sec #11,128 Huntington, William, 1745-1813 Rule and a riddle, or. An everlastina task f. -and vvalchmen and old women : irTa lelie RULE AND A RIDDLE; o R, AN EVERLASTING TASK FOR BLIND WATCHMEN AND OLD WOMEN. IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND. By WILLIAM HUNTINGTON, S. S. MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT PROVIDENCE CHAPEL, LITTLE TITCHF JELD-STRE ET J AND AT M,ONICWELL STREET CHAPEL, IN THE CITY. Forafmuch as n.ve have heard, that certain ivhich avent out from us have troubled you --with ivords, fubverting your Joids , fayingy Te muji be circmncifed, and keep the lauo ; to i/jhom lue gave no fuch cofmnaiidment. It j'cemeth good to the Holy Choft^ and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than theje neccj/afv thnigs ; that ye abfainfro?n meats offered to idols, anl from blord, and Jrom things Ji' angled, a7id from fornication : from ^.vhUh, ij ye ieep yourjelvesy ye/hall do nvell. Fare ye nxell. Which n,K:hen ^h^y had read, they rejoiced for the conjolation. Ads XV. 24. 28, 29. 31. L O N D ON : PRINTED BY T. BENSLEYj And fold by C. Terry, Paternofter-row j J. Chalmers, No. 210, Whitecrofs- ftreet, near Moorfields; J. Davidfon, No, 7, Pultern-row, Tower-hill j Mr. Baker, No. 226, Oxford- ftreet} Mrs. Howes, No. 15, Char'es- llreet; at Monkwell-llreet Chapel every Tuefday evening ; at Providence Chapel, Ti';chfield-ftrect; by Mr. Mantle, Lewes, Suflcx; Mr. Fcnley, Sroad Mead, Briltol 5 and by Mr. Chamberlain, Portfmoiith. M, DC CLXXXVIIIt PREFACE. Christian Reader, 1 BEGAN the followino; letter with an intent to fend it as an anfwer to a very poHte one fent by an unknown friend :o mc : it came without a name, but I was to dired: it to him with the initials of his name to a certain number. When I had written about thirty folio pages of manufcript, I felt an inclination rifing in my mind to publifli it ; and as the gentleman informs me that he fometimes hears me, I thought it was fure to fall into his hands-: and as he feems to be an earnefl: inquirer after truth, I fee no caufe why- he fliould be offended at the publication of it, as I think it is an anfwer of truth, and feeing; it may be ufeful to other inquirers as well as to him, if God's blefling fliould attend it. I wilh thee, Reader, to lay by all prejudice, and to fettle thy faith in no mans wifdom, but in the power of God; and to do by this letter as God does with Zion — he lays judgment to the line, and A 2 righteoiffncfs IV PREFACE. right eoufnefs to the plummet, — and five eps away all re- fuges of lies, and deluges all the hiding places of h)^- pocritcs. And if thou wilt come to the light, if thou defircfl: to h^ found in the faith^ then criticife and icrutinize this little piece over and over again, and lay it to the word of God, and try it foundly by that flandard, and fee whether this be Antino- mianifm, or whether it be the everlafiing gofpel of Jefus Chrijl, and judge accordingly. And when thou hafl fatisfied thyfelf on that head — then com- pare it with the trads of thofe evangeliils who make the killing letter the rule of life ; and when thou hafl compared thefe together, and tried both by the wo:"d of God, then let the name of Antinomian be fad died upon the right ass. Give not up the good old way, though, according to prophecy, the way of truth be evilfpoken of; but fet thine heart to the high-way, and turn not to the right hand, nor to the left, but run the race fet before thee, looking to Jefus the author andfnif/jer of faith. And when thou hearefl men in a pulpit begin to cut at others as Antinomians, without defcribing what thev are, and dropping the fubjed of the gofpel, faying, '' but we muft do juilice tq the law, for it is the believer's only rule of life;** then watch their countenance, and obferve the Scripci:re proofs that they bring; and if their countenance falls, their tongue gti% fettered, and no proof produced but a jumble of confufion, let it convince PREFACE. convince thee that they have not Jlood in God's councii — therefore he has co7ifoicnded them before thee ; Wifdom is juflified of her children^ and her children are to Jlir up themfelves again ft the hypocrite. The Scriptures tell thee that the man who hath not the doctrine of Chrijl hath not God ; and that thofe who bring not Chriji's dotlri?te are not to be received: And by the dodtrine and fpirit of Chrift the chil- dren oj God and the children of the devil are made manifefl. But in our days matters are altered ; the pure gofpel is cii\ledJnti}iomia?tifm : valour for truth, zeal for God, fervour in devotion, and earnejlnefs in preaching, are called the '^ effcds of a bad fpi- rit ?" But, twifling like the ferpent, warping like the willow, (liaping a converfation and a fermon to pleafe all and offend none, except it be the ex- perimental Chriflian ; — thefe are the effeds or fruits of an excellent fpirit, — this is the qiantejfence of candour; this is doing the zvork of an evangelijl, and making full proof of the minifiry, Thefe people will not be thy judges. Reader, in the great day ; Chrift is thy judge, — and it is not what Is call- ed candour, that will acquit thee at his bar ; it is the zvord and Spirit of truth that mud make thee free^ if thou wilt be free indeed; the zcord that I have fpoken, fays Chrift, the fame Jhall judge them In the great day^ Be not offended, Reader, at the title of this little piece, — A Rule and a Riddle ; or, An Ever- A 3 lajling vi PREFACE. lajilng Tajk for Blind Watchmen and Old Women* It is taken from real fads, — from a fynod that was convened, confiiling of fome watchmen and fome old women \ where counfel was taken againll one that never took counfel againfl: them. I call it an everlafling talk, becaufe 1 think the doc- trines cannot be overthrown. It is not direfled to an} body ; if every body be innocent, it can be applicable to none . i.o perfon has a right to make application nnlefs he be concerned. The Rule and the Riddle both, with refpedl to application, are xo tLoP* to whom they may belong, and for the ufe. nformation, or fatisfaftion of any that chufe to try their ikill. Reader, fare thee well, and forget not that it is by the teftimony of God's words of hi? Spirit, and of thy own confcience, that thou muit (land or fall at the bar of God ; — tiierefore, love the truth and peace ; while I reft and rem.ain (with the little knowledge that God lias been pleafed to give me) thy fervant in the truth, and for the truth's fake, William Hl^ntington, S. S* A RULS RULE AND A RIDDLE, &c. Dear Sir, I RECEIVED the packet which 5^011 direded to me, confiding of your very long epiftle^ of a circular letter in prints and of 2ifermon on the pro- mifes of God. I read your epiftle without offence, as I believe you meant well, which I gather from your polite addrefs, civil treatnlent, and cautious way of exprefling yourfelf; fuch a letter I have never received from any perfon who has thought proper to expofe or oppofe me, as a maintainer of licentious doftrines. Their letters have generally been filled with the fcarrility of Billingfgate, and without any truth fairly ftated— which has only A 4 ferved 8 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &:C. ferved to convince me that fuch perfons are with- out Chrijl, and have no hope in the zvorld. Was it in m}^ power^ 1 would addrefs you as a Gentleman of fenfe and a fcholar, for both appear in your affedionate epiftlc ; but I have neither po- litenefs nor learning, as it is now called, yet will give you the beft anfwer I am capable of, in the language of Scripture. If I know any thing of my own heart, I can truly aflert — that I wifh all that fear God to know zvhat he hath done formy foul ; and, in declaring it, I defire to fpeak as the oracles of God; and to live up to what I preach, as far as grace fhall enable me while in this body of death ; and I wifh fomc of our zealous advocates for Mofes would do the fame, by letting their light JJoine %efore men, that others might fee as w^ell as hear of their good works ; feeing it is not the hearers nor the contenders for the law that arejufl before God; — but the doers of the lazvjloall bejujlifed. That the ten commandments are the believer's only rule of life, was infilled upon by the firfl per- fon that I ever difputed with on that fubje6t; which he endeavoured to enforce and prove by Paul's quoting part of it in his Epifile to the Ro- mans, which church he fuppofed to confifl of faints only— by Paul's addrefling them as the be- loved of God called to be faints. Not confidering that lilies and thorns, fervants and fonSy Ifraelites and hypocrites, A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. ^ hypocrites, wife virgins and foolip ones^ are to go and grow together as tares and zvheat until bari'cjt. And on the account of this mixture it is that the killmg letter and the promife of life muft go together; the promifes are to the heirs of promife ; and we know that what things foever the law faith, it faith to them who are under the law, Rom. iii. 19, I aiked the Gentleman which of the command- ments he meant ? And he replied, " Thofe in the 20th chapter of Exodus." And if thofe ten commandments are the belie-Ter's only rule —xh^ other parts of Scripture one would think might be difpenfed with by the believer; for, if that law be his only rule of life, what can he want more > ' Thou[?h, by the by, there is not the command to love God in that chapter. " If the ten commandments in the letter be the believer's only rule," Abel, who obtained zvit- nefs that he was righteous, God teflifying of his gifts j had no rule to go by. Enoch walked zvith God three hundred years ^ Gen. v. 22. and was tranjlated that he jJoould not fee death ; for before his tranjlation he had this tefti?nony, that he pie a fed God, Heb. xi. 5. yet had no rule of life. Noah the jufi, who took the warning of God, prepared an ark, condemned the world, and became heir of an everlajling righteoufiefsy was without rule. Abraham, the friend of God, Viud the father of the faithful, and heir of the world, mufl walk at an uncertainty alfo. Melchifcdec, king of A right eoufnefs^ JB A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C, flghteoufnefs, and king of peace^ priefi of the Moji High God — after whofe order Chrili is a priejl for tver and ever^ — had no rule for his order. Yea, all the anti-deluvian and pojl-deluvian faints^ down to the time of the children of Ifrael's com- pafling the Mount Sinai^ mufh be left to walk and to worfhip at random ; for, if the letter of the law^ or the ten commandments delivered at Sinai ^ be the believer's only rule of life, it is clear they were without that rule. Yet they were not zvithout law to Cody for they feared him^ loved him^ and walked with him, — and they were under the law of faith to Chrijl — for they faw [him] ^/ ^ dijiance and embraced Mm, were united to" him, and became one fpirit with Inm* I have fometimes wondered why thefe antient faints lliould be fet forth with the encomiums of being God^s friends, zvalking with him, obtaining wit- Tiefs that they were righteous, obtaining promifes, ob- taining good report, as ftrangers and pilgrims upon earth, of vjhom the world was not worthy, feeking an heavenly country, and a city that hath foundations, de- fpiiing all worldly pleafure, pelf, and honour, leaving their own houfe, home, and country, with- out any dejire to roturn thither ; and why we fhould be commanded to go forth by the footjieps of this jlock, and be faid to be compajfed about with this cloud cfwitnejfes, and be diredled to follow^ thofe who through faith and patience now inherit the promifes ;— wh'wa A RULE AND A RIDDLE, SiC, tX v/henwe know that if they were on earth, in this refined age, they would be ranked among the word of Antinomians. It is flrange that the believer is not command- ed to look to Mofes the lawgiver, and to the bond- woman that is under the law, inftead of looking to Abraham our father, and to Sarah that bare us, whom God called alone, and ble(fed and increafed, Ifaiah H. 2, Paul would have us tread in the Jieps of the faith of our father Abraham^ which he had being yet tmcircum^ cifed, and declares that the promife that he jJoould he the heir of the world, was not to him, or to his feed^ through the law, Rom. iv. 12, 13. and yet affirms, that as many as are of faith are bleffed with faithful Abraham* — And this promifed blcjjing, and promifed heirfhip, was given to Abraham, and to his feed — four hundred and thirty years before the laTV, or before our only rule of life was given. What rule had thofe glorious pilgrims to walk by, who obtained fo good a report, ox fo good a (tefti- mony) from God ? — Paul tells us, that Ahel offered to God, and obtained witnefs that he was righteous BY FAITH — then faith was his rule of worJJoip : — that Enoch walked with God by faith — then faith was his rule of walk : that Noah condemned the world by faith — then faith was his rule of judgment. By faith Abraham, when he was called, went out not knowing whither he went — then faith was his rule^ by which he took his journey, though he knew not whither, tl A RULE AND A "tllDDLE, Scc. whither, and his obedience was the obedience of faith. But if he had been favoured with our only rule oflifey he might have known whither he was going, and not have gone in ignorance, and his obedience would have been the obedience of the law inilead of faith. — But Paul will have it that all Abraham's children are in the fame ftrait that their father was — for they walk hy faith ^ not hy fight ^-^ But if the letter of the law be the only ride that the believer is to walk and live bj^ then he walks by fight not by faith ; he looks at the things that are feen, not at the things zvhich are not feen.-^lt is by faith that Mofes faw him who is invifible^ and by faith we mufi look at the things that are not feen, zvhich arc eternal. Paul fays, that he that cometh to God mifi be- lieve that he is, and that he is a rezvarder of them that diligently feek him ; then faith mull be the ride of his coming. We have accefs by faith info this grace wherein zveftand, Rom. v. 2. — then faith is the rule of our approach to God. The jifi [manJyZW/ live by his faith, Hab. ii. 4. — then faith is the jufl man's rule of life. We walk by faith, mt by fight, 2 Cor. v. 7. — then faith is our rule of walk. Thou fiandefi by faith, favs Paul, Rom. xi. 20. — then faith is the rule of the believer's (landing. Whatever ye fliall ajk believing, ye Jhall receive, fays Chriil ; — then faith is the rule of that branch of v/orfliip. By faith Enoch had this tefiimony, that he pleafed God; but without A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. ij Without faith it is impqffihle to pleafe hiniy Heb. xu 5, 6. — then faith is a rule that God approves of, and is pleafed with. Whatfoever is not of faith is fm — then faith is a perfect rule of holinefs. He that believes is jujlif^ed from all things, from which he could not by the law of Mofes — then faith is our rule of right eoufnefs. It is by faith that we overcome the zvorld. To lay hold on eternal life, is to fight the good fight of faith, according to Paul; I have fought a good fight, I have finifioed my courfe, I have kept the faith — then faith was the ride of his warfare, and the rule of his race ; and it was the grace of God that made Paul obedient to that rule. IVe have receiv- ed grace and apoftleJJoip for obedience to the faith, Rom, i, 5. that is ^ by Chrift we have received grace to fave cur fouls, and apoftlefhip to be of ufe to the church, not as a reward of our obedience, but to furnifh us with power to make us obedient to the faith ^ among all nations for his -name, Rom. i. 5. — then faith is the rule of apoftolic obedience ; for it cannot be called receiving grace for obedience to the faith, \i faith be not the gracious man's rule of obedience. Paul counts all things but dung that he may win Chrift, and be found in him ; not having his ozvn righ- teoufnefs, which is of the lazv, but that zvhich is through the faith of Chrift ; and tells us to walk by the fame rule, and mind the fame thing, Phil. iii. If you take this rule of Paul's to be his preffing forward, or any of his attainments, it is anfwered, hy faith he preffcd t4. A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. pre[fed forward^ and by faith he attained ; for elfe his prejjing and attaining \ia.d been nothing but fm; for whatfoever is not of faiths according to Paul's dodtrine, is Jin, By faith Chrift dwells in our hearts, and by faith zve dwell in him ; and in Chrift Jefus neither circum- cifion availeth any thing, nor uncircumcijton, but a new creature^ which is Chrift formed within us: and as many as walk according to this rule, feace he on them and mercy ^ and upon the Ifrael of God, GaL vi. 15, 16. Faith is the rule o^ life according to the revealed will of God in Chrifl: Jefus ; and this is the WILL of him that fent me, that every one which feeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlafting life, and I will raife him up at the laft day, John vi. 40. Thus faith appears to be the believer^ s rule of life, according