 
 the Nile, or inhale the tainted air of the Turkish 
 metropolis, or bathe his body in floods of burning 
 lava ? The fallacy in such a conclusion is gross 
 and glaring; and the metaphysics of such an ar- 
 gument, could not for one moment withstand the 
 force of facts. This absolute promise places our 
 safesy, not upon the insusceptibility of our bodies 
 of contagion, nor upon their buoyancy, nor their 
 incombustibility, but upon our being kept at a 
 distance from these causes of destruction. And 
 when our security against the fatal effects of sin 
 depends, not upon its nature being neutralized, 
 nor upon our constitution being fortified against 
 its pernicious influence, but upon our preserva- 
 tion irom its power, upon our being kept back 
 from its contamination, is it possible to conceive a 
 more direct and palpable contradiction than to 
 say, because by the grace of the gospel we are 
 delivered from the dominion of sin, therefore, we 
 
£G5 
 
 may safely submit to its authority; and since the 
 Father of mercies by the ministry of reconcilia- 
 tion, has rescued us from the power of darkness, 
 and translated us into the kingdom of his dear 
 Son, therefore we may ally ourselves to the work- 
 ers of iniquity, and continue the willing slaves of 
 Satan ? 
 
 Thus then, on a pretty extensive view of the 
 representation which the gospel gives us of the 
 obligation of the law, and the necessity of obey- 
 ing it, we see that it can fearlessly sustain a com- 
 parison with every competitor. It insinuates no 
 demoralizing nor licentious notions about the suf- 
 ficiency of our own imperfect and polluted per- 
 formances, to meet the high and comprehensive 
 demands of eternal justice; it instils no delusive 
 and ruinous opinions about the mutability of the 
 law, and its adjustment to human weakness and 
 corruption; it propagates no soothing suggestions 
 about the veniality and harmlessness of sin, or 
 the possibility of washing away its guilt by our 
 tears, and atoning for its former evils by the ex- 
 tent or strictness of our future fidelity and dili- 
 gence; it circulates no presumptuous and degrading 
 ideas about the laxness and suppleness of God, 
 which will lead him to wink at vice, and bend in 
 kindly accommodation to the taste and humours 
 of his depraved and perverse creatures, and plea- 
 santly accept their impure and worthless services in 
 the room of genuine, cordial, and unqualified obe- 
 S 
 
206 
 
 dience. Under the plausible pretext of substitut- 
 ing sincere for perfect obedience, it introduces no 
 profligate device by which virtue may be banished 
 from the earth, and the whole world made one 
 scene of anarchy and crime. Such ungodly dog- 
 mas find no place within the pale of the Christian 
 system. It tells us that the law of the Lord is 
 right, that it is immutable and eternal, that all 
 unrighteousness is sin, and that sin is exceeding 
 sinful: it tells us that the threatenings of the law 
 are serious, and that, however severe they may 
 seem, none of them shall fall to the ground un- 
 fulfilled. 
 
 And as the character of God is identified with 
 that of his law, by thus raising our conceptions 
 of the excellence and holiness of this institution, 
 the gospel also exalts our ideas of the perfections 
 of its glorious and adorable Author. The law is 
 a lively transcript of his own purity, and finding 
 that every sentence of this law is so reasonable 
 and just, so explicitly and powerfully calculated 
 to secure the interests of righteousness, and so ad- 
 mirably adapted to promote the personal improve- 
 ment and happiness of its subjects, and advance 
 the peace and prosperity of the universe; and 
 finding that the Lord Jehovah is so deeply and se- 
 riously in earnest, to preserve its honour and main- 
 tain its rights, how great, how incomprehensibly 
 great must be the holiness of his own nature! By 
 the proof which it gives us of his care to establish 
 
207 
 
 the authority of the law, the gospel does justice 
 to his character; it demonstrates that he is 
 glorious in holiness, that evil cannot dwell with 
 him, and that all iniquity is his abhorrence. It 
 exalts his moral to a level with his natural per- 
 fections. It shows that his righteousness and holi- 
 ness are just as absolute and unlimited as his know- 
 ledge and his power, and that he is not more 
 superior to every natural weakness than to every 
 moral defect. It claims for him the honour due to 
 his name for every attribute in his nature, and* 
 whiht it reveals him to his creatures seated at the 
 head of creation, it shows his character to be more 
 pure and lovely than the light with which he sits 
 surrounded. 
 
 Now, it is with him that we have to do. The 
 Lord is our kingi the Lord is our lawgiver. It is 
 in him that we live and move, and to him, at last, 
 that we must render an account of all our conduct. 
 The law is only the revelation of his moral will*, 
 and the standard by which we are to regulate our 
 life and conversation. It is he who watches over 
 its observance, and takes cognizance of its violations. 
 And, knowing that it is with him that we have to 
 do, and with these views before us which the gos- 
 pel discloses of his nature and his law, if our tem- 
 pers and habits are formed upon the principles ©f 
 this sacred system, what manner of persons must 
 we be in all holy conversation and godliness ? 
 If, therefore, truth have any influence -whatever 
 S 2 
 
208 
 
 in framing our dispositions and practices, when the 
 gospel imparts such transcendant discoveries of the 
 spirituality and obligation of the law, and of the 
 unchangeable, the infinite holiness of God ; whether 
 we consider him as an object of imitation, or re- 
 gard him in the capacity of our Lawgiver and 
 Judge, whether we admire his glorious excellencies, 
 or revere the mandate to be holy even as he is holy, 
 and perfect even as he is perfect, the conduct of 
 that man which is modelled by the doctrines of 
 Christianity, must possess a vast and unspeakable 
 superiority over the morals of all the men around 
 him. 
 
 If such be the conclusion to which we are brought 
 by a review of the truths which it inculcates, res- 
 pecting the obligation of the law and the necessity 
 of obeying it, we hope that the same inference will 
 be confirmed by the attachment to holiness which 
 it creates* To the illustration of this fact, it is 
 now high time to proceed. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 The Gospel establishes the Law by the love to duty which 
 it inspires. 
 
 All must be well aware of the great importance 
 of such an active, powerful principle as love, upon 
 the extent, the purity, the steadiness, and vigour 
 of our obedience. If we would wish to secure the 
 fidelity of our servants, there is no way in which 
 we can so effectually succeed as. by convincing them 
 
209 
 
 of our concern for their welfare, and by thus in- 
 spiring them, in return, with sentiments of confi- 
 dence and kindness. If we would wish to command 
 the good-will and attachment of our neighbour- 
 hood, there is no method by which we can more 
 easily and infallibly accomplish our purpose than 
 by creating in them a principle of veneration and 
 esteem. It would be of unspeakable advantage to 
 a state if the government could infuse into the 
 breast of every inhabitant of the country a love to 
 his duty, and a devotion to his prince. If his 
 affections were once in league with the laws, and if 
 the sovereign were universally regarded with de- 
 light and with reverence ; if each were emulous to 
 please him, and anxious to yield him, not only all 
 the homage and submission which he requires, but 
 also all that attention and respect which the warm- 
 est friendship could dictate, a-nd the most unbound- 
 ed loyalty and zeal could render, the business of 
 the administration w T ould flow with smoothness and 
 sweetness ; contentment and harmony would per- 
 vade every rank, and rest with every family ; the 
 people, animated by one heart and one soul, would 
 live united like a band of brothers; and happiness 
 and security would encompass every habitation, and 
 fill every heart. Instead of endeavouring to break 
 loose from the just and salutary restraints of autho- 
 rity ; instead of performing the services imposed^ 
 with reluctance and langour, each would be forward 
 to distinguish himself by his patriotism and public 
 S 3 
 
210 
 
 spirit, and eager to fulfil with promptitude and 
 faithfulness every obligation binding on him as a 
 subject and a citizen. The desires of the king 
 would be anticipated, and his utmost demands, not 
 only readily and cordially granted, but even ex- 
 ceeded. Force and terror would be needless, and 
 the obedience of the whole community would prove 
 incomparably more uniform, active and efficient, 
 than if their love were overlooked or slighted, and 
 attempts made to substitute other springs of action 
 in its place, and enforce habits of subjection and 
 good order by the common, but paltry, expedients 
 of the servile fear of punishment, and the mercenary 
 hope of remuneration. 
 
 But if love be of such singular and unspeakable 
 moment in secular affairs, it is of inexpressibly su- 
 perior importance in the business of religion and of 
 morality. Whenever love to duty predominates in 
 the heart, the most cheerful, amiable, constant and 
 indefatigable obedience will speedily and inevitably 
 follow in the life. Duty then becomes the man's 
 natural element. Strongly attached to its interests, 
 and perfectly enraptured with its services, to divert 
 him from its labours must be difficult, and to betray 
 him into habits of vice and ungodliness must be 
 utterly impossible. For who will forego the pos- 
 session of what he loves, for the presence of what 
 he dislikes and dreads? relinquish the pursuit of 
 what constitutes the object of his delight and adrsi- 
 
211 
 
 ration, to indulge in practices which he condemns 
 and detests ? 
 
 But where love to the courses which the law of 
 God inculcates is awanting, nothing can supply its 
 room, nor compensate for its absence. On the 
 principles of natural religion the infidel may con- 
 vince his pupil that obedience is his duty, and that 
 transgression is his crime, and will ultimately prove 
 his ruin. By appeals to a garbled and perverted re- 
 velation the legalist too may demonstrate to his dis- 
 ciple the excellence and value of morality, and set 
 in dreadful array before him, the terrors which the 
 Lord has denounced against the workers of iniquity. 
 But though in the tone of the most commanding 
 authority they may enjoin their auditors the thing 
 that is right, though they may menace them with 
 the most fearful doom for the breach or omission 
 of what is inculcated, so long as the cheering and 
 animating truths of the gospel are denied or con- 
 cealed, disguised or kept back ; so long as the en- 
 dearing and enlivening principle of love withholds 
 its kindly invigorating and resistless energy, their 
 utmost efforts to persuade or terrify them into a 
 firm and inflexible adherence to the dictates of rea- 
 son and religion will prove utterly abortive. By 
 their arguments and their eloquence they may car- 
 ry complete conviction to the understanding of 
 their hearers of the emptiness, the meanness, the 
 despicableness of vice, and of the importance, the 
 dignity, and obligation of virtue ; they may evince 
 
212 
 
 the dependence of the creature upon the Creator, 
 and his responsibility to the justice of the Most 
 High ; they may annihilate every trace of suspicion 
 and of doubt respecting the connexion betwixt time 
 and eternity, and tne inseparable relation which 
 pur condition there will bear to our conduct here; 
 but so long as the minds of their votaries are alien- 
 ated from the love of God, and supremely devoted 
 to what he dislikes and prohibits, every attempt to 
 drive them out of their unlawful courses will only 
 make them cling more tenaciously to their favour- 
 ite, though forbidden, practices. 
 
 If our moral constitution had retained its orio-i- 
 nal integrity, and if it had possessed nothing to pre- 
 vent the entrance of virtuous motives, or divert 
 them from their destined purpose ; all that, in such 
 a case, would have been requisite to have engender- 
 ed a firm and determined devotion to duty, would 
 have been a clear discovery of what it comprised, 
 and of the reasons by which we are bound to ob- 
 serve it. If every principle and affection had re- 
 mained in complete unison with the will of God, 
 we never would have meditated opposition to his 
 pleasure ; the dispositions and feelings of our hearts 
 would at all times have coincided with the enact- 
 ments of his law, and obedience to his authority, 
 would have been just as easy and as natural as to 
 think or to breathe. 
 
 But with natures so vitiated and depraved, with 
 hearts so deplorably overrun with pollution and sin, 
 
213 
 
 andplaced in a world so deceitful and ensnaring as 
 that which we occupy, what can the strength of 
 reason, or the perceptions of the intellect, avail 
 amidst the uproar of passion and the conflicts of 
 temptation, amidst the resolute and unyielding re- 
 lactations of the most deep rooted and powerful 
 inclinations and habits of the soul? What can 
 reason or self-righteousness accomplish, when the 
 hopes and the prospects of their remote and future 
 rewards are obscured and beclouded by the srnok^ 
 and dust of surrounding interests and pleasures* 
 and the force of their best and strongast motives 
 is counterbalanced, and borne down, by the weight 
 of besetting indolence and sloth, by the attractions 
 of present enjoyment and gain, or by the ascend, 
 cney of an inveterate innate love of evil ? Is it to 
 be expected that, amidst the tumult and clamour 
 of disorderly appetites and passions, the faint voice 
 of reason will be heard and regarded ? or that, 
 amidst the wildering and fascinating creations of 
 vice, the calm and sober lessons of prudence and 
 virtue will be recollected and obeyed? The feeble 
 barriers which these devices oppose against the 
 encroachments of crime and folly, however fair and 
 impregnable some may deem them, can afford no 
 more effectual resistance to their assaults, than a 
 mound of sand to a sweeping deluge, or the flimsy 
 netting of a cobweb to the stroke of a cannon ball. 
 The obedience which is formed upon the low, 
 the cold and narrow principles of hope and fear* 
 
214 
 
 which are the main spring hi the system of legality, 
 must prove exceedingly stiff, heartless, partial, pre- 
 carious and contracted. It can never rise to that 
 high and holy elevation, nor take that wide and 
 comprehensive range, necessary to meet all the di- 
 mensions of duty, and embrace the whole length 
 and breadth of the law of Heaven. Without love 
 to duty, the man will take care to furnish no more 
 of that costly and painful article, than what is ab- 
 solutely requisite to secure the special object which 
 he has in view. Destitute of that warmth and cor- 
 diality, which bespeak the presence of a living 
 principle of piety, all his performances will reseai- 
 ble the forced and artificial movements of a ma- 
 chine or a corpse, Hiving no root in himself, n3 
 settled nir lasting attachment to the services which 
 he renders, he will exert himself no longer than 
 during the continuance of those temporary stimu- 
 lants which have be 211 applied to his hopes and his 
 fears, his understanding and his conscience. Having 
 
 O '-J 
 
 nothing to interest his affections, to warm and en- 
 large his heart, nothing to call out the energies of 
 his nature, and rouse him to generous, arduous, 
 and lofty enterprises, every thing, in the form of 
 virtue in his conduct, will be little and narrow, 
 constrained and formal, and dealt out with all the 
 reluctance and parsimony of one who is driving a 
 hard bargain, and who, provided that he can suc- 
 ceed at all, is resolved net to advance a single frac- 
 tion more than what is absolutely necessary lo 
 ensure his success. 
 
215 
 
 However important, therefore, invaluable and 
 indispensible, we must acknowledge it to be, to 
 convince the understanding of the extent and ob- 
 ligation of the law, still this is very far from being 
 all that is awanting to beget genuine and perma- 
 nent obedience. In creatures so depraved and 
 vitiated as we, where the affections are at such open 
 and constant war with the judgment, and passion 
 and present interest overpower the better and more 
 judicious dictates of the mind; what will it avail to 
 proselyte the intellect, so long as no spell can be 
 found to charm the heart, to secure the assent of 
 the rational part of our nature, whilst the moral 
 portion of our constitution escapes from its conclu- 
 sions, and remains entrenched in its own worldli- 
 ness and depravity? Let the perceptions of the 
 understanding be ever so distinct and full, so long 
 as the heart continues in alliance with sin, it will 
 still follow its predominant bias, and perpetually 
 slide away from the controul and guidance of 
 reason. 
 
 In order, therefore, to produce uniform, trusty, 
 and unreserved obedience, something mere is need- 
 ful than merely to demonstrate its obligation and 
 reasonableness, its propriety and excellence. The 
 decisions of the judgment must be fortified by 
 the affectious of the heart; the soul must be leagued 
 in alliance with the law, and the man fast bound to 
 his duly by the strong and indissoluble bands of 
 delighted and ardent attachment. From the mo* 
 
116 
 
 ttient that the love of duty is implanted in the seul, 
 you may depend upon the warmth and vigour, the 
 sincerity and constancy of his obedience. The 
 pertbrmance cf the will of God then becomes 
 his regular employment, and his dearest occupa- 
 tion. The law of God is then written on his heart, 
 and it is his meat and his drink to do the will of 
 liis heavenly Father. For, when once you win the 
 affections of a man, you gain the master principle 
 of his nature, and secure the undivided dominion 
 of his soul. When the best and strongest powers 
 of his mind are in complete accordance with your 
 wishes, he can no longer meditate opposition to 
 your willi nor entertain the slightest disposition to 
 defeat or evade the execution of your pleasure. 
 His tastes and inclinations coinciding with your 
 own, he will naturally and spontaneously do what 
 is most agreeable to your desires, and whatever he 
 does will be done with alacrity and cheerfulness, 
 with diligence and with delight. 
 
 If this reasoning be correct; if the presence of 
 love be allowed to be necessary for the performance 
 of genuine and acceptable obedience: then, the im- 
 portance and value of the principles of the evange- 
 lical system must be immediately recognised; for 
 nowhere have we such an affecting and overpower- 
 ing discovery of the love of God as in redemption, 
 and by none is this endearing display of divine be- 
 nignity so fully and impressively apprehended as 
 by the stedfast adherents of the gospel. 
 
