2 WO to that man by

1. The Lord paffed by before MOSES, and pro-whom the offence cometh: claimed, The Lord, The Lord God, MERCIFUL and GRACIOUS, LONG-SUFFERING, and ABUNDANT IN GOODNESS and truth,

wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off. It is better to enter into life maimed, rather than to be cast into EVERLASTING FIRE. Mat. xviii. 7, 8.—WO unto you, that are rich, &c. WO unto you, that are full, &c. WO unto you, that laugh now, &c. WO unto you, when all men_fhall speak well of you. Luke vi. 24 to 26.-DEPART from me, ye.cURSED into EVERLASTING FIRE, prepared for the Devil-for I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat, &c. Mat. XXV 41, 42.

I flatter myself, that if Zelotes and Honeftus candidly weigh the preceding arguments and fcriptures, they will reap from thence à double advantage: (1) They will no more tread the honour of Christ's moral law in the duft no more rob it of its chief glory, that of being a strict rule of JUDGMENT. (2) Honeftus will be again benefitted by a confiderable part of the new teftament; and Zelates, by a confiderable part of the law and the prophets, which [as our Lord himself informs us] hang on thofe very commandments that the antinomians divest of their fanction; and the pharifees, of their fpirituality.

The doctrine of the preceding Section is weighed in the Scripture-fcales. According to Chrift's gofpel, keeping the moral law in faith is a SUBORDINATE way to eternal life, and fome proteftants are grossly mistaken, when they make believers afraid fincerely to obferve the commandments, in order to obtain thro' Chrift a more abundant life of grace here, and an eternal life of glory bercafter.

I'

F I have spent fo much time in attempting to remove the difficulties, with which the doctrine of the law is clogged, it has not been without reafon ; for the fuccefs of my Checks in a great degree depends upon clearing up this part of my fubject. If I fail here, pharifaifm will not be checked, and grofs antinomianifm will ftill pafs for the pure gofpel; fundamental errors about the law being the muddy fprings, whence the broken cifterns, both of the pharifees and of the antinomnians, have their conftant fupplies. Honeftus will have an anti-evangelical, Chriftiefs law, or at least a law without fpirituality and ftrictnefs; the law, he frames to himself, being an infignificant twig, and not the Spirit's two-edged, piercing fword. And Zelotes contrives a gofpel without law; or, if he admits of a law for Christ's fubjects, it is fuch a one as has only the fhadow of a law

"a rule of life," as he calls it, and NOT a rule of judgment. That at first fight Honeftus may perceive the fpirituality of the law, and the need of CHRIST'S GOSPEL; and that Zelotes may discover the need of CHRIST'S LAW, and fee its awful impartiality, I beg leave to recapitulate the contents of the laft Section; prefenting them to the Reader, in my Scales, as the juft weights of the fanctuary exactly balancing each other.

The

The WEIGHTS of The WEIGHTS of

FAITH and FREE
GRACE.

1. When the Philippian Failor cryed out, Sirs, What muft I do to be faved? Paul and Silas faid, [according to the FIRST gospel axiom] BELIEVE in the Lord Jefus Chrift, and thou shalt be SAVED. Acts xvi. 31.

WORKS and FREE
WILL.

2. When the young Ruler, and the pious Lawyer, afked our Lord, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? be anfwered them, [according to the SECOND axiom:] If thou wilt enter into LIFE,

KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS: This Do, and thou shalt LIVE. Matt. xix, 17. Luke x, 28.

Here Zelotes, as if he were determined to fet afide the left gofpel-scale, cries out, " There is no ENTERING INTO LIFE BY DOING, and keeping the com"mandments. The young Ruler and the Lawyer were

both as great legalifts as yourself, and Christ an"fwered them according to their error; the wife man "having obferved, that we must fometimes answer "a fool according to his folly."-I understand you, Zelotes; you fuppofe, that fome pharifaic fiend had driven the poifoned nail of legality into their breasts, and that Chrift was fo officious as to clinch it for him. "Not fo [replies Zelotes] but I think, Christ's

anfwer was ironical, like that of the prophet Mi"chaiah, who faid one thing to king Ahad, and 46 meant another." What! Zelotes, two men, at different times and in the moft folemn manner, propofe to our Lord the most important question in the world: He fhews a particular regard for them: and returns them fimilar aufwers. When one of them had defcribed the way of obedience, an evangelist obferves, that Jefus faw, he had anfvered DISCREETLY, Mark xii, 34: St. Luke informs us, that Christ commended him and faid, Thou haft answered RIGHT, Luke x, 28;

F 3

and

and yet you intimate, that not only our Lord's ANSWERS, but his COMMENDATIONS, were ironical. : In what unfavourable light do you put our Saviour's kindness to poor finners, who proftrate themfelves at his feet, and there afk, the way to heaven! If Curfed is be, that maketh the blind to wander out of their earthly way; how can you, upon your principles, exculpate our Lord, for doing this with refpect to the blind seekers, who enquire the way that leads to ETERNAL LIFE and HEAVEN?

But this is not all: It is evident, that, altho' from the taunting tone of Michaiah's voice, Ahab directly underflood, that the anfwer given him was ironical; yet, left there fhould be deception in the cafe, the prophet dropt the mafk of irony, and told the king the naked truth before they parted. Not fo Jefus Christ, if folifidianifm is the gofpel: For, altho' neither the Ruler, nor the Lawyer fufpected, that his direction and approbation were ironical, he let them both depart without giving them, or his difciples who were prefent, the leaft hint, that he was fending them upon a fool's errand. Therefore, if fetting finners upon keeping the commandments in faith to go to heaven, is only fhowing them the cleaner way to hell, as Zelotes fometimes intimates, no body ever pointed finners more clearly to hell, than our bleffed Lord. This mistake of Zelotes is fo much the more glaring, as the paffages which he fuppofes to be ironical, agree perfectly with the fermon on the mount, and with Mat. xxv, two awful portions of the gofpel, which I am glad the folifidians have not yet fet afide as evangelical ironics.

Once more, If our Lord's direction was not true with regard to the covenant of grace, it was. ABSOLUTELY FALSE with efpect to the covenant of works; for as the Ruler and the Lawyer had undoubtedly broken the Adamic law of perfect innocence, they NEVER could obtain life by keeping THAT law, fhould they have done it to the highest perfection for the time to come. Therefore, which way foever Zelotes

turns

turns himself, upon his fcheme our Lord spoke either a DECEITFUL IRONY, or a FLAT UNTRUTH:

I refume the Scales.

Here obferve, that God prefaces the decalogue by evangelically giving himself to the Jews as THEIR GOD---a gracious God, who had already SAVED them out of the Land of Egypt, Jude 5, and whỏ had a peculiar right to their FAITH and grateful, evangelical OBE