to the will of God in Chrift Jefus ; and the letter of the law is the hnd'childi'en's rule of life — he that doth ihefe things fhall live in them. Let him do according to this rule and he lliall live. The law is not the rule of helieving hut of doing ; the law is not of faith but of works, and the man that doth them fhall live in them, Gal. iii. I2. If to fee the Son, and Relieve on him, entitles us to everlafting life according to God's will, then faith mull be the rule of that life ; and one would think that, if he :hat liveth and believeth fhall never diey faith muft be a fafe rule to live by. I have A RULE AND A RIDDLE, SCC. I^ I liave fomctimes tbonglit that, if the letter of the law in the 20th chapter of Exodus be the be- liever's only rule of life, he would be forely put to his fliifts when the devil fets a troop of Arians^ Socinians or Sabellians at him; he would find thefe words — / am the Lord thy God, which have hrought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the houfe of bondage ; thou Jhalt have no other gods he^ fore me. This rule would hardly fet him right. It is by faith that we apprehend Chriji ; it is by faith we lay hold of him, as the hope fet before us, Heb. vi. 18. It is by Chrift that we believe in God, I Pet. i. 2 1 . and we receive the promife of the Spirit through faith. Gal. iii. 14. By this rule we come to a faving knowledge of the Trinity -, for the eye of faith is a hght by which we fee what is the fellowfhip of the myfiery, Eph. iii. 9. With- out the ASSURANCE of Under flandingy there will he no true acknowledgment- of the my fiery of God [the Holy Ghoft], and of the Father and of Chrift, Colo ii. 2. The ten commandments will never guide a man into this myflery, nor fet him right if he errs in it. In your epiflle. Sir, you tell me that, ^^ if I do not enforce the law as the believer's rule of life, I mud in fome fenfe make it void." I think I have fufficiently proved that Paul's rule of life and walk -^diS faith ; and he afks, Do we then make void the law through faith P God for bid j yea, we eftablifb the l6 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. the law, Rom. iii. 31. Paul infifts upon It that faith worketh by love, and tells us that love worketh 770 ill to his fieigbifour 'y thtrefore love is the ful- filling of the law y^om. xiii. 10. If this dodrine be the fulfilling of the law, it cannot make it void. The fermon that you was fo kind as to fend me is pregnant with a deal of fcholaftic unfcripturai logic, little better than nonfenfe, which may ferve to difplay the worldly wifdom of the author, and excite the admiration of unenlightened people. But any f jiritual perron will eafily perceive that he knows little or nothing of the killing letter of the law^ or of t\\Q fpiritual power of the gofpel. The law, as the beHever's rule of life, he en- deavours to enforce " from the fitnefs oi things," which are phrafes that ftand for any thing or no- thin cy,j ift as the author pleafes. But he does not fatisfy me concerning the things that fit. God p-rant he may not go out of the world with this confufion in his heart ! if he does it is to be feared that he will find the miniftration of death — and his carnal mind — when they come to gripe one ano- ther in a dying hour, will not fit fo eafy as he imao-ines. Paul delighted in the law of God after the inward min, Rom. vii. 22. And, according to Paul, the law of God znd the inward man are things that will ft ; a new heart and a new Jpirit are things that /fl/;/ well ; a fenfe oi God's love to us, and a pure love to him, brings about an union that fits fweetlyo A kULE AND A RIDDLE, Scc, tj rwcetly. Believe^ fays the Saviour, that I am in you and you in me ; and when Chrift crucified and a h'oken heart come together, they are things that/; as exadlly as the branch in the vine, or as the foun- dation with the fuperflrudure* — And if the au- thor of this fermon dies a ftranger to '* the fitnefs cf thefe things ^^' as he feems to be at prefent, it had been good for him if he had never been born. Per- fons who are flrangers to an union with Chrift by the Spirit know nothing favingiy of the fpi ritual fitnefs of things ; they may make a noife about the law juft to bhnd folks, but they bring forth no more fruit to God*s glory than a branch that is not in the vine, John xv. 4. A friend of mine once alked a certain divine in London '^ What he thought of the law as the believer^ s only rule of life?'^ He replied '* The believer mull look with one eye to Chrift, and \vith the other to the law." But he brought no more proof from the word of God than this au- thor has, who attempts to prove it by the fitnefs of things. My friend replied " Then every be-* liever muft fquint." However, there is no call for fquinting in this matter; Chrift fays. Look unto me^ and be faved, all ye ends of the earth; and adds, I will keep that man in ferfe5l peace whofe mind is flayed on me : and Paul tells us to run the race fet before us looking to Jefus, the author and finifher of our faith^ Heb. xii, 2. ** Looking with B 00c |8 A RULE AND A RIDDLE,' SCC, one eye to the law, and with the other to ChriH/'' is erring from wifdom's rule of diredtion ; which is, Lei thine eyes look right on^ and let thine eyelids look firaight before thee, — Vonder the 'path of thy feet^ and let all thy ways he eftahlifloedy Prov. iv. 25, 26. Tht printed letter that you fent me is a difcord upon the fame firing I perceive ^ but the author will never be able to prove from the Scriptures of truth, that the ten commandments in the letter are called the helievefs rule of life. He tells us that *' it is implied ;" this brings to my mind an old woman, who had been long contending for this letter rule ; being aiked to give a reafon of the hope that was in her : on fufpicion of her having none, re- plied; '^ You will find my experience in fuch a verfe of Jeremiah's prophecy /' hinting that it was implied there. Which ferved to convince the inquirer that fhe had no hope but what flood on the paper. I fuppofe all the experience of the devil is implied in four texts of Scripture ; one fays, he is cur fed above all cattle ; another, that he believes and trembles ; another, that he is cafi down to hell ; and another, that he is referved in everla/l- ing chains under darknefs unto the judgment of the great day, Jude vi. But the devil has another ex- perience befide this, which will flick clofe to him, and be like a thoufand hells within him, when every letter of Scripture text will be burnt up ; when A RULE AND A RIDDLE, SCC, I9 when the killing lettey has flain the reprobate, It has done it*s office ; the living Word that abides for ever, which is in the hand of the Spirit, and which dwells in the faints of God, will he fettled in heaven, and abide for ever there. The profefTor muft have Chrift in him the hope of glory, if ever he arrives fafe to the happy enjoyment of God in heaven. People, who have no hope but in the written letter of Scripture, will find that the flood of wrath and the final conflagration will leave them without an anchor in that florm ; and I am perfuaded that the believer's rule of life mufh be found in his heart alfo, if ever he lives with God in heaven. If the believer's rule be implied in the ten commandments, according to this gentle- man's letter, I believe it would lie there long: enough before he would find it our. To put en the Lord Jefus and walk in him ; to put off the old man daily, and to put on the new ?nan, which is created in righteoufnefs and true holinifs ; to folhiv Chriji in the regeneration \ to mortify the deeds cf the body by the Spirit ; to deny felf, and take up the crofs daily ; to fland faft in gofpel liberty, and not be entangled with the yoke of bondage; to re- nounce all confidence in the flefli, and rejoice in Chrift Jefus ; to hate one's own life, or be un- worthy of the Saviour; to walk in the Spirit, in order to efcape the fulfilling of the lulls of the flefh ; to know that the Jlrength of fin is the kiv ; B 2. and jfO A TLVLE AND A RIDDLE, &C.- and that it is the miniflration of death and coft:- demnation ; are things that, if they are implied iff the ten commandments, they would lay there, con- cealed from the believer, to all eternity, if the myf- tery of faith had not revealed them, or the go/pel, that brings life and immortality to light, had not brought them to light alfo. When Mofes is read, the vail is upon their heart, 2 Cor. iii. 15. By the lav/ is the knowledge of fm, but it brings not the fath of life to light ; tbat is the new and living way, Heb. X. 20. and is revealed from another quar- ter ; God, who commanded the light to Jhine out of darknefs, hathfliined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Je- fm Chrift, 2 Cor. iv. 6. I cannot find it in my heart to criticife the rea- fbns that you affign, becaufe you have not ad- dreffed me, as fome have, with infolence and lies ; but you feem as defirous of information, as you are to inform me, or fet me right ; therefore, with- out taking much of your letter to pieces, I will endeavour to make it appear, that the believer ia his liberty is in no " fenfe of the word an out'* laWy'* nor yet without law ; for he is in no wife ex- cluded from any benefit that arifes from the law, and yet he is not under the law hut under grace, Rom. vi. 14. Paul fays "To them that are ivithout law [I be- came] as ivithout law, (being not without law 3 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 21 ToGof) hut UNDER the LAW toCHRisx), Rom. ix. 2 1. Hence it appears that the believer is not without law to God. And, as I have long made it my fludy to confider the believer's laws, 1 will endeavour to bring them forth, and fet them in as fair a light as I am capable of, and fee whether they amount to what is called Antinomianifm, or whether they amount to real divinity; becaufe Paul fays, we do not make 'void the law through faith. Wifdom affirms whofo defpifeth the wordjhall he deftroyed ; hut he that feareth the commandment Jhall he rewarded; and then tells us that the law of the WISE is a FOUNTAIN OF LIFE, to depart from the SNARES (/death, Prov.xiii.13, 14, Let it be obferved that Wifdom's ivife man, who is always oppofed to the fool, is, in New Teflamcnt lan- guage, the believer, who is oppofed to the infidel i and this law is emphatically cailed the laiv of the wife, which is the fame as the houfhold of faith, be- ing their law in particular, as belonging to none elfe; and it is called 2l fountain of life, A fountain is fupplied from its own fpring, and yields its contents to fupply \\\q poor and nced^ when they feek water and there is none elfewhere, and their tongue faikth for thirfi, that they may drink and not famifh, or die by famifliing. So this law of the zvife is a fountain of Ufe, to depart Jrom the flares of death. Can this law of the wife B 3 be 12 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, Scc, be the ten commandments^ which are affirmed by fome to be the believer's only rule of life ? I trow not. Paul tells us the letter kilkth^ 2 Cor. iii. 6. that it is the law of death, Rom. viii. 2. that the Jaw 'worketh wrath, Rom. iv. 15. and is the mini- JI rat ion of death and condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 7. 9. Nor does our faith in Chrift alter the nature of the law, or make it to us what it was not before. It is thcyoke of bondage, and gendereth to bondage ftill ; hence we are exhorted to ftandfaji in our liberty^ aJid not be entangled again with that yoke of bondage. Gal. V. I. it flill retains its binding nature, even to the believer, and will entangle him again if he looks to it for help. This rule of life (as fome term it) is flill a killing letter ; hence God declares, that we are delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we were held, that we fJiould ferve [him] in newmfs cffpirit, and not in the oldnejs of the latter, Rom. vii. 6. If the law be a killing letter, and the law of death, it cannot be a. fountain of life ; by which the wife man departs from the fnarts of deaths We know that Jm is a tranfi^nfjion of the law, and that where there is no law there is no tronfgrefjicn ; and that death is the fentence of the law ; if fo the commandments art the fnares that hold the finner in the anns of death. The firfl:/;7<^r^ that entangles a ihicf is the law ; and if he is left to the mercy of that, it will ferve him as the fpider does the fiy in the web, neyer let him go till it has killed him ; it A RVfE AND A niDl>LE, ScC» 23 it is a h'Ili?ig letter, and lb all will find it that weave the Ipider's web ; no web can be woven that will cover the foul on that loom ; the commandment is exceeding broad. Nor can we fuppofe that our calling the minifiration of condemnaticii the rule of life will alter this matter, or turn a killing letter into a living fountain ; for that law gives no life, there- fore it can be no part of this law of the wife. Had there been a law given that could have given life, verily right ecufnefs Jliould have come by the law. Gal. iii. 2 1. This laiv of the wife, that is, z. fountain of life, to depart from the fnarcs of death, is what Paul calls the minifiration of the Spirit oppofed to miniflration of d^ath, 2 Cor. iii. 11. Solomon's fountain of life is Paul's minifiration of the Spirit; and Solomon's fnares of death is Paul's law of death. The wife man's law of life is the fame as the living v/aterthat the Saviour gives, that is intiie believer as a well o{ water fpringing up into everlqfiing life, John iy. 14. BlefTed be God for ever, it is a fountain of life indeed, by which the poor believing finncr departs from the fnares of death, and that for evermore; or, to fpeak in the apoftle's language, T'he law of the SPIRIT of LIT K in Christ Jesus hath made me FREE frofu the law c/ sin and death, Rom, viii. 2. that is, the law of the Spirit of life in Chriil has made me free from the law of fm that works in my members, and from the law of Mofes, \yhich is the minifiration of death. We may call B 4 this !fr 24 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, Scc, this law of the wife the believer's only rule of life, without talking nonfenfe. But perhaps my unknown friend may afk why this difpenfation of the Spirit is called a law f To which 1 anfvver ; firft, becaufe of its binding power y the cords of everlafii?ig love, the bond of peace, and the girdle of truth, will hold the foul fafler than all the lifelefs commandments in the world, whether they be from heaven or of men. idly. It is called a law, becaufe of its conflraining power — the love of Chriji conftrains us, fays Paul; it is a powerful conilraint from evil, and mightily influences the mind to that which is good, '^dly, Becaufe of the obedience it produces ; the BlefTed Giver of this law circumcifes our hearts, that we may love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our foul, that we may live, Deut. xxx. 6. It produces the fruits of the fpirit, which is evangelical obe- dience ; we are taught of God to love one another by the love of God fhed abroad in our hearts, which is attended mth filial fear that keeps us from d parting from God, Jer. xxxii, 40. God direds our work iri truth hy it, Ifaiah Ixi. 8. and works all our works in us, Ifaiah xxvi. 12. he works in us an incHning and moving power, both to will and to do, and that of his own good pleafure, Phil. ii. 13. Well may this be called the law of the Spirit, when it pro-r duces fuch fpiritual obedience-, well, may the dejire of the righteous when it cometh b^ called a Tree of Life, A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. ftj Lifcy Prov. xiii. 12. feeing it produces love, joy, pe^ce, meeknefs, temperance, &c. This law of ths wife is called di fountain, becaufe it plays all its pro-? dudllonshighenough to reach the fpringfromwhence it is fupplied ; evangelical obedience fpringing from the Spirit of life and love, dire^^ted to the glory of God as the believer's chief end, makes the alTem- bly of the faints like a garden enclofed, a fpringjhut up, or a fountain fealed, Song iv. 12. This law of the Spirit of life produces more real obedience to God in one hour than ever hath been produced by all the living rules that have been drawn by hu- man wifdom from killing fnares. This law of the wife is Chriji's yoke that is eafy, and it is his burden that is light y Matt. xi. 29, 30. thofe fouls that are under this are the circumcifion that worjhip God in the Spirit, rejoice in Chriji Jefus^ and have no confi-- dencein theflefh, Phil. iii. 3. God writes this law on our hearts, and in our minds does he put it, Jer. xxxio 33. This is the law that goes forth of Zion (not from Sinai), ayid is the zvord of the Lord that went from yerufakm, Micah iv. 2. and thofe that re- ceive it are the people that keep the commandtnents of God and th faith of Jefus, Rev. xiv. 12. By this law are the fervants of God warned, and in keeping this there is great reward, for charity abideth for ever, Pfalm xix. 11. This is the holy command-- ment delivered unto us, from which legions have ^*ontinually departed, z Peter ii. 21. becaufe it v.'aa 26 A ^ULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. was only delivered to them in the letter of it ^ not put into them as z. fountain of a life. Hence they begin in the Spirit^ or with the difpenfation of the gofpel, and end in the fiefli, or under the killing letter. The law of the wife may be called a fountain qf life J becaufe it quickens the dead foul, and raifes ii to a lively hope ; it produces that life which the law promifed but could not give becaufe we could give it no obedience ; but this law enables a foul to live unto God, to live by the faith of the Son of God; it produces a lively motion toward God ; it is attended with life and peace , and enables us to love God that we may live eternally with him. Thus, Sir^ the believer is not without law to God, for God has written his law i|i his heart, and he is under this law to Chrift as his eternal head, king, and ruler. And I think this is fpeaking as the oracles of God, and preaching of it is doing the work of an evangelift, and piaking full proof of the mipiftry, much better than telling poor blind fouls '^ to look with pi^e eye to Chrift, who is our life, and with the other to the law, which is death ;" and it is better than bringing rules of life from a law which is the firength offing i Cqr. xv. 5, 6. or telling people that the rule of life is im- plied in the killing letter ; or that it appears from the fitnefs of things ; when we know that a living foul ferying God in the cldnefs of the latter arg things A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &:C, 2^ things that can fit no better than darknefs and light ; the eye of faith and a blinding vail; per- fedt liberty and a yoke of bondage ; real love and a gendering to fear ; a difplay of mercy and a revela- tion of wrath ; one working friendfhip and the other the motions of lin and vengeance. Are thefe the things that will fit ; or what is th^filnefs that rifes from them ? 