217 
 
 We indeed most frankly and gladly admit, that 
 even on the hypothesis of our opponents, upon the 
 principles of legality and natural religion, we are 
 oound to love God and serve him, By the very 
 constitution of our nature, we are laid under strong 
 and indefeasible obligations to comply with every 
 intimation of his will, and devote ourselves cordial- 
 ly, unreservedly and for ever, to the performance of 
 whatever he prescribes. His claims upon our ho- 
 mage and regard are confirmed by all his works 
 and dispensations. Every view that we can take 
 of the perfections of his nature, of the relation to 
 him in which we stand, and the unceasing commu- 
 nications of his kindness, most amply establishes 
 the fact, that w T e are not our own, and that we are 
 eternally bound to honour and obey him. We 
 owe him a large return of gratitude and devotion 
 for the blessings of creation and the gifts of provi- 
 dence. All that we have and all that we are, pro- 
 ceed entirely from his own bounty, and are the 
 fruits of his rich inexhaustible liberality and love. 
 And whilst they all proceed from his own munifi- 
 cence, who can recount the number, or express the 
 value of the varied, the precious, and inestimable 
 oenefits which w r e enjoy? To what quarter can we 
 turn without meeting with the most stupendous, 
 and magnificent marks of his benignity ? He has 
 conferred on us the most noble and useful faculties 
 and powers; he has placed us in a world stored with 
 his riches, and adorned with the most brilliant 
 T 
 
218 
 
 traces of his wisdom and his might; he has clothed 
 every scene with loveliness, and made every sense 
 the inlet of delight and gladness. For each of 
 these displays of his goodness we have cause of 
 deep and ardent attachment to his service; and 
 whilst expatiating amidst the exuberance of his 
 unwearied beneficence, if our minds were proper- 
 ly constituted, for all these expressions of his fa- 
 vour, we would constantly cultivate a thankful dis- 
 position, and by the purity of our hearts, and the 
 holiness and usefulness of our lives, we every day 
 would attest our fervent adoring gratitude, and 
 proclaim his merited and his matchless praise. 
 
 But however manifold and great the manifesta- 
 tions of his goodness in the works of creation, and 
 in the dispensations of providence, they have no 
 glory, by reason of a glory that excelleth. All their 
 majesty and worth, all their loveliness and gran- 
 deur, are completely surpassed and eclipsed by 
 that mercy of mercies, in which all our hopes are 
 founded, and from which all our present and ever- 
 lasting consolations and blessings flow, the gift of 
 his Son. It is here where he has arrayed himself 
 in the most amiable and attractive attributes of Di- 
 vinity; it is here where he has given full scope to 
 the exercise of his compassion and generosity, and 
 has shown to angels, principalities, and powers, 
 what wonders of grace and tenderness, a God of 
 almighty strength and boundless benevolence can 
 perform. Had he flung us for ever from his pre- 
 
219 
 
 sence, and closed on us the gates of everlasting 
 despair and misery; had he placed us under the 
 weight of his indignation, and left us through a 
 dark and a dreary eternity to deplore the direful 
 effects of our own infatuation and guilt, at the very 
 worst, we should have received no more than what 
 our crimes righteously deserved, and his justice 
 would have reaped one of its fairest, though most 
 awful, triumphs from our terrible and never-ending 
 misery. 
 
 To make us then the objects of pity; to deliver 
 creatures so mean, and sinners so vile and wretched 
 as we, from all this unknown and unutterable 
 wretchedness and horror; to redeem us by the suf- 
 ferings and sacrifice of his own Son, the brightness 
 of his glory, and the express image of his person, 
 is the very sublime of mercy, and carries divine 
 condescension and love to their very height and 
 consummation. More than this the mind cannot 
 conceive, nor could the Deity have employed, to 
 illustrate the benignity of his nature, and express 
 the strength and ardour of that concern which he 
 entertained for the children of men. Who can con- 
 template this transcendant display of his goodness 
 without emotions of the most elevated admiration, 
 and a glow of the most lively and transporting joy 
 and ecstacy ? Unless he possess the heart of an in- 
 fernal, is it possible for a man to take a survey of 
 the various incidents in this marvellous transaction, 
 and reflect on the countless and the infinite obliga- 
 T 2 
 
220 
 
 tions which we owe to this generous Friend of sin- 
 ners, to this almighty and compassionate Redeemer 
 of our mined race, without feeling that he is not 
 his own, that he is bought with a price, and bound 
 to glorify God in his soul, body, and spirit, which 
 are the Lord's ? 
 
 But, if the consideration of this astonishing, this 
 unequalled event, be admitted to possess any ten- 
 dency at all, to infuse a principle of affection and 
 gratitude into the heart of the believer, antfof acti- 
 vity and zeal into his performances; if it be admit- 
 ted that the maxim of inspiration is founded in 
 truth, and possessed of any practical utility and 
 force, " we love him because he first loved us," it 
 certainly cannot require any very tedious nor la- 
 boured argument to prove, that the moral conduct 
 of that man, whose belief is founded on the salva- 
 tion of the gospel, and who embraces it in all its 
 extent and latitude, must possess a prodigious and 
 immeasurable superiority over the religious and 
 virtuous services of the man, who is perpetually la- 
 bouring to contract its vast and boundless dimen- 
 sions, and who takes up his rest in the tenets of a 
 lower and colder creed. If it require no argument 
 to prove that the whole is larger than a part, or 
 that a multiple is greater than its multiplier; then, 
 when the blessings of redemption, in number and 
 in value, just as far exceed the importance and the 
 worth of the blessings of creation and the bounties 
 of providence, as the height of the pole surpasses 
 
221 
 
 the stature of a tulip, or the size of the globe trans- 
 cends the bulk of an atom, can any lengthened or 
 ingenious process be requisite to demonstrate that 
 the man, who, along with all the sense of gratitude 
 which, in common with the pupils of reason and 
 the votaries of legality, he owes for the mercies of 
 creation, and the blessings of a liberal and ever 
 watchful providence, who, without overlooking one 
 instance of these acts of divine beneficence, or in 
 the slightest degree detracting from their worth, 
 clearly and distinctly retains the whole, and heart- 
 ily and thankfully acknowledges the great and the 
 inexpressible value of them ail, and adds to their 
 vast amount the immense, the infinite obligations 
 which he derives from redemption, will be bound 
 by ties still more numerous and strong, talove, 
 honour, serve, and obey the Lord his God ? If he, 
 to whom much is forgiven, loveth much, and he, 
 to whom little is forgiven, loveth little; can that 
 man, who imagines that he can in part contribute 
 to his own justification, who, instead of cordially 
 embracing the righteousness of the Saviour, and 
 making it, not merely his main, but his only and 
 his delighted plea, employs it as subsidiary to his 
 own exertions, and dreams of dividing the merit 
 of his salvation with Immanuel, have the same 
 elevated and adoring admiration of redeeming 
 mercy, and the same devout and enraptured attach- 
 ment to the Redeemer, with the man who feels 
 himself indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ entirely 
 T 3 J 
 
222 
 
 who relies on him wholly, and glories in him a - 
 lone ? 
 
 If, therefore, love to the Lord Jesus Christ be 
 allowed to have any influence at all upon our obe- 
 dience, we certainly are abundantly warranted to 
 maintain, that the man who has the most distinct 
 and impressive views of this matchless manifestation 
 of mercy, must also have the most lively and fer- 
 vent attachment to the Redeemer, and that he, 
 whose affection to the Son of God is most strong 
 and intense, must likewise be the most consistent, 
 cheerful and active, in fulfilling every duty which 
 the Lord has enjoined; and, since the believer has 
 incomparably the clearest and the fullest convic- 
 tions of the extent and grandeur of this dispensa- 
 tion of grace, and is most powerfully penetrated 
 with a sense of the returns which he owes to his 
 Redeemer, he surely must be unspeakably more 
 steadfast, active, earnest and indefatigable, than 
 the legalist, in every work of faith and in every 
 labour of love. 
 
 * If this conclusion be granted, it is no doubt a 
 great point gained, and a position which appears 
 to be fairly and honourably won. This, however, 
 is very for 'from being all the advantage which the 
 advocates of a free salvation can claim. It would 
 be unjust to the noble cause which I plead, unjust 
 to the wisdom and kindness of our Redeemer and 
 Lord, unjust to the interests of religion and of 
 righteousness, to dismiss the subject, without en- 
 
223 
 
 deavouring to carry the reader farther, and, in 
 order to show him the strength and excellence of 
 the evangelical system, and the moral emptiness 
 and inefficiency of its rival, attempting to convince 
 him, that, without love to God and to the duties 
 which we discharge, we cannot be possessed of any 
 real religion or virtue at ail. 
 
 It is not the doing of what is just and honoura- 
 ble in itself, nor even of what is expressly appoint- 
 ed by the authority of God, which constitutes an 
 action good, and entitles the agent to approbation 
 and praise. It is only when the heart is linked to 
 what is right, and when we sincerely and deliber- 
 ately design to do what is equitable, and agreeable 
 to the will of God, that we can lawfully claim the 
 praise of goodness, and the commendation of hav- 
 ing done our duty. It is the intention which stamps 
 the nature of our characters, and from which all 
 our actions take their qualities; so that there is just 
 as much w r orth, and not a panicle more, in any 
 virtuous deed which we perform, as there is affec- 
 tion in our hearts to the pious or benevolent work 
 which we fulfil. If the heart be right, if the man 
 be supremely and ardently enamoured of what is 
 pure, holy, and beneficent, he deserves the name of 
 good, though, from the unfortunate circumstances 
 in which he is placed, he never should have the 
 opportunity of publicly accomplishing one gene- 
 rous or laudable service; but, if the heart be 
 naughty, that is 5 if the man be in love with vice, he 
 
224 
 
 merits the name of wicked, even though his whole 
 life, so far as the eye of the world can reach, were 
 spent in upright and benevolent exercises, and 
 covered all over with the cloak of religious sanc- 
 tity. If, while he is purposing and aiming at mis- 
 chief, through mistake or accident he should do 
 something that is peculiarly desirable and benefi- 
 cial; if, while the bent of his soul is designedly and 
 strongly set upon evil, from a love of fame, from a 
 fear of punishment, or any other mean and sinister 
 motive, his conduct should prove uncommonly 
 correct and useful, still his virtuous labours, how- 
 ever numerous and splendid, are totally destitute 
 of every particle of sound and genuine worth. A 
 hireling, at the very time that he entertains an an- 
 tipathy against the poor, and w r ould gladly, if he 
 durst, aggravate their sufferings, may be very ser- 
 viceable to the destitute, by carrying round to them, 
 at his master's command, a supply of money or 
 provisions: but is his charity, if that sacred name 
 may be prostituted to denote the unwilling and 
 sulky execution of the kind injunctions of another, 
 of the same description with the benevolence of 
 his master, who, prompted by the purest principles 
 of generosity, dives into the abodes of want and 
 wretchedness, listens to the tale of disappointment 
 and sorrow, and, with all the liberality which com- 
 passion can inspire, and all the tenderness of the 
 most endearing sensibility, ministers to the relief 
 of the indigent and mourning ? 
 
225 
 
 But, if the reluctant instrument of another's 
 bounty be no object of esteem, can that man him- 
 self, who, without any real love to duty, but merely 
 from mercenary and unworthy motives, is punctual 
 and exemplary in its performance, be more fairly 
 and honourably entitled to the praise or the rewards 
 of moral worth and excellence ? An organ may be 
 useful in pitching the tune, and in regulating the 
 voices of the congregation; but, while utterly in- 
 capable of any intelligent or studied affection for 
 the work in which it is employed, however true 
 or touching its tones, who would presume to affirm 
 that it is either grateful or devout? And, let a 
 man be ever so decent and respectable in his de- 
 portment, let his deeds of sympathy or munificence, 
 be ever so multiplied and magnificent; still, if he 
 is not in love with the duties which he fulfils, and 
 the upright practices which he pursues, if he does 
 not sincerely, explicitly, and from the heart, intend 
 and desire the promotion of the cause of religion 
 and of righteousness, in the sight of God and of 
 every candid and enlightened judge of moral con- 
 duct, what better or more valuable are his most 
 showy and expensive services than if they had been 
 performed by a machine ? To society they may 
 be of the greatest profit, but they are not of the 
 smallest benefit to the agent himself. 
 
 The number and the magnitude of his virtuous 
 achievements cannot, in the smallest degree, affect 
 their intrinsic quality. The want of an inward 
 
226 
 
 Jove of goodnes?, and of an honest design to do 
 what is commanded by God, forms a radical and 
 irreparable defect in his proceedings which vitiates 
 the whole of his deeds, and which no subsequent 
 exertions, however vigorous and persevering, can 
 rectify, and for which they never can atone. 
 Though a series of ciphers should be extended to 
 infinity, still so long as it does not contain a single 
 unit, the whole sum is totally destitute of the small- 
 est value. If each separate particle of corporeal 
 substance be without thought and sensation, though 
 it should be ever so nicely arranged and compound- 
 ed, collected from every quarter, and piled up to 
 immensity, what could be the product of the whole 
 of this laborious accumulation, but one enormous 
 mass of unfeeling unintelligent matter ? And, if 
 none of the duties which we discharge are done in 
 love, done simply aud purely because they are 
 right, and agreeable to the will of God; let thern 
 be ever so numerous and various, let them be ever 
 so diligently and perseveringly plied, let them be 
 prosecuted with the most strenuous activity and 
 imposing success, to what could the whole mighty 
 assemblage amount, but to one huge heap of barren, 
 empty, and unprofitable formalities ? 
 
 Now, if it be not the bare performance of what 
 is right that renders us good, but the doing of it 
 from love to God, and delight in the duties which he 
 has prescribed ; then, it necessarily follows that the 
 legal and self-righteous, amidst all their high claims 
 
227 
 
 to the possession of rectitude, have, in fact, no just 
 and well founded title to the praise of any moral 
 goodness whatever. This assertion may be regarded 
 as harsh and uncandid, but it is not stronger than 
 reason warrants, and it is therefore most earnestly 
 recommended to the serious attention of all those 
 to whom it applies. They may be unwearied in 
 going through the round of outward duty, and 
 may be eminent for many branches of social vir- 
 tue ; they may be possessed of great personal pro- 
 bity, and prove highly beneficial to the public ; 
 from long custom a moral life may have become 
 easy and habitual, and from the regularity and 
 readiness with which they fall into the services 
 which they render, they may fancy that they are 
 really in love with the practices which they pur- 
 sue. 
 
 But why do they embark in these duties, and 
 so uniformly and steadily fulfil them ? Is it from 
 delight in their nature, or attachment to that God 
 who has enjoined them ? Is it because these du- 
 ties are so just, reasonable, excellent, and amia- 
 ble, that they cannot possibly forbear them ? or, 
 is it because their gratitude and affection to the 
 Most High are so profound and overcoming, that 
 they cannot withhold themselves from his service; 
 but won by his kindness, and captivated by his 
 infinite and engaging perfections, they are irre- 
 sistibly constrained to spend and be spent in his 
 sacred and delightful employment ? Any of these 
 
228 
 
 amiable and hallowed springs of action., would 
 render their conduct a proper object of commen- 
 dation ; but nothing can be farther from their 
 hearts than the presence and influence of these 
 noble and laudable principles. When the secret 
 comes out, it is found that their attachment to 
 duty arises from no worth nor excellence which 
 holiness itself possesses, nor from any love or 
 gratitude to God for the blessings which they 
 have already received ; but merely, according to 
 the terms of their own creed, from the mean and 
 mercenary purpose of recommending themselves 
 by their performances to the favour of their Judge. 
 They love obedience to his law, exactly as a hire- 
 ling loves work, in order that he may establish a 
 right to his wages ; or as a patient loves an un- 
 palatable prescription, in order that he may re- 
 cover his health. And if the hireling would re- 
 nounce his labour, if he were sure of receiving his 
 reward by easier means; and if the patient wor.!d 
 abandon his nauseous draughts, if he were certain 
 of obtaining the removal of his malady by more 
 mild and agreeable measures : when the legal and 
 self-righteous are devoted to duty merely from the 
 selfish hope of an ample remuneration for their 
 paltry and despicable performances, demolish 
 the foundations of this sordid expectation, and 
 what hold could you in future have of their steady 
 and vigorous pursuit of virtue ? Having no root 
 of goodness in themselves, having nothing to bind 
 
229 
 
 their affections in close and indissoluble attach- 
 ment to the Lord, whenever this adventitious 
 stimulus is removed, all the fair and goodly array 
 of their duties and virtues will vanish, and their 
 zeal and ardour in the cause of religion and mor- 
 ality will expire. Extinguish the hope of heaven, 
 and the fear of hell ; tell them that their best and 
 most persevering efforts never can achieve the 
 mighty task which they have undertaken; con- 
 vince them that by the deads of the law no 
 flesh shall be justified in the sight of God, and 
 from that day and downward you may bid fare- 
 well to all their shewy exertions, for not one 
 motive would remain to animate them to the 
 cultivation of godliness, and the practice of good 
 works. 
 
