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and judgment, in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord, Jer. ix. 23, 24.

I am not at all surprised at such men preaching up the law continually, because the Saviour himself tells us, that the legal "servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth ever;" therefore, it must be expected, that if Abraham turns Ishmael out of the house, he will cleave to Hagar, his mother, who is the law in a figure; and there he will be sure of the greatest company, "for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord." You must expect, Sir, that men who forswear themselves, and deny and lampoon the articles which they have subscribed, and who preach a false doctrine, will creep to the law, for the scriptures tell you that the law was made for such: it is not made for a righteous man, that is, it is not made to condemn a believer in Christ. "Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid," Gal. iii. 21. The law is made for the lawless and disobedient; for perjured persons; and is in force against every man who advances any thing contrary to sound doctrines, 1 Tim. i. 9, 10.

I bless the Almighty, he has not left me to live in any avowed breach of his law; no, not of the least commandment; nor has he suffered me to teach men so. I have narrowly watched the lives and conduct of those men who say, Stand by thyself, I am more holy than thou, and who

have falsely reproached me for an Antinomian, or loose liver, whose lives I never could wish in the least to imitate. I could only observe and do what they said, but dare not do after their works; for I saw clearly, that they said and did not. And, indeed, those who deal most in the law, know the least of it, and bind grievous burdens on others, but never touch them with their own fingers. The love which the law requires, the righteousness which it demands, the holiness it calls for, and the good works which it prescribes, must all be fetched out of the Saviour's fulness, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. The preacher who sends a poor trembling sinner elsewhere, is a rebel against the command and commission of God the Saviour, who tells us to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; and he that believes the gospel is sure to have the law written on the fleshly tables of his heart, and that is better than having it written and graven in tables of stone, 2 Cor. iii. 7. Have I committed an offence in sending the distressed soul to Christ? Far from it, for all the apostles did the same; they preached Christ to the people, and declared that there was salvation in no other name.

"The law is good," says Paul, "if a man use it lawfully," and ought to be preached, to shew the helpless sinner his undone, and lost estate, that all boasting may be excluded, and that he may become guilty before God; and when the awakened

sinner is made to feel his guilt and native depravity, and sees the unlimited demands of law and justice, let him acknowledge and confess as the Psalmist did, Thy commandment is exceeding broad, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, [O Lord,] for in thy sight [by the deeds of the law,] shall no man living be justified." David, in these views and under these sensations, calls for mercy, and says unto God, Thou art my salvation. And when he had apprehended and laid hold of the promised Saviour, he points others to the same refuge, and leaves an eternal benediction on all those who embrace it. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile," Psalm xxxii. 1, 2. The above passage I shall presume to gospelize thus: blessed is the man that believes in a Redeemer's blood, and obtains the forgiveness of sins by his faith: blessed is the man whose sin is covered with the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ; and, blessed is the man whose sins were imputed to the Saviour on the cross as the sinner's surety; and unto whom God will never impute sin again: and blessed is that man who is a partaker of the Holy Ghost, and is regenerated by the same; for in his spirit, or new man, there is no guile. If any critic doubts of the validity of this comment, let him read the fourth chapter of Paul to the Romans, and compare it with other parts of the scriptures.

I know the law requires a perfect obedience, and it is by the obedience of one that many shall be made righteous, Rom. v. 19. The law demands love to God, and love to the neighbour, and God has promised to circumcise our hearts to love him, and to reveal it to us by his holy Spirit; "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." "The commandment," says Paul," is holy," Rom. vii. 12. "The law is spiritual," Rom. vii. 14. And God has promised to give us of his holy Spirit, Joel ii. 28; and has made Jesus Christ to be sanctification or holiness to us, as well as righteousness, 1 Cor. i. 30. The law requires good works; works from a holy and spiritual root; but how is the natural man to produce these works, when the law is spiritual, but man is carnal, sold under sin, Rom. vii. 14. Can he love God in his carnal state, when the Lord himself declares, that "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." I know that the law requires good works; and I read that a chosen vessel is pre-ordained to them, though not to be saved by them; " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," Eph. ii. 8-10. Thus the apostle Paul made the Saviour all in all; and acknowledged himself under

no law, but in obedience to his covenant head: I am not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, 1 Cor. ix. 21.

If handling the law in this way, and enforcing liberty from the bondage of the law, by the Holy Ghost, be Antinomianism; and, if the experience of the terrors of the law, and of the liberty of the gospel, be enthusiasm; then I must declare, that the whole bible is full of such things. And the reproach that is cast upon the doctrine, and upon the Spirit's work, falls upon God himself, as well as upon those that preach his truth, and enforce the Spirit's work on the minds of men.

I have often thought, and that with many tears, that God, who is the searcher of hearts and trier of reins, will, when he comes to judgment, call his pure gospel, and the operations of his Spirit, by their proper names, and bring in these infallible gentlemen culpable of blaspheming his holy word and Spirit. That which makes me think so is, because I never heard a man that had felt the bondage of the law, and the liberty of the gospel, that dared to talk at that impious rate. I have published to the world the dealings of God with me in a way both of providence and grace; I have published to the world my sentiments of the law, in its full force and power, against every hardened sinner, and as disarmed of its condemning and commanding power, as a covenant of works, to every believer who is under the law to Christ; and both the religious and the profane world have been

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