1 fhoiild like to hear that au- thor again of this matter. Ads xvii. 32. In order to convince my friend farther that we do not make void the law through faith, or repre- fent the believer without law to God, 1 will fetch in another law, which is not another, but a branch of this that has been conlidered; and it is a branch riiat debafes the proud boafter, cuts up the felf- righteous, expofes the fool, lays the legalift in the duft, expofes the blind guide, furnifhes the fpiri- tual foldier of Chrift with weapons againfl him, and fecures the whole glory of falvation to God, tp whom it belongs, and to whom it mufl be given without referve. *' By the deeds of the law ihall no fle(h be juf- ^* tified, for by it is the knowledge of fin ; but '^ the righteoufnefs of God without the law is *f manifefted, being witnefTed by the law and the *^ prophets, even the righteoufnefs of God which *^ is by faith of Jefus Chrift ; for all have finned *5 and come fhort of the glory of God; being *i juflified freely by his grace, through the re- . ' . *' demption si A RULE AKD A RIDDLE, &C, f^ demption that is in Chrift Jefus ; whom God *^ hath fet forth to be a propitiation through faith ** in his blood, to declare his righteoufnefs for the ^^ remiflion of iins that are paft, through the for- ^* bearance of God ; to declare at this time his ^' righteoufnefs, that he might be juft, and the *^ juftifier of him which believeth in Jefus." — Where is boa/ring thenf It is excluded. By what law; of works? Nay, hut by the law of faitfi, Rom. iii. 26, 27, But what doth Paul mean by the law of faith f Does he mean the gofpel, which is fometimes called /a///^, as Paul, who perfecuted the faints in times pad, is faid now to freach the faith ^ No ; for the gofpel is the revelation and explanation of the co%'enant ofpromife; and all the hleJJing/S of it are the/rf^ gifts of God ; — Chrift the covenant head, — -the Spirit of promife, everiatl-! ing righteoufnefs, everlafting falvation, life, and glory, are all the gifts of God, held forth in un-- conditional promifes, which are zWyea and amen^ to the glory of God, and our everlafting falvation. As allthefe things come /rff/y from God, — from thq better covenant, a covenant of promife, — made with Chrill:, and with his feed in him, and are pure-> ly free in their fonntam, in their adminiftration, and bellowed to a God dilhonouring and hell -de- ferving people, irrefpedive of any work, worth, or worthinefs in them, there can be nothing like a law in it ; — that is, there is nothing that binds v;ith A RUtE AND A RIDDLE, kc, JL^ t^ith rigour to obedience, or that threatens damna- tion for non-performance ; there is nothing in it that fets a man to work for life, reckoning the reward to be of del?t; for God gives grace to make us obedient to the faith, and by grace he prefer'vetk and rewardeth the faithful. The Lord gives butk grace and glory, and will difplay the riches of his grace in glory by Chri/i Jefuz-: yea, even the king* dom itfelf is given of God in his good pleafure. Therefore I prefume that the word of faith dwell- ing richly in us, the fpirit of faith working power- fully, and the grace of faith working by love, purifying the heart, holding an imputed righte- oufnefs, and giving Chrift a refidence within us, is Paul's law of faith. For it is not hearing the gofpel, nor imbibing a fpeculative knowledge of it, that will exclude boafting, but the word, Spirit ^ and grace of faith, when powerfully applied to the heart, will flop the finner's mouth, and for ever filence him upon that head. If you afk why Paul calls this the law of faith ? — I anfwer, becaufe faith works by love, which is the fulfilling of the law, which is the end of the commandment, and lays hold of Chrift, who is the end of the JaiV; and puts on an everlafling righteoufnefs adequate to the law ; becaufe it is Ch rift's obedience thereto, and becaufe he that believes hath everlafiiiig life, which was the greateft thing that the law ever promifed, — and which that law could never give ; and 30 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. and becaufe the believer has the Spirit cf holinefs y^-^ as the law Is holy ; — by faith he is a jufi man, as the law isjuft ; — Tugood man, as the law is good ;— ^fpiritiial man, as the law is ffiritual : and thus the right ecufnefs of tJie law is fulfilled in us, who walk Tibt after the flejli, hut after the Spirit, Rom. viir. 4. t will fhew mv fiend that I have yet to fpeak on the faints' behalf, on the fubjed of their being not without law to God. As Paul divides the believer from the iyifidel, and divides the laws between them alfo, applying the law of faith to the believer, and the law of works to the infidel, declaring that whatfoever things the laiv faith, it faith to them that are under the law, Rom. iii. .19. and thofe that are under the law are under fi7i, Gal. iii. 22. and under the curfe^ Gal. iii. 10. fo James divides the hearer from the doer. He tells us that God of his own will begat us with the word of truth, that we (liould be a kind oi firfi^ fruits of his creatures ; and then tells us to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving ourfelves. By doing he means the works or fridts of faith — Shew me, faith he, thy faith without thy works, and 1 will fhew thee my faith by my works ; and then adds — for if a man be a hearer of the word end not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his na- tural face in a glafs, for he beholdeth himfelf and goeth his way, and Jlraightway forget teth what man- Tier of man he was. Here James compares the gofpel A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &:C. ^t go/pel preached to a glafs, the light of which reflcd- ing upon the Tinner's confcience makes manifeft the ftate of his foul ; as Paul fpeaks — buf we wilb open face heholdiyig as in a glafs , 2 Cor. iii. 18. fo here the finner hates the light ^ and goeth his way; he will come no more to it ; — this glafs has JJiewed, and the light of it has reproved his deeds, therefore he hates it, and gceth his zvay into the world ao-ain, and fo hardens his heart and fears his confcience, until all is forgot, and then he finks into a deeper fecurity; or, as the text faith, he ftraight'-joay for- getteth what ?nmner of man he was : but whofo looketh into the perfe^, law of liberty, and continue th in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, hut a doer of the work, this man fJoall be bleffed in his deed, James i. 25. Here is a law of perfeB liberty, or a perfeB law of liberty, to he looked into, and to be continued in, if a man. will be bleffed in his deed. If my friend afks what this law of liberty is, I will endeavour to (hew him. It is taken from the law of releafe, when the jubilee trumpet was to be founded, and liberty to be proclaimed accord- ing to the tenor of that law. If thou buy an He- brew fervant, fix years f/jall he ferve, and in the feventh heJJjall go out free for nothing : If he came in by him- felf he ffjall go out by himfelf; if he were married, then his wife fhall go out with him, Exod. xxi. 23. Every poor elecfl finner is like this Hebrew fer- vant, he has fold himfelf fornought , Ifaiah Iii. 3. and 4 is *i A RULE AND A RibDLE, Scc, is ibe fervant of fin, and under the dominion of the law — two hard maflers indeed, who fhew no fa- vour ; he that is under the dominion of fin is alfo wider the law of death ; he that is delivered from the power of Jin, is delivered from the law alfo, as the apoftle intitmtGS, Jin Jhall not have dominion over you; lutwhyf hecaufe you are not under the lazv, which is thefirengih of fm, i Cor. xv. 56. hut under grace, zvhtch reigns through righteoufnefs unto eternal life. In this Hate of fervitude the finner lies till the great trumpet he hlown, Ifaiah xxvii. 13. and x\it fiyful found reaches his ears^ Pfalm Ixxxix. 15. by which Chrijl preaches deliverance to captives, and fet at liberty thofe that are hruifed with t\i\% yoke of hard fervice^ Luke iv. 18. When the Hebrew fervant'' s liberty was proclaim- id, he was delivered from his mafter, from the command of his mafter, from the threatening of his mafter, and from the fervice of his mafter — ■ he was a free man-^he ftiall, fays God, go out free ; and yet this man, that went out at the year of ju- bilee, is, fays God, my fervant, Lev. xxv. 42- So the believing fmner is delivered from the law, that being dead, Rom. vii. 6. from the command of the law, A6ls XV. 24. for the letter killeth, 2 Cor. iii. 6. from the curfe of the law. Gal. iii. 13.— and from the fervice of the law, for he fliall ferve in the new^ nefs of the Spirit, and not in the vldnefs of the letter y Rom. vii. 6. He is a free man : if the Son there^ fore A kULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 33 fore JJjall make you free, ye JJjall be free indeed, John viii. 36. and yet he that is this free man is Chrifi's fer- vanty I Cor. vii. 22. for though he is not under the law, yet he is not without law to God, but Under this law of liberty to Chill, who has made him free indeed, and he that looketh into this law of liberty y and continues in it, (hall be bkjfed in his deed. No doubt but many of the mercenary Hebrew mailers were grieved at this law of liberty ; they were gauled and chafed in their minds to fee their flaves go out free. Hence we read that Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people at Jerufalem, to pro- claim liberty to their fervants unjuftly detained : That every manjloould let his man fervant or maid fervant^ being an Hebrew or Hebrewefs, go free : that thev fhould not ferve themfelves of them. When the princes and people heard of this covenant of the kings, they obeyed it, and let, their fervants go free ; but afterwards they turned, and caufed the fervants and the handmaids ^ whom they had let go free, to return, and brouorht them into fubje^ion as fervants and handmaids again, I made a covenant with your fathgrSy fays God, that when the fervant had ferved fix years ye Jhall let him go free, and you had now turned and done right in yny fight ^ in proclaiming liberty ; and ye had made a covenant Ic" fore me, in the houfe which is called by my name^ hut ye returned and polluted my name, by caufing every man end maid-fervant whom he had fet at liberty at their pieafure to return y and brought them into subjection. C Therefore, ^k A RULE AND A RIDDLg, &C. 'therefore, thus faith the Lord, 7'e have not hearkened unto Me in proclaiming liberty ; Beholdy I proclaim a liberty for you i faith the Lord, to the fword, to the pejl Hence, and to the famine, and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, and I will give you into the hands of your enemies, and into the hands of them thai feek your life, and your dead bodies fhall be meat for the fozvls of heaven ; read Jercmiali chap, xxxiv. He that leadeth into captivity mujl go into captivity ^ fays John, Rev. xiii. lo. and fo it was here, the maflers hated the Lord's releafe-^they refufed to break the yoke, therefore God put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, Jer. xxvii. 8. and left them in his fervice threefcore and ten years, and then proclaimed ^jubilee to them, which they were as glad to hear of as their poor fervants had been before ; as it is written, zvhen the Lord turned the captivity of Zion we zuere like them that dream ; but the deliverance that God proclaimed to therr^ was more than a dream, though that was little bet- ter that they had formerly proclaimed to their fer- vants : God's releafe of them was real, which filled their mouth with laughter, and their tongues with fnging, infomuch, that the heathens faid the Lord hath done great things for them, Pfalm cxxvi. i, 2, Thcfe mercenary mafters are lively figures of many of our preachers — and itis with alluiion to them that the infpired penmen often fpeak oi falfe apoftles and A RULE Al^D A RIDDLE, &C. 35 end deceitful workers, who under the vail of the lazv, and the influence of the devil transformed^ call the everlajiing gofpel Anti/iomianifn, the preachers of it Antinomians, the powerful operations; of the Spirit of it enthufiafm, and the liberty of it licentioufnefs % as if the Word, Spirit, grace, and minifters of the Lord, were the only indruments of Satan ; and gracelefs men, the only infaUible preachers of ho- linefs, who under a falfe (hew of it tempt God — » bring forth the old yoke — lead the faints into bond- age, pervert their way, and fet their hearts to fretting againfl the Lord, Prov. xix. 3. Of this number are fome — I may fay legions, for they are many — that go from our univerjtties and academies ; who have no other qualifications for the miniflry, authority in it, credentials for it, right to live by it, or to claim the honour of it, than that vv^hich is of men; they are minifters of men and by men. And among all the myfleries that puzzle the wife this is none of the leaft, that men of worldly zvifdom, which God calls fooliJJonefs, i Cor. iii. 19. and zvife and prudent men, from whom he has hid the myfieries of his kingdom. Matt, xi, 25. fhould be able with the help of that wifdom that is earthly, fenfual, and deviUfJj, James iii. 15. to turn carnal men into m- nijlers of the Spirit, fpiritual lords, divines, and doc- tors of divinity ; but fo it is, if we may credit all that we hear — but how it is done muft remain a myftery, until he that has promifed to reveal the C 2 myjlery ^6 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &:z. wyllery ofiniqi'hy reveal this alfo as a main branctl of it. And who fet thefc men to heap to themfelve^ teachers is alfo as great a myftery. I know Paul bids Timothy commit his docirine to faithful men, that they might be able to teach others ; but to turn infidels into faithful men and divines is another thing. Paul fpeaks of Tome in his days that acted as the Hebrew mailers did by their fervants, who pro- claimed liberty to them, and fiibjecledt\\tm. to fervi- tude again ; and calls them falfe brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to fpy cut our liberty which we have in Jefus Chrift, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom zve gave place by subjec- tion no not for an hour ; that the truth of the gojpel, (or the freedom that Chrifl has promifed to them that receive the truth, John viii. 32.) might not con- tinue with you. Gal. ii. 4, 5. And what was the bondage that thefe fpies^ who cam.e privily, brought in unexpedledly, v/anted to bring them into ? why they wanted to fubjedl them to the command of THE LAW, which genders to bondage, by telling them that they were under the law as a rule of life. There rofe up certain of the feE of the Pharifees which believed J faying that it was needful to circumcife the believing Gentiles, and to command the^n to KEEP THE LAW of Mofcs^ Adls XV. 5. Here is the command to the believers — they were to keep the law of Mofes ; to which Peter anfwers, God zvho kno'weth the hearts hear them witnefs, giving them the A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 37 the Holy Ghojl, even as he did to us., and put no dif- ference between us and them, purifying their HEARTS by FAITH. Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the difcipleSy which neither our fathers nor zve zvcre able to bear P Ads XXV. 8, 9, 10. The liberty which Peter here alludes to is the liberty of the Holy Ghofl, which God had given them, v.hich Paul calls the law of the Spirit of life, which made \\\m. free from the laiJU of Jin and death — for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, 2 Cor. iii. 17. for, as David fays, the Spirit of God is a free Spirit, Pfalm li. 12. The rule that Peter gives them is faith, which pu- rifies the heart. The unbearable yoke that they were going to tempt God with, by galling the neck of the difciples, was, /r/?, the needfidnefs of circumcifion : idly, a co?7imand to keep the law of Mo- fes; and it is cdW^di- tempting God, becaufe it was a rcfledlion caft upon his work who had purified their tern ^/^//^, and fent his Spirit to govern and lead them into all truth — as ;f the Holy Ghojl was not fufEcient to make them obedient, nor God's purifying their hearts a fufiiclent purifica- tion, nor faith a fufiicient rule — withou: yol^ing them wdth the killing letter as the only. rule, of life. And as it was then fo' it is now — every man tliat ref%ifcs to tempt God, and that will not bring forth this yoke, and that does not aflinn that the killing letter is the living mans only rule of life, is an Jntina- C 3 mian^ 38 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. ntiaUy a licentious perfon, a man in errors^ one that 7nakes void the law, and is cried down by every blind watchman, though they cannot bring one text to prove that the believer is under the law as a rule of life; nor one text that calls Mofes' law the believer's rule of life; nor one text from God's book to overthrow this dodrine^ this everlajiing go/pel : Paul fays, they know not what they fay, nor whereof they affirm. If it be urged the command, thou JJoalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, is ftill a yok€ upon the believer's neck : it is anfwered, the believer is not under the law^ hut under grace — not an heir of wrath, nor of the commandments, but an heir of pro- mife : and he is to' take the commandment to the promife, which belongs to the better covenant ; and he will find that God has promifed to circumcife his heart, and that hejijall love the Lord that he may live, Paul makes a difference between the com- tnandment and Chriji — I have loved them with an everlajiing love, and with loving kindnefs have I drawn, is in a promife, and is better than a command : they SHALL love me is fafer and better than do love me ; it comes from the better covenant, eflablifhed upon better promife s than conditional ones, andis fure to all the chofen feed, I have confidered Solomon^ s conclujton of the whole 'matter, fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man ^ Eccl. ii. 14. and have de«^ Jiberately A RULE AND A RIDDLE, Scc, 39 iiberately confidered all that you have drawn from the text ; and I have likewife confidered Paul's comment on Solomon s words, which differs much from youx^^^Now the end of the commandmeyit is cha- rity, out of a pure heart and of a good eonfcience, and of faith unfeigned ; from which fome having fwerved have turned afide unto vain jangling, dejlring to be teachers of the law, underjtanding neither what they fay, nor where- of they affirm, I Tim. i. 5, 6, 7. What Solomon calls the co7iclifion of the whole matter Paul calls the end of the commandment ; which James calls the perfeH law of liberty ; which Peter calls the gift of the Holy Ghojl and of purifying faith ; which is the Saviour's eajy yoke and fpringi?ig well; which is Paul's law of the Spirit of life ; Solomon's law of the wife ; the prophets' law that went forth out of Zion ; the apoflles law of faith ; Peter's holy commandment delivered unto us ; and that end of the command- ment, which is charity, out of an heart purified by faith, attended with a good confcience, which all turn from who end in the flejh, and give themfelves up to vain jangling, or to talking about things which they underftand not. If my friend objedls, and enforces the com- mands of Chrifl concerning hearing the word, attending the Lord's fupper, ^c. &c. it is an- fwered, the Spirit Jhall lead them into all truth ; and if the Spirit lead them not it \s ferving in the oldnefs ef the letter, contrary to the apoftle's dod:rine— which he received not of men, nor was he taught it, C 4 .but 4© A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &(^. hut by the revelation of Jefus Chriji, Gal. i. ii, 12, And if purifying faith be not the rule of the be- liever's ad:ions or obedience to the commands ot Chriit, and i( he he not fully perfua^ed by the Spi- ril of faith in his ozvn mind, his works are fin ; what^ foever is not of faith is Jin, Rom. xiv. 23. to the un- believing there is nothing pure, their mind and confcience is defiled, Titus i. 15. — nor does their obedience fpring from that charity which is the end of the commandment, out of a pure heart, of a g^ood con- fcience, and of faith unfeigned — but is a fzverving from it. This is gofpel that can never be overthrown ; gofpel which God ever has and ever will fet his feal to ; gofpel which no hypocrite ever knew in the power thereof; gofpel that ihall never pafs away, even when heaven and earth are both re- moved. It will be expelled that my unknown friend will fend me, in his anfwer to this, from the word of God, an account of the bad effects, licen- tious practices, and libertinifm, that this doctrine has produced in the faints of God; and likewlfe an account from Scripture of the fuperior holinefs, fruitfulnefs, or ufefulnefs, that has demonftrated itfelf in thofe who have tempted God, by putting the commanding yoke of the law upon the difciples' necks; or, as Paul fays, fwerved from this end of the com- nandment^ which is charity out of a pi]re heart, to the ftudy and pradice of vain jangling^ or dejlring A RULE AND A RIPDLE, &C. ij to he teachers of the laiv^ knowing neither what they fay nor whereof they affirm. It is not to be wondered at that men love or de- fire to be teachers of the law ; the letter is more fuperficial, it lays nearer home^ and is within the compafs of nature. But as for this myftery, to an unenlightened, unquickened, uninfpired, unre- newed minifter of the letter^ it is too profound a depth ; the natural man receives it not, nor can he know it, becaufe it is fpiritually difcerned, and by the faints pow^erfully felt, but it will ever remain a far able in the mouth of fools. Pro v. xxvi. 7. Thefe are the great things of God's law, and they are accounted aftrange thing, Hof. viii. 12. It contains all the weighty matters of the law judgment, mercy, faith and the love of God, and teaches a man to do the kjfer matters in faith, and under the conflraining power of the Spirit of love and of a found mind — found in the faith, ai;id infpir^d with love, which will make a man obedient unto death — love isfirono- as death ; and fo thofe faints found it who loved not their lives unto the death, Rev. xii. 1 1. 1 come now to another branch of this perfeB law of liberty — which is to be continued in, if a man will be blejfed in his deed, '' Know you pot, brethren, (for 1 fpeak to them ^^ that know the law), how that the law hath dotni- *^ nion over a man as long as he liveth? For the f^ woman which hath an hufband is bound by the f f law to her hufband fo long as he liveth ; but if the *^ hufband 4a > RT7LE AND A HIJJDLE, SCC, *^ hujhand he dead fhe is loo fed from the law cf her *^ hv.fhand* So then, if while her huftand I'vveth fhe •* be married to another man, fhe fhall be called *^ an adult erefs ; but if her hiifhand he dead fjje is ** free from thai law ; (o that Jhe is no adult erefs ^^ though (lie be married to another man, Where- *^ fore, my hrethren, ye alfo are become dead to the law hy the hody ofChriJi^ that ye JJjould he married to another^ even to him who is raifed from the deady that weflmdd bri-ng forth fruit unto God/' Kom. vii. I, 2, 3, 4. If Paul has any meaning 1 think it amounts to this — that the law has the fame dominion over the fmner^ that expeEls life or help from it hy his own obedience to the rules of it, as the hufband has over his wife by the law of marriage ; and the law communicates bondage to the foul, which the foul naturally genders to^ until the foul be pregnant with horror, defpair, and mifery, jufl as a man communicates feed to a wife, who brings forth a Jiill-horn or dead child, which is the worjl of labours without ar4y heir to fatisfy the hufband, as Paul aims to prove — for^ ivhen we were in the flefJj^ the motions offin^ which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto deaths Rom. vii. 5, But when God tells the poor linner, who is fo fond of being Mofes's difciple, that Mofes my fervant is dead, Jofhuai. 2. and the foul is quickened to feel and enlightened to fee that the law is a killi?tg letter, the law of death, and the miniftation oi condemna^ tion ^ A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C, J^J $ion ; and that the foul can, bring forth no fruit to God under its gendering bondage, no fruit but frint unto death or dead works ; the foul feeing a DEAD HUSBAND, and a dead law, that cannot give life, the foul is loofed from that law ; nor is it an aduiterefs, nor an Antinomian, though it be mar- ried to another man. For that law has no more power over fuch a foul than the corffe of Anna's hufband had over her^ who had been a widow upwards of forty yearSy and had lived with an hufband but feven years from her virginity^ and was then waiting to be married to the confolation of Ifrael^ Luke ii. '^6, The way that the foul gets releafed from that law is by the body of Chrift» The foul fees that the law curfed the Saviour as well as the (inner, and that the Lord died under the law; that it was the law of death to the Saviour as well as to the linner ; and, finding Chrift raifed from the dead, it goes after him and unites with him, and is be- gotten to a lively hope by his refurreSlion from the dead', and Chrift formed in the foul the hope of glory is an incorruptible feed indeed, a precious fruit. Such are no adultereffes though they be tnar^ tied to another man. Nor do they deferve the pame of licentious Antinomians, feeing the Holy Ghoft aiBrmeth that this is done that they may bring forth fruit unto God, Rom. vii. 4. namely, the fruits of the Spirit. If the rigorous hufband of a poor fimplc woman be dead^ according to Paul's dodrine. 44 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. doflrlne, Rom. vii. 2. one would think that he could command her perfon, pinch her belly, and beat her back no more ; and that the other man. whom Ihe had married had got the fole and whole command of her ; I am fure he has by the laws of God, and by the covenant of wedlock, or elfe I know not who would marry a widoWy tg have her hunted with the commands of a ghoft. However, if the killing commandments of the dead hujhand be the believer^ s only rule of life, who is efpoufed to Chrifk by faith, this is the cafe — Mofes, the Lord's fervent, has ftill the command and dominion over the bride the Lamb's ivife. Rev. xxi. 9. And notwithftanding his being dead, as God affirms, yet he muft manage the houfehold of faith , and give the only rule of life to the queen, although ihe he exalted tofiand at the right hand of the king in gold of Ophir, Pfalm xlv. 9. If fbe be at the right hand of the king, they do her much wrong who place her at the foot of a fervant ; one would think that, as he was not permitted to go into the promifed land (though he fain would), which was but a faint type of heaven, he could never have fuch power over the houfe or church of Chrifl, which is fo often emphatically called heaven, We are under the law as the rule of life, fay fome ; then the law of liberty is far from being perfect. One would think that fouls efpoufed to Ghrift, and married to. him, that they fhnuld brir^ forth fruit A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 43 frliit unto God, were under no law but that of the hujhand'y or, as Paul fays, under the law to Chrift. And I am fure it is fo with fouls wedded to Mo- fes he has the whole command of them, for they 4re without the fpiritual law of life altogether : and furely ihefecond hujband\izs as much right as the firit j if we allow this man to he worthy of as muchy Paul fays, he is counted worthy of more glory than Mofes, inafmuch as he who hath huilded the houfe, as Jacob built the houfe of Ifrael by Rachel and Leah, Ruth iv. 1 1 . is worthy of more honour than the houfe, Heb. ill. 3. It is clear that all the fruit brought forth under Mofes was but dead works, ox fruit unto death -, — therefore he built kq houfe or houfehold but that of the bond woman, who is affirmed to be defolate ; and, with refped: to God^ fhe is fnid to have no hufhand, Gal. iv. 27, and therefore all her offspring are a baflardr^co. oi dead childrer, dead in trefpafTes and fms, which arc funk into the fynagogue of Satan inftead o{a.righte^ cus nation, called the living, that are to rife up and fraife Chrifl, Ifaiah xxxviii. 19. Hence we learn that fouls under the law wedded to Mofes are not God's wife — they bring forth fruit unto death, not unto God — they are free from righteoufnefs. God fays, I am not their hufband — Mofes has full command of them — though he accufes them day and night; and Chrift himfelf always fends fuch fouls to the law, that they may not marry another while 46 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, ScC, while the fjril hufband lives. But when an accutim Mofes, and his killing law, have executed their ien- tence of death on the fourl, it is then dead ; and if Chrift quickens it and enlightens it, and it fJes, as Ruth did, to hisjkirt, if he fpreads his ftcirt over k it is a time of love^ and if he enters into a marriage covenant with fuch a foul it becomes his own, Ezek. xvi. 8. He has the whole corjimand of fuch, and the full poiTellion of them ; he has mar- ried the foul that was in 2iftate of widowhood^ and fays thy Maker is thy hujhand—tliou fliah remember the reproach of thy widowhood 710 more. Thus he marries the widow, difcharges her debts, redeems the mortgaged inheritayice, raifes up the name of the dead upon it, and does worthily in Ephratah, and is famous in Bethlehem, Ruthiv. 11* Paul tells us that he was dead to the law — Z through the law am dead to the law, that 1 might live unto God, GaL ii. 19. He tells us that when the commandment came fin revived, and he died ; that^« took occafion by the commandment, deceived him, and by it flew him, Rom. vii. 9, 10, 11* One would think that, when a law has apprehended 3. tranfgrefTor, arraigned him, tried him, caft him, condemned him, executed him, and buried him, he was got out of the reach of that rule of life^ Paul fays the law came to him, it apprehended him> Jin revived, he was found guilty — it took an occafion by the law to expofe him to death, deceived him, with A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 47 with refpeift to all hopes in it, andy/^w him by the fentence of it ; that he was dead and buried with Chrift, ov planted together with kirn in the like* NESS of his death. If fo, one would have thought that it had done with him. But, according to fome, this killing letter, or moral law, has never done with the believer — they would make it like the Vopijh lazvy which makes a believer in Chrift a heretic ; condemns him, curfes him with bell, book, and candle, and burns him to afhes, and yet purfues him ftill ; if he goes to purgatory it follows him ; if to heaven, it holds the keys of that; and at the judgment day there can be no favour or mercy v^ithout Popifh abfo- lution. So fome handle the law of Mofes; though it kills a man, and he is crucified, dead, buried, and rifen again, through the operation of God ; yet the commandment that came, which deceived and ■flew him, is " flill'^ir only rule of life' '^itis ftill binding, and if he goes into heaven itfelf it pur- fues him, for the " very angels round the throne are governed by it,'' as fome affirm, which is ftrange, as God*s voice, whether in the law or in the gofpel, is declared to be /o the fens of men, Pro v. viii. 4. It has been a puzzling matter to me to find out what it is that appears in Alofes' miniftry, with refpedt to fuccefs, that makes people fo eager to copy after him. He led t/;c people forty years in the- wildcrnefs 4 ♦\S A kULE AND A RIDDLE, Stci ■ wildernefs it is true, but he was fo far from exceed- ing the apo^les and evangelifts in fuccefs, with re- fped to converfion work, that he declares God ha^ not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes tpfee, and ears to hear unto this day., Deut. xxix. 4. — and calls them a perverfe generation, a nation void of counjel, and children in whom is no faith ^ Deut. xxxii. 