 And if this be all the security which we enjoy 
 for the stability and permanence of their pious and 
 beneficient labours, let them be ever so seemly and 
 imposing, what is the real worth and significance of 
 the whole ? The mercenary quality of their motives 
 brings a cloud of suspicion and disgrace upon all 
 their services, and strips the most amiable and useful 
 of their labours, of all their loveliness and value. 
 Their best and purest services are not the result 
 of a deliberate and chosen love of rectitude, but 
 the effect of fear or hope, of accident or necessity. 
 And if there is nothing commendable in the deed 
 any father than it is the fruit of an upright and 
 honest desire to do what is for the glory of God, 
 U 
 
230 
 
 and the good of man; since this is a- wanting in the 
 services of the self-righteous and the legal, what 
 better title can they advance to the praise of mo- 
 ral worth, than what might be claimed for the 
 warmth of a vernal sun, or the refreshment im- 
 parted by a summer shower ? 
 
 But with the base, mercenary, stiff, contracted 
 fugitive, and heartless performances of the legal 
 and self-righteous, in order to perceive the pro- 
 digious and lovely superiority of evangelical mo- 
 tives, contrast the purity, the cordiality, the en- 
 tireness, steadiness, and intensity of a believer's 
 obedience. 
 
 In order to be acceptable, and render it a just 
 object of esteem, is it necessary that our virtue 
 should be pure, and proceed solely from a love of 
 goodness? When the leading and fundamental 
 article in the creed of a Christian is, that by grace 
 he is saved, how is it possible that the purity of 
 his obedience can be mixed or debased by any 
 mean or vile alloy ? Ovring the whole of his en- 
 joyments in time and through eternity, to the 
 generosity and grace of the Redeemer, and dis- 
 claiming all reliance upon the worth and efficacy 
 of his own exertions, what selfish, secular, igno- 
 ble, or sordid ingredient can be suspected of 
 entering into the composition of his services? To 
 what can his activity and ardour in duty be as- 
 cribed, but to his fixed, deliberate, and deter- 
 termined attachment to righteousness, or his strong 
 
251 
 
 and overpowering love and gratitude to God ? 
 And what better or purer principles can charac* 
 tense the obedience of mortals, or ennoble the 
 performances of angels ? When God is light,' 
 when God is love ; when he is the Father of glory, 
 and the Perfection of beauty ; when into his infin- 
 ite nature he has concentrated every attribute of 
 excellence and loveliness, what is the pure and ar- 
 dent love of God, but the pure and ardent love of 
 supreme, absolute, unchanging, eternal goodness? 
 When in his word he represents the supreme love 
 of himself, as the very crown and consummation 
 of all created virtue, when he tells us that we are 
 not our own, that we are bought with a price, 
 and upon this purchase grafts an exhortation to 
 glorify him in our soul, body, and spirit, which 
 are his ; when he commands us to love him with 
 all our heart and soul, and strength and mind, 
 ean any principles be more estimable in themselves, 
 or more acceptable in his sight, than intense and 
 tender love and gratitude to himself? Such lan- 
 guage proves that love is the fulfilling of the law, 
 and that the love of God and the love of duty are 
 the same. 
 
 The affections of love and gratitude appear to 
 contain the very sublime of virtue, and something 
 that looks altogether heavenly and divine. They 
 raise the creature to the nearest possible resem- 
 blance, that we can conceive, to the purity and per- 
 fection of the infinite and all-glorious Creator. Je- 
 ll 2 
 
232 
 
 hovah is good, and does good, not because in- 
 terest bribes, or necessity compels him, but be- 
 cause he loves righteousness, delights in benefi- 
 cence, and feels a keen, instinctive, invincible 
 abhorrence of all that is evil. And when the 
 Christian from his heart disclaims all dependence 
 upon his own efforts, and relies for salvation en- 
 tirely upon the righteousness and grace of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, unless he were sincerely and 
 zealously attached to goodness for its own beauty 
 and excellence, or powerfully and irresistibly ani- 
 mated by love and gratitude to the Father of 
 mercies, and the God of peace, why does he so 
 affectionately and earnestly cultivate every pure 
 and heavenly disposition, and so faithfully and 
 strenuously fulfil every religious and moral obli- 
 gation? Is it possible for a mortal to give a more 
 unequivocal pledge, than this man, of the integ- 
 rity of his principles, or to manifest virtue of a 
 quality more divine ? 
 
 If there be pure and disinterested virtue on 
 earth, it is seated in the heart of that man, who, 
 embarked amidst the storms and the trials of life, 
 assailed by the jarring and distracting competitions 
 of passions and temptation, and struggling with 
 all the depressing and deadening influence of re- 
 maining depravity and weakness, bravely sur- 
 mounts the force and violence of the whole; who, 
 without the dread of future vengeance, or the 
 sordid hope of a recompence for his labours, but 
 
2S3 
 
 solely from love to God, and delight in his ser- 
 vice, from affection and gratitude to his Divine 
 and adorable Redeemer, and a desire to advance 
 his honour and his interest, is supremely and un- 
 alterably devoted to every duty of religion and 
 morality; and who, through all die difficulties* 
 opposition, and dangers which frown around him*, 
 takes his clear and steady way to the regions of 
 light and of purity. 
 
 Granting, therefore, that his virtues should be 
 fewer than those of his brethren, which in fact is 
 very far, as we shail afterwards see, from be^ 
 ing the case, the simplicity and uncorruptness 
 of his motives, stamp a worth and a value on the 
 least service which he renders, which completely 
 surpasses the most gaudy and expensive deeds 
 which the men of the world can perform, 
 
 Is it necessary that our obedience, in order to 
 be acceptable and praiseworthy, should not only 
 be disinterested and pure, but also affectionate 
 and cheerful? These, likewise, are qualities w r hich 
 the duties of the believer possess in perfection, for 
 every thing that he does is the effect of his own 
 free and spontaneous choice, and the result of his 
 gratitude and love to his Saviour and Lord. 
 
 Redeemed by the blood of Christ, and sealed 
 by the Spirit of promise, called into the fellow- 
 ship of the gospel, and the hope of boundless and 
 never-ending glory, he regards himself as not his 
 own, but as the sole property of the Lord, and 
 U 3 
 
234 
 
 bound to consecrate to his service, and employ in 
 his praise, all that he is and all that he possesses. 
 He knows that if he had been left in the hands 
 of justice, everlasting and intolerable misery must 
 have been his portion. From this he was utterly un- 
 able to extricate himself, and no friend, in any quar- 
 ter of the creation, could have afforded him the small- 
 est relief. But from all this he has been rescued by 
 the sufferings and death of ImrnanueL And if we 
 have been saved by his blood, what an immense re- 
 turn of gratitude and love must we Gwe him ! Is it 
 natural for us to love those who love us, and have 
 shown us any signal and costly mark of their 
 favour?- Shall a slight addition to our worldly 
 comforts, through the bounty of a wealthy and 
 liberal friend, or the preservation of our lives by 
 the resolute and perilous interference of a humane 
 and heroic protector, lead us to venerate his per- 
 son, and labour, by every respectful attention and 
 affectionate service, to attest our own gratitude 
 and requite his endearing kindness? And is it 
 possible that the vast and boundless philanthropy 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, who not only exposed 
 his life to danger, but actually surrendered it for 
 our redemption, and surrendered it too in circum- 
 stances of unequalled ignominy and pain, who 
 laid it down to secure no limited nor temporary 
 benefit, but to deliver us from absolute wretched- 
 ness, and from unknown ond endless woe, and 
 invest us in the possession of blessings more 
 
2S5 
 
 numerous than the stars, and as lasting as eter- 
 nity, can lay us under less forcible and com- 
 manding obligations to love, serve, honour and 
 obey him? If our labours correspond to the 
 amount of his claim?, what a great, what an in- 
 finite return must we render him, when to him 
 we are indebted not only for life and reason, for 
 health and relatives, but for the safety of our 
 souls, for our immortal all, and for every thing 
 that can make immortality a blessing! 
 
 The impression produced upon every mind that 
 really knows his grace, must be just as much 
 more powerful, permanent and affecting, as his 
 majesty is higher than the most exalted in crea- 
 tion, and the effects of his compassion and gene- 
 rosity exceed in magnitude and duration the com- 
 munications of the most munificent of the sons of 
 men; and since the dignity of his person as far 
 transcends the grandeur of the noblest within the 
 dominions of the Deity, and the value of his gifts 
 as far excels the worth of the best and most 
 esteemed earthly enjoyment, as eternity exceeds 
 the period of threescore and ten, or the expanse 
 of immensity surpasses the dimensions of a mole- 
 hill, the Christian who has any genuine love to 
 the Redeemer at all, must love him above all 
 things, prefer him to his chief joy, and count 
 every thing but loss for his sake. Love to Jesus 
 will carry him competely away; it will swallow 
 up every discordant interest, every inferior con- 
 
236 
 
 diseration, and every conflicting claim; and give 
 to his obedience a strength and a firmness, an 
 elevation and an energy, an unction and a tender- 
 ness altogether beyond the comprehension of 
 meaner minds, and for which no match can be 
 found within the frigid regions of legality or the 
 boasted resources of reason and philosophy. All 
 their productions partake of the littleness and 
 imbecility of their puny authors. Redemption is, 
 the work of God, and over the whole he has 
 spread a portion of his own liberality and gran- 
 deur; and wherever this dispensation is felt and 
 known, the practical results will bear some cor- 
 respondence to the majesty and immensity of its 
 Great Original. 
 
 The obedience of the believer may be defective^ 
 for he has not yet attained, neither is he already 
 perfect; but cold, stiff, formal or artificial it can- 
 not be; for his heart is touched, and his affections 
 are thrown into every labour which he undertakes 
 and every service which he performs. From the day 
 that he knows the full amount of the inestimable, 
 the overwhelming obligations which he owes his 
 divine and adorable Redeemer, even though he 
 were left at liberty, he would find it utterly im- 
 possible to keep back his heart from God, The 
 love of Christ constrains him; the exalted and 
 realizing discoveries which he obtains of the 
 glories of ImmanuePs person, and the deep and 
 penetrating views which he acquires of the infinite 
 
287 
 
 value and eternal duration of the blessings which 
 he derives from his mysterious and affecting death, 
 with a strength and energy, more resistless than 
 fate, urge him on to every holy deed and to every 
 beneficent enterprise. He is stedfast and im- 
 moveable, always abounding in the work of the 
 Lord, not because he is driven to it as a task, and 
 compelled by terror to keep within the narrow 
 confines of duty, and trudge with reluctant and 
 weary steps through its galling, irksome and end- 
 less rounds, but because he loves it, delights in it, 
 and cannot let it alone. Supreme and ardent 
 love to Jesus ruling in his heart, it is his meat and 
 his drink to fulfil the will of God, and to finish 
 the work given him to do. His liberal soul de- 
 vises liberal things. Duty becomes his favourite 
 employment, his constant occupation, the source 
 of his highest and purest joy, and he never is in 
 his element but when engaged in works of faith 
 and in labours of kindness and utility. 
 
 Is it necessary that our obedience should be en- 
 tire and without reserve? If the preceding ob- 
 servations are founded in truth, then we may rest 
 assured that these are qualities by which the per- 
 formances of the Christian will be signally dis- 
 tinguished. For if to him redemption be all in 
 all, and love to God rule supremely and strongly 
 in his heart, how is it possible for him to withhold 
 any service which he is required or bound to 
 render ? 
 
Without this principle you may go far to re- 
 form or embellish the character; you may pro- 
 duce occasional fits and starts of piety and of good 
 conduct: but without it you cannot establish any 
 settled permanent principle of entire unqualified 
 universal holiness. By other means you may 
 nibble at iniquity, repress the violence of single 
 passions, or curb the prevalence of particular 
 crimes; by local and temporary expedients you 
 may succeed in giving a currency to a few moral 
 truths, and a popularity and eclat to a few solitary 
 virtues: but so long as the heart is not wanned 
 and filled with love to God, and actuated by a 
 supreme and ardent devotion to duty, every effort 
 to meliorate and purify the stubborn and sterile 
 soil of the human soul, is like attempting to 
 change the nature of the corrupt stock by paring 
 pruning and dressing the twigs and leaves, while 
 the root and trunk are left untouched. In a 
 frost, by means of a fire, you may melt the ice, 
 and throw a comfortable heat over a circum- 
 ference of a few fathoms ; but without a change 
 on the atmosphere, what kindly warmth could you 
 impart to a kingdom or a continent, though you 
 were to multiply your fires by thousands, and give 
 to each the strength and intensity of a volcano ? In 
 the most untoward years you may force a few 
 plants, and by extraordinary care and pains you 
 may extort a crop from a few detached patches: 
 but without the nourishing powers of a mild and 
 
2S9 
 
 genial season, by what exertions, within the reach 
 of mortal strength, could you clothe every field with 
 fragrance and beauty, and make every land laugh 
 with abundance ? And though by reason and argu- 
 ment you may convince a man of his duty and in- 
 terest ; though you may persuade him occasionally 
 to deny his favourite habits, and em! ark in the 
 exercises which he dislikes, till once his heart 
 is made right with God, and the uncontrolled and 
 predominant love of righteousness shed abroad 
 in his soul, on what ground can you ever expect 
 to inspire him with a firm unreserved unyielding 
 submission to every intimation of the Divine 
 will ? 
 
 But if the liquefying effects of thaw are irresist- 
 ible, and speedily annihilate the rigours of winter's 
 rugged dominion ; if the fertilizing influence of 
 rain and sunshine clothe the pastures with flocks, 
 and cover over the vailies with corn, when once 
 the mind is brought under the force of supreme 
 and fervent love to the Lord, how is it possible 
 that the man can withstand its purifying and 
 sanctifying power? This lays the ax to the root 
 of corruption, and accomplishes its destruction in 
 a mass and at once. Whenever affection and 
 gratitude to an infinite and all-sufficient God, for 
 the unsearchable, the inconceivable riches of his 
 grace, take full possession of the soul, and the 
 heart is wholly enamoured of his goodness and 
 glory, the man has no leisure nor inclination to 
 
240 
 
 pick and choose amongst the Divine precepts, nor 
 any desire nor hankering after things forbidden. 
 The absolute subjugation of his soul expels every 
 disposition to resist the authority of Him whom 
 he supremely loves, and lays its sweetly constrain- 
 ing energy on every principle and faculty of his 
 nature. His obedience is not regulated and mea- 
 sured by the narrow and contracted standard of 
 his own supposed interests, nor the taste and the 
 humour of a blinded and ungodly world, but by 
 the length and the breadth of the Divine law, and 
 the amount of that affection and gratitude which 
 he owes the God of grace. And as that law is all 
 alike holy, just, and good, and his obligations 
 are without number and without degree, his obe- 
 dience also is without limitation or restraint, 
 and as far above partiality as it is beyond hypo- 
 crisy. 
 
 Loving God supremely, and devoted to him 
 sincerely and fervently, he esteems all his com- 
 mandments concerning all things to be right. 
 There is no practice enjoined, within the whole 
 compass of the sacred code, but what he regards 
 with delight, and what, so far from endeavouring 
 to evade, he takes every opportunity, I would 
 not say to perform, but to enjoy. For when once 
 the heart is thus made right with God, duty 
 changes both its nature and its name. It is no 
 longer a burden and a drudgery, but an honour 
 and a privilege ; and the Christian would sooner 
 
241 
 
 relinquish his best and dearest earthly comforts, 
 than forego the pure pleasure, and the sublime 
 and inexpressible satisfaction to be found in the 
 work of his Saviour, and in the service of his 
 God. 
 
 Has he an opportunity for retiring and pouring 
 out his soul in secret supplication ? " He flies to 
 the throne of grace with an irresistible ardour, 
 and an avidity which nothing can satiate." Does 
 the Sabbath call him to an holy abstraction from 
 the world, and the gates of the sanctuary cpen to 
 invite him to a more close and sensible approach to 
 his Creator ? He hails with ecstacy the return of 
 the day of rest, and enters with gladness into the 
 courts of the Lord, to inquire in his temple, and 
 there to hold high and blissful communion with him 
 whom he loves. Has he been ungratefully and 
 injuriously treated, and would naughty nature dic- 
 tate the infliction of a base and malevolent re- 
 venge ? He suppresses every indignant and ran- 
 corous emotion ; and, as God for Christ's sake 
 hath forgiven him, he also learns to do the same. 
 Is he called to the exercise of liberality ? Remem- 
 bering the grace of Him, who, though he was rich, 
 for our sakes became poor, that we, through his 
 poverty, might be rich, he cheerfully gives alms 
 of such things as he possesses, and whatever he be- 
 stows, he gives, not grudgingly, but with good will, 
 and with a ready mind. Has he the means of con- 
 veying domestic instruction, or of promoting the 
 X 
 
242 
 
 general improvement and happiness of mankind ? 
 Whatever may be his talents or his station, he em- 
 braces every advantage which his situation affords 
 for advancing the edification, and securing the 
 temporal and eternal welfare of all around him* 
 He holds forth the word of life, and makes his 
 light shine before men, that they, seeing his good 
 works, may glorify his Father, who is in heaven. 
 
 In short, if we were to take a survey of the whole 
 range of moral obligation, or examine in detail the 
 separate branches of christian duty, we should find 
 that the believer performs all things that are com- 
 manded him, and that whatever he does, he does 
 in love, and heartily, as unto the Lord, and not 
 unto men. Wherever he goes, and in whatever 
 he is employed, he cannot, for one moment, forget 
 the declarations of his Master, " He that hath 
 my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that 
 loveth me; and again, ye are my friends if ye do 
 whatsoever I command you." With these words 
 perpetually ringing in his ears, the natural and 
 spontaneous language of his soul is, " Blessed 
 Jesus ! is this the love of thee, that I keep thy 
 commandments, and do those things which thou 
 hast said ? And hast thou loved me, and given 
 thyself for me ? Then here am I ; do with me 
 what seemeth good in thy sight. Speak Lord, for 
 thy servant heareth. Let me pass through fire, or 
 through water; let my worldly affairs flourish or 
 fade ; give me health and liberty, or lay bands on 
 
24S 
 
 my loins, and cause men ride over ray head; raise 
 me to honour and invest me with affluence, or 
 reduce me to indigence and clothe me with igno- 
 miny ; let my work be honourable and easy, or 
 accompanied with toil, reproach and danger : none 
 of these things move me ; let thy will be done ; 
 only let thy name be magnified in me and by me, 
 whether that shall be by life or by death : for I am 
 determined to know nothing but thee, and to glory 
 in nothing save thy cross." 
 
 Is it necessary that our obedience should be uni- 
 form and steady? The obedience of the believer 
 is fixed on a stable basis, and eminent for its con- 
 stancy and firmness. 
 
 What is forced or assumed will be worn with 
 difficulty, easily suppressed, and gladly laid aside ; 
 but what is habitual and natural cannot be so rea- 
 dily repressed, nor controlled with such facility. 
 Amidst every effort to restrain or subdue it, it will 
 still retain its activity, and, upon the removal of 
 the temporary check, exert its energy to recover its 
 former ascendancy and power. 
 
 The obedience, accordingly, of the self-righ- 
 teous, of the men of worldly principles and of 
 worldly probity, who are strangers to a paramount 
 regard to duty, and actuated merely by selfish and 
 mercenary considerations, may be unsettled and 
 desultory, and indicate a spirit that is very far from 
 being in accordance with its services, and very 
 anxious to get rid of its restraints. Their virtue 
 X 2 
 
244 
 
 may prove very fluctuating and evanescent, and 
 their progress, at every step, be encumbered with 
 impediments, and retarded by a thousand disturb- 
 ing causes. 
 
 But can this be the case with that man in whose 
 heart the love of God presides, and who prefers 
 him to his chief joy ? whose affections are all in 
 alliance with religion, and whose soul is engaged 
 and interested in its duties ? who is in love with 
 the Saviour, and the master passion of whose spi- 
 rit is a desire, in all things, to please him, and pro- 
 mote his honour and his praise ? who is ravished 
 with his goodness, and on whom he has centered 
 every faculty and power which he possesses ? Can 
 such a man, who regards his favour as life, and his 
 loving-kindness as better than life ; can such a man, 
 who loves him with his whole heart and soul, and 
 who can sincerely and firmly say, " Whom have I 
 in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth 
 that I desire besides thee," relinquish the sublime 
 and delightful work of the Lord, to return to the 
 galling and disgraceful drudgery of the world and 
 Satan ? Will an affectionate mother abandon her 
 own offspring, and lavish on a stranger the kind- 
 ness and caresses due to her infant son or her only 
 child ? Will a hero, who views cowardice with 
 abhorrence, act a pusillanimous and dastardly 
 part? And, whilst the christian is vehemently 
 and supremely enamoured of the condescension 
 and generosity of the Saviour, is it possible to se> 
 
245 
 
 duce him from the allegiance which he owes him, 
 or give the world, and vanity, and sin, that place 
 in his affections which is dedicated to the Redeem- 
 er, and occupied by him alone ? Such an event 
 will be possible then, and then only, when you can 
 supply him with blessings more numerous and 
 precious than those which the gospel contains ; 
 when you can furnish him with a heaven more 
 beatific and splendid than the habitation of the 
 Most High; when you can provide him with an 
 inheritance more durable than eternity ; or procure 
 him a benefactor more mighty and munificent 
 than the Illustrious Sufferer of Calvary. Then, 
 but not till then, will he entertain a thought of de- 
 serting the cause of his God, and of withdrawing 
 his homage from Him to whom he has yielded him- 
 self entirely, and to whom alone he lives. Till then, 
 we may depend upon his being stedfast and im- 
 moveable, always abounding in the work of the 
 Lord. 
 
 Stability is very far from expressing the real 
 nature of his devotion to the will of God. He is 
 not only rooted, and grounded, and settled in the 
 love and obedience of the truth, but his habits of 
 holy activity and diligence are continually on the 
 increase. His obligations being infinite, and his 
 sense of their extent and magnitude perpetually 
 present to his thoughts, his love and attachment, so 
 far from languishing and declining, are incessantly 
 gathering fresh force and vigour. If he Jove the 
 X3 
 
246 
 
 Saviour fervently, and serve him carefully to-day, 
 he loves him still more strongly, and serves him 
 with still greater alacrity and earnestness to-mor- 
 row. The farther that he advances in the chris- 
 tian career, and the nearer that he draws to the 
 world of light and bliss, the more he discovers of 
 the glory, and the more he experiences of the 
 liberality and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and his reverence, admiration, esteem, and at- 
 tachment to his person acquire a proportional ad- 
 dition of strength and intensity. His path ac- 
 cordingly is as the shining light. He holds on 
 his way, and waxes stronger and stronger. His 
 love, and zeal, and humility grow exceedingly, 
 and having received, and heard how he ought to 
 walk and please God, he abounds therein more 
 and more. 
 
 Is it necessary that our obedience should be ac- 
 tive and vigorous? I must once more observe, 
 that the believer's is also earnest and intense. 
 
 The obedience of the self-righteous, the men of 
 worldly principles and probity, may be stiff and' 
 artificial, cold and formal. Their heart is not in 
 their work, and their exertions are regulated by 
 their present or future interests. But the man in 
 whose heart the love of God predominates, who 
 is overpowered and transported with the greatness 
 of redeeming mercy, can withhold nothing from 
 him to whom he owes his all, mi whom he loves 
 with his whole soul, and strength, and mind. 
 
247 I 
 
 He not only does whatsoever the Lord has en- 
 joined, but whatsoever he does is done with a 
 promptitude and alacrity, with a warmth and 
 unction, with a decision and a vigour, which 
 proves that he is entirely embarked in the service 
 of the Saviour, and that he prefers it to his chief 
 joy. He counts no labour too hard, nor any 
 suffering too severe to attest his affection and 
 gratitude to Him who, almighty and glorious as 
 he was, loved him, and gave himself for him. 
 Much having been forgiven him, he loves much. 
 He is wholly engrossed with the obligations which 
 he owes the God of grace; and in the midst of 
 hardships, and in the (ace of death he feels what 
 the apostles experienced when they said, We 
 cannot but speak the things which we have seen 
 and heard. He finds a principle within him akin 
 to the Spirit which actuated Jeremiah when he 
 declared, that " The word of the Lord was in 
 him as a burning fire shut up in his bowels; and 
 he was weary with forbearing, and he could not 
 stay." You may just as soon hide the Jight at the 
 blaze of noon, or lay the rising tide, as restrain 
 or extinguish the holy zeal and heavenly ardour of 
 a soul, that is thoroughly penetrated and animat- 
 ed with gratitude and love for the great, the in- 
 finite blessings of redeeming mercy. 
 
 This subjugation of the heart to the love and 
 the authority of God carries every faculty and 
 power in willing and delightful captivity to his 
 
24S 
 
 service. At a funeral, the hireling mourners may 
 find it difficult to maintain the semblance of sor- 
 row, or even to preserve a sedate and grave de- 
 meanour: the distant relations too, and general 
 acquaintances of the deceased may walk forward 
 in the procession with an air of ease and indiffer- 
 enee: but the loving son, who has lost the parent 
 on whom he doated; the tender husband, who is 
 conveying to their last abode the remains of what 
 to him was best and dearest in creation, has no 
 occasion to tax his natural sprightliness in order 
 to compose his features into the artificial aspect 
 of distress, nor to borrow assistance from ideal 
 scenes of distress to prompt the appearance of 
 sadness. He is touched at heart, and every look 
 and every movement betray a soul sinking under 
 the burden of its griefs, and impatient to get rid 
 of the gaze of strangers, to give free vent in secret to 
 the fulness of its sorrows. The religious professor 
 who regulates his conduct by the dictates of honour, 
 or the calculations of expediency, by a reference 
 to the opinions of men, or a dread of future pun- 
 ishment, will find it hard indeed to preserve a 
 steady and consistent regard to the maxims of rea- 
 son and the rules of duty; his passions will be per- 
 petually rebelling against his conscience, and 
 struggling to break loose from the restraint and 
 discipline under which he would wish to place 
 them ; any occasional ardour that he may mani- 
 fest will soon languish, and his zeal and vigour 
 
249 
 
 abate; his virtue will prove very contracted and 
 formal, and his exertions very feeble and ineffi- 
 cient. But is it possible that this can be the case 
 with that man whose affections are all in alliance 
 with religion; whose heart is engaged and interest- 
 ed in its duties; who is completely captivated with 
 the Saviour's love, and the ruling and master 
 principle of whose spirit is a desire, in all things, 
 to do his will, and promote his praise? 
 
 Such a man is utterly unable to repress the 
 strong irresistible ardour of his devout and holy 
 feelings. Reverence, admiration, love, and gra- 
 titude to his Divine and adorable Master, lay all 
 opposition prostrate before them, and urge him 
 uncontrollably on in his sacred and ennobling em- 
 ployment. For his sake he is willing to spend and 
 be spent in works of faith, and in labours of love. 
 He counts not his life dear to himself, that he 
 may fulfil the trust assigned him, and finish his 
 course with joy. Redeemed by the blood of 
 Christ, and exalted to the sublime and transport- 
 ing hope of heaven, there are now an elevation 
 and a grandeur in his views, corresponding to 
 the exalted relations into which he is introduced, 
 and the bright prospects which he entertains; and 
 there are at the same time such a spirituality, 
 force, and tenderness in all his actions, as demon- 
 strate that he has been taught of God, and has 
 tasted that the Lord is gracious. Whatever he 
 now does, is done with all the energy of a man 
 
250 
 
 who loves his work, and is in earnest in what he 
 performs. When he reads, it is with all the se- 
 riousness and diligence of one who is searching 
 that record of truth and mercy, which was given 
 by the God of grace to conduct us to the enjoy* 
 ment of boundless and never-ending bliss. When 
 he hears the gospel, it is with all the attention and 
 eagerness of one who is listening to the words of 
 eternal life, and solicitous to know what he must 
 do to be saved. When he prays, it is as with 
 the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. When 
 he engages in acts of thanksgiving, his heart co- 
 incides with the expressions of his voice, and his 
 very soul ascends with his songs of praise. In 
 the whole of his life and conversation he sets the 
 Lord fully, and strongly, and affectionately before 
 him, and to the utmost of his power, yea, and 
 beyond his power, he strives to hold forth the 
 word of life, and glorify him in his soul, body, 
 and spirit which are his. 
 
 Look at the conduct of Paul. From the day 
 that Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, till 
 the memorable hour in which he laid his hoary 
 head on the bloody block, he never was at rest. 
 He was incessantly devising or executing some new 
 plan of piety and beneficence. He knew nothing 
 but Christ. For him to live was Christ. To ad- 
 vance the honour of his name, and extend the in- 
 fluence of his grace, were the objects which lay 
 nearest his heart and engrossed his most lively 
 
251 
 
 and intense solicitude. His attainments in per- 
 sonal holiness, his zeal, his diligence, and suc- 
 cess in the salvation of souls, and in the en- 
 largement of the Redeemer's kingdom have raised 
 him to an eminence far above any of the sons of 
 Adam. 
 
 But what was the principle which bound him 
 so firmly to his duty, and carried him forward 
 with such dauntless resolution and unabating en- 
 ergy in his laborious and dangerous career? What 
 was it that exalted him to such a matchless eleva- 
 tion in moral excellence, and spread round his 
 character such an array of majesty and loveliness, 
 that, over all the distance and darkness of inter- 
 vening ages, the light and the lustre of his exam- 
 ple still continue to shine, to stimulate, and guide 
 every succeeding competitor in the Christian race? 
 It was no blind nor perverted attachment to the 
 interests of legality, no presumptuous nor fruitless 
 desire to establish a righteousness of his own, and 
 recommend himself by his own works and worth 
 to the approbation of Heaven. Never was there a 
 human creature from whose mind such thoughts 
 were more abhorent, and who held such impious 
 notions in more deep and cordial detestation. 
 Never was there a man who more sincerely repro- 
 bated the arrogance and pride of human merit, 
 nor any whoj through a long life, more affection- 
 ately and strenuously contended for salvation by 
 pure and absolute grace. The great principle 
 
252 
 
 which pervaded every feeling of his heart, and 
 ruled with such unrivalled sway over all his powers, 
 was supreme and ardent attachment to the Re- 
 deemer. The love of Christ constrained him, and 
 for his sake he counted every thing but loss. 
 
 In Paul we have a true specimen of the moral 
 influence of the love of Christ. If not the only, 
 it was at least the predominant principle in his 
 mind. And wherever this love is known with 
 corresponding clearness, and felt with similar 
 fcrce, it will still produce the same effects. It 
 will teach the man to deny himself, to take up his 
 cross, and follow Jesus. It will compel him to 
 abound in the fruits of righteousness, to hold forth 
 the word of life, to be ready unto all good works, 
 and to do whatsoever his hand finds to do with 
 his might. 
 
 And whilst these are the natural and the neces- 
 sary effects of a clear and a full admission into the 
 mind of the doctrines of grace, no philanthropist 
 can implore a more noble and comprehensive 
 blessing to fallen humanity, than the universal 
 knowledge and cordial belief of these invaluable 
 truths : for this would be to plant the church, to 
 fill the state, and people the whole earth with men 
 like Paul. 
 
253 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 The Gospel establishes the Law by the assistance which it imparts 
 for performing the services which it enjoins. 
 
 From an examination of the natural and inhe- 
 rent tendency of the doctrines or the gospel, we 
 have already seen how directly and powerfully it 
 is calculated to secure the observance ot the law. 
 
 Before we take leave of the subject, we are 
 bound, in justice to this sacred institution, in jus- 
 tice to its most zealous and enlightened admirers, 
 and in justice to the kindness and love of the God 
 who revealed it, pointedly to call the attention of 
 the reader to the supernatural aid which it has 
 provided to carry into effect the truths which it in- 
 culcates. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is promised to clothe them 
 with success; and a peculiar efficacy, accordingly, 
 is found to accompany their faithful and affectionate 
 ministration. 
 
 In order to illustrate the importance and value 
 of this merciful arrangement, it will be requisite 
 to shew that his blessing is necessary to give effect 
 to moral truth, and that the communication of his 
 blessing is limited to the publication of the doc- 
 trines of the gospel. 
 
 Y 
 
254< 
 We must observe : 
 
 I. That his blessing is necessary to give effect 
 to moral truth. 
 
 We formerly had occasion to remark the great 
 importance of truth, and to take notice of the close 
 and inseparable connexion betwixt the conduct 
 which every man pursues, and the tenets which he 
 holds. It must, however, be as distinctly remem- 
 bered on the other hand, that no truth can exert 
 any influence whatever till it be understood and 
 embraced. Whilst it is unknown or disbelieved, 
 it can produce no more impression upon the heart 
 and the life, than if it possessed no existence, 
 
 In this respect the d ctrines of revelation are 
 precisely on a level with other facts. Though 
 admirably adapted to sanctify and purify the sons 
 of men, they do not operate by any inherent 
 and independent efficiency of their own. Before 
 they can accomplish any useful result, they must 
 be understood and credited. 
 
 In one respect, indeed, other truths enjoy a 
 great advantage over the doctrines of the gospel. 
 We have no interest to oppose their admission in- 
 to the mind, nor to divert them from their destin- 
 ed purpose. But the discoveries of revelation are 
 all so holy in their own nature, and so intimately 
 connected with such a train of momentous prac- 
 tical consequences, that we have a multitude of 
 prejudices to withstand their entrance, or, if ever 
 
255 
 
 they gain access at all, to pervert or weaken their 
 authority, that if they were left to make their own 
 way in the world, however simple, plain, and sal- 
 utary, they would either be rejected in a mas3, or 
 rendered totally inert and useless. 
 