20. And we know that their carcafes fell in unbelief ivoenty thoufand together* Yea, and the Jews for rejecting of Chrifl and cleaving to Mofes were de- ftroyed by infinite numbers, and with an infinite dellrudtion ; and a Pharifee, who is the greatef^ ad- vocate for the law, is farther from the kingdom cf God than publicans and harlots ; and if Mofes he but read the vail is upon their hearts^ nor can it be taken away till they turn to the Lord. No fruits are brought forth under the law but wild grapes, wild fgs, untimely fruits, dead works, mercenary and eyefervice, and fruits unto death ; and all fpring from the bafe principles offlavijk fear ; clone to get a name or to be feen of men, to merit heaven, and bring God in debtor to them : their works fpring from the fear of a condemned crimi- nal, which is the worft of roots, and are dire<51:ed to felf, the worft of ends ; hence Ifrael is faid to be an empty vine (not united to Chrift the true vine), therefore he brings forth fruit to himfelf, Hofca x. l . whereas the Chriftian finds that from God is his fruit A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 49 fruit found, Hof. xiv. 8. and inftead of bringino- forth fruit to himfdf he mud deny himfelf daily. With refped to its ^^ ufefulnefs to inftrudt the childreri of God," it may be anfvvered — believers are not without teachers ; the Lord their God teaches them to})roft, Ifaiah xlviii. 17. He teaches them by the Spirit of love, 2 Tim. i. j. to love hiniy Deut. XXX. 6. Yea, a7id they are taught of God to love one another, i Thef. iv. 9. Chiiil:, the great prophet of the church, teaches them alfo. It is not now, remember the law of Mofes ray fervant — but it is, this is my beloved Son, hear ye him, Jll thy children fliall be taught of the Lord, and great fhall be the peace of thy children, Ifaiah liv. 13. The Spirit of God, the anointing which ye have received of him, abide th in you ; and ye need not that any man teach you, if he be a minifier of the letter, or one that brings rules of life from the fnares of death : hut, as the fame anointing teacheth you of all things , and is true, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you,yeJhall abide him, 1 John ii. 27. The ^r^c^ of God, that bringeth falvation, teaches them to deny ungodlinefs and worldly lufi, and to live foberly, righ- teoufly, and godly in this prefent world, Titus ii. i r, 12. The believer's own reins, when God tries him, infiruB him in the right feafon, Pfalm xvi. 7. The heart of the wife, being a new heart, which contains a new fpirit, teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips, Prov. xvi. 23. Thus the chil- D drea 50 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, Scd dren of God are not v/ithout teachers, nor yet without divine and infallible teachers. And I would to God that the faints would attend a little more to their divine teaching; they would not Jlumhle upon the dark mountahis, be tofled aboilt with every blind guide and wind of dod:rV;ne, and go hood-winked, groping for tJie wall at noon-day ^ as numbers of them do. But, alas, alas ! inftead of fearching tJie Scriptures, as they are commanded to do, which are able to make them wife to fahation, through faith that is in Chrift Jefus, they load their fhelves, and fcuff their heads with the notions of what are called the fathers ; when, if they would try them by God's flandard, they would find that not one half of their notions would fland the touch-* Jione of God's word. If believers were to go to the great infallible Head and Prophet of the church by humble praver, they would find their judgment better informed, their thoughts more efa- blifhed, and their hearts more ^nnly fixed, than ever they will be by reading a thoufand folio volumes of fuch mungrel divinity, dafhed with whole bowls of popery ; where you may hiint for fevert years and never find one page that can, in the ftridefl fenfe, be called ^i?^ everlafling gofpel. Rev. xiv. 6. There are libraries, conlifling chiefly of ancient books, that coil fifty thoufand pounds, and I would not go fifty fieps to call them all my own if flripped of that defpifed book called the Bible, and a few A RULE AND A RIDDLE, Szc. ^t a few more that I could name, which v/ei'e written by our own divines. I am fully perfuaded that every believer may get divinity more pure 'from adulteration, more poiverful, mor € fat isfa^ory, more eftahlijhing^ by humble prayer to Chrift Jefus, in one hour, than ever he will get from all thofe authors that are called the fathers, who were as blind as bats, and their writings as full of confuficn as a gentleman's garret is full of lumber. If a man lack wifdom let him aj}< it of God, who giveth libe- rally and upbrddeth not, and itjhall be given him, James 1.5. It is when men get cold to God- — dead to fludy — = power lefs and faithlefs in prayer— fhy of the Lord — at a dijiance from his throne — and beneath heavenly mindednefs, and void of heavenly meditation — that they fly to thefe fathers inflead of flying to the Father of eternity, where wifdom, mercy,- and comfort may be got ; for he is the Father of all mercies, and God of all comfort, 2 Cor. i. 3. and I ■ know that he will withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly^ Pfalm Ixxxiv. 11. As to the " letter of the ten commandments being an infallible rule of diredlion," is anfwered thus — they lead to the unity of God ; that hw prohibits idol worjbip and all ccvetoufnefs, and commands love to the neighbour ; but we are neither to ferve God nor worjhip God in the oldnefs of the letter ; he will be worjliipped in fpirit and in truths D 2 and ^j. A RULfi AND A RIDDLE, kc, and Jcrv€d in the newnefs of the fpirit alfo : it is he that caufed the light to Jhinc out of darknefsy that JJiines into our hearts, and gives us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jefus Chrifl, God's worjhip, and God's fervice, are to be performed under the Spirit's influence ; God is a fpirit, and they that worfliiphim must worjliip him in fpirit and in truth. Although the law forbids covetoufnefs, the power of it will never make any man hate it — the law is weak through the fiejli; the law of unfeigned faith, that works by love out of a pure confcience, will make a man hate covetouf- nefs. Pray for us, fays Paul, for we trufi that wc have a good confcience in all things, willing to live hO' Tiefily, Heb. xiii. i8. God has not left his people " without fufficient directions/' nor yet without a diredor. In all thy ways acknowledge God, and he Jliall dire^ thy paths, Prov. iii. 6. Wifdom is profitable to dire5i ; / will dire5l their work in truth, fays God ; and 1 will make an ever lofting coveyiant with them, Ifaiah Ixi. 8. It hiiot in man that walketh to direB his fleps, Jer. x. 23. I will inftruB thee, and teach thee in the way which thou flialt go — / will guide thee with mine eye* Be not like a horfe or a mule that have no underjianding^ Pfahn xxxii. 8, 9. I will bring the blind by a way that they know not ; J will lead them in paths that they have not known ; I ivill. .make darknefs light before them. A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 53 them, and crooked things ftraight : thefe things will I do unto them and not for fake them, Ifaiah xlii. i6. "Sending the citizens of Zion to Sinai for rules of life ayid diredion, is a contempt of mount Lion, and of the heavenly Jerufalem, to which the Spirit of God leads alT'helieyers, Heb. xii. 22. and is no lefs than a contempt of the Ki?ig of faints, whom God hath fet on that moft holy hill. Making the letter the only rule of life, \s fending the faints wrong, for af much as the Lord hath faid unto them, they fliall hencejorth return no more that way , Deut. xvii. 16. They have compaffed that mount long enough, Deut. ii. 2, 3. Mofes is dead and buried, Jofliua i. 2. Jofhua is to take the lead, — It is bewitching the people. Gal. iii. i. it h fending them to the old yoke of bondage. Gal. v. i. which is a contempt of the Saviour's yoke. Matt. ii. 29. it is turning their back upon grace, Gal. v. 4. it is abufing their liberty^ Gal. v. i. it is making Chrifl of none effe5l to them, Gal. v. 4. and that he fliould profit them nothing, Gal. v. 2*. Elijah, who travelled forty days into the wildernefs in order to go to Horeb, inflead of going to mount Zion, was a/ked twice, by way of reproof, firft in a florm, and then by a (till voice, What DOST THOU HERE, Elijah ? i Kings xix. 9. 13. which was attended with an earthquake, a whirl- wind, and a, fire; God would not take him to hea- ven from that mount, though he requeued to die there ; that is not the new and living way, Heb, x. so. he mufl go back to the Holy La^id, over the D 3 river 54 A RULE AND A RIDDLE^ &C. river Jordan again, and into the plains of Jericho^ where jojiiua^ typical of our Captain, //y^ took the lead, befort the fiery chariot appeared to take him to^ heaven^ 2 Kings ii. 11.' Nor can fending living fouls to a killing letter for rules of life be any way promotive of fruitfuhiefs. There can be no fruit brought forth to God's glory without an U7iion, by the Spirit of Jove^ to Chrift the living vine: ihe branch cayinot bear fruit of it f elf No good fruit till the corrupt tree be made good by grace;- — make the tree ^■/)od and his fruit will be good; a good tree cannot bring lor 1 11 evil Jruit. No good works without faith ; whatfoever is not of faith is fm: no honeft labours without love : no fpi ritual fru'ts wirhouL the Spirit of God produce them : ro vvorks doi.e accept aMe to God, unlefs he %VQrk in us both to will and to do them Nor does this dodlrine ^' remove the bounds of the church, nor leave her without her enclofures,'' unlefs it can be proved that God^s putting his laws in their heart., and writing them in their minds, giv- ing them a neiv heart and a new Jpirit ; putting his fear within them, and promifing they /hall not depart from him ; holding them in his- handjo that the gates of heil carmot prevail againfi them; caufing them to walk in his/latutes, to keep his judgements and do them ; being a wall of fire round about them, placing falva- Hon for walls and bulwarks, and keepiyig them by his mighty power through faith; can be called ^' remov- ing A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 55 ing the bounds and taking away the enclofures of 'the church." And I think it is a pity that fuch a difpenjation of fupcr abounding grace, the minijiration of God's eternal Spirit, Ihould find no more favour in the eyes of poor miferable finners, nor any better name than that of Antinomianifm. For my part, I beheve it will go by anodier name at the refiitu- tion of all things ; for, if Chrift refiores all things, he will doubtlefs refiore his own gofpel to its proper name. As for ^^ corredling unruly Chriflians by the law/' 1 believe the faint* s laiv is written on thefiejh- ly tables of every believing heart by the Spirit of God ; and that Chriji dwells in them by faith; and that he keeps his royal court in mount Zion for all his friends^ as he is crowned king there; but, as for Sinai, it is his court of judicature ; he appears there as the judge of all. We are to apprehend xhe unruly, and take them to the royal court, and to the bar of equity ; and appeal, as Paul did, to God and to con- fcience in God-s fight ; and when the unruly feels the force of faithful reproof, backed with the Scrip- tures of truth, and fecondcd by his own ccnfcience, it will be more mortifying and humbling to him than flogging him with all the fcourges that can be brought from the minifiration cf death. This never brought ii /inner to Chrifi, nor refiored a backflider; it is with the cords of love that God leads a foul to the Saviour; and by the fame is the backllidcr D 4 reftored. 56 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. reilorcd. / ivill heal their backjlidin^s ; I will love than freely ; Hofea xiv. 4. Your ^^ enforcing the command to lore God^ calling it the believer s ride, that mud ever remain binding,'* is not [peaking as the oracles of God. We know that the law commands us to love God ; and we have received favours enough to bring us in debtors fo to do ; but the carnal mind is enmity agaiyift God ; it is not fuhjeSi to that law, nor can he. There is nothing that the law demands but what the gofpel gives ; and there is nothing that the law commands that it helps us to perform, nor does it afford flrength, life, love, holinefs, mercy, inclination, or power, to enable us to give it its dues. I know '' we are commanded to walk in love as Chrifi hath loved us ; but we muft fettle things on their own proper balis. The end of the com- mandment is charity ; but where do we get this charity or love ? — why, it is fhed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghofl, which is given unto us. If it is given, it is from the covenant o^ pro- mife, not from the covenant of works ; — if falva- tion be of grace in every part, it is no more of works in any part. Love is the bafis of a cove- nant of grace — I have loved thee with an ever- lafling love ; the gift of Chrifi is the wonderful cffed of it — God fo loved the world that he gave bis only begotten Son. It is with loving-kind^ nefs A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 57 nefs that God draws us to Chrifl — no man can come unto me, except the Father which hath fent me draw him. Love is the bond of the everlaft- ing covenant. — My loving-kindnels 1 will vot utterly take frojn him^ nor fuffer my faithfulnefs to fail. Love is the bond of eternal union between Chrifl and his church. — Thou, O Father, haft loved them as thou haft loved me, John xvii, 28. Love is the bond of heartfelt union between the Lord and us — he that dwelleth in love dzvelleth in Gody and God dwelleth in him, i John iv, 16. — and it is called the love of God per fe tied in us — not our love, which is of the law ; for it is faid 7iot that we loved God, but that he loved us. And who- ever fent men to preach, who can make no dif- ference between the law that worketh wrath, and love which cafteth out fear, which the law gen- ders\ no difference between the killing letter 2ind the bond of the everlafiing covenant f Let love fland upoli its own bottom, fix it not on the letter of the law. The law reveals the wrath to come — it is God's magazine which contains all the trea- fures of hail referved againfl the day of battle and war. Job xxxviii. 22. And who could ever have thought that the only rule of life for be- lievers could be fetched from the miniflration of condemnation, 2 Cor. iii. 9. the fnares of deaths Prov. xiii. 14. the voice of words, Hcb, xii. 19. Tvh^ law that worketh wrath, Rom. iv. 15. the killing ^8 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. killing letter^ 2 Cor. iil. 6. the law that is againfl us. Col. ii. 14. the adverfary that delivers us to, the judge to he caft into prijon, Matt. v. 25. a law that furnijhes the /inner with an accufer before God, John v. 45. that is contrary to us. Col. ii. 14. that curjed the Saviour himfelf, though inno-, cent. Gal. iii. J 3. becauie he imdertook for his friends. A fiery law, Deut. xxxiii. 2. a fire kindled in God's anger, Deut. xxxii. 22. feven thunders that are to utter their voices. Rev. x. 3. a fhower of fnares, fire and hrimftone, and an hor- rible tempejl, Pfalm xi. 6. a fire that fhall burn to the loweft hell, Deut. xxxii. 22. But fo it is; and every preacher that does not bind this grievous burden upon men's fhoulders ; that does not turn fifide to vain jangling ; that refufes to tempt God by putting this yoke upon the difciples* necks, which none are able to bear ; is an erronoeus man-, a man of a badfpirit', one that makes void the lazv ; and is (as I have been often called) a finking Anti- mmian: God be merciful to fuch men ! I have no other glafs to view them in but the fcriptures of truth and my own experience. And, as God liveth, 1 do believe, \{ fifteen out of twenty of our prefent preachers, who are called gcfpel minif- ters, were to fee themfelves as I fee them in the light of God's word, that they would wifh they had never been born -, curfe the day in which they took upon them the office of the minifiry, and wifh it A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C, 5a it to be blotted out from the number of the months Job iii. 6. But, alas, alas ! there are none who think themfeives fufficient for thcfe. things but thofe of no underftanding ! A blind man knows not how to go to the city, Eccl. x. 15. A bhnd man heholdeth not the way of the vineyards^ Job xxiv. 18. This very polite letter of yours. Sir, has drawn into public print what I never intended to make pilblic. I have fuffered fo much by what I have before advanced, that I intended to have kept thefe truths clofe between God and my own foul ; who was pleafed, unlefs I am deceived (without the help of any author) to lead me into them. I have fuffered a deal for what I have already ad- vanced from the pulpit and the prefs of thefe matters ; and, .for my part, I have not one finole doubt of the whole of them being the truths of the everlafting gofpel of Chrift Jefus. But I have been termed a man of a bad fpirit ; a dangerous man; an erroneous man; a ftinking Antinomian ; a contentious man ; a man of controverfy ; a man of pride and refervednefs, putting his own con- ftrudtions upon fcripture ; a bulJy ; a lingular man, who wants to reprefent all other minifters as neuters^ and himfelf all in all. Old women have purfucd me with twopenny^ fourpenny^ and fixpenny -pamphlets, of their own fnanufadory ^ a boy crying them from one chapel door. 60 A KVLt AND A RIDDLE, &C* door, where I preached, to the other ; and their /quih have been fent to P or tf mouthy Briftol^ ^c, wherever they heard that my books were fold, Minifters, behind the curtain, (who pretended friend fliip to me) have told thefe old wives what Irandy^ meaning ftrength^ to put into \ks.