 If like the truths in nature, we had nothing 
 within us to resist their entrance nor counteract 
 their exercise, they would universally secure the 
 readiest reception, and operate with the utmost 
 steadiness and precision. When a man under- 
 stands the import of the terms, he is at no loss to 
 tell whether ten thousand or ten constitutes the 
 greater number ; and with a sound eye he instantly 
 and inevitably perceives the difference betwixt 
 orange and purple. But if a man have no idea of 
 numbers, he can form no judgment whatever of 
 the proportion of one sum to another ; and if his 
 eye be diseased, the perception which he receives 
 will correspond to the nature of the distemper un- 
 der which he labours. The rays of light, viewed 
 through a coloured glass, possess the tinge of the 
 intervening substance, so that the impression which 
 they communicate, is exactly the same as if they 
 had proceeded from a luminous body of the hue 
 of the medium through which they are transmitted. 
 
 Were our tastes and habits in complete accord- 
 ance with the pure and holy dictates of Christi- 
 anity, the doctrines of the gospel would obtain 
 the most prompt and cordial welcome, they would 
 rule with unbounded sway, and by their own in- 
 Y2 
 
256 
 
 trinsic energy, would beget the most interesting 
 and delightful moral results. But addressed to 
 creatures so blinded by prejudice, and so miserably 
 enslaved as we to depravity and vice, however skill- 
 fully adapted to our condition, and however strong* 
 ly fitted to command the most salutary and bene- 
 ficial consequences, if left to their own unaided 
 influence, they would either produce no impres- 
 sion whatever, or one that would be altogether 
 powerless. Entrenched in its own prepossessions, 
 the mind systematically and dexterously repels 
 their approach ; or, if ever they force a lodgment, 
 a thousand passions and vices immediately unite 
 to warp them from their purpose and defeat their 
 gracious design ; and thus the word, though sent 
 down from the throne of mercy, and able to raise 
 us to the heaven of heavens, through the blindness, 
 perversity, and wickedness of man, in so many 
 melancholy and affecting instances becomes utterly 
 unprofitable. 
 
 If the efficacy of religious truth depended upon 
 its own inherent virtue; then, wherever it is equal- 
 ly understood and enjoyed, its success would be 
 perfectly uniform and equal; and from the known 
 degree of fidelity and zeal with which it is dispens- 
 ed, we could as safely and confidently predict its 
 effects, as the position of a planet, or the perfor- 
 mance of an engine. 
 
 History, however, and observation concur to 
 prove the humbling and the painful fact, that, 
 
257 
 
 where the means are the same, the result is widely 
 different. By the very same privileges, by which 
 some are exalted unto heaven, others are cast down 
 into hell. Of the inhabitants of the same parish, 
 of the worshippers in the same congregation, of 
 the members of the same family, where every ex<* 
 ternal mean is not merely similar, but identically 
 the same, one is taken and another left. At the 
 same ordinance, one is impressed, melted, elevat- 
 ed, and refreshed ; and another, in the seat be- 
 side him, yawns throughout the whole of the sa- 
 cred service, and looks around him with an air of 
 the most vacant listlessness, and the most impen- 
 etrable insensibility. Under the same sermon, 
 one hears as if he heard not, and another hears as 
 for eternity: on the one the doctrines of salva- 
 tion fall as rain upon the rock; to the other they 
 come as water to the thirsty, and as floods to the dry 
 ground. And when thus the truths stated are the 
 same, and the manner in which they are enforced 
 is the same, what inference can we draw from tl;e 
 different consequences by w T hich they are followed, 
 but the conclusion which the apostle has drawn 
 before us, so then, neither is he that planteth 
 any thing, neither he that watereth, but God that 
 siveth the increase ? 
 
 The Bible is at all times the same. Its contents 
 
 aever vary: but a very different impression is pro- 
 
 Juced by its truth upon different men, and even 
 
 jpon the same man at different times. One reads 
 
 Y 3 
 
25S 
 
 it to feed a foul and festering imagination, or to 
 furnish himself with materials to point his unhal- 
 lowed jests, and give a zest and seasoning to the 
 insipidity and filth of his daily profanity; and ano- 
 ther reads it to be made wise unto salvation, to 
 imbue his heart more thoroughly with its pure 
 principles, to discover more of the marvellous 
 loving-kindness of the Lord, and to bind his soul 
 in more close and lively union with his Saviour. 
 A Voltaire and a Paine peruse it, to hold up its 
 sacred contents to the insult and derision of an 
 unbelieving and ungodly age; a Romaine and an 
 Erskine bend in devout and sublime delight over 
 its holy pages, to maintain high converse with 
 their God, and anticipate the joys and transports 
 of a blessed immortality. To the humble and the 
 faithful, the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoic- 
 ing the heart; they open the eyes, and make wise 
 the simple : to the worldly and the wicked they 
 are dark and unintelligible mysteries, or if ever 
 any portion of their meaning is discerned, it ex- 
 cites only their disgust and enmity. The Chris- 
 tian delights in the law of God, and meditates on 
 it day and night; he esteems the words of God 
 more than his necessary food, and makes them his 
 song in the house of his pilgrimage : the infidel 
 and reprobate, though with an interest as great 
 and lasting in their reality, detest their discover- 
 ies, and with a malign and perverse ingenuity, 
 labour to undermine their authority and counter- 
 
25# 
 
 act their renovating and purifying power. The 
 renewed mind embraces with gladness and cleaves 
 with firmness to all their precious truths; the na- 
 tural man receiveth not the things of the Spir- 
 it of God, neither can he know them; because 
 they are spiritually discerned. To the one the 
 the doctrines of inspiration are a savour of life un- 
 to life, and to the other a savour of death unto 
 death. And thus what was ordained and fitted 
 unto salvation, through the perverseness and cor- 
 ruption of those to whom it is addressed, proves 
 the occasion of condemnation and wrath. 
 
 The works of nature are alike open to the con- 
 templation of the believer and the unbeliever, and 
 every where present the same fertile and impressive 
 proofs of creative power and skill. The effect, how- 
 ever, which they produce upon the minds of observ- 
 ers is very dissimilar. Whilst one surveys them 
 all with brute unconscious gaze, another rises from 
 " nature up to nature's God," and finds the flame 
 of grateful ardent devotion, acquiring fresh strength 
 and vigour at every step in his delightful progress. 
 Scenes which elevated the admiration of Newton 
 to rapture, have no influence upon the blunter 
 feelings of the disciples of the French physical 
 school. From a field of observation more exten- 
 sive and sublime than the telescope ever subjected 
 to the survey of astronomy, so far from being over- 
 powered and softened by the glories of a present 
 Deity every where rising^ around him, the eye of a 
 
260 
 
 fiend gathers nothing but matter to strengthen his 
 malignity, and send him back, with confirmed re- 
 solution and activity, to deeds of evil and of dark- 
 ness. 
 
 These facts seam abundantly to prove that truth 
 does not operate by any inherent or independent 
 energy of its own; that, in order to give it effect, 
 it is not enough that it should be presented to the 
 mind, that its meaning should be explained, its im- 
 portance stated, and its certainty demonstrated. 
 They intimate that something more must be done; 
 that the attention must be attracted to it, that its 
 nature must be understood, its excellence seen, and 
 its truth believed. The heart must be prepared to 
 embrace it, and the soul itself endowed with a taste 
 to relish and approve it. To create this taste, and 
 secure this preparation, nothing less than divine 
 power is requisite; and to produce them, is the 
 w r ork of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 But, whilst we are thus obliged to maintain the 
 ineflicacy of moral truth when deprived of the Spi- 
 rit's aid, every sentence which we have now been 
 uttering, goes directly and powerfully to establish 
 the unspeakable, the infinite importance of evan- 
 gelical truth : for, if nothing less than the agency 
 of the Holy Ghost can give effect to moral truth, 
 it must be remembered, 
 
 II. That it is only to evangelical truth that his 
 influences have been promised, and it is only 
 
261 
 
 through this medium that we are warranted to ex- 
 pect them. 
 
 To hope for the enjoyment of his assistance 
 through any other means, must be altogether 
 groundless and delusive. After all that the Lord 
 Jesus Christ has done to purchase our redemption, 
 after the care with which, in the pages of inspira- 
 tion, he has delineated the way of life and peace, 
 after the affecting proof which he has given that, 
 in the salvation of men, he himself is all in all, can 
 any thing be more insulting to his person, or more 
 subversive of the essential distinctions betwixt 
 right and wrong, than to assert or suppose that the 
 same or similar success may be expected to attend 
 the preaching of truth and of error ? the doctrines 
 of grace, and the nostrums of legality ? the prin- 
 ciples of St. Paul, and the ethics of Cicero, Seneca, 
 or Plato ? the statements of that system which 
 gives to Jesus the undivided glory of our salvation, 
 )r the tenets of that scheme in which he enjoys 
 3nly a partial sovereignty, and in which self-righ- 
 teousness is exalted to share his throne? In other 
 ;ases, do we find that the same results follow from 
 ;he use of opposite means, and that it is immaterial 
 vhether the natural and adequate instrument be 
 employed, or one that has no fitness whatever for 
 he purpose in view ? Is a knowledge of the lan- 
 guage of ancient Athens just as readily acquired 
 )y instructions in German, as by lessons in Greek? 
 s eminence in Mathematics just as certainly at- 
 
262 
 
 tained, by applying the mind to the principles of 
 botany or music, as by devoting the attention to 
 the elements of geometry ? Is skill in the healing 
 art just as speedily and effectually gained by inves- 
 tigating the institutions of law, or the rules of na- 
 vigation, as by giving up the mind to the business 
 of medicine ? And, if we would wish to become 
 wise unto salvation, and arrive at the possession of 
 that holiness, without which no man can see the 
 Lord, pray whether is this most likely to be se- 
 cured bv studvin^ the truth as it is in Jesus, and 
 which the God of heaven has stamped with his 
 signal approbation and blessing, or by betaking 
 ourselves to the speculations and dreams of rash 
 and arrogant men, and which, in every period of 
 their history, have laboured under the withering 
 and blasting rebuke of the Almighty, and which 
 have proved totally abortive ? If men may be as 
 readily converted to God, and led to the love and 
 practice of holiness, by the doctrines of natural 
 religion as by the principles of the gospel, for what 
 end has revelation been given, or what purpose 
 can the Lord Jesus Christ serve in the religion of 
 a human creature ? 
 
 If we are willing to abide by the decisions of the 
 Bible, we shall very soon admit the paramount 
 authority of evangelical doctrine, for it is no small 
 stress which it teaches us to lay upon the truth. 
 There we find that prayer is made for the diffusion 
 of religious knowledge, and the universal preva- 
 
263 
 
 knee of the truth. We are there told that we are 
 begotten through the word of truth, and sanctified 
 through the truth. We are there exhorted to hold 
 fast the form of sound words, to buy the truth and 
 sell it not, and to contend earnestly for the iaith 
 once delivered to the saints. Departures from the 
 faith are deprecated, and anathemas poured forth 
 against ail who pervert the word of God, and cor- 
 rupt the gospel of Christ. 
 
 When such respect is every where paid to the 
 truth, can we, for a moment, imagine that the 
 Holy Ghost will affix the seal and stamp of his 
 sanction to a falsehood, and employ dogmas which 
 he never published nor approved, as the means of 
 savingly uniting the soul to Jesus, and promoting 
 the life and power of godliness ? No: he delights 
 in method and regularity, and, with the whole 
 creation at his command, and all the resources of 
 Deity at his disposal, he is pleased to restrain his 
 influences within the limits which he himself has 
 selected, and to pour them out in rich and life- 
 giving effusion, only through the conveyances which 
 he himself has prescribed. 
 
 To Omnipotence all things are possible. The 
 Most High has an unlimited choice of instruments, 
 and can as easily accomplish his purposes in one 
 form as in another. If such had been his pleasure, 
 he could as effectually have called the world into 
 being by reversing the words which he pronounc- 
 ed, as by using the language which he actually 
 
2G4 
 
 uttered. And, if such were his will, he could as 
 easily procure the sanctification of the sons of men, 
 by deep and recondite discussions on virtue or 
 philosophy, as by the plain and affectionate preach- 
 ing of the pure and unadulterated gospel of peace. 
 But he is the God of order; and, though he can 
 compass ends far beyond the reach of the agency 
 which he u es, stiil he preserves a correspondence 
 betwixt the instruments which he takes into his 
 service, and the objects which he secures. Crea- 
 tion, accordingly, was brought into being, not by 
 prohibiting its ex'sten^e, but by the authoritative 
 command to let it be. And conversions are made, 
 and the work of renovation is carried on, not by 
 means of plays, novels, romances, and the other 
 offals of the literary world, nor even by profound 
 and elaborate disquisitions on pneumatology and 
 morals, but by a plain and faithful declaration of 
 the truth as it is in Jesus. In every instance in 
 which a sinner has been turned from the evil and 
 error of his ways, to the wisdom and obedience of 
 the just, whatever may have been the immediate 
 occasion or mean, the grand and powerful instru- 
 ment is ultimately found to have been truth derived 
 from the word of God; and of all the truths which 
 the Holy Ghost has dignified, as the medium of 
 savingly uniting the soul to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and of producing genuine and acceptable obedience, 
 none have been more eminently distinguished and 
 blessed than the doctrines of grace. Those des* 
 
265 
 
 pised and hated truths which enter into the very 
 substance and essence of the go i h consti- 
 
 tute the life and soul of Christianity, and which 
 prove the foundation of a sinner's hopes, and the 
 source of all his joys, are the weapons which the 
 God of heaven lias honoured, to pull down the 
 strong holds of vice and infidelity, which have hum- 
 bled the pride of imperial Rome, liberated so many 
 of the kingdoms of Europe from the yoke of papal 
 usurpation, and, by sweeping inroads upon the do- 
 minions cf the prince of darkness, have shaken the 
 reign of pagan abominations; and it is through the 
 instrumentality of these truths, that the religion of 
 peace shall walk abroad into the length and breadth 
 of the earth, subjugate the nations to the faith, and 
 spread the healing virtue of the cross over the whole 
 extent of our wretched and bleeding world. It is 
 by the law which goes forth out of Zion, and the 
 word of the Lord which proceeds from Jerusalem, 
 the law of faith, the gospel of peace, that the moun- 
 tain of the Lord's house shall be established in 
 the tops of the mountains, exalted above the hills, 
 and that all nations shall flow unto it; that the 
 people shall walk in his paths, and that nation shall 
 not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they 
 learn war any more. 
 
 ?! We preach Christ crucified," said the most 
 successful preacher of righteousness that ever em- 
 barked in that momentous and sacred undertaking, 
 " unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the 
 
 Z 
 
266 
 
 Greeks foolishness : but unto them who are called, 
 both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, 
 and the wisdom of God." If the wise and the 
 learned had been assembled in close consultation^, 
 to devise the most effectual plan of arresting the 
 career of profligacy and impiety, and of planting 
 in the world the universal love and practice of ho- 
 liness, they would unanimously have recommended 
 the preaching of the law, warm and eloquent ad- 
 dresses upon the excellence and utility of virtue, 
 the beauty and advantages of a moral life, and the 
 efficacy of good works, to purchase the favour of 
 the Deity, and secure the highest distinctions 
 amongst the blessed : but the proposal of preaching 
 the gospel, of proclaiming through the nations the 
 glad tidings of salvation by grace, they would have 
 heard with alarm, and have exploded with instant 
 and unmeasured indignation, as the infallible way 
 to subvert the foundations of morality, and deluge 
 the earth with anarchy and crimes* But the 
 thoughts of God are not as our thoughts, nor his 
 ways like ours. The very process which they 
 would have scouted, is the method adopted by 
 Omniscience. *' For, after that in the wisdom of 
 God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it 
 pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to 
 save them that believe. ,, And, let it not be for- 
 gotten, that the very same truths, which are the 
 instrument of the souPs conversion, are also the 
 means of the sinner's sanctification. It is by be- 
 
267 
 
 coming dead to the law, by despairing of justifica- 
 tion by works, and by betaking himself to the 
 righteousness of faith, that he lives unto God. 
 " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become 
 dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye 
 should be married to another, even to him who is 
 raised from the dead, that we should bring forth 
 fruit unto God : for, when we were in the flesh, 
 the motions of sins, which were by the law, did 
 work in our members to bring forth fruit unto 
 death : but now we are delivered from the law, that 
 being dead in which we were held, that we should 
 serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness 
 of the letter " 
 
 The promise of the Holy Spirit, to guide, en- 
 lighten, and sanctify the people of God, pervades 
 the Old Testament, and is there held up to their 
 expectations and their prayers, as the best and 
 noblest blessing which would distinguish and crown 
 the New Testament dispensation; In circumstan- 
 ces of unequalled solemnity and tenderness, this 
 promise was renewed by our dying Redeemer. 
 But, how is the possession of this invaluable bene- 
 fit of his presence and agency, to be obtained ? By 
 such language as the following the apostle has 
 placed the answer to this question, beyond the 
 shade of suspicion: " Christ hath redeemed us 
 from the curse of the law, being made a curse for 
 us, that the blessing of Abraham might come on 
 the Gentiles through Jesus Christy that we might 
 Z 2 
 
268 
 
 receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 
 He, therefore, that ministereth to you the Spirit* 
 and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by 
 the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith ? 
 This only would I learn of you, received ye the 
 Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing 
 of faith?" 
 