€v[ fables — - what fugar, meaning candour, to \ife — and what gaul^ hitternefs^ or wormwood^ to withhold. I was afked to go to Briftol by a gentle- man (whom I cautioned to have nothing to do with me, as I was fo dangerous a man,) who would infift upon my going thither ; and without my defire, had me down. The poor people had been prejudiced to that deg'-ee that they ex- pe6led to find me a minifter of fatan. The parfon- maker levelled his artillery from the pulpit till he was quite out of breath, and fet off for London, Another, in obedience to the Rev. R H , refufed to invite me to his pulpit, or to give me the right hand of fellowfhip. I wrote to Briflol fince, offering to preach them a fermon, being engaged to go into Dorfetihire, but was denied ; arid all this fprung from a reverend gentleman of Plymouth, who has fettled the matters of Briftol tabernacle fo as to fecure the pulpit againft Anti- nomians. And the fame gentleman (l fliall not mention his name) has ^.ot acfted like a brother, nor has he done the kinsman's part by me, but took fome people to talk for bringing my books into A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 6l into Plymouth ; and a reverend gentleman, who is now fettled at IValthamJlozVy when he lived at Plymouth, made it his bufmefs to ridicule what I had written, in order to imbitter the people's minds againll the dodrines ; and no wonder, for, if thefe dodlrines be true, what becomes of theirs? The Bifliop of Spaw-fields Chapel lampooned mz in public, till he got into the fmoke of Sinai, infomuch, that fome difcerning people quite lofh fight of him. Some of his people he exclud- ed from the fociety becauit ;.hcy came to hear me. His m.'.nd^tes went to Briltol^ that they might not be infeded ; and to Lewes in SuiTex alfo. Mr. Barnet refufed me his pulpit, and threat- ened to leave the people if I were admitted ; but a Baptifl minifler kindly threw open his meeting, which God filled with people, and my mouth with arguments. The congregation at Wooking, which God raifed by me, mufl fend me their final difmifTion before they could get any afliflance from the Evangelical AfTociation in London. The Reverend Mr. R. H. left his prelatic commands at Chatham, and twice fince at Greenwich, never to admit me on peril of his final leave. If any of thefe charges are falfe let them plead their innocence ; and if the dod:rine be falfe let them be overthrown. Mytfriend may well afk — What is my fin ? What have I done ? Seeing fome cry one thing and 62 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. and fo me another the aiTemblies are eonfufed, and no account given of the caufe of this concourfe ; and I can give none, unlefs it be for this one voice that I cried among them ; touching the law^ I Jliid it is not the believer's rule of life. And this I do infiil upon, that bondage, hardnefs of hearty revealed wrath, enmity againft God, defperation, curfes, hell and damnation, are the b eft things that men can fetch from the killing letter of the law of Mofes ; whether the man be a believer or an infidel it matters not. The law will purfue the believer if he goes there, Chriit alone is his refuge ; it will entangle the believer, and yoke him again if he looks ' for help there. The law is not of faith, but of works; it is not of believing, but of doing : he that doth thefe things Jloall live in them., is its language to the end of the chapter. Works are zvorks, and grace is grace; the one is a covenant of works, the other a covenant of grace : one was given by Mofes, the other came by Jefus Chriji, The covenant of works was made with man ; it belongs to Adam, and all his children in the fiefh that bear his irnage: the cove^ nant of grace was made with Chrift, and all his feed in him. The one is ejlablijhed upon unconditional promifes, the other upon the conditions of dead men's performances ; and who would call this law the be^ liever's only rule of life, he is to zvalk and live by faith ; he is to worlliip and ferve God in the newnefs of the Spirit, not in the oldnefs of the letter ; he is to walk A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 63 xvalk hi love as Chrift hath loved him. And it is plain that faith worketh by love, and is attended with divine life, which are all the gifts of God in Chriji Jefiis % they are received from his fulnefs,2iX\^^« unto me,, ye that knozv right ecufnefs, the people in whofe he^rt is my law. A believer is a righteous man^ made fo by imputa- tion ; and the h^-^ i^_ not . made for the righteous, but for the lawlefs £nd.iilfohed;ient, i Tim. i. 9. God fpeaks to the children of the fleOi in the law. Now we know that what things foever the law faith ^ it faith to them who are under the law, Rom. iii. 19. But the faints are not under the law, but under grace, Rom. vi. 14. The law is a yoke of bondage for bond children, a covenant of works for proud work- 4 mongers, 64 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, Sc^, hiongers, and a miniftration of condemnation , tocurfe them for their pride and evil works. As to what David fays of the law being perfedfy converting the foul, and of its being a light to his feet and a lamp to his fathy it is foon anfwered. The kilK ing letter never converted one foul to Chrift yet; converfion confifls in turning a foul from dark- nefs to light, from the love of fin to love God with all his heart ; which is attended with faithy repentance^ and godly forrow, which flows from a fenfe of God's love to him in Chrift Jefus ; all which come from the covenant of grace. Faith is a coming to Chrift, and the love that faith works by draws his heart as he goes ; and both thefe are the free gift of God. Chrift did not furnifti Saul with thefe fpiritual weapons, which are mighty through God to pull clown Jlrong holds from the killing letter. I fend thee Paul to turn finners from darknefs to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgivenefs of fins, and an inheritance among them that are fanBiji^d by faith that is in me. Ads xxvi. 10. The brighteft light that ftiines in ^e law comes from the eye of offended juftice ; it was in the flames of wrath that the law was givea at firft ; it was added becaufe of tranfgreffion^ and it is in that awful light that finners fee their own condem* nation, as Saul and Balaam faw their own future deftrudion ; and it is in that light that fmners will fee their endlefs mifery, who arc faid to lift up their eyes A RULE AND A RIDDLE, ^C. 6< tyes in hell ; but that light difcovers not tlie path of life ^ which is called xh^ path of the juft. The light of the knowledge of the glory ofGodfJjines in the face of Jefus Chrifiy who is the true light, and the everkijl* ing light of all his people ; he that believe th in me, fays the Saviour, fhall not abide in darknefs. David was not without the law of faith ; he tells you he believed, therefore hath he f poke n ; nor was he without the lazv of the Spirit of life, as appears by his prayer- — Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. It was in this lazv that hefaw zvonders — as for the ten com- niandrnents, he prayed that God zjuould not enter into judgynent zjoith his fervant under them, for he knew the commandment zvas exceeding broad. If the com- mandments afford fuch a deal of light to our feet, how comes it that our prefent advocates for them are fo exceeding blind ? by them it appears that Paul's aifertions are true, that the vail remains ttn taken azjijay in reading the Old Teflament. I am bold there- fore to affirm. Sir, that David and you have two different meanings. With refped: to what you have heard ^^ about my fpeaking lightly of the law," I believe you will find, in this my anfwer to yours, all that I have ever faid about it -, and you mull judge for yourfelf whether I have fpokeii the language of Scripture or not. If I have, lay the blame where it ought to be laid ; // a man confent not to the E wholefome 66 A RULE ANP A RIDDLE, &C. whole fome words of our Lord Jefus Cbriji, he is proud and knows nothing, Howe\^er, as I am determined to publifh this anfvver to yours, my accufers will have a fair op- portunity to attack the doflrine. I have advanced on the ground of truth ; I have fled to none of thofe poor iliifts called implications and the fit nefs of things ; I have ufed no weapons but thofe that I believe to be fpiritual. They cannot have a fairer opportunity, nor a fairer field to meet me on, nor a fmaller number to engage* If this be Antinomianifm let them mu iter all their forces againfl: it, prove it to be fo, and overthrow it. I am open to convic- tion, my confidence is not fieared, nor am I paft fieeli/tg ; and, if I cannot defend it by God's word, I will fly to no other (hifts ; and therefore I hope my opponents will not puzzle my brains with St. Ba- fil, St. Augufhine, St. Ambrofe, Hermon Witfius, and faint nobody knows who. — Jefius I know ; hut who are the fief For my part, I have not a lingle doubt but God will enable me to defend this doc- trine ; for I know it is the do6trine that he applied to me, and fet my foul at liberty by. And as I am the Antinomian, according to their accufa- tioHs, it lies with them to overthrow it, and prove their charge ; and, if upon trial it be found to be the everkfting gofipely then let them hear and fiay/it is truthy A RULE AND A RIDDLE, Scc. 67 trutby Ifaiah xliii. 9. and acknowledge that for the truth's fake I have fuffered reproach. Thefe are the doftrines that have caufcdfomany counfels to be taken — fo many pulpits to be (hut againft me; — yea, in everyplace that I have gone, the people have been armed with prejudice againft me as an erroneous man or an Antinomian — and have come to hear me as if I was a fecond Simon Magus, or Judas If car tot, rifen again. This has been the cafe at almoft every place I have gone to ex- cept Portfiiiouth, where I met with fuchakind recep- tion from the minifters as I never met with before in my life. The Rev. Mr. Hor[fy, and his afliftanr, the Rev. Mr. Phillips, and the Rev. Mr. Dun^ welcomed me to their pulpits in turn every night du- ring my flay there, and treated me with the greateft refped and civility, which I mention to the ho- nour of thofe gentlemen, and as a matter of won- der to me, it being what I had never been accuf- tomed to. I have not gone any country journey for the fake of gain, for my own people do not let me want ', nor did I ever clear a (hilling by any jour- ney I took, becaufe I have paid the fame that I received for a fupply in my abfence, that I might not be brought under the pozver of any -, there- fore they could not refufe me their pulpits under an apprehenfion of my feeking filthy lucre. The reafons that they afTigned were, that I held errors in E X making 68 A RULE AND A ILIDDLE, Scd making void the law. And this has been carried fo far, that, if any mlnifter has happened to drop a word in the pulpit concerning the law, if he did not nfake it the believer's only rule of life, it has been called one of Huntington s texts; let them prove it is from Huntington, and I will endea- vour to prove it is from heaven. If the law of works be binding to the faints, as fome affirm, then James's law of liberty \% x\oi per-* fe3, nor can we be ble[fed in our deeds by continuing in that. If the law of works be binding, then '^ the law of the Spirit of life did not make Paul free from the law of death," unlefs it can be prov- ed, that legal bondage and gofpel liberty can fhand together. If the believer be under the law^fLS a rule of life, then he is under the law and under grace both at once ; which Paul fays he is not — he is not under the lazv^ but under grace. If he be under the law as a rule of life, he has got Peter's un- hearable yoke and Chrifl^s eajy yoke both on his neck at one time. .The man that makes the killing letter his rule zvalks by fight not by faith ; he looks at the things that are feen, not at the things which are not feen. He ferves in the oldnefs of the letter^ not in the newnefs of the Spirit -, he worfjjips God in the letter, not in fpirit and in truth ; nor is he free indeed. I know the law will bring a man into bondage notwithflanding his grace, if he Jiands not fafi in the liberty wherewith Chrifi has made him free I A RULE AND A RIDDLE, S^C. 69 fiee ; nor does the law of the wife, as a fountain of life, caufe a man to depart from the fnarcs of death ; or, as the Saviour fays, pafs from death to life by faith, becaufe the believer, according to them, is flill under the fnares of death ; he is ilill under the lazv of death as his only rule of life. This is called preach- ing the gofpel^ doing the v/ork of an evangelift, being a minifter of the Spirit, making full proof of the miniflry ; and every man that cannot turn the laiju that worketh wrath into a law of love; that can- Dot bring the living fruits of the Spirit out of ths killing letter ; that cannot turn the fnares of death into rules of life ; is an erroneous man and an An- tinomian. Welcome reproach ! vv'elcome names ! v/elcome Antinomian ! Thefe names bring no ouilt on the confcience; they ftop not up the new and living way between God and the foul; they feal not up God's book, nor bind the fpirit of liberty. Elec- tion fecures every minifter in his ftation, and all the fuccefs that ihall attend his labours. It has been obferved that thofe, v/lpo have been the moil forward at lampooning me for an Antinomian, have been the greatefl novices in divinity ; and, while they have been contending for the law as the only rule of life, they have preached the greatefl confufion, difcovered the greatell io-no- ranee of the nature of the law, and have evidently appeared in the llrongeil bondage — He that leadeth into captivity Jhall go into captivity — he that l>ifids E 3 grievous p A TCVLE AND A RIDDLE, &C. frrievoiis burdens on other mens Jlooulders goes a fare way to load his own back. No wonder that legions are flocking back to Sir nai 5 it is a proof that the law is not dead to them^ nor they to it ; they begun in the Spirit before they had been killed by the letter, Tlitiv firjl hufband, \t is to be feared, is not dead, therefore they are not ho fed from that law*, and being adulter effes, ih^firjl hufoand has taken them up and brought them back, not being loofed from their old bond of wedlock^ nor favoured with a writing of divorcement ; therefore, as 2LZvife of the fir jl covenant, the eloped Lo-ruhamah is brought back, Hofea i. 6. Hof. ii. i, 2. but Hephzibahj the Lord's delight, whom he has efpouf- ed to himfelf, if foe goes back, will return again to- her firjl hujband, faying — It was better with me then than it is now. Conlider, Sir, and fee if there be any thing that you want to make you holy or happy that does not come from the law of the Spirit of life ; and whether any of thefe things come from the law of works ; whether mercy, grace, hope, or help comes ''from that quarter : and take heed that you do not jumble thefe two covenants together. One is a covenant of works, the other of grace — one is the law of death, the other the law of life ; bond children are un- der the law — free children are under grace ; they that are under grace are under the blelling— -thofe. under A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 7I under the law are under the cuiTe ; one are heirs of promire, the other heirs of wrath ; one are chil- dren of God, the other are children of the devil. The free-born children receive the inheritance freely, the bond-children work to earn it. The gift of God is eternal life, the zvages of fin is death. And, in order to clear this dodrine from the charge of Antinomianifm, I will inquire what this law of the Spirit of life produces, for we are told that the gofpel brings forth fruit. Col. i. 6. Paul fays the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- fuffe ring, gen- tlenefs, goodnefs, faith, meeknefs, temperance ; againjl fuch there is no law, Gal. v. 22, 23. Now let us fee what the law of the wife, which So- lomon calls d fountain of life, produces. I think we fhall find the fame things fpringing from his foun- tain as comes from TauVs law of the Spirit : Solo- mon fays wifdom lovss them that love her ; and that love is better than a houfe full of facrifces ; and that, if a man would give all the fubflance of his houfe for lovey it would be condemned: here is what Paul calls the firjl fruit of the Spirit', the next is Joy : the heart knows its own hitiernefs, but afiranger intermeddleth not zvith his joy. Peace ; wifdom' s ways are pleafant- nefs, and all her paths are peace. Long-suffer- ing ; the patient in fpirit are better than the proud in fpirit. Gentleness; be not hafiy to go out of his Jight; ft and not in an evil thing. Goodness; the upright lliall have good things in pofTefTion. Fa i t h ; E 4 ill 72 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. / •in the fear of the Lord is ftrdng confidence ^ and his children fhall have a place of refuge. Meek- ness; God fcorneth the fcorners^ but he giveth grace to the lowly. Temperance ; the righte- ous eateth to the fatisfying of his fouL Thus the fruits of Paul's law of the Spirit are the fame as thofe that fpring from Solomon's law of the wife, which he calls a fountain of life : and remember the gofpel is called the miniftration of the Spirit, and the law is the miniflration of the letter ; the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. Solomon's foun- tain of life is fupplied from God in covenant, who tells us that all his fprings are in Zion ; there- fore it is vain to expe6t help from Sinai. The lazv of the Spirit will remain what it is, notwithftanding men's legality ; and the miniflration of the letter will remain what it is, notwithftanding men's faith and love ; one will ever give life, and the other will ever give death : the one will ever produce free- dom, and the other will ever gender to bondage, Thofe that have felt the bondage, wrath, ter- rors, and death, that the law works, will prize their liberty, and take heed how they approach that hlacknefs and darknefs again ; but thofe that never felt its power can play with it as with a bird, for they are alive without it. It is in vain that minifters fend men to Sinai in order " to promote holi- nefs :" the works of the jflefli are thefe — adultery^ fornication^ mcleannefs^ lafcivioufnefs, idolatry, witch- crafty A RULE AND A RIDDLE, £cc. 73 craft, hatred, variance, emulations, zvrath^ftrife, fedi^ tions, herefies, envy, murder, drunkennefs, Gal. v. 19, 20. And will fending men to the law deftroy thefe ? Nay, fays Paul, thefe are the motions of fin, zvhich are by the law that works in our tnembers to hrino- forth fruit unto death, Rom. vii. 5. Nor was the law manifefted to dflroy thefe works of the devil — but to make them appear exceeding finful ; nor does the law weaken lin but aggrevate it ; for thejlrengtb ofjin is the law, i Cor. xv.5,6. It is grace that makes the believer what he is, nor will the law ever make him better, ^hofe that came privily in to fpy out the apoftles liberty that they might bring them into bond- age. Gal. ii. 4. agree exadlly with you in fenti- ment; for, if the law be binding to the believer, and he be under it as a rule of life, it is the fame as what they enforced ; namely, // is needful to cir- cumcife them, and command them to keep the law of Mofes, A6t:s xv. 5. they faid this was needful; you fay the believer is under this neceffity ; they called it keeping the law of Mofes ; and you call the lazv of Mofes the belt everts rule of life. There is no more difference between your affertions and theirs than there is between my two eyes. If you object that it is circumcifion only that is called the yoke that was unbearable ; it is anfwcred, they were cir- cumcifed at eight days old, therefore the fuhers could give very little account of the unbearable pain of it. The yoke confifled in this — he that is circumcifed 74- A RULE AKD A RIDDLE, ScC, circumdfed is a debtor to do the zvhole lazv, circumct- Jton is nothing and uncircumcifton is nothings but the keeping of the commandments of God is what is meant, I Cor. vii. 19. fubmitting to cnxumcifion is re- jedling Chrift, zvho was a minifier of the circumcifion for the truth of God, to confirm the prcmifes made unto the fathers. And fubmitting to /Z^t- jc/^t' of keeping the law of Mofes is rcjedting Chr'ift's yoke, which confifls oi faith and love in the Spirit, The yoke therefore is this, it is needful to circumcife the be- lievers, and to command them to keep the law of Mofes^ Ads XV. 5. and you fay the law is binding, and that the believer is under the law as his rule of life ; you might juft as well have ftuck to the old text, for it amounts exadly to the fame, nor doth your different way of expreffion alter the matter. Their need of keeping the law of Mofes \s your binding law as/2 rule of life; it is the fpirit of legal bondage that obliges and binds you ; and it was the fame that influenced thofe who made it needful ; different names make no alteration in the things. Thofe men tempted God by putting that yoke on the faints^ and fubverted their fouls by faying ye mufi be circumdfed and keep the law of Mofes, to whom God gave no fuch command' went, A6ls xv. 10. 24. and they do no lefs than, tempt God and fubvert the fouls cf believers, who tell them the law is binding, and that they are under it as a rule of life — «^ for God has given them no fuch commandment/' Ads xv. 24. Nor can men ex- pe6t A RUIE AND A RIDDLE, SfC. 75 pe6l that the hxo^dfeal of heaven Ihould attend a minlliry that tempts God and fubverts the fouls of his faints, when it is exprefsly faid that it Jeemed good to the Holy Ghofi, ar>d to the apcfilcs, to lay on them no fiich burden, A(5ls xv. 28. However, this is the way which feemtth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of deaths Prov. xiv. 12. it is turning people from grace to works ; from the li- berty of the Spirit to the bondage of the law ; from the law of the Spirit of life to the law of death. Li- berty and bondage, grace and works, Chrift's yoke and the yoke of Mofes, the true light and the old vail, death and life, can never Hand together, one mull give way ; grace fliall reign, and Mofes mud be fubjecft. If a believer be a new creature^ has a new heart, a new fpirit, walks in the new and living way, and muft ferve God in the newnefs of the fpirity and walk in newnefs of life, old things muft be done away : and if old things are done away the yoke of bondage is included among them, which Paul calls the law of death, or elfe the apoftle's af- fertion cannot ftand good ; therefore if any man be in Chrift he is a new creature ; old things are paffed away, behold all things are become new, 2 Cor. v. 17. and he thaty?// upon the throne fays behold / create all things new, God has granted us boldnefs tQ enter ints the holieft by the blood of Jefus, by a 7iei^ and living way which he hath confecrated [or new made] for us through $be vail, that is to fay his 4 flefh. ^6 A tLVLE AND A RIDDLE, &C. JJeJh, Heb. x. 19, 20. Take heed, Sir, that you defpire not this new and living way ; it is the old way that you contend for at prefent, which is Jlopped up ; it is hedged about with thorns y namely, the curjcs of the law ; and fo poor finners will find it, when, like Balaam, they fall before that terrible /word of God that turns ei'ery way to keep the way of the tree of life ^ Gen. iv. 24. none will ever get to God that old way ; the fword that keeps the way of life defl:roys all thieves and robbers that climb up. any other way, John x. i. or dare to look through J or gaze, where Gcd has f^ed his bounds, Exod. xix. 21, 22, 23. I know the law is holy, ju(l, and good, becaufe it defends a holy, juft, and good God, and will certainly cut off and deftroy for ever every adverfary that is found under it ; but though the law is b,oly yet; it fandifies none ; it is juft, but it juftifies none ; it is good, but it imparts no goodnefs to men : God is our juftifier and fandiher ; and Chrijl is our righ- teoufnefs and fanEiification, God's goodnefs to us comes by grace ; feverity comes by the law ; be- hold therefore the goodnefs and feverity of God : on them which felU feverity ; but towards thee, goodnefs^ if thcu continue in his goodnefs : otherwife thou alfo (/jalt be cut off, Rom. xi. 22. with the fword fur- bifhed at that armory. It is the fiery law that gives the [word ofjuflice its flaming edge ; where there is no law there is no tranfgreffpn \ fin is the tranfgref-^. fion A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 'j'J /ton of the law, and the law is the tranfgrefTor's ad- verfary that makes his crimes appear exceediiigjinful, and delivers him to the judge — here lies its power ; the Jlrefigth of ftn is the law. But with refped to our obedience, its lending us any help, pardoning of us, or jufl:if3nng of us, // is weak through the fefJoy Rom. viii. 3. I would to God, Sir, that you would pray a little more over your Bible, or ajl: wifdom of God. When Paul fays the law is fpritual, but I am carnal, fold under fin, Rom. vii. 14, he does not mean thereby that fpiritual life, fpiritual health, fpiritual help, or flrength, is communicated from thence. The law gives neither righteoufnefs, life, hope, help, nor flrength. The law is flrong to deftroy, but never was mighty to fave, nor is help laid upon that. It \s c^Wtd fpiritual, becaufes it reaches to the thoughts of men's hearts, and curfes them for a lafcivious look as being adultery it f elf. Matt. v. 2S, for anger as murder in the abftra£i, \ John iii. 15. yea, if a man break one command he is guilty of all, James ii. 10. it cafts him for every idle word', for all that is more than yea, yea, or nay, nay, it brings him into judgment; and both heaven and earth fhallpafs azvay before one jot or tittle of that law fh all fail, Luke xvi. 17. It is c2L\\ed fpiritual, becawfe it reaches to fpirits, 3^ea to the wicked fouls of men and devils alfo ; for they are under one curfe — it reveals wrath, fpiri- tual 78 A HULE AND A RIDDLE, ScCc tual death, damnation^, and everlafting deflrudlion, both to the bodies and fouls of all them who die under it ; and it will hold all rebellious fpirits, whether men or devils, in the prlfon of hell till they can fay the very laft mite, Luke xii. 59. which will be done when lying in goal can be called paying of debts. Go4 fays ^\% fiery law, which is a re- velation of wrath, kindled in his anger, (hall burn to the lowejl helL ChriR, our pajfover, was roafted in that fire, and it made his heart like wax, it melted in the midft of his bowels, Pfalm xxii. 14. therefore take heed that thou attempt not to turn that minif- tration of death into rules of life. Cleave clofe to lii'm that is a hiding place from that north wind, and a covert from that tempefl, Ifaiah xxxii. 2. In Chrift Jefus thou (halt find refuge when God makes the wicked as a fiery wheels and perfecutes them with all thefe ftormSy Pfalm Ixxxiii. 13, 14, 15, but no where elfe. If this be handling the lav/ lawfully, and hold- ing forth the word of life, as a faithful fleward of the manifold grace of God ; if this be rightly di- viding the word of truth ; if it be giving to each his portion in due feafon — a portion to feven, and alfo to eight ; if it be doing the work of an evangelifl; if it be preaching the gofpel according to Chriil's command ; if it be handling the word faithfully as a minifler of the Spirit ; if it be act- ing like a workman that needeth not to be ailiamed, being A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 7^ being approved of God ; — in (hort, if this be f reaching the my ft cry of faith ^ then where are le- gions of our prefent preachers got ? and if this be the pure, unniixt, unadulterated gofpel of Chrift, what is nine parts out of ten of the dodrine that is delivered in our days under that name ? and if this be error and Antinomianifm^ then what is GOSPEL ? I underlland your hint. Sir ; thofe fpeak it more plain who call me " in public a ftinking Antino- mian ;" and this ^^ doctrine antinomianifm which leads to licentioufnefs.'* And I wifli they would fpeak it plainer fliill ; then they would appear in their proper colours, and be lefs capable of de- ceiving the {implc. They mud either prove this doclrine to l»e errors inftead of truth, licentious antinomianifm inflead of gofpel, or elfe acknow- ledge that their calumny amounts to this in the light of God — that, inibead of walking in the Sprit y and delivering people ixom. fulfilling thelufts of the flefh, it leads them into it ; that, inllead of the grace of God teaching men to deny ungodlinefs and worldly lujiy and to live foherly^ righteovfiy^ and godlily^ it encourages ungodlinefs, and a licentious way of living ; and, inftead of the law of the Spirit making men free from the law of fin and deaths that it leads them into fin, the wages of which is death. — This is their reproach, and this is the meaning of it in the fight of God ; and it is plain to an fpi- ritual So A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. ritual mind where this reproach falls ; namelf,, on that God who is gracious and merciful; oii that Saviour by whom grace and truth came, as if he was the m.inilter of fm ; and upon the Spirit of grace^ who gives the law of faith, and who is the real giver of x.\\tlaw of life, it being emphatically t:aiied by the apoftle his law, or the law of the Spirit of life. This. Sir, borders clofe upon the unpardonable Jin ; it is trifling with the folds of infi- nite wifdom, Eph; iii. io« and with the greatefl dif pcnfation that ever heaven revealed to men, 2 Cor. iii. 8. It is making free with the fpiritual court y from which there is no appeal ; it is finning againfl; the laft condefcending lawgiver that ever appeared in this lower world. The Holy Ghoft gives that law of the wife that is the fountain of life ; he gives the law of faith that excludes all hoaPang, The Holy Ghoft is the giver of the law of life, that takes men from the law of fin and the fnares o^ death. It is this lawgiver that brings every blcfling'from Iieaven, teftifies of Chrift, and glorifies him on his throne; whofe kingdom ftands not in word, or in rules of life drawn from the letter of Mofes* law, but in power, in right eoufnefs^ peace, and joy, in THE Holy Ghost. To do defpite to the Spirit of grace is treading under foot the Son of God whom the Spirit teflifies of, Heb. x. 29. Sin againll him, the Saviour that faves to the uttermofl, fays, it fliall never heforgiven^ neither in this world nor in the A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &Cs 8l the world to come, Matt. xii. 31,32. O, Sir, keep your diftance, drop no fuch hints here; be that /hall hlafpheme againft the Holy Ghoji hath never for- givenefsy hut is in danger of eternal damnation ; be^ caufe they /aid he hath an unclean fpir it, Mark iii, 29, 30. and thofe that declare the law of the Spirit of lif(^ l^^ds to hcentioufnefs fay Uttle better; for they charge him with the devil's works, though they do not call him in exprefs terms an unclean fpirit. It is a bold, daring, prefumptuous, pe- rilous flep ; it is fpiritual wickednefs in the worfi fenfe ; it is leaving fin at the foot of a lawgiver that fhed no blood ; it is committing rebellion againft Him that will by no means clear the guilty. Exodus xxxiv. 