 If there be either meaning in language, or con- 
 sistency in the apostle's reasoning, there can be no 
 doubt that faith, and the hearing of faith, denote, 
 in the most strict and rigid sense of the terms, the 
 pure doctrines of the gospel, those doctrines which 
 Paul preached with such affection and success, for 
 which he contended with such earnestness and 
 zeal, and for the maintenance of which, in the 
 Christian church, he cheerfully sustained the loss 
 of all that in this world his heart could hold dear. 
 It is to these truths that the promise of the influ* 
 ences of the Holy Spirit is confined, and it is, 
 therefore, only by the cordial reception of them 
 that we are warranted to expect the enjoyment of 
 his blessing. 
 
 Now, if it be true, as we have already proved, 
 that his agency is necessary to give effect to moral 
 truth, and if this agency be promised only to the 
 preaching of the gospel, can it admit a moment's 
 doubt whether the legal or the evangelical system 
 bids fairest for success ? If no man can hesitate 
 whether light or darkness be most luminous and 
 cheering; if we cannot, for one instant, question 
 
269 
 
 whether a mountain or an atom be most bulky y 
 can it be more uncertain whether human weak- 
 ness, or almighty strength, be most powerful and 
 efficient? whether the man, who encounters all 
 the difficulties, fatigues, and hazards of duty, in 
 the feebleness of his native imbecility, or he who 
 meets them in the might of Omnipotence, be most 
 likely to bear up against their pressure, and return 
 with honour and with triumph from the trial ? 
 
 And, if this be a point on which no dubiety 
 can exist, can we be at a greater loss to determine 
 whether his presence and aid may be most reason- 
 ably expected in the way in which we have seen 
 that they have been promised and enjoyed, or in 
 the way in which they have uniformly been denied 
 and withheld ? Can we as infallibly arrive at a 
 right result by following an erroneous principle, 
 as by employing a correct process ? or can we more 
 rationally look for the help of the Holy Spirit, by 
 adhering to the works of the law, when he himself 
 has expressly limited the communication of his 
 assistance to the hearing of faith ? 
 
 On his own principles, the legalist can neither 
 greatly ask nor expect the succour of the Holy 
 Spirit: for, if he be not compelled to rely entirely 
 on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 seek salvation solely through grace, it cannot be 
 thought that he regards himself by nature as to- 
 tally depraved and undone, and utterly without 
 God and without hope. But, so long as he ima- 
 Z8 
 
270 
 
 gines that salvation is, in any degree, the fruit of 
 his own virtuous exertions and religious perform- 
 ances, it is clear that he will, in a greater or less 
 degree, rely for his acceptance in the sight of God 
 upon his own powers and resources. In exact 
 proportion, however, to the confidence which he 
 reposes in these visionary grounds of trust, will he 
 undervalue or despise the aid of the Almighty 
 Spirit. Who will go to school to learn what he 
 fancies that he already knows ? Who will part 
 with his most valued property to acquire some in- 
 ferior article which he believes that he already 
 possesses? And what legalist, who dreams that, 
 by the deeds of the law, he can either, in whole or 
 in part, establish a righteousness of his own, can 
 be supposed to betake himself earnestly and. ar- 
 dently, by supplication and prayer, to the Spirit 
 of grace to renovate his nature, to sanctify hirrt 
 wholly, and to work in him to will and to do what 
 is pleasing unto God ? 
 
 But on the other hand, look at the believer, the 
 man who, from a discovery of his helplessness and 
 misery, the man who, from a sight of his absolute 
 depravity and ruin, is compelled to repair simply 
 and entirely to the hope set before him. By his 
 complete, renunciation of all dependence upon his 
 own works and worth, and by his'solicitous and cor- 
 dial reliance on the merits of Immanuel, this man 
 gives the most unequivocal evidence of his firm 
 conviction that, if nothing less than the grace of 
 
271 
 
 Christ can forgive his offences, nothing less than 
 the power of the Divine Spirit, can subdue his 
 iniquities, purify his heart, and form hirn to habits 
 of holiness and virtue. By the very same mea- 
 sures, therefore, by which he is led to apply for 
 pardon, he is induced to implore sanctification, 
 and he is compelled to be not more urgent and 
 importunate in his entreaties, for the free remission 
 of his trespasses, than for the thorough renovation 
 of his nature. 
 
 But, granting that the legalists should entertain 
 the highest ideas of the importance of his help, 
 and that their petitions for its communication should 
 be ever so fervent and incessant, what security 
 have they for ever obtaining its possession ? ,Are 
 they warranted to count upon his presence and 
 agency while embarked in a scheme, calculated to 
 undermine the foundations of the doctrines of 
 grace, and render his assistance superfluous and 
 nugatory ? Is it from such language as the follow 7 - 
 ing, that they are authorised to plead or demand 
 his blessed and almighty influences ? " As many 
 as are of the works of the law are under a curse. 
 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever 
 of you are justified by the law ; ye are fallen from 
 grace?" Was it for attempting to blend their 
 own works with the righteousness of the Redeem- 
 er, which gave occasion to the tremendous decla- 
 ration, " Though we, or an angel from heaven, 
 preach any other gospel than that which we; have 
 
2n 
 
 preached unto you, let him be accursed ?" And 
 can a mortal gain a blessing for the very crime 
 which would have brought down a curse upon an 
 angel ? 
 
 With such prodigious odds against them, can 
 we wonder at the barren and abortive efforts of 
 the partisans of legality ? The tenets which they 
 propagate may possess the charm of novelty, they 
 may bear the signatures of the most unrivalled ori- 
 ginality and deep research, they may be adorned 
 with the splendours of eloquence, and graced with 
 all that is esteemed and venerated amongst men : 
 but they cannot boast the approbation of the Most 
 High, nor command the gracious and resistless 
 energy of the Eternal Spirit. These are distinc- 
 tions reserved to consecrate and bless the gospel 
 of the Son of God, and they impart to this sacred 
 system a force and a virtue infinitely superior to 
 every other scheme, which has been recommended 
 to the belief or the obedience of men. 
 
 Without his presence and his aid, the law, 
 though expounded with the utmost clearness, and 
 urged with the most fervid and persevering zeal, 
 when addressed to creatures so depraved and per- 
 verse as we, is but a dead and useless letter. All 
 that it can do, is merely to point out our duty, and 
 denounce the penalty due for violating or neglect- 
 ing what it enjoins : but there it leaves us. It gives 
 us neither inclination nor ability to perform its 
 requisitions. It distinctly describes, the services 
 
273 
 
 which we owe to God, and peremptorily and au- 
 thoritatively enforces their fulfilment; it prescribes 
 minutely the number, the weight, the size, and the 
 quality of the brick which we are to fabricate ; but 
 it does not furnish us with a single article for their 
 manufacture. It brings together the skin, and 
 bones, and muscles of a moral body; but it has no 
 vivifying principle at command, to inspire it with 
 warmth and animation. 
 
 The Spirit of life from the living God pervades 
 the evangelical system. This Holy Being, who has 
 taken it under his immediate and special protection, 
 and presides in high authority over all its varied 
 details, is omnipotent, and can, with ease and effi- 
 cacy* accomplish whatever purpose he pleases. He 
 can receive of the things of Christ, and shew them 
 to the mind. He can not only explain the Scrip- 
 tures, but also open our understandings to under- 
 stand them. He can write the law of God upon 
 our blurred and blotted conscience, renew our de- 
 praved and disordered heart, quicken our dull and 
 drowsy powers, make us walk in his statutes and 
 run in the way of his commandments ; he can cir- 
 cumcise our heart to love and fear the Lord, form 
 us after the image of our Saviour, and fulfil in us 
 all the good pleasure of his goodness; he can make 
 us delight in this law after the inner man, and pre- 
 fer its observance to our chief joy ; he can manage 
 all our complicated interests, and link our weak- 
 ness in alliance with his almighty strength. 
 
274 
 
 Till once, therefore, the votaries of self-right- 
 eousness can find a match for Omnipotence, it is 
 vain to expect the same success to accompany their 
 exertions, as is seen to attend the labours of those 
 who are engaged in the faithful manifestation of 
 the doctrines of the gospel. 
 
 It is impossible to close this chapter without ad- 
 verting to the endearing proof which it affords us 
 of the infinite importance of the doctrines of the 
 gospel. It is upon the supposed moral efficacy of 
 their own scheme that our opponents assume the 
 greatest state and consequence; and it is from its 
 imaginary tendency, to relax the sinews of duty, 
 and weaken the force of virtuous obligations, that 
 they have contracted the strongest aversion to our 
 system, and assailed ic with the most rancorous and 
 persevering hostility* But the fact is, that what 
 they regard as a blemish, constitutes its leading or- 
 nament and excellence ; and it is exactly where 
 they fancy that it is most weak and vulnerable, 
 where its greatest strength and virtue lie. There is 
 no advantage which it possesses, nor any beneficial 
 effect by which it is attended, but what may be ul- 
 timately traced to the truths which it contains. It 
 is by their means that it demonstrates the obliga- 
 tion of the law, and the necessity of obeying it; 
 that it begets love to God, and a desire to fulfil his 
 will ; it is through their medium that the Spirit 
 of grace communicates his renovating, purify- 
 ing, and saving influences. Before the friends of 
 
275 
 
 Morality begin to burlesque or revile the doctrines 
 [)f grace, it is impossible for words to express the 
 service which it would render to the cause of reli- 
 gion and of righteousness, if they would only sub- 
 mit to the pains of making themselves acquainted 
 with the real nature, and sanctifying power of these 
 truths. By opposing their diffusion, though unin- 
 tentionally, they, in reality, wage war upon the best 
 ally of moral goodness, and the most effectual in- 
 strument which God has employed, for securing 
 the holiness and happiness of the human race. 
 
276 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 CONCLUSION, 
 
 Remarks on the evidence which facts afford of the 
 moral efficacy of the gospel , the importance of 
 evangelical truths and the necessity of believers 
 maintaining a holy and consistent conduct* 
 
 Thus then, from a pretty extensive view of the 
 subject, we have seen what strong and ample rea- 
 son there is, on the one hand, to assert the per- 
 petual obligation of the law, and on the other, to 
 maintain the holy tendency of the glorious gospel 
 of the blessed God, and the safety with which we 
 may affirm that the most suspected and calumniated 
 truth within the whole compass of revelation, the 
 doctrine of salvation by grace, is a doctrine ac- 
 cording to godliness, and of all the instruments 
 that ever were employed for the reformation and 
 improvement of men, is incomparably the most 
 mighty and successful. 
 
 Its nature may be misunderstood; the truth 
 may be held in unrighteousness; carnal and world- 
 ly professors may bring a reproach upon the good 
 ways of God, and deceive themselves to their 
 everlasting ruin, by fancying that the orthodoxy 
 
277 
 
 of their creeds, and their forwardness and ardour 
 i in avowing the tenets which they contain, will 
 prove a substitute for the substantial duties of 
 piety and virtue, and atone for all the criminal 
 defects and gross immoralities of their lives. For 
 what truth is there so clear, unquestiDnable, and 
 sacred, which has not been abused, or which is 
 not, from the base passions and perverse ingenui- 
 ty of unholy men, liable to abuse? If the grace 
 of God in redemption has been turned into licen- 
 tiousness, his goodness in creation and providence 
 has also been converted into an occasion of hard- 
 ening men in sin, and emboldening them to ad- 
 vance to still more daring heights of outrage and 
 crime. These, however, are evidently perver~ 
 sions of two most amiable. and engaging branches of 
 the divine administration : and where would be the 
 wisdom or the piety of attempting to deny or con- 
 ceal either the one or the other, upon account of 
 any of the mischievous ends to which they have 
 been applied ? Notwithstanding all the lament- 
 able purposes to which it has been prostituted by 
 the worthless and the wicked, the goodness of 
 God in its natural tendency leads, and in ten 
 thousand blessed instances has actually led, to 
 repentance: and notwithstanding all the melan- 
 choly instances in which the rotten-hearted profes- 
 sors of Christianity have wrested the truths of 
 the gospel to their own destruction; still these 
 doctrines in their own inherent nature teach mea 
 2 A 
 
278 
 
 to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live 
 soberly, and righteously, and godly in the world; 
 and to insist that they relax the sinews of mor- 
 ality, and engender vicious and unchristian prac- 
 tices, is just as groundless as to maintain that 
 the sun is the cause of cold and darkness, or that 
 the rain and the dew of heaven are the source of 
 blasting and barrenness. 
 
 Amidst the many sad and deplorable examples, 
 in which the false and unworthy professors of 
 the gospel have tarnished and dishonoured the 
 fair and venerable name by which we are called, 
 we are very willing to submit the decision of the 
 practical efficacy of evangelical principles, to an 
 appeal to observation and facts* The map of the 
 moral world lies before us, and it can be no diffi- 
 cult nor uninteresting exercise to survey the histo- 
 ry of the ages that are past, or take a glance of 
 the present state of the nations, and see what 
 system has done most for the reformation and hap- 
 piness of the human race. 
 
 Look at the popish part of Christendom. Since 
 that church, which has gratuitously assumed the 
 honours of infallibility, curses all who adhere to 
 the New Testament tenet that by grace we are 
 saved, not of works, there surely can be no rea- 
 son to apprehend, that within the extent of her 
 pale, the success and energy of legal preaching 
 will be obstructed, and counteracted by any strug- 
 gle with gospel principles; and therefore w 7 e may 
 
279 
 
 safely take the manners of the people within the 
 limits of her wide domains, as the index or mea- 
 sure of the practical efficacy of the anti-evangeli- 
 cal scheme. If this shall be admitted to be a fair 
 and legitimate test of its merits, then the barbar- 
 ous condition of Catholic Ireland, the frivolity 
 and infidelity of France, the intellectual stagna- 
 tion and death in which the nations of the Penin- 
 sula have for centuries been buried, and the gross 
 and disgusting profligacy of the Italian states, are 
 all painful and degrading monuments of the utter 
 uselessness and inefficiency of a dry system of mor- 
 als, when addressed to the fierce passions and 
 vicious habits of a creature so selfish, darkened, 
 and depraved as man. 
 
 Turn your eyes towards the churches of the re- 
 formation, and say what principles within their 
 territories have hitherto produced the most sanc- 
 tifying and transforming results ? Who have been 
 most eminent for their personal piety, and most 
 zealous and successful in their exertions to pro- 
 mote the general interests of religion and righte- 
 ousness ? Who have been most cheerful and for- 
 ward in every good word and work, and most 
 intrepid and indefatigable in every humane and 
 generous enterprise? Who have been the first to 
 proclaim w r ar against every species of profanity 
 and vice, and to form one general crusade against 
 the enormities which poison in their source the 
 sweets of human life, and hold half of the world's 
 2 A2 
 
28G 
 
 population in wretchedness, and thraldom ? Who 
 have been foremost in diving into the depths of dun- 
 geons, to take the gauge and measure of the misery 
 which they enclose, and the most assiduous and 
 tender in alleviating the sorrows of the broken- 
 hearted, and ministering to the sufferings of minds 
 diseased ? Who have been the first to lead the arm- 
 ies of the living God into the hostile regions of hea- 
 then darkness, and the most cool and resolved in 
 facing the dangers and sustaining the sacrifices in 
 this ho!y, but hazardous warfare ? Who have 
 been loudest in reprobating the wrongs of injured 
 Africa, and the most active in tearing off the mask 
 from those popular and imposing, but criminal 
 and detestable passions, which throw nation upon 
 nation in murderous collision, and periodically 
 deluge the earth with blood? Who have been 
 most strenuous in promoting the cause of univer- 
 sal education, and in labouring to raise every in- 
 dividual in the scale of rational existence, by train- 
 ing him to habits of industry and economy, and 
 securing to him the liberal cultivation of his intel- 
 lectual powers? Who are the men who have re- 
 plenished the kingdoms with Bibles, and loaded 
 the vehicles of commerce with the Scriptures of 
 truth, to carry to every human dwelling the hopes 
 and consolations of redeeming mercy? Who are 
 the men farthest removed from the corrupt cus- 
 toms and fashionable follies of the day, and most 
 nobly distinguished for their private virtues and 
 
281 
 
 their public worth ? Who are the men who shine 
 most conspicuously in the beauties of holiness, 
 who in their temper and conduct bear the closest 
 resemblance to their adorable Master, and of 
 whom we could with the greatest safety and confi- 
 dence declare that they have been with Jesus, and 
 that in the world of light, where all the faithful 
 find their place, they shall shine as the brightness 
 of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and 
 ever ? 
 
 Are these illustrious and lovely individuals to 
 be found in the ranks of legality, amongst the vo- 
 taries of self-righteousness, amongst the zealots 
 for a vague and unsanctified morality, amongst 
 the men who are ever and anon deafening us with 
 the dangers attending the publication of the doc- 
 trines of grace, and incessantly assailing us with 
 the cry that, in religion, works of virtue and a 
 good moral life are all in all? 
 - It is from these men, indeed, that v/e might nat- 
 urally expect whatever is most lofty or generous 
 in virtue, and most tender and touching in philan- 
 thropy; it is from them that we might expect ex- 
 amples of men most completely alive to the powers 
 of the world to come, and warmed with the most 
 ardent and invincible zeal for their personal im- 
 provement, and the universal prosperity and wel- 
 fare of the human race; it is from these that we 
 might expect a devotion the most sublime, a be- 
 2 A 3 
 
•282 
 
 nevoience that knows no bounds, and a benefi- 
 cence that never is weary. 
 
 But to the honest and intelligent of every rank 
 and class, and even to these declaimers themselves, 
 I appeal, if these very men, of whom, according 
 to their own professions, all these high expecta- 
 tions might be reasonably entertained, are not the 
 real antinomians of the age? To themselves, I 
 appeal, if they have not departed as far from the 
 elevated and holy standard of Christian morality, 
 as from the pure and unbending rule of Christian 
 doctrine? if they are not just as low and defective 
 in the practice of virtue, as they are arrogant and 
 overbearing in urging their claim to a superiority, 
 or rather a monopoly, of moral worth ? and if 
 the loftiness of their pretensions does not afford 
 a striking contrast to the humbleness of their at- 
 tainments, to their remissness in their professional 
 duties, and their miserable failures, when at any 
 time they are stimulated to the attempt, to rouse 
 and reclaim the degenerate and vicious in the world 
 around them? 
 
 The utter inefficiency of every self-justifying 
 scheme is so unquestionable and notorious, that it 
 may almost be laid down as a theological axiom, 
 That tha distance of any man from an evangelical 
 creed, may be uniformly measured by the loose- 
 ness of his principles, and the irregularities of his 
 life. 
 
 If we would wish to see virtue reduced to prac- 
 
283 
 
 tice, and embodied in the conduct and conversa- 
 tion, we must look to the men who are the objects of 
 legal ridicule and odium. Whilst they, themselves, 
 are slumbering in all the indolence of self-compla- 
 cent repose, their traduced and calumniated breth- 
 ren, who are held up to the scorn and hatred of 
 the public, as the enemies of morality and the pat- 
 rons of licentiousness and impiety, are shining in 
 the beauties of holiness, and abounding in works 
 of faith, and in labours of love; each is found at 
 his post cheerfully prosecuting the business of his 
 high vocation, striving by his example, his coun- 
 sels, his prayers, and his efforts to advance the 
 holiness and happiness of the human race, and 
 extend the blessings of the great salvation to all 
 who have been involved in the horrors of our com- 
 mon apostasy. 
 
 If there be one class of men more than another, 
 who steadily and uniformly hold forth the light 
 and loveliness of personal piety and concern for 
 the public welfare; in whose breasts the fire of de- 
 votion burns more brightly, and the glow of be- 
 nevolence maintains a more constant and lively 
 influence ; who stick more closely to the footsteps 
 of Immanuel, and press more firmly and vigor- 
 ously on in the career of virtuous improvement 
 and religious perfection, it is the suspected and 
 defamed votaries of the doctrines of grace, 
 
 li\ indeed, we were to rank in the list of the 
 virtues, servility and dependence, intemperance 
 
and dissipation, conformity o the world in its des- 
 picable follies, and in its gay and frivoloc 
 musements, a rancour that is unrelenting, and a 
 bitterness that knows no bounds against all who 
 step beyond the beaten track of hereditary and 
 prescriptive performance, and manifest in religion 
 an earnestness, and a fervour in some degree pro- 
 portioned to the infinite magnitude and eternal 
 duration of its realities: if we were to rank in the 
 list of virtues a charity which pertinaciously denies 
 the existence of piety and principle, where the 
 most amiable and irresistible evidence is given of 
 their presence j but which never fails> but believes 
 all things, and hopes all things, where no circum- 
 stance exists on which the most indulgent candour 
 can tack the slightest hope, where no trace of liv- 
 ing substantial godliness can be discerned, but 
 where the most awful facts appear in quick succes* 
 sion to demonstrate a mind alienated from the 
 love of God, and a soul still in the gall of bitter- 
 ness, and in the bond of iniquity: if we were to 
 rank in the list of virtues, a religion so retired 
 and modest as utterly to defy discovery, a religion 
 so sublimated and refined as to give no offence, 
 either to the fastidiousness of philosophic scepti- 
 cism or the grossness of vu-gar profanity, a reli- 
 gion which, on the longest acquaintance and the 
 closest intimacy, cannot be detected in a single 
 act of domestic worship, in one exercise of person- 
 al piety, nor in a solitary decided effort to extend 
 
285 
 
 the interests of genuine godliness; then, indeed, 
 we would be obliged to yield the palm of superior- 
 ity to our rivals ; for these are virtues which the gos- 
 pel neither inspires nor recognizes, and they are, 
 therefore, among the graceful embellishments of 
 life to which we can urge no title. 
 
 But if we are to form our estimate of moral 
 worth from the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 or from the infallible standard furnished by his 
 word, of what a man of God ought to flee, and 
 the things in conversation and in doctrine in which 
 he is required to shew himself a pattern to believ- 
 ers; if we are to regard as essential and indispen- 
 sible elements in moral excellence, supreme love 
 to God, and unreserved devotedness to his ser- 
 vice; a gratitude to the Redeemer that admits 
 no limits, and an affection that constrains us to 
 spend and be spent in his cause; an engaging at- 
 tention to the long detail of private duties, and a 
 faithful discharge of the whole range of relative 
 and social obligations; a mind ever alive to the 
 grandeur of eternal matters, and wholly occupied 
 with the great business of life; then, without the 
 least hesitation or fear, we may assign the honour- 
 able and enviable pre-eminence cf moral worth 
 to the adherents of evangelical truth. 
 
 Look through the whole length and breadth of 
 moral obligation, and say where within all its 
 extensive compass is there a single article, that is 
 either amiable or useful, in which our opponents 
 
286 
 
 excel, in which we are not above them ? Are 
 they the patrons of morality, just, faithful, libe- 
 ral ? So are we. Are they courteous, compas- 
 sionate, and kind ? So are we. Are they the 
 friends of public order, and the zealous advocates 
 for the cultivation of external rectitude and de- 
 corum ? We are more. Far from confining our 
 attention to the temporal comfort or outward re- 
 formation of our fellow-immortals, we wish to 
 implant the fear and love of God within them, and 
 to make all their conduct in time bear upon the 
 preparation requisite to secure the allotments of 
 a happy eternity. In no moral nor religious duty, 
 which they esteem or practise, do we deliberately 
 come behind them; and to all the commendable 
 habits which they cultivate, we add the whole of 
 that peculiarly Christian class of virtues which 
 springs from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 gratitude and devotion for the rich and immense 
 blessings of redemption. 
 
 Whilst, therefore, with an unanimity and per- 
 severance which seem to indicate that their mea- 
 sures flow from the inherent principles of their sys- 
 tem, we find them almost in a body ranging them- 
 selves firmly under the banners of opposition to the 
 cause of missions, the dispersion of the Scriptures, 
 and the plans formed for reviving a spirit of vital 
 godliness in the churches of the reformation, and 
 for propagating the gospel in the world: whilst, 
 some of them, even in the sacred office, sneer at 
 
287 
 
 family devotion, and at meetings for religious 
 conference and prayer, and lend the sanction of 
 their names, and the influence of their talents to 
 give increased currency to the already too wide cir- 
 culation of writings that celebrate the praises of de- 
 bauchery and licentiousness, and are calculated to 
 annihilate every trace of sound and substantial se- 
 riousness; every evangelical Christian in a greater 
 or less proportion contributes to the encourage- 
 ment and support of the religious institutions 
 around him 3 and the w r orld has yet to witness the 
 prodigy of a single consistent friend of the doc- 
 trines of grace, prostituting his powers to the 
 furtherance of profanity and vice, and leaguing 
 himself in friendly alliance with the enemies of 
 the cause of Christ and of Cod. So far from im- 
 peding the march of religious truth, bantering 
 men out of the practice of piety, and endeavouring 
 to lull the spirit-stirring principles of the present 
 generation of believers into the indolence and 
 apathy of the past, he decidedly lends his aid to 
 strengthen and confirm their enterprizing ardour, 
 and cordially bids God speed to all their benefi- 
 cent undertakings, The man who has an evan- 
 gelical creed in his head, and the smallest par- 
 ticle of evangelical principle in his heart, would 
 revolt from the shocking proposal to join the con- 
 federates against the evangelizing of the world, 
 and regard a moment's compliance with the sug- 
 gestion, as an instance of apostasy from the be- 
 
2S5 
 
 iievolence of tlie gospel, and an act of treason 
 against his God. For whilst he knows that they 
 who love God, are enjoined to love their brother 
 also; whilst his Bible tells him that he who win- 
 neth souls is wise, and assures him, if we forbear 
 to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and 
 those that are ready to be slain, that he who pon- 
 dereth the heart considers it, and he that keep- 
 eth our soul knows it, and that he will render 
 to every man according to his works ; on what 
 ground can he conclude that he is possessed 
 of any sincere love to God, or submission to his 
 authority, while he declines to co-operate with 
 any, who are associated on scriptural maxims, 
 for sending the knowledge of the great salvation 
 to the utmost ends of the world, and filling the 
 wol e earth with the Redeemer's glory ? 
 
 Nothing is more common than to see the self- 
 righteous professors of religion frequenting the 
 fashionable entertainments of the day, but rare 
 and scanty in their attendance upon the public 
 ordinances of worship, and destitute of the very 
 shadow of family piety; factious, turbulent and 
 discontented in their spirits, and crooked, cunning 
 and fraudulent in their transactions. But such is 
 the sanctifying and transforming efficacy of the 
 gospel, that, from the day that any know the 
 grace of God in truth, they shake their hands free 
 of every dishonest gain, take leave of all the un- 
 profitable and corrupting amusements in which 
 
289 
 
 they formerly delighted, cultivate a peaceable 
 spirit and follow after the things which make for 
 peace, and things wherewith one may edify an- 
 ther, their houses become a habitation of God, 
 and till the infirmities of life overtake them, on no 
 part of the sacred day are their seats in the sanc- 
 tuary abandoned. Whilst the zealots for good 
 works leave their favourite moral preachers to 
 waste their strength upon the desert air, the be- 
 lievers in the doctrines of grace manifest at once 
 the purity of their motives, and their reverence 
 for the appointments of God, by the numbers in 
 which they assemble in the place of prayer, and 
 the diligence with which they reduce to practice 
 the lessons which are there inculcated. 
 
 These facts appear to be too plain and obvious 
 to require any additional proof of the sanctifying 
 power of the gospel. The men, who unfortunate- 
 ly withstand us, will be the very last to deny their 
 reality. The very men who are the most keen in 
 their attacks upon the correctness of our prin- 
 ciples, will be the last to question the holiness of 
 our lives. Their opposition to our measures, 
 arising from a conviction that a firm adherence 
 to the doctrines of grace is totally incompatible 
 with those habits of indolence and temporizing 
 in which they have indulged; their dislike to 
 associate with us, from the dread that the con- 
 versation shall assume too grave and serious a 
 turn, that our intercourse shall not possess a *uf- 
 2 B 
 
290 
 
 ficient seasoning of hilarity and light heartedness, 
 that rational and religious topics shall form too 
 large a subject of discourse, and devotional exer- 
 cises engross too great a proportion of the time, 
 are all demonstrations to their own minds that an 
 evangelical creed is not productive of immoral con- 
 duct. The application of the terms puritans, pre- 
 cisians, methodists, highflyers, enthusiasts, fanatics, 
 the saints, the godly, and the other epithets of re- 
 proach and detestation which in every age, from the 
 atrocities of the Arminian Laud, and the legalised 
 butcheries of the Royal Brothers, the votaries of 
 legality have so plentifully heaped upon their 
 evangelical brethren, are at once a public and 
 open acknowledgement of their own religious and 
 moral deficiencies, and an honourable and lasting 
 attestation to the spiritual and holy tendency of 
 the gospel. The compliment indeed is unintend- 
 ed ; but it is a thousand times more precious and 
 decisive than any direct evidence which the friends 
 of grace can bring. The force of truth must be 
 great, when even an enemy is compelled to con- 
 fess it. Men may talk as they like of the dark- 
 ness of the sun; but when we hear them com- 
 plaining that its splendour is intolerable, this 
 is sufficient to satisfy us that that luminary does 
 not labour under any want of light. The Romans 
 might reject the claims of our Redeemer, and take 
 a criminal hand in his crucifixion; but we can be 
 at no loss to form an estimate of his real character, 
 
291 
 
 when we hear, not from the disciples of the suf- 
 ferer, but from their own officer, who was appoint- 
 ed to superintend the horrid transaction, the ex- 
 clamation, " Truly this was the Son of God." 
 And men may revile as they choose the licentious- 
 ness of our creed, but so long as they continue to 
 hate and censure us for the strictness of our lives, 
 they are unconsciously paying the most valuable 
 tribute to the purity and moral energy of our 
 faith. 
 
 If then we are to judge of the nature of the 
 tree by the quality of the fruit; if the validity of 
 the prophet's pretensions to inspiration was to be 
 ascertained by the accomplishment of the sign on* 
 which he staked his claims; if in the great contro- 
 versy betwixt the worshippers of Jehovah and the 
 worshippers of Baal, the object of adoration who 
 answered by fire was to be admitted to be the God; 
 and if, in the present case, we are to determine the 
 moral efficacy of the evangelical and anti-evangeli- 
 cal schemes by an appeal to facts, and pronounce 
 that system, which succeeds most effectually in 
 renovating the depraved nature of man, and in 
 forming its subjects to habits of beneficence and 
 piety, to be the work of God and the most prac- 
 tical and useful; there can be no uncertainty res- 
 pecting the result. The transcendant holiness of 
 believers triumphantly evinces the purifying in- 
 fluence of the truths which they have embraced, 
 and leaves no doubt that the signal excellence of 
 2 B2 
 
their lives arises from the prodigiously superior 
 moral efficacy of their principles. 
 
 With these facts lying fully before them, there 
 is great reason to suspect that the hostility dis- 
 played by many to the doctrines of the gospel, and 
 the alarming clamour industriously kept up in cer- 
 tain quarters about its antinomian tendency, are 
 less owing to an aversion to evangelical truth and 
 an excessive zeal for the interests of virtue, than to 
 a horror of those severe and elevated morals 
 which it is found uniformly and necessarily to 
 inspire, and a well founded terror lest, by sub- 
 scribing to its obnoxious articles, they should be 
 obliged to renounce their present secular and easy 
 habits, and adopt all the strictness, and all the purity 
 and all the piety, and all the fervent and unwearied 
 beneficence enjoined in the pages of the New Testa- 
 ment, and practised by the genuine and consist- 
 ent adherents of the evangelical system. 
 
 If this surmise be well founded, let those whose 
 consciences tell them that on them its burden may 
 justly rest, wipe off the stain which it affixes by 
 either lowering their tone of accusation, or by 
 becoming more active and zealous in the cause of 
 goodness. But if this suspicion be false; if any 
 who oppose our principles, have a sincere and 
 honest concern for the advancement of the cause 
 of holiness, let them be entreated to show the 
 reality of their regard for its interests, by study- 
 ing the doctrines of the gospel. 
 
293 
 
 It is to be hoped that thousands are animated 
 with the generous and noble desire of extending 
 the interests of whatever is lovely and good. Now, 
 of all the instruments that can be employed to 
 secure the object of this sublime and laudable am- 
 bition, the enforcement of evangelical truth is in- 
 finitely the most powerful and efficacious. Mul- 
 titudes in every age have been conscientiously and 
 sedulously labouring in the humane and sacred 
 employment of promoting the reign of righteous- 
 ness and peace. But whether we look back upon 
 the transactions of the past, or take a survey of the 
 operations of the present day ; though the preach- 
 ers of legality may abide at their post and maintain 
 an unshaken fidelity to their cause; though they 
 maybe instant in season, and out of season ; though 
 they may press into their service, and expend upon 
 their task every resource which genius or science 
 can supply, and urge their exhortations with all 
 the vehemence and tenderness of the most brilliant 
 a:id persuasive eloquence, we find, notwithstanding 
 all their earnestness and all their efforts, that mor- 
 tification and disappointment still continue to cover 
 all their exertions. The sinner still remains en- 
 trenched in his fastnesses, and the kingdom of 
 darkness feels none of those blows that are aimed 
 against it, The preaching of the dry, jejune and 
 frigid maxims of morality is unblessed of Heaven, 
 and never has succeeded in renovating, in sancti- 
 fying, nor in saving a single soul. 
 2 B3 
 
2S4 
 
 A Tery different result, however, attends the 
 sincere, the faithful and cordial manifestation of 
 the doctrines of the gospel. They find their way 
 directly to the heart, and carry, in willing and de- 
 lighted captivity, the best affections and strongest 
 energies of our nature. When in the wisdom of 
 God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it 
 pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to 
 save them that believe. Accordingly, whilst the 
 course of the moralising ministrations of our anta- 
 gonists may be traced, by the spiritual sterility 
 and dreariness which they leave along their track, 
 the direction of an evangelical ministry may be 
 discovered by the moral health and freshness, by 
 the fertility and beauty which, like the river of the 
 water of life, it diffuses wherever it flows. 
 