7* it is doing defpite on the bounds of the moft facred enclofure ; it is ventur- ing on the moft dangerous fpot of holy ground in all the holy land. Sins againft God the Father in the law are pardoned ; he that fpeaketh a word againft the Son of man it fbdl he forgiven him ; but he that blafphemes againft the Holy Ghoft hath never for- givenefs. He will by no means (no not by the blood of Chrift) pardon thofe that are guilty of the fin unto death, i John v. 16. Let me as a friend remind you of, and recommend you to, David's prayer, Keep hack thy fervant alfo from prefumptuous fins, let them not have domi?jion over me •, then /hall 1 he upright, and I /hall he innocent from the great trangreffiQUy Pfalm xix. 13. F I have 82 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C^ I have watched narrowly fo fee what good effedls this do(5Vrine of 3'our3 produces among thofe where it is perpetually enforced, and I can fee nothing produced to make me fall in love with it, unlefs it be bllndnefs, confuiion, feigned humi- ]ity,and{l:ruggling under bondage; beinginfluenced with malice againfh the gofpel; calling every thing that tends to make poor iinners free and happy^ Antinomianifma, not knowing what they fay, but taking it from their teachers. The faints are a people that Ged has formed for himfelf to fiew forth his praife ; he has created thera amw in Chrifl Jefus tint good works ^ which he hath before crdained, that we Jhould walk in them. It is therefore their new creation in Chrifl: Jefus, and their abiding in him^ as the branch doth in the vine, that produces thefe good works which they are to walk in. As they received Chrill Jefus the Lord, fo they are to walk in him. Every faint muft acknowledge, as Paul did, that, ly the grace of God I am what I am. If grace makes them what they are, fending them to the law will never mend this work, nor make the fubjeds of this workmanfhip better; God's work is perfe£f^ nothing can be added to it by the the wifdom of men nor by the law of Mofes ; the law made nothing perfe^fy hut the bringing in of a better hope did do it, Heb. vii. 19. The church is fubjed to Chrift; fubjed to the civil power where they live, and fubjed to one another : but not Chrift as he was when he wiflied him to throw himfelf from the pinnacle of the tanple, Luke iv. 9. Satan fometimes tprns reformer in times of danger, when the gofpel makes a ftir in his terri- tories, then is the time that he fires the zeal and increafes the numbers of moral preachers ; he knows what the law can do — if that had never ap- peared in the world, the devil had never got one human foul into hell : the law worketh wrath ; for F 4 ' whn^ 88 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. where no law is, there is no tranfgrejfion, Rom. iv. 15. confcquently no tranfgreflbrs. He knows that the ftrength of Jtn is the law, i Cor. xv. c^6. better than we do ; and he knows that thofe who are under the law of death are under the law of fin ; hence it is that he never flirs men up to reproach, revile, belie, fcandalize, or perfe- cute, a gracelefs preacher of moral duties ; for it is by the inflrumentality of fuch men that he has brought thoufands to his dark dominions : by fuch preachers as thefe the devil keeps both the pulpit and the pew — ^he ftirs up the preacher to blind the people, and the people to applaud their blind guide; and thus the God of this world holds both the leader and the led. When he ftirred up I he Jewifh priefts to rejed Chrifl, and caft out his difciplcs, he became head ranger both of the temple and the fynagogue. The dodrine that routs the devil is preaching the kingdom of God, which confifts in rightcoufnefs, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghofl; telling Zion that her King is come. When the difciples preached this the Sa- viour faw Satan like lightning fall from heaveny Luke X. 18. he caft abroad the rage of his wrath and fet the world in a blaze. This fort of preachers are the only adverfaries that the devil has got, he gains ground by the others. He was very nigh bringing over tl>e whole church of Galatia by the inftrumentality of moral preachers. If God does not uphold his peofe with his free Spirit, Pfal. li. 1 2, I much A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 89 I much queftion if any other yoke will do whea trials come on ; for my part, I never found any dodiirine that would beget fouls to God, keep them ahve, make their minds heavenly, their conver- fation pure, keep their confciences tender, or make their lives exe-nplary, but that of enforcing rege- neration, or a fpiritual birth ; juilificatlon by faith ; union and fellowfhip with Chrifl by love; and a walk in the teflimony and liberty of the Holy Gholl. However, this 1 can fay — that the religion that God has taught me has been fufficient to make me induftrious and willing to live honeftly; and I mufl: declare, and will with my dying breath, that I never knew what happinefs, peace, refl^, quietude, comfort, joy, or pleafure, meant until Jefus Chrift appeared to my foul : in him I have feen the perfcdlion'of all beauty ; 1 have felt him to be the foundation of all real happinefs : the light of his countCx^ance, and the anticipation of his love, is the quinteifence of all that is called pleafure ; and to have him is to be pofTefTed with an immortal, incorruptible, undefiled, and never- fading inheritance ; which has fo crucified me to this world, and to the pleafures of it, that 1 have jufl as much defire to return to it again as Abra- ham, had to return to Err of the Chaldees, when God had promifed to be his fliield and everlafling reward in the land of Canaan, Whatever (^ A RULE AKp A RIDDLE, Szc, Whatever the law of God enforces the Spirit of God imprejfes the mind with, and leaves the i.m- preflion as legible upon the flejhly tables of the heliever^s heart, as ever he did on the two tables of flone^ 2 Cor. iii. 3. The devil is never more to be fufpeded than when he appears in a pulpit in a large wig and long bands, with a grave countenance, an audible voice, ambiguous fpeech, zeal mixed with candour, enforcing m.oral virtue, and bringing in Chrifl: as an example, but not as the root of the matter ; nor yet enforcing the need of his Spirit, nor of union with him. Thefe things, and a fev/ zealous ftrokes at the power of religion, under the name of enthufiafm,,and a can- did application to thofe blind and bond children, that cannot fee through their mafk, have been of very great ufe to the devil, becaufe it has ferved to flumble the faithful and eftabliih the Pharifee. Such as thefe have fent my foul bleeding home many a time fvvaddled with the fpirit of bondage ; lin has took an cccaiion by the commandment un- til the corruption of my heart and my carnal en- mity has been flirred up againft God, my mind begloomed with horror, and terrors have drove tQ my feet ; wrath has feemed to purfue me ; Chrifl and comfort was gone ; my fins, that had been long pardoned, came afrefh to my remembrance ; my heart was filled with hard thoughts of the Sa- viour, and the devil tempting me ; that Chrifl had left A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 91 left me, was become my enemy, and, as a proof of jt, he was now purfuing me with fire and fvvord. But when the Lord appeared and delivered me, I then faw the bondage was from the law, not from the Saviour, and that it was the devil purfued me, not the Lord : I could fee the difference between the tempter and my great Deliverer. And all this was communicated to my foul from the pulpit, and that by the devil himfelf in a large wig and a long band. Chrift calls the fcribes, notwith- ftanding their long robes, a generation of vipers ; and fays they were of their father the devil and his works they did, in binding grievous burdens on merC s fhoul- ders^ which they never touched^ though others la- boured hard under them. If Satan can get preachers to obfcure the gofpel and enforce the law, he knows the old vail will gather on the minds of the people; and when a man is blinded you may lead him any where ; and he fhall never know the want of a leader while Satan can furnifh the world with blind guides : for it is by thefe men that he leads them into the ditch. Such preach- ing drives many poor diftrefled fouls from all re- ligion ; they hear of nothing but wrath and duty : and the more they labour the worfe they get, and then they (hake off all, and are glad to get out fo ; and fuch become the greateft enemies to religion afterwards : and the inftruments of all this mifchief are legal preachers— for without Chrifi man can do nothings ^2 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, SCC, nothings John xv. 5. it is looking to Jefus that enlightens us; abiding in the cleft of the rock that (helters us from Satan*s rage. Souls flying here arc compared to doves flying to their windows, where they are fure of light ; but going to the law is go- ing to hlaclinefs^ and darknefs^ and tempeft^ and to the Iteming fir e^ Heb. xii. 18. which purfues the lin- ner. Satan is not difpleafed at men's drefling up the law, calling it the believer's rule of life, the law of love, the law of kindnefs, &c. He knows the law is t\it fnares of deaths that has entangled all the prey which that artful fowler has caught. This law is the fmner's adverfary that entangles him in his fin, and delivers him to the judge ; and the jujl judge delivers him hy the law to the tormentor^ Matt, xviii. 34. Are there fouls in hell? — it was the law that caft them, condemned them, and fixed them there. Are they holden with the cords of their fin? — the jlrength of thofe cords is the laWy 1 Cor. XV. 56. Are they under the curfe ? — then they are under the law, Gal. iii. 10. Are they under the dominion of eternal death ? — they received it from the law, v;hich is the minijlration of deaths 2 Cor. iii 7. Are their fouls boiling with defpe- rate indignation againft God? — the motions of fm are by the law. Are they under the wrath of God ? the law worketh that wrath^ Rom. iv. 15. Are they in utter darknefs ? — it came from the law, whiih isblacknefs and darknefs, Heb. xii. 18. Are they in i?^//-/?v.?— they received ix, from the fiery law^ A RULE AND A RIDDLE, Scc* 93 Idw^ Deut. xxxiii. 2. Can they never come out of the bottomlefs pit ? — the immutable fentence of the law is the gulf fixed ; let the law be repealed, and nothing can detain the prifoner : but not a jot or tittle of that law can faily therefore no jail-de- livery can ever take place; what God doth, ii is done for ever. The devil has not a greater friend in this world than a blind legal preacher ; nor the children of God a greater enemy. I have forely felt the effeds of fuch a miniftry ; and I know where fuch minifters are better than tliey do themfelves. Thofe that are fpiritual, fays VzxA, judge all things y hut themfelves are judged of no man^ i Cor. ii. 15. If the covenant of grace does not afford the be- liever a rule of life, it muft be very deficient ; how- ever, Paul could bring a rule from thence fufEcient for the believer to live by, walk by, worfhip by, and converfe by. God's fovereign will is man's rule ; and to the faints God makes known the myjiery of his will according to his good pleafure, Eph. i. ^. which runs thus — "This is the will of him that fent mey that every oyie which feeth the Son^ and believe tb en him, may have everlafting life : and I will raife him up at the lafi day^ John vi. 40. This myftery is called, by way of difl;in<§i:ion from the law, God's GOODWILL towards men^ which brings peace upon earthy and glory to God in the highefi, Luke ii. 1 4, it is the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bufhy Deut. xxxiii. 16. when this is revealed to men's hearts (J^ A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. hearts by the Holy Ghoft it is called the myjlery of faith in a pure confcience^ i Tim. iii. 9. and this is the faints all-fufficient rule,* — by faith thejult man is to live ; by faith, and not by fight, is the juft man to walk ; in the Spirit, not in the letter^ Is the jufl man to ferve ; in fpirit and in truth is the juft man to woriliip : he that is faithful unto death fhall have the crown of life ; the end of faith is x\\t falvation of the fouL Let the law be what it may, and aim at what it pleafeth, the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure hearty of a good confcience^ and of faith unfeigned, 1 Tim. i, 5. he that fwerves from this turns afide to vain jangling ; knows not what he fays, nor vv^hereof he affirms, I Tim. i. 6. God tells us to hold faith and a good confcience, which fome having put away, concerning faith have madefhipzvreck, i Tim. i. 19. Let men bring what rules they pleafe from the law ; let them drive their flocks with that llorm as much as they can ; I know the real believer, though he be not to mak^ hafley in one fenfe, will haften his efcape from that Jlormy wind and tempefi, for he knows that whatfo- ever is not 2, fruit of the Spirit is a work of the llefh \ whatfoever fervice be performed, if not done un- der the influence of the Spirit of life, it is a dead. work ; and if not done in faith it is Im ; for what- foever is not of faith is Jin — for without y^?///:? it is im* poffible to pleafe God. We read of minifters of the Spirit and of minifter$ of the letter; and if there be any A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 9^ any fuch things as minlfters, and a minlilration of the Spirit, I think thefe things belong to that mi- niftration, and to preach them is doing the work of an evangeiift, and making fiill proof of the gof- pel miniftry* No man ever heard me fay. or hint a fyllable againft the podnefs of the law; the law is good, and it works death in us by that which is good, Rom. vii. 13. I fuppofe no nation hath more wholefome laws than this; and I believe no nation under hea- ven of its fize fends more criminals out of the world by a halter. There ar - heathen nations deftitute of fuch wholefome laws that do not exe- cute half the number of felons that we do. Be fo kind, Sir, as to fend me word what the law re- quires that this better tcftament does not furnifh a believer with ; when the imperfedtion or defi- ciency of this lazv of the Spirit is made to appear, we Ihall be able to juftify the condud of thofe who fend numbers that have begun in the Spirit to the law to be made perfect by the flefh. This mufl: be done, or elfe we fhall conclude that this dodtrine, of allowing the believer no rule of life but the law, is no better, in the language of the Holy Ghoft, than withcraft. 0, fooiijh Galatians^ who hath bewitchedjo/^, that you J}:otdd not obey the truth ! This only would I learn of you. Receive dye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith P Are ye fo foolijh — having begun in the Spirit, are «5 A RULE AND A RIDDLE, ScC* ere ye notv made per fed. by the fieJJj? Gal. iii. i, 2, 3.- thcTc people did not intend to give up the Saviour, they were only going to help him ; they did not intend to caft oif the Spirit, they were only going to perfect that which was lacking in his work ; they had begun in the Spirit, and were going to the law to be made perfed. Ah ! fays Paul, the law be- longs to the children of the flelh ; to them it fpeaks; the works of it are the v/orks of the flelh. Your perfedlion from thence will be only perfedion in the flefli, and where you go for perfed:ion there you muft go for righteoufnefs. Chrifl is our righ* ieoufnefs and fanBifxation too — go to the law for one, and you muft go the law alfo for the other ; by going for perfection there that yoke will entangle you again, and bring you into bondage. God makes us perfed by the Spirit, which unites to and makes us one with Chrift, in whom we are complete. Thefe poor fouls were going to be circumcifed, and take the law on them as a rule of life, in order to perfed the Spirit's work. Thefe preachers, Paul fays, bewitched them, zealoufly affeded them ; yea, they would have excluded them from Chrift, that they might affe6t them ; ye are fallen from grace 9 fays Paul, Chrijl fhall profit you nothing. Peter on the mount of transfiguration did not ifttend to exclude the Saviour when he faid —Let us build three tabernacles ; one for thee, one for Mofes, and tne for Elias ; which when Mofes and Elias heard, I they A RULE AND A RIDDLE, &C. 97 they withdrew, as all good fervants ought to do, ^nd there eame a voice out of the cloud, faying^ 'This is my beloved Soriy hear him. Mofes refigned his office to the Mediator of the better teftament, who is the end of the law for righteoufnefs, to whom Mofes had borne witnefs. And Elias withdrew alfo, and left the Saviour in his prophetic office, as that great prophet to whom all the prophets gave witnefs ; and I believe that Jefus is (in the higheft fenfe) that Ehas that was for to come. And it is faid that, fuddenly, when the difciples had looked round about, that is, after Mofes and Elias, they faw no man any more fave Jefus only with themfelveSy Mark ix. 4, 5, 6. 8. and he is fufficient ; and it is a ,thoufand pities that we have fo many in our days who are fetching Mofes in again ; but they v\^iil get neither peace nor good works from him, but ra- ther confufion. The mailer and the fervant muft not be coupled together ; they are not co-mailers, co-rulers, co-yokers, co-mediators, co-buiiders, co-lawgivers, co-huibands, nor co-fovereigns. The law was given by Mofes, but grace and truth came by Jefus Chri/i, There are feveral of our prefent di- vines who, notwithftanding their zeal for Mofes, and defire to copy after him, do not at all imi- tate him in this point ; he kept the bleffing of Abraham and the curfe of the bond-woman apart; he pointed out two different mountains for the bleffing and the curfe; and different men were G named ^8 A RULE AND A RIDDLfi,- SCC, named and appointed for each work ; tliefe were typical of minifters of the Spirit, and thofe of ihs klter; Simeon y Levi^ Judah, IJfachar , Jofeph , and Bcu- jamin,JJMll /land on mount Gerizim to blefs ; and Reu^ ben, Gady Jfl^er, Zebulun, Dan, and Napktali, jhall flayed on mount Abel to curfe, Deut.- xxvii. 12. 13. Zion and Sinai muft be kept apart ; they are two different mountains, and two different cities are founded on them' ; for this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and anfzvereth /o Jerusalem which .now is, and is in bondage with her children, Gal. iv. 25. and wo be to that man that is found a citizen of this bond city in the great day ! Tyre, Nineveh, Babylon the literal, and Babylon the myfiical, may one day un- dcrftand the awful allegory, when they will be found to belong to the city of dejiru^iion, Ifa. xix. 18. But God hath built his city on the mountain of eternal eledlion, he hath laid his everlafling foun- dation there, his foundation is in that holy mountain, and he lovdh the gates of Zion more than all the dwell* i72gs of Jacob y Pfalm xxxvii. 2. God hath founded this city himfelf, and the poor of his people fhali iruft in it, Ifaiah xiv. 32. He hath appointedfalva- tion to he her walls and bulwarks ; he is known in her palaces for a refuge; his dwelling-place is in Zion ; he hath chofen her, [he is to he his reji for ever: here will he dwell ; for he has defired it. He zvill ahun^ dantly blcfs her provi/ton and fatisfy her poor with bread; he will clothe her priejis withfalvaticn, and her faints A RULE AND A RIBDLE, kc. 9^ fiiints Jhall JJiout aloud for joy, Pfai. cxxxii. 13, 14, 15. It was this city that Abraham and Ifaac had in viewj they kept it in the eye of their faith, and it made them/