 If, therefore, you feel the generous glow of com- 
 passion for the perishing children of men, and 
 would gladly stretch out a hand for their relief 
 and rescue; if you would wish to see the king- 
 dom of God established amongst them, and the 
 work of piety and righteousness every where 
 triumphant, search the Scriptures, give your days 
 and nights to the study of gospel doctrines, and 
 preach the truth as it is in Jesus. This will warm 
 and cheer your own hearts; this will impart an 
 indescribable charm and unction to your labours; 
 this will bring down the influences of the Holy 
 Spirit to your aid, and clothe your ministrations 
 with a matchless and resistless energy. The gos- 
 
295 
 
 pel is the work of the Most High, and his blessing 
 is in it. It is the power of God unto salvation. 
 But every other invention or scheme, however in- 
 genious and plausible, is devoid of his approba- 
 tion, and in practice, must prove totally abortive. 
 The gospel is the only mean for sanctifying and 
 saving the sons of men. There are ten thousand 
 roads to everlasting ruin; but there is only one 
 way to real holiness and to never-ending happi- 
 ness, and that one is through the Lord Je3us 
 Christ. " Neither is there salvation in any other: 
 for there is none other name under heaven given 
 among men whereby we must be saved. Other 
 foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which 
 is Jesus Christ." He himself declares " I am 
 the way, and the truth, and the life:" and the 
 same heavenly messenger who said> " He that 
 believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life," as- 
 sures us " that he that believeth not the Son shall 
 not see life, but the wrath of Godabideth on him." 
 Judge, then, of the importance of evangelical 
 truth, and the obligations binding upon the minis- 
 ters of religion to preach the gospel. The tempo- 
 ral, and the immortal welfare of all the people 
 committed to our trust, is involved in the reception 
 which they give it. If they embrace it, heaven 
 and eternal glory are their own; if they disregard 
 it, it is at their peril; if they reject it, they must 
 inevitably and most miserably perish. And what 
 would it profit a man to gain the whole world, 
 
296 
 
 and lose his own sou! ? Compared with the loss 
 of the soul, all the calamities of life shrink into 
 mere insignificance ; compared with the loss of the 
 soul, ail the Sufferings that can be endured, for ten 
 thousand ages* are less than nothing and vanity. 
 
 And, if such be the value of one soul, how pre- 
 cious must be the souls of a whole congregation ! 
 Since, therefore, the everlasting salvation of all the 
 people of our charge, depends upon the faithful 
 preaching of the gospel, how cruel, how base, and 
 detestable, or rather diabolical, must it be to adul- 
 terate or conceal it, to disguise or keep it back? 
 If you had a process in a court of justice, on the 
 issue of which your reputation and honour, your 
 fortune, your liberty, and life were suspended ; 
 what would you think of the counsellor, whom you 
 had employed to defend your cause, if he were de- 
 liberately to suppress the facts which constitute the 
 very strength and substance of your plea, and 
 which, if known, would have infallibly ensured you 
 a triumphant acquittal, and thus, by his criminal 
 omission to reduce you to disgrace and indigence, 
 to exile or death ? Were you dangerously ill, and 
 to call a physician, who at once discovered both 
 the nature of your malady, and the means of re- 
 moving it; what opinion could you form of him, if, 
 after all, he were designedly to withhold the cure, 
 and allow you to languish in weakness and suf- 
 fering, and coolly leave you to expire in the midst 
 of the most excruciating tortures? But, how in- 
 
297 
 
 finitely greater are the wickedness and the inhu- 
 manity of that man, who is appointed to watch for 
 souls, who is told of the unequalled efficacy of 
 evangelical truth, and of the utter worthlessness 
 and inefficiency of every other moral instrument, 
 and who, after all, should detain from his people 
 the knowledge of the gospel? and, by this culpable 
 negligence, permit souls formed for boundless bles- 
 sedness, souls capable of associating with the an- 
 gels of light, and of exulting, through the mighty 
 roll of endless ages* in the vision and enjoyment 
 of God, to sink into the regions of darkness and 
 sorrow, to become the subjects cf perpetual pain, 
 and the eternal derision of devils? Can such a 
 character possess either love to God or man ? Can 
 he, amidst all his noisy and outrageous clamour for 
 morality and virtue, lay any valid claim to the pos- 
 session, either of the principles of religion or the 
 feelings of humanity ? If an apostle asks, Whoso 
 hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother 
 have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compas- 
 sion from him, how dwellcth the love of God in 
 him ? may we not much more justly put this ques* 
 tion to the man, or the minister, who sees his peo- 
 ple fitting themselves for destruction, and yet 
 refuses to give them warning of their danger; who 
 sees them hardening themselves in security aud 
 worldiiness, and yet declines to undergo any la- 
 bour necessary to secure their deliverance from 
 endless perdition ? If intervening ages have exe* 
 
298 
 
 crated the barbarity of Nero, who, in a general 
 famine, when many were starving and distracted 
 from want, ordered a vessel to come from Egypt, 
 at that time the granary of Italy, laden with sand 
 for the use of the wrestlers, and thus insulted 
 the sufferings of his subjects, by contributing, in 
 such an extremity, to the public sports, and fur- 
 nishing games for the Theatre, when the city of 
 Rome was in such distress as was sufficient to have 
 melted every heart, but that of the hardened mon- 
 ster who was placed at its head; in what light must 
 the guilt and baseness of that minister be viewed, 
 by all who are capable of taking in the full dimen- 
 sions of the awful calamities which he entails, who, 
 from the love of ease, of wealth, of fame, or any 
 other motive which can influence the human mind, 
 is led to provide for his own amusement or the en- 
 tertainment of his hearers, whilst he leaves their 
 souls to famish for want of spiritual nourishment, 
 and perish for lack of saving knowledge ? 
 
 From the nature of the discussion contained in 
 the preceding chapters, it is to be hoped that the 
 friends of evangelical religion will see that they 
 haye no cause to be ashamed of the distinguishing 
 articles of their creed. However much these 
 tenets may have been traduced and vilified, un- 
 der God they have been the only means of pre- 
 serving the existence of righteousness and holiness 
 amongst the descendants of Adam. They have 
 l^toved the salt of the earth and the light of the 
 
299 
 
 world. Amidst all the profligacy and wicked- 
 ness of the human race, they have in former 
 times offered a successful resistance to the uni- 
 versal prevalence of depravity and vice, and to 
 the present hour they are preserving a rich in- 
 fusion of moral principle and piety in active cir- 
 culation amongst the tainted and vitiated mass 
 of this world's population. If at this moment 
 there be such a thing as genuine religion, or 
 godliness, to be found within the confines of the 
 globe, it is to the doctrines of the cross that its 
 presence must be ascribed. Wherever the in- 
 terests of virtue have possessed a decided as- 
 cendancy, it is to the strength and efficacy of 
 these truths that its triumphs are owing. And on 
 looking forward to these scenes of brighter vision, 
 which the God of love has reserved to refresh our 
 future prospects, and dignify his closing dispensa- 
 tions to the children of men, when the people 
 shall be all righteous, when there shall be nothing 
 to hurt or destroy in all his holy mountain, it is by 
 the preaching of the cross that this glorious con- 
 summation shall be achieved. It is not till Jesus 
 shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the 
 river unto the ends of the earth; it is not till the 
 kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom 
 of our God and of his Christ, an event which 
 never can take place till this gospel is preached 
 and embraced in all nations, and till in the esteem 
 and in the dependence of every human creature 
 
30® 
 
 Christ become all in all, that the tabernacle of 
 God shall be pitched amongst men, and the whole 
 earth filled with the fruits of righteousness, and 
 with the knowledge of his glory. 
 
 Whether, therefore, you attend to its past or 
 present effects, to the benefits which it has already 
 produced, or to the blessings with which it is still 
 pregnant, you have no reason to be ashamed of 
 the testimony of our Lord, nor hide your attach- 
 ment to those precious truths which he has be- 
 queathed as the ornament and riches of his church. 
 Fidelity to him unites with benevolence to man, 
 to compel you to hold fast the form of sound 
 words which you have received and heard. By 
 these strong and affecting considerations let me 
 beseech you then, with one mind, to strive toge- 
 ther for the faith, and to look to yourselves that 
 no man move you from the hope, of the gospel. 
 
 But if you are required to be valiant for the 
 truth, remember, I entreat you, that, by an au- 
 thority equally high and irresistible, you are bound 
 to cherish the love of holiness in your hearts, and 
 to exhibit in your lives a bright and lovely example 
 of the transforming and purifying power of faith. 
 
 Without holiness what consistent claim can you 
 advance to the Christian character, or what well 
 supported hope can you entertain of heaven, when 
 you are told that if any man have not the Spirit of 
 Christ he is none of his, and are assured that with- 
 out holiness no man shall see the Lord? 
 
301 
 
 Without holiness, what honour can you confer 
 on your Saviour and Lord, or what credit can you 
 bring upon the good ways of God ? And know 
 ye not that believers are called out of darkness 
 into his marvellous light, in order that they might 
 show forth his praise; and that he has chosen them 
 and ordained them that they might bring forth 
 fruit? Know ye not that ye are commanded to 
 hold forth the word of life, and to make youi; light 
 so shine before men, that they may see your good 
 works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven? 
 
 Without holiness what service can you render to 
 society ? And need I tell you that by Him, by whom 
 we are enjoined to love the Lord our God with 
 our whole heart and soul, we are commanded to 
 love our neighbour as ourselves; and that by the 
 very same authority by which we are obliged to 
 believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are required 
 to do good unlo all men as we have opportunity? 
 But how can you comply with these distinct and 
 clear and positive intimations of the Divine will, 
 without maintaining a holy and heavenly life, and 
 labouring by every mean within your reach to pro- 
 mote the comfort and improvement of all around 
 j r ou? What signifies the most judicious and philan- 
 thropic creed if its principles are never embodied 
 in the life nor reduced to practice? What is the 
 value of wisdom, if its reputed possessor perseveres 
 in acting the part of a fool and a driveller? What 
 is the use of science in a teacher if he never brings 
 2 C 
 
302 
 
 forward any of its truths and discoveries, but one 
 weary year after another continues to retail to his 
 pupils the most inane and contemptible puerilities? 
 And what advantage can the world reap from the 
 benevolence of the man, whose tender and gener- 
 ous feelings are all confined within the narrow 
 circuit of his own breast, and amidst all his pre- 
 tensions to humanity and charity, never can be 
 detected in'a solitary act of liberality or kindness? 
 The inhabitants of the adjoining planets, for ought 
 that we can affirm to the contrary, may all be 
 deeply interested in our welfare, and at this very 
 moment from these surrounding worlds ten thou- 
 sand eyes may be beaming on us with benignity: 
 but so long as no expression of their sympathy 
 and affection can reach us, what benefit can we 
 derive from their most friendly and beneficent re- 
 gards? And what is the worth or use of our spe- 
 culative principles, or of our religious professions, 
 if these are not employed to meliorate our moral 
 character, and contribute to the v. r orth and happi- 
 ness of our fellow immortals? Though possessed 
 of the orthodoxy of an apostle and the intelligence 
 of an angel, so long as we decline actively and 
 earnestly to engage in the discharge of the duties 
 and obligations which we owe to God and man, 
 pray what greater profit can our brethren derive 
 from our creed or our profession than from the 
 benevolence Xiiid the virtues of the inhabitants of 
 Jupiter or Saturn ? 
 
303 
 
 Without holiness a profession of Christianity is 
 not only unprofitable, but it is positively and un- 
 speakably pernicious. Supposing that it were 
 possible, which in fact it is not, to separate the 
 joys of religion from the fruits of righteousness, 
 and that you could live upon your Christian ex- 
 perience whilst you displayed no concern for the 
 ends of practical goodness; what could this avail? 
 What care the men of the world for the interior 
 exercises of the spiritual life? What do t^ey 
 know or care for the warmth of devotion the 
 meltings of penitence, the aspirations of ^ope, the 
 longings of love, or the transports of fata ? These 
 are matters to which they are strangers, and in 
 which their unhappy situation preludes them flora 
 having any participation. ^ut they can judge, 
 and that too most nicely, (/ the nature of charac- 
 ter and the quality of actions. What then are 
 they to think when th*V find, that those who pre- 
 tend to be above tb^n in faith, are below them in 
 practice; and tha*' those who vaunt of being before 
 them in principle, are behind them in the exercise 
 of every valuable and substantial virtue? What 
 idea must they frame of that system on which 
 your conduct is professedly formed, when they see 
 you living according to the course of the world, 
 and walking, as others walk, in the vanity of their 
 minds; betrayed into passion, overcome by intem- 
 perance, indulging in levity or moroseness, stoop- 
 ing to the crooked arts and dishonest devices of 
 2 C 2 
 
304 
 
 the fraudulent and worthless? What worse than 
 this can be looked for from those who neither know 
 God nor obey the gospel of his Son ? All that 
 they can do is only to violate the commandments 
 of the Lord, and fulfil the desires of the flesh and 
 of the mind, to drink and swear, to lie and deceive, 
 to neglect the ordinances of religion, and omit al- 
 together, or perform with languor and remissness, . 
 their personal and social duties. And if, with the 
 profession of religion, you can retain these vile 
 terrpers an( j infamous deeds, what has the gospel 
 done in your behalf? or what benefit could the 
 world at all ^in horn the reception of Christianity? 
 If religion can neither elevate your character nor 
 improve your coquet, you certainly may discard 
 it with impunity: au\ if you may renounce it with 
 safety, others surely cannot be condemned for 
 persisting in -.their refusal to accept it at all. If 
 they know that their character is as fair, can any 
 inference be more natural at*] just than to con- 
 clude, that, in the day of retribution, their state 
 must be as safe, as yours ? 
 
 If their good name is traduced, if their ignorance 
 is overreached, if their property is unjustly seized, 
 if in their indigence or distress relief is> unmerci- 
 fully withheld, will it alleviate the bitterness aris- 
 ing from the injury which they have sustained, or 
 reconcile them to the tenets that you profess, to 
 find that their defamer, their entrapper, their op- 
 pressor styles himself a Christian? An enemy to 
 
305 
 
 God and a foe to our holy faith, cannot do more 
 to disgust the minds of the infidel and worldly at 
 the doctrines of grace, and prevent iheir progress 
 in the earth, than the pretended friends of Jesus 
 by acting in opposition to their avowed principles, 
 and contradicting in their conduct the truths which 
 they verbally maintain* 
 
 Let all then who cherish an attachment to our 
 Divine and adorable Redeemer, be entreated to 
 be open in their profession and consistent in their 
 lives. His cause is entrusted to your cai e. You 
 are the temporary guardians of his honour and his 
 interests: and so far as your talents arid your 
 labours can extend* you are answerable for its 
 credit and success. Do your part then to support 
 its rights with dignity and effect. Live in a man- 
 ner becoming your principles and your prospects. 
 Wherein the men of the world excel, let them find 
 that you are still far above them. Let them see 
 from the heavenliness of your tempers and the 
 holiness of your lives, that the blessed truths on 
 which you have placed your hopes, enable you to 
 carry the interests of righteousness to an extent 
 and an elevation far beyond their rivalship and 
 reach. Hold forth the word of life and abound 
 more and more in every good word and work; 
 that, if the self-righteous and the unbelieving shall 
 persist in the use of their unhallowed sarcasm, 
 that the gospel is a sanctuary which throws open 
 its gates for the admission and protection of the 
 
306 
 
 most wretched and worthies?, we may be able, in 
 the spirit of a Christian father, to repel the intend- 
 ed indignity by replying, " True indeed, it is a 
 sanctuary to afford them refuge, but it is also an 
 hospital which gives health and soundness to all 
 its inmates," and the school in which the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, by the work of his Spirit and the 
 discipline of his grace, is training up his many 
 sons and daughters, in habits of faith and holiness, 
 for the inheritance and services of eternal glory, 
 
 THE END. 
 
 YOUNG, GALL1E,& CO. 
 
 Printers. 
 
Lately Published, by the same Author, 
 
 PRICE ONE SHILLING, 
 
 A Consolatory Address to Christians upon the 
 Death of their Believing Friends, 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 12 line 12 after in insert all. 
 
 — — — 13 dele all. 
 
 — — — 16 for constiution, read constitution. 
 -— 38 — 17 piace the semicolon after crown. 
 
 — 41 — 29 for the period, place a colon. 
 
 — 77 — 9 for amendments, read amendment 
 
 — 101 — 30 for wo, read we. 
 
 — 106 — 17 for untegrity read integrity. 
 
 — 143 — 14 for or, read and. 
 
 — 154 — 13 erase up. 
 
 — 158 — 14 for nor, read not. 
 
 — 168 — 16 for prerogative, read prerogatives. 
 
 — 202 — 27 for adversarses, read adrersaries. 
 
 — 204 — 18 for safesy read safety.